#everybody say hi to the following fandoms and myths I did this to:

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Me, writing a fic and muttering under my breath: I will shove the unsubtle Greek myth allusions in if it is the LAST thing I do-

[novelist-becca]

Could these walls come crumbling down

Fandom: The Owl House

Rating: Teen

Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda 

Summary: A look at “A Lying Witch and a Warden” from Eda’s POV. Title is from the song “Into the Open Air” by Julie Fowlis. Italics are Eda’s thoughts.

AO3 link here

FFN link here

Eda had sent Owlbert back through the portal after their brief trip through the human realm. She was unable to find any good stuff, plus she was getting tired. So she went back to wait at her booth while he found more garbage. That was an hour ago. The bored witch watched as random citizens walked by. A part of her worried he was caught and captured by a curious human. He was supposed to be back by now! 

Then, as she was tapping her foot in impatience, she heard the door finally open, and the owl flew through the curtain dragging a half-full sack of human garbage. 

“Finally, you're back!” Eda said with a sigh. Nevertheless, she gave Owlbert a quick scratch on his chin as a thank you. Eda thought she heard a voice from inside the tent, but she ignored it and turned to the sack. “Now let's see what we've got here.” She said as she screwed Owlbert back onto the staff. 

Eda rubbed her hands together in anticipation and looked through the assortment. A small dark box thingy? Nah, she could never figure out how to work those strange box things. “Garbage…” A diamond ring? No, everybody here's already seen those. “Garbage…” and a golden glowing goblet! Nope, she needed something rare! Something different!

Then as if the sack could read her mind, Eda gasped pulled out a large pair of strange glasses with bloodshot eyeballs. “Now this…” she said as she tried them on. “This will make me rich!” To her amusement, the eyeballs popped out and sprung for a few seconds.

It's horrifying. Perfect! 

“And this…” The next item Eda pulled out was a book. It was…eh. She's seen a few witchlings carry it around. Whatever. Her candle was starting to go out anyway. “Well, this'll make good kindling.” 

But as soon as she held the book over the flame, some kid burst out of the tent and snatched it out of her hand. “Excuse me sorry that's mine thank you!” She said quickly. 

Now where the hell did she come from? Eda thought. Then a quick look at her ears confirmed that she was a human. 

Now she could be…useful.

Before the little intruder could escape back through the portal door, Eda closed it with the key. She wasn't going to get away that easily.

“You're not going anywhere.” She said sternly. It seemed to scare the kid enough that she escaped from under the tent’s cover. Not wanting to lose this opportunity, the witch followed her. Soon enough, Eda found the girl standing at the edge of a cliff, visibly freaked out and confused, and also smacked down a stray pixie. The witch internally laughed at the child. 

Classic humans. 

“Where am I? Did I DIE?! Am I in the Bad Place?” The girl frantically asked nobody in particular. Eda grabbed her shoulder, startling her for a moment. 

“You wish.” 

The older witch dragged the girl back to the booth by her arm, sitting her down on a stool. Yup, she's human. Eda told herself. No doubt about it with those round ears. She looked to be in her teens, with dark skin and short brown hair. Said human had her knees pulled up to her chest, looking up apologetically at the woman before her. 

“I-I'm so sorry, I just wanted my book! If you're gonna eat me, just make it quick- just do it now!” The human stuttered out, holding out her arm. 

The witch internally laughed at this kid’s complete overreaction. Alright Eda, time to drop the tough guy act. Don't scare her too much.

“Eat you? Why would I eat…a potential customer?” Eda said to the girl, presenting her stash of junk. Her words seemed to confuse her, but the kid seemed to calm down, and looked up with interest. Nailed it! She's hooked! “Can I offer you a human foot filled with holes? A bar of green human candy? Oh, oh, how about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?” Eda spoke as she went through whatever assortment of objects she found interesting. 

And, interestingly enough, instead of rejecting the offer and walking to the next stand, the human laughed a little bit at the presentation. 

“That's not all it can do.” The human says, getting out of her seat. “Here, let me see it.” Eda allows her to take the offered “shadow box” and observed as she takes something from the “human candy” bowl and inserted it into the object. Then she pushed a button and…it lit up with loud music, showing a person dancing. To Eda’s surprise, some demons and witches heard the noise and were immediately attracted. Oh, so that's how it really works.

“Huh? What's that?”

“That sound, it's so alluring…!” 

One demon held up some money. “I'll pay 40 snails for the screaming box!” 

Another demon held up his too. “I'll give you 100!”

“Can I eat the tiny person inside?” 

Eda watched in awe as more people offered up their goods for the device. All thanks to this kid. She turns to her with great interest. “What did you say your name was?” She asked with an impressed smirk. 

If she's a human, then maybe she can help King. Eda thought, remembering the other reason for pulling her aside. 

“I'm Luz! Luz Noceda!” The kid said, smiling at her. It's incredible how she hasn't run away screaming from the demons and monsters of the Isles, as most normal humans would. 

“Well, Luz, that was pretty clever…for a human.” Eda adds, taking the offered money from her customers. 

“That's kind of a weird thing for another human to say.” Luz says, raising an eyebrow. 

Oh, right, the bandana!

“Oh, dear child…” Eda started before swiftly taking off the bandana disguise to reveal her own pointy ears. “I'm not like you.” 

The witch stepped on top of her table to speak. Might as well entertain the kid. 

“I'm Eda the Owl Lady! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!” Eda declared proudly. 

“A witch?” She heard Luz say in wonder and delight. 

Oh, I like this kid. 

“I am respected! Feared!”

“-Busted!” To her dismay, the loud device was smashed by none other than…an Emperor’s Guard. Customers ran away in fear, but Luz stayed by the table for whatever reason. Dammit.

“Eda the Owl Lady, you are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors!” The guard spoke in a gruff voice. 

“Woah, witch criminal.” Luz said from her spot by the table, watching with great interest. For some reason she…stayed. 

“You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformitorium!” He demanded, grabbing Eda’s arm. 

She yanked it back in annoyance. The guards were stalking her…a lot today. “Would you guys quit following me around? I haven't done squat.” Why do they call it “misuse” anyway? 

Unfortunately, the guard noticed Luz and lifted her up by her shirt. “And you're coming too. For fraternizing with a criminal!” 

“What? That's not cool!” Luz exclaimed, eyes widening. 

Quickly, Eda formulated a plan. “Oh alright alright, you win. Just let me get my stuff…” she answered, getting her staff. Swiftly, she swung it at the guard, knocking him flat on the ground. These chumps are too easy!

Quickly, Eda cast a spell to wrap up everything in a sack, hanging it on her staff. But not before pressing the button on her key. “Whoops, can't forget this!” She ran towards Luz, remembering her mission. “Follow me, human!” And she did. 

As Eda ran, Luz rambled frantically beside her. “This is crazy! If I die here my mom’s gonna kill me!” 

The witch laughed. “Ha! I won't let him hurt you. A human like you is much more valuable to me alive than dead.” Eda promised. If she is to earn Luz’s trust, she can't get hurt. No matter what.

“Wait, what's that supposed to-”

Eda didn't let her finish as she suddenly hooked her arm with Luz’s, whooping as she swept her off the ground and into the air with her on the staff. 

As expected, Luz was frozen in her place on the staff, tears leaking from her closed eyes. 

“You can open your eyes now, human.” Eda told her.

Luz opened one eye, then another before letting out a whimper and nearly falling off. “Flying staffs, crazy monsters, you're a witch! What is this place?” She asked as Eda pulled her back up. 

“This is the Boiling Isles.” Eda explained to the girl. “Every myth you humans have is a bit of our world leaking into yours.” Just then, a large griffin flew by, sparking Luz’s interest. 

“A griffin!” And when it started breathing spiders, “I knew it!” She exclaimed happily. Eda marveled at Luz’s great fascination with this world. She loved the enthusiasm. 

“Yup! Griffins, vampires, giraffes…” Eda recounted. 

“Giraffes?” Luz asked, confused. 

“Oh yeah. We banished those guys. Buncha freaks.” Eda said with disgust. Those super long necks had always unnerved her. She stepped off her staff once she arrived at their destination. Luz stayed on, unsure. Until she noticed Eda's detached hand and jolted off. 

Jumpy isn't she? 

“Whoops, that happens sometimes.” Eda said nonchalantly, screwing her hand back on. 

Luz got to her feet. “Well, I've had enough adventure for today. This is clearly not the PG fantasy world I always dreamed about. So, can you help me get back home?” She said. Eda held her staff in front of her before she could walk away, making her freeze in place. She needs her for this. And she's not getting away so easily.

“Only if you help me first!” Eda insists. “Ha! Now come along, human.” 

As she and Luz approached the door, Luz piped up again. 

“Aren't you worried about those guards finding us?” She asked, looking behind them nervously. 

Eda looked to her and gestured at her house. “Nope! My house has a state-of-the-art defense system.” As long as Hooty’s around, she and anybody that chooses to stay is safe. But…not from his voice. 

“Hoot hoot, password please.” Hooty said. Eda rolled her eyes and poked his eyes. “Ow!” 

“We got no time for this, Hooty. Let us in.” She answered with two fingers still held up as a warning. 

“Alright alright, jeez! You never wanna have any fun! Ow! Hoot!” Hooty scoffs before letting Eda and her new aquaintance in. She let the girl take a brief look around before snapping her fingers. 

“Welcome to…the Owl House.” And with a snap of her fingers, everything came to life. Candles lit up, the broom sweeping, the fireplace blazing, and the ceiling lit up with that beautiful picture of a bird. Luz looked around in amazement and walked around. 

“Where I hide away from the pressures of modern life.” Eda explained. “Also the cops. Also ex-boyfriends, ha!” She added with a snort. 

Luz placed her book down on the coffee table. “This place is beautiful. So do you live here all alone?” 

As if on cue, the house seemed to shake with King’s angry stomping. That damn demon. 

“Actually, I have a roommate.” Eda frowned.

“WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON I, THE King of Demons!” King demanded as he entered the living room in his towel and…holding a rubber duckie. 

Instead of getting scared, Luz gasped in delight at the sight of him. “Ay que lindo!” She exclaimed, and then she quickly scooped a confused King into a tight hug. “Eda he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you, is it you? Mmm!!!” She cooed excitedly to the now frightened demon. Not that Eda could really blame her, he is really adorable. 

“NO! I don't know who your little guy is! Eda! Who is this monster?!” King cried as he tried and failed to push the girl off him. 

“Oh, this is Luz, the human.” Eda tells him, restraining Luz with her arms around her torso and prying her away, then putting her back down. “She's here to help us with our…situation.” She explains with a hand on Luz's shoulder. 

King lit up. “Oh! Hurray!”

But Luz backed away, apprehensive. “Wait wait wait. I don't like the sound of this 'situation.’” 

Eda stepped in front of her before she can back out. “Just…let me explain.” She says before drawing a spell circle to help illustrate their objective. “King was once a mighty king of demons, until his crown of power was stolen, and he became…this.” She noticed Luz had picked up King again. 

“You mean this little bundle of joy?” She interjects. 

Eda continued. “The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath, and locked away behind a magical force field that only a human can break through. A human like you.” She lifted the spell and looked at Luz. “If you help us retrieve his crown, we’ll send you back to your realm.” And while Eda may be Public Enemy #1, she intended to keep her end of this deal. “So what do you say?” To convince her, she picked up King by his head. “Plus, who could say no to this cute face?” 

“No! Please don't encourage her!” King cried, squirming in her hold. 

Eda dropped him. “I mean, we're kinda your only way home.” She reasons. There's not any other portal to the human realm. That she knows of, at least. 

Luz averted her eyes to the side. “So I don't really have a choice, do I?” She guesses.

“Nope! Now we've got no time to lose!” Eda urges, picking up Luz and holding her over her shoulder. The girl didn't struggle. Behind her, Eda hears King talking to his duck. 

“Where are we going?” Luz asks over her shoulder. 

“Somewhere super fun!” 

~ 

“The Conformitorium, a place for those considered 'unsuitable for society’.” Eda explains with distaste when they reached their destination. She remembers how guards would throw people in that damn place simply for being weird. Most of them haven't committed any real crimes! 

Beside her, Luz had found one of her famous Wanted posters. “Whoa. These guys really have the hots for you.” She observed. 

She's not wrong.

“Yep. But we were never caught because we were too slippery.” Eda proudly says with a smirk. That poster would always be one of her proudest moments. She looked good in it! A part of her feels overjoyed that this child didn't judge her for her criminal status.

“Try to catch me when I'm covered in grease, I'm a squirmy little fella.” King remarked in his place on Luz's head. Luz, who probably just found it weird, tilted her head so the demon could slip off. “You and I will sneak up to the top of the tower where they're holding my crown.” He explained to her. 

“And I'm gonna make sure the warden’s distracted.” Eda added.

Luz gasped in excitement. “Will I need a disguise?”

“Uh…” Eda didn't really answer. Nobody's seen her before, so does she really need one? 

“I've been waiting to use this.” Luz said, and put on her hoodie, flicking the cat ears up. “Meow meow!” 

Oh why not let her have some fun. Besides, it’s kinda cute!

“It's hideous.” King commented. 

“Oh you'll fit right in.” Eda agreed, smiling. Then she planted her staff to the ground, creating a glowing yellow disk. “Hang on tight!” Then it  lifted Luz and King to the air, elevating them to a tower window. After they were dropped off, she flew away on her staff to begin her search. “Meet you guys at the top of the tower!” She said. 

Eda flew around the halls of the Conformitorium, passing cells, making sure no guards were around while also searching for the Warden. Eventually, she heard someone at the end of the hallway. She peeked around the corner and sure enough, there was Warden Wrath, holding a tiny creature with a big nose hostage. 

Good. Just where we want him. Eda flew back the other way to go update the human girl. 

After a few minutes of searching, Eda found Luz walking around the halls with her hood down, looking…dejected. “Hey, I just checked, the Warden is distracted, tormenting some tiny creature. He won't coming around here anytime soon.” 

Luz didn't respond, and her expression didn't change as she walked past Eda. She looked deep in thought. 

Where's that enthusiasm from earlier? 

In front of them was a large door labeled “Contraband”. This was the room where King’s crown was! 

“My crown, it's close! I can sense its power!” King said excitedly. He scrambled quickly to the door, desperately trying to get it open. Of course, with his tiny body it would take a while. 

“Aw, he's so cute when he's thirsty for power.” Eda cooed. 

Then Luz finally spoke. “It's not fair that they're all in here. They just want to be themselves!” She said sadly. Eda assumed she probably talked to a few of the prisoners. “Why does everyone think being a weirdo is so bad?” She asked, looking up at the witch with sad eyes. 

She understands. She knows what it's like to be stifled. Eda thought fondly. I really like this kid.

Before Eda could come up with a response, a noise snapped both of them out of their thoughts, King finally got the door open, and was now laughing to himself as he excitedly sprinted into the room. 

“Come on, before he hurts himself.” Eda sighed. And as if on cue, she heard an “ow!” followed by a zap. 

In the room, King was repeatedly headbutting the barrier, failing over and over again to get through. 

Ha, cute.

“We have a human, remember?” Eda reminded him, looking up at Luz, silently telling her what she had to do. 

“Oh yeah!” Said King.

Luz took a deep breath as if to prepare herself, and slowly stepped through the barrier. Eda and King stood outside, waiting for the human to find what they needed. And sure enough, Luz stepped back out, holding the crown, looking confused. 

King took it from her, putting it on. “Yes, yes! I can feel my powers returning! You there, nightmare critter! I shall call you Francois and you shall be a minion in my army of darkness!” He pointed excitedly to a random stuffed rabbit. “Ha, ha!” He laughed triumphantly. 

“That crown doesn't give him any powers, does it?” Luz asked, disappointed and confused. 

“Uh, no.” Eda replied. Luz gave her a skeptical look. “Oh, look at us, Luz. King and I don't have much in this world, we only have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it important to me.” She says, trying to convince the girl that this wasn't a total waste of time. “Besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know?” She concluded with a wink. Luz looked at her and smiled, pink tinting her cheeks. 

I knew you'd understand. 

“Well, we owe you one. Now let's get outta here before the warden finds us and loses his head.” She stated. 

“Too late.” A sinister voice said behind her.

The owner of that voice swiftly and effortlessly cut of Eda’s head, which Luz caught in her hands. The girl screamed. 

“AAHH!!!” 

“OW! Oh I hate it when that happens.” 

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Luz held Eda’s head close, looking at her with terrified eyes. “Eda! Are you okay?!” 

“Yeah, this just happens when you get older.” Eda said nonchalantly. 

“Does it?” Luz asked, horrified. 

Well it started happening when I got older, I don't know about other witches…where's my body?

Warden Wrath approached them. “Finally, I have you cornered, Eda the Owl Lady.” Then he took King’s crown again, crushing it easily in his hands. 

“Weh?!”

“My guards could never get you, but I knew if I took your pet’s toy, you'd come running.” He crushed the crown easily in his hands. 

“NO!” King sobbed. ��My power!” 

Luz and Eda glared at him. “What do you want with me?! I've never actually broken any of your stupid laws…in front of you!” Eda glowered. They came all this way just for King! Nobody makes him cry like that!

“I want you…” he kneeled down on one knee. “To go out with me.”

What the hell? 

“Wha?” 

“What?” 

Warden continued. “You've always eluded our capture. You've always been the one who got away. I found that alluring.” He said. 

What the fuck?

“I hate everything you're saying right now.” Luz said, disgusted. Eda was even more disgusted. These guys never ever got the message to back off. All that, just because he wanted a date? What a load of bull.

Warden snapped out of his lovestruck state. “You stay out of this!” He threw a goopy arm at Luz, knocking Eda’s head out of her hands. As she struggled, he picked Eda’s head up by her hair and stared her in the face. 

“So how about it, Owl Lady? The most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles and the feared Warden Wrath. We'd be the strongest power couple ever.” Warden said. Eda cringed. “I mean, it's not like you can say no right now.” 

Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. 

Eda looked to Luz, then to King, who was now struggling to get out of a guard’s arms, and formulated a plan in her head. 

“Alright, Warden, you win. I'd just like to say something first.” She sighed. “Come closer.” He brought her head closer. “No, just come a little bit closer. Just… yeah that's good-” and Eda blew a raspberry right in his face, breaking his concentration and making him drop Luz. While he was groaning in disgust, Eda was cackling from where she hung.

He's so gullible! I knew he'd fall for that! 

“Impudent wench! Don't you know how many germs are in your mouth? Yuck!” He sneered. 

“Get over it! You had your guards stalk me and then you cut off my head! I am NOT going out with you!” She said angrily. 

“If you don't accept, then I have no choice but to-” 

WHACK! 

Her staff came up from behind, knocking him on the head, making him drop Eda’s head. It was none other than Luz! 

Eda chuckled. “Nice!” What a smart girl! Quick thinking!

Then she got her body to come over and pull the guards’ hoods over their faces, distracting them. Luz ran over and picked up Eda’s head and grabbing King back from a guard, getting on the staff, trying to figure out how to make it fly. 

“Expecto…flying? Magicusescapicus!” Luz said, but nothing happened. 

It doesn't really require enchantments, kid… 

“Gun it magic stick!” Eda barked, and immediately, the trio was flying through the air. They haphazardly flew through the halls, passing jail cells. Luz looked to Eda and held out an arm. 

“Eda, lend me a hand!” Luz said to the head. Eda, knowing what she wanted to do, linked her arm with Luz’s, giving them enough strength to move the levers to open the cell doors, freeing whoever the prisoners were. Then they all burst through a door, and the warden finally caught up to them. He launched a goopy arm at them, and they crash-landed to the ground. 

The warden morphed his hand into an axe, and Eda put her head back on, feeling the satisfaction of being able to move again. She jumped to action, and pulled out her key. “Luz,” she said to the girl. “Go back to the human world.” 

She's already helped us, I owe it to her to let her go home safe. 

“What about you guys?” 

King ran over to try to help Eda. “If you think this guy is bad, you shoulda seen her last boyfriend!” 

“Not my boyfriend.” Eda said, grabbing King and jumping out of the way of the warden’s attack. Not in a million years.

Eda, seeing how Luz was still standing there, lifted Luz, forcing her to sit on the staff, ignoring her protests. She may have only just met the human an hour ago, but she feels the instinct to keep her safe. 

“But-but I-” 

“Go, go!” Eda urges, forcing her on and slapping the staff, cuing it to fly. Luz went away on the staff, yelling, out of sight, and hopefully to safety. 

Eda prepared herself when the warden took off his mask to reveal a hideous mouth and spat fire. She drew two spell circles. One to absorb the fire, and one to redirect it back at him, slamming him to the wall. 

Ha! Too much fun! 

However, a few minutes of fighting led to her being knocked to the ground by the warden, King following suit, who she caught in her arms, holding him close. 

“No more running away, Owl Lady. Today I capture you once and for all!” The warden growled, raising his hands. King whimpered, huddling close to Eda, who held on tighter and glared at their attacker. 

“-GO GO GO GO!!!” Luz’s voice yelled. 

Wait, what? I thought she went home! 

Luz flew past her, three former prisoners following suit, tackling the warden to the ground. 

“Luz?” Eda said in disbelief. Did she seriously come back for us? 

Eda stood by and watched as the trio of prisoners got on top of the warden, standing up to him and restraining him. 

“I ate my own eye!”

“I think the world is a triangle!”

“And I practice the ancient art of fanfiction!” 

Incredible! 

The eye demon had tangled the warden’s tentacle-arms together and turned him over, so he was facing Luz. 

“You! Who do you think you are?” He snarled. 

“Do not underestimate me, Warden Wrath, for I am Luz, the human, warrior of peace!” Luz spoke triumphantly. Then she grabbed what looked like a bunch of fireworks tied together. “Now eat this, sucka!” She shouted, using the staff to hit it into the warden’s mouth, effectively blowing it up. 

She had that with her the whole time? Amazing thinking, Luz! 

Eda stood next to Luz, smiling proudly and placing a hand on her shoulder. What a brave kid. I'm impressed. She wanted to say, but didn't out of pride.

“That was actually one of her better breakups.” King joked.

“Not a breakup,” Eda reminded King. “Anyway, let's bounce before any more monsters fall in love with me.” 

Seriously, kid. You were amazing. I really owe you. 

~

“Well, a deal’s a deal, let's get you home.” Eda said, calling forth the key and pushing the button. The door appeared, waiting for Luz to open it and step through. But she stood there, deep in thought. Eda smiled at her, silently thanking her for her help. 

Luz looked at King and stepped forward, kneeling down. “Before I go…” she took out what looked like a tiny plastic head that had a tiny golden crown on it. “I know it's not the same, but…a king shouldn't be without a crown.” She said, giving the demon the crown. 

He took it, placing it on his head. “This shall suffice.” And he pointed to one of the houseplants. “You there, plant! You are now under my command!” 

Eda then gave Luz back her book that she almost burned earlier that day. “Oh, and don't forget this.” Luz seemed to really value that book. 

Luz walked back to the portal door, and Eda and King waited behind her. Eda saw her hold up her book, thinking. Then, she did something Eda did not expect. Luz turned around.

“Okay. I know you got your head cut off, and we started some kind of prison riot, but this was the most fun I've ever had.” She said to the witch and demon. Eda looked at her, shocked. 

What is she saying? Is she going to…

“I don't fit in at home. You don't fit in here. If I stay, we can 'not fit in’ together.” Luz looked at the pamphlet that was on top of the book and stared at it. “I am not going back to summer camp.”

Eda chuckled, confused. “Wha-what's ‘summer camp’? What are we talking about here?” 

She's staying?! Why?

“I wanna stay and become a witch like you! And Azura!” Luz declared happily, holding up her book. 

“What? Alright, that's crazy. Humans can't become witches.” Eda stated, dismissing her. I love the enthusiasm, but why?

But Luz didn't give up. “Maybe that's because they haven't tried!” She insisted. “If you teach me to become a witch, I'll do anything you want.” 

Okay, she's got a point there. And an apprentice? I kinda like the sound of that. 

“Let her stay!” King urged, pulling at the hem of Eda’s dress. “She can make us snacks.” 

Eda smiled and picked up the demon. “Well, I could use a hand keeping this goofball out of the cupboards.” She said. “All right, I'll teach you how to be a witch. But you have to work for me before you learn any spells.” She held out her hand for Luz to shake. “Deal?”

But instead of taking her hand, Luz just went straight in for a tight hug. 

Whoa whoa whoa! “Ugh! What's going on?!” Eda froze in Luz’s hold. 

“Too tight, too tight!” King protested.

~

After Luz relinquished from the hug, Eda told her she could sleep in the attic upstairs. She didn't protest and gladly brought her stuff up. Eda was left there, thinking about what just happened. 

That kid was so brave today. Better than any kid, much less a human kid, I've ever seen. 

She thought about what having a teenager living in her home might be like. She knows it will be messy, and she’ll probably try to stare danger in the face like today. But she's willing to give it a shot. Who could say no to that confidence? 

What Eda didn't know is that since that day, she would witness this human girl's endless wonder and courage. She didn't know the pride she would feel whenever Luz learned a new spell or made new friends. She didn't know that Luz would start to give her a reason to look forward to tomorrow. She didn't know how much she would grow to care for Luz as if she was her own child. 

She didn't know how much she would love this light that lit up her life. 

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

lol okay so I dashed off most of this the day of and then kept not posting it because I kept thinking I needed to add stuff, but then I ended up adding more stuff mostly in reblogs instead (should all be under the “my meta” tag if anyone’s curious) and now episode 2 is technically coming out tomorrow night in my time zone so obviously I need to just post this. bullet points of disconnected thoughts, some of which are probably at least slightly outdated by now but whatever, here you go

seems very possible Mobius left the tape with him on purpose because he figured Loki wouldn’t be able to resist looking at it

would have to check the timing but I’m pretty sure he started looking terrified as soon as Thanos came onscreen without really knowing the context (aside from the very basic outline of “it’s been several years and he reconciled with Thor”), which at least underscores that they weren’t buddies--Loki knew something awful was about to happen the second Thanos showed up sadly this is not true, the clip he sees first is him trying to stab Thanos, so...yeah it stands to reason that he’d know it was about to end badly no matter what

other people have mentioned this but I love that we got to see Loki just like...existing?? like I know he’s never been the protagonist before and seeing him as the protagonist has always been one of the things that’s excited me most about the show, but now that it’s here I’m just kind of struck by how HE’S THE PROTAGONIST so we’re getting all these emotions and little gestures and moments when he’s alone that we only got in tiny, sadly easy-to-overlook snatches before (and it also occurred to me that I don’t think we’ve ever seen Loki eat anything, which is something else that might change)

also his projection is fascinating, and so is the fact that he explicitly turned it around on himself, which seems relevant to all the theories about a lot of his other statements (”freedom is life’s great lie,” most of what he said to Natasha, etc.) being things that were drummed into him on Sanctuary rather than stuff he just came up with on his own, so that seems to cover a lot of the stuff he says in Avengers and here

on the other hand it seems unlikely we’re ever going to get confirmation that Bad Stuff happened to him on Sanctuary aside from what we already saw in Avengers, which is frustrating, although to be fair I also wasn’t expecting to see Loki crying about his family in the first episode (and the most I’m really hoping for, still, is that nothing will explicitly contradict the idea, so...we’re good on that thus far, I guess)

so the first half of the episode was...ehhh, I don’t know, but the second half was amazing. I know some people didn’t like that part either, but I felt like...okay, I don’t love him being humiliated so I would’ve preferred different framing for some of this BUT a lot of casual viewers still see Loki as a cackling caricature without having picked up on any of the stuff that very clearly showed otherwise, and this show wants to treat Loki as a person, someone worthy of audience sympathy, so they kind of had to go in hard and fast on that aspect to get everyone up to speed. like, yes, fans who’ve been paying attention know that Loki’s a person, that he’s wounded, that he doesn’t hurt people just because it’s fun for him, that he feels things very deeply, that he loves his family, but somehow the mainstream perception of him has missed like 85% of that, and the show’s just not going to have much impact unless it gets everybody on board with those very basic ideas. in terms of story structure it probably doesn’t make sense for this to be his lowest point, but starting from the bottom and eventually getting somewhere better is fairly standard, so at this point I can imagine tons of ways things could improve for him

yeah I do hate the whole Sacred Timeline thing, see also my posts about how much I loved that Endgame canonically (I thought) established multiple timelines where everything was fine, so yeah I’m pissed about that because it means those timelines were canonically pruned

like I don’t...hate it as a storytelling device? I just hate it for fandom reasons, and I’ve hated it in other fandoms when canon did something that seemed to open things up to all this incredible possibility and then went “actually no, we’re boxing it up again into this one specific Way That Things Happened” and for fanwork purposes it doesn’t matter all that much, I don’t think it’s actually that much harder to do AUs or go “okay well in this universe the TVA doesn’t exist, whatever” (in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if AO3 quickly develops a new canonical “not TVA compliant” tag for basically all Loki fic), but it is annoying that it’s now like “canonically, every AU is Not Allowed”, and if that ends up sticking as the status quo with the TVA considered good guys or at least a necessary evil then yeah, I’m going to be annoyed

HOWEVER

I don’t think that’s inevitable for a variety of reasons

this whole show is going to deal with multiverse shenanigans and so will Dr. Strange 2, so it seems completely possible that the end result could be a status quo of “there’s a multiverse actually and that’s fine” (...although yes, I’ll be doubly annoyed if the end result of this show is a restored multiverse of some kind and the end result of Dr. Strange 2 is condensing it back down to a single timeline)

the multiverse is a long-running comics tradition, which still seems to be the case even after...whatever event it was that collided a bunch of them and tried for a Highlander thing, look I wasn’t really following it and I know some characters ended up in other universes from where they started but I’m pretty sure we still have a multiverse of some kind

almost all the recent Loki-centric comics have focused on questions of fate and agency

Agent of Asgard in particular was about Loki eventually going “fuck you I won’t do what you tell me” and forging a new path (and, okay, it does seem like runs other than AoA have been the most influential here but again we’ve only seen one episode)

Loki, specifically, is an agent of chaos and change, like that’s his whole thing going way back to mythology, because sometimes stagnancy is death and chaos is healthy, and of course myth!Loki (and earlier versions of comics!Loki) is always responsible for triggering Ragnarok, which isn’t just the end of the world but is also a natural, crucial part of a cycle of renewal, and yes the MCU already did Ragnarok but that doesn’t at all mean they can’t play more with those ideas

Tom Hiddleston has brought up this specific point several times in recent interviews, that sometimes chaos is the one thing that's really needed

also, on Jimmy Kimmel the day of the episode, he kind of...planted a seed about the TVA maybe not being uncomplicated good guys because seriously what gives them the right to make these decisions for literally everyone

so at the very least I think it’s completely possible that things aren’t quite what they seem, and that for instance we’re supposed to discover that Mobius is consciously manipulating him to turn him into the type of tool the TVA wants him to be

also “the timeline wants to break free” shows up on a lot of merch, which does seem to indicate a free will vs. predestination theme

I’m not at all familiar with comics!TVA, although I understand they’re considered villains (although to be fair, so were the Skrulls, and at least thus far that’s been inverted for the MCU), but their whole thing reminded me of a few other entities in a way that could be relevant:

the tape running out was like the Norns cutting the thread of somebody’s life

Those Who Sit Above In Shadow in AoA (and also maybe whatever was below the God Quarry in Infinity Wars although I’m less familiar with that)

the gods in Cabin In The Woods, who were also kind of audience proxies in that they really just cared about the sacrifice being entertaining, which kinda seems like the only logical reason for the Timekeepers to prefer any given series of events over another

my personal hope for the series: the Timekeepers are ultimately the Big Bad and the rogue Loki variant is ultimately right in trying to wipe out the TVA (because sure I realize it’s maybe dumb of me but I still don’t want any Loki to be completely a bad guy!!); the major named TVA characters realize they’re the baddies actually and team up with a whole army of Lokis to take them down and GIVE US BACK OUR MULTIVERSE

[ariainstars]

TRoS Speculation: Maybe It Was Intentional…

All right, since the subject obviously doesn’t let me go, new speculation on my side. WARNING: this is a longer post.

 Ever since the 80es, Star Wars has become a universal phenomenon with millions of fans all over the world. And while fans often agree, they more often than not disagree about the characters, the themes, the different turn of events etc. Star Wars touches very many different kinds of people deep down due to the emotions it provokes. Many of us have grown up with the saga, some with one trilogy, others with another. Others have read the EU novels or watched the TV shows first. The saga’s themes are so many that they appeal to all kinds of people, and the approaches are varying. There are very many topics on which we will never make everybody agree. Being the foundation for many fan’s view of the world, the root to a lot of their ideals, the source of many a dream, the saga has become a hugely personal matter. No wonder viewers all over the world can quarrel about it so venomously and get downright aggressive if you only introduce a new line of thoughts. Many fans feel that the saga belongs to them and not to the man who created it and the creative studios who are now employing it to develop new stories.

We have made our mistakes in our fandom, too, in the years since The Force Awakens came out. We were so excited in what we believed was investing into a redemption arc, love story and happy ending, connecting all kinds of dots throughout the saga and analyzing it from almost every angle. Some of us simply thought that who didn’t think like us was stupid. But many other fans believe that this saga is only about Good against Evil and not about human feelings. They keep seeing it as some superhero story, a comforting world where to retire when reality got too much, a place where bad things happen but then the hero eventually comes to take care of it. They stick to their conviction that the good guy (or the one you root for even if he’s a villain) is the one who’s the coolest. Many of them love the OT above all and plainly refuse to see anything positive about the PT or ST because they always expected to see the New Adventures of Han, Luke and Leia. Some of them have waited for literally decades for the OT’s continuation. We, who also love the other trilogies (or at least the sequels) were at times disrespectful and arrogant looking down on them and believing that they simply don’t know what the saga actually is about. And all of us need heroes. We apply our own problems, needs and expectations to them and wait for them to fix the problem as an example for us. That’s also why we expect them to get their happy ending.

I have seen videos and read articles about how highly divisive The Last Jedi was. Some fans (a few of them even with tears in their eyes) openly declared that the saga was ruined for them. Similarly to us, who identify with Ben Solo and / or Rey, they had often found courage in the examples set by their heroes and it was offensive and hurtful to them to see Luke Skywalker reduced to a hermit who drinks green milk, rejects the ways of the Jedi and was personally responsible for his nephew’s fall into his abuser’s clutches. They were entitled to their feelings of disappointment and inner numbness as we are now. I know of people who actually survived many ugly periods in their lives finding solace in the saga. Some in one part of it, some in another. And we all got duped and let down, each by one chapter of the sequel trilogy, like some naughty, sadistic kid was kicking apart our favorite doll house a few days before Christmas.

I assume now that The Last Jedi was an experiment to gauge the audience’s reaction. It touched many a sensitive issue. My personal approach is that in order to like it, you don’t only have to be a fan of the sequel trilogy and its characters in general, or a hopeless romantic who wanted to see Rey and Ben Solo’s love story. You have to accept in the first place what the prequel trilogy painstakingly tried to explain to us (though it wasn’t actually said but more shown): that the Jedi were no heroes but got destroyed by their own hubris, and that Anakin Skywalker was largely a victim and not someone who became a villain because he enjoyed being evil, like the typical Batman or Superman villains. The prequels are not a fairy tale like the original trilogy but a cautionary tale following the lines of “society creates its own monsters.” It was only logical to deduce that if the Jedi were so perfect and the Old Republic so idyllic as Obi-Wan described them to Luke when they first met on Tatooine, Vader’s rise and the creation of the Empire couldn’t have happened in the first place. This was never said as clearly and concisely as by Luke to Rey during their second lesson on Ahch-To:

“Now that they’re extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But strip away the myth and look at their deeds: the legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, hubris. At the height of their power they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire and wipe them out. It was a Jedi who was responsible for the training and creation of Darth Vader.”

This is the message of the prequels in a few sentences, and a pivotal change to the “superhero approach” to the Jedi which might qualified if you only watch the OT and never question its themes on a larger scale. If you accept the Jedi’s failure for a fact, all of the rest falls into place - Vader being but a broken, sad old guy, Luke’s disillusion, his decision to give up the ways of the Jedi, his first lesson teaching Rey that the Force is not some kind of superpower, his forgiveness towards his nephew, the glimpses of goodness we saw foreshadowing Ben Solo’s redemption. The prequels also make much more sense this way than watching them expecting to see the Jedi being super-cool heroes and Anakin becoming Vader because he thought it might be fun.

But many fans chose not to see or accept what The Last Jedi actually was trying to say: that things couldn’t continue the way they did, because the Old Republic and the Jedi (though they didn’t actually have bad intentions) were deeply flawed. Leia tried to build another republic without any major changes that we are aware of, and Luke wanted to rebuild the Jedi Order without effectuating the considerable changes their Code would have needed. Both failed. It was e.g. never explained why Luke spirited his students away to a lonely planet for their training, but the fact that they were taken from their families when they were too small to make a choice and stick to it - Ben e.g. wanted to be a pilot like his father and not a Jedi - already shows the same pattern. Luke had not learned from the faults of his teachers until his exile. Logically, Episode IX ought to have continued these themes and showed the ST protagonist finding a new and better approach to the Force. Instead, what we got was another (in my opinion: redundant) Ultimate Battle of Good Against Evil, in other words some kind of superhero film which largely ignores the themes of its predecessor.

Any fan is entitled to his opinion. If someone hates the PT because it shows a stagnant society and the Jedi as highly flawed, because they didn’t get to see Darth Vader becoming over-the-top cool but were confronted, in Anakin, with a deeply compassionate person crushed by expectations he never could meet in the first place, if they judged him a whiny brat instead of an intelligent guy who clearly saw through the flaws of the society he was forced to live in and simply didn’t find the right words to express it: they’re entitled to it. Same goes for not feeling the tension between Rey and Kylo in the ST, for judging Kylo quickly (again) as a whiny brat instead of a complex, tormented character, for not appreciating new characters like Rose on account of not being Star-Wars-y enough. These feelings mostly stem from the fans’ long-standing wish to see an actual continuation of the original trilogy, not a new instalment where a new generation takes over and the old heroes are relegated to the background and, additionally, their characters and past decisions are openly criticized.

We may claim that fanbros are simply too stupid to understand what the saga is actually about. Well, maybe they are, or they are just too lazy to look at the bigger picture. But they have a right to that.  Of course, it doesn’t entitle them to harass the studios, directors, creative team or actors the way they were, mind you: what e.g. Kelly Marie Tran, Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd had to endure was a disgrace. There are very many fans who disagree with the PT and ST without getting bitter or even vicious.

This doesn’t mean I have changed my mind. I still believe that the Jedi were everything but heroes, that Darth Vader is a tragic figure, that the main themes of the saga are family, hope and new beginnings and not “the coolest ones win, ka-boom, the end”; that what it means to say is that human feelings are in the end more important than power, even an enormous power like the one the Force can provide.

We who are angry and disappointed with TRoS now like to blame how it went that way due to the influence of angry white dudebros, misogyny, Calvinism, racism, the overall political situation, the Mouse only wanting to make money etc.

But we ought to consider that The Last Jedi, which was so deeply controversial, hit theatres only two years ago. Have mentalities, politics and social structures and Disney’s overall approached changed so considerably, in so short a time, to produce two so radically different approaches to the saga within the scope of two years?

Sorry, I can’t believe it. it doesn’t really make sense.

The Mandalorian is met with universal acclaim, no doubt partly due to the fact that it’s a standalone story without the huge dynastic weight the saga has on its shoulders. Being a TV show, it had more time to introduce characters and situations and develop them. And it worked out fine. It had all the Star Wars themes - a lot of action scenes, sure, but it was also about belonging, family, redemption, protectiveness, friendship. Meaning that the studios didn’t lose track or are too dumb to think up a good story.

The Rise of Skywalker seems to bring the saga to a closure, but it could also be a wholly new beginning; the beginning of what I was foreseeing and still believe was in the cards - a new galaxy with a new and better political order kept together by a common belief in the Force as a whole; a new Jedi order where Force-sensitive children are not torn away from their families but can choose whether they want to become Jedi or not; and where Jedi are not taught emotional detachment. This would mean balance at last, a balance from which everyone would benefit. I have no idea how Ben Solo could be revived but I still am certain that he would be an excellent father figure, the perfect foil to his grandfather; and that the best thing for Rey would be to take care of children who are lost and abandoned the way she once was. And with Rey being a Palpatine, there is an interesting ground from which to explore her character’s tendency to the Dark, mirroring Ben’s. The basic approaches for this kind of development were all there in The Last Jedi. But a project like that would be something completely different from the original saga, and it would take a lot of time. Maybe that’s why the studios dropped it in favor of appeasing the angry fanbros who didn’t receive The Last Jedi well at all.

Anyone has the right to think that the original trilogy is the one and only and that the rest is rubbish. But the heroes of that story had their friendship, their family, their adventures, their successes, their happy ending. Even the heroes of the prequel trilogy had their moments, including Anakin Skywalker. Our heroes didn’t. That’s why this ending is so bitter for us and so hard to stomach. Essentially, we were right - we knew that Ben and Rey belong together, that Ben would redeem himself and make peace with his family, that balance would come. What we didn’t get was our happy ending.

The Force Awakens was still more or less accepted, because despite the many new themes and choices it wasn’t subversive and controversial in its approach. The actual wasps’ nest was stirred with The Last Jedi. No argumentation could convince antis that it is actually a well-made film and that their personal approach on the saga is too narrow-minded to appreciate it. They wanted the same villains, the same settings and costumes, the same heroes (or at least rehashes). And they had a right to want that, exactly as we had the right to expect a better development and ending for our new heroes. The hardcore OT fans wanted and expected The New Adventures of Han, Luke and Leia kicking ass. Well, it seems The Rise of Skywalker took care of that, finally giving them what they wanted and ignoring or “correcting” the course of events from The Last Jedi.

So, that’s it now. The OT fanbros got “their” Star Wars. I hope they’re finally appeased. They can ignore anything that happens next. That the saga is finished does not mean that the Star Wars universe came to a standstill.

If fans of the original trilogy felt entitled to ask for The Last Jedi to be removed from canon, or at least to be “fixed” in some way, so can we. In case you didn’t see it yet, the petition is already there: https://www.change.org/p/lucasfilm-continue-ben-solo-s-story

Let’s tell the studios to keep TRoS the way they prefer, but that we wish to have our Star Wars now. Let us not steep down to the level of who made the lives of actors who played characters they disapproved of a living hell (see above) or say over and over “Star Wars is dead” when we don’t know what’s in store for the future. With the Star Wars universe, you always have to be patient. In the meantime, we can write and read fanfiction and other stories and purse our own lives, telling our own happy endings.

Happy New Year everyone. Feel free to reblog. 😊

  P.P.S. On a side note: Rey’s last scene shows her where Luke used to be, on Tatooine watching the suns set. The twin suns. In A New Hope, this was shortly before he met the other half of his soul who had been separated from him right after birth - his twin sister. Considering that it was explicitly said that Rey and Ben Solo share the same soul, it might be a hint about the future. I’m not trying to make false promises or to fuel wrong expectations here. Just sayin’. 😉

[rjalker]

I cannot get over this fandom saying that they're not bashing Alya and Nino because of their skin color, they're bashing them because of what they do in canon!

Except they literally haven't done anything wrong in Canon.

Also these "salt fics", which claimed to be bashing them based on their actions in canon are making up entirely brand-new, literally have never happened situations to bash them for.

Examples:

=Salt fic: Alya and Nino shoving their babysitting duties off on Marinette and not paying her.

-Canon: Marinette regularly shoves her babysitting duties off on Alya, and Alya is happy to help and doesn't get mad at Marinette even though she has every right to. Marinette once invited Alya over to watch a TV show with her while she was babysitting Manon, and then Marinette left, and did not come back. Leaving Alya to babysit Manon, alone, DURING AN AKUMA ATTACK.

Somehow the fandom turns this into: Alya abuses Marinette's friendship and shoves all her babysitting duties onto her and doesn't pay her or thank her.

=Salt fic: Alya is a horrible friend and person and a horrible "reporter" because she'd rather take Lila's side over Marinette's just because Lila claims to know Ladybug, and can get her more views on her blog. Alya never fact checks anything.

-Canon: Marinette was being viciously ableist and jealous of Lila because she got to sit in front of the class next to Adrian because she is hard of hearing. Marinette then confessed to Alya that she had been following Lila and eavesdropping on her conversations. She then threw a crumpled up napkin at Lila, to prove that she was lying about her sprained wrist, even though she has no proof that she was lying about being hurt.

Also for the people in the fandom that think this "paper can damage someone's eye" thing is a myth, no. It's real as fuck. My older brother had someone throwing paper at him and it cut his eye. He had to go to the emergency room and had a really high fucking fever and was like literally fucking hallucinating from the fever in the emergency room because a cut on his eye got infected.

Marinette knows more about Lila's Behavior than anybody else in the show. And we as the audience, know even more than her. We know the full story. Marinette doesn't even know half of it. And the rest of the class? Alya? It's not their fucking fault that everybody is keeping them in the dark, including Marinette.

They can only react with the information that they have available to them, and that information amounts to the fact that:

Marinette is incredibly incredibly jealous of Lila before she even meets her, and later when Lila comes back to school, Marinette is violently ableist and demands that Lila-- despite being hard of hearing--should have to sit in the back of the class so that Marinette doesn't have to change her seat.

The salt fics like to say that Alya never fact-checks anything!!

Except what does she ask for every single time Marinette accuses Lila or Chloe or anyone else of doing something? She asks, "do you have proof? Do you have evidence? Just because you don't like someone doesn't mean that they're guilty. Do you have evidence? Can you prove it?"

And 90% of the time, no, Marinette can't, because she doesn't actually have proof, she didn't actually see Chloe pull the fire alarm, or sometimes she just can't tell Alya the truth because that would reveal her secret identity as Ladybug.

And that's not Alya's fault.

It's not Alya's fault that Marinette lies to her.

It doesn't matter that Marinette is lying for a good reason to keep her secret identity secret, it's still doesn't make it Alya's responsibility to just implicitly trust Marinette when she says things that can't be proven and make no sense with all of the other evidence at hand.

It's not Alya's fucking responsibility to believe Marinette no matter what she says, when Marinette lies to her more than she ever tells her the truth. Just because Marinette has a good reason for lying doesn't mean Alya has to trust her.

There are many, many things that Marinette could be doing to improve her situation with Lila. She does none of these things.

As far as all your in the rest of the class except Adrian are concerned, Marinette doesn't like Lila simply because she is being violently ableist because she had to move her seat so Lila could hear the teacher.

They're not bad people for siding with the disabled person against the ableist person. And they literally haven't even decided against Marinette. They're not bullying her. They're not ostracizing her. They are telling her your behavior is not okay. You are being a bully. You are treating Lila badly just because she's a disabled.

Standing up for disabled people does not make you a bad person. Siding with your friend against a disabled person while your friend is being able to stash it? Yeah, that would make you a bad person.

[clairebeauchampfan]

These people..

Here’s a hate filled former shipper defending herself and the other hate-filled SamCait haters. The bold italics are all mine.

AnonymousWhy do you think you and many others have taken what they have done/ do so personally?

Hateishateishateishate24-7

I see what you are doing right here, Anon… “you and many others” but I will entertain your thought.

These people have insulted their fans (horny grannies from Cait and Sam liking a tweet where shippers were called “fruitcakes”). 

THESE people refused to accept that Sam and Cait were probably never an item, even though they denied it. Frequently. And they certainly haven’t been since the great Denial interview.  Let alone the Engagement . And who insulted whom by calling these events “from hell”, and saying that they were “fake”? What normal fan felt cheated if Jamie and Claire weren’t engaged every episode in graphic sex?  What normal fan would take a light hearted aside and turn it into a mortal insult to all fans? What normal fan now spends her days dreaming up new ways to insult not only the TV stars they once adored, but every other fan who still likes the show and Sam and Cait (or is the term ‘arse-licker’ not an insult these days? ) 

These people have not spoken up when part of their fans were being bullied (“suggest you ignore” according to Sam, guess shippers were not a worthy cause). 

THESE people bullied every one of Sam’s girlfriends, and still do when they get the chance. They called Mackenzie Mauzy a paid beard, a whore, The Gash and other worse names. And you expect Sam to defend fans like these! These people have gone out of their way to insult Caitriona’s husband, calling him a failed businessman, a purse carrier, gay (and not in an allied, supportive manner), Nosferatu, Dracula.... Did any of these people (the Extreme Shippers) leap to Mackenzie, Abbie, Cody’s defence. Or Tony’s? 

These people have allowed OL entourage to troll the fandom (drivers calling fans “cunts”, opening a go fund me to go to NYC highlander parade, hook-ups of said drivers saying that shippers should commit suicide).

THESE people reposted every cruel anon shit-shovelling post  with an approving smile or ‘clap’ emoji. These people supported the worst kind of bunny-boiling shippers, and still do. These people hate every man and woman in the cast and crew , and want vengeance. They want to burn down the fandom. What normal fan wants to burn down her own fandom? 

 These people called shippers delusional for believing the crock of shit they sold.

THESE people concocted lies about Sam and Cait in support of their ship. They supressed photos showing Cait with Tony.  These people created their own myths and sold them to other gullible, vulnerable fans to maximise their followers on nTumblr, IG and Twitter.  The baby train, the blurry photos,  the fists, the single frame photos, the slow-mo videos. These people called the engagement and now the wedding ‘fake’. They said Caitriona was having mental problems, they said Sam ‘pinged’. Most of them are patent, unapologetic  homophobes. 

These people ditched a con to go to Mexico for a vacay with their friends. These people got defensive (and blocked) fans when said fans felt a bit upset after this big star cancelled his appearance at a con just with one week to go and then was having a grand time rowing with friends and boasting about it on SM. 

THESE people believe TV stars should be at their beck and call 24/7. They wanted Season 3, Season 4, and now Season 5 completed like, yesterday. How dare they take vacations? And yet so many of them claim they won’t even be watching Season 5, and didn’t watch season 4. 

These people gaslighted their fans for 5 years with the “are they or are they not” to finish it off with a Somerset wedding on a remarkable weekend. 

THESE people gaslit themselves and then sought to blame Sam and Cait for acting all loved up, like every other TV ‘couple’ doing a good PR job. 

These people only interact with fans when there is something to sell.

THESE people ruined Sam and Cait’s relationship with the ordinary, sane fans. No wonder they now keep their fan interaction to the minimum

So the question should be: Why isn’t everybody taking it personally??? Is the fan abuse so darling because it comes from Sam and Cait? 

Is the abuse of Sam and Cait so personal because these people felt let down by them? Or because THESE people are narcissisitic bunny-boilers who actively sought out everything Sam or Cait said or did which could be twisted to show them in the worst possible light

 See, just because people don’t talk about it 24/7 doesn’t mean it never happened. 

THESE people are no longer fans , they no longer watch the show, yet their blogs contain nothing, literally NOTHING  but shit talk about Sam and Cait. 24/7. Every damn day. 

People are welcome to believe it didn’t happen. People can go to town lying to themselves. People can regurgitate the “we don’t walk in their shoes” as much as they want but if these people were in our lives, we would be running for the hills.

You identified your own problem, sister. 

I am not a glutton for punishment.

But you are  a glutton for feasting on nastiness, for picking over scabs, for festering in malignancy, for wallowing in self-pity  

Never was and never will. So, yes, I take what they have done/do personally and I would be disappointed in myself if I didn’t. I was not raised to withstand abuse, were you?

THESE people found abuse where none was intended, and magnified it out of all proportion. THESE people  wallow in their own sense of entitlement, their own gievances. They dwell on every real and imagined slight. THESE people seek out offence where none is intended. Evidently THESE people were raised to give abuse. They just love it. They live for it. Their lives have no meaning without it. They compete with eachother to ‘score’ hits on Outlander, on Sophie, on Matt, on Rik, on Sam, and especially on Cait. THESE people  don’t give a fig for all the thousands of real fans and their feelings about the show, and about Sam and Cait, as long as THEY can parade their own ‘hurt’. Look at me! Look at me! See my wounds...am I not a martyr? 

#THESE PEOPLE #the real bullies #the real gas-lighters

[vldrocketeer]

Okay so I just want to say that 🍁🍪 anon is a GOD SEND. Their thoughts on s7 are pretty much the same as mine and I’m glad someone with more confidence than me was able to put that out there (especially at a time when the fandom was at such a low). And thanks to that I also want to real quickly throw out a few extra thoughts and things I noticed. 1st: the allurance moment. When Allura walked up to lance, he started blush imediately but Allura only did After she noticed Veronica trying to (1/?)

(Not so) discreetly hide and give them a moment. Allura looked away with an almost cringe like look before shaking it off and wishing lance good luck. 2nd: Keith and Axuca (?). Their first interaction this season I definitely got vibes that she has some strong feelings for Keith. Maybe, maybe not romantic. Idk yet. But Keith was pretty normal in that situation, like it felt like he was just being the leader and thanking her for everyone while also having a high amount respect for her. Then (2/?)

There is the scene in the last episode where she appears in the graveyard and if we look at many, many hetero stereotypical scenes involving a graveyard, if ANYTHING romantic was gonna happen Keith would have noticed her. (Would also have been raining but pfff it Voltron there’s no rain) 3rd: ADAM. Why did they show Krolia getting closure over Keith’s dad but not Shiro? Cause, I’m gonna jump on the band wagon here, but I agree, I think they’re pulling another Matt. Twice, TWICE, the focused(3/?)

On his name plate. Like the second time was really weird and just kinda thrown in there. It would have been a great solidification on him being dead if they showed Shiro pausing in his speech then cutting straight to Adam’s plate before jumping back to Shiro, having him continue his speech after getting some concerned sideways glances then panting to the picture frames beside him. 4th: Atlas the robot. If we focus on the name and the myth behind it, the titan atlas holds up the sky so that(4/?)

It will not touch the earth and destroy all life on it. Voltron’s atlas did exactly that. As a ship he withstood the ziforgecanons blast to KEEP IT FROM TOUCHING THE EARTH AND DESTROYING ALL LIFE ON IT. Then when Voltron, the defender of the universe, was knock down by the Haggar bot atlas immediately transformed into a robot as well. A Titan robot to be exact. Plus the fact that neither Voltron nor atlas moved as robots at the same time (seriously atlas only moved after Voltron and Voltron(5/?)

Got back after atlas was drained of power and couldn’t move) just like how atlas could only be freed from his burden if another took his place. Atlas has only been introduce to the fandom as a defender of Earth. Fighting only to insure that the sky(aka Galra) didn’t destroyed the earth. And finally I have one more thing to say and I hope I don’t get too much hate but it desperately needs to be said(6/?)

To all the fandom members who “gave up” after the seventh episode and either a) didn’t watch the rest or b) skipped through the rest: I don’t think you deserve to complain. You didn’t take the time to watch it all or just cherry picked certain events to complain about. It’s not fair to those who haven’t watched it yet because they are getting an extremely negative biased outlook by someone who couldn’t take the time to PROPERLY FINISH THE SEASON. Like your dragging everybody down for what? (7/?)

Because you got so hyper focused on a few small details? I’m disappointed that the Voltron community has such shallow people. Espicsily some that I’ve followed since the beginning of this fandom. For everyone else who hasn’t watch it yet you really should. I can’t garuntee you’ll like everything in it and I’m also not saying it’s perfect. But watch it for yourself and then decide for yourself on whether or not it was worth it. Isn’t that the reason we all love this show so much? (7/?)

Because it meant something important to each of us in a way only We as individuals, can ever truely know? That’s just my personal opinion and you can do whatever you want with it just, if you decide to leave this wonderful show and fandom: do it because you want to. Not because everyone else is doing it. Thank you for taking the time to read this and also thank you rocket and 🍁🍪 anon for giving me a chance to interact with such wonderful people. I’ll see those that stay for season 8. Xeri 8/8

[flydotnet]

Surprise Meeting with Fate (and Your Eyes)

(I’m way too proud of this OS just to post it on my sideblog so here you go fellow ship buddies)

Summary: Shuichi had known for the longest time the universal rule of his world: everyone had a soulmate, and it was apparently the biggest deal ever. Cases, video games and cereals alike are all about soulmates. Shuichi also thought he didn't have a soulmate. He didn't want one. He already had many problems with people and socialization. That was, until he tried to solve the events behind the ransacking of famous pianist Kaede Akamatsu's bedroom.

Fandom: Danganronpa V3 (non-Despair AU) Pairs: Saimatsu, Makaito (implied)

Word Count: 3.2K words (one-shot)

Notes: Soulmate AU inspired by Broken Destinies: "When both of your eyes meet, your soulmate's name shows up on your wrist." I've wanted to write something not a sickfic for these two in ages, and I think I managed to do the right balance between my prompt and something new which really felt refreshing. I don't exactly know how soulmates are supposed to work, so have a rather sugary-sweet take on them.I may even continue this one as its own thing after the Everybody Lives V3 fic and the other one I have in mind featuring some Saimatsu & Makaito goodness.

AO3 version available here.

It was meant to happen, someday.

Shuichi knew about that soulmate thing, he really did. He knew, from very early on, everyone had a “soulmate” whom they would meet one day. It was “bound” to happen. Everybody and everything was dealing with it one day: from his favourite shows to cases he was helping on, there usually was something about soulmates.

Killing your soulmate because you couldn’t be with them. Arranging meeting with your soulmate. Killing your soulmate’s mate because otherwise you couldn’t be with said soulmate. Dating your soulmate. Killing your soulmate’s parents so you could be with your soulmate. Finding someone’s soulmate’s pet (yes, even if it was an alligator). Pretending to be someone’s soulmate when it wasn’t the case.

Soulmate drama. Soulmate murders. Soulmate suicides. Soulmate cereals. Soulmate stories. Soulmate merchandise. Soulmate legends. Soulmate divinities. Soulmate dating sims. Soulmate myths. Soulmate rituals. Soulmate advertisement.

Everything in this world was linked to soulmates because it was such a big deal, it seemed.

Shuichi didn’t really care about dating. Not that he was a natural loner: life just decided he would be one. He had his uncle, his aunt, and his best friend. And that was enough. He was perfectly fine with his uncle, his aunt and Kaito Momota, astronaut trainee prodigy.

And he, also, didn’t have a soulmate. Not that he even cared about that.

Sure, Kaito would tell him on a daily basis how lonely he was. And maybe it was his fault: Shuichi was, undeniably, shyer than anything that had ever graced this town. He didn’t like talking first in discussions, he didn’t dare going up to people, he didn’t know how not to fluster once asked something personal like his opinions.

Honestly, he was just scared people would eventually abandon him. He knew it was both irrational and grounded in his reality: Kaito had never given up on him, even when the astronaut had found his own soulmate, but on the other hand, he had been given up on by who was supposed to be the closest to him until he was an adult.

When, in fact, Shuichi was barely an adult, and had no real mother or father.

When he thought about his potential soulmate, he just hoped he or she wouldn’t be a fan of his parents. How many remarks had he gotten over the years about that? “The Saiharas are very famous people in the show business, how come you don’t like being in the spotlight?”.

Shuichi didn’t like acting, even less lying. He knew how to lie, that wasn’t the question, but he hated lying, because his parents were at their core filthy liars. Not because his father was an actor, or because his mother could pretend to be characters to write them better, but because they had told him they would be there for him.

When, in fact, they had never been there for him.

So, yeah, Shuichi was pretty damn happy about not having a soulmate. Someone he wouldn’t have to cry over once they were gone. Or once they would have realized they weren’t what they wanted out of a boyfriend, or even deeper, a husband. All he had was the capacity to solve murders by luck anyway. He wasn’t the Prince Charming sold by the soulmate dramas and love stories from TV and cinema.

And especially not those his parents wrote and acted in. Those were way too cutesy for the harsh reality that was a world corrupted to the core with a false idealisation of passion and unshared love.

But nobody didn’t have a soulmate. Deep down, he knew he just “hadn’t met the right person yet”.

He didn’t even know what gender to look for. Or, rather, what gender to be weary of. He hadn’t really wondered about his sexuality too much, but if something was rather clear to him, it was that boys and girls meant the same to him. Whether or not it meant he was asexual or bisexual was, also, beyond him. It was hard to tell, when he hadn’t ever really felt in love. Just felt some weird attraction to that one trickster from his high school class, his best friend, and finding some girls pretty cute here and there.

It was all just words anyway.

Because it all came crashing down on him like a person-sized thundercloud full of painful hail.

There was this one case, he was investing upon on his own. Nothing big: something precious had been stolen from a famous pianist. According to her statements, it was a pair of clef-shaped earrings offered to her by her twin sister, a pearl choker and a hairpiece with an opal in it. His task wasn’t to find out where the jewellery was: it was what had happened in the ransacked room.

His cap firmly set to avoid looking into people’s eyes, Shuichi read again the case file before starting his investigation. There was a picture of the victim, who looked quite pretty he had to admit, and all the information he already known, plus some details here and there. He just wondered, deep down, how he had gotten this case and not a famously known detective with the prestige of a royal palace.

It was clear very quickly that the culprit knew what they were doing: only her bedroom had been ransacked, with nothing touched upon other than the broken window and the violated chest of drawers in which, he guessed, the jewellery had been kept by its owner.

He rubbed his temples. That headache really didn’t want to leave, and the room was freezing. He supposed the victim hadn’t slept in there since the theft: after all, who would? The window was more or less wide opened at any time of the day and there was still a risk. He just wished he had worn more on him, even if it was a normal spring day.

The sound of heels coming towards him got him out of his thought process as he was inspecting the floor for possible hair left behind on the crime scene by the thief. Maybe the client had hired a better detective than him. That meant he could go back to bed because, frankly, being sick while investigating sucked.

He was just there because he knew that case was very important to the victim, mostly because of how emotionally charged and meaningful the stolen items were, so it was only normal of him not to let her down. It was a simple question of decency. He had just thought it would be worth it, even if it meant going to work with a harsh fever.

And just that. A fever. A fever he didn’t even feel the symptoms of before actually coming to that place. Not even a cough. Aside from the dizziness and the throbs against his temples, that was it, he was fine.

Shuichi turned his head towards the incoming person. He didn’t need to raise his gaze to know it was the victim herself, standing there, dressed in warm pinks and purples. Her legs were pretty slim, even if they were hidden under wool leggings.

“Excuse me, Mr Saihara?”

He tried his best to sound polite and, well, fine: “Yes?”

Her bust and face entered his field of vision. She was prettier than the photo was telling of her: added to her sweet perfume, her blond hair complimented her pinkish purple eyes perfectly. She really was a beautiful woman, he wondered how she wasn’t dating anyone yet. Information he knew because, when she had been interrogated, she had insisted on not having had any previous romantic partner who could have stolen the jewellery from her.

“By chance, have you found anything? The place is a mess, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t…”

“I have one or two clues,” he replied in all honesty, “but no solid hypothesis yet. I’m sorry.”

She nodded her head with a small, reassuring smile.

“No, no, it’s okay. Don’t apologize, I know you’re doing your best. You’ve been here for a couple hours without saying a single word, after all.”

Shuichi looked at his watch, unsure. He really had spent a few hours in there. He wished he had found more than that for how long it had been, but that would have to do for the moment being.

The pianist kneeled next to him.

“Say, what don’t you have a break? It’s soon noon anyway, and I’m sure you won’t be as effective on an empty stomach.”

He wasn’t feeling any hungry, but if it meant he could slip an ibuprofen in his drink, then he’d take it.

“If you don’t mind, that is…” she added, her voice trailing off.

“I guess I have to take a break here and there,” he replied fairly. “Especially if you propose it so kindly to me.”

“Then, come with me to my living room!”

Shuichi just followed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to eat anything, even if he still had the luck to retain his sense of smell and taste, because his appetite was just completely gone. On the quick way to her living room, he just popped his inhaler and took a puff of it. Because there was no way he was having an asthma attack on the job when he had forgotten to take his medicine in the morning.

“Wait, you’re asthmatic?” she asked, noticing immediately.

Was that what they had meant by “she has exceptional hearing”? He swore he had been stealthy and that wasn’t looking.

“Oh, huh, yeah. That doesn’t prevent me from investigating though, don’t worry.”

“It’d be terrible if you got an attack on the job. Please be careful, okay?”

“I’ll do.”

Wasn’t the detective supposed to make sure the victim was safe and not the opposite way around?

They finally arrived in the living room, where she invited him to sit down on the leather sofa. Her house really was fancy: it really showed how famous she actually was.

“Would you like some tea?” she offered him.

“Sure, why not.”

Shuichi allowed himself to breathe out. A cup of tea would allow him to take a pill for his growing headache.

The pianist sat down next to him a couple minutes later, putting a small tray on the coffee table next to them.

“We haven’t been introduced properly, no? I wasn’t home yet when you arrived to investigate. I’m Kaede Akamatsu. You may have heard of me for my piano recitals. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He had forgotten her name, because he hadn’t heard of her before this case. Oops.

“I’m Shuichi Saihara, detective-in-training. Usually, I’m a literature student, but… You can just consider me a detective, considering today’s situation. Pleasure to meet you too.”

Her face mixes both worry and joy. It’s a weird bittersweet combination of an expression.

“If you don’t mind me, I have a question to ask you,” he tells her, nervous about something.

“Sure thing! What do you need from me?”

“Why haven’t you hired a more famous detective? You specifically hired me from my uncle’s office, according to the letter I got.”

A soft giggle escaped her lips.

“I thought most detectives would accept just for the potential sum I’d give at the end. According to the agency you work for, you mostly work on the side to pay for your studies and your loan. I’m sure you’ll use this money in much better ways than anyone else I could have hired thanks to my fame.”

That made him smile.

“Thank you for trusting in my work. I’ll try not to disappoint.”

“I’m sure you won’t, Mr Saihara.”

Lunch was a bit awkward. He clearly was forcing himself to eat, taking a second headache medicine pill with a glass of water. He had to admit, this Mrs Akamatsu wasn’t half-bad at cooking. She was miles over his. It was even winning over his fever, at one point, but he didn’t know if it was his mind screaming at him to eat or else she’d ask questions or if it was genuinely this appetizing.

He let her do most of the talking. Not only was he uncomfortable saying whatever was on his mind, while she was joyfully chatting about piano and her family, he was starting to feel fairly lightheaded, as if blood was rising to his head. He was, at that point, just grateful she wasn’t requesting him to take off his cap despite the fact they were seating at a table eating lunch.

In the early afternoon, Shuichi excused himself out of lunch to investigate again. Honestly, he had forgotten most of what he had seen on the morning: his notes, fortunately, saved him. He had sent the hair and fingerprints he had found on the furniture and floor to the lab already, so he should probably investigate outside.

But when he got up from his seat, he accidentally looked into her eyes, and the blood finished reaching to his head. There were stars throbbing before his eyes. That probably wasn’t supposed to happen, but he figured it was his fever playing tricks on him.

He lost his balance, and before he knew it, his cap had fallen to the ground and his client’s arms were supporting him, gently sitting him down on the sofa again. That was way too embarrassing for him not to look away, but his head was such a dizzy mess, all he had in mind was daze. His idiot streak of rebel hair was probably either pointing up from his head idiotically or pointing down because, really, he wasn’t feeling so good anymore.

Mrs Akamatsu sat down next to him and put a warm hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, worry dripping in her previously joyful voice.

“I… I just got up too fast, that’s… nothing big…”

God did he hate to lie, but he hated being unable to solve a case more than he hated lying.

Sweat was drenching his back, sure, but there was something wrong. He didn’t know what, he just knew he shouldn’t had been so dizzy previously for just a fever and getting up a bit too fast. Breathing was difficult too, and he knew it couldn’t be his asthma.

And there was a burning pain in his veins.

And that was when Shuichi realized, he had never known how Kaito had discovered Maki was his soulmate and vice-versa.

Looking at his wrist, while muting grunts of pain as much as possible, he noticed something which wasn’t there before. Written in gold was the name of his client. Written in gold was the name “Kaede Akamatsu”. Someone he had, in short, barely met turned out to be his goddamn soulmate.

Now that was a twist he had not only not expected, but which was also destroying any hope he had in never finding said soulmate.

Once the pain had subdued, he no longer felt lightheaded. Was the fever due to him being around his soulmate? (Still, what a weird thing to think.) She hadn’t seemed to be doing too bad earlier, well, before he had worried her at least. Did it magically heal his fever? That’d be too good, and an advantage to having found the worst source of pain possible.

Shuichi looked at the blonde woman next to him. She was holding her left wrist with her right hand and staring into his eyes with glassy irises and reddened sclerae. Tears were still around the corner of her glaze.

“You…” she whispered, looking angered. Or pained? He wasn’t sure.

After all, anyone would be angry to learn he was their soulmate. She was no exception.

“Is your first name Shuichi…?”

He gulped. His throat was knotted in a noose.

“…Yes.”

Kaede sighed.

“I guess this is how it is, huh,” she said. “I never thought I’d met them today. Not in these conditions, at least.”

A small smile appeared on her face.

“At least, I’m relieved my soulmate’s a good person. I was scared they were going to be a delinquent, or abusive, or even worse, a murderer. I know you’re not like that, Shuichi. I… can call you Shuichi, at least? You can call me Kaede.”

“Sure…”

“You were willing to help me without really knowing who I was, right?”

He looked away.

“It’s embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t know you were at all before I got the case request… Maybe I’ve heard your music before, but that’s it, really…”

“You’re a broke student according to your agency, and yet you still didn’t see the case as an opportunity to get famous or gain money. You’re something entirely different, Shuichi.”

“You’re not… offended that I didn’t see you as a celebrity?”

Kaede blinked, obviously surprised.

“Of course I’m not! Why would I be? I wish I wouldn’t be considered a celebrity anyway. I’m even happy you see me as a person more than a celebrity!”

Shuichi was astonished by her reaction. That wasn’t what he was used to, clearly. He was used to people whining about not getting recognized in the streets, not people wanting not to get recognized in the same streets. Who’d want to be incognito?

“Well… I guess my parents are another kind of celebrities altogether. They always wanted more fame and to be celebrated by fans and critics alike. I assumed most, if not all famous people were like that. Sorry for assuming that was your case, Kaede.”

“Your parents are famous? That may be why your name reminded me of something… I guess we’re both more or less linked to fame, then. Me because I got famous thanks to piano, you because your parents are famous. But I think we should push that to the side.”

He didn’t know what to say. For once, someone wasn’t asking him why he didn’t want to be famous. That hadn’t happened since he had met Maki, through Kaito, back in high school. It felt incredibly nice.

“I don’t know what’ll happen to us now,” Kaede continued. “You may already be in a relationship, after all. I wouldn’t want to ruin that.”

“I’m not. I’ve never been in a relationship at all, actually. Well, a romantic one I mean….”

She put a hand on his tight.

“Then… Why not keep in contact and get to know each other this afternoon? I’m sure you’ve investigated enough today. Even if we don’t date each other, we can still be friends. I’m sure it’ll work out well!”

Shuichi was so numbed by relief that he could only nod as he smiled.

Yet, Kaede’s face was still bittersweet. How could it be?

“Something’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m just wondering about something… My wrist hurt when we looked into each other’s eyes, but I didn’t go dizzy like you did. How come?”

“Huh… It may be because I was…”

Shuichi’s voice stops. Should he lie again, or shouldn’t he? He decided that, as opposed to his soulmate parents, he wouldn’t like to his.

“I was running a fever when I came here. I think it calmed down, though.”

Without a word, she puts a hand on her forehead, then on his.

“You’re a bit warmer than I am, so it’s probably not too bad. Still, I don’t think you should investigate when you’re feverish. Why don’t we go out for a bit, so we can make some chit-chat? I can even play something for you later!”

“It sounds lovely… Let’s do this.”

They got up from the sofa at the same time, grabbed some outerwear and went outside.

Shuichi still took the time to make sure the bedroom couldn’t be accessed from the broken window, to Kaede’s amusement.

[zalrb]

OK So

I have quite a few asks in my inbox about JP’s latest interview so I’m just going to make a post about it, breaking down all of my thoughts.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When it came to ending your shows, what were you most nervous about?

JULIE PLEC: I felt that heavy pressure as a fan of television to make sure we stuck the landing because I get so crushed when I see what I perceive to be a mediocre series finale. I wanted people to talk about the finale of The Vampire Diaries as one of their favorites, which is a lofty ambition, but it certainly drove me hard creatively to make sure that we had put as much thought and love into it as we possibly could.

Really, Julie, because not only was the finale less than mediocre, it actually made no sense.

Stefan gives Damon the cure so he can grow old with Elena even though he had no way of knowing Bonnie would find a way to wake Elena up in time without killing herself.

Stefan gives Damon the cure and says he’s going to die rapidly even though he’d been shot and stabbed previously and did not suffer those effects.

Stefan died even though he didn’t have to because you see Damon lying in a spot right next to him.

The Other Side was destroyed, you made a whole big deal in season 5 that people who were already dead died again and yet we see Grams and Lexi in the finale. Why was Elena in a random ass white bed in a random ass wood when Bonnie sees her?

And how exactly did Enzo bring Bonnie back to life? How did he even GET there:

How did Katherine have the time to put Elena in the school, dress her in her appropriate clothes, get back into the casket to pretend to be Elena and get her hair from Elena straight

to Katherine curly in a scene?

IT MADE NO SENSE.

Once the finale aired, was there anything that surprised you about the fan reaction?

PLEC: For me there’s always that faction of shippers who can’t look at an episode in a global way and enjoy the experience of the entire story, who can only really count minutes of screen time for their ship, and I figured, when all was said and done, that there would be some cranky people. But I also decided I didn’t care. I decided I wasn’t making the finale for anybody who still had anything invested in the love triangle. I was making it for people who were invested in the relationship between the brothers. That freed up Kevin [Williamson] and me from any pressure we felt about what the fandom might think.

I think by love story you mean Stefan’s inability to let Damon reap what he sows and Damon’s constant choice of putting his love interests about Stefan because even in the final season when Damon is supposed to have matured by saying he would choose himself to die instead of choosing Stefan to die and Elena to live or Elena to live and Stefan die, even when he’s supposed to have matured by being willing to sacrifice for everyone, he doesn’t actually have to follow through, he doesn’t actually have to put money where his mouth is and that makes his willingness hollow. He never has to commit to being the hero, he just has to say “I will be the hero” and that’s supposed to be enough: http://zalrb.tumblr.com/post/158510598480/did-damon-have-character-development-now-with-the

What were the biggest debates when crafting your endings?

PLEC: I wanted flash-forwards. Ever since we decided to put Elena in a sleeping beauty spell that couldn’t be broken until Bonnie died, I wanted to see the scene with 85-year-old Bonnie and Damon by her side, and they’re the best of friends. And then she dies of natural causes because I just thought that Bonnie deserved a rich and full life. I had this scene in my head for so long and then Kevin [felt] that stories are more impactful when you play them in the here and now. So we compromised by showing everybody just slightly ahead in their life and having those characters observing from peace, which in my opinion worked like a charm and I’m so happy we did it that way. The other big debate we had was: Which Salvatore brother is going to take the bullet for the other? We debated that so much because we could make a really strong case for either. And we finally settled on Damon was going to die. And then Kevin walked into the room and he’s like, “What’s Stefan’s life going to be like?” I said, “He’s going to be happy with Caroline and uh uh… uh, I don’t know.” [Laughs] I’m like, “You’re right, it needs to go the other way.” It was so funny because we had thought about it in the room so much that we had talked ourselves into one path, but all we needed was him to walk in and be like, “But… isn’t it cooler the other way?” And so we switched it. He gets all the credit for that.

So a few things about this. “I wanted to see the scene with 85-year-old Bonnie and Damon by her side and they’re the best of friends. And then she dies of natural causes because I just thought that Bonnie deserved a rich and full life”

So then why doesn’t Bonnie have her own family in this flash-forward? Why not have a husband with her children and grandchildren surrounding her bed? Or why not have Elena and Caroline by her bed? Like my god man, if you’re going for that kind of ending for her, make her Titanic Rose or some shit but I’m supposed to believe Bonnie led a full and rich life when Damon is at her side?

So we compromised by showing everybody just slightly ahead in their life and having those characters observing from peace, which in my opinion worked like a charm and I’m so happy we did it that way.

So Bonnie traveling alone as if Bonnie never traveled in her life, with Enzo haunting her steps is supposed to show how happy she was? Mmkay.

And then Kevin walked into the room and he’s like, “What’s Stefan’s life going to be like?” I said, “He’s going to be happy with Caroline and uh uh… uh, I don’t know.”

LMAO to Julie not knowing what a happy life with Caroline would like and LMAO to Kevin who was like I don’t buy it, Stefan just having a happy life with Caroline? NOPE. And Kevin has been consistent with that:

He pauses, then continues, "If there was any other conversations, we ended on this one. This show was always about Stefan being the hero, and if Stefan could not have Elena, Stefan could do this very nice thing of giving his brother the chance to live with Elena."

I’m like, “You’re right, it needs to go the other way.” It was so funny because we had thought about it in the room so much that we had talked ourselves into one path, but all we needed was him to walk in and be like, “But… isn’t it cooler the other way?” And so we switched it. He gets all the credit for that.

And this makes me think that since Kevin left, Julie hasn’t been challenged on what she’s been writing because I remember @initiumseries and I were talking about that, we literally have days where we meet or where we talk online and run story ideas by each other and one of us is usually like, “But I mean, why are you doing it this way and not that way?” and then we’re like “Well because ... hmmm, no, you’re right ... well how about if I do this?” and then we just have conversations until we work our way to something logical and the TVD writing room didn’t seem to have that.

PLEC: I look at Friday Night Lights as one of my all-time favorite series finales and that is what you 
want. After all the roads you’ve traveled with these people, you just want to know that they’re going to be happy. I’m a big believer in shows that make that choice.

So Friday Night Lights is about the characters in a small football town in Texas, the amount of differences between that show in TVD is boundless and FNL is really about character, the finale was earned and managed to be a neat-with-a-bow-on-top ending as well as one with a huge character shift since Eric has the opportunity to get everything he wanted after two years of an uphill battle while Tami has the opportunity to do something that she’s good at it, something that she didn’t realize she really wanted until it was offered to her, something that could change her life and her career and Eric gives up his dream for Tami’s because he realizes her dream is his dream not to mention the echoes of that sentiment throughout the episode with other characters such as Tyra ad Tim and Jess and Vince. POINT BEING, Julie FAILED at being as involved as FNL and I also don’t understand why a supernatural teen tv series that should end with a bang would use FNL as a model series.

You both directed your series finales — why was that important to you?

PLEC: Everything you just said is exactly how I would sum that up. The only thing I would add is that often the relationship between a showrunner and an episodic director can be fraught with tension, and I wouldn’t want to have that tension around for the last episode, which is such a celebration. And secondly, what I was able to do because I was there deciding if we could run over was then very fluidly honor the set we were leaving behind for the last time, or say a big group farewell to Damon’s car when we wrapped it for the last time, and then not to mention, honor each actor individually as they shot their last scene. So it turned into one big celebration, which somebody else wouldn’t have been able to do that without worrying about the time they were wasting.

The only thing I would add is that often the relationship between a showrunner and an episodic director can be fraught with tension

What was going on on this show?

say a big group farewell to Damon’s car when we wrapped it for the last time

OK but Damon’s car actually wasn’t that iconic within the series, though, it is not Dean and The Impala, get a grip.

and then not to mention, honor each actor individually as they shot their last scene. 

Like that time you were low-key shading Kat for absolutely no reason?

I know both your fandoms loved to talk about certain couples being “endgame.” What do you feel are the biggest myths out there about ending shows? PLEC: When fans would say, “Oh you’re teeing up endgame,” I would say, “I am teeing up nothing because I am letting these characters tell me how they want their story to end.” And within that, you’re working off of actor chemistry, and you’re working off of your lead actress leaving the series after six years, which shuts the door to explore a return to the other corner of the love triangle. I would’ve happily worked my way back around to Stefan and Elena at some point in the series if Nina Dobrev hadn’t left, if the story led me that way. There is no definitive end to anybody’s story when you’re dealing with the fluidity of chemistry because when it gets stale, you want out. It doesn’t matter if these characters are supposed to be together forever, if their chemistry gets stale, you want somebody to die, you want to put somebody in a coma, you want to write them off the show, anything to save you.

OK this, what everyone wants to talk about.

When fans would say, “Oh you’re teeing up endgame,” I would say, “I am teeing up nothing because I am letting these characters tell me how they want their story to end.” 

My girl, you literally implemented a sire bond to get Elena on the DE track because you didn’t like what Elena was saying to you as a character, you literally created a plot point to force Elena to act out of character to tee up Damon

And within that, you’re working off of actor chemistry, and you’re working off of your lead actress leaving the series after six years, which shuts the door to explore a return to the other corner of the love triangle. I would’ve happily worked my way back around to Stefan and Elena at some point in the series if Nina Dobrev hadn’t left, if the story led me that way.

The story had been leading you that way though

You decided not to to follow this that’s not on Nina, that’s on you.

There is no definitive end to anybody’s story when you’re dealing with the fluidity of chemistry because when it gets stale, you want out. It doesn’t matter if these characters are supposed to be together forever, if their chemistry gets stale, you want somebody to die, you want to put somebody in a coma, you want to write them off the show, anything to save you. 

Lol, the Nian chemistry didn’t get stale, they never had much to begin with, what happened was you guys made actual tension into sexual tension, moments where Elena was actually fighting Damon or uncomfortable with Damon were used to play up “attraction”

and when they had to actually be together and their chemistry fell flat you guys just had them constantly have sex or tried to cover it up with dialogue but lmao you essentially said you put Elena in a coma because the chemistry between Nina and Ian was stale. All you had to do was follow the SE breadcrumbs but because you DO tee up endgames, you decided to save face instead, you guys must’ve been kicking yourselves when you saw this

[whopooh]

Miss Fisher when Everybody Hurts: the May trope challenge

“What just happened?”

Although April is supposed to be the cruellest month, in the MFMM fandom that designation must be given to May instead, as it saw the monthly trope declared as hurt/comfort. What, we asked ourselves, were the poor lambs going to be put through now? Haven’t they already been enough through the wringer?

Hurt can come in so many different ways – physical, emotional, or maybe more symbolical or feared than actually happening. Unsurprisingly, the Miss Fisher fanfic included them all. It has – again – been a delight to read the trope fics of the month! (here is the full collection: Everybody Hurts.)

So, how to structure the hurt and its comfort in the best way? I decided to do it based on where the hurt comes from, and how the comfort for it is created. Most of the hurt is comforted through the relationship between Phryne and Jack, while some of the hurt also comes from it. As a rule, Jack takes most of the hurt, but there are also quite a lot of Phryne hurting.

First, there is hurt through what could have been. The hurt is coming from the fear of things that could happen, the ever present possibility of a sad ending.

First, @firesign23‘s beautiful and intense “Blame It On The Wireless”, where Phryne receives bad news about a raid Jack was leading. In the view of fatalities and Jack not contacting her, she fears the worst. One of the beautiful things with this fic is the way that nothing has happened to Jack, it is all in Phryne’s imaginations and fears and in the failed attempt to communicate. She is driven by worry and by the nagging feeling from never having told him to be careful. As Phryne drives to the hospital she fears the worst, and when she there encounters a Jack without a scratch, behaving as if nothing was unusual, she explodes. 

Time stopped, her stomach flipped, a small, strangled sob escaped her mouth. He was standing in the hall, deep in conversation, with nary a scratch on him. Her eyes flicked over him twice. His suit wasn’t even rumpled, for heaven’s sake! As if sensing her presence he looked up, excused himself, and began to walk over.    Phryne did the only thing she could think to do: she turned on her heel and walked away.

She drives home without a word, and when Jack comes to see what’s the matter, she tries to expel him but instead drags him into a frantic lovemaking: “She screamed when her orgasm hit, guttural and unfamiliar. The sound of grief that almost was.” The things that could have happened are looming above them, and the need to learn to deal with these kinds of things is pressing.

Another version of the “what could have been” is @scruggzi’s “Without Regret”. Thos gives -- in a unrelentingly sad and poetic way -- small snippets of alternate endings to Phryne’s and Jack’s story. The alternate endings are given shape and weight, flesh and blood, and the sadness is both in how they would not work out, and in how Phryne would die, proudly, but incredibly sad. There are lines like “When she sells the house, Mr Butler, with a sense of trepidation, returns a toy badge to its owner by request” and “The crystal glasses that never made it to his wedding arrive for him with her Will. He can’t believe that she is really dead. Then he can’t believe that after all this time he has finally succumbed to the myth of her invincibility.” In the end, @scruggzi not being an incredibly cruel writer, there is the possibility of those versions not happening -- but the conjuring up of them and giving them this weight lingers with the reader. In this way, the happy ending stands out as even brighter, in contrast to the sadness of the ones never (probably) really happening. If the answer to “who is hurting” in @firesign23’s fic is Phryne, in @scruggzi’s, it is rather the reader that is hurting the most.

Another unabashedly both sad and sweet hurt/comfort fic is @loopyhoopyfrood‘s “Last Words”. Here, the soulmate trope makes a comeback, in an ominous way. The system of soulmates is rather cruel – the words you have on your skin are the last ones your soulmate will say to you. What this would mean in terms of worrying, I can see this world consist of rather neurotic people. In this case, it turns out that the last words Jack’s soulmate will tell him is “Come after me, Jack Robinson”, and when Phryne says this to him at the airfield, he becomes scared. When he later receives news that a plane has crashed over the Indian Ocean, it’s perhaps not so surprising that Mac finds him “with bleeding knuckles and a hole in his office wall” -- a wonderful image. And yes, it’s definitely Jack that hurts on this one. There is comfort too, but how I’ll leave for you to read.

“Do you love her more than you once loved me?”

One fic has taken the trope outside of the Phryne/Jack relationship, exploring Rosie’s hurt and heartbreak in a lovely, and lovingly, way, @longlineoftvdetectives “What Comfort in Truth”. “Do you love her more than you once loved me?” That is Rosie’s question to Jack as she has been bound to stay over at Wardlow for the trial after “Unnatural habits”. It is such a poignant question – how does one compare loves? – and it is beautifully done since the answer is not a simple one. We follow Rosie’s perspective and feelings at meeting Phryne and seeing Phryne and Jack together, and it’s really agonizingly heart clenching.

“I love you too darling,” Phryne said, in the easy manner of a woman who said this to the man on the other end of the phone several times a day.    There was a time Rosie was that woman. But now she was utterly alone.

I just want to hug Rosie, and I feel so much for Jack too and how this makes him feel, and this fic shows us how they cannot really help each other, but that a third party like Phryne can step in and help untangle their complicated web of guilt and sorrow. The solidarity between women, Phryne’s way of being, is what finally provides some kind of comfort for Rosie, who then proceeds to give her testimony in court in a confident and strong manner.

The next group of fics is those where the hurt is coming from the outside, and the comfort is the relationship itself – either given as a part of an established relationship, or the comfort is the very breakthrough and start of the relationship.

Have you been drinking, Inspector?

Two fics that capture sad, grieving Jack is @ladyroxie‘s “Bid farewell” and @omgimsarahtoo‘s “Fault Lines”. The settings are different – in the first, they are not in a relationship but there are promises of one in the end, in the latter they’re in an established relationship. In the first, Jack learns about the death of a longtime friend, having survival guilt, and in the latter the guilt is acutely present, as a young man under Jack’s command has died. Both explore beautifully how Phryne reacts to a Jack in grief.

In @ladyroxie‘s fic, Phryne telephones since Jack has forgotten they had a rendez-vous:

When she spoke, her voice seemed to reach through the telephone and stroke his cheek. He bit the inside of it, hard. “Do you need anything, Jack?” He willed himself to picture soup and headache powder though her voice suggested other things. “No.” He swallowed. “Thank you. Goodbye Miss Fisher.”

but Phryne sees through this and comes over:  “Why are you here, Miss Fisher. I told you, I'm -” / “I know what you told me, Jack. You're a terrible liar.”

The fic mirrors some of the ways the show lets Jack take care of Phryne, like the protest against her guilt. In @omgimsarahtoo’s story, Jack is even more wallowing, stricken by guilt, and in his sorrowful and drunk state he feels he is not worthy of anything, definitely not of her, and he takes the blame for people getting killed under his command:

“Superior officer,” he murmured. “Inferior, more like.” He took another swig of his drink and turned his face away from her. Phryne took a mouthful of her own whiskey, not knowing quite what to do. Jack’s quiet confidence was so compelling—it had never occurred to her that he had moments like this, where he doubted everything. 

But Phryne figures out how to be the comforting figure, cradling him and telling him “I’ve got you. It’s all right.” A night’s sleep is the best remedy. In”Fault lines,” this is then ending in a real bout of love-making, and Phryne thinking “It was good, she thought as her mind drifted into sleep, that his cracks lined up so perfectly alongside hers.”

@adverbally‘s fic “Sillage” -- her first for MFMM, welcome! -- has Phryne as the one hurting and needing their relationship as comfort. A case with domestic violence reminds her a little too much of René and what could have happened if she had stayed with him. Jack comes home to her to check on her, after she disappeared suspiciously quickly from the crime scene, and Phryne compares the two men, seeing how Jack is different, strong without being dominating:

She leaned in and pressed their lips together, relishing the way he relaxed against her and opened his mouth to her. It was moments like these that made her most aware of how unlike René he was. René was all fire and urgency where Jack favored tenderness and sensuality. René kissed as hard as he hit and used his touches to force her into submission. Jack touched her like she was something precious and awe-inspiring and let her guide their love-making.

In @whopooh’s ”The Marrying Kind” the hurt is so small, and the comfort unexpectedly rational for this trope. The hurt is the outside world’s view of Phryne’s and Jack’s relationship, and how Phryne sees this giving Jack problems, so it is rather related to the group of fics I will talk about later on – where the relationship in itself is the hurt. The twist here is that although the relationship is the comfort, it is so in an unexpected way, by denying it to become too ‘conventional’. Phryne attempts to provide comfort by offering to marry Jack, but he says no – not wanting the easy way of making everything right. If the relationship is going to be a comfort or a haven, it has to be in another way, not via the formality of their bond, and not by Phryne offering to give in to a demand he hadn’t even made.

A similar way of holding the most thorough comfort at bay is @longlineoftvdetectives “Head Injuries” that explores the time when Jack is out cold from the nerve tonic and the blow to his head in “Death Defying Feats”. It is a short scene where Mac comes by to assess the assault victim, and also sees through Phryne and her feelings for the unconscious detective. The comfort is not the relationship per se, but the offered possibility that there might eventually be a relationship, and Mac telling Phryne, from her long-standing friendship, “Let yourself be happy”.

There are so few pictures of Mac and Jack together, but here’s one!

Over to three fics where the burgeoning relationship is the actual comfort.

First @flashofthefuse “Two’s Company” that has some real physical hurt – Phryne and Jack have been injjured in the job, and while Jack is recuperating, Phryne is simply not waking up after surgery, to Mac’s and Jack’s great worry. Just as in @longlineoftvdetectives’s above mentioned fic, Mac is the pillar of reason and loveliness, and also huge amounts of sass. Here it is with Jack she has her conversation. So even if the end point of the fic is comfort from starting the relationship, there is first the very important – equally important – comfort of Mac’s friendship, which is wonderful.

The first chapter is all about Mac and Jack bonding over their joint love for Phryne. Jack refuses to leave her hospital room -- “The look he gave her was one of a man that knew he had no secrets and didn’t particularly care.” And they come to a mutual understanding: ”Their eyes met and something passed between them. An understanding that of all the people that knew and loved Phryne Fisher, they were, perhaps, the two that knew and loved her best. Unconditionally.” Then, when Phryne wakes up, Jack retreats, and so the hurt is double – not only the fear for her life (and before that his, since he was injured too), but also the hurt of his withdrawn attention and the insecurity of what their relationship actually is, as well as a call-back to the hurt of “Blood at the Wheel” too – altogether a delicious mix. Phryne realises something of her affections when she sees Jack hurt, but he retreats so much she doesn’t know whether he wants them, which results in a lovely mutual pining. The way she slowly worms her way into knowing this, via a case and with a good help from Mac, is lovely and with a lot of tension.

In @missingmissfisher‘s & Comeaftermejackrobinson’s “Of hope also one lives” (not yet completed) there is also a real physical hurt. Jack has lost his memory after being hurt on the job, and his mind has decided that he is Archie Jones, and that Phryne – Fern – is his wife. Phryne thus finds herself in a situation where she must play wife to Archie Jones while worrying whether Jack will ever come back to his right mind again. The hurt is extra tangible because they had just been on the brink of starting something -- Phryne had invited Jack to dinner, when he had to enter into the raid and was hurt. First, Phryne is fearing for his life, remembering her time in the war, then she has the scare of him not knowing who he is, and then small snippets of him coming back. As the fic is not finished, we’ll have to see how the comfort part will play out. 

In @rositalg's chapter 9 of “Chasing Shadow”, we are given a new ending to "King Memse’s Curse”. The hurt that permeates the fic is the close call that was Phryne’s dealings with Murdoch Foyle and that Jack acutely feels:

All night long, he’d stood along the fringes of the party observing, quietly acknowledging that all of this might have been lost if Phryne had been allowed to let herself die at the hands of Murdoch Foyle.

This night, after all this has happened, when she asks he cannot say no: “If it were any other day, he might have been stronger. Any other day, her touch, her eyes might not have broken him. But here, on this night, standing in her parlor, he didn't have the will to deny her.”

Jack practicing his “letting Phryne go”-technique.

Then, we move on to the really hurtful things: hurt that comes not from outside, and is not physical, but emotional and from the relationship itself: their differences, doubts, and the way they can hurt each other -- particularly the problem of holding fast or letting go. 

The first one is sassasam/ @phrynesboudoir’s “Goodbye Hello”. This is a kind of melancholy diptych, like two ‘still lives’ of Jack and Phryne respectively, alone, contemplating the relationship and what they might be heading towards, while the other one is asleep beside them. There is something serene in these two nights, and their symmetries and asymmetries say as much as possible of the respective character. First it is their last night, the night before Phryne is flying to England with her father, and Jack thinking about perhaps losing her. Then it is their first night, after reuniting, and Phryne thinking about perhaps staying with him. They both need to understand what might be their biggest fears, emotionally, while thinking about the other’s personality as well as physicality, as s/he is sleeping just beside them. The longing, the fear, the love – all very beautiful. Jack, the last night, wants her to stay but is letting her go, and he notices he has left a mark on her neck: 

He’d marked her, branded her, wanted the world to see that for one shining moment she had been his and his alone. He imagined her waking in the morning to find the mark, winding a scarf about her throat to hide it but still, knowing it was there. And for a few days hence, she would carry his mark with her and remember Jack Robinson.

There is a slight hopelessness to Jack, and he has difficulties aligning what has happened with that:

And so they’d had their gaudy night. Or at least that’s what he’d told himself it would be. One night of passion and possession. One night and then he’d let her go. But he hadn’t expected her to love him back.

Phryne, in chapter 2, is watching Jack and thinking about “the way her body responded to his every touch, ignited with a passion and longing for closeness that she’d thought long gone in her.”

In @ollyjayonline‘s “Old Habits Die Hard” Phryne and Jack have trouble adjusting to a life together; as the title says, habits and ways of behaving are hard to change, and in some ways, they are very different people. They don’t manage to speak (yes, this would be an excellent contribution also to the Miscommunication trope) about their needs, especially as they hardly see each other, but keep different times and more or less communicate through notes and absences. What starts as a generosity – to let the other do their thing, and that is something that is so much Phryne and Jack – instead develops into a nagging doubt that the other might not want them anymore, small snippets of un-generosity slipping in at the hurtful feeling of that. There is a fine line between letting the other make his or her decisions and not seeming to care, and that is really explored by this fic, all from Phryne’s perspective. The questions she asks are legitimate and hard: "Christ, did they even have enough in common to be in a relationship? Come to that, what did she know of relationships anyway?" And then the comfort, them actually talking and understanding each other, is a wonderful oasis just when you thought you would choke on all that desert sand.

In @whopooh’s ”Retreat Is Impossible” it is again their differences that are the problem, and the idea that one of the things Phryne loves about Jack is what makes it impossible for her to have him: “She had come to count on Jack to do the right thing, to resist her, to jokingly lock eyes with her but to not take any of her suggestions seriously.” When Jack at one point ceases to resist Phryne and gives in to her flirtations, kissing her, she realises this problem. Phryne rejects him, and a hurt Jack has to come to terms with what happened. This is a Jack that knows how to keep his emotions in check, knowing that he cannot force Phryne into something, and knowing that it isn’t fair either to call her fickle or cruel. “I know I cannot make you love me,” he says to her, and promises that he won’t disappear on her again, the way he did after the car crash. His repressed pain is rather palpable, and when the comfort comes, it’s from Phryne realising that she does want him fully, a realisation she can only have because he didn’t pressure her or tried to force her hand.

"That’s all I have to say.”

Finally, there are two wonderful fics that scrutinize the trope through joking with it and ideas about trust, betrayal, hurt, and comfort. @kidnthehall‘s “Breakfast in bed” is a wonderful romp where Jack is upset that Phryne has finished all his favourite cereal, a type of food she doesn’t even like, and he challenges her about this betrayal:

”I thought I could trust you. I asked for one thing!” ”I don't...” ”One thing! And behind my back? All you had to do was ask first!” ”You don't feel like you're overreacting just a bit?”

Apart from joking with the hurt/comfort trope, the fic also has a glorious take on Jack’s liberal man-talk: ”I need to make something perfectly clear, Phryne. You know I'm a generous man, maybe not as generous or sharing as you'd like me to be or as much as I would like me to be. For you. But I don't want you to think that my breakfast cereal is like all the other food.” To which Phryne can of course only react in one way: ”What other food?” And once the hurting is finished, there is plenty of comfort taking place through the specific delights of the relationship.

The final fic is @olderbynow‘s “A Shortage of Sympathy”, where Phryne is portrayed as rather “cruel”, not being very sympathetic to a Jack in pain. This might seem harsh, especially the way @olderbynow teases us in her way of writing it, an impression that lasts until we realise what his pain is about.

He looked very much like she ought to expect to be breaking in a new detective inspector in the near future because her current one wouldn’t be around much longer. She nearly felt sorry for him. But not quite. “Come on, Jack. It wasn’t that bad.”

Then the fic explores what the pain is about –  let’s not give it all away, but just say that this fic too is food related. Phryne teasing Jack is wonderful, as well as the way he manages to almost – but only almost – give as good as he takes. The dialogue and both of them attempting to win over the other just glitters and sparkles all the way to the natural conclusion: that Jack has found a new thing he dislikes almost as much as operetta.

And on that light and lovely note, this trope overview is done, and there is nothing more for us than to look forward to the June trope “undercover”.

Earlier trope overviews of MFMM year of tropes: January (soulmate), February (miscommunication), March (bottle episode), April (bodyswap/role reversal).

[pelagaios-a]

do not reblog;;

so as some of you may or may not know ( depending on how long you’ve been following me here ) in May I went on closing night to see the Lightning Thief: the Percy Jackson Musical with @wisdomwalked !!! it was absolutely amazing and totally worth the trip into NYC for the day and I have a post [ here ] about some of the stuff that went on. with the release of the soundtrack ( which I literally got in the mail Saturday --- thank you preorder ) I wanted to talk about the songs and their parallels / etc to the content in the Lightning Thief ( book 1 ). below I am going to have a lot of links ( I have put together the lyrics for the album ) and quotes and stuff so I guess bare with me here and I hope I make sense lmao.

to start off I’m going to skip a lot of the other songs since I wanted to address the song [ Good Kid ] and the following related songs [ Their Sign ] / [ Son of Poseidon ] and [ The Last Day of Summer ]. which you may be like, kat ??? what do they share ??? well, let me tell you.

to start off in the song Good Kid ( x ) we get the lyrics

six schools in six years, been kicked out of every place everything I ever do is wrong never find where I belong everybody on my case

the same old story, the same old song don’t act up, don’t act out, be strong

I keep my head down I keep my chin up but it ends up all the same with pack your bags Percy, you’re always to blame

and I say this because in the song Their Sign ( x ) we get

he show'd no sign that he ever existed no sign he might actually care my mom raised me all on her lonesome when I would reach out, no one else would be there !

which we get compounded with this set from Son of Poseidon ( x )

seems my good intentions always crash and burn everything I try to do will fail never once will I prevail going wrong at every turn

then as I have said [ before ] Luke hijaks the tune to good kid in the Last Day of Summer ( x ) and tells Percy

it doesn't pay to be a good kid a good kid a good son

Good Kid is literally the first song that comes to mind for me from this album --- possibly because it was the only release before the musical --- but it touches on a lot of aspects people forget about Percy within canon and brings to light a lot of his own thoughts and insecurities. I know I’ve said it before but he really does not have the best self image even at the most opportune of times let alone the fact his life is a trainwreck more often then not. Percy spent his life growing up alone ( Grover is literally his first friend --- think on that ) and was commonly the target of bullies. not only this, but he’s referenced being called stupid / problematic / not worth someones time by adults in his life ( I imagine teachers alongside the verbal abuse Gabe subject him to ). in his mind ??? the only person who cares about him is his mother and even then he’s rather worthless due to the fact he makes life so, so much harder for her then she deserves. all these lyrics ESPECIALLY the lyrics throughout Good Kid reference a child who is looking for someone --- anyone --- to accept him. I mean the damn song ends with

I swear I never stole anything I never meant to hurt anyone I swear, I swear that I’m a good kid a good kid, who’s had a bad run

and all I need is one last chance to prove I’m good enough for someone

he literally just wants a place to feel accepted and Camp Half Blood offered that but then they told him to leave --- remember that Percy did not have a choice in this quest or he would have been killed outright by Zeus. he’s twelve and sent on a quest everyone thought he would fail. explain to me how that helps ??? answer: it doesn’t ( “ no one ever tells me that they’re proud no one asks me, Percy, how'd you’d like to come around and stay” ). so I say again: these four songs alone touch on a lot of how he thinks of himself that gets breezed over since, as Percy is the narrator and plays off his own problems, fanon / the fandom / most people tend to brush over or ignore. he literally is looking for acceptance but does not expect any. Percy says he reached out but ??? it’s referenced in the past. it’s not something he does anymore. how literally fucked up is this.

and then there’s the [ Prologue / the Day I Got Expelled ] which follows the first chapter or so of the book. some of the stuff said just ??? really upsets me due to the connotations ( x ) which like, I am not getting into the big breakdown of this song right now since there is a LOT to talk about but I will bring up some lyrics:

look! I didn't want to be a halfblood I didn't ask to be a hero seeking grace being a halfblood, it's scary it mostly gets you killed in very nasty ways

now as most of us know, Percy has the Iconic™ line “look, I didn’t want to be a halfblood” at the start of book 1. to start the show off, though, they played a little deeper into it. that line up there I think very well plays off my [ hero headcanon ]. Percy never once has reference liking the idea of being a hero and right here he states at the beginning this is nothing he wants, nothing he wanted, and he really wishes this was not his life. the song then goes on to bring up other stuff but man this part to start it off. which ??? sets the mood for the rest of the musical in a way, I think. like, sure it had lighthearted and funny moments, but there’s always this thought in the back of your head that Percy never starts to like it or enjoy it or anything. every moment is something he wishes weren’t his, in a way. not to mention they don’t downplay his character in the slightest --- we get a good look into his mind from a perspective that starts to show it more outward then inward ( because let’s be honest, Percy brushing it off let’s us brush it off and the musical didn’t allow much room for “brushing off” ).

this all is one of the huge reasons I find the song [ Strong ] so important. not only is it a song entirely dedicated to Sally and Percy but it’s a song about how you’re strong because of your differences which ??? I think for a lot of people even outside the pjo universe would find important. like ( x )

normal is a myth everyone has issues they're dealing with and there's a place you'll need to go where you belong where the things that make you different are the things that make you special special like your father yes Percy, you are special

like food the color blue all the things that make you, you are the things that will make you strong so be strong

like, I don’t know whether I say it or just think it anymore ( ignoring the people who get my Percy feeling dumps ) but so much is out there coming at him from every side and this song puts a lot of focus on 1. the fact he needs another voice to remind him he’s more then what other people say ( “what was he a screw up to? sorry mom, if I was only normal... “ / “ mom if you're weird, you're weak” ) because he’s so hard on himself 2. just how important ??? Percy’s mother is, most especially to him --- she is one of his major reasons to keep going --- and 3. it again shows more of his self image. Sally Jackson is literally the sweetest most important character in this whole series and this song does a good job of summing that up. Percy at his point has one friend he thinks is ditching him and no prospects and he just failed again. in his mind whats the point? the song here is just.... god I don’t even know how to word how important this song is across the board.

anyway, I know I didn’t include every song on the soundtrack ( there are 19 total --- while all include Percy some are just about other characters which I don’t think ??? I’m going to discuss here. like [ Another Terrible Day ] / [ Put you in Your Place ] / [ My Grand Plan ] / [ The Tree on the Hill ] or [ D.O.A. ] which, while play into Percy’s journey and whatnot, are not about him or his growth in a way. I may touch on them slightly later ??? but definitely not right now.

tada tho here’s my brief pjo musical Percy synopsis I guess...

[notagarroter]

The Eternal Problem: A Meditation on Mortality in Sherlock S4

When asked about S4 during the promotional lead-up, Moftiss repeatedly said this new series would be about one thing: consequences.  Now that we stand on the other side of S4, what do we think they meant?  It obviously wasn't legal consequences for shooting Magnussen, or physical consequences of overdosing on drugs.   

In this meta, I argue that TAB and S4 are above all about the moral, metaphysical, and narrative consequences of Sherlock faking his death during the Reichenbach Fall—an act which continues to reverberate through the story two series later, both for the characters and, significantly, for the writers.

Reichenbach Revisited

First, a little review session: What exactly was the "final problem"? 

Ah. Here we are at last—you and me, Sherlock, and our problem—the final problem. Stayin’ alive! It’s so boring, isn’t it?  It’s just ... staying.

We got an answer, but it was hard to grasp without a larger context.  How is staying alive a problem?  It is only in the context of Series 4 that the full meaning and extent of Moriarty's final problem starts to become apparent. 

Moriarty was sick of staying alive, and he wanted Sherlock to feel the same way.  It wasn't enough for Moriarty merely to kill Sherlock (which he could have done at any point on that rooftop)—he needed Sherlock to welcome death, just as he did. 

Moriarty tried to give Sherlock the perfect motivation and opportunity to kill himself.  He went to great pains to threaten Sherlock's best friends, so Sherlock could honorably sacrifice himself for their safety.  Moriarty even stepped first into the breach, hopeful that Sherlock would follow him.  But Sherlock refused his offer, and wiggled his way out of this pre-ordained death. He survived the fall and persisted in staying alive.

Appointment in Samarra

When does the path we walk on lock around our feet? When does the road become a river with only one destination?

 The sinister story of The Appointment in Samarra is introduced early in Series 4, and referenced repeatedly in the first episode.  Some found this heavy-handed, but it was vital to underline the significance of this fable, because this is the heart of our story -- not just The Six Thatchers, not just Series 4, but the entirety of Sherlock since The Reichenbach Fall. 

What happens when someone misses their appointment with Death?  Does Death show up at some other moment to claim what it is owed?  Or does it pass them by completely?

When Sherlock returns from his faked death, he seems to be at least considering the latter possibility.

 You know my methods, John. I am known to be indestructible.

As time passes, Sherlock appears to be testing his hypothesis by actively courting death. Mary threatens to shoot him if he steps forward, and he does.  He accepts Mycroft's promise of a "certain death" assignment in lieu of a prison sentence.  He overdoses on the plane in TAB, enough to potentially kill him.  

It is during this drug-fueled fantasy that Sherlock starts to wonder why Moriarty was drawn to kill himself, and he himself flirts briefly with the temptations of death.

Dead is the new sexy.  

 But in the end, Sherlock doesn't die.

Between you and me, John, I always survive a fall.

 He can fall and fall and fall, and he will never land.

Arthur Conan Doyle and the Fandom Problem

The meta-story about Sherlock Holmes's death and rebirth is so often repeated that it has taken on the quality of myth: Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes, he was sick of writing him, so he decided to kill him off once and for all.  He even titled his story The Final Problem, for good measure.  

We all know what happened next: the fans, to put it mildly, objected.  The stories of people dressing in mourning clothes over a fictional character's death may well be apocryphal, but they are nevertheless an important part of how we understand Sherlock Holmes.  The fans wouldn't let him die, so Doyle was forced to bring him back from the dead.  

Doyle never tried to kill Holmes again, and when he died, other writers took on the project, and in the past hundred years, Sherlock has never stopped being revived.  

"There can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes," Vincent Starrett tells us in that famous quotation.  It's meant to be reassuring, heart-warming even, but looked at a certain way, it takes on the aura of a threat. 

The Final Problem

This, then, becomes The Final Problem, both for Sherlock and for Moftiss.  How do you end Sherlock?  How do you make him mortal again?  Now we see how right Moriarty was: the problem is, in merely "staying alive", Sherlock Holmes becomes inert, stagnant, boring.  We don't need him to die, but the audience needs to feel at least that he can die, or all the tension and drama go out of the narrative. 

As S4 opens, Sherlock has now walked away from three certain-death situations, and he's a bit giddy.  

I’m just glad to be alive!!!

But even as Sherlock is gleefully tweeting and solving crimes and petting dogs, living life to the fullest, there's a pall over the episode.  He doesn't quite trust his good luck—surely Samarra can't be avoided forever.  So when will it catch up to him?  

At last, it seems like it's going to.

But Mary gets in the way, sacrificing herself to save Sherlock, and thus perhaps fulfilling her own missed appointment.  

At this point, Sherlock starts to realize the downsides to his invulnerability: it only protects him, not those he loves.  Nothing he did could protect Mary, because she was destined to die before him.  

Premonition and Predestination

What we call premonition is just movement of the web. If you could attenuate to every strand of quivering data, the future would be entirely calculable, as inevitable as mathematics.

As TST highlights, Appointment in Samarra isn't just about death, it's also about destiny.  According to the story, no matter how far you run, you're always exactly where you were meant to be. 

Series 4 takes up the idea of predestination repeatedly.  In TST, Sherlock appears to be having premonitions—a dalliance with the supernatural almost unheard of in the entire Sherlock Holmes mythos.  Sherlock claims to Mary that, given enough information, he can even predict the roll of a dice.  This thread is taken up again in The Lying Detective, in which Sherlock is suddenly able to predict (with plausibility-defying accuracy) exactly where everyone will be and what they will do at any given moment.  

Really? I correctly anticipated the responses of people I know well to scenarios I devised? Can’t everyone do that?

This preoccupation with predestination serves the narrative, while simultaneously serving as a commentary on the narrative itself.  Predestination is a handy metaphor for what it feels like to rewrite someone else's story. BBC Sherlock is fanfic, and in theory it can go wherever it wants, make any changes the writers desire.  But even as they make the story their own, we know there are some things Moftiss won't change: the Big Plot Points from ACD they feel obligated to respect.  So yes, in a very literal sense, it was predetermined over a hundred years ago that Mary had to die.  

Nothing’s certain; nothing’s written.

But Mary is wrong—her death was indeed written before, and so it had to be written again.  Nothing Sherlock did was going to change that.  He doesn't need to attenuate to a zillion strands of data, he only needs to follow one to its inevitable conclusion: the narrative. The path that has locked around his feet.  Watson in TAB says he always knows when he's in a story; Sherlock is starting to notice the signs as well. 

If this is the case, nothing Sherlock does can seriously put his own life at risk.  He's the hero, so the narrative will always protect him.  But while at the beginning of S4, this idea seemed to thrill him, in TLD he has become much more ambivalent. He cautions "Faith" against suicide, but he also thinks admiringly about Mary sacrificing herself to save him. He goes on a life-threatening drug binge, but doesn't take the idea of his death seriously, despite Molly's chiding. He tells Smith that he doesn't want to die, but he does want Smith to kill him. It's not that he wants to die—he wants to be mortal.  

“Taking your own life.” Interesting expression. Taking it from who? Oh, once it’s over, it’s not you who’ll miss it. Your own death is something that happens to everybody else. Your life is not your own.

This is an anti-suicide speech, but in this context it's also kind of a lament.  Sherlock does not own his life.  Nor do Moftiss.  Nor even does Doyle.  The fans do—he can only die at their behest, and they will never let that happen.

Meanwhile, Moftiss are expressing the same anxieties about the fate of the narrative.  If Sherlock can't die, how do you build to a satisfying, meaningful ending?  The show can't go on forever, but its narrative can't be killed, either.  The twists get twistier, the cliff-hangers ever more dramatic, the stakes grow higher and higher, but how can any of it ever be resolved? 

Samarra, Revisited

The Final Problem is their answer to this question. In interviews since the airing, Moftiss have claimed the key word for the episode was "transgression":  TFP goes out of its way to break all the rules of Sherlock.  There are no loving shots of London, no text messages floating on the screen.  221b gets blown up, and the rest of the episode takes place in a very blank, artificial, alien environment—more like a stage set than the lived-in world we've come to know.  There's no case, no client.  Even the Belstaff is missing for much of the episode. 

As a result, many fans thought that with TFP, the show had finally gone off the rails—that somehow the writers forgot how to write an episode of Sherlock.  But this shift in aesthetic and narrative mode was entirely by design. The writers were deliberately upending everything we know and love about Sherlock in an attempt to convince us  that anything was possible, that anyone might die.  Even Mycroft.  Maybe even Sherlock. 

And so, it is in this context that Sherlock makes one last attempt to find Samarra.

As is only appropriate, it is Moriarty who (from beyond the grave) once again suggests this option.  

And here we are, at the end of the line. Holmes killing Holmes. This is where I get off.

Up until this point, it seems like Sherlock is planning to kill Mycroft, but here he changes course. It's probably not the locomotive double-entendres that spark his epiphany, so it must be the line "Holmes killing Holmes." Eurus tells us that Jim Moriarty thought Sherlock would make this choice, meaning kill Mycroft.  But that doesn't really make sense.  When he was alive, Jim never said anything about wanting Sherlock to kill his brother. What Moriarty always wanted was for Sherlock to kill himself.

Of course. That’s the point of this.

Suddenly Sherlock realizes that Moriarty's original plan for him is the only way out of his current situation. 

And so he "remembers the Governor", who did the one thing Sherlock couldn't do: he killed himself to save someone he loves.  Never mind that it doesn't work—that was his appointment in Samarra, and in doing it he atoned for his earlier misdeeds and became a good man.  Sherlock missed his appointment, but thanks to Moriarty's hints, he realizes he has a chance to do it over, make it right this time.  He must fulfill his destiny and sacrifice himself to save his friends.

Except he can't.  It's what Moriarty wanted, his final gift to Sherlock, the solution to their "problem".  But Eurus/the narrative/the fans won't let it happen, and Sherlock is saved once again.  

The Eternal Problem

And so the Final Problem remains unsolved, as it always will.  The episode wraps up with a kind of coda—not so much an ending as a promise/threat of endless repetition.  Again and again, we see Sherlock walk the path to his sister's cell. The flat at 221b Baker Street, which was so dramatically exploded earlier in the episode, is recreated with finicky, almost neurotic precision. 

And a montage accompanied by Mary's voice-over reassures us that all our favorite characters will continue on ad infinitum.  The idea is comforting and horrifying all at once. 

Fans have made much of Lestrade's full-circle assertion that Sherlock is now a "good man", and Moffat has confirmed that the point of the show was to humanize Sherlock.

But this isn't really accurate. From the very first episode, Sherlock was always a deeply human character—that is to say, he was flawed. He was complex. He did good things for bad reasons, and bad things for good reasons.  He tried and failed. He was vulnerable and sensitive. He was vain and petty and occasionally cruel, but he was also at times unfathomably kind and empathetic.  He inspired loathing in some, but great loyalty and devotion in those who knew him best.  He was playful, funny, unpredictable.  If he hadn't been all those things—if he had truly been a cold, emotionless machine—he would have been a horrible bore to watch. 

The progress of Sherlock Holmes, then, is not from great man to good man, but from a man—a mortal man with weaknesses and flaws—to a mythic hero who is perfectly strong, perfectly wise, perfectly compassionate. 

Who you really are, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about the legend, the stories, the adventures.  When all else fails, there are two men sitting arguing in a scruffy flat, like they’ve always been there and they always will.

Sherlock Holmes will go on forever, in fanfic and pastiche, in other adaptations, and maybe even under Moftiss's pen. This is how the story is ended, how the "final" problem is solved.  Not by killing Sherlock, but by at last submitting to his true, unalterable destiny: Sherlock is fated (or doomed?) to spend all eternity "in a romantic chamber of the heart: in a nostalgic country of the mind: where it is always 1895."