#molly especially had shenanigans going on

[c-kiddo]

(put caleb and beau here anyway for fun, even tho im pretty sure they arent since they were already in cr3 and didnt glow)

[magewolf-the-artist]

Misc Domestic K-9 Thoughts Susan kinda acts as a shoulder to vent to whenever anyone needs to talk. She can’t really offer much in response or comfort since A, she’s the type to push things away and compartmentalize, and B… well, she can’t exactly promise everything’s gonna be okay, now can she? Still, sometimes it’s nice to just talk

Some days though she just kinda… shuts down emotionally. Just kinda lays on the floor and can’t find any motivation to get up or do anything. Thinking about everything and nothing at the same time, staring blankly into space

Charles usually stays with her during these episodes and depending on the day, he either just sits with her or rambles about random things like he would when they were both alive

Charles constantly does stupid shit and distracts himself because he doesn’t, he’ll start thinking about his daughter how he left them behind all his friends and family and how his daughter Lily is now without a father and that he never got to reconcile with his ex wife Emily and the fact he’s stuck in some stupid rusty metal cage and how his murder was never solved and-

Yeah, it’s best not to dwell on that. Ski ball is much more fun, anyways

Rocket only goes out at night to avoid unwanted attention. They exit and enter through the one window in the break room

On their late night excursions, Molly drags Edd to go stargazing and constantly gushes over how pretty the stars are here and points out the constellations. Edd doesn’t really understand most of it, especially her rambling about space, but he tries

Charles keeps track of the days via tally marks on one of the walls in the facility. Currently he is on day 2,553, which is off by a little over a year but it’s still pretty close considering they’ve all been stuck in a rinky dink bunker for the past 8 years

On that note, nobody else likes the calendar because it just reminds them of how long they’ve all been dead and trapped here. Charles kinda gets it but it gives him something to do, soooo…

Rosemary is kinda… frozen emotionally. She’s just as fragile and unstable as when they first got there and doesn’t do much beyond draw, think, and cry. Charles tries to get her to do stuff with him but she staunchly ignores him

Rosemary has complicated feelings regarding Rocket. On one hand she’s glad they at least had each other before she died, but she also feels like she failed them for not realizing Felix was spitting absolute bullshit and guilty that she can’t be fully there for them

She also feels like a failure of a wife and mother in general for not being able to find Jack and leaving behind Sophie

Charles kinda acts like the fun uncle to Rocket and often ropes them into his shenanigans

Everyone feels guilt about something in some way. Susan and Rosemary regret building and designing the animatronics respectively. Charles feels guilty about not finding Susan sooner. Rocket feels guilty because they feel like they’re deaths led to all this bloodshed

Now granted, Susan and Rosemary both know that neither of them could have possibly predicted any of this and Susan has assured Charles multiple times over that he wouldn’t have been able to do much for her anyways. Rocket though…

Susan is the most casual about her death and is very gallows humor about it. Rocket just kinda shrug and say, “haha yeah that sucked, anyways-“. (RETCONNED) Charles desperately tries to change the topic. Rosemary breaks down.

BSI employees who get assigned to stay at the K-9 facility complain a lot because not only is it dark, cold, and kinda creepy, but it’s boring. This and the fact it’s used to store everything from the original Bon’s Burgers, it’s jokingly referred to as The Graveyard Shift

I imagine Rocket overhears this one day and tells the others. Everyone kinda laughs at how unintentionally accurate that title is

Edd and Molly like to make fun of Bon a lot for a variety of things, but especially him not instantly killing his victims so they don’t scream (Geez, you’d think for someone who’s killed a bunch of people, you’d be better at it by now!)

This REALLY gets under Bon’s skin because he doesn’t understand why these children don’t fear him. The only reason he doesn’t retaliate though is because he knows he’ll get his ass kicked

Everyone else has differing reactions to Bon. Susan thinks he’s annoying as hell and isn’t afraid to let him know it, Charles is extremely unnerved by him, and Rosemary has a panic attack at the merest glimpse of him

Ashley is still a mess and everyone feels very sorry for her. They welcomed her into the fold right away and she usually hangs out with Rosemary, since they’re both extremely depressed

Ashley, Kevin, and Hilary completely covered one of the walls in drawings of penises while they were there. It’s one of the few things that can cheer Ashley up and she goes there if she’s feeling particularly nostalgic

Rosemary has banned Rocket from going near said wall and I imagine that conversation went something like this:

Rosemary: Edd, Molly, I don’t want to you to go near that wall anymore!

Edd: But moooom-

Rosemary: Don’t ‘but mom’ me! I don’t want you looking at such obscenities-

Molly: But mom, we would’ve already had the birds and the bees talk if we were still alive!

Rosemary: … *pauses for a moment, before slumping over and violently sobbing*

Edd: … Oh good going, Molly, you made mom cry!

Molly: Well it’s not my fault! I didn’t know she was gonna cry about that-

Edd: She cries about EVERYTHING, Molls. What did you THINK was going to happen?!

*They dissolve into unintelligible bickering as Rosemary continues to have a breakdown*

[thebig-chillqueen]

Sooooo I hear TGAMM had its finale a while back; if you're still into it, any thoughts?

It's been almost 4 months since the finale, I think it's safe to talk about now. If you haven't seen The Ghost and Molly McGee and want to, I suggest skipping past this post because I'm going to mention some spoilers below.

It's been awhile since I last watched TGAMM, so I'm just going off my bad memory.

It was very bittersweet. TGAMM deserved at least one more season, but leakers just ruined that for us. I believe they had to wrap up the show as fast as they could after getting the bad news.

So, to me, the finale episodes felt kinda rushed and not as good as they could've been had the show not been cancelled. Jinx wasn't as big of a threat as she could've been and was caught too easily without much of a fight.

I was expecting a much bigger climax with all the ghosts in the Ghost World coming out to help Molly, Scratch and the others. It was cute that Geoff ended up befriending Mr. Chen, who finally let go of his grudge towards him and other ghosts, though.

The last episode, however. I have mixed feelings on. It was great that Scratch finally remembered his life and it was theorized from the beginning that Todd was his body and that he was a wraith, especially after ""The Jig is Up"/"Molly vs. The Ghost World" came out.

I just hate that they had to split Molly and Scratch up like that. It hurt seeing Scratch not remember Molly at all after reuniting with his body, though some parts of her still stuck with him such using her word "enhappify". It was cute that he joined his childhood friend, Adia, on her many exciting adventures around the world after getting over his fear and reclusive lifestyle.

Overall: It was an okay finale. Not as great as it definitely could've been. We've seen what the creators and crew are capable of, but they were under a time crunch and a lot of pressure, so they did the best that they could for us fans.

I thank them for what they've given us and making such a heartwarming show full of lovable characters and excellent themes. I'll miss Molly and Scratch's daily shenanigans and relationship most of all.

They were such adorable besties.

[notyetfixed-a]

as the year has ended, i just wanted to make a post and thank all of you here for helping me find my love of writing again ♥️ i haven’t written for fun in over three years, so i was nervous about jumping back into it.

below, i wanted to thank a handful of people because of how much they’ve helped me in the year that i’ve made my return ♥️

@intothewildsea : ARLO. YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE FOR ME THROUGH EVERY ROUGH PATCH, EVERY MISSING SPELL, AND EVERY COME BACK!!!! YOU ARE MY FUCKING RIDE OR DIE ON THIS BLOG AND ILYSM!!!!! YOU’RE THE REAL OG UP HERE!!!! 9 YEARS AND GOING STRONG!!! I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT SHENANIGANS OUR SHIPS GET INTO NOW!!!!

@thegreatstrongbow: HEATHER!!!! YOU’RE ALSO ANOTHER ONE OF MY BELOVED RIDE OR DIES HERE!!! thank you so much for writing with Fin. especially when i was so repetitive back in the old days 😂 i have gone back and reread so much of my old blog and i cringe at my old writing. but you? you have always been so amazing and i absolutely adore you and thank you for loving my canon divergent princess as you have ♥️ you’ll never understand how much i treasure you ♥️ in a community full of people who refuse to interact with female muses, there you and beleg were ♥️ it makes my heart very happy to have you in my life almost 9 years later ♥️

@reining-disaster : you were the first person to interact with ANY of my tavs. you just went right into it with my fresh muse and my fresh writing. without your help, i dont know if i wouldve broken into the community as i did ♥️ you are a lovely human being and i owe you a lot! i hope the new year is kind and generous to you and yours ♥️

@never-surrender: ilysm holy cow ive never made such a fast friend in any community and i have got to say, you have pulled me out of my shell when it comes to just dropping new characters and pulling ideas out of me and i adore you so ♥️ you’re one of my best friends, even though we haven’t been friends for long, and i can’t wait to make my trip to see you this year ♥️♥️

@seeliecourt : omg hamlet i adore you so ♥️ thank you so much for taking all this crack and fluff and shipping our adorable muses together ♥️ molly has become so well rounded and more thought out from what i originally had them penned to be. with all the universes and all the different ways we have talked about them, i feel like i know this muse more than i ever have ♥️ it has been such a pleasure becoming your friend and writing partner ♥️ im so excited to see what shenanigans we come up with this year!

@lordgortrash/@sunderdust: you have ABSOLUTELY challenged me! with all the plots and all of the prompts, i have tried to match your creativity. it has honestly improved my writing since i first started, and even though we haven’t had a TON of interactions, what asks/threads we do have has definitely taught me how to think like my characters more than i ever have in my life. thanks to you, i turned colette into this amazing, well thought out dark urge instead of the boring, no name NPC she was in the beginning. i honestly hated her character when i fleshed her out, but us talking about her dark urge verse just snapped something in me and i kept running with it and now i have one of my most favorite oc ive ever created. it may seem small, but it is a tremendous delight being able to write with you ♥️ i still get so excited like a fangirl when you like any of my posts or send me asks because that’s how much i look up to you ♥️

@eritvita: omg celeste you are one of the most adorable, kind, and loving person i have met in this last year ♥️ i absolutely adore that you always make sure that what we write is safe and that you’re not pushing any boundaries ♥️ you have definitely become one of the people i look up to when it comes to inclusivity and just being all around a genuine human being who cares about your friends ♥️ our threads make me cry on a daily basis because of how sweet our ships are and I cannot wait to reply any time i see a notification pop up ♥️ thank you for loving my muses and being such an all around wonderful person ♥️

@arsonshub: just wanted to give you a shout out on here as well ♥️ what was once me being a shy potato on your live stream about muses and lolth’s religion has now turned into a friendship I can’t wait to develop! it’s been so fun nerding out with you about YouTube series and our adorable little ship ♥️♥️♥️

@apalestar: thank you so very much for taking my chaotic bhaalspawn and being just as chaotic with me ♥️ i am absolutely adoring all our interactions, crack or canon ♥️ i am adoring each and every little thing we do and I can’t wait to see where the future takes these two murder hobos ♥️ seriously, though, thank you for always being kind, even when i send you ridiculous shit at two in the morning lol!

If I didn’t mention your name, I just want you to know that I’m thankful for you, too!!! You all have helped me find my love of writing again and I can’t imagine where I’d be without your support! I know I’m chaotic and all over the place and don’t respond at good times or maybe I post too much, but I’m loving being here again and I couldn’t have done it without ANY of you on my blog♥️ so thank you!

And with that! Happy New Years and Happy Munday!!!

[ll-again]

This might sound weird, but am I the only one who's a little bummed that there weren't many BBC Sherlock people writing Moriarty/Sherlock? I'm prob just biased because I love an Enemies/Lovers scenario, especially when they are both geniuses. Also BBC Moriarty is a fun little guy and I love to read stuff featuring him.

it is cool to be weird you should do that as much as possible

2. 'the narrative foils should kiss' is something every fandom needs more of, there is literally never enough of this

3. one thing you need to understand about me is that i am frothing at the mouth rabid 24/7/365 over the idea that Sherlock and Jim should be put in more SituationsTM, romantic or otherwise. look at this live footage of the sheriarty plotraccoons patting their little raccoon hands all over my braincells:

Sherlock and Jim had SUCH a good dynamic in the show and then Jim gives it all up to, what, just die? rude! unconscionable. the absolute betrayal. jail for canon for 5000 years!!

i want to see them getting 99s and holding hands after an afternoon of solving a crimes. (did Jim commit the crimes? probably! how else is he supposed to get Sherly to buy him an icecream i ask you)

i want Jim breaking into 221B very drunk and very 'supposed to be dead actually' to inform Sherlock that HE is Sherlock's one true nemesis and this CAM fellow has got to go, and OKAY FINE SHERLY maybe Jim will not just murder his rival for Sherlock's ... uh, rivalry. maybe he will just ruin him financially instead that's more fun anyway hmpf

i want Sherlock's No Good Very Bad Day where he solves a very nasty case but the bad guy is too rich to face the consequences of his actions and Jim rocks up in a stolen car with a suspicious muffled thumping coming from the trunk and says "get in loser, we're going to a secondary location"

(okay i confess i really just want a Jim and Sherlock Leverage-ification where they join forces to run psyops on billionaires it would be SO GOOD)

i want a Sherlock/Jim rivalry that gets so out of hand Mycroft is obliged to head up an international task force consisting of 6 intelligence agencies across 4 countries, IMF, a terrorist organization with whom they have a temporary truce, and a Sebastian Moran Who is Very Tired and Needs an Antacid on a mission that spans two years of absolute failures until Molly Hooper gets fed up and shoves the two idiots geniuses into a supply closet with a bottle of lube and a box of condoms and tells them to get their shit sorted

i just think they deserve all of the shenanigans and -- BBC Sherlock fandom, this is for you -- it's never too late to make more sheriarty content, that's all I'm sayin

[slasheru]

Hi :3 I’m kinda having a bad night rn but I’m distracting myself by playing slasher u (for like the 10th time lmao) and I was wondering: how do u think the dateables would react/what would they do if their partner was having a really bad day? It’s alright if u don’t wanna answer lol and I hope ur having a good day/night <3

<3333 Of course! I wrote a decent amount of Slasher U when I was having a hard time myself irl, Hex's "how's your day" dialogue is actually something I put in to cheer myself up when I was writing it (:

Tate: Tate's had SO MANY bad days he might be an expert at helping you with YOURS. It's immediately hugs, blanket city, asking you about it and letting you vent if you want, listening, and if you don't feel like talking, he's there to tell you about HIS day or some cool thing you both discovered, like a movie you wanna watch. Tate is a BIIIIG cuddler. He's already passing you the flask and shutting the doors to the A/V lab so you guys don't get interrupted by randos (because Tate figures you could use a good cry, and he knows HE wouldn't want people around for that - besides you!) Tate's Bad Day empathy is off the CHARTS. He would hold you tight til either the sun came up or you felt better, whichever takes longer. He would also fight anyone who came to see you who you didn't wanna see, even though he KNOWS he'd get his ass kicked. Worth it, to save you.

Hex: OH NO! MY BABE IS HAVING A BAD DAY! :(((( Hex goes into SUPERHERO mode - he might be a little bit TOO enthuasiastic about cheering you up, at first, but his sole purpose in life is now making you feel better. Hex would try really, really hard and really really deeply to understand you and your pain as best as he can, like, REALLY leave no stone unturned. His love language is "understanding people". Hex's go-to cheer-ups are: Picking you up like a prince/ess, buying you food and coffee, hugging/cuddling you on the couch while you watch TV, showing you memes he found, never leaving your side, and doing acts of service like giving you a back rub or getting you your fave ice cream from the campus convenience store. He'd fall asleep on you/near you/with you all day/night just so you wouldn't have to be alone. :) He'd also sneak into any class big enough not to notice him, just so he could keep keeping you company!

Laila: Laila is the one person (besides maybe Sawyer) who would ACTIVELY try to fix your problems, haha. My darling Player is having a bad day?? Who did this? Sit down, have some tea, I've already come up with a ten-step plan to fix your problems AND I'm gonna start as soon as you feel comfortable enough for me to make some phone calls while I cuddle you til you feel better! Laila's got major "S/HE/THEY ASKED FOR NO PICKLES >:((((" energy so she'd be a great mix of actually comforting and vulnerable, especially if you had a hard emotional time, and handling whatever it is that made you upset - she knows more responsibility at a time like this can be crushing, and she's your Final Girl, dammit! Don't worry about a THING, Player - Laila's on the case!

Juno: Juno knows any world that hurts the Player they like/love is the WORST and SUCKS and Player is the BEST and FUCK ANYONE WHO THINKS OTHERWISE!! Though Juno's go-to cheering up is definitely partying and shenanigans, they'd actually ask the player what they'd like. Their favorite way to cheer people up is distracting them from their troubles, so Juno would probably plan all KINDS of fun date-style activities from parties to walks to pranks to adventures, for however as many days it takes for you to smile again. If you're a partier, they'd drop molly with you and talk for hours and hours about feelings. They would ALSO harbor a deep grudge against whoever/whatever did this to you (even if it's an inanimate object/concept, like, failing a class).

Sawyer: Sawyer would feel your pain/sadness VERY VERY DEEPLY. He'd probably start by spending hours listening to you or holding you, then ask if you wanted him to actively try and fix the problem. He'd spend a HUGE amount of time with you comforting you, basically kicking his aftercare into overdrive - Sawyer's the kind of guy who would cancel work or class to comfort you. (And if it got to the point where he'd be fired, well, looks like he's asking his boss/professors to work from home so he can be with you). He's also the kind of guy who definitely orders food and booze and weed and VHS tapes right to the dorms so you wouldn't have to go anywhere. He'd get REALLY protective - he's not letting anyone hurt you ever again, though. EVER - though he's not restrictive about it. The second anyone calls you a name behind your back, though, BAM. Sawyer's knife, their face, etc :V Sawyer's respectful of your boundaries more than anything, so he'd want to show you how much he loves you WITHOUT you ever feeling stifled or uncomfortable.

I hope your night gets better!!! <3333

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb: "Amid magical shenanigans in charming Starfall Point, this book might just have you laughing out loud." —Hazel Beck, author of Big Little Spells and Small Town, Big Magic

Juggling newfound witchy powers, a house full of ghosts, and verbal battles with the handsome local librarian is almost too much for a new witch to manage. A new witch with a coven, however, can get so much more done...From the moment Riley Everett set foot in Starfall Point, magic bubbled inside of her. But with only her late aunt's journals and a cantankerous live-in ghost butler to instruct her on all things witchy—including her newly inherited Victorian haunted house—Riley seeks out a coven for sisterhood and support. The last person she expects to be drawn to is the town's frustrating, yet ridiculously attractive head librarian.Edison Held knows almost everything there is to know about Starfall Point, but Shaddow House was always off-limits, thanks to its elusive owner. If he can convince the new owner, Riley, to let him take a peek inside, there's so much he could learn. But as he gets closer to Riley, he's fascinated by her dazzling wit and fiery spirit. Edison will do whatever he can to help Riley keep her family legacy alive, especially if it means spending more time with the captivating new witch in town.Bestselling author Molly Harper wields a magical pen in this hilarious, delightful witchy romcom perfect for readers of The Ex Hex and Payback's a Witch.

Review:

When Riley Everett moves into her aunt’s house in Starfall Point what she least expects is to find that it is filled with ghosts and that her aunt has left her as it’s new caretaker... oh and that she’s a witch and has had magic all along.... and that she might be falling for the cute librarian with a tragic past. Riley has spent her life moving from one job to the next, she has never really found herself rooted in a place, so when she is told her aunt wants her to come to Starfall Point she can’t resist wanting to connect with a family member... except when she arrives she discovers that her aunt has already passed away and that the house she inherited is very much haunted with ghosts and that Riley is a witch herself. Now Riley finds herself not only taking up as the new caretaker of the house but helping all the ghosts pass as well, and she’s finally found a coven of sisterhood and support for herself. Then there’s the shy and cute librarian who got off on the wrong foot with her named Edison. Edison has been pushing people away ever since the death of his fiancee, he’s still recovering, but when a very angry and beautiful woman yells at him on a boat, he can’t help but be a bit smitten with her. Turns out she’s none other than the new resident of Starfall Point, Riley. Riley and Edison both have difficult relationships and pasts, but if they want a relationship to work, they’ll have to find a way to be together. This was a very Hallmark-esque witchy rom com and it kind of felt lacking in the romance and character aspect. Overall, it just didn’t work for me but if you enjoy Hallmark-esque romances than definitely give it a go!

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, Sourcebooks Casablanca for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[andy-the-8th]

I'm gonna go on a little bit of an off-ish topic rant about So Weird for a second and do my best to keep this mostly positive (this blog is about old DCOMs so I'm going to say this is still on-topic, feel free to filter the tag "so weird" if this is outside realms of interest). I will also offer the caveat that I only watched the first two seasons and only ever intend to do so

One thing I actually enjoyed about this series (besides the fact that it was willing to engage with actual grieving and long-term effects of that on family dynamics) is that it was super casual about showing physical platonic affection

The main characters are all kind of a big family (I pitched it to my friend as "the X Files but instead of feds it's a 90s alt rock sort-of-throuple dealing with their blended teenager sibling group's shenanigans"

For the record I use the term "throuple" mostly for humorous brevity - I don't read Molly as having any actual romantic or sexual subtext with the Bells, but I would say they all kind of co-parent together to some extent or another

Platonic affection isn't presented as an uncommon thing between parents and kids, or between siblings/pseudo-siblings, and is casually shown in the series (I think it was the first or second episode that had Clu sleeping on the bus's couch, head on his mom's lap with her just stroking his hair, and this character's like 17 or 18)

I would even say that if you had to pick a single character relationship that the series is About, it's Jack and Fi's sibling bond and navigating that through the lens of having different responses to their father's death (the Mulder/Scully dynamic they have is sort of a whimsical translation of that). I think there's a reason that perhaps the scariest moment in the series is where the Will o' the Wisp is threatening to turn their relationship against them to trap Jack's soul forever, and the way he's defeated is essentially because he doesn't understand the love they have for each other even (or especially) under the ways they conflict with each other

Just in general siblings/parents hugging or casually sitting cuddled together is pretty regular. Maybe the characters are supposed to be just super comfortable being close with each other from sharing enclosed space so much, as 6 mostly adult-sized people literally living on a tour bus together, but it's nice to see

Which leads me to the topic of Carey's relationship with Molly once he replaces Clu in season 2 - I have seen some fans want to read some sort of subtext in there but honestly I find that incredibly uncomfortable. If anything he's just kind of reaching out to a close adult family friend he can come to about his struggles/music aspirations/etc outside his biological parents, and yeah because he's a hot guy in his 20s it reads a little differently than the younger teens, but I don't personally see any plus into reading that as having some kind of romantic/sexual tension

like we see expressly in the flashback scenes that Molly has been kind of a third parent-figure (and I use that intentionally openly; locking parental roles into a strict binary of "the mom" and "the dad" isn't what we're about here) in his life growing up, so shipping or semi-shipping that is extremely unpleasant and strange in my opinion

Same with shipping Clu with either Jack or Fi, or (I have seen it and it's rather repulsive) Jack and Fi together, it feels like a fundamental misunderstanding of the character dynamic

going to comment on fandom in general though, I notice sibling incest ships tend to arise in situations where actors have a lot of chemistry, and writers are channeling that into their family dynamic but it means that love interests feel kind of flat by comparison - it's sort of another side of the same fandom-discourse dodecahedron which posits m/m ships get popular because male characters tend to be written with more dimension than female ones, which gives fans more to be interested in and read into and simply enjoy as narrative devices. You engage more easily with a story and its parts when there's simply more to work with

Shipping as a primary means to engage with media is a thing, I get that, so like do what you want, thought crime isn't a thing and characters aren't real people etc etc etc. However, reading a positive portrayal of (often interestingly non-traditional) family affection as somehow sexual I think fundamentally misses key points of the whole story. The fact that there aren't really any obviously shippable characters in the main cast isn't a bad thing

mumbled aside about the moderate amount of frustration I have with the other fandom I write for where for some reason people feel the need to pair up the entire cast in some combination or another but not going to get into that here

Anyway I am not trying to start fandom discourse in a microscopic old fandom like this; I more meant this to positively comment on how open the series is with letting family members show affection and to give my two cents to the void on the Carey & Molly subtext interpretations

[maddie-grove]

Little Book Review: YA/Children's Literature Round-Up (May-December 2022)

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (1983): Leigh Botts keeps up a years-long correspondence with children's author Mr. Henshaw, which becomes an important outlet after his parents divorce and he has to move to a new town with his mother. This is the book that won Beverly Cleary the Newberry Award, and frankly it's like when Leonardo DiCaprio won Best Actor for The Revenant instead of The Wolf of Wall Street. Cleary was a legend, but she excelled most at lower-stakes childhood (and sometimes adolescent) drama, like being bad at cursive, not owning enough cashmere sweaters, or (at worst) worrying because your father lost his job. This is still a sweet, sensitive problem novel, yet I feel like Judy Blume or Betsy Byars would've pushed it to the next level.

The Snow Angel by Suzanne Weyn (1996): In the eighth volume of a middle-grade series about four girls who are friends with angels, rich girl Molly is devastated when her boyfriend dumps her for hippie-dippy Christina. She distances herself from her loved ones, almost relapses in her recovery from anorexia, and ignores the gigantic snow-angel-turned-tourist-trap on her other friend Ashley's horse farm. Luckily, her dad just brought a catatonic Irish boy into their house! Can Molly help herself by helping him? I bought this book for a dime because it looked completely ridiculous, and it delivered on that front. I really didn't like any of the girls except for Molly, and with her it was mostly just the sympathy I'd have for any troubled teenager.

The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney (1881): In a small New England town, widowed Mrs. Pepper and her five kids (Ben, Polly, Joel, Davie, and Phronsie) must work hard to keep their spirits up in the face of grinding poverty, measles, and monkey-related shenanigans. I made several gos at reading this book as a child, but always lost steam after the Peppers made friends with the wealthy King family. Little Emily was right on the money, because this classic is just not very good, especially after the rich folks start helping out. It's beyond treacly and only a few of the episodic chapters have a good amount of tension. Polly's almost-going-blind-from-measles-and-eldest-daughter-syndrome arc is still great, though.

Afternoon of the Elves by Janet Taylor Lisle (1989): Sheltered fourth-grader Hillary forms an unlikely friendship with her neighbor, outcast sixth-grader Sara-Kate, after the older girl claims to have elves in her backyard. I had to read this book for school in fourth grade and I did not like it. I felt like it was trying to lure me in with something fun (magic, miniatures), only to never deliver and hit me with the actual sad topic (poverty and mental illness of a parent) instead. I stand by my elementary-school opinion. The good version of this novel is Daphne's Book by Mary Downing Hahn (if you want to read about an average girl befriending the class outcast before losing her to Social Services) or Lucie Babbidge's House by Sylvia Cassedy (if you want to read about a troubled girl getting lost in the arguably magical miniatures sauce).

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher (2008): Working at a meatpacking plant to support her arthritic widowed mother and little sister in early-1940s Chicago, pretty, scrappy teenager Ruby Jelinski takes a chance and becomes a dime-a-dance girl at the recommendation of a handsome neighborhood hoodlum. I read this book at some point in high school and vaguely remembered liking it, but this time I was blown away. Fletcher packs a mind-bogging amount of character development and historical detail into a fast-paced story that ventures into some unexpected territory. It's maybe one of the best historical novels I've ever read.

Mitch and Amy by Beverly Cleary (1967): Nine-year-old twins Mitch and Amy don't always get along, but, if an outsider messes with one of them, he better be prepared for double trouble. Class bully Alan Hibbler learns this to his sorrow. This is the kind of cute slice-of-life story that was right in Cleary's wheelhouse, although it's not her most memorable. There are lots of sweet moments between the twins; for example, Amy gets Mitch an exciting book from the library when he's sick because she senses it'll help him with his reading struggles, and Mitch goes to bat for her when the dreaded Alan spits in her hair. I do think it would've been ideal if Mitch had also done something to help Amy with multiplication, for the symmetry. Also, I can't believe I missed the beginning-of-the-late-1960s California setting. These are some Joan Didion babies.

Cleopatra: Daughter of the Nile by Kristiana Gregory (1999): Her older sister wants to kill her, her father is a severe alcoholic, and she's stuck living in Rome with a bunch of gross old men who don't take her seriously, but teenage Cleopatra doesn't let that keep her from learning and adapting. This is one of the Royal Diaries I didn't read as a kid, and I really enjoyed the characterization of Cleopatra, who's resilient, clever, curious, and conflicted about her thorny family relationships.

(The Snow Angel, The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, and Cleopatra: Daughter of the Nile were all first-time reads; the rest were rereads.)

[waffowo]

As I plan on and have started to expand beyond NuWho, I have been doing research. The EU content plus Classic Who is absolutely daunting and messy so I want to find a way to streamline it for my sake. I already am listening to 8th’s audios and been jumping around in ClassicWho (not completely disordered, there’s a method in madness).

I desire to streamline the process as while I do accept all EU content as canon, I don’t want to be ranking all of this content when ranking Doctor Who stories. Thus, after thinking hard, I have decided to include the audios of 6, 7 and 8 as part of my main continuity created out of convenience.

I include Big Finish and not written media because of how firstly, I can’t really get access to written stuff. Next, Big Finish is the closest thing to a television episode in EU and these three doctors are voiced by their actual actors.

While I will listen to other Big Finish audios eventually, these 3 are the main ones I will focus on and treat them as primary canon for various reasons:

The situation in how Colin Baker was let off plus the immense production issues due to the studio execs would lead to a rather unfair assessment of 6th. Thus, I’m unwilling to judge the merit of the 6th Doctor based on the show alone.

For the Seventh Doctor, I justify his inclusion due to the irresolution of Classic Who. Beyond the movie, I am aware that the show ends inconclusively due to behind the scenes shenanigans and thus I believe that I can determine his run as incomplete.

For the Eighth Doctor, it is pretty self explanatory, his one night tenure and a short film justify using Big Finish to create an era for him. Especially since Night Of The Doctor considers his companions up to Molly as canon.

However, as there are also many stories for each which I’m not pressured to listened to all. I will limit myself and focus on the following:

The Sixth Doctor stand alones (applies to those that I listen too), Sixth’s adventures with Evelyn Smythe, Season 23, his adventures with Charley, the proper departure for 6th and possibly Peri and The Piscon Paradox

The Seventh Doctor’s stand alones (same rules as 6th), his adventures with Ace and Hex, Doctor Klein and possibly Love and War

For the Eighth Doctor, Eight and Charley, Eight and Lucie (Up til To The Death) and Eight with Molly (may take a while to get to)

If you have any recommendations (if you’re reading this), do let me know! Because it’s not that I’m not going to listen to other audios if I have the chance, I’m just trying to make it easier for myself by focusing on a select few first. So yes, in any companion ranking throughout all of Doctor Who, I will include Hex, Evelyn, Charley, Lucie, C’Rizz, Tasmin, Liv (up til the end of Sullivan’s run), Molly and Dr Klein.

On the subject of other Doctors, I will explain that:

I’m not including BF for 1-4 because their tenures were at least not fucked over. This in particular applies to 4 because Baker has had like 7 seasons, he doesn’t need a fighting chance.

I was tempted to include 5 but I went against this because Davidson did leave on his own accord. However, his audios will be next after I finish my “main timeline.” Though Spare Parts I will listen soon (but not include it in any rankings beyond Big Finish rankings)

9 is actually pending review due to his turbulent relationship behind the scenes. While his case is more open, there’s also room to deny the need for BF due to the manner in which Series 1 was written. Another reason to deny BF for now is because he has a less “formed” BF era due to his recent entry.

10 should be self explanatory and if you ask more questions, I will legitimately have no words for you. However, if I have the time and money by the end of this, I would love to listen to the Donna Noble and 10 adventures and The Timelord Victorious Event in full.

11-12 for very obvious reasons, especially since Smith and Capaldi haven’t signed on and have very cohesive runs.

13 would be under review because of how Covid Productions messed up Flux’s production. However, she has no BF content as of now and even if she manages to develop a cohesive run in BF, only stuff which is directly related to Flux or scrapped stuff due to the production will be considered here.

For companion adventures, probably only Peri and The Piscon Paradox will be included as it ties back to 6th. Other companions like River, Leela, Missy while I’m interested in, will be put on hold until I complete the central runs.

For other relevant companions in BF such as Flip and Constance, I chose Evelyn because of the arc’s ties to Hex but also how she was the first one designed for it all if I’m not mistaken. And the Liv Chenka stuff will not be included beyond Molly Sullivan due to the necessity to streamline.

Time War, War Master stuff may be included in the future but as I’d like to limit myself so that I don’t go broke for now, will be excluded.

[helnjk]

Sweater - G.W.

George Weasley x fem!reader

Requested: yes

hi could you write something for george weasley using prompts 29, 11, 36? if your requests are still open❤️⚡️

“i’m running out of jumpers, just so you know”

“i like having something that smells like you”

“how long have you been standing there?”

Word Count: 3.2k

Summary: the 5 times George Weasley sees you in his sweater and the 1 time you get your own. 

Warnings: mentions of food

A/N: we’re just gonna //ignore// that this doesn’t follow the canon timeline exactly (especially where they spent christmas certain years) okay? cool. also! this was very festive so i guess this can be counted as a christmas fic 🥰

Prompts are in bold

-

One 

The Gryffindor common room was freezing. Despite being situated as close to the fire as physically possible (without getting burned), you shivered and shook in your thin sweater. You were trying to work on a last minute potions essay, the last one before the Christmas hols began, but your current freezing state was stopping you from writing another word. 

You scanned the empty room, most students already having retired to bed that night. A flash of blue and yellow in the far corner of the room caught your eye. Quickly, you scrambled up off the floor and rushed to investigate. 

On the back of one of the squishy red couches hung a blue sweater with a yellow letter G right in the middle. You knew immediately who owned it: George Weasley, another Gryffinder first year like you. With another glance around the room, you quickly snatched it up and slid it over your head.

Immediately, the thick wool provided enough warmth for you to get back to your work. 

A while later, you finished the last sentence of your paper with a flourish, just as you heard someone shuffle down the spiral staircase and into the common room. Your head snapped up as the person in question came to view and your heart stopped.

“Y/L/N?” George whispered, barely making your face out since the fire was directly behind you. 

“Hi George,” You squeaked, “What’re you doing up so late?” 

His eyes darted around the room in search of something, and you felt your stomach drop. “Erm, yeah. I got cold so I was just looking for my–” 

When his gaze circled back to you he finally noticed what you were wearing, “Is that my sweater?” 

You nodded, squirming under his gaze. If it wasn’t past midnight in the dead of winter, and if he wasn’t hazy with sleep, he would’ve probably teased you senselessly about it. But seeing the sweater swallowing you, the shoulders slipping off and the sleeves way past your fingers, all he could do was grin. 

“It’s alright,” He said, “Just wanted to know where it was. At least now I know that it’s in good hands.” 

With a cheeky wink, he turned on his heel and trudged back up the boys’ staircase. You were left staring at where he previously stood, your mouth slightly agape.

Did that really just happen?

Two 

Gleeful shouts carried over from the snow covered fields and into the warm house. From your spot by the window, you could just barely make out the tiny figures zooming past each other, contrasting against the pale landscape. 

You clutched at a steaming mug of tea, basking in the warmth it gave your chilly hands. Despite your best efforts, you were still shivering in the house that most likely had several heating charms in place at all times. 

After being friends with the Weasley twins for nearly three and a half years, you were finally going to spend the Christmas hols at the Burrow with their family. To say you were excited would be an understatement. With everything going on in school, you were ecstatic to be able to spend some time with some of your best friends. 

The warmth and the heavenly smells radiating from the kitchen made you gravitate towards the door. Maybe helping out with the cooking could ease up some of the chill you had in your bones. 

“Would you like some help, Molly?” You asked hopefully, seeing her putter about in the kitchen. You knew that she had a whole hoard of mouths to fill, so you were happy to offer her some assistance. 

She tutted in response, “Nonsense, dear! I’m quite fine managing on my own. Thank you for the offer.” 

With a swish of her wand, several things in the kitchen began moving at once and you were left to your own devices. You spared a quick glance out the window, only to see the silhouettes still racing in the sky. 

An idea struck you and you made your way up the stairs as quickly as possible without drawing too much attention to yourself. Thankfully, the twins’ room was just on the second floor of the house and their door was left slightly ajar. 

You were quick to spot George’s battered old trunk laying at the foot of his bed. Your cold fingers nimbly popped the latch open and clutched onto exactly what you were looking for. His old blue Christmas sweater was soft to touch and a little worn, but you thought that it added to its charm. 

One of the main reasons why you rummaged through George’s things for his sweater, instead of Fred’s, was that his distinct woodsmoke and apple scent clung onto it and made you feel safe and warm wrapped in it. You pressed the soft fabric to your face and inhaled deeply, taking comfort in the familiar scent of your best friend. 

You were not sniffing the jumper because it reminded you of your crush on a certain redheaded twin, no. Not at all. 

Swiftly, you lifted the jumper above your head and slipped into it. You loved the feel of the warm wool enveloping your frame. It would have been almost perfect if you hadn’t heard someone clear their throat from the doorway.

Your heart jumped to your throat as you turned on your heel and spotted George leaning against the doorway. 

“Well, well, well,” He teased, making his way to you, “What do we have here? A sweater thief?” 

“How long have you been standing there?” You mumbled, wrapping your arms around yourself. 

“Long enough to see that you’re apparently obsessed with me.” He grinned cheekily. 

You rolled your eyes and tried to hide the fact that a blush was creeping up your neck and onto your cheeks, “Shove off, Weasley.” 

He swung an arm loosely around your shoulders, “Well I don’t think you can use that kind of language on me now, Y/N. Especially when that’s my jumper you’re going around wearing and sniffing.” 

You groaned, shoving your head on his chest to hide your embarrassment, “I just like having something th–”

“You’re going to have to speak up, love, I can’t quite understand you.” He said, and you felt like his teasing grin would be permanently etched onto his face. 

“I like having something that smells like you, okay?” You mumbled, this time a little louder and less muffled. 

When George didn’t immediately respond, your heart began to pick up its pace in your chest. Slowly, you backed away from his face and your gaze landed on the flush on his cheeks and the tips of his ears. 

A slow smile etched itself onto your face, “Have I just made the George Weasley blush?”

“Oh shut it sweater sniffer.”  

You laughed, the slightly awkward tension dissipating at the sound and the two of you made your way back downstairs. 

Three 

“Psst.” A voice whispered next to you. 

Your brows furrowed and you looked up from the book in front of you to see your boyfriend grinning cheekily at you, “Yes, George?” 

The Great Hall was practically silent, the only sounds resonating throughout the space were the scratching of quills and the rolling of parchment. Your voice was barely above a whisper as you weren't about to get scolded for chatting during study hall. 

“Nothing,” He said bashfully, “I just think you look very beautiful today.” 

Surprised at his sudden show of affection, you grinned up at him, “Thanks Georgie.” 

Your hand slid across the dark stained table to squeeze his and you hadn’t let go as you continued on with your coursework. You were able to get quite a bit done before you felt George squeezing your hand to get your attention. When your eyes met his, you sent him a look to say what is it this time? 

Slowly, he shuffled close enough to you to whisper directly into your ear, “I think you’d look much better wearing something of mine though.” 

With a roll of your eyes, you focused back on the rolls of parchment before you. Ever since you two had officially gotten together, George had a thing for you wearing any type of clothing of his. His most favorite, he had confessed, was when you wore his Christmas jumpers. The nostalgia attached to the piece of clothing and seeing it envelop you made his heart soar whenever you’d slip it over your head. 

The next Friday, despite the freezing weather, all students were required to head out to the Black Lake to watch the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament. You took it as an opportunity to adorn the blue and yellow sweater, making sure to layer appropriately for the below zero temperatures. 

You could hear the twins’ shenanigans before you even reached the stands. The pair of red hair stood out among the crowds and let you know which direction to make your way to. Thankfully, you also spotted Lee Jordan saving a few seats around him while the twins went and collected bets. 

When you reached him, he sent you a grin and patted a space next to him. The two of you chatted aimlessly for a bit, waiting not so patiently for either the twins to come back or for the second task to begin. 

From George’s spot within the crowds, he glanced back at where he knew Lee to be saving a seat for him. The sight of you all bundled up in his sweater made something in his heart stop. The chilly breeze nipping at your face had caused your nose to turn slightly pink, and the way your hands fumbled at the end of the long sleeves moved something in him. He’s suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling of wanting to keep you in his life for as long as you let him. 

You catch his eye from your position and send him a small wave. He grins and returns the gesture before Fred nudges him in the side to take the payment a third year is holding out. 

Four 

The whole house seemed to absorb the darkness that the Weasley clan brought with them. It was nearing sun up, and the lot of you along with Harry, Remus, and Sirius were all gathered in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, awaiting any sort of sign that Arthur was going to be okay. 

After being shaken awake at the dead of night by George who was a mess of stumbled over words and tight grips, you didn’t think of anything else but to slip on the sweater he had lent you and follow him to Dumbledore’s office. Professor McGonagall simply raised her eyebrows at your presence in the midst of the rest of the Weasley children, saying nothing as she saw how George had clung on so tightly to you. 

The illegal portkey Dumbledore created landed you right in the middle of the dreary old house you had spent much of your summer in. Remus and Sirius had tried their hardest to distract everyone from the brutality of the situation, but your boyfriend and his siblings wanted nothing but to sit around anxiously for any signal from the outside world. 

So far, you had nodded in and out of sleep, your head lightly tapping against George’s shoulder as you fought to just be there with him. His grip on your hand had not ceased, but you weren’t complaining. His leg bounced up and down anxiously and you could practically see the gears turning in his head. 

“It’ll be okay Georgie,” Became your mantra of the night, whispering it every so often and rubbing the back of his hand gently with your thumb. 

He wouldn’t say anything in reply, his red rimmed eyes were unfocused, but you knew he heard you with the way he squeezed your hand. 

When the message from Molly comes, spirits are slightly raised, but there’s still so much uncertainty. You decided to step out for a moment to use the restroom, splashing some cold water on your face in an attempt to wake yourself up some more. As you took in your sleep deprived and disheveled state in the mirror, you remembered that you’ve been wearing George’s sweater. 

Quickly, you haphazardly pulled the garment over your head, smoothing down the crumpled sleeping shirt you’ve been wearing under it. In a flash, you’re making your way to where the Weasley clan has settled in for what seems like the whole day and take a seat next to George once again.

Silently, you held out his sweater to him. It took a few seconds for him to realize that you were offering for him to wear it. 

“Thought you’d need the extra comfort right now,” You whispered, urging him to put it on. 

A spark of recognition blazed in his eyes and he gently took the soft sweater from your hands. The moment it slipped over his head, he was immediately engulfed in your scent. All of a sudden, he was transported to three years prior when you had told him you enjoyed having something that smelled like him. 

When his eyes met yours, you could make out a ghost of a smile on his lips. It had been the first expression he had pulled that night, or well it was early morning now, that wasn’t a grimace or a look of concern. 

You smiled tentatively back at him, and he took your hand in his once again. 

Five 

The pale winter morning light leaked in through the windows and you blinked blearily. The soft inhale and exhale of George beside you and the warmth under the covers almost convinces you that you could afford to shut your eyes for a few more minutes. Almost. You groan as you remember what day it is and that you should be up soon. 

It was Christmas morning. The first Christmas after the war had ended, and everyone was eager to bring some festive cheer back into their lives after having gone through such dark times. 

As silently as you could, you left the warm confines of the duvet and began to pad your way into the kitchen. Christmas morning called for a full english and a pot of fresh tea. On the way out of the room you shared with George, you snagged one of his older blue sweaters and pulled it over your head. 

Thankfully, that morning Fred hadn’t made it out of bed yet. Breakfast at the flat above the shop could go two ways; either you made it out of bed first and got the food cooking on the stove before one of the twins stumbled in sleepily, or Fred would be sat on the couch nursing his nth cup of tea that morning, having woken up due to some nightmares that he couldn’t quite shake off yet. 

With a flick of your wand, ingredients made their way into their perspective pans, and plates and utensils floated down from the cupboards and onto the kitchen table. Soon, the enticing aroma of your favorite meal of the day was wafting through the corridors and into the other rooms. 

As you were plating the steaming food, a voice called out from behind you, “I’m running out of jumpers you know.”

You looked up from your position fixing the plates of food on the table, to see George leaning against the door frame. Clad in only his pajama bottoms, you silently wondered if he was just never cold or if he did this to tease you on purpose. 

“What’s yours is mine, love.” You shrugged, walking over to him and pressing a small kiss at the very edge of his mouth.

“Guess it’s good that you make me wonderful food everyday,” He says, eyeing the food laid out in front of him. 

You roll your eyes playfully, “Oi, keep talking like that and I’m making meals just for myself!” 

-

Later in the day, you sipped peacefully on Molly’s famous hot chocolate, seated on the squishy couch as the rest of the Weasley clan began to open their gifts. Fred was sat under the tree, rummaging through the different wrapped packages and throwing them to whomever they were addressed to. Little by little, each Weasley sibling began to pull out their signature colored Weasley jumper. 

It filled your heart with so much warmth that you could all come together, especially after the last year you’ve had. Being separated from the people you loved and cared for the most had really taken a toll on all of you, so being under one roof together with nothing dark looming at the back of your minds, was such a blessing. 

“Hey,” George whispered from where he stood behind the couch, placing a hand on your shoulder. 

You turned slightly to look back at him, “What’s up, Georgie?” 

“Come with me,” He nudged his head in the direction of the door. 

“But I’m all warm and cozy,” You whined, motioning to the cup of hot chocolate in your hands, “Do I have to?” 

“Oh just come on,” He rolled his eyes, going to place his hands under your armpits in an attempt to lift you off the sofa. 

“Oi!” You complained, “I’m coming, I’m coming! Don’t get your wand in a knot.” 

A few of the Weasleys sent amused glances your way, but this kind of interaction wasn’t unusual in the household so they mostly left you to your own devices. You hadn’t noticed that Molly was eyeing you with a slightly cheeky glint in her eye. She knew exactly what her son had in mind. 

You gently placed your mug on the coffee table before turning around and linking your arm with George’s. He brought you just by the window of the kitchen and gave you a big grin.

“Alright then, Weasley. What’s all this about then?” You asked, crossing your arms in front of your chest.

“I just wanted a little privacy so I could give you your gift.” An eyebrow raised slightly, you waited for him to continue, “I just thought you would finally like one of your own this year.” 

To say you were confused was an understatement. You eyed your boyfriend nervously as he pulled a wrapped package seemingly from thin air. You wasted no time pulling the ribbon and carefully tearing at the brown paper. 

Inside was a sweater that matched the exact blue of George’s, and right smack in the middle was the initial of your name in the same shade of yellow. 

Your eyes darted from the gift and back up at the wonderful soul in front of you, and you couldn’t help but feel the prick of tears welling up. 

He noticed this too, “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just thought that you loved my jumpers so much that I would make you your own–”

At the realization that he had made the sweater himself, and hadn’t commissioned Molly to do it, made the dams of your eyes break. Your tears were freely falling by now and all you could think of doing was throwing your arms around George and pulling him into a slightly salty but ever so sweet kiss. 

“I love it,” You whispered once you broke apart, “This is the best Christmas gift ever.” 

[matt0044]

#letmiraculousbeepisodic2022

If you’ve been around the wider community of animation fans, you may have noticed a growing discourse pitting shows with an episodic narrative vs. a serialized narrative. I made my case for serialized storytelling but now I feel the need to do the opposite.

Let’s start with when The Ghost & Molly McGee gained quite the following quickly. Certain viewers commented on the potential for lore and bigger story arcs to come. This makes sense for those also fans of Amphibia and The Owl House that air on the same TV block.

Certain other fans objected to this rather vocally, claiming that a show doesn’t need “lore” or “plot” to be worth seeing, that The Ghost And Molly McGee more than make up for this in terms of character writing along with humor.

Now Molly McGee has continuity where Scratch shows himself to Libby and Molly’s mom taking on odd jobs. However, there’s no Calamity Box to recharge, no quest to get back to Earth or Amphibia, no non-binary exes to rescue, no cotton-candy haired goddesses to woo.

The only narrative thread is that of Scratch potentially being condemned to the Flow of Failed Phantoms. Yet even if they cross that bridge, they could still continue the show off of their characters alone without any new threats to face.

I’ve actually come across those who go so far as to claim that the pivot to more serialized storylines from streaming services is “killing storytelling.” More specifically, many have gone so far as to claim that shows like Steven Universe and Star Vs. lost them when their later seasons became too plot focused or more darker.

As a fan of Ladybug, I’ve found this debate interesting because there’s never been any vocal pushes against those wanting a more serialized narrative from Miraculous. I have’t seen Season Four outside of preview clips but I have seen comments about the finale giving the series a long overdue game changer that isn’t easily fixed by the end of any episode anytime soon.

This is ignoring how Season Two provoked Nathalie into using the Peacock and Season Three ended on Master Fu being forced to pass on his Guardianship to Ladybug at the cost of his memories.

But yes, Marinette has never had to face any consequence. /s

Back to the topic, it seems that Season Five won’t be all shenanigans of the week on the note it ends on. However, I find myself… hesitant to entertain the idea of Miraculous ditching its model of self contained episodes amongst an ongoing storyline. Especially with Season Four striking an impressive example of Season Fluidity.

For one, “Gabriel Agreste” and “Qulin” were meant to come before “Dearest Family.” Gabriel and Sabine have Magical Charms in addition to the latter having their power “returned.“

Yet there’s still a degree of wiggle room in this order. Gabriel would try to keep his cover as the Collector while Sabine would’ve been akumatized during one of Ladybug’s many off-screen adventures.

Additionally, you have additions to the Status Quo rather than overhauls. “Gang of Secrets” establishs Alya as Ladybug’s secret keeper before “Optygami” establishes Rena Rouge as a full time holder.

However, her role is kept to the shadows whenever Ladybug needs to pick up someone to hero up and have someone on lookout for Shadow Moth. Thus, contrary to what some have complained, it’s still the “Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Imagine if Amphibia forgone Wartwood stories in favor of focusing on a journey home, basically the road trip in Season Two’s first half. While that might’ve been cool, it wouldn’t be the Amphibia we know today. We wouldn’t care as much about the citizens of Wartwood when they were threatened if something akin to the first season finale occurred.

Similarly, Lumity’s slowburn and aftermath worked because the show took its time one episode at a time. I feel like it’s a case of Animation fans being overly defensive of our medium of choice. We want the notion of animated television being only mindless fodder for kids entertainment, crushing the stereotypes that have plagued it for decades.

Hence, Miraculous not exactly being the next Avatar gets on the nerves of certain fans who want to not be seen with what is a kids show. We want episodes to lead into the other and to dive into that rich lore.

It’s part of a wider fandom issue with many wanting a title to essentially be something it isn’t, beyond just a perceived pet peeve. And I don’t think I like that when I’m enjoying Hawk Moth be an absolute ham or Ladybug being an unapologetic super heroine, grandstanding and all.

I just want to have fun .

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E138 & 139 (May 25, 2021)

Hello, you lovely people! It’s Tuesday and it’s time again for TM! Tonight’s guests: Marisha Ray & Liam O’Brien! The first picture that pops up when you google his name to check the spelling for the thousandth time is him with a shaved head, which is a wild look.

Ah! According to Dani, this is likely the last Zoom Talks! I’m so happy to hear this! They complain about Laura’s internet freezing constantly whenever she was about to say something exciting.

This episode is sponsored by The Elder Scrolls Online. As I’ve recently resumed my Skyrim run, this makes me crave it all over again.

Liam talks about having to drop everything to start the Zoom call, then having 27 minutes of technical difficulties before they could even begin recording. Augh, same hat.

Beau navigating the Astral Sea & Cognouza was empowering and unsettling. “This is the coolest! Uh oh.” It’s like seeing a new piece of RL tech come out and thinking about how it will change everything, then immediately thinking about how it’ll be abused, like deepfakes.

The first interactions with the Somnovem was overwhelming. They started fighting gnolls in a medieval towns and are now fighting interstellar beings. For Beau, it felt like talking to a really drunk friend. I actually love how she phrases this. “To me, it definitely felt like when you talk to one of your friends when they’re really drunk, and you’re like, ‘oh, I see what version of this person I have right now.’ And then you catch another version of that person on a shit day, and you’re like, ‘ah, I get it, you’re having a shit day.’ But then you catch them when they’re all put together and holding it down, and you’re like, ‘okay, you only hate yourself on the fringes.’ I get that. I found the Somnovem relatable.” Dani: “I too am just a collection of different emotions just barely hanging on by a thread.”

Marisha was able to put the pieces together of the ninefold emotions pretty quickly.

They do a whole tape-review bit after Brian mispronounces Yussa that is amazing. Aside from that, the M9 are glad they got him out of the city. It felt like a die-in-the-Matrix situation for him.

Liam kind of always suspected Matt would dangle the time-travel carrot in front of him. He honestly doesn’t know which way he’d go now. “For a long time, Caleb was like, ‘this doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter.’” It’ll probably be a mental coin flip if it comes down to an in-game decision.

"The dice are a CW producer,” when it comes to Beau & Yasha fighting each other.

They can’t remember another prolonged encounter bleeding into another encounter directly since Thordak/Raishan & Kevdak/the herd.

Cosplay of the Week: cattheterrible on Twitter with a beautiful Yasha.

Liam thinks Matt did a great job making it feel like a pressure cooker in terms of balancing their approaches between Lucien’s party & Cree. They’re also both very pleased that their plan with the threshold crests worked - it’s one of the few plans they’ve had across two campaigns that worked. (Honorable mentions they pull: intuit charges, Gelidon, Yenk/Vorugal from C1. “Will Friedle was a better [tactician] than all of us that entire campaign.”)

As far as the nine eyes on everyone go, “we’re all just one metaphysical garbage disposal.” Omar starts barking and they joke the dog will be SAG-eligible before Dani. Ha!

Just the idea of Aeor as a relic of history is massively important. They might die at any point, but if they live, Caleb thinks it’s so important to preserve that history Indiana-Jones-style, especially since it was obviously more advanced as a civilization.

Marisha wonders if they can bring forward the piece of Lucien that is Molly. “It’s a fractal. It’s that full molecular crystalline structure that’s repeating and recurring, and even if it’s several times removed, it still feels like part of the same thing. But maybe a different version, a different timeline of what Lucien is was more or less Molly, and can we Spiderverse the fuck out of this? Can we somehow recall that programming from whatever’s buried? [...] It’s like how moving things to your Recycling Bin doesn’t really clear them from your hard drive.”

Fanart of the Week: mellifera38 with a beautiful Lucien pre-tentacles. The card award shenanigans come complete with massive fireworks green screen display, a rainbow unicorn, a cease and desist letter, eagle wings, lasers, and a PHYSICAL CARD in his hand oh my gosh, to celebrate the final Zoom Talks.

Liam is glad Essek was there to help out with the dunamantic elements of their fights. He’s doing a lot to redeem himself. Liam is also thinking a lot about endgame, long-term repercussions of how this would affect the kingdoms.

Marisha finds the weasel being Artagan adorably traumatic and hilariously tragic. Not only was this poor weasel getting dragged to hell and back, sometimes his personality gets shoved to the side to allow Artagan in. Poor thing, ha! Liam talks about one aspect of the game is that you learn things about your character as ago and then apply it backwards; “We ragged on this weasel so hard, that Matt was like ‘fuck you guys, he’s alive because there’s a fey prince inside him’ and made it retroactive through time.” He’d noticed it for a while, but because there was no downtime in Aeor, there was never a chance to casually bring it up. Beau’s confirmation of seeing something weird about the weasel was a relief that he wasn’t crazy.

It’s a lot of pressure to be the “face” of the party, especially considering Beau’s CHA stat is low. Now it feels like siblings deliberately pushing Lucien’s buttons, except with the full recognition you’re poking a nuclear bomb. It’s honestly been fun, though - she loves being a smartass to people she should ABSOLUTELY not be saying things to. In Caleb’s mind, Beau is the closest thing the group has to a responsible hero. Cad is a great sage, but Beau does what she thinks is the right thing that needs to be done.

They both laugh at this being Matt’s love letter to FF games. They should have been ready for the transformation and the amazing spectacle of the whole thing.

And that is that is that! Brian thanks the guests, Dani, and the crew. “We did it! We did Zoom. Thank you Marisha especially, and our amazing production team for figuring out a way for us to be able to do this from home and make all the artwork and everything so awesome. Thank you to everyone who has touched the show in some way and helped us do it from home.”

Is it Thursday yet?

[burstingsunrise]

Hello dear molly, i have a challenge for you: if you had to convince someone to join the cake-club, what content would you show them? What videos, what photos, what quotes? Would love to see some collection of the best cake content <3

oh anon. this is a challenge, because...where do i even start? there's so much! but also, this is the best ask i’ve ever gotten, because it gave me an excuse to spend hours looking at cake content. i'm going to try not to make this an actual encyclopedia of cake however i make no promises. also...this will probably have a bit of recency bias since i am newer to the fandom and not as familiar with the older content.

i took the liberty of making some amazing collages to assist my efforts. here we go...

An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Cake

let's start with some baby cake content!

amazing backstage dance moves

cuddling in twitcams

more snuggly bbys

baby cake insta posts

how about some interviews and livestream shenanigans?

this sgfg era interview with cake is a goldmine

shazam-a-hang is full of good cake moments but especially “it’s always you and calum...”

i always enjoy this clip of cake watching love island

this easier asmr video where calum feels weird whispering so close to luke

this calm release insta live  (cake rise!!!!)

the cake portion of the calm album listening party, especially cake talking about cake and then getting emo while listening to high immediately after.

this insta live where luke declares how much he’d like to watch a livestream of calum working out.

the recent studio twitch stream is full of top tier cake, especially sharing corn, casual flirting, and unnecessary laugh cuddles.

here’s some peak bf energy in an interview.

antics, both on and off stage!

on stage moments i love include:

the tie pull

calum making it difficult for luke to hydrate

calum kissing luke

this hug

this other hug

and some off-stage highlights:

making a drink

everything happening in this luke on tour edit is actually just cake

more wwj cake being cake

i’m actually obsessed with this clip of luke on calum’s shoulders

as well as everything happening at this photoshoot

the south korea video has very good cake (i particularly enjoy when calum asks luke to buy him socks)

arguing about matcha

there are way too many good tour diaries moments to capture them all so here’s luke losing his mind at calum’s rock bottom joke

in conclusion: random cake sprinkles!

a compilation of hugs and cuddles calum hitting on luke on twitter (not for the first time) calum covering motion on bass luke’s ass on calum’s insta post this absolutely perfect cake edit

there’s no way i could possibly cover everything i want to. there are so many interview moments and live moments and other little tidbits i’d like to include but there are only so many hours in the day, and i’m attempting to keep this cake digestible (see what i did there), so i’m going to cut myself off. thanks for this ask, anon! i hope you (and other potential cake club members) find it informative!

[renquise]

Okay okay okay here I am fully two weeks late to the CR finale with Thoughts, Especially About Essek, which is about par for the course for me.

In extremely incoherent, bullet-point form, probably forgetting half the things I want to say and wandering off onto personal tangents:

- Ah, gosh. Some things I loved, some things I was more eh on, and mostly--it’s a very gentle, dissipating-energy kind of ending episode, which is strange to say about something that figured a full-on Wizard Fight. Circumstances kind of made it so I had to watch these seven hours in bits and pieces, and there’s something that made it very beautiful? Like, this slow letting go of this story in bits.

And--okay, this is weird, perhaps--I’m almost kind of glad that it wasn’t the kind of ending that was so perfect that it makes me go, like, welp, that’s all there is to say about it, I don’t have anything else to add. Like, I kind of love that in my mind, the ending of the series was last episode’s impossible, beautiful series of events, and this long unraveling is more nebulous in my mind. I don’t know if that’s a bug or a feature, but I’m selfishly glad that it’s the kind of ending that makes me want to play around in this sandbox some more.

- Okay okay okay Veth floating in the water of the grove’s pool in just her skin. So so so beautiful. Like. What an image.  

- It’s funny, the way I don’t know how to feel about Kingsley? It’s interesting--on one hand, it’s great, I love this not-so-accidental-pirate-king, yes, give me all the pirate politics shenanigans. But on the other hand, I loved that conversation at the beginning of the episode between Beau and Yasha about not wanting to impose their memory of Molly on the person that they brought back, but Yasha obviously wanting the person she loved back so badly. I almost wished they had left it on that ambiguity, perhaps, because that ambiguity is more interesting and more poignant to me?

- Full disclosure, I started watching the episode live, promptly fell asleep on it while it was still running, and woke up at like 1AM to HEY SURPRISE TRENT IKITHON and let me tell you that I wasn’t unconvinced that I had dreamed half of it

- ASTRID i got nothin i got absolutely nothin. I know that this is where they had to end the show, because where do you go from the unlikely miracle of last episode. but damn god damn would I eat up the complicated political mess of navigating the Assembly’s dissolution with a SPOON.

- Everyone picking off Trent’s Fancy Magical Stuff made me laugh so frickin hard oh my god are they even going to use this or just bring it to their friendly local pawn shop. Either way. Hilarious.

- I totally didn’t expect Jester and Artagan’s epilogue to get to me the way it did, but I SHOULD HAVE. Artagan asking her what she wants. Jester saying that she wants to see everything. Jester going to kiss him and biting him on the nose. The way that Artagan enabled Jester to go see the world and come into her power and the way Jester changed him profoundly, in a way he never accounted for. God. I love them.

- FEY REALM ADVENTURES FEY REALM ADVENTURES 

- Beau and Yasha being beautifully domestic together. Aaaaaaaa.

- Ha ha ha. Predictably. The cheek kiss and enveloping hug and “Don’t be a stranger” and “Try to be kind. To yourself.” Killed Me. I love that the evolution of this relationship could be analyzed entirely through forearm grasps and the follow-through on this touch. I love that this one is just--so gentle. So quiet. So much about closing this space between them.

- Listen. Listen as someone who is always very happy to write things that are resolutely non-canon and are never going to be, and who took one look at Caleb and Essek playing social manipulation chess when they met in Rosohna and was like, I Am Compelled--it is absolutely surreal to me that Essek not only has his own epilogue, but shares it with Caleb. I’m so delighted.

And like. Frick. I remember watching the episode with Essek’s first appearance after the year-long hot boi drought and just--desperately wanting more of his story, whatever it might be, and being overwhelmed, overjoyed when his story became interwoven with the Nein’s in a way that is now impossible to separate. I’m just over the moon at what the series delivered with his character.

- Geez. I think that the intensity of my feelings about Essek’s “ending”--and it doesn’t feel like an ending, it feels very much like a beginning--needs to be contextualized with what parts of it resonate with me. I’ve always moved around my entire life, and I’ve grown used to having to appreciate that you need seize and cherish friendships in the moment in which they exist, and that you will sometimes have to leave some of those connections behind--and that as someone who is way on the aroace spectrum, those connections are incredibly, incredibly dear to me, however brief. 

And gosh. Essek, always moving around, assuming a different identity in every place he visits, but hearing from the Nein constantly, and always orbiting back to Caleb as a constant in his life--oof, that, that is something that gets me right in the chest, both as an ideal ending for him and as something that retains that bittersweet edge, that sense that all things are temporary and that you have to hold them close while you can.

Essek has been stuck in a society that is unchanging or changes in only in vast tectonic shifts, with lifetimes upon lifetimes of gradual change, and as a new soul, he’s been expected to keep up a certain image--and this image is likely one that would be expected of him for lifetimes more. But in exile, he can remake himself anew in another city, try on another costume to see how it might change him, taste new ideas constantly and experience the very opposite of stagnation--that, I think, is so dear to me.

And the idea that in these wanderings, he also makes a home with Caleb, that he can find a nest with him in the time they have, that he can have both this opening of experiences and this person to share his life with--fuck. That’s ideal. That’s so good.

I wonder if, eventually, Essek will have that same crisis of identity that strikes people when they’ve lived in many different places or who live in exile--that though he’s been formed by the Dynasty and Xhorhas and must hold some parts of it dear, however subconsciously, that eventually someone will ask where he’s from and he won’t really know what to answer, how to explain what places and people have shaped him.

And I love that his relationship with Caleb feels hard to define, but that it’s unambiguously intense, intimate, vulnerable, trusting--that they share something with each other that binds them to each other in a way that they can rely on each other. Like, I’m so glad that there was explicit confirmation of their relationship, but that that space of possibility between them is also so beautifully undefinable, so rich with what is and what could be and what they choose to make it. Like. Again, that might be the aroace feelings talking. But man.

(AnD NOW IT’S CONFIRMED THAT HE’S DEMI TOO AND I’M LIKE OH. OKAY.  \o/)

- Good stuff time to rewatch c2 again I guess. Man I can’t believe I’ve been watching these chucklefucks since they stole a ship.

[early2000smovieimagines]

Meeting and Dating Fred Weasley

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

- It’s sort of hard to ignore the Weasley twins, isn’t it? Tall redheads who play on the Quidditch team and are always bringing attention to themselves in one way or another? Little hard to miss.

- Speaking of being on the Quidditch team, that’s how the two of you first meet which, depending on what house you’re in, means that you either met during tryouts for the Gryffindor team or after/during a game against Gryffindor.

- The competitive and teasing Weasleys are going to mess with you either way but how they; mainly Fred, tease you somewhat depends on which house you’re in.

- The teasing which occurs regardless of what team you’re on includes: them playfully telling you not to screw something up, Fred smiling and insisting that you’re doing something wrong, him giving you compliments he jokingly pretends to not want to admit, etc.

- If you’re on the Gryffindor team then he’ll have more of an excuse to be around you and be more touchy, ruffling your hair, picking you up in a hug when you guys win a game, softly pushing/bumping shoulders with you, etc. Him and George are the bane of your existence and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

- It’s after one of your games that he finally asks you out. If you’re on the other team then you’d probably have to lose for him to do so, so sorry about that.

- He comes up to you and cheekily says “good game y/l/n” before asking “think you’d want to celebrate with me at Hogsmeade this weekend?”. This means that you either happily agree or teasingly ask what you’re celebrating, reminding him that your team lost.

“Why, you’re celebrating another great fight against the ultimate victor, of course!” He answers in an exaggerated voice, tossing his hair back while sticking his noise in the air.

“Alright, alright, sure. I’ll go with you to Hogsmeade.” You laugh in reply as the two of you walk towards the school.

- So yes, your first date takes place in the little village near the school. He keeps his arm around you as you walk in the snow together and talk. He also probably drags you to the joke shop which, knowing him, you probably should have anticipated said visit. He’s just as cheeky as always but hey, that’s what you like about him, right?

- The two of you share your first kiss about a week later, right before you go to get ready for another game; or at least before he does. He’d playfully asked for a little good luck kiss and you’d pressed one to his cheek. He hummed, saying that he “might need a little more than that”, giving you a grin as he pulls you in by your collar and presses a kiss to your lips.

“That’s better.” he’d said before sending you a wink and running off to get ready, leaving you standing there flustered yet happy.

- And just like that, the sneaky, secondhand robe wearing redhead had officially stolen your heart.

- Tons of pda. He’s a touchy boy and he loves loving on you; he can never get enough of it. 

- Fred’s used to sharing affection and attention with a bunch of other people so he’s always eager to have yours. Surprise him with a hug or a kiss on the cheek and he’s a happy boy. 

- His hand is constantly on your thigh. Sometimes it’s purposefully placed there, other times he’ll just rest it there without thinking after he pats you on the leg. 

- Hugs from behind. He loves to whisper things in your ear or duck his head down to brush his lips against your neck, making you giggle and squirm as he holds on tight. 

- Temple kisses.

- Teasing words leading into kisses. He likes making playful comments, his face moving closer to yours before he finally connects your lips. 

- Sweet, soft kisses. He’ll just keep going in for another as you’re half distracted, doing so until you finally giggle and softly push him away. 

- Him stealing kisses from you before you can do anything, either on your lips or somewhere else. He likes quickly giving you a peck before running off with George to do something. 

- Lots of snogging.

- He can cuddle you in just about any position and be happy but he has a particular fondness for when you lay in the crook of his arm with his head resting against yours. 

- He always pulls you to sit down next to him whenever you’re in the great hall together; or wherever else you can be together. 

- Him lounging between your legs; especially when you’re with your friends. He likes resting the back of his head on your stomach/chest and feeling you wrapped around him. 

- Soft looks. He acts like this cheeky menace all the time but he’s really a softy when he’s with you. George gives him smug and amused looks when he catches him looking at you like you’re the moon. 

- He likes calling you things like pretty girl, lovely, and sweetheart. 

- Flirting and pick up lines. Usually you flirt with someone when you want to date them but not Fred. No, Fred started really flirting with you after you became a couple. 

- Teasing; in every sense of the word. Poor girl, you’re never left alone. 

- He thinks spooking you is highly amusing. He likes seeing you jump or jolt at his sudden appearance, loving the way you slap his arm and whine at him. 

- Pranks, both getting them played on you and helping him play them on others. 

- Getting roped into things. He’s the ringleader of most of the twins shenanigan's so its only natural. 

- Mini competitions and bets. He’s a competitive boy and he likes that determined look on your face; and bragging to you or watching you brag when one of you wins. 

- Passing notes in class.

- Sneaking around the school together using the marauders map and his sheer knowledge of the school. 

- Getting to keep his old sweaters when he outgrows them. They’re the only piece of clothing that he can really give you, considering everything else can go to his siblings. 

- Sometimes, you’ll get him a little gift and he won’t be able to stop smiling for the rest of the day. He cherishes it; especially when you aren’t there to see. Occasionally, he’ll just hold it in his hands and smile when he’s alone in his room. 

- Snowball fights and snowman building. 

- Being dragged into Zonko’s shop whenever you go to Hogsmeade. 

- Study dates. He usually gets very distracted by you and just tries to persuade you to go do something more entertaining. He’s never been a big fan of academics, not unless he’s trying to mess with you and teasingly not pay you attention when you want it. 

- He probably likes writing stupid stuff on you or your things, stuff like “Fred’s property” or “Gryffindor rules”, etc. 

- Celebrating with him after he wins Quidditch games and being invited to join his family whenever they go to professional ones. 

- Compliments and flattery. “How is my beautiful girlfriend”, “have I told you how amazing you are today”, most of the Weasleys know how to get what they want through flattery and he’s no exception. He also just likes making you flustered. 

- He believes in you more than anyone else. He knows exactly how impressive you are and what you can do. 

- Visiting the burrow whenever you can.

- Molly loves you; especially if you try to keep Fred out of trouble. You’re like another daughter to her once she sees that you’re a good match and a good  influence on her lovely little man. 

- George third wheeling a lot or having double dates with you; when he does manage to get a girlfriend. Although, it’s not really third wheeling when it’s Georgie, is it? He’s just a part of you. 

- Getting to hear all about their new products and how they work, occasionally helping them come up with things or explaining why they wont work/testing them out. He gets sort of shy when you earnestly call him brilliant. 

- Visiting him at the shop and possibly working there if that’s what you want to do.

- Him trying to impress you with his tricks and fishing for your praise. Once again: a bit deprived of attention; though that’s not Molly’s fault. 

- He can certainly be a bit of a jerk but he’s always there to comfort you and make you feel better. It’s what older brothers do best. 

- Jealous boy. He’ll always clench his jaw when he sees you smiling or laughing with someone else. He’ll come over and kiss your head, interrupting the two of you and asking “what’s going on over here?” when he thinks they’re getting a little too comfy. He’ll definitely prank the hell out of someone if he learns they made a move on you. 

- Protective. He’s an older brother to a younger sister, it’s in his blood to watch over little ladies that he cares about; even if he gives you hell from time to time. 

- The two of you don’t really “fight” but you do bicker quite a bit, though that’s usually resolved fairly easily since you’ll pretty much just move on and forget about it. If you do fight fight then he’ll usually try to play it off and insist that the issue isn’t a big deal which doesn’t help his case. 

- If he was in the wrong then he’d give you an “okay, okay, I’m sorry” but it’s usually a bit too late at that point. He’ll give you a little space before he comes around and gives you a proper apologize, acting too cute for you to stay mad at him. 

- If you’re in the wrong then he’ll be serious for once, arguing with you until it’s settled and you apologize/agree to never do it again. Only then will he let out a breath and an “okay” and wait a minute before pulling you into a hug. 

- Lots of I love you’s, usually sung out playfully. He loves hearing you say it to him too; even if he only shows it by failing to stop himself from smiling. 

- The two of you have a long and happy life together. He knows that you’re the one for him and is eager to start a little army of hellraisers with you.