#for some very questionable definition of 'meta' but sure i guess

[santacoppelia]

Putting the Meta in "Metatron"

(couldn't resist the pun, sorry)

Ok, this has been tickling my brain for a while. I've been thinking about how The Metatron designed his role and discourse specifically to manipulate Aziraphale into the end result we saw in the last minutes of S2. I become obsessed with it because… well, I'm a bit obsessive, but also because there were many really smart writing decisions that I loved (even when I despise The Metatron exactly for the same reasons. Hate the character, love the writer). If you haven't watched Good Omens Season 2, this is the moment to stop reading. Come back later!

We already know that in Book Omens, the role of Gabriel in the ending was occupied by The Metatron. Of course, the series introduced us to Gabriel and we won a lot by that, but I feel that the origins of The Metatron should be considered for any of this. He is not a "sweet old man": he was the one in charge of seeing over the operation of Armageddon; not just a stickler of rules, but the main promoter for it.

However, when he appears in the series finale, we first are primed to almost pass him by. He is in the line for buying coffee, using clothes that are:

obviously not tailored (almost ill fitted)

in dark tones

looking worn and wrinkled

This seems so important to me! All the angels we have seen are so proud of their aspect, wear clear (white or off white) clothes, pressed, impeccable (even Muriel), even when they visit the Earth (which we have already seen on S1 with all the visits to the bookshop). The Metatron chose a worn, comfortable attire, instead. This is a humanized look, something that fools all the angels but which would warm up someone very specific, can you guess?

After making quite a complicated coffee order (with sort of an affable and nervous energy), he makes a question that Crowley had already primed for us when asking Nina about the name of the coffee: having a "predictable" alternative and an unpredictable one.

This creates an interesting parallel with the next scene: Michael is discussing the possibility of erasing Aziraphale from The Book of Life (a punishment even worse than Holy Water on demons, because not having existed at all, EVER is definitely worse than having existed and ceased to exist at some point) when The Metatron arrives, interrupts the moment and signals having brought coffee. Yup, an amicable gesture, but also a "not death" offering that he shows clearly to everyone (even when Michael or Uriel do not understand or care for it. It wasn't meant for them). He even dismisses what Michael was saying as "utter balderdash" and a "complete piffle", which are the kind of outdated terms we have heard Aziraphale use commonly. So, The Metatron has put up this show for a specific audience of one.

The next moment on the script has Metatron asking Crowley for the clarification of his identity. Up to this moment, every angel has been ignoring the sprawled demon in the corner while discussing how to punish Aziraphale… But The Metatron defers to the most unlikely person in the room, and the only one who will push any buttons on Aziraphale: Crowley. After that, Aziraphale can recognize him, and Metatron dismisses the "bad angels" (using Aziraphale's S1 epithet) with another "catchy old phrase", "spit spot", while keeping Muriel at the back and implying that there is a possibility to "check after" if those "bad angels" have done anything wrong.

Up to this moment, he has played it perfectly. The only moment when he loses it is when he calls Muriel "the dim one", which she ignores… probably because that's the usual way they get talked to in Heaven. I'm not sure if Aziraphale or Crowley cared for that small interaction, but it is there for us (the audience) to notice it: the sympathy the character might elicit is built and sought, but he is not that nice.

After that, comes "the chinwag" and the offer of the coffee: the unnecessarily complicated order. It is not Aziraphale's cup of tea (literally), but it is so specific that it creates some semblance of being thought with care, and has a "hefty jigger" of syrup (again with the funny old words). And, as Aziraphale recognizes, it is "very nice!" (as The Metatron "jolly hoped so"), and The Metatron approves of him drinking it by admitting he has "ingested things in my time, you know?". This interaction is absolutely designed to build a bridge of understanding. The Metatron probably knew that the first response he would get was a "no", so he tailored his connection specifically to "mirror" Aziraphale: love of tasty human treats he has also consumed, funny old words like the ones he loves, a very human, worn, well-loved look. That was the bait for "the stroll": the moment when Aziraphale and Crowley get separated, because The Metatron knew that being close to Crowley, Aziraphale would have an hypervigilant soundboard to check the sense of what he was going to get offered. That's what the nasty look The Metatron gives to Crowley while leaving the bookshop builds (and it gets pinpointed by the music, if you were about to miss it).

The next thing we listen from The Metatron is "You don't have to answer immediately, take all the time you need" in such a friendly manner… we can see Aziraphale doubting a little, and then comes the suggestion: "go and tell your friend the good news!". This sounds like encouragement, but is "the reel". He already knows how Crowley would react, and is expecting it (we can infer it by his final reaction after going back for Aziraphale after the break up, but let's not get ahead of ourselves shall we?). He even can work up Muriel to take care of the bookshop while waiting for the catch.

What did he planted in Aziraphale's mind? Well, let's listen to the story he has to tell:

"I don't think he's as bad a fellow… I might have misjudged him!" — not strange in Aziraphale to have such a generous spirit while judging people. He's in a… partnership? relationship? somethingship? with a demon! So maybe first impressions aren't that reliable anyway. The Metatron made an excellent job with this, too.

"Michael was not the obvious candidate, it was me!" — This idea is interesting. Michael has been the stickler, the rule follower, even the snitch. They have been rewarded and recognized by that. Putting Aziraphale before Michael in the line of succession is a way of recognizing not only him, but his system of values, which has always been at odds with the main archangels (even when it was never an open fight).

"Leader, honest, don't tell people what they want to hear" — All these are generic compliments. The Metatron hasn't been that aware of Aziraphale, but are in line with what would have been said of any "rebel leader". They come into context with the next phrase.

"That's why Gabriel came to you, I imagine…" — I'm pretty sure The Metatron didn't imagine this, ha. He is probably imagining that the "institutional problem" is coalescing behind his back, and trying to keep friends close, but enemies closer… while dividing and conquering. If Gabriel rebelled, and then went searching for Aziraphale (and Crowley, they are and item and he knows it), that might mean a true risk for his status quo and future plans.

Heaven has great plans and important projects for you — this is to sweeten the pot: the hefty jigger of almond syrup. You will be able to make changes! You can make a difference from the inside! Working for an old man who feels strangely familiar! And who recognizes your point of view! That sounds like the best job offer of the world, really.

Those, however, are not the main messages (they are still building good will with Aziraphale); they are thought out to build the last, and more important one:

Heaven is well aware of your "de facto partnership" with Crowley…

It would be considered irregular if you wanted to work with him again…

You, and you alone, can bring him to Heaven and restore his full angelic status, so you could keep working together (in very important projects).

Here is the catch. He brought the coffee so he could "offer him coffee", but the implications are quite clear: if you want to continue having a partnership with Crowley, you two must come to Heaven. Anything else would be considered irregular, put them in a worst risk, and maybe, just maybe, make them "institutional enemies". Heaven is more efficient chasing enemies, and they have The Book of Life as a menace.

We already know how scared Aziraphale has always been about upsetting Heaven, but he has learned to "disconnect" from it through the usual "they don't notice". The Metatron came to tell him "I did notice, and it has come back to bite you". The implied counterpart to the offer is "you can always get death". Or even worse, nonexistence (we have already imagined the angst of having one of them condemned to that fate, haven't we?)

When The Metatron arrives, just after seeing Crowley leave the bookshop, distraught, he casually asks "How did he take it?", but he already knows. That was his plan all along: making them break up with an offer Aziraphale could not refuse, but Crowley could not accept. That's why he even takes the license to slightly badmouth Crowley: "Always did want to go his own way, always asking damn fool questions, too". He also arrive with the solution to the only objection Aziraphale would have: Muriel, the happy innocent angel that he received with so much warmth and kindness, is given the opportunity to stay on Earth, taking care of the bookshop. The only thing he would have liked to take with him is not a thing, and has become impossible.

If God is playing poker in a dark room and always smiling, The Metatron is playing chess, and he is quite good at it (that's why he loves everything to be predictable). He is menacing our pieces, and broke our hearts in the process… But I'm pretty sure he is underestimating his opponents. His awful remark of Muriel being "dim"; saying that Crowley "asks damn fool questions", and even believing that Aziraphale is just a softie that can be played like a pipe… That's why telling him the project is "The Second Coming" was an absolute gift for us as an audience, and it prefigures the downfall that is coming — the one Aziraphale, now with nothing to lose, started cooking in his head during that elevator ride (those couple of minutes that Michael Sheen gifted to all of us: the shock, the pain, the fury, and that grin in the end, with the eyes in a completely different emotion). Remember that Aziraphale is intelligent, but also fierce. Guildernstern commited a similar mistake in Hamlet, and it didn't go well:

"Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops, you would pluck out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass, and there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me."

I'm so excited to learn how this is going to unfold!! Because our heroes have always been very enthusiastic at creating plans together, failed miserably at executing them, and even then succeeding… But now they are apart, more frustrated and the stakes are even higher. Excellent scenario for a third act!

*exits, pursued by a bear*

[monstrousmuse]

I am not sure if anyone here has already made this connection or pointed this out (apologies if so), but while doing some research into Flatland/the 11 dimensions the other day, I discovered something pretty interesting…

…

In the ‘Book of Bill’ announcement video, as well as distorted, synthesised background music and the Morse Code (which has already been deciphered), we can also hear several lines of spoken dialogue, the first of which being the line: “some other mystic dimension”.

Timestamp: 0:04

Now, this line already raises several questions - which ‘dimension’ is being referring to here? And why is it considered to be ‘mystic(al)’? Well, we don’t have a definite answer to either of those questions just yet, but if you will humour me for a moment, I have a few suggestions. Either this ‘other mystic dimension’ could be referring to Bill’s own homeland, the Second Dimension (which would naturally be considered ‘other’, ‘mystic’ and generally unfamiliar to us, the readers), or perhaps, it is referring to the Third Dimension itself, or what is known as Spaceland (Height/Up) in Abbott’s novella. I think the latter to be far more likely, especially with what I am about to show you. This is where my excessive YouTube deep-diving habits came in useful.

…

During my research quest, I stumbled upon this video of the famous astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan (take note of this name) explaining the concept of the Fourth Dimension, as well as other Flatland-adjacent things. And lo and behold, at 4:37, what do we hear?

“And the poor Square has to say: ‘Well, I was in some other mystic dimension called Up…”

Yes, that’s right. The exact words that were used in the promo video.

To provide you some context, here Sagan is recounting the experience of A Square who, with the guidance and revelations of A Sphere, has just returned from a recent foray into the Third Dimension, and is trying to explain his sudden disappearance and newfound knowledge of Height to his friends. So saying, it is likely that the ‘other mystic dimension’ being referred to in the BoB video is in fact, the Third Dimension, since this is a book that has been written from Bill’s perspective, and it seems that he will be filling in the role of A Square in this narrative, discovering the Secrets Of The Universe and all. Although, I must emphasise that this is still just speculation on my part, based on the assumption that Bill’s backstory will be pretty similar to, if not a direct retelling of Flatland:

“Flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams.”

Who knows, Alex Hirsch may just subvert our expectations entirely.

“I liberated my dimension (…)” / “Saw his own dimension burn. Misses home and can’t return.”

…

Anyway, I have another little piece of the puzzle to share. The line spoken in the announcement video isn’t merely a word-for-word recreation of what Carl Sagan said, It is Carl Sagan. They used a direct clip from an episode of Cosmos. This has me giddy with excitement, because Carl Sagan, a man with much notoriety within the scientific community, and many achievements and accolades to his name, is known to be one of Ford’s scientific idols.

The level of detail in this show, and I guess now in its extended literary canon’s advertisement material, is insane. Do with this information what you will. Perhaps there’s a connection here that will be expounded upon in the book. Perhaps it’s just a cool reference. Even so, it is a very intriguing one nonetheless, especially with the tie-ins to Flatland, theoretical physics and Ford’s hero-worshipping. It’s clearly intentional.

…

(If anyone is interested, here is an excellent meta which provides a very detailed exploration and analysis of Ford’s respective connections to Sagan and Tesla.)

[batbitestoys]

Hi! I have a question that also sort of doubles as a “what Id love to see in a transmasc stroker”, if that’s okay! I’m curious, are there practical reasons why a sort of “cone-shaped” entrance to strokers isn’t more common? I find with my anatomy (and others I’ve spoken to) at least a slightly opened up entrance would be very helpful, since unlike a cis penis, trans masc bottom growth (unless someone has had meta) tends to be connected to a lot of other skin/bits. One of my favorite strokers has a wider entrance, but unfortunately is super soft (and from a big company so they offer only 1 softness) and doesn’t offer much suction. Anyways, I’m mostly just curious why this doesn’t seem to be very common? Thanks!!! Love you work and cannot wait to hopefully get myself the new pack and play!!

I think you don't see cone shaped entrances very often bc most companies make their penetrables with cis male penises in mind, and then if they have a transmasc friendly version its just shrunken down without any edits to the internals would be my guess!

I've found I have the same issue with a lot of strokers so when I was collaborating with the designer for our closed ended transmasc stroker, Aux, we made sure there's a couple internal sizes to help accommodate folks with a lot of hood that gets in the way.

I've got plans for some more transmasc specific strokers and c-rings in the future though that will have more more variety for internal shapes!! I've gotten feedback from some folks that a more oval shaped entrance works well for them vs a perfectly circular entrance as well, so I'll definitely be designing some models to make use of that info ^^

[ladybracknellssherry]

Some more Meta type thoughts/questions that are far from analyses/real theories. Still learning how to search for specifics with metas and such so I guess this is just me once again throwing out a line.

Pt I. If Gabriel wasn't present when God spoke to Job...why did God's words/voice come out of Jimbriel's mouth in his mini memory trance? Aziraphale and Crowley were right there, watching Job, but they couldn't hear what God was saying. Gabriel couldn't have seen that happening, otherwise he would have seen Aziraphale and Crowley just hanging out like two old buds watching Job and God.

This doesn't feel like a memory anymore. Not just a memory. Because this wasn't just Gabriel's voice. This was Gabriel's voice and God's voice.

And of course there is Jimbriel's second memory trance in E3 that only Crowley heard, in which there is another voice in the "memory" as well - but this does not sound like God's voice/at least not Frances McDormand. I listened to it and listened to it and if it sounds like any of the Heaven people at all, it sounds most like Muriel. But it also sounds more like an American accent. So that's a big ? from me for right now.

The Earth observation files we've seen so far are apparently just images, not audio. The only full video/audio files from Heaven seem to be just things that happened in Heaven.

Pt. II. This one is really stressing me out. We keep analyzing every aspect of time in S2 because it is so prominent and seems so weird. The very prominently displayed and loudly ticking clock in the bookshop. All of the mobile phones and watches. All of the minisode/flashbacks which themselves are divergences from a linear storytelling timeline.

Twice in S2E3 Crowley says "Too late."

So here's where I got upset. Canonically we know that Crowley's Book/S1 watch shows the time "in a capital city in Another Place, where it was always one time, and that was too late."

Now of course there is the time stop theory because of the missing minutes in the final 15. So if the clock kept ticking...then time was stopped everywhere except for the bookshop? EVERYWHERE? 🧐

Crowley's only S2 time manipulation type deal we clearly saw was in S2E3 with Mr. Dalrymple - but that wasn't a time stop so much as a Mr. Dalrymple stop.

It's probably all over the place here but I can't find it. When I went on this particular side-quest I found This post from thecatHimselfknows on reddit.

Though Crowley no longer has his watch, someone does.

And it's Shax.

sorry for the shit quality.

So I don't think at all that Crowley's watch specifically has anything to do with his time-stopping ability. I mean, maybe somehow it was imbued or miracled or something. But I don't think so.

Just as far as symbolism, it is another strange and curious GO2 time mystery.

I've also read this in fics but don't remember reading anything about it in the book and it definitely wasn't in the show. The theory is that time works differently in Heaven and Hell. Just another Q I guess I'm throwing out.

So I'm not going to suggest the possibility that in S2 there was some weird time fuckery that put them in Another Place. But the "it's always too late" watch/Another Place nod in a season full of time madness adds to the time suspiciousness for sure.

(I'm working on my tags for all of my weird Q's and random thoughts and meta type deals for my organization for myself so just...yeah)

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Re: your post about JohnandPaul. If you do wish to share them, I'd love to know your headcanons about John and Paul's feelings for each other. ( I do get your discomfort about sharing though and yeah, I also miss the long discussions and metas from back when Get Back came out. It feels like, except you and some others, most of my favorite blogs have moved on from the fandom)

I've been sitting on this ask for several days now.

First of all I hear you, re:blogs moving on. It's understandable, but it's also sad when my brain does not want to give this stuff up any time soon lol.

In my post I talked about having specific headcanons about their feelings for each other, but the truth is, it's more like I imagine hundreds of very specific somewhat plausible scenarios, while not actually fully buying into any of them.

I always struggle with how sure people are of some definite timeline of McLennon because I just don't see how it's in any way clear: the most compelling evidence that at least John had Those Feelings™ for Paul is stuff he said after the fact (compiled with the stronger case for John being attracted to men in general) – so, if I choose to interpret his words in that way, I'm still not very close to knowing when he developed this attraction. Let alone concluding anything substantial about Paul's feelings.

(And no, I really don't find the two of them saying the other looked good when they met particularly compelling. Appearance plays a huge role in first impressions, regardless of attraction.)

So I guess, it's more that I have open questions I return to again and again, for which I try to construct hypothetical answers that make sense to me. Aside from that bigger timeline question, here's a few more specific ones:

From what I've gathered researching the topic, listening to psychonauts speak about their trips, the acid mindset very much romanticizes all forms of human connection (among other things). I think that's probably what was going on during those "I know."–"I know." sessions John and Paul had on LSD. With that in mind, how might that have mixed in with John trying to understand how he felt about Paul? Could it have confused him? Opened him up to the idea? "Appeased" him for a while? (and again, the answer here would depend on the timeline of feelings in the end)

I still lean towards "Paul is not meaningfully attracted to men" (or at least "Paul valued other aspects of his relationship with John much more than physical attraction") – with that in mind I do kind of ask myself what Paul thought his relationship with John was exactly. Like, I don't pretend it was a standard, run-of-the-mill friendship, so I wonder a lot what his end-goal was, how he saw both of them continuing into later stages of life. The way he talks about the breakup, equating John choosing Yoko with John leaving Paul, speaks to something somewhat true about most couples that marry – but why did he not anticipate that before? What was different? Also, for $20 don't copout with "hurr hurr cause Cyn didn't matter"

Paul's various takes on The John Question continue to puzzle me. On the one hand, it sort of seems to me like Paul would have had enough context clues at the time to get that John was attracted to men, because some of our evidence for it is evidence he would have had access to – he also indicated at least once that John was in fact kind of openly bicurious??? (note: that rant keeps me up at night. Could write a whole thesis on it and also it's so fucking funny) On the other, Paul is pretty insistent that the rumours are Not True and he's not actually the only person to shoot them down like that. (May Pang, Julia Baird, Tony Bramwell, Hunter Davies off the top of my head) It shouldn't be a stretch of the imagination that a man born in the 1940s might have trouble rearranging the image he's made of his dead best friend so drastically (or in a way that might feel drastic to him). So what is it? Is Paul obfuscating the question to protect John's reputation/because he thinks the curiosity is in poor taste or does he genuinely not buy into it? I'm not actually sure whether he's weighed in on this since Yoko's "John Was BI!!!!" reveal. Has this stance developed over the years? And if I assume Paul does know about John's sexuality: does he in fact think John had feelings for him? I do think this is a thing he would never talk about if he did so it feels like there would be no way of knowing either way. But it also makes me wonder about the barriers he might have set up in his head to avoid that very question – because the truth is that if John had Those Feelings™ for Paul and Paul never knew, that's sort of the second-worst case scenario from Paul's perspective, right after John having never liked him in the first place.

AND THEN THERE'S JOHN. Because just because Paul may not have picked up on it, doesn't mean John wasn't putting anything down. But he could also very much have been sending mixed signals from his own end, right? And again, acid mindset + mid 60s Free Love shit: in that culture, how much could John making advances be perhaps taken as Flowery Friendship? Did he justify it to himself that way? Or was John actually violently shoving all of that down? Was he truly capable of that?

It really never ends – I'm not certain of ANYTHING, but give me a proposal (ie. "In My Life is about Paul") and I'll talk myself into circles exploring the ins and outs of that hypothetical.

[caeslxys]

"I’ve seen a lot of people say that the Hells will side with the gods and I don’t think I agree. Especially as Imogen has been scolded and villainized over and over for daring to try and save her mother—who herself has been seen by some as an irredeemable evil in spite of her drive being the exact same—her family—but when it’s the Gods it’s justified? When it’s the Gods, it’s sympathetic? Too sympathetic to criticize further than “they’re family”?"

good meta op, but i'm slightly confused about this part. are you talking of the fandom here or the narrative? because from what i've seen and remember, imogen has definitely been scolded or villanized as you say, by the fandom, but has she been treated that way by the hells or anyone else? i guess keyleth comes to mind, but apart from that, the hells seemed supportive of her wanting to reach out and reconcile with her mom.

Prefacing what i'm sure will be an overly long mostly tangent: you obviously do not have to agree with my interpretations of any scene I'm about to bring up and if you don't sick cool please do not make it a problem

A bit of both, to be honest! The use of the word “villainizing” was definitely more geared toward fandom response, but Imogen has absolutely been scolded—or maybe shamed is the better word—in campaign several times! Yes by Keyleth threatening her in front of them all just for being ruidusborn and related to Liliana, but also by Orym in particular several times.

Which is not to say that Orym doesn’t want Imogen to save her mother—obviously he does!—but it has definitely been more than once that he has shut down her grief and her processing her relationship with her mother by inserting his own grief over it, notably in the immediate aftermath of Ruidus and convo with Liliana.

(Which, yes, he immediately apologized for, but I do find it interesting that Imogen got shit from fandom for her response in the scene I'm about to bring up in episode 49 for EVER but no one was allowed to criticize Orym's response as impulsive and insensitive there and he notably was not disassociating or being actively manipulated. Just think it's interesting!)

And while it wasn’t nearly so livid in it’s delivery, that moment in 49 where she was just trying to process seeing her mother and speaking with her and being presented with the idea of peace for the first time in her life was delivered (though you could argue this wasn’t his intent; honestly I don’t think it was, but—) in a way that immediately had her plummeting into self-deprecating apologies for being effectively manipulated. I’ve actually written a bit before about how I find the youth of his grief making it more volatile in comparison to the rest of the hells’ grief deeply compelling as a thematic beat!

That’s a bit of a tangent just bc I find specifically the dynamic between Orym/Imogen/Liliana to be a very compelling one lmao but even in the Uthodurn arc with Chetney insight checking her to see if she was telling the truth or not about her intentions with her mother. Or Fearne bringing up to Orym (also back in 49) the question of what they planned to do with/to her if she turned. It's not that I think, necessarily, that those were ill intentioned but they were coming from a place of, at best, mistrust specifically because of her connection to Liliana. Really only Ashton and Laudna—and FCG, funnily enough—have not in some way taken her grief and yearning and turned against her when it comes to placing their trust in her (whether she was aware they did so or not), which of course speaks to a certain interpretation they had of her character at the time.

And, also, this has obviously since changed and most of them mostly understand where she’s coming from now—especially Orym!—but it doesn’t make the fact that it happened any less true!

[boyfridged]

if you got complete control over DC and got to write a Jason solo comic, how would you go about it? or like what would be the story??

you're indulging me!

well, my first preference would probably be writing a jason-never-died elseworld and this is what i'm doing with my series robin vol 2. or something like 80s retroactive but longer, so essentially a robin jay series that we were robbed of.

but i'm presuming you are asking about what i would do with the main timeline... i guess if you've been following me for a while, nothing on this list will come as a surprise, because it's simply a combination of my own meta dressed in plot points... i'm just not sure how i would organise it, since i mostly think about these in terms of fanfiction, so it's a bit fragmented in my head. but i think it would be doable to combine those:

addressing the current mess in canon: unavoidable. i always imagined (and by always i mean i've had that image in my head for at least 5 years now) if i were to write a comicbook script for jay i would start with the classic simple layout showcasing the more sunny (early days robin jay's) version of gotham but with panels shaped like shattered glass imposing on it, displaying different contradicting pieces of canon and culminating with the question of who *the real* jason todd is, as a nod to countdown asking the same. dc actually attempted to do something like that when the infinite frontier was first introduced, it just wasn't very well executed... (btw. and as far as i know the hypertime is still supposed to be relevant so it would work...)

since i already started talking about countdown it could also contain some multiversal insight into all the other worlds in which jason todd is alive.

or maybe an idea i once dropped here, with the mystical serpentine of magical fog (the one from the lost days and the end of the utrh when jason presumably is brought back to life once again) traveling through the scenes of flashbacks of other characters (perhaps even just a reflections of retcons!) tarnishing jason's memory when he's dead, cut to kid jay literally stirring in the coffin, and finally an adult jason waking up with a jolt in the final scene. so many options.

you get the image. i wish that dc utilised the weirdness of the meta in a serious way, and that the talk of the past was a talk of the history of comics in a sense... as i previously expressed here.

as you all know by now my reading of jason (and batman in general even) is mostly based on the 80s... and so it would be a love letter to this era. i would definitely want to include some robin jay stories there as well, maybe make jason investigate cases that date back to his childhood and are somehow interconnected, creating a bridge between the narratives and reconciling them.

ending what i call the long funeral - jason's era of remaining dead both socially and to the narrative. what i have in mind is an arc in which he is working on a case that seems to have to do with magic/ghosts, but that ultimately turns out to be a case of corruption and plain police brutality. two things here: i would want him to fuck up spectacularly so that he starts questioning his modus operandi and dedication to vigilantism in general. and it would set up the ground for the introduction of abolitionism and link the story to his early ethical framework.

a retirement arc. jason's proper come back to the crime alley and reintroduction to the land of living (the alley might be a graveyard to bruce but it's a home to jason...) and very importantly, a cast of civilians! leslie is definitely back. i would also love to use dana & denise, and maybe even some pre-crisis characters.

i would fridge bruce. put him out of commission basically, death or not. and i'm not saying batman jay era but actually i am saying batman jay era. (i once again can't find a link to the post explaining my bat jay agenda but if it's of your interest i can elaborate.)

a two-face story. about forgiveness or rather about the fact that it never quite passed. and about willis.

the themes... the motifs... you know me. ouroboros and self-mythologization and the sacrifice and catholicism (probably not in a way you think) and family duty. and politics. here you can also guess what i'm thinking about, and it's a revolutionary abolitionist turn.

and to conclude: big words but i would use jason to bring love back to the gotham lore and batman titles in general. he is a character that has always stood in the centre of both values and challenges that the story faced. if he's not treated with consideration and not taken seriously, nothing in it is.

[noelle-holi-gay]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

heyyyy I was tagged by @snarky-wallflower for this thingy, and I don't typically do stuff like this but what the heck! This one looks fun, and I need a small break from finals.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Sixty-six! Nice round satanic number.

2. What’s your total word count?

Uhhh... 1,164,238. I think I broke a million back with Dream Come True. Wild stuff! Guess that's what happens when you do this nonstop for like four years.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Deltarune these days, obviously, but I also had a wonderful time in the Splatoon and DuckTales fandoms, as well as Miraculous Ladybug, My Little Pony, and a ton of smaller ones here and there.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Dare to Dream (Deltarune): A fun little Susie x Noelle romcom that takes place in a divergent chapter 2 timeline where Susie kisseed Noelle on the Ferris Wheel. Also the first fic in my mega-series Dream Come True, a 300,000 word epic that really kind of went off the rails. But don't worry about that! It's just a funny little romcom! Come closer!

F@#!, Marry, or Kill (Miraculous Ladybug): I am so mad that this is up here. This fic sucks. I wrote it when I was fourteen (hence my reluctance to say "fuck" in the title) and it's just the main characters of the show getting caught up in a game of Fuck-Marry-Kill that involves their own superhero identites, but nobody else knows that. It's a good way to leverage the dramatic irony of Miraculous Ladybug, I guess, but I hate that this was my most-kudoed fic for so long. I wrote it over SEVEN years ago. The only reason it got so popular is because back in 2016, the Miraculous Ladybug fandom was a sea of piranhas starved by the seemingly endless will-they won't-they of the show, ravenous for whatever scraps they could get their grimy little teeth on. Perfect example of why popularity doesn't always equate with quality.

People Write Fanfiction About Me? (Miraculous Ladybug): This one is actually good, even if it's also incredibly old. Basically, Marinette finds online RPF of her and her superhero partner that was obviously written by her superhero partner, and they get into a whole meta fanfiction war, and it gets worse from there. I like this one a lot even if it's in an outdated style: I think it's a good take on the identity reveal genre for the ML fandom.

Stealing Kisses (Deltarune): Not much to say on this one! It's a direct continuation of Dare to Dream, still part of the Dream Come True series, though it functions more as a drama than a straight romcom, which is only one of many tone shifts that this series eventually takes. It also contains Locker Biting Challenge (if you know you know), which I think is, to date, one of the funniest bits of situational comedy I've ever written, so it gets special notes for that.

Crossing the Streams (DuckTales): And this is my most popular DuckTales fic, to round out the set! It's a low-stakes / no-magic AU, where instead of going on daring adventures, the DuckTales kids stream FPS video games online, and are, like, famous streamers. I think its popularity was artificially boosted just a tad due to being in-progress when the series finale dropped, but I think it holds up! I had some good fun playing with identity, fame, and hidden relationships.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I--sometimes! Just not very often... Look, if someone asks me a question, or if I have something to actually say in response, or if the comment is particularly touching, I'll reply, but I'm just really bad at taking compliments! It feels very awkward to me to reply to every comment when I would basically just be going "Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked it!" ten times in a row. That's the only reason (<-Definitely doesn't have anxiety)

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't tend to do unhappy endings. Cold Case for sure, if it were finished, lmao. Although--I guess you could argue Stealing Kisses has a very angsty ending, though it isn't actually an ending since it's just a sequel-bait cliffhanger. But yeah, I'm going to cheat a little and say Cold Case. It should be finished soon, anyway! Hopefully!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

That's hard to say considering the amount of romcoms I've written, but I think I'd actually have to go with the final mainline entry in my Splatoon series, Operation 24, which was The Wedding. It ends on a really sweet and poignant rooftop scene that I think is particularly uplifting, even compared to the endings of my other long-form romance fics.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Very rarely. I've gotten my share of transphobic comments -- welcome to the Internet! -- but thankfully they've been few and far between. I just delete them when they show up.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, I have; no, you can't see it :p

10. Do you write crossovers?

I have written at least two crossover fics, so yes! I wouldn't exactly call it my genre, though. They're a little too niche and I like attention.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Oh boy. Yes, twice; the first was my Fuck Marry Kill fic for miraculous ladybug, which was ripped off and horribly butchered into a terrible version of the story by someone who IMMEDIATELY abandoned it to Orphan Account. Which is wild to me.

But the real creme of the crop was some kid on WattPad who copied large portions of my Operation 24 series, and then changed small and seemingly arbitrary details throughout to be more...train-centric? Like, all the characters would have strange and OOC dialog about trains in the middle of the romance. And then after a few chapters of that it did a total left-hand veer into a Thomas the Tank Engine / Harry Potter crossover that was utterly wild to behold. This whole saga is probably one of the weirdest things that has ever happened to me in my life and I'm honestly more bewildered than mad about it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Wow, wouldn't that be cool! But no, along with getting a podfic this is one of those big fic-writer experiences that has elude me thusfar.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope! I don't really know how to co-write outside of RP, and I haven't ever really done RP. I'm not opposed to the concept of co-writing, but I think it's sort of difficult to make work with my writing style.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

While I'd love to give the PR-friendly answer of Suselle, I think it's gotta go to Miraculous Ladybug's Love Square. That show has haunted me for seven years and is showing no sign of stopping, and the fuckery it does with its main relationship is some utterly unrivaled Shakespearian nonsense. The way the fandom has built around the relationship is also very interesting, especially the way the fanfic scene has shifted as the show develops and its audience grows up.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

If I want to finish a WIP, I will finish that WIP. The only ones that don't get finished are the ones I don't want to finish. This is the power of believing in yourself!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialog for sure--always has been--and also just, like, grammar? I do words good, as they say. I like to think I have a pretty well-rounded writing skillset at this point, though.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Definitely descriptive stuff like setting the scene. I have to really work to make sure my scenes are embodied in physical reality, and sometimes I just forget to describe new locations. It's just a fairly boring part of writing for me, so I don't like doing it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I took six years of Spanish and have forgotten all of it, so this is unlikely at best. Spanish also uses em dashes instead of quotation marks to denote speaker changes, and while that is very linguistically interesting, it is also very confusing to me, specifically.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhhh... the first fandom I published was Miraculous Ladybug, but I think the first fandom I wrote for was My Little Pony. My MLP stuff is on a different site, and also pretty freaking bad, but it was my first large-scale fic and it really helped me develop my skills and voice.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Easy: Dream Come True. That was a monumental journey to go on, and seeing my readerbase follow along as that story morphed and twisted and just kept going and going was such a unique and satisfying experience as a writer. It truly feels unreplicable.

I'm not going to tag anyone because I am a coward, and get horribly anxious at the prospect of @ing people. But if you see this and you wanna do it, use me as an excuse! Say I atted you! Live freely!

Okay good bye. I must return to my endless studies...

[fullmoonfireball]

sorry if this is an ask that has been sent to you in the past, but, splatoon weapon mains for Olimar, Louie, and the Rescue Corps? Plus an honorary Oatchi and Moss if you feel up to it

nope, not something i've been asked before! i've discussed the first two's mains with Sleepy at least though so it's not like this is a foreign concept to me

Olimar would be a Splatling main (specifically Nautilus and/or Heavy Edit)

Louie,, Brush or Blasters. maybe the occasional Slosher too-oh my god these are just Big Man's weapon picks fuuuck. it's fine it's a very "having fun+playing" weapon set even if they're doing it in two different directions. i'm thinking Octobrush/Clash Blaster/Explosher

Collin is real "living beacon" type guy I think. very consistently remains alive even when no one else on the team is. pretty much exclusively does backlines, and mains Chargers and Splatlings. probably would want to main the Tenta Brella too.

Shepherd plays the Splatana Stamper Nouveau. could see her doing Rollers/Brushes too, but that in particular is calling to me. she's just got strong melee vibes i guess.

Russ is a Blaster main, no question. he misses the days where the Luna Blaster was OP, but still uses it anyways. he's also 🤏 this close from getting banned from competing in anything due to making some Grizzco Weapon-esque bullshit.

Dingo is a Dualie main, also no questions. probably Tetra Dualies specifically. he feels like the kind of guy who tries to dodge roll as much as physically possible. he'll also do Splatana Wiper from time to time. totally not to try and show off to Shepherd.

Yonny is an E-Liter main. no notes. he just is.

Bernard... is a hard one. semi-auto Shooters are kind of calling to me for him? not sure which one but . yeah

no clue what Oatchi and Moss would use because. oggys. but here's some Koppaite mains for funzies/to round things out:

Alph.... i think is a Shooter main. very much appreciates the versatility of the class. probably would love to study the meta but wouldn't pick weapons solely based on it, yknow.

Brittany is definitely a Squiffer girlie. she can do other Chargers fine, but that one's her favourite. she'd probably also like to crush people with a nice big Roller sometimes, but...

Charlie is 100% a Roller main. just look at him. the man talks about beating up the creatures of PNF-404 with his "steely fists" in 3DX's Piklopedia. of COURSE he's a roller main. he's probably big into the Dynamo Roller specifically.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Hello, hello! i just got curious with the blood lineage subject and ive been doing research on my own (for a fic im writing), but would definitely be honored to get your own Hollowed Theory on this: Squibs, more specifically their children.

Like say, a Squib (whose both parents are considered purebloods) + pureblood sire = halfblood child(?)

or say both parents are Squibs (parents are halfblood and muggle) but produce a magical child (muggleborn?)

very curious about your take on this and thank you for taking the time to reply! (i dearly consider your metas canon in my head)

Hello!

Firstly, thank you so much! This is so sweet!

As for your ask, I assume you're talking about the discussion of magic and genetics in this post, regarding the likelihood of children being born with magic depending on their parentage.

Now, I'm not sure about your question because genetically speaking a wizard is a wizard and the only difference is how much genetic diversity exists and therefore the likelihood of squibs and powerful magical children varies. So, genetically a child of a "pure-blood" squib and a "pure-blood" wizard will be like any other pure-blood. The squib, even if they don't have magic, still has the same lack of genetic diversity like any other pure-blood wizard. (I think a child of a pure-blood squib and a pure-blood wizard is actually more likely to be another squib rather than a wizard because I believe squibs are the result of a lack of genetic diversity...)

The moment you add muggle blood in (some genetic diversity) there is no real difference. So genetically, a half-blood, a muggleborn, or someone who calls themselves a "pure-blood" but their great-grandma was a muggle, are all the same. There is no major genetic difference. A wizard is a wizard.

(There are differences in power and skill, along with unique magical hereditary abilities like Parseltongue and things like that. But in general, all wizards are genetically the same)

If the question is more, what would wizards call them according to their social definitions and use of blood-purity terms, that's a different question. Because their society is pretty obsessed with blood, so I'd say they would care a lot about what someone is called.

From the patterns, we see if I had to guess most edge cases like this would all be called "half-bloods" by wizarding society.

I reblogged a thread about this a bit ago, but essentially anyone who isn't a wizard with like 7 generations of wizards from each side would be called a "half-blood" since it's their catch-all for anyone who isn't "pure" enough to be considered "pure-blood" but technically isn't muggleborn. A wizard born of a squib, even if the squib isn't closely related to muggles, would still probably be considered a "half-blood" due to squibs not being wizards.

If a "muggleborn" has a known magical grandparent but their parent is a squib (like the second case you asked about), I think they would be referred to as either "half-blood" or "muggleborn" by people in the Wizarding World, depending on who they're talking to. I'd expect more extreme blood-purists would call them "muggleborn" or "mudblood" and the less blood-fanatic ones might call them "half-blood", but some would still call them "muggleborn" probably. It would depend on how they present themselves and how well-known their ancestry is because even the less fanatic ones are pretty bigoted and blood-obsessed.

Hope this helps and good luck with your fic!

[femchef]

Pretty sure I haven’t posted any wig posts in a long time - but!!! Here is one. Also I’ve decided to focus on collecting more pink for 2024, so #goals I guess. ✨💕🎀

The dress is Classic Teahouse Chiffon Frill from Metamorphose Temps de Fille. The blouse and head bow are also from meta. Socks are from Sock Dreams (honestly I’m torn about the color pairing, but I kinda love the luminous yellow stripes with the pink?) and the shoes are Angelic Pretty. The earrings and necklace are from a small maker called Jelly Cherry Accesorios (you can find them on ig).

By this point it’s safe to say I’m a meta girl. I’m really impressed with their size inclusivity. I’ve been around the egl community for about 18+ years at this point, and while a lot of brands have scaled back on their sizing (especially btssb, they very rarely release anything larger than 38 inches anymore), metamorphose actually jumped into making their clothes more accessible to different sizes. I took a break from egl fashion for a while because looking at the sizes of most brands is… not always good for mental health - and I made a promise to myself last year that I would only buy things that felt comfortable, and not just things that fit by the strictest definition. There IS about a 4,000¥ difference in their sizes, but for the quality of the garments AND the fact that their larger sizes are designed for larger bodies (longer skirt lengths, longer bodice cuts that accommodate larger busts, longer straps and softer elastics that aren’t tight on the skin to start with) I’m perfectly ok with that. Their plus size line typically maxes out between 50-66 inch bust line for reference, and they do an inclusive release for nearly all their designs, which is honestly pretty singular for egl brands - instead of doing maybe one plus size release in one cut, like angelic pretty tends to do (with less frequency), and which is nearly always some kind of full-shirring bodice (typically not very flattering on larger bodies). So far, the only other Japanese brand that makes decent plus size pieces is Artelier Pierrot. Some brands - like Emily Temple Cute and PhysicalDrop, are experimenting with plus size releases, but so far the largest I’ve seen from either of them has still only topped out at around 48-49 inches in the bust.

To be fair, part of this is because the western audience is pretty small. Aside from that western lolitas have a really developed second-hand shopping and collection culture and are a lot less likely to purchase new products directly from the brand (we also have a scalping problem with Angelic Pretty products but that is another issue).

ANYWAY - let’s end this plug for now, but if anyone out there has ever wanted to ask someone about meta products, or has questions but is interested in purchasing, send me a pm?

[bonearenaofmyskull]

I wanted to let you know how much I admire your writing. Your talent for storytelling is incredible, and I've been a big fan of your work for a while now.(You could see my comments in ao3)

Going through the comments in ao3 one thing was clear that u DO wanted to write a s4 fic but I guess u must be very busy which is understandable and if u need any help just let me know. I would love to assist you

I've been thinking about how amazing it would be to read a Season 4 fanfic from you. I can't help but imagine the magic you'd create with those characters and plotlines. So, I wanted to make it clear that it's now my mission to gently (or not so gently) nag you to write a Season 4 fic, every week.

I would definitely stop if it's not acceptable.

I'm really excited about the idea, and I would be absolutely thrilled to read your take on it.

Your writing has a special place in my heart, and I believe a Season 4 fic from you would be nothing short of extraordinary. Please consider it, and know that I'd be eagerly waiting to devour every word of it.

Looking forward to any updates on this mission of mine!

Love 😘

Cassy from ao3

Yeah, this is not a good idea. Don't do this, especially not now. I don't know if you're a member of the group of friends who recently overwhelmed my private messaging with questions about season 4, almost creepy enthusiasm, and nagging for responses. But if not, be aware that after something like 56 messages in less than two days, I actually started blocking people. This is something I've rarely done to non-porn bots--I've probably blocked real people less than 5 times in the 10 years I've been on tumblr. I appreciate that you like my work, but with this context in mind, now is not the time.

And just a note for the general audience out there and those people I blocked in case they're lurking about: I'm not a meta tap you can privately turn on for your Hannibal fix, nor a stand-in for Bryan Fuller and production now that most have lost hope for a season 4. I still enjoy Hannibal but have mostly moved on to other hobbies, and if I do ever write another fic or a season 4 fic, it will be when I feel moved by inspiration, not by being inundated by demands.

For the record, what specific ideas I have for a season 4 fic will remain unstated unless I write it, and what speculations and predictions I have that seem realistic for the actual show, I've probably mostly stated in previous metas, or if not, have kept to myself for personal reasons. I'm sure some of it I've forgotten by this point.

The right way to approach me for a meta discussion is to send an ask to my inbox like Cassy here did, so that I can make a public response and generate a discussion if possible: that's how a meta blog generates content for blogging. No one who writes meta has time to write whole analytical essays and arguments for an audience of 1, unless that audience is a very close and trusted friend.

With that said, I do understand that this isn't that satisfying since I haven't answered asks in a long time, and when I have, my responses have been brief. The truth is, I just haven't got that much to say about Hannibal that I haven't already said in the past. I believe there are a variety of more recent Hannibal meta blogs out there, as well as ones that reblog and index meta from multiple writers. Good luck to you all in finding what you're looking for.

Cassy, I do appreciate your enthusiasm, and I'll make an effort to catch up on my AO3 comments here in a bit.

[roxannepolice]

*drops in through the ceiling* Greetings,

For the character ask game I once again humbly request Delgado (or if someone has already requested him, three). I desperately need more threegado content in my life. Favourite married but at the same time divorced couple ;p

Thank you once again/in advance 😊

Seeing your content, especially your ask games, always leaves me giggling (or alternatively crying) Your head cannons are always so brilliant and I will - without question accept them as cannon.

Farewell and have the best week

*vanishes*

Awww, thank you so much! For the kind words and because married couples shouldn't be separated (and also because headcanons overlap), here's the both of them!

1: sexuality headcanon - I suppose they're both demisexual? As in they are the duo that established the Master as Doctorsexual and the Doctor as having a libido rise in the Master's vicinity, so I guess that's the closest term human sexology has for what they have?

2: otp - each other, of course, they very very married <3

3: brotp - for Three it's definitely the Brigadier, for Delgado... this is a bit of a stretch of brotp on parental relations, but the way he accepted that the Doctor adopted Jo so now he too has a human daughter is everything

4: notp - I get a bit of a rise when they are shipped with other regenerations (as in Three with other Masters and Delgado with other Doctors); don't get me wrong they'd get along just fine with other faces but they are too married for it to go into shipping territory; I do see them giving NuWho thoscheis intense couples councelling, though

5: first headcanon that pops into my head - Three is a huge fan of David Bowie (this extends to all Doctors tbh, where the hell do you think Ten got his cheekbones?), with whom he struck an acquaintance and keeps playing him alien music (Ziggy Stardust is very much a real person); he brought the Master to one of their (time travelling, he wanted to prove a point) meetings, and within a few days Bowie wrote The Man Who Sold The World

6: favorite line from this character - this evolved into a full blown meta, but the The point is that one must rule or serve. That's a basic law of life. Why do you hesitate, Doctor? Surely it's not loyalty to the Time Lords, who exiled you on one insignificant planet? - You'll never understand, will you? I want to see the universe, not rule it. exchange is one of peak moments for the entire show; the opposing yet fundamentally not contradictory philosophies; the desperation to reach each other; the could have beens and could never bes...

7: one way in which I relate to this character - I too like James Bond movies, but believe they would benefit from Bond wearing more frills and velvets and Blofeld having a beard

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character - with Delgado, the man eating sofa might have been just the teensiest bit too much? with Three, being chummy with Chairman Mao definitely calls for attention 🙃

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave? - Delgado is probably the closest the Master ever got to being a cinnamon roll, yes he was absolutely established as a villain, but his ongoing politeness to every being he's about to subjugate to his will deserves proper appreciation :3; the Doctors generally osciallate right in the middle of the cinnamon roll-problematic fave spectrum, with some going really far into the latter and none going very far into the former, that said Three is one of the few who's marginally more on the cinnamon roll side

[sparring-spirals]

hi! sorry to bother you with this but I don’t really know how to search for it online and I don’t know anyone else that follows cr/has seen C2, so… when they brought devexian back online I know he was very broken and couldn’t remember much, but he was… somewhat functional, right? like, his core was intact etc?

I’m asking because I’ve been having this feeling lately that they’ll get to the repair terminal in the genesis ward in the next ep or so, and for the live show they’ll somehow fix fcg through the same means the mighty nein used for D (and that’s how sam would make his appearance at the show), since they kept the pieces after the explosion…

I guess my question is… would it work? can they fix fcg there? or would the core need to be intact for that? was devexian’s? could the repair terminal give them another core or is their core intrinsically linked to their soul? (I guess the last question is more of a meta question since there’s no way we can know that😂 but I’d love to know your opinion on it)

thank you and sorry again for the ramblings🫶🏻

hello anon. I'm deeply flattered you asked me and I am also SO sorry i did not see this until way late. I'm not even sure this answer is still any use given the liveshow has already gappened. but uhm. im here now! Never apologize for asking clarifying questions to me, i dont mind, just know that I sometimes (often) won't know. Or might go AWOL! apparently. This goes quadruple-fold for when I am some million hours behind on the campaign.

Also you sent this in BEFORE the live show and since then the live show has happened and Sam has returned with a hot flirty hunk of a character so I guess that answers that part of your question? I Am. So Sorry. But imo your broader question about if they could bring back F.C.G at all remains.

so that said, knowing that I havent been properly caught up for some 30-40 episodes, I'm going to give my very handwavey opinion, then turn you over to the hands of my followers who are probably more well informed and also probably caught up on the campaign.

I think its important to consider any kind of F.C.G revival on both an out of game perspective and in game perspective, bc I think with revival the latter influences the former a LOT. I think if Sam were really interested in bringing back F.C.G the repair terminals and them keeping parts of F.C.G could factor into it. There's definitely the question of "what makes F.C.G F.C.G" that would have to factor in, which gets philosophical very quick- I think there would have to be some equivalent of a standard revival ritual where they call something back from the beyond, because IMO, putting a "new" core in wouldnt bring back FCG.

Before we even get into the nitty gritty of the philosophy, though I don't know that Sam would want to bring F.C.G back? I mean the live show ended and there's now a hot minotaur in the party so its easy for me to say that. But Sam has also always been someone to commit to the big swings for characters- including losses- and his treatment of F.C.G's death felt like he thought it was meaningful and impactful and said what he wanted it to say. So in that vein- maybe it isnt possible to bring F.C.G back, largely because I think Matt would respect if Sam wouldn't want to leave that on the table.

TL;DR: Its not that I think there's no way to viably justify an F.C.G revival using the repair terminals, but it would be tricky and I don't see them doing that, from what I know. Is there an opportunity for something similar to Molly -> Kingsley towards the end of the campaign? Shore. Maybe. but i dont count that in the bucket youre describing.

anyway. im so sorry for the delay on this anon. i hope you had a good time watching the live show and are enjoying Sam's new character and im sorry i was not present enough to see this and respond earlier 😅

[chaoticgeminate]

Kinktober - Day Four

Pairing: Javi Gutierrez x f!Reader

Rating: Explicit (If that was not entirely clear)

Series Summary: You’re a fanfiction writer turned novelist, which was great since it was the path you wanted your writing to take you down in life. What you never thought would happen was meeting the Javier Gutierrez, who you actively write smutty fanfiction about from his film with Nic Cage, and you especially didn’t expect him to have a crush on you.

Fast forward several months of dating, with a good chunk of your relationship being distance due to his constant traveling and having to go home to Mallorca, when he surprises you with a prompt list and a vacation planned around exploring it.

You haven’t even worked up the nerve to tell him about what you write and post to Tumblr about him as a character yet.

Notes: Going to be using prompts from @ the-purity-pen for my meta as hell indulgence! There are feelings in this (I have no idea how they got there) and I may end up removing some possible chapters here and there depending on how I’m feeling, I apologize in advance if that happens because my brain is super mean sometimes.

Possible Warnings: Semi-public teasing, Javi with leather gloves, emotional vulnerability, implied history with violence/abuse, very low on the smut and heavy on the softness. I CANNOT DO SMUT WITHOUT EMOTIONS I'M SORRY ;-;

Breath Play (1.9k)

After a filling brunch of things like egg benedict with Iberico ham, A5 wagyu steak and eggs, and a lentil vegan dish that just blew you away all four of you went to Ramón and Eleana’s hotel where you signed two sets of your books and did an Instagram shout out to Nina. Javi waved off their concerns over the cost of brunch, that he paid for, and you realized the Ritz was chosen because Javi wanted to treat them to something nice and not because that was what they were used to.

When you both got back in the convertible Javi slipped his gloves back on and your whore brain absolutely sat up and took notice, he made sure that it was slow and deliberate enough that your focus was solely on the way the leather dragged across his skin, and your tongue darted out to wet your lips.

“I guess we can say you do have a glove kink then?” His question snapped you out of the ideas running through your head, his remark about ruining those gloves still echoing, and you had to drag your eyes away from where he gripped the steering wheel to meet his gaze.

“Looks like it.” Your voice came out breathy, the tone making Javi’s pupils expand before he slipped his shades on, and you half expected him to speed back to the house. But Javi surprised you by taking you closer to the shore, pulling down a stretch of road that was empty before turning off the main road and down an inclined road closer to the water, and the area of beach was devoid of anyone. No tourists, no people wandering around, just sand and water and high rocky cliffs to block the view of the street.

“Are you okay with this?” His question made you realize exactly what he was thinking to do, that he wanted you here, and while there was part of you that was definitely not okay at the idea of someone snapping pictures or recording you if you were caught… it was also kind of exciting. You managed to nod, whispering out a yes, before Javi was getting out of the car and you did the same. He tugged you against his body so he was perched on the hood with you facing the shore, you realized that in doing so it’d be almost impossible for anyone to see what you were up to unless they were out in the water.

Even then the deeper water for the ships was so far out that it was unlikely you’d get caught.

“You knew about this place already?”

“Not personally, I just know a few of my cousins have brought people here. I know it is not quite day four, Solecita, but I changed my mind during brunch. Tomorrow will be a day of resting, because I want you more than ready for me the day after.” You shivered at the implication, since the day five prompts were seared into your brain and that was the only valid reason he could have to want a rest, and the fact that he was even going to have a break day wasn’t as disappointing as you thought.

Javi was definitely a service lover but he was also voracious, now that he had you like this he was proving to have an insatiable appetite for your pleasure, and your boyfriend had already confessed he’d held himself back so much in the past because he was nervous of how fast he had been falling for you despite a good portion of your relationship being long distance. The fact that he’d been holding back was both exciting and intimidating.

Did you want him to rail you frequently and without hesitation? Yes, of course you did, you’d be stupid to want anything less.

But the emotional aspect of his intimacy was -as he said- nerve wracking; you’d been falling fast too and the idea of losing him hurt too much already.

“I cannot tell if you’re distracted out of excitement over my intent to fuck you full repeatedly in two days or if there’s something else going on in your head, Solecita.” Javi was using one hand to cup your cheek and turn your face to look at you, his other arm banded around your body to hold you in place, and you felt that worry that you were going to scare him if you told him how deep your feelings for him ran already.

“It’s both. I- even without the sex I’m really attached to you, I know most of our relationship has been long distance so it might seem like it’s too fast and I just don’t want you to find a reason to walk away from me-“

“Solecita, I have held myself back from telling you that I love you since the day you and I spent at your apartment after our fourth date was rained out. When you laughed at how we were drenched from the downpour and heated up soup from a tin in your microwave which we drank in mugs and told me that a little disaster was just the fate’s way of spicing things up.” You remembered his confused and mildly horrified expression when you’d whipped out your rainy day staple, canned soup in a mug was only good when it was rainy or there was heaps of snow, and yet he’d still stayed and ended up tangled in the blankets on your couch kissing you for hours.

“You love me?”

“Sí, I love you so much, I was just worried it was too soon.”

“No Javi, it’s not, I love you too.”

His mouth sealed over yours the moment the words escaped you and you whined when Javi let go of your waist to run his hand under your skirt and up, the drag of the leather against your skin making you shiver. The feeling of his fingertips gliding from your cheek to your neck made you stiffen a little but you leaned more against him and tipped your head in a way that exposed more of your neck to him.

“What’s your word, Solecita, and what do you do if you cannot speak?”

Oh shit.

You swallowed thickly as his whisper was breathed into your skin, making you shiver as you ran your tongue against the back of your teeth to ground yourself.

“Taffy and Brittle, my words are taffy to slow and brittle to stop, and if I can’t speak you want me to tap your thigh. Once to ease up, twice to check in, and three times for hard stop.” Why you chose candies you couldn’t remember as Javi purred a soft ‘good girl’ in your ear and pressed his gloved fingertips to the front of your underwear before his hand settled lightly on your neck without pressure.

Your hips jumped at the contact and Javi used his foot to kick your legs wider, gently enough to avoid hurting you but hard enough to make sure you knew it wasn’t a suggestion. You didn’t really know what to do with your hands, they were currently reaching behind you and gripping the leather belt he was wearing like a vice, and your boyfriend nipped at your ear gently with a soft moan as you rocked back against him.

“My beautiful Solecita, to have your love… I am the luckiest man. Your beauty captivated me but your ability to weave words and create stories that I could see as clear as if they were a film left me needing to know you.”

While you certainly knew you had a praise kink it was the fact that he wasn’t even talking about anything sexual and you were still getting turned on that had your head spinning, the softness of it making your heart squeeze even as his fingers circled your covered clit. A low moan from you made the grip on your throat tighten just a little, to remind you he was there, and your hips jerked against him.

“Javi-“

“Hold your skirt up for me, Solecita, I want to see.”

Your hands were trembling as you moved them to raise the front of your skirt and hold it, feeling the way Javi’s cock twitched and hearing his low moan in your ear, and he rewarded you by sliding his hand into your underwear; the leather was smooth and warm and as Javi slipped two fingers into your wet pussy he tightened his hold on your neck to smother your moan. He wasn’t squeezing hard, you could still talk if you had to, but the fact that it was even a little more difficult to draw breath than normal made everything feel different.

Even the tension in the air felt different.

The soft choked noise you made sounded so loud.

Hyperaware of the hand on your throat, of the sensation of his fingers gliding in and out of your wet channel, the creak of the leather when his hold loosened and the pounding in your chest as your body began to draw in full oxygen again. It was an overwhelming feeling and you couldn’t decide how you felt about it, but Javi’s grip loosened further and you shivered when he pressed his forehead against the back of your shoulder but you knew something was wrong. The strange tension wasn’t gone, even though he’d loosened his hold, there was something almost rigid in the way Javi was holding himself now.

You didn’t like it.

“Javi?”

“Hush- Solecita, you’re doing so well.”

“Taffy.” Javi’s hand stopped moving and you let the skirt of your dress fall in order to take the hand resting near your collar and grip it in both of yours. Javi’s breathing was harsh and you realized he was shaking a little, something had rattled him and you couldn’t help but scan the horizon before listening just in case you weren’t as secluded as you thought.

“Talk to me, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t like that, the choking, I- the trust you have in me makes me so conflicted but I don’t like it. Violence and pain has always lingered in the background of my life, I do not really wish to bring that near you.”

Javi’s open admission that he wasn’t feeling it made you reach one hand back to stroke his hair gently, his openness about why he didn’t like it was more than he even needed to say.

“Okay, then we mark that off as a hard no. Why don’t we go back to the house then? I want to thank you for being so good to me.” Javi made a small sound before lifting his head and pressing a kiss to the side of your neck, not fighting you as you pulled his hand out of your underwear, the wet sound of it making both of you shiver but Javi needed your support and care.

Sex wasn’t the most important part of this for you, his comfort and trust was.

“Thank you, Solecita, I’m sorry I can’t-“

“No, don’t apologize, we already said there was no judgement as to why we did or didn’t like things we tried.”

He stopped arguing with you and even let you drive back, his hand holding yours tightly the entire ride. This was going to have to be a bigger conversation but not right now, he was too raw right now, and you decided that you’d initiate a break day of your own since that was more important to you than a list.

Javi had done so much for you, the least you could do was give him the emotional support he needed and deserved.

All Fics Taglist: @hardc0rehaylz @wordsnwhiskey @pagannightwitch @radiowallet @musings-of-a-rose @amneris21 @trickstersp8 @practicalghost @rominaszh @alwaysdjarin @alexxavicry

Just Pedro Taglist: @maievdenoir @beecastle @littlemisspascal @writeforfandoms @AynsleyWalker @lovesbiggerthanpride @MSWarriorBabe80

Alt Taglist: @imtryingmybeskar @fan-of-encouragement @grogusmum @sizzlingcloudmentality @deadhumourist @prostitute-robot-from-the-future

Kinktober Only: @nicolethered @katareyoudrilling

[zeroducks-2]

(newbie anon) thank you so much for the answer!! i will most definitely scroll through the tags you pointed out, just like you advised later after work! i did read and just finished the slade in tt03 meta that you linked, though.

i wanted to say, i agree completely with what you said in it by the way. while i am new to the comics, i did watch some of the animations series as i grew up, including tt03. i remember being creeped out and scared whenever he showed up on screen, and the fear that he ignited was not the kind of dramatic “oh noo he is gonna try to kill the good guys!!”, but it was the kind of fear that i/most people get when watching a horror-ghost movie, and i just wanted to run and get away from it.

also, while following the series, at one point i began to wonder “is it just me or slade is so obsessed with robin, in a very weird and creepy way..” but i was a teen back then, didnt have much/any critical reading therefore didnt catch the sexual subtexts/undertones of his actions.

anyway, for now, i only have one question, which is that: what is your reading/take on dick’s character? i was a marvel comics fan, so i understand the inconsistencies of characterization in comics, especially when you add the reboots etc into it. it’s basically a contradiction all over, multiple readings/characterizations based on which canon that you pick. but there must be a consistency in the writing from their initial creation (especially for character as old as dick, during classic era) to the current era.

(and for me, i judge & shape my reading based on that. what characterization did they have initially—from the classic era, and which stay consistent to that purpose)

ahh sorry this got very long :”) thank you so much for your answer once again!

Hello again, sorry it took me a while to get back to you. You ask a difficult question and I had to think about it a lot (then RL also got in the way you know how it is), and to be honest I'm still not sure how to answer!

Dick has been written in so many different ways that I can't pinpoint a constant. I read him as the first child of an abusive guardian, who can't really ever break free of the trauma bonding. I also read him as extremely parentified and in charge of the emotional well-being of his family, and of having shoulders broad enough to carry it (unfortunately for him). Surely I prefer when he's written as empathetic and emotionally intelligent rather than when he broods and acts brash, but that really changes according to who's handling him at the moment in the "canon continuity", or in any given DC byproduct like the videogames, WFA or an animated movie.

My main thing with Dick is that I associate him with emotional vulnerability, selflessness, hope, and the strength to keep going despite everything. As toxic as their relationship tends to be, Dick was the light of hope for Bruce and allowed him to keep going and find something worth fighting for. He chose the name Nightwing after a Kryptonian hero and then decided to become a beacon of hope for Bludhaven, a city so full of violence it was even worse than Gotham. He's a symbol among vigilantes and heroes alike and I guess he's a symbol for the DC fandom as well in a way.

My take on Dick is also that he's destined to never truly be happy unless everyone around him is happy, but this will never happen because the moment he manages to make everyone happy, he leaves to find another situation like that. This is because being a vigilante in DC comics is a sysiphean task - Jason can never go past his trauma of dying and having been unavenged, Damian can never free himself from the shackles of his heritage, Bruce can never stop being Batman because the same villains will keep haunting Gotham, and he will never elaborate the loss of his parents. Dick can never stop looking for the happiness and carefreeness he had from when he was a circus kid, unable to find his own center and inner peace, and so he will keep guiding young and old heroes on their paths without ever truly reaching his personal happiness and fulfillment.

I'm not sure this was the answer you were hoping to get, sorry if I went on a bit of a tirade. Again welcome to the fandom!