#episode 8 fixit

[iamafanofcartoons]

How to properly respond to someone mockingly claiming that your favorite show sucks

1. Have Tumblr and Youtube links that support your favorite media handy.

2. If they say “I know tons of people in real life who agree with me” , ask them for screenshots or proof. They’ll say people in real life who agree with them because they may not have people online who do. 

3. If they say “I have tons of people on Twitter/FB/Reddit who agree with me”

Remind them of the toxicity of said sites, and provide a screenshot of said toxicity.

4. If they claim “This show repeats many old and conventional mistakes that should never be practiced”, ask for specific scenes or episodes , and have an article/blog/video ready as a counter-point for their “Grievance”

5. More than typically, they’ll be actually just parroting some random person’s words to sound smart. Such as “I’m studying it, its an example how not to write a show”...they’re just repeating a bad-faith critic, in an attempt to sound high and mighty.

6. More often than not, they will say “This dude writes fanfics better than the writers”. Point out to them how said fanfic writer forcibly removes all LGBT content, embraces the “reason why you suck” trope towards female main characters, and show them how their idea of a superior writing fanfic involves replacing female main characters who are typically queer-coded with a straight white male, while straightwashing queer-coded women into being the ship partner for said straight white male.

7. Given the plethora of hate videos or hate-watchers on youtube, it may not actually work to accuse them of not having watched the show. They probably have hate-watched. Instead, ask them if “are we even watching the same show”. Use certain scenes from different episodes to get their take. Look for examples of cognitive dissonance when it comes to how they look at a scene, which will be mirroring that of hate watchers.

8. Ask them about certain LGBT pairings, female main characters, or male white antagonists. Base your responses and counterpoints to them depending on how they respond.

9. They will no doubt get defensive and angry when you ask them to explain their hatred. Explain to them that you were not pleased with them telling you your show that you like sucks, and if they’re so upset about you picking holes in their bad-faith claim or defending the show, then maybe they were in the wrong to be so negative.

10. Please remember to be respectful and polite when doing so. They’ll accuse you of “toxic positivity”, “unable to take criticism” but remember they’re the ones spewing the negativity and getting defensive over somebody not hating what they hate.

11. Remember...Tumblr is where we enjoy things, and support other people enjoying things. If somebody wants to be hateful and mocking, kindly remind them that there are two sites, twitter and reddit, who embrace shitting on what other people love...and look what has happened to those two sites. Then ask them why are they here if they’re just being haters?

12. Just because they hate your favorite shows, doesn’t mean its bad. Do not give in to negativity...that’s what they want...to tear down your enjoyment of things, so they can shove their badly written fixit fanfics in your face.

This post was for fans of Legend of Korra, She-Ra and The Princesses of Power, and RWBY.

[bittermoonswrites]

Hello, can I ask from this ask game :

https://www.tumblr.com/threecheersforinking/677824836625694720/anime-ask-game?source=share

For anime/manga : Haikyuu, Kuroko no Basket, Jojo Bizarre Adventure and Jujutsu Kaisen.

Thanks 🌻

Haikyuu!:

Favorite Character: Hinata Shouyou

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Karasuno vs. Aoba Johsai at the spring high

Character I Think is Underrated: Yaku Morisuke

Character I Think is Overrated: None of them!

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Iwaoi

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: I love how optimistic Haikyuu is through the very end.

Kuroko no Basket

Favorite Character: Kuroko Tetsuya. He isn't Shonen Hero Material—he isn't loud, flashy, and a smooth talker that's the center of attention. He's practically invisible! Nobody notices him! But he is our hero anyway. I love that the manga's name isn't Kagami's Basketball, it's Kuroko's Basketball. This is his game and how he wants to play it on his terms without living in the shadow of the Generation of Miracles.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Seirin vs. Touou at the Winter Cup

Character I Think is Underrated: Himuro Tatsuya, his foil potential to both Kagami and Murasakibara was excellent

Character I Think is Overrated: it's been a long time, I can't think of who I'd say is overrated

Favorite Ship/Pairing: AkaFuri

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The animation still mostly holds up ten years later. Production IG was on the top of their game for the anime, and a lot of their sports anime since have disappointed me when it comes to animation quality.

JJBA

Favorite Character: Kishibe Rohan

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: too many to name—a few are True Man's World in Part 7, Red Hot Chili Peppers in Part 4, Made in Heaven in 6, anything with Joseph Joestar in Part 2

Character I Think is Underrated: Yasuho in Part 8. I would kill to have her stand Paisley Park IRL, it's perfect for the digital age.

Character I Think is Overrated: very hot take but Giorno Giovanna

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Tie for Jolyne/Hermes and Gyro/Johnny

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: I've been a JoJo buff for so long that I don't even know if it's good anymore, I'll keep watching and reading it.

JJK

Favorite Character: Tied between Gojo, Geto, and Megumi

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Hidden Inventory

Character I Think is Underrated: Shoko

Character I Think is Overrated: Sukuna. Yes, it's a hot take, but I find Kenjaku a lot more interesting as a character. Sukuna is just evil because he's evil, and to me that's kind of boring.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Satosugu

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: Hidden Inventory. Every JJK fic I've written is a fixit for Hidden Inventory. It's literally fueled 4 years of brainrot.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (20-26 Aug 2023)

my absolute fave line in all of heartstopper, so glad they left it unaltered

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😍 how a resurrection really feels (LiarsandThieves22) - 176K, steddie - post s4 fixit with a timeline merge - just brilliantly executed, lots of great emotional moments as well as even more laugh out loud ones. Big, big rec.

🙂 The Wedding Bait (Golden Years #1) (Adele Buck, author & narrator) - novella; cishet romance but MCs in their 50s, which was a nice change

😊 Murder at the Village Fair (Miss Underhay Mysteries #13) (Helena Dixon, author; Karen Cass, narrator) - Matt & Kitty are on a sort-of delayed honeymoon & get involved in murder in Yorkshire while visiting his aunt

😊 here there be dragons (theundiagnosable) - 66K, original hockey fic - epitome of sunshine/grumpy - POV char has extreme anxiety/anxiety-induced paranoia/anger outbursts due to fear etc - he gets better & it does end very happily but first we gotta watch him train wreck everything & suffer (to be clear, I did enjoy reading this! but it's a lot!)

🥰 Lemon Meringue Lies (Nejinee) - 111K, technically stucky modern no-powers AU but honestly such an AU that it's really more of original fic WHICH ISN'T at all bad - best friends to lovers, lots of oblivousness, pining, angst, emotional dumbassery but also a really great external setting & compelling supporting characters (who just all happen to have names/physical traits as MCU characters) [reread]

😍 if I'm gonna get back to you someday (napricot) - 46K, post Endgame fixit with "a clusterfuck of Steves" from different multiverses [reread for stucky bookclub]

😍 Golden Handcuffs (seekwill) - 70K, Good Omens human AU where they're both professors at a small Scottish university - brilliant fic, great characterizations, solid story development, absolutely loved it

💖💖 +246K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Mandatory Fun (One-EyedBossman (desert000rose), SecretFandomStories) - MCU: stucky, 39K - Part 11 of Differently Okay Local Idiots; Bucky & Steve go suit shopping with Natasha & together navigate another bump in their road

To the Waters and the Wild (rainbow_nerds) - MCU: magical shrunkyclunks, 23K - selkie!Bucky finds Captain America frozen when he's 10 years old, but no one believes him; ~15 years later, Cap finally thaws out

To Kiss the Tender Inward of Thy Hand (circ_bamboo) - Band Sinister (KJ Charles): Ned Caulfield/George Penn, 32K - beautiful backstory of how Ned & George met

Sit (fandomfluffandfuck) - MCU: stucky, 21K, Part 1 of You Can('t) Teach An Old Dog New Tricks - modern, no powers AU - promising start to a series about older/old guard dom Steve & newbie dom Bucky

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Game Changer - s2, e1-4; s3, e5-8; s5, e9

Make Some Noise - s2, e6

Um, Actually - s8, e11

Heartstopper - s2, e1-8

Only Murders In The Building - s3, e4

Harley Quinn - s4, e7

What We Do In The Shadows - s5, e8

D20: Mentopolis - "F For Freezer" (s1, e3)

D20: Adventuring Party - "We Are Feeling Machines That Think" (s14, e3)

Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham Theatre 2011) {Tate/Tennant version}

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Re: Dracula - August 20: We Shall To-night Play

Re: Dracula - August 21: Goods are Delivered

Vibe Check - A Special Conversation with Emily King

Ed Zitron's 15 Minutes In Hell - Episode 3 - Taylor Lorenz, The Washington Post

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Embracing Adventure in Fayetteville

⭐ Shedunnit Book Club - Murder-on-Sea

⭐ Switched on Pop - Wonders: "Stacy's Mom" and Adam Schlesinger

⭐ 99% Invisible #550 - Melanie Speaks

Vibe Check - Did AI Write That Song?

Re: Dracula -August 23: Ominous in His Calm

ICYMI - How to Make Millions Playing Dungeons & Dragons

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Mysterious Sinkholes of Mt Baldy

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - The Voice Inside

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Arthurdale

Re: Dracula - August 24: Some Terrible Shock

Strong Songs - "Soul Vaccination" by Tower of Power

Dear Prudence - My Wife Goes Braless Around Our Teenage Sons. Help!

Re: Dracula - August 25: Another Bad Night

What Next: TBD - TikTok's Shady Deal with the U.S.

Into It - Did Taylor Swift Curse Scooter Braun? And Will Fyre Fest Fool Us Twyce?

Endless Thread - PARKS! Pt. 4: Death Sea

⭐ Smart Podcast, Trashy Books - 577. Killing Folks with Deanna Raybourn

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - WWDTM: Mark Ronson

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Soft Rock Ballads

'80s Soft Pop

Relaxing '80s Rock

Unreal Unearth [Hozier] {2023}

'80s Training Montage

Tower of Power

Presenting The Doobie Brothers

Presenting Steely Dan

Presenting Electric Light Orchestra

[wishiwasntstillhere]

and when the world is crashing down on you, will you give me a call?

Kyouya makes a different decision, and does not end up threatening someone he cares about. 

Kyouya-centric for his birthday!! Episode 8 fixit fic, no ships but also im clearly in love with all three of them so :) also on ao3!

Haruhi bursts into his room and goes straight for the bathroom, never even seeing him. Heaving noises ensue from within. He winces. Too much crab, then. He lays the towel down, grabbing his glasses so he can stand, but-

Should he go check on her?

For the hundredth time, the waves crash against that jagged rock and Haruhi plunges silent into dark water. He blinks it away.

Instead, he sits, toweling his hair, and wonders at her. Will she be awkward once she realizes he’s just finished showering? Hmm. Probably not. Oblivious or indifferent, Kyouya can never tell which, but Haruhi never seems flustered by that kind of thing.

That thought should be intriguing, but today there's only a churning in his gut.

“All done?” Kyouya asks, once his bathroom door opens again. He doesn't look up.

“I’m sorry for intruding into the room of a stranger-"

“How rude. It’s me.”

"Kyouya-senpai? Oh. I’m sorry, I seem to have gotten everyone worried about me.”

He refuses to let it play again. Yet in crashes the sea, the fall, the silence of that terror. He just can't shake it.

And so, the Shadow King must act.

Kyouya glances past her to the lightswitch and draws up the words he needs.

“I wasn’t particularly worried.” He stands, then drinks out of his water bottle. Cool, casual. That’s the key to this ruse.

He lays out the bait, recounting Hikaru and Kaoru’s scuffle with her attackers. Pinning his focus on his destination across the room, he spins some nonsense about bouquets and apologies to the girls. Kyouya doesn’t look at her once, even as he positions himself for the catch. In a way, it’s hosting. A careful dance made to look careless, subtly guiding her to the right outcome.

“I’ll pay for those flowers myself,” Haruhi promises, of course.

And his timing is precise. In the exact moment he lays out her six-figure mistake, he flips the lights off, and finally, Kyouya can turn to face her.

Something about the ruffles on her dress sends cold water splashing frantic up his insides. He takes another breath. He reaches down, drawing up the calculated cruelty he needs. He doesn’t like playing the bad guy, but he is best equipped for it. And someone has to.

“Why did you turn the lights off?”

She’s stepped in the snare, the cold teeth of the trap must snap shut around her now. Now, or she’ll never see the danger as it should be.

But his eyes catch on her face, blurry in the dark but watching, open, patient—and the teeth don’t move. He doesn’t move.

“Senpai?”

She fidgets, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. Surely she senses the strangeness in the air.

“Senpai, you’re starting to worry me,” she starts cautiously.

Is he? Is he finally? He can hardly breathe, only he knows this isn’t enough. He grasps for his plan, the words that will make things right-

“Senpai, I’m sorry about the expense. Please don’t worry about it, I really will pay it off,” she tries, and he knows that she really means it. She gives him a look, gentler than a smile, something surreal and infuriatingly comforting in her very Haruhi way, and he chokes.

“Why didn’t you call for help, Haruhi?” he asks, relieved that his voice comes out so indifferent.

Haruhi sighs. “So you were worried.”

A Kyouya with the lights on would fill this space with words, flooding it with hurtful meaningless things. As a member of the host club, you are but an asset to me at best, commoner. Don’t presume your own importance. You are obligated to stay out of trouble until your debt is paid, at least.

There are yet other things he could have said in light, things that would have been kinder, truer, and yet just as deceptive. You scared Tamaki. You drove the twins to violence for you. Don't you see how they worry for you?

But they’re in the dark, and Haruhi’s not dumb, and his hand is already shown. Kyouya has an infinite capacity for unkindnesses––but for once, he’s willing to admit that he doesn’t want to go through with this plan.

“Why didn’t you?” he repeats.

She cocks her head, answering frankly. “It didn’t occur to me.”

And the cold inside him wails.  

He clenches his jaw to keep from shouting at her, how completely unhelpful that would be. But still more iron leaches into his tone than intended.

“And just why didn’t it occur to you?”

Haruhi’s chin jerks, eyes sparking. Oh, no.

“Well, those guys weren’t listening, so I didn’t have time to worry about how my gender would impact things. I had to act.”

She’s not listening, and the water is growing more agitated. Careless. Disrespectful. She should be afraid, and he can make her fear him.

Stomach lurching, he holds that thought in place. No. He doesn’t want to hurt her. He doesn’t want her to fear him.

This isn’t about Kyouya. It’s about Haruhi, and her safety.

How can he make her understand? How can he understand?

“I don’t disagree that something had to be done,” he starts. “Those girls were in real, immediate danger, and your intervention allowed Kurakano-kun to get the rest of the club to help. And Tamaki was being unreasonable by making the issue about your gender.”

Even this much is exhausting, so he sits down on the floor.

When she follows suit, her shoulders have settled a little from their taut hunch. Progress. He searches the dark and blurry bedroom for the next right words. But Haruhi finds them first.

“I know that rushing in to fight those guys was reckless,” she murmurs. “But the girls were scared. If I didn’t act, right away, they were going to be hurt.”

Kyouya pauses. She won’t like his next question. But he holds her gaze, intending to understand.

“Had you considered that you could get hurt, by intervening?”

Haruhi frowns. “After I hit the one, I knew they would focus on me. That was sort of the point, to get him to let go of Momoka-chan. But…” Her tone shifts into something more contemplative now. “I suppose I didn’t guard myself well, but how were my actions any different from Tamaki-senpai’s? He dove straight off the cliff to get to me, wasn’t that just as dangerous?”

She does have a point there. However good a swimmer he is, Tamaki had dived off the cliff without even looking. And yet...

True, Tamaki rushes into many reckless things to help others, but it’s never quite filled Kyouya with the same cold dread as Haruhi’s tumble off the cliff. And Tamaki has taken many a tumble. Kyouya would know, after all.

Ah.

“Haruhi, if you were robbed in a foreign country and you didn’t speak the language and you had nothing on you but your cellphone and 1000 yen, what would you do?”

She startles. “Huh? I would… search for the embassy, I guess?”

“And if you had no idea where the embassy was?”

“I would... try to find a map?”

Hmm.

“And if you got locked out of your home at 3 AM in the morning?”

“Senpai, what is this about?” Her confusion has shifted into mild irritation.

“Humor me,” he says, unsmiling.

She throws her hands up in resignation. “I would… wait until my dad got home.”

“And if he was on a business trip? Or if it was storming?”

“I would break in somehow.”

“And if someone at school was stealing your books and writing slurs on your desk?”

Rolling her eyes, she sighs out, “I would let the teacher know I needed new books, and clean off my desk before school. Senpai, this isn’t very funny.”

There’s a knock at his door. “Kyouya?” And it opens. “Do you have any lotion? This sunburn is worse than I-”

Tamaki freezes in the doorway. Kyouya can’t see the look on his face, but he hardly needs to, with the perfect replica hissing steam in his mind. He has approximately three seconds to derail this explosion. Luckily, he has just the thing to reroute the wildly careening train that is Tamaki’s mind.

“What are you-”

“Tamaki, after you got scammed and you were stranded on your own in Taiwan, what did you do?”

Tamaki blinks, recalibrating.

“Uh, I think I went to the embassy?”

“And how did you get to the embassy?”

“Hmm... Oh! I called you to ask for directions.” Walking over, he drops down to sit with them. His eyebrows are pinched––he wants to ask why, but still he lets Kyouya lead on.

“Yes. In the middle of an investor meeting,” he adds to a perplexed Haruhi. “And what about that time when you tried to climb from your window to the roof and fell out of your bedroom, when you were too embarrassed to call for a maid to come unlock your own house at 3 AM?”

“I… called you and stayed over at your place.”

Haruhi makes a face at that, which is fair. Nonetheless.

This last one is a little more delicate. He softens his voice, and inclines his head toward Haruhi by way of explanation. “And when you were bullied by our xenophobic peers in middle school?”

“Ah,” Tamaki says, realization smoothing his brow. “I told you about it. And you blackmailed them within an inch of their lives, of course.” He grins at the memory, at Kyouya. It’s easy to smirk back, warm and wicked in equal measure. That plan he has no regrets about.

Haruhi looks back and forth between them. He knows she’s still turning it over in her own mind. She is certainly smart enough to get it herself. But Kyouya decides anyway to take a page out of her book and be blunt, lest a mistranslation lead to regret later.

“The difference,” he explains, “is that whenever Tamaki is in trouble, he calls.”

They sit in silence for a while, Haruhi with her face downturned, Kyouya watching, patient. Considering both of them with his own discerning gaze, Tamaki settles, too.

“I’m just not like that, though,” Haruhi concludes, at last. Her voice is a touch wistful.

Tamaki is very, very gentle with his next words, Kyouya notices. “You grew up pretty lonely, didn’t you, Haruhi?  You had to deal with a lot on your own.”

She shrugs, though all three know it’s true. And then all at once, they’re thinking of mothers and childhoods lost, and the melancholy sets in heavily over them.

“You know, Kyouya grew up much the same,” he says.

Haruhi turns to look at a bewildered Kyouya, who pushes up his glasses on reflex. But Tamaki smiles, continuing.

“Yes, he’s someone I can always depend on. But he’s not very good at asking for help, either.”

Kyouya glowers at the sheer audacity, only to startle as they both look at him with eyes far too affectionate. He shifts in place and looks down instead.

“But he has the whole Host Club looking out for him. So that even though sometimes, he doesn’t ask out loud, we can see it. And we’ll help.”

Here’s a pause. Tamaki swallows, leans forward, and bows.

“Haruhi, I’m sorry I yelled. I was angry because I was scared. That was my own fault, and you have every right to be upset.”

She rocks a little in her seat. “I’m sorry, as well. I don’t want to worry you guys.”

An absurd feeling grows in Kyouya’s chest. Half mirth, half despair.

Because he realizes: he doesn’t want her to be sorry at all anymore. She shouldn’t have to be sorry, she did nothing wrong . She acted to help, because it was more important to her than any consequence.

And now it’s clear: Haruhi has somehow become someone he truly cares about. Like Tamaki. Haruhi is something precious. Completely an agent of her own, and so trusting, and so kind. She’s earnest. She’s inherently good. He just wants her to be safe.

And he will never have any control over that.

The hysteria swells, threatening the structural integrity of his ribcage. All of the understanding he’s earned still won’t stop the fear that’s been crashing through him this whole night. He chokes down the laughter bubbling up and in his sheer desperation, looks at Tamaki.

It takes only one moment for Tamaki to read Kyouya’s distress, and in the next, he’s grabbing his hand, squeezing tight. And then he extends one to Haruhi.

“Haruhi, you don’t ever have to face things alone again. Will you let us be there for you?”

Kyouya has no control over how hard he squeezes Tamaki’s hand as they wait. He watches Haruhi’s own hands curl on her lap.

"I won’t be very good at it.”

"We aren’t either,” he says. She huffs. “It’s about the trying. Together .”

When she looks up, he's ready. Her eyes are searching, so he makes sure his own gaze is steadfast. He almost missed ever having this opportunity, he's fully aware. He won't let her down again.

“Okay,” she whispers. And takes Tamaki’s hand.

Relief blooms tangibly in the air. Haruhi’s eyes crinkle at Tamaki's relieved laugh. She opens her mouth to say something else, and-

Thunder shatters the room. Haruhi squeaks, yanking on his hand and hunching.

“Haruhi?” Tamaki leans forward, but-

Lightning strikes again, closer this time, and Kyouya feels the thunder slam into his eardrums. Haruhi yelps, trembling violently. She looks around the room, spots his dresser, and stands.

“Sorry! I- I uh- have to go now!”

“Don’t hide in the dresser,” Kyouya says, then feels foolish. Where had that thought come from? Why would she-?

But then she actually starts climbing into his dresser, and he and Tamaki have to hold the doors open.

“What- why would-? Haruhi, are you afraid of thunder?”

“It’s fine, I’ll be fine, this is how I always get through it,” she stammers, curling up inside.

“Not anymore,” says Tamaki, fiercely, and pulls her out into a hug.

“We have an American-style basement. It should be soundproof there, and there won’t be any flashing. Let’s head down now,” Kyouya decides. She’s trembling, clutching hard at Tamaki.

“I can’t- I’m not going to make it.”

“Close your eyes and cover your ears. We’ll get you there safe,” promises the Host Club prince, holding her even tighter.

“Okay,” she whispers.

Somehow they make it, the three of them hobbling to the basement. And somehow, the others find them, and they play games and music until they're almost all asleep on the various couches.

Kyouya’s turned off the lights and is just throwing a blanket over the twins when he hears her.

He’d thought she was asleep when he’d passed to drape a blanket over her on her own couch. Maybe she’s sleep talking, or maybe she woke up again. Either way, he stills, hoping she won’t spot him.

“You guys are even nicer than I thought,” she murmurs to the dark room. “Thank you, Kyouya-senpai.”

Despite himself, he smiles.

[pellaaearien]

Fool Me Once, Chapter Eight: And What Comes After

Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance Rating: T Warnings: References to hallucinations, mental trauma, physical trauma/scars

Chapter One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven Ao3 | ff.net

And that's all, she wrote!!

Thank you so, so much to every single person who reads this. This is my first major Doctor Who fic and the reception has been beyond anything I could have dreamed! My heart is so full and I feel so welcomed, so thank you again. From the bottom of my heart. I feel like I can't say it enough.

A very, very special thanks also to @chocolatequeennk for being my first beta, my incredible support as I took my baby steps into the world of the fandom, and just generally the best friend anyone could ask for.

Eternal and undying gratitude to @hellostarlight20, without whom none of this would be possible. You are my cheerleader, and your help has been absolutely invaluable. You made this story what it is, and I don't have words to express how grateful I am. You are amazing. Thank you so much!

(btw I’m not sure I ever tagged it before but I’m pretty sure this fills plenty of stuff for @doctorroseprompts, most notably post-Midnight reunion and Bad Wolf shenanigans!)

Rose had just finished her shower and was rubbing a towel through her hair when she noticed that the TARDIS’ hum had changed. She’d been more attuned to it since returning to this universe and even more so since becoming Bad Wolf again.

This sound filled her with apprehension, and she didn’t stop to think, instead wrapping the towel around her and stepping out into the corridor. The TARDIS was leading her somewhere she’d never been before, but she scarcely spared a thought for her unfamiliar surroundings.

There was a single door at the end of the hall and Rose opened it without hesitation, driven by the sense of urgency she could feel from the TARDIS, halting only when she saw the room on the other side. It was the same room the Doctor had taken her to sleep in - had it only been the night before? It felt like it years - and she could hear the shower running in the en suite.

She hesitated again- surely the Doctor had to be all right if he was in the shower - but the TARDIS only pushed more urgently in response and it overrode Rose’s reluctance. She pushed open the door to the bathroom without even bothering to knock, in a move that would have felt uncomfortably bold were it not for her worry for the Doctor.

“Doctor?” she called, over the sound of water. The room was filled with steam - he’d clearly been in there for a while - and she could barely see. “Doctor, are you all right? I’m sorry, it’s just, the TARDIS…”

Her voice caught in her throat as she found the Doctor, standing motionless under the stream of water, elbows braced against the wall and both hands fisted in his hair, hunched over as though the weight of the spray was too much to bear. She froze - she’d never seen the Doctor looking so vulnerable, or so human. She ignored his state of nakedness - she could sense distress radiating from him and she bit her lip at the realisation that he’d just been pretending, in the console room.

He really wasn’t all right.

How could he be? Her inner voice was scathing. His mind was invaded by an evil entity and then he nearly watched you die in front of him right after getting you back and then he thought you were going to burn. Of course he’s not all right.

Listing it all out like that made it blatantly obvious that the Doctor had been through hell these past forty-eight hours. That knowledge had her moving before she was consciously aware of it, reaching out a tentative hand for the Doctor’s shoulder.

“Doctor?”

The instant their skin touched, the Doctor jumped as though an electrical current had shot through his body, and his eyes snapped to hers, flat and dark and more than a little mad. She couldn’t stop herself from falling back a tiny step - the expression held nothing human at all, even worse than when he’d nearly lost her to the Dalek.

“Rose?” the Doctor rasped.

Rose smiled, but the Doctor was already shaking his head.

“No, how can you be here? You can’t be here, you’re in the parallel world…”

Rose’s heart sank. This reaction was more along the lines of what she’d been expecting when she first jumped back into this universe, for their encounter in the galley, and it threw her for a moment. Before she could think of how to respond, the Doctor continued.

“If you think you’re going to get to me by impersonating her, you are very much mistaken. Rose Tyler keeps me strong, keeps me fighting. I will always believe in her.”

Rose’s eyes stung with tears, and she swallowed to speak past the lump in her throat. “Doctor, it’s me. I promise it’s me. We’ve been through this once already.” She hesitated before reaching out again, taking his hands. He shuddered deeply at her touch, but it was not a pleasurable reaction.

The TARDIS surged in her head, and she knew what she had to do - what she should have done, long before. Rose lifted the Doctor’s hands to her temples. “Can I… Will you let me show you?” She held her breath.

Simple astonishment flashed across his features as he drew in a ragged breath, and it was that more than anything else that led him to accept, Rose was sure. She wondered, briefly, how long it had been since anyone had asked him to initiate telepathic contact.

She was grateful for his consent, but he was not gentle, and Rose winced as their surroundings fell away and he entered her mind.

How much of an idiot do you think I am? The Doctor’s voice boomed and cracked in her head. Rose, the real Rose, can’t do this, and more than that, she hates telepathy, so you are going to tell me, right now… Oh. His voice trailed off as he registered where he was and the love and welcome Rose was at pains to project. Rose.

The sudden, tentative hope she could sense from him galvanised her and she did her best to wrap the Doctor’s presence in all the comfort she could muster.

Doctor, you’ve blocked yourself off from the TARDIS somehow, Rose said, striving for calm. She can’t reach you and she doesn’t know why, so she came and got me. That’s why I’m here. Please trust me, my Doctor. I found you, I came back to you two days ago, and we saved the universe today. I was just showering in my room, and then we were going to snog in front of bad telly all night until I fell asleep.

She replayed each scene as she spoke; their reunion, and waking up together, walking among the planets at the Shadow Proclamation and him dipping her to the grating after they saved the Earth, right up to her mental image of her plan for the evening: of the two of them entwined on the couch, program completely forgotten. This is what telepathy was meant to be used for, and she could feel him watching her intently as the pictures flicked by.

Once she’d finished, it was like a wall crumbled to dust in the blink of an eye. He was suddenly with her, surrounding her, but his emotions were all over the place and she couldn’t get a read on them. She tried to direct his focus to the positive but his thoughts were too chaotic for her to keep up.

How are you doing this, Rose? They were suddenly standing on a barren heath, their bodies obscured by fog. Her heart ached that this was location his mind had conjured. She was fairly certain that he was fully dressed with his coat on, and she spared a thought to hope he’d afforded her the same courtesy.

I told you about Bad Wolf, didn’t I? Merging with the TARDIS gave me telepathic abilities and now that they’ve been reawakened I can actually use them. Rose was surprised - she hadn’t actually known any of that beforehand and realised the TARDIS had to be feeding her information. But never mind that just now: look, Doctor. Look in my mind, I’ll prove to you that everything’s all right. Better than all right. Whatever you need.

He came towards her slowly and put his fingers up to her temples, which surprised her since they were already in his mind.

Your perception of what I’m doing in your head, the Doctor explained absently. Rose tried to open her mind to him as fully as possible, but he pulled back almost immediately, awe and something like fear crossing his face.

Rose? He sounded just slightly more like himself, and Rose was glad of that, even if she hadn’t succeeded in fully reassuring him yet. There aren’t any doors.

I trust you, my Doctor, Rose said simply.

She felt his tremour in her mind rather than in his fingers, and he deepened their connection. Rose forced down the thrill she felt at being connected so deeply with the Doctor. Instead, she replayed another memory, this time of the conversation she’d had with the TARDIS, making sure to skip ahead to the part when Bad Wolf was made dormant again.

She got no warning. Every last ounce of tension left the Doctor in a rush of overwhelming relief that forced them both out of the connection. Before she could catch up with what was happening he’d hauled her bodily against him.

They were both naked, but Rose couldn’t have cared less about that as she focussed on comforting her Doctor. She ran her hands through his wet mop of hair, following the rivulets of water down his neck and over his shoulders as he trembled against her. She could tell almost no time had passed since they’d started their telepathic exchange, but the heat was still starting to get to her.

“I’m so sorry, Doctor,” she said softly. “I should have thought of this before, when we were alone in the console room, but telepathy doesn’t come naturally to me, I guess.” She kissed his forehead, and he buried his face into the crook of her neck. “We’ll just have to work on that, yeah?”

The Doctor huffed a laugh, moving to press his ear to her chest, presumably to listen to her heart, and Rose held him to her. Despite their current state of undress, Rose found that sex was the furthest thing from her mind in the face of the Doctor’s distress.

After a time, she chafed the Doctor’s shoulders gently.

“C’mon, Doctor, let’s get out of the shower and into bed, yeah?” The TARDIS had obligingly turned the water temperature down but Rose knew she must look like a prune by now. “More comfortable there. Come with me?”

He nodded, but then, adorably, averted his eyes as if there was anything he could avoid seeing. She chuckled and rose to her feet, finding it surprisingly easy not to feign modesty after everything they’d been through. The Doctor squeaked, and she looked down just in time to see his face, fire truck red, whipping to the side.

“Oh come now, Doctor,” she said airily as she stepped out of the tub, “it’s not like there’s anything there you haven’t seen before.” She found the TARDIS had provided her a robe, which she gratefully wrapped herself in. “Remember our trip to Vega Prime?”

They’d gotten arrested, which was very much business as usual, and then stripped for interrogation, which decidedly wasn’t. It was intended to put them in a place of vulnerability, but Rose suspected it had worked better on the Doctor than on her, which was why she rarely brought it up. From time to time they’d had adventures that resulted in varying stages of nakedness but on that particular occasion they’d both gotten an eyeful.

Or she thought they had.

“I didn’t look,” the Doctor mumbled, still facing away from her.

“Oh.” Rose didn’t know what else to say. She certainly had - it had been nearly unavoidable - and she wondered how the Doctor had managed it. She felt a brief flash of anger that he should make her feel like such a voyeur retroactively, especially considering how those glimpses had fuelled many a fantasy. “Well, I’m not looking now.”

No need to make him feel worse than he already did - she was, in fact, capable of some self control, and now was hardly the time.

She held out a towel, and the Doctor stepped into it, Rose taking the opportunity to wrap her arms around him as she wrapped him in it. Their embrace still felt strange with only two layers between them, but not wrong. Never wrong. He returned it woodenly, and Rose’s heart broke at the thought that there was still more troubling him. She squeezed, ignoring his lack of enthusiasm.

“I’m just gonna put something on, I’ll wait for you, okay?” She moved toward the door. “Don’t be long.” She looked back once and found him staring after her as she left.

Rose dried herself again, pulled on a sleep vest and shorts and got into bed, sighing in relief as she relaxed back against the pillows. They were just as soft as she remembered, and it had been a very long day. She scissored her legs together for a bit, savouring the sensation of the comforter and also the tingly feeling between her legs - just because nothing was going to happen didn’t mean it wasn’t going to affect her, after all. It was a feeling she was very familiar with, made all the more potent by the thought that something was going to change soon. Not now. Someday.

The Doctor entered a moment later, wearing a Henley and pinstriped pyjama bottoms. He looked at her lying in the bed, and she expected his gaze to skitter away, but he didn’t break eye contact until he laid down next to her, flat on his back staring at the ceiling. Rose didn’t know how to bring up the subject - he was fully dressed and yet somehow seemed more exposed than he’d been in the shower.

“Doctor-” she began.

The Doctor breathed deeply, closing his eyes, and Rose knew he was processing everything that had happened.

“You’re safe,” he said at last, without opening his eyes. “You’re here, and you’re safe. No side effects from the dimension cannon, you’re not going to burn from Bad Wolf.”

Contrary to his words, he didn’t sound glad… almost resigned. Rose bit her lip as she considered her response.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” she said, though gently. “That’s what the TARDIS has been trying to tell you.” When he didn’t respond, she propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at him. “Doctor? Why did you block yourself off from the TARDIS?” she asked carefully.

For a minute, it seemed like he wasn’t going to answer. Rose waited, before tentatively placing her hand on the Doctor’s chest, in between his hearts. His breath hitched, and it was like a switch had been flipped; he grasped her hand tightly in his own and rolled onto his side, holding it in between them.

“Oh, Rose,” he breathed, and Rose quickly flopped back down, welcoming the increased contact between them.

“I was scared, today,” the Doctor admitted. His face twisted. “Scratch that - I was bloody terrified.” The frank honesty in his voice shook Rose. He met her eyes, and that seemed to give him the strength he needed to continue. “I don’t know what I would have done, if I’d lost you today,” he said quietly. “I really don’t.” A mad light overtook his face suddenly and Rose fought the impulse to move away.

“Do you think they’d have stopped, Rose?” His voice was a little frightening, bearing echoes of a pain she couldn’t begin to comprehend. He was, effectively, immortal. Would they ever have stopped? “The visions. If you’d-” He shut his mouth audibly to keep the words from coming out and Rose freed her hands to cup his face.

“Now, you stop that,” she said fiercely. “Stop doing this to yourself, Doctor. You didn’t lose anyone today. I’m here and alive and well and I’m staying with you. I am never leaving you.”

Rose pulled the Doctor to her to keep him from seeing the cynical thought cross her face. Even when she hadn’t been physically present, she hadn’t truly left him, had she?

It was a uniquely poignant brand of guilt she bore - of course, she’d had no actual hand in the hallucinations but it was clear her image had tormented the Doctor almost to the point of madness. Was it any wonder he was having trouble coping?

“And that’s just the thing, isn’t it?” the Doctor burst out, pulling away from her slightly. Given that he’d been actively seeking maximal contact since they’d been reunited the movement surprised her enough that she let him go, sitting up a little straighter to mirror his posture. “You have to stay here, you can’t go home! The walls of the universes are closed, you’ll never be able to see your family again!”

Rose waited until the Doctor seemed to be finished, then placed a gentle kiss on his lips to prevent him from working himself up again. “Doctor, listen to me very carefully. I’m going to keep saying this as many times as necessary, but I really wish I didn’t have to.” She kept her voice gentle, mindful of the Doctor’s fragile emotional state. She was willing to repeat her promise of forever as long as it took but she was running out of words to use.

“I am home, right now,” she asserted, holding his eyes with hers. “Here, with you, on the TARDIS - this is home. Never the other universe. Yes, my family is there, and yes, I will miss them terribly, but I’ve been preparing for this day for three years. We all have. They understand. I thought, when you didn’t put up a fight in the console room, that you understood, too - that’s why I thanked you. I made my choice. It’s a choice I’d rather I didn’t have to make, of course, but my decision is never going to change. I choose you, Doctor. And I always will.”

The Doctor stared at her, and the look of incredulous hope in his dark eyes was one that she was becoming familiar with, though it still hit her like a gut punch. She wondered how much longer it would take for her words to really get through to him.

It seemed the third time would be the charm, however, as the Doctor pressed his lips to hers as though it was the only thing keeping him alive. Rose melted beneath the bruising kiss - it had been far too long since the console room - but there was still an element of desperation to it that she didn’t like. He was far gone enough that she had to struggle a little bit to get enough space to breathe, and Rose frowned, about to reiterate her question about the TARDIS, when the Doctor spoke instead.

“I love you,” he said, and the words shot through Rose like it was the first time. That had been about things left unfinished, but this… this was a claim. A beginning. This was the Doctor’s ‘never ever.’

Rose lost her breath. He usually only looked at her like this when she was Bad Wolf - seeing it when she was fully herself felt different, and she couldn’t decide how she felt about it.

“I love you, too.” The words came out in a rush.

His eyes grew impossibly darker, molten pools that she swore she could feel warming her skin like the heat of the sun. How could such a simple exchange affect her so deeply? She must have said the words hundreds of times before. Yet they were heavy on her tongue as though they were the only words she’d ever spoken, they touched her ears like they were the first words she’d ever heard.

The Doctor lowered his forehead to hers. “I spent so long today thinking I knew what the universe would do… what it always does. I’ve never known it to be kind.”

Rose made a low sound and linked her hands around the back of his neck, holding him against her.

“Getting you back, keeping you safe, saving the day… I was always waiting for the switch, after all that bait.” His hands caressed her sides, snaking around her hips, and she shivered against him. ���It seemed inevitable. And when I was finally alone…” He tilted his head slightly, looking at some indeterminate point on the ceiling. “Expectation became reality.”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip, too easily able to fill in the blanks. “So that’s why you blocked the TARDIS,” she breathed.

It was easier than voicing what had really happened. He’d thought he was still back on the planet, Midnight, with the entity. That he’d been imagining his escape, their reunion, all the rest of it. She wished there was a way to hold him closer.

“No telling what the entity would have done with a sentient space and time ship,” the Doctor confirmed, mirroring her position.

Rose shook her head helplessly and kissed him again. She had her own fears and doubts about coming back, but mostly just ecstatic satisfaction at having completed her goal after so long. Her first Doctor had been wounded, yes, fresh from the War and raw like an exposed nerve, but never like this, a man for whom joy was a lie.

The Doctor kissed her back, the corner of his mouth turning up ruefully against her lips.

“And that’s the second time I’ve completely ruined our reunion, isn’t it?” The self-depreciation wasn’t like him at all, but this, at least, Rose had some idea of how to fix.

“Oh, I dunno.” At his incredulous look, she quirked her lips, noting with pleasure how he instinctively followed the motion . “We’re here together in bed, we saved the universe again like we always do - though with less running than I was expecting - and we’ve been snogging ever since I came back which is very much a welcome development.” Her smile grew, but though his expression eased, he didn’t return it. Rose sighed, taking the Doctor’s hands.

“Doctor, I love you,” she repeated. “I spent three years in the parallel world missing you every day. Sometimes the only thing that would get me through wasn’t the wild fantasies of what I wanted to happen, it was the memory of what I wanted to get back to. Just us, like this. Holding hands.”

She squeezed for emphasis and he squeezed back, his eyes never leaving hers, wide and fervent, and she knew he felt the same.

“So making it back like this? Being with you? Being able to love you and hold you and comfort you?” She kissed his cheek and felt a jolt of warmth spark from the contact. “It’s everything I could have wished for. Of course, I’m not happy that you’re hurting, but it’s you. The real you. And that makes it perfect.”

The Doctor let out a long, shuddering breath, closing his eyes and blindly pressing his lips to hers in a much gentler kiss, filled with so much adoration and gratitude that it left her even more breathless than their desperate snog earlier. Rose sighed into his lips, and they parted at the suggestion. She sank her hands into his hair at the same time as her tongue swept into his mouth and they both let out identical moans of relief.

The Doctor’s mouth was cool against hers, and he tasted like absolutely nothing Rose had ever experienced, except that it was intoxicating and she couldn’t get enough. What she’d said before was true - they’d been kissing almost from the moment she’d gotten back, but most of those kisses had been tinged with desperation and danger. It was glorious and she wondered how they would ever be able to stop.

“I feel the same way,” the Doctor whispered when Rose surfaced reluctantly for air. “This is perfect. You are perfect.” He rested his head in what Rose was quickly learning was his favourite place - in the crook between her neck and shoulder where, presumably, he could hear her strong, steady pulse. She nuzzled his hair, breathing in his scent. It seemed she’d succeeded in pulling him back from the edge, at least for the moment.

There were many more things they needed to talk about, simmering beneath the surface: Jack, for one, and how he’d kept that story from her, as well as his careless attitude towards his regenerations, not to mention the events of their separate ordeals and how they’d been affected by them, up to and including when they’d been parted in the course of the day. But all that would take time. Time that they now had, Rose thought fiercely, squeezing him tighter; whether she had anything to say about it or not, the universe was going to find her intractable on this point.

She coaxed him to lie back with his head in her lap, and set about trying to massage the stress lines from his face. She ran her thumbs over his eyebrows and down his sideburns. It suddenly struck her that she was finally here, in the same universe as her Doctor, able to touch him how she liked, the way she’d fantasised about for so long. Her fingers trembled a little, and she disguised the motion by sinking them into his hair again. The Doctor gave a little hum.

“This okay?” she asked in a low voice. Their intimacy was so new she felt the need to check. He was still lying stiffly against her, and she hated the thought that he’d been struggling alone all this time, but she was also exhausted, and hoped that she’d be able to overcome his stubbornness soon enough to allow them to sleep.

“Yeah,” the Doctor breathed, as she started lightly scratching his scalp. She cast about for a topic that would move them past this horrible day.

“So, I do want to find out if any of the planets I landed on don’t exist in this dimension,” she said at last. It was a calculated gamble, but she really was curious and it was a safe enough topic. The Doctor sucked in a breath, but he didn’t protest. “Of course, I don’t know the names of any of them,” she continued, “but I thought I could describe them to you and you could tell me if they sound familiar.”

The Doctor made another low sound, this time of agreement, and so Rose sought for some safe planets to mention: no need to bring up any of her more painful memories just yet.

“Hmm… Okay. Well, one that really stands out is this planet with crystal geysers,” she said, excitement pulsing in her voice. She hadn’t really wanted to leave that planet, it had been so beautiful. “Now I’m not just talking about geysers coming out of crystal or anything like that, I mean actual crystals shooting out of the ground like water. There must’ve been some sort of crystal particles in the soil because all the trees were shimmering too, like they’d absorbed some along with their nutrients.”

“Ooh, very good, Rose,” the Doctor said proudly, and Rose noted with satisfaction that the bleak edge had blunted in his voice. “That’s exactly what happens on Kira IV; the entire ecosystem is built on those mineral deposits and the way they react with the chemical composition of the second sun.”

“You mean there was a planet like that here all along and we’ve never visited?” Rose exclaimed in mock outrage, and the corner of the Doctor’s mouth turned up.

“The universe is a big place, Rose,” he said lightly. “I’ll put it at the top of the list.”

Rose tried again. “What about an entire forest of giant mushrooms?”

“Sounds like Quozaar,” the Doctor replied at once. “We’ll have to go there so you can check, but you need to bring rebreathers: the stench is something truly awful.”

“Really?” Rose asked, surprised. “The one I went to had this musty potpourri smell. Took me ages to get it out of anything but it wasn’t that unpleasant.”

She’d piqued the Doctor’s interest, which had been her intention, and everything else faded away as they traded descriptions and names back and forth, rapid-style. Though she would have given it all up just to be with him again, Rose had to admit it was kind of cool, having seen bits of the universe without the Doctor and being able to talk from her own experience rather than just being led around by him everywhere.

Rose was thrilled when, after a few minutes of steady going, her initial description did not meet with an automatic answer from the Doctor. She’d stopped actually massaging him and was letting her fingers drift aimlessly over his features, which were more at rest than she’d ever seen them, maybe since before the Olympics, or even earlier. He twisted his lips as he considered, and she watched the gears whirring in his big Time Lord brain.

“I can honestly say that doesn’t ring any bells, Rose,” he said at last, and she couldn’t contain her squeak of delight. “It was all underground, you say?”

“Yup! Just like Moria or something, it was amazing! All these geometric columns,” Rose enthused. She couldn’t believe her luck. Not only had she managed to find a planet of which the Doctor was unaware, but she’d had an adventure there that had actually ended happily. “My hopper normally landed me on the surface of planets so I was a little confused at first, but get this, Doctor: there were elves living there! Actual tiny elves with pointy ears! ‘Course I was expecting dwarves, but they were perfectly friendly to strangers…”

She told the story, keeping her eyes on the Doctor the whole time, whose eyes were closed, listening to her voice. She’d dreamed for so long about being able to tell him in person like this, the moment took on a dreamlike quality as she wove her tale.

“...And of course all the rest of them were standing about yelling ‘demon!’ Or at least I thought they were, no handy translation circuit after all. But Orta just stepped up and put her hand on the giant rock monster and it could speak through her. I guess it told them what Orta and I’d known all along, that it wasn’t causing the earthquakes, it was trying to stop them, because everyone calmed down and started trying to help. I hopped back once I was sure they’d stopped.”

Her voice trailed away as the story ended and she looked down at the Doctor, who was breathing peacefully, expression relaxed. To an outside observer it would look like he’d fallen asleep but Rose knew better. She shimmied down until she was lying next to the Doctor, and he wrapped his arms around her as the TARDIS dimmed the lights.

“I am so proud of you, Rose,” he said fervently next to her ear, and Rose had to blink back tears. When she’d told him about jumping his first reaction had been blind panic, and she hadn’t realised how much that had affected her. She snuggled into his chest and his grip tightened around her, and she was home. In the course of telling the story her mind had gone back to the time when she was without the Doctor, and she took comfort in the firm solidity of his body next to hers.

Rose was exhausted, already hovering on the edge of sleep, but there was one more thing she wanted to say, remembering the Doctor’s words that had started all this. “Doctor, I could have had a good life in the parallel world, maybe even a great one.” She worked one arm around his waist, pulling him closer still. “But there’s no such thing as a fantastic life without you.”

She opened her eyes to find the Doctor’s face, an inch from hers, staring at her like she was made of stars and wonder. He opened his mouth, but when nothing came out, he gave up and kissed her, his agreement ringing out with every movement of his lips against hers.

Rose knew that she must have fallen asleep at some point, because she awoke with the Doctor still curled into her side, but she didn’t remember when they’d stopped kissing. It set the tone for next week or so (she lost track) that they spent floating in the Vortex, learning to be themselves again. They did catch up on By the Light of the Asteroid, despite being thoroughly distracted by intense snogging sessions which meant they had to go back and watch through it all over again to actually follow the story.

The Doctor never brought up the med bay, even though Rose had been expecting him to since breakfast on the first day. She was surprised, but didn’t bring it up herself, knowing he couldn’t have forgotten, instead appreciating the respite. She guessed he’d gotten enough reassurance from her and the TARDIS that first night and was trying to do something nice for her.

They also explored telepathy, in fits and starts, ‘dipping their toes’ as the Doctor put it. Through their brief connections, Rose understood that the Doctor didn’t feel that his mind was a good place for her to be right then, and she accepted this, not being entirely comfortable with everything in her mind yet either until she’d had a chance to work through it herself.

Mostly, though, they rested; read together in the library, or stargazed out the doors of the TARDIS, or took picnic lunches to one of the TARDIS’ garden rooms. Anything that would allow them to stay as close as physically possible.

They spent a lot of time in bed together, though they had yet to actually take the step into further physical intimacy. Rose found she didn’t mind. Though her frustration in the weeks leading up to their separation had been thick enough to cut with a knife, she’d changed now, and so had the Doctor. They still hadn’t addressed most of what lurked beneath the surface of their quiet time together. Neither of them were ready. The difference was, this Rose knew it was only a matter of time, and let herself enjoy the kissing and increased intimacy, even though it never escalated.

Rose stayed in bed because she’d rarely allowed herself to do so in Pete’s World, and because cuddling the Doctor in his bed was quickly becoming her favourite activity. The Doctor stayed because she was there, but Rose thought he could use the break as well. They’d both pushed themselves to the limit during their three years apart and they took the necessary time to pull themselves back from that brink.

The Doctor wasn’t sure when he stopped watching Rose like a miracle who could disappear at any moment, but the change came gradually, helped along by Rose’s endless patience with him. He did want to run tests, but now that he had a moment to think, thanks to Rose and the TARDIS’ telepathic reassurance, he realised that being in the med bay brought up uncomfortable memories for Rose because of her time at Torchwood. This was supposed to be a healing time for both of them, so he refrained.

She also never showed any signs of restlessness in regards to their extended stay in the Vortex; though she never said so aloud, she’d missed the TARDIS, and vice versa. He likewise felt no prick of wanderlust, for once, and grasped the opportunity with both hands. He finally allowed himself to admit how difficult the past three years had been, what with losing Rose, the Master, and the entity, and was glad to be able to follow Rose’s advice, to allow his psyche to rest instead of burying it in more sensory input. Of course, the fact that he was able to do so at all without feeling like clawing at the walls was due to Rose’s presence. That wasn’t to say that those problems went away - they both still had their own demons to fight. They were just getting themselves in better shape to do so.

As the Doctor watched Rose over breakfast one morning, just over a week in linear time since she’d returned to his universe, he knew that this time, blessed and essential as it had been, was drawing to a close, and that a new chapter in their lives was about to begin. She’d been shooting him covert glances for the last day or two, and though she was still perfectly content, he could sense the wind changing.

He knew it would still be a while before he would be able to fully accept that the universe had relented and allowed him to keep her, and though it was tempting to hide away in the hopes that they wouldn’t be noticed, he would not squander this (second? Third? How many chances now had he been given with Rose Tyler?) time he’d been granted.

He’d told himself when she was lost that he would not waste a single moment, if he ever got another with her. Not that this had been wasted time, but there was a growing impetus behind Rose’s kisses and something would have to give - soon. More than that: he wanted it to. The thought both surprised him and felt like it had been a part of him since he’d been born into this body, this body made for the woman who was currently watching him from across the breakfast table.

“So what do you think about making planetfall today?” he asked brightly, and when he was rewarded with eager excitement sparking in her glorious eyes he knew he’d made the right decision.

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” Rose replied easily, and it was almost like nothing had changed. “Are we going to Kira IV?” she asked, and the Doctor shook his head, hoping his wince hadn’t been obvious. He hadn’t really registered it when she’d brought it up before but it bore far too much resemblance to a certain diamond planet for his liking. They’d make it there eventually, just not yet.

“Not yet,” he said. “It’s on the list, but an uninhabited crystal planet does not provide accommodations for the kind of activities in which I wish to partake with you.”

He barely managed to add the last two words, his hearts racing in his chest like he’d just run back to back marathons, amazed in some part of him that he’d actually managed to say anything at all.

Rose didn’t notice at first. “Oh, and what sorts of activities might those be?” Because he was watching her, he saw the exact moment when she decided to make it a sincere, rather than a teasing comment. Her voice trailed away when she saw the way he was looking at her. “Wait. You don’t mean…”

He kept his eyes trained on her, fighting the impulse to look away, to deflect. She was gripping her utensils like she was afraid they’d try to run away. He was gripped by sudden anxiety. Was it too soon? Was she not ready? Had he completely misread everything?

“...If that’s all right with you?” He made himself make it a question, telling himself he was lucky to have her back at all, that she wasn’t going to leave him over this.

Her eyes were round as saucers as she searched his face for a long moment. This had been so long coming, he couldn’t blame her for being cautious. “Oh, Doctor…”

The hope and joy in her voice galvanised him, and he reached across the table to touch her cheek, giving her time to pull away if his touch was unwelcome. She didn’t.

“Go pack a bag for a tropical resort,” he said gently, as she leaned into his caress, eyes never leaving his, though they sparked with lust and anticipation. “I’ll meet you in the console room.”

She leaped from her chair as though she was afraid he was going to change his mind (he cringed inwardly at how likely that would have been, for an earlier version of him) and seemed to struggle with herself for a moment before edging around the table to slip into his lap, capturing his lips in a passionate promise of things to come. He groaned against her mouth, his control over his bodily reactions tenuous now that he was anticipating losing them entirely, and her kiss heated in response.

He pulled back slightly with a soft pop, examining Rose’s heavy-lidded eyes which concealed an ecstatic expression.

“Go on,” he told her, startled to hear his voice an octave deeper than usual. “Pack. Or else we’ll never get there.”

She wriggled cheekily against him as she extricated herself from his lap, making his eyes roll in his head and pulling another low sound from him, before practically fleeing the room. The Doctor sat quietly for a moment, attempting to regulate his breathing, before making his way to the console room, in order to double- and triple-check the coordinates to make sure they arrived at the right time and place.

Give me a hand, old girl? He sent the silent plea to the TARDIS, and received a wave of almost giddy affirmation in response. It seemed she was in favour of his plans, and that was to the good, even if he wasn’t sure how he felt about his sentient time ship knowing of them in the first place.

The mental equivalent of an impatient huff was sent his way, and he raised an eyebrow. Oh, and don’t think you’re getting out of a discussion of what the hell that was the other day. Your little stunt scared me half to death!

A slightly apologetic whistle was his response, and he bit back a chuckle, something he wouldn’t have been capable of, even a week before. But then, a week ago, he hadn’t been travelling with Rose, preparing to bring her to the planet where he’d always intended to make love to her, in the nebulous future of his fantasies that he was forever dismissing but was somehow now a reality. He almost didn’t know who he was any more without the constant, gnawing grief. He couldn’t wait to find out.

Rose arrived a minute later, wearing a sundress and an ardent expression, both of which were equally flattering. She set down a suitcase and sauntered towards him, until he was backed up against the console. He felt a little bit like prey, and was surprised to find it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant sensation.

“So, where are we off to, Doctor?” she asked, drawing her fingers down his chest. He gulped, calling upon centuries of Time Lord restraint to keep from pinning her against the console, sod his plans. From the intent look in her eye, Rose knew it, too, pressing forward, though she was careful not to cut off his escape entirely. He shook his head inwardly - how could it be that this incredible woman wanted him?

“Oh, just a little place I’ve been wanting to take you for quite a while now.” He said the words flippantly, which was a mistake. Rose pounced.

“Well in that case, I have a few suggestions,” she purred. The Doctor only belatedly realised the double entendre in his words.

Oh, he was going to be very bad at this, wasn’t he?

He could see the conflict playing out in Rose’s expression: she was happy this was happening, enough to make her this bold, but she was also afraid of crossing some invisible line - a state of affairs for which the Doctor knew he once again had himself to blame. He allowed himself to relax, just a fraction, and Rose moved in closer, scenting victory. She pressed a kiss to the triangle of bared skin at his throat before slowly, torturously, skimming her nose along his jawline. The Doctor couldn’t suppress a tiny shiver.

“As - hm - tempting as I’m sure those suggestions are, perhaps we could wait until we’ve arrived at our destination to - ah - play them out?” His carefully laid plans were becoming more distant and nebulous as she purposefully undid the buttons of his suit jacket.

“You’re wearing too much,” was her only reply, which made him splutter incredulously.

When he’d gotten dressed he’d simply thrown his pinstriped jacket over one of the red tees he’d worn with his blue suit (a mourning suit which he would never wear again, not for a very long while). It was the fewest layers he’d worn since the Olympics, and Rose had to know that.

“For a tropical resort? You must get so hot in that suit,” she was saying, and he was, though not from the temperature. Never from the temperature. It took him a moment to be able to regulate his body heat like the Time Lord he was and not some randy adolescent human ready to pop off at the slightest touch of a woman, like he’d seen in all those awful films.

Gauging his reaction carefully, she moved her hands to his shoulders and slowly slid the jacket off them. He allowed it to happen, shrugging it off when it got caught on his elbows and tossing it to the jumpseat. Rose ran her hands down his bared arms and he shivered harder this time. Her hands were so warm. She hummed in approval.

“Much better.”

Wanting to regain a modicum of control, he smoothed Rose’s dress down her sides, where he knew she was sensitive. She jumped slightly, her eyes huge and darker than he’d ever seen them. He fought to conceal a smirk; as sensitive as he was to being touched, his naturally cool skin certainly granted him at least one advantage in this regard.

Slyly, he copied her sensuous caress, his hearts beating faster through his nervousness. He wasn’t ever this forward, and he thought he’d better get some practice in considering what he had planned for the day. It certainly seemed just as effective on Rose, and he felt a glimmer of satisfaction as he prepared to make his point.

“Thank you so much for taking care of it,” he murmured. “Now, where were we?”

Rose made a low sound, seeking his lips, and he sprung his trap.

“Oh!” he exclaimed, spinning away and leaving her dazed in his wake. He placed his hand on the dematerialisation lever, giving her a cheeky wink. “I think I remember.”

She smiled fondly and took his hand, glancing up at him through her lashes, his third heart that made him whole. The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS, as it should be. He threw the lever.

“Barcelona!”

[justoneofthoseghosts]

fandom end of year asks

1, 2, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 27, 29

1. favourite fandom you joined this year

Definitely Chicago Fire although I did not expect it to break my heart so soon

2. favourite fic of the year

There can't be just one okay because there are too many talented writers out there so here are a few that I loved so much:

Ons shots:

you remind me of home by @alittlextrathatway - Christmas fluff in the best possible way. It's so comforting to read and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy (and if I haven't said it enough, I love fluff)

My Pain Fits in the Palm of Your Freezing Hand by @farfarawaygirl - In the notes, Emma mentioned that she got inspiration from the painting Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton and you sort of get a visualization for this paragraph: "Because this moment exists outside of time and space, she leans her head against his shoulder and breathes in. Matt laces the fingers from his right hand with her left. It’s nice. Matt’s hand is calloused and warm against hers, Sylvie likes it so much. Too much."

And it's just an incredible read.

Multi-chapters:

Sprucing up Chicago by @katie-049 - a completely perfect AU where absolutely no angst exists. if you're a Brettsey fan, you probably read this already but if you haven't yet, highly, highly recommend.

Hopelessly Devoted to You by @sylvies-chen - again, if you're a Brettsey fan, you probably already read this but if you haven't, you really should. I love the premise of soulmates being able to hear each other's music and the pace of it is just right, enough to get you to want more of it in the next chapter. Also, what I love the most about the writing is how great Abby is at describing things - anything from the emotions of the characters down to the color of the snow on the pavement. It makes if very visual, if that makes sense.

The Unexpected by @emdeedot45 - I love this so much. I love the concept, I love how it's written, it's just great. It's a season 7 AU but the characters are still very much in character (for lack of a better word).

Heavy is the Head by mags_writes (Ao3) - I love this because it feels like an alternate season 10. There's some romance, some mystery, a lot of intrigue.

I Forget Where We Were (The Rookie) by @farfarawaygirl - ooh, the angst - it hurts so good and Rosalind is just so evil, it's kind of amazing to read. I still have to read chapter 3 but nobody writes angst like Emma does!!

The Places You Don't Walk Away From (Gilmore Girls) by starsholiday (Ao3) - technically, this is a re-read but it's one of a handful of Gilmore Girls fan fiction I've read before and I looked for it after I binged 7 seasons + the Netflix special again this year. It's a Rory/Jess one and so, so well written and reads like episodes of the show - the quick wit, the banter, everything!

8. favourite author of the year

Again, there can't only be one so a few of my favorites:

@alittlextrathatway @farfarawaygirl @emdeedot45 @katie-049 @sylvies-chen

10. favourite blog of the year

@fighterkimburgess - I love reading all their takes!

14. best fixit you read this year

I Choose You by @emdeedot45 because we all need a dose of post 10x05 fluff

15. favourite headcanon of the year

Probably anything related to domestic Brettsey or the recent Get Lucy Laid project has been fun to read because come on, your girl deserves it!

16. best BTS (behind the scenes) moment of the year

Honestly, anything season 9 Chicago Fire related because it sent the fandom in a tailspin every time a BTS photo would come out, lol. I would low-key lurk on Twitter just to scroll through any BTS pics.

I swear, we were all clowns.

17. WIP you hope gets updated next year

I don't want to put pressure on anyone! Honestly, writing is not easy.

18. fandom you plan to join next year

Not yet sure. I'm on season 5 of Chicago PD now so probably by early next year, I'll be up to speed on all the One Chicago shows.

20. favourite character of the year

Dude, I cannot limit myself to one.

Sylvie Brett and Matt Casey (Chicago Fire), Lucy Chen (The Rookie), Kim Burgess (Chicago PD) and maybe everyone from Ted Lasso because that show is amazing.

21. favourite ship of the year

Brett and Casey for sure! They have me in a choke hold and I wouldn't have it any other way.

27. best fandom moment of the year

When all the Brettsey fans exploded with joy during 9x16. I mean, we waited three years for that!!!

29. fandom “first” you accomplished this year

I started writing fanfic! Something I never thought I could do.

Send me some asks!

[potofsoup]

Witcher Season 2

I watched it!  And I have a lot of opinions about the tweaks it would take to fix it!

Anyway, I wrote about ep 1-4 on DW here, and ep 5-8 here, where for each episode, I briefly sum up what happens, and then what I would do to fix it.  I know there’s lots of different ways to do a fixit, but I tried to keep most of the major plot beats, just moving some scenes around, mostly removing unnecessary plot maneuvering and adding in more character interactions.  (So that when Ciri says that Geralt is always there for her, we believe it.)  Also, I bring Yen and Jaskier into the story more (goodbye, Triss!), and Eskel is replaced by a different Witcher named Neskel.)

So, read on if you want my alternate version of Witcher Season 2:

Ep 1: Ciri and Geralt visit Nivellen and gain sympathy for the bruxa.  Everyone thinks Yen is dead. Ep 2: Ciri and Geralt at KM, Neskel (Not-Eskel) returns from a leshy hunt, and before he has a chance to invite everyone from town, he goes all Leshy and Geralt ends up having to kill Neskel. All the witchers gather for his burial, and Ciri learns a bit about Witchers and KM.  Ciri decides to do training, with Geralt's help.  Yen/Fringilla/Francesca have their Baba Yaga vision, Yen realizes that she doesn't have Chaos, Frin/Fran teams up. Ep 3: Yen gets to Aretuza and tells Tissaia that she lost her Chaos, and Tissaia basically shoves her back out the door (in order to protect her but also bc power is everything).  Feeling desperate and alone, Yen agrees to Baba Yaga's deal of getting Ciri, starts heading toward KM.  Geralt does some training with Ciri, and takes her Leshy hunting.  Ciri learns about how to be a Witcher, bonds with Geralt and Vesemir and other KM denizens. Ep 4: Yen runs into Jaskier on her journey up to KM, they have some good moments -- Jaskier helps smuggle Yen through Redania, Yen helps Jaskier when he gets caught by Rience.  Yen asks Jaskier to travel with her to KM and Jaskier decides to stay where he's more needed (also because he wants Geralt to apologize, which Yen agrees with).  Yen shows up at KM and offers to help Ciri with her magic (secretly hoping to get Ciri strong enough to portal to Baba Yaga).  Background stuff about Cintra becoming a haven for elves, and Frin/Fran bonding moments. Ep 5: Geralt goes to investigate the Leshy forest and finds a broken Monolith.  Yen begins to be attached to Ciri as she teaches her magic.  Vesemir pressures Ciri about using her blood to create Witcher mutagen.  Ciri is tempted and confused, and has a good convo with Yen about feeling powerless.  After a vision quest with Yen's help, Ciri remembers Calanthe and Eist and decides to call an all-Witcher council to discuss whether to bring back the mutagens or not.  Geralt returns in time to (a) explain Witcher mutagen trauma, (b) reassure Ciri that she doesn't need that to be a Witcher, (c) reassure Ciri that he's there for her, she doesn't need to be a Witcher.  Meanwhile, Istredd does some Monolith-studying and Cintran records research, and realizes that Ciri has Elderblood.  He returns to the Cintran capital just in time to see Cahir return. Ep 6: Geralt, Yen and Ciri gets attacked by a monster and Yen isn't able to use her magic, leading to Roach death.  Geralt takes both her and Ciri to Nenneke for magic help.  As they arrive, Yen talks to Geralt about how Jaskier is nearby and he really needs to go and apologize.  Geralt grunts thoughtfully.  While there, Geralt talks with Ciri about her worries, and he talks to Yen about how she is more than her magic.  Rience attacks, and Yen and Ciri portal out, leaving Geralt.  Meanwhile, tensions rise in Cintra under Cahir, and Francesca has a baby. Ep 7: Yen leads Ciri to the broken Monolith in Cintra, thinking she can outwit and control Baba Yaga.  Meanwhile, mounting tensions in Cintra as Francesca thinks she's outwitted Baba Yaga and starts reneging on her promises to Fringilla. Cut back to Ciri, finding out Yen's plan and feeling betrayed, then hearing the voice of Baba Yaga, saying that she knows what Ciri wants.  Fringilla, in order to seize power, kills the Nilfgaard generals.  Geralt finds and frees Jaskier, apologizes to him properly, and Jaskier uses his bard/smuggling connections to find out that (a) Yen/Ciri are in Cintra and (b) Nilfgaardians and Redanians are both after her.  (Meanwhile, in Aretuza, Istredd tells Tissaia about Ciri.)  Geralt and Jaskier (and dwarves) go to save Ciri from Nilfgaardian soldiers, and they ride back to KM.  There is a flash of Baba Yaga inside Ciri.  Francesca's baby gets assassinated. Ep 8: Francesca declares war on all humans but then Istredd shows up and tells her about Ciri, and from that Francesca finds hope.  Meanwhile Ciri is living her dream of the past, while Baba Yaga pilots her body to open the Monolith at KM and summon monsters.  The Witchers agree that they don't want a re-run of Neskel, and while Vesemir leads the other Witchers to deal with the monsters, Geralt, Yen and Jaskier try to get Ciri back.  Yen is using potions and Geralt is using his words and Jaskier is playing a song from Cintra.  These things combined reminds Ciri that she has family here, and that she hasn't lost Cintra forever, either.  She says goodbye to Calanthe, Eist and Mousesack in her vision (no parents bc she has no memory of them), and returns just in time to do that weird portal thing and foreshadow the Wild Hunt. Emhyr shows up, reveals that he's behind the baby killing, ousts Fringilla. Montage of Emhyr, Elves, Redania, and Brotherhood all deciding that they need to hunt down Ciri, juxtaposed with Ciri being happy with her family at KM.

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Sorry to spam y’all all the sudden but, for anyone who doesn’t feel like clicking through the 3Zun fic on AO3, I feel like you still deserve to see what my goofy ass came up with when I was finishing up the final edits at 5 this morning.

So behold - chapter titles! Each chapter gets a real title (usually from the dialogue in the chapter) and a stupid alternative one loosely based on how episodes of Friends are named that I made jokingly when I was trying to think of a fic summary and all I could think of was stuff like “uhhh there’s threesomes and feelings” etc etc.

Anyway - Chapter titles for the 3zun fixit AU:

1. Real: You’re Alright, We’ve Got You.

Alternative: The one where there’s a hot threesome but like, with a lot of feelings

2. Real: They’re Not Going Anywhere

Alternative: The one where there’s just a lot of feelings

3. Real: In Any Life, In Any Death

Alternative: The one where Wei Wuxian talks a lot and it mostly makes sense

4. Real: Something Out Of A Dream

Alternative: The one where Lan Xichen gets to cry on his mom and flirt with his old married husbands all in the same day

5. Real: We Three Have The Luxury Of Time

Alternative: The one where the author gives you smut for dinner and tooth-rotting fluff for breakfast you’re welcome

6. Real: We Will Be Here When You Wake

Alternative: The one where the author rips the breakfast fluff right out of your mouth you’re welcome

7. Real: Let Them Come To You Gently And In Their Season

Alternative: The one where Qingheng-Jun is like a weird blend of the author’s dad and Bob Ross

8. Real: We Need To Take You Home

Alternative: The one where Nie Huaisang is a MAJOR cockblocker

9. Real: I Told You Not To Move

Alternative: The one the author affectionately calls ‘The Stabby Chapter’

10. Real: They Want To Bear It With You

Alternative: The one where Lan Qiren is, weirdly enough, a hugger.

[walks-the-ages]

Or, here's a thing: block me. I am one person. It's not hard, and it's free.

If I am talking about River Song's character, I am going to tag it as River Song.

If me critiquing the show and literally saying that River Song Deserved Better is ruining your fandom experience then here's the thing! Block me! It's not hard! It's one click! One click, instead of taking the time out of your day to send anon hate lol.

If Im watching an episode that River Song is in and I'm talking about her character and the missed opportunities and how I would change things? Boom, I'm going to tag it as River Song.

Like, I'm sorry your tag is dead and I'm the only new content for like the last week, but that's on you to block me and create the positive content you want to see. Me saying "River Song Deserved Better and he's how I would write her" is not.... Negativity.

Me pointing out her relationship with the 11th Doctor is fucked up and she deserved better than what Moffat gave her shouldn't be the end of the world for you.

Why are you taking how many minutes out of your life to send anon hate because I'm critiquing a show, instead of simply blocking me? Why? How is it so hard to block me, but it's so much easier apparently for you to send me anon hate?

If you don't want to see "negativity" (aka. me. Literally. Saying that River Song Deserved better. Yeah that's totally negative/sarcasm) in the tag............block me.

It's not on my shoulders that the only new content in the River Song tag is my critiques, Lol. I'll have to check the tag out when I get home on my laptop that shows timestamps to see how hold the other stuff is lol, especially when people are telling me "it happened 8 years ago get a grip" lol.

Block me and make your own "positivity" content.

It's free it's cheap and it's easy, and If I'm talking about River Song I'm not going to not tag it as River Song, especially if I'm writing fixit fics and such.

Just because you refuse to engage with media critically doesn't mean no one else is allowed to. If you don't want to see me critiquing and writing things for River Song's character then block me. It's not hard and it's not the end of the world.

In fact, blocking me when you see my posts is much quicker and easier than taking the time out of your day to send anon hate. Just block me and move on.

Sincerely and genuinely: Blocking someone who's got annoying takes in your favorite tag is not the end of the world. Just do it and be done with it. Don't waste your time and theirs by sending anon hate. Just block me and you won't see my "bad takes" anynore, I promise I will not be mad. I do not know when blocking people on anonymous social media started being viewed as bad, but I sincerely am telling you: block me if you don't like my posts. Because I am going to be talking about River Song and Ryan Sinclair and Yaz and Graham and 13 and 12 and 11 for awhile.

It's 2021, learn to block someone who annoys you instead of sending anon hate.

[daisylincs]

hi! 14 (fav fix-it fic) & 29 (fav meme) for the fandom of the year ask? Thanks!

Hi there!! 😍😍 Thanks so much for playing, ahh, it's great to have you xD

14. best fixit you read this year

Oooooh, great question!! And I have a great answer for you - in the form of a fic which has succeeded in utterly blowing me away more than twenty times now already. Everyone, I present to you - Agents of SHIELD Season 8, by the incredible @egumal.

This is a fixit for me in the sweetest sense of the word, because it brings back Lincoln Campbell, and Staticquake, in a way that's not only potentially canon compliant, but also still respectful to Dousy and Daisy's feelings for Sousa. Basically, this fic follows a Daisy, Sousa and Kora who travel back to Deke's time-line and relive the Hive/Fallen Agent plotline - the catch being that Lincoln, who Deke saved, is in Daisy's position.

So, yeah, it's an INSANE situation, with Daisy having to deal with a hell of a lot of feelings (seeing Lincoln again!! and him not knowing who she is!!) and also the inevitable death thing going on too... it's just FANTASTICALLY written, and the twists and turns are some of the best you'll ever come across. Honestly, I cannot recommend this fic enough!!!

28. best fandom meme of the year

Ahahahaaaa, I still remember this one so well, actually!! To share: remember mid-s7 when we as a fandom were hoping Fitz would appear in the tag scene of every episode? Yeah, well, as you know, it kept not happening, lmao. Once was particularly sour, because we were teased with a pant leg... only for it to be Nathaniel freaking Malick.

Yeah, well. The ever-brilliant @bunnykaye took that and a 7x07 screencap, and transformed it into this fabulous (and very accurate for us all at the time) meme. Ahhhh, I still love it (and that entire Mack & Deke meme format tbh) to absolute pieces!!

Ooh, this was a lot of fun, thanks so much for asking! 🥰

Fandom End Of Year Asks

[mk-wizard]

Top 10 Things Robots In Disguise Did Wrong IMO

Hello, fans.

I really hate knocking a series because I hate trash talking, so I won’t do it, but rather, I will some criticism on Robots in Disguise aka RID. I had a lot of high standards for this show especially considering it was supposed to be a sequel to Prime. There are many things about it that didn’t sit well with me, but there ten things I feel really stood out that really hurt the show the most. Note that Strongarm is not one of those things. Not liking Strongarm is a matter of taste it is not the make or break aspect of an entire series. Despite what many people think, one character you don’t like doesn’t ruin an entire series.

1- It didn’t feel like a genuine sequel to Prime. - I understand that in RID, some time has passed after the end of Prime so things around going to be different. However, the only thing from Prime that was brought over to RID was Bumblebee himself and I felt he did not have a lot in common with his Prime counterpart. RID felt like a completely new show or rather like the sequel of another series. The old cast is never brought up or shown, old alliances seemed to have been forgotten and whatever happened to the Predacons? When making a sequel TV series, it should follow a certain level continuity with the series it is following kind of like how Beast Machines followed Beast Wars so smoothly.

2- Fixit’s performance as the first handicapped Autobot was rather insensitive towards the viewers. - I don’t mind Fixit being handicapped or being the comic relief, but I do find it kind of insensitive especially in today’s day and age for Fixit to be comic relief because he’s handicapped. He was portrayed as weak, an invalid and at times, incompetent which he clearly isn’t. In fact, he has an arsenal and can hold his own, but even after this was found out, he was put back into his “weakling” role. This is not a good look for Transformers. A lot of people watching the show wound up handicapped because of an accident like Fixit did or have handicaps similar to his, and I don’t think it’s very nice to give off the message that people like them are “broken” and this makes them clowns we should laugh at. This is backwards writing at its worst and shame on Hasbro for that.

3- Forgettable human characters. - In Prime, Jack, Miko, Raf, agent Fowler and even Jack’s mom had very strong personalities that made an impact in the show. They were actually helpful to the Autobots and could even be forces to be reckoned with. You could never say the humans of Prime were weak or just played humans in distress. They would rescue the Autobots just as often if not more so than the Autobots rescued them. In RID, Denny and Russel were not as impressive. If anything, Russel felt like a copy of Jack at times, but in a much weaker way. He lacked Jack’s maturity and character development. At times, I also wondered why Bumblebee never just tried to make contact with Agent Fowler at least upon returning to Earth (more on this later).

4- The quality felt like a step down from Prime. - I understand RID was supposed to appeal to a younger audience, but when you’re following an act like Prime, you should put your best foot forward even when presenting to kids. After all, Rescue Bots was also made for kids, but it took place in the same universe as Prime and never compromised its quality. RID felt very silly in its humour, the majority of the episodes felt like the old fashioned and outdated “monster of the day” formula, the plot felt made up as it went along and the characters were rather one dimensional.

5- It should have brought back a large majority of the Prime cast as regular characters. - I understand that even a sequel series is going to have a few new characters. Beast Machines did, but what it didn’t do was scrap 99.9% of the old cast for a new one. It didn’t fix what wasn’t broken and kept the characters who worked best for the series. Like I mentioned before, why didn’t Bumblebee ever try to contact the old human gang especially agent Fowler? Didn’t they keep in touch? And didn’t Ratchet stay on Earth at the end of Prime because he wanted keep Earth safe from any remaining Decepticons? And what happened to the Decepticons who were already on Earth? RID is supposed to be a sequel to Prime not a parallel. It should have brought back most of the old gang especially for its setting.

6- It had tons of plot holes. - As well as forgetting its own cast, RID forgot a lot of pivotal plot elements left behind by Prime that it should have worked with. The most obvious being the Predacons considering most of the enemies in RID had animal motifs. Also, if Bumblebee was so important on Cybertron, his absence would have been felt on Cybertron. People would have gone looking for him. And as mentioned before, there were already a lot of Decepticons still on Earth. It wasn’t necessary to bring in these new animal themed Decepticons.

7- Optimus stole Bumblebee’s spotlight. - RID was supposed to be the series where Bumblebee was supposed to shine, be the hero and leader, and possibly become a Prime. He kind of did those things, but the way Optimus was brought back overshadowed him a lot and that’s no good. Rescue Bots showed a good way to bring in Optimus as a guest or secondary character without overshadowing the heroes of the story. In Rescue Bots, Optimus is assisting, but stepping out of the way for the most part. In RID, as soon as Optimus came back, he completely got in Bumblebee’s way and even made him look bad. This just seems like muddled storytelling to me. Maybe it would have been better if Optimus hadn’t been brought back at all.

8- The enemies were rather lackluster. - Prime gave us tons of enemies that shocked us, had grit and were not afraid to be truly bad like Megatron the conqueror, Starscream the snake and of course, Unicron himself who truly did live up to his chaos bringing persona. And even Predaking was the stuff of nightmares yet at the same time, has this majestic aura hence his name. The enemies of RID felt like a bunch of thugs, they were mostly monsters of the day and even Megatronus felt like a step down in villain quality. He didn’t make me feel anything really and while I know the series wanted to be child friendly, I think it tried too hard. Megatronus just felt like a lesser version of Unicron and many of the villains felt like lesser versions of their Prime counterparts. And this is bad. Even when they explained their motives, I didn’t feel like they delivered that impression that they were all that bad. Just more like they were trying to play the role of being bad like actors in a show. Pardon the harsh criticism, but that’s how I felt.

9- The ideas it presented had been done before. - I hate saying this, but everything I saw in RID had been done before in other Transformers series. None of the ideas felt that fresh at all especially not the setting of Autobots being marooned on Earth and then needing to fight the Decepticons marooned there with them. Like, come on! Even the idea of reviving Optimus had been done before. I think the plot of RID would have benefited more and would have had more of an opportunity to be original if it had literally picked up where Prime had left off with rebuilding Cybertron or tying up loose ends left by Prime.

10- Bumblebee’s performance felt like a step down after Prime. - In Prime, Bumblebee went from being a Scout to a full blown Megatron slayer. He was a badass who didn’t take trash from anyone and he knew what to do without needing to say it. And as soon as he did have a voice, he showed a lot of promise as a leader in every way possible. However, in RID, he seems to have regressed in both leadership skills and in maturity. He’s goofy in all the wrong ways, he is overly concerned with catchphrases and he can’t keep his team together. As mentioned before, RID Bumblebee did not give me the impression that he was the same Bumblebee from Prime. He felt like a different guy.

To anyone who is a fan RID, I don’t mean to offend you. I just had to get this off of my chest. Usually, I don’t care for a sequel following its legacy, but RID felt like a huge drop in standards to the point where it didn’t even look like a sequel anymore.

To anyone who agrees with me, what are your thoughts and what reasons can you think of that caused RID to not live up to Prime’s legacy?

[woodface]

Leena deserved better

So we’ve made our way halfway through s4 of Warehouse 13 and I have so much feelings and a whole lot of salt. I love this show and its found family, but oh boy, do I also have issues and most of it revolve on how Leena gets treated. 

I love Leena a lot. Despite how... well for 3 whole seasons this show does not know what to do with Leena. It’s so painful to watch. They threw in a character who was all heart and could see a little too much. Her aura reading made her rather mysterious and a little mystical, and she obviously is very empathic to all the other characters around her. She’s able to sense artifacts and the strange energies they resonate... and unlike with Pete’s vibes or Steve’s ability to know when someone is lying, the writers did not know what to do with that or did not really want to bother trying to write around it.

So they kept Leena in the background. Sometimes there to lend an ear, to do the jobs others were too busy to do, but in general, Leena was shoved towards the background.

It took them until S4 before they let Leena venture away from the B&B and the warehouse, and god, that moment is so good that it’s painful. We get a glimpse of who Leena is, of how she can read these artefacts and keeps them in balance. Her reactions are so amazing and it just makes it all that more painful that we never got more of any of this. Even when the show was focussing on Leena with the pearl of wisdow, Leena had to carry that burden on her own. She didn’t get to confide in anyone else, she didn’t get the team around to support her. (Not on screen anyway, but let me headcanon it.)

In comes S4 where Leena is suddenly thrust forward in an attempt to build up the character they neglected for 3 whole seasons so... well her death would have a bigger impact on their story. It’s rather telling that we come to understand her true impact on the warehouse, that we come to see what she did, after she’s gone. Through the eyes of Artie so we could understand his guilt and his grief. While all the other characters around are more focussed on Artie. There is no pause in the show for them to remember her by, to show how much she is missed.

The grief over Leena is shown solely through the eyes of Artie. Leena’s death is the greater evil Artie has to live with as payment for using an artefact to change the world. It’s so gross and so disappointing, and it doesn’t work. At all. 

What strikes me as odd is how this death closely follows everything happening with Steve. The writers set up a big storyline here. Steve dies for them, to save them. Steve sacrifices himself, and Claudia is so eaten up by guilt that she does the wrong thing. She does exactly what Artie says they should never do. 

They bring Steve back and show us just how bad it is. Claudia ties herself to his fate, she binds them together and every hurt he feels, gets transferred to her. It’s an interesting storyline and the potential had me on the edge of my seat. Claudia has spent so much of her life trying to get her brother back. Only for him to walk away and leave her behind, and Claudia is left fumbling until she find her home with this little family. 

Only for history to repeat itself and Claudia once more being faced with potentially losing a brother, and putting her own life on the line to get him back instead of learning to cope with her grief. The parallels are so obvious and it’s obvious where this storyline was meant to lead. Steve realising the danger he poses to Claudia, convincing her that he had his time and he would not let anyone get hurt in his place. Steve taking himself off the metronome after being able to say goodbye to Claudia and allowing her to move on. 

It would have been beautiful, even if it would have been painful. Except, that’s not how it goes. There are no consequences to Claudia’s actions. They go back to Steve’s mother, have the weirdest kind of ceremony that felt not really cathartic and mostly confusing, but they do it. Easy as that. A moment of love, the metronome gets destroyed and Steve can live happily after.

Steve’s death would have had meaning. It would have resonated and he would have died protecting everyone. He would have been a hero, and he would have been a good brother keeping his found sister safe. Except, he lives. 

Steve being alive leaves a bad taste in the mouth when a few episodes later Leena gets killed. And it doesn’t resonate. Claudia’s angst is about Artie and while that is understandable, Claudia’s lack of grief for Leena isn’t. They got Steve back without any great negative consequences, but no one pauses to think about getting Leena back. No one mentions while they angst over having Artie use the astrolabe again and that it would kill HG, Steve and Mrs Frederic, it would ultimately mean saving Leena.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think using artefacts to bring the dead back is a particularly good idea, but the show just literally made it clear that in fact, it can be done and you can get a happy ending. For the while male character, at least. (And even for HG Wells as well.) The black woman? No, she isn’t worth it. Heck, no one even wants to stop and think about what it means that Pete actually saw her. That’s just the Warehouse, apparently. 

There’s so many ways they could have handled this better, even if she still ended up dead in the end. Heck, just the group sitting together in the B&B telling stories about Leena would have been something.

The closest we get is Artie showing us four seasons too lately exactly the type of work that Leena did. All the things, the show didn’t bother to include before as they shoved Leena’s character to the side. And it just makes the character’s death that much harder to swallow, because we never even got to see her shine. And in the same instant, we see Steve (the boy who lived) take the seat and do what she was good it in her place.

I realise I’m like 8 years too late with my indignation, but it still sucks, dammit. I’m still mad as hell because Leena was an awesome character and she deserved so much better than any of this bullshit.

And now I need like 500 fixit fics. I need the entire team dogpiling on Leena as she’s safe and sound with them again. I need Claudia clinging to her and showing her relief that she didn’t have to lose Leena too. I just... Rawr.

They couldn’t even bother to give her a frigging last name, goddammit.

[julesnichols]

fic writer review!

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

2. What's your grand total ao3 word count?

3. How many fandoms have you written for?

4. What is the first fandom you ever wrote for?

5. Is there a fandom you would like to write for but haven't yet?

6. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

7. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

8. Which of your fics has the angstiest ending?

9. Are any of your fics pure fluff?

10. Have any of your fics ended differently than you originally planned?

11. Do you write AUs?

12. Do you ever write smut?

13. Do you usually try to stick to canon?

14. What are your favorite tropes to utilize in your writing?

15. Have you ever received hateful comments on a fic?

16. What is the nicest comment you've received?

17. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

18. Have you ever co-written a fic?

19. What is your all-time favorite ship to write for?

20. Is there a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

21. What are your writing strengths?

22. What are your writing weaknesses?

23. Are there any of your early fics that you wish you could go back and change?

24. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

25. What is your favorite fic that you've written so far?

**Tag another writer if you want!**

1. 82 or so (I’ve posted a few anonymously and I intend to keep them that way publicly)

2. 207,816

3. On ao3? 7, though over the years across other sites it’s been more; don’t remember exactly now

4. Crossover between Twilight and a Harvest Moon game, I was 12, don’t judge me

5. Mmm… maybe?

6. Okay so:

1. i can’t give it up (POI)

2. you should see me in a crown (CAOS)

3. I Love it When You Play Doctor (POI)

4. Make Time (POI)

5. you got me on a cliff’s edge where i belong (POI)

As a word of warning, all of these were written either during a manic episode or while drunk. And I feel like you need that context because they’re not great, they’ve just been on there so long that they got a lot of kudos.

7. Always! I like engaging with other people. Even if all I can manage is a thank you, I want people to know they were acknowledged. :) I have a lot of anxiety about comments due to negative past experiences, but I try.

8. Oh Jesus… I have 82 of them I honestly don’t really know anymore. 😅 Sorry

9. A few are, yes.

10. Oh definitely. My long fic for Penny Dreadful is a good example. It ended similar but I did scrap some stuff because it didn’t feel right, and where I ended it did.

11. Yes! Mostly canon divergent AUs and fixits, but the murder mystery AU exists 👀

12. Yup. A lot of it. Oops??

13. In general, yeah. Or twisting it slightly.

14. Bedsharing, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers. Mostly.

15. Yup. And I am not afraid to tell someone off for them. How politely depends on whether or not the person genuinely intended to be mean though. I know sometimes people think they’re being helpful, but telling me my story isn’t realistic isn’t helpful when you could just exit out or write your own. And I am not afraid to politely and assertively say that last bit. The more the merrier when it comes to fics, and don’t feel entitled to tell people how to write theirs. But if you intended to be hateful… I’ll be far less polite.

16. Oh god… I don’t know.

17. Knock on wood I’m pretty sure the answer is no. But y’all. There’s a way to say your work was inspired by someone else’s. Please use it. This shouldn’t even have to be a concern.

18. Yep!

19. Hmm… probably Melanie and Bennett honestly. Ethan and Vanessa are a close second though.

20. I think I will eventually finish all of them, it’s just a matter of time. I did start something a few years ago for Penny Dreadful that I ended up posting, but it also works as a oneshot so I’m not sure I’d ever go back to it. And I’ve kinda started the sequel to the long Penny Dreadful fic, which I do wanna start posting and finish some day. When I’m more confident that I’ll be able to do so.

21. I’m… not sure? It honestly depends on the characters and pairing.

22. I overthink. Generally. But also again depends on the characters and pairing.

23. All of them pre 2018 honestly. And a few after that, but not as many. Don’t have the energy for it though.

24. I think that it’s complicated. I hesitate to write in languages I don’t speak because I don’t want to get something wrong and accidentally offend. But at the same time too, I do think that it is kind of offensive not to write in another language sometimes if a character would be speaking it. So I try to find a balance and hope that I can walk that tightrope by never choosing anything overly complicated.

25. Mm… depends on the day. But overall I have to say the PD long fic with our backs to the wall (the darkness will fall) because I proved to myself that I could write longer things and complete them.

[inspired-n-desired]

I just watched The Mandalorian S2E1, here are my thoughts on the A+ Baby Yoda representation:

- when Mando says “anywhere I go, he goes”? a truly heartfelt father-son moment

- when he hides in the floating cradle right before Mando shoots off his whistling birds? Amazing

- when Mando says “he’s seen worse” after having just had him in some alien fighting pit thing? another truly heartfelt father-son moment

- when ship fixit girl remembered Baby Yoda and called him a little womp rat? Priceless

- when he hid in the tobacco pot in the alien bar while Mando went all Mando with Vanth? Stellar

- when he hides in the weird sack he’s always in from the loud noises? Epic

- when he made sad face when he thought Mando got eaten? Flawless

all around I rate this episode an 8/10 on Baby Yodaness. We could’ve had some force, but I get it, you can’t pull out all the big guns in the first episode. Fair.

most importantly, no one fucking dropped the baby this time.

[wishiwasntstillhere]

me n my 98569345 ouran AUs

so on november 9th i started a doc to keep track of a bunch of ouran AUs ive been thinking about and i swear the number of aus has tripled since but anyway here’s a list because i doubt i’ll write them all but i have full outlines for all of them so i do kind of... want to. names are based off what i called them in my google doc. *** are the ones i have written 40% of already lol

AUs:

1. Dimension Hopper: For reasons unknown, Tamaki Suoh gets transported to an alternate dimension where he didn’t come to Japan when he turned 14. The people who were once his friends have no memory of nor patience for him anymore, and it’s up to him to bring the Host Club back together, and figure out why he was transported here in the first place. Endgame tamakyo.

2. ***Episode 8 fixit***: A series of endings and turning points that would have made me less freaked out about the disaster that is Episode 8. Read it and/or rant at “Haruhi Deserves Better, Hosts!” on ao3. Very much ongoing. Will stop when I can sleep at night again. No ships because my feelings about this episode are complicated enough.

3. Ghost AU: Haruhi is a normal girl who suddenly gains the ability to see ghosts, because her life is a nightmare. She meets the six infamous ghosts of Ouran Academy, each bound to this world by things out of their control.

4. ***Cinder-Renge***: Renge’s dad, who has raised her as a single parent for 15 whole years, suddenly remarries. It... doesn’t go so well for Renge. Luckily, the Host Club is there for their manager. Cinderella!AU, endgame harurenge!!!

5. Hanahaki disease au: Hanahaki disease but if it wasn’t a deadly condition, just a ridiculous, irresponsible, humiliatingly painful disease for one Kyouya Ootori. At first everyone assumes it’s haruhi he likes because literally everyone else in the host club has caught flowers for haruhi so they’re just waiting for kyouya to confess and get over it. Except that of course, they’re not actually for Haruhi, and although the flowers won’t kill him Kyouya would die before admitting his feelings for Tamaki Suoh.

6. Shameless Kyouya OC Girlfriend: The twins have a cousin who programs. Kyouya, looking to expand the host club’s capacities, hires her. Except she’s super sensitive, and he’s kind of a dick. It’s a long road to being friends, a longer road to becoming real, maskless friends, and then a surprisingly short tumble into love.

7. ***Soulmates of Different Flavors***: In a world where each soulmate bond has a different sign of soul-binding, some people feel their soulmates’ pain, others have the day of their meeting scrawled across their wrist. The Host Club is stuck managing seven different soulbonds, one for each of their soulmates.  Found family-centric. Read more about the soulmate mechanics on this post!

8. ***Kyouya is stressed au***: Can we even call this an AU? Based off the fact that mental health and physical health are very much intertwined, and Kyouya Ootori spends too much time working on the computer. The Host Club bands together to help him relax and figure his stuff out, and Kyouya learns to let down his walls and practice self-compassion. Tamakyo. I do love a good emotionally vulnerable shoulder massage, after all.

9. Spy/Kidnap AU: Someone’s stolen Kyouya’s black book and is trying to kidnap him. Knowing they’ll probably go for the Host Club next, he kidnaps the host club to keep them safe. Together, they fight to keep each other safe and get to the bottom of the mystery. Involves spy tropes, but in lame ways because they’re a bunch of dorks. Also, obligatory “and there was only one bed” scene but there are seven people so it genuinely is a problem. Endgame tamakyo and mori/haruhi

10. Things the Twins Made Fun of About Tamakyo: listen I just need more mutual pining while everyone else in the host club suffers. Anyway, the host club does a cosplay––where they all act as each other. Naturally, the twins claim the roles of Tamaki and Kyouya, and drama ensues.

11. ***LGBTeen Solidarity***: So in high school being in love with girls was scary. And talking to fellow LGBT kids made me feel okay. So with that in mind, this is a story about how Haruhi and Renge are working out their relationship at the same time as Tamaki and Kyouya are angsting about how they can never be together... except that the more all 8 host club kids support each other, the less scary and more possible it seems.

12. Self soothing fic: Haruhi and Hikaru are having boundary issues. Haruhi is not very good at asking for help but she is good at reading people and solving their problems, so she goes to someone who is equally bad at asking for help but good at solving people’s problems. Kyouya and Haruhi talk it out so that Haruhi can work things out. I probably won’t post this bc Reasons but it exists.

13. Mr. Brightside/Satisfied: Tamaki isn’t making his move to ask Haruhi out, and Kyouya is legitimately losing it having to wait, and Haruhi is growing anxious and frustrated about it. In a truly terrible idea, Kyouya offers to fake-date Haruhi (who he has fallen in love with), so that Tamaki (who he has also fallen in love with) will finally get jealous enough to admit his feelings. In a completely out of the blue, totally unforeseen twist, the plan works too well and they all fall in love with each other like nerds. mostly a crackfic bc i love them but they’re all so dumb...

[icharchivist]

Okay so done with Ardyn and Ignis’s dlcs, meaning i am done with the game for good! what a ride! what a blast! i had so much fun with everything, i don’t have anything i’m disappointed about so DLKJFDF a good ride for me.

Starting with Ignis, i really liked his DLC. 

The first part, which mostly just talks about how he got his eyes injury, was very fun to play through. Compared to how much i struggled with Gladio and Prompto that was a blast to play through ahah. I liked the gameplay and i liked being back in Altissia.

It was nice also to see Ravus’s actual turn around in game, since his whole part in the main game was... all over the place. So it was nice to see his actual motivations being laid out, and his teaming up with Ignis was pretty neat, they worked out well with one another, both as Guardians, and working as parallel to one another, with Ignis wanting (originally) for Noctis to see his goal through while Ravus wanted his sister to be freed, and in the end after Luna’s death, Ignis joining Ravus in not wanting to lose Noctis just to “his duty and fate”

The way Ignis got blind had me yelling. Putting on the ring of Lucii to try to protect Noctis, a ring that famously burn off anyone who tries to use it and isn’t of royal blood. Lowkey wondering if it works in a “truth from FMA” way where the people who ended up burnt by the ring all lost part of themselves that were important to them. Nyx wanted to live as a hero and he had to die as one. Ravus was the arm of revenge for his family and he lost his arm to it. Ignis was the analyser, the one who looked after Noctis and looked for his future, and his eyes were burnt. Like a way to prevent them all from even fighting destiny again. 

Anyway the whole canon complient part was so fucking sad and the goodbyes with Ignis and Noctis had me cry so hard i couldn’t look at the screen anymore. It was so sad and intense to me my heart is still broken.

So jumping on the fixit future just afterward, well, to me was kind of healing lmao. The whole thing, how Ignis even manage to win protecting Noctis, doesn’t really make any sense but it doesn’t have to, it’s just a happy ending that was sorely needed after all this mess, for me at least. 

It also made me cry to see Noctis’s resolve being that he would not let himself be separated from his friends. Makes me wonder if it has to do with the fact the alternative timeline pretty much therefore prevents the train incident from happening, meaning Noctis didn’t hurt Prompto, and didn’t have to play Ardyn’s mindgames about Prompto back then. Regis and Luna’s death were symbols of stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected. But hurting Prompto was Noctis ealizing that he would be harming his friends if he tried to end Ardyn. With the way Ignis’s ep goes, Ignis is another “stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected” so instead of fearing hurting his friends he’s more dedicated than ever to not let them go this time. Kinda liking this.

The alternative ending wasn’t as detailled as i expected (i swEAR i thought i’ve seen something about Luna surviving which?? i didn’t see at all so??) so i’m kinda happy with it? The gist of it is just “even if Noctis spent ten years into the Crystals his friends stayed together (which they didn’t in the ten years in canon) and once they were reunited they never let go of one another again”. I’m fine with that!! v good with that!! and i’m just happy Ignis can feel like he protected Noctis to the end, like he was meant to do. He’s so happy at the end i am tearing up just thinking about it.

so i really liked episode Ignis personally.  The alternative ending is just that, an alternative ending if we want to indulge in it and i’m happy with it, meanwhile the rest of the episode was pretty good to me. 

my only problem with the DLCs (and that is all of them) is also kinda just, the reason they had to exist, is that well. Honestly i’m not against dlcs and all but those were really scenes that would have benefited from being clearer in game. Not knowing how Ignis’s injuried himself really didn’t sit right with me, not knowing where Gladio was gone to was bothering me. Prompto’s ep itself wasn’t something i expected, wasn’t a gap i thought needed to be filled, but they filled it with more clarification about the magiteks in a way that i think is sooo much more impactful than just the game. 

I guess what i mean is that, they are filling holes that were in the games that bothered me, and on one hand i’m thrilled to have complete stories that specifically addresses them, on the other, i just kinda wish i didn’t have to wait until the end of the game to have those answers. 

Ardyn’s dlc has a huge lore dump at first which, imo, should have been clearer in the game too, but as it is i like how it’s done in the Ardyn’s dlc. In the end it just really gives the feelings the dlcs are course correcting DLKFJDLKJFD

ANYWAY Ardyn’s DLC. It was a blast to play through, the whole game itself was pretty fun. I really wanted to explore Insomnia (i also really want to explore the royal palace  but well that won’t be...), so even if it was by fucking around and finding out, it was hella fun.

Plotwise i am glad it makes Ardyn’s motivations very clear and in the end well, Ardyn is a really tragic figure and i’m really sad for him even if i remain angry at everything he has done. It’s just, what other choices did he have when he was doomed from the start?

It was sad to see how nice of a guy he was, how he just wanted to heal and help people, only for the gods and his brother to betray him. Somnus is such an ass bc of that lol. Originally i wondered if the recalling at the begining was Ardyn being an unreliable narrator but the final fight with Somnus confirm that Somnus did betray Ardyn because he was jealous of him, and even if he grew as a leader to see the horror of the daemons, he still fucked his brother’s life up for all of this man.

As for the Gods... wow major, major fuck you. The starscrouges is a Gods’s thing and they had a family line try to “fix it” and they made Ardyn the hero to fix it..... and then the moment he did, they made him the bad guy, refused him salvation, just so in the future the Lucii line will be able to end properly once the Chosen King will clean Ardyn. The Gods really set both Ardyn and the Lucii to fail to start with. The Gods wanted more for the “Chosen King” to have a painful sacrifice than they wanted to clean Ardyn’s up and Ardyn was just a tool in all of that, not allowed to fight his fate. No wonder he ended up embracing it and did the worst he could with what he was given.

That does bring home how much technically Ardyn won,  he got all he wanted. He destroyed the world that forsaken him, he spited the Gods ‘till the end, he ended the Lucis family line, and he finally was allowed to die. The Gods also got what they wanted since they WANTED Ardyn to spread darkness onto the world to set up their champion. That fucking blows.  The Gods are the real bad guys there. Noctis deserved better so i welcome Ignis’s dlc even more.

so yeah i’m leaving Ardyn’s dlc extremely bitter against the Gods and how they didn’t leave neither Ardyn nor Noctis a choice in all of this. They had their plan from the start and just expected them to play their parts. 

fucking tragic.

but with all of that i’m done with FF15 and i loved it. I had a blast. It was fun to play through, the gameplay was so fun and fantastic, i love the four guys with so much love that just thinking about them makes me want to cry. I like the original ending, in a “i love to suffer” way, and i love the alternative ending in a “now some healing” way. I liked what all the dlcs brought to the story, and i’m glad i played through all of this. 

I think it’ll take me some time to think about replaying the game and if i do i’ll probably try to ignore chap 8 and onward lmao. But i’m really glad i gave it a chance in the end. 

eff u Peten for making it happen though it’s all your fault. 

so yeah, i had tons of fun that’s for sure!