#and ngl i kind of ship it in a 'what if they couldn't save our clark and he died and the other clark decided to stay' kind of way

[stardustinthesky]

Lois and alt!Clark in Lois & Clarks

+

[staarlight-snow]

Reflections in the Murky Waters

[Short sequel to Murky Waters - Island of the Slaughtered]

TW: panic attacks (??), nightmares, ig horror, mentioned death

"Well, hoping is the only thing we can do right now.. Why not make the most of it? Right Noah?"

-

Cody jumped up from where he lay in cold sweat, tightly gripping at his shirt. His breathing was heavy and he felt tears run down his cheeks. He softly groaned – covering his ears with both his hands, his surroundings were quiet but his mind was loud. He winced at every memory, every thought and every imagery that stayed in his mind

"Another nightmare again?" A soft voice spoke, shuffling in her side of the cabin. "S-sorry.. Did I wake you?" Cody asked, moving his hands away from where they were. "No.." Gwen whispered, moving closer to the other. "I'm having trouble sleeping.. It's like every time I close my eyes I can hear him call my name." She vented, staring at the rotting wooden floor beneath them.

"Yeah.. I get the feeling. I have this.. recurring dream." He confessed, picking at the seams of his jeans. "Yeah? Want to talk about it?" Gwen offered, tilting her head as she looked at the boy. Cody took a deep breath and closed his eyes, images flashing in his mind. "It starts out with me, I walk out of the cabin holding some stuff. And I look out in the forest and he's there.. He's alive." He dragged out that last part with pain in his voice.

"I make my way towards him but.." He stopped for a moment. He hated this part. "E-every damn time I could even get close to him.. He gets pulled into the forest.. A-and it's quick! I ran after him, as fast as I could. Every night I go to bed, I try to save him.. even if it's only in my dream.." He breathed out, his voice getting weaker by the second. He's never confided these dreams with anyone before. He never thought talking about them could be just as painful as having them.

"But no matter how I try and what I do.. I couldn't save him." Tears were streaming down his face and his voice was broken. It was a pain to hear it. "Heh.. There was this one time, I managed to get to him in time. I had his hand in mine. And I was pulling him out of the water but something was also pulling him down. He told me 'Let go because it'll hurt more if you keep dwelling on it' I-I don't know if that was my brain telling me to get over it or.. if it was actually Noah.." Cody finished, he opened his eyes and buried his face in his hands.

Gwen moved her hand to the others back to console him. "It takes time to heal and right now, everyone in this cabin needs it but I think our main focus right now is to survive.. There's no point in healing if you know you'll get hurt again the next day." She sighed in defeat. It was like every slither of hope they had was slowly drifting away and all they had left was their lives. "Surviving? What's the point! There's nothing to live for anymore." Cody cried. "Don't say that!" Gwen scolded, furrowing her eyebrows.

"We promised we'd get out together.. And that's what I had going for me.. It's not like someone's waiting for me at home anyway." He muttered in between sobs, moving his legs closer to his chest. Gwen looked at the other and sighed. "Can you atleast promise me we'll both get out of here? You and me.." She asked. Cody slumped over and rested his chin on top of his knees.

"It's what they would've wanted.." He answered. "You're right.. They're our friends, they only want what's best for us." Gwen smiled, to which Cody returned. They hadn't smiled in a while – they never found a reason to anyway.

Maybe this time the world will be fair.

--

i woke up and immediately thought, "man cody's brain chemistry must've been fucked lmao.. lemme write abt that" HUAHAUAHUA I CRAVE ANGST RAGHH 👺👺 *feral gremlin noises*

anyway this isnt me shipping gwen and cody, unless u wanna view it that way ig 🤨 i just think they'll hv a kind of bond and comfort in one another ngl 😔

[chasethesun18]

A couple episodes ago, when we talked about Lia, I must admit it was the first time she irked me. A case involving Gordon and his family is the exact kind of case I'd love for Magnum and Higgins to get in on for the bonding it could give us. I really had little to no patience for Lia taking on the role, though I didn't necessarily disagree with her keeping Gordon('s very understandable anger) in check before he could do something that could hurt his career. Then I realized: any storyline involving Magnum and Higgins, the spotlight will be on them, whereas, for this episode, it needed to be on Gordon. Lia is practically a non-entity; she, as a supporting character, wouldn't overshadow Gordon. And if, at the same time, we got a tidbit of insight into her character? Two birds, one stone. Setting her up now as a straight-laced, by-the-book cop makes for good contrast if her upcoming secret involves matters that are, let's say, extralegal in nature. I'm theorizing that her outburst at Magnum was done for the same effect. Whether it worked or not in endearing her to the audience, ehhh...I let it go. Better things to focus on.

Which I'll get to in my next ask...let's go!

(2/2) I know I'm not the only one whose mind went to Hannah when Magnum tells the groom to grieve for the woman he thought he knew (paraphrasing here). Though, I couldn't help myself from hoping it's foreshadowing the end for Magnum and Lia, considering we know she has some secret that's yet to be revealed. The Miggy shipper in me wants the show to extract whatever narrative value it is looking for in Lia and be done with her, all as quickly as possible. The afterthoughts I had kinda nixed the idea. For one, our boy deserves better than to be retraumatized by love again. Two, secrets are a heavy theme this season. So, naturally, Higgins has one. And if hers has the potential to bring them closer together, it's way too soon for me to assume that Lia's won't also do the same. This one is me trying my level best to temper my expectations. I don't want to get mired in timelines before I become disappointed in what the writers have in store. Ngl, that's what I felt when Ethan stuck around after the season 3 finale. But...not only did he do his job in making Magnum feel envious and wistful- to my shock, he also got Higgins to compare her feelings for him to her ever-expanding love for Magnum in a roundabout way. So hey, bygones for his runtime. I'm hoping Lia can do the same. Rather than break his trust and his heart, I hope the relationship naturally falls apart while simultaneously proving Higgins as The One. I know the overall objective is Miggy; I'm not worried. Only a matter of when and how. And to those inquiries, I'm not going to drive myself crazy trying to speculate. I give you permission to pull out this receipt if you ever do see me going nuts someday.

to save the scrollers lol:

sometimes yall tell me stuff and i really do be feeling like a casual fan because i did not know lia is gonna have a secret but im here for it. definitely agree though, that scene rubbed me the wrong way for sure.

yes, 100% agree. similar to what i said with higgins and ethan, i don't want either of them being hurt by love again. i thought they both needed a relationship after the painful one, which for magnum should've been abby. i guess they had to cut that short because of the actress leaving so they needed to bring another in to do the whole story?

definitely don't drive yourself crazy! just enjoy it as it comes. personally, they are one of my easiest ships so im pretty much down for whatever, as long as they dont go backwards. i was expecting a little more this week, so that was a tad disappointing, but overall show wise im much happier with it this season than last

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

So I saw your comment about xue/xiao on this post about cheng/xian and it occurred to me that's even ironic how xy, in his own twisted way of seeing things and according to wwx's deductions, killed Chang Ping bc he "offended" xxc when turning his back on him while jc, on the other hand, went killing people who reminded him of wwx/just in case they had a connection to wwx. And I'm not saying xy is any more right, he is that effed up (and the dissonance is so shocking too, as if it wasn't HIS fault in the first place, that. I'm sorry. but I find it amazing... that's what xy is in the end) but still if you're going to make a parallel with these two, I have to say that: it says a lot that xy, the psycho murderer, kills someone bc, again, in his twisted head he offended "the object of his affection" but jc, tsundere misunderstood grape, kills people bc he relates them to "the person of his affections".

Anyways, that aside but also related to something you mentioned about they not wanting the tragedy of Yi City... You hit the nail on the head. Look, ngl, I personally find annoying of course when people like that anon that also mentions xue/xiao talks about how horrid and how disturbed she finds people like them. I think it's unnecessary bc it's not even like this is about them but jc so why bring them out of nowhere to say such things? And sorry for the tmi but allow me to really make clear that I've never had not even a close to an abusive rs in my life so I hope people finally get that we know to separate reality from fiction and I guess the fact we aren't triggered by it it's also a sign some of us luckily can say irl we've never allowed any dangerous bs from another person.

ANYWAYS, sorry I digress. Back to the point, the truth is that while I find unnecessary to say things like that when the main theme isn't even them, I do understand if some people feel uncomfortable by it, I just believe there are certain fandom etiquettes and it's not the same to talk about how of a horrible person xy is, bc he is, than shading people for being in their corner shipping something problematic. And what's more important about xue/xiao shippers is that so far, in my experience, we are quite "content" with the result? We accept this is a tragic effed up story and we accept it couldn't end well. We aren't, idk, blaming wang/xian for what happens to xy when he and he alone dug his own grave, duh. We like it bc of its tragedy. And I think the best proof is that there isn't as much fix-it fics like people who maybe think this is about being apologists would believe. From time time of course we need some crack, some unrealistic result, some comedy even lol... but I think the reason our ship work for us is bc we like it bc of it is and not bc we project ourselves. Also, I thank God never saw MXTX being attacked by xy stans... I don't doubt there must be some cringey stans like there are everywhere but I'm sure they're a small number. I actually find amusing MXTX being like "why do you ship those, idgi??" 😂 but above all, I respect her bc it's her work. This is not about being a boot licker, I believe it's ok to have your opinions too and not necessarily agree with the author... Too bad that all the MXTX antis I saw are gross about her and they're far from just giving criticism. They're plain bitter haters. It's not like it personally affects me and as if she doesn't have the right to have her own opinions on her story and own characters just bc I happen to ship something I KNOW it's not canon, ffs... In any case we can agree to disagree bc it's also my right to ~romanticise~ whatever I want as long as it's fictional. All in all, I'm grateful she created this story that hooked and these characters I learned to love...

Sorry if this became long and if it's all over the place 😅 but I just couldn't help myself and wanted to bring some points on this whole matter...

So I will break down my comments point by point anon!

On the point of Xue Yang, I find him fascinating along with his relationship concerning Xiao Xingchen. They had built up a relationship on so many lies, and lived fairly happily in that all while Xue Yang was unable to parse out what his animosity was towards Xiao Xingchen his love for him, and his idea of honoring this same person. It is just a mess of a relationship with so much that can't actually be described because even the characters can't separate exactly what is going on there aside from the pain Xue Yang caused because he just does not understand kindness and empathy in a significant way that could have saved himself. It is a gorgeous plot point and awful bond. It's also just at the cusp of Xue Yang being in denial admitting that he DOES miss Xiao Xingchen and his build up of this unconscious guilt for having killed someone he learned to love and know. Especially next to Jin Guangyao who doesn't have this guilt but is very good at speaking like he is, and Jiang Cheng who is not regretful for what he did to Wei Wuxian.

On the topic of ship shit talk: I have no bone to throw here as a defense. I shit talk chengx!an and plenty of pairings with mutuals and friends as a vent, because I find ships ridiculous as much as others. Everyone in my eyes can do as they want, say what they want in terms of fandom made content. It's there in all it's non-canonical glory to roast or praise on all ends. I think the issue here in regards to all of this is the conflation of fanon being made to seem like actual canon and the line of where personal tastes needs to be made apparent. MXTX isn't big on shipping outside of her main pairs, I'm the same with mine for OC's and I am very very picky in regards to this, but fans are gonna fan and Rule 34 is there no matter what. Fandom curating is always the answer if certain pairs get to you that badly. I also think there is a fine line with accusations of romanticizing non-canon pairs and it's place in a real life context towards others individuals as I think morbid material has it's place to be explored safely within literature and entertainment without pearl clutching or holier than though attitudes especially prevalent in English/Western fandom.

People get far too invested within the fandom headcanon space and a lot of vitriol pours out from that. It's a double-edged sword especially claiming to love something from this while condemning a multitude of people (mostly always chinese mainland fans, or other LGBT+ people who do not share the same self-flagellation attitude towards an entertainment piece). Self-flagellation is hypocrisy in my eyes and just because some people tend to make a very loud note of this, does not make them morally superior in sharing the same content as everyone else no matter how they do this.