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wonderlandleighleigh · 1 year

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The cooking show in ‘78 is a big hit, which doesn’t really surprise Midge, much. She’s always been a whiz in the kitchen, and she’s funny as hell on top of that, and so the combination of her quick humor and delicious food winds up being an irresistible one-two punch.

Susie is happy, too. It’s keeping Midge in the public eye without having to send her on tour. Abe isn’t doing all that great now that Rose is gone, and the kids are a fucking mess, apparently, with Esther’s genius starting to make her life much harder, and Ethan is still trying to decide whether he wants to do his rabbinical studies here in the states or in Israel.

Shit’s nuts, in short.

But the show is fun. It’s low stakes, and every once in a while they have a celebrity guest come on to make one of their own dishes. Gordon Ford came on once for a steak au poivre recipe where he just hit on Midge the entire time. It made for good TV, but Midge left set annoyed as fuck and the two women drank their way through a couple of bottles of wine that night.

Shy Baldwin came on for an episode to make paella and Midge makes lots of jokes about Jewish people and shellfish, while Shy complains about the fact that when he does cooking shows everyone wants him to make fried chicken.

“My fried chicken is terrible,” he laughs. “I gave Reggie salmonella once.”

Midge laughs at that. “You did not!”

“I did! He’s never let me live it down!”

It’s a great episode, two old friends who have mended a long-broken fence giggling their way through a half hour of television, talking about the tour in 1960, and having a frank discussion about Shy’s coming out the year before. Shit gets rave reviews TV Guide, and even Variety picks up a blurb about the two’s warmth and effervescence on screen.

Susie is happy.

“I booked Lenny Bruce for next week.”

Susie is less happy.

“Mike!” she snaps. “What the fuck?! Seriously!? She hasn’t spoken to him since his overdose in ‘66!”

Mike blinks. “I thought they were friends.”

“Before he fucked his life, yeah,” Susie tells him. “They haven’t spoken in years.”

“Do they hate each other?” Mike asks. “Should I cancel?”

Susie blows out a breath and thinks for a moment. Midge doesn’t hate Lenny. Quite the opposite. They just...never got it together. “Let me talk to her. See what she wants.”

“The guy’s been clean since he almost kicked it,” Mike shrugs. “And he’s mostly working behind the scenes producing documentaries these days. I thought it’d be a nice ‘hello, old friend’ kind of episode.”

Susie squeezes her eyes shut. “Just...lemme take her temperature on it.”

*****

“Oh.”

Susie observes her oldest friend quietly as the comedian absorbs the information. Her eyes look sad and wistful for just a moment before she takes a breath and sits up straight.

“It’ll be fine,” Midge says. “It’ll be...nice. To see him.��

Susie eyes her suspiciously. “Will it?”

“I uh...yeah,” Midge nods. “I think the last time we spoke, we ran into each other at a Grammy party he stopped in at right after he got clean. He was...it was nice.”

Susie sighs softly. She likes Lenny. She, too, has run into him here and there, and since getting his shit together and winning his appeal, he’s been good. He was downright sweet the last time, buying Susie a drink. Thanking her for trying to drag his dumb ass out of that hole he was in.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Lenny wound up being husband number five.

“Okay, then. Lenny is on next week,” Susie confirms.

*****

He gets to set a little early to prep, and say hello. He’s quiet now, which Midge finds strange, but he’s clearly happy to be there. They share a friendly peck in greeting and then the work starts.

Susie hovers, whether to keep an eye on him or to keep an eye on her, Midge doesn’t know, but they run through what they’re doing (chicken soup - she can’t believe she hasn’t made it on the show yet), and the director does his usual shpeil, explaining how things work, where to look, where to stand.

Once the cameras are rolling, that old chemistry comes roaring back like a tidal wave. Their banter is fast and funny, and they laugh together. They shamelessly flirt, and Lenny drives her nuts by adding too much chili powder to the soup.

“You like spicy food,” he accuses.

“But chicken soup isn’t a spicy dish, Lenny.”

“Why not? We’re adults. We’re not committing murder. We can make spicy chicken soup.”

It goes off the rails from there, and suddenly they’re adding an entire jalapeno to the soup, and Lenny goads her into doing a party trick she’d mentioned to him long ago; eating an entire hot pepper without incident, which she does.

They eat the soup, and declare it delicious, surprisingly, with all the spice.

They end the episode with their arms wrapped around each other, and Lenny laughing and trying to avoid her spicy breath as she giggles her way through the outro of the show. Once she gets out her “thank you and goodnight!” she turns to him and huffs in his face, making him jerk back, still laughing.

Susie can’t remember the last time Midge lit up so much with anyone other than Susie herself. It looks good on her, and since her mother died, she’s been down.

“You still out in LA?” Susie asks him as he’s getting ready to leave.

“I just moved back,” Lenny admits. “There are three docs shooting here in the next year I’m working on, and I’ve been asked to be more active, so I got a little place.”

Midge hears and perks up, but doesn’t say anything.

“Well...don’t be a stranger, then,” Susie tells him, patting his arm as she walks off, leaving the two comics to talk, though listening as she goes.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were moving back?” Midge asks.

“We don’t talk very much anymore, I didn’t think you’d care to know,” Lenny offers helplessly.

“You’re so dumb,” she accuses. “Of course I care to know. We should throw you a housewarming party.”

“No.”

“Lenny.”

He sighs heavily, as unable to say no to her as Susie is. “Fine.”

Susie smirks and heads for the offices to get a bead on last week’s ratings.

*****

After that, Lenny guests on the show once a month, and even when he’s not there, Midge brings him leftovers.

END

#fic #au #tmmm #Midge x Lenny #Susie Myerson #Midge Maisel #Fictional Lenny

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thornpixie · 9 months

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Emma's TSITP finale thoughts that nobody asked for:

Let me start by saying...

Okay and now that's over, let's begin.

I must admit I felt a little bit of sympathy for Conrad, when I hadn't before this episode. It must be extremely hard to see the girl you love with anyone else, let alone your brother. However, it isn't as cut and dry as 'she is his brothers ex so Jeremiah shouldn't have gone there'. Both guys had close relationships with Belly prior to anything romantic sparking - Jeremiah more so than Conrad, imo, because both he and Belly have described the other as their best friend - and Jeremiah and Belly had a physical relationship before she and Conrad. No, they didn't have sex, but they were still making out, groping, kissing sweetly... there was an intimacy there before she chose to be with Conrad (gentle reminder that Conrad lied about Jeremiah being over her to get what he wanted, because Belly was trying to be respectful and kinda make up for her mistakes a little bit, but I talk about that in another post so I won't go into that again). I even understand his reaction in the car (note I say I understand it, not that I agreed with it) - although it is kind of hypocritical considering how much he tells every other character to grow up. That all is to say that while I understand how painful it must be for Conrad to see, and I think Jeremiah should have spoken to him about his continued feelings for Belly prior to kissing her… it doesn’t make Jeremiah a villain and Conrad a saint. Conrad is selfish when it comes to Belly. Jeremiah can be too. Neither of them is innocent. That being said, two wrongs don’t make a right and Jeremiah should have done better. And he did… just after the fact. He gave into Belly because he loved her and she was offering him everything and Conrad would have done the same if the tables were turned. But after, he spoke to Conrad and was clear on his feelings and yet he gave them the chance to talk knowing what that could potentially mean for him and Belly. His actions do not a villain make.

I really do not care what does or doesn’t happen in the books. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again as many times as it takes to sink in to some people - the books are NOT the show. The books are the inspiration for the show, but the show is an ADAPTION. It is not a carbon copy. Jeremiah could’ve shagged Laurel in the books and I wouldn’t care because they were written over a decade ago and tv is a different medium to books and they are different things. Until it happens on screen, it didn’t happen. Anyone who has read The Vampire Diaries books knows what I mean. Same characters, entirely different story. TSITP show relies heavily on the source material, but we have already seen stark differences between the two. They are separate entities.

Belly pushed and pushed with Jeremiah. He tried hard to resist her, maybe for selfish reasons (he didn’t want to get hurt again, and good on him), but still. He tried. He should’ve opened up to Conrad about his feelings before the kiss, and it sucked that Conrad found out the way that he did, but in Jeremiah’s defence, Conrad has never really given him the chance or taken him seriously. And when he realised how strong Conrad’s feelings still were for Belly, he told him to tell her. He told him that he needed to be straight up with her and that if Conrad was who Belly wanted then he would let her go and not stand in their way because he wanted them both to be happy. He recognised that it was Belly’s choice, and that he couldn’t force her to love him back if she didn’t. That is a good fucking guy right there.

Jeremiah made some mistakes when Belly chose Conrad the first time around, because he was hurt (rightly so) and he was prideful, and he got absolutely slated for it. Conrad did the same and he gets applauded? It’s bullshit. He doesn’t have any more ‘claim’ over Belly because of their history. It’s a tough situation for SURE, but Jeremiah had feelings before Conrad dated her that Belly encouraged. He hasn’t just randomly started dating his brothers ex. It’s a unique situation given how close they all are already. He should have spoken to Conrad, but he isn’t satan for still loving this girl who is his best friend, that he was catching feels for, who led him on to believe that she could feel the same way. These things all developed before Conrad showed even the slightest romantic interest in Belly. And frankly, the way he was in this episode shows how much Jeremiah has grown up. He told both Conrad and Belly that if they wanted to be together he wouldn’t stand in their way and he promised Belly they’d still be good. Jeremiah has grown up and he fucking deserves happiness. And honestly, after their talk by the vending machines, I felt like Conrad realised how much Jeremiah actually did care for Belly. I think it was the first time he’d truly seen it. And he could’ve continued acting like a dick, and I would’ve even understood (still team jelly but I’d have understood he was emotional), but he actually handled it really well. He put his feelings aside and let them be happy, the way Jeremiah had to the previous summer (Conrad stans always refer back to Jere being pissed at thanksgiving but honestly, him not wanting to see Conrad and Belly flaunting it in front of him is a pretty natural reaction. It’ll be interesting to see how Conrad handles the same situation moving forward, and how his fans react to that). The difference is that no one else considered Jeremiah’s feelings last time, but Jeremiah was trying to be sensitive towards Conrad this time, giving him the chance and also making sure Belly had all of the information before she made a choice, AND TOLD HER IT WOULDNT BE LIKE LAST TIME IF SHE CHOSE CONRAD AGAIN. That is the least manipulative thing I’ve ever witnessed on TV so I cannot fathom why Conrad stans insist on calling Jeremiah manipulative.

As for Belly… honestly I’ve not been Belly’s biggest fan, but she really has grown up. It’s not her fault that Conrad misinterpreted her actions. She outright told him she wanted to be his friend. She was being friendly towards him, and he took it the wrong way (with encouragement from Steven, which made things worse. I have several opinions about Steven also. He’s way too controlling of Belly imho). In this episode, I was actually really proud of her. Again, I’ve not read the books, but I’ve read summaries, and it seems like the Belly we saw was super confident in her decision. She did nothing but reassure Jeremiah this episode, both with her words and her actions. She didn’t run after Conrad immediately - she only did it because Jeremiah asked her to. She told Conrad she wanted to be friends. She didn’t give him any indication she wanted to be more. It was very obvious there was a vibe with Jeremiah, but since nobody in Cousins seems to remember Jeremiah exists, nobody else noticed. That’s not her fault. She’s spent the entire season being there for Jeremiah, trying to make it up to him. In the end, she was happy, she was confident. She seemed so full of life in a way we never saw when she was with Conrad. She said in her speech to Jeremiah that she wanted something real. That she knew now that Conrad was only a dream. I’ve seen people interpret that as he was her dream guy but since she can’t have him, she’ll have Jeremiah instead. I didn’t interpret it that way. To me, that was her acknowledging that the person she thought Conrad was was a dream. Because everybody knew she’d had this puppy love infatuation with him for most of her life. And now she knew that’s all it was. That it wasn’t love but a fantasy that she’d built on the back of a person who didn’t really exist outside of her own imagination. Where as Jeremiah was real. He was exactly who he said he was. He wasn’t a fantasy. He’s there, and he isn’t perfect, and that’s fine. And she recognises that she blew it chasing this fantasy. I dunno really how to word what I’m thinking properly but I just didn’t take that in a negative way and I thought it was sweet. Like, haven’t we all watched shows or seen celebs on tv and daydreamed about it? Because you don’t really know them you can invent this perfect picture and it can make you see your own life and relationships in a bad light for a time… until you remember that they aren’t real; the idealised person you’ve created.

Disclaimer on this next part - I’ve not read the books so I might have misinformation. Anyway, from what I’ve heard of the books, Belly seemed still quite torn between the two and only went with Jeremiah after Conrad took it all back and pissed off and left her again. She’d already chosen Jeremiah at that point in the show. She didn’t run after Conrad and leave Jeremiah behind by the car - Jeremiah asked her to. She seemed so exhausted with Conrad this episode and just completely sick of his shit. She was all in with Jeremiah and I loved it. I don’t see a way that she would come back to Conrad now because she seemed so done with him and her and Jeremiah are so sweet. I’m honestly dreading season 3. I don’t want to witness this character assassination in the pursuit of a Bonrad endgame because we all know it’s going to happen, regardless of what is right for the characters.

Anyway, I’m happy with the ending. Belly won back some points with me because she really worked to make Jeremiah feel secure and I loved it. She’s grown. I hope she continues this (but no doubt they’ll ruin it all in season 3). Jeremiah and Conrad also grew in the end. It was good. The show could’ve ended there for me and I’d be happy.

Hope my word vomit made sense hahaha I have a lot of feelings.

#jeremiah fisher #the summer i turned pretty #tsitp #belly conklin #belly x jeremiah #team jeremiah

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newwwwusername · 7 months

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Awesome! I'm glad that you enjoyed it ^^

So for the request I was thinking of a little bit of an AU where, at the party, they have an argument about Sam, but James Storm's off to talk to him anyway and Isaiah doesn't see him for the rest of the night as the regular events of the episode takes place

When Isaiah, Jane and Isabella find him he's more worse for wear then he is in the show (concussion, broken arm, gonna leave it up to you ^^) and when Isaiah helps him up and out of the hole he was thrown in he admits that, with the way the two of them left off, James wasn't sure if Isaiah would even look for him

They reconcile and Isaiah takes James to get checked out at the hospital and something to eat afterwards, and that's where my ranting ends lol 😅

Author's note : Tbh I'm kinda surprised anyone even saw my other Goosebumps (Disney+) fic cause, at the time of typing this out, the fandom still hasn't been canonized on AO3 lol but I am very happy to pioneer the tag for it 💪 Hope this suffices as a request fill. Also keep in mind that, at the time of writing this, I still haven't watched episode 6, so (while I doubt any of this stuff will specifically come up in episode 6 since we're well past it by now) if anything is inaccurate due to context in that episode, just keep that in mind.

"I just don't think you should be lying to him about liking something if you're tryna get closer with him" Isaiah told the shorter boy. James scoffed and rolled his eyes. Isaiah was supposed to be proud of him for finally making a move on Sam, not scolding him for the iffy way he went about it!

"You don't get it" James replied, glad that everyone around them was drunk and not really paying attention. "I really like this guy and I don't wanna mess it up"

"And you think the best way to go about that is to start on a lie?"

"I don't get all the chances you do, Isaiah!" James said, exasperated. Isaiah leaned back, confused.

"The fuck does that mean?"

"It means that you're a conventionally attractive straight dude" James went on. "You have the entire pond of fish to pick from. I'm limited to about five dudes. Honestly it's a miracle I even like one of them"

"Look, all I'm saying is I think that-"

"I don't need your advice, Isaiah" James cut him off, annoyed. He stood up and began to walk away. "I got this. Just leave me be"

----------

James really wasn't doing well.

For one, his stomach hurt (a mixture of hunger pains and the pain that naturally comes along with eating/drinking dirt water for sustenance) really bad. His left arm had also been broken at one point by one of his duplicates, and his focus was just on not dying in that mine, though that seemed hopeless.

Isaiah wouldn't want to come look for him, not after the fight they had last time they spoke, and no one else was as close to him as Isaiah, so they wouldn't want to waste their time looking for him, if they even realized that something was wrong to begin with (it didn't take a genius to figure out that he probably had some duplicates taking his place in the real world).

Then, Isaiah did arrive and promptly smacked him in the head with a rock.

James saw stars for a moment and was sure that he had a concussion or something, but that was hardly his focus at the time. No, his main focus was that Isaiah was there. Isaiah found him. He'd be okay.

----------

After all the duplicates were killed, James was helped out of the mine and back into town.

Margot and Isabella seemed to get the hint that James wanted to talk to Isaiah one-on-one, so they walked a little bit ahead to give the two of them space, which James was quietly grateful for.

"I didn't think you would look for me" James admitted, his speech slightly slurred (something which tipped Isaiah off to the fact that the boy probably had a concussion).

"Why wouldn't I look for you?"

"Hm?"

"Why wouldn't I look for you?" Isaiah repeated.

"We got in a fight" James shrugged. Isaiah felt his heart break. Sure, that argument hadn't been fun, but something like that would never prevent him from looking for the other boy should he go missing.

"James, I care about you so much" Isaiah told him. "A little fight isn't gonna change that. Friends fight, it happens. You matter to me more than that"

"Oh"

"Now, let's get some food in your stomach, and then we're taking you to a hospital" Isaiah said, patting his friend lightly on the back. "I think you have a concussion, and also your arm is definitely broken"

"Yeah, you're probably right" James chuckled. "We can be broken arm buddies!"

"Sure, bud"

#fanfiction #fanfic #goosebumps #goosebumps disney plus #disney plus goosebumps #hulu #disney plus #this was a request #injury #concussion #james goosebumps #isaiah howard #goosebumps 2023

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orithyia-eriphyle · 2 years

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Bewilder

Stray Kids x Reader

Fem!Reader

Synopsis: A compilation of Y/n using her ability to speak multiple languages to confuse the ever-living-fuck out of the other members of Stray Kids and the fandom.

Warnings: I am not completely fluent in Portuguese! I have been studying it for about 3 years now but do not have a perfect understanding of it. Please forgive me for any mistakes I make.

Now, it was common knowledge that the members of Stray Kids all spoke English fairly well, Felix and Chan obviously being completely fluent. Y/n on the other hand was fluent in English, Korean, and Portuguese. Of course, Y/n and the other fluent English members helped the others with their English quite often. Though the other members are 99% sure Y/n uses her ability to speak a foreign language to tease them.

Not that they really mind.

***

"Você é o ser humano mais adorável que eu já vi." Y/n said to Han whilst she and the other members all sat outside on the porch, the heat of the fire keeping them warm. You were filming the 12th episode of SKZ Code, the one where the 9 of you lived in a house together for two days.

It was the part of the video where everyone was complimenting Han because the hairband he was wearing looked good on him. It was a pink fluffy hairband with little ears on it. "Did anyone understand what she just said?" Han said, eyes wide in confusion. You were sat comfortably between him and Felix, a warm muffin in your hand. "I only understood 'you' and 'I'," Changbin said, equally as confused.

Since the 9 of you were so close, the boys had picked up on some of the words that you said often. Most of the words they knew were simple ones like 'and' 'I' 'you' and 'me.' Along with various other curse words and insults. They typically found out what you said after a fan translated it and posted the translation onto some form of social media.

"Give it a few days and we'll figure it out," Minho said, taking a bite of his snack afterward. "She said something along the lines of 'an adorable human'," Chan spoke from the log he was sitting on. Chan and Felix typically had an easier time understanding what you were trying to say because there were multiple Portuguese words that sound similar to English words.

Han just smiled and laughed, happy to have you complimenting him.

"She only speaks Portuguese when she has something nice to say or to cuss someone out, there is no in-between," Hyunjin stated as a matter of factly.

***

There was once a clip on YouTube that you found highly amusing. The video was of SKZ at a fan sign, each member sat in their respective spots behind the table. You were speaking with a female fan in an animated manner, hands waving and eyes sparkling. Fans who found the video had managed to figure out that you and the fan were having a conversation in Portuguese, which is why you were so excited.

Now that wasn't the amusing part. The funny part was the two men you sat between, Hyunjin and Changbin. They were staring at you and the fan with the most focused yet confused faces you had ever seen on them. Clearly, they were trying their very hardest to understand what you were saying. They would mumble to each other when they figured out a word or understood a certain phrase.

The clip was titled "Y/n L/n confusing Changbin and Hyunjin for 3 minutes straight." You laughed at the fact that they sat there for an entire 3 minutes to decipher your conversation with the fan. You of course had to show the other members, each laughing at the faces that Hyunjin and Changbin pulled.

***

Stray Kids was standing on stage at one of their many concerts around the world. You were more excited than usual, not that performing didn't get you excited. You were just elated because you were performing in Portugal.

The members were taking a break on stage, chatting with the fans happily. You were standing next to Bang Chan, both of you having an arm slung around the other's waist. "Não conte a ninguém, mas Bang Chan é o meu favorito." You said with a coy smile, pulling the Australian closer to you. The crowd burst into cheers and laughter, Chan snapping his head in your direction with a gasp.

Felix held a hand to his heart in faux offense, the blonde man having understood what you said to a degree. Chan's face lit up in a bright smile, his dimples on full display. "Aww, I didn't know that." You huffed out in faux annoyance. "You weren't supposed to understand." Chan laughed and smiled down at you. "You underestimate my intelligence."

You turned your head to look behind Chan after hearing the other members shout at you in protest. Apparently, Felix had told them what you had said. "Don't lie Y/n, we all know I'm your favorite." Minho said cockily, snatching you away from Chan's grasp. "You're only my favorite when you bring me food." You said into the microphone, the crowd of fans laughing at your insult to the older man.

"You shouldn't talk to your oppa like that." The man sighed out, not knowing what else to reply with. You stuck your tongue out and ran back to Chan, "Too bad."

***

"Eu vou te matar da maneira mais dolorosa possível." You spoke as you body shook with fear. You were on the set for the Thunderous music video. You were taking a break from filming and Felix took this as a chance to torture you.

You were cowering behind a chair that the staff had set up in the village you were filming in. Felix was chasing you around with a creepy bug in his hand, the man cackling at your misfortune. "Your threats mean nothing to me if I can't understand them, Y/n." The man chuckled, his hand with the bug in it creeping closer to you.

"I swear to god Felix, I will scream." Felix laughed, clearly not believing you. Next thing you knew, squeals of fear were leaving your lips. Felix had thrown that gross ass creature at you. You were shouting at Felix, your words alternating between the three languages you spoke. "Espero que você apodreça no inferno." You yelled out as you ran in fear.

Your eyes seem to have their own form of aim-bot considering you managed to spot Seungmin amongst all the chaos. You ran to the younger man, latching onto him like a koala. "Protect me, Seungmin." You peaked over his shoulder to see Felix having the time of his life, his body hunched on the floor as he laughed so hard he couldn't breathe. "What did he do?" Seungmin asked, not really acknowledging the fact that you're practically suffocating him with your body. "He threw a bug at me." The brown-haired male laughed, also finding your misery amusing.

"Você terá sorte se chegar ao final de hoje,"

***

"Y/n sounds so pretty when she speaks in Portuguese." Jeongin spoke as the 9 of you moved about the room set up backstage. You looked up from the game of cards you were playing with Hyunjin. "Eu te amo." You said, staring at the white-haired boy. Each member automatically looked to Felix, who understood Portuguese better than the rest of them. "She said she loves you."

Each member either 'awwed' or grumbled in mock jealousy. Jeongin just laughed, his ears turning red as he became increasingly flustered at your nonchalant statement.

"I can't believe you said it to I.N. first." Hyunjin grumbled, his arms crossed over his chest and a pout on his lips. You laughed, standing up from your spot across from him and walking around the table. You haphazardly threw yourself into Hyunjin, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Stop whining, I love you too, if that's what you wanted to hear." Hyunjin smiled, seemingly no longer upset.

Suddenly, numerous amounts of bodies were thrown on top of you and Hyunjin. The black leather couch now full. Changbin was now next to you, drawing you closer to him. "Now you have to say it to all of us." You groaned, rolling your head back and onto Changbin's shoulder in exasperation. "But I don't wanna."

Han, who was seated in your lap was the next to speak. "We won't move until you say it to all of us." Han spoke in defiance. You groaned once again, reaching out to the one member not suffocating you on the couch, only to be disappointed. Bang Chan, who was standing in front of the couch, was recording the entire ordeal. He had a hand held up to his mouth in order to muffle his laughter.

"I hate all of you." You glanced over Hyunjin's shoulder, noticing I.N. staring at you with a coy smile. "I thought I already told you I love you." You spoke with a raised brow. "You did, but I want to hear you say it again and then I'll move." You sighed.

"Fine."

"Eu amo tanto todos vocês. Eu provavelmente morreria sem você." You said reluctantly, already dreading the weeks of teasing that are to come.

Minho, who was smart enough to pull up a translator before you started speaking, translated for everyone. "She said, and I quote, 'I love you all so much. I would probably die without you.'" The multiple sets of arms around you tightened after Minho finished speaking.

"See? It wasn't that hard." Felix spoke with a teasing smile.

***

Translations:

"Você é o ser humano mais adorável que eu já vi."

You are the most adorable human I have ever seen.

"Não conte a ninguém, mas Bang Chan é o meu favorito."

Don't tell anyone, but Bang Chan is my favorite.

"Eu vou te matar da maneira mais dolorosa possível."

I will kill you in the most painful way possible.

"Espero que você apodreça no inferno."

I hope you rot in hell.

"Você terá sorte se chegar ao final de hoje,"

You'll be lucky if you make it to the end of today.

"Eu te amo."

I love you.

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cursedwithgloriouspurpose · 1 year

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So one of the most interesting things about the TLOU character changes (or character reveals?) that people are just.... completely overlooking are the fact that Tommy is a liar. Now granted, neither brother is a completely trustworthy narrator... sort of. But I’d like people to consider something: Joel doesn’t generally lie to Ellie, or anyone else, about the big things. He could have lied, told her he never killed “innocent” people, but he didn’t. Sure, he couldn’t say the word “yes,” but neither could he say “no,” and that silence spoke volumes. He knows, better than anyone (and is honestly over-blowing it a little bit) how much of an asshole he is.

So when he goes on to explain that Tommy routinely joins and drops causes, and that it was Tommy’s idea to join the raider crew they were on... while his opinion of Tommy is obviously coloured by his own biases, I fully believe this. Joel isn’t a joiner. He’s as anti-joiner as you can get, and he always was. Consider the first episode. He says straight up--in front of Sarah, no less--that he will absolutely not hire any outside people for a job even if it would be beneficial, and that he barely wants to share the work with Tommy. Later, while he encourages Sarah to interact with their neighbors, he balks at doing so himself. He’s not terribly social, never has been, and it’s difficult to see him willingly joining up with a group for any reason...

But Tommy does so. Routinely. He was in the army, he goes out to bars (where he white knights for others to the point of getting himself arrested routinely, by the way their phone conversation went--though this could also point out that Tommy does have a bit of a violent temper at times) And I firmly believe it was Tommy’s idea to go Raider.

Joel might flinch at admitting these things, but he does admit to them and he doesn’t give himself much quarter. He says it was Tommy’s idea and fault that they got sucked into it, but Joel fully takes responsibility for the things he did while in the group.

Meanwhile, there’s the conversation between Maria and Ellie. Maria is fully convinced that Tommy never, ever liked the things he did while he was with Joel, and that everything that happened back then was exclusively Joel’s fault--Tommy was just a bystander at best, or a hapless idiot at worst. Granted, this could be Maria justifying Tommy because she loves him, but it also reeks of Tommy having told her a version of events which paints him has having less responsibility for his and Joel’s shared past.

Similarly, when Tommy and Joel discuss it, Joel doesn’t quite take full responsibility for everything between them--he directly mentions “all those things you blame me for,” which speaks more to Tommy’s continued denial that he wanted anything to do with what happened--but Tommy spends the entire conversation assuming the absolute worst about Joel. You can look at this as evidence that Joel changed, went to some really dark places during that point in time... and I wouldn’t argue with you. He absolutely did, and he admits it.

The thing is, so did Tommy. But Tommy is insistent that it was all Joel’s “fault,” as though Joel made him do these things. That’s who Tommy is, though. Tommy doesn’t take responsibility. He boasts, and talks a lot of shit, and balks at reality when he doesn’t want to admit the truth (for another example, the “we’re not communists!” knee-jerk reaction before Maria herself is like “uh, yeah, babe, we are.”,) and he does intensely fucked up and insensitive things like not checking in with Joel to let him know he’s alright even though he knows what his brother is like. I don’t believe, for a second, that Tommy didn’t know Joel was going to show up. He sure as shit knew enough to warn Maria to look out for Joel coming--that’s why she already suspected who he was when they were first surrounding him and Ellie at the border. They knew Joel was likely to show up... and Tommy still didn’t find a way to warn him, or even tell him that he was okay.

All of this is to say, Tommy is just as much of an asshole as Joel is. Hell, I’d argue he’s an even bigger asshole, because unlike his brother, he isn’t honest about his rough edges. He does everything in his power to hide them.

ETA: Gonna leave the original text as above, but after rewatching the scene with them in the bar, I will say: Tommy does admit that he murdered people--but I still find it interesting that he does so ONLY when in private with Joel. His admission that he did those things doesn’t jive with the things Maria says to Ellie, and I feel that there’s a reason for that.

#tlou spoilers #tlou #admittedly i'm just salty about all the people who think joel is being softened #i guarantee this is joel as he was always meant to be #but they couldn't make him like this in the game because it was a game and even as narrative focused as ND is #they didn't have the time and ability to excise enough gameplay elements to go this deeply into who the characters actually were #Joel was always a protector of people #HIS people to be sure #but people nonetheless #and tommy is a scoundrel who wants to be a knight #who comes off smelling like roses because people always take his bs at face value #to be clear tommy EARNESTLY wants to be good #but he's so bad at taking responsibility that he can't

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lemonhemlock · 8 months

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I was on Twitter and Will Bowers posted that he hoped the Aegon scene was a fakeout. Given that we know now that Dyana will be returning next season it does beg certain questions.

Twitter seems to think she may be out for revenge and team up with Mysaria for 🩸and 🧀, perhaps being in league with Talya the whole time who makes fake moontea. Which idk why that would be righteous thing, team black utterly baffles me at times.

Yet given the honest confusion on Aegon’s face when confronted with the accusation by Alicent do you think such a scenario is possible.

Would be bold of hotd to have a woman make a false rape accusation and I really don’t know how that would go down but part of me really wants it to be the case. I’m sick to death of debating with team black stans that Aegon not only has a claim to the Iron Throne but in fact a stronger one than Rhaenyra, only to be called a rapist defender.

Which is not at all my argument but these comments slowly push me toward just outright claiming Egg2 would be a better king out of spite.

The show runners claimed they wanted to make Aegon gray and yet make TGC a rapist in his first appearance. Nothing gray about that my friend. So if it all turns out to be a lie what do you think the fall out will be ?

Love the blog 💚

Anonymous asked: did you know that Dyana from episode 8 is coming back and will be in 4 more episodes??? apparently actor's own agency confirmed it. I'm speechless...... what role can she possibly have that requires so many episodes? are they trying to bury the greens for good in the eyes of the audience? every leak is a disaster, and worse than the previous one

hi, guys, i already talked about this topic in the dyanna tag and i have an entire other tag where i make my stance on leaks speculation. likewise, i spoke many times about how i don't like and don't agree with this writing choice of straight-up turning aegon into westerosi satan from the get-go. but what's done is done, there's no point in denying what was shown on screen. he's written as a rapist and the scenes are made to be interpreted as rape, not as some smear campaign that'll later turn into a gotcha moment. IF we ever get out hands on the scripts, it would be very interesting to compare what the original plan looked like and what they changed on the fly / if they changed anything at all / if aegon was always meant to be this awful from the very beginning etc

as much as i would like them to retcon that in some way, idek if it's worth it at this point, bc portraying women lying on screen about rape is much more damaging than losing fictional civil wars involving flying lizards. we need more nuanced media surrounding sexual assault and women's issues and perhaps hotd is not the appropriate medium for this as the writers seem incapable in many ways of handling a delicate subject like that. yes, i think it was a mistake that compromises the quality of the narrative and, no, i don't think hotd is necessarily going to offer us groundbreaking feminist commentary, but dyanna the fake rape victim is really bottom of the barrel stuff - like, even they could & should do much better than that.

also, to be honest, i don't think the writers are particularly interested in making aegon a complex character, unfortunately. maybe they'll compensate with this characterization in some other ways, though; i am not excluding the possibility of redress. we'll live and see.

#ask #anon #dyanna #hotd speculation #aegon ii targaryen

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weakforarwen · 2 years

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The Lady of the Lake

I thought I’d enjoy this episode more. But it’s like Lancelot and Guinevere. Merlin knew this girl for a day and wanted to run off with her without even telling Gaius? And what of Arthur and his destiny?

This episode has a lot of inconsistencies. Freya turned into a beast at midnight (not just during a full moon or something), yet she was locked in a cage for two days without turning. Why? So she couldn’t escape at night? When Merlin and Gaius first saw her it was already night but she hadn’t turned, and the bounty hunter didn’t know what she turned into, only that she was cursed. This makes no sense. What kind of curse is so random? She didn’t turn during the two days she spent in a cage, yet turned every other night she spent in Camelot? Hmm...

Furthermore, when Freya turned into a beast she didn’t attack Merlin and even let him pet her, but she attacked everyone else. Did she think Merlin was safe? Did she trust him? She killed a harmless couple on the first day though, so she didn’t just attack in self-defense. Her curse was to become a killer at night.

Also, Merlin stole food from right under Arthur’s nose and used a spell to boil his bath water, and Arthur was none the wiser. How can food disappear into thin air and water heated in a fireplace be hot enough to boil someone alive? It’s a good thing Arthur’s a total dumbass, because Merlin is not subtle.

Merlin was completely taken in by Freya. She was mysterious and beautiful, and he thought they were one and the same. He was so wrong it was almost comical and that is why I wasn’t completely sold on their romance. The fact that he and Freya were definitely not on the same page lessened their connection imo (it’s the same to me for Arthur and Merlin’s friendship). Merlin tried to show Freya that magic wasn’t a curse and that it was okay to be different, but she was not like him at all. Did he not wonder why a druid was all alone? And the druids are so powerful and knowledgeable, yet they couldn’t help Freya? Would they really turn her away?

Honestly, Freya’s death would’ve been more touching had her and Merlin’s entire relationship not been super rushed. It was just like Lancelot and Gwen. I couldn’t care for them either, because a day is not enough time to promise to love someone forever.

Still, Merlin was very kind to Freya and she deserved it. He made her feel loved. I’m glad Freya found peace. Poor Merlin, she was his only love interest in all the series. He dedicated his life to an idiot who threw a bucket of water at his face.

Actually, said idiot showed some tact and asked Merlin if he was sad because of the water incident. Merlin said no, but that Arthur’s behavior hadn’t been “nice”, and Arthur acknowledged he’d been unfair. This further proved my point that Arthur is aware that his behavior is often unacceptable; but Merlin lets him get away with it, so Arthur feels comfortable continuing it.

Arthur tried to make it up to Merlin, to show him he cared, by pulling Merlin into a deadlock and ordering him to clean Arthur’s room, polish his armor, etc. That’s Arthur’s juvenile way of expressing affection and saying “Everything’s okay, see? We’re alright.”. Arthur wasn’t really asserting his control over Merlin as much as doing the only thing he knows how, which is give orders. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have or be a friend, so he falls back into their master/servant dynamic which is most comfortable to him.

Merlin could’ve told Arthur he was being unfair though, and overworking him. Arthur would listen if Merlin spoke to him straight. Arthur’s very juvenile in the beginning (he’s always a brat around Merlin, but it was worse in the beginning), yet Merlin certainly didn’t help his situation. Arthur told the bounty hunter that he trusted Merlin completely and didn’t even assume Merlin had been stealing his food for himself. He trusted Merlin, and Merlin knew it. He just needed to trust Arthur to listen to him.

Overall, it’s a solid episode, but if they wanted Merlin to give up everything for Freya, she should’ve been on more episodes, or Merlin should’ve already known her prior to this one.

#bbc merlin #merlin #arthur pendragon #freya #the lady of the lake #the lady of the lake commentary

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desmondkane-of-ao3-fame · 7 months

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DOING AN ENTIRE CHARACTER ASK SHEET FOR SKARA AND WILLOW BECAUSE I CAN PART 1 (Questions 1-10)

1. Canon I outright reject

You know how in Sense and Insensitivity there’s that bit where Skara kisses the King cardboard cutout and runs away with it? That bit that made that one Sking shipper a thing? Yeah, so this is a really mean prank played by either the twins or Boscha using an illusion, and Skara only ever thought Rulers Reach was ok. My evidence for this is the fact that I will personally beat you to death if you imply my daughter did Titan-knows-what with a standee of an 8-year-old cat-dog-hybrid.

While I’m at it, let’s also make it clear that she was never living furniture for an adult man either. Again, that was a prank because N O.

(Can you guess why Sense is my third worst episode of the show?)

Literally the second half of Any Sport has Willow acting so OOC you’d swear it has to be a really bad fanfiction. She gets kidnapped by the same dude who spent the entire afternoon lying to her about who he was, threatened not one but two of her best friends in his last appearance, and works as the second-in-command of a fascist religious order she canonically rallied the Isles against, and she… blames herself for it. She has the opportunity to defend her friends against Darius and put up a real fight, and instead she does some of her weakest magic in the show so Hunter can swoop in and save her. And in the last 30 seconds of the episode she just casually tells shows off the pic of the Entrails with Hunter like it wouldn’t cause Amity to go into a PTSD-inspired rage. I literally rewrote the entirety of the episode in my head, but if I can’t reject the whole episode, I’m at least rejecting its second half.

(Can you guess why Any Sport is my top choice for worst episode of the show?)

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on

Skara is a chaotic bisexual gremlin and you can’t convince me otherwise. If chaotic bisexual gremlin energy could be used as a power source, Skara would be the only battery the world would ever need.

A slightly more serious Skara head cannon I have is that she left Boscha because Skara wanted to apologize to Willow, and Boscha not only refused to join her but outright mocked her for it, leading Skara to go do it herself. She never spoke to Boscha after that day unless she had to.

Willow has a lovely singing voice and sings to her plants when she waters them. It’s part of why Skara fell so hard for her. She hears it one while walking past the Plant Track room and thought to herself ‘Wow I really am a chaotic bisexual gremlin.’

3. Obscure headcanon

Skara is a great chef. She loves to cook and bakes for her friends all the time. I have no evidence for this other than the fact I think it sounds adorable.

Willow didn’t go to H.A.S. in the first season only because she would go straight home to work out most of the time. In reality she loved learning about humans, even if she had more of an understanding then Gus that most Witch information was probably a stretch.

4. Favorite line

“Good game Willow.”-Skara, in her one positive interaction with Willow in Wing it.

“I’m a sneaky sneakster.”-Willow’s most adorable line, from Hooty’s Moving Hassle.

“Not if I don’t look down.”-Willow, casually dropping the funniest line in the entire first season during Escape of the Palismen.

5. Best personality trait

For Skara it’s her ability to accept responsibility and grow from her mistakes. It’s a difficult thing to do, to admit you were wrong for so long. It’s not something that came naturally to her either: she had to work hard at it, and it was a painful process. But Skara did, and now she’s a teacher cause she wants to help other kids avoid her mistakes while learning the same lessons.

For Willow, it’s her kindness and unwavering defense of her friends. She’s always looking out for everyone, always doing whatever it takes to make sure they’re safe and cared about and know that. It’s a trait she always had, but it grew over time as she matured into a true blue protector.

6. Worst personality trait

For Skara, it’s her guilt. Her self reflection has sadly burdened her with a deep sense of shame for her bullying, and while she never bullied anyone after she leaves Boscha, she still hates herself sometimes for how she used to be, something that causes her to become more reserved and isolated. Willow can tell when she gets like this though, and always tries to remind her that her past is in the past, and she’s moved on to become a better person.

For Willow, it’s her inability to regulate her own needs. She gets better at it with time, but even after Future she still can’t always take time to just think of her own feelings. She’ll push herself till breaking point until one of her friends reminds her it’s ok to care about herself for a bit.

7. Age/height/weight headcanon

Sometimes I see a bunch of Willow art I wonder if it’s a headcannon that she was ever chubbier than Amity or Luz, given how often people seem to make her just as skinny…

Skara is the taller of the two, even if most of that extra height is her hair, something she’ll playfully tease Willow about from time to time. Thankfully Willow has the advantage of being less of a full blown simp, so she can easily pull Skara down to her height for a kiss.

8. Unpopular opinion about them

Skara was never as big a bully as Boscha. She was A bully, and I don’t want to deny that, but I think it’s canonically wrong when people make her to be as bad as Boscha. It was clear throughout that she could tell when Boscha was going too far, and there’s a few moments where she seems even scared of Boscha, like when they run into her during the King segment in Swap or when Boscha’s about to burn Luz alive in Wing It.Most likely, Amity bullied Willow because she felt she had to, and Boscha bullied her because Amity did, and later because she felt Willow stole Amity from her, while Skara, Cat, and Amelia probably just stuck to the sidelines because they wanted to be accepted by the others. Again, it isn’t cool, and I know that Skara feels like garbage for how she acted to this day, but please don’t act like Skara was as big a bully as Boscha.

Everyone used to act like Gus was the character who deserved more respect from the show, deserved more story’s, but really, it was Willow who got shafted in the end. Gus has 3 unquestioned spotlight episodes (Something Ventured, Looking Glass, and Labyrinth Runners), he drives two subplots (Understanding Willow and Grom), and eventually even steals Willow’s bits, like her glowing eyes (I know Dana said it’s a thing all Witches can do under intense emotion but that’s a retcon and we all know it). In contrast, Willow seems like she has more, but she honestly kinda doesn’t. Sure, there’s Teenage Abomination and Hooty’s Moving Hassle which are good and perfectly Willow centric, but then things get a lot fuzzier. Understanding Willow would be better named Understanding Willow’s Relationship with Amity Primarily through Amity’s Lens, Wing It is solid but mostly used to drive Lumity, her only real moments in season 2A were getting Clover in Hunting Palisman and having all her bones broken in Looking Glass, Any Sport PRETENDS to be about Willow, but in the end is more about Hunter then any other of his team up episodes, to the point the second half spends most of its time making Willow weak and self loathing JUST SO HUNTER COULD LOOK LIKE A HERO, her subplot in Labyrinth feels a lot worse when you remember that Any Sport actually proves that Amity was completely right to think Willow couldn’t fight the Emperors Coven (also Willow shows more anger towards Amity here then she ever did to Hunter which is cool, totally fine, not aneurism causing at all), and honestly, as nice as it was to see Willow have a bit of an emotional arc in Future, it was more a way to get Hunter a girlfriend then anything (also the fact it’s pretty much a complete ripoff of Luz’s own arc in Reaching Out). In less words and as less of a ramble, Willow may technically have more stuff then Gus, but honestly, Gus stories are actually about Gus, while Willow stories are almost exclusively used for other people’s development, whether it be Amity’s, Lumity, or *sigh* Hunter’s. And I wanted her to be more than that.

Also, Willow can be angry. Like, really, genuinely, righteously angry. She’s a someone who spent her whole childhood being bullied by her former bestie and unironically was willing to BURN HER MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS ALIVE TO DESTROY SAID FORMER BESTIE (technically that was Inner Willow but still). It seems like people kinda just forget that though. Hell, the show seems to, what with stuff like her, like I said, getting more mad at Amity in Labyrinth then Hunter in Any Sport.

(Also Skarlow is better than Huntlow but you can read my blog to see that so.)

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

For Skara, it was probably her at Grom. It’s such a hilarious bit, her going from a swooning teenage girl on a date to Magic Prom to her just getting so damn into the fight. That tux looks expensive and she rips it off of her like it’s nothing in a fit of bloodlust. And there’s just something so endearing about her Grom photos too. I love (most) of her earlier stuff too of course but Grom to me is the peak of Skara.

For Willow, I don’t know the exact moment, but it was probably somewhere early on, almost certainly around seeing her go from green eyed at Amity’s bullying to apologizing and rushing to help Luz from her plants. I love characters who are both adorable and badass and I think that’s what Willow, at her best, is.

10. Best moment on screen (or in the book)

Skara’s best moment would been her redemption arc if she had one, but otherwise I’d say, again, it’s Grom. Just, *chefs kiss* The best.

Willow has a lot of actually good moments, and I originally answered this question a while ago with her during Understanding, but thinking more on it, I think the best moment for Willow is really her and Amity in Follies. It’s an incredibly minor moment, something you’d be forgiven for forgetting happens if you haven’t seen it in a while, but looking back it’s all of Willow’s best traits in one scene: Her ability to go from intimidating to adorable in a matter of seconds, her emotional maturity in helping Amity with her problems (even if that bits offscreen for shock purposes), actually confirming she works out in the show instead of just saying it in an AMA, her complicated feelings about Amity… there’s like, so much in this one scene that embodies why Willow Park is amazing and deserves all the love.

This… took longer to write then I thought and was a lot more rambly then I expected. Still, hope you enjoyed, and I’ll try to do the next 10 questions sometime soon.

#the owl house #skarlow #willow park #skara #headcannon #toh skara #toh #character asks

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familyagrestefanblog · 3 years

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Ml Meta analysis: Adriens current absents, season 4 structure and theory on whats to come

Here I am back again with my endless rambling.

I'm just as worried for our cat son as everyone else (maybe even more) which is why I tried figuring out for my own sanity why he is so absent currently.

Upfront I wanna warn yall that I wrote this post in one rush this night and therefore had no time to do alot of editing. So things can probably get a bit more messy than usual but I tried to write it clearly, while writing 2 other ml essays as well. This is the one drawback of having so many episodes in such a short time, I have no time to write my posts x3 I had another theory planned for before Optigami airs but I don't think I can manage before tomorrow.

But let's not waste any more time. Grab a snack and here we go:

It's 2am right now but I think I just realized why Adrien/Chat Noir is being sidelined so much recently.

Sure, yes, it'll come into play in the very obviously set up Ladynoir drama later on but what I wanna talk about now is more the structure of how s4 is most likely written in terms of both Marinettes and Adriens side of the story. And then deep dive a little on why I think so.

You see season 4 is now reaping what has been built up from s1-s3, but this also includes that you have to take the time now to properly recreate the new possibilities out of the loose pieces of the broken status quo.

Seriously, season 4 has to handle and reinvent ALOT. The show got now officially announced to have 7 seasons, which is exactly the amount of seasons Astruc said they have story for. I couldnt find the official tweet from Thomas himself but I one from another source:

And now look take a look at the possible shows structure:

- s1-s3 was the first status quo and built up everything so now they can pay off after pay off while...

-... S4 is now the transitional season where the old status quo gets left behind as we work towards the new one.

-I have nothing to proof this of course, but in the same sense it would now make sense that s5-s7 where/are planned to play out under the final status quo. If I'm not wrong at first the show was under contract for 5 seasons, which would mean that after the transitional season 4 there was only 1 season of the final status quo for sure. Still, done right it could have been worth the wait. But this isn't where Miraculous will end. The show actually got the 7 seasons the creator wanted and THIS is how I think the long term plan makes the most sense. Nothing all too complicated but still hella effective in its execution.

But now back to our two main characters, because Marinettes and Adriens development are the two aspects that will raise the show to the intense heights of the s5-s7 status quo.

From s1-s3 Marinette was the active player but she was hardly involved with the actual PLOT of the show, since most of the plot and backstory of the show lies directly with the Agreste family. She only started to get her own plot when she literally created a new one by getting involved with the miraculous lore, because the closest Marinette got to the Agreste plot was "The collector".

Adrien in the other hand was always literally right in the middle of the plot but he wasn't enough of an active player to bring us further either.

Season 4 is now going to add the missing parts for both of them and as the very beginning of the season showed us: there are going to do it SEPERATLY.

This is why "Truth" and "Lies" have been structured the way they are (One Marinette-centric the other Adrien-centric). Yes, Marinette and Adrien are meant to end their story victoriously together, but they are simply not the people they have to be to become such a powerful team. Certain aspects of their journey they have to do... basically disconnected from the other one. The "Miracle Queen" endcard shows it quite nicely as well where they are heading now: away from each other.

Obviously the season started with Marinette growing into her new guardian status including everything miraculous related, since she is the main lead and because the new ways the episodes can now utilize everything Miraculous need to be established first before we deep dive into the messed up Agreste mystery.

So while I totally agree that it is annoying to get so little Adrien/Chat Noir content currently I also understand the practicality behind it. As I said, before s4 Marinette was the active main character who mostly didn't really have her own plot. So now adding her plot aspect and have her ACTIVELY figure everything needed out means that right now Marinette/Ladybug is the active focus main character who is solving a huge part of her s4 character arc. That simply drowns out Adrien as the currently still mostly-inactive secondary main character who, yes, may be right in the middle of the shows emotional + villain plot/lore/backstory, but that side of the story simply isn't in focus at the moment.

And I gotta say, I'm kinda glad they're doing it this way. Because I'm gonna be honest, when the season starts giving us Adrien/family Agreste episodes like "Lies" and "The collector" (in this case "Gabriel Agreste" for example) again, I don't want the narrative to be forced to spend time with something guardian lore based just because they didn't took their time to do it earlier.

So, as we see on the s4 episode raster "Gabriel Agreste" is episode 9. Honestly, I expect most of it (especially the ones near the beginning, so ep. 5 included) til that episode to be Marinette based the way everything else til now did (besides Lies obviously and Guilt trip didn't hardcore focus on Marinette/Ladybug either and that's because it's after "Gabriel Agreste") in the spirit of "Truth". It's just the needed set up from Marinettes side of the story and I can live with that.

Because we actually saw the change after "Gabriel Agreste" already in "Guilt trip".

I don't know why some people pretend like Chat almost cataclysming himself after hearing how guilt-eaten Nino is for Adriens sake isn't a huge indicator that the episodes afterwards will not only acknowledge but also DEAL with Adriens/Chats situation and problems. Remember, we are talking about CHAT NOIR here not Adrien Agreste. The show has always portrayed and acknowledged ADRIENS issues very straight forward and with the proper seriousness (especially when it comes to his family), whereas Chat Noir was often mostly used for comedic purposes with some exceptions of his problems being properly delt with (since Marinette/Ladybug was mostly oblivious to them, since Adrien keeps them hidden so well). But now in "Guilt trip" LADYBUG was confronted head-on with just how much negativity Chat has inside and how quickly and extremely he drowns in it.

Sure, correct, the episode also has his negativity "washed away" rather quickly by Ladybug opening up to him on how important he is to her

But this is in character for both of them as "Lies" very clearly showed us that the way BOTH OF THEM behave here is where the problem lies. There Ladybug was freaked out after Chat threw his life away once again but quickly accepted Chats very direct avoidance of the confrontation, since he seemed to be alright to her.

Something I also find noteworthy here is that Ladybugs dialog is "Seriously, you need to stop doing this to me!", which is.... a VERY Marinette-centric way of acknowledging the problem.

It completely shifts the issue away from Adriens extremely alarming self-harmful/suicidal tendencies and instead only calls out how it affects Marinette (whose feelings here are definitely valid, don't get me wrong!). It showcases perfectly how unaware Marinette still is of her partners inner tumult at that point and also parallels how Marinette called Adriens life "perfect" at the beginning of the episode (This is no shade towards Marinette, in general the entirety of "Lies" is about showing us just how harmful Adriens Chat Noir persona actually IS to him so these two moments of her being oblivious to Adriens and Chats immense problems very much fits into that episodes narrative and sets up what's about to come. I still have an entire essay in the making for "Lies" but, guys, it's just getting longer and longer. I suck xD).

So the fact that an episode after "Gabriel Agreste" brings this scenario back, just a little different but ALOT more revealing of Adriens immense problems to his partner, is VERY telling. Besides other things it tells us that this happens at the beginning of the arc that deals with (at least) Chats issues since Ladybug is still way too quickly too ready to accept her partner as "completely fine" again just because Chat makes it seem that way (while some negativity increasing guilt bubbles still to stick to him.).

And yet, others have already pointed it out that Ladybug IS noticing what Chat wanted to do and reacted accordingly...

she just didn't speak of it the way it is because it overwhelmed her, which calls back to Ladybugs "You have to stop doing this to me!" dialog.( For a great breakdown of her dialog HERE is a link to @flightfoot post)

In "Lies" Marinette was way too stressed by her new guardian role to even consider Chats side of it and therefore only spoke of her own, but in "Guilt trip" she's already past that stressful arc. So here she is immediately able to recognize Chats suicidal action for what it is, come to his (much needed) aid and lift her partners spirit the best she can by emotionally opening up to him (which is something we KNOW is incredibly hart for Marinette).

The difference between her reaction in "Lies" and in "Guilt trip" shows that Marinette has her guardian role already mostly handled and is now mentally able to be there for others again, so the extremely Marinette-centric "Truth"-like episodes are mostly passed. Now the episodes can bring Adrien/Chat Noir more into the game again and even shift to "Lies" - like episodes because MARINETTE can pay more attention to him again and isn't faced with something new, important and overwhelming Miraculous related every step she takes.

And THAT is extremely fair from a narrative standpoint.

---

I really need to stop elaborating so much on these posts because I'm only NOW actually getting to the point of where Adriens journey will disconnect for a while from Ladybugs. Sorry guys.

Okay, to understand where I'm going with this I will have to quickly explain how I always saw Chat Noirs place in the Ladybug+Chat Noir vs Hawkmoth war ever since s1.

Because here is the thing: Adrien wasn't able to truly leave the battle field ONCE since the origins. Marinette was completely out of Hawkmoths and Gabriels reach once she detransformed, which balances out her basically being the personification of the good sides force. And Gabriel literally decided whenever or not the battle is even ACTIVE right now! Besides that he is in complete control of his own actions and environment, which gives him all the necessary time, safety and downtime he needs to act as the personification of the evil sides force.

Marinette and Gabriel always knew when they were safe and off the battle field, but ADRIEN never had that and it left him LITERALLY right in the middle of both Ladybugs and Hawkmoths sides.

You see, because before Adrien became Chat Noir he basically was part of Hawkmoths side just by default. He was born into this family, that's his father and lost mother and everything he knows. Adrien didn't/doesn't even have to KNOW that he is part of Hawkmoths side, he's his son at some level he just IS! And I'm not saying this as anything negative, Adrien coming from Hawkmoths side is literally the reason why he became Chat Noir!

Because whereas Gabriel is having the time of his damn life as evil terrorist, created out of tragic and sinister circumstances, ADRIEN on the other hand couldn't handle his families environment and very same circumstances anymore and accepted the role as Paris' hero to escape his heritage for a while.

Keywords being: a WHILE.

Something unique about Adrien I always loved is the fact that he is the villains abused, isolated and overworked SON, who becomes a hero to escape his depressing life and YET it was never Adriens intention to LEAVE IT. Adrien merely wanted to use his time as Chat Noir to let of some steam and breath freely while doing some hero work so he can go back into his civilian life and try to one day successfully ment his broken family. He couldn't handle the current situation anymore but he still always saw worth in his family/father. I have SO MUCH respect for that!

But him not intending to leave his family and instead regaining strength as Chat Noir to continue to hold onto it came with the downside of him not being able to fully become part of the good sides people/force either. Hence why Adriens/Chats place always felt so lost in comparison to Ladybugs and Hawkmoths clear positions. He's caught in between their extremes trying to balance out BOTH at the same time. What an impossible task!

So he couldn't put in the same focus as Ladybug into being the good sides force because he is literally burned out from his civilian life on Hawkmoths evil side. But he also couldn't be involved as an ACTIVE member of his fathers evil force, because he chose to find refuge in his friends and as a hero on Ladybugs side.

Adrien unknowingly is part of BOTH the shows two extreme moral sides of good and evil and this season we will see Adrien/Chat Noir grow into his own within BOTH sides as well.

Because he simply couldn't have done so right away in s1. Now after 3 seasons Chat Noir is more than solidly established as one of Paris Heros and his time with Ladybug, the other heros and his normal friends helped him greatly to find his place on the good side. "Lies" set this up as Chat Noirs arcs starting point that now he has to stop connecting "being heroic" strictly with following Ladybug (as Marinette is the STAND IN personification for the good side, she's still a flawed human being like everyone else and not the ultimate force of perfect and good. Big difference.) just as he has to start looking past his fathers sympathetic moments/qualities to see that Hawkmoth isn't a 100%, inhumane monster just because he is the stand-in personification of evil in their fight, but the man he calls Father and still needs to be taken down. (I talked about this in more detail on THIS post)

Adrien has to seperat himself from Ladybugs path and focus on his family and I believe it'll start with the much dreaded (but expected) Ladynoir fight.

Funnily enough, what I'm talking about was actually already set up in "Frozer" I just didn't remember that for a bit. In "Frozer" we saw Ladynoir having a fight which caused Chat Noir to go his own way in the episodes battle.

I always found it interesting that the episode didn't had Chats decision, to not follow Ladybugs lead here, turn out to be a huge mistake. Almost every other show would have done so but now I think I understand. This episode and s2 in general SET UP the s4 conflict, s3 LEAD UP to it and now s4 DELIVERS it.

So what happened in "Frozer" is a direct parallel to what about to go down:

Ladynoirs fight will cause Chat Noir to not simply follow Ladybugs side anymore the way he used to, but note, he DOESN'T leave the good side AND they make up again in the end after Chat saves Ladybug from the akuma. He just does things on his own because he isn't on great terms with her for a while. "Frozer" showed Chats decision to not only NOT be a mistake but also a necessary part of defeating the akuma, just the way it'll be in s4. Damn, Adrien breaking away from Ladybugs side, the way she (unintentionally tho) did at the beginning of the season, to focus more on himself and his family will be the game changing factor, when Adrien will have his completing arc where he goes from "not active character within the villain/backstory plot" to "ACTIVE character within the villain/backstory plot".

And we already saw with Marinette how many fast breakthroughs we get through these completing arcs. Which is also a reason for why Adriens/ Chats arc comes later in the season, because BUDDY. Once Adrien starts to actively uncover his families mystery and fathers secrets Gabriel is SCREWED! Adrien will gain the needed inside knowledge that complements Marinettes Miraculous power; and reunited they can take on whatever the hell kind of scale the Agrestes plan actually is.

So how to end this post? My biggest intention was to raise hope for everybody (myself included lol) who is right now very concerned and upset about how side-lined our boy is at the moment. But I prefer doing so in a way that actually works with canons context instead of sugarcoating what I don't like. And Adriens/Chats current position I definitely do NOT like but accepting it as realistic outcome from s1-s3 and set up for the escalation for both Ladynoir and his home situation gives it the proper purpose and pay off (narrative and character wise) that it SHOULD have.

Basically, the endcards of "Truth" and "Lies" show it perfectly.

It looks like ShadowMoth is turning a blind eye towards Adrien/Chat Noir because of Ladybugs new guardian status and "greater importance". But Gabriels tunnel vision on Ladybug will leave him vulnerable to his own sons secret actions against him and Gabriel won't see it coming until its already too late.

#Miraculous #Miraculous ladybug #ml theory #ml analysis #ml season 4 #ml show structure #Adrien Agreste #marinette dupain chang #Gabriel Agreste #Chat Noir #Ladybug #Hawkmoth #ml forshadowing

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amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines · 3 years

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hey! sort of spoilers for episode 2x06, so don’t read if you haven’t seen it! thank you @sweetcreaturesthings i really hope you like this!! i’m also really excited to be writing for prodigal son because i love the show and i’m so sad it’s been cancelled, so hopefully this will help me cling on to it...maybe. anyway! read away!

lyrics: it's you, you're the one that makes me feel right (me & you together song: the 1975)

give me a minute to hold my girl (hold my girl: george ezra)

just let me cry a little bit longer (rose-coloured boy: paramore)

“How do you feel?” You ask and he winces when you push the ice pack harder on to his head. He stares at you for a few seconds before reluctantly grabbing the pack and holding it himself.

“Like I’ve been pushed down an elevator shaft.” He huffs and shifts slightly. You pout at him and he rolls his eyes at your half assed attempt to make him feel better, but really he’s just glad to see you again.

The last time you spoke, he was almost killed and the only thing he could think about was never being able to see you again. To make you laugh at 3am when you’ve been working on a case for far too long, or to wipe your tears when a case gets too much for you. He see’s you first thing in the morning, late at night and sometimes for full weekends when a case is particularly hard, and every time you manage to help him see the world a little more brightly, despite the dark profession the two of you have.

“Next time I would recommend the stairs.” You reply, snapping him from his daydream, however you don’t seem to notice the fact that he’s just been staring straight at you, and instead you’re already walking around the bed and picking a handful of grapes from the bunch that Edrisa sent, although, neither of you are entirely sure how she knew he was here. “JT reckons you’re the luckiest guy in the world, he’s planning a trip to AC and everything.” You say with a mouthful of grape and Malcolm looks at you fed up.

“Maybe after we find out who almost killed me.”

“Please, you only fell down an elevator shaft it wasn’t that bad, call me when you get stabbed or something.” You roll your eyes and he flips you off. “How’s your head.” You laugh.

“Sore.” He shrugs and you pat his shoulder sympathetically. “But. We have a case to solve and a killer to catch and I can’t do any of those things lying down, so let’s go.” He says, back to his usual overly energetic self, but when he stands and wobbles you stand in front of him, blocking him from going anywhere.

Your hands on his shoulders steady him, but when he looks at you and see’s the concern on your face, your eyebrows furrowed and your lips pouted, he feels dizzy all over again and so he lets you sit him back down and get him some water.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah.” He nods, and a small smile tugs on his lips when he looks at you. “It’s you, you’re the one that makes me feel right.”

“What?” You ask, your eyes widening in surprise and he blinks, trying to figure out why he just said that. Was there something in the water? Is his head injury worse than the doctors originally thought? Or is he on some kind of drug he hasn’t been told about? Maybe he’s been given painkillers.

Wait, he hasn’t said anything in a while and you’re staring at him like he’s just sprouted another head, your lips parted and your eyes focused on his. He can see you thinking, you’re trying to figure something out, trying to work through something in your brain, he loves that face, it’s one of the many reasons why he loves coming to work.

What the hell? Malcolm Bright always does irrational, spur of the moment things, and you don’t look completely disgusted by the connotations of his previous sentence, instead you look quite happy, surprised but happy.

“Do you mean that?” You ask, a hint of hope that doesn’t go unnoticed by him and he nods slowly. As soon as he’s answered, your hands cup his cheeks and your lips capture his in a quick kiss, just to test the waters.

And he kisses you back, because of course he does, despite it making his head hurt. He stands and grabs your hips, angling your head and deepening the kiss and the two of you stay like that for what feels like forever. It makes the room shake and his head spin and reminds him that he is very much alive.

“Have you been crying?” He asks suddenly and you quickly wipe your eyes.

“Maybe.” You huff. “I thought you were gonna die, especially when I found you lying there, there was so much blood and the only thing I could think about was the fact that I wasn’t there to help. JT and Dani kept telling me you would be okay, but I just kept crying, and eventually I just told them to go away and let me cry a little bit longer, which in hindsight, may have been a little rude.” You ramble and Malcolm listens to you quietly.

He sits back down, moving over so you can lie beside him and his eyes flutter closed as he listens to you think of a way to make things up to JT and Dani. His arms wrap around your waist, holding you close to him, but then the room starts to shake, the cup on the side of the table moves and spills and he feels you slip away from him.

He tries to grab at you, but you fall away, taking the rest of the room with you and leaving Malcolm alone in the dark, staring death straight in the face.

But it’s not death that he’s thinking about, it’s not how he’s going to get out of here, if he’ll get out of here. He isn’t begging the universe to give him another chance, he’s begging it to give him a chance.

“Give me a minute to hold my girl.”

song lyric prompts

support my writing! if you'd like!

#malcolm bright #malcolm bright x reader #malcolm bright x you #malcolm bright imagine #malcolm bright x y/n #prodigal son #prodigal son imagine #song lyric prompts #the 1975 #george ezra #paramore

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

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Loki director Kate Herron’s heart was beating fast. She’d already had some surreal experiences during her short time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so a simple phone call shouldn’t make her nervous. But on the other end of the line was Owen Wilson, an actor and writer she admired and hoped would join her on a time-jumping journey through the MCU.

“It was the most detailed pitch I’ve ever done, to an actor, ever. I pretty much spoke through the entire first episode with him,” Herron recalls of wooing Wilson, who wasn’t too familiar with Marvel before being cast as Mobius, an agent for the mysterious Time Variance Authority central to the series.

Wilson instantly put Herron at ease with his laid-back charm as she walked the actor through 10 years of onscreen lore for Loki, the god of mischief played by Tom Hiddleston. She answered his questions about Avengers: Endgame, about time travel, about how this version of Loki was not the one fans knew from films like Thor: Ragnarok, but rather one plucked from an alternate timeline from 2012’s The Avengers.

It was all part of a whirlwind few years for Herron, who not that long ago was temping at a fire extinguisher company and struggling to land directing work even though she’d already helmed a BBC project with Idris Elba. Then Herron finally achieved breakthrough success directing episodes of the Netflix hit Sex Education and soon was hounding her agents for a Marvel meeting.

When Herron finally landed one, the Loki superfan cleared her schedule and spent two weeks putting together a 60-page document, even though her agents tempered her expectations by noting it was just a meet-and-greet.

“I knew I’d be up against some really big directors, and I knew I wouldn’t be the most experienced in the room, so I [said], ‘OK. I’ll just be the most passionate,'” recalls Herron.

Just a few days after officially landing the job, Herron found herself on a five-hour walk through New York with Hiddleston discussing Loki and flying to D23 in Anaheim to be greeted by thousands of screaming fans alongside Loki head writer Michael Waldron.

Herron is now working long days finishing up Loki in Marvel’s production hub in Atlanta, where the British filmmaker has largely lived since getting the job in 2019. Over Zoom from her freezing Atlanta apartment (she still hasn’t figured out the quirks of the air conditioner), Herron dives into Loki ahead of its June 9 debut on Disney+.

What was your process of sitting down with Marvel for this?

I was just so overexcited. [My agents] were like, “Look, it’s just a casual conversation, they just want to get a sense of you,” and basically I was like, “OK, I’m just going to pitch them.” Because I thought, they might not meet me again. So I got as much information as I could, and they sent me a little bit about the show. And I just prepared a massive pitch for it. I canceled everything for two weeks. I made a 60-page document full of references, story ideas, music. I knew I’d be up against some really big directors, and I knew I wouldn’t be the most experienced in the room, so I [said], “OK. I’ll just be the most passionate.”

Was that first meeting in Burbank?

That was in England, in southeast London on Zoom. I had a few stages where I did that. Then after a few interviews with Kevin Wright and Stephen Broussard, two of the Marvel executives who got me ready for the big match, I went in to pitch to Kevin Feige, Victoria [Alonso], Lou [Louis D’Esposito], the whole team there. That was very surreal because they flew me to Burbank and I pitched at Marvel Studios. I didn’t have the job, but I found out they were interested and then I remember Kevin Feige called me, and when he was in London, we had coffee. He was like, “Look, we want you to direct it.” Oh my God. They flew me to D23 and that was crazy because I think I found out I got the job 48 hours before, and then I was onstage. The Lady and the Tramp dogs were in front of me and Michael [Waldron] on the red carpet. “What is going on?” (Laughs.) I met Tom that week as well, so it was a bit of a whirlwind kind of thing.

📷Herron, Waldron and Feige at D23 in 2019.

Where did you first meet Tom?

I had a two-stop trip. I flew first to New York to meet Tom. He was in Betrayal at the time, on Broadway, so we basically went on this amazing walk around New York. I’d never met him before. We just spoke about Loki and what was really important to us about the character and where we thought it would be fun to take him, as well. It was this intense, five-hour conversation with him basically. I met him and then flew straight from meeting him to D23. So it was a lot. (Laughs.)

When did you finally get the scripts? How did that change your thoughts on what you want to do?

They sent me the outline, so I knew the overall story. I also was pitching stuff. “Oh, we could do this with this character.” The pilot was really well written by Michael and I really liked what they were doing with the character and the story. Then it was building upon that and throwing in ideas for where he could go later in the show. It reminded me a bit of improv where you’re always building, always trying to push the story to the best place. So we were always adapting and shifting the story. Our lockdown, during COVID, was a chance for us to go back in. I was cutting what we’d done, so I was like, “OK, this is tonally what is really working for the story.” Then we went back into what we hadn’t filmed and started adapting that stuff to fit more where we were heading.

The Marvel movies have a writer on set to help tweak things. Was that the case with Loki?

Michael [Waldron] was with us at the start, and then he went on to Doctor Strange [in the Multiverse of Madness]. We had a really wonderful writer called Eric Martin from our writers room, and he was our production writer on set. It was between me, him and my creative producer Kevin Wright. We would kind of brainstorm and adapt. I’ve always loved talking to the cast. We had such a smart cast. Owen is a writer as well. If you have that amazing resource, why not talk to them? We were always adapting. Obviously paying respect to the story we wanted to tell from the start, but always trying to make it better.

📷Herron on the set of ‘Loki’ with Hiddleston and Wilson.

Kevin Feige has said Owen Wilson, like his character, is nonplussed by the MCU. Since Owen isn’t necessarily dazzled by Marvel, does that make him all the more perfect for this role?

He is playing a Loki expert, so at the beginning of production, Tom and I were talking. He devised this thing called Loki School. He did a big lecture to the cast and crew. I love the character. This is a decade of fans loving this character and where that character has been. It was talking everyone through that, but through Tom and his own experiences. Stunts that Tom liked or costumes. He ended up doing that same Loki school for Owen. Owen absolutely loved it. Owen has such a writer’s brain. I remember I had to pitch him down the phone. My heart rate [was up].

Was this the pitch to get him to get Owen on board?

Yeah. I love his work. “Oh my God, I’m going to talk to Owen Wilson.” He’s so laid back and nice, it immediately puts you at ease. It was the most detailed pitch I’ve ever done, to an actor, ever. I think I pretty much spoke through the entire first episode with him. You can tell he’s a writer, just by the way he attacks story. His questions about the world and the structure and the arc of the character. It was really fun to work with him.

Was it the most detailed pitch you’ve ever done because you really wanted Owen, or because you knew you needed to woo him a bit to get him to sign on?

It was the questions he asked, and the way he attacked story, in that sense. And also probably because he was newer to the Marvel world, he was like, “OK, how does this work?” I also pitched him Loki’s arc over the past 10 years, where that character has gone, but also explaining our Loki and what happened in Endgame and time travel. There’s a lot to unpack in that conversation.

Sometimes Marvel will give writers or directors a supercut of all the scenes of a specific character. Did you get one of those?

They didn’t actually give me a supercut, but I’m a big Loki nerd. I think his is one of the best [arcs] in the MCU. I really wanted to make sure we were paying respect to that. At the same time, something Tom spoke about a lot was you have to go back for a reason. Let’s be united on what that reason is and feel that it’s worth it.

The reason can’t be, “Well that’s what happened in Endgame,” so the question becomes, “What is the point of revisiting him at this era of his life?”

Yeah. He’s only had — I don’t want to get this wrong — I think 112 minutes of screen time in total if you cut all his scenes together. And he steals the show. We have six hours to really delve into this character and talk about him and go on this completely new story with him. For me, it was making sure that [we’re] paying respect to what has come before — I know as a fan if there is a character I really loved and I found out they are making a show about him, I obviously would be so excited and so happy. I felt lucky to have the responsibility, and I took it very seriously.

Those who have worked with Kevin Feige say he’s someone who can stress test an idea and push things in new directions. What have you found working with him?

Something I always found was we would sometimes pitch something, and it would be at a good place, but he’d always be like, “OK, that’s great, but push it further.” Sometimes I’d pitch stuff and be like, “This is too weird,” and he’d say, “No, go weirder.” He wants to tell the best story and I found it really helpful having his eye across everything and the fact that he does challenge everything. Tom as well, on set. He brings this amazing energy and this great A-game that causes everyone to rise to the occasion.

How do you know when you’ve got the perfect Hiddleston take? Is he asking you for one more, are you pushing him to do one more take?

By the end, it was almost telepathic. We would kind of know. We would look at each other. “We could go again,” or, “We’ve got it.” It’s different with every actor. There are some actors who will come in firing and they just want to go for it. But they don’t want to do a million takes. There are other actors I work with who are very meticulous and they want quite a few to warm up and get into it. It’s actor-dependent. The way me and Tom are similar is we are both very perfectionist. We are both very studious. (Laughs.) We definitely connected in that sense. He’s a very generous actor. I remember one day, we had quite a few of our actors coming in as day players. It was really important for him to be there for them, to read lines offscreen. He would have to be 50 places at once, because he is the lead actor. The most amazing thing about him was his generosity. Not just to the other actors, but also to the crew, to be filming in a time like COVID.

When you make an Avengers movie, you get a big board with every character that’s available, and whether the actor’s deals will allow them to appear or if that would need to be renegotiated. Loki is smaller, but was there any equivalent for you? Was everything on the table? Was only some stuff on the table? I imagine if Chris Hemsworth has his own new Thor movie coming up, he’s not going to be on the table, necessarily.

I felt like everything was on the table if it meant it was good for story, and Marvel would be like, “We’ll work it out.” Me and the writers, we never felt restrained in that sense. Honestly, it always comes back to story.

What is your relationship with your editor as you finish this up?

We have three editors, Paul Zucker, Emma McCleave and Calum Ross. My relationship with all three of them is very different. Emma and me are very close because she was also in Atlanta away from home. I got to know her very well. I love working with the editors because it’s a fresh pair of eyes. You get so deep into something when you are filming, it’s almost like writing it again when you are in the edit. Stuff does change. Even some episodes, we’ve reordered the structure. Or we moved scenes from one episode to another episode. I’ve always loved the editing process. The best thing is someone honest who can be like, “Hey, this doesn’t quite make sense to me,” or, “This isn’t working.”

What are you going to do on premiere day? Will you be on the internet at all to see the reaction?

I’m actually working. I’m still finishing the show. My last day is the day the second episode airs. I’m going to be working that day. Sadly, I’ll probably check in on the internet a little bit, but I’ll probably go to bed when I finish because I think I’ll do a 12- or 13-hour day or something. I can’t remember. I’m really excited for people to see it and just to bring it out in the world, really.

Everyone wants to know about spoilers, but what’s something you wish you were asked about more when it comes to Loki?

Kevin Feige said, “We make movies. We want to run it like a movie.” So unlike a lot of television shows that are showrunner-led, this was run like a six-hour film. As a director, you don’t often get to do that in a television-structure show. I really enjoyed it, having a hand in story and just how collaborative it was. Also, just beyond that, directing the equivalent of a six-hour Marvel movie was incredible for me. That’s something I found interesting about it. Making something the Marvel way.

In terms of the themes, I love gray areas. The show is really about what makes someone truly good or what makes someone truly bad, and are we either of those things? Loki is in that gray area. It’s exciting to be able to tell a story like that. As a director and a writer, you don’t necessarily understand why you are making these stories. Something I keep getting drawn back into is identity. Sex Education, we spoke a lot about identity and feeling like an outsider but actually finding your people. I feel the same with Loki. It’s a show about identity and self-acceptance and for me, that’s also what drew me in.

Gray is a good way to describe Loki. Your version of Loki just tried to take over the Earth not long ago.

Exactly. This isn’t the Loki we’ve seen. How do we take a character that people love, but from a lot earlier, and send him on a different path? That for me was interesting, getting to unpack that. Alongside that, getting to set up a whole new corner of the MCU with TVA. That to me was so exciting.

What about the Teletubbies? You referenced that recently and it made quite a splash. Are you going to leave people in suspense on that?

I referenced the Teletubbies once and people were like, “What, Teletubbies? What does this mean?” Maybe I should leave people in the air with it. One thing I would say is the show for me, stylistically — I wanted it to be a love letter to sci-fi because I love sci-fi. Brazil, Metropolis, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Alien. If people love sci-fi, they will definitely see the little nods we’ve got across the show. People will know what it was a reference for when they see the show. It was a visual reference to something in the show.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity. Loki debuts on Disney+ on June 9.

#Kate Herron #Loki #interview #loki series

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margarethx · 3 years

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I really don’t like going into topics like that, because I honestly care more about characters than actors who play them most of the time... I don’t feel like it’s my job to defend celebrities and actors, because I don’t owe them anything and I don’t know them, so I might be wrong... But the way some of you act about the whole situation with Anthony Mackie is abhorrent and I just can’t fully ignore it. So let’s sum it up.

----- ------- -----

1) Majority of the people who criticize Anthony for his words did not learn the full context. I just know they didn’t. They didn’t click to see the entire interview and analyze what was really said. They just saw a headline with some “scandalous” statement and started ranting about it without thinking.

2) Most of the fans who are the most loud and vicious about their criticism of Anthony Mackie in this situation sound like they would hate him no matter what he said. They were just waiting for him to do something wrong or semi-wrong and lached onto it the first chance they got.

3) It’s frankly embarassing that after 6 episodes of a popular Marvel show, dozens of media appearences, and hundreds of positive/neutral/wise/funny words said in different interviews Anthony was never really trending on the Internet, but the second he says something mildly controversial you all suddenly care so much about what he has to say... Okay...

4) Acting like race has nothing to do with this situation is just stupid. If you think that the fact that he’s Black is not in any way relevant in this "drama” you’re wrong and maybe you should rethink your opinions keeping that in mind.

5) I understand the initial reaction of the fandom being frustration and hurt, but no one is forcing us to voice our opinions the second we learn about something. You can read the full article, listen to the whole interview. Look at what other people are saying and then provide your own take on the issue. I feel like way too many people just heard that there’s some drama going on and typed the first thing that came to their minds without stopping to think. As always.

6) Even if you don’t agree with everything that Anthony said claiming that his words make him homophobic is weird. His statement was vague and could be interpretend as something... ugh... “problematic” out of context, but if you actually listen to what he said you’d know what he meant. He really didn’t say: “I hate shipping Sam and Bucky, it’s gross and people who do that are awful”... Yet half the fandom acts like these are his actual words.

7) The website standing behind it is partially responsible for the backlash he got, because they framed his words in probably the worst possible way to promote the interview which I find incredibly unfair.

8) Also asking actors about shipping is not a great idea. It’s not their job to deal with fandoms who got angry about everything. And like I said: it doesn’t matter what his answer would be. Someone would hate him for it anyway. Also it’s not like Anthony’s opinion would matter to the Marvel Studios if they wanted to make Sambucky canon or not. I’m sure his view on this issue is entirely irrelevant to them. He’s not standing in your way to get some representation, come on.

9) By the way... Many of you don’t act like you care about representation if it’s not done in a very specific manner (something Mackie even spoke about in a way), so I don’t really trust that many of you actually give a shit about it, when it doesn’t fit your incredibly narrow interpretation of what should be represented... or when it doesn’t match your very specific aesthetic...

10) Some people brought it up and I was almost inclined to agree... “Platonic male friendhips are important! Just because you’re affectionate with other man doesn’t mean you’re gay” is usually a terrible argument used in fandoms by homophobes against making gay couples canon. But I feel like it’s a different thing when some random Twitter user says it and when it comes from a man who is asked over and over, and over, and over again how close exactly is he with his male co-worker that he likes in private life.

11) If you’ve seen other interviews done by Anthony Mackie (not just short clips promoting Marvel movies) you’d know that it’s not the first time he speaks about his opinions about the topic. It didn’t come out of nowhere. And I don’t think we should hold him to completely different standards just because he admitted to being more intolerant in the past, but few people are open enough to admit that and show they’re working to change. And maybe I’m biased, because I had to put actual effort into changing my worldview about some topics into a more progressive one before, but I feel like it’s important to give people time to re-learn after years of having worse opinions. Or to give them some benefit of the doubt and trust that they’re not your enemy, because they’re not always 100% perfect with their support.

12) Overall I just feel bad for him, because poor wording or not, I’m sure - judging by many of his previous statements - that he didn’t mean to say something harmful and yet everyone was ready to jump and hate him even more than they did before. At the end of the day he’s 40-something straight guy who has very limited experience with fandoms, so he (for a good reason) preferred to just avoid the topic. But he was pushed again and again to talk about it, until he finally said something that people didn’t like... Some of you were just wainting to have a weapon to use agains him... So, congratulations, now you have it.

----- ------- -----

... I’m just tired by this whole situation and disappointed in a lot of fans I previously liked. There were a few people who immediately jumped to criticize Mackie and judging by their words they didn’t really know what they were talking about. I had to change my opinion about few creators who I followed, because of their terrible behaviour after all of this and it honestly leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

And I’m not even a huge Anthony Mackie fan! As I’ve mentioned... I don’t like being too invested in actors lives, I just prefer to focus on their work and what they’ve created... with a few tiny exceptions. But seeing how the fandom reacted to his statement made me so annoyed and frustrated that it felt wrong to just be silent and pretend like nothings happening.

#sam wilson #bucky barnes #sambucky #tfatws #anthony mackie

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xxiaoyang · 4 years

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more | yangyang (m)

yangyang has gotten his way one too many times and this time you're going to make him earn it or yangyang slipping into subspace for the first time

words: 4.5k

warnings/tags: suggestive, almost smut, dom!reader, sub!yangyang, lowkey brat!yangyang, spanking, subspace, dirty talk?, some build up, a bit of fluff?

the soft blue glow of the television lit up the room, the anime long forgotten in favor of watching yangyang's slender fingers make patterns on the inside of your thigh.

he's leaning against your side, head slightly below yours and eyes transfixed on the animated fight scene in front of him, but his fingers continue to work shapes into your skin with purpose.

you thought maybe it was subconscious, but with yangyang, you know it's just to get you worked up. and it works.

everything yangyang does works on you which is part of the reason it irritates you so much. that and the fact that he's a huge brat. he's used to getting what he wants from you, even if it comes after some resistance.

you were never good at handling brats, you simply never tolerated the behavior. and for yangyang, it's easier to give in and let him have what he wants (it's definitely not cause you want to or anything).

yangyang is very vocal about how much he loves your thighs, always talking about having them wrapped around him and leaving marks all over them, so it's no surprise his hand ended up here.

you watch as he shifts slightly which causes his hand to ride just an inch higher up your thigh. he brushes his fingers across the skin softly and moves his thumb in circles, all the while his eyes stay on the screen.

you're sure he can feel you burning holes into the side of his head or at least sense your frustration, but he doesn't pay you any mind.

you think for a second that maybe he is just really into the show and his touching is more of a habit or unconscious thing. yangyang is a boy with a lot of energy and doesn't sit still very often. he's also very, very touchy.

you begin to relax and interpret his touches as soothing, trying to fill in the blanks of what you missed on the screen.

it's only after you've immersed yourself back into the 2d world that you feel yangyang slide his hand up your thigh and squeeze, his head tilting up and bringing his hot breath with it.

you feel a tingle down your spine and convince yourself you only had such a reaction because he caught you off guard. you don't respond. you don't even move.

he doesn't stop. instead he pushes forward and presses his lips into the corner of your jaw below your ear and you have to suppress the sigh that's in your throat. you don't like how much power he has over you and how he knows he can get his way so easily.

you decide in that moment that you're not going to give it to him this time. after all, it was his idea to start this show.

sitting up straight, you fold your legs up onto the couch, your knees pointed away from him and your feet touching his legs as he's still leaning against you. he's even lower now and you can see him look up at you with those big puppy eyes he knows how to use so well.

you keep yours trained on the screen, not blinking or swallowing until he shifts a bit and looks back to the tv. you can't help but feel triumphant, but if you know your boyfriend at all, this isn't the end.

yangyang is so used to getting what he wants, that it makes him act like a brat when he doesn't. like a little kid, he'll pout and whine and sometimes even throw a small tantrum. you find it cute since he's always saying he's not a baby and yet he acts like such a baby.

he isn't pulling those stops yet, but they're coming. this thought grounds you in your resolve. if he wants it, he's gonna have to beg for it.

after two more episodes of yangyang trying and failing to initiate any kind of intimacy, he starts to get antsy.

the entire time he never spoke a word, only using his body to try to communicate his desires. and when you basically ignored all his advances, it finally got to him.

you could feel him getting impatient and bit back a smile. his eyes were locked on the side of your head, willing you to pay attention to him. if there's one thing yangyang couldn't deal with, it was not getting enough attention from you.

in true toddler fashion, he shifted from side to side folding and unfolding his legs, moving closer to you then separating himself completely to sit back and look at you, all the while huffing and puffing.

you held in a smile at the thought of his frustration. is he that needy? he wasn't even watching the show anymore.

it wasn't until he was sat staring at your side for what felt like minutes that he finally broke. he moved in front of you on the couch so he was half in your lap and grabbed your chin with his hand to bring your face to his.

"why are you ignoring me?"

you feign a look of confusion. "ignoring you? i'm not ignoring you, we're watching tv."

he groans and rests his weight on the leg he's straddling. "yes, you are. since we started the show basically."

your brows knit together. "you haven't said a word to me, yangie, how could i be ignoring you?" you know exactly what he means, but you're going to make him say it.

he falls right into your trap and suddenly the assertive boy on your lap is gone, replaced with a more shy boy who can no longer look into your eyes as he speaks, but he tries to keep up the act.

"you know... when i was, like, touching you."

his voice dies down at the end but he's so close that you still hear it clearly. it sparks a flame inside of you that you haven't felt in a while.

you use the opportunity to take control of the situation, placing a hand on his thigh and rubbing it similar to how he did with you earlier and he tenses.

you want him to look at you. you want him to give in and tell you what he wants. as talkative as the boy is, he never asks for what he wants.

"what was that, baby?" you put on a look of slight concern so when he looks back up at you he sees your softened eyes looking at him.

the name had an effect on him and he begins shifting on your thigh. he's never been in this position. he's not sure what to say for the first time, so he doesn't say anything at all.

his hands grip at the bottom of your shirt as he wishes for you to just get the hint and fuck him.

"what do you want, baby boy? you gotta tell me so i can know how to help you."

yangyang doesn't like how you're speaking. talking down to him like he's some little kid, voice all soft and sweet. for someone else, that might have been enough to melt them on the spot, but for him, it just makes him want to resist.

he straightens up and and looks away from your soft eyes, his lip instinctively jutting out in a pout and his arms crossed. you almost laugh at how childish he can be sometimes.

"no." it was as simple as that. he separated himself from you but he was still hovering over your leg, barely making contact. you thought of shifting your leg up into his front to tease him but you wanted to play with him some more.

grabbing his hips in both of your hands, you push him down on your thigh so his legs are spread and he's almost eye level with you as you sit up and stare into his eyes.

with your head tilted you question, "no? no, you're not going to tell me what you want?"

he's facing you but his eyes are off to the side, still being stubborn, and he doesn't say a word.

a muscle twitches in your forehead and you grip his jaw and force him to look into your eyes.

"answer me." there's no malice in your tone. you're not even that bothered. you just want to show him who's in charge.

he pulls his face from you and leans back to get up but your other hand on his hip stops him. you're surprised for a second at how stubborn he could be. would he really rather walk away from you than just ask you to touch him?

"so you're not going to tell me why you were all over me a little while ago? why you were mouthing at my neck and groping at me like a bitch in heat?"

you knew he liked when you called him names. it was something he would never admit, but he couldn't deny how his body reacted to the obscene words. his whole body tensed and you could see the mask slipping off, but he was determined.

"why do you think?" yangyang spits back. your brow raises and you just stare at him. you know he's embarrassed, but to give you such an attitude is very uncalled for.

"excuse me?" you tighten your grip on him.

he doesn't hesitate and looks you in the eye, "i said, why do you think? are you dumb?"

you're shocked for a moment. even as bratty as he can be at times, surely your cute and sweet boyfriend would never call you that, right?

it's seconds later that you realize that he would, and he did, not because he actually thinks you're dumb, but because he wants to push you.

it worked. in a second you were pushing to stand as yangyang barely found his footing before he slipped off of your lap.

his heart skipped at the thought of you walking away mad at him. had he gone too far this time? but when he stood and faced you and saw the look in your eye as you glared at him, a single finger pointed toward your shared bedroom, he knew he'd gotten his way again.

"bed. now." your voice broke his thought and he decided to push you even further.

"and what if i don't want to?"

your brow twitched but you stood your ground.

"then you can get yourself off for the next week."

yangyang's eyes widened at that, almost comically. you'd never threatened him like that before. surely you didn't mean it. how could you resist him?

at his silence you prodded further, "i can just stay right on this couch and leave you with blue balls for the next seven days if that's what you want." you took a step closer to him. "or you can get your ass on that bed and be rewarded like a good boy."

he didn't know what to think. you'd never shown this kind of dominance to him before.

two minutes ago the thought wouldn't have interested him, usually he's the one in charge, but now seeing you all worked up and confident with that tone, he couldn't stop his dick from twitching in his pants. he liked this side of you, a lot. he liked thinking about you forcibly taking control over him and even being rough with him.

so many new ideas were entering his brain at once that he wouldn't be surprised if he was drooling right there.

the dazed look in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by you, nor did the shiver that racked his body.

you got him.

with this victory you grabbed his shirt by the collar and kissed him deeply, making sure to leave a bite on his lip as you pulled away.

his hair was messy and his face and neck were flushed, lips shining as they rested slightly agape. he looked so beautiful, gazing down at you with big doe eyes. you wanted to make him fall apart. a new desire that had never existed in your mind prior, but was much welcomed.

yangyang returned to himself and straightened, only giving you a small nod and lowered his head.

unable to see your wicked grin through his fringe, he followed as you grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall to your bedroom.

a rush of excitement bloomed in your chest, traveling all the way down to your core. you wanted to try so many things with him. you wanted to ruin him.

yangyang didn't make a sound as he watched you expectantly, careful so not to break the mood.

he couldn't deny how excited he was. how hard it made him to see you looking so angry and being so rough. he could feel himself leaking into his boxers already.

"get on the bed, on your stomach."

your voice never faltered. it carried a weight with it that shot straight to yangyang's already aching dick.

he only hesitated for a second before letting himself spread flat across the mattress.

"what are you gonna do?" he wasn't sure if he should ask questions, but he was curious to know why you had him on his front rather than his back.

you approached him in slow strides and wordlessly curled your hands around his hips, pulling him to the end of the bed with so much force that he actually let out a yelp. he was bent over the edge of the bed so he was almost kneeling in front of you, and that's when it clicked.

yangyang's eyes went wide and he lifted his head to look at you but you were quicker, placing a firm hand on the back of his neck and leaning down to whisper by his ear.

"i'm gonna show you what happens to boys who wanna act like little brats."

you pushed off of him and returned to stand behind him. you were still for a moment as you watched him, scanning his entire body for any sign that he was uncomfortable with this or that he wanted you to stop.

you waited for any protest and when you received none, you went to work.

you started with your hands on his outer thighs, gripping both of them softly and rubbing in soothing motions as you went higher. he tensed and you slowed as you slid your hands over his still fully clothed ass. it was so small and firm. cute.

yangyang shifted back and forth slightly, not used to the sensation and slightly embarrassed at the attention he's receiving there. but he liked it. he wanted more.

when you found no sign of resistance, you pushed on, kneading at the soft flesh of his behind and letting your nails press into him from time to time.

yangyang put his head down in his bent arm to try to conceal himself and the noises that were escaping his lips. he was already enjoying this too much.

he wondered what this meant and if this would change anything about him, but mostly he wondered what other things you'd be willing to try with him. to do to him.

he was brought back by the sound of your voice, softer and lighter in tone this time.

"if you want me to stop at any or point or don't like it, please tell me. okay, angel?"

angel? you'd never called him that before. especially not in these circumstances. it made him shiver and want to push himself back into your touch. he felt so needy and hot and just a bit lightheaded.

"yangie?" you placed a soft hand on the small of his back.

right, he needed to answer you.

yangyang turned his head to face you and nodded, "okay."

his skin was flushed and he looked so vulnerable in this position, it made your heart swell. you forced down your feelings for later and smiled at him, returning his nod.

"i'm going to start off easy, i want you to keep count for me, okay?" you hooked your fingers under the waistband of his sweats and boxers. "and you better not move from this position."

in one swift motion you pulled his clothes down so they fell to his thighs, his pert ass exposed to you, bringing a smirk to your lips.

"you have such a cute little ass, you know that, baby?"

he squeaked. he actually squeaked at that. you've never complimented him like that. sure, you've told him he's cute or handsome and even complimented him on his chest and shoulders, but you've never talked to him -about him- this way. it made him feel small and powerless like he was some little toy for you to use. and he loved it.

he buried his face deeper into his arm and just wiggled slightly in response, eager for you to put your hands back on him and just touch him.

you chuckled lowly and grabbed a handful of the flesh of his ass. "nothing to say now, hm?"

you pulled your hand away and lifted it above him, quickly bringing it down across his right cheek with a resounding smack.

the slap entered yangyang's ears and bounced around in his now empty head, the only sound he could produce being a rather slutty moan that echoed back to him in the stillness of the room.

you smiled and looked down at him, content with how he's already falling apart under you.

"baby? are you forgetting something?"

he registers your words seconds late and flinches at his realization.

"one."

he already sounds wrecked and you have to bite back the groan in your throat.

"good boy."

yangyang lets out a whiny moan at that.

"you like being called that?" you let your hands slide up his bare ass and under his shirt to massage at his toned back.

"you know, you could hear that more often if you didn't act up so much."

you pulled your hands from him and landed another smack on his right cheek, this one a bit harder.

he lurched forward and groaned loudly, then dropped his head back on his arm.

"t-two."

"who knew you were such a pain slut," you laughed. with that, you gave a third slap to his left this time, even harder than the last two.

yangyang was slowly losing his mind. his head felt like it was spinning and there there was so much sensation in his bottom half, but not where he's used to.

all of these new thoughts and feelings were overwhelming his system, along with the delicious stinging on his behind. he couldn't understand how it could feel so good, so satisfying, but he chalked it up to it just being you. he loved anything you did to him.

for now, he tried to focus on counting. "three."

you hummed and smoothed a hand over his already reddened cheeks, "very good, baby. can you do seven more?"

he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and nodded. with the way he was feeling now, he could probably do this all night.

you smiled, the gesture going unseen by your boyfriend whose face was still down in his arm.

he looked absolutely precious. so sweet and docile. the contrast from his usual confident and playful demeanor was making your legs weak, but you pressed on. it wasn't even about a punishment anymore, now you just wanted to show him who was in control tonight.

wasting no time, you delivered the fourth and fifth smacks in quick succession, each getting heavier in force.

strings of high pitched whines left his mouth but he kept up with your ministrations, the numbers falling past his lips like a mantra.

he counted to seven before he felt something shift in him. he needed more.

for the first time since you started, he found his words and finally spoke up.

"please, please keep going."

he sounded positively fucked, almost pathetic to his own ears, but he couldn't control himself. he'd never felt like this in his life.

usually he's got control of himself and even sometimes you, but right now he's sure that if he weren't flat on this bed he'd be falling to the floor. his body feels so light, maybe he'll start floating instead?

his mind feels like it's floating away from his body and he's hit with the sudden need to hear your voice. you feel so far away and he feels so airy and gone that he's not even sure if you're still there.

without even realizing it he's hiccuping with small cries, his shoulders shaking slightly.

as soon as you notice, you're crawling up the bed to his side, a sudden fear growing in you that maybe you had gone too far and hurt him.

you lifted his face in your hands gently and searched for his eyes.

"what's wrong, angel? did i hurt you? do you want to stop? we can stop. i'm so sorry, baby."

you shifted to his level and brought him closer to you, guilt building a home in your chest.

yangyang realized the situation. it looks like he's crying out of pain, but that wasn't it at all. he's crying because it feels so good and you make him feel safe enough to be that vulnerable and he just loves you.

but he can't figure out how to voice that right now, so instead he just shakes his head and grabs your hands in his, bringing his face to your neck and taking deep breaths. he calms himself before he speaks again.

"no, no you didn't hurt me and there's nothing wrong. i just..."

you pull away and watch him with soft eyes, patiently waiting for him to finish.

he lets out a deep breath and pushes himself up on his elbows.

"it just was a lot and i've never felt like that before. it felt like i left my body and i guess for a second i got scared cause i felt so far and i just wanted to feel you and hear your voice. but it feels so good and i don't want you to stop. i just got carried away. please keep going, please."

all hope of keeping down your emotions was lost at his small voice as he pleaded with you.

he wanted you to keep going. he was enjoying himself so much that he got lost in the feeling, and it overwhelmed him to the point of tears.

it felt like there was a swarm of butterflies in your stomach and chest as you processed it. his newfound submission and trust was so much better than punishing him or trying to teach him any kind of lesson.

you almost wanted to stop and just pull him into your arms and soothe him, but more than anything you wanted to make him feel good. so if he wanted more, then he was going to get it.

you rose from the bed to return to your place at the end, but not before kissing him sweetly on the lips and reminding him to tell you if he wants you to stop.

he was still turned on his side watching you with glassy eyes and you could see how hard he was with his front exposed.

he was standing tall against his stomach, red and glistening with precum. all things considered, it was adorable and your heart swelled at the sight. you would have to pay special attention to him later.

gently you guided him back on his stomach with a hand on his hip and he obeyed, lifting his hips and pushing his ass up for you.

you giggled at how eager he was and squeezed his thigh.

"okay, baby boy, three more. you ready?"

he mewled and hummed immediately.

"good boy."

you raised your hand and landed a hard smack across his ass, pulling a loud moan from his throat at the impact.

he was already panting and his shoulders were going slack, the ecstasy taking over his body again.

"what are we on, angel?"

your sweet voice enveloped him like a plush blanket in a harsh winter. he trusted you. he loved you so much.

"eight."

"good, baby. keep going?" you checked once more and he nodded.

you massaged the supple skin on his behind and promptly delivered another hard slap on his left cheek.

yangyang was falling again, heat and shivers spreading throughout his body at your touch. pressure was building in his core at your praises. he just wanted to keep being good for you.

"one more, baby, you're doing so well."

you bent over and placed a kiss on the side of his head, rubbing his shoulders and whispering soft praises to him to keep him grounded.

he was writhing and literally squirming on the bed, his back arched as he awaited the final spank. he needed it. he was so close.

raising your hand one last time, you put a little more force into it as you swept your hand across his ass, earning the loudest sound you'd ever heard from your boyfriend.

it was a mix between a cry and a moan and it left him in waves as he shook under you.

you crawled up next to him and wrapped your arms around him, pulling him closer to you and running your hand through his hair, the other making circles on his back.

"i've got you, angel. you did so well. you were so good for me." you reassured him.

his breaths were shallow and shaky as he came back down to earth. his hands gripped at your shirt and he sniffled into your chest.

"was so good. love you so much."

your heart somersaulted behind your ribs. you held him tighter and continued to whisper sweet nothings into his ear.

once his breathing returned to normal, you sat up and looked at him.

"wait, you still need to finish, don't you?"

he didn't respond and put his head into your chest.

you got your answer in the form of a wet spot on the sheets, looking down to see his dick only half hard and covered in cum.

he came just from that.

now you were the one who felt like you were floating.

not wanting to embarrass him, you stroked his cheek with your thumb and sat up to get a towel.

before you could stand he was pulling you back down next to him and shoving his face into your chest again.

"mm, don't leave. shower later." his voice was soft and squeaky. it made your heart do a flip.

you held him against your chest and took in his warmth, listening to the peaceful sound of his breathing. "okay baby, i'm not going anywhere."

looks like he got his way after all.

#wayv smut #wayv fanfic #yangyang #yangyang smut #nct smut #nct #nct fanfic #sub!yangyang #dom!reader #yy #i #i wanted to write the process of him slipping instead of straight smut so #hope this is okay #gender neutral reader

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knightofmordred · 3 years

Text

let's talk about gwen's trauma in bbc merlin

tw // trauma, grief, torture, death, potential racism.

im not sure what else to tw but my post will surround conversations such as these so if you are reading this and may be triggered please either stop or read with care <3

forgive me for any mistakes i will mainly be talking from memory and ofc if i say anything wrong please lmk !!

generally to start off, all of the main four characters went through trauma however you were always able to see their reaction/result of their trauma e.g morgana turning evil, arthur being self-conscious and doubtful of himself and merlin putting up a barrier in S5, but with gwen there was never anything like that which happened.

gwen went through so much throughout the entire show and yet nothing was ever handled or addressed within the show.

SEASON ONE

from the beginning it was indicated that gwen's mother passed away before the time frame shown in camelot and of course that was later confirmed. the only mention about her mother, that i can remember, is when gwen briefly spoke about how her mother was a maid in sir leon's household. we also know that elyan left camelot shortly after their mother passed away, clearly the reasoning was from grief and hurt. we didn't get to see gwen deal with the loss of not only her mum but also her brother, yes he was still alive however he left without a word, gwen and her father were left alone trying to survive.

(also elyan's trauma is also something important to be raised and spoken about)

during this time gwen and her father were still able to make a life in camelot, thomas being a blacksmith and gwen getting a job as morgana's maid. of course events unfolded and gwen was accused of witchcraft. she was thrown in prison and set to be executed. as we know this isnt the first time this will happen. we obviously saw gwen distraught and inconsolable trying to deal with her sentence however this epsiode revolved a lot around morgana and merlin more than it did gwen. e.g. them trying to release gwen etc

a few episodes later thomas is the one imprisoned and eventually was killed due to his attempted escape. again this epsiode focused more on morgana and merlin. the small clips we saw of gwen crying over her father whilst he was imprisoned and then again when she was mourning her father were little to nothing, and the only other scenes surrounding gwen were shown as her being "strong and getting her life back together". following on to merlin asking gwen if she would wish uther dead and she said no, if he died she would feel nothing but wouldn't wish him dead.

now why does gwen have to be this strong and kind hearted woman especially in this epsiode. she lost her father, practically her last and only family member left as elyan was awol and yet she was portrayed this way. she would have been allowed to be angry and upset over everything that happened.

there was a scene where gwen was crying with morgana and spoke about how she cannot go home but it wasn't about her father. it was about tauren - the man who hired thomas for whatever he was making,he came and threatened gwen.

SEASON THREE

a season later gwen and arthur are romantically involved and caught by uther and morgana during a date. uther banished gwen and was later accused of magic (again) and set to be executed (again). this episode focused more on gwen than the last ones i spoke about but again morgana and merlin's side plots were heavily involved.

after each event has taken place in these episodes, it's almost as if gwen's trauma and what she went through were put aside or forgotten about. twice she was nearly killed and once she lost her father.

later, gwen was kidnapped by cenred and morgause and threatened to bring arthur in exchange for elyan's life.

noticing a theme so far? gwen's trauma seems to be revolved around the white characters surrounding her, whether it is entwined with another character's plot or focuses on them.

SEASON FOUR

i don't remember the epsiode but i believe it was the dochard episode. gwen was attacked by morgana in an attempt to kill her.

during this time too she was also looking after and caring for uther. we know she wasn't doing it for uther but for arthur and her love for him and so he wouldn't have to worry and can focus on his duties but....she was still looking after the man who killed her father, nearly killed her a couple of times and overall ruined her life too.

now we get into gwen and lancelot. of course we all know lance was a shade and gwen was enchanted. the way this epsiode was and how they decided to portray gwen and lance for me was ://

again gwen was thrown in jail. the bracelet was never found and nothing ever came to light that she was enchanted.

so...gwen had to live with all of that regret, guilt and feelings of not understanding or knowing why she kissed lancelot for the rest of her life.

she was banished and threatened with death if she ever returned (again).

shortly later in S4 EP11, she was kidnapped (again) whilst living in ealdor. she was able to escape but then turned into a deer by morgana??? then accidentally hunted by arthur and mithian leaving her injured and hurt. which is so unnecessary because why tf turn her into an animal ???

she was nearly killed again.

and again nothing was ever addressed or spoken about in terms of what gwen went through.

SEASON FIVE

S5, uther came back as a ghost, he threatened and attacked gwen to the point she nearly died had she not been found by merlin.

in the middle of the season, gwen was kidnapped and tortured which eventually led to her being enchanted and under morgana's control in the Dark Tower.

again, gwen's trauma is tied to a white character (as in plot and needs etc).

during her enchantment gwen did a few things:

poisoned arthur and nearly killed him

killed tyr

imprisoned merlin and blamed him

conspires with an enemy and tried to kill arthur again

her enchantment was thankfully lifted but once again it just seemed like it was ignored once it was over but also i know S5 was rushed in itself anyway.

tbh you could say gwen knew nothing and couldn't remember what happened whilst she was enchanted but in With All My Heart there seemed to be some awareness from gwen about her enchantment. and also ofc people would say she couldn't remember in order to avoid the conversation around her trauma.

in the finale we see gwen in the battle helping the wounded and when the battle is won we see her having to cope with the fact they couldn't find arthur.

by this time we know where arthur is and it cuts to a scene of leon telling gwen arthur has still not been found and of course gwen is visibly upset.

when gauis comes back and gwen is informed of arthur's condition of course she believes he will get better but then she would have had to battle with the thoughts he wouldn't.

i really wish there had been a scene after this where gwen just talks to someone about what exactly she is feeling but instead it cut to the plot about eira.

the ending was kind of the same for everyone, no one got to mourn apart from merlin.

overall it just makes me so sad that gwen went through all of this and it was ignored or pushed aside because she is a "kind, strong and honest woman". she went straight back to work when her father died because it was "better than sitting in an empty house waiting for my father to return" no gwen!! you can do that if you need to!! you are allowed to be sad and hurt!!

i genuinely do think it is racist writing as black women especially are portrayed as "strong women who get on with things" when actually they've gone through a load of traumatic events and as any else are should be angry and upset and should be allowed to be portrayed that way too.

it also angers me that majority of these events which took place and gwen's experiences/trauma were almost always tied to a white character and aiding their development/storyline/plot. just why

#gwen pendragon #guinever pendragon #bbc guinevere #arthur pendragon #camelot #merlin #emrys #bbcmerlin #morgana pendragon #elyan #angel coulby #katie mcgrath #bradley james #colin morgan #gauis #knights of camelot #once and future queen #once and future king #bbc merlin

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