Just started reading Daisy Jones & The Six and I gotta ask - who would you have cast had you been in charge for the TV series?

Honestly, I don't really know. I had people I might've cast at the time (like, four years ago) but so much has changed since then and I don't necessarily feel the same way.

I diiid like the idea of Florence Pugh as Daisy back in the day, and I maintain that. I feel like Daisy needed to be played by someone who could be both realistically battered and realistically ethereal, and... a good actress.... Florence is all of those things. For Billy, in my mind's eye I always pictured more of an Aaron Taylor-Johnson type (not saying ATJ, just talking the Look, though hey, he did play Lennon)--bigger than Sam, obviously beautiful but also obviously a part of the kind of reactive masculinity of the era.

I mean. The show, at certain points, very obviously tried to draw from Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson's aesthetics to an obnoxious degree with Billy and Daisy. And while Daisy was traaaansparently a Stevie rip in the book, Billy, imo, probably had to do not only with Lindsey but with people like Morrison. Because frankly, I don't think Lindsey on his own has the kind of mystique that Stevie has (I mean... I know he doesn't lol) and TJR wanted that for her male lead. However, I think that Sam and Riley were both super poor choices for transmitting that kind of mystique. To be blunt, I think that Riley's heritage went a long way towards ensuring she was cast, and I kind of roll my eyes when they try to suggest that it had nothing to do with it. You're gonna tell me that the fact that she's the granddaughter of "The King of Rock 'n Roll", however dubious that title may be, had NOTHING to do with her being cast in your fake music biopic? ... okay.

And while I don't think Sam is a bad actor, I do think his Billy was such a fucking sad sack. Essentially neutered. Billy was supposed to be this super compelling frontman, capable of being both a good father and husband and of falling into his demons. There was absolutely no edge to Sam's Billy. He gave big "starts crying midway through sex and not in a good way" vibes. But I think that was totally intentional, because they didn't want Billy to be as problematic and aggressive onscreen as he was in the book. They wanted to sanitize this whole deal and turn it into a Billy/Daisy romantic melodrama.

ANYWAY. One thing I do know is that they basically lost the plot as soon as they turned the whole thing into a cash grab with the music. Because I sincerely do not care if anyone in that project could sing in real life. They're supposed to be acting. Like, I don't even think Sam and Riley had Billy and Daisy's vocal qualities anyway, so who cares.....

Hi, I'm the anon who asked about Jumin. Thank you, I was thinking that if it came to the worst that he might be tempted to push MC away but your answer makes a lot more sense. I think Jumin would be the type of person to have precautionary plans in preparation for the worst happening. I have another question if you don't mind answering.

I've seen quite a few cheating fics/love triangle fics in the Mystic Messenger fandom. When it comes to canon I don't see any of the RFA members cheating on MC, with Jumin being the least likely of them all. I don't see much of the reverse though. In the case of MC cheating, how do you think Jumin would react? Would he be the type to blame himself for being away from her too long and ask for forgiveness? Would he forgive her and then suggest getting couples therapy? Or would he be over and done with the relationship now that the trust is gone (I don't see that happening unless MC wants it but at the same time I'm not entirely sure considering his viewpoint on women before MC came into the picture)

Also, in the aftermath of what you think would be Jumin's reaction to MC's infidelity, how do you think he would react if in the future if MC kept repeating her unfaithfulness vs if the cheating was a one time thing (for example would he act as if it never happened in the first place?) Thanks!

His knee-jerk reaction would be "oh shit I'm repeating my father's cycle that I have worked so hard to avoid" or "am I dating my father???" and shut down instantly from years of trauma being flung to his face. Then he'd be sad and disappointed and angry. It had taken him so much to open up to MC and this was how they retaliated.

Loyalty is Jumin's Achilles heel and being cheated on would really put this to test.

He'd still try to understand though. I'm taking an example from V's betrayal (why does he have so many canon examples of being hurt...). Depending on the magnitude, he can either desperately reach out for answers or think of V somberly but resigned to the fact that they won't be friends again. And when Chairman Han betrays him by making him marry Sarah Choi, he's hurt but he takes the logical course to protect his relationship with MC and expose Sarah.

After all the betrayals he receives, there's no malice from his side—unless the people he cares about are hurt.

If V truly repented, I believe he'd be open to communicate with him again even if it'd take years. Jumin already has so few people in his life that he trusts, he doesn't want to lose any more. So, if the cheating a one time thing, he could see it as a problem to be solved, question where things went wrong, if it was his busy schedule, if he was too unemotional for MC, if he couldn't give them what they needed. Then he would strive to be better and propose couples' therapy as you said.

Forgiveness is a complex thing though. Can Jumin still trust someone who had stabbed right into his oldest childhood wound even if he wanted to? He could try, but what if MC's genuine effort to change wasn't enough? By cheating on him, they had planted a seed of doubt in his mind that also tapped into his insecurities that he's a monster unworthy of love, love doesn't exist, and everyone would eventually leave him like a mother. That fear, knowing that it was put by someone he loves the most—could he move past that? Should he?

The intention matters too. Jumin always wants to know the reason of an action that he's willing to look past V's mistakes because he does it for misguided love and then to protect the RFA. Chairman Han claims he does it for Jumin's happiness. Jumin could do mental gymnastics for that. But what's the benefit for him to be cheated on?

I think he would really try to reconnect with MC, but the betrayal would always be on the back of his mind, the knowledge that this person had the ability to use his most vulnerable parts against him. His trust was broken and their relationship wouldn't be the same again.

It's an entirely different thing if MC cheated on him repeatedly. Unlike V who would let it happen and use it to prove his love harder, Jumin has self-respect. He's principled, and it's also due to his hatred of the kind of women his father dates that he'd put his foot down. There are lines that he won't cross and tolerating repeated cheating is one of them.

Or Jumin could go the possessive way and cage MC so they wouldn't leave him and see that he was still worthy of their love. He would prove that to them.

Re-reading tales from the shadowhunter academy and oh my god mark and Kieran!!! But most importantly!! Kieran!!!! My little baby boy i love him so much!!!!!

Like if i could rate all characters i think it would be (and this is a v unpopular ranking i think btw):

1- all the malec family. Including the kids. They all take the first spot.

2- KIERAN MY BABY

3- Jace and Isabelle

4- lily (i just love her shes so fun!! And yet so complex, full of longing and tragedy and yet so much live and fire and a will of iron. So brave. So gay. My beautiful girl).

5- cristina my wild baby

6- mark! (He would be so much more up if i didnt get a little annoyed every time i think on how he manipulated kieran with his love while simultaneously persuing cristina as if kieran didn’t matter. Ik he made up for it, and i adore him, but i will always be a little annoyed at him).

7- emma and julian!!!!!!!!!!!

8- clary and simon!!! (I swear i do love them, they just tend to annoy me more than the rest lmaoo)

9- the other blackthorn kids!!! Altho i feel like once the last series is out Dru and Ty (and ash + kit) will all go up in the rankings tbh.

Everyone else regardless of how i love them doesn’t really call to me. Like these are all characters i would read books based on. Everyone else i wouldn’t read a story solemnly on them so no spot number 10. Maybe Helen and Aline take spot number 10 because i could read a story about them???? But I’m genuinely not too sure i would. I tend to like really angsty characters trying their best and i just feel like Helen and Aline tend to be written as very stable people shhdhn so i’m not too sure i would jump to read a story about them immediately as is out, but i would 100% read it with time.

I might as well also rank my fave ships tho:

1- malec (obviously)

2- KIERARKTINA MY LOVES EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR THEIR HAPPY ENDING

3- Sizzy tbh altho half their written time has been spent with me vocally threatening simon (me talking to the books) whenever he hurts izzy bc thats my baby angel girl

4- jace and clary!!

5- emma and julian!!!!!!! They could honestly go up jace and clary, is just that jace and clary have nostalgia on their side

6- Helen and Aline!!!!!!!

7- Jem and Tessa. I do waver sometimes because (VERY UNPOPULAR OPINION!!!) i didnt like the love triangle with will!!! Those books fill me with anxiety more than enjoyment lmao. I do prefer jem and tessa. I like the peaceful love they have so much more. I like the idea that the one you love gives you serenity and peace over the PASSION!!! ANGST!!! Tropes. BUT I understand the love triangle is complicated, that she loves them both equally but differently (or thats what Cassandra tries to write at the very least, didnt feel like that because she disregarded Jem’s pov but whATEVER). Nonetheless i do really love the jem and tessa dynamic. A love that waited thousands of years but never weakened or hesitated.

Again, i have the suspicion ty and kit will go up a lot in rankings once the books about them are out. I also have my eye on Dru and Jaime, but with the age difference i put a stop. I know the books coming up will have a time skip and Dru will be like 18 or close to it, but i hear people say her love interest might be ash and the idea of that actually calls my attention so much???? So they could potentially go up too. Although mostly I’m excited to see how the time skip changed the kierarktina dynamics (Hopefully they still see each other like montly at the cabin and are very domestic by now. Hopefully someone has given kieran a cat by the time skip). And how the time skip and made the lightwood-bane family grow🥹 (the kids hopefully will have more scenes on their own and with malec).

How would you re-write ACOSF and Nesta x Cassian's relationship if you had the chance? Would you keep some things or change others?

Tbh it depends. I feel like everyone has written some version of their own acosf. I think, in “my acosf” I would try to keep every detail the same (plot wise) but shift it back to the right. Because acosf feels slightly to the left of what it "should" be or what makes sense chronologically following the previous books. 

Which means that Cassian would be probably slightly an asshole, in the sense that he is in the middle of his weird psuedo love triangle, his commitment to his friends, his family, and his duty, and then also the fact that he very much is in love with Nesta but he doesn't know what to do about it and he can’t handle her emotionally though he’s extremely sympathetic for what she’s going through. He'd probably still say stupid things that are very much impulsive because he does that. He probably still would want her to train and think that's going to fix her because that's what he thinks women even in Illyria need. But in my acosf, you would never feel that he is overly good, but you would always feel that he’s mostly genuine. 

I think that's the most important part of my acosf, is that no one will feel "too good" or moralistic. I think that's absurd to have various characters in various context make that claim over and over again when it should really be the responsibility of the reader to deem a character morally good or not. 

So that means that Nesta would also be flawed. She would still be snarky, I love that. She's still probably saying things she doesn't mean. But she's going to be still a bit more vulnerable. Rock bottom. Very much without a lot of fight. She'd still probably be self-depreciating and have a lot of shame. However, I would make that shame more complex probably. I don't really care for this weird shame where she's like oh I couldn't save my father just like I couldn't save these random Illyrians that I didn't care about before this day. I couldn't keep Elain from turning fae... blah blah blah. I think those things matter but they don't matter as much as like just being shameful of everything she is, which you see a hint at in acosf. I liked the parts where she acknowledges this ugliness inside of her that says ugly things in which she can't help it but she hates. I like this hatred of her own body and the grotesque thing that crawls inside of her. It could be perfectly juxtaposed to the fact that this magic and this monster is why she has the house and a representation of self-love. It's so fascinating and it sucks that that was not highlighted enough. 

Also... where's her pride? She's constantly referred to as proud and even in acosf, she's supposed to be proud but her own narrative doesn't really support that notion currently or in the past. So I think I would make it very clear how she portrays herself vs how she thinks. I think that would be neat and it would clarify this confusing area that's Nesta being more well meaning and the parts of her that are ruthless and rude. It would be neat to see her maybe consciously playing a role because that's what she's been doing all of life, whether it be her role as woman or a sister, or her own emotions. That idea where she "savors playing the game," would be perfect for this. She wears a mask and in that way you could also then use Eris and even Rhys to show how much she's a liar. That she's both brutally honest and not honest with herself, even in regards to romance. So the intimacy between Nesta and Cassian, then would entirely rest on that fact that she feels comfortable enough with Cassian because she knows he won't balk or leave or judge her. That has to be clear though, he won't do that. So part of this, fix it acosf, would have to explain why the fuck Cassian hasn't tried to contact Nesta beyond what we know in acofas, when we already know that he would not have quit. That's very out of character for him and I don't like this bs explanation that you can give to anything by just saying oh this is because... they all have trauma from the war. That's why they didn't help her or they seem slightly different. Lame. No. That's called lazy writing.

So in terms of Nessian, I think I wouldn't have made it so easy for them or so sexual. Quality over quantity you know. But I think that it was very annoying that they kept randomly coming together without too much of a fight and without very much intimacy and all the parts that could have been extremely intimate were overshadowed by just like their simple lust. Which is fine to a certain extent. But again, part of a romance novel is the romance, not just the erotica. Honestly I could go on for days how I would fix this romance.

However, I'll just say one last thing. One of the major things I would fix would be this inherent bias towards the male characters. Which means that Rhys is not going to be as important unless it fosters Nesta's growth, the romance's growth, or the understanding of Nesta's character. Cassian is a main character, but he's not really. He functions are the romantic pairing, and the person who is suppose to lead this novel based on just plot is Nesta. So Cassian's arc should be based on Nesta, which it is, but also it's not. A lot of his character is used for, telling us more about the IC and I don't think that's important, and I don't think it can't be done if you just rework some of the scenes to have Nesta and Cassian in them. Make the scenes move the plot forward. A lot are just all of them sitting there doing nothing, but chatting. 

Also, part of this male narrative bias is also reflected in the sisters’ relationship. They shouldn't be a problem, if you don't want to hash in on the page. I mean look at Mor? She was a problem, and so she's gone. I would personally have her there, because she's funny and also because the tension could help foster the growth of the nessian relationship and also set up the plot for Azriel's book. And so that also means, that Amren, would still be probably annoying to me and an angry gremlin who is power seeking, but I think I would make her situation more convoluted, in the sense that I would constantly have a power play between Nesta and Amren. Because their relationship right now is based very much on Nesta being young and naive. She feels she hurt Amren and that Amren was right, she's' a waste of life, and she chose Feyre. It's very childish which is okay in some way but also just not that interesting. I want to see Nesta's pride and her not being afraid of Amren intrinsically when she should like in acowar, and I want Amren to look at her like Rhys does and not be afraid persay but be very intimated because of this power she has when Amren is now powerless. I think it's slightly weird to have Amren power hungry and wanting Rhys to be high king, and then tell Nesta that oh I was trying to help you or I had all these good intentions. It doesn't seem in character either. Because though she might have good intentions, she's still old as shit and pragmatic and she wants security and security means "by any means necessary." So she should be perhaps sneaky and conniving, but I wouldn't want Nesta to ever ever ever not be as sneaky and conniving. She was raised like a wolf, why wouldn't she recognize one?

And I think that's where I end, because I think that Nesta should be emotionally vulnerable, but she shouldn't be without claws and teeth. The claws and teeth were missing. In acosf, she was too agreeable and that was the first thing where I was like nah out of character if the situation itself doesn't make her out of character to begin with. So that means that Nesta would have autonomy and free will and free choice the entire time. So that the reader can make the decision for themselves whether she is to be redeemed. Not that she is, but if she can be because the purpose of flawed characters is not they're good, it's that they're complex.

So in that regard, honestly the whole "you only have these two choices, go to the House or the human lands," probably wouldn't exist in my acosf. I would use her reluctant hero trope, and just make a situation she can't refuse because her morals won't let her. Nesta tried to get Feyre back in acotar. Honestly if we had to keep the baby plot then, just have Nesta learn about this death to Feyre from the beginning. Have maybe the queen/koschei play an active role in both the demise of the land and also the safety of Nesta's family, so Nesta can't refuse because her whole entire character is based on the fact that she doesn't act unless it's life or death. Have her own powers play a role where she is a safety concern for her sisters, and so she not only wants to stay away from them because she's hurting, but also because it's safer for them if she does. Play into that self hatred. Have every weapon that she finds and every weapon she creates both show the potential of her power to keep everyone safe and also the potential to wreck everything known to man, because that is her character and her ultimate choice. Have then, the missions she goes on be the reason why we hash out what happens with Mor, Cassian, and Azriel, and then also what happens with Nesta's role in this group of people, where she fits. We don't even have to have training, because of the purposes of the plot leading the narrative. Though if we wanted to keep that, we can have training just not to the extent of always constantly being in the House or during missions or breaks from missions. You can even still have Emerie and Gwyn, you just have them in different context. When Nesta needs more information, she seeks the library. When Nesta goes to Illyria she learns more about this lore and the past, and the weapons themselves, and there she meets Emerie and that's where she eventually gets the crown. It's not so hard. It's just so absurd what ended up being most important in acosf for SJM.

Grey's Anatomy: Come Fly With Me (19x17)

Okay, this was a solid middle-of-the-road episode, where some of the plot threads worked really well for me, and others were a miss.

Cons:

This Nick and Lucas thing was kind of baffling. We see that Nick is frustrated with Lucas for dropping the ball on some patient care matters, and he tells him to work out his ADHD meds so he can stay on top of his career. Lucas is baffled, having had no idea he had ADHD, but once he looks into it, he realizes that it fits. He and Nick talk, and Nick says that he does too, and that he thought it might derail his career, but he manages it now like every other part of his life. This is... fine, like, I don't have a problem doing a story around this, but for one thing it verged into after school special territory for me with the cheesiness and neatness of the story. This is the first we've known about this being an issue for Lucas, it just kind of came out of nowhere. And the utter inappropriateness of Nick, Lucas's boss, just... making an assumption about his mental health diagnosis and whether he's on meds or not? I was staggered by how clumsy and inappropriate that moment was, and it just felt very forced and unrealistic. So yeah, the concept seems cool to me; if Nick (the most boring character in the world) is really sticking around, might as well give him a mentorship role for Lucas. It just felt weird how they did it.

Doing a quick check-in about the Luna going Deaf thing: I didn't love the fact that Jo talked about all the appointments Luna needed, and mentioned speech therapy among them, but nothing about ASL classes. I hope that changes. Speech therapy is great! But Luna should learn sign language! I really, really hope they go into that.

I think the absence of Simone's shitty fiancé is starting to weigh on this love triangle story a bit. I don't feel at all connected to this choice she's making, to marry this man we've met in one episode, and who didn't exactly make the best impression. So Jules being her maid of honor, proving that she knows her, that's fine. It just feels sort of disconnected from reality.

Amelia apologizes to people for her crappy behavior in last week's episode, and while Mika accepts the apology instantly, Winston is stony-faced and storms off once she's finished talking. I find Amelia's distress just sort of exhausting, and Winston's attitude in response to her genuine apology was pretty harsh. She lashed out at him and that wasn't fair, but she took full responsibility and he just has to hold a grudge? Yeesh.

Pros:

To my absolute astonishment, I rather liked Owen and Link working together, keeping it professional to start, and then all the drama that followed therein. I think it's because I'm so against the romantic relationships that these two men are in (or going to be in), that a story with interpersonal tension that was entirely about work, was honestly refreshing. Like, Owen sucks, and he behaves poorly, but also Link is scared because of his last big complicated high-profile surgery, that ended up killing a young man. They both need to adjust their behavior here, and Simone kind of gets stuck in the middle, but ultimately it's a big damn victory for Link and the entire hospital, as they end up pulling off a complex surgery involving a man with over 90 broken or fractured bones.

Blue made a mistake by letting Jules's elderly neighbor wander around the hospital in a delirium because of a UTI. I like that he immediately worked with the patient and was super gracious and welcoming, but then left out of selfishness to pursue a learning opportunity. He basically made an honest mistake, misinterpreting the severity of Max's condition, and now Jules is furious with him and lashing out. A realistic set of circumstances, I feel. I loved seeing Schmitt, too, come into his role as a leader, as he firmly chastises Blue for his mistake, and also shows great bedside manner with the patient.

My favorite part of the episode is the conversation about the interns. We get a gathering of some of our senior doctors in the firm, as Teddy, Richard, Bailey, Amelia, and Nick meet to discuss some feedback they've gotten from the residents. The thing that stick with them most is the note about the salary, and how it doesn't even meet the average cost of living for Seattle. They reminisce about their own bad memories from early in their career, and weigh the pros and cons of trying to make things better. There's a benefit, as Teddy points out, in upholding tradition and helping people to grow through adversity. But how can they train good doctors if everyone is sleep-deprived and working extra jobs to make rent? My favorite part was when Bailey is remembering not being able to get time off to go to her aunt's funeral, and the attending telling her that being a "resident" meant "living in the hospital." Richard frowns and asks: "did I know the attending at the time?" and Bailey responds: "It was you." That made me laugh!

And meanwhile poor Yasuda is going around all day thinking that she's about to be fired. I love how she storms in to say her piece, and then gets the news: they're going to create a grant, to help interns out financially during their lower-paying residencies. Good for Teddy, for seeing this problem and taking tangible and immediate steps to address it! Honestly, I liked her a lot in this episode. Maybe that's the trick to make me not despise Teddy or Owen as characters, just don't let them share scenes together.

Richard goes to Helm at the bar to ask her how he can get her to come back, too, which I thought was so nice! I'd love to see Helm return to the hospital. I honestly miss her, and Schmitt needs his friend around.

So there we have it. There were things about this episode that kind of concerned me or just annoyed me, but other things that felt like real and surprising strengths! It's awesome that the show is delving into the issues with our healthcare system, up to and including the very busted way we actually train our doctors to do their life-saving jobs.

8/10

I'm having thoughts about Wu Xie, Pangzi, and Piaopiao.

I can't see the Reboot Iron Triangle as anything other than poly. I think they're all committed to each other the way you are to someone you've been with for over a decade, and with whom you've Been Through Shit. At the same time, I can't see them bothering with being exclusive. They all have their own lives, and if one of them finds someone they want to have sex with, or someone they want to spend time with, I can't see any of the others being anything but encouraging and supportive.

So, Reboot. Wu Xie got a death sentence from the doctor, and after Pangzi finds out, he removes himself from their shared life in Wushanju and starts working at Warehouse 11. He also starts telling Pangzi to look for someone else to share his life with. Not because Wu Xie expects to break up, but because Wu Xie expects to not be around for much longer, and he doesn't want Pangzi to be alone (Xiaoge is there, of course, but Xiaoge is not going to move into a tiny flat with Pangzi, that's not how he rolls and neither Wu Xie nor Pangzi would expect that of him).

So, enter Piaopiao. She's someone Pangzi genuinely loves, and someone who's interested in setting up a life with Pangzi. Exactly the kind of person Wu Xie wanted Pangzi to find. He should be pleased, right?

I think he is. He's happy for Pangzi, and if he didn't have a death sentence hanging over his head, I think he'd be nothing but supportive, because he knows that Pangzi wouldn't leave him no matter what.

As it is, though, I think the moment the idea of Pangzi being with someone else becomes real, of choosing to be because Wu Xie isn't around anymore, Wu Xie is blindsided. I don't even think he's jealous, that's too simple. He continues to be supportive because he knows that this is a good thing that it'd be cruel to fuck up for Pangzi, but I am certain that if he allowed himself to think about it (which he doesn't ever), he'd be terrified, and angry. Pangzi leaving more than anything makes it real that his life is going to end, that he's going to stop existing, that Pangzi will (and should!) move on from him. As mature as he's trying to be about it, I can't imagine that not hitting square into his abandonment issues.

The show doesn't get into it, because the show doesn't get into much too deeply, but it's such a fascinating, emotionally complex situation. And the complexity of it bleeds through in every scene with Pangzi and Piaopiao, and Pangzi, Piaopiao, and Wu Xie, because these actors are great and knew what they were doing. It's such a joy to watch and think about. Maybe one day I'll even manage to write fic! 😅

What are your thoughts on Ibrahim? For me it went from indifference and dislike in season 1 to liking in season 2 and becoming my favorite male character in season 3 tbh. Actually the only good male character by season 3 (season 4 has many other options too). He is probably the most complex and well written character and I really sympathise with him. His arrogance was his downfall but if Suleyman wasn't such a bitch it wouldn't have been lol. He wasn't wrong in that imo. He was a slave, a fisherman's son but his intelligence and skill took him farther than anyone else and it's not wrong to be proud of such a feat. He deserved the pride more than just about anyone, even Suleyman. What I dislike the most about him is his treatment of Nigar after their relationship ended. She's my favorite character and although their relationship itself was my favorite in the whole show (other than Nurbanu and Selim) it ended really badly

Ibrahim is one of my most conflicting characters on the series: one time I feel like I don't get the appeal, especially not the stans in one Bulgarian forum, he doesn't elicit such a strong emotional reaction in me as he does in others, but then once he hits an incredibly strong arc and I begin to analyze his character and all its dimensions, I come to love him for what he is and realize how much effort has gone in conceiving and developing him. He's certainly the most well-written male character that isn't a sultan or a prince in the entire franchise. (the sultans aren't the brightest, but the bar is so high when it comes to their writing. There isn't any of them that is badly written. The princes are also well developed, but now that I think about it, Ibrahim surpasses some of them as well!) He's delightfully fleshed out with every detail; his actions, while morally ambiguous at times, are very understandable and you can clearly see the deeper, nuanced reasons why he does what he does. His arc was a sight to see from beginning to end and watching it reach its inevitable tragic conclusion was heartwrenching. At a point he became so important to the narrative, whether it was intentional or not, that the show (or actually, S03B in particular, because S04 was absolutely fantastic!) began to lowkey miss something without him. He had such a strong presence that couldn't be matched by anyone else after him.

[To be brutally honest though, I find his dynamic with Hürrem in terms of screentime to be kinda overrated. Not that it's bad or anything, quite the contrary - their chemistry was great, they were consistent and fun to watch, they had quite a few great scenes that were definetly more than Hürrem and Mahidevran's, I dare even say this is one of the most solid antagonistic dynamics of Hürrem's writing-wise, but I just find it sometimes gets way too much credit? It's weird, I know.]

The most interesting thing about him is, without a doubt, his fatal flaw that I... actually don't think is arrogance. It's not up for argument that Ibrahim can definetly come off as arrogant, but the arrogance is rather a manifestation of his fatal flaw, not his fatal flaw itself. I believe that it's precisely his inferiority complex that is the root of his vulnerabilities: as you said, he's been only a fisherman in Parga, and his background is both a source of memories where he can recall his more "innocent" days with his family and a tough spot for him where he is consistently reminded of something that is already in the past after all he has achieved. He did want to return to Parga, to see who he used to be one more time, but after that it's as if he never gets a chance to forget, to put it behind him. He pretends he has forgotten, but that consistent reminder of how he has started seems to be constantly haunting him to the point he begins to remind himself of it. It's not only people like Figani, Iskender Çelebi or the other members of the divan in early S01 that don't let him forget, it's as if he himself doesn't want to forget. It's undeniable that he had climbed up to heights he wouldn't dream of and the role of a grand vezier needed getting used to and to be dealt with with care. On one hand, we could argue that he reminds himself of Parga as a way to preserve his moral compass, in a way, to realize when and how he has screwed up or remind himself of the limitations of how far can he go, for Süleiman is his friend and companion who he wouldn't want to disappoint. But on the other hand, the more he rose in the hierarchy, the stronger became a wish for him to exceed these limitations placed upon him by everyone around. Süleiman is able to give him everything if he wishes, so why not let it happen? Then he's going to prove to everyone, prove to his inner demons, this sense of inferiority that he, in fact, can not only become the most politically adept grand vezier there is, but a person who has his own country within the country and can rule it with ease. The political arena ultimately becomes a target of his inner conflict where he projects more power than anyone else, is most influential and does the best in order to gain the goal, not only to gain SS's approval, but show that, yeah, he can do his best for the role he's put in, fixating on the Ottoman country he claims to be a ruler of and his apparently endless rights. It turns into a coping mechanism where he can escape his past and background and he gets so sucked in it that his self awareness becomes less and less. That's where his arrogance comes from and I feel that if he didn't possess that complex of his, he would've managed things way better and had more self control, as a result. He was a very good politician in the show, setting in motion many good strategies (his strategy gave them the Mohacs victory after all), having a strong, pragmatic mind and many innovative ideas and if he didn't try his hardest to convince himself he's worth something that isn't just the story of the fisherman in Parga, Hürrem wouldn't stand a chance against him.

This inferiority complex is the reason for his infidelity, too. He loves Hatice dearly and he never expected that she of all people would do the very thing he dreads the most. Her pulling rank on him came as such a shock for him that it seemed he would never forget or forgive. It put infinetly more salt to the wound, deeply hurting his ego and the self-esteem he was just beginning to gain. That's why he let himself in Nigar's hands for so long, for she would only want to please him, for that relationship would have no limitations whatsoever and wouldn't restrict Ibrahim in any way. It was something that was his, something the dynasty would never touch or learn about. I love Nigar and Ibrahim's relationship, too. Principally, I'm not a fan of love triangles at all, but that one is a notable exception for how wonderfully, but crushingly psychological it is. It wasn't added in only for the sake of the drama, it was set up for very long and it was like the characters actually got there through their own actions and they had to truly face that struggle to flesh out and evolve. But there wasn't genuine love there, not in Ibrahim's part. That was his biggest weakness speaking, causing the illusion of love, not the real feeling of it. He wanted to preserve this relationship as the fisherman in Parga, but to me, it felt like he showed something more similar to his own confident assertions of the power of a grand vezier than actual regard for Nigar's feelings. It all was a lie he wanted to believe, because of his ego's denial, and he believed it so much he told Nico that Nigar was the person he truly loved in E51. And when he did get out of the lie (the monologue in E57), see how he reacts differently in front of her now - he turns off every single try of hers to give him affection, he reacted very badly when he learned she was pregnant, it was as if he wanted her to wake up from the dream and move on, too? And due to his inner conflict that perpetuates his arrogance grew even more in S03, he got over Nigar, but not over her child. Esmanur's birth made him return to and enforced his old habits that made him consider that child as another piece of solace, something out of the dynasty, also only his, trying so desperately to have her live with him and Hatice. The infidelity and the way he treated Nigar after he realized the error of his ways are ones of the worst things Ibrahim did, along with Leo (now, I get he wanted to knock Hürrem down a peg, but that was admittedly much for me.) and while I understand why these events and interactions came to fruition, I can't justify him for them.

I agree that had Süleiman not given him as much power, his inferiority complex would be highly downplayed, at the very least. He underestimated the possible consequences of Ibrahim's rise and it really doesn't look like he knows him as much as he thinks he does. Whether he did it to test him (SS's lasting reminders that Ibrahim gets closer to death) or because he loves him dearly and wants to embrace his potential ("I want you to use that mind only for me!") or both, it's like he gave him both too much freedom and too many boundaries at once. I mean, I understand why SS executed Ibrahim: his affirmations, no matter their backstory and how metaphorical they are, pose a definite threat for a padişah and along with his growing paranoia of betrayal, he couldn't be sure how far he was going to go anymore. It's as if Ibrahim crossed every line, openly acting like he controls the padişah and his state in front of the fellow pashas, efendis and ambassadors and that couldn't be controlled anymore. It's as if he had done his best efforts to bring him down to earth, but since none of it was working, he decided to act accordingly. The many "failures" of Ibrahim have been piling up in the narrative in the span of 81 episodes and I get why SS would finally snap for what was the final straw. However, doing so much unprecedented stuff for a grand vezier was bound to bring disasters for the padişah due to the chance in his mind that he would try to question or prevail over him, hence Süleiman should've realized that it was only natural one would want more and more. And that happened with S03 Ibrahim - he fought more and more with his inner demons, hence wanting to have more and more to be validated by the others and by his own ego that perhaps wouldn't feel satisfied regardless.

While his fatal flaw underlines his complexity, it also gets complimented by his many positive qualities: his love for Hatice was very sweet in the beggining and after the Nigar plot, it turned out to be really genuine - their reconciliation was very telling in that aspect; his relationship and loyalty to Süleiman deserves respect, even though his inferiority complex came in the way, he still would never give him up and never once lost hope in his recovery when he was in his deathbed and while that may become up for debate in S03, he would never openly stand against him and would gladly try his best to please him; his bond with Mustafa is amazing, too - I love how he practically raised that kid and gave him sound advice as well as his mother; that said, his relationship with Mahidevran deserves more appreciation and it is one of the most reciprocal and understanding, soft and "carefee" dynamics of the show; I love his dedication to his family and how he loves them as much and remembers them with the same fondness as ever before. In short, when going in depth, this multifaceted character has so much to offer, like, wow!

Okay, when I first watched the show, there was that point where I felt Ibrahim overstayed his welcome and I even wanted for Hürrem to finish him already (heh, those were the days! 😅) but now when I've rewatched and reexamined MC many times, I see that despite of his few negative traits, everything about this character flows so well and so organically and it's one of the characters in the series that have aged really well with time in my eyes. And I respect him so much for that.

Eclipse reread part 3 bewr bewr bewrrr! Covering the entire rest of the book in ONE post so buckle on in baybee: 

1. Absolutely everything about chapter 15 (wager) is disgusting. To a certain extent I appreciate how successfully meyer captures how frustrating assault is as a woman, how futile it feels to fight against it. But at the same time the way she handles the aftermath is unbelievably disappointing and infuriating. Charlie doesn't get up to help his own daughter, Jake trails after Bella into the house and sticks around, there's just no relief or reflection that feels satisfying. Bella can ask where the justice is when she finds out Jake isn't aging but just ignores Charlie defending her assailant? And to some extent I get it, I've shut down after assault before to the point where it took years to recognize that some of the things that happened even were assault. But when there's a pattern within the series of men being narratively rewarded for assault and abuse and women being punished for reacting to abuse it feels like the narrative is reinforcing the status quo of women<men. I'm not stupid, I understand when a book is trying to make me uncomfortable and I don't need villains to be punished to know that they're villainous. This doesn't come across that way at all. Meyers handling of misogynistic abuse and violence lack the nuance to make me believe that she sees this violence as something to be critical of rather than something that just happens to women. And again, because it's a pattern in her writing, women getting no reprieve from gendered harm, I don't believe she's making a statement. There's just no self awareness and that's the key difference between a story like Brave New World or Lolita and Twilight.

2. Also this quote that precedes the assault is just so so frustrating:

Bella is not mean for setting boundaries! She isn't stringing you along! I would love to hit meyer in the head with a rolled up newspaper. Anyway.

3. Bella keeps saying things like "this would be annoying if it weren't so scary" in regards to having her clothes stolen by vampires that want her dead and having to lie to people around her, again because dozens of vampires want her dead. And y'know after the third time she said she would be annoyed if she weren't scared I'm just left to believe she isn't scared at all. I don't feel rising tension, the newborn army feels like a minor nuisance and even after they connect it to victoria (who still hasn't shown up at all) I'm just like...okay well get on with it then! Meyer makes bella "shudder" (I'm still tempted to make a comp of every time she shudders in this fucking book lol) instead of showing us her actual fear. I don't believe she's scared, I don't care about the "threat," and I don't believe anything bad will happen to Bella. There are Literally No Stakes here. I'm not invested in this story at all.

4. Alice is a bad friend lmfao

Girl, you're psychic you know she wanted to wear red why are you just dressing her up for your brother.

5. Okay returning to point 3 because I read chapter 17 and had an epiphany: Bella says she isn't scared for herself and I get that I do. But smeyer also hasn't shown us that she's selfless- just that she doesn't care if she dies. If bella actually cared for her human friends, in any way, I would believe that the newborn army was a scary threat because the people she loves might get hurt. But I don't believe that she cares about that I only believe that she- like Edward- has a weird martyr complex.

6. The Mirror chapter also reinforces this. I can’t stop thinking about how much more impactful it would have been narratively if it had been Angela in Bree’s position (because she’s the only human friend Bella seems fond of but if Bella showed interest in any of the other humans, honestly any of them would do). Imagine the moment where the newborn vampire first lifts her head to look into Bella’s eyes and it’s someone she knows. Someone she cares for. There should have been consequences for Bella beyond “Jake got some bones broken and now I feel bad :(” which was also a shitty punishment because smeyer is inflicting physical trauma on an indigenous character just to make Bella feel bad. Okay. Anyway, it would have built the tension I was missing for- quite literally- over 300 pages of this book if Bella’s friends and classmates and Fork’s residents had been going missing the whole time. Suddenly, at the end of the battle, there’s Angela. Or Jess. Or Katie fucking Marshall. Someone Bella knew should have been there and maybe I would have cared about this book at all.

7. Going back in time to this quote which comes before the battle:

UGH!!! SHUT UP SMEYER! She literally poisoned Jake’s character from the moment she made him a main character and she has zero self reflection to see the damage that she’s causing here. I’ve said before that I don’t think Jake’s actions were a romantic deal breaker and that stands out now more than ever after reading Eclipse. THIS is the moment that Bella realizes she’s in love with Jake too. Smeyer not only sees abuse and aggression as romantic, she also lacks the braincells and reflection to see that she’s playing directly into racist stereotypes. Edward got to grow up- marginally- but Jake had to remain aggressive. I still don’t think she ever once meant to villify Jake- I think that there was no way in a hell a racist woman could ever successfully portray an indigenous character. His tenderness is tainted by the aggression she forces on his character and in the end he never had a chance because- again- he was being written by a racist woman with fucked up views of indigenous people.

8. Okay, I get it. They’re like Cathy and Heathcliff. Fine. I buy it.  

This isn’t even the last time she compares them to Cathy and Heathcliff. Kate Bush isn’t gonna write a song about you, meyer! Give it a rest! (Also lol at “like wuthering heights”)

9.  Jumping right to the end here because to be completely honest the only actual event in the entire book was the newborn battle. Jane was a bitch, fine. Edward talked at Victoria and bored her to death (presumably) and the action never felt very action heavy. I knew if from the “best friend (and werewolf)” line that this book was presumably written for idiots given how little is left to the imagination at any given time. I can’t stand when books treat the audience like dummies and I especially can’t handle YA books that do this. Teenagers aren’t stupid!! Young adults can pick up on subtlety in literature!! AND young adults can handle suspense and action. smeyer doesn’t do either well and the editors never once said “hey you know teens aren’t stupid right? like your audience will pick up on hints that you scatter you don’t have to forcefully explain everything?”  

10. Smeyer can’t stop interrupting herself even in the very last sentence of the book proper:

What, pray tell, is wrong with “Where it would stay for the rest of eternity.” Why did you have to sow doubt in the sentiment right after Bella made her For Real Final Decision???? And why the em-dash!? Again: the editors of the twilight saga are my nemeses but also my favorite conmen. What were they paid for?

11. Back to the editors real quick: if i was given a draft of eclipse I would instantly say: this story is almost 400 pages of nothing, you need to play with the structure of the story. You need to build suspense and if that means playing with POV like you randomly start doing in the epilogue, then do that. Or you can play with the plot. Nothing happens for 300 pages. It takes 300 pages to get to the newborn battle and nothing that happens before the newborn battle makes me feel worried about it. Again, kill off some humans, raise the stakes, do SOMETHING. This was so painfully slow to read because meyer tried to center this book on a love triangle that I didn’t even believe in myself. And even then, it took 14 chapters for the love triangle to get real action (as in an Event, not necessarily physical action). 

12. The epilogue. Oh man. Was the r-slur really so acceptable in 2007 that not one single editor questioned its use? I won’t type the quote in full but Jake refers to his fake arm sling as r-word. Like??? What? And THEN smeyer has him call Leah a “bitter harpy.” Shut up. 

In conclusion, nothing felt like a bigger waste of time than Eclipse. Genuinely, to be completely honest. Two (2) important things happened, at least in Bella’s narrative (I agree with Vinelle that the Volturi debacle was important from Carlisle’s perspective, it adds nothing to Bellas and Bella learns nothing important from it.): 1. Bella made a decision, she chose Edward. Who could have seen that coming? Whaaaat? 2. Rosalie told Bella her backstory. Not that Bella even used that to reflect on her decision to become a vampire but hey, at least it felt like an important moment. Jasper’s backstory only mattered for the newborn battle which didn’t matter at all (and it never informed his character and no one ever brings up that the confederacy was a terrible dark stain on US history (along with the rest of US history but that’s a full dissertation or two on its own)). I can’t imagine a way to improve this book as a standalone book. You could split up the plot (using that term loosely) so that New Moon and BD are both a little longer and BD a little more organized. But without completely changing the plot beats in Eclipse, its just pointless.

(1) Actually there may be something to the idea of Geordo having (or having had) a bit of unacknowledged jealousy in regards to Alan and how much affection/attention he got when they were kids. Reread Alan's introductory manga chapter and it definitely feels implied given that Geordo a) is clearly jealous of the amount of time alan and katarina have spent with each other, b) it feels implied he came to the claes estate 3 days in a row in order to run into alan to have a confrontation

(2) (or at least in the manga that feels implied), and c) in this particular instance he certainly comes off as a lot more passive-aggressive towards Alan and not quite in the same way he was passive-aggressive with Keith in the previous chapter (tho that might just be me). Thing is I dont think little 8 y/o Geordo was attempting anything deliberately malicious but rather thought he had to draw the line in the sand that this was one private relationship he didn't want his brother involved in.

(3) The last point of course functioning under the assumption that Geordo feels his younger brother monopolizes, or had monopolized, the attention of their immediate private household, intentionally or not, enough that he felt threatened that his relationship with Katarina might end up the same way. ((Probably coulda made this into my own theory post in hindsight, but I already have two-thirds of this written out and sent so its a bit too late to go back now))

Absolutely!

Geordo definitely has some unacknowledged jealousy towards Alan, there’s no doubt in my mind.

Geordo feels like (and is) the forgotten middle-child and while it’s not as intense as Alan’s inferiority complex towards Geordo, Geordo definitely has resentment towards Alan.

I think it’s definitely more than implied that Geordo is jealous of Alan and Alan’s relationship with Katarina. Particularly when Geordo draws that line in the sand during their meeting at Claes Manor.

As you said, he visits Katarina three days in a row in order to “run into” Alan and makes it clear that it’s not odd for HIM to be there, as Katarina is HIS fiancé -- Alan is the odd one in this situation.

He also tells Alan that there is no point for Alan to continue his competitions with Katarina, as he has yet to win won (and won’t win). And this is just my impression, but this seems like the first time Geordo ever got into it with Alan or pointed out “Alan’s failures.”

While Alan is always comparing himself to Geordo and so do others, we never actually see Geordo do that.

Until this moment.

And in this moment - Geordo’s jealousy of Alan in regards to Katarina, has more to do with Geordo’s feeling towards Katarina rather than Alan. In the sense that I think Geordo’s resentment towards Alan for monopolizing the attention of particularly their mom (I think) is more of a backburner to Geordo’s current dilemma with Katarina.

Katarina is basically the first person Geordo has genuinely been interested in and has liked and for once his usual charms aren’t successful.

Now this is probably because Katarina is Katarina, but also because Geordo is currently learning how to make a genuine and sincere connection with another person. “False” flattery and expensive gifts aren’t the keys to build that kind of relationship.

In addition, Geordo is experiencing some new emotions in dealing with Keith and Mary and having to compete for and share Katarina’s time.

While jealousy is not really new for Geordo (despite what he may think), I think him being aware of the jealousy is definitely new and he’s not sure how to handle it.

Also just in general, not knowing how to deal with a situation is very new to Geordo and he’s experiencing a lot of that in his new relationship with Katarina.

And all of that is just on top of him trying to not just figure out Katarina, but spend time with her and actually have her like him in return.

And then, Alan comes along. Alan who (form Geordo’s perspective) is effortlessly able to play and get along with Katarina. (I loved that the anime showed Geordo watching Katarina and Alan playing in the tree.)

I don’t how much a of a factor this is – but Alan has managed to get Katarina to play with him, without the involvement of Keith. Which is something that we know Geordo is has struggled with.

Then the final straw is Katarina bringing up Alan during Geordo’s time with her.

 While we don’t really have any indication that Geordo puts any weight on the “rivalry or comparison” between him and Alan – it means nothing to him, but means everything to Alan – still Geordo would absolutely know about how he and Alan are always compared to one another.

So, not only is this probably the first time Geordo feels he’s being directly compared to someone, but he’s also falling short “in comparison.”

Add the fact that he has two other rivals for Katarina’s time and attention – and he’s still figuring out how to deal with them and he’s limited in what he can actually do.

He can’t exactly be rude to Mary, Katarina new best friend. And maybe Geordo doesn’t understand how far Mary’s feelings go at that point in their lives. As we see later on that he has no problem competing with Mary in the future.

And Keith is Katarina’s brother. He has to have a certain amount of “friendliness” towards Keith – this is why Keith and Geordo are both so aggressively friendly to one another. Geordo can’t just send Keith away or be mean to him, as Katarina clearly adores him and he’s someone Katarina will have a relationship with, no matter what Geordo does, as he’s her brother.

And then comes along Alan. Alan is Geordo’s brother, maybe Geordo think he could put a stop into this new rival before things get to far. 

Geordo can be more than passive-aggressive to Alan, more than he can be with Mary and Keith. So, I think, and this more speculation, that perhaps some of the frustration of competing with Keith and Mary gets taken out on Alan in that moment when Geordo “runs into” him.

There is definite resentment towards Alan as Alan did get the attention that Geordo craved (even if he refuses to admit it) and Geordo was really left on his own – especially in regards to emotional development.

Geordo being the “forgotten child,” is an element to his relationship with Katarina. Katarina is the first person and relationship Geordo has really let himself care about and be truly invested in and Geordo is insecure about his place in Katarina’s life. That’s why Geordo makes sure everyone knows he’s Katarina’s fiancé.

So yeah, I do think Geordo’s resentment of Alan is most definitely a factor, especially when it comes to the specific triangle of Geordo – Katarina – Alan.

Though, I will say Geordo’s jealousy towards Alan was not a major or an intrinsic to who Geordo was as Alan’s inferiority complex to Geordo was to Alan. 

Especially since we clearly see that Geordo was able to form a very good relationship with his brother, while also knowing his brother has feelings for Katarina for all these years.

Basically, I agree with you. Geordo intentionally or not, feels threatened that his relationship with Katarina might end up like his relationships at the palace and he is terrified of that possibility. Especially, when he was 8-years-old.  

 Thanks for the ask! Sorry it took me so long to respond!

Games With Trish: Ghost of Tsushima

No spoilers, you can read it if you haven’t finished the game 😉

I absolutely love Japan and samurais, so I was excited to play this game. At the same time, I’m very new to playing sandbox games so it was a little daunting, but as soon as I got the hang of it, I really started enjoying myself as I played and explored. 

Jin is such an interesting character (his voice was also super soothing in the Spanish dub, I loved listening to it) with so many layers and decisions. He’s a samurai, but he’s been forced to examine and even break his code for survival and despite it all, no matter how cold he can be, he’s still kind and wants to help people and achieve freedom. Just a very good main character taht you empathize with and grow fond of but at the same time has some morally grey moments that humanize him when he makes mistakes.

The characters in general are great, they all feel complex and unique and interesting. Yuna and Taka are probably my favorites, but all the secondary characters have nuanced moments and the Norio, Ishikawa and Masako side missions were so compelling.

I thought the plot was a bit slow-paced at the beginning, and I did have a lot of fun exploring instead of following the main storyline. Still, it’s a solid plot and even in the secondary stuff there are some quality stories with cool, flawed characters that feel real and human as they deal with pain and grief. This game just has some of the best writing and storytelling I’ve seen, it blew my mind.

When it comes to the visuals, there is just one word to describe this game: stunning. The first thing that I noticed is how absolutely beautiful and breathtaking it is. The landscapes, the aesthetic, the nature, the colors, the elements, the attention to detail, the sky, the fields, the wind, the snow, the trees, the leaves, everything! I had never taken so many screenshots in a game, just absolutely gorgeous!

The combat is also one of my favorite parts about the game. It makes you feel badass and cool like a samurai, it’s so well done! Those little encounters where you hold triangle and start to fight? Flawless, so epic! Whether you’re using the bow or the katana, as soon as you get the hang of it, it’s so cool!

Overall, it’s a really good game. It feels genuine, it’s fun to play, with lots of emotional and deep moments, and story, visuals, music, characters and emotion come together to make a fantastic game. Like, solid 8.5/10.

since we got Yandere headcanons for Autumn and Winter troupes... what about the remaining two?? If that's ok that is.

Hnnnggg NGL, I struggled with this troupe. I’m not that happy with how these came out... And I am currently still struggling with the Spring Troupe. But I do appreciate the challenge!! These boys are just too sweet; it’s kinda hard for me to twist their personalities. I hope you like them, though! ((Spring Troupe coming soon!!))

Summer Troupe Yandere Headcanons

((No Kumon because I’m only playing the English version of A3!))

Tenma Sumeragi

Dating this boy is definitely not easy. He can be too proud at times, and is quick to jump to conclusions. Plus with how busy he is in the entertainment business, it’s hard to get ahold of him sometimes. Despite this, the two of you are determined to make it work.

Which is why he gets super impatient when you’re the one that doesn’t have time for him. You knew going into this relationship that he’s a busy guy. So why does it seem like whenever he gets some free time, you’re always off somewhere else?

 As stated, he’s quick to jump to conclusions – one day he just gets so fed up and assumes the worst.

 “You’re cheating on me, aren’t you?” he says, grabbing onto your wrist with a vice-like grip. “What are you talking about, Tenma?” you reply, squirming to get free. “Tenma, let’s talk about this. And let me go; you’re hurting me.” Your words only seem to make him angrier, and he tightens his hold on you. “You’ve gotten tired of me not having the time for you so you’ve gone off with someone else.” “Tenma, that’s not–“ “Did you forget who I am? Me?” he gives you a ruthless chuckle. “My fans and I? We can ruin you.”

You immediately get chills down your spine, knowing exactly what he’s talking about. It’s been a brought up topic between the two of you before. Ever since word got out that the two of you were dating, Tenma’s fans had never been quite welcoming to you.

Although it’s toned down a lot, you still sometimes receive hateful comments on your social media. In the beginning, though, you had received quite a few threats and experienced physical assault from Tenma’s more… devoted fans.

Of course it died down after Tenma held a press conference on your behalf, harshly admonishing his fans for their actions and threatening to pull out of the entertainment business altogether, but now…

“It would be so easy, sweetheart.” Tenma says, cupping your face with a firm grip. “Just give a few anonymous tips to the media and your personal details could be out there in no time. Your address, your school, your schedule…your family’s information? I wonder what creative things my fans could come up this time with when they get ahold of that information.” “What do you want me to say, Tenma? I swear, I’m not cheating on you. It’s not my fault if you don’t believe me.” “No, I guess not…” he ponders, a devilish grin taking over his face as he reaches his decision. “Guess you’re just gonna have to stay by my side…forever.”

Muku Sakisaka

Definitely has a persecution complex. Because of this, he feels as if he’s never enough for you.

But he just loves you so much. He needs you… how can he convince you to stay with him?

He could never lay a hand on you, never. But maybe, if he shows you how much pain he’s feeling on the inside by causing himself the same amount of pain on the outside… you’d understand how much you mean to him and how much he needs you.

“I just can’t live without you – I’d die.

But he’s genuinely a sweet guy… Maybe if you spend enough time with him, you’ll come around and love him the way he wants you to…

Or so you tell yourself every time he threatens to harm himself again whenever you try to break things off with him.

Kazunari Miyoshi

When you first started dating, you had no idea that you’d be getting so much attention.

As it was, it turned out that Kazunari was somewhat of a social media celebrity. So of course he’d post numerous pictures and clips of you on his social media account.

You never minded it. You actually found it cute that Kazunari documented everything – from dates to lazy mornings in bed, he captured it all. So when you two decided to be more intimate, you glibly let him take videos and pictures of your more private moments.

Of course, those private moments were only for the two of you – not to be consumed by his followers.

And speaking of those followers, the public loved the two of you. The both of you were practically an influencer couple.

It never occurred to you just how popular the two of you were until one day, some people approached you and asked to take pictures with you.

The fans uploaded the pictures (with your permission) and you were excited to tell Kazunari about the nice fans. Unfortunately, he didn’t share your excitement.

When Kazunari saw the pictures you took with the fans, he was livid.

“Only I can take your pictures. I’m your personal photographer, and you’re my model.” ���Calm down, Kazu! They’re just a few fans.” You laugh nervously, trying to placate him. “I guess it comes with being so active and open on social media.” “Calm down?” he seethes. “You’re mine, remember?”

You look on, confused, as he suddenly takes out his phone from his pocket.

“If you’re so keen on being open to everyone, how about I post this?” he says, showing you his phone screen.

You’re horrified to see a new post ready to be uploaded full of your nude photos, photos of you in bed during the private moments that you and Kazunari shared, and other intimate material that the two of you promised was only for the two of you to view.

“That’s what you want, right? All this attention from other people? Let other people see you the way that I see you?” he says, a crazed smile on his face as he draws the phone closer to himself, finger hovering over the upload button. “I’ll gladly do it for you.”

“Kazu, stop!” you cry out. “No… just stop… please. It won’t happen again. I’m all yours...you know that.”

He closes the app and walks over to you, crushing you in his embrace. “Good girl…” he murmurs into your ear, oblivious of how you stiffen at his touch.

If any of Kazunari’s followers noticed that you looked a bit distressed in the posts that Kazunari would upload following that day, they never commented about it (or maybe Kazunari deleted them)

Misumi Ikaruga

You’d been dating Misumi for a while now, so when he asked you to move in with him, you were initially all for it, but hesitated when you remembered that he shares a dorm with around twenty other men.

“Don’t you want to stay with me?” he pouts, putting on his best puppy-dog expression that he knows you just can’t resist.

“It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you…” you say, trying your best to avoid looking into his eyes. “But you already have so many dorm mates, and wouldn’t it be awkward for them knowing that your partner is rooming with you?”

“Don’t worry!” he says, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I have it covered!”

Apparently, having it covered means hiding you away in his room. ((He was able to hide himself from the Spring Troupe all that time; he can most definitely hide you.))

Could this even be considered “hiding you away”, though? No… it was more like you were… trapped.

“You’ll be my secret triangle – my treasure. Doesn’t that sound nice?” he stopped himself, looking to you, waiting for your input. He continued when he noticed that you were speechless (from glee, obviously! Or so he tells himself). “No one will know, except you and me. You don’t need to do anything! I’ll get to be with you and take good care of you! It’ll be perfect.”

He was adamant that you not go outside of his room under any circumstance, unless he was with you.

Even during the times when you did go out, no one else was around for you to be seen.

He did practically everything for you – he brought you food, gave you baths, provided all your needs for you – on the condition that you just stay put and not draw attention to yourself.

Honestly, you were terrified of what would happen if you did otherwise.

Yuki Rurikawa

Despite being blunt to a fault, Yuki is a bit sensitive to people’s opinions.

He can normally take it, however, and is able to put up a strong front.

He can endure scorn from others, but when that scorn is directed towards you? Oh, no.

He’s had to teach those offenders a lesson or two, be it through brutal smack talk thrown back at them, or with his talents… Scissors have uses besides fashion, you know?

He doesn’t trust you to take care of yourself no matter how many times you reassure him. You’re hopeless without him in his eyes.

So after the first few times when his bullies start bullying you, too, he takes matters into his own hands.

He even goes as far as to control how you present yourself. He dresses you, fixes your hair… basically corrects you as he sees fit.

When this happens, his sharp tongue doesn’t spare even you. This boy will rip your self-esteem into shreds and comfort you while you cry over it. His skill in manipulation does wonders – he fixes your hair and presses your head against his chest as choked sobs leave your lips.

He calls you “doll”, and his troupe mates either heckle him for his cheesiness or are jealous of how sweet the two of you are.

If only they knew exactly what he meant when he calls you his doll.

WCTH Pre-Season 8 Thoughts (hopes, worries, etc.)

Keep expectations low, prepare for heartbreak, but hey aside from the love triangle/main romance, the rest could be enjoyable and should at least be an improvement on last season? Maybe? Hopefully? 

(Extended thoughts under the cut)

To start on a positive note, I’m tentatively excited for the Canfields. It will be nice to have a new family in town, and a whole family that can feel connected to each other and the community. Disabled yet gifted~ stories don’t particularly appeal to me so that’s a little disappointing, but I’m sure they’ll have more to offer than just that.

I can only hope that they do better with Henry this season. Season seven was such a let down for me on that front, so hopefully the Gowen Petroleum stuff in this season will be a little more enjoyable since it isn’t about the downfall anymore. Unfortunately, I don’t have much faith that they know what to do with his character, but I am cautiously optimistic that the direction they choose for Henry and for GP this season will be at least better than last. 

I am somewhat looking forward to Allie’s father arriving, but am keeping my expectations low for how well they actually handle it, especially after the disappointment with Nathan’s father. 

(On that note, I hope they do Helen Bouchard better than Archie Grant too.)

I want nice family interactions sure, but I also want genuinely interesting and complex family drama! There is so much opportunity with Allie’s father, but I imagine it will be disappointingly forced, predictable, and simple instead.

I don’t hate Florence and Ned becoming a couple, I love Florence more than any other character on the show and will be thrilled to see more of her. I like Ned too. However, this may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t feel like everyone needs to be paired off, and would prefer to see more of the side characters that isn’t just romance? Oh well, it shouldn’t be too bad and I’ll get some lovely Florence screen time.

Perhaps a little contradictory, but I do hope to see Fiona with someone (I’ve seen it suggested, not sure exactly what’s happening there), rather than keep being treated as default consolation love interest (for Lucas probably). About Fiona, I didn’t love where they left her last season, but I really like her. Moving forward I hope she gets some stuff to work with as she finds a new job and builds a life for herself in town. Also, please give me at least one really good Fiona-Florence friendship moment, thanks. 

I adore Rosemary, but I’m honestly just kind of indifferent so far to what I know about what they’re doing with her and Lee (+his family). I hope she gets some good stuff to do, but that’s about it. 

I think that wraps up most of my thoughts not related to the love triangle. Generally I’m not terribly excited, but I’m sort of looking forward to some things, and I’m not too mad about anything yet. I expect the first episode won’t do too much I don’t like yet and we can ease into the season nicely. (Moving onto love triangle thoughts) Then it will break me. I understand that many people are tired of it and looking forward to a resolution, but all I feel is dread. Since the beginning, I have expected the outcome I do not want, but I’m still not ready for it. I have resigned myself to just hoping for a nice goodbye and end to Elizabeth and Lucas. I hope it’s done nicely, gets to be sad, doesn’t try to deny or downplay what was there, and is just given time and space. Lucas does not need to be miserable forever, but he should get to be hurt and sad a little. (The same would go for Nathan, if by some miracle that is the case).  We also don’t need to force everyone being best friends by the end either. I’ll worry more about this stuff later in the season, though. For now, I hope to have some really nice scenes with Elizabeth and Lucas before The End. Speaking of The End, hopefully it gets to be its own separate thing, while the definitive start for the new couple gets to be its own thing. Yes, they are connected, but I don’t want The Choice TM to be a single scene. Everything would suffer from that. 

There really is no hope of me liking Nathan and Elizabeth together at this point, so there’s that. There are things I could hate more or less than others, but I won’t like it no matter what and will surely have many complaints. 

Unfortunately, I’m committed to this show now, so I just really hope some of the other storylines and characters are enjoyable. (Gotta end on a positive note). 

(1/2) What if the reason Bryke left was because Netflix wanted to give Azula a redemption arc? Or maybe somebody wanted to change the first scene of the show so that Katara wasn't with Sokka when he went fishing and so Aang wasn't unfrozen until years later... *whistles innocently* And they realized this route would allow them to make a longer series, meaning more content, meaning more profit. Jokes aside, I realize both of these options are 99% not the reason Bryke left, but imagine if...

(2/2) they were? Like, how funny would that be? Well, the latter possibility would be sort of funny, while the former would be somewhat depressing actually. Anyway, I'm surprised how many people are complaining about Bryke's departure. From what I've seen, people primarily shit on them and any praise in regards to ATLA goes to other writers/artists. I already didn't have any high expectations out of the live-action version, but this latest development didn't really worsen them much.

x’D not wrong about the second option being hilarious, though I’d hope I’d have heard something about it, if just out of sheer decency by Netflix to contact the cruel mind behind not sending Sokka fishing with Katara... (?)

Anyways, Bryke’s involvement in ATLA’s writing is often up-played by casual viewers, and downplayed by hardcore fans. There’s no sure way to know how much work they did on ATLA’s writing, seeing as there’s a fair amount of reports that suggest Aaron Ehasz, imposed on Bryke by Nickelodeon, reeled the story into what it became. I’ve even seen people claiming Bryke’s original ending would have featured Aang leaving Katara and Sokka behind while flying off to find more airbenders after the show ended. Not half as feel-good an ending as the show’s, right? Then there’s also reports that male!Toph was going to be in a love triangle with Katara and Aang... adding Zuko to the mix, as he often was added by extra ATLA content, Katara was likely to have three possible love interests, if Bryke had gone forward with this? Considering how Korra outright had three different love interests in ALL the members of her gang, this doesn’t sound like that outlandish a claim, whether there’s real sources for it or not. If they were willing to do it with Korra, I’d believe they’d have done it with Katara.

Ehasz is indeed credited for female!Toph and Azula, in the art book (I think) Bryke are outright featured saying Ehasz is the main artificer behind Azula being who she was, rather than Zuko’s older brother (Bryke’s original concept for her character). With this in mind, when Ehasz comes out and claims that, in a hypothetical book 4, he would have redeemed Azula to also finish Zuko’s personal character arc, and then Bryke show up claiming there NEVER was a book 4 possibility, you get a clearer understanding of where Bryke are likely standing in regards of Azula’s redemption :’) if that’s what Netflix wanted (... though I question they’d have pitched it since the get-go), it’d be no surprise that Bryke wouldn’t hear of it.

There’s no denying Bryke had interesting ideas, and that they worked to build a pretty complex world, but we cannot know how much of that world was solely their doing, and how much of it was also created by the input of the larger team of writers involved in ATLA’s original show. LOK, on the other hand, features a clusterfuck of worldbuilding that doesn’t always make sense, including no shortage of retcons (not only of pre-existing lore, LOK even retcons itself up to three times regarding explaining why and who decided to keep Korra in a compound for most her formative years), terribly written romance (whenever it’s written), poor storytelling decisions that outright derrailed their show and even turned their protagonist into the B-plot for the bulk of the final season... and what a coincidence that this time Bryke had no one breathing down their necks telling them what to do: they had a lot more creative freedom in LOK than in ATLA. There was no Nickelodeon imposed Head Writer, and they didn’t bring Ehasz back of their own volition. Whether because Ehasz isn’t that great to work with or because Bryke simply didn’t want anyone else to poke their noses into THEIR story, Bryke didn’t want any supervision over LOK. And as many loud fans as LOK may have, LOK’s storytelling quality simply doesn’t measure up to ATLA’s, and I refuse to blame Nickelodeon for that when all evidence indicates Bryke had no idea what they wanted for Korra in the first place.

What I’m saying is... Bryke do seem to benefit from having someone else reeling in their ideas, probably providing genuine structure, making them seriously reason with WHERE they’re taking the story. This, going by ATLA’s much clearer structure, is something I’m willing to believe Ehasz offered, and something Bryke lacked, by their own volition, in LOK. It’s also something they lack in the comics, seeing as, up to date, they haven’t done anything in them that really lives up to their potential, as far as I know. “The comics don’t have any direction and aren’t advancing their world’s story” has become a far more frequent complaint with each newly announced and released comic volume, whether by supportive or antagonistic fans. Why might that be...?

It’s possible, of course, that Netflix’s team simply isn’t the kind of team Bryke can work with positively. Maybe they’re too stiff, maybe they’re not that creative, maybe they’re unable to compromise and it’s not all on Bryke?

But with the precedent Bryke has set (ATLA, with supervision, manages quality storytelling, despite its many flaws, whereas LOK, without it, is a storytelling failure), I wouldn’t be surprised that they were outright unwililng to compromise their own ideas after experiencing the full freedom of working on LOK without anyone telling them what to do, and that upon finding they wouldn’t have that same freedom this time, they quit. 

Does this mean the show will automatically be better or worse? Eh... beats me, frankly. There’s no denying Bryke did endeavor to develop a large, unique world with the Avatarverse, but as much as the fandom believes otherwise, what made the Avatar world unique wasn’t merely that it wasn’t “white”. This particular qualm by the fandom feels really narrowminded to me, and I’m not saying this because I believe there should be white people in Avatar, hell no: what I do mean is that ATLA had an Asian setting, but the narrative frequently imposed western values on it. They recreated many elements of Asian cultures, but morally? ATLA couldn’t be more western. Is that a good or a bad thing? Beats me. But there’s a lot of occidental influence in ATLA’s narrative, even more of it in LOK, and that somehow doesn’t bother people nearly as much as it bothers them that the liveaction cast isn’t western in the least. Yes, it’s true, the cast shouldn’t be western: but there are many regards in which the original ATLA could pioneer a better understanding of many Asian cultures, and it doesn’t. Even something as complex as the Fire Nation’s cultural practices (no, I don’t mean the genocide and supermacy, I mean everything else) is outright blasted by the show’s western moralism from the get-go rather than seen as what a different culture values (already offered a few thoughts about this on this other ask).

Therefore, in terms of casting, which seems the main concern of the bulk of the fandom, I highly doubt Netflix will be willing to repeat the same mistake M. Night’s fiasco committed. They can’t be that stupid. They’ve done a lot of big diversity efforts in the past, whether insincere or not, in many regards, so I seriously doubt they need Bryke sitting in the casting booth repeating “NO WHITE ACTORS! NO WHITE ACTORS!” to the top of their lungs to remind Netflix's executives that this just can’t happen. Seriously, if that’s what their input for the show was supposed to be about, Netflix was better off saving up the money of hiring those two as main consultants or executives and using that coin to pay the likely lousy salaries of the non-white actors they’ll surely hire :’) I doubt, seriously, that Bryke’s problem had anything to do with white casting. If Netflix entered this deal and didn’t do their homework first, then they’re basically dooming themselves since day one and the show would suck with or without Bryke’s involvement. This is not impossible, but really stupid, and an absolutely failed business venture to jump into.

In the end, I don’t know what that liveaction will shape up into. I don’t exactly care much either, which is why I didn’t really debate this subject before answering this ask... I’m pretty detached from canon these days, as things stand. I can’t even bring myself up to reading the plot of the Kyoshi novels, no matter if people keep telling me they’re ~actually good!~, let alone will I want to rewatch ATLA in liveaction when I’ve become increasingly infuriated by liveaction remakes with each new one Disney releases :’) from the moment it was announced, I knew this remake wouldn’t be for me. It’s not likely they’ll do anything with it that I’ll really want to see, or that they’ll change things in a way that resolves my frequent complaints about the show’s storytelling mishaps. Therefore, I’d always meant to leave it be and let everyone else enjoy it...

... And Bryke’s absence from the project doesn’t really change my mind on that front. At this point, crediting them for the entire success of ATLA is incredibly naïve, especially seeing how none of their later projects have even come close to ATLA’s level of storytelling quality. Likewise, it’d be naïve to assume Netflix is guaranteed to do better without Bryke’s “meddling”. If anything, without Bryke’s likely persistence that the show be kept close to its roots, Netflix is bound to fall into its frequent, known tendencies of pandering to certain crowds at the cost of quality storytelling because Hollywood overused and bad tropes are where success is at! They’ll likely flatten characters, turn them into edgy, non-humorous versions of themselves, not unlike in M. Night’s film, and then everyone will hate the show anyways for offering such dull and simplistic characterization compared to the original :’)

In short... there’s no winning scenario. There really isn’t. I assumed there wouldn’t be one anyhow, from the get-go, at least for myself? But now that Bryke are out, the fandom is divided in about four factions: 

The ones who will watch and support the liveaction no matter what.

The ones who think it will suck balls because Bryke aren’t in it.

The ones who think it will be an improvement because Bryke aren’t in it.

The ones who won’t watch it no matter what.

Me... I’ve been in camp #4 from the start. Bryke being part of this project didn’t reassure me, neither does their absence... and I’m still as convinced this show won’t be my thing today as I was when it was first announced. So... *shrug* we live and let die. I mean, first of all we have to wait and see if the show’s production will even survive the pandemic first, so we can worry about how bad or good it will be if Bryke’s departure + COVID-19 didn’t destroy it altogether already :’D

every time you draw donald/gladstone (shippy or not) it makes me happy you capture their dynamic so well

ahhh thank you this makes me really happy! they are my faves to draw, even without shipping goggles their relationship is extremely fun but also nuanced in many ways.. to answer your other ask I don’t post ship art of them, so consider these platonic. they are that good! they are fun together no matter what their relationship is like T_T 

this isn’t even about shipping but i genuinely think these twos are interesting and endless fun for me to portray... donald being central to gladstone is an important part of his character....donald might be broke and gladstone can gain everything he wants... but morally and virtuously donald is so much richer than gladstone is. gladstone is a poorer character than donald is in terms of goals, relationships, the kind of stories he can carry etc... and frankly he only exists as a satellite to donald... as a result in stories he often looks weirdly obsessed with donald (i mean, the love triangle with daisy is.. rarely about daisy herself) and whether love, jealousy or pure ego is involved is up to you. all are interesting to look at I think.   on the other hand donald hates gladstone but also loves the prospect of winning against him as a way to soothe his inferiority complex....he hates him but he’s family, he can’t get rid of him and gladstone has been a steady part of donald’s life whether he likes it or not. it’s interesting to think about... he hates gladstone but familial obligations/morals prevents him from cutting him off from his life completely or bringing him to any harm (that one page from Luck of the North highlights this well)

gladstone is kind of a pest that can’t get enough of seeking donald’s attention, and donald is unable to get rid of him so he learned to live with it.... what i mean is that you don’t need shipping goggles to find value in their relationship because as it is in the text it’s rich and interesting and can be hilarious, messed up and a bit sad at the same time. obviously i’m just a mere funny fanartist so i don’t go in too deep beyond cheap gags but if you can find authenticity in how i portray them it makes me happy. i think way too much about these ducks lol

The kiss had complicated things.

Asking for an anullment had complicated it even more.

This was just supposed to be a marriage of convenience, a marriage built upon keeping Wiley safe from everything that could hurt him. Especially Nelle. They got married to protect him, so Michael could have a better chance in court against her.

After they won sole custody, the psycho bitch had kidnapped him after slashing Brook Lynn's throat. Thankfully, Michael had found them and saved Wiley.

That damn kidnapping is the reason Willow's thinking like this. Well, maybe one good thing came out of that besides extra quality family moments: her kiss with Michael after he'd brought their son back home.

Their son. Willow was officially adopting Wiley. Diane had the paperwork ready to go, all they had to do was sign it tomorrow and then her and Michael would always be in each other's lives, whether they wanted to or not.

She really wanted to be in his life in a bigger way than just a co parent for Wiley. As much as she loved that little boy, and there was no way to put the love she has for him into words, she didn't want to be the parent who's house he goes to on the weekends or a visitor to him. Granted, Michael would never let that happen. He was too kind, too perfect when it came to that, amongst other things. Michael wanted to make sure that their family stays just that, a family. Dysfunctional to an extent, yes, but a family.

It's almost like everyone is yelling for them to get together. Even his grandmother and brother who had met Willow ten seconds before saying how obviously happy she made his little brother.

Maybe she's just overthinking this. After all, Michael might still be in love with Sasha. It's completely possible; they were together for a long time.

But...

What if she's not? What if this isn't all in her head, and she's not freaking out and internally losing it over nothing? What if this is real, a genuine connection, and they're just throwing it away?

Dante said something about this when they'd met, in between quick witted remarks about the dysfunction she had married into. He'd actually said a lot of important things, she thinks.

"I'd ask my little brother if you make him happy, but you obviously do. I can see it written all over his face," Dante had said as soon as they were introduced.

Michael had brought up getting an annulment as opposed to a divorce, which she explained had been in part because they didn't have any irreconcilable differences. "Well, I just got here, so what do I know, but you two seem pretty happy together. And compatible- genuinely, that's a rare thing! But you guys know what's best for you guys."

She couldn't believe it. Each day, their family moments, it felt more and more like normal. Her broken heart had mended, she knew it. When she had to speak to Chase the other day, she didn't feel like she was in love with him anymore. She could look him dead in the eyes and still not feel that spark.

It was a confusing situation in general, with Michael having asked for an annulment after saying how great she was and kept looking at her with that look, the half smile and loving eyes.

How she loved that look. It was becoming a favorite thing of hers, seeing him look at her like that. She didn't know what it was, but if anyone was going to, she figured it would be Dante.

Or she could ask Michael himself. After all, they always promised to tell the truth to each other no matter what happened. Honesty and trust were the foundation of their marriage. Despite the fact it would be ending a lot sooner than she would've liked, they were still married. Rules still applied.

And that's how she ended up waiting anxiously in the foyer for her husband to come home. "Hello, Willow. What are you doing?" Dante asks when he walks in the door. "I mean no offense by that, of course, it's just you look like you've got something on your mind. Or, rather, someone. You also look like Lulu back when we were just married and she was so excited to see me at home, so I'm going to guess you're looking for Michael and have something important to tell my little brother."

"I can't get anything past you," she chuckles softly. Dante genuinely cared about the people around him and who made his family happy, that she could see easily.

"So why are you waiting for my brother?"

Willow takes a deep breath, sitting on one of the stairs so she stops pacing. "Well, you look like there's something on your mind. Wanna talk about it?"

Dante let's out a quiet laugh. "You don't want to go first, fine, I will. I just saw Lulu at the Floating Rib. She was there for Maxie's engagement party, I guess. Something I was not invited to, since she didn't know I was back in town. Anyways, we were chatting and then Dustin walked in. He was talking about a PTA meeting. I knew they were serious, but I had no clue that they were serious enough he's on the PTA."

"Dustin's not on the PTA, he's a teacher. He had to make a presentation. I know because I'm a teacher too. I get kids who have been transfers from his school." Willow informs him, watching as relief goes over her brother-in-law's face.

"That's good, but still. He then offered to start getting to know me, practically insinuating that I'm just some dude he has to deal with in Lulu's life. It feels like a bad love triangle, the first of many you'll experience as Wiley's mother. I don't know, I don't like the guy," Dante sighs.

"I don't know if this will make you feel any better, but to be honest, his reviews are meh at best. The kids like him, for sure, but I don't know. Haven't made up my decision about him yet," she smiles.

Smiling back, Dante says, "Well, you've got to tell me now. What are you so desperate to tell Michael you're pacing like a newlywed who needs sex?"

She bursts out laughing. "You're blunt, Dante. Lulu isn't going to pick Dustin, you know that."

"It's Lulu Spencer. I'd like to think I know her, but I don't know. She's... Changed since I last saw her. In a good way, but still, change is change. Peter offered me a job where we might be working together, so there's that. Anyways, enough of me. You're not getting out of talking about Michael anymore."

Willow playfully glares at Dante. "Fine. I'm going to tell him that I don't want an annulment."

A huge smile breaks out onto Dante's face. "Thank God, I was half convinced you weren't going to tell him or he wasn't going to tell you."

"Wait, Michael doesn't want one either?" Willow asks, confused. He had been sending mixed signals for a while now, but so had she. Her feelings were... Complex, that'd be the ideal phrase to describe them. She didn't know if she loved him yet, nor did she want to rush into that or anything, but there was an attraction she couldn't shake to him.

"Wow, Willow. You're both the most oblivious people on the planet. You're perfect for each other," Dante laughs. "Of course he doesn't want an annulment! Have you seen the way he looks at you lately? That's not how you look at your friend, or convenient wife. That's how you look at someone you love! I've only seen the two of you together a couple of times, but my big bro instincts are telling me that he's doing his thing where he doesn't go for what he wants."

Willow laughs along with him. "That's so frustrating, right? He won't allow himself to have anything good without overthinking it."

As they're laughing, Michael walks in. "What's so funny?" He asks Willow and Dante, confused.

"It's not even really funny, it's just that- Michael, I'm going to let you two speak for a minute. I've got to get to... Somewhere that's not here," Dante excuses himself.

That was weird, Michael thinks as Willow stands. "Is it just me or is he asking weird?"

Willow smiles, "He's not, but we do have to talk."

Taking a deep breath, Michael nods his agreement. "Okay, you wanna go to the living room so we can sit for this conversation, because I've got something to tell you too."

"Me first," Willow says as she sits on the couch next to him. "Michael, I don't want an annulment."

Michael breathes a sigh of relief, "Can I ask why?"

"If you still want to get one, of course we'll get one. But I don't want to. I want to stay married to you and not just because of the house and not cooking or cleaning, which are huge pros. I want to stay married to you because you're kind and loving. You always treat me with respect I didn't know I deserved until we got married. Chase was- he was great, but you don't put work before me, or your family. Family is the most important thing to you, not work or money or any of that stuff. You love Wiley as much as I do, and you're the only person who understands what it's like to be dealing with this stuff as a parent, and as a person. He's not just something that comes with me for you, he's someone important and who you love. I don't feel like I'm a second choice, or that I'm too needy, or that I've got to reschedule my plans so you can do something. And with Chase, it didn't always feel like that. You found out about something I loved and instantly found a broker to get the best wine selections because you wanted me to be able to have that back. Look, what I'm trying to say is I like you, Michael."

There's a quiet in the room as Michael takes in everything Willow just said to him. "As in romantically?" He asks, still processing what he just heard from her.

"Yes, romantically. And I get it if you don't feel the same, it's just that I feel like you might because you're acting like you're into me sometimes and you did say that I was everything you could've hoped for so I guess I just wanted to say this. I Also, Dante was surprisingly helpful in getting me to be able to say this to you," Willow smiles anxiously at the man sat next to her on the couch.

His brain is going a million miles an hour, trying to properly process everything. Willow can't deal with the silence, however, and starts rambling: "If you're trying to think of an easy way to let me down, Michael, just do it flat out. No harm, no foul. It doesn't change what I feel, but it will make me feel less embarrassed about putting you in such an uncomfortable situation."

"You done?" Michael half smirks, and she nods before he kisses her, soft yet perfect. Willow can feel herself falling in love with this kiss, which is arguably better than the other two they've had, as fantastic as they've been.

When they pull away, Michael gives her the look again. It's more intense, but she's realized he's always got it when he's talking to her. "Willow, I like you a lot. I've liked you since we first met, and honestly, I don't know if I ever entirely stopped. The only reason I suggested the annulment is because I knew it would take some time, and because I wanted to know if you wanted to stay married. In my mind, I've always hoped it'd turn out with us together, no matter how real what we both had with Chase and Sasha was. It took me until you accepted my proposal- which, by the way, was absolutely terrible and I'm sorry for that- to realize that I really like you. So I'll call Diane and tell her to call off the annulment."

She smiles. "What does this mean for us, Michael? I can't live in this state of limbo forever."

"I don't know right now. Let's give it a time limit for the state of limbo: Wiley's 2nd birthday. It's a few months away, which is plenty of time to figure it out and still not feel like we're rushing through anything."

"Sounds... Perfect."

You should post this!!!

          ✧・ﾟ:    ronen rubenstein  + male  +  he/him    |    if  you’re  ever  by  room  𝟔𝐆  ,  you  might  see  𝐑𝐘𝐀𝐍 𝐙𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍  floating  around.  you  know  ,  the  𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄  year  old   𝐓𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐔𝐒  who’s  lived  in  the  complex  for  𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒  ?  you  know  ,  the  firefighter-paramedic  seems  to  remind  everyone  of  𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐂𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓, & 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 .  i  wonder  if  that  has  to  do  with  their  𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄  yet 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐍  personality    |    oliver .  they / them.  22.  est.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

**tw death, accidents**

— born and raised in CHICAGO. his mother was a surgeon, his father a lawyer so he had a pretty comfortable life growing up.

— decided he wanted to be a paramedic when he was twelve and witnessed them in action saving his father’s life after a terrible car accident. his father went on to make a full recovery because of them and ryan knew from that moment that’s what he was going to do.

— after high school, he completed an EMT program at one of the local community colleges in chicago as well as firefighter training. he then shadowed for six months with the CFD before going on to complete the paramedic program at malcom x college.

— at 21 he returned to the CFD to serve full-time. for two and a half years, it was an incredible experience and he felt like he’d truly found his place in the world and then tragedy struck.

— he doesn’t really remember how it happened, how his best friend matthew became fatally injured saving someone else, all he knows is that in the end he couldn’t save him and that no one deserves to have someone they love die in their arms.

— losing matthew hit ryan incredibly hard, shaking his confidence in the field and in himself. he took some time off before ultimately deciding he needed to get out of chicago.

— two months ago ( mid-june 2020 ) a connection panned out and a spot opened up in one of the las vegas fire & rescue stations and ryan took it.

𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐂

— he watches the sun rise every day without fail. it reminds him to appreciate life and that every day is a gift because tomorrow is not always a given.

— he wears a silver pendent necklace ( rectangular with dark diagonal striping ) that belonged to matthew. his family thought ryan would want it and now he rarely ever takes it off.

— ryan is actually a talented writer, though few know it. he has a blog that is run under a psued that he updates sporadically.

— bisexual and has known for a while now

— jewish and is also fluent in hebrew

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

— since matthew’s death ( approx. 3 months ago ), ryan has become more withdrawn and private. he’s always taken to internalizing things as not to be a burden on anyone else, but especially now. he smiles less than he used to, and is still very much grieving. he went through grief counseling after matthew’s death but could currently probably use more therapy...

— he has a kind heart and genuinely wants the best for people even if it’s not the best for himself. his tendency to trust people and always see the best in them has led to him getting his heart broken a few too many times, and yet it has not dampened his kindness.

— extremely adaptable and thrives under pressure. it takes a lot to make him lose his temper or his cool.

— he’s still working on trusting his instincts and finding his confidence again. not so deep down he still blames himself for losing matthew, and no matter how many lives he saves after him it feels too insignificant.

—  this picture here really captures the vibe idk don’t ask

𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄

— ryan stands at 5′11″ 160 lbs, with a lithe but strong build, brown hair, grey eyes. general appearance & styling is ronen’s role as tk strand in 9-1-1 lone star

— he dresses very simply when not in uniform, employing the use of hoodies and jeans often and shorts and plain t-shirts in the summer. he prefers solid colors over patterns or designs.

— tattoos: some sort of minimalistic triangle geometric design on his left bicep, a straight dark line down the length of his right inside forearm.

— scars: too many to count, but most notably a scar on his jawline from a building rescue back in chicago

— does not need glasses or contacts.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

        honestly, i prefer to vibe with people and find something that will work with both of our muses, but a few ideas :

— people he’s helped or family/friends of people he’s helped

— friends or others who knew matthew ( his bg is pretty open lol ) and i just want the Angst thank u

— old friends, childhood friends from chicago, etc.

𝐎𝐎𝐂

          hello, everyone !! i’m oliver ( or ollie ) and i truly just binged both 9-1-1s in the past week or so and i am in my feelings. felt a little bit like cheating to play ronen as a firefighter, so... just... moved him very very slightly to the left... to paramedic.