#i wrote this pre season 2 but it works even better after it

[treedish]

The stars don't shine, they burn, and boy did Crowley know his stars. And the shine of his favorite star in the sky could never compare to the everyday radiant light of his angel. But stars burned, and being too close to the celestial hurt him in ways he never thought were possible. Except, demons were meant to play with fire; they were meant to burn. So maybe it was okay if he stood just a bit too close to Aziraphale for his own good most days. Or at least, that's what he told himself.

He did worry about his angel though, for stars were lonely and often forgotten in the vast canopy of other stars. Very few humans loved just one star, instead marvelling at them as a whole. Being a star was a solitary existence, and no creature could ever get too close without being blinded or burned. Eventually, even the hottest, brightest stars would burn themselves to a crisp, and then explode in a grand destruction, reduced to dust and colorful matter drifting through space. Sometimes, when Crowley looked too long in his angels eyes, he saw blue giants swelling with love and light and he feared the day they would go nova. He created novas, after all, hell he created every star in the bloody sky and then some.

He was so proud of his celestial lights, and yet even with his joy over his beloved cosmic creations, God had once again outdone him by creating Aziraphale, the brightest celestial light that there ever was.

In a way, Aziraphale was the last thing between Crowley and full demonhood. Because when he Fell, he lost everything. His faith, his grace, his name. And he loathed. He angered. He raged. And he went up to Eden, to look upon God's new creations and tempt them away from Her. And there he was. Crowley had whispered in Eve's ear, tempted her to the apple and watched from the ground as she led Adam to humanity's destruction.

So you can imagine his surprise when mid-exile from the garden, an angel came up to the couple and offered them his flaming sword, to protect them and their unborn child from the dangers of the outside world. But that wasn't right at all. God and Her whole lot were rotten, sanctimonious, unimaginative, and so very apathetic in their holiness. Every angel he had ever known had blindly followed God's will, and Her will right now was to kick the humans out of the garden to fend for themselves as punishment. So why would an angel, an agent of the holy agenda, secretly give away a blessed artifact to the very humans he was meant to be judging right now?

His apologetic smile had been so soft and sincere that Crowley thought for a moment that the being wasnt an angel at all, but rather Grace incarnate. A being more pure and Good than the archangels themselves. But no, there he was, ushering them out of the garden before the storm arrived and blocking up the exit after they were gone.

He couldn't help but go up to the winged creature standing anxiously on the wall. He couldnt resist the temptation to speak with this being, this force of empathy. And he did and there was Aziraphale and Crowley found himself falling all over again. One afternoon, one interaction, one act of kindness, and suddenly all of his anger, all of his disgust, and all of the empty longing at the center of his being vanished. In its place, he found the echo of his Faith.

Somehow in his Fall, the warped core of his inhuman heart had burned to a crisp, but sheltered the tiniest hint of his hope, and it reared its ugly head then in his chest as he stared in amazement at this miraculously Good angel before him. It was as he'd said, by God's rules, he had been the one to do the good thing, and Aziraphale had been the one to do the bad. And the next 6000 years were history.

He may not believe in God or her bloody Plan, but he believed in Aziraphale, and his angel's unfailing ability to always do the right thing regardless of anyones blasted plans, even his own. All he had ever done in his entire existence, his whole relationship with the Almighty, had been to question. It was why he Fell. Why he didnt Fall as far as the others. But he found himself one night, bottle of whiskey in his hands and his twinkling creations above his head, speaking to God again. It was a habit he'd picked up and never been able to shake.

This time was different, however. After 60 centuries on Earth among the humans, this was the first time he didn't scream or beg or curse his questions at the heavens. Instead, he quietly admired his accidental constellations and whispered so quietly that only She would ever hear it.

"If there's one thing You ever got right, it was him. In all of Eternity, You have never made anything else that compares to that angel, not even your beloved whales. So I'm saying this once, now. Thanks. I don't care if You meant to or not, but You gave me the opportunity to live with the embodiment of my stars for the last few millennia, and for that one blasted, blessed thing I'll actually thank You, You bloody autocrat. But if You dare to cast him out, to try to throw him in with my lot, I'll hunt You down. I'll collapse space and time and matter itself until I reach You and I'll rip the blessed essence right out of Your incorporeal grace, do You understand me? He's the one truly Good thing You've ever done, don't You dare muck it up now."

If anyone ever asked him about it later, and of course no one ever did, he would deny thanking God for anything, and he would especially deny ever being grateful for the angel that left him behind.

[findafight]

Okay but Joyce doesn't like Steve au that's juxtaposed by Hopper having accidentally adopted Steve but neither of them know the other's strong feelings towards Steve.

Joyce is eyeballing him all suspicious and the like. She doesn't trust him around the kids, is wary when Will talks about how he's actually pretty cool, and that Dustin is totally obsessed with him now. She greatful for his help with...whatever he did with the Upside Down stuff, but still. She knows his reputation. And her opinion doesn't change until post season 4 (despite a very frosty exchange she had with Claudia Henderson about maybe...being careful about letting Steve hang around Dustin pre S3) because suddenly Steve is like. Always at the house she shares with Hopper. She's ticked at first, because why is this random boy in her house? Hanging out and watching baseball with her daughter? And when she mentions why Steve is there all the time, at one of the seemingly rare times Steve isn't eating dinner with them (she thinks a date was mentioned, and she refrained from scoffing at how typical it was for Steve to have a date and probably not call back) El and Hop look at her like she's crazy.

Because Hopper is no longer afraid to admit his fondness for Steve. So much so that Joyce's distain for the kid throws him way off base. The whole time Joyce has been side eying Steve Hopper was sitting there smiling like Steve :) good kid :) he helped El with her hair after Kali. :') Talked about how to accept things you've done that make you feel guilty while working to make up for them and grow to be a better person :) always putting himself on the line to protect those kids :) wrote to El all the time while she was in California so she knew he was still her friend :) glad they have him. Glad El has him :)he called her Ellie last week that's cute :) unfortunate taste in men but apparently that's a family trait so I will deal with it :/ my son :')

So they're both going "why wouldn't he be?"

And Joyce barrels on like "well, he's always here and he and Jon are barely speaking-"

"Woah that not exactly...Steve's fault..."

"and he's closest to Dustin of the kids, not Will."

"not my fault I was dealing with possession when Dustin, Lucas, and Max had their special Steve adventure" (El pats his shoulder in sympathy)

"and now he's missing dinner for a date. just don't get no one else thinks it's weird!"

El frowns "it's their two-month anniversary."

"huh?"

"him and--his date. They have been dating for two months. It's special."

"El, you don't even know her name...I don't think it's that-"

"yes I do! He told me. But asked me not to tell. Right Will?"

Will nods. "They want to keep it quiet. Not ready for everyone to know? I don't know who it is but that's what Steve said when we asked. Robin definitely knows too."

"so why'd he tell El?"

"and me. He told us together."

El rolls her eyes "because he is my brother?"

Hopper's face scrunches in a smile, proud and warm.

"El, we aren't his family..."Joyce is trying, she is! But she isn't fully understanding exactly what's happening or everything in winter/spring 1985.

El looks mortally offended by this. "yes we are. Steve was my brother first."

And Joyce has to reckon with the fact that maybe she's misjudged Steve a little, if El and Hop are getting so defensive over him....

Part 2 part 3

[t00muchheart]

As I do when I am hyperfixating on something, I have read a LOT of supernatural fanfiction in the last few months, and I get a lot of the titles I read from other peoples’ recommendations or collections on ao3, so I figured I’d share some of my favorites in case anyone else is looking for recs :)

AUs:

Spirit of the West by teen_dean

This is a shock to literally no one who follows me because I regularly bring it up, but it honestly is one of the best things I’ve ever read. The 90s horse girl AU of your dreams (or, if you haven’t dreamed of one, that you never knew you needed). The storytelling is immaculate, the symbolism rich, and it only improves on re-reading

And this, your living kiss by opal_bullets

Poet Dean AU featuring genuinely beautiful comments on language and writing and how we encounter stories and words and what they can do, and also some honestly incredible poetry

where there is darkness by quiettewandering

Lighthouse keepers AU! this one is a bit mysterious and I did scream into a pillow after finishing it. If you know the story of the Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers, it is loosely inspired by that.

Phantasma by thisisapaige

Messy Dean, my beloved. Messy, Stanford-Era Dean, my beloved. Dean breaks off from John and buys a haunted house, and things sort of escalate.

For All You Young Hockey Players Out There, Pay Attention by thursdaysfallenangel

I don’t even watch hockey, but this AU kind of made me want to start. Rivals to friends to lovers all while dealing with the homophobia in the NHL

time has come today series by teen_dean

Team Free Will brings in teen Dean Winchester to help with a case, parallel worlds come into play; every version of Dean Winchester falls in love with Castiel & all the good stuff like that

What Baking Can Do by cowlovely

Baker & Dad Dean fic and Doctor Cas? What more could you ask for?

Everyone’s a Critic by Englandwouldfall

Food Critic Cas and Chef Dean meet in a truly unfortunate way. This is worth it for Cas’s reviews alone, but also the Dean-Gabriel dynamic

FROTUS by kathscradle

A President Cas, Restaurant Owner Dean romance that was honestly just a good time

Fix-Its:

take the bones, begin anew by JustStandingHere

This was one of the first fics I read and it is sort of peak disaster™ Dean Winchester. I love a good “I fixed up a house for you and didn’t realize it meant I was in love” fic and this one is iconic

i want to do with you (what spring does with cherry trees) by sobsicles

I ugly cry every time I read this fic. It is a run of Cas and Dean’s relationship in seasons 13-15 and has Dean making a friend and it hurts but also it’s so good. Maybe my favorite Sam line of any fic comes from this fic ("If he thinks what you two do is friendship, then I must just be some guy he happens to speak to sometimes.”)

break the skin (to break the barriers) by sobsicles

Dean gets tattoos, and as he does, he tells the tattoo artist his life story. This is a post-15x19 fic told from an outside perspective and it is so well-done

Dumbassery, Denial, Doing by sobsicles

Listen tbh this list could be dominated by sobsicles and so I am showing restraint by only including three of their works. Their Dean characterization is everything to me and this fic really highlights Dean growing to understand himself better when given the freedom to

Revisions by bizarrestars

THEE what if Dean and Cas got together earlier and Chuck just wrote it out? fic.

a turn of the earth by microcomets

I love a work that explores pre-series Dean, and this one is great. Basically, think what-if later seasons Cas and pre-series Dean met (Strandlines by aeli_kindara is another good example of this premise, but in Strandlines, it is pre-series Cas as well as pre-series Dean).

psalm 40:2 by unicornpoe

On a similar note, psalm 40:2 is a great pre-series Dean, future-Cas fic. I am a bi Dean believer but this fic did sway me toward the gay Dean camp because it’s simply so good.

You Belong Among the Wildflowers by ImYourHoneyBee

Dean fixing his relationship with Jack? You got it. Dean trying to work through losing Cas? Yep. Dean getting Cas back by being stubborn? It’s there.

Who You Gonna Call? by saintedcastiel

Dean has a ghost following him around as he tries to start a life post-series, and for a while, he can’t figure out what’s happening. I love nothing more than Dean telling people he and Cas were married because he doesn’t know how else to explain and this fic delivers so hard

quilts by fleeceframe

A “Cas didn’t confess before getting taken to the Empty” fic. Soft things all around

Miscellaneous:

Fathers & Daughters by sinnabonka

On a different note, this is one of my favorite Claire fics. It looks at Claire’s relationship with Cas and the impossibility of it, and it’s so artfully done.

Bus Loop Madness by batz_in_blue

Literally just a “what if everyone lived, Jack was a toddler, and they all picked him up from school?” AU. I audibly laughed while reading this, and it’s an essential pick-me-up from the heavier fics.

More of my favorite sobsicles fics include: gorging myself on you, still can’t get full (insatiable), and he’s back (with a mind of his own), six hundred sundays (and many more), oh sooner or later it all comes down to faith, things happen (they do, they do, and they do), according to all known laws of life, and profoundly bonded (by law)

Also, honorable mentions to Ninety One Whiskey, which is such a good fic, and Make a Believer Outta Me, which is a Hocus Pocus AU that is honestly just a fun time.

[starbylers]

That ring is a very small thing, but I feel like if that was a tiny Byler detail we wouldn’t think of it as meaningless. It could very well be that El just kept it on because she still loves him as a person and it’s sentimental to her, or that it’s not made important enough to symbolise anything storywise and was just a nice gift, but regardless I don’t think a post time skip break up is an impossibility. I understand why it might seem worrying or tedious but I think we have to remember that Mlvn has a track record of like…not ending things even when it’s demonstrated to them repeatedly why they don’t work together? I mean it starts with the lying & drama of s3 that they both forget about without addressing after El says ‘I love you’. It continues in s4 with El lying to Mike, their awful poorly communicated argument & Mike’s insecurities that he discussed with Will instead of El, which were again all unaddressed between Mlvn and painted over by Mike this time being the one to say ‘I love you’.

Mike ended s4 by basically regressing in his conformity arc. Maybe this is because I don’t think Mike consciously lied (at least not completely, I think he sensed something didn’t feel right) in the monologue, but where we left his arc in s4…the guy was fighting for his life to hold onto straightness and not lose El. El who also regressed in her independence arc when she relied on Mike to give her power (and ended up losing). Will also regressed, in deciding to lie to Mike instead of speak his truth. I know it might seem to us like ‘they are so clearly over what reason is there for them to stay together?’ but I think it’s possible we are further ahead in that realisation than the characters themselves. Them still being together is definitely tiring because we all know they are not going to work out, and we want to get to the part of the story we’ve been waiting for (aka Byler) as soon as possible. But that sense of inevitability/it being over to us doesn’t necessarily mean the characters themselves have reached their breaking point yet. We also know the painting plot is essentially the Benverly poem plot from IT, and Bev doesn’t find out that Ben wrote it until part 2 literally 27 years later lol.

There are so many paths they could take. Maybe they get into a Karen/Ted-esque dynamic where they’re just staying together and going through the motions. Maybe they fight, even more and worse than before. Maybe it has to get worse before they finally break it off and become friends, and then it gets better. Maybe they’re on-off during the skip. Maybe during that time Mike and Will get extremely close, closer than they’ve ever been. Maybe things between them start to feel like what Mike isn’t feeling with El, and that’s how he knows he has to end it. Maybe Will even dates someone else during the skip or temporarily ‘gets over’ Mike so it’s not like he’s spending years just pining. Maybe Mike and Will drift again, and then post skip they are brought back together and Mike gets hit with all the feelings he’s been missing and realises he needs to leave El. Or maybe he leaves her and the Will realisation comes after. Maybe it’s less clear cut than that. We have no clue. I think it has potential to be done well though.

For all we know they could literally break up as early as episode 2/3 right after the skip, which gives plenty of time for single Mike Byler build up. Remember we also don’t know the time span of the entire season.

I mean it could still be a pre-skip break up who knows, I just think it’s a possibility we should be somewhat prepared for and open to. I don’t think it should be written off entirely as either bad writing or it meaning Byler can’t/won’t happen. I’m personally going into s5 with no expectations except complete confidence in Byler being the endgame :)

[alexiavettel]

chapter five

"The world was whole then, the sun and the moon together as one"

pairing: charles leclerc x fem!stroll¡reader

word count: 1.7k+

warnings: explicit language, i might’ve accidentally attracted Aston Martin’s good car this year (i wrote this feb 22nd), use of y/n and obviously Charles and reader acting like childs

disclaimer: any photo used is not supposed to represent the reader, are all Pinterest pics that match the context

<<< previous part

Y/n Stroll POV:

March 20th, 2022

Bahrain, Sakhir- first race

After the pre-season testing in Barcelona, that one pic of me with Charles blew up, we are already getting used to the questions about our “relationship”. We got closer after that day in the parking lot, not like best friends but I think I know him better now.

In the two next press conferences, we got paired up together and I was able to calm him down. Everyone noticed, our teams, the public and most important: the sponsors. I am not like his therapist but I can cut him whenever he’s going to fuck up, let’s just say that years of bickering made me used to him being a dick.

Yesterday Ferrari and Aston Martin posted the same video of us taking ice baths together after the quali. Long story short everyone is shipping us, maybe a little too much in my opinion but that’s good for us. Big part of the public tend to forget things pretty easily, like all the records of our F2 days, F3 and even karting pics that let our rivalry very clear. But for some fans it’s just a cute little love story of childhood rivals to lovers, and we are counting everyone believe in this version.

“I am your trainer not your therapist Y/n. Stop thinking loud and focus on the massage!” Derek interrupted my line of thought.

“Don’t be a pussy, man!”

“What? Are you too busy thinking about your boyfriend that you can’t focus on the race?” This little bitch…

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“Depends, is it working?”

“No ‘cause I guessed your plan first, but why mate?”

“You might not like what I am about to say, but you look too focused on this marketing, business or whatever this shit of a deal is. Like more than in your training or the car performance and I’m worried about you… I know how mad you get when you can’t get the best out of the car”

“Let’s see it”

•

“The pre-season testing proved to be right! Aston Martin is flying! With Stroll in P4 and Vettel in P3. That’s an incredible result for the team. I have to admit Crofty, I am really surprised”

“It doesn’t really surprise me, Martin. Their data were actually good before the season, what really amazes me it’s that incredible maneuver Y/n is doing to overtake her teammate four times world champion Sebastian Vettel in this curve!”

“What a move she pulled out there!” 

“Do you think she can get the pace to use the DRS in Sainz?”

“Considering there’s only 7 laps left I think she can get to him but don’t overtake with those used mediums”

“I agree, and for the record, who is your driver of the day, my dear Crofty?”

“I got to go with Stroll, what an incredible performance. Coming from P15 after the penalty and crawling her way to the podium. The second in her career, by the way!”

“I’m gonna go with Leclerc who even starting from pole had to do an incredible undercut in Verstappen some laps ago. Ferrari’s pits stops and strategies, Leclerc and Sainz deserve this 1-2” 

“Little off topic but since we chose them, have you heard the rumours?”

“About them dating? I don’t know man, I usually don’t care about driver’s life out of the paddock but if it’s true that can influence on the track…”

“Yeah that’s exactly what worries me, Stroll is probably going to have her best year in that car and dating a driver could distract her-“

“And could distract Leclerc as well, he’s trying to be a world champ this year. I don’t know if I could focus on being a champion worrying about my girlfriend in the car ahead or behind me”

“Let’s hope everything goes fine, isn’t it? I always liked their dynamic tho, the rivalry and partnership in F2 were incredible!”

“True I forgot about that! But I honestly think they are not together, probably just got closer in the season break”

“I agree mate. And look! Just what we were talking about before, the last lap ahead of us and the podium is defined: Leclerc, Sainz and Stroll!”

“Wow, Ferrari starting the season with an amazing 1-2! ‘Didn’t expect Aston Martin to be that good! Stroll in P3 with the fastest lap and Vettel in P4! A shame for Red Bull with that double DNF but good for Mercedes with Hamilton in P5 and his new teammate Russell in P6! The pointing zone being completed by: Bottas in P7, Ocon P8, Alonso in P9 and Magnussen are getting their first points this year! This season will be absolute fire!”

•

“What an incredible drive you did today, Y/n! Congrats! I’m absolutely impressed with your performance and the car! How does it feel being back on the podium?”

“Hi guys, hey Ted” the audience erupted in cheers “I don’t have much words to describe how happy I am to be back at the podium. I’m very proud of our car, and being able to see the results after all the hard work is an amazing feeling!”

“‘Have to ask you, do you feel confident about a win this season?”

“Absolutely, I don’t think this is pure luck. There’s plenty of effort in it so we are all looking up for a win and even maybe a championship battle who knows! So yeah, a win for me or for Seb would be really welcome”

“Thank you so much for your time, and that was Y/n Stroll ladies and gentlemen!”

•

“You were amazing today, Stroll. S’such a pleasure being the one to tell you that you are the driver of the day!”

“Wow, I honestly didn’t expect this. Thanks y’all for the votes, it was a really challenging race after starting in P15”

“You did an awesome quali yesterday but got a 10-place grid penalty for changing a power unit, right?”

“Yeah, and still unbelievable I got P3 in the end”

•

Geez what a feeling! But I finally can get at least 2 minutes for myself, my cheeks even hurt from smiling too much. Everything just- No fucking way, my mobile started ringing. I really didn’t want to get up but thank god I did. “Mike Krack” was written on the screen.

“Mike, is everything good?” 

“Hi, yeah everything’s good. And beforehand I know how tired you must be but I need you to do something for me, girl”

“You say like I have a choice how cute” poor Mike but I’m definitely not in the mood right now.

“Sorry Stroll but it’s about that thing. Your managers suggested you both going home in the same car and plane, just like a cute little couple in love”

“Ew don’t say it like this”

“Sorry” he giggled “But yes, why don’t you try it? Would make even more believable after that hug”

Yeah, about that…

I get out of the car and do a little dance (which I will probably regret later) but I don’t even have time to think after jumping to the ground since a red flash came running towards me and hugs my waist taking me off the ground.

I took longer than I should to recognise the “red flash”, but when I felt the smell of white peach and orange blossom I knew right away it was Leclerc.

His perfume had been impregnated in my clothes lately after having to hug each other all the time in public, so when we pulled away from the hug I already knew who it was.

“You did so well!” He opens his helmet’s visor 

“Thanks, you too! You got p1 Leclerc!” He opens my visor this time, holding the sides of my helmet and looking into my eyes, smiling. The way he looks right into them is like he searches a reason to be doing it, or like he knows something I don't, or like he sees the future in my pupils.

“But just to be clear, I hated to hear about you pressing in Sainz over the radio” the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles is actually cute, and the colour of them look like the Mediterranean Sea with a bit of sand depending the way the sun shined on them is so interesting

“Just doing my job, baby” and then Sainz came over to hug us both and talk about the race going to the cooldown room.

“‘M gonna meet him in some minutes. And we are not going to talk about that hug okay?” I told him while sending the said Ferrari driver a message

“Sure sweetheart” he laughs loudly

“Bye Mike, I hate you” call ended and some mental health back

•

“Hey, pretty girl!” I heard as I entered the jet

“Hi Lo” I hugged Lorenzo 

“He’s in a pretty good mood, try not to fight today will you?” he whispered in my ear smiling.

“I’ll try” what an irony, the only seat available is beside Leclerc, but at least Sainz is seated in front of me.

“Wow look who it is! ‘m gonna have nightmares with the front of your car, honey”

“Well, hope you’ll have nightmares with the back of it in the future, honey”

“DAMN! She got you now, mate!” Leclerc finally said something since we met in the parking lot

“Darn it girl, you gave me a hard time, for real. What did your team do to get your car so good? Tell me”

“Magicians never reveal their secrets, dear Carlos”

“I wouldn't be surprised if Toto or Horner start to suspect Aston of cheating next race”

“You talk like Binoto wouldn’t do it too-”

“You’re such a buzzkiler, you know that right?” Leclerc interrupted me as per usual.

“‘m not even talking to you, golden boy”

“By the way why are you here, Stroll?” Sainz asked while untangling his charger cable.

“You told him about-” I ask Leclerc

“Yep obviously”

“About being the cutest couple not couple of the paddock? Yes, he told me and I loved every single part of it” Sainz said smirking and I swear it took all of me to not smack this smirk out of his face.

“So that’s your answer right there, we need to act like a couple. But I hope this doesn’t fall into routine, I like to go back with my dad…”

“So classic coming from the daddy’s girl” he gags at the term

“I’m not even gonna answer you, Leclerc. You make me tired, and I’m too happy to waste my time with you. Good night Lo, good night Sainz!

“You know it’s just a two hours flight to Jeddah, right sleepyhead?” he pokes my forehead annoyingly 

“And good night Leclerc”

@laura-naruto-fan1998 @honeyric3 @tempo-rary-fix hope you enjoyed <3

my taglist!!

[applestorms]

morality in the world of good omens

so i wrote another (admittedly very messy) essay on good omens not long ago right after watching season 2 but after finishing that, rewatching all of both seasons multiple times, and reading through the book, i have a couple more distinct ideas to get out...somewhere...if only for my own sanity. this is me throwing my thoughts into the internet before i pop, if you will. just 3 sections, below the cut.

1. environment, characters, & transformative fandom creations

to start this post off a bit more broadly, i've been thinking a lot recently about transformative fandom and the reasons why we write fanfiction/create semi-original works in the first place, as well as why certain aspects of fandom (writing, art, analysis, etc.) will be more appealing to me for certain shows/series than others. correct me if you have a totally different view of this, but in my experience i've found that i tend to naturally gravitate towards different parts of fandom depending on what the original medium of the story was- podcasts tend to lead to some of the most interesting art trends, for example, since there's more room for interpretation and character design tends to be more of an ongoing community project than something set in stone like for a tv show with live human actors.

in my own observation, i've noticed that a lot of the really big & excitable fandoms, the ones that generate tons & tons of fanworks more naturally (a.k.a. just because of the story itself & not other factors like a pre-existing franchise or hype about new great gay representation, etc.) tend to surround stories that fall into a kind of "sweet spot" that makes the creation of fanworks really appealing. if you've ever wondered why there are so many ravenous artists bending over backwards to draw gorgeous fanart for stuff like homestuck or south park or even minecraft youtubers, it's likely because those stories all fall into a sweet spot for drawing, with character designs that are recognizable at a glance and yet still simple enough that there is plenty of room for personal creative touches. (think also, if you're familiar with such kinds of homestuck terms: hyperflexible mythologies, A4:1524, and/or this archive link cause the official thing is down now for some reason)

the conclusion i've come to is thus that even something as basic as the original medium of a story can dictate a lot about what kinds of fan activities are more common or popular within said story's fandom.

so, back to good omens- for me, this all relates back because of a question i've been messing with in my head recently, about why i've been less interested in fanfiction for good omens than i have been for the last few fandoms i've been, almost all of which have basically broken my ao3 bookmarks.

this question has been fucking with me for a while now, largely because i'm not entirely sure what's motivating it. a lot of times i can figure out pretty easily why i might personally not be interested in some parts of fandom, but that's not really the case here. from what i've seen this fandom seems to be pretty mixed in terms of age, & the writing that i have read is certainly no worse than i've seen elsewhere, perhaps even better in some places- and yet, i can't seem to get entirely into it, even getting frustrated as i can't find something to my tastes for an ao3 bedtime story as i've grown so accustomed. what caught me off guard is that this was an issue that i ran into while watching season 1 as well, back when the series was still quite popular but not blowing up like it is right now.

a lot of this may seem like (and likely is, at least in part) basic overthinking, but i mentioned it all here because the answer i eventually came to is reminiscent of my previous reflections above on the nature of fandom & how/why fanworks are created.

a couple paragraphs above, i used the example of art as an example of how fandoms that generate a lot of original artwork will often do the most when the original story falls into a sweet spot of character design, but notably i think that this sentiment applies to a lot more than just art. if you've ever seen the copious amounts of kpop & hockey rpf fanfiction that lives on ao3, it should be clear that this applies to writing too.

i wrote this essay a while back responding to an observation about the lack of a more extensive symbolic language in fanfiction & i've toyed around with the idea more since, particularly in considering the question of why a lot of what we see as the staples of fanfiction exist in the first place. in that post, my response largely revolved around an argument of why we create fanfiction- namely, that fanfiction is created as in tandem with deeper analysis of the original story/series, as a way of trying to practically apply character analysis to a new context.

the key part of that last sentence to me is how a lot of this revolves around character analysis (and shipping, but really it's the characters that motivate the shipping in most cases so. same difference).

i tend to instinctively separate fanfiction into two separate categories: fanfiction that is based out of the original world/canon of the story (including but not limited to fix-its, deeper analysis fics that take a scene & extrapolate from it, continuations, etc.) and fanfiction that takes the characters from the original story & plops them in an alternate universe/AU. while i separate these out as two distinct categories of fanfiction, i should also clarify that i don't think these two groups are necessarily equal in terms of number of fics- rather, the vast majority of fanfiction tends to be AUs, keeping the original characters & changing any & all aspects of the world around them. again, this may vary depending on the story & Vibe of the fandom at the time, stories like game of thrones or harry potter or homestuck might have a lot more in the canon category by nature of any major dissatisfactions the fandom has with how the original story was told, but in most cases AUs are more popular. this was a lot of the basis behind my argument that fanfiction is created as character analysis in fact, since the characters are the most important part that carries over from original story to fanwork, as well as can end up being one of the most debated/scorned parts when it comes to fandom drift (i.e. "that's out of character"/"he wouldn't do that"/and all other such arguments about fanon vs. canon characterization).

basically, my conclusion in this case was that i was a lot less interested in gomens fic largely because i have a really hard time separating the characters from the world in the case of this particular story. aziraphale & crowley being an angel & a demon and dealing with all of the bullshit of their world when it comes to heaven & hell are such integral parts of their characters in my mind that i have a much harder time getting behind AU fanfiction that plops them in a totally different context. it's just a much harder sell for keeping the characters in character for me. (i also tend to not like s2 fix-its just cause, idk they're just not my style, which is where a lot of the recent blast of energy has led us.) to clarify, this is not a judgement, just a matter of personal preference and a reflection of why, even if a lot of fandoms will look the same from the outside/involve the same things like art, fic, etc., an individual's mileage can vary wildly when it comes to how they interact with different things online.

*additional note, also for clarification: i do want to acknowledge that a lot of this depends on pure popularity as well, popular fandoms will often end up with basically everything in terms of fanworks just by nature of how many people are interacting with & thinking deeply about the story. my point here is more along the lines of the fact that even within the more well-populated fandoms, certain types of fanwork will often Stick Out more to me than others, or even be visibly much more common than in other fandoms, due largely to the original medium/structure of how the story.

so, speaking of aziraphale & crowley in more depth now- why does the world of good omens feel like such an integral part of their personalities when it comes to characterization? up next, let's talk about morality within the context of good omens' perhaps surprisingly secular take on heaven & hell.

2. the amorality of heaven & hell (ft. the crowley quote apples you know the one)

(warning in advance that this section may be a bit limited since i'm not going to get super far (or very far at all, really) into the whole religious-analysis aspect of good omens.)

i've been binge-reading the original pterry & gaiman book for good omens over the last few days and it's been very fun seeing all the slight changes between the tv show & the original. you can really see the hand of the original creators in how the tv show was translated, even just by looking at which parts made it and which parts were deemed worth cutting out. i suppose having one of the original creators right there helping build everything really helps make a book -> show translation work, since the ASOUE tv series was also pretty well received- something about knowing what's the core of the series & truly important to keep in, and having more time to tell the story itself?

anyways, i have a short list of notes that i've been taking as i read, conversations that stand out to me or footnotes that particularly amused me, but i keep coming back to one line that stood out to me quite early on. in context, this line comes from crowley during the conversation where he is first attempting to fully convince aziraphale about stopping armageddon, specifically when they're talking about exerting equal forces on warlock to make him normal:

"You're saying the child isn't evil of itself?" [Aziraphale] said slowly. "Potentially evil. Potentially good, too, I suppose. Just this huge powerful potentiality, waiting to be shaped," said Crowley. He shrugged. "Anyway, why're we talking about this good and evil? They're just names for sides. We know that."

(pg. 67)

"They're just names for sides." if i had to pick one line to sum up the view on religious morality of this series, this would likely be it.

on the one hand, i tend to interpret a lot gomens' take on heaven & hell within the context of its political stance, something that is particularly obvious through a line from gabriel in s2e2 where he tries to clarify to aziraphale that heaven isn't trying to hurt job directly, but instead is just not stopping hell from doing horrible things to him. while there may be some additional nuance to add to this take within the context of british politics that i don't really know well enough to add about, i'm inclined to see this from the side of my own familiar american politics, which might hold some weight considering how long mr. gaiman's lived around here. point is, my current interpretation of that line is that it helps in more clearly establishing the analogy of heaven & hell as the story moves forward into newer seasons and thus more contemporary politics, equating heaven with mainstream liberal politics & politicians and hell with conservatives.

this stance seems to be emphasized even more in the tv show than the book which makes sense considering its been coming out more recently, and especially in season 2 which is still quite caught up in a lot of quarantine-based reflection. (the tv show puts a lot more emphasis on heaven & hell in general, actually, perhaps initially a byproduct of actually being able to see those environments in their entirety and all the angels & demons that populate them- but we'll get to that.)

the book takes a slightly different stance that, fittingly, seems more reflective of the time it came out. in particular, i was struck a lot more when reading the book by adam's rise (fall?) to power, and how much of it was motivated by a burgeoning nervousness/pessimism about climate change and the anxieties of younger generations that comes with inheriting an earth that feels so fucked up. honestly if anything it's only gotten more relevant in that respect, what with the current vibe on the internet & the hopelessness of the doomer gen z gang, but it also has a distinctly different flavor to me from the tv show, which i think is largely because it's less connected to Formal politics since again we see a whole lot less of heaven & hell as such distinct, bureaucratic entities.

instead, there is a very distinctly amoral aspect to heaven & hell that we get through lines like the one above and especially from characters like crowley. this is why i argue that good omens, despite having so many religious elements, is such a deeply secular take, especially when it comes to its ethics & morality- Good and Evil, notably with the capital letters in this case, has very little to do with actual actions and much more to do with the name that you stamp on top of said actions. heaven & hell and the angels & demons that we see directing and watching and generally fucking with aziraphale & crowley throughout the story are distinctly separate from humanity, and as we see even more as the story progresses, distinctly unaware about what it even means to be a human, in both a deeper philosophical & very basic and literal sense. Good and Evil is simply another name for the sides- and thus the true ethics is something separate, and based in a deeply human experience.

in my opinion this is also why aziraphale & crowley, lovers of humanity and also to some degree spokespersons of it from how much they've "gone native," tend to be so deeply at odds with both heaven & hell and always end up agreeing with each other over their own supposed sides. what makes aziraphale & crowley so distinctly different is that they ascribe to the same ethics & morality that humanity does, or at the very least are trying to figure out ethics & morality & How to Be a Good Person in the same horribly messy way that humans do, separating them from the black & white "this side Good & this side Bad," logic that the rest of heaven & hell instinctively ascribe to.

there's a lot of nuance here, which is also why i think there is such an emphasis on moral ambiguity (and love, but we'll get to that) throughout season 2. the story of job, grave robbing, & questionable attempts at matchmaking- aziraphale is working through a lot of Shit right now when it comes to trying to figure out what the Good thing actually fucking is, and i think it's key that a lot of that is motivated by crowley himself. crowley might'e been cast out of heaven for asking too many questions, but aziraphale is there & listening to them & giving them the serious thought they deserve, and that can't be overlooked.

sidenote: i couldn't figure out a place to shove this in, but i also wanna point out that a lot of this is tied to the idea of growing over time too. on the same page as the quote transcribed above is another line from crowley leading up to aziraphale's question that puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that warlock is going to be a product of nurture, not nature. again, this is an argument against basic black & white assigned-at-birth morality for the ability of humans to grow & change over time and be influenced by the people around them.

it's notable that despite adam's supposed origin as a Son of Satan, what really gets him to stop the apocalypse in the end is the fact that he doesn't really give a shit about all this big plans but instead just wants to hang around his friends. there's a lot of emphasis in the book placed on how beautiful & nice tadfield is as a place for a young kid to grow up, how well loved & fiercely protected it as as something beloved to adam. while he might be overwhelmed when faced with the full picture of how horrible the world can be, ultimately what he cares about is loving & taking care of the people & places that he grew up learning were precious, and the only way to do that is to keep growing & changing yourself within that world and trying to help it also grow into something better, not throw it all away just for the slightest chance that you could restart. a message worth taking the time to think about, at the absolute very least.

3. finding morality w/in humanity: crowley & aziraphale and speculation for s3

i have complicated feelings about both aziraphale & crowley throughout a lot of the show and especially in season 2. i think a lot of people, myself included, are inclined to see crowley as the voice of reason in this season, and for good reason- as i mentioned before, a lot of aziraphale's deeper questioning of the status quo and goodness (Goodness) as a whole is motivated by questions from crowley.

i kiiind of mentioned this in my previous essay, but to state it more clearly, my take on crowley is that he's arriving at the right answer for the wrong reasons, and, conversely, aziraphale is arriving at the wrong answer for... kind of also the wrong reasons but also slightly for the right reasons. let me explain.

crowley is clearly much more aware of the flaws in both heaven & hell than aziraphale is, which seems to be the basis behind a lot of his motivation in asking aziraphale so many questions in the first place. he's also, as maggie & nina point out in s2e6, deeply lonely, often running away or getting ready to fight literally anyone that isn't aziraphale (or humans, but that's a little more complicated). from his reaction to beelz & gabriel getting together, i think it's pretty clear that he still hasn't entirely given up on the whole alpha centauri idea, and it makes sense- as i said in that last essay, crowley basically won the argument at the end of the previous season when it comes to aziraphale & crowley, "making [their] own side," so he doesn't have much reason to face any of his personal fears until maggie & nina basically point out that they exist directly to his face. once they do point it out, however, he's very motivated to act & does so almost immediately, even after hearing what aziraphale has to tell him and being pretty thoroughly devastated by it.

my point here is that crowley is correct in seeing the toxicity of both heaven & hell, he's just flawed and largely motivated by fear (up for debate if that's all it is, but i certainly think it's a big part of it) in his desire to run away from it all. it's not quite armageddon, again he's going more flight > fight here, but he's still ultimately giving up and that's not a great conclusion.

on the other hand, as some others on this site have pointed out, aziraphale is certainly showing a lot of strength in his willingness to keep fighting & try to change things for the better, but it's not hard to see how that belief has been twisted. one of aziraphale's biggest flaw in motivation at this point imo is that he doesn't just believe in goodness but Goodness, the kind that's tied to heaven always being right & all actions being morally Good so long as they're done under the name of heaven, and that clearly also isn't great.

thus what i think the both of these two really need ultimately is that deeper connection to humanity, and the ethics born from humans interacting with humans. we can already see how strong these two are when they collaborate, even when they're doing their absolute best to be as subtle as possible, but what i think they need is to once again be grounded by humanity, not to get so caught up in the bullshittery of heaven & hell and Good & Evil, but once again find a goodness defined by the world that they mutually love so much and stick with it.

i keep tossing a question around in my head about whether or not aziraphale & crowley are going to end up human by the end of this series. it feels natural that they would, they're already so at home and in love with earth & around humanity, but i'm also not entirely sure if that would be a happy ending for them considering how long they've watched & loved the world as it's changed. perhaps taking this post into account is another push towards humanity as a happy ending, not running away to a cottage to get away from the world (i just can't see running away to a cottage to be together as as happy ending, sorry- it might work for beelz & gabriel but not for aziraphale & crowley), but choosing to settle down within that world that is so dear.

[shame-is-a-wasted-emotion]

This is my first Klaine advent 2022 entry and the last too for this year. I wanted to write fic(should have been a drabble but my mind doesn't shut up) for quite a while and I wrote now. This is unbetaed and mistakes are mine. The Romeo and Juliet's lines were taken directly from the script available online, suggested by the wonderful @caramelcoffeeaddict . Those lines along with the narration are intalicized. My English is not great, no apologize.

Day 15: pump

Juliet's Boudair

Blaine's black boots clanked rhythmically through the apartment's door, thanking every soul of his great escape from the skin biting cold weather outside. The warmth of their apartment spread even in this front hallway as he opened the door, much to his liking. He was home. He was back to the comfort of his home.

He hastily removed his black boots, which were now wet after a big battle between the snow filled ground the boots. His bare feet finally laid on the wooden flooring. It was icy cold but not too cold like outside. He dropped his key, carefully pulling his nag's strap from not falling and removed his gloves, finally rubbing his aching palms together.

"Honey! I'm home!" he called cheerfully with a loud voice. He was a little disappointed with the lack of response that usually greeted him.

"Kurt?"

He couldn't hear his husband.  All he heard was a myriad of vessels rustling against each other.

Blaine  knew what exactly was this. He gently pulled his shoulder bag, filled with creative gifts from his students at school. It was the last working day before the winter break and Blaine rushed home with a profound enthusiasm to show all those pretty gifts his kids showered him with.

He passed across the gorgeously decorated living room with the cherry of season vibes and entered the kitchen. There was his lovely husband, bent down and going through the vessel arranged in the  rack.

"Kurt? What are you doing?"

He didn't utter any word. Blaine went proximal to him and stood behind him.

"Kurt honey?"

Kurt turned behind, his eyes crying about something. He was a real embodiment of a pre- mature nervous breakdown and anxiety.

"Nothing. How was your day?" he asked, trying not to break in front of him. Blaine was not buying it.

He gently placed his hands on either shoulders of his husband and pulled him closer.

"Honey, you know I can read you.  My day was good. I am very concerned about yours."

Kurt was dumb struck for a minute, fixing his gaze into Blaine's eyes.  His husband  has a pair of very gorgeous, lemon drop like eyes. His heart seemed to have  pumped every single drop of blood. He could feel the heartbeat in his head.

"You know you can tell me anything Kurt."

Kurt pulled his husband into a comfort hug. He finally felt like a small burden was raised from his heart.

"You know that I have an audition in 2 weeks, don't you?" he whispered.

Kurt could feel Blaine nodding his head. 

"I don't think I am ready for that. I am not ready for it."

Kurt pulled suddenly and looked away.

"But why do you think?"

"I will never be ready for Romeo.*

"Kurt?"

"I can't do this, Blaine" he bursted out finally , shooting flames at his husband.

"I can't keep lying to myself,  Blaine. I auditioned for Tony in school and I didn't get it. I am going to get it now. I am not masculine enough."

Blaine's lips parted. His husband clearly needed an intervention.

"Screw this audition. I am not doing."

He tried to walk away when Blaine tugged his hand.

"Kurt, if you walk away now, the world would be missing a wonderful Romeo."

"They won't ,Blaine. There are better Romeos and Tonys in the world. I am not one."

A single drop of tear rolled on his porcelain cheek. Blaine held his closely, allowing his to wet his shoulder.

"Kurt, you don't know what they are missing. Highschool days are gone. I know I shouldn't say this because I got Tony. But if you give me a chance now, I can prove how my husband possesses a beast of masculinity enough for Romeo in him."

"How?"

Blaine wiped the tear with his thumb pad. He dragged him to the living room.

"Alright. We are going to practice your audition scene.  I'll be your Juliet and we are going to recreate the scene."

"Are you kidding or are you nuts? I am not doing this."

"I am challenging you , Kurt Hummel- Anderson. If you do this scene now, I will buy you anything you want. Even that expensive Gucci jacket."

"Really?" Kurt's eyes dilated in zeal. Blaine knew how to find his way.

"Yeah."

"Alright," he finally said. Blaine took the script paper lying on the coffee table.

"This is Act III scene V. Alright, Give me a minute. You can get ready with your props by then."

Kurt pulled his handmade feathered beret and spread a red velvet cloth on the floor by the time Blaine skimmed through the dialogues.

"I'm ready, Kurt. Shall we start?"

Kurt nodded nervously.  Blaine got down on the cloth, besides Kurt.

"Kurt, I am not Blaine now. I am Juliet. I am YOUR Juliet."

Blaine closed his eyes and pictured himself as Juliet. He got into the head space of Juliet  and laid beside Kurt.

Kurt scooted closer and laid next to him, positioning his forearm around Blaine. Blaine's eyelashes fluttered as a gesture of yes.

Romeo straightened himself from his laying  position and Juliet raised suddenly from her bed as she watched her Romeo leaving. She pulled his hand, wanting him to stay. Romeo's gaze shifted to his lovely Juliet.

"Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day:

It was the nightingale, and not the lark,

That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;

Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate-tree:

Believe me, love, it was the nightingale"

Her hand rested firmly on his chest, trying desperately to convince him. Romeo faced Juliet, his eyes filled with love and determination.

"It was the lark, the herald of the morn,

No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks

Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:

Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day

Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.    10

I must be gone and live, or stay and die.

Blaine was mesmerised by the way Kurt embodied Romeo. With the drop in his voice and his fast dialogue delivery, he really felt like Juliet.

"Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I:

It is some meteor that the sun exhales,

To be to thee this night a torch-bearer,

And light thee on thy way to Mantua:

Therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone."

Juliet's eyes were filled with tears, threatening to fall. She wanted her love to stay even more. No light was convincing him that it wasn't daylight. Juliet tugged his vest more, her eyes determined into his gaze.

Kurt was pumping his lines seamlessly. Blaine was really about to tear up. He would be glad if he could be his Juliet for the rest of his life.

Romeo shifted to his knees, cupping the hands of his Juliet with his hands.

"Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death;

I am content, so thou wilt have it so.

I'll say yon grey is not the morning's eye,

'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;   

Romeo's hands rested on Juliet's waist, assuring certainty in every breath.

Juliet knew she could never convince him but her heart was overwhelmed by his love for her. He could even die for her and the world would never be able to stop . That was enough.

"Nor that is not the lark, whose notes do beat

The vaulty heaven so high above our heads:

I have more care to stay than will to go:

Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.

How is't, my soul? let's talk; it is not day."

And Romeo cupped Juliet's face and placed a breathtaking kiss on her lips.

Kurt held Blaine firmly and kissed him like tomorrow didn't exist. Blaine pulled Kurt onto him and kissed him passionately. They continued till the demand for oxygen separated them. They blushed and stayed laying beside each other.

"See? I told you. My husband can pull Romeo like no one's business. If he wants me to be his Juliet for the rest of my life, I'll gladly be."

Kurt shifted, facing Blaine.

"Blaine, are you crying?"

Blaine got up and looked away from Kurt, trying to hide his tears shyly.

"It's nothing. That was just the intensity of your Romeo hitting me."

Kurt pulled Blaine's face and wiped the stray tears , chuckling softly.

"You know how this play ends, right?"

"Oh damn! I didn't think about it," Blaine came to realization.

Kurt chuckled again and connected his lips to Blaine's for a chaste kiss.

"I don't want you to be my Juliet. I love my Blaine being himself rather than Juliet."

Their chests touched with heart beats trying to synchronise.

"So, the Gucci?" asked Blaine.

Kurt cupped his face.

"That can wait, honey. This is our play time."

"Play? What play? And who wrote it?" Blaine played with him.

"Me. Stage location: bedroom or here, if you will. Play name: Our lovemaking time."

Blaine bursted out in laughter and Kurt smiled.

"You adorable dork!"

"And I am your Dork!" Kurt winked micheviously.

Blaine pulled him dearly for their lovely long night. There was no other way. "Romeo and Juliet" might have ended but not their play.

Let me know your opinions on:

[0613magazine]

042223 Cine21 Magazine

English Translations

Interview in commemoration of the release of the last album of Agust D’s trilogy <D-DAY>

The pre-released song <People Pt. 2 (feat. IU)> happens to be released today. Earlier, when he was taking pictures too, he asked to turn on the song if it was possible.

Please listen to it lots and lots. Please listen to it when you’re sleeping too (laughs).

It seems to be a song that would be nice to tune it on in café. Was that the reason that you chose the song as the pre-released song?

In the original version, member Jung Kook was the one who did the guide. I get that the most important essence was for the song to be good, but the process of effectively letting people know that this album is my work was as important itself. It has been 10 years since I’ve lived my life as BTS’s SUGA, and sometimes in between I would release a mixtape, where I use the name; <Agust D>. I’m aware that there are lots of times where those who just coincidentally watched <Agust D> or <DAECHWITA> music video said that this person resembled to SUGA. So, I released <People Pt. 2 (feat. IU> to in which I worked with IU with the purpose to let this SUGA and Agust D to be in sync. And, in this day and age, there are lots of SNS, but those born in 1993, just couldn’t help but to think of Cyworld. I made a song that would feels like the BGM of life, wrote the song as the Cyworld BGM, the song that people listen to, and the song that would just put them on. It was exactly meant for that. These days, I think that rather than having so many advantages, it’s better to have no cons, or irritating, annoying things.

When did you start working on this album?

I have released in terms of a mixtape before, but as a solo singer, I have released 2 full-length album. Though it’s the first time for a physical album like <D-DAY> to be released. So, around the time when I finished working on an album, it was the the time I had soft in the head the most. When <DAECHWITA> was released, half of <D-DAY>’s album was almost done. Though it’s very much concretize, we couldn’t get the grasp on when the timing for the release should be. So, to answer when I get the question about when do I start working on them is quite hard. There’s even song(s) that was made 3 years ago.

With the 2 mixtapes that you have released; <Agust D> <D-DAY>, this album <D-DAY> marks the completion of the trilogy. Was this trilogy form in your mind from the very first?

Ever since I was young, out of the movies that I like, there are lots of trilogies. For instance, <The Dark Knight> series. So, I have this impression that after I have released 3 album, I would become a plausible, decent person, hence I thought to make mine into a trilogy form ever since I dropped the first mixtape on the 2016. If I didn't do well afterwards, the trilogy wouldn't have been completed. (laughs) My solo album could also be my life record. When the first mixtape was released then, I didn’t think that there’s a justification in living as BTS if I couldn’t express out my thoughts, and when the 2nd mixtape was released, I have come to the extent where I could organize my thoughts and going back and forth to the future and past. So for this album, I want to put all things together. I’m a person who keeps changing, and that future and pasts are both connected and could influence with each other. Just like how when the 3rd season of movies series, reviewing and taking some elements from the first to second seasons, I also took somethings from Agust D’s past songs in <D-DAY>. Rather than figuring out what kind of messages to be carried in <D-DAY> album, I made it while looking at those things that I like time to time.

The title song <Haegeum> also has another meaning of lifting from a ban. Was there any specific things that you feels ‘forbidden’ to do in this society all these times?

I’m here after living as an idol for 10 years. If I were to include with the trainee times, it’d be 13 years total. So to be honestly speaking, it’s a life where one have to have lots of self-control and a life that has lots of restrictions. Not just me, but those in their 20s to 30s, whether they’re an idol or not would also feel the same. We do have thing that we want to do, however we were put into a situation that we can’t do them, and also when we stopped when we think about peoples’ eyes.

Can we talk about the collaborations <Snooze> you have with the recently deceased Ryuichi Sakamoto? While he was a film music guy, he’s also a pianist, and even a media artist.

There was a time when I was young that my parents brought me to watch <The Last Emperor> at a little theatre somewhere in Daegu. I was starstruck with the film music then. You know <Rain> was very popular that it’s often be used in a pressing situation in Korea’s variety show. After that, I made music ever since I was 13, and there are lots of times I used master’s song for samplings. You know, when I was young, I practiced by reverse, cutting, then connecting the samplings again. He was an artist that gave me lots of inspiration when I first started in making music. Drama actors, movie actors, musical actors, theatre actors, they’re all not at all different, and we still call these guys as actors, right? The same goes for a person who does music. There’s no different between those who does movie songs, and those who does pop music, after all the thing about ‘music’ is, it’s all connected with each other. I have heard this behind story once before, but it’s said that Master Ryuichi Sakamoto made a film music by chance, but after that he’s are widely known as a film music director. I only have met him personally in front once, and though we worked on the music over the phone, he was a really great person. Too bad that the musician that I really like a lot has come to leave for a long journey.

BTS SUGA, these people who likes me, doing music they want

You worked together with RM on <Strange> in <D-2> album, and now for this album, j-hope did the featuring in <Huh?!>

There are 3 rappers total in BTS including me, right? So, last time I worked together with RM, so now I got to work with hobi, of course. This may comes a bit embarrassing, but since the beats are quite difficult, I’m not quite confident in writing the verse 2. (laughs) As hobi haven’t done anything with drill genre, he said that it’s going to be so hard, but I said “but you’re good in rap, so you can indeed write lyrics”. So, he did said okay. J-Hope is really such an outstanding artist. I think that it’s not because of he’s good or bad at this and that, but it’s the issue of the preference, style. Thank you for giving me things that just lines perfectly with my preferences.

Perhaps, is the b-side of this solo album <Life Goes On> a new rearranged version of the song with the same name in <BE> album?

I made <Life Goes On> in full before, but mine wasn’t used. Personally, because I liked that version more, so I made a new rearranged version of <Life Goes On>. When I and person around me listening to monitor, it’s a song that have the most picks from the pop music producers. When one take and write from a verse of an already existing song, it became a ‘remix’, but <Life Goes On> from <D-Day> used a bit of the lyrics and melody that I have wrote before, and after than a song that’s totally different came out. When me, Namjoon, Hobi, and Bang Sihyuk PD went to have a meal together, I let them listen to it while eating, but since the flows are just so natural, the members didn’t realize it.

I heard that not only you contributes in of course in writing the lyrics, composing, and producing, but you contributes in voicing out opinions for the visuals, like the MVs too.

There are some that may think, and said that K-Pop idols moved within a framework that has been set, but it’s actually not like that. There may be that kind of idols and groups too, but that’s not the case for me. We all discuss each one of the works, from the videos, promotions and up to the schedule all together. As soon as the work for <Daechwita> is finished, I wrote down the storyboard continuity for <Haegeum> and other b-sides music videos. Then, I send them to the music video directors. Back then, many people said that COVID-19 would be a forever thing, so I was anxious that I might not even be able to do any concerts or performances anymore. So, I had to work on fast for the next studio work. Especially for <Haegeum> music video, I put lots of thoughts on this, and I even had lots of meetings where I personally go. These days and age, it’s the era of ‘listening music with one’s eyes’, so video as the mediums are very important. However, if someone who knows poorly on one’s things interferes a bit too much, it’d come out not as good. So, there are parts where I just put my trust on the staffs that have been for quite a long while, and there’s also some parts that I’m giving my specific opinions to. Even at the shooting scene too, rather than I personally do the monitoring, the director told me that I should do my best in shooting a lot of scenes, for the editing to be easy later. In this day and age, it is a pros to not to have many disadvantages than to have many advantages.

It’s so much fun to watch the BTS members’ promotion activities as solo because each of the members’ unique colors are showing. I think on SUGA’s part, the most outstanding one is that he does not make any appearance for the local music programs, but he just go for a world tour.

As you know, a singer is a person that does concert. (laughs) At first, the album release would be a bit more earlier, but somehow it came out now. Each of the members are good at their own things. Every week, there are music shows that have been scheduled for to the extent that it just makes me realized how Koreans really love music, and I really like music shows, and I don’t have any hesitation in coming out on music shows, and more that anyone else, I think I’m a person that thought it’s an essential think to make an appearance in music shows. However, this album’s color are somewhat a bit equivocal to comes out on music shows, and more than anything else, fans are the biggest reasons why I’m releasing an album. If there’s no fans, then my music have no meanings, so the thing that the fans like the most is a performance, in other name, it’s tour. So, that’s how I decided to go on tour. I’m also going to do a this so-called idol-like promotions. I’m just a singer who does music, and I really don’t like the divisions of an artist, and an idol, but I wanted to show you the side of me that the fans like.

I heard a news that you’re preparing for a video call fan sign, up to a small meeting. These days you know that you have to master the challenge such as ‘I’m sorry for being too cute’ challenge, ‘pretty girl challenge’, ‘Poppy Poppy’ challenge, et cetera, right? (laughs)

I’m not even a person that usually takes picture, but I wonder what would be the things that the fans like, and so that’s how I decided to do a video call fan sign. There are list of challenges that I got them earlier that I have to practice for, and I also filmed my side of working hard in training it as content. (laughs) Actually, BTS was the first generation on YouTube. Ever since 13 years ago, we recorded the video of the members’ and uploaded them on the internet, and we were a group that recorded lots more of our contents that anyone else. Recently, for few years already, I haven’t done these things that I have always do, so I think this time, I came to do this video call fan sign while imagining that this is an extension of those things that I did like before.

You’ve been making music like breathing so far, and someday later we will be able to see those result, right? I’m curious what kind of album would we be able to meet in 2 to 3 years from now.

I don’t think the album called <D-DAY>would comes out now if I just went with the composed as it is from 3 years ago. It need to be flexible. There needs to be an intense song for performance, songs that many people would feel comfortable listening to, and song that would be necessary in each situation, of course. I don’t know what kind of music I’ll be doing in 2 to 3 years later, but perhaps the things that the fans like would be the one that comes out. Doing what the people who like me want me to do, because that's the essence of a person that I am.

Scans by: @SUGAisjomiro_ English translations by: @verritaee

[littlethingwithfeathers]

8, 25, 46, 54 please? Not to be greedy but...😁

Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story? Middle. Hands down. Middle chapters of trilogies are almost always my favorite... and usually when I'm writing, the first few scenes I start imagining are usually somewhere in the middle. It'll be an important scene that's the crux of the fic without being like... the climax or a major conflict. Something really crunchy that is the seed of all the other action in the fic. What fic do you wish you got more of a response on? Hmm. I mean, I'm like any writer and I love to have eyeballs on my work, and love interaction/response to said writing even more. So... I could cheat and say all of it, because that would certainly be true. But I also know that because I'm a fandom hermit, I definitely don't like... put myself out there to get eyes on my writing. I kinda just come down off Mount Fic with my story chiseled on a tablet, throw it into the ocean and then flee back to my cave. I could probably... I dunno... advertise myself better? But... that means I have to be social and I sometimes really struggle with online interactions. Is it possible to have social anxiety for online communication? Questions for later... But anyway. That said... Here's some fics I'd love to see more views/response to. "We Might Be Exactly Like We Were" MCU Steve/Bucky. Explicit. Post-Winter Soldier, Pre-Civil War alternate story. I was in a dark place when I wrote this, and I actually feel like I wrote my way out of it. The fic itself starts dark, but ends more optimistic and I'm just... really proud of how accurately I got my feelings on the page. There's a lot of sadness... both about my life and also the direction the canon went with these characters. But I tried to bring the joy that I wished for at the end. And as big as the fandom for Stucky is, I wish it had gotten more eyeballs. I'm really proud of it. "Crawling Down the Avenue" The Newsroom Sloan/Don. Explicit. Spoilers for... Season 2 I think? When I came back to fic writing after about a decade of hiatus, I started off writing fic for the show The Newsroom. It's great. Everyone should watch at least the first couple of seasons. Honestly... I probably don't wish for more engagement so much as just that the show still existed and had a bigger audience. But anyway, here it is. I really had fun writing this and loved this pairing. "Widow's Walk" NBC Hannibal, Hannigram. Explicit. Check the tags. Spoilers for the end of Hannibal. I was really pleased by the murder mystery I crafted here... though I could probably do better if I went back to give it a rewrite. Thank you for the excuse to shamelessly plug my stuff. <3 How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc) Oof. I honestly don't know. Probably character/emotion-driven. I actually asked @kaminaduck. He says that I tend to focus on characters' relationships to themselves as well as others... lots of asking about who they are and what that means to others and the wider world. Lots of self-determination... I tend to not be very action focused. It's a lot of time in the characters' heads. I also tend to write very percussively. I like for my writing to have poetry and rhythm, especially for dialogue or inner monologues. And there is some creative use of punctuation. And I also love me some pretentious vocabulary. It's just who I am as a person. I like words with texture and crunch. My therapist says she learns a new word from me every session. There's a reason I found a lot of success in the Hannibal fandom. XD What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

It's usually finding that flint-on-tinder moment. I'm mulling and thinking and thinking and mulling and I know that there's something amazing buried around in the canon and then suddenly... the lightning strikes. The neurons connect. And now there's an idea. I've found some sort of connection or idea that gives a whole new dimension to a relationship or character or event and that's what really drives me. Other really good moments are when I have sketched out some of the important scenes and I get to the part where I can link them together. Like... for instance, when I was writing "Girl in the Garden" I wrote all of Natasha's scenes "inside the Soulstone" first. Not completely but just a few lines to capture what I wanted that scene to be... and it was always so satisfying to connect them as I'd get to them while writing in chronological order (which is how I write 90% of the time).

Thank you for the questions, sweet friend! Much love!

[gaysimpsstuff]

BNHA Characters + Their Biggest Kinks

PT 2 Here

PT 3 Here

Genre: smut, obviously

Warnings: NSFW themes, hard kinks, BDSM kinks, lots and lots and weird kinks

Other: felt horny, wrote this

NSFW Taglist: @smolchildfangirl @combat-wombatus @mandalorian-baby-bird @waffleareniceandfluffy

Characters: Hawks, Bakugou, Dabi, Shigaraki

Keigo Takami/ Hawks-

Authority Kink- mans has spent his entire life being bossed around, he needs you to submit to him completely and without question. Call him ‘sir’ and he’ll melt. When he’s in this mood, there’s no room for brattyness. Just bend over and let sir take his stress out on you.

Wing Kink- Pretty self-explanatory. The underside of a bird’s wings are very sensitive, and get them horny in no time. Same thing with his back, one when you were cuddling, you were playing with his wings and massaging his back, and you noticed he had his face hidden and he was breathing kind of heavily. It was an embarrassing situation to explain...

Breeding- This one comes more into play during Nesting Season, he just has you pinned down and just keeps going and going and going, trying to fill you up with his babies even if you want get pregnant. You’ll always be his little breeding slut. Even better if you have a bird or lizard quirk and you lay eggs (infertile usually). Even with a male reader he’d want to ‘breed.’

Pegging- He likes to bottom sometimes, so that he can whine and cry and beg and be a good boy for his y/n. Expect him to come home from work feeling more tired than stressed. Total pillow princess. He needs you to fuck him into the mattress so hard that he’s only flying tomorrow.

Praise/body Worship- This goes both ways. You’re his everything, and he wants to make sure you’re aware of how much he appreciates you, but he’s so insecurities that he needs it in return. Soft, teasing touches, whispered I love yous, doing so wells, my pretty baby, go a long way for this man.

Dirty Talk- he wants you to know just what he’s going to do to you, how he’s going to fill you up so good, make you need him and his cock, make you cry for him to keep going, beg for his cum. Even when he’s on bottom, he’s babbling and whining. You can’t get this man to shut the fuck up. It can get annoying at times.

Bath/shower sex- this plays more into his bird instincts. Bathing/ cleaning oneself usually gets birds horny. They usually preen prior to mating season so look out for that. There’s just something about ducking you in his bathtub (jacuzzi) that gets him going like nothing else.

Katsuki Bakugou/ Dynamight-

Switch- this man will present as a top, but he has absolutely nothing against getting manhandled and having the life fucked out of him. Just so long as he can do the same to you. Fuck him rough and good and then take his revenge tomorrow.

Rigger- after all he’s been through, he does not wanna be tied up at all. But he has no problem with handcuffing you or wrapping your pretty body up in Shibari and watching you struggle against them. Will totally tease you the whole time.

Gags- You’re still talking? You need to shut the fuck up. Or else you’ve got something keeping your mouth shut. Tape, underwear in mouth, his hand or fingers, or an actual gag. Loves your muffled sounds when he asks you a question. “Want me to keep going? You gotta say so. Aw I didn’t hear anything so I guess you want me to stop...”

Dirty Talk- Just like Hawks, he can’t keep his mouth shut. But this one is spilling the dirtiest filth you’ll ever hear. Plays into a minor corruption kink. Wants you to repeat it all back to him. On the flip side, gets so flustered when you talk dirty to him. Whining about how you’re a pervert, but just ignore him, he’s hard as shit right now.

Dacryphilia- All those years of Deku crying and you think he wouldn’t have a crying kink? Thinks your tears are so beautiful, might even lick them off your face. “Aww, look at you~ crying for my fuckin cock.” Don’t be weirded out if he licks them off your face. He also cries during sex, though. It’s just too fucking good and he hasn’t had a good cry in a while. Tease him about it and he’ll hide his face, but praise him for it and he’ll cry even harder.

Praise- This man shouts enough degradations outside the bedroom, he wants sex to be different from everything else. Gets a little embarrassed first time he praises you, but if you look at him with those shy eyes and a quivering lip, he’s just gonna keep loading it on. He also wants to be praised, both out of insecurities and superiority. When he’s bottoming just repeat how amazing he’s doing, how no one else is as pretty as him. When he’s on top, he still needs you to be praising him. Tell him how good his cock feels, how he’s gonna make you cum, how no one else fucks you as good as him.

Impact Play- mostly spanking. Uses his quirk. He loves it when your skin forms a light burn in the shape of his hand. Spanks you even if his handprints don’t show up on your skin. He needs it to, just keep smacking his stomach and thighs with a paddle until he’s sobbing.

Touya Todoroki/ Dabi-

Degradation/ Brat Taming- Starting off with the roughness with this guy. These two go hand in hand for Dabi, you need to know where you belong. Underneath him, begging and crying for his cock, his mercy, anything. You need to understand your only purpose is to service him, moan for him, and be his little personal cumdump.

Hard Dom- he won’t go easy on you, no matter what, you’re not getting it sweet or easy. It’s always going to be rough, fast, and difficult. Just try and complain.

Size kink- We all know this man is hung like a donkey, too big to handle. Loves it when you’re trying to suck him off and can’t even get down halfway. Even better when he’s pushing in, and can’t get further than six inches in. Just laughs at how “your cute little hole can’t take my fat cock can it, baby?”

Sadism- Pretty obvious, he likes hurting you. Knives? He’s got plenty. Fire? More relunctant but sure. Impact play? Yes sir. Loves seeing you cry and you babble about how much it hurts. His favorite thing is to write his name on your back with light burns that usually fade in a week or so. Always takes care of your injuries afterwords.

Bondage- Can’t have his little baby trying to touch themself can he? Can’t have his darling trying to escape from him, can he? No no, you’re better off tied to the bed, taking everything he gives you like a good little slut.

Sensory Deprivation- He wants you waiting, dreading maybe, anticipating, his next moves. You don’t know where he’ll touch you, what he’s saying, and you can’t do anything to stop it.

Corruption- He has a thing for people who seem innocent, and he wants to corrupt that innocence. To everyone else, you’re naive, doe-eyed, and probably can’t do anything for yourself. He’s going to change all of that. Bonus points if you’re actually fully capable and he morphs into a co-dependant mess. This man is all Yandere nothing else.

Teasing/ edging- Loves working you up to the grand finale, then pushing you back to the first scene. You’ll never forget his laughter as you beg him for your orgasms. You’ll be lucky if he lets you cum at all. He’ll humiliate the fuck out of you for your pitiful begging.

Tomura Shigaraki/ Symbol of Terror

Mommy/Daddy/Renny (Renny is the gender neutral term for Mommy/Daddy)- This man will call you whatever you want, but this is his go-to nickname for you. You’re taking care of him in and out of the bedroom, at least until he matures.

Switch- Up until he matures, your on top of him the whole time. Loves it when you’re in control, but after certain events in the manga and anime, he starts to gain an apprentice for being on top, although being so unused to it, he has a lot less kinks for being on top than on bottom.

Pegging- self-explanatory. He was always afraid of disintegrating his dick, and anal stimulation meant most of his fingers were pointed away from his body while only two or three were touching his skin. Safer. Now he’s got a huge appreciation for anal play, anytime you see him naked, he probably has a butt plug in.

Pet-Play- he’s your dumb little puppy, okay? Treat him like a bitchy little animal and he’ll do whatever you want. Feel free and drag him around on a leash or feed him food out of a bowl on the ground.

Feet- he doesn’t know why, but your feet are such a fucking turn on. Whether you’re wearing combat boots with spikes, fancy heels with a flower on them, or normal tennis shoes. Socks, thigh-highs and tights? Man is already begging. Just step on him and give him a foot job already! He’s begging, come on!

Water sports- kind of gross, skip this one if it’s gross for you (it is for me but for some reason I’m writing about it) but it’s something he appreciates more as a top than a bottom. Controlling when you go to the bathroom, giving you so many drinks, watching you squirm, begging and crying for him to let you relieve yourself, only to piss yourself. And when you do that, he’s on his knees in front of you, drinking it. Loves how embarrassed you get. Says “anything you make is always gonna be the best” while licking his lips.

CNC- something he enjoys as a top or a bottom. Skip this one if it’s weird or wrong to you, or a trigger. Always pre-planned with a safe word and everything, but he always pretends it’s real. Something about you or him not having a choice, being forced to take whatever the other gives them, begging for it all to stop but being betrayed by your body, it all just drives him crazy.

S&M- Doesnt care of he’s the S or M. He just loves pain. Crying when you spank or slap him, watching you scream as he cuts his name onto you.

[orionsangel86]

SPN Conspiracies - Applying Logic to Chaos

Its been over 2 months now since the Supernatural finale aired. I am still so angry, hurt, and confused by it and I don’t think I will ever get closure unless someone like Andrew Dabb, or Jensen Ackles, actually opens up and gives us an explanation that makes sense.

What annoys me most right now is people trying to gaslight fans into believing that we should accept the narrative we have been given at face value: That the finale was always planned to be that way, that Destiel was never on the cards, that there was no Network interference, that the only changes made were due to covid and were minor at best.

This harmful gaslighting is FALSE.

NO ONE KNOWS THE TRUTH OF WHAT HAPPENED.

Look, I don’t agree with some of the crazier conspiracy theories. I don’t believe that there was some huge campaign among the CW Network execs to remove anything remotely gay out of homophobia. I don’t believe that the finale was changed because of some desire to make it into a Walker promo. I don’t believe that the finale was really bad on purpose in protest by Dabb for not getting to do an ending he truly wanted. I don’t believe that Dabb left us smart fans a bunch of secret messages in the finale to hint that he was on our side all along and that everything was fake.

I do, however, believe that all of these conspiracy theories have some elements in them that are plausible. At least, more plausible than the bullshit narrative mentioned above that some people are pushing in some desperate attempt to defend the Network (which imo is really strange behaviour anyway - why would anyone care about a TV network with a history of terrible behaviour?!?)

We have facts, based on information provided before the covid lockdown, which for some reason, people like Misha have since backpeddled on. So let me try to outline some of the information that makes no sense.

Below the cut I go on a deep dive into the conspiracies and statements I have heard about the SPN finale and try to make some sense of this whole fucked up situation. It gets long.

1. “Cas was never gonna be in the finale”.

False: We have many fan accounts of Misha confirming that he was filming the finale. We have video evidence of Misha confirming he was going back to film the finale after the lockdown. We have confirmation from fans in Misha M&Gs from March that he had about 5 days of filming left.

We also had fan accounts of discussions with Alex Calvert (I think) where he confirmed the final shot of the final episode was all four of them though I would LOVE if someone can find a source for this.

2. Okay, Misha was gonna be in the finale, but only as Jimmy Novak

False: I heavily side eyed Misha when he said this. But I think I can come up with a plausible explanation for it. Per above, Misha was supposed to film for 5 days. This does not align with the half a day he described of filming as Jimmy Novak. My own belief is that after Cas was cut from the finale (for whatever reason we don’t know) someone (probably Jensen Ackles) put up a fight and complained that Misha should be there for the final episode. The writers probably tried to come up with a way to bring Misha back without having to deal with Cas, and pitched the idea of Jimmy Novak being in Heaven. Misha, obviously annoyed about this, turned this stupid pitch down.

3. Destiel was never a thing, never planned, never part of Dabb’s ending. Bobo and Misha pushing the confession was the part of the season that was Wrong.

False: We have a SPN writer on record saying that Castiel’s confession was the first thing written for Season 15 when the writers returned to the writers room. If it wasn’t planned, why was it the first thing written, why does it align so well with the rest of season 15? Look I know some people either a. hate destiel and refuse to see it even if it slaps them in the face, or b. have major heteronormative goggles on, or c. are just homophobes in denial, but 15x18 fits in perfectly with the narrative of season 15. Everything Cas says, everything that happened in that scene was so in character it just works. It fit. If you just rewatch the season whilst applying some critical thinking skills and pay attention to the narrative and character arcs, trust me, the confession fits in with pretty much every other plot point, and character story in the season.

Also: We have known for a while that the network did market research into Destiel, wanting to know if it would go down well or not. They were well aware of its popularity and considering it. Where would this have come from if not pitched by the showrunner? Dabb must have at least been considering it. If you take all of Dabb era into consideration, starting with mid season 11, all the way through the season 12 build up, season 13 grief arc, and then Bobo’s Destiel break up arc in late season 14, early season 15, it is clear that there was some toing and froing on the issue of Destiel, but ultimately, I still believe that Dabb was on board. He wrote 13x01 for christs sake. No way he wasn’t taking it seriously.

 4. It’s always been about the brothers. The finale just stays true to what Supernatural is all about.

*rubs temples* Fundamentally FALSE: The show has time and again reasserted the message of “Family don’t end with blood”, as well as the messages of AKF and YANA. Sam and Dean may be at the heart of the show, but a heart can’t exist without a body to support it. Without bones, and lungs, and blood, and muscles, and a BRAIN. The finale abandons the shows core messages. It forces the characters back into their season 1 characterisations and the whole thing becomes hollow and souless. But I’m not here to complain, I’m here to lay down the facts. Dean’s heaven was supposed to be surrounded by loved ones right? We know OG Charlie Bradbury was gonna be in his Heaven, we also know CAS was gonna be in there. So this idea that the finale as it currently stands was how it was meant to be is wrong. Dean was supposed to die and reunite with his found family and loved ones. This alone would have been a far better ending than the one given. Do I think this was solely a covid issue? Fuck no.

The randoms that WERE in the finale are proof alone that they could have got people in and quarantined. We also have several actors on record saying that they WOULD have quarantined for the finale had they been asked to return but they WEREN’T.

Lies have been told. Samantha Ferris and Chad Limberg have confirmed that we have been lied to about the original plans for the finale.

This alone is proof enough that there is more plausibility in some of the conspiracy theories than any bullshit narrative some people are pushing in defence of the barbaric mess of a finale we were given.

So lets address some of the conspiracy theories now:

Conspiracy No.1: The CW Network reviewed Supernatural during the covid break, and due to homophobia, refused any Destiel arc that wasn’t already filmed, shut down any potential reciprocation from Dean, and forced Dabb to change his finale.

I don’t think this is entirely what happened. But I do think it is very strange how there is a such a huge disconnect particularly in Dean’s characterisations between what had come before the lockdown, and what came after. The one fact we have here, and please someone provide a source if you can find it because I know there is one, the finale script was still going through changes up to only 2 weeks before it was filmed. We know that there was some weird editing in 15x18 (which was still in post and uncompleted before lockdown) and we know from Jensen’s own mouth that there was more to the confession scene on Dean’s side that was cut. We also know that this isn’t the first time that Destiel heavy moments have been changed in post - the prayer scene is another big scene that went through a lot of changes and Bobo fought to have his script play out the way he wanted it.

There are certain things that in my own opinions, are basically true of SPN which I have put together from years of keeping one eye on the writers room, the network, and all the various comments made. My opinion is this:

The writers room has always been split on Destiel. Some writers heavily supported making it canon, others did not care, or were against it.

The Network considered it over the course of several years, did market research, green lit it, then changed their minds, possibly several times over the course of Dabb’s era. Destiel was pitched to the Network early in Dabb era.

The crew on set were also split. Some people heavily supported it, and worked to assist the reading, whereas others did not care/did not support it. The same can be said for the editing room.

Bob Singer supported the subtextual homoeroticism, but never supported bringing it into text (this is an opinion, but I think it aligns with everything we know about him.) IMO Bob Singer also supported subtextual homoeroticism between Sam and Dean - the guy is gross is what I’m saying. He isn’t exactly a progressive person.

Fun fact - a while back our old enemy Sera Gamble went on a Twitter rant about writers rooms and the ways a script goes through changes. I don’t think this was in relation to the SPN finale wank but she basically inadvertantly confirmed that the Network can step in and make sweeping changes to a script if they want to and if they decide they don’t like the direction of a story. Sera Gamble confirmed this as a fact.

Now. I’m not saying that this is what the CW did with Destiel. I just think its very strange how pre lockdown, the last thing filmed is a heartfelt homosexual declaration of love between Dean and Cas, and we have a finale script that Misha had not seen, but knew that he was meant to film as Castiel for 5 days (5 days on set is over half of an episode as far as I know). Then all of a sudden, Covid happens, and Cas is cut from the finale completely, a desperate attempt to bring Misha back only as Jimmy Novak takes place, which Misha rightly refuses, leading to a finale which makes zero sense narratively and appears in every way completely and utterly butchered.

The only explanation provided by anyone involved is that Covid meant changes had to happen - but that covid didn’t change the actual story at all.

But this makes no sense because we know that Cas was cut from the finale. This is FACT. Do not let anyone gaslight you into thinking otherwise. Misha was preparing to quaranting to return to set as Cas post Covid, so whatever happened to cut Cas from the finale, it wasn’t Covid.

I’m gonna have to Occum’s Razor this and say that the most logical explanation here is the one that is most likely true. Someone got cold feet with the Destiel story, and to prevent any possible interpretation that included Dean reciprocating, any hints of Destiel were removed from the finale script, including Castiel’s whole appearance.

Now, this isn’t me saying I think that Dabb’s original finale was full of Destiel love confessions and a homosexual kiss or whatever, but I am asking you all to really think about it and ask yourselves WHY Cas would have been totally cut from an episode he was supposed to be in at LEAST half of? 

We will probably never know the real reason Cas was cut, but he WAS cut. I’m not saying it was all homophobia, but some fuckery went down.

Conspiracy No. 2: The CW Network changed the finale to make it into a Walker promo because they only cared about raising up Jared and not Jensen and Misha as they were losing them anyway.

I don’t agree with this in terms of the finale being butchered solely to make it into a Walker promo. There are however moments in the finale that are clearly supposed to be Walker Easter Eggs and added to excite fans of Jared/Sam in particular such as Sam’s gratuitous and unnecessary topless scene, as well as the call on the “case in Austin”.

I will take this moment to say something pretty damn controversial though.

*Deep breath*

The fact is, Dean Winchester has been the “lead” character of Supernatural’s narrative for years now, with Sam often being sidelined and not given great storylines himself. Even in Season 15, right up until the finale, I myself felt bad for Sam sometimes because so much of this show has become all about Dean. Jensen Ackles is clearly the better actor when it comes to emotional story arcs, so the emotional heart of the story has most often leant on him.

So you can understand my confusion, when this is turned on its head in the final episode, to make Sam carry all the emotional weight, and have the most lines/screentime, and story resolution (even if his story resolution was just as crappy as Dean’s).

If we pretend that Destiel is not a thing, and ignore Cas’s confession, the story change in the finale from Dean focus to Sam focus is still rather suspicious. Again, I’m not saying I completely approve of or agree to the conspiracy theory that Walker influenced the butchering of the script, but I can believe that perhaps a note went down from the CW to someone like Bob Singer, to emphasise Sam/Jared more than they perhaps would normally, because the CW wanted to shine the spotlight on Jared to raise excitement for Walker.

I can also believe this note might have said something like “we wanna cater to fans of Sam/Jared the most - don’t do anything to piss them off.” but now I am getting into my own conspiracy theories so by all means dismiss this as me being bitter.

Conspiracy No.3: Dabb purposely made it bad, as a secret message to Destiel fans that he had been silenced, by layering meta clues into the episode that he knew fans would notice.

I doubt this one is true. Though some of the theories are quite compelling. The old vampire silent movie theory for instance starts off quite well, but loses me the moment it brings up Urban Dictionary slang.

Sometimes I have just had to accept that Supernatural is a bad show that is sometimes accidentally a masterpiece. However, some writers really did go That Deep with their stories - anything by Ben Edlund or Steve Yockey for instance, their episodes are meta masterpieces with a hundred different layers of beautiful subtextual storytelling and are a joy to analyse. Bobo Berens has certainly done some A+++ work especially now we KNOW that he was working hard all this time to bring Destiel to canon text (so any analysis of Destiel in the subtext in his episodes is very accurate). There have been many other key elements analysed over the years which have been confirmed true. Cas’s death in Season 12, Dean’s time as a demon in season 10, Season 11 ending in unity of dark and light, these were all plot points predicted by meta writers just by analysing the narrative. Sometimes the writers really have been very smart and they do add things to the show to aid us in our meta.

Richard Speight Jr for instance, confirmed that SPN has a visual library that the production team use to give clues and hints in the narrative. Pizza, for example, always means a lie has been told. Whenever Pizza is being eaten or even just mentioned on screen, there is dishonesty in that particular moment.

The beers also have a very specific message and the one thing I can’t let go about the finale, was that Dean was drinking El Sol beer. The beer his dad gave him, that was terrible.

El Sol has been used in the show to indicate something being wrong, a fake reality, or another lie, for the longest time. It is the beer of deception.

The fact that in the final episode of this entire show, Dean is in Heaven, supposedly at peace, and then he gets handed an El Sol beer to drink? Thats a HUGE red flag for any meta writer watching who can read SPNs visual library.

If they had given him the Margiekugel beer of family then it would make sense. Dean is in Heaven, with Bobby, his family, at peace. Margiekugel should have been the beer of choice. But nope. El Sol. Something is wrong.

I don’t know if it was Dabb, or Singer, or some disgruntled ADs and crew members who added these elements into the finale, but their very presence confirms some message of Wrongness.

I could go into a huge rant about Vampire Mimes not making sense and the very glaringly obvious symbolism of cutting out peoples tongues too, but that is high school level film analysis. It’s obvious. It means to silence someone. There is validity in interpreting this as Dabb saying he was silenced. I don’t know how true it is, but i can’t 100% dismiss it, because as I said, this is high school analysis levels of obvious subtextual storytelling.

So in summary, whilst I don’t think that Dabb intentionally went out of his way to sabotage his own script, and leave a breadtrail of secret messages for savvy fans to put together to confirm that he was silenced by an evil network into not getting what he wanted... I do think that there is validity in questioning these odd choices for the finale. Cutting out tongues? Vampire Mimes? El Sol beer?

The evidence is somewhat compelling is all I’m saying. I don’t believe the full conspiracy theories, but as I have said many times before, some fuckery went down.

So What Do I Believe?

That some fuckery went down and whatever company line they are pushing is bullshit.

I believe that the original script included Cas (since thats fact). I believe that the original script probably always had Dean dying on a vampire hunt (due to Jensen’s issues with it and in particular, his sarcastic comments about vampires in the past year or so which in hindsight are hilarious and prove he never really came to terms with Dean’s idiotic death). I believe Dabb’s original script was some less crappy version of what we got, which potentially included showing Jack rescuing Cas from the Empty and resolving the outstanding Empty plot points (potentially this was actually a 15x19 plot since Mark P commented that his final scenes were supposed to be with Jack and Cas), had Cas reunite with Dean in Heaven and had them have a discussion about Cas’s confession. I believe that there was probably a lot of back and forth over how to handle that with some people wanting Dean to obviously reciprocate and others believing they should keep it ambiguous. I believe that Dean and Cas would have reunited with Charlie Bradbury, and Bobby Singer, and possibly others (though if this was the case it must have been very early on since no one ever looped in Sam Ferris, Chad Linberg or any other Roadhouse people).

I believe that Sam’s ending probably didn’t change much, but I do feel that initially they were planning on him ending up with Eileen, because it is the only thing that narratively makes sense. Cutting Eileen and giving him a blurry wife is something I won’t ever understand and Jared’s bullshit explanations are quite clearly pulled out of his ass to appease bronly types. I believe the reunion on the bridge would have included Cas and Jack, with a final shot of all four of them together, at peace (as this aligns with Alex’s comments from around a year or so ago that the final shot was all four of them). (I also am not sure it was always supposed to be on a bridge since the foreshadowing in an earlier episode showed Dean, Cas and Sam all in the Roadhouse together).

I believe that script went through countless changes and redrafts, and not even production people or the types that some fandom people claim as their “sources” would even have seen those early scripts, since even Misha never saw it. I believe that these rumours of Dabb never having Cas in his finale and ignoring all Destiel elements likely come from people who only saw later versions, weren’t party to network discussions and felt bitter about the final scripts they did see (being the crappy butchered one that was ultimately filmed). Those “sources” are now spreading rumours to discredit Dabb.

I obviously believe Dabb is a weak ass pushover who either didn’t care enough to fight back, or gave up since he’s been stuck with fucking Bob Singer on his back for years, but I will NEVER believe he didn’t care about the DeanCas love story, because he has been one of the few writers who has championed for it for years. You can’t look back at Dabb’s episodes in earlier seasons and claim he didn’t care. Dabb was a writer whose creative ideas were beaten out of him by an unforgiving Network only concerned about where their future money was coming from. Do I think he gave up too easily? Yes. But I also have one other huge reason for not believing the bullshit about Dabb being this anti-Destiel villain.

Bobo. Because if Bobo truly believed Dabb was gonna fuck that up at the end, I don’t think he would have given us Cas’s love confession to begin with. If he had known it was gonna end like that, I think he would have reconsidered, because had Cas not confessed his love, I don’t think he would have been cut from the finale. Bobo - a gay man, would not have wanted such a horrible message for queer fans being put across in the show he worked so hard on. He started writing that confession scene the day they returned to the writers room. Dabb would have been there, would have seen what he was writing, probably discussed it with him, after all, other episodes were written with the confession in mind. No way was Dabb planning to fuck up the ending knowing what Bobo was giving us. Nope.

Something went very wrong over lockdown. Someone, somewhere up the chain of power caught wind of the confession scene in 15x18, realised that it demanded a resolution which would make Dean Winchester, their protagonist, queer, and pulled the plug. I believe this did not come from a place of homophobia, but of bad business sense.

The CW is constantly trying to win the approval and attention of the one demo group that they seem to fail at getting the most: young straight men. Supernatural was one of their only remaining shows that appeals to young straight men, and Dean Winchester is more often than not the fave character of those young straight men who project onto him. Making Dean Winchester, established Han Solo of Supernatural, queer and in love with his best friend in the finale would have come across as a betrayal to those young straight men. The CW probably feared they would lose that demo group for good, and with a show like Walker starting soon with Jared at the helm, they couldn’t take the risk.

Hence there was probably a whole bunch of back and forth script redrafts with the Network, with Dabb and Singer fighting to make a finale that would appeal to everyone. There was most likely no way that they could bring Cas back without addressing what had already been filmed, because any resolution of that plot would either a. make Dean queer, or b. address it awkwardly by having Dean reject Cas (this storyline would probably have been slammed by critics worse than the finale because it meant addressing it. It might have got the attention of LGBTQ activist groups and caused a bigger shitstorm than what we got). The best option was therefore C. Bury it and Cas, pretend it never happened. Never address it again and distract Dean with other things. Hope that Destiel fans will accept no answer from Dean as ambiguous enough to imagine a future reunion rather than shutting it down with a rejection, and still keep hold of the blissfully ignorant heteronormative straight boys so they can carry over to Walker when it starts.

I also believe (controversially probably) that there was concern that any resolution of Dean and Cas would have overshadowed network darling Jared Padalecki. If Dean and Cas had come together in the finale, with a very clearly textual homosexual reunion, then that would have been all anyone talked about. The reviewers, the critics, the audience, everyone. It would have been nothing but Dean and Cas (and look, if they did think this, they were right, Destiel trending over the US ELECTION.)

So what is the network to do, when they are losing the two stars who would get the most attention from this storyline? The one star they were holding on to and getting his own show, relegated to third place in the finale of the show where he was first on the call sheet? Nope. That’s pretty unacceptable. Even without Walker I can imagine people at all levels side eyeing the Destiel thing over the years. This IS a show about two brothers, and their relationship should be the core relationship, we can’t have one brother pushed aside in the finale to make way for a queer relationship that will get all the attention instead. It was never gonna get approved for this reason ALONE.

At the end of the day, if I look at it from a business perspective, it makes far more sense that the CW shut down Destiel, rather than “oh Dabb never cared and ruined it because he’s an idiot.” The writers cared, and had built on that story over years. But their mistake was leaving any Destiel resolution to the finale. If they had instead gone and got Dean and Cas together in early season 15, then they could have ended it in a way that satisfied everyone. Destiel wouldn’t have threatened pulling focus away from Sam and Dean, and the show could have gone out on a high.

When I lay out all the conspiracy theories, and line them up next to the cold hard facts, the conspiracy theories in some way or another, make more sense. To believe the company line, the narrative we have been fed, is to ignore your own eyes, ears, and memories pre March 2020.

All I’m asking people to do is take a look at the show, the narrative presented in the show, and the information presented above. I’m not telling you to believe what I’ve written here, half of which is just my own opinion. I’m asking you to ask yourselves if it makes sense to you. Because it sure as hell doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied.

[indelibleevidence]

We're in hiatus mode with the rewatch for the next couple of weeks or so, but I have 90 minutes until I can call to make an appointment before I sleep, so here we go with 3x05 - WTF Edition. Really hope this cut works, since we have a) plenty of negativity and b) spoilers right up to 5x11 in this post.

So. The Avery twist technically began in 3x04, but we don't get any fallout until this episode. So I'm going to go into an overview of why Avery bugs me before I get to 3x05 stuff.

Let me just start out by saying Kristina Reyes did really well with the material she had to work with. BUT I object to Avery's existence, because she's only around for one season (and thirty seconds at the end where she doesn't even interact with Jeller), and even though it would have been an angst gold mine to have Remi return and deal with her daughter being back, they didn't go there. And everything they had Avery tell the team about Crawford, they would have been easily able to get from other sources. She just plain didn't need to be there in season 3.

I once saw someone speculating that Jaimie and Kristina had a spat, based on Instagram unfollowing or something. That would make a lot of sense, that one of them refused to work with the other and ruined what the writers had originally planned for season 4 Remi and dying!Jane. But I digress.

Overall, I'm glad they wrote Avery out of the show, because when your ship has a kid, they become really boring. Even their shippy moments revolve around the kid. The things they were worrying about pre-kid are now background for kid-related angst, and there aren't that many ways to make that unique and interesting.

The writers kind of averted that with Kurt and Bethany in season 2-4, because Allie wasn't part of the team, she moved away, you only saw a few moments of 'going to be a dad' and they were buried under all the Sandstorm shenanigans, then Allie and Bethany only pop up a few times afterwards. And of course, every single character forgets about Avery's existence after 4x01. But season 3 parental!Jane and season 5 parental!Kurt were just annoying.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying real-life people shouldn't make their kids the most important thing in their lives. That's good parenting (assuming it's not overbearing). What I'm saying is that watching well-developed characters become the Worried/Protective Parent Trope is like replacing characters with cardboard cutouts, because there's not much to differentiate one worried parent TV character from another. They all just go 'MY BABY MY BABY' and it wastes screen time that could have gone towards fun team moments, or shippy playfulness, or whatever.

So yeah, from the moment I heard 'this says I have a daughter' I was already rolling my eyes. The amnesia angle makes it slightly more interesting, but the faked death plot point, when it was revealed, was just far-fetched. Roman's disregard for the only family he has who's not Jane is weird, given how family obsessed he is. A better revenge on Jane would have been what he said he'd do to get Avery to fake her death - getting her involved in his schemes against Crawford, getting her to break the law and become his permanent ally that way. No death-faking required, and a different plot point for getting Kurt to take tattoo help from him.

Basically, I just don't think there was a convincing enough reason for the whole Jane-has-a-kid storyline. Yes, conflict with Kurt and Roman being able to leverage Kurt were worthwhile plot points, but they could have found something else to make it about, that actually made sense.

But yeah. On to 3x05 discussion:

The absolute last acceptable moment for Kurt to put off telling Jane about Berlin was just before Jane got the envelope from Rossi. I mean, Kurt, you're a great FBI agent, you can't string these clues together and read the writing on the wall? Going into the seconds after Jane reads Rossi's message, he already knows that a) Roman knows about Berlin, b) Roman has promised there is more pain coming, c) Roman knows he can use Berlin to leverage Kurt's cooperation, to some as yet unknown end, and d) Jane now knows she has/had a child. When Jane said, 'I have a daughter', Kurt's response should have been, 'I know.'

The writers do have Jane say some stuff that's supposed to give Kurt an excuse for not telling her, like not wanting to disrupt the child's life, but all of that ignores the fact that they had at least twelve off-screen hours to process and discuss this information. I doubt Jane went 'I have a daughter - oh well, we'll ask Patterson about it in the morning, let's get some sleep.' She would have spent at least a couple of hours awake and stressing, and Kurt would have been talking her through it. So he totally would have had time to come clean before she started with her 'I can't have my sense of who I am ripped away again' stuff. Not cool, Kurt.

Jane reacts exactly as I would expect someone to act in her situation, except for one thing - the moment she says, 'How could I forget I had a child?' Like that's some sacred thing someone should never forget, even when they've had their entire memory wiped. She didn't say, 'How could I forget I was a terrorist?' or 'How could I forget I had a brother?' or 'How could I forget my parents were murdered?' So why should having a kid be any different? It just makes me think the implication was some 'sacred bond between mother and child' bullshit. You'd never get that if the amnesiac character was male.

Also it kinda sucks that they had Jane be processing the child reveal at the same time as the case was dealing with untested rape kits. Sure, Roman says the father was Remi's high school sweetheart, who was a 'nice enough guy', but the show seems to be nudging you into unacknowleged parallel territory up until that point. :/

Okay, I'm done. Sorry for the ramble. XD

[balillee]

my unpopular dsmp opinions, some of which genuinely should be popular

c!dream has crossed the moral event horizon and is irredeemable. once you cross that threshold, you're no longer a 'morally grey' character.

pre-recorded, heavily produced lore killed the lore. it was cool, sure, but you completely misunderstand the magic that the smp had when people watched it initially. the story is improv and that's how we like it. we can tell the cc's have lost interest in it, you can admit that to us, we'll understand, just stop lying to me.

c!dream's pov isn't necessary to understand his character or his motivations. if you've watched literally any c!primeboys stream he's basically spelled it out for you.

i don't understand how fans can dislike l'manberg or have claimed to be against it since the beginning. i honestly don't get it. what's so bad about wanting your own spot where you make your own rules and skirt accountability that has been used to technically oppress you before - and, before someone who never saw the earlier streams tries to disagree with this, the og l'manberg crew were imprisoned for shit that everyone else on the server was practically encouraged to do. also, what do you have against fun and happiness?

i think some of you forget that 'hybrids' aren't a thing, discounting c!ranboo. there's no piglin hybrids, c!techno is just a pig. there's no avian hybrids, c!phil is just a man with wings. there's no creeper hybrids, c!sam is just a creeper who's indecently exposed from the hips down. canonically there's no hybrids, and therefore no hybrid discrimination. people ran with that concept too much.

the loss and the fanon rewriting of the early lore up until pogtopia has ruined fandom perception of c!dream and the og l'manberg boys. c!tommy is more morally white than you think he is, and c!dream has always been a villain - he massacres and he kills and he destroys and he schemes and he always has broken his own rules. no wonder the boys wanted their own space after how they were treated.

i think ranboo oftentimes forgets his own lore. he brings stuff up that c!ranboo may have done, such as exploding the community house to frame c!tommy, holding onto Cat, and it goes absolutely nowhere. we've gotten all of these developments in his story but they have never been expanded on, and we're nowhere closer to figuring out his relationship to c!dream and what his other side is and honestly i see no hope that we'll be any closer to knowing even by the end of the year.

your characters don't all have to be morally grey for the story itself to be morally grey. this is fiction - some people can be nothing but evil and others can be nothing but good. being purely good or evil doesn't mean that you're one dimensional, either.

c!dream apologists have ruined c!dream for me. he's not a good person. how about you let me enjoy a villain for who he actually is, rather for than your percieved woobified ragdoll you pass off as c!dream.

the story was better when there was a central writer. it was brilliant back when wilbur wrote it to be that the environment drives the characters and the story, and it was really good in early s2 up until techno's execution day when it was more character driven. since then, the amount of autonomy people have over their characters without any central 'director', as it were, has been a detriment to the story overall. there needs to still be one overarching figure or director or writer.

not everyone is a main character. just because they have a pov, doesn't mean they're a main character. some characters have such little impact on the overall plot and describing everyone as a main character oversaturates the story and makes some characters seem more important than they are.

the egg lore had so much potential up until it didn't. all that built up threat that we were expecting and we still don't even know what the egg wants really other than just controlling people. does it hatch?

genuinely, if there's no major plot developments by the end of the year (and let's be honest, it's a very big possibility at this point), a few of the more prominent members of the server should do a podcast style stream talking about where the story would have gone, because at least then we would have gotten somewhat closer to a conclusion.

c!techno is a villain and an asshole and a bad person. he stops caring for people once their interests don't align with his or if they look at him funny. he makes meta-jokes about his own tyrannical and oppressive nature. stop taking that away from him. he's a bad person. cc!techno does a fabulous job portraying that in a comedic manner and the balancing of him being a deeply flawed person with deeply flawed morals and ideas with his comedically-portrayed stubbornness and lack of willingness to hear out opposing viewpoints is incredible. i want to like characters who are arseholes for the sake of being arseholes, and who refuse to take into account the hurt they've caused either out of self-righteousness or because they don't care, so let me. he's the anti-peacemaker, LET ME HIM ENJOY HIM FOR THAT!!!!

i think tommy and wilbur's way of doing lore is my favourite. relies heavily on improv, voice acting, sprite acting and facial expressions. really shows off the acting props and they pull off the emotional moments well for the insanity of the creative medium.

i'm not a fan of fan-music. i find songs about media i'm into difficult to listen to. coincidentally i'm also not a fan of shit like slam poetry or live music/musicals/pantomimes.

the death of l'manberg killed people's motivation to go on the server casually. i've talked about it more in depth before, but destroying what was a central, driving environment for the story killed momentum and motivation. imagine in an episode of she-ra, the princess alliance just nuke the freight zone and all of the members of the horde just have to deal with it. that would be shit.

until season 3 has some momentum, i'm counting the end of the smp as january 20th. that had a conclusion. season 3 has... whores, technoblade and tommyinnit. that's about it.

i wasn't a fan of the development of c!tubbo joining las nevadas. i preferred snowchester and the walled city conflict. give c!tubbo some backbone and some badassery. also tubbo where's the fucking nuke bro if you're shelving that plotline just tell us on like an alt stream what the plan was i beg

add like 2 or 3 new people to the server so that michael mcchill has someone to talk to and so that there's something always happening on the server. it gives the og's more motivation to return if things are happening in and out of canon and it'll help with momentum, and who knows? maybe they can write their own story/stories.

i really think that c!sam is an underrated character. he's multilayered, extremely interesting, and the dichotomy of his loyalty to his job and how far down the rabbithole that's taken him versus the genuine love he has for his friends that drives him to do what he does out of wanting to do right by them is brilliant. i don't talk about c!sam enough.

STOP HAVING FUCKING VILLAIN ARCS!!! I'M FUCKIN SICK OF IT!!!! i want to see more characters who see everyone else being absolute selfish, abhorrent cunts and go 'if nobody else is going to be a good person, i fucking will'. GIVE ME SOME MORAL WHITENESS!!! IT'S INTERESTING AND MORALLY GOOD CHARACTERS ARE FUN!!!

let tommyinnit build cobblestone towers. everyone bullied him too much for how ugly they were and the one he built outside of the prison looked genuinely really nice. it gives the boy something to do.

i'm a fan of the revive book and the canon lives system. don't ask me why, but i think it might just be the morbidity of it. it adds to c!dream's god complex persona, and i think the fragility of death itself is a really fun concept. not enough fan cc's have made connections with that and c!mumza, and it could make for cool fanfic.

ranboo your house is fucking ugly. it's an eyesore

c!niki, and to some extent now c!jack and c!fundy, are boring me and ruining my mood. i think c!jack is the closest to being an actually interesting sympathetic villain, mainly because nobody else seems to realise that c!niki is a villain. not a good one imo, but she's a villain. c!jack just has the problem of starting a new project over and over and over and over again and because of the slow in momentum for the primary cast, there hasn't been a lot of recent development for him.

not really a dream smp opinion, but if philza went full geordie accent, i would love it. i want him to, in canon, say shit like 'me n ye' instead of 'me and you' and use geordie dialect. i want him to be physically unintelligible because it's funny.

i don't really know what's up with c!foolish but i think he's a dumbass. he had a while to think about c!q's proposal and then changed his mind about joining the guy to admitted to letting him die just because. moron

i wish there was more c!eret lore. i wish he was an actual king with an actual kingdom and actual subjects and royal advisors. c!eret is far too fucking cool to be the king of nothing and nobody. fatten up the kingdom and the castle with people who work with c!eret, and don't just make it tyrannical and dictator-y to prove the point of the server's 'anarchists'. make it a healthy working environment, please - if you want moral greyness, have 'anarchists' who claim to care about the welfare of the server oppose a kingdom of happy people under a fair and just ruler because their ideologies clash.

the server needs more characters who oppose anarchy in more peaceful ways, or passively wish for systems to be a part of. i think a chaos vs order conflict ending only in mutual understanding where everyone understands that they should just leave each other alone would slot nicely into the story that's been created so far.

you need to have watched all of the previous arcs to understand the story. i've seen people argue that they don't need to know about earlier lore to understand the prison, but that's the equivalent of only watching the final season of pretty little liars and expecting to understand the context of what's going on.

some characters aren't that morally grey. some characters, take c!tommy for example, are definitely on the whiter side for the morality scale, he's just an asshole. he's abrasive and rude and a dickhead but he also doesn't agree with terrorism, he's patriotic, he strives for a better world, he's apologetic, but he's also a fucking BITCH.

you can add onto this if you want, but not if you're a c!dream apologist. nobody likes your opinions

[skellebonez]

SO, remember that thing you wrote a while back, about Monkey King and Mk time traveling back to the JTTW time period?

Link to said thing: https://skellebonez.tumblr.com/post/647766968590581760/18-for-present-wukong-and-mk-to-accidentally-time

THIS? RIGHT WELL, I HAVE HAD IT OPEN IN MY TABS FOR A REALLY LONG TIME AND WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU AN OPENING TO CONTINUE WITH IT IF YOU'D LIKE: PROMPTS 34 and 41

So. Time travel is funky. This is set post-Special, immediately pre-season 2. But has spoilers for events up to S2E7. For reasons. Side bar: sometimes time travel comes with some fun side effects. Fun for the viewer. Less fun for the people experiencing them.

Truth be told, I forgot they were even here./Can you teach me how to do that?

"Won't this cause some kind of... I-I dunno, time paradox?" MK asked in a harsh whisper as they followed the traveling group at the back of the line. "Or is this gonna be some kind of 'you changed one thing and now two timelines exist' kind of deal?"

"I genuinely have no idea," Wukong said with a sigh, digging at the uncomfortable but familiar feeling in his ear and trying to keep his voice down as much as possible. He was honestly surprised that it had taken MK this long to ask this particular question, but then again... they had other things to worry about. "I don't remember this, but that may not even matter. I've around for centuries, Bud, but even I have no idea how thing works for us."

"That is not a comforting sentence."

It had been a little over two days since the mentor and student had found themselves thrown backwards in time a few centuries away from home. And Sun Wukong could tell that MK was starting to get more and more frustrated as time had gone on. To be fair, they had made little progress. And there was... another reason... multiple other reasons. But most importantly, there wasn't exactly a power source they could plug the machine into that would give them enough juice to send them home, at least not unless they chance by a demon with lightning powers that Wukong didn't remember. No, instead they had to wait until they hit a storm.

One that was more than another two days walk away.

The young man did his best to not let it show, however. Most likely because of who they were traveling with.

His younger self lead the group, pointedly not looking back at them and keeping a watchful eye for demons that the elder Wukong knew would not come. He dared not bring this knowledge up, though, not knowing if MK had a point about that paradox. He didn't seem to trust the completely, but there was someone else he trusted.

Behind him was his former Master. The monk Tripitaka, Tang Sanzang himself, on the back of the horse formed dragon Bai Long Ma. Bai Long Ma had said nothing, as they were wont to do, and seemed to mostly ignore the two of them unless they were loud. Mast- Sanzang. He had insisted that the elder Wukong and MK call him Sanzang. Probably to help differentiate who was speaking to him if he could not see the two immortal monkeys, and also because MK kept trying to figure out which title to use for the monk and he took pity on him. Sanzang, after a hour's long explanation and from proof via MK's phone and knowledge of past adventures none should know of (and one very interesting game of staff trading between the two monkeys for a moment where the younger Wukong realized it was indeed the same staff).

Sanzang had not mentioned his crying when they met. Neither had his younger self. Or MK.

Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing took up the rear. Wujing had not said much to the two of them, but he was nice enough. Suspicious of them, but nice. He put more faith in Sanzang and younger Wukong (perhaps he should call him something else in his head) than his companion.

Bajie didn't trust them as far as he could throw them, that was clear from the way he kept glancing back at the duo with daggers in his eyes. He was immediately unhappy with their new travel companions and... Wukong realized with a sad jolt that he actually missed that. At the time he only found Bajie's contrary nature to his own to be frustrating but now... now he hadn't heard that in 500 years and he could see that while it may have been misguided at times (many times) it was born of a sense of self preservation and a want to protest Sanzang.

Even if he contradicted himself at times as well.

"You two doing ok back there, older me and Kid?" Younger Wukong called back suddenly.

"Yup, just. Hanging." MK yelled back, tone as terse and done as it had been for the last day. "Not like I can do anything else." The second bit was muttered under his breathe, most likely in the hopes even his mentor couldn't hear him. He was wrong.

Wukong felt... bad. Because he was the primary source of this rotten mood.

The staff digging into his ear for the first time in centuries was a reminder of that. An agreement between himself and his student to not bring up any undue suspicion and questions that would take time they may not have to get back home. They'd agreed that the group would also call him Kid, since MK wasn't as fond of the others calling him Bud for some reason, and the name was just... a smidgen to close to Monkey King to not raise similar questions. It was also a reminder that Wukong had let slip in a follow up conversation, away from prying ears, about why this may or may not be really necessary that he had planned to leave the next day in present time.

MK hadn't been happy since. Not with him at least.

"Bajie, remember to ask them how they are doing from time to time. Please?" Sanzang insisted in front of them.

"Truth be told, I forgot they were even here," Bajie lied.

~

Bajie glowered down at Wukong, throwing the fruit and wrapped rice packages in his general direction and not caring whether he caught it or not. There was a soft and disappointed cry of his name from Sanzang from the other side of the camp.

"Master and the stupid Monkey may trust you," he snorted, ignoring the call and looking between Wukong and MK. "But I don't. If you even so much as set one little toe out of like I will re-"

"Rend our souls asunder with your mighty 9 Toothed Rake, yeah," MK sighed as he used some of the water from his cup to wash the berries thrown at him. "You're Zhu Ganglie, Zhu Bajie, Tiānpéng Yuánshuài, commander-in-chief of 80,000 Heavenly Navy Soldiers. You will kick our asses. We know."

For a whole second Zhu Bajie looked genuinely surprised and... kind of impressed.

Then he scoffed again and made his way back to the group of five and watched them from the edges of his vision with less suspicion and more curiosity than before.

"Mei was right when she said he was kind of like Pigsy," MK noted, popping a berry into his mouth.

"When was that?" Wukong asked, doing much the same.

His student froze, looking down at his hands for a moment as if trying to remember something. "... not important. Let's just eat and get some rest, like Sanzang told us to."

It didn't take a Great Sage to realize something was wrong.

Wukong said nothing.

~

"Kid, we told you to stay back with Master!" Wujing shouted as MK peaked his head around the rock he and the monk were taking shelter behind.

"I know!" MK snapped, growling as he ducked back down and presumably curled in on himself. "ARGH I feel useless!"

Wukong winced at his tone, feeling bad. MK wasn't useless, to be fair, but without his staff and no backup weapons he was fighting up a creek without a paddle as it were.

"You're not useless, and you're protecting Tripitaka!" He shouted, letting out a yelp as he narrowly avoided a hit from a demon that should not even be here. Or, some kind of time anomaly mockery of a large demon. An enormous smoke or shadow creature that was far too familiar for his own liking. Not the same, something possibly cobbled together from time itself.

"Wow, uh, future me you're not doing so hot!" Younger Wukong said with a raise of his eyebrow as he blocked a strike with much more ease. "Aren't I supposed to get better with age? Like a handsome fine wine?"

"I'm a bit RUSTY ok!?" He snapped, slicing off one of the shadow creature's cloth tassels to watch it flicker away. "Haven't been many demons to fight!"

He heard a scoff from behind the rock before he felt the giant fist punch him into it. And through it. A Wukong sized hole between student and old master. He realized too late that he had lost his grip on his staff as it flew into the air above them.

"Alright, that's enough!"MK shouted, and before Wukong could even move to stop him the Monkie Kid had jumped into the rock and reached up.

"KID DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!?" Bajie shouted in horror as he made to rush back and tackle him out of the way. He hadn't moved fast enough either.

None of them had, before MK caught the staff as if it was as light as a feather and twirled it around himself before extending it and launching himself at the shadow creature with a scream of rage and frustration and landing what would have been the killing blow had it not clearly been something not living in the first place.

It dissipated much as the piece cut off before it did, leaving MK to... give a confused yelp and fall into a heap on the ground. The staff fell to his side as he clutched his head and yelled in pain from a source Wukong could not see.

"Kid!" Wukong screamed, moving faster than he had during the entire fight to his student's side. "Kid, shit, MK! What happened?"

"MK?" Sanzang and his younger self asked softly in tandem as Wujing and Bajie watched on, all moving closer. But not too close, giving the two room to move.

MK didn't answer. He sat up, holding his head in his hands as he breathed deeply and tried to keep from screaming again before everything just... stopped.

His sat on his knees, hand hanging limply at his sides as his true sight shone in his eyes and he looked on forward blankly.

"What's... who is he?" Younger Wukong asked slowly as he turned to his older self. "What is he?"

"The Hero and the Warrior were like the Sun and the Moon..." MK muttered softly all of a sudden, just loud enough for the group surrounding him. His voice was slurred, almost like he was in a trance. "Their light a protective glow shining upon the world..."

"MK, where did you-" Wukong tried to ask instead of answering his younger self as he slowly stepped forward, cautiously, but MK continued on as if he had not heard him at all.

"Together there was nothing that could stop the two of them. Either in the Celestial Realms... or on Earth. As time went on, the Hero attained power beyond comprehension. As the Hero's light grew so too did his shadow and soon the Warrior was cast in that shadow. In the darkness, the Warrior was forgotten by the Hero..."

MK immediately slumped forward as he fell unconscious.

"MK!"

~

"His name is MK... and he's the Monkie Kid... My successor," Wukong finished as he laid a fresh cold wet cloth over his student's forehead. After he had collapsed it became obvious something was seriously wrong with MK, high fever burning him up quickly. They were only just close enough to a town for him to grab him and the staff and rush off with barely a shouted back explanation of "find us at the inn" to the rest of their group. "We thought that... keeping that a secret might prevent any kind of... weird time travel... stuff."

Wukong sighed. His explanation was weak even to his own ears. Excuses. Ways to make things easier for him.

He felt worse than he had just the day before.

His student laid unconscious still, fever burning even after the medicine from the town doctor had been given to him with water carefully. The only thing Wukong could think of was the staff. MK wasn't invincible like he was, maybe contact with it had caused a reaction from the time travel that couldn't affect the immortal.

"Why would you need a successor, Wukong?" Sanzang asked after they sat in silence for a moment.

Bajie handed Wukong the mortar and pestle he had been working with to prepare more medicine, something to add to tea when MK woke up. The pig demon had not questioned him once since they arrived, only grabbed what Wukong was trying to mix poorly himself and listened.

Bai Long Ma had changed into a human form, one he had rarely seen, and sat beside Wujing. They both also listened.

His younger self looked at MK in a mix of wonder and confusion and horror and Wukong could not blame him. The idea of a successor... he must have known himself what that meant even if no one else did.

"I hope I don't have to tell you," he said softly. He didn't look away from MK, even as Sanzang laid a comforting hand on his back. "And I don't want to risk what telling you might do..."

No one questioned him after that.

When Bajie prepared the next bowl of medicine for MK, Wukong took a chance he never had with the demon he once considered like his brother.

"Can you teach me how to do that? Properly?"

Bajie did.

~

"Monkey King?" Came the hoarse rasp of MK's voice ringing through the room, and Wukong shot up from where he was watching the stars in an instant.

"I'm here, MK," He said softly, still soft, not wanting to hurt his student in case hie head ached. "How do you feel?"

"Dead, but only from the neck up," MK groaned out, and Wukong let out a relieved sigh. He wasn't sick enough to not joke around at least. "Where are we?"

"The town we need to be in," Wukong answered, quickly working on adding the medicine into some now (sadly) cold tea. He had hoped MK would wake much sooner. "Storm is tonight... you've been asleep for a whole day. Hopefully getting you home with this medicine in you will make you feel better, you uh... you weren't doing so great before-"

"What happened to Macaque?" MK asked suddenly, looking for all the world like he had no idea why he would even ask that question to begin with. "Not the battle your younger you had. Before that. In the story. Sun and Moon. Please, I... I want to know. Just... just tell me something, for once."

Wukong froze, fur bristling and stiff and this was not the conversation he wanted to have with his student right now. This is not the conversation he should be able to physically have with his student right now because MK should have no way of knowing anything like this at all. But he had. He'd recited the story he'd heard before word for word from... Macaque.

This was not the time for easy outs. Not anymore.

"I've made a lot of mistake, MK," He started, lifting his student's head onto his lap to help him sit up for the drink. "And a lot of them are ones I didn't think you would have to know about. But Macaque... it's complicated, I know that now. I didn't back then."

MK sipped the tea but said nothing, only made a face at the taste of the medicine.

"We were friends, once. Back on Mount Huaguo before I went to the Celestial Realm, he became immortal in... other ways to my own. I was trapped for 500 years under a mountain without him, no one came to see me so... I guess he was never able to find me. Or he waited thinking I would eventually come back," Wukong tried not to think about how that meant he could have had trust in his friend and not for other reasons he had assumed for so long. "You know the story of the White Bone Spirit from our journey? How Bajie got me banished?"

Wukong couldn't help but chuckle. Oh, he'd been so mad at Bajie for so long for that. He still was, in many ways. But given what happened to him later on in the journey Wukong couldn't hold a grudge.

"Yeah you-" MK coughed a little, probably from not talking for a whole day and a sore throat. "You went back to Mount Huaguo."

"And to Macaque," Wukong continued. "For the first time in 500 years."

"I bet he was angry."

"No..." Wukong disagreed, shaking his head and thinking back. "No, he... wasn't. Not at first. He was ecstatic I came back. The Hero and Warrior of Mount Huaguo back together again, just like old times. But it wasn't like old times. I was already different, I knew how I treated others including the monkeys on my mountain hadn't been the best. And when Bajie came to bring me back... I couldn't help but wanting to leave back to the journey. Part of it was to get the fillet off, but part of it was because... I realized I cared for the others. I wanted to see the journey through with them."

"Macaque thought you were abandoning him," MK said after a moment, eyes widening. "That's why he took on your identity. He wanted... revenge? For you to have no reason to leave again?"

"I think he just wanted what we used to have," Wukong said with a frown. "I've been running from him for so long... over another 500 years. I've made so many mistakes in my life MK, but I think not trying to get him to come with us or trying to properly explain what I was doing... may have been the worst."

"... The warrior was never forgotten by the Hero after all," MK said softly before drifting back to sleep.

"No," Wukong agreed, though he knew he was not heard. "No, the Hero never forgot. The Hero never will, not completely. Even if it hurts."

~

The storm came on schedule. The machine was charged.

Over the day they came back their memories of the trip back in time faded into a distant thought, one that both mentor and student soon forgot to fear the loss of.

By the next day they had forgotten. Time had fixed itself.

But not completely.

The Hero never forgot completely, after all. There was something telling him in the back of his mind to check more on his student. He remembered a hand on his back that should not have been there. He knew how to mix something he never had before.

Neither did the Warrior, uninvolved in this adventure as he may be. He had plans.

And the one between them, with no title to himself, didn't completely forget either. He recalled feeling warm and safe. His head was on someone's lap. There were berries and someone not unlike one of his father figures.

The memories of what happened lingered, quiet, uncalled but emotions still there.

A short time later the one between felt that a play he went to was strangely familiar to him and needed to rush out before his head began to ache in memories he didn't recall.

"So um... what happened to him? The Warrior?"

The answer was somewhere in the back of his mind. If only he could remember.

[fandomsareforlife]

Masterpost

Will I ever Update? Debatable. This is basically everything I feel worthy of being here. Also, if you ever want to learn more about anything here, let me know. I will tell you happily about everything on this list!

Note: If you find something that should be on here, let me know! I suck at remembering stuff so letting me know about it helps me a lot! Also, if a link doesn’t work let me know.

*Ninjago #KOTLC

My ao3

My Secondary Ninjago headcanon blog

Ninjago Elemental Masters fan community

Bad Things Happen Bingo Card

Pronoun Info

Collective Poll 2023 (I am the originator of this probably since I was curious)

BAD THINGS HAPPEN

(Also on my ao3)

Parting Words Regret*: About Harumi and Ultra Violet during either between season 8 and 9/Early season 9.

Can't Go Home: About Gravis coming out, ambiguous time line.

Addiction and Withdrawal: Gravis is a high school drug addict. High School universe, not canon with the show or movie.

Branding: Skylor and her thoughts on her snake tattoo and Chen

Manhandling: OC focused story based on Selena and Elijah

Ninjago A-Z

So this was originally just a silly one shot, than now is going to be an expanded universe. Not all of them fit perfectly together, but I use the same general characterizations.

A Is For Affection: Pre-Canon, Brad/Lloyd in Darkley's B Is For Breakdowns: Griffin Turner's 16th birthday party, with a lot of angst and no comfort

BIANUCA WEEK#

Day 1: First Meet

Day 2: Dance

Who Wrote That?

Former Dead Princess found in Sad Man home? (Shade & Harumi talk in a kitchen) Monster (How Should I Feel?) (Villain! Lloyd, Hurt no Comfort) What Happens After You Take Over A City? (Movie verse Brad and Gene, right after Garmadon conquers the city) The Time is Now (Master of Time Griffin Turner with Sensei Gamradon) Life's Too Short To Even Have You In It (Frozen AU with Zane and Echo) Cold Water And Cold Feet (Zane and Kai at the pool, featuring Kai being scared of water) Just Don't Breathe And Tremble As I Pray Behind The Mask (Shade/Kai in the slither pit)

Assorted Other Fics

Piano Playing And How It Connects To Love: Shade and Kai fluff, Shade plays the piano, very sweet

Something has changed within me, something is not the same: Dragon Lloyd with Shade in an alleyway

Kotlc SoKam soulmate AU

INCORRECT QUOTES

Griffin Turner Can't Explain Things*

Shade and Pale about flowers*

Epitome of friendship*

The Ninjago City Bus Policy*

Chen's files on the EMs and Shade surprises everyone*

A conversation about Enemies*

Shade forces Lloyd To Take His Coat

Turner Runs Out Of Lime Wood

Tox gives Jacob some life advice

Neuro was in show choir???

Shade is Shadow the Hedgehog?

Headcanons/Fanfic Ideas

Lloyd doesn't like Halloween*

Evil Noodle Man*

Tam Song is not CisHet#

Shade was sleep deprived*

Gender Fluid Lloyd and Chamille*

Marvel/Ninjago Crossover*

Shade has a Semicolon tattoo*

Shade and Tox Trans Solidarity*

Shade and Violet are siblings*

Shade writes fanfic*

Ninjago Human AU*

Lloyd's age in my opinion*

No Way Home AU*

Neuro and Tox's friendship*

Does Pale know Ash likes them??*

Pale is actually sane*

Most likely to-*

Shade's covered in blood *

Jacob eavesdropping *

Tox is not that uncool*

Griffin and Neuro club headcanon

Neuro is an adult™️

Nya charismatic? More likely than you think.

Griffin Turner the king of just dance?

Morro/Shade fluffy movie verse

Fanfic writer in Ninjago

Plot Holes/Theories

The Tournament of Elements pairings were weird

AUs/OCs/Fanon

Order And Faith Au*

Elemental Power of Spirits*

Elemental Master Family Headcanons*

EM Color Scheme*

Oppenheimer Family*

Eugene Techno*

Selena, Zevon and Elijah Introductions

Shade/Lloyd headcanons

Wu didn’t write the letter to Misako

General Shade lore? Subject to change

Griffin Turner as the Master of Time

Writing ideas (non fandom specific)

Coffee Shop But Better AU

Mages need their hands to do magic

[lovecolibri]

No, you're right.

You know, I would have totally understood if he started sleeping around again /after/ breaking up with Taylor.

He could have fully hooked up with L*cy on that bar and I would have been like 'yeah, that's Buck 0.1' if it had been /after/ breaking up with Taylor.

Not like this.

Wait I wrote 0.1 but it's actually 1.0???? I don't even know anymore lol. Whatever, the Buck pre Abby dlyfñufñufñu

Okay, but cheater!Buck is definitely Buck 0.1 🤣🤣🤣 And yeah, I would have been *crunching popcorn* at single Buck hooking up with Lucy and then her working for the 118 and Hen being delighted and Chim finding out and ribbing Buck. Instead it's just going to be sooooo cringe, and if they make jokes about it, it's going to fall as flat as the jokes about Buck and the therapist from season 2.

My main gripe is that it's going to probably ruin at least in part the satisfaction of the BT breakup because it's no longer Buck having a "functional" (at least in his eyes because babes. no) relationship and choosing to walk away because he realizes he deserves better. Because no matter what happens, or how they spin it, it is always going to be tinged with some level of guilt. This breakup needed to happen for Buck's growth, for him choosing himself and his wants/needs/desires and realizing he's not happy and he doesn't have to stay in an unfulfilling relationship just because the other person isn't the one leaving this time. For him to realize he's allowed to be a little angry at the derisive way she's always treated him. But to have it happen in the middle of him breaking down and cheating?! This breakup won't be about his growth (and therefor could possibly have HER ending things, or at least not being nearly as narratively satisfying as it should have been like Eddie's was), which means, we're probably still going to have to have another breakup to fulfill the narrative arc, OR this one is just....not going to be as fulfilling and narratively satisfying as it could have been had it happened in 5x10 like it should have, or before Buck starting anything with anyone else.

And yeah, this is Buck at his worst, we're seeing him breakdown, and it's messy, and character's aren't perfect and it will all work out in the end blah blah blah. The final destination might be good, but the journey matters, and sometimes the person driving the bus is a fucking idiot. 🤷‍♀️