#every show has timeline problems to some degree

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

It's not even that I don't see how/why the characters would act this way. My biggest question in this arc is why? I get it, this story is made for daily uploads it's not going to be perfect but this entire arc really feels like every choice is somehow the worst one.

Earth gave up on Moon immediately but still loved the Creator even after knowing he didn't love her.

Sun giving up on Moon.

Lunar doing nothing/not really caring.

Moon hurting Earth.

Again, I see how these characters could act this way but the question is why. Why are we choosing the worst options here. I get the angst and I get how all these choices reveals flaws within each character (Earth immediately wiped her hands on Lunar and Moon once their actions hurt her (talking pre-star power thing), Sun has been dealing with Moon since before this Moon can remember and is tired of the back and forth, Moon was grieving, possibly burnt out and just wants things be over, i dont get Lunar's problem actually), but it feels like the core is just gone. They're family who always they'll be there through this together and can we please see that instead of this?

(Sorry I just wanted to vent for a minute I'm questioning choices.)

No, you are exactly right, and this is how I feel too.

I hear the argument that "well Moon didn't want help so..."

Moon was punching the ground and seeing hallucinations.

Monty nor Spaniard told anyone about this....

Moon was left alone in grief.

Lunar didn't care.

Earth and Sun were always together.

And.. like... To some point I get it...

But this whole timeline feels like your picking the worst options in a video game to see what happens. Like the no mercy route in Undertale or the Renegade route in Mass effect.

Can I just say of... I hate this whole modernist viewpoint that's gotten worse with the internet that "no one owes anyone anything"

Like ..... Sure. Take care of yourself.

But .. don't ignore everyone else in your life? Have some compassion..

It's when "self care" turns to toxic positivity and narcissism.

While not intentional it feels like this arc villainizes grief and weaponizes self care to a degree I haven't seen the show do before.

[zahri-melitor]

One amusing aspect of my current Bat books read is because I have not been reading Super Sons alongside the rest of the comics (because I bounce off it quite easily and have to take it very slowly) and I also have not been reading Teen Titans, and those are the titles that Damian appears to have been spending most of his time hanging out in, Damian just sort of...occasionally shows up to say he's on the outs with Bruce, because ??? (presumably whatever is going on over in Teen Titans that is part of the push to make him go evil that is about to get sharply derailed by Didio getting fired).

But it's actually quite funny, because every time Damian does show up he's...working just fine with Bruce? Damian had a lot of feelings over the whole marriage with Selina and Dick getting shot in the head, and then he's his usual crotchety self with Tim's return from the dead, and then Bruce asks him to help investigate what's going on with Leviathan and Damian's like 'well obviously it's Leviathan and Talia's involved, I am here to help, Father, and fully suspect Jason of having gone off the rails and tried to take over Mother's pet project' (ahhhhh canon Damian and Jason interactions, you have absolutely nothing to do with random theories about Damian and Jason meeting in the League, which makes sense as your timelines mean that Damian was almost certainly off on training elsewhere while Talia was busy trying to work out the way to make Jason as annoying as possible, okay digression over). And then after that Damian again turns up for all the times Bruce calls in help over his fight against Bane and Flashpoint!Thomas Wayne, which I might add Jason is 100% not bothering to do (and since I am also not reading RHATO I have no idea of why Jason isn't bothering to show up. Presumably for Jason sucks-related reasons) and has to deal with Alfred getting executed in front of him and STILL handles his part in the plan with aplomb with all of the other Batfam who turn up (Tim, Duke, Babs and Helena, aka the other real mvps here).

And Tom Taylor just had a story in Detective Comics #1017 where Bruce took Damian with him to solve the problems of some runaways from the Martha Wayne Orphanage, which is obviously a matter of principle because Bruce didn't like to go visiting it when he was a kid with his mother, but since it has Martha's name on it he obviously feels strongly about it now, and so he invited Damian for some family bonding involving the next generation ALSO feeling awkward getting dragged off to visit an orphanage that has Martha's name on the building. And Damian emotes that he's feeling awkward around Bruce right now, but clearly tracking down these runaway and trafficked kids is obviously more important, and they get to bond over the runaway kid they tracked down together in the snow, and Tom Taylor, you live in Melbourne, I know you spent all of your time translating the Fahrenheit temperatures you put in this issue through google from Celsius to work out what temperature it should be. And also you live in Melbourne so your calibration of 'cold' and 'deadly cold' is set at Australian levels, which is why there is a raging snow storm starting on panel at (I just fed this through google myself to work out temps in a scale I understand) 0℃, which drops over a week to... -2℃, and then over the course of the NEXT week to -12℃, and while the first week of temps for this is "freezing clear morning in Melbourne", the second week is a whole TEN DEGREES COLDER, which is why Taylor's designated it as unsurvivable and this kid freezing to death from exposure. Which I cannot tell whether is realistic or not, because again, both Taylor and I live in Australia and not in the tiny couple of towns that experience regular temperatures that allow snow to settle, but I also fully know that TAYLOR would also be unsure on because if he has ever experienced -12℃ it was in the normal manner for Aussies to do that (a ski trip to Japan).

But the point of this entire digression is to point out that Damian's current difficulties with Bruce or fight or whatever is going on is ENTIRELY ABSENT from Batman or 'Tec and is purely inferred characterisation from Damian just not being around very often and when he appears going 'you've been brooding a lot and unpleasant to be around' to Bruce.

[winxrewritingsandfictions]

My AU & Headcanon

In this post, I'm going to explain many details about how I see the Winx universe. This post will be updated regularly.

A few words of introduction. 🍄

Hello there, I'm Sam. I'm 25 and I live in Paris, France. I have a degree in English literature, and most precisely as a researcher in American literature. So, yes, I love reading and writing. 🧡

Kimii used to be my user name when I was twelve. I used to have a french news account on Winx club. (does it still exist? Nope... the website shut down in 2023). So when I created my account here, I just kept it. It's a sort of identity I embraced my whole teenage years, so it made sense to keep it. It's my Winx Identity.

For the language, I write in English. I may be fluent, but I can leave some mistakes here and there. If you notice any big ones, please feel free to send me a DM. Thank you very much. It can be hard sometimes to notice them.

The Winx Club I grew up with. 🌚

The first thing I think is essential to know about my writing, is that I grew up with the only french dub existing, which is based on the original one (Rai Italy). I stick a lot to the original plot while I try to make it more conherent and consistent.

Headcanon or Canon? ☀️

I'm mostly canon at first sight. Indeed, I stick to the original plot, but I also tend to modify details, timelines, or events so it makes more sense. I like to change those details enough that the story holds more realism and maturity.

One of the major things I do when I keep the original plot is that I add the details given in the comic books. For those who didn't read them, the main storyline is similar (Bloom looking for her parents, etc...) The comics feel more like filler episodes. That's why I like to add those details to my stories. For example, Bloom has a job in Magix. It is shown in the comics but not the cartoon. This detail makes sense as we see in season 4 that the specialists exchange valuables for paper money. The same goes for Bloom, she works in order to have Magix's currency.

So consider my Winx canon as a mix of both comic books and of the cartoon.

I write a lot about Bloom & Sky, (oops ?🤗) since they are my favorite. I have many, many, MANY ideas for them. So it won't be very balanced between the pairings 😶 However, I do accept prompts and requests for pretty much every character.

Most, if not all my stories are linked. I like to build a consistent timeline. So if you happen to read all the oneshots or longer ff, you will notice some ref to older ff or oneshots I posted. On my main post, always make sure to include a set timeline so it gives you an idea of where the scenes take place. After season 4, I don't acknowledge anything. Not even the second movie (I liked it a lot but it is a huge problem in my timeline since the dubs are all over the place...)

For the stories that happen in the future, those would be more headcanon. The pairings might be canon most of the time, the plots would be so advanced that I don't think they can be considered canon. Plus, I love world-building.

Information on some characters. 🌈

Musa & Tecna: not royals in my AU. They are not introduced as such in the Rai version. Plus, I much prefer them as "normal people" as it brings even more diversity to the cartoon. I would hate to have most Winx girls being princesses... For Tecna, I want to work on her as half fairy, half android. Just like she was supposed to be.

Riven: Oh Riven.... I have a sort of affection for him. Like a soft spot for who he could be if the writing of the show had given him more time to grow. I will work on that. You have my word. Not only do I want him to have a past, but also a future. I see him doing great things.

Aisha/Layla: In the french dub, she is called Layla, but I really like Aisha because we love diversity here. Plus, Aisha has a beautiful meaning!

Sky: In my AU, he stays Brandon at the beginning and then Prince Sky later on like in the original. I plan on writing a few oneshots about what if he had been "prince Sky" from the beginning, or if he had never attended Red Foutain (I really like that one hehe).

Helia: I like the idea of Helia being a bit cold and blunt, like at the beginning of season 2. (or at least he was in French). That man did not care about anybody but Flora and I loved that. So I will work with him in that way.

Diaspro: I get that most fans tend to redeem her a lot, but I think her arc in seasons 1, 2, and 3 is brilliant. Although the path of the narrative did not allow her to grow a little bit or even explain why she behaved the way she did. So, my Diaspro is still... Well Diaspro, but I want to build her more realistically. She is an interesting character. Her being a fairy and yet being manipulative and self-centered is much more realistic. It brings a lot of dimention to the magical world. Wwhat if she was forced by conventions and traditions to be a fairy, because of her nobility ? hmmm... You will have to wait and see.

Nabu: Don't talk to me, he will live on forever on this Tumblr. While I love him, and I adore his sacrifice, I can't let go of him. He is just sleeping, Okay. Now move along. 💨

Samara and Erendor: I have read @gins-potter fanfic (go read it! ) and she made me remember one of my childhood frustration. Why in the world does Sky look nothing like his parents??! Erendor looks like... Brandon? She actually changed their appearance, which I loved. I want to keep Samara as she is, but maybe Erendor will have to suffer a rendez-vous at the hairstylist. And @gins-potter agreed to let me use her depiction of Erendor since it feats perfeclty the way I imagined him.

Domino/Sparx: I will only use Domino as it is the name I always knew. Same for Melody.

When it comes to the Winx and their life after Alfea, I have a very detailed idea of their jobs and position etc... I will either do a post abour it, or just let you guys discover more about it in the stories.

Last Update: 17/06/24.

[lil-oreo-crumbles]

Hey, got any thoughts about Seth?

Oh, do I ever!!

Seth is an incredibly fascinating, dominant, and looming presence in the Magic Book of Spells with the potential to be one of the most intriguing characters in the entirely of SVTFOE… that was tragically underutilized, slapped in the face, and is who I believe to be the source of the biggest missed potential in the entirety of canon.

But I do not trust the writers at all to have handled him in the show proper.

The Septarians are notoriously treated like absolute dirt. Any and all of the Septarians we meet have either been humiliated, turned into a joke, villainized beyond any humanity, and overall treated awfully. They’re portrayed as this unfeeling, violent, monster species with no (biological? cultural?) ability to forgive or forget the countless atrocities the Mewmans committed against innocent people. GEEZ, It’s not like the Septarians have enhanced longevity and experience time differently than almost EVERY OTHER SPECIES ON MEWNI with most of them FIRST HAND experiencing the atrocities other species of monsters and ESPECIALLY Mewmans see as “bygone eras of the past!!”

And even with the book alone, Seth is also lumped into this stereotype, and may be one of the worst offenders. Globgor can’t stand him and has intense bias against him (I know he talked about “Septarians” but my god we all know he means Seth to some degree. Seth is very clearly a prominent figure if not the leader of the Septarians and he’s pictured/alluded to twice in Eclipsa’s chapter), bitch Crescenta smeared his name into the DIRT in a rigged election campaign and destroyed his reputation, and Comet refused to take him seriously whatsoever (but then again it’s Comet so what are we really expecting??). He was even on the Magic High Commission’s radar, labeled as an “extremist” (which just about anything is labeled “extreme” in the MHC’s eyes so they’re not reliable narrators). He’s spat upon and repeatedly villainized. He gets no breaks or even a glimpse of humanity and everyone in the fandom after the book came out was hyping him up as this huge villain.

So, yeah, I don’t think the show would have bothered to give him any humanity or depth if he was introduced in the show proper and would have made egregiously worse the show’s already bad problem of making monsters, the historically marginalized and colonized group of people, the bad guys. (Seriously, Meteora wasn’t a “real” threat until she was revealed to be half monster. That makes me frustrated.)

I love Seth. I think he would’ve had amazing potential if put in the right hands. There’s so much to do with him and I’m mostly glad he’s been left alone so fans can interpret him in any way they want.

Now… what are my opinions and headcanons about him? What’s the story I’ve concocted?

Thankfully Seth is a character I can talk about without worrying about AU spoilers… mostly (thank god).

In my mind, Seth is someone who actually didn’t see the Great Monster Massacre first hand, hatching about 200 years afterwards (due to my timeline and how I’ve designed Septarian aging). But that doesn’t mean whatsoever that he hasn’t seen the atrocities of Mewmans. In fact, he’s been put in several situations where— while not Moe levels of genocide— he has seen the cruelest and most inhumane levels of Mewman aggression against monsters. He’s a victim of it first hand and spent 80+ years through torture after being ripped away from his homeland before finally uprising against it with his sister (oh yeah he has a sister in my AU)

He is someone who wholeheartedly earned the respect and adoration of his people. He was a leader that they wanted, not because of blood or any ties to the throne he had. (He’s by blood the Prince of Septarsis, but by the time he came back to Septarsis not many people remembered him since he had changed so much). He completely changed the governmental system and put Septarsis into its golden age.

Now this is what may get me in trouble, but stick with me… I don’t think the reputation he’s acquired is completely unfounded. YES the Mewmans and MHC are incredibly biased and we can’t take what they say at face value, but some stereotypes have some truth to them. It’s way overexaggerated, but Seth is someone who I see as extremely trigger happy in his youth.

While a great leader and delegate, he can be incredibly rash and actively seeks violence against Mewmankind. Never Solaria or Moe levels of genocide… but if Mewmans happened to disappear one day he’d be over the moon. This makes him a fun foil for Toffee’s mother in my AU, Mylanie, who’s someone who strives to end the conflict and seek lasting peace.

In the early days he was active in battle and loved fighting against his adversaries. In fact, I find the idea of Seth being the one to kill Solaria— specifically beheading her with his own hands— fascinating and I LOVE IT. He’s not afraid to get messy when protecting monsters or his homeland, and the stories about his violence is NOT unfounded. If anyone is perpetuating ideas about Septarian stereotypes, it’s our buddy Seth.

But here’s the important distinction, he is not going out of his way hurting innocent people. He’s not this bloodthirsty monster who’s trying to commit genocide, he’s not Solaria, he’s just someone who sees violence as the answer and thinks peace is a waste of time.

It wasn’t until the election that his priorities changed and he actually calmed down.

The smear campaign was a huge blow. It really got him to think and consider how his actions were affecting monsters as a whole but especially his own people. He knows how much influence he has over how his people are perceived… and that’s when he pulled back. He was still active, don’t get me wrong, and got along diplomatically with the few surviving monster civilizations, but he took a lot less of a role than he used to. He started thinking critically and cleverly instead of resorting to violence first and foremost. Peace with Mewmans was still firmly off the table though and is still that way to this day.

When Comet sent the invitation, he genuinely planned to ignore it. He had no intention of going to the banquet— as last time he played along with Mewman rules he got screwed— but did allow Toffee to be a representative after Toffee offered to go in his place.

Under one condition: No harm was to come to the Queen

And we see how that went…

I’d gladly go into his relationship/dynamic with Toffee but this post is long enough :). Maybe in another post!!

His “death” was a stunt to fully get him out of any Mewman drama, and he was especially glad he perpetuated that lie because of how pissed he was at Toffee after Comet’s death. He’s alive and well and still in charge of Septarsis, he’s just out of the public eye because everyone thinks he’s dead (except close allies).

Overall I see him as someone who was essentially what his reputation said he was until he got a huge ego blow and actually matured enough to stop being so trigger happy. He was always a great leader over Septarsis and did whatever it took to protect his people, but he had some growing up to do as well.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. My AU goes into him a lot deeper and really fleshes him out. He’s a four dimensional character with layers and depth to him. While he seems like a Mewman hating “radical” on the surface, he’s humanized and he has layers and reasonings for his beliefs and actions.

I just love Seth. A lot. He’s so silly. He’s so fascinating and I love that everyone has a different perspective of him.

Also he is Rasticore’s dad you can’t change my mind !!

Dude I could literally make a whole other post on him I love this character so much—

Anyways here’s Seth and his little sister Zarina I love them to bits <3

[erikahammerschmidt]

Imagine a Superman AU where humans found kryptonite, and/or learned how to synthesize it in a lab... during the same time Superman was growing up in Smallville.

Imagine that, in this timeline, the material turned out to be totally harmless to humans, and useful for all sorts of technological purposes. It ends up getting used in practically everything humans produce on this planet.

Instead of asbestos, buildings are fireproofed with kryptonite foam. Kryptonite fibers are woven into fast-fashion. When incandescent bulbs filled with krypton went out of style, the fluorescent bulbs that replaced them were made with damn kryptonite.

So, Superman grows up severely disabled, instead of superpowered.

When he enters a classroom, the lights weaken his eyesight. The walls around him make him exhausted and foggy-brained. The clothes he's wearing give him a rash. He can barely get through grade school, let alone college, let alone journalism school.

Maybe the problems get less severe depending on where he is. Maybe out in the fields at his family farm, wearing his mom's handmade clothes, he actually manages to retain some of the powers that come with being from another planet.

Not to the degree he'd have them in a world without all that kryptonite, of course. But more noticeable, the farther he is from it.

Maybe his parents even notice that he has these unusual skills; that he can do things they've never seen another kid do. But only sometimes. And never anyplace where it can be much use, beyond making him a strong worker on the farm (as long as the tractor doesn't get near him, or the combine, or the fertilizers, or the pesticides, or…)

…and maybe his family and neighbors even figure out what it is that's causing the problem! But good luck convincing the schools, the potential workplaces, the infrastructure that manufactures everything the poor kid will ever need in life-- that they're poisoning him, with this common material that's been extensively studied and no human in history has ever shown any negative reaction to.

He lives out his whole life that way. Lucky to have a supportive community that recognizes his needs, does what they can to accommodate his challenges and make the most of the skills he has.

But he never leaves Smallville. He never works for the Daily Planet. He never fights a supervillain. No one outside his small town ever knows he's anything special.

"Superpower as a metaphor for disability" has… a lot of issues. I'd say a valid criticism is that it can lead disabled people to expect their disability to come with talents that make up for the challenges, and to feel worthless if that never happens.

But when people argue against it on "trivializing the challenges" grounds… that's not so much an argument against the central idea, as it is an unfortunate side effect of the way nearly every superhero narrative trivializes the hero's "weakness."

In any of the "canon" versions of the story, Superman became a superhero because he was lucky enough not to live on an Earth full of kryptonite. This was the only reason he was ever seen as having "skills that made up for the disability." And even there, the weakness to kryptonite was still a disability-- equivalent to other super-rare allergies that occur among humans. Luckily an allergen that didn't often show up in his life. But devastating when it did, and those who didn't understand wouldn't take it seriously.

And again, this is a somewhat dangerous metaphor-- because portraying a power that does, in any circumstances, outweigh the disability, runs the risk of being interpreted as "every disabled person can have that experience in the right circumstances."

It runs the risk of being interpreted as "disabilities are only disabilities because of how society is structured."

Which, of course, is an oversimplified extrapolation of a complex truth: that changes in society could make life better for almost every disabled person.

Sometimes to the point of being able to do the same things as everyone else. Sometimes even more. Sometimes bringing out and maximizing unique individual talents, directly related to the disabled experience.

But not for everyone. Not in every case.

There will always still be people who, even with all possible accommodations, are still disabled in comparison to the population in general. And not all of them will ever develop some fancy savant skill-- let alone one that's powerful enough to somehow cancel out all the hardship they've faced.

Which of course doesn't change the fact that it's still worth making the effort, to improve as many lives as possible.

Because even in standard superhero narratives, even the most superpowered heroes want to do that. To help people. To protect the powerless. To make life better, even for those who will always be weaker than average.

As a kid growing up disabled-- the kind of kid who did have unusual skills, and supportive family who nurtured those skills while they fought for accommodations-- for me, the superhero metaphor was one of many things that helped me feel my life was worth it. I was among the lucky ones who found that analogy helpful instead of discouraging. And I feel there were times when I really needed it.

But the idea of needing such a thing? That is a tragic consequence of living in a world that continually demands you justify your existence by being useful… and justify every one of your hardships by finding something you gained from it that made it worthwhile.

I want a world that moves beyond that.

Someday.

[swordofazrael1992]

Jpv 2, 7, 14, 27!! Shatterstar 1, 20, 23, 28 >:) go autism on me!!!!!

AUTISM TIME FORREAL!1

okay okay so

jpv 2) probably after reading sword of azrael '92. i had a mutual who was posting a lot of jpv stuff and i had previously read tynion's writing of her in tec 2016, and then my lcs had a trade collecting soa 92 + the first seven issues of azrael '95 so i went "fuck it" and bought it. i can't remember if i read what was available of watters' stuff at the time before or after soa 92 but that was definitely where i started to really love jp/az and it's stuck with me (as you can tell by the url)

jpv 7) FOREVER AND EVER the "perhaps this azrael does both" quote from sword of azrael (1992) #3. technically it is alfred talking ABOUT jp/az in response to nomoz saying that azrael punishes, and doesn't/shouldn't think. and then there's also the soa '92 #4 of azrael straight up telling nomoz "no" when nomoz says they need to leave, because azrael only avenges, not rescue. either way i think those are really interesting and have Stuck With Me

jpv 14) i know i'm an soa 92 type boy but....this one is definitely a hard one and i don't think soa is in my top two choices. i'd have to say his no man's land arc, i'm a huge fan of it and his dynamics with other bat charas (esp babs and cass!). my second choice pick would probably be soa '22--i just love it so much and it's so beautiful. so while soa '92 might be my favorite, i don't think it's his absolute best. but it's top 3 for sure

jpv 27) the most fun, for me particularly? i think castiel from supernatural. i have no idea what the fuck would go down, but it would be entertaining. other than that, probably vash or knives (or livio/razlo) from trimax specifically, or sister lilith from warrior nun. lets just get all those religious imagery bitches in a room together and see what goes down

star 1) so i THINK my first impression of star was in young avengers: children's crusade, WAY back when i first started reading comics. like young avengers '05 was my first comic, and ya:cc my second. i think i just looked at him and rictor on panel together and, knowing nothing about them, was like okay yeah they are DEFINITELy gay. i probably thought he was a little weirdo (affectionate) but i didn't become a fan of him and rictor for another year or two i think

star 20) star is the only person in the world who actually MEANS it when he says "i listen to a little of everything" about his music taste. he really genuinely listens to everything, and everyone who knows him HATES when he's on aux because listening to his playlists gives them whiplash. seriously, he goes from mid 1800s orchestral music to hyperpop to 90s hip hop to 00s top 40 to 1960s bluegrass to music you're not even sure is from this dimension and that you're pretty sure is from some future timeline. star sees no problem with it, though. also i think he takes really long showers and uses up ALL of the hot water + has a really extensive hair/skin routine. so you go into the bathroom of his and ric's apartment and you see the shower and sink counter practically overflowing with all these extravagant and fancy products and then in the corner there are like 4 or 5 things that belong to rictor and it's just shampoo/conditioner/body wash/other essentials

star 23) i want him to live happily ever after with ric in a cozy house with weekly therapy appointments and dinner with his parents every month + an actually good/existent relationship with them where they aren't just kinda coworkers and maybe a dog or a couple cats and a garden in the backyard and a giant tv in the living room and a good relationship with life and maybe a couple college degrees or maybe he just learns so much about the things that interest him and everything else without feeling the need to have a degree to show for it and andand. but i don't think that will ever happen because marvel hates me personally

star 28) stabbing himself in the stomach that one time. and the other time. and the next time.

and being his own grandfather. that was really unnecessary of him

(+ i know you didn't ask but songs i've been associating with them recently:

jp/az -

https://open.spotify.com/track/4zlRCThoy7Wops9GF11kQX?si=0494cd4331cc411b

star -

https://open.spotify.com/track/6EqCxnulMcawu0qN8B8Y5W?si=2f23a62fe7bf4d8c

w/ jp/az's being about how they are pretty impulsive and need to get from point a to point b as fast as possible and star's being about the entire "raised as an arena slave to fight to the death for other's entertainment" thing. also on second thought i might put nothing lasts forever on my shatterstar playlist)

[charcubed]

Something about the way the Marvel franchise(s) develop (and this is really a very Marvel problem) that is so tiresome is how more and more narrative "copouts" and "get out of jail free card" writing mechanics are added just to be able to undo poorly thought out/poorly received writing from previous releases.

Between the Multiverse, the Skrulls, the way magic system gets used as plot devices in non-magic characters' stories, the time travel/timelines... there's so many features of the fictional universe that are blatantly concocted not really to tell their own stories but to create avenues so the "architects" can look at the audience and see how they reacted to the previous decisions and hover their hands over the "McGuffin retcon plot device #3" dial and look at the proverbial live studio audience(test screenings) to see how far they should turn it to win people back.

Because these concepts (when used in the Marvel universe) are rarely ever used to tell stories specifically centered around them, but when they are, the stories are better because writing a story that's centered around a Multiverse concept (see: EEAAO or Spiderverse) is much more coherent than tossing Time Travel into an existing story with characters already tied up in their separate arcs/worlds/development.

In Marvel, whenever characters from previously established linear stories and grounded environments suddenly get thrown into stories where they're a "Variant" or replaced by an invading race of reptilian shapeshifter (there can be and definitely is a lot of writing around the Skrull concepts' unoriginal connections) that's just Marvel wanting to retcon a terribly received writing decision they made but don't want to actually retcon old installments and depreciate their value in the eyes of the audience so they play a farce where this is all "planned" (don't laugh!) and every increasingly convoluted and contradictory pseudo-retcon are all necessary to take in to "understand" the stories that never manage to complete any narrative arc properly before some cashgrab crossover event happens that either retcons or creates things that will need to be retconned.

But it's planned. 😎

(For reference for the audience: this ask was sent to me 4 days ago, before I posted my longer post with thoughts on Rogers: The Musical. Anon was probably responding to my initial tweets related to it and my Steve theory.)

I don't disagree with you. But I will say I don't think it's all done in service of retcon but more in service of like... well, they have to level up the stakes for the heroes, right? So that's why everything is now about the multiverse and the skrulls and the like. The Big Bads have to get Bigger because they're trying to supersede Thanos. Who comes after the final boss? And that leveling up has a degree of absurdity and messiness to it for sure, especially as they try to make so many things feel connected or "planned" even unnecessarily.

I will say they've at least done a decent job of keeping some of the shows distinct – or at least, the ones where they did that are the stronger ones in my opinion.

But yeah, such is the invented problem / difficulty of having a big universe of storylines that go on indefinitely, where the main draw has unfortunately become the spectacle of it all + the crossover events that garner stupid amounts of hype. And sometimes the narrative arcs don't get satisfactorily completed because things are always, on some level, in service of teasing what's next to keep the machine moving 🙃 It can certainly feel exacerbated by how much material they've been pumping out in such a short amount of time in recent years too.

[maya-matlin]

Hi Ashton! I saw in your tags that Barchie is a notp for you and would love to hear why. I shipped Bughead but gave up in the show before Barchie ever got together :)

Oh god. Where to begin? I acknowledge that based on the pilot and the first couple of episodes of season 1, the idea of Betty and Archie together was fine. It wasn't particularly interesting, but at first they seemed to have a solid friendship that could have realistically developed into more if Archie only reciprocated Betty's feelings. Unfortunately, Riverdale basically handled every fucking aspect of their relationship poorly. For one thing, the friendship between Betty and Archie was rarely ever on display unless they were interacting during group scenes or their possible romance was being teased to create drama for the Bughead and Varchie pairings. So in spite of the fact nothing concrete happened between Betty and Archie until the end of season 4, there was nothing to lean on once the writers finally started to head in the BA direction. While the lack of on screen friendship should be blamed on both, Archie in particular showed little interest in Betty's life.

This relationship destroys Betty. The crux of Betty's feelings for Archie, as inconsistent as they are, is that Betty views Archie as this beacon of light that can never be extinguished due to him being pure of heart or some other thing that I disagree with. She romanticizes the idea of how things were before life got so complicated. In her eyes, these childhood memories that we never saw were untainted and good. As a child, Betty always imagined she'd end up with Archie, marrying him at eighteen years old. Teen Betty held on to this dream for a very long time, but was forced to face the truth that Archie didn't feel the same way. If I'm being generous, I'd say Archie considered Betty as a backup plan, but not much more beyond that. But by the end of season 1, Betty realized she wanted so much more for her life than being a power couple with Archie. Betty found real love with Jughead, someone who saw all of her, embracing both the lightness and darkness. Betty discovered a love for investigating mysteries and going down the rabbit hole in the name of justice. Betty likes making murder boards and searching the woods in the middle of the night. Part of the reason for this is that Betty is inherently attracted to darker aspects of life. Betty struggles a lot to accept these sides of herself as her awful, abusive family tells her over and over that she's the problem and the one bringing misery to everyone's lives as she strives to help and improve things for her family. Based on the way she was written during seasons 1-4 prior to the cheating, it came across like Betty was beginning to accept these sides of herself, proud of the person she was with Jughead by her side.

But the moment things with Jughead seemed as though they were uncertain, as flimsy as the issue was (Jughead not doing his homework), Betty turned to Archie to escape from the reality of life. That basically sums up what Archie is to Betty during the adult years as well. When Betty finally confesses to Jughead what happened with Archie, it breaks them. The communication seems to die then and there with both remaining together passively until Betty leaves for college. We later see that Betty and Jughead reconnected to some degree during their freshmen year of college, talking and texting while in relationships with others, essentially engaging in an emotional affair. The timeline from there is confusing because the show could never decide when exactly Jughead left Betty the voicemail, but it seems clear that Betty's life kind of fell apart after that? She ends up having an affair with a married man (who might have turned out to be a serial killer? Seasons 5-7 are kind of a blur for me) and is eventually held captive by the Trash Bag Killer. From there, we see that Betty has trauma over this. She refuses to deal or properly feel her emotions. Jughead is off limits. They still aren't talking and the divide between them has only grown bigger after the voicemail where Betty was led to believe Jughead hated her and thought she was a terrible person, not realizing he'd spiraled into alcoholism and drug use. Archie could never be alone and teenage Betty wanted to fuck Archie once upon a time, so why not? So they enter a friends with benefits relationship that ends up being much more about the benefits and filling a void than it is being actual friends to one another. Betty doesn't want Archie to be this person for her. He makes her feel good and comforted in the moment, but ultimately she's aware the two of them don't work. Not only that, but Archie verbalizes to his army friend that he does NOT want to be there emotionally for Betty. Much like in season 2 after their kiss, Archie went back to Veronica because that's where his heart led him.

Betty continues to emotionally spiral and doesn't seem to improve much over the course of the season. Archie doesn't seem to notice or care. Jughead does. Their interaction is limited, but there's a semblance of a rebuilding phase where the two renew their friendship and go back to investigating together. While Betty's feelings for Jughead are kept ambiguous because again, her emotions are being kept close to her chest and there's a lot she isn't saying or dealing with. Jughead, on the other hand, makes it clear multiple times throughout the season that he hasn't moved past his breakup with Betty and had already forgiven Betty by the time he returned to Riverdale even if he wasn't saying it. Then, completely out of nowhere, Jughead is singing about how he's "perfect" for Tabitha, a song that Bughead fans have frequently said fits Bughead far better. Due to Veronica breaking things off with Archie because she wanted to return to New York, something also totally random that never came to pass, a day drinking Archie decided that he wanted to sleep with his old pal Betty again so they basically get back together at the end of season 5 with zero build up. We don't know why Betty defaults back to Archie. Cheryl did some sort of spell that blatantly had an effect on the plot, though that's never addressed. Then, the characters are in Rivervale, and Betty murders Archie twice and shares a big moment with Jughead where they almost fuck to save the world. Back in regular Riverdale once the universes have been separated, Betty and Archie enter an official relationship. Everything is always about Archie. If there's ever any sort of conflict, Betty will be the one to sacrifice and to change her stance to make things easier for Archie. There's at least one scene where Betty is ranting about something bothering her and Archie is just sitting there like it doesn't matter to him. 99% of their conversations revolved around Archie wanting to fuck or save the town and get rid of Percival Pickens for good. Midway through the season, Betty had another crisis about fearing she was evil, but Archie (basically ripping off something Jughead said at the end of season 2; this also happened to be a flashback the audience had just seen during the episode where Betty and Jughead were going over Betty's past memories together, including multiple iconic Bughead moments) reassured Betty she was a good person, citing a childhood memory the audience had never seen to prove his point. And that's another thing! Rather than showing us much of anything between Betty and Archie in the present to convince us they were meant to be together or were compatible in any way, we just hear about random childhood memories. Everything Betty and Archie ever did revolved around looking back fondly on their so-called idyllic childhoods or having sex. Season 6 Betty came across as such a lesser version of herself. She was still herself, but it was as if she was holding back. It's like, maybe Betty doesn't want to get married? Can't have that! Archie has to settle down in Riverdale and recreate his father's life, meaning Betty needs to get over herself and shove her round self into a square peg so that all of Archie's dreams come true. I mean, multiple times during season 6, Archie was treated as akin to the savior of Riverdale while Betty was legitimately referred to as the "harlot of Babylon". Archie was perfect and indestructible while Betty was dark and dirty and needed to be cleansed before she could be accepted into Heaven. Basically, Archie is perfect as is and doesn't need to adjust himself in the slightest to become a better partner for Betty. But, Betty needs to change nearly everything about herself, reverting back to wanting things that only made sense to kid Betty, all to fulfill some old dream about settling down with Archie that the real Betty hadn't wanted in years. Not to mention the fact that as early as season 1, Betty resented being the perfect girl next door. Well, with Archie, that's basically all she was.

Betty and Archie were never going to work together, but the fact that Betty tried so hard to mold herself into some perfect, cookie cutter housewife, maternal figure all so Archie could have the white picket fence and the 2.5 kids makes me FURIOUS. It was incredibly misogynistic, and honestly led to me despising Archie. Betty deserved so much better. As fucked up and as gross as the "horny Betty" writing for the majority of season 7 was, I'm just relieved that Betty once again reiterated that she and Archie wanted different things and definitively didn't end up together.

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Loki Series Theories (this number is not accurate) 6/?, aka My Brain Hates Me

My brain at 1am: Let's go to sleep by mentally writing Loki season two, episode 1 but make it way more lokius than it's canonically going to be.

Me, finally settling in for a Loki bedtime story after a month of Good Omens nonsense: Okay.

My brain: *Dumps this theory on me*

Theory: Loki is time-slipping because he's not supposed to be back.

No one who was pruned has ever come back to the TVA or the main timeline before. It's causing shit. Similar to how in other media having two versions of a character existing at the same time or in the same universe would cause a paradox that fucks shit up and in some cases (I can't think of specific examples at this time) the universe would make one of the versions cease to exist to correct the paradox, pruning is meant to be permanent. It sends you to the Void, where (and I'm making some assumptions here; I'm not sure if these are the exact intentions) Alioth is meant to devour your existence sooner or later. (Loki is right on Lamentis; Lokis survive. But that doesn't mean they escape the Void. Once you're in the Void I don't think the TVA gives much of a shit what happens to you after that.) Whatever pruning is really meant to accomplish, you're not supposed to come back from it; the sparky version of the Melt Stick is a one-way ticket.

Except Loki comes back. Sylvie sends him back. (My alternative theory to this is that Loki is time-slipping because Sylvie sent him to a parallel universe and he's causing a paradox, but for the purposes of this theory, I'm saying she sent him to the correct TVA but in entering the Citadel and stabbing He Who Remains the timeline is already so fucked even the legit TVA is getting weird.) He's supposed to remain in the Void. This is causing some wonky shit to go down, manifesting in Loki's time-slipping, even in the TVA, which OB says in the trailer is not supposed to be possible.

Now, of course there are some holes you can start poking in this theory. I have counterarguments (which, I'll remind you, I came up with at 1 am, so are varying degrees of flimsy at this point).

But Sylvie also came back from the Void. We see her in the trailer (and commercials) at McDonald's and various other locations both alone and with Loki. She doesn't just stay in the Citadel. Well, she's time-slipping, too. Marvel has a history of being very careful with revealing spoilers and plot twists during trailers or sneak peeks, to the point of going to some controversial lengths in the past. If they showed her also time-slipping we'd be able to work out the connection that they're slipping because they came back from the Void, and for the moment at least, they seem to want to keep the reason why Loki's slipping a mystery. So either they're carefully editing scenes with Sylvie around her own time-slipping moments, or only showing us the parts after Loki and Mobius manage to fix her time-slipping, since in the beginning of the trailer, we see Loki slipping seemingly every few seconds or minutes, and then later on (especially around Sylvie) he seems to be going much longer without slipping or not slipping at all (at least in how much of the scene they show). This seems to imply that the problem either gets fixed somewhat quickly so that it's not ongoing throughout the season, or that at first he's time-slipping very frequently but eventually they are able to delay it longer.

But Mobius also came back from the Void. He gets back before the other two. We see him in the finale in two separate places in the TVA (or two versions of him in two TVAs), and both times, he seems free of glitching. Well, they wiped his memory (again) when he got back. Maybe this either fixed the time-slipping or they also fixed that at the same time they wiped his memory. Alternatively, this is an alternate version of him. He's not time-slipping because this version was never pruned. Alternatively, he's also time-slipping, like Sylvie, and like Sylvie, the trailer has been carefully edited to cut out this information.

Canon Likelihood: Likely

I genuinely think both Loki and Sylvie are time-slipping because they came back from pruning. I don't think at the time we reunite with Mobius in the finale, whether this is an alternate Mobius or a memory-wiped Mobius, he's time-slipping. I'm about 50% hopeful they will explain why he's the only one of the trio who isn't and won't just leave another gaping Grand-Canyon-sized plot hole.

[sandman-vo]

I think I’ve hit a point in my life where I’m able to put a lot of the fucked up shit that’s been going on from 2015-2022 behind me.

And since that’s a long stretch of time til now, I should mention the “fucked up” has varying degrees:

Can’t get employed after college? Fucked up

Some friends turned out to be kinda shitty? Fucked up

The fun and unique culture of the city you like is slowly dying because tech and real estate bros like to gentrify and ruin everything they touch? Fucked up

Worldwide pandemic and finding out the US has always had a fascism problem. And the best you can really do is just buck up and survive this shit? Fucked up

Your State continues to decide to do jack and shit about any of their problems concerning electricity and water and you have had 2-3 winters where you had to go 4-5 DAYS without either water or power? Fucked up (fuck February in Austin)

Existential dread paired with depression, aging to my 30s with seemingly nothing much to show for it, being broke AF while your rent was suddenly raised by 50%, realizing you probably had ADHD this whole goddamn time, and thinking every part of you is broken in some way? Fucked up

Things that are more fucked up than that that I’d still rather keep to myself than write about here? Fucked up

You finish a day at work and go straight to Home Depot to cut through 80 feet worth of 1 1/2” pvc piping into 2 and 2.5 feet segments with a hand saw to finish building your new vocal booth that you have been waiting and planning for months to make, and there’s no heckin way you’re going to cook dinner after doing all that so you go pick up some Wendy’s on the way back. And you said no mayonnaise on your double cheeseburger to the guy at the speaker TWICE and they kept you waiting at the drive through for 15 minutes just for them to finally figure out that what that really meant was to SLATHER THAT SHIT ALL OVER IT, but at the same time you understand and support the concept of acting your wage and goddamn do fast food workers get paid dogshit so you don’t think it’s all that productive to file a complaint? Fucked up

But anyways, I’m gradually making it to the other side of these things.

I’m in a place where rent isn’t trying to starve me. I’m saving LOTS of money after paychecks. I’m at least in a career-adjacent job even though I’m not mega thrilled about it (could be worse, could be fucking up someone’s goddamn double cheeseburger). I’m definitely getting together a “bucket list” for Austin while I’m still in the mindset that I’ll try to give this place at least 1 or 2 more good years before I think it will be a good time to try and move elsewhere. I’m taking shit tons of classes to refine my skills, now that I have both time and money to do so. I’m genuinely building so much better of a foundation than I had 6 years ago, which I will use as a jumping off point and give my my work from home freelance careers in Voice Acting and Video Editing new leases on life. And I recently discovered yoga nidra in a class and while it’s no cure for ADHD it’s a treatment for sure!

One of the big takeaways that I’m keeping in mind lately (thanks to the yoga) is this:

“I am whole. I’m living a full life. And while it’s not how I wanted things to be, and while there’s some fucked up shit, and while it looks nothing like how a typical life would go, none of that shit makes me a lesser/broken/incomplete person.”

This was not a part of the class. This wasn’t taught. This is just what I ended up finding after I tried to figure out the deep seeded beliefs where all of my issues stemmed from. This realization has brought such a stillness to me in the past 48 hours that I can barely describe how I feel right now. But it feels good. There are only a few other places where I could have felt this, and coincidentally, it was not during the fucked up dark timeline that was my 2015-2022.

[captainmdhridoyhossain-blog]

[ad_1] Halo Endless is getting Slayer, Unfastened-For-All (FFA), Tactical Slayer (SWAT), and Fiesta playlists, in line with a Reddit post from u/ske7ch343, in a different way referred to as 343 Industries’ group director Brian Jarrard (by way of Windows Central). Jarrard showed that the 4 playlists are coming to the sport by way of an replace on December 14th. 343 Industries previously stated that Fiesta, SWAT, and FFA playlists can be coming to the sport through the tip of the 12 months, whilst a Social Slayer playlist wouldn’t arrive till someday in 2022. In his submit, Jarrard recognizes that builders promised a Social Slayer playlist with “quite a few new variants.” However since this wouldn’t get completed earlier than the vacations, 343 has determined to release a elementary Slayer playlist first, and can “glance to reinforce and increase with extra variants” at some point. Recently, you'll’t make a choice your recreation mode. You’re pressured to rotate between Seize The Flag (CTF), Slayer, Strongholds, and Oddball, which is clearly a ache should you choose taking part in one recreation kind. It’s additionally an annoyance should you’re tasked with finishing a problem that corresponds to a selected mode, on the other hand, 343 is addressing that criticism as neatly — Jarrard says that the December 14th replace will take away “in particular irritating” mode-specific demanding situations as neatly. The replace will take away “in particular irritating” mode-specific demanding situations The replace may even reduce some necessities for demanding situations, make the weekly final problem “much less in depth,” and can upload demanding situations particularly for the impending playlists. 343 could also be slowly looking to put in force performance-based XP — one thing that the sport recently doesn’t be offering — through including a problem class that’s “in response to collecting participant rating.” Presently, you’re most effective rewarded with XP for finishing demanding situations, now not for each and every recreation you play, which has been a significant criticism amongst gamers who wish to degree up. Final month, 343 tried to handle combat cross development problems through including a “Play 1 Game” challenge, expanding the period of XP boosts, and rewarding gamers with extra XP for the primary six fits they play in an afternoon. Along with those adjustments, Jarrard additionally famous that builders are operating on solving the “intermittent hiccups” that appear to impact Large Group Struggle (BTB), and could also be looking at ranked matchmaking after listening to stories of “attainable anomalies.” Even supposing Halo Endless used to be formally launched on December eighth, gamers are nonetheless looking ahead to the co-op tale mode that’s set to become available in 2022, as neatly in an effort to replay person ranges within the marketing campaign, which 343 says it will add however doesn’t have a collection timeline for. [ad_2] #Halo #Endless #playlists #December #14th #together with #Slayer

[wild-aloof-rebel]

Hey, I often read that the timeline doesn't always makes sense in sc and now I'm curious! Do you have some examples??

oh absolutely. i’ve discussed it with various others in various posts across my blog, but let’s see if i can get most of the highlights in one post.

most of the confusion centers around the timeline of s4, including david’s birthday (and thus the start of his relationship with patrick), a couple throwaway comments about summer, and jocelyn’s pregnancy, so let’s start with that.

this discussion nearly always starts with david’s pin in “moira’s nudes” because he indicates that he uses his birthday as his pin. what he types into the atm is 1282, which would make his birthday either jan 2 1982 or feb 1 1982 depending on whether that’s month-day-year like in the u.s. or day-month-year like most of the rest of the world. HOWEVER, what he tells the teller is 7283, which would make his birthday either jul 2 1983 or feb 7 1983. she does tell him before that that he needs to pick a new pin, so you could assume that 7283 is the new pin and not his birthday, but after he says it out loud, johnny says “what about my birthday?” which implies that what david just said is indeed his own birthday. (plus, i trust a number written into the actual dialogue—and therefore officially part of the script—to be more accurate than whatever dan happened to punch into the machine while filming.) anyway, the point is that we’re already starting from a place of confusion, where we have four potential options for david’s birthdate. so which one is it?

we know from “grad night” that david’s birthday is on the same day as alexis’s high school graduation. in canada, the school year ends in late june, so it would then make sense for “grad night” to take place in late june/very early july. three of the options for david’s birthday are in january and february, which leaves us with july 2 as the only birthday option that makes sense to be on the same night as alexis’s graduation. okay, cool. that means david’s birthday–and thus david and patrick’s first date–is on july 2. we’re getting somewhere.

in “pregnancy test” jocelyn finds out she’s pregnant. it’s clearly been long enough for her to have noticed and thought she was maybe going through menopause instead. david and patrick have presumably been dating for at least a week or two at this point, though possibly a bit longer. either way, this is most likely still in july (or possibly very early august), and jocelyn is likely about 2 months pregnant at this point.

in “asbestos fest” alexis says “is this the number? it’s the middle of summer.” middle might be a stretch, but feasibly yes, this can certainly still be summer.

in “open mic” jocelyn and roland find out the sex of the baby, which typically happens around 4 to 5 months. that puts us about 2 to 3 months after “pregnancy test” which would mean that the open mic night is taking place in probably late september or into october. so far so good.

“the barbecue” rolls around, and it’s david and patrick’s four month anniversary. that makes it november. weird time of year for a barbecue, and they’re clearly having unseasonably warm weather, but alright, climate change etc etc. we can make this work at a very long stretch.

stevie says david waited “a full week to forgive [patrick]” which means “the olive branch” is a week after rachel shows up. however, stevie also says “you’re wearing a leather sweater in the dead of summer,” which… what?? that can’t be anywhere close to true.

after that is jocelyn’s baby shower, which is typically around the 6 to 8 month mark of a pregnancy. if she was 4 to 5 months in open mic, that puts us somewhere between november and january for the shower.

“singles week” rolls around and jocelyn goes into labor “a few days early” according to johnny. therefore it’s been pretty much a full nine months now. if “pregnancy test” was in july, that puts jocelyn giving birth in about february. which would be fine except…

roland jr. is clearly no more than a few months old in “merry christmas johnny rose.” this definitely can’t be the following christmas or he’d be closer to 10 months old (there’s no way the baby in the carrier is that old). but it also can’t be the preceding christmas because there’s no way he was born then. 

since that doesn’t work, let’s say we shift everything back to david having a january birthday instead, which pushes everything up by six months. that means roland jr. is born in august, which makes the christmas stuff work out a bit better. it also makes stevie’s comment about the leather sweater in the dead of summer better because now it would be taking place in may, when it could theoretically be hot enough out to be considered summer. but then you’ve got the issue of alexis somehow graduating in january, which doesn’t work at all, and you’ve got asbestos fest taking place in february or so, which is by no means “the middle of summer” as alexis says.

the only way that both asbestos fest and david’s olive branch can both take place in summer is if one is at the start of the summer and the other is at the end. if we say then that “the olive branch” takes place in august, that puts david’s birthday and his first date with patrick in april. that gives us roland jr being born around november, which works with the christmas special sort of okay. this is probably the timeline that works best, but it only works if you completely ignore the whole pin situation because NONE of those indicate that david’s birthday could be in april.

everything about the timeline works like this. you have to pick and choose what aspects of it to ignore to make the rest work. david can be born in july if you ignore stevie’s comment about summer in “the olive branch” and roland jr. somehow being born before christmas. david can be be born in january if you ignore asbestos fest taking place in summer and the timing of alexis’s graduation. david can be born in april if you ignore alexis’s graduation and “moira’s nudes” which means ofc assuming that he doesn’t know his own damn birthdate.

i think we’ve collectively mostly decided from that to stick with july 2 even though it causes issues (as all options do) because a) it’s the pin that david actually says aloud, b) it really is the only one that works with “grad night," and c) since it’s the one he actually says aloud, that means it’s [presumably] what was written into the script

that same principle applies elsewhere too. like moira’s career.

she says in “ronnie’s party” that she had a 6 ½ season television career.

in “wine and roses” johnny mentions her being on seasons 3, 4, and 5. that puts her on the show somewhere between seasons 1 and 9. if she started in s1, she was on it through part of s7; if she started in s3, she was on it through part of s9. (all of that is presuming that her seasons were consecutive, of course.)

in “rock on!” we see a training video that was clearly made in the 80s where moira is looking for a tape from s21 of sunrise bay. if we say the training video was made in ‘89 at the latest with s21 having aired that same year, that puts s1 as taking place in 1968 and thus moira having acted on the show somewhere between 1968 and 1977.

in “a whisper of desire” moira says she was cast in cabaret in 1979 at the age of 17 (david says she was not actually 17, and therefore she was probably at least a few years older). either way, this seems to be her first acting job (or at least before she hits it big in any way) as she says she was working at a gas station at the time. but if her big break came in 1979, she definitely couldn’t have been on sunrise bay prior to that. to compound on that, even if she was a few years older than 17 at that point, that would still make her a teenager during at least part of 1968 - 1977 and from what she’s said about the plots on sunrise bay, it seems unlikely that she was a teenager when she was filming it (she played her own father, for instance). that means she must have been on sunrise bay sometime after 1979, but then there’s no way that s21 would have happened sometime in 1989 or earlier OR moira was not on s3, s4, and s5. 

just to throw an extra wrench into all of it, in “rip moira rose” they also indicate that she was projected to be nominated for 12 daytime emmys, which doesn’t really work with only having been on the show for 6 ½ seasons. (some of those could be for guest star work on other shows perhaps, but that’s a whole lot of guest roles to be nominated for, especially since nothing else she’s ever said about her career indicates that she did that at all)

just like with all the stuff with david’s birthday and roland jr., you can make some of that work together, but you’re gonna have to pick and choose what to ignore in order to get there. that’s the kind of stuff we mean when we say the timeline is a mess. in the broadest of strokes, if you squint, it all kinda comes together. but when you start looking at the details of it, you can’t get all of it to fit neatly into place

[solomonish]

selfless (to a fault?) [nowdateables]

CW: allusions to past toxic relationships.

brothers here!

Diavolo

So. Diavolo might not notice right away. It’s not ignorance! He’s just very busy, and public appearances are important to keep up, so one of the ways he keeps up with you happens to be exactly what you have trouble accepting. Large bouquets sent to the House of Lamentation when you’re there, a word sent out to any of his staff out where you may be to make your life easier however possible (Mammon tries to tag along with you all the time, hoping to hear the magic words: “His highness has graciously waived the fee for all exchange students’ purchases today!”) - and he’s not even there to see the way your smile looks a little more like a grimace, or the way you stare uncomfortably at the little gift.

He seems to love that you are so willing to try and help him out - even if there isn’t much you can do, since he handles a lot of sensitive documents and information. But, considering he’s so lonely, when it comes to reciprocating he sort of follows your lead?

He knows, on a surface level, how to be in a relationship, but considering you’re a human AND he doesn’t have a lot of interpersonal relationships for practice...he sort of follows your lead, and hopes your way of giving love is the same as your way of receiving.

You’ll have to bring it up to him, which is a nerve-wracking experience on its own, eased only by the fact that you know Diavolo has done his best to make sure you KNOW you can bring up any issues you have. He is very good at opening his ears to you and helping you problem solve, and when dealing with the things he cares about (yes, YOU) he is very direct about problem solving.

The moment you stand before him, Diavolo notices the way you fidget with your hands and almost refuse to look at him directly. He immediately stops what he’s doing, putting everything down and turning in his seat. If he’s at his desk, he gestures for you to come to his side and asks you directly - “What’s wrong?”

It seems terrible to directly accuse the prince of wanting to manipulate you, so instead you ask, “What did you want in exchange for those gifts?” And for a moment, he does not know what you are talking about. First of all, WHICH gifts, there’s so many, and secondly did he come across as wanting something in return other than your happiness?

No matter what he was doing before, he will set aside all of the time he needs to at least start to communicate to you that he has no ulterior motives with his gifts to you. If you’d like him to stop with such blatant displays of affection, he will, but it’s more important to him that you know he is only trying to communicate how he feels when he cannot do it directly.

Barbatos

This is a relationship where you might have to bring it up before you even start dating. Either that or he WILL get a hint before then. He’s a butler! Not only is he normally serving other people, he is a master at standing in the back and watching people. He notices the way you awkwardly hold your tea cup after he gives it to you, or decline anything that he offers you when given the chance. It just comes up by nature of who he is.

Before he is interested in pursuing a relationship, he simply brushes it off as the unfamiliarity of having someone wait on you. Perhaps you’re particularly independent, or you just never really are in a situation where someone waits on you like he does. Either way, it isn’t really much of his business.

But...it is very obvious in a relationship. He just...defaults to helping others. Sure, he knows how to separate work and his personal life (though, to be fair, there is not much of a “personal life” there with how much time work takes up, so maybe that needs to be revisited. some day...) but even with that separation he enjoys providing solutions for people and helping out. It brings him joy to help make your life a little easier if he can help, and it’s something he’s good at.

Still, he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable, and he definitely doesn’t want to make you think that he’s treating you the way he treats people as a job. If he wanted to, he could most likely peer into different timelines or even into your past, try to figure out what’s bothering you...but he knows better than to creep into places you haven’t explicitly told him you want him. Besides, communication is important, and this seems a prime opportunity to put that to use.

So he asks you one day when you visit him at the castle, after he notices your hesitation to respond to him when he offers to help you with something you were complaining about. “Why does it make you uncomfortable when I offer my assistance to you?”

You freeze for a moment. “Wouldn’t you be able to find that out on your own?” “Would you like me to?” “...no, not really.”

He isn’t one to press you for information, or to ask a thousand times if you know he’d never use any of his attempts to make your life in the Devildom easier against you. Barbatos will listen to what you have to say intently and do his best to mesh to what you think you’re most comfortable with. He does intend to help you accept help as much as he can, but it’ll be so subtle you’ll hardly even notice. With the little amount of time he already gets with you, he’s already practiced in making the most of it - what’s one more little task to the greatest butler in all the realms?

Solomon

See, this is a relationship that doesn’t necessarily depend on the whole “acts of kindness” thing. (Like, it does to the same degree any relationship does, but considering I think you’d both be pretty independent people and the helping each other aspect normally comes from things you’re doing together anyway. If that makes sense.)

Still, he does notice how...surprised you look when he surprises you with a flashy spell he learned, or when he hears you complaining about your course load or Lucifer’s expectations for you. You decline every single offer he gives you to help, and you never look as happy as he hopes you will when he shows you his spells. (Depending on what stage you are at in the relationship, how is he supposed to impress you if you never want him to do things for you !!!)

However, he is accustomed to holding information close to his chest, and he isn’t always the best at asking about people’s emotions. So, even though sometimes you jump at the opportunity to help him collect ingredients for potions or find one book in massive libraries or craft things for enchantments and spells but you REFUSE to let him help you study for a class he could pass without even listening to one of the lectures, he silently suffers and hopes you’ll breach the subject on your own.

Which you do. Kinda. He’s trying to convince you to let him help you with paying back the debts of one of Mammon’s schemes he dragged you into - figuring two bodies on the job will get it done faster and, in turn, he can have more time with you later - but he makes the mistake of rationalizing it with, “Well, since you help me out so much, maybe I could-”

“Don’t! Don’t...say that. We don’t owe each other anything.” You give him a tight smile that’s OBVIOUSLY fake. “I help you because I want to.”

“And I want to help you. Why won’t you let me? What’s up?”

The conversation is...uncomfortable. Solomon isn’t the best at handling vulnerability. But he doesn’t judge you for a second, and he gets the fear that you have in the back of your mind. Especially since people keep telling you not to trust him and that he’s shady...this relationship is pretty dependent on a thorough trust between the two of you. But he doesn’t mind proving himself a little more, so long as you’ll be gracious enough to give him a chance.

Simeon

Simeon is really good at vibing out somebody’s boundaries and comforts. Call it angelic intuition, but he also has a feeling about you that makes a little too much sense when he notices how you shy away from any offers of assistance.

A little thinking, and suddenly the way you stretch yourself thing to help the brothers at any moment makes a lot of sense too. (And, of course, he is pleased to know everyone considers everyone to be family. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t two main causes!)

Angels naturally want to ease the strife of the humans they come across, and even though Simeon knows that it might make you uncomfortable, he finds himself unknowingly putting you in awkward positions with how often he reaches out to make your life easier.

Bringing you homework that you missed, being your escort when the brothers are busy, buying you lunch just because - he’s a bit of a sweetheart and it’s in his blood to do these things, and he only remembers how it hurts you when you uncomfortably shift before taking the only option he’s given you - accept what you don’t want.

He sits you down one day, letting you know it’s bound to be a healing conversation between the two of you. Fortunately, he has a knack for making you feel comfortable and safe, so he has a slightly easier time getting you to pen up to him.

The moment you even hint at him having ulterior motives, you feel stupid. Even when he assures you that it’s alright, saying it out in the open feels...wrong. That doesn’t shake the feeling or ease your fears, but it does make addressing things a bit easier.

Simeon has no problem helping to draft a plan for re-affirming your trust in genuine love and kindness. He also inserts himself directly into the plans - what, you thought he wouldn’t? Simeon will remind you what it feels like to be cared for with no expectation of return. don’t get him wrong though, he’ll take a lil kiss or something if u want...

Luke

You can’t say no to him. Unfortunately, he bakes a LOT and he is all too eager to be your personal guard dog guardian angel.

When you do decide to let him know why you look so uncomfortable when he tries to do something for you (giving him an abridged version, of course) - and he, in all his energy, does not seem to get the hint to STOP ASKING - you can see him literally just chill out. One minute he’s vibrating with pure energy and the next he’s just. Still.

He half wants to get indignant on you, but he knows that’s not a good response. Instead he just sort of stands there, watching you for a minute, until he blurts out with zero grace - “What would I even have to do that for??”

He realizes it’s a terrible response the moment it comes out of his mouth, but you seem to be okay with it if your awkward chuckle is anything to go with. Luke starts pouting just a little bit, more upset with himself that he’s completely failing at handling this situation. “I’m just nice to you because you’re nice and you deserve it. There’s nothing else to it.”

He’s a sweet boy, and he doesn’t wanna lose his favorite taste-tester. He’s got the spirit.

[mc-lukanette]

42 More Lukanette Thoughts

Marinette making a lucky charm bracelet for Luka, but being afraid to give it to him since Adrien also has one and she doesn’t want Luka thinking that he’s just a replacement for Adrien. Luka finds the gift eventually and naturally does not think that at all.

Luka being a morning person (or at least more of one than Marinette) so he helps Marinette’s sleep schedule by calling her to wake her up in the morning. This also leads to late-night calls between them where they both check if the other is sleeping at the right time (which can lead to either good or bad things; good because they’re checking on each other, bad because they clearly don’t have self-control and might just keep each other up).

Luka ends up hurting one of his hands and proceeds to avoid Marinette, knowing that his lack of ability to play music might affect him emotionally. He doesn’t want her to see him vulnerable. Marinette inevitably figures it out and frets over him while also thinking up ways to help him out.

Marinette being miserable every time she hears the ballroom music that she used to associate with her (former) love for Adrien. She was with Luka once and he got to witness her shouting angrily at the speakers playing the music that she has a boyfriend who is NOT Adrien and she doesn’t appreciate this reminder of Adrien’s existence.

Marinette struggling to confess to Luka, but then having no problem rambling off praises for him to other people.

Marinette tries on Luka’s highlights once and surprises Luka with it. He’s so caught off-guard that he reaches up and touches/feels her hair himself, earning a blush out of Marinette. Now she has to try his looks more so he’ll initiate physical contact more.

Luka getting his own version of “Copycat” (not him being jealous, but just an akuma who’s out to make him look bad). The name? Lukalike.

AU where Marinette isn’t technically into Adrien, but has been brought up/grew up to plan and schedule for the future to an obsessive degree (in line with all her scheduling in canon). She actually wasn’t romantically in love with Adrien but saw him as a viable option and he was “already in her plans” by the time Luka showed up. Marinette cut Luka off in a panic after realizing she was in love with him, but realizes her mistake later on and absolutely drops an emotional bomb on him when she reveals that she returned his feelings this whole time and had to get over her obsession for planning/organization first..

Luka still being the calm, collected individual he is, but he’s actually really excitable and “loud” over text. Marinette learns that after they exchange numbers and it’s adorable.

Vagabond (Homeless) Luka who travels all around, playing music for people. Marinette loves his music and will happily walk around to find him playing, even if she’s crunched for time. He provides lots of inspiration for her though it sure is weird how long he’s been around??? what could he possibly be sticking around for? (bonus if he sticks around so long that it leads into winter and obviously she’s not letting him stay outside)

Luka and Marinette meeting as Viperion and Ladybug, falling for each other, and they want to date but they also don’t want people to know so cue superhero dating.

AU where Juleka either wasn’t born or she and Luka simply didn’t grow up together, so Luka didn’t have to grow into the “big brother” type. He’s also bad with physical contact, as his mother isn’t a very physically-affectionate person, so he seeks out a way to be better with being touched. In comes Marinette and she happily offers to get him used to physical contact. Bonus if she starts feeling jealous at the idea of him eventually being able to touch other people and Double Bonus if she just ends up being the exception more than anything else and they’re both okay with that.

Pre-dating, Luka and Marinette knowing full well what they do to each other and going out of their way to make the other blush.

“Felix” divergence where it turns out that Marinette was still pursuing Adrien because she was convinced that Luka wasn’t actually crushing on her (thought it was her overthinking/hoping for too much because she “is used to being disappointed” by now, plus the fact that he confessed and then walked away without saying a word), but she realizes that he is when he makes the comment about “being there for her.” She explains it to him in relief and Luka’s heart is sent on a ride because he was convinced that she didn’t feel that way about him. Bonus if now Marinette is panicking about the video and will later be glad that it didn’t go through.

Sass “challenging” Marinette and teasingly saying that he’ll take Luka if she doesn’t want him. Cue Marinette being very jealous of Sass hanging around Luka all the time and she eventually gets fed up to the point of confessing to Luka outright, then being all smug to Sass who had planned this from the beginning so he’s not complaining.

Rose gets a cold, so Luka temporarily takes over as Kitty Section’s singer for practice. Marinette isn’t ready.

Childhood Friends AU where Marinette grows up believing that Luka and Juleka must have the same romantic orientation because they’re twins and she doesn’t know how orientations works. Thus, clearly Luka is gay which means that he doesn’t return her feelings obviously (she’s very wrong).

Marinette wanting a song to replace the ballroom music she remembers when she was still crushing on Adrien, so she non-subtly tries to find a song that Luka would like that they could slow dance to (either pre or post dating).

Post-battle, Viperion asking Ladybug if it’s okay for him to hang onto the snake miraculous for a little longer, then going on to explain that Marinette, a friend of his, seemed really sad that day and he figured it’d help to be visited by a hero. (Ladybug is screaming internally because she knows that she’s not supposed to let them keep them any longer than the battle but his request is so pure and sweet and he’s doing it for her--)

Viperion setting up for Second Chance. During the battle, he and Ladybug end up bonding and/or kissing, but Viperion ends up needing to go back, thus erasing it from the timeline. However, while Ladybug doesn’t seem to remember the specifics or what happened, she seems to have vague feelings that he used Second Chance and even touches her lips at one point with a thoughtful look.

Marinette learning how to do her own make-up to try and look closer to the age that Luka looks. She very much doesn’t need it to impress him/make him think that she’s pretty..

Marinette getting into bouts of being extremely lame and romantic, like texting Luka things like, “I was just thinking about you,” and then regretting it when he responds with something equally lame with no hesitation.

Fu being okay with Luka knowing Ladybug’s identity, as Luka is someone who keeps to himself, is able to keep a secret, and actively supports Marinette.

One day, Marinette accidentally catches Luka working on a love song that’s clearly written for her. He’s embarrassed for once, partly because he’d never intended for her to hear it, but she assures him that it’s okay and she’d like to hear the full thing. She shows up occasionally to listen to his progress, Luka suspecting nothing, then cut to when the full song is done and she ends up singing it alongside him without warning, essentially confessing back to him.

Event where Marinette is put in charge of selling custom-made “Ladybug Fan” and “Chat Noir Fan” T-shirts. And then in comes Luka with a white shirt and a shoddily-but-lovingly-written “Marinette Fan” on it (bonus if he tried to draw her pink flowers).

Marinette drawing something for Adrien in her sketchbook and keeps abandoning it to spend time with/visit Luka (a metaphor for her slowly getting over Adrien and falling for Luka instead). She’ll end up making something for Luka instead in the end.

At some point in adulthood, Marinette admitting to Luka that she’s been crushing on him for a long time, but was afraid of saying anything. Luka assures her that there’s still a place in his heart, but Marinette needs time to accept that (out of guilt and being convinced for so long that he’d never forgive her) and/or Luka needs time to really confirm to himself that she means it (not that he doesn’t believe her but he’s thought for so long that she didn’t like him that way). Cue awkward dorks slowly working their way into a relationship with hand touches, cheek kisses, and finally the full acceptance that they’re willing to forget about what they thought before and just love each other.

Luka and Marinette being married with kids. Whenever Marinette has to let Luka sleep, he’ll wake up later but with their kids telling him that she told them to tell him that she loves him (she also might’ve skipped breakfast because she doesn’t like having it without him and Luka will definitely be going to meet with her for lunch, complete with kisses for giving him so many feels in the morning).

someone: Marinette, don’t hide your face in your hands. [Marinette proceeds to use Luka’s hands to hide her face instead]

Marinette and Luka, having never met, being in a pet store and buying a pet mouse and snake respectively. Unexpectedly, the two pets escape from them at some point before they leave the store, and after frantically searching, they find the mouse and snake next to each other and actually seeming to get along as if they’re friends. The store owner confirms that the two animals frequently escape to see each other and they have no idea why, but Luka and Marinette acknowledge it and decide to exchange addresses so their pets can still see each other. Meeting up “just for the sake of their pets” quickly becomes an excuse.

Luka is definitely the type who wouldn’t wash off Marinette’s lipstick kisses for the longest time. Marinette ends up having to clean them off herself (which really just encourages him not to do it himself more).

Likewise, Marinette forgot her gloves once while it was cold and Luka warmed her hands for her, so she continued “forgetting them” after that.

Luka and Marinette end up getting a pet and Marinette struggling between finding Luka playing with their pet adorable and being extremely jealous because now the pet is stealing her Luka time.

Post-dating, Marinette having self-esteem issues over being as short as she is (maybe having gotten rude comments from models before). She keeps trying to kiss Luka from above and insisting on being the big spoon.

Kitty Section getting a singing game and Luka getting to hear Marinette singing for the first time. Now he has to hear it so much more. Bonus if their voices blend well together when they sing together.

Marinette wanting to give Luka promise ring but being convinced that he’d hate it because he “already has so many accessories” (as if Luka wouldn’t enthusiastically wear anything she gives him).

Luka being an exhausted rock star who flees from paparazzi and his fans. Marinette ends up seeing him and letting him hide in her house, being a huge fan of him but not getting to star-struck levels since she grew up with a famous model friend and knowing celebrities. She allows Luka to hide at her place whenever he wants and eventually worries about him seeing her as “just like his fans” when she realizes that she’s crushing on him.

Marinette breaking up with Adrien in adulthood, which starts a lot of rumors from people about how Marinette will just turn down any guy she sees because who in the right mind would break up with the sunshine model??? Then, cue Luka (who may or may not have met Marinette yet) coming in and seeing all the distance people make from Marinette (and not getting it), so he happily approaches her and strikes up a conversation because he doesn’t care about rumors or anything like that.

Marinette getting a two-seater bike for Luka and trying to be subtle about it like

Alya doing a scheme by inventing some sort of game where someone gets chosen and has to shout out the person they love because, “Girl, you blurt things out all the time! You’ll totally say Adrien’s name,” and then Marinette blurts out Luka’s name because she loves him and not Adrien, shocking everyone.

If Marinette and Luka (i.e: the “thinkers” of the hero group) were akumatized together, Paris - no, the world - would be officially screwed.

Fashion Designer Marinette and Rock Star Luka. Marinette has been trying to confess to Luka for a while, but things usually go wrong or the timing is always off. She finally says “screw it” to subtlety, and waits for them to have an interview together (as Luka wears Marinette’s clothes constantly and they’re best friends), then unzips her jacket to “get comfortable” while they’re sitting next to each other, revealing an, “I Love Luka Couffaine (yes, romantically),” shirt. The interviewer and audience notice immediately (especially due to the large screen in the background that shows an enlarged view of the interviewer, Luka, and Marinette) and then it’s just a matter of waiting for Luka to notice (probably after he stops gushing about Marinette’s amazing clothing choices).

[whump-town]

Stubborn

Everybody taking care of old Hotch because... I don't like it when old Hotch gets left to just die on his own :( don't ask why that's where I draw the line

No pairings

No warnings

In Jack’s second semester of his junior year, Hotch collapses again. He’s home this time, out in his garden under the glaring sun. The day had begun no different than any other. The birds on the powerline chirping and causing their disturbances, as eager for the day to begin as the school-aged children shouting in the street. He’d watched them from the sliding glass door facing the street, his tea warm in his hands. He’d waved at a few, the older ones who recognize him as a mystifying adult with stories to be unlocked. The younger children give him a face akin to a monster’s, his mystery horrifying in their already confusing enough lives.

It’s an hour before lunch. Two hours before Spencer shows up because it’s Thursday and he teaches a class on this side of town every Tuesday and Thursday at 2. One that he occasionally asks Hotch to attend -- as a guest lecturer, as a treat to his students, or just for the company.

He could call just about anyone.

Emily’s downtown, on her way back from a meeting with the Department of Justice. She’d be thrilled for an excuse to not go back to the office and spend an hour or two in his kitchen telling him about those pretentious assholes.

Garcia’s about ten minutes away, working at a nonprofit teaching “at-risk” kids how to code. Being the guiding hand she’d needed as a teenager so that they might not repeat the same mistakes she made. She was lucky, Hotch saved her but he’s not around to catch any more kids like her.

Morgan got hired by a family two streets over to fix up their house before they move in. He’s there now, tearing out rotting beams.

This collapse is not of the life-threatening kind. Not to Hotch at least. There’s no internal bleeding, no emergency surgeries. He doesn’t even need stitches but he’s on so many medications that thin his blood that it’s just on the safer side. From the hospital, he calls who he needs to. Reid first, he’ll worry when he gets to Hotch’s house and sees his truck gone. Then, Jack, it’s better to hear this sort of thing from him and not Emily in half an hour when she needs to yell at someone and who better than the son of the idiot she hates right now? Dave and Emily follow and he trusts them to carry the news the rest of the way. Rather, he simply doesn’t want to talk about it anymore and he’d rather Garcia and JJ and Morgan and everyone else just be mad at him than go on to have another conversation about how he’s feeling.

Fine. He just got light-headed. It was the heat and his perpetually low iron and probably his thin blood (the killer had been his blood pressure but they’re working on that). He just needs to get better about remembering to eat breakfast -- a larger breakfast than just tea and toast. Fainting, he assures Dave, happens. Jack’s seen it happen. The heat makes it worse, the summertime drains him. He’s come in from the garden and gotten weak in the knees plenty of times. He actually moved some chairs around the sliding glass door to the yard, prepared for this exact problem.

This over clarification does not help.

Made only the more complicated when he explains his head is fine. The fainting thing really isn’t a big deal, he just needs a ride home. He’d landed weirdly and pulled his back. He left with a new problem entirely, a torn ligament in his shoulder. That is a problem for a different day.

The surgery is set for the week just before Jack’s finals. Armed with a suitcase full of textbooks, his laptop, notes from this semester (and a few from last), and just enough clothes to recycle a few and still be fine, Jack shows up on his father’s doorstep. “I mean, the hospital isn’t exactly the library… but it’s not the worst place I’ve studied.” It’s far too late to send Jack back but Hotch is reluctant to let him stay. Even if he does prefer Jack be his ride rather than the likes of Penelope and that tiny green eye-sore of a car she drives or leave him to Reid and his defensive, jerky driving.

To the sound of “Aaron Hotchner November 2, 1971”, Jack settles down with his books. He tries to put himself in the right headspace for studying but it’s harder than he anticipated. The constant motion of the room unsettles him and he looks up several times to see his father’s reaction. To gauge the anxiety in his face, in the deep breathes that he pulls in through his nose. In how tight his fists are holding the sheets underneath him. It’s a simple surgery and they’ll be out of here in no time.

“Young” his heart had not handled the heavy sedatives and morphine well. Then again, those incidents are always hard to measure against a thing like this. Rushed into the ER with nine chest wounds and having nearly bled to death, it’s natural to conclude the stress of his depleted blood supply and his very recent trauma had caused his heart to stop on the table. That said trauma was the reason his heart had maintained to be a steady problem up until they released him. Again, when he was brought in with some of the worst internal bleedings the staff had ever seen. His heart had given them trouble too.

Jack is staring blankly at his flashcards when the doctor comes out.

Hotch had gone to Georgetown to be a lawyer like his father and his grandfather. Jack went to Georgetown to get an Art History degree. He was lead by something else. Not chasing some shadow, clutching at a lie he spoonfed himself. Jack didn’t live in anyone’s shadow, never felt the pressure to look and act a certain way. Was never beaten into submission or told to hold his tongue. Jack went to museums every Saturday with his father, preferred them to the aquariums and the zoo. Hotch held him close to the artwork, pushed his dense schedule around to go to new shows, and learned the names of pieces just to recite the knowledge back to Jack.

In his lap, Jack is memorizing pieces of art like his father had years ago for him. He’s stuck on The Anatomy Lesson, eyes glued to the details. The way colorless skin is held in forceps, peeled back to reveal angry red. He can feel the pinching teeth on his own skin, feels the heavy flow of hot blood spilling down over his arm.

“Hotchner?”

Jack flinches, caught completely off guard. He stands, flushing as he tucks his notecards into his textbook, and stands. “Ugh, yeah. That’s me.” He wipes his hands off on his pants, rubbing away the nervous sweat he’s built up.

The doctor recognizes him from earlier. He’d watched Jack and Hotch get out one last goodbye. Jack pulling up a nervous smile, dirty-blonde hair, and light eyes a complete contrast to Hotch’s ever-darkening features. Somehow more solemn, voice taken by the sedatives already working through his body. He hadn’t said a word, eyes vacantly following Jack’s movements but unaware.

Jack expects the same monologue he hears every time. The one that comes out so dry and perfect that they must practice it in front of the mirror, say it softly to themselves as they as they get ready each morning. He’s got it memorized himself -- the bits about recovering in post-op, make a full recovery, and whatever on the fly timeline they give for access back to the room.

“But he’s-- He’s okay? He’s--”

Jack feels impossibly childish. Five years old and Emily’s chilled fingers brushing his tears away, “baby, I know you miss your mommy. But you’re being so terribly mean to your daddy.” He had been, a terrible little monster squirming away from his father and refusing to eat anything. Throwing tantrums about nothing and everything. Screaming and crawling under his bed every chance he got. Pushing himself to the wall knowing he couldn’t be reached.

Now he can remember Hotch just sitting at the edge of the bed. There on the floor for hours. Sometimes he read, would pick up a book, and just start from wherever just to make it so his voice was reaching where he couldn’t. He slept there too, on the hard ground just to make sure Jack knew he was there. Slipped strawberry pop tarts on crazily designed animal plated under there, offered bites of his own food to the darkness under the bed. Sippy cups full of chocolate milk and juice.

He feels like a little boy again, getting news that he has no idea how to handle.

“He’s okay?” Jack stammers. “He’s going to be okay? I can see him?”

Hotch remembers those days under the bed too. Waking up in the middle of the night as Jack groggily curled close to him, still under the bed but crawling under his blanket. The ends of those awful sobs, Jack’s little chest jerking as he hiccuped. The force of his sorrow was too much for his little body. And Jack would fall into his lap, exhausted and needing comfort. His little fingers tracing the scars on Hotch’s face. How he whispered “thank you” and “please” from underneath the bed and how he’d pop his head out to say, “Daddy, I’m going to potty. I’ll be right back.”

Jack’s legally old enough to drink now and Hotch still sees that little boy. The three-year-old wiping his snot on Hotch’s dress shirt. The six-year-old holding his hand and reminding him to look both ways twice before crossing the street. The eight-year-old he left the hallway light on for, old enough now to think he needed to brave the night without a nightlight. So Hotch would offer to keep the hallway light on, not for Jack but for him because he doesn’t like the dark. The ten-year-old sheepishly offering him a father’s day gift he bought with saved allowance, a t-shirt he’s now worn the words off of. The fifteen-year-old curling up beside him on the couch, seeking his comfort but not sure how to ask anymore. The eighteen-year-old as tall as him talking his ear off while he tries to get dinner ready, sticking his fingers in the pan and sitting on the counter.

How did he grow up so fast?

He’s not a little boy anymore. Hasn’t been for a long time.

The creaking of a chair moves Hotch’s attention and he looks away from Jack. Away from the sight of his little boy curled up on a cot, drooling onto a pillow and notebook still open, a pen dangling from his fingers. He looks over and Emily’s sitting up, her reading glasses precariously sat on the tip of her nose. “Oh look,” she mumbles. She stretches out, groaning as her joints complain from being held in this miserable hospital chair for hours. “You’ve decided to join the land of the living.”

Hotch watches her fold the thin black frames of her glasses up, gently sits them down by his hand as she stands up. Jack had called her, even though he promised he wouldn’t worry anyone. Hotch didn’t want anyone else coming to the hospital over something so small and though Jack protested that their concern wouldn’t be because he was bothering them but because they love him. The very same reason he’d come home is that people gather after these sorts of things. They need reassurance that he’s alive and he’s just going to have to accept that. They compromised in the end, everyone could come to smother him in worry after he got home from the surgery.

But Jack was scared. He called the only person he could think to, the woman whose role in his life that was never really clear. She’d gotten on him about his grades, smacked the back of his head when he said something stupid, and always let him taste-test her wine at Thanksgiving dinner. Emily knew things that not even Jessica knew and she could be sterner than both Hotch and Jessica and also more relaxed, more understanding. She was always there for both of them, in the same capacity as Jessica and yet her own unique one. A friend Hotch trusted and loved and Jack could understand that. His friends always wanted to know if they were dating and he knew intuitively that the answer was no but he would hesitate to try and explain. But he didn’t understand the gravity that pulled them together, adults and their relationships far too complex to fit it into his simple understanding of love.

He did understand she was the only person to call.

“What’d he do this time?” she asked and knew she was playing the wrong role for the wrong Hotchner because no sooner than she could ask she had an armful of Jack. She sat with Jack for hours, let him get his fear out. Held him while he sobbed, felt pulled to the past. When it was Aaron on her shoulder, terrified he’d lose his son. Life has this very odd way of bringing everything full circle.

“I bet you’re hurting.” Emily moves to the table and pours water into the little paper Dixie cup left by the nurses. “Been right dramatic this afternoon,” she informs him, a dissatisfied matter-of-fact tone in play. “I know you find that to be particularly taxing.” She holds the cup for him, gentle despite her annoyance. She’s close enough to see the iodine on his skin. Dark orange swipes across his pale skin, the smell burns with its strength.

He pulls greedily from the cup, mouth impossibly dry. Stopped only by how little she poured, he sinks back heavily into the pillows behind him. His shoulder hot and angry from forcing himself upright.

“They’re going to let you go in the morning,” she says, sitting back down. He won’t remember this in the morning. Emily holding his hand, whispering thickly how angry she is with him as tears fall down her face. How scared she was getting that phone call from Jack, racing down here to be a composed person to comfort his son thinking her best friend was in the morgue.

He’ll wake up with a pit in his stomach, residual feelings from the night before he can’t tie down to memories. Emily shows no inclination to repeat herself, just coldly informs him that she’ll have Penelope make him a cardiologist appointment (it’s unspoken that no one trusts him to do this himself). Jack walks on glass, close by but terrified of being pushed away. Hotch is too out of it to put up much of a fight, by the time the morning shift has their hands on him he’s silent. Properly dosed up for a ride home and out of his mind.

He’s groggily propped up on pillows, watching Jack and Emily fight over if he has the right to wear shoes or not. Emily wants to hold them captive, he won’t run off or refuse the wheelchair without them and Jack shakes his head, “he’s not our P.O.W, Emily. He’s even going to get that far if he does try to run.” He’s given his shoes but Emily makes a point to collect his cane, holds it while the nurse helps him into the wheelchair. He’s a flight-risk and she’s not going to trust him, he’s run off on her too many times for that.

At the house the other’s have gathered up, having nothing better to do evidently on a Wednesday at ten in the morning. Penelope’s frying eggs and bacon, the carnage it takes to feed their brood spread out on his kitchen counter. Reid sitting on the counter, Hank in his lap, and the two of them watching Penelope. Derek’s on the sofa, feet kicked up on the coffee table, and Savannah learning on his shoulder. Dave’s getting orange juice from the store declared them all lawless, and didn’t trust them to get the right kind.

Hotch is granted his cane to get back inside the house but Emily threatens to kick it out from underneath if he tries anything fast. He smacks her ankle and Jack has to actually step between them to keep them apart. It’s in times like these where Jack finds himself wondering how these two ever had any role in raising him at all.

“Don’t you have jobs?” Hotch asks, hooking his cane over the coat rack and toeing his shoes off. He ignores the hand Emily places on his arm, afraid he’ll knock himself over. He manages just fine, has the whole house set up so that every other step is within arms distance of something to lean on. Fingers trailing the back of the couch he limps past Derek, smiling when Savannah offers a soft “glad you’re okay”. She pats his hand and he nods back.

“Up for some food, sir?” Penelope asks and she’s not taking no for an answer. They might be having heaping servings of eggs and bacon and gravy and orange juice but she’s made two small bowls of oatmeal. She takes the medicine Jack tosses up on the counter, puts it at the end where the rest of his medication sits. “I cut up apples,” she tells Hotch with a wide grin, sliding the bowl in front of him. “Dashed a little cinnamon and sugar in there, it’ll stick to your bones. Keep you healthy.”

He’s at a healthy weight at the moment, not as thin as he leans to when he’s sick but with Hotch, it’s always a good thing to have some collateral weight for the “in case”. Lifting the spoon in his left hand he scoops some of the oatmeal up, doing his best to hide his annoyance at how weak his extremities still are. How his hand shakes under the light strain of the oatmeal. He looks up, watches Spencer carry Hank over to the highchair sitting at the table beside him. He’s distracted so Emily swoops in, takes his spoon from his hand, and tries his oatmeal. He lets her do it. He raises an eyebrow and she shrugs. She likes it. He nods, it’s pretty good.

Hank immediately knocks his spoon on the ground and makes a low whining sound in the back of his throat. “Hop help,” he whines, pointing down at his spoon. His speech is still developing so he pronounces help and hop nearly identically but Hotch understands the difference. He just can’t bend over like that. His right arm is still pinned to his chest in an intricate web of gauze and this sling.

“Reid,” Hotch calls. His voice is deep, strained from intubation and anesthesia. It makes him sound sick. “He’s dropped his spoon.”

Reid nods, he already knows.

Hank points to his shoulder and frowns, “Hop fall down?”

Hotch nods, that is pretty much what happened and at the same time, Emily sweeps in and tickles Hank. She presses kisses to his face and making him laugh loudly. “That’s what happens,” she says. “Hops is just old.” Hank is too distracted by the ongoing attack to defend Hotch not that a toddler rising to his defense is very helpful.

Hotch sighs as Jack comes up behind him, stealing his spoon too. He takes a bite of the oatmeal and deems it nearly as good as the kind that Jessica makes. Hotch wants to be annoyed by it and yet all he does is nod and finds himself smirking just a little.

Penelope calls everyone in for breakfast and Hotch ignores the kisses pressed to his cheek as people drag chairs to the table around him. To the hands that slide over his back, assurance of life he remembers Jack calling it.

Derek slides him a mug of tea, made exactly how he likes it. He sits across from Hotch, close to Hank in case either needs assistance. Emily sits to his left, slides her coffee up beside his tea so he can have some if he’s quick about it. Jack sits beside her and the rest is a blur, too much motion at once for him to take in without his contacts or glasses. Penelope slides a tea plate to him, his medicine on it, and kisses his head while he’s still scowling at the plate.

They don’t leave him alone all day.

He ends up taking a nap with Hank, the toddler’s sticky little fingers holding onto his shirt as he finds himself unable to fight off the effects of the medicine and his full stomach.

He’s squished on the couch between Derek and Dave, forced to watch baseball because he can’t worm his way upright again just yet.

They change the dressings on his shoulder, his teeth clenched tightly so that he doesn’t let anything slip.

At midnight he wakes up on the couch. Jack’s bedroom door is shut, he’s sleeping peacefully inside. His heating blanket is pulled up to his chin, the heat turned up all the way. He can’t remember getting into this state himself but he has a fate memory of JJ helping him move his hand to his mouth, encouraging him to take the pain killers before bed. Of Derek making sure he didn’t just fall straight over onto his side. He manages to find Dave stretched out on the Lazyboy -- the chair he got Hotch for his fifty-something birthday. He’ll wake up in the morning to more food being made in his lonely kitchen, JJ this time. She’ll make blueberry waffles.

If he’d wanted attention, Emily will tease the next morning, he could have just asked. And he didn’t even know he wanted this. He never finds the words to ask for it to continue but every Saturday morning it happens anyway -- his kitchen and living room full of pajamas and suits in varying degrees depending on who has what to do that morning. The fainting thing is not cool but he considers this to be a good trade.

[black-coffee-and-sugar]

Fair warning: it's a long post. Let's examine some of the reasons that Kara has cited why she didn't tell Lena the super secret:

1. She wanted to protect her

Now, this one has some legs on it as Kara specifically mentions it in S3 during a conversation with James and Mon-El. And there's definitely some truth to it. But it's also bullshit. Lena was in constant danger and put herself at risk to save/protect Kara who didn't actually need it. In fact, the first time Lena's mentioned (not shown just mentioned) it's in regards to the venture explosion - something that happened because Lex was trying to kill her. People have been trying to kill, kidnap, manipulate, threaten Lena since minute one. Knowing Kara = SG would not have severely worsened any of that. In fact, it might've helped ease Lena's anxieties and resulted in her taking less risks with her life. In fact, I'm surprised Lena didn't think that Kara's association with her was putting Kara at risk (a far more likely thing).

The 100th episode addresses this to some degree in one of the AUs. Lena tells Kara that she wouldn't have had to risk her life dealing with Sam/Reign alone if she'd known the truth and she's absolutely right. And sure, Lena could've told SG and the DEO when she pieced Reign = Sam together but ask yourself, why would she? What assurance did she have that the DEO would not have treated her BEST FRIEND like a hostile instead of someone in need of help? The DEO is guilty of this and they have a history of locking up aliens indefinitely and on occassion straight up murder. After Reign nearly killed their biggest asset (i.e. SG) why in the hell would Lena trust them with helping Sam? She wouldn't nor should she have. She didn't know that she could go to SG because remember, Lena doesn't think of her the same way she does of Kara. SG is not her best friend. She doesn't have a personal, humanized relationship with her (at least not that she knows of). And obviously she's not going to tell Kara the human reporter with the DEO agent sister about it either. And the kryptonite? SG lost her shit over it even though she's been working with the DEO who stockpiled the stuff until SM left with it (a dumbass move that would've bit them so hard in the ass with the WK situation if it weren't for Lena's kryptonite!). Plus, Kara didn't have an issue with Oliver having a kryptonite arrow, J'onn having a sword. But Lena? How dare she!

So yea no. I get that "I kept my secret to protect you" is a popular thing in the hero world but in the case of Kara and Lena, it doesn't make sense and it did make situations unnecessarily harder.

2. She didn't trust Lena

This is mentioned by Kara to William in a deleted scene from S5 but I think it's worth exploring. I'm not sure to what extent Kara means with this but it could be referring to the moments as SG where she did display a distrust of Lena's intentions and she used Lena's personal relationships against her (i.e. asking James to break into Lena's lab). I mentioned the S3 shitshow with the kryptonite which is where a lot of this started but there's also other scenes in that same season where SG pretty much calls into question the so-called trust she has in Lena despite claiming otherwise. The switch was so abrupt the minute she learned Lena not only had but knew how to make kryptonite. Did anyone ever consider why Lena would bother learning how to make kryptonite? I'd hazard a guess that it was something she was looking into even before Sam/Reign. I think she happened to find Lex's stock and she decided to learn how it works and why it affects the Supers like it does. That would explain how Lena seems to be the ONLY ONE able to make an anti-kryptonite suit and other viable forms of the rock (i.e. Harun el). But no, SG and others immediately jump to the worst conclusions and associate the endeavour with Lena's last name, something SG KNOWS Lena is sensitive about it. And then the harun el. SG was suddenly fine with Lena making it when it was to split Sam from Reign and save Argo from extinction. But when it was used for something else that Lena didn't clue her in on (and what do you know, Alex, Brainy and James didn't either and they KNEW what Lena was doing with it) she got back on her high horse and the distrust became front and centre. You can't trust Lena as Kara and then immediately distrust her as SG and expect her to be accepting of this dichotomy. I'm surprised the woman managed to retain her sanity.

And still, this reasoning doesn't quite hit the mark in comparison to every other insistence of Kara believing in Lena (from day one she even told Clark that she believed Lena after meeting her for the first time). But the contrasting opinions and actions must have given Lena pause. I don't blame her to call into question which version of the truth was real and choosing to believe the worst. It's what SG and the SFs have been doing to her.

3. She was wary of Lena

This isn't an explicitly given reason but I do think it's how the secret keeping started in S2. Frankly, I don't even blame Kara for not showing her full deck in the beginning because she (and even us as an audience) didn't know much about Lena beyond wanting to do good and not be like her family. So no, Kara not telling Lena in the beginning actually makes sense to me (though she told Nia in a split second but that's neither here nor there). For me, I started to seriously take Lena at her word after the Medusa episode. That would've been the perfect opportunity for her to show the true "xenophobic" colours some parts of the fandom accuse her of having and she didn't do it. I don't think she even got so much as a thank you for it. People praise SM for getting Lex arrested but ultimately it was Lena's testimony that got him thrown behind bars. Same thing with Lillian! And yes, the daxamite invasion was facilitated by Lena unwittingly working with Rhea but she fixed it with the lead dispersal bomb, a device she allowed SG the privilege of using or not. So Kara and the SFs being cautious about Lena really should've evaporated halfway through S2 (and it did for Kara at least). In fact, the daxamite invasion may not have happened if Lena knew exactly who Rhea was and her relation to Mon-El because they would've warned Lena about it. Lena did want Kara's advice on Rhea and she would've waited for it if she knew what was going on (i.e. Alex being held hostage) and hell, might've been able to fix it in typical Lena ex machina fashion.

4. She didn't want to lose her

This is probably as close to the truth as we've gotten and it's actually part of her confession in 5x01 (something her outburst in 5x19 tries to undo). But the thing is, Kara KNEW this was a possibility and yet, continued walking towards the deadly cliff with her eyes wide open. The probability of losing Lena got higher and higher as time went on and it was always inevitable. There was always this spotlight placed on Kara telling Lena or Lena finding out on her own but there was always a HUGE chance that Lillian would've told her. Or Lex, which is exactly what happened. And Kara knew that they knew and yet she did nothing about it. The minute kara found out Lillian knew she should've taken action, what guarantee did she have that Lillian wouldn't have gotten bored of waiting for Lena to piece it together? How can they just leave Lillian with dangerous knowledge like that is beyond me. When Alex in particular has made such a big deal about people knowing, didn't want Kara telling Lena, only allowed Kara to tell Lucy to save J'onn and yet, letting Lillian amble about with this info is okay??? Nothing was stopping her from telling Lena or it slipping during one their chess games and definitely nothing stopping Lex from dropping that bomb.

The 100th episode AUs showed us that each time it was Kara telling the truth, no matter how hurt and upset Lena rightfully was, she was ultimately fine with it. And Kara ends up losing her to death, not because Lena walked away. How this wasn't the takeaway message for Kara after that adventure, idk. It was Kara's hesitatancy in telling Lena that allowed Lex to weaponize this secret and twist it into something it never was. And yes, Kara doesn't owe a damn soul her secret and has rarely ever been given the chance to tell anyone on her own terms (James - told by SM, Alex, J'onn, Brainy, Mon-El, the Legion - always knew, Lex & Lillian, Lord & Cat - found out somehow). She only ever got to tell Winn, Lucy and Nia and I'm sorry but none of those people have ever proven themselves trustworthy at the time of the reveal the way Lena has.

So while Kara is every right to keep her secrets, she was wrong to insert herself in Lena's life if she never had any intention of telling her and let's be honest, it really didn't seem like Kara had any timeline on that front.

5. She was selfish

Similar to the above and also mentioned during the confession but this is even deeper. Lena was something of an outlet for Kara, a way to feel completely normal, something she hasn't been able to experience with anyone, even Mon-El. Can you imagine being a cub reporter who knows powerful CEO Lena Luthor and having said CEO choose to spend time with you? Choose to let you interview her when she's wary of the press (remember her interactions with Clark in 2x01 and her family history)? Choose to treat your problems as important and valid and human? I don't blame Kara at all for being selfish with Lena, for wanting to keep Lena all to herself like that. But to not share the other aspects of herself was seriously wrong too and resulted in this imbalance in their relationship. To Lena, it looks like she was giving all of herself when Kara was not. It looks like she put all her trust and vulnerabilities out there when Kara didn't. It looks like Kara was using her (which let's be real, she kinda did a few times in S2 with the fight club and bs article to get info on Lillian and then ofc the CatCo-Edge problem she visited Lena for after ignoring her and proceeding to continue the rejection after Lena said she'd look into it).

You think post-reveal Lena didn't think back to all those moments and have those kinda thoughts? Even called into question what might've been the real reason James dated her and Kara was so insistent on befriending her? Were there perhaps times were she figured it out and can't remember and what's why she chose not to see it? Why do we think she still showed up game night in 4x22 instead of confronting Kara? Because these thoughts amongst others must've been swarming her mind and the only way to keep the upper hand is to continue playing dumb. So yes, Kara made the conscious decision to be selfish with Lena because of the unexpected connection they forged and I get it totally. But Lena has never been selfish and she's always made hard efforts to be a damn good friend (and she was idc what others might think on that) and open herself up to Kara despite how difficult and frankly foreign that is for her.

So are Kara's reasons valid? To a point, I would say yes but their validity waned over the seasons to the point where the secret keeping didn't even make sense anymore.

So was Lena's anger valid? Yes! 100% it was and honestly, I'm surprised she managed to keep it together for so long. I couldn't. But her anger doesn't justify her actions (mind control, manipulating Kara, threatening Russell, holding J'onn's bro captive, putting Hope inside Eve) and how she went out of her way to hurt Kara back. However, I get why she did it though it's worth pointing out that this is the only instances of a betrayal in her life where Lena has gone this far. Bitch straight up spiralled where previously she would cut ties and move the fuck on with life. But with Kara, that doesn't even seem to manifest itself to Lena as an option. Will the show ever address the obvious WHY for this and for Kara being so so terrified of losing Lena (like honestly I have never seen Kara look more distressed).

Maybe, maybe not but regardless I'm not buying this platonic friends nonsense because no one is that devastated over a friendship. Many of us (myself included) have experienced falling outs with very close friends and breakups. Which one do you think the Kara/Lena rift in S5 felt like? It was full on heartbreak, loving someone in complete torment and not being able to stop despite wanting to because even though it's painful, the alternative is infinitely worse.

MB and KM's acting choices aside, these idiot showrunners have brought us to this point with their own narrative and the only logical next step is to make them canon.

Lol okay I'm done.