#also I just think it would be really funny to squeeze all this into Season 6B

[cocogum]

Let’s TALK about episodes 11-12-13

(‼️SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4‼️)

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@onyichii I know I told you once that this was initially going to have more than two parts to explain what happened between these three episodes but I decided to scratch that idea out and instead put them all into one post.

Before I begin, I would like to address something crucial.

Thank you, Ankama for everything that you’ve done for Wakfu. And thank you for this final season as well. It’s clear that despite the many rough challenges you’ve had to face and overcome over the years, I’m really happy that Wakfu has fully made its course. You’ve outdone yourself for this season just for us and it shows.

A lot of us have been here since our childhoods so we really love you for creating such a series that we’ve managed to fall in love with or else we wouldn’t be here talking about it.

This season was absolutely beautiful and what a way to end it all.

Unless Season 5 makes its appearance lol. (later did I know that we recently got the news of a season 5)

Now let’s begin.

WE FINALLY GET TO SEE OUR ORIGINAL RAT RUEL 💖💖💖

My god he looks angry as hell I literally never saw him like this, imagine seeing this in the corner of your eye, and he’s right there staring at you hiding in the shadows like-

Help???

But anyway yeah he’s completely broke.

My guy at least got one kama thanks to Junior 😭😭

OH SHIT YUGO’S HERE!!!! RUEL TURN AROUND ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

First thing Ruel does is cry about his money to Yugo. Bro isn’t even asking why tf he grew. That wasn’t even his first question. Scratch that, that wasn’t even something that came up in his head.

That’s how you know he deserves the Rat King crown.

THAT SHOULD BE ME ‼️‼️‼️ THAT SHOULD BE ME SQUEEZING HIM WITH SNOT COMING OUT OF MY NOSTRILS, NOT HIM ‼️‼️‼️

Love how even though Dally and Eva told each other not to worry about Flopin, these two still looked like shit, even after hugging it out. So they’re still gonna keep Flopin’s room the way it is, right? They’re not gonna give it to Pin, right? Cuz their house is kinda big for five people (make that six with Goultard) so I feel like they’ll keep Flopin’s room the way it is and make a brand new room for Pin. I can imagine Poo helping them use a spare room to turn it into a bedroom for Pin (Poo will do it out of the sheer goodness of his heart ofc and definitely not because Elely was gonna beat him to a pulp lol)

YUGO’S HERE OMG EVERYBODY STFU ‼️‼️ (and Ruel too)

You have no idea how happy I was to see Dally not welcoming Yugo back and immediately trying to punch him. It makes sense for him to confuse Yugo for Oropo, especially after all the things he and his family went through because of him.

And here’s where we get a YUGO VS DALLY FIGHT SCENE ARE YOU KIDDING ME-

Never in my life did I think I would ever witness seeing these two fight against each other. Even if they had been play fighting, I would have never seen it coming.

But GOOD. At least we get to see more of Yugo’s ass Yugo moving around and getting to test his strength out.

Elely and Goultard even went in and tried to jump the guy but bro wasn’t even trying 😭😭 he literally threw Elely like a ragdoll like THAT’S YOUR FRIEND’S CHILD WHAT ARE YOU DOING-

(yeet the child)

That’s practically his niece by the way and he just threw her like she was nothing lol

Anyways, Eva breaks the fight and NXKAKSLDKKSKSLDL the way she gently touched Yugo’s face! She’s so shocked by how he looks now! To think that she used to be his older sister figure, and now he’s taller than her and the others 😭💖

It's funny and cute that Eva used to be the tallest in the group lol

It also took all these years for Dally to understand why Yugo is his best friend...

So the others finally get to know what’s been happening for nine episodes now and the iops in the family are absolutely down for it 💀

Yugo literally described the end of the world and these three dumbasses can't wait for it.

After that, the boys go back to the Sadida Kingdom and THIS. THIS IS THE REUNION.

I just love how Amalia’s first instinct is hugging Eva just look at the girls smiling together like this 💖💖💖

I missed them so much together 💕💕 even Pin is happy to see Amalia omg she’s absolutely killing it as an aunt 😭💕💕

And then….

Here comes Yugo.

I swear his and Adamaï’s reunion was the most bro-like thing I have ever seen from any of the seasons, comics, and manga chapters. Dude just comes out from another world that had creatures immune to anything in the krosmoz and tortured his body for who knows how long, and the first thing his bro does is give him a bro slap.

Freaking killed me.

And THEN

THEN CAME AMALIA’S REACTION OMAGJSKWLSLXLLSMMSKDLD THEIR EYES MET LOOK AT THEM-

But the Eliatrope Goddess just had to cut off their reunion 😒 urgh I swear this woman cares too much for her kids. Like to an unhealthy amount. Look at her hiding him away from Amalia and the others, she was clearly trying to separate him from anyone who wasn’t related to her. The only reason why Joris wasn’t being pushed away was because he was way too close. I’ve already explained so much about this one scene alone in this post so if you’re interested go take look at it.

The Eliatrope goddess was so lucky Yugo didn’t see her call Amalia “crazy” though…cuz man, I know she was panicking but gurl you’re insulting your daughter-in-law calm down-

Armand and Aurora get here and see this reunion and my god Armand actually had a point though.

Like the guy isn’t happy to see the eliatropes, he clarifies to them that this whole situation with the necromes was because of them. Yugo doesn’t even try to retort because Armand is completely in the right to be angry at him and his people.

And shocker, the Eliatrope Goddess decided to ditch them all and takes the kids.

Even though Yugo told her they couldn’t leave because they’d just keep running away forever, she didn’t listen and would rather even leave HIM and Adamaï behind, TWO of her literal FIRST CHILDREN FROM THE KROSMOZ.

I understand that she had been severely traumatized by the necromes, but something tells me she used to always flee at the first sign of danger when it came to anything at all. Her bad habit of fleeing must’ve been as far back as when she used to be part of the other gods. When she used to be with them, she was even willing to break an important rule between her equals, which was “to not have your own planet for your followers.” After they learned she had betrayed them, they all tried fighting her off but she didn’t dare fight back. Either it was because she’s a pacifier or because she prefers fleeing. With the many cases we’ve seen of her fleeing, I’ll have to say the latter since it might as well just be a habit. I can also support this claim by pointing out that she can fight but chooses to flee instead: when she was in the meeting between the rulers, she clearly showed that she had the strength to fight back when she was being challenged by one of Bonta’s queens.

The war started…

Not gonna lie, the Eliatrope goddess' shield was pretty useful since the group needed to buy some time for Yugo, Joris, and Goultard to get Nora back. I like how they knew they had no choice but to buy some time because fighting a necrome is like trying to kill water: that shit is impossible.

Although one thing I will never forget from that war, was Dally and Armand talking to each other.

This was a true full circle. The minute they met, they did not get along and were on completely opposite sides. Even during these years, they somewhat got along but never made any real improvement. But when they reach a war where they could potentially die, that's when they now see that they truly have no qualms at all anymore.

Like...thinking about how they used to fight over Evangelyne now sounds childish and so old to remember.

If you were to tell me years ago that they somewhat now get along and Armand was actually happy to see Dally, I would've thought you wrote a fanfic about it.

Nonetheless, it was nice seeing Armand get a taste of what it felt like to be on an adventure. He missed his chances to join Amalia and her friends, so being in a war fighting alongside them seemed like a good compensation to have instead. It's like putting all the dangers and adrenaline into one big ball and seeing what happens.

Armand enters the legend.

He might have been the king that had the shortest reign in Sadida history but after what he just pulled off, he’ll stay the best in record. This man beat a dragon made by the gods from another world and defeated it before dying while standing up. Name me another mortal in the krosmoz who has ever pulled off this kind of shit. That's right, zero. Not even Dally did that and that guy died like three times. Someone get Armand a real proper wife who he can have fun with, the man needs it after the awesome shit he just pulled off.

It baffles me however that when a sadida dies, they turn into sprouts so they can be planted and turned into trees in time.

It’s kind of bittersweet knowing that their deaths somewhat turn into a sort of reincarnation. Sadida is the only god who well…doesn’t look like he’s visually made of skin and bones. He’s a plant and created his own form of photosynthesis to make his Sadida dolls. His subjects, who can be compared to roots, are linked to one tree, not to mention that they could all die in the blink of an eye if anything happened to it as how I explained here. It’s almost like the sprout, from Armand’s death, could be considered the sadidas’ inner cores, sort of like their real selves (?), and they are exposed and revealed when they die. The only instance where we did not see this happen was when Nox managed to dry up the Tree of Life which made the sadidas turn into trees on the spot instead of being planted in peace.

Being a sadida just keeps being more depressing and traumatizing. The sadidas are lucky they love being like this or else they’d all turn into Qilby 💀

When Nora and Efrim leave Toross in his world, we see him go back to his throne while glitching from time to time. At first, nothing about this scene seemed to have been out of the ordinary until @MachineBandage on Twitter let everyone know that if we paused at the right moment when he was walking back to his throne, we could see shots of him sitting on the stairs looking defeated and miserable.

And now, yumalia fans, we have the moment we’ve all been waiting for!!

THEIR MARRIAGE 💖💖💖💖💖

Not gonna lie, at first, when I saw Amalia carrying those flowers with Yugo, I thought they were both walking to pay respects to Armand’s tree grave but then THIS HAPPENED‼️‼️

I HAD A STROKE, I THOUGHT I WAS SEEING SHIT BUT THEY’RE LEGIT ABOUT TO GET MARRIED ‼️‼️‼️❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I was so happy for them. It’s been years since I’ve been rooting for these two.

Ever since 2012, I had a hunch about them because they wouldn’t stop hugging so tightly as it’s been making me go insane. All these years, I was so hopeful and yet worried that I wouldn’t see this happening!!

But not anymore because they finally got together 💖💖

I literally watched my kids grow up, I’m so proud. I shed a tear when I first saw this.

But after watching it over and over again, that’s when I shut off my fangirling (it was getting in the way of visual details lol) to properly inspect what the hell I just saw.

Wouldn’t Yugo and Amalia’s marriage technically be considered a very uncommon thing to happen? Three reasons would suggest this.

The first is how unconventional their marriage ended up looking regardless if its main objective was supposed to look like a political or romantic wedding. You can find that whole explanation in this post I made when the finale came out. The second is that Amalia married someone who isn’t a Twelvian. The third, the most crucial one, is that two RULERS of different races married and, due to that, have unified their people together.

I like how @onyichii noticed that during Yumalia’s ending scene, Yugo was actually the one who was about to kiss Amalia first but she ended up being quicker than him and pressed their lips together first.

He was about to close his eyes and lean in.

If you really pay close attention to Yugo in this scene, you’ll see it. That was such a nice detail to notice and I’m so glad @onyichii brought it up.

These kinds of details are why I love Ankama’s way of sprinkling them. They’re always the kind that would make you blink and miss it until you run the scene again more slowly.

Can you imagine what the people must’ve been thinking when Yugo dropped Amalia in one of his portals?

Dude legit dipped with his wife without warning anybody, not even Amalia knew he was going to plan that.

I can just imagine the people being confused as all hell and then awkwardly waiting for them to come back or wondering IF they’ll even come back.

Renate and Canar are going to spread so much tea in the kingdom, these two are gonna think Yugo took Amalia away for some ‘private time’ cuz he couldn’t wait any longer JZKSSKSKXKXKSKSKKDKKDODKF

I wanna join Renate and Canar’s little group so badly, they sound like a lot of fun lol

LOOK AT AMALIA’S ADORABLE FACE‼️‼️

Yugo is absolutely smitten 💕💕

And let’s not forget our boy Flopin who attended the wedding!

Because yes, despite not physically being there, we saw him with his grandpa on an open field. He had his eyes closed, the same way how Madagaskan was able to look out for Eva and Cleophee all these years. And look!! Flopin smiled!! He approves of the wedding!! Like Adamaï, he is also a yumalia shipper!

It’s confirmed. The shot of him smiling as the wedding scene keeps going can only mean two things: Flopin is learning fast as he can now watch over his family, and HE SMILED AT THE SIGHT OF YUMALIA WHICH MEANS HE LIKES IT!

I wonder if Cleophee is aware that she has a father though. We’ve only seen Evangelyne’s reaction when she learned of this fact but what about Cleophee? She must’ve wondered where Flopin went since he was missing while the Percedal family was attending the wedding. Maybe we’ll get to see her receiving the news in Season 5 or The Great Wave’s other volumes.

Despite this beautiful ending, however, there are still many things we have yet to know or dig deeper about: 1) The other rulers still have this strong mindset that the eliatropes are bad news. In a way, they indirectly caused a lot of destruction, so a lot of them will not like the fact that Yugo remains here, let alone married a twelvian, making his stay official.

2) Yugo still needs to get the rest of his people, the eliatrope kids who are still with his mother.

3) We have no idea where the Eliatrope goddess is at right now. She could be anywhere in the krosmoz, but I hope she eventually learns that her son saved the world.

4) WILL YUGO AND AMALIA THINK ABOUT HAVING KIDS!?! Because of Amalia’s position as queen, and being the last living member of the royal family, she is required to bear children to keep the family name going. So like…are we going to see their kids someday? How many are they going to have? I NEED TO KNOW SO I CAN FANGIRL MORE-

5) There will be more yumalia moments so more cute cuddles and convos lol

6) Yugo and Amalia's marriage will be a loving relationship and an alliance one. Yugo is king of the eliatropes, while Amalia is queen of the sadidas. Despite being together, they are rulers of their distinct people, but they both will help the other without hesitation.

7) The only other ruler I can think of who might be willing to side with Yugo and Amalia is that Lance Dur guy. He's cool. I like him.

8) Ush still wants to fight Yugo. Again. Let’s not forget what he told Yugo before he let the Eliatrope goddess bring him back to Bonta.

9) Brakmar supposedly got half destroyed?? Will we ever get any news from them in Season 5 or in the manga? I bet Astra is feeling ecstatic right now lol

10) Sufokia and Pandawa SHOULD FINALLY PAY THEIR DEBTS TO THE SADIDAS ALREADY

11) Frigost….what happened to it?? Yeah, I didn’t see anyone talk about this. Harebourg has been implied to have died back in Oropo’s pocket dimension and yet we see him in Waven and had joined one of the four clans. So is Frigost okay? What is going on over there?

That’s all that came to mind.

But now that we have recently heard the news that Season 5 was coming, I was so thrilled to know that this wasn’t truly going to be the ending for the anime and Tot persevered to get more!! Despite what we’ve been told about Season 4 being the finale, I’m so glad AND GRATEFUL that Tot didn’t stop there ☺️💕💕

Who knows, maybe we’ll have some of our answers in Season 5 since Tot did say that we’d have about 26 episodes which is a lot to put lore in. I'm still not sure if we truly will have 26 episodes like he said back in his tweet because it might have been just a tease (a cruel one at that) but I’m still hopeful that we’ll have more than 13 since Ankama now has partners!

SO YEAH WE GOT A LOT OF SHIT TO UNPACK IN SEASON 5 AND THE MANGA.

But the upcoming season and the manga will obviously not reveal everything, let’s be aware of that. Tot likes to sprinkle lots of lore in the games too so we’ll have to look out for those.

[actualbird]

HI!!! i wanted to ask ur opinion on how the nxx boys sneeze 😭 it was a hilarious thought because i was trying to sleep when suddenly i heard my dad make the loudest, most disruptive sneeze ever and i thought "thats so funny lol WAIT what if the tot boys sneezed".

i generally think the tot boys would be more "a-chooooo...." rather than a nuclear explosion but i need ur opinion. HOW WOULD THEY SNEEZE!!??

scream omfg i love this ask and i remember i actually talked about this with @samsspambox once forever ago so, without further ado

how the nxx boys sneeze

vyn: sneezes normal but my god he's super sensitive to allergies and, most of all, Pollen. which is hell, given that he loves to garden. but his easy workaround is just to wear a mask, and that usually saves him when hes working on his own garden. but come Pollen Season, and all the plants and trees spewing particles into the air, and hes a nose-clogged sneezy mess. his students know that when it's pollen season to not piss him off because he will be so cranky from all the sneezing and also the horrid feeling of only having one nostril unobstructed

artem: sneezes the Loud Dad Sneeze. he is the disruptive sneezer, the nuclear explosion. he is sneezing like how a lion roars deeply to establish its territory lines, except artem isnt a literal lion and does not do this on purpose. his sneezes are LOUD. the type of loud that makes people want to ask artem if hes okay afterwards cuz it's so loud it seemed like it dislodged a rib or something. it's immensely comical, given artem's usual quiet nature, that his sneezes are a force of nature. he could sneeze in his office and people all the way over in the pantry would hear it. he is, and i cannot stress this enough, so fucking embarrassed about it.

marius: the sneeze that keeps wanting to happen but Doesnt happen. you know, the cliffhanger sneeze, the sneezes that are like "ah...aaAAAHH...AAAAAAAHH—" and then the resulting "choo" doesnt happen. and this Not Happening just Keeps Happening. it's agonizing. marius will start a sneeze at 9:55am but the Conclusion Of The Sneeze only happens by 10:03am, once hes already in a meeting with the board of directors. how unsightly, he KNOWS, but the worst part really is the sheer anticipation. what marius would GIVE to have a normal sneeze.

luke: the tiniest kitten sneeze on the planet, and always 6 times consecutively in a row MINIMUM. back during the NSB Days(TM), the fearsome Agent Raven arrived at the training class he handles with a slight cold, saying he'll just monitor and teach and give pointers while socially distanced. the trainees were so scared cuz "wow, hes still coming in even when hes sick, how TERRIFYINGLY DEDICATED, to be expected from the FEARSOME AGENT RAVEN." and then luke steps back and grabs a piece of tissue, obviously rearing for a sneeze, and the trainees thought "oh i bet his sneeze is the Loud Disruptive one, just like his own scary fighting skills, to be expected from the FEARSOME AGENT RAVE—" and then

it's the smallest, cutest sneeze. one after the other. and another. and another. it was like hearing a squeaky dog toy get squeezed several times vigorously. it was like how you'd assume a pixie sneezes. it was like the sound sprinkles and pink bubbles would make if those could sneeze.

once luke is done with his consecutive sneezes (that, for the life of him, he could not stop) he promptly death-glares at the trainees and they all agree to Never Bring It Up.

but the consecutive kitten sneezes still follow luke through his life and all the way up to, yep, the nxx team being able to witness it

mc: awww, it's been so long since ive seen your cute sneeze!!

luke, nose clogged: it's [sneeze] not cute! [sneeze]

marius: it's so cute, i think my heart is melting

luke: shut [sneeze] up!

marius: AAAWWW, is the big bad agent having some twouble? >:3

luke: dont you f[sneeze]ucking patronize [sneeze] me!

mc: do you need more tissue?

luke: PLE[sneeze]ASE

[toasttt11]

approved, again

April 18, 2024

Lucia bit her lip nervously as they got closer to John’s parents house having been driving for a little under three hours now.

John rubbed her thigh with his hand that has been settled on her thigh for most of the drive, “What’s wrong?” John softly asked.

“Will they like me?” Lucia looked nervous, she knows she has met John’s family before but she only his teammate not his partner, it’s more important now and what if they don’t like her.

“Luce.” John gently squeezed her thigh, “They love you and my mom was so exicted when i told her i asked you out.” John reassured her, John knew his family all absolutely adore Lucia and they were all more exicted to see Lucia today than John.

“Okay.” Lucia nodded letting out a slow breath, she was still nervous but she knew John would not lie to her.

John squeezed her thigh once more as he pulled into his parent’s driveway and they both got out of the car leaving their bags in the car.

The front door opened and Jen came rushing out, “Lucia!” Jen beamed walking right to her hopefully further daughter-in-law, “We are so glad you could join Johnny.” Jen pulled Lucia into a gently hug.

Lucia let out a small sigh of relief as she hugged John’s mom back, “Thanks for having me Mrs. Marino.” Lucia smiled as they pulled apart.

“Darling how many times have i told you just to call me Jen.” Jen playfully reprimanded her.

“A lot, Jen.” Lucia laughed.

John smiled loving seeing the two together and eventually his mom turned around and pulled her youngest son into a tight hug.

John and Lucia followed Jen into her house and saw John’s dad, Paul, walking into the house from the backyard.

“Lucia.” Paul smiled and walked over giving her gentle hug, “How have you been?” Paul asked once they pulled apart, he immediately liked Lucia when he met her during the season and enjoys their talks together.

“I’m good exicted about some time off.” Lucia anwsered honestly to John’s father.

“Hello to you too Dad.” John playfully sassed after a few minutes of his dad completely ignoring him as he talked to Lucia. John truthfully did not mind whatsoever as he just loved how well Lucia fits in his family.

“Hi.” Paul sassed back to his son and fondly rolled his eyes pulling his son into a hug.

Paul, John’s older twin walked into the house having just arrived and saw John’s car in the front driveway.

“Johnny!” Paul beamed meeting halfway and pulling his twin into a tight hug.

“Hi Pauly.” John held onto to his twin tightly.

“Lucia!” Paul smiled even bigger as pulled away from hugging his twin and pulled Lucia into a tight big swaying them back and forth.

Paul and Lucia became friends right away and are always sending each other memes and funny videos backs and forth.

John has never had a girlfriend fit into his family the way Lucia does but also never had anyone become friends with Paul as easily as Lucia and Paul became friends.

Lucia and John spent the whole day with his family just spending time catching up and laughing. Lucia absolutely loved getting to see all of John’s baby photos and hearing about so many stories of him growing up.

Lucia really enjoys spending time with the Marino’s and she has never felt uncomfortable around any of them, something that is rare.

Lucia threw her head back laughing at a comment Paul made as they all sat around their table outside eating dinner together.

John smiled softly watching his girlfriend and twin laugh together, his arm was draped around Lucia’s chair and leaned closer pressing a soft kiss to the side of her head as she giggled.

Lucia turned her head still laughing but slowing down and sent him a soft smile that he enjoys receiving every time.

Jen and Paul shared a knowing smile as they watched their son and his girlfriend and they already knew Lucia was the only for their son but seeing them being together only made them think that more.

[nofacednerd]

okay finale thoughts

I don't think they took out any scenes but I do think it's funny that they renamed the title of the episode

hughie's... counter-proposal I guess? was so genuinely sweet that I'm mad it wasn't real

On that. 3rd time in back to back episodes not even 5 minutes in. That's gotta be a record. I thought they were actually going to acknowledge it as assault when he seemingly got very upset about the pegging joke she made and started squeezing the water bottle, but I guess not. My hope is that all the criticism they received while handling all of this, they'll actually take and acknowledge it in the show

Hughie canon bottom but at what cost...........

BUTCHER WITH THE TEMP-V INDUCED WHITE HAIR STREAKS. MY HEADCANON IS REAL

I think it's so funny that Butcher's last wish was for hughie to go to some random hooters in Nevada for him. Part of me wonders if he knew about the stupid Maid in Manhattan tour he went on entirely because it was his dad's last wish and wanted to see what he would agree to if he sounded sad enough about it

Ashley my problematic queen I hope you get to have fucking awesome scary superpowers next season and help take down the supes w the gang

Just. Shoutout to Erin Moriarty for being an insanely talented actress. Love that the shapeshifter just kept biting people as her go-to attack. Fucking knocked it out of the park

Annie choking the shapeshifter to death instead of using her powers felt symbolic somehow but it's 4 in the morning and I can't think about it rn. Good for her either way.

They also never actually explained why her powers just. Stopped working?? I'm guessing it was an emotional thing but I felt like things didn't change THAT much by the end of the season for her to suddenly be charged up enough to fly?

Okay but also. I'm kind of mad that they didn't acknowledge what the shapeshifter did to Hughie was assault and not only that but they had Annie get mad at HIM about it. Like girl hello???? Out of literally everyone I would expect at least Annie to understand, but for some reason they show loves having them have relationship drama that comes from fucking nowhere

That being said, I am SO glad they didn't break up again. That would have fucking sucked. Curious if the engagement thing will ever come up again since she got the ring back. I imagine if it does it'll be the end of the show

Also his little "FUCK YESSS" fist pump to himself. I just need to take a second to appreciate that that was so funny LMAO

I'm not gonna lie... I actually got pretty on-board with the Frenchie Kimiko QPR. aroace Kimiko you still live in my head rent free

I just know. I just KNOW. There's going to be SO MANY tentacle smut fics about Butcher by the end of the week. You horny motherfuckers are going to eat that shit up

Also going to be honest. I'm kind of mad they took out Neuman. She was such an interesting character and I always thought her views didn't conflict at all with the rest of The Boys, so I was really hoping for a redemption arc. She also had such an interesting dynamic with both Hughie and Annie (and Zoe having beef with Kimiko is fucking great). Idk she could have been a fun addition to the group

I was actually kind of excited to see The Boys split off to different countries and have to come back together next season, but I think them all getting kidnapped (and presumably thrown in prisons?) is much more interesting. I kind of hope they let Hughie be the main character again next season now that Butcher has gone off the rails and might? be a villain next season? But I know it's probably going to be Annie

Kimiko speaking I kind of assumed would happen at some point (since they established that as kind of her arc this season with the speech therapy) but I'm excited to see if that goes anywhere next season. I think best case scenario, she has selective mutism and only goes verbal sometimes. They've been pretty good about her disability so far

also speaking of, I've been trying to figure out what her sign for each of The Boys' names are and. is Hughie's supposed to look like someone running away because that's so funny if true (it's hard to tell because the captions are obviously not synced up with the visuals on her signing)

My overall thoughts are kinda... eh. This season ultimately felt directionless to me, too many plotlines trying to happen all at once and while I think individual episodes were really good, as a whole nothing felt super connected (I mean, in episode 6 Hughie was super fucked up over his dad's death and presumably what happened at Tek Knight's party, but episode 7 they just seem to have completely forgotten that he's having an active mental breakdown, a trend that continues into episode 8. And that's just one example from this season). I also think they fumbled the supes' plotline at the very end. I trusted the writers that they actually knew what Sage's plan was, but it mostly just seems like she swooped in at the end to tell us her plan worked, without saying what it actually was. I was hoping there was going to be actual clever writing there, but I guess it's hard to write the world's smartest character if she's only as smart as the writer's room can be.

I understand that, ultimately, it's incredibly difficult to write satisfying arcs with very limited time (this is an issue of streaming in general, not specifically an issue with The Boys), so I don't really fault them for that. I just hope next season is more focused.

The biggest problem with season 3 is, obviously, Hughie getting sexually assaulted three times in 3 back-to-back episodes, with zero acknowledgement (and on one occasion, implied mockery) from the show itself or anyone involved. I REALLY hope they take the criticism and actually make something of it next season, or at least acknowledge that it was fucked up.

Anyway, not a terrible season, but it had a lot of glaring issues. I'm holding out hope for season 5 being good, but it'll be another year or two before we get it anyway, so...

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Fantasy High Junior Year and Ragenarok (Part 1)

I shouldn't have watched the teaser for next week's episode prior to writing this because-- Well, now I'm even more pumped for the finale and my thoughts for this episode were already very jumbled to begin with--

But begin we shall!

"Fabian, is there anywhere you want to live?" is a hell of a line at the start of the episode--especially with the context of a Bad Kid needing to steer the fall of Fabian's house to anywhere in Elmville.

Lou and Emily going all in on a bit in the background while Ally, Murph, and Brennan were figuring out the logistics of something was funny as heck. Ally really has gone far from the Freshman Year where the allure of a bit would have certainly derailed them from the more serious figuring-out-the-stuff talk with button-up boys.

But the most important revelation this episode? SQUEEM HAS FINALLY REACHED ELMVILLE! They still have some distance to cover but they're here!

And, can I just say, Siobhan rolling quick for the group roll just before Murph could was clutch as fuck. I must admit though that I also felt sad that we missed out on a possible addition to the collection of "I have just as good a chance as any of you to roll good" bits. It did allow the Bad Kids enough time to squeeze in a short rest though, so, hats off to you, Siobhan!

Now, onto the battle itself:

A Rat Grinder going down QUICK got me in my suspicious era. Like, what is going on with these rat grinders? Why do they have such high level attacks and yet--

Oh, never mind. The others' HP are more robust.

Brennan clustering his bad guys is always funny to me. Especially when you see an Intrepid Hero fight the urge to moustache-twirl as they see Brennan unconsciously giving them an area of opportunity. And it happens twice this episode!

Zac--not Gorgug--being so angry at Mary Ann passing her saving throw was hilarious to me. Especially because another Intrepid Hero tried to stop her from saving--only for Mary Ann to be naturally resistant anyway.

Riz going full maniac, saying "make sure to cut his head off so he can't be revivified--" and then Murph pulling back… Murph, the actor that you are! Chef's kiss.

My absolute favorite part of the episode though was when Zac had to reroll a bunch of dice. Ally asked why, and Zac cited one of Gorgug's feats. Having Ally say "I thought we were honoring something" absolutely broke me.

It's funny to me how Kipperlily was created to be the foil of Riz--but she's not really Riz's nemesis. She's Murph's.

And I rejoiced when Brennan, pulling the Box of Doom out again, got a stern "put my partner down" from Ally. It's been a while since they returned to this bit. I thought they had forgotten their relationship.

With this season coming to a close… I have to say that it's really one of the most enjoyable seasons of Dimension 20 for me. Is it my favorite Intrepid Heroes season? I think A Starstruck Odyssey and the first season of The Unsleeping City are still fighting for the top spot… But Junior Year is definitely following those two.

Especially with Brennan finally gifting Ally with Ice Feast--not realizing the implications of said spell to his finale battlemap.

And lastly… the way Brennan said "reincarnate" at the top of the episode? Saying "re-ANKARNA-te Porter?" The yelp I yelped.

I can't believe the season ends next week.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Ranting about the old Netflix Marvel shows:

Looking back at the original NMCU as a whole, while I think the general consensus is that this side of the MCU fell off when “Iron Fist” premiered, I think the real issue is more complicated then that. I think that the Netflix shows started off strong, but couldn’t implement their long-term plans for their side of the universe due to mismanagement/lack of collaboration. Oddly enough, the NMCU sorta reflects the current issues with Phases 4 and 5 of the mainstream MCU.

When you look at the shows overall, it feels like a bunch of creators were given free reign with these characters, and it shows. All of them had their own distinct identity, as well as what audience they were targeting. The problems started occurring when the shows had to start connecting.

I can’t say this for sure, but it really feels like no one was put in a Kevin Feige-like position to direct the overall journey. Instead, it feels like Jeph Loeb and Marvel Television (which was its own thing before being absorbed by Marvel Studios) just sorta mandated that the shows need to have a big crossover event. It made sense, especially since the Arrowverse was pulling this off as an annual thing with their shows. While it sounds good on paper, I feel like none of the teams behind each show were in sync with each other:

1) Daredevil didn’t really find a good way to balance the needs of the show and the needs of the crossover. Rewatch season 2 and you’ll notice that while the Punisher storyline feels more thought-out, the Elektra storyline feels jumbled and incomplete. In fact, the first 4 episodes are focused on Frank, and then all of a sudden, Elektra is pushed into the story. I can’t prove this but it feels like the original idea was to focus on Frank Castle, but then Elektra had to be introduced in order to set up “The Defenders”. Which was premiering the following year.

2) Jessica Jones didn’t even bother building up into “The Defenders”.

3) Neither did “Luke Cage”.

4) Although I have a ton of separate issues with “Iron Fist”, I do feel sorry for the production team. This show had the unfortunate burden of having to introduce its hero while also doing most of the build-up for the crossover. To make matters worse, if you read up on the behind-the-scenes development, you would know that the show was rushed out. Finn Jones was literally learning the fight choreography minutes before filming.

I have this funny feeling that Marvel Television set up the schedule for each show and refused to change it. Given more time, Netflix could’ve made it work. I can easily imagine the Elektra storyline being its own season of “Daredevil”, “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage” each having a season focused on the Hand, and “Iron Fist” being given more breathing room to introduce Danny Rand before diving into the crossover.

But let’s say Marvel Television didn’t want to make people wait that long for a crossover. Then they still failed to move the storyline of the shows in a way that could naturally lead into “The Defenders”. You’re telling me Jessica and Luke couldn’t have at least had a 1-2 episode subplot about the Hand? Or that the Daredevil team couldn’t have introduced Frank Castle later on in order to prioritize Elektra, who is arguably the most important character in the crossover? “Iron Fist”, while not a good show, at least tried to lead into the crossover.

(Side note: Just as a reminder, a common problem people had with the NMCU was that each season was too long at 13 episodes and that the shows didn’t have enough story to squeeze in. Jessica and Luke could’ve definitely worked in a 1-2 episode Hand stand-alone subplot to offset these issues)

I don’t mean for this post to take away from any of these shows. I still am fond of the NMCU. But looking back at it, I can’t help but feel that they were mismanaged. Good on their own, but since they had a crossover miniseries set up, there needed to be stronger collaboration between each show. Or, at least move the damn crossover if the shows weren’t ready for one.

[justmenoworries]

Lore Olmypus Episode 271 Spoilers

We're in the endgame now. I guess.

And I feel absolutely nothing. Any tension that could have hyped me up for this moment was squashed by my frustration with every character's lack of thinking skills.

Why exactly are Hera and Persie passed out on the ground? Kronos didn't even do anything yet, all that happened was that he closed the door after Hera and Persie managed to squeeze through at the last moment.

Speaking of, this episode shows us that Kronos is huddled up in (what is presumably) his cell deep down in Tartarus so how exactly did he control the door?

It will never be not funny to me that Kronos, ancient tyrant and titan of time (*rolls eyes*) sounds like a modern-day incel whenever he talks. And then other times RS remembers she's writing the supposed Big Bad and has him switch to more appropriate language on the fly. The whiplash is unreal.

Persephone: "Kronos is powerful but erratic. This makes his behavior hard to anticipate."

Oh, is that RS's in-universe excuse for Kronos switching motivations every time we see him? First he wants to return to the world of the living, then he wants to take revenge on Hades, then he suddenly wants Persephone but actually he wants Hera. And now he wants... Hera again, I guess. Holy constantly shifting goals, Batman!

Kronos: "I will take pleasure in your gradual and painful destruction!"

also Kronos: *proceeds to sit in his cell and do nothing for the entirety of the episode*

If you want to make Kronos actually menacing instead of just annoying, maybe have him do more than an occasional supervillain-laugh RS.

I will admit, the visual of Hera and Persephone slowly descending into Tartarus and past all these human souls reaching out for them from their cells is cool. It makes the whole situation actually feel tense and scary, knowing there's something terrible waiting for the protags down this endless pit but also knowing that they have no choice but slowly climb towards it.

Or it would be if RS didn't ruin it with Persie doing very obvious cover-ups for story flaws a lot of critics pointed out while she's descending.

Like "Oh, I don't talk or think about how the fuck Apollo managed to channel my powers or where Hades actually is because I'm disassociating from it as a defense mechanism."

Persie that would be way more convincing if you'd done literally anything besides sitting on your ass and whining this season.

This constant narrative that everything is just too much for poor girlboss Persie and that's why she's doing fuck all doesn't really work when all that happened is that people rightfully called Persie out for making a mess while Persie hid away in the Underworld. Rather than work on solutions to the problems she caused or at least try to help with the fall-out.

She hasn't tried to learn more about her powers or about her deal. She didn't try to get in contact with Erebus. She hasn't done anything to try and free Melinoe from Kronos. She didn't help with the preparations for the sleep dive, neither did she even offer to take part in it even though it concerns both her and Hades' kingdom. She refused to participate in the meeting between the gods on what to do about the "plague" but still felt the need to make commentary over the phone. She hasn't come forward about Apollo's numerous crimes to keep him from taking over Olympus, even though she has several powerful deities to back up her claims.

Every time Persie could have chosen to become more than a passive bystander, she had some other character step up and do or say something instead.

Hera: "So are the fertility goddess stories real and you are one?"

Is... is that not common knowledge at this point?

The Fertility Goddess Mystery Box is becoming bloated with how much shit RS keeps putting in.

So apparently whatever Apollo did with the help of Ouranos at the broadcast was only "manufactured" and any greenery he managed to create with Persie has presumably died again by now. Okay. Persie knows this how?

The irony of RS making Hades look exactly like Kronos in the flashback to him and Persie accidentally doing the going giant-thing.

Persephone: "I did make [Apollo] bleed from his eyes and ears though, so that's a win."

Huh?

Persephone: "It's something I can do with my new powers; I was sort of able to rot his physical form from the inside."

Huh?

Persephone: "I think I can do some damage to Kronos that way."

HUH???

Hold on, so does Persie know how her powers work or does she not??? What is it with this cloud somersault in logic???? When the fuck did she figure this out????

Hera: "I'm not really one for combat."

Girl you fought in the fucking Titanomachy, what do you mean???

(The way RS repeatedly portrays women as physically helpless and incapable of defending themselves without outside help, I want to throw up all of my organs)

Alright, as much as I hate everything leading up to it I actually like the conversation between Hera and Kronos. Hera using Kronos' victim complex and egocentrism against him is actually really clever. And I like the small glimpse we get into Kronos' past and how Ouranos' abuse helped shape him into the monster we know today.

Kronos justifying his own cruelty by comparing it to Ouranos' allegedly much more evil deeds while completely missing that his actions have made him no better than Ouranos is neat. That's abusers for you. "I know I hurt you but I could've been worse! Also I had it way worse than you! Pity me!"

I did not expect Hera drawing this paralell between her and Kronos, of being deities who did horrible things for the greater good and ended up despised despite the sacrifices they made, but it's cool.

It's bullshit, but it's bullshit Hera knows Kronos will buy because of just how blind he is to his own faults.

Okay, final thoughts.

Someone else pointed this out, but this is literally just the season 3 finale again.

Kronos takes over a large part of the Underworld and controls the bodies of a bunch of powerful deities, Hades among them.

Persephone has to descend to the Underworld.

Another powerful god tags along with Persie and does 80% of the work to set up Persie's #Girlboss victory.

Not RS building up a different villain all season and then just going "Sike! It's Kronos again!"

At this point, I fully expect Ouranos and Apollo to be defeated off-screen.

[username599]

Everyones talking about the changes they don't like about the Percy Jackson show, but personally there are only a few changes that I didn't like.

I wish they would have done the spiders in the theme park, because it does show Annabeth's character and really shouldn't have been taken out. I did really like the changes to that scene though I just wish they included the spiders.

Everyone is talking about Gabe not being that bad but they have to realize that this is a show for children and it is censorship and there have been signs of abuse just not "textbook" abuse.

I wish they included the hellhound because it kind of upped the stakes in the books. It showed that the thief was someone at camp because hellhounds can only be let in by a camper. Also sword fighting with Luke was something I wish they kept in.

The 1st 2 episodes were rushed and I wish they were either spread out more into 3 episodes or the episodes were like an hour long rather than 30-45 minutes. I understand that it is a kids show so shorter episodes are what is typical, but for a season that is so reliant on the 1st episodes they rushed It all so much and could have added an extra episode.

Last thing that I think really should have been added was the zoo truck. We didn't get the discussion with Percy and Annabeth which make since because they already have similar talks in other episodes, but Percy didn't talk to the zebra. It's so funny and weird in the books and I think it would have been a really fun addition to the show. I hope we do get that in later seasons though because it is a funny, unimportant (yet still kind of important) part of Percy's character as a son of Poseidon. I've haven't seen anyone talk about this at all but I think it was a weird thing to take out.

Although there are a lot of changes that I don't like I agree with a lot of the changes. They seem to be including more mythology into the series that what is in the books. The Medusa episode was SO good I love everything about. The gold throne was really good and I absolutely loved the speech that Annabeth gave to Hephaestus. What happened in the books at the amusement park, I'm pretty sure, didn't really relate to mythology so adding the throne added something that would make more sense in the Greek world. I love that they are giving Grover more plot, the lotus casino with Augustus was just so good and really added depth to who Grover is. A lot of people didn't seem to like the addition of Luke's moms story being so early in the series, but I think it will ultimately make the betrayal hit a lot harder.

I love the change of the timing of seaweed brain and wise girl. In the books they starts as insults to one another before they become friends, but they don't call each other that until after they become friends in the show. In the books it is used repeatedly as an insult and changes to an endearing teasing, but I like that it never was really an insult in the show rather it's just like a fun nickname that didn't start as an insult.

For the next episode, episode 7, I'm interested to see what they do for it because the sneak peek includes so many different things that I think will be hard to squeeze into 1 45 minute episode.

Personally I think this show is what Rick would have done now. When he wrote the lightning thief he was an inexperienced author and now he had written so many books and probably has done so much more research on Greek mythology.

[babysharl]

I was tagged by the lovelies @fueledbyremembering, @amarynas and @epylonia (edit: just realised @celientjeee tagged me too hahah) to post a snippet of one of my WIPs, and when I asked Ella just how long a snippet should be, she suggested I posted two hahah So here you guys have a snippet of my polyam Max fic set in 2022 that I don't know if it'll ever see the light of day, and then a very very short snippet of another Lestappen fic that I hope to have some time to work on someday.

I know everyone's already been tagged, but if you guys @celientjeee @fabbyf1 @drivestraight want to post another one I'm tagging you ^^ (obvs no pressure)

Snippets under the cut

Polyam Max,

"You may have had a point." Max said as soon as he got to his driver’s room, knowing Kelly would be waiting inside.  Kelly arched an eyebrow at him.  "I went out of my way to talk to him about the weather."  "You did not." Kelly’s eyes shot wide, a grin pulling at her lips. And then she was breaking out laughing. "Oh, Max."  "It's not funny." Max mumbled, running a hand through his hair, thinking he should probably be hitting the showers right now. He had to smell disgusting.  "It kinda is." Kelly laughed. Then shook her head, coming closer to him and reaching for his left hand, squeezing it softly. "Just talk to him."  "Talk to him? I think that would put me straight back into the hating zone. I’m not even sure he’s… And he has a girlfriend."  "I'm not so sure about that." Kelly frowned. Max looked at her questioningly, but she went on, "I didn't mean talk to him in any particular way, though. Just talk to him like you would Lando or Dan. You can be just friends too, you know?"  "I doubt anything will come out of it even if I do… uh. Approach him.” Kelly arched an eyebrow at him, so Max kept on. “He has a girlfriend. Don't even know if he's bi." And that made her snort. "That man's bi. I guarantee it." She kept laughing, and Max stared at her, not really knowing what to do now. Yeah, Kelly had been right in Spain, but that didn’t mean Max could do anything about it. "I even think he has a crush on you too." "Kelly, don't."  "Okay." She raised her hands in surrender. Then came closer again, pecked his cheek and pulled a face, "You stink."  "I know." 

Aaaand second snippet for the other fic,

It's been an unspoken agreement between them for years. If come summer or winter break they weren't in a relationship, they spent it together. It never survived come the routine of the race weekends again. Or better said, they agreed it was better to kill it before it could bleed out during the season. But it wasn't enough. Breaks had never been enough, and both of them knew it. Both of them had known it. Max knew Charles felt like this too. He also knew Charles would just say it was all too complicated.

[ravenya003]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Out of Mind, Out of Sight; E01E11

I dig this episode! In the grand scheme of things it’s fairly negligible, with a Monster of the Week who never reappears (even though she should have) and a fairly oddball premise (once again “mystical Hellmouth energy” is the real villain) but which also happens to be our first Cordelia-centric episode (demonstrating she has more depth than we’ve so far given her credit for) and guest stars none other than Clea DuVall.

It becomes even more bemusing when you take into account the fact that this is season one’s penultimate episode, for aside from a tiny subplot that sets up the finale and introduces Angel to the Scoobies for the first time, Buffy spends most of it trying to hunt down an invisible girl.

The more I think about this episode, the quirkier it becomes.

To start with, there’s some debate about what this episode is actually called. In some regions it’s referred to as “Invisible Girl,” and in others “Out of Mind, Out of Sight.” I'm not sure why, but I don’t think anyone could disagree that the latter is an infinitely better title than the former – not only is “Invisible Girl” a massive spoiler, but it also clashes with the next episode title: “Prophecy Girl.” Two girls in a row? That doesn’t flow very well.

On the other hand, “out of mind, out of sight” is not only a famous idiom, but also a very literate description of what happens to Marcie Ross in this episode. Everyone ignores her, and so she disappears. Plus, this is the title that appears on my DVD menu, so as far as I’m concerned, that’s the official name of the episode.

The episode kicks off, and Harmony is back! The first of the Cordettes to make a return appearance. She and Cordelia are jabbering in the hallway about the upcoming school dance, and Buffy overhears wistfully, no doubt recalling her days when she was popular. Now she’s a clumsy weirdo, scorned by the girls who would have otherwise been her friends.

It’s a rather heavy-handed scene, though an important component is that Harmony points out that: “she’s always hanging out with that creepy librarian in that creepy library.” Again, the other students might be spurning Buffy, but they are noticing what she’s getting up to. It all contributes to the subtle lead-up to the events of the Prom in season three.

In English class they’re discussing The Merchant of Venice, which is funny because I just watched the 2004 version last month. Amusingly, Cordelia has no sympathy whatsoever for Shylock, but it’s worth noting that she has an argument to make and demonstrates that she understands the material. Cordelia might be awful, but she’s clearly not unintelligent.

Also, we’re introduced to another member of the Sunnydale High faculty: Ms Miller, who is also the show’s third (?) featured Black person. I really should have been keeping count of these rare sightings of melanin skin in what is meant to be a Southern Californian town.

We cut to Mitch in the locker room, who is making a lewd comment to his friends about Cordelia. We actually met him a couple of scenes ago as Cordelia’s latest squeeze, and a fun fact is that he’s played by Ryan Bittle, who was the original Todd Wilkins in the Sweet Valley High series. Why is this relevant? Because the second actor to play Todd Wilkins was Jeremy Vincent Garrett, who also features on this show, in season two’s “Go Fish.” I enjoy these little coincidences.

He’s getting dressed after his shower when a levitating baseball, swiftly following on the heels of a malicious giggle, starts to beat the shit out of him. I can’t say it’s not a little satisfying (let’s be real – that gross comment he made about Cordy was to give us permission to enjoy this beatdown).

Just to really drive home the fact that Buffy is feeling lonely and left out, Xander and Willow start laughing about an in-joke that remains incomprehensible – something about a field trip, some antlers, and a hat. It never gets explained and it never gets brought up again. And to further hammer home the point, just in case you’re not getting it, Buffy divulges that she was once the May Queen at her old school. (Cordelia is campaigning and refuses to give her a cupcake).

The news breaks that Mitch has been attacked in the locker room and Snyder appears out of nowhere to announce that: “no one’s dead... this week.” Heh. Mitch is wheeled out on a gurney and manages to tell the assorted crowd what happened, and when Buffy goes to investigate, the Slayerettes very handily distract Snyder with talk about how the school is going to be sued. That’s teamwork.

There’s not much to see in the changing room, only the word “look” graffitied on the lockers. I’m also compelled to point out that there are no cops on the scene. I mean, they call an ambulance but not the police? (And yes, I do understand why the writers were loathe to involve the police force on a regular basis; it’s a discussion point I’m working my way up to).

In the cafeteria, the Scoobies and Giles are discussing their options and draw the obvious conclusion that it’s poltergeist activity. Buffy doesn’t think the attack was random, and Giles promises to draw up a list of students that’ve gone missing recently. In a slightly weird moment, Giles tries to recruit Xander into do some research, though in hindsight it’s just setup for a joke in which Buffy suggests he interview Cordelia instead, and he leaps at the chance to hit the books.

Harmony is commiserating with Cordelia about Mitch, though she’s mostly concerned about how awful he’s going to look in the Prom pictures. This segues into an interesting creative decision: we suddenly switch to a black-and-white flashback that depicts Cordelia and Harmony being approached by an unseen girl (it’s shot from her point-of-view) who is scornfully dismissed.

I’m not entirely sure if this was the best way to reveal Marcie (though technically, we don’t actually see her at this point) but this is nothing if not an oddball episode.

Back in the present day, Harmony is abruptly yanked off her feet and thrown down a flight of stairs. Yikes, it’s actually very wince-inducing, so well done to the stunt double. Buffy is on hand to help, and Snyder pops up to say: “don’t sue.” Heh heh.

Someone brushes past Buffy that she can’t see, though she hears a malevolent little giggle. She follows it into the band room, but fails to notice a hatch opening in the roof.

As the students leave at the end of the day, there’s a quick panning shot away from two distinctive-looking men in black suits and sunglasses (don’t worry, we’ll get back to them) and Buffy tells Giles that their ghost theory no longer holds water: she felt someone bump into her, which isn’t a typical trait of ghosts.

Their next option is simply a girl who is invisible, though Willow gets a cute moment when she says: “is she a witch? Because we can fight a witch.” (Continuity!) And yet whoever this girl is, her motive is clear, since the common denominator in both attacks was each victim’s proximity to Cordelia. Man, I really miss these detective-based episodes in later seasons.

There’s also a rather sad moment when Willow and Xander depart, and you can hear him ask: “do you wanna come to our place tonight for dinner? Mom's making her famous phone call to the Chinese place.” We learn so little about Xander and Willow’s families, and yet every glimpse we get is pretty dire. It’s a shame in a way that the show never delved into their backgrounds, because it would make sense on a psychological level that their absolute commitment to Buffy and her cause is based on not getting any love or validation at home.

Buffy decides to keep a watch on Cordelia, who for some reason is preparing her May Queen dress with her friends in a classroom after school hours (is there a reason she’s not doing this at home??) But I’m taking a moment to express my fondness for the fuzzy aesthetic of season one: the grainy quality of the footage, the slightly sluggish pacing, the rather unwieldy blocking – it’s such a far cry from the snappy editing and glossy visuals we get these days, and I love it.

Also, I feel that none of the girls in this classroom scene were given much direction, as there are some very awkward ad-libs (“how does the, um, hem go?”) and blocking (what on earth is the girl with the paper decorations doing?) going on. It’s charming in a very excruciating way.

Buffy peers at them through the window in the door, looking wistful, and are you getting it? I’m worried it’s too subtle. Buffy feels isolated and ignored, people! This might be thematically relevant later on!

Buffy draws away from the door when she hears flute music, but cannot find its source. In a nice segue, Giles looks up from his research in the library, also hearing the flute. He starts to investigate, and... okay, I love this scene. Giles meets Angel for the first time, and it’s nothing like I would have expected. (I actually started watching Buffy at the start of season three, and so season one always felt a bit like a prequel – and like I said, this meeting was not what I had anticipated for these two).

First of all, Giles gets a fright because he sees his reflection in a glass bookcase which demonstrates he’s alone – only to turn and realize Angel is standing right beside him. He looks back, and sure enough, vampires cast no reflection. That part is nicely done, and is solid setup for later in the episode when Angel’s vampiric abilities allows him to enter the gas-filled boiler room (heck, it even creates a neat comparison to Marcie’s invisibility, even though those two characters have nothing whatsoever to do with each other).

Giles recognizes him instantly, and Angel reassures him that he’s in no danger. Also, that he’s been trying to stay away since it hurts to be around Buffy. Um, sure. You’ve interacted with her, like what – seven times? And you’re in excruciating emotional pain when she’s around? I get that vampires score high on the melodrama scale, but honestly. Maybe he’s talking about literal pain since the last time we saw him Buffy accidentally seared a crucifix into his chest.

It doesn’t matter, because the most fascinating thing about this scene is that Giles doesn’t automatically enter Dad Mode. In fact, he seems a little awestruck with the idea of a vampire being in love with a Slayer, calling it “poetic.” I love that they made this choice for him; that you’d fully expect him to be disapproving of what Angel is doing, and instead finding it romantic.

We then get to the plot-relevant part of the scene, which plays out like a sneaky little alleyway thoroughfare to the events of the finale. Angel has approached Giles because he knows he’s researching the Master, and Giles laments the fact that so many texts of prophecy have gone missing.

I am POWERFULLY interested in the fact that there are apparently volumes of Slayer prophecies that detail what her role is in the “end years.” So many questions. Who wrote these books? That Aurelius guy? Are they just about the Master or do they involve all the other apocalypses that Buffy has to face? How does Angel know how to get hold of them? Who are his contacts?

Sorry, I just love the whole concept of prophecies, even though in this case, it’s clearly just basic table-setting for the unfolding plot. We’re not meant to be interested in anything beyond the fact that they exist, even though I would TOTALLY sit down to read an ancient tome that detailed prophecies concerning the Slayer line. That would actually be a total delight. Damn, I’m excited just thinking about it...

Okay, so the POINT of this entire exchange is that Angel promises to bring Giles something called the Pergamum Codex, which the latter believed had been lost in the fifteenth century. It has the most complete prophecies about what to expect from Buffy’s upcoming conflict with the Master, and it’s cute how Giles geeks out a little about getting his hands on it.

We are prepping for the next episode here, but the scene ends on an even more overt parallel between Angel and Marcie when Giles informs Angel they’re researching an invisible girl. It’s kinda funny actually, since he’s essentially saying “I know the end of the world is imminent, but first we gotta take care of this invisible teenager.” He remarks that being invisible would be a heady experience, and Angel advocates for the enjoyment of seeing one’s reflection in the mirror each morning.

Which segues us into... another flashback, this time one that shows us Marcie’s face as she’s – sure enough – looking at her reflection in a restroom mirror. Again, it’s a somewhat interesting way to reveal the identity and visage of this character, as all this context is still very much a mystery to Buffy and her cohorts (it’s rare that the audience gets clued-in before the protagonists) but it depicts her once again getting the brush-off by Cordelia and Harmony.

Back in the present day, Principal Snyder announces Cordelia as the May Queen, and promptly disappears from the rest of the episode (Snyder, not Cordelia). She begins her acceptance speech, while Buffy looks on from the walkway.

The suit-and-sunglasses men are noticeably loitering nearby, and Willow mistakes them for Cordy’s bodyguards before presenting Buffy with a list of missing students. The latest is a girl called Marcie Ross, who went missing six months ago. Hmm, if these episodes are evenly spaced over the course of a school year, that means she went missing sometime during the events of “The Pack” or “Angel.”

Willow and Xander claims they’ve never heard of her, but according to the list, Marcie’s only extra-curricular activity was playing the flute. The flute!

Buffy investigates the band room, and this time notices the hatch in the ceiling. She climbs up into the crawlspace and discovers where Marcie has been living – it’s a bit sad, since there’s a teddy and her flute, as well as a yearbook that confirms it’s indeed Marcie Ross who has been terrorizing the school.

Unbeknownst to Buffy, Marcie is in the room with her, and a knife starts levitating in midair as she searches her belongings. However, for whatever reason Marcie opts to not attack, and Buffy climbs back down into the classroom with her yearbook in hand, none the wiser.

In a quick scene, Ms Miller is alone in her classroom when Marcie whips a plastic bag over her head and leaves her for dead. Luckily, Cordelia arrives just in time to save her, and the pair of them turn to see a bit of chalk write “listen” on the blackboard behind them.

Buffy has brought her evidence to Willow and Xander in the library, and they’re perturbed when they realize they signed her yearbook (and attended classes with her) without ever registering her existence.

Giles comes up with the theory that this phenomenon isn’t magical in nature at all, but rather scientific – that because nobody noticed Marcie’s presence, she literally became invisible. Nah dude, it’s not physics, it’s just funky Hellmouth energy doing its thing.

We’re treated to one last flashback in which Marcie is sitting in Ms Miller’s class, being completely ignored by students and teacher alike. As she raises her hand in vain, she watches as it disappears before her very eyes.

Back in the present, Cordelia marches into the library in search of help. Again, this is a nice bit of lead-up to the Prom, since a. she knows where to find Buffy, and b. feels like she can call upon her for assistance when things get weird. It’s becoming public knowledge on campus that this is what Buffy does. Cordelia has also realized she’s the common element in these attacks – confirmed by the photo of her in Marcie’s yearbook that’s been rather viciously scribbled on.

Cordelia refuses to skip the May Queen celebrations that night, and Buffy backs her up: using Cordelia as bait could be a perfect way to draw Marcie out of hiding. Giles aims to work on a cure for her invisibility, while Willow and Xander will keep researching.

But the problem with invisible assailants is that they could be anywhere – like say, in the library stacks, listening to everything being said.

Buffy escorts Cordelia to a janitor’s closest where she can change into her dress, and the two exchange some nice dialogue about the nature of popularity. Cordelia expresses empathy for what Marcie’s going through, and divulges that she too knows what it feels like to be lonely. According to her, you can be surrounded by other people and still feel alone, and Buffy presumably realizes what the viewer has known this whole time – that she has the better deal when it comes to her friends. She might not be as popular as she was in L.A., but Willow and Xander are worth a thousand vapid Cordettes. And deep down, Cordelia knows this too.

Speaking of Willow and Xander (and Giles), they overhear the sound of a flute in the hall and start following it... naturally it’s a trap, and the three of them are locked in the boiler room with a tape recording and an open gas valve while Marcie drags Cordelia out of the janitor’s closet through a hatch in the ceiling. God knows where she got the upper body strength to pull THAT off.

Not realizing her friends are in danger, Buffy goes after Cordelia. The rest of the Scoobies try to escape the boiler room, but the door is locked and trying to break it open might cause a spark that could trigger an explosion (hey, I wonder if this episode is what inspired the idea of eventually blowing up the entire school at the end of season three).

Buffy reaches the crawlspace in the ceiling, only to fall back through the roof and get injected with something contained in a floating syringe – next to her is Cordelia, already unconscious.

When she wakes up, she’s at the Bronze. Again, how did Marcie manage to pull this off? She and Cordelia are tied to fancy chairs, and the word “learn” is written in glitter on a nearby curtain. Marcie makes herself known, waving a scalpel around and declaring that she’s going to pull a To The Pain on Cordelia’s face. Clearly she’s a fan of The Princess Bride.

Buffy tries to talk her out of her vengeance, while the Scoobies desperately try to escape the boiler room before succumbing to the gas. Luckily for them, Angel turns up with the promised Codex for Giles and drags them to safety, while Buffy yanks herself free of her bonds, closes her eyes, and uses her super-hearing (another Slayer ability?) to pinpoint Marcie’s location.

At just the right moment, she tackles Marcie into the curtain, exposing her whereabouts. It’s at that moment the FBI agents burst through the door and take Marcie into custody. It’s played for laughs a little, what with Buffy calling them creepy and the agents wishing her a nice day, but she does manage to establish that this sort of thing has happened before, and that Marcie will be “rehabilitated.” She’s taken away by the agents, while Buffy unties Cordelia.

So another episode ends with no deaths! For some bizarre reason, the Scoobies keep the fact that Angel rescued them from her (it really annoys me when they do this, and it’s not even clear why they do so) and Cordelia approaches in order to give them heartfelt thanks... at least until Mitch turns up and asks why she’s talking to these losers.

She snaps back to her usual self – though there’s been some progress there, and we the audience know that there are hidden depths at work.

Finally, Marcie is ushered into a seemingly classroom where nobody but the teacher can be seen. Still, the place is clearly filled with people, as a chorus of voices greet her as she takes her seat (but how’d she know what desk to sit down at if everyone is invisible?) She opens her textbook to a chapter called “Assassination and Infiltration” and laughs to herself.

A classic mid-tier episode, but also an oddball one in several respects. I guess I’m chuffed over the fact that the second-to-last episode of this season is a fairly throwaway story about an invisible girl, which also includes a tiny narrative thread that involves things like Angel meeting Giles and delivering an important Plot Coupon for the finale.

At a time where television shows are essentially big movies split into eight or so episodes, it’s an amusing reminder that writers once had to give consideration to the way their stories were structured. And that could lead to some quirky creative decisions. So yes, it bemuses me that this episode gives Angel a little sliver of a subplot that sets up the finale while Buffy is fighting an invisible girl who will never be seen again.

That said, Marcie is referenced again – though not by name, if I recall. Xander asks Buffy if she’s been felling ignored when she gets turned invisible in season six, and there’s a throwaway gag in season seven in which Buffy spots a girl turning invisible at the rebuilt Sunnydale High and tries to assure her that she’s “seen.”

But Marcie was perfectly primed to return at some point – more so than (for example) the Mantis eggs at the end of “Teachers Pet.” Hindsight is 20/20, and yet it’s impossible not to feel a little disappointed that the show didn’t take the opportunity to seed the existence of the Initiative with this episode. How easy would it have been to recon the agents of this episode into Initiative recruits in season four, and for Marcie to return in some capacity during that season? That final scene demanded a Sequel Episode.

But having deliberately drawn a connection between Buffy and Marcie and setting them up as foils, what with both of them feeling ignored and out of place, it was odd that the episode ends with Buffy simply dismissing Marcie out of hand. That she went from “we did this to her” to “you’re a raging looney” just didn’t feel right. That Buffy is empathetic is a pretty crucial component to her character.

So it’s a bit different to discern the final message here. Perhaps it was “there but for the grace of my friends go I,” since Buffy is grounded by her friendship with Willow and Xander, and clearly isn’t going down a bitter or resentful path when it comes to the way Cordelia treats her. That's the most crucial difference between herself and Marcie, and ironically, this episode marks the beginning of a friendship with Cordelia.

Miscellaneous Observations:

I’d like to think that Marcie’s “lesson” stayed with Cordelia. She shrugs it off by the end of the episode, but she does improve from here on out, and I’d like to think that she’s realized that the way she treats people matters.

I like the little detail that Angel offers to go back into the boiler room to turn off the gas since “it’s not like I need the air.” It demonstrates that vampirism does have some specific advantages (which will also turn up in the very last Angel episode) and kind of feels like foreshadowing for the next episode, in which he’s unable to perform CPR on Buffy.

During my high school years, I recall having to study a play called “After All We’ve Done” in which a boy is constantly discussed by his family and peers, but never actually seen on-stage. They’re constantly talking over him, micro-managing his life, making unreasonable demands of him, and eventually crying “after all we’ve done!” when he snaps and destroys an art exhibition at school. But like I said – he’s never actually seen on-stage. The point of the story is that he’s entirely acted upon, and I think of it every time I watch this episode.

Also, this YouTube prank of a guy convincing his younger brother that he’s become invisible.

Speaking of high school, among my friend-group the phrase “have a nice summer” became something of an in-joke thanks to this episode. We all wrote it in each other’s yearbook just to wind each other up.

After all that talk of ghosts, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t one. But technically, isn’t Sunnydale High already haunted by the spirits of that student and teacher who were having a love affair back in the fifties? It’s amusing to think they’re haunting a completely different part of the school while Buffy was trying to hunt down Marcie.

I still think it’s weird that Angel appears in this episode and not “Nightmares,” which could have showcased his character in an interesting way. Still, there’s got to be a fun story about how exactly he got his hands on the Codex.

It was fun to see Clea DuVall, and yes, this was one of her earliest projects. I know her best from The Faculty and the first season of Heroes, but she’s been working regularly over the years, most recently in The Handmaid’s Tale and American Horror Story.

As fond as I am of this episode, there are some lingering questions. Like where on earth were Marcie’s parents? Did they ignore her too? Is there a reason she chose to hunker down in a nest at the school instead of just being invisible at home?

I mentioned in the summary that perhaps the threat of the boiler room blowing up was the inspiration for the entire school going kaboom at the end of season three. On a similar note, the fact that Buffy blames the student body for Marcie’s invisibility complex also reminded me of Jonathan. Like Marcie, he’s aggressively ignored by everyone – though in his case, it’s also the audience who partakes in the “not noticing” his presence. I wouldn't be surprised if the idea of his character stemmed from this episode.

All that in mind, I’m deeming this one an Innocuously Important Episode. It’s very indicative of season one, in which the writers were still playing around with the rules of the premise, and not for the first time building their plot around a metaphor (much like “Nightmares,” the real villain is the way perception can affect reality – this angle largely disappeared after season one).

Best Line: Giles: “The loneliness, the constant exile, she's gone quite mad!” Xander: “Yah think?” Okay, it’s not that clever, but Nicholas Brendan slathers it in so much sarcasm that I have to give it props.

Best Scene: When Cordelia reveals some hidden depths and bonds with Buffy through the door of the janitor’s closest. It’s been eleven episodes, and she’s finally humanized a little.

Biggest Unanswered Question: How did the FBI know that Marcie had turned invisible? It suggests some sort of inside man who can report on the strange goings-on at the school, but this thread is never picked up on. Again, it’s a shame that the show never tied them in with the Initiative.

Death Toll: For the second episode in a row, no fatalities! That leaves us with:

Grand Total: Fifteen civilians, fifteen villains, one ally.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 10/05/2024

The Jamminest of All

Season 5 Featured on: The Space Jam Charity SLAM!: First Quarter

Ripped by Nozobot

Requested by TimTom! (Request Form)

I think I mentioned it before in a post once or twice, but part of what makes Space Jam so difficult to cover on here is because its the kind of mashup source that's almost intentionally used uncreatively a lot of the time. It is THE mashup song even more than All-Star is - a nostalgic 4/4ths time signature tune with verses so catchy yet oh so redundant, they can be interspersed together with just about any piece of VGM and end up creating a new earworm. Hoopache was interesting if only for breaking that trend by its time signature change, and Space Jam has been used as a *supporting* source to great effect in rips like Mother, Father, Technoman to maintain a rip's momentum - yet for a while, it felt as if getting creativity out of Space Jam mashups was like squeezing blood from a stone. That was, of course, part of the joke, and further part of what led to the Space Jam Charity Slam!: a charity event wherein viewers could donate to request Space Jam rips to be made, althewhile also being provided hours upon hours of brand-new Space Jam content. Space Jam stocks were at an all-time high - and all rippers were on deck.

I'll be honest - I didn't exactly pick The Jamminest of All to cover today necessarily because I believe its the BEST rip from the event, because I've honestly not LISTENED to most rips from the event. With 500+ rips uploaded in total, its a daunting task to go down - yet one that's undeniably fun to put on shuffle if only to see the funny thumbnail changes. Yet what stands out to me about The Jamminest of All is specifically how it connects to the end of the last paragraph - how ripper of all sorts were all on board contributing to this massive bonanza, even ones you'd never think would have interest in Space Jamming. Not that I'd say Nozobot is above being a little stupid - Sex - Steve Harvey remains the most stupid video on this entire channel - but they're also the kind of ripper that made Assassin's Sneed, Hidden Headtoilets (skibidi toree 2) and tons of fantastic YTPMVs on their own channel. What I mean to say is, they're not one to cut corners, one to always put their own spin on things - and when given the task to do a Space Jam rip with The Jamminest of All, you can really feel that personality exuding from it.

I mean first of all, the choice of song alone. Lucky Strike isn't exactly one of Maroon 5's biggest hits, released right as the band was sort of, um, getting bad - but it is, fun fact, the first Maroon 5 song that Chaze the Chat ever used on SiIvaGunner for a rip. The contrast between it and The Jamminest of All is insane - the former primarily just using its instrumentals to add touches to an Undertale song, wheras this rip is hitting us with Space Jam's background vocalists being pitch-shifted right off the bat. Within just a minute's runtime, Nozobot crams in so many fun uses of the Space Jam audio - I love how perfectly the "yes sir, yes sir" is replaced with "Space Jam, Space Jam" just through removing a measure of the Space Jam intro, the way Barkley's lead vocals end up feeling so seamlessly hype despite how much they've been shortened and spliced up - and all the while, the rip is having tons of fun sprinkling in clips from NBA Jam and Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden just for flavor.

Still within that same minute, the rip briefly turns into an actual Space Jam mashup, with Adam Levine's vocals returning for the bridge in the typical 4/4 Space Jam mashup format - only for the chorus to break out into the biggest surprise of the whole rip. No matter how many times I watch it, the NA-NA-NA-NA-NAs from the original Space Jam being pitch-shifted to the "ooo-oohs" of Lucky Strike's original chorus always just cracks me up - its such BRILLIANT use of such a minescule, oft-forgotten part of the Space Jam tune and EXACTLY the kind of thing that I'd suspect Nozobot of coming up with for a rip using it. I realize now that I've practically walked you through the rip's entire runtime - but I hope you understand why! Every step of it is crafted so expertly, yet never to a clinical degree - always with Nozobot's patended craziness just an inch away from breaking free.

Despite that zaniness still present in The Jamminest of All, it's remarkable how "controlled" it all ends up feeling. I can't quite describe it - its as if Nozobot actually engineered the rip with a three-act storytelling structure, and it ends up working far better than it has any right to. But then, that's part of why Space Jam rips can be so fun to follow - amidst all the people just making the simple ones for fun, the likes of which were plentiful during the Charity Slam! (many of which were fantastic), there's always going to be true gems like this, rips that find frankly insane mileage out of such a played-out source all of these years later. Hell, you remember how it was used in my rip :) right - even the most "played out" mashup joke still has enough life in its bones to bring so many incredible rips to fruition. Be it through ironic enjoyment or post-ironic enjoyment, who really cares? Slam Jam's fun, and The Jamminest of All is a testament to how fun it can be when wielded at the hands of a true expert.

[itsyamutha]

Anything to help ~ Carl Grimes

Carl x reader

Season 6

Alexandria/ eye patch

Warning: oral given, swearing (let’s just imagine we’re 18)

Word count: 1027

It had been 3 days since carls eye incident. I had finished my work for the day and remembered that Carl was told to rest. Why don’t I go check on him and see if he needs anything. Carl was my best friend and we always help each other out. If it weren’t for my uncle Hershel taking them in I would have never met him. Ever since then I had developed a crazy crush on him, but he’s my best friend. I don’t want to mess up our friendship. I walked in to his room to see him slumped.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty.” I knocked on his door frame. When he sat up in bed was when I realized that he was shirtless. I handed him some pain killers and a bottle of water.

As he took his meds my eyes veered down to his chest and toned stomach plus the bullet wound from when we met.

“Ay my eye is up here.“ he spoke snapping me out of it.

“Damn I see we’re feeling good enough to make jokes,… also too soon.” I giggled.

“Well I thought it was funny.” He replied. I shook my head in response to his comment.

“So how are you feeling today.”

“I’m a little sore, kinda dizzy and I have a killer headache but that’s about it.” He said holding his head.

“I haven’t really left this bed much so my whole body is stiff.” I felt bad because I knew he was in lots of pain.

“I’m sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Actually yes there is. I haven’t taken a shower and since I’m all disoriented, can you help me get to the bathroom?”

“Of course can.” I replied. He removed the blanket and slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. I wrapped my arm around his back and helped him stand. We walked to the bathroom one step at a time. He held himself up on the bathroom counter.

“Do you need anything else?” I just want to make sure he was ok.

“I think I’m good for rn.” He answered with a weak smile.

“Ok, we’ll I’ll be in the bedroom so just yell for me if you need anything.” I walked leaving the door cracked a little. I walked over and threw myself on the bed. About five minutes later I heard the shower turn off.

“Y/N. Can you come here?”

“Yeah.”

He was holding a towel around his waist. DAMN HE LOOK FINE!

“It’s too hot in here it’s making me nauseous. We slowly walked to the bed. He sat down with the towel on his lap. I handed him his clothes.

“I’m sorry but can u at least get my boxers to my knees so I can pull them up. I helped him with the boxers then turned around so he could pull them up.

“Ok your good to turn back around.” He said. I helped him put on his sweatpants as well. After, I sat next to him on the bed. He placed his hand on mine and looked me in the eyes.

“Y/n thank you so much it really means a lot to me.” He lightly squeezed my hand.

“Carl you don’t need to thank me. Your my best friend that’s what I’m here for.” I reassured.

We stared at each other for a moment before I looked down. He lifted my chin and kissed me. I instantly melted into the kiss. The kiss started to become more intense. We readjusted so that I was straddling him. I pulled away for a second.

“Wait am I hurting you.” I asked.

“No, not at all beautiful.” My heart fluttered when he said that. I started to kiss down his chin and his neck. I pulled away and connected with Carls lips again. His hands traveled all over my thighs and my ass lightly squeezing. I pulled away to attack his neck again leaving faint marks. My hands rubbed up and down his chest. I slowly made my way down his chest.

“God you’re so gorgeous” he gasped. I slipped one finger under his waist band.

“May I?” I looked up at him.

“Yes you may.” I rubbed the bulge before pulling his pants and boxers down. I wanted to tease him so I licked the tip. I felt his body shutter underneath me. I did it once more.

“Please Y/n.” He looked down at me with a pleading look. I spit on my hand and stroked him up and down before taking his length in my mouth. Carl threw his head back and let out a low groan. I moved up and down for another two minutes. I felt his body twitch so I knew he was close.

“Oh fuck this feels so good.” He growled.

“Uh fuck fuck….uh….. FUCK.”

I felt a warm liquid shoot in my mouth. Without thinking I swallowed a moment before connecting our lips again. We cleaned up and Carl threw on a shirt before heading downstairs.

Michonne and Daryl walked threw the front door.

“Oh hey guys.” I said handing Carl a cup of water.

“So how ya feelin kiddo.” Daryl asked.

“I feel fantastic.” He said with a smirk.

“Yeah I can tell by all those hickeys.” Michonne said giggling. I froze not knowing how to respond.

“Are they really that bad?” Carl asked. I smacked his arm and they all started laughing.

“I hate y’all. I’m going to go make dinner now.” I walked away. A few moments later I turned around to see Carl. He rested his hands on my hips and pulled me closer. Our lips met once again. Before he whisper in my ear.

“Y/n, I love you.”

“I love you too.” He sat down at the island.

“Oh I just remembered I have a surprise for you.” He raised an eyebrow. I pulled a X-men comic out my bag.

“I love you even more.” He exclaimed

[canirove]

I don’t like you, Mason Mount | Chapter 2

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Have you texted him yet?"

"Text who?"

"Mason, of course!"

"Why would I do that?"

"He gave you his number over Christmas, and we are half way January. You should have texted him already" my sister Monica says.

"But I don't want to text him. I already told you I don't like him."

"Whatever" she says, rolling her eyes.

"If you are so interested on him, why don't you text him?"

"Because he is interested on you, not me. And besides, he is too young for me."

"And for me."

"Oh, c'mon. He's just a couple of years younger than yourself."

"Sometimes that's enough" I shrug.

"Where is his card?"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I think it is on the bag I took to the game, but I haven't checked."

"You are the worst" Monica says, getting up from the sofa.

"Where are you going?"

"To your room, to find that card and make you text him."

"What? No!" I say, following her. 

"God, your wardrobe is a mess" she says once we are on my room.

"Monica..."

"Oh, here it is. Mason Mount" she reads. "You also have his business email."

"One I'm not interested in either."

"Yeah, yeah" she says, taking out her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Saving his number just in case."

"No, give me that!" I say, trying to take the phone and the card from her hands.

"No!"

"Monica!"

"No!" 

"Give me that!" I say, managing to get the card from her, but tearing it in half.

"Look at what you've done, you idiot!"

"It probably is for the best."

"Urgh!" my sister grunts. "Now a couple of numbers are missing."

"You can always spend your afternoon texting all the possible combinations" I shrug.

"You are gonna regret this. You'll see" she says, leaving my room.

"I will not, Monica. You'll see" I reply.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Looks like Mount already replaced you."

"Uh?"

"Look at this" my sister says, showing me her phone. "They are saying he's seeing that girl."

"God, he has such bad taste."

"I know, he liked you" Monica says with a big smile.

"You are so funny. But good for him."

"Really? Aren’t you regretting rnot texting him?"

"No, I don't" I say. But I gotta admit that over the past few months, I've been tempted to try and get his number from the card and text him something. Because I have kept the card, though my sister doesn't know. 

"Anyway, have to go back to what I was supposed to be doing: getting Lola tickets for Chelsea's last game of the season. If you were dating Mason, I could ask him for them. But oh, well..." she says, making me roll my eyes. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Auntie, are you sure you don't want to come?" Lola says, hugging me by the waist.

"100%."

"But you still have your Mount shirt!"

"I do, yes.” For whatever the reason, I've kept his shirt. It is on a bag at the back of my wardrobe, but it is there.

"Why don’t you want to wear it and come to the game with us?" she pouts.

"I’m really tired from my shift today at the bookshop and my head is starting to hurt."

"I'll miss you."

"I won't" my dad says behind us. "Watching football with you is the worst, you are always complaining about something."

"I love you too, dad" I smile.

"Ok, are we all ready?" my sister says.

"We are" he replies.

"Then let's go, the traffic is gonna be a nightmare."

"Promise that you will at least watch it to see if we are on tv" Lola says before letting me go.

"I will, I promise" I say, giving her a little squeeze.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Oh, shit, there they are!" I say, quickly grabbing my phone to take a photo of the tv, Lola and my dad singing with the rest of the fans. But when I finally manage to do it, I take a photo of someone else. Of Mason. "Urgh" I complain while looking at the photo, which happens to be a really good one. You can see how nice his hair looks, how fluffy and... "No" I say to myself. "Do not go there. You don't like him, you can't think those things about him." 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Auntie!" Lola says, running towards me when she comes back home. "You won't believe what happened!"

"You were on tv!"

"We were?"

"Yes, you and grandad."

"Did we look good?" he asks.

"Gorgeous" I laugh. "But I didn't manage to get a photo. Sorry."

"It's ok, auntie. Because look who took a photo with me!" Lola says, showing me her phone.

There he is, with that big smile of his, his dimple, and the fluffy hair. Mason.

"How did you manage to get a photo with him?"

"He recognized her on the stands" my sister says.

"Isn't that cool?" Lola grins.

"Really cool, yeah."

"He was so nice, asking about how we were doing, if we had enjoyed the game... But I'm sorry, sis" Monica says once Lola and my dad have left for the kitchen. "He didn't ask about you."

"Why would he?" I ask.

"Yes, why would he" she repeats, leaving me alone with a weird feeling on my stomach. Something like... Disappointment? Why would I be disappointed? I don’t like Mason. I don’t hate him anymore after getting to meet him a bit, but I don’t like him. And he has moved on and is seeing someone. He has forgotten about me. Which is what I wanted, right? Right?

"Urgh" I say to myself before following everyone else into the kitchen.

[raedear]

somehow, nicky was just positive, this was andy's fault

Somehow, Nicky was just positive, this was Andy's fault. It had her fingerprints all over it.

'... The crown jewel of our summer season,' says the programme director of the Royal Albert Hall, an obsequious man Nicky usually avoided at all costs. 'We can't wait to see what your partnership will bring to our stage.'

He leaves after another round of gladhanding and assurances that contracts and details were already with their respective agents just waiting for their signatures.

Summer sessions of modern classics. Always a crowd pleaser, but not particularly Nicky's favourite works to perform. Without fail they'd want him to play Interstellar on the organ. Worse still, it meant a year of working with Joe when you added in all the rehearsal time they'd need, and negotiating setlists and promotion and all the minutiae that he usually tried to escape. Nicky was in this for the music, but somehow that ended up being the smallest part of his job.

'Well,' says Joe, smiling awkwardly, 'That's that then. I look forward to working with you.'

'And you, also,' Nicky says, short and to the point, already wondering how little he can get away with spending time with Joe.

'I hope we can be professional,' Joe continues, and it's like a firework in Nicky's brain, anger and wounded pride trailing noisily after the rocket of Joe's words.

'Really,' Nicky snaps, rearing back. 'You're saying that to me?'

Joe looks stricken, straight away, hands up and frantic.

'No—that's not—I didn't mean—fuck!'

Nicky flinches a little at the vehemence in Joe's voice as he bites off the curse and shuts his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose like he has a headache.

'I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry,' Joe says, still with his eyes closed. 'I just don't know where to go from here without apologising, and you clearly don't want that, which is fine, but I don't want to be walking on eggshells with you for the next year.'

'I don't want your apology because it's not for me,' Nicky says, before his brain gets a chance to voice an opinion.

Joe opens his eyes just wide enough to squint at him.

'What?'

In for a penny.

'You don't want to apologise to me because you think it'll make up for the things you said to me,' Nicky says, looking Joe dead in the eyes. 'You want to apologise because you feel guilty, and you want that feeling to go away. I don't want your apology, and I still don't want your pity.'

Joe gapes at him, face slack with shock.

'That's—' he stutters after a second. 'That's not true, that's not—'

'Fair?' Nicky offers, hopping up to sit on the director's desk. If he has to have this conversation, he might as well be comfortable. 'I think it's plenty fair, myself. Am I wrong?'

'Yes!' cries Joe, throwing his hands up, before he seems to shrink into himself a little, his hands coming to rest in his hair. 'Or no. Not completely, maybe. I don't expect you to instantly forgive me, but how would you feel to be constantly remembered only for the worst thing you ever did? Something you did as a shitty, jealous, petty teenager, that you regretted as soon as you did it?'

There's a lot to unpack there. Nicky blinks at Joe, and can see the earnestness in his eyes, the genuine regret and apology.

But that moment crystallised something in Nicky; made some part of him hard and cold and impenetrable.

'Funny,' Nicky says. 'I just remember the first boy I ever thought I loved telling me he hated me, and that we had never even been friends. I didn't think about how difficult a moment that must have been for you.'

Joe closes his eyes again, his jaw so tense Nicky can see it tick even through his beard.

'Professional,' Nicky says, sliding back off the desk. 'I can be professional. We're not children anymore. I'm sure you can do the same.'

'We're not children anymore, no,' says Joe, very quietly. 'But I can still be sorry for what I did as a child, and I can still hope to make amends. I threw your friendship in your face once, and I've regretted it ever since. If a professional relationship is all you want, then I respect that, and I understand. But I hope we can try friendship again, one day.'

Nicky stares at him, fifteen years of resentment and hurt choking him. It must show on his face, because Joe looks painfully, terribly sad.

'I'd like to be your friend,' says Joe, so quietly Nicky almost struggles to hear him. 'But I know what I said to you, and how I treated you was wrong. I'm not seventeen anymore though. I'm not the same person you knew.'

Part one

Part two

Part three

Send first line prompts here

[basileus]

SEATTLE KRAKEN PLAYER PRIMER

I promised the beautiful @madroxed a Seattle Kraken current player primer so she can get into a West Coast (best coast) NHL team and then I went mad so it ended up too long for ask box without a read more. So here it is for your enjoyment, babe. 🦑

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW:

1. When Kraken started playing their first season in 2021, there was a lot of discussion about the expansion plan, how many years they would take to become as successful as other expansion teams (cough VGK). That plan… has not fully panned out. So even though they made it to the playoffs last year, they're not super successful this season and likely won't squeeze their way into a wild card spot. This is okay because the Kraken are full of love.

2. This is important enough to say twice: THE KRAKEN PLAYERS ARE FULL OF LOVE. They don't need to be good if they're having fun and being friends! And they are!

3. Kraken has no captain right now, just four As. Democracy, baby! Every game there is tons of talk on reddit about how it's a good thing because it's made the guys closer, or how it's a bad thing because they don't have a leader and they keep losing. IDK, it's just our thing. There will be a C eventually.

4. There's a joke on tiktok that Kraken is a team of beautiful shy horses, treated badly on their last teams and now learning to love again. Keep this in mind when you see them interacting with Coach Hakstol. They all deserve to have their hooves (skates) farrier-ed gently, ribbons braided into their manes and to be tenderly fed sugar cubes. Anyways.

5. Haha, Seattle runs on love and tentacles.

THE OLDIES:

- Jordan Eberle (Jordy, Ebby, Ebs, Ebber) - Ebs was MY MAN for the longest time because I was soooo fond of him and the mid aughts pre-McDavid Oiler rookie crew. Now he's 33 years old, everyone calls him dad, and just had his 1000th game ceremony. It makes me verklempt.

He just signed a 2-yr contract this month, which people agree is mostly because of his role on the team and less because of his points (which are just okay).

He is also a noted Nickleback fan :(

Also, Jordan Eberle... naked... singing.

- Jared McCann (Canner, also Jordan's on-ice wife) - Kraken's lead scorer right now. Has the saddest backstory ever (he's had troubles with his teams since draft) but the Kraken team loves him. I love him too. Jordan was in his wedding party! Fun fact: Canner is the one who KISSED Ebs' head after an OT win this year, the organization framed & posted the picture, and it's the most romantic thing that has ever happened on Kraken ice. Recognized PC gamer boy. He also wears really really ugly hats with his game day suits.

- Philipp Grubauer (Grubi, The German Gentleman) - Gruuuuu. The more experienced goalie on the team. Noted horse girl (loves horses, there's a video all about his volunteer efforts with them). Gets a lot of undeserved shit from dude fans for being a conservative goalie, the man is NOT gonna move. He straight up close lined a player yesterday because they got too close to his crease lol.

- Vince Dunn - You already know this guy. Feral, but also submissive and breedable. I sent you the "screaming with a bloody face" vid but here's one where he drop gloves for a Matty hit and another from Juniors where he fights OFF ICE. His nickname is Dunner but because he's a pretty princess, he also goes by "Vincess" in hrpf. He's very popular this season both for his looks and his performance this season. Unfortunately injured right now due to a bad hit. Noted "gamer (fornite) boy" lol.

- Adam Larsson - You also know this guy. Big Cat. Quiet but a leader to the D rookies. Surprisingly funny - he's a silent prankster and the custom t-shirts this season with his face on it were a hit. Outside the hrpf space, he's engaged to a beautiful blonde Swede and about to be a dad this month.

- Jaden Schwartz (Schwartzy) - Peak millennial. Is it wrong that I think Schwartzy is the hottest Kraken after Vince? Because I don't care. He gives hot dad, with two dogs with girl names.

He changed his hockey number to match his sister's who died of cancer :'( Has been injured a lot this season and we miss him :'(

- Yanni Gourde (Gourdo) - FERAL!! FRENCH (CANADIAN)!!!! A tiktok star, sassy, charming, and also part of the team leadership.

Married and dad to little girls, who he has allowed Matty to babysit, if you can believe it. There was a super cute vid of them at the pumpkin patch this year. I'm a proud member of the GOURDO IS HOT club but even people with bad eyes and no love for goofy faces love Yanni.

- Andre Burakovsky (Burky) - You might remember him from his Cap or Av days. He's a beautiful little bird who is so good at scoring but so broken. The man has two Stanley Cups but he's played like 2 games for Kraken where he was both healthy & productive lol. People ship him with Gru sometimes in hrpf because they have cute nicknames for each other and also vacation together. He also just had a baby like two months ago so my sisters and I call him a teen mom even though he's like 29, lmaoo.

- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Belly) - His shirt is always off in every video I have ever seen him in. Handsome. Beard. French, like literally from France, but we won't hold it against him. He's an older guy who was brought in to help the team with offense (which we badly need).

- Oliver Bjorkstrand (Bjorky) - I always describe Bjorky as like a less handsome Dylan O'Brien if he played hockey. A chill, smiley dude who cares a lot. He played in Portland for the Winterhawks back in Juniors and I saw him a lot there! He's playing super well this year, he even was at the ASG!

THE YOUNG ONES:

- Matty Beniers (Matty, Benny) - OUR BEAUTIFUL FIRST DRAFT EVER. A baby boy. Ebs and Canner are his mom and dad. If you're on tiktok, he made that viral "Yes, Yes, Nope, Nope" sound while mic'd up.

He's growing up :') but also is having kind of a bad season :'( Part of the planned growth of the Kraken team though!

- Will Borgen (Borgy) - One of the baby D. He kinda looks like Canner but more frog. Matty and Borgy are roommates & pretty much BEST FRIENDS during the season. There's a lot of good locker room videos of them giving each other shit. He has also bullied Karts lol. Self describes himself as a little deer.

- Joey Daccord (Joey, Dacs) - Baby goalie. Gives the F1 recaps on tiktok. One of the biggest joys of my year so far was chanting "Joey" in the crowd after his shutout in the Winter Classic. Sometimes he strays too far from the net and makes boo boos. We love & cherish him.

- Kailer Yamamoto (Yamo, Yams, Yammer) - Little man. So little. Great at shootouts & stealing teammate's jerseys. He's the only Washingtonian on the team. Was a Oilers rookie and I've heard he featured in the whole Draisital hrpf narrative thing (idk I'm not an Oilers fan rn lol). Has a terrible goatee right now.

There's a funny af tweet about a reporter seeing a huge cheering section for him at a game and assumed it was friends & family but went over and it was just random people rooting for Yamo purely because he's short.

- Ryker Evans - The newest baby D. Has the deadest eyes you will ever see but he also spent an entire Firebirds youtube interview series just hanging out in a child's pool. He's played great since being called up from the Firebirds and we love him. So new he doesn't have a Breaking the Ice sheet yet :( Also his middle name is GARTH!

- Tye Kartye (Karts) - It's important that you know his last name is pronounced like "Cart-che" but even the announcers say "Car-ti-eh" like the jewelry brand. A quiet-ish sweetheart but also kind of spicy while playing. Rooms with Ryker. They're flirty and have been since the Firebirds. Scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, during the Kraken's first ever playoffs!

- Cale (& Haydn) Fleury - REAL LIFE BROTHERS. Not actually related to Flower. Haydn is on the Lightning now and we miss him. Cale mostly plays for the Firebirds but he's developing well and has gotten called up several times this season.

- Ryan Winterton (Wints) - A goofy little baby. He's still playing mostly with the Firebirds but he had his NHL debut this season.

- Shane Wright - I don't actually know his nickname. (EDIT: I have been informed it is Shaner or Wrighter!) Big boy. Our SECOND DRAFT EVER. Playing with the minor leagues right now. We'll see him playing a line on Kraken next season or so, probably (?). If Coach Dave is willing.

THE OTHERS (THAT I OFTEN FORGET ABOUT):

- Brandon Tanev - Turbo. He's fast. Has beautiful long hair. Keeps getting hit by pucks because he's in the way. Fun fact: he helped start the 'Kraken are horses' thing because there was a video on Tiktok where an equipment manager was adjusting his skates and they used a hoof care video sound and it went viral. We might lose him when he's a free agent and that's fine.

- Jamie Oleksiak - Big Rig, Riggy. In my shit list right now because he's playing bad and I hate his stupid credit card commercial that they always play during games. Member of the 'my sister is prettier and a better athlete than me' club. People speculate there's a chance we might lose him over the summer when his no-trade clause opens up as well. He's often Borgy's d-partner, and he and Borgy are very very sweet though.

- Tomas Tatar - Tuna, he's fun and nice. I like his accent. Sometimes I forget he exists.

- Eeli Tolvanen - Tolvy. I also sometimes forget about him. Sorry. He's a buddy to everyone on the team though.

- Justin Shultz - Shultzy, he's fine. Gets injured a lot. Not the best player. I think we're gonna lose him eventually too.

- Brian Dumoulin - Dumo, he's also fine. He's won a couple Stanley Cups. Cute baby face for an older player but he gives a kinda empty brain, 'there's not a thought behind those eyes' feeling lol.

HOPE THIS HELPS. I ALSO HOPE THEY DON'T CRUSH THIS PRIMER OVER THE OFF SEASON WITH TRADES LOL but who knows. Whatever happens, happens. Just remember this team runs on love (and tentacles).

[edosianorchids901]

Cheerful Comedy

@flashfictionfridayofficial prompt - "Comedian's Night"

“Well, that was certainly… edifying,” Aziraphale said uncertainly, still staring at the telly screen with a mostly puzzled look. “Granted, I’m not entirely sure why some of the jokes were funny…”

“Nh, some of them are really specific to the time period. And America.” Awkward, Crowley slid a hand through his hand. “I get pretty much all of ‘em, but that’s because I’ve been watching this since it first aired.”

Still with a slight frown, Aziraphale picked up the complete Golden Girls DVDs and examined them. “I thought it was rather rude of those people at the hot dog place to make, um…”

“Dorothy,” Crowley supplied.

“To make Dorothy participate in birthday rituals that she wasn’t interested in.”

“I mean, that was kinda the point. The people who ran the hot dog place were obnoxious arseholes, and Dorothy wasn’t putting up with it.” Maybe picking this for their date night had been a bad idea. Comedy night sounded great in concept, but it wasn’t working out so well. “Dorothy’s cool. And tough.”

“I see.” Biting his lip, Aziraphale shuffled through the seasons, looking at the front of each case. “She doesn’t seem the sort to appreciate a silly little hot dog restaurant like that, or a surprise birthday celebration. Why did Rose pick something that her friend wouldn’t like?”

“Well, Rose… thought she was doing something great for Dorothy, something they could enjoy together.” Crowley gave a desperate grin and a tempting sway. “She was just wrong, s’ all. Misjudged what Dorothy would think.”

Aziraphale blinked. “And that’s funny?”

“Er.” Gosh, was this what it was like to be Rose? Rose had always reminded Crowley more of Aziraphale than anyone else, in a really endearing way. But maybe he’d misjudged that, too. “Sorry, angel. I guess it’s not that funny. Why don’t we watch something else?”

“Oh, no! I don’t mean that, dear boy.” Gently, Aziraphale took Crowley’s hands and squeezed. “I’m just trying to understand better, that’s all. I know this show is very important to you. I, um… may have misjudged a bit.”

Now Crowley was confused. He tilted his head, frowning. “How so?”

“Well, I thought that asking questions about it would come across as showing an interest in something you care about.” Aziraphale chuckled, expression soft with affection. “Afraid I may have come across a bit too critical. I enjoyed it very much.”

Crowley gave a skeptical look. Golden Girls had always made him feel better, and sharing it left him more vulnerable than he liked. He liked to be cool and tough, not flustered. “You only laughed like… twice in the whole episode. I don’t think it’s really your style of comedy.”

“Why don’t we instead say that it’s not a style of comedy I’ve had all that much experience with?” Still smiling, Aziraphale kissed Crowley’s hands, then let go in favor of snuggling closer to him on the sofa. “And besides, even if I didn’t understand all of the jokes and such, I truly did enjoy it immensely. How could I not?”

“I really am not following right now, angel.” Which also left him feeling much less cool and tough than he liked, although at least the anxiety was easing now. Aziraphale was generally honest with him these days.

“It’s like how you’re perfectly happy to listen to me read Regency romance aloud even though you find it silly, or take me to see Hamlet repeatedly even though you think it’s an awful, dreary play.” Aziraphale brushed a light kiss to his cheek. “You enjoy it because you like to see me enjoying myself. Seeing me happy makes you happy.”

“That’s definitely true.” Relaxing a little, Crowley wrapped his arm around Aziraphale’s shoulders and hugged him close. “And at least you definitely can’t accuse Golden Girls of being dreary. It’s cheerful.”

“It is very cheerful, dear boy. And truly, I love seeing you so cheerful as well.” Raising one hand, Aziraphale skimmed his fingers across Crowley’s cheek, then down to trail along his jaw. “You’re so often stressed and rather grim, even these days. I can’t think of anything better than seeing you so freely laughing, smiling, and making little jokes of your own. You look so innocent when you’re watching this lovely little show.”

“Nnnnnrng.” Cheeks going hot, Crowley buried his face in Aziraphale’s soft curls. “Don’t say that. M’ a demon.”

“Mhm. But still.” Aziraphale hugged him, then gently pushed him back and placed the remote in his hand. “Here. Show me more.”

It was still hard to be vulnerable, even now that they spent almost every waking moment together. But Crowley draped his arm around Aziraphale’s shoulders again and leaned back, then hit play. As long as they were both having fun, that was all that mattered.