#it bums me out that we didn't get a more detailed version of it

[remusjohnslupin]

@dagordagorath: Your username is so cool, I am vibrating between admiration and envy.

[asexualbookbird]

August feels. Blurry. The Thursday of the year. Of the summer? IT feels like the year. I managed to fill out my entire Summer Bingo Board for the library. I haven't heard back about winning any prizes, but I had fun and that's what counts. Bingo made me branch out of my comfort zone which was really neat. Can't say I'll do it more often, a comfort zone is comfortable, but I do enjoy reading something Different every now and then. Did some crafty things this month, which has been a lot of fun, and I've been Smart and Wise and started on holiday gifts so I'm not scrambling in December. It's called personal growth~

The Bone Season: Tenth Anniversary Edition by Samantha Shannon ⭐⭐ - I'm salty about this. Yes, it's an improvement, but it still sucks. The world and magic is so neat, but we're stuck with a plot Like That. Made me do an actual full review on goodreads and on tumblr if you want all the details.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon ⭐⭐- I kept my original rating because honestly I felt the same as I did years ago. It's worse than the updated version, but it's the core of the novel that needs changing. Props to this one at least for making Paige asexual. I do not want to see this book on ace book lists ever again.

The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game by The McElroys and Carey Pietsch ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- One of the best installments so far. The art is AMAZING, I love the meta they're doing with Griffin and The Hunger, it was a little rushed and I'm bummed we aren't getting a full adaptation of The Stolen Century, but this is still right up there with Petals to the Metal for me!

The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - T Kingfisher has never written a bad novel to me, but this one did take me longer than her others to really click. The audio narrator had some inflections that didn't work for my brain, but once they went through the door, things got Weird and picked up. These two made so many stupid decisions, but it still felt in character! Big Stan Pines energy coming from that uncle.

Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - For book bingo! Got me a square for Read Nonfiction, Read Something About The Environment, and Read Something You Found from Book Page (a magazine advertising new and upcoming books). AND it had a local connection. I learned a lot, it was really neat and didn't feel like I was reading a textbook. It was very engaging, and has me looking at grocery stores differently. It was hard to find, though, because Frostbite is a very common name in the urban fantasy romance genre.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Oof. Very heavy, very creepy, very GOOD. Did not expect the many graphic dog deaths, but that was on me. Technically I WAS warned, my brain just didn't register "SGJ dogs are not safe" as "The dog dies in this one". The audio narrator was very good, but I had to listen to the opening a couple times to really get everything to click. It might've been easier had I" read it myself, but the cadence of the narrator really added to the story.

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox ⭐ - Wow when was the last time I had a true one star read. (Actually not too long ago. It was The Novice.) This wanted so badly to be The Haunting of Hill House, but if you want another book like Hill House, just read Starling House. We missed what actually happened in the book because the main character was losing her memory. If you want that, go read Harrow the Ninth. This was a mess and I hated it.

On that note, I need to read something to recharge my faith in books, so MURDERBOT TIME! That's my only reading plan for September, but now I'm feeling Rushed because the year is almost over and I still have about half of my reading goals list left. Whoops. I'd also like to at least attempt some of the Swordtember prompts, if not do all of them. That looks like a lot of fun! So! Onward we go!

[imthepunchlord]

Kalos needed a win more than the other gens, let's be real.

It did!

Like, XY over all were fun, but you could feel they were incomplete. This is the Gen where the enhanced version (or sequels) felt incredibly absent and Kalos needed more umph. For the game that led us into the 3D, it got the short end of the stick. So it really does need this.

And I think this works out overall. We were ALL dreading the "faithful" BW remakes. And I wasn't that all excited for Let's Go Jhoto, though I found this was the least likely option. So Legends Z-A was a very pleasant surprise. And it's coming out next year at an unknown time! It's got time to cook! Well, assuming they didn't start development recently. Hopefully it's further along than recently started. Either way, it's really good they took a break this year, I got plenty of Pokemon games to replay, and some fan games to play, and I'm just going to curiously keep an eye out for news. And hope the earliest release will be November as then it'll be kinda close to getting a 2 year development, cause the more time to cook the better. I am good waiting for games, I'd rather a finished product than a rushed one.

And by the teaser, there's so much curiosity over it.

Is it really going to be set in the past and a prequel? Or is it going to be more modern-future and a sequel? Helping with the construction of Lumoise City to me leans more past but we'll see. I also wonder if we'll see a Pokemon version of Napoleon as he was the one who wanted Paris reconstructed.

And learning that, apparently, it's entirely set in Lumiose City is going to be interesting to see how that works. Will there be biomes? Or will the Lumiose Catacombs (that it should have) be used as places to catch wild pokemon? And how are we going to play a role in the city reconstruction? It's a different theme and set up to be sure, one I am curious about.

Also, with Mega Evolution coming back (which was my favorite of the gimmicks), I do wonder if this means we'll get more Megas over regional and convergent forms, which I would be a little bummed about, but its cool to get more Megas.

And we'll finally see the Mega Kalos Starters! And maybe Flygon will get a Mega finally! And I know some wanted to Mega Dragonite and we did see Dragonair in the trailer so that's a possibility.

And then there's the fun of the starter speculation, assuming we'll still get a shuffled up trio. Which so far this is the most popular theory I think:

Which does have some merit, as two are based on French royalty/leaders, and Torchic can be tied to the Gallic Rooster.

The only thing to clash is chances are good we'll get Megas for them over regional evolution, and we already got Mega Blaziken. They may prefer to do a whole new trio. Torchic is also a bit of an odd one out as there are 2 specifically based on French royalty and Torchic isn't, unless there is a French royal it could be tied to. Charlemagne is the only other iconic French royal I can think of, but I don't know enough specific details about him outside he unified the Franks and was the first King of France, but maybe Blaziken could work off him?

Either way, I am very curious, a little excited and hopeful, though more cautious optimistic. I am hoping this game will have enough time to cook. I do love Pokemon and I want to see this franchise thrive and be the best it can be. So I am curiously excited for us to revisit Kalos soon and see how it's going to go.

[clonerightsagenda]

Ok let's put this to bed. Or more appropriately in the grave. Nice stuff first:

The show was well paced and didn't drag! After my increasing frustration with the second half of HDM, I appreciate that. While it veered further away from the books in the second half which annoyed me on principle, I don't think there was anything wrong with the changes from a structural or storytelling perspective. Adding hints toward later plot twists helped provide an overarching plot to propel the season since they squashed two books with separate story arcs together.

One of my favorite things about the books is the thought put into little details of how society would respond to this situation, and the show added some new ones - the salt sprinklers, places of business having countdown clocks to sunset, those all made sense and were great touches. The ghost lamps also looked super cool.

All the kids in this situation are victims, but Lucy doesn't see herself that way and is comparatively privileged as an unsupervised agent/not night watch, so her narration skates over a lot of the horror lurking in the background. The show gets outside her head and into the darkness a bit more, which I don't object to on principle, though I do think they weakened themselves by having almost all the agents be older. At least have some younger extras besides the canaries at the auction. DEPRAC being more active worked well both from a logical standpoint and as an additional source of tension. The biggest issue here is that the books are also really funny - a major hallmark of Stroud's work is dealing with heavy shit while being hilarious - and while the show got darker it did not have much of a sense of humor.

As I said, George came off the best of the trio, and Flo also benefited from being given additional depth and not getting subjected to Lucy's uncharitable narration. The others though... I appreciated they did not cast someone stick thin as Lucy, and I liked her relationship with Norrie (helps beat the internalized misogyny allegations, helps confirm the bisexuality allegations, if they'd had any sense in future seasons the Belle Dame would've looked like her) but as I complained about at length I feel like they saw 'female character with empathy powers' and slammed the 'hysterical woman' button too hard. Lockwood... also as I said you can tell non-Lucy observers think he's obnoxious in the books but he's endearingly childish enough that you forgive him, whereas his show version was just annoying and it felt like we kept rehashing the same beats. Finally the skull's character does shift noticeably between book 2/3-5 but they cut his backstory and most of his lines, so IDK where they were going to take him for the rest of the series. Sorry if you don't find Lucy's toxic codependent frenemy hostage situation compelling, showrunners, but it was a highlight for me. He was another casualty of the show not having a sense of humor imo. Without the first person pov that's where most of the jokes come from.

Overall, while it would have been neat to see if they did anything visually interesting with the Other Side sequences, I am not bummed that this got cancelled. I would've still watched it but I would've made an 'annoying adaptation choices' bingo card and filled it out while eating M&Ms. I'd bet $10 they would've murdered Kipps for the fucking love triangle.

[sineala]

I’m excited for Jed MacKay’s Avengers and I love the way he writes Tony 🥰. And while I am a little bummed Steve isn’t on THIS team, I love that Captain America Sam is now back on a team with Tony

What are some of you favourite Sam and Tony moments (shippy or otherwise)? I haven’t read all of All New All Different but I liked what I have read of Sam and Tony in that run

And what are some of you favourite Jed MacKay comics? You mentioned you liked his Strange work.

I'm always a little sad when Steve and Tony aren't on a team together, and I am even more sad now that it's Jed MacKay on Avengers just like we all wanted... but we don't get Steve & Tony. I am holding out hope that maybe Steve will join them.

I do really like Sam in team books -- I feel like he hasn't actually been showcased all that well in his own Cap solo books, sadly -- and I feel like ANAD Avengers was a run with a lot of potential that unfortunately ran into a bunch of line-wide events and didn't really get a time to develop as a team, but I loved the "Sam and Tony mentoring a bunch of teenagers" angle because I think that's a role we haven't gotten to see them in all that much.

If you want to see Sam & Tony working together and you want a little more feeling than ANAD Avengers has, what you really want is Brubaker-era Captain America, especially after Steve's death. Sam and Tony, like Tony and Bucky, kind of triangulate around Steve, their shared interest.

I have added some panels below.

You can see this even in ANAD, where from the very first issue, they're just talking about Steve:

I think both of those exchanges are Tony just spontaneously bringing up Steve, actually. He and Steve just do this to other people about each other. (My favorite moment is that one SWORD issue where they're talking about colonizing Mars and no one has said anything about Tony and then Steve just launches into an impromptu speech about how amazing Tony is.)

But, anyway, yeah, Cap comics after Steve's death are I think where it's at for Sam & Tony. They're two of Steve's pallbearers in Fallen Son #5:

In that issue, Sam is also the one who steps up and actually gives a eulogy when Tony just can't keep it together long enough to say anything.

But what you actually want to read is Brubaker Cap, because Sam and Tony are working together and dealing with the loss of Steve. Here's Tony explaining that Sharon killed Steve, to Sam, in Cap v5 #31:

I would recommend it over ANAD if you're looking for emotional character moments involving the two of them -- as far as I can remember, when they both appear in the main Avengers line together over the years, they mostly tend to just focus on work.

As for Jed MacKay, I loved his IM & Avengers annuals and the Iron Cat mini, but I have really, really loved his Strange run so far; it is easily my favorite run in the modern revamp of Strange. I liked the Aaron, Cates, and Waid runs decently well (and my opinion ascends in that order). I own most of them in trade; I hadn't been buying the single issues. And then MacKay came on the book and I thought, "Okay, well, Death of Doctor Strange. That doesn't sound like something I want to read. Definitely not gonna subscribe to that one." Then I actually read it and I realized it was better than all three of those runs and I immediately subscribed to it. So he's got me actually buying Strange in floppies, FWIW.

The reason his Strange run is so good for me is also why his characterization of Tony is so good for me -- somehow what he writes is exactly what I want. He's clearly read canon and is pulling all these little moments and obscure details and getting all the feelings and the character dynamics right. Like, you know how that Avengers Annual is just an entire annual of Steve and Tony hanging out and fighting villains together and even the villain knows how important they are to each other because they make them fight versions of each other? If you were like "I want an issue that's really about Steve and Tony" it is just... exactly what you want. His Strange run is like that for Strange & Clea.

I was going to explain exactly what I liked about his Strange but that's a whole other post and I realized after taking a dozen screencaps that you didn't actually ask me to summarize it, so I won't unless you actually want me to. The short answer is that I am a massive Strange/Clea shipper -- and I was fairly bitter about the way Waid left them in his run -- and apparently so is Jed MacKay because he has devoted his entire run so far to getting them back together, in an extremely romantic way. They finally accept what they mean to each other, and then Strange dies, Clea becomes Sorcerer Supreme, and she is going to move heaven and earth to get him back. Featuring massive amounts of identity porn, the angsty inability to touch each other, and the sexy sexy life/death metaphors that we all wish Hickman's Avengers run had given to Steve/Tony but hey here they are. This is what the entire Strange run is about. It is solely "Clea's gonna get her husband back and set you on fire if you get in her way." That is the plot.

Like, it is somehow exactly perfectly the thing I want even though somehow I did not know until I read it that it was exactly that thing.

[theangryjikooker]

Hey, TAJ!

I highly appreciate your answer. Free passes to the Agust-D concert! I would've begged you to let me tag along 🥺 But, I have to agree that the third installment is far superior. I love listening to the songs from Yoongi as Suga of BTS, Prod. Suga, and Agust-D. Can you share your experience when you attended the concert?

Also, Letter. I listened to it on repeat on YouTube (I know there's no official version, and I'm bummed about that, but the more that I listen to it, the more I fall in love with it. Just all elements from the song and the emotions from Jimin's voice and delivery). If I may ask, what did you think about the live version?

I'm hoping we can still have a second album from Jimin before he does MS, but I'm not rushing. I'm just greedy wanting more music from him.

I think that there's a rumor about when JK's album would probably be released but, still waiting for an official announcement. I loved all the songs that JK either composed/written/majorly contributed to; trying not to set expectations and patiently wait for it.

And this got too long again. Sorry about that! 😅

I'm actually not a huge concertgoer. Ironically, in my new line of work, a solid perk is getting highly coveted concert tickets. My friends definitely reap more out of this than I do.

Is there anything to say about the Agust D concert that hasn't already been said? I just hate to sound repetitive, but Yoongi is 100% my kind of performer. He's very versatile as an artist, and it's fascinating to me that someone who has historically taken a behind-the-scenes approach does exceptionally well on his own.

This is more of a personal preference, and one I put more stock into (for better or worse), but part of what makes him exciting as a performer is that he can dance, rap, and sing, but he can also play his own instruments. I'm not implying that the other members couldn't be as successful just because they don't play instruments, but it's far more engaging to me when an artist can.

And for a "small" human, he takes up a whole stage with ease, and he exuded the same energy you would expect out of an OT7 concert. Genuinely, it was an amazing experience. 10/10 would go again.

As for Jimin's live version of Letter, he literally sounds like his studio version. What's not to love? I have no complaints. I don't mean to come across as dismissive because Letter really is a lovely song, but my music tastes are more of the high energy variety. I maintain that Letter (along with Like Crazy) are my favorite tracks off his album, but JitB and D-Day are more of my speed overall. I also hope Jimin has an opportunity to release a sophomore album, but I don't know if I want it to be released just for it to be released due to time constraints because I think that would be doing him and his abilities a disservice.

Not that you asked, but since you mentioned Jungkook, I'm just going to vaguely vent here about this because I have so many feelings on this. I'm not going into detail about this because there was still a degree of separation, and I didn't hear it from the horse's mouth (a.k.a. take with a grain of salt, but also he sucks), but from what I understood, it seemed very obvious that SB isn't particularly interested in OT7. And I love Jungkook, I do, and he deserves his opportunities, but at the same time, I really don't want SB to sink his claws into Jungkook. I will literally throw hands.

[psych---ologically-deranged]

1x02 spellingg bee commentary

Steve Franks, Kelly Kulchak, James Roday, Dulé Hill

JRr: That's me, you were seeing my butt, now you're seeing me from the front

DH: Hi I'm Dule Hill. *doesn't say anything else for a sec.* This is how I'm going to talk this whole episode

KK: I'm Kelly Kulchak, producer. *lauhing too hard so she;s just quiet*

Moved this episode in the air order

They took this scene from another episode bc of the air order. "It was plucked"

An extroardinary amount of fake cat hair.

JRr: I actually spoke like thi swhen i was twelve years old

This scene was a lot longer originally.

Her parents have NOT been together for 30 years now...

The paper the layout the vantage point, oyou're totally a cop! (Shawn: got himself a paper, sitting in the same point)

All the cops leave & she's ust there

"They asked me if I wanted anything to drink :)"

SF: That's actually Corbin's real hair. We shave it off for the modern scenes & then he grows it back at the end of the week

Different child actors. They needed an older pair.

"You can see that young shawn has a moustache"

Wearing the same shirt XD. DH as gus: Shawn probably took it out of my closet that's what happened

they ad libbed "is that my shirt" but had to cut it :(

They made a lot of money on the first case to afford an office space like this beachfront

They had to colour correct his suit bc collins brought his own suit

bummed bc the tivo bar.

Fine details lost on everyone. "It would have been more impressive to pull it off ["it" being the tivo bar implication that it happened in the past] considering we couldn't put shawn & gus in different shirts, but did manage to get the tivo bar"

cupils? batche balls? crouqet balls on his desk

"blue to help offset the blue" "we painted the trash can blue just to get some colour"

Budd collins basically made up his own dialogue XD

the comfort room doubled as the basement in the chainsaw massacre

Gus speaking with his really big words

"Dule lent collins that [ugly] tie"

improv "this is more interesting than the woodcarving finals"

"you can't chew any more gum tim" *shows up with popcorn*

He borrowed that tie from Bud too

On Wall Seizure, fave of Jacquie DeCrenezz (idk how to spell her name)

SF "like he's stuck to the wall" JRr "I got you"

DH: I really started being confused about what James was doing

That little bit of life before he succumbs to the demon

That was his stunt double who did the extra flail

introduction of the supersmeller. Gus & Steve Franks.

Shawn vision is the actual term they use for when they light something up

*really fast zoom into the face & then staring at something*

JRr: That's what the poeple want, as much of my head filling the screen as possible

*happens to have an evidence bag*

My gal was the reporter in the stereo robberies too!

seven different versions of screaming chinese food names

Mel Dambsky

I DID notice the hill 100ft above the ocean & now they film from the backyard

Shawn has created the office with his connections with contractors in the area

The dog house that has been under this tarp for 20 years

SF: When I wrote this, it was in the attic & he had to climb into the rafters to pull out this decrepit thing

DH: You'd think that with Shawn Vision he would have seen it when walking by

SF: You forget they are estranged. You can eplain anything

KK: Who is surfing in there?

SF: ... Season 3

Oh hey they are three flashbacks in this ep.

SF: You know it's a flashback because of the sepia tone.

KK: I thouhgt it was the hair

The pineapple is in the bag OR in shawn's hand, a slice, I can't tell

When did shawn get his jacket & sweater

SF: James, why does Shawn have a pineapple at this time of night

JRr: A selfish attempt at getting pineapple into every episode.

SF: It was a hard day of work

JRr: & pineapple is very refreshing

KK: Didn't they have a plate of fruit for you to choose from?

JRr: I had to ask Clive

I haven't seen motorcycle acting like that since Fonzi jumped the chicken shack

"That's why we don't see much more of James on the motorcycle in season 1"

Had to reshoot the stunt

"They grew all the plants on the sound stage"XD

Gus' scene with dr sloan (named for lindsey sloan) was added later & gus is actually smart

A limp is hard. Even I'm struggling to limp & I stepped on a nail yesterday. You want to keep weight off your foot, but it is so awkward, idk how to limp properly when I'm legit injured, let alone acting.

DH: That's coming out in season seven, Gus has strong vision too

Hill I love gus I think he is so smart & deserves more credit.

Keeping the leg straight while building the doghouse. My man was biking home from his dad's last night, went to the hospital, called gus, & never had the chance to change bc he immediately went back to finish the doghouse

HS: I thought u gave up

SS: Nope. *doesn't tell his dad he just went home to sleep & didn't show up at 6am the next day bc He Was In The Hospital

HS: What happened to your leg?

SS: Absolutely nothing

SF: idk anything about running roofing vertical

I mean neither do I & I had a job roofing for a bit

DH: Henry has a heart henry hears a who

Shawn IS on pain medication or will have to drive or smth, hooray for responsibility

improv: Park Hyatt for Poodles

I jut realized, Henry plays poker. He forbade shawn when he was a kid, but he WAS a kid.

The network's fave shirt he's worn all season. I can see why.

JRr: *gasping in pain as his character gets up*

I just noticed the visitor badge on his brace XD

TO's hair: it's tight & smooth & real. The most stable thing on the show

Between the pilot & this episode, "she, what we like to call, gave birth" (sf why say it like that XD)

SF: Our show is very subtly anti smoking & we make fun of... say smoking is bad for him.

DH: When you smoke you get locked outside doors.

SF: & lung cancer. Those are the two tings

Just like when shawn says he won't let gus date a man who smokes

SF: Mitchum is my deodorant of choice

Ok bestie

For Shawn, any name tag of any sort goes on the pants

*discussing what BS means on his weird short" We know it's not a black sabbath concert t." 'Bring socks.'

I didn't know they cut commentaries but now I AM wondering what inappropriate thing you said bud!

SF: When I remember things I think of them as 8mm home movies

SF: I wanted you to solve three crimes in a hotel in one episode, but then I realized the episodes weren't four hours long

DH: I had to grab his neck a couple times.

JRr: You should piledrive me, pin me in front of a group of onlookers

SF: If we had that on film, I would have put it on the show

JRr: Shawn says it's his neighbour's dog, which implies that Shawn has a home

School of marco!

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

I really need to send my love for your writing more often. This last one you wrote was so nice and heartbreaking at moments and interesting to see how everyone kept walking on eggshells trying to handle the situation— cause how do you handle something like that? Just so much good emotion!!

With absolutely no expectation of you answering/writing more on it: Have you thought at all about how things would go down when Lancelot, Morgana, and Mordred come back? Would the rest of the gang try to keep it hushed cause they don’t want to betray Merlin’s trust? Would the four of them celebrate separately as the ones who have been holding this hope and belief for so long? Would Merlin break down even more (but in a good way) to get to see others like him get that same relief and burden taken off? How would the gang feel knowing the three already knew— sad Merlin was still so desperate even with those three to confide in, displaced anger cause they knew and still let Merlin get to that point, guilt, concern the other two magic users might be dealing with similar extreme thoughts? How do they feel coming back to all of this— do they ever find out what exactly Kilgharrah said? Sorry for the interrogation 😅 your stories always just leave my mind spinning until I’m up all night trying to fill in the details in a way that fits and is harmonious to your way of writing. Like I said: feel completely free to ignore this entire second paragraph!!

(Referencing This Fic)

It makes me so happy that you like my stufffffff!!!!

Also

Anon

I'm... uh... in love with you. Yeah.

I have no intention of writing a part 4 or anything, but I'm happy to expand on it here because honestly? I hadn't really given it much thought until I got this ask.

SO!!

I pictured this fic, mainly Part 3, taking place only a week or two at most before Yule; we know that Mordred and Lancelot aren't going to be home for a couple weeks at least, that's if they can travel in the harsh Winter weather, and Morgana isn't due back until the New Year, as she promised she would stay with her hosts for their Yule celebrations. All of which means they're not going to be home until the plans to legalise magic are, if not publicly known, rumoured within the castle, and certainly underway within the council. Which means one hell of a mind fuck when they get back, because as far as they're concerned, this is all completely out of the blue.

Merlin will probably tell them a watered down version of what's been going on, but he wouldn't tell them about the night in the woods. Whether it's occurred to him that that's how Arthur and the others know (as in, he figured out that they followed him and that's how they found out he had magic) or not, he doesn't really want to think about it, OR tell those three because he knows how protective and... not overbearing but... overbearing they can be when he's injured/in a bum mood.

All of them are thrilled, but Morgana and Lancelot are a little suspicious of Arthur's sudden turn around, and corner him one day to demand a truthful explanation. He tells them, reluctantly, what it was they all saw that night, and that he's not sure if Merlin knows (he doesn't think so), and doesn't want Merlin to know, because he's suffered enough. During the course of that conversation, Arthur figures out that the two of them (and Mordred, maybe) already knew, and is absolutely furious. But that just makes Lance and Morgana get furious themselves because how dare he?? After the life he's lead, the Kingdom he's built, his father's Kingdom, instead of his own, how dare he be angry that they didn't do more?? They couldn't do more. They'd spent years trying to persuade Merlin that there are better ways to do things, that he wasn't alone, that he could give up and prioritise himself anytime he liked and it would be the right thing to do. Cue another guilt fest for Arthur.

At this point, only those in the Gang know that Merlin has magic, no one else, and I feel like Morgana and Mordred, at Merlin's persuasion (because he's a paranoid little freak, and we love him) would keep their magic to themselves for now. The others figure out that they knew, because the moment they got home Merlin went from hiding in Arthur, Leon, and Gwen's shadows, to hiding in Morgana, and Lancelot's shadows. They don't mention it though, because they feel guilty enough as it is and they want Merlin to be comfortable. Merlin is doing... ok? He's certainly doing better at least, and isn't suicidal or anything anymore, but he's still pretty quiet and withdrawn and twitchy (again, paranoid little freak, whom we love).

Eventually, when the repeal becomes public knowledge, and is only days away from becoming enshrined in actual law, Morgana and Mordred tell the gang, and then probably the council, about their own magic. Cue ANOTHER guilt fest for everyone, all (you're totally right) panicking about whether the two of them felt the same way Merlin did. That'll be when they all have a frank discussion about the details of the destiny, and exactly what Merlin has had to do to work towards it. Because Merlin being Merlin had kept most of that to himself in the original discussions with the gang, so Morgana puts her foot down and tells them everything. With the added caveat that "This is only the shit I know about, Merlin likes his secrets".

ANYWAY there would be lots of angst and guilt and protectiveness. But like, the moment the legalisation goes through, and there's a huge celebration, and Merlin, Mordred, and Morgana finally show off their magic in ways that they've refused to up until now... man. That moment. It's full of so much joy and laughter and pride and comradery, almost enough to make up for all the angst.

Plus, Merlin and Arthur are navigating a very awkward, but very much wanted change in their relationship. Though, with everything going on, they wouldn't take any serious steps until after the repeal, and they'd probably still wait a little more even then; they'd have so many other things to focus on, Merlin's mental recovery among other things, they'd want to actually have the time and energy to focus on doing things right.

~

Hope this is the sort of thing you were after anon!!! I love you!!!!!

[rogeriswater]

Don’t Leave Me Now

vi

This work contains fictionalized versions of real events asnd people. Most details won’t be accurate to real life.

tags for this chapter: p.o.v changes, sexually explicit language, maggie and roger having horny thoughts about each other

~m.r~

Tonight was the night of my first official performance with Pink Floyd. Clea came over to help me get ready for it, and she was also gonna go with me when Roger came to pick me up. I asked Billy if he wanted to come but he didn't want to. Typical.

You know, just maybe, for tonight I don't think about him. This is supposed to be a night where I have fun. And I will. Maybe in more ways than one. Maybe with a specific person in mind.

When we went shopping, it had been Clea who picked out my outfit. She wanted me to wear something sexy. Something that would keep Roger's attention all night.

What she chose was a short black dress that just came just below my bum. The sleeves were long and loose, but it was tight around my body, showing off the curves of my body, breasts and ass included. It was accessorized with a black leather sequined belt and thigh high leather boots.

"And you went without underwear, right?" Clea asked. I gave her a look as she finished applying my eyeliner. "What? If you want Roger to—"

"Nothing is gonna happen between us tonight" I told her. "But, yeah, I'm not wearing any"

"You could let him finger you at least" Clea really had no filter. She was so hellbent on Roger and I getting together. Not once had she ever tried getting me to have an affair with a guy. Why does she want me with Roger so bad?

A knock on the door interrupted us. I walked up to the door. I smoothed out my dress before I opened it. Of course, it was Roger. He had a bouquet of flowers with him.

"For you, my sunshine" He smiled at me.

I took the flowers from him. "Oh, Roger. These are beautiful" I pressed my nose into the soft petals. God, these smelled wonderful. "Thank you, pumpkin. Please, come in" He walked past me and I could smell is cologne. He smelled really nice too. Nicer than the flowers.

Roger was dressed quite nicely. He was in a colorful shirt that hugged his body quite nicely. He wore a scarf to match. His pants were a simple black but quite stylish at the same time. On his feet he wore a pair of boots. I wasn't going to lie. He looked very sexy.

“Are you here alone?" Roger asked.

"No. My friend Clea is here. I hope it's alright but I invited her to come watch us"

"That's okay" I could feel Roger looking at me. His gaze felt so intense. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was mentally undressing me. I quickly looked his way. I caught his eyes rake over my entire body and his tongue dart out to lick his lips.

Fuck, that was hot. Why was that so hot? Why was he making me feel so hot? Why was Roger in general just so hot?

I was finished putting the flowers into a vase. Roger's attention was off of me now and was instead inspecting things around the apartment. I watched him. I let my eyes shamelessly wander over his tall body. They lingered when I noticed just how tight his pants were.

Fuck, was that bulge in his pants what I think it is? I squeezed my legs together just thinking about it. Why was Roger doing this to me? Making me feel this way?

"You must be Roger!" Thank God. Clea had come to my rescue. I quickly pushed all of my lustful thoughts of Roger away. "I'm Maggie's friend, Clea Hutton"

"Pleasure to meet you, Clea" Roger said. "I actually saw you with Maggie the night the two of us met"

I could see Clea smirking. I could tell she was up to no good. "Can I tell you a secret, Roger?" He nodded, to which she leaned forward so he could whisper in his ear. I couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Really?" Roger glanced my way. He bit his plump bottom lip as he smirked. My cheeks felt warm. Please, Roger, you have to stop looking at me like that. I heard Clea giggle as she kept whispering something to him.

"Okay, I think we should get going" I walked over to them. I practically shoved Clea out the door. As soon as I did, I asked her. "What did you say to him?"

Clea winked at me. "You'll thank me for it later!" She went off ahead.

I looked to Roger, hoping to get an answer from him. "What did she say?"

Roger didn't answer me. Instead, he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Let's get going, sunshine" He began to walk on ahead, taking me with him.

~r.w~

Maggie looked really fucking sexy in that dress. It was going to be really hard to play tonight if all I was going to do was pay attention to was her tonight. The three of us squeezed into the back seat of the taxi. Maggie was sat in between Clea and I.

"I noticed your husband wasn't home" I mentioned. I could hear Clea scoffing at the mention of him. I'm guessing she didn't like him much. Neither did I, but her reason is most likely very different from mine. "Did he not want to come see you tonight?"

"Look, Roger, can we not discuss Billy right now?" She said. I would be perfectly fine with that. In fact, I would be perfectly fine never discussing him at all. "I don't want to think about him tonight. I just want to have fun tonight and do a good job"

I smiled at her. I couldn't help but take her hand in mine. "You're going to be wonderful, sunshine. I already know it"

"Is Judy going to be there?" Maggie asked.

"It's not really her scene" I explained. As supportive as she was, Judy never really did come to any of the shows. She's the kind of person who'd rather have a quiet night at home. "But Juliette and Lindy will be there. They're Richard's girlfriend and Nick's wife"

"I'm looking forward to meeting them" Maggie hadn't pulled her hand away from mine. She was looking right at me. Her eyes were so hypnotizing. "Roger, I..." She trailed off. What was she gonna say?

"What?" C'mon, Maggie. You can tell me anything. I'll keep any secret you tell me.

Maggie shook her head, and, to my dismay, pulled her hand away from mine. "It's nothing" She said. I saw something flash in her eyes. Was it guilt?

The rest of the ride, Maggie stayed quiet, leaving Clea and I to talk. I kept stealing glances at Maggie. She just kept looking forward. Was she okay? It wasn't something I did, was it?

~m.r~

We made it to the UFO Club. Clea was the first one out of the taxi. Roger got out and then held out his hand for me. I smiled at him, taking his hand in mine as he helped me out of the car. "Thank you, Rog"

"You okay, Mags?" He asked, rubbing his thumb against the back of my hand. "You went quiet on me"

I looked up at him. He stared at me with those soft, gorgeous green eyes of his. My stomach fluttered. "Of course"

Roger nodded and let go of my hand. "I'll meet you inside" He went on inside the club. I stared after him. I could hear the clicking of Clea's heels against the ground as she approached me.

"You have got it bad" Clea sang, propping her arm on my shoulder. "Look, if the opportunity presents itself tonight, I think you should take it"

"What opportunity?" Clea didn't answer. She gave a wink and a smirk before making her way inside. I didn't need her to explain. I knew what she meant. And honestly, I was secretly hoping for that opportunity to come tonight.

I had a quick smoke before making my way inside. I immediately spotted Clea, it was hard not too with that faux fur coat she always wore. She was getting friendly with two women that she was sitting with. I approached them.

"You must be Maggie!" One of the women said to me. I was going to take a guess and say that these two were Lindy, Nick's girlfriend, and Juliette, Richard's wife. "Roger wasn't lying when he said you were pretty!"

I blushed at that. "Roger talks about me?"

The other woman talked. "Oh yes. He called both of us to tell us about you. I'm Juliette, by the way. You can call me Julie"

"Then that would make you Lindy" I said while looking to her.

"Yep!" Lindy said, nodding while giggling. "We almost thought Clea was you, but then realized that she didn't have the silky and shiny blonde hair as passionately described by Roger"

"He said that?" I ran my fingers through my hair. Roger really thought that? Billy barely notices when I get my hair done. Nope. No Billy tonight. I wasn't going to think about him.

Julie tapped Clea on the arm. "Tell me, were they flirting in the car on the way here?"

"There were lingering gazes and touching" Clea gossiped. Lindy and Julie giggled. "And I could feel the sexual tension!"

"Mags!" Someone called out for me. Who else would it be but Roger? He motioned for me to come up on the stage. He stood there with his bass while the other three were setting up. I stepped up onto the stage and stood by Roger.

"You know the songs, right?" He asked.

"Yes" I answered confidently. Roger began playing a bass line. I immediately knew what he was doing. He was testing me to see. When he finished, he looked at me, waiting for an answer. "Astronomy Dominé"

"Very good" Roger stated, clearly impressed. "How about this one?" He played another bass line.

"Interstellar Overdrive. No vocals for that one. I just dance and look pretty"

Roger smiled widely at me. It was cute the way his eyes crinkled. "Are you sure you never wanted to be a musician?"

"That never meant I didn't love music" I told him. I nudged him playfully with my shoulder. "So, where do you usually stand for your performances?"

"For our performances, my place is right next to you" Roger said. He stepped closer to me so that there was barely any space between us. He looked down at me and I looked up at him. "Would that be alright with you?"

"That's fine" We just kind of stood there, staring at each other. I caught his eyes flicking down to my lips. All he'd have to do is lean down and press his lips to mine. Or I could just stand on my tiptoes and make the first move instead.

"Lovebirds!" Syd broke us out of our intense gazing. We both turned to look at him. "Maggie, are you ready? Do you know the songs?"

"I do" I nodded.

"Good. We all have faith in you. Remember, I'll still be singing harmonies with you and Richard will be joining for a couple of songs, but it'll mostly be you"

"I've got it. Thanks, Syd" He gave me a smile before taking his place. I walked over to the microphone. Roger took his place next to me. "Do you sing by chance, Rog?" I asked him.

"I'm not a very good singer, to be honest" He admitted.

"Oh, I doubt that. Was it your voice I heard during Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk?" He nodded. "Then I think it's beautiful"

Roger snorted. "Hardly as beautiful as yours"

"Sing it with me when it comes up" I gave him the best puppy dog eyes I could. "Please?" For the cherry on top, I pouted my bottom lip and batted my eyelashes.

The corners of his mouth curled upwards into a grin. "Of course I will, sunshine"

An announcement was made, telling the club goers that our set was about to start. I managed to catch Clea's eyes in the crowd. She winked and then blew a kiss at me. I also saw both Lindy and Julie mouth "good luck" to me.

"Before we start the show tonight" Roger had started speaking into his mic. "I would like to introduce you to the newest member of Pink Floyd, the lovely Maggie Robinson"

Everyone in the crowd clapped and cheered. The band began to play and I began to sing. Considering how extremely nervous I was, I did manage to remember all the lyrics. And I really got into it. I danced and sang my heart out.

Throughout the night, I could feel Roger's eyes on me. I turned to look at him a couple times. He would always throw me a wink whenever we locked eyes. Roger got really into the music too. He would make these sudden jolts and honestly it was adorable.

And his fingers. Those long and beautiful fingers. It made me wonder. If he played the bass like that, what else could he do with those fingers?

~r.w~

I couldn't help but watch Maggie all night. How could I not? She was doing a fantastic job. And the way she danced was so hypnotizing. The way her hips swayed, the way she ran her fingers through her hair, it was so sensual. Could she move like that if she was on top of me?

Her voice was so beautiful. She could lure sailors to their deaths. Do her moans sound as pretty? I bet they do. I wanted to hear my name spill from her mouth as she reaches her peak of pleasure.

And those pretty lips. They were painted red. I found myself becoming jealous of the microphone she was singing into. It got to kiss her lips every time she touched it. I bet they would feel soft on my own mouth. I bet they would feel soft wrapped around my cock.

Fuck, I was getting hard just thinking about it. I knew she wasn't wearing anything under that dress. Clea had told me so earlier in the evening. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she wanted us to get together.

I didn't care about the fact that I had a girlfriend, or the fact that Maggie was married. I needed to get her alone with me after the show. Would she be able to forget about her husband? Would she be able pretend that she wasn't married for one night?

Would one night even be enough for me? Or would I be craving her like a drug afterwards?

[masterwords]

Any thoughts about how the Mr Scratch arc would have gone down if TG hadn’t been fired? I’d like to think it involves some mix of the prison Reid arc (I saw a post about prison Hotch and I literally cannot stop thinking about it), 2x12, and finally getting some more backstory that isn’t a single, indirect reference in season 1.

(But I also know the writers probably would have screwed it up soooo... and it also hurts to know that the original arc is probably out there but we’ll never see it)

Let me preface this by saying that the prison storyline we know was only so detailed because it was Reid. Not to dog on him, but we all know that the writers gave him preferential treatment, and that's fine because he's well loved, but those of us who love Hotch would have been sorely disappointed.  If you look at the fact that in 12x01 there was a woman with Hotch's name carved into her forehead and not only did he have zero reaction to it (bad writing), but then they follow it up with a JJ centric episode and forget all about it.  And I get that they probably had to scramble to write TG out, but you just know they weren't going to do it any justice anyway.  

That being said, if they had done it well, it would have been an incredible arc.  Who takes care of Jack? How does Jack even deal with his father in prison (for murder, most likely) and his mother dead?  And what does that do to Hotch on the inside?  We know he wouldn't fall apart, at least not for a while, but the longer it took, the harder it would get.  Especially if Jack wouldn't visit him, because he's at that age and he's probably just seen too much and doesn't entirely trust that his dad didn't do what they say he did. And he's a FED and a former prosecutor, so he's not going to be mister popularity in prison (would they have given us the whump we deserved?).  I think the team would have a harder time helping him than they did Reid because he's got a lot more that he's hidden, he's done a lot more morally questionable things, and they're afraid that they're going to condemn him rather than save him.  I also don't think they'd visit him as often, not all of them. They visited Reid because they thought he needed them, because he's Reid.  I think Rossi visits as often as he can, and Garcia would because she's Garcia, but I think JJ and Reid have a hard time seeing him there and don't go as often, they pour themselves into helping him instead.  Luke and Tara don't know him as well so they don't really visit, but they work hard trying to clear his name because they both trust that he’s innocent.  I think Jessica visits him more than anyone.  I'm sure they'd call Prentiss back from Interpol to help them, but it would be temporary (because they expect to get Hotch back) so the leadership of the team would probably fall to either JJ or Rossi in Hotch's absence.  (I like to think JJ, because Rossi wouldn't want it, and everyone knows JJ could lead the shit out of that team, but with those writers and the way they were clearly threatened by strong women...Reid would probably end up leading the team somehow.)  Overall, I think the arc would have had incredible potential to bring actual depth to Hotch the way we all craved but the reality of it would leave all of us disappointed, so while I am bummed there is probably something out there written for it that had to be abandoned...I think what lives in our minds is a lot better than what would have been offered to us.  

I've outlined a few different versions for myself, because it has such incredible potential and I have one WIP that's about 2000 words right now but it's a big undertaking and I wouldn't want to put out anything sub par.  If there is interest I will give it a fighting chance.