#whats it even like being ttm.

[todayisafridaynight]

I DID SAY I WAS SORRY... Best of luck on your quiz tomorrow <3 and hey who knows maybe Jo'll take his shirt off next game

Quiz’ll be easy its just psych. Like the like 90 shots of tsutsumi shirtless living in my psych Ha Gottem.

Christ.

[kumkissed]

♱ Stretch You Out ♱

C/W: older man(35) x younger reader(25), breeding kink, possessiveness, self obsessed reader(like reader is actually THAT bitch like I’m so fr), major overstimulation, f. receiving , mdni

It’s this intoxicating smell Toji hates…laying back in his seat as his green eyes scan the surrounding area. He can’t even believe he came, finally indulging in his friends to “loosen up” he never even expected they’d bring him to a strip club. The smell of sweet, cologne, and sickly sweet perfume give him an entirely new headache. The low red lights keep him at bay as he throws drinks back as if he doesn’t have work tomorrow, he’s been tuning the others out but his attention is drawn back at the words “She’s coming out soon Toji, the real reason we brought you.” He turns his attention towards the voice seeing Sukuna smirking, tilting his head towards the stage. Toji scoffs looking towards the stage with an unimpressed look.

He’s floored, chocolate skin glistening with glitter as your outfit hugged your curves exposing your cleavage. Your tall glass like heels leave Toji’s mouth dry, green eyes staying on your body, he doesn’t even pay the teasing he’s receiving from his friends any mind. With every move you take he can feel his pants becoming tighter and tighter, the way your body presses up against the pole, maneuvering yourself in a way that makes you seem ethereal. You move as if you know everyone will enjoy it, such confidence in your dancing makes him a little hot. “Stretch you out” By Summer Walker and you are the only thing in his world right now, he shifts in his seat trying to get a better view of you taking another sip of his drink. “Like what you see? Good thing I got you an appointment” Toji nods at what Gojo said before pausing whipping his head towards him “The fuck you mean?” Gojo laughs before shrugging his shoulders pointing behind Toji. Toji notices the sound of heels now that the music is lower, turning around green eyes meet brown ones and his nose is flooded with a sweet scent.

“You must be Toji, y/n nice to meet you.” You reach your hand out, your eyes never leaving Toji’s. You’re shocked at how soft Toji grabs your hand, although his hands may be rough from work he holds your hand like it’s glass. “An honor to meet you doll.” There’s a beat of silence before Gojo speaks “Well y/n why don’t you take our friend here? He’s the one I told you about.” You hum before turning towards the white haired male “make sure you paying me what I asked, I’m the best one in here don’t forget that.” Gojo giggles, nodding and handing you a full duffel bag full of money. You stare at the duffel bag then back at Toji eyes asking(telling) him to carry it, you don’t even give him time to react before walk away. Toji doesn’t even speak before grabbing the bag, smirking at his friends and following you.

There’s no conversation between you two, as you lead him to your private room. He’s in awe once again, Polaroids of yourself littered over the wall, a couch on by wall, and a big vanity across from the holding all of your makeup and perfume. “It’s what I get for being one of the best, you should be honored” Toji scoffs “For somebody as short as you, you got a lot of attitude” You shrug grabbing his hand leading him to the couch “For a man with a kid, you’re in a strip club?” You chuckle sitting next to him, shedding yourself of your heels before sitting your painted white toes on Toji’s lap. He’s curious, how does this little cutie know so much about him? Before he can even ask a question, you press your feet down adding pressure on his clothed dick. Yeah…this is gna be a night.

——-

A/N: yes there will be a part 2 i just wanted to release this to come backkkk, send ur req, ttm, cause im bacck 🌸

[raayllum]

ALRIGHT, time to talk about the poster in lovely HD.

First things first, I want to talk about these two ladies (?). The upper one closer to the moon looks more like an elf, and is gazing down at the second, closer woman. I've seen people speculate Ziard due to the hair, but none of this usual clothing appendages are there, so I lean towards a new character, and possibly being the human Aaravos had a special connection to. We see what looks like the arches of the Moon Nexus framed behind them, which was the case both when Rayla went through the portal in TTM and when Lujanne used historia viventum to show Callum the way things looked before. Souls of hate and love, maybe?

We see other Moon symbols throughout the posture sure as archangel lunarises, which seek out Moon magic (1x01) and can be used in illusion spells (2x03, 3x09). We also see the enchanted lotuses from 3x03, though for what purpose is unclear (more on that later).

Moving down, we have a fully celestial, quite happy Aaravos. He's in full flourish and clearly using Moon magic for someone, as begetting the moon behind him, though whether he's constructing lotuses or channeling energy into his Key (perhaps making it able to sense Moon magic) is unknown. While the lotuses in 3x03 were occasionally different colours, the deep purple here makes me think of dark magic. If he is channeling his cube, perhaps he's taking moon energy from the lotuses (or moths) surrounding him to put inside.

I don't think I need to scream much further than I already have about the Moon rune glowing on his Key and having it displayed with his usual star symbol (rune cube foreshadowing symbolism my beloved). This bodes well for theories in which 1) Callum goes too far and does something knowingly risky to free the Moon fam for Rayla's sake or 2) does something risky to help Aaravos to protect Rayla's life, each subsequently to being possessed and/or playing into Aaravos' hands. Thank you goodnight.

Then we have the book, which is deeply fascinating. It seems like a very Moon book, the fragments framing it similar to the ones we see on the lotuses and possibly evoking one of the archangel lunaris' flying around. It wouldn't surprise me if the book contains a variant of Deep moon magic of some kind, whatever that would look like. The crescent curved moon is also similar to the symbol we see on Aaravos' poem page for the Midnight Star in show (2x08). I do wonder why each side of the book looks so different though, with no actual visible moon in sight besides the tiny gemstones and the crescent moon, the other side being entirely dark (which, to be fair, is pretty moon-y).

We also sort of but don't quite see Aaravos' famous chest piece, though it is a-glowing. Whether it glowed all the time pre-Fall we just don't know, as the only time we've seen it glow/be filled in is 2x09 when he's channeling magic through Viren, but who knows. It does mean that the cube is even older than his banishment and that if it does hold his chest piece, it was placed after (if it's tangible at all, which has always been one of the biggest questions).

This is perhaps the weirdest thing that I am the most interested in, as alongside his crown and bangles, this is the biggest design difference between Aaravos in-show and out. In show, both in his mirror and even 'pre-Fall' (aka the timeline for the 1x01 shot is probably a lie anyway), Aaravos' hip thingy is a lot more simplistic.

However, Aaravos does have all his flowery (and I mean that literally, it looks like petals) adornment in his concept art.

The fact they have a lotus flower flair to them always felt interesting but ultimately like a coincidence, but perhaps not. Either way as pictured below, it seems like he's either constructing or dismantling the lotuses, which is Eyes Emoji either way.

The most... surely metaphorical / abstract portion of the poster, though, is I'd imagine the very bottom. I hesitate to read into things too literally (one of the S5 posters had Finnegrin's ship being blasted with lightning and Domina watching the waves, and while she featured in the season and played a role in Finnegrin's aims, the scene itself as portrayed did not come fully to fruition) so I'm gonna go with a more symbolic read, just as as disclaimer.

Lastly we have these two figures. I'm assuming the one in white is an elf and betting on young Aaravos or Leola, though it could be someone else connected to the Moon arcanum (the elven daughter who vouched for exiling rather than eliminating humanity?). The red and black shadow figure feels far more sinister (blood and stardust, anyone) but if you lighten the shadows, you get something even more... interesting, shall we say.

Rather than standing up straight, this figure almost seems to swoop down with a draconic like claw and a face that reminds me the most of Sir Sparklepuff's features, honestly, perhaps boasting a similar kind of blood (Viren's) and star (Aaravos) and dark magic (the staff?). It is also clearly moving toward the more humanoid figure on the bottom right, which gives a "corruption is reaching / coming for / offering things to you" sort of vibe.

[amys-books27]

"Rayla is the only one who can reach Claudia" Some months ago I read an analysis that said so, and while back then I thought it could be, it wasn't my first option, but after S6 I think Rayla being the one to help Claudia redeem herself and leave Aaravos' side is the most plausible thing.

(Lots of text ahead, I'm sorry)

For starters, they both share trauma; their parents abandoned them. But, their reactions to the trauma were complete opposites:

Rayla -> She abandons the people she loves before they can do it (Even if she doesn't do it consciously, e.g. Her leaving at the end of TTM)

Claudia -> She sticks to the people she loves and doesn't let them go even when it could be for the better. E.g. Bringing back Viren. (Tho for a moment she left Terry, she came back eventually)

They share that trauma and can bond through it because they can understand each other at a level no other character can.

Yes, Callum and Ezran also lost their parents and they used to be friends with Claudia. Yes, Soren also lost his parents. Yes, Terry is there for her, he loves her and she loves him.

So why can't any of them help her see things clearly?

Soren -> Because he's the one of the people who abandoned her in the first place. He's one of the causes of her trauma. He also has tried to reach her but couldn't do it (First in S3 when he asks her to go with him and Claudia refuses and then in S4).

Terry -> Same as Soren, he may have not abandoned her (yet, I have the theory he'll join the dragang in S7 because he thinks is the only way to save Claudia atp), but at the end of S6 he tried to make her chose a different path and it didn't go well, she still chose to free Aaravos.

Ezran -> They've had a heart-heart talk before in S2, and then Claudia fought against him (and Callum and Rayla) in S5. Ezran may be able to give her another chance if she explains herself and wants to be redeemed. He also lost his parents, but as he thinks in the novelization of book 2, not because they chose to leave, they were killed, there's a world of difference.

Callum -> Same with Ezran, he also lost all his parents, but it's still different, and this is the more clear representation of what it is to lose a parent because of an outside cause like murder, and losing a parent because they chose to leave. In TTM that was one of his main arguments with Rayla. She tells him he doesn't understand anything, he doesn't understand her and why she's so stuck in what happened to her parents (including Runaan), because she didn't know what happened to them, the only thing she knew was that they left and never came back. And Callum does know what happened, they were killed. He has closure, Rayla and Claudia do not. In addition, Callum can't get to Claudia, is because she also has manipulated his feelings and betrayed him and Ezran. She's also collaborating with the person Callum is more afraid of.

All of these people have met Claudia and may have conflicted feelings about her. Rayla may be able to see her situation from an outside perspective and still empathize with her because she has gone through it too.

As I said before, Claudia doesn't have closure, she returned to Katolis looking for Viren and looking for that closure, but finding him death only altered the wound his leaving made. In this same episode (609), Rayla gets the closure she needs to let her biological parents go. Now that Rayla has that she can help Claudia get that too.

I think this scene of Rayla making Claudia understand she's wrong, can parallel the scene with Esmeray in 605, where Rayla understands it and calms it down, she achieves that since she's able to emphasize with Esmeray, they both lost people they cared about, but Rayla makes it remember that even when their are gone their love persevere. With Claudia, the writers could use the same formula.

Conclusion:

Rayla is the one who can make Claudia realize that what she's doing isn't out of love, not anymore, is out of revenge. Rayla knows it and understands it because she confused love with revenge too, and she admits it in S4 ("We had something so special, but I became so obsessed with revenge that I risk losing the best thing I ever had...")

Rayla understands more than anything what it is like to lose a parent because they chose to leave. She understands what it is to live with the doubt of why your own parents couldn't stay, why weren't you important enough for them to stay. She understands it, she understands Claudia, in a way no other character can.

[miz-chase]

🍉 🍑 🍋!

🍉 Do you prefer to write short fics or long fics? Multichaptered works or single ones? Why?

I tend to write in the 1.5-3k range because it's long enough to Do Something, but not so long that it consumes me. Usually I struggle with keeping track of multiple stories at the same time, and if my brain has moved on to a different story before I'm done writing the first, it ends up a mess / I get bored

Also I work a job that lets me set my own hours, which means if I'm intensely into a long fic sometimes I sorta.... blow off work. For multiple days at a time. Which can be bad. So again, it's better if I write shorter things. I'm bad at being a grownup.

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

I'm going to pass over the obvious Jane joins the FBI or B&B get a case in Boston Bones/R&I crossover. Obviously I'd be into that.

Also passing over the Rizzles Gentleman Jack AU. Also too obvious.

So this AU I've been sitting on since before the pandemic, even before I started to get back into crime procedurals, comes from a shuffled mix of NK Jemisen's Broken Earth trilogy, a little hint of Dragon Age (which is just BE with shittier politics lbr), and Meliso Caruso's The Tethered Mage. They all deal with magic as a slave caste under full control by politico-religious authorities. BE & TTM especially deals with the complicated, often hostile 1-on-1 bond between magic users and their Guardian/Falconer controller. Mages are a living tool used by their Guardians to enforce law, solve crimes, whatever. Can you see where this is going?

I'm interested in the tension of Booth and Jane using Brennan and Maura as tool-object-persons. Having authority over them, directing their talents, while also polite-society-pretending the relationship is consensual and equal. Meanwhile Brennan and Maura to a degree don't care / aren't putting up a fight / are happy to have a bond / just want to get out and do the work. They share an arguably autistic-flavored focus on doing their science, such that they care more about doing the work well than they care about the political system they are feeding, and how they are being used. How do you build a functional (or even healthy?) partnership when power is unequally distributed? How do friendly, even flirty, social interactions play out between the controller and the controlled? How do you confront "I love you but I could never free you. It's not safe for you or me."?

I like that it takes an undertone, unaddressed dynamic from the source material and amplifies it to an extreme. It's fucked up and messy and discomforting, that's what makes it fun >:3c

(usually it ends with the controlled escaping and making their own way, which forces the controller to confront their feelings and the system they're upholding and then they fight to support the mage revolution blah blah, you know, high fantasy tropes)

🍋 What’s your favorite spicier trope to write?

I'm gonna go with.... praise kink/praise-based dom. "You can take it." "You're so good for me" etc. Pushing extremes while being affectionate and supportive and maybe a little condescending, rather than hostile or degrading, is fun to play with!

ALSO! Bad sex!! It's fun, its funny, it's real. Let them be messy disasters, let them work through shame and trying too hard to be perfect and the mishaps of life

[kradogsrats]

OKAY so "Infantis Sanguine" is almost definitely a spell, and it matches the primal/corrupted primal rune casting format, that being "two words of questionable Latin"

I do not actually know any Latin AT ALL, particularly not grammar (and not even to mention that primal rune spells are not real, grammatical Latin), but "infantis" appears to be the genitive case, so what we have here is something along the lines of "child's blood," or possibly a variant meaning from "infans" like "fresh blood."

"Sanguine" is an English word by way of French, derived from Latin "sanguineus" which is again genitive case, so stretching things a bit it could also be "child of blood"/"bloody chlid"? The English "sanguine" (by way of, uh... the ancient medical theory of humors) also means "cheerful" or "optimistic" and I doubt they're unaware of that connotation.

Kim'dael did not use runes or spells for her blood powers in TTM, so unless they're going to dramatically alter that, this seems like a very Claudia thing. But is it her blood or her using someone else's? 👀

[jessaerys]

if i'm being totally honest part of the reason why m-ttm-llo gets on my nerves (well it gets on my nerves in a fun angry dopamine hit kind of way. i love getting mad about it the stakes are SO low and a girl’s gotta get their hatearade somewhere) is because i AM a void-cigarettes-sex-drugs-cars-violence girlie. it's my hardboiled inner monologue i have a phd in griminess i love to write characters smoking seventeen cigarettes in the rain and shoving guns inside mouths phallically. so it's not like i don't GET the appeal because i do. it's incredibly easy to write, it’s universally sexy, it is flexible and forgiving — grittiness comes pre-packaged with a veneer of depth because (well we don’t have time to get into the history of american media). unfortunately underneath all of the fanon heavy lifting it is all aesthetic dust bunnies without substance when half the ship is an original character (matt is whatever you want him to be and the usual characterization of ‘just some guy’ appeals to the quintessential teenage boy next door who’s a bit witty trope to counterbalance mello's, well, everything) and the other half of the ship is more often than not wildly mischaracterized because if we know one thing from canon is that mello’s life revolves around beating near. our blessed understanding of mello's place in the narrative vs their barbarous creative liberties. like! what about black vs white what about being two halves of the same thing what about together we can surpass him. what about my brother broke my rib one morning and gave me half his orange in the evening. what about the machiavellian seedy underworld disgraced heir in all of his grimy fucked up fallen-from-grace streetsmart glory lifting his eyes up to a cold sterile skyscraper that fades into the clouds and the pristine boyking held prisoner within it wanting nothing but to stain the throne his entire world revolves around with his ugly fierce humanity; to break into the prince's tower and grind his face in the dirt, to free him, defile him. what about having known a boy only to be blinded years later by the knifeedge divine wrath of a naturalborn godkiller instead, pointing a gun at him anyway. look at me, why won’t you look at me. what about i don’t know where you end and i begin. what about then i guess i’m going to have to do it, what about the point where mello becomes aware of his place in the narrative and runs towards it to the bitter end. what about the relentless adversary turned unholy disciple by the festering devotion he could not excise. turned dirty-handed enforcer paving the way for the godtouched oracle to accomplish what neither of them ever could on their own and in that way finding release and grace. the softness and despair of adding up to a greater whole and yet both dying for it, one in body, the other in spirit. what about cain and abel. stick figure violence what! about! cain! and! abel! where was i going with this post it got wildly out of hand. oh yeah stream i'm your man by mitski on itunes

[jelzorz]

Some thoughts about s4

First I'm gonna preface this with the disclaimer that I enjoyed season 4 immensely. It was a lot of set up, a lot of fun, and I'm here for the long haul no matter what happens because I love and support this show. HOWEVER, I have. Many questions about some decisions that were made, in many cases because it directly contradicts with what seasons 1-3 and TTM set up, and I have some thoughts about it and they're not the nicest thoughts I've had about TDP. Other people have already voiced their opinions and their critiques but these specifically are my own that I hope S5 onwards will address.

Strap in kids. This is long.

1. Tone, Pacing, Structure

S1-3 were tight, and not in the slang way. Everything that appeared onscreen was relevant in some way, parallels could be made everywhere, everyone was a foil for everyone else.

S4 was. Not that. S4 was, comparatively, all over the hecking shop. I am of the opinion that if you need an entire season or movie just to set up future movies, you're not doing the movie right, and that's what S4 felt like instead. Instead of capitalising on the set up s1-3 did, it varied wildly from entire scenes of exposition, to entire scenes about fart jokes, to entire scenes that just didn't do anything for anyone other than present awkward clunky dialogue that wasn't even necessary.

One of the biggest offenders? The Guardians of the Great Gates. Literally what were they for? They didn't do anything. The were there to be Difficult and to be Unfunny, and they don't even have the excuse of being an obstacle that Zubeia couldn't get past so she couldn't accompany the kids because a fucking rockslide did that. That entire scene could have been snappier if they weren't fucking there, and instead the show chose to spend time on characters that weren't relevant to anything to deliver bad banter, which leads me to

Tone and the way the season couldn't decide if it was darker and edgier or if it was still for kids ages 8-12. This probably wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't spend SDCC and NYCC hyping up the fact that it was darker and that they wanted it to grow with their audience, except it hadn't and it was purely because they kept bailing on scenes that should have been awe-inspiring or emotional and replacing it with dumb jokes.

There were, of course, some exceptional scenes: Ez's speech? Corvus playing cello? Beautiful. Raw. Important narratively and delivered flawlessly. Aaravos possessing Callum? Terrifying. Loved every minute of it. Ibis' death? Chilling. But those scenes are far outnumbered by things that didn't feel necessary and went on for far too long: Soren's stand up comedy act, Callum's failed magic presentation, fart jokes, the unfunny guardians, etc. It's like everytime they came close to doing something emotional and heartfelt, they copped out, and that is especially clear in the relationships between characters (and not just rayllum! But we'll come to that later).

And that. Doesn't track??? TDP has never shied away from emotional depth before and now it's like they're pulling a Marvel and removing the gravity of every situation with bad humour. The pacing and structure suffer for it. The spend to long on the jokes resulting in weird pacing, and there are references and characters put in there to be funny that are completely unnecessary to the plot and interfere with the flow. There were times I literally went "GET TO THE POINT" because it waffled for too long on something stupid.

It's as if they couldn't settle on the tone they wanted to set and hoped the fart jokes would balance out the murder.

2. Agency, Characterisation, Big Feelings

For a show that emphasizes being able to write your own destiny, they took a lot of that ability away. So much information comes to our heroes in the form of exposition. So many answers appear in the form of a character willing to just give them what they need.

Why, for example, couldn't Callum discover Aaravos on his own? He's been obsessive about magic for two years, why didn't he make more progress in Rayla's absence? Why have Zubeia deliver that information to him when it would have made more sense to just have him obsessive over the mirror, where Aaravos might have tempted him with more knowledge, more secrets, and then his possession of him would have hit like 10 times harder?

Why did Opeli, of all people, have to suggest that Ez et al go on their adventure, instead of Ez deciding it for himself? He's never had problems leaving her in charge in the past. He's the king, it should be his decision!

What the fuck was N'than for other than an Uncharted reference? Why couldn't the kids have figured things out together the way they always have? Why not use the opportunity for Callum and Rayla to hash out their MANY issues a la S1?

And this, obviously, isn't the only issue with the way the characters were presented this season. Characterisation itself was iffy af, and our first red flag was should have been the fact that everyone thought Rayla was fake.

Rayla, in particular, bothered me. TTM and Dear Callum made it abundantly clear that she was deeply troubled and that she knew leaving would tear Callum's heart out, and she comes back unapologetic? Flirty? Otherwise fine?? What the fuck happened to her many obvious mental health problems? What's happening in her head? Why did she come back empty handed?

The only way I can understand her logic is to assume that she came back because she realised her friends and family were more important to her than Viren. Which is fine! Okay! I'd buy that! BUT THEN SHE GOES AFTER VIREN AGAIN THE SECOND SHE REALIZES HE'S ALIVE?

WHY COME BACK AT ALL THEN? WHAT WAS THE POINT? APPARENTLY JUST TO CAUSE ANGST INSTEAD OF EXPLORING HER MENTAL STATE AND CHARACTER.

And then there's CALLUM, whose reaction to her return isn't cold, isn't angry, it's just. Kind of confused? I can excuse Rayla appearing in his office and then him writing it off in the morning—maybe he thought it was a dream, bc he's had to have dreams like that before—but then she reappears, and she's real, and... That's it? He should be furious at her! He would be right to be! He's, at the very most, confused! And I know what you're gonna say: of course, he's confused! He's happy to see her but he's still mad at her for leaving!

Then SHOW ME. LET HIM BE MAD. LET HIM HAVE MOMENTS OF WEAKNESS WHEN THAT FACADE BREAKS. LET THEM AIR THEIR FUCKING ISSUES.

But they never get to! Every time they get close, they're interrupted by more pointless humour, and this the thing that bothers me right: fine. They don't talk. I can understand that. But those issues can and should present in other ways: emotionally charged magic, tension in every interaction, Callum getting snappy, not just at Rayla but at everyone. Some people have been calling the way he handled that conflict "mature" but maturity involves addressing the problem and managing the resulting emotions, NOT AVOIDING IT COMPLETELY.

And then Rayla sees Viren and tries to leave a second time, and he lets her? This boy? The one who turned against his own morals and used dark magic to help her save a dragon? The one who jumped off a mountain to save her or die trying? The one who was ready to leave at dawn to go on her crazy mission too? He doesn't even offer to go with her?????

That scene was, again, an opportunity to start talking about it and they don't! He just lets her go! And that is so violently against the character traits they established for Callum, who is fiercely loyal to his friends and family, who would has followed Rayla against all odds just to help her and it's just??????

And listen, the problem isn't just with rayllum. Soren comes face to face with his newly revived father and he doesn't get to talk to him? He doesn't get to talk about it at all? Callum is possessed by Aaravos and nobody finds that Concerning enough to talk about? Rayla can't remember Ibis' name one second and then is suddenly SUPER cut up about discovering his body? Claudia tries to convince Soren he's on the wrong side by saying elves will only ever see him as Just Human while she's dating an elf?

There are other things, too, that don't make sense. The conflict between the Sunfire Elves and humans worked really well actually, and was one of the best parts of the season, but Karim presents Miyana with the possibility of a blood duel but then has to tell Miyana what it means, and Miyana is supposed to be one of their best generals. If she doesn't know what a blood duel would mean, neither would anyone else, and if no one understands it's significance, then it's not significant.

It's all so inconsistent, so against everything already established, and I can't understand why they chose to write it like this.

3. Alternatives

It's not even that hard to fix. There were fan theories and metas that were tighter than whatever happened this season, that built on what was already established and extrapolated from it instead of... Whatever happened here. They could even keep some of the decisions they did make just by addressing some of it. If I had to rewrite it, then:

Callum discovers something weird about the mirror, on his own merit, using his own research and knowledge. He takes the information to Zubeia who confirms and provides more information about Aaravos, and the pieces together, along with Ibis' death, provides the impetus for our gang to head into Xadia. Rayla doesn't return.

The kids arrive at the Storm Spire to find Ibis has been murdered and rendezvous with Rayla who has been tracking Claudia, so she at least hasn't spent two years away for nothing. Tensions arise. Callum and Rayla Don't Talk and Callum is noticeably cold to her. Aaravos possesses Callum, spurring Zubeia to send them to Umber Tor to seek help from Rex Igneous. Rayla and Callum agree, grudgingly, to co-operate, their concern for each other obvious in spite of the tension.

The kids arrive at the Great Gates only to find that they have collapsed and there's no way through. They receive guidance from a guardian perhaps in riddle form, and not in shitty banter form, to find the alternative entrance in the Uncharted Forest.

Frustrated, and with tensions rising, the kids (read: rayllum) bicker their way through to forest until their position is given away and they run into the Riders of the Drakewood. Fighting ensues. Callum and Rayla fall back into their old patterns and find that working together isn't so hard after all. You Fight Good scene, resulting in the first tension break since their reunion, however is short lived as Soren is captured. They go after him into the Pit of Despair.

The only way out of the Pit of Despair is through it. Rayllum continue to fight and argue a la 1x07. Their fighting inadvertently shows them the way forward, and they spend the episode relearning how to work together.

They take a break. Callum and Rayla have the beginnings of a talk regarding Aaravos' posession. Rayla shows her concern for him and Callum, angry, brushes her off: if she was so concerned, she never should have left. More arguing. Ezran, frustrated, steps in. Their arguing brings the next set of challenges. They push forward.

They find Soren at the mercy of Rex Igneous, but the scene proceeds as per the show. Rayla, having dealt with Claudia's sleep spell before, has the foresight to find something to keep her awake. She wakes the others and Rex Igneous as per the show before they see Viren. Soren freezes up on the spot but chooses his duty to Ezran. He will deal with his Big Feelings later. Rayla tries to go after him again, only for Callum to stop her. She can't go again, not after all of this. BIG FEELINGS TIME. Rayla chooses, in the end, that her friends and family are more important. She escapes with them. A promise to talk is made.

Anyway. Fix it tdp. Give me back my show.

[kazisgirlfriend]

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that Rayla will be the one to help free Aaravos.

Callum wants to kill Aaravos, not free or bargain with him. He's immensely terrified of being controlled by him, and clearly can't think rationally about what to do with his prison. Even if he's desperate, I just don't see him doing a 180 in the span of a season, since he's way too close to the subject matter to even consider that.

However, Aaron Ehasz did mention that Rayla will probably apologize "more than once" over the course of the next seasons. Personally, I take this to mean, not that she will apologize for the same things she did (leaving Callum) over and over again, but that she will apologize for that and for things else that she hasn't yet done.

Rayla of course wouldn't help Aaravos without good reason, but since TTM her moral compass has been bending towards whatever keeps Callum safe. So if the Celestial Elves threaten him, all bets are off.

And that's what I ultimately see happening on the Starscraper. Just as with Finnegrin, we see another group of elves insist that Callum, as a human and a mage, is "destined" (theme of the season) to do be a dark mage and thus is a threat who must be eliminated. They then set up a ritual not unlike what the Sunfire elves did for Viren, and the whole scene is played up as a parallel to this moment.

Rayla, desperate, tries to save Callum by pulling the spell blanket off the pearl, much like how Aaravos saves Viren in the nick of time. Rayla hopes that possessed Callum will just dispatch the Celestial Elves, and then she can put the blanket back on.

Unfortunately, just as with the Sunfire ritual, things quickly spiral out of control. Aaravos overpowers both the elves and Rayla herself. As he breaks open his prison (mirroring the vision Callum has in 6x01 where he is trapped and Aaravos smashes his own prison), Rayla is left horrified by what she's enabled.

Of course Callum forgives her. As he mentioned in 5x01, he trusts her unconditionally. But as with TTM, this leaves Rayla questioning her choices, and a setup for s7, especially in the context of how she interacts with her family.

[zuppizup]

I've been gathering my thoughts, musing, discussing, re-watching and while I still don't quite know how I feel about the new season, I've managed to put something together.

I assume it's incoherent...

So, overall, I did enjoy the season. It was awesome to be back in the world again. The scenery was gorgeous (especially Xadia), Soren was an absolute hoot and little gremlin child Zym cracked me up.

Poor solo Mum Zubeia.

Having said that... I spent most of the season expecting each episode would deal with the elephant in the room and each episode just left me with more questions.

And maybe that would have been okay, if not for the persistent hype.

For so long we've been told how much darker this season is going to be. How Callum is super affected by Rayla’s absence, how he's dangerously obsessed with magic now but... he got mad at a book and that was kinda of it? He seemed quite interested in the mirror but this is the guy who almost got zapped by lightning to try and connect to the Sky Arcanum.

So, yeah, I've seen worse from him. I expected worse from him.

Episode one and Callum’s Reflections story showed he was clearly devastated by the events of TTM. Inheritance has him unable to even say Rayla’s name months after she’s left.

So honestly, his reaction to Rayla’s sudden return actually seemed relatively normal. He didn’t want to talk which we’ve seen him do before.

But he seems to see her reaction to his apparent rejection and concedes:

and this happens:

Rayla’s reaction just seemed… almost cruel. Cuddling and giggling with Stella while Callum sits upset. Saying he was joking when he referred to the fact she was missing for two years. Honestly, I was so taken aback by that.

(I know people love the cuddle-mama thing but what about my boy Callum?!)

The revenge thing also got me, because… when was it about revenge? When did that change? Are we to disregard TTM and Dear Callum? What was the point of them then?

What really got me for both of them was Rayla leaving the next morning (Why? To go where?) and Callum… not even noticing? Being more concerned about a magic show than the person he's apparently been worried sick about for literally years.

Rayla randomly re-appearing later that night also seemed… so strange. What was she doing all day? Why not come to Ez somewhere private? And like others have pointed out, she apologises to Ezran but never Callum? And he forgives her immediately? Soren seemed to be the most aware of how weird this whole situation is for Callum. (Thanks himbo, we love you).

My favourite scene was top of the Storm Spire when Callum seemed like he was going to talk to her but they took that away too?! And yeah, the callback was funny but come on! It really felt out of place.

Now we have Callum’s possession by Aaravos forgotten about and the issue with Rayla’s absence once again pushed back.

I would have bought her joking and attempts at flirting if we got a few more micro expressions of concern or doubt but it felt genuine rather than trying to awkwardly ease the tension.

The Drakewood sequence threw me to. Her attitude was such a departure from old Rayla (the Rayla who ran off solo to save a dragon because it felt like the right thing to do).

And don't get me wrong, I was hungry for why she changed so much but we got nothing. I'm really hoping this is addressed in later seasons because "time skip" just doesn't feel like enough to explain this to me.

Hints of old Rayla did make me hopeful (the immediate self blame when Soren doesn't come back) and I was hoping this would lead to her more relaxed nature being a front. Hiding her emotions is not out of character for Rayla, being good at it is. Getting better at that during a time skip I could buy.

But alas, that didn't seem to go anywhere either.

The Viren reveal was even stranger for me. Mainly because… what about people who haven’t read TTM? Wouldn’t you expect more shock from Rayla and Callum to find him alive? There’s been barely anything addressing the fact Rayla left because she wasn’t convinced Viren was dead. A throw away line in S04E03 which wasn’t really given any weight or importance.

And where do they go from here? Has Rayla been “validated”? From her perspective Viren has been alive the entire time and is actively trying to free Aaravos. So yeah, it hurt Callum that she left but her reasons are valid.

If anything Viren is more dangerous than she suspected in TTM.

And yes, I get I’m not a regular fan. My ~500k of fanfic focusing of these characters clearly shows that, but what about the casual fans? Or people just discovering the show on a binge watch? So many things in the season just make no sense. Characters do things because the plot needs them to, not for compelling reasons.

And sure, it might all get explained in the next season (please, please!!!) but there were a number of choices that felt off or confusing.

Which… after all the hype of “Where’s Rayla?”, the Twitter and Instagram posts, the panels, etc… we essentially got:

“Oh yeah, she’s there.”

I hope some of this is addressed next season. I want to know what Rayla was doing for two years. Why she came back when she did. What caused her change of heart when it comes to things like trying to save people. Why she hasn't apologised to Callum yet.

I know coming back after a hiatus was going to be difficult and integrating the supplementary material would be a task but we had so much wonderful character building and insight and it really felt like it was all for nothing at this stage.

I loved the Reflections series and utterly adored TTM. They did great things with the characters and I was really looking forward to seeing that continue in the series. I’m still hopefully for future seasons but I will admit to being underwhelmed by this one.

[todayisafridaynight]

hear me out on this one

[totaltrashmammall13]

Total Trash Mammal Base-Game Friendly Save

The plan is to have the three main towns done upon release, but I plan on upgrading the packs one by one as well in the future.

Let me show you what this is about

Remodeling Pre-existing Homes and Families

Pictured Left: The Spencer-Kim-Lewis Home remodeled Pictured Right: Alice and her daughter Olivia

Some of the homes made in the early days of the Sims 4 were god-awful, and I think we can all agree on that. For example, the Spencer-Kim-Lewis home was a monstrosity. Many of the child sims, much like in Sims 3, seem to have been made without anyone looking at their future life stages. This leads to some very odd-looking people in your next generation (and not just the newly generated townies.) The pre-existing sims have now gotten a bit of a refresh, both in their homes and their mirrors.

Recreating Families from Previous Titles

Pictured Left: Holly Alto brought into the base game Pictured Right: Teens Angela Pleasant and Dustin Broke

Many beloved families from previous titles were seemingly missing in the Sims 4 "Alternate Universe" when the game came out. Later on, certain sims were brought back locked behind expensive expansion packs, and completely unrecognizable. This save brings classics to the base game! The Alto's, the Burb's, the Pleasant's, the Broke's, and more! I also chose to stick to the idea of an alternate universe to bring back from the dead some sims further back in these family trees.

Established Stories and Skills

Pictured Left: Darren Dreamer working on a pop-art painting Pictured Right: Nancy Landgraab arguing with her estranged son Johnny

"What do you mean there's a love triangle, these people don't even know each other! And why does nobody in the game know how to cook?!" If that sounds like something you've said before then this is the save for you! It's hard for story-loving sims players to jump into a pre-made household just to learn that they might as well have started from scratch. In the TTM save, pre-made sims have pre-established friends, lovers, enemies, skills, and careers. There are also some new stories to be played you may or may not have expected from your favorite characters.

Updated and Simplified Public Lots

Pictured Left: A new toddler-inclusive kids section in the library Pictured Right: A base game wedding chapel in downtown Willow Creek

Now, you may be thinking; "Why do I want the lots to be simplified? Some of them are pretty sparse already!" And I have an answer for you. The game will only spawn in so many Sims once you enter a public lot, yet their builds are often very large with everything spread out. Not to mention they had strict item limits when the base worlds were first being created. This leads to these places feeling empty, both with people and decor.

Many of these family-friendly lots now also accommodate infants and toddlers, who they neglected to add before release. We've also added base lot types that weren't originally included, such as wedding venues.

Please follow my tumblr and youtube for updates if you are interested!

[honeekyuu]

Hello! I have returned!!!! Here to ramble at you again but what’s new? Since you said you love live reactions I am here to do that once again <3

I’m sorry I’m still dying at him calling us pretty girl. Like I will never get over it, twirling my hair and kicking my feet as I giggle. Honee I know you’re killing me. I can’t with all the nicknames. This will be the end of me (bakery anon has never been called sweet things like that-)

BAGAHA I’M LAUGHING AT HER DOING AN UNO REVERSE! NOT Y/N MAKING HIM GIGGLE AND KICK HIS FEET BY CALLING HIM CUTE AND SAYING SHE SMILES WHEN TALKING TO HIM. Honestly- same pookie…

Komori and Kita here to smack sense into Suna. Good job boys, knew I could count on you 🫡 I’m sorry he said “That’s my girl.” And my brain unhelpfully supplied me with Howl from Howl’s moving castle. I’m sorry for the person this fic is turning me into.

OKAY SO I AM MAD TOUCH STARVED BUT I DO IN FACT WANT CUDDLES. LIKE LET ME GO TO THE ART FAIR.

You’re feeding us good this week omg. WJFJJSJFJS “new favorite words.” PLEASE. HE’S SO DOWN BAD. GOOD JOB Y/N FOR OPENING UP. I’m so proud of her 😭😭😭 not to be dramatic but I would literally die for her.

AHHHHH HE WANTS TO SPOIL HER. YES. FIND ME A MAN LIKE HIM… like I would combust. JWJFJWJDJSJ TTM Y/N LET HIM LOVE YOU.

HONEE PLEASE THIS IS SO WJNFNSNDJSJ SCRUMPTIOUS. I’M SO EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTERS. No rush though, I saw that apparently some people 😒 were being not very cute, not very demure, not very mindful.

IGNORE THOSE PEOPLE. I WILL WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER LIKE A CAT WAITING FOR YOU TO OUT FOOD IN IT’S BOWL.

Yapping Note Time: GUYS. I LOVE YOU!!!! YOU’RE ALL SO WORTHY OF LOVE AND I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING DAY BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!!!! You guys are all beautiful and even if all you did today was read and stay in bed. You still did something you enjoyed and I’m proud of you! If no one else tells you today allow me, I LOVE YOU!!!! <333

That goes for you too Honee! but also! Remember writing is fun, write for you not other people. I hope your writing fulfills you and that you can look back and get happy when you see us go absolutely feral over it. I love you Honee and thank you for yet another banger of a chapter <3333

-sincerely bakery anon 🍪

HI BAKERY ANON HOW ARE YOU TODAY??? HOPEFULLY WELL!!! im gonna live react your live reacts lmao

suna will NEVERRRR stop with the 'pretty girl'. he has yn saved as 'pretty girl' in his phone, with a black heart and the blushing-hiding-behind-hands emoji like a fucking LOSER. his phone wallpaper is also totally the charcoal drawing he did of 'yn in a pumpkin costume' because he was killing time waiting for suga to figure out how to draw ballerina slippers on his jellyfish

suna is a down bad SIMP, when she compliments him he gets so god damn blushy and nervous and he cant get enough

STOP NOT THE HOWL REFERENCE,,,, bro suna needed his ass handed to him and komori is secretly evil so

she really did open up to him after like 4 days they really took 'friendship progression' and BASS BOOSTED IT

IM SO EXCITED TO KEEP WRITING THIS IT'S LITERALLY MY FAVORITE THING EVER

[raayllum]

I know you were ready to lay CHET to rest after this season but… Callum still has the cube, we still don’t know *exactly* what it does but Aaravos will presumedly need it, and all that foreshadowing about Callum choosing Rayla over the greater good? I still believe

i'll have a more coherent post about this when i'm not running on under 7 hours of sleep for 24+ hours (close to 30+ now honestly) but no i feel so Fucking Crazy right now precisely because i went into s6, our penultimate season, expecting to finally get to lay CHET and its variants (5x08 my beloved) to rest after 4+ years, every season for 3 seasons in a row i've been ready to lay it down, and yet it's still on the Goddamn Table arguably more than ever before

Obviously certain things have changed — Callum's thematic associations with freedom would switch probably to having a role to play in 'unlocking' Aaravos' full power and/or giving him access to the other Startouch elves somehow — but both of those things are stuff I've considered being related to the cube before (as well as dark magic) so not much is actually changing there fundamentally.

What continues to change is the sheer assortment of evidence that Callum is going to play into Aaravos' hands for her (the initial basis of CHET), and Rayla is likewise going to refuse to sacrifice him (thereby shortly followed by mutual salvation theory), and 6x03 is a Giant Sign blinking Pay Attention in bright neon.

Rayla: Listen to me. If you ever have to choose between me and the greater good, do the right thing. Make the sacrifice.

Nevermind that 'right thing' is subjective and that sacrificing loved ones is routinely seen as Bad ("We must be willing to sacrifice, even the things we love" / "My daughter [...] and I tried to kill you") and that Aaravos (one of Rayla's primary foils) likewise demanded for Viren to 'make a sacrifice' regarding Sir Sparklepuff in 5x09. It'd be one thing, mind you, for Rayla to just bring up this Hypothetical and it could conceivably be dropped, but then Callum makes the basis of CHET's adjacent Mutual Salvation Theory explicit in tethering Rayla's request to his own:

Rayla: What? Callum: If Aaravos ever controls me again, if he ever uses me, promise me you'll kill me. Rayla: Yes. I promise.

(There's a few different things we can read both into Callum's renewed approach and Rayla's changed response, but meta for another day).

What this conversation does, though, is link these things in the audience's mind. If half is called upon their deal in a scenario, it's only logical that the other will be too. And, of course, Aaravos has to inevitably possess Callum, and Callum (as a main protagonist and usher of a new age of magic) cannot die, so Rayla has to break her promise (a la TTM) to keep him alive, freeing up room in the narrative to Callum likewise break his (more thinly made tbh) promise as well. The easiest order of events, therefore, is for Callum to break his promise first in order to save/protect her, be possessed, and then Rayla breaks her promise in saving him. Mutual salvation and all that

The fact we have other characters and plot threads routinely referring back to and building up Rayllum's thematic basis for each plot turn in S7 is just the cherry on top.

(We also see Rayla talk not just one but two 'monsters' down corrupted by desperation and grief, so while it may retread more territory if she does the same to Callum, there's certainly more than a precedent. For Callum, 2/3 dark magic times were for Rayla, and you don't introduce Big Extra Scary 'permanently ruined by dark magic' Stakes if you're not gonna use them as a way to escalate things, either, even if of course given that it's S7, there will be ways out and a happy ending).

Insert Callum putting the star rune sign directly down against her palm.

I think it's likely the cube is still involved somehow (all the ominous foreshadowing including and most prevalently featured in the pawn intro doesn't suddenly go away, and was only added to in S6) and really, this is about the only parallel I personally need anymore to keep chugging along theory wise:

Like it's Over and at this point we just gotta wait for S7, tbh, especially when a big juicy angsty mutual Rayllum plotline is more than in order after their relatively fluffy (loved) plotline in S6

[theredhairedmonkey]

Theory: Callum will leave the group

This is all pure speculation, but based on where things were left at the end of s4, and after sitting with the season for a few days, it seems like many signs are pointing to Callum deciding to split off from the rest of the Dragang.

There are a couple reasons why this might happen:

1. Callum sees himself now as a ticking time bomb. He knows Aaravos can take him over and that there would be nothing Callum can do to stop that. He also has no idea what the limitations are: Could Aaravos only do it when he can see Callum? Or could Aaravos just decide to take over at any time of his choosing, regardless where they are in the world?

2. He also knows that when it happens, it’ll be too late. Rayla refused to kill him (in all likelihood Soren won’t either), so that means Possessed!Callum will just kill everyone and the mission will be a failure. World doomed.

3. For a combination of reasons, Callum is unwilling to part with the Key of Aaravos, even though he knows he should. So if he can’t get someone to agree to kill him, and if he can’t even get rid of one of Aaravos’ relics, then he has few alternatives.

4. Rayla tells him “choose a different path,” which he may end up taking literally...

5. The Big Thing that drives Callum in the first episode of the series is: protect Ezran at all costs from any danger. But now the biggest danger to Ezran is, well, Callum.

5. Just as Rayla for Viren in TTM, Callum is haunted every waking moment by Aaravos, but explicitly it’s not because of what Aaravos will do to Callum. It’s because of the things he will force Callum to do to others. Separating himself to protect the group may be what he ultimately decides to do (mirroring what Rayla did).

That last point also brings us to the end of the season--when Rayla tells Callum she has to go after Viren, Callum responds with: 

To me, this read less like “Callum knows loving Rayla will hurt, but he’s going to love her anyway and let her do crazy things like take revenge.” Instead, this seems like Callum deciding that “hey, you know, sometimes you have to leave in order to do what you think is right.”

And the reason he accepts Rayla leaving again is because, well, he might be thinking of leaving too. He’s Aaravos’ primary target, Aaravos can control him, and he puts everyone in danger by sticking around. But if he’s not around, then he can’t hurt anyone.

So what is he going to do? Well, it may have something to do with the Sky Arcanum. You see, the thematic associations of Sky are in direct contrast to Stars.  Whereas Star magic is related to destiny and control (hence the puppeteering that Aaravos can do), Sky magic is related to freedom and agency. So there might be some form of Sky magic that can help Callum resist and overcome Aaravos’ control. Or perhaps there’s an archmage, dragon, or another being somewhere in the world that could teach him. And for that reason, he owes it to everyone to let the group handle defeating Claudia & Co. while he goes to try and learn what to do in case they don’t succeed.

[catboyfever]

me, a very Normal person, thinking abt the dichotomy between Tigger not having a “normal” bio family—given the context of The Tigger Movie—and Rabbit being, well, a rabbit & most likely having grown up with a decently-sized lagomorph family that almost mirrors Tigger’s initial idea of what makes up a family in the movie.

Thinking abt how that adds another dimension to Rabbit’s dismissal of how important Tigger’s search for a family in TTM is to him, where in addition to just the two’s differing motivations throughout the film, Rabbit’s just not as desperate for a ‘typical’ family structure as Tigger is, and so it doesn’t hit him just how important the idea of a ‘family full of tiggers’ is to the latter.

It's really interesting because to him, he probably even dislikes the idea of a typical family having been around such a massive one. I think as much as rabbit gets annoyed by everyone to him a found family is the best, where Tigger is obsessed with having a "normal" family. I think his attitude comes from a good place but Rabbit is woefully bad at expressing things like this and he realizes a bit by the end what it meant to Tigger as well. It's a lot of depth for such an outwardly silly movie:3