#vs ‘I am not worthy of someone coming for me’ vs ‘i betrayed him. he came anyway. someone will come for you too. i know it’

[sparklecryptid]

FUCK. I've just found myself trying to set broken!ice!Luche to Hadestown. It's - not really fitting together, but *fuck* if it isn't a lovely contrast+compare between the two themes/settings/images.

Hamelin you can’t do this to me.

Because! It won’t fit! Neither Luche or Tredd are similar enough to the main pairings! I will concede that Luche would make a very pretty Hades (now that thought isn’t leaving my mind AAHHHH) but it doesn’t-

Exactly-

Fit.

But.

BUT THE CONTRASTS.

THE COMPARISONS.

IM GOING NUTS.

(Why did you look back? You almost had her.

I loved her. I still love her. How could I not?

If it would have kept her alive-

I had to make sure she was there. I had to look. I had too. Wouldn’t you?

No. If it was to keep him safe. Even if not with me. If it was to ensure he would live. I would not look. I don’t have that right.

Love isn’t a right. It’s a necessity.)

[miyuskye]

Today I stumbled on old posts from people reacting to the sk8 finale. I want to make a premise and say that I also felt mixed emotions after it and I was sure that there was something wrong with it. After two months and a half I can say with certainty that the only thing that felt wrong was the lack of episode time, but oh well. Thinking back about sk8, I feel that the writers and the director did the best they could with the time they had.

I think that the main source of confusion stemmed from people misunderstanding the point of the plot. I'm putting myself also among these people because I was so sad that Tadashi forfeited his match vs Langa, but after thinking calmly about that I realized that I just wanted to see Tadashi skate because I am this whipped for him XD and, in reality, even if he had a match with Langa, it would have probably ended the same way -- with Tadashi forfeiting the race midway and letting Langa win (since it's hinted that he's a skating god and Langa beat Adam because he was lucky). This is coherent with the small number of available episodes and Tadashi's arc.

Back to the general public confusion. I'm sure a lot of people were blinded by Renga and totally missed the point the staff wanted to make. It was confirmed in an interview that "sk8 is the story of Adam's search for his Eve", whatever this means (it could be Adam finding his Eve in either Tadashi or Langa, i.e. finding his Eve through the concept that skating is fun). The point is that the focus is on Adam and always has been on Adam. The fandom gave into a collective thinking that Adam was a pedophile and an abuser, but that's clearly not how the staff wanted to portray him. He is obsessed with Langa because he finds in him a worthy and, most importantly, equal partner, he adores Langa and given how loudly he expresses his feelings (i.e. painting a pierced heart over red chrysanthemum to shout out his feelings for Tadashi) his attitude toward him is just the embodiment of that. He isn't interested in Langa because of the power imbalance between them (again, he sees Langa as his equal); he just doesn't want to be alone.

And, yes, the final episodes clearly fit into the narrative of "skating should be fun" because Langa understands (through Reki) that skating with friends is fun and makes Adam remember that (meanwhile he realizes that Tadashi, his friend, was by his side all of this time). Langa, at the beginning, thought that skating was all about the thrill and the adrenaline. He didn't understand that it was fun and amazing to do it with friends/ the people you care about (paralleling to how he didn't realize why he stopped snowboarding when his father died). That's why from ep 7 to 10 he doesn't feel anything. It's because it was all about being with someone you care about, both in skating and snowboarding. He understands that through his relationship with Reki, but my point (and prolly the point a lot of people missed) is that it's general and it doesn't limit itself to Reki and Reki only. I don't want to invalidate Renga, of course not, I like the pairing and the ending makes it clear that Langa's happiness is skating with Reki especially. But the fun experience that comes from skating is a general thing and him going against Adam is just a consequence of that. He wants to make Adam understand that you should have fun while skating, and he wants to have fun with him because he admires him. He was never scared of Adam, and he generally looked pretty chill even when he smashed Cherry with his board. The only thing that mattered to him before his race against Adam was 'why did he start skating?' and 'he looks like he's not having fun' instead of 'i'm going to make this guy pay for his imaginary crimes with my board'. It was like a argument but between friends, the one that gets you in a fight (idk like Rin taking Haru by his collar in Free lmao) because you both want to stand your ground but still care about the other. Also, Utsumi also confirmed that she wanted them to fight with fists in the last ep XD

So, yeah, sk8's ending falls perfectly in the 'skating should be fun' trope. Moving on, let's talk about Kamata. She's, once again, a target for the fandom collective hysteria and she became like this because they projected their hate for Adam into her. Or into Tadashi sometimes, again completely missing the point that the show is about Adam. A lot of people wanted the police to raid S, but that couldn't be realistically attainable because Adam made sure to take off S from the patrol route again and I'm p sure he took additional measures so it wasn't believable for those measures to be shattered in less than a week (when S has been up and running for 7 years). Let's pretend she somehow managed to search Shindo's house. What would she have found? Nothing accusing Adam of Takano's crime. I understand that Takano's crime wasn't very well detailed but I'm thinking that it was something on the line of being bribed to making a certain kind of contract (when he talks about receiving illegal fundings it's the only thing that came to mind). And, on another note, Adam was the one leaking info to the police in the first place XD first, because he wanted to raise to the top of his party (and just standing in Takano's shade isn't his way to roll) and he wanted to have a leverage on the police, so that he could use that leverage to hide his borderline illegal skateboarding races. But they are two different crimes. Kamata wouldn't have found anything useful for the Takano investigation and, even if she managed to find proofs of S (and that's a big if because I'm sure that Adam and Tadashi go out of their way to hide the S screens also from aunties and the household staff), what can she do with those? They're not related to the investigation at hand and can't be used in that specific trial (which is about Takano receiving illegal fundings). A new trial should have been made and Adam wouldn't surely go to prison in one day XD furthermore, it's clear that Kamata belonged to a subplot and that she was a supporting character. She was never meant to be something more than that. I have a long history of elevating supporting character to something they're clearly not so I'm used not to feel 'betrayed' when this doesn't happen, but probably other people don't.

I don't know if I want to talk about Tadaai AGAIN because I feel like we said plenty about them. TL;DR the relationship is not abusive so the point doesn't stand. Tadashi has agency, and chooses to stay by Adam's side because he wants to (and not because he has... Stockholm syndrome... I cringed while writing that XD)

The last point should be the fact that people felt betrayed that Renga wasn't more canon. which I think stemmed from the fact that Utsumi can't decide what to ship XD she had the same problem in Free because she was torn between MakoHaru and RinHaru, but here?? I'm so sure she ships Renga and Tadaai but she definitely likes Eden too. (She wouldn't have had a whole ass theme song for them if she didn't 😊) and so she couldn't decide what route to take and she ended up taking all of them. Bless her, i love a multi shipping queen 🙏

On this note, I saw also some posts about Adam being a homophobic example of queer villain except for the fact that he's not. The authors have made it clear that they love him to no ends. He's not supposed to be Evil and Unredeemable. I don't know why people are so bent on labelling him with things he's not. My roommate told me that he gave off the creepy vibe at the beginning but she confirmed me that after ep 4 it's clear that he's not meant to be dangerous like the other villains he's compared to. I don't personally like people comparing Adam to Hisoka, for example, because I feel that there are very different intentions behind them. Also, I have a feeling people have never watched a media representation of actual grooming (or something that is closely related to this). There's no grooming in sk8. There are fanfics when people describe Adam this way (and while it's interesting to read them, I feel that he's/very/ OOC there), but he's not like this in the original canon.

Thank you for reading this 🙏

[deathvalleyqueen]

 John’s Children VS Joseph Seed - FCND -

“You three don’t remember what the Project was like, you two were just babies.” Lily snapped pointed towards Rose and Grace. “You weren’t even born!” She screamed as she gestured wildly towards Finn. “We remember, Sam and I... we remember Joseph breaking our Grandfather’s neck because he DARE question the project.” The three younger Seeds looked over at Lily blankly. They had rarely seen her get so angry. “This is not just about the Highwaymen... Ethan... you two want to make it about them. FINE.” 

“Lily..” Sam started softly reaching over to his sister trying to calm her but it was to no avail. 

“Don’t ‘Lily’ me like Dad does...” She snarled pushing Sam’s hand away. “We are going to end Joseph, the control he still has over our father, our mother,  Aunt Rachel. He has to die for them to be free. You know it!” 

“Mom got him to leave... it’s done.” Sam noted softly. 

“It’s done, when he takes his last breath.” The fury in Lily’s voice echoed through the dark forest where they had set up camp. 

Grace stood up and crossed her arms in front of her chest and shook her head. “How do you expect we get to him? The gates of New Eden are locked to us, that masked fucker..” 

“He’s our uncle..” Sam muttered softly. “the ‘masked fucker’ was Colin MacKenna. Our mother’s brother...” 

Finn took a step forward. “It doesn’t matter if he is your Uncle or not. He isn’t going to be letting us in and if we can’t get in... we can’t find Joseph.” They had a fair point and Grace reach over and rubbed their arm. “I know I am right, this one time.” 

“Then we prove we are worthy, we are ready to repent our sins.” Rose added lowly as she looked at her feet. “We find a copy of the Book of Joseph, prove we are who we say we are... the children of the Heralds... that we have as much right to be there, more even, than anyone else.” Everyone looked at Rose as her hand lifted to play with the leather cord and key around her neck. “We don’t know if the people of New Eden even remember John Seed... Jacob Seed... those names could mean nothing to them.” 

“How?” Lily asked bitterly. “There are people who were part of The Project, who knew our parents...” 

“The winners are the ones the write history.” Finn noted looking at Lily befor glancing over at Grace. “That’s what our Dad always taught us.” Grace gave Finn a weak smile as she silently nodded agreeing. “So, Joseph thinks he won, our parents barely escaped but they did, so what makes you think he ever mentioned he had brothers that betrayed him to protect their families?” 

Sam let out a long sigh as he nodded his head. “Finn made an excellent point.” He looked directly at Rose. “If, that’s a massive if, Rose. We can even find an intact copy of the Book of Joseph, we could be walking into a trap. Joseph could have deemed our families the snakes in the garden of Eden, he could a declared our line to be akin to carrying the blood of Judas... we are the children of betrayers coming to destroy what The Father has built for his people.” In that moment Sam sounded less like he was speaking to his sister and more like he was given a serman. “We must see that is what they will view us as and no matter how much we want to prove, the gates of New Eden may always be bared to us.” 

“Then we rip the gates down.” Lily replied slowly. “We rip them off the hinges, burn them down if we have to, but Joseph is not living through this.” 

“HE COULD BE DEAD ALREADY!” Rose snapped as she stood up from the log she was seated upon. “You want to base our whole plans on taking down an old man who probably is dead already or wishes he was.” Rose’s voice shook. “While is shit stain of a son is the thorn in our side while we try to stop these twins who want to over take the whole damn county for themselves. Priorities Lilith!” Rose was furious, Grace turned and tried to calm her elder sister down but it was useless. Once Rose was started, it was hard to stop her. “Let time take him! If he has a conscious, it will do him in if it hasn’t already. You want us to take revenge for things I don’t remember... Grace doesn’t remember...Finn doesn’t remember! THIS ISN’T OUR FIGHT!” 

“IT IS!” Lily screamed. “THIS IS OUR FAMILY!” Lily’s hands were shaking as she ran them through her long dark locks. “You don’t remember because you were a baby, you were lucky... you didn’t have to hide in a closet while the Whitetails kidnapped our mother! Hearing her scream or the look on our father’s face when he pulled me out of that closet all covered in blood. You weren’t even born when Joseph snapped Papa’s neck! You didn’t see Uncle Bobby begging for his life before the Deputy and her little friends put a dozen holes in him while he was trying to protect US!” Tears of anger started to roll down Lily’s cheeks. “Just because you don’t remember doesn’t mean it didn’t happen! It just means you were LUCKY.” Rose turned away knowing this was not a battle she was going to win as Lily took a few steps around the fire and crossed to stand in front of Grace. “You would have stayed with us... your family... if it wasn’t for him..”

Lily was trying to sway Grace to her side but there was little point. Grace shook her head as she locked eyes with her eldest sister. “You think I would want any other life than what I had? I love my parents.” Grace’s voice was eerily calm, only Finn knew the truth that her voice only took such a flat tone when Grace was ready to snap. “MY PARENTS, Jacob and Ellie, raised me just fine. I am who I am today because of MY PARENTS.” Her voice began to rise as she closed the gap between herself and Lily. “I have saved your fucking ass, because of MY PARENTS. So don’t you dare assume that I would have ever wanted anything else.” 

“Gracie... come on...” Finn started trying to coax their sister down from what they knew was going to end up in a brawl. “It’s not worth it, we should just go back home, to Mom and Dad and just let these idiots sort their own shit out.” Finn was trying their best to get through to Grace but it was in moments like this that in the past Jacob would be the only one able to talk her down from the fight. “We tried to fix the shit mom and dad did and guess what. It’s FUBARed dude. There absoutly no fucking fixing this. The Project at Eden’s Gate... it’s the fucking plague, it infects every part of this county and maybe we should just let those twins fucking take it all over. The people who smart will leave and the stupid will stay and fight.” Finn paused and their eyes locked onto Grace’s. “Are we smart or stupid?” 

Grace took a long deep breath and contemplated their options. She took her time weighing ever possible scenario she could think of in a five minutes it took for her to finally answer Finn. “We are Seeds... of course we fucking stupid.” Grace sighed as she brought her hands to her face. With another long deep breath in she looked up at Lily. “You want to us to fight Joseph, fine. We will but you do the recon, the leg work. Find me away in, come up with a solid plan of attack and I’ll carry it out but you have to admit this isn’t to help anyone but yourself.” Lily looked shocked at Grace’s words. “So, if it’s deal.. you two. Who ‘remember’ can do the work on Joseph to tame what ever demons of your past you have to, but the three of us, Carmina and the rest. We are going after those twins and their ‘Highwaymen’, then Ethan... we are going to prove that our family, The Seeds, can do more than just destroy Hope County.” 

“Who the fuck do you think you are bossing me around?” Lily snapped. 

Grace scoffed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I am the only one with the balls to lead us.” There was almost a tone of humor in a voice as she spoke leaning forward. “You can’t lead, you are to driven by your emotions and that gets people we don’t want killed...killed.” Grace’s eyes lifted as she nodded her head towards Sam. “He could lead, but she doesn’t want to.  Rose as the same problem as you and Finn... well Finn has always been my second in command. So fall in line, doy your work, and you’ll your little revenge ... or try to do it your way, and die a horrible death but at least you will be out of my way.” Grace wouldn’t wait for a reply she turned to Finn and gave them a nod towards where their pets had been resting just along the tree line. “Let’s go feed the animals.” Finn nodded and the pair walked off into darkness leaving the three oldest siblings left by the fire. 

Lily bit the inside of her cheek as Sam walked up behind and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Grace is right... really. Her plan is...” 

“She is our baby sister, you are just going to let her boss us around?” Lily’s voice cracked and Sam looked over at Rose who shook her head as she sat down not wanting any part of this. 

Sam squeezed his twin’s shoulder as he looked her in the eyes. “Grace is not our baby sister, not since things went sideways. Mom and Dad can’t accept that, but we should.” Lily shook her head defiantly. “Lily, I know you want her to be the little sister you got to play with like a living doll, that pulled your hair, that made mom smile again... but she isn’t that. That girl is dead. Okay. The Grace we have is all we ever will have, I accept. Rose accepts it.” Lily looked up long enough to see Rose nodding. “Wouldn’t you rather have her back in her life as a cousin, helping us clean up this fucking mess, rising up to be the leader we need though you know she doesn’t want to do it, she is. All because I am too scared of what I could become in that position. But because you remember someone who is really dead, you would rather still hold on to her being your ‘sister’ and have her and Finn just walk out of our lives again?” 

Lily slowly shook her head. “I don’t want them to leave.”

“Then accept we have to fall in line..” Rose interjected. “Grace isn’t cruel, she isn’t out to hurt people who don’t deserve it. She really just wants to help people, as stupid and noble as that is.” Lily said nothing only looked to Sam who gestured to Rose who seemed to have the situation handled. “Listen, Grace cares about other people, she puts others before herself all the time. You heard what she did just get her damn dog back... a dog...”

“I would have burned that place down too to get Boomer.” 

“Exactly.” Rose said with a laugh. “We all would have. That’s the point... we aren’t this family or that family. We are all one family. So she calls Jacob her Dad. Who gives a fuck?” Lily shook her head once more. “Listen, you want Joseph to suffer... show her why. I know why. Sam remembers for fucks sake. Do the recon like said and show her who The Father really is. She’ll be just as angry and out for blood in the end like you are.” Rose smirked as she settled back onto the log.

“How are you so sure?” Lily asked. 

Rose cracked a smirk that reminded the twins so much of  their father’s it made both of them a tad nervous. “Because we all have the same evil tainting our souls, that wrath that comes with being born a Seed.” Her eyes fixed upon the fire. “The Sins of our father, our father’s father and so on... it’s always there looking for a new way to come out.” The twins watched Rose carefully and were unnerved by how sure of herself she sounded. “The sin... the curse... it’s just waiting for us all to just say yes and give in...” Rose’s eyes lifted and they look vacant like there was nothing there behind them, just darkness. “I said yes... you did... Sam has... Grace will too, we all will just...say yes...because that’s what we do.” Rose slowly stood and walked off to go join Grace and Finn as they cared for the animals. 

This left the Twins alone, both equally unnerved. “What the fuck?” Sam questioned softly. 

“She is losing it.” Lily muttered. “This all is breaking her...” 

Sam shook his head. “No, I think being away from Mom and Dad for the first time... it’s the first time we are seeing who Rose really is. I think she just stopped trying to act normal...” 

“She sounded just like towards end of everything..” Lily whispered the fear in her voice only noticeable to Sam. 

“I know... Mom stopped him. We’ll stop her.” Sam pulled his sister into a tight hug. “I promise...we won’t let her become him...” 

[lostgirlrewatch]

1x08 - Vexed

Original Air Date: November 7, 2010

Written by: Michelle Lovretta

Directed by: John Fawcett

Okay, so. Vexed.

This is the original pilot. I don’t think they necessarily presented it as the first episode chronologically—more like, this is what you can expect from our show. Showcase picked it up and it went to series. Vexed became episode 1x08. You can find more info about it in this interview with Michelle Lovretta and Jay Firestone.

Anyway, this episode was shot earlier than the rest, and you can tell. Makeup and styling is different, and they hadn’t quite settled on the tone they eventually went with. As such, this episode is a bit grittier than normal. I find it interesting both for its different tone and for the fact that many of the decisions they made for the episode were made in the interest of selling the concept to Showcase.

This fucking article is great and is a much better review of this episode and why it’s so god damn good than my shit below. It also provides an extremely detailed look into...exactly what I just described above. All of the behind-the-scenes production stuff. Check it out.

The premise: Bo finds a lead on someone who might know about her mother--a falsely accused death row inmate named Lou Ann. Bo vows to prove her innocence in exchange for answers, but her quest leads her into contact with a vicious Dark Fae named Vex.

I do wonder if they wrote this episode without really knowing where it was going to fit into the first season, assuming they had an outline. It works as a standalone and in some ways it feels a little disjointed from what came before in episode 1x07, right from the beginning. Dyson coming right out and saying something so blunt as, “She’s never gonna love you,” feels a bit off to me. But then again, all the characters in this episode are a bit “off,” which is understandable. This episode is like…the prototype. The beta.

“No offense to my own kind, but humans are a little pedestrian now.” *awkwardly laughs* Right... “your kind”…haha you’re enslaved. Lauren are you okay.

“Once you go Fae you never go back, huh?”

“So I hear.”

Me:

Bo feels a little bit more aggressive to me in this episode, like when Siegfried mentions her mother and she wigs out. It’s her normal desperation plus a bit of added homicidal urges. She’s a slightly grittier Bo.

As we can observe from the opening sex scene between Bo and Dyson, this episode is a bit more sexually explicit than we’re used to. This, I am not super a fan of on a personal level. However, the episode is also more violent than usual and incorporates horror elements. This, I am super a fan of because that’s kind of my shit, and it’s something I wish they would have leaned a little bit more into in the rest of the series.

There is nothing I don’t love about this scene. The creepy opera music that sets the stage, the gourmet meal prep (those gourmet meals always end in murder).

(Am I the only one who loves this random little detail they plopped into the background?)

Vex’s entrance—not overly dramatic, just, boop, there he is. 

The tense build-up as we’re drawn to the knife, not sure where it’s gonna go—

--oh, oop, there it goes. 

We know what’s going to happen now, but we build up to it, agonizingly, anyway. Surely we’re not actually going to sit here and watch as he shoves his hand into the disposal and then keep watching as he turns it on and it grinds his hand up. Oh, but we are.

Some scenes have a way of sticking with ya.

So I guess even the Lost Girl universe isn’t all camp and games. People are still people. Especially when they’re ancient as fuck and have all that time to stew in the cesspool of their fucked up emotional and psychological issues. So divorced are they from the concept of mortality, growing up and growing old, that their maturity level laps itself and becomes immaturity—they tend to to behave like children. 

Not all Dark Fae are curmudgeonly, innocuous old grandpas who own restaurants or absolute Queens like the Morrigan. Some of them are like Vex. And just like, fuckin murder people—and each other. Vex’s world is different than Bo’s world. Vex lives in a world where violence is mundane. Empathy is nonexistent and pointless anyhow. Sometimes I wonder if immortal characters are drawn to violence and death because it’s as close as they can get to experiencing a sort of vicarious mortality.

I love Vex’s character throughout the series—up to a certain point—but I love him best in this, his original episode. In later episodes, Vex is portrayed as a sort of morally ambiguous anti-hero, or anti-villain, whichever you prefer. I have mixed feelings on how well the transition from villain to anti-hero is handled. The farther along you get in the series, the more he becomes reduced to a shell of his former self, purely comic relief, and just…sucks.

But in 1x08, Vex is a villain. Straight up. The things that he does are horrifying and the show does not bother trying to get you to empathize with him. And to be clear, this does not mean that he is not a multi-dimensional character, that he isn’t worthy of empathy, or that he is pure evil. What it does mean is the show does something I wish more shows would do. It creates a genuinely threatening and reprehensible villain that is both worthy of your analysis, even your stanning (I stan), and yet whose actions are still inexcusable.

In that interest, let’s talk about him. At this point, his most defining characteristic, the simplest way we can begin to understand his motives, is that he utterly lacks empathy. Vex is the kind of person who would puppeteer a woman and force her to drown her own children. 

He is ordered to kill this woman’s family as punishment for betraying the Dark Fae’s rules. And in this episode, Vex is shown to be someone who rigidly follows the Dark Fae’s orders without question, and without any particular investment in them either. But he doesn’t just kill the kids—he uses his powers to force the mother to do it. To drown them. For no real reason other than his own amusement. That’s another level of sadistic. For a less intense example, in his introduction scene, he gruesomely tortures Siegfried before killing him. Just for funsies. (Well, okay, and to get information.) Vex lacks empathy, clearly, and may scan as a sociopath, but he’s not a stoic one. He gets enjoyment out of tormenting his victims.

Is this the kind of guy the writers are going to try to later convince us is a harmless comic relief mascot? Surely n—

Yes. Yes he is.

I am not at all opposed to the idea of Vex slowly becoming a morally ambiguous anti-villain, even a member of the gang. In fact, I think that premise is interesting as hell. But what I feel like happens later is that the show kind of forgets that Vex did all this horrible shit in the past. Kinda brushes it under the rug. Not only does this make it a lot harder for me to get behind him becoming one of the gang, it also does the character himself a great disservice. I’ll probably get into this more once Vex starts showing up more frequently, and why I feel the writers mishandle him.

To be clear, in spite of how sadistic he is, Vex is not a malicious person. He doesn’t have any enmity for the people he’s ordered to kill. He’s not angry, not hateful, not spiteful. He just doesn’t really care. He’s almost a kind of nihilist. None of it really matters. Somebody who thinks like that would have a fairly breezy time killing people.

Because I like when in-universe politics make things complicated, I like that the in-universe politics of the Light and Dark Fae makes things complicated. Bo wants to free Lou Ann, and she wants the Light Fae’s help, but they can’t help her because it would mean basically declaring war on the Dark Fae. MAJOR no-no. Likewise, they can’t go after Vex because all of his actions are sanctioned by the Dark Fae’s government. Bo’s unalignment gives her freedom, but it’s not without its downsides. She has no influence and no resources when things get too big for her to handle.

“Smells like fried bitch.” An icon. If I remember correctly from one of the behind-the-scenes features, they brainstormed and tested out a bunch of different one-liners to use for this moment, until Ksenia Solo ad-libbed this.

Lol. Kenzi is just so done with Bo and Dyson’s drama.

Lou Ann, the Fae woman who is on death row for killing her kids, obviously strikes a nerve with Bo. 

It’s kinda weird, because when we first meet her, Bo’s main motivation is that she wants to be able to live her life without being forced to kill others and stay on the run to do so. Those problems kinda get solved in the first episode. 

Since then, her motivation has been to live her life without these big mysterious Fae governments telling her what to do. In the first episode, Bo, like Lou Ann, says that she chooses humans. Bo was raised human and wants a normal human life, or as normal as she can get. At the same time, most of the other characters on the show, including her friends, spend a lot of time trying to convince her to embrace her Fae identity and a Fae lifestyle, because it’s “who she is” and she has no choice but to embrace that. “Choice” is a keyword that gets thrown around a lot in this show. But what is the show really trying to say about it? There’s some kind of nature vs. nurture conflict going on here, and I don’t feel like either Bo or the show itself has really decided on which side of the line they fall. On another note, this show has huge Fuck the System vibes. Which I appreciate. We stan an icon who chooses to reject a static, repressive, harmful system even at great personal cost.

A few episodes ago, Bo and Lauren went on a mission together and cemented their bond of trust. In this scene, Lauren breaks that trust. 

She sleeps with Bo to distract her from going after Vex, under the pretense that it is simply the culmination of them both being attracted to one another. The next morning, it doesn’t take long for Bo to figure this out. She is appropriately hurt. She has feelings for Lauren, there was an intimacy there, and she trusted her in a way that she doesn’t normally trust other people, because of her past. Lauren took advantage of her feelings and used her. Whether Lauren wanted to do it or not, whether she had any way of refusing, isn’t relevant in this moment; it was cruel regardless.

But what does Lauren say?

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Oop. There it is. There’s the Lauren I remember.

She hasn’t done anything wrong, y’all. Well, I’ll be damned. Lauren never did anything wrong ever in her life. *Lauren did nothing wrong meme*

The way Lauren says this line, with so much conviction, makes me feel like she genuinely believes it. She believes that she did nothing wrong. She is legitimately deluded about what just happened.

This is only the first in what I remember to be a very long string of instances where Lauren pushes blame onto others and denies any culpability in her shitty actions. At least, in this case, Bo isn’t buying it.

Waiting for Bo in the most extra-ass, goth, flamboyant setup possible is exactly the kind of quality villainy I expect from Vex.

It’s criminal that Bo never gets to use this awesome sword.

And…I love that Vex just gets to walk out of there, laughing. Because the system. And he’s not even really evil. He’s just a sadistic asshole. With a job. It’s. *chef’s kiss*

[mittensmorgul]

9.11, First Born.

Aah, Cain. And Dean doing whatever it takes to spare everyone else from having to do any of the Terrible Things that need to be done-- killing Abaddon, getting revenge on Gadreel, maybe even eventually being able to do something to help Cas get revenge for what Metatron did to him... who even knows, but right now to Dean, everything is his fault and he's therefore open to manipulation by Crowley...

And all of this is very much how Dean felt about having said yes to Michael in s14, but times a thousand.

As we will learn in 9.23, Crowley knew all along what the Mark of Cain would eventually do to him, and he'd just been playing nice and biding his time... waiting for Dean to be ready to sit at his right hand as his own personal Knight/Hellhound... but that's all part of Crowley's long game... And his con even starts showing itself in this episode:

CAIN You have quite a reputation, Dean. I see the part about you being brave rings true DEAN Well, what can I say? I'm an all-in kind of guy. Abaddon is the last Knight of Hell, and if you're out of the game, what the hell do you care if she dies? CAIN If your friend here could talk, he would tell you that I trained the Knights of Hell. I built that entire demonic order with my own hands -- Abaddon included. DEAN [turns indignantly on CROWLEY] Well, that is information I could have used five minutes ago! [CROWLEY gasps in explanation, still unable to talk]

And then in addition to Crowley's con, we have Cain's test of Dean, with the three demons I mentioned back in 9.02.

DEAN [Exhausted] What was that? Some kind of a test? CAIN [sipping his beer] I felt connected to you right from the beginning. Kindred spirits, if you will. You and I are very much alike. DEAN Right. Yeah, except I didn't kill my brother. CAIN You saved yours. Why? DEAN Because you never give up on family -- ever. CAIN Where's your brother now, then? DEAN I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, and I don't really care. Just give me the damn blade.

And right from the start, they've set themselves up as a sort of inverse mirror of one another. Yes, Cain might find them "kindred spirits," but in the way that "good twin vs evil twin" are kindred spirits. Except Dean realized what made Cain quit and slaughter his Knights... Love for Colette. And for a guy who (again in 9.02) insists he isn't about the love... and love, Dean really does get it.

And here we have the key to so much of the Sam and Dean dynamics over the rest of the series:

CROWLEY It's the bloody mark of Cain. CAIN From Lucifer himself. The mark and the blade work together. Without the mark, the blade is useless. It's just an old bone. CROWLEY A bone? DEAN The jawbone of an animal. The jawbone you used to kill Abel because he was God's favorite. CAIN Abel wasn't talking to God. He was talking to Lucifer. Lucifer was gonna make my brother into his pet. I couldn't bear to watch him be corrupted, so I offered a deal -- Abel's soul in heaven for my soul in hell. Lucifer accepted... As long as I was the one who sent Abel to heaven. So, I killed him. Became a soldier of Hell -- a knight. DEAN And Lucifer ordered you to make more. CAIN  My knights and I, we did horrible things -- for centuries. Bringers of chaos and darkness. DEAN Then you met Colette. CAIN She knew who I was... and what I was. She loved me unconditionally. She forgave me. She only asked for one thing. CROWLEY To stop.

Cain had been manipulated into taking the Mark in order to save his brother who had been manipulated by Lucifer into believing he was talking to God (hello, s11! which itself will expand this manipulation right out to Chuck and Amara's initial deception, and now even beyond that, to Chuck's inability to let go of his creation and just let it be). And Cain... he knew he had to quit again, and break his promise to Colette.

CAIN I can give you the mark, Dean, if it's what you truly want. DEAN What are you talking about? CAIN The mark can be transferred to someone who's worthy. DEAN You mean a killer like you? CAIN Yes. DEAN Can I use it to kill that bitch? CAIN Yes. But you have to know with the mark comes a great burden. Some would call it a great cost. DEAN Yeah, well, spare me the warning label. You had me at "kill the bitch". CAIN Good luck, Dean. You're gonna to need it.

because Crowley summed up Dean's problem now, which goes far beyond not reading the warning label before taking the Mark:

CROWLEY Your problem, mate, is that nobody hates you more than you do. Believe me, I've tried.

But Dean has finally figured out that this was what Crowley had wanted all along, that Crowley was using him to get to Cain and the First Blade. Manipulation, ahoy, because that was only step one, and there's far worst to come.

And then we have the other half of the story, of Cas giving Sam some food for thought. Having just sacrificed his own humanity for the cause, he's lamenting the loss of some of his favorite parts of having been human, like enjoying foods he liked that now taste disgusting to him. He's learned a heck of a lot about human nature and emotions firsthand now, and he does his best to convince Sam he's worth saving:

Castiel: Sam, when I was human, I died, and that showed me that life is precious, and it must be protected at all costs, even a life as... as pig-headed as a Winchester's. Sam: My life's not worth any more than anyone else's -- not yours or Dean's...or Kevin's. Please. Please, help me do one thing right. Keep going.

Because as much as Sam is blaming Dean for everything that's happened, he's still blaming himself. Dean lied to him, but Sam has also lied to Dean. Dean was involved in Gadreel possessing him, but deep down, Sam actually did say yes all by his lonesome, manipulated or not. And he did lie and make bad choices before, and yet Dean had still chosen to trust him, over and over again. Dean only felt betrayed by that lack of trust in return, just as Sam feels now. Like Sam said in 14.18 about Jack:

Sam: Dean, it wasn't just Cas. It wasn't. We knew Jack was dangerous. We always knew. Long before he killed Michael. You more than anyone. I mean, from the very beginning, you knew. But, you know, we fell for him 'cause he had a good heart and a good soul. Then he didn't. And that's on me, too, by the way. I mean, I'm the one that made the call to bring him back. He didn't ask for that. I decided for him. And you warned me.

This STRONGLY reminded me of the speech Cas gave to Sam in 9.11, if not in specific content, in the general theme:

Castiel: The only person who has screwed things up more consistently than you...is me. And now I know what that guilt feels like. And I know what it... I know what it means to feel sorry, Sam. I am sorry. Sam: I know. Castiel: You know, old me -- I would've have just kept going. I would've jammed that needle in deeper until you died because the ends always justified the means. But what I went though -- Well, that PB and J taught me that angels can change, so...who knows? Maybe Winchesters can, too.

So even five years later, this is the progression for all of them.

[ganglylimbs]

Endgame Review

!Spoilers for Endgame! Also, I'm going to try to put this under a read more. If it doesn't work, I apologize for the long post.

I'll be honest, I did not expect to come out of Endgame liking it as much as I did.

Don't get me wrong. I expected to like the movie. I'm a slut for action movies, in fact my favorite type of movie is action-comedy, and Marvel has always pulled that off very well.

[[More]]

But with some of the spoilers I saw (Nat and Tony's death, Steve returning to the past, some things the directors have said that I'll get to), I expected for this review to be a lot more salty.

I mean, as a fair warning, I still don't like any of the things I mentioned above. I hate that Natasha died (hate it for the fact that until this movie, they never treated her like a character. And only do so now because they need to make her death sad). I hate that Tony finally got his family and was killed for it. I said before the movie even came out that I hate the thought of Steve returning to the past permanently.

But. They weren't as horrible as I thought they were going to be. (I did cry like a baby for both Natasha and Tony though.) And the way they did Steve, well I still hate it (for me, it feels too much like him giving up, abandoning his friends) but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and does give an end to Captain America.

So. The movie was a lot of fun, I liked the action scene. I really, really loved the big action scene at the end with everyone coming together to stand against Thanos' army. But you know why I actually came away liking the movie overall?

It's because, besides the first 30 minutes where Tony yells at Steve, this movie was about them being a team. This movie was about them being friends.

You have Tony and Nebula playing table football, where I suspect Tony let's Nebula win. Nebula pushing the last of the food towards Tony. Nebula setting Tony up as he's dying. Nebula and Rocket traveling the planet as they help Nat keep Earth safe.

Rhodey checking on Nat. Nat and Steve's friendship has always been great ("I'd offer to make you dinner but you look miserable already.") Nat bringing Clint back.

Scott is a delight with everyone and treats them all as friends. That scene when they all come together and Rhodey scares him. Then Rhodey and Scott arguing against Bruce and Nebula about the rules of time travel (and Scott's "You mean Back To The Future lied to me?" is amazing).

Rocket and Bruce bringing Thor back. Bruce telling Thor that he's here because Thor was the one to bring him back. Bruce, Tony, and Nat's brainstorming session about where the stones might be. Tony and Steve reconciling and even joking around with each other. Tony and Scott complimenting Steve's ass. That trust scene between Steve and Tony.

Basically, this was all I wanted from the past three Avenger movies. Them being more than a team. Them being friends. And it was so nice, to watch them work together on screen like that.

It's just sad that MCU decided they could only do that at the end. Because imagine if we got this in another movie? Where everyone survives and they beat the bad guy? How good of a movie that would have been.

Of course, that would involve them to actually follow through with friendships and romances which MCU is fucking terrible at. Look at Bruce/Natasha, who have no conclusion. They don't speak about the ending to AoU. Ever. Just a couple glances and Bruce being upset at her death. But they don't follow through with it. At least have a discussion about the events of AoU, even if the audience doesn't like it, dammit! Follow through on your ideas so they have a satisfying ending!

Or Steve/Sharon, who is never spoken of again. Like, she just never existed. Or Wanda/Vision, a couple that doesn't really have any buildup but I would actually be ok with. Except for the fact that Wanda barely mentions Vision in Endgame.

Look at the friendships. Steve and Tony have this great friendship in any other Marvel thing ever. And yet they are never friends in MCU, no matter how many times they try to imply that they are.

Bucky and Steve barely talk in Infinity War and Endgame, which is weird considering Steve destroyed Shield, the Avengers, and betrayed Tony for the guy. And then at the end, Bucky doesn't even talk to old Steve!

With Sam and Steve, my problem stems more from what the Russo brothers supposedly said. (I'm going to spend the next few minutes bitching about the supposed things they said. I am saying "supposed" because this is all second hand stuff I have seen). So, "supposedly" the Russo brothers said that the reason Steve returned to the past was because he didn't trust anyone in the future. Which makes no fucking sense considering his last moments in the future has him talking with Sam. Sam, who is practically begging Steve to stay with him. Sam, who cries at seeing Old Steve and getting the shield.

And so this begins my problems with the Russo brothers. All the memes about them becoming JK Rowling is true. Because again, I didn't like the thought of Steve staying back in the past but I still thought it was done well. Why do you have to explain it? Why not let the fans talk and discuss and theorize? Because any explanation (especially a stupid ass explanation like that) will just let people down.

Like the thing about since Natasha is a shadow, she wouldn't want a funeral. The thing is, Tony's funeral wasn't a big public thing. It was friends gathered around to send off another friend. While not make it a Natasha and Tony funeral, then? They both sacrificed themselves for the world. They both deserve that respect.

What makes it worse is that they could have so, so easily put it in there. If they just wanted the ending to be about Tony, ok, there's another scene right after she dies that could have been perfect. The group was already gathered around. Tony asked about if she had any family.  Steve says they were her family. There, right there, is a good time to have a mini funeral. Just...say a few words, remember your friend.

Have a funeral for her.

It's just...the Russos keep trying to explain things and talk about why they make certain decisions and it ends up all being bad.

Anyways. So here's a list of Good and Bad things I liked/hate about Endgame

Good

Nebula. Just Nebula in general. She has quickly become my favorite character. But I thought it was especially great that it was Nebula who pulls Gamora from the dark side this time. And it's a cinematic masterpiece that future Nebula kills past Nebula for Gamora, symbolizing Nebula letting go of the past.

The fact that Nebula and Thor are now official Guardians is amazing and I can't wait to see them in Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Also, more Peter and Thor interactions!

Gamora not being revived but being brought back from the past. I just think there is a lot of angst potential there, the Guardians having to deal with a just turned from evil Gamora. Also, we hopefully get to see the actual progression of Gamora's and Quill's relationship this time.

The best joke was hands down the America's ass bit. Every single thing about it, from Tony starting it till Steve commenting on his own ass, was amazing.

Steve vs Steve fight and Steve being exasperated by his own catch phrase. I loved it.

The Time Heist. Man, as someone who usually doesn't like time travel stories, the whole Time Heist plot was great. It kind of made me want to see what would have happened if the entire past! team saw Future! team and tried to stop them from taking the space stone, though.

Again, everyone bantering with each other! Being friends! Fuck yeah, for friendship!

Thor's talk with his mother. I know there are some problems with fat! Thor, but I thought that the fact that he got so excited about being still worthy was great.

Bad

Huce. Or whatever the Bruce/Hulk combination is called. Not that I hate that they combined, but that they didn't explain it. When the Russos' talked about the problems Hulk and Bruce had in Infinity War and why Hulk wouldn't come out, that Hulk was upset with Bruce because he felt like he was being used, I was excited to see how that would play out in Endgame. I wanted Bruce to talk about it! Or go on a journey to figure himself out. Except they didn't do that. They just breezed over it. They didn't explore that at all. How disappointing.

I have a few minor problems with the characterization of Tony in the beginning. Mainly that throughout the MCU, one of the few constant things they had was that Tony couldn't stop fighting. He couldn't stop being Iron Man, he couldn't stop thinking of the future and how to save it. So you're telling me, suddenly he doesn't want to fight anymore? I mean, it's not even that he turned the team down at first when they asked for his help figuring out time travel, because I can buy him being scared. It's that he doesn't change his mind till he sees the picture of Peter (I get that the whole thing they were going for is that everyone has a personal stake in this, but again, this is Tony, who has been trying to protect Earth long before Peter came around). And it's especially the fact that even figuring out time travel, he offers to hide it. To forget it and live in a post-snap world. What makes it more startlingly is you have those two bits of crap characterization contrasted with him still creating suits, for both Pepper and him. Again, this is a man they have made clear can't stop being Iron Man, can't stop trying to protect people, and suddenly he wouldn't immediately try to change back time to get everyone back? It just bugs me a bit.

Which leads me to an overall universe problem I have. I'm sorry, but I don't like Pepper/Tony in MCU and Endgame kind of brought that to the forefront. Because I suspect that they had Tony offer to throw away the chance to get everyone back specifically so they could have Pepper tell him to be a superhero. I get that it's supposed to be Pepper finally giving him permission to be who he is, but that's my problem. I just don't think it's a good relationship when one partner wants the other to change so drastically or change such a fundamental part of themselves. Tony Stark is Iron Man. That, again, is something they hammered into everyone. No matter how much it cost him, no matter how much it put his life in danger, no matter how much Pepper begged him not to, Tony could not stop being Iron Man. So yeah, I just didn't like their relationship that much.

Tony dying. Specifically, the fact that the one character that is constantly plagued with PTSD is only allowed to rest when he dies. And that he gets the family he so wanted, he gets the friends he so wanted, and he never gets to enjoy this. This wouldn't be such a problem if it also wasn't for the fact that the Russo brothers have also supposedly said that Bucky couldn't be a superhero because of his past and because of his mental problems. So yeah. If that part is true, then I don't really trust their stance on mental health and I can totally see them thinking that dying is a fitting ending for someone with PTSD.

Overall, I would absolutely watch Endgame again, if just to get those friendship feelings again.  It's sad that this is an end to an era, that we will probably never see the original 6 again, but I do hope that when Marvel needs to milk that cash cow again and re-do the Avengers, they actually have them be a family this time.

[stimmypaw]

stimmypaw reads Shattered Sky, a late tumblr post

I just, forgot to post this for some reason. It’s me writing my thoughts on the third book of A Vision Of Shadows, I also did that with the first and second ones! Very full of spoilers, enjoy!

Omg.....meet Darktail's Kinnies... someone should name their wc kin server that its a great name, most of them seem to have wc names tho I thought he was a whole gang?? Did more of them get wc names or have already than we knew???

Oh no I barely got to see echosong :c I hope the others are okay, frecklewish is a wonderful name

Chapter one they already have all of the clans going 2 fight???? This absolutely won't go well and that terrifies me

Onestar realized Darktail has a beautiful voice :/ and he feels bad battling him /j

Yup just as I expected, awful loss. Plus Twigpaw was sure her sister was gonna kill her which killed Me

Alderheart parent mode

YASSSS ITS TIME FOR SKYCLAAANNNNNN

obviously the clans are pissed why the hell did they have this as a secret bro!!! why?? bramblestar was just ashamed now firestar???? bro WHY i seriously need to read firestar’s quest I just don’t get it

scenes of elders being cared for by apprentices is always so comforting, seeing it being interrupted and taken from violetpaw feels awful

WHO THE FUCK IS THISTLE he isn’t in the allegiances??????????????????? HELLO ah okay the rogues are showing up slowly ok

Violetpaw did a u-turn to her character here it seems?? She didn't find the elders were lecturing her at first, was Darktail's lil speech about how she was brave enough to convince her they are wrong??? A few compliments couldn't possibly be enough for that. Plus again she is seeing Darktail brutally murder someone and how despite seemingly treating each other nicely these cats are ready to betray each other anytime. Surely this would be enough for her to feel like the elders are still right and she can't trust these cats???

Hope she doesn't start seeing this violence as normal

I'm so sorry for blossomfall I can't believe she got with thornclaw of all cats

LIONBLAZE JAYFEATHER CINDERHEART AND TAWNYPELT, ALL JUST CASUALLY LISTENING TO GOSSIP. ABSOLUTELY SCANDALOUS I LOVE THEM

I love like how the book will take breaks every now and then to show for a millisecond ivypool being mad at tigerheart or vice versa and dovewing looking at tigerheart or vice versa and have the POV go "wonder what thats all about" and just proceed with the plot. Wonderful

Twigpaw :c

"A "mrrow" of welcome" has got to be my favorite line on this book

The cats complain there's already enough plots going on.

Whitewing is a very nice background cat and I appreciate her. But God Omen of the Stars only proved Starclan is just a bunch of old dead cats and that can be both good and terrible. Her argument is needed tho.

The others have a point tho, how can they leave the clan with less cats right now? I guess they would come back with more but what if they're not strong enough to defend themselves? A lot of trouble could happen with Skyclan coming as is to the territories and its understandable for the cats to be concerned

Violetpaw and Needletail cope with trauma as best they can and thats not a lot

I hope Violetpaw at least realizes how fucked up it is that they are scared of their leader who is supposedly their kin and the one who they should be the most loyal to

Oh Boy kittypets!

I love kittypets so much they're always fun. Darktail is so creepy tho I read some quotes he said to my girlfriend and she said he sounded like GLaDOS and yeah he's creepy I can feel it without Violetpaw agreeing with me that she's scared of what will happen next. Where did Darktail get that blood thing????

I like Zelda. She seems to be Violetpaw's age I hope she is so they can kiss. ALSO THIS IS KINDA LIKE MENTORING??? Violetpaw should get a warrior name

TWIGPAW PUT A PILLOW UNDER HER BLANKET SO NO ONE WOULD NOTICE SHE LEFT AHAHAHHA I bet she went to find Skyclan didn't she

PURDY

NOOOOOOO PURDYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

my gf said indigestion can sometimes have those effects on a cat if its really bad i didn't know that

PURDY CANT BE GONE PLEAS

I am SO sad I knew this was coming and I hated it terrible awful

I never saw a vigil so sweet. We Are All Love Purdy.

OH RIGHT TWIGPAW GSGWHAHAH

I appreciate no one is annoyed or pissed theyre all just worried, I am too

Apparently Alderheart and Bramblestar disagree lot? They seem to get along great though. And uh I guess Bramblestar doesn't always take his advice but, that doesn't mean much they like talk about stuff and Bramblestar forms conclusions taking in consideration the stuff his son said and all. Idk, feels like a weird statement Twigpaw something tells me the Erins are failing to send a message somewhere

Fuck I hope someone finds twigpaw soon, her adventure has been fun but I'm terrified for her

Violetpaw seems to be having a hard time too, not only is everything awful and terrible plus we had a time skip of a few days so who knows what happened to Twigpaw. Anyways Violetpaw having to care for Needletail like a mentor is like a young teen having to care for a young adult's mental health and that always sucks for the kid, there's not much else that can be done though Needletail probably doesn't want to worry

Violetpaw :C

This is so sad and terrible, I wish Violetpaw could be with Twigpaw right now she wouldn't be starclan knows where if they were just together!!! I hope the other cats don't start saying nonsense about Violetpaw now. She's scared she won't be accepted in Thunderclan and doesn't see herself as worthy of acceptance, and feels responsible for her older friend. I'm :CC

PAGGDHAHAHA Zelda is a trash cat and I love her

Violetpaw is suffering so much and Darktail is absolutely brainwashing her ass and she can't understand how he is to blame for everything.

Oh boy when she does.

This is such a good story God im like very tired and in need of sleep but I can't stop reading

Oh God so much has happened, this is so terrible, I love that Mothwing and Alderheart are hanging out tho I forgot what a fun character she can be!!!

Thinking about how so much would be easier since book 1 if Onestar agreed to lend a helping paw. Thinking about the begging dying bodies piling up at his door. Thinking about onestar.

Oh scratch what I said earlier guys WHEN VIOLETPAW FINDS OUT DARKTAIL KILLED DAWNPELT OH BOY

Its terrible knowing dawnpelt isn't there and like, so far thinking she was in thunderclan, only to have thunderclan cats wonder if she's in shadowclan like oh God oh fuckle this is IT

I feel so bad for Loki and Zelda :c I would give them treats

What the fuck Darktail

Holy shit Darktail

I am noticing like, cats making seriously spot on assumptions of things that happened out of small information and idk if that really isn't realistic and just a way to make cats realize things or if I'm just too autistic to relate

I'm so glad the medicine cats treat anxiety. Last time I remember that happening was the prophecy begins but I might be forgetting somethin

The fear these cats have of the clans ending feels so real I am absolutely terrified for them and I love it

It doesn't make sense for twigpaw 2 die so I'm not buying it but wow this hurts

Violetpaw time

I am itching for them to find skyclan so bad

Violetpaw you're not Squirrelpaw or Leafpaw in the new prophecy you wouldn't have felt if Twigpaw died :P

Bro Needletail :c I miss when she was a wild free creature

This prisoner smuggling deal is so fun I am absolutely excited about everyone's plans, it can't all go well so soon though.

TWIGPAW YESSSS BABY I MISSED YOU

Twigpaw lactose intolerant moment

omg she had a vision

Vision cat be nice 2 my baby she is dying

TWIGPAW FOUND SKYCLAN YESSSS YES YES YES

OMG......HAWKWING.....AAAAAAA THATS HER DAD BRO SHE FOUND HER DAD IM YESSSS YEAYESYESYEYD

This is so good im so happy

This is so awful I'm so sad WHERES THE CLAN CATS they were supposed to show up when they were asleep right????? Fuck!!!

This is so scary

NEEDWETAIL IM

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Violetpaw definitely could have used a better friend at times, but God was Needletail good im so sad

Bramblestar: alderheart we need a point of view from thunderclan of what's happening so you're coming to the battle

OMG THEY DID IT!!!! I DID NOT EXPECT THAT WROW VERY NICE

Oh this is so exciting, how will they get Windclan back????

Twigpaw baby you always had your place here

I think they should both go to Skyclan but I understand if Twigpaw is indecisive she has always had a good life in Thunderclan.

Nononono Rowanstar, Scourge is the villain from the The Prophecy Begins here, your guy is named Darktail

Ominousnestar

I have been vaguely spoiled about Onestar being related to Darktail but I have no clue how

I can see Onestar's, Smoke's and Darktail's designs rotating in my mind its beautiful

I'm loving this story this is so cool

You dare challenge the warrior cats Fandom?

SKYCLAN, DROP YOUR CATS

RIVERCLAN, GET THE BUCKET

WINDCLAN, GRAB YOUR LEAFBLOWERS

THUNDERCLAN, GRAB YOUR LIGHTNING RODS

SHADOWCLAN, IDK MAN SAY BOO OR SOMETHING AHHAHA

I'm glad this is the prophecy this series really is Tumblr vs 4chan

Oh my god

This is so surreal

What an astounding battle wow and what an ending

I loved it

That was so so good

Everything here was fantastic, looking back its hard to believe they managed to fit so much plot into one book and like the pacing was Very Good this was just good writing wow? The development of Darktail, everything with Onestar, very fun I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing it was incredibly fun. I’m very excited for what’s to come too, I worry it probably won’t be as fun and exciting as this since they already got rid of the biggest threat, unless they get another, but still like I really wanna know what’s gonna happen with Skyclan! And Violetpaw and Twigpaw!!!! How will the clans cope with all this loss and receive a new clan in the territories??? There’s a lot of good build up that I don’t know if it will live up to all that happened so far, but I think it can be very good and I’m excited, lots ahead of us!!! Oh boy!!

[danifandxm]

THOR RAGNAROK SPOILER THOUGHTS

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THOR RAGNAROK

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

• That fucking beginning had me dying

• S U R T U R!!! THOR FIGHTING SURTUR!!! WITH FUCLING LED ZEPPELIN PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND!!!! 

• SURTUR'S. DRAGON. HOLY FUCK

• The fact Thor was calling Heimdall and one of the women with Skurge had to point out that SOMEONE needed to teleport back to Asgard. Like smh Skurge you are not worthy of Heimdall's job

• THE FUCKING STAGE PLAY AND MATT DAMON AS LOKI??? I THOUGHT THE MATT DAMON THING WAS A JOKE??? APPARENTLY NOT

• Thor threatening to hit "Odin" with Mjolnir. Psssh I knew it was Loki bc Odin is not that laid back or.... Whatever flaws there were in that illusion. Like Loki you aren't even trying

•THOR PINNING LOKI DOWN WITH THE HAMMER!!!! LIKE I WAS DEAD IN THAT THEATER JUST WATCHING THAT??? 

• DOCTOR. STRANGE. AND. LOKI. MEETING.

• When loki pulled out the daggers to attack Strange, I was like: 'Where the fuck did they come from?? Out of his ass???'

• speaking of the daggers they look fucKIN SICK (def. making those for a future loki cosplay)

• "I HAVE BEEN FALLING... FOR 30 MINUTES??" BUT DID YOU DIE??? NO BITCH XD 

• how did strange know odin was in norway????

• THE SCENE IN NORWAY WITH ODIN AND HIS SONS. HE ACTUALLY CALLED LOKI HIS SON IM NOT FUCKING OK EVEN A DAY LATER

• when odin died I almost started crying. Like sure he was a complete asshole for the last two movie but I diDNT WANT HOM TO GO

• Thor IMMEDIATELY blaming Loki for Odin's death. Like, chill man

•THE FUCKINH REVEAL THAT HELA WAS THEIR SISTER???? LIKE I STILL DON' BELIEVE IT BC LOKI AND HELA ARE WAY TOO SIMILAR. 

• H E L A. HER ENTRANCE. I WAS GOD DAMN DYING INSIDE. AS A BI WOMAN I WAS FRUSTRATED AT MYSELF XD

• "Kneel." "I beg your pardon?"

• Loki calling on Skurge to take them back. Like smh what a wuss XD 

• LOKI BEING KNOCKED OUT OF THE THING WHEN THEY'E TELEPORTING??? I NEARLY HAD A FUCKING HEART ATTACK I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD... AGAIN.

• S a k a a r. Oh my god it's so weird yet so pretty in some places.

• VALKYRIE??? I FUCKING LOVE HER??? I MEAN SHE DRINKS A SHIT TON BUT I STILL LOVE HER  

• the freaking thing Thor goes through in the chair with the lady's voice saying what Sakaar is.

• THOR'S GIRLY AF SCREAM HAHAHAHA

• The Grandmaster. Oh my god.... Fucking hilarious. 

• The mention of units??? Like the currency in GOTG??? Holy shit

• THE TASER THING THOR HAD IN HIS NECK AND WHEN IT WAS USED HAD ME LAUGHING

• THOR VS HULK. OH MY GOOOOOOD.

• Loki: I have to get off this planet  GM: bitch nah you staying here

• THOR'S NEW POWER??? HOLY SHIT IM SHOOK???

• oml everything korg says is just hilarious. He's v v precious prOTECT HIM

• thor finding out about Valkyrie and absolutely fanboying?? Like same???

• SIF COULD'VE BEEN A VALKYRIE NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT

• THEY DID THE WARRIORS THREE DIRTY. THAT WAS NOT FUCKING OK LIKE WHY WOULD YOU KILL THEM OFF?!?!?!?!?

• Bruuuuh when Thor could see through Heimdall's eyes??? Thor looks good with orange/yellow-ish eyes??? 

• Hela gracefully falling into the tomb??? Like holy shit if I wasn't super gay before

• HER KNOCKING DOWN THE INFINITY GAUNTLET HAD ME GOD DAMN DYING

•when I saw the Tesseract I nearly fucking screeched

• when Hulk threw around thor like a ragdoll in the arena I immediately got déjà-vu from the first Avengers movie bc the animation looked similar. Also Loki's reaction: "THAT'S HOW IT FEELS!"

• LOKI'S REACTION TO HULK BEING GM'S CHAMPION IN GENERAL

• THE BATTLE IN ASGARD??? WITH LED ZEPPELIN PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND AGAIN??? LIKE JUST START PLANNING MY FUNERAL RN

• "Your savior is here!"  Me, loudly in theater: "We're all gonna die."

• When they were flying towards asgard??? This was the first time we've seen Asgard from a space view??? Looks so god damn beautiful from afar.

• F E N R I S (or fenrir, however y'all pronounce it)!!! I was a little confused to see him dead bc in actual Mythology he's chained up to prevent Ragnarok?? But eh I won't complain... Also holy shit he was bigger than I expected 

• banner landing face first on the rainbow bridge oml bruce you TRIED

• loki actually calling him bruce!!!!!??? Like I think this is the first time they've ever really... Officially talked??? When bruce isn't hulk I mean

• THOR IDENTIFYING HIMSELF AS "POINT BREAK" IN THE QUINJET HAD ME AND MY MOM DYING

• THE MESSAGE FROM NATASHA HAD ME SOBBING

• bruce wearing tony's clothes

• when thor lost bruce for a minute after he said sakaar was probably designed to stress him out had even ME panicking

• oh god when they mentioned one of the ships was meant for the GM doing... Things I visibly cringed??

• GM winking at Loki had me on edge. Like BOI don't even

• "He's my brother!" "Adopted" D A M N

• "I request safe passage... Through the anus." L O K I

• LOKI BETRAYING THOR FOR A MINUTE BUT THOR JUST TURNING THE TABLES ON HIM

• ok the first five seconds of loki being tasered was ok,,, the rest was overkill like stOP HURTING HIM

• THOR JUST LEAVING LOKI LIKE GOD DAMN WHAT A BROTHER YOU ARE

• The "get help" scene oh my god

• "Well it seems that you are in despterate need of leadership" why am I getting flashbacks

• THE BLACK SUIT LOKI HAD AT THE BATTLE OF ASGARD??? LIKE TAKE ME NOW

• thor's snake story. Like loki why did you think stabbing him was a good idea. Also....thor likes snakes?? DOESN'T A SNAKE LIVE WITHIN THE OCEAN OF ASGARD??? or did, anyway 

• when loki looked at the tesseract when he was about to put surtur's skull on the eternal flame I was like: "BOI DON'T FUCKING DO IT" i think he did and I'm super worried

• WHEN HELA SLICED OUT THOR'S EYE I ALMOST SCREAMED

• when the team managed to get out of asgard I started panicking when I saw that Loki didn't come back like guys you don't unDERSTAND

• "I would hug you if you were here right now" "I'm here" FUCK IM CRYING NOW

• Loki saying the eyepatch suits Thor,,,, BBY NO

• ASGARD IS NOT A PLACE, IT'S A PEOPLE. HOLY SHIT THAT'S ICONIC 

• when heimdall took off his cloak thing and I saw his arms??? Consider me dead rn bc god daMN HE LOOKIN GOOD

• THE PEOPLE OF ASGARD FIGHTING OH MY GOOOD

• THOR'S COMING BACK TO EARTH OH MY GOOOOD

• "Let me rephrase that. Do you think it's a good idea for ME to come back to earth." S h i t  I didn't even think abt Loki for a sec

• WAS THAT HUGE ASS SHIP RONIN'S SHIP FROM GOTG OR IS THAT THANOS'???

• 'Thor will return in Infinity War' I yelled "YES" 

• THAT FIGHT BETWEEN LOKI AND VALKYRIE THO I COULD WATCH THAT ALL DAY

• NEW POWER WE HAVEN' SEEN LOKI DO BEFORE??? HOLY SHIT??

•HIS SNIDE REMARKS TO VALKYRIE LIKE BOI THIS GIRL COULD RIP YOU APART

• valkyrie definitely had a gf in her squad, just saying

• SOME OF THE VISUALS LOOKED LIKE A GOD DAMN MURAL YOU WOULD SEE IN AN ART MUSEUM HOLY SHIT. 

• loki using his horns as a weapon oml

THIS MOVIE WAS SO FUCKING GREAT I'D WATCH IT UNTIL I DIE

THANK YOU TAIKA

[halflingkima]

ok i know i haven’t finished black sails yet but eleanor guthrie deserved better writing than to be married off as an ass-backwards ‘redemption arc’ and then fridged for the punishment of her new husband

oh god this got so long

i saw something about how the creators were talking abt how rogers was essentially her redemption arc for how she treated charles and how she betrayed basically everyone but like. Pirates. like. i know we’re positioning them as the “good guys” here but. Pirates.

[i don’t know how to find the source, but it was a quote from an interview where someone asked one of the creators basically ‘what’s the deal’ w the eleanor & rogers relationship (bc lbr it came tf outta Nowhere™) and the dude answered essentially ‘she wants to prove that she can be loyal and that she’s not an Entirely Shit Person and atone for her past betrayals’]

Flint fucking strangles his best friend to death; beats a crew member to death and proceeds to maim his body; lies to everyone because he refuses to trust them; is accused of throwing beloved Billy overboard; etc etc etc – and doesn’t need a redemption arc. A couple crew members try to lead a mutiny against Flint and are simply scared back into line. Billy leads his faction against Flint’s orders – putting huge numbers of black humans at life or death risk – and is just portrayed as a differing point of view in the main conflict with no redemption arc (up to 4.06). Silver’s entire personality is cunning, self-serving manipulation (until it turns into survival) and he needs no redemption arc. Max’s entire arc is revenge-fueled power-grabbing, relying wholly on manipulation and playing both sides and she needs no redemption. I could go off on every character and the endless betrayals bc get this – THEY’RE PIRATES.

Some may make the argument that Eleanor was not a pirate – which is incorrect. She may have maintained that she was not one, but she was the merchant power on the island who was originally in-line with Flint’s vision for the island. Everything she did in the early seasons was a calculated decision to gain her power and attain her vision. At the basest level, she facilitated acts of piracy for the entire island.

The only conclusion I’m able to come to about her arc after her capture at the end of season two is that the creators/writers didn’t know how she would fit into a narrative of the power shift between the free state and the Empire. 

Initially, I expected her to be manipulating Rogers to avoid sentencing/death, as she had shown prowess in manipulating Vane. But the quote from the interview showed that they were writing Eleanor’s alliance with Rogers as genuine and that was essentially baffling to me. How could Eleanor Guthrie – a woman whom Charles Vane saw at the very least as a worthy adversary if not as a genuine equal human, a woman who began a relationship with another woman (albeit monetarily compensated) and clearly demonstrated their certain shared experiences simply as women functioning in this society (though they were most certainly not socially equal in any other way) – be with a military man employed by the legal state of the British empire? No matter how socially conscious he was or how much he respected her, Rogers would never see Eleanor Guthrie as an equal – socially, politically, or any other way. Which is why I would never buy that she actually had feelings for him. (Potentially if there was a little more development in a conscious decision to abandon Nassau and retreat to a Domestic Life, as Flint did in his cottage scene, but that’s another post.)

Where was the creativity and character development (rather than character devolvement) in her narrative? Can there be only one queer woman manipulating both sides of the core conflict? Can there be only one man sexually and romantically manipulated by a woman?

And marrying her off to the enemy of her vision wasn’t enough; killing her off didn’t garner enough sympathy; killing her off while pregnant wasn’t effective enough – she had to be killed at the political orders of her husband, whom she [allegedly] genuinely loved.

First of all – pregnancy? Really? Was that necessary? If anything it’s a giant red flag that she was going to die; who would birth a child in that climate? who genuinely believe that the conflict would be over before the child was born? who truly believed that she would be able to raise her child peacefully in England at her husbands manor? Not Eleanor Guthrie. I don’t have any further thoughts on this bit besides it seemed to me like a p transparent grasp for sympathy that didn’t do its job. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There was a point that I would have actually been happy if the end of the trail for just about everyone was death. I’m perfectly fine with the fact that Eleanor died. I am not fine with the reason she died nor with the physicality of her death.

Admittedly, it could have been worse; it’s a low bar but I’m very thankful the writers didn’t resort to r*pe (again; which – again, it’s own post) and at the very least I’m satisfied that she died fighting. However – Flint’s entire ship is stranded in the doldrums and survives. Billy Bones falls overboard in the middle of a storm, is taken/tortured by the navy for an entire season, is beaten within an inch of his life by vengeful, newly freed people, and survives. Vane was declared dead, dumped in a pit, and buried in sand, and survives. Anne Bonny turns herself into a DIY Wolverine cosplay with some random glass lying around in stores of a ship and gets beaten/slashed half to death and survives. (I haven’t seen it yet but) Madi is trapped in a house as it burns down and survives?? Yet Eleanor gets one sword slash to the abdomen, is still conscious by the time Flint returns, and dies?? It’s either ridiculously lazy writing or a direct comment on the physical stamina of men vs women. (and let’s not forget a slash to the abdomen immediately reminds viewers that she’s pregnant).

Full disclosure: I have yet to watch far beyond Eleanor’s death for my own unrelated reasons. Still it is already apparent that Eleanor’s death was at least initially intended as further motivation/development for Rogers, whose own orders and narrowed vision of victory resulted in the death of his wife and unborn child (that he had yet to learn about). As far as I can see, that’s literally all that her death amounts to. Which is the definition of fridging – killing off a woman for the development of a male character. Which is even more tragic considering how strong, developed, humanized, and well-rounded of a character she was at the beginning.

Ultimately: Eleanor Guthrie deserved better. A better character arc. A better death. A better role. A better end.

[shamelessliarkickapow]

So @borkf wrote this great piece of critical feedback for chapter 21 of The King’s Pet or The King! I finally finished a super long response that addresses character development and the trajectory of the story, so if you’re interested, borkf’s review is linked above and my response is under the cut.

To start, thank you so much! Thank you for writing this enormous, beautiful, thought-provoking critique, which shows so much investment in the project and awareness of its writer! Thank you for caring so much about my story, and for sticking with me even though I haven't been quick about the updates for the last forever, and also for being a part of my sad little patreon. I feel like I say 'this means so much to me' so much that it's lost meaning, but it continues to be true. I thought (and wrote!) a lot about the issues you raised over the past week, and I hope the following will at least address some of those gaps, if not alleviate them.

Let's start with Zuko's conflicts, which you're totally right about. Primarily, up to this point in the story, it's been Zuko vs. Katara on the surface and Zuko vs. Himself at the heart. Zuko vs. Ozai is also a big part of this story, but since Zuko has mostly just been struggling with his internal issues regarding his father up until now, it falls in the Himself category. That will change. Zuko has to resolve his inner conflict before he can take his place in the outer conflict that is the point of the story - Zuko vs. Ozai. Or, Team Avatar vs. The Fire Lord, or Good vs. Evil - or "Good" vs. "Evil". (Can I say how glad I am that you brought this up? I don't devote enough thought to things like this as I'm planning - I get so caught up in those exciting details…)

My focus tends more toward what characters desire. In Call Me Katto, Zuko's desires were super simple. Avatar, Katara, Go Home. Now, having achieved those things and found them all more complicated than they initially seemed, his desires are muddied. He still wants Katara, but he doesn't want to want her anymore, since that situation has turned so painful and shameful. He still wants his father's love and, though he isn't entirely honest with himself about it, that desire makes him want to go about things in the palace a certain way - be a proper prince, work the nobles to the Fire Lord's will, dominate the ministers, and so on - but he is also not entirely naive to what his father is capable of doing to him. The only driving force that remains uncomplicated at this point is Zuko's desire to fulfill his duty to his people - but the ways in which he tries to do that are strongly influenced by desire #2. I'll come back to that in a sec.

So far the story has been concerned with Zuko's progress toward enlightenment. Admittedly, i often go about these things in round-about ways, but I just want to make sure you know - this isn't intended to be a cliffhanger! I don't mean to make people wait unnecessarily for some closure on how he'll choose (he'll choose good! I swear!) but i also don't want to rush him into epiphany by letting him just suddenly see things clearly. So, on the one hand, I'm right there with you - I want to tell a well-crafted story that doesn't drag, but I also want to get at the heart of this transformation.

I had a creative writing teacher once who told me not to waste a lot of time on navel-gazing. He was talking about unnecessary reflection, and leading character's thoughts around in too-convenient paths of logic. The most stressful times in our lives are often characterized with spans of blindness. Abusive relationships, big moves, major lifestyle changes. We look at the immediate work we have to do, and at the sources of tension and friction in our day-to-day, and we forget about the overarching themes of that time of our lives. Zuko hasn't reflected a lot for a while because the time hasn't been right. He hasn't experienced the logical steps and more direct challenges to his perceptions that will drive him finally to his breaking point. I have so many ideas and plot points for the coming chapters, I've written dozens of pages of outlines, character reflections, and summaries, and most of what I'm working on now is centered on Zuko reaching the decision point and dealing with the complications that follow.

I was kind of surprised at how many people thought he might decide to jump aboard the Avatar Express in this last chapter (like you said, with no time to reflect or really consider it) but I guess I shouldn't be. We all kinda go into this story with the plot to season 3 in the backs of our minds. Zuko's got to join the Avatar in order to make his transition to the good side, because that's how it happened in the show.

In CMK and King's Pet, though, a lot of factors make that impossible right now. First off, like i said, Zuko has not yet reached his breaking point. Secondly, this AU is a little more mature, a little more realistic. Zuko is older. It may only be a couple of years, but it's enough to put him solidly in his majority, an adult in the eyes of the Fire Nation, and therefore old enough to handle some responsibilities of state. There are actual duties (to actual people) tying him to the Fire Nation, where the Zuko of the show by all appearances had only Mai and the occasional war meeting. There's a lot in this story physically holding him to the Fire Nation. Luckily, his transformation in this story doesn't have to be marked by him running off with the gang. But I'll come back to that.

Another thing keeping Zuko from defecting (and this is kind of a side note) is that the Avatar's cause still seems pretty hopeless, except to hope-huggers like Katara and Iroh. In this AU, nobody really knows about the Avatar State yet. Aang, having already interrupted his lessons with Guru Pathik, hasn't unlocked it, and nobody really realizes at this point just how powerful he can be. The gang has been focused on escaping since they got together, so there hasn't been much chance to dwell on it yet, but the doubts are coming. Mostly from Sokka. Ah, Sokka…

But getting back to Zuko's insistence on remaining loyal to his father/the Fire Nation/his people… That important third option you mentioned, where Zuko could rationalize betraying his father as a necessary act to save his people and be with Katara, that opportunity was lost way back when he joined Azula (his 'real' family, not the family that had just locked him up in a trunk) on the beach. At the present moment in the story, even though he at least partially recognizes how flawed his real family is (suspicious of Azula, wary of his father) that third option no longer makes sense. If Zuko joined the Avatar now, he would be giving up on winning his father's love and trust in the middle of Ozai's test. He still believes the strength of the Fire Nation cannot be defeated by one kid, so he would be abandoning the position of power from which he could actually help his people.

And, not least of all, he's come to realize that Katara's love is entirely out of reach to him. Even if he did change sides, he still wouldn't be worthy of her, firstly because of all he's done to her, and secondly because he would be turning his back on his father and his duty. But, as we've said, Zuko hasn't really had a chance to come clearly to these conclusions at this point. He's had no reason to really think of changing course. Things are still - if not optimistic - at least hopeful in the capital, and Zuko still believes he can fulfill his destiny there, if he can just resolve his most immediate moral qualms. (i.e. removing Katara and her friends) He's wrong, but he hasn't been confronted with that reality yet.

I do see what you mean about a confusing and vague dynamic, though. A hundred thousand words (o god why) and Zuko is still trying to have it both ways - winning his father's love, but also doing the right thing in secret. If I were a more devoted editor, I could probably lop out some chapters… and, if I'm being honest, if this wasn't fanfiction, I would probably be more ruthless about cutting the fluff and pruning down to a streamlined plot. As it is, I'm pretty loosey-goosey about including every narrative side-street and alleyway. You're right that Zuko hasn't made a lot of headway in his conflict with himself, but he has undergone some subtle changes since the start of King's Pet (accepting that he cannot change Katara's mind, colluding to free enemies of the state, choosing to free the Avatar rather than keep Katara hostage (that's a big treasonous one.)) They're mostly small steps, tiny compromises that mark a slow maturation. Soon, he'll be ready to assess where these compromises have taken him, and why. He'll be able to recognize that he didn't free the Avatar JUST because he wanted to get rid of Katara and the pain she causes him.

But yes, he's also regressed, too. Flip-flopped, as you said. He refuses to see Katara's side of things out of frustration and pride, because being angry at her is easier than being vulnerable and penitent with someone who finds satisfaction in causing him pain. He cannot completely bury his own guilt, though, which will ultimately aid in his redemption. Anyway, this issue hasn't been dropped, I promise.

So… confession… King's Pet is going to be the longest thing i've ever written, no doubt about it. The trajectory of the story might be unclear right now because I've written twenty beefy chapters full of details and mini-arcs and new characters and new settings that i did not skimp on because I wanted all of the material I could produce available for all the threads coming together in the ultimate struggle ahead. In the next five or so chapters, Zuko will reach his breaking point and his struggle will begin to shift from internal to external. Finally. 

After all, the title of the story is The King's Pet or The King - it isn't just about Zuko joining the Avatar, it's about him coming into his own as a ruler, which means dealing with all those pieces I've taken the time to position in Caldera.

For now though, suffice it to say that the Districts will be rising up against the Capitol. Sozin's Comet is still coming at the end of the summer, and Aang and the gang will be moving forward with that in mind. Sian and Pokui, Yotsu, Loska and the healers, Lord Gan and the ministers, Jee and the crew, Tyno, Zhao, the Northern Water Tribe rebels - all those characters have roles to play in the story ahead. It's just… a really long and rambling story, and maybe not as streamlined as it could have been. Chapter 21 wasn't a climax - it was Saving Private Sokka, part 1. A whole lot is still ahead. I know there's a lack of trajectory right now, but we're still in an action sequence. Things will change in the next chapter. :)

Healing between Zuko and Katara will take a long time, and a lot of little steps. (Stay with me? Don't leave me? Please?) But it will happen. It will start with corrections of personal action for both of them, an acknowledgement of minor wrongs, and mutual need for trust in a dangerous place. Then there will be shocking discoveries, bolder choices made, perils welcomed, and risks braved. Respect will be won again. The heat will rise by degrees. Something terrible will lead to a victory, twice. And after all that, the romance can emerge again, uncertain but more deeply-rooted than before.

Point being, and here's a little concrete spoiler, all that can't happen if Katara leaves Caldera now. She didn't get her final say in the throne room (partly out of embarrassment that her dad and uncles were watching her have that conversation about loving and lying and using) and she isn't finished with the task she's taken on in the Fire Nation. I debated on how to handle Hakoda leaving her there, and I finally realized that he couldn't. His trust in her judgement is shaken, he knows in his heart that leaving her behind is as good as never seeing her again, and she is the nearest thing he has remaining to Kya. He would never choose to leave her, so Katara has to take matters into her own hands. When she gets back to the Palace, you can bet she'll have some things to say to Zuko, and a lot of them are going to address the stuff you brought up.

Katara's conflict has always been more straightforward than Zuko's. She's fighting for her people and for her family and for the side of good, although the last has become more complicated since the beginning of the story. Forces and figures of authority stand in her way, and where she could fight them directly in Call Me Katto, she has had to change her approach in King's Pet. She still has to learn to fight in a more nuanced way, a way that doesn't compromise her identity, and she has to tackle this overwhelming challenge and not give up even though it would be so much easier to do things her father's way.

Katara's struggle fades into the background beside Zuko's, because despite uncertainty, her goal does not waver. Freedom, an end to the war, peace for her people, the Avatar triumphant. She has the luxury of knowing her father will always love her anyway, even if she breaks his heart. And while she butts heads with Zuko, and lashes out at him because he's the only person she can lash out at, her primary conflict remains Katara vs. Strictures of Society. There has been some Katara vs. Herself mixed in there, too, but her overarching fight right now is to establish herself in the eyes of others - as a powerful warrior, as an honorable and respectable public figure, as a compassionate hero. As Zuko begins making progress in his conflicts, Katara will also move forward. 

Anyway, I hope some of this has been useful, or at least reassuring about the direction of the story. And I hope it's not muddled. I feel like I ramble and talk in circles a lot with essay-type-things, so I hope you'll forgive that if I did it. If I forgot anything or you come up with new questions or observations, feel free to hit me up! Thank you again for your wonderful message and all the thought-provoking it did! I'll get a new scene up on Patreon in the next couple of days - maybe even tonight! Yay!

[theliterateape]

(micro) Chips On The Shoulders of the Collective and The Increasing Problem of the Moral High Ground

by Don Hall

I’m on the Blue Line, heading downtown to get to Millennium Park. I’m tired — it’s been a long week so far — so I’m standing amongst the other commuters, my shades still on, staring blankly toward the floor. I’m not really focusing on anything at all and I’m sort of just drifting into my brain when I hear:

“They’re legs.”

Not assuming it is directed at me, I stay focused on nothing in particular.

“Hey! They’re legs! Surely you’ve seen legs before! Stop staring at me, you creep!”

I look up and she is directing it at me.

Maybe 25 years old, wearing a skirt, and she has come to the conclusion that I was giving her the once over or the long stare at her uncovered gams. I’m caught slightly off guard (and I’m fucking tired) so I mumble, “…No. Sorry. Uhm, I wasn’t…”

“Do you know what it’s like to be a woman on the train? Do you even care?”

She goes into a tirade about being harassed every day by assholes like me. For 20 minutes she drones on and on about her level of discomfort and the toxic masculinity she has to endure. Because I’ve decided to just stay quiet — I could never even come close to explaining that I wasn’t even aware of her until she started barking at me let alone convince her otherwise — she gets angrier. I turn away. 

“I’m talking to you! Don’t turn away from me!”

I turn back around to face her. “Don’t LOOK at me!” she yells. She’s now yelling. 

According to her, this is yet one more brick in her #MeToo shithouse. She calls me a stalker. She calls me predatory.

The people in the closest range are all looking into their phones as if the fucking secret recipe to Popeye’s Chicken lies within and then it’s my stop. I walk past her without saying a word and head to the street.

I get it. We’re in what we call a “corrective phase” in society. The pendulum has been stuck in the Male Gaze is Normal and Women are Fodder for the Dick for so goddamned long that we are pushing things hard to the other side. While tired and kind of checked out on the ‘L’ I’m not dense. I’m also not one of those unicorns out there who miraculously changes his behavior because I was barked at about it on a train.

On that note, I’d love for anyone reading this who is one of those unicorns to chime in and tell me how and why because I legitimately don’t know how that works for someone.

From a recent Faceborg thread:

“Republicans are going to mop the floor with us if this keeps up... valuing anger-release over effectiveness & impact is toxic.”

“Right, right, it will be our fault. Your somewhat lazily-constructed, blanket statement encouraging us all to be quiet yet somehow effective little mice, betrays your desire to cower in the corner when they finally come to knock at *your* door looking to take your last crumble of cheese.”

“Anger is like fire - we can use it to burn ourselves, or we can use it to build. Stuff like this puts it in the wrong place & doesn’t work, so it’s a question of valuing real impact vs. cathartic screeching. I prefer effectiveness.There’s a huge space between hysteria & silence.”

“Couldn't agree less with you, sir. Unfortunately I don't have the time this afternoon to give you the history lesson you seem to so dearly need. The answer is to be loud about EVERYTHING. Until he is gone, and his swine fucking base sobers up. 

Yes, be effective, but as soon as Tyranny reveals itself, there is no more discussion. Only resistance, and only at the top of your lungs. Trump has an end goal; your quiet efforts of compromise and bargaining are not only pointless, they serve him, as they divide us. There is no passive resistance to Tyranny.”

“Do what feels good or do what works - your call. And I’m happy to hear what you have to say at pretty much any time, as long as it’s well-reasoned. Even if I disagree with ideas, they can still be valuable, so feel free to write yours down at some point - I’d be curious.”

“Also, if you keep talking out your ass, I am going to embarrass you here, because people like you, that clearly don't know what the fuck they are talking about, yet act like they do, really, really get on my bad side. You clearly know nothing, or refuse to understand, the mechanics of Fascism and Tyranny. Your uneducated opinion on what our course of action should be, offered in vague platitudes I might add, are what will get us all killed.”

“hahaha ok, will do. As long as it’s not all nazi hitler nazi, it’s cool. Some hitler, ok, but maybe a Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, or something else thrown in there.”

“You're a monster, sir. Also, my apologies ahead of time, for what I may or may not say further on down this rabbit hole of a thread.”

The whole thread (rabbit hole, indeed) was like this. It reminded me of when liberals go to Ben Shapiro or Dave Rubin lectures to ask him a question as a "gotcha" and look stupid for trying because, of course, stridency in the face of calm looks stupid.

Yes, she has a valid point that is worthy of a genuine conversation but she looks like a complete asshole in her angry attempt to school him. What I'm wondering is why? Why confront him at all? It isn't like her refusal to stop talking at him is going to change his mind. It isn't as if the women chanting is going to shut him up. What's the goal? What's the strategy?

The simple answer is that there isn't a strategy. It's moral posturing and wasted energy. It's an attempt to confront someone on the opposite ideological side of the questions and goad them into admitting some sort of hypocrisy. It's people barking "you lie" at President Obama in hopes that the moment will become a rally cry. It's someone throwing a shoe at George W. Bush. It's theater without a goal. It's a photo op in a YouTube world.

I remember the eighties. I mean, that decade was my Coming of Age time so I hope I still remember them.

One aspect of the eighties and specific to Wichita, KS, was Operation Rescue. As far as I can surmise, it is an extremely rare thing for a mentally stable human to wake up and shout out “Abortion is AWESOME!” The best we can do is to say abortion is a sometimes necessary thing and should be a right for women to utilize but, even then, I can’t imagine anyone adding it to their Disneyland trip as a lark. “Honey! Let’s go to Space Mountain and then go get that abortion — if we time it right, we’ll catch the fireworks!”

The thing is, Operation Rescue (with the help of the Ultimate Warrior in creating Moral Distinctions, the Church) decided that abortion was murder in the eighties in Wichita, KS.  And they protested. And when that didn’t do the trick, they stood outside of clinics and screamed at people. And failing to effect the kind of change they sought, some took to shooting and blowing up doctors.

Can you blame them? Once you’ve assigned a legal activity as a morally reprehensible crime you don’t have a lot of wiggle room in terms of context. If you saw a government gunning down second graders like they were taking out the trash, you might protest, then scream, then get some guns and TNT.

From their ideological zealotry, that’s what they saw.

As we’ve seen, you really can’t reason or compromise with a zealot convinced they are on the moral high ground. It’s almost impossible.

From a note to a professor friend of mine:

“I felt the words you used to address me was infantilizing and I want to express my discomfort of you labeling me a “young lady” thus shaming me in front of my classmates.”

What fresh hell…?

How does someone navigate this? In order to avoid any sort of offense, the ability to read minds is required. I'm of a type of white, heterosexual male who is not looking to run around and offend random strangers in normal discourse. Yes, I believe that offense is subjective and I've spent time creating art designed to shake that tree a bit. That said, I'm not the kind of person who engages in shock value tactics (anymore) or shaming individuals because I believe shame to be a pernicious societal tool that mostly suppresses the bad shit rather than providing a pathway to change.

Catcalling guys are idiots. Stalkers and sexual predators are criminals. The 50-something professor who refers to a 20-something woman in his class as "young lady" isn't either. Infantilization is the process of assuming people are too fragile and inexperienced to handle anything but the least of what society has to offer. So, who, in this case is infantilizing her?

It is a failure of strategy.

#MeToo, that vast and disembodied and ongoing protest march, has been subject to similar dynamics: the big tent, flinging its flaps ever wider; the entropic impulse as both a matter of promise and a matter of peril. Does being about everything, though, mean that the movement runs the risk of being about nothing? Has #MeToo, reconfigured as a broad attempt to rectify a broad host of wrongs, lost the plot? Has it dilated to its detriment?

Tarana Burke says, emphatically, yes. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, Burke pointed back to Milano’s October tweet—which was not, Burke noted, about pay equity, or representation in the workplace, or power dynamics in a misogynistic culture … but about sexual violence, full stop. “Part of the challenge that we have right now,” Burke said, “is everybody trying to couch everything under #MeToo.”

SOURCE

It's as if, anytime there is a large gathering of eyeballs or people in the name of any progressive cause, everyone must have some equal time and must try to shift the focus to them. It is both narcissism and desperation to be heard. #MeToo was about victims of sexual violence until it became about Hollywood actors until it became about black women in Hollywood until it became about equal pay until it became about being offended at a teacher referring to someone as "young lady."

Moral high ground and the assignation of labels like “monster,” “human garbage,” and, with the court of public opinion’s scorched earth approach, “racist,” “Nazi,” and “misogynist,” it all starts to feel strangely like religious fervor and more in tune with Operation Rescue than Civil Rights protestors. A witch hunt, at it's core, was about scaring the shit out of anyone who decided to live a different way from the norm and was ultimately about establishing an agreed upon morality. The Puritans believed that by singling out and "trying" women who didn't fit their moral narrative (and the trial killed the innocent ones) the rest of the flock would fall in line.

The McCarthy Anti-Communist hearings were the same. Any affiliation and any lack of sincere and enthusiastic repudiation was met by wholesale destruction. And protests without strategy don't effect these sorts of cyclical trends.

Conservative witch hunts are well documented against drug users, women, gays, transgender persons, blacks, pretty much anyone not in the white male club. These witch hunts are almost always marked by the moral righteous inherent in the hunt and the moral depravity of those being hunted. As they try to weed out (and scare the shit out of) their targets, others with less patience and less to lose take up the cause and, like the extremes of Operation Rescue, turn to violence.

The protests of old that were most effective (or effective at all, arguably) were non-violent and strategic. In a time when we equate hateful words as real violence, we’ve painted ourselves into a corner in that there is no longer the possibility of non-violent protest. If calling our opponents names is violence, society is as blocked a a colon filled with cheddar cheese.

When everyone is scrambling to claim the moral high ground, there is none left to claim because morality, in order to exist, has to be founded on common understandings of behavior. We don't have that anymore.

“There is no passive resistance to Tyranny.”

So many assumptions made in seven words. That avoiding a moral argument, reasoning with those on the sidelines of the process and resisting by example rather than reaction is passive. That a legally elected asshole who has a very different worldview than you is a tyrant. That his actions will inevitably lead to Nazism. That tyranny only comes in one form. That by labeling something tyrannical makes it so and the need to demonstrate the aspects of tyranny is erased by the charge.

It makes sense, though. In the most Operation Rescue sense, if you have decided that Trump is Hitler and distrust the rest of the country so completely to not see it, of course it makes perfect sense. I mean, if you throw them in the well and they float, they’re guilty, right?

Ask a strident anti-abortion activist to defend their position. If you don’t immediately agree that it is murder, the sparks of obstinence fly, the labels of “evil” and “monster” are thrown out and the barking becomes indecipherable. 

“Let's be clear: "Innocent until proven guilty" is for a court of law to decide, if that's where this story eventually goes. The court of public opinion operates under no such constraints, and in the post-Harvey Weinstein days of 2018 we believe the accuser.”

https://mashable.com/2018/06/16/chris-hardwick-nerd-culture-conversation/#PWbjglPnJmqq

Seriously?

The internet is an extraordinary tool. It has provided us with almost limitless communicating possibilities. I can see what friends thousands of miles away are up to and call my mother face to face. We can promote our ideas to more humans in one message than at any time in history. Can you imagine what havoc would have wreaked if Faceborg had been around in the eighties in Wichita, KS? Holy fuck!

I believe we need both the Malcoms and The Martins, the Magnetos and the Professor Xs. It’s just that right now, this magnificent technology has given the truly hysterical and morally righteous a louder megaphone than ever in history. It’s difficult to hear anything else when 10% of the population is screaming their own version of bloody murder and condemnation and it's 5% of morally outraged Trump Supporters vs 5% of morally outraged Identity Politicians leaving the rest of us to run, covering our ears.

The democracy is in rough shape but it is far from over, broken, or destroyed by a single president. Our flailing about is due to the fact that those who do not believe the way we do control all three arms of the federal government and protests aren't doing anything to stop it. Like Operation Rescue, we are doubling down on escalation and it will not go well for us.

Speaking again of Operation Rescue, once it became apparent to them that their protests were wholly ineffective, they changed their strategy. They started running anti-abortion candidates for local office, then state office, then Congress. And, what do you know? Not only have many states placed unconstitutional barriers to abortion over the past ten years but it looks like they're going to get Roe v. Wade overturned.

I’m on the Blue line. Headed to the park. I’m wide awake and in a great mood. I see across from me a genuinely beautiful woman. I take a look — not a stare but a healthy look. She sees me looking and she smiles.

[hithelleth]

The 100 4 x 10 “Die All, Die Merrily”

Yikes, I spoiled myself beforehand. And then I took forever to watch it because I was noting down my reactions along the way and also doing RL things in between. So, play-by-play through the episode. There is (a lot of) swearing.

When did Luna do a 180° turn from ‘there is too much death and violence’ to ‘everyone should die’? I suppose she doesn’t think anyone deserves to survive if all they want to do is fight?

OMG, the scene between Octavia and Indra is already making me tear up. I love that Indra thinks of Octavia as her people, just as the other way around. And ‘I thought you to fight, who you fight for it’s up to you’. And the hug! And she gave her her sword!

No, Jaha (and Clarke, I guess), of course you’d be thinking of cheating. Don’t. Loved Marcus’ ‘we’re all grounders now’.

Roan: calling out Clarke on disrespecting their traditions (although I don’t think he cares about tradtions as much as he cares that Clarke pulled his wanna-be-Commandor stint solo without telling him first) and saying if he dies, he doesn’t care who survives. He’s going to die, isn’t he?

Octavia and Marcus’ hug! Also, right, she only has to killed the last one, not all 12 warriors.

Roan quickly dispatched the Trikru warrior and another one. (Of course, I don’t think it will matter in the end?)

Loved Kane being there for Bellamy as the results about deaths were coming in. Also, yeah, Octavia does know you love her, Bellamy.

Loved Octavia telling Luna not to invoke Lincoln’s name. Yep, it was Skaikru’s actions that left Luna disillusioned about humanity. Also, she called Octavia right back on fighting, re: Lincoln’s belief that they can all live peacefully together.

Octavia and Luna’s fight. Love Octavia being tricksy and smart.

Of course, no one is playing by the rules and they are making alliances despite everything. So Illian suggests an alliance as well. Now, now, Octavia, I don’t particularly care about Illian, but don’t go ‘promising’ him to kill him the next time you see him. (Of course, they are making me like him just now that he’s about to die. Figures.)

Bellamy spotted an Azgeda warrior shooting someone, but Roan didn’t have a bow, so he figured out it must be Echo. But since Echo is too sneaky to prove the Azgeda cheating, Bellamy figured to go out and help Octavia, too, but Kane talked him into waiting till nightfall so he wouldn’t be found out, which was smart.

Octavia was jumped by three warriors, but Illian jumped in to help. Alas, while bickering after defeating them, Illian was shot through the neck. Yep, it was Echo! Then Illian asked Octavia to finish the job and give him a mercy kill, which she did. Poor sucker. Well, he lasted longer than I expected. Poor Octavia, though. But, the whole ‘let’s kill off a man for Octavia’s angst’ is an old trick.

Oh, Polis does have something like street lighting.

Cue nightfall. Bellamy spotting Echo. Or it was more like she spotted him. Or both? Meanwhile, Luna killed one of the other clans’ warriors.

Then Echo aimed at Octavia, but Bellamy ran up to her hideout and they fought. Bellamy got a choke on her, but then Roan arrived and ended it, because he suspected Skaikru to be up to cheating. He believed Bellamy that he came to stop Echo from doing the same – and she admitted it. Which Roan wasn’t pleased with, saying he wasn’t like his mother and won’t cast aside honour for power. My poor heart. Why are you making me love him more, show?

Roan then disowned and banished Echo, telling her she’d better not be caught or the end of Azgeda will be her fault. (I almost felt sorry for her: she really would just do everything for the Azgeda.)

Oh, god, I’m not okay.

The talk between Bellamy and Roan murdered me. Roan letting Bellamy live, because if he killed and/or outed him, Octavia would be executed and ‘what would be the fun in that’? Lol. And then telling Bellamy that when he kills her he will tell her she was lucky to have him as a brother and Bellamy turning it around and saying that when she kills him Roan should tell her Bellamy was the lucky one.

Meanwhile, Octavia heard everything.

Did I say I’m not okay???!!!!!!

Because Bellamy and Octavia feels. And, because I’m me, also Bellamy/Roan feels. Why do you give me this kind of a scene, show, before the end? Fuck you.

Loved Marcus and Indra’s talk and Indra saying a warrior has many teachers and he was one of them and that if Octavia wins, they’ll see what she has truly learned.

And then Roan and Octavia had a bit of a meeting in which he called her on lying about the Flame and agreed that if she had told him the truth he would have killed Gaia. And then he proposed a temporary truce so they could defeat Luna together (because he knows none of them is a match for her separately). After that ‘may the best warrior win’, but until then they are one clan.

Not okay! Damn feels!

Someone – one of the guards? – caught Bellamy sneaking back into the tower.

Luna killed the fourth warrior and was then faced by Roan. (Loved Roan’s and Octavia’s teamwork.)

Luna: last time we fought I was wounded. Not this time. Roan: last time I wasn’t trying to kill you.

(It’s going to be Roan vs. Octavia in the end, isn’t it? Whyyyyyy? Can’t they reach a truce? FML.)

Luna, Roan and Octavia fought, then black rain started falling and Octavia ran to safety, calling to Roan to do the same, but he tried to use it to kill Luna, but she killed him, basically drowned him in a black rain puddle (all (‘from water we come, to water we return’) and I don’t think he can come back from that. Fuck this shit.

Also, this was such anticlimactic end for Roan.

Were we supposed to be happy because female!power™? No, thanks.

And Octavia will win and Skaikru will benevolently decide to share the bunker and save everyone because they are the only ‘true good’ or something. This is BS.

I needed a break after that.

So, then Luna followed Octavia, monologue about how all her thinking about not fighting and becoming good was lying to herself because the truth was she wanted to live and that’s why she ran – because she knew she would have even killed her brother for that (or did she kill him? I forgot) – and there is darkness in all of them. Then she stabbed the closet, but it wasn’t Octavia in there and Octavia jumped her and stabbed her in the back, telling her there are people worthy of being saved, just not her.

So, as I guessed, Octavia is the winner. Fine. Of course, she saved them all, because if Luna won, everyone would die?

And then she goes to pronounce that she fought for everybody and they will share the bunker equally because they are one clan and it’s unity day?

(When did Octavia learn and grow so much as a person? Not that it’s not commendable, but they just pulled it out of nowhere, the last episode she was all murder is who I am? This writing is all over the place.)

What exactly was the point of calling out the white saviourism BS in the last episode if you have just gone with it anyway in this episode? Fuck this shit.

But of course, Bellamy was really taken by Sky people who have taken the bunker for themselves already without waiting for the result, and it was Clarke’s idea – and she was working with Jaha. Clarke will never learn, she didn’t have to do that.

Bellamy is obviously pissed and I hope he sabotages the fuck out of them.

Anyway. I don’t even know if I am going to finish this season. Maybe just to see what Bellamy does.

(I guess they’ll open the door when they learn about Octavia winning. But you know, they’ve already shown their shittiest.)

Fuck these betrayals and constant fighting and skaikru’s high-horse-ish hypocritical fake morality.

I think I’m done with this show after this season. Roan was the only saving grace for me since the beginning of S3 – I was about to not watch it after the wreck that was S2 and then there was Roan and I kept watching.

And now that Roan is dead and he was the most honourable and reasonable person among them, and that includes skaikru, what now? Now everyone is just going to betray and backstab and plot and connive until all we have on the show is fighting because of fighting? I’m not here for this shit.

I only persisted because Roan was giving me hope that things might change, but now that’s not gonna happen. And if it does, it will be because skaikru is so ‘good’?

Also, I get that Zach got busy with his AoS stint, but I bet they could work something out for at least leaving an option for Roan to come back. (A fan reported from a con a while ago Zach said something about being in S5, but it was probably a misunderstanding, because I don’t think he would’ve given up such a spoiler. And even though, they did pull the coming back from the death trick once, but I don’t think they can after this sort of death.)

So, yeah. That’s it. Now I’m gonna go mourn and maybe write. (But first do some RL stuff.)