#and obviously all these things have flaws or moments that are less funny or less compelling than others

[philtstone]

been trying to put words to why i find psych so unique and effortless in the world of comedy tv and i think ive cracked it. theres a truly excellent approach to storytelling that goes something like this: you pick a high stakes Setting. examples from some Classic media include ancient egypt, space pirates, and in the case of psych: homicide mysteries. all the examples im thinking of are also arguably homages or adaptations to an existing Version of the setting that has expectations or assumptions associated with it. the mummy (1999) was a reimagining of the original horror movie. guardians of the galaxy (2014-2021) borrows and subverts so much of what the audience already knows about classic movies like star wars. (psych is, of course, sherlock holmes). anyway; the setting predisposes itself to more dramatic plot bc inherent to that setting are Stakes. instead of going with the setting-appropriate tone, you commit 200% to comedy through — not the plot — but the DNA of your characters. true, a talented writer will include many deliberate jokes, but the comedy never really turns on and off because your core premise is “watch me put a group of unhinged yet endearing idiots in this major situation and go along with them for the ride”. the more unhinged and idiotic they are, the better, but they have to be setting-appropriate. they have to have the skills and tools to navigate that setting competently or it all falls apart. they’re not bad at their setting, they’re just deeply chaotic. cuckoo bananas. generally stupid (affectionate). they have SO many (complementary) issues.

now comes the most critical part. you tie the whole thing together by also committing 100% to multiple other genres in your already mishmashed genre. when you do romance you do High Romance. when you do drama it is hitting at these characters emotional CORES. and it works because your setting is high stakes and your characters are already three dimensional by being simultaneously hypercompetent and major dumbass. id argue this is a bit different than the more generic works in the indian masala genre or western superhero movie approach because often in those movies its a jack of all trades type situation where there are inserted tracks into a movie thats fundamentally genreless. what im talking about here has fully embraced all 5 of its genres with GUSTO. it’s not slipping in little quips or including one comedy track, it’s always funny. it’s not pairing off two characters for the sake of it, the romance is integral to the core plot of the story and character motivations. its emotional moments are built into the fabric of the story and never afterthoughts.

finally, in order to make the writing work effortlessly (because real life people don’t talk like that) you need a cast with chops and chemistry that makes it all feel organic. there are no breaks or looks into the camera or starts and stops to the emotional and comedic action because the actors embody the spirit of the story so dynamically and work off of each other so well.

like i said, some of my favourite examples of this kind of ensemble comedy-in-a-high-stakes-setting stories are classics like the mummy and more modern works like guardians of the galaxy. it clicked for me the other night that psychs writing reminds me of those stories a lot, but its doubly clever because psych does homage settings inside its already an homage setting and still manages the “watch these idiots in this high stakes situation” bit so well. it’s an entirely different experience from watching a sitcom because the writing never takes you by the shoulder and says “you’re in a sitcom, time to laugh”. id actually argue that psychs weakest episodes are the most sitcom like in flavour. at these stories’ best you’re just dunked into this truly chaotic situation thats made effervescently funny yet also deeply emotional and compelling and dramatic by dint of the characters being Exactly Who They Are All Together. it takes a very talented kind of writer and a special kind of cast to pull this type of storytelling off but when they do. it is so so fun and so so worth it.

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

something that makes sokka extremely adhd relatable is that he's constantly looking for his Thing, the one Thing he's good at or useful for that makes up for any failings or flaws or ways he just can't measure up to others. at the beginning of the show he defines himself by being the oldest boy in the village & best warrior, but then he gets his ass kicked by zuko and suki and sees aang's raw power and he can't exactly think fighting is his special skill anymore. but he still thinks he has to be defined by fighting ('man of the house' daddy issues) so he calls himself the guy with the boomerang bc that's turned out to be his most useful and versatile and unique weapon, the one that other people can't outclass him at (after all, it's his most successful attack in his fight with zuko). when he loses it in "avatar day" he explicitly says it's like losing a key part of his identity and the moment katara goes "hey you're good at solving mysteries" he's like "yeah! i'm a detective! that's my new thing! and gets a new set of objects to signify it ("i believe in the power of stuff"). but detective sokka doesn't last bc throughout the entire episode he and katara are pretty equally matched in detective skills and he gets his boomerang back anyway. failed experiment.

and throughout all of this, he's figured out that people find his insistance on getting them fed & his grumpy comments funny and so he begins defining himself as the meat and sarcasm guy, and when he's a tough spot in "bitter work", bargaining with the universe to get him help, he offers that up as all he's got to give. it's obviously a Joke that he immediately asks for meat after telling the universe he'll give it up but it's also pretty indicative of how much he clings to these identities. it's all he's got (he thinks), of COURSE he can't actually give it up. they stuck that boy in a hole for 22 minutes and it revealed so much about how he sees himself.

at some point (likely around "the library" when he takes initiative to come up with a fire nation invasion plan) he also becomes the plan guy, the idea guy, and the gaang find themselves looking to him for leadership. this is perhaps the closest to fully encompassing sokka that any of his "[blank] guy" labels get, since coming up with plans involves planning when and how to fight (boomerang guy) & how to get everyone fed (meat), and people not following his plans is a major source of frustration (sarcasm).

this all culminates in "sokka's master", where the show finally names the underlying insecurity driving this quest - that he's a nonbender. katara being the last waterbender meant she was in danger and that keeping her safe was top priority, and even though hakoda and kya wouldn't have played favorites sokka probably felt a little like the unfavorite child for not being special like her. he lacks an ability, and believes his life has less value bc of it. almost like somebody with a disability and internalized ableism

(interesting, one of the people who most consistently mocks sokka for being a nonbender is toph, early on. toph has a lot of internalized ableism herself, a fear of vulnerability bc she doesn't want to perceived as weak like her parents thought she was. her bending is her disability aid, the thing that allows her to be stronger than people think, so she dismisses a nonbender until she learns better.)

piandao's response to sokka's lack of self-worth is not to train him to be great at one thing, but to introduce him to a variety of different arts, show him that his value lies not in having any one skill but in his capacity to learn and grow. there's no single thing that makes him worthy. it isn't even the combination of all of them that makes him worthy. he simply is worthy.

and i don't know if this is a unique narrative in fiction or anything but it really means a lot to me that sokka doesn't have One Thing that "makes up" for him not being a bender. he's of course extremely skilled and prodigious at many things he does in the show but there's no one savant talent that "justifies" him being in the group and i feel like so many disability narratives - especially for kids - go that route and i really appreciate that atla doesn't and simply says people are valuable because they are valuable, not because of their special abilities

[writing-for-life]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DREAM'S HAIR USED TO BE WHITE!! oh my god. i just saw your post about killala and i have now perished. thanks for breaking my heart.

but also hi!! i'm relatively new to the fandom and it's a great place to be. i haven't finished reading all the comics yet but i'm curious to know:

what do you think are the main differences between TV!Dream and Comics!Dream? i've heard so many people claiming that he is incapable of changing, for instance, and though the show does convey his overall rigidity pretty well, i'm not getting the vibe that he's immutable.

also!! it's clear that he feels a lot. which is always funny to me when the corinthian is like yo, try this and maybe you'll feel something for a change but like. he does!!! or i get the impression that he does. he probably feels too much if anything?? all of it simmering just beneath the surface, barely contained. how would you personally analyze his relationship with his own emotions?

i hope all of this is coherent enough for you to answer lmao, i saw your post about enjoying being asked sandman questions two seconds after i woke up and barged into your inbox. hope you have a lovely day!

Thanks so much for the ask, and welcome if you’re new(ish) to the fandom! 🤗

I’m sorry I broke your heart—much more heartbreak to come I fear if you haven’t read the comics yet, so I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

I am one of those people who believes the differences between comics!Dream and show!Dream are actually not as big as they are made out to be where it matters, and you will definitely find people who disagree. At the end of the day, we all read it through our own lens and will never be fully objective about it.

The main difference I see is that they filed off the rough edges of the comics a bit to make a new audience sympathise more. It’s very hard to do that with a character who is basically in full arsehole mode for most of the first 40 issues or so, and even then only slowly begins to come out of it (although we can obviously see glimmers of what lies below the surface at the beginning of the comics, too, but it’s far more subtle than in the show). I’ve worked in musical theatre for a over decade of my life and understand a bit about bringing the written word to stage/screen, and some things simply don’t translate well from book to stage/screen, and you have to change it. So my personal opinion is we get a more sympathetic Morpheus and certain changes so the audience can do exactly that—sympathise off the bat. You will lose an audience pretty quickly if they don’t care about the protagonist and the universe he moves in, and you can’t be as nuanced about it as you can be in a written work. We’re talking about streaming services thinking about profits here, even if people don’t want to hear it.

Also: The more you sympathise with a character, the deeper the emotional investment and the more you feel, even if it hurts.

Having said this, I don’t think Morpheus is incapable of change, and I never got where that idea comes from. His biggest flaw is that he believes he cannot change (and even he has moments when he admits he might have). In the introduction to Endless Nights, Neil Gaiman says that he was once asked to describe The Sandman in twenty-five words or less, and famously, it was this (you might have heard it):

“The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.”

And I think some people might have wrongly taken that for an either/or thing. I don’t want to say too much at this point because I don’t know how much you know (if you’d like spoilers or already know how it ends, let me know, I’ll happily expand on it). Only so much:

He is capable of change, also in the comics. Very obviously so. But just like he denies he has his own story (which also isn’t true), he denies he can change. Or at least he thinks he perhaps cannot change enough (it’s actually hard to write about this without giving everything away, help! 🙈).

As for his feelings: He does feel, but again, it is something he pushes down and will deny himself. Until it bursts to the surface and breaks through, and when that happens, it’s usually with, well, let’s say varying results, and that’s putting it mildly. Personally, I’d say he has problems relating to his feelings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel. Quite the opposite in my view. He holds the collective unconscious—all unprocessed feelings and whatever else floats around in that collective mess, and it’s exactly what he says to the Corinthian in that famous scene: he needs to keep a lid on it and keep that lid firmly closed so all of it doesn’t consume him. But that also means denying himself the feelings that are linked to his own personhood (if you want to call it that). There’s Dream of the Endless, and then there’s Morpheus. And while they’re one and the same and inseparable, Morpheus is also the “point of view”. The character, the person, if you will. And deep down, he craves that personhood so badly. Out of all the Endless, he is the only one who basically collects names because they mean having something beyond his function, which is also mirrored in what he tells Death in “The Sound of her Wings”: he wants something more. He is the only one whose realm is populated with sentient beings (yes, I know Despair has rats, but I think you get my drift). He is desperately lonely and struggles with it. He seeks connection yet denies it to himself. That’s not someone who doesn’t feel.

I don’t know if this answers your questions at all—I was doing the wild “spoiler-free” dance 🤣 But please let me know if you want me to go a bit deeper, I love talking about this stuff.

You can also have a look at my metas if you haven’t already. The headers pretty much explain what they’re about and what spoiler-level to expect, but none of them are truly spoiler-free I guess:

Again, thanks so much for encroaching on my inbox, and feel free to follow up if anything was left unanswered.

@dreamaturgy ask answered

[antianakin]

Just saw a comparison between Sabine/Ezra and Obitine as ships and like. There are quite literally zero similarities between these ships besides the male character in the ship being a Jedi and the female character in the ship being a Mandalorian.

Sabine and Satine, despite the unfortunate similarity in their names, are nowhere near even being similar characters. Sabine, obviously, is very much not a pacifist. Sabine also appears to actually be competent at the things the show tells us she is competent at, recognizes when she probably shouldn't be a leader because she just doesn't have the qualifications for it, and is allowed to have flaws that she can grow past. Satine manages to be completely and insanely incompetent at everything the show says she is very good at, is a leader despite seeming to be pretty shit at it, and never has any of her flaws acknowledged so they come across less as intentional flaws to make her more nuanced and more like just horrifically bad writing and she never gets to grow at all.

Obi-Wan and Ezra DO have more similarities, primarily because both of them follow the same general code with similar values and priorities due to Ezra having learned from Kanan who is passing on the same values Obi-Wan would have grown up with.

But Ezra's dynamic with Sabine is so wildly different from Obi-Wan's with Satine that it isn't even funny.

Obi-Wan and Satine have zero chemistry, all they do is take pot shots at each other mean-spiritedly and never end up being able to understand each other when they're not facing a life or death situation. What little romance they manage to have in their scenes is melodramatic and generally inappropriate to the situation they are in and they're never both invested in the romance at the same time (for example, Satine tries to have this big moment with a romantic confession that Obi-Wan actively tries to argue her out of because holy hell is this not the time for it). They also seem to just actively make each other worse. Satine seems to have far more understanding and tolerance towards Padme's views and priorities than she ever does towards Obi-Wan's, despite Padme and Obi-Wan having similar positions. Obi-Wan gets incredibly unprofessional in front of a lot of important political people just to argue with Satine and gets nearly misogynistic towards her.

By comparison, Ezra and Sabine, whether you view them romantically or not, actively make each other better. Yes, they tease each other. Yes, they sometimes disagree and argue. But there's never that feeling that they just don't like each other or can't truly understand the other person's feelings and are unwilling to even try. They always come back to talk things out and work to be better with each other afterwards. Both are allowed to be wrong and have to admit to as much. They never truly have any big romantic moments with each other since most of the "romance" that's more explicit exists in earlier seasons with Ezra being very awkward around Sabine and Sabine gently rebuffing or ignoring him when that happens, but they have big emotional moments together where they seem so in sync with each other and completely on the same page. Again, regardless of whether you view that as romantic or not, it's undeniable that Ezra and Sabine have a very strong, deep connection to each other that allows them to work as a really good team.

Comparing Ezra and Sabine as a ship to Obitine is really the most skin deep of comparisons you could possibly make. Obitine make each other SO miserable if they have to spend more than about 10 minutes together. Ezra and Sabine are family who chose each other, in whatever way you choose to view that. They make each other happy, they make each other better, they understand each other so deeply and respect each other's values and priorities even if they aren't the same.

[fanfic-inator795]

Based on those bits from both last week and this week’s episodes, Jeff from TGaMM definitely has those “if anything happened to this one person I love to bits, I’d kill everyone in this room and then myself” vibes, but honestly I just find it very endearing.

Like- obviously Jeff isn’t out here wanting to hurt people. He’s just as friendly as Geoff, and while he’s not quite as easily forgiving, he’s still willing to let bygones be bygones with Scratch and Ollie once they know where they stand with him. And considering Scratch was being a bad friend and Ollie put them in a situation where they could have been killed by any of the other Chens, I can’t necessarily blame Jeff for being a bit serious and a bit intense.

But again, it’s just that one moment of Jeff going “hey, don’t do this thing again or we’re gonna have a problem” and letting them know that he’s not afraid to get mean before letting it go and going back to being friendly and willing to give people a chance, standing up for himself and his partner but not necessarily holding a grudge. But yeah, all this imo makes Jeff’s protectiveness over Geoff both endearing and pretty funny at times.

And honestly, it just makes sense that Geoff and Jeff would end up connecting to/falling for each other simply because they both feel their love for others so strongly. Geoff may not be as physically protective over others or makes threats for the sake of those he cares about, but he’s almost always expressing his love (both romantic and, in Scratch’s case, platonic) through words and gestures, as well as putting others above himself (like when he was panicking and told Jeff to go save himself, or when he put Scratch’s safety above his and Jeff’s, both out of love and out of knowing that Scratch was probably Ollie’s biggest target, hence the one most in danger). Jeff may be the more physically protective one, but Geoff is certainly the more emotionally protective one.

Obviously Geoff could stand to be a bit more self-focused instead of brushing himself off for the others, just like Jeff could probably stand to be a bit less intense at times. But while it’s typical for any relationship (and the people within said relationship) to have their flaws, I really do love how deeply Geoff and Jeff care for each other. Like- you can absolutely tell that they’ve been together for 100 years and that their relationship is not only loving and happy but also pretty likely built to last ^v^

[macgyvertape]

Venture Bros series finale thoughts (spoilers)

Watching the final work in a long running series (I started watching around 2012) is always a bit bitter-sweet, especially as a Venture Bros fans where there have been two or three year gaps between seasons, and after season 7 there was a lot of uncertainty of whether there would be another season or movie special. It was also extremely frustrating that hours after the movie came out, before most people had gotten to watch it, it was announced that Warner Bros who owns the rights would be delisting the show, WITHOUT telling the creators beforehand.

I reframed a lot of my initial thoughts after reading the Mashable interviews with the creators. “'The Venture Bros.' creators on saying goodbye to their show: 'It sucks'” where they discuss “kill you darlings” editing, and why some characters like Brock had less screen time and others like Sirena didn’t appear at all:

“"We put on our list — these are the things we want to include," Hammer recalled of the process. "These are the things that aren't important. These are the things that are funny. These are the things we care about. And we wrote out [a] way too long script and did a few rewrites."

"We wrote our most detailed outline ever," Publick said. "And we started writing the script. And when we got to the halfway point of the outline, we were already at the, like, seven-eighths point of what our page count should be. So we went, 'Oh, we gotta cut five scenes we wrote already and pare down the second act — like, way down.'" …

But it wasn't all bad news. Hammer found some joy in the process of paring down, telling Mashable, "It was also a treat because when we get to that point where we've overwritten, we can read it and go, 'Well, now I understand you.' We're good at looking at something and going, 'I know why this is broken. And I can fix it.' Jackson and I are both real good at repairing things."

And “Doc Hammer reveals the 'Venture Bros.' scene he regrets losing” which discusses Sirena specifically:

“Hammer began to explain, "I don't want people walking away going —"

"She's [Sirena] a bitch," Publick said, finishing the thought.

"Yeah," Hammer continued. "She's not a bad person. And we understood what happened (between her and Dean). And we wanted to tell people like, 'This is just a part of growing up. These terrible things just happen.'”

"The Monarch is a jackass, and he says terrible things," Hammer continued. "And Doc is a horrible narcissist, raised by toxic masculinity. I recognize this pantheon because they're in my life as well. But, I love all of them — as flawed as they are. And [Publick and I, in making the series] constantly walk that line of going, 'This is terrible. But look at the love in here.'"

The Sirena cut scene was meant to walk that line as well. The duo declined to reveal what would have happened in the scrapped Sirena scene. (Maybe they go into it on the DVD's commentary track?) But Hammer did share what he hopes fans realize about Sirena.

"We wanted people to walk away understanding her and understanding what happened," Hammer said. "Obviously, she's not in love with Dean. And hers is a very complicated relationship with Hank because it's his first relationship. And that's the age where we mess up."

I think the series finale is excellent within the way it works in that very strict time limit; it balances some fun new plots and characters with wrapping up a bunch of plot threads and speculation. Sure I would have loved to see more of Mantilla/Debra’s “stalker with a crush” interest in Dr. Mrs. The Monarch as the resolution was very quick but it still was my favorite plotline in the movie. It’s been amazing watching the quality of the animation increase over the course of 20 years, and I’m grateful the show got a high movie budget send off. There were a number of scenes like the Ven-tech tower liftoff where the animators really got to flex and make the moment spectacular and it was great to see.

It felt nice to end the series getting answers to some of the long running show mysteries and fan speculation; how are The Monarch and Rusty Venture related, what’s the deal with Hank and Dean’s parentage. This show has never done the sudden twist because fans figure things out and it wanted to “subvert expectations”, it instead rewards careful watching, and it was fun spotting old callbacks or visual Easter eggs (Dermott has a Deathklok poster). There were also a lot of emotional moments that landed for me, such as the rescue of Ven-Tech tower, just seeing these characters work together and succeed after all these years watching them.

This finale does one of my favorite things for a series finale to do, show a world where the characters have grown and changed but the world live on in a positive way, akin to riding off into the sunset where a new adventure is always possible. Things like Ven-tech tower settling in the old Venture Compound, the Monarch finds out the truth of his biological relationship to Rusty Venture but just adds a layer in the in the way he’ll continue to arch.

[anjaelle]

White Light | Part III

Characters: Ghost!ATJ x Black Female!Reader Rating: M+ (Warnings: Death, Claustrophobia, Nyctophobia, Horror Elements [Demonic Entity]) Word Count: 2.2K Summary: Your new, dead roommate disappeared into the ether. So...now what? a/n: This chapter is a little more creepy than previous chapters. I felt like horror comes with the territory of the not-so-dead. You know? There will probably be more horror elements in the future. SIDE NOTE: Below is a playlist of songs that give a great idea of what his band sounded like in 2003. I've also included parts 1 & 2. If you'd like to be tagged in the update, please let me know. Please like, comment, and reblog!

[Part I] | [Part II] | [Part IV] [☁ Masterpost ☁] | [♫ The Crimson Zombies Mixtape ♫]

--

It'd been about three weeks since he poofed into thin air.

Not that you were really counting.

You'd just gotten used to the idea of having a ghost in your apartment only for him to just disappear without a trace in less than 24 hours. After learning that Gavin was Aaron's former bandmate, you briefly wondered if finding out Gavin's fate was his unanswered business, and why he moved onto the other side. It was a true hardship to get over the feeling of constantly being watched, and you questioned your sanity for feeling that way. Aaron's presence--before you knew he was there, obviously--never felt threatening. You could compare it to having a very clingy cat who seemed to shadow you wherever you went. Though, he swore he never watched you in the bathroom, a fact you were thankful for.

At least he was a respectful dead guy, given the circumstances.

You decided that it'd be best to move on and mark this as just one very strange initial experience in your new home. To stave off the loneliness, you decided to invite over your best friend, Kayla, for a sleepover. Between the drinking, the dancing, the movies, and the junk food, you were able to forget about the last few weeks only for a moment.

"Have you ever considered dating, again?" Kayla suddenly asked, as she sat at your feet. Your hands hesitated as you braided her hair, and you sighed before resuming the task.

"No." You responded, shortly.

She made a noise that sounded like a slightly sympathetic hum, and you nudged her with your knee.

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

You playfully tugged at the braid in your hand, "That. Say what you wanna say, babe."

Kayla made a point to sigh dramatically, and pull her knees up to her chest. When she slightly rocked from side to side you rolled your eyes, dropping the completed braid down her back.

"I just..." she sighed again, and you snorted, "Don't laugh, I'm concerned about my little sister. You're in your twenties, you're beautiful, smart, funny, and you're supremely prickly."

You feigned offense, "I am NOT prickly. I'm just able to see through the romanticism of it all."

"So you say," Kayla hmphed, "You and I both know you get a little bit of a thrill out of bullying people."

As you combed your fingers through the completed braids with mousse, you smirked to yourself. She wasn't wrong. But you didn't fully see that as an inherent character flaw. Bullying could be fun sometimes.

"Maybe..." you agreed.

"Not 'maybe.'" You could almost hear her pouting. "I know things with your ex ended badly--"

"--Don't." You warned, leaning away from the woman sitting between your knees like she'd scalded you.

"I'm just saying that you were right. And I still wish you'd let me hit him with my car, but whatever. I'll ask again in a couple of months and see how you feel..." At this, you giggled. "...BUT I think you should consider dating around. Just so you can remember what it feels like to actually like someone, you know?"

"I did go on a date with someone and you know how that ended."

Kayla sucked her teeth and turned to look at you, squinting her dark brown eyes in annoyance.

"What?" You asked, fighting the growing smirk on your face.

"What?" She mimicked in a voice that sounded impressively close to yours.

Kayla, of all people, knew that dating in the modern age was trash. Who really wanted to go through the talking stage over and over again, with numerous people? As much as you hated your ex at the moment, there was a small comfort in never really having to question if he wanted to be with you. You watched your friends have tired dating experiences. And though your relationship was far from perfect, you didn't envy those who still had to search for their person.

Karma was a no good, rotten ass bitch. You refused to entertain her.

You finally tilted Kayla's head back and gave her a gentle smooch on the forehead.

"I'm okay, babe. I promise," You reassured her. "I'm okay with my solitude."

She scrunched up her nose at you--the perfect mirror of yourself, and you knew she was very much your sister.

"Gross." She chuckled.

Once Kayla finally went to bed, and you had the chance to get lost in your own thoughts, you tried to better understand what the emptiness you felt stemmed from. I couldn't have been a relationship. Despite everything that happened in the last year--and a LOT had happened--you didn't feel like you needed a partner. You simply just felt aimless.

You examined your face in the bathroom mirror, with a towel wrapped tightly around you. You focused on your grounding mechanisms to ward off the dissociation that'd been slowly creeping up on you over the last few months. There were two dark, dull eyes staring back at you.

"Ooookay." You said to yourself, shaking your shoulders out before hanging up your towel and stepping into the tub.

You mentally examined yourself: a nose, a mouth, braids with a disappointing amount of new growth. A neck, shoulders, a chest, a stomach, and legs. You were there: thinking, existing, blinking, and breathing in the minty steam rising from your shower.

The repetitive sound of the water hitting the tile walls made you zone out, briefly wondering if maybe you were just doing something wrong with life. After all, no matter what you did, you could never seem to find that much needed level of satisfaction. Maybe you were meant to be unfufilled--

"SHIT!"

You jumped at the sudden outburst, nearly braining yourself on the floor of the tub. A new shadow shifted on the other side of the curtain.

"GOD DAMN IT, AARON! FUCK!"

-x-

He had no idea where he went. One moment, he was standing beside you in your bedroom. The next, he was submerged in pure darkness. He saw nothing, he felt nothing.

He tried to call out for you, but it was as if his voice was snatched from his throat. His brain was floating in an empty space devoid of sound and light.

He tried to scream.

Nothing.

The unnatural quiet of the liminal space set his nerves on edge. It was as if his brain--or what was left of it--was trying desperately to find something to latch onto.

Aaron's consciousness felt stretched thin and compacted at the same time. He called out for you again. And again. And again.

Nothing.

That was when he felt it.

Something that watched him in the darkness. It had a thousand eyes that seemed to be stalking him from all sides, and he could almost feel the heat of its breath on the back of his neck. The thing spoke, croaking from deep inside his subconscious, and scratching at the inner corners of his mind.

Malevolus...et caedes. I hunger. I'm watching. ...you can't have her.

The thing shifted around him, and he felt its icy hand on his shoulder, nails digging into him hard enough to draw blood. It leaned in close to him, and the smell of mold and blood lingered on its mouth.

Suddenly he was in your bathroom, hands up in a defensive stance, and screaming.

"GOD DAMN IT," you screamed, "AARON! FUCK!"

He curled up in a ball, trying to get his bearings but unable to focus. He stared off into space, chest heaving, eyes wide and unfocused. He couldn't hear you calling his name. And even as you crouched in front of him in your towel, he couldn't stop staring at the thing that seemed to stare at him from the corner of your bathroom. Grinning with sharp jagged teeth and a mouth full of blood. Its eyes were black without pupils, and its face seemed to shift in the light. Then it was gone.

"Aaron?" You whispered, reaching out to him. He shrank away from you, continuing to stare at the wall where the creature had been.

"I was gone for almost a month?" He asked the following day, watching you pace back and forth in your bedroom. He shook his head, "That's...that isn't possible. I was only gone for a couple of minutes. Maybe an hour."

It killed him inside to watch you ignore him as Kayla rushed in to check on you and eventually led you to bed. He didn't want to be alone. Not when that thing was still watching him. But now that he was back, he wanted to grab you by your hands to get you to stop and look at him. He just needed to know that he wouldn't disappear again.

"I thought you'd moved onto the other side after the Ga-" you hesitated, then glanced at him cautiously and whispered, "the Gavin thing."

You both paused, almost waiting to see if he would drop off the face of the Earth. When he didn't, he let out a deep sigh and shuddered to himself.

"What happened?" You asked. When he quirked an eyebrow at you, you clarified, "What made you disappear?"

He swallowed hard and avoided your questioning gaze, choosing to stare at his hands. He was relieved to see them again, but was confused by some new scars that seemed to have appeared on his knuckles. That couldn't have been right.

"I was so angry," he confessed, "I felt white, hot rage. Rage I'd never felt before. I just...Gavin was like my brother. And Talia was the only woman I'd ever really loved. He was constantly saying that Talia was terrible, and I defended her with my life. I died angry at my best friend over her. Only for them to get married not even a year after I was put in the ground?"

When he said it aloud, he felt the heat rising up again, and he flexed his hands.

"My body wasn't even fucking cold yet." The lights flickered in the apartment, and he tried to reel himself back in. Aaron wanted to desperately squeeze the bedsheets in his fists, maybe even punch something, and was frustrated that he couldn't. "And now he's dead. Gone forever. And I can't even ask him why he did it."

He briefly wondered if Gavin was haunting some hole-in-the wall somewhere. It'd be on brand for him. Maybe he was in Hell, if that existed. That was even more on brand.

"I'm sorry." You murmured, sitting beside him, "For all of it. I'm sorry you found out this way. I'm sorry you lost your best friend--"

"I want to know how he died."

He watched you fidget with your hands and bite your inner cheek, avoiding eye contact.

"...Are you sure?"

It still hadn't even sunken in that his best friend of several years was dead, leaving behind Talia and three children. He figured it'd be better to rip the band-aid off.

"No. But tell me anyway." He wanted to reach out and hold you to let you know that he'd be okay. Instead, he offered you a small smile and shrug, hoping to reassure you that he could handle it. You still stared at him with wide, worried eyes.

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"C'mon..."

You huffed at him, crossing your arms, "You don't know how you looked when you came back. You were terrified. You were babbling about a thing in the dark. And you were gone for almost a month over this. Who's to say you won't be gone for even LONGER next time, just because your emotions shifted?"

The mere mention of the dark made him involuntarily shudder again, and you motioned at him as if to say, "I told you so."

He decided it'd be better to concede. For now. He would ask again at a later date. He was sure you thought he was curious out of a desire to feed some morbid curiosity. He wished it was just that.

He finally coaxed you to sit beside him on your bed, and he was surprised to find that there was still a small tingle of warmth as you sat near him.

...you can't have her.

The croaking voice seemed to ring in his head as he looked at you. He didn't tell you everything. He couldn't. As long as it couldn't invade your thoughts you were safe.

At least that was the assumption he was going to make.

He spent the following nights sitting in bed next to you, keeping watch as you slept and it watched him from the darkest corner of the room.

I hunger.

He focused on the sound of your breathing, actively trying to ignore the grinning creature. As the nights wore on, it seemed to slowly vanish. Soon there was nothing.

On the eighth night of his hypervigilance, he watched as you sighed in your sleep and curled up closer to him. Your brows furrowed, and you groaned.

"You alright?" He whispered, hovering his hand over your forehead. You were burning up. He could feel you burning up. He hesitated, and then fully pressed his hand to your forehead. In turn, you instinctively grabbed his hand in your sleep, and jolted awake.

You both stared at your joined hands.

"Oh...you're ice cold." You whispered before passing out.

[sokkastyles]

One thing that the Iroh is sexist crowd always brings up is his treatment of June. Honestly I feel like that's so stupid because it's obvious that was a writing flaw not an Iroh flaw. It was supposed to be funny, which I guess was the humor at that time (see "little girl" being used as an insult. Even Toph does it). We've come far enough to understand how problematic it is, but that segment was written to be comedic and was never a pattern of behavior for Iroh. It baffles me that people would assign the flaw of raging sexist to Iroh without understanding the context of the scene. It's never addressed in the show, and for a series that holds accountability in such high regard, if it were meant to be a flaw, I think it would be addressed. It's one of those early series inconsistencies imo. Iroh is a flawed person, but sexist in the present time? I don't think so.

I agree that it's a writing flaw, not a character flaw, and that we are not supposed to see Iroh as sexist.

It's similar to what I've said about Aang kissing Katara without her consent or Mai telling Zuko to never break up with her. We obviously are not meant to interpret these moments as problematic as they are, so it's less that Aang or Mai are "abusive" and more a flaw with the writing.

However, if people are turned off by Iroh because of it, that's valid, too. What's not valid is the way I've seen it used to try to insist Iroh is sexist in other ways, because he clearly is not. Namely, I'm thinking of the Azula doll discourse. People have tried to claim that Iroh got Azula a doll and Zuko a knife because he thinks boys should be tough and girls soft. The problem with that is that his whole relationship with Zuko is about encouraging Zuko to be kind and compassionate.

And you're right that his treatment of June does not fit with the rest of his character. There are a few other jokes in the series about how Iroh likes the ladies, but they are few and far between and none are as crass as the one with June. It's meant to be a joke, and it's a familiar anime trope, that of the lecherous monk. Obviously atla does the PG version, and Iroh is not a monk, but his characterization is similar to that of a Buddhist monk. He also has other traits of the lecherous monk archetype, such as a tendency towards hedonism. It's an old trope, but for examples contemporary to ATLA, see Miroku from Inuyasha or Shigure from Fruits Basket (who is not a monk, but like Iroh is a wise but silly and hedonistic mentor figure).

Iroh's character is quite the opposite of sexist in most ways, though. His narrative with Zuko is all about rejecting toxic masculinity, and realizing how he has to save Zuko because of what he did to his own son. He also does not seem to care a wink for Toph's lack of girliness or Aang's lack of manliness which other characters comment on (and even approves of Aang for choosing kindness over power). He's established as a character defined by compassion and a desire to help others. He also disdains toxically masculine characters like Ozai or Zhao, and tells Zuko derisively that firebending does not come from muscles. That line says a whole lot on Iroh's view on male shows of bravado.

In fact, I've said before that had ATLA been written today, Iroh might have not found a doll an inappropriate gift for either a girl or a boy.

[peakyblinders1919]

Haddie Harrington Pt. 9

|part 1| |part 2| |part 3| |part 4| part 5 | part 6| |part 7| |part 8|

“I… Steve, I had no idea.” You said, exasperation laced in your voice. Your coffee was cold, halfway gone, and somewhat forgotten as he finished telling his side of the story. Your hand had that precarious way of finding his again, having sought it out for comfort- his or yours, or this time perhaps both- and still, your fingers were interwoven, locked, with no sense of urgency to pull away.

“It’s ok, you couldn’t have.” He shrugged, all nonchalant like he didn’t care when in actuality he cared so much that thinking about it made his stomach twist into knots. Even with your sincere, genuine reaction- though shocked you were, quietly taking in the news- he felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach. Almost like he was breaking his promise to you again. “I didn’t leave because I wanted to leave you, any of you, I wanted to leave this place… this… hell hole. Literally. I finally had one thing too many taken away from me, I thought maybe by leaving I wouldn’t lose anything else, but I was wrong.”

His mug now sat untouched too, his free hand flexing and unflexing in a fist against the tight fabric of his trousers on his thigh. The other rested comfortably in yours, and though you couldn’t see it, you could always read Steve Harrington like a book.

Your brows knit together, worry lines he wished to reach over and brush away with the pad of his thumb. 

“What is it?”

“I just don’t understand how you think you lost me…” Though it was daring to assume that’s what he had meant, the way he slowly iced you out when he was gone from Hawkins, the way his eye had barely met yours as he explained it all. Painful enough to relive it twice, it was painful to have to feel like you were losing everything for a second time.

You found yourself being pulled back into his orbit, sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for his response. It was like you two were teenagers again, no one else around you mattered, certainly not the other lone couple in the low-lit cafe and the less-than-pleased worker behind the counter who was ready to close up for the night.

He sighed. Maybe it was better this way, you not wholly remembering how he had broken your heart, having to break his own in turn to do the heroic thing, crumbling under the stressors of everything you’d been plagued with. 

“Remember what I told you before we split up?” He asked. Of course you remembered, suddenly he felt like the old Steve, stupid for asking a question he already knew the answer to. But this new Steve, he went on slowly, hoping to ease you back into that day, reliving that moment, filling in gaps that he feared you might still have from it. Gaps that he knew could reopen old wounds. Wounds you never had. His fears were confirmed by the confused look on your face.

“Before we split up? Yeah, yeah you told me…”

“I promise I’ll come back for you.”

“Don’t go doing anything stupid Steve.” 

“You mean like jump into a lake looking for another portal to hell? Too late, already did.”

Now wasn’t a time for flirting, but as Robin and your other friends so obviously liked to point out, there was never a time where you and Steve weren’t flirting. Your love for him went deeper than a few funny, flirty exchanges and questionable touches; you loved his heart, his flaws, the skeletons in his closet. You knew him inside and out and still you loved him unconditionally. And you were sure he harboed at least some of the same feelings based on the way he always offered a home and a shoulder to cry on when you were upset, how he always forgave you when you weren’t at your best. 

It was something that always existed among you two, among the party, written in the stars, confirmed by drunken make-outs that were waved off as mistakes. It always existed but it was never talked about. That’s just the way it was. Until now.

The sun had set, Hawkins nearly asleep, flashlights aglow, everyone cast in blue lights huddled around the stolen Winnebago going over the plan one final time before splitting up. 

You’ll never forget the staleness in the air, the tingling feeling of something so amazing about to happen, something life changing. It was adrenaline mixed with fear, paranoia, and a dash of excitement. You were positive you were all viably insane for what you were about to do.

The stares from Steve didn’t help to ease any tension, only made it worse because you weren’t going with him and the other older teens into the Upside down. You were staying as the “adult” on ground, on the other side, much to his displeasure.

So when the everything was solidided and everyone was beginning to go their separate ways, a light  tug of your wrist had your back pushed up against the trailer, Steve’s chest and height hovering over you, both of you protected under the disguise of darkness.

“You know there’s still time, Nance can stay back-”

“Steve, she’s already prepared with her rifle,” you laughed.

“Ok, so how about Robin…”

“You know she’s a clutz, you’ll have to watch over her down there and she’d be even more frantic up here on her own with the kids…” Even now she was pacing nervously, mouth moving a mile a minute going over the plan again and again with Nancy and Eddie and Dustin. Just as Steve was going to protest again, you clamed him with a warm hand prest to his chest. Over his heart. “It’s alright. It’s won’t be that long. You protect them down there, I’ll protect these ruggrats up here, and then we’ll put our monster hunting days behind us.” Laughing again, a nervous tick to find humor in the darkest of times, a poor attempt at lightening the mood, Steve’s face was a bundle of nerves. So unlike the hero you knew him to be.

“I wouldn’t forget myself if you got hurt.”

“Steve, I’ll be ok… you can’t always protect me.”

“But I want to. I wish I could because… because I couldn’t live with myself in anything happened to you.”

“Steve…”

“Y/N, I love you.”

You swore he was saying it because of the adrenaline, but the look in his eyes suggested anything but. 

“You do?”

Without another word, he leaned into your pace, taking all the air from you as his lips crashed against yours. Hot, desparate, needy, saying everything he wanted to.

“Steve… now is probably not the best time to confess your love for me,” you said, voice just a whisper against his lips.

“No? If not at the end of the world, when?”

“Not whe I’m vulnerable,” you pushed against his chest, trying to clear your head, trying to turn from him and the reality settling around you at his confession and what lie ahead, but in the heat of the moment all you found yourself doing was pulling him back into your space the fabric of his shirt, lips slow and meaningful.

“I love you too Steve Harrington.”

“Come with me.” He pleaded one last time. He begged. Your heart broke. You wanted to be with him, to protect him just as much as he wanted to protect you. The feeling was mutual. But…

“I can’t. I’ve promised them, Steve. Max is scared as hell, Lucas and Erica they’re just kids, I can’t let them do this alone.”

And though he wanted to, there was nothing he could say to convince you. Because he knew deep down, you were right.

“I know, I know,” he assured you, comforting kisses pressed against your temple because with tears setting on his lashline, he couldn’t bare to look down at you too, eyes like his. 

“I’m coming back for you.” You nodded? Burrowing your head into his chest and taking in the feel of him, the taste of his lips, his woodsy signature smell for the first, and hopefully not the last time,

“We’ll be ok. Promise me, we’ll all be ok?”

You felt sickness creeping upon you as the final moments with him tick, tick, ticked away.

“I promise. I promise we’ll be ok, I promise I’ll be safe. I promise I’ll come back for you.”

Everyone was not ok, but there was too much going on around you to realize- or even care- that already one of Steve’s promises to you was broken. In reality, you never believed him to keep them, it was enough that he said it so surely in the moment to keep your bones from shaking under the pressure of the fire coming battle. His words, so strong and sure like he was? We’re enough to get you through the dark night.

But the hiccup in your plan stood in front of you in a Hawkins’ green and gold letterman jacket, not unlike the one Steve used to wear before you were… whatever you eere, when you were just another admirer from afar.

You all seemed to be the target of his revenge story, Lucas at the center of it with a bullseye on his chest. And that’s why you were here, shoving Lucas behind you to keep eyes on Max.

“Jason… you don’t want to do this…”

Rage filled his eyes. He looked through you, gun still held high and straight 

“Jason… Jason, listen to me. It wasn’t Eddie’s fault, it wasn’t Lucas’s there’s-“ you wanted to tell him the truth but there were two used with that 1) he would never believe it and 2) it was already too late.

He wasn’t going to listen to you, a measly obstacle in his way. He clicked the safety on the gun, pointed at you before shifting its sun at Lucas. You wouldn’t stand for it, lunging at Jason and nearly knocking him to the ground, the gun slightly out of both your reaches.

 “Where’s your boy Harrington? Shouldn’t he be here?”

“Steve’s got more important things to deal with right now than your sorry ass.”

It was the attitude that probably out did him in, kicks and punches knocking you off your feet. Aches and pains like you never felt, leaving your vision blurry and nothing but white light towards the end. You fought back as hard as you could yet slowly the energy drained from you to the point where you could only sit against the wall and watch. It finally stopped when Max seemed to hang in the air, knowing one way or another, especially in your condition, now there was nothing you could do for your friends. And one way or another, it was all coming to an end.

“You know Steve, in those moments leading up until you came, I thought there was a chance you weren’t… you weren’t going to make it. And I didn’t want to have to face my failure either; I didn’t keep those kids safe. I wish I could have… but… but it was you showing up that made me find what little I had left to fight on.”

“I never should have left you alone. I should have been with you.”

“Should have, would have, could have. It’s over. It’s the last. Doesn’t still really explain why you left…”

“I froze Y/N. I was so close to losing you, and I had just gotten you, we’d just professed our love. And I.. I promised you the world, I wanted to be able to promise you the world but I failed you… I couldn’t deal with that for the rest of my life. I guess it was easier to leave than disappoint you every day.”

Chewing on your bottom lip, the taste of coffee lingering there, and the reminiscent flavor of Steve’s too sweet chapstick, you fought back tears. Wrestling with yourself about the next words you were about to say.

“Steve, I was never disappointed-“

The lights were dim, the music was soft, barely playing over the speakers now, the girl behind the counter wiping away the day's work with a sigh, and something started beeping. Loudly.

“Would… would you hold that thought for just a second?” He fumbled with something on the wristband of his trousers, finally stopping the beeping as he read the pager before the air spring you two was filled with the scraping of his chair against hardwood. Those worry lines you knew all too well set themselves between his big town eyes, and you nearly reached out to rub them away before thinking better of it. “I’ve got to take this.”

You smiled, a forced wide smile, as he exited in a hurry, leaving you alone to finish your thoughts.

I was never disappointed… until the day you left.

But you thought better of finishing it when he returned to the table, what felt like ten minutes or more later, and it was obvious something was wrong as he was aligning on his jacket.

And suddenly it wasn’t just two teenagers reliving their tragic love story, but a man, a father worried about his daughter and the friend he was on a date with, unsure if there’d be another one.

“Robin called and said Haddie’s having a tantrum. Like throwing books, stomping feet, wailing, type of tantrum because she didn’t tuck her in right and she won’t do the voices in the story like I do so she can’t go to sleep… and uh, I’m sorry. I interrupted you. Care to finish this over a drink? At my place? Come with me, it’ll be quick to settle her, Robin could probably use some reassurance too..”

“Steve Harrington, you just don’t want the night to end, do you?” You didn’t even hesitate. King Steve would have asked to take you home for one thing and one thing only, but by the face of the worker it seemed your time here was up anyway.

“Not if I can help it.” He smirked, the tone and air about you two light again.

You were happy for the break in conversation, there wasn’t much more that could be said, there was nothing left you wanted to relieve from the summer of 1986. You’d gotten your answer; written on his face, written in the stars, confirmed by his hand in yours leading you to the parking lot and him holding the BMW door open for you like old times. 

He’d left because he needed to. He left with good intentions. He left because he thought it’d hurt him, and you, less than him staying ever could.

And maybe you’d soon see that he was right. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Distance gives people time to grow. 

And this Steve Harrington, the version you got to see spring into action that night with his daughter, was the one you were happy to have waited for.

[13eyond13]

Hi...Can I ask your top 3 favorite characters from Nana? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks if you want to answer....

Hi hi!! I would LOVE to try to talk about this series for a bit, but PLEASE keep in mind I'm still only just finished volume 7 / chapter 24 (I am currently waiting in line to read volume 8 at my library! But I might get impatient and just try to find the chapters online too)... MY TOP 3 FAVE NANA CHARACTERS (SO FAR) 1. NANA KOMATSU / NANA 1 / "HACHI": OMG I love Nana 1 to death hahahaha. She literally makes me lol every single volume with her thoughts and decisions and interactions with everyone else, and it's just the most fun in the series to be inside her brain and following along with her relationships and emotional roller-coasters and little life lessons and anxieties and pains and hopes and dreams. She's an awesome character to me for being flawed and complex and selfish and immature yet still very likable and oddly tough and brave and sweet as pie at the same time. I think seeing the growth she's having as a person over the series is definitely the main draw for me, and watching her try to figure out her feelings for everybody and her place in the world and how to become the type of person that contains all the personality traits she's always admiring around her - and how to fill that void she feels of never completely erasing the loneliness inside or being perfectly synced up with the people she's trying to form a deeper connection with.

2. NANA OSAKI / NANA 2:

She's mysterious, she's proud, she's tough, she's badass, she's funny and sensible and kind! I love the more grown-up and emotionally reserved vibe she has in comparison to Nana 1, which totally makes sense considering her harder childhood and how self-reliant she always had to be. Her casual warmth with Hachi is endearing and her less obviously expressive and highly independent yet still emotionally intense personality is very relatable to me. It's the most fun to see Hachi reacting to Nana 2 to me I think, because Nana 2 is more closed off and a bit more afraid of exploring her feelings unabashedly than Nana 1. But she's by far my other fave in the series, and of course the heart of the whole thing is the very ambiguously devoted relationship between the 2 Nanas for me!

3. ???? I don't think I have a third main fave character in the story yet??

At the beginning of the manga I quite liked Shoji and Junko, but as the series is progressing it seems like they both got written out of the plot almost entirely. I liked Junko for always keeping it real with Nana and caring about her in a tough love sort of way, though she did for sure just seem a bit like the "voice of reason" character for the more ridiculous Nana to bounce off of whenever she was in a bind... I liked Shoji because he seems like a regular kid instead of some idealistic fictional love interest hunk - his reactions to Nana K. were pretty relatable to me, and their romantic interactions were cute and made me laugh and also cringe with sympathy at times (like when it was so awkward when Nana first moved to Tokyo too and they were still trying to readjust to being around each other more - I remember similar things happening to me whenever I had been long-distance in a relationship for a summer and and then suddenly near my partner again at some time). Even in the part where he starts developing feelings for Sachiko and sneakily cheating on Nana, I always felt he behaved pretty understandably and wasn't a horrible person so much as just a conflicted and young and immature one who wasn't in the right relationship when he was with Nana, maybe (though admittedly I wasn't that upset that he wasn't being featured in the story more after that, because that would probably get on my nerves). Currently I have just finished volume 7, and right now I am finding I don't feel a super strong connection to any of the other characters too much other than Nana 1 and Nana 2? The other guys in Blast are just okay to me, I don't have SUPER strong feelings about Nana getting together with Nobu (in fact I find him a little bit annoying at times - I agree with Shin that he "has some unrealistic ideas about women" and idealizes Nana too much - Yasu is chill and nice and wise, but a bit TOO chill and reserved to be super interesting to me). The members of Trapnest are also just okay to me? Ren bores me a little bit (maybe because I just would rather be reading about Nana 2 hanging out with Nana 1 than with him)... Reira is hard for me to form ANY opinions about other than eww, it's weird that she's sleeping with Shin, Takumi is a selfish yet possessive jerk and only thinking about himself, and I always forget the other one (Naoki?) even exists...

I WILL say that the little Nana 2 fangirl Misato is extremely cute and I'm always happy when she's on the page, hahaha. Her shameless devotion to Nana 2 and her politeness and extreme savviness about the music industry are just fun for me to read (as was Hachi's initial jealousy toward her, but I'm glad she managed to also eventually get over that)! --

MY TOP 5 FAVE NANA MOMENTS (SO FAR): Forgive me if these moments are completely arbitrary and sort of dumb picks, because I feel like I'm forgetting so much of the story from the previous volumes already, and I'm still only 1/3 of the way through the whole thing?? But here are ones that stood out to me whenever I was racking my brain: 5. Whenever Nana forces Shoji to let her sleep in his hotel room, then awkwardly sings him to sleep, and he's like: "YOU DON'T HAVE TO SING" hahaha...

my reaction to that was basically Junko's reaction:

4. Whenever Nana 2 starts getting jealous and confused about Hachi hooking up with Takumi I was like OHOHOH, HOW THE TURNS TABLE.... I think it's REALLY hard for Nana 2 to admit stuff like feeling vulnerable or jealous or possessive over Nana 1 at this point, and seeing her realize "heeyyyy maybe I want her attention and devotion a little more than I thought and was taking it for granted a bit"... that was a very feelsy little part! 3. Whenever Hachi is getting jealous about Nana 2's cute little fangirl and having super mean petty thoughts about her hahahah omg the most relatable thing of life! 2. When Nana 2 goes to Nobu after he first starts dating Hachi and is like: "I'M USING YOU TO KEEP NANA 1 IN MY LIFE FOREVER, SO DON'T MESS THIS UP!" OMG?? Fellas is it gay to keep your girl roomie nearby by throwing guys at her that are entrenched in your social circle and also more socially acceptable for her to date? When I say my heart skipped a beat at that moment!! And it just happened in the manga super recently, so who knows where things are going to go from here?

1. When Hachi is having so many gay thoughts about Nana 2 that she's like "AHHH THIS IS TOO GAY I NEED TO GET ANOTHER BOYFRIEND!!!!" Boy did I laugh out loud at the cognitive dissonance (and find it super relatable to younger me and my own panicking about maybe not being entirely straight thoughts? of course)...

[bluewithpurplepolkadots]

“The TMNT brothers abuse each other!” in 2012 discourse is flawed but the people who are against such statements seem to make weird arguments against it.

Many of the abuse arguments don’t work too well. But it’s not because (in defender-minds) that (somehow) everyone who makes the claim must be an only child who ‘just doesn’t get how siblings work’.

Stop making weird ass blanket statements like that.

It’s actually flawed because when the bros (ok usually it’s Raph is doing it) wail on each other, well not only are they ninjas (duh) but it can sometimes be taken with the same level of seriousness as bugs bunny and daffy duck doing so.

Raph beating up his brothers is not really a big deal most of the time in a universe where in the first episode Leo can fall down a fire escape and it’s a comedic moment. If this was like real life it would be more serious: but this is a cartoon which is sometimes far less serious about pain physics than say 2003 was. (And even 2003 had its ‘suspend your disbelief’ moments injury wise). Sometimes you have to take other tonal cues when to take things like that as a big deal.

Like the shredder doing what he did to Leo was obviously a big deal given the framing. But I feel if Raph had kicked him into a frozen lake it would half mean a snappy joke and Leo not having a long healing process at all.

Honestly 2012s humour is kind of a mixed bag but it can explain some issues people have.

Like I don’t care what they did with Donatello in this version but in some respects I should (probably?) take his actions with regards April with the seriousness of Pepe le Pew. (Probably Casey too). April is just the drooled over cat so we’re supposed to think it funny. It just gets to be an issue because they do try to frame it in a moral of the week style of thing and Donatello gets hit with amnesia by the next episode. It just is a weird tonal thing so it doesn’t really work too well.

But I think they did better with Raph then say Donatello. And 2012 Raph is indeed a bigger ass than all the other animation ones that came before not just rise. But he’s still an understandable ass sometimes (even occasionally correct), it’s likely just this cartoonish exaggeration and if we are take the Watsonian view this kid obviously isn’t getting therapy given what he is. You can’t solve your anger just by realising you are angry. It’s a bit more complicated than that. Donatello has less of an excuse for his amnesiac bullshit when Splinter very clearly and obviously spells it out to this supposed genius.

I guess another issue is the TMNT versions 2012 is sandwiched against. Rottmnt is just… a lot better at this type of humour. It can snap between serious and not far better than 2012 ever could. And 2003 would generally take this type of thing more seriously or frame it as an ongoing issue which is another valid way to go. Or just feels like actual regular childhood roughhousing which could conceivably exist without ending in a hospital visit were they human or there was a more realistic bent to what they did to each other.

Maybe also an issue is with the 3d style idk. Cartoon slapstick just isn’t as funny in comparison to when it is 2d.

(Like 2012 storyboards are just better humour wise than the end product half the time, as well as the added benefit of the humans looking less janky and the expressions coming across better).

[tmntkiseki]

All right, so my overall thoughts on Turtles Forever: Much like with the Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer seasons of 2003, I was surprised that I ended up enjoying it as much I did. Is it a perfect film? Of course not. It is fundamentally flawed in a lot of ways, but as both the 25th anniversary movie and the big send off to the 2003 series, I could definitely think of worse ways they could have closed what was effectively the current chapter of the franchise at the time.

Obviously, the biggest point of criticism is the treatment of the 87 turtles in the film and speaking as someone who has quite literally only seen two episodes of the 87 series, I can't say I was impressed with how they were written. They definitely did have their moments here and there (the scene where 87!Don pisses off 03!Raph by kill stealing via giant boulder is hilarious) but most of the time the 87 turtles were depicted as childish and unable to take anything seriously, to say nothing of certain... moments that were clearly written to make them appear inferior to the 2003 turtles. (Seriously, the part during the final fight where 87!Leo, Raph, and Mikey all cried and ran to 03!Raph for comfort bugged me A LOT.) The sheer irony is that even though the writing did heavily favor 2003 turtles, the way they were written interacting with the 87 turtles didn't do them a whole lot of favors, either. They came off as whiny and borderline asshole-ish with how intolerant they were of the 87 turtles and their antics, and while I get it in the context of certain plot events (ie Splinter getting kidnapped and the whole turtle multiverse being threatened with destruction)... Yeah, I would personally never want this movie to serve as someone's introduction to TMNT 2003 because much like how it's not representative of the 1987 show, it really is not representative of the 2003 series either. (If you're looking for good 1987/2003 interactions, I'd definitely point you in the direction of Saturday Morning Adventures Issue #13, even though it's only the Donatellos interacting.)

ALL THAT SAID, there were some very good moments in the movie. It was nice to see the 2003 turtles slowly but surely warm up to 1987 turtles over the course of the film, and the scene where 03!Leo and 03!Raph were talking with 87!Splinter while he gave them rice to eat really tugged at my poor heart strings (there really was a missed opportunity to have 87!Splinter interact with 03!Splinter.) Hun becoming a mutant turtle was actually kind of dark in a way and, outside the bit with the 87 turtles crying, the final battle in the Mirage dimension IE Turtles Prime was fantastic. It's still funny to me that the entire multiverse was saved because of the actions of Bebop and Rocksteady.

The biggest highlight of the movie was the art direction—even if the writing for the 87 turtles wasn't the greatest, the character designers and animators really went to great lengths to replicate the overall look of the 87 cartoon and all their efforts paid off. I'm still not the biggest fan of Back to the Sewers' overall art style, but if it had been animated with the same quality as this movie, I'd probably have less negative feelings towards it. (Again, thank god the 2003 turtles got their white featureless eyes back for this movie.)

What probably intrigues me the most about Turtles Forever is knowing that, had Peter Laird not sold the rights to the TMNT franchise to Nickelodeon, this movie might not have been the last we saw of the 2003 turtles. Had the series continued after this, ya know, what might have happened? Besides Hun being a mutant, the 2003 universe now has its own versions of Tokka and Rahzar and one has to wonder if they'd STILL find a way to bring Shredder back. (Thinking specifically in regards to the whole "Shredder Wars" thing that never saw the light of day.) Personally, I'm glad 2003 ended where it did for... a lot of reasons, but thanks to this movie, I'm all the more excited now for the 2003 oneshot that's going to be in the 40th anniversary anthology, which has been indicated to take place after the movie.

So, yeah. Definitely a flawed film, but still good in a lot of ways.

[thesungod]

ok so I took a peek into TSATS and I see what u all mean when u say its out of character 😭 like, a lot of the narrative IS relative to various characters and such, like Nico's trauma, overcoming it, other things I haven't read yet, but the way it's written, and the way the characters go about portraying it... it doesn't even feel like Rick picked up a pen and wrote it. like, obviously he did, but you just can just tell the co-author really took the lead on this one.

like -

Nico thought Mr D looked like he was about to explode from excitement, and it was honestly a complete delight.

since when the fuck does this man smile 🤨 like yes, obviously he's a fully sentient being with emotions and shit. ik he feels happiness, he just expresses it differently, and this just seems so... forced? it's less the grumpy-lovable but still an asshole Mr D we all know and kinda love, but more-so a diluted version of him? like someone comparing a stick figure to a Van Gogh piece. it just don't work 😭

‘My two favourite demigods have returned,’ he said, and he held his arms open and embraced both of them at the same time.

this man hugs??? like, his kids and wife / lovers, sure. but he's like the most demigodphobic person ever 😭 he'd be the person to let the other hug him, pat him on the bag, scowl and say "yeah-yeah" and then shove them off. like??? (at least in my brain he is)

‘Favourite?’ Will said into Mr D’s armpit. ‘I thought you didn’t even like demigods.’ (SAME 🥴)

and then he goes on to say "fuck all u, but like, u 2 least of all" so that's pretty in character for the most part, but still

like this book don't look bad by any means, it just feels... offshade. off white to white? 1st cousins. expectation v reality. a Van Gogh baby vs an actual baby (google them, they're horrifying)

but yeah, no hate to the book, it just doesn't feel like Rick even touched it, yk? and I haven't even read a single chapter. that was me skimming to see what the fuss was about 😭 and what's up with some of the books using these quotes '' instead of ""??? it's so hard to read.

anon i’m so sorry i completely forgot to get this ask out of my drafts even if it was answered!!

i hope you’re still around!!

and i 100% agree, after reading tcotg i’m convinced rick riordan didn’t- touch tsats with a ten foot pole.

i was very willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say the book was a team effort when it came out but there’s simply no way that’s the case. my man lied. the writing style is so different and the interpersonal relationships between characters feel so off😭

don’t get me started about the humor because tcotg had its flaws but it was literally laugh-out-loud funny in some moments. had the difference been written on purpose- like, the authors wanting to characterise Nico and Will as kinda lame people- that could have been an interesting choice (i maintain my headcanon that Nico is only ever unintentionally funny), but i really doubt it was.

and why would Mr D hug and smile and coddle Nico and Will like… it’s giving self indulgent fanfiction where everyone adores the author’s favourite character. which, i mean, if you’ve ever read my Apollo fics you know that I get it, but a published book should be held to a higher standard imo!!!

tsats did not have to be a masterpiece but it was too OOC for me to enjoy.

still, i’d advise you to read it for yourself and find out!

[ragsy]

🔥feelings on an over-rated media

(I want to sit and listen to you be a hater, sorry)

i may have gone into this before, but i thought the owl house was way overrated. and i'm going to put my essay about it under a cut.

the entire first season felt like a first draft that someone turned in two minutes before the deadline, packed full of "jokes" that felt more like placeholders than anything actually funny, throwaway gags that contradicted the worldbuilding and underlying stakes that the show was trying to establish itself on, moments that were obviously supposed to be big turning points for certain characters despite not having any groundwork laid before them to make them big character moments, characters we (the audience) were obviously supposed to feel a specific way about despite, again, not having any groundwork laid to establish that outside of "you hate/love this character because we said so," ESPECIALLY about luz, you know, the MAIN CHARACTER, who was in theory supposed to be an "endearing weirdo who is just trying to find her place" but in practice was "Main Character who everyone unconditionally adores, despite all the times that she's fucked them over or gotten them in trouble." it's just a whole season of dissonance between what the show THINKS it's doing and what it's ACTUALLY doing. another example: eda clawthorne, most wanted witch on the boiling isles, lives in a house that everyone knows, hangs out on the public streets, and drops her adopted kid off at school out in the open.

and the thing is? season two fixed literally all of those problems! suddenly the jokes were funny, the character arcs had footing, the worldbuilding had direction and structure, and there were stakes! that mattered! to both me and to the characters! but season two had its own enormous flaw, which was that it spent half its runtime fixing all the shoddy floorboards and leaky pipes that season one left behind. (which, for some reason, included basically dumping gus and willow by the wayside, who had spent a significant amount of time in season one being built up as a very important part of the show?) and by the time the show was standing on its own two feet, the season was over, and the third and final season was more or less a tv movie split into a handful of episodes.

and then!!! it had the fucking audacity!! to end the show with erasing all of luz's magical progress?? what was the point of that? what did that serve to the story it was trying to tell?

i understand that the show had a lot of challenges behind the scenes, probably all from The Mouse himself, so i'm not pointing my finger at any individual who worked on it. the show had a lot of potential! it had a lot of really cool ideas! i fucking loved hooty! hooty forever! i've seen a lot of really excellent fan content! people fucking love this show!! HOWEVER! in actual execution, the television show the owl house from disney tv animation was a huge mess and will permanently be a mess for the rest of its recorded history. suck is forever. that's what fanfic is for.

[demcnsinmymind]

Promises made and kept, but with a twist (2/5) Aza/thoth,Lance & the bodies - Sasha

With the thing with his own family out of the way, eventually, Lance's guilt and all the catching up with the circumstances of his team's and his own disappearance out in the real world, he'll focus on the families of his team. What stories were they told? Do they even know what happened to them? Sasha? T.C? Matt? Houston? Eventually, he'll learn that none of their bodies have ever been recovered. (Obviously). He'll learn about the ridiculous settlements Jerry Hartfeld payed out, the fact that he had the audacity to try and release their footage as a film to make bank off of that tragedy. He'll learn that unlike him and his mom, their families never got any closure. And though he knows that he couldn't have known that his team would be killed, that he didn't want them to be killed, that he tried to get them out of there....the guilt's obviously overwhelming. And now that he's sworn to himself that he'd never let anything bad happen again, that he'd be better, he'll eventually try to make things right for the families of his crew, in any way he can.

Being on the run from the police, with no money or anything to his name really, he knows that he can't solve any of it with money and influence, the way he would've back in the day. And since things worked out for him and his mom more or less all thanks to Aza/thoth, he'll eventually ask it for one more favor. Makes one more promise.

He'll ask it to return the bodies. Have them found inside the building just the way he was found by Kenny. Even Aza/thoth won't lie so much as to tell him that it can bring them back full stop. It hates them too much for that, is too jealous, doesn't want him too happy after all. But they know that it can bring their bodies back. Give the families the opportunity for proper closure. A proper burial. An answer.

For obvious reasons, Sasha is the very first one that he asks for. And Aza/thoth is more than happy to do it for him. With a price.

Someone else in her place. Trapped wherever. In chaos and time. To 'keep the balance' out here. Surprisingly enough, it doesn't take Lance long to make a decision. After all, he's flawed. Has taken a life all by himself already. And for Sasha? To set at least one thing straight for a grieving family he's known?

He takes the deal. And he does know someone he wants in her place. Offers said person all by himself, wants to be there when it takes them.

Jerry.

One cold late November night, Lance sets foot inside the old production office again. Breaks in and isn't that just funny and oh so typically Jerry. The old keys still fit. The code's still the same. For some weird reason, the CCTV malfunctions. Timecode errors and footage right out of sync the moment he sets foot in the building. Waits until the early morning hours until Jerry comes into his office, eager to take seat in a chair that's already occupied - by none other than his long lost star of the show whose poster still hangs on that wall behind him like a trophy. Surprise, surprise! The Lance Preston is back.

And he has so many questions to ask about his show, the way his finale was handled, the money that was never paid. Jerry Hartfeld never really gets to answer these questions. And on that very same day, none of his calls will ever be answered ever again, go straight to voice mail. Because this is the last day Jerry Hartfeld was seen alive on CCTV somewhere in downtown LA. Never to be seen again.

And isn't it just the weirdest coincidence? All the local tabloids and news reporters will say on the very same day, because this is when the body of one Sasha Parker is found by a group of urban explorers over in Ryerson Valley, Maryland, deep within the tunnel system of the old abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric hospital, where she'd been reported missing some 13 years prior. Soon to be brought back to Washington, where her mother, father, sister and fiance will get to bury her a few weeks later.

[wndaswife]

thérèse 😳

characterization headcanons: thérèse raquin

character flaws

inability to visualize the future, easily swayed by immediate sensory impulses, avoidant of anything that may elicit negative feelings

childhood

not a social child but not voluntarily, placed a great deal of value in other’s opinions, friends with camille’s friends, always an observer and one to sit on the sidelines in social situations and within her family

cleaning habits

cleaned out of duty as she was meant to carry some responsibility once she moved in with her aunt, feeling that she had to pay for her living there, and soon found some form of comfort in cleaning as it kept her busy and grounded in the present given her tendency to become too caught up in her own imagination and silence

cooking habits

i don’t think they showed her cooking very much or at all in the movie, but i think she was raised to be a bit of a housekeeper. while her aunt handled the business side of the shop, thérèse was able to maintain her duty cleaning and cooking, and i think she’s actually pretty good at cooking too

coping mechanisms

most of her coping mechanisms have to do with physical grounding like cooking and cleaning and taking walks. she’s also a surprisingly good artist in spite of how little she discusses art as she’s had a great deal of practice in her own time

eating habits

eats enough to nourish herself, and was sometimes made to eat less in order to allow camille more of his meals

enneagram personality type

7w6

myer-briggs personality type

this may be controversial but i actually think it is plausible that in this movie she is an ESFP.. i think outwardly she seems to be rather reserved and kind of socially inept, but i think that was more forced and learned than anything because of the environment she grew up in. firstly i don’t think any other enneagram but 7w6 fits her best. she is in no way an intuitive type, she has no ability to envision any sort of future and reflects little on her past, does not consider any form of consequence and acts purely based on what would make her feel best in the moment. she's focused on the present and really little else (Se) and has a tendency to be selfish with what she feels is owed to her and what she believes she needs in the moment (Fi). an ESFP 7w6 is someone who is highly avoidant of negative feelings, has a primary goal of involving themselves and maximizing positive feelings and pleasure, and she obviously has the capability to be social-attuned and can socialize on her own if given the chance as seen in the scene she was at that bar (brothel?)

fears

she has an itching feeling of anticipation and an unused drive that’s eaten at her since childhood, and thérèse has always feared being able to do nothing with it. she grew to fear the boredom and deprivation once she began her affair with laurent, and slowly became more dependent on thrill and amusement

hobbies

i believe she may have sincerely enjoyed exploring paris once they moved, taking walks on her own and adjusting to her life away from the countryside. though she’s slow to socialization, i think she enjoys surrounding herself in lively crowds. she enjoys knitting, one of the only beneficial things madame has given her, reading and drawing

humor

she’s actually quite funny i think. she really enjoys teasing and making light fun of people, and she’s also an imaginative person so she likes to indulge in childish things like giggling about dirty jokes and considerations like questioning how silly it’d be if their family cat suddenly began walking on his two hindlegs and introduced himself with a different name

insecurities

may sometimes feel jealous of others with more opportunities, feeling that she isn’t living her life as she should be. there’s a feeling of inferiority that follows with this insecurity

pets

i wish the movie talked a little more about françois because in the book it seemed like thérèse really loved the family cat a lot, and i think a great amount of her humanity was shown with her concern for him

regrets

honestly she doesn’t regret very much. even her greatest mistakes like killing camille and marrying laurent, she is more someone who concerns herself with dealing with consequences and getting caught up in the distress and sorrow of them. just as she struggles with envisioning the future, she cares little about the past. she’s very present-oriented

secrets

she had a fondness for camille, found herself pitying him and seeing a bit of herself in the way he was held back and treated by madame. because of this, she took to avoiding him even more, hating the fact that she sympathized or even identified with him

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