#anyway this one actually moves a lot of plot points forward but it's still very domestic

[protect-namine]

the syllables melt away (chapter 5)

fic summary:

In which Neku learns how to cook, lands a stable enough job, rediscovers old friends, resolves a dispute he has with an important partner, falls in love, possibly gets married, and becomes a father. But not in that order. Or: it’s eight years into the future, and Joshua talks Neku into adopting a baby in his place. They may or may not fall in love along the way.

chapter five excerpt:

He doesn't really care about the UG, he swears he doesn't, but he's still a hundred points away from getting a new pin from his favorite konbini to check if it actually, really does anything at all. He sort of remembers Joshua nudging his brain with pin-related updates in the past, but they were never as insistent as the other topics they try and fail to telephone to each other. It's not music, or street art, or ramen. Neku doesn't know if his memory of how pins work is reliable — it's been years since his own Reaper's Game. Maybe the rules have changed? But it's not his place to decide or learn the rules, so he does the next best thing. Neku picks up an issue of Pinhead Weekly. Joshua writes under the pseudonym Pink and his op ed is… a lot more passionate than Neku expected, which is probably his appeal as a writer. For all his cynicism, Joshua loves Shibuya. He likes to talk about Shibuya, can drone on and on about its history and its evolution. He can list facts in rapid fire if Neku will let him. His Tin Pin writings are not as factual. They are opinionated, persuasive, and — Neku is starting to realize — personal. Personal means vulnerable, and Joshua cannot handle vulnerable in long stretches. When Neku finishes the article, he's absolutely sure of it. This isn't a Composer thing; this is a Yoshiya Kiryuu thing. This revelation excites him more than learning that konbini pins can shoot lasers.

---

🔗 read on AO3

[larkspurglove]

OH MY GODDD THE NEW TRAILBLAZE MISSION IT’S SO GOOD BUT ALSO NONE OF MY THOUGHTS ARE COHERENT AAAAA

Major spoilers for 2.1 ahead!!!!

So first off to the people that voted for Aventurine and Sunday in this poll how does it feel to be right?

ANYWAY THAT WHOLE ENDING WAS FUCKING INSANEEEE, Aventurine walking INTO the Nihility????? And he might not ever come back???? Acheron showing off the true extent of her emanator powers?????? Gallagher being the twist villain and also somehow in control of Something Unto Death???? What the fuck?!

My brain is a mess right now I’m just rotating all of the story in my brain and a hundred miles a minute. The next stuff is just going to be me word vomiting my reaction to stuff in a vaguely chronological order.

First off I LOVEEE how Aventurine-focused the Trailblaze mission was. I was kind of assuming it would be a 50/50 split between focusing on Acheron and focusing on Aventurine but it seems like they’re saving Acheron’s backstory for 2.2 or 2.3.

The little appearance of Boothill??? And how he immediately threatens violence?????? Just a silly guy I can’t wait for him in 2.2 I wanna see them fight. Also I wonder if Constance is making empty promises because it’s possible.

Back to Aventurine, DAMNNN I knew his backstory would be tragic but it’s even more gut wrenching than I expected. The reference in his achievements too??? ‘What do you want Sibyl?’ ‘I want to die.’ THE PROGRESSION FROM AVENTURINE STICKING WITH THIS UNTIL THE END WHERE EVEN THOUGH HE COULD POSSIBLY DIE FOR REAL YET HE DECIDES FO CONTINUE FORWARD BECAUSE EVEN IF WE’RE BORN TO DIE THERE’S A POINT IN LIVING LIFE AND PREPARING FOR THAT INEVITABILITY???? OH MY GOD.

Sunday’s also a scary dude. Maybe being an emanator does that to people but when he did that Harmony mindfuckery on Aventurine I was almost certain that he was going to die because of that. I was also SO pissed at Ratio for selling Aventurine out only to learn they were actually double crossing SUNDAY was insane. I’m glad he finally got to be angry about Robin’s death towards the end though, most of the downtime between 2.0 and 2.1 has been me wondering ‘man his sister just died why doesn’t he feel more distressed.’

Ngl I’m probably gonna dedicate a whole post to Aventurine in this update because 90% of the time I was playing the quest I was either thirsting over him, internally sobbing for him, thinking he was gonna die, or waiting to get back to his POV.

Gallagher is one hell of an enigma because Sunday implies that he’s made up of different ‘aspects’ of each Family member who’s died over however long the dreamscape deaths have been happening, yet he has a past with Siobhan and apparently knew Mikhail??? Like what the fuck????? How long has this been going on????

(Edit: so the use of ‘enigma’ was NOT a pun, when I played the trailblaze quest someone goofed up and forgot to add the line where Sunday calls Gallagher a follower of The Enigmata. Yeah that’s a pretty big lore drop to forget to add.)

I do wish it was foreshadowed slightly better though because the most we get is him being very vaguely sad about his past and also like two people going ‘who the hell is Gallagher.’

One thing I didn’t expect to happen was for a ‘Sam is Firefly’ reveal. Like I had seen the leaks before (not out of my own will sadly) and kind of expected for it to be a 2.2 reveal. Either way yayyyy Firefly is alive!!!

I’m sad that we didn’t really have an Acheron and Welt team up, or at least that we didn’t see more of it. It was kind of hyped up to be a whole B-plot but turned out to only be a few scenes. I’m not complaining because we get a little teeny bit of Welt characterisation but I’m still sad.

I like how Sparkle kind of just shows up to either be a nuisance or a conveniently timed piece to move the plot forward. It’s very fitting with being a Masked Fool.

There’s a lot more I want to scream about but it’s all Aventurine related and I’m gonna save it for its own dedicated post.

2.1 is so fucking good 2.2 and 2.3 better stick the landing.

[antianakin]

So if I pretend this season exists in a vacuum, I can see how people would argue it's better written. From a purely structural standpoint, for now at least, it's far less episodic and has figured out how to write a longer arc while still having each episode deal with a separate sort-of "adventure" that moves the plot forward. Cool, great, love that.

Except that it's STILL a terribly written show because the character moments here require me to forget a lot of what was established in prior seasons.

"I didn't know what I was getting into with the Empire." Yes, he did. He very explicitly knew exactly what he was getting into. He REMOVED HIS OWN CHIP and stayed with the Empire ANYWAY. He knew exactly what they were and how they were controlling him and STAYS. By season two, you could perhaps argue that he stays because he doesn't think he has anywhere else to go and this is the bed he's built so he may as well just lay in it as long as he can, but he's still the one who built it and is choosing to lay in it, so that doesn't line up with "I didn't know what I was getting into." The whole POINT behind Crosshair's betrayal is that he DID know what he was doing and DID IT ANYWAY.

"I just wanted to be a good soldier." No, he didn't. He lays out exactly why he stayed with the Empire and it was for vengeance against the Bad Batch when he has the chip removed and realizes they didn't come back for him and takes that personally. He stayed in order to hunt them down as punishment for the perceived slight. By season two, again, you could argue he's staying because he thinks he has nowhere else to go, but that's not the same as wanting to "be a good soldier." It's closer, but not the same. And even if it were, it's not the ORIGINAL reason he stayed which is when the actual betrayal happens and therefore the more relevant motivation for this discussion with Hunter, the one Hunter was hurt by.

"No one knew what was going on back then." Yes, they did. Very specifically, ALL OF YOU KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON. They figure out the chips in the PILOT EPISODE, Crosshair is a PART of that conversation even if his chip is partially activated at the time. And his actual betrayal isn't when the chip is activated anyway, it's when he REMOVES IT and stays in the Empire DESPITE knowing exactly what was going on.

Crosshair's betrayal is entirely intentional and done with his eyes wide open. He knew the Empire was hunting down innocent people and killing them, he knew the Empire was mind controlling the clones, he knew exactly what the Empire wanted from him, he just decides it doesn't matter to him because staying in the Empire gives him the opportunity and resources to exact vengeance on the Bad Batch for leaving him behind.

If I didn't remember anything about season 1, this scene probably works better. But I do in fact remember some stuff about season 1 of this show and none of it lines up with what was established about Crosshair and his knowledge and motivations back then. So this scene that is intended to be the emotional conclusion of this arc developing Hunter and Crosshair's relationship doesn't hit at all because they're asking me to just forget everything I know about why Crosshair did the things he did and why Hunter has every right to be upset about it and not trust him as a result. The Ahsoka show did this EXACT SAME THING, where they refuse to address the actual betrayal, the elephant in the room, because it's a lot more work if you do, and they're just unwilling to put in that amount of work in order to earn the emotional pay-off.

The last time Hunter even SAW Crosshair was on Kamino where they offered him forgiveness and he rejected it, went back to the Empire after yelling at them for leaving him behind or whatever. It's been months if not a year since then and the only other communication they've had with him was the warning he sent out that they VERY justifiably couldn't trust because it could just as easily have been a trap of some kind. Hunter has no REASON to trust Crosshair and has had zero time to believe Crosshair has had any kind of change of heart about the things he was so upset over a year ago. And yet instead of actually addressing any of that, the way Crosshair very intentionally hunted them down to try to kill them out of anger and vengeance, instead of truly dealing with the issues that tore them apart, they expect me to believe that the REAL reason Hunter's upset is because he's... * checks notes * jealous that he didn't get to save Omega?

This SMACKS of cowardice and laziness on the part of the writers. And they've ALWAYS been cowardly and lazy on this show, but this is why, even though the structure seems to have improved, the writing on this show is still SHITTY. Structure is important, but if your characters are off, the entire thing is a lost cause. And this poor shitshow has never had good characters to begin with, and that hasn't changed in this season.

[magicalrocketships]

Hello hello I heard from em powerful-owl that you're you're cooking up a steamy and emotionall devastating maxiel fic with certain... elements 👀 and kinks 👀 and circumstances 👀 that I might be interested in (I've been being insane over in her asks about pillow humping, among other things lol idk if you've seen) anyway I just wanted to say I'm so excited for your fic! I want to wave my little pompoms and generally cheerlead you because I love our little f1rpf community and the,like, 2 things ive heard about this fic already have me blushing and foaming at the mouth. But. 😊😵‍💫 In a sexy way. 💖 (?? Hang on..pompoms... Maxiel au where max is a way-too-serious football player and daniel is a cheerleader and they have sex about it?? Is that anything) okbye 👍

Y E S, yes, there is a fic a-cooking which has SOME STUFF IN IT YOU MIGHT ENJOY, we can be our own little team of people going feral for a little pillow humping in a fic. In FACT, if you would like a snippet, then you can have one just now. It's basically lots of little snippets from a longer scene, so all the plot bits are gone because they'll make no sense without context, and there's just... you know. Max being a little bit raw at the edges from some plot stuff (not that there's MUCH of a plot, it's mostly 70k+ of Max figuring out who he is on and off the track, and where Daniel fits in) and being by himself in a hotel room etc etc. There's some metaphorical cheerleading by Daniel in this (no actual pom-poms were harmed) but there is a shared hoodie (and by shared, I mean, it's Max's now but it used to be Daniel's).

Max/Daniel, explicit, 2.5k.

Max drinks half a can of Red Bull, takes off his jeans, and puts on Daniel's yellow hoodie. It does not smell very much like Daniel anymore but it is nice that it is his - or was his, because it is Max's now, and Daniel is not allowed to have it back. Max tucks it over his nose for a moment as the screen loads on his TV, sitting down in the seat, controller in hand.

Then, carefully, as his game loads, he stands up and gets one of the pillows. He arranges it in the middle of the bed, lengthways. He lays down on the bed, dick pressed against the pillow, and gives his hips a little roll, just to see.

It feels nice. It always feels nice.

---

Max presses his hips forward against the pillow, holding himself there, squeezing his ass, dick chubbing up in his briefs. He likes this feeling, where his body is getting comfortable, dick getting hard. On the screen he scrolls through his saves to pick the one he wants to play, game loading. He could adjust his dick now that he's mostly hard, angle it so that it's pointing down between his legs because it's easier to rub himself off like that, but he's playing by his own rules and he doesn't want to touch. Anyway, sometimes it's nice to catch the side of his dick, rub a little to the left. It doesn't matter much. He just likes it all.

There's the first little blurt of pre-come, the wet spot in his underwear, the head catching and the material dragging as he presses his hips down. The pillow is going to get wet too, little damp patches as he gets more and more turned on and can't keep still. He deliberately does not speed up. This is his out lap. There's no benefit in going too fast. It can be a whole evening of out laps. No one's watching.

His hips move slowly, and he's up on his elbows for his game, but other than that he's lazy with it. He's not taken his socks off and his toes are pressed up the headboard. A hazy warmth spreads across his skin. He doesn't want to get too hot, otherwise he'll have to take Daniel's hoodie off, and right now he'd rather be in it.

He plays for a while, not his main play through of the game where he needs to focus, but on one he keeps for when he's not paying full attention. The whole time he's hard, rolling his hips down against the pillow. He gets so wet, even like this, even when it's lazy and there's no goal in sight and he's not even focusing all that hard. He just keeps on leaking even when he's not rushed, and right now his underwear is wet all around the tip of his dick.

His phone buzzes with a text so he pauses his game in case it is important. He rubs his dick against the pillow, a little side to side that makes him shiver as his underwear drags across his skin.

It's Daniel: what you up to maxy max???

Max swallows. His thumb hovers over the screen. He does not know what to say. He has not seen Daniel all day, and now he is-- well. He puts the controller down on the bed next to him and rubs his dick against the pillow, except this time with a little more intention. He hides his face in his hands. It feels so good. He shifts his knees so that he's at a different angle, going onto his toes so his calves are stretched out.

---

Did u show yourself a good time maxy

Max does not know what to say to that. It is a nice time. He likes it. It is just--

Maxxxxxxx are u doing it right now is that why u are ignoring me

Max chews his lip. He grinds down, hips rocking. It is not as nice as the pillow he has at home.

His phone starts to vibrate. It is Daniel calling.

Max, torn between embarrassment and a desperate need to hear Daniel's voice again, answers. Except-- it is FaceTime. Max is breathless and pink. What if Daniel is with someone, what if Daniel is not alone, what if--

Daniel is in his hotel room. "Did you come without me?" he asks, laughing, settling himself on the bed. "I told you that orgasms were a good thing, I said--" he stops. "Max. Are you doing it right now?"

"Are you by yourself?" Max asks. He's forced himself to stay still. On the screen he's pink and flushed and his face is blotchy.

"Yeah, of course. It's just me." Daniel whips the camera around to show Max the room. It's empty. "Are you jerking off?"

Max shrugs his shoulders. He is not not jerking off. It is just that maybe it does not count if Max is only fucking a pillow. It is not even fucking. It is rubbing his dick on something that feels nice. He is not even undressed.

"In my hoodie as well, I'm honoured," Daniel says. "You are though, aren't you? In my hoodie." His voice catches a bit. "Max."

"I am not touching myself," Max says finally. "I do not know if it counts. If I am not touching." He rolls his hips down, leaning forward a little so that the angle is better.

--

Max angles the phone down. The screen gets his chin, then Daniel's hoodie, then his briefs -- his one grey pair, so it is a hundred times more obvious that he has leaked in a big circle around his erection -- and him straddling the pillows.

"Can you see?" Max asks.

"I can see how hard you are," Daniel tells him. "How wet you've got. I fucking love how wet you get, babe."

Babe. "No. Can you see." Max rolls his hips forward so that his dick rubs against the pillow. His thighs are thicker when he's kneeling like this. He holds his phone in one hand and presses his fingertips into his thigh with the other. His hips rock forward; he has to squeeze his ass to stay like that.

"I can see you riding that pillow," Daniel says. His voice catches. "It's hot as fuck. Max, it's hot as fuck. I'm already hard."

--- (Daniel has come to his hotel room) ---

Max makes a face at him. "I am very glad that you are not showing your dick off to anybody you meet in the hotel, Daniel."

Daniel makes finger guns at him. "I save that only for you, baby."

"I am very honoured," Max tells him.

"You should be." Daniel hasn't touched him or kissed him or anything, but he looks a bit flushed and maybe like he wants to. Max does not reach for him. "Weren't you in the middle of something important?" He looks behind Max to the bed, and the messy covers and the pillows in the middle of it.

"I do not think it counts as important, Daniel."

Daniel makes a noise like a disgruntled hamster. It is barely a noise at all but the hamster has made its feelings known. "I think you coming is important. I also think me getting to see you come is important." He does not leave any room for Max to say anything back. "Glad we agree. Come on, chop-chop. Some of us want to wank watching other people rub one out on a pillow."

"You are very strange," Max says, but his entire body feels hot.

"That's what all the handsome boys say," Daniel agrees, patting Max on the ass.

Max flushes. "You-- you won't laugh?" There is only Daniel in the world who knows that Max is queer. That is his secret and it is nice that it is shared. But only Max knows how he likes to get off, and now he is sharing it and it is scarier than it should be. It is only an orgasm. It does not hurt anyone.

Daniel's expression softens. He reaches over and touches his fingertips to Max's wrist. "I won't laugh. Promise. I think it's really hot. That's why I ran down here doing my best impression of a tripod."

Max looks down at Daniel's dick. It is not big enough to be a tripod. He raises an eyebrow in Daniel's direction.

"Fine, fine, kick a man while he's down, tell him his dick's not worthy of being a third leg. I won't be offended." He flops down onto the chair, not seeming vaguely bothered that he's just sat on his phone and charger and hoodie. He cups his dick through his shorts. He's hard. He stretches his legs out; he's in his stupid mismatched shoes, barely laced up, and no socks.

Max climbs back onto the bed, straddling the pillows. He arranges himself so that his dick's trapped beneath him, going back between his legs, and he grinds down against the pillow, a delicious warmth trip-spilling across his skin as he gets himself comfortable. He still hasn't taken his underwear off. His hoodie obscures the view a bit. He fiddles with the cuffs.

Daniel holds his hand out. "Give it here and I'll wear it for you. It'll be like febreezing it except it's just a top-up of me and my very manly aroma."

Max pulls off his hoodie. He is getting warm in it anyway, and if Daniel leaves wearing it then Max will just go and get it back again. That hoodie is his now, regardless of who originally bought it. He is not wearing a t-shirt underneath, which is maybe why Daniel looks a bit like he's attempted to go backwards around the track as Max pulls it off then throws the hoodie at him.

---

"This how you like to do it?" Daniel asks, because he's never met a silence he didn't like to fill.

Max bites his lip. He's kneeling, fists pressed into the sheets. He does not think he could stop rocking down against the pillows now, even if Daniel asked. It gets like this, when he's almost done with the out lap, but he is not quite ready for a hot one. "I just like it," he says.

"Feels good," Daniel says, nodding. He's still cupping his dick, not jerking himself off, but looking like he wants to.

"Can I--" Max points at Daniel's dick. He tilts his chin up. "Show me?"

"As you wish," Daniel says, shuffling his shorts down over his hips. He shoves his stuff off the seat at the same time, so he's not sitting on his phone charger. His shorts and underwear are trapped around his thighs. It is very hot, seeing Daniel with his dick out. He is very handsome. Especially when he is in Max's hoodie.

Max grinds down into the pillow. His dick feels so good like this, trapped in his briefs, so, so wet. Now that Daniel is here and he is watching, everything suddenly feels more urgent, like he wants to fuck from now until he comes, no more lazily rubbing himself off.

---

Max fucks his hips forward. He blurts more pre-come into his underwear. Daniel's dick is so slick, and his hand around it lazy and wet with lube. Max chews on his lip, his mouth dry. He shoves at his underwear, pushing it down so that it is trapped beneath his balls, stretched tight and a little painful across his his thighs.

"God, I love your dick," Daniel says.

Max does not touch himself, even though he wants to. His dick drags against the pillowcase, leaving little damp marks on the cotton. "Yours is very handsome too."

"I know, baby." Daniel grins, but then his gaze goes back to Max's dick, at where he's rubbing himself off. "This is hot. This is how you come?"

"A lot of the time, yes," Max tells him. "I like it."

---

Max buries his fists in the pillows, holding himself up so he can fuck his hips forward, arousal drenching his skin. It is a good thing he has lost the hoodie because he is flushed pink and starting to sweat, skin blotchy with heat. The muscles in his thighs flex. He still dreams of riding Daniel's thigh, of rubbing himself off across Daniel's tattoos, of coming all over them. It is not-- they are not-- maybe he will still get to.

---

"You going to come for me like that?" Daniel asks. He has shoved the sleeves of the hoodie up, and Max can see the rose tattoo on his hand. Maybe when he comes on Daniel's thigh he will also get to come across Daniel's rose. Imagining that is very hot.

Max just nods, swallowing. He bites his lip again, because if he doesn't he'll make all kinds of embarrassing noises. He changes the angle a bit, whining through his teeth as the cotton catches his slit. He is going to come soon. All of that build up, multiple lazy laps as he played Playstation, is meaning that now it's flipped to a hot lap it's going to be quick. Top of the leaderboard. P1.

He's cataloguing everything he can about Daniel jerking himself off. The way way he cups his balls, switching from thumbing the underside of his head to jacking his dick; Max steals all the data he can, even as he ruts against the pillow, god, it feels so good, he likes it so much--

He is going to come, and he is going to come without even touching himself. He's going to come grinding down on his pillow with Daniel's eyes on him, with Daniel jacking off to him, because of him, in front of him. He is going to come.

Max fucks his dick into the pillow, his orgasm star-bright as he nears the edge. He can taste it on his tongue. He is not at home doing this by himself. He's with Daniel.

He comes, pulsing stripes across the pillow, head tipped back. He groans, breathless, even as he rocks his hips through the comedown, as his orgasm shivers across his skin.

He drops his ass back onto his heels, tilts his chin up. Meets Daniel's gaze defiantly. He has made a mess.

Daniel is still jacking himself off. His skin is flushed pink. He's too hot in the hoodie, Max can tell, but he's still wearing it, he's going to come in it, he's going to come in it and give it back, and Max is going to wear it and smell Daniel and he's going to get hard all over again.

"Fuck," Daniel says. "Fuck, Max. That was so hot."

"You should come, then," Max says. Then, after a beat: "You should come on me."

[yourhighness6]

A Yue Stan's Thoughts on Yue's Character in NATLA

As much as I appreciated what NATLA was trying to do and think it is worth a rewatch, can I just say as an unapolagetic Yue stan that they completely ruined her, and Yukka by extension.

And say whatever you want about her scenes leading up to the sacrifice (which did make me cry, I'll admit, her speech about living was actually a nice addition), but it was actually this line that left me absolutely seething and in my opinion proves that the writers completely misunderstood what made the sacrifice so powerful:

I actually had to pause the television and collect myself after this one because holy fuck is this the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The entire point in the animated show was that she didn't get to make her own choices before this point. She didn't get to choose who to marry, she didn't get to choose her role in society, she didn't get to choose basically anything about her life besides maybe how to style her hair or something. Yue was a character who was extremely dutiful, but also extremely boxed in by her duty. It was both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness, a parody of itself, just as her mere existence was a parody: while she was saved by the moon spirit as a child and allowed to live on, it was that very reason that she eventually gave up her life. And the very fact that she was given these choices in the first place in the LA seriously undermined the idea of her sacrifice. Yue was told her entire life what to do, and although she did manage to find a bit of freedom through her brief romance with Sokka, ultimately, she still didn't get to publicly be with him or reject Hahn or anything similar. Her sacrifice was what she saw as her duty, yes, but her sacrifice for her people was also a way of standing up for herself and finally resolving to make her own choices. In that moment, she not only saved her people, but she finally made a decision for herself instead of doing something someone else told her to, even going against Sokka's wishes to do what she thought was necessary. So in the LA, with her having a place of influence in her community, with her being able to call off her engagement, with her being told that she could one day be chief, to that stupid fucking line implying that she was in no way ever repressed and free to make her own decisions the entire time, removing all of her character growth and any character significance to her actions, it was all basically pointless. It made Yue into a plot device for Sokka to bond with and to move the Aang-and-Kuruk plotline forward. In the animated series, Yue was not a plot device, and she was extremely well written, whereas in NATLA, her character fell completely flat. She talks about responsibility and pressure in her first scene with Sokka, but other than that, she has no depth. In other words, she has no depth besides her relationship to him.

Anyway, I hope we can all agree that her characterization and a lot of the decisions made in the last two episodes of NATLA were nothing but a pile of bulshit. From Iroh killing Zhao to Yukka having zero chemistry to Katara just magically becoming a master to Zuko being shelved to the plotline about Aang not feeling like he belonged having absolutely no buildup beyond a throwaway line in the second episode to everything about Yue I spelled out above, I would go as far to call it just plain bad. Again, I'm glad it got renewed, and I'll be the first to say a lot of other episodes get unnecessary hate, as well as that we are working with slightly different characters (especially Azula) in this version than the first, but I was really disappointed with seeing Yue in LA for a second time.

[hshtag]

👾 ───── *ೃ  ‍୨ EVERYTHING CANON IN THE HASHTAG MINIVERSE: A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF ALL THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Plotlines, plotlines and even more plotlines! At first I thought a combined piece of all the writing pieces that focused or circled around these plots would be a good idea, but then I realized, It’d be better to have them layed out like this so it’s easier to understand!

CLEM X YUAN: THE PROBLEMS THAT COME WITH DATING YOUR BEST FRIEND’S BROTHER.

A little backstory is needed on this one. So, I used to have a piece up about Yuan (@stariified) and Liling’s complicated relationship but I removed it because I didn’t think it was that necessary. It briefly detailed a situation that confirmed Liling’s hatred for Yuan completely.

Liling used to be bullied relentlessly whilst in school, when on the other hand, Yuan was absolutely loved by everyone. He was never really a very brotherly figure to her and often ignored or pretended like she didn’t exist when they were near each other. To wrap up the piece quickly, Liling ended up in the hospital due to some…reasons, and a bigger grudge on Yuan than she did before.

Fast forward a couple of years, they’re past debut and Clem has replaced Yoora as Liling’s so called ‘best-friend’ (I’ll get into that later) and now they’re closer than ever before. But instead of following the ‘siblings are COMPLETELY off limits’ rule (I mean, you would think so after seeing how that trope ends) Clem took it upon herself to get drunk (She was actually pretty sober) and hook up with Yuan after a party at the Comet House (Will be explained at a later date, just know Melody Media owns the place)

Liling ended up finding out through Yoora (Jealous + snitch alert if you ask me) and she confronted Clem which basically was just Liling being super pissed and Clem being super unbothered. Liling eventually got over it but she still absolutely despises Yuan and Clem absolutely loves Yuan! We don’t know if Yuan really likes her like that yet. Great Dynamic!

LILING X KIJUNG X ELIAS X DAWN + JISEOK: OKAY WAIT, WHAT’S GOING ON HERE AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY NAMES?

Once again, a backstory is most definitely needed and is very important to understanding this plot, it gets really complicated. First, let’s address the people involved. Liling is obviously a member of hashtag, we know her (hopefully?). Kijung and Jiseok (an honorable mention in the story) are apart of a group called Everlast under Melody Media. Cody’s in the same group as them if anyone remembers him, so that might ring some bells.

Anyways, I was planning to make a blog for them so that’s coming soon! Back to the point, Kijung and Jiseok are members of the same group they know eachother blah blah blah. Liling & Jiseok are like two peas in a pod, great friends, whatever you wanna call it but Kijung and Liling have a lot of history. They used to date, let’s say from 2022 - the middle of 2023, after that the relationship ended they’re still friends but there’s some tension. Moving on! We have Elias…he’s meant to be Liling’s manager for when she has solo projects and schedules but then they ended up ‘falling in love’ and started ‘dating’ in October of 2023.

I say ‘dating’ because they weren’t really, that’s just what Liling liked to call it. Two months later they end up breaking up (???) because he cheated on her with one of Melody Media’s creative directors, Dawn Wolfe. I love Dawn so much but she was not cool for that. Obviously, Liling still loves Elias very much, peer pressure (Clem) just told her that she should break up with him otherwise she would look stupid (she would). In the piece i wrote for this, both Kijung and Elias were about to throw themselves onto a road for her (not literally) and Elias ends up meeting up with Liling whilst he’s drunk and Liling finally decides to think for herself. She just tells him to stay away from her and their story ends there.

I think this is the most important plot because it’s basically the reason why Liling is on a hiatus, i’m sure you’ve seen the articles (hopefully??) and she isn’t really acting like she’s on a hiatus but she formally is. Hashtag will probably have a full album before she’s back so let’s say the hiatus will probably last a couple more months.

MINSEO AND HER TWITCH SCANDAL: IVE TRIED SO MANY TIMES TO EXPLAIN THIS, SO HERE WE GO!

I’ve had so many variations of this plot that I don’t even know what to say (Lies, I do). Firstly, it was going to be Minseo’s plot, then it was Yewon’s (she’s not important anymore) and now it’s back to being Minseo’s. It’ll stay that way, her being a twitch streamer has always belonged to her (runs through her veins!) Anyways, Minseo used to run an account called SEOTALK (there’s also been many variations of the account name, but this one makes the most sense) and it actually ended up doing really well, better than what Minseo was expecting. She’d always wanted to be ‘famous’ she just didn’t want her face to be the main focus point.

So, she used a mask and wore these thick glasses every time she streamed to somewhat hide her identity (she did not do a very good job. at all) and nobody questioned a thing. Sometimes, Minseo would just talk to her screen for a few hours but her most popular streams where the ones where she would play horror games. People just seemed to love her reactions and commentary so much that I think it got to her head. Minseo took this opportunity to incorporate other things into her stream, and that is where the downfall of SEOTALK began. Soon enough, she began to talk about idol groups and answer controversial questions about them, and oh was it bad.

She had no filter (okay blunt queen) and would just run her mouth for hours and hours until she felt like she couldn’t open her mouth anymore. At the time, there were mixed opinions. Some people thought that her comments weren’t necessary and others found it extremely funny or extremely insensitive, inappropriate and offensive. Minseo ended up abandoning the account for a little while and then she debuted, so the account and its streams had to be deleted but obviously, people had recorded them and some were still uploaded to youtube by other accounts. A few months after Hashtag’s debut an article about who SEOTALK was came out and it revealed to the public that it was of course, Hashtag’s Minseo.

This was Hashtags biggest scandal at the time and almost sent them into ruins (ALMOST). I was going to make this plot part of a youtube series that detailed all the scandals Melody Media had kept hidden, but that wouldn’t make much sense, you know? Minseo had to issue a formal apology and everyone eventually got over it after the initial shock. It’s an inside joke in the fandom now, but Minseo now refuses to acknowledge it.

CLEM AND YOORA HATE EACHOTHER, WELL JUST YOORA ACTUALLY, HERES WHY.

There actually is no reason, no major event that caused them to argue, Yoora just genuinely does not like Clem. She hasn’t liked her since 2018 but she was able to put it aside and work with her without any passive aggressiveness shining through her cute little facade. That was until Clem slowly started to seep her way into Liling’s life like an annoying little fly (Yoora’s words, not mine) to the point where Clem ended up replacing Yoora’s best friend spot which quite literally, ticked her off.

Now, Yoora makes it her life’s goal to piss Clem off at any possible time she can. Shoving her, tripping her up, making sure her food is burnt, like kid stuff. Because she’s a child. Anyways, Clem doesn’t feel the same way, she just does not care about a lot of things in life so why should she care about Yoora, of all people? Clem just simply finds it funny so their beef is practically one-sided. Liling has no comment she’s just really enjoying being the center of attention!

YOORA X HANJAE. OH AND WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON WITH YOORA?

There are already a lot of posts that explain the YooJae (Yoora and Hanjae + find him @/intoloopin) dynamic/situation, there’s not really much needed here, so i’ll link them here, here and here if you haven’t already seen them. I’m re-explaining in more simpler terms if you don’t understand. All you need to know is that their relationship started off as a fake one, a beneficial stunt for two best friends if you will, and it was quite successful for the pair. Then the rumors started to circulate and a twitter account exposed their fake relationship with a thread. Responses were interesting, to say the least but that wasn’t their main goal, so not much attention was directed towards pleasing the public. One thing lead to another, a lot of silence and tears (On Yoora’s behalf), and they began to actually date (FOR REAL. LIKE FOR REAL).

Now that their dating is basically publicized, like it was lowkey obvious they did not do a good job of hiding it, Yoora is literally not allowed to hang out with anyone anymore else. The media already thinks she ‘needs help’ so people are like “okay why do you have friends if you have a boyfriend” (THEIR WORDS not mine.) so she’s been in hiding for a very long time. Now for the more recent Yoora news, she posted some stuff on her private instagram (post is here) that was very…ominous. It has a lot to do with something i’ll explain later (in the ‘yoora’s kicked out of the group??’ section) but just know she’s like super close to taking a break (hashtag disbandment when?? joking!) and will most likely end up with no lines in their next comeback (HER CHOICE!)

ANNIE AND HER SIBLING DYNAMIC + HER CRAZY FAMILY DRAMA

So, Annie has 3 other siblings: Melanie, Milo and Melodie (I am not creative with names) and Milo is her twin brother, surprise! Now, all their names start with m’s on purpose, no, it’s not because I was lazy. It shows how the other 3 siblings are much more connected and how Annie is always left out, even when mentioning names. Also points to the fact that her parents did not care for her as much as they did for her other siblings and couldn’t be bothered to come up with a name even a little related. (okay maybe her name is a little related since her sister’s names end in ‘ie’ as well. ignore that.) But Milo hates Annie.

He hates his whole family but finds a special place in his heart to care for Melanie and Melodie but when it comes to Annie it’s just pure hatred (I have a very common pattern of siblings hating each other. no family can exist happily here) and he couldn’t stand the sight of her. There have been some times where Milo has taken upon himself to care for Annie, but other than that, it is not all sunshine’s and rainbows out here. When I was writing, I thought that I could have this moment where they finally understood each other and that did happen but it was a little slow and not how i imagined it. So, I think it’s better for them to understand each other but not be super close, they’ll get to that point later. Favoritism is definitely apparent in Annie’s family and she is not a favorite.

YUNHEE AND REIKO ARE THE ONLY SANE ONES HERE, THEY KEEP TO THEMSELVES. MOSTLY.

I think not! I just haven’t developed them as much as I have developed everyone else, and that’s totally fine! Not everyone in the group needs to have something going on, but I’ll probably find some way to sneak them in and allow them to have bigger roles in the cupidverse. (yes, that’s what i’m calling it. stay tuned something BIG is coming. not really, i’m just making a company blog…) Yunhee is already involved in the ‘Myungjae & Minseo’ plot as a protagonist. She needs to stop them from getting what they deserve! (love) Reiko is just an angel, truly, I love her but there’s not much she can do for me as of now. When I figure something out for these two, just know it’ll be absolutely diabolical.

KANG MINAH. UHM WHOS THAT? NEVER HEARD OF HER? WELL YOU’RE ABOUT TO!

Originally, Minah was going to be a Yunjin fc (kep1er) but I thought she would be a better fit for Annie so I need a faceclaim for her later, not important right now! She was basically a pre-debut member that trained with Hashtag, expecting to debut with them. Clearly, she didn’t, but she might pop up somewhere else in the cupidverse (maybe…) Minah was actually a very known trainee under Melody Media, but not for good reasons. She was (affectionately) nicknamed ‘Baby faced Bitch’ because she had a baby face and was not very nice to anyone, to put it lightly. Liling looked up to her a lot and Minah was usually her sweetest when with Liling.

There would be the occasional break down where she would snap at Liling but other than that, she was pretty good to her. The rest of Hashtag hated her, especially Reiko. Reiko is the peacemaker of the group, that’s what she likes to call herself, and she’s generally level-headed. So when a generally not level-headed person comes along, it’s obvious they’ll struggle to be friends. And they did struggle. The only person defending Minah was Liling and it tore the group apart, before they could even debut. Melody Media took it upon themselves to remove her from the pre-debut group (they’ve never done such a thing, surprising) and the group went on without her. Minah’s a favorite so she’s definitely coming back, just not with Hashtag.

OK WAIT, THERES MORE. YOORA WAS ABOUT TO BE KICKED OUT OF THE GROUP?

I didn’t develop this plot too much but it is still very much canon. The piece on this plot explains a lot but the basics are that Insu (Melody Media Executive) and Liling are eating lunch together (he decided to break the news over some burgers??) because Insu and Yoora have been entangled in some sort of scandal (I didn’t really elaborate as to what kind) which has lead Misook (Melody Media Ceo) to consider removing Yoora from the group to minimize the backlash. Liling tries to argue for her and she thinks it’s unfair since their manager, Nari has been sleeping with practically the whole company (like literally, and it’s not good. i don’t get the appeal) but she hasn’t lost her job.

Obviously, Insu is stunned by this and says nothing (he’s not very bright) so Liling talks some more and they agree on a statement being released which clears Yoora of all rumors and she gets to stay, yay! This affects Yoora’s mental health though, which caused her to spiral, like I mentioned earlier. She has a tough time dealing with a lot of her emotions and just blurts everything out into an instagram post leaving all her close friends confused. As of now, Yoora’s much happier than she was last year but she’s still unsure about her place in Hashtag.

MINSEO X MYUNGJAE: SHY BOY X REALLY ANNOYING AND WEIRD LOUD GIRL!

Everlast mention! (AGAIN! i love those guys) Myungjae (Reese) and Minseo are a whole thing, I don’t know what type of thing but they are definitely a thing. I was going to pair Yunhee and Myungjae together but they’re just mc partners for Inkigayo (I was gonna make this whole post for them but I was like no, not important enough). Minseo is very jealous of Yunhee, and the fact that Yunhee is better than her in all aspects doesn’t help. She thinks Myungjae might end up with Yunhee and I think so too (joking!).

There’s a piece that explains their relationship pretty well (here) and it’s the only piece I have up (more coming soon, i swear) because it’s the only piece i’ve written that is completely accurate to the plot and isn’t all jumbled up everywhere. He’s whipped for her, she’s whipped for him boring stuff (joke, again!) but there’s not much going on with them right now, they will be expanded on in the future and i have some…great and definitely not life altering things planned for them!

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

One thing I am curious about is how much Chuuya is important to the central story? Like he just appears when he needs to be here and then just gone

You know, at first my answer would've been just this: "Chuuya is not a main character and is not important to the central story but I am convinced he will be going forward."

But then I paused and thought about it... and realized something.

Chuuya hasn't shown up very much in the main manga, that much is true. However, the timing of his appearances is interesting because he always shows up during or slightly before a turning point in the story. Take a look at this:

Chapters 10 + 11, Port Mafia Arc: We are introduced to his character - he's one of the major character's (Dazai's) old partner. At the same time this is happening, Atsushi and Akutagawa are having their first real fight and shortly after, Chuuya tells Dazai that Akutagawa has the information on who placed the bounty, which brings the Guild into play.

Chapter 16, Guild Arc: Chuuya, along with many other mafia characters, is present when Mori is revealed as the boss, another significant event.

Chapters 21 and 22, Guild Arc: Chuuya is part of Mori's plan to pit the Agency and Guild against each other. Shortly after this, Q is released, marking another turning point.

Chapter 29, Guild Arc: Atsushi sees Chuuya ordering the protection of Yokohama from Q's curse. It is highly likely that his decision to form a temporary truce with the Mafia was a result of seeing Chuuya's actions.

Chapter 31, Guild Arc: The well-known Double Black chapter. Not only is this the first instance of the truce, but it is also the template for Dazai's later plan reveal - that he intends Atsushi and Akutagawa to be another Double Black.

Chapter 47, Cannibalism Arc: It's Chuuya who makes the first move and kickstarts the actual conflict. I believe this is the only time his actions and choices directly affect the main plot (which is... interesting actually...). Unfortunately in chapter 49, he is immediately sucked into Poe's book with little fanfare sidjcn

Chapter 62, Hunting Dogs Arc: Chuuya rescues the Agency members from the Hunting Dogs, which is the first semi-decent turn of events for the Agency in that arc.

Chapters 98 and 101, Vampire Infection Outbreak Arc: Chuuya shows up as a vampire (rip man). I don't know yet what the consequences of this will be but there will absolutely be consequences.

Idk, I do find it interesting that Chuuya appears to show up at transitory spots in the plotline, despite not playing an especially active role. I find it difficult to believe that's not significant in some way; after all, I've already commented on how Chuuya influences changes in Dazai. I'm starting to wonder if Chuuya's role from a meta sense is to induce change in some way - that would be a tad ironic, considering Chuuya... hasn't really changed much, and is still very much stuck in the same place he was, but now without a personal drive.

Whether you agree on the above though, I feel really confident that we're building up to something with him in the main story. What's more, I think this actually was always the plan, and not a decision made because Chuuya became really popular. While I don't think Asagiri is the type to really plan future events in any detail, I do think there is some general sense of where the characters are going. I have a few reasons to believe this.

Chuuya was in the manga before he even made his first appearance. If you check out Dazai's profile, Chuuya is mentioned as... one of his dislikes. Lol.

Chuuya was always going to be Dazai's ex-partner. It was the first thing decided about him, to my knowledge anyways. I've also noticed that Dazai, despite how much he appears, doesn't undergo a lot of development in the series proper (most of it's in the light novels, same as Chuuya). I suspect their development in the main series will once again run parallel as soon as Chuuya winds up with a more major role.

Asagiri and Harukawa spent the longest on Chuuya's design. And Asagiri always felt he was going to end up as a popular character, which is part of the reason why it took so long - he needed to look perfect.

Fifteen's afterword implies Chuuya's backstory was always going to be told eventually. Yes, the story was requested, but the response from Asagiri was "it's finally time to write this" not "oh ok if that's what the fans want".

Chuuya and Atsushi haven't even met yet, which is weird. Remember that Atsushi's decision to suggest a truce was likely influenced by his observation of Chuuya's actions. Also I find it strange that the Atsushi-Akutagawa duo are meant to be a new Dazai-Chuuya but one of each of the pair have... never met each other.

Chuuya's story is tied closely to the concept of singularities, ability user experimentation and the government (as well as the war's aftereffects by proxy). These themes run all throughout the world of bsd but have yet to be truly expanded on in the main manga.

Adam and Shirase are in London where the Order of the Clock Tower is. The Order is highly likely to play a major role going forward.

"His destination is still a secret" and "his will not be a peaceful, easy path" from the Stormbringer afterword. So, he's going to suffer more in the future. Yippee?

Anyways. This was a very long answer to your question anon but yeah. Chuuya will be important to the plot going forward and I believe that this was always the intention. It just doesn't make sense to have all this backstory and then not have any kind of payoff for it.

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Football Antics Part One

- I’m just cracking up at how nervous Beatrice is! The nervous babbling! And it is definitely because, since she hasn’t started school yet, this football game is the first time she’s seen Benedick since moving to Auckland- since they were 14, really. (I don’t think she was there when Ursula filmed his part of Vox Pops, or at least she was better able to avoid him then. No avoiding being seen here though!)

- Bea may be in denial, but her “holy shit my crush-that-got-away is Right Over There In Person” energy is radiating! Which is perfect adaptation work for Miss Starts The Play By Oh-So-Casually Asking About Benedick And Playing It Off With Insults.

- “We’re here to support Leo, we’re here to Support The Boys, we’re here to see Pedro, and Definitely No One Else, At All, Promise” 👀 I see you Beatrice

- “I’m sure he’ll be wonderful, and so will-“ *Extremely Long, Pointed Pause* “-everyone, really.” Hero knows what’s up!!! And Bea just assumes she’s talking about Claudio, which, yeah, but the way Hero looks really intently at Bea on this line and says it with such intention- she is teasing Bea about Ben here for sure.

- Bea and Hero are having a sass-off complete with impressions of each other and Ursula is all “just keep taking pictures, they’ll get tired eventually”. Ursula is a treasure.

- The sass-off is also great! I love that Hero, as nice as she is, can still hold her own against Beatrice here. It’s a good thing, because making fun of people is kind of a love language for Beatrice.

- Starting in on Meg again (poor Meg), as a way to seed some backstory that will matter later! (Robbie got kicked off the team, hmmmm.)

- And Bea immediately pivots to bring up Claudio. The fast forward through Hero’s gushing is so funny and cute. She was definitely trying to say Robert Pattinson reminds her of Claudio, which, I can see it. 2014 is calling again though, right at the end of the Twilight era. If this series were set much earlier we would definitely have heard Bea hating on Twilight, lol.

- “He’s nice!” being the only thing she can say, says a lot. And Ursula being the one who gets Hero to admit she thinks he’s cute, awww. The hiding behind the hair! The oohing over Hero’s crush is majorly bringing me back to what it was like to be a teenager, it’s adorable. Poor Hero lol

- Ah yes, “Leo says we can’t film the match” AKA the in-world explanation for not being able to make an actual football scene realistic. I say that with zero judgement. The workaround of Leo saying no is cleverly done, and makes sense since the only plot-relevant stuff goes on on the sidelines anyway.

- The little moment of Hero narrating the game! I love that. She’s so into it that she forgets she’s not supposed to mention Ben in front of Bea, and then she starts worrying about Claudio which is also very cute.

- (My brain instinctively: Ooh! Ben mention! First Ben mention by name in a Hero and Bea vlog!!!! Milestone!)

- Enter Meg! (and Robbie). “I’m going to be the real star, you just don’t know it yet!” An icon.

- Robbie throwing out a Game of Thrones reference, it’s like a signal that he’s sort of part of the group for now, but his energy is Off. Dark colors, never really looking at anyone but Meg. Bad vibes.

- And Meg and Robbie as a visual sign of Bea’s discomfort with relationships, her idea that they’re all PDA and no boundaries. That in Bea’s and to some degree Hero’s eyes, Meg chooses Robbie over their friendships, over homework, almost over her own self, and Bea does not want that imbalance for herself at all. But she doesn’t know how to express her discomfort and concern in any other way but scorn for Meg. So much character work for so many different characters in one episode at once, I love it.

- I love Ursula sticking up for Meg, even if it’s never particularly fun watching other people make out. This is an Ursula Appreciation Liveblog, and I’m also still loving her tumblr, btw.

- Part Two next and it’s time for the I Know You Of Old scene! Ahhh!

- BUT FIRST: another video I didn’t know was posted so early, and get ready, because I’m about to be insufferable in this next one. I will not be able to help myself. My boy is about to enter the scene! My beautiful cringe-y boy! How I’ve missed him!!! Next liveblog post coming soon, I hope. 😊

💖🦩🥭

[chuckwon]

Here's Why I Want A Chuck Won Plot For The Sequel

Not to go the off about this on a random Saturday night or anything, but I have not stopped internally vibrating since the SPNWIN finale because the potential for a Chuck Won sequel plot line feels so implied and therefore so close I can taste it. I know that there are several people who don't like it as an explanation for the ending of season 15, and/or several people who don't like the idea of it being used as a sequel plot in the future. So I would just like to talk about why I, personally, am passionate about wanting them to use this particular avenue to move forward.

I'll likely unavoidably repeat some of the things I've said before elsewhere but... fuck it, I'm in my feelings, I want to get this out. Rambling on or whatever.

For the sake of clarity, here's a reminder of the POV I'm writing from: A) that Chuck's victory is canonically what was deliberately written as the plot of season 15, B) that it's meant to be noticeable and pointed out as tragic, and C) that even if you argue about the semantics of the literal order of events in the plot that add up to that result, Chuck's victory in some fashion is still the byproduct of the story's final execution.

The thing that I feel can and does get lost in a lot of fandom discussions about this concept is... D) the fact that Chuck winning is an allegory for and commentary on censorship.

I will go back to that. Follow me here.

With SPNWIN as a whole and especially the season one finale, we have already gotten step one of something incredibly subversive: it culminated very loudly in making it clearly canonical that Dean is some semblance of trapped. He is not happy, he is not at peace, he is not done. These are things that many of us in fandom who have brains all already kind of knew and took for granted, because we understand this story and this character and so we understand that 15x20 was not a good ending. But when you step back, what SPNWIN just established is actually a Big Deal in comparison to the fake veneer of happiness that 15x20 was (supposedly) trying to sell to us–and that it did indeed effectively sell to a large number of casual viewers.

Now, here we have canon openly demonstrating that Dean's ending was not okay, in general or to him. Objectively that wasn’t necessarily the case previously with 15x20 alone, but now it is the case.

That is a how-the-turntables level of redefinition of 15x20 in canon. Those crazy bastards fucking did it. They gave Dean Winchester back his agency and had him tell us for 13 episodes that the finale was inarguably Bad, and then they showed his sad grieving self still pining for his happy ending and his angel. That's fucking wild!!! Oh my God!!!

Whew. Okay, anyway:

So SPNWIN has made it clear that The Finale Was Bad, that Dean still needs and wants his happy ending, and that he knows what that happy ending should look like–as demonstrated in this whole hall of mirrors show, through the healing/romance/hope/future we witness the cast of The Winchesters getting to have.

If they stick with that vibe moving forward (which they may not. Continuity could get tossed), to me it then wouldn't make sense if they tried to move forward with any kind of sequel plot or angle that tries to say "okay, now Dean really will Find Peace And Be Done In Heaven." Because they seem to have made it clear that Dean doesn't want that. He wants out! He is fucking around and finding out!

To me, the next logical question to tackle in the plot as part of getting Dean back in the game would be this:

Why did those bad things happen to Dean in the finale?

Look, they don't have to answer that question with a plot-driven reason, obviously. They can go with the (boring) angle of nihilism that's basically like "Yeah Dean died and it sucked, but shit happens and that’s part of free will. It was an unlucky situation :/ he should get another chance at life though!" Or they can absolutely do something totally wacky and out of left field to explain lmfao. (I mean, hell, the Akrida were out of left field and that was only lessened when they tied them back to Chuck.)

Orrrrr.

They could go with a plot that's SOMETHING along the lines of explaining how Dean’s death and the fracturing of their family feels like an injustice to him because it is, and that shit did not just Happen, and that it wasn’t just arbitrary bad luck but rather he didn’t get his happy ending because Something Else was going on pulling the strings at least a little bit.

In that sense, Chuck- / Jack-related fuckery feels like the next natural through-line to me. I'm aware I'm heavily biased, but I want them to go all in on that angle so badly, and the point of this post (yes, there is a point!) is that I want to tell you why I want that.

The strength in the potential of an explicit Chuck won storyline in a continuation–other than the fact that it would be damn good television–is that, if done correctly, it would explain why the ending of season 15 sucked in the first place. And it would explain it not only in-narrative but also out-of-narrative.

Chuck exists to act as allegory, and that's what has always made this concept so significant, subversive, and compelling. Chuck's function and purpose is to be an allegory for producers and/or network executives, and thus the function and purpose behind a Chuck won storyline is to reveal the controlling forces of those figures. And because Chuck is the personification of the Original Creator's intentions that the characters are trying to supersede and defy, the fact that at the end of season 15 they do not get to grow beyond those intentions–aka the fact that Chuck wins and they don't get their full freedom–is indicative of the fact that the characters were not "free" or allowed to defy the Original Creator's real-world intentions either.

The idea that Chuck won is not simply a fun view on why the finale sucks or a fun plot idea for the future. It's because Supernatural is a censored queer text and higher forces won largely because Destiel was not allowed to be explicitly reciprocal. A pillar of the argument is that there could be no happy ending without Destiel; reciprocal Destiel was not allowed, and so the characters had to lose.

That is still the state of canon right now. Chuck's victory is amongst the many threads season 15 left dangling to potentially pick up and play with moving forward, and they don't HAVE to pick that thread up and make it into a central plot for a continuation. But if they do... Man. If they do, it would open the ending of season 15 to further examination for anyone who cares enough to pay attention to it, and that would also open up commentary on the censorship that caused it in the first place.

Here's what I mean:

SPNWIN has left us in a place consistent with 15x19, seemingly further highlighting that something is wrong with Jack. That's huge. Whether that "something" is Chuck possessing him or–potentially more likely–that the God power Jack absorbed has corrupted him, the point is that Jack needs to be freed because Chuck's influence endures.

Making the Akrida into a Chuck fail safe has already leaned into that idea, in a way. Even if Chuck is "gone," his influence wasn't gone entirely. The characters were not fully and entirely free from Chuck's lasting effects on the universe that they inhabit.

But now with the destruction of the Akrida, those effects are supposedly gone. But what if they actually aren't gone completely? What if something is wrong with Jack? What could that mean for Dean's story specifically and the happy ending he still wants and needs?

Apply that to the allegory: if Chuck's power has possessed or corrupted Jack, then Chuck's enduring influence that the characters still have to wrestle with becomes about the enduring influence of industry censorship.

It's then about the insidiousness of the forces that make it difficult for writers to let their stories and characters grow out of what was originally meant for them, especially when those stories are not meant to be queer narratives and yet are molded to have queerness centralized. It's about saying... you (the writers + characters) thought you'd be able to get free but you couldn't; you thought you could write the happy ending but you still haven't gotten to. How have higher forces twisted and shaped things into something unrecognizable? How do you make it back from that and rid the story of that negative influence once and for all?

Hypothetically, examining what Chuck's enduring influence fucked up in the story would then have to examine what censorship fucked up in real life. If they have to break out and return to reality, what does that look like? What is revealed? Dean and Cas could not reunite because their love was real and threatened Chuck's enforced unreality. Dean died and Sam got an apple pie life because that was always part of the ending Chuck wanted to see. Jack was taken over and/or corrupted by God power as part of Chuck's plan because he was powerful enough to help unite them all as a family, which threatened the classic "brothers only" focus of Chuck's story. Chuck's power was still personified in Jack and influencing the outcomes and that's why all of this tragedy occurred. They have to reunite, break the cycle, heal their family, and save Jack while getting rid of that personified God power once and for all, releasing it back into their universe so that power is now in everyone/everything rather than concentrated in overseeing forces threatening their freedom.

And when Chuck is an allegory for the censoring forces in real life... for anyone who cares to engage their brain cells, this could then make it abundantly clear(er) that the end of season 15 was not simply ~bad writing~ or ~cowardice~. It would retroactively redeem, explain, and redefine Supernatural's original "ending" as a backed-into-a-corner narrative gamble embedded with the ability to shine light on the source of its problems, the hope that in the future the story could be continued, and the keys to give the characters justice especially in regards to the queer narrative.

You can look me in the eyes and tell me you don't think that would absolutely rock, but then I will have to simply agree to disagree with you.

Because I would very much like to fucking see it.

It is literally ALL RIGHT THERE. It's THERE, it's so close, and this story could reach its highest potential and make several lasting, impressive points in the cultural realm for anyone who gets their heads out of their ass and stops ridiculing it or stops layering their interest in it under 1000 levels of irony long enough to look at how special it is!!!

[shakes the table with my hands]

AAAAAAAA

Okay, sorry, I'm devolving. But in conclusion: I want this. And though the prequel seems to be hinting towards it (QUITE LOUDLY), there is of course absolutely zero guarantee that any mysterious future sequel would go in that direction for several reasons, let alone the fact that it's objectively a ballsy as hell approach to take.

I still want to write a very long meta about The Winchesters' overall themes and its Chuck won propaganda (lol), so uhhh I reserve the right to plagiarize myself in the future from this post for that purpose. But I had to get this specific thought out sooner rather than later because, to be honest, I am simply going bananas.

JENSEN ACKLES, GIVE ME ONE PHONE CALL WITH YOU LOCKED UNDER AN NDA. PLEASE. PERCEIVE THE VISION.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: “The Lost Commanders”

After the harrowing peril of the premiere we settle in for a more laid-back and chill adventure with some old familiar faces.

We open with the Rebels discussing what to do next, after the shankening that Vader handed them last episode.

(And let’s appreciate for a moment how, if not for becoming distracted by Ahsoka, Vader would have completely decimated Phoenix Cell in its entirety by himself.)

Ezra blurts out his ideas before remembering that he needs to have a modicum of proper decorum.  (I love his awkward little salute and Sabine shaking her head all cutely long-suffering.)  Clearly he feels comfortable enough to be himself in this formal, militarized environment.

“You are never shy with your opinions, Ezra Bridger,” has all the hidden consternated tones of, “Why did we let this feral gremlin child into the Rebelllion.” lol, Sato is just so confounded that this is his life now, he’s the commander of ragtag teams with literal fifteen year olds.

This episode is the first of what I’m going to affectionately call the “Friendship Fetch Quests”, in which we go have mildly interesting adventures and do something seemingly innocuous that gains us an ally that will wind up being important later.  Season Two is mostly this, if we’re honest.  We go to this location, we do this character’s Loyalty Mission, we gain them as an asset to call upon later.  It fits very well with the overall theme of connection and family, of making friendships and bridges that benefit the cause.  Ezra’s unique Force ability is literally the power to connect, so it makes perfect thematic sense that the show emphasizes the connections made to bring so many disparate people together and unite them in the fight against the Empire.

Anyway, Ahsoka decides to aim the Ghost crew at Rex, not telling Kanan beforehand that she’s sending him to meet some clones which is... a bit of a questionable decision.

“There are questions... questions that need answering.”  Aaaaaand take a shot every time there’s a Lord of the Rings shoutout in this show, we’re gonna be seeing a lot of them.

The fanfare is slightly altered this episode, vaguely TCW-sounding?

The Ghost suffers a Plot Contrivance so that Hera and Chopper can stay in orbit while the rest go down to the planet.  And MY GOSH this is pretty.

I know I keep harping on the soft, watercolor-like quality of the textures but seriously, the Ralph McQuarrie style is all over these backgrounds.

Ralph McQuarrie being one of the original concept artists for the OT; his designs and art style were largely recycled, reused, and repurposed for Rebels.

You can already tell Kanan is suspecting what they’re about to encounter.

Multiple other people have already pointed out that the AT-TE has a lot of Studio Ghilbi Howl’s Moving Castle vibes.  I’m just gonna reiterate them.

I love this moment right here with no music or dialogue, just the soft sound of the wind chimes.  Very zen.  Very lovely atmosphere.

I still haven’t actually seen TCW in its entirety, full disclosure, so I was not nearly as excited about this reveal as the Tari Husband was.

(He was sooo excited, lemme tell ya.)

HGKAJHSFKAHSFSA KANAN BEING CONFRONTED WITH A WALKING PTSD TRIGGER FROM HIS PAST AND HIS IMMEDIATE FIRST THOUGHT IS TO STEP IN FRONT OF HIS PADAWAN.

A couple people have pointed it out but Kanan’s posture here is mirrored to Depa’s in the Kanan: The Last Padwan comics.  (AKA the superior tragic Kanan backstory *glares at The Bad Batch*)  One hand forward, one hand with lightsaber back, shielding the padawan.

Love that.

Lol awww, Ezra being excited about the Gen 1 Clone Trooper helmet and then disappointed when Rex tells him not to touch it.

Kinda dig that Ezra’s the one doing the talking.  Kanan has obvious issues with clones but Ezra doesn’t have that bias, and he’s naturally likable, so it’s easy for Rex to give in to him, at least somewhat.

*continues to grumble about The Bad Batch retconning Rex’s characterization here*

No, listen, this is why new writers need to be given refresher courses on the characters before they come on board and shows with interconnected continuities need to have detailed arc and plot maps to follow, sure we can infer and theorize that something or other sapped Rex of his motivation and drive to fight but then that’s fandom carrying the water and doing the work for the writers and I hate that, don’t do the writers’ work for them we deserve better than that!

*ahem*

But I’ll refrain from going into that rant.

Kanan’s expression. :(  He hates every minute of this.

This is a nice dolly shot around here.

THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION. :(

Ezra the empath, trying to understand why his master is so agitated.  How he shrinks slightly when Kanan yells.  How Kanan says he doesn’t want to discuss it but does so anyway because Ezra just has that effect on people?

THE ABSOLUTE PAIN AND RAW EMOTION IN KANAN’S VOICE AS HE TALKS ABOUT ORDER 66 AND WATCHING HIS MASTER DIE.

*grumbles a little bit about TCW Season Seven making this line of Rex’s into more of a self-cope than the honest truth*

This whole sequence with the Joopa hunt is technically completely superfluous but it’s soooooo much fun. :D

The camerawork, the dialogue, the animation, the sound design and music, the Old West adventure-feel of it, the badass little moments and characterization bits for Sabine and Zeb and Kanan and Ezra...

It just makes me smile.

Speaking of the music though, this has such a classic Hollywood sound.  Bombastic strings and brass, soaring into high notes and dancing.

(Favorite bit of this sequence is Kanan kick-jumping his rod into Ezra’s hands and Ezra immediately turning around and jamming them both into the line.)

Sweet.

This shot. <333

Zeb deciding to roll with Gregor’s compliment. <333

A brief snippet of Ezra’s theme here, when Kanan calls Hera.  I’m actually not going to grumble about Hera’s backstory later being filled in a little, that was undefined enough that the fleshing out didn’t change anything vital.

Instead I’m going to note this very pretty flute line here.

Rex and Ezra’s friendship is criminally underrated.  I bet Rex sees shades of a younger Ahsoka in him and Ezra just sees a cool old guy with great stories, another strong male influence for a teenage boy who needs them.

Ezra still can’t help talking Kanan up though.

<3333

Ezra playing peacekeeper.  (Not for the last time.)

As I said, still haven’t fully watched TCW but I do appreciate that Wolffe and Gregor are both obviously damaged by their wartime experiences, Gregor by going just slightly batty, Wolffe by being a paraonoid anxiety wreck, white bites the Rebels when he calls the Empire.  Rex having to remind him, “[The Jedi] weren’t the ones that betrayed us.” and “The war is over.” are like so many self-regulating mantras he must have practiced, to remind both him and the others of the truth.  The chip’s influence lingers, even though they’ve all had it removed.

Ezra looking between Rex and Kanan like an anxious child in the middle of a custody battle lol.

This sequence is loose with the animation, bouncy like the first season, but the quick movements and shot choices emphasize the frantic nature of them needing to shoot the probe.

A veeery small excerpt of the Imperial March here as we close out.

This episode (and it’s following companion) is soooo rewatchable.  It has the fun chill vibe of the first season with an emphasis on heavier character development and background stakes.  The clones are well-integrated into the plot, used mostly to trigger and discuss Kanan’s personal traumas, while also hinting at the crap the clones have gone through themselves.  There’s an almost self-defensive anger in Rex’s voice when he insists, “I didn’t betray my Jedi. [...] We all have a choice.” because for the clones... they didn’t.

I’m one of the people who likes the chips, who likes it being literally mind control rather than just genetic conditioning that turned the clones on the Jedi, like in Legends.  The way I tend to sum it up is thus:

With Order 66 being just one order in many that the clones followed unquestioningly because they’re just that loyal and obedient, it makes the clones seems more monstrous.  With it being a literal brainwashing device overriding their free will, it makes Palpatine more monstrous.

That he would choose clones instead of droids, because the Jedi would see the clones as human, as friends, as worthy of protecting and fighting alongside, and thus would be more blindsided, and the clones would be loyal and dependable friends right up until the chip kicked in and blanked them out, giving no warning, snaring the Jedi into the perfect deathtrap...

Hgnnnh the feels.

Ezra-as-everyone’s-therapist would continue through the season but for now let me just appreciate that Kanan’s issues are so deeply rooted it takes a few episodes to solve, lol.

Anyway, this episode is great.

[booklove22]

Ok, thinking about a few scenarios/theories about the rest of the season.

4x07 really seemed to set the stage for Ace and Nancy not being able to “get over” each other. And while I’ve seen a lot of people assume Ace will come to his senses and change his mind about trying to break the curse, I think that lacks the dramatic WTF-ery the Drew Crew writers are known for.

So in asking myself WWTDCWDTHU? (What would the drew crew writers do to hurt us?), below are some (very rough) theories I’ve come up with:

Ace fully realizes there is no getting over Nancy. But he’s also still unwilling to risk Nancy’s life to break the curse. They can’t go back. They can’t go forward. And every interaction they have in this weird stasis they are in just reopens the wound (see: breakups 1-4). And wouldn’t you know it? There is this handy plot about a Black Door and selective memory rewriting. And doesn’t that just conveniently provide an option for “going back” where no other option exists? If he doesn’t remember that Nancy has feelings for him, Nancy can move forward and he can go on believing they are just friends and that his crush is one sided. I imagine him writing a letter to Nancy to explain what he’s doing and why. Which she would find in some horribly dramatic moment where she’d have to race to save/stop him.

I could also see the flip side of this happening. While I think its more likely that Ace would be the one to take the black door route, it could also be Nancy making that call and Ace racing to save/stop her. Especially if he’s just changed his mind about breaking the curse and she’s about to lose all memories of loving him.

A third possibility is that they make this decision together. Where they both attempt to go to the black door together. And while that is super romantic (imagine the conversations!!), its also a bit flawed. One of them needs to remember they have a death curse. Otherwise they risk falling in love with each other all over again and triggering a curse they didn’t even know/remember existed.

The other track I’m considering is that either Nancy or Ace is the one to shoot Tristan with a crossbow and his death (Could he be dying? And as soon as 4x09??) contributes heavily to one of the options above. Like where the guilt of his death and heartache of the curse combine to be too much for one of them.

If any of these things happen, I feel like the obvious solution (drinking tainted sludge water = memories returned ) would have to no longer be an option so that there would be more at stake if anyones memories were successfully rewritten.

And if thats the case, how would the person remember? Lets say its Ace. And Nancy wants/needs to make him remember but no sludge water option exists. How do you fix that? Maybe a memory weave? Or something sort of like it? Nancy is seen in the trailer blowing some red dust into the camera. What if she gets Ace to remember by walking him through her own memories of them? Actual memories, hallucination memories, etc. I mean, would I die? Yes, I think I would.

Anyway, I don’t know how deeply I believe any of these options…its more that I believe the two big stories of this season (the curse, the black door) are meant to converge at some point rather than be fully separate threads and I’m trying to make sense of how that happens.

[goodomensjail]

I don’t think the book of life is actually a thing we need to worry about…

Some of you may know before the series premiered and I saw the early screening, I thought the book of life would be a really big deal

However, now watching the series start to finish twice the only person who actually makes the book of life threat is Michael and they are a bit flustered when they talk about it with Beelzebub

Beelzebub takes it at face value who then relays it like a game of telephone to Crowley, who writes it off as not a thing (said it to scare the cherubs). If we are to assume that Crowley once had higher status than Michael, which most of the season is alluding to him being the previous supreme archangel (now whether that’s Rapheal, Lucifer, or if “Gabriel” is just a title not a name and Angel Crowley was “Gabriel”) I think we should take Crowleys initial response with more face value.

Beezlebub remember at this point is trying to bribe Crowley into finding Gabriel with a title as Duke of hell, which we now know, was for selfish and loving reasons. Same for the book of life, it’s a threat to get Crowley moving to find Gabriel. An empty one.

Shax we realize is low level and fairly incompetent and only relaying what she heard from Beelzebub. Again, not reliable.

The next time we hear about it, it’s again Michael being bratty about their status, and metatron comes in and shoots them down that they don’t actually have that authority

So what proof do we have at the book of life is at all important to the plot moving forward, really? Michael appears to be an unreliable narrator who is making up threats to seal their status in the power vacuum with Gabriel gone.

We have a Crowley who seems to know a heck of a lot about how heaven runs thinking at first it’s “not a thing”, and only taking it seriously because of his love and fear for Aziraphale

And then we have metatron who doesn’t straight up say that isn’t real, so okay.

Anyway, it could still very much be ✨a thing ✨ and metatron doesn’t say it doesn’t exist, but upon a second watch, I don’t think it was anything more than an empty threat and another red herring, and I personally am not subscribing to theories floating around that it’s going to be some big revelatory rewrite of season two.

And that doesn’t mean it was pointless to the story, writing about the book of life, did exactly what it was supposed to do. It got Crowley back helping Aziraphale even against his better judgment, and his own wants, in a mirror of what the final fight was going to be it doesn’t matter that it didn’t come back around or it wasn’t a gun that fired. It served its purpose narratively as a threat, even if an empty one.

Anyway, thanks for joining me on my TED talks, where I vaguely allude to posts but don’t actually want to comment on them because I do want everyone to have fun….

[princess-of-the-corner]

MLP Rewrite AU - Legend of Everfree (if you haven't done it already)

Okay okay okay so like.

I have rewritten this one once before and gone into more SO

My biggest change was re: the powers they were getting. Usually they only get powers when in their Pony Up form. But basically it's because the 'Pony Up' thing transforms them to be able to channel Magic where their Human bodies can't, and the gems that Gloriosa found are able to be used as a Magic Channel. It's being extra funky because the gems are obvs connected to the Elements which are connected to the Group so.....

Anyway!

They're not getting random superpowers, they're getting their Pony Magic. Just it's a combination of 'they haven't really been transformed long enough to use their Magic so they're unfamiliar with it' and also some of them are a touch funky. Let's go down the list

Twilight - getting Unicorn Magic, but it manifests easily as a levitation spell to move objects around

Rarity - Also Unicorn Magic, but as a very visual person she's creating Magic Constructs. At first the barriers, but when she concentrates instead of reacting in defense, she can craft hard-light projections of anything

Pinkie - So the short version here is that Pinkie is part Crystal Pony, which effects her Magic. She's using the Crystal Ponies' Emotional Magic, which means using gems/crystals even further as a conduit to turn into elemental spells. In this case she's picking up on Gloriosa's frustration and transferring it into /sugar crystals/, which causes explosions

Applejack - Earth Pony Strength!

Rainbow - Hers went extra funky because her flight speed is getting the wires crossed with cloudwalking resulting in running speed

Fluttershy - Actually she's 1/8 Siren, which results in Voice Magic, Aka: universal translator.

Sunset - Also part Crystal Pony! But her emotional magic is going into overdrive and turning her into an empath able to feel others' emotions and also sometimes see memories.

So yeah shit's funky! As for the plot:

Twilight's still panicking over the Magic stuff because of what happened with Midnight Sparkle and all. When she confesses to Sunset that she thinks Midnight is still in her head/infected her and is trying to come out and ruin everything and that's why there's Magic, Sunset does her best to assure her without directly addressing the real problem for now.

When weird non-magic shit's happening and everyone's blaming the 'Gaia Everfree' story, even though Sunset suspects the counselors, she's debating on if this is an actual Scooby-Doo-esque 'scare off the businessman to save the camp' scheme or if it's just a camp activity and tries to stay in her lane about it.

Lot of the major plot points go the same. Maybe one or two conversations about things that are from the bigger expanded universe(like the scenes with Flash from when I wrote this as a fic).

Anyway!!

Moving forward to the climax when Gloriosa goes full Poison Ivy:

When they're trapped in the vines and everyone's trying to fight back and Sunset's trying to get Twilight to fully use her Magic and help. Twilight's still terrified, worrying that Midnight will take her over again and make everything worse.

So, even though it's not the best time for this conversation, Sunset tells her the truth: There is no 'Midnight Sparkle'.

Twilight is confused by this, because hello?? All that stuff happened? She would never try to destroy this dimension! Even if she didn't believe in the 'power of friendship', she never would have-

Except she did. Because she used a very powerful type of magic with the exact opposite qualifications. She had felt betrayed, manipulated, hurt and broken and taken advantage of. And she poured all of that into the Elements, and it turned everything so intensely that despair was all she could feel and she'd do anything to make it stop.

Twilight tries to argue, that she had to be possessed. That she gets nightmares about Midnight taunting her, that she feels her trying to take over every time she uses her Magic.

Sunset's like 'Twilight, honey, darling, light of my life: that's what we call a hell of a case of ptsd!!'.

She's still terrified, because even if it's not possession, then how does she know that she won't become like that again when using her Magic?

Sunset, and the others, reassure her. Things are different. She's not alone anymore, she's not trapped in her own despair anymore. She's safe with them. And even if something somehow went wrong, they'd bring her back.

Twilight gathers her courage to use her Magic, only being a Unicorn not an Alicorn because no free Ascension for her.

Okay now for one of the bigger plots: What all's going on with the camp and also Filthy Rich.

So like. There's three things that bothered me in the movie about this situation.

1.) Making Rich the slimeball businessman villain trying to turn a nice camp into a spa resort when in all his other appearances he's actually pretty damn nice

2.) while we love the trope of 'get a fund raiser going to save the business', this doesn't always work. If the business can't make enough genuine profit to survive, a fundraiser only prolongs the inevitable.

3.) If the camp is a family business, why is it just Gloriosa and Timber running it? Especially since they're very young (we don't know their ages, but Timber is in the age range for Twilight's love interest, so he's gotta be under 20).

So here's the underlying story on it for me rewriting:

Gloriosa and Timber usually run the camp with their parents, but there's been a recent tragedy. Not fully sure, but they lost at least one parent and the other is at least very inured. So the inexperienced teens are trying to keep the place going on their own while also facing hospital and funeral costs. Not to mention figuring out how the bills go and getting behind on that and all.

In theory, if they could get an influx of money to handle all that and let them catch up, then they could run the camp like normal and make their usual profits. But the problem is getting that money. Which is where the fundraiser comes in.

Rich is entirely unaware of this, and ofc the siblings aren't exactly going to tell him. So he assumes it's that the business itself is failing, likely through lack of clientele interested in camping given the facility itself being fine. And if the family can't drum up business, why would he think he could do better? Turning the campsite into a spa resort is the next best thing, as he could keep a lot of the 'get away from the city and enjoy nature' thing while changing it up in a way that they'd have new people coming in to spend their money there.

So yeah he's not. He's not trying to run them out of business or anything. It's just that the business is already failing and if he doesn't buy the property than someone else will.

Ofc when he does hear about the fundraiser he does prod into things a little bit and does apologize to the siblings for making them feel even more despair when he could have helped, which includes a generous donation to the fundraiser.

[aceofnace]

I was honestly expecting the most romantic season of tv I'm not kidding bc what do you mean soulmates who are separated by a love curse that's such an incredibly good plot, the stuff of dreams ships never get. But let's be real they kinda botched it, no matter how it turns out, we had half a season where they barely interacted and we're never going to see their big moments together and them being madly in love and solving crimes together and protecting each other and moving in together and getting engaged( I had this wish that it would be Nancy who proposes bc it would be such a big thing coming from her and for ace to see someone actually want that with him, it would mean so much growth for both of them). Now all we can hope for is they don't slap us with Tristan and Nancy as soulmates, give us as many moments of them together and give us a flashforward of their happily ever after ..

I was expecting that too, especially after the first 3 swoonworthy episodes of the season. I thought, this is THEIR season. But boy, did it go downhill fast. Episode 4 had NO Nace interactions, and then 5-7 just had painful ones (how many times did they break up again?). Episode 8 seemed promising...but then 9 and 10 ruined it again with no interactions. Now we're heading into episode 11 with both Nancy and Ace seemingly falling for their new supernatural love interests and it's like WHAT? With only 3 episodes left to go? Make it make sense!

Obviously, they were hoping for a season 5, and they wrote the season with that in mind. But that tells me if we had gotten a season 5, this still would've been dragged out well into next season. So the only solace I can take with all this is that it's a good thing they found out the show was canceled before they finished writing the final episode. Because if it had been canceled after, then the series would've ended with Nace not together. And even if it had been renewed for a season 5, with the writers/actors on strike for who knows how much longer, there's a chance next season would've eventually gotten cancelled anyway, or it would have at least extended a Nace endgame for another year or more. This way, although it's going to be rushed af, we're still going to end the series with the knowledge that Nancy and Ace are together and in love.

I am hopeful we'll get a little flash-forward epilogue that might show Nancy and Ace married, or at least engaged. Bonus points if they show us one of them proposing. I'm just not sure how they would fit that into the finale, but it's really all I want at this point. I'm so sad that so many opportunities were wasted this season (that should have been NACE slow dancing!). This was supposed to be their season to shine. And it started out so promising! I have no idea how or why they lost sight of the plot so heavily, but they did. And I know some people will say, "You know, this show isn't just about Nace" and while that's true, once you make your titular character and another main character star-crossed lovers and add in something like a curse keeping them apart, you're kinda making them the main focus—especially when you drag it out until the very end. So, it's understandable that a lot of us are solely focusing on Nace and how disappointed we are. We expected more. We deserved more. But that's just my opinion.

[heliosoll]

hiii hope all is well!

i wanted to know about ur mermaid dr cause i dont think youve talked about it before??

how long did you spend in that dr in total?

do mermaids speak in a different language?

were there any mermaid specific foods you ate

if so what were they and how did they taste?

did you have any powers as a mermaid?

did this dr follow any kind of "plot" for lack of a better word?

what did having a tail feel like?

was their any cool history about mermaids that you learned during ur stay?

-🌧 anon

Oh fun!! No I don't think I've ever talked about my mermaid DR here!

A few notes just for reference; this DR was heavily inspired by Barbie Mermaidia and the actual environment plus what we looked like was basically a direct ripoff from that. Humans exist there and they've always known about merpeople - we're pretty well integrated actually. Pollution doesn't exist and the oceans are pretty clean! Merpeople breathe oxygen (we actually have gills!) so we can be out of water but not for too long or we do risk "drying out" (aka dying). Houses were usually completely underwater but there were a lot of homes with an upstairs out of water that you could swim up to.

Hm... iirc, I think I spent about four-ish years? I remember when I first shifted there I was 15 and when I left I was 19! So... I'm not sure about the specific time spent, but it was around four years.

So in my DR, merpeople spoke whatever human language they were around and specific merpeople languages! We had a "general" language that basically everyone spoke and then a lot of regional differences, some more intense than others. Also I'm sorry for being boring but the general language was literally just called Shui. I don't know why my mind did me like that 😐

Cuisine differed from area to area but most merpeople ate fish and plants! It was actually pretty similar to what humans do just in the ocean. Bigger mammals were usually a no-go just for safety but I did try shark once. I didn't love it to be honest hahah Also! We couldn't get sick from mercury! Tuna was really common and a lot of seafood contains mercury so I scripted that it wasn't an issue.

In terms of specific recipes, there was one dish that was basically like pasta but with wakame instead and had pieces of whatever fish was available. It was really good! Not everyone is a fan of the texture though. We also had a version of khanom chan that was made with seaweed! It was often flavored with underwater fruits and tropical fruits :)

I didn't have any powers! Unless you count being able to breathe underwater and swim super fast?

No, there wasn't a big plot! I really just wanted to enjoy being a mermaid hahah I went to school and I got a job watching pets at some point (yes we had pets it was the coolest thing ever - the most common pets were crabs and penguins for some reason).

Having a tail felt very natural but definitely different! It feels a lot more... powerful (?) than human legs! I also remember having a revelation of feeling like a bird because you could flap your tail a lot to gain momentum and then stop moving it but still swim forward because of that momentum. It was pretty cool actually

Cool history... there used to be a lot of ancient civilizations that lived on and around islands! When I shifted there, we mostly lived underwater (plus occasionally above water because of the houses but it was still in the middle of the ocean), so learning about the merpeople who lived on islands was really neat to me. They basically built houses around the island and then made manmade rivers that through the islands to use the resources on them. Apparently, they also built something that was similar to a wheelchair to move better but no one's been able to find solid proof of that so we don't know... (personally, I think they did!)

Anyway, this was really fun! Thank you for the question!! This DR was so much fun and really healing for my inner child hahah I definitely recommend having a mermaid DR it's so cool to be able to just swim and breathe underwater

[smute]

so i read boulle's planet of the apes the other day and now im watching the first movie and i cant believe how illogical it is. like, okay. so first of all, i was surprised to see this much naked ass in an american film from the 60s. i was wondering how they'd deal with the "soror humans wrecked our shit" situation and so i was very pleased to see that they simply had charlton heston get naked lmao. okay. so far so good. then we see the soror humans, wearing tarzan-esque loincloths and bikini ensembles. disappointing but, once again, not shocking since this is an american movie from the 60s. no areolas for you here. it doesnt exactly help the animal image but this is hollywood after all. we can ignore this one. but then... oh boy. fast forward a few minutes and the chimp doctor points out how remarkable it is that charlton heston is dressing himself in an old blanket. BITCH THEY'RE ALL DRESSED IN OLD BLANKETS WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT. "oh look now he's moving his fingers" THEY'RE ALL USING THEIR HANDS ALL THE FUCKING TIME!!!! WTF!!! ARENT YOU SUPPOSED TO BE ONE OF THE LEADING SCIENTISTS ON THE PLANET. anyway. i still have an hour left but so far its very disappointing. basically it seems like they just put a buncha people in monkey make up and then ignored EVERY single plot point from the book that makes the idea of an ape dominated mirror world so fascinating. like the fact that the soror humans arent simply mute but that they make ANIMAL NOISES like, noises that are so foreign to our ears that they terrify the earth humans in the book. the fact that the soror humans are terrified by clothing and speech and. god. im sorry but the fact that they're naked is also pretty significant imo. the whole idea is that they're animals who eat and sleep and do NOTHING ELSE. anyway. the fact that in the book they tear a dead animal to shreds like actual predators. the fact that they snarl and bare their teeth. the fact that later in the lab they eat out of bowls and troughs. like all of that is missing in the movie and it makes it a lot less convincing. i know it always sucks to compare a movie to the novel its based on, youre almost bound to be disappointed. but its not like all that stuff wouldve been difficult to do on screen. it just strikes me as a bunch of bad creative choices. even the nudity would not have been impossible to do. like, at one point you see charlton heston running through the undergrowth as the camera pans around him and somehow they make sure that his junk is covered by a leaf or some sort of greenery at all times. its impressive.

also, charlton heston looks like he could be 35 or 52 or 80 and theres no way to know for sure