#i warned yall i would be on here shouting my thoughts into the abyss

[bensonnstabler]

okay so i came across a buzzfeed article from like three years ago about tv couples that never got together but who fans wanted to which had the audacity to leave out elliot and olivia. thankfully one of the top comments underneath made buzzfeed’s pop-culture faux par very clear and it soothed my soul briefly. BRIEFLY.

(if this was a podcast i'd insert at this point that abby lee miller audio about who i assume was kathy from candy apples disturbing the peace. yes the irony is sending me)

one person, however, decided to comment the following

“Um, no. And it's gross that fans think they've been pining away for each other even though he was married to Kathy. And just because Kathy is dead now I don't think Olivia would be that disrespectful to his kids.”

and since it was over three years ago and i cbf making a buzzfeed account thought i’d subject y’all to my reply

firstly, calling any harmless fandom opinion “gross” is what is truly gross here. did i vomit in my mouth a little when i saw one of the entries being barney and lily from himym? yes. do i think the people who do ship those two are gross? absolutely not. i thought we left ship-shaming in the TLJC and destiel cesspools tyvm.

secondly, i am the first in line to get mad at the fact kathy just straight up died. it’s a waste of a perfectly good character (letter notwithstanding) and sends the message once again female characters on primetime are ten times more dispensable than their male counterparts. also i'm willing to give partial credit for it being said that it would be ooc for olivia to want to get together and that it brings up relevant issues of elliot never truly “choosing” olivia. but they have imo jumped over that hurdle (and some) and after an actual decent conversation i think with the way liv is now (can we hear a little commotion for the boundaries chat in the trial of richard wheatly ep) it would be perfectly within her arc to allow herself to fall romantically for elliot.

am i concerned that its dragged on too long? yes

am i fucking frustrated at the lack of momentum from s23 to s24? also yes

but i think we need to accept that what we have is a product of circumstance. both good (extensive evidence of one of the most chemistry-laden tv partnerships on and off-screen) and bad (CM leaving suddenly and WL jumping in to reinvent the wheel with so much force it might as well have been that scene from Cars)

with the latter we were always going to get the bare minimum of stabler references. under different creative influences yet the same chris circumstance – i totally think there could have been some like “he’s deep UC” or “last i heard he’s in rome and unable to communicate” moments which would have made the no contact one hundred percent more digestible

which puts me back on my kathy bs; i am wholeheartedly on team  “they should have split up in rome and had to come back to NYC at the same time” or at least team “if you must kill her off at least have them separate them first". thus either way, i guarantee we still would have gotten the same grief dynamics and the initial (and current - let’s be honest) hesitancy we did in ROTPS (...and almost every moment thereafter)

TLDR; lets all be friends but if eo doesn't become canon i will sue

[xenia-cenia]

Zhongli x Fem!Reader - Free Fall

A/N-rip to the 2 lumine x reader fics rotting in my drafts. you will be missed. can yall tell i was struggling for ideas for this? only xingqiu left tho thats neat

Trigger/Content Warnings: SPOILERS, gambling, death mention

Word Count: 910 words

Request: No

Summary: ahh immortality scary idk

Your legs shook as you peered into the abyss, you considered your options - go back or fall - and took a deep breath as the obvious answer stared you in the face. 

The crinkled paper in your hands was far too important to lose. Even if they needed to peel it off your corpse, it didn’t matter. As long as he...

A lump got stuck in your throat as you remembered Him. Shouts from down the hall drew you from your thoughts. With a quick breath, you stepped off the ledge.

As you fell you tried to remember how you got here. When did this all begin? 1 week? 2 weeks ago? All the memories were blurring together. For a moment, barely a moment, you considered the sense of peace you felt.

It wasn’t quiet, it wasn’t nice, but it was peaceful nonetheless. You could almost imagine his hands wrapping around your waist as he whispered sweet promises into your ear.

The further you fell, the more memories came back.

Like 3 months ago when you gambled more Mora than you had. How your winning streak was ended abruptly by one bad hand. You only ended up paying the winner with secrets - and the Archons knew you had no shortage of secrets.

You spoke with a hushed voice as you spilled stories of the Archon war - stories that only one who was present could tell - and how the gods were hardly deities of the people.

10 seconds you had been falling. You were beginning to wonder how far this went and how it’d feel when you hit the ground. Would you simply get up? Would the curse of immortality stand strong? Or is death simply inevitable? 

With a shaky smile, you recalled 4 weeks ago. How you could recognize the power of Rex Lapis from the mere funeral consultant - you were there to meet with the director about a new job opening. The man had looked at you with knowing eyes and an apologetic smile, he was quick to offer cold tea and stories of the nation you once knew.

Try as you might, you never could seem to hate him. Was it simply because you were lonely? That you wanted to meet someone just like you once again? To converse with a god about the tragedy that followed them? 

Honestly, you weren’t sure why you stuck around him. He was infuriating, long-winded, and aloof. Yet, you were stuck to his side like glue. 

20 seconds now. How much further? You began to wonder how death would feel like. Is it considerate and caring? Would it caress your cheek with a cool palm as it lifted your soul from your body? No, you knew that was wrong. You’d seen so much death you knew how cruel the bastard was. You could only pray it’d take pity on an old friend.

An old friend... you realized where your first mistake lied. 5,000 years ago you took a life in order to save another and were noticed by the gods. You recalled the feeling of power surging your veins as you fell to your knees and sobbed. 

How were you supposed to know it would lead to this? How could you of seen fates wings tied to your back? 

You forced your eyes open and gasped in fear as you looked into fates eyes.

A splash, a scream, and the sound of metal slicing water. 

Zhongli stood at the bottom of the canyon, his polearm stuck into the water you plunged into hoping he’d feel you grab onto it. Panic tore through his body as he waited for you to come back to him. 

A rough pull made Zhongli stumble forward, he held his ground and pulled his polearm out of the water with you holding onto the metal. You were sopping wet as you crawled out of the water and coughed your lungs out, your body shaking as Zhongli kneeled as he gave you his coat. 

“What happened?” He asked softly.

“I found out...” you took deep breaths, “I found the abyss orders plans.” You began to relay the information on the now ruined paper but Zhongli stopped you.

“No, I don’t care about that. What happened to you?” 

You pushed your wet hair out of your face and looked at him with knitted eyebrows, “I jumped? I mean, c’mon, I was at least 90% sure my curse would save me. Why were you down here?” You gestured around.

“You didn’t meet up where we agreed, I snuck in and saw you falling.”

With a harsh laugh, you shook your head, “Well, we ended up meeting up. All's well that ends well.”

Zhongli blinked and stood up quickly, “We should leave.”

“I- okay.”

Softly, Zhongli helped you stand and led you of the Abyss. As the two of you walked back to the safety of Liyue Harbor he caught himself reminiscing about a time long forgotten. 

Though he knew it to be selfish, he was quite happy you were here with him. His hand outstretched and met yours. It was so natural, he hadn’t even realized it was happening until your hand squeezed his. He looked into your eyes and sighed. 

“Thank you for staying with me.”

You laughed, “Thank you for making this whole cursed thing a little bit better.”

Zhongli smiled and without another word spoken, you knew that meant ‘I love you too.’