#outside of pursuing a boy who clearly doesn’t love her

[coffeebuoy]

i have this real wild and wacky idea: stop hating sakura so much

[writing-makes-me-human]

Trial By Water 🐚: Part 2

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Pairing: Aonung X reader

PART ONE: HERE

Summary: Aonung meets your parents as is tradition for your clan and it doesn’t go over well, he then gives you a gift and you watch his jealousy over another man simmer over.

Word Count: 4.2 k

Warnings: Hurt to comfort, jealousy, none.

A/N: Hello I am working on the next part of my other series Love and Guests (which you should check out) and three requests I’ve gotten so if my posting schedule suddenly becomes a nightmare that is why. Please enjoy xx

Also finally made my masterlist workable, I’m gonna work on making it cute after I finish my other series.

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A few days had passed since that day on the beach when Aonung confessed to you that he intended to pursue you to be his mate, and since then, all hell broke out.

You had come back hand in hand after the night of bashful glances and flirting under starlit skies, and rumors had encased the village like a wildfire burning through the woods. These dirty rumors wouldn't have troubled you if the stories hadn't spread to your parents, and while it seemed that you had made up your mind about which of the two suiters you would pick, your parents had other plans in store for you.

Your clan had many rules and traditions that had to be followed during the period of courting a mate, and your parents were traditionalists in every sense of the word. They cared very strongly for their people, and to them, that meant you must find a mate who followed the rules to an extreme level, and Aonung was not the rule-following type.

Ixa'Tey knew of your mother's temperament towards managing oneself punctually. So while he would arrive at every agreed meeting on time bearing gifts, Aonung would come as he usually did to all other meetings, late and still wet from the water with a grin on his face.

Aonung knew your parents to be strict and quite conventional in most of their ways, but he thought they would have put that aside when they saw the fact that you were quite clearly in love with him, nobody else. He was wrong.

The first meeting between the parents and the admirer was critical to setting up a long line of contact that would continue throughout everyone involved lives if the mating ritual was successful and blessed by Eywa.

You had awkwardly been pacing outside your family's pod for ten minutes before he finally turned up. He was still damp from the water, and a devilish grin was on his face.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, I got held up", he didn't take much notice of your exasperated face.He leaned in and gave you a peek on the cheek, but as he withdrew, your mother sharply opened the flap to her pod to ask you for the fifth time where the boy was. Her eyes crossed sharply between the two of you with a scowl aimed at the boy when she saw his position.

He finally seemed to pick up on the tension, and his ears dropped along with his smile. He put his fingers to his forehead and withdrew them. Your mother copied the action but did not speak to welcome him.

She turned and walked deeper into the pod, waiting for you to welcome him inside.

You sighed and gently gripped his arm, squeezing it to reassure him that he would be alright. He looked down at you and whispered another apology with his pupils blown at the sight of you with sacred clothing and decorated hair that was anticipated with this type of ritual.

You led him forward and cleared your throat so your father would look up from the knife he was sharpening. Aonung tried to stay strong, he really did, but your old man had a glare on his face that could have challenged medusa.

"You are late", your father rumbled, his voice filling out the space and then some with his clear show of dismay at Aonung's tardiness.

"I'm sorry, I had no intention of upsetting you, I got distracted with a matter", your favorite courter spoke, his voice filled with the same tone his father used when he wanted to talk to his people about a serious matter.

"A matter that was more important than my daughter?" Your father took the sharpened weapon and pointed it towards him threateningly before he placed it beside him on the mat.

Aonung was caught for words. Usually, when he told people he was busy, they just accepted it because he was the chief's son, and of course, he had somewhere to be, something noble he was learning for the betterment of his people, but right now he became aware that this was not going to be a usual interaction.

"Sit down", your father commanded, taking displeasure in the boy's silence that was misinterpreted as idle contemplation.

You could feel the unease radiating from your boy. It seemed to be clocking in place that this wouldn't be easy.

The silence was stony as your mother reappeared with four bowls filled with fresh fish dosed in spices and herbs.

Your mother walked around and gave her husband and then Aonung their food, leaving you for last. When you gripped the bowl from her hands with a gentle thanks, you couldn't hold back the one-syllable gasp you let out as you looked down at the food and then at your mother, who busied herself with getting a drink for everyone.

You had told her specifically, anything other than this dish, it was Aonung's least favorite meal, and it was something he despised eating.

You quickly looked over at Aonung as he looked over the food with a distanced look of mild revulsion. When your mother turned around, he smiled politely and complimented her on the smell of the meal as she handed him a full cup of water which he gratefully took.He spared you a look over the rim of the cup as he sipped the water. His eyes tried to assure you that he would be okay while yours widened in questioning.

You had seen him literally spit this meal from his mouth on multiple occasions, but he couldn't refuse the meal. That would have been beyond insulting to your mother and would end the meeting far too early.

He dug into the bowl and picked up a piece of diced fish, spooning it into his mouth as you and your parents did the same.

Your mother's eyes were trained on him as he chewed, waiting for any noise that could be directed to disgust, but he seemed to take the meal as a challenge and ate every bite without letting out a single noise of nausea.

It was such a small thing, but you were proud of him, he was a picky brat most of the time, and this small act showed he was serious about winning you and your family over.

"You know, Aonung is the fastest swimmer in the clan", you spoke in between bites, feeling the need to defend your love against your mother's blatant attack.

Your father hummed in acknowledgment but didn't raise his eyes from his bowl, scoffing down the food without much contribution at chatter.

"And he's a fine warrior, he can take out any man in a fight, I've even seen him beat his father", you nodded to your mother, who eyed your flattery curiously.

You hadn't been so forward with speaking of Ixa'Tey's achievements when he had been here a few nights ago, and she could see by the way your proud smile adorned your face that you were ruthlessly trying to convenience them he would be a good match.

"y/n!" Aonung muttered your name in an order for you to stop. He could tell his presence was not going down well, and in his eyes, it was not the time to start bragging about his abilities.

"It's true! And he's a mighty hunter, he brings back twice as many fish as any of the other hunters", you could feel his shame radiating off him, but your father finally quirked his eyes up, sharing a look with your mother before returning to you.

Your father's frown was deep, and you could see a spark of rage in his eyes as he stood up and scowled down at you and Aonung. Your mother placed a hand on his waist to try and coax him back down, but your father was on a road he couldn't be deterred from.

"I would like to meet this man you speak of because I only see a boy in front of me. He turns up late without an offering, then he dares to say nothing at your honor when I ask him of your importance!" Your father was yelling, all the neighbors would most likely hear the loud shouts, but you didn't care about them.

You gazed at Aonung during the speech and watched as his ears flattened and his tail hid beneath his legs. He suddenly felt very voiceless at everything, and it shocked you with an anger you didn't know could be aimed at your father.

You stood up, eyes flaring with fury as you felt the disappointment in your parents for derailing this evening so badly turn into infuriation.

"And what about you? What about your faults? Mother, you haven't even spoken to Aonung since he arrived, instead, you make a meal you know he hates and watches him suffer for your amusement! He has apologized for being late, and perhaps he didn't answer your question, father, because your rudeness struck him!" You could feel Aonung's presence behind you as he stood up and grabbed your wrist with his clean hand. A silent plea to sit down in his eyes.Feeling defeated by your father's icy glare, you sat down again, cursing everything within sight at the war this dinner had become.

"I think perhaps we should re-schedule", your mother piped up after three minutes of uncomfortable silence passed in which your father's glare switched from Aonung back to you several times.

"You've been unfair", you swallowed the fear of crossing your father again so openly and let your hand wrap around Aonung's to pull him towards you.

"He is a good man, father I swear to you, he just needs you to give him a chance", your tone of malice fell as you squeezed Aonung's hand and gave him a spare glance.

He looked at you with so much pride it nearly broke your heart open. You both knew you had chosen each other, and as soon as the ceremonies were over you two wouldn't be able to keep from one another.

Just because your parents had already silently chosen Ixa'Tey didn't matter because you knew that Aonung was destined to be your mate, and if you had to defy a few dumb rules written by your ancestors to secure him in your life, then so be it.

Aonung had enough of being scared into silence and stared at your father, prepared to speak for himself after you had done so for so long.

"I was late because my sister's mate had an accident, I never meant to disrespect you or y/n, I care for her deeply", he took a deep breath before he continued, "But if I am to be Olo'eyktan then sometimes I have to be late to things, even if I let them down".

You smiled, gratified at his selflessness that was now beginning to show care for your people through purposeful actions instead of his silent brooding as it had been a few years ago.

"I am here to court your daughter, and I swear that no matter what, I will be there for her when she really needs me, but I have to prioritize people's safety", even though a part of you highly doubted that Lo'ak had been in an accident and this was most likely a white lie to get out from under the moral high ground your father had over him, you couldn't help but beam at his show of maturity.

While there were lies and things you knew Aonung didn't mean thrown into his speech for the show to impress your father, you knew that he meant it as a way to please you. He only agreed to come to this dinner at your begging, and if your parent's approval were what you wanted, then he would get it for you, even if he had to pretend to give a shit about Lo'ak or his future duties as Olo'eyktan.

You looked up to your father and waited as he deliberated an answer to you both. In his eyes, you could see that he knew you had picked Aonung over the other boy, but he still couldn't decide if he would allow it.

He grumbled before sitting back down in his place, grabbing his bowl to scrape the remnants off the edges and into his mouth.

Your mother's face was pulled into a tight line, but she said nothing and stood up to hand around a handful of large damp leaves you could all use to clean off your hands with.When she sat back down, your father spoke, letting the words fill the room and silence any speaking of the later arguing.

"So, you are a hunter?" He asked Aonung, his eyes grazing up and down the young man before resting to hold eye contact.

"Yes, sir", Aonung cleared his voice, trying to act nonchalant about the whole interaction.

"I will take you on a hunt then, and test to see if my daughter is right about her claims", your father's eye fell on his food, and it allowed you and Aonung the time to side-eye glance each other with childish smirks on your faces as if you had just gotten away with something.

The rest of the evening went silently, if not for the odd question from your father, who asked Aonung how his father was and if he had heard any news about the sky people.

Once dinner was finished, you excused yourselves under the guise of walking Aonung home when the reality was you were both running down the beach as far away from your family's pod as you could get to rant and rave about every detail.

You had pushed his shoulder slightly when you exited the pod, and then he pushed back, and before long, you had raced each other along the beach and settled yourselves against a rock that was peeled back and revealing itself due to low tide.

You heartily laughed as Aonung came and pressed a kiss to your cheek and then commanded he sits beside you and nestles into your side against the cold breeze that was enveloping the land.He sighed merrily as you clung onto one another, it was all a peaceful and rather loving moment of watching the eclipse occur together until his dumb voice had to shatter the tender moment.

"Do you think I should go and break Lo'ak's leg for safe measure?" He chuckled at himself while burying his mouth into the nape of your neck, trying to hide the fact the sentiment was half serious.

You gasped in faux shock and pulled away from him theatrically, watching his brow crease in confusion as you hadn't entirely laughed at his tease towards his sister's mate yet.

"You don't mean to say it was all a lie, do you? That the real reason you were late is that you were probably slacking off with Rotxo and forgot the time?" You laughed at his sheepish face and apologist attitude.

"I wasn't messing around with Rotxo, it was serious, I promise", he said with a half-baked regretful tone that begged for you to come back and lay in his arms.You did so with the tease still sharp on your tongue.

"Really? What was so serious?" You were smiling like a fat cat, sure that you had him cornered.You didn't mind that he was late, you knew the type of person you intended on being with, and every quality he had was what made up someone you would be blessed to spend the rest of your days with, and his carefree attitude was something you treasured.

Of course, you had wanted him to meet your parents, and while you had been worried that he had forgotten or simply stood you up, as soon as he had come running to you, at that moment, the feelings you had for Aonung seemed to sink in and the thought that Aonung would be here for you like this every day was world-changing to you.

"I was getting something for you", he muttered under his breath while he nervously looked up at the sky, watching the stars that had quickly begun to appear thanks to the cover of darkness granted by the eclipse.

You turned in his arms, staring at his face with a raised brow at the bashful tone he had suddenly taken.

"Oh really? What?" You still felt the bite of your sassy tone, but there was also a curious glint in your eye which seemed to give Aonung a stroke of confidence.

He debated in his head for several seconds before he pushed himself back a bit and reached around his waist to the burlap sack that was tied to his waist, which was usually filled with pretty shells or small tools.

He dug around for a spell before his fingers grabbed hold of something and pulled it out to present to you.

In his palm, it appeared to be just a jumble of dark brown cord and three large shiny stones, but as he took his other hand and held it above your head, you gasped in awe.

The necklace was made up of a brown cord that would wrap around the neck in a semi-lose grip with two jet-black stones, both the size of a tooth that deviated at the front. To connect the ends of the necklace together, there was a blood-red stone that would lie flat in the middle of your chest when worn.

You reached up to touch it, but Aonung playfully snatched it away with a smile on his face that he could have used to power the sun.

"Surely you don't want to wear both, they'll clash against each other", he gestured down to the simple brown cord bracelet with the pearl centered on it that Ixa'Tey had made for you with a devilish grin.

You wanted to scorn him and tell him that just because you had picked each other that didn't mean you could hurt the other boy's feelings like that with such a clear sign of implicit rejection.Upon seeing your look of half-entertained critique about his terms of accepting his gift, he shrugged and went to put the necklace back into his side, but you quickly grabbed onto his arm and shouted in protest.

"No wait!" You could feel your blush overtaking your face at the loud plea you let out, which immediately let Aonung know you were fond of the beautiful necklace he had made.He smirked and pulled the necklace back up as if he was holding a fish over an Ilu to try and convenience it to do something it didn't want to.

"You really are a jealous man, you know that?" You huffed as you toyed with the adjustable ends of the bracelet on the other side of your wrist.

"Well, you are mine, aren't you? Everyone should know that, and Ixa'Tey should do better next time he tries to win over me", he spat out the other boy's name as he stared down at the bracelet with a jealous twitch in his eye.

You shook your head with a false frown on your face as your heart soared at the bold declaration of interest and protectiveness over you.

You gave in and slowly, as if you were teasing him, pulled the left cord of the bracelet to let it grow bigger until you slid off the bracelet and held it up between your fingers for him to see.

"Happy?" You sighed as you went to put the bracelet away in your own side sack that you used for carrying snacks and bits you had collected over the years of being outside.

"No, I want you to throw it away", his smirk had turned predatory as he demanded more of you.

"I can't do that!" You yelled. Yes, the bracelet looked abysmal when held up to the beauty of what Aonung had created for you, but it had still been made for you out of the kindness of someone's heart.

"Fine, then perhaps I will find another pretty girl who wants my gift", Aonung gave a mock shrug as he went to leave.

He had just gotten down from the rock and let his hand down to replace the necklace, but you allowed him to push you around with ease for the second time that night.

"Okay, okay!" You jumped up and followed him down to the sand as you quickly ran in front of him to prohibit him from going any further.

He cocked his head to the side with a shit-eating grin on his features that made you desperately want to hide under a rock and never emerge out of fear he would see exactly how his charm affected you.

You took your heel, and right in front of him, you kicked a hole into the beach to cover up the bracelet as he watched on with far too much enjoyment in his eyes.

You had to kick away as much sand as possible before dropping the bangle into the hole that was as deep as your middle finger. You crouched down to the ground, and you could feel Aonung's high spirits at seeing you quite literally on your hands and knees to receive the gift he had created.

You pushed all the sand over it to try and hide the evidence of the gift ever existing, while the shame of going to so much effort only lightly played on your mind as you looked up to see Aonung's eyes glowing with the light of the stars.

His figure was visible with the light of the sky above you, and it made your breath swallow you whole as his smile shocked you back into reality.

"Now can I have my gift", you tried to act as casually as you could with your sandy palm outstretched to take the jewelry off him.

He gently shook his head at your hand, and for a second, you thought he was about to ask you to do something else, but just as you were about to put your foot down, he rolled his eyes and turned his finger in a circle to tell you to twist yourself around.

You gleefully did so, nearly crashing into his chest in your eagerness to accept the jaw-droppingly beautiful offering.

He chuckled as you crouched down slightly to allow him the space he needed to bestow it above your head and onto your neck.

He brought the necklace above your head and brought it down over your skull. You thought he would leave you to adjust the fitting, but he lovingly grabbed as much of your hair as he could and gently pulled it out from under the rope so that it could lay on top of the accessory, and then to your surprise, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to your shoulder making you shiver.

He ran his finger along the spot where he had kissed, and it took everything you had to pull away from him.

"You are the most beautiful thing Eywa ever created", he cooed to you, the words ringing in your ears.

You turned to him leisurely and let your hands reach down to inspect the necklace with an ecstatic smile on your face that he decided made the several hours of swimming to find the matching stones and violent red crystal worth it.

"I'll wear it forever", you smiled, feeling the love he had put into the work consume you.

"I'm glad you like it", he dared to move closer to you, feeling your breath over his jaw.The feeling that had been with you on the other side of the island all those days ago returned, and while you knew that your parents would be ropeable if they ever found out you proceeded without their blessing, you didn't care.

You closed the gap and pressed your lips against his in the softest peck you could manage, which made Aonung's lungs nearly collapse as he chased after your lips.

The peck was turned into a passionate kiss as he tilted his head to press his open lips against yours. The feeling of his soft, plump lips under your own made the whole planet turn on its head as you desperately pulled him closer so you two could deepen this kiss.

When the natural end of the kiss came, and you both pulled back, you could see his lips were hooded over with a glaze of mirth, and his lips were damp from your spit.

You wanted to thank him for the gift and the kiss, but you could only seem to get out stutters of noise which made him let out a breathy chuckle that wasn't quite teasing and sent an erotic wave of desire through your stomach.

"If that's all it takes to get a kiss from you, I'll give you something every week", he brought you forward and pressed his forehead against yours in a repeat of what happened last week.

You placed one hand on his chest while the other clutched onto the red crystal of your necklace. The feeling of his heart racing beneath your palm made your erotic needs die out, and your snarky habits emerged.

"I don't think your heart could take a kiss from me every week", you laughed as you tapped your finger over his chest in time with his heart, showing that it was going quite quickly.

He pulled back from you with a roll of his eyes as he stuck his heavy bicep over your shoulder and made you carry the dead weight as he guided you both back to the pods.

"That's enough out of you girl, come on, keep up, how are you going to be Tsahik if you can't even carry my arm?" He was taking great pleasure in watching you struggle to lift the arm off your back that was too heavy for you to raise.

"How will you be chief when all your muscle is in your arms rather than your brain?" You chortled back as he laughed and took the weight off you, instead enveloping you in a side hug as you two wandered back home.

[nereidprinc3ss]

hi girlie. thoughts on spencer’s bisexuality? specially post-prison spence. would he be more willing to experiment or just keep being the same guy who doesn’t care at all? just thinking. plus thoughts on austin? we didn’t got to see much about it. honestly i think both of them would have gone harder than with maeve, to be honest. i did not got much of the vibe from maeve and spencer and it felt like quiet new and weird coming from him? we’ve seen him interacting more before with these super confident girls like lila and cat. to me, it looks like these are more his type, pretty odd for a introvert guy like him.

babe thoughts on spencers bisexuality are all i have

but i also have thoughts on all his girlfriends actually

spoilers for maeve, cat, trigger warning season 14 episode 15 “truth or dare” mentioned😓😓 that fuck ass episode

i think post prison spencer is too traumatized and too exhausted to be thinking about romance or sex for a good long while. if he was already in a committed relationship before he went in, i think he’d stay because he’s incredibly devoted and i feel like he tends to latch on to one individual as his person and then never let them go, but if he wasn’t, i don’t think he’d be pursuing anyone, period, boys girls anyone in between or outside, i think bro is just TIRED lmfao

but specifically speaking about his relationship w his own bisexuality, i think if it wasn’t something he was super comfortable with before prison it sure as hell won’t be something he decides to confront after prison. i think he would just ignore it and continue on with life in his own little world ignoring other human beings. i think if he was chill with his sexuality before he went to prison that wouldn’t change afterward other than the fact that he’d probably find himself less attracted to men because they scare him a lot more now. i don’t think he would suddenly start having a ton of internalized homophobia (although he has so much self loathing it could definitely present that way) but again i don’t think he would be interested in seeking out new romantic or sexual partners for a while regardless of gender

and i liked austin a lot!!! potentially controversial opinion but i did NOT like maeve for him. she was clearly designed to be spencer but a girl so we would be like omggg she’s so perfect for him and then we would be extra sad when she died but imo their relationship fell flat, lacked passion or believability, and simply wasn’t interesting to me. the way he spoke about her reminded me of the way a 13 year old speaks about his girlfriend after a month of dating when he thinks they’re going to get married.

i have always FIRMLY believed that he had more chemistry with almost ANY of his love interests, even austin and the einstein chick who were around for ONE EPISODE EACH than he did with maeve. spencer seemed more interested and challenged by literally every single one of them. and i think he needs someone who challenges him. like spencer understands everything, give him someone who he can’t figure out and who drives him insane and is endlessly compelling and confusing elle greenaway!! we saw the way he wanted to genuinely consume lilah and cat. both more interesting than maeve. maeve was giving like… older sister almost?? like that woman had a FIANCÉ and according to canon she was his first “girlfriend” (strong word for what she was… those bitches were e-dating at best) it was just bizarre in the same way it was bizarre for a woman who had been married for ten years with two children to declare her love for him. i genuinely can see him with an older woman elle greenaway but the dynamic was just off with jj and maeve.

so that’s my rant on them. i could go on forever

[jakesuit0]

Go With Me Review

“Go With Me” manages to give more insight into multiple different character dynamics in the span of 11 minutes. Finn and Bubblegum, Jake and Marceline, Finn and Marceline, and Marcy and PB have series defining moments for their relationships, with even some super insightful Finn and Jake interaction sprinkled in. Not even the 90-minute Stakes miniseries manages to accomplish that. 

Despite Finn’s puppy love for Princess Bubblegum, Finn does not understand romance nor is ready for it. Despite this, Jake pushes Finn to bring a date to couple’s movie night. Jake and Marceline encourage Finn to pursue someone who is too old for him, albeit for different reasons. Jake has a naive view of romance, and has no frame of reference for how to help a (barely) teen human boy deal with his feelings. He views Finn as someone capable of having true romantic feelings, which Finn clearly isn’t yet. Finn immediately shoots down PB’s description of the night as “romantic”. PB declines for whistling practice. I don’t think this was just an excuse to turn down Finn. Bubblegum finds Finn's crush on her cute and harmless in the first two seasons. I think she’d be willing to humor him by attending, not yet knowing the effect that kind of behavior has on Finn. Jake gives more terrible advice, pushing Finn to keep pursuing PB. 

Marcy’s introduction into this episode is great, with the slow split screen reveal of her presence. It’s also the first of many times we see her hiding inside the Treehouse. Jake reveals that he has gotten over his fear of vampires. While Marceline can still easily spook him, it's nice that Jake has finally come around to Marcy like Finn did in “Henchman”. I love how Finn and Jake both get separate mini-arcs throughout a few episodes before they each accept Marceline as a friend. Marceline not being able to go out in the sun (before they got lazy and just started photoshopping sunscreen bottles into title cards) is already enough of a barrier to work her into plots, we don’t need Jake’s fear as another one. They had a funny workaround in “It Came From the Nightosphere”, but I’m glad they retired it. I love how they still address this development. Most shows would have just given up on the running gag without an explanation to make writing episodes easier. 

In order to make Peebles jealous, Finn and Marcy pretend to have a great banter session outside Bubblegum’s window. This leads to our first ever interaction between Princess Bubblegum and Marceline, the second most iconic character duo in the series, and one of the most famous character dynamics in cartoon history. While it takes 103 episodes for Marceline to interact with Ice King, and 170 for Lumpy Space Princess, Marcy gets to interact with a member of the main cast that isn’t Finn and Jake in season two! Even without the context from future episodes, this scene gives a lot of clues to their relationship. There is clear tension between them. It is obvious they have a history, with Marceline calling PB by her first name, something we haven’t even seen Finn do up to this point. It’s satisfying seeing how well this scene works with information provided a decade later in “Obsidian”. Marceline likes to tease PB, and Bubblegum puts up a tough exterior to act like she doesn’t care about Marcy, like she did while Marcy first sang “Woke Up” in the Glass Kingdom. It’s obvious they’ve had multiple interactions similar to this over the hundreds of years since their break up. Finn’s newfound friendship with Marceline would only force these kinds of interactions to become more frequent. This is probably the most drastic example of an episode being impacted by a later installment in the series. And oh yeah, Princess Bubblegum’s first name is Bonnibel! I love how well her first name flows with Bubblegum. It’s nice having a shorter and easier name for her than “Princess Bubblegum” that isn’t just “PB”. I love getting pieces of character biography like names and ages dropped so casually.

Marceline just wants to get back at her ex as well as have fun messing with her impressionable friend like usual. Marceline literally says her reason for wanting to help is that “it'll be funny”. Of course Marcy knows that wrestling and wolves would do nothing but upset PB. She plays these pranks at the expense of Finn, but Marceline knows to not take Finn’s crush seriously in the first place. Her “advice” is as bad as Jake’s but she isn’t stupid like Jake. 

In the process of getting wolves for Marceline’s next plan, we see how much more compatible Finn is with Marcy than PB. They’re both fun, wild animals. Bubblegum reacts appropriately to Finn putting wolves in her room. It's sad seeing her ban Finn from the kingdom. She understands she is dealing with a child and that Finn has a good heart, so she keeps the door open for when Finn starts behaving better. She knows that Finn will come around and it feels more like a parent or teacher disciplining a misbehaving child. I’m sure Bubblegum realized that this was all Marcy’s doing soon enough anyway. On the other hand, the Finn Marceline pairing is a much more fun and refreshing dynamic when compared to PB and Finn. This is purposefully highlighted and something Finn comes to realize. After his latest failure, Marcy tells Finn to forget about Bonnie. I get the feeling that another motivation for Marceline was to sabotage Finn so he wouldn’t keep dealing with the heartache she knows comes with PB.

All of this sets up a fake out that the series would turn to start pushing Finn and Marceline as a romantic pairing. Finn goes to ask Marcy out to the movies instead. Someone getting this close to Marceline makes her uncomfortable. Her reaction is to try to scare Finn away, a tactic she internalized from when she thought she scared her mother away and reinforced in the downfall of her relationship with Princess Bubblegum. Marceline misinterprets Finn’s invitation as a romantic gesture. Marceline and Jake egging Finn on throughout the episode caused this. He is only barely 13, he isn’t ready for that! I like Jake rightfully feeling embarrassed for his actions. Marcy realizes Finn’s intentions and happily goes with Finn as friends. She still can’t give up messing with Finn, with the great “no tongue” comment that went right over his head. I’m very happy the series didn’t go for a Finn, PB, Marceline love triangle. It’s nice for Finn to have a female friend without any baggage. The episode teased Finnceline for the only time in the series, and then immediately shot it down forever. Well, forget about “Bad Little Boy”. I’ll discuss that episode’s implications when we get to it.                  

Finn and Marceline ditch movie night when confronted with the onslaught of make outs. They are truly perfect friends. The episode ends on wolves tearing apart the screen after a couple proclaims that nothing will ever tear them apart. There is a joke in Spongebob that is identical to this, with Plankton instead of the wolves. There is absolutely no way that it’s a coincidence. 

“Go With Me” is the third and sadly last Finn and Marceline duo episode. While I think “It Came From the Nightosphere” is the overall better episode, I think this is the best showcase of their relationship in the series. It's great seeing these character dynamics be explored in a more sitcom-y episode.

Grade: A

[thestobingirlie]

i don't understand people who think steve and nancy are just completely incompatible and never should have dated in the first place (this is re: a post another anon referenced about "bro code doesn't exist when you and your ex are clearly not meant to be in a relationship")

it's such a weird idea that any outsider can claim "oh these two people should never have dated" when...they did. they chose to. it was a relationship that two people both wanted and pursued and spent almost a year in, and it might have ended but how fucking invalidating for a friend to be like "and it never should have happened in the first place, so let's pretend it didn't" it was a year of their lives

even though i don't agree with the interpretation that nancy was waiting for jonathan to make a move and only settled for steve, (i think she was just waiting for jonathan to re-enter her life at all, and didn't think dating steve would end their friendship), even if she did date steve to stave off her loneliness it was still a source of comfort and safety for her for months. steve's the first person she slept with and her first serious relationship (maybe her first relationship ever?)

and for steve she was his first love

but hey, they, like, obviously never should have been together in the first place (tho if they're so incompatible how are they even friends? or if it's so messy how would the hurt feelings not be relevant?) so like, let's just pretend they weren't and that they don't mean anything to each other and that they never did, because they never should have

so many people that hate stancy have an inability to actually view it critically, and just interpret it the way they want to, rather than what they’re actually shown.

even if you think stancy never should��ve been together, that’s such a weird thing to say to defend steve’s best friend dating his ex. like yeah, maybe he looks back on his relationship and thinks, “hmm, we shouldn’t have been together”. but that doesn’t erase the hurt!! that doesn’t take away the fact that they were in a very real relationship!!

i really liked the way you worded that! like, yeah, even though at the end of the relationship it had become tougher and tougher for nancy to ‘pretend to be normal’ for a good portion of a year, steve was there for her! he helped her through her grief, and was a person she could rely on and talk to. steve was the boy she chose to lose her virginity to, and nancy was, at one point, the most important person in steve’s life.

to just say they shouldn’t have been together anyway so who gives a fuck, is so stupid?

besides that, they broke up just over a year ago!! it’s not like it’s been years since they dated and their emotions and hurt over it are long gone. and they’re teenagers! they won’t be able to reflect back on their relationship with that degree of maturity and separation for years.

also. i know i talk mainly on the stobin side of things, but i don’t think nancy would be comfortable being in that kind of relationship either. steve would be her girlfriends best friend, she would have to spend day in, day out with her ex, that she didn’t speak to for about a year because of the rough breakup. nancy is the kind of person that avoids awkward situations like that. and considering the fact that nancy’s girlfriend would always chose steve over her. i don’t think nancy could deal with that.

[dfroza]

“Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed.”

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 9th chapter of the letter of Romans:

Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed—if that would change the eternal destination of my brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. They are, after all, Israelites who have been adopted into God’s family; the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises are their rightful heritage. The patriarchs are theirs, too; and from their bloodline comes the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who reigns supreme over all things, God blessed forever. Amen.

Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed. The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. But in the Scriptures, it says, “Through Isaac your covenant children will be named.” The proper interpretation is this: Abraham’s children by natural descent are not necessarily God’s covenant people; what matters is that His children receive and live the promise. For this is the word God promised: “In due time, I will come, and Sarah will give birth to a son.” But the story didn’t stop there. Remember when Rebekah conceived her twin boys by our father Isaac? The twins were in Rebekah’s womb when God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” This was not based on merit or actions; the twins had not done anything to please or displease God. This was God’s call on each son and His desired purposes. Just as the Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

So how do we talk about that? Are God’s dealings unjust? Absolutely not! Because He said to Moses, “I will show mercy to whomever I choose to show mercy, and I will demonstrate compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion.” The point is that God’s mercy has nothing to do with our will or the things we pursue. It is completely up to God. The Scriptures even speak to the Pharaoh himself: “I have given you a position of power so that I might show My greater power through you and so that My name might be declared throughout every land upon the earth.” So when and where God decides to show mercy is completely up to Him. Likewise, when He chooses to harden one’s heart, how can we argue?

I can hear one of you asking, “Then how can He blame us if He is the one in complete control? How can we do anything He has not chosen for us?” Here’s my answer: Who are you, a mere human, to argue with God? If God takes the time to shape us from the dust, is it right to point a finger at Him and ask, “Why have You made me this way?” Doesn’t the potter have the right to shape the clay in any way he chooses? Can’t he make one lump into an elegant vase, and another into a common jug? Absolutely. Even though God desires to demonstrate His anger and to reveal His power, He has shown tremendous restraint toward those vessels of wrath that are doomed to be cracked and shattered. And why is that? To make the wealth of His glory known to vessels of mercy that are prepared for great beauty. These vessels of mercy include all of us. God has invited Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders; it makes no difference. The prophet Hosea says:

I will give a new name to those who are not My people; I’ll call them “My people,”

and to the one who has not been loved, I’ll rename her “beloved.”

And it shall turn out that in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,”

they will be called “children of the living God.”

And this is what Isaiah cries out when he speaks of Israel, “Even though the number of the children of Israel had once been like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of My people will be rescued and remain. For the Lord will waste no time in carrying out every detail of His sentence upon the earth.” It is as Isaiah predicts:

Except for the fraction of us who hang on by the grace of the Lord, Commander of heavenly armies,

we’d be destroyed and deserted like Sodom

and Gomorrah, utterly done in.

So what does all of this mean? Did the non-Jews stumble into a right standing with God without chasing after it? Yes, they found it through faith. And has Israel, who pursued the law to secure a right standing with God, failed to keep the law? Yes again. And why is that? Because Israel did not follow the path of faith. They thought that whatever they needed to be right with God could be accomplished by doing the works of the law; they tripped over the stumbling stone. As the Scriptures say,

Look what I am going to do in Zion.

I’ll put in place a stone that makes them stumble, a rock that trips them up,

and those who trust in it will not be disgraced.

The Letter of Romans, Chapter 9 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

For Paul, the astonishing truth of the gospel has to do with what God is now doing with the non-Jews. Apparently God’s plan all along is to make those who are not His people into His people. All those who never experienced God’s love are now experiencing it as they enter into the life of the Spirit through faith. But what does this mean for Israel? Israel, too, is included in the people of God; but again, this does not mean all of Israel. Pedigree is not what counts; faith is. As it was in the days of the prophets, so it is again. Divine judgment is falling on disobedience, but a remnant of faithful Jews—a fraction of the whole—is being saved.

Today’s paired reading from the First Testament is the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus:

Then God began to speak directly to all the people.

Eternal One: I am the Eternal your God. I led you out of Egypt and liberated you from lives of slavery and oppression.

You are not to serve any other gods before Me.

You are not to make any idol or image of other gods. In fact, you are not to make an image of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. You are not to bow down and serve any image, for I, the Eternal your God, am a jealous God. As for those who are not loyal to Me, their children will endure the consequences of their sins for three or four generations. But for those who love Me and keep My directives, their children will experience My loyal love for a thousand generations.

You are not to use My name for your own idle purposes, for the Eternal will punish anyone who treats His name as anything less than sacred.

You and your family are to remember the Sabbath Day; set it apart, and keep it holy. You have six days to do all your work, but the seventh day is to be different; it is the Sabbath of the Eternal your God. Keep it holy by not doing any work—not you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, or any outsiders living among you. For the Eternal made the heavens above, the earth below, the seas, and all the creatures in them in six days. Then, on the seventh day, He rested. That is why He blessed the Sabbath Day and made it sacred.

You are to honor your father and mother. If you do, you and your children will live long and well in the land the Eternal your God has promised to give you.

You are not to murder.

You are not to commit adultery.

You are not to take what is not yours.

You are not to give false testimony against your neighbor.

You are not to covet what your neighbor has or set your heart on getting his house, his wife, his male or female servants, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

As all the people witnessed the signs of God’s presence—the blast of the ram’s horn, the roaring thunder, the flashing lightning, and the smoke-covered mountain—they shook with fear and astonishment and wisely kept their distance.

Israelites (to Moses): We are afraid to have God speak directly to us; we are certain that we will die. You speak to us instead; we promise to listen.

Moses: Don’t be afraid. These powerful manifestations are God’s way of instilling awe and fear in you so that you will not sin; He is testing you for your own good.

But everyone remained far away from the mountain as Moses began moving toward the thick, dark cloud where God was.

Eternal One (to Moses): This is what I want you to tell the people of Israel: “You yourselves witnessed that I have spoken to you from heaven. It is essential that you not make any idols to rival Me. Do not make any idols out of silver or gold for yourselves! Take earth and build an altar to Me and sacrifice all of your burnt offerings and peace offerings there. Offer Me the best of your sheep and oxen. Wherever I choose for My name to be remembered, I will come to you and shower blessings upon you. But if you decide to build an altar out of stones for Me, use only natural stones, not hand-cut stones, because any attempt to shape them with your tools will desecrate the altar. Also, do not approach My altar by walking up steps, for you might profane the altar by exposing your nakedness.”

The Book of Exodus, Chapter 20 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

Until now God has dealt only with Moses on behalf of His people; at Mount Sinai, He turns to address them directly in order to express the core of His covenant obligations. He begins by reminding them of all He has done for them. His miraculous deeds in liberating the Hebrew slaves and providing for them in the desert become the basis of this new relationship. He then proceeds to lay out the Ten Directives that will define and shape their lives together. The first four Directives concern their duties to know and worship the one True God. The last six pertain to how Israel is to live with one another in a covenant-based society. Properly understood, all the other teachings, prescriptions, and directives that come in later chapters derive from these Ten Directives.

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Saturday, may 11 of 2024 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New) of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about holiness:

Chodesh tov, chaverim. In our Torah portion for this week (Kedoshim) we read: "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, ‘Be holy as I the LORD your God am holy’" (Lev. 19:2). This doesn't mean wrapping ourselves up in some protective cloak of religious rituals as much as it means accepting our own atonement: reconciling who we are with our past, finding healing and love, and walking in genuine hope...

Holiness isn't as much "separation" from the profane as it is "consecration" to the sacred, and in that sense it is a kind of teshuvah, a turning of the heart back to reality.... Negatively put, "being holy" is turning away from fear, despair, and anger; positively put, it is embracing the worth and value of life, respecting the Divine Presence, and walking in the radiance of God's love. Amen, let is be so. Hashivenu Adonai....

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Lam. 5:21 reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/lam5-21-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/lam5-21-lesson.pdf

5.9.24 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel365:

Bread of Blessings

By: Shira Schechter

MAY 7, 2024

Yair, an Israeli whose life was spared amidst the harrowing chaos of the Nova music festival, recently shared his story. At 5:30 am on that fateful October 7th morning, Yair arrived with a group of friends at the music festival unaware of the nightmare that awaited them. Little did he know that he would be the lone survivor of the group, bearing witness to the horrors inflicted by merciless assailants.

To what does he attribute his salvation?

For five years, Yair diligently delivered bread to supermarkets. Every morning, he would bring fresh bread to the stores and take the leftover bread from the previous day, ensuring that no loaf went to waste. He would give the old bread to a righteous man named Yeshayahu, who would donate it to people in need.

Two weeks before the tragic event, Yeshayahu called Yair to tell him about a dream that he had the night before. He envisioned Yair being chased by men with rifles but ultimately emerging unharmed in the merit of Yair’s charitable deeds, particularly his contributions of bread to those who needed it. Two weeks later, the events of the dream unfolded in reality.

In the Torah portion of Kedoshim, we read about the commandments to leave food in the fields for the poor.

וּבְקֻצְרְכֶם אֶת־קְצִיר אַרְצְכֶם לֹא־תְכַלֶּה פְּאַת שָׂדְךָ בְּקֻצְרֶךָ וְלֶקֶט קְצִירְךָ לֹא תְלַקֵּט לֶעָנִי וְלַגֵּר תַּעֲזֹב אֹתָם אֲנִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם׃

And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I Hashem am your God.

Leviticus 23:22

This verse describes how a farmer in the land of Israel must leave a corner of his field unharvested and must not collect stalks of grain that fall during harvesting. In a similar vein, forgotten sheaves of grain and small grapes left on the vine must not be collected (Leviticus 19:10). Instead, all of these are left for the poor, ensuring that the less fortunate have access to food. These commandments underscore the importance of compassion and generosity in the biblical tradition, emphasizing the duty to care for those less fortunate.

In Judaism, the principle of giving to those in need is referred to as tzedakah, generally translated as charity. Giving charity is so important that, according to the sages, it protects a person from ill fate, generates blessings and hastens the final redemption.

One peculiar aspect of this law is that even individuals who rely on the charity of others are still obligated to give. This intriguing facet of the laws of charity underscores the depth of this commandment, extending beyond mere assistance for those unable to provide for themselves. Acts of kindness enrich our character, fostering sensitivity, empathy, and humility within us. We are all obligated to give, even those of us who also receive, since the impact of giving is immeasurable and its merit extends far beyond the material realm.

Taking care of those less fortunate is not merely a religious obligation but also a profound moral imperative, one that holds particular resonance in the land of Israel. Yet the story of Yair reminds us that acts of kindness, no matter how small, can have a ripple effect, profoundly impacting both the giver and the receiver.

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

May 11, 2024

How to Take a Stand for God

“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8)

There inevitably come those times in the life of a Christian when he, for conscience sake in the light of the Word of God, must take a stand against some worldly practice. Daniel has given us a striking example of how to do this, not only courageously, but graciously and effectively.

As one of “the princes” of Israel, “of the king’s seed” (Daniel 1:3), he realized that he had the responsibility of maintaining a godly standard as a testimony for the true God when he was asked “to stand in the king’s palace” (Daniel 1:4) after he and his friends had been carried into captivity. Daniel knew that the king’s wine would surely be harmful were he to partake of it. Also, the king’s meat would certainly include pork and would be cooked with blood, which would be unlawful for him, as a good Jew, to eat (Leviticus 11:7-8; 17:10-14). He determined in his heart to take a stand against it.

Note, however, his stand was not belligerent or self-righteous but courteous and reasonable. He requested, “Prove thy servants, I beseech thee” (Daniel 1:8-12). The Babylonians thought they were doing him and his friends a great favor, and Daniel appreciated this. He suggested a scientific test: let them try a vegetarian diet and water for just 10 days to see if this wouldn’t produce better results than the gourmet fare of the palace.

God honored Daniel’s graciousness as well as his courageous faithfulness and so will He do for us. Both are essential ingredients of a fruitful Christian testimony in a non-Christian world. We must “be ready always to give an answer,” but this should be done, not in arrogance, but “with meekness” (1 Peter 3:15). HMM

[notalwaysright]

https://notalwaysright.com/?p=258838 I am a model student in high school – honors student, varsity athlete, and generally polite to other students and teachers. I love foreign languages, but due to the way our school schedule is constructed, I can only take one foreign language between seventh and ninth grade. I choose German, but am hopeful that I can take Spanish sometime in the future. By tenth grade, I give up having a study hall in the interest of pursuing beginner Spanish. Since the tenth graders are in an intermediate course, I have to take beginner Spanish with a class that is a mix of ninth and tenth graders. Most of these students had failed out of Spanish earlier and are retaking it, some for the second or third time. Others were simply newer students who had not been enrolled in a foreign language earlier. Only one other girl in the class was taking Spanish as a second foreign language like me. In spite of the strong students in the class, the majority of the class are the students who had previously failed out – some because they are slow learners, and some because they are troublemakers who were constantly getting suspended from the school. The troublemakers attempt to cause daily chaos – shouting out random things just to be obnoxious, harassing the teacher, and heckling students like me who are there to learn. One girl in particular was particularly annoying to me, but I generally kept my head down and ignored her in the hope that the lack of acknowledgement to her antics would be enough to get her to stop. It doesn’t work. One day, she walks into the classroom and hands the teacher a slip of paper. GIRL: Here, Señor! I have in-school suspension next week. You need to sign this. The teacher signs the slip wordlessly and marks something into his attendance record. A few seconds pass, and the she speaks again. GIRL: I bet you are not even going to miss me, are you? ME: (under my breath) I won’t! The boy in front of me turns around with a gleam in his eye. He’s a good student, but also an instigator who enjoys watching drama unfold. BOY: What was that, [MY NAME]? GIRL: What? Who’s saying something about me? She looks around the room expectantly. Normally, I would just remain silent in the hope of dissipating the situation, but I realized that I had had enough of this girl who had failed out of the class twice already due to her own behavioral issues landing her in in-school suspension. The teacher was one of the kindest men I had ever met, and to this day he is the best language teacher I have ever had. I thought of how I looked forward to her in-school suspensions so I would not have to hear her constant whining and attention-getting antics. I decided that I had very little respect for this girl and did not want to cower to her bratty behavior. Also, I reasoned that was the day I should take ownership of my words. ME: I did. I said I won’t miss you when you are gone next week. GIRL: What? You think you can talk to me this way? ME: I don’t want to talk to you that way, but you never shut up. You come in here all of time with your complaints, your complete lack of desire to learn, and somehow you think we all care what you have to say. Really, I just want to get through a single class period without your useless side-commentary. You are wasting time by being here. Why don’t you just quit Spanish altogether? GIRL: Señor, did you hear how she is speaking to me? The teacher, who is barely twenty-three years old and probably really scared of her himself, remains seated, his eyes wide. He clearly has no idea what to do. ME: I really don’t like how you are constantly disrespecting Señor. If you don’t want to learn, don’t waste his time and mine by interrupting him all of the time. You might actually pass this class if you sit down and pay attention. Otherwise, please do us a favor and leave. GIRL: Who do you think you are? You want to take this outside? I can take you! I laugh out loud at this point, because not only is this girl academically lazy, but also physically lazy. I had gym class with her a previous year. She was the type that did not like to sweat and loudly expressed that every gym class. ME: Well, I don’t think that is going to help, because I am a varsity cross-country runner, and I can probably just outrun you. I’ve seen you in gym class – you’re really nothing but hot air. You’re probably one of the few people I could beat up. If you want to keep embarrassing yourself, please, go on. GIRL: I-I can take you! ME: [GIRL], you’re only embarrassing yourself. Go where someone cares about what you have to say. GIRL: Señor, I am never coming back! ME: Is that a promise? She screams and storms out of the room. All of the other students are shocked because I never speak out of turn, and I never brow-beat people. Also, I believe a lot of them expected me to cower at the prospect of a fight, and while I did not accept the fight, I did not back down from it either. The teacher ran up to me and thanked me profusely before calling in the principal’s office about the girl leaving the classroom unattended. Her outburst stretched out her current in-school suspension time. I was hopeful she would drop the class for good, but she did come back within two weeks. She was still obnoxious, but she toned it down a degree, which was honestly better than I expected from her. Surprisingly enough, she left me alone, and even her friends in the class left me alone. I never bothered finding out whether she passed Spanish that year. Source: https://notalwaysright.com/?p=258838

[absolutebl]

Ok a non singing BL ask, it’s about the latest episode of Not Me so spoilers if you haven’t seen it. ********************** so GramBlack seems officially sank and it’s caused discussion about queer erasure. I wanted to get your thoughts/perspective on it. I did think the narrative was indicting Gram and Black had a close relationship and then after Black woke up it seemed like the plot was working overtime to keep them separate. And now Gram was in love with Eugene the whole time. Some people are saying Gram could still be queer even if he’s in a m/f relationship which I of course know is true but I think it’s moving the goal post wrt queer erasure. The narrative gave us a lot of scenes supporting GramBlack imo, because as far as I recall no one has called Eugene “Gene” so the GB dolls referring to her and not Gram seems like a big misdirection or just clumsy execution. Yes, there are plenty of other queer ships and plots in Not Me but it does seem that this one thread, GramBlack, was changed midway or poorly set up. Your thoughts?

You're really sucking me into this? Are you sure you want me in this space?

The GramBlack Debacle

Were we teased by the narrative into thinking it might happen? Sure

Is it queer erasure? Nope*

Bad story writing? Maybe

An inability to understand the fandom? Probubly

On the other hand, did they think maybe fans would be mad if Gun was depicted with a different partner? Likely

Some reasons not to be mad:

1. GMMTV rarely (if ever) gives us 3 BL couples in one series. So there is no real president from them to do this.

2. They are vested in OffGun as their last standing OG pair. (TayNew seem basically retired at this point.)

3. Good representations of non-sexualized masculine queer friendships on screen, especially when one or both are queer? VERY VERY IMPORTANT. As important as good representations of male/female straight friendships. And as rare, if not rarer.

It's pretty darn vital that being gay not be conflated with being attracted to or pursued by every other dude in the show. It's real important to portray humans being friends with the gender (or genders) that they are attracted to. Otherwise this can tie into predatory gay (or predatory queer) or bisexual = slut stereotypes.

It could be argued that GramBlack NOT being Gram Black is actually more important to queerness. So let's put the queer erasure bullpucky to bed shall we? I'm sorry if someones out there are but-hurt (pun intended) that their ship didn't sail but no one was attacking anyone's identity with this. At worse it was careless storytelling.

This is why AO3 exists. Seek ye some fanfic.

Pat pat pat.

Also, even if Gram and Black are both straight, two men unafraid of physical contact with each other in this age where toxic masculinity probubly in part is the fault of culture (and international) touch shaming and touch starvation? SUPER FUCKING IMPORTANT. (You want more of this, it's in my skinship post.)

Gram’s queerness:

Okay so here’s what the narrative told us: he has an ex who is third gender. In our language (in most non-Thai translations) she would be a she/her and as a trans woman if Gram dated her in modern queer parlance then he was dating a woman. That makes him straight by outside observation.

Gram then has a crush on a cis girl.

What’s actually been decided for his character with this dating history is technically straightness. However, he says he signs the petition and something about the way he talks with his ex implies that he enjoyed dating her in part for her identity which means he probably does identify as queer. Also, boy can do and call himself what he likes regardless of his dating history.

Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to sleep with or date boys, tho. Perhaps he's into the feminine in general.

Final thoughts on GramBlack?

Clearly the fandom wanted it a lot more than the director or GMMTV did. That's pretty much all we can say.

However, what this probubly did was tell GMMTV something interesting, if they were paying attention to it (and they usually are):

Viewers are willing to see Gun with other pairings. And THAT could get interesting in the future.

Personally I've always wanted him to do a BL with Tay that pulls on their existing personalities: puppy/puppy, sunshine/sunshine is a pairing we never get in BL.

(Incidentally, Gun has been partnered with others pre GMMTV. You'll need to track down: The Blue Hour, Love Love You, and there's another one set in a cafe I can't remember the name of pre 2016.)

Oy, I don't think I'm ready for the comments on this one. @parralex0889 what have you wrought?

* Note I backtrack on the erasure thing in the comments when I learned that GramBlack WERE A COUPLE IN THE ORIGINAL Y-NOVEL!!! 

But it’s interesting to note that as someone who knew nothing about the source material, my original stance was just... messed up story and GMMTV politics. 

[ghostdrew22]

hi ok sooooo i have asked numerous writers for this request because i thrive on angst and fluff 👁👄👁 so here goes: a love triangle between draco, harry, and a ravenclaw reader. the reader’s been known to be head over heels in love with draco and giving him origami hearts everyday for a year or two, which he only throws in his trash bin. he usually just ignores her and finds her gestures annoying and laughable. one day, he goes too far with his rebuttals. the reader, heartbroken and realizing she had no chance at all, stopped pursuing him altogether. for the next few weeks, he found himself weirded out that he hadn’t received any origami hearts. while emptying his trashbin, he discovers that when you unfold the hearts, there were little notes of encouragement and sweet letters. just as he was about to confront her, he notices the reader folding something on her table during class and thinking it was finally another origami heart for him. however, it was a butterfly, and she handed it to harry instead. Jajdjeioa PLS MAKE IT ANGSTY AND FLUFFY IT’S UP TO U ON HOW IT WILL END BUT WOULD BE CUTE IF HARRY MADE THE PAPER BUTTERFLY FLAP ITS WINGS THO

Ok sorry for the cliche and long request, take your time and stay safe. I enjoy your writing sm 🥺

Butterflies and Paper Hearts || D.M, H.P

Requested: Yes Pairing: Draco Malfoy x fem!reader , a bit of Harry Potter x reader but not really Warnings: ANGST, swearing, Summary: Draco doesn’t like you and tries to let you down multiple times, when it finally does work he feels regret wash over him.

WORDS : 3864

First of all, I’m so sorry for taking so long to get to this. I read the request when it first came in and I loved it but I’ve been struggling to conceptualize it, and then I fell into a bit of a sad spiral because of all the other stuff that’s been going on in my life, which is why I took me so long to complete it. Second of all, I had to amend the idea a bit to make it work for me, e.g I wrote this in an AU where Voldemort doesn’t exist because I hate mr. no-nose, and I didn’t make the hearts go on for years. Third of all, thank you so much for this request! It’s a lovely concept and I really enjoyed writing it <3

~~~

Butterflies.

Flying. Soaring. Alive.

The first time that Draco had ever noticed you was in your fourth year. You were sat at the Ravenclaw table and immersed in a discussion with Padma Patil, one that had you laughing so hard that you were throwing your head back and wiping tears from your eyes. The sight had knocked the wind out of his lungs, like someone had just punched him in the stomach, and he felt the weirdest sensation in his gut.

It was butterflies erupting.

~~~

The first time that you noticed Draco was in your fifth year. Ravenclaws and Slytherins were in Charms together, as usual, and you’d accidentally sat next to him instead of Padma.

“Dude, you’ll never guess what happened this morn-“ You stop speaking the second you notice that the person beside you is, in fact, not your best friend but rather a scowling Slytherin. “You’re not Padma.” You frown.

“No shit.” He rolls his eyes, “What gave it away? The green robes or the blond hair?”

“The snarky attitude.” You instantly reply and he looks taken aback for a second, “Who are you anyway?”

If you’d thought he looked shocked before, you were wrong. “Excuse me?”

“Who are you? What was so confusing about that sentence?” You raise your eyebrows, “Clearly not a Ravenclaw.”

He scoffs at your remark but answers anyway, “I’m Draco? Draco Malfoy?” He asks, a pretentious tone lacing his voice. “We’ve shared this lesson together since you got here last year?”

“Stalker much?” You ask with a smile and he rolls his eyes. “Anyway, nice to meet you Draco, I’m Y/N.”

“I know.” He replies simply as he takes the hand that you’d outstretched. “Some of us pay attention.”

“Mhmm.”

“So what happened this morning?”

“What?” You furrow your eyebrows in confusion.

“You were about to tell me about what happened this morning.”

“Oh.” You respond in embarrassment and watch as his smirk grows.

“What? Am I not worthy of your great story?”

“It’s not that, I just don’t think it’ll interest you.”

“Try me.”

“Right, what’s all this then?” Padma asks as she stops in front of the desk with a confused expression.

You giggle at her obvious confusion, “I accidentally sat here instead of by our normal spot. Do you know this miserable boy?”

“Better than I’d like to admit.” She responds sourly before turning a harsh gaze toward Draco, “Daddy’s boy.”

“Wench.” He responds and she rolls her eyes.

“Are you coming to sit with me?” Padma asks as she turns back to you and you shake your head.

“Maybe tomorrow, I’d like to sit here and annoy him today.”

“I cannot possibly stand in the way of that, you’re doing the whole grade a great service.” Padma replies with a laugh as she goes to sit a few desks away from you.

~~~

Day 1 - 1 Heart

Hearts.

Fragile things.

It’s the next Monday when you have Charms again, and you decide to sit by Draco’s desk in hopes of him coming to sit beside you.

“What on earth are you doing?” Draco asks as he peers over your shoulder before sitting in the chair beside you.

“Origami.” You respond with a smile and he raises an eyebrow toward you. “That thing where you fold pieces of paper into shapes?” You ask and he nods in understanding.

He takes his seat with a sigh, “Sounds boring.”

“Everything sounds boring to you.” You roll your eyes before finishing up the origami heart.

“True.”

You give it a once over and smile in satisfaction before turning to Draco and handing it out him. “Here.”

Hearts. Absurdly fragile things, Draco thinks as he feels his own heart begin to race. Here you are, nonchalantly handing him a piece of paper, and he feels like his entire world is collapsing in on itself at the gesture. Y/N, giving me a heart.

He rolls his eyes and takes the object from you with a scowl, “Why are you giving this to me?”

You shrug, “You’re not completely intolerable, you’ve earned it.”

He smirks, “Careful, people might start to think that you like me.”

You smile, “Maybe I do.”

Your smile reminds him of butterflies- bright, fluttering, inviting, warm, beautiful.

He rolls his eyes and makes a big show of tossing the origami heart into a nearby bin, and you fight to hide the hurt hidden behind your eyes. But what you don’t know is that at the end of the Charms lesson, once everyone else has left, Draco goes into that very same bin and pulls out the heart.

Day 20 - 20 Hearts

“Are you still doing this?” He asks in annoyance as you hand him another origami heart, the same way you have, every morning, for the last twenty days.

“Yup. I’ve got no reason to stop.” You shrug with a small smile.

“How about the fact that I think they’re stupid and I don’t like them?”

“You’re under the misconception that I care about your feelings.”

He chuckles and brings his face down to yours till you’re inches apart. “I think you care a lot more about my feelings than you’d like to admit.”

You swallow and look away from him, trying to avoid the warm feeling that’s creeping up your neck and settling into your skin. “You wish blondie.”

“Mhmm.” He replies absent-mindedly as he turns into the classroom, drops the heart into the nearest bin, and sits in his seat.

You try to look unbothered as you go to sit beside him, ignoring the disappointment that’s churning your insides.

Day 35 - 35 Hearts

You watch as Draco inspects the origami heart from the Slytherin table, hoping that he might open it this time.

“He’s going to break your heart, Y/N.” Padma whispers from her seat beside you in the Great Hall.

You shake your head and let your eyes drift away from the blond at the Slytherin table. “He wouldn’t do that, he’s a lot better than you think he is.”

“Y/N, I’ve known him a lot longer than you have and I know that this isn’t going to end well.”

“And why not?” You ask defensively.

Because you’re a muggle-born, Padma wants to say, but she knows that it isn’t her place to crush your dreams so harshly. She shakes her head instead and smiles sympathetically, “Nevermind, I’m sorry for overstepping.”

You don’t notice, too busy talking to Padma, that Draco tucks the little piece of paper into his robe with a small smile.

Day 50 - 50 Hearts

You don’t exactly know when you caught feelings for Draco, it’s like all the small moments just bunched up together, but you know that it wasn’t your intention. The hearts, the sitting together in charms, it had all just started as friendly gestures in an attempt to get the scowling boy to befriend you, but somewhere along the line things just got too messy.

And now, you’re utterly infatuated with him.

You take a deep breath as you pull out the small box from your bag containing Draco’s Christmas present. The train comes to a half at platform 9 and 3/4, and you quickly grab your belongings before rushing out of the train in order to catch the blond before he goes home for the holidays.

You catch him by the door and you smile at him. “I’ve got something for you.”

“Another paper heart?” He raises his eyebrows with a smirk and you shake your head.

“No, it’s something else actually.” You hand the box to him, wrapped in a mix of dark green and navy blue paper, and he accepts it with a skeptical glance.

“What is it?”

“A Christmas present.” You laugh and he nods sheepishly in acknowledgement.

“Oh.” He rubs the back of his neck, “I didn’t get you anything…”

“I didn’t want anything.” You smile again, “That’s not why I got you a gift.”

You watch as he nods again and looks out the window. “Then why did you get me the gift?”

“Cause we’re friends.” You shrug and he swallows.

If he were any other person then the erupting butterflies in his stomach would be an obvious sign to pull you closer and hug you till both your arms hurt. If you weren’t a muggle-born witch, and his parents weren’t watching him intently from outside the train, then this would be the moment that he seized to let your friendship blossom into more.

“We’re not friends.” He spits out coldly, and you’re taken aback by the sudden harsh tone.

“Okay…” You reply quietly, “Acquaintances?”

“For fuck sake…” He mumbles with a sigh, “Y/N, I don’t like you, at all. You’re annoying, you’re pushy, and worst of all, you’re a mudblood.”

Harsh words, words that taste of venomous denial, are running out of his mouth before he can stop them. The look of astonishment and sadness on your face has regret dancing on his tastebuds like the taste of tar, and he struggles to push that feeling down.

“You don’t mean that…” 

“I meant every word, and I can repeat it if that empty skull of yours didn’t catch it.”

You shake your head and look down at the ground, trying to blink away tears, and he nods as he turns to finally leave the train.

“Draco.” You choke out and he whips his head back angrily.

“What?”

“I forgot to give you this today.” You whisper as you hand him his origami heart and push your way past him toward the platform.

You feel sick, you feel sad, you feel disappointed. There’s a twisting and churning that’s going on in your stomach but it’s not like normal, it’s the opposite of what you’ve felt every time before.

It’s butterflies dying.

He watches you walk away as a lump forms in his throat.

Day 65 - 0 Hearts

Draco walks into charms half-expecting you to be sitting somewhere else, and half-hoping that you’re sitting in your usual seat beside him. He didn’t open the Christmas present, too much guilt weighing him down, and he hopes that you don’t give him any more paper hearts.

He feels an odd combination of anguish and comfort when he sees that you haven’t moved, and goes to sit beside you in silence. You turn to him and smile but say nothing to him, not then and not for the rest of the lesson. When you get up to leave he half-expects you to drop an origami heart on his books, and disappointment consumes when you don’t.

Day 75 - 0 Hearts

“Morning.” He mumbles as he finds a spot beside you, as usual.

“Morning.” You respond.

That’s all the conversation that you two have now. A part of you misses the way the two of you had been before, easy-going, sarcastic, in-sync, but an even bigger part of you understands why that had to be over. He could never allow himself to love someone like you without resentful undertones of disgust and shame, and you could never settle for someone who doesn’t love you regardless of your blood purity.

“Y/N…” Someone whines from ahead and you look up from your desk to find Harry stood in front of you.

You laugh at his childish behaviour, “Yes Harry?”

“Please help me with this assignment?”

“No.” You respond bluntly, just to mess with him, and he pouts at you.

“Please?” You shake your head, “Please?” You shake your head again and he pouts at you hopelessly, “Pleaseeee?” He begs once more and drags out his plea.

You laugh once again and nod, “Okay fine.”

“Thank you so much!” He exclaims excitedly and leans over the desk to hug you. You shake your head and giggle in his arms, and Draco has to look away to ignore the looming feeling of jealousy consuming him.

Day 103 - 1 Heart

“So, I know that we’re not friends or anything…” You start as you turn to Draco, “But Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and I can’t resist the urge to give you one more.”

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion but feels realisation wash over him as you hand him an origami heart, one that’s bigger than all the rest you’ve given him in the past. He nods and takes it from you, trying to pretend as though his heart isn’t swelling at the gesture. “Thank you.” He responds curtly before the two of you revert back to silence.

It’s only when he’s alone in his dorm room that night that he actually looks at the origami heart. It’s red, and you’ve written his name across it in cursive. He runs his fingers along it and allows himself to unfurl it, feeling shocked to find words written inside it.

I know you never read these, so I’m probably wasting my time, but I wanted to say that I miss you.

Ridiculous right? I even feel stupid writing it. But it’s the truth, I do. I miss your smile, and your laugh. I miss the way you would scribble nonsense in my book to distract me from the lesson, and I miss the way you’d get so frustrated when I did the same. I miss the way you’d make fun of me for being a nerd, and try not to look proud when you outdid me in tests.

I miss your jokes too, even though they weren’t really funny, and the way you’d always forget your textbook so we were forced to share and we had an excuse to talk. I miss you a bunch, even though I know that you don’t miss me nearly as much.

Happy Valentine’s Day pretty boy,

I wish you could’ve loved me the way that I love you.

He quickly jumps off his bed and walks toward his trunk. He pulls out the Christmas gift that he never opened and another small box that he’d used to store all of your origami hearts, and begins to go through them all.

Note 1 - You’re weird but I like you. Very defensive, I hope that I can knock down those barriers. Note 2 - Your hair looked really nice today, made you look like a famous movie star who pays people to do it for him. Do you secretly have a hairdresser in your room? Note 3 - Your eyes are a strange colour, a cross between blue and grey, it reminds me of the sky before a really pretty rainstorm.

He opens every heart, from the first to the last, processing every last compliment that you’d ever written. With every word he reads, he feels a mixture of love and guilt wash over him simultaneously. Love for you- because you’re kind, and funny, and beautiful, and way too good for him- and guilt- for treating you so horribly because he was scared, when all he had wanted to do was kiss you, and hold your hand.

9 - I’m oddly very proud of you for beating me in the latest Charms assignment, you might actually be the bigger nerd between us both. 20 - I know you hate that I call you pretty boy but that���s what you are, you’re unnecessarily pretty! 26 - You’re very funny when you’re not trying to be. Your jokes are horrendous, but your impersonations and quips can be quite amusing. 35 - I’m starting to think that you don’t read these. No, I’m sure that you’re not reading these. Doesn’t matter though, there’s so many things that I love about you and I think I’ll explode if I don’t put them down somewhere. 47 - I’ve fallen very hard for you, it might be your dumb laugh or the way you tickle me whenever you walk into class, but I didn’t know that you could feel this much for a person. Damn you pretty boy. 50 - Padma thinks you’re no good for me, I agree, but I don’t care. I love you too much to give you up.

The last of the collection is the Christmas gift that you gave him. He’d refrained from opening it out of shame, feeling unworthy of a gift from you after being so cold to you that day on the train. He unwraps it and finds another paper heart, with a silver engraved ring above it. The words, ‘pretty boy’  are inscribed into the ring and he smiles at the sight, a few tears sliding down his face.

Pretty boys like you deserve a little more than paper hearts, I hope you like it.

He slips the ring on before getting off his bed, walking to his desk, and pulling out a piece of paper.

Day 104 - 1 Heart.

It’s Valentine’s Day and his palms are sweaty, for the first time in his life Draco has sweaty palms because of a girl.

You’re in your usual seat and you’re folding another piece of paper. His heart soars at the sight of you so focused, that goofy smile you always have whenever something demands a lot of your attention, and your hands working delicately against the edges of the paper. He stops in front of you.

He clears his throat and you look up at him, startled by the sudden interruption. “Oh, Draco, morning.” You respond with a small smile, obviously still apprehensive about him.

“Happy Valentine’s Day Y/N.” He smiles back and slides an origami heart onto the desk, beside the butterfly that you seem to have been folding.

“What’s this?” You ask in confusion as you pick it up and inspect it.

“You’ve made enough to be able to tell by now.” He deadpans and you laugh softly with a nod.

“It’s a paper heart.” You smile up at him, “Did you make this for me?”

“Maybe.” He responds curtly as he slides into his chair beside you, but you catch the shy smile he’s harboring.

“Thank you.” He nods, “I could’ve done better though.”

He scoffs, “That’s not a fair comparison.”

“And why not?” You raise your eyebrows and he chuckles as he rolls his eyes.

“Read the note inside and you’ll know why.”

“There’s a note inside?” You exclaim excitedly as you start to unfold the heart and he yanks it out of your hands.

“No! Read it later when I’m, like, far away from you.” He says defensively and you furrow your eyebrows but nod in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll read it after school.” You take it back from him and put it in your robe. You resume folding the butterfly and smile when you see that it’s done.

Draco watches intently as you finish it, expecting you to hand it to him once it’s finished, and furrows his eyebrows in confusion when you set it down and scan the classroom.

“Harry!” You exclaim as you watch him walk from the door and toward you with a bright smile.

“Y/N.” He responds once he’s standing in front of you. “Is this for me?” He asks once he sees the butterfly on your desk, and Draco is about to scoff at the question but you nod your head eagerly.

“Of course!” You pick it up and give it to Harry, watching excitedly as he opens it up and reads the note inside.

Draco watches in silent envy as Harry laughs, at whatever you’ve written in the note, and brings his lips down to your forehead. “Thank you so much butterfly, I love it.”

You smile proudly and your eyes light up as you watch Harry cast a charm to make the butterfly flap it’s wings and fly down to his desk. “When are you going to teach me that? I’ve been asking for weeks now!”

“If I taught you then I wouldn’t have anything to impress you with.” He smirks as he leaves to his desk and you shake your head with a laugh.

“You two seem to be quite friendly now…” Draco mumbles, trying to hide the jealousy in his voice. The butterflies that had been erupting in his stomach earlier that morning being trampled to death by Harry.

“Yeah, we’ve been-“ You cut yourself off with a gasp as you catch a glimpse of the ring that you bought Draco, “You’re wearing it!”

He smiles at your excitement, thinking about how such simple expressions from you leave butterflies fluttering in his stomach. “Yes.” He chuckles and you smile.

“I thought you didn’t like it.” You respond softly and he feels his heart break.

“No, not at all. I just didn’t want other people getting jealous.”

He smiles at you and you feel that familiar bubbling in your stomach, like rosh bushes blooming at the sight of the sun, but you can’t exactly pinpoint the feeling.

Later that day when you’re sat beneath a tree and reading Draco’s letter, you know exactly what that feeling is.

~~~

Y/N.

Beautiful, funny, kind, observant, utterly perfect Y/N.

I’ve spent the last three hours trying to come up with a reason for you to forgive me, I couldn’t come up with one. I also tried to find an excuse, any really, that could justify my horrid actions over the last few weeks, and I couldn’t find one. So instead, I settled on just telling you the truth.

I’m a coward.

You’re probably laughing right now and thinking, “He’s only realising this now?”, and the answer is yes. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but you’re the brighter one between us two. It took me 103 more days than you, to realise what you knew the first day you made me a paper heart; the two of us are meant to be.

That sounds a bit cheesy doesn’t it? Doesn’t matter anyway, because in note 12 you said that you enjoy my cheesy anecdotes. I’m not sure why though, I’m not particularly sure why you love anything about me when you’re you, but I guess some mysteries can never be solved.

I’m sorry for those words I said that day on the train, I didn’t mean them. I was scared of what my parents would think if I fell for a muggle-born witch, but I forgot one important thing; it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the fact that I’ve never been as happy as when I’m with you. If I could spend the rest of my life getting these perfect little paper hearts from you, listening to your sweet laugh, bothering you when you’re trying to get work done and buying you rings that match the ones on my hands, then I’d be over the moon.

I’m sorry for taking so long to tell you this; I love you Y/N. I know that I haven’t earned a second chance but if by some miracle you decide to grant me one then I promise to make it worth your while.

I would pick the stars out of the sky for you Y/N, if only you asked me to.

Happy Valentine’s Day from your pretty boy.

You look up from the letter and wipe the tears that had managed to escape, before getting off the grass and running back into the castle. When you find Draco eating dinner in the Great Hall, and see him flash you a shy smile, you instantly know what that feeling from earlier was.

It was butterflies reviving.

~~~

get added to my taglist <33

taglist : @purpleskymalfoy, @astoria-malfcy, @dreaming-about-fanfictions, @dracoscene

~~~

I’m pretty sure I completely deviated from what you wanted, I’m so sorry if it’s not satisfactory :( It’s so cheesy and I feel like I messed it up at a few points but either way I liked writing it, it made me very happy to finally write some Draco fluff again.

anyway, love you all,

jean <3

[miraculouscontent]

*rubs hands together*

The first thing to talk about with this episode is the pacing, and I think this might contribute to why people think it’s the best/least bad of Season 4 (personally, I’d rather watch “Furious Fu” but that’s just me; also, this isn’t the only contributing factor as to why I think people might feel this way, but I’ll get there later).

The episode has a very serious pacing issue, particularly with its more intense scenes. There’s only one minute of time dedicated to Ladybug landing on her bed, de-transforming, and her snapping at her friends plus them leaving. More time was spent on Chat Noir and Ladybug in the movie theater and Ladybug storming out.

I particularly remember watching the episode and getting eighteen minutes in, at which point I had the realization of, “It feels like nothing’s happened?”

This episode is supposed to be a big gut punch, but the season has been going by at the speed of sound, like they’re trying desperately to play all their cards at once (Lukanette break-up, Adrimi break-up, then Alya is told Marinette’s secret identity). Instead of letting things build and play out for a while in the interest of suspense, the show just throws whatever will get a big reaction out of the fandom (whether positive or negative) and it doesn’t care how shoddily put together everything is. The first two episodes feel like hastily put together drafts, and while this one is technically more put together, it still feels like a draft.

Let’s just start with Chat Noir, who feels completely out of place in the episode. Not only does he imply that he intentionally calls Ladybug “Bugaboo” (which she has told him to stop doing) in order to get a reaction out of her, but when Ladybug insists that she doesn’t want to talk, he tricks her into thinking that he has a good location to do so (and my heart breaks a little at how readily she trusts him) only to then take her to a romantic movie, then shush her when she calls him out for it because she “said she didn’t want to talk.”

Gee, and people wonder why she didn’t tell him her secret (even outside of “Chat Blanc” existing)?

And... look, I know it’s a joke, but I do not find it funny. The “joke” is basically that Chat Noir is taking advantage of the situation to flirt with Ladybug, and though I find it at least mildly cathartic that Ladybug is unaffected by all the people staring at them while Chat Noir is embarrassed, this episode is coming right after the one where Kagami broke up with Adrien, and here Chat Noir is getting his flirt game on. I already talked about all my problems with “Lies” so I won’t do it again, but I’ll just say that it’s not a mystery why Ladybug doesn’t want to talk to him and would rather avoid her problems.

(Not to mention that Ladybug knows that Chat Noir likes her, so talking about her romantic problems with him is awkward to say the least and would come off as insensitive.)

Honestly, at this point I feel like they must be building to something with Chat, like Ladybug finally going off of him with no mercy and that forces him to give up/fall out of love for her because reverse love square, but if that’s what they intend to go for, then that means Marinette is going to fall for this guy who’s repeatedly disrespected her feelings for multiple seasons, almost abandoned her and let Paris drown because she wouldn’t tell him a secret that wasn’t hers to tell, and just generally all the other things he did????

Ugh, I don’t wanna think about it. Let’s just move on.

Talking about Ladybug and her rant next, it basically summarizes the whole show in a nutshell, but simultaneously casts a shadow of sorts over “Truth” for people who maybe missed the episode entirely (which is also sort of the show in a nutshell). I mean, Ladybug confirming to the audience that she was genuinely in love and happy with Luka (you can’t watch how depressed she was over the break-up and not think that) was great, but Ladybug’s dialog implies that Luka “hated secrets” and that’s why they broke up, when Luka was more just... hurt that she couldn’t be honest with him, and he didn’t actively hate secrets. Marinette broke up with him because she felt like she had to; because she had to keep ditching and lie to him.

In addition, what she says also hints to the audience that they’ve both held and kissed each other, which not only indicates cowardice on the part of the staff (”yeah this happened but--um--off-screen; we’d still like credit tho plz”), but may perhaps go back to the theory I had about how Adrimi and Lukanette were supposed to last longer in Season 4 but their arcs got cut (based on the Adrimi kiss having supposed to have gone off). This could mean that Ladybug’s statement was originally accurate to canon but the scenes got cut and the scriptwriters just awkwardly left it in, which is made more awkward by the cinema scene in “Truth” that felt like Luka and Marinette were kissing for the first time (again, alluding to the whole, “this entire season has been a draft” thing).

Also, if you think about what that actually means - that Luka and Marinette did have successful dates and kisses but they were off-screen - then all it adds up to is that showing Marinette happy and comfortable was something that the series didn’t deem as “interesting/fun enough” to show, because Marinette being happy isn’t something they want to see; only watching her be miserable, which is exactly what Ladybug says, along with how everything was “almost too simple, too easy,” because Marinette isn’t allowed to have nice things without being jammed through the wringer first.

And... sure, let’s say that Chat Noir thought the movie was genuinely a good idea; let’s assume that it could be a joke, him wanting to flirt, and him believing that it’d make her feel better somehow.

If that’s the case, then where’s the apology when it fails miserably? Ladybug goes from her semi-anxious state at the start of the episode (a little scatterbrained but ultimately just looking for a distraction), to outright enraged by the movie, and then to this upon leaving the cinema.

She just got her heart broken from being forced to break up with a boy she genuinely wanted to be with and there’s not a single, “Okay, maybe coming here was a bad idea, I’m sorry,” (which could’ve been seen as another joke with the audience like “lol no duh Chat Noir” so there’s no excuse not to have it) or, “My bad, that was insensitive of me. I really thought this would’ve helped but I wasn’t thinking about what you would’ve wanted.”

No. The only people Chat apologizes to are the other people at the theater because he’s embarrassed by Ladybug’s reactions, yet he himself feels no remorse for taking her there and has the gall to go on now about how he’s “there for her if she wants to talk.”

Again, it’s no wonder Ladybug doesn’t want to open up to him.

And I’m sorry, I just don’t buy that Marinette suddenly has all this free time. It’s one thing for her to have a little more time now that she’s broken up with her boyfriend (likely avoiding spending time with him altogether now), but “Truth” went out of its way to talk about all of the emergencies she had to deal with and how she doesn’t have any spare time. which is causing her to become forgetful and lose track of certain events (patrols with Chat, dates with Luka, etcetera), yet Marinette spends most of “Gang of Secrets” simply sulking on her bed. It’s so jarring to go from “Truth” where she was doing “too much” (which I called them out on for not describing what the “too much” she was doing was) and now “Gang of Secrets” where she’s not doing anything.

It’s almost like they invented that plot point to break Lukanette up and it served no purpose outside of it.

Furthermore, the scenes of her finally talking to Tikki and then deciding to live as Ladybug does nothing outside of making the plot more predictable, the latter because of the “Alya almost sees Ladybug” moment (an obvious indicator that Marinette is losing control and is struggling to maintain her secret identity due to her emotionally breaking down) and the former because of Tikki herself and what she doesn’t say.

Because, really, think about what actually goes on in the scene. Marinette (eyes rimmed red and filled with unshed tears, as she is for a good chunk of the episode) is venting to Tikki about - yes - her love life, but also that she has to lie to everyone in order to keep her identity a secret. The fact that Tikki focuses solely on the note of Marinette’s love life and not say a word about the identity/lying issue or even consider telling Marinette, “hey, this is clearly too much for you, you should tell someone, I think the benefits outweigh the risks right now,” really proves that the episode tried to avoid the topic altogether to try and make the ending more shocking (which ironically made it more predictable).

So yeah, not only does Tikki’s dialog with Marinette provide nothing except for a line about how she can’t help Marinette with love issues due to kwami not falling in love (alright, I guess aros can’t give good love advice then or have any input whatsoever), but Marinette’s line about lying to everyone being why she can’t pursue Adrien nor Luka is repeated in the very last scene of the episode. The only reason that scene and the scene after exist is because the writers needed Marinette to be emotionally devastated enough to leave for her balcony as Ladybug for the almost-reveal to Alya and so Rose would get close enough to the dollhouse to have an almost-reveal with the Miracle Box, making the scene feel further contrived because the emotional punch of Marinette wanting to live as Ladybug lasts for barely any time at all.

And it could’ve served a purpose, like if Ladybug had genuinely left and Alya finds her goggles and towel, recognizing them from a news story about how Ladybug had gone to the swimming pool after losing her temper at the cinema, which could’ve led to Shadow Moth making the girls believe that Ladybug was no longer heroic and had kidnapped Marinette, or... heck, Ladybug coming back inside would’ve been so much less jarring if she came back because she heard the girls’ voices talking about the dollhouse and had to hurry (but of course, then they’d have to point out the ridiculousness of Ladybug not hearing Alya calling her and the girls not hearing Ladybug literally shouting for Shadow Moth to come fight her, even though the kwami heard the girls calling for Marinette from the balcony).

But instead, the entire scene feels off and unnatural, forcing every part of it in order to get to where Marinette has to snap at the girls to make them leave.

(Oh, by the way, just a little detail to add to the annoyance: they bothered putting Tom and Sabine in the episode when the girls are leaving, clearly saddened by something that happened, and neither parent even bothers to go and check on Marinette to see if she’s upset or just to see what might’ve happened. They’re such a “blink-and-you’ll-miss it” moment in the episode and it’s not like I’m surprised because they’ve done this multiple times by now but really?)

As for the girls themselves... oof, where do I even begin?

Alright, first off is the annoyance that they assume Marinette’s problems relate only to lovesickness. Marinette has been an anxiety-prone mess throughout the entire series, and suddenly now the girls care about Marinette’s love problems on an emotional level rather than “we’ll meddle sometimes unless we don’t feel like it and be wholly inconsistent on how much we push for it.”? It’s not that I don’t see how they came to the conclusion (hearing that Luka and Marinette broke up and now seeing Marinette is depressed, it checks out), but considering they bothered noting that Marinette hadn’t told them anything, one would think they’d come to the conclusion of, “okay, we haven’t talked to her, we have no idea of what’s going on, maybe we don’t know her as well as we thought then and shouldn’t make guesses.”

Secondly is the “eternal friendship bracelet,” which comes off as a copy of the “Secrets” game from “Syren” extremely manipulative. Mylene goes on to explain that one is supposed to give a secret to the pearl “mentally,” yet when the girls actually show up to see Marinette, they expect to be told the secret directly. I’ve already talked at length about peer pressure and the mental stress Marinette goes through when they mock her and/or meddle for her, but this idea of, “well we all used this friendship bracelet after we mutually agreed to it so now it’s your turn because we said so!” just comes off really bad. I know the episode is going for this idea that their hearts are in the right place, but they’re really not. It feels like they’re the ones in denial and are trying to compensate by forcing Marinette to prove that they’re friends, unable to handle the idea that they might not be as close to her as they thought.

Thirdly, the show acts as if the girl squad are her only friends when we know that’s not true because we’ve seen episodes like “Befana” (the guys in the class), “Reverser” (Marc), “Ikari Gozen” (Kagami), and “Silencer” (Ivan) that all established Marinette having more friends than just them, but for the sake of “drama” and the depressing line of, “at least I don’t have any more friends to lie to,” the episode just pretends like Marinette’s friends are limited to Luka (who she had to break up with) and the girl squad (who she forced to leave and refuse the friendship of).

Fourthly is the actual set-up and the sheer grossness of it all. The girls call Marinette and leave a message about how they much they love her and how she can talk to them “where and when” she wants, and then - immediately afterwards - decide that they’re going to go straight to Marinette’s house completely unannounced, go into her room completely unannounced (not even knocking, by the way), and when Marinette begs them to leave, Alya basically tells her that she’s overreacting. When Marinette demands that they leave, Alya refuses and makes demands right back that they won’t leave until she tells them what’s wrong.

So much for “where and when” she wanted, right? It’s already one thing for the girls to invade Marinette’s privacy and demand/guilt-trip answers out of her, but it’s another thing to give the illusion of respecting her feelings and personal space only to actively plan to go back on it. I can’t tell if it’s a bad draft that they didn’t catch in quality check (you know, the quality check that they definitely don’t have) or just an intentional way to make them seem more sympathetic so Marinette looks worse for driving them out, but either way, it’s awful and I hate it. I would’ve rather had them be all in on invading Marinette’s privacy and learn a lesson in the end than outright contradict themselves.

There are also little nitpicks I could make (like Juleka’s constant mumbling despite Luka’s crush on Marinette playing a role in the episode, Horrificator getting sidelined due to being mute, and the girls’ akumatization ultimately being for spectacle and nothing else, serving no purpose to the plot and being furthered by the fact that Timebreaker goes after Marinette despite it being a bad idea and Reflekta’s power clearly not lining up with any sort of plan), but the real issue issue here comes down to the fact that these are Marinette’s so-called “friends” and the episode refuses to address their actual issues.

Alix, who is known for making rude comments at Marinette (”Gigantitan,” “Chat Blanc,” “Miraculous New York”) and then gives mixed messages by going along with meddling anyway.

Mylene, who is the closest thing to a background character in the girl squad but nevertheless finds her way into being definite voice against Marinette in “Chameleon.”

Juleka, who blamed Marinette for things she didn’t do in “Reflekdoll” and got huffy with her until Marinette apologized for said things.

Rose, who outright screamed at Marinette in “Chat Blanc” over a freaking stuffed animal, which pressured Marinette enough that she snuck into Adrien’s room to deliver her gift which nearly led to the end of the world.

And, of course, Alya; freaking Alya. I don’t even have to go into every single thing she’s ever done because I have a history of giving her absolutely no mercy.

...But let’s go through some anyway because I want to.

“Copycat” - Alya gives Marinette a script and tells her to memorize it, then immediately pushes the “call” button when Marinette hesitates after Marinette had just told Alya that she’s awful at improv.

“Darkblade” - Alya takes a jab at Marinette when Marinette says that she’s too busy to be class representative, implying that Alya thinks that Marinette does absolutely nothing with her time.

“Gamer” - Alya is busy recording the gaming competition when she and Marinette were supposed to be researching for a term paper. Alya then scolds Marinette for wanting to use the competition to get close to Adrien only to do a 180 and put up a fight about it when Marinette decides to quit.

“Animan” and how “The Puppeteer 2″ follows up on it - oh, I’m not going to touch that particular point right now, but keep those in the back of your mind, because I am going to absolutely go off later

“Simon Says” - Similarly to Marinette’s parents, Alya gives zero damns about whatever might be going on in Marinette’s life that's causing her to miss classes.

"Despair Bear” - Alya laughs at Marinette being forced to kiss Chloe’s cheek and then outright compares Marinette to Chloe after knocking Chloe multiple times during the episode (sure, just compare your “best friend” to her multi-year bully, how "hilarious” of you).

“Gigantitan” - Alya has no qualms about mocking Marinette’s over her failures, even if it embarrasses her and she’s been through enough already.

“Frozer” - Alya tries to find ways for Marinette to prevent herself from third-wheeling for Adrien, but when Marinette tries to show character growth by wanting to go, Alya gets into a shouting match with the other girls over how Marinette has “liked Adrien forever and isn’t going to give up now”.

“Catalyst” - Alya claims that Marinette is only salty over Lila out of jealousy when “Frozer” exists and literally is the prime evidence of Adrien liking another girl and Marinette telling Alya outright and very genuinely that she’s not jealous.

“Chameleon” - Alya doesn’t care about her best friend sitting in the back by herself while Alya herself get to sit next to her boyfriend and everyone else in general gets to sit where they want (Alya even acting confused at the mere suggestion that she’d tried to engineer things to let Marinette sit next to Adrien), then not only believes Lila over Marinette but contradicts herself twice (asking Marinette for proof when she has none herself, then claiming that she wouldn’t let her best friend sit by herself).

“Christmaster” - Alya leaves Marinette to babysit so she and Nino can go out on a date.

“Desperada” - Alya suddenly is for Lukanette for literally one episode and doesn’t know how/doesn’t even try to cover for Marinette’s Adrien blindness despite mocking her for multiple seasons over it.

“Reflekdoll” - Alya invites Adrien to something that’s crucial for Marinette to focus on after Marinette has already told her not to and continues meddling to the point where it gets Juleka akumatized (she also doesn’t get punished for it and the blame gets thrown onto Marinette).

“The Puppeteer 2″ - Alya pushes her luck with Nathalie to try and get Marinette to come with her, Nino, Adrien, and Manon to the museum, then traps Marinette in a room with Adrien to force her to spent alone time with him, even abandoning and forgetting about the child that she offered to watch for Marinette so she and her boyfriend can go off alone.

“Miraculous New York” - Alya is told directly by Marinette that she needs help seeing Adrien as a friend, which leads Alya to do the exact opposite throughout the entire special, at one point shouting at Marinette and pressuring her to chase after a car, in the rain, while there’s a supervillain rampaging through Paris, and all of this right after the scheme that Alya had set up caused both Marinette and Adrien to go missing.

And just saying, as Marinette’s supposed “best friend,” Alya sure doesn’t know how to handle her. It was acceptable back in “The Bubbler” when she asked Marinette about signing the gift too late and the same goes for “Dark Cupid,” but by the time we get to late Season 2/3 and Alya refuses to learn Marinette’s weak spots (unless it’s to mock her) and adjust accordingly (like if she’d already made sure the gift was signed in “Chat Blanc,” which would’ve prevented Adrien seeing Ladybug at all due to the time difference), it starts getting infuriating.

A best friend is supposed to cover for their friend’s weaknesses. Alya doesn’t do that; she meddles and often drives Marinette’s anxiety even further up a wall with absolutely no consideration for Marinette’s feelings (”Dark Cupid,” “The Puppeteer 2,” “Reflekdoll,” “Miraculous New York”).

And here, she and the other girls are rewarded for it. Luka actively resisted his akumatization whereas the girls gave in immediately, yet Marinette still opens up to them in the end, likely because they had pressured her and made her feel bad for the secrets she was keeping while Luka was willing to actually wait for her to be ready to talk to him. I can’t put into words how frustrating it is watching these girls trample all over Marinette’s feelings, not have their worst actions called out, and then jump cut post-deakumatization to Marinette telling them exactly what they wanted to know about her love life.

You know what this entire episode is really missing, outside of a coherent plot, properly-paced development, and a basic understanding of rewarding a character for things they’ve held firmly to?

It’s missing the apology. Chat Noir apologizes to a bunch of moviegoers and Rose apologizes for the broken dollhouse, but no one apologizes to Marinette for how they treated her, especially not the “friends” who got rewarded in the end.

“Sorry, we shouldn’t have told you that we’d respect your feelings and then showed up unannounced to make you talk about them.”

“We’re sorry we came into your room and invaded your privacy. You were right to be mad at us.”

“Oh my gosh, Marinette, we got akumatized and we’re so sorry for literally all five of us going after you and probably scaring the living daylights out of you.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, guess what else this is missing? It’s kind of important and brought up directly in the episode, yet the episode simultaneously goes out of its way not to bring it up again.

It’s the reason why Marinette didn’t tell the girls about her relationship with Luka. It’s not there - it’s missing - and the girls never try to pursue the subject. They talk about how Marinette didn’t tell them but don’t think for a second that maybe it’s them who have failed as friends. Instead, they don’t guess anything about why Marinette wouldn’t tell them (which is already strange considering how much they already assume about her) and jump straight to, “well clearly we just need to push for her to talk to us.”

Gonna just go out on a limb here and say that maybe - just maybe - Marinette didn’t tell them because they are habitually pushy in everything they do.

Because they would’ve teased her relentlessly about, “ohhhh you’ve got eyes for Luka? what about Aaaaaadrien~? aren’t you sooo tooorn between both of these cute guys?”

Because they would’ve meddled to force her and Luka together and gotten on her case when/if she ever had to bail on him.

Because their intrusion on her feelings for Adrien had caused her nothing but problems and she just wanted to be with Luka in peace without them forcing their way into things.

Because--hey, wild thought--maybe they’re not really friends???

But the episode completely avoids it, because that would’ve meant addressing it; it would’ve meant acknowledging that they messed up, which - fun fact - they actually don’t do in the episode.

They invaded Marinette’s privacy, insisted that she tell them how she feels (not about them of course because that would imply that they felt like they screwed up), and in the end it’s Marinette who gives them exactly what they asked of her, and the closest thing we get to acknowledging anything is Alix telling her/joking with her that they’ll help her confess to whoever she likes as soon as she tells them she’s ready.

That’s not an apology. That’s not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. Even when the five of them are about to get akumatized, it’s not a circle of them saying, “here’s how I screwed up, I could’ve done better but I didn’t and I lost Marinette because of it.”

No. It’s just them talking about how sad the situation is. Mylene has the closest thing to remorse in saying, “I hoped it would work,” but where does it go? A grand total of nowhere, especially because Marinette still takes the bracelet in the end instead of the girls mutually deciding, “okay, maybe the bracelet was a bad idea; how about we all agree on making something together instead, no requirements attached?”

And then the episode has the gall to act as if Alya has gone through character growth when all they did was put Alya through the same thing that Chloe did. I’ll explain that last bit momentarily, but first let’s talk about the whole “growth” thing.

Because there’s no apology or acknowledgement of wrongdoing, all Alya does when she’s finally alone with Marinette is do a 180 from where she was at the start of the episode, going from, “friends have to tell each other everything,” to, “hey, if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s your right.”

The crucial part that’s supposed to go in the middle is missing. Instead of acknowledging her failures, Alya just cuts straight to “””being a better friend,”““ but storytelling doesn’t work that way.

It literally would have taken zero effort to fit an acknowledgement into that scene. “You don’t have to tell me everything, I get that now. All my meddling’s done is hurt you and I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t trust me.”

In a world where Marinette has to apologize for everything, has to learn lessons and suffer because the narrative says so, I will not accept anything less from other characters who are trying to develop and improve. That’s not fair to Marinette, nor has it ever been.

Instead of properly developing Alya, the show does whatever it can to get its audience to root for her as Marinette’s “best friend” (ugh) without having to put in the effort of admitting that Alya hasn’t been Marinette’s “best” friend.

Remember when I brought up Chloe? Yeah, “Malediktator” did a similar thing, showing Chloe doing something awful, then being sad (while not actually acknowledging the thing she did wrong), and in the end she was rewarded with a miraculous prematurely.

One show of character from Chloe and Marinette gave her a miraculous. One show of character from Alya and Marinette told her that she was Ladybug.

(Also, for the record, I think Chloe is far worse than Alya character-wise and I’m not comparing their characters; this is just the simplest comparison I can draw here from a narrative standpoint.)

“Miraculer” is another apt comparison, perhaps even more so. Chloe got Hawk Moth in her head after an akuma landed in her photo of her and Ladybug, but Chloe resisted and fought back, ultimately forcing the akuma out of her and freeing herself from Hawk Moth’s control.

But it wasn’t to develop her character; no, it was to convince the audience of Chloe and Sabrina’s friendship so they’d feel something during Sabrina’s happy flashbacks, then lay the foundation of tricking viewers into believing that Chloe might not go to Hawk Moth’s side.

At the end of the day, it was doing something that’s “never been done before” in order for the character to earn brownie points for something that the writers can just have them do because willpower is an easy thing to just write in. “Gang of Secrets” does the exact same thing when Lady Wifi breaks free from Shadow Moth, with Ladybug even hammering it home by talking about how no one’s ever done it before.

And the pacing is - again - awful. Not only is Ladybug banking on this working when she herself says that it’s never been done, but the conversation between her and Lady Wifi where Ladybug tries to convince her doesn’t even take a minute.

It also has nothing to do with Marinette herself; Ladybug relies on Alya’s adoration/friendship with her as Ladybug (you know, after Alya took a photo of LadyNoir kissing and posted it online without Ladybug’s consent, betrayed her by putting information on the LadyBlog that Hawk Moth was able to take advantage of, and is the only hero outside of Chloe to resist returning a miraculous) in order to break from Hawk Moth’s control, because talking about Marinette with Lady Wifi didn’t even work.

(Ladybug also uses her yoyo as a portal to the Miracle Box when this has never been pre-established to be a thing despite Ladybug acting as if she knew it was; further proof that this episode was rushed.)

And of course talking about Marinette didn’t work, because that would’ve meant convincing Alya that her reason for getting akumatized was “wrong” and the episode didn’t want to do that. It didn’t want someone else actually learning something and feeling bad; surely, this is just Alya being manipulated by Shadow Moth and having the power to break free because Ladybug “needs Rena Rouge” and not because Lady Wifi and her friends are chasing after their supposed best friend and that’s--you know--wrong???

Rena Rouge’s reappearance is also yet another thing the episode refuses to address because it avoids the topic of “but my identity--”. At least “Heart Hunter” had the tact to have Kagami question why Ladybug was giving her the dragon again, but “Gang of Secrets” treads as lightly as possible on any discussion of identities outside of Marinette saying that she can’t, as if it were Marinette who made the choice of concealing her identity and not the basic idea of heroing that has been stressed over and over for the whole show.

Even Plagg of all kwami stated back in “Origins” that no one is supposed to know about secret identities, a rule that continues becoming flaky and muddled with each passing season, almost like they kept attempting to retcon and make the audience dulled to the idea so that the reveal in “Gang of Secrets” would be more acceptable.

But now, with the way they did it and how they don’t even have Tikki comment on the matter, it once again has it look like they’re making it - say it with me, everyone - Marinette’s fault.

Alya says that Marinette has a choice in telling her secret, Marinette insists that she doesn’t and goes on and on about how it’ll change everything, and then just... tells Alya her secret in the end.

And remember all the way back in Season 2? “Sapotis”?

Alya: What were you saying about her secret identity?

Marinette: Ladybug needs it to protect her family and friends. Otherwise the villains could use them to get to her.

Alya: Well, if I knew who Ladybug really was, I'd keep it a secret. I would even help her! Like say, if you were Ladybug, I'd cover for you — when you needed to transform in school, go fight the "baddies", you know?

Marinette: Oh yeah? Well, if I was Ladybug I wouldn't even tell you, to protect you from the "baddies", you know?

Alya: You serious? If I was Ladybug, I'd totally tell you! Because I tell my best friend everything.

And now here we are in “Gang of Secrets,” as if the narrative is saying, “See, Marinette? Alya was right all along, you were just being ridiculous and making yourself suffer for no reason!”

Yet Marinette had a right to keep her secrets. When Alya and Nino learned each other’s identities, Alya took a hit for Nino in “Catalyst” and both of them fell to Scarlet Moth’s akumas. Chloe was a mess and a half because of Hawk Moth knowing her identity. Fu had told Marinette that her miraculous would get taken if she and Chat Noir learned each other’s identities.

The only ones who received no consequences due to someone knowing their identity were Pegase (who Chat Noir and Markov knew), Ryuko (who Chat Noir, Ikari Gozen, and Hawk Moth knew), and Viperion (who Adrien knew). “Chat Blanc” also exists where Marinette got the impression that people discovering her identity would be a disaster, and even all the way back in “Lady Wifi” insisted that not telling anyone her identity was “listening to her head and not her heart,” and the narrative has relentlessly humiliated her for going with her heart, so yeah, probably for the best.

I hate that the episode avoids talking about anything identity-related outside of what comes out of Marinette’s mouth to make it appear like it was her choice all along. I hate that they had Tikki fixate on Marinette’s love problems instead of having her actually support Marinette and admit that Marinette should tell someone before she has a mental breakdown. I hate that the episode inserts Rena Rouge into the plot as if to brush all identity issues away so as to make Marinette’s identity reveal seem less jarring.

Now, of course I’m glad Marinette told someone. Of course I want her to get love and support from someone. Of course I think the benefits outweigh the risks, or I wouldn’t have written multiple fix-its where her identity gets revealed in some way or someone already knows.

But I didn’t want it to be Alya, because I knew how they’d do it. I knew they’d do it wrong and I knew that they wouldn’t have the courage to address Alya’s issues properly.

Those familiar with my blog will know that I’d been taking negative predictions for future seasons for a while and adding them to cards whenever they were proven right. Does anyone remember the Season 4 predictions that were proven correct for “Gang of Secrets,” specifically these ones?

- “Alya will suddenly be portrayed as a good/worthy friend to Marinette in/if there's an episode where Marinette tells her that she's Ladybug”

- “Alya resisting Shadow Moth/fighting back against him will be used to excuse telling Alya Marinette's secret identity“

- “Alya will know that Marinette is Ladybug first because "BFFs" despite being one of the worst candidates for it“

- “The secret that broke Lukanette up will be resolved in episode 3 when Marinette tells Alya“

Each and every one of those were mine, because I knew that whether Season 4 had a proper chronological order or not, the writers would not have the guts to develop Alya first and then have Marinette tell her in a future episode after Alya has properly earned it.

I knew that they wouldn’t take time to develop Alya. I knew that they would have Alya resist Shadow Moth to make Alya look “worthy” of the secret. I knew that Alya would swoop in during the last minute and a half of an episode, insisting that Marinette “didn’t have to tell her anything” when Alya had been pushy and insistent for the entire rest of the episode and the whole series in general, and would ultimately be rewarded with the big secret simply because she’s “the best friend” and that’s it.

The Alya at the end of the episode isn’t the Alya I’ve known for the entire rest of the series before this, or at the very least they turned her into an Alya I don’t recognize.

Alya claims during the ending scene that she knows that Marinette is hiding something beyond her love problems because she - as a reporter and “her best friend” - can sense such things, and all I’m left wondering is

w h e r e ?

Where and when has Alya been suspicious or worried about Marinette keeping a secret from her? What, back in “The Pharoah” where she didn’t immediately disregard Marinette for the role of Ladybug, or “Simon Says” where she vaguely teased Marinette about having a double life, both Season 1 episodes?

Where was Alya in “Truth” saying that she didn’t know Marinette’s secret but knew that she was keeping one? Where was Alya anywhere in Season 3 being concerned that Marinette hasn’t told her something? Where was this “supposedly very observant” Alya when Marinette needed her to out Lila because Lila got her expelled--oh wait, Alya “observed” that Lila did nothing and Marinette was just jealous.

What, is it only now that Alya suddenly “knows” that Marinette is hiding something else? Now, after Alya has already not known that Marinette was literally dating someone, even when Alya had multiples pictures of Marinette and said someone giving each other heart eyes and saw Marinette leaving school with said someone riding on the same bike together, you know, like normal, typical, average friends would?

Where’s the line where Alya acknowledges the problem? Where’s Alya sitting down with Marinette and admitting, “hey, I’m sorry I haven’t noticed this stuff, but I promise I’ll do better starting right now, and that’s how I know now that you’re hiding something else, and I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that it’s been hurting you”?

I can’t tell you where it is, but I can say that it’s certainly not in this episode. 60% of the episode features the Alya we knew from the rest of the series and then switches her out the second she’s de-akumatized for another Alya who hasn’t done anything that the old one has because she pretends like it didn’t happen.

You know how I know? Because of this absolute gut punch of a line that showed that the series wanted to handwave everything away.

“I know how to keep a secret.”

...Really? Does she now? Well, I hope everyone remembered my point about “Animan” and “The Puppeteer 2,” because I’m bringing it right back.

Considering that “Truth” has been burned into all of our memories, we all definitely remember when Truth shoots Alya and questions her on Marinette’s secret, to which Alya states that Marinette’s secret is, “She’s in love with Adrien Agreste.” Now, at the time of Season 4′s airing, this is very much not a secret, as most characters already knew about Marinette’s crush, to the point where it’d been broadcast on television during Season 2.

But do you know when it was actually a secret? Back in Season 1, specifically in the episode “Animan” where Alya told Nino.

And not only did she tell Nino, but she lied to Marinette by claiming that she didn’t, acting as if Nino knew that Marinette had a crush but didn’t know who she was crushing on, which is then directly proven false as Nino accidentally implies that he does know who it is. This is also after Alya had gotten on Marinette’s case for trying to set her up with Nino, and then she had the gall to say that she wouldn’t spill Marinette’s secret because she, and I quote, “doesn't go around making decisions for other people,“ a statement that is directly contradicted by this little thing known as everything Alya has ever said and done in the entire series.

And while Marinette meddling in Alya’s love life actually ended up working out for Alya, Alya meddling in Marinette’s by telling Nino who Marinette is crushing on comes back to bite Marinette - not Alya (because of course) - in the infamous episode of “The Puppeteer 2,” where Marinette realizes that Alya really did tell Nino that she was crushing on Adrien.

Marinette: You told me you wouldn't tell Nino!

Alya: I haven't told him. Right, Nino? I didn't tell you anything. (elbows him)

Nino: She didn't tell me. And besides, I told her I wouldn't tell.

Then, when she’s called out on it, Alya lies again, and shamelessly so.

Marinette: Why did you tell Nino everything? You promised you wouldn't!

Alya: I didn't, I swear! Besides, even if I had told him everything, he would still be clueless. Ugh, who cares anyway? I've set everything up with Nino, who doesn't know a thing, so you can finally pour your heart out to Adrien, girl!

And now, here we are one season later - and not even half of a season if you go by production code order - and Alya claims that she knows how to keep a secret.

No. No, she does not. In fact, she does even worse because she won’t even admit when she’s spilled said secret. I absolutely refuse to accept that Alya is “worthy” or “deserving” of learning that Marinette is Ladybug when she couldn’t even keep a basic secret like who her friend was crushing on.

And no, it didn’t matter that Nino was her boyfriend, or that maybe she thought it would work out because Nino was friends with Adrien. By that logic, Alya would tell Adrien that Marinette is Ladybug if she heard that Ladybug is who Adrien was crushing on and we all know how that would’ve gone.

Marinette has a right to tell her secret to whoever she wants and I’m glad that a burden has been lifted from her, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy that it’s Alya. That doesn’t mean I have to be happy that, after so many moments of Alya disrespecting Marinette’s feelings, she is the one who gets to hear the big secret that the fandom has been waiting for someone to find out about since the very start of the series.

Luka said it best in “Truth” that the truth is meant to be shared, not taken by force, but Marinette was forced to tell Alya by the narrative because Alya is her supposed “best friend.” It pushed Marinette to her breaking point, forced her to break up with the guy who has respected her agency and feelings since the day they met, and gave her a version of her “best friend” with the same name and face but with none of the responsibility from previous events so that said version was there at the right time and the right place to hear what had to be heard.

And in the end, I end up feeling nothing. Marinette doesn’t even have a “Marinette” reaction to saying it as one would expect; for her to blurt it out and then immediately start panicking until Alya hugs her to calm her down. Instead, Marinette just says it and stares silently at Alya - after blabbing this huge, very big deal of a secret - until Alya goes in for a hug (the “happy/hopeful” ending of which is why I feel like this episode also gets less flak, as the previous two ended off rather depressing/upsetting).

It’s off. Everything is off. The pacing, the delivery, and the logic that the episode uses. The emotion in Marinette’s voice when she’s rambling about how hard it is to keep her secret is so powerful, but then the ending hits and she just says it, breaking the momentum they had going. They pulled the card of Alya walking away too soon when they could’ve saved it, having Marinette go quiet and letting Alya take a few steps away in order to let the moment build before Marinette finally blurts out the secret she’s been painfully holding in.

But they didn’t, and I’m so many levels of dissatisfied. I wasn’t against the idea of Alya learning Marinette’s secret at some point (though honestly, Alix would’ve been a better pick considering that Bunnyx will know eventually anyway, and I say that not even liking Alix!), but not now; not when Alya had so much to work towards.

And now what? What happens now? Now Alya will turn against Lila, not because she learned to have faith and believe in Marinette, but because Marinette is Ladybug, which disproves Lila’s ultimate lie that got Alya’s attention in the first place? Now Alya will be supportive and less teasing/mocking whenever Marinette will be late, not because she understands that Marinette isn’t perfect and has so many other things on her mind, but because she’s Ladybug and has “hero stuff” to take care of? Now Alya will be careful about what she puts on the LadyBlog, not because she respected Ladybug and what Ladybug would want, but because Ladybug is now her best friend and that changes everything?

Because now, Alya has a free pass to all of that, the show making her spontaneously “developed” now so they won’t have to develop her later, and disappointing doesn’t even begin to describe it.

[drymbp]

jisoo as your girlfriend hc

How you met <3

sundays are meant to be spent in your room, while playing games, and having snacks. that's what jisoo's idea was.

but rosé had other plans. she wanted to check this dog café across han river, to buy her hankie boy some toys and treats.

jisoo had every right to say no, but the puppy eyes she had gotten from the latter had made it difficult for her to say no. resulting in her standing outside fur house.

however, looking right through the glass, she spotted you talking to kids, with a kind smile, probably about the puppy they were holding.

the more she kept looking at you, the more she felt this warm feeling.

and she wanted nothing but to get to know you better.

on the other side, you didn't know what fate had in store for you.

upon the bell chiming, you walked towards the door to greet your customers, but instead felt your eyes gravitate towards this certain brunette, kim jisoo.

How you became friends <3

jisoo knew she wanted to be more than friends with you, and she made it clear.

whenever rosé wasn't paying attention, she would stare at you, and would send you a smile everytime you caught her eyes.

to be honest, you were intimidated by her at first, but she had turned out to be the most humane human being you've ever met.

so when they had to leave, she had walked up to you with a sly smile.

"you like dogs, i like dogs, i think we're a paw-fect match."

a dumbfounded smile made it's way to your face as you examined the beauty, for any trace of humor. finding none, you nodded your head.

"so how about we bond over puppy love? there's a really good café across my company."

"only if I get your number in return, turtle rabbit kim."

What being friends with her is like <3

the both of you decided to not pursue a relationship. it just didn't cross y'alls mind once you got to know each other.

you guys are best friends who sometimes flirt.

random 3 am gaming battles is a must. nobody can stop gamer jisoo.

when you beat her ass in the game, she gets all sulky that you end up buying ice-creams for her.

y'all go out once a week, and have korean street food, it may be hard with jisoo's schedules, but she always makes time for you.

she has her soft side reserved only for you.

remember how she gets mad when the members disturb her when she's balancing the bottle on her head?

let's just say you're her favorite.

sometimes you join her to see who's better at balancing.

she would do everything to make you smile, and hates to see you cry.

she's your go to place for advices, hugs and comfort.

doesn't mean you don't do the same, whenever blackpink's schedules get too hectic or when she feels overwhelmed, you stay by her side, and get her through it.

you guys don’t really fight, both of you are mature enough, and understanding.

even if it gets out of hand, you guys walk away from the fight and give each other some space and talk it out the next day.

random nicknames, she once called you eongdeong-i (엉덩이 - butt) for a few days until you threatened to throw away her gaming console.

you're her #1 fan, whenever blackpink has a concert, you end up fully dressed in jisoo's merch from head to toe.

jisoo loves it and you know that, even if she doesn't say it out loud.

you guys are the typical best friends who would do anything for the other, but would get all cringed while saying thanks.

The confession <3

you guys were watching riverdale, and everytime there was a kiss scene, you could feel jisoo looking at you, more precisely your lips.

Smirking at yourself, you turn around, now facing her. "You know, you could just ask me for a kiss." Jisoo stares at you with her mouth wide open, clearly surprised by your offer.

"I-You? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" She yells out loudly, making you go deaf in the process. You chuckle at her, while she takes in a deep breath, before asking for your consent one more time, "So, if I ask for a kiss, I'll get one?" You nod your head at her and scoot closer, thighs almost touching.

As you intertwine your fingers with hers, she closes her eyes anticipating the much-long awaited kiss.

"Took you long enough." You confess, before leaning in, and pressing your lips with hers in a gentle but full kiss.

What being girlfriends is like <3

the weird nicknames finally got promoted to jagi, love and baby.

likes calling you her girlfriend.

brags about you to everyone, even to lisa's cats.

y'all have each other's photos as wallpaper.

and an album which has meme worthy photos.

you guys have this weird challenge going on, to see who can click the most embarrassing photo.

oh! did I mention? jisoo loves wrist kisses, and does it often, and you get all shy, yet ask her to do it again because it's too soft.

would kiss you out of nowhere, this one day you were getting ready for a meeting, girlie came up, pulled you by your tie and pressed her lips onto yours. y'all kissed for a few more times, and you were late for the meeting.

loves holding you, hence the big spoon.

not much of a pda person, but likes having you near her, and if you're not around her, get ready to be attacked with cuddles later.

loves back hugs, especially when you're making dinner, she would come over and wrap her arms around your waist and just stand there with you.

doesn't stop gushing about how delicious your cooking is.

jokes about wanting to be your wife because of your cooking and you're like - where's the ring?

that gets her all excited, searches for the best ring, and promises to ask you out in a few years.

loves coming back to find you sleeping with dalgom. you guys fill her heart with so much love.

sends you random snaps of herself, or the place she’s at, including the trees.

you guys order chicken and just pull up an all nighter watching blackpink videos.

jisoo appreciation hours open.

you get all mushy when she speaks english.

you guys end up worn out by the next day. too tired to do anything, you guys order take out once again, and sleep the whole day.

unhealthy vibes.

after a long day, she’ll just fall right into your arms, and nestle her head into your neck.

your parents love her a lot, and often ask her about grandchildren.

and you're like - good god, shut up.

you buy her soft toys, since she tends to sleep with them when at dorms.

and she buys you souvenirs everytime she visits a country.

y'all don't get jealous with people.

jisoo gets jealous when you play with the dogs at the café and come home late.

and you get jealous when she practically ignores you because of a game.

but you guys make up with kisses and cuddles.

yet the next day, the same routine follows.

jkjk.

A/N : I decided to keep my headcanons this way, and I hope y'all like it this way. Thank you for taking your sweet time to read my work :)

[cc-tinslebee]

Okay, so, about a month ago, my brain just conjured up probably the most random au possible: Legally Blonde Adam Banks/banksway au.

Believe me, it's as chaotic as it sounds, but lowkey, I'm kind of in love with it.

Adam never joins the Ducks because there aren't any Ducks to join. Bombay never had to do community service with District Five so there was no one to realise that Adam was on the wrong team all along. He continues to play for the Hawks and, eventually, the Eden Hall Warriors, never getting the chance to become the well-rounded individual we know him as because he's never known anything other than his rich privilege and the "win at all costs" mentality. He ends up going to college on a hockey scholarship and not straight to the NHL or the AHL (shocking, I know). While he's unsure of his major and where his life is heading, he finds solace in the fraternity he joins, which, by some sheer twist of fate, Jesse and Guy have also miraculously joined.

And his life is perfect for a while. He's the star player on yet another school's hockey team, all of his fraternity brothers adore him (though, it took a bit for Jesse to warm up to him), and his secret, not-really-official thing with his former teammate is going swimmingly. (Not to slander my boy, but I was picturing Larson for the role of Warner, purely because the alternative seems to be Rick Riley and that's kind of an unsettling image-- though, maybe that's the point?)

But then his secret boyfriend breaks up with him because, with his high aspirations in life, he needs to be "more serious." And dating Adam Banks, a guy in a stereotypical fraternity who only really knows hockey, in 2001 isn't exactly the white-picket-fence life he's looking for if he's going to be a politician.

And since this non-Duck Adam clearly doesn't have the braincells that canon Adam does, in his devastation, he decides it's a brilliant idea to prove that he is serious by applying to Harvard Law. His parents try to talk him out of it, since they want him to pursue his dreams of hockey, but being a lawyer is a respectable career so they can't exactly argue with him.

He gets accepted thanks to Jesse, Guy, and the rest of his fraternity helping him study for the LSAT and keeping him on track. He's trying his darndest when he gets to Harvard, but (despite his struggle not being as significant as Elle Woods'), not a lot of people take him seriously as an aspiring lawyer, considering him a meathead jock who only got in because of daddy's money.

And that's about the time he meets Linda, who he vaguely remembers from his time at Eden Hall. What he doesn't remember is her being so competitive, because she's deliberately beating him at every turn, just trying (and kind of succeeding) at making him look like a fool. To make matters worse, all of the sudden, she's engaged to his ex-boyfriend, who is very adamant about never telling anyone that he and Adam were more than friends (because, you know, early 2000s homophobia and such).

But things get a little brighter for Adam when he meets Charlie, an undergrad teacher's assistant who gives him all sorts of advice about surviving the school. He introduces him to Professor Bombay, who Charlie claims is the only reason he survived his first year and quickly becomes Adam's favourite teacher, and Charlie's childhood friend Connie, who aspires to be a state senator one day. Charlie's charismatic and even if he's not the most well-liked person at Harvard, Adam feels a weight lifted off his shoulders once he becomes friends with him and Connie. Things become a little easier.

Just before he and Charlie start getting really close, Adam meets Casey at a local diner on a day he's feeling particularly upset and alone, and the two start bonding almost immediately. (He bullshits his way into scaring an ex-husband of hers with legal repercussions he has no idea about and she basically adopts him in return.) It takes him an embarrassing amount of time to realise that it's not just a coincidence that Casey and Charlie share the same last name, which results in poor Adam feeling extremely embarrassed for not connecting the dots sooner while Charlie's having the time of his life teasing him for it. Eventually, when the dust of that settles, Charlie and Adam join forces to set Casey and Bombay up, their schemes borderline ridiculous at times, but they'rere not exactly failing.

And after realising he isn't the Warriors moron she thought he was for going on five years, Linda starts warming up to Adam, which is surprisingly nice? She figures out on her own that there used to be something between him and her fiancé, and is more understanding of Adam than she is mad. Linda actually spills to him the lengths Adam's ex had to go through to actually get into Harvard, aligning more with the rumours about Adam's acceptance being bought than having the aptitude for the law that Linda and Adam share. (This may be me saying Linda and Adam friendship rights, what of it-- /lh)

To make things all the better, Bombay chooses Adam, Linda, Connie, Charlie, and Adam's ex to be on his legal team for a murder case he's responsible for (and while he knows about Adam and Charlie's ploys to hook him up with Charlie's mom, they're his favourites, so he doesn't say anything).

And this is just so much better than anything he had before. After all the initial unpleasantness, Linda and Connie become some of the most genuine friends he's ever had. He misses Guy and Jesse, of course, and he'd never take them for granted, but back when he was with them at the fraternity, a part of him was still being as superficial as he had been in middle and high school. Being authentic for once in his life is liberating.

And Charlie's just about the most considerate person Adam's ever met. Adam doesn't even mind when Charlie teases him over his absurd and juvenile insults because he's just this source of light for Adam, supporting him and always pushing him to be the best version of himself. His ex hardly even exists when Charlie's around because his energy is just so contagious that Adam starts falling for him long before he even realises it. (And when Jesse and Guy come to visit, there's a moment where it all clicks and the four of them realise their history together, however brief. I strongly maintain that they'd be that Starkid meme: "Fucking Hawks? We hated you guys!" "We hated ourselves!" But it does make Adam realise how much better off he would've been if he had Charlie and his team when he was little instead of the Hawks, and it just further makes him understand that people like Larson and Rick Riley just aren't worth it.)

But there's also another revelation Adam goes through. Between helping Casey, his rigorous studies, and his position working with/for Bombay, something just clicks for Adam. He likes being able to help people, fighting for the good guys who may not have the resources they need to be properly defended. Practicing law calls to him in the same way hockey did; it's the feeling of knowing this is what he's meant to do. He still loves hockey, he always will, but it helps him finally grasp that there's a world for him outside of it; when hockey ends for him, there's something equally as rewarding that he can pursue, which was something he never thought he would have.

I haven't a single coherent thought about this au past that point except for these little inklings of an ending--

There's absolutely no SA scene like the movie had; Bombay's just Adam and Charlie's favourite teacher and those are his boys, so he's going to make sure they succeed as if his life depends on it.

With that said, Bombay believes in them both enough to let them finish the case because with their joined determination/stubbornness (and Adam's in with the defendant), Adam and Charlie are a force to be reckoned with and he knows it.

After a handful of comedic failures, they do end up succeeding at their attempts to set Casey and Bombay up, and they start living together sometime during the kids' Junior year :) (All I'm asking is for one (1) story with a Casey/Gordon endgame-- I just think they're neat--)

Linda dumps her fiancé (as she should) and goes on to live her best wlw life as a successful lawyer. (If I'm not mistaken, Linda's actress actually is a lawyer, which is a pretty cool fun fact!!)

Adam and Linda's ex gets the Warner ending because, man, screw that guy /lh (rip to Larson if this is him, I'm sure you'll get a nice endgame in some other universe, king)

Honorary mention for Connie, who was going long distance with Guy this entire time to everyone but Jesse's shock, and they get their Game Changers endgame of State Senator Connie Moreau and stay-at-home dad Guy Germaine with their seven -- sorry, three -- children :)

Adam's an absolute bundle of nerves after graduation, which definitely concerns Charlie. So, when he asks if he's okay, Adam starts nervously monologuing about their time together until he runs out of breath. He ends it by proposing to him, and Charlie smiles so surely at him when he says yes. They both become damn good public defenders and stay engaged until the point they can legally get married, but they're practically husbands long before that happens.

Also, if I did my math right (which I should’ve, it’s my entire basis for my Share Your Address series), the Ducks’ would have the same graduating class year as Elle Woods anyway (2004), which is pretty neat!

Thank you once again for listening to me ramble :)

[fairymascot]

when i started watching harley quinn TV, about the last thing i expected of it was to be feminist in any way. i mean, it's an adult comedy cartoon. it's based on 2016 suicide squad's take on harley. the poor woman doesn't even wear any pants. but man, the more i think about it, and the more i consume other dc content featuring those characters, the more appreciative i am of its takes on its female cast.

let's talk about ivy. i watched the btas episode 'house and garden' today, and was honestly appalled by how blatantly male it all felt. in this episode, ivy 'rehabitilates' herself by getting released from arkham, marrying her therapist (which nobody even pointed out is illegal?!), taking care of his two kids from a previous marriage, and basically living the perfect suburban housewife dream. when batman suspects she's up to some shit, she tells him she's never been happier, and no longer has any need for crime. of course it turns out to be an elaborate ruse, but the ending reveals that she wasn't completely insincere -- she does, in fact, dream of having a husband and children, something she cannot accomplish due to the infertility caused by her powers.

unfortunately, this episode must have had a serious impact on ivy's characterization, as the book 'cycle of life and death' from 2016 is heavily founded on it. in my humble opinion, it's terrible. i mean, i get it, it was the nineties and written by men, and tv writers only really started picking up on how to write women as complex multilayered beings in recent years, but damn.

ivy's original character is already rooted in a very male, distorted perception of women. she's a textbook femme fatale-- she's dainty, gorgeous, scantily clad, and her powers are seducing men into doing her bidding. and to pile further on top of her misogynistic foundation, the only way they could think to humanize her is by forcing more of their stereotypical male perception onto her-- how do we show she's a sympathetic character? by making her deep down a 'normal woman', who has normal woman dreams of being a housewife with children. the rather blatant subtext that she turned to a life of villainy because her infertility denied her that dream -- a failed woman that has turned into a despicable monster -- only makes this depiction all the uglier. i'm actually amazed this take on her character managed to survive all the way to 2016.

but then you have hqtv ivy, who takes all that and unceremoniously dumps it in the trash. it rethinks the basics of ivy's personality and attitude from the ground up. she's a misanthrope -- the only company she seeks outside of her plants is harley -- why would she make a villain career out of seducing men? why does she have to be sensual and coy? no. instead, she's awkward, stoic, and anti social. she dresses a whole hell of a lot more practical, she's blunt to a fault, and wastes none of her time trying to appeal to men.

the sexual element of her powers has been removed, or at the very least severely limited-- no more poison kisses or seducing men to do her bidding. the only scene that incorporates that element at all is when she has to peck a bunch of dweeby 12 year old boys on the mouth to reverse the effect of her toxin that's been slipped into their bar mitzvah punch bowl by mistake. it's ridiculous, it's absolutely mortifying for her, and it's funny. nothing about it is remotely sexy.

as for her dreams of becoming a housewife... well, ivy very clearly doesn't know what she wants for her future. or rather, she's so repressed that she doesn't allow herself to want. she always saw herself ecoterroristing it up solo-- but then harley happened, and she found herself going soft, and opening up to other people through harley's influence as well. she allows herself to acknowledge that she's lonely, and that she does crave human connection. specifically, she craves harley -- but that's a part of her she had to seal away, out of fear of ruining their friendship. this leads her to pursue a relationship with kite man (or rather: be pursued by him), even though at every step of the way she pretty obviously has to force herself farther into it.

it's not that she doesn't like kite man. the opposite. she can tell he's a good guy, he treats her so well, he cares for her so deeply. for someone like ivy, coming from a life of abuse and isolation, that's rarer than rare. and that's why she forces herself to overlook all their differences, all the aspects of their relationship that clearly aren't working, and clings on to it regardless. finally, someone genuinely wants her, cares about her. she'd have to be stupid to let that go, right?

but she doesn't want it. that's spelled out the most blatantly on their wedding day-- while he's reciting his dream future of them living in a nice house with a white picket fence, a dog and three kids, ivy is horrified. unlike btas' ivy, who would've surely been delighted, it's completely removed from anything this version of ivy ever wanted for herself. and in that moment, she realizes she fucked up. she locked herself into a life she never wanted because she thought it was the best she could hope to get.

and then their wedding goes up in literal flames, kite man calls it quits, and ivy finally lets herself pursue what she really, truly wants: harley.

it's such a great, fresh take on ivy's character. she's written as a woman, but not some male writer's narrow view of one, but an actual honest, human woman. her struggles and insecurities are incredibly relatable to me as a female viewer, because she's allowed to breathe and grow and have depth outside of the list of stereotypes female characters are so often shoehorned into. she's aloof, she's cynical, she's a loner; she's carrying years of trauma that's made her insecure and closed off, and she's just starting to grow past that; she's desperate for love but forces herself to settle for tepid affection because she's too scared to pursue anything more; she's a genius biochemist and a badass with the power to control all of plant life, but she's fucking chickenshit and wishy-washy and doesn't know how to be honest with her feelings, leading her to hurt those she cares about. and the fact that they took btas' ivy's dream of getting married and having a family, and used it as a stepping stone-- subverted it as part of ivy's self-realization and growth-- that's just the icing on the cake.

hqtv ivy is hands down the best take of this character i've seen to date. god bless, i cannot wait for season 3.

[kaypeace21]

Mike comes out  to El , Mileven breaks up for good, and the future of byler (s4 theory)

*this is based off the stranger things movie inspirations they listed on twitter , in the show, or in interviews/other outside materials. All movies mentioned have been said to be inspo for the show.

So I’ll be mentioning mostly the movies- sw*ngers, what women want, wet hot american summer and splash (and others). Along with Tootsie -which was shown in s4 bts.

Before I give a rough outline of what may happen. I have to specify I don’t think El will be “heartbroken” over mileven cause I don’t think she loves Mike romantically . I’ve already discussed why i think she doesn’t love him romantically at nauseam - but regardless  mileven brings out the worst in  El and Mike. And literally inhibits her character growth. So as an El fan- I’m super excited for mileven to be put to rest. SORRY.  I’ll trade El & Kali teaming up to get closure from their ab*ser ...over mileven any day of the week XD. 

I think Mileven broke up in s3 (and remained broken up) . But we’ll have more closure and a more official breakup in s4  when Mike visits the byers. (And Mike admits he’s gay to his ex )- before byler officially begins. Essentially, I think- Mileven broke up, but El still calls constantly .And Mike starts ignoring her calls so El demands an explanation and he admits to her he’s gay and doesn’t want to get back together. 

So first lets talk about Phone calls 

I think based off the movies and s3 we’ll see El call quite a bit in s4 (almost obsessively) . And Mike has had enough. In s3, he said he’ll call so often -she’ll have to turn her walkie off . But I believe it’ll be the opposite-with El calling so much he’ll turn it off.

We see foreshadowing for this in s3 when Mike hangs up the phone after saying “El ? no, sorry, not interested.” Or when he hangs up on her multiple other times that season ( he even technically hung up the walkie on her in s2 , as well ). But, in defense of El,  given her lack of socialization (and seeing mike call her constantly between s1-2 I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought this was the norm).

-In splash there’s a scene similar to s3 - a blond relative picks up another phone to eavesdrop on him talking to his gf. He yells at the blonde relative and when the gf asks if he loves her -he tries to dodge the question. But they break up and he admits to his relative he never loved her. Maybe confessing to Karen?

* This reminds me of that supposed rumor with El saying “I love you” and Mike not into El just saying “I know” in return.Or Mike in s3 saying quickly “i miss you-bye.” And immediately hanging up on her.

-some other aspects of the s3 breakup may be taken from  “pineapple express .Which had comedic breakups via phone  . When broken-up he says  “I love you “ and she says it back to him (like mileven). He IMMEDIATELY  says he takes it back and  “I made a mistake” (when he sees she took him seriously). And then he specifies that’s it’s because she’s must be too “  naive and immature” to willing to take him back after how horrible of a bf he was to her in the past. Which yeah -fits mileven: they said the ‘L word’ when broken up, Mike did immediately try to take it back , and he may have realized at the s3 finalie how naive el was -to still want him back despite him not being a good bf to her. In ‘p.i’ the girl’s mom even says  maybe it’s best she find someone new who actually appreciated her or ‘better yet just be single’ and hang out with her gal pals (lol if joyce gave this advice to El-that’d be great)!  El doesn’t need romance to be her own-happy person! Also in ‘p.i’ Dale + his male bff are always assumed to be gay for eachother as a running gag .So ... I’ll technically throw that as another byler hint- lol.

-In sw*ngers Michael (yes that’s his name) who is made fun of for being perceived as gay gets a call from his ex gf of 6 months). And he hangs up on her to talk to his other love interest who asks if he wants to see her. Michael (specifically hangs up on his ex as she says “I lo-” to talk to this new love interest. He later brags to his friend (at a dinner) about not calling her back (despite her wanting to get back together) and he says proudly she was “always his ex”- when his friend incorrectly calls her his “gf” . 

  -While in ‘what women want’- an ex gf goes to him cause he didn’t answer her calls. In ‘tootsie’ the gf does the same and is pissed that her bf Michael (yes, yet another michael) didn’t answer her calls for a week. And he LIES saying his answering machine was broken. Would not be surprised if mike made up such an excuse.

Similar to ‘tootise’  & in ‘what women want’-both gals who’s phone calls were ignored ask if their bf (in mileven’s case -ex bf ) is gay. And in ‘swingers’ someone makes fun of mike for being gay. too  Lol-i’m sorry 2 movies where a guy named Mike is called out for being gay /and 2 movies where a gf who’s phone calls are ignored asks is they’re bf is gay is suspish XD

In ‘tootsie’.  We also have movie-mike give her a present before she asks if he’s gay /they breakup -it echos what previously happened in s3. 

- Michael (from the film) despite not want to be with her anymore (and loving someone else) tries giving her a gift to patch things up - despite his lying/ignoring her. The gift /empty gesture annoys her. Which is similar to st- mike not apologizing for lying- but trying to give El a gift to make up with her (but he doesn’t even do as much as film-Mike).

Right after this is when she asks if he’s gay (aka so for mileven we have the gift scene for s3  & El asking if he’s gay in s4-which were both borrowed from ‘tootsie’).

In ‘tootsie’, she finds romantic letters Michael has from another guy and this causes her to ask him if he’s gay .(20+ movies have romantic letters). In ‘littlewomen’ the artist gal and her future husband (who used to have a crush on the painter’s sis) exchange letters.And in ‘wet hot american summer’- a guy ditched his friends to write a letter (and his friends make a gay joke about him because of his letter writing-not knowing he’s actually gay.  

In ‘what women want’ when confronted- he admits he’s gay to his ex gf. In ‘tootsie’ she asks if he’s gay and he avoids the question but after she demands that he be “truthful for once in your life”. And, we all know how Mike constantly “lied” to EL .michael finally says he’ll stop lying to her and admits he’s in love with someone else. 

And she says in turn she’s not angry he doesn’t love her but that he lied (and similar to s2 where Mike calls Hopper a “liar”. The ex gf calls movie-mike a “liar” over and over). In fact they use the identical phrase of “you liar. you liar.”

Not to mention- she does sound like El.  She says she’s more upset about the lying than the fact movie-mike doesn’t love her. 

But I do think they eventually get closure and El realizes she doesn’t love Mike (romantically either) before her real character/story arc begins. 

movies: twister & you got mail

I’m so ready for the El & Kali teamup in s4. It’s like s2 (we get El & Kali pursuing Brenner + byler moments).

But what happens before Mike says this?I assume before this -mike & Will may confide in others about their feelings. And Mike/Will may be bullied for being perceived as gay .

 -In “welcome to the dollhouse” a boy is bullied for being seen as gay in school & at an arcade- and a character who is made fun for being a lesbian defends him at school/the arcade (so maybe robin?)Since Robin works next to the arcade/is gay.  Similarly, Fin’s character (at an arcade) is bullied and called a “fairy” and f*g” in ‘It 2′. And movie-Mike is made fun of for being perceived as gay in ‘sw*ngers’. Along with the guy (who was gay) being called homophobic names for writing letters (in wet hot american summer).We also know hawkins will most likely have a ‘satanic panic’ over d&d, rock music, and other things- which was historically rooted in christian fundamentalism.In ‘Kingsmen’ the churchgoers pretty much go on a rant being hom*phobic, r*cist, anti-science, anti-athe*st, anti-other religions, and anti-democrat and equate all of these groups of people to the endtimes/the anti christ. So one guy just snaps and says he’s gay, loves science , etc and says after “so... hail satan .And have a lovely day.”And storms out.  lol not sure about all that -but it’d be hilarious XD. Trigger warning for hom*phobic sl*rs.

-Proof For Will was : In ‘heathers’ the jocks make fun of the new guy in the cafeteria- by asking him if he misses his boyfriend  and call him the f-sl*r .in ‘superbad’ the guy who draws is called hom*phobic sl*rs and in ‘wedding crashers’ someone calls the male-painter character a “homo”. In “hackers” the (computer-nerd) who just moved to town is asked by his single mom if he “likes girls”.etc

 Also, in “The guest” a computer-nerd in highschool is bullied for being perceived as gay (and he’s given really bad advice about how to deal with it by a lonnie-esque character who is visiting his house/family for a while).  The advice is also similar to the advice given in the st comic (from Troy’s dad).

Honestly just the fire ref makes me nervous. The computer-boy eventually snaps (after never standing up for himself) and beats up his homophobic bullies.

*whenever Lonnie comes back - I assume we’ll see he’s a bad influence on Will pretty quickly

In ‘the guest’ they also made a joke that the clearly older guest must be the gay highschoolers’ boyfriend (which is not the case).

While In ‘stoker’ ,the highschool painter eventually loses it after dealing with constant harrassment- and stabs the bully’s hand (to block a punch coming their way) after the bully made an inc*st joke about the painter & the family guest.  So a joke like that could certainly cause Will to finally snap (as opposed to the other gay jokes they used earlier). In ‘dukes of hazzard’ a guy also snapped and got into a fight over a inc*st joke (and in ‘girl interrupted” they make a similar messed up inc*st joke).

 Given my theory on Will’s trauma with his dad (which he doesn’t remember)-I would not be surprised even on a subconscious level such a comment finally gets him to snap -maybe accidentally unleash his powers for the first time?Lonnie could say something about how Will should light his bullies on fire, they make a triggering joke about Lonnie &himself... and Will the wise does have fire powers after all. In the film ‘firestarter’ the kid who couldn’t control their fire abilities also lights a bully on fire accidentally so... maybe? In ‘skyhigh’ Will’s superpowers aren’t revealed until he accidentally unleashes them on a bully in the lunchroom. And 1 character in that scene says “don’t talk about my dad” before using his fire powers. Also... it’s not on the inspo list technically but the Duffers are known avengers/xmen fans.So Will could be based on scarlet witch’s son William (code name Wiccan) - he’s gay ,has lightning&fire powers and can alter reality. He’s been possessed In the past by the ‘demiurge’ - even spit up a slug too. He opens a portal to his world allowing the inter dimensional monster “mama” out (cough demogorgans are called “deep father”.)  And he’s constantly bullied for being gay- and the 1 time he finally decides to stand up to his h*mophobic bullies- is the day his powers activate for the first time and almost k*ll the bully. Not super confident in this theory but thought I’d mention it just in case.  Ok- this post is supposed to not be too plot heavy. So back to byler-

*Before Mike visits they may both confide in people about their feelings for the other . in skyhigh (at a dinner similar to the convo in sw*ngers where Mike talks about his ex gf) the bff of Will (yes his name) goes on and on about Will and how she’s known him since the first grade. And someone asks “so you’ve been in love with Will since the 1st grade?” Which she tries denying but quickly admits is true. And her friend says she should confess to Will.

In fisher king - a women who works at a videostore tries setting up 2 people- a gal-writer and a guy with an alternate personality/ who hallucinates a fearsome mythical creature (obviously Will). When people doubt the idea the girl can love this mentally ill guy  she says “stranger things have been known to happen.” And in “altered states” the guy who would hallucinate flashing to another hell dimension (like Will)- has a wife. And people say “she’s crazy about him and he’s crazy.” When they weren’t together she says to her friend she had to pretend anyone she dated was him and she says “it’s crazy” in response the friend says “i think that’s how it’s supposed to be.” Plus in fisherking one character wrote a book dedicated to his wife (which had the same title as the movie they’re in) . And someone says about this author “ he was crazy about her” as he holds the novel in his hands.

* The ‘pretending the person you’re dating is someone you’re actually in love with’ was also mentioned in ‘children of paradise’ (reffed by Robin in s3).

*I’ve also talked about Mike projecting his feelings for Will to El-here.

Will confiding in someone is harder to say. in ‘reality bites’ when asking about why she doesn’t want to be involved in romance a friend asks “because of Michael?” Which she first denies but later admits is part of the reason. 

 And in ‘hellboy’, (while taking pics) John Myers tells the fire wielding character (with mental health issues) that her bff is in love with her and asks how she feels . The 2 bffs are endgame but at first she tells John that she’s unsure because she’s known him practically her whole life (but she thinks of him everyday). 

Lol not sure if Jonathan would ever be so straight forward but it’d be nice callback to s1/2 convos they had (Jon saying in s1 to not like things cause you’re supposed to / saying being a “freak” like queer david bowie is cool) .In “twister” & “it’s a wonderful life” a family member also tells a character that their childhood friend that they’re in love with (isn’t into the person they’re currently with). In ‘ wonderful life’ she says they’re “not crazy” about the other person-but them.  And they say they know this cause they “have eyes.” And In “twister” the family member says them visiting them  is proof they love them. 

*plus Sam who is supposedly crazy about her (also isn’t crazy about marry). Aka El isn’t crazy about Mike- but Will assumes she (along with mike). Cough El saying “what makes you crazy?” in s3.

-While in “hackers’ the kid (with a single mom) who is into computers, and upset they were forced to moved to a new city -is asked by the mom “Do you like girls?” . And he angrily denies and says he’s ‘not gay’ (which could followthrough with what happened in s3- Will not opening up to her about romance, like him telling Joyce he’d never fall in love. so he may lie to her if asked that question? Unlike Jon?

 So it’s possible Will confides in Jonathan (and or Joyce) & maybe Mike to his mom/nancy?/a friend (maybe Robin or Max) (hard to say). My top guesses are Will &Jon. And Mike with Robin (and maybe his mom or sister a bit after Robin?)

Mike visiting the Byers

In ‘Tootsie’, michael (disguised as a woman named dorothy...long story XD) meets up with the person he really loves and gives them a present. The 2 low-key have like a psuedo-gay courting for most of the movie (before they get together). In ‘paddington 2′, the main character even gets multiple jobs to save up for a birthday present for a loved one (another contrast to mileven- who Mike,despite being rich couldn’t even spend $3.50 on.  They did that alot -show contrasts with both ships .So s4 would be no different.And It’s Will’s b-day in s4 after all so Mike getting Will a present makes the most sense. 

*last pics from ‘scarface’- I have no idea what he’d get Will for his b-day but if it’s engraved with “crazy together” I will lose my mind. Also the parent glaring during this scene-makes me suspect Lonnie . I do suspect Lonnie will sabotage byler-but it may end up being a s5 plotpoint instead of s4? (I guess in s4 it could be El-since el has been known to get very jealous in the past (like with max).

 - In ‘waynes’ world’ the ex gf refused to accept the breakup initially (despite it being months ago).  And she didn’t understand how breakups worked . Which given El’s lack of socialization -  I get her confusion on the concept. Like how in s3 Max had to correct El that Mike was her “ex boyfriend”. In the film, she even tried giving him a present for their ‘anniversary’ (hopefully El doesn’t try to do something like that out of jealousy of the prior gift giving -cause Wayne just says the gift shows how little she knows him). 

*You have to admit this scenario of Mike having to explain breakups isn’t that far-fetched.

(even when broken up with wayne- she wore a necklace with his name on it. ) Which reminds me of How El had a bunch of Mike related stuff in her room-including things that said “mike” on them.

in waynes’ world: The ex gf would follow her ex and still refer to him as her bf and be a 3rd wheel and interrupt every attempt for wayne to romantically confess to his new love interest (like in ‘dumb and dumber’/’high fidelity ‘).A similar scenario also happens in ‘tootsie’- Michael (as dorothy) almost confesses (on a swing set) but is interrupted by another person interested in him (Mike). Personally, I assume El would just do this unintentionally- assuming Mike wants to be with her and being a bit pushy but probably being oblivious of byler.

Not to mention the Duffers are petty AF and probably got annoyed with all the jokes that Will was a 3rd wheel to mileven- when literally Will wasn’t even around the 2 interacting alone . A 3rd wheel- has a group of 3 consisting of a couple and a third superfluous person. Which never really happened? Plus,we saw the ‘burns’ they did of mileven over the past 3 seasons- it’ll probably get worse.

And again we already know El had no qualms spying on her ex (mileven even dances to ‘every breath you take’  a song about a stalking ex gf).And El also watched the  ‘all my children’ ep with Erica & mike roy. Which in the show after their breakup - had 1 of them refuse to accept the other didn’t love them and want to get back together- and stalk them/ sabotage their exe’s romantic pursuits. Only to eventually accept reality and move on. Although, I think this is mostly un-intentional on El’s part.

In ‘clueless’ she flirted with a gay guy who she thought was straight/in love with her and kept trying to make a move-much to his discomfort . And in ‘birdcage’ the ex gf would hit on her gay ex bf- and his male partner catches the 2 and misinterprets it as not one sided ). That scenario happens in quite a few movies. I could see Will (before byler happens/mike tells el the truth ) misinterpreting and assuming mike and El are still romantically connected or will get back together .

New Swings scene (almost confession)/possible swing-flashback 

Ok back to (tootsie) .In the film,Michael’s love interest was raised by an older sibling- and he even tries to confess to her when they’re on a bench swing together . Not even the only movie with a gay gal character + gal bestfriend swinging on a bench together (’silkwood’ ). In ‘enter the void’ there was also a flashback of a little kid asking the other “do you love me?”/ and him saying “a lot” .  

* it’s like a subversion of what happened in s3 at the hospital. Also like the Wayne’s world scene of the ex gf interrupting...

But i don’t think El will be the only one trying to get mileven back together. But Will as well.In ‘Emma’ & ‘clueless ‘ :character A assumes her guy friend is into their mutual friend and tries to get them together (despite him being into character A only). I could see Will misinterpreting mileven and trying to be a good friend and get them back together (despite his own feelings). In ‘emma’ and ‘clueless’ (before they fight) there’s is a party/dance (it’s in a lot of movies).It’s possible mike, Will, and El go somewhere to dance - a lot of films have the 2 people in love-dance with others -but stare at eachother the entire time.In ‘clueless’ 2 gay guys and cher (who is flirting with one of the gay guys) all dance together. In karate kid, referenced by Max to El. Has a guy kiss his ex without her permission (on the dance floor)- and the karate kid sees the girl he likes being kissed by her ex and misinterprets the scenario (assuming they’re back together). I suppose the fact they changed the s2 script where Will was watching Mike dance with El may come back up in a later season? Could also be a callback to when Mike looked mopey at Will dancing with a girl (after encouraging him to dance with her).  Will could do the same (as mike in s2). Or they both stare at eachother while dancing with other people. or it’s just a concept they scrapped- it’s hard to say.

*movie list (truman show,16 candles,step up 2,karate kid, backdraft 2 & stormship troopers)

Confession & fall out

In ‘emma’ & ‘clueless’: character A (after the dance party) goes with the guy home and he tries kissing her . She dodges it confused saying he’s mistaking her for her friend! And he explains he was never romantically interested in her friend. In ‘emma’ he even bought her a super expensive gift before hand and she still assumed he was into her friend not her. And he even specifies in Emma- the reason he came to visit her house was for her (not her friend). A similar scenario happens in ‘weird science’ and he says she just thought of the gal he used to be infatuated with  as a “sister” (and we all know the sibling parallels in mileven). And in ‘little women’- the artist gal dodges a kiss and says to her love interest “I won’t be courted with someone in love with my sister.” And he explains exasperated he doesn’t love her sister- despite constantly trying to be with her sister previously.

 In ‘tootsie’, what caused Mike (dressed as Dorothy) to try and kiss her was-  the other gal saying she feel like she wants something she can’t have and because of that -their friendship makes her feel lonely (it’s very queer coded dialogue). She dodged mike/dorothy’s kiss but then says she has the same (gay) “impulses” as Dorothy but that she’s not mentally sound enough to be in a relationship.  A thought that may cross Will’s mind.

But, before they can talk about the almost kiss-her dad calls via phone and interrupts. (They eventually do get together though). But she tells Mike/Dorothy she ‘can’t love’ her,before this. 

*may not come across in photos-but she’s crying when sayin this.

Also, a fight about “what they are-friends/or romantic” before a phone call interrupts ( happens in ‘it’s a wonderful life’ and ‘the fisher king’ too.) Those pairings were also both endgame. In wonderful life the artist gal yells why he even came to visit her . And he implies she knows why (aka his romantic feelings) .There’s a similar convo in ‘fisher king’  (asking why they’re there) + 1 of them saying it’s “bullshit” and “stupid” to pretend they’re ‘just friends’. (We all know the context of the phrases “bullshit’ and “stupid” by now). Even Han implies Leia wants him to stay cause he has feelings for him-which she denies . Thus, irritating him.

*(I’ve already mentioned before how in s1 byler was paralleled to a gay Han/leia while mileven was directly paralleled to luke/leia-mentioned this in the ‘mileven burn’ hyperlink).

All 3 movies have eventual couples arguing cause 1 character (mike) is saying he’s done pretending to be just friends and he came to visit (Will) for that reason. And he knows Will returns those romantic feelings- but Will refuses to stop the charade and admit his true feelings.

In ‘good Will hunting” a similar event happens. Will (yes that’s his name) is poor and has severe trust /psych issues caused by his ab*sive dad.  And he has “abandonment issues” so sabotages his romantic relationships before they can even begin. When the brunette admits her feelings for him he dismisses it as a phase/confusion on her part. She in response says she knows he finds the idea she doesn’t love him ‘scary’ (and she’s scared too but at least she’s trying and being honest about her feelings). She also says she wants to “help him” with his issues -but this just angers him more. Cause he doesn’t liked being pitied/treated like he’s broken . She says she wants to help because she loves him- not pity. But he doesn’t believe her romantic confession. And every time she says she loves him he yells “Don’t BULLSHIT ME”! So when she yells “say you don’t love me?” He says he doesn’t love her- which the audience knows is a lie. But she’s left a sobbing mess alone on the floor.

Which yikes- I feel like even if you don’t understand the obvious reasons  Mike used El as a beard + lied saying he loved her. You’ll feel bad at the possibility of how badly it blows up in his face. Will not believing his confession/thinking Mike loves El or scared he’ll change his mind -so Will (for that + a myriad of other reasons)just rejects Mike COLD. Similar to clueless & Emma & empire strikes back.

I’m not that surprised since Will claimed he’d never fall in love (so when he does - he may just deny it). Like the therapist said in ‘good will hunting’ he’s afraid it’ll go wrong so never even tries to begin a romance.  I hypothesize a lot of stuff happens after this, that makes getting closure on their relationship in s4 difficult. 

So essentially to summarize a rough idea of what may happen: mileven stayed broken up. Mike and Will probably exchange letters between seasons. And El and Mike call eachother- but the excess of calls becomes too much. Mike and Will  are probably bullied for being perceived as gay- and before meeting up they may or may not confide in someone (about their mutual feelings). Mike visits for Will’s b-day/spring break and gives Will a present. El (because she sees Mike as a source of comfort) tries getting back together with him and becomes pushy and a 3rd wheel. While Will even helps El- thinking he’s being a good friend to Mike (by trying to get them back together). Mike eventually comes clean and come to an understanding and El goes on her plot/character driven arc of trying to find Brenner with Kali.  Mike eventually confesses to Will but Will for a myriad of reasons lies about loving Mike- and rejects him. And that’s all the (non supernatural) plot stuff I wan’t to talk about now...

Sorry, if this post was just hard to understand. I wouldn’t call this a ‘theory’ per say ( I usually feel more confident in those). This is more like a rough idea given what we have available to analyze so far.

Personally - I hated the mileven/couple breakup drama in s3. So as long as it doesn’t last long and most breakups like say-lumax and jancy happen early in the season... and don’t drag the actual supernatural plot/character developement . I’ll be fine.

 Contrary to popular belief- I’m a byler shipper who’s most excited for the actual plot. I’m a bit more confident in my plot theories than the exact details in this post . But I thought I’d share XD. I’ll eventually do a whole s4/5 theory- post which will focus on other characters/supernatural plot points.(but i may rewatch some movies first) . I’ll probably also do a byler post too with s5 predictions (which connects more heavily to important plot points spanning across s4-5). 

Happy belated new year :)

I expect so much hate from this XD

[shimmershae]

So.  I have some more thoughts.  Shocking?  Yeah, I know, lol.

Let’s see if I can figure out how to purge what’s inside of my overactive brain and have it make some semblance of sense, shall we?  

Hmm.  

Where to start, where to start?  

Okay.  So I think it’s safe to say that the flashbacks pretty quickly establish that Daryl has essentially been set adrift.  He’s been cast back, in some ways by his own choosing, into a solitary searching life that speaks to his past.  He has no anchor anymore, no touching stone--whether that be Rick, who’s presumed dead, or Carol, who’s chosen by default to leave him behind and try to make a new family in Ezekiel and Henry.  

That’s important.  Because until this season?  Until he really matured and assumed, grudgingly or otherwise, the mantle of leadership of the communities?  

Daryl was a follower.  He took his cues from other stronger personalities.  Other people more quick to voice and own their opinions, right or wrong.  Like Rick.  And Merle before him.  

That’s not to say Daryl hasn’t had anything of value to say or add to the communities or to his relationships.  He has and he did.  Remember back at the Prison how Carol told him he was going to have to live with the love?  Daryl was just beginning to find his voice, so to speak.  He was emerging, even if they were only baby steps at first, from other seemingly more formidable shadows, and learning even then how to be more of a leader that people looked up to even if he was still content to be a follower.  

Being a follower was what he was comfortable with and I’m making some assumptions here, but I’d wager that in his abusive past with his old man, in that household first with Merle then on his own, being a follower and sticking to the safety of the periphery is probably what kept him alive.  Being a follower minimized conflict then, I’m sure.  Being a follower when he met up with and eventually connected with Rick and the rest of Team Family was probably the safest way for him to make emotional connections.  

I’m rambling.  I know it and I’m sorry.  It’s what I do.  Ramble, lol.  

Here.  I’m going to place the rest of this underneath a cut because I got more winding words than I have wind and most of ya’ll have patience.  

With Rick gone, with Carol off trying her damndest to live a fairy tale, Daryl floundered.  For all intents and purposes, he was left without any direction, nobody to take his cues from emotionally or otherwise.  

I mean, he literally made ever-widening circles searching for Rick, didn’t he?  Circles have no end point.  They have no real destination.  Not really.  Daryl essentially lived in a spin cycle of pain and regret and inability to really and truly connect with anybody during those years spent searching for Rick--especially since the person he arguably felt closest to and most comfortable with, Carol, basically decided those past connections Daryl was so desperate to find again were too painful for her and attempted to move on.  

He wasn’t emotionally equipped to or stable enough (perhaps still internally dealing with his anger and angst over his torture and imprisonment by Negan at that point in time) to put in the hard work to reestablish those fraying bonds on his own and the man basically lost the plot.  His world narrowed down to this latest search.  This search for a body.  For closure.  For a new purpose perhaps?  

And you know, the man had to be tired.  In some way or another?  He’s probably been searching his entire life.  It’s kind of what followers do.  They look for meaning outside themselves because they don’t feel like they’re enough.  

So then Dog, in the form of this happy, accepting, affectionate puppy appears out of nowhere.  He’s a welcome distraction and knowing Daryl’s propensity to try to reunite the lost with those they love, he started a new little search.  

That led him to Leah. 

Leah, who was alone.  Like him.  Leah, who knew how to survive.  Like him.  Leah, who was stuck in a place of grief.  Like him.  

Leah, who--and I don’t really feel like I’m going out on too far or precarious limb here considering how many parallels they literally slapped us in the face with during this episode--reminded him of someone he felt he couldn’t have, not even her friendship anymore because by her choosing to ‘be there’ for Ezekiel and Henry and the Kingdom she was always leaving Daryl behind and that’s a pattern we’ve all long suspected has really caused hurt for Daryl even if he’s long ‘accepted’ and dealt with it with stoicism.  

Boy, they really blew the lid off that issue didn’t they?  Oh, it was done rather quietly and in a surprisingly controlled manner, but the hurt it caused?  The tears and emotion it elicited was brought about with an almost surgical precision that stunned Carol, but I digress.  

My point is?  Daryl?  Innate follower that he is?  Daryl had grown accustomed to the human connection he found with Team Family.  He was never 100% comfortable with it but he missed it.  He craved it.  And Rick?  Well, deep down Daryl knew the likelihood of finding his ‘brother’ was minimal.  And with Carol pulling away and putting more and more distance between them--how deep and wide was that river, ya’ll, before the episode was done? when it started off looking like a small trickle of a stream?  how wide was that chasm these two idiots in painfully unspoken love allowed to be formed between them?--essentially the two closest people to him were lost to him, leaving him lost.  

So he stumbles upon this woman who is very reminiscent of people that he’s known.  He’s figured out, even though he keeps trying to buck the trend, that you really can’t make it alone in the world anymore.  And when she shows him some small measure of trust by letting him go?  That part of him that didn’t want to be alone kept drifting back into her sphere.  

Now I’m not going to go so far as saying Daryl fell in love with this Leah.  Because, shipping biases aside?  I really don’t feel like he did.  

Daryl found solace with Leah.  

Companionship.  

Remember another time when Daryl was lost?  When he felt he had failed another member of his family? Lost what he thought was the last of his family?  How alone he was at a crossroads when Joe’s group of Claimers came along?  

I’m not equating Leah with the Claimers in any other way except saying Daryl was in a similar headspace when he met her, okay?  Before anybody goes off on me.  I’m just saying that Leah?  She represented what Daryl felt was his one chance NOT TO BE ALONE.  

Daryl’s emotionally stunted, ya’ll. He’s made great strides, but trauma always seems to regress him.  Thankfully, it seems to regress him less and less as he really and truly matures, but it still has a habit of reverting him back to the Daryl we first met.  The Daryl we can easily see growing up in Merle’s shadow. 

When he threw that damn fish at her door, I literally laughed for ten straight minutes because that was funny as hell.  But honestly?  The more I thought about it, the more it dwelled in my mind?  The sadder it actually made me because here’s a grown man essentially trying to connect with another human being on an adolescent level.  

So much of what we were shown in this episode really just reinforced what I’d already suspected to be true--Daryl Dixon just doesn’t ‘get’ the basics of interpersonal relationships.  At least those that could be perceived as romantic.  For all that Carol mused it was like he had become a man back in Atlanta, during Consumed and their search for Beth?  That man is still very much trying to fumble his way out of the starting gate so far as pursuing a woman in any form or fashion.

This is just my opinion and we all know what they say about those, lol, but Daryl has longed for an even deeper connection with Carol since the Prison.  Maybe even before that. I think at the Farm his eyes were opened to her and he started trying to be a better person to match what he perceived as her goodness.  Before he even knew she wanted one, he was trying to be a man of honor.  Then stuff and thangs happened and shit, like Daryl once told Abe, just never settled.  Carol drifted out of Daryl’s reach because he wasn’t equipped with the emotional tools to really go after what he wanted--her in a deeper, different capacity than he’d ever wanted or asked for before--and shit, ya’ll.  If loneliness is a choice then Daryl Dixon was sick and damn tired of it.  

Do I think there’s even really a choice between Leah and Carol in Daryl’s mind though?  A true choice were he to absolutely, 100% realize and know that Carol’s heart was earmarked for him from the very beginning and that she’s suffering from the same delusions that she’s not good enough or deserving of him?  

Absolutely not.  

Leah knew that even if Daryl never divulged any specifics about Carol.  She knew the answer to her ultimatum before she even made it.  

And that ultimatum, ya’ll. 

Maybe it’s weird, but it put me in mind of when Merle pressed Daryl to make a choice between him and Team Family.  

Merle was blood family but like Carol and others said, he wasn’t good for Daryl.  

Leah might have offered Daryl some solace from his loneliness but ultimately staying isolated with her and not reconnecting with those he identifies as family is just as damaging as Daryl choosing to follow in Merle’s wake again.  Similarly to that situation, Daryl was clearly torn as soon as the words were out of her mouth.  

Between loyalty to family and unspoken love.  

In case there’s any confusion here, the unspoken love I’m talking about is his love for Carol.  He felt something for her back at that Prison.  Fight me.  He knew she’d be hurt by him going back with Merle, but obligation and family loyalty led him to make the decision all the same.  

Still. He knew she’d understand.  And she did, even if his choice hurt her.  

My thought is that this time?  At least initially?  Daryl didn’t completely separate his loyalty to family (searching for Rick) and his unspoken love (for Carol) when he made his decision.  They’re hopelessly entwined because Carol is a little bit of everything to Daryl--friend, family, the woman he loves and has been halfway in love with for so many years.  Initially, he chose the hope that both would come back to him if he just kept searching.  Because searching’s what he does.  From Sophia to Connie, he’s always searched in the hope of bringing the lost back to those that love them.  He’s always searched because nobody searched for him.  

Daryl is the ultimate lost boy who grew to be a man and still feels like he hasn’t been found.  

But how can he be found if the one person he wants to find him keeps running away?  

Daryl didn’t choose Leah.  

Not from his heart.  

Daryl turned back to Leah because he felt Carol slipping away to where he couldn’t follow her.  

If it can even be argued that Daryl chose Leah, it was by default.  Of course, he feels guilty.  Daryl wouldn’t be Daryl without guilt.  He wouldn’t be Carol’s man of honor.  

And he is Carol’s man.  

She may not be in the place to see it--YET--but she’s getting there.  She’s fighting hard against her natural inclination to run.  She’s trying.  She knows what she wants, even if she doesn’t believe she has the hope of getting it.  

Daryl knows what he wants, too.  He knows, once and for all, where he belongs.  He’s stopped searching.  He knows she’s right there.  There’s no more circles.  There’s just a final destination if he can convince the love of his fucking life to stop running from what they both want.  

He may have left that note for Leah, but you can’t convince this viewer that he didn’t write those words for Carol.  

And that’s all I got to say about that.  

For now anyway.  

Omigosh, lovelies.  

So sorry for the emotional word vomit but thank you so much for indulging me even if I did lose my original point somewhere up there, lol.    

[dfroza]

“Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses…”

“Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed.”

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 9th chapter of the letter of Romans:

Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed—if that would change the eternal destination of my brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. They are, after all, Israelites who have been adopted into God’s family; the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises are their rightful heritage. The patriarchs are theirs, too; and from their bloodline comes the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who reigns supreme over all things, God blessed forever. Amen.

Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed. The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. But in the Scriptures, it says, “Through Isaac your covenant children will be named.” The proper interpretation is this: Abraham’s children by natural descent are not necessarily God’s covenant people; what matters is that His children receive and live the promise. For this is the word God promised: “In due time, I will come, and Sarah will give birth to a son.” But the story didn’t stop there. Remember when Rebekah conceived her twin boys by our father Isaac? The twins were in Rebekah’s womb when God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” This was not based on merit or actions; the twins had not done anything to please or displease God. This was God’s call on each son and His desired purposes. Just as the Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

So how do we talk about that? Are God’s dealings unjust? Absolutely not! Because He said to Moses, “I will show mercy to whomever I choose to show mercy, and I will demonstrate compassion on whomever I choose to have compassion.” The point is that God’s mercy has nothing to do with our will or the things we pursue. It is completely up to God. The Scriptures even speak to the Pharaoh himself: “I have given you a position of power so that I might show My greater power through you and so that My name might be declared throughout every land upon the earth.” So when and where God decides to show mercy is completely up to Him. Likewise, when He chooses to harden one’s heart, how can we argue?

I can hear one of you asking, “Then how can He blame us if He is the one in complete control? How can we do anything He has not chosen for us?” Here’s my answer: Who are you, a mere human, to argue with God? If God takes the time to shape us from the dust, is it right to point a finger at Him and ask, “Why have You made me this way?” Doesn’t the potter have the right to shape the clay in any way he chooses? Can’t he make one lump into an elegant vase, and another into a common jug? Absolutely. Even though God desires to demonstrate His anger and to reveal His power, He has shown tremendous restraint toward those vessels of wrath that are doomed to be cracked and shattered. And why is that? To make the wealth of His glory known to vessels of mercy that are prepared for great beauty. These vessels of mercy include all of us. God has invited Jews and non-Jews, insiders and outsiders; it makes no difference. The prophet Hosea says:

I will give a new name to those who are not My people; I’ll call them “My people,”

and to the one who has not been loved, I’ll rename her “beloved.”

And it shall turn out that in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,”

they will be called “children of the living God.”

And this is what Isaiah cries out when he speaks of Israel, “Even though the number of the children of Israel had once been like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of My people will be rescued and remain. For the Lord will waste no time in carrying out every detail of His sentence upon the earth.” It is as Isaiah predicts:

Except for the fraction of us who hang on by the grace of the Lord, Commander of heavenly armies,

we’d be destroyed and deserted like Sodom

and Gomorrah, utterly done in.

So what does all of this mean? Did the non-Jews stumble into a right standing with God without chasing after it? Yes, they found it through faith. And has Israel, who pursued the law to secure a right standing with God, failed to keep the law? Yes again. And why is that? Because Israel did not follow the path of faith. They thought that whatever they needed to be right with God could be accomplished by doing the works of the law; they tripped over the stumbling stone. As the Scriptures say,

Look what I am going to do in Zion.

I’ll put in place a stone that makes them stumble, a rock that trips them up,

and those who trust in it will not be disgraced.

The Letter of Romans, Chapter 9 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

For Paul, the astonishing truth of the gospel has to do with what God is now doing with the non-Jews. Apparently God’s plan all along is to make those who are not His people into His people. All those who never experienced God’s love are now experiencing it as they enter into the life of the Spirit through faith. But what does this mean for Israel? Israel, too, is included in the people of God; but again, this does not mean all of Israel. Pedigree is not what counts; faith is. As it was in the days of the prophets, so it is again. Divine judgment is falling on disobedience, but a remnant of faithful Jews—a fraction of the whole—is being saved.

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 60th chapter of the book of Isaiah:

Arise, shine, for your light has broken through!

The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you.

See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth;

people all over are cloaked in darkness.

But God will rise and shine on you;

the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.

Nations north and south, peoples east and west, will be drawn to your light,

will find purpose and direction by your light.

In the radiance of your rising, you will enlighten the leaders of nations.

Don’t be shy; don’t be doubtful; lift up your eyes and look around.

They have gathered all around you, eager to come and be close to you.

And your children will come back to this land:

your sons from the farthest places of wandering,

and your daughters gently carried home.

And when you see it, your face will glow;

your heart will race and be filled with joy;

For great ships will arrive with gifts from across the sea,

and the wealth of nations will make their way to you.

Herd after herd of camels will cover the land,

caravans arriving daily from south and southwest: Midian, Ephah,

Even Sheba with gifts of gold and frankincense.

They will announce for all the world to hear, “The Eternal be praised!”

Kedar’s flocks will be gathered for you;

Nebaioth’s rams will be available for sacrifices.

Eternal One: When they are offered on My altar, I will accept them.

I will make My glorious house even more glorious.

Who are these sailing to our ports like clouds through the sky,

like doves winging their way home to their window sills?

Breezy coastlands will wait expectantly for Me; the ships of Tarshish arrive first

to bring your children back from distant lands

Carrying in their holds the silver and gold—

to honor the name of the Eternal your God,

The Holy One of Israel who has made you beautiful.

People will come from different countries and different cultures

to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and make her strong again.

Their kings will help you however you need.

Eternal One: I punished you because I was furious with you,

reduced you to little on account of your persistent wrongdoing;

But I will restore you, reclaim you, and rebuild you because I cannot help but love you.

Now your gates will stay open to a constant stream of gifts;

all day and night they will not be shut

As the wealth of nations is brought to you

with their kings leading the processions.

Any nations that abstain, any peoples who decline from serving you

will simply disappear;

they will be destroyed.

Eternal One: Meanwhile, the most beautiful materials will arrive from Lebanon—

cypress, box, and pine—to rebuild and decorate the place where I promised to be,

My house where I will rest in glory among you.

And all the children of those who had bullied you, attacked and abused you,

all those who hated you will come crawling on their knees and bowing at your feet.

And they will address you as “city of God, place of the Eternal,

the Holy One of Israel’s Zion, sweet heaven on earth.”

Eternal One: Although you have suffered abandonment, hatred, and hopeless despair,

and no one dared to pass through,

I will make you a place of lofty beauty for all time,

filled and overflowing with joy from generation to generation.

You will be enriched by the world and its kings,

and you will know for certain that I am the Eternal,

Your Liberator, your Redeemer, the Strong One of Jacob.

I will bring you gold instead of bronze, silver instead of iron,

bronze instead of wood, iron instead of stone.

Your government will be founded and grounded;

I will make peace your governor, and righteousness your ruler.

You’ll never hear again, “Help! Call the guards!”

Violence, destruction, and ruin will be things of the past in Jerusalem.

You will name the city walls Salvation, and the city gates Praise.

You won’t need the sun to brighten the day

or the moon and lamps to give you light.

The Eternal One will be all the light you ever need.

Your God will provide your glory, brilliance for all time.

Your sun will never set;

your moon will never be eclipsed in shadow,

For you’ll bask in the Eternal’s light and silver splendor forever.

Never again will you suffer the dark night of despair and gloom of mourning.

All the people will be right with God,

and they’ll stay in the land they possess forever.

Eternal One: I will plant them there like a sturdy sapling with My own hands.

I will tend them and take pride in their growing.

Just watch, they will develop robustly;

from so small a beginning, they will multiply and become a mighty nation.

I, the Eternal One, will make it happen soon.

The Book (Scroll) of Isaiah, Chapter 60 (The Voice)

A set of notes from The Voice translation:

Once again the scene shifts. The exile is receding in the past and the remnant of Israel—those who survived God’s judgment and Babylon’s cruelty—are working hard to rebuild their lives and communities. But life back in Jerusalem under Persian rule is not faring as well as they hoped. So once again a prophetic voice breaks the silence to address a discouraged population. Most people are facing terrific difficulties. Despite what their prophets have spoken, Jerusalem is a mere shadow of the great city their parents and grandparents knew. People doubt whether God is really alive, or really all that powerful, or really even cares. But the faithful know that God is powerful and does care; they are determined to convince their countrymen that He has their well-being in mind. He can make this people and this place great again, if they just trust and follow Him. Soon the whole world will be caught up in this brand new thing God is doing.

This section of Isaiah is written to a singular female as if she is the mother of the Jews. But this woman isn’t just any woman—she is Jerusalem. Cities are often described as female because they are like mothers supporting a brood of children (the population). This capital city of God’s special favor, of God’s presence, is filled with His people of the promise and is poised to become something new and glorious.

This Hebrew title “Messiah” is based on a verb rightly translated “to anoint.” Kings and priests are “messiah-ed” during this period. But prophets like Isaiah and those who stand in the tradition of the great Hebrew prophets are also anointed. Living and working in Jerusalem in these days is much different than in earlier times. Wracked by the ages and ruined by overt destruction and covert neglect, the citizens of the holy city face disillusionment and disappointment. The people who come back after exile in Babylon do not return to a gloriously restored city and temple, but to a difficult land and contentious neighbors. The prophet is inspired by the spirit of God to restore hope, to help, and to comfort. As a spiritual guide he is compelled to convince people that God remains with them and that He still desires what is good, right, and true for and within them. Centuries later, in a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus will pick up the scroll of Isaiah and read these inspiring words. He will say in no uncertain terms that the Scriptures are being fulfilled right then and there in their hearing (Luke 4:16-21). The year of jubilee will have arrived.

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for friday, August 25 of 2023 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about our individual “makeup”:

Our temperament, our emotional disposition, as well as our predilections and aversions, are something basically "given" to us by God, and it is our responsibility to accept whatever we are and to "apply" whatever we are in service to God (Matt. 25:14-30). This includes not only sharing our talents or special abilities, but also our pain, our losses, and the solace we find in God's comfort. God understands our struggles within our own hearts; he knows how we suffer. As it is written: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows our frame; he remembers we are dust" (Psalm 103:13-14).

What we love reveals what we are. If we take joy in what is good, our heart is good; if we find joy in evil, our heart is evil. Of course we are a "divided house," battling our lower nature and seeking to "put on Christ," and therefore we are sometimes "wicked saints," that is, people who sin in spite of ourselves, who abhor our sin, and who lament and cry out to God for his forgiveness and healing intervention.

Some of us wrestle with fear or anger. This may be the result of past experiences we have had or even matters of biochemistry and physiology. Regardless of the preconditions for our temperaments, as long as we are sane, that is, as long as we are able to discern right from wrong by means of a functioning conscience, we are responsible for our choices. Of course only God knows the variables in our struggles, our past, our DNA, and how our woundedness and shame, for example, factors into how we reason and make decisions, but despite the force of our habits and inclinations, the decision to direct our will either to good or to evil is ours to make. If the heart desires virtue, anger can become a passion or inner resolve to fight against evil and to refuse to let it define who we are.

In this connection it is essential to trust in God. As Soren Kierkegaard reminds us, "the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith," which I understand to mean that the struggle is first of all one of the heart, as it decides what it loves and thereby directs the will in its choices. We do not attempt to become "Stoics" who deny the message and meaning of our emotions; surrender to God is not meant to harden our hearts and make us unfeeling people. No, we bring "all our heart" before the Lord - the bright and lovely as well as the dark and unseemly - and find mercy and grace to transform our lives.

Be encouraged my fellow sojourners walking by faith through the desert of this present world. The Torah uses a repetitious expression, "Sanctify yourselves and you shall be holy" (הִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם וִהְיִיתֶם קְדשִׁים) (Lev. 11:44) because when we make an effort -- no matter how feeble at times -- to draw near to the LORD, He will draw near to us... Indeed the walk of faith is one of ascent and descent and ascent again: It's often “two steps forward, one step back...” It is a long road, a process, as we learn to obey and seek to grow closer to God. Authentic repentance doesn't imply that we will never sin or make any mistakes, of course, but rather means that the oscillating pattern of "up, then down, then up" is the basic way we walk. Our direction has changed for good; we have turned to God for life and hope. We now understand our sins in light of a greater love that bears them for us even as we draw ever closer to the One who calls us home...

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Psalm 103:13-14 Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm103-13-14-lesson.pdf

Hebrew audio:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm103-13-14-jjp.mp3

8.24.23 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel 365:

The land sat desolate for 2,000 years. Now, Israel is a paradise. But it is not simply due to Zionists and their hard work.

The land was waiting for the return of the Jews. The Jews could not flourish anywhere else and the land could not flourish with any other nation. A covenant is a bond between two parties. The land is the manifestation of God’s relationship with the Jews. Our presence in the land is the result of our relationship with God. The condition of the land is a reflection of the state of this relationship.

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

August 25, 2023

Delusion from God

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)

This is a startling declaration! Why would God want to deceive people and cause them to believe a lie? The “cause” that would activate such an extreme decision on God’s part must be very serious. The preceding verse states it plainly. It is “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Because they “resist the truth” (2 Timothy 3:8), they will “believe the lie”!

The specific context refers to those who elect to follow the coming “man of sin,” but the principle is timeless. It tells us that God’s attitude toward men is determined by their love of the truth rather than by their knowledge of the truth. When people love God’s truth, there’s no limit to the amount of truth and blessing they may receive from God. Note the attitude of the writer of Psalm 119: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste!” “Thy testimonies...are the rejoicing of my heart.” “I love thy commandments above gold.” “Thy law is my delight” (Psalm 119:103, 111, 127, 174).

But when people begin to exhibit a disdain for God’s truth, there may soon come a time in their lives when they find it impossible even to comprehend the all-important truth of God’s saving gospel (creation, salvation, and reconciliation through Christ).

Because they refused the love of His truth when it would have been easy to believe, a blindness gradually engulfs their minds until they love the deceptive philosophies of the world, and they never escape the strong delusion that God has allowed to engulf them. Henceforth, though they are “ever learning,” they are “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). How important it is, as early in life as possible, to receive from God His proffered gift of the love of His truth! HMM