#these tags are so long AUGH. i could post this on medium and become a world renowned movie critic /j

[redeyye]

(with a wholly negative view of this movie) im not going to post about the whale im not going to post about the whale im not g

[distortingbones]

oooh you tagging me on that canon divergence post made my brain go ‼️‼️‼️and actually helped me solve a plot problem I had!! So thank you!!!! And I’m so psyched that you’re invested 👀 fr tho i LOVE canon divergence so much holy shit, both reading and writing it… and like that is exactly how I write it, I’m like “oh what if X” and then suddenly im juggling plot changes like a fuckin clown

aaaaa i'm so glad!! and YES i am deeply invested, honestly do it all anew is my favorite currently-updating TMA fic!! each update has given me so much serotonin so thank you for that ☺️

i think canon divergence is SO fun!! altho i don't have the time to write fanfic these days i love how like. fanfic as a medium allows folks to break free from traditional storytelling mores and do something like rube goldberg a plot? when writing original stuff i obsess about making my plot as tight as possible to its central thesis and themes, whereas with fanfic you have the freedom to be looser, indulge in your "what if"s, play around with different themes, go on tangents, figure it out as you go.

and part of why i love your writing so much (both do it all anew and resigned though not to fate) is because you're really skilled at finding a balance between establishing strong themes, building a compelling plot that has a coherent and emotionally resonant arc, while also playing in the sandbox that is fanfic and indulging in what ifs. it results in a really satisfying story that leaves me going "YES this is how TMA could have been if it started the same but the story was built around different themes and told a different message."

and personally i go apeshit over do it all anew because i LOVE the questions you explore, which are touched on but never expanded in canon, like - how can shared trauma both bring people together AND push them apart? in canon we *see* the apocalypse's strain on jon & martin's relationship but also martin *tells* jon that their relationship is built on shared trauma. and canon doesn't explore and complicate that!! because there isn't space for it!!

but meanwhile in do it all anew, you start out like "ok so they sleep together because of the unknowing" which seems like the setup to a cut and dry "shared trauma brings people together." but then it isn't presented as a natural climactic moment of romantic connection in the face of danger, it's complicated by the reveal that the sex was a *performance* on jon's part because he felt like it was the only way to express his feelings. and it leaves martin with this tenuous connection to a partner he thinks is dead, that he then has to navigate on his own - making the aftermath of their making love something that's both deeply lonely and a thread of connection to a person he thought he'd lost forever. so bittersweet and tragic!!! and then when jon cuts the tether and they lose aamal, that's a shared trauma that *destroys* their relationship (i presume??? i know we're not quite there yet.) but then aamal coming back to them is a traumatizing event for her that is also the entire foundation for her forming a relationship with her fathers. augh it's so deliciously complicated!!

and another super compelling question being - is it possible to rebuild a relationship that has been irreparably shattered, if the cause of that shattering is belatedly softened/negated? or does the fact that you've had to live with the trauma and hurt and anger and sadness of that shattering for a long time make it so that even if the initial "problem" is solved, you can't undo the hurt you had to feel enough to access the love you originally felt for that person? in do it all anew this is obviously aamal returning to jon and martin several years after the fact. but the shattering-that's-belatedly-solved problem exists in canon as well, to a lesser extent, when jon dies and comes back, and when martin pushes jon away/chooses the lonely during s4 and then it turns out he's actually fucking with peter lukas. but canon never dives into the emotional aftermath of those events and how they affect jon and martin's relationship (safehouse fics do though so god bless fanfic writers).

and i'm really excited to see the moment where jon becomes the pupil because it's like. is it forgivable to choose saving countless strangers over saving your family, your child? is it forgivable to do the opposite? which choice is the greater evil? which is a question that AGAIN is touched on in canon but mag 200 is too damn short to really tackle it, plus in canon we don't see the aftermath somewhere else, PLUS i think the existence of a baby, an innocent who you love more than life and are responsible for, makes it SO much more complicated. like!!! how inconceivably guilty must jon feel about starting the apocalypse that he would choose to kill his daughter and his partner as an alternative to spreading the fears? how inconceivably guilty would he then feel when after it all, he goes against what he feels is right and he and martin STILL lose aamal? how inconceivably betrayed would martin feel that jon would choose strangers' lives over his family's? could he ever forgive jon for that? AUGH it's so TRAGIC and COMPLEX i can't wait to see what you do with it!!!

anyway that was accidentally an essay that i spent an hour tapping on my phone but. thank you for this fic!

P.S. if anyone else is reading this, do yourself a favor and read do it all, anew because it is STELLAR and jevonne crit20lesbian is a gift to this fandom ✨