#i cannot possibly see what your endgame was with this. do you really think the blog kipperlillyforpresident

[ananke-xiii]

usual disclaimer: this is just me thinking out loud, sort of, some of this stuff is probably incoherent or even incorrect, I'm just playing around with my obsessions lol, take it with a grain of salt.

Previously I've written that it's possible that Dean has inadvertently caused John to grow up without his father, Henry. Today I even dare to write that Castiel has accidentally ("accidentally" because he didn't know he was used as a pawn back then) caused "Mary's choice" by creating a causal loop where he sends Dean "back" in time causing the events to unfold as they did precisely because Dean was there.

In the episode "In the beginning" Cas sends Dean to the 70s saying he needs to stop "it" and that time is fluid and angels can bend it on occasion even if it's not simple. Then we have this dialogue:

Dean: Alright, if I do this, then the family curse breaks, right? Mom and Dad live happily ever after, and – and, Sam and I grow up playing little league and chasing tail? Castiel: You realize, if you do alter the future, your father, you, Sam – you'll never become hunters. And all those people you saved, they'll die. Dean: I realize. Castiel: And you don't care? Dean: Oh, I care. I care a lot, but these are my parents. I'm not gonna let them die again. I can't. No, not if I can stop it.

There are too many "ifs" in this dialogue. So can the future be altered or not? Is time fluid and can be bent or not? It seems the answer to these questions is yes but let's see what happens next.

Castiel has Dean under the impression that if he manages to stop "it", the family curse breaks and Dean very much wants it to be broken even at the expense of the people that he has saved. But the more Dean tries to stop "it", the more he makes it happen. He goes to that farm to kill the demon and Mary follows him there. She was not on Azazel's radar because we hear him say this:

"Where the hell have they been hiding you?"

And I wonder who this "they" is.

Then, after all the drama, Cas goes to Dean and tells him not to feel bad because he couldn't have stopped it and he just wanted Dean to see the truth. This is when he says this:

"Destiny can't be changed, Dean. All roads lead to the same destination."

And that now Dean knows everything that "we" (the angels, according to Castiel) know.

Therefore, the answer to those questions and to all those "ifs" is a big fat no, right? Right?! The future cannot be altered and time is not fluid, well, that is, humans cannot alter the future and for humans time is not fluid. The angels spend a considerable amount of power to make humans believe so and I wonder why if all they, the angels, want is The End of Time, therefore they don't care about the future because they know (or they think they do) that time will inevitably end. Maybe they are not so sure after all. It seems to me that for creatures who are able to bend time and move through dimensions, angels ridiculously depend on humans' notion of time. Which, in turn, make them very powerless.

The episode ends with this dialogue which is insane to me:

Castiel: We know what Azazel did to your brother. What we don't know is why – what his endgame is. He went to great lengths to cover that up. Dean: Where's Sam? Castiel: 425 Waterman. You brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will.

There's something that doesn't add up AT ALL, or am I crazy? If destiny can't be changed and Dean couldn't stop it from happening and all roads lead to the same destination then why does Dean need to go to the destination of 425 Waterman to stop his brother from doing something that supposedly nobody (actually "we" who are, again, the angels according to Castiel before he knew the truth) really knows where it might lead while it was established that Dean can't stop jack shit and, on the contrary, the more he does, the more he's dooming himself and his family in the process? (okay that was a veeeery long question, you can breathe now).

Is it "destiny" that can't be changed or is it the past? 'Cause they either are the same thing or they're not. If destiny is the past then the question of free will changes significantly because time for the angels is fluid and they can bend it on occasion but it's not fluid for humans. If destiny=past and it can't be changed then all humans are left with is the capacity to accept it as it is, it's the only way to break "the curse".

If destiny and past are not the same thing, then why Dean couldn't change the past? If destiny is destiny and the past is the past, it shouldn't matter if the past is changed or not, should it? Because eventually destiny can't be changed and all roads lead to the same destination. And since this "destiny" can't be changed and Dean indeed didn't alter the future it therefore means that it was exactly what Dean did that helped cause the events in the past. What would have happened if Castiel hadn't made Dean think that he could have broken the family curse? If all Dean did in the 70s was walking around enjoying the view? Would the events still unfold as they did or not? Would it have been necessary for Michael himself to sweep in and "save the day" like he had to in "The Song Remains the Same"?

If this is the case, if Castiel acted as a sort of "agent of fate", then no wonder it's Castiel who must tear up the script by showing up in the story unannounced because he was the primary instrument that caused the story to happen in the first place. He cannot break the causal cycle because he is the cause. By showing up to Chuck's house and start making it up as he goes the loop is left to itself and will forever be happening while, in the "future", he helps events deviate from their supposed "destination". In this light, then, what Chuck says in s15 might be true, there might be other timelines where Cas does what he's told, i.e. keeping the timeline intact but it's not happening in "our" (the one we the audience see) timeline because it's a new branch that he himself has created to break from the impossibility of changing the "destiny", whatever it means, of that specific timeline.

I'm not sure if I'm making any sense but, like, time travels in SPN are insanely fun because they don't follow any consistency at all and are therefore interesting if you like to follow the thread and see what they might have gone if thoroughly explored.

[kipperlillyforpresident]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dimension20/s/w3Hs9AWn5d to y'all

this is THE funniest anon hate i could ever receive. you can't even be bothered to write your own message...? you're just linking a reddit post...? one has to laugh.

[siflshonen]

I’d love to interpret bkdk as romantic but I will be honest, it is difficult to do when a het ship is being hinted at more explicitly. I’m still glad Horikoshi did not include a full-on confession though. We can do what we want in fics without having to rework canon.

Love your posts, thank you for your wonderful insights into bkdk. Your meta is always well-done.

I know this ask was originally meant for someone else, and you’re absolutely right that bakuhatsufallinlove does fantastic meta. You’re very wise to see how great of a job they do and it’s kind of you to say so. It’s also very kind of you to read my posts.

I’m about to not be quite so kind.

I hate Izuocha. And I’m annoyed by the insinuation that Ochako breaking down in tears over Himiko to Izuku - her big moment of bearing her emotions out in the open to him - is seen as an endgame romance, especially since the only other detail we have to go off of is Ochako smiling at Izuku in their hero suits when Todoroki is kinda doing the same thing, AND when I should DAMN WELL hope Ochako and Izuku are still friends and looking out for each other, especially since they bonded over the traumatic deaths of those they failed to save.

I’m insulted that Ochako’s confessions to Himiko are disregarded like that, or the tumultuous chaos she grapples with in her heart is brushed aside. I’m insulted by the insinuation that Ochako’s known love of seeing happy, smiling people is not acknowledged and instead her expressing joy over seeing that on Izuku’s face is painted over as being implied, for-sure romantic endgame. Maybe it is, sure. Anything is possible. I’m sure Himiko wants the best for Ochako and for her to be happy, and would probably think it was romantic that her feelings also reached Izuku by way of Ochako as being someone they mutually loved.

But Himiko is dead and it ripped Ochako apart, and her reaction to that is the last in-depth look we get at her feelings. Izuku recognizing that Ochako is a hero in her own right (not a heroine, aka a damsel for the hero to save and then end up with romantically per Japanese storytelling roles, not just “a female hero” like we think of it in English) is gratifying and wonderful. And I’m insulted by the insinuation that just because Izuku acknowledges that Ochako is and has been his hero and always saved him that this must mean that they are implied to be the romantic endgame. God forbid they mutually admire each other and respect each other and the story just ends there, and god forbid Izuku calling her his hero sends a totally different message.

Now, as for Katsuki. You cannot tell me that he doesn’t have some kind of deep feelings for Izuku. @bakuhatsufallinlove has posted extensively about unspoken feelings with a likewise unspoken understanding are common for Japanese romances, but I’ll admit I’m not here to talk about that.

Do you really want to tell me that Horikoshi-sensei allowing Katsuki and Izuku to keep their arms and have an implied handhold at the end doesn’t mean as much as whatever the fuck Ochako is doing in the final panel?

In Naruto, which BNHA takes many cues from, Sasuke and Naruto had their arms ripped off because the editor didn’t approve of the two of them holding hands in panel. Apparently, that’s too romantic and inappropriate for the male leads of a shonen. Given that, how interesting that the doctor recommended that Katsuki’s hand-holding arm be amputated. How interesting that Katsuki refuses. How interesting that Katsuki refuses while thinking not just of All Might, probably not really of All Might, but Izuku. How interesting that Izuku also keeps both arms, and we as readers are very certain they held hands even if it is not shown.

How interesting that Katsuki is not just the heart of Izuku’s mech suit project (and, in some respects, of the class,) but of Izuku’s image of victory, Izuku’s “Pro Hero with a quirk” origin, the heart of what he believes a real hero is like, and the literal actual heart of what he wanted to defend from ShigAFO multiple times over. How interesting that Katsuki’s story is in part him learning how to not be a burden to Izuku or used against him like, say, a heroine-damsel-in-distress might be used, AND it is also in part him learning to come to terms with his feelings for Izuku. In fact, we spend basically the whole manga dwelling on this with him. It’s that important that he reconciled Izuku with his heart and desires.

Izuku, who is so tearfully happy that Katsuki wants to be with him for the rest of their lives in whatever form that takes, even when they weren’t sure he was going to have a quirk and be able to be Katsuki’s superhero rival. Izuku, who is so happy to be with Kacchan and the class as a hero again, in part BECAUSE it is with Kacchan………….and everyone else on the next page.

Nothing is for sure. Nobody kissed or got married or whatever, sure. But you really want to tell me Izuocha is more heavily implied based on the ending?

Thanks for the ask. I’m sorry you feel that way. Get off my lawn.

[thewertsearch]

TT: It reminds me of when Dave and I were trapped in the doomed timeline, and he left to change the past. TT: The timeline ceased to exist, along with my dream self, who in a way became merged with my dream self of this timeline. I kept some of her memories. TT: Is the situation similar? Similar, but more severe. Since this timeline will undergo such a violent upheaval, such a merger of memory cannot happen.

Unlike Future Rose, we're not merely fleeing a doomed timeline - we're resetting the timeline, the real deal.

If you squint, it kind of looks like the Davesprite situation, but the rules are completely different. This isn't a rewind, it's a reboot, complete with entirely new incarnations of John, Rose, Dave and Jade.

It doesn't sound like the original Players are supposed to survive the process - but if you pay attention to Scratch's phrasing, he doesn't actually confirm that it's impossible. He asserts that this type of memory preservation is impossible, but that doesn't mean there's no way for the kids to reach the reboot. I strongly believe that our endgame here will feature both iterations of the kids, allowing us to develop their personalities from two completely different angles.

I'd love to speculate about what Scratched!John and his team will be like, but I don't want another theory that's dead on-arrival. Let's wait and see if Rose learns anything more about the reboot first.

TT: So if the Scratch isn't specifically meant to banish Jack from the session, TT: And our quest to destroy the sun is meant to kill him, TT: Why is the reset necessary at all, especially if it means oblivion for us? Because you cannot achieve the ultimate reward in this session. […] Don't you want to fulfill your purpose?

Whether they should actually want to make a universe isn’t exactly a trivial question. Rose is a little too emotionally compromised to consider it, but I’m not.

For starters, what if their universe is an awful place? Alternia is proof that Sburb's universes can be complete dystopias. We have no idea if Alternia's creators intended for the Empire to exist, but the fact that it's even possible should make any Sburb Player very, very nervous about releasing a new Genesis Frog into the cosmos, lest it become another host for an intergalactic empire.

I suppose the question is kind of moot. The kids still need somewhere to live after the session, and I doubt their own universe is still an option. Their planet certainly isn’t.

[…] if you are inventive, you may find a way to survive the reset and participate in the renewed session. It's up to you.

...hmm.

Do you think the effects of the Scratch extend into the Furthest Ring? Surely not, right? Surely they're localized to the session in which the Scratch was triggered, lest a Scratch reset the entire multiverse.

Could it really be that easy? I guess it would normally be dangerous to enter the domain of the Gods unprotected, but Feferi's alliance should keep them safe. Plus, Rose has an accord with them herself. This feels workable to me - provided the Gods are willing to let our heroes influence the reboot.

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Okay, so I’ve finished my taxes, and I’m basically out of the woods with some overwhelming work stuff, and everything turned out well with a medical situation with my mum, but I am still very tired, but I also cannot keep going without putting my preliminary thoughts on my very first viewing of season 3 down on a post…

It seems my worst characterization so far is assuming that these two idiots would learn to communicate. They haven’t, they’re stupid teenagers, they’re really bad at it, they get mad at each other for everything, and they don’t listen. And that needs to change soon if we want Wilmon endgame.

Boris, do you do couples therapy? PLEASE HELP THEM.

I think a big reason Wilhelm lashes out, besides getting caught up in his own head, is the fact that he’s also constantly afraid of saying the wrong thing and pissing Simon off. But the stakes for Simon are clearly higher. Wilhelm really needs to learn to communicate, but he’s dragging a whole life of terrible communication and zero support, so HOW is he supposed to learn, if he naturally feels afraid to open up?

It shows in the way he reacts to learning about Erik. Simon might be right, and Erik maybe just gave in to peer pressure, like everyone else in that school (which we see over and over again, like with the strike, and that guy who just repeats ‘yeah hilarious’ when Vincent tells him, and the graduation rituals and basically everything that everyone does at that fucking school), and maybe he wasn’t particularly homophobic. Or maybe he was, but if he had found out about Wilhelm maybe he would have changed his views (after all he was a stupid kid too)… But how would Wilhelm know? Erik is dead, there’s no way of asking him, confronting him about it. And people still call him perfect, and still compare him to his brother.

It must be so traumatizing to have held this person in your head as the one you trusted for everything, the one who would support you most, the one who probably knew you better than anyone else, who would love you and be there for you no matter what, and it turns out that he might not have accepted you at all. And just like that Wille is all alone and angry and afraid again.

(This is why it’s extra cruel that August posted that fucking video, especially how premeditated it was to share it over the whole world, but also then tell Wilhelm that his brother was possibly a homophobe. It doesn’t matter that he went through that horrible hazing, it doesn’t matter that he put a stop to it, and it doesn’t matter that he’s a stupid kid too, the fact that he did THAT to someone, anyone, is awful and he should have known better.)

So that scene in season 1 when Erik teases Wilhelm about his crush potentially changes completely. Maybe he didn’t suspect anything, maybe it was just a coincidence that he never used any pronouns…

And that makes it even more traumatizing that his parents still think of Erik as the figure of perfection, and Wilhelm, who is queer and scandalous and rebellious, is the real thorn on their side. Fucking Ludvig saying that Erik really was perfect, that he didn’t have “that darkness inside of him”, to his surviving son… But for all we know maybe Erik’s death was not accidental, maybe he did have “a darkness” inside of him.

On the other hand, that “darkness” doesn’t excuse Kristina at all. I am convinced that this depression/burnout that she’s going through is absolute bullshit. Sure, she might be depressed, she’s still grieving her “perfect” heir, and she’s going through a lot. But it’s like Wilhelm says, how convenient that she shuts down and breaks down now. She wasn’t like this when the video happened, because she could still cover it up. And she wasn’t like this when Wilhelm called her to scream that he was going to abdicate, because she could still drag him out of Hillerska. It was only when he told the whole world, and there was no covering it up anymore, that she suddenly became fragile with grief.

And even if it were true, even if she’s going through a severe depression or burnout, as a result of everything that’s happened, that doesn’t excuse her previous lies and manipulations. And it makes the fact that she still really wants Wille to become her successor, despite knowing what it could do to him, despite knowing that he’s already extremely anxious and that he does not know how to manage his own emotions, is evil.

(And even if she wants August to be the backup too, knowing how he is, knowing his own family history, and how it could affect him too, is evil too.) MORE on this later.

Kristina uses her breakdowns to emotionally manipulate Wille into trying to do his best to be the perfect crown prince, now indirectly through Farima and Ludvig. And Wille’s so concerned with her and her fragility that it affects his relationship with Simon. Because he’s anxious about the possible imminence of having to take over, of being the new monarch, when he can barely control his own feelings, when he just wants to enjoy his first relationship and just be in love.

Of course he made things worse for himself and Simon when he publicly revealed their relationship, but we can understand where that’s coming from. He didn’t want to hide anymore, he didn’t want to not be able to be himself anymore, not be able to be with the boy he loves. But they’re still forced to hide, because people start hating on Simon, because people won’t stop talking about them (as much as I HATED Wille shushing Simon, I also understood that he didn’t want anyone to hear their argument, because he didn’t want to give people more reason to talk about them, but also there’s probably a lot of ‘keeping up appearances’ embedded in his mind), because they are very different and almost incompatible for many reasons, and because being the crown prince means conforming to a lot of things (no tattoos, no cutting your hair shorter than, no nail polish, no expressing political opinions, etc etc), and so he has to remove the nail polish and he doesn’t want his foundation to be geared toward LGBTQIA+ people or mental health issues… He can’t express himself, he can’t be himself, because what he is or who he is for real is not compatible with his role or what is expected of him… he’s so repressed still.

(The whole nail polish scene, and the scene where Simon suggests that Wille’s foundation could be geared toward LGBTQIA+ youth, reminded me a little of Isak in SKAM saying that he wasn’t just going to start marching in the Pride parade or wearing makeup. Wille is not necessarily about identity expression, or at least he doesn’t think that he should be. He just wants to be himself, and be with the boy he loves, and that’s it).

As for Simon, he can do no wrong, and I absolutely agree with everything he says and does, but he has always been very idealistic, and he does come across as a little more naïve than I expected, especially with the whole social media comments and his song. It wasn’t the first time he experienced it, because things went south for him when he appeared on the video, so for him now to think that people are magically not going to be cruel.

But I understand how much he’s sacrificing for Wille, and Wille not appreciating it at all must sting. Just like he points out that he didn’t have contact with Micke for years, for Sara’s sake, and suddenly she’s living with him… that fucking hurt. Simon has always been very opinionated and outspoken, and he’s very authentically and proudly himself, but he’s also always molded himself to what other people need, like being a parented child and taking on too much in the house to relieve Linda, and taking care of Sara, and worrying about his father, and letting himself be manipulated by Marcus, and now basically giving up a lot of himself to be with Wille. And as a result Linda treats him like he’s a drug addict, and Sara goes to the father she didn’t want to have contact with, and Marcus talks shit about him to the press, and Wille doesn’t listen to him…

Sara saw the light (sort of), so maybe hopefully Wille will too. More on that later too.

Anyway, it would have been nice for someone from the royal court to sit Simon down and explain to him what being the boyfriend of a royal involves, so that Wille doesn’t have to figure out how to tell him all these difficult things himself. Wille is so used to some of these things, they seem so obvious to him, that he might not immediately think of how weird or outlandish it might seem to Simon. (THat scene with the cake, I mean… it was funny in a way, but I wonder how many terrifying thoughts crossed Simon’s mind, the obvious “wait what??? did I just eat poison???” but also “wait what??? someone’s trying to poison my boyfriend????” and “there are kids here, have they also accidentally been poisoned????”).

I really really hope that, since he’s being forced to go to Boris with August, that Wille will think about going with Simon, and trying to work things out. They need to be able to say all these things to each other, get on the same page.

More importantly, I need a callback to what Boris said to him in season 2, about the expectations of his family, about being able to make his own choices. Which Wille internalized beautifully with that speech to Simon outside his house.

Anyway, this is already very long. Moving on to more general thoughts:

- I did think that the fact that they sort of resolved the whole issue with the police report and the drugs felt a little anticlimactic. It was built up and built up and the whole season 2 finale was about that, and we had a cliffhanger and everything, and then… bye. I wonder if it will come back (more on that later).

- And for that matter, Alexander just became a background character. Did he even have any lines? I could barely spot him.

- August telling Wilhelm in front of everyone at the table that he’s sure Wille will fuck up on his own… rich.

- Also Stella and Rosh was sort of hinted at, it happened in a blink, and then Fredrika was… jealous? Confused? Homophobic? All of the above? But then… NOTHING. Stella was even missing in the last episode, because she was “sick”… (scheduling conflicts for Felicia? Actually sick?)

- I think it’s interesting that Sara preached and preached to Simon about giving people a second chance, including their dad, and then she… goes and does it? It wasn’t the first time she did, she was with August despite the awful thing he did. And then she goes and… gives August ANOTHER chance????

- Someone needs to tell Sara that she needs to stop getting wtih August, because every time they get together somehow, Wilmon go south… It seems these two couples cannot exist simultaneously…

- So I still have to rewatch, but… is August then in the middle of selling his father’s estate to pay Simon? Are any of his friends aware of this?

- I have a cultural question: what was the whole deal about travelling to the US? I mean, I thought they were asking if these kids have never travelled abroad, but they mentioned the US specifically, several times… Is that a thing in Sweden, traveling to the US? Not any other part of Europe? Not Asia? Just wondering. Made me curious.

- Still waiting for this season’s Elias song… just one episode left… If we don’t get one, or a callback to Revolution, I might claw my face off…

- Nils repeating that maybe Wille would have been better off with someone from the inner circle. Seriously, Nils, who do you mean? WHO? Who could you be referring to? Hmm?

- Something else about Nils… a part of me really wished that Wille would have asked Nils for confirmation on the Erik thing. Wille obviously doesn’t want to believe it at first, but then he does, and hearing it from August makes it even worse, so maybe hearing it from someone like Nils would be the final confirmation that he would need, that his brother was the worst. On the other hand, for him to ask Nils to confirm something like that, as a gay, and possibly hearing what happened to him as a result of it… that would have probably made it even worse.

- Really hate that Marcus was mentioned, that he came back to haunt Simon in a way, even if it was minimal. But props to Simon for not rising to the bait in that moment.

- Simon, my love, i understand that you’re upset and heartbroken, but… it would have been nice if you tried to get Wille to talk to you one last time, before breaking up with him on his birthday… especially seeing everything he’s going through. Not that your feelings are any less important than his, of course, but… are you trying to get him to jump out the window????

-Eternally saddened by the disappearance of the orange sweater. Eternally saddened by the fact that Wilhelm did not set foot in or around Simon’s house this season. Although who knows, still one episode left…

Things that I liked most:

- Seriously the chemistry between Edvin and Omar is OFF THE CHARTS. The intimacy coordinator this season was very good.

- Especially that sex scene. Not just because it makes me immensely happy when my favorite ship fucks, because holy shit that was hot, but also because there’s a whole theme around all the hate mail and messages and classism and homophobia and toxic masculinity that Simon is a target of, especially being Latino, whilst Wille, being white and privileged and high class and the heir to the throne, is probably seen as the “man” of the relationship (especially since in the video he’s also the one “in control” whilst Simon is the receiver), so it’s very VERY satisfying to see that they are both top and bottom at times, and they both equally enjoy it.

- Also the use of choir music during the sex scene, giving it a very holy feel, much like Elias’s Holy playing when they have sex again in season 2… seriously I NEED my Elias song this season or I WILL START A REVOLUTION.

- At first I was annoyed at the whole “school possibly closing” plotline, because I thought it was unneeded. Or that maybe it would play a bigger role in the whole video-drugs controversy. But the truth is that it was really good, how it highlighted these kids’ privilege and the absurdity of wanting to cover things up and uphold traditions, and it also worked wonderfully to highlight the divide between Simon and Wille. As Simon says to Wille, he only takes a stand when he has nothing to lose.

- Felice. Felice this whole season was magnificent. Her whole breakdown over the end of her friendship with Sara, showing how truly important it was to her. And Madison saying that sometimes breaking up with a friend is worse than getting dumped, and I AGREE SO MUCH. But then I also think she loses her sense of self, because despite being popular and beautiful, she still gets used and treated badly, by August (obviously), but also by Wille (the kiss), and worst of all by Sara (who in a way used her for her horse, but also for the clout). And in the meantime, she’s treated differently than the other students for being one of the few black girls, and she gets singled out for her hair… and yet, the school is using her to make themselves look good. And now she decides to give Sara a second chance, because she really missed her, because it really hurt to lose that friend, and Sara goes and… does that…

- One of my favorite things about Simon is how he is proof that just because you’re gay doesn’t mean that you have flawless fashion sense. And i can’t help but wonder how fashion and style icon/ELLE’s Best Dressed Man/OMR Beauty founder Omar feels about Simon’s fashion choices. Never change, Simon, never change.

- Vincent was every bit of the tremendous asshole that I hoped he’d be this season. Did not disappoint. I wanted to punch him in the face every time he opened his mouth. Marvellous.

- I’m happy that we got more Madison, but still not enough. Still, iconic. Forever one of my favorite characters.

- I don’t know what to say about Sara and Micke. Just maybe that, when he played that song in the car, even before they started singing, i just knew “oh fuck, it’s all going to shit soon…” I guess Sara felt lost enough that she was suddenly willing to give him a second chance. And the whole “is that going to happen to me?” bit really made me sad. That she understands that mental health and mental illness is unfortunately many times hereditary, and worries that she might become just like him… But despite not being entirely like him, with addiction problems and such, she was still unreliable like him, she did bad things to her family like he did… I was rooting for you, Micke, we were all rooting for you.

- I feel that August’s love for status and for the monarchy might be starting to fray at the edges. First with the fact that he was reminded of his own traumatizing initiation, and reminded of how the crown prince, his cousin and friend and idol, himself was part of that. Second with the fact that Simon points out that he might have an eating disorder, how he would probably not fare any better than the queen if he were in such a stressful position as crown prince or king, how difficult it is for him to handle stress and anxiety. And third with seeing how it affects Wille and Simon and realizing that something similar might still happen to him and Sara. And the fact that he reveals to Sara why he is the way he is, that he lets his guard down with her, might point to even more growth (even though I hate that Sara sort of gave him a “second chance” again). Also I feel the reality of how they, the Royal Court, would control his life is finally sinking in. Hopefully he will also soon realize that they also use him as a manipulation tool. So maybe he won’t let himself be manipulated by them much longer.

- I loved Wille’s ultimate outburst at his mother and father, i love that he told them everything they needed to hear, about their emotional abuse, their neglect. Unfortunately they still refused to acknowledge how terrible parents they have been, and walked off, instead of trying to resolve it. So Wille throwing around the gifts, as impulsive and tantrum-ish it might come across, makes perfect sense. He tries to talk and gets nothing in return. If he’s repressed it’s bad, but if he expresses himself then nothing happens either.

- And I love that Simon got to see what Wille is really dealing with. As privileged as he might be, he’s still lacking the most important things: unconditional support and love. No amount of money or status can make it better, and Wille is broken. The only thing is that, Simon saw how broken Wille was over the death of his brother, whom he loved very much, but I don’t think he quite grasps the gravity of Wille learning that maybe that beloved brother wouldn’t have been so cool with him, because he has never had to deal with a parent or sibling rejecting him for his sexuality. It’s something very different to be rejected by society at large than it is to be rejected by your own family, and not everyone has the emotional strength to deal with that. So for Wille’s parents to still like his potentially homophobic dead brother more than him, is heart-wrenching. But I don’t think Simon really gets that because he’s probably not surprised that Erik might have been like that, because in his eyes those privileged kids in that school (except obviously Wille, and Felice and Madison, who is asking about the non-binaries) are probably all massive homophobes.

- Despite this, I love that Simon sets boundaries nonetheless. I mean, it hurt like fucking hell for him to tell Wille, on his fucking birthday, that maybe they shouldn’t be together. But just because Wille is hurting doesn’t mean that Simon has not also been hurting too. And if they can’t comfort each other, and try to support each other when they both obviously most need it, then maybe they’re just not going to work. And it took a lot of guts for Simon to bring it up in that moment, in Wille’s bed, in the palace, where he’s basically trapped, with nowhere to go, no way to get away (I doubt he called Linda in the middle of the night to come pick him up more than two hours away in Stockholm).

My hopes for the final episode (I don’t think I have any predictions other than, open ending or not, Wilmon will be endgame and there will be a revolution, I just don’t know how):

- Wilmon talk. An actual, healthy, heartfelt talk. A reconciliation for the ages.

- That the fucking school will close and August won’t be able to graduate, and he’ll realize that maybe he shouldn’t have “lived for that school”, as Erik once put it.

- That Wille will realize that, if Erik was not the person he thought he was, then maybe he no longer has to live up to his legacy anymore. @foreverunraveling pointed out how, now that the big Erik revelation is confirmed, then maybe the queen’s trump card to manipulate Wille into being the ideal crown prince is gone. Wille doesn’t care about the monarchy really, but he did care about not disappointing his brother, the “perfect crown prince”, and now we know that he was far from perfect. Erik lived a double life, as Wille points out, there was “public Erik” or crown prince Erik, and there was “private Erik”, or the real Erik (or so Wille thought, now we know there was a “secret Erik” which was the real Erik) and Wille struggles so much with the idea of having to split himself in two, . Wille cannot live a double life, he withers away when he has to hide himself, and now he gets the opportunity to leave that stifling life behind, and blossom.

- That Simon will get a fucking break. I hate that his whole life was turned upside down from the moment the video was leaked, and it’s just never going to be the same, whether he stays with Wille or not, he’ll always be the boy from the crown prince sex tape, he’ll always be the crown prince’s ex, or the crown prince’s boyfriend. But I want some positive feedback for him, someone bigger than the woman and the little boy wanting a selfie. I want him to have his own fanclub or something. Maybe that’s too idealistic…? (I may be imagining something like that scene in Red White and Royal Blue, when they realize that there’s a whole crowd outside the palace all excited to the the Prince and his First son boyfriend… one can dream).

- I want whatever Felice said during the interview to be taken seriously, and for her to stop doubting herself.

- I want a genuine apology from August.

- Also one from Kristina.

- I get the feeling that the fact that August leaked the video might still come out publicly, what with the whole school issue. And in that case, I would like for it to be Simon might to do it, tossing the money from the settlement in his face. It looks like Simon still feels guilty about accepting it, especially when he chided Wille about his privilege and Wille (figuratively) threw the money back in his face. What if Simon does it literally?

- I really wanna know what’s going to happen between Felice and Sara now. The outlook is not good.

- Is it too much to ask to know what’s going on between Stella and Fredrika?

- Most importantly, is the whole thing with Erik going to come out eventually? And how will people react? With support for the monarchy, or with support for Wille?

I have so many more thoughts, but I’m slightly burnt out, and I really should take a break. Also this is way too long. Might have more thoughts once I’ve rewatched the first five episodes, calmly over the weekend…

Also this is very long and I’m sorry.

[cruyuu]

hi! i hope you don't mind this ask. i've been reading your meta lately and i was curious. do you think maybe sukuna rejected yuuji's offer because he knew yuuji would be the one to really change/teach him? the last few chapters have been crazy bc yuuji has been basically breaking sukuna's mask of difference apart, in chapter 265 especially. he has the most power over sukuna & i think sukuna knew if he'd accepted yuuji's offer, his ideals would erode for sure, and he couldn't have that.

Hi! Not at all, my ask box is always open <3

Well... For Sukuna to continue being who he is (the King of Curses), he has to be untouchable, but more importantly- he has to be feared and hated. This is why some have considered him a calamity... because Sukuna truly had no connections with anyone, did stuff of his own accord, killed people for fun and tried his damn hardest to be a menace to society. Considering that he is the embodiment of the word "curse" and isn't trying to forge connections but lives to cause ruin, it's quite likely he was born as a curse, not as a human. Hence his form. Hence his viewpoint. Hence him feeding off misery and being stronger with it. Hence his behavior. Hence Yuuji's words.

Part of why Sukuna was so dead-set on crushing Yuuji's ideals and causing him as much pain as he could fits with the endgame and implies that he could sense Yuuji's kind spirit from the get-go. It implies that Sukuna knew Yuuji wouldn't hate him so easily so he did his best to be as brutal as possible. It also implies that maybe the reason why Yuuji was capable of suppressing him was because he didn't fear nor hate him at all actually.

Remember that Yuuji is somebody who sees good in everyone, human or curse (courtesy of his grandfather who changed his mindset because he chose to die). Even though he did try to hate Sukuna, embrace that cog mentality to its fullest and exorcize him, that truly wasn't possible for him.

He sees good in everyone. He can't just kill him. He'd rather they try again than do so. Even if Sukuna is everything that Yuuji is fighting against, he still won't kill him. He won't hate him. He can't.

Reaching Sukuna is technically an impossible feat, considering Sukuna lives for his own whims and doesn't care for others. He has grown powerful because he was feared and hated, hence reaching him and connecting with him would– by logic– mean his death.

If he is loved, pitied, accepted, anything outside of the norm (of what curses are)... he will die.

Now with this in mind, the end is the biggest form of care you can get because the selfish Sukuna still chose to give up (unlike his nature), release Fushiguro (unlike his nature), not return to Yuuji (unlike his nature) and choose death (again quite unlike his nature). He practically proved himself capable of feeling by considering Yuuji's viewpoint and choosing to die instead of just continue surviving (which was what Yuuji was offering). Keep in mind that wishing to survive (that he fears death, also) is one of Sukuna's own character traits so his end is quite unexpected. Yuuji was offering him exactly what he wished for (even if he'd be trapped, at least he'd still be alive) so for him to refuse– and yet fulfill all other things Yuuji had asked of him– is weirdly unlike him.

Ofc, some would argue that he didn't choose to give Megumi's body up but that he got rejected but that doesn't really make sense because Yuuji is the only one capable of surpressing him. It was only because his soul got reduced to a single finger that he was capable of being defeated (as well as Yuuji's own Dismantle which helped in weaking his soul even further).

Or at least that's how I see everything. :)

Clearly, Yuuji affects Sukuna to a great degree and, with the ending in mind, I think choosing to coexist with Yuuji would go against who he is as a character. Curses cannot coexist with other curses, and because Yuuji is half-human, half-curse (his true nature is unknown but because we know he's retaining elements of Sukuna's it's clear that he might be more curse than human atp), it's highly likely that this is why he chose not to return to his body.

Because of that (waves at the paragraph above) entire the thing, the reason for his death could be theorized to be the death of Sukuna the curse. Sukuna, as a human (wheter reborn with no memories or a reincarnation) still has a chance. Yuuji speech highlights the whole "being cursed from birth" so there might be some merit to this. Perhaps Sukuna died precisely so he could be reborn as a human (and not a curse) and so he could be reunited with Yuuji (and truly coexist with him– not as a vessel, not as a curse, but a human).

So yeah... there you go. Hope you enjoyed my rambling and I hope I made sense. This is just the way I see it. You do have a point that Yuuji is the only one capable of changing him and that is precisely what he did (in a way).

Sukuna's indifference isn't truly indifference. Still, he can't behave better because that would be behaving like a human which is something that he isn't. Even though he does contradict himself often, he still doesn't acknowledge this openly but you could read his death as final acknowledgment of that because... otherwise, wouldn't he still seek survival? Wouldn't he continue to persist?

Maybe (hopefully) canon will shed more light onto them both so that we don't have to piece the puzzle pieces together. As for whether or not Sukuna might be back (reincarnated, reborn, whatever) remains to be seen.

[melonteee]

"A pirates life means leaving lovers at shores, because your first love is the sea! I can't see Sanji canonically with Pudding, or with anyone, because that's not the life a pirate lives! After all, his dad was 60 without a partner and a crew of his own (ie the Baratie chefs), why would Sanji be any different?"

I want to push back on this a bit not for any shipping reasons, but because we have canon examples of this not being a hard truth in the series. Aladin/Praline + Bege/Chiffon & now Lola/Gotti are examples of couples seamlessly being part of a pirate crew. Bege & Chiffon even have a kid who constantly sails with them. So I'm just confused where this idea of romance being impossible if the Strawhats want to stay together comes from. We already know they're different from other crews what with lack of offical hierarchy & how they feel comfortable to boss Luffy around so why not this particular case? Luffy even implies if any of his crew wants to get married it's no big deal to bring them aboard. This goes for ANY crewmate btw not just Sanji.

Lastly, not only did the literal king of pirates have a whole family sail with them (Oden+Toki & kids) but even he fell in love and had a partner. The only reason he gave up the pirate life was because he was dying. Sure, he could've met her after he got his death sentence, but I really don't think he still would've stopped being a pirate had he been able to keep doing it. Probably would've taken her aboard ship too. He already knew what having a family aboard would be like.

I dunno. I think it's a bit silly to think you cannot be a proper pirate AND have a partner sail with you. I mean if you can take a baby from a chest and raise it on your ship I don't see why you can't have your gf/bf travel with you if you both choose to do so. Isn't the freedom to live how you want the core of the pirate way?

I just feel this sentiment is just a preemptive way to hate on any possible ships for our strawhats just because it might not be the one we want? Like a way to go ha! see it's ~bad writing~ IF the hypothetical becomes reality. I feel Oda has left enough hints through worldbuilding that romance is not 100% off the cards for our mains.

I'm not trying to start an argument, but I do think people might want to try deconstructing the whole "No Romance in One Piece" mentality that was built upon misinterpreted quotes by Oda very long ago & perpetuated by sexist male fans because we're nearing the end lol and if it happens fans will unfairly rage about it all over the internet like with so many other series when they don't agree with endgame couples. People can still engage in ship content even if said ship isn't canon after all. Canon isn't a binding contract.

*sorry if this comes off condescending I promise it's not meant to be!

It's just mainly because, again, Sanji's own mentor didn't have a partner, and while Sanji LOVES women and everything it feels...strange?? For him to like, end up with anyone, when he says he's a man for ALL ladies! I'm not saying it's impossible, as you've pointed out, but I just cannot see the Strawhats getting partners by the end of One Piece, at most I can see it being heavily implied but that's it.

There is romance in One Piece, of course, but it always has a point to it, and the greatest romance within One Piece is the world of adventure and fantasy itself. I personally would be very disappointed if there were end game pairings that were solid and set, because not once have I thought any of these characters want to settle down and marry anyone. It's cute to have crushes here and there, but I have just have never seen any indication of marriage being in the books once for them.

Big Mum's children were very specific cause that arc overall was about marriage and family, and while Pudding did fall for Sanji, he still rejected her and her marriage. Yes Luffy said it wouldn't be a problem, but in the end, Sanji still didn't want to. Sanji only accepted the marriage when making the promise that the Strawhats would be safe, so I'm unsure why it would suddenly flip in the future and he'd have his sights set on marrying someone lmao

Oden and Toki were also different because the purpose for their marriage was to continue on Oden's lineage. Yes, they fell in love, but Momo and Hiyori ultimately existed for Wano's plot.

I think I also just really fucking hate endgame pairings LMAO like if One Piece ends with Strawhat endgame pairings instead of open interpretation I will just pass away because I really don't want this series to box itself and its characters in by doing such a thing.

[campfam4lyfe]

So good to meet another Brookji/Kenlynn fan! What do you think that will happen between them in JWCT season 2 (or later seasons)?

YESSS ANOTHER BROOKENJI!!!!!

okay so, honestly, i have like. zero clue. of what i think will actually happen, because there could be so many different roads for them to take. i know what i want though, and that is a kenlynn endgame. i understand why they broke up, i do. but to see their faces as it happened. the devastation--neither of them wanted it. but kenji had to do it, and i dont blame him.

but guys! brooklynn loves the camp fam--she keeps their picture up on her mystery board. she kept it as her lockscreen. she loves them. i also have to say, that brooklynn loves kenji. as a boyfriend, as a lover--as her person. darius says she was real broken up about the breakup, and she clearly had regrets. she told darius about how and where it happened. she kept that video with the "brokwie bear" and "kenji wenji." she has that video because she couldn't help but film him bc she thought he was being cute. it was one of the first things they saw when they decided to look through her phone! she loves him!

and kenji loves her--his grief over her death, his anger at the people he suspected of being involved in her death--the constant "where were you's" to darius--he needed to know why he wasnt there. that bit where he says "be honest with me. if you loved brooklynn, and mean, really loved her, why werent you there?" broke me, absolutely, cause goddamn ouch. like. he loves her, so he couldnt imagine not showing up if she called him. to the extent where he needs to know why darius wasnt and its like. does he, somehow, blame himself a lot? is that a veiled, *i* could have been there, why didnt she want me there?? devastating stuff.

but. thats all s1 stuff. youre asking about season 2 and onwards! so. what i think will happen--okay, so, you remember how in the end of s1 cc they showed ben was alive? and then we got a ben&bumpy episode that spanned the near-month he was alone. im wondering if they'll do that with brooklynn at some point. truly, i dont know. its possible, but maybe there going to reveal it in pieces, like flashbacks.

i want to know how brooklynn survived. the extent of her realtionship with ronnie, and about all the stuff she'd uncovered abt the dino smugglers since she started till now.

but also, i want a reunion so so bad, and since CT was handling everything else so well, i think theyll do a reunion justice too. and that means i think they will give some of the characters space to be angry. obviously i think there will be relief--who wouldnt be, to find out your friend is alive? but then i think there might also be betrayal, or anger or both.

and maybe also a little horror. brooklynn lost her HAND. and those moments leading up to it must have been terrifying.

i want the fact that she has lost a hand to be addressed. for instance, she can't drive her motorcycle anymore, at least not without a proper prosthesis. and its clearly something she liked doing--her helmets! one for her and one for kenji. just. AHHHHHH you know???

i want kenji to be wooed, let brooklynn woo kenji CT writers, let them woo each other.

i realize i keep meandering and never properly answering your question. im so sorry! okay--i think things will be tense, probably, with relief mixed in, but also a lot of hurt, and some anger. i think brooklynn will have her reasons, its a matter of whether or not the camp fam can accept those reasons or not, after all, we cannot force anyone to accept our apologies. i think they will however, though it may be at different stages for different characters. i think kenlynn will be able to reconcile, and im hoping for a "i knew youd come around/dont ruin it" call back. (my biggest hope is for that ghost line callback tho) but i also think brooklynn will have to show kenji that she does value his time and being with him, and just, him. which, i think its clear she does, but she got a little too consumed with her mystery for a hot sec.

[thatgirl4815]

Okay, so I've come up with a (totally unrealistic) way to cram all the remaining SandxRay trailer scenes into the next ep: Sand tells Ray to get lost outside bar - uni confrontation scene (we can see some of the characters in their uni clothes) - party scene - Ray's dad asked Sand to alert him if Ray was going off the rails so Sand does so and dad sends police - Sand didn't realise this would happen so somehow covers for Ray and ends up taking him home - bathtub scene - the next morning Ray discovers the dad thing leading to fight scene - the end! Though in the process of typing this I realised Ray wouldn't have his denim outfit if he'd gone from party to Sand's...oh well! Really I'm just desperate to get that fight scene out of the way - at the moment it's a veritable albatross around the healthy SandxRay endgame neck!

Yes, I also would like to get that big apartment fight out of the way as soon as possible, seeing as that appears to do critical damage to SandRay's relationship and I quite frankly cannot take that in, say, Episode 11. We need time to recover. I mean hell, I feel like I've been shot in the face by a five second clip of Ray and Mew dancing--how am I supposed to cope with Sand telling Ray, "You think I have no dignity?"

All my chaotic feelings aside, I think we're likely to see at least one of the remaining SandRay scenes next episode, I just don't know which one. Since they're all fairly negative (aside from the bathtub one) it would definitely be nice to get them all out of the way early. Given how much pain we've already had to endure though, I don't have high hopes for that.

My hesitant guess as far as the order: we'll see the uni scene first, then the bathtub scene, then the apartment fight. Uni first because it reeks of Ray in his RayMew era (AKA his asshole era), then bathtub scene because I expect it might be enough to reel Sand back in, at least temporarily? And the apartment fight last because that seems to have the biggest punch, and it might be what finally convinces Sand to walk away (which...damn...my heart is struggling to contend with that).

Anyhow, I love your optimism! If we got all of those scenes next episode, you definitely wouldn't see me complaining about it.

[acourtofthought]

It's not really a new thought for me because I've considered it for Elucien but now I'm wondering we'll see the same for Gwynriel.

SJM doesn't really do massive time jumps once she gets her series rolling. There was 2 months between the ending of ACOWAR and ACOMAF. Another 1 -2 months between the ending of ACOMAF and ACOWAR. Maybe 4 months between ACOWAR and the novella.

And yes, SF picked up about 9 months after that but....SF was the introduction of the spin-offs that (while following individual pairings) are connected to an overarching theme. It was the book that started the current events.

When SJM introduces the possibility of a brewing war, she moves quickly. It's something we saw in TOG and ACOTAR (what with Rhys mentioning a war at the start of MAF and the war occurring about 10 months later in WAR.

The crossover takes place 6 - 9 months after SF and we'll be adding on to that timeline (depending on how long Bryce is in Prythian).

Does it make sense that this:

With a new war possible and Briallyn up to her bullshit with Koschei, we need a strong ally. We need the Spring Court's forces

Or this:

My father went to the continent again last week. / He did not invite me to accompany him. / I can only assume the fallout is approaching.

Or this:

But you and yours have more important things to think about than ancient history. My father is furious that his ally is dead, but he's not deterred. Koschei remains in play, and Beron might very well be stupid enough to establish an alliance with him too. I hope that whatever Morrigan is doing in Vallahan will counteract the damage my father will unleash.

Or this:

Tell my Vassa I'm waiting.

Or this:

Gwyn, despite the Rite, had returned to living in the library.

Or this:

So they would keep training, until they were all well and truly Valkryies.

Or this:

"The Illyrians are going to be furious about our winning, you know."

Have all just ceased to be important in 6-9 months? The bad guys don't just sit around waiting for the good guys to relax and enjoy life for a bit before pursing their evil deeds (also I just cannot imagine another awkward Solstice, especially for Elucien) 😂

Maybe the vibe I picked up in the crossover is wrong but the IC seems fairly relaxed for a group of people worrying about an upcoming war. Feyre arrived in painting clothes, Rhys had his smirky High Lord persona going on, Nesta was all but smacking Cassian up over the head.

I realize I'm reading into a few paragraphs but I'd think if Bryce had arrived in Prythian while everyone was really concerned about Koschei, Spring, etc., the IC wouldn't be in the right frame of mind to deal with her in CC3 or they'll come off a bit frazzled, wrapped up in their own problems that they have within their own world. Not to mention it is a bit of overkill in terms of things for them to worry about (adding the possibility of new villains being able to enter their world when they're already dealing with unrest in the continent, the courts, the human lands and issues with Beron and Koschei is excessive).

(I cannot stop imaging the spin offs to Captain America Civil War and the crossover to Avengers Infinity War / Endgame)

But what if CC2/CC3 is set in the future for all the characters, AFTER the ACOTAR spin-off series is complete? What if the crossover and the signing of the new books is SJM telling us where she's going AFTER the Elucien and Gwynriel books?

What if SJM will now be writing the next 2 ACOTAR books in the timeframe that exists between SF and CC2/CC3 and neither of them will actually mention the events of CC? (since Elucien and Gwynriels journey's deal with very different things, they could easily run on parallel timelines, things happening within the NC and things happening in Spring / on the continent).

I could see Elucien and Gwynriel having their romantic arcs where they deal with Koschei, the Illyrians, the treaty, Spring, yada yada, and where they put a stop to the civil war setup before it happens. Where by the end, all the characters are happily living their best lives with their partners only for SJM to introduce the real threat heading their way, and those books would feature multiple character POVs.

I think the crossover stuff is going to be too big a deal for us to read about it in someones romantic arc and I think if the Asteri do try to make it to Prythian, it's going to involve all the courts, human lands, continent (and therefore more POVs than the ones an Elucien or Gwynriel's books will provide). Can you imagine a book after the spin-off series that features everyone: Feysand POVs, Elucien POVs, a Helion POV, Nessian and Gwynriel POVs, an Eris POV, a Mor POV?

To me, the spin-offs don't feel like SJM is building up to one couple being the big closer. I have a hard time imagining Elain and Lucien getting the grand finale but that's because I don't think any of these romantic pairings seem to rise above the other, that any single couple should get the big end scene especially not in the book where it's centered around their romance (Feysand got together in book 2 with the war in book 3). It's almost like it's a chess game and SJM is getting her pieces into position. Nessian as the generals of the Illyrians and female fighting units. Whatever roles Gwynriel will step into, and Elucien as the leaders of (Spring)?

And once those pieces are in position, then they can all join together for a reason that unifies them all.

There was a fire burning in the townhome at the end of CC2, a place that is supposed to be sitting vacant. What if Gwynriel is already living there? What if Elain wasn't mentioned because she's already in Spring / Day with Lucien?

I don't believe CC3 would spoil anything if that were the case, I don't think we're going to have any real idea of who is with who romantically aside from the already established couples.

If Elain shows up in the crossover, still living with Rhys and Feyre than it shuts down this theory all together. But if she doesn't make an appearance or is casually mentioned as being elsewhere, it could be hinting that she is with Lucien already.

And yes, SF ended where Elain and Lucien weren't interacting and Az was obviously not completely over mor but MAF started with Feyre engaged to and in love with Tamlin, only to end up as High Lady of the NC and in love with, mated to Rhys within 6 months. Based on SJMs writing style, if CC picks up 6-9 months after SF, that does given both Elain / Lucien and Az / Gwyn time to have their character and romantic arcs especially if they're running on a parallel timeline.

[lover-of-mine]

Your last post is funny bc just TODAY I watched that season finally. I’m literally 2 episodes into season 5 right now. As someone who just watched that for the first time (and hadn’t noticed it WAS the season finally when I started watching it) I was losing my goddamn MIND watching those episodes. Just constantly 😯😯😯. I began watching 911 when I started seeing posts circulating about Buck being bi. At the time I had no idea who he was other than the occasional gif set but it made me intrigued and I have been HOOKED. Literally trying to get through as many episodes as possible so I can watch the episodes live. Questions for you (since I have no one else to talk to about the show); when did you start watching? Have you had any predictions while watching the show that didn’t/ did come true? Like for me when I watched season 1 and Abby went to the fire department for the first time I SWORE up and down that her and Bobby were meant to be endgame (was clearly wrong lol). But also after Chris got stuck in the Tsunami I called it that something would happy to Harry later on (just a feeling that no one was safe lol, not even the kids). I’m just so curious to see what the fandom theories have been over time lol since I missed out on it!

Yeah, no, watching suspicion/survivors for the first time is WILD. Like, imma be honest and bit oversharing, I watched the show for the first time in a depressive episode, so I watched everything up to 5x10 in like, 6 days according to the posts I made on Tumblr about it, so I didn't realize theorize about anything, I was just hitting next episode like my life depended on it. But I didn't know anything about the show, like, at all, I had just watched 911 lone star in a weekend because it was on the tv and there were only like, 20 episodes of it out it at the time and a network in my country was just showing all of them on a loop, and I opened the Disney app fully intending to rewatch grey's anatomy, and 911 was the first show on my recommended to you list, and I had liked lone star enough, and was like sure why not. And I legit couldn't stop watching. All of this happened the week before 5x11 aired on the us, so 5x11 was the first episode I watched like "live" (the first episode I actually watched live was 5x16) but I watched it in the same week, I think I finished on a Tuesday? And the episode aired on Monday. I can't really give you any theories I have witnessed so far because they would be spoilers tho, but if you wanna come back once you catch up we can talk about some of the madness that goes around here. But I had the same thing happen to me, I didn't realize it was the season finale, and I didn't know anything about the show, so I had no idea what was happening, and I thought I had learned my lesson with the tsunami arc, because I watched 3x01 at like 3 am fully saying this is the last episode I will watch and then I'm gonna go to bed, and then the tsunami hit, and I was like well fuck and then Chris fell in the water and next thing I know is 5 am and Eddie is making me cry at the end there. But I saw the 13 and didn't realize the season only had 14 episodes and then everything kept happening. I seriously cannot imagine what it was like to be forced to wait a week between those 2 episodes it was SO CRAZY. When Eddie got shot I legit froze. Watching that for the first time not knowing it's coming is SOMETHING. I do remember thinking that they were gonna kill Shannon but I didn't expect to be right, I also remember clocking that Jason was Doug pretty fast. Something funny tho, I remember posting that meme that's like "I've had blank for 1 day and a half but if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in this room and myself" with Buck and I waited until I had been watching for a day and a half, that means I posted it while watching the season 2 finale. I hit post and the truck blew up and I legit went like ????????? and that is still the most ironic thing that ever happened to me while posting about 911 kspskspkspakapkapa (here's the post, I actually came back to edit the tags because I was in shock lol) and I laugh every time I remember that lol but I'm glad you're enjoying the show, you can come back to talk to me about it any time!;

[lovecaitlined]

What a roller coaster. My thoughts on KaySun in episode 61. 🖤 (semi-rant, read at your own risk).

But here’s the gist—the show may excel in writing certain characters properly, but writing for other characters is inconsistent for the sake of the plot. I’m framing it from the perspective of psychology and writing. I wish the writing in the show would better explain Suna’s actions because it shows unnatural character behavior written under the guise of supposed mental instability that only conveniently appears when it furthers the plot (much like Ferit’s on-and-off again diabetes).

1. I personally think Kaya has been written very consistently thus far, he has just been framed badly. He was never going to hit Suna; Ferit just stopped him, but if Ferit hadn’t stopped him, Kaya would hit the wall. I just hate how they made Suna flinch because she’s never done that. Love how he apologized and reaffirmed his love for Suna, so when she implodes (and I fear it is coming soon), she will have him to turn to.

2. I personally disagree with people saying Suna is not being OOC. I still think she is being OOC. I never expected Suna to be mentally well; she definitely is not over her wedding rejection with F, and she has trauma and anxiety and a whole lot of insecurities. However, her being brain dead and acting like a zombie intent on getting Ferit due to a fortune teller is crazy. She is not THAT crazy, and it is so OOC for the girl who loves her sister and supported SeyFer (to the point of scalping Ferit’s mistresses) will be so weird about this. Mind you, she was looking at Kaya with heart-eyes in that one ep before becoming crazy due to Ferit.

The fact that Suna was able to point out 1) the fact that her father Kazım did not change, but just changed tactics and 2) lead Kaya to believe what she was doing with Ferit was due to Seyran and hide aspects from him (because she knows it’s WRONG) screams clearly logical and sane to me. Now if old Suna from S1 pulled crazy stunts like this, it would’ve been understandable. But I don’t believe she can regress this quickly after so much character development, so I really think they are making Suna OOC and dumb for the plot. She is way too inconsistent, and not in an impulsive way. You cannot switch insanity on and off, so I choose to believe she is just badly written and OOC.

3. A moot of mine, Raj, pointed out that it is possible that Gunger has ego problems and is trying to undo everything Leyla did. He hates women anyway so I believe this, lol.

4. I do think the FT plot will be revealed soon to Kaya and he will confront Suna about it. However, I also feel like Suna is bound to implode soon. There is a reason why there was a public KaySun fight where Suna vehemently denies anything and Kaya is made to look paranoid. That way, when Suna implodes (they better not make her cross that line, and no I will not write what I think will happen) in front of the mansion and gets humiliated and punished, the audience will not blame the people living in the yalı for what has happened to her. In fact, they’ll think she lied and went against her own words, and that she deserves it.

5. This parallels a lot of Gunger’s writing. He always makes women say sht and do the opposite. For example, Seyran and Gulgun used to say they’ll never return to the mansion and their husbands, but they do it anyway and look like clowns. Imagine if Suna publicly denies something and then crosses a line with Ferit? 💀

6. I just like how they made Kaya consistently in love with Suna so he won’t abandon her, and if she implodes he will take it back. Ngl I wanted Suna to beg and confess and even get jealous—but whatever, I’ll take what we can get for KaySun endgame.

7. No one come for me, but I would prefer Pelin and Pırıl back so long as the former will mess with SeyFer. The way I see it now, there are no obstacles for SeyFer except for Suna, which is OOC af. Pelin or Akın can be the villain in their story, just leave my girl Suna out of this and let her be happy together with Kaya.

Anyway, thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far! Lmk what you think. ✨

[agentrouka-blog]

Criticising Dany, Jon and Robb as leaders is right but then pretending somehow Sansa will be a better leader than them is outright nonsense. We cannot judge Sansa on her leadership because we haven't even seen leading anything except when she calms the ladies during the battle which is admirable but could have been also easily done by a well meaning noble woman. Cersei is just too misanthropic.

There are two books left and we could see Sansa as a leader and how she has to deal with more serious stuff managing the food crisis, settling disputes etc. This is just within the space of being a Lady. Being a queen adds even more responsibilities. Even in the Vale, she puts no interest towards the food situation and how the prices are meant to be driven. Granted Baelish doesn't tell her but it also doesn't pique her curiosity at all. Robb, Jon and Dany fuck up many times but there is no definitive proof that Sansa also might not end up making big leadership disasters even if her intentions are well meant when considering the big picture. The child leaders like Robb, Jon and Dany are faced with insurmountable tasks. Rebuilding a new economy or trying to create a truce between Northerners and freefolk despite having centuries of bloodshed or trapped between your lords and wanting to save your sisters - they are not easy feat though I have simplified what Dany, Jon and Robb have to do.

Yes Sansa hasn't made any grey decision like the other three till now but she also hasn't been granted that kind of power to make those big mistakes or fucking up on that grand scale. You are trying to tell me no monarch ever fucked up. We don't know whether how good Sansa will be as a leader. Maybe she will be better than the three but it's equally possible she could botch up things more tha the three.

It would be really helpful if you could let me know which of my posts you're referring to, actually, because I don't think I've ever specifically said that Sansa is going to be "a better leader than Robb and Jon" (I'll accept the charge on Dany because we won't see Sansa do any of that nonsense.) Nor have I ever said that no monarch has ever made mistakes. But there's mistakes and then there's hypocritical cruelty. Jon makes mistakes - and he will be saved from what should be certain death because the narrative values his approach beyond those mistakes. Robb made the kinds of choices that GRRM put a final - tragic - lid on. Let's see about Dany, shall we?

I have specifically speculated that GRRM may give us an example of Sansa trying and failing at something more ambitious during the conclusion of her Vale arc, or that her lie about Marillion may come with short-term costs to her credibility. Seeing her deal with that is going to be fun!

That said, geez, yes, there's two books left with the actual endgame slowly shaping up now, you'd think maybe seeing what Sansa's learning arc has resulted in might be part of that? No, we don't know yet! That's the literal point of it being unfinished. But there's enough writing on the wall to make educated guesses about where GRRM may want to take it.

I'll keep on criticising Robb (enthusiastically), or Jon (kindly), or pointing at Dany with a big red arrow saying "absolutely not like that". I think GRRM absolutely encourages us to.

And I'll keep speculating about Sansa as Queen in the North too.

You absolutely don't have to like it. I like it enough for the both of us.

[dizzy-izzy-in-a-tizzy]

[Note: I drafted this up before Thursday. Didn't edit my thoughts but they have CHANGED since 2x7. Left the opinions untouched.]

Day before episodes 2x6 and 2x7! My thoughts on the main trio ships.

These are all my personal (and rather unhinged) opinions. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong! 😁

Crackpot ship theory after the cut:

Ed x Stede: They're very cute but they kinda make each other worse in an unfun way. Ed's kinda getting enabled by Stede; I'm thinking of that early 2x5 scene involving Ed's awful speech. Stede is kinda ignoring the crew's safety needs for Ed's sake, although simply exiling Ed isn't really the answer either. They both need to grow up if their endgame is going to be satisfying.

Ed x Izzy: Oh god, they make each other so much worse, but in a way that you can't tear your eyes from. Something about this ship makes some dark, angry thing in my psyche absolutely feral. However, it would be a hugely unsatisfying regression for Izzy, not to mention—what the hell would have had to happen to break up Ed and Stede? Thankfully, this will never become canon—although I adore it in fic.

Stede x Izzy: Are you a person of culture? Do you want to see your enemies to lovers slow burn come to life? Are you unsatisfied with Edward's growth? The cult of stizzy welcomes you with open arms. After 2x2, I already wanted Izzy and Stede to get as far away from Edward as possible. After 2x5, I want Izzy to have someone who looks at him the way Stede looks at him—and not just the happy moments! I want Izzy to get as good as he gives.

this has approximately 0% chance of becoming canon.

Stede x Izzy x Edward: Now, I know what you're saying. "Steddyhands??? After all your Edward trash talk???" Yes. Did logic get you to Buttons becoming a bird?? Now hush.

For better or for worse, OFMD is a show about change—painful, difficult, necessary change. It's also a show about love, and how every person is worthy of love. It would send a cruel message for Edward to be truly irredeemable. They have to square the circle of him doing some truly heinous shit, and coming back from it.

Izzy is at the core of that. Edward cannot succeed on his journey without making amends to Izzy. Likewise, Izzy has to find a way to accept what happened to him. Not to forgive Edward, but to accept his new life after what was done to him.

I also think Edward and Izzy's love for each other was possessive and unhealthy, but it probably wasn't always that way—and it doesn't have to stay that way. But they were missing a piece of the puzzle, because they were both trapped in survival mode for so long.

Stede has shown them that there's a different way, and both of them are changing for it. In some ways, each of them has something the other two need. Edward is their spontaneity, Izzy is their pragmatism and Stede is their kindness.

Notes: I considered these ships as an endgame to the exclusion of the rest of the ships. Color and shape coded green-bold, orange-italics and red-subscript for how much I wanna see them, green-bold being high and red-subscript being low.

These are all personal opinions and I respect everyone's right to choose the ships they want to see canon.

[purplerakath]

What I expect, and don't, from a Scott Pilgrim Season 2

Spoilers for all of the Scott Pilgrim works as I go through various plot points in the comics, and the ending of the first season, into hypothetical expectations if Bryan and BenDavid decide to do another.

What NOT to expect:

Memory Holes

Scott's gaps in memory are a good rug pull to the narration, it allows things we've previously seen to be recontextualized as Scott becomes aware he's not actually the hero. Thing is, Scott already knows this possibility from the end of Season 1 so we don't need it. This isn't a statement of 'no Nega-Scott' but we'll come back to that later.

Kim/Knives

Kim and Knives making out was a tool to set-up a Book 5 plot detail about Kim's relationship with Scott and Ramona. The part of that matters is we need to see Kim isn't straight, and there weren't a ton of female characters who would realistically make out with Kim and weren't busy in another plot. We've done this by having Kim try it out with Roxie, so Kim being bi is established already if they want to do the complicated 'I think I'm in love with either my best friend/ex or his current girlfriend' thing that was a bit of Kim's character. We also don't need to fish for 'reasons Knives is still around' she's in the band now, she's good.

The Glow

This is more of a 'that needed foreshadowing that isn't there' thing and we didn't foreshadow it so it probably isn't there. Ramona got her plot forward and her baggage detonation so it's not super useful anymore.

The Powers of Love, Self-Respect, and/or Understanding

So they could do these plot beats, but I don't think the swords work here. See, the swords work as a perfectly solid 'Scott leveled up' visual by making him cooler. And it plays even better in the movie because of how sword fights film vs. fistfights. Thing is, it's still saying that all 'understanding who you are' or 'respecting yourself and your needs' or 'being in love' is good for is stabbing people? It really feels hollow. Especially compared to Ramona's self-acceptance being 'turn into a God temporarily.' So if Scott gains any of those titles, it won't just be a sword.

Okay now that I've gone through a bunch of stuff I don't see coming up. I'm listing them as 'options' less because any two are mutually exclusive but all four cannot be done together.

Option One: Scott Gets a Life

So Scott didn't get to do most of his character growy things on account of him being dead for Tax Purposes. So he's still a useless mooch without a job, or anything to do other than play music. This isn't necessarily bad, but it is something they have to do something with. First is to do battle of the bands, lean all in on Sex Bob-Omb and the music going forward as the endgame to solve that Kim is also jobless. It isn't terribly grounded (but it could be very pretty visually), so I'm not super sold on it but it isn't off the table. They can also lean into 'Scott can cook' and do his cooking chef route from the books. This is more grounded and also can be visually pretty if done right. They can also do all manner of other job routes for Scott especially if the joke about job class systems because video games!

Option Two: Gideon is Still Evil™

So when Matthew was running from Gideon in G-Man Media's Headquarters he ran into a vault he couldn't blast through. That probably has even cryopods with six occupants. Because Gideon is still the worst. And 'but he's Gordon now' or 'but he has Julie now' are both not answers to the fact that Gideon is meant to be an incarnation of everything Scott could become. Notably Gideon didn't do any of his cool things™ from either book or movie in Season 1. Gideon still punishes women who betray him and Julie hates Scott. Gideon frames his revenge as making Scott suffer it is the perfect in-road to go after Ramona. Putting Julie in the Envy spot from Book 6. Which is even better because the betrayal will feel stronger since Gideon seems to like Julie sincerely.

Option Three: Scott's Ex Quest

So Scott has three significant ex girlfriends to dive in on. (I'm not counting Knives as- well, S1 actually resolved Knives pretty well?) And working through how Scott hurt them, and how they hurt him, and how it changed him would be a good avenue to do his character growth. It's honestly some of the stronger elements of the book looking right at Scott's past sincerely. This is the closest we get to retelling the books, but the twist is probably in execution, or in who else is involved. As all of Ramona's Exes being around and not-evil means we have new in-roads to character development.

Option Four: Nega-Scott/Future Scott

Scott is aware that he could be the problem, that awareness and vigilance makes the book version of Nega-Scott hard to work. The Shadow-Link attacking from nowhere just won't cut it. But we can do a similar thing with his awareness of the potential, a manifestation of his fears. Because this is a Rule of Cool series Scott's Fears becoming a monster makes as much sense as anything. So Scott just occasionally seeing/fighting an EvilRyu!Scott who shows up whenever Scott is especially anxious is entirely acceptable. This especially works if the central theme of the series is Scott trying to become more mature and responsible, having this evil manbaby hunting him represents that nicely.

[writerscafehub]

MEET THE BARISTA: Jen

@jen-with-a-pen

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

I would honestly rate my writing a solid 3½. I know that I have lots of room for improvement and growth– I've even seen growth from fic to fic or chapter to chapter and it makes me really proud to see how far I've come. 

2. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

Personally, I think that my setting/world-building and “set direction” helps me stand out. In college I did screenwriting for a bit and that's how I kinda do my rough drafts, writing them in present tense and making sure I’m showing and not just telling. Also making sure my OCs or characters have special awareness of things and people around them. 

3. Are there any writers that inspire you?

SO MANY TO EVEN NAME GOOD LORD. When I was initially invited into discord servers, I was fangirling in my apartment with my cat over basically being in the same room as some of (what I consider to be) the best and biggest writers of the fandom that I had been reading for months prior. There are so many mutuals and people who inspire me, too many to name specifically, but I will say that Hope (aka pilotisms/whirlybirbs) is the one whose works really gave me the courage and motivation to start writing in the fandom for the first time. IWe’ve never talked, but I hope she knows I think about Vacant Mirrors religiously to this day.

4. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

It’s so hard picking between your children! I think it’s a close tie with FOXHUNT and FILTHY, IMPETUOUS SOULS but the latter probably takes the top spot atm. It’s been so well received, even more so than I could’ve ever imagined. I almost scrapped the entire thing and I’m so glad I decided against it.

5. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write and which do you find most difficult to write?

Bucky and Steve both come easiest to me. Finding a good flow for either of them depends on my mood and muse, but I gravitate towards one or the other 99% of the time. I'm terms of difficulties, trying to write OFCs or minor/background OCs is harder for me since they don’t have a “format” like pre-established characters do. 

6. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?

Bucky. Bucky has always been my muse since Day 1 and most of my little notes or WIPs involve him in some way. Also writing settings in college or around college is a pattern I’ve noticed that, although I will never give up, I have been trying to do different time periods and not involve school since I’ve been out of it for a good two years at this point.

7. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about!

I've had this specific WIP idea/concept going on 2-3 years now and it's coming together… albeit incredibly fucking slowly. It takes place within the 6-9 months between Endgame and TFATWS and involves a lot of angst, healing, and melancholy. I've been including details from the Falcon and Winter Soldier comics along with Bucky’s healing journey through grief and PTSD, amongst other things. It's been in the works for too long, so who knows if it'll see the light of day? 

8. First fandom you ever wrote for?

One Direction. I was 11 and had unrestricted Internet access. I was unstoppable. (If anyone was on Miss Literati you’re a real one.)

9. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

Omegaverse, hands down. Also poly fics (stucky x reader, my beloved.) 

10. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.

I cannot for the love of God do pregnancies, time travel, or fantasy. Just doesn't appeal to me whatsoever.

11. Wildest fic you’ve ever written?

Probably the first time I wrote smut, which was my Ranch Hand!Bucky fic, Impressions on the Inside of Your Thigh. I wouldn’t necessarily call it wild, but to me it was/is!

12. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)

Honestly? Stucky. There's something about the endless possibilities of their dynamic that makes lil ol bisexual me’s heart swell with happiness. The best thing is, they’re so versatile; you can have them be platonic or romantic and still bring out their unconditional love for one another. 

13. Do you listen to anything while you write?

If I really need to get into the mood of the specific story, then yes. Otherwise, I'll either have a Twitch VOD on for background noise or just put noise-canceling headphones on and zone in on the quiet. 

14. One-shots or multi-chaptered works?

One shots! 

15. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!        

Literally every time I work on one. I’ve thought about one for Chains Around My Feet where it’s like a prologue leading up to the events in Chains, but it felt more appropriate to leave it as a one shot. FILTH, IMPETUOUS SOULS also gets a daydream sometimes about how their dynamic might be back at home base, the aftermath of the fic’s events, that sort of thing. 

16. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

Omegaverse. I’m slowly working up the courage, but I just don’t feel like I’m ready yet. There’s also another WIP that I had started for Whumptober 2023, but it was just too intense that I scared myself out of finishing it and posting it. HTP is definitely not for the weak of heart and mind.

17. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

There are legit so so many lovely ones, but I think one that stands out at the moment was when I wrote the weight and someone said something among the lines of “I don’t really read Stucky a lot but this just convinced me to read more” and that felt like such an accomplishment to me.

18. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?

Chains Around My Feet was my first Whumptober work and was definitely something I had never done before. I actually was pretty impressed with myself on how well (in my own opinion) I was able to write horror/whump with a Dead Dove ending. Pretty proud of it still. 

19. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

Merciless Angst!

20. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!

Not that I can really think of. If an OC counts as an x reader? Then the Reader I came up with for my years-long WIP. 

21. If you could enter the universe of any one of your fics, which would it be and why?

Honeysuckle, hands down. Living and working in Avengers Tower, adventuring in NYC, enjoying the sunsets, all while doing it with the Bucky Barnes? Yes. Fucking. Please.

22. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

When I write, the scenes play out in my head like a literal movie. I see it as scripting everything out and then running through and editing scenes, and then when everything is done, it plays out like a fully fleshed out film. It’s both a blessing yet a curse, but it’s so integral to my process.

23. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

From FILTHY, IMPETUOUS SOULS:

He scoffed a laugh. “You weren’t exactly on my list of things t’do.”

“Well I hope I’m a top priority, now.”

“Number fuckin’ one.”

24. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I wish I could stop time and just sit down for a week and get my WIPs started and edited and DONE. I’m entering my busy travel season for work and don’t have nearly as much time and energy as I did like a month or two ago. I miss it. I miss my muse, I miss being able to sit down and spend time fleshing out all these ideas in my head. The other side of it is lack of engagement (mutuals you’re okay i promise) and lack of feedback. Like yeah, kudos and likes are okay, but whenever I get a reblog– one that isn’t from a minor or bot account– I get so happy. When I get a comment, it’s like striking gold. I just wish that the passive consumption and aggressive demand for our work would die down and readers would take the time to even share our stuff. It’s disheartening to see your favorite authors cease writing because what’s the point anymore, ya know? Anyways, SUPPORT YOUR WRITERS!