#rewatched the sacrifice scene for fic reasons

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Don’t know about you lot, but in my world, Coach Beard took the opportunity to covertly grab Blankie out the oil bin while they were bringing it outside. He gave it back to Roy after training the next day, looking at him like don’t be a idiot, man, you don’t burn the blankie your dead grandfather gave you! Roy (who’s had the whole night and day to regret being such a fucking moron) doesn’t say anything, not even thanks, but he holds the blanket close to his chest, for a moment imagining he can still smell his grandfather on it, and he brings it home and never, ever lets anyone convince him to part with it again. (Unless, one day, he wraps it tight around Phoebe’s child, to keep them warm and safe as they go off on their first big journey from home.)

(Beard might also have had words with Ted at some point, I can’t believe you were going to let him burn his blankie for a fake ghost exorcism!)

[meta-squash]

End Of Days is a really great episode for everyone's acting (Burn Gorman especially) but I'm rewatching and taking notes on it for my weird experimental fic and man there's just a big giant gaping plot hole in the central conflict and I always forget that it drives me nuts to watch this episode. They completely fail to explain what Emergency Protocol One is, why the team know to use it when they mutiny against Jack, why they know that it exists in the first place.

Except that there's a whole scene that explains it that was cut from the shooting script. It takes place just after Gwen brings Rhys down into the vault in the hub. Tosh, Ianto, and Jack are in the main part of the hub:

JACK: Tosh, dig up as much information on Bilis as you can find. Trawl back the last 200 years if you have to: I want to know who he is, where he's been. Ianto, get on to UNIT and the Ministry of Defence, get them to mobilise a united response force for any further incidents. IANTO: This is all we're gonna do? Mop up the consequences. JACK: We deal with the weird stuff. Nothing's changed. TOSH: Jack, everything's changed! Our workload just multiplied a thousandfold -- overnight! We're not equipped to deal with this amount of incidents. We can't just carry on as before! JACK: What, you got a better idea? IANTO: There's a procedure for this. You know there is. Emergency Protocol One. JACK: No way. TOSH: What's Emergency Protocol One? And how come I don't know about it? IANTO: The information's buried deep in the archive. It's the last resort. A contingency created by the people who built Torchwood. To fully open the rift. TOSH: We can actually do that? But-- JACK: [firm, interrupting] It's never been used. With good reason. Torchwood sits on top of the rift. Open it and this building will be the first to go. IANTO: I'd make that sacrifice. [stares at the other two] Wouldn't you? TOSH: Except -- if it's an untested procedure… what if it doesn't work? We might destroy ourselves and leave the rift open. JACK: [To Ianto] And who's left to protect the planet, then?

Then Gwen comes up from the cells and that's where the scene picks up in the actual episode, with Jack asking if Rhys woke up. It explains why Ianto and Tosh are willing to team up with Owen and Gwen with such sureness. It explains why Ianto is the first one to state that they're not going to stop Owen when Jack commands them to. It explains why they suddenly seem so sure of themselves and what they're doing. It also means that there could have been a visual moment where the audience watches everything click into place for Ianto and Tosh, realizing exactly what their visions of Tosh's mum/Lisa want them to do.

[saintsir4n]

I think my issue with vampire diaries after many rewatches, fics and online opinion is there are so many useless characters or characters that end up with repetitive arcs or just end up with nothing to do.

I’ll give examples…

1) Bonnie isn’t a character, not a proper one. It was clear she was the magical negro, only there to save and sacrifice her life for her white counterparts. However the reason why I believe most of us love her, other than Kat Graham’s amazing portrayal is because she is essential to every plot.

2) the originals being in season 4. They had nothing to do and were clearly there until their spin off. Kol gave us some exposition on Silas. Klaus was there to involve himself with high school drama, and they wasted Rebekah’s character. They had no clue what to do with them and as stand alone characters they had so much more to give in my opinion.

3) Caroline was a self under and you can’t tell me otherwise. I feel for the girl especially in season 1&2 but after that I clocked out of her character. She’s in scenes where she doesn’t need to be, placed with characters that she doesn’t need to be with… she in my opinion if she wasn’t played by Candace would’ve had a smaller role and pushed to the back like Tyler, Matt and Jeremy.

4) most of the plots were centred around shops instead of any substance. It worked for the first three seasons but after that it just got boring. Most people say season 4 was where the show peaked by it’s clearly season 3 and even then there were many plot holes and inconsistencies, especially with my girl Bonnie.

5) the confederacy

6) the show should’ve been finished in season 4 and had a big final showdown between the mystic falls gang vs Katherine (the original big bad) and maybe an non humanity Elena.

7) Bonnie should’ve had a coven or a witch friend or her grams.

8) “bigger is not always better” this is in reference to villains like Silas. He was pointless and everyone needs to bffr. He was ultimately just so boring. Sure everyone loved Paul acting like himself but omg, he was just playing an exaggerated non humanity Stefan/ ripper Stefan and that’s it. Also his existence diminishes stelena.

9) they should’ve killed off Caroline, Tyler or Damon in season two instead of Jenna. I know Damon is a main character but I like when a show shows off how high the stakes are.

10) the show runners, producers and writers needed more BIPOCS around because majority of the storylines especially regarding race (lemme not start on marcel’s origins because wtf) were poorly written

P.s

They should’ve expanded more on Katherine’s origins, she was one of most compelling characters and although I do not like her actions, she was a perpetrator of sexual assault (Stefan/ Damon were her victims), I would say she was a victim of Klaus and his terror. She both makes me feel some sort of sympathy for Katerina but for Katherine, I don’t like her, I just found her presence entertaining. She not an anti hero more of an Antagonist. I like that she didn’t get redemption, we just saw why she is the way she is yk?

[pythoness94]

I love your commentary on the fanon perception of the party

so id love to ask how you'd think the different members would *actually* react to will coming out to them

also thank you for acknowledging byler fights AREN'T one-sided. they're both love struck teens that say dumb things sometimes and thats perfectly fine

I know! It's a thing that's been bugging me because as i'm writing my fic. ( a react fic with the characters watching the show.) I'm forced to watch scenes upwards of 10 times or more while writing, i've rewatched episodes almost everyday, skipping around back and forth to write the characters reactions. By doing this, I have been able to go "WTF IS DUSTIN DOING IN THIS FIC BRO???". Since i've seen the show probably more then I should have and more often than average it's a lot easier to piece canon from fanon when canon is etched into your brain. I'm able to acknowledge every character's faults because I see it and have to write it down into my story, analyzing how each character would react to each situation. I am, of course, not perfect because i am VERY fond of Mike since see myself in him so i'm more sympathetic to him and i'm trying to be better about that.

However, instead of just seeing them as (this is the worst cases i've seen, mostly in 2020 fanfics.) Mike's a dick,( He's a teen boy who's been getting in terrible situations since he was 14, and trying to process that while realizing he's gay and thinking that he's leading El on. He's scared so he's snapping at the hand that feeds him, not being a dick for no reason. ) Will's a sad gay baby, (He's the same as Mike, 14 and trying to process his trauma, except he was a lot more of it. His best friend is wigging tf out over his girlfriend and distancing himself from him, making Will feel even more alone and worried so he's trying his best to save his relationship by sacrificing himself for Mike's relationship. not realizing that's the EXACT opposite of what Mike needs. He's not JUST sad, he's scared, he's scared of things being taken from him, so he's giving them away first.)

Max is mean, (She just lost her fucking brother, she is trying to grapple with the fact that she doesn't really feel all that bad about losing him. That's what is making her snap. Billy was horrible to her, but she was his brother so she should feel bad, that's her thought process and Vecna is preying upon that. Trying to make her feel like a terrible person infecting everyone around her, so Max is pushing everyone away, making herself look terrible and mean so that way they leave her alone to rot as she thinks she should. She's not mean, she's scared.) Lucas is dumb but strong, ( he played basketball in one season guys. He's strong but he's also a nerd. He's loyal, he's funny, he WANTS to protect the people around him. That's what Lucas is, a protector, he wants to keep his party safe and is trying to be strong for them. Trying to keep everyone together and in his sight. He will lose his shit if ONE more person gets taken from him. He's scared not dumb.)

Dustin is funny, (He's a kid who has lost many things, he's trying to cope with the things happening around him. he thinks Dart is his fault, he knows he should have told the party from the start but instead he lied, and it caused a bunch of pain for his party. He refuses to make that mistake again. However, he knows his party is struggling and he doesn't want to add onto that, so he laughs and jokes, trying to keep the mood up despite how he's panicking. Losing Eddie is going to terrify Dustin. he's going to be quieter and more thoughtful. I know that when Mike inevitably pulls his self-sacrifice bullshit, he does in every season to some extent. Dustin is going to flip his shit, seeing Eddie dying, and refusing to let Mike pull that. Especially since he was there for the quarry, he's going to be protective of Mike, not only because he doesn't want to lose him and knows Mike would GLADY pitch himself in front of a Demogorgon if he saw fit. But because Mike knew Eddie to, he was as close with Eddie has Dustin was and he wants to talk about that with him. He wants to keep Eddie's memory alive, and he can't do it alone. He's not just funny, he's terrified.) El is incapable outside of her superpowers. (This is regarding her knowledge to the outside world, but we're past season 1 guys, she knows how the world works, just not all of it. She won't be asking what things are every five seconds, mostly she'll just SUCK at picking up social cues. She wants to be her own person, she'll do her best to learn this stuff alone as time goes on, trying to advance individually to be on equal grounds with her party. She doesn't want to have to rely on people, she wants to be the person people rely on and not just for her powers. She's not incapable, she's not just 'superman.' she's her own person who is scared of people not seeing her as such.)

One thing i've noticed is that everyone in the party is scared, everyone is scared of something. That something is giving Vecna a chance to prey on every one of them. Making them more scared, so, instead of pushing each other away, they are uniting. They saw how going solo worked out for Max and they refuse to let that happen again. So, keeping all this in mind, how would the party react to Will coming out? Not one of them would be disgusted by Will, confused? Yes, disgusted? no. They have all been the weirdos they have always been the weirdos. The party knows that each of them have something about them that makes them "different" and being gay has always been that for Will even when the party didn't know it to be true.

We all know how Mike would react. A bit shocked at first but accepting, (this is if Mike is straight.) he pushed Troy over in season one for calling Will a fairy, he would NOT be homophobic. That man was besties with Eddie along with Dustin, he embraces that kinda stuff even if he's scared by it. If he was gay (because being fr he is.) he would also be hopeful. He would stop distancing himself so much so he can try to be there for Will.

Max would be chill with it. She is Californian and ,coming from a fellow Californian, it has always been way more liberal than any other state. especially Indiana. Cali is more open to change than most other places and even in the 80's it was less homophobic than Indiana. So Max, being from there, she would be more exposed to it and less shocked. She would be supportive of Will, and if told of his crush, would be the ONLY person to go "Oh really? Mike?" and it would be joking. she would totally try to set them up. (Remember season 3 with the magazines, I like to think she would try to do something similar for Will and Mike.) although she would be a bit worried about El after figuring out their...situation, she would be on board with it after they broke up.

Dustin would be curious, he would be like. "Wait...you're gay?" Not connecting all the dots until he looks back on it and goes. "Ohhhh, that explains why you thought Phoebe cates wasn't hot!" he'd be supportive but wanting to look deeper into it, taking a second to process y'know?

Lucas would be on it immediately, I get the feeling he already knew. He would be like, "Yeah, that makes sense." Since he knew Mike and Will the longest i'm sure he already had it figured out. Lucas is literally just waiting for Mike to get is shit together. He would be supportive and tease Will about his crush on Mike until they got together and them he would tease the both of them.

Finally El, she wouldn't understand Homophobia (this is one of those social cue things I was talking about.) however, I think two things could happen. A being I don't think she would really KNOW that boys can like Boys and Girls can like Girls, so she would be like. "Wait...that can happen?" and then she would need it explained to her. Will would be extremely nervous, because El is Mike's girlfriend but while I think El would be a bit sad if she knew Mike had a crush on Will she would understand that you can't really change that. Also that she doesn't deserve to treated like that and should have someone who loves her. The second thing I could see happening is El going. "So? i like boys too??" and needing Homophobia explained to her, to which she goes. "That's fucking stupid. Mouth breather behavior honestly." and being supportive of Will.

Thank you for the ask by the way! I really wanted to talk about this and I hope you enjoy it!

[sylvies-kablooie]

tbh, i think the whole thought process behind how sylvie is written is that she is not attached to loki and her happiness doesn't at all depend on him in any way.

was their connection deep? did he impact her? "shatter" her world even? yes. this is why she is so angry at him. bc in her mind, he had betrayed her.

but he doesn't take up much more space in her mind. she goes on to live her life just fine without him at the end of both seasons.

loki is a different story, he is obsessed with her to the point of doing something completely "out of character" and being ready to sacrifice everything for her.

i personally love how "unequal" their relationship is in this way, but i understand that it's not the majority of shippers' cup of tea kind of dynamic.

this is an interesting interpretation! i enjoy getting to hear people's differing takes on their dynamic, so this was a fun read. and hey if unrequited is your trope then all the more power to you. you're braver than me, that's for sure.

i haven't rewatched s2 (and tbh idk if i ever will- it just didn't do it for me the way i wanted it to) but the consensus that "loki fell first and harder" def seems supported by s1 and enhanced by s2. which i think made it all the more shocking when she kisses him first. i love that little detail.

i have a different take, which is informed by episode 5- particularly the bar scene contrasted with the record shop scene. she tells him to go and live his life and move on, then immediately goes to a record shop, tells the man at the counter she had a bad day, and then cries to the velvet underground (it looked like crying, also possible she was just laying there and basking it all in, which is just as compelling in my opinion).

to me that read as someone who is trying so hard to place their feelings in a convenient little box and ignore them and then running away when it doesn't work.

sylvie doesn't strike me as someone who can sit still, especially not after living through a million apocalypses and trying to ensure her survival. and while getting a job in oklahoma might not be the same frantic pace she's used to, i do think she threw herself into it (employee of the month placard i'm looking at you!) so she has a new life, a new job, time to do things like go to the bar and get a haircut and listen to music and do everything possible to just. not. process. the annoying feelings that the citadel situation brings up. just keep moving! just don't think about it! and so when loki rolls up at her work, she tries to push him away, tell him he's the last thing she wants to deal with, get him to leave. the tone in the bar scene felt like that to me as well. like she's saying just leave me so i can stop thinking about this.

of course, loki does not want to leave her- it's just that for some reason he is physically incapable of talking about anything but the TVA, who ruined her life and she justifiably wants nothing to do with hearing about how great they actually are. he is pretty skilled at killing the mood. (i take great pleasure in rewrite fics that make a show of addressing this)

am i blinded by shipping goggles and my own projection onto her? it's possible! but to me it read as someone in denial. when we hear sylvie talk about her love life on the train in s1 (a scene i LOVE because it seems so out of left field for her) we get a very clear sense she has no idea what she is doing when it comes to romance (and then flat out says so during the blanket scene). her experience with romance hasn't been anything real, to the point where i hesitate to even use the term "romance"- just centuries of numbing herself by staying busy with a fling. she is like a shark that will just collapse if she stops moving. which we get to see her do in the record store!

that's just how i read it though! your read on it is just as valid and i like hearing all of the different takes. i am by no means trying to persuade you to join my pining sylvie agenda, just using this blog as a means of idea exchange. which i love doing. seriously it's so fun.

[c0smic-coral]

Deja Q Rewatch: Qcard Analysis

I am rewatching every Q episode of TNG (which means Qpid is next! Yippee!) and I thought I’d like to write a bit about this…

First of all, MY POOR BOY IS A HUMAN AND EVEN HIS LOVE INTEREST DOESN’T BELIEVE HIM. He literally requested to be sent to the Enterprise. Why? Because Picard is “the closest thing [he] has to a friend”. I posted this in the Qcard Fic Discord server, but I have a theory that yes, Q has been attracted to Picard for some time, especially during Q Who. Bro nearly kissed JLP’s ear. But he wasn’t fully aware of it. He enjoys Jean-Luc’s company. He wants affection. Now here he is, experiencing human emotions. Along with all of that fear and anxiety of feeling pain and such, and maybe a little bit of butterflies in his stomach?? I had a theory of an off-screen moment that might have gone something like this, perhaps in the few moments it must have taken to replicate 10 chocolate sundaes, right before Guinan shows up:

Q: Data… I may have felt a different sensation in my stomach earlier, when I first was dumped here by the Continuum.

Data: I’m listening.

Q: Sort of… fluttery. I-I’m not sure. It didn’t feel like… hunger.

Data: It could be possible it was a sort of nervousness.

Q: I’ve been feeling nervousness all day. I only felt this way near Jean-Luc. Maybe even a bit while I was omnipotent.

Data: It could be possible you feel some form of romantic or sexual attraction to Captain Picard.

Q: Sex with… Jean-Luc? For a robot, you have a sense of humor!

Data: …I am an android.

Q: Whatever!

Even if that didn’t happen, Q may have figured it out himself that fluttery feeling he got around Picard was love because after Deja Q, he was flirting even more!!! “Mon capitaine” starts to stick!!! Qpid, the way he was on the couch!!! Tapestry, flowers for John-Luck Pickerd!!!

THE IMMORTAL BED SCENE.

Now, I am going to discuss “Red alert” below the cut but a few other things first:

It was so hard for him to manage. My boy full of fear. Yet it’s that thing he has for Picard that keeps him forgiving him even when he’s pushed out of the way. Also, Q is not interested in “human interpersonal relationships”. In truth? As he sorts through his feelings for Picard, he’s still the only human he cares for. Riker was just for the Continuum. He could care less about Riker now that he knows for sure Riker could care less for the Continuum’s abilities. It’s all Picard. Definitely could care less about Geordi. Worf’s a Klingon, but he could care less about Microbrain as well.

And now to discuss Q’s sacrifice. Obviously he did some thinking after Data saved him. It is possible in this moment he realized he loved Picard and would do anything to protect him. So he takes the shuttlecraft. He would die for him. And he’s teased by Q2. “Selfless”. He knows the Calamarain would destroy the Enterprise to get to him, which means the death of everyone on the ship, including Jean-Luc. And of course he was growing depressed in that human form. But as Q2 said, there was a selfless aspect to this.

That selfless aspect? Q’s feelings for Picard.

Alright, on “Red alert”…

He’s naked in front of Picard. He can’t control the smirk that shows up on his face when he lands there. This is definitely Q’s more sexual emotions for JLP, and what if…

What if, he got a, yknow, a 🦴?

Just saying. He doesn’t know what happened. He might have had a guess. Why is it doing that?

Well, Q…

And that’s all I’ll discuss that. If you made it this far, thank you for reading my thoughts on this episode and how it sets up Qpid and Tapestry, and ultimately All Good Things… Now I didn’t mention True Q, and I believe @stellarred mentioned this in one of their posts at some point, but the reason we barely got any Qcard there is because Continuum business. But wait, Hide and Q was similar in nature. Well, Riker was closer to Picard so it was different. Besides, he was more of a free-range carefree Q then, before the fear of being a human set in. Okay that’s the real end of the essay.

[paigemathews]

I would love to read more about your thoughts on Cole! It's refreshing to see someone who doesn't like him either! Please do share more soon :D Can I ask did you ever like him? Or him and Phoebe or did you always not like him? I hated him and him with Phoebe from the beginning find it hard to watch their scenes if I'm honest.

Full transparency, as always: I desperately need to do a full rewatch at some point, lmao. I’ve watched episodes with Cole in them recently-ish, but I really haven’t sat down and actually watched through his entire arc in a while. I know that as soon as I do that, my opinions are probably gonna shift again lmao but my answers for now.

See, I’ve been trying to think about it for a good five to ten minutes and I honestly don’t know what my original thoughts on Cole were. My Charmed hyperfixation started when I was thirteen, and I’m turning twenty three this year and a lot of my opinions have remained. not entirely the same, but similar since I was at least fifteen or sixteen. 

My best guess is that I was probably more neutral than anything about Cole at first. My favorite character was Chris and the next gen, so Cole didn’t really feature v much, y’know, busy being dead and all. Y’know, who I did (and still do lmao) like though? Coop. And the issue is that I read like pretty much any Charmed fic I could get my hands on and I very quickly realized that a lot of Cole fans would go out of there way to vilify Coop, kill him off, etc. all in the name of Cole being “Phoebe’s true love” or whatever, which I Did Not vibe with. And I’ve noticed this with over fandoms I’m in, but when fans woobify and glorify a character, I tend to really dislike it and it unfortunately turns into me disliking the character themselves. While I try to prevent that now, Cole was unfortunately the first example for me so. 

For the character himself though, I think both he and his dynamic with Phoebe are really interesting. It’s one of the things that are constantly floating around in the back of my head, but the way that Cole views romantic vs. familial relationships in contrast to the sisters? Like Cole basically sacrifices his father’s soul when he kills the Triad to be with Phoebe, and contrast that to his expectation for Phoebe to choose him over his sisters. Hell, his reasoning to Piper in Y Tu Mummy Tambien about how she’ll obviously choose Phoebe over Paige. (Side note, I could have sworn that I’ve at least mentioned that before on this blog but I searched for fifteen minutes and found zilch, which boo.) Like Cole’s perspective on relationships is actually fascinating bc it contrasts so much against the sisters’ perspectives, y’know?

Also his backstory is really interesting! We don’t ever actually get confirmation that his mom is vanquished, so what was that relationship like? The Brotherhood of the Thorn, being a favorite of the Source, etc. are all things that I’m really curious about. He really let us get a deeper and more thorough look into the Underworld, which was neat bc I am here for the Magic Stuff.

Plus, his dynamic with Phoebe? How she fundamentally thinks that he is a better person than he is? How in the Demonic Wasteland, he asks her to use the Grimoire (which requires you to be evil to even touch) after everything? When he comes back in s5, his attempt to intimidate Phoebe and create “character witnesses” for his abuse? The writers weren’t intending to, but the relationship that they actually wrote kind of builds to that tragic/horrifying climax where a destroyed Phoebe doesn’t even hesitate to vanquish him because of what he turned her into as the Source. Like the writers were all over the map with that relationship, but even when they were trying to write a love story, there’s that dissonance between them.

Again, I don’t think that he’s a good person. His writing tended to be inconsistent as hell and they flip-flopped all over the damn place. Phoebe almost always viewed him through rose-tinted glasses and thought that he was a better man than he actually was, which he never actually set her straight on. Ultimately, their relationship was incredibly toxic, manipulative, and abusive. His redemption failed because he never wanted redemption. He wanted to become good, yes, but not for the sake of being good or making reparations. He wanted Phoebe’s love. Hell, I think that he knew that he didn’t really care about being good beyond just wanting to be good for Phoebe, but his morality is warped that he thought that was chill. (Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought Phoebe knew that, tbh.) That said, I think he was an interesting character and at the very least, I still want to examine his psychology at some point bc there is. A Lot going on there.

The other thing is that with different writing, I’d have probably gone to hell and back with their relationship. Like, I’ve said before, but Bianca is what Cole fans pretend he is: tragic backstory forced into the life of a killer, falls in love with a Warren witch that plays some role in the initial beginning of their redemption, backslides on that road to redemption when faced with a stronger enemy, ultimately redeems themselves, and is also still capable of redemption (probably because Bianca is like 26 and could only commit so many crimes in that amount of time in contrast to Cole’s two whole ass centuries of murder). And her and Chris are both my favorite characters and my favorite ship. With better writing, I can absolutely imagine Cole being one of my favorite characters and Phoebe x Cole being one of my favorite ships, but that isn’t what happened.

[hellodarjeeling]

As promised here are some fragments from my two UFO fics. They’re not finished by any means, and I’m long overdue for a rewatch, but I hope you enjoy them all the same. Thanks! @someawkwardprose

The Price We Pay - A UFO Fic

[Freeman learns the consequences of his actions]

[Inspired by episode “A Question of Priorities"]

Alec Freeman‘s footfalls echoed down the bright corridor as he rounded the corner of S.H.A.D.O.’s central command hub. He’d forgotten a bit of paperwork at Keith Ford’s desk and meant to pick it up before finally heading home. The past sixteen hours had been particularly grueling after a string of UFOs managed to sneak past the interceptors, enter the atmosphere, and evade Sky One long enough to give everyone ulcers. With the day finally behind him he was eager to crawl between the sheets and expected to be asleep before his head touched the pillow.

Ford, ever a neat man, kept his station clean and Freeman found the survey maps immediately. He glanced at them disinterestedly, barely registering words as he touched a cigarette to his lips for the long walk to his car. Just once, he thought, I’d like to get out of here at a reasonable hour. Tucking the maps under his arm, he fished a lighter from his pocket and took a drag as the cigarette caught. As he turned to leave he noticed a sliver of light under Ed Straker’s office door. Odd, he thought, taking another pull from the cigarette. I’d assumed he’d left already.

The unmistakable smell of alcohol hit him as the doors opened at his approach; Freeman paused at the entry, trying to make sense of the scene before him.

Straker was seated, slumped over a mess of dossiers that spilled from his desk onto the floor, clutching a half empty glass in a white-knuckle grip. He apparently had heard the door open and sat up straight in alarm, jerking his head around to see Freeman lingering in the doorway. A look of panic passed behind his cool stare and settled into mild wariness.

“Easy,” Freeman began as he walked into the room, “it’s only me.”

Straker acknowledged him with a nod but otherwise said nothing. All their interactions over the past few days had been constrained, and despite Straker’s brusque assurances to the contrary, Freeman had a gut feeling he didn’t have the whole story. Seeing Straker partake in alcohol did little to alleviate his concerns, on the contrary it amplified them; the man made a point never to touch the stuff.

He glanced at the glass again and frowned. “All right, who died?”

Straker stared hard at the wall opposite him, unblinking. His fingers tensed around the glass.

“John,” he managed quietly. “John died.”

Freeman froze. John?

“The transport didn’t make it in time. It carried antibiotics...”

“Antibiotics?”

Freeman suddenly recalled the way Straker’s face paled upon hearing the transport had been used to find the downed UFO. He swallowed back sour bile rising in his throat as realization set in. He'd made the decision to divert the transport, they were his orders, on his call.

His fault.

“For God’s sake, Ed, why didn’t you tell me that transport carried medication for your son? Had I known I never would have ordered it to change course!”

Freeman ran his free hand through his hair as he desperately paced the office, cigarette dangling forgotten in his other. He turned to pin Straker with a desperate, pleading look.

“You should have told me!”

“To what end, Alec? What could I have done? We can’t afford to waste any opportunity, any chance, to learn more about these alien invaders.”

“But your son—”

Straker’s fists slammed the desk surface, upsetting the glass and sending a flurry of pages fluttering to the office floor. His eyes widened, equally started by the sudden outburst as his colleague. Freeman stopped pacing. 

“You know as well as I do, the responsibility of this job! The sacrifices we agreed to when joining S.H.A.D.O.!”

Freeman dropped his eyes to the floor and sighed. He rolled the cigarette between his thumb and finger, watching the ash fall onto the tile. Normally he would never have been so inconsiderate, but courtesy was furthest from his mind. 

“How can I perform my duties if I don’t know what’s going on?”

---------------------------------------------------------🛸

Domestic Strife - A UFO Fic

[Straker has second thoughts about his marriage]

[Inspired by episode “Confetti Check A-O.K.”]

⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅

Alec Freeman picked up a pair of glasses and gestured toward the bar.

“Shall we?”

Ed Straker leaned back into his new chair and propped his feet on the desk's corner, blowing out a puff of smoke while giving Freeman a side-long glance. The older man raised his brows expectantly, waiting for an answer. Straker shook his head and smiled around his cigar.

"Well if you won't, I will."

“You know, Alec, I had a feeling you’d put that machine through its paces. I just didn’t expect you to do so so quickly. It's been operational for a grand total of ten minutes now.”

He took another pull from his cigar.

“Must be some kind of record,” he added through a haze of smoke.

Freeman flashed him a smile and pressed the button marked WHISKY.

Straker took another drag from his cigar and looked around his new office. At the moment its furnishing were sparse; besides the office bar, conference table, and video screens there wasn't much else. He had a few maps and diagrams he planned to put up, and had asked some of the boys to install a working model of the Earth's orbit, complete with its own rotating Moon, along the far wall.

"It's coming along nicely," Freeman said, sipping from his glass. He pointed at the expansive wall behind the conference table. "Any plans for that bit of space there?"

"Not at the moment. At any rate I've asked that the walls be painted, get rid of this industrial Spartan gloom.”

"Speaking of paint, how's the house coming along? Been there a few months, I'm sure Mary's got it looking like a home by now."

⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅

(Straker is stuck doing paperwork. Freeman walks in with a bouquet of flowers and sets them on Ed’s desk. Straker’s like ??? “I’d thank you Alex but what’s the occasion?” They’re for Mary” “I asked Miss Ealand to have them delivered. You mentioned her birthday was today/it is her birthday, isn’t it?” Straker just blanches. Freeman tells him to take credit for the flowers, chalking his forgetfulness to stress/them being newlyweds.)

"They're for Mary. I asked Miss Ealand to have them delivered," he said, setting them on Straker's desk. "You mentioned her birthday was today. It is her birthday, isn't it?"

Straker stared at the flowers, cool blue stare growing cooler by the second. Freeman took a little card from the bouquet and quietly folded it before placing it in his pocket.

"Tell her they're from you.”

Straker hardly smiled anymore. He was starting to develop fine lines at the corner of his mouth and eyes, aging him prematurely. At times like this his platinum hair looked white.

“I owe you, Alec.”

⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅

“I don’t think I’m cut out for this marriage business, Alec.”

“Nonsense. What’s marriage compared to global security?”

Freeman’s eyes flicked over to his friend with guarded emotion.

“Well, you love her, don’t you?”

“Of course, Alec, don’t get me wrong. I love Mary very much.” He paused, staring into space. “Sometimes I just wonder if she deserves to be with someone who won’t keep secrets.”

[zaruba-needslove]

that spawned from the post you reblogged with the words Evil!Keiwa AU, didn't it?

Also I doubt it was specifically Keiwa's parents were sacrificed for her to form because the age gap between Keiwa and Neon is 4 years...

wait...

Akari was kidnapped @ 8 It can be assumed that the Sakurai Parents were "involved" in the DGP when Sara was 15-17 (but judging from Sara's uniform... she's 15) and the age gap between Keiwa and Sara is 3 years... if we assume the Sakurai Parents... got involved when Sara was 15, Keiwa was 12...

fudge! It's plausible!!

Izzu! Noooooooooooo!

😃

To be fair...

This post did not 'just' got spawned from the evil!Keiwa AU post from the other day... but yeah it was related. Not to mention, Full Metal Alchemist's Equivalent Exchange concept.

That's what happened when one kept rewatching the Saboten Knight round WAY too much. (I swear I end up making throwbacks to that round in like 65% of my fics) You kept noticing more and MORE stuffs that gonna ruin yer life.

This line of musing happened while I was plotting on Irreversible. Which originally was started from me wanting to counter the accusation about how Keiwa's desire for World Peace was just from a shallow belief of what Keiwa think 'world peace' really is. On how his wish for world peace started from the desire to make Sara happy. Why Keiwa want to be Sara's 'hero'.

Because a world where Sara would be happy is a world where everyone can be happy as well. While Keiwa's wish during his second DGP end up being reduced to wanting 'the victims of the DGP to be revived', the core of Keiwa's original wish of wanting 'Sara' smile/be happy remained the same. A great parallel to this would be Hino Eiji's 'greed' of wanting to save/protect people as well as his reasoning to fight as Kamen Rider OOO. Eiji's greed and Keiwa's true desire... their definition of 'world peace' was the same thing. So when people trivialized Keiwa's desire and motivation to fight to protect his wishes as some petty selfish desire, I just..! (Also yes, this was also a counter to the claim that Buffa's desire to 'protect other ppl's happiness' was a lot more 'selfless' compared to Keiwa's 'selfish' wish for 'world peace'.)

Aaanyway... back to the Neon-Sakurai lore/hc.

For a while, I've been theorizing that Sakurai couple's death and Akari's kidnapping had occured at the same time. And as much as I never made any mention of this theory in my past fics... the fact that the kidnapper got a Desire Driver during the Bujin arc, could imply that the kidnapper might've been a former DGP player too. And for a while, I had a theory that it might not really be a coincidence that Akari was kidnapped and Kousei was 'targeted' as a potential sponsor to help the DGP behind the scenes.

In series, it was implied that the 'fuel' that allowed Mitsume to grant a Desaity's wish was from the sparks from the other players' unfulfilled wishes/unfulfilled desires for them to wish for something, right? Yet, aside from granting a Desaity's wish, resetting the world after every DGP round would've also require some 'fuel' as well... right? Thus this leading up as to why the Sakurai couple weren't revived...

tl;dr... I ended up realizing the potential other meaning to 'sacrificing other people's happiness in order to achieve one's happiness'. Cos people really had been piling so much hate on Keiwa just because he wanted to get his family back regardless of the sacrifices during his Bujin arc, right?

So yeah.... the series kept making me dwell on how much Ace and Keiwa had been victimized by the DGP.

And wah... this post got so long 😃

[melmedardasworld]

A TVD what if I would like to write a fanfic about: the Bonnie/The Bennett edition after rewatching the show, starting from S3.

- Abby's reason for leaving has to do with her daughter/family not Elena/ Gilberts. Everything Abby did was for/because of Bonnie/her mother/husband. I might keep the complexity of Abby not wanting the responsibility of being a witch cause I can understand her POV, but she would've been a better mom and taking her responsibility that she has a child, cause why could she do it with Jamie (he does not exist in my fic and Wilson is an alias while she was on the run/in hiding) and not Bonnie? I think it is possible to separate being a witch and a mom.

Speaking of being a witch, I'd even say Abby had to sacrifice her magic to desiccate Mikael then after 14 years it would return as a sign that Mikael was freed by his compelled (vampire) minions, which makes it so Abby returns to MF to protect her family once more. She finds out her mother isn't alive and get a scene with her visiting the Bennett family graveyard with Bonnie.

-Abby and Bonnie's relationship while strained would've been mended as time went on. They would definitely agree/disagree on how to protect MF and put a halt to Bonnie's borderline selfless that gets herself killed. Abby would put her daughter first like how Elena is put first by the others, especially by Damon and Stefan. In that regard Abby would be more self preserving which would cause friction with the others, but would give Bonnie more agency.

- Abby and Rudy would actually interact as estranged husband and wife (cause the show acted like Rudy didn't exist until S4). Rudy would cope with Abby's return by being a workaholic. Abby would give space until he was ready to talk.

- Lucy would definitely return in my fic, cause she said she'd see her again and the show did her dirty.

That's all I have for now that part.

I do have some other ideas based on the first 'Bennett' witch who arrived to the New World with the Mikaelsons family through Ayana. I'd even introduce her child(ren). After the creation of the Original vampires Ayana and her famjly were force to flee, because a witch created the vampires. They werent safe, Esther got killed by her own child, and the villagers/villages around them would probably have an aversion to witches.

Ayana and her kids could either stay in the New World there or go back to North Africa (excuse the lack of specific country) since historically there was some Viking influence there through raids and plundering. It is the only explanation that makes sense to me as to why she was with the Mikaelson, a Viking family, in Europe in the first place. To briefly touch a bit on Africa in the medieval times : there was (slave) trade between West and North Africa. But that is to flesh it out and have it make sense given the lack of depth the writers gave us in the show.

Don't introduce a character if you can't even make the effort to expand on Bonnie's ancestry other than being a token/relevant for the plot and then retcon or never mention it again in your continued lore (cough, cough Esther in the Originals and the total lack or mention of Ayana). Cause people in fandom are acting dense on purpose when it comes to Ayana and the Bennett influence in TVD and the Supernatural world. But again, if the writers can't show the decency then fandom is gonna follow them.

I would possibly even sprinkle some romance here and there (cause yes, I love my "crack" ships and romantic touches in a story in general c). But my main focus would be the Bennett line and fleshing out their history cause we could've gotten soooo much more and it was such a missed opportunity.

Inspired by the many rants I read in fandom about Bonnie/the Bennets, the fans and a few pro Bonnie/Bennet blogs I started to followed such as @cancerian-woman whose insights I read on repeat together with some other talented writers on here

[sturchling]

First off I love your Miraculous Ladybug fics. Also I don't know if you are a Black Butler fan or not. But if you are could you please do a fic where Lila causes a that destroys Marinette's home/bakery, which kills Marinette's parents and severely injures Marinette. While in the hospital recovering Roland finds out what Lila did and talks with Gina, both recently have been diagnosed with cancer and want to make sure Marinette is taken care of when they die. Gina or Roland remember a story told to them by a descendant of the Phantomhive servants (In this fic it follows season 2 with Sebastian being able to get Ciel's memories back before Claude tried to brainwash him and was able to eat Ciel's soul) (either from when Gina was in traveling in England or someone who Roland's father knew during WWII) about a demon who acted like a caretaker for a child in the late 1800's. They both decide to sacrifice themselves so Marinette can be cared for. One summons Sebastian the other summons Claude. The terms of the contract are simple, in exchange for eating the soul of the person who summoned their specific demon the summoned demon would care for Marinette, act as her guardian, help her achieve her dreams, and care for her, her husband and their children until Marinette passes away from old age. The contract is accepted with both demons. While caring for Marinette it becomes sort of a contest between the two demons of them trying to out do each other in different ways (if Claude gets her multiple roles of different color spider silk fabric, Sebastian "accidentally" gets Marinette introduced to several high ranking nobles ["Hello, my ancestor worked for your ancestor's peer. What a small world. Might I introduce you to my ward?"] that become her clients. Due to the two demons' shenanigans Lila gets exposed, the Butterfly and Peacock are recovered, Adrien's mother is awakened, Marinette gets some real friends (Will, Ronald, Grell, and the Undertaker got reincarnated and regain their memories after a while) and falls in love with her future husband (either Will, Ronald, or the Undertaker. The only reason I don't do this fic myself is I can't write Black Butler characters even though it's one of my favorite animes.

Sorry this took so long, I wanted to try my best to make the characters accurate, so I had to rewatch some of the show. I hope I did good, but I am pretty rusty, writing these characters. But I tried my best! Hope you like it!

Lila was getting more and more dangerous. She didn't just want to ruin Marinette's social life anymore. Now she wanted to ruin her entire life, or even end it. One night, when everyone was asleep, Lila broke into the bakery and started a fire. She made sure that it would spread to the upper floors and then she raced from the building before she was spotted.

The fire spread quickly and soon the entire building, bakery and the apartment were completely engulfed. Marinette woke up to the smell of smoke and Tikki yelling in her ear. Despite the kwami screaming at her to leave the apartment, Marinette raced down to her parents room, to see if they had gotten out, but the door was blocked by debris falling from the ceiling. The thick black smoke was choking Marinette as she tried in vain to get to her parents. By the time Tikki managed to convince Marinette that they had to leave, Marinette was severely burned on her arms, legs, and back. As she blindly felt her way to the exit, a now exposed wooden beam in the ceiling, came crashing down, landing on Marinette's legs. With her legs pinned and unable to move, Marinette passed out. Thankfully firefighters had already been called and pulled Marinette from the flames before it was too late. On lookers from the neighborhood watched in horror as the bakery went up in flames. Once the fire was put out and Marinette was sent to the closest hospital, the firefighters went into the apartment and found Tom and Sabine. They had died in their room, unable to get out because of the debris blocking their door.

The next morning, the whole city seemed to be grieving. Tom and Sabine were well loved people in the city and everyone was distraught over the loss. But no one was more distraught than Marinette and her grandparents. Roland and Gina heard about the fire early that morning and were horrified to learn that Tom and Sabine were gone. But their one piece of solace was that Marinette had survived. They both raced to the hospital and comforted their granddaughter. But they had a bigger problem. Both Gina and Roland were getting older, now both in their late 80's. Both of them also had several severe health conditions and likely wouldn't be around for much longer as it is. And then who would take care of Marinette? That is when Gina remembered a story she had heard when she was in England. A story of two boys in the Victorian era who had made deals with demons, and those demons took care of the boys. Soon after, both boys' souls were eaten by their respective demons. As much as Gina and Roland didn't want to leave Marinette, they thought that this was the best thing for her. The only way to know that she would truly be cared for.

That night, after they left the hospital, they summoned the demons the same way as in the story Gina heard. The room became dark with shadow and two voices spoke from the darkness, asking the two elderly people why they had been summoned. "We summoned you to make a deal. Our granddaughter has recently lost her parents and we likely will not be around much longer as it is. We heard stories about how you two cared for two boys in the Victorian era in exchange for their respective souls. In exchange for our souls, we want you to take care of our Marinette. To help her achieve her goals, protect her, and care for her until she dies. Both demons agreed to the deal. After all, they had already cared for children before, so they had the skills to do it, and the souls of these two people who would willingly do this for their granddaughter would be nice to have. With the contract sealed, Gina and Roland wrote in their wills that Marinette was to be cared for by Sebastian and Claude, claiming they were old family friends. They also took the two demons to meet Marinette, so that Marinette would at least meet the two before they began caring for her. Once the legalities were taken care of and Marinette had met the two, Sebastian and Claude took their payment and Gina and Roland died.

Marinette was overcome with the grief of not just losing her parents, but now her grandparents as well. Sebastian and Claude, who her grandparents had recently introduced her to, were declared her guardians and began watching over her. Roland had left Marinette his house, so she had somewhere to live. While Marinette began to settle into the new normal of her life, Sebastian and Claude got to work on the first order of business. They were going to get justice for Marinette's parents. They knew that the fire was not an accident and that someone had set it on purpose. The evidence was obvious, but the police were stuck. They didn't know who did it. But Sebastian and Claude quickly learned that it was a girl named Lila who had been tormenting their charge for years now. All they had to do was phone in an anonymous tip to the police about the girl, and the police searched Lila's apartment. Mrs. Rossi kept sayin this was a mistake and her daughter couldn't have done this, but the police soon found evidence of her involvement, including the accelerant used at the bakery. Lila was confused, sure that she had gotten rid of it all. But Lila was arrested quickly, as a crowd had now grown outside of her apartment building. Several members of Mrs. Bustier's class were there and saw Lila being dragged out in cuffs. As Paris looked on in horror at the arsonist that had killed the Dupain-Chengs, no one noticed the shadow like figures standing to the side, smiling coldly at the scene.

They also quickly figured out that Marinette was Ladybug and even figured out that Adrien was Chat Noir when he came over to check on Marinette. They learned this by sensing the souls of the kwami. Since the kwami's souls are obviously not human, and Marinette kept disappearing during the akuma attacks, it didn't take long for the demons to be sure of their suspicion that Marinette was Ladybug. After confirming this, they felt that defeating Hawkmoth fell under their duty of caring for Marinette so they set out to find out who Hawkmoth was. They were able to sense the souls of other kwami in the city. They sensed two other kwami in Adrien's house. With only two kwami present in the house, they were certain that this was the location of Hawkmoth. To confirm this, Claude used a smaller version of his demon form to enter the manor and watch the residents of the house. Claude soon saw Gabriel and Natalie transform with the missing miraculous. Now that they had confirmation, it was time to end Hawkmoth.

The two demons began to plague Gabriel and Natalie with nightmares and torment them constantly. In each nightmare, they made it abundantly clear that this was because of their actions as Hawkmoth and Mayura. Soon, Gabriel and Natalie could hardly sleep and were almost driven completely mad. They surrendered to Ladybug and the miraculous were recovered. Gabriel and Natalie were sent to prison for their crimes. When Marinette learned why Gabriel had done everything and what happened to Emilie, she used everything she had learned about magic to help revive her. Sebastian and Claude lent some of their power to this endeavor as well, not wanting their charge to exhaust herself in the attempt. Adrien had his mom back, and the two moved to England to get away from all the trouble Gabriel had caused as Hawkmoth.

With all the major problems in Marinette's life taken care of, Marinette could relax a bit and focus on her fashion. While she thought it was odd that her grandparents had left her in Sebastian and Claude's care, she did think they were doing a wonderful job. They helped to support all her dreams, any way they could. Claude once brought her several different rolls of fabric made from spider silk. This of course, renewed the rivalry between the two demons. Sebastian brought Marinette to England, making the excuse that it was to see her friend. While there, Sebastian made sure to 'run into' the descendants of some old friends. Several nobles and aristocrats found a charming man and young girl in front of them at many parties. The man seemed familiar to them all, especially the older guests at these parties. They were sure they had encountered this man before. When asked if they knew him, the Sebastian always responded with "My ancestor worked as a butler for one of your ancestor's peers. He worked in the Phantomhive manor as the butler to Ciel Phantomhive. It truly is a small world for us to meet. May I introduce my charge, Ms. Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Sebastian spent the whole night talking up Marinette's fashion business and Marinette would leave these parties with several more clients than when she arrived.

Claude and Sebastian kept trying to out do each other in their attempts to care for Marinette. Helping her with her designs, getting her fancy fabrics and equipment, even convincing several major fashion magazines to feature her work. As odd as the arrangement was, it did work. Marinette met several new friends, thanks to Sebastian and Claude's interference. She even met the man that she would marry. A man who looked suspiciously like Will, from all those decades ago. As the years went by, even after Marinette was an adult and didn't need caretakers anymore, Sebastian and Claude continued to watch over and protect her, as per their contract. And they would watch over her, for the rest of her life.

[ashryverwithadragon]

Okay okay this is a bit too personal but let me share some family stuff and how the Tales of Arcadia franchise helped me bond with my siblings.

I have twin baby brothers who are currently 12. I love these kids with my life and always try to find ways to give them things to watch that will excite them. So when we discovered Trollhunters, I think in late 2017 only the first two seasons were out. Now, mind you, we had just moved to another country and we were desperate to find age appropriate things for them to watch in our native language. At the time I didn't know Netflix dubbed the series in Greek. I subscribed quickly after I found out lol

I cannot describe to you how happy they were when they heard the dubbed version. They were the reason I originally kept my Netflix subscription and didn't cancel after the first trial month. One of them literally kept jumping up and down for ten minutes chanting "we found it, and its in Greek!" When i tell you my heart exploded I'm not exaggerating.

Anyways, we binged the series and kept up since. We bring it up every now and then, make references and laugh on inside jokes, we bonded. I personally don't need the dubbed version, so I usually watch the season on my own with the original cast in English and then we watch the dubbed version together with my brothers.

Watching them love the series over the years as much as I did has been one of the greatest things that's ever happened to us. They've probably rewatched it more times than I have.

Which is why, when we watched Rise of the Titans, I was anxious about their reaction. I had already watched it the previous night so I knew how the movie ended.

When I tell you my heart broke?? You know Netflix f#ed up when the same 12yo that cried at Toby's death scene, later turns off the TV the moment the end titles drop and starts pacing and angrily shouts "So it was all for nothing? This entire series was for nothing?!" The anger and disappointment in his face hurt me more than anything. He even mumbled a 'fuck this movie' but lets not tell mum about that

Toby's sacrifice was the most powerful thing this movie did and by erasing it they destroyed everything. If you liked this ending, cool. You're valid. I respect your opinion. But I didn't want an open ending. I wanted closure. My brothers and every little kid out there deserved closure. For Toby's sacrifice to mean something, not be erased like it did. ToA has dealt with permanent consequences since day 1 and by removing everything they built over the last six seasons and just turning it into a fix-it fic? Nah man. That ain't it.

[dreamycloud]

Our favorite Mobius M. Mobius, for the character ask game!

Thanks, @cha-melodius for the ask!

First Impression:

For whatever reason, I was not aware that Owen Wilson was going to be in the Loki TV series, so seeing him show up in episode 1 was a big surprise! And he looked so unlike himself it took me entirely too long to realize it was him! But my first impression of Mobius was immediately latching onto him as a favorite character and hoping he wasn’t going to turn out to be a villain. My gosh, it was my One Fear. I do have a soft spot in any fandom for little bureaucrats with their funny suits and dedication to filling out paperwork. So I was doomed to instantly like him anyway.

Impression Now:

Full-blown obsession with Mobius. Probably one of my favorite characters ever—period, full stop. Getting to rewatch the episodes and sink into fan theory and, well, just studying gifs as they crop up, has just been lovely in terms of uncovering more about him. His comic origins are pretty interesting, but I just love how this Mobius is. He’s stubborn and creative and just so incredibly gentle for the type of job he has. I think his softness is my favorite part about him.

Favorite Moment:

My gosh, how can I just choose one???? Okay, to be fair, I have too many favorite moments. If not all of them. Frankly. But I’m going to single out the scene where Mobius returns from the Void and decides it’s a good idea to fight Renslayer in her office. I’m so used to MCU characters knowing how to fight, so I was shocked (and even more charmed by this guy) when he took a swipe at her and she just kind of knocked him over into a table. That was it. End of the fight with Mobius sprawled out, shrugging it off with it “okay fine, I’ll let you leave.” There are so many layers to that—his physical abilities and also his strained friendship with Ravonna—to dissect from such a small scene.

Idea for a Story:

So I’ve written a handful of Lokius fics and I always shout about them on here. And I will definitely be writing more (I have another fandom that I need to dip back into, but I will be back for more Lokius). One story that I’m intending to write centers around Mobius retiring after from the TVA after S1 and settling down in New Asgard, in the hope that Loki would naturally make his way back home after they parted ways. And this would involve Mobius getting to know Thor and crew, and it’s going to be such a fun idea to play with.

Unpopular Opinion:

Okay, so I know everyone loves long-haired Mobius. I would not be opposed to seeing it, especially if it marks the passage of time in which Mobius must be searching the multiverse for Loki. So you know. That’s cool. I’m ready for it. But I actually like and prefer short hair Mobius. I feel like it fits his image of being this strait-laced analyst who wouldn’t want the fuss of having to style his hair any more than he already does. I also love how the look, along with the mustache, transforms Owen from looking like Owen to *being* Mobius, if that makes sense.

Favorite Relationship:

To the surprise of no one, I ship Lokius haha. Love them. Hoping against hope that they get together one day. The dynamic is just so good. Mobius is someone who has seen the very worst of Loki, but also the very best, and a still cares for him in a way that no one clearly ever has up until this point. He encourages Loki to grow and figure himself out. And if we’re talking about sacrifices, Mobius willingly sacrificed himself for Loki. He was just so brave in that moment, stepping in front of Loki, staying calm, knowing that at any moment Ravonna was going to order his death—and he didn’t back down. His unshakable faith that Loki will survive (aka, that conversation he had with Sylvie in the car) is just icing on the cake. He is the order to Loki’s chaos and I can’t wait to see more of it.

Also honorable mention to Mobius and B-15’s friendship. Not sure how close they were before Loki arrived, but they seemed to have a good working relationship that only grew during the events of the show. I’m dying to see them team up going forward, since, you know, both of them have been forever changed by Lokis and will do great things.

Favorite Headcanon:

I’d like to believe that before joining the TVA, Mobius didn’t have a family. No husband/wife or kids. He seems like the kind of character who embraces his alone time. Rolling through life solo would just mean more time for him to pursue his interests (jet skiing!) outside of whatever job he held on his timeline. And you know, he’d also be very available to be swept off his feet by a mischievous god ;)

[its-tie-kir-ra]

you said in your SessRin video that you "dabbled" in SessRin? May I ask what does that mean or what your personal unfiltered opinions are about the ship?

I never saw it as parental like you did but i got the impression from the way you talked about it is that you still see it as Sesshomaru has power over Rin. How did you see the relationship then?

I actually had to go rewatch the video to see what I said, lol.

OKKKKKK strap yourself in. It's...it's... complicated.

So when I said 'dabbled' I mostly meant that when I read a fic about Inukag where Rin was Sesshoumaru's partner I didn't mind it. I also don't seek out Sesshomaru fics when I do read Inuyasha fanfiction (which isn't that often), because I don't find his character particularly interesting and I only became slightly interested in Sess x Kagura recently. I can only remember one SessRin fic that was mainly SessRin that I enjoyed. Like I just couldn't get into it? I actually went and read some SessRin fics to get a sense of how shippers saw the pairing when it became canon and most of them just made me feel so uncomfortable?

Rin never has the same personality (why would she, because again, she would've changed so much from the time she was 8 until she was 18) and Sesshomaru just turns into this sappy weirdo that is so far from canon that it's so obviously written by a person who thinks that Sesshomaru is a mushball who spouts poetry under all that pride, when what he really is is an awkward, feelings-constipated weirdo under all that pride. Or that's just my interpretation of the character, at least. (I AM NOT A SESSHOMARU EXPERT, DO NOT COME FOR ME).

Crack shipping (and I'd argue that SessRin was a crack ship until 6 months ago, fight me) is just not for me. I personally need to have a really good canon basis to ship a pairing, for a couple reasons, but mostly I need a character dynamic to interest me at the very least in canon and feel like the door is open for it to 'potentially' happen in canon (and by potentially I really just mean that I can trick myself into believing that it actually will happen). Like it needs to on some level MAKE SENSE that they end up together in canon. (And as much as Sesshomaru changes his mind about humans, for the life of me I cannot picture him marrying one, regardless of who they are. Having casual sex, maybe, not marriage. I also do like the idea of him being asexual.)

A good example of a ship that I'm not super invested into but I could see the appeal to explore is Ayame X Koga. Don't get me wrong, I am still very anti Koga, I think he's an ass in canon, but the relationship potential between him and Ayame interest me soooooo much. I mean, come on. Arrange marriage, one a rule breaker and the other a rule follower, politics, being in love with someone who doesn't love you back, sacrifice for your people, there's so much there. We only saw a few scenes of their relationship in the show (yes, Ayame is an anime only character, I'm aware) but it was enough to intrigue me, especially after Ayame expressed very little interest in Koga at their second meeting. And as a result, they interested me enough to want to explore them more, and I could wind up shipping them if I did. 👀

I never felt that with SessRin. While they start at an interesting base for a romantic relationship in theory, the dynamic never interested me enough to go 'hm, well, maybe if this happens then this will happen! Or look at the parrarels between them there! Or wow, they find each other interesting, what if?!" I also never felt the need to inject romance into it. Their relationship was interesting enough without romance; I enjoyed their dynamic how it was presented in the original. I was satisfied with it. Which is really the primary reason I don't read a lot of Inuyasha fanfiction because I was statisfied with where they left off with Inuyasha, while I have about 50+ GOT fanfics open on my phone.

That doesn't mean to say that couldn't potentially change or that I couldn't ship SessRin. As a writer of original fiction myself, my opinion will always be if the writer can make it work and they want to do it, they should do it, with very few exceptions. SessRin could theoretically be written into a beautiful, satisfying love story that would have me all over it. There was one SessRin fic I thought did this really well, but I just don't think Yashahime was capable of doing that because it would've been a story that required complete dedication to Rin and Sesshomaru as characters. The fic I'm talking about was a SLOOOOOOOOOW burn that wasn't explicit in the least and was very character driven and focused exclusively on Sesshomaru and Rin and their changing feelings. They don't do that in Yashahime; they can't because the show itself isn't about SessRin. In fact, Im suspicious of how they do it in Yashahime. Lemme grab my tinfoil hat.

The way it's presented now, Sunrise gave the writers just enough wiggle room that they could write themselves out of this if they wanted to (have creepy-cant-remember-his-name-hes-basic-wait-is-it-Riku? tell the story to the audience, neither Towa nor Setsuna really look all that much like Rin, etc). Which almost makes me think that they were testing audiences reactions to see what they said before commiting to it fully. Idk, we'll have to see have happens in season 2.

In terms of how I saw their relationship, I mean, I saw it as kind of '19 year old disinterested neighbour who helped the neightbour's child out of a tree against his better judgement and now said child won't leave him alone and oh fuck she's being bullied better actually take care of her and oh fuck I actually enjoy her now' but that's just me.

And yes, there is a power imbalance. Because he is (demon equivalence) 10+ years older than her. Like am I the only one who remembers being 8 and thinking that 13 year olds were the shit? Like that's what little kids do, they idolize and look up to people who are even just a little bit older than them. If older kids don't have power over littler kids, the entire industry of babysitting will collapse. So yes, Sesshomaru has power over Rin when she is 8.

The one argument I see all the time that proves he doesn't have power over her is that 'she can leave anytime she wants'. OK. But she's 8, and Sesshomaru is the first person to provide her with some semblance of welcome since her family was killed. She's not gonna think of going anywhere while Sesshomaru is doing that for her. Any 8 year old in that situation would have the same answer. And even so, WHERE WOULD SHE GO? Rin has no money, no family, no friends, no connections. The only people interested in her welfare are Sesshomaru, Jaken, and eventually the Inugang.

It's like if you and me were dropped into a foreign country and I'm the one who understands the language and the culture and the currency and you have nowhere else to go anyway because nobody wants you and I'm telling you things like 'you can leave whenever you want to!' like maybe that's a bad example, but that's what I hear when people say she can leave whenever she wants to. 1) why would she think of that and 2) WHERE WOULD SHE GO?

And even so at the end of the series when Rin lives with Kaede, she doesn't do it because she wants to, she does it because Sesshomaru told her to stay there. So...Rin only left him when he told her to. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I don't know, I hope that gives you a better understanding of how I feel about the pairing. No judgement of anybody who ships it! I have some ships that are a bit on the weirder side too, we all do, lmao. I'm glad your ship became canon, and I hope that next season Sunrise actually attempts to give people more than 88 seconds. #imstillsalty #isaidwhatisaid

(unless you're telling me to kill myself in my askbox or on my channel, lmao, then, yes, all the judgement)

[theragamuffininitiative]

Well no one has made an essay about it cause you’re wrong? Yelena is better than Clint in combat situations, so was Natasha. They literally say this in the show. Yelena was hesitant to kill Clint and blinded by grief but not sure if she’s in the right to kill him. Clint held his own long enough to talk to either of them sure but he’s canonically not a better fighter than them. Natasha was already looking for a way out, Clint gave her the opportunity. If neither of them had known Clint and were on a real assassination mission to kill him, they could easily. I mean Clint is a good fighter don’t get me wrong. He’s shield trained but the widows are canonically better.

Clint says Nat was better than him. He doesn't say she was a better fighter - although he probably would. And in the context of why he was saying that (her sacrifice)...he beat her in that fight. (See original post or rewatch the scene). He also says she was the bravest, stubborn, and always had to win. I suppose we can all infer what we like from the last one. That's all that was said, unless I am missing a line.

Natasha was looking for a way out, yes. But she had no reason to trust this guy was going to give it to her. I'm not saying they did fight there (especially bc Black Widow gave no indication what the arrow marks on the wall were actually from). But based on Natasha's situation, it's likely that they did. Side note: I will 100% read any good fics on that first encounter, regardless of how we headcanon it played out, because I love them both so much.

And Yelena was not at all hesitant to kill him. She fought him on a rooftop, left because Kate and Echo crashed her party; tried to shoot him through a window; and then wanted closure for herself before killing him. There was not a trace of hesitation or confusion in her conversation with Kate, either. The point I made remains: he let her do what she wanted during that fight while simply trying to convince her that Nat's sacrifice was her own choice, rather than directly convince her he didn't kill her sister - especially since part of him clearly still blames himself. He didn't even try to fight Yelena, and still showed that he could have stopped her. As I briefly mentioned, there's also the point that Clint has been doing his thing for....almost as long as Yelena has been alive. Experience alone gives him an upper hand.

This isn't to say that Natasha or Yelena couldn't have ever managed to beat him. I think they could have. They just....don't. Repeatedly. And I thought that was interesting. I love Nat and Yelena both, still have issues with Nat's storyline, and can't wait to see more of Yelena. But. This was Kate and Clint's show, and they're allowed to be the heroes in it.

Anyways, not really here to argue the point, I just wanted to make it. They're fictional characters we have feelings for and thoughts on, and it doesn't really matter either way. Feel free to make your own post! (*Edna Mode voice*: and tag me in it when you get done, darling, I love meta.)

Thanks for the ask!

[calamitaswrath]

Okay, so this vague idea for a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic has been bouncing around my head for about a week now, and since I know that chances of me actually doing something with it (and finishing it) are absurdly low, I figured that I might as well write down all the ideas I have for it, and at least share those.

Basically it’d be a “crossover” between the 2003 anime continuity and the manga/Brotherhood (gonna call those just 03 and manga from now on), wherein the various incarnations of the 03 characters suddenly appear in the continuity of the manga right in front of their counterparts. It would follow an underlying plot beneath it all that needs resolving (more on that later), but mostly it’d just be a comedy fic of sorts, with pretty much all the jokes just coming from the interactions between the characters and their counterparts, as well as other characters reacting to these interactions.

From a story perspective, the premise goes as follows: As mentioned before, the 03 incarnations suddenly, from one moment to another, just appear everywhere. Nobody has a clue what’s going on, who the counterparts are, or why this has happened, and, more importantly, time and space themselves seem to be completely messed up, as time does not flow, and situations that are technically impossible for the canon of either series keeps happening. One of the earliest scenes sees Father, Dante and all 14 homunculi gathered in Father’s lair, everyone has (partially fuzzy and unclear) memories of everything that happened to them in their respective canon, the Alphonses know for a fact that both of them had gotten their bodies back, yet here they are in armor form again, and with 03!Alphonse in particular this leads to some massive confusion as he, in addition to remembering that he had gotten his body back, also remembers that he had lost his memories of his journeys by that point. Weirder still, nobody has a clue where 03!Ed is, as he did not pop up together with 03!Al in front of their manga counterparts. Under this premise, some ideas ideas for some comedic interactions include:

Dante, 03!Envy and 03!Sloth obviously mistaking Father (who is asleep for most of their initial meeting) for Hohenheim, and getting increasingly frustrated when their attacks/advances/other actions get little to no reaction from him

The two Greeds just immediately book it when they realize who’s all around them, realizing that no matter what is going on, they do not want to be here right now

Some very confusing interactions between the Prides and Wraths, as everyone tries to figure out who’s who, and manga!Pride not being sure whether he is taking a liking to 03!Wrath or getting pissed off by him

The Gluttonies wondering if they could/should eat each other

Mass annoyance at Mustang’s offices, as the two Roys very much do not get along with each other, while the Rizas try in vain to calm the situation; meanwhile the Mustangs’ teams just try to actually figure out what’s going on, while the 03!versions of them either wonder about their manga counterparts individual talents, or lament how they never got to show her; eventually the two Alex Louis Armstrongs drop by proclaiming something along the lines of “You will not believe what has just transpired!”, only to find everyone else there with their own counterparts - so they just flex

Manga!Kimblee tries to have a reasonable discussion with 03!Kimblee and at one point even asks for his pronouns, which 03!Kimblee doesn’t even get

The Barry the Choppers welcome the challenge of getting to chop each other up

03!Scar thinks manga!Scar eats mountain lions for breakfast (. . .okay I don’t really have any real ideas for these two)

Manga!Hohenheim getting increasingly appalled by 03!Hohenheim, until he eventually takes a page out of either Ed’s book on how to deal with him

Once 03!Ed is found and united with manga!Ed, he gets pissed that manga!Ed actually grew taller, and demands to know his secrets

Upon realizing that 03!Ed has no idea who Ling Yao is and never even met him, manga!Ed contemplates whether to pity or to Envy him

As the plot progresses, it ultimately becomes somewhat clear what exactly has happened: At the end of the events of the 03 series, while he was in front of their world’s version of the Gate, 03!Ed had a sudden spark of inspiration that might as well have come from manga!Ed: Before the Gate can take him anywhere, he decided to sacrifice it, figuring that no matter what’d end up happening, it’d be worth a shot.

(And as a quick side note: It has been a while since I last rewatched the 03 series so my memory on the functionality of that version of the Gate might be hazy. Everything I’m about to write on it is on the assumption that 1) there’s only the one Gate that exists for everyone in the setting 2) it’s the place where the souls from the world of FMA and earth go after they die, with the ones from our world becoming energy for alchemy.)

For the purposes of this fic, that version of the Gate would be explained to be  a metaphysical parasitic and sorta divine entity that has attached itself to a version of the FMA world (as well as the “real” world), thereby causing all the differences between the continuities, and changing the rules and functionality of alchemy in various ways. By sacrificing and essentially destroying it, 03!Ed has caused his reality to break down and temporarily merge with the manga!reality, as it copies/restores itself to a new functioning state. This leaves 03!Ed stranded at manga!Ed’s version of the Gate, unable to escape until a certain point in the story of the fic when manga!Ed has to go through the Gate. (Or so 03!Ed thinks - when he does eventually leave, the Truth points out that he could have left at any point since he didn’t peform human transmutation to get here. 03!Ed is understandably very frustrated with himself when he hears that.)

Much of the actual story - once the initial confusion has been cleared - would then be about making sure that none of the antagonists abuse the current state of the world to further their own goal, especially since after a while, Dante and Father realize that they get on unfortunately well, and Dante is quite taken by the possibilities of the manga!Philosopher’s Stone and the lack of soul decay with that form of alchemy. . .

. . .And that’s about all I got.