#but my theory is that he kinda got caught up with the family drama and there wasn't Enough Time

[normalbrothers]

💖: What is your biggest unpopular opinion about the series?

that it's ... good, actually? not that a great deal of criticisms don't have merit, but i very much like what the show does, how consistent it is and the character work done each season. its probably biggest flaw is - and especially noticeable after s1 - the brevity of subsequent seasons. had there been one or two more episodes from season 2 onward it would have served the show in some major or minor ways; and i do think that messes sometimes with how things are transported to the viewer, but idk. if you pay attention it's fine also

[absolutebl]

Hi! apologies if you've answered this before, but can you recommend some bls that deal with homophobia, be it internalised or external? or more generally, bls that are not set in the bl bubble where gayness is 100% accepted?

Thank you very much <3

Ooo, sure thing!

BL's Not Set in The Bubble

BLs that deal with homophobia (internal or external) and rough coming out sequences

Began Beginning from Myanmar is all about this. It's not a BL I would necessarily recommend but it is interesting for many reasons. Both leads are dealing with massive internalize homophobia, among other issues.

Similarly: Like in the Movies and Tie the Not from the Philippines.

And Goodbye Mother and Nation's Brother from Vietnam.

From Thailand

To Sir, With Love - witnessing his family's massive homophobia that results in major tragedy as a child is what drives our main character's whole personality and self hatred. Massive trigger warning.

Until We Meet Again - the pair in the past, of course, it's the driving trauma of the relationship reincarnated. Massive trigger warning.

I Feel You Linger In the Air - fear of being caught is a through line in this drama.

More modern set stuff:

City of Stars deals with having to leave the closet as a super star. So does Close Friend Season 2 a little. The OhmFluke pair also deals with coming out to parents. Love Stage!! (Thailands version) contains one couple that chooses to remain closeted for the good of a career and another that risks it.

Moonlight Chicken - mostly about self hatred and difficulty in being out, to the point where his young nephew challenges him on it and provides a foil.

Also, ya know, TharnType and Why R U. Both have self hated and challenging coming outs because of trauma and daddy issues.

Dark Blue Kiss - Kao is terrified of being outed and it's used to blackmail him.

Similarly although he is out of Ae, Pete is being abused and blackmailed because he is gay in Love By Chance. Also Ae doesn't manage to come out... yet.

I Told Sunset About You - of course.

My Gear and Your Gown final episodes contain homophobic (or are they?) parents.

Second Chance heavily implies that there is something going on with Paper's inability to accept Fah.

Similarly Gene accepting Sib in Lovely Writer.

I'm pretty sure there's a ton of homophobia at the back end of My Tee, but honestly it's been years sicne I watched that mess.

Charming little pulp 21 Day Theory deals with quite a bti of this, but our main character has a lovely gay uncle to guide the way.

"Punch the homophobe" my favorite trope of all time, happens in Oxygen. But otherwise they neatly circumvent the patriarchs objection by defacto adopting a child to inherit.

TonhonChonlatee is all about one characters inability to acept his own queerness as encouraged by his homophobic family and various other evil characters.

My Only 12% actively tackles and calls out cultural homophobia and damaging misrepresentations.

"Why does everyone think that both of them are strange? If it's not wrong, why does everyone hurt?"

The show he's talking about is Thailand's first proto-BL, love of Siam and it is about an inability to come out.

From Japan

Life: Love on the Line - it's parental disgust and personal self hatred and paranoia that breaks them up (they get back together but he as to get over it)

Similarly His - is a kind of reunion romance after self-homophobia drove one half of the pair to marry someone else.

Actually the original series with the same characters, His the series, also deals with self acceptance around gayness, and it's subtle (Japan) but it's pretty clear one of them was kicked out of/ or left his previous school because he got outed. (Light on Me references a similar situation, but it's ultra subtle.)

If It's With You also kinda falls into this category. Not sure these can be called "dealing with" it tho, more side stepping and alluding to it.

Tokyo in April is - yeah it's kinda the whole thing from one half of this pair

What Did You Eat Yesterday also has a coming out to the parents thread throughout, and a coming out at work thing, but it's not really the point of the show.

From Korea

Most Korean BL are gonna be out. The specialize in the bubble. Although a case could be made for Love For Love's Sake and Love Class. And, see comment, Jazz for Two.

One noted exception is Just Friends which is a short piece about coming out to mom while on leave from the military. This is one of Korea's earliest BL pieces and not strictly BL, but it's fascinating in that neither theme (military nor coming out) would reall be reused again.

From Taiwan

My Tooth Your Love - has a kinda different take and we aren't sure, as viewers whether it's because he's gay or because he's not doing what the Patriarch wishes. But trigger warning for [physical abuse.

DNA Says Love You deals with this and other forms of queerphobia during the later half. Slow start but I do love this show.

Faded is a propaganda piece (pro marriage equality) which is all about coming out to a parent.

In H4CTY Xing Si (of the side couple) is having a hard time coming out but that's complied by the fact that he's fucking his stepbrother, it's a mess, bit I enjoy them - v problematic couple tho.

Papa & Daddy actually has a coming out sequence (GASP!) where the parents don't take it well as does Love is Science? (sides) - but the later is mostly because disaster bi is also baby daddy.

Red Balloon, of course, and it's sibling movie Your Name Engraved Herein are kinda all about self loathing and suffering because of gayness and lack of acceptance.

Unknown is certainly tackling some of this.

In which I talk about some of my favorite coming out sequences:

He's Coming to Me has my favorite series of coming out sequences to both friends and mother.

A few more that I really don't like (Promise) and probably Together With Me should be here, but I willfully can't remember them.

(source)

[patrocles]

hii, i saw on ur twitter account where u said that the amethyst empress/bloodstone emperor theory was dumb can u elaborate on why im just genuinely curious because i personally find the theory plausible and every person i've met is of the same opinion ur like the only person i've met who dislikes it and im just so curious on why?

hey there!!

so first let me just say that if i sounded dickish and mean spirited about it, that was not my intention. i never wanna yuck anyones yum, i personally love a wacky theory!

(also when i say ‘you’ i mean the general, not you personally)

don’t get me wrong, there are parallels or similarities between the two side by side, but I think it kinda ends there? i think a lot of the DEEP lore of twoiaf, one can read as having echoes and similarities all over over the map, but i dont think is meant to be taken entirely literal.

but really, why i don’t like that theory is because i think it totally misinterprets what the Dance was about and why it’s important to the overall lore of asoiaf and the themes of the main series.

i think it also kind of unfairly paints the story as Good v Evil, which again, wildly misinterprets and simplifies the Dance as a big evil done to Rhaenyra personally by an evil little brother Aegon.

it’s about The Family and how it tore itself apart under the weight of its own hubris and the feudal system that built the tinderbox for the whole thing to implode eventually.

it’s very much about the unfolding tragedy one after another after another until all that’s left are two deeply traumatized children. it’s about the dangers of dragons and why history doesn’t remember them fondly. it’s the pretext on which arianne tries to put myrcella on the throne. it’s about the needless deaths of innocents over a family squabble that got out of control, and the fundamental flaw of a feudalist system that nation could be torn apart because of an inheritance dispute. it’s a History Story. it’s not really about the Long Night at all.

Plus this kinda wildly misinterprets Aegon as a character? he has a lot of flaws, for sure, but the harbinger of primordial evil because he got caught up in a bit of legal drama? that’s giving him way too much credit lol.

And again, I really dont care about theories, even if they’re ones i dont personally agree with. i’ve been in the general asoiaf sphere for a very long time so that’s nothing new. but i think what irked me about this one, is for a number of people, having this specific theory and framework in mind totally alters the way they watch and engage with the show at all.

so like when the posters were dropped, people are genuinely mad that it was rhaenyra and alicent and not rhaenyra and aegon bc duh its about This Theory … and it’s like? no? you made that up..

so if people are watching the show with that theory in mind, then it does completely cloud how you think about these characters and i think restricts one’s engagement to a Good/Evil dichotomy. and if i’m being really honest, a lot of people who i’ve seen go really hard on this theory are people who already hated alicent/greens and invented it to justify diminishing alicent’s role in the story, and amplifying why rhaenyra is basically the main character of twoiaf, second to dany. which is doing just too much.

but the big, and i think the most important one, is that it’s absolutely absurd for people to confidently and definitively say that THIS is what the show is about and the marketing/show not aligning with that is a total failure based on niche asoiaf lore that most show!watchers don’t even know about, wasn’t even mentioned in the previous series, and only exists in a separate book of lore and stories that may not even be true anyways.

[lady-phasma]

hi :)) i just wanted to reach out and say hello. i was a big fan of hotd when s1 came out, but i was in the periphery of some pretty awful things happening fandom wise over the last few months and it made me scared of interacting with others again, especially with s2 coming out. but i read your fandom post and it's given me some hope, so...here i am :)

did you enjoy the trailer? what was your favourite part?

I literally had to compose myself before I answered this. Not being dramatic but it caught me off guard and I cried. I can't tell you how much this means to me. 💕 Seriously, a gif isn't going to express it but I gotta give you a hug! (Hang around long enough and you'll learn I can find a Matt Smith or Austin Butler gif for every occasion!)

Real quick since you're new to my blog: I'm not going to comment on recent events (that's kind of a policy for me), but I hate that for you and I hope you find a welcoming community from here forward. Also, I went on hiatus from Jan 2023 until this March because of some drama and real-world family/life stuff. I came back for Dune 2 (Feyd Rautha) and have stayed for Austin Butler and HotD season 2. I promised myself this time that I wouldn't allow the internet to have power over my emotions. It doesn't always work, but that unfollow or block button sure does!

The other thing that helps: finding people who are kind and fun. Around 9 million people watched the season one finale! There are tons of wonderful people in this fandom and I am constantly finding more!

Answer to the trailer questions after the cut...

OMG the trailer! You should have a look at the chaos my blog was yesterday! I started making gifs as soon as it leaked - I made gifs for about an hour then the HD version was released. I made gifs for another hour or two. Then I spent the rest of the day discussing every insane theory about the Mystery Women. I happened to have the day off and I think I spent 12 hours just doing HotD related things. I finished the night by finally writing one of a couple versions of what I think happened after Storm's End. I only took a year and a half to do it.

My favorite part was actually a tie: the shot of Daemon's hand and the one of Aemond (of course). I loved those because they are my men, but also because we got to have so much fun digging for clues and being unhinged!!

Runner up was this amazing shot of my boy Aegon Toast:

I've only become an Aegon girlie in the last couple weeks and mostly because this Aegon is fantastic! I love a crazy Targ! He's (hopefully) going to be more complex this season. Last season I couldn't find any reason to stan him because 1) he looked kinda young and I'm not young and 2) he didn't have enough screen time to give him depth imo.

I am so glad you're here and thank you again for this lovely ask! It was so unbelievably kind.

If you want to see some of the chaos here's an ask where I listed the crazy posts about who is with Daemon and Aemond!

[chronicallyonlinecath]

Monday, January 8th 2023 - Music and... well...

Monday's are the days I am sucked into the abyss of the music department, so I barely see anyone. Senior girls choir in the morning, helping out junior choir at break, and then prefect duties at lunch. Not to mention I actually have music as a lesson in period 5-

According to Harley and Reagan, many interesting things were said at break and lunchtime. Unfortunately, I didn't catch them. So uh, no quotes from that. Harley was talking to Minns (actual name is Moira but we all call her Minns) and they believe if this blog blows up on something like tiktok it'll do really well. So imma start adding hashtags to these blogs in the hope they might get some viewers other than my own friends and sex bots.

Well, the big scandal of the day was apparently a boy who's in the majority of my core classes, such as maths and science, has been arrested on suspicion of selling edibles. Or evidence, we don't know yet. This is a theory one of his friends, one of his tutees, and I came up with in science. And it... kinda blew up around school? It adds up way too much though. There are three main points;

A police car drove into the school gates during period one (and Harvey and I saw one heading towards school when we were on our way home) Said boy was taken out of class during period one by our Head of Year, and no one's seen him since. Others were also taken out for "questioning" His friend openly said that the boy sells edibles to kids in the younger years

Then, in maths, we were conspiring further, along with some... odd quotes.

“Allegedly, Janek was caught shoving his foot up a child’s rectum” - Ben “It’s true I was the toenail” - Andrew

Elliot came up with what said boy would be charged with... and it's quite a lot. It's the fact he is a minor, got the edibles, probably did the edibles himself, and then sold them on to others. That's three crimes, the last one being severe as it was them being sold onto other minors.

This is your reminder people, if you didn't already know, there are people like this out there. He is a grade nine student. Does he put the work or the effort in? No! Not at all. But as much as I know he is an asshole, it's still kinda a shock for me that this has happened. I'd heard rumors, but I didn't think he actually dealt stuff.

I had a pretty sheltered and safe childhood. I'm very grateful for that, especially on days like today.

Bit of a rough ending there, huh?

Have another quote for your troubles

stealing my glue “I need those extra 6 inches” - Elliot “Yes, give to the orphans-” - Bella “At least my parents care about me-” - Elliot “You guys have family?” - Janek

Oh also Harry was off, which is never like Harry. He's okay though, according to him. Just shaking his head at the fact he missed all the drama-

~CM

[jalebi-likes]

THOUGHTS ON IPKKND 3

(and some important clarification)

Alright I just read some super interesting convos about IPK and it’s sequel IPK3 between @herelivesahobbit and @honeybellexox so I thought why don’t I jump in the convo!

And omg I legit had a theory about IPK3 that it was originally called Satya Ki Kiran and then became Mohra and then Star TV overtook it and Barun couldn’t opt out of IPK3 because he signed to work on the show so he was trapped.

And I wanted to share that (and have shared that with so many people) and now I realize I was probably high on something cause THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF THAT.

Was that me, sympathy projecting as to why Sobti would do a character who gives rape threats to the female lead unless he was trapped???

Guys, warning, DO NOT WATCH SO MUCH TV AND DO SOME RESEARCH BEFORE SPREADING FALSE NEWS 😭

Ugh, apologies to everyone I told this theory to!

Mohra was an action thriller show about a cop named Satya who probably falls for the conwoman widow Kiran (hence the show was called Satya Ki Kiran) and extensive footage was shot before Zee Tv extended the show from biweekly to daily and the production house (BBC) didn’t plan for it and it got scrapped.

Then comes a show in Star by 4Lions where they cast Sobti and Tomar (who worked previously in the scrapped Mohra) and decide to come up with a revenge drama initially called “Vaidehi”.

Amazing idea. Cause revenge dramas are cool to see and Barun has a good grasp on layered characters and Tomar has good vocal tonality and there was already a LOT of buzz on Mohra with these two people casted as leads.

Except, Star decides to pull out another IPK and capitalize on Sobti’s fandom. And somehow neither the PH nor the Channel anticipated the backlash to the show (lol I wonder why). Irani AND Sobti are synonymous to IPK so cutting one half out to this his popularity is enough turned a good audience off.

And to kind rub salt they used Rabba Ve, IPK, ASR and several bgms to sync in. Even the first bearded look to keep the two ASRs separate was forgotten when they gave him a makeover (twice!) and brought Sobti to look closer to ARNAV by the end of it all cause clearly appearance was the only problem in the show.

And those not turned off by the IPK similarity, were definitely caught off guard by the bizzare costumes (except Sobti he kinda looked hot but Tomar was drowning in extensions makeup jewelry and layers of ruffles?) editing, lighting, camera angles…

And the plot.

They kinda sacrificed the original angsty plot (the full flashback that they had pre-shot) to force a romance and it doesn’t work because:

- Advay sexually harasses Chandni multiple times

And the reason IPK3 truly drowned was that they changed the theme multiple times to raise TRP.

From finding out the truth it’s just an Advay harasses Chandni theme, sudden family members cropping up which kinda chops the fact that it was intense isolation and cultivated anger that made Advay the villain he is.

And he was supposed to be a villain. This show ever truly works out for the initial few episodes and this phase in between when he tries to seduce he into a marriage and she’s all “you’re fun but deceptive so thanks for the desire but I’ll give you a hard pass”

All the information here are from verifiable news sources and my hate love relationships with IPK3 which could’ve been amazing if it was called Vaidehi and stuck to Sobti being a villain - cause he was damn good at that.

Phew

Below is a list of what Advay does:

- forcefully initiates physical contact

- forcefully married her and humiliated her in public

- threatens marital rape if she moved from her place

- exposes her to controlled threatening situations (where she believes she’s in danger but only he’s aware that she isn’t because there’s no actual danger)

- isolates her from her family

See, he would’ve been an excellent villain!

Lol, the end.

- Jalebi

[hot-take-tournament]

most of my theories are surrounding kazui because he's my favourite prisoner (if you can't tell)

right first off - his "sin". At first I assumed it was cheating from the half music video because, wow that was vague, but now with cat and his new voice drama I don't think so anymore. I have 3 working theories

1. He's gay and married to meet societal expectations

2. He's aroallo and married to meet societal expectations

3. he just simply never loved her and married to meet societal expectations

Ranked that in order of likeliness because tbh I feel like the last one wouldn't give as much of dept to his character as the other two and I think milgram has a running theme of "they did a bad thing BUT" blah blah blah with the prisoners and no.3 kinda just makes him seem like an asshole for not telling her sooner.

So: No.1 and No.2

Both of my reasonings for thinking so are very similar, the lyrics about acting and "why can't I be normal?" would fit for both. If he's gay/aromatic he'd be 'different' then what society expects of him. The apple = sin imagery (atleast that's how I've interpreted it) would fit for being gay, and the lyrics about how he "just wanted to touch and caress" could hint that he only wanted a physical relationship (or that he's aromantic) and kinda just dug himself into a hole so he could fit society's expectations (I could go alot more indept but I don't wanna bombard you)

Then there's the whole question of how his wife actually died, and again I've got two main theories

1. She hung herself

2. Kazui pushed her off a balcony

For No.1 the chair constantly appearing in Half could point to that, also the fact that based on his voice dramas it seems he never actually killed her with his hands but No.2 also has some evidence behind it aswell.

We know he's strong enough to defeat Kotoko, he probably wouldn't have a problem with pushing his wife in terms of strength. When Kazui is bent towards the chair in Half there's imagery of a balcony in the distance, and in Cat at the end when Kazui 'eats' the dove his wife immediately falls and the apple splats on the ground. If they were arguing after Kazui told her the truth and things got heated, he would be able to overpower her. Also right before his wife falls his shadow is standing behind her rather,, omenicingly (that's probably spelt wrong)

then I have two more kinda throw away theories

1. The line at the end of Cat - "Lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade" kind of sounds like Kazui is asking the audience to vote him innocent/forgiven. If we "oppose his punishment", we'll see the true Kazui in his 3rd Trial? The "King of the Masquerade"?? Maybe.

2. Shidou's family died in a car crash he caused/ he was driving when it happened. This is definitely reaching but look his answer about driving in the Q&A's feels very off okay. It would kind of make sense too,, if someone in his family needed blood or an organ or something it could be reason enough in his eyes to purposefully fail surgeries (assuming that's his crime)

Thats all, I like to think about imagery and symbolism more than actually theorising (leave that to the smarter pros) so I don't have many. Good day

I know that after a discussion about Valentine's Day is by far the worst time to post this specifically, but I finally caught up and I don't want to leave this any longer, so before I forget;

(I know some of you aren't here to see milgram theories, so I'll tag it and hide it under the cut)

Now that I've finally watched Cat, I really wanted to put together a full complete theory I was pretty confident on, but I've spent hours thinking about this trainwreck of a man, and I still got nothing - here's how much theory I wrote on Kazui after watching Cat, and I still don't know shit

Everything about him is so contradictory; after Shidou's second MV I feel as though I have a theory that I think explains everything from both Trial 1 and 2 - his MVs, his voice dramas, all of it - so I'd really hoped I could do the same with Kazui, but he's such a hot mess that I've really been struggling to even wrap my head around everything we've seen so far.

Just from what we were shown in Undercover, I don't think that it's a stretch to assume that Kazui's wife took her own life by jumping from the balcony - but that's about the only thing I'm even remotely confident in.

We know that Kazui apparently spent his marriage - and most of his life - hiding some big secret that we don't know about, and there's a lot of evidence that would support the idea that the secret he was hiding was that he's gay; he talks about trying to live as himself, the 'way he was born' - even the title of his MV, 'Cat', could be a reference to how apparently in Japanese slang 'neko' can refer to a bottom in a gay relationship, as opposed to 'tachi', which means top.

But his second voice drama really threw me - it heavily implies that Kazui has a previous history of violence that he's potentially been trying to leave in the past, and if that was the big secret he was hiding, it would explain a lot of the things that don't quite seem to fit the 'Kazui is gay' theory - but Cat doesn't really support that idea, so I don't know how much water it holds.

And then there's the woman in Half, who, given that she has a detailed face, must be important to him - but she hasn't been mentioned since.

So yeah, I have no idea what to do with this man lol

I've also been thinking a lot about that line from Cat you mentioned - 'Lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade' - and I think it's meant to be a metaphor comparing Kazui and Es (and by extension, the audience) to cats grooming each other; basically, like one cat cleaning another, we're washing away his sin to justify an innocent verdict, even though we're not even close to seeing the real him.

It's more or less the same sentiment Yuno expressed in her voice drama - because we (the audience) want to believe Kazui is a good person, we're manufacturing scenarios that let us be sympathetic to him, even though there's no evidence to base those theories on.

All in all, the only thing I'm sure of is that I'm terrified of how little we still know about Kazui.

(Though to be fair, I'm way more terrified by the fact that we're most of the way through Trial 2 and we still don't know where Kotoko managed to find a baseball bat in the magic murder prison.)

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts - either way, Cat's a jam and it's been living rent-free in my head all day <3

[kelieah]

you guys suck (tom holland x reader)

request: @danicarosaline​ (summary): Hey cutie, i was wondering if you can do a tom x reader where they are dating but no one knows yet until Harrison, the twins, Tuwaine all have their suspicions so they planned to flirt and throw compliments at her during dinner time together to get a reaction out of Tom and he gets super jealous and upset during the whole thing until he finally snaps? I dunno i thought this was cute!! 🥺🥰

word count: 1.1k

warnings: fluff

a/n: awee this is super cute, thanks for the request! and ur cuter 

masterlist

-

As everyone knows, Tom is horrible at keeping secrets. So having to keep one of the biggest secrets of all, your relationship, is a challenge for him. Luckily, you two have been together for almost a year now without any drama.

He couldn’t help but hold your waist at times, or press kisses against your neck. Now of course you love the affection he’s shows you, but you both agreed to keep things on the down low.

There was this one time you, Tom, Harrison and a bunch of his other friends were on live. You were all messing around and answering any questions people had. It was such a mess, you two almost got caught because of Tom’s constant flirty innuendos. 

Tom’s had many slip ups, while you didn’t have many. Fans and the media aren’t that suspicious but close friends and family are. No matter how many times you tell them the two of you are just friends, they only shrug it off.

Now you and Tom were getting ready for the twin’s 21st birthday. You couldn’t help but be worried, there was going to be drinks and Tom plus drinks, isn’t the best case for keeping a secret.

“I swear babe, if you slip up tonight,” you murmur, fixing yourself up in the mirror of your room.

“I promise, I won’t darling,” he comes up from behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“Right, then you take one shot and suddenly the whole world knows about us,” you hum as he places his chin on your shoulder.

“Shut up,” he huffs, placing kisses along your shoulder.

“I’m not wrong.”

“I know,” he sighs, “But how could I resist? Look at what you're wearing, love. I know I got you this dress, but do you have to wear this?” he whines.

“It’s Valentine's Day, it matches,” you refer to the red silk dress that hugged your body just right, “Plus the party is at some exclusive club isn’t it?”

He nods, grabbing your hand and spins you into his chest, “True, and luckily it’s just friends and family.”

You look up at him chuckling and smile. He holds your face and kisses you gently, “You wouldn’t have to worry anyways, I’m all yours,” you say in between kisses.

On the other hand, your friends were more suspicious than you thought. Harrison, Tuwaine and the twins were all ready for the party, setting up at the club.

“They’re totally fucking,” Tuwaine snickers, organizing the alcohol.

“Dude,” Sam rolls his eyes, “Not cool.”

“Just saying!” Tuwaine raises his hands in defense, “I mean am I wrong?” he looks over at Harrison.

“We should test our theory, if they’re dating or not,” he shrugs, leaning against the bar.

“How would we do that?” Harry asks, folding some napkins.

“What if we all flirt with Y/n? If they’re really dating, I bet you a million pounds that Tom would snap,” Harrison smirks.

“That shouldn’t be too hard to do,” Sam murmurs.

“Easy for you to say, you’ve been crushing on her ever since Tom introduced her to us,” Harry shoves him playfully.

“Shut up!” Sam groans.

Dinner came around and everyone was sitting together at a table. Everyone meaning you, Tom, Harrison, Tuwaine and the twins. Other family and friends were sitting at other tables.

“Y/n, I just have to say if you don’t mind,” Harry pipes up.

“Yeah?” you smile, sipping on some champagne. 

“That dress looks amazing on you, it hugs your body just right,” he says sheepishly.

You sputter on your drink, “Awe, t-thank you,” you cough slightly, averting your eyes over to Tom who suddenly took interest in the conversation.

“He’s not wrong, have you been working out lately?” Harrison asks, leaning on the palm of his hand.

You laugh softly, “Actually yeah, thanks for noticing.”

“Can’t help it,” he shrugs. Tom places his hand on your thigh and you quickly put your hand on top in an attempt to reassure him.

“Your hair looks amazing by the way,” Sam also chips in, blushing.

Tom’s eye twitches and he looks down at his food, holding his tongue.

“Thank you, it must be Tom’s conditioner I steal,” you tease, trying to lighten up the mood and cut the tension.

“Wait what?” Tom whines.

“Nothing,” you shrug, laughing quietly. Luckily, the out of nowhere compliments died down.

We were all talking about Tom and Zendaya, “Right, she’s like perfect for you isn’t she mate?” Harrison grins.

“Ah, I don’t see her like that,” he shrugs. You didn’t mind though, you trusted Tom and felt no reason to be jealous or uptight.

“She is beautiful though, are you sure Tom?” you tease.

He rolls his eyes, “Very sure.”

“Speaking of significant others,” Sam says slowly, “Do you have anyone Y/n?”

“Nah, men are gross,” you shrug, hearing Tom choke slightly on his food.

“That’s too bad, I was going to ask if you wanted to dance soon,” Sam pouts.

“Oh?” you flash him a tight smile, “Maybe next time.”

“She’s just trying to be nice, she’d rather dance with me,” Harrison smirks.

You feel Tom’s grip tighten on your dress and you squeeze his hand, knowing he’s about to burst.

“In bed,” Harrison winks, causing the rest of the boys to laugh. You roll your eyes, suspicious of all the boys at this point.

“Highly doubt that,” Tom finally speaks up.

You look over at him worriedly, “Where have you been? You haven’t said a word,” Tuwaine snickers.

“Probably too distracted thinking about Y/n, I mean I don’t blame him-” Harry shrugs until Tom cuts him off.

“I’ve been trying to keep my mouth shut before I go ape shit on all of you little fuckers,” he snaps, “So would you all keep my girl’s name out of your mouth because she’s my girlfriend and unavailable!” he raises his voice, causing your jaw to drop.

The whole table goes quiet, tension rising. “Fucking called it!” Tuwaine bursts out laughing.

Harrison shakes his head, “We’re not that dumb,” he chuckles.

“I-I’m sorry, what?” you ask, raising an eyebrow.

“We all wanted to know if you two were dating, because it’s kinda obvious,” Harry says.

“So we all decided if we flirt with you, Tom would snap,” Harrison mutters, rubbing the back of his neck, “Which he did.”

“We’re also sorry if we made you uncomfortable in anyway,” Sam says quickly. “It’s alright,” you wave your hand in dismissal, “I knew Tom would break at one point. He spoiled his movies, there’s no doubt he’d spill about us,” you giggle.

Tom groans embarrassed, “Sorry guys, I just. I didn’t like how you were all up on her.”

“You’re good, mate,” Tuwaine grins, “At least our theory is confirmed,” You let out another laugh, shaking your head.

“You guys suck,” Tom huffs rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

taglist

@rcmxnoff​ , @spideyparkerstark​ , @lidixbug​ , @pluckypete​ , @lovewolfspirit​ , @sky-cosplay​ , @janieavalos​ , @averyfosterthoughts​ , @ivvitm1109​ , @yoinkyourheart​ , @tomsppsleeve​ , @zoey-one-oh-fun​ , @tomholland-mcu​ , @cyrusandhiscollaredahirts​

[todomitoukei]

Since it was Dabi’s Bday recently I’d like to share some thoughts/ideas/headcanons about him. I hope you don’t mind, I rlly love your blog.

The flowers Rei thought she received from Enji were actually from Touya, because despite everything, this boy still loves his mom. He cannot resent her for what happened because he knows they were more or less in the same boat and she did try to protect him, which is also why I like to think that at the end of Dabi’s reveal video, when he’s done talking, he stands up to turn off the camera and just before the video cuts out you can hear a whispered “I’m sorry, mom” and the screen goes black. The volume needs to be on max to hear it, which is why most ppl missed it.

I saw this theory that Dabi actually does have 2 quirks, which is how he survived the accident and got his scars. (I didn’t quite get the logistics and I don’t believe it but it’s an interesting concept imo.) The theory is that he got his scars because his body cracked, the way a frozen mug would crack if u filled it with hot liquid. (Skin seems too stretchy to just crack like that tho so idk.) This would explain why his scars are so clean-cut and still need to be stapled. Also, his scars look more like frostbites rather than burn marks but idk. He totally has some form of chronic pain from his scars, or at least from the staples pulling on his skin.

He acts cold towards the LOV members, although he enjoys their company after a long time of being on his own, because he’s scared of getting close to ppl and starting to care cuz he knows how it feels to lose everything he cares about. He doesn’t want to feel what he felt when he had to leave his family ever again.

I rlly think Touya and Keigo knew each other as kids; not necessarily as friends but they’ve talked enough to exchange names at least once. I imagine this happening a bit before Enji caught Hawks’ dad, Keigo finding a patched-up kid near a park, asking him what happened, exchanging names and talking a bit, maybe playing in the park for the afternoon, and not seeing each other again. Just enough interaction for Hawks to later wonder “what happened to that battered kid?”. Dabi recognized him when they met years later during the manga time, he didn’t trust Hawks because his general rule is to not trust anybody, but deep down he hoped. (sry this is my DBHWK addiction talking, ignore this)

After the accident, he had to live on the streets and fend for himself for years, so he’s seen a lot of shit after that, which earned him 1) more trauma, 2) critical and cynical thinking, 3) limited amount of empathy and trust issues, 4) the admirable ability to call out BS like the drama queen he is.

And one thing that bothers me logistically is that we know Touya’s body was not made for a fire quirk as strong as his, but, that could’ve easily been solved with support gear? Like a protective costume to cool his body and limit the fire output to only his hands?? Why tf didn’t Enji bother to provide his oldest kid (who showed much promise to become a hero, mind u) with the proper resources he obv needed? I’m kinda salty abt this ngl.

Anyway, I’m done here. I hope you don’t mind me venting out these ideas. I rlly like ur blog and I felt like you and the lil community u’ve gathered here could appreciate most of these. <3

Thank you so much<3 I’m really happy about all these messages and all the interaction from you guys, it’s much appreciated!

I really love those theories, too! The theory of the flowers actually being from Dabi is one of my favorites. Also the “I’m sorry, mom” hello??? Yeah, I didn’t need a heart anyway, thank you....... :(

The frozen mug, though... a funnier mental image than it should be.

Totally agree with the LOV thing. I really think that part of him is just too fixated on his goals to destroy Endeavor that he can’t really care/think about anyone else, but I also do think that a part of him actively tries to avoid people and the risk of starting to care about them. If you think about how he most likely is aware that an attempt at killing Shouto or Endeavor would also probably result in his own death, he might not want to get attached to anyone because what if he gets second thoughts then? Or what if he dies and they then get sad about it? And he just knows that his faked death hurt his family (that whole “thought so hard about it I went crazy”), so him dying would now also hurt the LOV, therefore he tries not to get close so their pain won’t be as bad as it could be?

Endeavor definitely could’ve helped him, but we’re talking about the guy who gave up on trying to reach his goals after like two years LMAO. Just cannot take this man seriously. They definitely could’ve figured out a way. I mean, Dabi did more or less figure out a way on his own. He uses larger attacks right away and then gets into people’s heads as his secret weapon and as a way to take a little break from overheating. Imagine how proper support items could help him. 

Heroes (and U.A.) focus far too much on their quirks and too little on all the other important skills needed for the job - just look at Uraraka who learned some basic self-defense at her internship, which then saved her life against Toga in the summer camp arc. Meanwhile, U.A. only lets them have some weird P.E. class where all they do is just use their quirks instead of being taught more basic fighting/survival skills? Heroes are just weird, and their education is a joke.

[wendibird]

SPN 15X17 Observations

Well, watching this week went pretty smoothly (and I was actually able to get my little bluetooth keyboard thing to talk to my tablet so I was able to watch on my big TV screen and type up notes fairly easily. :) 

And just to clarify, sometimes my notes as I took them were VERY brief, and in some cases I’ve gone back and added in a few details or explanations to make clear what I meant by what at the time. 

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I don’t always remember to take notes, especially if Important Things are happening. (Do people even like the notes section? Or would you just prefer reading my odd takes on everything after the fact?) 

Anyway, here’s what I have for 15X17 “Unity”. Well, I do have more thoughts drifting around, but I’m always concerned that I’m going on too long as it is. *LOL*  (Under the cut for length and spoiler aversion)

Okay, going in I’ve heard rumors that this is a “Sam Heavy” episode, so we’ll see. *fingers crossed* 

- wow, is Chuck starting in on this world already?

- Silent treatment.

- I wonder if she’s guessed.

- fuck you Dean!

(but I’m not surprised. it just confirms what I’d already suspected about how Dean really feels about Jack.)

Commercial Thoughts:

Yeah, so, I’m firmly in Sam and Cas’ camp here. Jack may not be family to Dean, but he is to them. He’s their Son. 

I also think that though he hasn’t talked about it, Sam regrets his part in the Drama Coffin plan involving Jack last season. Think it’s one of those cases where he realized too late he was on the wrong side, and he doesn’t want to be there again.

As for Dean… I get that he wants to see the people he cares most about make it out of this. (Sam and Cas.) And I get he’s doing the tunnel vision thing. I think he knows that Sam’s right but he won’t let himself admit it.

- Wow….. The fanangels are kinda creepy.

- They’ve lost all their nuance with Chuck. Or my theory is right and Chuck has actually shifted darkside.

- Oh wow…. Amara is really going to bat here.

Commercial Thoughts:

Still not sure how much she’s (Amara) really guessed. She’s acting as though the whole “trapping him” idea is still a go, but what she’d said to Dean, as pointedly as she did, it seemed like maybe she suspected what was really going on and was still trying to give him the option to go a different way.

And even if this is Chuck having shifted dark, it could still be written with more nuance than this crappy villain schtick.

I mean, even in S11 when he’s all but given up on humanity and existence and was going to let Amara win, it was written with there being a depth to him about it.

- Don’t know if Dean’s trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care as deeply to make this easier or what.

- HOw is ADAM still alive?! And she’s an angel?

- Interesting behavior for an angel. *LOL*

- “Then he moved on to our sons.” Hints of Cain and Abel?

- Okay, so the angel kept him alive. (Sure, I can buy that.) 

- Pretty Crystals!

- He’s (Dean) heard those lines before. And Dean’s feeling uneasy about it.

- Amethyst! (Sorry, always had a thing for Amethyst and it’s my birthstone)

- (oh, okay, all of them)

- Ewww….. Open heart surgery

- Rib!

- Dean doesn’t like being rail-roaded.

- Talk time.

- I don’t like this…… (Jack using the rib and starting the suicide-bomb process.) 

Commercial Thoughts:

Okay, so, what Dean said, I’m glad he said it. And I have been getting hints of that feeling from him the whole season, about feeling disconnected because of what they found out about Chuck and their lives. I just… I still think he’s willfully blinding himself to what’s really going on. That even this version of “Free Will” is a script that he’s following. (Well, I think he’s starting to have misgivings about that.)

- Uh-oh! Ideas! 

- I love two researching nerds!

- Were we supposed to understand the Latin? *LOL* I caught “Mortem” in there a few times.

- Yey door!

- “your internal compass is functioning perfectly”

- I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

- Who dat?

- Dead someone or other

- W section.

- Reapers maybe?

- Who’s thinning the ranks?

- Empty!Meg!

- Sam is good! (At bluffing the hell out of an ancient cosmic being.) 

- IT’S A LITTLE LATE TO STOP IT!!!!

Commercial Thoughts:

*FREAKING OUT!!!*

Jack already started it! OG!Adam said that once started the reaction couldn’t be stopped.

Okay, deeper thoughts. Everyone’s playing chess. Still. The game is just bigger.

OG!Adam wants God dead because of stuff that happened. And Billy is following his plan? (Did I get that right?) The plan will make Billy the next God. (Not surprised there honestly.) Her world will be a lot more “orderly” no doubt.

The Empty just wants to sleep. (Honestly, can relate.) 

But everyone’s just using them all as gamepieces again. Dean’s getting that feel from things OG!Adam and Whatserfaceangel said. Sam knows now too. They’re still stuck in someone else’s story. They’re still not gaining true “Free Will”. I’m hoping that the route they take will actually get them off this train track.

- DUDE - WHAT (was in reference to Dean pulling a gun on Sam)

- Go Sam! He’s not letting this one go. (Referring to my feelings on Sam feeling bad about Jack and the Drama Coffin thing from way before, and him NOT settling for Dean’s plan this time, him sticking to his guns and saying what he feels and taking action.) 

- Chuck played her (Amara) too.

- Not again! (Oh Jack, will this forever be your fate?)

- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

Holy shit! That episode!

Okay, it actually did a good job of wrapping up a lot of ideas. Like, big-picture ideas that have been themes throughout the run of the show. 

Also, apparently this was the only world where Cas and the Winchesters broke the mold? Didn’t play by their roles?

Also, minor point but it made me happy: Chuck pointed out how it’s Sam who needed to find things out. Sam who kept digging. I made mention of it last episode how Billy kept going to Dean, because he was easier for her to manipulate. But Sam asks more questions. I think part of it is what Cas said about his internal compass. I think another part is his experiences. He’s been the brunt of the cosmic plot-lines a LOT of the time. So he does keep asking questions because of all the times he hadn’t and things went badly. (Like end of S4 with killing Lilith.) 

And let me be clear, it’s not that I think Dean is dumb. He isn’t. And he and Sam both make decisions a lot based on their feelings. (Sometimes it’s all you have to go on.) But he’s shown a tendency in the past several years especially to be more likely to make them based on anger. And he doesn’t get called on it often. And I don’t know if this is TOO meta (is that even a thing with this show anymore? *LMAO*) but I feel like part of that is written into the script. Of their world. Even when Dean’s wrong he’s often proven “right” by the narrative. He very rarely is made to face up to his mistakes. (Not saying he never is. But it definitely doesn’t seem to happen as often.) And I’m wondering, is that because up till now, he was Chuck’s favorite? We saw that Chuck can manipulate a LOT of things. And events, and even some people. 

How often have we noticed and commented on how the Narrative backs Dean up so much of the time, even when he might be in the wrong? Or even just questionable? Or morally grey? How much of that is possibly now supposed to be due to Chuck’s meddling? Because I’ve also seen it mentioned (and have also noticed) that although Sam winds up the “wrong one” a lot via the narrative, he’s actually HAD to learn and grow because of that. But because Dean is rarely shown as wrong, he hasn’t had to, and his character has stagnated a lot in the last several seasons. Of course, in reality, that’s due to the writing/show-running/powers-that-be making those decisions, but in-show could it possibly be something to do with Chuck? Maybe at first because he liked Dean more? But as time grew on, and he kept trying to set up his Cain and Abel plot with them, maybe it was to reinforce Dean’s self-image that he’s Right? 

And also by contrast, we had the end of last season where so many of Sam’s decisions which had been made with best intentions and best information/resources at the time wound up blowing-up in his face. As if to say "Ha-HAH! That's what you get for thinking you could lead people! That's what you get for thinking you could save Jack! That's what you get for thinking someone like Nick could be redeemed! That's what you get for talking your brother out of the Drama-Coffin plan!" It felt like it was specifically intended to make him severely doubt his own judgement. And it worked. After all that shit went down, one thing after another, culminating with their mother's death, he didn't trust himself. He didn't believe in himself. So he put all his trust in Dean. And Dean was full of RAGE. (I don't blame him. His Mom has been a keystone of his life, even when she wasn't there.) But Sam didn't give the objections he normally would have to Dean's plan to box-up Jack. Even though it was CLEAR how much he didn't like it. How wrong it felt to him.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I think Chuck has been nudging and manipulating a LOT of things in order to get the Winchesters to behave how he wants them to. 

IDK. My head is hurting from some of these meta thoughts. *LOL*

SO! Back to what happened in the actual episode.

I thought the format was interesting, focusing in on the different POV characters for their spans of the story until it all came together. (Wondering if this is going to continue into the next episode…) 

I liked that we got a lot of reveals about what is (possibly) really going on, in regards to the grand schemas. Because there are several at play here. But now we're at least getting glimpses of them. 

Even though we didn't see Billy, I thought the reveal about her plans were interesting, but definitely fit with her character as established so far. I know a lot of people are saying she's gotten drunk with her power or she's "turning evil" but I don't think that's the case. It's true that she hasn't told them everything about her plans, but that's because she's also using them as pieces in her game. But her goal is the same as it's always been since we first met her. She has ALWAYS been about the Natural Order. She never liked how the Winchesters (or anyone else) flaunted death again and again. So once she's in charge? Everyone and everything goes where they belong. The demons stay in hell, the angels stay in heaven, souls go where they're meant to, people from other universes go back (even if there's no universe to go back TO. Tough shit, they'd be dead anyway according to her) and those who have already died and been resurrected? They go back to wherever they should be. (At least, I THINK that was the implication made, with Sam asking Dean if he'd be willing to trade HIM to take-out Chuck. Sam was definitely realizing a LOT when Empty!Meg told him what Billy's plan was.) 

This isn't her turning Evil like has been done with Chuck. It's more, her becoming a more extreme version of what she already was. When she got her promotion, she found out a LOT more things. Including this option of events for taking Chuck out and putting things back to how they belong. And it even started with Dean's aborted Drama Coffin plan. Which eventually fails, because Sam, but it then leads to Jack sacrificing his soul to take out AU Michael, which eventually leads to Mary's Death and Chuck's opportunity to manipulate things more and so on and so forth until we wind up here. 

(Also, just wanna say, absolutely LOVED Rachel as the Empty again!) 

And also, having just watched that scene again, can I just say again how awesome Sam is? He straight-up told the Empty that even if he WAS lying, their best bet is to let him go with the book. And it couldn't really argue with that because he was right! (Well, if it had killed him then and there, Dean probably wouldn't have known right away and probably would have been able to carry out the plan. So there is that. Buuuuut none of them knew that either at the time.) 

And in general, I love how Sam just would NOT give up. This is the Sam Winchester I've come to love. He could feel in his bones that this plan was wrong so he was doing everything he could to not only stop it, but to find some other way to get what they truly wanted. 

I also loved his and Cas' interactions. They were supportive of each other and both were trying to find a way to save their son. (Dean has officially forfeited his Dad-Card in my book. Hell, in his book too.) Also, I remember hearing someone from production, or who was maybe on set or something mentioning something about the Holy Grail in this episode? Well, in that scene where Sam and Cas are looking through those old crates and trunks and boxes, when Cas finds the key Sam is holding this really old looking chalice. Wonder if that's supposed to be what that is. *LOL* I mean, the Spear of Destiny (or at least, the head of the spear) was there in the Bunker, so why not I guess? *LOL*

We didn't get a lot of Sam and Jack interaction, but I liked what little we had. Sam made it clear to Jack that he wants to save him. (I'm really hoping we get SOMETHING more of them in the next episode or two but... yeah. Not a lot of time left.) 

I could go on for some length about my feelings on Dean and how he's been this season. But I don't want this to turn into a fully anti-Dean rant. I will say though that I'd definitely gotten the impression before this that Dean has different categories of people he cares about, and in his mind, he also has them ranked according to how expendable they are. And I'm not just talking about Jack here, though he is a major part of it. But at the end of the episode when he and Sam are having it out, Dean says he's basically willing to sacrifice EVERYONE to get what he wants. 

(I don't think he's actually willing to sacrifice Sam for it though. And yes, I know, he was waving a gun in Sam's face. But I don't believe for a moment he had any intention of killing his brother. Not when Sam asking point blanc if Dean is willing to trade him for killing Chuck, and that seems to be what causes Dean to start listening to what Sam's saying. Also, in the past, Dean hasn't been above threatening people to get what he wants. Like with Kaia. Also in S8's "Trail and Error" when he and Sam were talking about taking out the hellhound, Dean pretty much said if Sam even tries to get close to it, Dean would shoot him in the leg. Now, we never got to see if he actually would have or not, but regardless, it was a case of Dean being willing to hurt Sam a little in order to protect him from something he saw as a bigger threat. In that case it had been taking on the trials. In this case, it would have been to win their shot at freedom. At least in Dean's mind. Not saying I approve! Just, I think that's where his mindset was.) 

And this is a far cry from the Dean who, just a few years ago was willing to be a kamikaze bomb in order to save the world. And yes, Dean has mentioned "Saving the world" this season too. And I'm sure he means that too. But when he was at his most emotional, what he was talking about wasn't saving the world and everyone in it. It was freeing him and Sam from being Chuck's entertainment. And he's willing to sacrifice nearly anyone to accomplish that. At least, he was up til now. I hope that they're going to give him a change of heart before the end because I really REALLY would like the show to end with me not despising Dean and what he's become. Yes, I'm a Sam-girl, but I do care about Dean too. 

Also, I feel bad for Amara and what wound up happening with her. Like many other characters, she fell victim to Chuck's manipulations, and now I'm guessing he's even stronger than before. But also, Chuck wasn't the only one manipulating her. And maybe if they, (Dean especially, since she had a soft-spot for him) had actually been trying to find another way earlier, she wouldn't have fallen to despair when finding out the truth. 

Aaaaaanyway, I think I've rambled enough about this episode as it is. Thank you to whoever actually bothers to read all of this. *LOL*

[bewaretheidesofmarchyall]

Soulmate Shenanigans Part Three: Return Of The Shenanigans

Let’s do this!

At this point, you probably know the drill (and, if not, parts one and two are here and here!)

Basically I found some prompts for September, and now I’m doing them in October just because

Prompt #3

You have an animal that only you and your soulmate can see.

Warnings: Death mentions, brief mentions of drowning (I pinky swear that I’ll stop drowning Janus for the rest of this challenge), brief mentions of house fires (I pinky swear that I’ll stop setting Patton on fire for the rest of this challenge)

World Building

Soulmates had always been an idea bubbling in the back of humanity’s brains. A sort of “hey, this romance thing is complicated, could we just kinda know?”

It was starting to annoy the fates

Do you expect them to do all the work? I mean, what with the spinning, and the looking ominous, and the lack of dental, their job is a hard one, and you want to make it harder by having them weave two people’s stories together?

One day, a fate heard yet another “please, let me meet my soulmate tomorrow” prayer and went nuts

Fine. Fine! You want soulmates? We’ll make soulmates.

The plan was to create two soulmates, make them fall in love

And then kill them.

Just to remind humans where they stood on a cosmic scale. Just to remind them that every story ends tragically, when you get down to the end.

They reviewed a few couples (Some Romeo and Juliet people had promise), but in the end decided. Feuding families? Check. Opposites attracting? Check. Tragedy? Inevitable.

Characters

Patton: Patton grew up inside the hedges.

Hedges were his family’s specialty, so the house was surrounded by them. He rarely got to leave, but he could get lost in the gardens and talk to his imaginary pet, so all in all things were okay. Sure, maybe it was weird to have a blue jay that only he could see, but he was lonely!

See, Patton’s family liked three things

1. Having heirs (but only in theory)

2. Increasingly elaborate hedge mazes

3. Fighting a blood feud the goddamn lawyers

Patton wasn’t really on that list, but he wasn’t on the list of hated things either, so there was that.

List of Hated Things

1. The goddamn lawyers

2. Anyone who associates with the goddamn lawyers

3. Anyone who is descended from the goddamn lawyers

4. Anyone who gets in the way of the blood feud with the goddamn lawyers

5. Dandelions. They’re not serious gardening.

Janus: Janus was, of course, a child of the goddamn lawyers

The lawyers weren’t a clan of blood like the gardeners, but one of merit. And having kids was seen as a conflict of interest, and therefore frowned upon.

Of course, it’s illegal to murder or criminally neglect children, so he was allowed to stick around and have a childhood vaguely reminiscent of John Mulaney’s “one black coffee”, “over on the bench”, and “getting accused of murdering Princess Diana” skits

Most of his childhood was spent accusing his pet blue jay (that couldn’t be seen by anyone else) of crimes and then debating himself about whether or not the bird was guilty, like a normal kid.

However, when it became clear that someone else was stealing his blue jay, he had to find them and give them a piece of his mind, even if they lived behind formidable hedges

The Plot

Patton (about eight at this point) was wandering around the grounds, talking to Sunny (his name for the bird), like every other day, when the strangest kid he’d ever seen in his life appeared through a small gap in the hedges and informed him that the bird was his and he’d be leaving soon

A bird custody battle ensues

Janus uses a lot of legal terminology, which Patton pretends to understand. The debate ends when Patton’s aunt shows up and threatens to chuck Janus over the garden walls if he doesn’t get out immediately.

Janus runs off, but Patton sees him through the hedges later, and he looks kind of sad about the whole thing, so Patton offers to share custody of Sunny. 

Janus perked up at this solution, despite claiming that the bird’s name was really Iago, and a friendship was born.

It was hard for them to chat when both their relatives would love to murder at least one of the kids if they could get away with it, and Patton was separated from him by the hedges, but they managed.

Sunny/Iago was decent at carrying messages, Janus was good at finding secret passages, and Patton had adequate aim when tossing packages over the hedges.

They were best friends for years and years, confidants in their crazy worlds.

At around sixteen, Janus convinced Patton to leave the grounds for an afternoon. The two of them saw the sights (which meant buying/stealing bread) (you can guess who actually bought the bread and who stole it) and had fun

The evening ended with the two of them sitting under a tree, chatting. The dandelions were in that in-between stage where some of them are flowers and some seed-heads, so Patton was able to weave a crown of flowers and make a wish at the same time.

Take a wild flying guess who he wished for (hint: they were currently wearing the flower crown and pretending to not like it, but would secretly never take it off. Ever.).

Patton claimed he’d wished for world peace (which, on further reflection, he felt bad for not thinking of first), and Janus claimed he’d wished for solid gold coins, but they were both lying.

Eventually, Patton had to go home.

Sunny-Iago: Sunny-Iago had gone by many names before. As one of the extra-dimensional lords of fate, they’d been called things like, “THE FUCK IS THAT”, “IT HAS SO MANY EYES”, and “Oh, fuck, that raven’s back again”. It made perfect sense for them to have at least two, despite being in the flesh prison of a blue jay this time.

A damn blue jay.

At least ravens have a little class.

Anyway, their job was to guide two sweethearts together and then drive them into a metaphorical (or literal? It could always be literal) brick wall. This was proving harder than expected, since the most important thing was to not get attached to either of them and well

Sunny-Iago had gotten attached to both of them. It was hard to see kids grow up and be fine killing them off, okay!

But they knew the drill. This had to end in some kind of tragedy. 

So, they had a plan. Instead of having them both killed off because of miscommunication, they’d merely never see each other again and pine after what could have been, eventually turning into a bittersweet story they’d tell to....someone younger and more naïve, or something. They were still working it out!

So, they grabbed a quill pen in their beak and wrote a note to Patton’s aunt (it took several tries. Beaks were not meant for holding quill pens). 

The note said something along the lines of “You know the goddamn lawyers? Of course you do. Your nephew fell for one, last chance to fix the situation is at 10:00 at the gate”.

Back To The Plot

Patton and Janus got back to the gardener grounds. Neither wanted to leave the other’s company, so they lingered at the gate, chatting and finding excuses to stay.

After a few minutes, it was obvious that Patton had to leave. Before doing so, he quickly kissed Janus on the cheek, just in time to get caught by his aunt, who came close to stabbing the both of them with a garden trowel.

When Janus came back a few days later, wilted dandelions still in his pocket, Patton was gone, sent far away from lawyers and love. All that was left was the bird. A stupid bird that no one else could see.

Time-lapse! Seven years later!

Janus was working on the most important legal case any lawyer had in a solid three years.

A gardener had murdered one of his relatives (he kept forgetting which one, which was a bit of a problem, since half of his job was to look tearful about them) with a wheelbarrow, and he was attempting to get them arrested for it. 

If it worked, the gardeners would have consequence for committing murder, which would hopefully tone down the blood feud a little.

Half of the jurors had been rigged by both sides, some paid to vote one way and some paid to vote another. There were, however, six undecided jurors out there.

The Jurors

Logan: Logan is the only person on the jury who knows anything whatsoever about law and what can be done in a courtroom. He actually wants the most just and logical thing to happen. 

Weirdo.

Roman: Roman is an actor in a touring production of Much Ado About A Midsummer’s Ham (Cooked As You Like It)

He just wants this trial process to be over so he can get back to rehearsal-wait, nevermind, the guy with the glasses is cute and he’s going to make this court case last as long as possible.

Remus: Remus is here to cause as much legal chaos as possible

He might get arrested for contempt of court.

Virgil: Virgil gives 0 fucks about anything that happens, but knows more about law than Logan, who knows more about law than anyone else in the court.

Remy: Remy heard from people that court cases are full of juicy drama.

Those people are wrong. It’s just a bunch of legal stuff. He’d rather be at Starbucks!

Emile: Emile is psychoanalyzing everyone else on the jurors section. Especially Remus.

Back To The Plot

The case progresses normally

Well, normally for this town anyway, which means that the goddamn lawyers are dying off fast (mostly of poison).

Janus, however, has managed to dodge every assassination attempt. He’s lawyering like Billy Flynn here!

Late in the afternoon, everyone’s a little tired and a lot bored when yet another witness is called. Janus was pulling his hat over his eyes for shade from the sunlight streaming into the court, when he heard the witness’s voice.

After a seven year disappearance, Patton stood in the courtroom.

Remy leaned forward. He saw the look on Janus’s face. At long last, drama had arrived.

After the court got out of session, Janus dashed down the steps of the building to catch up to Patton. He offers to get a coffee with him, but Patton turns him down, insinuating that he only offered to get information on the gardeners. Janus left, dejected.

Over the last seven years, Patton’s was in the far away land where his family started: New Jersey. While in this cursed place, his family attempted to change him from a dandelion to a venus flytrap, and nearly succeeded.

Nearly.

But when, the next day, his aunt poisons Janus’s water glass (gleefully explaining that this poison doesn’t show up on the standard tests and precautions), he just so happens to be clumsy enough to knock it over before Jan drinks it, and ends up volunteering to get coffee to make up for it.

Coffee meet-ups lead to coffee dates lead to rekindling of old romances (all under the utmost secrecy)

Eventually, the court case comes to a head. 

The six pre-decided jurors work quickly, but Logan debates, and Roman stalls because he’ll be missing Logan, and Remus is forcibly removed from the courthouse, and Emile forgot to take notes, and Virgil sleeps through most of it, and Remy couldn’t care less about this, only caring about what happens with Janus and Patton.

They make their decision

Since they saw like 47 murder attempts over the course of the trial, it’s not a stretch to assume that the gardeners did kill that guy with a wheelbarrow.

Janus and the rest of the prosecution celebrate, and in the excitement of the moment, he and Patton end up sharing a kiss.

That’s the moment the gardeners went from Lowkey Trying To Murder Him to Highkey Trying To Murder Him

Both of them walk home with their head in the clouds

When your head is in the clouds, it’s easy to get kidnapped and thrown in the harbor to drown, especially if you happen to be a goddamn lawyer who just won a case.

And when your head is in the clouds, and you overhear your relatives talking about how they threw the person you love the most into the harbor to drown, it’s easy to make rash decisions

Like grabbing a torch and running into the middle of a prized hedge maze, and threaten to burn it all if his aunt didn’t tell him where Janus was. 

When the answer was “dead, obviously”, Patton took the torch to the shrubbery, and the estate burned.

Problem: Janus crawled to shore and survived. 

Secondary problem: Patton’s not trying especially hard to escape the fire.

Janus got to the house, saw it was on fire, and ran into the grounds. He eventually found Patton (who was still alive and in the hedge maze), but....it’s a very intricate hedge maze, and now there’s smoke everywhere, and they can’t find their way out.

At the last second, Sunny-Iago swooped over their heads, pointing to the exit, and they run after them.

They’re almost out of the burning grounds when Sunny-Iago falls to the ground, still, and they find themselves in another place entirely.

The Fates

The Fates had bet on how good old birdie would kill Janus and Patton off

Knife? was the most common bet, followed by Wolves. No one bet on them living in the end.

Except Meghan (alternate name: The Lurking One), and nobody liked Meghan, and nobody liked losing money. 

So, they were going to do the job personally.

Back To The Plot

Janus and Patton find themselves in a tomb where every grave is theirs. A tomb where every grave is theirs is essentially the office space of the fates, who enjoy the atmosphere.

The Fates themselves take a multitude of forms: Animal, vegetable, mineral, eldritch, you name it.

And they all bicker amongst themselves about how to best kill off the couple.

Knife? Wolves? Triscuits? How??

Janus tricks them into debating the subject round and round in circles, but they eventually come to their senses.

As a last ditch hope, Patton says that they’ll pick the method of death for them if they give the couple a chance to plead for their lives.

The fates agree, and the Final Court Case begins.

Janus is quite a lawyer, but there’s literally a saying about how hard it is to argue with Fate, so its a nail biter of a case. Patton manages to give a passionate defense and Janus brings up evidence, but it’s still anyone’s game how the jurors will vote.

Steve votes for death

The Great Rot votes for not death

Spatula votes for not death

Karen votes for death

Meghan votes for not death

A Clump Of Petunias votes for death

Broken Taco Shells And Broken Hearts votes for not death

That One Relative At Family Reunions That You Pretend To Know But Don’t votes for death

Microwavable Lasagna votes for not death

The Ghost Of Richard III votes for death

That Sock That Always Disappears From Dryers chooses not to vote. What a jerk.

At this point, it’s tied 5-5. Enter Remy, who just wants to go to the extra-dimensional Starbucks.

He deliberates. He hems. He haws. He draws out the moment unnecessarily long for drama’s sake.

But, at the end of the day, he was always rooting for these humans.

Remy votes for not death.

Conclusion

Patton and Janus get to live. Time is very short for humans, and eventually they would both die, but right then and there, they got to live.

Dandelions eventually took root where the carefully trimmed hedges had once been.

And Roman noticed, after his performance was done, that a certain nerd was in the audience.

And he could also see Roman’s blue jay.

Hope you enjoyed!!

[sanderssideswriting]

Youtuber Life chapter 3

Ships: familial sleepxiety and eventual Prinxiety

Words:???

first  last  next

Summary: Remy Sanders is a famous beauty vlogger and just moved to LA with his teenage son Virgil after their location was leaked by fans. Remy AKA CoffeeAddiction has several million subscribers. Virgil also has a secret Drama channel, where he doesn’t show his face and uses a voice modifier. He just hit a million subs and grows more everyday because of the level of production his videos have, the mystery around who he is and the fact that he ALWAYS has the latest information regarding youtube drama.

“INTERN!” Remy called.

Virgil looked up from his laptop where he was currently editing his next video. “Yeah?”

“I’m going to take some of those ‘what youtuber am I’ quizzes who do you think I’ll get?”

“I’d say James Charles but ultimately Cristine from Simplynailogical.”

“Why her? She’s a wonderful youtuber, maybe someday I’ll get the privilege of doing a collab with her.”

“Because I personally relate to Ben on  a spiritual level.”

Remy laughed “because you get me coffee?”

“Of fucking course it’s because I get you coffee.” Virgil said with a smirk. He was happy he was off camera.

“Do you think we’ll see her at the next streamy awards? Or Vidcon?”

Virgil shrugged “probably.”

Remy turned to the camera “Cristine if you see this I’d fucking love to do some sort of colab.”

The video continued as normal with little input for Virgil apart from laughing whenever Remy got James Charles to his dismay.

Remy called Virgil while he was hanging out with Logan, Roman and Patton getting lunch off campus.

“Intern! Where did you put the pallet! That pallet you used on Halloween.”

“I used like 3 different ones, which are you talking about?”

“The one with that really nice purple color you like.”

“In the closet.”

“Stop being a smartass, what shelf?”

“Uhhhhh, back wall middle shelf where it’s supposed to go.”

“No it’s supposed to go on the left wall.”

“I was the one who did most of the fucking organizing! I know where I put it.”

“No it’s no- oh wait never mind I found it. Also pick up some coffee for me.”

“We have an espresso machine! Also no! I’m with friends.” Virgil hung up with a sigh.

“Who was that, your mom?” Logan asked.

“No my dad, he wanted to know where I put something and also wants me to get him coffee later, even though we have an espresso machine,” Virgil said rolling his eyes.

When he came home his dad was still filming.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked halfway down the stairs.

“Motherfucking James Charles made a challenge and I HAVE to do it. Mostly because he fucking said that only the best could. And gurl, I am the best motherfucker!”

“Oh my god we get it your gay for James Charles.”

Remy turned around “What is this slander? In my house? I am not gay for James Charles, I’m trying to out gay him. There’s a difference babe.”

“Sure Jan.” Virgil said going back up the stairs to his room.

Raccoon: Conspiracy theory: My dad is gay for James Charles hiss hiss motherfucker: oh fuck not this again Dukey: Why not? hiss hiss motherfucker: Didn’t they have a huge feud awhile ago because of you? Raccoon: LOL you can’t prove that hiss hiss motherfucker: I have screenshots of you telling us that you did it. Raccoon: Ok so I MAY have done that. but I DID tell my dad, he wanted an excuse to challenge James Charles to something anyway hiss hiss motherfuker: I take it back, your dad might be gay for James Charles Raccoon: Remus is in this chat hiss hiss motherfucker: yeah, you know that Virg Raccoon: he could start a rumor hiss hiss motherfucker: is it that big of a deal though? Raccoon: you’re right, besides your both sworn to secrecy hiss hiss motherfucker: more like a lifetime of middle school blackmail you could release at anytime Raccoon: What? I make sure to keep my bases cover Raccoon: I’m basically SpiderMan Raccoon: but with less morals hiss hiss motherfucker: so Batman Raccoon: no, SpiderMan hiss hiss motherfucker: we get it, you haave a rush on Tom Holland Raccoon: ...

Princey: Hey, want to go see a movie with me, Patton and Logan? Emo Nightmare: What movie? Princey: Knives Out Emo Nightmare: I love that movie, sure

While waiting in line Jack Paul was walking around along with some friends and walked right up to Virgil and the others.

“Got any movie recommendations?” he asked Virgil shoving the camera in his face.

“Parasite. If your not a pussy about having to read subtitles that is. Also blur out fucking faces the four of us are minors,” He said without missing a beat.

Jake was clearly not expecting to hear what Virgil had said and neither had anyone else around them.

Jake walked away with his friends looking shocked, clearly trying to play it off as he left.

“What? It’s a good movie. Also I consider LA youtubers and vloggers to be an invasive species and parasites. I doubt any of us want to be caught dead in a Jake Paul vlog anyway.” Virgil said shrugging it off.

The movie went fine and they all liked it, for different reasons.

Virgil got home and while scrolling through twitter saw it. He’d become a meme once again.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!” He shouted.

He opened the basement door. “SOMEONE FUCKING MADE ME INTO A MEME AGAIN. WHAT. THE FUCK!”

Remy started laughing “what was it this time?”

“I basically told Jake Paul to fuck off and called him a parasite.”

“GURL! NO. FUCKING. WAY! I have to see it now!”

“He didn’t even blur our faces. Which is fucking bullshit since I told him to because we’re minors,” Virgil said.

He still had Twitter open but missed the comment.

That kinda sounded like CoffeeAddict’s intern.

Taglist:

@athenashipsthings 

[blorbosexterminator]

AND I am back. Once again on this lovely day to give my review for the EPISODE 24 so, here we go :

Agustin is squinting his eyes at him, as Sergio keeps muttering that Agustin has in fact done what he just mentioned he did and which both of them have known for years. 

Federico is 99% dead?! Damn, what is Sergio's gonna do?! Make it 100% ? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

(I got a feeling that Federico is the kidnapper or atleast a very important lead to them)

Btw, WHO IS FEDERICO?! Tatiana's alive husband?!

(Look at me, hoping like a moron she aint dead

My dog : Yep, total moron 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Me :

Me : NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR BITCH-ASS OPINION, YOU DUMB-FUCK DONKEY!!!! 😡😡😡)

Martin, my darling, my sweetheart, my poor angel. Nada, some help? Atleast gimme some tips, bruh, come on, you cant desert me like that. Not when I need to help someone 🙁🙁🙁

since, drunk, the last idea he got was that Laura turned out to be completely insane and kidnapped Andrés to marry him

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Martin, honey, stop drinking. This getting out of hand 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. But then again, Andres is so hot poor thing keeps on doubting.

As Roci said in one of the tags, his wives deserve the highest civilian award for putting up with him.

(Although, I just had a frisky thought. What if Sergio wanted Andres away from Martin, not because he cared bout his hermano but......😳😳😳😳😳 *whispers loudly* he wanted Andres all for himself? In *frantically looks around* INCEST WAY?!)

(Calm down, my deranged mind, you went too far 🤣🤣🤣)

Who knows, it could be the professor he punched in the middle of an exam once. Martín doesn’t think he has forgiven him.

Mood, bruh, such a mood 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 NO, OMG 😆😆😆 I didnt do it, but I do kinda have a beef with my Organic prof. I'll go off tangent again, so tell me if you wanna know the story.

He sent Silene in disguise to collect the cctv from the nearby shops and streets. His own cctv has been disabled since the IT bitch ruined it, Martín will kill him when he gets them back.

I think if and only IF Silene finds something good, her % of redemption will increase.

(Raquel s2e7 deja vu, I see what you did there 😏)

And Martin about to go John Wick on anyone & everyone. I tell ya Keanu Reeves will be crying when he sees Martin go nuts. I am willing to bet he'll pull a gun on the poor milkman, who just wanna do his job 😆😆😆

So he calls Bogota, with a little (not that little) handwritten list in his hand with the names of people he thinks he might have ruined their life in the past. 

Martin : Okay, I'll just take out the list and

*the paper rolls out the door, travels around the world for 5 times and comes back while going over top of Everest and bottom of Marina Trench*

No, it’s because when he hated Martín, he had always hated him openly. If he wanted to hurt him, then he’d just try to stab him in the middle of the living room.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Bogota, did Tatiana have any family?”

“No, who of us did, Martín?”

“You literally have 7 children and 7 ex-wives.”

COMEDY GOLD, NADA 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

“Those kids are ungrateful bastards, if I fall dead tomorrow they would just run to see what they’ve inherited.”

Aka THE PLOT of 70% Indian Telenovas 🤣🤣🤣. Also this line alone has so much soap opera vibes 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

He has no choice but to go to fucking Sergio Marquina. And if it’s his wife, then even better. Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer. 

For fuck sake, Martín, Ive been telling you from last 2 ep

Stop. Blaming. Raquel.

Also, 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 damn, these 2 assholes cant keep away from each other. Nada, are we sure these 2 married the right people? As much I am a Berlermo ship stan, this here is just smth else 😆😆😆

Uh-oh 🙁 this asshole son of a bitch just poked the mama bear. And if ANDRES of all people narrows his eyes at you, You are, quoting Martin from last ep, truly, utterly, entirely, thoroughly and wholly fucked.

“Do you know him?”

“Oh yes, a childhood friend, I stole his pencil once and he never forgave me. Have you heard this Paula? Don’t steal your friends’ pencils, they will never get over the betrayal. You could steal the teacher’s ones though.”

“Why did you steal his pencil?” Paula asked seriously, with a delirious tone, and too tired to even move her head upwards. Raquel is gonna kill every single person involved for doing this to her daughter.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sassy Andres = Best Andres. Words that should be written with GOLD. Wisdom passed onto generations

Poor Paula 🤣🤣🤣 I just imagine this in some other situation :

Andres : *saying smth smth*

Paula : *taking notes & asking questions*

Raquel after seeing her daughter :

Look what you made me do

🎶But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

Honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time

I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined

I check it once, then I check it twice, oh!

Ooh, look what you made me do

Look what you just made me do🎶

(Look what you made me do by Taylor Swift)

I am telling you Nada, by the time Raquel will be done with everyone, Uma Thurman will cry buckets because no one, okay?, no one can compete with A MAMA BEAR RAQUEL MURILLO.

“Poison is a woman’s choice of weapon, Anibal. Don’t be disrespectful.”

Again, words of wisdom. Only time hes not being a misogynist.

Also, Andres, my dear, are you speaking this from experience?

(Why do I think that Martin got Tatiana killed cause she poisoned him and Martin had to watch Andres fight for his life in hospital?)

“He won’t say anything, Mama. He’s the one who kidnapped grandma with Silene!”

Is anyone gonna listen to her? Or do I need to bonk Raquel myself? 🤦‍♀️

“Silence!” she screams. “I need to know everything that happened, if we’re getting out of here alive.” 

FINALLY!!!! SOME COMMON SENSE!!!! WE THANK THE LORD FOR MERCY!!!

And as for me, its time for me to say goodbye and goodnight (Cause its quarter to 12 rn in my watch)

AND ILL SEE YALL TOMORROW 🤗 BYE!!! 🙋‍♀️

I'm back as well! And we've finally caught up with each other.

Valid reaction. Sergio is also slowly going insane. Love that for him.

He's hoping he could. We all know this family has beef with that last one percentage.

(we'll see👀👀👀)

Hope is all we got at this point afabgs.

Now, now, don't speak to him like that. He has valid criticism.

I'd help him if I could, but alas (lmfao no, I do love them suffering)

Same recommendation. But he just, poor boy, could nothing to think of. So might as well be Laura. (also fair, who knows, maybe Andrés gets constantly kidnapped and forced into marriage)

Definitely, she's 100%. I really don't know how they do it.

Avsnsjsvjshsjs all theories are valid. Maybe Sergio does want Martín or Andrés, who knows what goes in the head of that fucker.

Seems like an interesting story! I never got along with my chemistry teachers. (Got one once to tell me that he's still not kicking me out of class only because he feels bad for my parents that they have to deal with me and they'll be the ones who will have to deal with the mess lmfao.)

Yes, have some faith in her!

100% accurate. Martín is this close from just shooting random people in the supermarket because they also could be the ones who kidnapped Andrés.

HAHAHA YES. This is exactly how the scene went.

We stan honesty in this house.

So happy you found it funny!!

I can confirm! Like 70% of all Egyptian drama as well.

I don't think he's hearing you well. But afnajscsgsh SAME. Okay look, now I really understand show runners with super homoerotic ships that they refuse to make canon. You try and make two male characters hate each other so much for plot then it slips and gets homoerotic.

Totally agree. This guy isn't making enemies with the right people (they are all dumb, but also none of them have anything that even resembles a moral compass)

Totally agree. This guy is honestly super amusing to watch and it's mainly because he's incapable of taking any situation in life seriously.

This family is really iconic. (love the song agsnsg) but also like Raquel would basically tell her after writing done his notes just put the title on top: things to never, ever, do.

I believe you! They really fucked with the wrong dumb family.

I mean, he's still a misogynist. Maybe some of us really like dagger, has he considered that?

That's as valid theory as any right there.

Hopefully Raquel will finally start listening to the child!

Raquel is the only one with a semblance of common sense.

Hope you had a good sleep! I'll see you tomorrow!

[aspiestvmusings]

ZEP SPOILER PREDICTION?

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD, SO BEWARE...

BASED ON EPISODE 1x01 - 1x10 + MY PREDICTIONS FOR 1x11 - 1x12

LONG & RANTY POST. NOT SO “POSITIVE” THOUGHTS, SO BEWARE: 

So... I’ve had this “feeling” since the Pilot & I kinda got confirmation for my theory in this weeks episode. And if I combine it with the s1 finale (1x12) episode summary, then it could fit, because “Zoey tries to stop something bad from happening” according to the description. 

Everyone thinks that that’s related to her dad, but... ever since that spoiler came out, I’ve suspected it’s related to someone & something else (even though it is pretty certain her dad will be gone at the end of ep 1x11 or early 1x12). I think that’s a reference to something Simon related instead. 

Zoey’s first “real” interaction with Simon was in the Pilot episode, when she heard him sing “Mad World”. In the latest episode, 1x10 he sang the same song again. And I am predicting that the song MIGHT even be heard the third time during the season...in the finale. (or maybe she’ll just come to realize why she heard him sing that again.. in 1x10)

We’ve seen how Simon has been unable to deal with his grief, to move on, to let go. We’ve seen how it has destroyed him, his relationships... everything. And if we listen to the lyrics (original song by “Tears for Fears”, the extra sad newer version by Gary Jules), and think of Simon’s behaviour (he really is the great pretender”!...as demonstated well in many little scenes in 1x02 & 1x03...for example), I think it’s possible he’s gonna try to go down the same path his dad did. And that’s the “bad thing” Zoey is trying to stop in the s1 finale. 

On this note: I can’t believe that Zoey still hasn’t figured out why Simon was put in her path..at this time. She’s not just supposed to help him, he’s supposed to help her. She’s supposed to learn from him and not make the same mistakes (since she’s not figured that out yet, she’s going down the same path as he is). Simon has been avoiding his grief, and it has made him a mess. He’s not talked with anyone about it..really, he’s not talked about it with his loved ones, and it lead to destroying himself, and his relationships. 

And guess what Zoey has been doing...ever since we met her? She’s avoiding dealing with “her daddy issues”, and it has made her a mess, and ruined many of her relationships (best friends, relatives...). Until she realizes that she’s not supposed to make the same mistakes, and she’s supposed to learn from him, it’s not good. She’s ignored or forgotten (by the next day) all good advice from her friends and family...on this.. and she can’t take it all on her own..she needs to share the grief with people who care about her... to be able to deal...with it all... 

Yet...

                      *************************************************

This weeks episode (1x10) did what I expected, and I know that the show is trying to claim everything Zoey is doing is affected by her grief...and that’s why she’s a mess, and that’s why... all... but I still can’t believe that (even if it’s the “anger” phase of her grief) she still hasn’t figured out that the lyrics of the songs that people sing tell her how she must help them. And she still, to this day, has not helped Simon with his grief. And according to the rules Mo wrote down...that’s “no good” - she must help the person singing...with the “problem” they have. She might’ve not wanted the power & it might not be fair to have to help people...especially at a time when she’s losing her dad... but they established that she must... in order to make all good. 

She can “hear” (thanks to her power) how Simon feels, and yet she hasn’t actively helped him with his grief. And I know the writers are trying to say that it’s because of her own grief (and going through the stages herself), but it has just surprised me how she focuses all her energy on pursuing the engaged (until recently) man...romantically... (obsessively, so), instead of helping him (and instead of focusing on the #1 man in her life..her dad... and I still can’t believe she’s avoided that til now... cause she’s wasted so much precious time... til the very last minute... and she now has so little time left with him...cause she’s been focusing all her energy on trying to repeat her past relationship mistakes... -- and go for the complicated, exhausting for everyone... option,-- ). She’s spent so much energy on obsessing over the engaged (til 4 days ago) man, while claiming she has no time for any romance... (her words & actions don’t match!). 

Her heart song to him in 1x08  also said “didn’t I see you crying?”, so she is (deep down) aware that that’s the emotional state she was him in, and yet they have not had a real, proper, discussion on how to deal with the grief! And hearing him sing the same song again in 1x10 should’ve told her that the man is still “stuck”...still... and that means she didn’t really help him...yet. Which means she must try to help him...again...til it works. (and in helping him she’ll help herself... and learn from his mistakes..and not repeat them..)

Also looking forward to the day when Zoey realizes that the thing that bothers her about Simon is what bothers Max about her: She doesn’t like that Max is pursuing her & yet she is pursuing Simon the same way....at a time when she claims she needs to focus on her dad. She doesn’t like that Simon has no clarity (doesn’t return her feelings... doesn’t want to start anything), but she doesn’t understand that she’s doing the same thing herself...to Max - she has no clarity herself. And if she’s allowed to not like how Simon doesn’t give her an answer & be upset that he doesn’t like her back...then it should be OK for Max to not like how she doesn’t give him/her BFF an answer & be upset that she doesn’t seem to like him back. 

The moment when she realizes tha parallels..is what I'm looking forward to. For her (and some of the viewers) to realize how the things that bother her about Max’s behaviour are parallel how she herself has behaved. (fans claim “Max is pushing Zoey to love him back & going after her...strong”, but what has she done all season? “Zoey has been pushing Simon to love her back & going after him...strong”) The two storylines are exactly the same. And that’s done on purpose on the show. 

She claims she has no time to focus on romance, cause she’s so caught up with her dad & grief, so it’s not the right time to pursue romance, yet she spends much of her screentime actively wishing for & pursuing a romace with Simon. She has the time to go to dinner with him (at a time when I expected her to practically move in with her parents...for the last few weeks), yet she doesn’t take time to actually get her BFF a “congrats on the promotion” gift...when in contrast she gets the “just-broke-up-his-engagement” man a housewarming gift... (she had 4 days to buy that pen/mouse... but she didn’t, but she got the plant for the same night. Same with telling Mo how she’s upset about the Simon news...while not even a mention of Max’s news - move to 6th floor. It’s like they really never were friends...cause she voices no concerns about losing a good programmer & friend...only “worrying” about her office crush...). #WhyAreTheyWritingHerLikeThat  #SheCanGoThroghTheAngerPhaseWithoutBeingExtraRude

To me..that shows just how much she really “cares”. And she might be grieving & a mess..but right now...she does not “deserve” Max...as her BFF (even though she needs her BFF...at this time) Until she’s done processing her grief & done some therapy, and focused on herself... she should do as she says, and focus on her dad, her family, herself. Make her words match her actions. (and yes, this latest ep provided that “turn” ..for her...and all the characters... as the sun will shine again...after the storm... but not before another “storm cloud” passes)

Or...in other news: I LOVED!!! how everyone told their truths to Zoey in this episode. She might be grieving & going through the stages of grief (but so are a lot of people around her....and they don’t create conflicts over this), but that doesn’t make it OK how she sometimes behaves. (Just like Simon grieving does not excuse any of his behaviour...where he was emotionally cheating on his fiancee, and kissing other women while still enaged... etc) So... the scenes where everyone told her the harsh truth...were some of my faves in this episode: Mo, her mom, (even Joan...through looks), Simon, and especially Max!) IMO she really needed to hear all of it! (and more) 

And this makes me sad that I am saying this, but... I wish Max/Zoey wasn’t the endgame...after all this. But it’s a fact that they are. But Max is a much better person than I am. And unlike me (I see the world in black & white only...and while I know it’s very human & all.. I am not a fan of “messy human feelings” -  it’s all just too irrational for my taste), he sees all the colours. And mostly...he loves her..unconditionally, so he’ll “forgive her”. But for me her indecisivness, “1 step forward, 2 steps back” w. Simon (”we’re done, this is over, no more” claims... which she takes back/forgets the very next moment/episode... because... -- she won’t be doing this no more.. but then she finds out his engagement ended...so she’s back obsessing over pursuing him...even though she just made a promise to herself to not do just that --) behaviour, and all that.. cannot be “excused” or “explained” with grief. It hasn’t worked...on screen...for me. But it has allowed some TOP acting from Jane, and Skylar, and John, and Alex...and everyone else. This  cast just keeps being amazing!

But no matter how much I’ll “fangirl” over the S1 finale M/Z moments and possible future M/Z endgame... for me it’s not the payoff... anymore (due to how S1 was written) ..it’s gonna be the unfortunate end result. Some people love TV drama, I just aren’t a fan of such messy drama... I’m simply too rational to get irrational behaviour (what writers & people call “very human” & “this is what grief & hurt does to a person”). I get the intent & get the reasons behind it, but it’s too irrational for me to like it. (cheating is cheating, you can’t take back what you’ve said/done...especially if you make the same mistake again...) #hurtpeoplehurtpeople

I’ve expressed some of these every thoughts in my previous tags and online comments... and now I just have confirmation from the ep that they did really take the exact route I did not ever want the show to take (once is a mistake, twice/three times is a pattern...). But nonetheless... M&Z is endgame. So...my only hope & wish is that there will be a S2, so we would see REALLY work on earning back her BFF (Max’s) trust and friendship. She has to work for it IMO. And she must be compleely honest with him...as she promised...and this now includes telling himall about her grief, “the triangle”, her moments with the engaged/just broken up man... That is the one thing that is a must. 

(And no, Max isn’t that much hurt because she didn’t ask him to stay or petty cause she doesn’t return the feelings, he’s upset cause no-one even came to say “good luck”, and his best friend didn’t even bother to get him the “good luck gift” - to him it’s like confirmation that they don’t care or appreciate him as a co-worker. It’s like his peer reviews... He’s said why he’s upset. And he’s not upset cause she doesn’t return his feelings, cause through her heart song he knows for a fact that she has romantic feelings for him + he noticed how she checked his body out (Mo’s makeover)...and that “she’s his”. He’s upset that even though she has feelings for him, she avoids them & him. And that she’s pursuing the engaged man, making him her second choice & no one wants to be the “other/second (wo)man””. She claims she can’t do more than friendship right now...cause of everything related to her dad & yet... she is pursuing more than friendship with the other guy... so once again she wasn’t honest with him... and that’s gotta hurt cause they’ve been BFFs forever...)

This latest episode, once again, used parallels...lots of them. 

Z: “You should know...what you did yesterday was really rough.”

M: “I was just..taking care of me. It wasnt personal.” 

Z: “When I told you aboout my powers, I also told you I was gonna be 100% honest with you, do you remember that? OK, so here’s the truth: I think it is personal. I think youre mad at me. Youre mad at me for not saying what you wanted to hear. And now youre trying to teach me some kind of a lesson.” 

M: “Oh, is that what you’re think?” 

Z: “That’s what I think. Why else would you take the 6th floor side? You’ve been there wor whoppin 2 days.”

M: “I dont know. Maybe because people actually like me on the 6th Floor. Do you know that Ava has said to me mor ein those 2 days than Joan  has in the last 5 years? Oh and it’s also a huge opportunity for me and my career. have you ever thought about that?” 

Z: “So you’re just gonna leave behind everybody that helped you get there? Is that the idea?” 

M: “See it how you wanna see it.” 

Z: “Nobody down here understands why Ava wanted you in the first place. Just FYI.” #ThisWasLowAndTotallyCruelThingsToSay

M: “Maybe it’s becase I’m a good person.” 

Z: “...or a very selfish one.” 

M: “YOU are calling ME selfish? Look... I have spent far too much time worrying about other peoples happiness more than my own. Especially yours. And I think that its finally time I focus on my own happiness for a change.” 

Once again the use dialogue about one relationship to parallel another relationship. If we change the words a bit & apply it in reverse, we get: 

M: “You should know...what you did yesterday was really rough.” [their 1x07/1x08 conforntation - her revealing she has feelings for him...but then taking back the words & running to another man... while claiming your focus has to be only on your dad]

Z: “I was just..taking care of me. It wasn’t personal.”

M: “When you told me about your powers, you also told me you were gonna be 100% honest with me do you remember that (Think back... have you really been that?)? OK, so here’s the truth: I think it is personal. I think you’re mad at Simon. You’re mad at Simon for not saying what you wanted to hear. And now youre trying to teach me/him some kind of a lesson.”

Z: “Oh, is that what you’re think?”

M: “That’s what I think. Why else would you avoid your best friend & obsess over an engaged man...while claiming you can’t deal with romance at this time when you should focus all your energy on your dad? You’ve known the new guy for a whopping 2+ months...compared to your best friend of 5 years.”

Z: “I dont know...:” 

M: “So you’re just gonna leave behind everybody that helped you get here (ditch your best friend, end your traditional movie nights together, dive into yet another overly complicated-exhausting for everyone-not good relationship with an engaged & grieving man...? You’re avoiding the most important man in our life = your dad, & dealing with your grief, you’re pushing away your best friend, whose always been there for you. And you’re opening up to a stranger instead of your best friend...and saying that’s a positive behaviour. Is that the idea?”

Z: “See it how you wanna see it.”

And Max’s decision in 1x09 & 1x10 was explained by Zoey's speech in 1x09..once again the two storylines are parallels as I already mentioned after last ep: 

Z: “I will never be “the other woman”. Nonetheless..I care about you. A lot. We have a chemistry & a bond that’s undeniable. And I guess I was hoping that after the kiss you’d have some clarity... about all of it. Clarity ... you still don’t have. And maybe never will. So... I have to make a change.... instead of just sitting around, and waiting...and hoping for something to happen...So..this is me...saying to you...officially... I can’t, and I won’t do this anymore. 

If we change the words a bit & apply that to M/Z, we get  why Max made his decision & what he’s really saying to her: 

M: “I will never be “the second choice (when youre my first...but clearly I am only 2nd choice for you)”. Nonetheless..I care about you. A lot. We have a chemistry & a bond that’s undeniable. And I guess I was hoping that after the heart song you’d have some clarity... about all of it. Clarity ... you still don’t have. And maybe never will. So... I have to make a change [move to 6th floor, putting distance between us].... instead of just sitting around, and waiting...and hoping for something to happen...that might never happen. So..this is me...saying to you...officially... I can’t, and I won’t do this anymore.”    

She is a complete mess & she still doesn’t realize the parallels. How what bothers her about Max’s behaviour (towards her) is exactly what bothers Max about her behaviour. If she feels she “has the right” to be upset with Simon over these things (no clarity, not telling her he likes her back), then she has to realize that her BFF also “has the right” to be upset with her...over the same things. And she keep projecting...her own fears and denial..into others. And I get what the writers wanted to say, but for me personally... it’s made me dislike the character, and the writing, and all, because I don’t really “understand” why she/writers would “excuse” it all with her grief making her “act crazy”. She keeps avoiding her best friend & her dad’s situation.

We know that it’s because with Max she’s got a lot to lose (the connection is deeper, there’s more to lose), while with Simon it feels “easy” and theres nothing to lose, cause they don’t have that deep connection. Just grief bond....which she keeps mixing with something other. And she doesn’t listen to reason from her friends: Mo, Max... and they can’t help her get through this all if she won’t let them in... 

And in the next eps...when THE DAY she’s been most scared of..arrives (her dad), shes gonna need her best friend, Max. And he’ll need her, cause he was close to Mitch, too. So they’re both gonna acively grieve. But before that they needed/need to “have hard conversations” and be completely honest with each other. The 1x10 “fight” was the turning point, now they just need time to figure things out...separately (as individuals, not as a duo) and realize...things. 

[xxskycrystalxx]

Mystic Pop Up Bar Thoughts - Ep. 9

First off, can I say just how much this episode revealed and the amount of tears and angst there was? Just a warning ahead of time... THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD SO DONT READ IF YOURE NOT CAUGHT UP!!!

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I want to talk about Death/Yeom first. Death was totally not chill this episode. We find out that he supported the prince in the past, even when his son was being beheaded in front of him (serves him right tho for all the crap he pulled), and you can see that this time he’s siding with his son, with all the bad stuff he’s been doing this episode. Like I understand why Death is doing these kinds of things but it kinda hurts to see him betraying and sewing discord between Kang Bae, Weol-Joo & Chief Gwi. Honestly I don’t think he’s a bad guy, but he’s just trying to be a father to his son. I also want to point out how he was wearing white when he was performing his duties, and this time around he was wearing black when he killed the man. That just goes to show that he changed, and not in a good way.

The whole scene of Kang Bae figuring out that they couldn’t close his spiritual vision, and everything was quite heartbreaking seeing that Chief Gwi & Weol-Joo felt horrible about it and wanted to try everything to solve it for him. They treat him as their own son, so it’s pretty hard. The way they were just sitting in silence after Kang Bae left was so sad, and I felt it. Which leads to Weol-Joo’s sacrifice. I mean, if I could say I didn’t tear up during this scene and Kang Bae finding out, it would be a lie. The way she cares so much for him, like her own son, is just so heartwarming but doing so is at the cost of her reincarnation and being sent to the hell of extinction for knowing classified info, and it just breaks my heart. This is the heart of a mother. Sacrificing their own life for their child.

It was a heartwarming moment to see the mother reunited with her son, and I just rlly felt bad for her son, all the things he had to go through, and Kang Bae as well. He had such a sad and horrible childhood, he deserved better. After the whole reunion, Weol-Joo said that the mother was lucky she could find her son again, when she never got to see her own son, and my head literally BLEW UP!!! All the theories of Kang Bae being Weol-Joo & the prince’s unborn child was true, and it confirms the theory that Chief Gwi is the prince, and I’m crying all over again. To think that Chief Gwi & Weol-Joo treated him as their adopted son, when in reality he rlly is their son, and they’re actually a family! 😭😭 Our theories are correct and it’s the greatest thing, but then it just reminds me of all the angst we’ll have to go through soon... 😣

With that revelation, I can totally see the father/son dynamic between Kang Bae & Chief Gwi very clearly now, and the way Chief Gwi literally is such a father to Kang Bae, makes my heart hurt. The way he goes to Kang Bae after the whole ordeal and tries to cheer him up and apologize was so wholesome, and the way they were walking together was so nice to look at, seeing as they really are father and son. When Kang Bae said that his “parents” could be out there looking for him, I’m just like, “THEYVE LITERALLY BEEN NEXT TO YOU THE WHOLE TIME YOURE NOT ALONE!!!”

To end things up, I saw the preview, and I kinda screamed a bit when Weol-Joo asked if Chief Gwi liked her or something. Like girl! Ofc he likes you! The way he protects her, helps her, supports her, is screaming that he likes her. Why else would he go down there, stay there and help you when he could’ve been the chief of police? I’m literally reeling and counting the minutes until they’re endgame, and confessions ensue!

I’m really not looking forward to MPUB ending next week. I’ve honestly grown so attached to this drama that it’s hard for me to imagine that it’s ending. Also the amount of angst we’ll have to go through in the last two episodes is no joke, so prepare yourselves, grab a box or two of tissues, get some comfort food, and get ready for a wild ride. We’re gonna need it.

[hawkinslibrary]

i love hearing what you have to say about season 4!! i promise it’s not too long lol, anyway i have a question for you: what do you think the next season holds for mike & el? i’m a little worried tbh

ahhh thank you !! same rules apply: spoilers ahead, so please read no further and blacklist/filter out the ‘s4′, ‘st4′, ‘spoilers’ tags if you don’t want to see anything !! 

i’m going to talk about them both as individuals and as a pair but first, i have to say that i don’t personally feel like you have to worry about them breaking up or anything again this season. i think s4 is really going to establish romantic jopper and once that happens, i don’t see them, mileven, or jancy not being endgame unless someone actually dies. which -- i’m not going to think about the possibility of anyone dying until i’m forced to confront it, so. this is fiction and it’s already unrealistic and i’m gonna take my ‘everyone survives, happiness all around, time to relax’ endings and go. anyway, i would love to add lumax to this list but i honestly think it could go either way depending on what happens in s4. that’s a different essay, though.

i tend to think that the most important dynamic on the show is the one between the whole group and i just don’t really see them spending much more time trying to develop romantic relationships outside of the ones set up since s1/2. maybe steve, robin, and will get love interests, maybe they decide to develop dustin and suzie more, maybe suzie is never even mentioned again, idk. but these will probably all be secondary -- as in less screen time, not less important than the main romances, but probably still less developed. unless it happens to be a new person added to the main cast. which, as of now, the only new mains are brett and priah who has gone from recurring to regular. so.  

i think s3 showed how messy and complicated romantic relationships (or, really just relationships in general) can be. everyone was arguing, there was miscommunication all around, everyone thought they knew what was best, no one was seeing eye to eye. but when it comes down to it, they would do anything for each other. they understand each other better than anyone else ever could. i can’t see them spending another season on breakups and romance drama after the ending of s3.  

mike and el have already been separated once before. this time, mike knows for sure that she’s alive and that’s she’s with the byers. this time, el won’t be kept completely isolated away from everyone else. they’ve made plans to meet for the holidays. they can still call and talk to each other as much as they want. i’m hoping they handle being separated this time better than they did in s2. i don’t want mike to be moping and i don’t want el to spend a lot of the season thinking about how much she misses him. in fact, i think in their case that some distance could be good for them. the same for jancy and jopper, too, honestly. it’ll be nice to see them existing outside of these relationships while still acknowledging how important they are.   

as far as i know, the byers and el stuff has not started filming yet so all there is to speculate on are rumors, the audition tapes, and logical guesses about where the story goes after s3. el obviously moves away with the byers. we still don’t know where. she’ll still be mourning hopper and trying to figure out life without her powers. and, of course, she’ll be in a long distance relationship with mike. i think she’ll be having a hard time and she’ll wish that mike was around, but she’ll realize she’s got a pretty good support system around her now with the byers, too. i’m very, very excited for more joyce and el content particularly, but there’s gotta be some great scenes with her and will and jonathan as well. 

there’s only one audition tape that i can confidently tie into the byers + el plot(s?) and it’s the queen bee/mean girl character ‘angela’. if we’re running with the whole ‘there may be some truth to the audition vids’ thing, then this one teases that el will be going to school and that angela will be bullying her. this is something she would probably want to talk about with mike (b i g troy s1 vibes) but i don’t know if she actually would ? so this is probably more a thing that el and will could bond over or that she could talk about with joyce or maybe jonathan. i do think there will be at least a few calls between the two of them before the action really hits and the whole group is (hopefully...) reunited.

so, el -- at least in the beginning of s4 -- will be going to school where ‘angela’ bullies her, forming a bond with joyce + will + jonathan and becoming part of the family, mourning hopper (+ hopefully having conversations about him + his past with joyce), missing her friends back in hawkins, continuing to learn how to navigate life without her powers, and trying to maintain a long distance relationship with mike. 

mike... i’ve been seeing some wild theories about him today but they aren’t really that far-fetched i think. first, going back to the audition tapes, the ‘eddie’ audition i saw makes it seem like mike is going to be part of the hellfire club with dustin. i’ve recently learned that there’s another version of the scene where ‘eddie’ is only talking to dustin and mike might not be a part of the club after all. if he isn’t part of the club, then the basketball v. hellfire, jocks v. nerds thing turns into lucas v. dustin and mike’s probably there just caught in the middle while max is off distancing herself from everyone.

at this point, i really want mike and max to become good friends. i think the end of s3 gave them the perfect opportunity. s4 max has s2 mike vibes. it’s not the same situation at all, but he knows kinda what she’s feeling and they could connect through that + the fact that they’ll both be missing el. i also just really want... some wheeler siblings content. i’m hopeful that s4 gives us good nancy and mike scenes bc there’s no reason not to give us good nancy and mike scenes (+holly!). however...

while there’s proof that gaten and sadie and natalia and priah have all been filming since production restarted, and while i have reason to believe that caleb has been filming a lot inside/at the studio recently... there’s no evidence that finn has been on set. there’s none for maya and joe, either, but people have said that finn isn’t even in atlanta right now. maybe he is and maybe he just hasn’t been seen and maybe he’ll pop back up tomorrow. or, maybe he already filmed whatever he needed to film for hawkins before production stopped.  

the wild theory that’s popped up today is that everything gets to be too much for him in hawkins and he just... hops on a train to go visit el + the byers. i don’t know if i buy it, but it is interesting to note that he was sitting with them at the table read. and since we can guess that steve and robin will still be working at the video store, robin and nancy will be investigating pennhurst together, lucas and max may have some angst, joyce and murray are probably teaming up for the finding/saving hopper plot, and el is going to bond with will and jonathan, it seems like the order might mean a little something. i’d even bet that dustin and erica have scenes with them bonding over d&d.    

now this theory pretty much only exists because no one’s seen finn on set and one of the paps posted some pics of some trains. there’s also always theories about how there will be issues at home with the wheeler fam and if that’s going to happen, what better time than in s4 when all of his friends are pulling away and el’s gone again. so if he is missing el (and will) that much, and if he has any reason to worry about her and how she’s doing, or if the party becoming distant and issues at home are weighing on him and he feels like he needs to get away, he’s absolutely the type to venture off on a train by himself. i don’t know how it would work since he’s definitely supposed to still be in school and his friends/nancy at least would notice he’s gone, but.. it’s fun to think about and we’ve got zero actual content to go off of right now.  

another way i could see mike’s plot going is that he’s the one trying to keep the party together this season. playing mediator with lucas and dustin, becoming better friends with max, being the connection between the hawkins plot and the byers plot (along with nancy). 

there was also talk of him joining the track team bc the track has been set up with hawkins high colors for filming. but mike ‘this isn’t a stupid sports game’ wheeler? i don’t think so... basically, no one knows at the moment what’s happening with mike wheeler in s4 lol.

s4 mike is just like s4 byers fam -- a complete mystery to me currently. i don’t personally think that he’ll be leaving school and hopping on a train to visit el. i think he’ll be a part of the hellfire club with dustin, or that he won’t and instead will be attempting to keep the party from completely disbanding. i hope that we get wheeler siblings scenes and that max and mike have a breakthrough and become better friends. i also feel like he’ll be having some complicated feelings about hopper, the last interaction they had, etc. and, again, the whole long distance thing with el. 

so... mike and el broke up in s3. it was messy. but then they reconciled. and then hopper “died”. s3 ended with them at this weird place where she’s heard him say that he loves her and she’s told him that she loves him back. things are a little awkward in the scene bc everything has changed at this point, but a kiss, an ‘i love you’, planning to meet up on the holidays, and promising to call frequently all sounds like they’re back together and going to try making the long distance thing work to me. 

i think they’ll be together when s4 starts. i think that we’ll probably only see them talking on the phone or their radios for the first few eps. maybe we’ll see flashbacks or something to them being together on the holidays. the distance might be hard and they’re definitely going to be missing each other. like... el doesn’t have mike or hopper with her now and i’m thinking the party is going to be drifting apart, plus they’re both probably going to have other personal issues that have nothing to do with each other or the party. maybe they’ll be experiencing some emotional distancing of their own while dealing with the aftermath of hopper’s “death”, the move, and whatever’s going on with them at home and at school. i think that once they reunite (probably not until the last half of the season), they’re likely to be stronger than ever. 

now, onto personal theories that have zero basis. for some reason, i can’t get it out of my head that this season might dive into psychological horror a little bit ? like a greatest fears type of thing ?? and i keep thinking about brenner popping back up and using the people el loves to get to her or something and 👀👀