#its so obvious tim had no idea what to do with her

[magical-girl-coral]

Bruce about Selina in Catwoman (2002) issue 48:

The same writer not even two fucking issues later:

Me:

[bronx-bomber87]

Hello my wonderful fandom family :) We're finally back to new eps. I wasn't ready for this episode in the least. Idk I was ever gonna be ready tbh. If this isn’t the most apt ep name ever following the last ep. Bare with me as I once again sort through my thoughts and such. I'm really struggling with the 'mini' portion of these reviews the last few eps.

Ain't nothing mini about my emotions haha But I am sure come summer they'll be more refined for sure. Also thank you to anyone who reads these thoughts and enjoys them. It's still a trip to me people appreciate my thoughts. I just want to be a ray of sunshine and positivity with these.

A source of comfort while we all go through this together. Cause that's the beauty of fandom. Going through it together. Once again wanna preface there will be ZERO tolerance for bashing of any kind. They are both going through it right now. We all love these characters so much its why we're on here. I love conversation and comments but not spreading hate. With that in mind let's start eh?

6x07 Crushed

Tamara moving out still..... Ugh. I’m so sad about this. Truly the end of an era right here everyone. Also Lucy not wearing her necklace gut punch already to my feels...Poor Lucy wants her to stay but would never ask Tamara to do that. I wanna cry already for Lucy....I hate her necklace being missing and it's very obvious it's missing. *sad sigh*

I do love Lucy taking Tamara out to fancy dinner least. Channeling her emotions into something positive. Wanting to love on her before she goes. Tamara mentioning Tim getting kicked out of Metro…She isn’t wrong it is down hill after the pinnacle of Lucy indeed. Trying to give her a compliment but Lucy isn't taking it that way. I wanna cry for a second time. She looks so distressed. *sigh* Two massive pillars in her life are now gone and it's felt in this brief moment.

Tim in his old Metro office disassembling it. My heart. You all know how much I loved him In Metro. Killing me. Also just shows how much of a nose dive he took after this Ray debacle. Grey seeing this and sighing before going in after him. Tim seems like he’s in robot mode when Wade enters. Saying all the things he thinks Grey wants to hear since he’s back. No real emotion behind it. Just the grunt mentality he thinks he should have.

Gonna be more than just his trust you’re gonna need to earn back my love….Love Wade having him to ride along with Dr. London. Anyone needs it our boy does right now. Of course Tim bites back on this idea why wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t be Tim if he didn’t. Tim saying breaking up with Lucy has nothing to do with the Ray situation. Uh... it has everything to do with that my love EVERYTHING.

Grey standing his ground saying if he wants to regain his trust this is where it starts. I love him saying breaking up with Lucy and being bounced back to patrol due to being reckless makes him question his judgement. As it should…You forget Timothy this man watched you grow with Lucy for years. Saw how much she made you grew and joy she brought out in you. Of course he is questioning your actions. He just watched you throw away the best thing ever that's ever happened to you. Your judgement is being judged severely....

I adore Wade Grey. He's not only putting Tim in his place and saying he could mandate therapy (which he would be justified in doing...) Or take the ride along. Then saying he’s taking Lucy out too. Just so he knows he is looking out for them both in this moment. The man knows what he is doing.

I can’t believe Smitty doing breakup odds. I’m incensed by this tbh. Also I want punch the dude who said Tim would’ve cheated. He would NEVER. How very dare you. I hate that list. It makes me wanna rage out so hard. If any of them knew them at all they’d know it would never be something like that. Also her and Aaron? Ewww no no no.... Lucy had every right to ream Smitty out more than she did. So inappropriate it's insane. For shame sir truly.

I'm glad she shut it down. Last thing they need is the station gossiping about them like this. They're going to anyways but Ugh I hate this whole thing. I feel sick. Of course she runs into Tim right after.... Worst timing ever. Breaks my heart because he still is excited to see her but she isn't ready for him. How could she be? He looks so sad. But Tim what are you expecting my love? No way she is ready to be near you let alone talk. This hurts to watch…Lucy trying so hard just not to have a meltdown right there in the station.

I was very excited for him to have this ride along I will say and this opening scene is why. Dr London on his ass already. I love it. As she should be. Saying he’s bringing Aaron as a buffer. Which he is… Classic avoidance attachment style. That’s our boy. She’s not wrong he prefers surface level relationships (other than Lucy...) to a deep intimacy. His default state with anyone who isn't his girl.

She has him dead to rights already. Saying it’s a defense mechanism when someone is raised by an overly strict or domineering parent. A father. She’s not wrong. We all know his history. Tim of course isn’t about this whatsoever only making her assessment about him even more valid. Their scenes starting off real strong.

Grey wanting to check in on Lucy I do love it. He’s not wrong she’s been through HELL this year. The detectives exam, Jeff Budney and now losing Tim. God this hasn’t been an easy season for her. To say she's going through it is the understatement of the century. I'm hurting for her so very much. Her entire world has been rocked to it's very core in the last week alone. Not mention everything else before this.

It’s so awkward Lucy inviting everyone but Tim to Tamara’s going away dinner…. In front of Dr. London too. That shot from Tim’s body cam seems very intentional. As he looks at everyone she’s inviting but him. Way his head goes back and forth. Grey patting Tim on the arm on the way out. *phew* Rough start to the shift.

Of course their first call is disturbingly close to what she and Tim are dealing with. Not exactly what Lucy needs. Hearing this woman talking about thinking he was the one then it just ended. *heart clutch* Crushed is an apt name for how I was feeling during this episode.

Lucy has clearly kept this all inside for too long with her reaction to the situation. Wade would never set you up like that. Just shows how hyper sensitive she is atm. Why he's doing this ride along with her. He wants to keep you sane not crazy. I wanna hug her so much. 'I do watch too much reality tv. It's my bad' Lmao. Needed a little levity. This made me chuckle.

We hit the ground running about breakups with Dr. London. Honestly no need to beat around the bush for this observation of Tim. ‘Breakups are a trigger for many men. Especially since stereotypical gender roles prevent them from seeking out help. For fear of appearing weak.’ If that isn’t Tim and this entire situation right now…

Hell that's his ENTIRE life. He was shamed into never wanting help and if he did he was meant to feel weak for it. Just like she is stating above. She is very good at her job and just getting started. Tim can't hide in any of his normal brush off statements. Which I love. She has him pegged already and it shows. Quite the opening jab from her to start this off.

Lucy looks on verge of tears at all times right now and I’m dying. Especially when Grey brings up his name. Asking if they’ve talked since the breakup? Melissa straight killing me in this shop right now everyone. Those pre tears.....Saying she thought he didn’t care about her personal life. He’s not wrong if it affects her job it does matter. The point of this ride-along. To gauge where she is currently.

‘Smart to make the connection between IA and them breaking up. ‘Just a bad week.’ Oh its so much more than that…. Lucy protects him of course with the unethical portion. Bad place or not she's not going to cast any suspicion with that. But It’s so very clear she is painfully unaware why he did this to her. To them.

Only that he’s not emotionally available to her. *sigh* This is true. The man is a disaster zone atm. I mean he’s definitely occupied mentally in a way she doesn’t understand yet. Hell I don’t even think Tim understands it really. All he knows is he think's he's toxic and she’s better off without him. Which is a huge part of this episode tbh.

So she isn't wrong he is not emotionally available right now. That much is painfully true. The joke about the Diamondbacks was funny but sad at the same time. They found good way of getting little funnies in there with Grey. I do appreciate that. I'm a sports girl so I this made me smile.

Dr London really coming at Tim in this next section. She is wasting ZERO time with him. ‘Lot of romantic feelings start out as platonic love.’ Going right for it when she says he and Lucy were friends first right? His reaction…Gonna makes me bawl Eric. Hurts to watch this. Looks like he wants to cry. Ugh Tim. Killing me softly. She is getting under his skin quicker than he was expecting and you can tell. Hitting at a very raw nerve he's trying to keep hidden. He looks so distraught and emotional when he replies 'I was her T.O.'

Tim saying he’s not depressed. Oh my love….but you are. Depressed and wracked with a massive amount of guilt. ‘I broke up with her.’ So so defensive. Can’t let good doctor see this whole thing is crushing him. That would be weakness. He is fighting off a panic attack in this moment. So unsettled by this entire interaction. She is picking up on that guilt that is all but exuding out of him in this moment.

She really brings it home saying internalizing guilt and shame leads to self directed anger. Self harm and suicide. If that isn't Tim Bradford my god. The self directed anger is him in spades. His face while she tells him all this.. Oh my lord. She has him dead to rights once again. He is experiencing so much guilt about it and it’s written all over his face. Tim is barely keeping it together while she is telling him stonewalling will only get him sidelined. Honestly I’m glad she’s confronting him like this. Coming at him so hard cause Tim needs that especially right now.

He can’t have passive people in this life when it comes to this kind of stuff. The one person who could knock sense into him he’s pushed away. So Dr. London being here is much needed. Of course Tim snaps at Aaron cause he can’t handle what he’s currently going through. Lashing out because what she is saying to him is true and he isn't able to handle it. Hitting very close to home. So he's defaulting back to S1 Tim in this moment. Destroying Aaron in the process..

I love them talking about Tamara and the unconditional love Lucy has shown her. It’s so true. It’s that love that gave her courage to leave. Even though it's hard to watch happen. It shows what accepting unconditional love can do for you. Lucy bringing back to Tim because how could she not? Mentioning about letting people go even if you really care about them them. *sigh*. You can tell she is on the verge of tears once again.

That feeling where you've been keeping it inside for far too long. It comes out in anything you talk about. Like right now in this moment. Even talking about Tamara is cycling back to Tim and it shows how deeply upset she is. How could she not be? She is losing two of her people in one fail swoop. It's a miracle she hadn't lost it sooner than this moment tbh.

Lucy crushing me some more in this episode. Further proving she has zero idea why Tim did what he did. How he could let go so easily. It was a blindside for us all but none more than for her. His person. The one who never ever expected him to leave her side. Tim did leave her with a cheap cliche nonsense about deserving better. It's so much complex than that but I can see why she is so angry about that. She deserved better than that.

It’s what upset her so much in that 6x06 scene. Because it felt like a cop out to her. When it’s so much deeper than that but Lucy doesn’t know that. Thats what killing me and her. Lucy going off saying it was her decision to make what she deserves. It’s true. She is so justified in saying this. Sadly Tim made that decision despite her willingness to love him no matter what.

Took away her choice to keep him even if he felt he wasn't worthy. Wasn't just HIS choice to make. That's what pissing her off and rightfully so. He doesn’t understand the unconditional love she had to give him or how to accept it. All he could see was how much better she was without him. All she wants is a real conversation with him and she didn't get to have that. He took the choice away from her and she's left holding the emotional bag of it all and it sucks.

Punches keep rolling with Dr London. Attacking his problem at it's damaged root. As much as he is trying to bury it he cannot hide from her and her assessment of him. This is a huge turning point in the ep. Tim saying he owns his mistakes and moves on. So cut and dry and she isn’t having ANY of it. Nor should she. He hasn’t moved on in the slightest. Once again pegging him for not only not being over it but having his whole identity being wrapped up in acting honorably. If he was past that he wouldn’t have ended things with Lucy. We wouldn't be here. But he feels not worthy and not honorable enough for Lucy so he cut ties.

Her noting it’s had a devastating effect on his self esteem. Which is why he is punishing himself. i.e He let the love of his life go. He feels he doesn’t deserve such things for being so un-honorable. My broken boy. Tim isn’t sure what’s she is getting at. Asking what she's talking about? She continues to portray him accurately. That he is punishing himself by depriving himself of something he loves. Something that brings him joy. Or someone....Clearly that someone being Lucy.

The joy she brought to his life he no longer feels he deserves. Lucy was the one constant in his life that made him happy. So he’s depriving himself of it in order to punish himself. This sounds so harsh and severe but I relate to this. When I was new at my current job. I wasn’t very good at first. I was down right on the verge of being fired. I got a game plan to fix myself from my leader. BUT I was punishing myself for not being good enough in the first place. How did I do this? I took away something I loved and brought me joy. Music.

I refused to listen to music during my job because I felt I didn’t deserve it. I wouldn’t let myself enjoy it till I was better and had earned it back. I got to a place where I let myself have something I loved back and it helped so much and ultimately got me through it. So I relate to Tim doing this to himself i really do. He is denying the one person who brings him joy because of that self-punishment. He feels he has failed who he should be therefore he can't have what he wants and needs most. Lucy. You can really see it hit Tim by time Aaron rejoins them. She hit the nail on the head and Tim is feeling it.

Lucy spotting Tim and touching her tattoo SO MUCH. Ugh my heart. Her grounding method to remind herself she's a survivor. The problem with all that is him being the reason for that reminder. Which just hurts. I'm not crying you are....Tim so out of his depth all he can do is be awkward with his ‘Clocking out?’ Babe....No...(Also I feel personally attacked by this song they chose for this scene.)

Lucy calling him out for it instantly. Because well she’s his person. Bad place or not she is always gonna tell him what he needs to hear. Won't let him hide behind niceties. Confronting that things aren't ok between them and she won't let him use it to hide. Asking for a real adult conversation with him. One which he is NOT ready for. This hurt to watch not gonna lie. This whole situation hurts.

Tim deflects….with another cheap answer of saying he can’t give her what she wants. Ugh. You are everything she wants you foolish man. I don’t blame Lucy for cutting that convo off at the knees. She wanted more depth from him and got nothing in return. Telling him he has more to figure out than she realized…and feeling like she is no longer than person to help him with that.

My heart is breaking all over again… Lucy always felt she was his person to get him through anything and to hear this only hurts her further. Coming to that realization and taking off because of it. The song running through this scene is poignant and hurtful…Also the continual clutching to her tattoo as she departs from him. I'll just be weeping in the corner don't mind me....

I wasn't expecting the scene we got here in Grey's office. But was so pleasantly surprised. My hope was that Dr. London broke through to him. That his ride along with her wouldn't be a one-off. I’m so proud of Tim I can't even tell you. To not only see he has work to do but to ask if he could start seeing her as a patient. He seemed disappointed she didn't mandate sessions. Which he needed so he could advocate for himself. Blair had pegged him early on and I think this will be so so good for him.

His healing journey is starting now and I’m so excited for him. Even though my heart is outside my chest right now for our couple. This is going to be good for Tim. I know people have been weird about Dr London. I haven’t gotten a bad feeling from her. I could be wrong but haven't gotten that. I think this is the healing Eric was talking about. That journey he needs to be in order to find his way back to Lucy. Grey's line was perfect. It's SO hard to ask for help. Tim can see something is wrong and wants to fix it. This is a beautiful start to this journey for him.

This final scene with Tamara and Lucy made me cry. This whole ep has made me cry really. Their relationship has always been one of my favorites. To watch how they’ve both grown. How Tamara learned to trust again and receive that unconditional love Lucy had to give. Gah I love it so much. Took a broken untrusting girl and molded her into a confident bad ass. I've never been able to classify what they are. They're sisters, friends and family all wrapped up in one.

Hard to watch Lucy lose this piece of her life on top of everything else. Tim may have a lot of growth to do but I think Lucy too has room to grow from this all as well. She has been given quite the bad hand in this season. Maybe she can get some direction and clarity what she wants to do with career and such. I hate that she has to be the collateral damage to everything this year. It's hard to watch. But I am interested to see how she handles it all. See how she stands after all this. I think as hard as this is will end up making her more resilient.

Lucy been struggling with her own stuff this year as well. Being so good about pegging everyone around her but being blind in her own self awareness. it's going to be interesting to see how Lucy handles everything moving forward. I hope you all know how deeply my heart breaks for her. I don't like seeing her hurt anymore than I do Tim. I wanted to cry for her most of this episode. That being said I do think this growth journey will be good for her as well. Like Eric said she'll be ok they'll grow stronger from it. Can't wait to see how it plays out.

I wasn’t expecting one more scene with him reaching out like this. Telling her she was right. He’s mad himself. That stark realization that is coming over him. My god I’m so proud of him I could burst. Not only advocating for himself but telling her it was an emergency. When everything inside him is trying to do the 'honorable thing' and not call it an emergency when it is. To see he's not being a burden by reaching out like this. It’s so hard to take care of yourself when you don’t think much of yourself. It’s a foreign feeling and to act on it even more so.

Learning it’s ok to ask for help, to be imperfect, to set healthy boundaries and grow. Not an easy place to get to. This scene is HUGE for Tim. Now I mean this in the nicest way I can muster but If you can't grasp how groundbreaking this is for him you don't get him as a character at all. Nor do you understand the gravity of this SL/situation. Of what this final scene represents for him. Tim is seeing something is broken within himself and he doesn't know how to fix it. All he knows is something is wrong and he doesn't want to feel this way anymore. He wants to understand why and to get better.

I know I spent most of my 20's running away from therapy. Saying I didn't need it. That it was non sense. Pushing everything down and deflecting like Tim did. Wrapping my identity in the same things. Being SO DAMN HARD on myself. I still struggle with this but learning to give myself more grace. I can't properly explain the feeling you get when you realize you can't out run your demons anymore. What sets off something inside you that says 'I don't feel right, I don't know how to fix it but I know it's time to.' All I know is what sets it off is different for everyone.

For me it was the fact that I was set off by a kind comment. It was from a sweet lady who was a client of mine. Who commented on earrings my mother had gotten me. I hadn't thought much of it then she looked me in the eye with so much sincerity and said 'Your mother must love you very much.' That comment just hit me so hard. Triggered me. Cause some of my deepest seated trauma comes from my mom. I remember getting in my car and crying after. Texting my sister and telling her I thought it was time I got help. All I knew was something was wrong and it was clawing to the surface and I couldn't ignore it any longer.

That's Tim in this moment. Ray resurfacing was his demons coming up for air and not going away. This is his 'Come to Jesus.' moment about himself. Knowing what Dr. London was telling him today rang true. He just doesn't know to handle it and is reaching out for help to sort it out. Now He couldn’t gotten to this place without Lucy let’s not forget that. Tim wouldn't be in the place he is without her. BUT this is not Lucy's responsibility to fix. Nor should it be. As much as we love her being his person, this is Tim journey to go on.

Now my family/friends got me to place where I could see I needed help. Just like Lucy has for Tim. But it was up to me to take the first step. That's what this scene represents for him. His first step on his journey to healing himself. He knows he has work to do and I know he'll do it. He and I are alike and he will put his all into this. I'm excited the writers did what they did in this ep. Shows they're going to put the proper care into this SL. I can see a pathway way to their healing now and I feel like I can breathe for the first time in three weeks. I'm excited to see where the rest of the season goes for them both I really am. As always thank you for any likes, comments or reblogs I get for these they mean the world.

~~~

Side notes-non Chenford. Mostly lol

I like the idea of Celina moving in but she’s not wrong it would be an emotional minefield… but do love the idea of her living Lucy I don’t want her to be alone. Have one little win for her.

This was the song during that finale scene. Thank you D to finding the link above. it's Chenford Personified in this ep. Once again whoever is doing this songs. You need a damn raise this hurt so good. The lyrics were so Poignant and painful. These one were my fav. 'I miss you. I miss you. I’ll always forgive you."

She will forgive Tim because that's who Lucy is. One of the many reasons Tim fell in love with her. That never ending desire to trust people and forgive them. To see the best in them. She will look at the deeper meaning of his actions and help him past them once he gets there himself. He will have to earn that forgiveness of hers and I have no doubt he will.

This will be a process of that I have no doubt. It won't be quick or easy but my god it'll be worth it. They always are. I don't expect this to be resolved by seasons end but I do expect them to be on their way there by the finale. This is a beautiful growth journey they're about to embark on and I'm ready to go on it.

[brucewaynehater101]

Hey do you remember Annie from BTAS? Because I just rewatched her episode with Tim and I am frothing at the mouth, I love her so, so much. We need to bring Annie back! She was Tim's first friend in that series and he was her first and only friend!

So here's an idea for you. The Bats just took down an evil magician and are going through their hide out, trying to find a specific thing to undo some spells they did. Tim opens up a trunk that had many locks on it and finds a small statue inside. What he doesn't know is that it's supposed to bring someone that the first person to touch it loved very dearly back to life. You would think this would become Bart or Kon, but they are already alive again. Perhaps his parents? No not enough love for them. No, after a bright light show, it transforms into a small girl with a red sweater. Tim immediately hugs her tight upon finding out its not a hallucination.

However, things aren't all good. When Dick grabs Tim's shoulder to ask him who he found, Tim leaps away on instinct because the last time he saw Annie, both their lives were in danger and he wasn't able to save Annie. Annie has the same thought and clings tightly to Tim which only makes him *more* protective. Unfortunately all the Bats saw was Tim pick up a statue, it turned into a person after a pretty light show, and now he's incredibly protective of whoever it became. Their obvious reaction is to think he's being mind controlled.

When they try to take Annie away from him, Tim snarls at them and ends up fleeing with her because clearly they aren't safe for her. He *won't* let he die again. And the Bats are even more convinced whoever this is, they're mind controlling Tim as he promises out loud, "I'll keep you safe Annie, I won't let anyone hurt you again, I promise."

The mind controlled aspect is such a cool and gut-wrenching idea.

We can add on! So, since Annie is part of Clayface, does she come back as fully independent individual (with no chance of being reabsorbed), or is she the same as before?

Is she fully human? Does she have some powers (especially similar to Clayface)?

Also, she was around the same age mentally (even though chronologically she was just created) as Tim when she died. Tim, in this AU, would be quite a bit older than back then. Would Annie be the same age as Tim, or would she be the same age as when she was created/died? For the second one, I imagine Tim would probably adopt her like an older sibling who has custody.

It would be cool to see more fanwork with Annie. Another cool option for the revival statue thing is Darla!

[msfcatlover]

Tim walking into Corruption!Damian's room, and gently placing a weird package down on Damian's desk while Damian watches. Tim giving Damian what Tim probably thinks is a meaningful look, taking in Damian's blank expression, and snorting. Tim rolling his eyes and just saying "You're welcome," before walking out again.

Damian has absolutely no idea what to make of it, until the eggs hatch.

A month later, Tim walks in with a slightly different package and does the exact same thing. Desk, stare, "You're welcome." Damian opens his mouth to ask, but Tim's already gone.

Tim keeps doing it, sometimes when Damian's not even in the room; Damian will just open his bedroom door, and there's a new package on his desk. Which would all be weird enough, if it weren't for the fact that the packages are all different. Different labels, different brands, different logos, even different languages on the labels & instructions.

Damian doesn't know what to do with all these moths. He can't let them loose, this isn't their native environment. He can't send them back, they're too fragile; he's terrified something will happen in transit, killing them all. He'd love to adopt them into his swarm, but Damian is unsure of exactly how that would work—he's never added anything, the moths simply chose him— plus, he doesn't know where the limits of his patron's generosity lie. At this point , Damian has more caterpillars than biomass to potentially hold them, and Damian doesn't want to crowd out the few resilient moths he has left, while also making life worse for the new ones.

(Damian probably shouldn't worry about that, given Jane Prentiss had a literal flood of worms at her command, but then, Damian's relationship with his swarm at this point in time is a hell of a lot healthier than Prentiss's. And the Corruption doesn't really do "healthy" in any way shape or form. So maybe he's right to.)

.

Damian ends up with a new greenhouse. He fills it with plants from around Nanda Parbat, but especially caters to the ailanthus trees he has shipped in. A perfect little Eden for his moths to inhabit.

Tim seems annoyed by this outcome. Damian finally loses patience, demanding to know what Tim thought the outcome would be. (What Tim's intentions were.)

Tim frowns, bemused. "You need more genetic diversity." Damian has no idea what he's talking about. "For your swarm," Tim clarifies.

"My swarm is fine!"

"Dames, you told me you had like 10 moths when you made it to Gotham." Tim raises his eyebrows, like he's stating the obvious. "You have to know that's not a healthy number. Right?"

Damian presses a hand to his chest, a protective tic Dick encouraged despite Damian learning years ago not to give away his feelings (especially not when they might risk his swarm.) "They're strong," he says, voice soft but firm, "they survived Grandfather, the Pit, my—recovery." (Damian doesn't like to think about those months, when his swarm was trapped under his skin, re-burrowing their tunnels, unable to spread their wings. The pain of his flesh being re-molded to its chosen purpose was nothing compared to the weeks Damian had thought the creatures he'd poured his whole being into nurturing, the special moths who changed in order to bond just with him, were extinct.) He glares at Tim. "We don't need your help."

"That's not what you said when I got back," Tim says with a smirk, and Damian looks away. Tim sighs. "I was going to stop soon anyway. Just... consider it, okay? None of us wants to deal with it if it turns out they're weak to the flu."

"They're moths," Damian snaps, more on instinct than anything else, "they can't get the flu."

"Actually, modern studies on transmissible disease—"

Damian scoffs and storms off. (Tim pats himself on the back for definitely winning that argument.)

.

Damian does not add Tim's foreign moths to his swarm. But... he does spend a lot of time in the greenhouse, reading or drawing, and letting his swarm run free. (Damian's their Hive, not their keeper. It's none of his business what his moths get up to when he lets them out to play.)

[robintherobiner]

Thoughts, explanations, and all that shit i had while writing my latest oneshot

Stand up comedians do NOT make good kidnappers - Robin_The_Robiner - Batman - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

SO first up the name. Where did it come from? God knows. I started this fic like ages ago, wrote Steph's first section, and then promptly forgot about it for three months only to come back and scribble the rest out. I dont remember how i came up with the name, but i still think its hilarious so,,

Who is Cassowary? This universes Robin, duh! Since Damian was the first, i thought he'd go for a more intimidating bird. These birds have really sharp claws, and leave wounds similar to those of a blade. Huh. Who do we know who is really good with a sword? Exactly 😎

Writing Steph was hard because I don't know her very well, so I may have projected onto her a little bit (hence the excessive death jokes 😅). I hope it came across that Steph is a detective, like Bruce, but that she's doesn't lazer-focus on that stuff like him. Thats why she focuses on describing Junior at first, not the room she's in or the fact she's chained up. She knows these things, but she only brings them up when relevant. What good is wallowing over being chained up when you could be making fun of your kidnapper, huh?

I'm a bit worried that i didn't make it obvious enough that there is time between Steph's and Bruce's sections. Thats why when we finish Steph's third bit, she's shitting on Junior for dressing like the Joker, but then in the final bit, she's aware that it's Tim. The parts aren't happening at the same time, or right after the other. I hope that was obvious, but im not sure.

BRUCE'S BIT!!! I saw a post once saying that Bruce separates his personas very hard, and i really liked that. When he's talking about Batman, it's only referred to as Batman. When he's having more emotional thoughts, it's Bruce. And, of course, when he's dealing with Crystal (who i don't know very well so probably wasn't well written MY BAD YALL), he's Brucie. The guilt is in all of them, though. Fun stuff!

A big part of Stephanie and Bruce's relationship in canon is, from what i can tell, tense because of the way he treated her when he first met her. BUT in this fic, it's a bit lessened because Steph chalks his shittyness to the fact that he recently lost a son. Also, i think in canon a big part of why Bruce refused to get close to Steph was because of how she reminded him of Jason, which obviously isn't a problem in this universe. Bruce and Steph are still tense, but this time she has the eldest kid on her side pretty easily, cuz Damian feels guilt over Tim LOL

The death!! It's not overly explained, but I do have Tim's death all planned out and shit. It's a mix of the Joker Junior scene from Batman Beyond : Return of The Joker, and then also a little bit of canon. Instead of Bruce being out of Gotham, like in the film, it's that they have an argument. Similar to Jason and Garzonas situation, in how Bruce is angry at the thought of his partner killing, but more so using the Boomerang arc from canon (Tim wanting to kill his Dad's murderer)

Junior's mental state is wild. I'm not writing him with any particular mental illness, mostly because I'm not at all knowledgeable enough to portray something correctly. Instead I'm basing him off of Joker Junior's intro scene, and also me during some of my darkest moments! It's not Pit Rage (i don't lie how much the fandom pushes that onto Jason, similar to the Tim-Doesn't-Sleep idea in which it wasn't canon but then it got popular and was made so, i think) and instead just a extremely traumatised 17 year old!

The teaparty scene was put in there because I wanted Tim to have a hobby that he could share with his mom (because god knows everyone hates Janet because they mess up her character and only look at fanon) and that also can be used to show his mental state. Hence, collecting figurines, and playing with them! Yippee! Thanks to my pal Leo over on discord for suggesting this hobby!! (it was originally stuffed animals but I thought Batburger toys would work better)

Damian and Duke both were the first kids, instead of Dick and Barbara. Instead of Batgirl, we have Batkid, and then instead of Oracle, we have Signal. Damian is Shrike, because that is the most common hero name I see for him and I couldn't think of another. I may go back and change it to Nightwing, because I like the meaning of the name, but it would come from Superboy (Jon) instead of Superman in this universe, so maybe it comes later on? Not sure. need to think on that!!

Drake Manor was, in canon, only bought after Jack woke up from the coma. But, i decided to take the fandom route in which the Drakes always lived there, simply because timeline wise it works better for me. Also in canon, Jack doesn't need the wheelchair by the end, but for my fic, he's not out of the coma long enough for that. I also added a fun basement which defo doesn't exist in canon, so just turn a blind eye to that!

If you saw the original post, you'd know that Bruce was supposed to find Steph through a series of taunting clues. I changed my mind though, because I'm not good at clues, mysteries, or cases. So, a gift with the address is sort of dissapointing, but who cares?

Steph's feelings about Tim are sort of iffy. A really popular headcanon is that Jason was Tim's robin, and thats not true. I'm pretty sure Tim just,, didn't care about Jason? Idk exactly how he felt, but whatever. Steph doesn't hate Tim, in this fic, she just sort of hates how he was as Cassowary. Bruce is full of guilt and won't say a bad word about him, but has plenty of criticism for Steph, which leads to a sort of resentment. He was Cassowary though, so there is also some adoration in her heart. Basically, she switches how she feels about him depending on the situation.

Jack and Robin. In this universe, Jack doesn't know Tim is a superhero. Tim does still take a break, but it's to spend time with his dad after he awakens, not because he's threatened. Dana also (unfortunately) isn't around in this fic, so Jack has more time to spend with Tim. It's sort of a win-lose situation though. More time with Tim so they get closer, but without Dana to calm him, Jack's little bouts of fury are stronger (remember how he fucking ripped out a TV??) so their relationship is more strained, which is why Tim does go back to being Cassowary, just for a bit, before his dad dies.

Hints are sprinkled in Steph's bits that tell on Tim's identity. Not many, because I'm really bad at hints and subtlety, but there are a few. Mentions of shock burns (the electrocution duh), Zesti instead of tea (which is Tim's canon favourite drink, not coffee!!), and his wish that Steph stops being a hero.

Tims motivations are a reverse of Jasons canon ones. Jason forgives Bruce for not saving him, but is mad he wasn't avenged. Tim forgives Bruce for not avenging him, but is mad he wasn't saved. Aint that fun? Thats why instead of beating her up, Tim kidnaps Steph for three days to resemble the three weeks he was held captive before he died. Yippee, allegories! (i think that word isn't right, but i can't think of the right one??!! english is HARD)

WOW i had a lot of thoughts and explanations and shit for that oneshot, huh? 🤭

[dolorum-magne]

never seen over the garden wall, do you think you could explain it a little and how it relates to your au? :)

You bet!

This will have spoilers for the shows plot, and possibly some slight spoilers for the comics. Might be pretty obvious, but just thought I'd add a disclaimer and a "read more" button anyways, just in case ^^

So, Over The Garden Wall was a cartoon network 10 episode long miniseries written by Patrick McHale that aired in November 2014.

A short plot synopsis of the show is that 2 brothers (Wirt and Greg) who get lost in a strange forest called The Unknown with no memory of how they got there, and throughout the show are trying to find their way home. They're joined by several other characters throughout the series, such as Beatrice- a talking bluebird , and the woodsman- a strange man with a weird attachment to a lantern that he keeps lit and warns the brothers that they need to leave the woods as soon as possible and to "beware The Beast" , The Beast being the is the main antagonist of the story. (who I think is the scariest cartoon villain ever btw hes so spooky)

Things just get stranger and darker as the show goes on.

There's a lot of interesting plot points in the show, characters they meet, and places they go throughout, but I don't want to spoil the whole thing so I wont go into too much detail about what exactly happens, but I do want to go into more depth on the characters, and then explain how the themes and characters of the show mesh with marble hornets in the au :)

So starting off with the main protagonists of the show, Wirt and Greg. Wirt is Gregs older brother (its never said exactly how old they are, but we do know that Wirt is in highschool, if I had to make a guess on their ages I would place Wirt somewhere between the ages of 14 and 15, and Greg somewhere between the ages of 8 and 10 personally)

Wirt is very anxious, and somewhat of a pessimistic realist, easily spooked and surprised, and I would say he has low self esteem. Greg is his younger half-brother and throughout the show while its obvious he cares very much about him, he does seem to hold some resentment, blaming him for them getting lost, and for things going wrong. Greg is the exact opposite of his older brother, very optimistic, outgoing, and confident and throughout brings out a more playful and jovial side to Wirt. He's much more intelligent than others give him credit for and often comes up with solutions to their problems.

None of the characters fit them exactly, but I plan to have Jay and Tim as the main protagonists of the story. Aspects of Wirt and Gregs characters will probably be mixed up in both, but I mostly want to try and keep their characterizations as they are in marble hornets.(though slightly different as this au actually takes place while they're all in college, so Tim will at least at first be slightly more closed off, and Jay will probably be less paranoid as an example.) I just think it would be very interesting to put them in that same situation, and I already have ideas on specific interactions I want between them.

Next up is Beatrice.

Beatrice is very emotionally closed off and secretive at first, but is a smart and headstrong character throughout, and throughout the show her relationship with the brothers evolves a lot. She convinces the boys to come with her to see "Adelaide of the Pasture - The good woman of the woods" claiming that she will help them get home. Part way through we learn that Beatrice was actually human once, but threw a rock at a bluebird and a witch cursed her and her whole family to become bluebirds, and she wont return to her family until she finds a way to turn them back. She made a deal with Adelaide that if she lured a child to her home to be her servant, then Adelaide would give her a pair of magic scissors, with which they could snip away their feathers and become human again. I find her a very interesting character, especially as her character develops throughout the show and she becomes more attached to the brothers.

I think Jessica would fit well here, as I like the idea of her joining Jay and Tim as they journey through The Unknown, and I think the characters personalities could fit well together.

Now the woodsman.

I'm probably the most proud of how this character concept will fit into the au.

The woodsman's job is to cut down the "Edelwood" trees (hollow twisted trees that seem to have faces), grind them into an oil, and use said oil to keep the lantern lit. The reason he constantly warns the boys of The Beast, telling them to not give up hope and to make it home as fast as they can, is because the woodsman knows The Beast personally. The "dark lantern" he carries actually belongs to The Beast, whom he struck a deal with. The woodsman believes that his daughter is dead, and that The Beast killed her, and tells the woodsman that he can put her soul into the lantern, and as long as he keeps it lit, that she will live on inside. The Beast stalks those who are lost and far from home, and if you give up hope, or fall ill in his woods, he turns them into trees. Specifically into Edelwood trees to be ground up and used as fuel for the lantern.

While he doesn't find out what the trees used to be until the end of the show and has his final confrontation with The Beast, he knows The Beast has it out for the boys and tries to point them away from it throughout, but they don't trust him because of his strange behavior and because of what they hear about the lantern he carries (a tavern keeper tells them "he who carries the dark lantern must be the beast." when talking about the beast, and bring up the woodsman at the mention of the lantern).

He later learns what the edelwood trees actually are, and also that his daughters soul was never in the lantern to begin with and that it was really The Beasts soul all along. At the very end, during the final credits we learn that his daughter was never even dead to begin with! That she was alive, and all that time she had been waiting at their family home for him to return, the home he never returned to once he was tricked by The Beast, unable to bring himself to return to it, believing it to be completely empty.

While he does technically work with The Beast, he outright despises it and does what he believes is best. For this reason, I think Alex fits perfectly here, and that he carries the lantern because he believes that Amy's soul is inside.

There are a few timeline things I need to work out because of this though, as in the show no time passes in the real world between when Wirt and Greg leave their own world (explaining as briefly as I can because this post is already so long lol, Wirt and Greg actually tumbled down a hill and land in a lake and fall unconscious. The Unknown is, as best as I can explain it, sort of a parallel world/limbo somewhere between life and death, Presumably, if they gave up hope and were claimed by The Beast and never made it home they would have drowned. Its very complicated and we actually still have absolutely no idea what The Unknown itself is, but we do know for certain that everything that happened there was real, and not just some strange dream.. although, they can and do visit the unknown in their dreams in the comics? Its very confusing lol) but Alex is obviously from Jay and Tims world, and would have been there for much longer than they were. I'm still unsure how he and Amy would have ended up there in the first place, or exactly how they were separated, but currently, I think that when the story starts from Jay and Tim's perspective, Amy and Alex probably mysteriously disappeared a week or two ago, and from Amy and Alex's perspectives they would have been stuck in the unknown for months.

Finally, The Beast.

I already explained most of what The Beast is above when talking about the woodsman. He's a silhouette in the shadows, singing eerily into the night to lure people too their dooms. The forest is his domain, and everything in it is his prey, and all who live there know this and fear him. He's also highly manipulative and deceitful.

one quote specifically sticks out to me that I think sums up how he acts very well is:

"No. There is only me. There is only my way. There is only the forest, and there is only surrender."

The character of the Beast is just perfect for The Operator. I considered possibly trying to mix the two but I think I may just keep The Beast as is, as its just too perfect. Also, I think that if the Operator had a voice and could speak, it would 100% sound like The Beast.

Collection of The Beasts voicelines in the show in case you're curious.

Btw, fun fact, the guy who voices him isn't actually a professional voice actor, hes an opera singer. I just think its very cool

There are a few other characters I'm still working on including in the story (mainly Brian/hoodie, but explaining that reaches more into comic territory and its difficult trying to work out how to blend the ideas in the comic and the show together.)

Anyways, that's the gist of the au, and about Over the Garden Wall itself! I cant recommend this show enough, its one of my all time favorite shows and I definitely recommend giving it a watch if you're into that kind of thing! Thanks for asking about it!

Apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes, and for the length of this post lol. Grammar is not my strong suit and this took me about 3.5 hours to type up lol

if anyone has any other questions about the au, please ask me, I would love to answer them or hear any feedback/ideas!! Really if anyone has anything to say about this au at all, please tell me ^^

hope you have a lovely day/night!!

[alcalexandria]

Cuts, Reshoots and Changes made to Terminator: Dark Fate.

As part of another giant essay I’m working on about the possibility of Dani & Grace being an intentional romance at some point (Edit - that has since been posted, and you can now find it here), I wanted to gather up a reasonably detailed list of Dani/ Grace scenes that we know were changed at some point during production of Dark Fate.

This is mostly a reference for that post rather than something standalone, but you might find it of interest all the same. I won’t spend *too* much time on my extrapolations here, but you’ll probably get the gist of what I’m thinking.

You’re more than welcome to offer your own angle though, similar or different, and like I say I’ll have more on that front soon. Let me know if you can think of any relevant omissions or errors.

So what was changed? Why? How do we know?

There’s quite a bit to this, so I’m going to try to detail it in the order it appears/would have appeared in the movie, and try to explain both how we know it was cut/swapped, and what we know about why.

Again though, note that this isn’t necessarily a complete list of every cut or change we know about – just ones relevant to Dani & Grace, and how else they might or might have been interpreted if things were different. And a lot of these may be minor in isolation, but I include them for the sake of a bigger picture.

First, let’s talk about the Director’s Commentary (available in my country only with the iTunes release.)

The commentary involves Director Tim Miller and Editor Julian Clarke discussing the movie’s production and is well worth a listen – Miller has an obvious passion for the Terminator franchise and its lore, and his theories and ideas are engaging to hear. Clarke explains his thought processes logically, and for the most part, I couldn’t fault him.

… But.

In the commentary, the guys explain they did an entire editing pass to remove moments where Grace and Dani were overtly – in their words - “tactile”.

We don’t know the full extent of this, but the fact they call it an entire editing pass it quite a big deal – an editing pass means running through the whole movie as it’s assembled so far, to reselect cuts and alternate takes, from the many hours of dailies available, while ensuring the flow and continuity is still right.

It’s a significant undertaking and it’s not done lightly at the late stage we're talking here. It represents a lot of work hours by the Editor and Director (and in this case, almost certainly, the Producer)

The reason they give for this is that they didn’t want the audience to know that Grace and Dani have any kind of established relationship in the future – they want it to be a surprise that Grace already knows Dani in her own time.

To me that makes no sense, and I’ll detail why elsewhere - but it is the official reason they give, so I want to start with that preface.

It’s also worth saying, in the spirit of fairness, that they mention doing some (much less intensive) cuts and swaps with Dani and Diego, because the Editor was afraid that what’s normal for Latin actors would be too confusingly tactile for Cool Ranch flavored audiences, who may read it as a little weird and incestuous.

I think that’s silly, but I include it just to give additional context on the Editor’s perspective.

Now, on to the changes.

1. Pharmacy.

Originally the pharmacy staffmember who helps Dani pull Grace onto the street -

- then immediately asked Dani out, which she declines in no uncertain terms.

2. Motel.

The scene with Dani and Sarah has been tweaked considerably from the original. Initially, Dani had been seen crying more over Diego and her dad, this was almost all cut down and streamlined - the reason for the changes given being that test audiences were finding her a bit of a bummer.

But that isn't the only change, and the other isn't so cut and dry.

Source: Booasaur

This image is used to represent the FIRST AID KIT card in the weirdly excellent Dark Fate tie in card game.

Notably - images used in the card game are all promotional images that would have been approved for release by the studio, and the card company would have needed to have them as early as possible so they could design and produce their material.

Promotional images like this are not simply movie stills – they are actual photographs, taken by a purpose-hired photographer, which is why they never exactly align with a shot from the movie. However, because they are taken during the shooting of the movie, they’re clues to cuts we wouldn’t otherwise know of.

Dani never gets this close to Grace in the motel room while she’s unconscious in the final cut, and there’s no ice on her body in this shot, so it presumably sat before Sarah either ice’d or dosed her.

Presumably, also, this fell afoul of the "no touchy" edit pass. But there is no counterpart to this shot in the movie at all, and it's the only one of the card images where this is the case. The image itself hasn't been used in any later publicity releases either, as far as I can tell. The card game is the only trace of it out there.

So it seems like not only was the scene cut, the still itself was "de-approved" at some point later in production.

Additionally – though this is speculation, I’m not the only one making it - from the way scene is edited, it sure feels a lot like the first thing Dani does when she’s let back into the room by Grace after being sent for chips is immediately hug her, and the scene has been chopped around a bit to hide it.

Take a look for yourself, and see where this impression comes from – even though Dani and Grace have dialogue and are the active players in the moment, the camera lingers on Sarah, doing and saying nothing, for a weirdly long time, and for no clear reason.

It feels very much like a cutaway an editor might improvise so as not to show something else, and there are plenty more instances of this later we’ll come back to.

This trick, where we see generic reaction footage of somebody while rewritten/rerecorded dialogue is delivered from offscreen, is usually a last resort, a way to overhaul a storyline or conversation very late in the process.

It is used way more than I’d consider normal throughout DF – often during really major plot points, where you ideally want to make the best of everyone’s on-set performances and dynamism. It will come up a lot more.

We also know the road trip stuff with the three women was cut way down, in this case because a lot of it involved Sarah and Grace being snippier than they really need to be.

*PS – The motel room is pretty much an exact clone of the one Kyle and Sarah hid out in during T1. Keep that in your back pocket for later.

3. South Tunnel Future War Flashback.

We know from Tim Miller that the Future War battle was cut short. The original longer version showed us Hadrell/Quinn having a glorious last stand against the Rev-7s until they killed him, which presumably influences Grace’s decision to be Augmented.

According to Reddit users who were confirmed to have seen the test screenings, this longer version was actually in the cut they saw, albeit with incomplete SFX, so it was still intact even at that relatively late stage.

Remember from above - it’s supposed to be a surprise Grace knows Dani at all. That’s what Tim and Julian have told us, and it’s so important that it was worth time and money to cut scenes that had already cost too much time and money to film.

Here in the flashback we see in the final cut though, we are straight up shown Dani on the rescue stretcher.

And we are very pointedly shown Grace alone attending to her during the flight. Which casts doubt on that.

But the alternate/deleted version of this scene would have gone further, we would also have been shown “The Commander” in the alternate version of the volunteering scene  –

While that alternate scene isn’t as well executed as the one they went with, in my opinion, it’s notable in that it has Grace volunteering much more deliberately. She insists on it, outside the immediate aftermath of battle, and her reasons seem far more personal than her immediate duty to the Commander as a leader – she demands to be Augmented in direct response to seeing the seriously injured Dani in that neighboring infirmary bed, rather than for the sake of an abstract and offscreen Commander.

Now these Future War scenes all need a ton of VFX, and bespoke sets, props and wardrobe that can’t be bought off the rack or recycled anywhere else in the movie’s main present-day storyline, so they’re very expensive. Whatever else you might shoot as a just-in-case, you would not shoot more of this than you had to.

Given she’s bundled up on a stretcher, it would have been trivial to conceal the identity of the injured VIP completely – simply by not shooting her clearly, or covering her head. Natalia Reyes wouldn’t even need to be on set.

But she was - they went to the lengths of having her, having her face visible, putting her in injury makeup, and showing us Grace is uniquely, personally affected by her condition.

Which is... odd, right? A little contradictory?

4. The Train.

Quite a lot seems to be cut from this scene – we know of at least one line from the trailers, (“We win by keeping you alive”) that’s been cut, and one line Miller mentions in the commentary (Grace’s original retort to Sarah was “The only thing you and Mother Mary have in common is a dead son”), but it’s also been changed considerably since the Audition script that circulated early on.

I want to be really clear what we’re talking about here first though.

An Audition script, a “side”, is a very rough placeholder script that is used to test chemistry and emotion. The dialogue in a side will vary from rough to terrible, and sometimes the scene is deliberately misleading, as sides very often leak via the folks who don’t get the part – and indeed that’s presumably why we have this one.

But the general mood of the scene is the important thing. It is usually in the ballpark because that’s what you’re trying to be sure your actor can bring. The side is usually chosen because the particular emotional peak of this particular moment is the Director’s priority – so a side, however clumsy or misleading the dialogue is, represents something that matters so much for this character they’ll cast solely on the basis of it.

This side, which can be Google'd up pretty easily, was used to audition actresses for Dani. It sketches out a Grace who does not know, or claims not to know, Dani or what’s so important about her, and this scene is clearly a tentative bonding moment between them. Sarah doesn't even seem to be present.

In it, we see Dani show concern for Grace’s shoulder wound, before comparing it to a severe shoulder scar of her own that she shows Grace, from a bus crash in Puebla when she was fourteen, and here's an extract -

She touches [her own] scar, gently with her fingers.

DANI (CONT'D)

I'll never eat obleas again.

(Grace studies Dani as she traces the line of the scar with her finger.)

GRACE

You wanted to understand where I come from? You already do.

(Dani's eyes meet Grace's for a moment.)

DANI

My mother told me scars make the skin stronger.

Dani covers her scar with her shirt, then looks out again as the train slows, approaching Nogales.

I mean... if a movie showed you a heterosexual pair of characters doing this…?

But, we'll get to that in a subsequent post.

5. The Truck.

Here's the version of this we saw in the early trailers -

Source: Booasaur

Vs the version in the movie -

This scene, like the motel room, is an homage to a scene with Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor in T1. There are a lot of those.

6. The Crossing & The CBP Detention Centre.

There are a number of major cuts made to the sequence where the group cross the Mexico-US border, but chunks of the original version are visible in the trailers, and the deleted scene is provided in the home release.

Originally, for starters, the Rev 9 managed to track Dani to her uncle’s house, killing everyone there.

He goes on to manipulate the Mexican Federales into actively herding Dani & Co towards the CBP trap he’s set for them. Grace then spots the drone and realizes he’s tracking them, has them ditch their bags and tells them to run for it. She exchanges fire with the Federales in a running battle, and Dani’s uncle is killed.

You can see this full scene here. And actually now that I rewatch it, I'm struck by how effectively sinister Rev 9 is in the first bit, and what a shame that was to lose:  

Miller says the scene was cut down in part because whacking Dani’s relatives threatened to get a little repetitive, and he has a point (her cousin later also dies in the CBP centre), but there are some really valuable character moments in here too.

Before Grace starts shooting, Dani strictly warns Grace not to kill anybody. Which is a T2 callback, of course, but it’s also establishing Dani as taking the initiative, and it makes it apparent that Grace is already treating whatever she asks for as an order.

The gunfight itself isn’t great, frankly, but I do think the movie feels this cut. It cues up the scenes coming after it in a way that just leaves them kinda awkward without. The reason Grace is so fired up and ready to throw down with the CBP when they're caught in the spotlight is because, as far as she's concerned, she’s *already* in the middle of a gunfight; Dani’s “I’m not watching you die” to her is meant to directly address the fact she’s still feeling her uncle’s death, and can’t bear to see Grace get shot now too, rather than just something she blurts out randomly. She’s already seen somebody she cares about die, and she won’t risk it again.

But Dani’s grief at the death of her uncle would also have played into the next bit, too, something which is still in the movie - when Rev-9 drops the drone on them. Dani sees Grace easily break out of her restraints to save her from it, only to be KO’d by the blast.

In other words - having just surrendered to save Grace’s life, Dani has to see her being killed after all, and we see her looking at her lifeless body with a moment of despair. And after binding Grace with a No Kill order so that nobody else will die over her, she now sees that Grace has apparently sacrificed herself to save her.

This pays off – or would have paid off – in a deleted moment later, too. A shot seen in the trailers from when Grace finds Dani in the cages shows us Dani’s clear relief at seeing Grace is alive.

A subsequent cut shot has Grace and Dani fleeing the Rev-9, hand in hand, in slow motion.

Compare this to the much messier, more rushed sequence we see in the movie -

The Federales shootout sequence on its own is a little redundant, sure, but without this bit, the drone stuff is just... kind of orphaned, and pointless. It's a very dramatic splash of fireworks with little consequence. The shot of Dani looking at Grace's body after the blast has no purpose, and the attack has no real effect, so it might as well not have happened.

More than that, this set of cuts make for really messy continuity. There's a big mismatch between them hauling a bunch of presumably very useful gear through the desert one moment, and then abruptly having none a few shots later; and it feels silly to see everyone set out armed to the teeth with guns they never even try to use.

The way Dani’s uncle just dips out to let the cousin lead them the rest of the way in the theatrical cut feels bizarre, and the escape from the CBP centre feels tangibly choppy and not nearly as clearly composed without the moments seen in the trailer, like missing frames of animation.

7. The Plane Chase.

This whole sequence has been totally overhauled, and maybe several times.

The plane battle was originally longer (which I don’t think it really needed to be) but one notable feature is that Major Dean and the EMP grenades all appear to be later additions.

Many people had guessed this anyway - he comes out of nowhere, provides the grenades, and bows out again, without much explanation or grounding outside the few minutes he appears. And the (oddly cheap) looking grenades themselves are destroyed before ever affecting the plot. So it has all the hallmarks of a reshoot that was plugged into an existing sequence.

The original version of the sequence though, seen in the “pre vis” computer storyboard included on the home media releases, had the gang actually seize the plane by force, and physically subdue two crewmembers. The two end up tied up in the hold after one of them hits Arnie with a wrench (he still sports the injuries from this in the film)

When Rev 9 attacks, one of the crewmen is killed by cargo debris; Dani frantically tries to save the other, but he’s sucked out of the breach in the fuselage before she can.

That original version involving the kidnapped crew appears to have actually gotten as far as being filmed – two “injured” Air Force actors who seem to fit the bill are visible in some of the “Making Of” featurettes.

The prop auction blurbs – some notes from it here – seem to suggest Carl used chain brackets as weapons in the fight, which I don’t believe he does in the battle as seen.

Now why does this matter?

Well, because if there were no EMP grenades, then the conversation in the cockpit must have been completely different, since Carl and Sarah don’t have to interrupt Dani and Grace’s conversation to alert them to the damage.

The cockpit scene is a continuity mess start to finish anyway though, which is another a tell-tale sign of reshoots and re-edits - just for fun, for instance, watch out for Grace’s disappearing drink.

It’s worth watching it start to finish too just to see how much dialogue is delivered from a character who is speaking from offscreen, suggesting these lines were written and then recorded in a Sound Booth after the scenes were shot.

There’s a lot of that in this movie, which I’ve mentioned previously, but this scene in particular is rife with it; almost all its key dialogue is delivered from offscreen while we’re watching what amounts to stock footage of Sarah or Carl.

That much ADR/ overdubbing from off camera is a dead give away that a scene has been almost totally reworked.   

And why? Why did it need to be arranged so much?

Well, that brings us to what I think is the biggest change of the movie.

8. "You Saved Me" / "You Raised Me"

The suggestion Dani found and raised Grace from childhood is entirely a post-test screening addition. It was not in the original version of the movie, at all, and this has been confirmed by the Reddit test screening participants. The whole implication comes from a single line and scene which was added after the testing, and at the cost of all that continuity mentioned above.

The scene we see of Dani rescuing Kid-Grace is a reshoot which was inserted in place of another deleted scene, set during the Future War, wherein an adult Grace begs an adult Dani to let her go back and save her. That’s why the Kid-Grace scene has a different look and feel to everything else in the movie, Present Day and Future War, because it was shot way after everything else.

Before I go on, please take a moment to see the scene they cut, and imagine it back in place –

I mean... dang, right?

Unlike Major Dean or the grenades, this scene is not some neatly isolated little island, and unlike the one replacing it, it's aesthetically in tune with the South Tunnel battle. It depicts a post-Augmentation Grace, wearing “Augment” style sleeveless gear, and it’s the source of at least one promotional shot.

It also explains the circumstances Grace came back, lets Dani off the hook for sending her back to her doom, and even ties directly into a significant exchange of dialogue later on; Commander Dani is shown shedding a tear here when Grace asks to be allowed to save her, presumably because she remembers they will be some of Grace’s last words later, too.

The Theatrical Cut also still has the moment later when Grace quotes this scene to Dani’s younger self before she dies, so this scene is actually the foundation for a later one.

So it’s important, is what I'm saying, it’s laying down all the emotional groundwork for Grace’s death and the tragic implications of the movie’s Bootstrap Loop.

It makes the Commander far more sympathetic, gives Grace a ton more agency, and there are lines still in the movie which call back to it.

Without it, we even lose the visual parallel of Grace on her knees to Dani in the present day just as she is in her memory from the future, in the TDE facility.

For now then, let’s just say that I think you would need an excellent reason to pay more money to replace that original scene, especially with a scene that both looks cheaper, plays worse, and lacks the same connective tissue to anything else. And that this reason would have to be something unrelated to the needs of basic storytelling mechanics, or the Director’s preferences.

9. Underwater Battle.

Grace originally fought the Rev-9 underwater briefly, after the plane crash. That’s why she’s so exhausted when she resurfaces and they have to try to climb up the dam, and it’s why she couldn’t come to help the two others when they were trapped in the flooding Humvee.

10. Turbine Room.

Dani originally finished the battle with the Rev-9 pretty much on her own. This was reworked, apparently, to give Arnie “more of a moment”.

You can see images from the original version here.

Which I do believe - but the original flow would have meant Dani screaming at this thing that it’s taken everything she had, before going apeshit and killing it, in direct response to Grace’s death, which is pretty intense.

(Incidentally, I’m not convinced the subtitles are quite capturing her literal meaning in Spanish either, can somebody help me out?

Edit - BeneathTheThunders has confirmed this in the comments, Dani actually says "Killed everything I loved")

11. Final Scene

The playground scene with Grace as a kid is another post Test Screening addition. Originally the movie ended with a rolling road, just like T2, and a voiceover from Sarah.

Along with the added scavenger attack scene, that means it’s probable we never saw Grace as a child in the original version. At all.

Which would make for a quite different narrative bent, especially if the original Future Dani/Grace seen had still been in place.

In Summary.

Let’s consider how different that alternate narrative was.

Remember that Grace rarely, if ever, discusses Dani’s survival in terms of saving the world or winning the war, apart from her freakout in the chopper – her devotion is to Dani, personally, somebody we only ever see or hear of Grace knowing as one adult woman to another. Somebody she knows, somebody she sat vigil over in the Dragonfly and inspired her to become augmented.

Somebody, we hear only from an experienced, Augmented Grace who has saved her, with her exact meaning left to our imagination – when and how or how poetically she might mean that, we aren’t shown.

Remember that somebody, we see then, is a hardened uniformed military Supreme Commander, who nonetheless cries at the prospect of having to send Grace away to danger, something she’s tried “everything in her power” to avoid.

Remember that, back present day, that person’s first instinct when left alone with her unconscious body (after resting her head in her lap in the jeep for some reason?) is to care for her so tenderly it produced the mysteriously memory-holed First Aid Kit image. When reunited with her after being briefly parted, it’s apparently to embrace her.

While being pursued, it’s to designate her terms of engagement, and then surrender to protect her.

And notably, it is also Grace, not Commander Dani, who outlines what’s going to be done about the TDE in the flashback/forward to 2042.

So they don’t behave like either Mother/Daughter or Officer/Soldier. But they are something. And throughout the movie these two were, apparently, so physically close it was worth spending money and losing shot-to-shot continuity and clarity to put distance between them.

And in the end, when Grace does die, literally giving Dani her life with which to fight her attacker (“I’m sorry Grace!”), Dani tenderly touches her face before destroying her enemy, for taking everything she had from her - for "killing everything she loved".

I’m sure you can infer what I’m getting at there... but we’ll come back to that in a future post.

For now, here's what I'd love to know - the original cut apparently ended a little after the dam battle, with a Sarah voiceover on the rolling road.

I wonder what she said?

[gilbirda]

Hello again! I've actually written the down some of my "Jason and the Spraypaint 'Thief'" idea tho its mostly scaffolding and i dont feel ready to share it just yet, but progress is being made!

If I may ask for your advice once more, the story has begun leaning towards Anger Management vibes (thanks for that brainrot too (affectionate)), but i dont feel great that the genesis of Jason and Jazz meeting is after Jason basically stalks Jazz in his hunt for whoever is buying his spraypaint before he can. Like, she is the one buying the paint, but the dynamic feels too onesided atm in terms of agency, but idk what Jazz would be doing that could parallel Jason.

The best Ive got is she tried to find out who bought out the yarn she was knitting with (it was Jason being petty), but I dont think she'd care as much as Jason does with the paint and it also feels too samey.

...Just had this thought while writing this, would it vibe with Jazz's character if she kept tabs on the Batfam for Danny? Like in terms of location. Ive got it that Danny dosnt want anything to do with the Batfam atm, Gothem is their turf fighting-wise and he dosnt want to encroach on that (tho he does help people in need when he comes across them), he just wants to make cool art in weird places (and maybe some ghost king stuff, not sure on that just yet) (maybe as a coping mechanism bc I do like the angst that comes from 'Danny leaves Amity bc the Fentons reactly badly to him being a halfa', tho still not sure how he gets into spraypaint yet, that feels like an important detail), so Jazz keeps tabs on their patrols for Danny so he can spraypaint without drawing their attention, and then Jazz notices Red Hood acting a bit odd and does her own investigating to make sure its not ghost business (she would know that RH has ghost vibes from Danny and his current spraypaint investigating behaviour maybe looks like a ghost obsession without context), and maybe she ends up pulling a Tim and figures out Red Hood is Jason, just due to ghost vibes instead of acrobatics.

I havent even gotten to them actually meeting in my planning yey, its just discovery eachother from afar and general thoughts of 'thats the person Im looking for, they're kinda cute' so far. Current vauge idea is they meet in a fight, tho i might be biased bc i did recently reread 'cant help falling (in love with you)' (i think i said this before, but amazing story btw, eagerly waiting for the next chapter!)

I hope this makes sense. This is the first time I've had an idea I've wanted to share with other fandom people and felt comfy enough to do so.

(your ask got sent twice so im gonna answer one and delete the other. Just Tumblr things I guess)

SO

I see Anger Management and go feral

I see what you mean about there being a power imbalance in their meeting situation - but we have to be aware that the source material is like that. Jason is a crime fighter and a vigilante and also a very extra boy. He is petty and arrogant and sometimes he is not above using his skills for personal use.

You can make it so she knows what's going on and leads him in a wild goose chase just for funsies. Make Jazz petty as well. Make her highly competent. Make her win in his own game and boom, no more power imbalance. (Also that can be a cool "I need to know more of this woman" kind of situation.)

Another alternative, is making her think he is stalking her for unsavory purposes and beat the shit out of him.

I like what you said about Jazz being the one that keep tabs on all the vigilantes. She could have profiled them all, studied their patterns, and Tim Drake her way into memorizing their patrol routes so Danny can paint in peace.

So that's why when her new stalker starts bothering her, she is so Done(tm) that she is not afraid to gatekeep, gaslight, girlboss her way into making him stop.

How she does it? Dealer's choice.

(I'm weak to the fight approach, if it wasn't obvious (✿◡‿◡) )

(But outsmarting him could work as well.)

(Jason is into women that can kick his ass, be it physically or in smarts)

So in conclusion I think if you want to not fall into icky power imbalances and not fall into highly competent Mary Sues tropes, the sweet spot would be Jazz making the choice to take act or not, and base it on actual conflict: If she can't just beat the shit out of him, explain why. If she is not going to make a deal out of it, explain why. Make the character have agency and a choice in the matter, even if that choice is inaction.

Thank you for showing me your progress!!!! I'm so happy when people make content for the crossover and my favorite ship!!!

Also thanks for reading my fics!

🤗💖

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

How to train your Drake, Ch4

As always! TWs for this chapter! religious trauma, body modification, for religious reasons, as usual. Also as usual, possessive behavior, stockholm syndrome, and obsession. And just general horror elements, too. thumbs up

Previous part

To Marinette’s unending surprise, Tim had been entirely genuine when he had told her that he would make sure she had everything she could ever want. He wasn’t stupid, he surely knew that when she sent him out to go get specific things (usually food but sometimes clothes or things to do – Marinette had recently taken up crochet to pass the time) she was just using his absence to try and find a way to escape.

And yet, he still did it.

Every. Single. Time.

Marinette was half-convinced that, if she asked him to, he would bleed out on an altar, just for her.

She could have anything.

Except a way out. Except a person to talk to that wasn’t him. Except the ability to sleep on her own, without a large tail wrapped around her like the world’s heaviest blanket.

At least he’s warm, she joked, mentally, a bitter kind of chuckle just barely escaping her as she twisted around in his grip. It was a surprisingly comfortable position to be in, and that only annoyed her more. She was trapped, actively being restrained, why was there a part of her that kind of felt comforted by the weight?

She was going insane.

It had only been a month.

In a few weeks, the village would realize that the dragon was still stealing from them, that she had lost, and they would start training up someone else. Within the year, another person would be sent here.

She just needed to hold out until then, right?

… she had her doubts that it would be that easy.

After all, it wasn’t as if she didn’t understand. Tim had more than implied that first day that it was instinctual – that, sometimes, they like to keep humans, and that it isn’t really something they can help. Now that she had hindsight in her favor, she realized that that was probably his way of testing the waters, trying to see how she would react to the idea of a person being ‘hoarded’. She had misinterpreted the reason for his nerves, and as such had played it off to try and make him relax.

She didn’t blame herself, don’t get her wrong, even if it was all very obvious in hindsight, now that she suddenly had ample free time to think about all that had happened, but at the time she had had no reason to believe that he was tricking her. After all, it really isn’t often that someone may get a blessing, much less one that they were allowed to keep. Most blessings only lasted long enough for whatever the person was trying to accomplish, nothing more.

She tugged her arms from the coils of his tail so she could shove her fists into her own eyes, frustration eating away at her.

It wasn’t fucking fair. And she gets it, life isn’t fair sometimes. But that didn’t mean she liked it.

For a moment, the tail around her loosened just slightly. A huff of warm air passed over her, and her bitter scowl only deepened.

She’d moved too quickly and woken him up. Great. Just what she needed right now.

Tim shifted, the tail that had been looped around her smoothly changing into arms, holding her close to his chest. She hated that he did this every time she started to get too upset about her situation, that he would turn into a human because he thought it would help her relax.

She hated that it worked. It was a trick, one bestowed upon him by Trixx, and tricks shouldn’t work when you know their secret. But maybe that was part of it. If it was made to fool humans into a false sense of security, maybe some of that was still sinking its claws into her.

Maybe that was why, more often than not, more often than she should, she couldn’t bring herself to try and push him off. Why she could turn and bury her face into the shoulder and feel calmed by the very person who was making her life hell.

And he wasn’t even doing it on purpose! That was the worst part! She struggled to be mad at him, because whenever she yelled at him he just looked like �� like a kicked puppy! Sad and confused! Like he didn’t get why she would be unhappy about being forced to stay in one place for the rest of her life!

“I hate you,” she said, her arms hanging limp at her sides as if to make up for the way that his own tightened their grip on her, briefly suffocating before he seemed to remember that she was human and therefore ‘fragile’. “I don’t belong to you. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. I belong to Tikki.”

For a moment, he almost seemed to understand.

But then he rested his chin atop her head and reminded her that dragons had been making people ‘theirs’ for centuries, now, and if the gods had a problem with it they surely would have said something by now.

The logic made sense, she supposed, but that didn’t make her feel any better.

She didn’t care that he was willing to shower her with jewelry and bring her luxurious clothes and that he went out and stole meals for her! She wasn’t going to overlook things because he happened to be intelligent and sweet! It didn’t matter!

It didn’t!

It didn’t.

Until.

Until she had stumbled across something new doing her near-daily search for ways to escape. The place was huge, and Tim kept moving his hoard. Probably because he had several weapons in his stash thanks to her fallen predecessors. She wanted to find them. They were basically her only chance of getting out of here, after all.

Besides, it was something to do. Crochet-ing was nice and all, but it was still something you mostly did sitting down. She wasn’t intent on going from daily training regimens and traveling to absolutely nothing. She got antsy if she sat still for too long.

For the first time in quite a while, though, she was stunned into staying perfectly still.

Because, behind the castle, partially hidden by a couple of planters that had probably once held flowers, was row after row of plants. And not just any plants. These ones were purposeful, in neat little lines with even spacing that suggested careful maintenance. Nor were they pretty, they were functional, she could recognize the leaves of a nearby plant. Broccoli, cabbage, she was pretty sure that those little plants over there were hiding carrots beneath the soil…

A couple of books lay discarded on the ground. Not quite carelessly, more like the owner had been done with them and decided that it wasn’t worth it to find a proper place to put them. That particular kind of messiness wasn’t all that uncommon around the castle, so it was safe to assume that Tim was the one who had made all of this.

Maybe he had tired of going to town for the vegetables she asked for? But surely this was far more effort overall… he could make a trip to the town and back in a day – maybe two, if he was particularly tired. This would have taken weeks of near-daily effort. And that was the minimum, that assumed he hadn’t messed up a few attempts while still learning to farm.

A person cleared their throat awkwardly.

She knew there wasn’t anyone else on their little ‘island’ thing, but she was still half-expecting to see some kind of hired farmer.

Of course, it was Tim.

He was… blushing, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Do you… like it?” he asked, and she was pretty sure that this was the first time she had seen him nervous since that first day.

“It’s… food,” she said, noncommittal.

He nodded, not seeming all that surprised. “I think the leaves kinda taste bad, but… apparently humans need these kinds of things to stay healthy…?”

Had he read books on humans to make sure she wouldn’t die? It was a little silly, she was perfectly capable of telling him what she needed to stay alive, but she couldn’t help but be a little flattered about it.

She had known, of course, that he was researching what to do with humans, of course. A little over a week ago, he had brought her a bouquet he’d stolen, telling her that he had read it was something humans did while courting each other. But that had felt less… genuine. More intent on getting something in return. Not to mention it had been quick and easy, stealing flowers. So she had had no problem rejecting it.

Here, he had already admitted he didn’t like vegetables, but it was something he had wanted to do, to make sure she was healthy. And, sure, you could argue that that was born from the need to not lose her, but this was… more than was entirely necessary. He could have continued going into town for vegetables, after all. But he hadn’t. He had chosen to learn to farm.

Marinette looked down at the small collection of vegetables at her feet. “Oh,” she said, unsure what else there was to say. Unsure she even could say something around the tiny lump in her throat. She wanted to cry. She wasn’t entirely sure why.

He didn’t seem to need more than that, though. He came to stand shoulder to shoulder with her, looking down at the plants. “Think I’m doing something wrong, though, they’re not growing anymore…”

He looked genuinely crestfallen.

So, she sighed, kneeling down to inspect a nearby head of cabbage. It seemed fine. Healthy, even. But she quickly realized the ‘problem’. “I don’t know if they’re supposed to…? I think this is about how big they’re supposed to get.”

His eyes widened. He looked down at the plants.

“Oh. I’m going to need more of these.”

Despite herself, she couldn’t help herself from snickering and knocking her shoulder against his lightly. “Probably.”

She ended up making a quick salad. She didn’t have the ingredients to make a dressing (nor the know-how, but that’s definitely beside the point), but it was fine. The vegetables, fresh as they were, were actually pretty good on their own.

So good, in fact, that she ended up asking him to maybe try growing some spices.

He gave her a confused look. “The stuff in those little jar things comes from plants?”

Marinette snickered.

He didn’t seem to find it quite as funny as she did. Which meant he had the best poker face ever, or…

Oh. Dear Tikki. He had never had spices before.

His eyes widened when she immediately started pulling things out of the fridge. “Didn’t you already eat? Was it not filling enough?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Lettuce expands in your stomach. People always order a bunch of it the day before the Daizzi temple’s yearly eating contests because it helps them eat more… or, at least, that’s what I’ve been told. Never done it myself.”

He stared at her.

“... I’m fine. I can eat more once I finish cooking, anyway.”

He only looked somewhat abated by this. Still, curiosity won out, so he made his way over, watching her work.

She… wasn’t much of a chef. Her parents owned the local bakery, so she knew how to bake, but that was hardly the same thing. Still, she had made quite a few meat pies in her time, so it couldn’t be that different. It just meant she didn’t have to do a pie crust. And thank fuck for that. Pie crusts are annoying.

Not much later, she was blowing out the fire. If there was anything good about having a dragon as a captor, it was probably that the fire used to heat the stove and oven was very consistent. She didn’t even have to use a lid to make sure the heat dispersed itself more evenly!

She still did, old habits die hard after all, but that’s hardly the point!

She would miss this, if she ever escaped.

She looked over at the dragon she was now plating food for. His nose was scrunched in mild confusion. Especially when she handed the plate to him.

“I don’t eat human food…?”

“Well, you should,” she sniffed. “And I want you to try some.”

He gave her a quietly dubious look, but trudged over to grab a fork and then sat at the table nonetheless.

She took her usual seat across from him, motioning for him to eat.

Tim looked at her, warily, for a few more moments. But, when she made the motion again, hesitantly took the fork and speared a chunk of meat. She supposed it had been a lot to ask him to eat a couple of vegetables, too. It was entirely possible his digestive system, even when he was posing as a human, was not capable of processing vegetables, anyway.

Either way, he took a hesitant bite.

For a moment, he sat there, his fork still in his mouth, visibly stunned.

And then he practically started inhaling his food. The vegetables were still left, but within a minute the plate was cleared of all the meat.

He looked at her, cheeks so full he was clearly having trouble with the chewing and swallowing part of eating. He looked like a chipmunk. It was hard not to smile a little at the sight.

Finally, he managed to get it down, and now he was looking at her with sheer adoration in his eyes. This wasn’t particularly uncommon, she was pretty sure the guy was incapable of being ‘chill’ about anything he liked, but this was… different, somehow.

“Are you a god? Like. A secret one that controls food or something?”

Well, that explains the difference.

“As much as I would like to jokingly agree, that would probably be blasphemy. So. No.”

He huffed a little and looked like he wanted to tell her that she should be, but wisely kept silent on the matter. Instead, he looked down at his plate, empty of anything he could eat.

He hesitated.

“Can you… cook for me again?” he asked.

And, well, it would be mean of her to cut him off from human food after forcing him to eat it, wouldn’t it?

So, she started making meals for two from then on.

It was kind of nice to sit and eat with someone again. Usually, Tim treated eating as almost a kind of chore, shoving a hunk of raw meat down his throat (she was still horrified when she saw it) and then handing her whatever was left for her own food, but now they could sit across from each other and enjoy their meals. Talk about their days.

Tim had quite a lot of interesting stories, surprisingly, despite usually only leaving the castle for food and other errands. She supposed having the god of chaos as your Patron would make for a good number of strange happenings. And thievery wasn’t exactly a boring field to go into, either.

He regaled her with a story about how he had tried to get some eggs from chickens, only to get quite a few new scratches and a lot of feathers in his hair. Told her how weird he thought the concept of cow’s milk was – she would make him a mind-changing pastry one day, though she dreaded telling him about the egg he would have to get so she could make it. Laughed as he explained trying to sneak that bouquet he had stolen under his shirt by letting his hair down and pretending he was pregnant, because apparently that was all he had ever really noticed distinguishing women from men.

“Come on, there is so much more distinguishing men from women,” she said. “I know you know that.”

He huffed, his face reddening. “Yes, of course I know about... I mean visible differences. There aren’t that many visible differences.”

“Chests.”

“Some women don’t have much,” he sniffed.

“Women have softer facial features.”

“Depends on the person. I have seen several ‘pretty’ human men.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Cleanliness.”

He hesitated.

“Okay, I’ll give you that one.”

It wasn’t much of a win, but she grinned widely and pumped her fist in the air regardless.

He huffed lightly as he accepted his crushing defeat. He still had a faint smile on his face when he rested his chin in his hand, though.

She couldn’t help but smile back.

It was quick to fade, though, as she noticed the warm feeling blooming in her chest.

Fuck.

She was going to fall for him.

She could, maybe, handle eventually going back to what they had on that first day. Lighthearted banter and a mutual agreement (or, at least, she thought it had been mutual at the time) that, ‘Hey, I find you attractive and am about to die, so…?’

That had all been very… superficial. Surface-level stuff.

But genuinely falling for him? Genuinely being fond of him, despite knowing that he was holding her there against her will? She couldn’t let that happen.

It had been too calm for too long. The creeping sense of dread she had felt when realizing he was the monster that had slaughtered dozens of men before her had been smothered by months of him stopping her from Offering because he was scared that Plagg would refuse to heal her again. It was easy to concentrate on the second part of him, it was certainly the one she saw more often, but the first part was still very real.

She just… had to remind herself of it.

So, that night, when they were up in the tallest tower, preparing for bed, Marinette used the moments where he turned away to allow her to change clothes to make her way over to the window.

He jumped just slightly at the sound of her fingers drumming against the glass.

Marinette winked at Tim.

And then she slammed back against the glass.

It was worth it, she thought, to see the way his eyes went wide in horror before he whizzed out of view.

For a few seconds, she felt free, feeling the wind in her hair, letting herself dive through the air, window after window passing her by. Laughter slipped from her lips, unbidden. She might have sounded manic even to her own ears if the wind hadn’t stolen away her voice far before it could reach them.

For a few seconds.

A pair of large claws, each the size of her torso, stretched out of the window, Tim propelling himself into the air, zooming after her as she had known he would. A dragon’s face wasn’t particularly expressive, yet she knew instinctively that he was furious, and that their next conversation would not be a fun one.

It was kind of funny, how close a laugh was to a sob.

She looked at the ground, getting closer by the second, and she didn’t want to die, but she didn’t want to stay with him, either.

She looked up again, at the hulking shadow of a dragon getting larger and larger, at the strange contrast between him and the cloudless sky behind him.

Her patron had never responded to her before. Tikki was a popular god, one of luck and order, it had never surprised her that her prayers had never been answered, there had always been people in more dire need of a miracle.

And yet.

As she tumbled through the air, the glass shards stinging where they had embedded themselves in her skin, she prayed.

Please.

Tikki.

Give me a chance.

And, for once, she got an answer.

A set of glassy wings sprouted from her back, reflecting in the sunlight, and she couldn’t stop herself from staring. Tim, too, paused, freezing in the air.

That was all the chance she needed.

She spun around in the air and took off into the nearby forest. Whizzing through the trees. Branches whipped at her skin, but she didn’t care, all she cared about was making distance. As a dragon, he would have a hard time squeezing through and barrelling over trees, and flying overhead would make him liable to losing her beneath the forest’s canopy. As a human, he would have to deal with all of the problems that came with traveling on foot, like uneven grounds, barely-there paths, and wild animals.

She had the advantage, here, like this. And by Tikki was she going to take it, for as long as it might exist.

It was a shortsighted plan, she knew. Just because he lost track of her now did not mean that he would never find her. But she could deal with the long run later, once she had gotten away in the short run.

And, as Tim’s cries of her name faded from earshot, she started to consider whether the long run started now.

If she was running from something that was Other, she would likely need an advantage of some sort. Especially if he had Plagg on his side. She wasn’t sure how long these wings would stay. It wasn’t likely that she, like Tim, was going to be an exception that got to keep her blessing. She shouldn’t assume the ability to fly would keep her all that safe from a dragon, anyway, not outside of the forest.

So, what should she do?

Should she ask Wayzz for protection? She already had quite a few offerings to him under her belt, though, and he was her dad’s patron… if he was going to help, he likely would have done so already.

Maybe Kaalki would give her safe travel? But she already owed Kaalki for letting her cross that bridge, she was not likely to get anything else.

Shit, shit, shit, what else?

The trees abruptly opened up into a clearing.

An altar sat in the middle.

She slowed to a stop in front of it. She was hardly stupid. She knew what this meant.

Words, countless words, were inscribed in the stone. But whenever she thought she might be able to read one, they shifted into something else.

Trixx.

She snatched up a nearby branch and nearly threw herself over the altar, locating the line devoted to Trixx on her left arm, so thin that only her memory allowed her to know where it was, and dug into her skin, tearing herself open.

Quietly, she mourned the messiness. The jagged line. The way some of the red splattered over the front of her clothes. The way the blood fell to the stone in thick, ugly droplets instead of the steady stream she was used to.

But it would be worth it, she thought, if this managed to save her.

“Trixx,” she begged the empty air. She wasn’t sure how she knew that the woman heard, could not truly describe the shift in the air around her and the way her skin started to crawl as she registered eyes on her. She didn’t yet lift her head. “I need your assistance.”

A low hum met her ears, buzzing in the back of her head in a way that made her feel sick, and she lifted her head to see a god.

For a moment, she was stunned. She had never seen a god. She’d heard that it was possible, but she’d thought that was just rumors, or a particularly hopeful hallucination. Maybe that’s what this was. But, as she looked the woman in the eyes, and felt a chill run through her as she realized just how empty they looked, she knew it was not her imagination, because she would never imagine a god to be this… detached. To look at her like she was a particularly pretty leaf she had found on the ground. Maybe interesting, but likely to be discarded in a minute or less.

Trixx smiled at her. “You called?”

“Cover me, please,” she said.

Trixx laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “I could do that, yes, but why should I?”

“I could give you a good story,” she promised.

The god seemed to consider this for a moment. And then she smiled. “I think I much prefer tragedies.”

Oh.

A dull shiver ran through her.

“I’ll – I’ll offer to you.”

She did not seem particularly enthused by the idea. She looked, pointedly, at the rows of scars on Marinette’s left arm. “That is hardly a problem for you.”

She had expected that, but her blood ran cold regardless.

“Why should I help you, when you are against someone who treats me as a secondary patron?”

Her mouth went dry.

“What you need,” Trixx said, reaching up with a lazy hand to pluck the sun out of the sky, throwing the world around Marinette into darkness, save for the faint glow the goddess emanated. She twirled the ball of light in her fingers, until it morphed into a golden coin, not unlike the currency of her town. “Is a bargaining chip. And, unfortunately, you have nothing.”

Bile built in the back of her throat.

“I will – I will –...”

What did she have that a god could want? If not her, because she already belonged to basically every god, then what else was there to give? She could not give someone else (it was a crime to force someone into choosing a patron, remember?), could not sacrifice something that she did not care about as it had no meaning, had nothing material she would care about enough for the goddess to want it, and would never sacrifice a person…

“Marinette!” a voice called behind her, achingly familiar.

He was getting closer. He was getting closer, he was getting closer!

The low humming in the back of her mind grew to a fever pitch. She only barely took a stumbling step back in time to avoid vomiting directly onto the altar.

The god was laughing at her. It was all she could hear other than the deafening ringing in her ears and Tim. Calling her name, begging for her to call back.

Trixx stepped off of the altar smoothly, leaning down into her space, her mouth only inches from her ear. Marinette couldn’t bring herself to look the god in the face, still shaking, trying to force down the need to throw up again because she could not risk upsetting Trixx. She wasn’t sure when she’d fallen to her hands and knees, but it wasn’t like it mattered now.

“Hurry up, little human,” Trixx said, amusement tinging the edge of her voice. “You don’t have much time left.”

Fuck.

Fuck fuck

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

F

u

c

k

“Do something interesting,” Trixx told her.

Marinette sobbed.

She had nothing to give. Nothing! The only thing that she had was herself, but herself belonged to someone else.

But.

But.

Shakily, she swiped the back of her hand over her mouth.

She knew what the god wanted.

Deep down, she had known the moment the altar had appeared. It was on her for calling on the goddess regardless. For hoping there might be another way. Like a human could somehow manage to convince a god to do something they didn’t want to do. She had been too prideful, had forgotten that the only reason Tim had given her anything she asked, despite being far more powerful than she, was because he was obsessed, that it was not her but him.

She had forgotten her place.

She had brought this upon herself.

“I… could switch patrons,” she breathed. Tikki might kill her for it, especially since she was switching so soon after being blessed, but she would take death, right now, if it meant she would not have to deal with Tim anymore. “I could be yours.”

She did not have to see the goddess’s face – could not bring herself to look at her, not right now – to know there was a wide grin stretching its way across her features.

A hand came to rest over the back of her neck. This time, when she tried to jerk forward so she could be sick again, she was stopped from moving by long, thin fingers wrapping around her throat. Not tight, never tight, a god would never hurt someone who was theirs, after all, but forcing her to stay there regardless.

Marinette’s shoulders trembled. Sick stained her front. Blood was still spilling sluggishly down her arm – but a new arm, now, traveling down the length of her right arm instead of a relatively small line on her left. Dully, she thought she might bleed out.

Tim’s voice no longer rang in her ears, though, and for that she was grateful. That threat was gone.

But, when Trixx smiled and said “See, was that so hard?” she couldn’t help but wonder whether the threat wasn’t gone, simply different.

>>>>>

Next part

Tag: @jeminiikrystal

[shadowqueen402]

Balan Wonderworld TV Show Summaries (Season 2)

Here are the summaries for Season 2. Hope you all like these!

That's Gotta Sting!: Lance's new Scorpion-based Negati turns out to have a mean sting when it suddenly attacks Haoyu.

Cold As Ice: Iben suddenly comes down with a strange illness that causes her to slowly turn to ice. Can the others find a way to cure her before it's too late?

Lance The Babysitter: Because of Balan's busy schedule, Lance has to look after Leo, Emma, Yuri, Haoyu, and Cass. What could possibly go wrong?

Missing Masterpiece: One of Lucy's artworks suddenly goes missing. Will she be able to find in time for the exhibition to open up?

Who Did It?: Someone had broken something of Balan's… and everyone is a suspect!

Reala And The Mask: Reala finds a strange mask that would grant him intimidating abilities to achieve his goals… Little does he know that the mask has its own intentions…

Hairy Situation: No matter how much Balan brushes them, the Tims keep on shedding hair everywhere. Surely, there's an explanation for this, right?

Fury Of The Firefighter: When Sana reveals that someone tried to hurt her, Eis decides that he wants to give this perpetrator a piece of his mind.

Laundry Day: What starts out as a peaceful day to wash clothes suddenly turns into one of silly fights and complaints after the clothes get mixed up.

No Visitors Allowed!: Balan makes it crystal clear to Leo, Emma, and the Inhabitants that only one location in Wonderworld is off-limits. What could Balan possibly be hiding?

I Have No Ide-ya: During her visit to the Night Dimension, Emma loses all of her Ideya. With the help of NiGHTS, she must retrieve them all before Wizeman gets his hands on them.

A Scent In Need Is A Scent Indeed: A new perfume is recently released. But the moment ladies apply this scent on, their personalities drastically change. Can the group find out what's actually happening?

Leo And The Money Heist: Rumors of a planned money heist have been spreading around Leo's neighborhood. Leo doesn't believe it one bit…until he finds a suitcase full of money that belongs to the bank…

It Takes A Lullaby To Defeat A Nightmaren: NiGHTS discusses with the group about her idea on stopping Reala, one that requires using a lullaby. Will their plan actually work?

May The Best Singer Win: When Haoyu drinks a potion that gives him incredible singing ability, he soon finds himself having tough competition with jealous singers.

Wizeman's "Perfect" Date: Wizeman reluctantly tries his hand at dating a dream goddess. Things don't go well as not only do their personalities clash, but the goddess becomes motherly towards his Nightmarens.

I Accidentally Shrunk The Maestros!: Cal's attempt of performing a magic spell goes awry as he accidentally shrinks the maestros to the size of action figures. Can the group find a way to reverse the spell?

Dear Diary: Iben's diary suddenly goes missing. Will she be able to find it before someone reads her personal thoughts?

NiGHTS's Day Out: NiGHTS decides to go explore the Waking World. But a certain Nightmaren General has something to say about it.

(Not) Feline Friendly: Cass's new pet sitter doesn't seem so fond of cats. And it's quite obvious that her cat doesn't like the pet sitter…

Beneath The Surface: Fiona is strangely forbidden from swimming in a certain ocean all because it's "dangerous". Surely, nothing's lurking there, right?

(Don't) Let It Grow!: Jose discovers strange seeds in his farm and decides to plant them. Unaware of the fact that Balan got rid of them for a good reason…

What do you guys think of these?

[mamadoc]

1, 2, 3, 34, 37, 40, 48, 49

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

My two long multi-chapters have taken most of my writing time (and I love them), but I actually really love the first series I ever wrote, *Sense* You Know Me So Well. The second chapter of this series and the second chapter of its sequel are the two that I am most proud of. They just feel very authentic and have deep feelings.

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

I'm not great at tagging apparently or my stories are all quite different. My only tag that I've used more than once was 'Alternate Universe,' which makes since given that 3 of my 6 are AUs.

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

I really enjoy awkwardness. Perhaps that speaks to my own romantic history (haha), but I feel like I write awkward romantic scenes well. I love reading sexual tension; that's easily my favorite. But I guess I'll have to work on my skills in writing it.

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

Hmmm... Not much. I'm a doctor with 4 young kids who's been married for 18 years. Reeeeally doesn't match much of what I write. But I do have a couple ideas for short stories that would use a little bit more of my medical expertise.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

I really love the story in chapter 2 of my *Sense* You Know Me So Well, Too series. Tim and Lucy are in the middle of the pining/not talking stage when Tim's dad dies. He doesn't deal with it well, and Lucy is the only one that can get through to him.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50613028

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

I reread my favorites for sure. Plus One by murphallo, Little Green by MeadowWard, Darling Let's Run by mooncpd, Unless It Is by adina_rachelle (@makeitastrength) are all favorites I've read at least two times each. But there are so many good stories out there (I think I have 60 tabs open of stories I want to read on my phone) that I don't reread often.

48. What’s the last fic you read? Do you recommend it?

The Loophole by The Chandom. Amazing story. I highly recommend it.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

I'm working on chapter 17 of my Catch of a Lifetime story. Theoretically I was going to have it ready to post this weekend, but.... life.

When Lucy left the locker room on Sunday morning, Captain Andersen called her into her office.

“Good morning, Captain.  How can I help you?”

“First, I was happy to see you on the tabloid sites this morning,” she said with a smile.

Lucy furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to speak, but Captain Andersen put up her hand to indicate that she wasn’t done speaking yet.

“Not that I think that’s good journalism or that your privacy should be invaded like that,” she clarified.  “But I’m a bit of a romantic at heart, and I had a good feeling about you and Bradford from the moment I saw you two together. Even with the fuzzy photos that were taken, it’s obvious that you were happy to be with him last night.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lucy said, her cheeks suddenly a fiery red, unsure if it was the right time to discuss personal matters like this.  “I am happy, ma’am.  Thank you,” she said with a small smile. She thought for a moment and then asked, “You look at the tabloids ma’am?”

Captain Andersen laughed. “Not usually. But the LAPD’s tech force keeps tabs on all the sources of news that they can. Usually they’re looking for criminal activity, but the posts about you and Mr. Bradford were a nice bonus.  I got an email this morning with all the links.”

“Oh.  That makes more sense,” Lucy said nodding her head.

“Well,” she started.  She shuffled some papers around on her desk and then looked up at Lucy. “That’s not exactly why I called you in. I have an assignment for you today, if you’re up for it.  It’s not exactly undercover work, and it’s not exactly an internal affairs investigation, but it’s a little bit of both.” 

Lucy was intrigued.  She tried to quickly put the other conversation behind her and smiled at the captain.  “Nice hook.  I’m totally in.  What’s going on?” She leaned her arms on her duty belt and focused on the captain.

“Close the door and take a seat,” she said, waving toward the door and walking around to the front of her desk.

Thanks for asking! I love your stories.

[my-makeshift-masquerade]

sry i love the idea of survivor bti rebecca so much cuz just imagine for a sec some drabble that starts off similar to a springtrap x reader fic like frighteningly intriguing or smthn but instead of romance its like “the fuck thats my dad” it would be so hilarious

Ohoho. Hoh. Y’all really just like my shit mashed together with other people’s universes huh? This definitely got me thinking though because @glitchysquidd’s notebook pages are quite compelling… After reading what I could of it to get an idea, this is going to be far from hilarious. It is going to be god awful, especially since poor Rebecca in this blurry fnaf timeline is still technically a minor. I hope the original creator of Frighteningly Intriguing does get a kick out of this though. Your stuff is a very fun read and I worked hard to make this even remotely comparable.

No read more because tumblr is glitching my text when I use it. Trigger warnings for autism meltdowns, flashbacks, trauma, and the obvious mentions of death. Let’s go…

It All Comes Back to Haunt You

“Ugh…”

A teenage girl groaned as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket again. Micheal would not leave her the hell alone. She had spoken with Tim and Samantha already. They seemed more excited about her “past experience” with the animatronics than anything else. Her brother was supposed to take the job, but after a horrible amount of hallucinations he got just entering the building, she volunteered. He was not happy about it, but Henry wouldn’t let him go back until he recovered.

She had one night to actually be able to do something besides sit at home and hope the rest of her loved ones didn’t die horribly. This was her chance to prove herself in a sense. The Afton name followed her even after witness protection tried to erase it from her records. Her classmates knew who her father was. Of course they did. There was a whole fanbase of people who idolized him. Others stuck to throwing cafeteria food at her and telling her she should’ve died by her father’s hand and joined the rest of them.

She couldn’t say she disagreed…

Looking over the note left for her, she wandered around the empty horror attraction, searching for the other employee she was meeting up with. A couple of her peers wanted to trick her into coming to this place on halloween to cause her to have flashbacks. She heard their plans while eating lunch one day. What’s weird is she didn’t feel like she was reliving past trauma at all. The animatronics she just stumbled upon, the old models… Those were her friends… Hell, one of them was her own brother. They saved her life that night…

The teen didn’t flinch when Freddy’s head moved a bit, dead eyes sparking in recognition. Instead she just mumbled awkwardly, “H-hi, Gabe… I uh… hope everyone’s been doing alright… I’ll come see you later, o-okay…?”

“Let us sleep…” A ghostly child’s voice grumbled tiredly.

“S-sorry, guys…”

She didn’t argue, slowly shutting the door and continuing her search, soon overhearing faint conversation. Rebecca felt Micheal blowing up her phone again, and finally looked.

“Is his workshop still there? Henry wants to know if you could snap some pictures of blueprints.”

That was a good question, and she just stumbled upon the answer. Why was it wide open? Maybe her employers found it? Yeah, she’d go with that. The room was like a time capsule, mesmerizing her in an encompassing nostalgia. She remembered playing in this room so much as a little girl… Her father used to sit right here with her on his lap and she’d scribble on his scrap paper—

No. No no no. No diving into the past. Pulling out her phone, she snapped a few pics and tried to leave. The familiar head of a yellow rabbit lying against the wall froze her solid. Maybe she had underestimated the amount of trauma this task would bring back… Oh God… Was that her brother’s picture, and the address written after the bite? Her heart was starting to hurt more than her head…

“Who’s there?!”

A voice made her jump, putting down papers she was sifting through. A slightly beat up figure approached.

“Listen, don’t make me call the police, kid—“

Rebecca handed over the note, noticing the other person squint tiredly.

“You’re the one they hired to shadow me? You’re a little young.”

She nodded, “I-I’m Rebecca. My uh… my brother couldn’t make it…”

“Fine…” Her new coworker didn’t seem too thrilled for some reason, “Come on. I guess you gotta meet Dave.”

“Dave?” Rebecca echoed in bewilderment, “I thought they said we were the only two employees he—“

“Dave’s not an employee. He’s kinda scary. Smells awful. Walking biohazard. Still, he’s pretty cool.”

What the fuck were they talking about? If this “Dave” wasn’t a staff member then— Did they mean an animatronic they named Dave for comedic effect?

Then she saw it. The head peeking from around the distant corner down the hall… The head of the other Spring Bonnie suit. The same one she watched springlock her father when she was six, while she was on the ground with a knife in her body. She froze, feeling her heart drop to her feet.

“W-what the hell is that?!”

“That’s Dave...” Her mysterious coworker shrugged, “No need to actually be scared of him. He’s…relatively harmless…”

Rebecca knew for a fact his name wasn’t Dave. Her dad was just as bad at coming up with fake names to hide his identity as Micheal was. God, if she ever made it home, Henry and Mikey would not be happy to hear William Afton was back. This poor innocent person had no idea who they were dealing with! What should she say? Could she say something?!

Nope… She was in full meltdown mode now, totally mute. The teen felt her mind leave the current moment and rewind back years in the past. Her mother had convinced her she made up her family outside of herself and Micheal… She didn’t even recognize William as her father until he forced her to look at the suit that jogged her memory. He held her and told her he loved her, before a sharp pain pierced her back. She recalled seeing the ghosts of the children and the puppet standing between them… Then the springlocks went off. His screams haunted her as she passed out.

After that… It was a long stay at the hospital, which made her remember the siblings she was told she made up all the more… Loads of therapy later, she was staying with Micheal and Henry trying to repair her life to some form of normalcy without her mother… The best thing her father did was set her free from her mother, but that was besides the point. All the while the traumatic experience became the talk of the world, it seemed. True crime podcasts, news reports, so many fans of the franchise trying to find her and ask her about her experiences…

This was all some spooky story to the rest of the world, and this hooky horror attraction all but proved it. It was all fun and games until your siblings died and your father comforted you as he stabbed you in the back both figuratively and literally. Of course…

When she finally grounded herself, she nearly lost all the air in her lungs as she realized he was now a foot away from her.

“Dave! Personal space! Can’t you see she’s freaked out?!” Her coworker was starting to get concerned.

The animatronic rabbit rolled his eyes, all but confirming to Rebecca this was definitely still her dad. He was the type to scoff at anyone giving him advice in such a situation. His dead eyes almost seemed concerned when he shifted his gaze to her. That terrified her further. The last time he looked concerned for her was when she got stabbed.

“Hey hey…” The other employee spoke slightly softer, “Dude all the color is gone from your face… Here, sit down… Try to breathe… I’m gonna grab you some water…”

WAIT.

NO.

DON’T LEAVE HER ALONE WITH—

Her phone was buzzing like crazy. She didn’t dare take it out. She couldn’t. Trying to breathe, she gasped and choked on air as “Dave” sat down next to her, far too casually. This was painful. Was he trying to give her cardiac arrest?!

He was totally silent, besides the sounds of his joints ticking and popping unnaturally with his movements. It occurred to her with the stench that his body was still in there, making her gag. Her attempts to catch her breath were the loudest sounds for a few moments. It was almost calm… until she felt a hand on her back.

She would have screamed if she had any voice to scream with. Instead, the teen stiffened at the feeling of his hand feeling over her shirt, clearly noticing the slight bump of the scar she had down her back from his own actions. His eyes almost lit up at that, whether in a positive or negative way she had no idea. It seemed he was surprised she didn’t pull away. It was because she couldn’t due to paralyzing terror.

“S-stop pretending already…” She stammered, “I-if you want to finish it… J-just—“

His ears drooped slightly, and he almost sighed…?

What was up with him?! He wouldn’t even say a single word to her after all of what he put her through?! Wait… Could he even talk?

Footsteps made Rebecca relax a bit as her coworker had returned with water. She grabbed their arm to be helped up, and eagerly created space between herself and the figure sitting next to her. She pulled out her phone and with trembling hands found herself not texting her brother or Henry for help. She just left them on read. As much as she wanted to believe her own father was safe, it could seal her doom like it did before. She knew not to underestimate him, but she didn’t want to be a coward…

She was also worried about this other person who had no idea what they were up against. This was no time to fear the results of her actions. This was potentially another life on the line. She typed on the notes app on her phone and showed it to her coworker.

“I can’t talk right now, but please listen to me. Dave isn’t his name. He’s lying.”

“What? How would you know his name? You just got here.” They scoffed, almost playfully, obviously not taking her seriously, “I think you’re still in shock, dude…”

She could feel her father’s eyes on her even without looking up from the screen. As much therapy as she went through and as much as she knew her father did terrible things, she couldn’t help but feel guilty for doing anything to harm him. It was still her father, after all… Is it bad she missed him? After remembering all the things her mother told her were her imagination filling in loneliness from her autism… Was it bad she wanted her whole family back?

She was jolted out of her feelings when Henry tried calling her, but she pressed decline. This happened about three more times with Micheal’s number within the next two minutes.

“Yeesh…” Her new acquaintance commented jokingly, “Family won’t get off your back, huh? I don’t miss being your age, that’s for sure. Nobody thinks you’re capable of anything.”

Finally, a text from Mikey sealed her fate for the night and any future nights.

“That’s it. I’m coming to get you.”

She spat out the water she sipped, confused at why she was upset Micheal was coming to save her… Well… Rebecca still felt like she didn’t deserve to be saved the first time, so… Maybe it was that with her dad still here, she was finally hoping for this nightmare to end how it should have back then? She should’ve died. That was all she ever heard from doctors and police and kids at school… Yet she continued on living… She couldn’t count how many times people who knew who she was related to expected her to “snap” just like her parents.

As much as she loved Micheal and Henry for supporting her, she felt like she dragged them down by not being able to hate her father’s guts like they did. She was so young when it happened. Her mind was so cloudy on whether he actually cared in those moments or not. It was so confusing… Her mother’s gaslighting made it difficult enough without finding out her father was real and a serial killer. Then there was the matter of how just before she was born this whole mess started…

What did she do wrong to make her happy family fall apart before her very eyes…? Should she have been born at all…? Was she the one to blame for all of this? Of course. Who else would it be…? All those kids who died… Her mother being killed while baking her birthday cake because she just had to go see the animatronics she was banned from seeing that day with Mr. Emily… This all wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been what he was after… It was all her fault. She knew it deep down, too…

“Shit… A-Are you crying…?” The voice of the adult beside her sounded worried, “Was it something I said— DAVE! YOU ARE NOT FUCKING HELPING!”

The rabbit stiffened at being screamed at, but still stood up and approached. Before anyone could stop him, he hugged this seemingly random teenager in a manner uncharacteristic to his entire personality.

“What the hell’s gotten into y—“

Rebecca’s eyes shot open wide, as she began shivering and losing strength in her feet. She was prepared for the pain of the knife…a springlock mechanism… something to impale her and leave her bleeding out on the grimy floors, like just another prop in this haunted house built around her trauma.

…Yet nothing came. No stabbing, no blood coughed out of her mouth... This wasn’t like before. This was…just a hug? A…real one? From him?! She finally looked up at the masked face, silently demanding some sort of answer behind the whirlwind of emotion she was trapped in. He didn’t say a word, looking down at her and daintily moving some hair out of her eyes. His hold on her was careful, but also possessive. He wanted to keep her close to him for as long as he could…

Eventually the third figure pried her out of the rabbit’s steel grip, much to his upset as he stomped his foot to make a loud thud echo down the hallway. Her phone vibrated. Rebecca knew her brother was waiting outside, and would rather not have him break in to see this. She slowly turned to the door, shaken and shocked by what had unfolded. She almost wanted to go back to hug him one last time. No way she would be allowed back once Micheal and Henry found out…

“My rides here… They want me to come home. My brother is gonna come instead. He just needed someone else to cover for one night…”

She showed the phone mainly to the other person, but her father did see what it said and nodded solemnly, much to her surprise.

Springtrap followed them to the doorway as much as he could without being seen, and watched as his more recently met friend sent off the teen, who ended up running straight to a hooded figure. Micheal was taking care of her at least… He could overhear the conversation.

“She had a panic attack or something when she saw one of the animatronics in the attraction.” The employee’s voice sounded confused, but also slightly dismissive, “Probably just a little spook.”

“Thanks for looking out for her.” Micheal replied, “Can I ask which one of them it was?”

“J-just Bonnie.” Rebecca piped up suddenly.

Wait. Did his daughter just cover for him… or was she scared of Micheal’s reaction to finding out he was still here…?

William felt like it was both, but that included the former, and that nearly melted his dead metal heart. God, of course she still cared about him. She was too young to actually have the capacity to hate him for what he’d done to her back then. She was the youngest child he ever attempted killing. This wasn’t supposed to end like this for her… It stung seeing her still impacted by it after all these years. This wasn’t supposed to be her fate.

He wished he had gotten the job done on the night of her sixth birthday, if only to spare her from this haunting her for the rest of her life.

After the pair of siblings left, the only words that came next were:

“Dave, what the flying fuck was that?”

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Saturday wonderful fandom :) Ahhh the next in the line of goodies to come. This one doesn’t have a ton for them but doesn’t mean there isn’t absolute gems in it. So it'll be a littler shorter than the last one ha Also Aaron is amazingly hilarious in this episode. I love him to death. Let us get started.

5x09 Take Back

We start off with Tim being Watch Commander while Grey is miserable in NYC ha Things get immediately awkward when Chris arrives. Still clueless as ever asking Tim of all people about Lucy’s taste in houses. I mean if you don’t know her taste at this point should you really be buying a house together? Tim looks intrigued when he says he needs his opinion then it gets so awkward when it's about a house...

Tim is so very uncomfortable when he asks his opinion. Knowing this is going NOWHERE for Chris. I’ll never forget this hilarious post I saw about this scene after it premiered. I couldn't find it this time around. Had the lyrics from anti-hero by Taylor swift. ‘It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem it’s me.’ You ain’t ever getting that house with her because of that man sitting there LOL Idk why that post made me laugh so hard but it did. It stuck with me clearly haha

It’s so very weird Chris comes to Tim for this. It's obvious he knows Tim knows her the best. Crazy to me he's not threatened at all by that fact. Clearly he isn’t if he’s coming to Tim for advice. Blows my mind how blind he is. Lucy comes in asking what they’re talking about? Chris tells her he found THE house. Lucy looking as uncomfortable as ever at this news. Saying he's going to call the realtor and call her later. Lucy's high pitched 'I can't wait...' Couldn't be more awkward if she tried.

He gives her a kiss on the cheek and leaves. Tim giving that good ole fake Sanford smile when he does. Tim's face crack me up. Like he stole your girl and you have no idea you putz heh Also just so on brand for Chris to not see how uncomfortable Lucy was. He’s been blind their entire relationship It’s unreal. You can also see how much Tim hates seeing him kiss her. Even if it’s on the cheek.

It’s almost a grimace really as he watches it. Probably thinking of all the ways he could easily kick his scrawny ass haha That fake smile begging for Chris to leave the room so this awkwardness can pass. How Chris doesn’t pick up on either of these vibes I don't know. But then we call him the clueless clown for a reason don’t we?

Lucy doesn’t look comfortable till Chris leaves the office. Tim asking 'How the breakup is going?' HA Cleary it's going well Timothy...Lucy tells him she’s in the planning stages. Just reviewing the literature. Classic Lucy response. Wanting to plan this out completely before pursuing it. Tim telling her a psychology journal isn’t going to tell her how to break up with Chris. I mean he's not wrong.... It's just a bandaid you have to rip off even if its uncomfortable as hell.

He’s so matter of fact with his wording. Using a sports metaphor to explain how she should do it. Makes me wonder if he's actually done this before? Ha She’s adorable in her reply of saying ‘Playbill?’ She truly has no idea what he’s talking about. It’s too funny. It's comical really Tim giving her advice on how to break up with Chris. So you know he can date her haha

Tim has been very patient in all this but you can see him getting a little antsy about it. It is interesting how full circle this moment is. He set them up in 4x12 and now he’s ready to help break them down in this 5x09. Tim is just so ready for Lucy to do this cause he’s anxiously waiting to be with her. It’s pretty damn cute if you ask me. He’s trying to be patient but also is like can we hurry this along a bit?

Lucy says that’s too cruel she wants to handle it her way. No matter how this goes down Chris is going to be hurt though. It's how breakups go there is alway someone who walks away more upset about it. Her empathy taking the front seat in this decision. Where Tim just wants her to rip the bandaid off. Get this over with ASAP.

This is where we see little bit of Tim’s self doubt kick in. It's written all over his face when he asks her if she's having doubts? Worried she’s delaying this because she is having second thoughts about him. About them. Lucy immediately squashes his anxiety with her reply. Shooting massive heart eyes his way as well. She wants Tim to know she’s all in just like he is. That there is nothing for him to worry about.

I love how sure Lucy looks when she tells him 'No, I'm not'. She is so certain this is what she wants. Needs him to know this as well. Not a doubt in her mind about this whole thing. She just has stuff to work out with this breakup first. The certainty in her eyes is everything. Nothing makes more sense to her in this moment than him.

That confidence of hers is why Tim relaxes the way he does above. His whole body draining of the tension he was carrying. His cute smile saying ‘Good.’ Could this man be more of a soft puppy for her? Look at him. That hope and excitement back in his eyes. Lucy replying in kind with her own 'In love 'gaze. They’re both all in and it makes my heart very happy. Also they’re having a full on flirt session in Grey’s office for everyone to see.

I adore Tim being so open and vulnerable in this scene. Making sure she wasn’t backing out. The same Tim who couldn’t communicate in his other relationships to save his life. But with this he is checking in with her. Letting Lucy know his stress about her not breaking up with Chris yet. Lucy assuages his worries instantly. When it’s the right one the harder stuff seems a little easier. More natural. Lucy sensed that panic and instantly calms him with her words and heart eyes. Gah so good. Look at these idiots in love. I just adore them so very much.

This next scene with Aaron is pure gold. I love him so much he cracks me up. Never expected him to be as funny as he is. He notes how quiet she is being and is asking what's going on? Lucy letting him know she needs to break up with Chris. First off like to say we are all Aaron when he says ‘Finally.’ To her breaking up with Chris. Yesssss and Hallelujah finally breaking up with the clown. Nails it even further when he says Chris was never on her level. I mean yeah he never was. Not ever.

Aaron is speaking for the whole Chenford fandom in this moment LOL Chris had nine lives with her and they've finally run out. Aaron's reaction is the best part of this scene. I love that he knew where Lucy's heart was and it obviously wasn't with Chris. He knows it’s with Tim 100 percent. Like most people in their world do. Tim is her equal in so many ways it’s insane. Chris could never compare as Lucy figured out last ep.

Aaron tells her they can practice her breaking up with him. So it’s much easier when the time comes. It’s not a bad idea tbh. This is where it gets hilarious. Lucy brings up them looking at houses. Aaron kinda judging her for letting get as far as looking at houses. Telling her 'Yikes....' HA Tell us how you really feel my man. Lucy reprimanding him saying that is not helpful....Oh Aaron I love you so very much.

Lucy starts her speech trying to find her footing in what she is trying to say. She looks over at Aaron in the middle of it and see he is crying. lol If you didn't laugh at this scene you're dead inside. It's so damn funny. Lucy asking him WTF he is doing? Aaron telling her he is channeling Chris's pain LMFAO I mean he's not wrong she had to be prepared for an emotional response. It's just the way he went about this that is so hysterical. He is having way too much fun with this.

Telling her they should do angry next. I'm rolling. Lucy is doing some channeling of her own. She is channeling her man in this scene. It’s so funny. So aggravated with his role playing in this. Wondering why she asked for his advice in the first place? hahaha They then get a call about a 'Navi'. Lucy is so confused. Aaron geeks out and says it's from Avatar. Tells Lucy she should ask if it’s full grown. The look she gives she is channeling her husband again so much. ‘Aaron, it’s a fictional character...’ LMAO

I really love this ending scene with them. Aaron wants to do one more practice run with her. Lucy tells him she doesn’t need it. (Oh but you do....) That she’s just going to go with her gut on this one. It sounds like a solid idea in the moment but it's honestly the worst thing to wing it. Especially when it's something this intense.

When something is this emotional the right words tend not to just come to you IMO. They sure don't for me. I love him being brutally honest with her about it LOL Saying it’s a terrible idea. That he likes the sentiment but this isn't going to end well. I mean he’s not wrong as we will see here in a bit. Lucy once again channeling Tim in this moment. Cutting him off from saying anything else and just tells him good night haha

We get to the breakup scene we’ve all been waiting for. Lucy is bumbling and awkward. Not knowing where to start. Chris once again blind as a bat. He has no idea why she’s acting this way. Lucy curses Aaron for being right about this moment. Saying she should practiced more LOL I adore her panicking and defaulting to Tim’s playbook advice haha idk what’s funnier that or her being shocked Chris knows what she means by saying that.

All that prep and thinking this out and she went with her man’s advice on how to end this. This makes me giddy to no end. I bet you it’s cause Tim was on her mind from the minute Chris entered the apartment. My guess is that is part of the reason she fell back on his advice. Literally the most Lucy Chen thing ever to use it then be surprised Chris knew what she meant. I love her sfm haha

Chris stumbles around shocked as hell she’s breaking up with him. He seems so very blindsided by the whole thing. I mean if the man opened his eyes for once he wouldn’t be that shocked…But this Chris we are talking about. Lucy tries to get him to talk to her more. Saying they should sit down and talk this out. Chris just bails not wanting to talk at all. Not wanting to fight for her at all. Just takes off like a child who didn't get what he wanted.

Now I’m ok with this. Obviously we all are. Just goes to show you Tim was willing to fight for her and Chris wasn’t in the end. Lucy said it was over and he just left. I mean he wasn’t wrong there isn’t much to talk about out. She doesn’t love him. But still no fight in him at all after Lucy does this. Just folds like a cheap suit. A clueless clown from beginning to end...

We’ve reached the scene of the ep that made us all swoon and squee. I remember feeling so anxious to get to this scene. I had to re-watch the episode to truly appreciate it all. I was too antsy to get back to them sharing a screen. I was so damn giddy this was the place we were in. They spent the majority of this episode apart. So all I could focus on was her coming back to him in this moment.

I adore Lucy coming back into the station to talk about the breakup right away. Needing to share this news with him as soon as she could. I love that she returned to work just to tell him about this. So anxious to get back to Tim after it was done. Lucy wanted him to know as soon as she could it was over with Chris. Knowing he was just as anxious as she was about the breakup. It's sweet how he tentatively approaches her when she says why she is back.

He wants to be understanding about it. Seeing if she wants to talk about it more. Doesn't just want to jump the gun and bulldoze her feelings about the matter. Lucy isn't there to chat about that though. She wants to cash in on him asking her out. Because she couldn’t wait another second without him asking her out again. They're both so damn nervous and sweet in this scene. Fidgety and excited about the prospect of their future. Lucy messing with her hands the entire time as she explains the breakup. Tim keeping his distance while she explains it.

Gah I love her fidgeting near her ring as she approaches Tim. Anxiously awaiting for him to ask her out again. Lucy’s nervous way of reminding him to ask her again like they decided. How she looks into the bullpen before approaching Tim. Saying ‘So…’ He looks nervously excited by her doing this. Eric the king of expressions strikes again. The way his eyes go to check the bullpen as well before refocusing on her. He isn't sure what she is going to do in this moment.

The entire station can see into this office. He looks so friggin cute in his nervousness. I love that that she makes him nervous like this it's so adorable. Lucy gains her confidence and looks him directly in the eye flirty as can be. Asking him if there's something he wants to ask her? The whole purpose of her returning to work is to secure their date. Telling him about the breakup was the catalyst yes. But truly she was wanting to hear him ask her out again.

Tim see's her confidence and starts shaking off his own nerves. Replying in a sassy manner. Their banter the undercurrent of this moment going forward. Fueling them with the courage to say what they want to. Tim can't help being playful and sassy with her replying ‘I can’t remember.’ Doing that cute smirk of his that I love so very much. Wanting to push her buttons a little because well it's Tim.

Lucy is affectionately violent in her reply haha Look at her she is beaming with adoration. She loves this goober in front of her so very much. ‘Don't make me hurt you.’ Because she would legit hurt him if she had to in this moment haha I saw a funny parallel from this to her ripping that tape off in 4x07. She'll do it Timothy LOL Don't test your girl.

I love how he gets serious after she says this. It's the way he slowly moves towards her. That intent look on his face in the first one. *fans self* gah. Then in the second one the way he melts for her. In a way only Lucy gets to see. Asking with as much giddiness and excitement as I ever seen in this man. "Do you wanna go out on a date? Look at this puppy of a man. He is beyond excited to ask her this question again. Knowing now he will get a yes with no stipulations this time around. There is still a little nervous hesitation in his delivery which is precious.

Lucy is bursting at the seams with absolute giddiness when she replies ‘Yeah. I do.’ So happy he's asked her again. How one looks when the man they love asks them out. There’s so much to love about this scene. He’s asking her out in the Watch Commanders office. I love that sfm. Both ecstatic they’re finally going on a date with nothing holding them back now. They’re at work and have to restrain themselves from being too obvious. Which you know they suck at heh

My god anyone looking in on them in that last gif could see how in love these two are. They're so excited just to be around each other right now. The way they’re just standing there looking into each other’s eyes with the dopiest in love smiles. I cannot. I remember thinking the break was gonna take forever to get through. What a time to be alive watching this the first time I remember. LOL

~~~

Side notes -non Chenford

Is it just me or does John have more chemistry with Genny than he does Bailey? Thought I’ve always had from this ep. Probably just me but I always thought they had solid chemistry.

Greys have a ROUGH SL in NYC.

Celina also has a hard time in the ep. With their suspect dying in custody. She has a tough rookie year.

[greatfay]

Wednesday: my thoughts

Ok, I watched Wednesday. And I liked it enough to pick it apart like string cheese.

The Good

Overall, a Scooby Doo-style supernatural teen murder mystery revolving around the iconic Wednesday Addams is a genius idea in theory, and turns out, not too shabby in execution. Watching this genuinely made me think “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina could’ve been this if it was made by someone who isn’t Roberto Aguirre Sacasa” because, turns out, this can work! It is aesthetically pleasing, the pacing is solid until it sags in the middle, and the casting choice are almost 10/10.

Jenna Ortega carries this show. She said “I am Wednesday” and we said yes ma’am, essays have been written about how great this performance is and I can contribute nothing new to it. I will add that Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams is such a brilliant casting choice that I can’t believe I never thought of it, she nailed the role and managed to still make it her own by adding layers of glamorous poise and dreaminess to her character. Luis Guzman as Gomez was also perfect, especially paired with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jenna Ortega. He has a genuine warmth to his screen presence that sells the whole point of Gomez as a character: a loving father and husband who is as supportive and generous as he is suave and debonaire. Gwendoline Christie is, as usual, having the time of her life as whatever character she plays, and Joy Sunday I think nailed her character to fit that archetype while still matching the tone of the show (something not everyone could do).

In general, I felt like the show runners knew that Wednesday herself was written so well that all they had to do was put her front and center and let that do most of the work, taking its time to establish her before introducing the Mystery, and I have to hand it to Tim Burton given the flops he’s delivered the past 15 years.

The explicit, canon Mexican-American heritage of Gomez and his children felt so natural and obvious. Like it’s one thing to have a Spanish or Latino actor play Gomez, it’s another for that ancestry, specifically Mexican ancestry and the displacement and trauma of experiencing colonization, to play a role in worldbuilding and characterization. It didn’t feel like it was just there for flavor.

The Bad

Convoluted Plot: The plot was doing fine until we got a double fakeout on the monster reveal that everyone could see coming a mile away, on top of overcomplicating the politics of Colonial Jericho and its relationship with “normies vs. outcasts.” I don’t know why Joseph Crackstone was leading the charge against outcasts (and Native Americans) to steal their land on the principle that they’re “abominations in the eyes of God” but at the same time, this guy is a fucking dark sorcerer. He’s doing Saurumon moves and there’s NO explanation, like what difference is there between him telekinetically tossing people around and girls like Wednesday having visions? Make it make sense. And like, the revenge plot: “I waited all this time to find a rare monster I can control to collect body parts and also the blood of the descendent of the witch who sealed my ancestor with blood magic so I could resurrect him with dark magic and then finally get our family’s revenge on the outcasts” girl please, please! MESS. We we were doing fine until then! And Wednesday’s revival via her necklace/talisman was such a cop out. Anyway...

Love Triangle: They really dug up the most boring, basic white boys to be love interests for Wednesday. Lbr she didn’t need love interests, and especially not two basic white boys! But if they had to... if it was in their contract or something that Netflix required a damn hetty het love triangle, there’s a way this could’ve been written to make me not eyeroll. Xavier was introduced in the pilot as the It Boy, that Dick-Slinger, the Resident Hottie™, and then spends the rest of the show swinging back and forth between “devilmaycare James Dean stand-in” and “whiny lil bitch.” Mind you he had every right to be pissed that Wednesday only asked him to the dance as a cover-up, sure, but I wouldn’t have written that. Wouldn’t have written the damn love triangle to begin with, but if they said “Write this love triangle between the two white boys or we kick your dog” what I would have done is write Xavier as a clever, mischievous little James Dean, slashed the daddy issues because that’s the other basic white boy love interest’s primary character trait, and made him way more savvy to Wednesday’s antics. She’s a force of nature; you can’t pair her up with a little rain cloud, the least a basic white boy could do is have some gale force wind charisma!! The moment she did that whole fake asking-out thing, he could’ve been like “So you’ve been desperately, madly in love with me this whole time? And here I thought you were sneaking around my private studio, looking for clues *winks* I’ll pick you up at 8, Velma. Dress like you’re in mourning.” Because that characterization would’ve made Xavier a better foil to Wednesday, and a bigger threat when she still suspected him of being the monster since he’s too clever to be manipulated. And Tyler! Boy has daddy issues and mommy issues?? Honeyyyyy. His character could still be the unassuming normie, but again, the best love interests are foils in some way. If he’d been written and portrayed as unfailingly cheery but introverted, and just unabashedly charmed by Wednesday’s morbid interests, I would’ve liked him more. Like, give me a country boy who’s got “good ole fashioned American values” which means of course he’s giving you a ride home, it’s late and dangerous, of course he remembered you mentioning your favorite book, Mama said you should give a lady your full attention when she speaks. And that leads me to my next gripe:

The Hyde reveal: when the Hyde was introduced in the plot, it was describe as a poorly understood, and under-researched member of the Outcast community. The big question was whether it was in a Hyde’s nature to be violent and cruel, if they are conscious of their actions, or if they are victims to a transformation they can’t control (which is a bit weird in a world where werewolves also exist, but they control their transformations and are relatively harmless). The moment we got that “How does it feel... to lose?” line, I was like noooo. NO. In my version of this show, Tyler is truly a cheery, all-smiles sweetheart who doesn’t blink when Wednesday brings up her pet scorpion, and instead asks “What was their name?” And it makes it more gut-wrenching and has way more narrative weight if Tyler isn’t in control of his transformations and has no idea he’s under someone’s spell, because then all the vindication Wednesday gets from solving the mystery gets slashed when it comes at the cost of a friend’s freedom and wellbeing.

The Antagonists: Obviously Christina Ricci was playing the Big Important Character. I knew it was her, I knew it I knew it. That’s fine. I liked her portrayal throughout the show, I do think her character lost narrative power in the last two episodes. I’m not a fan of when the Big Bad Guy gets replaced by a Bigger Bad Guy when the first Big Bad Guy had way more screen time dedicated to their buildup and character motives. Then there’s the sheriff, who frustrated me from Day One. Literally a jerkass from start-to-finish. The reveal that he knew his wife was a Hyde and suspected his son to be one too this whole time made his whole “I will get justice” shtick so fucking annoying, like you hypocritical bigot, you know who’s clawing mfers up left and right and he just ate the last of the fucking Cheerios in your fridge. Bianca as the first Arc Villain was great because I just can’t help but like a competent mean girl, especially when she’s not actually that mean, and the Principal was a good antagonist and obstacle for Wednesday. Do wish she was written to be a bit more savvy.

In my version of this show, the moment Wednesday was like “It’s Thornhill!” we would’ve had a quick transition to a close-up of Thornhill tapping her nails on the rail as she glides down the stairs in her greenhouse to the tune of “Back to Black” (to parallel Wednesday playing “Paint It Black”) as she’s legit jamming, like she’s shimmying and dancing her way down the stairs and having a good ass time, tossing off her polka dot jacket to reveal a black floral flowy top (the flowers will obviously be night shade), she pulls off her wig to reveal Amy Lee-style dark locks, and she is just living in her villainy. Her motivations will no longer be “the outcasts are why my family is dead, even though we’ve been harboring hatred for them since the 1600s” instead it’s “my family’s vendetta cost me a life of luxury and fortune and wealth” (because in this version, they would’ve lost the house due to her father’s alcoholism and gambling) “and I don’t actually give a damn about outcasts or normies, I just want to run the property values into the ground and set the world on fire. Whatever survives in the ashes, it belongs to me.” WE NEEDED A BAD BITCH. We needed someone who, in the end, is a strong parallel to Wednesday on the surface: a fascination with the macabre, a penchant for violence, deeply cunning and curious. But then the difference between them is that Thornhill is actually good at reading others’ emotions despite seeing everyone as disposable, while Wednesday is highly aware of emotional dissonance with her peers and family and the thought that she’s missing out on something causes her distress. This in turn could’ve been a deeper metaphor for the ease in which those who live in privilege and luxury can dehumanize others (Thornhill) vs those who are just straight up autistic and are thus othered and demonized for not conforming to or understanding social norms (Wednesday). Oh btw Wednesday is autistic, I don’t make the rules.

Anyway, in my version, when Wednesday confronts Thornhill, she gets away by smashing a vial of some smoky acid or something on the ground and gets away, but Wednesday chases after her while Principal Lady is coughing because it’s poison. Wednesday gets caught, blah blah blah, and instead of her coming back to life by absorbing her ancestor’s ghost, the Principal shows up and pours some of her blood into Wednesday’s wounds because shapeshifter-blood=healing, before succumbing to her own injuries and dying. That ^ could be planted earlier in the story with a quick flashback in episode 4(?) after Wednesday has tried to figure out why the Principal would cover up Rowan’s death and where this new “Rowan” actually went, and the Principal is being cagey, we could get a line like “I would do anything for my students. You’ve no idea.” And then a quick shot of her kneeling over Rowan’s lifeless body, weeping as she pours blood from her hand into his mouth and muttering “Come on, come on Rowan, wake up” then quick shot back to the office where the Principal is just cool and composed, refusing to give answers. Anyway, her saving Wednesday will have more to do with her genuine care plus her guilt for her part in having her father charged for murder, which won’t be because of a jealousy romance thing (which is so dry and tired) and will instead be due to her ambition and wanting to remove Morticia from the running of something important (like an internship at the New England Society of Necromancer’s Salem Branch or something).

The Ugly

Racism: Everyone’s tired of hearing about it, well I’m tired of talking about it. Tim Burton does not have a good history with race in his works. I, personally, don’t care if he never has black people in his works. If representation is handled with “colorblindness” or spite, I don’t want it. This situation had more of the former. If you don’t understand the context of how race relations work in the real world with your audience, it’s going to come out clumsy and jarring. Seeing a black boy dressed in a pilgrim costume, walking into a diner to bully a random girl he doesn’t know because she’s “different” for dressing in an identical aesthetic as he is, it makes no sense to me. Why would a black man have any personal investment in building a theme park surrounding European colonialism??? An oppression metaphor in a story just doesn’t sit well when the oppressing characters are cast as people who suffer under systemic oppression in real life. It’s so weird that Iman Marcus can start filming and play a character who is, technically in-universe, “privileged” financially and socially and politically, then he can walk off set and drive over to the nearest Starbucks and still get racially profiled by some corrupt ass LA cop regardless of his Netflix-paycheck.

It’s not so much that I find this morally repugnant, it’s that the moment I see it on screen, I’m reminded “ah this is fiction and I am watching a TV show.” Emotional and social inauthenticity (and cringe ass dialogue) makes it harder to suspend my disbelief than watching a sentient, severed hand receive defibrillation from a man with electric powers (legit made me emotional). Thought has to go into casting for this reason. I wasn’t as worried about Joy Sunday as Bianca, as being pretty and ambitious and a little mean isn’t exactly damning, though I still wonder if when she beats Wednesday in that fencing match, if we’re supposed to cheer her on and be happy that Wednesday was put in her place (I did, I was like “lil girl you’ve been here 2 seconds” and it was nice to know our protagonist wasn’t Perfect). Casting black actors as antagonists isn’t necessarily racist every single time; it becomes a problem when the antagonists are your only black characters, in a story revolving around “otherness” and discrimination. I did like that Bianca and Lucas and even Mayor Walker got more development (sad that the Mayor was murdered before he could redeem himself).

Also shoutout to the Netflix ASOUE for setting a more recent, modern precedent for that macabre, Gothic aesthetic that has dark-skinned people in it, there’s a good example of actors of color cast in various roles where their race doesn’t clash with their character. Black Mr. and Mrs. Poe are flawed, negligent adults and they could’ve been of any race. Aasif Mandvi as Uncle Monty was perfect, because embodying the warm intellectuals of the character wasn’t tied to his race; anyone could’ve played him. Alfre Woodard as Aunt Josephine was wonderful because all she needed to give the role was an eccentric portrayal of deep-set trauma and grief, the actress’s real-life race and social status aren’t at odds with how her character exists in-universe.

Queerbaiting: I only became aware of this after the show’s premier because I didn’t follow its promotional materials leading up to it. I’ve seen the posts on the official Netflix account. Yes it is queerbaiting, regardless of whether the person handling the account is an unpaid queer intern or a Netflix executive’s overly paid nephew. However, the actual writing of the show does not give queer baiting. Wednesday’s character “flaw” is her inability to prioritize the emotional and sometimes-physical wellbeing of others over her own agenda. This culminating in her falling out with Enid, and realizing Enid is her friend and cares for her, is not queerbaiting. We’re too late into this era to clamor for queer subtext crumbs to eat that up. Wednesday starts off a proud lone wolf with no friends to finding people who know exactly what they’re getting into when they become her friend and choose to do so anyway; she learns to take others’ wellbeing into account and gets friends, without compromising her own values and her personal boundaries (i.e. she hugged Enid when she was ready, when she was comfortable, not out of social obligation, and Enid gave her the space for that). Writing that arc meant that the writers paid attention to Wednesday character and maybe paid attention in Storybuilding 101 in college. It does not mean they intended a sapphic romance and then pulled the rug out from under us. And if you lot start grilling the actors on social media about their characters’ sexualities and then project those interpretations onto the actors and demand that they come out, I will find and kill you.

[eviltothecore13]

People really did assume the worst about Wednesday pre-release in some very strange ways that turned out not to be true at all. I remember I was going “where are you even getting that idea from??” and other people were like “no, this terrible thing is definitely going to happen, it’s unavoidable!”, and then...none of it happened.

Things I actually saw people saying pre-release:

“The casting call mentioned wanting someone 18-20 for Wednesday, so this is DEFINITIVE PROOF that the show is going to be full of gratuitous sex scenes for her, why else would they want to cast an adult (no it can’t possibly just be because they want a more experienced adult actor or they don’t want to deal with the extra legal/ethical/etc issues that getting child actors involved can bring, it MUST be about sex! This show is disgusting!” And then there’s no sex in the entire show beyond a couple of mild references in dialogue that aren’t about Wednesday herself, she barely shows much romantic interest in people let alone sexual, her outfits aren’t remotely revealing and the same goes for pretty much every other teenage character on the show.

“Look at Gomez’s smile in the trailer! It looks evil! Only creeps and predators smile like that! [Never mind that Luis Guzman seems to smile like that naturally and I’ve never heard any evidence for him being a bad person.] This one scene in the trailer is proof that Gomez will be the villain of the show and an abusive creep towards Wednesday, how dare Tim Burton make Gomez evil, I hate this!” And then Gomez is, of course, not remotely the villain, and is a good dad who gets some very sweet interactions with Wednesday, just like every other Gomez

“Wednesday calls her parents evil puppet masters in that one clip! This is proof her parents are going to be abusive and the villains of the show!” and then it’s obvious from the very first episode that they want the best for her, because guess what, Wednesday “I’ve decided with zero evidence that they love the baby more than me and that the only answer is to kill him” “Dear Mother and Father, I hate you, Love, Wednesday” Addams had assumed the worst and overreacted.

“Wednesday throws piranhas into a swimming pool! Never mind that it was made clear she didn’t kill anyone and that the guys were bullies who had it coming, this show is clearly going to be making all the Addamses completely unrepentantly horrible evil murderers with no redeeming features because villainising POC!” And then not only is the show very much based around Wednesday standing up to bullies (seriously, who thinks setting piranhas on bullies is evil, anyway?) and bigots, defying corrupt people in authority, caring about people and trying to protect them and save people from the actual villains, and generally is a series that really shows her as a principled (if often harsh and ruthless) person with a strong sense of justice... but I’ve now seen people claiming that the Addamses are OOC for not being homicidal ENOUGH (which I disagree with because I think the show does still establish them as OK with killing people in certain circumstances, and no version except possibly some of the older comics ever just went around deliberately murdering random innocent people for the sake of it, but still). (The show DOES have issues with its depiction of Black characters--but that’s not what people were shouting about pre-release.)

“Gomez’s actor is credited as a guest star, this is proof they’re going to kill him off!” No they didn’t.

Like people really did leap to some wild conclusions with zero evidence and then start complaining about all the things the show was supposedly “obviously” going to do...that it then did not in fact do and I’m not sure why anyone ever expected them to do it.

[neverswungonswingingstars]

You've called for Newsreader discussion and I was compelled to give it to you. And I think I have to rewatch it again because I've recently binged a ton of Sam's other work and now I want to go back to the best of it. I'm so curious as to show they'll start season 2 in regards to Dale and Helen's relationship. Any thoughts? The other Australian show that had a gay character that I've watched (A Place to Call Home) really did him dirty in the end so I'm a little concerned. Dale also seems to be seeped in the internal homophobia right now so I don't see how he could be ready to pursue a relationship with Tim, as much as I'd love that. But I don't know if Helen is going to continue their relationship knowing Dale's feelings for Tim. Season 1 ended in such an interesting place that I think how they handle this storyline will say a lot about the future of the show. It was hard for me to really root for Helen and Dale when he was hiding himself from her and lying to himself so I don't know if we really know the true potential their yet. And I just thought Dale and Tim's chemistry was more obvious than anything else.

Yessss I love talking about this show so much 😂 but I am always really terrible at analysing or figuring out stuff so I like other people to tell me what they think haha!

I have no idea what they'll do with their relationship next series! What are you thinking? I have to say that when Helen said to him that she loves him the way he is I absolutely died because its just the most sweetest lovely thing she could have said to him. Especially since she most definitely did have every right to be mega pissed at him for cheating (I read somewhere that Anna torv improvised that line as well which is just 😍 there's a reason I've had a crush on her for years now haha)

Whenever I think about helen/dale/Tim I basically get myself going in circles haha. I absolutely love all 3 of them for starters so I keep going between them and who I like haha

I think Dale and Helen are really cute together but I genuinely can't decide how much of it between them is dale just wanting it to work or whether he really does love her that way. His trauma has cut him deep so he is clearly repressing so so much. Do you think he's bi or just really really repressed? I go back and forth all the time! As for Tim and dale, they genuinely give me butterflies whenever there's scenes with the two of them I love them together so much! Butttt as you said, I'm not sure how an actual relationship between them would go right now because the boy got so many issues (and no bloody wonder after what happened to him. I would have loved to just kind of stay with Tim as he kind of clicked after hearing what dale went through and putting into place why he reacted the way he did about everything earlier)

I haven't seen that other show! I do always worry about what they'll do for these things as well, but just have to keep fingers crossed! And hopefully we'll get season 2 soon! I cant just keep rewatching season 1 like 3 times a week for the next year 😂

Sorry I went on there. I clearly have a lot of thoughts and I'm not very articulate with these things 😂