#i think that izzy is simply a better choice for red and it means sparing us from redmelia

[morninkim]

one day (when i finally make that cosmic fury rewrite video) you will understand

[bytheangell]

If Yesterday’s Too Heavy, Put It Down (3/5)

(Read on AO3)

Magnus can’t help but think back to the last time he thought he had forever - a proper, eternal forever - with someone. He thinks back to a red gemstone necklace, to a vampire he gave his heart to forever, only to have ‘forever’ last less time than some of his relationships with mortals. He knows better than to be naive enough to allow himself to believe that he and Alec will actually be together for a proper forever. However, the idea of having more than a handful of decades with Alec is more than he ever imagined he’d have and he’s grateful for the possibility of them.

For what it’s worth, Alec truly seems to believe the words he says. Magnus knows that he can’t possibly grasp the idea of what living forever will actually entail, what that sort of burden and the losses that come with it will truly feel like over time, but he seems to have given it more consideration than Magnus first thought. Selfishly, he’s glad that Alec wants it. Magnus wants it for them, more than he’d ever admit given the normal alternatives to obtaining it. He hates that the choice was taken from them, away from Alec, but in a way, it makes the situation easier. He won’t have to tell his family and friends that he chose a life that would go on long after they’re dead, he’ll at least be spared that particular hardship, even if it’s a choice he would’ve made willingly.

And, just as selfishly, should things go sour between them then Magnus doesn’t have to live with the burden that it was a choice Alec made for him should he come to regret it.

That isn’t to say they’re just accepting it and moving on. As promised, Magnus gets permission to inform Catarina so that she can perform an extensive series of exams on both him and Underhill to make sure there aren’t any side-effects that Isabelle’s normal medical tests may have missed. Andrew agrees, again on the terms that Catarina does not say anything to anyone else, especially not to Lorenzo.

In fact, that seems to be the only part of this Underhill cares about, given the first words out of his mouth when he comes over to Magnus’ loft to meet with himself, Alexander, and Catarina.

“I just wanted to thank you for keeping this between us,” Underhill says.

“Of course,” Magnus says, but he frowns. “Just for now,” Magnus emphasizes. “Right?”

Underhill shifts uncomfortably and Magnus takes this opportunity while Alec is off chatting to Cat about something to have a bit of a heart-to-heart with the Shadowhunter he doesn’t know all that well.

“Listen, I know it isn’t… ideal. But he deserves to know, too. Especially if you two are-”

“That’s the thing,” Underhill cuts him off. “We’re seeing each other, yeah. And it’s good. Like, surprisingly good. But he hasn’t even said he loves me yet,” Underhill sighs. “I mean, I haven’t said it yet either, but that’s the whole point. We aren’t there yet, I can’t just go and drop immortality on him.”

“Can’t you?” Magnus counters, his tone kind. He isn’t trying to judge Underhill for his fear or rush the decision, he just wants to make sure that Underhill is thinking this through properly. “Don’t you think this might be something that’d be better to develop your relationship around the knowledge of, rather than lying about it?”

Underhill pales, his hands tensing into fists at his side for a moment. “I’m not… I’m not lying. I just haven’t told him yet. I’m sure there are plenty of things about him that I should know that he hasn’t told me yet. It’s… like that.”

At least he didn’t say ‘it’s the same’, Magnus thinks. While Underhill has a point, he’s positive there are plenty of things that Lorenzo is keeping from the Shadowhunter, a few centuries’ worth, most likely, he doesn’t think it’s quite the same.

Mangus begins to wonder if this is really a conversation he wants to be having. He doesn’t owe any sort of personal friendship allegiance to Underhill or Rey to be taking sides, but he does have a personal sense of right and wrong, and keeping this from Rey feels wrong.

Cat and Alec are making their way over and Mangus can only take a deep breath and nod, cutting their conversation short. “For what it’s worth, I think you should tell him. And sooner, rather than later. But I won’t take that decision from you-” Magnus adds quickly when Underhill immediately opens his mouth to speak again. “-so no need to worry about that on top of everything else.”

“Thank you. Again,” Underhill says. “I’ll think about what you said.”

Alec gives them a strange look but doesn’t ask, trusting Magnus to fill him in later if it’s important.

At the end of three hours full of Catarina pulling out all the healing and medical magic she can think of, they can at least say that Alec and Underhill appear to be fine, all things considered. In very simplified terms, the curse simply stopped their cells from aging and deteriorating - their hair and nails will still grow, they may gain and lose weight, but they’re no longer aging. Outside of that change, they’re still fully human, fully Shadowhunters, with nothing tarnishing their Nephilim blood or abilities.

All in all, it could certainly be worse. Magnus wonders if the demon meant to do more harm than it did, or if it simply understood the true weight of an immortal existence.

“You’re still going to look into a counter, right?” Underhill asks on his way out.

“Of course,” Cat promises, and Magnus feels for him. Alec took the news surprisingly well but Underhill is reacting in much the way Magnus would anticipate someone to react when faced with the news that they’re suddenly immortal: afraid, uncertain, upset.

And they do look for a counter to the curse, of course they do. Magnus would like to have it as an option for Alexander as well, just in case, and so Magnus and Catarina make several appointments with old friends who might be more knowledgeable on the subject as well as trips to the Spiral Labyrinth to look into some of the texts there.

They look for days, which turn into weeks, which turn into months. As their search draws out, the time they have to devote to the cause grows more sparse - there are always new problems cropping up in the Shadow World, after all, and it isn’t as if this is public knowledge they can cite for putting other tasks off.

He and Alexander have a number of serious discussions on the matter, with Magnus doing his best to ease Alec into the less pleasant aspects of the future he now faces. Alec tells Jace, because of course he can’t keep this from his parabatai, but that’s it.

Magnus does his best to be supportive and not try and step in too often. When Alec doesn’t tell his parents, or Max, or anyone else, Magnus can only reassure him that he’ll be there when he’s ready. Alec decides to wait until Andrew’s ready to tell Lorenzo before he spreads the word too far... but of course, that’s at the beginning. The longer Andrew keeps his own secret, the more difficult Magnus can tell it is for Alec to do the same.

“You can tell them if you want,” Magnus reminds him one night, watching the way Alec fiddles with the cell phone in his hands after hanging up from a call with his mom. “You don’t have to wait.”

Alec shakes his head. “No. I just want to give Andrew a little more time… I can barely keep Jace and Izzy quiet about it, you know once my parents find out the entire Clave will know by dinner.”

Magnus tried to push the issue a few times before but doesn’t anymore. As much as telling Lorenzo is Underhill’s decision, telling his parents is Alec’s - Magnus might strongly believe that sooner is better for both of them but he has to remind himself that it isn’t his call to make. If Alec wants to wait for Underhill, that’s his decision. However, Magnus starts to wonder if Alec might be using waiting for Underhill as an excuse to push off talking to his parents because he isn’t sure how to break the news to them.

It’s only a matter of time, Magnus knows... but that time stretches on longer and longer with no change. There’s no cure to be found, nothing new in Catarina’s medical examinations, and no changes in Underhill’s reluctance to talk to Lorenzo. Magnus asks him occasionally, always hoping that the answer will be different, but it never is. What he does discover is that Andrew is very, very much in love with the warlock. Magnus assumes this will make the decision to tell him about the curse easier, but apparently he’s wrong.

“Don’t you get it?” Underhill tells Magnus one of the times he checks in with him. “If I tell him now it’ll feel like I’m manipulating him into staying with me. I don’t want that. I want him to want to stay on his own, not out of guilt.”

“I doubt Lorenzo will do anything he doesn’t want to do,” Magnus says, with a hint of a well-meant jab at Lorenzo’s typically self-serving nature. He half-expects Andrew to take offense to the implication.

Instead, the Shadowhunter gives Magnus a small smile. “You don’t know him like I do,” Underhill says simply.

“Do you know him well enough to trust that he’d be honest with you, for better or worse, after you tell him what happened?” Magnus suggests. By now there’s no denying what he thinks Underhill should do, his words and questions obviously biased towards that result.

Andrew considers it for a second, then frowns. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I hope he would… I’d like to think he would, but I’m not positive. I just want to be sure before I do something I can’t take back.”

Okay, perhaps Magnus can get that on some level, even if he doesn’t completely agree with it. It isn’t the decision he’d make but it also isn’t his decision to make, as much as he and Alec try to sway Underhill into seeing things from their perspective. They’ve been down this road before, after all - more than once, with mistakes made on both their parts enough to know it’s a bad idea all around.

Magnus decides to offer one last bit of advice before Andrew leaves. “Everyone thinks they’re better at hiding secrets than they are; it’s only a matter of time before he finds out something’s up. Trust me when I say you want him to hear it from you.”

---

Magnus doesn’t talk to Andrew much after that - really, he’s said all he can to help and the rest is up to him to come to terms with.

Nearly six months after that fateful off-the-record mission there’s a knock at his door, and Magnus opens it to find himself face-to-face with a rather distressed looking Lorenzo Rey.

“Bane,” Lorenzo says by way of a greeting. “I don’t suppose you have a moment to talk?”

The request catches Magnus off guard. They don’t hate one another by any means, they’re actually quite friendly these days in professional settings, but it isn’t like Lorenzo to simply drop by unannounced for a little chat. Magnus certainly doesn’t expect the next words that come out of Lorenzo’s mouth.

“I could use your advice.”

[darkarfs]

My 10 Favorite WWE Matches of All Time (updated)

10: The 2001 Royal Rumble No matter how daft and stupid the product gets, I will never not stoke my head in around January. The Royal Rumble is my favorite match, but this one is my favorite favorite instance of that match. The pacing, the beautiful endurance of Kane, the hardcore interval (which Kane just decides to destroy), the Big Show returning after 4 months just to get shit-canned a minute into his run. There is so much to love about this mess. The preview of Rock and Austin that year for their Wrestlemania showdown. The fact that 4 or 5 of them (Rock, Austin, Kane, Undertaker, even Rikishi) could have been main event contenders. The best midcard in WWE history. Scotty 2 Hotty having the worst night of his life. Drew Carey just showing up. Bradshaw just cliffing everyone, because he's gotta get his shit in. Good Rumbles are like a 3 course meal, and this one is like all your courses at once, and then dessert is a treat you could die on. 9. Tyler Bate vs. WALTER - Takeover Cardiff Crowds make a lot of matches for me (thanks, 2020) but this crowd is especially electric, and for 24-year-old Tyler Bate, who is taking on a TANK, and that tank's name is WALTER, a TANK. But I will never not be a sucker for a David vs. Goliath story, and it was never better told than the boy made of thighs vs. the destroyer made of shattering palms. It is SO CARNY, so many feats of strength, so many OOOOOFS AND UUUUUURGHS that make this so great. Tyler was a hero on this night, but everyone knew he wasn't ready to win. Every feat is a magnificent reach. And it all means something to everyone. Make them what they know SHOULD happen and still surprise them with it. His "refusing to quit!" only to get shut down by a fucking chop. HE STANDS but is immediately ruined. It makes me. This shit fucking makes me. 8. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley, 30-Minute Iron Woman Match - Takeover Respect Most of this is just a remix of their epic and warranted classic in Brooklyn. but then Sasha takes the headband off of Izzy. And then they both stepped it up and were *amazing*. We somehow lost Bayley's "RAAAAAH'S and that's sad for me. But then they RAMP IT UP. NOBODY LIKES YOU. FUCK YOU. WE'RE HAPPIER NOW. (WE'RE NOT.) But seriously, Sasha taking Izzy's headband and then THROWING IT AT HER started something special, something grand. THE OUTRAGE. The bastion of heel heat. And then the match got better. They hugged at the end of their encounter in Brooklyn, but then they started poisoning one another. And it all started with this amazing match. (Also, Bayley's amazing red and gold robot tights.) 7. Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels, Wrestlemania 21 Listen. HBK's 'Mania outings with the Undertaker are solid "match of the decade" contenders, piss-easy. They are peerless, they are in a league of their own. But saying they're your favorite? Unless you are an actual wrestler, that's like saying "UH, MY FAVE BAND IS THE BEATLES." Ya boring, ya basic, and we can all do better. And seeing how I'm in my late 30s, I understand wrestling a little different than I did when I made this list in...2016??? Christ. I bet AJ Styles vs. John Cena was on it that year. Two of the best performers, both in their prime, and looking back on it, I just prefer the mix of character dynamics at play. Angle is easily one of the best in the world, but he has such an inferiority complex, because he's an Olympic gold medalist who is told *nightly* that he sucks, and he CAN'T best Michaels. He keeps coming back, and he's so charming, so effortlessly good at this whole "wrestling" thing, and it's slowly making Angle, who SHOULD be all of those things, absolutely *spare.* And that informs so many spots and story moments in the match itself, specifically when Angle LOSES it and starts shouting at him, only to have a superkick partied under his face. Angle is one of the best ever because his wrestling acumen served his character, never once defined it. 6. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon, Wrestlemania 17 I haven't gone back to watch the whole of Vince vs. Shane THAT many times. What I have done is watch the finish about 65 times. There is something so addictive and magical about that one pop, when Linda stands up from her chair, and the ENTIRE crowd stands with her. And I'll 100% agree that Vince's comeuppance - one slap, one hoof to the balls, a Mandible Claw and a Coast-To-Coast dropkick - is not NEAR the actual comeuppance he should have gotten for some of the deplorable shit his character got up to from around the Rumble to this match (two of which they've done their very best to scrub from history, they're THAT bad.) But it's the purest example I can think of, of that pantomime aspect of wrestling. Vince McMahon is a deranged bastard. He likes dumb, cruel, crude things, but his commitment to being the world's 2nd-worst lizard man makes some of the stuff that happens to him more richly rewarding than almost any retribution in any medium, ever. The final 4 minutes of that match, the crowd is a fireworks display. They rise, they explode, they rise and explode, over and over. And again, shoutout to my boy 2020 for making me miss a crowd THAT big having THAT good a time. 5. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano - 2 out of 3 falls - TakeOver New York Now look, I'm not saying that NXT is essentially perfect for me, in terms for what I look for in wrestling. What I will say is that when it cooks, it combines the very best of indie stamina, choreography and stunt work with something WWE sometimes gets VERY right, and that is unabashed, unironic emotion. And it's not even that the intimacy of NXT being a smaller promotion has a denser, more specifically passionate fanbase. It's just the fact that NXT understands that so often, nuance and drama in wrestling doesn't come from promos, or swerves, or endless escalations of said drama, but from getting the FUCK out of the way and letting two of the best in the world *wrestle.* NXT is so good for providing context for the acts of jealousy, pride and entitlement, and then laying out a match that touches on all of these emotions throughout. This main event, built in two weeks, after a terribly-timed Ciampa injury, is actually VERRRY clever booking...disguised to look really simple. Cole starts the match as the crowd favorite, because he's the cool tweener everyone likes (with a catchphrase) to Gargano's unironic Disney prince. Over the course of Cole going all out, making subtle references to Johnny's feud with Ciampa, Gargano fighting from underneath, total fuck-off bastardry from the Undisputed Era (making poor Mauro Ranallo yell "YOU SNAKES!!") Maybe Cole WAS the better choice, but by the end of it, you didn't care. On that night, Johnny refused to lose, and the constant, exciting, *involving* wrestling dragged you to that emotional place. Damn right, you deserve it. 4. CM Punk vs. John Cena, Money In the Bank 2011 It might be a simple choice, but also, sometimes, it's really really gratifying to see a crowd who wants something get what they fucking want for once. A hot crowd makes a good match great, and a great match THIS. A crowd united, either for one guy, and against another, and in this case, BOTH. It makes every. Move. Matter. Trying to find a new angle on this match is like trying to find a new way to say fire is warm. And this crowd created a CAUSE. The no-sold pinfall, the attempted rehash of the Screwjob. Point out the botches if you must. The angle, the promo...it got my friends back into wrestling, a reason to care until the Shield. It's not the best, but it deserves to be. There is no wrestling crowd I wish I was more a part of. And I was at King of the Ring 1998. 3. Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar, 60-Minute Iron Man match, Smackdown of September 18, 2003 It MAYBE was a bit of a "hipster" choice to name this my number 1 in 2016. But you know what? Bloody holds up. Two performers who feel "destined to do this forever," like a Triple H/Shawn Michaels, or a Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn. Possessed of freakish physical charisma, could go for days if pressed. Brock Lesnar, literally at the time ONE OF THE BEST ATHLETES in the WORLD being a lazy fucker and taking DQ points, laying the foundation of what Brock Lesnar would come to be known as. And Angle, in that rare position of everyone knowing he's the best thing going. Brilliant Lazy Asshole Brock and Certified Wrestling Machine Angle are two of my unironic favorite characters in all of wrestling, and it's a buffet of THAT. Like a Royal Rumble, only it's just two dudes, being the best they've ever been. 2. DIY vs. the Revival - 2 out of 3 falls - TakeOver Toronto "Tag team wrestling?" says main roster WWE. "What is this...tag team wrestling?" Well, this is it, at its absolute best. It's up there with Rey Mysterio and Edge vs. Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle from No Mercy 2002 for just brilliant, rock-solid tag team psychology. There are more story opportunities when there are more rules to break, how can WWE *not get behind that?* In terms of chemistry, both between opponents and between teams, in terms of callbacks like Johnny muscling through the exact same inverted figure four that lost them the belts in Brooklyn. It is a perfect match. Not an ounce of fat on it. And that closing sequence, of each member of DIY locking the Revival in their signature holds, and the men now known as FTR clinging to one another. It's probably the best tag match in the history of the WWE, and considering the caliber of tag matches on TakeOvers, is FUCKING saying something. 1. Daniel Bryan vs. Brock Lesnar, Survivor Series 2018 This match is everything I always hoped for. For the longest time, after the 2015 Royal Rumble debacle, when Reigns won, when simply everything we knew about storytelling said "no, of course it should be Bryan," I wondered what that 'Mania match would look like. If it were anything like this, I would have died a happy man. But then again, what makes this match so GOOD is that Bryan had just come back from an early retirement caused by head and neck surgery, and here he is, being dropped on his head and neck by Brock Fucking Lesnar, aka what would happen if the concept of "not giving a shit" gained corporeal form and starting shilling for Jimmy John's. The match gets really ugly, really fast, and Bryan takes us to uncomfortable places with his selling. It wasn't just the retirement angle, it was also the fact that Brock had turned out some REALLY lazy shit by that point in his career, so we had all mentally prepared for another finish-spamming early night. And then. AND THEN... Bryan hoofs him in the walnuts, hits the running knee, gives us the absolute closest 2-count of the decade, and then the fight is fucking on. Bryan went, over the course of 2 minutes, from never having a chance against Brock Lesnar to it being an *absolute certainty* that he was going to BEAT BROCK LESNAR. Anytime you visibly leave your seat every few seconds during a match, you know it's a special one. Again, it took me away, had me absolutely *screaming* at my monitor, elated, invested, and I don't know what more your favorite match can ask of you. But what happens when your favorite match isn't a match at all? No. 0: The Firefly Funhouse - Wrestlemania 36 I'm not kidding, it actually might be my favorite thing. It could be just my brain latching onto the Cult of the New, but I don't think so. It's not a match, I get it. It exists in a weird null-void outside of time and space, but mostly I am floored that they would broadcast something so virulently anti-WWE. Like, we talk of CM Punk and how WWE let him get away with all his little jokes and cut his little Pipebomb promo. But then WWE signed off on Bray Wyatt tearing the soul out of their business. Burying the biggest star of this generation, skewering and laying bare all of terrible WWE's terrible priorities, and also celebrating insider knowledge, wrestling history, and I just...love it. Right now, it's my favorite thing WWE have ever put out, because it did something they've never done before, told a story I didn't think they were capable of telling. And sure, it was Bray who told it, but I still can't believe it aired. But I am endlessly thankful that it did.