#was I the only one who watched Wandavision

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Oh so when Wanda literally enslaves a whole town for weeks and tries to murder a random ass teenager (America Chavez) in cold blood and basically abuses the hell outta her husband AND her own variant to be with 'her' kids it's a tragic story of a woman experiencing parenting and loss

But when Miguel takes the place of his already dying variant and is shown doing everything in his power to give Gabby a good life and somehow he's evil and most likely an abusive predator???

Do you see how that don't add up?????

TO THAT I SAY -

[randomshyperson]

The Bed Issue - Wanda Maximoff Oneshots

Summary: Another retake of Wandavision, this time, the scene with the two single beds.

Warnings: (+18) pure smut, enchanted strap, fingering, creampie, wanda is in charge but r tops, dirty talking, some typical Westview angst (brief reality alteration) but purely sinful | Words: 3.284k

A/N-> At this point, I feel I should start a new collection with all the scenes I rewrote. I miss writing series people, where are my ideas. Also, sorry if there are too many spelling errors, I wrote this on my phone (it's hard to be poor and busy). But good reading!

General Masterlist | AO3

-&-

The sign of two single beds in the room made you giggle right away.

Wanda, who walked in first, looked back at you with curiosity. Her gaze scanned your face as she asked: “What's funny, darling?”

Your eyes found her and a deep sigh escaped your lips, the ghost of that giggle still present in your expression. 

“The beds, Wanda.” You replied quickly, almost offended she couldn't see the absurdity of that. Maybe she was playing innocent. Or at least, that's what her confused gaze looked like. Another sign escaped you. “Why would a married couple sleep on different beds, side by side?”

“Well, I…” but she cut herself mid-sentence, her gaze shifted as if she realized that really didn't make any sense. “I guess you're right.”

The bed moved as quickly as her fingers - the wood jumping to the side to connect and transform into one bed. You smile, moving forward to kiss your wife's cheek.

“Lovely tricks as always, darling.” You praise, catching the soft color rising up her skin before you step to the bathroom. But you comment again, giggling: “How odd that was, two beds.”

Distracted by your own joke, you didn't catch Wanda's shoulder tension. And she could only force a smile, giving a quick gaze at your figure brushing your teeth while mentality praying that for the sake of her poor heart, you wouldn't notice any other weirdness tonight.

-&-

A stupid tree.

A stupid tree branch against the window and things got out of hand completely. At least this time, in a good sense of things.

That is because Wanda found herself pressed into the bed, giggling at our bold hands under her clothes.

She remembers this teasing all too well. Beyond the sexual tension, and the teenage hormones, there was intimacy. You could always make her laugh, no matter the situation. Often, you would do that in inappropriate ones that's for sure. Just for the satisfaction of making her blush deeply when apologizing to whoever was around to testify you making a mess out of her. And then when in a situation like tonight, where it was too hard to breathe and too warm for a coherent thought - teasing fingers where she had tickles was the perfect way to ease her anxiety. To anchor her back and remember it's just you. Her best friend. Warming your way around her skin.

But things were a little - a lot - different in Westview. Neither of you knows why or how, or better saying, Wanda knew to a different extent than you.

When she brought the covers up your bodies, taking the lead for the night and expecting to meet your eagerness to kiss her again, she was met with more giggles.

She stared down at your shiny eyes, leaning into the hand you brought to her cheek.

“It's too warm here.” You let her know softy, and yes, Wanda was quite aware. Kissing you was more than enough to heat her entirely, but doing this under the covers was a challenge. She could feel the sweat starting to drip. She was ready to say she didn't mind, maybe even kiss you to change the subject when you added: “Why would you cover us anyway, darling? There's no one watching.”

It was meant to be a joke, obviously. You don't know. You couldn't know. And your eyes were innocent and your smile was sincere and Wanda hesitated.

Your hand remains on her cheek, the caress never stopping.

“Did I say something wrong? Where did you go just now?” 

She went outside. Outside the hex, all the way to monitors transmitting her sitcom of a fake life. But not really. Because she didn't consciously know about any of this. Yet, some part of her mind did know, and all the TVs that once exhibited her little show, now hold a Stand By sign. 

Wanda was the one who threw the covers aside. The fresh air was well welcome but you're now distracted with the gorgeous woman moving to straddle your hips.

“You're right, there's no one watching.” She says with the same urgency she burst open your pajama shirt. You don't understand the rush, but she looks too pretty for you to disagree. And Wanda purrs at the sight of your naked skin, biting her lips like a naughty child. “I missed you.”

You chuckle breathlessly, some confusion in your eyes. “I was with you all day.”

She shook her head, deciding now to control her tongue. If she doesn't want you questioning, she needs to stop saying things like this. So she forces a smile, shifting against your hips in a way that makes your breath catch in your throat. “I always miss my wife, I mean. Whenever she's not touching me.”

Even though you offer her a grin, there's a blush in your cheeks that goes down your chest and Wanda suddenly doesn't feel like talking anymore.

A feeling you two seem to share as you bring a hand to her face only to pull her down at you again. It's a heated kiss. With tongue and breathy whispers that turn her into needy sounds. 

Even without the covers, it's soon too hot to keep clothes on. 

You're the one who takes her nightgown off. Pulling down as your tongues dance together, until the item no longer hides the tits you started to play it. 

Wanda's eyes are tightly closed as your mouth sucks her nipple. Your hand plays with the other while she struggles to breathe. 

Her top needs to go, but so does all the other clothing. The nightgown barely reached the floor and you're already pulling at her soaked panties, eager to feel her inside.

“Need this off you now, witchy.” The nickname makes her gasp. You haven't used it until now and it has been way too long since she heard. Since you- 

No. No thinking about this, not now.

She forces herself back to the present, an easy task when she feels every inch of her skin burning with your touch. She needs to move away to take the item off but your hands hold her tight by the waist at the mere attempt of breaking apart.

She giggles breathlessly, aware of the new wave of wetness that dripped down with the feeling of your strong hands manhandling her back at her position, keeping her restless hips still. “But you said you wanted it off.” She tries to ration, receiving only a growl in return. The next second, when your hands shift, the item is torn off her without ceremony. 

“Hey! It was my favorite.” She pouts in protest but you merely give her a husky chuckle.

“I'm sure you can fix it.” Comes as a teasing answer that Wanda couldn't contradict even if she wanted to - all previous thoughts are gone when your fingers reach her front and penetrate between her warm folds without a warning. You groan at the delirious feeling of her pussy against your fingertips while Wanda whimpers at the ceiling, trying to get used to the sudden invasion.

“Fuck, you're so tight.” Your remark with a sultry voice against her ear. Wanda's arm circles your shoulder for some support while she feels the stretch of your fingers inside her. It's been a while since last time but dear God how she missed this. Her hips move on instinct and you have to chuckle at her impatience with herself. Your free hand moves to her lower back, caressing her skin while your fingers start to press your way inside her.

“Easy darling, I got you.” You guide, too deeply for her to give you any replies other than pleas and whimpers.  The position might not be the most comfortable for you but it's amazing to her. Wanda can grind down and ride your fingers as she pleases and you can feel how close she's coming to her climax so you don't dare to stop. Your thumb moves to her clit, circling the nerve and she nearly loses it. The bedroom lights start to flash with the build of this orgasm and you stare at her in amazement only to be rewarded with her gorgeous flushed face while she grinds into your hand in nearly despair.

“Fuck you're so beautiful.” You gasp, increasing the speed. The depth. Wanda breaks in a sob, her back arching. The first one is a charm. Your name is being screamed at the ceiling while you feel her wetness dripping down your hand. Unfortunately - or fortunately - it only makes you crave her more. She's still recovering from the intensity of this climax, all sweaty and flushed when you shift your hand. You're still inside her tight walls and your fingers start to pick up a pace again. She squeaks at the overstimulation, but her protest dies in your tongue sucking hers when you kiss her again.

Wanda's almost too distracted by the filthy of this kiss to notice how quickly her second climax is building - almost. There's a bite against your bottom lip that makes you groan when she breaks the kiss, unable to keep it up. Her hands grab at you for some grounding when she feels how close she is to come, stronger than the last time. You feel her nails piercing your skin when her orgasm washes over her and it's your time to moan at her ear.

Her body goes limp for a moment after this. It was two intense orgasms in a row after all. She just needs to take a breath. 

You move your fingers out, sucking them clean and murmuring satisfied at her taste while Wanda struggles to recognize her surroundings.

When you can hold her with both hands again, you nuzzle at her cheek.

“Enjoying yourself, witchy?” You dare to tease her when she can feel how she's still leaking in your lap. Honestly, the nerve. Wanda let out a deep breath, pushing her momentarily tiredness away. 

There's an easy smile on her lips when she finds your eyes again. “I am but I've been so selfish.” She starts with a particular accentuation of her ascent that she knows you drive you insane. She also watches as your breath catches and your eyes drift to her lips, mesmerized by every word. “You must be needing me as well.”

But you tense at her nails screeching your belly, a worried frown coming at your expression.

“Wanda… my powers.” The fear in your eyes is like a cold buck of water. Oh, yes, she forgot.

For the whole day, she forgot you had no idea of the life you two shared. Nothing outside Westview and this lovely fantasy. None of the creative ways you two once used to bypass the super strength issue. Your fear and hesitation at hurting her made perfect sense but the fact that she was the only one who could remember the whole history you two shared was still painful. Her expression probably gave her away and confused you even more. “I promise you this is more than enough for me. Bringing you pleasure is enough.” You add gently, but Wanda shakes her head, leaning in to kiss you. She leaves you breathlessly before breaking apart, taking some pride in the way you're blushing.

“Don't be silly, darling, there's plenty of things for us to do together. To please one another.” You gulp at her words and tone of voice, eyes following all of her movements. From the shift of her hips to the teasing of her fingers on the way down your pants. “I wanna try something I think you'll love it. Do you trust me?”

You nod immediately, watching as Wanda's fingers play with the hem of your pants. She giggles naughty at your anticipation and brings one finger up to your chin, to make you look at her eyes again. 

“Can you use your words?”

“Y-yeah.” You swallow, trying to win some composure back. It's not easy when Wanda Maximoff is naked and sitting on your tight. But you smile anyway. “Of course I trust you, witchy.”

She smiles at you, her eyes flashing a glimmer of naughtiness that makes your heart leap. You can't worry too much about that anyway - Wanda leans in to kiss you again. And it's the dirtiest one of the night. She takes the lead, pulling back now and then just to tease your tongue with the tip of hers, reveling at the way you pant and struggle to keep your hips still. 

But suddenly, you feel the new pressure inside your pants. The odd sensation shifts your attention entirely but Wanda brings her hands to your neck and kisses you hard. You moan into her tongue, hands holding her tight by the waist until her spell is complete. She presses down into you and the kiss is broken with your needy awareness.

“F-fuck, is that…?” You open surprised and aroused eyes at her, looking down where your middles connect only to watch Wanda's equal affected state. Her trembling hands reach down at your pants, trying to pull the garment off.

“Yeah, and I really need you inside now, alright baby? Think you're ready for me?” Her words are rushed as her fingers. Your pants and underwear are stuck in an awkward position on your thighs because Wanda is too impatient to wait another second. She grabs the hardness - barely giving you time to get used to the image or more important the feeling - of that scarlet strap magically placed there - before she sinks down.

It's a form of revenge, maybe. For the way you didn't give her time to prepare before, but what a sweet revenge that was.

The nearly animalistic grunt that escaped you when Wanda's cunt squeezed around you was a sound you didn't know you could make. She, on the other hand, rewards your ears with a pleasant deep moan while she adjusts to the fullness. There's also a new stretch. The toy is obviously larger than your fingers and goes deliciously deeper so Wanda needs to take a deep breath while she welcomes you in.

To her delight, not that you can remember this, but just like the first time you two tried, it's too much of a new overwhelming pleasure for you to handle. You came almost the same second you're bottom up. Tensing and shaking at the new feeling. You gasp, hands falling at the sides to grab the sheets that are torn apart while you hide your face into her neck and your climax washes over you.

Wanda giggles in amusement. The hot shot inside her feels as good as she remembers and you haven't changed. But the toy softening causes you to panic.

“S-sorry, god, I'm so sorry. I don't-”

“Shh, it's okay.” She cuts your anxious babbling immediately, firming her legs around you and bringing her hands to hold your cheeks. “I know it feels like a real one, but it's not a real one.” She says and without any warning, grinds down at you, stealing all the air of your lungs. Wanda bites her lip before adding “See? You're hard again already.”

You can't give her words. The only thing that leaves your mouth is a whine that makes her clench around you. 

Suddenly, she's moving. Rough grinding before she's undeniably riding your strap and it's dirty and maddeningly sexy so your hands hold her hips and help her when her body starts to betray her wishes to keep going. 

“Oh, Wanda, you feel so nice.” You moan with your eyes closed, outside the shared grunts and your words, the only sounds of the room are the bed creaking and the soaked toy coming in and out of her. Your lovely wife decides to give you a reason to be louder. Her hands push you back at the bed and now you can see her in all of her glory. Her pretty tits bounce with the hard pace she takes on top of you. “W-wait. Easy, I can't hold it if you-” 

Her hands move yours - trying to slow her by the waist - away, locking your fingers together at each side of your head. Her hair makes a curtain for your faces but Wanda kisses you again. Your tongues are still moving together when you come first. 

Because you're strong - stronger than her that is - scarlet magic holds you still, wrists and ankles when Wanda can't. She holds her climax just a little longer, enough to put on a show for your breathless figure under her when you are able to look up at it. 

It's divine when it occurs - The silent scream, her frown before the blissed worn-out expression. The flags of the light, the room vibrating and her eyes bright red before the dark green meets your gaze again.

She smiles down at you, still shaking but somehow ready for another.

“Enjoying yourself aren't you, Avenger?” she repeats your words from before, but the nickname so often used for teasing makes you frown in confusion.

“What is…? But she changed that before you could finish the question. 

As quickly as it happened, the scene shifted as if the words never left her lips. You were staring at her, with uneven breathing and adoring eyes.

“Is this really necessary?” For a second, her heart leaped in fear. The possibility that you could tell she altered things. But your gaze shifted to the magic holding you still, and you offered her a pleading stare. “Won’t you let me touch you?”

Wanda sighs, adjusting your hips and seeing the way your jaw tenses at the slight movement. You're still inside her, always magically stimulated to be hard no matter how many times you come. It made sense that you might be sensitive.

She bit her bottom lip, hands resting on your chest.

“But you look so pretty like this…” She starts, leaning in as if going for a kiss. You sigh as her lips meet your cheeks instead, closing your eyes when you feel her smiling before moving down. “I like having you at my mercy.”

You hum, somewhat distracted by her soft grind against you. If you're hard again, that's not only the magic to blame but Wanda's warm pussy squeezing you still.

“But I'm like this all the time.” you joke earning a husky giggle before she puts some distance between your faces again.

You let out a deep sigh when she pulls out the next second, catching her own soft groan at the emptiness. But your words fail you when you look down and see the mixed cum leaking from her and dripping down your abs.

Cursing under your breath a single “fuck.” at the image, you are not surprised at Wanda's naughty giggle.

“You made such a mess, babe.” She teases, the toy still vibrating and it occurs to you that it doesn't just answer to your arousal, but hers as well. 

“Me? You're the one who, you know… ride it. I didn't even know I would come through it.” You tried to defend yourself with rosy cheeks but Wanda is clearly teasing you. She giggles again, adjusting herself and causing you to shut up immediately. 

“I think you should stop babbling and start cleaning your mess.”

You swallow hard when you realize she's still moving. Up towards your face. The bed makes a strong crack sound when you use all your strength to pull your hands free from her magic chains.

Wanda allows you to break free. Mainly because she loves to feel your hands holding her thighs open when you eat her out.

Some old habits never die.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

you know one of the worst impacts of this whole streaming media enshittification era is that normal people never seem to talk about TV shows anymore. like in 2012 you couldn't go a week at my office without someone starting Game of Thrones discourse over their coffee break. in the 2000s people were always talking about their American Idol faves. when I was a kid in the 90s you had to be allowed to stay up late on Thursdays to watch Friends because everyone in 7th grade was talking about it the next morning.

but now? the most watched show of 2023 was Ted Lasso, a show that existed for three years before I even found out Ted Lasso was the name of a show and not just a guy. I still have no fucking idea what it's about. is Lasso a surname or an occupation? is Ted a cowboy? who the fuck knows. people who have Netflix, I guess? but not people who have Disney+, who probably all watched WandaVision but only talked about it on the internet.

I have a friend who's the biggest Star Trek fan I've ever met but I can't talk Lower Decks with her because she doesn't have whatever the fuck streaming service it's on and she doesn't pirate things for some reason.

our engagement with media used to be a casual part of the day-to-day social fabric and it's just like...not anymore.

[wandamaximoffsbadgirl]

Good Luck Babe

Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader, Wandavision

Summary: Wanda tries to push her feelings for you down by hooking up with Vision.

Word count: 1K

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, angst, no happy ending

Authors note: I never write angst or unhappy endings so I'm sorry to who this hurts but I also hurt myself with this one

The bar was buzzing with life, the bass from the music vibrating through the floor and into your bones. You tried to ignore the sight of Wanda and Vision at the other end of the room, but it was impossible. Wanda was taking shots and hanging all over Vision, her laughter piercing through the crowd. The two of them were kissing, and you felt a pang of jealousy and frustration.

You sipped your drink, your eyes occasionally drifting back to them. When Wanda stumbled to the bar next to you, your eyes shot her a glance. "You know kissing him isn't gonna change anything. It's not gonna stop the feelings, little witch."

Wanda turned to you, her eyes widening slightly as your words seemed to almost sober her up. "It's just the way I am. I can do whatever I want, Y/N."

You rolled your eyes at her words. "Make a new excuse, Wands, another stupid reason. This isn't you. It certainly isn't the girl I rescued in Sokovia who didn't think she could ever be a hero."

Your words felt like venom to Wanda. Her expression hardened, her walls going up completely as she grabbed a glass and downed a double shot. You watched her, your heart aching as you saw the pain flicker in her eyes for a brief moment before she turned back to Vision.

You knew this wasn’t the real Wanda, the Wanda you knew and cared about. But confronting her like this, in a bar full of people, felt like the only way to get through to her. You just hoped that somewhere beneath the bravado and the alcohol, she was still listening.

Without thinking, you grabbed her arm, pulling her against you so your lips crashed together. The kiss was electric, a mix of desperation and longing. For a moment, Wanda moved with you, her body instinctively responding to the passion. But then she remembered she wasn’t supposed to like this, like you, and pulled away, her eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and defiance.

"You'd have to stop the world just to stop this feeling," you said, your voice low and intense. You searched her green eyes, hoping to see a flicker of the connection you once had, but she gave nothing. Her face was a mask, hiding whatever was going on inside.

You scoffed, frustration and hurt boiling over. You reached into your pocket and pulled out a $50 bill, slamming it down on the bar. "Well, good luck, babe." You patted her shoulder, the gesture more resigned than affectionate, before turning and making your way out of the bar.

As you walked away, the neon lights outside the bar flickered, casting a kaleidoscope of colors on the wet pavement. You clenched your fists, trying to keep your emotions in check. Tears stung your eyes, but you refused to let them fall. You knew you couldn't let Wanda see your vulnerability, not now.

Behind you, Wanda watched you go, her own tears threatening to spill. She quickly wiped them away, her tough facade cracking for just a moment. She felt the weight of her own actions pressing down on her, but she couldn't bring herself to chase after you. The distance between you felt wider than ever, and the pain of it cut deep.

You stepped out into the cool night air, taking a deep breath as you tried to steady yourself. The city buzzed around you, indifferent to your heartache. You glanced back at the bar one last time, hoping to see her following you, but the door remained closed.

With a heavy heart, you started walking, each step taking you further away from the bar and from Wanda. The night felt endless, the stars above indifferent to the turmoil within you. You wondered if things would ever change, if the walls between you and Wanda would ever come down. But for now, all you could do was keep moving forward, hoping that someday, somehow, the love you felt for her would find its way back.

As you walked away from the bar, memories flickered through your mind like a film reel. The first time you met Wanda in Sokovia, the city in ruins around you. She had been scared and unsure, her powers raw and unrefined. You had seen something in her, a spark of potential, and had reached out to help her.

The days that followed were filled with moments that etched themselves into your heart. Bringing Wanda to the compound, seeing her eyes widen with wonder as she took in her new surroundings. The two of you training together, her powers growing stronger and more controlled under your guidance.

You remembered the quiet evenings watching sitcoms, Wanda's favorite way to unwind. Her laughter was infectious, and you found yourself falling for her more with each passing day. The kitchen became a shared sanctuary, where you'd cook together, teasing and tasting, creating more than just meals but memories.

There were the late-night make-out sessions, stolen moments of intimacy that spoke volumes of the unspoken bond between you. Each touch, each kiss, deepened the connection, making it hard to imagine life without her. You had been her first in so many ways—her first real friend, her first confidant, her first love.

Now, all of that seemed like a distant dream as you walked away from the bar. The warmth of those memories contrasted sharply with the cold reality of the present. You had tried to break through her defenses tonight, but she had shut you out, leaving you to grapple with the ache of loss.

The city lights blurred as tears filled your eyes, the weight of the past and present pressing down on you. You knew that things couldn't stay like this forever, but you also knew that it would take time for the wounds to heal.

As you turned the corner, you took one last look back at the bar. Wanda was still inside, her silhouette framed by the neon lights. You hoped that somewhere in her heart, she still felt the connection that had once brought you together. And maybe, just maybe, she would find her way back to you.

A sigh escaped your lips, knowing you needed to just leave this all behind.

“Good luck love…”

[sytoran]

double-edged sword | teom part i

Wanda Maximoff's marriage with her husband is not going too well. To add insult to injury, her new neighbour is pretty fuckin' hot.

──── PAIRING. sub!milf!wanda x dark!player!reader

──── CONT. established wandavision, implied unhealthy coping mechanisms, infidelity, thirsting, unresolved sexual tension, reader uses she/they pronouns

──── WORD COUNT. 1.5k

series m.list | main m.list | join the taglist | AO3

A ray of the morning glow on her eyes takes Wanda out of her sweet slumber. Groggily rubbing at her face, Wanda’s eyes slowly adjust as she scans the room.

Viridescent eyes fall to the empty side of the bed next to her. Of course.

Vision, her husband, had been acting different lately. Private phone calls, late nights at work, leaving early in the morning. She no factual evidence to prove what smelt like infidelity, but it was definitely there and Wanda wasn’t as naive as her husband thought she was.

But well, there was only so much she could do about it.

To any outsider, it might seem like she was already living the high life: With a rich husband who worked as a banker, two sprightly kids who were essentially bundles of joy, a big house with a white picket fence...... She had nothing to complain about, right?

Turns out, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Life was too monotone. too standard, too peaceful, too perfect. Sometimes, Wanda felt like her life was one of those sitcoms she so loved: The picture-perfect family, a portmanteau of situational comedy — But that was it, and that false idealisation of perfection was all Wanda would ever be able to actually achieve.

At the recognition of things going awry, Wanda shudders. the room suddenly wasn’t so comfortable. It was spacious, but it was empty, and it didn’t feel like home.

Home. What was home, anyway?

Was it the nights spent with Pietro and her parents, watching sitcoms and eating stale snacks? Was it her sons’ football games she went to, to cheer them on and scream her lungs out?

Well, either way, it definitely wasn’t how Vision had been treating her.

Wanda lets a soft groan fall from her lips and she stretches. As she’s about to finally get out of bed, the sound of a motorcycle revving from a distance hauls Wanda out of her train of thought.

Her ears prick up, sliding off the covers to look out of the window that had a good view of the house next door.

Wanda watches, with keen eyes, as a moving truck pulls up into the driveway. “Right, I’m getting a new neighbour,” Wanda muses, remembering how Agatha told her last Friday that the Simmons had managed to sell the house for a fair bit and then some more.

A bearded man with long blonde hair gets out of the truck, jogging over to the back to start shifting the boxes.

The brunette is about to shut her curtains and carry on with her day, when a different person pulls up into the driveway on a black motorcycle, then leaping off and kicking the stand in a swift motion. Wanda’s attention is tugged back again, her heart inexplicably thrumming a little faster than normal.

“Thanks, Thor!” the motorcyclist calls out, slapping the older man on the back. “I’ve got it from here!”

Wanda shifts closer to the window, hand gripping the windowsill. There was no explanation for why she was so enthralled by that mysterious woman, with the structured arms and glorious physique.

With a pinch of inquisitiveness, Wanda waits and watches as 'Thor' unloads the truck and drives off with a cheery wave. The tall motorcyclist is left there, face glowing the warm sun, light effortlessly reflecting off their arms.

Wanda peels her eyes from that sin-stained window, shaking her head in a means to stop being a fool. You’ve just been sexually repressed, that’s all, Wanda reasons.

She leaves to make herself a cup of hot tea, but when she’s done she finds herself going back to her bedroom window to stare at the new, hot neighbour again. This time, you’re moving the boxes, a sheen of sweat covering layers of muscle, all the yardwork being unreasonably attractive to Wanda.

“You’re married,” Wanda whispers to herself, eyes going to the wedding photo with vision. It seemed grey, compared to the burst of colours before her eyes.

Despite her chastising, Wanda’s marital state didn’t deter her from the inexplicable enthrallment towards her neighbour, however. When you reached up to stretch, and your black tank top rode up to expose an impeccably-sculpted torso, Wanda let out a shuddering breath.

Almost as if on cue, you chance upon that exact timing to look up at Wanda’s window, and her breath comes to a standstill.

There was no relieving herself from the embarrassing situation. Wanda clutches the cup of tea harder, expression frozen, knowing she must look like some kind of freak. A married lady in her late thirties thirsting over a younger woman in their early twenties?

To Wanda’s surprise and downfall of her beating heart, the motorcyclist sends her a quick wink, and as quickly goes back to unpacking and moving.

Wanda Maximoff’s heart nearly gives out.

She basically throws the curtains shut, collapsing into her bed once again with an embarrassed cry and a suspiciously pleased noise. Already, she finds herself recalling the specks of dirt over their face and arms, their grunts of exhaustion, and that sinful, rouguish, wink.

Shit, living next to someone so effortlessly irresistible was going to be a living hell.

===

Fame was a double-edged sword.

Sure, it seemed like the high life, with countless fans and ungodly amounts of money, and interviews all over the radios, and expensive liquor, and women-

It was never right.

As a basketball player, You were thrown into the unwanted limelight at a mere ten years old – With a play a little too amazing for someone yet to hit puberty, it was all set in stone. From there, you rose through the ranks, faster than the basketball world had ever seen. Match after match, record after record, victory after victory…… it was a means to an end.

A private life was non-existent, something uncalled for, for such an inspirational and famous individual. Celebrity, some might call it. Shoved on a pedestal, more like.

The darker aspects were ugly and scarred. Press interviews so stressful and questions so invading you had to do everything to not throw up there and then. Practice after practice, so grueling and body-wracking, and your head never stopped spinning, and the fans never stopped chanting.

Breakdowns turned into a means for escapism, turned into twisted coping mechanisms. No one knew.

There were……fantasies. Desires. Longing. Wrong, that’s for sure, but it helped. It feasted on you like an apex predator, urging you to tap into it.

You had to escape.

Because fame was a scythe pierced into your neck, missing your jugular vein by mere inches.

Your sweet saviour was something unorthodox, coming in the form of a humble town named Westview. A private area, tucked away and unappealing. There were hardly any residents, and they were of a generally older population.

No media, no paparazzi, no matches, no tournaments. You bought a decently comfy house in less than a month after your discovery. not to appease your public image. Just for you, in fact. Just for you and your much-needed rest.

It was the beginning of something good.

Or so you naively believed.

Remember the aforementioned coping mechanisms? Dark, and twisted little fantasies? Corrupt, and evil, and morally grey?

Well, turns out, your forbidden fruit would happen to lie in the form of your very married next-door neighbour.

===

Yes, your neighbour is hot. Like, really fuckin' hot.

That's the first thing you notice when looking up at the window of the house next door, to find that she was already looking at you.

Your neighbour looked reasonably older than you, but ethereal nonetheless. Slightly curly long brown hair pulled into a bun atop her head, stray hairs somehow impeccably framing her face, small hands gripping onto a teacup adorably.

From a distance, you weren’t graced with the vision of clarity — but from what you could see, the way her green eyes shone, flecks of gold and glimmering with light — you didn’t think your eyes had ever laid on something more breathtaking.

When you winked at her, and she blushed instantaneously while fidgeting with her hands – the desired reaction, by the way – you already knew that your new neighbour would be your latest conquest.

A slow smirk grew on your face, thanking the higher powers that lead you to Westview.

Oh, say it's wrong, to treat a pretty girl like a coping mechanism, to please one after the other, until there were none left.

Then look at me in the eyes and tell me that a pretty girl screaming your name as she falls apart in your hands isn't the best thrill in the world, to conquer and devour and make yourself her world, even if it’s for those few sacred moments.

You shrug off the intrusive thoughts, releasing a short gush of air, reminding yourself once again that you were here for a new change of pace. Your inner urges could take its toll afterwards.

It seemed like keeping those inner urges at bay would prove to be a difficult task, though.

You sigh, averting your attention back the remaining unmoved furniture.

It was going to be a long day.

taglist: @natashamaximoff69 @ohsugar-honey-iced-tea @fayhar @bibliophilicbi @screechcat @rowanyaboats @nahnahnahwhat @the-night-owl-blr @nemowevoli @wannabe-fic-reader @natsxwife @wandsmxmff @enanna-h @jemilyswhor3 @manyfandomsfanvergent @scarsw1fe @jlsammy23 @spongebobs-tie1 @kiyozoe6778 @girllcver @natashaswife4125 @godsfavouritelesbiann @ezay @forthelesbians @wlwfanfictionss @forthelesbians @cowxpoke @supaheroine @saqua14 @olsensnpm @33-mrvl @kellyc30-blog @eatkobi @cqllarbones @lovelyy-moonlight @diannaswhore @shuriri4life @inluvwithfictionalwomen @Cooldogs02 @jedi-athen-orion @alyciaddict @blackqueensforeva @lovelyy-moonlight

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[ageofevermore]

SO SCARLET IT WAS

REQUEST — can you do a blurb of Wanda and reader? where reader has been sending wanda love letters anonymously. in the end it's revealed it was reader and wanda asks why they would do that when they are already married

WARNINGS — mentions of canon age of ultron events, mentions of canon civil war events, mentions of natasha’s death in endgame although very brief for my own sanity more then yours, parent clint and nat although it’s more nat focused, fluff to the max

AUTHORS NOTE — i don’t wanna talk about how this was supposed to be a blurb. also, for the sake of this timeline, wandavision is genuine not a scripted reality. wanda and reader did everything the right way and found a life together in westview

AGE OF ULTRON

You shouldn't have fallen in love so easily, especially not with her, you were a trained Avenger for thors sake, love was supposed to be at the bottom of your priorities barrel. That was easier said than done, because from the very first time that your eyes met across the battlefield, everything inside of you froze, skipped, and stuttered all at once. You should’ve been alert enough to detonate the blast before it could wound Clint, usually you were steps ahead of it, but her eyes were absorbing all the explosions around you and the soft watercolor green was alight with fireworks so beautiful you couldn’t look away. After that, you stood no chance of ever clearing her from your head. Even if she was supposed to be the enemy, even if you’d never experienced love before. Nat and Clint gave you the benefit of the doubt at first. You never missed your mark on a mission, but the cold temperatures and the fact that Helen said your heart rate was alarmingly high for your average bpm had given them the slightest indication that something was bothering you. That maybe, you hadn’t been so recovered from your history with Hydra as they thought. So, they sent you back to therapy.

Truthfully, therapy distracted you from her for a while, revisiting your past could distract you from anything for a short amount of time, but then you started having dreams. Not the nightmares that tickled your belly and drenched you in sweat and had you knocking on Natashas bedroom door at three in the morning looking for evidence that you really had been saved, but dreams of what ifs that all included her. Dreams where Natasha and Clint weren't the ones who found you barely clinging to life in an abandoned facility in Russia, dreams where it was her. That should’ve been the second indicator that you were never going to escape the curse she laid upon your heart without a single word. But you still tried to convince yourself that you could get over this, that you could see straight with clear judgment.

When she got inside of Natasha’s head the second time you crossed paths, you should’ve been enraged. You should’ve been cured of any delusion you harbored in your heart, but the attack only made you hurt for her. If things had played out differently, if Natasha and Clint had found her like they’d found you, maybe she wouldn’t be the enemy. If Natasha and Clint hadn’t found you, maybe you’d have ended up in her shoes, afraid to go against the only orders you knew. In moments like these, where Natasha’s half unconscious lost in her mind, and Clint is rolling in panic, and Tony is enraged and defeated, you seem to be the only one aware enough to recognize that maybe this is all she knows. That maybe, she’s just trying to not to get hurt again.

Natasha sees your feelings for what they are a few hours after landing at the farm. You had been sorting through your small selection of clothes that Laura organized in the back of the guest room closet while Natasha took a shower. You wanted to find something loose that didn’t irritate the healing wounds on your side from the first mission, but you were so far in your head you’d looked at the same shirt four times without realizing. Natasha had watched the entire event unfold, and like she never could when it came to you, fought feelings of rage and pride. You are the closest thing she’s ever going to have to a daughter, and watching you fall in love with someone so dangerous, she doesn’t know what the appropriate reaction is.

“You like her.” The assassin's tone was even, not giving away if she felt one way or another about the predicament you’ve landed in, but keeping her posture open so you wouldn’t shut down like you had a habit of doing. She and Clint knew you like the back of their hand, how had it taken them this long to realize you weren’t just reeling at the confrontation of your past, but falling in love with the enemy. You hadn’t even noticed she was still in the room with you, and that the shower water hadn’t been running at all. Every muscle in your body tensed, you were caught, and this could only go so many ways.

“I'm sorry.” With wide eyes, you faced your mentor who had become like a mother to you in the last decade. You weren’t a kid with heavy PTSD anymore, you had overcome most of it, not without extensive work and self-reflection, but for the most part, you were just an ordinary teenage girl who saved the world on occasion. That’s what Clint and Natasha saw when they looked at you. That wasn’t the girl Natasha was looking at now. She was staring eye to eye with a child tortured by Hydra. A child without family and without confidence in herself. A child who thought she was about to be hurt.

In that moment, Natasha abandoned the rage she was clinging onto in her belly. At that moment, Natasha decided to lean into her pride, to just be your mother instead of your mentor. You had found somebody you cared about, and as your mother, she would be elated to help you recognize that feeling without holding onto the shame you were undoubtedly forcing yourself to remember. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Malyshka.”

“She’s the enemy! She hurt you, she-she could’ve killed Clint!” You spluttered, trying to reason with yourself that this wasn’t a good thing. That you were insane for trying to redeem a girl who had almost torn apart the only family you have.

Natasha forced herself to see the situation from your shoes, something she admittedly should’ve done from the get. She forced herself to remember that you had been with Hydra for six years of your life, that had she and Clint not found you, you might’ve ended up on the same field with Wanda playing against them. She never wanted to think about that possibility, never wanted to think about how little her life would mean without you, but in another universe, she’s sure that's how it played out. “She’s just a kid who doesn’t want to get hurt. But you didn’t fall in love with the enhanced, did you?” Natasha asked, and your cheeks flushed so violently scarlet they were almost maroon, almost the same deep shade as the magic tendrils that danced between your crushes fingers. “When the blast hit Clint, you were frozen. I thought you were stuck in a flashback, that the cold had brought you back to that abandoned base, that wasn’t it, was it? You were looking at her. You were seeing her as a person, not a weapon. Something we all should’ve done a lot sooner.”

“She has the greenest eyes, Nat. But-but after the blast hit Clint, she-she was so scared. She’s just trying not to get hurt. Something happened to her, I think she’s still scared because of it.” You admitted, tears welling in your eyes at the possibility of her getting hurt at your hands, because at the end of the day, you would never sacrifice Clint and Nat for her. At the end of the day, your side was with the people who raised you.

“Whatever you choose, Clint and I support you.” Natasha hated that her voice shook with tears, she hated that you were growing up, she hated that you were being shoved into a corner where you had to pick between finding out who you were as a person, or being an Avenger.

At the mention of your mentor who was like a father, your chest grew tighter. She almost killed him. She almost took him away from you, from his kids, from his wife. How would he ever forgive you for choosing her? “She almost killed him, Nat.”

“You will never, never lose us. Get that thought out of your head, right now.”

You sniffled, shuffling your feet against the carpeted floors to feel something other than stabs of aching pain in your chest. How did you end up here? “I don’t blame Clint if he doesn’t forgive her. If it comes down to his life or hers. I don’t blame him if he chooses to live.”

“Malyshka, I could’ve shot him the first day I met him. There is not an ounce of self-preservation in his bones. He sees the good in people too easily to just give up on them. Just like you. If it comes down to him or her, he’s choosing the both of them. You know that as well as I do.”

“Nat?” You asked softly after silence had fallen over the two of you for a beat, her words circling your head and your heart on a loop. When your mentor hummed, you spoke again, this time admitting what you’d been trying to deny. “I think I love her.”

CIVIL WAR

You didn’t want to believe what you were hearing. You didn’t want to believe that half of your team and mentors had signed the accords, that they had agreed with Secretary Ross to an extent and therefore fed into the bullshit propaganda that the enhanced were dangerous. You were almost enhanced. If Hydra had succeeded, you would’ve been all the same as Wanda and the new vigilante Spiderman. Had they forgotten that? Did they really only see Wanda for her powers? Not for the teenage girl that had lost her parents and her brother and been manipulated and abused and used as a test-subject? Had they just let that slip their mind so easily?

You hadn’t left Wanda’s side since Natasha broke the news to you. Almost a year had grown between now and the events of Ultron, and the former was trying her best to fit in, to make up for all the red in her ledger at the hands of Hydra. She was making leaps of improvement, but that still wasn’t enough. She was still just another enemy in the eyes of Secretary Ross, and he had asked you to do the impossible. Choose a side. Why was everyone making you choose a side?

Wanda tried not to let you see how much this was upsetting her, but from the moment you saw her across the battlefield you’d been able to read her like she was your favorite book. When she held you at night, you could feel how tense she was. When she walked around the compound, you could see how uncomfortable she felt and how she wanted to just melt away and not exist. It broke your heart, but once again, you’d been put in a situation where you couldn’t do anything to help. A situation where the majority saw you as just a kid unfortunate enough to have no real family.

“Let's run away.” You suggest one night when you’re wrapped up in nothing but a thin blanket and Wanda’s arms, far far away from reality and for this one single moment in time, it’s just the two of you. Just Wanda and Y/N. There aren’t any superpowers, or any Avengers level threats, or United States government officials trying to control them like objects the same way Hydra had. It’s just them. Just two teenagers broken by life and in love.

“To where.” Wanda hummed, her lips flush against your neck as she fought sleep to instead spend this moment with you. The vibration of her voice tickled your belly in the sweetest way you had ever experienced, and a flush spread across your cheeks so scarlet in color it was almost maroon.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Ohio. I hear it’s the best place to create your own reality.” You admit shyly, picking up the cold hand that's draped across your midsection, and beginning to play with her fingers and pull at her knuckles to hear them crack the way she loves, especially after training sessions with Natasha where their main focus had been working on controlling her magic. Secretly, you love the way her muscles contract after her knuckles pop and how she involuntarily squeezes your hand in hers. Secretly, its not a secret at all.

Wanda lets you play your game, knowing your intention but having never shared her knowledge with you. She finds it cute how eager you are to feel her, even in ways as innocent as this moment. And secretly, although it's no secret to you, she loves feeling you all the same. She loves coming up behind you and hugging you tightly, she loves when you just lay against her and shudder every time her breath tickles your neck, she loves when it's just the two of you in a moment as nothing more than girlfriends. “What would we be in this reality?”

“Fiances.”

Wanda snorts, laughing so hard the muscles in her belly tighten and her face goes scarlet. “We’re a little young for that, detka.”

“Childhood lovers. We would’ve been best friends since Kindergarten. You would’ve asked me to be your girlfriend in the fifth grade, after I failed a spelling test and wouldn’t stop crying. I would have said yes without a pause. We would’ve never broken up, and our parents would have loved it. Pietro would’ve teased us, but he would be happy for you. And when we graduated high school, you would’ve gotten down on one knee right then and there. We wouldn’t waste a single moment. And Nat and Clint would be elated. Your parents would call me their daughter. It would be perfect, our life in Ohio. Nobody would bat an eye at how young we are, because love doesn’t know numbers, it just knows feelings.”

Wanda sniffled, wondering how she could get so lucky to have you. “Would we have kids?”

“Two. Twins. I would think they were girls the entire time, and I would ask that we name them Natalia and Lauren, but you would know that they were boys. You never told me that, but when they were born you’d tell me you dreamt it. Two boys, William and Thomas. We’d call them Billy and Tommy. They’d be just like you. Stubborn and silly, but the sweetest angels. Our life would be complete.”

“And we’d raise them in Ohio?”

You shook your head, twisting in Wanda’s arms so you could see her watercolor eyes. Even without explosives lighting up the room, there are fireworks in them. “I would find us the perfect plot in New Jersey. We would build a home for them, where they could just be kids, and we could be the cool moms who host sleepovers and invite the entire town to birthday parties. Nat and Clint would visit on holidays, and they’d be sad that we moved away, but they’d be so happy for us. We would be so happy.”

ENDGAME

How could this be happening? How could you spend five years without the woman you love, and the second you have hope of getting her back, lose the woman who was the closest thing you had to a mother? How could you gain the weight of hope, and lose it in seconds. Five years without Wanda was agonizing, but you never feared for a second that you wouldn’t get her back. You had lost too much to give up, and when Tony had come to the compound, saying he found a way to get everyone back, how did you not know that you would lose everything all over again? How had you let his words sound like a fairytale? Why was the world always sacrificing the things that completed you? Why did you think for a second you could ever be completely happy?

WANDAVISION (wandayn sounded wrong)

“This is the sixth letter I’ve found since Monday!” Wanda was exasperated, coming into the kitchen with her arms full of babies and letters. Her messy red hair was tied back, away from her face, no doubt due to the fact that Billy and Tommy had just entered a phase where they loved to grab and yank at your hair if you left it down and in reach.

“Oh? What’s this one say?” You quizzed, brushing flour off of your hands and grabbing the dishrag. The kitchen was a disaster as you attempted to bake a cake for the twins first birthday, but you couldn’t care less about the mess as you took in the sight of your wife. She looked absolutely ethereal, with hair so red it was almost maroon and love in her eyes so exuberant it was like a never ending firework show.

“Something about how I complete them!” She was completely at her end with these letters, and the anonymous slash at the bottom that gave away nothing about who it could be from. The both of you had come a long way since mourning Natasha and finding a life for yourself in New Jersey, and the last thing Wanda wanted was somebody tearing apart everything that was finally good. That was finally easy. You both deserved this more than anybody else.

Your eyes sparkled mischievously, a glint of something chaotic catching Wanda’s attention. “They’re from you, aren’t they!” She gasped, handing you Tommy when he started to fuss, and adjusting Billy now that her other arm was free. You giggled, looking for an escape route but your moment was short lived as Wanda came closer and her hips pinned you to the island. “Why!”

“I’m in love with you. I thought you should know.” You answered simply, although it was so much more than that. Losing Natasha hadn’t been easy for either of you, leaving the Avengers was almost harder, because it was the last piece of Nat you had left, but you knew that she would’ve wanted this for you. She would’ve wanted you to be happy, to have a family, to find everything she wasn’t able to find because of her past. The life you lived now, as much as it was for yourself and for Wanda, it was for her and all that she had given to you.

“We’re married!” Wanda beamed, “I already knew you loved me!”

You giggled, leaning up to kiss her sweet scarlet lips, but a baby hand kept you from kissing her. “Do you want a kiss, Tommy? Do you want some love?” You giggled, showing his tiny palm in kisses before moving on to do the same thing to Billy, wondering how you had come so far from battlefields in only a decade.

[restinslices]

I found your twilight post with the Lin Kuei brothers amusing and relatable 🤣

Can you do headcannons on watching marvel movies with the reader? Captain America is my favorite character in the movies lol

The MCU is huge so lmk if there was something specific you wanted to know about

Bi-Han

I don’t see any of them watching a lot of movies so you definitely introduced it to him 

He takes the longest time to finish the movies because it’s not on the top of his list when it comes to concerns 

He’s one of those overly critical watchers so he’s annoying as fuck to watch movies with 

I can see him liking Ultron

Why? I think he’d like the concept of Ultron and understand why he’s thinking the way he is 

The type to agree with Thanos until someone points out he could’ve just doubled the resources 

His favorite Phase is Phase 3 purely because Hela is his favorite character in the entire MCU 

He’s legit upset she was killed off 

I’d say which show is his favorite but I only watched Wandavision and TFATWS so moving on-

I don’t know if I see him reading the comics. Maybe if he’s curious enough 

The Avengers and The Guardians of The Galaxy are pinned against each other a lot, but what does he think?

I think it changes a lot. Depends on his mood

One thing’s for sure; he prefers the OG Avengers 

Not one of those Marvel fans that remembers everything and he doesn’t really stay up to date

Hasn’t even watched any of the shows yet 

Please bring Hela back and stop pissing him off. She ain’t do nothing wrong 

Quick afterthought 

He’s Team Cap

He don’t even wanna listen to Liu Kang. Why the fuck would he agree with the government controlling The Avengers?

Kuai Liang

NOT one of the overly critical watchers so thank fuck 

If he spots something that’s off, he’ll call it out but that’s as bad as it gets 

He likes a mix of villains and heroes

If the villains got a point, then they got a point. That’s just how it is.

He likes villains that can become better people. The pure evils ones he’s like “yeah you suck” but villains that are actually victims or who have done certain things but try to become better, he likes 

Because of that I’d say his favorite villain is The Winter Soldier 

He’s done terrible things but Kuai Liang feels pity for him and enjoys his story 

I think either Avengers or Civil War is his favorite movie 

He prefers the og era of the MCU and I think the Avengers as a whole reminds him of his family (petty as fuck towards each other but there’s ultimately love there) and Civil War was a banger

A situation where there’s technically not a right side is a topic I can see him liking 

With that being said, he is both Team Cap and Team Ironman 

Since he follows Liu Kang I can see him being like “sometimes teams need to be reined in and need someone to follow”

But in the same breath this is the same government that is corrupt and has proven themselves as not trustworthy 

And people could always die before the heroes are able to help

Then there’s Bucky and he once again understands why Steve wouldn’t tell but he also understands Tony’s anger 

He stays somewhat up to date when it comes to the new movies and shows 

He knows when they come out but he doesn’t see them right away 

Tomas

I can see him staying up to date and seeing the movies whenever he could 

Has possibly read some comics too?

Prefers Heroes 

Do I wanna say his favorite character is Spider-Man because the PS5 Spider-Man voices Tomas?

Yes

So that’s what imma do

Does he have a favorite Spider-Man?

I’m not sure. I can see him seeing the positives and negatives of all the Spidermen 

Team Cap for the accords 

Team Ironman for the Bucky situation 

His parents were killed so are we surprised? No

The type to see the positives of Phase 4 instead of just saying it’s shit 

Is it the best? No. But it’s not all ass. Damn.

He prefers the Guardians so when Gamora was killed, his heart was in SHAMBLES 

“Maybe Gamora and Peter can fall in love again”

I have bad news 

Favorite Phase is always changing. Each Phase has bangers and non bangers so it changes day to day 

I know I said he loved all the Spidermen but his favorite movie is probably a Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie 

Do not tell him the Avengers are more like coworkers than family. Do not fuck up his day 

He likes found family movies so he enjoys the movies that focus on the groups 

[five-miles-over]

For All Time, It Was Always You

Chapter 2: Mrs. Laufeyson

A/N: Thank you everyone for all of your positive comments! I really appreciate it, and hope you'll like this little continuation from the suburbs AU inspired partly by Wandavision.

Summary: After Loki leaves for work, you explore your new house and try to fit in with this world that feels too perfect to be real.

Pairing: Loki x Wife!Reader

Warnings: None really. Talk about 'traditional' gender roles. A surprise cameo. And silliness.

You waved goodbye, standing at the doorway as a black Chevrolet Bel Air departed from the house with Loki in the driver's seat. And like the doting wife that he thought you were, you blew a kiss in his direction.

When the car disappeared from your line of sight, you meandered into the sea green kitchen and filled a steel kettle with water, letting it sit on the stove the way a hen sat on her eggs. While the kettle grew hot, you searched the cabinets for tea bags,…and anything else that might help you understand this new, suburban world. A world in which you were the newlywed wife of a TVA employee who shared a name with the Norse God of Mischief. 

Next to a box of Earl Grey Tea was an entire section of the cabinet dedicated to biscuits of various brands and flavors: chocolate Hobnobs, Jaffa cakes, McVitie's digestive biscuits, shortbread, Bourbon cookies, and Oreos. At least three, unopened tubes of Oreo cookies. Were all of these sweet treats for you, or for your - you couldn't believe you were actually using this word - husband?

With a shrug, you grabbed a tube of the Oreo cookies, ripped it open and started eating them one by one. Holding the blue wrapper in one hand, you continued searching through the other kitchen cabinets. 

You found nothing but flour, brown sugar, white sugar, spices, marmite, extra virgin olive oil…, and two jars of strawberry jam from the same brand for some reason. And then, something next to a box of spaghetti caught your eye. A cookbook, with various pages dog-eared, titled Delicious Recipes For All Time, Always.

You blinked, carefully taking the book from the shelf. For All Time, Always? That's a weird title to call a cookbook…, a vague title as well. Inside the cover was a handwritten note, scribbled in blue pen.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Congratulations on the wedding, Mrs. Laufeyson! Loki's a lucky guy.

-Mobius M. Mobius

So that's who Loki was talking about at breakfast. He mentioned cancelling plans with someone named 'Mobius'. Someone who was making him watch tedious videos at work today. 

Jumping to the dog-eared pages of the cookbook, you came across various recipes: poached eggs, blueberry pancakes, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti bolognese, green bean casserole, Cumberbatch pie, curried chickpeas in coconut milk, angel food cake with strawberries and cream, chocolate mayonnaise cake…

Whiiiiiiieeee!

You whipped your head over your shoulder and immediately silenced the kettle's whistle, turning off the stove. Damnit, you went looking for tea bags and found yourself exploring everything except tea bags. Shaking your head, you shoved an Oreo into your mouth and opened the box of Earl Grey tea bags. 

Then, you opened a cabinet filled with plates, bowls, and cups, grabbing a white ceramic mug for your tea bag. On the top shelf of the cabinet was a pastel blue gift box. While the tea bag steeped in hot water, you reached for the box using a chair as a makeshift stepping stool. Inside the gift box were two mugs labeled 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' in gold calligraphy And like the cookbook, there was a handwritten note as well. 

For all the mornings you'll have together. Congratulations to you both, Mr. and Mrs. Laufeyson! May the years ahead be filled with lasting love and happiness.

-Jeremy, Joyce, and Bill Hazeldine

With a gasp, you quickly closed the box and put it back on the shelf…only to open the box, taking another peek at the note. Mrs. Laufeyson...you underlined those words with your fingertip. Taking a deep breath, you put the box back on the shelf for good, promising to never use those mugs unless you were with Loki. 

By this point, the tea was hot enough to be enjoyed but not scalding that it would burn your throat. You took a sip, relaxing in its warmth, holding the mug with both hands. "Mrs. Laufeyson", you repeated to yourself. You looked down at your left hand, the emerald ring still on your middle finger just the same way it was this morning. 

After you finished drinking your tea and scarfing down the rest of the Oreo cookies in the container, you wandered into the living room. It was just across from the kitchen, a pastel yellow room with white bookshelves containing all kinds of hardcover and paper cover works. One would probably need an entire decade just to finish reading all the books kept inside the living room. You tilted your head and wondered which of the books were your husband's choice. But before you could sit down on one of the couches, you heard the doorbell ring.

"Who is it?" You asked, fixing your hair. 

A light, female voice came from outside. "It's Joyce!" As you made your way to the front door, you caught a glimpse of yourself in mirror hanging in the hallway. Your hair was miraculously styled, and you were wearing a cute set of pajamas…It almost made you stand still for a moment just so you could admire how desirable you looked. No wonder your husband was so lovey-dovey this morning.

The doorbell rang again. Putting on your best smile, you dragged your feet towards the door and opened it. 

Standing outside was a thin, middle-aged woman -presumably Joyce - with a bowl cut hairstyle, wearing a light blue shirt and straight-leg jeans. "Oh hello, dear. So good to see you again!" She gave you a warm smile and a hug, rocking you in her arms.

"Good to see you too, Joyce." You politely reciprocated her hug and let out a small laugh. "Thank you again for the mugs, they're lovely."

Joyce placed her hands on your arms for a moment, looking up at you. "I haven't seen you both since you came back from your honeymoon. Oh, look at you…" She marveled, "Married life seems to be treating you well."

"Thank you so much," you looked down, deciding to be as demure as possible, hoping they wouldn't ask too many questions about the honeymoon. "I…I couldn't be happier, Loki is so sweet to me." When your eyes met Joyce's, you touched the back of your neck. "I…He makes me feel like the luckiest lady in the world, Joyce."

Joyce quietly laughed with you. "You remember my son Bill, right?" Towering over Joyce was a lanky teenage boy with golden curls, blue eyes, and the face of an angel. He wore a grey t-shirt, worn-out jeans, and beat-up sneakers. 

You reached out to shake his hand. "Of course I do," you lied. "Hi, Bill."

"Afternoon, Mrs. Laufeyson." Bill greeted you with a smile that could make London light up during a blackout. "Congratulations again."

"Thank you." You placed your left hand on your heart, showing off your wedding ring just a little. "How are you, Bill?"

"I'm alright, thank you." Bill nodded. "I've been working with the church, teaching Sunday school. Thought it'd be a nice way to spend my summer after my first year of college."

"That's very thoughtful of you."

"Thank you. I thought it would be good for my theology course to do something like that," Bill admitted before reaching into one of his jean pockets, procuring a small blue velvet box. "Actually, I have something for you, Mrs. Laufeyson." 

You covered your mouth in disbelief. "Oh, Bill…"

"Please, take it." He extended the box to you. "I bought it for my former-girlfriend Jewel." Blinking, you gingerly accepted it, running your finger along the lid. "Former girlfriend…You broke up with her?"

Joyce intervened, "He had to do it, dear. She was nothing but trouble."

"I'm so sorry."

 "No, I'm sorry." Bill shook his head. "I bought it for her a long time ago, but I suppose it was never meant to last. But, I really want to give it to someone. Please, consider it a belated wedding gift, Mrs. Laufeyson."

You smiled, opening the box to find a sterling silver bracelet. Simple, yet elegant. "Thank you, Bill. I'll treasure it. If you ever want to talk, or just stop by for some tea, the door will always be open for you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Laufeyson," he graciously said. "And I hope Jewel finds someone else who'll make her happy."

The three of you stood quietly outside your house before you spoke up. "Joyce, would you and Bill like to come inside for some tea?"

"Not today, dear. I'm so sorry, Bill's coming with me to do some errands. And I'm sure you might need to catch up on some sleep after such a busy honeymoon." Joyce teased you a little with the last bit. "Might only be a matter of time before you and Loki get a visit from the stork."

You laughed, looking down again. You remembered how Loki hugged you from behind this morning and teased you with the idea of "finishing what you started on the honeymoon". Almost instinctively, your free hand rested on your stomach.

"We should have dinner sometime, Loki and I would love to have you over, we can catch up," you blurted. Joyce enthusiastically agreed and said she and her husband would love that.

"Tomorrow night," Joyce promised. "Would seven-thirty be alright?"

"Absolutely!" You nodded, already imagining how to tell Loki when he came home from work. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"See you tomorrow." Joyce and Bill waved goodbye as they climbed into their car and drove off. 

Something ached inside you as you watched them drive off, maybe because it reminded you of the way that Loki drove off this morning while you stood at the doorway waving goodbye. As you closed the door once again, you pondered over going out tomorrow, even if it was just something as small as a mid-morning stroll while Loki was out. But for now, there were other things that needed to be done.

Tagging: @anukulee @smolvenger @pineappleandro @lotsoflokilove23 @talklokitome @rumin8ting @12-pm-510 @painedfever @iambetterthanbefore @princess-ofthe-pages @thenotoriouserg @lokischambermaid @lokiismineforever @lokidbadguy @lokisgoodgirl @lokisprettygirl22 @holdmytesseract @wheredafandomat @wolfsmom1 @lovelysizzlingbluebird @evelyn-kingsley @muddyorbsblr @stupidthoughtsinwriting @icytrickster17 @thatdummy-girl @fantasyfan4life @huntress-artemiss @itsdoni @gruftiela @ellooo0ooo @ireallyneedtherapy @jennyggggrrr @turniptitaness @lokiforever

[tobiasdrake]

Digimon Adventure 01x26 - Radiant Wings! Garudamon / Sora's Crest of Love

Previously on Digimon Adventure: Mimi buried herself in an escapist fantasy to get away from it all, at the expense of the people living there. But then she watched WandaVision, declared "She just like me fr", and undid it all. To apologize, she hosted karaoke night for everyone.

Both groups have found their Digivice radar blip, so it's time to meet back up with everyone.

Something about this return trip across the lake, hard to say what, seems a bit more difficult for Taichi and Jou. The swan boat's moving slow enough that Mimi and Palmon can comfortably sit up on top of it, where Agumon had to drape himself across the roof before.

Not sure why. I guess the boys are just getting tired. Plus it was visibly damaged in the TonosamaGekomon fight so that might also be a factor. Yeah, that's definitely it.

(In seriousness, she's up there because it's a two-seater. Jou's the responsible senpai, Mimi's the youngest, and Taichi's an experienced athlete. This is the correct way to divvy up the available positions on the swan.)

But with time and pedaling, the kids make it to the far shore.

Taichi: Hey, we're here! Jou: (sits back and sighs) So tired....

Taichi disembarks the boat and holds up his arms to help Her Majesty down from the roof.

Taichi: Come on, Princess. Mimi: Ugh, don't call me Princess! Taichi: Just joking around!

Though there are practical reasons for them to have divvied up the positions like this, the irony of the situation is not lost on Taichi.

Would it surprise you to know that the dub rewrote this exchange so they'd have an opportunity to be mean to Mimi about it? Because it didn't surprise me.

Tai: Come on, Mimi, get off your throne! Mimi: (scoff) I wouldn't exactly call this a throne! Tai: Yeah, well, I wouldn't call you a princess!

It starts off about the same, then Mimi's given a shallow response to provoke a comical retaliation. The punchline is Tai directly insulting her for being entitled, out of an exchange that was originally Taichi gently ribbing Mimi for the past episode's behavior and Mimi getting embarrassed and flustered about it.

Yamato's group arrives to meet the swan boat team and the two teams reunite.

Palmon: You've gotten smaller since last I saw you. Tsunomon, Motimon, & Koromon: Cut it out!

Palmon, you were there when this happened to Koromon. XD She's just being a dick.

In the dub:

Palmon: It's been so long since I've seen you! My, you've... shrunk. Tsunomon, Motimon, & Koromon: Don't rub it in!

It's a long walk to that punchline but I get where they were going with this. Palmon's quoting what was basically a stock phrase among distant relatives that kids in the target demographic have heard a thousand times. If you were twelve years old in the U.S in the 90's, this was hilarious.

I am no longer twelve years old so I don't know what they're saying now.

While Palmon savagely teases the other Partners for the consequences of Perfect-stage evolution, conversation turns to the one member of the nakama still missing: Sora, who's been floating around offering small bits of aid in each episode.

Except Koushiro's for continuity's sake, because Sora was across the lake helping Mimi while Koushiro's episode was taking place. Koushiro and Tentomon are the only pair that managed to unstick themselves from their situation without anyone's help.

Taichi: Where's Sora? Yamato: We didn't see her. Taichi: I see.... Where could she have gone? Mimi: I... I might have seen Sora-san. Group: Huh? Taichi: Where? Mimi: The Gekomon castle. But that might have been a dream....

Mimi flashes back on Sora's visit to Mimi's bedside, prompting discussion of Sora's eerie hit-and-run assistance.

Jou: So that's what happened. Koromon: Come to think of it, the voice that told me not to eat the mushrooms... I feel like it sounded a lot like Sora's. Taichi: Are you sure? Takeru: But if that's true, then why hasn't Sora-san come back to us? Yamato: It's no use thinking about it. We aren't Sora.

Yamato, Taichi, and Koushiro check their Digivices to see a new signal beeping in the distance.

Yamato: We'll have to catch her first. Taichi: This is like playing hide and seek. Koushiro: It's coming from this direction.

Taking point, the three lead the way, following their Digivices towards Sora.

In the dub, Joe is bafflingly clueless about the context of this conversation.

Joe: I think you're right. It must have been a dream. Koromon: Actually, I forgot that when I was just about to eat one of those Mushrooms of Forgetfulness when I was Agumon, I heard a voice that sounded a lot like Sora's! Tai: That's real weird! T.K.: But then, if Sora's actually close to where we are, why doesn't she come out and tell us? Matt: Maybe Sora just doesn't want to. Even worse, maybe she just can't. (Digivice signals beep) Matt: All I know is, we've gotta find her quick! Tai: It's almost like we're playing tag with her! Izzy: Come on, the signal points this way!

Original Koromon can be excused for this oversight because he's just realizing right now that the voice he heard was Sora's. Dub Agumon pegged her as Sora back at the moment it was happening, so it's kinda weird he waited this long to mention her.

Meanwhile, at Vamdemon's castle, PicoDevimon is getting the worst punishment yet. We don't even see it; We only hear four straight seconds of bloodcurdling scream before coming in on PicoDevimon falling down a flight of stairs, visibly bruised and beaten.

At last, Vamdemon emerges from silhouette.

(Oh my god, I always forget that he's blond. Why is he blond? XD I love the guy but Blond Dracula looks goofy as shit.)

Vamdemon's emergence prompts him to finally receive a rundown too. Vamdemon is a Perfect-stage Virus-type Undead Digimon. He debuted in Nightmare Soldiers, the same V-Pet that gave us Devimon, as the Perfect-stage evolution of Devimon and Bakemon.

In fact, many of the Digimon we're going to see associated with him are also Nightmare Soldiers. This arc is basically "The Chosen Children throw hands with that one specific V-Pet release."

I don't remember if I mentioned this before but his name, Vamdemon, is a portmanteau of "Vampire" and "Demon". Meanwhile, his English name Myotismon comes from the myotis genus of bats.

Vamdemon: I've grown tired of your incompetence. Narrator: Vamdemon. An exceptionally brutal and cunning Undead Digimon. His special attacks are Night Raid and Bloody Stream.

This is one of the less helpful rundowns. Thank you for just reading the attack names that were printed onscreen for me. This told me nothing.

The dub retains PicoDevimon's tortured scream, but they cut it down to about three seconds and also dial the volume way the hell down so it's easy to miss under the background music.

DemiDevimon handles Myotismon's intro.

Myotismon: Because of your stupidity, all of my evil plans have failed! DemiDevimon: Oh boy, Myotismon! How'd I ever get stuck working for this guy? And he's got all those bats! I hate bats!

The dub makes a judgment call that Vamdemon was the one coming up with all the schemes, which isn't quite the impression I've gotten. It's felt to me like Vamdemon gave PicoDevimon a task - Steal the Crests and prevent them from activating - and then set him loose to go figure out how to make that happen for himself.

The forgetfulness mushrooms demonstrated quite a bit of personal initiative. Bribing Digitamamon to drag Yamato into Jou's plight also seems unlikely to have been premeditated too far in advance, since it was a reaction to Yamato showing up like ten minutes ago. And with Vademon, he didn't so much bungle a plan as the plan was just bad from the outset.

PicoDevimon's schemes have featured a lot of improvisation and rapid adjustment to changing circumstances. So I think Myotismon owes credit where credit is due: Because of DemiDevimon's stupidity, all of his own plans have failed!

PicoDevimon: Please forgive me, Vamdemon-sama! Vamdemon: Courage. Hope. Friendship. The children's Crests have regained their light once after another. PicoDevimon: I-I'm ashamed! B-but, Vamdemon-sama, not all of the Crests have activated yet!

PicoDevimon scries up footage of Sora and Piyomon, sitting along on grass.

PicoDevimon: Like this kid. Her Crest of Love will never glow. Truth is, that's because I gave her some advice. The other six should be coming to her shortly. If we strike there-- Vamdemon: When the time comes, contact me. I will send those children straight to Hell. PicoDevimon: YES, SIR!!!

This time it's Vamdemon's turn to be unfair. My guy, the Crest of Courage was shining before PicoDevimon was even involved in this. Absolutely unfair to pin that one on him. Go take it up with Etemon.

This is, of course, case in point: PicoDevimon's having to explain the situation with Sora to Vamdemon because Vamdemon has no idea what PicoDevimon did to her. He's not involved in the "how"; He cares only that the task gets done.

In the dub:

DemiDevimon: Forgive my mistakes, Master Myotismon! I beg you! Myotismon: Courage. Hope. Friendship. The children's Crests are beginning to glow one by one! DemiDevimon: Everyone makes mistakes! Remember disco? Besides, sir, not all the children's Crests have begun to glow yet! (DemiDevimon conjures the scrying portal) DemiDevimon: That girl has the Crest of Love and it's still not glowing thanks to me! Anyway, according to my schedule, she'll be meeting up with the other children very soon! And when she does, Master Myotismon, when they are all together, that's when I'll get 'em! Myotismon: You think you can!? If you fail me again, my bats will have a new chew toy: YOU!!! DemiDevimon: Ehehehehe... I hate bats.

Goddammit, I forgot what a punching bag disco was back in the 90's. XD That got me. I know he's speaking in a broad sense about people as a whole but the way he uses it sort of implies to me that Myotismon had a disco phase. And I refuse to let that mental image go.

He was a young Devimon with parachute pants and roller skates once like, "I'm going to invent a NEW evolution all on my own, and it will be DISCODEVIMON!!!" Years later, Myotismon is just like, "We do not speak of DiscoDevimon."

Obviously, "I will send the children to Hell" wasn't making it past the censors. Though it's a bit of an odd choice to remove Vamdemon's instructions entirely, and instead assert that DemiDevimon's going to go take them all out by himself.

Also, "according to my schedule". XD He is trying so hard to sound like he still has control of things.

Meanwhile, the kids continue their search for Sora.

Wandering through the jungle as the sun begins to set.

Taichi: HEY!!! SORA!!! Koushiro: SORA-SAN!!! Jou: Hey, let's stop here for today and find a place to rest. It's too dangerous to wander around in the dark. Mimi: (collapses to her knees) I'm tired.... Yamato: But she should be somewhere around here.

Yamato checks his Digivice to confirm, and Sora's blip is practically right next to his own.

Would it surprise you to learn that the dub rewrote Jou's line so that he's just being a weenie instead of a responsible senpai? Yeah, they picked on Mimi earlier so now it's time to pick on Joe.

Tai: Soraaaaa! Izzy: SORA!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? Joe: Why don't we find a spot to rest for the night? Or better yet, for the next couple of weeks. My feet are killing me! Not to mention every other part of my body! Mimi: (collapses to her knees) I can't go another inch.... Matt: Hold it! I'm getting a reading on my Digivice. T.K.: Really? Well, what is it?

Matt doesn't even dignify Joe's whining with a response, instead announcing the radar blip as it it just appeared for the first time.

Also, T.K., you know what the blip is. It's been explained to you. Multiple times. What the fuck, T.K.?

Suddenly, Patamon's ears perk up.

Patamon: Huh!? Takeru: What's wrong? Patamon: I can hear something! Takeru: Eh? Maybe it's Sora-san! (low buzzing starts getting louder)

Only Patamon's giant ears can pick up the sound at first, but then it comes into focus, getting louder and louder as it approaches.

The dub doesn't really change the dialogue but they do change the timing of the buzzing, and the results are hilarious.

Patamon: Oh! What's that buzzing? (low audible buzzing starts getting louder) T.K.: I wonder if it's Sora!

Okay, T.K. ate the poison berries shortly before this scene started. XD

You know how Sora would sometimes open her mouth and the sound of a million angry hornets would emerge to signal that the end times are upon us? Or that she's just hangry? Yeah, that's probably what we're hearing.

Nope, actually, we're under attack.

Sora's really let herself go.

This hornet digimon erupts from the woods and attacks. Koromon identifies him as Flymon. The kids run for cover as Flymon makes a strafing run, raining projectile stingers down on them as he passes by.

Koushiro pops open his laptop and opens up the Digimon Analyzer, giving us the first diegetic rundown of the original.

Koushiro: I can bring up his status using the Digimon Analyzer that Gennai sent me! (Koushiro pulls up the DIgimon Analyzer screen on his laptop) Koushiro: Here it is. Flymon. An Insect Digimon. Adult-stage. He's a Virus-type. His special attack, Deadly Sting, sprays poisonous stingers. POISONOUS STINGERS!?!?

Flymon is something of a distant cousin to the Gazimon from the Etemon arc. He evolves from Gizamon, Pagumon's other branch.

Though the original just makes insect buzzing noises, Dub Flymon talks. They also cut "Deadly Sting" for obvious reasons.

Flymon: (firing) Brown Stingers! EEEEYOW!!! Izzy: Maybe this Digimon Analyzer that Gennai gave me could help us out. (Izzy pulls up the Digimon Analyzer screen on his laptop) Izzy: Here he is! Flymon. Classified as an Insect Digimon. A Virus-type. And I think we already know what his attack is - and it's not very pleasant! AND HERE HE COMES NOW!!!

No mention of his stingers being poisoned in the original. To be fair, given that they're the size of Taichi's torso and he's shooting them, we're probably in more danger of being impaled than poisoned.

Koromon and Tsunomon evolve back to their Child-stages, and the kids unload on Flymon. He's too fast for them, however, weaving around the Child-stage Digimon's attacks before coming in for another strafing run.

Out of nowhere, Birdramon appears, firing down at Flymon with Meteor Wing.

Flymon can dodge some of Birdramon's fireballs but not all of them at once. A direct hit sends his smoldering body plummeting into the forest.

Recognizing that Birdramon's presence means Sora's nearby, Taichi and Yamato bolt into the woods to give chase - With Takeru following along behind them.

Splitting up from Yamato, Taichi impressively manages to get ahead of Sora offscreen so he can emerge from the underbrush and cut her off.

This whole chase goes by for a good 20-30 seconds without any silence-destroying dialogue or jokes added by the dub.

Caught between Taichi in front and Yamato behind Sora has nowhere to run.

Taichi: Sora! Yamato: Why are you running away? Taichi: Explain yourself, Sora! Sora: ... Yamato: Sora...?

Finally, Takeru shows up with Agumon and Gabumon. None of them could keep up with even Yamato's sprint, let alone Taichi's. Takeru's gasping for breath, but he has an important question to ask.

Takeru: Sora-san, do you... hate us? Sora: Nnngh... That's not it! Piyomon: (arriving from the sky) Sora, why don't you tell them?

Fittingly, Takeru is the one who finally gets her to open up and speak, just a little. Taichi and Yamato were just being met with stone-faced silence, but she couldn't let Takeru believe something so cruel.

In the dub, Tai sounds inexplicably surprised to see her.

Tai: Sora! It's you! Matt: So why were you running away!? Tai: Enough running! Tell us what's going on! Sora: (groaning) ...mrrrr.... Matt: Sora...? T.K.: (arrives) Sora? Does this mean that... you don't like us anymore? Sora: No... Of course not. T.K.: Then what's wrong? Biyomon: (arriving from the sky) Sora, why don't you tell them?

It's a very small change but she seems a bit more conflicted in the dub. Her stone-faced silence is replaced with a vocalized groan, as if biting her tongue and wracked with indecision.

At Piyomon's urging, Sora finally comes clean about what's going on with her - And, in the process, finally explains this "Crest of Courage, Crest of Friendship" thing that PicoDevimon and Vamdemon have been talking about to the kids themselves.

She starts off choking out her words as if even trying to have this conversation is painful for her.

Sora: When Piyomon and I... left that night to look for Taichi... I... saw them... I saw PicoDevimon talking to someone. Takeru: What were they talking about? Sora: They were talking about our Crests. Taichi: The Crests? Sora: Yes. Each of our Crests has a different meaning. For instance, Taichi has the Crest of Courage. Taichi: Crest of Courage?

Taichi flashes back on Etemon's pyramid, when he found his nerve again and braved the firewall.

Taichi: Oh. That's why my Crest glowed back then! Sora: Yamato-kun has the Crest of Friendship. Yamato: Friendship? Takeru: What about mine? Sora: Takeru-kun has the Crest of Hope. Takeru: (happy) Eh!? The Crest of Hope! Sora: Koushiro-kun has the Crest of Knowledge. Jou-senpai has the Crest of Sincerity. Mimi-chan has the Crest of Purity. (sadly) And mine... is the Crest of Love. Taichi: Heh, Love fits you perfectly, Sora!

While Sora goes over these last three Crests, we see Koushiro, Jou, and Mimi crossing a creek that we had to chase Sora across earlier, trying to catch up to everyone. It's devoid of dialogue, but Koushiro hops across the stepping stones Sora used, Jou tries but slips and falls in, and Palmon pulls Mimi across on her vines to skip the creek entirely.

We've talked about most of these Crests as they came up. This is the first we're hearing of Jou's, however, since he shared his episode with Yamato.

Jou's Crest is 誠実の紋章 Seijitsu no Monshou, translated as the Crest of Sincerity. We talked last episode about Mimi's Purity, what that means from a Japanese perspective, and how it maps onto "Sincerity" in English. Now, here we are again encountering Sincerity from the opposite side.

This is not the last time that the English and Japanese scripts will use the same word for different things. So Mimi's sincere and Jou's sincere. Is this a redundancy?

I think it's easiest to grasp this distinction by thinking of it like honesty. Mimi and Jou's virtues are both forms of honesty, but they are not the same. Mimi is honest in the sense that she is true to herself, forthcoming with her feelings and thoughts and intentions. She doesn't lie or misrepresent herself; She says what she thinks and she thinks what she feels. With her, what you see is what you get.

Jou is honest in the sense of being forthright and dependable. He has a strong moral center, adheres to societal obligations, and earnestly strives to do what is expected of him. He abides by social contracts and behaves ethically within those boundaries.

Mimi is honest in her words and expression of her self, while Jou is honest in his actions and expression of social standards.

I would probably go with something like Crest of Responsibility or something than Reliability, though. The latter sounds like he's. Like. Generally successful at doing the things you need from him, when the results of his attempts to uphold his obligations aren't really the point. He doesn't always succeed in being the voice of reason or shepherding these kids in his care to safety, but he always tries.

Over in the dub, Sora for some reason feels the need to vividly describe DemiDevimon as if we all haven't met him already.

Sora: Okay. It happened the night that Biyomon and I left camp to try and find Tai. I saw a strange Digimon. He looked like a bowling ball with wings and he was talking to something in a giant bubble! T.K.: So, could you hear what he was saying? Sora: Yeah, I heard him talking about our Crests. Tai: What about them? Sora: He was saying that each of our Crests has its own special meaning. For example, Tai, yours is the Crest of Courage. Tai: The Crest of Courage? Oh! (flashback) That's right! And then the Crest started to glow! Sora: And the Crest you have, Matt, is the Crest of Friendship. Matt: Friendship.... T.K.: And mine? Sora: Yours is special, T.K. It's the Crest of Hope. T.K.: Alright! I hope we can get back home! Sora: Izzy's Crest is the Crest of Knowledge. Joe's is the Crest of Reliability.

The dub gives Gomamon a line after Joe splashes helplessly into the water during their creek crossing.

Gomamon: Thanks for being there, Joe! Sora: And Mimi's is the Crest of Sincerity. And finally, mine? Mine is the Crest of Love. Tai: Wow, the Crest of Love? That's just perfect for you, Sora.

I have no idea what Gomamon is thanking Joe for. I guess he's just trying to cheer him up.

The exposition here is mostly the same. She does call out T.K.'s Crest as special, but doesn't elaborate on what that means.

In any case, Sora fucking explodes over that last remark from Taichi, full-throated screaming at him at the top of her lungs. However, her voice sounds wounded and scared more than angry.

Sora: NO, IT DOESN'T!!! IT DOESN'T FIT ME AT ALL!!! Taichi: B-but you're always thinking about everyone-- Sora: I DON'T CARE ABOUT THEM!!! YOU DON'T... YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M LIKE SO STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU DO!!! Taichi: (stunned) .... Sora: (gasp) I'm sorry.... Taichi: Wh... What's wrong? Sora: My Crest. It won't glow. Because I don't have any love.

Just because she's been out there helping everyone, that doesn't mean she isn't going through some shit too.

From an English perspective, Sora's last line and her emotional crisis there might sound a bit unclear. We're often taught to think of love in the specific terms of the relationship between two people.

Sora! Calm down! You're 11! It's okay that you haven't found love yet! Your mind has been poisoned by children's cartoons about finding your soulmate at age 6!

But that's not what she's on about. No, we're going much deeper than that today. Her Crest is 愛情の紋章 Aijou no Monshou. Aijou is the expression of care for others. It represents tangible, demonstrable, quantifiable displays of affection, for people or animals or things.

When you snuggle your favorite stuffy on the bed, you are expressing aijou. When you pet your cat in your lap, you're expressing aijou. When you give a friend a hug because you haven't seen them in weeks, that's aijou.

Sora is saying that she is incapable of expressing affection for others. And that's just fucking tragic. It calls all the way back to her very first focus episode on File Island, when she had internal strife over how readily Mimi gave Palmon her hat. Mimi's expression of aijou freaked Sora out.

Sora has love in her heart. But she isn't comfortable showing it. This episode is going to talk about that.

The dub plays this scene verbatim.

In the original, we go to commercial here and come back to follow up on what those ominous words from Sora meant, after a brief misogyny break. The dub skips that commercial break because they have a different spot in mind. Remember that they could have put it here.

Takeru: What did you mean about not having any love? Taichi: I don't get this at all! Women are such a hassle! Yamato: (sternly) Don't make fun of her, Taichi. Taichi: I'm joking.

[Sora will Remember This]

Taichi's last line is delivered with all the dismissive emotion of "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Seriously, Taichi. She is clearly torn up about having to talk about something that is affecting her on an intense and personal level. Now was not the time for "Ugh women amirite high five!" Complete with It Was Just A Joke disclaimer when pushed back on.

I hope Mimi gets here soon.

The dub makes no significant changes but elaborates a bit on Taichi's unhelpful misogyny.

T.K.: You love us, don't you, Sora? Tai: I don't get it. Why is it that girls always have to get so emotional when it comes to love!? Matt: (sternly) Leave her alone, Tai. Tai: I was just joking around!

"Women amirite high five!" is now "Women and their feelings amirite high five!"

Once Taichi's finished forming another memory for Sora that will haunt him if he ever asks why she went for Yamato instead, Sora recounts her confrontation with PicoDevimon.

Sora: PicoDevimon told me. (flashback) Sora: Who are you!? PicoDevimon: Well, well. You saw something that you weren't meant to see. Did you hear about the Crests? Sora: I did! PicoDevimon: You're Sora-san, aren't you? Ehehehe... The Crest of Love, eh? Sora: What's so funny about that!? PicoDevimon: I feel bad for you. You were raised without knowing any real love, so your Crest of Love will never glow.

In the dub, Sora and DemiDevimon's confrontation almost sounds like they're gossiping.

Sora: (bitterly) The Digimon thought I was funny too. (flashback) Sora: Is your name, by any chance, DemiDevimon? DemiDevimon: It sure is! And you're one of those kids, the DigiDestined. Tell me something, did you hear about the Crests? Sora: Yes. In fact, I did. DemiDevimon: Oh yeah! You're that kid Sora! Heehee heehee... (sneering) The Crest of Love! Sora: And why are you laughing about that? DemiDevimon: You just think you're so hot! But guess what! You'll never be able to make the Crest glow! NEVER!!!

Sora was walking through the woods one day, eavesdropping on vampires as you do, when suddenly DemiDevimon showed up and did some mild bullying. And that's what she's been so freaked out about this whole time.

Sora's bitter retort to Taichi goes so hard and I love it but then the actual flashback is just... Wow.

Back in the present, Sora explains what PicoDevimon meant and why it affected her so badly with another flashback.

Taichi: Don't be stupid! PicoDevimon just told you a lie. Sora: No. It wasn't a lie. It happened back when I was in Girls' Soccer Club... I was their ace striker....

Sora flashes back on a confrontation with her mom.

Sora: Please understand, mom! I have to be there! Toshiko: Please lower your voice or the flowers will wilt. Sora: Today is a really important match! Toshiko: And how do you intend to play on that leg of yours? Sora: This is....

The camera pans down to show that Sora's left leg is bandaged up.

Sora: It's nothing! Toshiko: Sit down.

Sora's soccer injury makes it difficult for her; She flinches as she folds her legs under her to bend into the traditional seiza position, kneeling down with her heels under her.

Toshiko: You can't even sit correctly because of soccer. You should quit. Sora: NO!!! I like soccer more than flowers! Toshiko: Sora! How are you even my daughter?

Sora flinches as if she's been struck. She sits there, eyes filling with tears, soaking in the hurt for a moment, before standing up, screaming, and running off.

Sora: WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?!?

Sora sprints on her bad leg to the soccer field while the kids in the present discuss her story. Onscreen, we see that her team lost 6-3.

Taichi: Sora, your family is famous for kado, right? Sora: Yes. We're iemoto. Takeru: What does iemoto mean? Yamato: It means her mother is a master who teaches flower arranging.

Let's all thank Yamato for explaining both of those important Japanese words so that I don't have to.

Meanwhile, in the flashback, Sora arrives too late.

Sora: In the end, we lost that game. I couldn't stay in that club anymore. My mom doesn't see me as anything more than the daughter of a kado school. She thinks our reputation as iemoto is more important than I am! That's who she is!

This flashback is fucking powerful. Holy shit, there is so much going on here.

Note the careful shot composition in Sora's memory of Toshiko. Toshiko is shot in such a way as to obscure her face and instead draw attention to the flowers she's arranging. As if Sora was raised by the concept of floral arrangement, and not by a three-dimensional person.

That Sora's mother is iemoto lends a lot of important context to their argument. Sora is an only child, and it's traditional in an iemoto family for the iemoto to pass their skills and knowledge down to a child as their successor. Sora was obligated from the moment of her birth to become the next grandmaster to the Takenouchi school of floral arrangement, or whatever their school is called.

But she wants to play soccer instead. It's what she enjoys, as a three-dimensional person and not just Toshiko's Successor.

Presumably, she joined the soccer club that Taichi and Koushiro were in after losing the big game forced her to leave the girls' soccer club in disgrace.

So here we have another plot point that is thoroughly baked in Japanese culture. Good luck with this one, dub team.

Tai: That's it!? I thought it was something serious, like they were gonna stop making those stuffed bean bag animals. Besides, DemiDevimon is a liar. Sora: (silently flaps her lips for three seconds) It's true. It started back when I was on a girls' soccer team. My family owned a flower shop. It was my mom's whole life. (flashback) Sora: Please, mom! I gotta go to the soccer match! The girls are counting on me! Toshiko: Don't talk so loud, dear. The flowers are very sensitive. Sora: But this match is to win the title! Toshiko: Sora, you can't go with your knee injured like that. Sora: But mooooom! My leg's fine.... Toshiko: I'm sorry but you can't go. Sit down, we need to talk. (Sora drops into seiza, flinching in pain as she does) Toshiko: I want you to stop playing soccer and come to work at the flower shop after school. Sora: Do WHAT!? I won't stop playing to work with smelly old flowers! Toshiko: I can't believe a daughter of mine would act this way! My decision is final! Sora: (recoils, tears forming) ... WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?!? (stands up and runs off) Sora V.O.: I walked around for hours. I found myself at the soccer field. The game had just finished. Taichi V.O.: What happened? Sora V.O.: We lost the game 6-3. My teammates were so depressed that they didn't even notice me when they walked by me. I felt like I let them all down. Like it was all my fault. (back to present) Sora: My mom said I had to be part of the family business. No questions. That's how she is. It's like it's the only thing that's important to her. She doesn't understand.

Okay. Yeah. I have. Uh. I have notes.

First off, this hits way different when Toshiko is a small business owner wanting to bilk her daughter for free child labor, instead of the grandmaster of a long and storied art form trying to pass down her talents and knowledge to her next of kin.

They tried, but we just don't have the same culture of ancient disciplines and centuries-long generational inheritance. Kado and ikebana can trace their roots farther back than the concept of colonizing the Americas.

They had absolutely nothing to put in place of the iemoto discussion so Sora vamps over the footage and we end up with "I wandered aimlessly for hours and then arrived at the soccer field by happenstance." Why would she do that? Why wouldn't she go to the game straightaway?

Oh, and Tai continues to be even more of a condescending misogynistic prick in this version than the original.

Still, while the nuance of Toshiko's position is inevitably and unsurprisingly lost, the heart of this scene - How Sora's falling out with Toshiko made her feel - comes through intact. We still grasp the central idea: That Sora believes she's incapable of affection because she, herself, has been unloved throughout her childhood.

Sora, in a fit of total emotional breakdown, pulls back her arm to hurl her useless Crest into the woods. Taichi, at this moment, finally steps up to help.

Or. Uh. Tries to, at least.

Sora: So... I was raised without love, AND THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT!!! (Taichi grabs Sora's arm to stop her from throwing the Crest) Taichi: STOP IT, SORA!!! Sora: LET ME GO!!! Taichi: Whether it's true or not, you shouldn't believe anything PicoDevimon said.

Sora lowers her arm and doesn't throw the Crest. Instead, she breaks down completely, opening the floodgates and bawling out her emotions right there on the spot.

(Sora is so emotionally closed off that this cry is probably something she's needed for a long time.)

Taichi is, of course, completely useless in the face of Sora's raw, exposed pain.

Taichi: Hey, don't cry! Sora: (continues loudly crying) Taichi: H-Hey, Yamato, what should I do here? Yamato: If she needs to cry, then let her. Agumon: Yamato is so mature! Gabumon: Much more than Taichi, at least.

I shouldn't laugh while Sora's exposing her rawest nerves, but Agumon and Gabumon fucking taking turns dancing on the grave of Taichi's dignity got me. XD Eat shit, Goggle Boy.

In the dub, Sora quotes DemiDevimon for things he never said in this version.

Sora: That's why I know he wasn't lying when he said I grew up not knowing what love is. RAAAARGH!!! (Sora attempts to throw the Crest but Tai stops her) Tai: SORA, STOP IT!!! Sora: LET GO!!! Tai: Even if what you said is true, you shouldn't believe a word from that loser DemiDevimon! He's just a creep that's trying to hurt you! (Sora's arms fall limp and she starts bawling) Tai: Wait! Wait, don't cry, Sora!

HEY KIDS ENOUGH ABOUT THAT DO YOU WANT TO GO EAT AT MCDONALDS!?!?

Yeah, remember that commercial break we put a pin in? The dub slides it in right here. Let's talk about how cool Hot Wheels are instead of Sora's mom not loving her. They go all the way around the big wheel in the track somehow!

Have you ever had a nice, hot Toaster Strudel fresh out of the oven? Oh boy, I sure do love Toaster Strudel.

Oh, and be sure not to miss the new episode of Beast Machines. Yeah, we're gonna be airing some new Beast Machines. We all love Beast Machines, right?

Okay, back to Sora's traumatized heart shattering into a million pieces on the ground of this alien jungle we're stranded in.

Tai: Don't cry, Sora! Matt, help me out; I don't know what to do with her when she starts blubbering. Matt: Just let her go, Tai. She'll be okay. Agumon: Boy, Matt's like a real grown-up. Gabumon: Now if only he would cut his hair.

Sora, he didn't say you grew up not knowing what love is. That was the original Japanese script. In this version, he just said "Your Crest won't glow NEENER NEENER!" Sometimes I swear Sora binge-watched the subs in preparation for appearing in the dub.

Full disclosure: The second Tai opened his mouth again after the commercial, I wanted to go back to Toaster Strudel.

Agumon still gets to puff up Matt but Gabumon sinking the shot on Taichi's face is replaced by a quip about Matt's unruly hair. As if Tai's any better on that front.

Once Sora's crying has begun to slow and she's gotten out what she needed to - and once Taichi's brain has fully melted down into an ineffectual blue screen - Takeru approaches her.

Takeru: Sora-san? Thank you.

The gradual slowing of Sora's crying now halts, as she opens her eyes and looks down at Takeru.

Takeru: You're the one who told us not to eat the mushrooms, aren't you? Piyomon: We knew PicoDevimon was plotting something, so we followed him in secret. Also, when Yamato and Jou were working in Digitamamon's restaurant.... (Flashback to Sora replacing the stolen brick) Yamato: I didn't know. Taichi: You didn't have to hide from us. Piyomon: Sora wanted to be alone. But she couldn't abandon the rest of you either. Please understand. Takeru: I love you, Sora. (Platonic daisuki) Sora: Eh...? Takeru: So don't leave us again, okay? i don't like when my family-- (Takeru stops himself abruptly and is silent for a second, trying to find his words again) Takeru: ...I mean, when everyone separates. Sora: Takeru-kun... Okay. I'm sorry.

Hahaha Sora triggered Takeru's divorce trauma ISN'T THIS EPISODE SO HAPPY AND FUN? T_T We're doing character drama through the roof today.

The dub plays this scene almost entirely straight, but cuts the reference to T.K.'s parents being divorced. Though they replace his divorce trauma with stranded child trauma.

T.K.: Sora? I like you. Sora: Huh? T.K.: So please don't go away again. I don't like being away from you. (T.K. pauses for a second for no particular reason) T.K.: Haha, when you're around, I don't miss my mom as much! Sora: T.K... (voice breaking up) I'm so, so sorry!

Oh wow, that's heartbreaking in a completely different way. ISN'T THIS EPISODE SO HAPPY AND FUN? T_T I know we've all been having a great time talking about how unloved Sora is but did you know that that Takeru is 8 with divorced parents and he's been lost in hostile wilderness for months?

Maybe shows need a maximum age rating too because I have been at full-throttle WON'T SOMEBODY HELP THESE CHILDREN since the moment Sora started sharing.

Finally, the slowpokes arrive. At long last, the kids are finally all together again.

Jou: HEY!!! Taichi: (cheerful again, back in his element) Hey! What took you so long? Mimi: Jou-senpai took his time after falling in the river. Jou: Mimi-kun, you kept sitting down and complaining about how tired and hungry you were!

Unbeknownst to them, however, a stalker has been observing them from the bushes while this whole trauma unpack has been going on.

PicoDevimon: They're all here. I must inform Vamdemon right away!

No change in the dub.

Once night falls, Vamdemon's carriage emerges from his castle, carted across the sky by a wicked beast. Devidramon specifically, but we aren't introduced to them yet. At the same time, PicoDevimon decides he wants to begin the slaughter early.

PicoDevimon: Hehehe, they're all fast asleep.

He pulls out one of his Pico Darts, brandishing it at the sleeping children.

(They've been apart for so long, they forgot to set a night watch rotation. Complacency is the bane of survival.)

PicoDevimon: I'll pick off a few of them before Vamdemon arrives.

Piyomon wakes up just in time to see PicoDevimon preparing to throw his Pico Dart. She dives on top of Sora, shrieking for Sora to wake up. The syringe jabs into Piyomon's back right as Sora wakes, and she falls limp in Sora's arms.

The last time we saw DemiDevimon fight was in T.K.'s amusement park episode. There, the dub cut all footage of the Pico Darts, presumably due to obviously being syringes. So you might be wondering how they can play this scene without showing the Darts.

And the answer is they can't. DemiDevimon debuts his version of Pico Darts here, calling them Demi Darts, and most of the footage of them makes it in.

They do cut one part, and it's the moment the Dart strikes Biyomon. Instead of seeing the needle sink into her flesh, they cut away to DemiDevimon's grinning face while we hear it strike her offscreen. However, there's also a closeup shot of Sora pulling the needle out of Biyomon's back that makes it into the dub unedited.

Sora's shrieking about Piyomon wakes the rest of the kids. PicoDevimon cowers away, afraid to have to fight them all at once. But then he arrives with fucking dramatic flair.

His coffin air-dropped from his carriage, just so he can burst out of it mid-descent.

He didn't have to do it that way. He did that for the aesthetic. It's a show of intimidation. He doesn't just want the kids thinking a vampire has shown up; He wants them to know that Maximum Dracula is here for their blood.

As he touches down on the grass, he speaks in his booming yet quiet and reserved voice.

Vamdemon: Chosen Children. Sora: THAT GUY!!! That's the guy PicoDevimon was talking to! PicoDevimon: Not "that guy"! This is Vamdemon-sama! Taichi: Vamdemon? PicoDevimon: No, Vamdemon-sama! Vamdemon: Hahahahahaha... Your journey ends here. Night Raid!

Even Vamdemon's laugh is a quiet and reserved chortle. I went back and forth on how to spell it because it's closer to Hnhnhnhnhnhn but that doesn't look right as an onomatopoeia.

Taichi, at least show some proper respect to his honorific before you die. :P Notably, Taichi has an issue with that in general. It's something I've noticed but haven't talked about: Taichi doesn't use a lot of honorifics when talking to the others. Fitting his personality, he is inappropriately casual with his language choices.

A fact that is now pissing off PicoDevimon.

Vamdemon himself is a man of few words. He just shows up like, "Hey kids, killing you now," and opens fire. This is what Etemon wanted to do for his entire arc.

Meanwhile, in the dub, Myotismon is chewing scenery with his more boisterous persona.

Myotismon: MUWAHAHAHAHA!!! DIGIDESTINED!!! Your journey ends here. Sora: That's it! That's the thing DemiDevimon was talking to! DemiDevimon: He's not a thing! He's Lord Myotismon! Tai: Myotismon? DemiDevimon: That's Lord Myotismon! Myotismon: WUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! These DigiDestined are making me feel a little... batty! Grisly Wing!

Sora calling Myotismon "THAT THING" gives me life. XD

Taking bickering over the -sama honorific and turning it into bickering over a Lordship title is pretty standard for anime dubs.

Vamdemon fires off his Night Raid, finally showing us the thing that he's been torturing PicoDevimon with.

It's a wave of pure darkness and bats.

Mochimon evolves to join the other Child-stage Digimon, and they put up an initial front line. Firing on the bats to hold back the assault. But it's not enough, and the bats breach the line, reaching the kids behind.

Seeing Mimi harassed by bats, Palmon evolves to answer quantity with quantity. Dub Palmon drops a one-liner:

Palmon: Let me try to get my point across! Needle Spray!

A million needles answer a million bats, buying the kids a moment to breathe and return fire. Specifically, a moment for Artillery Cannon Ikkakumon to return fire, sending out six Harpoon Vulcans to converge on Vamdemon.

The missiles explode on impact, obscuring Vamdemon in smoke like this is Dragon Ball. Then he emerges, seemingly unscathed, launching himself into the air.

Throwing himself into the fight for real, Vamdemon unveils his other technique: Bloody Stream.

A pair of whips, presumably made of blood, which he lashes out at the Partner Digimon. The dub calls it Crimson Lightning for obvious reasons.

(I wonder if this is a Castlevania reference? Associating Dracula with whips makes me immediately think Castlevania.)

While savaging the Digimon, Vamdemon gives off the most monotone and robotic evil laugh I've ever heard, and it's the scariest fucking thing.

Vamdemon: Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

While Myotismon is having the time of his life.

Myotismon: Ahh HAHA Ahahahahaha!!!

As he hits the ground, Agumon declares:

Agumon: Taichi... He's strong....

But. Uh. Yeah, you're Child-stage and he's Perfect, that is not a fair assessment. The only Digimon we have that can Super-Evolve just recovered enough for Child-stage today, so we're up shit creek right now.

Once Vamdemon's finished taking apart the Partners, he advances on the children. In the back of the group, the last Digimon struggles to break free from Sora and fight.

Piyomon: I have to go... I'm the only one left.... Sora: You can't! How do you intend to fight him with your injuries!? Piyomon: Please understand, Sora. I have to go! (Piyomon starts trying to wriggle out of Sora's grasp) Sora: YOU CAN'T!!! Piyomon: LET GO!!! Sora: YOU CAN'T GO!!! Piyomon: WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?!?

Just like that, the shoe is on the other foot. Sora's stunned by Piyomon echoing the same words she'd said to Toshiko in her flashback.

Sora: Mom... It was really about me... She was worried about me!

Whatever ambiguous injury fucked up Sora's leg, that's what the argument had really been about. Toshiko didn't want Sora playing on an injured leg, and she didn't want Sora playing at all if it was going to push her so hard that she thought playing on an injured leg was okay.

It wasn't about the fucking kado school. Sora made an ass out of u and mption. Poor mption didn't deserve that.

Over in the dub:

Biyomon: I've gotta do something to help them... Sora: Huh? Biyomon: I'm the only one left to fight Myotismon.... Sora: It's no use! You can't do anything in your condition. Biyomon: Please understand... I have to go! (Biyomon starts trying to wriggle out of Sora's grasp) Sora: No, Biyomon, you can't! You'll get hurt! I WON'T LET YOU!!! MY DECISION IS FINAL!!! Biyomon: SORA, WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?!?!? (flashback) Sora: I always thought my mom was thinking about her flower shop, but she was really worried about me getting hurt....

Hey look, they added "My decision is final" to the flashback earlier so they could echo it here. For a dash of extra "Sora has become her mom" symbolism. I like that she absorbed that language from her mom without even realizing she was adding it to her lexicon.

Because people do that. You are the influences you surround yourself with, especially during childhood.

It's worth noting that Dub Toshiko was pushier about the flowers, though. In the original, it was Sora who brought "I don't want to flowers" into the argument. Go back and check!

What Toshiko said was "How do you intend to play on that leg of yours?" and "You can't even sit correctly because of soccer. You should quit." She never made it about kado. That was an assumption Sora leapt to. With the new context Sora provides here, it's clear that she really was just freaked out by Sora's leg injury.

(Though Sora's kneejerk assumption does imply that the pressure to become the next iemoto has been a point of contention between her and Toshiko in the past, it does not mean that Toshiko doesn't love her daughter.)

In the dub, she gave Sora the "We need to talk" and then followed up with "I want you to stop playing soccer and come to work at the flower shop after school." So it's not exactly Sora's fault that she assumed this was about the flower shop. Toshiko said as much.

This schism isn't so bad that it undercuts Sora's realization here, I think. But the difference in Toshiko's tone does affect how she comes across as a parent nonetheless, which is kind of important to the whole "Was Sora unloved?" thing.

Original Toshiko was trying to have a conversation with her daughter, only for Sora to get the wrong idea and unexpectedly explode on her. To which Toshiko reacted badly and said some shit she shouldn't have said.

Dub Toshiko was laying down commands from on high for her child to obey. Her intentions weren't so bad, turns out, but she still kinda sucks. Like. In general. Making sweeping life decisions for your child without so much as consulting them and then doubling down when they get upset about it is not good parenting. Dub Sora still isn't unloved, but her mom seems pretty domineering.

While Sora's having revelations about her mother, Piyomon breaks free and evolves into Birdramon. And then Sora gets to see her fears realized.

Birdramon's Meteor Wing glances harmlessly off of Vamdemon's cape. He retaliates, sinking his Bloody Stream into Birdramon's gut and knocking her from the air with a single shot.

Sora runs for her, screaming in sheer terror.

Sora: BIRDRAMON!!! BIRDRAMOOOOOOOOOON!!!

The dub makes this a little more on the nose.

Sora: Birdramon! Birdramon, no! I love you!

Now that she's over her internalized emotional blockage, Sora's feelings erupt and her Crest activates. Birdramon CHOU-SHINKAAAAAA!!!

Birdramon Super-Evolves into her Perfect-stage Garudamon. And then immediately ignores Vamdemon while he shits himself over his exposure to the sacred power of the holy device and Crest, now glowing inside Garudamon.

Vamdemon: W-What is that light!?

Garudamon ignores him to pick up Sora and talk to her instead. That's fair.

Garudamon: Sora, your love... I felt so much of it.Sora: (crying tears of relief) Piyomon... So cool....

While they have this moment, the narrator cuts in for the rundown. Garudamon is a Perfect-stage Vaccine-type Bird Person Digimon. Her name is a reference to the god Garuda, the king of birds in Hindu mythology.

That she's been promoted from a bird dragon to a male humanoid god who governs the domain of birds is why she looks like that.

Narrator: Garudamon. A Bird Person Digimon that evolves from Birdramon. Through justice and order, she is the guardian deity of the natural environment. Her special attack is Shadow Wing.

In the dub, Myotismon seems even more confused than Vamdemon.

Myotismon: What!? Where is that glow coming from!? (Garudamon picks up Sora) Garudamon: (growly beast voice) SOOOOORA! I CAN FEEL YOUR LOOOOOOOVE! It's making me strong! Sora: (crying tears of relief) My Crest... It glows.... Tentomon: (here now) Garudamon is the Ultimate form of Birdramon. She commands the sky and protects the earth. Her attack is a flaming bird called Wing Blade.

Sora's more interested in her Crest than Garudamon. Which is fair because Dub Garudamon became fucking terrifying holy shit. That was a choice and a half. I'd be trying to focus on literally anything else too.

Now that she's properly introduced, Garudamon turns her attention on Vamdemon.

Vamdemon: Rrgh, the Crest of Love just had to activate at the most crucial moment! Garudamon: I will protect Sora! Shadow Wing!

Her Shadow Wing takes the form of a flaming bird. Vamdemon matches with his Night Raid, resulting in a momentary tug-of-war between their dueling attacks.

But Night Raid roots Vamdemon in place while he fires it, while Shadow Wing is self-sustaining. While Vamdemon is rooted in that spot, Garudamon snatches up the kids and Partners and takes flight, leaving him behind.

In the dub, "Hey Digimon" fires up as Garudamon lets off her Wing Blade, and its upbeat positivity is absolutely tone-destroying. Like we are actively fleeing for our lives from Dracula to the tune of Don't Worry Be Happy.

When their attacks collide, the dub gives Myotismon the line:

Myotismon: I did not anticipate such strength!

Did... Did you not? You've been pretty upset each time a new Crest glowed.

Garudamon carries the kids to safety, and they unpack Sora's realization by a nice river the next morning.

Taichi: See? There was nothing to worry about. Your Crest glowed just fine. Sora: Before I knew what I was doing, I started acting like my mom. Pyokomon: Sora.... Sora: That's when I understood. My mom loved me all along. Pyokomon: I felt it too! I felt your love! Sora: I'm sorry about before. Pyokomon: I'm just glad you're back to normal! Taichi: Aww, I want Sora's love too! Jou: Taichi, you moron! Do you realize what you're saying!? Takeru: Huh? Jou-san, your face is beet red! Mimi: Jou-senpai, would you like some of my love? Jou: Huh!?

Mimi deposits various seeds into Jou's hands. I honestly can't explain this one. It's clearly meant to be a visual pun but fuck if I know what it is. The other kids clearly get it, though, and they all have a good laugh at Jou's expense.

Jou: (tired) Mimi-kun... okay.... Group: (laughs hysterically) Narrator: The children accepted Sora back into their group and their unity was stronger than ever before. However....

In the dub:

Tai: All you had to do is stop worrying about it, Sora, and you got your Crest to work! Sora: When Biyomon was in danger of getting hurt, I realized that I was acting just like my mom. Know what I realized? My mom loved me all along. Yokomon: And it was your love that helped me Digivolve, Sora. Sora: I'm glad. Yokomon: You see? You are capable of love after all. Tai: I felt something. I guess it was your love shining through! Joe: I felt something too. It made me feel uncomfortable. T.K.: Love shouldn't make you feel like that! Mimi: That's right, T.K.! I know why you felt uncomfortable, Joe. Joe: Hmm? Why? Mimi: (deposits the seeds in his hands) These were in your pocket! Joe: Oh, I guess it wasn't love. Group: (laughs hysterically) Matt V.O.: Sora joined up with us again and we were closer than ever. We finally thought things were going our way. And then....

Okay when and why was Mimi rifling through Joe's pockets? I do not understand the Japanese joke but I somehow manage to understand the English one even less.

Tai's bit here is also notably different. In the original, he's whining because he wants to feel Sora's love too - with Jou-senpai immediately calling him out on how flirtatious that sounded. Either he's intentionally hitting on Sora or he's innocently saying something that sounds like hitting on Sora. Either way, senpai doesn't like it.

In the dub, he's celebrating the fact that he did feel Sora's love shining through a similar metaphysical connection to the one she has with Piyomon. Implying exactly the sort of relationship between them that Taichi may or may not want to have with her, depending on if he's started thinking about that yet.

Suddenly, the sky darkens. Black clouds fill the air and Vamdemon's eerie "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha." laugh emerges from them. We close this episode out on the dire words of our new villain.

Sora: That voice! Vamdemon: Chosen Children. With only seven of you, you won't be able to defeat our evil power.

Uh. Cool. Thanks for dropping by to tell us that. He's hinting at the existence of the Eighth Child, which is going to become important to this arc going forward. Not sure why he's showing up to do that, though. This cliffhanger could have been an email.

The dub overlooks the importance of the number and instead plays it as a general gloat.

Sora: I know that laugh! Myotismon: You foolish DigiDestined! The seven of you are no match for my powers! Prepare for your ultimate destruction! MUWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

So, no foreshadowing here. Just a more aggressive cliffhanger to really get you biting your nails about his impending attack.

Which. Uh. There is no impending attack. We'll start next episode with the kids hanging out at this river, perfectly safe. He can't attack in broad daylight like this. He really was just coming by to say "LOL No Eighth Child? Scrubs."

You salty, bro?

Assessment: Well that was an emotional fucking roller coaster. I did not remember this episode very well and for that I am ashamed, because this was fucking good. Toshiko and Sora's drama tore my heartstrings right in fucking half.

The dub certainly made some questionable choices but on the whole I'd say that this is one of their better ones. Sora's character arc is preserved as intact as they could get it despite the untranslatable cultural elements to it, and that's the heart of the episode more than anything else.

Now I'm going to go get some McDonalds and process paralyzing adult fears for a while.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

I just don't get this at all. There are a thousand other actors to be Doctor Doom. //

It is so stupid. Doesn't Doctor Doom have Romani heritage and isn't that a big part of his origin story? Marvel missed an opportunity to tell a really compelling and representational story, imo.

And of course money talks at the end of the day. After winning an Oscar for Oppenheimer and getting an Emmy nomination for The Sympathizer, I thought RDJ was going in a different direction. But they probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse. I can see Chris and Scarlett returning in some capacity too. It's inevitable, atp.

I also have Marvel burnout. After Spiderman NWH (which I adored), it hasn't been the same to me. With the new characters introduced and all the Disney+ shows, it's really tough to follow all the story threads. It seems more like a chore now and not enjoyable at all.

I only care about Thunderbolts currently because I like the cast. I don't have any interest in other upcoming Marvel projects.

I think one of the biggest mistakes Marvel made was trying to tie together series and movies. It alienated a lot of people who didn't want to sign up for Disney+. Even having read what happened in Wandavision, because I don't have Disney+, I was still slightly confused by Dr. Strange 2. The switch over of Wanda to a villain in that movie was clunky and very hamfisted, because they were assuming everyone watched the series before seeing the movie.

But, with RDJ, I assume he also made this decision to come back because he will now get to play a villain. I think that was probably very tempting, after playing a hero for so long. And Doom can get very dark, given what storyline they choose.

(And I guess the Doom storyline is how they're getting rid of Kang now. Why didn't they just recast?)

[prettywitchiusaka]

Okay, so I was away from the computer most of yesterday and didn't learn about DeMayo spilling some tea about MOM's original script until late last night.

Having read through his response, as well as information I've gathered from someone in the DS Fan Community on twitter (who got a chance to meet one of the key staff involved in the film), here's what it sounds like the original script contained;

Mordo would've been at Karmar-Taj. Not sure how, though I imagine there would be more of an explanation.

Clea would've made an appearance earlier in the film than the mid-credit scene. Though, my inner storyteller feels like they would've revealed her connection to Dormammu in the mid-credit scene as a tease for DS3.

Wanda would not only have been with Stephen, she would've also been aiding him and Wong and would actively tutor America (and also warn her about abusing her power).

The film would've been a team-up film between Stephen and Wanda.

Nightmare would've been revealed to be a Stephen variant who'd been corrupted by The Darkhold.

Wanda would've resisted corruption right up until the end where, unable to resist finding a universe where she can with happy with her children, breaks from Team Strange.

Wong would've tried stopping her...only to get beheaded by mistake.

Wanda would've felt guilty about it and, according to DeMayo, would have been repeatedly apologizing to Stephen as she departs, leaving him with his friend's decapitated corpse.

And, from what we know from the concept art that came out a few years ago, The Book of Vishanti would've had a piece that would break off and attach itself to the Eye of Agamotto, giving Stephen a power upgrade, and, most notably, the death of Donna Strange.

So...yeah, that's a lot to unpack/take in! But yeah, to summarize, it really is fascinating/infuriating how, for all of Waldron's insistence on "starting from scratch" that he took many of Derrickson and Bartlett's concepts and watered them down to their most basic elements. All so he could make a script HE was satisfied with.

That being said, assuming DeMayo's not talking out of his ass? It's nice be vindicated regarding Wanda's original arc in the film. That while she learned her lesson from Wandavision and was able to overcome Vision's death, she's still lonely an unable to accept things as they are. It makes her arc even sadder, and keeps her villainous turn empathetic like it was in that series.

Now let's address the controversial elements from the script; Wong's death and the reveal of Nightmare being a corrupted variant of Stephen.

Honestly? I'm mixed. I've really grown to love Nightmare's character over the past year or so, so I'd prefer him being a separate entity from Stephen. And, like most MCU fans, I like Wong. But, and this is where I'm gonna probably get some flack...I think I could honestly learn to be okay with these decisions.

They're a hard pill to swallow, yes. Though honestly, I can sort see where Derrickson is coming from; is there's one thing I know about Nightmare, it's that he's a manipulative narcissist. And while Stephen isn't an outright sociopath, he is kind of a narcissist at the beginning of the first film. It wouldn't be that big of a stretch to see that he could easily become this corrupted if he wasn't careful. So yeah, I could learn to be okay with this idea. Especially where Wong is concerned. From what I can gather, it sounds like the film's main theme of "be your best self" was there but tied more into the original film's themes of humility and self-acceptance. Here Stephen gives into despair and, maybe even learns to accept Donna's death...only to now watch his best friend and mentor get killed right in front of him. Thus, leaving him with that pit of self-loathing, and the wound it left on his heart re-opening at the sight of someone else he loved getting killed.

Also, I just love the irony of Wanda accidentally re-traumatizing Stephen. There's just something that's kind of poetically dark about that.

But yeah, those are my thoughts on what the original script for DS2 would've entailed. Needless to say, it would've been controversial, but I think it wouldn't have been as controversial than the movie we ended up with.

And frankly? If Marvel is gonna take chances with their properties, these are the kinds of risks they should take. At least these come from a place of passion, instead of outright cynicism.

P.S. I'm kinda hoping DeMayo drops some more tea in the future, like some tea about Waldron. That'd be great!!!

[taschamonnii]

Enchanted

You x Wanda Maximoff (MCU WandaVision - Elizabeth Olsen) 

Angst/Smut

Summary: Enchanted strap because Wanda wants babies. There is still a plot and big sad energy because I have many issues. You get a back story so that things matter more and hit harder. Yes I am ridiculously adding feelings to some weird smut. 

TW: SMUT, 18+, Enchanted Strap, Impregnating, GP!

Here is the title song: Enchanted By Taylor Swift 

AN: I don’t want to talk about it. We are all going to hell and I am just dragging you all along with me lol I just have been seeing a lot of GP! With Wanda but most of the time it is Wanda with the GP! & I thought about how much she craves a family and got a weird idea. What can I say? My brain is a strange place. I really hope you all like it I surprised myself and really enjoyed writing it. I may want to write more of it but I just don't know if anyone else wants to see it.

Before you say anything just look at her and tell me you wouldn't do anything she asked!

Word Count: 2,632 

Imagine This:

You are married to Wanda Maximoff. You both escaped the hero and villain scene after a close call. Wanda refused to lose you like she had lost everyone else she loved. You live in a cabin in the woods that is at the edge of a small town. You live a normal life. Well as normal as you can be with a witch as a wife and your own powers of hypersensitivity and mind reading. You both were part of the Avengers for a while. You were there after she had already lost Pietro. But you witnessed first hand losing Vision. 

You were friends, all the avengers cared for each other that is what made you a team. However, you had a crush on Wanda the instant you saw her but you were always on different missions and Natasha told you her and Vision were a thing so you pushed your crush aside. You didn’t have time for it anyway Natasha was training you on basically everything and she consumed most of your time. Nevertheless, you became close friends with Wanda and Vision because Nat really cared for Wanda.

You may or may not have had a fling with Nat but it was supposed to be strictly physical even though half the time it ended up being cuddling. Things all changed when that ugly purple asshole came to earth and fucked everything. You had arrived with Nat to try and help even though your powers are practically useless in the battle scenarios. You end up trapped with Nat as Thanos surrounds you both by the earth with a stone. You watch helplessly as everyone tries to fight the Barney looking bastard. Until there is no one left except Wanda who is falling apart as she slowly destroys Vision's mind stone and in turn Vision. You can feel her pain even from where you are trapped. Her thoughts are so loud, it is as if her soul is screaming and crying and it shatters your heart. You watch on as she has to fight off Thanos as she continues to destroy the stone. The flash and force of her destroying the stone blinds you for a moment and when you look again she is on the ground and Thanos is touching her head. You have to watch as he turns back the time and throws her aside as he takes Visions stone. Wanda’s soul only screams louder to you. You watch as people start to turn to dust all around you and you grab Natasha’s hand squeezing it for dear life. You watch Wanda fade into dust into nothing and hear her soul's last strangled cry; it sounds like relief. 

Natascha squeezes your hand harder. You look at her and both fight to escape and manage to get free running right to where Wanda just was. Nat gasps and folds in on herself grabbing at her sister's vest. You catch her before she falls to the ground. You know her sister and all the lives just lost weigh heavy on her. Her soul cries and you hold her thankful you still have her. She is your best friend and honestly all you really have. Especially now. 

You work with Nat and the others that remain to figure out a plan to fix this, to bring everyone back. The plan was good. The plan worked but not without great sacrifice. You didn’t get to time travel, you had your own part to play. You hugged Natasha before she left and you wish you had never let her go, not that you could have stopped her. 

Your mission was to retrieve people who come back if it worked. You went and waited in Wakanda. You brought Wanda and the others back and you consoled her the best you could. You understood the grief you’d lost all your family long ago and this whole thing just brought all that pain back to the surface. Wanda’s grief was the most painful thing you’d ever felt. Well except for the pain and grief you both feel when you return and learn Natasha sacrificed herself.

 You both fell to the floor in a pile holding each other like your lives depended on it because well they did. You stayed practically hooked together barely ever letting go of some kind of physical contact. You share Nats bed and fall asleep crying wrapped up in each other. The team builds on the original plan to destroy Thanos for good. You and Wanda are on autopilot. You both have no one left. Sure there is Clint and the others who care about you both but no one else understands. The night before the epic end-all fight you confess your fears even though you know Wanda can hear them and you can hear hers and they are the same. You are afraid you will lose each other. You decide to voice your locked away feelings and kiss her. 

The kiss is everything, it is life altering and she feels it too. It slows down time. It makes you both gasp for air and cling to each other harder. Like finding the last piece of a puzzle everything suddenly fits and makes sense and you can see a future with her something you’ve both never had the chance to dream of let alone have. 

The battle is epic. Wanda almost kills Thanos all on her own. You think she would have if he hadn’t sabotaged his own soldiers to escape her wrath. You’ve never seen her so angry. You were stationed on a ship with others that didn’t have battle powers. Unfortunately the ship wasn’t a safer place and it got hit. Wanda barely got to you in time as it went down. When she did get to you she didn’t let you go. The way her soul spoke to you refusing to lose you. You locked your gaze on hers and had to fight tears getting lost in her tear filled emerald eyes. A silent promise was made between you. Your souls promise to never let go and never leave the other. 

The battle ended soon after. Tony’s self sacrifice overshadowed everyone else especially Natasha’s and it was the extra solidification for you and Wanda to finally leave this life to go live a peaceful one alone. 

That is how you ended up here in this little cozy cabin in the woods on the outskirts of a precious small town you call home. Happily married to Wanda. It’s been a few years and you both have never known peace like this. She is so happy and you are determined to keep her as happy as possible for the rest of your lives. So when she starts to talk about this aching feeling of missing something you try your hardest to understand. 

She wants a family, a real family with you. She wants babies. More specifically, she wants to be pregnant. Even more specifically she wants you to get her pregnant and that you thought was pretty impossible but you have learned not to underestimate her powers. She wants everything her comforting sitcoms have and she is determined to have it all with you. 

And that is how you have found yourself in this situation. 

You are laying on your shared bed naked and flat on your back. She is naked on her knees in-between your legs. Her gaze is focused and intense; her green eyes map out every inch of you. 

She nibbles on her bottom lip, a nervous habit. "I trust you, Wanda." 

She glances up and meets your gaze, you're confident in her and trust her with your life. She moves to lean over you and lowers her lips to yours, capturing them in a searing kiss. A promise shared to be cautious as you both proceed. She leans back and smiles down at you. "I love you, y/n."

"I love you too, Wanda." 

Her gaze falls between your legs and red illuminates the room as she begins to manipulate reality. You hold yourself up on your elbows to watch completely in awe as a penis forms between your legs. You never thought this would be something you'd want. You admit you'd thought about what it would be like to be a man but never pictured you'd ever be like this. 

Her magic fades and she slowly takes it in her soft hands and fuck her hands are softer than ever as she gently touches it. Touches you. You can feel everything. You can't help the soft sigh that leaves your lips and her gaze shoots up to your face. 

"y/n, are you okay, my sweet girl?" 

You nod "MMMM mmm hmm"

"Can you feel it?"

She runs her slender fingers up to the tip and slides her thumb softly over the slit there. 

"Yes fuck Wanda that feels way too good. I don't know if I will be able to handle being inside you like this. It's so sensitive." 

"I'll go slow." 

You can feel it twitch and move on its own in her hands and as her deep raspy voice surrounds you. God you love her! 

She leans down and you watch in awe as she just ghosts her lips against the tip. It feels like when she teases your clit with soft kisses only 100 times stronger! You can't help the whimper that leaves your lips. 

She smirks and you can hear her thoughts. "I can't wait to taste you!"

"Fuck Wanda!"

She softly licks the tip and you throw your head back with a moan. 

It feels so hard it's almost like it's pulsing like when your clit throbs begging for friction. She reads you and wraps her lips around the tip bringing it into her warm mouth. 

"Fuck Wanda I can't! I'm gonna ah!" 

She sucks gently and flicks her tongue and holds the rest of the shaft in her long slender fingers that you usually love inside of you. It's overwhelming, it's too much and you can't stop your hips from gently bucking. Your hands fist the sheets. 

She sucks harder and squeezes you in her hands and that's it you erupt tumbling over the edge. A sort of plus runs up the shaft as you feel yourself cum and it's intense and weird to feel it shoot out the tip. It's short squirts pulsating. She moans and the vibrations have you whimpering. She sucks the tip dry with a pop and licks her lips. "You taste the same. Absolutely delicious!" 

The way she talks and looks at you while she licks her lips has you twitching for more. You want her more than anything else. You run your hands through her hair and tug her up. You kiss her lips nipping softly at her lower lip. "Sit on my face. I need to taste you." 

She whimpers as she kisses you harder. She moves effortlessly to hover over you and you can see how wet she is. You hold her hips and guide her closer. You latch onto her sucking and flicking your tongue. She moans breathlessly and you can feel yourself getting hard again. You can't get enough of her. You suck harder and she pulls your hair as she rocks her hips. Her legs squeeze around your head and you moan into her, sending her over the edge and making her crumple forward. She pulls away far too quickly but you can see it in her gaze as she slides her wet core against your abs. She leaves a trail down your body and you feel yourself twitch hard. 

You groan as she lowers herself. She runs her slick heat against you and you twitch even more, getting harder she slicks your entire member and lifts herself up. Her gaze is locked on it so she can line herself up and your gaze is locked on her. 

She glances up to check in and you nod before you both glance back down to watch her slick wet heat surround you. She goes slowly. She squeezes you tightly as she lowers herself all the way. You both sigh with relief. 

She lifts back up halfway and slowly goes back down and you have to throw your head back as a moan escapes your throat. She's so wet and as she slowly moves she feels hotter. She bottoms out and just gyrates her hips for a bit and you can feel that you fit perfectly inside her fully. “You hit every spot baby. AH! You feel so good!” 

She leans over you slowly coming down to kiss your lips. The position has you only half inside her and your body reacts needing to be inside her more. You bend your legs and move your hips sliding all the way in. You both moan into the kiss being able to feel so much pleasure with her whole body on top of you breasts pressed together and lips locked is fucking phenomenal! The angle also allows her to match your hips and soon you both find a rhythm that feels far too good. “I can’t do this for long. Wanda your so tigh-FUCK! You feel so GOOD!”

She hums happily against your neck and bites down sucking hard to leave her mark on your neck and it’s too much to have her all over you to feel her blazing skin and sweet sweat and hard nipples. Her hot breath against your skin, her tongue on your pulse all while being inside her tight soaking wet heat. 

You buck your hips out of rhythm and she sits up putting her hands on your breasts as she looks down at you. She smirks and then you feel her tighten around you. You can’t stop the whimper that leaves your lips as she continues to purposely contract around you. You grab her hips hard. She sighs and moans and squeezes your boobs hard as she constricts you and slightly moves her hips up like she is trying to milk you and it works. You erupt even harder than before. Hot strings of your cum shoot inside her and have her coming hard pulsing and contracting around you even harder. She presses her hips down hard holding onto you making sure you fill her up as much as possible. It is a sight to see. Your hands grip her sides harder and she squeezes your breasts harder. Her own nipples are so hard you want them in your mouth desperately. 

Her gaze finally meets yours after you both catch your breath “fuck that was so good baby I feel so full.” 

She leans down and presses her lips to yours and moves her hands to tug your hair. Her hard nipples graze yours and you are so overwhelmingly sensitive that your body jolts and she bites your bottom lip. You whimper as she releases your lip from between her teeth. “Next time will be even better I want to fuck you so many different ways like this Wanda.”

“Mmm you have no idea baby girl I have so many ideas. I love coming with you!”

She sat up and bit her bottom lip before fidgeting with her fingers. You know she wants to ask something but she is blocking you from hearing her thoughts and she is hesitating. You sit up and suppress a groan at the feel of moving at all while still deep inside her. You  caress her cheek softly with concern written on your face. “What is it, love?”

Her gaze locks on to you and your gaze softens. Her emerald eyes are so full of love.

“Would you let me get you pregnant? We could be pregnant together. We could create our family faster.”

AN: Who wants to see Wanda get the reader pregnant in the same way? Should I continue this or was this a horrible idea? 

[uneducated-author]

Okay, I DO NOT want this to come off as hate, because I love this show, have loved this show and will continue to love this show (I have no choice, I'm pack bonded) but... If I can bring up the way that the show feels... Off.

I don't want to say I dislike it, because I haven't really given it a fair chance, and I actually do really like a lot of the new episodes, and I would hate for anyone to see this and think that I have anything but huge amount of respect to the writers, actors and professionals working together, but I just wanted to know if anyone agreed, or is thinking along the same lines as me.

Meta Humour can work, and work really well. Fleabag's strongest storytelling point is the metaphor of a third wall break being her way of 'leaving' her real life, where we as the audience become her confidant, her trusted friend, her escape. Princess Bride has a meta humour that folds into the framing device. The Emperors New Groove uses it for comedy, and ties it to the medium, framing device and the tropes set up by virtue of the genre. Other shows can have throwaway lines with double meanings, one for the characters and one for the audience.

But Doctor Who Excelled in Commiting to the story. The suspension of disbelief, and the sheer illusion of this madman, hidden from us by our own inability to Notice, it was fun. It connected itself to our world with jokes about pop culture and throwaway lines about Merlin and Robin Hood and all these running jokes but...

Doctor Who proves that no matter how ridiculous the premise, a story can be great if you believe in the story you're telling. You can throw cat women in a hospital, have bad CGI mannequins clone a man, create bats that feed off time energy, but it doesn't matter, because if you and the actors are devoted to the world you're building, the audience will have no choice but to love it too.

Even Peter Capaldi has these scenes where he addresses us as an audience, lecturing us, but not only does it set up his career as a lecturer at a university, it has an in universe reason, where he explains that when he's unsure about how to get out of a bind, he retreats within his mind, pretends he's already escaped and he's bragging to Clara. The throwaway line 'I'm nothing without an audience' carries weight because... Well, he does need an audience. This is his own illusion, we're just sneaking a peak. This isn't the actor lifting the curtain a la Oz, this is us being brought into a characters mind.

Missy has a hilarious meta joke where she roleplays as the doctor and introduces the companions as 'Exposition' and 'Comic Relief'. It's targeted at fans, and clearly a shakedown of the tropes and- it works. Because this is a game to Missy, because she doesn't take this seriously, she's playing a role. It makes sense for This character in This context, and it doesn't break the illusion.

But the new series... There's just a plastic feeling to it. I almost feel like they're setting up a Wandavision bit where it's all a TV show. The joke about 'I thought that was Non Diagetic' was hilarious, and I loved it, but the winks and nods to the camera? The overexplanation and overexposition? 'Never seen a TARDIS before?' Lines said to the audience, basically dropping the wall between us. We are not watching the Doctors life, nor are we being brought into his mind. This isn't showing a characters view, or self aware commentary. It's a cheap laugh that doesn't land.

I don't want to hate the show, and I don't! But it's just... Loosing itself. Back when it was help together with duct tape and a prayer, they had to commit, to make up for the penny sets. Is it such a bad thing to miss that?

[marvelmaniac715]

I made my mother watch tv shows I like, here were her thoughts:

Doctor Who - we watched all of Modern Who, a season and a half of the First Doctor, the Second Doctor’s final serial and have moved on to the Third Doctor (I just couldn’t sit through anymore black and white tv 😅) safe to say she enjoyed it

Good Omens - this one was dicey since she’s Christian and I wasn’t sure what she’d think of the themes, but she liked it for the most part, vastly preferring Season One to Season Two (it was actually the first time I watched Good Omens but I knew about the twist at the end of Season Two… it was very hard to fake shock but my mum and sister weren’t at all interested in the heartbreak)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians - we watched the entirety of the show in a very short amount of time and are now two hours into the Lightning Thief audiobook, she loves it

Wandavision - this, along with Hawkeye, was the only Marvel show that I could convince my mum and sister to watch, and although she’s sat through a few Marvel movies with me I can sense that it is very much not her thing

The Goes Wrong Show - my entire family enjoys Mischief Theatre so she did enjoy it but won’t do repeated viewings because she thinks it’s less funny if you know what’ll happen (I very much disagree and have watched every episode many times)

Bluey - this show is what inspired me to make this post, she caught me playing a Bluey game on my phone (don’t judge me it’s a comforting show) and I convinced her to watch some episodes with me, we watched the first four episodes (up to Shadowlands) and she laughed approximately five times in total, it reminds her too much of Peppa Pig (my favourite show when I was little) and she winced whenever Bluey or Bingo laughed (she’s got a thing about kids making noise when playing outside) but I think she’ll watch more episodes with me

EDIT: For some reason I put the word ‘three’ in the title, no clue why, ignore me, I’m super tired 😭

[simplepotatofarmer]

hello!! i finally got around to watching cj the x after i saw you recommended them and i absolutely love their channel!! my favorite video is the one on wandavision :)

i was wondering if you have any other yt recs? i think maybe you've made a list before but i am very bad at searching for things on tumblr

hope you're doing well loyal!

oh good!! <3 <3

i love when people start watching cj the x, they're so good. the wandavision video really was interesting to me as someone who doesn't really 'do' marvel.

as for other youtubers i like, hmmm.

witchcindy is probably the only book reviewer i watch because she's funny and also understands that if you're reading those kinds of books, you're there for the weird shit.

i also really like f.d. signifier, thoughtslime (this video is a must watch imo for addressing two important topics: fake youtube documentaries and stigma against the unhoused), and princess weekes. and even if i don't watch much anime these days, i do still watch mother's basement 'cause the videos are fun!

[watchnrant]

WandaVision: A Genre-Bending Exploration of Grief, Identity, and Superhero Storytelling

WandaVision is a bold, genre-bending triumph that redefines what superhero storytelling can be. The series opens with a surreal plunge into classic TV sitcoms, paying homage to I Love Lucy and Bewitched—a bold move that quickly proves its worth. WandaVision reminds us that emotional stakes can hit the hardest in a universe of super-powered battles.

Elizabeth Olsen is mesmerizing. Her portrayal of Wanda Maximoff is a masterclass in character evolution, as she moves effortlessly between sitcom whimsy and gut-wrenching emotional depth. Wanda’s desperate attempt to control her unraveling world is heartbreaking and terrifying, and Olsen makes you feel every ounce of that pain. Paul Bettany matches her performance with a comedic brilliance that brings new layers to Vision, turning their shared scenes into captivating emotional duets.

But WandaVision is far more than a love letter to nostalgia—it’s a fully immersive experience. Each episode meticulously recreates a different TV era, from the black-and-white charm of the 1950s to the neon flash of the 80s. The period details, from set designs to costumes, are spot-on, giving the series a rich visual texture. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show—until the cracks in the facade start to show, hinting at a far darker reality lurking underneath.

Visually, WandaVision is a feast. The shifting aesthetics aren’t just clever flourishes but integral to the story. As the series moves through different eras of TV, the visual style mirrors Wanda’s emotional unraveling. The glossy perfection of early sitcoms begins to fracture, reflecting the way grief and trauma distort her perception of reality. This isn’t just a fun gimmick—it’s a profoundly affecting metaphor for Wanda’s internal collapse, making her unravel something you feel as much as you see.

At its core, WandaVision is about grief, trauma, and identity. Wanda isn’t just mourning Vision—she’s grappling with who she is after everything she’s lost. Her immense power allows her to bend reality to her will, yet she’s unable to confront the emotional wreckage inside. The show visually represents this struggle, with each glitch and shift in her constructed reality as a metaphor for her fractured sense of self. WandaVision brilliantly captures a woman at war with her identity, trying to reconcile her past, pain, and future.

This identity crisis shapes Wanda’s every decision. Unable to let go of her trauma, she creates a world where she can hide from it. But as the cracks in her illusion grow, it becomes clear that even her immense power can’t protect her from the truth. The show’s layered narrative and visual style turn Wanda’s story into a poignant meditation on how trauma reshapes our sense of self and how running from grief only deepens the wounds.

One scene that perfectly encapsulates this tension is the dinner sequence in the first episode. What starts as a lighthearted sitcom fare quickly spirals into something unsettling as Wanda struggles to control her reality. The laughter fades, the lighting shifts and the discomfort is palpable as her carefully constructed world teeters on the edge of collapse. In moments like these, WandaVision masterfully balances its tonal shifts, moving from quirky homage to psychological thriller with a deft touch.

The series is a slow burn, but that deliberate pacing makes its emotional depth possible. WandaVision takes its time, allowing the audience to sit with Wanda’s grief and confusion. This might feel jarring for some, especially for those expecting the fast-paced action Marvel is known for. But this slower pace is essential to the show’s impact—it gives the emotional stakes time to breathe, and the payoff is worth the wait. As Wanda’s world unravels, the tension builds not through action but through her illusions’ slow, steady collapse.

Marvel’s decision to prioritize emotional complexity over explosive action in WandaVision significantly departs from its usual formula. This shift signals a broader evolution in superhero media that embraces introspection and character-driven storytelling. WandaVision shows that superhero stories can be just as much about our internal battles as the external ones, setting a new standard for what the genre can achieve.

While Olsen and Bettany are the heart of the series, the supporting cast also shines. Kathryn Hahn is a standout as Agnes, bringing comedic flair and a sinister undercurrent to her role. Her shift from a nosy neighbor to something far more ominous is one of the series’ most thrilling transformations. Teyonah Parris, as Monica Rambeau, adds emotional depth to the broader MCU connections, grounding the story while bringing her vulnerabilities to the forefront. Monica’s own experience with loss, having been snapped away and returning to find her mother gone, mirrors Wanda’s grief, adding layers to the show’s exploration of trauma. Both actresses enhance the ensemble, making WandaVision a rich tapestry of performances.

Matt Shakman and Jac Schaeffer deserve immense credit for crafting a show that blends absurdity with emotional resonance. The tonal shifts—from sitcom pastiche to psychological horror—could have easily derailed the narrative, but instead, they heighten the series’ complexity. Shakman’s direction and Schaeffer’s writing push the boundaries of superhero storytelling, resulting in a series that feels as innovative as it does intimate.

Another scene that stands out is Wanda’s confrontation with Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in later episodes. This moment exemplifies the total collapse of Wanda’s illusion, and Agatha’s role as a manipulator intensifies the tension. The scene is a high-stakes emotional showdown that strips away Wanda’s defenses, forcing her to confront the pain she’s buried under layers of sitcom facades. This confrontation highlights the show’s seamless ability to shift from personal drama to supernatural spectacle, all while keeping the emotional core intact.

Of course, WandaVision isn’t for everyone. Its experimental structure and slower pacing may alienate viewers expecting the fast-paced, action-heavy fare typical of the MCU. But for those willing to embrace its reflective nature, the series offers a more profound, more emotionally charged experience. It’s a gamble that pays off in ways that redefine what superhero television can be.

WandaVision isn’t just a standout in the MCU—it’s a standout in modern television. Its blend of genres and experimentation with form transcends the superhero genre, positioning itself alongside Legion, which uses genre as a framework to explore deep emotional and psychological territory. WandaVision proves that superhero stories can be as rich, layered, and complex as any prestige drama, showing that sometimes, the most compelling battles are the ones we fight within ourselves.

So, is WandaVision a triumph? Absolutely. By blending sitcom nostalgia with emotional depth and mind-bending twists, WandaVision redefines what superhero storytelling can be. Marvel has set a new bar for its TV future, and if this is the direction they’re headed, count me in.