#idk about the timeline though I think it would have been better if we followed linearly down the generations

[permanentreverie]

While I'm so interested in what they're doing in the pachinko show, I also freak out whenever it differentiates from the book

[kradogsrats]

If Soren seems to have gotten sick when he was a toddler, do you think Lissa left shortly after Claudia was born…? Maybe that doesn’t quite line up, actually…

Okay so I saw someone ask Aaron Ehasz a similar question about the timeline of Soren's illness re: Viren's dream vs. the events presented in Puzzle House, and I cannot remember where it was but his response was something like "hm... well you should probably believe the show."

Which immediately made me go "oh my god was Soren actually dead for like three to five years and Kpp'Ar was looking for a unicorn horn to resurrect him in a manner similar to the Star magic spell that 'restores bodies to separated spirits' and then instead Viren stole Ziard's staff from him and used that??????" which is a) insane, and b) has several reasons it probably isn't the case. But it's a thought I had.

Anyway, let's look at our contrasting sources:

Puzzle House

Puzzle House establishes the following sequence of events:

Soren is ill to the point of dying

Kpp'Ar disappears

Soren gets better

Lissa leaves

It's also implied that this was all pretty recent, between King Atticus's concern for Viren and Soren's for Claudia:

So, how old are all these extremely precocious young children in Puzzle House?

Well, Sarai is... quite pregnant. She's got a pretty small frame, but I'd still put her at like 30 weeks, minimum. Ezran is pinned at 10 in the official character lineup. (In s4 he says he was "nine years old" when Harrow was killed. Given his March birthday, he is probably fudging that a bit since s1 starts mid-May so he was pretty recently 10 at the time.) Viren also puts Harrow's coronation and Sarai's death at nine years earlier, at which point I would estimate Ezran at roughly 6-8 months, given how he is portrayed.

Also given the mid-May start to s1, we also have Claudia at almost 17, and Soren at about 18 and a half. Soren is about 18 months older than Claudia. So between all of that, we can probably ballpark Puzzle House at about one year before Harrow's coronation. This puts Soren at about 8 and a half, and Claudia at almost 7. (And Callum at about to turn 5, if anyone's keeping track.)

Given the way it's spoken about, I would not put Soren's recovery at earlier than 6 months prior, and probably more like 3 or so. This roughly lines up with the estimates I had for everything before, so idk go me or whatever.

Strangers

We do also have a third source for details on Soren's illness, which is the Strangers short from Reflections. This establishes that Soren was old enough to remember details about that time:

If Soren was the age he appears in Viren's dream, then a) he probably wouldn't remember any of it, and b) Claudia would have been an infant. Now, an infant can definitely cry in their room until morning, but I do think the implication here is supposed to be that she was old enough to understand what was happening and have emotions about it.

Additionally, Soren thinks of the slow breaths practice as something he did therapeutically for a long time:

Basically, I think it's pretty clear between this and the info in Puzzle House that the Puzzle House timeline is accurate, but Soren initially developed what was actually a chronic illness much earlier.

Viren's Dream

Now, what about Viren's dream?

It's incredibly difficult to pinpoint ages of children in animation purely visually, so I'm mostly basing an estimate of 2-3 years old for Soren during Viren's dream off of his demonstrated stage of linguistic development and the fact that he's able to run. He could be delayed in one or both areas, though.

Viren dreams of Soren turning to stone, similar to how Thunder did (and how Viren does in the opening). This is interesting in that the implication is certainly death, but it also has heavy ties to dark magic and the other themes of Viren's dreaming, which I would say put it as more related to something along the lines of a "sealed fate" rather than literal death. Dreaming Viren knows what he didn't know when Soren was that age, and probably developed his first recognizable symptoms—that this illness would come close to killing him, and Viren would give up everything to save him.

There's also a possible implication there that dark magic was actually what caused Soren's illness in the first place, which could be something interesting to explore. (And I've definitely seen people explore it, before.)

Anyway, like most of Viren's dream, it's accurate but not literal.

TL;DR: Dreams are fucking weird, and Claudia was still probably between six and seven years old when Lissa left the family.

[brookstolemybrand]

I already talked about Sabo being kind of a parallel protagonist to Luffy, but Koby is in some ways maybe even more so (especially since he was introduced literally in chapter 2)

Sabo is Luffy's dad's protégé

Koby is Luffy's grandpa's protégé

(Sidenote: Luffy kinda took Ace's place as Shanks' and Rayleigh's protégé, arguably; I mean it would have made a lot of sense for former Roger pirates to act as mentor figures for Roger's son, wouldn't it? In a different story that put more importance to bloodlines, Ace would have been destined to be the next King of the Pirates for sure. Ace is kind of a decoy protagonist)

With Koby it's even more obvious when you look at the known SWORD members and how many of them have some kind of legacy position, or at least we can assume so even if we don't know for certain (like with Hibari suspiciously sharing Akainu's dialect). In theory, Garp's grandson would fit into SWORD perfectly.

And of course Garp very much intended this to be Luffy. It's not even subtle that Koby is the replacement grandson lmao

(Say what you want about Dragon's (lack of) parenting, he definitely didn't put any pressure on Luffy. So with Sabo it's not really the same, it's not like Luffy refused to follow in his father's footsteps; he didn't even know he had a father, much less what those footsteps were. But the parallels are still there)

But yeah, I think their personal connections to Luffy, as well as the way they're set up in positions that Luffy plausibly might have had in some alternate timelines, makes them Luffy's counterparts in the Navy and in the Revolutionary Army. Which allows them to function as pseudo-protagonists for the audience when Luffy isn't present and to take on plotlines that would otherwise feel like they should be handled by the main characters (like taking on the Blackbeard Pirates and the Celestial Dragons respectively)

Narratively speaking, as the plot gets bigger, you kinda need these secondary protagonists to carry the parts of the story that Luffy can't be there for

The three of them also represent different shounen protagonist archetypes:

I kinda struggled to phrase this myself (and honestly I just have a very limited reference pool for shounen anime) so I googled it and I'm stealing the terms from this post

Basically Luffy is the "Idiot Hero", Koby is the "Boy Wonder" and Sabo... well actually I think Ace is the "Punk Martyr" (he took the martyr part a bit too seriously rip), and Sabo is the secret fourth thing: the Cool Competent Guy (even though Sabo is also a punk, he just hides it better)

Luffy is a Goku, Koby is a Deku, and Sabo is... idk I guess he would be a Lelouch (look, I'm talking about character TYPES, not saying they're the same kind of person)

... Well actually Sabo is more of an Enjolras, but Les Mis is not a shounen manga—

SIKE, IT IS, I'M COUNTING IT

(That's a really good adaptation of Les Mis btw, I could gush endlessly about Takahiro Arai and how well he understood not only the core of the story but also how to adapt it into a visual medium, really leaning into the vivid metaphorical imagery in Hugo's narration and then adding to it his own, it's SO GOOD)

(To immediately nitpick myself: Sabo is more like an amalgamation of all the Amis de l'ABC but it's easier to say Enjolras for short. Also yes I know Enjolras isn't the protagonist, but he has protagonist energy)

Anyway... what was I saying?

Right, I was gonna talk about the hero thing, because heroism is actually a big theme in One Piece:

Luffy doesn't want to be a hero, BUT KOBY DOES. He might be sheepish about calling himself one, but it was his dream, and by all conventional standards he accomplished it: he's now a Navy Hero

Sabo is more of a reluctant hero; he wanted to be a pirate like Luffy but chose to become a revolutionary instead. He's fully committed to that role though, even willing to accept the title of regicide if it helps the cause (this btw also makes him similar to another character in Les Mis, the Conventionist who... okay fine I'll stop)

As a marine and a revolutionary, Koby and Sabo are on the opposite sides of the whole "hero" thing. Although well, neither of them are extremists so at the same time they're not that opposite either, more like just each others' counterparts on opposing sides, but still

It makes sense that Koby, whose ambition was to become a hero, would gravitate to the conventional and widely accepted form of heroism: military heroism. Meanwhile Sabo, the reluctant hero, was driven to become one exactly because those socially accepted forms of heroism in reality exist to maintain an unjust system and there need to be people who step up to oppose that system, it's heroism out of necessity

You could also say that Koby becomes a part of the system because he wants to be a hero, Sabo becomes a hero because he wants to escape the system...

(Sidenote: I actually have a hunch that Dragon is probably more like Koby in terms of personality and ambitions, he's just a Koby who became disillusioned after learning the truth about the navy. That's the vibe I get anyway)

Either way, both of them are a good contrast to Luffy, who insists that he's not a hero and who chooses to just follow his selfish whims, which is why he's the pirate, he picks the least "heroic" career option. And that's why he's the protagonist, because this is a pirate manga

That said, as it turns out, his selfish whims are pretty heroic anyway, and he ends up being the one who has the most freedom to do exactly what needs to be done, BECAUSE he's not a hero

(Is that extremely dangerous? Sure. Could it end really badly? Yes. But Luffy isn't supposed to be a role model, he's literally a pirate)

But it still helps the narrative to also have heroic characters who aren't only motivated to help people who give them food lol

(I kid, but ykwim)

It helps that there are heroes even if the protagonist isn't one, because otherwise the audience might start wanting the protagonist to become the hero

And then it wouldn't be a pirate adventure story anymore, it would become a hero narrative

....

.... I know I should end the post here but you have no idea how much I'm holding back a rant rn about the marines and how much they suck and why I find Koby so frustrating as a character... That's another post tho

[pochapal]

32! Do you like HS^2?

i...genuinely do! i think sometimes there's a half-conception that based on the mere premise of my fics that i don't like postcanon all that much (omelette route was misconstrued as an epilogues fix-it fic in certain circles and pickle route is still sometimes seen as a "better version" of hs^2) even though everything i write is in direct conversation with and comes from a place of admiration for hs^2/the epilogues.

with hs^2 in particular i think it had some really electric ideas that we only got to see the very first brushstrokes of (thinking most pertinently here about whatever was going to go down on deltritus that we never saw) that, if they'd been able to get off the ground, probably would have eclipsed the epilogues as the most interesting part of homestuck. from the bits we saw the meat timeline stuff was definitely the weakest. outside of the jade/altcallie possession chapter a lot of that half of the story was fairly unsurprising character-driven extrapolation of the same angst we departed the epilogues with - and i largely agree with @hms-no-fun that some kind of timeskip here would have helped it feel a little less repetitive (although arguably there might have been? three years definitely passed with dirk et al but it was very up in the air as to how long it had been for the pursuit spaceship crew). i get why that never happened - both meat and candy were being told in tandem and candy ended on a buildup to an immediate conflict that needed to be followed in real time versus meat's meandering slingshot towards something more nebulous, so for the sake of structural symmetry that limited things a little.

i think i'm more amenable to a lot of hs^2's storytelling decisions because i wholly and entirely loved the epilogues from the getgo and it was so good to see that theme/tone be carried through to a more "traditional" mspa space, even if i wonder if the comic form damaged the story more than it helped it. i remember a lot of people getting weirdly mad whenever we'd get an extended prose scene instead of visual panels despite hs^2 being a continuation of the text-based epilogues. then again, the mainstream hs fandom as a whole fucking sucked when it came to postcanon and that's even more evident in how they've collectively memoryholed the whole thing so talking about audience reception is maybe not the most useful thing to talk about here lmao. idk i think people forget that homestuck is largely a story about people who suck and then who get better from sucking. it's just that nobody really likes it when that lens is turned inward onto the alphas/betas who outside of a small handful of exceptions in canon never really had any ethical issues that caused problems for them and others so i personally think it was very interesting and refreshing to explore how the kids' complacency wrt their baggage and trauma allowed them and their world to backslide so disastrously! roxy lalonde enabling jane's fascist ascension is fascinating storytelling actually! (side note: read through shadowed eyes)

hs^2's original characterwork is probably where the story shines the most. the fucked up dynamics between the theseus crew was super fun to read because there's honestly nothing more enjoyable than Supremely Divorced people deciding that makes them irredeemably evil now. the egbert gender stuff was really nice! i particularly enjoyed how, even though it came after the june egbert renaissance, it still managed to be its own unique take on egbert's gender arc that i think really encapsulated the originality driving the project. also forever shoutout to the candy kids my beloved candy kids my children who i will die for - for me in particular hs^2 was a fun time because i was developing my own versions of harry/vrissy/tav for pickle route in parallel to hs^2 and it was so enjoyable seeing all the overlaps and divergences with each upd8. also yiffy fucking rules on every level and even though she never got to be more than a promise she sure was one hell of a promise.

that said i do not think it's that surprising that hs^2 ultimately died before its time. the conditions of the story paired with the most demoralising and vicious iteration of the fandom meant the odds were stacked against it in a big way. you can particularly see the strain of that starting to manifest in the final ~6 months worth of upd8s where people were leaving/being pushed out of the project and every part of hs^2 was a completely hostile environment and the quality of the art and storytelling began to get a little shaky - which i can't really blame them for all things considered! it's hard to want to make the best version of a story possible when the overwhelming reception is a bunch of sanctimonious redditbrained weirdos screaming that you're evil and foul for making characters in a piece of fiction do unexpected and surprising things and also being sympathetic to trans women. there were of course issues with the production conditions of hs^2 that would have probably led to some sort of reckoning at some point, but it's very obvious that the traumatic pressure cooker of a fanbase that wanted nothing more than the death of this project and the ruination of everyone that worked on it threw this whole thing off the rails much faster. despite that, you still have to infinitely admire the team for daring to make something challenging and original in a sphere dominated by people who are content to regurgitate the same babybrained 2013 content ad infinitum - for just a brief moment, homestuck was truly allowed to be the literary masterpiece it's been all along. now people just treat it as more fandomslop to consume and that's perhaps the biggest shame of all.

in the end i think hs^2's legacy is best felt in the places haunted by its premature absence. i'm talking about the comic itself of course but also other spaces and people and projects. stuff that really engaged with the meaty thematic frameworks being thrown up in postcanon that now no longer have a mirror to talk back to - stuff like pesterquest and godfeels and the aforementioned through shadowed eyes that all massively are in conversation with the deeper artistic and philosophical principles underpinning this era of homestuck. if anything else hs^2 will continue to serve as a useful prerequisite for getting into some of the best stuff homestuck fans have ever made. we might never see what could have been, but at least the torch is still being carried by people who care.

[kendrixtermina]

Giving Doctor Who a New Chance, Part 3: The Giggle

It's nice that they're bringing back some classic villain, but I really wish they had the Toymaker butcher some other language. The gag is just not funny at all when you actually speak German

Ok, that's an illustrative montage of a mightyfine chaos

IDK what I think of this - set it up in a way that it can be reset again.

oooh, Mel is back! As a 6th Doctor fan, I appreciate this. Did not expect that. She still got that perky way of talking.

Having seen the eps he was in, slipping over a bottle of Vodka is exactly like Sabalon Glitz would die, but hey, at least he lived to a ripe old age.

Donna just landed herself a new job. I guess there's that duality in human's fluctuating confidence levels again cause she glibly asks for double but looks ecstatic that it worked

so, Donna doesn't remember in detail, but she got a rough glimpse

the guy playing the Toymaker IS pulling off the creepy clown act pretty well tho

I really liked that scene between Donna & the Doctor in the infinite cabinet with the Doctor re-evaluating his life choices.

That's another thing that's been missing, that fucking Chibnall didn't get - that the point of him, at the end of the day, is that he's just some guy. Somewhat wiser & tougher than a human, maybe, but still fundamentally just dude with wits & confidence. A trickster, a flawed person trying to do the right thing that through trickery ended up with this fearsome reputation. I used to think of RTD not getting it as much as Moffat did cause he did like overly savior-archetype-like plots sometimes whereas moffat emphasized the 'just a madman with a box' angle, but RTD gets it in this scene where we see the Doctor cringing at his past self for things he couldn't have foreseen & now he doesn't know what to do in a world that doesn't follow predictable rules

Because that's what they don't tell you about getting smarter, wiser or even just older - the price you pay for knowing better today is cringing at the awareness you used to lack. thats very real. you end up thinking you should somehow have known or done better even if you couldnt have.

there's certainly some thematic rhyming with the 'narrowmindedness-plague' afflicting the earth

Donna's dad is actually right. Good for him to be wary of the Hot Hand fallacy and its ilk. Missed a chance for an epic nerd reference

I dunno what to think about the concept of 'shift to fantasy', i wouldnt have done that & really turned more to harder & concept fanfiction, but i suppose it keeps thinks fresh without being repetitive (they cant keep destroying and un-destroying gallifrey all the time...) & the show has always been the very softest of sci-fi anyway - at leasts its set up in a way that it can be reset again or let future writers pick whatever they want. though i suppose it depends on how its done like, if possible without wholly throwing out humanist values. You can absolutely be a trickster in a fantasy story or fight crazy things with logic; Infinity train did it to great effect. I mean, the classics had far wonkier stuff like actual Vampires & whatnot.

i appreciate Donna rhyming while defeating the puppet

"jingsaw out of your history" thing imply that the timeless child thing was an in-universe retcon of sorts? Oh please. I mean I could kinda sorta accept 13 is she literally wasn't really the same character.

between this & the last episode it's pretty close anyway to the "every single backstory is true because of timey wimey ball" thing from the expanded universe fixed, on-screen canon. That I could live with. It's potentially deeply interesting that by virtue of getting tangled up in all the timelines the Doctor has in some ways been to many possible futures & possible versions of reality.

Former companions werent affected by the giggle thing cause it was a retroactive change made by the toymaker upon getting free

It's kinda sad that we'll never get to see the battle between the Master and the Toymaker because that must really have been something. Like two Jokers or Phantoms of the Opera fighting.

this is like when Q showed up on the bridge of the enterprise. Only much deadlier. I appreciate that the scene never stops feeling actually menacing.

I like how Mel also comes in to hold his hand, too, she's for realsies. (I guess this is how she makes up for making him drink all that carrot juice)

The "Alons-y" is a niftly little contrast/ bookend with 10s exit

My headcanon is that bi-generation absolutely WAS a myth, but that this is an extension of the whole breach in the logic/edge of reality storyarc being set up here, or really just the Toymaker thinking it would be fun to double them infinitely

I like how the Doctor mocks the Toymaker's fake accent with 'the ball' thing

The advantage with the ball game is, of course, that Fifteen has already seen it. He's fabulous alright.

I appreciate how they climb on each other at some point

I don't envy Kate, watching this absurd thing... humanity already got somewhat good at taking Sci-Fi threats on their own, but this they don't have context for. Maybe UNIT is gonna need a vault of magical artifacts now. I suppose you can play with that for a few seasons. Like how a contrast of fantasy & sci-fi elements worked in Madoka.

I like how Donna is casually putting her arm around 15

I guess 15 has reached that point where rather than cringe at your younger self you're able to have compassion. That's a good arc, actually.

aaand of course there's the obligatory sequel hook for the Master's return, to the surprise of no one

I like how the years with the lost memory weren't completely lost but Donna still learned something from them that allows her to send this message now

Soo Fifteen is basically taking advantage of the cartoon logic still being in effect until the end of the episode to duplicate the TARDIS. I bet it only worked because he picked the silliest possible hammer.

I appreciate how 15 makes sure to get one last Donna hug.

I do like that it kinda came down to self-love, self-compassion & knowing when to take a restorative break & all that. That's an important message these days.

So, the Nobles just deadass adopted the Doctor & Mel. Makes all the sense.

I always thought of Mel & the Doctor's dynamic as sibling-like (as opposed to Peri & the Doctor having a 'tsundere couple' energy & Ace who of course had a teacher/student thing), so I feel vindicated.

Also I appreciate how an older woman who didn't have kids but spent her life traveling & adventuring & doing what she wanted, & then ended up feeling a bit lonely because of it here simply ends up not lonely by finding friends / found family. Cause that's the fucking annoying gotcha they always hurl at you "Oh if you don't have kids & live the life you want you'll be lonely!" As if you can't have friends. Also, plenty of ppl who do have kids wind up lonely because the kids end up hating them.

I'm all for the Doctor catching a break. Very touching, honestly. & he's like actually a point where he wouldn't just run off & get side-tracked or brood on the inevitability of its end. (like he would have when spent those years with River)

Also sets an interesting background for 15 of course, as he'll be coming out of it 'fully rested', in a sense.

So, yeah, I do think I'm looking forward to what 15 will get up to. It was sort of a great way to introduce him in such a way that ppl will instantly like him for how he comforts his past self here.

It's also probably the ideal ending for Donna, cause, much like Rose & Clara she wanted to stay forever, & maybe now that she has a daughter & other responsibilities she won't want the big danger all the time, but the Unit Job & living with the Doctor in a house? That's prolly what she would have wanted.

(I wonder if they'll end up running into Martha & Mickey at her job, since Donna & Martha were buds that time they met. )

[marshmallowprotection]

HI do you remember the ask about what saeyoung would have been like if saeran hadnt broken into the apartment?

this isnt describing how i think hed be like in those days where he stays at the apartment, but (since i was replaying his seasonal birthday chat) i think he keeps working as a secret agent, therefore, hes never able to reveal his true identity (not sure if he would reveal it to mc...). but im just not sure about saeran. because in the seasonal chats, he does show up, but saeyoung has no idea who he is

so either he never figured out the unkown situation, or unknown just decided to pop into the chatroom on his birthday

BUT that also had me thinking about mint eye and rika, because wasnt rikas plan to interfere with the party in some way??

idk, this is just me kind of rambling but id love to hear what you think !!

It's difficult and painful for me to imagine that Seven goes on not knowing that his twin brother is being tortured to the brink of his inevitable death.

Make no mistake here, if he stays in Mint Eye and the truth doesn't come out, he'll die in there due to a combination of malnutrition, an ungodly cocktail of drugs that we don't know the extent of because the elixir recipe never stays the same twice due to supply chains, and his poor habits that've been crafted to survive the night.

Saeran will die in Mint Eye if nobody gets him out, and if he doesn't die, we've seen that Rika doesn't have any qualms about siding with Saejoong Choi. Dying in Mint Eye would be lucky compared to that fate, since we don't know what Saejoong would do to Unknown. He's already been in the role of Prime Minister for a while by that point in the timeline. He's amassed even more power than what he had in the Another Story timeline.

I don't have much confidence in Saeran's safety in Casual/Deep Story when it comes to that.

I like to believe, AND THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, the Seasonal Chats are set up in a more realistic manner. You know, because in reality, it would take months and months of working with the RFA to plan the party and get to know everybody, so it's normal to have chatrooms for a variety of seasons. It's just like the Christmas DLC, there's a big charity party held by the RFA for Christmas, we are NOT planning a Christmas party AND the normal RFA party back to back in the same week.

That makes NO SENSE.

So, if you apply this theory to the Seasonal Chats, yeah, it makes a lot more sense to imagine everyone fitting into their roles, and why there happens to be a wishful cutaway where Unknown might willingly talk to his big brother even though it may not make sense when we apply the 11 day Routes.

Also, at the end of the day, I do worry about Saeyoung's safety as an agent. He has targets on his back. He has pissed off a lot of people in his day... more people than his father, and sooner or later, he could be at their mercy if Vanderwood isn't there to provide backup, or, like he laments in Ray Route, "Why the fuck didn't I stay armed?"

Rika's plan for an Eternal Party is the main and overarching theme throughout the story that lingers, but a lot of people have no idea what her goal is... A party. It's clear that it's a party, much like a party meant for the RFA's goals, but her plan is a party that never ends. A party that stays eternal.

Her happiness never ends.

Her glint at being the shining light rather than the big devil she fears.

That's what she wants to get rid of.

As the Savior, Rika can be an angel by force, and nobody will ever think of her as a cruel monster as long as she is in control and owns the narrative. Drink your elixir, close both of your eyes, and follow every word out of her mouth because it's better that way. It's better to accept she knows better than you, and she has your best interest at heart.

She had their best interest at heart before, so why doubt in her dreams now? She will SAVE everything in the world from Jihyun's clutches because he tried to smother her devil. She felt suffocated with him, and being with him made her feel... well, no matter how angelic she made herself to stop seeing herself as the devil, she saw a devil. She couldn't become an angel, she couldn't become the sun, and she couldn't become Jihyun to escape being Rika.

The Eternal Party is about more than inviting all the RFA guests to paradise so they can be pressured into joining alongside the RFA... it's about bringing the RFA together under Rika's watchful eye so she can have everything the way she likes it. She wants to ensure they do what she wants so she never loses them. She wants to use elixir on all of them so they will be forced to stay by her side and live in whatever delusion she's determined to create in her false paradise.

It's an Eternal Party because staying with her in paradise means life will feel like the glitz and glamour of the first one-to-two RFA parties. Where everything is perfect, Rika is an "angel", and nobody dares to think of leaving her behind because she's the one who created what she believes to be Heaven. She's going to give them everything they may ever want or need... so she's never abandoned for being a devil ever again.

Because, in Paradise, Rika is accepted for being what she is and that devilish side is seen as her "best quality" as opposed to something in life that might make others leave her behind, like how she views the end of every relationship she's ever held before the downward spiral she went on after the death of Mother Choi. She's going to become a devil that has it all, one that both radiates darkness and light, in her own way.

People will accept her, even if she has to force them to do so, that is the goal she possesses.

[destinyc1020]

TCR Reviews: Episodes 5 & 6

I missed posting my review for Ep 5 last week, so I'll just combine it with my review for Ep 6.

*****WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!

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Ep 5 Review:

Overall, I felt like this episode was really good! I was glad that we as the viewers were able to get a little more insight into Danny's childhood. This episode was very sad to me though. 😔 And some scenes could have possibly been very triggering for some watching because is deals with the topic of child sexual abuse. 😔

To me, it's just utterly DISGUSTING how a grown adult would take full advantage of a CHILD and abuse them in this vile way, and basically rob them of their innocence like this. 😡 Those actions have awful consequences for the child victim, and many times they struggle with the abuse even into adulthood, and it basically ruins their adult life forever...especially if they don't receive any assistance/therapy. 😔

I kept praying that they weren't going to show us too much of the abuse in this episode, because that would have just been super sad. 😭 Thankfully, the show stopped just short of showing too much (thank goodness). I feel like Ep 4 started making it more and more apparent that Danny is dealing with DID and doesn't even realize it himself (but others around him can tell something is wrong with him), whereas I feel like Ep 5 kind of showed us why Danny is the way he is, and some of the reasons behind his mind split. The interesting thing though is that his mind seems to have split even before the abuse of the stepfather, so it makes me wonder if maybe he had some other possible childhood trauma in his history? 🤔

Anyway, by the end of Ep 5 I just felt SO SAD for Danny, and I keep wondering..."When is his life going to change for the better??" 😭 His life is just so sad and depressing. 😩 My heart goes out to him. With that said, I like how this show isn't making Danny into some kind of "monster", but is more so showing how we should have sympathy for his character and his mental struggles. I know a LOT of fans were worried that the series would focus on the murders and rapes, and were afraid it was going to cast people with DID in a bad light, and some were worried about seeing Tom in a controversial role like that, but so far, it's clear to see that a LOT of fan worries and anxieties (and assumptions) were waaay off base.

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Ep 6 Review:

I really loved this episode! 😃 I LOVED getting to know more about Rya and seeing more into her life. Now things are starting to come together. The pieces are all starting to fit.

Idk why critics claimed that the series is difficult to follow in the timeline. The timeline isn't difficult to follow imo at all. In fact, I actually LOVE when shows/films go back and forth from the past to the present. I like trying to connect the dots lol. Maybe they didn't add the "5 weeks after the Rockefeller shooting" taglines on the episode scenes at the time the critics saw the show?? Anyway.... Tom's acting! He did awesome in Ep6. 👏🏾😃I can't wait for more! I feel like we will get even MORE of his great acting in the latter episodes. He did the transitions so well too. You could see him switch from Jack to Danny so effortlessly. Even the way he holds his eyes... It's very subtle, but it's noticeable. His scenes in this episode remind me so much of James McAvoy's performance in the film "Split" and his therapist scenes. The switch btwn characters is just amazing. I'm glad they added those elements in this series as well.

After what I've already seen so far, I definitely think Tom deserves at least an Emmy NOD. I can only imagine we get more of his fine acting in latter episodes.

This series reminds me so MUCH of "Primal Fear" with Edward Norton. GREAT movie. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it! I saw it years ago, so when Tom said this series was going to be a lot like "Primal Fear", I already knew what type of ride we would be in for lol. 😅🤣

I honestly don't know why critics slammed this series so much. It has been a "slow burn" (sure), but definitely not anything horrible at all! I'm almost wondering if they even saw all 10 episodes?? 👀 I also love how the series isn't making Danny out to be a monster. I know a lot of fans were worried about that, but I had faith that they weren't going to go that route when I kept hearing about how the series was being described. I like how it's moreso focusing on his mental health. I love it. It's been very good so far. It's VERY much like the film "Primal Fear" imo.

Can't wait for Ep7!!! 😁👏🏾

[jewishbarbies]

Ok so I finally took the time out to know about the complete history of Palestine - Israel.

Apparantly, UN sucks and Israel isn't EVIL. Israel was attack the very next day after its formation, by Palestine with help of 4 countries, they won and got some area under them yada yada, but years later, They let Palestinians have their area back!!??!?!?!!

I don't think Palestine is all a victim country, like, at all. Their citizens might be. But they weren't letting Jews live peacefully there anyway.

Hamas is a terrorist organisation so why are people sympathizing with them? Why are they saying, Hamas HAD to attack to protect their country, no the fuck they did not. Nobody was harming their country (re : Israel gave conquered Palestine back)

My conclusion is, yes civilian death is wrong but it's happening on both sides, and not only one nation is bombarding missiles, plus, Palestine is recieving tons and tons of money everyday?????

The extreme left on Tumblr or the world, now apparantly, won't sit 2 minutes to Listen. The only Jewish country in the world isn't fucking all evil, they supply money and stuff for civilians and WARN before attack (the attacks are on Terrorist Bases) ugh.

Either there's an anti-semitism so deep they aren't able to see anything or maybe all the history UNBIASED books and videos are just a lie.

Also, Al Jazeera is not an unbiased news source, it's a fucking government propoganda news site — In the past, they have made such vicious commentary on "khafirs" aka people who don't follow Islam, idk why al Jazeera is the go to site for leftist Tumblr ??

Please tell me I'm not insane

i'm not well versed on the timeline, but i know that any money or aid of any kind that goes to the palestinians gets taken by hamas and stockpiled so that citizens continue to suffer. that's why people have to be careful with what orgs they donate to, because hamas has control of most of them at this point. hamas does not care about palestine OR palestinians ever in their history. their mission statement is to eradicate jews, and they've shown time and time again that they're willing to sacrifice as many palestinians as possible to do so. they targeted Israeli muslims during the Oct 7 attack and did unspeakable things to them. hamas has attacked during every single ceasefire to date. if we could get rid of hamas somehow or at the very least find a way to get aid to palestinians, this would be so much better for everyone. but palestinians don't have food or water or supplies because once it comes in, it's taken by hamas and stockpiled. i've been hearing about hamas using ambulances as taxi's now but i don't have sources for that just yet, though it wouldn't surprise me. that's the whole point. they want jews gone - what better way to do it than to get as many civilians killed as possible so that the rest of the world wants them gone, too?

the israeli government has made incredibly questionable and downright horrible decisions regarding the conflict throughout the years and they are not blameless at all, in the sense that imo they don't wait long enough and they don't target less populated areas. there was something about a refugee camp being bombed because they had intel a hamas operative was there, and killing one operative is not enough to warrant bombing the whole camp, if that is in fact what happened (i need to read more about it, i've been out all day). on top of this, the palestinian authority might as well just come out as hamas allies at this point. so, really, palestinian citizens are fucked all the way around.

at the end of the day, the citizens of both populations NEED to work together and refuse to let not just hamas but also the israeli government tell us we can't. because we absolutely can and should if we want to save as many lives as possible. it's not palestinians vs jews or israelis. it's hamas vs the world. the longer we let the american political system dictate who we can support and what decisions we can make regarding this issue, the longer it'll go on and the worse it's going to get for everyone involved.

[juniperhillpatient]

oh wait, I do have a real question about yellowjackets! can you imagine the show without the adult timeline, focusing only on the wilderness stuff? do you think that would work? would it be worse/better? some of the S2 finale reactions make me feel like they are making it up as they go with the adult timeline?

Ok I may have been overdramatic about my criticisms of the season 2 finale because I was upset 😂 I won’t truly know if the decisions by the writers made sense until I see season 3.

However - thank you for asking this question! I’m taking this as the excuse to spill all my thoughts & feelings lol!

Here’s my issue - no, I can’t imagine the show without the adult timeline. It would be a different story. The emphasis on the impact left from their time in the wilderness & the way that the storylines intersect & we understand some things more & more with more context is like….. the entire point.

****MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW***

Also - I’m about to be heavily critical of Yellowjackets. If you don’t want to read that, don’t. I don’t really want to argue with anyone or be told that I have to like writing decisions that I just didn’t like. This is how I feel, personally.

I feel that it didn’t make sense to kill adult Natalie just as her arc was getting started. And ESPECIALLY just as her arc in the wilderness as the new leader is getting started. For me the entire point of the show is seeing how the characters’ past effects their present & how things unfold in both timelines. We will no longer get to see how teen Natalie & adult Natalie’s stories work In juxtaposition & that has been a main appeal of the show with these women’s stories for me.

Like….. idk I’ve seen some people say they dislike the adult timeline. But if you don’t like the entire format & storytelling method do you even like Yellowjackets?

Also the mixed timeline thing ties in with the theme of the show. It’s not a generic survival show. I’ll just watch one of the hundreds of movies & shows about wilderness survival if that’s what I want. Yellowjackets has so far been so compelling to me personally because it deals with trauma.

It’s not about whether you live or die it’s about what you do to survive & living with that.

I wouldn’t have accepted any of the adult women dying because the main character group & their post wilderness trauma & relationships are what make the show interesting for me. Killing any of them at this point just feels like…. Why? What a fucking waste of a character arc, ya know?

I also feel Misty killing Nat by accident was just.:.. I don’t know, contrived? Like are you fucking serious? After all this? Nahhhh I don’t accept it.

And yeah, I’m biased I guess anyone who follows me may have noticed MistyNat was a huge appeal of the show for me & now that’s over at least in the adult timeline just as it was getting really interesting how it intersected with the past.

And like…. Like why the fuck would you kill Juliet Lewis KNOWING that watching her & Christina Ricc onscreen together was a huge selling point of the show? Insane decision from any perspective I’m sorry I said what I said.

Finally, it’s not just the adult timeline arc in the finale that makes me feel they have no plan.

This was already really early to kill off Javi & they seem to be killing characters-left & right almost now? I have complicated feelings about Javi’s death but I will say in many ways it made narrative sense even though it hurt. (Wish we could’ve at least seen his death dream 😭) It should’ve been the finale big thing if it was gonna happen though. Killing Javi was enough they didn’t have to also destroy the cabin…

I’m sorry but there’s only so many survivors as it is - how can this possibly last 5 seasons? The cabin burning down felt….. insane, to me.

Now they will obviously kill Ben for doing that. So, that’s another interesting character gone.

And like…. Ugh I feel like I’m not expressing myself well because it IS horror & people DO have to die.

But I just feel like killing MAJOR characters needs to be something you’re careful about!!!

Jackie, Laura Lee, Javi - their deaths hurt but I can see how they serve the narrative.

Crystal’s death this season? Kinda seems like they already forgot. There was no point to that.

I’m not against character death but I need to understand how they’ll serve the narrative moving forward.

To me this finale felt chaotic & designed to be intense but not necessarily like it was well thought out in terms of how the fuck this will be 5 seasons.

Like I just don’t see how they’re gonna manage 5 seasons of this, I just don’t.

And I will watch season 3. Up until now I’ve certainly had criticisms but I’ve been really enjoying this show. I have to be honest though, we’ll see if I even still enjoy it without adult Nat & if they kill Ben this early too…. Yeah I don’t really find anything enjoyable about shows where main characters die at every turn. Sorry, that’s just how I feel.

[gravitywonagain]

Hey, thank you so much for sharing Can't Cheat Death While You're Digging Your Own Grave! It came up on my timeline and I think it's fantastic!! Do you have any plans to put it on AO3? I don't want to miss out on any future updates so I was hoping you would so I can bookmark it. :D

hi!! i'm so glad you like it!!

there are plans to put it on ao3 eventually, but i tend not to post anything there until it's been through a round or eight of edits by my wife and/or myself. i post a lot of first drafts here, particularly those i use as warmups, that need a lot of work before i'm actually happy with them and i've come to think of ao3 as where things get 'published' if that makes sense? i had also been planning on not putting up unfinished works there again due to my very slow and sporadic update rate for... well pretty much everything, among other reasons.

it does seem kind of silly, though. now that i write that out. as the only thing that is different about tumblr vs ao3 is the audience and the ability to follow the progress of a fic in a more straightforward manner.....

but, with that particular fic as an example, there are three chapters now and i have no idea what the fourth will even be about, let alone when it will be posted. this means that i might want to change things in prev chapters to suit a better overall story line (which is something i'm learning how to do and struggling to reconcile with my current big long fic). but, then again, maybe not. maybe i reserve that for fics that i haven't posted here? maybe something like this fic becomes more of a 'yes, and...' type exercise, and we all just see where it goes together? i could get behind that, i think. maybe.

it would still have to go through edits. (like, that entire third ch should be in past tense based on how i set up the timeline in the first one.) and wife Does Not have time for following along with all of my wips. but maybe that would still be doable. i've posted non-wife-edited fics there before. i could do it again. add her edits when they're made, if they're made.

...

all of which is to say, YES, it will go up on ao3, but i don't know when. possibly sooner rather than later as a direct result of your question ;)

in the meantime, idk, follow the tag (#ccdwydyog), maybe? not sure how well that works. or maybe i can make a note to send you a thing whenever the next ch happens? it'll have to be a very good note, and placed particularly well, so i currently make no promises to do more that try on that one :)

sorry that got a bit more complicated and ramble-y than you were probably hoping for, but you gave me a lot to think about!

thanks for the ask, and thanks for reading my silly little fic! <3

[luminnara]

alpha!erasermic x pregnant!reader | ABO fluff

Request:  Hiya! i’m wondering if you can do an alpha! erasermic x pregnant! omega! reader? maybe when both alphas leave their lunch at home and she goes to bring it to them. the reader and both alphas collectively have custody of hitoshi and eri, and the reader is heavily pregnant. preferably a female reader please, and none of class 1-a have met her. this is my first time requesting stuff so i hope i did okay! 😅

You did wonderfully! I love writing cute fluffy stuff like this, and it’s my first time writing any kind of erasermic thing even though I love them so much, so hopefully I did okay! Idk where exactly this sits timeline-wise, don’t worry about it, it’s omegaverse and I can do what I want lol. I took this prompt and sort of RAN with it, too

*also Mirio has his quirk back in this because it’s fun, and the reader has kind of a dodgy past because i wanted to add a little SPICE*

Warnings: a/b/o, pregnancy, the implications of Aizawa’s scarf and all of its uses

You sighed, resting a hand on your swollen belly. “Those two...”

You had only just gotten Eri out of bed, and, upon heading into the kitchen to fix her some breakfast, you saw two lovingly-prepared bento boxes sitting on the counter. Shota and Hizashi must have forgotten them in their hurry to get to UA earlier that morning, and while you knew they could very easily grab something to eat in the cafeteria, you hated the thought of these meals going to waste.

Besides, your inner omega was a bit miffed that they hadn’t taken your home cooked food to work with them. Was Lunch Rush’s food so much better than yours that your alphas would rather eat at school? You refused to believe that, even if his quirk was cooking. There was no way that he could make your alphas a meal that could compare to the kind you always cooked for them, and maybe it was the pregnancy hormones making you extra bristly about it, but you were determined to march right on over to UA and bring them their proper lunches. 

Even if you were heavily, heavily pregnant. They’d probably have something to say about you leaving the house and waddling around Musutafu with only Eri as company, but you were tough enough to fend for yourself. And besides, it was only a quick train ride to the station outside the school, and if you did get yourself into any kind of trouble, the city was chock full of pro heroes and their sidekicks, many of whom you were on a first name basis with. 

“Eri!” you called, grabbing a bag to carry the boxes in. “Are you dressed yet? We’re going to visit UA!”

You could heard a thump, followed by the sound of little feet thudding as she ran to meet you. When she appeared in the doorway, her eyes were wide with excitement, her long hair falling around her shoulders messily. “Yes!”

“Go brush your hair and then we’ll go,” you laughed, ushering her towards the bathroom. 

“Why are we going?” the little girl called. 

“Hizashi and Shota left their lunches,” you explained. “We’re bringing them so that the food doesn’t go to waste.”

“Can we visit Deku and Togata?”

You paused to think. You hadn’t actually met any of Shota and Hizashi’s students before, your alphas always preferring that you stay home and away from the sometimes dangerous school they taught at. Well, you knew Hitoshi, of course, and since he had yet to move into the dorms on campus, he still lived at home with the rest of the family. At least he had remembered to grab his lunch. Would your adopted son be embarrassed to see you appearing at his school? Hitoshi always carried himself in a very collected manner, and the thought of being able to show up and pinch his cheeks and coo at him made you laugh. 

And you knew that everyone in Class 1-A would be over the moon to see Eri. The little girl that had been rescued from Overhaul was popular amongst the young heroes-in-training, from what you’d heard, and if you were going to go all the way to UA, you’d be damned if you didn’t let her see her friends there. 

“Of course we can,” you said with a smile as she came running back in, her hair significantly less tangled. “Ready?”

“Ready!” she beamed up at you.

“Do me a favor and carry this?” you offered her the tote you’d tucked the bento boxes into and she took it from you eagerly, bouncing towards the door. 

You grabbed your purse, made sure your keys were inside, and followed her out, taking her free hand. Together, the two of you made your way to the nearest train station, a few neighbors waving hello as you passed. There were no villains to be seen or head of, and the pros you saw out on patrol all looked happy and relaxed. They all knew who you were, some of the betas and omegas approaching to chat about your pregnancy and ask how things were going. The alphas hung back, calling greetings or offering waves, none of them wanting to get too close to a pregnant, mated omega and risk the wrath of your alphas if their scents happened to cling to you. 

The journey went smoothly, Eri sticking close to your side the entire way. You were both excited to be going to visit UA--Eri, because she would get to see Deku and Mirio, and you because you hadn’t been to the school in years--and as you stepped off the train and the gates finally came into view, you let out a happy laugh. 

“Ready?” you asked Eri, leading her towards the entrance. 

“Mhm!” she nodded eagerly, pulling you forward. “Let’s go! Let’s go let’s go let’s go--”

“Hang on, hang on,” you waddled after her as quickly as you could, fishing around in your purse. When you finally found what you were looking for, you pulled out an ID card, holding it up towards the sensor atop the UA Barrier gate. “You have your card?”

“Yep!” Eri said, grabbing the card hanging from the lanyard around her neck and mimicking you. 

“Special ID accepted,” a robotic voice chimed. “Welcome to UA High, (y/n) and Eri.”

The gate opened and you led Eri through it, the big school looming just past it. The special ID cards you both had were a result of Shota insisting that you be able to get to UA if you ever needed to. With the upgraded security measures, and so many of the students living in the dorms, it wasn’t easy getting onto the campus without either a student or guest card. You probably technically weren’t even supposed to have one, but no one was going to argue with Aizawa and Yamada when it came to ensuring their omega would be able to get to them in case of emergency.

This wasn’t exactly an emergency, but it was still an important mission, so you had absolutely no qualms about using your special ID privileges today. You just hoped nobody else would be mad about it.

 “Hey, is that Eri I see?” a voice called. 

You turned to see a blond haired, blue eyed boy jogging towards you and recognized him as Togata. He was dressed in a PE uniform, and as he stopped in front of you, you could see that he was panting. 

Eri immediately set the bag down and rushed toward him, running into his open arms. “Lemillion!”

Mirio laughed as he scooped her into a hug. “What are you doing here? Aizawa didn’t mention anything about a visit!”

“Aizawa forgot his lunch today,” you said, nodding towards the bag Eri had dropped. “So we thought we’d bring it and visit.”

Mirio straightened up a bit when he realized you were there. You had to be absolutely covered in your alphas’ scents, and even if they never told any of the students about you, there was no way that Mirio hadn’t figured it out by now. Besides...your bond marks were very big and very visible, one on each side of your neck just below your scent glands. There was no way Mirio didn’t know what that all added up to. 

You had never officially met him, but you’d heard plenty about all of UA’s Big Three, and after he and Deku saved Eri from the Shie Hassaikai, you’d heard even more about him. He was selfless, going so far as to sacrifice his own quirk to keep Eri safe and get her away from Overhaul, and for that, you’d always feel a little indebted to him. He’d luckily been able to get it back, but Aizawa had told you that there had been a long period in which nobody was sure it could even be returned to him. 

“Oh, s-sorry!” he bowed to you. “I don’t think we’ve ever been properly introduced! I’m Togata Mirio, I was there at the Shie Hassaikai raid--”

“I’ve heard plenty about you,” you laughed as he straightened up again. “I’m (y/n). I’m the stay at home omega that keeps Shota and Hizashi from starving all the time.”

Mirio’s laugh was probably one of the most raucously happy sounds you had ever heard. “We’re all grateful for that! As for me, personally, I’m really glad Eri has such a great mom now, too. And you’ve got more on the way!”

“Sure do,” you groaned, a hand on your lower back as you tried to lean and stretch it out some. “Due date’s in just a couple weeks. Can’t wait to get ‘em outta here.”

“Well, at least you already know how to do the parenting part!” Mirio was still all smiles as Eri grabbed for his hand and he took it, picking up the tote bag as well. “Come on, it’s my free period so I’ll take you to 1-A’s classroom.”

“Thank you, Togata,” you said, hand on your belly as you followed him into the school. 

“It’s no problem!” he beamed at you over his shoulder as he led the way. “It’s almost lunch, too. Perfect timing!”

“Is it really?” you glanced up at a clock on the wall, and sure enough, it was nearly noon. “Wow. Guess we took longer than I thought. But...ugh, I didn’t bring any food for myself or Eri...”

“That’s no problem! Lunch Rush always has tons of options in the Grand Mess Hall.” at your slight glare, Mirio added, “...But I’m sure even his best cooking is no substitute for a homemade meal!”

“That’s right,” you growled, waddling along down the hall. 

When the three of you reached the 1-A door, Mirio used his permeation quirk to stick his head straight through it rather than knocking, and judging by the resounding scream of surprise that nearly shattered the windows, he had scared Hizashi half to death.

Mirio pulled back and opened the door, revealing a room full of groaning students, all clutching their ears. Hizashi was the only one who seemed unbothered by the sheer volume of the scream he had let out, clutching his chest instead. 

“Why can’t you knock like a normal person, dumbass?” a blond boy snarled. 

“Bakugou! You shouldn’t swear in front of esteemed upperclassmen!” a black-haired boy with glasses said. 

“It’s not just me you’re swearing in front of!” Mirio said, still smiling, like always. With a nod of his head, he tugged Eri into the room.

Everyone lit up, and you even caught Bakugou’s harsh expression softening some at the sight of her. 

“Eri!” a freckly, green haired boy exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. 

“Deku!” the little girl yelled happily, letting go of Mirio’s hand to run towards him.

You watched as he knelt down to greet her, the rest of the class all getting up, or at the very least leaning over in their seats to say hello. All except Hitoshi, who looked up, made eye contact with you, started to roll his eyes, and then sighed. 

Oh, you were so going to embarrass him today. 

Hizashi was still trying to catch his breath, but now, with the students all distracted by Eri, he finally had a chance to notice you. You could see his nostrils flare as he recognized your scent, his head whipping around to spot you standing there in the door.

“BABE!” he rushed toward you, pulling you into a hug. 

“Hi, Hizashi,” you laughed into his shoulder, clinging to his jacket as he rubbed his scent gland over your hair. 

He immediately pulled back, holding you at arm’s length as he looked you over. “What’re you doing here? Everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” you chuckled. When he glanced down at your swollen belly, you added, “we’re fine.”

He let out a relieved breath. “Okay. Okay, good. Had me worried there for a sec.”

“They came to bring you lunch!” Mirio said, holding up the bag he had carried in for you. “I ran into her and Eri outside while I was out for my daily jog.”

“Togata here was very helpful,” you said. “He even carried that bag for us.”

“Gotta help everyone who needs it, whenever I can!” the teenager gave you a thumbs up. 

“Thanks, Mirio.” Hizashi said, putting an arm around your shoulders and pulling you up against his side. “Means a lot to me that my family stays safe.”

“Family?”

You turned to see all of Class 1-A staring at you. 

Hizashi cleared his throat, the sound practically echoing. “Everybody, this is my mate.”

The room suddenly erupted. 

“Who is she?”

“Is she a pro?”

“Can’t believe anybody would put up with him...”

“Bakugou, quiet! Don’t be rude!”

“But, wait...” Deku said, still kneeling with Eri. “I thought Eri’s been living with Mr. Aizawa..?”

The students all glanced to each other before their eyes swiveled to you and Hizashi. 

“Oh, Hizashi,” you teased. “You never told them?”

“I, uh...” a slight pink tinged his cheeks as he blushed.  

Luckily, before he had the chance to stumble over his words any longer, he was saved by the appearance of a very tired, very disgruntled, Eraserhead. 

“What the hell is going on and why the hell are you screaming in my classroom?” he growled from the doorway. 

Hizashi turned the two of you to face him, and you saw the anger immediately drain from Aizawa’s face. 

“...What are you doing here?” he asked, his bloodshot eyes full of concern. “Everything okay?”

“Hi, Papa!” Eri chimed from her spot next to Deku. 

“...Hello, Eri. Why are you also here?”

“You both forgot your lunches,” you said, practically scolding them. “I worked hard on those!”

“So you came all the way here just to bring us lunch? You realize we have an entire cafeteria here, right?”

“Don’t even think about it,” you growled. 

“You shouldn’t be walking across Musutafu without at least Hitoshi with you. It’s too dangerous.”

At the mention of his name, everyone’s heads swiveled to look at Shinso. He sighed, slumping back in his chair and dragging a hand down his face. 

“You know, if you wouldn’t forget the lunches that I so lovingly put all that hard work into, I wouldn’t even have to go all the way across Musutafu to bring them to you.” you said haughtily, nose up in the air as you stared your alpha down. “And besides...you know better than anyone that I can take care of myself, and Eri, no matter how pregnant I am.”

Aizawa sighed. He knew there was no arguing with you when you got in a mood like this, and besides...you were already there. 

And you were right.

Before he could even come up with something to say, the bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch, and soon, you were walking down the hall between your two alphas, Eri riding on Deku’s shoulders as Class 1-A flooded out along with you. 

You ended up sitting in the mess hall with the students, sandwiched between Hizashi and Shota. Shota didn’t seem entirely pleased with it, mentioning several times that he’d much rather be in the teachers’ lounge where it was quieter, but Eri was far too happy to be with Class 1-A for him to actually tear her away from them. She was across from you, sitting next to Deku and a brown haired girl you learned was named Ochako. Mirio had left to go find his own friends, the other two members of The Big Three, and you could see him just a few tables over, laughing loudly with a blue haired girl with a boy with pointy ears looked like he was trying to will himself out of existence next to them. 

“It’s so exciting that Mr. Aizawa has a whole family!” Ochako said. 

“And with Present Mic, too,” Tsu, the frog girl, said from her spot next to her. 

“How long have you been together?” the pink girl, Mina, asked.

“Don’t ask so many personal questions! We should respect their privacy.” Iida said, in true class rep fashion. 

When Shota only offered a grunt in reply, too focused on his lunch to actually talk with his homeroom class, and with Hizashi already stuffing his face, you took it upon yourself to chat. 

“Oh, I don’t mind the questions!” you said with a good natured laugh. “I met Hizashi and Shota when we all went to school together. Then we lost touch, because I...well, I sort of...chose a different life path than they did.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Hizashi slurped up his soba. 

“Here.” you looked up to see Hitoshi had brought you and Eri each a tray of food, setting them down in front of the two of you. 

“You’re so good to your mother,” you cooed, reaching up to grab his cheek. 

He dodged you expertly, ducking out of the way and going to sit with Bakugou and his friends on Deku’s other side. You narrowed your eyes at him, making sure he knew that he couldn’t run forever, and as Denki watched the exchange, he spoke up. 

“...Wait. You didn’t become a pro hero?” he asked. 

“I took the hero course here at UA.” you explained, grabbing your chopsticks. “I ended up dropping out before graduation. This is actually my first time back since then.”

“So...” Deku seemed nervous. “Were you, uh...”

“A villain?” you asked. 

When he nodded quickly, you laughed and offered a nod of your own. 

“Yeah, I suppose I was. My quirk used to be wild, and hard to control...I got so frustrated when I wasn’t making any progress with it that I decided to just leave school. I was mad at everyone, and I fell in with people who felt the same way. One thing leads to another, and next thing you know, I’m running from the loudest, most obnoxious pro hero in the city.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Hizashi, who was doing his best not to choke on his lunch. 

“And he never caught me,” you said adoringly, leaning against his shoulder. 

“I never caught you on my own,” he corrected. 

“Made my ears bleed a few times, I think.”

“Yes, and I don’t regret that.” he pressed a cute, fluttery little kiss against the tip of your nose. “You were absolutely going to kill me.”

“Not absolutely!” you protested. 

“I had to rescue him.” Aizawa spoke up, his voice gruff and tired, like always. “Had to cancel your quirk and keep you tied down until the others could get to us.”

You smirked at your first memory of his scarf and what it could do, and as you did so, he realized that he had just admitted to tying you up with it in front of his idiot students.

“And that’s when I fell in looooove,” you grabbed his arm, batting your lashes at him obnoxiously. 

“Not another word.” he growled. 

The students were all staring at you with wide eyes. All except Hitoshi, who was rolling his. 

“I guess you could say I was reformed,” you said, grabbing some noodles. “Then one thing led to another, and...here we are.” You patted your belly. 

“That’s so romantic,” Mina sighed, leaning her chin on her hand. 

“What’s your quirk?” Ochako asked. 

“I could show you!” you said eagerly, moving to stand.

“Absolutely not.” Shota held onto your arm and forced you to sit down again. “You are due in two weeks. No nonsense until after the pups are born.”

It was your turn to roll your eyes now. 

“Fine,” you mumbled with a sigh. “I never get to have fun anymore.”

“But pups are so exciting!” the invisible girl, Hagakure, said. 

“Yeah!” Mina agreed. 

Then, the rest of the girls bombarded you with questions. 

“How many are you having?”

“What day are they coming?!”

“Can we meet them?”

“Mr. Aizawa, please can you bring them in to the dorms??”

“--But Mr. Aizawa, this is the safest place in Japan. There’s no way anything bad would happen to them--”

“--And besides, (y/n) has a super strong quirk, right? She said so!”

“Come on, just let us see the brats when they’re old enough to travel.”

The sound of Bakugou’s voice had everyone staring at the blond boy. 

“...What?” he bristled. “It’s not like I care, I just want the girls to shut up.”

“Uh huh. Sure, Bakugou.” Kirishima snorted. 

“...maybe.” Aizawa relented, eager to shut them all up. 

That was enough for the girls, and they immediately began talking chattering about the cutest baby clothes, the best toys, and then the differences between their own upbringings. You enjoyed listening to them throughout the rest of lunch, and by the time the hour had ended, you were sad to be leaving. 

“Hang on, hang on,” Hizashi said as you took Eri’s hand to leave. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home,” you furrowed your brow. “Why?”

“We told you,” Shota said, standing with his hands in his pockets. “We don’t want you wandering around the city.”

“And I told you, I’m fine--”

“Just stay here for the rest of the day.”

“...What?”

“We’ll all go home together later.” Hizashi smiled. “You and Eri can hang out in the lounge. I bet Midnight would love to pester you about the bump, too.”

You smiled, walking towards your alphas. “Alright. Alright, yeah. That sounds nice.”

As Class 1-A lingered at the end of the hall, watching for as long as they could get away with, Denki elbowed Hitoshi in the side. 

“Dude, your mom is--”

“Don’t you dare say hot.” Shinso growled. 

“Actually, I was gonna say badass, but that too--”

The purple haired boy glared at him. “Shut up, Denki.”

“What? It’s a compliment!”

[pa1nkill3r]

"Now How Come I've Only Found Out About This Now?" [G.W]

[Pairing:] George Weasley x Fem!Artist!Reader

[Summary:] So far, George Weasley knows three things about his new potions partner; So why not make it four? Or five?

[Warnings:] use of mudblood, a bit of angst, a bit of swearing, a pov change at some point in the end, idk-- fluff?? (is that a warning??)

[Word Count:] ≈2.7k

[A/N:] i used @buckystrenchcoat 's fluff plots for george weasley: 2. George finding out you can draw (kind of got carried away but oh well :D--) (ps just imagine that classes in hogwarts includes all of the houses together, thanks <3) Y/H = your house. (dk the timeline or what year george and the reader are in but i'd say between 3rd-5th year)

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The Weasley twins were becoming reckless and apparently, Professor Snape has had enough. The constant explosions on the other side of the dungeon and the numerous attempts at drowning his hair with shampoo has eventually led him to the decision of assigning the entire class their partners.

Thus halfway into the semester, the Weasley twins are never to be seen together again... that is until the end of 2nd period where they will go back and cause mischief elsewhere.

Fred was assigned to a Slytherin girl who George couldn't figure out if she's madly in love with his brother or wants to rip out his guts. While he on the other hand was assigned with Y/N. Truthfully, he never gave much thought to her, but after their first double potions lesson as partners, he began to wonder why he never gave much thought to her.

She was smart but never overbearing, made jokes here and there, sniggered when he made even the cheesiest of puns, and is wicked attractive. Their first task was to brew a calming draught and whilst adding in a smidge more of lavender, she proposed that they should make more while the majority of the class was still struggling.

"Why in Merlin's beard are we going to make more? We can just pass this and leave class early?" He asked, bringing a smile to her lips. "Yeah, yeah, that's what you want, don't you Weasley?" She quipped, looking back up to the red-headed boy who's now readying their vials.

"Just thought that we could make some for people, like, your brother. Poor guy, reckon he's going to rip his hair out getting partnered with Tuttle." And with that, George let out a laugh, a laugh that cost Gryffindor 5 points. Though, all was well when they were the first to finish and send their little vial of calming draught into the hands of Severus Snape, garnering 5 points each and an opportunity to leave class 10 minutes early.

And that was it, that was their relationship; potions partners.

George Weasley learned 2 things that day. One, his potions partner was someone he wanted to know more, to be with more, and two, one should never put a liberal amount of peppermint in a calming draught. (Fred learned that the hard way.)

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She was the epitome of beauty and brains. So far, that's what he knew about his potions partner. But a little incident in the corridor made two into three.

It wasn't unusual for Fred and George Weasley to skip class, especially if the class was History of Magic. And it also wasn't unusual for them to hide behind a tapestry whilst a stinky dungbomb was set in the first-floor corridor.

What was unusual though, was George not wanting to move from their hiding place, forcing Fred to also not move. "George, mate, wha-?" "SHH!"

Whatever Fred's question was supposed to be, it quickly got answered by the presence of a certain someone whose walking to the Muggle Studies classroom, his brother's potions partner perhaps? Fred grinned mischievously, nudging his brother in the abdomen, and earning a wince.

"Oi mudblood! Was that you?" They heard from a distance, heavy footsteps following the girl he's teasing his brother with. From their point of view, they could tell that the girl stopped in her tracks, sighing heavily as though this was a regular thing.

"Was that me, what?" She asked, clearly annoyed. "Was that you who did it? Or d'you just shat yourself? It smells horrid. Would make sense, as you're a filthy little mudblood."

George's blood was beginning to boil, fingers formed into a fist, knuckles white. Especially when they got to see the silhouette of the two arguing. Perfect, Winnifred Tuttle, his brother's potions partner bullying his Y/N Y/L/N. He had an urge to protect her. To avenge her. To show her how much he cared for someone who's supposed to be his potions partner.

"Was that supposed to be an insult, Tutts?" Y/N spat back, pulling George out of his trance and making Fred shut his mouth. Now he's the one staring intently. "It's honestly just sad. A 'pureblood' like you should know the difference between a dungbomb and a piece of shit. Or perhaps you're probably just that daft?"

The boys were fixated on their conversation now. A hand on their mouths, hopefully covering up their shock even if they're hiding behind a tapestry. George's heart was beating faster now.

"Me? Daft? Well, if I'm daft then why are you taking muggle studies?" Tuttle sneered, an ugly grin splattered across her face.

"Bit hypocritical, isn't it, Winnie? Bye-bye!" She turned her back away from the Slytherin now, walking into the Muggle Studies classroom, holding a few books in one hand and her middle finger in the other.

He knows three things about her now; She's bewitching, she's a whizz, and she's a muggle-born who doesn't take shit.

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A few more lessons in and one could say that Y/N and George are starting to become friendlier to each other. Acquaintances, sure, but, friendly nonetheless. But the Gryffindor wanted to live up to its name, to its values. He might've just gotten to know a bit about her but he was completely and utterly entranced.

Nothing's going to stop him now.

His right hand held his wand as he stirred the concoction in the cauldron. She, on the other hand, was cutting up the stewed mandrake. The easy silence between them was broken by none other than the lion himself.

"Hey," he called, lifting his gaze from the potion to the girl right next to him. "Hi." She said back.

"So... Today's a Friday, right?"

She looked at him, confused, recounting a particular time in which she looked at a calendar today. "Yeah, I think so."

"And we can go to Hogsmeade after classes?"

"Pretty sure you can, why?"

"Want to go on a date?"

She looked stunned which kind of hurt George's ego but as soon as the slightly parted mouth of hers became a cheerful grin, he felt a whole lot better.

"As long as you stop staring at me and not over mix our potion, then sure, I'll go out with you." She smiled, making George give a shy little grin back before attempting to put all his concentration on the brew. Mind boggled on the way she said 'our potion.'

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Going to Muggle Studies felt utterly useless now that Y/N's been promised to go on a date right after. But having George by her side, walking her to the class just seemed to be the best part of the day.

He recounted the time when he and Fred hid behind a tapestry and told Y/N all about it, giving a hot feeling to her cheeks. They stopped by the door frame of the classroom, Professor Burbage was waiting inside, pacing around her study as George's hand slyly held Y/N's.

"I'll pick you up later?" He asked with the same shy smirk plastered on his face, cheeks pink and ears flushed. "Yeah. Thanks for walking me here. You shouldn't have." She uttered, heels rising and falling as she bounced on her toes.

"Just making sure that Tuttsy's not going to ruin your day, love." Y/N felt heat rising to her cheeks and ears, as well as an uncontrollable grin. Her heel turned to make her face the concrete walls of the castle, hands covering their face and body slightly swaying from side to side. It was ridiculous, really. Dumb. Very.

"You're adorable when you're flustered."

"Shut up, Weasley." And with that, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, leaving him slightly startled, stunned, and very red in the face. "You're adorable when you're flustered." She quipped, walking into the Muggle Studies classroom and taking her seat.

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Muggle Studies felt oddly slow that day. Usually, it lasted an hour but today it felt like a century. Professor Burbage's talk about electricity and muggle technology went in one ear and out the other.

If you'd ask why Y/N chose a subject she already knew plenty about, her answer would be that she wanted to see things from a different perspective. But truthfully, she just knew that she'd be good at it and it'd be an easy O.

So there she was; A scrap piece of parchment laid on the wooden desk and a pen since Professor Burbage discouraged the use of quills.

Her mind wandered off the moment she sat down on her chair. Feet either bouncing up and down or stuck straight onto the floor, she wouldn't know. What she did remember was her non-dominant hand posing itself as the other one scribbled on the piece parchment.

Her fingers played with the hazy light and the ink added depth. Soon she started sketching other things; The student in front of her, a study of Professor Burbage, a head with a moderately strong jaw and beautiful, short, messy hair. A male side profile with a big nose that has a slight bump on its bridge matching a cheeky grin with dimples. Her hand posed itself once more but this time she wasn't making it look like hers, she was making it look like his. Something she's seen many times before, and guiltily stared at once, twice, more than she could recount.

She was adding in the cluster of freckles when the worst happened; "Miss Y/L/N, still with us?" Professor Burbage stood at the front of the class, standing straight, clearly thinking about her posture. "Miss Y/L/N?"

She felt an elbow nudge her arm, and that was the thing that brought her back into reality. Her head whipped itself to face her seatmate then to her Professor, giving her a funny-looking nervous grin.

"Charm would get you nowhere, Miss Y/L/N. When was the first electricity generator introduced in Britain? And where was it installed?" She has to have something in that brain of hers. It must've been taught sometime when she was in muggle school. "Err-- 1900s something, Surrey--?"

Professor Burbage meekly chuckled, "Nice try. 1881. Godalming, Surrey. A point from Y/H then, I'm sorry."

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George was faithful and stuck to his word. Even being 5 minutes early after asking Professor Grubbly-Plank if he could go to the bathroom and have a wee, saying that the unicorns would definitely mind if he pissed on their trees.

He did not go to the bathroom but instead went straight to the Muggle Studies classroom. Leaning the side of his body onto the wall by the door. Trying his best to peer into the room and find his potions partner and soon to be his date and maybe even his. But he was getting ahead of himself.

The bell rang and he heard a loud shuffling sound of chairs being pulled back. The door was opened as students from all of the houses started pouring out and there she was. Looking beautiful as ever with her bag slung on her shoulder.

"Glad to see you're alright there, dove." He cooed, earning once again another shy smile. "Anything happened there?" He asked, pointing to the now open classroom.

"Felt way longer than usual, and I lost a house point." She said matter of factly. George chuckled, his heart filled with pride as he turned his head towards her.

"And what have you done to lose said house point?"

She smiled before reaching her hand into a pocket of her robes, pulling out a folded piece of aged parchment before handing it to the curious redhead.

"What's this? A love letter?" He bantered. "Just open it." And so he did. His nimble fingers unfolding the parchment, then he was stunned. Seeing his face drawn in ink with lines crossing over more lines was the last thing he expected. It looked like him. And it didn't look like Fred. It is him.

"I was just drawing in class but then I sort of blanked out and got a dumb question wrong." She paused, looking back up to see if the redhead was still listening. "Hello? Earth to George?"

"You drew me?" He was on a fine line of disbelief and awe. It truly looked amazing. She drew her hand at least three times before he recognized his was also there. She even got the little freckle he had on the middle of his wrist. The full body of ol' Professor Burbage brought so much of her energy and even the way her scarf wrapped around her neck was perfect.

Her cheeks were heating up again, realizing what she just did. "It's not that good. Just-- drew what I saw and, err-- whatever came to mind, I guess." Bad execution, sloppy excuse. "Okay, you've been looking at that for way too long now--"

"This looks bloody brilliant! Now how come I've only found out about this now?"

"Flattery would get you nowhere, Weasley." She joked, but he was serious.

"S'not 'flattery' if I'm stating what's true! It's amazing, you're amazing." She felt her heartbeat increase by a mile.

"Well then, I'm flattered." She said, adjusting the strap of her bag to hopefully let out some adrenaline. "And to answer your question, it'd be terrifying if I just started drawing in Snape's class. I swear that man has eyes at the back of his head. That's why this is a new discovery for you."

"Fuck, this is amazing!" He uttered.

"It's really not that good--"

"'S'really not that good' Some shit standards you have there. I'd put this in a museum!" He said loudly, extending both his arms and imagining that the piece of parchment was displayed on the Hogwarts walls. "If you don't like it then I'll keep it." George joked, expecting disapproval, which, to his shock, never came.

"Are you actually giving this to me?"

She shrugged, "I mean if you'd like a photo of you drawn by a teenage girl then be my guest." He smiled, genuinely smiled. He looked so pretty at that moment and there shouldn't be any holding back now.

"...But," She started, his gaze looked intently at her, ready to listen to whatever comes next. "There's a price."

"Between Freddie and I, we have 26 galleons and a few sickles." He said, earning a hearty laugh and a shake of her head. "Don't really think he'd like me to give all of it to you, I'm sorry. If you want I'd pay a bit then I--"

"No, George." She said, tugging lightly on his tie to gain his attention. "How about... a kiss? Perhaps?"

He grinned. His hand hovered itself across her face before landing on her cheek, thumb gracing itself on its apples, slightly squishing the skin whilst his eyes looked for any signs of discomfort; there was none.

They slowly leaned in, eyes locked on lips before their lips locked onto each other. His lips were slightly chapped but it felt like the softest thing on Earth. He smelled of cinnamon, firewood, gunpowder, and other indescribable scents, but it was nice. It was short but meaningful, gentle, even. His other hand was wrapped around her waist and once again, his thumbs were running up and down whatever part of her body it's laid on.

He learned two more things about the girl that day; she's artistic, and she felt like home.

He never thought there'd be a time in his life where he'd be thankful for Severus Snape. But life goes in unexpected ways.

"If you'd like to tip me then I'm just going to say that I love cauldron cakes." She grinned up at him as they pulled away before settling her face in his chest. George chuckled to himself before wrapping his arms completely on her waist, placing a sweet kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah, yeah, come on." He said, pulling away to let her shake herself up as he held onto the piece of folded parchment which graced his face, giving it a small peck before putting it in his pocket, patting it three times.

"Better sign that drawing for me, Y/N. How much does an autograph cost?"

"Double the original price—?"

"And the tip?"

"And the tip."

[sunburstsandmoonshadows]

Hello sbg nation, I've read the latest ep and am full of thoughts. I'm going to vomit them all down here.

So obviously with that burst of violence from the gang, the phantom world is changing them in some fashion, right? A lot of the comments I saw on webtoons are calling that they're all turning into phantoms.

I 100% agree. In fact, going off the discussion the Origami Crane Group (OCG) were having, they should have turned into phantoms the minute they entered the shadow world at the start of the school year.

As the OCG member following the group said in ep 38, "All of those kids should be at least comatose, especially the girl!"

With the fact that the gang started sounding like phantoms to Ashlyn during the fight and that both Ashlyn and Logan have "spoken" the phantom's language-- Ashlyn naturally, and Logan when enraged with Barron-- I'm assuming that the process of turning into phantoms is finally taking hold of the gang.

The timeline of how long they've been in the phantom world is slightly vague, but the Savannah trip happened early in the school year and by the newest episode they've just finished midterm exams, meaning that it's been about 4ish months since then. Which is a pretty long period to avoid becoming a phantom when the change is usually instantaneous!

My main thoughts on what's going on are this:

The OCG are studying/messing with the phantom world for currently unknown reasons. Because of this, the Sorrel-Weed House "guide" picked the group after somehow identifying that Ashlyn has a connection to the phantom world.

The expected result would be for everyone in the group to end up comatose as their souls/shadows/whatever turn into phantoms. For some reason, perhaps the fact that Ashlyn's connection to the phantom world is somehow different from other people's (borne from the fact that her parents brushed with phantoms during her birth?), she prevents the phantom-ification and everyone retains their minds in the phantom world.

Except whatever Ashlyn is doing can't keep the others safe from the effects of the world forever, as seen in how violent and "mindless" they became in the fight before Ashlyn ordered them to calm down. The property of the phantom world that changes them is still trying to do it, and the passive use of her power isn't as effective anymore, now Ashlyn has to purposefully tap into the phantom language to stop them and let them regain their senses.

Another thing of note from the dialogue in ep 38 comes from Jasmine (tattoo lady) going over her interaction with the gang again. At the end, she mentions that after the gang left, the "rift" was permanently closed. If this isn't just what happens when anyone enters the rift, then that means Ashlyn and the gang entering the rift somehow ended up closing it when they shouldn't be able to.

I think this could link to Ashlyn's powers in two ways:

She has a natural ability to close rifts between the worlds, but because she didn't know about it, she couldn't do it properly, leaving her and the gang stuck in the phantom world at night anyway. Still better than being comatose, though!

Instead of actually closing the rift, Ashlyn instead sort of "became" the rift, triggering her and everyone to keep getting stuck in the phantom world even without being near a rift. This could also explain why her parents are seeing phantoms again and the phantoms' are able to semi-interact with the real world at times.

Why are the OCG chucking phantom-sensitive (and non-sensitive) people into the phantom world? Unclear. Since the "Boss" of the OCG has ordered them to keep an eye on the gang to figure out why they aren't reacting instead of, idk, killing them, I'm assuming there's a research segment to the OCG. I do wonder if they're using the power to assassinate people? Or planning to do that, with the random groups at the Sorrel-Weed House being tests.

If nothing else, we do know at least two more groups know about the phantom world; an OCG member mentions them. "Both sides are still trying to track us down."

Who are these two sides? There's not enough info to know much, but I'm leaning towards one group doing similar things to the OCG, while another opposes them. This is because the OCG member specifically refers to them as "sides" rather than just other groups.

So one group is doing the same stuff as OCG, and would want to strike them down to create a monopoly on the phantom world, and the other group wants to stop them altogether and use the phantom world some other way. Both are trouble for the OCG, so they have to stay low after the Sorrel-Weed House incident, as it was somehow noticeable to the other two groups and could be tied to the OCG, placing them in Savannah.

With the knowledge that there are other groups, it makes me wonder where Mr. Thomas (the teacher) fits into all this. The fact that he could see the difference in Ashlyn's shadow has lead to the assumption that he's part of the OCG, but I'm not sure that I buy it.

For one thing, you'd think that if he was part of the OCG, he'd already know that Ashlyn and the gang have ties to the phantom world and that strange things are happening to them, but he seemed genuinely thrown by the sight. For another, it's been shown with Ashlyn's parents that one can see and experience things like/related to phantoms without being a part of the OCG. (To different degrees, though-- the parents can see the phantoms but not Ashlyn's shadow, while the teacher can see the shadow.)

I think there are two possibilities with Mr. Thomas. Either he's someone who is slightly sensitive to the phantom world but is unaware of the OCG or other groups, and was startled by Ashlyn's shadow because he had no idea it could happen, or he's a part of one of the other sides and was startled by Ashlyn's shadow because he didn't realize she was tied to the event in the Sorrel-Weed House.

Anyway. There's some thoughts.

[sharkneto]

What did you think of five’s arc this season?

Mixed feelings.

First, I loved his individual scenes, loved all his interactions with the siblings. Loved Drunk!Five. Aidan always brings it, he's such a delight to watch and he's so goddamn consistent in how he acts and understands Five.

The sticking point for me, though, is the goddamn Founder arc, which everything hinges on for him. Five, as I understand him as a character from the first two seasons and obsessively thinking about him every day for two years, wouldn't found the Commission. He's been working to change the timeline to save his family from the moment we've met him. He's had nothing but a terrible time with the Commission (see my multiple rants about how the Commission has changed in it's portrayal since S1), and now we're supposed to believe he's the one who made the whole thing? It feels more like a Gotcha! Twist! moment than necessarily a well-thought out plot point.

Along with that, his motivations for the entire second half of the season stem from his conversation with his future self: "Do Not Save The World". Objectively, an interesting thing to play with, when this character's entire thing for the past two seasons has been to save the world, but it does go against who Five is. He's ridiculously optimistic and tenacious, as seen that he survived the goddamn apocalypse for four decades on the off chance he could figure out how to get out and save his family. And now he's just going to give up and stop doing that because his future self he hates told him that?

Five, generally, doesn't listen. He has a course of action he thinks is correct and that's what he does, whether or not he has support in doing it. Ironically, the one person he actually should be listening to (from a character stand-point) is Reggie, because Reggie has always been right in regards to Five and Five had a good conversation and got good advice from him in the 60s, which made his immediate "fuck Reggie" attitude in S3 a bit of a surprise, to me, at least. Anyway, what I was originally getting at is that at that last dire moment, when they're facing certain death and the end of the universe and there was a sliver of a chance to avoid that by going with Reggie's plan and entering the HOb (the original vote to do so), Five, as I understand the character, should have voted Yes. He's not the kind of guy to accept the end of everything when he's still up and can do something, especially when it means the end of his family and that all his efforts for the past 45 years were all, more or less, for nothing. And Five only votes No because his future self told him to, which seals his family's fate to end with the rest of the universe.

Idk. I do get where they were coming from, if you just accept the whole founder arc. Following Founder Five's advice is an attempt to stop him from ending up in that spot, but it doesn't seem to have a real impact on actually changing anything because they end up in the HOb anyway, Five still loses an arm. There's no way to know exactly what would have happened in Founder Five's original time through, but context says it's not all that different than what happened anyway until Allison stepped in. I'd rather have seen Five continue fighting to the last option to keep his family alive than throw in the towel because his future self said so - he's been all about rebelling against How The Future Should Go up to this point and he's arrogant enough to think he can do better than that other version of himself.

So, I guess where that puts us, is that I loved Five this season, how Aidan acted and reacted in every scene made perfect sense for where the character was at and he's so fun to watch and I still love Five as a character, but the overall plotline he was following didn't make sense to me as I understood the character beforehand. I don't think that's all that unique of a take. Definitely interesting points to make and explore with what he went through, but I think we could have gotten there without that wrench of Founder Five forcing his character to do something I don't think he'd do otherwise.

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

thinking about yaz saying the doctor can drop them back wherever they want:

RYAN: Is this our lives? Going from one place to the next, ignoring home? We're getting older, but without them. Missing out bits of their lives.   YASMIN: When we're done, The Doctor can drop you off at whatever point you want, though. RYAN: Yeah, but we'll have changed. They wouldn't have. It's like we're living at different rates. YASMIN: The Doctor said we wouldn't come back the same. DOCTOR: I was thinking Frankenstein.  

im assuming thats what the doctor told them. im assuming yaz didnt just assume that on her own.

in the first episode yaz asks “is this normal for you”:

YASMIN: So everything we saw, everything we've lied to people about, is this normal for you?

clara voice: you lied and now you made me lie, youve made me your accomplice!

ive said this before but i dont think 13 needed to tell or ask them to lie, i think she took the lead, gave an example and they followed. i think it’s similar with how the doctor went about setting the rules of travelling. i dont know if they discussed the travelling schedule, i imagine there must have been Some discussion. but i think 13 would offer when they can be back without being asked. like she said the disclaimers when they asked to come and she asked if they knew what they were signing up for and if they were sure. so i think she would have also offered this freely. i can get you back to any point, whenever you want.

it’s interesting bc you wonder what she was thinking when she offered that. my first thought is approximately right back to when they left. the same way she brought them back in 11x4 to half an hour after 11x1. and the same way she comes back in revolution thinking it’s the same day she left them in 12x10. i think that first of all shes offering them the chance to not miss any time with their families and friends. that doesnt entirely work bc as ryan says “we’ll have changed, they wouldnt have” but thats no issue from the doctor’s immortal perspective. she didnt really change in the decades in prison.

so thats the main thing i think she was offering, to get some adventures and never be missed. hide all this, hide all these experiences, this entire life, from their loved ones. i dont think she even thought about that. i think that was just intuitively the logical thing to offer. absolute compartmentalisation.

but another thing thats also offered in “whatever point you want”, is a point thats not even in your life. she probably wouldnt take you back to before you were travelling bc there’d be two of you and thats not ideal for the timelines, but any other time? before you were born? a hundred years after? or just a couple of weeks into the future, or a couple of years, skip 5, whos gonna notice that? i think you can get away with 5 years, whos gonna suspect time travel.

anyway, i have no real thoughts here i just think it’s a fun offer to think about. it’s a fun offer to think about 13 making. i can really hear clara’s accusatory “youve made me your accomplice!” in it. she made them lie and she made them keep up the lie and i dont think she ever gave them any other option.and it’s interesting for her to make this offer. an offer that feels natural to her, but for companions is actually like, kind of a difficult question right?

i just think she doesnt imagine their perspectives a lot. and i think thats why she probably would be surprised with how well they know her if they voiced it. i mean she is surprised in 12x5 when ryan says very determinedly “youre the doctor”. the three of them together i think understand and have guessed a lot about her and i even think theyve shared some of what theyve seen especially in s12, i think they had meetings about her. they kinda did in 12x5.

so idk tldr i guess is i think the fam get her shoes a lot better than she gets theirs. i dont think shes even tried all that much. i dont think it has occured to her to think about how cancer has affected graham, or how he and ryan mourned grace, or who ryans friends are, or whether yaz had any, or what her relationship to her family is like. i dont think she has thought to think about any of that.

i think they might have mentioned things here and there. ryan mentions his old job in kerblam and i feel like friends maybe at some point too? graham comes to her in 12x7. she knows yaz was bullied from witchfindesr. but i doubt she FOLLOWED UP on any of that. i dont think she’d ask further questions. she closed herself off Completely when graham came to her for Emotional Support, i doubt she’d open doors to that kinda thing voluntarily. and i think maybe she wouldnt even want to spend much time thinking about it. thinking about the lives she took these people from. just focus on the here and now. no yesterdays no tomorrows

[destinyc1020]

Crazy that Spider-Man fans can be so toxic and divided but for the first time like 95% is onboard with Tom having a more grounded Spider-Man story. I have seen on twitter and in YouTube discussions about how the story for SM4 could be a more grounded or a team up movie again and The more grounded story is winning all the polls for a huge margin.

And yes, me too. I prefer Tom leaving now with his huge successful trilogy and not doing a dumb multiversal story, after how NWH ended. He deserves that his next movie is focus on him living by himself as Peter and helping others as Spider-Man, for sure won’t do 2 billion dollars but will be great for character story wise and still will be successful. Not every movie has to do 1 billion. FFH was more profitable than Homecoming, made more money with a lower production budget. Sony like Marvel have to start creating stories to build the blocks to another team up movie like Avengers.

I'm all in for a more personal and grounded story. 😌

Sony/Marvel better not have bamboozled us with that ending that they gave us, in order to just "appease the fans" and give us everything that we've been wanting for years in prefer to wrap up Tom's Spider-man trilogy into a nice, neat, little bow, without having any intentions of actually following through with those ideas that we saw at the end of the movie. 🤨

Regarding your last paragraph....

I actually think a more grounded Spiderman would make a ton of money tbh. This is what the fans have been wanting for years!

***WARNING!!! UNPOPULAR OPINION COMING THROUGH!***

You all keep blaming Sony, but I also blame MARVEL. I know fans wanted to keep Tom in the MCU (and I get it), but when things were up in the air back in 2018 (was it?) I was actually not too sad about Tom's Spiderman being separated from the "MCU" tbh.

I felt like Spiderman being away from the MCU would give him more freedom, more NYC time, less "Avengers" making cameo appearances to "help him out" in his solo films 🙄, and less needing to be so tied to a silly timeline along with other films.

Idk if you all notice, but even Marvel's films aren't doing all that great. 👀

The timeline stuff and the interconnected films method was awesome and GREAT back when we had the OG Avengers, because it was all leading up to Thanos. Now that Thanos has been defeated and that theme is gone, and most of the OG Avengers are gone as well, I just don't see the point in continuing with the timeline format, and making each film connect to each other.

Imo, it eventually starts to severely LIMIT you and put you in a box. Not only that, but now, certain films HAVE to come out in order or else, they won't make sense. Heaven forbid we get another pandemic or Hollywood strike.....🥴

I'm just saying.... 🤷🏾‍♀️

I think there would be greater flexibility, creativity, and unlimited possibilities if they allowed Spiderman to just be a FREE AGENT again. 👀

Jmho 🤷🏾‍♀️

I know I'll get pelted with tomatoes for saying this though. 🙈

(End vent)