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sharonisthebettercarter · 3 months

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Thinking about what you said, I think it's highly probable Madelyn Stillwell raped Homelander when he was 14 or 15.

That's around the age he got stuck at, right?

I think fandom is probably right about her doing it as more of a means to control him than anything, but I think you're probably right about this making it worse and meaning she did much more than has been shown to us on screen.

Regardless, I think this would have to be the case and I would say is even implied, but you are absolutely right that it shouldn't matter why someone decides to be a child molester.

They're still a child molester and whatever reasoning they have, the act is still vile and inexcusable. There even being debate on that in fandom just seems like grooming apologism and abuse dismissal because of favoritism towards Madelyn.

But the results and actions are ultimately the same in the end. It's also implementing a clause to make it mutually exclusionary when it could very well be both.

In the final scene, she swears to him that she loves him but is afraid of him and Homelander thanks her for finally being honest with him before killing her.

What if she was being honest or at least believed her own words when she said she loved him?

And the other scenes between them never struck me as a one time deal or the first time something like them happened. He does look off put in some ways and not quite uncomfortable, but almost like he's regressing when he's with her. Like she maybe used to do that sort of stuff more frequently and hasn't lately.

The scene where they're finally together struck me as more regression too. He immediately apologized to her and she consoled him like it was something that has happened before and she was used to it from him. Even the words she used and the way she said it and the way things were.

"My special sweet boy." "You did good." "That was so lovely."

Do people really believe this or similar can't have happened before with the things she says? To me, they indicate the exact opposite of that thought.

The scene looked almost like it was his first time, and obviously not hers. But the only way that really makes sense is if he is experiencing a moment of regression, possibly to his actual first time with her.

The scene feels like mother and son incest after years of abuse where she's deliberately causing his regression and enjoying the power it gives her over him.

She's a predator and this to me is made pretty clear if not explicit.

OOOH~<3! my darling anon, i wish i could fucking kiss you<3!

you just put into a word exactly why i could never get behind the homewell ship or the homewell type elements being used in other ships in fics that were supposedly trying to *heal* him. easy way to get me to check out for a fic because you *CANNOT* use elements from someone's trauma and abuse, legit full on *exploit* them, and *then* dare to call it or frame it as *healing* and expect it all to be hunky dory, that is just not how that shit works. (at least speaking in terms of medical accuracy/no wonder this shit is so triggery for me, this ain't supposed to be fuckin' disney--)

obliviously or dismissively predatory, so not even in the fun way...

and i want to be clear here, because this isn't me trying to tell people to not like the ship or elements or stop making content for them or whatever the fuck else. i don't care if people have or indulge in toxic guilty pleasure ships or stories here and there (literally have my own), but i always think we should be self aware of our own shit (plus ranting is sometimes good for the soul~<3) and it really *really* shows some people just are not in this case.

i *also* know people don't always mean to set up that way, part of it is a major problem with society (i will get to that~) and the only way for people to be aware is to be *made* aware, butt~

"--you think love is to prey, but i'm sorry i don't pray that way!"

"once i ran to you, now i run from you, this tainted love you've given--"

1000% correct. madelyn, regardless of what happened *off screen* between her and homelander, what we *did* see of her is enough to confirm her as a *predator*, and this was *before* diabolical added to the story behind them. she is extremely predatory as a character, set behind a narcissistic 'mother knows best' filter and a lot of it has nothing to do with homelander.

look no further than starlight~<3

this woman attempted to get a victim of rape to have 'discretion' about what happened to her, TO HER FACE. and every step of the way, tried to bully starlight into 'line' for the company. literally using narcissistic abuse--guilt tripping and shame, questioning her core values, fucking gaslighting (all things we see homelander copy oh deary me what an *odd* cowinkidink!! I WONDER WHERE HE LEARNED IT FROM.)--among others with a 'motherly' frame and 'it's just constructive criticism' (BITCH NO IT AIN'T!!) to manipulate her into doing what vought wanted/what was best for the *company*, NOT for annie.

hell, i'd wager she fucking hired starlight *specifically* because they thought she'd be an *easy* target.

she was *vulnerable*, nearly alone in that big city. her only relative/support system was an extremely religious mother who was *pushing her* to push through any pain or abuse and still wear a smile *for vought* and *for her* because of *fame* and *fortune*, framed as *for annie* when no it def wasn't. (i do like that starlight's mum actually becomes self aware of this and tries to amend the trust she broke, but i digress)

her tapes and everything they showed us about starlight showed us a wide eyed, bright eyed girl who was *hopeful*--but also naive... and as much as it pains me, that would have made her more susceptible to vought's machinations.

and i think the main reason annie didn't completely fall down the vought victims rabbit hole is in part due her truly good nature<3, but also because she met *hughie* (side note, notice how every time hughie and starlight have a falling out or separate from each other, they both start to get *worse*. butcher also tends to swoop in--)

it doesn't get talked about enough, but butcher pulls the same kind of bullshit with hughie (honestly probably why i could never quite feel right about butchie, do still like it but i do prefer it if butcher catches some guilty complexes causa hughie lmao), another good kid who's just had something monumentally traumatic happen to him and is in a super fucking vulnerable place where he'd be easy to manipulate for whatever it is butcher has planned.

he scoped him out and *saw* that, something to *use* to his advantage. and recruited him as such. like a gotdamn predator.

the wrench in his plans (as well as madelyn's) came in *hughie meeting annie* because they *gave* each other a solid support system because they were both good people, dealing with trauma, who found each other~<3 (always a hardcore hughielight shipper)

and butcher even *knows* this, he *knows* annie actually *honestly* and actually HELPS hughie and ruins his plots for him, so of course that mofo is gonna keep trying to ruin everything and break them up. if madelyn had ever discovered hughie, she probably would have done the same shit if in her own faux 'concerned mother' way.

BUTT... you are absolutely right in saying that fandom is highly dismissive or even apologist of what madelyn did to homelander (like they are with fuckin' everything that happened to him honestly) and it doesn't matter what reason she had to abuse him, what should be looked at is the fact of the matter.

did she abuse him? yes or no

the answer is yes, period. asking if she was actually attracted to him or just wanted control becomes a moot point after that, she *still* fucking groomed him. people can go ahead and debate the other factors, but the least they could do is acknowledge the first bit and not use the others to try and deny or 'lessen' the gravity of what she did.

i blame part of this on ableism and victim blaming, but also with how dismissive people *still* are when it comes to male victims of just about anything. christ, we still have people in fandom who have watched the show and *refuse*, not hyperbole, they downright *REFUSE* to acknowledge that homelander could have *any* semblance of victimhood whatsoever. despite the fact that he was literally tortured as a child and fucking groomed and we are given glimpses of these facts on screen, they'll deny any form of nuance and paint it as completely black or white, because he became... pretty much the only thing that fate allowed him to become.

that's not limited to this site even, it's prevalent pretty much in any part of the boys fandom across the web. (which is ironic given the series exists to challenge this sort of thinking)

but how often do we still see cases of a male *child* being sexually assaulted by an adult woman and the fucking judge going, "wElL sHe'S cAnDy So He PrObAbLy LiKeD iT"?

thankfully, not as often anymore. but if i'm honest? TOO FUCKING MANY (once is fucking too many) and the thought is still INSANELY pervasive. and again, it leads back to the question.

did she abuse him? yes or no

it doesn't fucking matter if the kid 'liked it' or not, MA'AM, THIS IS A FUCKING CHILD--

*children can NOT consent*

or in homelander's case, an emotionally stunted extremely mentally ill person. and ALSO a child at one point.

*likewise, mentally ill/special needs/disabled people and informed consent is an issue all its own. all of these are among the most vulnerable to abuse and the least likely to get justice for it*

if madelyn had been a man, nobody would question this. (who am i kidding, i'd like to think that but i am well aware there are apologists of all kinds that would not give a shit and be equally gross about it.)

and you are def right, it *feels* 1000% like *regression* in the scenes he's with her. and now that you mention it, the scene where they're together?? oh, fuck me. anon... that is *dark* and it fucking hurts but you may be right.

it *was* absolutely the first time *we* as an audience saw them together, and i think that may skew the perception about. there *was* absolutely an effort to regain control over him in that instance. but the things she said and the way it plays out... no

plainly, just no... it *does not* feel like the very first time that has happened... it feels like something that is *rare* between them. but definitely something that's happened *before*, and perhaps something she maintains as *rare* specifically to keep a hold on him. (could this be one reason for the diabolical episode?? to further implicate this?)

and even his use of doppelganger hinted at this cause think of it.

a 'madelyn' that is *just* for him, *only* the parts of her that... gave him attention, the bits he *liked*. what she more than likely fed to him as *scraps* to keep him crawling back for more. but because it was never genuine, the confusion from the ratio with abuse was thrown off, and the entire illusion that it ever meant anything was shattered prior (along with stormfront manipulating him), well...

"i give you all a boy could give you, take my tears and that's not nearly--"

down to his hatred and jealousy of teddy. we have to imagine what things were like before she had him but i get the feeling homelander got a lot more attention before then. it was well over 20 years and people honestly think in all that time *nothing* else happened??? things were 'normal' and then boom, *random* mommy kink??? hell, even the kid was maybe just as much a means to 'reset' the balance and help her maintain control as he was for future profit for vought.

OW.

yes. madelyn is a predator. homelander is her groomed victim. and i don't think it gets mentioned enough in this discourse, but one of the biggest reasons predators prey on the vulnerable or even want to make a fucking victim of someone is *because* of the power trip it gives them over that person. (hell, homelander fucking does this *specifically* because it has been done to him his entire life!)

and *even former abuse victims* may not realize it when they pull this sort of shit. i'm not gonna dive into that because it is a fucking *depressing* can of tapeworms, but let's just say i've been there, i know people who've been there, and i know people who know people who've been there. so this shit is a big fucking problem for people when we don't notice it and massively persistent circle jerk of perpetuation.

but it's still fucking predation, it doesn't make a difference if it's done by someone with power/control kink, narcissistic disorder or 'mommy/daddy dearest' vibes, pedophilic disorder, etc. it still fucking harmful and victimizes someone (especially when they are unaware/cannot consent to the powerplay OH FUCK--)

goddammit... i just realized the problem lmao... PISS. POOR. BDSM ETIQUETTE. GOTDAMN.

and trauma management i guess.

basically, people tag dom/sub or top/bottom when they should be tagging a 'control' or 'abuse kink'. dom/sub play relies on the informed consent of both parties while 'control' relies on the lack there of (informed consent) from the 'sub'. and in homelander's case, this shit is particularly bad. (readers need to be given informed consent too!! always tag yo shit y'all!!)

which to be fair, ain't exactly the fault of the ship itself, but more so the lack of awareness/common dismissal on it. it's really hella normalized/often advertised as 'just a quirky lil guy with a mommy kink' when that's not even remotely the only thing at play here and it goes way deeper and darker than that. you toss in homelander's other traumas and it's just... it's a goddamn mess.

and now i understand why i am so incredibly grossed out by fics that push homelander through more of this nonsense (or worse) with a new person (any person) and never bother addressing the trauma he has *directly* related to this shit. (because my traumas directly deal in the control shit yayyyyyyyyyyyyy~... UGH--)

well.

call me a pussy if you must (i am a pussy and a cunt and a dick and an asshole, i wear it shamelessly~<3) but i just ain't all that interested in fics that only exchange *handlers* for homelander instead of actually help him (when that's what they'll claim to want to do). seriously, lining him up with another 'madelyn' of all things just leaves me wishing he could *get away* from his shiny new abuser (because that is what she was, and would ideally be the inevitable outcome anyhow!)

homelander needs at least *one* honest *friend* who genuinely doesn't want anything from him to help him unblur the lines of informed consent that madelyn intentionally muddled *before* he can even make informed consent when it comes to this shit, especially if we wanna *actually* heal that boi (all he's had is more people capitalizing on it over and over if not just people with no clue of the minefield they were navigating)

he'd need to be able to experience true *independence* and *agency* before he decided they were things he actually wanted to put in someone else's hands or 'give up', so to speak, both of which would come *after* healing.

and if i'm indulging in toxicity with him, i'ma make him *get back at his abusers*~<3, give him a chance at some revenge porn for once and make it so much worse for *them*, not the guy who literally never had a chance or got to breathe his own breath (and def tagged properly of course).

but of all the whack ass takes i could see in the sea of fandoms, ANYONE in that position over this boi (or any character in similar situation) as he is *unhealed* is *NOT* his ally and doesn't give an honest shit about him, it's 100% all about *control* over him (which i know is a huge kink for tons of people and hypernormalized in society, especially heteronormativity, but again, trauma central for me so it'd be really fuckin' nice if people learned the difference and also started tagging this shit~<3)

fun for some, but not for me.

i've always generally preferred push/pull powerplay that purposely leaves the question of 'control' open/eventually balances it and helps empower and individualize both characters to be the best versions of themselves, i want them to learn and grow together. positive masculinity/femininity and emotional maturity are way more of a turn on for me and i want these bois and gurls and inbetweens to graduate to *men* and *women* and fairly *reasonable adults* when i write them, while preserving their core personalities and the things that make them *them*.

i also don't view 'bottomhood' as 'punishment'/something to use to deliberately rob a person of control/self determination (as much as we may joke about it, and also that is just rape with a pretty veil that at least deserves to be properly tagged) and i normally focus on empowering them just as much if not more than my tops so it's just damn weird to me to see that kind of mentality get popularized on any character and leik.

gotdamn, first off, what the shit, and second, i realize getting to the places i wanna go reasonably and responsibly takes hard work and pretty intricate writing but please lawd satan tell me i ain't the only one to feel this way, PLEASE!?

but very good point about it possibly being both/more than one element here. control is more likely to be *one* reason, but not *the* only reason and it could very well be a factor of both attraction and need to/getting off on the idea of controlling him (which still stems back to attraction, honestly, even if she didn't feel it towards him the sense of him being a child, it would still mean she feels it towards him in the sense of him being vulnerable which is just as awful, honestly.)

and i do think his stunted emotional maturity is 100% indicative that something *very* specific happened to him around that age (*maybe* she waited till after the debut??), but among all the other trauma, that is actually a question worth asking. why *then* and not any of the other times? he's got no shortage of trauma for his brain to pick from, so what the hell happened then?

as far as it feeling like incest? lil bit, yeah (if pseudo, which obviously we know it's not but i do think the vibe there is actually intended), suffice to say that madelyn is to homelander what billy's father was to him...

and y'know... i gotta admit, knowing this i am surprised we don't see all that much of butcher being shipped with his father because that and homewell are pretty much the same thing on opposite spectrums.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--

have fun y'all, as always butt leik... have fun responsibly--gawddammit i never thought i'd be *that* old fart but i guess i am... well i can still be fun about it... tipsy bartender is fun lmao<3<3<3 (altho these subjects are decidedly less fun... *sigh of the long suffering*...)

#rape #tw sa #tw grooming #tw child abuse #tw abuse apologism #madelyn stillwell #informed consent #homelander #the boys #billy butcher #hughie campbell #annie january #oof ouch owie #tainted love #meta #the boys meta #psa #precious anon

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frozen-spaghetti · 8 months

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Why Sans & Papyrus' are from Deltarune, and how it's so controversial

In the Deltarune fandom, I've been noticing some recent debate on whether Sans & Papyrus are truly from Undertale's world or Deltarune's world. So, I've decided to make a Tumblr theory post to cover several aspects of this! Enjoy!

Part I of this post covers the evidence, II covers counter-evidence, and III covers the controversy of it.

Part I - Are they from DELTARUNE's world? Here's some of the evidence:

• In the Genocide battle against Sans, he begins speaking about "going back." To where? Well.... • This is also a parallel to some of his dialogue on the Pacifist run. He comments to Frisk that he understands their feeling of longing to return home.

• However, this could just mean the surface, right?

• With that one line, Sans has made it clear that neither the Undergroud nor the Surface is his true home.

He also is the only returning Undertale character with absolutely zero outfit or theme song changes between games.

• Okay, but what about Papyrus? He's a totally different guy in Deltarune! He never goes outside, and in Undertale, he claims to have never seen a human.

• Well, I do have a few counters to this.

• As many fans will know, Papyrus confirmed in the Summer 2023 newsletter that he used to live in a place with green grass, such as the place that he and Sans on in Hometown.

• Now, that confirms Sans and Papyrus are both from the same world, and likely the Deltarune world as previously established. They also may have gotten the means to travel from the third skeleton, Gaster, who is all but confirmed to be a major player in Deltarune.

• As for why Papyrus acts so differently depending on the worlds; well... I don't subscribe to amnesia theory. It leans too hard into giving Sans the better treatment, so instead, I'd say Papyrus is purposefully in denial. How so? Let's read some dialogue from the King Papyrus ending.

All of this makes it seem like Papyrus is used to denial and making himself forget things. This seems to cast a new light onto that "don't forget." note as well. However, with all that out of the way, let me move on to addressing some counter arguments.

Part II - Merchandise, Dust, and Kris

• Okay, if Papyrus is from Deltarune, why does he dust? Berdly doesn't dust when he dies, and Sans isn't shown to dust either.

This is explained via the "fallen down" mechanism, when monsters are near-dead but are not fully dusted. This happens to Undertale monsters, and presumably Berdly as well. Berdly enters a deathly coma which is a major symptom of fallen down, and when Sans dies we don't see him dust on-screen. He possibly entered the state, and the reason we don't see him in the overworld is because he either already dusted, or he teleported away and remained in a coma. Due to the fact we earned an LV I'd go with the former.

Merchandise. Toby promised there wouldn't be merch of Deltarune lightners, but there's a Papyrus and Sans plush!

• Well, I'd say these are just based on where they appear first, they're branded as Undertale anyway. It'd be like if Smash Bros. Ultimate labelled Sans as a Deltarune character. For now, and likely for forever unless some crazy specific stuff happens, these two will be more associated with Undertale.

Part II.I - The Kris Argument

Papyrus has never met a human! Thus, we either can't see him in Deltarune or he's from Undertale.

Well, this is a fair point, but assuming Papyrus Denial Theory is true, him blocking away all of his memories of the Deltarune world could explain this! But even ignoring that....The skeletons are known to be quite the secretive sillies, even ignoring Gaster.

So in general, with all the counterpoints out of the way, why is this controversial in general?

Part III: Controversy

Many people argue that Sans & Papyrus being from Deltarune would be a case of poor writing.

Several have expressed concerns about how Undertale characters already have a game, and how multiverse stories in recent memory have often messed up, and how Toby could fall into said traps. Last thing we want is Bad Time Megalovania 2 Strike Back right?

I've also seen it be called "Toby leaning into fandom tropes" as well but to be fair, Toby created said tropes with lines by Sans and Alphys implying AU's exist canonically, and he himself pushes Sans as a mascot all the time, though he isn't the main character.

But yeah, with the several decent counterpoints explained away, it somewhat confuses me how large the group of people is that still deny Sans is from Deltarune is, albeit I understand their concerns.

So, since this seems to be really divisive these days (though generally most agree with me..)

I'd like to ask;

Do you think Sans & Papyrus are from Deltarune?

#deltarune #undertale #sans #papyrus #gaster #kris dreemurr #theory

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mysteriouslybluepirate · 1 year

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Criminal Justice (2007)- Episodes 1-5. Watching Con O'Neill's old stuff cause it's fun. Day #? RALPH STONE!

Warnings: Murder. Blood. Drug Use. Needle Use/Injection is shown on the scene. Drunk driving. Accused/discussed sexual assault. Abusive parents, grief, and general bullshit in the justice system.

Should you watch this if you haven't: YES! Five episodes, each being an hour, but if you don't have any issues with the warning, it should be a fun time. I was on the edge of my seat for most of this show and Con is a very important character! He is on screen more than most of his other tv parts and is having a great time. It's a story about one defendant and the shit that goes down as he's tried for the crime.

Special thanks to:

@dianetastesmetal who I chatted with around midway through about the show! (For me it was ~2 in the morning, so it was a whole lot of fun!)

The Usual Suspects! I would love to hear your thoughts about this show down alone! I want to thank all of you for following me and giving me love. Y'all are enabling my current fixation, and I thank you all! If you haven't seen it, just ignore me <3

@sphealybojeely @thedowneyheart @kimpreg @gydima @ivegotnonameidea @treesofgreen @tummy-stab-wounds @mossiestpiglet @sidewalk-scrawls @crybabyclover @

Criminal Justice- EP 1 (Guest starring my brother)

Why does that kid look like Benedict Cumberbatch?

He just needs a haircut. That hair looks awful.

This takes place in 2008 right?

Why didn't the dad knock?

He's going to go have sex, huh, he's not going to his friend's house.

Is he going to abuse his position here? Pretend he's a cab driver?

I feel like cab drivers are trained to drop a rando with no destination to a hospital or a police station.

Also, a situation that's only playful because it's a young woman. If this were a homeless person? This shit isn't flying.

DON'T SHARE YOUR FUCKING DRINKS WITH A STRANGER??!?!?!

I got to inform my brother that in England they call soft-served ice cream 'whippies' after the popular brand 'Mr. Whippy', to which he just said 'it's a clown land'

DRUGS! Here we go!

This is suspicious as fuck. Don't take her booze! She's a chick you just met!

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

NOOOO! NO. NO. NO. KNIFE GAME IS TAPPING, NOT FUCKING STABBING! WTF!

Society would be a lot further on if we just stopped caring about peer pressure.

WHAT? HE STABBED HER!?!?!?!?!? WHY ARE THEY FUCKING?

We have seen so much of this man's ass, why?

We are 12 minutes in?

Oh. She's dead. She's so dead.

OH SHIT. Yep thats a stabbing

Brother guesses it was the parent, I say ex lover.

God, he's just bad at this

BRO WENT BACK AND NOW HAS A WITNESS?????

This is an actual ACE ATTORNEY CASE WTF

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. HE THEN CRASHES THE CAR? ACE ATTORNEY LEVELS OF DUMB!

Bro, is this your first break in?

Ohhh he's fucked.

Ohhhhh, this is the cops best day of his life

Oh, good luck defense attorney Con. You better get Phoenix Wright levels of bullshit.

Oh my god, don't fucking fight the cops.

Bro, take a nap. It's been a long night.

OH MY GOD IT'S HIM.

Hello Con! Lovely to see you. Love the rat man fit. I know it's on purpose, but damn. He looks wet.

This is where my brother bullies the shit out of Con.

OH I LOVE HIM-He's actually giving good legal advice! The cops are going to do whatever they can to get a false conviction.

'No comment man'- Hard nose solicitor I FUCKING LOVE IT

RALPH STONE! TROLLIN'. I love it. GOD I LOVE IT.

It's so much easier to be quiet when you're nervous.

Lessons to be learned from this tv show: Don't random desperate women, don't fall to peer pressure, don't say shit to the police.

They wouldn't have left her body there. They would have taken photos then taken the body out of the house asap. It's weird they've waited so long to investigate.

Solicitation of evidence. It's illegal to receive testimony from a private source without giving the evidence to opposing council.

Nice that she packed him a sandwich.

Why is the shitty cops boss so much taller? That's funny.

Whelp. RIP Ralph, you did all you could. Having the guy almost assault a police officer isn't fun.

OHHHHH!!!!!! RALPH I LOVE IT- GOOD GOD IS HE FUN

Oh this whole detective thing feels illegal. Without his attorney to represent him.

Yeah. Sure. Don't get buddy-buddy with the guy who wants to put you away for years.

IS THIS DETECTIVE A VILLAIN? Oh, he likes you? FUN.

They're in a public spot, there is no expectation for privacy and this can be recorded, HAHAHAHAHHAHA. GOOD, HE DIDN'T SAY SHIT.

It's 2007, a bit of weird transphobia was to expected.

UHHHHH….. I SWEAR TO GOD. DON'T SWAP ATTORNIES!

CLASSIST BRITISH PEOPLE AHHHHH-

OH I'D BE PISSED!!!!!! RALPH IS SO GOOD!!!!!

Oh good, Ralph corrected himself about his client's name and pronouns, nice.

Ralph at the end of ep 1-'I looked into his eyes, and we vibed. He can't be innocent'

AWWW RALPH STILL WANTS TO HELP HIM EVEN AFTER HE GOT SCREWED OVER BY HIS POSH LAWYERS! God, I love him.

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EPISODE 2: This is where my brother dipped out, but I summarized as much as I could for him.

I'm going to be honest I skipped through this ep a ton. I generally got the gyst. I'm here for my guy, you know.

I watched a bit, but this just establishes our protagonist's life in jail.

I skipped Ralph's scene/ the trial. Seriously the preview in ep 1 gives you the gist. Read a summary. Etc. His roomie is great.

AHHH RALPHS SMILE. "I don't care what you'd do as a lawyer, just as a human being" AHHH.

GOD HIS CELLMATE IS SO GOOD.

HAHHHAHHAHAHAHHAH! WTF?!?!?!??! Oh, poor ralph. You guy just blowing up in court.

At this point, if I was Ralph Stone, I wouldn't really believe him, but that's what that whole grin was for. He just knew our guy was innocent!

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Episode 3

Oh good. Protag was able to deep throat the drugs.

Ralph! AHHH!! God, he has great outfits in this show.

WHY DOES RALPH HAVE A FOOT THING? I noticed it earlier, but why are we drawing attention to it.

Oh good, Ralph doesn't want to senselessly tarnish a dead girl's name. Nice.

THAT FACE! Uh, the reluctant face! Chewing on the lip!

Ralph! AHHH!! God, he has great outfits in this show.

WHY DOES RALPH HAVE A FOOT THING? I noticed it earlier, but why are we drawing attention to it.

Oh good, Ralph doesn't want to senselessly tarnish a dead girl's name. Nice.

THAT FACE! Uh, the reluctant face! Chewing on the lip! Love it.

Ohhh, god. Ralph's a good actor. That's cute.

OHH THE DETECTIVE ALSO BEING THERE! SHIT. RALPH RUN!

GOD HIM BEING VAGUE AS SHIT TO A WITNESS! I love it.

'With alpha brain?' What the fuck?

AHHH! I LOVE RALPH.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA. I got to see his chest :)

Oh, Ralph doesn't like this at all. But shit. Not much he can do.

Oh no. It's really not ethical. And this yonger lady is going to mess it up.

AHAHHAHAAAHAHAAA. THE WIGS!

Is this inadvertently informing the audience of how fucked the courts can be. Which is both good and bad. People deserve to know exactly what our lawyers know.

RALPH BEING THE FUCKING SAD DOG MIDDLEMAN THAT NEEDS TO RUN BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM IS SO FUNNY.

Ralph with glasses gives me life.

OH SHIT THE FRIEND SHOWED UP?

Okay, this is fun. But maybe let's not make jokes in a murder trial?

I love the one juror struggling to stay awake. Showing that even with all these verbal chess, they still need to convince the jury.

Hey, babe. If you really fucking hate prison, maybe don't give a shit about how your mom reacts here!

Good on Ralph. Trying to speak up for her.

(Seeing Ralphs…ex? For the first time) Oh I love them. WHAT ARE THEY ON?

OH SHE MOVED ON, GOD HIS ACTING. A SECOND TO SEE THAT FULL FUCKING FACE JOURNEY!

Oh good. We can really hate the cops now. I mean, I already did. BUT.

OHHH DO THEY HAVE FOOTAGE.

OH, HE COMPLIMENTS RALPH WHEN IT LOOKS GOOD IN FRONT OF THE JURY.

God I hate her(lead defense lady), but this scene is fun.

RALPH IS HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME. He's watching the divorced parents fight and he loves it. He should be allowed to smile.

Ha, she's sowing seeds of guilt but that's really not how the law works.

Ralph-'I told you not to talk two episodes ago, and you do it fucking now?!?!??!?!'

Is Ralph being kinda shitty? Yes. Is there any other option right now? Nope.

Them showing how mentally I'll people in prison are severely punished without being able to seek help is cool.

Back to court- OHHHH! SHIT. Yeah, digging at how the medical examiner is only going on prosecution for the state is suspicious as fuck.

FUCK. ASSHOLE DON'T SAY SHIT! DONT CONTRADICT THE DEFENSE!!!!!

SHIT

Ralph, mentally deciding if now is a good place to just call it a day when his client is just begging to go to jail.

OH ANOTHER FUCKING CON CHARACTER WHO FELL IN LOVE THE WRONG WAY!!?!?!?!??!?!!? Well, that fills out my bingo card. This makes maybe 20 characters. I swear to god, if he ends up sad and alone I will make a Con O'Neill drinking game.

"Are you calling me a hypocrite?" *Slight head tilt* -ME rolling on the floor laughing

Good on Ralph for staying with him though.

AWWW. Ralph's an asshole but this is one of the few cases that's gotten to him! I love it. :)

Aww, they are sweet as a couple, but he needs to reorient himself. Find his own center and work on not 'always looking for doubt' before moving on.

OH GOD! Don't fucking smile Con. It's mean. To me. Personally.

AHHH! HIS TICKS WHEN HE'S LYING! Okay, that's funny as shit. I love him.

It's good that the main defense younger lady and the defendant trust each other. AND CON'S GRIN!

Say what you will, this man loves his job

OH SO YOU'LL LET THE SENIOR DEFENSE CHAT AND BE EXTRA BUT NOT THE JUNIOR! RUDE!

OHHHH SHIT THEY GAVE HIM BACK (the inhaler) EVIDENCE

AHHHHHHH!H!H!H!H!HH!H!HH HE TOOK EVIDENCE BITCH! It proves that he stayed in her bed

RALPH SMILING AHHHH!H!H!H!H!H!HH!

Oh they're getting him addicted to drugs to keep him loyal. Whelp. That's going to ruin him.

EPISODE 4:

Why is Ralph going into his clients home?

Ralph(I'm paraphrasing)- Look, I'm a hard ass. I'm a dick who usually has guilty clients and does what he can to abuse loopholes and police mistakes to get them free. If I have a gut feeling, that really fucking matters. So I'm going to do what I can.

Yeah, the neighbor did it

OHHHH! SHE PULLED RANK ON RALPH AHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Stone is pissed, and doesn't want to freak out in court. OR HE'S GOING TO EXAMINE A WITNESS?

What act is he playing here? I love it. He's being a clever cheeky bastard. Knowing how people want to treat court like they're the important heros that can save the day! AHAHHAH! I love it.

"Are you the kind of person-"- SHUT THE FUCK UP-He's just trying to establish his character before crushing it.

OHHH THEY ARE ABUSING THE SHIT OUT OF HIS COYNESS AND NERVOUSNESS WHEN TALKING ABOUT SEX.

AND HE'S HIDING EVIDENCE

Ralph, I love you. Babe. This is the kind of trust in the justice system I need.

Another court scene goes by without note. But Ralph shows up? Oh boy, I'm typing.

OOOOHHHH RALPH GETS TO BE A DETECTIVE!

SCENE SKIP

WHY ARE THE CLIENT AND YONGER LADY DEFENSE ATTORNEY SMOOCHIN? EXCUSE ME? ISN'T THAT AGE GAP WEIRD??!?!?!??!?

Oh good. Ralph.

OH MY GOD HIM FUCKING SITTING ON THE TABLE? Me Moment. Queer? Coded. I'm assigning it to him. I'm giving him an honorary badge even though this is probably one of his straightest roles.

Ralph- "I like getting my clients off." YEAH so does she! *Ba Dumb Tisk*. See, Ralph is smart. Get entangled with others in the arm of the law, not your fucking client.

Scene passes without note. But a few prison scenes go by.

GLASSES!!!!!! Look at them! THE EXAMINER GENUINELY HELPED. I'd also be smiling at him like that.

Aww, Ralph's trying to ask without asking to hang out with a friend.

Skipped a bit. Back in court.

AWW Ralph and the yonger female defense attorney leaning together to chat.

BRO HE IS SO WHIPPED FOR THE EXAMINER! I LOVE THIS!!!!!

THAT FUCKING SMILE. GOOD FOR HIM! GOOD FOR HELLEN! I love that they're immediately like, yeah, this might be a conflict of witness BUT. She still has a point.

I WOULD BE SWAYED BY HIS CHARM! I HAVE BEEN SWAYED BY HIS CHARM.

DAMN. Good on the friend/witness.

Oh wow, the cellmate is just as shitty and corrupt as everyone else? I'm shocked.

I love Ralph trying his best here.

"You're 46 years old, what do you know about justice?" :0. WOW.

OH SHIT THIS MIGHT FUCK THIS ALL UP. CALLING IN THE DAD IF HE HAS AN ALIBI

OHHHH FUCK. RALPH IS A SECOND FROM STEPPING IN.

OHHHH FUCK. GOOD ON HER. CALL THE DAD OUT FOR BEING ABUSIVE.

FUCK if they pull her in the case is fucked.

YEP RALPH SEES IT! SHIT!!!!!!

EP 5:

JURY CONSIDERING VERDICT!

HI RALPH! LOVE YOU BABE!

Hour and a half deliberation is good!

Yeah, I should have seen that coming.

WHELP. SHIT.

He's going to kill himself within a year. Calling it now.

That moment when you work the same job as our prisoner protagonist 😐. Hey, don't dis a dishwashing job, protag. It's nice and easy.

HI CON!

"'Self-deprecating jokes get you out of hard questions'- avoids the question by shoving toast in his mouth"-me. God, I was messaging @dianetastesmetal during this bit. Who pointed out how loving these characters is a form of self-love, and I will partially embrace it. Maybe I just want to see a man with a nice chest and a nice smile huh! ;)

Oh good, the protagonist is doing more drugs. Love that

GLASSES! I AM BACK ON MY WHORE SHIT.

The hugging of the book! THE GRINNING! AHH!

This is why Ralph is emotionally distant, 'cause he's lost good cases before. HAHAHAHHA HE CAN'T LET IT GO.

AHHHHH!H!H!H!HH!!H THE TUFTED-UP HAIR ENTERING THE PRISON!

OH SHIT! RALPH INVESTIGATING THEIR RELATIONSHIP! He's asking the protagonist to sell out his legal advisor!

No, RALPH IS SO RIGHT! She abused her station and got too close.

Oh good. Another arm of the law is weird around police reports and evidence. Great.

AHHH! Her sewing that little tidbit in the cop's head! She's onto him!

Yeah, good on our protag to stand up for himself.

Cellmate is going to get killed cause he knew too much, huh.

Hey, good on the cop for looking into it a bit more. Still a jackass. But you know.

Skipped a few scenes without note.

OHHH SHIT HE FILED THE SUIT!!!!!!! GOOD ON RALPH! We love a man who cares about giving justice to his client.

'Frances- out for blood after Ralph is about to ruin her career'

'Ralph-Half passed out on a couch with a rag over his eyes, already done with this conversation. Ready to throw every insult she directed to him back into his face.'

Ralph knew to get romantically entangled with a medical examiner and not a fucking witness.

GET IT RALPH! God, good for him. SHE ABUSED HER POSITION! She took everything they worked for and threw it all away. She didn't let their client find justice.

Yeah, cellmate's about to die, huh.

OHHHH SHIT! GET IT!!!!!! Good on him! Yeah, he's going to get murdered, but good on him. MURDER THAT BASTARD!

OHHH SHIT. THE ASSHOLE COP HELPED THE MOB!

GOOD ON THE CHIEF FOR CALLING HIM OUT! DAMN!

Oh, wow. Ben's life is ruined. He's hooked on drugs, and he thinks he has no prospects in life.

Now he can't fall asleep without listening to the radio.

Hi Ralph. Why are we talking about your feet?

Frances is fucked essentially.

Yeah, going in for a mistrial was the right option.

Yeah, no. Nothing would have changed if Ben told Ralph the truth the moment they met. Good on Ralph! Giving our protag a bit of closure on this whole thing. Telling that none of this was really his fault.

Yep. He had his last few free years of youth ripped from him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final thoughts:

I think the fact that this was a mob member being the real murder and that it was covered up was the real thing here. The entire point and moral the audience was meant to learn. It didn't matter if Ben had the best case, the entire Crown was against him. Ralph and his team could have been the best defense lawyers in the world and it still would have gotten buried. I'm happy the final evidence came out, obviously, but Ben was fucked over in so many ways. Now what life does he have? He lost his friends, his trust in his family, and is now destined to fall back into the system he knows. It's a shame.

Con: 11+/10. Long hair AND glasses AND he's Exhausted! Perfect role. I want him. I want to be him. He's divorced, and sad, and I love it.

Ralph saved this series for me personally. He was so much fun. I will be updating the Con list here soon to include bit TV roles. Ralph is going to be high on my ranking. We are given a Con character who has REAL impact on the story, introduces the audience to the rules of this world, AND GETS A HAPPY ENDING! It's brilliant. Obviously, there are moral issues to him being such a good defense attorney to allow criminals to get away, but this whole story was about giving Ralph a different perspective. He's a slime-ball but he's not totally against change. Willing to look at other perspectives. He started to genuinely care about his client, and didn't treat it as some weird game of chess. Him genuinely helping the younger defense attorney was nice, especially because he rarely blew up at her for her choices. He did his best to help where he could and didn't take things personally when shit blew up.

Con's acting here is so fun and fluid! I hate being a person that ties OFMD into everything, but this is kind of what I want Izzy to become. Con's allowed to be fun! He's allowed to be mad, suspicious, have doubt etc. There are a few scenes that got me chuckling just by his face! He feels really confident and comfortable in this role. He talks with his hands! He's a dick, a total slime-ball, but he really cares about getting things done right! I love it.

Everyone else: 8/10. Nothing really stood out besides our protagonist, and after a quick google, he won an award for this role. Which is deserved. He does great. I liked the characters the show wanted me to like, and vice versa.

Story 7/10: Intriguing. I had fun, but this show sits more in the turn off your brain and gets swept along by the bullshit, vs trying to solve it yourself.

Overall. 9/10: I highly recommend it if the tags don't worry you. Con is in this enough to justify a Con watch. I have a thing for Professor esk Con. I will not be ashamed about that. His whole speech about how he was perceived was nice. Now, this is about five hours of commitment, but If you need something longer I'd recommend it.

#ralph stone #criminal justice (2008)#con oneill #con o'neill #ralphposting #criminal justice #I want his gender.#Con's Conography

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thedanceronthestreets · 16 days

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Ok so, the new episode has evoked multiple trains of thought in my head and although they all are related to the buck/tommy/eddie situation, i think it makes sense to put them down in several categories here:

Overall feel of the show at abc: i'm gonna say that the show definitely feels a bit unsettled after the network change, they seem to have a hard time balancing personal relationship plots and actual firefighter stuff. I know a lot of the cases in previous seasons were silly but they were still believable. The whole cruise disaster thing was just so over the top and now in the last 2 episodes there has been next to no action. The promo for next week's episode looks kinda like absolute mayhem. I do believe the abc team will figure this out and that they just need a little time to get comfortable but it's defo noticeable.

Buck's character: completely removed from his new romantic relationship, i am soooo loving his coming out arc. They've shown 2 amazing coming out scenes and one (and a half) dates and yet the word bisexual didn't even need to be said!!! It just makes sense as a story on its own!! It feels so natural and buck seems so so happy and in love and settled and has gobsmacking chemistry with tommy. I love that we get to watch him make mistakes and get things right while figuring himself out, it just feels so close to real life and i think the writers (and actors) are doing a fantastic job here.

Tommy's character: OBSESSED WITH HIM. HE'S SO FUNNY. And i think he's an excellent first male love interest for buck because he doesn't beat around the bush. He's comfortable in his own skin and is very aware that he doesn't have to give that up for buck despite crushing on him hardcore. I love that he gives buck the space to make mistakes and come to terms with his bi-ness, but not at the expense of himself. He is a great mature influence on buck and i think will eventually help him to become confident in his sexuality in a way buck may have taken way longer to do on his own. Which leads me to ...

The buck/tommy relationship: this is where things start to get complicated. My head says "let's microanalyse every scene in regards to buddie" but my heart says "enjoy how fucking cute buck and tommy are being on screen right now". I DON'T WANT THEM TO BREAK UP. AT ALL. THEY ARE CRAZY ABOUT EACH OTHER. WHIPPED, IN FACT!!! I do think buck/tommy isn't "endgame" per se but i do think they fit so well together, they should be given the opportunity to last a little while at least. Buck needs someone like tommy now who will hold him accountable while being entirely sympathetic. It's a great dynamic that i would be very sad to see go (and so would buck i think because i have never seen heart eyes that intense on that man before....)

Buck/eddie: look. I can't unsee it, just like everybody else. Doesn't matter how cute tommy and buck are, i hold my breath whenever buck and eddie share a scene now. There's some weird shit happening there. I think the writers have been very clever with the latest episode because it leaves buck and eddie on good terms without insinuating what exactly comes next. Buck is completely focused on tommy right now (which is good!) and eddie has his own stuff going on, so a rushed buddie arc would make zero sense right now. As a lot of people have already said, buddie is very much a long-haul game and while we can start to see seeds at this point, i'd hate to rush into it. Cause the slow burn is part of the fun right :D right ????

Eddie: eddie. My silly goose. I love what they're doing with him this season. He seems so much more able to let loose and enjoy himself. He's getting sillier and i love that for him. He also seems to have headspace for new things now.... such as recognising that he's limited by catholic guilt..... which is the number one symptom of being into hot godly women.... right ... right..... I'd probably kill a man to quiz the writers on how they came up with the concept of eddie/tommy. Because that means they've thought about how gay eddie would make sense. They will have discussed his motivations and experiences over the last few seasons and recontextualised them. And mould them into the life of a closeted gay man. Gnawing. Clawing, even.

Conclusion: buck/tommy slay. Hate to see them go. Would love to see eddie be gay and get his own independent coming out arc just like buck did. Want them to be gay buddies for a while. And then see what that makes of the situation.....

#911

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emletish-fish · 2 years

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For me an issue I have with the Robby/Johnny plot, and it's something I've always wanted... Is Robby has never been shown to be validated in his anger towards Johnny. In fact through out the series it's shown each time he fights, Johnny saunters off, and that could have been addressed to where he needs to stick around and let Robby be angry, but really the writers are kind of saying the only way Robby can have a relationship with Johnny is to just get over everything, and suck it up? And like it would be nice to see Robby forgiving him if the writers were better at showing Johnny fighting more for him? And the only scenes we got back in LA were with Johnny, Robby and Miguel. Robby may have been messing with Johnny about the fatherly advice [which OK Miguel laughing at this made me think of Good Boy when they were teaming up on Johnny. It was beautiful], but no I want fatherly advice from Johnny to Robby. Not just him being like "I know you regret what happened with Miguel" like give him advice that has nothing to do with Miguel? Like girl advice with Tory or something, or advice on trying to get Tory and Kenny out of Cobra Kai. Like I'm happy with scenes we got, but it could have been more I think? IDK maybe I am just way too picky.

I'm in two minds here, because while I love everything we did get with Robby and Johnny this season, it does feel incomplete to me. Like there is this big elephant in the room that they still haven't really talked about.

The season on the whole was really strong on multiple fronts and it's a really crowded story-line. I really feel like they needed at least one more episode to tell the story they wanted to tell completely. There was just not enough time with any one line - however it was so fast paced and a wild ride, so it never dragged on.

But we definitely miss out on a lot of Robby's story, and important moments are left off-screen and to be inferred. In some ways, making quick work of Robby, Miguel and Hawk becoming a bit of a brotp so we could get to the fun 'everybody working together' bits was good. - but I still would have really liked to seem some of those conversations.

He doesn't get much emotional catharsis or validation this season. He does a lot of making amends and trying to help others, which is great and very on-brand and I love it for him, and I actually really enjoyed him and Miguel finally using their words and realising how similar they are and him coming round to elevate Daniel out of his pit of self-loathing - there is a lot of great stuff but... We don't get to see enough of people elevating him in return. It does feel a lot like Robby has pushed down his issues rather than really dealing with them - which isn't great.

I get that this season was a rollercoaster, I really wanted to see more of Johnny really focusing on Robby and it would have been much more emotionally satisfying for me than then main plot-line we did get. I wish the narrative energy spent on karate-baby had instead been spent on Johnny and Robby and leaning into the found family vibes.

But I think I'm going to make a separate post about how I would have handled it differently.

#Emletish Answers #Cobra Kai season 5 spoilers

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lesbiangummybearmafia · 5 months

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Julia season 2 spoliers... the first 3 episodes. My thoughts.

Ok is me did the 3 new episodes of season 2 equal nothing, well maybe not nothing. But could been just 1 episode. As far plot deployment, story line and character development the writers could of put what really mattered in those 3 episodes into one. There was in my opinion alot of just wasted screen time! Where nothing happened and it wasn't even all that interesting. Which is truly sad for this series. I kept wanting them to go back to Boston, even though France is beautiful. But it's like they kept them there because HBO spent the money to actually film in France and no other reason. So milk every drop out of it for no other reason goog the series or not.

So here in my opinion what could of been left out or made better. That would of improved and tighter plot points and scenes over all.

First James Beard little friend, that just came off as awkward, uncomfortable, unseemingly and just embarrassing that the show did that. Why not give him a proper boyfriend? They could done that and James just call him, his "friend" which everyone knows what he meant. Not some dude half his age, that well embarrassing. 🙄 Then we wouldn't have to had to deal with Stockard Channing as a beard lord that bad also so. Maybe it because I'm part of the lgbtqia+ community but I found that just horribly badly done over all. Then to have James boy toy hit on Paul was ridiculous!

Less of Julia and Simone Beck fighting. Cause all kept thinking was wow Simone Beck is really toxic to Julia maybe she shouldn't be friends with her.

Avis kinda dating that professor dude that there was no value in that whatsoever. Except to show her as unhappy, which they could of easily done some other way. Than that would of compelled her to go to Paris.

Did we really need to see as much of the misogyny as the TV station or the way we did? I'm not saying it didn't need to be shown, oh it did. But it was overkill, I think it would of been more effective if they stuck with certain scenes that had that biggest impact. The scene after Albert's interview with Helen Gurley Brown was really good. Maybe one scene with dudes in a meeting with Alice and Dorothy, the men having hissy fit. But than multiple meetings along with comments the men make. Then the one dude getting all butt hurt cause Dorothy wouldn't go out with him. It was important to show how it was back than for women in the work place. It may have been far more effective if it wasn't just all word play. Or showing other women working there being treated the same way not just Alice and Dorothy. Because that kind behavior effective all women back than. That would been far better then lazy ass effort we got from the writers.

That whole plot point with Judith and French singer. 🙄 If her ended up sleeping with him maybe. But seriously what was the point of that?! It was just dumb.

The whole point in a series or movie is move the plot forward, to move characters story line forward. If something isn't doing that it shouldn't be that. It should be rendered useless.

Some of the stuff is great for fanfiction of course but outside that it just in the way. I'm glad we're going back to Boston next episode though. Because I know Julia going have issues with Dorothy that's going be interesting.

Also Blanche needs to stop being a complete bitch to Judith! Personally I would told Blanche to go fuck herself and find someone else to be her eyes!! If she's going to accuse me of shit and be a total cunt to me!!

I can't wait until Avis starts dating that younger guy. I remember that from previews. It's going freakin brilliant. I personally wish they'd have her date a woman but they be boring. Avis is seriously my favorite character.

Ok can they find someone better for Alice? I don't know what it's about that dude but I don’t like him. Haven't liked since they first put them together. They need to find her a better man or how a woman.

I guess I'm tried of seeing period pieces they'll put a guy man character in it, but they hardly ever put a lesbian in them. It's fucking annoying.

Anyway I am looking forward to next week episode. I just think they didn't need to give us 3 episodes oh nonsense. It was rather disappointing to watch.

#julia series #julia hbo #julia season 2 #julia child #julia max #sarah lancashire #david hyde pierce #bebe neuwirth #brittany bradford #fiona glascott #fran kranz #judith light

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nashibirne · 3 years

Text

Painkiller -4

Here we go again. The date was a disaster and in chapter 4 Henry and Ella deal with their feelings and get some advice, even if they don't want to. I hope you enjoy it - likes, reblogs and comments are much appreciated, so feel free to let me know what you think!

Paring: Henry Cavill x OFC (Ella) Summary: What do you do after a disastrous date? You get unasked advice from your brother and your friends. Warnings: slight angst, that's it Unbeta'ed! English ist not my first language, so sorry in advance for mistakes in grammar or spelling. Credits: The pics for the moodboard are from pintrest, except Jax's pic, that one is from a screenshot from an app (moments - choose your story). If I violate any copyright, please let me know.

Previous parts can be found here: Nashi's Masterlist

Taglist: @hell1129-blog @lunedelorient @inlovewithhisblueeyes @willkatfanfromasia @mis-lil-red @agniavateira @omgkatinka @legendarywizarddetective @summersong69 @taebfada @xxxkatxo (let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night when Henry was back in Kensington, sitting on the couch in his living room, having a glass of whiskey, he couldn't stop his thoughts from running through the night's events again and again. He was disappointed, he was angry, he was sad - he simply felt terrible. Kal was lying beside him, his big head resting on Henry's lap, enjoying a bit of tender love and care.

When his phone beeped, his heart skipped a beat.

Ella?

He took a look at the screen and closed his eyes with a sigh. Charlie. His brother knew Henry had a date tonight and now he was trying to tease him.

"Hey, supes...how's your date going. Already saved the damsel in distress? Holding her in your arms rn?"

Henry considered ignoring the message but he decided to answer anyway.

"Nope. Back in my fortress of solitude. With empty arms."

His phone started ringing only seconds after he'd sent the message.

"Hi Charlie." Henry greeted his brother not too enthusiastically.

"Hey, Hen. What's up? You're already back from your date?"

"Yeah...."

"You don't sound so good. What happened?"

"I fucked it up, Charlie. That's what happened." Henry pinched the spot at the root of his nose with his thumb and middle finger. He felt a bad headache coming. He was going to need a painkiller.

"She turned you down?"

His little brother sounded much too amused for Henry's taste.

"Well, we had kind of a Daenerys-Ser-Jorah-moment..."

"Ouch...she friendzoned you?"

"Yep."

Charlie laughed.

"I can hardly believe it. But good to know even you can't have every woman you want. I mean normally they jump you before you can count to three."

"Oh shut up. That's not funny." Henry snapped, his voice loud and sharp.

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry brother. No need to get mad."

"But I am mad. Mad at myself."

"Why. What did you do?"

"I didn't listen to my intuition." Henry said with a deep sigh of exhaustion and disappointment. "You know when I asked Ella out and she agreed my gut feeling told me to take her to a simple Italian restaurant, nothing trendy, nothing too expensive. Just a normal place for a normal date. She even suggested going out in Uxbridge because she knows some nice restaurants in her neighbourhood. But my ego knew better. It was like...make this date different. Take her to a place ordinary guys don't have access to. Let her see how special you are and what you have to offer...and my intuition was beaten."

"You wanted to show off to her" Charlie stated the problem in one sentence.

"Yeah. I wanted to impress her. Of course I chose the Aston Martin and not the Audi or the Tesla. And I took her to "Gianni's"..."

"Oohh...Fort Knox..."

"Exactly. The food was great, she loved it, but she was intimidated by the atmosphere and the exclusivity. She was tense and felt uncomfortable and our conversation was dragging and uneasy. It didn't help much that I made a fool of myself, trying to make her loosen up. On set the director would have stopped me for overacting. And I don't know what happened when she went to the toilet but when she came back she was pretty jazzed and somehow distressed.

And now she thinks our lives are too different, that she doesn't fit into my world and that we're better off as friends. Oh and she mentioned not being completely over her ex but that was probably an excuse to make me feel better. To put it in a nutshell, I was bragging and it totally backfired"

"But why? Bragging is not much like you."

"Honestly? I don't know. There's just something about her that puts me off. And that's crazy because she is really down-to-earth, humble and nice. I'm sure she's not the kind of woman that's impressed by status symbols, money or fame. I knew that the minute I met her. But I have this irrational need to show her what I've got. Maybe it's because I subconsciously think that all that's left when I show her the real Henry, without all the luxurious and impressive extras, is an ordinary, average, nerdy bore."

"You can hardly call it subconscious when you can name the core problem so accurately." Charlie threw in.

"Shut up, smartass. That's not the point."

"No, it's not. The point is that somewhere underneath all these muscles and this superman aura you're still the insecure teen, who always had the feeling to be not good or cool or attractive enough."

"Oh come on, Doctor Freud. Don't try to analyze me."

"There's not much to analyze, Henry." Charlie sounded serious now. "You have this tendency to feel bad for who you really are. An ordinary guy who likes pc games, books, animals and sports. But that's not nerdy, it's perfectly normal. You're a home loving man in his late thirties who prefers a netflix marathon to a wild night out. That's not boring, it's what millions of people our age do. But it collides with your public image, with your looks and the characters you portray, so you play this role when you date women and they're attracted by the man you pretend to be, by all the glamour, money and VIP stuff and when you can't live up to their expectations when a relationship evolves it doesn't work and they leave or you leave or whatever."

"Are you done with your psychological profile?" Henry was annoyed and Charlie could almost hear him rolling his eyes.

"Not yet. What your little brother is trying to tell you is the following. When you're not showing your true self you attract the kind of women you actually don't really want and who don't really want you. Physically maybe but not for the real thing. So the fact that Ella doesn't want your jet-set self, that she doesn't like all the glitter and gold, shows that she's perfect for you. For the real Henry. Got it?"

"I don't know. Sounds a little complicated to me. But even if you were right. The damage is done. She just wants me as a friend."

"Then be a friend. Spend time with her, talk to her, show her your world outside the biz and when she gets to know you better she'll realize that you're not a poser and maybe there'll be a second chance someday."

"Mmhhh..."

"That's all you have to say?"

"I'll think about it, Charlie."

"Good. Maybe, just for once, you listen to your annoying little brother."

"Yeah...maybe."

*****

Jackson took a big bite of his slice of pizza looking at Ella with a frown. Ella had invited him and Katie for a crisis meeting at her place and they had shown up with lunch exactly after Ella's taste: Pizza and donuts. Ella had put them in the picture about last night and now they were discussing the events.

"But I don't understand why you're not willing to go out with him on another date. Why not give him a second chance?"

"Why would I? This one date was enough to tell that I don't fit into his world."

"You're just scared, he's really 10 inch." Jackson teased with a lewd expression and Katie started to giggle.

Ella made a face at him but she couldn't help but grin. "Why would I be scared? Have you seen your brother naked lately." She asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"Eww...Elsie...gross" Jackson made a puking noise.

"You started it..." She gave him a friendly nudge.

"Guys..." Katie laughed. "Back on topic, okay? I understand Ella, Jax. Maybe his lifestyle really isn't what Ella's looking for in a man."

"You can hardly judge his lifestyle after one date. Maybe he tried to impress her and went a little over the top. And Ella, I'm not saying I know the guy but what I've seen of him on set was all humble, decent and very friendly. No signs of airs and graces, no extravagance.

"Yeah, maybe. But it's not just the car and the restaurant and his VIP friends or his job. I really think it's too early. I'm not ready for something new...after Craig." Ella nibbled a donut, shaking her head before giving Jax a shrug.

"That's bullshit, Elsie, and you know it." Jackson replied, his tone pretty annoyed. "You had zero problems fucking my brother only two months after the break up. And now you're trying to tell me you're not ready to date after one year? He wasn't asking you to marry him. He was asking for a second date. You have to be open minded if you want to move on"

"Oh, stop lecturing me, Jax. That's not what I need right now." Ella got up from her chair with an angry snort. "I need to pee." She left the room and slammed the door behind her.

Jackson took a deep breath and rolled his eyes.

Katie turned to him with a soft smile. "We both know you're right about Craig but don't be so hard on her."

"I'm not hard on her, Katie. She's hard on herself. Why does she make such a fuss about a little swagger? He tried to impress her, so what? Isn't that kind of a compliment that he tried so hard? Truth is...she's scared to be not good enough for him...that's all. Elsie thinks she has to be glamorous and extravagant to fit into his world. She feels not special enough, not beautiful enough, too average or whatever strange fantasies are running around on her mind. She is afraid that he loses interest soon but instead of taking a risk she chickens out and just wants to be friends with him."

"Maybe it's for the best...A bird in the hand...you know. I don't want her to get hurt…"

"No, Katie. You didn't see them at the party. There was this chemistry between them...it was incredible. Like in a movie, you could almost see the sparks and little hearts fly from their eyes. They're meant for each other. As lovers, not as friends." Jackson let out a sigh. He sounded just as frustrated as helpless.

"Yeah...I thought so, when she told me about it. The way she talked about him, with so much enthusiasm, it was remarkable. But Ella doesn't see it that way. Or she doesn't want to." Katie shrugged. "You know how stubborn she is. And how much a cerebral person. Reason tells her that he's out of her league and that his world is too different from hers, from ours. She won't let us tell her otherwise. So just let them be friends and if you're right, if they're made for each other, destiny will find its way."

Katie patted Jackson's knee giving him a comforting smile.

"Yeah. Or maybe she wastes the chance of finding the love of her life and ends up on her own..."

"That's not our responsibility, Jax."

"What's not your responsibility?" Ella asked, entering the room, obviously in a better mood again. It was typical for her. Close to throwing a tantrum the one minute and back to cool, calm and collected the other. Her temper was unpredictable sometimes.

"Your happiness." Jackson replied, giving her an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to lecture you, Elsie. I'm just trying to help."

"I know, doofus. And I didn't mean to snap. It's just...let me handle this my way, okay?"

"Okay, at your own risk." Jackson got up and hugged her.

"At my own risk." Ella mumbled into his chest.

~~~~~

tbc

#henry cavill #henry cavill fanfiction #cavillry #henry cavill fandom #henry cavill x ofc #friends to lovers

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rixxy8173571m3w1p3 · 4 years

Text

The Truths Found On Petram Viridios IV (3/?)

A/n: this is a long chapter. Hope you guys like it. In this chapter I referenced @hoodoo12 fic Inked

Read Part 1, Part 2

________

Chapter 3: Do You?

"Are you having a good time?" he wondered as you were picking at your meal, and drawing faces in it.

"It's been pleasant enough." you admitted; shifting in your seat to sit up properly. "You've certainly made it easy on me."

You appreciated how the time passed so easily with the chemist's want and eagerness for conversation. He was well-spoken, and nothing lacked but whether it was you or your wandering mind, you had the feeling of wanting to go home; to relax on Rick's couch and watch a silly movie, but the night would go on. Intrigued by your earlier statement, V'gha studied you for a moment, not so unlike the way Zeta-7 would. Flexing his thick fingers, and smirking as though he had found the secrets of the universe and not intending on sharing it, he rested his chin on his now clasped hands."Would you care to elaborate?"

"Sure. I believe it's because, despite our differences, you're not so bad. I was worried that you were going to be overly serious, but it's been fun chatting with you."

"Well," he started, "I hope you won't be offended by me saying this, but I thought you were going to be more Neanderthal."

"You know," you giggled. "I get that a lot."

It never occurred to you to expect anything to really happen right now, but through half-lidded eyes, there were flecks of melancholy along with another emotion you couldn't quite detect. It passed quickly as light amusement colored his voice. "Is self-deprecating humor common among your kind? It doesn't matter. You nonetheless contain an intellect that I can only describe as affable. Are all humans this way?"

"I don't know, I can't speak for my kind, but I can speak for myself. I think in my case," You considered with seriousness, trying to refrain from sharing too many details. "it's what happens when you live as I do; close to a mad genius who enjoys his work as much as his garden. No really," you paused, playing around with your cloth napkin. "it's nothing special. I wish I could give you a highly detailed explanation, but I don't consider myself much of an intellectual. I do learn something new everyday. I think that counts for something."

Nodding in agreement, he made an attempt to consume his meal of fried klema paste, but could only manage a small bite as he too gave up on trying to believe it was halfway edible. "If I would've been in my lab, I could've shown you a recipe for a formula that attracts insectoids large enough to feed a family for a month. Even the bitter, old, beetletoids would taste better than what we've been served tonight."

You had a feeling that the meals were chosen by a machine that couldn't determine what would be better; pleasing the taste buds or feeding the vitamin deficiencies; it seemed to be the latter.

"I'm sad to tell you that I don't eat insects or insectoids. Though," you smiled. "I appreciate the sentiment. Where I'm from, you either love them or despise them. There isn't much of an in-between. For my part, I admire them. Like, there's these cute little guy's called roly-polys. They kind of look like little pills and they hang out in dead leaves and stuff. Oh, and don't even get me started on iridescent insects. They're just so beautiful, like living jewels. Too bad I don't have an eloquent explanation to give you."

"Do you mean to say that insectoids or insects as you refer to them, are minuscule creatures where you're from? How fascinating. And stranger still," he gestured at your outfit. "I was just thinking that you appear somewhat iridescent yourself."

He must've been referring to the sequins on your dress which were mildly reflective and multichromatic. "That was the point," you joked readily. "to look as though I could fly away at any moment. At least that's the story I'm sticking with, but don't tell anyone I left my private jet at home."

"Well, it does suit you. Has anyone told you that?"

If he meant either your dress, attitude, or both, then Rick had but you weren't going to tell him that. "No, but thank you."

"Really," he insisted. "I mean it. I…..I can't help but feel as though I know you." Leaning slightly forward, though not so much that it would violate the law, and squinting, he wondered. "Are you sure we haven't met before?"

The multiverse thing was another classified subject on the infinite list of what you weren't allowed to talk about. For all you knew, he might've met another version of yourself or met you in passing in your travels with Rick. "No, we haven't. Maybe I remind you of someone."

Realization struck him, and he dug around in his pockets and pulled out a blank white card. Laying it out on the table, he pressed the corner of it, and it produced a hologram; it was a Salamandrian with vibrant coloring and stripes that made you wonder if they glowed in the dark. "That's why I've been perplexed. You remind me of her; an old colleague of mine."

"She's beautiful."

"Yes, I thought so too. We used to work in the same lab together and were close to a breakthrough which could've assisted with premature aging which my species are prone to, but it wasn't meant to be. We ran out of funding and while working on another project, she collapsed. Before I knew it, she succumbed to rapid aging. Cha'thxa was amiable like yourself and loved to joke around. I believe that's why we were good friends."

"It's always the good ones. I'm sorry."

Replacing the card back into his pocket, he sobered. "It's alright. That was half a lifetime ago, but it's odd how events can trigger these recollections. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For these interactions of ours. It made me feel youthful."

What? Now that couldn't be right. If it hadn't been such an odd thing for him to say, you wouldn't have given a second thought to how he had spoken and carried himself. Really, you thought he was younger than yourself. "How old are you exactly? You don't look mature."

Taking a long sip of his beverage, he admitted with amusement. "Let's just say that the equivalent in human years is roughly 64.322 years old."

"What? No way. I wouldn't have ever guessed, but it shows what I know."

Though you weren't an expert on reptiles either, so how could you have known?

"Would it have really mattered? The only difference it would have made was perhaps in the way you would've treated me. I don't enjoy being treated as though I'm feeble-minded and will collapse at any moment."

"I promise, I wouldn't have."

"If only it were that simple. I've done the same, except I did the opposite and discriminated against someone far younger than I was and believed them foolish, but now that I've seen more of the world, and have familiarized myself with the universe through my travels and mostly through my studies, I realize how wrong I was. These days, I intend to live out the rest of my life to the fullest and to not be ashamed of it. And keeping in mind with that," he paused, ruminating on what he was about to ask. He continued. "I hope this isn't presumptuous of me to ask, but I'd love to invite you to my home planet." And with that winning, sharp-toothed smile, he explained. "Warm bodies are now allowed to visit and I would love to show you my dwelling. I believe you'd enjoy the view of the river. You seem to be the type that would never tire of good company."

It was a shame that he was such a fascinating creature, for you two might've been able to be good friends in a different life. "I do enjoy good company and most likely I would love the river, but under my current circumstances, I'm sorry to say it probably wouldn't be a good idea."

Calmly, he wondered. "Is it because of that human we saw a few hours ago is your mate?"

"Yes," you answered without hesitation. "I would consider him so."

"Forgive me then, for I didn't know, but I should have come to that conclusion." he remarked sheepishly. "You reek of him and your hormones changed every time I asked you about him."

"Look," you sighed, feeling a little embarrassed at the series of events which led up to this. "it's alright. I think it's the guidelines of this event that prevent us from being in each other's presence, but even if it's a crime, I wish he was here. I'm sorry if I acted out of place otherwise."

Giving you a wink, V'gha rose and gently took your hand; not only was it against the law, but against his character. You were going to pull away, but he said in Rick's voice. "Terminate simulation."

______

You removed the headset you had forgotten you were wearing. "Oh no, did I mess up again? Would I have died of food poisoning? Dysentery? I swear this is harder than the Oregon Trail."

"N-no, you did alright." he said at first, thoughtfully tapping at charts across his multiple screens set up. "Every time you were presented with a-a challenge, you followed the protocols and procedures just as you were instructed, but it's when you depart the ship which has my calculations going all over th-the place. Gosh, I now realize that it - it doesn't matter which of the guests are assigned as your companion. There is a 33.682% chance that they'd take a romantic interest in you, while there's only a 7% chance of you taking interest in them."

"Ricky, what in the world are you talking about?" You were sure that all of it was simply meant to be a learning experience and that none of it was real. However, considering it was meant to be a realistic simulation, the possibility of romance was there, despite how minimal the chances were. "I thought the reason we were going through the simulation was so that I wouldn't jeopardize the mission. Am I to understand that you don't want me to go because you discovered there's a small chance that a guest or two might fall for me?"

He scratched the back of his neck, wary to meet your questioning gaze. "Gee, I wouldn't have phrased it th-that way. I just....I-I don't like it."

"Oh my goodness," you couldn't help but exclaim. "Rick, are you jealous?"

It was always surprising when he was for it happened so rarely, and when it did you were more flattered then concerned. You continued. "I thought these scenarios always end the same way. You know I only want to be with you, even at the risk of my life. Why these aliens would take an interest in me, I'll never know, but it's cool that the people I'm assigned to are fascinating characters. Doesn't it prove that I'm ready for this mission? I kept the sharing of valuable information to a minimum, and I got along with mostly everyone."

"Gee, I don't know. Y-you're almost ready. However," he pointed at his computer screen. "there are anomalies in some of the earlier models which are concerning. In scenario 3, 7, and 15, the chances of my extermination were 18.475% because I-I allowed myself to get distracted from the mission. In scenarios 17, 19, and 25, there's such a minuscule change that we can forget them altogether. Yet, in the last five scenarios, especially this last simulation, it jumped to 42% and I ended it before things w-would've gone sour. Golly, studying the patterns between them all taught me that you're attractive t-t-to multiple species."

"What can I say, must be my animal magnetism." you teased as you wiggled your eyes brows.

Thoroughly worried, he sighed. "It appears so."

"Come on Ricky," you softened. "I'm only kidding. Listen, why don't you disguise yourself as V'gha, while one of your robot clones handles the mission? Out of all of them, V'gha was one of the nicest. We can knock him out temporarily."

"That could work, but that's highly risky."

"How so?"

"Because staying alive means I-I can't do this."

Wrapping an arm about your waist, the beginnings of a smile were taking place. "For this, I'd get my arms chopped off. It's due t-to the fact that centuries ago a war broke out from a single incident that occurred b-between two rivals who fought for the love of a Milleannos grounds protector whose sole purpose was to guard and tend to the bud that would never bloom in their lifetime. So, this kind of behavior between us is a big no-no. At least as non-royals of Petram Viridios IV." And pressing a kiss to your temple, he chuckled. "I don't know what'd happen to me if I did that, but I-I wouldn't want to find out."

"Do the inhabitants of that planet learn their traditions through tall tales?"

"I-I don't know, but it doesn't seem that far-fetched. It's um - it's possible that over time, they've needed t-to learn sets of skills in order to survive in the once harsh terrain, but seeing how they were able to preserve their culture for hundreds of thousands of years, they must be doing something right. Still, knowing all this, I-I doubt I could keep my cool and stay away from you. Apparently, the simulations tell me the same thing."

"In that case," you softened. "I might have to remove myself from this mission. After all, I don't want you to think I'm trying to woo a few strangers."

"Boy, I-I didn't mean it t-t-to sound that way."

"Of course not, but you told me the truth. And you're entitled to it in some respects. Though, while you spoke of data and calculations, you didn't ask me how I felt. Why not dear? I'm not ashamed to tell you."

Yet, he seemed ashamed to ask. "Did - did you feel anything?"

Smoothing out the lines about his mouth and eyes with your fingers, you confessed. "I felt flattered by their attention, and their company wasn't that bad. I felt……well, like a person in society, who meets and meets dozens of people, and only really takes interest when the conversation is somewhat comfortable and familiar, but I wanted you there to enjoy it too. " Pointing towards the monitors, you continued." If you take a closer look at the data on my brain waves, changes of hormones, and heart rate, then you'll see where my mind and heart truly was. In nearly all of them, I saw parts of you. Not so much physically, but there were personality traits that were so much like your own, I almost didn't feel so lonely. Yet, I never stopped searching for you in them, and in the world around me, in silence, in smiles over knowings, and in reminiscences, hoping you would come and could be in my reach."

Resting his hand atop yours, he sighed. "Th-that explains a few things."

"Does it? I know you were watching as it played out. And don't think I didn't know what you did this time around. I know it was you on that stage, veiled, and far away. Was that also part of the simulation? It…it felt so real. Somehow our souls were closer then they'd ever been."

"I added the possibility of being asked t-to play the Tremen orb bush. When played, it does induce a trance-like state, but during that part of the simulation, I-I tried to keep you calm because y-you were in the beginning stages of a panic attack."

It must've been because of the claustrophobic feeling of being in a chamber. So you hadn't been alone. "Dear, did you hold me and keep me safe?"

"In a manner of speaking. Y-you weren't in any immediate danger, but I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable. So I - I moved my chair over, held your soft hands," he confessed shyly. "and talked to you for a little while. It must've helped for soon enough your vital signs were back to normal."

Yes, he was that sort of man; the kind who'd want to take care of you, and make sure you're alright; who'd give up a day in his garden to spend a dozen ensuring that within dreams you'd live to see another. What did you ever do to deserve him?

"I see. You know Rick, despite not bringing it up, I'm sorry that I had to pretend not to know you."

"That's okay."

He understood, way too easily did he understand. Digital planes with hundreds of foreign figures, blades of grass duplicated to fill in spaces, dreamland feelings which were wisps of real ones, he withstood them all. Slipping in and out of realities were preparations for the real tests which had and would continue to come your way. You admired his fortitude because till now he's dealt with the hardships incurred purposely and accidentally.

"Even if it was potentially part of the mission, and you knew I had to do it, it didn't feel good. How….how could I hide the fact that I have such a wonderful friend? You've been one of the dearest, closest friends that I've ever had."

Leaning down, he touched your forehead with his; releasing a breath you didn't know he had been holding. "El mayor - el mayor obstáculo para el amor es… es el temor s-secreto de no ser dignos de ser amados."

"But you are worthy." you reassured him.

"So I am." he accepted.

"Dear, in trying to protect what we have, lying was necessary. Yet, I don't want to pretend that we aren't anything. I love you too much to do that. I don't have any sign or mark of belonging to anyone, and that could've been one of the reasons there were misunderstandings. With V'gha and the others, I was only being friendly."

"I-I know."

"Even if you know, I'm still going to remind you." Resting a hand on his chest, his nervous heart seemed to dance. "Underneath my hand, lies the kind heart of an emotional, passionate genius, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world."

Holding you a fraction tighter, his breath ghosted your cheek. "Really?"

"Mhm."

"Can I-I tell you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Everyday with you is better than the last. If we lived on Venus," he chuckled. "our days would've been 5,832 hours long. That's th-the equivalent of 243 Earth days."

"That's a long time. Hmm," you sighed, relishing in the nearness of him; breathing in the scent which wafted off his sweater and labcoat. You thought to yourself, this is how it should always be. "I wish I could've been born sooner so you wouldn't have had to be lonely. If I could've done that much, I would've been able to repay you. Still, despite my disbelief about our relationship at times, it's one of the reasons I carry the necklace. You know, the one you had given me on that memorable day that you were…" you paused as you felt him sag into himself, pulling away from you slightly as though he were ashamed. You continued on. "on that day when those Guard Ricks came because you were needed on the citadel. I regret that I put you through so much stress that day, but I'm glad you don't resent me for it." Pulling out the necklace, you couldn't help but tear up a little. "I look at this beautiful gift every time I need to be reminded that you always believed in me, adored me, and was part of your world."

"Y-you're not part of it, you are my world."

"And you are mine. There's no way I'll ever forget you."

Though, there was a chance you could or that he could have your memories erased; there were things you weren't supposed to know, but did. There had been stranger cases before, and just in case, you had made copies of your memories. "Why, if you ever have to use that memory eraser thing on me or on yourself, I promise I'll remember for the both of us. So please," you urged, giving him a half-impatient, half-loving shake. "don't think that what we have is so easily broken, because I love you and believe in what we are together."

Neither of you spoke for a while after that, but he gave your hands a good squeeze when he came to a resolution. "What if….what if I gave you a sign?"

"I'd think of an Ace Of Base song," you lightly teased. "and then I'd wonder what you could mean."

Rubbing your back, he said above a whisper. "I mean t-t-t-to say, do you…..¿Quieres casarte?"

"What? Did you just…can you repeat that?"

"D-do you want to get married?"

Pulling away from him, you wondered. "Wait, is this real?"

He nodded. "Y-yes."

"And I'm not in a lotus-eater machine right?"

Smoothing out your hair, he confessed. "N-no, I hope not."

After spending days going through multiple simulations, it was easy to assume that everything wasn't real, and was still part of another simulation within a simulation. You pinched yourself and saw that everything was in place. It's not that you weren't happy, it was just that this was a surprise you hadn't been expecting. For his part, he studied you and found that he liked what he saw and pulled out a little box. "I had wanted the moment t-to be perfect, but I don't think that's possible. I can't…..I don't want to be without you anymore."

"I think I need to sit down for this."

Leading you over to the computer chair, you took a seat while he stood before you; antsy and ready to confess. "Mi corazón, I have wanted to do this for so long, but I - I was too afraid t-t-to ask. I think now, I finally can."

Removing his labcoat, and setting it down, he pushed up the sleeve of his sweater; displaying the tattoo he had gotten a few years ago; a single sunflower with such detail it almost looks three dimensional. If it weren’t for the curve of his arm, it would appear that he took the bloom, shrunk it down, and simply laid it on his inner forearm. "When I got this, I wanted something as beautiful as you with me, always, and - and sunflowers are your favorite. You told me they were the epitome of happiness."

You nodded. "My best memories are associated with them."

"I suppose that still holds true, so I'm going to put my faith in that. To explain, I would like to tell you a few things concerning happiness. Everyday I-I go to work, I look forward to the moment I get to see you when I return. Though, when I come home, and the house is quiet, it's easy to remember that I live alone. However, when I see that the pillows have been rearranged in a way I um - in a way I hadn't left them, or find a mug in the sink, or piles of books that hadn't been read yet, I know I'm not alone; that y-you've been here. Gosh," he sniffled, doing his best not to cry. "when I see your sleeping figure on the couch or in the hammock outside, I think to myself that I want this t-t-to be my life. T-to be our life. You're what's missing in th-the equation to my happiness. When I met you, it's like the sun finally came out and I could finally bloom. We might carry bits of - of happiness, but I-I feel incomplete without you by my side. And I think y-you feel the same."

Taking hold of your left hand, he kissed it and his voice was colored with happiness again. In earnest, he wondered. "So, my beautiful little sunflower, as far as getting married is concerned, do you - do you want to?"

Tbc

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lightcomingthroughthedarkness · 4 years

Note

What I don't understand is some Bellarkes insisting that there's a point to B/E still existing and JRot didn't write them out of pure spite. I get it they are new in the fandom. But I'm not gonna act like there's a love triangle that blocks Bellarke after S5. It simply isn't a love triangle. Not to mention, JRot tweeted "heh heh heh" everytime B/E interacted on screen, even when the sex scene aired. He purposefully wrote that relationship to spit on Bellarkes and serve to CLs. It's just so clear

I just want to make one thing clear before I answer this. I can dislike Ec.ho while also not belive that everything Jason does is to spite me or the fandom. Just wanted to put it out there, lol

Anyway, lets get to it. This is long.

1. Bellamy is emotionally cheating on Ec.ho yet he yells at Ec.ho for not being emotionally open with him.

2. Bellamy is not being emotionally open with Clarke, yet he yells at Ec.ho for not being emotionally open with him meanwhile he is also staying emotionally unavailable to Clarke too.

3. Clarke is unaware of any romantic feelings that Bellamy might have for her. Simply because Bellamy is not emotionally open with her about said feelings. And when he has done something or been called out for having feelings for Clarke, she has not been there to hear it or see it. Now, we all know Clarke is a fucking legend, but she’s not a damn mind reader.

4. Bellamy has no indication that Clarke has ANY romantic feelings for him at all. Why? Because Clarke took a step back when she saw that Bellamy was with Ec.ho. And then Bellamy continued to CHOOSE Ec.ho over Clarke SEVERAL times. Clarke does not feel like it is her place to say anything to a man that is in a serious and commented relationship. Therefor, even if Bellamy had feelings for Clarke, he doesn’t know if she returns them.

5. Ec.ho is clueless. Girl is void of not only a personality but apperently also of the gift of sight and hearing too. She has no thoughts, no worries, no idea, no opinion, no nothing.

What is absolutely true, nonny is that B/E is DEFINITELY blocking Bellarke for a REASON. If they had kept Bellamy and Ec.ho friends/family then it would have shown us what we’ve all been screaming about being enough; Bellamy becoming the kind of leader that forgives and understands people and still reaches out to “them” in order to make an “us”.

I mean look at all the other relationships on the Ark after the time jump. Harper and Monty were still together. Raven was forever alone, like always. Murphy and Emori were...Murphy and Emori. They still only had storylines with each other mostly. And all of them managed to develop familiar bonds to the members of the group.

The only difference in those 6 years, was Bellamy’s relationship status. By showing Bellamy as part of a family, you had already given Bellamy that development, but we never got to see it (big mistake). So why did we need Bellamy to be in a relationship with Ec.ho at all?

Their names are Octavia Blake and Clarke Griffin.

Those two women are the ONLY reason why Bellamy “had” to be in a relationship with Ec.ho. Octavia hated Ec.ho. Yet Bellamy made her his family AND started dating her. Here’s the thing with the Blakes; you didn’t need Ec.ho to be Bellamy’s girlfriend to kick it to Octavia. Just the simple fact that Bellamy made his own family and chose Ec.ho to be part of that family was the biggest problem for Octavia. That Bellamy had grown as a person to let someone like Ec.ho be part of his family, even though what she had done to Octavia. Bellamy needed to leave Octavia for his new family for Octavia to understand what she was losing. So that was as much of B/E that we needed for that story to be told. Bellamy choosing his family based on love and support and Octavia working through her idea of what family is based on blood or love.

So why did B/E need to stay together after that and why are they still together? Because B/E need to block Bellarke. That is the ENTIRE point of B/E. There’s no love story. There’s no development. Jason refused to have Bellamy and Clarke both single and then not have them act on any feelings. And if you keep Clarke and Bellamy both single and they act on no feelings or the connection they share, then they truly would only be platonic soulmates. There would be no romantic subtext for Bellarke and we’d all get the answer to that question. Jason is clearly not willing to give that answer, so he needs something to block Bellarke. There’s no other way around it. And because Ec.ho’s existence allows Jason to tell SEVERAL stories. (family, found family, The Blakes, Bellarke). That’s the reason TT was made a main cast member. They needed to lock her ass in, so that Jason would be able to tell this story. And it’s important for all of us to understand that Jason WANTS to tell this story. You and I might hate it, we might have wanted another story but this is what he wanted and decided to do.

And what is also true, is that Jason is an ass. He’s a Hollywood writer and he sucks at social media. Yes, he has made comments during B/E scenes and made fun of fans. I assume he does that because fans can be very horrible to him, so he dishes it out too sometimes and acts cheeky with it (although he’s not and he is part of the problem too). And also, Jason knows how unpopular B/E is and again, he thinks he’s funny and makes comments to rile people up. Lol lol lol, indeed.

My PERSONAL opinion is that I just do not trust Jason to follow through on Bellarke or give them an ending I see fit for them. Jason never has to give a direct answer to what Bellarke are. He can still keep doing what he is doing. Ambigiously writing them as soulmates but leaving it up to the audience to decide what that means. B/E is not the hill Bellarke dies on because B/E has a better story or development. Absolutely not. But that doesn’t mean that when the final credits roll, that Bellarke has become what fandom expects. I’ll only believe it when I see it on screen and not a moment sooner.

You can argue that this entire thing is not good storytelling or the development would have been better told if Jason had written other stories. I can agree with that. I still think Bellarke should have been canon in season 4 and I still think season 5 and season 6 lack quality even though I still love Bellarke. It sucks when TV shows choose to do stuff with the story that we don’t agree with. But it doesn’t mean that an entire TV show, a business, a place where a lot of people work on, is written after fandom drama on stan twitter. What Jason IS doing, in order to not answer the Bellarke question, is to make people unsure of the story onscreen. There’s a major gaslighting situation with this show and the fandom and even Bob Morley had an opinion about that. Both things can sadly enough be true. Jason doesn’t write his entire story around fandom drama on stan twitter but he is absolutely gaslighting people too in the name of protecting his creation/story, before he is ready for people to see how it ends.

And here’s the thing, we can all have different interpretations of this. God knows a lot of fandom has given up and don’t believe in Bellarke anymore. And a lot of people have not given up and still trust Jason. And we need to just let everyone do what is best for them. We’re not going to change people minds and we don’t need to fight about it either. It’s not gonna do us any good. We can just see what happens in season 7 and by 7x16, we might get an answer to what Bellarke are.

#bellarke #The 100 #the 100 season 7 #ask answered

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fairyroses · 5 years

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ok but going about the logic of comics history isn't it brainy and dreamer a thing in the comics too? like i get that some people have different preference for ships and that's ok what i don't get is why you guys are always saying that if brainy and nia get together he is gonna mess up the timeline but dating kara it is okay isn't that double standard? I mean brainy soon or later have to go back home how do you see that play out if he dating anyone?(And sorry if i sound snappy )

It’s okay anon, I don’t think you’re being snappy. And I’m sorry if I sound frustrated at all, I promise I’m not frustrated with you. I’m actually just frustrated with the show’s apparent refusal to make these really important things clear to people who aren’t familiar with the comics.

(Though I have to be honest, I don’t actually read comics myself (yet). I just have a lot of friends who do. Most of the things I know about this stuff comes from @kara-querl, but I’ll do the best I can to explain the basics and hopefully clear up some of the confusing stuff for you. Again, it’s not your fault that you don’t know these things - it’s the show’s fault for not explaining them.)

Now, as for Brainy/“Dreamer” being a thing in the comics… you’re sort of right, but not in the way you’re probably thinking.

There is one version of Brainy (from a comics run called the Threeboot) who ends up with Nura Nal, aka Dream Girl. I’d highly recommend reading this summary of their story on twitter (just prepare yourself, because it’s a looong thread, and also, uh, the story is probably not what you’d expect it to be… especially towards the end).

However, Nura Nal is not Nia Nal. They’re two completely different characters, and both of them very much exist in the CW show’s universe. A lot of people watching SG don’t seem to know about this distinction (because the show has not outright explained it yet), so when they hear that Brainy had a relationship with “Dream Girl” in the comics, they assume (like you did) that Brainy/Nia is a comics canon couple like Kara/Brainy is. But that’s not actually true.

Nura is also the reason why so many people are worried about Brainy/Nia messing up the timeline. But more on that later.

For future reference, this is Nura (with a bonus Brainy in the background):

She’s not really anything like Nia, in either personality, looks, or her dynamic with Brainy. They have basically the same powers (though Nura could never shoot “dream energy” out of her hands), and the writers seem to have borrowed aspects of Nura’s relationship with her sister Mysa for Nia and Maeve’s storyline, but that’s pretty much where their similarities end.

(The rest of this is gonna go under a cut, because it’s a LOT of information. I know you didn’t ask for a meta, anon, but that’s just kinda what happened, sorry. Hopefully it’s not too overwhelming.)

Nura is a descendant of Nia, the character that we have on the show. She lives in the 31st century and is a member of the Legion of Superheroes, just like Brainy. The fact that Nia is Nura’s great-great-etc-grandmother has been confirmed in multiple interviews. Here’s a quote from Queller (one of the show’s EPs) from SDCC, before the season even started airing:

Hints about Nura were dropped in the show as early as 4.02 (which was probably close to being filmed around the time of SDCC). In that episode, Brainy asked Nia if he already knew her because she “looked familiar”, and then there was that look of recognition on his face when she told him her name…

Then in 4.08, when Alex asked Brainy if he knew about Nia Nal in the 31st century, his only reaction is this:

Because it’s not Nia that he knows, it’s Nura. But he didn’t want to reveal too much about the future by saying that.

However, Brainy isn’t perfect, and eventually he slipped up. He accidentally called Nia “Nura” later on in the episode, showing how closely he associates them in his mind.

This is the moment in which Nura’s existence was officially made canon on the show.

There’s also the moment towards the end of 4.08 where Brainy told Nia that she “contains greatness,” but he couldn’t tell her how he knew that. This isn’t directly a reference to Nura, but it stands to reason that Nura is the “how” answer to how he knows this about Nia/her family.

Nura is also presumably the person that Nia and Brainy were arguing over in 4.13, whom he refused to talk about. (Tbh, I think the fact that the show apparently skipped over Nia first learning about her descendant is a grave oversight, because for non-comics fans it probably appeared to come out of nowhere.)

So, just to be completely clear: Nia has never been Brainy’s love interest in the comics (in fact, she doesn’t even exist in the comics at all - she’s an original character created for the show), and Nura, Brainy’s actual love interest (again, specifically only from the Threeboot comics run) definitely 100% exists in the CW show’s universe. We know this because there have been multiple references to her on the show throughout the entire season.

Based on the fact that Brainy is so familiar with how Nia’s powers work and how to train her, it stands to reason that he and Nura are rather… close. We just don’t know how close yet, because Brainy refuses to say anything about her to either Nia or us, the audience. At the very least, they’re teammates and friends. At most… well, they were engaged in the Threeboot, so…

So, to get back to your original question about shipping: From what I’ve seen, the fact that Brainy and Nura had a romance in the comics is actually a big reason why a lot of comics fans don’t ship Brainy/Nia. I can’t speak for everyone obviously, but I know that for quite a few people, the idea of Brainy dating Nia basically feels like him dating his girlfriend’s great-grandma (especially since Brainy’s references to Nura have made people wonder if they might actually have a romantic history on the show, too). It’s not quite on the same level as Marty McFly’s mother trying to kiss her own son in the first Back to the Future movie, but it’s still just… kinda squicky in a smiliar way, you know?

Nura’s existence is also what people are typically referring to when we talk about Brainy/Nia disrupting the timeline. If Brainy were to get with Nia, then that would essentially erase Nura from existence. We know that Nia’s timeline would get seriously messed up if she got together with Brainy, because she has a traceable lineage of descendants going at least 1,000 years into the future. If Brainy got in the middle of that, if he changed Nia’s destiny by allowing her to fall in love with him, then that whole timeline - Nia’s entire legacy, which Brainy is clearly familiar with - would be drastically altered.

What kind of person would Brainy be if he agreed to date Nia, knowing that doing so would erase Nura (and her sister Mysa, and anyone else related to them) in the 31st century? Knowingly and willfully wiping out an entire lineage, including someone that he personally knows and cares about? Does that really sound like something Brainy would do?

This is probably the biggest reason why Brainy/Nia just doesn’t work for a lot of us, particularly comics fans who have caught all the Nura references so far this season. It’s not about personal ship preferences - it’s about character consistency, specifically Brainy’s. We don’t want him to get with Nia because doing so feels wildly selfish and out of character for him.

(In fact, Brainy interacting as much as he already has with Nia personally stresses me out, because by pushing her to be a superhero and training her himself, he’s already altered her timeline in some unknowable way. We just have to hope he knows how far he can push it.)

We’ve already seen Brainy caution Nia about them potentially creating a paradox, and it seems like they’ve had a similar argument to this one at least once before off-screen. He must know what the dangers of doing something as serious as getting romantically involved with her would be, because he listed them all off to Alex and Kara in 4.08:

His Keanu Reeves movie quote excuse in the most recent episode (4.15) was flimsy at best, but when he says that he and Nia can never be together, his tone of voice noticeably changes to become more serious, making it obvious that he means it.

With all of that stuff in mind now… do you see why so many of us are confused and even upset by the promise of more “will they/won’t they” for Brainy/Nia?

Why would the showrunners make Nura’s existence canon if they’re not going to even touch on the issue of how Brainy and Nia getting together would obviously erase her? It’s almost like the Brainy/Nia thing has to conclude with them not ending up together, because otherwise, what does that say about Nura, and the future that Brainy knows? It would change a lot - Nura, who has existed in the comics since 1964, would be GONE - and given how much Brainy has been shown to care about the future and the timeline, I just can’t see him going along with that. I just can’t. (And neither can a lot of other people.)

But of course, this is Supergirl we’re talking about here, so I don’t have a ton of faith in the EPs or writers. They could very well just ignore all that stuff and shove Brainy and Nia together anyway. So, this isn’t me saying that Brainy and Nia will definitely not get together. After all, I don’t write the show.

This is just me explaining why a lot of people don’t think that this Brainy/Nia storyline makes sense, given the show’s own references to Nura, as well as their establishment of Brainy as a character who cares deeply about the timeline. Brainy dating Nia would directly contradict both of those previous writing choices.

And why would the writers do that? Why would they directly contradict their own setup? Fans who are familiar with Nura and have picked up on all these clues are just frustrated because we don’t understand this.

TLDR: Brainy/Nia is not comics canon. Nia Nal is the ancestor of Nura Nal, Brainy’s actual love interest from the comics, who also exists within the show and lives in the 31st century. And Brainy/Nia getting together would erase Nura, and thus mess up the timeline.

Okay, that was a lot. Hopefully that cleared some things up for you about both the comic history, as well as the whole Brainy/Nia timeline issue. I’m gonna address the rest of your questions more briefly bc I’m tired now lol.

Why won’t Brainy getting with Kara mess up the timeline like it would with Nia?

The simplest answer to this one is that we don’t know what the future is supposed to hold for Kara. The Legion made a point of saying last season that their knowledge of the events of Supergirl’s future are vague and largely unknown. We don’t know anything about her having any descendants, or a specific legacy that needs to remain intact like Nia clearly has. (If they didn’t want to create this problem for Nia, then they didn’t have to establish those things for her either… but they did.)

What about Brainy going back to the future eventually?

I kind of already talked about this whole thing here, so you can just read that post to see my take on it. The bottom line is, I don’t think that’s the biggest issue here, largely for BTS/casting reasons. Basically, I think it’s very unlikely that Brainy is going to go back to the future anytime soon. And because of that, I don’t think it’s really necessary to bring it up as an argument against either Brainy/Nia or Brainy/Kara.

And finally, with regards to the whole “why do people keep saying that Kara/Brainy is THE comics canon ship when other ships like Brainy/Dream Girl also exist in the comics?” thing, which is kinda the whole point of your ask from what I can tell, I recommend that you check out this post and these tweets, which (briefly) outline all the different versions of Kara and Brainy that have existed in various media over the past 60 years, and how many of them have ended up with each other. (Spoiler Alert: There’s a very good reason why most comics fans are also Karadox shippers.)

So, in conclusion, can people ship Brainy/Nia if they want to? Of course. People can ship whatever they want. I ship Brainy and Winn after all, even though that’s not ever going to be canon, because I like their dynamic and shipping is supposed to be fun. If people want to create fanart or fics or whatever for Brainy/Nia, then they can totally do that. My issues aren’t with what ships people personally prefer. My issues are with what the actual show is doing in canon, especially within the context of the entire Supergirl mythos.

Look at it this way: If the show doesn’t have Kara eventually fall for Brainy, then CW Kara will be the only version of Kara who had a version of Brainy in her story, and did not fall in love with him.

Like, wow. Talk about going against history.

#I actually lowkey ship brainy/nura I think their banter in the earlier part of their comics story is cute and fun #the end of the story is Yikes but we don't need to talk about that #anonymous #asks #///#my meta #salt tag #(okay this isn't really salt but that's where I've been putting anything I post that goes against brainy/nia so I figure I might as well)

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dustydreamsanddirtyscars · 6 years

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Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the poisoned bullet still in Dean? And also what do you think is the matter with Dean's face in the preview for next week? He's the one that gets clothes lined right? I love to read all your meta ponderings. They should hire you to write the next season!!

Hello dear!

That is in fact the question I have been pondering throughout the entire episode whiel watching for the first time and I personally have come to the conclusion that yes, the bullet must still be stuck in Dean’s shoulder, because

a) there was no wound shown on his back suggesting that it went right through him and

b) when Ketch is treating Dean with this ointment to me it doesn’t look like he has tried to get it out prior (unless that happened off-screen, which would also make no sense), which in itself is just mind blowing, because that is the first thing you’d do, especially when you realize it was poisoned. Then again, what do I know about such things.... lol - tbh I just got really emotional thinking about this, because Dean being poisoned fits so well with Dean thinking of himself as “poison” ;____; because of all the people he think he has failed ;________;

But yes, I am currently assuming the bullet must still be in Dean (unless it was some very special bullet that dissolved or whatever), which is pretty damn dangerous even without it being poisoned, so... like I said, I hope that this was done to introduce a Dean plot (at least I would have used that to do so, but of course that doesn’t have to mean anything lol). If they wanted to address and play with the topic of Dean’s heart once more as they did also in S9 when Dean died stabbed through the heart - we may see the bullet (though really why wouldn’t they get it out, the poison is still on it, though even if the bullet’s out it would be in Dean’s bloodstream by now???) travel in his body.

I actually had to think of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen” again in relation to the bullet and especially if it is still stuck within Dean, because it would not just nicely mirror to “Parsifal” and Amfortas fate as I have mentioned before, but it would work very nicely with what happens to Kay in the “Snow Queen” (actually to me between “Parsifal” and the “Snow Queen” exist major parallels as well). For those who are not familiar with the fairytale: The child Kay one day happens to get a splitter of a broken mirror of the devil in his eye and his heart and it changes him completely - he becomes cold hearted and can’t feel and see what is pure and good as evil and ugly. He then gets mixed up with the wrong crowd and essentially is getting kidnapped by the Snow Queen who holds him hostage and wlll only let him go if he can spell the word “eternity” right, which he is incapable to do due to the splitter in his eye. His best friend searches for him in the end and is the one to free him by crying out of desperation of losing him and that is how the pieces in Kay’s heart and eyes melt away (basically her tears are like phoenix tears). I could imagine something loosely comparable could happen with Dean and the poison and bullet in his shoulder - especially as Dean’s story is so tightly connected to heart symbolism (one of my personal fave meta themes - here is one where I talk about it in relation to the Snow Queen as well) since the first season already.

Anyway... I got carried away,sorry!!!

That said in regards to the next episode and the promo pics to me it looks like Sam is getting kidnapped by Rowena - maybe so she can get the whole black grimoire or even the Book of the Damned or whatever - and has installed a few obstacles along the way to keep Dean busy and that is why he is looking all kinds of bloody and beat up.

I have to admit the promo picture of Dean storming into the hotel room is reminding me and giving me 9x21 “King of the Damned” vibes just look wise with Dean. Which may well just be me reading too much into it, but if they were to build on something with being wrong with Dean than a callback to that episode would work well, because that was when things got much worse for Dean.

And btw thank you, dear! For being lovely. *hugs* It’s nice to know people enjoy my crazy ideas and stuff and lol, while I do think the fandom could possibly write the much better episodes than the current staff of writers, I would not want to trade places lol, because I know from myself I could never make everybody happy lol. So thank you for saying you think I could pull such a job off

#Ask #Anonymous #SPN spoilers #SPN speculation #SPN discussion #13x18 #Bring em back alive #Parallels #Dean's heart #Heart symbolism #Healing

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