#or comments Gabriel had made in another context

[hephaestuscrew]

I'm a big fan of the way that Gabriel Urbina often includes details within the Wolf 359 scripts that can't be directly translated into audio, for example: the "tears silently streaming down [Minkowski's] face" in Ep31 Securité; Eiffel being "wrapped up in a blanket" when telling Lovelace about his traumatic experience of feeling like he was turning into Minkowski in Ep32 Controlled Demolition; the way "Hera and Eiffel stand together, his arm around her shoulder" when confronting Pryce in the finale; the idea that Eiffel "salutes" Minkowski after his speech to her before the memory wipe... These details make reading the scripts an even more rewarding experience. 

But I do think there's an interesting question here about to what extent these details are canon. After all, when changes have been made in the dialogue between the script and the final recording, I only consider the dialogue that actually ended up in the episode to be canon, although the version in the script might still provide interesting insights. But with details in the scripts that are inherently not audible - and therefore never intended to be literally included in the episode itself - should we consider them to be canon, or bonus content, or Word of God, or simply a tool used in the recording process? 

I know that it is possible to have an entirely full experience of the show without ever reading a single bit of the scripts. The scripts are placed in the 'Extras' area of the show website. 

Obviously the primary purpose of the non-auditory script details is to inform the actors in their performances, and perhaps provide some considerations for sound design. When I read the scripts, I can often feel how the non-auditory script directions are reflected in the feel of the voice acting. 

But once I've noticed these script directions, I also can't help having them feed into my experience of the scene when listening, in a way that enriches the experience beyond purely the audio, and informs my understanding of these moments. The script directions tell us more about what the writer was envisioning for a scene.

I love sharing the script directions that feel significant to me, and when I do so, I feel like I'm sharing something more significant than a behind-the-scenes tidbit. I feel like I'm sharing further knowledge of what happened in that scene. The script directions feel like a true part of the show to me, more so than the comments the writers and actors have made in Q&As. To me, these non-auditory bits of the scripts feel like canon, but a slightly lesser form of canon than the episodes themselves. But I don't know if I can fully justify this view. I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.

[drconstellation]

More Half-and-Half-A-Miracle Thoughts

Part 1: Miracle Power Ranking

Part 2: The Dark side of Aziraphale is here. Part 3: The Third Archangel

I was originally going to add some comments as a reblog to @nofomogirl's post on why the 25 Lazurii miracle was so powerful, but the initial thought I had on the matter slipped away from me during that day, and I was left looking at a glimpse at the viridian green back panel of Aziraphale's waistcoat and wondering what had sparked my original thought, and any attempt to try and grasp it again was a futile as Muriel trying to open Gabriel's file in Heaven.

So I wandered off on other tangents, explored other topics I was curious about, and enjoyed reading the new posts that went up, but the ghost of that viridian green panel kept lurking about with a sharp stick to remind me it was there. So I'm here to post some more thoughts in addition to the op's post that I feel might add to the discussion about the little miracle that worked too well.

I also want to say before I get stuck in (and warning - this is going to be a long one!) that I think no matter how much we discuss this or dig at it, ultimately we just don't have enough information to have a definitive answer as to the why at the moment, and, we may never know. But I'm going to speak because I think I there is at least one thing I haven't seen discussed yet in context with this scene, and should be (at least, I haven't seen it yet - if you have, please let me know.)

So if you're in a TL:DR mode and don't want to open links, here is the list of current theories of why two little "half miracles" made one mighty one:

Theory#1: It's love

Theory #2: It's them

Theory#3: It's a fusion

Theory #4: It's Gabriel

Theory #5: It's the portal (that they did it on top of)

To preface my answering ramble the TL:DR again is - its a fusion of "them" i.e. both #2 and #3 together. As in Aziraphale x Gabriel x Crowley. 3x3x3

Hang on, that's 27! Not 25! yeah, yeah, I'm not that bad at math. And I'll admit it doesn't fit - it doesn't "snap" into place. But its either that or 5x5 and I wanted to consider all three elements in this miracle working together for the discussion at the start. And there seems to an emphasis on 3's as well as 7's (Maybe you can cut the middle out at the end, once you can see the bigger picture I'm trying to present, but lets leave it this way for now. Maybe it will give you another idea...)

Firstly, consider the three elements, working in synergy. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As Crowley describes it in S2E6: " Apparently, if we do a miracle together, it all works a bit too well." (I was originally thinking of the word "gestalt" but on reflection its probably not the right one.)

"...if we..."

Let's ask who is "we" at this point, and how much miracle power they are contributing to the miracle. Are they contributing equally? Yes? Or no? I want to take a closer look at miracle power: the knowns, the unknowns and the possibilities to explore that.

We've already been told that most day-to-day miracles are down in the mili-Lazurii level, a mere few thousandth of the power of the hiding miracle. And this makes sense - we don't see our protagonists bringing the dead back to life willy-nilly. Aziraphale mentions getting into trouble for doing "too many frivolous miracles." But if its one thing Good Omens stands out for its the conspicuous lack of displays of stupendous power. And this actually doesn't help our understanding of the problem.

Indulge me in a "ranking of power" exercise, if you will.

At the top we have the big three - no, four - er, lets make that five actually! Five ineffably, unarguably, omnipotent entities that every one respects and no one will mess with. They can essentially do what ever they will.

God, and Her (ex-) bestie, Satan.

Azrael, the angel of Death.

Adam Young, the Antichrist, who has retained his powers and is still protecting Tadfield.

And lastly the yet-to be revealed second coming of Jesus Christ.

Lets put them all aside and out of the equation.

Next, we have the Metatron, whom we haven't seen lift a finger, only his voice, yet the mere sight of his face evokes fear. How much miracle power can he wield? That's a big unknown, unfortunately. But being the current right-hand being of the Almighty must give him some serious grunt.

The top brass of the respective bureaucracies starts to raise questions. We have our senior Archangels (the seraphim) and the Dukes of Hell. I have no doubt that Gabriel, as Supreme Archangel of all Heaven, should be capable of performing at least a 1 Lazurii miracle on his own if required, and he could even have the potential to stretch to 25 Lazurii...if he could be bothered.

We know that they can be promoted in an out of those positions, and that raises questions about what happens to their powers when they get promoted or demoted. To gain power when promoted? Or lose it when demoted? Or is it a simply a matter of belief? In which case it might rely on the individual's personality.

When looking for examples of expressed power, in both the book and tv series, it is easier to come up with examples of demonic miracles than angelic miracles, and it makes things look a bit biased, imo. I mean, Crowley aside for the moment (I'll get back to him shortly) you have to be impressed with Hastur's escape from the ansaphone into the call center and manifesting into the mass of maggots, for all he was a bit old fashioned and smelled like poo. Shax playing games with Crowley just outside the shop in S2, manifesting as different characters in rapid succession has to be up there with another good demo of demon power (which it certainly worked to needle Crowley into losing his temper with them.)

What do we see the Archangels do in comparison? Hmm. Bitch and snitch. Gossip with Hell on the back stairs. Pretend to be buying pornography from Aziraphale. Then physically punch our angel in guts for fraternizing with a demon before disappearing back to Heaven . Not much.

OK, so Gabriel arrives on a lightning bolt at Tadfield airbase

and there is that intriguing discussion with Sandalphon regarding Sodom and Gomorrah (just read above the cut, that's the important bit for this meta later on) where he was doing quite a bit of smiting, but its all off screen and in the distant past, we don't actually see them in action.

Which brings us back to Crowley and Aziraphale. And then more Aziraphale manipulating Crowley into performing miracles for him so he doesn't have to (the little minx.) The list of miracles I can think of that we have seen Crowley do is far longer and seems more impressive than what Aziraphale has done. Oh, but there is the Eldritch Ball, you say? Controlling multiple people at once? (Hold that thought.) He also sent the soldier at the entry gate of the Tadfield airbase all the way back to his home in the USA in an instant (according to the book) and he flew the moped with both Madame Tracey and Shadwell over the top of the Odegra ring of demon fire to get to Tadfield (again, as mentioned in the book.) And as the op back here says, why didn't they just manifest themselves out? Idiots...

On to Part 2: The Dark Side of Aziraphale.

[ok-sims]

Things in Good Omens 2 I still find weird after maaaaany rewatches - Part II

Hey everyone! First of all, sorry for my spelling mistakes in the first post 🙈 Somehow I was able to misspell the misspelled word, but I give my word as an angel that am I not a demon. Also, I loved to hear yout thoughts on some of the topics! There were quite some things I hadn't noticed, like Miss Cheng's resturant on Aziraphale's list. Now that I had some more time to think and rewatched the show 2 more times there are some other things I still don't quite understand:

👩Nina and Maggie being immune to Aziraphale's miracles🛡️

Obviously they aren't immune to the miracle he put on the bookshop during the Jane Austen ball, since we can see they are being made to dance, despite their will, and Nina herself comments that something is forcing her to feel different emotions (she was sad after her breakup, but suddendly didn't feel sad anymore). But when Shax's legion of demons tries to break into the bookshop, Aziraphale tries do do some miracle on Nina and Maggie so they agree to leave the bookshop with the rest of the humans (Maggie is acting like her weird self again and wants to stand there and fight????, which falls into Maggie acting off the whole season), but the miracle does not work. It is clearly intended to show that Aziraphale is casting a miracle (he does the hand gesture and the miracle sound effect plays). But it is also made clear that it did not work (including Nina's comment, "are you trying to hypnotize us?"). Another scene that corroborates with their "immunity" is when Crowley scorts out of the bookshop, when the Hell and Heaven gangs arrive after Aziphale blow up his halo. When they are outside, Crowley says that Nina and Maggie should forget everything that happened that night (he told the same to the others humans who attented the ball, and it apparently worked - check Mr Brown's quick convo with Mutt outside of the café). What the feck is going on with Maggie and Nina?

📙A.Z. Fell's diaries✒️

While it is pretty clear to me now that all the flashbacks in this season (officialy called "minisodes") are told from Aziraphale's perspective. In episode 2, the minisode seens to be Aziraphale remembering his and Crowley's encounter with Job, and getting so lost in this memory, that Gabriel points out that a long time has passed and Crowley even had left the bookshop by the time Aziraphale is done, making it clear we are getting Aziraphale's take of the Job story. In episode 4, the minisode starts right after Shax is able to "trick" Aziraphale, and the minisode storyline revolves around an incident she mentions during their conversation. Crowley is not even in this scene, despite being a central topic of their talk, and of the minisode itself, so it is safe to say we are getting Aziraphale's take again.

But the other minisode is "triggered" in a different way: it starts with Aziraphale writing in his diary (btw it is the first time he having a diary is ever mentioned!), and he states that there many volumes of these diaries. Funnily enough, his diaries are not mentioned again. Of course, once again we can clearly see the minisode is from Aziraphale's perspective (it could not get any more "in your nose" than that). But the fact that these diaries are not brought up again, even if it would have made sense in context (for example, the other two minisodes could have used the diary as a narrative device as well) is kind of odd to me. My best guess is that the diaries will be important in S3, while Aziraphale is way in Heaven, and Crowley/Muriel/a secret third character happens to find them/needs to find them for some reason.

🍷The toast after Wee Morag's death 🪦

This one might be a little silly, but I can't really wrap my head around it. In The Resurrectionist's minisode (as told by Aziraphale in his diary), Crowley and Aziraphale are having a date in a graveyard happen to stumble on Elspeth stealing buried bodies to make some money. We see the minisode unfold until Wee Morag tragically dies, and Elspeth can finally get some cash (albeit less than expected), so she steals some laudanum, buys wine and, for some reason, returns to the mausoleum were Wee Morag died to have a toast with Crowley and Aziraphale.

Why is she meeting with them again? How did they know how/where/when to find her? Since only Elspeth and Mr Dalrymple apper in the scene she steals the laudanum, I'm pretty sure Aziraphale and Crowley weren't there with her, and when the toast scene begins, they are shown entering the mausoleum again (so it is not like they were waiting inside the Mausoleum for Elspeth to come back and make a toast). I'm not sure if the minisode takes place during only one night (Aziraphale explicitly states Crowley wanted to meet him at midnight, so the minisode starts around this time), because it seens like a little too much to be done in such a short time, and when the minisode ends, it is still nightime (when Crowley is dragged to Hell), but the point is: why and how would the angel/demon duo get back to the mausoleum to have a toast with Elspeth? I'm not saying they wouldn't want to do it, but the logistics seen a bit off to me.

Once again, please let me know your insights on it! I was very pleasantly surprised with the interactions with the previous post, I'm glad to not just be shouting into the void, and I loved hearing everyone's perspectives!

[basim-ibnishaq]

I’m seeing a lot of discourse about Miguel being out of character compared to his comic self. I kinda disagree because I think Miguel is going through a character regression. In the comics, Miguel started off (in Xina’s words) “an arrogant pompous jerk” who relied on an authoritarian system (Alchemax) to achieve stability, something he never had in his past. In a way, Miguel retreads similar ground in ATSV where he comes off as an antagonistic force (a jerk :P) who relies on an authoritarian system (the Spider Society) to maintain stability for the Spiderverse after being traumatized by the destabilization of his alternate dimension. I think the creative team is implicitly tying this aspect of Miguel’s origins into his film arc while placing it in a new context to better fit the Spiderverse trilogy and introduce new audiences to his story.

I think the reason why Miguel is retreading this aspect in the film is because he’s trying to hide his true comics origins. Despite Miguel’s first intro showing a near replica of his first comic issue (creating the assumption that he’s going to tell his comic origins like the other Spiderpeople thus far), he instead states that he’s the leader of the Spider Society (essentially making up his own origin story where he’s framed as the “ultimate” Spiderman). One reason why he might be hiding his true origins is that it might delegitimize his position as head of the Spider Society, since the majority of Spiderpeople get bit by a spider. Another reason could be that he views his origins and the implications of his transformation being too traumatic to disclose (something Miguel in the comics does as he hides the abuse he faces from Conchata). With both of these reasons, Miguel uses his high position at the Spider Society to create a fresh start where he’d only be seen as Spiderman. This way he doesn’t have to deal with the trauma of his past nor the lack of closure he has regarding his relationships with Gabriel and Xina (considering the ending of the 90’s comics).

However, Miguel ignoring his true past ends up becoming his folly in ATSV. While becoming Spiderman was the catalyst for Miguel’s growth in the comics, Spiderman becomes the facilitator for his regression in the film as he delves into the responsibility and guilt aspect of this persona. By trying to shed his civilian self and donning his Spidey persona full time, he forgets the true essence of Spiderman (which is to always try to save people) and the progress he made in the comics as he’s now boiled down to his fatal flaws: rage, guilt, and self-hatred. Plus, since the Spiderverse films are “a meta-commentary on art while still being art,” Miguel not mentioning his backstory and him constantly going in and out of different dimensions could be a comment on how modern iterations of his comics don’t take place in his home (dimension) of 2099 or feature his full cast.

I feel like Miguel’s true self would emerge once his real comic origins and story are revealed in BTSV, which includes the loss of his interpersonal relationships in his home dimension. By being truthful to himself and others, Miguel would be able to merge his Miguel and Spiderman persona together instead of viewing them two separate entities (something he struggled with in the comics). This could even lead to reconciliation between him and the Spider Squad as the other Spiderpeople (ie. Peter B, Gwen, Miles) experienced the same issue in the trilogy. Overall, I think BTSV will truly do Miguel justice by allowing his backstory to be told, affirming him as both Miguel and Spiderman, and by going back to his home dimension to show that his issues can be fixed ( hopefully seeing Gabriel and Xina). Hopefully after BTSV, it will inspire creatives to continue/reboot Miguel’s story from the 90’s and have it be set in 2099 with his full cast in the future.

(I’m sorry this is so long! It’s just SV Miguel isn’t really popular in the sm2099 comic fandom rn, but I can’t help but draw this connection and believe this is Miguel’s direction in the trilogy. Hopefully, you can share your thoughts on this, but I really just need to get this idea out there, privately. Thank you for reading all of this though!)

hey! this is an interesting read and i'm glad you shared it with me, i can see what you're saying and agree with elements of it but personally (and this is purely my opinion) i'm not sure i'm seeing all of it the same way as you

firstly, i do think it's a bit too harsh to describe the spider society as authoritarian - there are thousands of spideys in the society who all belive in miguel and what he's set out to do, he's not forced them to be there and demanded they do everything he says, and in the movie we only see a couple of events out who knows how many they've dealt with overall - and we can gather from the reactions of others that this is the first time miguel's reacted like this. miguel is their leader but he's not an authoritarian leader, he doesn't demand absolutely obedience in fact we know from dialogue that he's discussed how to handle miles with a few of them at least and he tries to explain everything to miles to give him all the information about what's going on, he doesn't just lock him up straight away and refuse to divulge any information, so he leads them yes but being a leader doesn't make you authoritarian, if he was not one of those spider characters would have joined him because they wouldn't trust him?

i'm also not sure he's ever tried to frame himself as the ultimate spiderman, he says he leads an elite strike force which is true? miguel is a man who can be very self assured yes but this is normally in the context of his work, not acting like he actually believes he's the greatest man to ever walk the planet and i don't think he'd ever do that as spiderman either - to have him act like he's the ultimate spiderman is so ooc for how miguel faces being spiderman, he thinks he has to do this because of what happened to him and he still doesn't think doing so makes him a good person let alone better than everyone else who is also has a spiderperson - i don't think he's even framing leading the spider society as his origin i think he just considers that to be all anyone needs to know about him because his origin is so traumatic to him that it's too personal for him to be sharing with gwen (and therefore the audience) right off the bat. he's painfully open about the elements of himself that are relevant for people in the society to know, namely him going to the other universe and its subsequent destruction, and therfore why he believes the things he does about canon events etc. i do agree with you that he's probably keeping his origin completely to himself because it's traumatic, because this way he can be viewed as the person he chooses to be not what other people in his past have made him to be.

honestly i don't think miguel has forgotten the essence of being spiderman and trying to save everyone, he has every reason to believe that letting canon events play out will save more people in the long run by preventing the destruction of entire universes, he is trying to save people, that's his entire goal with the spider society - to preserve the multiverse and prevent complete destruction and the loss of billions and billions of lives - whether the canon theory is 100% accurate we don't know yet but i don't think it's fair or accurate to suggest that miguel isn't trying to save people because he so clearly is, he's just doing it by letting events play out as its projected they're meant to instead of miles' approach which is to believe he can, in his words "do both" when it comes to saving the many or the individual, neither of them are bad or stupid for doing it their particular way - they're both unlimately trying do to the right thing

i absolutely agree that sharing more of who is is outside of spiderman would help reduce that separation he has between spiderman and miguel o'hara, because the spider society is a huge support system for people who understand each other and i think it would help miguel greatly to be open with even just a few of the other spider characters, but like you said we also know that his personal identity and how he sees himself is something he really struggles with in the comics

i do hope btsv does him justice and shows us more of the miguel characteristics from the comics, i like the idea of us getting a solo movie/series that's much more grounded in the 90's run so we actually get to see more of miguel outside the spider society (and the spider society is set in his home dimension but i get the gist of what you're saying)

thank you again for sending this though, it's interesting to see other people's interpretations!

[thelastarchangelaskblog]

Seventh Year: Reconciliations Bonus Scene 8

Can still scarcely believe First Born is done. I am able to share another scene I had been sitting on for a while. Keep in mind that while this one takes place during Reconciliations, it's best read after the last chapter unless you want some spoilers about things.

Or maybe you do want spoilers. I don't know.

I'm slowly starting up the process of shifting all these bonus scenes over to AO3, so please leave a comment and a kudos. :) And please reblog this or leave a comment/reply! <3

On AO3

Bonus Scene 1

Bonus Scene 2

Bonus Scene 3

Bonus Scene 4

Bonus Scene 5

Bonus Scene 6

Bonus Scene 7

**

“You can see him, right?” Draco asked Luna.

Luna looked at him, blinking. “Yes. Why?”

“Does he – is he different?”

It was a moment before Luna responded, expression thoughtful. “He’s…closed off. More withdrawn. It was bad when we first came here, but since then…it hasn’t really changed.”

“He keeps saying it’s fine and nothing he can’t handle,” Draco said. “That we were expecting worse than what it’s been. I think he isn’t sharing everything.”

Luna chewed her lower lip, looking down at the book she had been reading. From the cover, it seemed like a romance of a blue person swooning into a rugged blond man’s arms. There was a dark tower in the background backlit by lightning. “He normally doesn’t. Have you tried speaking to him?”

“Once,” Draco admitted. “The first night. I didn’t think trying again would get me anywhere else and…” There had been something else that cautioned him not to push too hard here, though he had wanted to shake Michael until answers fell out. Something about the look in Michael’s eyes.

“I don’t think he’s likely to share much with me either,” Luna said regretfully. “He’s…hiding.”

Draco blinked. “Hiding? We see him every day.”

Luna shook her head. “Yes, but he’s still hiding.”

Draco was still baffled. “I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, Luna.”

Luna shrugged, cryptic as ever. “I know Susan has asked some questions, but it usually leaves her wanting to hit him with a pillow.”

Draco understood the sentiment. “…Do you mean hiding by how he’s withdrawn?”

“I don’t think he wants me to see,” Luna said, “but I don’t think I could see what he doesn’t want me to. But I can see enough that it’s…wrong. I was hoping it would get better. He smiles more now.”

He did. It was nice to see. Though Draco wished those smiles were in a slightly different context than Dummy asking them embarrassing questions about the hygiene habits of wizards. Ginny had admitted Dummy reminded her of her father and that was a comparison Draco hadn’t wanted to make but now couldn’t stop himself from doing so.

“I know there’s a saying about everything having its own timeline,” Draco said, “but I don’t think waiting longer will do anything here.”

“It might, but it would probably take a very long time. We might be old then.” Luna sounded thoughtful.

“…I would prefer for that not to be the case.”

“I wouldn’t either.” Luna closed her book and put it to the side. Her expression was thoughtful.

Draco hesitated a moment, then offered, “Some of his siblings have been trying. Gabriel, especially.”

Luna looked up at him. “Do you want to ask?”

“No.” Draco made a face, then sighed. “But we have to.”

There was no response from Luna but she stood up, nodding at Draco. 

Draco had no idea where he was going. It wasn’t to Michael, who was with the others who were getting lessons on weapons from an overly eager Asgardian who had been too excited to share how to use the sharp, pointy swords in the armory. However, he didn’t know where to find Gabriel.

He could always pray…

Luna ended up asking one of the cleaning staff that wasn’t a metal “robot,” and the two were directed to a small side room that Draco would never have found on his own. Unfortunately it wasn’t just Gabriel in there. Raphael and Lucifer were present as well.

Lucifer was sitting on the back of the couch, those keen grayish eyes fixed on the two of them as they entered. He didn’t say anything.

Gabriel looked like he’d been in the middle of pacing, coming to a stop to also look at them. Raphael stood at a wall, looking almost uncomfortably like Michael. Draco could really see the familial resemblance.

“You’re not lost, are you?” Gabriel asked after a long moment of silence.

Draco shook himself, stepping forward. “We were looking for you.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows rose. “Well…here I am.”

“Michael…we’re worried about him, and he isn’t talking.”

Gabriel grimaced, glancing at Raphael and Lucifer. “Yeah…we’ve been giving him space. Not too sure how well that’s working out.”

“He’s hiding,” Luna said. She looked between the three of them, biting her lip and pressing her fingers together. “You – you can see that, can’t you?”

They all turned to look at Luna, expressions intent. Even though he wasn’t under their attention, a shiver ran down Draco’s spine.

For her part, Luna didn’t budge, keeping her head high.

“What do you see?” Raphael asked curiously.

“I – I see him. But he’s… It’s not like it was before. He’s pulled back.”

“It was different before?”

“Yes.” Luna didn’t turn away, still looking them in the eye. “But here – it’s… He’s all curled up. It’s – it’s like the Snorkacks when they’re injured. They hide in their shells.”

They looked at each other again, seeming to communicate silently and probably actually doing so given they were angels.

“Is that not something you noticed?” Draco asked.

Gabriel pulled a face. Lucifer grimaced, looking down at the floor. Raphael looked worried, eyebrows scrunched together.

“Michael’s always been hard to read,” Gabriel said slowly. “Even for us. And, well…he’s not given us much.”

“Are you not supposed to know him better?” Draco demanded. “You’re his siblings. Doesn’t that mean something?”

Gabriel looked pained. “You’re right; it should. Unfortunately…it hasn’t for a long time.”

“Then aren’t you going to do something about it?”

“I did,” Lucifer said, grumpy. “I brought you here.”

Draco blinked, looking at him. “I rather thought you did it to prove a point.”

“I did.”

Draco squinted at him, thinking Draco’s point and Lucifer’s points were two different points. 

“We’ve tried,” Luna said when Draco continued staring at Lucifer. “And it does help, but he keeps saying we can’t really understand and that this is all to be expected and he deserves it.”

Gabriel muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse, rubbing a hand over his face. Lucifer looked even more pained. Raphael seemed like she had a question answered she didn’t really want answered.

“That’s why we’re here,” Draco said, looking between each of them. “He keeps telling us we wouldn’t understand. Even if we ask for more, he doesn’t want to share.” He scowled. “Because he thinks we’re too fragile for it. I presume it wouldn’t be the same for you.”

Gabriel snorted, still covering his face with a hand. “No. There’s other baggage with us.”

“We don’t want to be old by the time he’s willing to share,” Luna said, pleading. “We – I don’t want him to keep hurting. Not when something can be done.”

Raphael drew in a long breath, relaxing from her rigid pose by the wall. “I can speak to him,” she said quietly.

Gabriel glanced at her. “You sure?”

Raphael nodded. “I know what it is he’s going through. I’ll speak to him.”

The three archangels looked at each other for a long moment before Raphael nodded and disappeared with the sound of fluttering wings. That just left Draco and Luna together with Gabriel and Lucifer.

Which…Draco wasn’t sure what to do here. He felt odd making small talk with Michael’s family, especially these two.

“Raphael knows what she’s doing,” Lucifer told Gabriel in a low voice.

Gabriel hummed in response, expression slightly distant. “Usually.” The corner of his mouth ticked up in a wry smile.

There wasn’t any other conversation, at least not where Draco or Luna could hear. He shared a commiserating look with her, then just settled in to wait.

Draco wasn’t sure how long it would take, but emotional conversations should take a while, right? If anything happened, he was relatively certain Gabriel or Lucifer would tell them with that strange link they all shared. So they could wait here—

Raphael appeared in the space she had left several minutes ago, looking not at all like she had just had an emotionally intense conversation. Draco knew Michael had trouble with telling time because angels were above human conceptions such as time, but surely a conversation couldn’t have happened that quickly?

“Well?” Draco demanded. “What happened?”

Raphael glanced only briefly at him, turning her attention towards Gabriel. “He says he would like time.”

“We’ve been giving him time. It’s not been doing anything,” Gabriel pointed out.

“Not long enough,” Raphael disagreed. “We had so much time, Gabriel. Time he hasn’t had.”

…What the bloody hell? No. No. They weren’t just going to leave Michael like that, were they?

Luna looked just as upset, so that was good. She glanced at him, and they turned towards the angels to protest, though Gabriel beat them to it.

“What exactly did he say, Raphael?” Gabriel asked. “Wasn’t it you who told us he’s masking?”

“Yes, but I understand that. I went through it myself. He and I – we’re very similar.” Raphael hesitated, looking as uncertain as Michael did sometimes. It was uncanny despite the different physical features. She sighed. “He said there’s no issue. Pointed out we’re very similar and that he needs time. The same time I needed. He was…reassuring.”

Oh, of course. That was Michael in a nutshell. He could be so very reassuring that he had everything handled.

Draco choked out a laugh, rubbing a hand over his face and pinching his nose.

“He asked that we trust him,” Raphael continued speaking. “Trust that he knows what he’s doing.”

When Draco looked up, he saw Gabriel also now rubbing a hand over his face. He seemed frustrated, which was relieving. It seemed like Gabriel wasn’t about to just let it be like he had before. It seemed like Michael had been right that Gabriel was trying.

He glanced back at Luna, who was worrying at her lower lip and looking at Gabriel. On seeing him looking, she gave him a brief smile, reaching out to squeeze his arm. She didn’t let go.

“Like this, sister?” Gabriel’s tone was warm and reassuring. He sounded…different, and Luna’s hand on Draco’s spasmed, her eyes widening.

Draco looked away from her face, watching Gabriel in confusion. Raphael seemed taken aback, the most surprised Draco had ever seen her. There was no such surprise with Lucifer, though Draco was unable to read what was on his face.

“It’s going to be okay, right?” Gabriel said, smiling. His tone was gentle, still very reassuring. “Hey, I got it handled.” He laughed, flashing a quicksilver grin that brightened his face. “It’s all good, yeah? There’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Gabriel—” Raphael protested.

Luna squeezed his arm again, inhaling sharply. Draco glanced at her and then back at Gabriel, unsure of what she was seeing.

“I got this,” Gabriel said, reassuring and calm. It was much bolder than Michael’s statements but no less reassuring.

“This might make things worse,” Raphael cautioned.

Gabriel glanced at Draco and Luna, shooting them both a reassuring smile. “Things are already fucked, Raphael. Besides, fixing things is what I do.” He disappeared an instant later. Unlike with Raphael, there was no sound of wings.

Lucifer sighed, looking over at Raphael. “That is what Michael did to you. He’s very good at it – always has been. Gabriel is as well, though I can call him on his bullshit.”

Raphael’s lips were flat. “Do you?”

“Sometimes,” Lucifer said. “Not always. He’s good enough to hide from me at times.” There was a rueful twist at his mouth, a grimace of sorts.

“What was that?” Luna asked. “He…changed.”

Raphael and Lucifer both looked at her, the motion so similar Draco was reminded they really were siblings.

“He’s part human,” Lucifer said after a moment. “You probably saw his soul.”

“Is that…what I’m seeing in you, too?”

“Yes and no. I’m not part human. I’m an artificial intelligence.”

Draco checked with Luna to see if that was a term he should know and was relieved to see Luna looked just as uncomprehending.

Lucifer laughed, though the sound didn’t seem unkind. “Artificial intelligences have been theorized in Muggle books by your time. Some scientists have even made attempts at creating some, though they’re very rudimentary. What Gabriel – Tony – created is a truly self-learning program that’s able to evolve and grow on its own. You’ve met Dummy and his siblings; they’re just like me.”

That didn’t really explain much for Draco. Dummy, Butterfingers, and You seemed like humans, even if…very weird ones. That didn’t need to use the bathroom.

“Have you seen a computer?” Raphael asked them.

It was another word Draco was unfamiliar with. Thankfully Luna also shook her head.

Lucifer hummed, expression thoughtful. “Consider it…like a spell that’s able to respond to you. You have spells you can use to search for things or write things down, but what if they were suddenly able to predict what you need? Extrapolate from previous habits to determine what should be next? And what if they were able to speak to you?” On seeing understanding fill their expressions, Lucifer nodded. “There you go. That’s an artificial intelligence. Well, roughly speaking, anyway.”

It was…kind of him to explain that to them. Lucifer didn’t need to, but he had. It was…very odd.

“I’d try talking to him myself,” Lucifer said, “but for a variety of reasons that’s…not a good idea. Gabriel’s the next best bet, since he’s as stubborn as they come.”

“Michael’s pretty bloody stubborn, too,” Draco reluctantly admitted.

Lucifer snorted. “I know.” He sounded fond. “But between those two…I’d put my money on Gabriel.”

Draco wasn’t sure how much to believe Lucifer, but Raphael didn’t seem to disagree, so he supposed that meant something. 

Luna squeezed Draco’s arm again, then finally let it go. Draco had entirely forgotten she was even holding it.

“Thank you,” Luna said.

Raphael shook her head. “We should thank you instead. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

“You should have known,” Draco said.

There were twin grimaces.

“We knew,” Lucifer said. “But we were hoping it would sort itself out. Obviously it didn’t.”

Nothing ever sorted itself out with Michael unless someone went ahead and poked him. Michael was only ever insistent on change when it came to others.

“Obviously,” Draco said instead.

There was a faint, answering smile that flickered over Lucifer’s lips. 

They didn’t say anything else for some time. Draco stuffed his hands in his robe pockets and considered the artwork in the room. There were a few paintings on the walls, much less bizarre than the ones in Michael’s room and with more normal subject matter such as books, water, or a serene landscape with a tree being struck by lightning. Much more normal.

The carpets in the room were all very soft and a multitude of colors and patterns. There were some very thick blankets on the couches. Despite the ostentatious nature of this room being inside a palace, it was clear it had been designed primarily for comfort.

It was the exact opposite of a similar room in Draco’s own manor. Which was only to be expected but still disappointing.

Draco was in the middle of contemplating the design styles of the pillars when something skittered over his skin. His hairs rose on end, and he swallowed, his stomach churning with dread. Luna had also stiffened, so he wasn’t imagining things.

Yet it was Lucifer and Raphael’s reactions which alarmed him. Both of them looked in the same direction, at the far wall, clearly on edge.

Something vibrated through Draco, and it almost felt like the earth beneath his feet shifted before as suddenly as it had come, it was gone and it felt like a weight had lifted. He drew in a sharp gasp, feeling like he’d been under water.

“Was that—” Luna sounded just as breathless.

“Gabriel did it,” Raphael said, relieved.

“You should stop doubting him,” Lucifer said.

“There are very few I don’t doubt, and while Gabriel is one of them, Michael is the second. Though in this case, it does seem that Gabriel out-stubborned Michael.”

Lucifer hummed, still looking at the wall. After a moment, he glanced back at Draco and Luna. “Gabriel took him off world, but they’re fine.”

“That didn’t feel fine,” Draco said.

Lucifer shrugged, smiling crookedly. “Is that the first time Michael’s been somewhat emotional?”

Draco didn’t quite want to answer that, not to Lucifer, but Luna shook her head without hesitation.

“He probably kept it under control then, not wanting to hurt you. This was slightly different. Gabriel moved them so he could let it out.”

“Where?” Draco asked.

“Off Asgard.” Lucifer’s expression was slightly distant. “Though Gabriel’s hiding, so that’s as much as I can give you.”

Draco pressed his lips together. He had to trust Gabriel had Michael’s best interests at heart. He didn’t have a choice here.

Why couldn’t they have been enough for Michael? Why was it that his old family, the ones that had hurt him, were the ones who could speak to him and actually get him to listen? It wasn’t fair.

“You should speak to Steve.”

It took Draco a moment to realize Lucifer was speaking to him. He looked up at him, frowning. Steve?

Lucifer shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “It might help.”

“Help with what?” Draco asked warily.

“With everything between you and Michael,” Lucifer said. “I’d normally suggest Loki, but he’s…probably not the best idea here, so Steve.”

Draco went cold. “What about Michael and me?”

Lucifer took a moment to answer, watching Draco closely. “You’re in love with him.”

Mortification suffused him, hot and scorching. He wanted to turn around and run. Who else was able to see that? Was Michael? Had he just been too polite to say anything?

“Not judging,” Lucifer said gently, “but we’re not the best ones to give advice on this. I’m uninterested, as is Raphael, and Gabriel just now realized Loki’s been more invested in the relationship than Gabriel’s been. Steve was human, and he can give you some advice. He’s good at that.”

“Why do you care?” Draco forced out through numb lips.

“Michael’s my brother,” Lucifer said simply. “He cares about you. And judging by how things have been going so far, he’s never going to do anything about it.”

“I would have thought you’d be happy enough just laughing at him from the sidelines.”

Lucifer’s smile was strained. “…No. Never. It was…never like that.”

No, it was just that he’d killed Michael.

Still…Steve wasn’t terrible. He was…very Muggle, but Draco hadn’t interacted much with Muggles at all. Steve seemed nice enough. If Draco wanted to talk to him.

“You don’t have to,” Lucifer said. “It’s just a suggestion.”

Draco double-checked that his Occlumency shields were still tight, which they were.

“It may take them a while,” Lucifer said, “so no need to wait here.”

Luna grabbed hold of Draco’s arm. She hesitated for a moment. “Thank you, Samael.”

Lucifer’s smile this time looked more genuine. “Anytime, Luna.”

Draco knew that Lucifer had another name, though he hadn’t thought about using it. Not when his motives were still so unclear.

But maybe they were less so now.

“That went well,” Luna commented once they were out of the room.

Draco would reserve judgment until he saw Michael again, but he could hope, couldn’t he?

He’d let Luna tell the others what happened.

Draco saw Steve a few more times over the rest of the day, usually alongside a few of the other Muggles. Though Michael had said they were part angel now. Angel-Muggle? How did that even work?

They looked human enough, but so had Michael. Yet these also behaved human in a way Michael had never managed.

Steve seemed nice enough. The others looked up to him, usually literally as he was the tallest of Gabriel’s friends, but he also seemed the most approachable. As far as suggestions went, approaching him wasn’t a bad idea.

But it just seemed…odd. That Steve and apparently also Loki both loved Gabriel.

He considered the option for a while, staying clear of the others and their worrying over Michael. It was well into evening by the time he’d made up his mind, and then he had to find Steve, which took some time given how large the palace was.

He eventually found him in an interior courtyard, one with a small fountain burbling in the middle. There was grass and some small trees in the corners, along with benches. Steve was here, but so was Peggy, the two of them sharing one of the benches. They had drinks in hand and seemed to be sitting in companionable silence.

It was startlingly intimate, and Draco almost turned around and left before Steve noticed him and waved him over.

“I can come back,” Draco said, awkward.

“It’s fine,” Peggy assured him, smiling. She squeezed Steve’s hand.

“You can have a seat,” Steve said. He seemed to realize a moment later that he and Peggy were on the only bench and the next one was too far out of earshot to be comfortable. “Or…hm…”

Draco solved the issue by conjuring a chair. It wasn’t very comfortable, but conjuring wasn’t his specialty.

“I forgot you could do that.” Steve looked down at his hands briefly before smiling up at Draco. “You wanted to speak to me?”

Draco hesitated. “…Samael suggested it.”

Steve’s eyebrows rose. “She did?”

Draco blinked. “She?”

“Sam doesn’t care either way. It amuses her when people try to guess.”

Draco could see that. “What’s the right guess?”

“Ne,” Steve answered, which didn’t even sound like a word. More like a butchered “no” like how Americans butchered the English language with their accents.

“Ne,” Draco repeated slowly. “Which is…?”

“Nothing, really. When I said Sam doesn’t care, ne really doesn’t. Angels aren’t male or female; they just take pity on us.” Steve’s voice was wry.

Draco frowned, looking down at the cobblestones. He knew Michael wasn’t actually the human he looked like. He hadn’t thought further beyond that and what it meant.

“If Michael hasn’t said anything about it, it’s likely he doesn’t care either,” Steve said gently. “From what Tony’s said, they tend to go by what their vessel is. Some are different – like Sam – but it’s a safe bet usually.”

Draco leaned an elbow against an armrest, unsure exactly of how to best broach this topic. “Samael said…you’d be the best one to speak to about…relationships.”

Steve’s eyebrows rose, then lowered. “Oh. Well…” He glanced askance at Peggy, who seemed amused. “I guess…” He seemed a little embarrassed. “I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to help, but sure.”

Great. Now Draco had no idea how to ask what he wanted to know beyond being blunt.

Steve took a drink from his cup. His ears looked a little red. “I’m not actually in a relationship with Tony. That’s…Loki. It’s been too long for me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Steve.” Peggy sounded reproving. “He loves you all the same.”

Steve shrugged. “I know. It doesn’t change that it’s been a very long time.”

“Some things haven’t changed.”

Steve’s smile was rueful. “No. That’s true enough.” Sighing, he looked back at Draco. “Angels don’t love like we do. Like humans,” he amended.

“I know that.” Draco barely kept the annoyance out of his voice.

“I’m not saying that to warn you off it,” Steve said. “It never worked on me before. But you need to know what that means so you can decide for yourself. For an angel…when they love something – love someone – that’s what they focus on. They make decisions based on that, on that love. It can be…dangerous, having that power.” He tapped his finger against his cup. “Castiel’s the only one I know of who’s in love with a human like that.”

Draco frowned. “But you and Gabriel… Tony…”

“He doesn’t love me like that,” Steve said plainly. “He doesn’t love Loki like that either. But he loves us all the same, differently than with others. It’s not all focused on one person.”

“He has his favorites, you mean.”

“Yeah. That’s one way of putting it.” Steve’s smile was wry. “And Michael… I don’t know him well. I don’t know him at all, really. But I can see he loves all of you.”

“I know that.” That wasn’t the issue. Michael had made that so painstakingly clear before.

Steve sighed, giving him a small smile. “I’m guessing he wanted you to find someone else and be happy?”

Draco said nothing.

Steve nodded, still with that small smile that seemed far too understanding. It would have upset Draco if it also seem entirely genuine. “They can’t love like humans. Like you do. But it doesn’t mean they can’t commit. It just means you make something of your own – something different.”

Draco looked down at the cobblestones again. “What do you have?”

“I have his friendship,” Steve said. “I also know I can talk to him and he’ll always be there for me. He gave me a home, and I’ll never forget that.”

Stealing a glance at Peggy showed no jealousy on her face, just simple understanding and love.

“You did find something else,” Draco noted.

“Ah…well…” Steve scratched at his cheek. “That was all Tony, really.”

Draco tried to imagine Michael finding him a date. For some reason he just pictured Michael dropping some random person in front of Draco and disappearing, like a cat.

“It wasn’t new,” Steve continued. “Peggy and I…we had something before I ever met Tony, but it didn’t work out at the time. Tony gave us a second chance.”

“I see.” Draco didn’t quite have that chance. It had only ever been Michael.

“We’re not the same,” Steve said. “Michael isn’t Tony. Whatever you decide to do, it’ll be yours. But you’ll have to make it yourself because it’ll never be the same as what humans have.”

Draco pulled on his sleeve, fingering the fabric. “I don’t… I don’t want pity.”

“I understand that. I wouldn’t want it either. I know Tony doesn’t do things out of pity, but I don’t know about Michael. You know him better.”

Draco couldn’t see Michael doing anything out of pity. He shook his head. “He wouldn’t.” Yet he also didn’t know if Michael would be open to the possibility of revisiting this topic. Not after he’d so clearly stated last time that Draco was too young and needed to find someone else.

“Loki might be a better idea to talk to,” Steve said after a hesitant moment.

“…Samael said he wasn’t a good idea.”

There was another moment of deliberation. “I’ll help,” Steve said firmly.

“This I have to see,” Peggy said dryly.

Steve rolled his eyes, huffing. He was smiling, though, as he stood. “Would you like to talk to him?”

Draco had only seen Loki in passing. The most he’d seen of him had been that first day, and they’d been swarmed by everyone else so Draco had never spoken a word to him. “Is he more likely to give better advice?”

Steve winced, though he was still smiling. “Well…I’m sure you’d be better able to read between the lines than I will. And he’s been involved with Tony for much longer. Otherwise I could snag Castiel somehow, but I don’t think his advice would apply. He’s…very different from the others.”

Draco wasn’t sure if Steve was aware that he made it sound like Castiel being different was a bad thing. Or maybe that was just Draco.

“Your help would be appreciated,” Draco said eventually. “I’ll speak to Loki.”

Despite this being Steve’s suggestion, he did seem a little worried. He also seemed to know exactly where to go, leading Draco unerringly to a bedroom. The style didn’t seem to fit Loki. There was too much junk in there, along with a floridly pink blanket. Loki seemed more like he preferred darker colors.

Loki was out on the balcony, not even deigning to come inside when they entered. “Is this an emergency or can it wait?”

“Not even for some old friends?” Steve said cheerfully, heading to the balcony.

Loki didn’t even turn around to face them, looking out at the twinkling lights of Asgard. “I was unaware we were friends, Steven.”

“Ally, friend, whichever you prefer.” Steve set his cup down on the railing, glancing over his shoulder at Draco. “Tony isn’t back.”

“I trust you have not come here to inform me of matters of which I am already aware.”

“Not quite.” Steve leaned against the railing, facing Loki. “Draco has some questions. I tried my best to help out, but I think your input would be more valuable.”

At this, Loki did finally look back at Draco. His green eyes briefly skimmed over Peggy before dismissing her and settling on Draco. “I assume your questions are not about the magic of this realm.”

Draco shook his head. “It’s…about your relationship with Gabriel.”

Loki arched an eyebrow. “Why would that interest you?”

It was almost like talking to another Slytherin. No matter. Draco was good at that. “From what I understand, angels don’t have relationships.”

Loki scoffed. “Gabriel is not just any angel.”

“I know he’s partly human.”

“That is not of which I speak.”

“I’m aware he’s different, but he is still an archangel, isn’t he? Steve told me a little.”

“Did he?” Loki shot an innocent Steve a sharp look. “Why are you so interested, little dragon?”

Draco resisted the urge to bristle at the name. “Michael’s my friend.”

“Yes,” Loki drawled, “a fact of which I am aware.” He paused, pinning Draco in place with a sharp look. “Gabriel is not Michael. Comparing them will not help you.”

“I’m aware they’re different,” Draco said, cross. “That isn’t why I’m asking. I’m asking you because you’re in love with Gabriel, but from what I understand, Gabriel isn’t.”

Loki was very still.

It wasn’t the same sort of pressure as with Michael, but Draco still had the impression of having poked something he shouldn’t have. He didn’t move.

When Loki spoke, his voice was silky, dark, sending shivers down Draco’s spine. “Who are you to say what Gabriel feels and does not feel?”

“Loki.” Steve’s voice was quiet. Something warm and protective curled over Draco, feeling very different than Michael.

Loki bared his teeth. “Steven.”

“I told him.” Steve’s voice was steel now. “Of all of us, I have that right.”

Loki sneered, then turned away. “You were dead, Steven. Don’t presume to know what you missed.”

“I was dead, but I wasn’t blind. I saw what happened.”

“Did you really?”

“I saw enough, and I know Tony.”

Loki turned back towards Steve, eyes glittering. “You were not the one with him over the millennia. Over the thousands and millions of years I remained by his side. You were not the one who took his mind off the loss of you, after you could no longer bear the weight of existence. Do not presume to tell me you know Gabriel after everything.”

If it had been Draco, he would very likely have called it quits here and decided to come back when Loki wasn’t quite so agitated. On the other hand, Steve didn’t budge. He just looked at Loki, lips pressed together. He would absolutely have been a Gryffindor.

“You’re right,” Steve said eventually. “You’ve spent more time with him than I have. You’ve known him longer. But he’s still Tony. And I doubt that what he told me all those years ago changed. Am I wrong?”

Loki stared at Steve for a long moment, eyes piercing, before he finally turned away again. This time it was to look at Draco. “You wish to know of my relationship?” His voice was cool. “I fail to see why you would. His brother would do you no good, but very well. He cannot give you what you seek. They are not human; they do not feel as you do. You will devote your time and energy into it but get little in return but for what they are capable of.” There was no vitriol in his tone, just a cold reiteration of facts.

Draco blinked at him, taken aback. “…You speak of that like you aren’t in a relationship with one of them.”

“Irrelevant. You wished my advice; you have it.”

“It’s relevant. You…seem to resent him.”

“Resent? No.” Loki scoffed, laughing. “I knew what he was capable of. I knew what he was able to give. The better question is, do you?”

“Why do you think I’m here?” Draco asked, fingers curling in, hidden in his robes. “I’m looking for more of an explanation than one offered by one of them.” Because he loved Michael but he did know that words were not Michael’s strength.

“I fail to see why you are here,” Loki drawled. “His brother leaves much to be desired, but I suppose there is no accounting for taste.”

“I suppose not,” Draco said coolly, “as you’re speaking of matters you know nothing of.”

“Nothing?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “You were not present when Gabriel suffered as a result of his brother’s inaction. You did not see what happened because Michael refused to act.”

But Draco could see exactly why Michael had been so stuck for so long. He could see why Michael had drawn in on himself like a crumple-horned snorkack when people like Loki rubbed it into his face. “No,” he said, clipped, “but you weren’t there when he changed. When he regretted what happened and what he didn’t do. I don’t know Michael from before, but I know him now, and I like him now. He chose to continue being my friend despite everything I did. I would be a very poor friend if I held his past actions against him when he’s given me a second chance.” He paused. “A second chance people like you refuse to give him.”

“I give him nothing he does not deserve.”

“Loki.” Steve sighed, the sound reproving. “Draco. Enough.”

“You were with me at the time, Steven, or have you forgotten?”

“I didn’t forget,” Steve said wearily. “But I also don’t hold grudges like you. More importantly, it’s about Tony.”

“Gabriel forgives far too easily.”

Steve shrugged. “Yeah, he does, but that’s his choice, isn’t it?”

“And this is mine.” Loki turned his gaze back to Draco. “You wished my advice? Then know he cannot love you like you love him. The love he has is different, and you must decide if that is enough for you or if you would prefer that of a human.”

Draco swallowed, meeting and holding Loki’s eyes. His anger cooled slightly. He wasn’t foolish enough to turn aside advice like this. “You don’t seem the type to settle.”

Loki smirked, leaning back against the balcony railing. “I have not. His love is not the same, but it means all the more for those he gives it to. He chose me. Would your Michael choose you?”

Draco didn’t know. “I appreciate it,” he said instead. “I don’t agree with your opinion of Michael, but I appreciate that you were willing to lend your advice all the same. Thank you.” The words tasted like ash.

Loki’s smirk widened. “Well. Thor could learn something from you about how to flatter someone.” He looked back at Steve. “If there is nothing else emergent, then I would highly suggest you leave.”

Draco knew a dismissal when he heard one. He left the room with Steve and Peggy shortly behind him.

“Did that help?” Steve asked him once he closed the door.

Draco looked up at him, somewhat reminded of a large dog. “It’s given me something to think on.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Steve said. “My door’s open if you need to talk to someone about it. Or you can talk to your friends about it. I know it’s easier if you’re able to share it. And in my case…talking to Tony about it would have been really awkward.”

Ah yes. About as awkward as talking to Michael about this and getting a very stilted response because while Michael was good at many things, he was not good at emotions. Draco was very painfully aware of this.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Draco said. “Thank you for the assistance. I’ll let you two be.”

He had some things to think on.

[nice-and-accurate-ramblings]

⚠️WARNING: GOOD OMENS 2 EPISODE 1&2 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!!⚠️

I need to get my live reactions out because I am LOSING IT. Do not read beyond this point if you don’t want spoilers for the first two episodes!!!

I am going insane after the prime premiere so here are my insane ramblings externalized:

THE COLD OPEN IN EPISODE 1 KILLED ME IN MY SEAT INSTANTLY

THE NEBULA. ANGEL CROWLEY (whose name we don’t get, ofc, that made me laugh). HE WAS SO EXCITED AND AZIRAPHALE’S “I WOULD HATE TO SEE YOU GET INTO TROUBLE” AND THE W I N G.

The fjuckin. WING. I AM UNWELL. I AM GOING INSANE JUST THINKING ABOUT IT

AAAAAAAAAA

And then the title music played and I apologized to my friend that I dragged to the premiere for being Extremely Not Normal. And then told her it Would Get Worse.

GOOD OLD FASHIONED LOVER BOY, IM-

Maggie: Oh nooooo, we’re locked in the coffee shop together,,, what will we doooooo (every fanfic author in the room just got so many ideas.)

Hm. Lindsey, huh? Hmmmmm.

That’s uh. Not a normal amount of texts. That seems a bit Not Great. I’m watching you Lindsey. I haven’t seen you yet but I am watching

THE APOLOGY DANCE AHSHDJFJF!!! Stan Pines and Crowley have something in common apparently. Also. Aziraphale what do you mean you had to do it in 1941. what were those other times. Where did this come from. I need EXPLANATIONS.

There’s no way their two-halves-make-a-whole miracle is what set off alarms in heaven. Gabriel Absolutely Did Something.

There are too many flies in the book shop for this to NOT come back to Beelzebub somehow

Re: Beelzebub- why ask Crowley to keep them in the loop if Shax already asked him that? Are they just not communicating, or is this somehow connected to Beelzebub???

My heart fuckin stopped when Gabriel started singing Everyday.

Crowley. Crowley I need you to repeat that bit about Jane Austen. CROWLEY YOU CAN’T JUST DROP THAT, I-

Good to know that scene overlooking the ocean was in fact as emotionally intense as expected. aaaAAAAAA

Re: Job minisode- “I’m a demon. I lied.” Gives a whole new fuckin context to the “Would I lie to you” “You’re a demon” from season 1. AaaAAAA

Another one from that minisode: Aziraphale thinking that heaven could be convinced to not destroy the earth if they just understood properly in season 1… aziraphale being disgusted by human food and drinks until he was tempted to try it and understood… Mr Gaiman I am in your walls for this

Anthony J “You can’t kill kids” Crowley strikes again. And we still don’t get clarification on what kind of kids he meant, which is incredible honestly. Plus, the goats were adorable :)

How is the jukebox doing the same thing as the Bentley. Is this a “every record eventually turns into Everyday in the same way music left in a car too long turns into Best of Queen” or is this a Pointed Thing

Have I mentioned that I would die for Muriel? I would die for Muriel. It has been two episodes and I simply adore the low ranking sunshine angel.

They are so fucking married

“OUR CAR” “OUR BOOKSHOP” they are so fucking married. Crowley why are you sleeping in your car, pls it’s OUR bookshop 😭😭😭

Aziraphale took drivers tests before they were cool (aka mandatory) 🙄 come on Crowley keep up

Aziraphale driving the Bentley is something I didn’t know I needed and yET-

First the “naked man friend” comment and then a random guy stealing the seat across from Aziraphale in the pub… rip crowley

Gabriel with the Terry Pratchett paperback… Gabriel reading off the first line of Good Omens… wait the book exists in the world of the show- Aziraphale owns the book in the world of the show- what

Never thought “Archangels don’t know where babies come from” would be a plot point and yet. Here we are.

Pausing one more time to go absolutely feral over the ending of the Job minisode because that played my heartstrings like a FIDDLE. “I’m like you now” “I’m a fallen Angel” and “I’m not here to take you to hell, don’t think you’d like it”; “I’m on my own side” “Sounds lonely” and “I’m a demon. I lied.”; how heckin PRETTY THE WHOLE SCENE WAS

someone please send help because idk how I’m going to be normal after this.

Okay, scheduling this for a little after the episodes drop and spoiler tagging like crazy! SOON, THE REST!!!

[beautifulhigh]

I will preface this by saying that I warned you. I said that this one is going to be angsty, I said that this one is going to push the boys to their limits and then some.

This is going to hurt. A lot. And I’m not even the least bit sorry for it.

But I shall give you some context and some facts:

1) this snippet comes from what will be the first part of the fic. There will be at least ten of them 2) when I say “boys”, I mean it 3) this is me. Since when has anything been straightforward? 4) I’m very aware of what tags should be used when posting fic. You know - the big ones. I’m just saying that I am aware of them, I make no further comment at this time.

The vast majority of you voted for the part that will make you HURT so below the cut? Here’s the hurt.

Before - TK

TK was quiet on the car ride over, his gaze fixed on a single point and letting the lights pass him by. Owen had tried to say something at first but when he'd gotten no response from either TK or Lexi he'd resolved to just focusing on the drive.

The walk up the path seemed impossibly long. TK remembered another time he'd walked this, knocked on the door, asked Gabriel and Andrea if they'd seen or heard from Carlos. All the times he'd come to this house, even that time, he'd felt like it was somewhere he could go. Somewhere he would be welcome.

Would she hate him for this?

Would she blame him?

Or would he be the only one she could hear this from?

What could he say?

Last night he and Carlos had walked up this path together, making plans for their weekend.

They walked up and straight into the house, calling out as they did so.

Now he was flanked by his father and his husband's partner.

They walked up and TK knocked on the door.

When Andrea answered it she started to say something, most likely asking why he was knocking, but the admonishment died on her lips when she saw his face. She looked from TK to Owen to Lexi and back to her son-in-law.

TK had wondered how to tell her, how to form the words and break her heart. In the end he didn't need to.

She knew. She saw him and she knew there was only one thing that would make him look like this, would make Owen look like this, Lexi look like this.

There was only one explanation that made sense.

Carlos was gone.

In the end TK didn't need to find the words – Andrea knew. And as she collapsed into his arms, sobbing for her lost boy, TK couldn't help but think that at least one of them should be feeling something at Carlos' death.

[asfearlessasamango]

Your blog is one of the primary methods i see new poetry on tumblr and it’s so nice!! I guess I wanted to ask abt some of your favorite poems or poets if u have any? Do you like writing poetry as well? Louise glück and Terrence hayes are my favorites

this is so sweet I’ve been sitting on this for a while ❣️❣️but oy vey, my favorite poems and poets, what a question...

i'll answer your second question first! i do like writing poetry but it almost never occurs to me. i'm a long-form beast, I love the novel, so poetry is not really my native form, if that makes sense. So I really only wrote poems last fall for my poetry writing class, and now I mostly only work on a piece if the seeds of 1 good line have been bouncing around my brain for a while.

some favorite poets.

gabrielle calvocoressi: "miss you. would like to take a walk with you". she has a few poems written in that above style, almost like a series, and they all get me in my heart by the end. she also wrote "hammond b3 organ cistern" and I think it's extraordinary how one poet can write such different emotional depths so well.

chen chen! does this sweet modern witty wordplay laid over emotional truths. my url + ao3 name, "as fearless as a mango," is actually a line from one of his poems! while i don't like the rest of that poem so much, I recommend "I'm not a religious person but" and "If I should die tomorrow, please note that I will miss the particular" .

edna st vincent millay... she just perfected that heartbreak: "time does not bring relief, you all have lied" and "sonnet xliii"

w.s. merwin: "elegy for a walnut tree" and "living with the news"

one-off poem favs...

"the quiet world" by jeffrey mcdaniel is.... ugh. I read it out loud in a zoom poetry night and my professor, the host, just had her hands on her head and her mouth open for a second at the end. someone commented "great gatsby vibes" and I was like yes!! I've been considering getting 2 old-timey telephones tattooed, one on the back of each of my arms, facing each other.

"Party" by Kim Addonizio

"What the dead don't need" by Faith Shearin. This one was like a puzzle or a calculus problem in my brain for weeks... and then I got it. excellent case for believing in the afterlife imo.

"Invisible Fish" by Joy Harjo. America you break my heart!!!! (The author is native american, which may impact how you read the poem.)

"Your night is of lilac" by Mahmoud Darwish.

"The Sciences Sing a Lullaby" by Albert Goldbarth. More effective than melatonin imo

"The Conditional" by Ada Limón. If you like glück I feel like you'll like limón!

"One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. I didn't react to this poem at all the first time I read it in high school but one of my classmates came in and said it made her cry. The trick is to read the "--" as a breaking voice and to know that this is a villenelle, originally a French type of poem that has a very specific line repetition pattern throughout the stanzas and a traditional focus on sad / disturbing / horror, gothic, grief themes. "Mad Girl's Love Song" by Sylvia Plath is another villenelle. With that context in mind, also pay attention to the increasing severity of loss throughout each stanza, until the ultimate bigger than losing a continent loss happens.

"the saddest poem I have ever written" by debbie milman is incredible.

finally... "come and be my baby" by maya angelou.

[2manyfandoms2count]

Back momentarily with my thoughts on Evolution ! (What a fitting title, on every account, power-wise, impact-wise, relationship-wise... This Season really started with a bang and I love it)

First up, the new intro: still not a fan of the Portuguese theme song but it doesn't matter because??? Them??? Back to back??? HOLDING HANDS??? Makes me very emotional because p l e a s e, they have each other's back, they're United, and the fact that there's that universe-type background... We saw something similar in Risk when Gabriel was trying to find his next target, so it's probably supposed to represent Ladynoir v. Monarch, but also the symbolism of them against not only the world, but the Universe...

The beginning of the episode was a bit of a blur, there was a lot going on but I love love love the continued reassurance on the Ladynoir side, the little episode easter eggs, Gabriel losing his mind even though he hadn't even started transforming (he never stood a chance)...

Special shoutout to that DJWifi Animan cameo, I'm so, so happy!! They're adorable

Side note, also, I know Paris is empty in ML but I'm obsessed with the fact that they used like three voices yelling "yoohoo" for the crowd sounds XD

Chat's costume is adorable, it'd been leaked and everything but it's worth mentioning it again because yes.

So Gabe was really struggling, huh... good for him! I enjoyed Ladybug and Chat Noir looking at him lying on the ground later, all but poking him with a stick like "is it dead?" (Although it would've been fun to have them be a bit more "then perish" – hoping that's coming up later 👀)

I loved Chat's comment when he was watching Monarch add all his powers, "This may take a while" – it was just so tongue-in-cheek and natural, I love him your honour.

Master Fu's contribution was actually really cool, these kids are very smart. Also, I think "I believe in y'all" must be the funniest translation i've seen in this episode in terms of the context ahzjkfkg

Next really sweet moment: Alix's scene with her dad. It was so cute, I love that she wants to be an engineer or a scientist like yes!!! You go girl!!! Also, if we didn't know that she's iconic, her sending pictures of her travels to her dad and him keeping them on him made me laugh a lot (also look! Another healthy father-child relationship! Gabe should take note)

She was disappointed when LB gave her the dog Miraculous, baby... Also her costume!!! It looks like Sabrina's, kind of, I wonder if it means anything 👀

We already knew that Émilie used the Peacock Miraculous (I think), but this is a neat extra confirmation. I really thought he was proposing (even though I knew they already had their rings), can't wait to see what they're going to do with it. Gonna give the sentimonster theory a point, the idea that this was Gabe's way of asking if she wanted to have a baby with him is very funny to me actually 😂

Ladybug's plan wasn't that convoluted this time, and Monarch knew it was a trap, and yet... simple and efficient.

Wow Ladybug looks at Chat with so much love in the last Ladynoir scene, don't mind me, I'll be staring at this forever:

(ignore the pop up ad, I couldn't find a way to get rid of it)

Nathalie yes!!! Go off queen !!! I'm so excited to see what will happen next, how her knowledge will play into the rest of the Season, if she's going to quit, how it's going to work with Adrien...

Conclusion: Honestly loved this episode, a really strong opening to the Season!

[sugarcubetikki]

Love Languages - Adrien and Marinette

Talking about Adrien and Marinette’s contrasting love languages!

I think Marinette's love language is pretty obvious. Her two major love languages seem to be gifts and acts of service.

Marinette mainly expresses her affections through gifts. She's always making gifts for Adrien. And when it comes to giving those gifts, she's always super afraid and literally acts like giving them would be a declaration of love or something. You can see her getting freaked out over giving Adrien a gift in both The Bubbler and Cat Blanc.

Oh, and she's well prepared too...she has a chest full of gifts FOR HIM.

(Who does that? Normal people with crushes don't. Marinette expresses her feelings in an exaggerated manner).

In the Gamer, she gives him her lucky charm bracelet. This scene is very prominent. Marinette's major love language is through gifts and the fact that she's giving him a gift without stuttering in this scene is just...beautiful. Also, it's not something she planned beforehand. She literally took out her lucky charm bracelet and was like: Here, you can have it. She said it like it was no big deal. I think this scene really explores her feelings for him and it's where you see more of her genuine feelings without all her awkward and exaggerated shenanigans.

The reason why her prominent love language is gifts is pretty obvious to me. It’s quite obvious that she’s not very good with words, and I believe she has even mentioned that in the webisode, she struggles to express herself through words, she can never really say what she truly means. 

Therefore, the best way she can express love is through gifts as she's able to use her love of fashion and creation to express herself in a more comfortable manner.

She also seems to understand the value of gifts much better than others. She's very connected to them even if they seem weird.

In Befana, she says that she doesn't really care what the gift is, she cares more about the person giving it. Despite her grandma and Tikki's weird gift, you can see her put use into both gifts as she made them into a purse and pendant. That shows that she values gifts and she used her skill of design to make something out of even the plainest gifts.

Moreover, she was swooning completely over the Lucky Charm bracelet that Adrien gave her. Well...she does swoon a lot over him. But this is more prominent as she values gifts A LOT, she was all like...he actually brought me a gift that he made by himself. To her, that's very important. Someone reciprocating your own love language is the most dearest thing to a person.

Moving onto Marinette's 2nd love language, this one is acts of service. It' not as prominent but it's still important. Her first love language seemed more vividly expressed and she mainly used it to express her feelings towards Adrien. Mainly Adrien.

However, acts of service, I feel like this expresses more of her general love. She uses it mainly on everyone. It's not mainly specified to Adrien like her first love language.

She's very generous and she's always helping others. You can see this when she's both Ladybug and Marinette. She's always doing favours for other people despite her troublesome double life.

As she's not good with words, she represents general forms of love through her actions. But she doesn't use her prominent love language towards everyone as she does to Adrien. That's the differentiation.

Also, as I stated above, when someone else is reciprocating your own love language, you can understand it more and it makes you feel special.

There's one thing I noticed. The umbrella scene is an act of service! And Marinette is NOT the one expressing it. Adrien is!

No wonder she fell in love with him in that moment...

Adrien was reciprocating her own language, and since she understood it more, that's why it had such a huge impact on her.

She's shown to believe that actions speak louder than words in multiple situations (maybe because she's not too good with words as mentioned).

I feel like she expresses her first love language more and she likes receiving the other one more. BALANCE.

Of course, out of all the love languages, she uses these too the most and since she can understand these two languages, she's quite skilled at them. She understands both of them easily.

Luka seems to express acts of service more. And since Marinette seems to like receiving the love language more and the fact that she also understands it better. It makes sense why she sees Luka's feelings more prominently in comparison to Adrien.  

I did NOT make this meme. The credit goes fully to the original creator.

Anyways, let's move on to Adrien's love languages!

His two most prominent love languages are words of affirmations and touch.

Narrowing down his main love languages were really difficult, since he’s so love-deprived, he’s very accepting of all forms.

It does make sense as it's something he lacked most of his life. His sheltered life means less affection. I can see his mom being affectionate but Gabriel doesn't really strike me as the touchy-feely type (bad parenting things). I think the loss of his mom made him just crave this even more. Word of love, gentle touches and hugs. It's what he understands and expresses more. You crave what you lack more than what you have.

It was really tough for me to actually differentiate between these two but I finally came to a conclusion.

I feel that words of affirmation is the one he expresses more. It's more prominent and there's actually a lot of proof too.

Cat Noir:  It's precisely when something is important, that it's important to say it, no matter what.

Puppeteer 2 shows that he understands the importance of words and it actually makes a lot of sense as it's his prominent language (Ironically, Marinette is awful at words, true opposites).

He does express it more vividly towards Ladybug than anyone else. He compliments and encourages her during battle most of the time. I guess you could say his flirting is a form of his love language too.

(He also does express it towards Marinette a lot, she comes a very close second as he's always complimenting her too. More proof that Adrien DOES have feelings for Marinette, he's just confused).

In Dark Cupid, he was planning to write a poem for her, and that's another sign that he's pretty good at expressing his feelings through words (another contrast to Marinette's struggle in writing a poem).

He's also very flustered when Ladybug is complimenting Cat Noir.

Like in Gorizilla when he blushes during the scene where Ladybug tells him she trusts Cat Noir.

Of course, this is very general, but a reminder, I feel this is more of his expressive language than receptive one.

As for his more receptive language, it’s touch. He also uses it a lot though mainly my confusion to what his prominent language was. Because he's a very touchy person (especially towards Marinette and Ladybug). Not to everyone but he does touch and talk a lot, with people he's close too. He's always putting his hands on their shoulders or something.

The way I could differentiate is that he actually likes receiving gentle touches and hugs more. You should see the way he reacts...

In Simon Says, when Gabriel lunges in for a hug, Adrien is genuinely surprised. I mean the more obvious reasoning is that clearly Gabriel is not a hugger so that's probably he was surprised with his cold father's show of affection. This isn't really the only instance.

He's surprised when Ladybug hugs her in Miracle Queen. His gasp shows it. In Prime Queen, when Ladybug grabs onto his hand. He's also surprised with Marinette's cheek kiss, even though it's normal in France to express gratitude via cheek kisses, he's still was surprised with his mouth agape and everything.

But his surprise isn't a bad thing. He actually seems happy with his touches. We all know his face is beaming more brighter than usual.

Before I end this, I'd like to comment on how their love languages seem to clash.

As they clearly have different love languages, opposite languages, they face difficulty understanding the other's language. This may be why there so oblivious (Ladybug is less oblivious because she does know now but she always faced difficulty understanding Cat Noir's actions in the past and saw his flirting as cocky and irritating).

I don't blame them. Their love languages are very different: Adrien's love language is more direct and simple whereas Marinette's is more indirect and confusing. This even matches their characters  (simple and straight forward vs convoluted!).

They are getting better at understanding each other's contrasting languages. Ladynoir has developed more in that department. Adrienette has a lot of potential for development in S4.

(I wrote this some time ago, before the New York Special, it could lack some context from there, but it looks fine to me...at the moment...)

[filmmakerdreamst]

Xena: Warrior Princess Review

During Pride Month 2020, I finally got around to watch ‘Xena’. A show that had been in my to-watch list for years, but never got around to start. And when I finally did, I was pleasantly surprised. It was not what I expected and it was everything I think my 11 year old self would have loved.

The one thing that surprised me about the show, was the lack of packaging. Even though it was a fantasy, it also played with different kinds of genres too. I’ve talked about this before in my other review - ‘Xena’ was made at a time when TV had very few rules/rarely had a set audience, since there were parts of the show that were clearly for kids and there were other parts that were clearly for adults (therefore had much more flexibility). I admired how they weren’t afraid to break barriers and touch on deep themes such as religion, morality, redemption, spirituality, motherhood, forgiveness etc - even more than shows of today are able. I also loved how they played into the idea of ‘murder’ and how much it can damage a person - not just the person who commits the act, but the many people affected afterwards. I wasn’t expecting it to be that extreme. It made me think that this must of been the inspiration for ‘Game of Thrones’. 

I see a lot of comments here and there, saying how ‘cheesy and terrible’ it was but to just accept it because its part of the fun. And while like any show it does suffer from the occasional spell of bad writing (the whole of season 5) but it was also shown to be very aware of that fact and never took itself too seriously - unlike some shows I could mention. 

And regarding the ‘cheese’ factor (what 90s show wasn’t) It definitely can be, but I would call it ‘camp’ and ‘experimental’ more than anything else. (Don’t diss the poor use of CGI - I’m personally sympathetic to what was avaliable to them at the time) The style of humour reminded me of Taika Waititi’s filmmaking. If you’ve watched any of his films such as ‘Hunt for The Wilderpeople’ or ‘Jojo Rabbit’, then you know what I’m talking about. I liked how little they cared about being accurate or logical, which added to the ‘bonkers’ element in the show - which you can see in all of Taika Waititi’s films.

In all seriousness, a show centered around two women in their late twenties, who are realistic sizes (not trying to play teenagers). One of whom is a reformed mass murderer, who has lived a life experience, trying to do good in the world for the first time, picking the other one up who has no life experience prior (after they bugged them until they said ‘ok fine’) in their path to redemption. Just two women who become friends travelling the world together, fighting crime, having a laff, learning from one another without any toxicity - when suddenly when the stakes are raised - they realise ‘oh I'm actually falling in love with this person’ I have watched a lot of badly written shows in my childhood enough to know that, that’s not ‘cheesy’. I’ve never seen a story like that in my entire life. I’m not at all surprised that Russel T Davis was inspired by it while writing the Doctor and Rose’s relationship in ‘Doctor Who’ since he’s gay himself.

What’s more amazing about their love story is how they’re both develop as separate people as well. There was this video essay explaining ‘Why you should watch Angel’ the spin off series to Buffy; how ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer ‘was all about growing up and ‘Angel’ was all about being an adult. With Xena: Warrior Princess, you have both of those stories at the same time. 

Xena’s character was such a multifaceted experience to watch. And I can’t imagine anyone else who could play her as well as Lucy Lawless. What planet did they get that actress from? She's flawless! The amount of skill she has to put herself into a very physical role is astonishing. I personally had a love/hate relationship with her character all series long. Not in the way that I hated her, just that I couldn’t trust if she was all good or bad, which I know was intentional on the writers part. I haven’t seen a character quite like her before. She felt very much like a fallen angel; almost like the villain of her own story. Some of my favourite episodes come from fleshing out her character and dark past (‘Locked up and Tied Down’ is one of them) which reminds the audience that's she's not the stereotypical hero everyone expects. I loved her transformation from being this incredibly stoic warrior to being content and happy with who she is in season six, all because of a woman she fell in love with along the way. 

I’ve always thought of Gabrielle as the real hero and narrator of ‘Xena’. She’s the prime example of ‘a normal person becoming extrodinary’. Gabrielle’s coming of age story starting out as an innocent girl from a poor village dreaming of adventure, and ending as this vicious warrior who realises the ‘adventure’ wasn’t how she made it out to be is honestly the best character arc that I’ve ever seen. I loved how travelling with Xena made her realise her passion for writing (which was never going to happen in her home town, given the ‘sexist’ and ‘heteronormative’ ideas) and that she became a amazon princess like Xena. In regards to her sexuality, which is more up for debate than Xena’s (which I think we can all agree is bisexual) I personally interpret her as gay, just in terms of how she was written. Theres this moment in season 4 where she's being held up her hair, and Xena “symbolically” cuts it off ‘freeing her’. And she never really gets with a man afterwards, unless she’s being ‘possessed. It reminded me of a moment in one of Hayao Miyasaki’s films ‘Laputa, Castle in the Sky’ where the bad guy Moska shoots Sheeta’s ‘princess hair off’ which symbolises her transition from child to adult.

The cinematography was breathtaking. There was some great utilisation of New Zealand as the scenery. So was the soundtrack. You could tell it was made by experienced filmmakers. One of my favourite things about the show was the domestic elements - moments in the show where time seemed to stop - which made the world around the characters seem very real and magical. Even though it was a show that featured a lot of action/adventure, there was also this gentleness to it as well. For example, you could feel the wetness of the rain, the warmth of the sun and the clashing of the waves. This technique is used in Hayao Miayasaki’s work a lot .

The technique is referred to as ‘MA’ 空虚 meaning emptiness in Japanese. ‘Miyasaki describes this as the time between a clap’

“If you just have non stop action, with no breathing space at all, its just busyness. But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension” - Hayao Miyasaki

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The episode ‘A Day in the Life’ in season two is a really good example of this technique being used.

To my understanding, they used a lot of the local actors in New Zealand, which according to Lucy Lawless, consisted of ‘African immigrants and other different ethnicites’. It was so refreshing to see such a diverse show (despite some slip ups) especially in the 90s. I appreciated the idea that if the actors or extras couldn’t do an ‘american accent’ people could just talk in their natural speech which was also very refreshing. 

The LGBT representation was surprisingly amazing. I never expected so many queer characters in one show - especially under the censors. There was this one episode where they had a trans woman - played by an actual trans actress - win a beauty contest. It made me cry. Not to mention the actress was an aids activist. It was actually Lucy Lawless’ idea to kiss her which was incredibly controversial at that time considering how everyone thought you could catch aids just by kissing. I can definitey see how it validated people back in the 90s.

When people told me that Xena: Warrior Princess was one of the greatest love stories, I thought they were exaggerating a little. But no, watching the show in context, I found out that it really is. Despite its obvious restrictions, It made me realise (regarding token gay couples today) how often television writers rely on physicality and drama to convey a ‘love story’ and how much of it is actually pandering the audience. One of the reasons why Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship felt so genuine is because it was built on mutual respect/compassion and they were also best friends. I felt like I was witnessing something very real and private. It didn’t need kissing scenes or drama to make it interesting. 

It really helped that most of the writers were queer also. There’s this opening scene in season 4, panning over to Gabrielle giving Xena a massage (metaphor for sex - because they weren’t able to show that on screen) which I consider to be one of the most iconic scenes in media - considering how I wanted to sick up my supper when I watched the 10 minute ‘empty’ explicit sex scene in ‘Blue in the Warmest Colour’. The difference when something is written by a queer women vs a straight man.

Because the creators weren’t allowed to write their love story in the normal way, due to the studio forbidding them to, they found creative ways to showcase that love on screen - which made for a very magical/sensual experience. And I can safely say, if anyone has doubts about watching ‘Xena’, whenever I expected to be queer baited at a few points in the show, I was proved wrong time and time again. It’s the most romantical show I’ve ever seen in my life!

[atlaese]

✨AO3 Tag Game✨

tagged by: @pastafossa​! I- what!! when i saw this notif i think my heart stopped. like. i did not realize you knew i existed i am such a big fan of your work!! i read the whole of TRT in like... a week when i should have been studying (i am hardcore fangirling rn!!)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? right now i have 9 works on there! i only made an account last month and decided to publish some of my beloved fics on there too!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 35.777 sksks, it's not much but it's something! i'm still working on a few things (bucky stuff and matt stuff) so we might see an increase soon!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? okay so i'll do the ao3 version, but like on tumblr there's a different top 5?? so interesting!! these are all bucky fics, except for the last one - thats a spencer reid fic!

loving dawn as certainty of sunrise

kill with kindness

wasteland, baby!

black holes

liability

more under the cut bc i don't wanna clog the dash

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? yes!!! omg i love responding to comments! i honestly don't get many, but the ones i do get warm my heart so much!! its just so nice to see someone who read your stuff give a short comment why they liked it and idk its so nice to hear and everyone who has ever commented has my heart!!

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i think homesick at space camp? that is just angst from beginning to end lmao! but i wrote a fluffy part two to it, so i don't know if it counts, but yeah, that one!

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest one you’ve ever written?

ooh, i actually haven't and i haven't even thought about that! maybe one day, but i feel like my writing skills aren't good enough yet to write more than one complex character in a fic with like... a good plot lmao.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

not yet! my stuff also isn't good enough to receive hate so thats like a plus too lmao we love the duality

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i tried to write smut once. it was a part two to the pool tables have turned. i had horny thots that night. i published it. then i went to bed. i woke up 8 hours later and it had decent exposure? i reread it. i cringed. and then i deleted it. yes, that was the saga of me writing smut, deleting it and thinking i should never do it again, haha! so atm i don't write explicit smut, but i do like some allusions to it, hehe.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

maybe in my wattpad days? also yes, i recently came across a site that all of the published wattpad stories copied onto it, my old stories to (from like 2014!!) so yes, my unfinished, downright horrible 5sos fics are also on that site :)

11. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes, i think in my wattpad days! i honestly cannot remember what it was about or what happened, but i did! recently i haven't! i might be open to it though!

12. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

me x fictional character because i am lonely lmao. no um. super niche but there was this book series called the chemical garden and i liked the main characters relationship with gabriel. i think it was rhine x gabriel. yeah, i liked those two together! i like most canon ships ngl so this one was the first that came to mind.

13. What are your thoughts about writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

depends on the execution honestly! i like little words here and there, sometimes a full sentence if i can deduce whatever is said through context, but when there's full on another language with translations at the end of a fic, i'm less inclined to read it! (most of the time i can understand what is said though! bless me and my obsession with languages!)

13. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

okay. this is hard. i am a little embarassed. so i wrote for 1D first BUT i was never a fan? i was a little capitalist back in my wattpad days and i saw those stories got way more likes and reads than original work? so i was like, lemme use these men to my advantage. i also was too lazy to make a complex character of my own. so yes, 1D, then 5SOS.

14. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

hmmm, difficult! black holes is one i adore, just because i put so much of myself in it. but then i also love my short matt fics, and i also really like this one from fatws... so i think those! they're also so different so egjzrgr

no pressure tags💞: @therootsinmydreamlands @belowva @imaginearyparties

[fanfic-corner]

Under 10,000 Words Pt 2

I promised (quite a while ago) and I’m finally delivering... more fics between 2k and 10k words! Same as last time, they are organised by word count for your browsing pleasure.

Walk Through Fire For You by purple_charlie on AO3. (2,335 words).

Tags: John Winchester’s A+ Parenting, Angst, Pride, Marijuana Use, Polyamory, Gay Cas, Bisexual Dean, Bisexual Gabriel, Everyone is Queer.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Boyfriend. The word still feels foreign in Dean’s mouth, still brings back echoes of John Winchester’s thinly-veiled (if even that) homophobia. “Man up, don’t be a sissy, I didn’t raise a fairy”. It’s a swollen blister in the back of Dean’s mind, throbbing with pain whenever a stranger’s eyes linger too long on Cas’ hand in his, whenever a waitress double-takes at how close they sit in diner booths. But here, dirty dancing with Cas in a warehouse full of other queer folks, Dean wants to shout from the rooftops- I’m Dean Winchester, I drive the baddest car in town, I lift heavy things for a living, and this is my boyfriend.

Notes: This was so sweet it nearly made me start crying - Cas deserved to be told that he was loved!

Boneless Wings by PallasPerilous on AO3. (4,333 words).

Tags: Crack, Wingfic, Domestic Fluff, Canon Compliant, Angel Castiel, Suburbia.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: For those of you perving along at home, Dean could absolutely provide a list of the hundred or so ways that having a boyfriend with giant fucking actual wings is super hot and/or awesome. This is not that list.

Notes: The art is gorgeous and this is such a brilliant parody of so many wing fics out there, I loved it!

Stories Are Made Of Mistakes by wildhoneypie on AO3. (4,942 words).

Tags: Human Castiel, Diners, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Bisexual Dean, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Case Fic, Domestic, Didn’t Know They Were Dating. My Rating: 4 stars. Description: In which Cas is human and doesn’t understand basic concepts like: clothing, Mythbusters, moisturizer, and Greek food. Dean is…Dean and doesn’t understand basic concepts like: boyfriends, language, how to tell your friend that he’s a walking miracle, and when not to quip. Notes: This was so cute and I live for human Cas. I also love the recurring ‘no fucking quipping’ joke in this, although the idea of Cas swearing broke me a bit!

The Cry of Elisha After Elijah by intothesilentland on AO3. (5,844 words).

Tags: Episode Fix-It: s15e20 Carry On, Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On, First Kiss, Reunion, Canon Compliant, Heaven.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: The kicker is, Dean had been trying to live. Really live. And not bite out in anger at the fraying of his heart: Cas, gone, Jack, gone—all that was left was him and his brother, and Dean had been trying to live, in spite, in light of that. In a world like the unsteady first steps of a child, apprehensive arms and hands cradling the air around them, ready for a slip, excited for a step, Dean had been trying to walk forward, too. Though every step had meant every pain. Upon his death, and arrival in heaven, Dean sets out to find the angel. He has to tell him. Cas has to know.

Notes: That poem at the start was really moving in this context, and the dialogue was so weirdly in character that everything was so real. It was definitely written better than the actual ending.

My Own Little World by tale_to_tell on AO3. (6,858 words).

Tags: Hurt Dean, Protective Castiel, Meet-Cute, Fluff, Pining, Coffee Shops, Implied Domestic Violence, Abusive Alistair, Abusive Relationships, First Kiss, Human Castiel, Protective Sam Winchester, Dean Has Self-Worth Issues, POV Castiel, Love Confessions, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, Happy Ending.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Castiel stumbles into a local café in order to avoid the rain, and during the process he meets a very attractive barista by the name of Dean Winchester. It doesn’t take long for Castiel to fall in love with Dean’s wit and charm.Too bad that Dean has a boyfriend.

Notes: This was fairly sweet, and I was not expecting the Sabriel content (always read the tags, folks). Also, return of Alistair being an asshole! I would have forgot he existed if he didn’t keep popping up in these fics.

broken when I’m lonesome by SailorChibi on AO3. (7,015 words).

Tags: Asexual Castiel, Demisexual Dean, Panromantic Castiel, Biromantic Dean, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, PTSD, Dean Has Self-Esteem Issues, Dean Has a Sexuality Crisis, Angst, Fluff, Touch-Starved, Comfort, Platonic Cuddling, Castiel is Not Oblivious, comments that could be taken as ace-phobic.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: After being saved from hell, Dean’s old methods of coping aren’t working anymore: he’s not sexually attracted to anyone, and he’s not interested in sex no matter how many times he climbs into bed with hot, naked women. Sam is convinced that his brother is just depressed, but Dean knows this goes deeper than that. He still craves the intimacy that can make him feel safe. Fortunately, Castiel is there to both understand and provide.

Notes: This fic really hit home. I’m not sure if it is because almost every person I have ever talked to has had some form of this conversation, but it was still cute.

Lost and Found by whelvenwings on AO3. (7,762 words).

Tags: Writer Castiel, Mechanic Dean, Demisexual Castiel.

My Rating: 5 stars.

Description: “Chuck Shurley? Sure, I’ve read his books. Kinda Vonnegut, but like, Kilgore-Trout Vonnegut, you know?” Dean took another gulp of his whisky, and smacked his lips like an adult. The guy sitting beside him at the bar, however, did not look suitably impressed. In fact, he was staring down into the bubbles of his cider, not even noticing the way that Dean was smiling at him, giving him the eyes. “I thought his stuff was pretty good, in a kinda metamodern way,” Dean added airily, and a little more loudly. The guy only nodded gloomily. Dean almost clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in frustration. C’mon, dude, I’m trying to impress you. Twenty minutes of talking and all Dean had to show for it was a weird first name, a series of dour stares and the strangest need to know more about this – Castiel.

Notes: This was written so well that I wanted to cry at Cas’ story of the stars, even though it wasn’t particularly sad. Now I want to go and stargaze with someone.

Say Yes by MaggieMaybe160 on AO3. (7,996 words).

Tags: Episode s5e4 The End, Established Relationship, Secret Relationship, Drug Use, Fluff and Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergence, POV Alternating, Love Triangles, Idiots in Love, Wedding Rings, Chronic Pain.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Endverse!Dean's life is going pretty well with Endverse!Cas until Dean's past self shows up.A look at the episode "The End" from Season 5 from Endverse!Dean's point of view.

Notes: Quite cute, almost entirely canon compliant, and the ending gave me chills.

Carry On by Castielslostwings on AO3. (8,039 words).

Tags: Coda, Episode Fix-It: s15e20 Carry On, Heaven, Castiel Deserves Better, Love Confessions, First Kiss, First Time, Reunions, Explicit Sexual Content.

My Ratings: 5 stars.

Description: “I think I’ll go for a drive.” This is what happened between that moment, and Dean meeting Sam on that bridge.

Notes: This was written beautifully and was genuinely the ending that Dean and Cas deserved.

Unknown Quantities by xylodemon on AO3. (8,570 words).

Tags: Future Fic, Getting Together, Didn’t Know They Were Dating, Human Castiel, Bottom Dean, Angst and Humour, First Time.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: No one ever tells Dean anything.(or: Dean Winchester and the not-relationship crisis of 2014)

Notes: There’s more smut in this than I expected, but Dean is so oblivious that it is really funny.

Bing Crosby’s Pennies From Heaven by twentysomething on AO3. (9,613 words).

Tags: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Gabriel, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Death.

My Rating: 4 stars.

Description: Sam always asks inappropriate, poorly-timed questions, so what comes out of his mouth doesn’t exactly surprise himself. “Where were you?”

Notes: This was brilliant - the little gifts that Gabe left for Sam were adorable, and I burst out laughing at the image of trying to get Bobby’s wheelchair on top of a toilet.

So there we are! I hope you enjoy these slightly shorter fics, and hopefully there will be another load of fic recs for next week!

[things2mustdo]

As you probably have heard in the news, earlier in August a Pennsylvania grand jury handed down a 1,356-page account of sexual abuse which involved around 1,000 kids and 300 priests during a period of approximately 70 years. It is another pedophilia scandal within the Catholic Church that adds up to their collection of countless other ones reported in recent years.

The commie pope—while on his two-day visit to Ireland—begged for forgiveness again, just the way he did in Chile back in January of this year.

You can notice how quick and scathing the mainstream media is to denounce these recurring events, after all we know who owns the MSM and the (real) Church has a long, well-known history of “anti-semitism” and resistance against the tentacles of globalism. I wish the media had the same commitment to inform the existence of other pedophile rings full of high-ranking people as well.

Is the problem of the church’s innumerous sexual abuse allegations really pedophilia? To me there is a deeper explanation for it, and that explanation is: homosexualism. 81% of the alleged victims are male and three-fourths of them are post-pubescent. As you guys are certainly aware of, the Church has a very big issue with homosexualism among its clergymen.

I have a theory for the high presence of gay men inside priesthood: until not long ago being gay was definitely not ok, homosexuals were not accepted as they are now, so they became priests.

The developed Western world of today encourages people to become gay, it applauds individuals for their gayness, but it wasn’t always like that. Now, try to imagine a closeted homosexual man living in the 50s, for example. What a better place to go than the Catholic seminary? People wouldn’t look you down, you wouldn’t have to get married, the place was filled with other young men (potential sexual partners) and that’s how the Church got corrupted by perverts.

Pedophilia x Homosexualism

One normie could argue “how homosexualism relates to pedophilia?” Any red-pilled person who has ever wondered what causes someone to become gay will notice that there is an undeniable link between pedophilia and homosexualism.

Let’s remember the occasion of Milo Yiannopolous’ resignation from Breitbart over comments which seemed to endorse sex between “younger men” and older men. Something that is—as he pointed out—extremely common among gay men. A 2009 report revealed that 74 percent of bisexuals had been sexually abused as children, I am pretty sure homosexuals follow the same numbers.

I won’t say homosexual behavior is exclusively caused by pedophilia because human (or animal) sexuality is a very complex topic which can certainly involve many variables. I just don’t buy that “born this way” hype, until this day not a single reliable proof of the existence of a gay gene or anything like it was discovered.

The Vatican once bought a £21 million apartment block above ‘Europe’s largest gay sauna’.

Pope Francis, a champion of the left-leaning agenda inside the Church, has been accused of covering up former Cardinal McCarrick’s abuse allegations (one of the many cases in Pennsylvania). The accusations were made by Carlo Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador to the US, and if it proves to be true–I am positive it is—that should result in pope Francis’ resignation. As a traditionalist Catholic myself I would be delighted with such an event.

Francis has already been complacent with other pedos before. One good example is the 2015 ‘Synod on the Family’ when the pope invited Godfried Danneels, a Belgium Cardinal convicted of covering up pedophiles in the 90s, to attend the meeting. Danneels is a hard-left priest that tries to push the Church ” liberal reformation” and admitted that he was part of a plot against (right-leaning) Pope Benedict and in favor of the election of leftie Francis.

To affirm that the Church’s gay/pedos are exclusively part of the left-wing priesthood would be too Manichean. I am sure there are tons of sick people who lean right also. But it can’t be denied that the liberals make up the vast majority of these issues involving sexual misconduct.

“Religious progressives”

For those who don’t know, the Catholic Church, just as any other political institution, is divided in factions that tend to be more liberal or orthodox. The liberation theology, for instance, is a movement created inside the Catholic Church (and some Protestant denominations) which aims to mix Christianity and Marxism.

Even if you are an agnostic don’t underestimate the influence they played in various regions such as Europe, Latin America and even New England. Brazilian Workers’ Party attributed their success to this movement and Unions.

Be wary of any religious leader that tries to push a liberalization of dogmas and traditions. Because all religions are intrinsically conservative according to their respective contexts, they establish doctrines that dictate sets of rules that must be followed properly in order to attain their objectives (whether is Salvation in Christianity or Nirvana in Buddhism). There are no (real) religions without their traditions.

Whenever you see liberal religious men doubt their characters. There is a good chance they don’t even bother with religion or spirituality, perhaps they are closeted atheist. What they do care about is the religious platform, which can offer various benefits such as large audiences, political influence, money and even sex.

Estimates of the number of gays in the priesthood are all over the lot, from 20 percent to 60 percent, although a Los Angeles Times poll in 2002 found only 15 percent of priests saying they were homosexual or “somewhere in between but more on the homosexual side.”

Every time pedo priests’ cases pop up in the MSM, secular people are very quick to point fingers and show their moral superiority, but they “forget” the existence of secular institutions that are way more sexually perverted than the “gayish” modern Church, such as Hollywood, the political and corporate world.

Real Church x Sissy Church

It is also important to notice that the Church was emasculated, an emasculation that took place during the process of secularization and establishment of liberal democracies across the Western world (e.g. French Revolution).

The Church had to be softened, becoming an institution that barely resembles the once powerful and great Church of the Crusades or the Inquisitions. This same phenom of emasculation can also happen in other secular institutions too, the Military, mainstream Music, Politics, Sports and even Boys Scouts. And it will only get worse as liberal-democratic globalism advances, so secular people: watch out!

St. Basil the Great, a 4th century bishop and Doctor of the Church, defended that gay/pedo priests should be publicly flogged. That was the (real) Church, not this sissy catholicism created after the Second Vatican Council (a modernist reform imposed in the Church from 1962 to 1965). A lot of things got bad in the 60s.

The (real) Church has a very important and vigorous story in the construction of the West. Always being a target to the globalists and that breed who rules the world, a clear obstacle to their goals.

Examples are many: Gabriel García Moreno, Catholic Equatorian president, who made a terrific job in a Confessional Equator and was killed by the Freemasons; Saint José Sanchez del Rio, who was killed by Mexican secular, freemason and leftist government with the support of the US, for refusing to abbandon his faith.

Inconvenient truths are ignored

The media only goes after what is convenient to their narrative, don’t expect them to expose Hollywood pedos nor the obvious link between pedo priests and homosexualism. The left has already pushed the normalization of pedophilia many times and I didn’t see the indignation of the MSM.

Late Vatican’s Chief Exorcist Gabriele Amorth once said, “The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the consequences”.

“The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops”. – St. Athanasius

Read More: The Vatican Has Disgraced True Catholic Values

I have noticed that many people have been falsely conflating what comes out of the Vatican as Catholic. Thus it is my duty to present to the esteemed readers of this fine site the true teachings of the Church which stand, ever more so today, in stark opposition to the rot of cultural Marxism and the effeminacy of the Papal pretenders in Rome.

Vicar of Christ?

Church authorities are not legitimate

It is a dogma of the Catholic faith that the Church cannot substantially change. This means that the church cannot contradict nor change her teaching from what has always been universally taught or has been solemnly defined. Any one who claims to be Catholic and knowingly professes a faith which contradicts a teaching of the Church is considered to be a heretic and is considered to have a removed himself from the Church.

As St. Thomas states: “[one] who disbelieves [even] one article of faith does not have faith, either formed or unformed.” This is known as the unity of faith which means that all Catholics profess the same faith. Likewise it means that heretics cannot hold a clerical office in the Church. Thus if a heretic were to be elected even to the Papacy they could not be considered a legitimate Pontiff because a heretic has separated himself from the Church (source).

Would a real Pope bow to a religion declared false by the Church?

Simply put, you have to be Catholic to be Pope, and the absurdity of a heretic claiming the See of Peter is where we find ourselves today. For just as the institutions in the West have been infiltrated and seized by the enemy, likewise have the institutions of the Church been usurped by apostate forces. The hierarchy currently residing in the Vatican are not legitimate authorities and do not represent the perennial teaching of the Church. Therefore I have listed for your benefit the actual Church’s positions on some current areas of contention.

The only time Francis has ever smiled at a Crucifix

On Communism

The Catholic Church is vehemently opposed to communism. Without Pius XII valiant efforts, communism would have prevailed over postwar France and Italy. The Pope went so far as to issue the Decree against Communism in 1949 which excommunicated any Christian who professed communist doctrine.

Catholicism is the enemy of Marxism as it teaches that there can be no separation of Church and state, and an atheist government is immoral. Catholicism believes private property is a natural right going so far to say that depriving workers of their wages is a sin which cries to heaven for vengeance (compare that to our socialist tax code!).

On Migration and Culture

The current Muslim invasion of Europe would be met with the utmost resistance. It has always been the Church which has sought to safeguard Catholic Culture and in ages past has gone so far as to issue a call to arms against non-Catholics who have sought to destroy it.

Pope Urban II issued the Crusades and Pope Leo the great even went so far as to personally travel into the heart of the Hun army—to Attila himself—to deliver Rome from the sack that was to come. In 1571, St. Pope Pius V formed the Holy League that would go on to defeat the great Muslim Turkish Armada that was plaguing the Mediterranean.

“Then I pointed like so and told them where to take their cultural enrichment”

The tradition of the Church has been to unite the West against external non-christian threats in order to preserve Western Christian culture.

“The natural law enjoins us to love devotedly and to defend the country in which we were born, and in which we were brought up, so that every good citizen hesitates not to face death for his native land…. We are bound, then, to love dearly the country whence we have received the means of engagement this mortal life affords.” – Sapientia Christiana Encyclical Pope Leo XIII

On Abortion and Contraception

So what is the real teaching of the Church in regards to abortion and contraception? The teaching is any member who has an abortion or supports abortion is automatically excommunicated from the Church. That’s right: every single Democrat who claims to be Catholic is actually excommunicated, including Nancy Pelosi who likes to sanctimoniously drone how she is a good Catholic grandmother.

Contraception is also considered a mortal sin because it is an unnatural stoppage of life.

“Hence, after the sin of homicide whereby a human life already in existence is destroyed, this type of sin appears to take next place, for by it the generation of human nature is impeded.” -St. Thomas Aquinas.

I know this is unpopular with the readers, but the teaching is that those who engage in contraception have already committed murder in their heart. Contraception is what allows people to engage in recreational sex, because the natural end of sex has been set aside so too then has the institution of marriage, whose end is children.

Likewise, because we have committed murder in our hearts, we have become a petulant, immature, vain, and a sterile people similar to any other people who have taken the risk from reward or the consequences from pleasure. This is the most difficult pill to swallow.

On Feminism

The Church condemns feminism in the strongest terms. There cannot exist feminism without birth control.

“…any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin.” -Pius XI Casti Cannubi

The Church asserts that Man is the head of the household and that a woman finds her vocation from being a good mother and housewife:

“This … does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband’s every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; … For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love.” -Ibid

The Pope has even gone so far as to condemn women’s suffrage:

“Woman can never be man’s equal and cannot therefore enjoy equal rights. Few women would ever desire to legislate, and those who did would only be classed as eccentrics.” -St. Pius X

On Pacifism

The Catholic Church is not simply just a religion of love and mercy. Christianity is not a weak religion, for our God is a God of Battles. Catholic Tradition encourages us to live our lives in the manner of our Lord Jesus who spoke of the struggle that his Church would have to endure.

“Do not think that I am come to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.”-Mathew 10:34

Christians are not meant to sit idly as bystanders to the great struggle of good and evil in this world.

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood: but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness: against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” -Ephesians 6:12

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 5

The Admiration of Kagami Tsurugi Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: The Admiration of Kagami Tsurugi

Notes: The kids are gonna be alright.

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

------------

Luka and Adrien’s eyes met after the girls left, and they couldn’t keep from giggling themselves stupid for a bit.

“Thanks for doing this, Luka,” Adrien said when he eventually caught his breath again. “I mean, I know it puts you out a bit.”

That received a shrug. “I really don’t mind. The liar has to be stopped, and if it keeps her from hurting you more, all the better.” He sighed softly. “I wish I’d been able to protect Marinette from her.”

Adrien nodded. “I didn’t expect Lila to get her expelled.”

“She threatened Marinette, as well, don’t forget.”

“What?” His voice sounded hollow to his own ears, and he propped himself up on his elbows. “She what?”

Luka’s eyes widened a bit. “Marinette didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

Adrien thought back on Marinette’s behavior, how she’d started to shrink into herself since Lila had returned to class. She always seemed on edge, jumpy anymore—even before the near-expulsion. If she’d been threatened, no wonder…

“When?” he asked after a moment, letting his head fall back on the sofa cushion.

“She said something about a blinding napkin? I didn’t really understand the context, but…”

He winced. So it had been before he’d given her his stupid advice. He was such an idiot.

“I told her Lila wasn’t hurting anyone.”

Luka gently pushed Adrien’s legs off his lap, then pulled him into a sitting position against his side. “Hey,” he murmured. “You didn’t know. She didn’t tell you. You gave her the best advice you could with the information you had.”

“I still should have… done something. Marinette deserves that much.”

“She isn’t one to demand that sort of thing.” Luka patted his shoulder. “Especially since Lila makes you uncomfortable, and she’s not blind to that.”

Adrien grimaced. “She keeps… touching me. Like she owns me. It’s creepy and invasive and I don’t like it.”

The hand moved away from him then back, like Luka wasn’t sure if this qualified.

“Not you, or Mari, or Kagami. I’m even okay with Chloé. But not her,” he clarified, leaning his head against Luka’s shoulder.

Luka’s hand settled back on Adrien’s shoulder. “Good. The goal is to make you comfortable, not make it worse.”

This was of course the moment Jagged Stone chose to walk back in. “Aw, aren’t you two cute? Time to call the salon, then, get done before the girls get back, yeah? You have a date with dye!”

Luka and Adrien met each other’s gaze and started giggling again.

--

Kagami watched Marinette fidget, a habit she knew from prior interactions was an indication of the girl’s nerves. She often couldn’t help but be impressed by her friend, and this was no different. Clearly Marinette had taken charge to come up with a plan to help Adrien—and had not taken advantage of the situation to become his fake girlfriend.

Which, actually, if Kagami considered, made sense—she would not wish to do that, either. It would be more painful than anything. Marinette had approached the situation wisely.

She was further surprised that they had decided upon Luka as the faux boyfriend, as he seemed to be courting Marinette.

But she had put Adrien above herself, as a true friend would. Truly, Kagami had learned much from her about friendship in their short acquaintance, and she was certain she’d learn more as time went on.

The limo pulled up outside a store that had outfits that looked far more intense than Kagami usually considered viable for her clothing, but in the case of Adrien’s rebellion would likely serve perfectly. She slid out and offered Marinette a hand getting out.

“You’re very kind to help Adrien through this situation,” she noted, hoping to put her at ease. “And I thank you for thinking to include me. I haven’t ever had fun like this.”

The smile she received was almost blinding, and Marinette’s nervousness seemed to dissipate. “I’m glad you’re here, Kagami. It’s always more fun to do a makeover with friends.”

Penny entered the store ahead of them, and Kagami followed with Marinette in tow.

“To be honest, I am not good with choosing clothing,” Kagami admitted. “As a result I often simply wear my school uniform.”

That earned another brilliant smile. “I’d be happy to go shopping with you sometime. Or, I make a lot of my own clothing, and it’d be fun to design something for you.”

Kagami offered a smile in return. “I would be honored to model your designs, Marinette. In the meantime, I look forward to learning as you pick out Adrien’s new look.”

Marinette flitted around the store, choosing several pairs of black jeans, some pre-worn with holes, others with strategic rips or even chains. As the shirt was already taken care of, she looked at different jacket options, eventually choosing one which zipped at a slight diagonal and had a larger silver zipper and fittings. She also selected a black zip-up hoodie with green trim, similar to Luka’s.

Eventually, she made her way to the footwear, seeming torn between a couple of options. Marinette turned to her, holding up two styles. Both were black leather boots that would reach about halfway up Adrien’s calf; the first laced and also had five rather large buckles, and the second not only laced and had three buckles, but were further accented by chains above and below the buckles held in place by fixtures shaped like silver-colored brass knuckles.

“Which do you think, Kagami?”

She was glad Marinette was including her in the process. “Aesthetically, they both seem to have the desired rebellious tone. However, the ones with chains seem a bit impractical, and perhaps too much.”

Marinette nodded, setting aside the pair Kagami had rejected—her opinion, as inexpert as it was, had been valued.

They ended the trip near the jewelry, looking at the various options. A jade-green beaded bracelet caught Kagami’s eye, and when she pointed it out to Marinette it was added to the pile. Marinette found a leather bracelet with a Jagged Stone logo which was also added to the pile.

At the earrings, Marinette paused.

“I know he has pierced ears, since he modeled some of my earrings, but he doesn’t normally wear any…”

Kagami nodded. “Is that not reason for him to do so now?”

“Good point!” Marinette graced her with another smile. “I’m so glad you came with.”

They worked together, and Marinette laughed, her voice ringing out like bells, when she found a pair of black studs with a neon green Chat Noir paw on them. Kagami didn’t quite understand the joke.

“He originally was going to choose Chat Noir’s colors,” she explained. “I guess Chat represents rebellion to him.”

“Ah, so then these are perfect—they allow him to stick with his initial idea a bit.”

Penny was waiting for them, chatting with the clerk, and pulled out Jagged Stone’s credit card without even looking at the price.

“Didn’t take you two long,” she commented as their items were being packaged. “I doubt they’ve finished the dye job yet.”

“Marinette had a vision,” Kagami responded. “She is quite efficient.”

She blushed at the compliment and grabbed two of the bags. Kagami grabbed the third, and they left the store, ready to return to the hotel for the rest of the plan.

[miraculouscontent]

*rubs hands together*

I will say this before I start: there are a lot of good shots and musical cues in this episode. I mean, that doesn’t make it a good episode, but I do recall being on edge when Hawk Moth started enacting his plan with Catalyst.

...Granted, all of that completely died when one of the akuma touched Marinette’s purse, but ehhhhhhh, we’ll get there.

Duusu is also really adorable (even if the “romantic” line was rather forced and painful) and I’m glad we FINALLY have confirmation on the whole Emilie thing even if we could’ve already guessed it.

[Dire Liar]

First things first, I don’t know why Bustier felt the need to call Marinette forward in front of the whole class? And I mean that in a character sense.

Back in “Zombizou,” Bustier escorted Marinette outside to talk to her about setting a good example for Chloe. It’s even set up in a way that makes Marinette feel like she’s the one in trouble (especially since Bustier doesn’t talk to Chloe about it).

Now, the reason why it’s different here is obvious: Lila had to be there so Marinette could call her out and they could both be sent to the principal’s office together, and also because the class wouldn’t be able to defend Marinette had Bustier talked to Marinette about it in private.

The problem is that it makes Bustier look like a terrible teacher for not dealing with this properly. Had she just escorted Marinette out of the class, Marinette still might’ve accused Lila, but it wouldn’t have been so bad and also not involved BUSTIER LITERALLY CALLING OUT LILA’S BAD GRADES IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE CLASS.

(which is honestly stupid regardless; if Marinette is right and Lila framed her, Bustier literally points out the reason why it would be Lila as if that proves the contrary, since Lila got the worst grade on her test which is absolutely what someone trying to frame someone else would do to try and keep themselves from getting caught??)

Speaking of which, I’m glad this confirms that Marinette is smart enough to ace her tests (since Alya points out that Marinette always scores highly on tests), but my question then becomes how Lila knew that Marinette would. It’s not as if Marinette comes off as the type of person who’d ace every test, and while Lila recognizes that Marinette is smart enough to know that she’s a liar, that doesn’t mean that she’s better at doing tests than, say, Max.

I’d also like to point out that, if Marinette did cheat on the test (as Bustier seems to believe), there’d be no reason for Marinette to keep the answer sheet afterward, so it doesn’t make sense for her to keep it in her backpack. If Lila had managed to find the answer sheet before the test started, give Bustier the anonymous note, and then Bustier asks to see Marinette’s backpack (in private) right before the test began, that’d be different. It would also be different if Lila had made sure that Marinette had ace’d the test perfectly, but we don’t see that.

(willing to excuse the injury since I imagine that Lila kept insisting that she was in pain regardless of the nurse not finding anything wrong)

In addition, let me just say that it’s bizarre to see Bustier tell Marinette that she can’t accuse Lila without proof, only to then send them both to the principal’s office. It’s not quite on the level of not talking to Chloe in “Zombizou,” but it’s still pretty bad. If the note hadn’t been anonymous, then Lila could’ve just gone with Marinette because she’s “the one who saw it happen" even if Bustier wouldn’t explicitly say that. Lila is trying to cover her tracks, but at the same time, she couldn’t have guaranteed that she would be sent to the principal’s office to enact the next part of her plan, which is my issue.

There’s also the fact that this episode continuously goes out of its way to not involve Lila’s mother, especially in the scene where Lila talks about her “disease,” because the writers know that everything’s going to unravel if Lila’s mother is told about any of those lies.

And it’s not as if Lila’s the only factor here.

[Over the Head]

The other thing about this episode is that it’s trying to follow up on the character’s actions in “Chameleon” without actually following up. It features Lila, flashes back to “Chameleon,” and has Lila going through on her threat to turn Marinette’s friends against her.

But it doesn’t feel like a proper follow-up because it doesn’t properly follow up since nothing happens. No one else is given concern about Lila, Adrien continues “supporting Marinette” only in the background (basically “Oni-Chan” Part 2, except it’s Marinette instead of Nathalie, Gorilla, and Ladybug), Alya still believes that Lila is a good person, and Marinette’s expulsion is forgotten about so I guess the class (presumably) just goes right back to trusting her. It’s as if the episode was trying to compensate for all the salt that happened in “Chameleon” but simultaneously couldn’t let things resolve in any way.

It’s a case of “too little, too late,” essentially.

I mean, just for starters is Alya herself. While it’s totally great that she wants to do detective work and that she believes Marinette’s innocence, it doesn’t absolve her from the fact that she can’t have Marinette and Lila’s side at the same time. Like, she literally can’t.

The fact is that Lila is the one who accused Marinette of both pushing her down the stairs and stealing her pendant, yet Alya is convinced that someone who is not Lila is the one who framed Marinette. The pendant is one thing because all Alya knows is that the pendant was in Marinette’s locker--she didn’t know the details of Lila’s accusations--but Lila accused Marinette of pushing her down the stairs. If Alya is supposedly such a great reporter, as she claims to be, then she should know who the one that accused Marinette of doing these things is because that’s the first thing she should go after.

This isn’t even mentioning the fact that Alya later got interviews during her investigation and Lila was one of the people she interviewed.

And let’s be real about this, because I’m sure we can all agree that Lila would not be soft about whether Marinette did these things or not. When Lila goes in on something, she goes all in, and if Alya tried to absolve Marinette of blame for the stair incident by asking (for example) if there was anyone else around at the time, Lila wouldn’t hesitate to confirm that there was no one else. If Lila’s plan is to get everyone to turn on Marinette, then Alya is a prime target, so Lila would put up the vulnerable act and say, “I know that it’s so unlike her, but I’m sure she was the one who did it! I’m sorry, I didn’t want to say anything, because I know you two were close, but it’s the truth.”

Point being, even if Alya didn’t know that it was Lila making those accusations at the time, she would later on, and at that point, she can’t continue being on Lila’s side if she wants to prove Marinette’s innocence.

Alya doesn’t even have any other leads for who might’ve done it, which is ridiculous because CHLOE EXISTS. If Alya is trying to figure out suspects, then Chloe would be the one to target because Chloe has a long-standing history of hating Marinette, yet Alya doesn’t even have a list of potential people who have a grudge against Marinette (which could’ve been hilarious, by the way; Alya trying her absolute hardest to keep Lila out of her suspects, so she starts suspecting people for dumb things like, “Marinette gently bumped into them in the hall once”; WASTED POTENTIAL).

It’s just... dumb that Alya tries to say that Marinette has a motive without thinking about the motives that other people might have for framing Marinette. It felt like they only had her mention motives to rub salt in the wound of anyone who remembers Alya’s jealousy comments from “Chameleon” and “Catalyst.”

AND ANOTHER THING...

Tikki states after the scarlet akuma attack that Alya didn’t get akumatized and that it somehow means that Alya still trusts Marinette.

I...

I have questions.

Like, first of all, Tikki’s comments only make sense when taken into context with Hawk Moth’s plan to use the classmates feeling betrayed by Marinette to akumatize them, which is something that Tikki obviously wouldn’t be aware of.

Secondly, Alya not getting akumatized doesn’t mean anything about how Alya felt during the matter because--I mean--wouldn’t Alya knowing that Marinette is innocent make her more likely to be akumatized? I understand that getting akumatized for the sake of someone else is a rare occurrence in the show, but Alya’s best friend just got expelled and Alya truly believes that she’d been framed, yet she doesn’t get akumatized over it?

Yeah, no. I don’t buy that.

Then, there’s Adrien. Just like with Alya, yes, it’s great that he’s actually doing something for Marinette, but it ultimately means little in the grand scheme of things. While I appreciate that he did try to intervene before Mr. Damocles cut him off and that he tried to put his foot down on Lila’s behavior, here are the facts:

Fact number one is that Marinette had to prompt Adrien before Adrien intervened. Yes, he defended her in class, but when he sees the pendant fall from Marinette’s locker, Marinette has to call out to him directly before Adrien tries to say anything. I honestly can’t blame Mr. Damocles for cutting Adrien off in that moment, because Adrien not stepping forward before Marinette’s prompting would just make Mr. Damocles think that Adrien is only sticking up for Marinette because she’s begging him to.

Fact number two is that Adrien rewarded Lila for her behavior in the end. Regardless of how he spoke to her or how upset he was, Lila is still “friends” with him “officially” and even gets a bonus in that she’s now known to the world as “Gabriel’s muse.”

To some degree, I get what Adrien is doing, but it’s not obvious enough, and this happened all the way back in “Chameleon” too.

Back then, people speculated that Adrien told Marinette not to out Lila because he knew that Lila would just lie her way around it. However, Adrien didn’t say that and thus made it look more like he was just trying to protect Lila’s feelings.

If Adrien was using that logic here, then it seems like he’s using his friendship/status as a bargaining chip, believing that he has no evidence against her (which isn’t true; he knows that Lila isn’t friends with Ladybug and another voice against Lila is more powerful than just Marinette by herself since she “has a motive”) and thus resorting to threatening her with their friendship to get her to do what he wants.

Yet, by standing by Lila’s side and refusing to do anything, Adrien caused a lot of akumatizations, almost causing Marinette’s in particular (twice). Lila was the one who started it, but Adrien is the one refusing to stop her for good.

So yeah. I gave Adrien slack in “Desperada,” but I will not give him any slack here. This is an entirely different game he’s playing and I’m not a fan.

And here’s the thing: I would like to see the conflict on both Adrien and Alya’s ends. It’d be interesting to see Adrien be hurt by Marinette’s situation, but being afraid of speaking out because he doesn’t know what kind of power Lila has to ruin his reputation (which his father would not be happy about). It’d be interesting to see Alya continuously see Lila as a suspect, but trying so hard not to believe it because she’s constantly accused Marinette of just being jealous and doesn’t know how to handle the fact that Marinette has been right all along and Alya favored Lila over her best friend.

But without those pieces there, those conflicts can only be speculated on; not confirmed.

One more note about Adrien since Chat does a thing here as well: this is like the second time that Chat has been fooled by a Ladybug copy (”The Puppeteer 2″ being the first), and what gets me is that it’s never the behavior that throws him off; it’s always something else (like him smelling the wax or the real Ladybug showing up to intervene). He also has to be told again by Ladybug that she loves someone else (when he tries to kiss her) even though she already stated as much when she broke apart Chat and Sentibug.

And BY THE WAY, “I’m in love with someone else,” is not a reason for Chat not to kiss her. Whether Ladybug loves someone else or not is beside the point and implies that it’d be fine if she didn’t love someone else. No, the point is that Chat shouldn’t kiss her because she’s not in love with him and has already said so multiple times.

I dunno, the fact that Ladybug being in love with someone else was brought up three times in this episode makes me wonder if they’re planning something for the finale. It’s just a lot of mentions for one episode.

I would also just like to point out how depressing it is to know that neither Tom and Sabine knew anything about Lila. Marinette apparently never confided in them about her and, even if her parents do believe that Lila’s disease is at fault for what happened, they apparently hold no animosity towards her whatsoever for getting their daughter expelled (they can still feel at least a twinge of anger about Lila even if they believe she’s genuine; it’s called being human).

I mean, granted, I’m not surprised. Tom goes on to talk about how much he knew his daughter was innocent, but I simply do not believe that. They wouldn’t have had their daughter working in their bakery after the shock of getting expelled from a school where she had so many friends if they didn’t believe she did it. Her life was just thrown for a loop and they’re trying to keep her busy with stuff that she clearly doesn’t want to do, so no, I don’t believe for a second that they thought she was innocent. Even with Hawk Moth’s line about revealing the truth when he was akumatizing Sabine, that was directed at Marinette as well, so he naturally would’ve had to swing it as something deeper going on or Marinette wouldn’t have been on board.

OH AND SPEAKING OF MARINETTE--

[why]

I was willing to set aside the lack of focus on Marinette’s conflict in “Queen Wasp” because I both knew it wasn’t going anywhere and knew that it was at least not something affecting Marinette in a severely negative way...

but I will not let up here because oh my god.

Marinette got expelled in this episode, and it’s brushed off at the end like it’s not even a big deal. Everything is just reset to square one, and there are no apologies to Marinette, no “sorry for getting akumatized because I thought you betrayed us,” and Marinette had to call Alya to have someone check up on her because no one checked up on her after all that.

Also, regardless of how negative Marinette must’ve felt after being expelled, it is such a massive disservice to have her not even fight back against the akuma when Chloe rejected her akuma in “Miraculer.” “Chameleon” was a shining moment when Marinette repelled the akuma all by herself, but once it actually touches her and gets inside her head, she doesn’t even resist?

And it’s just a matter of raising the episode’s stakes and showing that Marinette would immediately remove her earrings if she were akumatized in civilian form. Her expulsion isn’t for her character; it’s for the plot.

Heck, and if that’s the case (just needed Marinette to be expelled to turn the class against her), than Mayura’s sentimonster could’ve just been Sentinette instead if Sentibug, with Sentinette going and doing actually bad things or Mayura literally just appearing in front of Lila and putting a Marinette sentimonster under Lila’s control (Lila already accepted an akuma so why not?), then Nathalie keeping Marinette occupied with doing other tasks and claiming that she’s “already told the school” about it (since we’ve seen from “Simon Says” that Gabriel doesn’t need to be Hawk Moth to keep his champions active, so we can presume that it’s the same for sentimonsters) while Sentinette wreaks havoc. Hawk Moth can still just akumatize Nathalie afterward and the results would be the same except Marinette doesn’t have to be involved since the plot isn’t going to touch on her pain anyway. I mean, if Lila ends up having Sentinette as her sentimonster anyway, then that could even give Nathalie the idea of Sentibug later on.

Regardless of how much I care about Gabriel and Nathalie’s plot (which is a mixed bag; cool to see Nathalie doing things on her own but I still don’t know how/why she got feelings for Gabriel), that doesn’t mean that Marinette’s plot has to be sacrificed for it. All of the realistic feelings that Marinette should have are just brushed aside because things are happening and there’s no time for it.

And that’s not even taking into account all the other things that happen in the episode. Not only is Marinette expelled (which Tkki doesn’t comfort her on and just focuses on how she almost gave up the earrings; I’m not saying it’s not important to discuss that part but UGH), but Alya discouraged her from claiming that Lila did anything when Marinette knows it was Lila (again, going back to this “being human” thing; even if Marinette knows that Alya doesn’t have all the information, she has a right to feel hurt), her parents kept her busy with baking instead of letting her breathe or even giving her a day to allow the situation to sink in, and she had to just watch in shock while her own superhero partner believed a sentimonster over herself.

(By the way, unrelated, but while I’m not denying that it was sad to see Sentibug “die,” there is virtually no evidence about Sentibug being a “pure” as Chat claims until Ladybug gives Sentibug the object; like, Chat is literally talking about how there’s nothing evil about her while Sentibug is standing alongside Mayura and glaring at him. There’s simply no time to get to know Sentibug before she inevitably falls.)

There’s also the fact that Marinette, y’know, had to deal with all these terrible emotions on a day where she also had to fight Hawk Moth, so that was great for her, I’m sure.

Not helped by the self-deprecating comment she makes about not being anywhere near as perfect as Sentibug, which tore my heart out in case you’re curious.

I don’t know. This show has a weird habit of involving Marinette with the plot while simultaneously having no idea what to do with her. They have her around to react so that things can happen, but they don’t want to go into the details of how that interaction will affect her on a deep, personal level. It would make sense if that was how Marinette perceived things--that she wasn’t allowed to feel or else risk being akumatized--but the show treats it as if that’s how it should actually work, and then wrap it all up by having Marinette see Lila being called Gabriel’s muse on TV after Marinette herself did literally nothing wrong and everything wrong was being done to her instead.

Thus, it’s just... sad.