#i think as far as episode 7 or 8 as they feel familiar

[nbstevonnie]

i feel strangely blessed - this anime has shown me the first accidental groin grab to combat the accidental boob grab

[alteon77]

Updated Masterlist of Writing and Art

About the writer/artist: I like to write and paint. My current obsession is Sandman, but I enjoy most fantasy fandoms as well as anime (I think I’m on season seven billion of One Piece right now 🤣). I'm also weird as they come (and awkward, too), so just please ignore my oddball (coughTERRIBLEcough) sense of humor.

On a more personal note, I have PTSD and suffer from severe manic depressive episodes. Writing and art are my most familiar coping mechanisms, and I need them like I need oxygen. Seriously, there were times in my life that knowing I had to finish a story or a piece of art was the only thing stopping me from ending up dead. So, I don't take part in fandom drama. Having my peace and protecting my mental health are very big deals to me, and I won't risk those for anything if I can help it.

As for my writing, it ranges from short one-shots to ridiculously long novel series. I use third person POV (on longer series) as well as second person (on shorter things). I also try to always exclude physical descriptions when writing main character OCs and assign them nicknames to avoid using Y/N. I love to read Y/N fics, but writing them makes me feel like I'm at work. And who actually wants to ever feel like they're at work when they're engaging in a hobby? Definitely not me.

Lastly, there's usually more stuff on my AO3 page than I have listed here, because I forget to post it pretty often. Oops. I'll get around to moving it all over one day. Probably. Maybe.

Feel free to leave an ask if you want or just drop by my DMs. <3

Artwork links are at the bottom of this list, so if you're here for those, that's where they are.

Sandman 'Verse

All the Precious and Fragile Things (so easily do they break)

After banishing his lover from the Dreaming for her betrayal, Morpheus learns that she is pregnant with his child.

And that she’s been captured by a revenge-seeking Alexander Burgess.

What the both of them are unaware of is that this will set in motion a cascade of unfavorable events, causing a chain reaction that threatens the whole of existence itself.

PART I: All of This Past

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

PART II: These Tender, Loving Mercies

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

PART III: When It All Falls Down

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

PART IV: The Dark of War

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Epilogue

Sometimes He's Sweet

Morpheus hates the holidays.

As excited as she seems to experience the mortal holiday, he's… less so. Much less so. With the entire collective unconscious contained within him, this time of year can be wholly overwhelming, a miasma of too much red and green, too much worry, too much loneliness, too much excitement, too many similarly themed dreams, too many similarly themed nightmares, and far far too many holiday songs. It all bleeds out from the collective unconscious into his own mind, sticks there like weeping sap to a tree until he feels half-mad with the unrelenting presence of it, with his inability to get free from its cloying trespass upon his very being.

This is just a little sweet fluff for the holiday season. It takes place between chapters 19 and 20 of "All the Precious and Fragile Things". No spoilers here if you've read that far!

The Dog Debacle (or how best to sneak a dragon into the dreaming)

Morpheus' daughter gets a new dog.

Well..... kind of.

That Familiar Feeling of Family (or how Hob Gadling ended up as an uncle to his stranger's oftentimes feral children)

It's a pretty universally known thing that families are just strange. As Hob is quickly figuring out, however, this little fact is magnified by AT LEAST a billion when the family in question is Endless.

(A lighthearted story in which Hob Gadling finds out his stranger has married, makes friends with a homicidal maniac/ruler, and manages to become an exemplary uncle to a pack of magically mischievous children. Really, now all he has to do is convince everyone to stop calling his and Dream's weekly meetups "playdates", and then his life would be practically perfect.)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The Maker, the Muse, and the Sundered Song

In his temple, what remains of Orpheus waits in trepidation. Something is changing. Something that he knows might alter the very fabric of the world as he understands it.

Finally freed from captivity, Calliope struggles to make any meaningful changes to the laws that saw her bound and taken in the first place. When the strange woman appears on Mount Parnassus and offers help, Calliope knows she would be a fool not to accept it. Even if she thinks that she's being lied to.

Meanwhile in the peace of the Dreaming, Morpheus grapples with guilt over his son's fate. As he basks in the love of his new children, he can't help but to regret his own failings where Orpheus is concerned.

And as for May, she's really just got a job to do. And her own traumatic issues to deal with. And if it's all hella awkward because she's having to work alongside her husband's ex-wife, she'll see it done anyway. There's even the small possibility that she might eventually admit to Calliope the truth about her identity. That is if she can ever actually work up the courage to say it aloud.

Chapter 1

Nothing in This Closet but Boots and a Boy

Morpheus is wildly protective of his daughter.

That's probably bad for the boy in said daughter's closet.

AU's and Other Stuff in the Sandman 'Verse

Of Exes, Hellhounds, and Waffle Fries

Morpheus shows up to rescue the woman he probably loves (though he won't admit it) from hellhounds and ends up getting roped into helping with her family. This is one of those extras that doesn't fit into the main story, but it's fun, so I'm posting it.

The Bizarre Breeding Habits of Anthropomorphic Personifications

It's a tale as old as time.

Two idiots fall in love. Two idiots fall out of love.

Neither one of them is expecting a baby to come along and derail their unhappily ever after.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Original Fanart

I like to play around with different styles and to try new things with my artwork. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm still learning, and I am so far from being a professional that it's laughable. But I only post things that I think look decent or that I think others might enjoy.

The Lover's Argument (Morpheus x oc)

Oneiros (Morpheus in Grecian garb)

Because I could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for me... (Regency era Dream and Death)

[pinkcrocss]

Best and Worst Episode of Gen V Poll Results

The results are in! For the best episode of Gen V, according to 57 votes, it's:

A tie between EPISODE 4 - THE WHOLE TRUTH and EPISODE 6 - JUMANJI!!!

My personal vote was for episode 7, because I thought it had the most interesting revelations.

I think the reasons for episode 4 are pretty obvious for us Limoreau shippers, case in point:

But also, it introduced Tek Knight, who was a pretty funny character and we got a pretty cool fight and look into everyone's abilities at the end of the episode.

However, episode 6 was one of the better directed episodes I think. The director did a lot of really cool transitions as we went through Cate's mind, and I think episode 6 probably gave us more understanding of our main characters and their motivations than any other episode:

Now, for the worst (least best) episode of Gen V, according to 57 votes, it's:

No surprise, EPISODE 8 - GUARDIANS OF GODOLKIN!

(Runner up was EPISODE 2 - FIRST DAY)

Full disclosure, this was also my personal vote, but I want to head off some criticism beforehand. I feel like the people that voted for the final episode fall into two camps: people who didn't like the ending, or people who had issues with the actual episode. To be clear, I fall into the latter.

It's no secret that Gen V definitely had a few pacing issues over the course of the series, and they are most evident in the last 3 episodes. However, I was actually fine with the ending. I am familiar with the boys universe, I wasn't expecting a cookie cutter ending where our heroes would win. That's not standard for the boys.

However, on a technical level, I had so many issues with this episode. I am definitely more of a story person. I never notice technical things like lighting, cinematography, camera angles, etc. So if those things start to bother me, there must be some serious issues. I think this was probably the weakest directed episode in the series. There were so many choppy, cuts and shots that really messed with the tension, especially this one:

Like, yeah it was shocking, but the way the scene was shot really telegraphed what was a bout to happen the whole time. Also, as cool as Marie's "Coming into her power" moment was, idk if they were running out of budget atp, cuz I think that was probably the worst of the CGI blood we saw so far, even for a TV budget:

I know it sounds like I'm nitpicking, but I swear I'm not! I love this show and I was totally fine with the writing of this episode. I just maybe wished someone else had directed it... 😬

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

ANYWAY! Thank's so much to everyone who took part in the polls. Feel free to share your thoughts on the best and least best of Gen V season 1. Do you agree with the masses? Do you disagree? What are your predictions for season 2?

[fabuloustrash05]

Alright for the TMNT ask:

24, 7, 8 and I guess 9

Turtle Asks!

7) Favorite really obscure character?

I guess those girl scouts that work for Cassandra. They are a menaces to society and I wanna know their stories.

8) Favorite villain/antagonist?

I just think he's neat.

9) If you could change one thing about TMNT, what would it be?

I'm gonna do one for each show I've seen so far:

TMNT 2012 - Remove the entire Leo x Karai romance subplot. I'd change it that there's no romantic connection between them and instead when he first meets her, Leo only wants to hang out with Karai not because he likes her but because she gives him a sense of freedom and rebellion after being stress from being leader. Evenually Leo starts feeling like he knows Karai from somewhere, but everyone assumes he's just developing feelings for her, which is he insist that isn't the case. Once all the Turtles meet Karai they all start getting that same feeling as Leo when around Karai, as if they've known her their entire lives. This "feeling" is their familiar/sibling bond and the reason they "know her" is because they always heard stories from Splinter about Miwa, unknowingly to them, they are with Miwa!

ROTTMNT - I'd add in more classic TMNT characters to the show, specifically I'd bring in Mona Lisa (her and Raph would have a little slow burn side plot with her being in love with him but he's oblivious), Venus de Milo (who is Big Mama's assistant and the Turtles long lost sister, since the writer's confirmed there were more Turtles who were left behind), Renet (who'd be a time wizard in the under ground city), Mondo Gecko (a wanna be pro skater who gets mutated, it just be nice to give the Turtles more guy friends), and maybe Slash (who could be another long lost sibling).

TMNT 1987 - I'd just give Mona Lisa another episode. That's all I wanted in 87! Was that too much to ask?!

24) Roast your favorite character (affectionate)

*long regrettable sigh...*

Girl could do so much better than Raph but she settled for that Earth mutant trash! If she was smart she'd leave her dumbass bf! Also she looks like a rejected Pokémon design!

[ladykatibeth]

Why Guillermo Turning Back Human Was An Awful Writing Choice, A Meta

So here’s the thing, for a “what you want isn’t what you need” plot to make sense and improve a story, it has to do one of two things

1. Convincingly establish that the want and the need are mutually exclusive or

2. That the need is more beneficial to certain goals (especially emotional fulfillment ones) than the want.

It also has to establish that the need hasn’t already been met somewhere else, and that the reasoning behind discarding the want makes sense.

What does/has Guillermo wanted? His main 13 year goal, vampirism. He worked unpaid for years, got people killed, dealt with disrespect and completely fucked up his sleeping schedule to achieve this.

There’s a few things I think of that Guillermo could reasonably be said to need based on the show so far:

1. A community/family outside of his biological one

2. Respect from the Vampires, especially Nandor

3. To explore/get in touch with himself/his roots

4. Stay in touch with bio family

5. Gain confidence

6. Deal with his repression

7. Experience human things he may have been missing out on due to his chosen profession

8. Expanded social network

9. Maybe resolve his Nandor feelings?

Unfortunately none of these meet the requirements, they have all already been achieved or aren’t mutually exclusive.

Guillermo has in his own words two families, he has achieved this, as far back as season three he’s using his position in the family to get political favors but still a little excluded….(Note: The vampires assume Guillermo will be around, it’s The Guide who makes him go to the closet, and that lasts like…an episode?)

By 4 he’s included in the 5 person co-parenting of Colin Robinson, gets his own space in the home improvement show, is Nandor’s literal best man, helps Nandor negotiate wishes, is employed in finance at the nightclub….

(Note: Guillermo taking on a care taking role still is not something that’s exclusive with being in a family, in his own words he takes care of people he considers family just as a matter of who he is)

So….not unfulfilled. Also knocks off 2, in S4 he’s included in everything, he’s fairly respected he’s fairly confident (more on this later) even if one made the argument that he needs to have this achieved /as himself/ first…he has. As his regular human self. It wouldn’t be less as a vampire. It fulfills neither 1 or 2 or 3 for this plot.

Okay so…3 and 5 go together. Guillermo needs to connect with himself as a badass slayer, gotten some power not necessitated by being . a vampire, and gain some confidence, be more willing to stick up for him—

……..

*Looks at all of S2 and S3* hmmmm

So Guillermo up until now has killed hundreds of vampires, extremely well, become super badass, beat Nandor in 2 fights, figured out how to balance his inherited vampire murder instincts and his love of vampires….well…seems like a success. He’s a badass vampire slayer. He’s connected with his background.

He feels comfortable making fun of and criticizing the vampires (the perfect FUCKING wedding, so she’s your number 2…., his “is that necessary” about Nandor and Laszlos tmi details, bickers with Nadja about her need for a golden toilet…) he’s got confidence. He can stick up for himself. So 3 and 5…..not relevant.

Get respect from Nandor.

Nandor calls him a badass slayer multiple times. He calls him a warrior, let’s Guillermo bicker at him, respects his advice (see Nandor and Guillermo negotiating with the Djinn) makes him his best man, calls Guillermo his closest companion…..as a familiar…

Sure there’s Freddie…but honestly I don’t think Nandor wouldn’t also do that to a vampire. Nandor is in general…a huge bitch (Queen bitch ha)

Which brings me to 6 and 9

Since we’ve already seen Guillermo be respected by Nandor as a human and we know Nandor dates human women regularly there’s no issue with him being in a relationship with Guillermo when he’s a vampire. It wouldn’t imply it’s necessary for him to be a vampire to date, because of the background info we know. Him resolving his feelings is species neutral.

Same with dealing with his repression, he doesn’t need to be a human or vampire to do that.

So maybe it’s the human things he missed out on which as far as I can think might be…sunlight? And going on dates…

He goes on dates with his boyfriend Freddie during the day, very normal and human…he enjoys it! That must be it!

His long distance English boyfriend. Who he doesn’t need to commit much to. Then when he’s upset with Nandor for the whole two Freddie’s thing…it’s about Nandor and Guillermo. Not Freddie and Guillermo.

Guillermo’s upset, but not enough to hold a long term grudge. He seems to mostly care about experiencing mundanity….as a concept not a practice

He quickly goes back to the uze, aside from food and the sun (which he’s already sacrificing somewhat (food quality and day time) but still experiencing while he’s been working. Anything else can be done at night. As a vampire.

His family…Well Guillermo’s mother calmly let Nandor look at his baby photos, a vampire she has no personal connection to, and was quickly waved off from talking to Guillermo. Nothing implies this will be the line. Guillermo keeps himself from killing his vampiric loved ones on the regular.

So 4 and 7 cleared.

Expanded social network….the witches, Derek, Jenna, also if Laszlo from the 18th century can make human friends there’s no reason a vampire Guillermo has to stop.

None of these things are mutually exclusive with being a vampire, he’s already achieved all the emotional fulfillment things as a human familiar…the needs are met.

Okay so…..

What does it make sense for Guillermo to want? To really think about as a human?

Family? Check for bio and vamp. New career options? He can do that as a vampire and I don’t see the show going in that direction. Nandor? He can do that as a vampire. Respect? Gained. Power? Gained. Confidence? Gained.

What can Guillermo being a human still add to the narrative…

Oh we can see human Guillermo with newfound respect and confidence being part of the family!

Wait we’ve already seen that, in season 4! Multiple times! That’s just a repeat of 4!

Guillermo as a full vampire?

What does this add?

Well….

How does he handle his new powers? We get to see Nandor guiding Guillermo through his new experiences (cute). How does he handle his family? Does he hide it? Is he comically bad at it? Do they get a new familiar? How does he handle that? Is he more lenient? Does he think they need to earn it like he did?

How does Nandor adjust to vampire Guillermo? How does Guillermo adjust to not the sunlight and food restrictions? Oooh we’d get to see him learn how to hunt….What about technically being a member of the same species now, but one that’s still very very young in comparison?

It adds a lot. Questions and concepts. You want a narrative that adds interest. That’s why this route was the worst to take.

It didn’t leave new room to facilitate character growth that wasn’t already there in season 3 and 4. The reasoning for hesitation doesn’t make sense based on Guillermo’s character. He spent 13 years doing murder and murder adjacent things.

(And seriously if I was one of Guillermo’s victims I’d hate him so much more if I found out he was 100% fine with feeding me to his friends but it wasn’t even to become a vampire,I died for, I guess, nothing)

It’s the same concept as previously, it actively stifles concept exploration….its not about Guillermo having to get what he wants, its just bad for the story! It’s a poor use of this trope.

It doesn’t make it more interesting. There’s so much humor possibilities for human Guillermo too. It wasn’t a necessary reset.

It wasn’t even necessary to show nandermo as possible, Nandor has always loved Guillermo in the show, he put in the time to make him glitter art! In S1 E1! Plus this ships is at its best when it’s a little mutually toxic! Mutually! Key word!

It’s just…….it adds nothing. The worst thing a writer can do.

[kj-bishop]

Wigs In Space, an AI adventure, Episode 10: Ep 1 (see for notes), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Final episode!

The slime mold had a noble purpose in escaping. While no one was paying attention, it had achieved sentience. Merging together to form massive pseudoplasmodia, the slime molds head for the raging fires. Thanks to their evolved instinct for altruistic self-sacrifice, the moist, gooey masses flow into the burning drum cores and, at great cost to themselves, extinguish the terrible flames!

Radiation doesn't worry Slime Mold Green!

The remaining human ships and crews are saved. But the drums are silent, and the AIs are reduced to feeble regurgitation of familiar themes. The diminished fleet limps home on bass power. The war is not lost, exactly, but it is abandoned, since the aliens are pretty knackered too, and are starting to feel that their time could be better employed in other ways.

Peace accords are duly signed, stipulating that anyone claiming to be the fairest of them all must preface the statement with "imho", "just my 2c", or similar language, and that all parties will try to do better at masking their insecurities in public.

A proposal to outsource risk assessment to AI is, however, left on the shelf, on the grounds that while sophisticated organic brains can be dumb as fuck, they're still not quite as dumb as computers.

The agreement leads to a new era of putting up with each other...

dating...

...and deciding it's time to move on and see other people.

Space fleet personnel, still bearing the visible scars of spatial distortion, gradually return to peaceful missions...

...and their arts and crafts.

The saviors of humanity are duly honoured:

And now come free with every purchase of Slime Mold Chocolate products! Collect the whole set!

The peace lasts far into the future...however uneasily at times.

And as for the feline consultants, they, too, find better things to do.

End of Episode 10. Credits roll.

End credits scene: "We just wanted to tell people that we were in this show too, man."

"I wasn't."

Farewell folks, and thanks for watching Wigs in Space, altruistically brought to you by Slime Mold Chocolate! Always remember: to be a successful, popular person who others envy, but in a good way, eat Slime Mold all day, every day!

And before you go, a special announcement: For a short time only, Slime Mold is available in limited edition, intriguing Golden Brown flavour! It's Golden Brown, with texture like fun!

(Different voices interjecting: "Fun...gi." "But it isn't a fungus." "I said like fungi." "Slime mold and fungi aren't even in the same kingdom. I don't think we should be perpetuating mis--" "For Pete's sake, it's just a pudding. It's never been near a forest floor. I don't know why we had to go down this weird branding rabbit hole in the first place." "Well, we paid those cats so much that it would have been a waste not to use--" (Static) Sorry about that, folks. As I was saying, enjoy Slime Mold Golden Brown, for a limited time only while stocks last. Hurry up and buy some, or you'll miss out, and spend the rest of your life feeling like something important is lacking but you just can't put a finger on it, leading you to become a bore at parties and eventually join a cult, so get down to the store today! When Slime Mold's your friend, the good slimes never, ever end!

...

"What even was that? I don't want to see any more of this AI wank. First Mate, change the channel."

THE END.

[variousqueerthings]

I’ll scratch his eye out / It wasn’t me who ran doctor. That was always you

The Magicians Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. listen, yes Missy is a stupid name, yes I hope I never have to hear the "oh Missy you're so fine" joke again, but fuckn. Michelle Gomez just kills in this role. and also, look. look. there's some absolute bangers in every era and the Master gets it in this episode when she says, "We're Time Lords, not animals. Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilisation, and infinitely more complex." ohhh one could talk about these two messy benches forever

anyway, we have a rating's system and because this season is made up of two-parters, we rate it as a two-parter!

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 8/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 6/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 7/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 5/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 9/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

I basically feel like the second episode pulls up the first one, which is fair, the first is largely a set-up. but I also just think the second episode is better in that you've already gotten past the stuff that maybe annoyed you a bit, and now you've bought into the concept that you (I) weren't completely onboard with and it's chill now. also I just. what am I gonna do? it's the Master. everything is better when the Master is there (not for Clara of course, but for me)

but hey, I would call this a good episode! you hear me M*ffat, I think you're capable of writing a good episode!

OBJECTIFICATION: we're ok on the whole on this front. there's still a liiittle bit of that "Missy is a Lady Now And Says Mad Lady Things" but it's not at all as bad as just last season, and actually we do get some genderbending, as well as non-heterosexualisation of the Doctor's and the Master's relationship

PLOT-POINT: Clara has evolved. not onscreen though, she's just working for UNIT now, alongside her school teacher job. she's also very... idk impressive? she gets stuff that UNIT people don't get, which puts UNIT as a whole to shame, including Kate Stewart whom I feel hasn't been given much to do so far since her introduction in s7. that's a whooole other can o' worms though

I feel like part one Clara is categorised a bit differently to part two Clara. I feel weird about... well, the way I feel about Clara as a character. I still feel like she doesn't fit for me, and that may be because she never had an introduction that worked for me, and I'm not sure why the Doctor continues to put faith in her as a Companion after the events of season 8, or why she would be involved with UNIT at all, or how she moved from end-s8 to beginning-s9.

but then her and the Master!

I do like that she's out of her depth opposite Gomez!Master, it humanises her more than when she's travelling with the Doctor and seemingly just becoming whatever the Moment needs her to be (incredibly smart, out of her depth, waiting for the Doctor to cue her, confident or scared, asking questions so the Doctor can be smart, etc). she tries to be very cool and capable, and Gomez!Master outsmarts her with ease every time in a way that puts her in very real danger. and Clara tries to be on the same wavelength, and just... fails to be, because the Master is a terrible no good person who loves fucking with her. it's great Companion-but-evil dynamic

she gets taken down a peg and that works, but I do wonder about the peg she was on, so to speak. whether that peg, as it were, was good character-writing. this is pretty neat, but that's the thing about Clara that I think is a problem. her foundations as a character feel rocky to me, not because of what I feel we know about her (relatively consistent as of season 8 -- control-freak, which is the most consistent characterisation from the beginning, as well as being someone who is quite self-centred in her emotions and her priorities. she's also someone looking for fun and adventure, and often doesn't have a big thought about far-reaching consequences, she's very In The Now), but why others react to those traits in the way they do. why was there not more on the idea that she could kill someone? why does she work with UNIT, other than being a Companion? what are her relationships with people? (a note on s9 as well, her family never makes another return, which is a shame considering how we left her grandmother)

so, maybe I felt a bit of satisfaction watching the Master playing cat and mouse with her, but I'm not sure if I was meant to feel quite that gleeful about it?

COMPLEXITY: SOOOO this feels like a finale plot in an opening story, and I can acknowledge that was probably an experiment, but maaan would I have enjoyed this as an actual finale episode with a bit of season-long teasing and build-up more

EDIT: OKAY I REALISE WHAT THE ACTUAL EXPERIMENT OF THE SEASON IS! TWO-PARTERS LET'S GO! still think this one would have been a very good finale, rather than an opener (I think the next two that I just watched would have been good openers, anyway)

EDIT 2: having watched the finale episodes, I think this was a better episode than that, personally, or at least not right at the beginning... we'll see if I change my mind when I review those episodes, but I thought hell bent was... odd

on the whole it's quite simple, Davros is calling for the Doctor because he's seemingly dying, and here I stop again because I've been having some conversations about DW's broken continuity, but I do think M*ffat pushes that more than he should within this prolonged era -- that is RTD-onwards, and bringing Davros back "just cos" at this point without explanation is juuuust, feels a bit like more work could have been done to make that make sense rather than the montage with the snake man. snake man btw. cool concept, I guess, but for some reason Did not work for me, and I think it's because it makes no sense for him to be there other than to be a cool concept -- yes yes he captures the Doctor a few times, but there could have been a non-snakeman doing that, especially considering this the Daleks. why work with snakes?

snake-conglomeration I should say. no what was that, confederate? constellation? a communion of snakes in the shape of a person. see, cool concept, shouldn't have been this episode iiin my opinion, gimme a whole snake-centric episode

oh yeah, we have another montage and the snake conglomeration is like oooh new spooky villain, and the Doctor is pretending or thinks he's dying I guess -- it's that build-up that's messy, once we actually get to Skaro (wait, I didn't actually check if they are on Skaro, I'm just making an assumption) the episode comes together better in my opinion

so just like. getting past that beginning. with the Doctor playing the electric guitar and fucking with time" just cos" which I mean, the Doctor has done a bit of fucking with time here and there, but to this extent just to do it?? it doesn't work for me, it doesn't mean anything, it's just there to show off Peter Capaldi's sick guitar skills (that is Capaldi isn't it? I think it is, considering he plays guitar for the reason of the season)

also the medieval person turns out to be one of those secret daleks, and can I just say how much I for some reason Do Not Vibe with this concept. I think it's one of my pet peeves of this era - in that I cannot pinpoint why I dislike it so much - no wait, I can, it's because it's a get out of jail free card, just thrown around whenever to cause a *gasp oh no secret dalek plot* around with a side of body-horror, but not once do I think it's been useful for actual plot/feel like there wasn't just a straight-up better way X thing could've happened

I'm not gonna get into dalek-lore purism, because ehhhh, I do have some opinions, but frankly I'm not well-versed enough in classic who to blow that trumpet too much. but it feels silly. didn't the dalek have a secret killer child thing going on in classic!who though?

anyway. hope to not see these again once the era has ended

point is, M*ffat still struggles with Concepts and Scenery that are just there to "look good" but don't serve the plot

the rest of the plot once we're on Skaro, very enjoyable, truly did enjoy, obviously Julian Bleach is a king and the idea of the Doctor currently desperately wanting to believe in forgiveness and growth and just getting spat in the face for that (while still having a plan B, albeit a terrible one), yeahhh that's what I've wanted to see a bit more of

the Master's shenanigans? the sewers of decomposed daleks? Clara yelling for the Doctor to hear her? fun stuff, really truly

oh also I was initially annoyed by this one thing at the beginning, but then I changed my mind as it went along, especially with the ending, and it was because it's kind of a classic M*ffat thing, where the "smartest character in the room" has a little monologue/test situation with the "normie" character to see how smart they are

in this case though, the Master is flipping hilarious about it (even though I cannot see how Clara could have come to the conclusion she did, where does that knowledge come from, this is what I mean about her being characterised for whatever the Moment requires, because then later on the Master gives honestly Very Clear Instructions on how to control the dalek casing and Clara doesn't get it at all or have any kind of hand in saving herself in exactly the same way later on!) and then it comes back at the end with a fun little wink

Argh Gomez!Master is just so gooooood all the time. and youknow, not good, still a villain, but having a blast. do want to have more of a think about the ways the Master is characterised in each era, once I've seen Dhawan, because I think he takes a left turn once again into absolute "fuck you Doctor" villainy, and I like how their dynamic keeps me on my toes

a lot of the Stuff that M*ffat has the Doctor do that makes me dislike him, is great when the Master does it, because it's absolute asshole behaviour. when she's making people around her feel small or stupid, of course she is. when this iteration of the Doctor does it, I just don't root for him (this does however get better, as I remembered it did -- but it's a shame it took roughly a third of twelve's runtime to do so)

does it make sense that Davros is chilling and dying there and just waiting to lure the Doctor over? Mmmm wish there had been more build-up. is it great once we get there? awww yeahhh

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: the Master is alive (shocker). Clara... works for UNIT? sometimes? EDIT: OH THE WAY THIS IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT WITH THE ZYGONS Davros is ali- oh Skaro is destroyed (seriously hope this is Skaro otherwise I'm just saying shit). The Doctor had some actual growth as a character at last! in a way that interacts with Gallifrey being out there somewhere and growth post-time war, it's good, it's good stuff

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara. ah, the eternal issue I think with M*ffat's companions is the way they're there to ask questions, do as their told, get into trouble, get saved, rinse and repeat

this time there is some twist, in that Clara is almost entirely hanging out with the Master and it's the evil inverse of the Doctor and Companion (as I'm sure it was meant to be). it does have Clara be a tad too flipping gullible, seriously, latest when the Master handcuffs you while a Dalek is approaching, Do Not Do What She Says!

have there be some real pushback or deliberation -- if Clara had tried to say "no this is my final straw" and the Master had idk, knocked her out and she'd awoken in the Dalek casing, or if she'd gone "I know you don't care about me, but we both care about the Doctor, so I am doing this, but if you mess with me, I swear I will find a way to get you," just... something a bit more substantial there

(another future-me EDIT: I think it's a shame as well that this is the last time Clara and the Master interact. there was actual pretty good bones in that, and they don't go anywhere)

that being said, the end when the Master is saying she died and trying to get the Doctor to shoot her and she's screaming at him from inside, fun fun fun good fun

still wish there was stronger background to Clara and the Master than "just cos" (I seem to have written that a few times this episode -- it truly isn't the most "Just cos" episode I've seen, it's just that a few hens have come home to roost, so to speak, so we're noticing that it's showing dynamics that could have been established better, but fuck it we run with them now! EDIT: I was running with them, but they never came back 😭)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: this was fun Doctor stuff. bit of angst, bit of growth, bit of conversation with an old enemy, bit of manipulation and torture, these are classic hits, Capaldi is doing them so well after a season of just being... so dour the whole time

we may have undoured our Doctor at last! or at least made the dourness fun to watch and not soul-suckingly annoying

(I am still not sure about the whole tank-thing I thought that whole scene was oddly framed, there's "we're doing Doctor Who and so we can fuck around a bit" and "we're doing Doctor Who so we're not thinking about core things that drive our character like, idk, not randomly fucking with time")

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: Davros! why? (Just cos). that's fine. there's some mentions of things as well, fun times. I do wish Big Villains wouldn't just appear in a random episode without it having meaning that this is why they appear here, but at least this isn't a Victory Of The Daleks

“SEXINESS”: unsure where to put this, but I think this is the first episode that hints at Clara being bisexual. she mentions that Jane Austen was a very good kisser as an aside

I get that one doesn't have to show an equal amount of interactions indicating attraction for a character to be established as bi, but it would be nice if it's more than this and the clone-moment that I know is coming up (EDIT: realise the clone-moment comes from a short, and it was a terrible no-good-horrible sexist short, although I do love Clara interacting with the Tardis)

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: yeah we really don't get much more than this. another joke about Jane Austen in "Face The Raven"... it's a bit meh, on the whole

as a contrast -- ways I enjoy a bit of flirtation - the Master has this line early on about how Davros is the Doctor's arch nemesis and she'll "scratch his eyes out," and then right at the end when she saves the Doctor she also pokes him in the eye. lol. queen

INTERNAL WORLD: listen, this does nothing to fuck with the Daleks (looking at you, Asylum my old enemy) so I am happy! also the Dalek sewers, yeah, yeah I am into it

I have a question about UNIT being increasingly depicted as a secret service/secret military. I know it was always that but uh... where was that science first approach Kate? Kate, hey I have questions Ka- *gets black-bagged by UNIT who are absolutely an extra-judicial secret fucking service/paramilitary!*

POLITICS: In watching this I of course think of the Davros and disability drama that's happening around the interwebs, and firstly like. yeah, of course Davros is disabled, the Doctor literally steals his wheelchair in this episode and leaves him helpless on the floor... I think that's kind of the sort of thing RTD is responding to, acknowledge that it's an evil cripple trope

however of course, Davros is an iconic figure, and one isn't just looking for "good" people representation, one is also looking for Really Cool Characters as representation (I mean, in the children in need special he's pre-genesis of the Daleks so it's chill) -- the answer is of course just more disabled characters, in this case specifically wheelchair users, and I think maybe... don't have the Doctor stealing his wheelchair

I'm not sure what the response was at the time, I don't think this is the worst in disability I've seen this show do, buuuut optics maybe not the best way to go about this plot, especially as Davros is depicted really truly helpless in a semi-comedic way

I think because people -- and I might assume M*ffat here as well -- really often don't think of Davros as a disabled character, it's not the same in their head (or wasn't the same, I won't put this on M*ffat now- well I am watching Inside Man, so his general disability writing is still atrocious, but none of them are wheelchair users so who knows on that front) as, say, the Doctor stealing a wheelchair that looks like a wheelchair from someone who looks like we'd usually expect someone using a wheelchair to look (that is, not as a science fiction villain -- although if that's your vibe, you do you!)

it's an interesting lack of Seeing that I think that moment highlights, especially as otherwise -- including in this episode -- Davros is depicted as an interesting, multi-faceted evil character

big write-up to say mmmmm maybe not that particular thing again, but on the whole it's Davros as Davros has been historically depicted and as far as I can tell there wasn't a massive fuss about Davros being disabled to begin with... we just need to do more now (and like hey, hey, I too wish disabled villains upon all of our households, because villainy is fun, but the evil cripple trope is absolutely real, and I'm hoping this conversation about Davros is opening more doors and not closing our fun villain door just to depict us as goody goody two-shoes all the time -- but I don't think so. I'm glad this introduced the trope to so many people for the first time who'd never even heard of it before, I think that's a big win)

(also hey, are there Davros cosplays with functional wheelchairs? I need to know, I'm sure there are)

FULL RATING: 67/100 (if I can count….)

it's really all about the Master and the Doctor-and-Davros dialogue and the Doctor screaming in pain and that bit at the end where the Master almost has the Doctor kill Clara

that's the good stuff!

[doks-aux]

Of all the characters that we a) have already met and b) know for sure will be in season 2*, I think Fang is the most likely candidate for a love interest for Izzy. And he’s probably the option I like the most.

They’ve clearly known each other a long time, and there is some level of camaraderie and concern that you can see here and there. Obviously whatever relationship there is to speak of has soured over time. Izzy thoughtlessly yanks on Fang’s beard which Fang particularly doesn’t like (mean), and Fang practically leaps at the chance to gossip about a painful and humiliating moment from Izzy’s past (mean). And of course there’s the whole mutiny thing.** But that isn’t all it is. They seem to get along well on the island in episode two. Fang’s (and Ivan’s) absence in episodes 7 and 8 and return in 9 could*** suggest that he actually left the Revenge after Izzy did and only came back when Izzy did as well. And they seem quick enough to let bygones be on both sides after the interrupted mutiny, and Fang even expresses genuine concern over Izzy’s foot.

There’s more than enough foundation there to build or rebuild something on top of and probably plenty of time and opportunity now that they’re part of Blackbeard’s new, very small, very isolated, fairly traumatized crew. Fang’s lost Lucius (so far as we know he knows) and Ivan (however they write Guz’s absence into the show), and Izzy’s lost pretty much everything plus a toe while trying to convince himself he’s regained everything he wanted. They’re the closest thing the other will have to a friend, at least at the start. I could see Fang trying to reach out to Izzy as the one familiar person he has to lean on, and it would likely take repeated attempts, but Izzy has to break at some point, and Fang is right there to fall to pieces on. Of course, I expect and hope to see them interact and form closer dynamics with Frenchie and Jim as well, but it just seems so narratively logical (and emotionally satisfying) for their relationship, whatever it is and will be, to be explored.

It wouldn’t be a smooth ride (and wouldn’t be as interesting if it was), but I think they could be very sweet together if they let themselves.

*Ivan and Calico Jack, in that order, are the other most likely candidates of the characters we already know (IMOO), but we know Ivan isn’t returning and Jack is likely dead.

**Not on topic at all, but they really went zero-to-sixty on that mutiny thing, right? Like, I guess they cut a lot of stuff out for time, but Izzy was being cringe and bitchy at worst. The Revenge crew put up with Stede’s whole deal for at least weeks, and Fang tolerated having to kill his dog, but Izzy’s little prat fall of a captaincy is what gets them to mutiny in, like, a day? This is why I lean toward the theory of them not actually intending to kill him but just scare and maybe send him on his way.

***Note that I said “could.” There’s nothing concrete to suggest Fang and Ivan’s absence had anything to do with Izzy’s banishment, much less them feeling some kind of way about it when all was said and done. But there’s also no explanation offered or hinted at all. When he goes, they go, and when he’s back, so are they. So it’s as plausible an explanation as any.

[irrealisms]

Aww, did you think you broke the cycle? 

Next to Normal // all i ever wanted was [Wilbur animatic] - WolfyTheWitch // tumblr post by @celestialkindliness // oh, how i want to be free - @aliveburs // Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave. - Will Wood // Sakizuke - NBC Hannibal // oh, how i want to be free - @aliveburs // I Am So Depressed I Feel Like Jumping in the River Behind My House but Won’t Because I’m Thirty-Eight and Not Eighteen - Sandra Cisneros // Breathe - In the Heights // Status Quo Is God - TV Tropes // tumblr post by @intactics

[IDs under cut]

Image 1: DOCTOR MADDEN: Well, let’s start by getting to know each other a bit. Psychotherapy and medication work best in tandem, but we can try the first alone, and see how far we get. Why don’t you tell me—

Image 2: A drawing using the YCGMA color palette of Wilbur silhouetted against a background of buildings and rubble. The closed captions read "Am I right back where I started fourteen years ago?"

Image 3: a tumblr post by @celestialkindliness : *guy who's trying to pretend he's not trapped* big fan of narratives. big fan of the ceaseless and repetitive flow of events given life by an audience and mutated by their perception

Image 4: Say the line, Tubbo! Say the line! You can’t leave, you’ll never leave, you can’t escape the narrative because you’ll have to continue it, you want to, and isn’t this easier? Isn’t this a life worth living? Family safe, country safe, everything’s safe, what else is there to want?

Image 5: How many years have you been on that couch?/They could’ve quilt’d you in the throws by now

Images 6+7: A screenshot from NBC Hannibal, focused on Will Graham. The closed captions read "I've lost the plot. I am the unreliable narrator of my own story."

Image 8: And relearn your lines. Dress rehearsal is coming up!

Image 9: I Am So Depressed I Feel Like Jumping in the River Behind My House but Won’t Because I’m Thirty-Eight and Not Eighteen

Image 10: [NINA] This is my street I smile at the faces I’ve known all my life They regard me with pride And everyone’s sweet They say, “You’re going places" So how can I say that, while I was away I had so much to hide? Hey guys, it’s me The biggest disappointment you know The kid couldn’t hack it She’s back and she’s walkin’ real slow Welcome home, just breathe

Image 11:

Status Quo Is God

"Looks like everything's back the way it was! Which is the only way it should ever be..." — Marge Simpson, The Simpsons

Within a work, particularly long-running series and franchises, almost nothing changes. If something does change, it's generally reset back to the way it was before very quickly.

This usually happens in a series with no overarching conflict or plot, although it is also the final stage of Exponential Plot Delay, the phenomenon in which the plot of a serial story has totally ground to a halt. In either case, each installment of the series will open under virtually identical circumstances to the installment that came before.

Why create a static situation? The creators want the audience to be familiar with the characters and situation, without having to bother with such things as "what happened last episode".

Image 12: me: [I am asking [You] [h][ow] to endure it.] god: On the strength of My having asked it of you. me: [I am asking [not] to endure it.] god: Scio, sweetheart.

[whump-side]

Whump Challenge

I got tagged by @whump-captain to participate in the challenge. If you see this and want to participate, feel free! Don't by shy~ 1. Favorite whump trope(s)? Anything that'll make a whumpee bleed from the side. Shot, stabbed, you name it !

2. Least favorite whump trope(s)? I'm really not into whump with a whumper or pet whump. 

3. Top 3 whump scenes and why? No.6 episode 11. Oh man, this whole episode goes so hard, if you know, you know Detective Conan Chapter 251-254. I remember obsessively rereading these chapters as a 8yo kid No third place because there are 100 scenes fighting for the 3rd place in my head so I'll leave this empty

4. Top 3 characters to whump and why? Lance from Voltron. I love goofballs getting whumped. The switch between their goofy personalities to just pain, yes. Kaeya from Genshin. If anyone has good whump fanfics, please send them this way. This man is a walking whumpee Can't think of a 3rd character so I'll say my OC Birb 

5. Favorite fandom for whump (show, series, etc)? Anime/manga, animated show (Voltron, Avatar, in these kind of styles where adults look like adults) or Webtoons 

6. Do you prefer written or watchable whump? Watchable but I also enjoy written 

7. Do you also like hurt/comfort? Hell yes ! 

8. What do you think the difference between hurt/comfort and whump is? Hurt/comfort : gentle pat pat to soothe the pain Whump : stab stab to do the pain 

9. How would you explain whump to someone who’s not familiar with it? Angst but add pain, blood and injuries to it. 

10. Is there any old whump you particularly enjoy? (say, pre 2000?) It's gonna be 2000 exactly : Mulan. The moment when she realised she got hurt by Shan Yu. 

11. Why do you think you like whump? Good question it's always been there since I was really young. 

12. When did you realize you liked whump? Never, as mentioned before, it kinda was there all the time. 

13. Favorite posts with whump (gifsets, picspams, etc) ✨Art✨ 

14. Are you “out” to people in real life? My bff know that I love "angst" especially when it's bloody. I think I told them once that I found the whump community, but I'm sure I didn't say the word whump specifically 

15. How did you find the whump community? I was probably looking at "injured" or similar tags until I think I found an anime whump gifset and connected the dots when I saw the tag "whump" 

16. Any unusual mediums you like for whump (plays, music, vlogs, etc)? Stock photos. With enough imaginations, lots of things can be whumpy. It's like using a filter but with your brain. 

17. Any meta about whump you’ve been dying to share? None that I think of at the moment. 

18. Whump fic(s) you’d love to see? I'd love to read some Thoma whump from Genshin Impact. Haven't check now if there's something new with him 

19. Whump you’re looking forward to? (Maybe something teased or something you haven’t seen yet?) I am well fed with whump at the moment 👌 

20. Top 3 favorite whump fics? Oh god. I never save fics and then regret it when I want to read them again. The Purity of Sin by IcyPanther. I red it in one sitting before going to bed and then I realized it's 4am when I was finished There was a fanfic with Lance getting pneumonia while being stranded with Shiro and I can't find it ;-; A fic with my fem!Hawkle and Fenris my bff wrote me a few years ago 👌

21. Tropes you think are overdone? Whumper/Whumpee and captive whump. Let whumpees be hurt by nature in the wild far from any humans for a change. 

22. Tropes you think we could use more of? Environmental whump or whump without a whumper. 

23. Favorite sites/archives for consuming whump? Tumblr, AO3, Pinterest, Youtube 

24. Have your whump preferences changed recently? If so, why? Recently nothing has changed, but I'm always down to explore new tropes. Like I did with a tiny whumpee some times ago

[purrincess-chat]

Hi Cat! May I ask you to rank S5 episodes aired so far? and what did you like the most about each of them?

Finally getting around to answering this now that s5 is officially over. Overall, I'd say s5 was definitely not as bad as people have made it out to be, and I'll share my full thoughts on it later and go over some of the notes I took upon rewatching, but I'd say this season on average was pretty mid? Adrinette hard carried a lot of episodes that otherwise were just okay. Again, I've said it a bunch, and I'll say it a bunch more times, ML's biggest problem is pacing. S5 is probably the most ambitious season of this show by far, and they crammed a shit ton into this one season that would have been more digestible if it were spread out I think.

But anywho, I'll discuss more later. For now, here is my episode rankings for season 5! The ratings are rough, and I will likely adjust them to be a bit more specific when I eventually do my complete episode ranking with all the other seasons, but for now these ratings correspond to how I relate just the s5 episodes to each other. None of them got a 10, and tbh most of these eps sit around 6-7/10, so ranking them was actually kind of hard because as I said, Adrinette hard carried some of these eps, and I just did not care for the other things going on in them. Okay, here we go:

Protection: 9.5/10

Anyone who knows me or is in any way familiar with me probably knows why this episode is here. The picnic will go down as one of Adrinette's iconic moments. The whole set-up was incredibly sweet, and I could stare at that scene for hours.

2. Emotion: 9/10

Outside of thinking that Felix should have come back sooner and that perhaps this should have been the mid-season conflict rather than the Kwami's Choice eps (I'll talk more about why in another post eventually), I really liked this episode. I love how much Marinette has grown. I enjoyed Felix being a lil gremlin man. Idk, I liked it.

3. Elation: 8.5/10

"Cat, but you always shit talk MC-"

Incorrect. I shit talk toxic stans. I'd be lying if I said seeing those two losers kiss didn't make me feel things. I also appreciated the realness of this ep on why they couldn't be together, and that Chat Noir/Adrien had enough respect for Marinette to realize that there was a power imbalance between them. It was very sexy of him.

4. Revolution: 8.5/10

This one honestly surprised me being this high, but so much shit happened in this episode. Like I needed to sit for a sec after watching it because it was a lot to process. While I was rewatching it, I had moments where I was like wait, is this a new episode? But then I'd remember, nope. It's still the same one where all this other shit happened. And weirdly, it didn't feel too rushed? A lot of episodes this season felt like they were moving a million miles a minute and rushing to get to the point, but I felt like for as much shit as went down in this episode, it flowed pretty well.

Also, I'm Adrinette trash so of course I'm gonna rank their first kiss high fucking sue me

Also, hardly anyone talked about the LadyNoir power up! Like hello???

5. Deflagration: 8/10

I know I just dunked on the Kwami's Choice arc, and I will probably do it again because these two episodes were HARD carried by Adrinette. I didn't care about Kitty Noire or Scarabella at all. Their fight was lame, why the fuck did they start talking like that, just, ugh-anyway. I felt like part 2 was the stronger of the two episodes, and not just because of the Ladrien crumb! (though the ladrien crumb was v nice) I enjoyed the Resistance swooping in to help. I enjoyed Marinette outsmarting Gabriel. I enjoyed Adrien ripping the earrings off his dad like how dare you touch her things, you crusty eggplant. I liked the Adrinette scene in the cafeteria. I dunno. I don't think giving up their Miraculous was really necessary, but I appreciated several of the moments in this episode.

6. Passion: 8/10

So, in prior seasons I came to really not care for Nathalie when she was simping for Gabriel, but I gained a lot more respect for her this season. I just kind of wish she'd been like that from the beginning. There to make sure Gabriel doesn't go too far, someone to love Adrien and carry out his and Emilie's wishes. I wouldn't have minded even if GabeNath happened as a result if they were able to talk Gabriel down from his madness and truly let Emilie go in the end. But alas, we didn't. I loved the Adrinette moment in this episode where Adrien just immediately tells her what's wrong. It was such a huge step for him as someone who usually just buries his feelings. And the kwami swap was much better this go round.

7. Jubilation: 7.5/10

My cat is sleeping on my notes, but I remember enjoying this episode. A thought that I had in regards to the fantasy that they saw is that the gift sees beyond the masks, even if they don't. Like, yes, of course they want a life together because they're soulmates. They just can't quite see the whole picture yet. Idk how to explain it, but anyway, it was a cute episode. The nightmare children need to be burned at the stake, but overall, it was nice.

8. Transmission: 7.5/10

Listen. I did not give a single fuck about the new heroes, and their battle was very anticlimactic and lame, but god dammit, the Adrinette in this episode! Adrien audibly recognizing he shouldn't have played with her feelings as Chat Noir. Him seeing his photos in her trash can and telling her he loves her! The motherfucking hand game! Nothing else happened in that ep. It was just them.

9. Determination: 7.5/10

I absolutely loved seeing Adrinette go all pink sparkles when he looked at Marinette, and how Kagami was like stop being a fucking wuss and ask her on a date. As much as I cannot with the statue scene, I loved that Adrien was just like lol yeahhh you kissed me, it was kind of awesome. Like baby boy XD I liked him being lowkey jealous and wanting to be more with Marinette and trying his damnedest to get closer to her when she was freaking out. His patience with her this season has been so sweet.

LN stans can roast me all they want, idc, but I have a lot of thoughts about her switching her affection to CN. Not to say that she doesn't genuinely have feelings for him because I think she definitely does deep down, but I have always seen her pursuit of him this season as a means to run away from her problems. (i.e. her feelings for Adrien) Because she never got over Adrien, and that much was obvious. And Alya even called her on her bullshit. Marinette was trying to force herself to stop loving Adrien by throwing herself at Chat Noir, and while her feelings for him might stem from a genuine place of love for him, she was trying to love him for the wrong reasons. Rather than it being a natural thing, it felt very much like she was only doing it because she thought it would be easier, and she was refusing to face and process what had happened as a result of her loving Adrien. I just wish that the reversal were handled differently. She can and absolutely does love Chat Noir, but in this context, it just felt a little cheap to me. Not as genuine because she was still clearly hung up on Adrien and avoiding that.

10. Multiplication: 7/10

We have reached 6-7/10 territory. A loooot of eps are in this range, so it was actually pretty difficult to rank. I went solely on vibes for this section. Any single scene that sticks out in my memory for each episode were the breaking points on these.

Idk why, but I liked this episode. I loved the scenes of Adrien trying to greet Marinette. I loved everyone getting progressively more bored with waiting for Monarch to show up again. It was cute.

11. Derision: 7/10

Do I think this backstory should have come way, way, way, WAY sooner? Yes. Like s1-s2 sooner. Did I still slurp up all of the Adrinette anyway? ...Well, I'm only human.

12. Evolution: 7/10

I actually skipped this episode in my rewatch to save time because I know it's solid. Bunny Cat was cute. Seeing Gabriel fucking wreck himself because he's an idiot was funny. Alix being the GOAT was fun. Yeah. It was a nice start to the season.

13. Pretension: 7/10

I'm not a Feligami hater like some people. I think it was a bit rushed, but I think that's more of an issue with ML's general struggle with pacing rather than a reflection on the viability of their relationship. I liked seeing how Felix has a softer side because he was always meant to be morally grey. Emotion talked about that a little bit. He had no dog in the fight between Gabriel and LB/CN. He has his own motives for doing what he does, and he's not a bad person, just has done some questionable things to get what he wants. And I think Kagami would be good for him. I loved her roasting him and kicking his ass (and he loved it too).

14. Confrontation: 6.5/10

As the pilot of the Lila downfall plane, you'd think this episode would rank higher, but like, listen. Was Marinette's plan very sneaky and big brained? Yes. Did I enjoy seeing them get caught? Yes. Did this shit need to happen way sooner? Yes! The fact that Alya said with her whole chest in the episode before, "You know we're always ready to believe you." When she fucking wasn't? Like, bitch, your bestie is LADYBUG. Perhaps if she doesn't like someone, recognize that it's for a good ass reason? And I hated how dismissive they were of Adrien when he tried to speak up in that scene too. My honest reaction to Lila being outed was just fucking finally. I rank this one lower as well because they cut a small moment that I wish they fucking hadn't where everyone apologizes to and hugs Marinette after they're exposed. Because they fucking gaslit her for months about this bitch, and she absolutely deserved that apology!

15. Collusion: 6/10

Ya know, I'm not much one to care about Andre. They really tried to paint him as a victim this season, and I just was not there for it. It's okay for him to just suck too. They're all rich, sucky people. It's okay to just say that.

A note I did make that I might talk about later is on the topic of Chloe and her alleged redemption that everyone is mad about and how Astruc just hates Chloe, and I'm not going to say he doesn't. I just think that overall what happened there is when they started planning out future seasons, it was more plot convenient for her to be mean than it was for them to put in the effort to redeem her fully. And looking at some of the other redemptions they've done in this show, we know they would have botched it anyway. They kept her mean because it served their purposes for making things happen. That's it.

16. Revelation: 6/10

For reasons mentioned above in Confrontation, I ranked this episode lower because I wanted to fucking strangle everyone. Everyone in that god damn class knows Chloe is a bitch and always will be. The fact that they all turned on Marinette, including fucking Alya who knows she's FUCKING LADYBUG just ugh. Honestly, when their future plans got fucked in the next episode, I was lowkey like GOOD. Suffer, dumbass bitches! It's what you get! But I'm also just really petty, and I wanted to see Lila finally get shut the fuck up.

17. Adoration: 6/10

This one was fine? Let's go lesbians, I guess. Idk, in comparison to the myriad of other shit going on in s5, this one just felt like filler. Gabriel is an asshole, what else is new? I kind of wish Marinette got a better confession, since, ya know, we've been waiting for it since s1. I wish it were a bigger moment and more heartfelt, but like, eh, I guess.

18. Intuition: 6/10

Seeing Gabriel fuck himself over was nice. Other than that, it was just okay. Get dunked on, you moldy cheeto dust of a human being.

19. Perfection: 6/10

"Cat, did you rank this episode this low because of Adrien's cringy-ass song?"

AND I'D DO IT AGAIN! And the fight was kinda boring. I love Kagami, and she deserved the love in the end, but like c'mon.

20. Illusion: 6/10

A big thing I noted from this episode that became kind of a recurring thing throughout s5 is the illusion of choice. I'll talk more about it in my s5 analysis, but I think that illusion of choice extends to Gabriel's wish too in the end. I did love Nathalie fucking bodying him the second Adrien walked away. It's what he deserves.

21. Destruction: 6/10

This one was fine, I guess. I wasn't super into the format of it being a flashback that Marinette was explaining to Alya at their sleepover after the fact? And that it kind of just glossed over them Cataclysming Monarch, since that was kind of an important thing for this season. ML made some weird choices for big moments throughout this season that kind of cheapened the impact, imo. Idk. Baby girl is smart and all that, we been knew.

22. Representation: 5.5/10

Adrien fighting his dad was the highlight of this episode. You go off, king. The play was incredibly info-dumpy, and I feel like this information should have been spread out more organically. Rather than hinting at all of this shit in s3-4, they should have just sprinkled in these details as actual confirmation back then rather than dumping it all in our laps now.

23. Reunion: 5/10

Listen, this episode wasn't bad, and Adrien being a horse girl is funny, but in the context of this season and compared to the other episodes, this one is honestly just filler. Like, it's cool lore, but feels a bit out of place in this season, especially because she didn't call on her past holders for advice on how to like, idk fight her villain, she called on her for love advice. Just felt very unserious in the context of this season.

24. Conformation: 5/10

This one was fine-ish? The whole finale is definitely the weakest finale we've had. And I've ranked Miracle Queen in my bottom 10, yall. This is saying something. I'll go ahead and continue in my next point because

25. Re-Creation: 4.5/10

Both of the finale eps were just... They happened? I feel like they were pulling at too many threads bringing in everyone the way they did. I feel like the perfect alliance thing was an okay choice? I kind of dislike that Adrien was just no where to be fucking seen for most of these episodes. I know a lot of people are upset that he doesn't know about his dad, and there was no reveal between him and Marinette. Which, no identity reveal, I can live with, but I feel like letting Gabriel make his wish was such a weird choice. I'll talk more about it later, but we've been following this show since s1 and rooting for Ladybug and Chat Noir, and they just let the villain get what he wanted? And you can argue that he didn't really get what he wanted because he died or whatever, but like he got the Miraculouses and made a wish. Stop being obtuse about it. Like what is the ultimate lesson here? What's the message? I'm willing to give s6 a chance, but my future with this show is going to depend on how they unpack some of the fallout of this finale.

And for those arguing over Emilie v Amelie in the ending scene, it was Emilie in the original script and storyboard, and her memorial statue is gone, meaning they no longer have to memorialize her because she's not dead, so unless they randomly decided to not bring her back last minute, that bitch is his mom. Also, they removed a scene where she and Adrien smile at each other, but I digress

26. Migration: 4/10

I'm not going to explain this one, but anyone that knows me, knows why this one is here, and why I didn't care about this episode.

Anywho, my biggest takeaways from this season were that it was a bit too ambitious at times, and I think in general it lacked a lot of the heart of ML. Big moments we've been waiting for fell flat because they got lost in the mess of them trying to cram storylines we should have been getting this whole time into one season. It's not a bad season, and I think it is definitely a step in the right direction. ML just needs to get better about pacing its story arcs so that it maximizes its time and doesn't have to rush through shit to get their point across.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Ao3 20 Questions

Tagged by @queerbashir! Thank you! I am tagging @onekisstotakewithme @koboldkatalyst @majorbaby @youngpettyqueen @xslytherclawx-writes and anybody else who wants to (please tag me if you do it!) because I never keep track of who among you writes.

1) How many works do you currently have on ao3?

30

2) What's your total ao3 word count?

92,888

3) What fandoms do you write for?

The ones I still think I'll write for again are MASH, The West Wing, and Star Trek.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

'Til Death (Un)does Us Part

5) Do you respond to comments?

Usually!! I try to, but sometimes it's hard and then it's been so long it feels weird to do it... I often do it anyway. I respond to most of them.

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh that's easy.

Downpour

If you choose to read this one, please heed "creator chose not to use archive warnings." It's there for a reason.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't! I did get anon hate about a fic, calling me cringe for writing a fic about abortion. I called them a pro-lifer and got a follow-up clarifying they meant fic isn't activism. Of course I never claimed my abortion fic was activism so idk what they were on about.

9) Do you write smut?

No, but this was supposed to the be the year I started. It still could be.

10) Do you write crossovers?

I wrote a couple chapters of an NCIS/Ace Attorney crossover when I was about 14. It is not on AO3. It is still on fanfiction.net as far as I know.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! I really doubt it.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd love it!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic?

No. I'm open to the idea in theory but I'm kind of a neurotic control freak about art so I think it would be hard.

14) What's your all time favorite ship?

I guess I have to go classic and say Kirk/Spock, in terms of ships I've written for.

15) What's a WIP you'll probably never finish?

Josh Dies AU will probably never see the light of day but oh do I have some good ideas for it...

16) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and characterization. I like to think I use narrative devices competently. I have pretty strong grammar and vocabulary fundamentals and that's really helpful.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes are the worst. Sex included, which is why I haven't really written smut in the past. Description can be hard; I think I'm getting better at setting a scene but describing characters and what they're doing is the hardest thing for me. Any kind of action, as simple as nodding or walking across the room, sounds unnatural to me when I write it.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I would only do it if absolutely necessary. If the reader isn't meant to know what the character is saying, I will simply describe that they are speaking in another language. If the reader is meant to know, I will indicate in the dialogue tags and maybe throw in some italics if I think they're called for. I would consider using dialogue in another language if I thought something really called for it, but I'd want to get a professional translator I could work with, and that's obviously not going to happen in a fanfiction setting. I might do the odd word here and there, especially in a language I have some familiarity with, but that's it.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

NCIS. First on AO3 was Supernatural.

20) Favorite fic you've written?

The Emergency Room

I just think it's my best writing. It has a nice theme to it to but I can't take credit for that, I was just reiterating the point the episode already made. I have some WIPs that I think are writing of this quality but this has the benefit of being completed. I have other fics that I think I was more creative with or have more interesting concepts but when I reread this one I go "wow, I wrote that?"

[ltwharfy]

"Bob's Burgers" Season 8 Episode Ranking Rewatch (Long Post)

So, I've been rewatching "Bob's Burgers" from the beginning and ranking the episodes using the spreadsheet that @babsvibes created! If you want to know why I'm doing this or how I view the 1-5 rating scale, you can check out my Season 1 post! If you want to check out any of the other seasons, I've been using the "bob's burgers episode ranking rewatch" tag for all of them.

Now, on to Season 8 (over halfway done with the rewatch!):

Average (Mean) Score: 4.45

Mode (Most Common) Ranking: 4

Ranking Breakdown: 9 5s 11 4s

Season as a whole thoughts:

This is the first season to have 4 as the mode ranking. And it's kind of interesting, because it actually has a higher mean score than two seasons (2 and 3) that had 5 as the mode. And it's so close to Seasons 3 and 6- literally separated by .02 from each of them in mean score! It kind of goes to my main thought about "Bob's Burgers"- it was really consistently good for a long time.

And I emphasize this because, after going on about how much I loved Season 7 in that post, I don't want anyone to think I'm saying the show went off a cliff after that! This is actually only one of two seasons (4 being the other) that I've rated so far that I didn't give anything lower than a 4. Which means I really enjoy all the episodes- but maybe there are fewer that I would call favorites or say that I love.

There were two episodes that I gave 3s when I caught them on TV a few months ago but decided to rewatch before completing this season's sheet and ended up moving them up to 4s. I'll discuss those in the individual episode comments. (And if I'm torn on which rating to give, I always err on the side of giving the higher rating. Given that these are all episodes I've seen multiple times before, that familiarity might dull the impact of some of the jokes or plot twists.)

Some thoughts on specific episodes (and feel free to ask if you want my thoughts on an episode I didn't comment on):

"The Silence of the Louise": As I've mentioned before with regards to Rudy and Louise and to Gene and Courtney, I enjoy when characters and their relationships evolve over time. So, I love this episode for moving Millie and Louise's relationship to a different place. I didn't particularly enjoy Millie in "Fort Night", but she is really a fun character and Molly Shannon does a great job with her voice- I'm glad that they came up with ways for Millie and Louise's relationship to evolve, and that she didn't just remain a one-note nut. And, honestly, their relationship- that one-sided obsession (with undertones of a crush) that the other finds offputting is a very real childhood relationship dynamic that I haven't seen portrayed in media that often, and I like that the show addresses it.

"Sit Me Baby One More Time": Mr. Boom Boom. Tinkle-dinks and Tinkle-dinkers. "And that's how you pee in a restaurant". If this episode doesn't crack me up, it's a sign that I'm dead. Beyond the jokes, I love Tina's realization at the end- that she was actually kind of mean to Tammy. Tammy is probably my favorite antagonist character on the show because she and Tina have a lot of similarities- they are both insecure teenagers at heart, they just handle it differently. Usually, Tina's more insecure and Tammy's overly confident to the point of obnoxiousness- but the roles are capable of switching occasionally, and that's interesting.

"Thanks-hoarding": My favorite Teddy episode. This is right up there with "The Amazing Rudy" in terms of just really speaking to me as a child of divorce (I don't think it's ever indicated that Teddy's parents divorced, but they certainly had a difficult marriage.) One day, maybe I'll write an essay comparing Teddy's story of having to be "the peacemaker" at Thanksgiving to Rudy doing his magic tricks to reduce the tension in the dinners with his parents. Just the notion of these kids feeling like they need to take on these responsibilities (that they shouldn't have to) because of their parents' damaged relationships really resonates with me and its nice to see it addressed on TV.

"V for Valentine-detta": How did the show manage to go over seven seasons without freaking Nat Kinkle?!? I was thinking about including some of my favorite Nat lines from this episode, but I'll just say all of them because its easier.

"Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien": This episode would get a 5 solely for introducing the phrase "Abraca-books!" to my vocabulary (I mean, I never say it, but I would in the appropriate situation.) Also from the library subplot, I really do want to start using Mort's line "I like three of the four levels it works on"- with no further elaboration- as a response to all sorts of things. Oh and the ga-ga plot is great too! Gene's speech about "everybody" liking something is great, we get some good Branca moments, and we get to see another side of Rudy- I mean, the Rudester- which I absolutely love. Sometimes I think fans just see Rudy too much as the sweet innocent bean because of his asthma and his family problems- but he's just a regular (sized) nine-year old, and it's fun to watch his success at the new popular game go to his head.

"Sleeping with the Frenemy": One of the series' funniest episodes, in my opinion. When Babs' sent me an ask for some of my favorite quotes from the series and I found the task of looking at all the characters and all the episodes too daunting, I provided a list of favorite Louise quotes from this episode. And it's not even a Louise centric episode! Also, Brett the BFOT is probably my favorite Tina's one-off love interests. Honestly, the bit where Tina (as Tammy) and Brett are sending each other weird/silly/dumb texts all night? That's one of my relationship goals right there. Just having someone who can play off your silly texts is one of the most wonderful things in the world, I think.

"Cheer Up, Sleepy Gene": One of the two episodes that moved from a 3 to a 4. I think I gave it a 3 initially because sometimes Alex and Gene's relationship bothers me just because it seems like it developed less naturally than some of the other ones I like. Like, Alex is very clearly introduced as "Hey, it's Gene's new friend!" and then when he's brought back it's as Gene's best friend. And almost all the episodes he is in focus on his and Gene's relationship- he doesn't just hang out occasionally like Rudy or the Pesto Twins or Tina's friends. But ya know what, all that said, I still like him and his dynamic with Gene! And this is a pretty fun episode. And I love the snoring subplot which gives two wonderful Linda moments- her "Aw, we're dying" after Louise's theory about their snoring, and her "The Americans" reference to being "a Russian agent, like Felicity".

"Boywatch": The other 3 that got moved up to a 4. I think my initial rating was because I didn't really care about Tina's relationship with all those one-off characters in the JGs. But, despite that, upon further review it is a pretty funny episode- I mean, it has both Gus ("Tina Belcher isn't a quitter." "But maybe she should be?") and Sgt. Bosco ("Um, it says Police on the back of your shirt.") - how can it not be funny?!

"As I Walk Through the Alley of the Shadow of Ramps": I'm so glad they told a story that addressed Louise still riding a tricycle as a 4th grader- I just remember that aspect of her character really puzzling me as soon as it was introduced. I never really questioned the ears (Hats are cool. Nuff said.) but Louise riding a tricycle as a nine year old seemed really weird. So, it was cool that they turned it into a story about her facing fear and insecurity- and then having her learn to ride a bike at the end, and keeping that change going forward. A great way to show her growing up in a way that really wouldn't effect future episodes that much (unlike, say, if she stopped wearing the ears.) Also, if you read my fics you know I love callbacks and I can't believe I haven't worked a reference to "I threw you a benefit" into one of my Roudise fics! I love the way she says that line.

"Mission Impos-slug-ble": I love the introduction of Burobu so much! Honestly, the names of the slugs are just a hoot- Sluggy Stardust! Slugsaphone! Other highlights: Frond dancing to groove is in the heart! Getting to see some of the Wagstaff staff's marTuesdays! "Yeah, they'll get constipated" "No"! "Did John Lithgow play John Larroquette in a movie once or was that just a dream?"! Louise randomly holding Rudy's hand when they are hiding in the teacher's lounge! (Er, sorry for the shippiness.) Also, this episode really made me realize how completely I can disassociate home/restaurant-set B plots from school-related A plots; I am genuinely surprised every time that it turns out that the B plot of this episode is Bob's Harry Pickle eulogy.

Random thoughts (stuff that doesn't affect the ratings):

-It's really funny that we get back to back episodes ("Y Tu Ga-Ga Tambien" and "The Secret Ceramic Room of Secrets") with flashbacks to Frond's time as a student at Wagstaff. Are those the only young Frond flashbacks we get in the whole series? Why were they so interested in it at that point of time? Were they trying to sell a "Young Frond" spinoff that didn't get picked up?!? (Probably not.)

-I like three of the four levels this season works on.

See you in Season 9, whoever is reading these!

[deanjohn]

♡ 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐡𝐧 (𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐨𝟑) 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ♡

1. praise you like i should

rating: E / word count: 2k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: John discovers that Dean has a praise kink.

Tags: established relationship, stanford era, praise kink, daddy kink, bottom dean, top john, aftercare

2. burnin’ for you

rating: M / word count: 1k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: Dean wants John to burn him with a cigarette while they’re in bed.

Tags: established relationship, stanford era, pain kink, pillow talk

3. hold me just like the morning paper

rating: E / word count: 6k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: Dean falls into a depression after Sam leaves. John finds a way to help him and it goes farther than he expects it to.

Tags: stanford era, case fic, getting together, first time, touch-starved, cuddling, oral sex, developing relationship, mutual pining, sharing a bed, huddling for warmth

4. choking on flowers

rating: E / word count: 7.5k / chapters: 2/2

Summary: John decides that Dean and him deserve a bit of a break from hunting after getting together. He reserves them 3 nights at a honeymoon motel.

Tags: established relationship, stanford era, marathon sex, pillow talk, choking, daddy kink, spanking, rimming, aftercare, breathplay, top john, bottom dean

5. in framing

rating: T / word count: 4.9k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: Dean's an adult now and thinks he can get away with sneaking out for a night. He's wrong.

Tags: child abuse, child neglect, physical abuse, pre-canon, pre-relationship, alcohol abuse, unresolved sexual tension, unhealthy coping mechanisms, character study

6. his

rating: E / word count: 4.6k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: “You grow up hearing the phrase daddy’s girl lobbied in your direction. Daddy’s, that part you can agree with. Yes, I’m his, you think to yourself. That part feels true.

Girl, that part not so much.”

Tags: pre-canon, trans male dean, transitioning, domestic, unplanned pregnancy, abortion, getting together, first kiss, first time, dead dove: do not eat, hurt/comfort, bittersweet ending, character study

7. made your bed, now lie in it

rating: M / word count: 3k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: John comes home from a hunt to find Dean sleeping in his bed. He can't help but join him.

Tags: pre-canon, mutual pining, sharing a bed, first kiss, hurt/comfort, tenderness, pillow talk, pre-relationship

8. catch you

rating: E / word count: 5k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: "He swallows hard before he says, “I want you to fuck me. Would you wanna do that?”

His heart is beating so hard he hardly hears himself over the sound as he replies, “Yeah, yes. Can I right now?” There’s the sound of his blood rushing in his ears, his mouth is dry in anticipation. It’s not a desire that he’s had before, not even a thought spared for it, but now he can’t think of anything he wants more. He visualizes his father laying out, ready for him, and he’s hard already."

Tags: established relationship, stanford era, bottom john, top dean, praise kink, cock worship, face-fucking, hair pulling, rimming, comeplay, tenderness, daddy kink

9. where the evening splits in half

rating: E / word count: 4.9k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: “Sam says, "I know how you felt about the man."

No, he doesn’t.

He doesn’t know that Dad was a pig. He has no idea how far down Dean was in the mud with him. How dirty they both were, how much Dad ruined him.

Sam doesn’t know how he hated him almost as much as he loved him, how he wanted him close always and yet wanted him to get the hell away from him at the same time. How disgusting their father was, how he was everything, how he longed for him and still does. How there is a secret part of him that is relieved he’s dead. How he would bring him back to life if he could and kiss him until his beard burned his skin, how he misses that familiar sting.”

Tags: episode: s02e02 everybody loves a clown, grief/mourning, childhood sexual abuse, dead dove: do not eat, character study

10. let’s pretend this song won’t end

rating: m / word count: 6.5k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: Dean asks John to teach him how to slow dance for Prom.

Tags: slow dancing, unresolved sexual tension, feelings realization, affection, first kiss, getting together

11. working for the knife

rating: e / word count: 5.3k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: After rescuing John from a hunt gone wrong, Dean can’t stop thinking about how he looked tied up.

Tags: stanford era, established relationship, rope bondage, knife play, consensual kink, submissive john winchester, oral sex

12. visitation

rating: e / words: 3.3k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: John surprises Sam with a visit at Stanford.

Tags: stanford era, implied/referenced alcohol abuse/alcoholism, implied/referenced child abuse, cheating (sorry jess), hurt/comfort, rough kissing, oral sex

13. pretty in pink

rating: e / words: 1.8k / chapters: 1/1

Summary: John sighs when he reaches him. “Look at you.” He reaches out and hooks a finger in the apron string where it's tight against his side. “My perfect little wife.”

Dean sucks in a sharp breath and John pulls him closer, loosening the apron enough so that he gets a peek at what’s underneath. He groans and kisses him, mumbles into his mouth, “Jesus. You kill me, baby.”

Wife. The word is the echo of a church bell in his mind, a dull and encompassing sound. He’s felt like one to him for as long as he can remember but it’s never been said. He thinks yes, I’m your wife. I am, I am, I am.

Tags: domestic, panty kink, breeding kink, rough sex, established relationship, stanford era

[dreamersscape]

Curiosity Killed the Cat: A Dreamersscape Story

Which doesn't seem quite fair, really, considering although I like cats a great deal, you still wouldn't call me a cat person.

Step #1: Love Kakashi Hatake far too much as a character.

Step #2: Scroll through his tumblr tag. Slowly start noticing that people often draw parallels between him and another character from the currently-running Jujutsu Kaisen manga and anime, Satoru Gojo.

Step #3: Think, "This is fine. It appears they're mostly just comparing their similar character designs and they both have unique things going on with their eyes. I'm not seeing anything that's really piquing my interest with this series; I'll just quickly look up if there's anything more to these comparisons beyond surface-level resemblances and that will be that."

Step #4: One of the next things you learn about Gojo is that a common clickbait-y way to frame discussion around parts of his personality is along the lines of, "Does Gojo have a God complex?"

Step #5: Think, "Ah, okay. That's likely an exaggeration, but probably Kakashi and Gojo can't be all that similar, or at least I likely wouldn't feel much the same about them as characters. Now I'm simply curious how far off Gojo actually is from having a God complex and then I'll be done."

Step #6: Did not back out of this rabbit hole at this juncture.

Step #7: Hard to recollect exactly the order of things from here, but learned that Gojo is the teacher for his own group of 3 fifteen-year-old students (and also previously taught older students since he's the head of first-year high school students at his very small school), learned back when Gojo was a student at this same school he had a very close friend who was instrumental in imbuing Gojo with his current moral principles and this friend is now dead, and learned that Gojo is the unequivocally strongest character within his universe's power system, and thus while he has a LOT of confidence in his own abilities and can be a bit cocky and a show-off, he definitely doesn't think of himself as godlike (anyone who's familiar with JJK and reading this--I'm aware of 'the honored one' thing, hang on a sec).

Step #8: Decide, "Alright then. Well, I am starting to get more intrigued by this series. Maybe I'll look up a little more about it and watch the first episode or two. It'll be fine. After all, I get now why people are reminded of Kakashi by Gojo and vice versa, but it certainly sounds like Gojo's personality is basically the opposite of someone who's convinced they're scum and is incredibly unassuming and humble and could honestly use a bit more self-worth so he at least possesses a modicum of self-preservation inclination. Gojo seems to have a lighthearted, goofy side that is partly used as a cover for his deeper emotions, and I might get attached to that based on other characters I've loved, but that still ought to be pretty safe. If I do wind up liking Gojo the most out of all the characters, there's no way he'll put me through the same heart-wrenching agony as seeing Kakashi being a paragon of strength of character and sheer goodness, while inwardly he can't see anything of value in himself."

The thing is, I wasn't wrong.

But clearly, I underestimated the pain I could still experience at the hands of a Kakashi-adjacent character.

(All I'm about to explain is completely non-spoilery, by the way. And by that I mean I'm not going to be ruining any major plot points or the "viewing experience" of watching the anime or reading the manga. Anything I reference that happens at any point beyond the first few chapters, I'll be as vague and opaque about it as possible, as well as very brief. And it will also all be basic background info/set up level stuff.)

Okay, so before I get to the real kicker, let's start with Gojo's dream.

In the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, the chakra equivalent is called cursed energy. However, cursed energy is not a life force. Cursed energy arises from people's negative emotions, and if the quantities of negative emotions emitted by the populace is large and concentrated enough, this creates cursed spirits of various sorts. For example, humanity's collective fear and pain experienced through natural disasters created a cursed spirit out of that resulting enormous amount of cursed energy. Cursed spirits usually aren't sentient, but almost unerringly they cause great harm and often death to humans. The number we're given at the start of the manga is around 10,000 unexplained deaths and missing persons per year in Japan are the result of curses.

Jujutsu sorcerers are the people who exorcize (or destroy, more like) cursed spirits to mitigate that as much as possible. They exorcize the curses with cursed energy-fueled techniques that are unique to each sorcerer. A sorcerer's innate cursed technique (CT) is said to comprise around 80% of their potential/talent as a fighter of curses. We're told that over the course of the last, I don't know, century or so (?) - the date at the start of the series is June 2018 - curse spirits have been increasing in strength and number. However, the incredibly rare combination of the Limitless cursed technique and the Six Eyes in-born trait Gojo was born with is so powerful that his birth alone swung the balance from being in the curses' favor back over to the side of the jujutsu sorcerers.

Details on Gojo's childhood are quite sparse, basically the only things we know about the Gojo family are it's one of the three big clans in jujutsu society and they're very wealthy. As far as I'm aware, Satoru is the only member of the clan we've ever met. So there's only supposition for what his home life was like up until he started at Jujutsu High, but we do know that because his possessing both the Six Eyes and Limitless was the first occurrence of such in 300-400 years, his existence was something of a spectacle and many sorcerers came to visit him just to see it for themselves, and too, he was the target of curse users (sorcerers who use jujutsu for evil and their own selfish gain) in pursuit of the over 100 million yen bounty placed on his head since he was very young.

It would be pretty reasonable to assume Gojo was subsequently rather sheltered and perhaps quite lonely as a child, but at the same time praised and lauded for how he was so naturally, prodigiously powerful. It only makes sense that Gojo has more than a little pride in his strength and puts so much stock in that. I'm sure he really enjoyed the attention and notoriety he received, and he never expresses resentment regarding any pressure that might have been put on him as a kid to be the infallible (future?) vanquisher of curses (although later I do think he places more and more pressure on himself to "take care" of everything and be responsible for the safety of everyone in the jujutsu world and beyond), and yet I do believe it's apparent he understands he didn't get to have a "normal" childhood. As a part of one of the big clans, he was surrounded and immersed in the political power plays and jockeying for prestige and influence by jujutsu society's elders/leaders/'higher ups' from the start (we don't know when or how it happened, but presumably because he's the strongest living Gojo, at the start of the story Satoru is the head of the clan), and these higher ups view Gojo in terms of how he can best be used for their own benefit. Outside of his high school best friend and later a few of his students, Gojo has very few people who have more than a cursory understanding of who he is as a person, who seem to want to know him, not the living embodiment of the title 'The Strongest', but just Satoru Gojo. Gojo likes being The Strongest, but when that's all everyone around him appears to care about, it leaves him feeling very isolated and alone.

As I mentioned before, though, Gojo never complains about this. He doesn't ever even imply "because I was treated this way, I want to prevent anyone else having to go through that." He does tell one of the people he's somewhat close to what his aim is and what the reason is behind it, but it's worded in a way where the person is confused by Gojo's explanation, and we as the reader can't even be sure he's referring to himself, since it could just as easily be in reference to his deceased friend.

It's informed by his experiences growing up certainly, but Gojo's fierce desire to give the kids he watches over the opportunity to fully and freely enjoy their youth is not about regretting what he missed out on; it's about what he can do for them, doing all he can to protect and preserve their childhood and making sure no one can take that away from them.

I realize I haven't exactly explained what precisely Gojo's 'dream' is and how it ties into all this, so I'll attempt to circle back to that now.

Jujutsu Kaisen begins with our main character, Yuji Itadori, accidentally stumbling his way into the jujutsu world by doing something very dangerous in order to be in what he thinks is a better position to help his friends out of a bad situation. He succeeds in helping his friends, but what he had to do to make that happen is an action that is punishable by death under jujutsu regulations. Naturally, Yuji was unaware of that, but it doesn't matter to the sorcerer higher ups. Gojo hears about the situation, intervenes, and is able to get the elders to suspend Yuji's execution for the time being. I'm glossing over a bunch of stuff but let's roll with that for now. While Gojo is explaining the whole situation to Yuji, the first thing he tells Yuji about the higher ups is that he thinks they're a bunch of cowards. And really, that's just the tip of the iceberg for how Gojo feels towards these leaders. He's not a fan of them by any stretch of the imagination. I said above Gojo never voices resentment directed at them over his lack of a carefree childhood, and that's true, however his dislike of the higher ups does seem to be partly personal. We just don't know the specifics other than that when he criticizes them (to their faces or a fellow colleague) he sticks to their wrongful actions on the whole, not how they've wronged him. A handful of episodes later, the higher ups pull something really awful and underhanded while Gojo is away on another mission, a scheme that is partially motivated by wanting to get back at Gojo for interfering with Yuji. Newly and deeply angered by this, Gojo delves further into the corruption at the top of the jujutsu world and then tells us about his dream:

A similar scene happens one year previous to this:

(Gojo doesn't use it anywhere near as frequently, but his saying 'what a pain' about many a situation still manages to give me Shikamaru feelings and I enjoy that.)

What stands out to me the most here is how much Gojo WANTS the students/his allies to be equal to or surpass him in strength. He's not at all concerned with keeping his position and accompanying power all to himself like the higher ups are. During one of the first chapters of the manga/show, to allay someone's uneasiness over potential danger, Gojo tells them, "Don't worry, I'm the strongest." It's only later that we learn when he was much younger he was originally quite happy to say, "Anyway, it should be okay. We're the strongest." I really think he would like nothing better than to be able to say that once again.

In an unusual turn of events for me, when I caught up to the JJK manga a few months ago, I actually had pretty good timing with what was currently going on, but now the story is starting to enter into its final stages and it seems like a lot of people in the fandom feel the narrative is very possibly leading to Gojo's death in some way that will better enable this brighter, less corrupt future for the jujutsu world and his students that he's been working towards this entire time. I don't think that would be a bad outcome, I'm not against noble sacrifices entirely, but I really, really, really don't want to see this happen. And here's where my unexpected Kakashi-adjacent feelings come into play. The reasons for why I'm so invested in seeing both Kakashi and Gojo live to be a part of the better world they helped create are pretty different. Yet, they're also not miles apart. I don't think Gojo has as many doubts as Kakashi that he has a place in the future of which he dreams, but from what I can tell his main focus is on that future existing for everyone else. Maybe he believes that is his purpose as The Strongest? Probably he does have every intention of being there with his fellows. I just want that for him so very much. For the few glimpses of kid!Gojo we got, who always looked so solemn; for the teenage Gojo with the biggest, goofiest smiles, who had so much connection ripped away prematurely; for Gojo the teacher, who works so hard to make every kid feel welcome and excited and to know they aren't alone. I'm aware of the kind of story I'm reading--Jujutsu Kaisen is unrelentingly brutal to its characters. It's a matter of course to have your heart mercilessly stomped on over and over reading JJK. It's not the sort of story where you can reasonably expect a happy ending. Unfortunately, I'm much too optimistic of a person for this manga and I'm far too attached to the story and characters and I'm in way, way too deep.

But let's ignore all that for now and get to the Kakashi-adjacent part of Gojo which clobbered me over the head with feels even worse than what I've already detailed!

@panharmonium, when you've reached this part of the post, I can't really guess what you're thinking about it all, but what if I told you that one of Gojo's students, Megumi Fushiguro, the Sasuke-adjacent one, was, along with his one-year-older step-sister Tsumiki, quasi-adopted/looked after/raised by Gojo from the time Megumi was six/in first grade and Gojo was just nineteen? By blood, Megumi is actually a member of the Zen'in clan, another of the three major clans in jujutsu society. Gojo, fresh out of high school and still newly, painfully estranged from his best friend, hears by chance that Megumi, who's on his own at this time apart from Tsumiki (also parentless), is about to be sold to the Zen'in because of the cursed technique he's just manifested, and although it has nothing to do with him, Gojo goes to Megumi and asks him if he wants to go live with the Zen'in. Upon learning if he chooses this, Tsumiki will be very unhappy (the Zen'in clan cares nothing for her and they are by-and-large super blatantly misogynistic), Megumi says no and Gojo's like, "Cool, that's great! I'll take care of everything and I'll make sure you two have everything you need. I want you to grow up strong!" And then there's a moment in the manga, where present-day Gojo is taking a nap and dreams of this first meeting between himself and Megumi and when he wakes up to his three students coming to see him he does this:

AND THE SECOND SEASON OF THE ANIME JUST STARTED AIRING A FEW WEEKS AGO AND THAT MEANS I'LL BE ABLE TO SEE THIS MOMENT ANIMATED POSSIBLY AS SOON AS AUGUST 3RD (DUB PROBABLY AUGUST 17TH) AND I'M GONNA DIE. HE LOVES THAT KID SO MUCH!!!!!

So obviously that's super sweet and all, but maybe you're thinking, "Okay, that's nice, but do they really have that Kakashi 'n' Sasuke vibe?" and to that I say, "CHECK OUT THIS SHORT VIDEO AND THEN HOPEFULLY I CAN REST MY CASE."

Also, it is now my most important goal in life to draw a Kakashi & Sasuke version of these panels so I can dedicate it to you (and padmerrie if she wants in on this):

Of course, I'm not saying Sasuke and Megumi are carbon copies of each other (or Kakashi and Gojo for that matter, as I've tried to delineate above). Megumi has a bit of a grumpy disposition, but he's also very polite; he always calls Gojo "Gojo-sensei" and he uses "-senpai" for all the upperclassmen (who he met previously to becoming a student at Jujutsu High). Megumi is the dog guy in JJK and Gojo's more reminiscent of a cat in some respects. Etc., etc., etc. But in general, I really hope you see the vision!

While I'm at it, I might as well show you the little Gojo & Yuji video that naturally gives me all the Kakashi & Naruto feelings:

Yuji's already got the jubilantly-tackle-hug-your-sensei part down! (Although, of course, Gojo's much less resistant.🥰)

It is admittedly much more of a stretch to say Nobara is Sakura-adjacent, but I have seen someone describe her as a 'gremlin child' and I love that about her! <3

Anyway, I totally get if none of this is up your alley for whatever reason or you don't have the time to get into JJK if this happens to persuade you or if you just want to prioritize other stuff right now. *I* didn't mean to get into it, after all! The plan for my looking into JJK was to be purely for enhancing my love for Kakashi, and I failed spectacularly at limiting myself to that. I just thought I would share to see if it would be a fun read for you. :)

[felesrubrum]

im gonna roughly liveblog my thoughts on The Owl House i think because i don't want to watch the whole show and forget it!!!

ep1 - A Lying Witch and a Warden I liked it! Intriguing sense of world building and scale. I like Eda. I had a few moments of "why the FUCK does she sound so familiar" and it's bc she's Chichi from The Emperor's New Groove. I loved the 180 on King's crown, that was very cute. I also like Luz' attitude, even if she feels very Main Character. I really like the dynamic between all the characters.

ep2 - Witches before Wizards Cute! I love how Eda stuck up for Luz even though she technically doesn't like her (or acts like it). If I was in Luz' shoes I absolutely would not have fallen for that. ... ..... ....... unless I was between the ages of 5-17. Then I absolutely would have.

ep 3 - I Was A Teenage Abomination I really liked this one. I love Luz's dynamics with willow. I really understand Willow's attempts to force herself into a school of magic she doesn't jive with. (speaking as someone who went to uni for robotics... when i was always an artist :P) I like Amity as well. I already know about .. Amiluz? Lamity? But it's great to see how they started. Also lol at Luz getting banned from school.

ep 4 - The Intruder Ooo, classic stay-at-home episode. This one was fun and surprisingly thrilling. The animation of the intruder lurching around the corner after King was so good, the whole chase scene was very animated. I definitely called that it was Eda. I wonder how she got that way. I wonder who the person in her dream is. It was also so cute to see how Luz deals with magic and how she found her own way. I wonder how she's going to learn more spells if she needs to know the symbol that witches seem to instinctively know.

ep 5 - Covention This one was interesting. Why would you want to join a coven only to seal away all other forms of your magic? Given that, I totally understand the appeal of the Emperor's Coven. I also loved the reveal of Lilith. I think she may be the one who cursed Eda. I also wonder why the Emperor's Coven wants Eda specifically. It must be separate from her curse. Current theory is Lilith cursed Eda bc Eda was more powerful than her. I also really liked the interactions with Luz and Amity. Boy howdy, as an immigrant do I ever understand how hard fitting in is in a new community when you don't know the social structures or even any of the social norms.

ep 6 - Hooty's Moving Hassle Very cute. Standard rebel plot. I love that they accidentally animated the whole house. Makes me wonder if Willow is actually much, MUCH stronger than most other witches or whether Luz has some innate incredibly powerful magic. I don't think it's Gus but specifically I don't think he's the type of character who has a slumbering power type of deal. Also, love the episode title. I like Eda's side-plot as well. I respect forgetting to refill your meds till the absolute last second.

ep 7 - Lost in Language Okay i REALLY liked this one. My favorite so far. I love the dynamic between Amity's siblings and Luz. I also really like that Luz has this strong sense of justice (even if she's easily won over, like in ep 6). I love the little laugh Amity had toward the end. And I also really like the fact that Amity feels like a rounded character. I bet she very much plays up this snobby brat when she's at school bc she's the Emp Coven's protege.

ep 8 - Once Upon A Swap This one was also fun. Felt like a bit of a filler episode but seeing Luz deal with having basically unlimited magical power was fun.

ep 9 - Something Ventured Someone Framed I liked this one as well. Further cements my idea that Gus isn't some sleeper agent type character. I did like the 'human appreciation' thing, and the rivalry between Gus and the new kid. Didn't really like the faux apology but it does very much track. I'm also so proud of Eda for getting over her anger at the school and The Man so that she worked really hard to get Luz accepted into the school. Can't wait to see what Luz can learn there.