#and also the love triangle with them and matt she made up in her head

[sophfandoms53]

Reilly talking about wanting an unanimous vote for Kirsten to go

[kim-ruzek]

Review of 11x22

I haven't done a fire review since 11x2 lol, but this finale was so amazing I'm going to do it once more. And because then all my incoherent brettsey thoughts are all in one area.

I'm going to talk about all the non brettsey stuff first before getting down to that.

I loved that we got my favourite trio all talking and being friends at the beginning there. I just love seeing them be talking and discussing things, especially as that's the thing Fire gets right over the other OCs. And then I also loved seeing Stella and Sylvie talking at night too. AND then them going to see Amber for Sylvie.

I also loved seeing Stella and Casey, one of my favourite friendships ever. I loved seeing Casey reassure Stella and him immediately coming over to help. (Although Dylan is definitely right, Matt being there wasn't just because of that, but Sylvie too).

As soon as Herrmann got that reading my mind went straight to "mouch is getting hurt" and I really wish I was wrong about that. That ending with Mouch, oof it hurts my heart so much and I swear to god they better not kill him.

Although that shoot out!! Intense and amazing. I loved Matt going to distract and telling Boden he's not his boss anymore technically especially because of Boden's face. I also loved Stella going with, and her two truck boys immediately being like yep us too.

I did also really like Stella talking to Boden, even if I'm not totally fine with why. Although I do like that because of what Kelly's mom said to Stella, it makes sense that this is where her mind would go. I also loved that helping Sylvie with Amber made Stella realise she shouldn't just sit and wait, but that she should go to Kelly. And I really hope TK doesn't decide to leave permanently so that we can see Stella hauling Kelly's ass back to Chicago.

Although I am a little worried that if he does, they're going to try and do a little love triangle-esque thing with Violet, Carver and Stella.

And I adored Ritter being a source of reassurance to Kylie AND that she got into the fire academy!!! My girl is going to be a firefighter!

Brettsey

It is so nice to see that this time Matt gave Sylvie a heads up and then seeing his response to her wanting to adopt Julia and him just immediately getting it and supporting her. And I adored how Matt straight away went with them to go talk to Amber and everything he said to her. That man loves her so fucking much!!!

I also loved that it was clear there's still those lingering feelings. Sylvie talking about long distance with Stella and then just all the looks Matt gave Sylvie. And the way he looked when he heard about the breakup. And oof the look when Sylvie got the good news and how he so clearly wanted to be part of that hug and wanted to be her Person again.

And then that ending scene!!!! Matt talking about their first kiss, and then saying he got the ring a year and a half ago! That it wasn't just a recent purchase but that it was when they were still together.

And I'm just going to cry forever about him saying three kids 😭. Him including Griffin and Ben and also just so immediately accepting Julia. And it's in total parallel to Dylan; Matt is at the same place as Sylvie, he wants a family now and he wants it with her.

Literally at the start of this season I never EVER thought we'd get an ending this fucking perfect. That Brettsey will get a proposal!!!

They obviously still have a lot to talk about, and work out, but I definitely think their time apart, and now with Sylvie starting this journey to be Julia's mom, means that they'll be able to work a game plan going forward. Plus, in a year both darden boys will be in college, they've also settled in so it's not like Matt can't visit a bit more, and they can just have a longer engagement and build up their future together, however that may look. If Sylvie moves to him or he comes back ect.

[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

Ship thing, phoenix and maya qpr. Also matt and lucía. OH AND GABRIEL AND NATHALIE, I MEANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THEM !!

ahhhh thank you spin!!

phoenix and maya qpr:

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME. the way they interact with each other and that adorable dynamic they have, the way they both helped each other through their grief over losing mia, and when maya had to go back to kurain for a while nick was so depressed he stopped taking cases... and when she got kidnapped and he was willing to go to such extremes to save her!! the fact that phoenix would willingly run across a burning bridge just to check if maya's okay!! they look after pearl together!! and i won't spoil the later games for you but over a decade has passed and their friendship is still going so so so strong for so many reasons. their love for each other hasn't diminshed through the years (and it also hasn't turned romantic, which is so fricking refreshing for a m/f main duo), they are like queerplatonically married to me. i can't describe how much i love them. they would do anything for each other and it makes me insane.

matt and lucía:

to be honest they have such little canon personality that most of it is just made up in my head. BUT!! they are CANONICALLY best friends!! they're also both champions, both have the same favourite colour, both hardest difficulty on wii party, they're both on fritz's basketball team... there's so many similarities that make their friendship really make sense! brotp or otp, i have no preference, it's perfect either way. i love these silly little miis

gabriel and nathalie:

(i haven't watched the recent few episodes so if anything happened between them in those, i don't know about it yet!) until about early season 5 i didn't actually think much of these two, but now... ohohoho. there's certainly SOMETHING going on there, i just have no idea what. some weird love-hate relationship or something? to tell the truth i feel like there's a bisexual love triangle going on with these two and emilie (or a square, if we add in harry clown). they're both in love with her but also have an affair going on with each other but are also divorced at the same time and nathalie wants to adopt gabriel's son because he's a terrible father. i haven't thought about them enough but whatever weird thing they have going on, it's definitely interesting and i sort of hope they make each other worse because it's fascinating to me. (i think i should definitely consider this ship more, since i'm way too into toxic relationships these days, romantic or platonic or sibling or whatever...)

[michaelgovehateblog]

Piggy in the Middle

Queen Elizabeth x Michael Gove, Michael Gove x Matt Hancock, 1500 words

“Michael Gove and Sarah Vine to divorce.” She knew it was bad, but Elizabeth’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat when she saw the headlines. She had spent years forcing herself to ignore how she really felt about Michael and pretending the flirty looks and comments they shared were meaningless or all in her head; after all, they were both married, and publicly at that, especially in the case of her and Philip. And it’s not that she didn’t love Philip, because she of course did, but there was something about Gove and his pig-like face that just drew her in. And now she was rid of Philip, and Michael and Sarah were splitting up – maybe there was a chance for them.

Not that they would be able to go public with it if anything even did happen between them. As far as the country knew, Elizabeth was still mourning Philip, just putting on a brave face and soldiering on without him. The public probably wouldn’t be able to deal with her moving on so soon. She sighed – her life as a parasite was so difficult.

Elizabeth was so lost in her thoughts she almost didn’t hear the knock at her door, and subsequent voice.

“Your Majesty? It’s 12, we’re scheduled to leave now.”

“Of course, I’m coming now.” She responded, and stood up to leave, making sure to glance in the mirror to check she still looked presentable. Everything was still pristine: icy white grey hairs all perfectly in place and nude lipstick completely un-smudged. She was wearing a long royal blue (her signature colour) coat with large buttons of a slightly softer blue colour, all of which were done up. This was worn over a classy floral-patterned dress, which wasn’t visible under the jacket. Perched on top of her head was an elaborate hat made from material the exact same colour as the coat and adorned with white and blue flowers. The shoes she wore were a standard pair of elegant black heels and the look was finished off with a pair of black gloves.

Satisfied the outfit was perfectly uncreased as always, Elizabeth left the room to head to the whatever event it was this time, she didn’t really care. Mostly she just showed up at these things for a bit of good PR and so people would continue believe she works hard and really cares about the common people (Which she didn’t obviously. Why would she.) Although, she was certain that someone had told her that this event would have many politicians also in attendance, so she was hopeful that she might encounter a certain cabinet member.

As per usual, Elizabeth was finding the event mind-numbingly boring, just endless shaking hands with forgettable people she was supposed to pretend to be interested in. But then she spotted him. And at the same moment she saw him, Michael glanced in her direction and they were making direct eye contact. She gave him a shy smile, which he returned as he started walking towards her, not breaking eye contact.

“Your Majesty,” said Michael, extending his arm to shake hands, “How are you today?” They shook hands, Michael noticing how dry and wrinkly Elizabeth’s felt, and her in turn mentally noting the bizarre clamminess of his, both of which only increased each person’s attraction to the other.

“I’m doing wonderfully,” she responded, “And thoroughly enjoying this lovely event.” she made sure to add, aware of how many people were probably in earshot. “But what about yourself? I heard the news. It must be a difficult time for you.”

Michael’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this; he couldn’t believe that the Queen actually cared enough about him to pay attention to the news about him and his (soon to be ex) wife. He had always felt there was some kind of connection between the two of them but told himself he was imagining it – what other option did he have. But unusually for his cowardly personality, he got a sudden burst of confidence, and was shocked to hear himself talking.

“Ma’am, I think I need to step outside to get some fresh air. Would you be interested in joining me for a walk?” He hadn’t had confidence to do anything like that since his coked-up days of 20 years ago. Well, he always said 20 years ago, but those close to him, such as Matt Hancock, knew he was prone to enjoy a smidge of the substance of an evening.

“Yes, I would enjoy that a lot.” replied Elizabeth, much to Michael’s delight. He offered out his elbow, purely out of politeness, of course, which she accepted, outwardly calmly but very eagerly inside. A walk outside would probably mean time properly alone, where other people couldn’t hear them, something they had probably never had before.

They continued small talk for a while, about the event and such, until they were far enough away from the general crowds for more intimate conversation.

"How have you been coping, Ma'am, without the Prince? Such an unexpected shame, his untimely demise like that. It was truly a shock to all of us."

Right, 'untimely'. Elizabeth often forgot that Philip's death was supposed to be something entirely unexpected for her, not something she knew would happen down to the exact time and place.

"Missing him, of course, but life has to go on. And it's strange to remember that I am single again, after all these years. That's not been the case since I was 13 and Philip was an adult."

"Yes, it's the same for me, minus the questionable age difference. I’ve been married to Sarah for so long that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to meet other people - and be with other people...” at these words the two made eye contact, neither knowing what to say aloud but having an entire unspoken conversation.

“Mr Gove… Or Michael, may I call you Michael? Would you be interested in visiting the Palace for dinner sometime soon? I could give you a personal tour of the grounds.”

“Yes, Ma’am, of course you can call me Michael,” Almost unthinkingly, the pair faced each other and reached for each other's hands. “And I would be honoured to visit the palace, Ma’am.”

Elizabeth let out a sigh she didn’t know she was holding, “Please, no need to bother with the formalities, at least not whilst nobody else is listening. Call me Elizabeth. Now, we should probably head back inside to the event, we’ve been out here a while, people will be missing me. They basically worship me. But I’ll get someone to contact you about your visit to the palace - I’d do it myself, only that sort of thing is far beneath me.” A smile spread over Michael’s pig-mannequin hybrid face as they made their way back inside.

What they hadn’t realised during their encounter, was that it wasn’t as private as they had thought; in fact another politician had been lurking and watching the entire scene.And he wasn’t happy about what he saw. As soon as Elizabeth and Michael walked off in separate directions, Matt Hancock quickly grabbed Gove by the arm and dragged him into a quiet corridor.

“Hancock.”

“Gove. I saw you outside just now, heard you talking with a certain monarch. The two of you seemed quite friendly.”

“Oh. Right. I hadn’t thought anyone else had been outside. You won’t - you won’t tell anyone what you saw or heard, will you?”

“I won’t. But only because it’s you, if it had been anybody else, I would be telling the sun immediately. The queen’s new love interest, I couldn’t hope for anything better to get the tabloids off my back. But because it’s you - I couldn’t hurt you like that.”

“Matt, what do you mean? Why are you making an exception for me?”

“Govey, as if you don’t know. You must have realised how I feel about you.” Hancock stepped closer to Gove and in his mind’s eye, imagined the Sims social interactions menu, and pictured selecting ‘kiss’. (It was from looking at the characters in the game, after all, that he learnt to kiss in the first place. The mindset and techniques stuck with him.) To his delight, he felt Michael kissing him back. Matt deepened the kiss and their tongues battled for dominance. Suddenly, Michael pulled away and stared, speechless, at Matt.

After about half a minute unable to muster any coherent thoughts (not even coherent by conservative standards) Gove turned away and briskly walked to an empty room, where he could sit alone and process all of what just happened. Not only was he certain now that Elizabeth felt the same spark that he did, but Hancock, whom he had secretly had a low-level affection for for many years, had just snogged him out of jealousy? He didn’t expect to be wrapped up in a love triangle the very day his divorce was announced, and yet it seemed that was what was happening. His years of being an incompetent and sleazy politician had clearly earned him some admirers.

~~

If you made it to the end, I'm only partly sorry for what you just read. I would be willing to write a second chapter if for some godforsaken reason somebody actually would want to read one. This took me far too long to write for something that is honestly not that many words but I feel like it's understandable, given the subject matter. k bye

[immortalecstasy-blog]

After A Few

Pairing: Jensen/Reader

Inspired by the song ‘After A Few’ by Travis Denning. Jensen finds himself in Seattle, and runs into an old friend. It’s always the same thing with those two.

WC ≈ 6,000

A/N: Thank you to @thoughts-and-funnies for your enthusiasm, corrections, encouragement, and advice - and to @jayloxoxo for your kind words and your formatting advise. Also to @smol-and-grumpy for publishing the ask that led me to them!

When Jared had suggested road tripping to Seattle for the weekend Jensen didn’t hesitate to agree. Drive down, have a few drinks, greasy breakfast, rinse and repeat before driving back up to Vancouver on Sunday. It was just what he needed. There was a new bar that had opened, Rob had been telling them about it earlier that week and insisted they needed to check it out. They didn’t even mess around too much on set on the Friday, eager to head off. They even got dressed for their night out before jumping in the car, so as not to waste any time. But they’d straight up forgotten that they weren’t in their twenties anymore, and by the time they’d made it to their hotel they were both flagging. Weighted down by the gruelling week and the long drive.

“Oh man,” moaned Jared, rubbing his face. “I’m shattered.”

“Same.” Jensen laughed, “Grab some food somewhere and call it a night?”

Jared shook his head, as if he couldn’t imagine such a terrible plan and said, “Hell yeah dude.”

They walked passed the bar Rob had mentioned on their way to find food. It looked just as classy as he’d described. With flowerbeds and a rectangular fountain outside. The dark-tinted windows showing nothing of the inside but the smallest suggestion of overhead lighting.

“Looks nice.” Jared commented, and Jensen nodded, taking in the big black umbrellas hiding the outside tables and the orange glow of outside heating. It was when they passed it again on their way back to the hotel that he saw her.

Y/N. She was stood just outside of the umbrella’s protection, in a little black dress and huge chunky heels. The dress had triangles cut out at her waist and hugged her figure all the way to her knees. It was sleeveless and he could tell by the way she hugged her arms to her body that she was cold. She was talking animatedly and as he followed Jared down the street he craned his head to see who she was talking to. It was a group of girls, all dressed to impress. His steps faltered. What the hell is she doing in Seattle?

After A Few Seconds

“Ackles? Ackles? You coming?”

“I...” Jensen paused, frowning. “Yeah... no. I think I’m going to go for a drink.”

“Man, I’m exhausted. You really want to go for a drink?”

“Just one. I’m going to scope this place out. It’s all good, you go.”

“Are you sure?”

Jensen threw him a smile, “yeah, seriously dude, I just fancy a night cap.”

“There’s a mini fridge in your room.”

Jensen shrugged.

“Whatever man, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jared clapped him on the shoulder and carried on walking, leaving Jensen where he stood on the pavement like some creep.

He started to walk throw the flower beds towards the entrance, purposefully keeping his eyes straight ahead. He wondered if he should say hello to her. He probably shouldn’t, it had been a long time since they’d last seen one another, and she was out with her friends. He could just message her in the morning to say he was in town, see if she wanted to grab lunch or a coffee or something. Something that didn’t involve alcohol. He was about to turn around, to catch up to Jared and agree he could have a drink from the minibar when there’s a clatter of heels to his left, he glances over, he can’t help it. They’re all stood up, heading back inside. And she sees him.

There’s a brief moment where he could have got away with pretending he didn’t see her and just walk away, but he wastes it by staring at her. She’s frozen for a moment, and then his feet move towards her without his permission.

“Hello stranger.”

“Jay!” Her face breaks out into a grin as she takes in the white shirt and the blue suit.

Her friends hover by the entrance, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “How’ve you been?”

“Good. Good.” He tells her and sees that she’s hugging her arms to her again. “Do you wanna go in? You look cold.”

She nods quickly and they move towards the door. His hand rests on the small of her back without thinking. He pulls back as the bouncer opens the door for them and lets her and her friends go inside in front of him before following her up to the bar.

“So what about you? What have you been up to?”

“Oh this and that.” She laughs breezily. One of her friends touches her arm and she brushes them off, “I’ll only be a minute, I’ll meet you back at the table.” It’s only then that he really takes in the place. Jared was going to love it. It was all dark matte blacks and high polished metal. Giant filament bulbs hanging bare and low from the tall ceiling. Even the mirrors on the back of the bar were tinted black. She turns back to him, leaning up against the bar.

“You’re not on hiatus yet are you?” She asks and he shakes his head.

“No, no. Just a quick weekend break with Jared.”

She looked around with a frown, as if she could have ever missed his tall frame.

“And Jared can turn invisible now?”

“He’s gone back to the room. We only got in a couple of hours ago.” He explained, and then added “he did the driving.”

“So you’re drinking alone? Oh no, it’s really come to that?” She smiles and he can’t help but grin back at her as the barman appears with his perfect hipster beard and asks what he can get for them.

“What are you drinking?” She asked him.

“No no, I’ll get them.”

She reached her hand out to take his arm, to stop him from getting his wallet. He could feel how cold her fingers were, even through his suit jacket.

“I’m buying. What are you having?”

He let her because there was never any way to win an argument with her. It’s probably why they’d been friends for so long, even once he’d gotten ‘a little famous’ (as she called it), she had never changed. No special treatment.

The conversation flowed, and by the time she was halfway through her fancy cocktail she pulled herself up onto one of the barstools to ease her feet, he stayed stood for a while longer. But after ordering their second round of drinks he’d given up on the pretence and sat beside her. It was as if they’d only seen each other yesterday, it was always like that. The conversation went from what they’d been up to since they’d last spoken, to reminiscing about old times, catching each other up on how their parents and siblings were.

Her clutch bag was on the bar, her credit card in her hand as she paid for the third round of drinks when he noticed it was vibrating. She ignored it while she finished the transaction and then scooped out her phone. She frowned and looked behind her. Jensen followed her gaze and saw her friends waiting by the door, one of them had a packet of cigarettes in her hand and was looking at Y/N with an annoyed expression.

“So you’re still smoking?” He asked, teasingly. Aware he should feel bad about pulling her away from her friends, but he doesn’t.

“I am not.” She huffed, making a shooing motion at them as if to say, ‘just go without me, you’re grown-ups.’ The grumpy friends’ eyes find Jensen and he sends her what he hopes is a winning smile and gives her a half wave half salute. Her expression softens a little, but he doesn’t get a smile back in return.

“You’re totally still smoking.”

“Am not!” She repeats, balling her hand up into a fist and punching his shoulder. As their conversation steers towards his work, her phone goes off again and he watches out of the corner of his eye as she disconnects the call.

Her friends come back then, and he can smell tobacco smoke over their masks of breath mints and perfume. He turns his attention away from them politely. But then Y/N grabs his arm.

“Come on. Let’s dance.”

“This doesn’t look like a dancing kind of bar.”

“So?”

Keep Reading (AO3)

[bananaofswifts]

Taylor Swift appears to be waging war over the serial resale of her old master recordings on two fronts. She recently confirmed that she is already underway in the process of re-recording the six albums she made for the Big Machine label, in order to steer her fans (and sync licensing execs) toward the coming alternate versions she’ll control. But now that she’s followed the surprise release of “Folklore” with the very, very surprise release of “Evermore” less than five months later, the thought may occur: If she keeps up this pace, she may have more new albums out on the Republic label than she ever did on Big Machine in a quarter of the time. Flooding the zone to further crowd out the oldies is unlikely to be Swift’s real motivation for giving the world a full-blown “Folklore” sequel this instantaneously: As motivations for prolific activity go, relieving and sublimating quarantine pressure is probably even better than revenge. Anyway, this is not a gift horse to be looked in the mouth. “Evermore,” like its mid-pandemic predecessor, feels like something that’s been labored over — in the best possible way — for years, not something that was written and recorded beginning in August, with the bow said to be put on it only about a week ago. Albums don’t get graded on a curve for how hastily they came together, or shouldn’t be, but this one doesn’t need the handicap. It’d be a jewel even if it’d been in progress forevermore and a day.The closest analog for the relation the new album bears to its predecessor might be one that’d seem ancient to much of Swift’s audience: U2 following “Achtung Baby” with “Zooropa” while still touring behind the previous album. It’s hard to remember now that a whole year and a half separated those two related projects; In that very different era, it seemed like a ridiculously fast follow-up. But the real comparison lies in how U2, having been rewarded for making a pretty gutsy change of pace with “Achtung,” seemed to say: You’re okay with a little experimentation? Let’s see how you like it when we really boil things down to our least commercial impulses, then — while we’ve still got you in the mood.Swift isn’t going avant-garde with “Evermore.” If anything, she’s just stripping things down to even more of an acoustic core, so that the new album often sounds like the folk record that the title of the previous one promised — albeit with nearly subliminal layers of Mellotrons, flutes, French horns and cellos that are so well embedded beneath the profuse finger-picking, you probably won’t notice them till you scour the credits. But it’s taking the risk of “Folklore” one step further by not even offering such an obvious banger (irony intended) as “Cardigan.” Aaron Dessner of the National produced or co-produced about two-thirds of the last record, but he’s on 14 out of 15 tracks here (Jack Antonoff gets the remaining spot), and so the new album is even more all of a piece with his arpeggiated chamber-pop impulses, Warmth amid iciness is a recurring lyrical motif here, and kind of a musical one, too, as Swift’s still increasingly agile vocal acting breathes heat into arrangements that might otherwise seem pretty controlled. At one point Swift sings, “Hey, December, I’m feeling unmoored,” like a woman who might even know she’s going to put her album out a couple of weeks before Christmas. It’s a wintry record — suitable for double-cardigan wearing! — and if you’re among the 99% who have been feeling unmoored, too, then perhaps you are Ready For It. Swift said in announcing the album that she was moving further into fiction songwriting after finding out it was a good fit on much of “Folklore,” a probably inevitable move for someone who’s turning 31 in a few days and appears to have a fairly settled personal life. Which is not to say that there aren’t scores to settle, and a few intriguing tracks whose real-life associations will be speculated upon. But just as the “Betty”/”August” love triangle of mid-year established that modern pop’s most celebrated confessional writer can just make shit up, too, so, here, do we get the narrator of “Dorothea,” a honey in Tupelo who is telling a childhood friend who moved away and became famous that she’s always welcome back in her hometown. (Swift may be doing a bit of empathic wondering in a couple of tracks here how it feels to be at the other end of the telescope.) One time the album takes a turn away from rumination into a pure spirit of fun — while getting dark anyway — is “No Body, No Crime,” a spirited double-murder ballad that may have more than a little inspiration in “Goodbye, Earl.” Since Swift already used the Dixie Chicks for background vocals two albums ago, for this one she brings in two of the sisters from Haim, Danielle and Este, and even uses the latter’s name for one of the characters. Yes, the rock band Haim’s featured appearance is on the only really country-sounding song on the record… there’s one you didn’t see coming, in the 16 hours you had to wonder about it. Yet there are also a handful of songs that clearly represent a Swiftian state of mind. At least, it’s easy to suppose that the love songs that opens the album, “Willow,” is a cousin to the previous record’s “Invisible String” and “Peace,” even if it doesn’t offer quite as many clearly corroborating details about her current relationship as those did. On the sadder side, Swift is apparently determined to run through her entire family tree for heartrending material. On “Lover,” she sang for her stricken mother; on “Folklore,” for her grandfather in wartime. In that tradition the new album offers “Marjorie,” about the beloved grandmother she lost in 2003, when she was 13. (The lyric videos that are being offered online mostly offer static visual loops, but the one for “Marjorie” is an exception, reviving a wealth of stills and home-movie footage of Grandma, who was quite a looker in a miniskirt in her day.) Rue is not something Swift is afraid of here anymore than anywhere else, as she sings, “I should’ve asked you questions / I should’ve asked you how to be / Asked you to write it down for me / Should’ve kept every grocery store receipt / ‘Cause every scrap of you would be taken from me,” lines that will leave a dry eye only in houses that have never known death. The piece de resistance in its poignance is Swift actually resurrecting faint audio clips of Marjorie, who was an opera singer back in the day. It’s almost like ELO’s “Rockaria,” played for weeping instead of a laugh. Swift has not given up, thank God, on the medium that brought her to the dance — the breakup song — but most of them here have more to do with dimming memories and the search for forgiveness, however slowly and incompletely achieved, than feist. But doesn’t Swift know that we like her when she’s angry? She does, and so she delves deep into something like venom just once, but it’s a good one. The ire in “Closure,” a pulsating song about an unwelcome “we can still be friends, right?” letter from an ex, seems so fresh and close to the surface that it would be reasonable to speculate that it is not about a romantic relationship at all, but a professional one she has no intention of ever recalling in a sweet light. Or maybe she does harbor that a disdain for an actual former love with that machinelike a level of intensity. What “Evermore” is full of is narratives that, like the music that accompanies them, really come into focus on second or third listen, usually because of a detail or two that turns her sometimes impressionistic modes completely vivid. “Champagne Problems” is a superb example of her abilities as a storyteller who doesn’t always tell all: She’s playing the role of a woman who quickly ruins a relationship by balking at a marriage proposal the guy had assumed was an easy enough yes that he’d tipped off his nearby family. “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer ‘ Til someone’s on their knees and asks you / ‘She would’ve made such a lovely bride / What a shame she’s fucked in the head’ / They said / But you’ll find the real thing instead / She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred.” (Swift has doubled the F-bomb quotient this time around, among other expletives, for anyone who may be wondering whether there’s rough wordplay amid Dessner’s delicacy — that would an effing yes.) “‘Tis the Damn Season,” representing a gentler expletive, gives us a character who is willing to settle, or at least share a Christmas-time bed with an ex back in the hometown, till something better comes along. The pleasures here are shared, though not many more fellow artists have broken into her quarantine bubble this time around. Besides Haim’s cameo, Marcus Mumford offers a lovely harmony vocal on “Cowboy Like Me,” which might count as the other country song on the album, and even throws in something Swift never much favored in her Nashville days, a bit of lap steel. Its tale of male and female grifters meeting and maybe — maybe — falling in love is really more determinedly Western than C&W, per se, though. The National itself, as a group, finally gets featured billing on “Coney Island,” with Matt Berninger taking a duet vocal on a track that recalls the previous album’s celebrated Bon Iver collaboration “Exile,” with ex-lovers taking quiet turns deciding who was to blame. (Swift saves the rare laugh line for herself: “We were like the mall before the internet / It was the one place to be.) Don’t worry, legions of new Bon Iver fans: Dessner has not kicked Justin Vernon out of his inner circle just to make room for Berninger. The Bon Iver frontman whose appearance on “Folklore” came as a bit of a shock to some of his fan base actually makes several appearances on this album, and the one that gets him elevated to featured status again, as a duet, the closing “Evermore,” is different from “Exile” in two key ways. Vernon gets to sing in his high register… and he gets the girl. As it turned out, the year 2020 did not involve any such waiting for Swift fans; it’s an embarrassment of stunning albums-ending-in-“ore” that she’s mined out of a locked-down muse.

[stxrrywildflower]

for better or for worse (2)

pairing - spencer reid x reader

summary - when the people they love the most are kidnapped and ripped out of their hands, the bau does everything they can to get them back before it turns dire

warnings - mentions of case, angst, injury details

series masterlist

drugs were coursing through your veins. you could tell that from the minute your eyes slowly opened.

instead of being met with bright lights or some random room, you were met with total darkness. the cloth veil over your head prevented you from seeing anything. a second cloth was secured around your face, acting as a gag to prevent you from calling out.

your head lolled slightly, due to both the drugs and actually having some form of control over your movements.

the cloth was violently ripped off, now exposing the environment you were in.

your eyes met andrew’s, who was sitting across from you. through still hazy eyes, you looked back and forth, desperate to try and figure out your surroundings.

penelope was to your right and leslie to your left. next to her was kristy, then andrew, krystall, and finally will.

the seven of you made up an almost perfect circle, one person facing another. you were tied of the same way, arms restrained behind the chair while your legs were tied to the base of the chair.

everyone was still fairly loopy, though penelope was sober enough to have tears already flowing down her cheeks.

“welcome everyone!” a voice called.

the three men, the same ones who delt with the fabric over your faces, stood in a triangle around the edge of your circle. each had on a full face masks preventing you from seeing their identities.

“what the hell do you want with us,” andrew spat out after managing to get the gag out of his mouth. everyone was more than fine with him taking charge, he was the fbi agent after all.

“you,” the one with the blue mask started, twirling a knife in hand, “are going to tear your other halves into pieces emotionally and i’m sure physically.”

he went on for another few minutes, the others chipping in occasionally. the whole thing was strategically planned out, unless the team found you, you wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon.

you were the first one to receive any form of an injury.

your occasional snarky and sarcastic personality trait was coming in force. as the three men entered the room, only to taunt the group, you couldn’t help but call them out.

“imagine thinking your going to get something good out of kidnapping all of us,” you started. “you guys are a bunch of morons who’s heads are pretty much wanted on platters by the team and i’m-” you were cut off by a hard punch to your cheek.

a gasp espacped your lips, pain radiating in both your eye and nose. a thin steam of blood trickled down your face. between the drugs hitting you even harder with the final effects on your body and now this, you were extremely exhausted.

they left the room soon after that, no clues or hints on where they were going.

“you okay?” will’s thick accent took a second to process in your head.

“fine,” you grumbled, moving your head to the side to wipe the blood from your nose on your shirt. “the teams going to get us out of this,” kristy spoke, as if to reassure herself. “i know they will.”

back at quantico, the team all sat around the table, still looking down at the phones. “i really hate to say it, but there’s little we can do until the kidnappers make contact.”

“are you joking?” spencer exclaimed, “do you really expect us to just sit here and wait while everyone is probably being tortured by the bastards who took them?”

they hated to admit, he did have a point.

j.j. led luke out of the room, keeping one hand on his back to comfort the agent who was moments away from breaking down crying.

“spencer, a word?”

the genius grumbled to himself quietly, pushing his chair back before following emily out of the conference room and into her office. “i need you to calm down,” she spoke gently.

that was easily one of the worst things she could have said to spencer.

“no i’m not going to calm down prentiss,” spencer snapped. “i lost maeve to an unsub the same way. how dare you tell me to ‘calm down’ when y/n is missing and we have absolutely no idea where her or the others went.”

emily frowned slightly at the mention of the event from almost eight years ago. while the current unit chief wasn’t on the case, she had heard about it while in london and did everything she could from where she was to help out spencer.

“i want you to take a walk. we need your head clear and ready to work,” emily spoke gently. spencer opened his mouth, wanting to protest but shut it quickly. he wanted to do as emily said, for your sake at least.

spencer shook his head, leaving the office after grabbing his bag and heading towards the elevator. maybe some fresh air would do him some good.

“why not me,” luke mumbled, barely audible to the blonde agent.

j.j. had taken luke to morgan’s old office to help him calm down. her motherly instincts had kicked in, especially as she knew how emotional luke could get in situations like these, stress adding on as it involved penelope.

“why did they take penelope instead of me? i’m apart of this team too,” tears started to flow down luke’s cheeks. j.j. pressed her lips together, wanting to stay strong enough for both his and her sake. her mind creeped back to will, desperately hoping he was okay.

“i don’t know luke, i really don’t. but trust me when i say, we will find them,” she reassured, wrapping an arm around the fellow agent. “thanks j, do you mind giving me a minute alone?”

j.j. nodded, squeezing his shoulder one more time before standing up just as her phone rang.

“my mom is coming down to get the boys. matt, she can take a few of yours,” j.j. announced once she met up with matt and rossi. they needed the kids handled so full focus could be on solving the case.

“joy is also flying in, she was on her way even before this whole thing. she can watch keely and the others” rossi chipped in. emily joined the group just in time to hear rossi’s offer.

matt nodded, the three parents in mutual agreement. “i’m going to meet up with tara and get started on some work. i mean what else can we do.”

“how’s spencer?”

“frustrated,” emily answered. “i’m honestly suprised no one else is on his level.”

j.j. sighed. “emily i don’t know what we’re going to do,” she admitted. “agents aren’t supposed to work cases when they’re personally involved. and with this, i mean we all are. what are we even supposed to do?”

“we really need reinforcements.”

——

“have you heard?”

“yeah i’m about to head over now. you?”

“same. are we really bringing our badges out of retirement?”

“hey don’t say retirement. makes us sound old.”

“true.”

“and yes we’re heading back. they’re family, and they need our help.”

with that, the phone call ceased.

the bullpen seemingly stopped, all eyes going over to the glass doors. none other than aaron hotchner and derek morgan stepped in, bags by their side and visitors badge clipped to their pants.

their styles altered greatly. hotch was dressed down in jeans and a patagonia quarter buttoned pullover, work boots as his shoe of choice. morgan was the same, opting for a t-shirt and zip up instead.

agents nodded as a sign of respect at the two former agents, their legacy with the bau team was still looked up to.

the current bau team seemed empty.

no one jumped up to greet them. no one hugged. no one could even muster up a convincing enough smile.

they all just looked down, going back to their individual work. spencer and luke were at the genius’s desk, chairs pressed close together as they put together information. rossi, j.j., and tara were in the conference room, boards put up with pictures of the phones as well as screenshots from street cameras. that left matt and emily who were engaged in a deep conversation.

emily stopped when she noticed the two men lingering. “go help spencer and luke. let them know to meet up with the other three when they’re done,” she ordered.

“thank you for coming, i wish we could meet under different circumstances,” she spoke, expending her hand out for them to shake. “we can talk in my office.”

the two former agents followed the current unit chief up, not bothering to sit in the chairs, preferring to stand. “bet you didn’t expect to be back in here,” morgan nudged hotch.

“is the team holding up okay? everyone seemed a little numb,” derek commented.

“how’s the investigation going? what do you have nailed down so far?” hotch quickly added.

“nothing, we have absolutely nothing. just broken cell phones and the word ‘love.’ we don’t have a tech analyst so we can’t even figure out half of the stuff we need to. no one can even focus right because we’ve had the people we love taken away with no means of communication or no clues. i think it’s understandable that we’re a little numb. and i just don’t know what to do because i’m dealing with myself and keely and also having to be a leader of the team,” emily stopped herself, running her hand through her hair to calm down.

her rant was pretty all over the place, mirroring the emotions she was feeling.

“which is why we’re here,” hotch stated. “morgan and i have the most clear heads out of everyone. if you say the word, we can lead this investigation and track down the unsubs. it would be the easiest way to make sure we get everyone back.”

emily nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. “okay. just please help us find them,” she pleaded. “we will, i promise.”

it was almost five hours before the mixed team found anything. a postal service worker stepped into the bullpen, holding a box and ipad in the other. anderson talked to him for a moment, motioning for emily to come down.

“i have a package for emily prentiss. you just need to sign here,” he repeated. emily was still hesitant, but leaned forward to write her signature.

emily held the box out in front of her, careful to keep her movements still as one wrong movement could set it off if it was in fact dangerous. she brought it up to the conference room, placing it on the table.

“it’s not an explosive,” derek determined after his examination. silence fell over the room.

tara was the one who leaned forward to open the box. her hands were shaky, directly due to her nervousness. no one knew what was inside, other than that it wasn’t a bomb.

all eyes were on the box, listing as the tape was cut open, them the cardboard flaps lifted.

bloody jewelry was inside; three wedding rings, two necklaces, a bracelet, and finally a helix earring.

spencer took a sharp breath. each piece of jewelry belonged to an individual taken. yours was the earring, an anniversary gift from him. the usual gold piece was now stained red.

the hope the team had for you all being alive cracked just a little bit more.

☆ ☆ ☆

tags - @zozoleesi @emxlyprentxss @spencerreidfanatic00 @mrs-dr-reid @irjuejjsaa @ogmilkis @sageellesworth05 @mortallythoughtfulgurl @brainyreid @ah-blossom @kissessforharryyy @ssareidbby @spencersglasses @spenciepoo338 @mggstyles @emilouu @loki-an-idiot @reidsmyhusband-emilysmymistress @pianofirepirate @ssa-morgan @afuckingshituniverse @spencerslatte @reminiscing-writer

[palukoo]

abbey, jed, and leo!

thank you!! god, where to start with these three??? if i wasn't into ot3s before watching tww, they would've made me be into ot3s. i can say that with confidence bc when i first watched (some of) tww years ago, i was like "yeah!!" about them without really thinking about it.

god. so like. okay let me break it down into its components before putting it back together... i've talked about jed/leo before. not enough, but like. they are so in love, and even if they aren't, they love each other SO deeply and that's so special to me. like, honestly, i don't care what "type" of love you call it or how you characterize it, it's just good old fashioned homoerotism, except there should be no "just" in that sentence because it's so.... much.

i've probably touched on jed/abbey before in tags, because... i also love them! they are so ridiculous and over the top and cute and... one of the things i really like about them is actually how much of their fights we see, and how much they still love and trust and enjoy each other. like, they'll bicker about crosswords and yell about politics and yell about jed's health (which! breaks me) and get so angry with each other and flirt with each other and hold hands and it just feels really. authentic, i don't know. and genuinely, the "i met abbey" line will never not hit with me, and anything where abbey is worried about jed's health also will never not hit!

so. abbey and leo. oh, abbey and leo. they also really care about each other. this is the... side to the triangle that i can't really see as romantic, but they do love each other. i mean, the example i always think of with that is in no exit when abbey is, in a sort of antagonizing way, granted, practically begging leo to pay more attention to his health (and god, THIS kills me. she tells him to get his heart checked episodes before he has a heart attack).

the thing that this episode highlights is also that... the thing about leo and abbey is that it's hard to isolate them, because they wouldn't really know each other if it wasn't for jed, and they certainly wouldn't love each other as much, or kind of hate each other as much if it wasn't for jed. they love each other in part because of how much they know the other one cares about jed, that's their like. initial common ground and that's what will bond them. they get that. (another thing i always think about is abbey saying "he'd kill himself for you" about leo returning to work after his heart attack) but their distinct relationships to him, to who they are to him and have to be to him run in opposition a lot. leo has to make him the best president he can, within reason (i... could actually make an argument that cj is better at this? i won't right now, but... things are in my head now) and abbey wants him to be there for his family, to be happy and healthy and with them, while leo needs him to prioritize the country. you see this a lot (both their different priorities, and how it breeds contempt for each other) when zoey's kidnapped/in the aftermath, because abbey is so angry at jed and his loyalties to the country over his family, which she naturally takes out on leo ("don't think you took the bullet. i blame jed" is maybe the most efficient way for her to emotionally destroy leo after yelling about how they opened her family up to danger. it's... it's also really important to me here that she is angry with leo but she still blames jed. she knows it's not all leo). leo... takes it then, and does other times with abbey, too, because... he's not just jed's chief of staff, he's his friend, and his loyalties are to jed the person at least as much as president bartlet, so he respects, values, and empathizes with abbey's position a lot more than she does with his, considering how... reluctant she is about him running in the first place. (i don't think abbey hates all of it, and i think she has a very complicated relationship to his presidency and to herself as the first lady that i'm really glad we occasionally get to see, but. you know).

and god, abbey and jed at leo's funeral, or with the bartlet for america napkin? they both love him. it really actually breaks my heart that... iirc no one really expresses condolences to abbey in this arc?

anyways, i think they're three people who all love and care for each other deeply, and have complicated loyalties to different facets of each other, and it makes them really messy and really compelling. i think it's... neat to examine with how else the show plays on the chief of staff/president/first lady relationship, because there's a lot of echoes of them in josh, matt, and helen, and to an extent in the shift to cj, jed, and abbey (which is really interesting because we already have some concept of who abbey and cj are to each other and it gets... wrecked.) the point being. i love them, they love each other!

[zalrb]

hmm maybe you could just rank them according to your personal preference?? i think it would be a little different from the other one right

Sure! I’m sticking to canon ships.

1. Stelena

I have an entire masterlist dedicated to why Stelena is number 1.

2. Forwood

Oh, Forwood:

Caroline and Tyler were fundamentally altered because of their supernatural conditions and that shift was the basis of their relationship. Becoming a vampire empowered Caroline, she had a sense of strength that she never had, she was confident and centred, she became everything she wasn’t in season 1,

which allowed her to be emotional support for Tyler

who, because of the werewolf curse, became everything he wasn’t in season 1 too: humble and vulnerable and grateful for assistance

and that allowed him to actually take the emotional support from Caroline

so they actually grew together through this time, complementing each other and seeing different sides of their personalities, surprising each other even though they’d known each other since childhood.

And also no one gives Tyler credit for being a loving, whipped boyfriend

and like

and just look at them

I don’t care what anyone says, this is such a cute exchange

3. Stebekah/Steferine

I put them together because which one I prefer more depends on the day. I like Stebekah because they’re dark and there was a lot of potential there:

I think that Katherine unfairly gets credit for the second half of a Dark Stefan ship. Every time Stefan has been rebellious or dark and has had a woman at his side, it’s been Rebekah such as in the 20s:

And such as season 4. When Stefan was just tired of all the Delena and   Defan and triangle bullshit and was like fuck it, I’m doing something   for me, I don’t care if it’s a bad decision, he went to Rebekah for some  crazy sex with a crazy ass vampire: 

So I think Rebekah has insight into the depraved, dark, deviant Stefan because she relishes it with him

I like Steferine a) because of Dobsley chemistry b) because I find their dynamic interesting

[Steferine is] the one ship that the show portrays the baggage and the hurt and the sort of inescapability of certain connection quite well although it’s not emphasized so I wonder if they actually portrayed it well on purpose? But anyway.

The reason why I think it’s done well is  because I think the relationship contradicts the idea that loving someone is always good, Katherine’s “love”/obsession with Stefan in fact  continuously destroys him and hurts him […] She  is more in love with the idea of Stefan loving her than she actually is  with Stefan. That’s why she hijacks Elena’s body in season 5 and  attempts to seduce him because  let’s think about that. Katherine hijacked the body of a woman she  hates and tries to seduce Stefan as that woman, a woman whose break up with him was a trigger for his PTSD, a woman who was in a relationship  with his brother and she doesn’t think or care about how seducing him as this woman would fuck with his head:

It’s also why in season 2 she threatens to kill Elena while Stefan watches because it doesn’t matter if he’s scarred or hurt, what matters is owning him:

And Stefan knows that about Katherine and yet Katherine knows Stefan’s psychology, she knows how his mind works, she knows which ways to get through to him:

and that creates a lot of tension for Stefan and you see it because it’s like, “you legit ruined my life though, like you completely fucked with my head, fucked with my life, I hate you, like I legit hate you”

and yet, AND YET, I can’t help but be of comfort when you’re in need

and as much as I hate you, when you’re around there’s just, there’s this thing (because Stefan always looks like he’s a half-step away from having hate sex with her)

At the same time, Stefan is never able to let Katherine in completely

And  he also experiences catharsis by being able to torture her in season 2  then kill her in season 5 and despite dying with her, killing her again  in season 8, he gets to continuously avenge himself which other victims  on TVD don’t get to do

4. Beremy

Here is the thing about Beremy and my opinion on them is definitely framed by the fact that I now know that the only other relationship Bonnie is really in is with Enzo and I think Bonenzo is bullshit, but the thing about Beremy is that Jeremy goes hard for her (especially in season 2) and I don’t think that’s quite acknowledged.

I definitely think that Kat deserved a better screen partner because Steve didn’t really have much of a presence onscreen

but I do think his lack of presence is also why a lot of good and cute Beremy scenes go unnoticed.

and I don’t think their chemistry was bad, like it’s not Grahamwood chemistry, it’s not Somergraham chemistry but it’s not like Steroline flat or Delena cringey, it’s decent:

like their first kiss is a good first kiss

and I’ve also said that they’re at their best when they do angst, that’s where they live. It’s not Stelena angst or Forwood angst but it’s pretty good angst

The way Enzo is supposed to love Bonnie, I think we actually see with Bonnie and Jeremy

Jeremy is this puny pre-hunter human but he goes into the tomb for the moonstone so Bonnie won’t have to use her magic.

In 2x18 when it was all don’t tell Elena that Bonnie will die trying to take down Klaus, Jeremy essentially chose Bonnie by telling Stefan what was going to happen.

Like look at the way he smiles here:

but the writers really fucked this over: And here’s the thing about that. I can understand the fact that Jeremy never really got closure from Anna and that seeing your girlfriend get dragged out, screaming, by cops and knowing that your uncle killed her would be traumatic. But it’s like JP wanted to humiliate Bonnie with this triangle because first of all, Bonnie is the only character who’s been cheated on and not only are the overall stakes of the show super low for the consequence of Bonnie using her magic to be Jeremy being able to see his ex-girlfriends, it’s a petty way to punish Bonnie. Moreover, it’s not just that Jeremy kissed Anna, it’s not even just that he’d been talking to her and essentially having an emotional affair with her, it’s that he degrades his relationship to Bonnie for Anna and when Bonnie finds out, Jeremy legit couldn’t give a fuck and he does nothing to get her back and he’s just never apologetic about it, not toward Bonnie anyway and then it just gets to the fact that Jeremy has a tendency to only care about the women he dates when they’re about to die and it’s just, I understand why the whole Anna situation keeps people from shipping them or giving Beremy the time of day.

5. Maroline

OK Maroline gets a lot of flack and it’s not that I don’t understand why and it’s not like they didn’t have issues but 1) their coming together was organic and on a show like TVD, having two people come together organically is actually pretty rare, it’s basically Stelena, Forwood and Maroline. I enjoyed the fact that despite being opposites, they found emotional common ground, they bonded over the fact that they were both lonely and they both felt isolated and they were both desperately seeking someone to love them

and their respective stories support this interaction

it’s not just something that’s said to be said, we see Matt’s life, we see him have no parents, we see him to the best of his ability try and keep tabs on Vicki, who is dead but he thinks she bailed, we see Elena fall in love with someone else right in front of him, we see Caroline’s abusive relationship with Damon, we see her insecurities from Day One in the pilot but their bond didn’t just stay at them wanting company, they actually had fun spending time together, they actually liked each other

and I liked that it was no pretense, I liked that it was Family Guy and junk food. You know, Klaroline ha the champagne and the ball gowns, Forwood would just “be” a lot, you know, they were the enjoying each other’s silence kind of ship, Steroline as a couple .... but Matt and Caroline, like, hung out and I liked that.

2) They were super realistic for a teenage relationship and I respect that. Like this is so high school

I remember being 16 and doing things to “test” my boyfriend or the guy that I liked, I remember my guy friends being reluctant to express liking a girl because of what their friends would say, I remember being a teenager and just doing teenage things, which is what Maroline did,

I don’t fault them for that, and yes, in season 1, Matt would be like, we’re not going to last etc.

and I don’t blame people for being put off by that, I wasn’t because it’s pretty 16/17-year old boy but you also see how that doesn’t seem to be what he actually thinks

and we see that expand in season 2

which is why the infamous Mattlena hug scene in 1x17 had me, like, the writing is just contradicting itself now because in 1x16, we have this out where Matt  explain being over Elena and seeing her as a friend and at peace with the fact that she loves Stefan because he’s into Caroline so having Caroline look in on them again was like, we’ve already covered this especially since it’s not consistent after 1x17 either.

Like the whole thing is that she can be exasperating --- and people forget that Caroline actually can be exasperating, she made an offhand classist remark about Bonnie liking the bus boy, which Matt overheard, she was dealing with vampirism and Tyler’s transformation but Matt didn’t know anything about that so she just came across to him as hot and cold, he didn’t have context --- but he loved her anyway

With regards to when he finds out she’s a vampire, I like how people are more pressed about Matt being involved in trying to take her down when he has no frame of reference for vampires other than the fact that one killed his sister and they’re not like, wow Liz, that’s your daughter, but I also like how as they ‘grow up’ and become entrenched in the Supernatural, despite the fact that Matt consistently says he wants nothing to do with it, both of them look out for each other

6. Klaroline

I’m pretty indifferent to Klaroline, I don’t have strong feelings about them but I have maintained that they are better than Delena

Even Klaroline does a better job with that dynamic and those kinds of arguments than Delena because you see Caroline be like “I can’t do this, why the fuck am I even here?” every time they’re together  

the dynamic DE was supposed to have better, the “fiery” “passionate” thing works for them because they know how to argue and because they play up the conflict

I’ve also maintained they have good chemistry: and yet their chemistry begins winning me over in the scene and I think what really sells it is that Candice reacts to the phone call in a way I’ve only seen Caroline react to Klaus and it’s this sort of… she catches her breath/is stunned

I have a vid that’s basically just of their gazes because they’re always charged, they have a very seductive chemistry and it suits their dynamic because the more Caroline interacts with Klaus, the more she’s drawn to him and that shows with the kind of chemistry they have where, as someone who is quite indifferent to their dynamic, the more they interact onscreen the more I want them to remain onscreen, I start off unimpressed (much like Caroline) and move toward being engaged (again like Caroline) and like I said, they do their dynamic well too, Caroline’s annoyed-but-charmed and Klaus’ arrogant-but-charming

(although their physical chemistry is not great) I just don’t think they have any real narrative.

7. Simara

This is purely about Dobsley chemistry: I have spoken about Silas and Amara quite a bit actually, but honestly, mostly in relation to the chemistry between Paul and Nina because I think that the SIlas and Amara storyline is textually weak and it felt rushed, there isn’t much nuance so I don’t find their story particularly tragic because we didn’t spend enough time on it but I still find them tragic because of how Paul and Nina played the tragedy.

Like it was a storyline that just let Paul and Nina do their magic onscreen,

they didn’t have to try to undercut it with dialogue or anything so I appreciate Simara because I love seeing Nina and Paul working together but in terms of the content, I’m like I don’t really care.

Last: Delena/Bonenzo/Steroline

You can look at the masterlists!

[salvatoreschool]

Vampire Diaries Universe: The 25 Best Characters, Ranked

For the first time since 2009, we’re entering a fall season devoid of any new offerings from the Vampire Diaries universe. And like Stefan Salvatore without his daily diet of forest friends, we’re insatiable.

Like so many longtime TVD enthusiasts (those of us to whom the word “thesmatos” really means something!), we’ve spent much of quarantine revisiting the weird, wonderful universe — from Mystic Falls to New Orleans and back again. We’re suddenly spending a lot of time with characters we haven’t seen in years. And we’re having a lot of feelings about them.

In celebration of the franchise’s 11th anniversary, TVLine has assembled another totally non-controversial ranking, this time of the 25 best characters from the Vampire Diaries universe — a category that also includes familiar faces from The Originals and Legacies. (In Legacies‘ defense, the franchise’s latest offshoot hasn’t been around as long to endear itself to us, but that didn’t stop four Salvatore School students from making their way onto our list.)

In lieu of new content from the TVD universe this fall, TVLine is looking back at our 25 favorite characters from the entire franchise, including stand-out favorites from its two spinoffs.

SPOILER ALERT: This ranking discusses major plot points from all three shows. If you haven’t finished The Vampire Diaries (Season 1-8), The Originals (Season 1-5) or Legacies (Season 1-2), proceed at your own risk. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

25. VINCENT GRIFFITH

Thanks to the magic of body swapping, the Mikaelson siblings have inhabited multiple physical vessels throughout the years, but none have remained in the family’s orbit quite like this Southern gentleman. Powerful, thoughtful and downright Shakespearean in his delivery (Yusuf Gatewood, ladies and gentlemen!), Vincent always has the greater good in mind. And as we learned in The Originals’ series finale, he helped Freya and Keelan pass that good along to the next generation.

24. LANDON KIRBY

Even though we’re still getting to know him, there’s already so much to like about this pure-hearted Mystic Falls townie. Not only is he the franchise’s first-ever phoenix, but he also looks like he could pass for Damon and Elena’s offspring — and that’s never a bad thing. We could tell he had a long future in this universe the moment he danced with Hope in The Originals’ final season. (So far, so good!)

23. JENNA SOMMERS

Like so many paved paradises, we didn’t fully appreciate what we had with Jenna until she was gone. Her death marked the end of Elena’s innocence — which is saying a lot, considering she was still mourning her own parents when The Vampire Diaries began. And if we’re being honest, Jenna was the ghost we were most excited to see again in the series finale. (For the record, Joseph Morgan has apologized on Klaus’ behalf for killing Jenna several times.)

22. TYLER LOCKWOOD

The First Son of Mystic Falls was kind of a jerk when we met him in The Vampire Diaries‘ first season. He was arrogant, aggressive and reckless — so it actually made perfect sense when he was revealed to be a werewolf. Fortunately, Michael Trevino’s character developed a little more nuance from that point on, especially via his Romeo and Juliet romance with Caroline. (After everything that’s happened since 2013, can you believe that they were once in a love triangle with Klaus?)

21. JEREMY GILBERT

Elena’s little brother (er, cousin?) went through a number of different, wonderful phases during his tenure in Mystic Falls. We loved him in The Vampire Diaries’ earlier seasons as the human embodiment of all things emo (he literally dated a ghost!), and we… um… appreciated his unexpected evolution into a shirt-ripping, wood-chopping vampire hunter.

20. CAMILLE ‘CAMI’ O’CONNELL

The Clarice Starling to Klaus’ Hannibal Lecter, this brave bartender was able to tap into the show’s darkest, most complicated character’s psyche in ways that no one named Mikaelson (or even Forbes) ever could. She helped him conquer a number of his demons in the few short years they spent together on The Originals, and like most people who play a significant role in Klaus’ life, she suffered the consequences. (Side note: Are we the only ones who really dug Cami as a vampire? Justice for that short-lived story arc.)

19. SHERIFF ELIZABETH FORBES

Of The Vampire Diaries’ many maternal figures, none put us through the emotional ringer quite like Caroline’s mother. We weren’t her biggest fans in the show’s early seasons, given her penchant for hunting the undead (including her own daughter), but hey, what was this show if not an endless series of redemption arcs? Also, if you don’t get a little choked up when Caroline felt her mom’s presence in the series finale, you don’t have a soul.

18. FREYA MIKAELSON

The long-lost fifth Mikaelson sibling was a little rough around the edges when we first encountered her on The Originals, but the poor woman was in the midst of escaping a centuries-long imprisonment, so we cut her a little slack. And we’re glad we did, because Freya has since become one of the strongest, most inspiring and all-around likable characters in the Vampire Diaries canon. #FreelinForever

17. MARCEL GERARD

While it’s easy to get swept up in Marcel’s charm and swagger (we were robbed of a second karaoke number, by the way!), it’s important to remember just how far back his time with the Mikaelson family goes. When you consider that Klaus literally freed Marcel from slavery and raised him to lead New Orleans as his right-hand vampire, it adds a whole other layer of tension to their passionate power struggle on The Originals. Though he’s treated like an unofficial Mikaelson sibling, Marcel often feels like more of a Mikaelson than Kol — and definitely more than Finn.

16. REBEKAH MIKAELSON

Arguably the funniest (and most glamorous) member of the Mikaelson family, the woman Damon once referred to as “Barbie Klaus” never fai to tell it exactly like it was, beginning with her thoughts on then-lovebirds Stefan and Elena. (“Honestly, I don’t get you two as a couple.”) And Bex only became more complex as the years went on, from her desperate desire for humanity to her undeniable love for Marcel. Just don’t call her insane — she prefers “spontaneous.”

15. ALARIC SALTZMAN

In hindsight, Alaric’s journey from hot history teacher to hot headmaster of a supernatural school makes perfect sense. Still, it was impossible to predict back in The Vampire Diaries’ first season just how much of an impact the man formerly known as Warner Huntington III would have on this franchise. A drinking buddy to some, a father figure to others and a literal father to a lucky pair, Alaric has truly woven himself into the fabric of this universe like few others. (That said, we still wouldn’t recommend dating him if you value your life.)

14. SHERIFF MATT DONOVAN

Only one full-blooded human survived all eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries, and you’re looking at him. The pinnacle of mortal goodness, this blue-eyed patriot hasn’t always been on the same page as his vampire brethren, but that’s only because he didn’t want to see any more his friends and family get eaten. And we can sympathize with that!

12-13. LIZZIE AND JOSIE SALTZMAN

Asking us to choose between Jo (by way of Caroline) and Alaric’s daughters is an impossible task, which is ironic, considering the Gemini twins are literally destined for a fight to the death on their 22nd birthday. Besides, these sisters have always felt like a package deal, from the moment we witnessed their birth on The Vampire Diaries to the day we reunited with them as teenagers on Legacies. (They also popped up in The Originals’ penultimate episode, putting them in the prestigious category of characters who have appeared in all three series.) Despite their inherent connection, Lizzie and Josie really have grown into two very different people, a journey we hope will continue for years (and shows) to come.

11. MALACHAI ‘KAI’ PARKER

The fact that this remorseless, pork rind-loving psychopath ranks so high on our list speaks volumes about actor Chris Wood, who brought a refreshingly sassy vibe to The Vampire Diaries’ sixth season. The guy was so likable, fans were even ‘shipping him with Bonnie… as if that poor girl hadn’t been through enough already! You also have to give Kai points for longevity — even after his head got knocked off, he managed to make two encore appearances on TVD (Season 8) and Legacies (Season 2).

10. HOPE MIKAELSON

As we mentioned with Lizzie and Josie earlier, we feel like we’ve watched Hope grow up before our eyes… because we have. Given the epic circumstances surrounding her conception, birth and upbringing, an adult version of this character had a lot of hype to live up to, and Danielle Rose Russell has proven herself more than up to the challenge. Imbued with her parents’ best qualities, Hope’s power and passion make her both a formidable foe and an invaluable ally. Besides, Legacies showed us what the world would be like without Hope, and it was not a good place.

9. HAYLEY MARSHALL

We can’t even think about this fierce, fearless mama wolf without shedding a single tear. Hayley’s story was basically one long tragedy, from her complicated marriage with Jackson to her tumultuous relationship with Elijah. And then there was her untimely demise in The Originals’ final season, which… actually, let’s not talk about that. From the moment she gave birth, Hayley’s heart belonged to Hope, and it was in her most extreme maternal moments that Hayley’s true strength was on display. That’s how we’ll remember her.

8. ELIJAH MIKAELSON

Suits? Pressed. Hair? Immaculate. Vocabulary? Thicc. With his smooth moves and cunning intellect, Klaus’ extremely respectful brother could do it all — well, except keep the people he loved from meeting horrific ends. (Seriously, this guy’s track record for dead lovers is right up there with Alaric’s.)

7. BONNIE BENNETT

Simply put, this is the witch you want in your corner when things go south. Endlessly powerful and selfless to a fault, Kat Graham’s character spent eight agonizing seasons sacrificing herself — often literally, hence her multiple deaths — in order to keep her friends and family safe. No amount of bloody noses or dead boyfriends could stop this badass from crushing her enemies.

6. CAROLINE FORBES

Getting smothered to death was honestly the best thing that could have happened to Caroline, who evolved from a basic, boy-crazy cheerleader into a bad-ass vampire overnight. And that was just the first phase of her franchise-long evolution into the empowered, globe-trotting mother of two she is today. She’s also responsible for all of The Vampire Diaries’ memorable musical moments, from her sweet song for Matt to her devastating performance at Sheriff Forbes’ funeral. (Now if only she’d pay her old pals at Legacies a visit…)

5. ELENA SALVATORE

She may not have Katherine’s chaotic flare, but Elena deserves credit for carrying much of The Vampire Diaries’ dramatic and romantic weight for six years. And for that pink hair she experimented with in Season 4. On top of that, Elena also rolled with the punches better than almost anyone. (You’re vampires? I’m a doppelgänger? Now I’m a vampire? Now I’m human again? Now I’m in a coma? Sure, let’s do this.)

3-4. DAMON AND STEFAN SALVATORE

Two sides of the same brooding coin, these brothers were as proficient at breaking hearts as they were at breaking necks. And while their love triangle with Elena will remain the stuff of TV legend, their relationship as brothers was revealed to be the real heart of The Vampire Diaries in its final two seasons. Honestly, it’s too hard to choose between them, so we’re not going to.

2. KATHERINE PIERCE

Come on, when were you not excited to see this leather-clad lunatic on your screen? Deliciously twisted and infinitely more interesting than her human doppelgänger, Katherine was behind many of The Vampire Diaries’ most jaw-dropping twists, from her iconic encounter with John(’s bloody fingers) to her long-awaited return in the series finale. Honestly, putting Katherine on hell’s throne in Season 8 was merely a formality — she was always a queen.

1. KLAUS MIKAELSON

The man, the myth, the legend. To think that the monster who slaughtered poor, defenseless Aunt Jenna on The Vampire Diaries is the same person who gave it all up to save his daughter on The Originals… well, there isn’t a clap slow enough to commend that kind of growth. (Again, Joseph Morgan is very sorry about the whole Jenna thing!) By the time Klaus evaporated on the streets of New Orleans, it felt like we had explored every conceivable nook and cranny of his existence, from his traumatic childhood to his fatal romances — and we relished every second of it.

[rachelbethhines]

Digimon Adventure Shipping Masterpost - Part 2

Part 1 

Sora x Izzy (Kora)

Pros:They’re both the most level headed of the group and there’s relatively little drama between them. So if you want something sweet and cute that’s stress free, then this could do ya.  There’s also the added bonus of breaking up the Tai/Sora/Matt triangle. 

Cons: They’re also kind of boring. They don’t play off one another in any interesting way. They’re just generally nice to each other and can work together as a team, and that’s about it.  They also rarely interact outside of the group. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) Eh..I can see it working and I don’t mind it as a refreshing break from the drama, but there are more interesting ships out there for them.

Sora x Mimi (Mira)

Pros: These two were the only two girls on the team for a long while, so naturally they spent a lot of time together on screen. They’re best friends, and therefore a lesbian’s dream team of a pairing. They got that opposites attract vibe, they’re relatively drama free, and they’re still other girls on the team that they interact with so it’s not like we’re losing the only female friendship on the show if you ship them.    

Cons: Mimi is largely absent in 02, so we get less interaction between them than other Adventure characters. Also, while there are other female friendships none are quite as close as these two and so you may prefer them as platonic. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) Like with Kora, I can see them working, and I do indeed like Mimi-centric ships a lot, but I kind of prefer them as a friends since for the longest time they were the only female friendship on the show; back when I was first watching.  

Sora x Joe (Joura)

Pros: These two spend a lot of time together in Adventure. There’s lot of one on one interaction for them up episodes for them. They work well as a team, while still being different enough to make for an interesting interactions.  Also if you have the love triangle, Joe and Sora are seen suspiciously close together during the epilogue.  

Cons: Sora is in a canon ship already, if that matters to you. Plus Joe may not be your favorite, as he’s pretty decisive. Then there’s the fact that he and Sora do bump heads more so than Sora does with anyone else. It’s like a tei between Tai and Joe over who can annoy Sora the most in season one. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) This is my second favorite ship for Sora, but that’s probably because I just really like Joe a lot. 

Sora x T.K. (Sokeru)

Pros: This ship is oddly popular in certain sections of the fandom. I’m guessing for the same reasons why Yamakari is liked. Sora is very protective of TK in season one. While their interactions do taper off after that point, they’re still seen hanging out together in 02 and Tri, at times.  

Cons: Once again their interactions are limited to mostly group settingings. They also have the same age gap as all of the 02/Adventure pairings. Given how most of their moments are in season one where that age gap makes the most difference, there’s little to go on post Adventure.  

Personal Ranking (4/10) Yeah, not enough interaction to sell this one for me. 

Sora x Kari (Sokari)

Pros: More femslash options. They’re mostly drama free and are very similar in terms of personality. Also, when placed together they cancel out each other’s respective love triangles. 

Cons: All of the same cons as Sokeru. Also they are very similar personality wise and so their dynamic may bore you. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) Yeah, count me as one who finds them boring. Add in the age gap and lack of interaction and this ship is a no go for me. 

Sora x Davis (Daiora)

Pros: It’s basically Taiora but without the triangle bullshit. Also Davis is very good for unrequited romance pairings. 

Cons: Even less interaction than Sokeru or Sokari. The age gap is still present even though it doesn’t matter as much in 02. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) I do really like Davis, and fanworks have shown that they make a cute pairing. But only as like a one sided crush thing, so their dynamic is limited. 

Sora x Yolei (Soyako)

Pros: Much like with Taisuke and Yamasuke, Sora is in that mentor to friend role for Yolei, but with slightly less of an age gap.  Also more femslash options, which are indeed rarer than the slash ones, just cause there are less girls than boys in this show, sadly. 

Cons: They’re kind of Mimra light as yolie is very similar to Mimi in terms of personality. Also while they get some moments in 02, that ends as soon as we get to other seasons. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) Meh...I’d rather just go with Mimra. 

Sora x Cody (Sori)

Pros:On the one hand they so rarely interact that you can shape their relationship post Tri into being whatever you want it to be. 

Cons: On the other hand they aren't ever seen together outside of the group and it’s only in 02 where their age difference would most matter. 

Personal Ranking (2/10) I guess there’s a certain freedom in being able to take a relationship in any direction you want to without it being pure crack or non-canon. I just don't know why you would want to when there’s so many other options out there. 

Sora x Ken (Kenora)

Pros: Uh... They both wind up in ridiculous careers that aren’t suited to them? They’re both shoved into canon relationships without proper build up for them? Wanna cause drama for drama sake with a cheating route? 

Cons: Are these two even friends? Out of all of the 02 and Adventure characters these two probably get the least amount of interaction. At best I’d call them acquaintances who just so happen to have mutual friends. 

Personal Ranking (3/10) All the same cons as all the other 02/Adventure ships but taken to the max. I only rank it higher Sori because there’s a slightly less age gap. 

Sora x Jun (Junora)

Pros: With these two you can pull a Korra/Asami and cut Matt off at the knees. If you’re pissed at how 02 handled relationships this can be cathartic.    It’s also a femslash option that winds up being very different in dynamics from the other yuri pairings in the show. 

Cons: Jun knows of Sora’s existence, and they’ve shared scenes together. Yet they’ve never talked to one another, and I’m not sure if Sora even knows who she is.  Then there’s the fact that Jun is very decisive in fandom. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) I really like Jun. I also like the potential dynamic that her and Sora can have. I also like getting back at Matt after the way he treated Jun. So this ship is a win/win for me. 

Sora x Meiko (Meiora)

Pros: Lots of interactions and shippy moments to work off of.  It’s the ‘moe’ dynamic but made gay. Triangle drama free or increased triangle drama, take your pick.  

Cons: Just like with Meichi and Meimato, how much you like this ship will depend on how much you like Meiko as a character. If you thought her annoying in Tri, you’ll no doubt be annoyed by this. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) This is like Sokari but made good? Kari as she gets older becomes more Sora like and Sora as she gets older becomes more Kari like. But Mei remains the woobie/soft girl through out, so you get the protectiveness and lesbian interaction minus the awkward age gap. 

Izzy x Mimi (Mishirou)

Pros: It’s ‘beauty and the geek’ but with an added twist. There’s some of those awkward crush moments in Tri if you like that, but mostly Izzy is very confident and assertive, just like Mimi. They tend to call out each other’s bullshit the most often. Also Mini is perhaps the second character Izzy hangs out with one on one the most besides Tai. 

Cons: The crush in Tri comes out of almost nowhere and feels like pandering. Izzy never seemed to care for Mimi in that way before and indeed was annoyed with her more often than not. Then somewhere in the middle of Tri the crush was just completely dropped altogether without any resolvement one way or the other. 

Personal Ranking (6/10) I’ve warmed up to it somewhat since Tri. There is a basis there, but it does feel very forced at times, and I don't get the overwhelming love for it. It’s merely ok at best. 

Izzy x Joe (Jyoushirou)

Pros: Geek meets Nerd!  That’s about it. If you really like these two characters then they work just about as well as any other ship in the show. There’s also the comedic elements to their interactions together to play off of.   It also nips the Izzy/Mimi/Joe triangle in the bud. 

Cons: They have more moments together than Sora and Izzy, but not more than say Joe and Matt. It’s brief comedic moments when we get them together and not many serious or deep interactions. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) Eh..There’s a foundation there to build something off of, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t gel for me.  

Izzy x T.K. (Takshirou) 

Pros: They’re closer in age then some of the other 02/Adventure characters, and they do interact often in all three seasons. 

Cons: Still most of those interactions are either plot related or group scenes. There’s not a whole lot to go off of. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) I don't get why someone would ship these two, yet I wouldn’t be outright opposed to it if they did. 

Izzy x Kari (Kokari) 

Pros: Same pros as Takshirou

Cons: Same cons as Takshirou

Personal Ranking (4/10) for the same reasons as Takshirou. 

Izzy x Davis (Daishiro) 

Pros: I guess if you like the Taishiro dynamic, but not enough to break Tai up with one of his more popular ships then this could be an option.  

Cons: It’s Taishiro lite with all the added problems that comes from shiping the 02/Adventure cast. 

Personal Ranking (4/10) For the same reasons stated as for Takshirou and Kokari.

Izzy x Yolei (Koyako) 

Pros: Of all the 02/Adventures ships this has the smallest age gap. The age difference between her and Izzy is the same a Izzy the rest of the adventure gang. As such they spend a lot of time together.  They also have a similar dynamic to Mishirou, but with the added dimension of Yolei being a nerd as well. She can keep up with Izzy’s technobabble and often assists him in his projects. 

Cons: Izzy does have a reduced role in 02 like the rest of the adventure gang, though not quite as bad as some. Meanwhile Yolei only appears in 02 except for like a cameo here and there. So while they do interact one on one on occasion it’s not a whole lot.   

Personal Ranking (7/10) To me this has all the pros of Mishirou, but none of the cons. They’re both assertive and capable of calling out each other’s bs, but they also have a deeper understanding of one another can more in common to build off of.   

Izzy x Cody (Kori) 

Pros: It’s the mentor/friend dynamic again. They have a lot in common and are seen hanging out together a lot.  

Cons: Same age difference as with the other mentor ships and like with Koyako they’re scenes are limited to only 02.  

Personal Rankings (3/10) It’s got more of a basis then the other Cody ships thus far, but that’s not saying much. 

Izzy x Ken (Kenshirou) 

Pros: Uh.. It’s assertive nerd boy meets shy nerd boy, I guess? There’s also the whole former villain thing for some added angst if you want. 

Cons: Not a whole lot of one on one interact and when we do get it it’s mostly plot exposition 

Personal Ranking (4/10) I put this on the same level as Takshirou, Kokari, and Daishiro

Izzy x Jun (Junshirou) 

Pros: It breaks all of the triangles involving both of them. They’re both fun characters. Pair the spares.  They both went on that camping trip once.  Comedy.

Cons: This ship is as close as crack as you can get without being full on crack. They’ve met, they know of each other’s existence, and they’ve been in the same scene together more than once. But they’ve never actually talked with one another on screen before. 

Personal Ranking (7/10) I just like Jun. I don’t care who you pair her with, it’s entertaining because she’s enterianing.  

Izzy x Meiko (Meishirou) 

Pros: I guess if you like both characters then you’ll like this ship just fine. Can double as a pair the spares in order to resolve the Izzy/Mimi/Joe tringle. 

Cons: Mei has less interaction with Izzy than some of the rest of the group. Also it’s dependent upon how much you like Mei as a character. 

Personal Ranking (5/10) It’s not bad, but give me Junshirou, Koyako, or Taishirou over it any day of the week. 

That’s part 2, will carry on later in part part 3 

[theyanderespecialist]

Daddish/Mommish 1 (Questions) Netflix Marvel X Pregnant and New Mother Readers (Marvel)

[Hello My Sexy Readers, I am here with my co author another Questions chapter and this is daddies and mommies with pregnant reader and mommy reader we hope you all enjoy and stay sexy!]

(Matt Murdock/Daredevil)

He was over the moon when he first found out about the pregnancy, and he can hear the heart beat of your child you even wake up with his head on your stomach crying causing you to awkwardly try and comfort him. Even if you were not ready for a baby well he did not care. He got placebo's for your birth control and got them so you would get pregnant. He is one that will do anything to keep you safe along with the babies or babies. And once they were born, God you could barely get time. For them...because he was always with them. Even when he couldn't see their first turn overs he could hear it. But he is a great co parent. He can hear and smell everything in the flat so knows when the baby is hungry, cranky, wet, or anything and he is up before the baby even starts crying. Everyone needs a Matt Murdock as a co parent of an infant. At least until he starts trying to film and leaves the cap on the camera because he can't see. Why he Eben attempted I don't know but he was trying.

(Luke Cage)

Luke was so happy hearing the good news, and..immediately he was over protective. Some guy looms at you wrong? Lukes there. Some woman backs into your car? Luke's there. He's the kind to film everything. He filmed every doctors visit and made sure you were healthy he even filmed the birth holding the camera in one hand and you squeezed his hand like no tomorrow. He would not break of course so he does not mind. And the first words. .oh the first words. ..he cried. He full on, ugly cried. Of course the kid did not understand why their daddy was crying and started crying as well. Thinking they upset daddy. It is sweet but someone is going have to clean up the snot. Also Luke best dad ever. Makes it to ever class event and if you are working goes to the mommy and baby class in your place. He is invested 150% for your kids.

(Jessica Jones)

Meanwhile Jessica was firm.on not.wanting kids. Hers, yours, adopted, implanted, none of it. She said absolutely not. Which is why she was then sitting at the donner clinic to look over possible donners.

"I'm not getting mine fertilized I can tell you that." She said looking at you. Which is why she was the one to.get fertilized.

(She got suckered into it. Hard)

(Yeah she did XD)

Seeing you want to carry her eggs in you and have her baby grow in you well she could not say no to you. She ended up being super protective lord help anyone who tried to hurt you or her children. She is even more ready to kill if he slightest sight of the purple man comes back. And when you said you wanted her to be pregnant with you in case yours didn't work she said no. And you understood and she was happy about that. It was best to wait. As you got further along she cleaned up a lot she got actual food in the house. She stopped drinking, she actually redid the ceiling in your bedroom with the cracks so the babies crib could be there and not give you both a panic attack. That baby had her become a better human when she held them the first time she cried. Like she never thought she could love someone as much as she loved you. It killed her but made her feel more alive than ever before. And yes she was worried maybe the baby would take time away from her, but actually, if anything it increased it as you would spend time together in bed one on each side of the baby watching it. This made life so much better and she was at peace.

(Kilgrave)

Kilgrave is.. he's like a layers pastry. Layer after layer. He has two modes for children

The first: he views that child like it's everything except his love. It's an extension of their love. Seeing you pregnant and actually genuinely concerned for your child..you actually started sleeping with him in the same room on your own, he didn't need to command you. The hormones making you much more loving. In fact the first thing when he gets home is he's greeted by a hug. He thinks he should have knocked you up a long time ago. Sometimes he wakes up only to find yu aren't beside him, but instead you're ether looking up baby clothes or looking up reviews on baby furniture, or reading some of the many pregnancy books.

You eventually have a harder time doing hiuseworknto which he actually does have to command you to stop and tells yu it's OK and he genuinely doesn't mind cleaning. He went from being unsure, to being arrogant to then being worried. He actually opens up about his parents to which you put a hand in his and tell him that he isn't his father, in fact

"I think you'll make an amazing father." You'd say.

He would be fine with being a parent with your kids you are his darling and a child from you is a gift. Something he will treasure if it was some random woman kid though he would not give a fuck, maybe even force her to have an abortion. And he remembered when he came home, and his daughter came running up with you following as she handed him a family portrait of crudely drawn family, with you I'm your favorite color dress, him in a purple.suit, and her in a pink dress in the shape of a triangle with all of you holing hands.

(....that's so God. Damn cute)

[We hope you all enjoyed and this idea was once again made by my co author and you can give her love here prussia666 or here https://www.quotev.com/Lifegivesyoucancer and I hope you all enjoy this chapter and stay sexy!]

[anika-ann]

Hands Too Cold, but Heart of Gold - Pt.5

The Aftermath

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader, Matt Murdock x reader (no SR x MM x r)

Word count: 2800

Summary: Avenger!reader AU, love triangle. Some things get messy and some are cleared out; that tends to happen when you talk things through...and you’re not entirely honest. Or are you?

Warnings: swearing, mentions of violence, injury, medical procedures and seizure, hospitals, tooth-rotting fluff

Story Mastelist

────── ·❆· ──────

The first thing you were sure of was that life sucked. It was truly the very first thought that popped up in your mind.

Before thoughts, there had been only your brain rebooting, already overwhelmed with receiving signals of dull pain from different parts of your body, which had resulted in one messy signal alerting you your whole body ached; hence the original thought.

“Jesus shit,” somehow escaped your lips without you being in control, but the moment you got a hold of them, you were tempted to say it again.

A noise near your head startled you – rustling and an unpleasant squeak, soon followed by a male voice.

“You’re awake. Hey,” he whispered, sounding delighted. Probably. You were still a bit to groggy to recognize that the emotion.

You slowly opened your eyes, figuring out how to turn your head to the source of the voice – as you evaluated before –, a man. You squinted at the figure wearing black sneakers and a light blue shirt with no tie. You finally examined his face and— and realized you had no idea who he was. His brown irises felt a little familiar – a memory (a dream?) of snowy winter hit you, warm brown eyes ensuring you, Gerda, that you would be okay. Other than that, your memory was blank – you had no clue who the brunet was.

“I’m… sorry. Do I— do I know you?” you asked shyly, slightly embarrassed. Did you have amnesia? Was he your fiancée or something? Was this a stupid rom-com?

The stranger smiled inconspicuously and went to help you as you tried to straighten in your bed – and whoa, okay, OUCH, not so great idea.

“You shouldn’t move too much. You have a fair share of stitches,” he announced, seemingly worried about you. His eyes watched you almost absently, focusing somewhere around your chin. Okay, this was getting weird. He didn’t answer the question. “And my name is Matt.”

Your heart stopped until it kicked in again and started sprinting. You couldn’t recall knowing any Matt unless knowing who Matt Damon was counted. Shit.

His brows furrowed. “But you wouldn’t know that. You know me as Daredevil.”

You lips parted, your brain finally catching up with the events.

Mission. Kidnapping. Daredevil. Steve.

“Steve,” you breathed, horrible realization striking you. “Is Steve okay? Where is he? Why am I in a hospital— no forget that one, tell me about Steve.”

The man carefully touched your arm that had found its way from under the covers as you had tried to sit up again. He smiled mildly.

“He’s okay, Gerda. He’s down the hall. He woke up yesterday and apart from being worn to a bone, he seems fine.”

You took a deep breath, your ribs hurting like hell at the action, but the feeling of relief was so overwhelming you didn’t care.

“Oh thank god-“

“Thank you. You saved him,” he corrected you gently and you were very much not ready for the rush of anger into your veins, suddenly remembering very clearly it wasn’t the truth.

Daredevil must have picked up on that, because his smile faltered.

“Really? Good for me, ‘cause I remember someone stopping me,” you hissed like a cat, climbing up into a sitting position, biting your cheek at the pain that shot up from the base of your fucking spine to its tip. Christ. You distantly remembered wanting to stop the person who had pulled you away, but he seemed just fine now, so you didn’t care.

“I didn’t really have another option. Your own body was shutting down. The device under your ribs short-circuited, unable to bare the intensity of your powers. You almost killed yourself.”

You froze at the revelation.

Oh. Oh. Fuck. That was… not what you expected to hear from the guy. The fact he couldn’t even look into your eyes when telling you that was kinda irritating though. He continued.

“I know you’re mad and I’m sorry. But I had to believe he would make it with what you had done so far. I… know it wasn’t my choice to make. Maybe it wasn’t Captain Rogers’ either, but I was sure he wouldn’t wish for you endanger your life for his sake. We both decided to save you – not that anyone else tried to stop me.”

You felt the pools of energy settling in your muscles, your rapidly beating heart quickly waking your body up properly – the fact that with the more he said the more your adrenalin was spiking probably helped. You understood. You understood pretty well.

You stared into his eyes murderously and suddenly realized why he couldn’t reciprocate the gesture. He was blind. You spent about two seconds being overwhelmed by that big revelation before coming to conclusion that it was the last thing that bothered you right now.

“You’re right,” you whispered, clearing your throat so your voice wouldn’t sound so pathetically weak. “You’re goddamn right it wasn’t your choice.” And it sure as hell wasn’t your place to assume what Steve would want.

You clenched your teeth as you swung your legs over the edge of your bed.

“You really shouldn’t get-“

“Yeah, I don’t care,” you shot back, ignoring the pleading and regretful eyes almost watching you. Blind. Duh. Talk about surprises.

“Look-“

“No, you look, Matt. You joining the mission? It was nice. Thanks for the assist. But you were a complete stranger and you had no fucking right to make a decision like that. I don’t care if we were paired or something, I’m sure you understand prioritization. Steve? He’s Captain freaking America. He’s at the top of the priority list. And not that it’s any of your business, but he’s also at the top of my list. And it was not your call to stop me just because your super-senses sniffed I was passing out or whatever,” you paused, catching you breath.

You pushed yourself up with a whimper, hoping your feet would hold you. His arms went to support you, possibly recognizing he had no chance – or right – to stop you. At least he was catching up fast. Not that it mollified you.

You slapped his hands away as soon as you felt at least a little steady on your feet. He quickly retreated, a shadow of hurt in his eyes.

“I’m gonna see him now and when I’m back here, I would really appreciate if you were gone.” Yeah, okay, now he definitely seemed wounded. You tried to shush the voice of sympathy whispering in your head. “It was good to meet you, Devil. But once was enough.”

You gritted your teeth and shuffled to the door, taking as shallow breaths as you could. Everything, fucking everything hurt.

Daredevil was silent, until he wasn’t.

“You love him,” he whispered, his voice heavy with something that made your heart skip a beat.

You turned back to the man who had given up trying to stop you and just stood in the middle of your room, watching you. Once again, you didn’t see how that was any of his business, but you had no reason to lie.

“You bet your ass I do. I told you – he’s family.”

And with those words, you reached for the handle and stumbled out of your hospital room. You looked around, searching for clues. Daredevil had said Steve was down the hall – which way down the hall? You were pretty much in the middle.

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath, half-tempted to turn around and ask him for clarification.

Instead, you closed the door cowardly and started walking where the hall seemed less busy. Steve would be there, right?

A woman that was definitely giving away a nurse vibe noticed you and sized you up in horror. Yeah, okay, you got it, you looked terrible, you had a fucking hospital gown and thank god, some underwear and you were supporting yourself onto a wall. Yeah, you were sure you looked peachy.

“Madam, I don’t-“

“Why don’t you tell me where I can find Captain Rogers?” you offered, attempting your best smile, probably failing epically. “I would really like to see him now.”

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” she shrieked and you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t know. But given how far I’ve got, it would be mean to drag me back without my reward, wouldn’t it?”

The nurse eyed you, her glare saying ‘I am so fired for this’, but she actually approached you, supporting some of your weight and led you to a door guarded by two soldiers. Of course. You should have figured – and noticed them in the first place; you were in a truly crappy shape if you missed them.

She knocked and you gestured at her that you could make the rest of your way alone. The soldiers shot you a strange look, but you were used to that.

You entered the room, your gaze immediately landing on the lying figure. He was squinting at you sleepily, the part of his bed under his torso and head slightly raised.

You smiled widely. He was awake. He was alive.

“Snowflake?” he mumbled and you reached for the nearest chair to support yourself as your knees suddenly felt even weaker.

“Hey, Steve,” you whispered back, your voice too raspy and heavy with emotion.

“What are you-“ He blinked his eyes wide open, straightening on the bed with surprising speed. He seemed perfectly awake now. “Holy hell, Snowflake, what are you doing here?! You should be in bed!”

“Didn’t sit with me well.”

His bright eyes watched you in horror as you shuffled to his bed, falling heavily on the chair next to it with a hiss.

“Also, you cursed, Cap.”

“You-“

You took his hand without permission, resting your forehead against his shoulder, hearing and feeling his sharp intake of breath. His free arm embraced you resignedly, pulling you closer, so you assumed you were doing okay with being affectionate. You barely registered you started crying, too busy with supressing the pain caused by moving around – Steve’s presence helped with that.

“What do I do with you? You’re terrible at following orders lately,” he whispered, his lips in your hair. You snuggled to him completely, as much as your positions allowed you.

“You can ground me. I will happily sit at home for a while.”

His arm caressed your back at the word ‘home’ – wary of touching your spine as if he knew it hurt – and a pool of warmth blossomed around your heart.

“How do you feel, Snowflake?”

“How do you?” you murmured back, soaking his gown wet with your tears.

God, you loved his strong arm around you. His chest rising periodically. His heart beating strongly against your cheek.

“I got my blood cleaned. You spend hours in surgery having your body cut open in several places. I think my question needs to be answered first.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You fried the device. You were lucky Tony had one to replace it,” Steve whispered, his voice shaking inconspicuously. “Two days after the first surgery, Tony added a fail-safe. The doctors implanted a new part into your spine – the next time you’ll reach your limit, it will just shut your powers down.”

Your breath caught in your throat and you retreated quickly. “Are you kidding me? What the hell?!”

What the fuck– how did they dare to do something like that? Something restricting your powers?! Now? Now, when you finally did some good with them? They could have blocked them completely then!

“It’s for your own safety, Snowflake,” he explained gently, seeing you were utterly pissed. His blue eyes were soft, glimmering with sadness. “You almost died. You need to realize that-”

“I don’t care!”

You covered your mouth the second after the words left your lips. Steve’s gaze hardened.

“Well, I do. While I didn’t get a say in that one, the others did and made the right choice. Believe it or not, we all care. I’m— Snowflake, I’m so grateful for what you did. I am. But…” he exhaled shakily, looking away before locking his eyes with yours, not allowing you to escape the intensity of his gaze. “…but when I woke up and you were just finishing your second surgery and I heard about everything what happened… and I imagined what could have happened… Snowflake, you know how much I care about you. I don’t want to lose you. You can’t… you can’t even imagine what it felt like-“

“Oh, you mean my friend being an inch from dying? How could I even imagine what it feels like, almost losing my best friend, huh?” you bit back, your voice more venomous than you intended. But god, you were getting sick of people doing your choices for you and assuming.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I lost someone who was as close to me as my family,” he replied with the same tone and guilt stabbed your insides instantly.

Oh. Oh. Now you were being a bitch. To be fair, he wasn’t being a saint either.

“I’m sorry. That was mean. But I had a point.”

Steve’s baby-blues softened and he reached for your hand again. “I’m sorry too. I’m really glad you’re okay enough to let your stubbornness overdrive your body and drag it here.”

Your lips spread into a smile involuntarily. There was nothing and no one who would have stopped me from getting here. “I’m glad you’re okay too.”

Silence fell for several moments and you didn’t feel like breaking it. You just wanted to snuggle to his side and never leave his warm embrace.

“You know… when you told me I was pushing it and you basically threatened me with freezing my ass off for another seventy years, I thought you were exaggerating,” he noted playfully, the famous spark of mischief lighting up his eyes.

You inhaled sharply, completely at loss of words. Did he just-

Then he squeezed your hand. “Dumb joke, sorry. Thank you, Snowflake. You saved my life.”

“I-“

“And I’m really proud of you for what you managed to do. You controlled yourself perfectly.”

You felt a blush colouring your cheeks in red, lowering your gaze. Steve shifted in his bed, moving to side, patting the newly created space next to him.

“Come here.”

You didn’t hesitate. You two did cuddling; usually, there were more clothes between your bodies, but it wasn’t unusual for you to fall asleep in his embrace during team movie nights. Plus, you couldn’t refuse an offer like that.

You climbed in the bed, his arm around your shoulders to keep you close and you nuzzled your cheek in his chest, throwing your arm around his waist. He kissed your temple tenderly.

“Rest, Snowflake… I love you,” he whispered and you snuggled closer at the words, the warmest feeling settling in your chest.

You… didn’t think he meant romantically. He said you were like family. And you were okay with that as if the near-death experience – both yours and his – finally gave you complete peace. You didn’t think the crush would go away, but… this felt right. This was enough.

“I… never thought I’d have a brother. And here we are,” you murmured, his muscles tensing, before he relaxed completely, burying his face into your hair, his body almost merging with yours. “I love you too, Steve.“

Neither of you said more. His chest was rising and falling slowly under your cheek, his breath warm on your scalp, his free had wrapped around your wrist, his fingertips on your pulse point. His own heart sounded as a lullaby in your ear and at some point, you drifted off to sleep.

Due to that, you nearly missed the team stumbling into Steve’s room. Natasha quickly put her index finger over her lips to shush everyone and pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the cuddling pair.

“Oh-ho, this is precious. This is a perfect blackmail material. Good job, Tasha,” Clint praised her and she winked at him.

“I don’t know, this looks too cute for a blackmail material,” Bruce questioned and Natasha giggled, not trying to disagree. It was the giggle that disturbed your dreamless sleep, your eyelids too heavy and your position too comfortable to make even the smallest movement though.

“These two sweet children. Can we just put them in ice like this?” Tony whispered and you managed to raise a finger at him, causing the team to laugh silently. “Snap a pic of that too. We’ll report her to Cap. This is even worse than swearing, I mean, she’s literally showing-“

Gradually, his voice was trailing off and then you could hear the door close shut.

Steve hummed sleepily and you just ran your fingers over his side soothingly, melting into his sleeping form once more.

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Part 6

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Tags: @mermaidxatxheart​, @murdermornings​, @elisaa-shelby​ @ask-hellbent-tweek​

[jbuffyangel]

Hi Jen! I know you're a diehard Stelena shipper so here's my question for you with a bit of backstory. I was a hardcore Stelena fan until when Stephan made Elena think he'd drive them off the bridge (3x10?) so she'd let him go. I understand why he did it, but that went too far for me and i couldn't ever ship them again after that. I couldn't get over him forcing her to relive her most traumatic moment, regardless of his reasoning. What are your thoughts on that moment in their relationship?

Yeah, that was a real low point in Stelena’s story. For me, not as low as Stefan drowning in a safe all summer while Elena banged his brother, but still low.

Before we get into this I’m going to just say - every viewer has to draw their own line in the sand. If that moment was your line that’s completely fine. I may have different lines for different shows and characters, but I don’t believe anyone’s lines are more valid than others.

So here’s the way I look at The Vampire Diaries Nonnie - they are all terrible people. Arguing morality with these characters is a black hole. They are all murderers. In fact, if a character runs the straight and narrow for too long Julie Plec & Co. actually went out of their way to make that character do something horrible. 

Case in point - Caroline. Pure sunshine.

She murdered only one person and it was when she was a newbie vamp. By the numbers count Caroline was doing pretty good for TVD. Then she was up on the moral high ground and threw a lot of judgement Damon’s way (well deserved in my opinion). She was extremely anti Delena in Season 4 and was not pleased with Elena’s choices as a vampire. So what did the writers do? They had her kill 12 witches in 4x17. Say goodbye to the moral high ground, Caroline.

That’s the show and you are going to do terrible things if you’re a vampire. Humans like Matt, Jeremy and Bonnie fared better, but each makes morally questionable, if not down right wrong, decisions. Their opinions about vampires and all the murderer was typically correct, but frequently viewed as judgmental by fans.

So what’s my point? Any fan of the love triangle got on board with these relationships with full knowledge the brothers were killers. Just because Stefan was a solid dude when Elena met him didn’t erase the fact he spent the better part of the 1920s ripping people’s heads off. Hell, Damon murdered people while he was dating Elena. Murder is not a deal breaker- either to Elena or Stelena/Delena fans. If Elena was supposed to end up with the most moral person on TVD she should’ve married this blue eyed cupcake.

Stefan (or Damon for that matter) being cruel to Elena didn’t really make me want to peace out on the show or stop shipping their relationship. Just because Elena is the focus of the terrible thing doesn’t suddenly make it more terrible than all the other things Stefan and/or Damon have done.

I’m not going to defend what Stefan did. You are kinder to him than I am because I think it had zip to do with forcing Elena to let him go. Stefan was still on human blood which made him a rage machine. He was pissed at Klaus for destroying his life (rightfully so) and hell bent on revenge. 

Do I believe Stefan, with his humanity switch on, would actually kill Elena? No, which is why I kind of yawned my way through the whole driving her off the bridge plan. Klaus was an idiot for buying it, but the only reason he did was because Elena was terrified. Stefan said her fear sold it. The point was to traumatize her, which makes Stefan an enormous dick. 

And yet, three episodes later he’s off human blood and Elena is begging him to feel something for her. 

This show was ridiculous. Both sides of the love triangle are abusive, co dependent, toxic train wrecks at certain points in the story. Some points last longer than other points, but I’ll side eye any Stelena or Delena fan who argues  differently.

Stefan was faaaaar too “heroic” by The Vampire Diaries standards the first two seasons. In order to make this love triangle a real love triangle Stefan had to be a dick with his humanity switch ON. The whole Ripper/no humanity thing gives him an easy pass. And The Vampire Diaries, for better or worse, was based on the love triangle.

No, in order for Elena to really struggle choosing between the two brothers, and not looking like a loony tune for giving Damon a second look while Stefan was literally the vampire equivalent of Clark Kent, they needed Stefan to go to the dark side. This made Damon step up to the plate and he became the hero in Elena’s life. And we’re off to the races with the love triangle, which was the whole point of Season 3 - ELENA’S CHOICE. If I took a shot every time Elena said, “I don’t know how I feel,” I would’ve permanently damaged my liver.

So why did I keep shipping Stelena after that moment? 

Because I knew what the show was trying to do. Stefan had to do something as terrible as Damon killing Jeremy to even the playing field. 

Do I feel those moments equate? No, but I’m a Stelena fan so that’s not a shock. I own my bias. Bloodaholic Stefan was never going to hurt Elena (no not even turn her into a vampire) whereas Damon literally killed Jeremy. 

I also kept shipping them because I knew this was the low point. I knew good Stefan would start to come back after this. And Stefan, when he’s not ripping heads off, has his humanity switch on, and his blood addiction under control, is one of the best people on that show. Selfless, heroic, warm, compassionate, protective and giving. He’s devoted to Elena and loves her deeply, but he also loves her friends and family. Does Stefan put those people first all the time like Elena wanted him to? No, but he prioritized them a hell of a lot more than Damon. 

I was willing to forgive Stefan for Wickery Bridge because I knew Stefan would feel immense guilt once the haze of revenge lifted and he allowed the full weight of all the things he did hit him. Stefan would punish himself more than I ever could and do everything in his power to make amends because that’s who he is. 

This is the same reason Elena chose Stefan at the end of Season 3. Did he “earn” his redemption by 3x22? No, the dude had been acting good for a total of nine episodes. Well, techinically five if we’re being strict about what constitutes “Good Stefan.” Elena didn’t choose Stefan because of the person he was during Season 3. She chose Stefan because of the man he had been in Season 1 and Season 2. That’s the man she loved and she knew that man had come back. 

But if we’re really being fair - Damon probably deserved to be chosen more than Stefan just based on their behavior in Season 3. Same rules apply for Season 4. Stefan deserved to be chosen more than Damon then.

***Side note. One thing TVD did extremely well was parallels. I loved that she told Stefan on the phone that she loved him in 3x01 and to hold on to that. Then told Damon on the phone that she is choosing Stefan in 3x22. 

(This is also why Elena told Damon she loved him for the first time over the phone. It was to make up for the time she dumped him over the phone and left him for dead. See? They all did crappy stuff to each other CONSTANTLY).

The difference between the brothers is not good and bad. Stefan isn’t entirely good just like Damon isn’t entirely bad. The difference between the two brothers is one fights the good in him while the other fights the bad. Neither are successful in their battles all the time. Stefan did terrible things, with his humanity on, and Damon could be wonderfully heroic and sweet. 

But Damon pushed against that goodness A LOT. Whereas Stefan pushed against his badness A LOT.  I’m not into the bad boys or the anti heroes. I like darkness in my fictional men, but I enjoy watching them fight it and not relish it. 

But I don’t glean any morality from The Vampire Diaries. It was a fantasy show. It’s crap I watched for fun and had pointless, but entertaining, ship debates with strangers on the Internet. Nor do I apply my real world principles to my shipping preferences. I am married to the kindest, gentlest, most moral man I know. I like the goody guys with NO darkness in real life. I would never allow my kid to date a Stefan or Angel or hell not even Oliver Queen in real life. Are you nuts???? THEY MURDERED PEOPLE.

But in my fantasy world, yes I am extremely forgiving. Not unlike Elena Gilbert, Buffy Summers and Felicity Smoak. Oliver Queen is as squeaky clean as I get. It’s a little easier I think with Angel (versus Stefan) because he only did horrible things after he lost his soul, which was not his fault. 

It’s really two personas. I love Angel, but I hated Angelus. I never wanted Buffy to hook up with Angelus. 

Does that erase his responsibility over Jenny Calendar? 

Nope. But simply because I knew Jenny Calendar as a viewer, and Angel was hurting people Buffy loved, doesn’t suddenly make that murder worse than all the others Angelus killed. Just because Buffy didn’t know those people, and they died hundreds of years ago, doesn’t make their lives any less valuable. But I got on board with Buffy dating Angel knowing all that before he lost his soul, so the morality factor didn’t really change after he got his soul back. Make sense?

It’s similar with Stefan. Stefan and The Ripper are two personas, but TVD liked to muddy the water a little more than Whedon with the humanity switch - a grey area. But in general I divide his character into two selves. 

Now, in real life if I was on a jury these guys would be serving 25 to life. But this is fantasy. Vampires don’t really exist. Teenage girls don’t date men over 110 years old. It’s illegal.

Characters like Stefan and Angel are an allegory. They represent the struggle between good and evil that live within all of us. The writers use vampirism to represent our sinful nature. The human struggle to be good and battle against our (hopefully) lower scale darkness/sins is the only real moral lesson I apply. That and always put Paul Wesley in a white tank top.

So, that’s how I look at that scene Nonnie. As I said before it is completely fine for that to be the moment you stopped shipping Stelena. I never stopped shipping Stelena and I never will, which is why they are one of my OTPs. They are a tragic story, but I will always love them. Despite all of Stefan’s terrible mistakes, I will always believe he was the best choice Elena ever made.

[gins-potter]

TV Guide Article

So I had a lot of fun running down what happened in the teaser and thinking about what it means for the new seasons, so I thought I would do something similar for the tv guide article that came out a couple days ago.  Thoughts and musings under the cut because it got long:

Chicago Fire

“We are going to reflect what the world is like in 2020 for Chicago firefighters, pandemic and all” so that’s pretty blatant that we’re going to get covid-19 storylines in some regard on Fire.  Maybe Stellaride is the couple who have to quarantine together (again i heard that was going to be upstead but am not sure if that’s confirmed or not).

“[Brett] becomes a mentor to young medic Gianna Macket, who grew up in the same rough South Chicago neighborhood as firefighter Joe Cruz” hopefully is Brett is becoming a mentor to Gianna that means they’ll be friendly pretty quickly, I’m not a massive fan of drama within company’s.  I do love that the new girl might already know Cruz going into the house (altho they lowkey missed the chance for a cross-show dynamic, because I think the Halstead bros also grew up on the south side?)

“Look for Brett and Macket to quickly find themselves in harrowing circumstances, Haas reveals: ‘Don’t miss the premiere’s last 10 seconds’“ so we’re gonna have a cliff hanger in 9x01 which is interesting.  Usually they leave that sort of thing for the season finale, altho they could be making up for the one we didn’t get in s8.

“Brett could experience a new partner in her personal life as well.  Will she begin a serious romance with smitten Captain Matt Casey?  The first two episodes will tell.” Well, there it is Brettsey fans.  We’ll know if our ship’s setting sail by 9x02.  The use of the word smitten is giving me hope, along with the knowledge that they’ve been building this ship for two seasons.  Hopefully they don’t back out in the last second.

“Firefighter Stella Kidd heads in a new direction when Chief Wallace Boden asks her to take the lieutenant’s exam.  Her ambition could cause tension between her and boyfriend Lt. Kelly Severide.”  I’m down for Lieutenant Stella Kidd, but not down for tension between her and Kelly.  Happy Stellaride all of s8 was amazing and I don’t want trouble now.  If she does get her bugles (if i’m using that phrase right) I wonder where she’ll go since all the Lt spots are full, but she could pull a Herrmann and just stick around until something opens up and fill in when she’s needed.  I’m a tiny bit worried they’re gearing up to write one of our Lt’s out, but I’m hoping I’m very wrong.

“’Ritter has an epic rescue coming up,’ says Haas, ‘and he might be taking a break from [his boyfriend]’” Yay epic rescue, boo break from his boyfriend (unless that means Ritter/Gallo in that case I’d totally be here for it).

“While Gallo’s effort to woo EMT Violet Lin fizzled” rip, I wasn’t a massive fan of Violet/Gallo but sad to see her go cause she was a badass paramedic.

“[Gallo] now faces an even bigger challenge: impressing his boss, Captain Casey. ‘Especially,’ warns Haas, ‘if he decides to cowboy a call instead of following orders.’“ I’ve seen the theory that Gallo cowboying a call is what puts Brett and Gianna in danger and Casey loses his shit and it leads to Brettsey and honestly?  I’m here for it.

Chicago PD

“... new Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller who arrives in Chicago with an intense police reform agenda, in a story inspired by the country’s current movement.  ‘Miller wants to abolish the ‘warrior-cop’ mentality and help Hank Voight and Intelligence adapt to the new reality’ says exec producer Rick Eid.... Facing hostility from the community and scrutiny from his bosses, Voight must assess whether, indeed, ‘he’s part of the problem of part of the solution’.” Honestly this type of storyline is long overdue and I really hope they’re committed to following it through.  Because we’ve seen them explore themes of ‘reform’ in the past but they never seem to stick.  I think if cop shows want to stick around they need to take a hard stance against police brutality in their story telling and be willing to be critical of their own main characters.  It’s not enough anymore to see the characters stand up against other racist cops, they now need to look at how their own policing has been racist.  It won’t make PD a completely unproblematic show (and I don’t know if there can be a completely unproblematic cop show) but it will be a step in the right direction.

“While the unit lost undercover specialist Vanessa Rojas at the end of last season...” so, did I miss this happening?  I assumed Lisseth would come back for 8x01 to write off her character but this makes it sound like she isn’t.  Which has me confused because I’m pretty sure they haven’t given her a proper exit yet, but maybe I’ve just forgotten about it.  The fact that they specified she’s an undercover specialist makes me think she’s just going to disappear and they’ll throw out a single line about how she’s gone undercover for another unit.

“Upton’s chemistry with Det. Jay Halstead did not weaken during her absence, but both know the complications of dating colleague.”  this ain’t gonna be a smooth ride to canon Upstead, me think.

“As do officers AdamRuzek and Kim Burgess, still mourning her miscarriage.  ‘It’s become an emotional impediment to their relationship,’ Eid says. ‘They have an unbreakable bond, but are they better off as friends?’“ Fuck off Eid, and just let them get back together already.  That’s all I have to say on that.

“Intelligence’s Kevin Atwater has his own troubles - with members of the force.  After breaking the ‘blue wall of silence’ by testifying that racist cop Tom Doyle was killed in crossfire after racially profiling an innocent Black man, Doyle’s connect friends and family want vindication.” This storyline coupled with the new superintendent sets up a very interesting season.  But I will say this, they better let Kevin Atwater carry this season, because it is his time and he deserves the spotlight.

Chicago Med

“The stories on Med’s sixth season will consider how first responders have been impacted by the coronavirus.  But while the docs at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center will see covid-19 patients, ‘we focus more on how other types of cases are treated in this new environment’ exec producer Diane Frolov says.” this is an interesting way to do covid storylines and i’m interested to see where it goes.  clearly none of the shows are shying away from the current state of the world which i’m personally fine with, but can understand why some people don’t like.  tv is a form of escapism for a lot of people, but personally i enjoy when tv shows aren’t scared to go there and get real with certain subject.

“Amid all this, Dr James Lanik quits as emergency department chief (but stays with the hospital)” rip bye Lanik, can’t say I’ll overly miss you.  I find it interesting that they specify that he’s not leaving the hospital though.  I wonder if that means we’ll see him in another position.

“...and a main character is unexpectedly named to the position.”  I feel like it might be Ethan, because iirc Will is running some sort of clinical trial or something?  And being a surgeon I doubt it can be Marcel.  Nat’s lower than Ethan in terms of hierarchy I think so I don’t think it’ll be her, but maybe that’s the unexpected part.  Ethan or Nat for the position would be my guess.

“‘There’s always a push-pull between Dr Ethan Choi and Nurse April Sexton, but deep feelings remain on each side,’” guess we shouldn’t give up on Sextoi just yet.  pretty ambivalent on them these days which is a shame cause i used to really like them.

“trauma surgeon Crockett Marcel and Dr Natalie Manning have drawn closer since Marcel opened up about the loss of his child.” okay this is the one thing I’m actually interesting in seeing in s6.  Not a massive Marcel fan but I liked the storyline about his past (not liked as in glad he’s gone through shit but liked as in it made him slightly more sympathetic to me).  I’m also curious to see where this thing with Nat goes.  Especially because I swear I saw a lingering glance between her and Will at Maggie’s wedding.  I smell a love triangle?  Love quadrangle perhaps if April’s still into Marcel?  Love pentagon, if Ethan’s still into April?  Goodness.

“...and Dr Will Halstead, who’s tapped to supervise a clinical trial on a new heart disease medication, is still entangled with ob-gyn Hannah Asher.  Whether Halstead should trust the recovering addict is still to be determined.” yup knew Will had some other big thing going on this season.  Don’t need the Asher relationship stuff tho.  Sorry Jessy Schram, I’m sure you’re lovely but you can leave now.  That being said if they pull a Bekker level stunt and have her go batshit in order to write her off, I will actually lose my shit.

And there we have it.  All my thoughts on some pretty big scoops for the new seasons and what I think might happen.

[stonerbughead]

Maria watches friday night lights (#23)

Okay wow 4x13 was an amazing season finale!

here we goooo, under the cut:

“big cat clash” lol

Ooooh Jess at the press conference, standing below exchanging eyes with both Landry and Vince 👀

Omfg of course the Riggins brothers both have drunk and disorderly arrests on their records. oh nooo. Poor Mindy! And all over medical debt 😭

Awww Julie and Mrs. Saracen’s relationship is so cute but AH Matt’s back and didn’t tell her???? He looked so cute (and annoyingly so if I were Julie) coming up behind his grandma at the front door!

Ooooh good Eric Taylor speech overlaying a montage like damn that speech got ME pumped up like YEAH WE CAN BEAT THE DILLION PANTHERS I BELIEVE IT

“It’s bad enough having to read this gibberish, let alone having to do it in front of you.” Oh Tami my heart!! Eric offering to make her a cup of coffee. Oh relationship goals!

Ew Landry bragging about his demo is like the opposite of hot to me but I’ve made my feelings clear on this already lol. “songs for Jess,” dude tryna be maroon 5 this is cringe

Oh SHIT Jess came out and said it with her feelings for Vince!!! Yeah. Ok yeah saw that coming, can’t say I’m mad.

Saracen and Julie catching up while shopping in the grocery store also while Julie is clearly upset is A Lot. Phewww!

“You know, most people tell their girlfriends when they leave and say goodbye.” Fair! “I needed to get out of here. If I tried to say goodbye to you, I never would’ve left.” AGH 🥺

oh WOW Saracen bought her a ticket to see his apartment in Chicago? Ok, making some amends, I see you!

Oh no this love triangle is gonna affect the East Dillon gameplay!!!

Oh Tami’s not gonna be able to do it, is she?YESSSSS gurl !!! Sticking to your principles, you are the most badass lady!!

“That is not an apology!” Yeah bitch she doesn’t have to apologize to you for giving a teenage girl comprehensive sex education advice in the face of a teenage pregnancy. Get your anti choice ass out of here.

Oh Saracen you did the leaving thing so wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️ Landry doesn’t look too happy to see ya either!

Omfg Buddy is bringing a deep fryer to Tami’s for thanksgiving???? Absolutely not don’t do this to Tami! (It’s so cute how the Taylors welcome their home to so many tho!!!)

They’re gonna make her get fired on the Saturday after thanksgiving? Fucking cold anti choice assholes.

Damn this is really a bottom of the barrel moment for Tim if even Becky thinks he’s trash. He did it for such honorable reasons tho UGH

very American that Eric is having the team practice on thanksgiving and that he’s dismissing them one by one to go see their families lol

And Eric wanted to make sure Vince had somewhere to go awww

Lol @ Mrs. Saracen loving the deep fried turkey

Also lol @ Julie and Matt at the kids’ table! so cute

This is one tense thanksgiving, they do such a good job of showing each character silently brewing in the issue plaguing them.

Way to interrupt the turkey argument for that nice— albeit sad—toast, billy! “I don’t know where I’d be without y’all.” 🥺

Aww seeing Vince and his mom eat food the Merriweathers brought them warms my heart too! Aw and Jess is here with pie? So fucking cute.

Tim wanting to fight to keep becky’s friendship after Billy’s toast is super precious.

Damn all the “closed for the game” signs on either side of town!!! The imagery in this show cannot be beat.

Awww yes to Matt, Julie, and Mrs. Saracen cheering for Landry.

Damn Eric is putting Luke in to run his play with Vince??? AHH

“WE GOT OURSELVES AN OLD FASHIONED BARN BURNER!” !!!!!!! Ahhhh

GO UNDERDOGS!!!!!

Oh no oh no oh no Luke injured himself. Aw Tinker helped him get up my heart 😭

AHHHHH they’re having Landry kick? You got this babe, Eric Taylor and your best friend Matt believe in you!

YESSSSS HE DID IT! They won! TAKE THAT, ASSHOLE MCCOYS!!!

My heart that Matt got to watch Landry do that!!!

Tami congratulating Eric on the field!

Damn Sammy Meade ate shit and said he was almost converted to a Lions fan AND applauded Eric Taylor’s leadership? Love this shot of Eric in the car hearing that with a shit-eating grin on his face.

Yesss go head up the counseling program at East Dillon, Tami! Love that journey for you.

“So why are we here, Matthew?” “Because this is our special spot.” “Because you DEFLOWERED me here?” “well I wouldn’t use those words necessarily but...yeah.” LMAO

Aw “you’re a hard person to stay mad at” and omg yay he’s finally apologizing. The communication they needed.

Damn Julie saying you can’t go bc you have to find your own Chicago and you wouldn’t want to leave Chicago if he was there??? GROWTH. I’m very pleased that they finally talked that out.

Ugh I knew Tim was gonna fall on the sword for Billy!!! What a guy 🥺 he just wants Billy and Mindy and their son to be together omfg the tears!!! The emotion! The fact that this all happened bc they couldn’t afford Mindy’s medical bills!!!

I love Landry saying “oh whatever” and letting Matt in but YES MATT APOLOGIZE TO YOUR FRIEND. We love friendship.

Tim turning himself in, my heart.

Awwwuh Julie, Eric, and Grace putting up Christmas decorations, so cute!

Lol love that Landry scammed and got that ticket to Chicago with Matt.

Meeeep excited to see how season 5 wraps it all up, I’ve heard only good things!