#i wish a LOT of good luck for people who are expecting s2 about a clear cut bad vs good

[crazykuroneko]

listening to this podcast done by TV show enthusiasts, whose knowledge of IWTV comes from the movie and the book they watched/read probably a century ago, so they already know OG Louis is a plantation owner and Claudia will die, then the hosts said something like, "Watching the last three episodes of IWTV was hard, but the last scene gave me hope. I could handle another season of this, I could handle Lestat coming back, because I have seen Louis is in a better place now, he's happy with someone who is (healthily, heavily implied) loves him, and understands him"

And i'm just sitting here just thinking, "well, it's obvious they forget why Claudia died then"

[genericpuff]

(1) Hello, than you for your posts about Lore Olympus and for recommending the Pyrrhic_Victoria podcast. I'm a very casual reader of the series, at time going months without checking the episodes and it's fascinating how many problems just flew over my head, although I had weird impression when reading the chapter about Persephone defeating Kronos, it felt odd and off (the reporters - just... how?).

Considering you put this into 3 parts, I'll just be responding to all three in one post if that's okay! (hence the copy pastes above!)

The S2 finale was definitely where I really started to go "uhhhhhh" with the series. The trial already had me raising my eyebrows (such as the Eris reveal) but the S2 finale was where I really just started to drop off and lose the love I once had for the series.

ETA: I realize the tone of this post kinda went off but it's a hot button topic of mine that I enjoy talking about so bear with it haha Thank you for wishing me luck with Rekindled, I got big things planned ❤️❤️❤️

To address #2, I actually have a liiiittle bit of beef with that notion. As a writer, I don't think it's necessarily good form to blame the audience for failing to meet expectations. Yes, audience members can come up with some wild theories and expectations especially when it comes to serialized stories like this, but the core of the issue is that LO/Rachel doesn't manage what it sets up well at all. Even the most basic expectations for where the story is going seem to be dropped, expectations that anyone who pays an inch of attention to the series would come up with.

For example, I don't think it was too big of an ask to expect the time skip actually show more than it did. A lot of people were hyped to see Persephone be on her own, forced to do her mother's job, and live up to everything she had bragged about at the start of S2 (about how she had 'peaked' in her mother's duties) not to mention offer her an opportunity to make spring her own. There was also the theory/expectation that it would potentially lead to an actual genuine abduction, through Hades option to go to the Mortal Realm and take her "back" to the Underworld in defiance of Zeus' sentencing.

And of course, there's what happened with the Eros x Psyche myth, the return of Kronos, and the Hymn of Demeter, all of which are stories that not only had setups as far back as S1, but Rachel has butchered within the confines of LO because she wants to try and be "subversive", not realizing that being "subversive" doesn't mean completely screwing over the original meanings of these myths or writing a poorly-constructed story.

These, to me, are not wild expectations to have in the slightest for a comic that's claiming to be a retelling of the taking of Persephone. But LO is as far from being a true retelling as retellings can possibly get. It can hardly even be called fanfiction at this point.

Point is, it's up to the writer to fulfill the expectations they set, and that's a separate thing entirely from an audience setting their expectations "too high". It's not like people are asking for anything that's outside the reasonable realm of what Rachel is tackling, everything that I see people "expecting" is pretty par for the course for the stuff Rachel has noticeably set up (like the return of Kronos, for example).

I see the argument crop up a lot that people should just "lower their expectations" of LO for the sake of enjoying it, but frankly, if I were in Rachel's position, I would be downright insulted and disappointed in myself if I found out my audience had to lower their expectations of me and my work to enjoy it. I don't want an audience out of pity, I want an audience because I've put out a damn good piece of work that's earned that audience. And this isn't something that's unique to me, this is pretty much the viewpoint of every other creator I know, so if Rachel is seriously hiding behind the notion that it's her audience's 'fault' for having their expectations too high, then she's a coward, full stop. She set those expectations herself in a lot of ways, and especially by going so far as to claim LO as a 'retelling' of some of the most beloved myths in literature.

As a writer, it's disrespectful as fuck to see people come up with these kinds of arguments instead of expecting better of someone who claims to be a professional and regularly brags about their awards (which weren't even earned, they were very likely bought).

As an audience member, I shouldn't have to turn off my brain and forgo my own intelligence as a reader to enjoy someone else's work. I'd rather just stop reading it altogether and put that energy into something else far more enjoyable and worth my time.

[fangirleaconmigo]

Same anon from the Striga ask. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

I've just read the next short story in The Last Wish, the one with Nivellen. I watched the show back when it aired with no prior knowledge of what the witcher was so I'm technically working my way backwards (I played the games a month or so ago) and I'm wondering why they chose to change the timeline regarding this story. In the show, Ciri is there when he encounters Nivellen and fights the Bruxa. After reading the story, I'm not sure how I feel about that? I like the book version of that event better. Though I did enjoy the knife game they played in the show. I feel like Geralt was less...I'm not sure what to say, but since he wasn't protecting Ciri things played out differently on that front. I'm not sure if I'm misremembering the show, but didn't Geralt leave Nivellen behind afterwards? In the book Geralt helps him leave and doesn't just leave after killing the being that essentially freed the man.

What did you think of the changes and the adaption of this scene?

Have a good day / night!

- 👻

Hello Striga Anon! Sorry it's taken me so long. I wanted to reread before I gave my thoughts and this is how long it took me to get around to that. That's how seriously I take this :D (Just to anyone reading, never worry you're bothering me, even if I take forever to answer. Just keep sending the asks and I'll get to them)

But YAY I LOVE talking about the books. SO, for this short story A Grain of Truth vs the TWN episode A Grain of Truth in S2, first of all, let me say that I recapped and reviewed the entirety of the episode The Witcher Season2 Ep1 here.

So, a compare/contrast of that ep with the books short story: (obviously TW: for all themes in this episode including Nivellen's action that led to his curse.) The main four changes I'll discuss are

Geralt having Ciri with him

Geralt knowing Nivellen previously

Nivellen being a less ethical person

Geralt leaving Nivellen in distress

Having Ciri along. At this point, Geralt and Ciri need to be traveling together. They needed an episode where they get to know each other, I assume, before they show up at Kaer Morhen. You see, in Season One they literally LEFT OUT Geralt and Ciri's storyline and just have them run into each other's arms at the end.

They got a lot of (well deserved, imo) critique for that. This relationship is literally both the inciting event, and the point and heart of the entire series. The showrunner said she took that to heart so I expected for them to have to try to build their relationship from scratch and try to make up for lost time.

So they reached back into the first book and used A Grain of Truth as the setting for Geralt and Ciri spending time together traveling and getting to know each other. I think that was a good choice.

Geralt knows Nivellen. I can only assume they did this for one of two reasons. 1, he has Ciri with him, so I cannot imagine him just waltzing in and staying at the house of a sketchy stranger with her. Also, 2, Nivellen tells stories about Geralt, so that acts as a device for Ciri to get to know him and trust him better through the eyes of another person.

Nivellen is a less ethical person. In the book, Nivellen doesn't know that Vereena is killing townsfolk. In the show, he knows she’s killing and he looks the other way. So, that is a huge huge huge difference as far as Geralt's moral compass. I think they did that to resolve something I find a bit sticky. (Some people don't. Your mileage may vary)

The issue of Nivellen raping a priestess. In the book, he characterizes it as something he did under peer pressure. He was running with a bunch of thugs and they coerced him. Geralt seems to completely accept that as a mistake. As a coerced error and bad luck. I did not like that. It didn't seem to jibe with Geralt's character. He tells us in the same book that the first 'monster' he killed was a rapist. But there are those who disagree with me.

Geralt leaves him. In the books, Geralt befriends Nivellen and offers to help him. In the show, he walks away basically like...so kill yourself then.

I have seen some viewers say that they didn't like that. They said Geralt is supposed to be kind and helpful, and he did help in the book. Meanwhile, he was so cold and heartless in the show. I have also seen people say that they accept the rape as a youthful mistake and that the whole point of the story is that people can redeem themselves. That they can choose not to be monsters. That this is a positive message and a classic witcher theme.

I of course, respect those viewpoints. I can see that. But for me, it’s a no. I discussed this in my recap. But fair or not, I cannot stomach the thought of a rape as a mistake of peer pressure. I know that there are shades of gray in every area of human behavior but that bit bugged me SO BADLY. Geralt literally kills rapists on more than one occasion to defend people. So, to see him be like, oh, yeah, you made a mistake, let me help you, with zero internal struggle ESPECIALLY knowing that his mother figure is a priestess (different temple but still) that I just could not. It irritated the fuck out of me.

I was hoping the show would either take out the rape or make Geralt react more strongly to it. (see, I said I'm not always a book purist). And what they did was they made Nivellen a worse person (ignoring murders) so they could have Geralt walk away and have it make even more sense. Geralt is like...oh...rapist AND murderer (by refusing to stop his bruxa lady from killing), and Ciri agrees. So, he and Ciri are both like fuck you bye.

I don't mind seeing Geralt be cold hearted there. He can be cold hearted sometimes when he thinks someone is a murderer and a rapist. I was fine with it.

So, anyway, Your mileage may vary, but I was good with all of these changes in episode one. And I think it was a strong ep that worked well.

I can’t say that about the next episode.

[sflow-er]

Good morning Sflow :)

For the ask game I'd love to hear your thoughts about these two, if you feel like answering (no pressure though!):

🍭why did you start writing?

🌿how does creating make you feel?

Thank you. Wishing you a lovely day! <3

Good evening, friend 💛

I saved your ask for last because these are both really deep questions, and I've actually spent a lot of time reflecting on them today, especially the first one. So, exactly the kind I'd expect from you, and they deserve the kind of rambling personal answers you know to expect from me.

I'll put a cut here to make it easier for people to scroll on if they aren't interested, but of course anyone who is interested is welcome to read my answers!

🍭why did you start writing?

I guess the short answer is, as a creative outlet. But there is also a very long answer, as I've started writing several times over the course of my life.

On the first time, I started for my little brother. We played a lot of imagination games when we were kids, and I wanted to expand on those. We had an imaginary world with about two dozen characters but could only play a few of them at the same time, the stories were 'lost' when the game ended, and I had too many ideas anyway. So I started drawing and writing some of them down. This first phase went on from age 9 to 14 or so.

On the second time (overlapping the first), I started for narrative closure. A video game that I was completely obsessed with had a sad ending, so I wrote another. It was fun, so I went on to another story I wanted to continue, characters I wanted to expand on, and so on. I wrote most of these in my English notebook, for which I also got extra credit and feedback from my English teacher.

After a couple of years of just writing in my notebook, I discovered that I was doing a thing called fan fiction, and there were places to put it online. So I started doing that. Eventually, I got an original idea, and I wrote a story of about 50k and even started a sequel. This second phase lasted from age 13 to 19/20.

Then I started at uni. Life got in the way, and my creativity was gone. I never finished the sequel, and even when I eventually got obsessed with a new piece of media and tried to write something for it, I just couldn't get anything coherent down. I eventually took down all my old fics too, thinking that chapter of my life was closed for good. This phase lasted until I watched Young Royals at the age of 33.

On the third time, I started as an outlet for my suddenly reborn creativity - and my still very fragile ace identity. I found the rich world of YR incredibly inspiring and wanted to continue the story (as we didn't even know if there would be an S2). I also really wanted to contribute something to the fandom that was growing around it, but I didn't have the confidence or the ideas to focus on Wilmon.

Well, as luck would have it, there was a veritable blank slate of a minor character who would be perfect for a canon expansion and even gave me a vague ace vibe for some reason. And if I made him asexual, well, figuring out how he felt about various stuff would be a good excuse to work on myself on the side. I wasn't sure if I actually had the guts to make that part of his characterisation visible in the fic, and he'd have to be very different from me as I never liked self-inserts, but yeah. That could be interesting.

I'm still in this third phase, although the self-reflection has taken a backseat now.

🌿how does creating make you feel?

It's hard to describe. One part of it is just plain relief, because it gets to a point where you really just need an outlet for all the creative energy. One part is this huge sense of accomplishment and satisfaction over seeing the thing you imagined and planned come together. It was just something you cooked up in your head, and now it's out there, making sense. Or at least being its own aesthetic/artistic entity. Either way, you did it, wow.

And of course one part is the joy of knowing that people enjoyed something you made and/or it touched them. I had sort of forgotten about that while I wasn't writing, and I'm very grateful to have experienced it again.

Thank you again for these wonderful asks!

Ask list for reference.

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

Are you confident Bughead will be endgame on this show? That’s literally the last strand I’ve been holding onto, but the thread is weakening. I really can’t believe that they would take this ship, their absolute most popular and loved one, and just end it like this forever. I am so angry with the writing!!

Hey there, anon! It is unbelievable, isn’t it?

What a tricky question you ask! confidence + prediction + the Riverdale writers ... As Jughead would say: yikes!

The thing with these writers is that they use a lot of words without knowing their meaning. “Endgame” is one of them. “New” is another. “Exciting”. “Darkness”™. “Adult stories”. “The message”…

Dangling the bughead “endgame” carrot at the end of one or two seasons of no bughead or -worse- of b*rchie and j*bitha f.e. is not an endgame. The general definition of endgame -outside of chess- is: the last stage of a process. If the process (i.e. the season’s content) isn’t about bughead, then bughead coming together at the very end is not an endgame, it's a peripeteia i.e. a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances.

In shipping, endgame is a couple that will inevitably end together (for ever and ever and ever). In order for something to be inevitable, you have to create that sentiment, you have to build the couple up.

There’s an article about the misappropriation of the word “endagame” that I find particularly funny, as it starts by mentioning Riverdale!

Anyway, this is a long-winded way to say that, yes, I do believe that the show will end with bughead and varchie as their main canon couples. It’s just that, like you, I’m so very tired with these story lines. There is satisfaction to be had at the notion of endgame but a seasonful of investigative bughead would be infinitely preferable. For me (and I can only speak of myself) the journey is more important than the destination -even if for the simple reason that -in TV show time- it lasts longer!

Why do I think bughead is still … that word? Everything’s under the cut, so as not to clutter your dash!

1. A lot of people have been theorising that what happened in 5x18 was not the original plot. I agree.

Let’s start with 5x18 varchie.

Their break up came completely out of left field. Its unexpectedness is reminiscent of 4x17. I make fun of how s5 is a reboot of s1+s2’s leftover ideas, so another copy-paste shouldn’t feel out of place, and yet … really? Another repetition? To what end? If the season’s goal was not varchie, b*rchie was already there waiting at the beginning of the time jump! Why abandon that plot? In terms of romantic varchie time, that was extremely limited, since after their kiss in 5x7, Veronica’s divorce kept them apart until 5x17 … Why have Archie being extremely jealous of Chad, Veronica getting involved in all of Archie’s schemes (firefighters, bulldogs), Archie getting involved in Ronnie’s (rescuing daddykins) or Veronica telling her father she chooses Archie over him in 5x17? Also, for those who remember, there was this by the-writer-who-shall-not-be-named.

The reason of the break up is as ludicrous as Veronica moving into Archie’s childhood bedroom (with its effing slanted roof!) on the premise that long term the Andrews’ residence has more room! (By the way, I don’t know what surprised me more: that Veronica thought that Archie and uncle Frank would know who Ina Garten is or that Jughead didn’t.) Why is Veronica astounded by Archie’s involvement in the same activities he has been involved in all through the season?! For f***’s sake, she’s the one that gifted him the fire truck!

Ok. Now let’s give 5x18 j*bitha a try.

For me, 5x18 could either have gone bugheadwards or j*bithawards. J*bitha had some heartfelt talks, a hand touch, a hallucination and a kiss. Bughead had one unfinished heartfelt talk (the only one in the whole season for Betty), two shoulder touches, two hallucinations and Jughead attempting to reconnect with Betty (without specifying what his intent was, it's true).

While I do think that j*bitha is a ship that has been adequately teased, the way they were explored in 5x18 was … not underwhelming exactly (after all, they’re not my ship, so I didn’t have any expectations about them) but … maybe lukewarm is the word? They had but minimal dialogue, only enough to establish that Tabitha’s parents were in town. Then a song where Tabitha initially rejects Jughead, although she had been supportive before. Then another song, where the lyrics were heavily altered and didn’t make much sense anyway (we hadn’t been properly introduced to the Tates) but where the original lyrics were very compatible with Bughead’s history and state of being as of 5x17. The kisses were ok, I have no problem with the actors’ chemistry. But -and this is strictly a personal opinion- Jughead’s flirting scenes (not the make-out ones, you perverts!) with Cora were better and so was the j*bitha kiss in 5x10. For the 5x18 j*bitha to flow, more dialogue and more flirting was necessary (always a persona opinion). So, no, I don’t think j*bitha were supposed to sing what they sang in 5x18.

Production for s5 wrapped up one week after the official announcement of the 5 special episodes for Riverdale and The Flash: “we expect it will take us until Fall 2022 to get back to a regular schedule” was the official quote. Re-organising the cw’s overall schedule didn’t happen overnight. Yes, more likely than not, the writers knew about the specifics of s6a before shooting 5x18-5x19 and had time to re-write them.

2. The couples spoilers for s6 do not make sense plot-wise.

If the end-goal for 5x19-6x1 had been b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie all along, these were pairs already happening (except from v*ggie) at the beginning of the time-jump. As for v*ggie, last time we saw them, Veronica pulled a face when she heard that he had had (still has?) an affair with Hermosa. And what about Nana Rose?! (ok, that was a joke! ... or was it? 👀)

The majority of both the fans and the general audience are bugvarchie shippers. Teasing b*rchie and j*bitha as a means of maintaining the viewers’ interest in a will they/won’t they way, only works if the audience finally gets what they want. In this season. Not the next one! There is so much trolling one can take after all. In the space of 1.5 year (4x17-5x19) b*rchie will have been teased ... THREE times (and still lacking build-up)!

I cannot myself see b*rchie, j*bitha and v*ggie as endgame couples. For the audience to invest in them after 4 years of bugvarchie, the writers have to a) give j*bitha an absolutely incredible development that will surpass bughead and the cinematography to go with it (good luck with that) and b) undo Archie’s character (highly unlikely) and/or give Betty a lobotomy (at which point a lot of people will quit en masse, because Archie as The One All The Girls Want just doesn't resonate with the majority).

I have no idea if s6a is an AU or not. But if it’s not, no one will be left to watch 6b.

Can I guarantee a bughead endgame? Of course not. I have no idea how the minds of the Riverdale writers work. But I do think that Jughead and Betty getting back together is more than wishful thinking.

Fervently shipping Jughead/Betty, Jughead/his book and Betty/therapy, sincerely yours, @raymondebidochonlifechoices

I hope you have fun with the Riverdale universe regardless, dear anon. Riverdale has given us one of the most beautiful getting-together stories in s1 and lots and lots of beautiful canon bughead afterwards. Here's to many more! Much love to you!

[femslashhistorian]

Cat / Kara / Lena Fic Recs

In this fanfiction recommendation I have collected my two favorite Kara Danvers/Cat Grant (SuperCat) and my four favorite Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor (SuperCarp?, SuperCatCorp) stories and a complicated story that I love that is mostly Cat Grant/Lena Luthor (read the full rec).

SuperCat was one of the most popular ships in season one and continues to be popular. The chemistry between both Kara and Cat and Kara and Lena is undeniable and while Cat and Lena never met in canon, this has never stopped anyone from shipping them in a polyamorous relationship with Kara. While not hugely popular, there is a decent number of fics on AO3.

Cat/Lena is a rarepair but in some of the polyamorous stories Cat and Lena are in a relationship first.

Featured stories - Detailed recs and links after the cut

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

Between Two Mountains by fiddle_stix04 *

With Love's Light Wings by writerstealth (orphan_account) *

Promise Not To Break by SpaceshipsAreCool  

I Wish I Could Carry You Away by PoppyCartinelli 

Cat Grant/Lena Luthor (it’s complicated)

Art is Expensive by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered *

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant (SuperCat)

Commander in Chief by fictorium

Asking Too Much by fictorium

Note: * are my favorites

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

The first two fics are by favorites. They have a very different dynamics and settings:

With Love's Light Wings is an AU set post season 2 in which Cat returns to National City.  Between Two Mountains is set around season 5 (and diverges from canon then) and in this story Lena left National City, heartbroken because of Kara’s betrayal. Instead of the stupid things she did in canon, she does something much more sensible: she escapes to her ski resort.

 Between Two Mountains by fiddle_stix04

Cat Grant/Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

Completed, 3 chapters, 74k words, 2020

Mature; smut with story

Lena runs off to her Metropolis ski resort to put Kara out of her mind. Across the globe, Cat's grueling schedule is no longer working to distract her from where she really wants to be, and as luck would have it, Carter has found the perfect vacation spot in Metropolis. But he needs a babysitter while on the slopes. Since Kara's powers are fritzing while she nurses her own despair, a vacation away from the demands of National City would be just the thing.

 This story starts with a very hurt Lena and a fascinating look back on Cat and Kara's past, told from Cat's perspective. Cat and Lena meet for the first time and start an affair (or more?) before Kara can start her holiday.

I enjoyed this wonderful, very well written story. It is funny, witty, smutty and pretty much angst free. I especially loved Cat and Lena’s banter.

 Favorite quote

“You received my thank you note for your donation?”

Lena laughed and leaned back in her seat. “I seem to recall it saying something about not destroying your city, your hero, and your assistant. I don’t really remember much of a ‘thank you,’ however.”

“Then I suppose it was really just a note,” Cat shrugged, unconcerned. “But it’s the thought that counts,” Cat said, eyes twinkling.

  With Love's Light Wings by writerstealth (orphan_account)

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

Completed, 19 chapters, 34k words, 2017

Explicit; ESP!Lena (Extrasensory perception); post Season 2 AU

Three women, each with their own sets of walls, find that they need each other to bring them down. Set about two years on from current S2 canon, Kara is a more seasoned reporter, more comfortable and mature. Her friendship with Lena Luthor has long teetered on the edge of becoming something more, but her lingering hangup on Cat Grant has kept it from even starting.

Lena Luthor is a lonely woman with ESP that she developed as a teenager after an accident in her brother's lab. The irony is bitter; she's subjected to everyone's feelings, like it or not, yet struggles to ever share her own. Cat Grant returns to National City to resume her role at CatCo, despite her own unresolved feelings for Kara, and things become complicated for all three of them as they realize that what they need is something different from what they ever thought or expected.

 This is an AU, although the premise of the story only really diverges from canon of Season 1 and early season 2 in Lena's powers and that Lena and Cat meet. After that, it obviously diverges more from canon.

I am always a bit skeptical when Lena gets (super)powers in a fic, but my concerns were unfounded. This is a great and beautifully written story.

 Favorite quote

“Lena was the first person who even began to make me think I could have something with someone anywhere near as good as you.”

Cat looked a little sad at that.  “So, you do love her, then.”

Kara nodded.  “Yeah.  She’s a lot like you in ways, but then… in others, not.  But… she’s been there for me so many times, and taken care of me, and tried to protect me, just like you.  You know, protect me in… in the ways I can’t do for myself.”  She smiled a little, then.  “And she needs so much love, just the way you do.”

She couldn’t stand the wistful look on Cat’s face, so she kissed her again, so lightly, so carefully, imagining her lips and tongue as a butterfly coming to rest on Cat’s mouth.

  Promise Not To Break by SpaceshipsAreCool

Cat Grant/Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

Completed, 8 chapters, 32k words, 2017

Explicit, dom!Cat, dom!Lena, sub!Kara

When Cat and Lena fell in love, they accepted that they would have to forgo certain desires in order to be together. For over five years they’ve been happy with that decision, but when Cat’s new assistant enters their lives, they can’t help but wonder if there’s another way.

What is really different in this story, is that Cat and Lena are together, have been married for years. I love their interaction. And their jealously and protectiveness for Kara. Cat and Lena are drawn to Kara, but they are afraid to start anything.

There is smut in the last chapters, but considering the tags, this story is really not that kinky. I enjoyed this well written story.

 Favorite quote

“Don’t tell me you fired that young blonde one, Cat, she was cute. Do you know she blushed the most delightful shade of red when I complimented her cardigan the last time you sent her to my office?”

Cat shook her head, standing up from her chair and coming around her desk to greet Lena with a soft kiss. […] “She doesn’t need any encouragement in that area, Lena, but don’t worry, I haven’t fired her, I just sent her to get me a fresh latte. Aside from her continued horrendous taste in clothes, for which I apparently have you to blame, she’s actually decent at her job. And no-” Cat raised a finger, shushing her wife before she could interject, “if you tell her I said that, I don’t care how ‘cute’ you think her reaction will be. I’ll fire her and you’ll be sleeping in the spare room for a month.”

   I Wish I Could Carry You Away by PoppyCartinelli

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant/Lena Luthor

Completed, 1 chapter, 7k words, 2018

General audiences

Disaster strikes, but our local heroine saves the day

 Lena and Cat get stuck in a remote cabin for a day or two. Set after Cat left national city to join the government. Cat and Lena know that Kara is Supergirl.

Nice medium length fic. Angst free, lighthearted and soft.

Cat Grant/Lena Luthor – it’s complicated

Art is Expensive by DangersUntoldHardshipsUnnumbered

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Cat Grant/Lena Luthor, Lena Luthor/Veronica Sinclair

Completed, 12 Chapters, 18k words, 2018

Mature; Cheating, infidelity, complicated relationships, end of relationships, angst; minor character death

Human disasters making a mess of things.

I have written about this story before, but I have expanded on my notes here.

Cat cheats on Kara with Lena (who is in a relationship with Veronica). Things get messy and complicated.

None of these are really my favorite ships and this is not something I knew I wanted, but I am mesmerized by this story. It is beautiful and so well written. It is told from Cats and Lena’s POV.

If you are looking for angst free, fluffy, and the usual Supergirl pairings, then this fic is not for you. But if you are open for an unexpected, bittersweet tour de force with a slightly unconventional happy ending, then definitely give this one a try.

Kara is asexual in this story, but while she has a role in this story, she is not the main protagonist. This is also not a happy story and while there is hope and some new beginnings, this is mostly a story about infidelity and the end of relationships.

And as this sums it up so much better than I could summarize it, let me also copy paste in a comment and the author’s response from AO3 here:

  Kara Danvers/Cat Grant (SuperCat)

Commander in Chief by fictorium

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant

Completed, 21 Chapters, 73k words, 2017-2018

Mature; No powers AU (Alternate Universe), President!Cat, Lobbyist!Kara

45th President of the United States, Catherine Jane Grant, is entering the third year of her first term. Enter Myriad International, the country's most formidable environmental lobbying group, and their newest recruit: Kara Danvers.

With an ill-timed remark in a White House meeting, Kara makes an impression on Cat, who isn't about to let being President stop her pursuing the first woman in years to intrigue her. Can they overcome their political conflict to get closer?

 Plot broadly lifted from Sorkin's 'The American President' :)

While it is (also) a story about Kara and Cat falling in love, it is probably more a fic about two people overcoming the first big crisis of their relationship.

While the point of view switches between Kara and Cat, I feel this is more a Cat than a Kara story, that Cat is the main protagonist.

While strictly speaking you don't need to know anything about the Supergirl TV show to enjoy this story you will probably enjoy it more if you do know it - in particular Season 1. I liked that many characters are featured and have small supporting roles: Hank, Alex, Winn, James (even Mon-El has a few scenes and gets what he deserves ;-) and especially Lena, Lucy, Astra and Sam - they are all written lovingly and their roles in the story nicely fit with their characters.

It is very well written and perfectly edited and very fast paced. I think it is mostly due to the quality of the writing that I liked this story a lot, even though I am not the biggest SuperCat shipper.

Notes:

This story has no relation to the short lived TV show of the same name (2005, with Gena Davies) that I actually enjoyed.

I have not seen the movie the author mentioned this story is based on

 Favorite quotes

She walks down the short corridor and finds herself joining a line of guests waiting to go through the metal detectors. Just like at the airport, Kara has a vague sense of unease, as though she might have forgotten putting a machete in her clutch, or a titanium rod in place of her shinbone.

Completely irrational, and yet she can feel a prickle of sweat at her hairline.

But she steps through without a single beep, and then she’s being greeted by none other than James Olsen, White House Press Secretary.

 The day is unbearably long, topped off by a trip to honor some… thing in Pennsylvania that Cat just hopes she was handed the right speech for. No one lost their mind on Air Force One on the way home, at least, and back from Allentown was only a short ride. It makes her too late for Carter’s goodnight, and that always darkens her mood. She looks in on him, pile of briefing memos in one hand, and smiles at how peaceful he is when he sleeps.

 Asking Too Much by fictorium

Kara Danvers/Cat Grant

Completed, 29 Chapters, 94k words, 2015-2016

Explicit; diverges strongly form canon as the story goes on

Anonymous said to fictorium:

Cat needs a date to a party, she convinces Kara to go with her ("You're my assistant, nobody will think anything of it").

That's how it began.

Only it's not Kara who steps out on the red carpet, but Supergirl. As they continue with the public deception, chaos erupts around them: battles fought, lives lost, enemies old and new. Somewhere in there Kara and Cat have to deal with what happens when pretend feelings become all too real, along with the additional complications from Superman and both of the sisters Lane.

Ultimately, Kara has to find a way to make her ever-changing life workable. Can she do that while keeping Cat, her secret identity, and her family intact?

 I am usually not that much into SuperCat but this story’s summery caught my eye. The premise is interesting, the power dynamics is quite intriguing and there is hot sex. The story goes far beyond the typical fake dating trope and is mostly about Kara. I was fascinated by her development, especially in the aspect of Kara’s vs Supergirl’s identity. This story drives this into a direction that is pretty uncommon in fics.

 Note: I had written about the last three fics before, but I have slightly updated the recs for this post.

There are a few additional Cat/Kara/Lena stories (which I have not read and most of which are incomplete) on the Polyamorous Femslash Fanfiction Masterlist on my WordPress blog

This was cross-posted to tumblr and my WordPress blog

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[antihero-writings]

Map to Nowhere

Fandom: The Promised Neverland (Anime)

Character Focus: Ray (and Emma)

Summary: Emma and Ray stargaze outside the base, and think about many things.

Notes: I couple weeks ago Tale Foundry's prompt of the week was "Map to Nowhere." I started thinking then that that would be a great prompt for Promised Neverland.

After watching S2 ep3--(and, if it isn't already clear, there's some minor spoilers for that here! And major spoilers if you haven't finished S1!)--when I saw the stars outside the base I thought they were absolutely gorgeous, and I was like "Oh I am absolutely writing a stargazing fic for that prompt" haha! 

Also just wanted to quick say that I know nothing about the manga, and I wrote this with the current-anime-knowledge I have!

I've been wanting to write a fic for the Promised Neverland for a while, so I had a lot of fun with this! If you're interested in reading more tpn fics from me, don't hesitate to send me prompts!

If you enjoy this fic, please please consider reblogging and/or leaving a comment!!

*

Map to Nowhere

Emma, Ray, and Norman lay in a circle—(well more like a triangle)—on their roof. Today they enacted their plan: they had snuck out at midnight, (shushing each other all the way), to watch the stars. And, well, if they were already sneaking around, might as well pick the roof as their location. It was closer, after all.

“Ooh, I know this one!” Emma pointed to a collection of stars. “It’s a house!” She said with utmost confidence.

“That’s Cephus!” Norman corrected her.

“It can’t see us, silly!”

“No, Cephus.”

“He was a Greek king,” Ray explained.

“A Greek king?”

“Yes.” Norman said. “He was the wife of Cassiopiea.”

“Cassi-who-peea?”

“Spare her the details.” Ray glanced at Norman. “That story’s a…little sad for her liking.”

“You’re probably right.”

She pouted, but quickly recovered. “You guys sure know a lot about stars!”

“Not really.” Norman smiled. “We just read a lot.”

“You sayin’ I don’t read?!”

“Not as much,” Ray replied flatly.

Another pause. Apparently she couldn’t deny that.

“Do you think we could ever go there some day?”

“Well…it’d take a lot of hard work and luck…but potentially!” Norman replied.

“Do you think we’d need some sort of...map?”

Norman laughed. “A map would be good, yeah.”

Ray said nothing, returning his gaze to the sky. They were always undeniably far, but, as Emma and Norman puzzled out how to reach them, to him, they seemed to slink away as they spoke.

******

The stars unfurled above Ray. And endless expanse of spackled blue.

He’d stargazed before. He, Norman, and Emma had snuck out of bed to lie on their backs in the grass, or even on the roof to watch the sunrise, asking each other what games they’d like to play, and if they could go there one day. All the while Ray knew they wouldn’t so much as leave the farm; the stars as real as glow-in-the-dark stickers on the ceiling, as untouchable as freedom itself.

Now, laying on the dirt above the base, reaching out his hand, he swore he felt his fingers graze them.

No fences, or trees, or walls to block his view. No imprisonment, or impending promise of death. Well, death was still both inevitable and probable, but it was nice there wasn’t an exact date, at least. Or maybe…well, he spent so much of his life planning and, in a way, hoping for his own death…the idea that he ought to live for the future, without a deadline in mind was…oddly foreign.

The world was open, and inviting. There was beauty in that, yes, but freedom, the expansive Earth, was as alien as another planet. The instability of numberless days was, well...unstable. Not insurmountable, but certainly unpredictable.

His mind drifted back to Mom and the others back at the farm. He wondered briefly how and what they were doing. It was likely their escape had made life worse for those that remained, and/or for themselves. Scratch that, he knew they’d made life for themselves worse, because Emma was determined to return and save everyone.

Ray had never had much difficulty valuing his own self preservation above everything else. The thought of everyone else in the orphanage didn’t plague him too often. His own survival was enough of a burden to trouble himself with the woes of everyone else. He didn’t know how Emma did it. It was almost impressive just how many people she was able to worry about at any single given time.

Still when he thought of mom…She wasn’t particularly kind, or lovable. He’d known from the very beginning this was nothing but a game, and she was nothing but a player. But he remembered perfectly the look in her eyes as she watched them leaving—(like he remembered everything else). He expected anger, betrayal…but that sadness was unexpected. He didn’t make the mistake of thinking it real yet…if he knew it wasn’t, why did it haunt him?

Today, was she taking it out on the kids that remained? Did any of that sadness stay within her? Or was it replaced with scorn for even the innocents left?

Or else was she herself punished for their transgressions? Imprisoned, tortured, or staked in the heart with a flower?

And if she was, what would that mean for the kids at the farm?

“Ray? How do you know that song?”

She wasn’t kind or lovable…but she was his mother. Something none of the other kids could say: his mother. His real one.

Did he actually—?

“There you are!” A voice broke through his musings. The hatch opened to reveal a head of red hair. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“Well you can either sit there crying about it, or you can join me!” Ray threw to her casually.

“Maybe I will!” She harrumphed.

Emma scooched out of the hatch, closing it, but, instead of laying down to watch the stars, she knelt over his head so her face was blocking his view.

“Whaatcha thinkin’ about?” She sang.

Ray flicked her forehead.

“Hey!” She rubbed her forehead, pouting as he smirked.

After she had sufficiently stared him down, (or else knew she was fighting a losing battle), she flopped on the ground with her head on the opposite side of his.

For a moment they just stared up at the stars in silence, basking in their glow.

“They seem so much closer out here!” Emma reached out her hand and made a grabbing motion.

“Mm.”

“What do you think’s up there?”

“A lot of hydrogen gas and—”

“You know that's not what I meant! Would it kill you to have an imagination?!”

Ray scoffed.

“Aliens?” Emma offered.

He was about to shoot down the idea, but paused and replied instead, “I suppose that isn’t too far off from demons.”

“How do you think we’d get there? A starship maybe? Ooh! Like a literal pirate ship in space! That'd be so cool!" She held up her arms, then let them fall out to her sides.

He laughed. “And you have the wildest imagination.”

“It’s not my fault yours just doesn’t work properly.”

“I have an imagination; it’s just grounded in reality.”

“But reality’s so boooring. I mean…” She paused, saying more seriously, “Do you think it’d be better up there? Than here, I mean?”

“If ‘better’ means easier to survive in, then no.”

She groaned, and seemed to decide he wasn’t the best stargazing buddy, because for a minute or two, she actually stayed silent—(shocking indeed).

”Reality’s not so bad, you know." Ray spoke after a bit. "I mean...it’s just a lot of hydrogen gas, yeah, but have you seen pictures of nebulas? Or supernovas? I've seen them in books. They’re some of the most beautiful sights in the universe. To me, that’s much cooler than fantasizing about unicorns in the sky.”

“Hey! I didn’t say anything about unicorns!”

He laughed.

“But... yeah! I guess you’re right!”

The next question was a murmur, soft and serious as ever:

“…Do you think Norman’s up there?”

Breath was cold and sharp on the back of Ray’s throat, eyes widening in shock.

“I…I don’t know.” He exhaled the breath.

“Wherever he is…I hope he’s doing alright. You know, having fun and all,” she said with the air of a lover saying they hoped their ex was happy, when really they wished to get back together.

The wind blew past them, and they had to shut their eyes against the dust. Once it passed she murmured:

“I miss him…A lot. It’d be so much more fun if he was here with us.”

“You sayin’ I’m not fun?” Ray tried to joke.

Emma’s laugh was taut. He wondered if she was trying not to cry.

Ray looked back at the stars. They were so close a second ago, but in that moment they began to drift away.

“I miss him too.”

[gracefulweather]

i finally found some time to answer u properly !! 😅 why does it always take me like 5 days alfjalfhwl

omg !! did ur album arrive alr? :O mine shipped but all it says is: arriving by december 10 so my guess is it'll get here then :")

oohhh 😳😳😳 my new smau is like .. its ... it has fake dating... and its a uni au..and i am incapable of writing summaries bc i always want to spoil everything lmao 😅

im always thankful that you're so supportive of my works, truly 🥺 esp the ateez smau ! i'll prob b posting more when im done w finals

THE WORLD TOUR AHHHHH i can't believe they're having it !! i'm so excited to see what they perform ! also ateez comeback soon?!?! it was so sudden i thought i was seeing something wrong 😭 but omg u had tickets from 2020??? (but i agree :( i see so many artists having concerts but crowds... and covid...🥲)

PLEASE 😭 i loved ur fic sm i think abt it constantly 😊

i haven't seen hellbound ! i've heard some things abt it, but im not sure if i wanna watch 🤔 did u watch it then?

oof i actually have no idea which tbz series are where 💀 but i have seen that it keeps getting taken down :( wish we could just have the content

yes omg i love the maverick series so much ! it was so fun to watch :D did u watch both eps?

akfhaldskjf thats a v good question 😬 for me, i usually only write for my ult groups so like (atz, tbz, txt, skz) and i find it easier to write for my biases or bias wreckers which is kinda unfair when i only have fics/series for specific members but it just feels more natural (?) to write about them? idk man

wbu??? how do u decide which members to write abt? & is there a group you haven't written abt that u want to?

oohh !! i saw that too ! i think it was kev? but now im so excited to see what they end up performing ! DRINK IT SUPREMACY I LOVE THAT SONG 😍 also saw that hyunjae said he'll do a vlive w sunwoo after the fancon 👀

i think it would b so cool if they did like a movie version where it was just story 👀

i always feel like tbz's promo periods are way shorter than other groups :( maybe they are idk but i also really really want them to rest

wbu? do u like the shorter promo periods?

(also i do love the sea of hyunjae on ur blog 😍)

hope ur taking care of yourself !! sending u lots of love ❤❤❤

OK OK SO U PULLED SUNWOO BUT who else!!! i got jacob id card and poster, eric qr code thingy, then for pcs: sangyeon <3333, kevin, and the bbangnyu for the unit one!! vaguely surprised there's no jumil in any form but my luck has never been great :') wbu!!!

ooOOH fake dating?? 😍 but omg the way you said anyone could be endgame.... are u gonna pull a massive plot twist on us hmmm 👀 OK BUT when y/n said "a whole hour before your wakeup time" to kyu I FELT THAT 🤡🤡🤡 y/n working at a museum tho that's so interesting :O ok u know what i'll just save the feedback for ur inbox instead LMAO

omg both the ateez comeback and world tour dates are rushed HAHA what is kq doing.... i'm still on the fence about going to the concert tho ugH 😭 but thoughts on turbulence?!?? such a pretty but sad mv tho :')

i watched hellbound bc the concept was intriguing, like people are being summoned to hell via these supernatural beings? i expected the characters to investigate everything that was going on but there was a focus on violence without actually solving anything 😭 maybe bc netflix wants to drag it out into s2 tho idkk

ohh for tbz shows i've been using this spreadsheet!! omg bless those admins 🥺 not sure if dnd is still up bc they were saying it was taken down but timeout works!! and YEAHH loved the maverick series it was so much fun, i wish it was longer LOL

oooh i agree it's definitely easier and more natural to write about ur biases or bias wreckers!! although i barely have anything for sangyeon yet oops i sometimes come up with a plot first then figure out which member fits the role best but other times i start with the member then build the plot. hmm as for groups i wanna write for, i was thinking maybe golcha or skz!! maybe when my tbz obsession dies down a little HAHA

OH YEAH the fancon!! hyunjae and younghoon's new hair colours 😍 did u see all the fancams and stuff?! they're so cute i'm glad they got to see fans again ♥ no drink it but we got kingdom come omggg 😭😭😭 actually feel like there's a good chance they'll do kingdom come for year end award shows 👀

hmm i think it's just become a trend to do really short promo periods now? deffs see it in other groups too at least compared to second gen, but i feel like tbz has a short teaser period too LOL. i do think it's a little too short but they're always so busy with other stuff so :')

(we don't speak of the hyunjae there is too much hyunjae on here how did this even happen omg)

but yeahh hope ur doing well!! esp if exam season is coming up for u 😭 stay healthy, don't stress too much <33

[oikaw-ugh]

Haikyuu but Noragami AU (not acurr8 but really self-indulging)

a/n: Recently just finished Noragami S2 and am now currently reading the manga and I just can’t get enough so... 

Bokuto x Akashi

Bokuto is definitely a shrineless god before he met Akaashi.

Like Yato's case, he shifted from one regalia to another because divine instruments couldn't handle how laid back of a god he is.

Akaashi, however, is a new spirit and was found by Bokuto (like Yukine) & BOY, IDK HOW AKAASHI ENDURED IT.

He's so laid back that Akaashi's human name and vessel name are both Akaashi (since Bokuto does not stick to one clan name) but just with different pronunciations.

Anyhow, w/ Akaashi's guidance, Bokuto slowly gets recognized by people and the other gods, eventually owning a shrine.

Although prosperous, Akaashi is actually burned out from carrying Bokuto's ass from time to time. As his exemplar and the only regalia, he manages the shrine, checks the wishes, maintains his god's image, keeps in contact with other gods occasionally.

As an easy-going god, oftentimes Bokuto accepts shady or weird mortal wishes in which Akaashi suffers a lot. Although he manages the wishes, odd wishes slips from his sight from time to time.

"Bokuto-kami, how many times did I tell you that we don't take cooking wishes?"

Bokuto: "But she paid for it..." 👉👈

"Bokuto-kami, we don't cook."

Bokuto: 🥺

That damn look of his does not work at Akaashi anymore. It used to when he was still new but NOPE, he's not taking any of his whining stares.

To be fair, Bokuto is a pretty decent god. Happiness of his worshippers matters to him the most (hence, why he accepts wishes no matter how odd they could be).

One time someone wished for him to search for their lost sparrow and this got Akaashi going weak because HOW UNIQUE DOES A SPARROW LOOK FROM ONE ANOTHER?!

As for Bokuto's relationship with Akaashi, it's doing good. Akaashi knows his limits as a spirit, keeping Bokuto healthy.

Bokuto does not forget to check on Akaashi from time to time as well. He believes that telling everything to the master you serve makes a god-regalia relationship very healthy.

Akaashi begs to disagree though (Bokuto once insisted Akaashi to tell him how he poops-)

Kuroo x Kenma x Lev

Why Kenma and Lev? For no particular reason. I just like it.

Well, Kuroo has been a god for the longest time and knows his shit well in contrast with Bokuto.

He's cool and easy-going. Not to mention, he is also a god you can rely on when you need to get rid with Ayakashis (phantoms).

Kenma has been his regalia and exemplar for the longest time as well and is as cool as his god.

Kuroo is usually laid back and at the same time, very serious (depending upon the situation). He can be very cheeky at times and corny with his words.

Kenma is oftentimes composed. Although lazy, he is actually very organized and logical.

Kuroo, being the cool god that he is, thought to his self one day: "Ah, I should probably get another regalia."

Kenma: ??? Excuse me?

The reason why we have Lev!

VERY CHAOTIC. Totally clashes with Kuroo and Kenma's attitude which makes Kenma scowl from time to time.

Kuroo is rather amused though and has decided to keep Lev with his side.

Lev is a new spirit they found in the streets during a request.

He's very energetic and active for a spirit, honestly.

He loves to pester Kenma. He treats him as his senpai which makes Kenma pissed most of the time.

Lev: "Kenma-san, please teach me how to create a borderline-"

Kenma, with fingers pointed at Lev: "Restrain!"

But despite of that, Lev is very useful when it comes to fighting. He's a very strong regalia that compliments well with Kenma.

As for their god-regalia relationship, it's fine. As their god, Kuroo can immediately sense if something is off with his divine instruments and he does not hesitate to confront them about it.

Which does not happen all the time, though. Kenma knows his limits and he teaches Lev all the things he must remember as Kuroo's divine instrument.

But even when it's not needed, Kuroo insists on having this corny open forum where he, Kenma, and Lev share their sentiments with one another.

Kenma calls bullshit. Lev thinks it's actually important for his growth.

Kuroo before starting the open forum: "Remember that we are like blood in our veins, we must-"

Kenma: "This is stupid."

Lev: "INSPIRING, SHOW STOPPING, JAW DROPPING!"

Oikawa x Iwaizumi

God's divine instrument? More like baby sitter.

Oikawa's regalia, Iwaizumi, has been Oikawa's babysitter regalia for the longest of time.

Oikawa, let me tell you, IS A VERY BITCHY GOD.

High maintenance and is consistently attracting drama from time to time!

Oikawa: "Iwa-chan, did you hear what that child said?"

Iwaizumi: "No."

Oikawa: "He said MY HAIR LOOKS NORMAL!"

Iwaizumi: "... because it is?"

Oikawa: "NO!"

Oikawa throws tantrums from time to time, whining about how the flowers didn't bloom at the date their supposed to bloom, how he woke up with his hair ugly, how the worshippers are not praising his beauty, ANYTHING THAT HE SEES, HE SAYS SOMETHING.

This is really stressful for Iwaizumi, honestly. He's been receiving complaints from other gods about how Oikawa bothers them.

Not to mention, some of his worshippers are declining because of rumors.

Worshipper 1: "I heard if Oikawa-kami is not in the mood when you pray, you'd actually get bad luck instead!"

WHICH IS NOT TRUE in most cases

And his approaches with his worshippers wishes could only be lazy or DRAMATIC.

One time, a worshipper asked for his guidance on his first date, Oikawa and Iwaizumi actually tailed that person on his actual date.

Oikawa: "Iwa-chan, they're walking on the street. Push that boy towards his date!"

Iwaizumi: "What? Why?"

Oikawa: KABEDON!

But on a serious note, Oikawa can be very serious when needed and that gives Iwaizumi the chills because who would expect that from a dramatic god?

Iwaizumi at times like that would either keep his mouth shut or just constantly stare at Oikawa, thinking he's sick or something.

Like, Iwaizumi: "Oikawa-kami?"

Oikawa, looking at Iwaizumi with a serious stare: "What is it?"

Iwaizumi: Nothing 👀

As for their god-regalia relationship, it's normal. They're more of like buddies.

Oikawa would surprise Iwaizumi occasionally, asking him to go out of the shrine at night to drink sake he received as a gift at their roof, looking at the stars.

How dramatic

And he occasionally gives advices to Iwaizumi, in which surprises Iwa since Oikawa doesn't really strike as someone who can give decent advices, really.

Oikawa, drinking his sake: "People can be fleeting for us spirits and gods. But you know what's something that will never leave you?"

Iwaizumi: "What?"

Oikawa: "My beauty."

Kageyama x Hinata

PRIDEFUL. PRIDE PRIDE PRIDE.

Kageyama as a god is really prideful to the point that his regalias give up on him.

And even though he has grown attached, his pride forbids him to ask them to stay.

"Fine! It's not like I needed you that much, anyway!"

Kageyama on the outside: 🤬😈💢

Kageyama in the inside: 😭🥺👉👈

And this is where Hinata comes in.

Desperate, Kageyama had no choice but find any spirit he could see to make as his regalia.

He finds Hinata one day just lingering outside his shrine, took him in because he needs one he was an understanding god.

His relationship with Hinata is CHAOTIC.

They just clash all the time! Somehow, the energetic, cheeky, helpful personality of Hinata just don't fit with Kageyama's indifferent, logical, rational personality!

Hinata: Kageyama-kami, it says don't step on the grass!

Kageyama: Nobody's gonna see us. What's your point? It's fastest if we walk here!

Hinata: It says DON'T. STEP. ON. THE. GRASS.

Kageyama: I said WHAT'S. YOUR. POINT?

Hinata just really knows which buttons to press to make Kageyama angry, you know?

He made him so angry that he was glad he made his vessel name 'BOKE' (take note with the caps please) since he accidentally named him BOKE.

Their bickering just don't stop. They keep on fighting that the neighboring gods just decided to nickname them as 'cat and dog'.

On requests, they don't get along as well! Hinata hates how Kageyama deals with wishes which affects his performance as a weapon.

Kageyama: What are you doing? Don't go dull on me.

Hinata: Not until you tell me you won't kill that butterfly!

Kageyama: It's not a butterfly, it's a phantom!

Sadly, their contradiction also affects their relationship. Hinata, feeling oppressed and contradicted from time to time, would unconsciously sting Kageyama.

Even knowing that it's basically an abomination to sting your master, Kageyama still decides to keep him and would talk it out with Hinata.

He'd approach Hinata when he's doing nothing, sitting beside him but still making sure he's meters apart from him, looking somewhere (definitely not Hinata's face)

Kageyama: Tell me what you're feeling... (he says that in a low tone, too embarassed to hear himself talking in this way with Kageyama.)

Hinata would roll his eyes and admit what's it that's bugging him anyway and Kageyama would low key work on it the next day (getting stung is no joke)

That basically explains their god-regalia relationship.

[gra-sonas]

Most of us expected Malex to work on their friendship and get closer in S2 but it didn't really happen except for 2x04 and that one scene at the Wild Pony in 2x09. But I was thinking this show is so bad with the way they write friendships, people who are supposed to be besties don't know anything about each other and never interact, so maybe in Carina's mind Michael and Alex became friends this season, she just failed to show it to us on screen.

I’m weeping for all the friendships tbh. Isobel & Rosa got a good friendship deal this season, everyone else didn’t have that much luck.

I’m not sure why the show failed so many friendships so badly this season, but it really did. Most prominently Alex & Kyle, but also Liz & Michael, even Liz & Kyle. And don’t even get me started on Liz & Maria or Maria & Rosa. The show’s been telling us from episode 1x01 that Liz and Maria have been best friends since high school, and yet  we didn’t see much of their friendship in S1, and it was completely neglected in S2.

And Maria & Rosa??? Maria, who went to Rosa’s grave once a week for a DECADE, who mourned her like a sister? They had one (1) scene in S2, and that was about 30 seconds long. I just... How even???

Instead of friendships we got tons of relationship scenes and a million random moments between characters here and there.

I wish the show was a lot more character and less plot driven (lol, this season the show even forgot about the [main] plot until episode 10 or so). IDK, I just wish they’d look at the season as a whole and would make sure to pay more attention to friendships, and develop them along with the plot.

I really hope Covid restrictions will “force” them to focus on the core characters more in S3, simply bc they can’t introduce a million new side characters.

I’m just craving more friendship moments, and characters actually talking to each other instead of just getting together for an info dump.

As for Alex and Michael: I really hope we’ll see more of them becoming friends in S3. 2x04 was such a great episode in that regard. Just them spending time together, talking, teasing, having a moment of FUN (this show needs some more lighthearted, fun moments stat, and seriously, I want Kyle back, he had all the funniest lines in S1 and Trevino delivered them perfectly, WHEN WILL KYLE VALENTI COME BACK FROM WAR).

Ultimately I do want to see Alex and Michael in a relationship, but I also want them to be friends. Just give us that, S3, please.

[nemrut]

Archdemon’s Shadow - Epic 7

Another fanservice-y design, albeit an expected one. Still, a bit unfortunate. Wish she looked older, tbh, to fit her her voice more. Feels like she should be a lady in her 50s or 60s rather than someone who looks late teens/early twenties at most.

But that’s design stuff and not really important.

Well, her kit seems pretty big. The biggest and most important piece seems to be her S1 with the new debuff seal which it seems to exist in order to make a few chars irrelevant. There are more than a few chars whose identity and purpose comes entirely from their S2 passives and seal disables that for 2 turns on a single target. Now, things like immunity or cleanse can deal with that, but still, if she is preceded by a stripper, that means that one core member of your team will not do the one thing they need to do, Couple their with her two aoe skills and burns, and well, in longer fights that means she is a constant threat who can shut down your heroes.

Because she doesn’t seem to be a turn one unit. She is not a cleaver. She is not really a dmg dealer although you do want some atk on her in order to make her burns do some dmg. She is not even an opener. True, you want her fast, tanky and with effectiveness so she can survive enemy attacks, apply her debuffs and cycler her turns fast. Guess she would pair well with General Purgiss since he provides an atk buff and faster turn cycling. But you don’t need her to be someone who goes first. She needs to be able to survive and go reasonably often. If anything, if she goes soonish, she might run into the problem of her preferred target to still have the immunity from immunity set. In a way, unless they have a unit who can provide an immunity buff like ML Krau, she could benefit from her slow-ish speed. You still want her to be as fast as she can reasonably be without sacrificing the tankiness and effectiveness stats but she doesn’t need to be super fast.

She is a mage, so, she has access to some really good artifacts. Extra souls with Tagahel is good, Chatty which grants her a shield is good. Two aoe attacks means two chances to stun multiple people with Abyssal Crown. Aoe is also good for Sira-Ren to apply more debuffs. The new Tenebria artifact Crimson Moon could be useful since she seems to be a unit who could also be build with counter-set. So there is definitely a few options.

On a more personal issue, I really want Silver Blade Aramintha back. Not only would she work well with my way of fighting, I now have the teams and equipment to make good use of her. But is she better than Archdemon’s Shadow? Because she seems good, even if I do not love her design. I am 30 summons or so close to mystic pity so i can definitely get either one of them. Silver Blade will be close but she is pretty much guaranteed if I do not go for Aramintha.

Then there seems to be maybe another option though. I think I am one of the few non whales who actually has the option to get a unit from the coin shop, because I kept pulling dupes. So, if I understand the imprint situation correctly, I can get Aramintha from mystics and her from the coin shop. After which I will no longer have the coins to get a ML5 from the coin shop for another few years, if ever. And I am hesitant to do that, because while she seems good, i do not love her. What if there is a ML Cermia in the works who is to be released soonish and blew my coins on Archdemon’s Shadow? It could be that she is like ML Iseria who is super meh, so I dunno but I also feel like I wouldn’t regret ML Cermia but then, having a good unit now seems wiser than speculating on a unit who may not come for months or even years.

That said, I do think that the coin shop in general is really bad. I can benefit from this due to having some luck by pulling dupes rather than no ML 5s like some people and while I do not have more ML 5 units than most people, I do have 40 coins, but in general, it really is for those whales who have purchased all the packs and summoned a lot more than people like me. Really hope they rework it. Still think ML 4 star dupes should also grant coins.

Will have to think about this some more. I dunno if Archdemon’s Shadow is worth pulling per se, but her S1 and seal seems really useful on paper. Imagine in longer fights, that units who live and die by their S2 passives, who are big threats because of them suddenly cease to be. Arby, T.Surin, ML Ken, Alencia, Celine, Elena, F. ceci, Kayron, Last Rider Krau, LQC a bit, Maid Chloe, Mort, Riolet if you can hit him, C.Dom, Champ Zerato, Assassin Cartuja (also if you can hit him), BBK, Crimson Armin, F. Maya, G. Purgiss and Singelica. Technically Specter Tenebria as well but let’s be real, she will never hit her with her S1 unless Specter is the last unit standing in which case it doesn’t matter any more.

Granted, some of those S2s are better/more important/more impactful than others, but Archdemon’s Shadow can either inconvenience or outright completely nullify all of these characters here. Quite a few of those are rather important and common to see heroes.

Most of this is still speculation, of course. She is not yet out, and I have no idea how she will play out. She could mean that you might have to use more units who cleans or provide immunity. She is a good target for LQC to hit though since even with tanky stats she will not be able to survive a good LQC smash which means some decent splash dmg on her team. If ML Krau maintains the immunity buff, he seems to pretty much to be a perfect counter to her debuff and aoe dmg.

Interesting stuff, though.

[tb5-heavenward]

You just know I'm going to ask about Covenant now, right?

well since you two are two of the only people who know about covenant (and i’m sorry bud, your editorial sensibilities are going to have to put up with my stylistic lower caps) and since I’ve finally watched that shitshow of a most recent episode, I am totally down to talk about covenant.

but first let’s talk a little bit about TAG

TAG is terrible.

Visually the show is gorgeous. It has improved by leaps and bounds and it was charming when it started and it is awesome now. WETA are absolutely the bedrock of what makes this show worth watching, and I love the visuals more and more as they continue to push those boundaries. The cinnamontography, etc.

The Thunderbirds are amazing. They are beautiful, intricate, wonderfully clever machines. Their pilots ain’t half bad either. If you know and truly love the show and think about them all as well and deeply as they deserve, I think it’s impossible to honestly pick a favourite. International Rescue is a fantastic premise. The Tracys and their associates are all strong, compelling characters who have been iterated into an updated retro-future and made universally deeper and more interesting.

The bread and butter conceit of the show is awesome, the tension and conflict and creativity around solving complex problems that they manage to demonstrate in the course of a twenty-two minute episode sometimes just boggles the mind. When IR gets put up against the forces of nature and straight bad luck and pure, audacious dumbassery, we have gotten some of the best moments this show has to offer.

And those first season episodes were ugly as shit and everybody sounded the same and there were maybe three spare models between the entire NPC cast, but my GOD did S1 ever have heart. The soul of the show belongs to S1 and no one will change my mind about that. Try it. EOS was incredible. Skyhook was the definition of a balanced ensemble episode. Fireflash. Tunnels of Time. Relic. Recharge. Extraction. S2 came back swinging out of the gate with Ghost Ship. Up from the Depths was an absolute masterclass and actually changed the stakes in the show for the first time. Bolt from the Blue. Power Play. Hyperspeed. We all know which episodes were fucking good as hell. S3 comes out and the visuals have improved yet further. They have firmly found their feet as animators and as actors and as characters. We are finally actually starting to learn about these boys and their father, the most glaringly obvious hole in the show at large. Night and Day. Life Signs. And then SOS 1/2 and a complete and total paradigm shift. There is a sense of mortality to TAG now and it is an edge of realism that SHOULD be able to elevate it beyond what it’s been so far.

And yet.

TAG is fucking terrible.

Five years on, I am entitled to say, TAG is absolutely the goddamn worst sometimes, holy fucking shit. And what makes that terribleness terrible in and of itself—is that it’s because this show fails to recognize its most fundamental strengths. It fails to know what its audience will really connect to. And it’s because the writers’ room must be the goddamn wild west at this point, with the sort of nonsense these fucks are throwing at the wall and hoping to see it stick. It’s because whoever is in charge of the overall narrative arc of these seventy-odd episodes has not done what’s necessary to ensure TAG’s cohesion as a unified work.

(y’all hang onto your butts, i’m gonna do another brick wall metaphor.)

So what we have, five years on and seventy-odd episodes later, is a heap of bricks that WANT to be a wall, and we’re led to the impression that they’re SUPPOSED to be a wall, but they haven’t been put together by any single person. They have been put together by a rotating cast of a few dozen people who orient the bricks they’re given in slightly different ways sometimes, or who lay them at odd angles or who brought their own bricks from home for some reason. David Tennant is there. He must have cost at least half the budget for all of S2. All in all, he’s just another brick in the wall.

We know by this point that there is some asshole vaguely in charge of the idea of the wall. You can kind of tell that he’s at least heard of walls and he would definitely like to build one, but he isn’t exactly making it happen. There is an edifice here. It is wall-like, in some regions. At the end of the day though, most people who come across it also step over it, no problem. Or they chisel out the bricks that look to be worth saving and kick the rest of the wall over. That’s just fandom. That’s what fandom does.

Now, it is necessary at any point when talking about children’s media to talk about another series that ran three seasons over sixty-one episodes, and covered a level of geopolitical conflict over the course of a single year from the perspective of five incredibly gifted young people, all of whom were complex and flawed and sympathetic, and who knew they were responsible with putting the world to right with their own hands and set about doing that in the face of incredible odds, against villains who were no less than ruthlessly sociopathic.

ATLA sets a high bar. TAG was never going to be ATLA.

But fuck, I wish it had tried.

I wish the people who had set out to remake this story had sat down together and said, “Over the course of the next three seasons, we will tell the story of what International Rescue is. We will explain how it came to be. We will have strong themes that persist through the show and repeat themselves for emphasis: One Problem At A Time, You Can’t Save Everyone, Someone Has To Try. We will explain who these boys are and how they came to be this way. We will make it deeply and obviously clear what they do, how they do it, and why. We will give them limits. We will let them fail. We will give them flaws, we will let them clash with each other. We will let them grow and change. We will give them one deep, powerful loss that is the bedrock of what they became. We will put a powerful force in the world that loathes and opposes them at all costs. We will give them a tiny fragment of hope to chase and chase and chase and let them catch it only at the moment when they’v’e finally learned that they can let it go.”

I wish there had been rules. I wish there hadn’t been a new villain crammed into every season, in a show where the villains are objectively the weakest part. To add four villains to a show that barely has room for one and then to expect to make them ALL have a sympathetic edge somehow—it’s absolute fucking idiocy. I don’t care that The Hood is Kayo’s Uncle and Smiled In a Picture One Time. I don’t care that The Mechanic Is Apparently Being Mind Controlled Though No Indication Of That Was Given At Any Point in His History Until We Were Told So Explicitly. I don’t fucking CARE that Havoc Gets Yelled At By Her Boss Who Is Mean. I don’t give a shit that Fuse Is Apparently Too Stupid To Have Recognized The Moral Component Of Any Of His Criminal Acts Up Until He Inflicts Them On The Tracys.

You know which villains are objectively incredible in this show? Langstrom Fischler. Professor Harold. Francois Lemaire. Ned Fucking Tedford, who is a villain on the grounds that he is an obstacle, a problem to be solved, a concept of a person so hapless that they have multiple times strayed in the most incredible kind of peril. The strongest villains in this show are the ones who are just PEOPLE. People who are being careless. Or who are being greedy. Or who are being self-aggrandizing. People who exhibit traits equal and opposite to what our boys in blue exemplify.

I don’t know. We’re coming to the end of S3, we’re nearing their grand, incredible climax, this promised moment of potential reunion—and I wish I cared. I really wish I could. But there’s so much clutter. There’s so much their pulling DIRECTLY out of their asses in the home stretch. There are so many loose threads, there are so many concepts that were introduced and then never explored, or which were introduced in the end game and then never reinforced. There is so much information that we should have had from the start, so many mysteries that went unsolved and uncared about because they were unmentioned. There is not enough room for them to resolve anything in a meanignful way. There it so much that it seems like THEY didn’t know, and they SHOULD HAVE. They had time. Five fucking years, they had so much time to figure this out. And yet.

anyway.

So, covenant. Covenant basically a codeword for what I would’ve done differently, the last time I got mad about this whole endemic problem with the writing in this show, round about two years ago now.

Covenant is just a good word, really, and while it means something as a title, that relevance has kind of degraded a bit. It was going to be a rewrite of the end of Season 2, and sort of a retrofitting of Season 2 as a whole. It was going to explore the ideas that they put down and then never picked up, it was going to seriously address a lot of the core conflicts in the show and set things in motion to resolve those problems. I have it started. I have a good couple thousand words of the beginning, but it’s a good enough beginning that it could potentially begin something else, and so I won’t publish it here, in case I end up using it somewhere else. As is, it’s a priveleged-eyes-only sort of work, it’s only really been passed around my inner circle. If anyone is interested in hearing more about that, hit me up and I’ll elabourate. But for now, it is quarter past eleven, and I have ranted for long enough.

[kinetic-elaboration]

September 2: Thoughts on The 100 2x05, Human Trials

Thoughts on Human Trials

They set up an electronic gate really fast, didn’t they? An efficient people. I think of the big Arkadia wall as really being a S3 thing, but they had to specifically unlock the entrance to get Clarke in.

Clarke & Abby was another relationship they really destroyed, huh? “That’s not a prisoner. That’s my daughter.”

Omg, Clarke thought Abby was dead this whole time. I completely forgot about that. I mean, I remember that she saw the Exodus ship explode, but I forgot that she had no way of knowing up until now that Abby wasn’t on it. Technically, Abby should have been a bit of a surprise to Bellamy and Finn, too, but I guess they had bigger surprises to deal with at the time.

I kind of miss Byrne tbh.

Six people made it to Camp Jaha. That’s Bellamy, Finn, Monroe, Sterling (RIP), Raven, and I guess Murphy is the last one, although as far as I can remember, the last Clarke saw him he was blasting a hole in the dropship and running away into the woods. So she probably wouldn’t guess he was one.

Jasper looking for Clarke 3-4 times a day in medical just tears me up inside. He’s so loyal. He feels all emotions on such a large scale. And his disbelief that Clarke would abandon them.... Who was it who theorized that Jasper was more upset about Clarke abandoning them in Mount Weather than abandoning them in 2x16 because I’ve never been certain I agree but I am intrigued.

Raymond J. Berry is so underrated.

I tend to think that Dante is sincere in offering Jasper the chance to leave and come back but I also think that this is a perhaps unintentionally cruel test because of all of the 48, Jasper is the one for whom it would be hardest to step back outside the bunker even on a mission of great personal importance.

���I have to believe they didn’t survive here all this time by fighting.” But like, actually.... didn’t they? RIP to my mom’s theory that ALIE kept the Grounders in a constant state of war to discourage population growth.

“In Grounder Creole.” I mean I guess that’s one word for it.

Clarke’s incredulousness that her mother is Chancellor is semi-hllarious.

She keeps on mentioning Finn and Bellamy as the most important people--were they among the six who made it? Where are they?

And yet RAVEN was the one who was waiting outside for her all night. Outside that shitty little medical tent. With her little tablet, reading. RIP Princess Mechanic.

Too bad Clarke put on pants before The Hug or think how much better it could have been lol.

I could watch them hug all day. Just this scene man. The best. I’m such a simple person. This is all I want. People smiling and being fond of each other.

Bellamy’s face when Clarke says she’s the only one who came back.

That Mount Weather/Reaper stuff is fully fucked up and I don’t think the show ever did anything more outrageous than this season. Which is why it should have stepped back from trying to be outrageous.

I really like scenes like this one with Bellarke and Abby, the tension in the power structure being so uncertain. Kane is the Chancellor, but Abby is also, and there are multiple groups of people out there with different levels of information, working toward different ends, and different ideas about who should be prioritized, and why, and Bellamy and Clarke are used to having the power to make those decision but now they don’t--just the intricacy of the plot at this point in the narrative. I love it. I love power dynamics and stuff like that. Also, while I get why Abby doesn’t want Clarke to leave, Bellamy is 100% right that she owes aid to Murphy and Finn, and Clarke is 100% right that, tactically speaking, cutting them loose is dumb, because they could easily create problems with the Grounders--which, in fact, they do.

Clarke’s “We’re gonna need guns” is so hot.

Adventure Squad to the rescue!

Electric fence. And Wick helping them out. I love Octavia actually looks younger than them here even though objectively speaking Marie is not. ALSO the massacre happens at Lincoln’s village but isn’t he from TonDC, which also had that bomb drop on it? Or am I confusing things? Because if so, damn, that’s a lot of bad luck lol.

So Monty would have left immediately to go after Clarke and Jasper wouldn’t--in part because he’s afraid but I also think he does feel betrayed that she left them, which Monty really doesn’t seem to care about. Interesting. And then of course the containment breach, organized to distract them and keep them from leaving. Not sure how to fully unpack that. I will note that Monty sees Maya being irradiated, which is to say that when he opens the vents in 2x16, he knows what that will do, down to the details, what it looks like, everything, and Jasper does too. Also interesting that Maya doesn’t want Jasper to leave, thinks it’s “smart” to stay. Because she doesn’t like Clarke? Because she fears the outsiders? Yet isn’t the greatest wish of her people to see the ground?

Also looks like they’re already prisoners given that you need a keycard to get out of the dorms.

I find it intensely suspicious that the Grounder blood didn’t work on Maya, since I’m sure they’ve seen radiation that bad before--the guy Clarke saw was pretty well covered if I remember correctly. I think they just weren’t doing anything, to try to get Jasper to volunteer as a subject. But is this done with or without Dante’s knowledge? I am going to say without personally.

“I know that look.” Monty knows Jasper’s ‘I’m gonna do something stupid’ look lol. Also, he is brave! He is!!

Bellamy looking at Clarke by the fire is so capital-R Romantic. They’re so efficient at comforting each other that he literally does the entire conversation re: guilt over closing the dropship door on him by himself. Don’t worry babe, I got this forgiveness narrative down.

Finn... is such a weird character. I don’t actually dislike his arc but it’s so hard to tell, for example, how smart he is, the details of him. He’s certainly very weak. Cracks under pressure, loses whatever moral compass he had at the first convenience. And what of Murphy? He’s uncomfortable with what is happening but for whatever reason seems to find himself unable to stop Finn even as he inches closer and closer to something terrible.

Is their leader... Indra?

Jasper’s “heavily sedated” face and Monty’s reaction lol. “Nothing, I feel nice.” And Monty’s eye roll. Bitch why are you so judgemental? Like you haven’t heavily sedated yourself for fun. And the classic ‘no, not going anywhere’ Monty gesture. Truly an Icon.

Ooh, I like this little outdoor cafeteria/bar. Forgot about that. Forgot about how much in S2 was outdoors or in tents.

I remember when Doctor Mechanic was a significant rare pair/side ship and you know what, I rather miss it. I was never really on board but I can see the appeal.

Minus the slapping, obviously. Which doesn’t even really fit in this scene imo.

“She stopped being a kid the day you sent her down here to die” is of course an iconic line but tbh it’s not really fair. More fair since Abby just slapped her but like--it’s a little late to be pulling that card. If they’d stayed on the Ark, more of them would have died than died in S1 on the ground, imo. And at this point that’s basically already known.

I wonder what all the ‘warning radiation area’ signs are from. Was there a post-bomb period where survivors lived on the ground and divided the worst radiation sites from the more habitable areas? Also the “no weapons beyond this point” sign clearly pre-dates the Grounders. And it’s in English.

Kane’s optimism/pacifism is really halfway and to that extent, what does he expect. Also is there prison a subway station? What a ridiculous but great way to bring Kane and Jaha back together again.

Yet again floored by this set design at the Grounder village.

Tbh I find it highly unrealistic that that amount of forest could have grown up on the National Mall in 100 years. And where are the other monuments?

Bellamy’s handdddddddddddddddddds.

Or maybe they just made Maya extra sick. So the treatment of circulating her blood through Jasper’s system is the same one they use with the Grounders, so it isn’t so much taking Grounder blood, as I tended to think of it, as using the Grounder circulatory system. But obviously this can be done without kiillng the person--so do they just use each body repeatedly until it... dies? I realize trying to find order in this is futile but I’m curious anyway.

“We all have jobs to do. Mine is to be obeyed” should have gone down in the canon of great lines. It’s certainly much better than some others I can think of.

I don’t believe Dante took the kids to experiment on them, what with his intense aversion to the experiments, and the way he gets attached first to Clarke and then to Jasper. But then, truly, as Tsing says, why take them? What was the endgame here?

“We have no choice but to move ahead with the 47″ is truly one of the weakest forms of ‘no choice’ on this show. Because, I mean, you do have a choice. You’ve discovered that they’re useful to you, but that doesn’t mean you HAVE to do the useful but completely immoral thing, that’s quite an obvious example of wanting, not needing.

No one can convince me that Dante is straight with scarves like that.

So in other words, Delano, of one-eyed Delano fame, was like the Murphy of TonDC. Don’t cast people out, nothing good comes of exile.

Finn’s “I found you” at the end is top 5 creepiest moments in this series and no I am not taking criticism on this post.

[sadlove4you]

The 30 Day Tumblr Challenge

We are at it again bois.

Day 3 - My Favourite TV Show/Series

Okay so I don’t know why I’m excited to tell you my favourite shows. I definitely have a few of my favourites, also cartoon shows and anime if that counts lol

Okay starting off with:

1. OnMyBlock

You guys don’t understand how obsessed I am with this show!! This is one of my #1 favourites and now S2 is coming in a few days like holy shiit, feels like we been waiting forever. Watching the teaser and seeing Ruby opening his eyes at the end at me jumping 😂. I mean if they were thinking of not putting Ruby in S2 and he died then I ain’t watching S2. But can I say that Spooky is is fine as hell 😍 But anyway I recommend you guys go watch it, it’s da best, if you into that teen drama.

2. The Office

I love the Office, I always wanted to watch it from seeing memes on insta or Facebook all the time and now I finally got the chance too. It’s so funny and you just get every joke and just laugh. Also one good thing too is every episode is so entertaining and you don’t get bored. So if you wanting to find a new tv show to watch then come to this one. Another thing is that I love Michael’s personality, just trying to be the cool boss and even tho some episodes he can be annoying but then his very caring at the same time. Its cute how he finds everyone like a second family to him. Also can never get enough of Jim’s pranks on Dwight.

3. Black Mirror

Gotta say this is a pretty interesting tv series, I thought it would be one of those shows that just drag on but literally every episode is different and has its own story. I like how some of the episodes try to connect to the real world and what we do in our society. Also the fancy technology in this series sis pretty impressive but same time don’t want that type of technology being invented now lol I would have to say one of my favourite episode would have to be S4 Ep 4 - Hang the DJ. I was so confused at first and thinking the couple were trapped in some sort of game or world but at the end when it was them in a simulation for a actually a dating app, just blew my mind. That it was the process of the dating app to find the perfect match was really impressive. Also there’s a few keys points on how we work our dating life in the real world. But I was also happy there was a happy ending not like it is with Black Mirror. Another one of my favourite was S3 Ep1 - Nosedive just because I could relate to how we get sucked in the social media world and not in the real world. I more based on the you know you always wanting so many followers on social media and all these likes on your photos from people who you hardly hangout. Just seeing people or friends more higher then you, you kind of get that feeling you wish you were like that. Another thing too is now a days we see heaps and heaaappsss of fitness models that really hit you with ‘I want a body like that’ It kind of puts your self esteem down and trying to love your own body. I mean yes some models do help and motivate you to workout and all that but you gotta put in a lot of work and I’m just too lazy 😂

3. The End of the F***ing World

It’s a very unique show I must say. Even though James intention was to murder Alyssa in the first place but I still love the relationship between the two even though it was an unusual connection. But James came to fall in love with Alyssa eventually. If it weren’t for that creepy dude he murdered then we probably would of had a different story.

Okay now I’m getting into my favourite cartoon/anime shows

1. Tokyo Ghoul

One of my favourite anime series ever. Love a bit of action and gore which is what this series showed. Note that I’m not into the romantic animes, it kinda bores me. But honestly S3 was complete shit and was so confusing. Didn’t even connect with the last 2 seasons. But the other 2 seasons was 👌🏾 Noice.

2. Berserk

Listen if you want a bit of more gore and action then you should watch this. Love this show, literally finished it in a day and a half 😅. Guts is the main man and is probably my favourite character. But just a warning the ending is kinda fucked up and dark but I literally kept watching in confusion because it just escalated so quickly. I even read a few articles on what the ending meant but I’m still confused but overall still love the show. Was sad that everyone died suddenly expect Casca as one of the remake movies showed she survived but was obviously traumatised and lost her mind. Then had a demon baby which was fucked.

3. Rick & Morty

Gotta love this show man. Never knew I would like a show like this and understand all the humor 😂

4. Regular Show, Adventure Time & Amazing world of Gumball

If you don’t know what’s these shows are then GTFO! Jks but seriously these are pretty much the best cartoon shows ever, especially on Cartoon Network. Literally watch these shows growing up but I had a little sister that would watch these shows with me and our dad didn’t like it because of the crude humor and so on. So I haven’t watch these in awhile and going back to them is so nostalgic. It’s sad that these 3 shows had to end. I mean obviously a show gotta end somewhere but still. It won’t be the same :(

5. Love Death + Robots

I got to say this is a very interesting series. The animation was amazing but I was gobsmacked at the CGI which looked soooo realistic in some episodes. Literally finished it in a day. I mean yes it is a bit graphic but overall it was funny, dark and imaginative. But I do understand the sexual violence towards women in the series but at the end they got their revenge. But to say Sonnies Edge was probably my favourite episode and hope we can get a series happening or I’ll be disappointed haha.

——————————————————————————

Okayy I guess I’m done. Idk why I was so excited to talk about this topic for some reason. But tbh I’m not really a huge tv show fan as I mentioned before sometimes shows drag on and it gets really boring and I just move on to the next show. I mean these shows above are probably the only ones I enjoy the most out of every other show.

A good example of a show that drags on is Riverdale, literally. I hate this show so much and idk how people are still watching it. First season was really good then it just got worst. I mean is it just me or Veronica is really annoying and being with Archie is even worse.

Also another show that pissed me off was Shameless! ughhh really ticked me off when Debby eventually had the baby and the way she acts so stubborn literally fucked me right off. You know when you watch a show and it just doesn’t go the way it should and then you just stop watching. Also Game of Thrones, I’m that percent of people that hasn’t watch this shit at all. I recommend if you haven’t watch this show then don’t start because literally every episode is an hour and there’s like what, 20 odd episodes in the 6S. So good luck if you gonna start. But I did watch the first 2 episodes of S1 but it’s kinda weird with the brother sister thing lol I should just make a post of all the shows I hate and why 😂

But anywayyy sorry if this was soo long. Didn’t think it would be and it sucked because I couldn’t put more gifs in haha But if your feeling bored then recommended watching a few of these bad boys I have put down but if you have any that don’t drag on and are actually worth watching and not boring. Then please tell because I don’t want to start watching a show and then get disappointed during it.

Alright then see you guys tomorrow for Day 4

[wardog-of-the-endless]

Wardog’s Fic Masterpost

You can find nearly all fics through my AO3 account, but here’s a list of links!

MARVEL

IronStrange- Tony Stark x Stephen Strange

Wishes (Better Left Ungranted)

General-  Tony makes a few wishes, but some are better left ungranted.

‘Till Then

Mature- Stephen Strange is trying to work at Kamar-Taj when his boyfriend texts him... from his Malibu bed. Stephen opens a portal to talk to him about it and they wind up, not really talking about it. ( Tony Stark Bingo Explicit Card A4 KINK: Masturbation)

The Theory of Magic (Series)

General- A get together series in which Stephen Strange has a crush and actually makes a movie. Stories are Complete but the Series is Ongoing, available for expansion via prompts when open.

Remind Me

Study and Practice

Burden of Proof

Absence Makes the Heart

Time Heals All (Series)

General- Stephen Strange and Tony Stark are married. A little Team Cap antagonistic. Part 3 is a little Dark!IronStrange.

What the Doctor Ordered

Cloak and Dagger

Break Rules (Not Oaths)

IronPanther- Tony Stark x T’Challa

Hot Chocolate

General- (Fluff and Flirting)- So a combination of a prompt and a ship. From jacarandabanyan "Hot Chocolate" and bash-it-all's "IronPanther".

WinterHawk- James Barnes x Clint Barton

Nesting On Knives (Series)

Teen- Tumblr Prompt: 1.“Would you ever write WinterHawk?<3″ . Birthday Fic + Tumblr Prompt: All Avengers, clock, poking (+ Tony Stark) 1. Well-Armed (To Hold) 2. A Meddling Affection

WinterIron- James Barnes x Tony Stark

Children of Light

General to Teen- Slowbuild to WinterIron. Deals with the Death of JARVIS, the first activation of FRIDAY, and JARVIS’s eventual resurrection. (Note that J is the “Major Character Death” referenced.) This is angsty because I have FEELINGS about the loss of JARVIS and the fact that we never mourned him in MCU. Stories and Series ongoing.

Son of Stark

To Lose a Child

A Child’s Initiative

I Will Always Find You

General- Tony as Snow White, Bucky as Prince Charming in an AU snippet of OUAT.

Collision With a Dream

General- Bucky's walking along arguing about Russian Lit when he literally runs over his dream guy. Tasha does what she usually does, she makes it worse. That's alright, Tony's apparently the forgiving sort.

(You Wanna) Date My Dad

General- Featuring Harley Keener! "Would you ever write a fic where Bucky meets Harley?"

To Cure a Hangover (You Need Espresso and a Date)

General- Prompt: "Would you ever write: WinterIron with age difference? Like teacher!Bucky with Student!Tony? :P"

I Was Promised a Flying Car

General- Prompt: Would you ever write a fic where Tony and Bucky is bonding over being nerds/loving science? (And doing all kinds of wacky, mythbuster-esque experiments that Tony whips up any time Bucky begins a sentence with "I wonder what would happen if...?")So it's not "science" driven, but science nerd Bucky did spend his last night before deployment at the Stark Expo, staring at a flying car...

Mechanics, Millionaires, Models & More

General- Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are friends from childhood. When Tony as a single dad catches the eye of the model James Barnes, there’s some mutual Instagram-Stalking and a lot of flirting.

Tony’s First Friend

Coping for An Age

(Walk Walk) Fashion Baby

Milkshakes and Motorcycles

Teen- Bucky, second to the Captain for the Howling Commandos, hears a scuffle around the corner and finds himself with an armful of just about the prettiest little lost lamb he's ever seen. Since Tony don't seem too keen on his now-ex, Bucky's gonna buy him a milkshake, wrap him in a leather jacket, and hopefully show him a good time.

Coffee, Curses, Kisses

General- Tony Stark drags himself out of his workshop on a regular Thursday morning. Well, mostly a regular morning. Except for Clint Barton lying on the breakfast bar in themed underwear. The theme is new, the rest is depressingly familiar. Ok, so maybe the rose petals are new too. (What the hell, Clint?) It's enough to make a billionaire grateful for the Avengers Alarm. Wait a minute, magic too? Fuck, this is just not Tony's day. (Until it really, really is.) (This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019 S4: FIRST KISS)

Riding Roughshod

Teen- The Heroic Captain America wakes up in a world that is integrated far beyond what he would have dreamed of when he went into the ice, though he never expected to be a part of it. A pioneer of mixed-race teams back in his own day, the last thing he expects is to be called upon to do so once again, this time gathering a group of heroes from some rather unlikely places. If that weren't enough to worry about, there's a wild-card Soldier with a familiar fighting style making trouble at top-security bases all over the world... and a shiny red and gold suit that doesn't seem to answer to anyone. That's to say nothing of the kid genius that's supposedly behind it. ( This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019 R4: Centaurs / This is a Fill for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 K3: Tony Stark/ Iron Man)

Love Like Knives

Mature- Winter wakes up Tony when he wants someone to play rough with.This is a Bingo Fill for Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019- U4: [Image: Winter Soldier holding a knife.]

California Dreamin’ A Beach Bums Verse

Teen- Note: A Special Collaboration Series! This is a WinterIron get together with puns, angst, fluff and more! Note that some fics may include Losers crossover characters! Also make sure to read my partner maevee’s stories!

Don’t Tell (Secrets) -Losers Crossover Fic

(Everyday Is A) Winding Road - Losers Crossover Fic

Mai Tai (Offer You A Drink) 

When You Wish Upon A Stark -Maevee

We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Bucky -Maevee!

Adorato

Teen-James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, has been out of the ice and Hydra’s hands for a month the first time he hears a familiar voice. (A SoulMate AU)

True, Strong and Brave

Teen- Bucky Barnes moves into the tower and receives help from an otherwise elusive Iron Man. But when the team gets called out and things go wrong, Steve gets a reality check as to what has been done in his name. Bucky steps up, he's one of the few who can. (Team Cap Critical; Anti-Wanda)

Tired

General- From a Prompt on Tumblr: Random Sentence- “I’ll do it for you.”

(Were) Whisperer

Mature- In a world where Aliens rain destruction from portals through space, ancient Gods arrive on beams of light, and a certain Billionaire Philanthropist darts around the world in a metal suit: there really is a very high bar for what is considered "weird". Shapeshifters hardly register, having been long known. You’re either a Human, a Were, or a Whisperer. Most people can prove whether they’re the first or the second, a few will lie about being the third. Alternately, there's Tony. Tony Stark is one of the few people pretending the first and burying the third, and he’s more or less in the clear with it until Steve Rogers catches up with the Winter Soldier, and brings him home to Avengers Tower. Tony doesn’t have to say a word, the Wolf knows differently.

An Attraction

Jurassic World AU-  Write... a crossover/au of the last non-marvel movie you saw and marvel (if ships, winteriron?). Essentially Jurassic World & Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Snippets with WinterIron. Originally Posted on Tumblr: Expansion Pack for AO3 Rolling Out Now!

Next Year Will Be Better

General- Just a quick story for Tony’s birthday. Pre-Slash Tony Stark/James Barnes, and Tony acting as IronDad to the Spider Son and his Potato Gun Son.

Let’s Go Dancing

General- This is a Marvel Universe-Center Stage Fusion AU that no one asked for and everyone is getting anyway. Tony dances for the American Ballet Company as their featured ballerino, performing under the name Antonio Carbonell. James and Steve are two of the ABC’s newest students, and James gets a chance to meet his crush on his first day. Just his luck, Tony is even better in person. (Natalia may have been setting them up all along.) This is a Fill for Tony Stark Bingo 2019- S1: Dancing

The B Team

Teen- Pepper Potts has had a long day that isn’t over yet, as Phil Coulson has just arrived on the doorstep of Tony’s Malibu Mansion to discuss Iron Man joining a new team. In most instances, it wouldn’t be enough to let him in the door, except he’s brought James Barnes along with him. Of course, he was probably expecting that James would be helping them talk business… But all the Soldier seems to want to do is get busy. (WinterIronWeek Day1/ TSB S2: [Image: Tony Stark working on IM in Workshop]) 

Done

General- Tony has just started prep work to remove the old arm and install the new one he's built, and already James is impatient. Or maybe he just wants to needle his boyfriend a little? Tony gets pretty cute when he's annoyed. (WinterIronWeek Day 2)

A Second Take, A First Impression

General- A drunk Tony Stark meets his Soulmate at a college party, but James is a gentleman (and Rhodey is scary) so nothing can happen until they’re sober. Tony wakes up at an ungodly hour of the morning, confused at his current predicament, and meets his (very attractive, very shirtless) Soulmate all over again. (He wishes he could forget all of this.) (WinterIronWeek Day 3)

Hunting For (You)

General- The Soldier has cleared the last of his required therapies, been gifted a new arm, and turned loose. The first thing he wants is to show Tony, up close and personal. Of course, there's a certain winged pest that is going to interrupt. (WinterIronWeek Day5)

WinterWidow/RussianRoulette- James Barnes x Natasha Romanova

No Fics Currently

Stony- Steve Rogers x Tony Stark

A Guardian of Light

Teen- a.k.a. that time Steve sank the Valkyrie in the Arctic and became a spirit-walking wolf to guide Tony, at Frigga’s suggestion.

Shield Studios Ltd.

General Audiences- All the Avengers in a non-powered voice-acting AU for an animated show called "Assemble" staring their Marvel counterparts. Tony/Steve have a mutual admiration/crush but it's not actually romantic and can be read as gen.

Assemble!

Phil’s Failed Plan

You’re Welcome to Try

The Vague & The Unmistakable

General Audiences- Looking back on it, there are several things that should have tipped Steve off that today was his Birthday. (Starting with the fact that it's suddenly clear Tony engineered every one of them.)

Stucky- Steve Rogers x James Barnes

No Fics Currently

Stuckony- Steve Rogers x James Barnes x Tony Stark

On The Wing

Teen- A Wing AU for Stuckony. Stories are Complete but the Series is Ongoing, available for expansion via prompts when open.

Fluttering

Turtledove

(I’ll) Be Good

Mature- So when the tumblr prompt "Would you ever write...ABO winterironshield with alpha Tony?" meets my Kink Card S2 Square "Alpha/Beta/Omega Society" this is where we end up.

Allergic to Coddling

From the Prompt: "Would you ever write Tony Stark having an allergic reaction to something and the rest of the Avengers babying him to the point of ridiculousness because they just love him so much?" Sort of Stuckony, sort of Everyone is Poly Because Avengers? Your choice.

Poly Avengers- Everyone Loves Everyone

Everybody Loves Me

From the Prompt: "Would you ever write a TonyXEveyone fic? Not exactly everyoneXeveryone, but everyone *in love* with Tony only?" Note this is a Partial Fill which may be expanded on later. Featuring Tales of Suspense Hawkeye/Comic Clint Barton, aka deaf and a dumpster kid until the end.

Non Romantic- No Shipping

Shut UP, Bucky!

Teen-  From the hellscape of Discord Discussions I bring you: QueenWuppy: "During World War II condoms were not only distributed to male U.S. military members, but enlisted men were also subject to significant contraception propaganda in the form of films, posters, and lectures. A number of slogans were coined by the military, with one film exhorting "Don't forget — put it on before you put it in." "guys i was doing research and and steve and bucky were subjected to this". AKA Bucky makes SO MANY COMMENTS about Super Soldier Sized Protection. So many.

The Most Powerful (Pillowfight)

General-  In which Carol and Tony (aggressively) support each other and then do battle (with pillows) for their honor. Or each other's honor? It's unclear, things got out of control. (James Rhodes loves these idiots way too much.) (This is a fill for the TSB 2019 Square: T2: A BATTLE/FIGHT/CONFRONTATION)

We Can’t Plot Murder All The Time

General Audiences- From the Prompt: "Would you ever write Deadpool/Tony (IronPool? DeadMan? IronDead? Dunno their ship name :b)" AN: I don’t ship them so this is a non-romantic.

The Losers

A Touch of Grace

Gen to Teen- Cougar has a bad feeling right before the Fadhil operation, and he admonishes Jake to be careful. Jake mostly pays attention, but Cougs is pretty distracting. (Slight D/s tones and Subspace.)

If I Touch You, Will You Listen? (Cougar’s POV)

If I Listen, Will You Touch Me? (Jensen’s POV)

Tag (You’re It)

Teen-  Jake hacks a new system for the express purpose of getting the Losers prank dog tags printed and delivered. Mostly because his Unit is full of people that make bad decisions, himself included. And also? To flirt with Cougar. Jake is willing to do stupid, stupid things in order to flirt with Cougar.

You And Tequila (Make Me Crazy)

Teen (and Up)- Fortalvarez Tequila is a family business that's been in operation for a hundred and fifty years. Currently, under the management of the family matriarch Constanza, the business will soon be passed to her beloved grandson Carlos. The problem is, Constanza does not care for modern technology or the fact that all of her grandbabies (but especially her favorite) are single. Her solution is a single advertisement for a new Social Media Expert, which is about to be answered by the very handsome (and rather impulsive) Jake Jensen. 

[crabsticksforbreakfast]

WTF? I’m Being Realistic!

So after crumbling completely at S2′s lack of response, I’ve been through so many conflicting emotions. A part of me felt like an idiot, a part of me felt like he was an idiot, and another part of me just didn’t know what to think at all! I was switching from tearful, to angry, to empty, to optimistic, to numb, to empowered, to confused, and around again in the most excruciating cycle.

By last night, I still hadn’t heard from S2. He hadn’t even been online for well over 24 hours. Now, that part didn’t surprise me - he’s not that interested in Facebook and rarely uses it. The bit that surprised me was the complete lack of response from him. I kind of expected he might message me, apologising for not replying the day before. I was hoping for some kind of explanation... but I got nothing.

I was so very upset and wanted someone to talk to about it, but I was reluctant to ask anyone for help as I was kind of embarrassed about the whole thing. I mean, I’ve sold him to all my confidants as this perfect guy who would never hurt me or mess me around. All of them were completely convinced about it too, so to then turn around and tell them about this just felt uncomfortable and humiliating. I didn’t want to look a fool.

My friend got in touch with me about her New Year’s Eve, hinting that something might have happened for her. Naturally, I pried a little and she told me about a guy she had met and kissed. I replied to her, enthusiastically, telling her to go for it blah blah blah, but inside I felt jealous. Now, I don’t normally feel this way when my friends are enjoying some sort of romantic success - normally I celebrate with them as I’m able to separate my own love life (or lack thereof) from theirs and not compare them. This time, however, it was all just a little bit too raw. She got the perfect New Year’s kiss, what I had been hoping and praying for all this time, and she hadn’t even expected it. I continued to congratulate her, but each time I typed, a lump rose up in my throat.

Eventually, my friend enquired how I was and if I had any plans to see “my man”. I was kind of grateful of the chance to vent, so I told her what had happened. She was truly shocked by it as she, like everyone else, had thought that S2 really liked me. We both said that it would not have taken him long to send me a message just to say he was too busy to meet, or whatever. I said that I wondered if his autism had played a part here. My friend admitted she didn’t really know much about it, so I explained that, for most autistic people at least, social rules can be quite confusing to them, so perhaps S2 hadn’t realised that I would be offended by getting no reply from him.

My friend had seen us together the first time we went out in November, and she said that, since then she had believed he liked me from the vibe she got from us when we were walking along together. I agreed with her! I mean, I’ve felt the chemistry between us since October, especially on our nights out... I’m so confused.

One question by friend asked me was “Do you think you could put up with this, if this is how it will be in the long run?” The answer was no... it would drive me crazy. I’d be a paranoid mess every time he ignored a message, or kept me waiting for something else. “My instincts are telling me to run for the hills,” I said, “but I don’t know if that’s just me trying to protect myself.”

My friend advised me to give it at least a week to see how things were and take it from there. I agreed, saying that my next step was to see how things were at work on Tuesday and work from there. The thing I’m scared of is going in and him being awkward with me. Until I know for sure, there’s a very real possibility that he ignored my message because he has decided he doesn’t want to pursue anything with me, or that he has become scared of it for some reason. Being completely honest here, that’s all I’ve ever known from guys. They pursue me, they realise I’m serious about them, they freak out, they run away. So why would S2 be any different?

Aside from this, I’m worried about my own actions. I’m not very good at hiding when I’m upset or angry, and with these being the two dominant emotions I’m feeling right now, there’s a very real chance that it’s going to be strikingly obvious when I turn up at work. Despite his autism, S2 is quite good at reading certain things in people, at least, he’s picked up on a few things with me before. If I’m angry, he’s going to know! What if he notices I’m angry and he doesn’t know how to deal with it? What would happen then?

By this point, it was getting late, and my thoughts were exhausting me. I said goodbye to my friend and went to bed with a new burning desire... I had to talk to Dobbs! She knew him at school, and out of everyone I’ve talked to about S2, she has given me the best advice. It was too late to contact her, so I waited until the morning.

I spilled everything out to Dobbs, also updating her on the things that were said on our Christmas night out. She told me she was proud of me for being brave enough to message him, which she knows I find hard. She also suggested I lay my feelings out to him... yeah that’s not going to happen! I told her I couldn’t do that.

I sent Dobbs the message I’d sent to S2 and she said it was good, but pointed out the last thing I wrote - “... if not, see you on the flip side!” She suggested that he may have read that and thought it meant he didn’t need to reply if he wasn’t free. To be fair, I’d considered this a lot too. If this was the case, I honestly could forgive him, and it does seem like a very strong possibility. I hope that is what happened...

Dobbs was very reassuring to me, and after our chat, I felt a lot better about things. Having the perspective of someone who has seen, first hand, how S2 struggles to navigate through social norms made me more sure that this was the true cause of his “rudeness”.

So now, the plan is to go to work tomorrow, as calm as I’m able to be and just see what happens. I’m trying to put my feelings on hold so I don’t overthink any more before I see him. I want to be able to see exactly what is real, and not what my mind believes or fears it to be. Wish me luck!