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five-hxrgreeves · 11 months

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An Unexpected Plan

PAIRING: loki laufeyson x reader

POWERS: none

WC: 2.6

SUMMARY: As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, it was safe to say that you had seen a lot of strange things in your day. Glowing cubes from space, aliens and planetary-scale Armageddons were considered just another day at the office. However, the opening of the multiverse means infinite possibilities, including some that you’d never expect.

WARNINGS: possibly ooc Loki? (this is my first time writing him.)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: So this is based off the post-credit scene in Ant Man: Quantumania for the sneak peek of the Loki series s2. I actually have s1 written on Wattpad with an OC (called Everybody Wants to Rule the World if you want to check it out!), but since Tumblr likes x reader more, I took out the oc. This was an idea I’ve had since I watched s1 so I finally just decided to write a one-shot of it. It may not be accurate to the rest of s2 once it’s released since I just made up some stuff around the 3-second clip that we got.

As a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, it was safe to say that you had seen a lot of strange things in your day. From glowing space cubes of unknown origin to aliens trying to take over New York, the realm of what you considered impossible had broadened over the years. Your considerably high rank as a field agent had allowed you to experience some of these things first hand, which was both a blessing and a curse. It was more so the latter now as you’d been tasked with keeping the notorious trickster God of mischief from living up to his name. Luckily, you were well-equipped for the job— and more than just in the weapons department; you had the uncanny ability to see through lies. (This proved to be exceptionally helpful in an organization whose secrets had secrets.)

However, it was only after more than a decade of service that you were finally thinking that maybe you had bitten off more than you could chew. The God of Mischief had certainly earned his title; in an unforeseen turn of events, he’d gotten his hands on the Tesseract a second time and, before he could whisk himself away to who-knew-where to wreak more havoc, you’d latched onto his arm at the last second to join him for the spin as well. (At least nobody could ever say that you weren’t dedicated to your work.) After that, things had taken a turn for the worse and you’d both been taken to a mysterious time agency and had narrowly escaped death. (Well, maybe death was still on the table— your inevitable end had just been postponed.)

Needless to say, you and Loki hadn’t started out as the best of friends. When you weren’t trying to kill each other (verbally, at least), you glared at one another in sulky silences. But, as they say, trauma draws people together. Somewhere along the line between the end of the world and multiple variations of yourselves, you’d become something akin to. . . acquaintances? Allies? Not necessarily friends, but bonded by enough strange events to have a tentative trust with each other. You were almost certain that Loki wanted more from your relationship, but you hadn’t really forgiven him for what he’d done in New York and besides— whoever heard of a mortal and a God getting a good ending?

Now, however, none of that really seemed to matter; being displaced from your timeline certainly held a bigger threat than whatever was going on between the two of you. After your world-shattering revelation that the statue in the TVA’s library was no longer of three space lizards, but Kang himself you scrambled for answers and solutions. In a desperate attempt to understand the new situation you were in, you’d gotten the new-Mobius’ help of locating (a) Kang in this present timeline, which happened to be in the Victorian Era.

Although the three of you were hidden in shadows in the back of the theater where Kang’s presentation was taking place, your instincts were on high alert. The past few days? (Months?) had taught you that nothing was as it seemed. Even if Kang was currently pretending that he hadn’t seen your little group, you knew not to underestimate him. Every muscle in your body was tense, ready to flee the theater at a moment’s notice if necessary. If you were less of an agent and more of a civilian, you might have even grabbed Loki’s hand— which was only inches from yours in the cramped space— as an expression of the fear that you currently felt. (While you were a seasoned veteran and had seen much in your day, any sane person who knew what Kang was capable of would be scared of him.) Loki seemed to share your trepidation as his eyes never left the enigmatic presenter.

Mobius spoke in a whisper from the God’s other side: “you made him sound like this terrifying figure!”

Neither you nor Loki took your attention away from the man at the front of the room as you replied in sync, “he is.”

As if he’d heard your quiet conversation, Kang’s— in this timeline called Victor— gaze snapped to where you were standing. Although his expression didn’t change and he continued to speak to the crowd, you felt an icy wash of fear trickle down your spine. Instinctively, your weight shifted forward to your toes as you prepared to flee, knowing it wouldn’t be good if Kang or any of his variations caught you as he surely intended to.

You exchanged a glance with Loki, almost one of the same mind after you’d experienced meeting He Who Remains the first time. For Mobius’ benefit, the God breathed out: “run.”

You didn’t need to be told twice; the three of you (after some prompting to get the TVA agent moving) pushed your way as calmly— but also hurriedly— as possible through the crowd to reach the doors. While there wasn’t anyone visibly chasing after you yet, you knew better than to be fooled by the appearance of peace. Once you’d reached the busy London street, you exchanged a look with the men. Not wanting to waste anymore time, you gave one word of warning: “if we get split up, good luck.”

Then, you broke into the fastest run you could considering the crowds of people, animals and carts that went about their daily business. (How nice it would be to not be aware of the multiverse, time travel, interdimensional threats. . . but you consoled yourself that you’d probably become too bored with such a quiet life.) Unsurprisingly, Loki was able to keep pace with you pretty easily— considering he was a God who had to match your extensive training— but Mobius seemed to struggle, especially with dodging obstacles. That was fine, though (as mean as that sounded), since Kang wasn’t after him.

As you ran at a (mostly) steady pace through the winding London streets, cries and shouts began to sound from behind you— it seemed that Kang and his variants were giving the chase. You blocked out the sounds as you focused on running; one foot in front of the other, arms swinging, bent, by your sides, breaths even: in, out, in, out. You ran as you’d been trained to do: for your life. You were so focused on staying ahead of the Kangs that you even lost track of your “running partner” as Loki seemed to fall out of your peripheral vision.

You rounded a corner, and then another, and then— a hand reached out to grab your arm. If given the choice between fight or flight, your always chose the former; you reacted instantly, kicking out with your feet as you attempted to put your attacker in a headlock to take them down.

It was only after a couple seconds of struggling (why wouldn’t this peasant man go down? Didn’t they eat a diet of potatoes and gruel?), you finally registered the man’s protests: “whoa, hey! It’s me— it’s me!”

You let go to eye him suspiciously. In a flash of green, Loki’s familiar form appeared and you let out a sigh of relief which (as it usually was when it came to him) was quickly followed by irritation. “Okay, what the hell? I know you’re the fricken’ God of Mischief and all, but is now really a time to pull tricks?”

“It’s not a trick,” he reassured you. “Well, perhaps it is, in a sense— we can disguise ourselves and blend in, get them off our tail.”

The disguise of a peasant man returned, complete with grubby clothes and matted hair. You curled your lips in disgust. “Far cry from being an Asgardian prince, huh?” you mocked him. “And besides, there’s two flaws to that brilliant plan: one, what about me? I don’t have magic, so pulling me aside to tell me this is just a waste of time. And second, I’m pretty sure Kang the Conqueror can see through something this. . . elementary.”

The peasant man scowled at you, displeased by your jabs. “This is genius, first of all. Before you go touting that you know all about magic, mortal, I can share illusions. Doesn’t your super-secret special agent school teach you self-preservation, or are you willing to take the chance and outrun an impossible amount of Kangs?”

You pursed your lips, weighing your options. As much as you hated to admit it, Loki was right; taking a chance on him was probably better then depending on your running abilities. (Although, to be fair, you were a pretty good runner.) You matched his annoyed expression and crossed your arms against your chest. “Fine, we’ll do it your way— but for the record, my father taught me self-preservation.”

The God smirked at you in that irritating way of his and extended his arm towards you. “Take my hand.”

You watched him skeptically for a moment, remembering how he’d openly admitted to flirting with you in the hours before you’d confronted the Void. As you hesitated— your fatal flaw— you listened for your pursuers and heard faint shouts from their rough interactions with the common people. They were still some distance away, but not comfortable enough to completely forego Loki’s plan. You sighed and— with as much distain as you could muster— took the God’s hand.

There wasn’t anything immediately different about your appearance; when you looked down, you could still see your now-worn combat gear and dusty boots. However, when you looked over at the man next to you, you no longer saw a peasant man; Loki was back to being his infuriating (ahem, handsome) self. You frowned in confusion as you lifted your hand, turning it back and forth to try and see the difference.

“You don’t see the illusion when you’re in it,” he explained with an impossible amount of smugness. “I can assure you, however, that we look as much the same as the rest of this doldrum crowd.”

You gave him a curt nod. “Fine,” you said again. “Let’s try to get out of here, shall we?”

They made their way back onto the main street, looking just the same as the rest of the passers-by. To the rest of the common people, they merely looked like a peasant couple holding hands, out for a nice stroll. Speaking of— “shouldn’t we run?” you asked, looking over your shoulder. Although you couldn’t see the Kangs because of the crush of people, you knew they were there.

“That would draw attention to us,” Loki replied evenly, keeping the steady pace. “All parts of the illusion must be convincing for it to work.”

So, as much as all of your instincts screamed at you to run, you forced yourself to match his steps. Thankfully, the busy city was too noisy to have conversation, otherwise you might have strangled Loki right on the street. (Okay, maybe you weren’t at each other’s throats as often anymore, but he still annoyed the hell out of you.)

It happened suddenly: one moment, you were walking along with Loki at a brisk pace, and the next a man with a golden pharaoh’s headdress appeared next to them. His dark, intense eyes swept the area as he mercilessly pushed carts and people out of his way. Your grip on Loki’s hand tightened in warning, causing the God to look down at you. You jerked your head to the dark-skinned man dressed in gold. His eyes followed your motion and widened before he quickly looked away. Neither of you spoke since the illusion wouldn’t disguise your voice, but your pace picked up slightly.

The next few minutes were very tense as you waited to see if Loki’s illusions would work. It seemed as if the Kang in the Egyptian-styled clothes was tailing you. Loki knew that his magic could only do so much; to the well-trained eye, a very faint glimmer of green could still be seen. They needed to make their illusion even more believable; to do something so out of the ordinary— something that was entirely ordinary, actually— that it would convince even the keenest of observers (which surely Kang was.)

The idea came to him in an instant, causing his chest to fill with warmth. While this would certainly not be his first kiss, it would be his first kiss with you. (And, if he were being uncharacteristically honest, it might be his only chance.) Loki glanced at the Agent out of the corner of his eye, knowing how poorly such a proposal would be received. But, this was a viable suggestion to get the Kangs away from them. So, he tugged the woman next to him to a stop.

You turned to look at the God with an irritated expression. “Need a break, do you?”

Loki was looking down at you intently, his emerald gaze holding yours. Perhaps for the first time, he ignored your dig. “Kiss me.”

Not sure if you heard him right, you stared at him with wide eyes. “What?”

“Kiss me,” he repeated, a little more urgently. He glanced up at the Egyptian Kang who still lingered nearby. He lowered his voice as he hastily explained, “he suspects us. No one looks twice at two people kissing.”

“You’re cra— mmph,” your furious retort was cut off as he placed his lips on yours.

Again, your first impulse was to run, but this time for a different reason. It had been a long time since you’d kissed anyone— since your last love had ended in disaster. You’d vowed to never let anyone this close again after that, but here you were, allowing the God of Mischief to kiss you on a busy street. People brushed past you and jostled you, but Loki’s hands lightly held your arms, keeping you in place. You still had half a mind to push him away and ask what the hell was he thinking, but the other half of your thoughts registered how. . . good of a kisser he was.

You supposed that over a thousand years of practice certainly had its benefits. His lips were soft but insistent on yours, there was just enough tongue movement to make your stomach swoop (the traitor) and although you would deny it if asked, you could feel the electricity zip through you from the action. Just as your shock wore off enough to really kiss him back, Loki pulled away, his gaze flicking over your head to watch the crowd.

“He’s gone,” the God said with relief. Once he’d assessed that the danger had passed, he looked down at you with a smirk. “For someone who claims to hate me so much, I expected you to slap me instead of kiss me.”

You glared at him, any semblance of warmth that had come from the kiss disappearing as quickly as mist in the sun. “That can still be arranged.”

He gave you a shit-eating grin and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. “Come on, Agent. Tell me you didn’t enjoy that.”

You shoved his arm away and turned to resume your path through the crowd, your head held high. “I didn’t. Let’s go find Mobius. Hopefully he hasn’t gotten trampled by a stray horse or something.”

Since you’d already refocused on the mission at hand, you missed the way the God’s smug expression faltered slightly at your stout rejection. It only lasted for a fraction of a second before he quickly recovered and hurried to catch up with you. Grabbing your wrist, he added, “we should still keep our disguises up, just in case.”

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twig-tea · 5 months

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15 people, 15 questions

Tagged by @my-rose-tinted-glasses, @infinitelyprecious and @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle! Thank you friends 💕

1. are you named after anyone?

Nope! My folks just liked the name they chose for me. They did the thing where they tried to choose a name that they thought would be unique and ended up with one of the most common names in the year, for both me and my brother.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Watching the What Did You Eat Yesterday S2 finale.

3. do you have kids?

Nope! Never wanted any, so I'm happy with the status quo.

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

HA. Here we go. In elementary school I was on a neighbourhood softball team and was terrible; in the end of year tournament, we were two outs and I was at bat and struck out for us to lose, which soured me on this game permanently. I also took neighbourhood tennis lessons and sucked at that too though I really did try. In middle school I was on the basketball team because I was tall and the coach was convinced I could learn hand/eye coordination....she was wrong. I am a decent defense player because height lets me block but I cannot land a foul shot to save my life (or my team's). For fun during lunch l I played [American] football with other enthusiasts. We would play tackle in all weather and on pavement, and we had a great time (I wasn't good but I enjoyed it). By high school I had finally convinced everyone around me I have no hand/eye coordination or physical skill and stopped all sports activities. PHEW. These days I do no sports though I will go to my company slo-pitch games and heckle like heckling's a sport.

5. do you use sarcasm?

Absolutely, but I try not to use it in that mean way in which people try to make someone feel bad about themselves.

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

Body language, how they hold themselves and move.

7. what’s your eye color?

Close to slate grey/blue.

8. scary movies or happy endings?

I don't respect this false dichotomy.

9. any talents?

My superpower is the ability to sing along to any song whether or not I've heard it before, and whether or not I know the language. Other than that, I'm pretty good at understanding what people are trying to say and not just what they actually said, which comes in handy in show analysis as well as interpersonal communication and work. And I am good at modifying/adapting recipes to use what I've got/what I like on the fly. Those are my core talents!

10. where were you born?

Toronto, Canada

11. what are your hobbies?

Other than watching All The BL/GL/QL? I am crafty, I like playing with mixed media stuff, lap weaving, and bookmaking/bookbinding. I haven't had the energy for it the last few years, and that's been mildly devastating. But I made holiday cards for the first time in years this year, which was very fun! I also have been known to puzzle, and I garden when I can. And I hike on occasion!

12. do you have any pets?

Nope! I'm allergic to most pets (fur and feathers; I tried keeping fish but was allergic to the algae on the tank, so I gave up). The dog in my avatar is my parents' rescue dog they got after I left home, and I see her when I visit them! She's a "hypoallergenic" breed mix but that's actually meaningless and I'm still allergic lol

13. how tall are you?

180cm; and the kicker is I've been this tall since elementary school so I went from being the tallest person in the room by a LOT to half the boys in the room shooting up to my height or higher, which was a weird experience!

14. favorite subject in school?

Tie between English, Biology, and Chemistry. I loved science and words and analysis in both subjects. I ran the bio and chem clubs in high school!

15. dream job?

University textbook editor, which I did for ~7 years! And it was everything I wanted it to be, but I eventually outgrew it. I love what I do now too (essentially I'm in management), and I know I'm lucky that I've had jobs I love for most of my working life.

I won't tag anyone because I've been absent for days, but if you see this, this is permission to do this tag game, and tag me so I see your post 💕

#tag game

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nieves-de-sugui · 1 year

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My personal experience with BL history for @waitmyturtles

After reading through the posts of your Old GMMTv Challenge, I decided to add my own perspective, as a watcher, of how BL has evolved as a genre as time went by. I hope this “history from the perspective of the viewer” might shed some light in some of the questions you might have or bring up interesting things for your viewing and understanding of the shows. I will try to not repeat what has already been said through your posts by all the wonderful people in this fandom and keep it as concise as possible (turns out it’s still super long).

I’m gonna use ABL’s chronology of the shows as a timeline guide for easy understanding:

Context: How I made my way to Thailand

I’ve always been into BL (yaoi, gay shows, whatever you wanna call it), but I became commited to it around 2008. The options for queer content back then were very limited, as I’m sure we all remember. But for the sake of adding context this were my go to:

Youtube playlists of cuts of “the gay storyline” from western shows (Brothers and Sisters, Hit The Floor, Shameless, Skins and soap operas (Salatut Elamat, Days of Our Lives), etc),

Queer as Folk,

bad japanese live action adaptations of yaoi mangas (Takumi kun) or just sad/melancholic movies about lost men,

sad chinese movies (usually with fucked up plots),

indie queer movies (Were The World Mine, Judas Kiss, Shelter, Yes or No, Love of Siam etc).

But I was starving for more. I wanted shows.

In the search for more content, through Love of Siam enters My Bromance (very sad ending, also pseudo incest?, still part of what I thought were just indie movies with yaoi influences) and then appears Lovesick (S1 and S2), with very questionable subs, but finally a show with a gay couple as protagonists.

Lovesick was for me the first show that finally put a queer story as a main thing to focus on, finally breaking free of the eternal side story filled with drama and hurt that was never comforted. After that only Make it Right was around. It was more of the same thing but this time the cast was a lot more reduced and everyone is gay. Also, it showed some of the sexual aspects of the genre (which now feels wrong for so many reasons, but alas).

One day, SOTUS is on youtube with subs, plus it’s the official channels (yay! finally we can be legal!).

First shock, there’s an actual plot centered around these two people, who are their own characters besides being gay, and they actually kiss (I remember it was so impactful to me (in a never seen before way) that I did fanart of it). Thai shows became my guilty pleasure, they were bad but they were telling the stories I wanted to see and no one else was doing it. Only Thai shows cared to show cute love stories that ended well, without the big drama we were used to in the west. My thoughts were “It’s bad but I’ll take it, I’m staying here”

Living through the different booms

When Together With Me came out it brought proper making out session and high heat to the genre. Sround here is when I started watching everything that I could find because I had finally found my jam. So I watched all that now I could not watch again (because, man! they’re bad) like 2moons, Puppy Honey S2, What The Duck, My Dream,... And then, with Love By Chance we got the first signs of consent and communication with AePete. It finally felt like we could get stories with healthy relationships.

Also, Our Skyy came in! Great moment! Treats for everyone! And honestly, it was such a fun project to watch. Iconic side-couples from straight shows getting their moment of spotlight on the same level as the main couples from BL shows. To me, Our Skyy comfirmed the importance of the main 3 (OG, TN, KS) and cemented the path GMM was taking with their BL shows. It started to be part of the norm and not just some shows here and there. It was no longer waiting for someone to make a BL once in a while, but an assurance a small but constant flow of BLs.

Also Taiwan started the HIStory franchise.

BIG BOOM#1 - TharnType! Also, Ossan’s Love.

TharnType comes in. The 1st episode ends and everybody hates it for the lack of consent, but everybody loves it for the high heat and the chemistry (also for those of us who had liked Mew in WTD it was nice to see him in this show, that seemed to have less drama around it). Plus, the hype of knowing more about Tharn from LBC, who was such a nice older gay character when he was palyed by Earth (Pirapat).

I think to me, TT was a mix of a lot of the usual flaws with the very new (only achieved before by MaxTul) high heat chemistry (which despite the controversy is an important part of the BL genre, you can’t take the sex out of BL) and an interesting idea for a plot.

Also I watched Great Men Academy for Captain (Noh in Lovesick), and he slays. Plus the BL in the show is good (even tho technically not bl, but queer enough)

Simultaneously Japan gets Ossan’s Love, it’s first mainstream BL boom, with very well known actors and gets talked about by the regular drama watchers. Everyone was watching Ossan’s Love in Japan, it brought the genre to the mainstream for the first time. (And prepared the grounds for Cherry Magic, imo)

Other shows that left an impact at the time were He’s Coming To Me and Dark Blue Kiss. HCTM was the great Ohm comeback (who I though we would never see again), paired with Singto doing a BL again. Besides the chemistry, the change in themes was very interesting, it was the first thai bl that showed thai culture for me. For its part, DBK had an interesting opening and Aof personal queer touch to the storyline (which made it wonderful) Especially for MorkSun. It was the first taste of what we know Aof for, but it was also the first time BL had such mature and nuanced themes to it.

little BOOM#1 - Until We Meet Again and Theory of Love

UWMA and TOL, to me were surprises. I thought that like KirstSingto and TayNew, OffGun would never do another BL with new characters. That BL was still just an undervaluated stepping stone that people didn’t treat as a proper genre (as everybody had been doing up to that point, do it once and never be seen near the genre again).

However, UWMA confirmed that BL was here to stay. It was growing, it was exploring mixing with other genres and famous thai actors were in it. It was also moving away from the usual university storyline. And TOL was the comback of the year. I remember everyone losing their shit (me included), it was the lengendary OG afterall. Up until then they had done cameos and Puppy Honey season 1 and 2 but that was it. TOL also did something interesting with its theme, and the romcom references. AND! it was the first proper kiss in a gmmtv BL. From dead fish PickRome to full on make out with KhaiThird.

BIG BOOM#2 - 2gether and Why R U?

The BL expansion thanks to the pandemic was very very noticeable. Everybody was seeing 2gether and WRU. First time anything BL trended on Tumblr. Everyone was descovering thailand.

Also 2gether was again a first, it felt like the story made more sense. It was more believable, with tolerable tropes and a cute main pair (this was the first thai show I dared to recommend to someone who was not into BL), plus the music. The ending of the show ruined it for me, however Still2gether Fixed everything that was wrong from the 1st season and showed quickly how the show could’ve been. WRU’s plot was directly affected by the pandemic and bettered what TharnType had started with the high heat chemistry. The whole success of the show is due to SaintZee having amazing chemistry and going with it.

My engineer was the surprise of the year, it had nothing going for it promising but it managed to be good (I think thanks to some parts of the story and the cast mainly).

little BOOMS#2 - Cherry Magic and ITSAY and others

The riples of the pandemic 2gether boom were felt in Japan. Nothing breaks throught the japanese content barrier. Japan only consumes MADE IN JAPAN, and yet 2gether made it there. And showed the Japanese show runners that there’s an interest there. Cherry Magic aired a few months after and it was big success, like OL had been. Korea starts with Where Your Eyes Linger here too.

The thing about I Told Sunset About You was that nobody knew what we were getting. I had heard about My ambulance, I even saw some of the clips, but it seemed to be side couple queerbaiting and honestly I wasn’t expecting much. But they had promised a BilkinPP series. I think it’s no wonder it blew our minds, nobody was expecting that!

Then the big comeback of MaxTul with Manner of Death, broke our minds just as OF had with TOL and bringing again the mature themes to the genre (they are called the daddies of BL for a reason). No one thought they’d come back.

Around here I started watching the GMMtv end of the year announcements. All the build up we had had from the growing of the BL genre and p’Aof culminated on the annoucement of A Tale of Thousand Stars. Because of how it breaks the rules of thai bl (no engineers, no university, no highschool, no city, no 2000′s yaoi tropes just regular shoujo tropes) and tells a compeling story that tasted so new the hype didn’t die even when it came one year later than it should have.

And Lovely Writer, was the first to present the criticizing of the industry as well as expanding on the mature themes outside of university and the lack of need for fanservice off screen between the actors. They acted like normal people :D

Light on Me appared around here too, and showed us that korea can do better than it had. And Taiwan gave us We Best Love.

BIG BOOM#3 - Bad Buddy and Kinnporsche

BB was the biggest annoucement GMMtv has ever made. The thing about it was the combo AofOhmNanon. Always grazing BL and forever ghost shipped with Chimon, Nanon decided to do his first (and probably only) BL with none other than Ohm (with who he had great chemistry since they became friends in Blacklist) and under the guidance of Aof. Here I want to add that Aof considers BB to be his first Y series, the ones before were dramas, so I assume by that that the thai public makes a difference between the more mature tone series and the more highschool/university BLs (??). Such a year that was! Accompanied by the epicness that was the annoucement of Not Me (confirmed to be the last OG show... but then they went and annouced another).

And last but not least, Kinnporsche breaks the internet, everyone knows about thailand now. It entered the realm of darker themes and violence. Accompanied by other shows exploring other themes like: You’re My Sky (sports), Something In My Room (ghosts), etc...

Which is the flow we have now, some of the known old stuff some of the new expanding stuff, waiting for the next boom. My, what a journey!

I hope this was an interesting read and that I managed to show how these shows were perceived when they came out, even though now they might not be as groundbreaking. If anybody else wants to add how they perceived these shows when they came out, feel free to add to this!

#bl viewing history #thai bl history #I hope it's not too heavy of a reading #let me know if it was helpful or interesting #I love reading your reactions to old shows

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seancamerons · 9 months

Note

Talk about Paige singing "Poor Thing" to Dean

“You'll never believe the nightmares, you'll never know the pain you caused.🎶

Let’s talk about 2.08 Shout part 2 mainly the moment Paige sings a poor thing to Dean requested lovingly by ashton (maya-matlin)!

So before the episode, our protagonist Paige was a different kind of girl, to say the least. We set the stage and mood. Paige was forever changed practically overnight for better and for worse this marks the rise of Paige.

Ashley’s poem 'poor thing' awoke something in Paige. It made her feel seen and felt. Despite being about something different it felt relatable and somewhat comforting. She resonated and played a big role in Ash’s pain. Earlier, Ashley had humiliated Paige (and let's be real: her own damn self) at the party in jagged little pill (1.15) by mid-season s2 in shout 1 and 2, they weren't best friends anymore and distant from one another. Ashley was far off on the outskirts with a new best friend Ellie and a new look to boot. Before long the cathartic poem Ashley had penned took on a whole new meaning.

As for PMS (Paige Michalchuk and the sex kittens), the lineup included Terri, Hazel (Spice), Paige, and Ashley. It was a miracle they made it happen between friction between Terri and Paige at rehearsals, tone-deaf Hazel’s surprise case of polyps, the lyrics debacle, and other mishaps the new and improved PMS finally took the stage.

PMS led by Ashley who was prepped on keyboards and ready for the solo, what could possibly go wrong? Enter Dean. Paige freezes and turns to Ashley for support, and lets her know she can't perform and that he is here watching the concert. Ashley is initially surprised when Paige starts acapella, by speaking the first words of the poem and eventually turns to face the audience and her perp with a strum of the guitar. She was going to destroy him.

Paige was also supported by Terri on background vocals and bass and Hazel on tambourine. I guess no one was on drums. (Just wanted to point out, Ellie 'suddenly' had a talent for percussion in season 5 'playing for her whole life' My ass! Obviously, her secret drum talent only exists bc of Craig 🙄 just kidding. However, when PMS rebranded as hell hath no fury in rock and roll high school a year later, she took on the bass. I'll be chalking it up to writers with selective memory, a retcon, and plot convenience. or some unfortunate continuity error. Missed opportunity.)

Important to note, she is singing directly at Dean, and it's satisfying to the audience and most likely Paige herself. I believe she was empowered by this, it was closure and her way of triumphing over him and what he had done to her and she used Ashley's lyrics which she had fought so hard to change. It was the best possible outcome of a power play. I couldn't be more proud of Paige and her ability to wield her power and influence. It is up Paige’s alley to do such a thing, but she used her powers this time for good as opposed to petty influence towards Hazel and Terri, and even Ashley at times. This marks a new era for Ms. Michalchuk, and we love to see it. This drives her to significantly grow and experience some major character development. It is awesome. This definitely holds up, it becomes cathartic and so pretty genius props to the writers for this. Embarrassed and humiliated publicly, the 'strong' 'emotionally challenged' Dean cowardly leaves like a dog, defeated with his tail between his legs. I spy the blind lady on the judge's panel she really seemed to enjoy the performance. Two men were seen rocking out beside her. I guess Big Bad bully Dean wasn't made of stone. He displays a semblance of blank and possible regret. He likely thought his presence would intimidate Paige but it only proved to empower her.

Ellie was a spectator to this performance and later offered her support to Paige at school. Although Poor Thing was cited as an honorable mention, she thought PMS was robbed. They were, let’s be real. Now I take this time to note, it's unclear why Ellie the next season wasn't so keen or nice to Paige such as in s3 a whisper to a scream when they were 100% rivals. It is nice and refreshing to see Ellie and Paige being cordial and not exchanging petty blows, cheap shots, and snide remarks like they typically do. While they won't be caught dead braiding each other's hair or going for mani-pedis, their relationship is at best conditionally chummy, with the occasional hints and moments of friendship scattered through. I'm not sure how they handled being roommates later on in life. Poor Marco was likely the mediator and peacemaker between the frenemies. He was a saint, God bless! Although sometimes Ellie and Paige surprised us as an audience such as with the bacon-y kiss in s7 and some heart-to-hearts when it counted. They had come so far in their evershifting dynamics.

Ashley deserves a medal for not being well, typical Ash, and making things about herself and instead stepping out from the spotlight for Paige to shine center stage. She also displayed genuine compassion for Paige as she embraced her and consoled her by the lockers when she told her what had happened, and why she felt so strongly about the lyrics in so many words. Sometimes they're too alike in their stubborn and hard-headed ways, unable to back down even when they’re dead wrong. However, despite what had happened between her and Paige over the last few months she didn't hold it against her and they buried the hatchet and even became friends again.

As Paige makes her way to Sauve's office she seems optimistic and ready to talk. </cue freeze frame. 👏 👏 👏

The end. Thank you for the ask. 💌

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yelena-bellova · 2 years

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Unlucky: (Eventual) Steve Harrington x Fem!Subject!Reader

Chapter Ten: A Night To Remember

Series Masterlist

Plot: It’s prom season at Hawkins High for Tini and Jonathan, but favors for friends come with all sorts of complexities…

Word Count: 3.7k

Warnings: none really, no use of y/n

A/N: Welcome back! We’ve only got a few more chapters till we’re in s2, but I’m loving building some backstory for future seasons. Hope you enjoy this one!

————————

APRIL 1984

Spring in Hawkins was, I’d decided, its most beautiful time. We came out of a particularly harsh winter to be greeted with flowers blooming and trees sprouting bright green leaves. It was a season of hope, something I was in sore need of.

Unbeknownst to me, spring meant something different for high schoolers than changing greenery. It meant it was prom season. I knew little about it except that it was a dance couples went to where they got really dressed up. Sometimes at the shelters, someone would donate a sparkly gown and the volunteers would groan that no one there had any need for a prom dress. It always felt like a gut punch, another reminder of something I’d never experience.

Jonathan and I made a habit most days of eating lunch on the hood of his car. Neither of us loved being a third wheel to Nancy and Steve and since they were always together, we’d formed a tighter bond. And currently, that bond was trying to tell me how prom wasn’t a big deal.

“You’re not missing much,” he said, mouth full of ham sandwich.

“How would you know?” I took a quick swig of my soda, “You’ve never been.”

Jonathan shrugged, “Some things you don’t need to see to know they’re stupid. Like movies.”

“I wouldn’t know,” I reminded him, raising a teasing eyebrow, “Remember? Homeless Girl?”

Jonathan smirked slightly, I liked giving him a hard time.

“I don’t know,” I smiled, looking down at what was left of my peanut butter and jelly, “It looks fun.”

I saw him watching me out of the corner of my eye. Jonathan’s unbothered personality was one of my favorite things about him, but we were two different people when it came to high school. He had never tried to fit in, while I was trying to do nothing but.

“You really want to go, don’t you?” He asked.

It was my turn to shrug. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Don’t have a date. And apparently it’s suicide to go without one.”

There was silence, before Jonathan spoke up. “What if…what if we went together?”

I looked up at him, “What?”

“If you really want to go,” he shrugged, “Then we could go together.”

“You literally just finished saying how much you hated prom.”

“I mean, it’s probably not that bad-“

“Jonathan,” I laughed.

He joined in, the moment seemed too ridiculous to not laugh at it.

“Think of it as” Jonathan began, “You helped save Will and now I’m repaying the favor.”

“Oh, those two are equal, are they?”

“Sure,” he replied, “Come on…”

Jonathan was constantly doing for others. It almost made me uncomfortable that he would put himself through something he was so against just to make me happy. But….I really wanted to go.

“Okay,” I finally answered, “You do this and we’re…what’s the expression again?”

“Square,” Jonathan smiled, holding out his hand.

“Square,” I agreed, shaking his hand, already dreaming of what the night would look like.

——————

When Hopper picked me up that day, I had good news for the first time in a long time.

“How was your day?” Hopper asked, thinking he’d get the same groaning answer as always.

“It was…decent.”

“Really?” he asked, “Well, that’s an improvement.”

“I actually decided that I’m going to go to prom,” I answered as we pulled out of the school parking lot and onto the main road.

Hopper raised an eyebrow, “By yourself?”

“No, someone asked me.”

“Someone asked you?” his voice grew serious, “Who’s ‘someone?’ It’s not that Harrington kid, is it?”

I rolled my eyes, “Okay, for the hundredth time, Steve is dating Nancy-“

“Yeah, well, things change quick in high school.”

I smiled to myself and leaned my elbow against the windowsill, resting my head in my hand. He was about to feel ridiculous…

“And come to think of it, I don’t remember giving you permission to go to a school dance, and definitely not with a boy.”

“It’s Jonathan,” I told him.

Silence. “Jonathan?”

“Mm-hmm,” I nodded.

Another bit of silence. “Joyce’s kid?”

“The very one.”

“…huh…”

“Yeah,” I smiled, “So I don’t think you have anything to worry about. He doesn’t even want to go, really, he’s just taking me because he knows I want to go.”

Hopper knew how good of friends Jonathan and I had grown to be. He’d picked me up from from the Byers’ house nearly as much as he did from the Wheeler’s. Jonathan was probably the only boy from school Hopper would let take me anywhere, let alone prom.

“Then….” he trailed off as he tried to recover, “I think you two will have a lot of fun together.”

I looked to him with a smirk, “Oh, you do?”

Hopper shot me a side look out of his sunglasses. “Don’t be a smartass.”

——————

Nancy had already asked for help that weekend choosing a prom dress. We’d had to drive to the next town over as the girls of Hawkins had already cleaned our formalwear store out.

“What do you think of this one?” Nancy held up a turquoise dress with big puffy sleeves.

I tried not to let my feelings show too much on my face. “It’s…poofy?”

Nancy took a second look, before putting it back. “Why is shopping for one dress so hard? Honestly, count yourself lucky you don’t have to.”

“Yeah,” I nervously chuckled as if I hadn’t been secretly checking out every gown we passed.

I’d had days to tell Nancy that I was going to prom, but had held off. If it had been anyone else who had asked me, I’d have told her immediately. But Jonathan was…I wasn’t sure what Jonathan was to Nancy but I knew he was something. I hadn’t imagined the way they looked at each other. I didn’t want to affect my friendship with Nancy at all, but Hopper had uncharacteristically given me money and I needed to find a dress before he realized he’d gone insane.

“What about….” Nancy pulled out a strappy gold dress, “This one?”

“Oh,” I rubbed the material between my fingers, “I like it.”

“Yeah?” Nancy was beaming, “I’m gonna go try it on.”

As she walked off towards the fitting room, my nervousness grew to be too much to handle. “I-I forgot to tell you,” I said before she got too far, “I am going to prom.”

“What? Tini, oh my gosh, that’s awesome!” Nancy lightly smacked my arm, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” I tried to smile as she took my hands.

“Who asked you?”

My stomach twisted. “Um…Jonathan, actually.”

Any thoughts going through Nancy’s mind clearly stopped. Her smile dropped ever so slightly, a little bit of the signature light in her eyes faded.

“Just as a friend,” I clarified, “He doesn’t even want to go but he knew I really did. I-it’s basically a favor.”

“That’s…” Nancy began, trying to regain her smile, “That’s great. I’m so excited for you.”

“Is that…okay?” I asked, my palms sweating against hers.

“Yeah, of course,” she replied quickly, “I mean, why wouldn’t it be okay?”

Was she seriously in that much denial?

“Well, I mean…you and Jonathan are….” I struggled, “You guys were friends way before I got here and I just didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“Why would it be awkward?” Nancy asked, “You guys are friends, we all are….” she shook her head, “And I’m going with Steve, obviously. So everybody wins.”

Nancy let go of my hands and started sifting through the aisle of dresses we’d already looked at. She was way more affected than she’d ever let on.

“It’s great,” she smiled, a clear lie.

“O-okay…” I replied, “Great.”

A beat of awkward silence passed before Nancy snapped out of it. “And I mean, you’re getting to go to prom! That’s awesome!”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “Which means, I kind of need a dress too.”

Nancy pulled out a bright green dress made of taffeta, a word I’d only just learned. The laugh she was barely containing let me know she was joking.

“Only if you…” I quickly searched for a long sleeved red and black dress covered in sequins that Nancy had already made a face at, “Wear this one.”

The two of us burst into giggles and somehow the Jonathan matter was put behind us…for a little while, at least.

——————

The week of prom went by so much quicker than I’d expected. Nancy and I had worked each night after school on hair and makeup until we’d finally found the looks we wanted. As soon as Jonathan had told Joyce that we were going, she’d called Hopper and told him that she wanted to do pictures at their house before the dance. It was a little overwhelming, but the best kind.

The night of, I spent an hour in front of the mirror with the curling iron and my makeup bag. Everything still felt foreign to me, but I managed to do a near perfect duplicate of what Nancy had done on me. Looking in the mirror, I almost forgot who I was. For the first time in my life, I felt beautiful.

“Pretty.”

I caught El’s reflection, she was standing in the doorway.

“You think so?” I asked, she nodded. I reached out for her to come stand next to me. “You know you’re pretty too, right?”

El twisted her lips. “You are,” I pushed, wrapping an arm around her, “All this stuff I’ve got on my face is just for fun.”

“Can I try?” she asked timidly.

Hopper didn’t even like me wearing makeup, I knew he’d kill me if I got El involved at all. But sometimes, sisters could keep a few secrets. I dug through my bag and found my tinted lip balm. El turned to me and I held her face with one hand while applying a light coat of the balm. It added the tiniest bit of pink to her mouth.

“There,” I smiled, pulling back to admire her, “Just don’t tell Hopper.”

El looked herself over in the mirror and lit up, “Don’t tell Hopper.”

I giggled just as a knock sounded at the door. “You about finished in here?” Hopper asked.

“Yeah,” I got off my chair and left for my room, “Let me get changed and we can head out.”

The dress I’d ended up choosing was dark blue and hung off my shoulders. It looked like it was made for a movie star. There was still a small part of me that felt nervous about wearing it, but I was too excited to listen.

“Clock’s a-ticking,” Hopper called.

“Coming,” I gave myself one final look in El’s and my mirror, grinning at my reflection, before heading to the door, “Okay…”

I walked out of the bedroom to show the finished results. El’s eyes widened and her mouth opened, she came closer and touched the bodice of the dress.

“Pretty?” I smiled down at her.

She looked up and nodded, “Pretty.”

I looked to Hopper, who didn’t look nearly as thrilled but just as shocked. “Well?”

“I, uh…I…” he mumbled, clearing his throat, “You look…grown up.”

I furrowed my brow, “…is grown up good or…?”

“It’s good—I mean, not if you’re planning on doing something you shouldn’t, but you’re not so…” Hopper recovered his answer, finally smiling, “It’s good.”

I matched his expression, feeling a new kind of connection with him. Something like what I’d felt on Valentine’s Day. It was the same thing I felt when I was around Mr. Wheeler and Holly or Lucas’ dad and his little sister.

Hopper’s smile turned nervous, “And Jonathan and you are just friends, right?”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m leaving now.”

When we got to the Byers, the sunset was in full effect. I spotted Jonathan trying to teach Joyce how to work his camera as Hopper and I pulled into their driveway.

“Oh! You look beautiful!” Joyce exclaimed as she came over to hug me, “Are you excited?”

“Despite your son’s best efforts,” I shared a smirk with Jonathan, “Yes.”

Joyce went about posing me and Jonathan, almost all of them making us look more like a couple than friends. At one point, she had me wrap my arms around Jonathan’s neck and wrap his around my waist.

“Mom…” he laughed.

“What?” Joyce said as she lined up the shot, “Friends can look adorable too.”

At one point, while she was roping Hopper into finding another good spot to take pictures, I let go of Jonathan and grabbed Will, who’d been enjoying the mayhem from the front porch. Everyone laughed, including Will.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I said in a haughty voice, “I want only the best Byers brother to take me to prom.”

I crouched down next to him and Joyce snapped a few pictures of the two of us. Will and I had bonded once we’d gotten to know each other. I felt tied to him in some way after fighting to rescue him and he’d told me he liked that I didn’t treat him like I thought he was weird.

After taking pictures of me with both Byers boys, a few with Hopper plus some by myself, Jonathan and I were released. Hopper made Jonathan promise to be back in the driveway by curfew, something I didn’t suspect would be a problem.

“Ready?” Jonathan asked as he put his keys in the ignition.

I smiled at both his kindness of taking me and his absolute dread of going, “Start the car, Byers.”

The two of us left for prom, laughing.

——————

When we arrived, I got another wakeup call to how woefully behind I was when it came to understanding high school.

“Okay,” Jonathan said, we’d just gotten out of the car, “Let’s go…”

I looked down at the elbow he was holding out and back up at him. He did the same.

“Did you…hurt your arm driving?” I asked.

“No,” he laughed, “It’s for you. To take.”

I didn’t feel any more clued in. “Take where?”

“Inside.”

“I thought I was taking all of you,” I joked.

Jonathan took my hand and looped it through his arm. “There,” he finished.

One look around at the other kids entering the building and it was clear I’d missed another marker. It made me, once again, thankful I had people to help me fill in the gaps.

“Thank you again for this,” I said as we got closer to the gymnasium doors, “You didn’t have to.”

“What are friends for?” he replied.

“Saving each other from inter dimensional monsters?” I mumbled as we passed a few people.

“And corsages,” Jonathan pointed to the one he’d given me, the two of us sharing a knowing smile.

The moment we stepped in, it was like being in another land. The gym had been completely transformed. There were beautifully decorated tables with big flower displays in the center. Lights and streamers came from the ceiling. A DJ was positioned underneath the basketball hoop. There was a photographer at the door taking pictures in front of a backdrop. It took the dread out of my belly that came every time I walked into the gym.

“Wow,” I muttered.

Jonathan shared my astonishment, “They actually made it look nice.”

We got our photo taken by the over-the-top photographer and went on our way. If I hadn’t already known that Jonathan and I weren’t on a date, his lengthy criticisms about the guy’s subpar skills afterwards would have made it clear.

Afterwards, we found a table with two free seats and Jonathan went to find us some drinks. I watched the girls that passed by, admiring their dresses and complimenting them if they were close enough. Some thanked me, some told me they liked mine, but the majority looked at me as if they’d just been paid a compliment by…well, a homeless girl.

“Look,” one girl said as she passed by, “Freak’s playing Cinderella for a night.”

As her and her friends left giggling, I took a deep breath and put on a smile. I was determined to enjoy my night.

“Friends of yours?” Jonathan quipped, coming back with two glasses of punch.

“I’ve decided not to let it bother me,” I stated and took a sip, “Cinderella’s a princess.”

“So if you’re Cinderella, that makes me…the pumpkin?”

“You’re the best friend they don’t show in the movie,” I answered, “The one who cheers on her positive outlook on life.”

Jonathan nodded, “I can do that.”

I grinned as we knocked our glasses together, the night was a success as long as he was by my side.

Eventually, Jonathan couldn’t hold out on me and we made our way to the dance floor. The great part about going to prom with your best friend was that hand holding wasn’t a big deal. Jonathan spun me around until I was giggling and dizzy, even he was enjoying himself.

“Tini!”

I twirled around and saw Nancy heading for me, Steve behind her. She looked gorgeous in her pale pink ruffled gown, her curly hair pinned up.

“Aah!” I exclaimed as we hugged, “The dress looks so good on you!”

“You too!” she replied, looking over to Jonathan after. Her tone dropped from ecstatic to polite, “Hey.”

“Hey,” he mumbled, holding up a hand before extending it to Steve after, “Hey.”

“Hey, man,” Steve replied, the two of them were cordial and nothing else. They’d made up to some extent after the fight, but the awkwardness was still there.

“Can you believe how nice they made this place look?” I spoke up, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Right?” Steve jumped in, “Almost makes me forget about getting our asses kicked by the Falcons last week.”

Jonathan, who couldn’t have cared less about any part of Steve’s sentence, nodded and politely smiled. He kept his eyeline down, if he didn’t, he would have never stopped looking at Nancy.

“Alright, crazy kids,” the dj announced, “Time for a little switcheroo. Grab someone’s who you didn’t come with and hit the dance floor.”

The four of us exchanged awkward glances. I was the only one who wasn’t sweating at the idea of dancing with someone close by.

“Steve,” a blonde called sweetly from behind him, “Dance with me?”

Another two were closing in on Steve, each of them just as eager to score a dance with him and his hair. He chuckled nervously before regaining his cool composure, “Sorry, ladies,” he looked to me, “I already asked Tini.”

I confusedly took Steve’s outstretched hand and turned to Jonathan and Nancy, “Are you guys…?”

“Oh, sure,” Nancy rushed out, taking a hesitant step towards Jonathan.

With that, I let Steve lead me a few feet away. I settled my arms around his neck, feeling slightly uncomfortable. The last thing I wanted was to do something wrong and start a rumor that I was trying to steal Nancy’s boyfriend.

“Am I that bad a partner?” Steve noticed my discomfort.

“What?” I startled, “No, no…I’m just not sure how I’m supposed to dance with my best friend’s boyfriend.”

“You’re doing alright,” Steve assured, slowly swaying me to the music with his hands on my waist, “Prom living up to your expectations?”

I fake gasped, “Are you kidding me? A dance with Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington? Nothing will ever compare.”

Steve chuckled, “Alright, alright…Hey, last time we were this close, you punched me.”

“When are you going to let that go?” I asked with a roll of my eyes.

“I think I still have the scar right here,” he continued as he rubbed his chin.

“You do not…”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I don’t regret it,” I shrugged.

“I still flinch when someone makes a fist.”

“I’m guessing that happens to you pretty often.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised…”

“I don’t think I would,” I smiled.

Steve smiled down at me, he was making all of my nervousness disappear.

“How about this?” I started, “I promise never to hit you again, so long as you never hurt Nancy.”

“That’s a deal I can keep,” he replied, “So does that make us….friends?”

Steve and I had done a remarkable job of being around each other without actually being able to define our relationship. In my eyes, he’d been Nancy’s boyfriend who wasn’t totally unbearable. But he had bailed me out during my first day in detention, he’d continually looked out for me and treated me with…his own brand of kindness. It was almost like we were already friends and hadn’t known it.

“Yeah,” I said, “I guess it does.”

Steve smiled, “Good. I like it better when you’re not punching me.”

“I like it better when you’re not an asshole,” I replied.

Steve scrunched his face up, “Sure we’re friends?”

I giggled, “Sadly, yes…”

The song rang its final notes and couples began to quickly find each other again.

“Hey,” Nancy found us, “Is Jonathan okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“The second the song was over, he bolted,” she explained and looked to the main entrance, “I don’t know what happened.”

“I’ll go find him,” I said, leaving her and Steve and making my way through the gym. Jonathan wouldn’t have left me by myself if something wasn’t really wrong.

The hallways of the school were completely empty and the lights were dimmed. If he were hiding from something, he wouldn’t have done it in such a public place. I paused, trying to think of where he might go…I pushed the doors that led outside and followed the path towards the football field. Something told me I was headed in the right direction.

And there he was. Sitting on the bleachers.

I picked up my dress and climbed the steps, my heels clicking against the metal. Jonathan was wrapping his arms around himself, he looked pained. He said nothing as I approached, he didn’t even look at me. He kept his eyes closed and his head down. I’d heard of the expression ‘wearing your heart on your sleeve,’ if that was the case, Jonathan’s was bleeding.

He was heartbroken.

Over a girl who wasn’t his.

I settled next to my friend, my heart hurting for him. Of course it was Nancy that was bothering him. It was so painfully clear that he had feelings for her. Dancing with her, holding her close, gazing into her eyes…it all must have crushed him.

There was nothing to say, nothing to do. It was an impossible situation. I simply looped my arm through his and settled my head on his shoulder. It was the comfort I could offer. To let him know I knew.

Eventually, I felt his body stop trembling and his muscles began to unclench. The two of us sat together, the muffled music from inside playing in the background, heartbroken on prom night.

————————

@milkiane @raynelbabe @kik51199 @hazydespair @burn1ngw00d @fanficfanatic204 @stratospherewalker @caitsymichelle13 @potatoflavoured @guichi @triscuit-reads @angelbbygrl @finalgalnancy @thel0v3hashira143 @m-rae23 @kaelyn-lobrutto24 @dessmxsworld @teeacooper @liberhoe @superhero-missouri

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fanfic #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction

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reddyhassomethoughts · 8 months

Text

The one Good Omens interpretation/headcanon, which restored my sanity

Disclaimer: English is not my native language, but it's the only one I can think and write in right now. Biggest apologies to all the grammar aesthetes out there (I see you, I'm one of you when it comes to my mother tongue).

Big words of gratitude to FelisProlixus user from GO subreddit. You helped me to arrange my thoughts and go into the final interactions even deeper. Literally saved me, pal.

My previous two posts, the deleted ones, were telling in details why and how much GO 2 finale turned my world inside out (yep, not upside down). Maybe because of my text being to personal or a bit too late (GO s2 aired over a month ago), I decided on keeping my musings just for myself. I'll just summarise my thoughts and feels into one term: life-changing. You don't expect this from a simple, fun and quirky ”filler” season, and that's why it knocks you senseless right on spot.

Perhaps, if season 3 would have had the greenlit already, I wouldn't have bothered to invest myself into the topic around s2 ending that much. But life is unfair, so here we are.

GO s2 finale leaves us with a dramatic cliffhanger. On the first watch we see our beloved mischievous, but kind-hearted demon, who finally found the courage to confess his feelings to his companion, and a st naive piece of an angel, who clings to the “greater good” instead of running away with the love of his life (we know that you love him, Aziraphale! We have been observing your heart-shaped puppy emotions around Crowley long enough!).

We learn moments later that there is nowhere to run as the Second Coming is just around the corner, but we still experience high frustration at how things ended between the two. Yes, both want to be together, but they envision “together” differently, and both fail to hear and understand the other side. Simple and heartbreaking, let's move on.

Oh wait, how come this is it?! End of the season? And no one knows when or even if the final season will happen?!

And so with this hurtful uncertainty in the air, I've been left with no choice but to look into finale much deeper, analyse every detail out there and search for follower thinkers on the internet (many of us experienced the same, no wonder there are several theories interpreting the ending already).

And then one day (yesterday, actually) I run into one particular post on subreddit. And then everything clicked.

So, let me dive into last 10 or so minutes of the show. You are welcome to follow along.

Aziraphale

The one thing I'm sure of Aziraphale is that he is intelligent. Yes, he likes to label things in white and black, but it doesn't mean he thinks the same way. He is not clueless, not the Aziraphale I learned to know and love. Why else show runners would have shown us his character development in the way they did? Aziraphale discovering his gray area (even it's being very light shade) is one of the main things two seasons gave us.

It's easy for us viewers to see and hang on into his top layer of religious trauma and occasional regression to the black and white way of thinking. Perhaps it's how things really are. But let me hope that there is more.

Aziraphale is not ambitious when it comes to ruling the Up, the promotion only means that much that he will be granted with a possibility to affect things in turn to save Earth. To “make a difference”. But what if there is more to it? What if agreeing on Metatron's proposal is the only right option at this moment? What if his safety and Crowley's safety depends on it? We have shown only the part of dialogue at “give me coffee or give me death” cafe, but why not the whole sitting and only Aziraphale as a narrator?

Note one more thing. Aziraphale isn't shown much excited about Metatron's proposal at ANY point except the pitch talk in front of Crowley. And even during the talk he also looks... alerted? Why this overwhelming joy and looking out the window at the same time. Maybe someone is observing them right now, so he has no choice but to act in a way he is acting?

Crowley

His case is more simple. Our beloved demon has a strong sense of “self”, he has been on “his” side for centuries and is more that comfortable with it (although lonely at times). The only thing he apparently needed is to realise how earthy his feelings for Aziraphale are. He knew that A is his person for ages, but kept missing the last dimension of them (feelings). Sadly, with earthy feelings of affection, earthy downsides follow. Coming back to Aziraphale for a moment: note how he behaves during the confession (and it's something many of us missed the first time!). He is shaking his head, glances at the window and is clearly in distress. But Crowley just keeps failing to listen to Aziraphale at this crucial moment, dwelling on his emotions instead.

The kiss

Or the last nail in the coffin. This gesture was anything but romantic. It's full of desperation, anger, disbelief and misunderstanding. The dramatic timing and loud angelic choir music makes your heart explode (thanks, Neil Gaiman and co., I will never be the same person I was before this event). And then again, let's look at this moment closer. Aziraphale is fighting himself so badly here. He wants to return the gesture, he even does so at brief moment, but then stops himself because the timing is so wrong.

I forgive you

Heavy breathing, agony and, once more, a quick look out the window. Aziraphale wanted to say something else first, but quickly collected himself and said “I forgive you” instead with so much pain in his eyes that it's unbearable to watch (Michael Sheen, bravo! If I ever become a performer, I will always refer to you as the biggest influence).

This sentence contains a big load of emotions and can be interpreted many ways. I forgive you for kissing me is the obvious one, but it can also mean: I forgive you because you didn't follow me to Heaven when I asked. I forgive you because you failed to understand the situation we are in. I forgive you because you didn't trust me.

And what about Crowley? His kiss was the last attempt to keep his best friend on Earth. But the real life is not like in Richard Curtis films. When love magic didn't happen, Crowley sighs, says "Don't bother" and walks away. Shown simple enough to agree on what he is feeling at that moment without a further need to dig deeper.

We usually understand Crowley much better than we understand Aziraphale, don't we?

But what's that, our heartbroken demon goes not too far and seen waiting by his Bentley. Why? One can assume that he got Aziraphale's hint and plays along. It is a healing interpretation, but if turns out to be true, we will be brutally striped of the heavy emotional impact we experienced just now. I think we should expect horses, not zebras with this one.

Split screen

First, I want to praise composer David Arnold for the music during this scene. I didn't know my heart is able to shatter on atomic level, but it did.

So, what do we see here: Crowley is obviously heartbroken and the next thing he'll probably come up with is ingestion of alcohol in astronomical doses. Or maybe he will flee straight to Hell and take over the position of Grand Duke. Wait and see, right?

And then there is Aziraphale, more interesting once more. So, he stands in the elevator with the spectra of micro expressions I probably haven't seen on his face before. What is all that? He is hurt, stressed, but uplifted at the same time? His final manic smile before everything goes blurry is going to haunt my dreams for sure.

Finally, Metatron

Oh, this entity is up to something, I swear. How he executes his small and big manipulations is something very intriguing. “Give me coffee or give death”, all right.

Without more thoughts written down let's just agree that his agenda was to separate Aziraphale and Crowley. But why? Because they are so powerful together? There is probably more and I can't wait to find out. I trust that whatever it is, it's going to be E P I C.

P.S. I'm out to distract myself with other stuff. It's have been over a week of naked feels and it's... it's... not on! Peace.

#good omens #good omens 2 #go2 #go2 spoilers #go 2 speculation #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers

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korkiekenobiconfirmed · 2 years

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Sidelines are for sports games, not characters of color

I want to address the somewhat awful job ST has done with its POC characters not just in Vol 2, but over the course of the show. I've done a similar post talking about the queer rep in the show if you want to check that out.

I'm gonna start with Lucas, who's been sidelined from the beginning. I get this is rural Indiana in the 80's and you wouldn't expect a whole ton of POC characters fine fine fine whatever. But if you're going to include exactly one (1) POC main, you better hope to god you do a good job with that character. Look at S1 -- Will was central to the plot in a major way (duh), Mike was huge in pushing everyone to find Will and was well-defined by his close relationship with him, and Dustin's intelligence set him apart even in a group full of so-called nerds. What did Lucas get to distinguish him in any particular way? Nothing much. Even moving into S2 his character remained distinctly less fleshed out than the others

One part of S1 I did very much like, however, was this scene. I thought it was a great way to address the kind of casual racism that people who grow up with privilege can often display, even unintentionally.

Mike and Lucas had both showed up to school dressed as the ghostbuster Venkman and Mike tried to argue that Lucas should be Winston Zeddemore. Lucas pointed out that Mike only said that because Zeddemore was black, and he didn't want to be Zeddemore because he, like so many black characters in film, wasn't as interesting or influential as many of the white mains.

Ironically, a similar fate ended up befalling Lucas. He began to be drawn more into the spotlight in S2 and S3, but it was more in reference to his relationship with Max than anything else. Listen, I love Lumax (their relationship outclasses Mileven by a mile, argue with the wall) but Lucas needing a relationship with a white character in order to gain real traction within the show and the fandom is pretty fucking shitty.

S4 finally put Lucas' character on par with the others in terms of screentime, lines, and fandom attention, and the Duffers managed this oh-so-impressive feat through the power of... basketball. Come on, I mean really?

Yes, from what we've seen basketball is the fastest path to popularity in Hawkins High (Steve, Billy, Tommy H, Jason) but to make the only black character suddenly a basketball star when he's shown zero interest or athletic ability up until now... it doesn't sit right with me, let's put it that way.

Erica falls into similar black stereotyping as Lucas. We see little development for her over the seasons and from the first moment she's on-screen she's very much the Sassy Black Girl. There's nothing wrong with characters displaying stereotyped traits as long as you can give them other characteristics that define them beyond the typical fallbacks. If your character is essentially reduced to that stereotype, however, it's a problem. All we know of Erica, beyond her never-ending supply of clapbacks and sarcasm, is that she likes DND and My Little Pony. 90% of her lines are full of sass, no matter who she's talking to, and while it's entertaining at times (her calling Murray a bald bastard was funny as hell lmaoo) it can quickly get old. Erica's not the worst black rep I've ever seen, not by a long shot, but the Duffers definitely could've done better with her.

[Having the only black female character also be a staunchly avowed capitalist feels a little weird to me, but I honestly don't have a way to properly articulate why so I'm not going to go into that rn. Maybe in a later post.]

Watching Vol 2 was a crazy fucking experience for a lot of reasons, but watching Jason and his little basketball cult fully beat up black kids significantly younger than them was... really something. A mostly-grown guy full on rugby tackling a middle school girl with aggression that far outweighed the situation...

You can't tell me there wasn't racial motivation there, but the situation really wasn't handled that way on-screen. It wasn't filmed to really make the audience think about the kind of aggressions (micro or otherwise) that black kids in bumfuck Indiana would experience. It wasn't addressed as racially-motivated. It wasn't addressed at all, actually. Thanks to the racist implications of that moment (and, in fact, the racist implications of Jason's entire attitude towards Lucas & Erica) never being addressed ever, the whole scene came across as more gratuitous violence than anything. I'm not saying the show needs to hold the audience's hand and look in their eyes and spell out J-A-S-O-N = R-A-C-I-S-T, but the S1 Zeddemore scene proved there are ways to intertwine talks about racism into the script, ways to address problems like xenophobia without making it stilted or shoehorned in.

When you show the brutal beating of black children and then move on too quickly for the audience to fully process what happened, it takes away from the heavier implications of such violence.

Moving on from the Sinclairs, we have Kali.

I liked her character very much, I'm going to be honest. The way she embodied El's angrier, more violent inner voices, with El's return to Hawkins representing her turning her back on that side of her while never truly facing up to it, made her an excellent lens for the audience to see more of El than what we got in S1.

But brown women in media too-often fall into one of two categories.

the docile, meek woman who comes from a patriarchal culture and will always defer to the men in her life, even when it goes against her own desires and dreams

The angry, probably violent woman who rages against the world because she has been wronged in the past

Again, a brown character being one of these two things isn't necessarily bad, but when we're left room for little else around all the resentment Kali's built up? When there's almost no middle ground between the two extremes?? Let's not rely on the old stereotypes over and over and over again, please.

...

...Did someone say stereotypes? Oh hang on wait it looks like we have another one. I once again feel the need to establish that this is not hate on the character himself, Argyle was legitimately one of the best parts of the California group and I love him with my whole entire heart (& also Eduardo Franco deserves so much better from this shitty fandom).

But the first Latine character on the show being a stoner? That's the best y'all could come up with?? Argyle was funny, he was useful to the plot, and he was a nice foil for the often-serious characters he's surrounded by, but all that being said, I couldn't quite get rid of the nagging irk in the back of my mind every time he was on screen because the stoner Latine character??? At this point, all the blatantly stereotyped characters just make this shit boring and predictable. I don't even have anything new to say about Argyle because it's nothing I didn't just address in terms of Erica, Lucas & Kali.

I feel like the treatment of ST's queer and POC characters is definitely different. We see constant abuse and mistreatment of queer characters without getting any outwardly, happily-queer endings for them; with the POC characters it strikes me more as the typical sidelining and stereotyping that we see in a lot of mainstream media. I'm not going to sit here and argue over which is worse or which is more harmful to audiences, they're both shitty and I'm tired of it all.

Do better.

#stranger things #stranger things meta #lucas sinclair #erica sinclar #argyle stranger things #kali prasad #will beyers #mike wheeler #steve harrington #nancy wheeler #el hopper #eddie munson

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kinetic-elaboration · 15 days

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April 27: Daria Episode Recs

I saw the question again so I've been thinking about it: what would be good Daria episodes to use to introduce someone to the show? I've been pondering this since B said that he'd tried to watch it and couldn't get into it, not because I am going to try to convince him to--I feel like that's a jerk move and also sort of a waste of time--but because I get why he didn't get into it, and I think starting Esteemsters is not a great way to try. Because the thing is that it is a show about teenagers and high school and he is 34 years old. It's definitely possible to get into Daria as an adult; I know people did during its original run and probably still do now. But it's never going to weasel its way into your brain and permanently change your DNA if you watch it for the first time in your 30s, the way it did to me when I watched it for the first time at 13. I think in some ways I love Daria so much because it grew with me--which is to say that yes it is the sort of show that can do that, but one of the prerequisites for a growing-with experience is starting out with the media when you're not-grown. It's really impossible to say what I would think of the show if I'd watched it for the first time in my 30s or even my 20s.

Anyway, I think part of the issue with trying to get anyone into the show by just starting at 1x01 is that the early episodes, while they aren't bad, are much more one-note and simplistic than the later ones. The show at its best was so thoughtful, developed its characters so well, included so much nuance--but you're not going to see that in the first half of season 1, which is mostly just Nerd Fantasy: smart outcast makes fun of other people and comes up with various schemes to make herself the winner of all the weird and embarrassing situations she finds herself in as a high school student. I do like these episodes, I'm not trying to say I don't know, but they're not the strongest and they don't show off the diversity and intelligence of the show very well. I find them the least-rewatchable.

Not even I started watching at 1x01. I think the first episode I saw might have been Write Where It Hurts, which is the last episode of S2.

On the positive side, most of the episodes are sufficiently stand alone that you don't need to start at 1x01 to understand what's happening.

So--what would I recommend to someone who wants to give the show a try but doesn't want to commit to watching the whole thing, or even the whole first season, up front?

1x13 The Misery Chick: I think this episode is the closest this show comes to a thesis statement, and is one of the best episodes for 'decoding' Daria's character. It uses most of the main cast and shows off several different characters and dynamics. It includes a couple of different registers--the darkly comic, the serious, etc. And it's in S1 so it gives you a sense of the show's early era, while still being more complex than, say, College Bored. (Boxing Daria is the other episode I consider to be truly essential for understanding Daria as a character--but I cant recommend someone start at the finale lol.)

1x12: The Teachings of Don Jake: A good episode for Morgendorffer family dynamics but honestly I just consider this one such a Classic I have to include it. I think it also is a good test of whether or not this style of humor is for you.

2x05 That Was Then, This Is Dumb: I think this episode places the show pretty well in its cultural context: that Daria is the Gen X daughter of Hippie Parents (actually she's probably an older Millennial technically, but the show is very Gen X). Also, even though the Yaegers are mercilessly mocked by both the narrative and Daria, this is one of the episodes where she does question her assumptions and judgments ("People believed in stuff back then.")

2x13 Write Where It Hurts: Another episode that really goes into Daria's character and inner life. Also as I said I think this was my first episode, and it worked to get me interested in the rest of the show.

I think I would start with those. There are others that spotlight particular parts of the show, like particularly good Morgendorffer family episodes, or Jane episodes, or Lawndale High episodes, and so if I thought someone was showing an interest in some specific aspect I might have more recommendations. There are also some personal favorites, like Road Worrier or Lane Miserables, that I didn't include because I didn't think they were really representative of the show. And I don't think anyone should really start with anything in seasons 4 or 5. Those are too different, and I think they need to be appreciated in context. But if I were to rec from those seasons, I'd probably say Lucky Strike, which is one of my overall favorites, and maybe something like Psycho Therapy or Groped by an Angel for character-centric episodes that are still understandable as standalone episodes.

#the year 2024 #2024: fandom thoughts #2024: daria

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such-a-downer · 3 years

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If Final Stroke part 1 was rinharu angst, i bet Final Stroke part 2 will be makoharu angst.

You guys have seen the animedia cover right?

If rin helped haru in s2, it might be makoto's turn in the second movie.

Well, I'm fine with it. I like both anyways.

And tho I'm late with the fandom's discussion about the movie, and even tho i haven't seen it yet myself, i'll still put out mine *with a sprinkle of memes (it's more of an overall analysis tho, accuracy not guaranteed)---

• The spoilers point out that haru had another breakdown, wanting to get stronger and faster. In my opinion, it's because haru has only started to learn things the hard way. Come to think of it, he only began to care about his swimming during their nationals back in high school. And he still isn't used to being bested by someone else. Unlike rin who has better knowledge and experience (by haru in freestyle and sousuke in butterfly), haru has no idea how to handle getting worked up when competing against someone, he's not used to it.

• Haru has another hidden matra. Besides that mantra about being a normal person at 20, he got a hidden one: 'Never depend on others'. Yes, he doesn't say it himself but when you have watched the series several times enough, then you know that haru is quite independent in almost everything; whether at home or school. And more importantly, if you have read the High Speed light novels (if you haven't, i suggest you do so cuz why not), little haru doesn't like the idea of depending on others and was even pissed when he questioned himself if he was just being dependent on water. The only notable time he openly asked for help is when he asked coach azuma to help him with the IM race against ikuya. For the most time, he was being aided by makoto's keen (motherly-like) observation skills (although haru is also keen in his own way).

• Makoto-Haru-Rin assessment: haru lacks openness, makoto lacks initiative and rin can be impulsive sometimes. Wait, hold up! please put down your pitchforks if you have any. I'll explain it (it's connected with the previous bullet) *Ahemm, so, what i meant by that is, haru tends to keep everything to himself and doesn't feel the need to drag others into his business and rarely openly preaches his feelings, he usually does this if the other one does the talking first. Haru didn't talk about his meeting with rin back in junior high with others, not even with makoto. He kept his plans for the future on hold just because he doesn't want to be bothered by it. Even when pressure kept on bugging him, he never spoke about it with anyone. And what did it did to him? He ends up snapping at others.

Next is makoto. Yes, he got motherly instincts that makes him take action as what he thinks he should. We know that he has a good grip on haru. Still, there are times that makoto tends to give haru too much space. It's true that he was the one who called rin and told him about haru when they had a fight in s2. But he respects haru's privacy too much that he never asked what was up when haru suddenly decided to quit during high school. There's a good chance that haru would have told everything if only makoto pressed on it. Makoto has the right to know. And what's more, after the friendly competition against albert, makoto was able to hold on for two good weeks without checking on haru. If rin hadn't dragged him to visit haru, who knows until when would makoto stay still. Third blow on makoto: according to movie spoilers, he let the serious talk with haru be cut off just because he was reminded that he had some business with his twin siblings. Come on, i know keeping your word with your family is important but can't he at least be more aggressive when it comes to haru just like what he did in s2? And i think he's already spoiled the twins enough. He could have spared at least ten more minutes with haru. He has the right to question and speak to haru because, again, he has the right to know.

Now, let's have rin. This guy is prone to confronting others with physicality. Gosh, i salute ai for being able to put up with rin in s1. Remember? He tried to punch haru back in s1. He also has this habit of grabbing others by the collar (rei, sousuke) or their swimming goggles (haru). And if makoto lacks initiative, rin is the opposite who tends to be pushy and impulsive sometimes. Transferring to iwatobi, studying in australia, suddenly joining samezuka relay (as surprise counterattack after seeing iwatobi relay), bringing haru to australia, and quitting freestyle. He triggered haru's switch once in s2 by taunting about future plans so why did he had to do it again in the movie? They are not even halfway through college yet but rin was already rushing haru to come up with a decision about his next step. Not only that, rin shouldn't have brought down the blow on haru so suddenly, saying he'd quit freestyle. He should have known by now not to give haru sudden triggers (somehow i feel this is some sort of karma on haru for suddenly quiting during junior high).

• Another separate bullet for haru (because he's the mc). Haru can be indifferent and passive towards. I remembered that some fans speculate that haru has autism. I think that if it was true, then it's possible to connect it to this. Well anyways, haru is not the most sociable kid around, ever since High Speed light novel. And i was pissed off with his attitude towards nagisa in the second volume (yea just because he's already in junior high). Too bad, the movie version made haru more amiable. Of course, haru can act out of concern like what he did for makoto, nagisa and rei. He can help. But it doesn't change the fact that somethimes he thinks that concerning himself with others' business is such a drag. And when haru wants to make them stay or confront them, it ends up messy because he's not used to 'talking things out with them'. Haru is used to makoto being around him he ended up snapping. Not only because makoto will be away, but also because makoto went ahead of him in coming up with a decision. Let's just say that during that time, he had 'no sense of emergency' (sorry for the term hehe), he put the serious matter on hold. And of course, haru is used to rin giving him the push he needs. He realized his dream with the help of rin. His competitiveness is always driven by rin. No wonder that rin's decision to quit freestyle was a shot to the heart for haru. It's obvious that haru wants to take on albert together with rin. Haru should have been more open about it.

• Of course, let's add sousuke. Actually, i like sousuke's character development. My concern is that his surgery and recovery was covered way too briefly. And more than that, the build-up of dynamic between him and natsuya feels very unnatural. I know people of the same interest are bound to intersect in some way but it feels off that sousuke and natsuya immediately became familiar with each other. They could have at least dug the events from high speed. Like natsuya could at least point out that he remember sousuke as someone who had "temporary issues" with haru (this is more detailed in the light novel). Actually, instead of concentrating sousuke's interaction with natsuya, it would have been better that the focus was on him and rin. Like sousuke suddenly bringing up to rin that he is thankful that rin is not repeating what he did (when he cut off the correspondence back then) and that their connection and support towards each other are growing strong. It would be nice to see how sousuke is as rin's mental support (i consider sourin as the "bros of the bros" tandem)

• The ikurin pair. Yeah finally more interaction between these two. Still, i personally think that ikurin pair would have been portrayed better if not for the s3's awful pacing. If only they had compressed ikuya and haru's conflict into 3 episodes instead of 8, then perhaps ikuya would look less dramatic. More on, ikuya and rin would have met in s3 instead of Road to World movie. And a bigger chance for ikuya to be enlightened why haru quit back then. Imagine, what would ikuya do after learning about it. Because i find it off that ikuya only minded that haru quit the club and that even after they have reunited, it's still not know to him. Well, plot and characters felt less natural ever since s3 so... Anyways, ikuya and rin. They are similar when it comes to having fixation towards haru. But how they handle their conflicts with haru are so far apart. Rin acted like a badass, was a grump, and always ready to punch others. But nevertheless, despite his temper during s1, whenever he would calm down and think things over, he can respond properly to others. Just like with ai and rei. He doe Ikuya on the other hand, he acted calm and cold. And whenever hiyori confronts him about haru, ikuya just brushes it off until he finally snapped during that slide scene (which i enjoyed despite being 100% bait and 0% plot). He was too obsessed with haru and shrugged hiyori. He didn't even bother to at least explain properly like a mature athlete. Hiyori was so misunderstood but many don't see that ikuya doesn't treat his friend better. Makes me think that High Speed Ikuya is better than anime ikuya.

• Our precious iwatobi and samezuka kids. Oh good grief, i've barely read anything about them in the spoilers. They were quite neglected (seriously, s3 started it). If in s2 haru and other's future plans were the main focus, how come the youngsters don't get the spotlight they deserve? Season 3 got 12 + 1 episodes, they could at least have 2 good episodes to focus on what nagisa, rei, gou, and ai are planning for their future. It would have been good if it was included that they have been scouted. Like ai and nagisa being scouted by shimogami while rei gets scouted by hidaka, gou decides to take similar career to makoto; she can also become a sports nutritionist (the proper way lol). Also, since ai and mikhail are relatives, it would have been interesting if it was revealed that ai persuaded his uncle to coach rin (because ai got ai for rin and would do what he can to give support). And sweet momo-kun would be expected to become the next captain (being captain runs in the blood) and have realization that he needs to be more serious in holding the team. I wish the new iwatobi and samezuka relay team were also given more appreciation. By the way, s3's ending theme was so misleading that i thought nagisa and nao would actually meet. I've never seen something more misleading. They could've at least let them meet during the time when makoto brought over the iwatobi kids at the swim club for practice. Imagine nao answering to nagisa's hyper questions. *sigh~ i feel bad for my kids. They deserved better.

• Then we have our candy boys kisumi and asahi. Kisumi needs more appreciation. I've read somewhere that he should be given some focus too (which i agree to). Like exploring about his basketball club, the others supporting kisumi and cheering him up during a game. He plays such an important role in connecting the others. It's even amazing that he and asahi have maintained connection somehow even after asahi moved out back in junior high. The hint to that is the TYM where the two of them had a phone call. And when it comes to asahi, it would have been good to see a deeper aspect of him. I wish they connected asahi and rin too. I mean it's actually canon, in a way (their dads were buddies). Anyways, asakisu pair is part of the refreshing pairs alongside nagirei. Come to think of it, asahi and kisumi are flexible when it comes to pairings (kisurin, kisuke, asaiku, asarei).

• Of course, the other characters too. The drama cds were such a blessing since they show more of other characters like teacher ama and coach sasabe. But still, i wish we saw more of them too. Imagine teacher ama's previous profession being revealed to the kids or having a flashback of coach sasabe's high school days (though there's little info on this one). Or better yet, let coach goro and coach sasabe meet, since they are both iwatobi hs alumni. Another wishful thinking for me is to see coach mikhail and ai together (mikhail could've attended the nationals at least to support ai). And a bonus: a meeting between coach mikhail and gou (and have muscle talk all day long). The "vilains" or should i say "powerful rivals" were better off either removed from s3 or introduced early on. I'm not saying they are not necessary, but the plot line would have had a better flow if they have kinjou for s3 and move albert to a latter timeline. *sigh~ makes me think that s3 should have neen 16 eps instead of 12 (13 if you include the 0)

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thebeautysurrounds · 3 years

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THIS CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR NEVER HAVE I EVER S2 READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This is quite long I had a lot to unpack.

Since watching the 2nd season of Never Have I Ever a few things have been bothering me about the way people are reacting to Devi, and the show overall but mostly Devi. First of all she’s what a sophomore in high school? and she’s doing this all while being the only brown girl (up until kinda the middle of S2) and still dealing with grief and having absolutely no idea who she is yet. To me outside of being an honor roll student she is not doing things FOR HER she is doing this to appease her mother. Who while she means well pushing Devi to succeed to certain extremes which if Devi shows the slightest behavior of fucking up her mother makes harsh comments instead of understanding Devi is a literal teenager and needs room for fucking up.

Is Devi hella unreasonable at times? YES does she often times act strictly on impulse without a second thought…YES. But as a girl who virtually has no one outside of her friends who also are staring to drift from her and get into their first relationships themselves and have their own activities she essentially is left to navigate the world and her teenage angst alone. While I will give Nalini credit for all the work and time she has put in to not only being a single mother and navigating her own grief but also being a working mother who is a doctor and quite possibly has her own struggles with being a brown women in that filed. My problem lies with her not being able to balance or even let go of a strong arm parenting style that mostly focuses on Devi’s fuck up more than her accomplishments and makes comments on how her fuck ups that haven’t even happened yet. I’m not sure Nalini even realizes Devi is at the very very top of her class because I truly believe (after S1) even though Nalini apologized to Devi Nalini has a ‘hoping for the best but expecting the worst’ attitude when it comes to Devi and that’s in the for front of her mind so much she doesn’t realize Devi goes above and beyond not only for herself but to make her mother proud of her all for her mother to just not acknowledge that.

Now with Devi’s characterization I get where some people are coming from on saying Devi shouldn’t have been “boy crazy” or that they “ruined her character development” but here’s my problem those critiques while valid and your allowed to have those opinions…It’s just not really realistic and let me tell you why like I stated Devi is what a sophomore in high school and she has made it a abundantly clear her parents forbid her to date cause it’s school and extra curriculars only. Which will lead to a good college which thus will turn into a good career. While that’s all well and good. I don’t think y’all realize the FOMO of being in high school and growing up with very strict parents, and wanting to have your first relationship. Wanting to be an actual teenager and not wanting to think about 3-4 years down the line which most teenagers don’t/can’t visualize cause it’s not the right now. Devi wants to have those experiences and there’s nothing wrong with that does she go about it the right way…not exactly but y’all act like YOU have never been a teenager and said and done awful things out of anger or just pure immature stupidity. For the boy crazy part Devi is literally having her first feelings and experiences with boys she has 0 clue what she is doing outside of probably books, tv, movies and what her friends assume they know (even though they mean well) the only person Devi would remotely trusts is gone, and she can’t ask her mother cause her mother would honestly probably shut her down and make her feel guilty for even wanting to start having her first experiences with boys. Y’all have such a warped view of not only real teenagers and high school aged kids but also fictional ones. Y’all are so use to shows having protagonist being awful or starting off kinda okay but then their character turns awful and remains that way. What some of you fail to realize is actual teenagers and “teenagers” in shows can/are VERY morally grey.

Should Devi have been honest and possibly communicated to both Ben and Paxton that she has some sort of feelings for them both..possibly but Devi is a teenager do you think she is having a in depth analysis and talk with herself (outside of a pros and cons list) about what infatuation versus lust versus genuine connection versus romantic attraction looks like probably not. Let’s also analyze how she literally goes from being in her eyes forgettable to being noticed and even though it’s not talked about in the show explicitly she honestly probably struggles with self esteem/self image issues. To go from being a girl who to her no one cares about/notices to one who is getting the attention of two boys who are in Devi’s eyes attractive in their own right. She is so consumed with two guys ACTUALLY being interested in her that she fails to realize she is/and will hurt them both, Do I think Paxton is genuinely attracted to Devi…maybe. But I’m still on the fence about their relationship to me in the beginning I felt Paxton felt Devi is just another meaningless high school fling that he will forget about once he gets to college but to Devi here’s this guy who is “popular” very attractive and he pays attention to her is she looking at the semantics of the situation and how Paxton is more than likely just using her and is only engaging with Devi to get a passing grade and to basically give her the superficial experience of a “high school boyfriend” no she’s not she’s looking at it like here’s this guy who is attractive and he wants to be with someone like me. But do I also believe Devi in S1 was using Paxton and then fell for him DEFINITELY but I will give credit to Paxton for trying at a real relationship with Devi and I hope he will try to be more open and honest.

Do I think Ben likes Devi I honestly do, While the insensitive jokes (exchanged between both) should be discussed I think Ben over time started to see Devi as a girl who finally saw him not the rich, annoying, know it all. But in his view Devi and him are on equal playing fields because they are both overly driven smart individuals and when she said yes to going out with him it was probably the first time he felt like a girl saw the real him. While Ben too more than likely struggles with abandonment issues him dating Devi in a way made him feel like this was the first time he could actual be happy about something cause it was something he actually wanted and not something he just did to earn points in others books and impress people he genuinely got something on his own and that he was actually happy not a front he put on. To me Ben’s abandonment issues come out even more than in S1 when he tells Devi why he’s so hurt and it’s the night of the party when she runs after Paxton (who he sees has it all) and Devi doesn’t “choose him” Do I think Ben and Devi should date cause they share some form of the same trauma no. But again Devi is not use and doesn’t even know what to do with the attention of two people. Again is Devi looking at the semantics of her relationship with Ben…No. I don’t think Devi even realizes she’s quite literally hurting two people cause we could also discuss how Ben and Paxton probably have had other flings and relationships without a second thought while Devi having no relationship experiences and this is territory for her and she has no idea what she is doing or how to properly navigate this situation.

I’m almost done with this long ass rant I promise but it’s two more things I want to make light of/point out I don’t think anyone really gives Devi credit for still going to therapy, loosing a parent is unbearable especially loosing one as young as Devi did, especially when you feel the only parent that truly understood and supported you is gone. Devi doing things that are impulsive and unreasonable because she quite literally has no guidance her mother is only consumed with Devi not making the family “look bad” Devi’s grief is so heavy and she feels she’s going at it alone because her mother doesn’t take genuine time to talk to her. Now was Devi “stalking” her mother extremely inappropriate yes for sure but do Nalini and her need to communicate better for Devi to understand that her mother wasn’t dating sure even if Nalini was on a date their should have been communication there. Devi will probably never stop grieving her father hell he literally came to her in a dream to tell her she deserves better when it came to “dating” Paxton and Nalini will probably never stop grieving her husband but she deserves happiness too and I believe if Devi and Nalini were both honest with each other her slowly dating again wouldn’t have been a problem. Another point I wanna make connecting Devi, Paxton, and Ben is they all have this view that the grass is greener on the other side and that’s just not the case. Ben is jealous of Paxton cause he feels he has the “Perfect life” but in actuality Paxton is extremely flawed and honestly insecure his own family doesn’t believe in him and he knows people only like him because he is attractive, while Paxton looks at Ben like this, while annoying Ben is smart, rich, and no one ever questions Ben’s intelligence but in actuality Ben is very lonely and has spent most of his life alone or being raised by other people which has caused him to put on a huge front to people and often times overcompensate in his social life, and Devi looks at other girls like they have it all and have 0 struggles or problems (I.e her views on Anissa) but Devi fails to realize thy also struggle, are insecure, is struggling with mental illness, and don’t have themselves figured out, and Devi is looking at this man her mom is “dating” as if he’s taking something away but In actuality he is experiencing his own losses. All in all Never Have I Ever gets teenage angst and messy problematic morally grey teenagers right and the fact that y’all beg for more “flawed or problematic” characters and when you get them you don’t like that they are just that it’s odd to me it seems like y’all only want problematic characters if it’s how you see fit.

TL;DR: Y’all need to stop acting like y’all weren’t gross annoying and had fuck ups as teenagers y’all should really stop pretending like teenagers in real and some of us as teens didn’t have/engage in relationships that weren’t good but we learned from it while this show isn’t real it shows y’all will scream let people fuck up and let them grow but you don’t actually mean it. Devi is a teenager and requires room to grow she even admits she acts out and is impulsive but y’all act like she’s supposed to have the self awareness of a 60 year old.

#netflix never have i ever #never have i ever season 2 #tv show #never have i ever #devi vishwakumar #paxton hall yoshida #ben gross #nalini vishwakumar #maitreyi ramakrishnan #darren barnet #Poorna Jagannathan #jaren lewison #rant #analysis #spoilers #never have I ever spoilers #I wrote this at like 2am so if it doesn’t make much sense 🤷🏾‍♀️#I just had to get these thoughts out there cause it’s been on my mind

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cheri-translates · 3 years

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[CN] Shaw’s S2 R&S - A Gentleman’s Promise

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers from an R&S (君子一诺) which has not been released in EN! 🍒

Features S2 Shaw

In terms of sequencing, this is Shaw’s fourth S2 R&S!

[ Chapter One ]

The first time Teacher Zeng met Shaw was three or four years ago.

Back then, he was just a little over thirty, and was still at an age of surging vigour. Based on the results of his online searches, Teacher Zeng carried a bag, bringing along some tools, and came to this mine shaft alone.

Lifting a torchlight with a weak light, he carefully observed the surroundings, trying to search for the stone tablet with the symbol “8″. Despite walking quite far in, he had not been able to glean anything. It was most likely another instance of “mistaken information”.

But he had to admit - this mine shaft was built too loosely. As a graduate in archaeological studies with practical experience, Teacher Zeng guessed that there was sandy soil underneath. For safety reasons, he decided to leave this place first.

That was when the accident suddenly happened.

Teacher Zeng happened to walk into an exceptionally narrow space. Perhaps the mine shaft was too dark and there wasn’t any space for his feet. Just as he planned to turn around, Teacher Zeng felt the ground beneath his feet soften. Knowing that he had unfortunately stepped onto soil which was too loose, Teacher Zeng reacted quickly, attempting to lunge forward. However, the sinking sandy soil was even faster than his thoughts. He was about to fall -

Before he faced imminent peril, he felt an external force grabbing him suddenly!

In the next second, the sandy soil filled the air, collapsing from above. How could a person’s strength withstand the speed of the collapsing soil? Almost immediately, Teacher Zeng attempted to free himself from the other party’s grip, not wanting to become another person’s liability.

As though sensing Teacher Zeng’s intentions, the other party shouted in a muffled voice, “Hey, grab tight!”

All of a sudden, lightning as bright as daytime appeared out of thin air. In the next second, a loud crackling sound of electrical currents seemed to gather into a ball. Along with a few "boom” sounds, the sandy soil and the wall of the mine were instantly exploded open by lightning.

Taking in light and air once again, Teacher Zeng was still badly shaken up. He subconsciously looked at his “saviour”, who appeared to be a young man of around eighteen or nineteen years of age. His head of bluish purple hair was very striking despite the sand and soil that had fallen on it. And in his palm, there seemed to be some electrical currents releasing buzzing sounds.

Even though he’s an ordinary person, Teacher Zeng had seen enough over the years to guess that this young person was likely an Evolver with an ability related to thunder and lightning.

While a sizeable number of ordinary people had issues against Evolvers, Mr Zeng naturally felt very grateful that his life was saved. He panted loudly, thanking him repeatedly. “Little Bro, I’m truly grateful to you.”

“That’s enough. It wasn’t as exaggerated as you said.”

“But you should consider yourself lucky. Leaving someone in danger isn't my style.” The young man arched his brows while speaking, his tone sounding very flamboyant. He looked Teacher Zeng up and down, his gaze sweeping past his weak handheld torchlight and shovel. While brushing his hair lightly, he casually asked, “You brought quite a number of tools. What are you doing here?”

At the same time, Teacher Zeng also noticed the other party’s protective equipment used in archaeology.

That mine shaft was definitely not a normal site for exploration. But according to Teacher Zeng’s knowledge, there were quite a number of people like him who were searching for the “historical ruins” represented by that special stone tablet. He might have the same goal.

Probably because the earlier rescue left a favourable impression on Teacher Zeng, he deliberated for a moment before testing the waters. “I heard there might be an unusual stone tablet in the vicinity. I came to have a look since I was curious. What about you?”

Hearing this, the man’s brows arched high. He patted the sandy soil off his body, standing up in an agile manner. Only then did Teacher Zeng notice that he was really tall.

Carrying a black bag, his lips hooked into a smile. “It’s good to be curious. Looks like we’re kindred spirits.”

Watching the man’s back as he left with large strides, Teacher Zeng couldn’t help but surmise where exactly he came from, and how he dared to take action alone at such a young age. However, when he thought about the other party’s skills, Teacher Zeng tossed aside the thoughts in his head: He should be concerned about himself first.

With this thought in mind, Teacher Zheng opened the notebook he brought along with him. Out of habit, he hastily made a brief record before preparing to leave.

It’s a pity that this was yet another futile exploration.

[ Chapter Two ]

The next time he met Shaw, several years had gone by.

A few years isn’t exactly long, but it was enough to gradually morph Teacher Zeng’s perseverance in the face of returning empty-handed again and again, into a state of giving up on exploration and finding historical ruins.

That morning, Teacher Zeng reached his work department: the Ancient Literature Society of Loveland City. After conducting the routine selection of a theme, he suddenly received a call from the front counter, telling him that someone was looking for him.

Right after stepping out of the elevator, he instantly noticed the especially striking head of bluish purple hair next to the pillar. Teacher Zeng subconsciously furrowed his brows, feeling as though he had seen such a conspicuous hair colour somewhere. Just then, the other party turned his face leisurely, meeting Teacher Zeng’s line of sight.

The young man narrowed his eyes slightly, giving him a contemplative glance from top to bottom, and an almost indiscernible interest appeared in his eyes. On the other hand, Teacher Zeng remained stunned in place, the memories from relatively far away stirring in his mind.

“You’re that...”

Before Teacher Zeng finished speaking, the young man arched his left slit eyebrow. “...it’s really you.” He swept a glance at the surroundings. “This place isn't convenient. Let’s chat somewhere else?”

The desolate flower nursery at a corner.

“The last time we met was an accident, and we didn't get to introduce ourselves.” The 10am sunlight filtered downwards through the clouds, providing a contrast to the glistening colours in the young man’s eyes. “I’m Shaw. The reason why I looked for you today...”

“The reason why you looked for me today couldn’t be because of what happened a few years ago, right?”

Not expecting Teacher Zeng to be so direct, the corners of Shaw’s lips curled upwards. “Since you’ve already asked, I’ll get straight to the point.” While speaking, he retrieved a slightly yellowed old photograph, holding it before Teacher Zeng.

Once he saw the photo, Teacher Zeng lifted his head in surprise. “Why do you have this photograph?”

There were two people in this old photograph. One of them was an obviously younger version of Teacher Zeng, and the other was, astonishingly, Shaw’s mentor.

[Note] Shaw’s mentor is introduced in his 2020 birthday R&S!

Shaw raised the old photograph. “That old man standing next to you left this to me, and said I could look for a helper based on this photo if I ever needed it. I found it a while ago, and realised the person the old man let me look for was actually a ‘familiar person’.”

Teacher Zeng was stunned. So he’s...

Even though Shaw didn’t make it clear, Teacher Zeng already had an answer in his heart.

Shaw rolled his shoulders casually, then continued. “The old man said that you’re really skilful when it comes to online searches and exploration.”

“I’m not that good, maybe just a little faster in searching than ordinary people.” Suddenly hearing Shaw bringing up his mentor, nostalgia flashed across Teacher Zeng’s eyes. “Come to think of it, I just graduated back then, and many things were based on trial and error. Being guided by your mentor for a while was truly a huge fortune.”

“That old man...” Shaw couldn’t help but laugh, but he quickly returned to the earlier topic. “You should also know that we aren’t the only ones searching for the ruins.”

“The speed of one person is limited, so I’m looking for a ‘helper’. How is it? Are you interested in working together?”

After Shaw finished saying this, Teacher Zeng unexpectedly hesitated, growing quiet.

Along with Teacher Zeng’s silence, Shaw slowly retracted the smile in his eyes.

“Actually, in recent years, I haven’t continued in this matter...” A wave of perplexity appeared in Teacher Zeng’s eyes. “I’ve been disappointed too many times over the years. So many times that I’ve gradually lost my motivation despite being unwilling to.”

Shaw’s tone was very calm. “Anticipating failure is something archaeologists should have gotten used to since a long time ago.”

“You might say that, but what exactly is this so-called “ruins”? Whether or not it truly exists - even this answer is a blank space-”

“It doesn’t count as a blank space.” Shaw interrupted him. “Whether they are those picture scrolls kept by the old man, or the notes he left behind, all the records and markings are traces of the real existence of the ruins. As long as they’re around, it’s worth exploring.”

“The instincts of an archaeologist tells me that the secret hidden within it is definitely related to a certain mysterious civilisation. And we might just be missing that final push.”

Teacher Zeng was left in a daze, and he didn’t speak.

Hearing Shaw bringing up his mentor’s picture scrolls and notes, Teacher Zeng’s own notebook, which already had hairy edges, suddenly flashed in his eyes. Actually, there were many times when he wanted to store the notebook in the bottom of his box. But until now, the notebook remained at the top of his drawer even though he couldn't fathom why.

"Although there are times when I dislike how the old man goes on a wild goose chase,” Despite how Shaw said “dislike”, a small smile appeared in his eyes, “But he said something which was correct. As long as you persevere, there will come a day when the secrets within will be revealed. So, as long as there’s a shred of hope, it doesn’t count as a disappointment.”

After saying this, Shaw kept the photograph, then shrugged when he saw how Teacher Zheng remained stunned in place. “But people who are as stubborn as the old man are truly a rarity of rarities. If it’s too difficult, forget it. I’ve never forced anyone into doing anything.”

“All right, that’s all. I’m off.”

“Wait!”

Teacher Zeng called out to Shaw without realising it. His mouth hung open. For a moment, he had no idea what he wanted to say.

A person’s subconsciousness is always the most honest. It turned out that he had never completely let go of searching for the historical ruins. And what he needed was perhaps a person to give him another push.

With this thought in mind, Teacher Zeng met Shaw’s bright eyes. “If you really need it... I could try helping you out once or twice.”

[ Chapter Three ]

After agreeing to Shaw, Teacher Zheng spent the following week using codes and calculations to search almost every corner of the panoramic maps on the internet. He meticulously searched for new locations of the historical ruins, not expecting the progress to go even more smoothly than expected.

“With such speed, you truly live up to your reputation.”

Teacher Zeng sent the location to Shaw. “I’ve found two likely positions. One of them is this abandoned factory building which seems more plausible.” Shaw stared at it fixedly for a few seconds, then curled a corner of his mouth and said, “Okay, got it.”

Next to the railing on the roof, sunlight seemed to be even brighter than usual. Magnificent solar flares leapt in between Shaw’s bluish purple hair. He straightened up, his confident expression even more dazzling to the eyes than the sunlight in between his hair. Shaw kept his phone away. “Since I don't have anything on tomorrow, I might as well take a look first.”

Hearing Shaw saying this so lightly, Teacher Zeng instinctively wanted to give him a cautionary warning. However, since it was only their third meeting, he didn’t really know how to phrase it.

Tidying the hair on his temples which were blown messy by the breeze, Teacher Zeng finally spoke. “I might be overthinking it, but I feel as though it’s been going too smoothly. In the past, I’ve always had to exert double the time to find hazy markings and traces. In short, be more careful tomorrow.”

Shaw arched his brows. “Got it.” Shaw lowered his head to check the time, then waved his hand. “I have class in the afternoon, so I’m heading off.”

That evening, Teacher Zeng slept without a peace of mind, and he woke up just as the sky started to brighten. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he subconsciously tapped open the address that he had discovered earlier, but realised that the markings he saw earlier had vanished!

Were the markings he saw earlier false information by someone on the internet?

Teacher Zeng was startled awake completely. After checking for the third time, he immediately contacted Shaw, but realised that he couldn’t get through no matter what. Feeling anxious, Teacher Zeng rushed to the abandoned building with his quickest speed.

The moment he entered, he saw countless rusty iron sheets and iron pipes. He keenly detected a strange atmosphere: this place was abnormally quiet.

Just as this thought flashed in his mind, a deafening sound drifted from the building in the next second. Thinking of how he had not contacted Shaw yet, Teacher Zeng trembled with fear, sticking himself against the wall of the staircase, and running up quickly.

[ Chapter Four ]

“BOOM-!”

While Teacher Zeng was rushing up, Shaw was facing an unknown attack.

The attacker was hiding in a dark place, and was probably an Evolver who could control metal. The iron pipes in the surroundings were pulled mid-air in an astonishing angle, sent smashing in Shaw’s direction. The air was very quickly mixed with the muffled echos of metal.

Shaw’s eyes keenly swept towards the dark area. As though accurately predicting the other party’s thoughts, he unfurled his palm in contempt, sending crackling lightning towards the iron pipes which are not too far away. With a muffled thud, the attacker was struck down.

Perhaps the consecutive failures had left the attacker in a complete frenzy. In the next second, a loud sound of metal exploded in the air.

But Shaw’s reaction was even faster.

His fingertips instantly crackled with electricity. With a flick of his wrist and a stretch of his arm, along with a frigidly cold “hmph”, the loud sound of electrical currents followed the expanse of metal pipes, striking the attacker like a sharp blade.

Most likely sustaining heavy damage, the attacker no longer cared about anything else, fleeing by jumping from the window in a flurry.

In a single breath, Teacher Zeng ran to the roof of the building, but only made it in time to see the moment a hazy figure leapt out of the window.

Shaw furrowed his brows, lifting his hand in distaste as he wiped the rust off his face. “Tch, I actually let him get away.” He turned his head and saw Teacher Zeng who had suddenly appeared, then pursed his lips. “What are you doing here?”

Teacher Zeng explained softly. “I just found out that this could be a trap, but I couldn’t contact you, so I rushed here without thinking too much... it’s a good thing you’re skilled.”

Shaw casually tidied his drooping fringe, revealing his eyebrows, which were arched high. After all, they were “co-workers”. Hearing these words blurted out by Teacher Zeng, the initially sharp expression in Shaw’s eyes turned indiscernibly gentler.

While heading down with Shaw, Teacher Zeng released a sigh, then laughed bitterly. “It’s been so many years. From what I know, due to the lack of progress, people who were searching for the historical ruins like me, you, and your mentor, gave up in succession. I just never thought that aside from there being no progress, it actually became even more dangerous...”

“That’s enough. This matter had nothing to do with you. Searching for the ruins isn’t dangerous.” Hearing Teacher Zeng’s self-abasement and guilt, Shaw interrupted him. “In the process of searching, I accidentally made a few enemies. The one from today was probably just targeting me.”

While speaking, they walked out of the abandoned building.

Despite going through this shocking wrestle, it was only daybreak. The rosy dawn served as a foil to the rising sun, elegantly travelling thousands of miles in the sky, the rose red rays of light spilling across the overgrown land, spilling into Shaw’s serious eyes which refused to concede defeat.

“When it comes to things worth persisting in and challenging, I’ve long since mentally prepared myself for protracted warfare.”

Shaw’s lips hooked upwards, an earnest spirit leaping in his eyes. “They will definitely lose.”

Seeing the stubbornness and seriousness hidden in the depths of Shaw’s eyes, Teacher Zeng’s heart suddenly received a jolt.

At first glance, the young man in front of him looked youthful and flamboyant. But his tenacity and dedication far surpassed the imagination of most people, and made Teacher Zeng re-discover the surging emotions he once had in his earlier years.

He’s akin to a giant creature hiding in the deep sea. Once he bit onto a goal, he would never let go.

For some reason, Teacher Zeng found this emotion rather familiar. It’s as though time had flowed backwards to several years ago. Back then, under the guidance and assistance from Shaw’s mentor, he had once seen a similar expression and tone of voice in the other party.

When the faraway memories surged up, Teacher Zeng stopped breathing. What accompanied this was that smiling face reminiscent of a mischievous child, the web pages he found after days and nights of searching, and all the locations he had once explored without a regard for the results...

Emotions he had not felt for a long time suddenly surged in Teacher Zeng’s heart.

[ Chapter Five ]

The weather today is very humid, and there doesn’t seem to be a single gust of wind.

After lunch, Teacher Zeng heads to the grocery store to buy a box of cigarettes. Then, he makes his way to the small flower nursery at the corner. Just as he breathes a few mouthfuls of smoke, the sound of footsteps suddenly drifts from behind him.

Teacher Zeng bites on the cigarette bud and turns around: it’s Shaw.

“Good afternoon.” Shaw has a hand stuffed into his pocket, elongating his words teasingly. “Since you’re smoking to entertain yourself, looks like Teacher Zeng has been pretty bored lately.”

Teacher Zeng chuckles softly. “Why are you here today?”

Shaw purses his mouth. “This might sound baffling. This morning, someone dressed in black suddenly attacked my antique store, wanting to search for some leads...”

Teacher Zeng ponders on this.

Slightly irritated, Shaw kicks a pebble at his feet. “It isn’t that easy to defeat me. We have to find the starting point for the ruins first.”

He lifts his eyes and looks at Teacher Zeng, arching his brows. “If I remember correctly, you mentioned being able to help “once or twice” that day. I’m now asking for that second round of assistance.”

Ever since they parted ways the previous time, Teacher Zeng had been giving it much thought. Perhaps Shaw’s persistence moved him, or Shaw’s mentor made him feel sentimental for the past. Regardless, a certain thought in the depths of his heart is especially clear: Actually, he had never let go of searching for the historical ruins. Since that’s the case, he might as well be involved in it entirely, and it wouldn’t put the years of accumulated knowledge to waste.

Teacher Zeng has a small smile as he speaks leisurely. “Helping out is definitely not a problem. I’ve already been searching for new leads over the past duration. But I’d like to change the conditions.”

Shaw shoots him in glance with deep interest.

Extinguishing the cigarette bud beneath his foot, Teacher Zeng turns his head and says, “If you face more problems, it��d no longer be ‘once or twice’. We’ll work together formally. Can you accept this condition?

Finally, the clouds on the horizon seem to be dispersed by the wind slightly, revealing rays of light.

Shaw arches his brows. “Deal.”

🦈 More S2 content: here

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discotreque · 3 years

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LwD 2.05: An Embarrassment of Dooplers

So I was a little nervous about this one! I hadn’t heard any spoiler-spoilers, but screeners have been out for weeks now, and I’d heard a bunch of individual, vague, non-spoilery hints about (1) big character moments, on the scale of a mid-season finale even though the show’s not taking a mid-season break; and (2) an ending that would make me cry.

I guess I imagined something relatively serious and dramatic, like “No Small Parts”? This show makes me cackle with laughter and giggle with nerdy glee and “d’awww!” at heartwarming friendships every week, but it’s only ever made me cry once—and then I was impressed that they were going to get there from the wacky hijinks we saw in the brief teaser.

The lack of a cold open made me apprehensive too—in my experience, that’s typically a sign that there’s so much plot in the rest of the episode that they need that extra scene—but after ~21.5 minutes of aforementioned hijinks, I was having so much fun that I’d completely forgotten about the alleged tear-jerker at the end…

…and they were not the tears I was expecting.

I didn’t think I’d be smiling and crying!!!! That was wholesome as SHIT!!!!!

I almost can’t believe they earned that—but they totally did.

After a Mariner–Tendi episode and a Boimler–Rutherford episode, we’re back to the “usual” Season 1 pairings… except the relationships between these characters have changed since Season 1. Mariner still feels thwacked in the abandonment issues by Boimler bailing for the Titan, and Rutherford’s having a tiny little existential crisis about losing an entire year of his life.

Both of which are extremely understandable and very heavy situations—and both of those situations get resolved because everyone in them is vulnerable with each other and honest about their feelings—AND that honesty and vulnerability brings both pairs of friends closer together. Are you kidding me?? I would watch SEVENTY seasons of that shit. Put it in my veins.

Onto the notes:

So basically Dooplers are Tribbles, but for cringe comedy instead of slapstick? Ohhhhh boy.

Look at Ransom the diplomat, tossing his own fork on the floor! I like that he’s actually a pretty competent Starfleet officer, despite also being a completely ridiculous person.

Wait a second, is that—OH HOLY SHIT, THE DOOPLERS ARE VOICED BY RICHARD KIND.

It makes sense that B. Boimler would find William annoying—who likes seeing their own flaws reflected back at them? And who could be a better reflection of one’s flaws than one’s literal duplicate?—but most interesting to me is that it implies on some level, Bradward knows the stick up his butt is a flaw. (Does William?)

Why does the Cerritos model have working phasers?!?!

I’m loving hot pink as the currently en-vogue colour for “dangerous sci-fi energy” in animation (cf. almost every previous episode of this show; Into the Spider-Verse; other stuff I can’t remember right now). As a former child of the 80’s, I’m living for it… but as a former teenager of the 90’s, I can’t help but wonder if it’s going to age as poorly as the harsh neon green of The Matrix, every Borg appearance on Voyager, and like 80% of the websites I made in high school…

SKANTS! SKANTS! SKANTS!

That fake-out joke with the fly-by over the Cerritos model was in the season trailer weeks ago, and I was so enthralled by that handsome lady that the sticker coming into frame still got me good 😂😂😂

BECKY Mariner????? omg yes

Some top-quality Boimler screams in this one. Poor Jack Quaid must drink gallons of throat-coat tea when he records.

One of the great things about Star Trek to me is that you never know what you’re going to get from any random episode. A murder mystery? A road trip? A spooky thriller? A cheesy romance? Broad comedy? Body horror? Didactic political screeds shrouded in tissue-thin science-fiction metaphors? Brain and brain, what is brain??? And after this many years of watching, you’d think I’d be hard to surprise. But if I ever told you I thought I’d see a Blues Brothers–style car chase through a frickin’ shopping mall on an episode of Star Trek, I would have been straight-up lying to you. I loved it, it worked for me, my jaw was on the floor and I was clapping with joy—but I’m definitely comfortable calling this one “unexpected.”

It’s CAPTAIN SHELBY!!! And an ancient babydyke crush rose from the depths of my childhood subconscious… (Also I think her Number One is based on the original makeup—eventually deemed too complicated—for Saru? Now that’s a deep cut.)

In 20th-century Trek, you almost never got to see what was going on inside a starship from the outside. Even after they switched from physical models (where it was next to impossible on a single episode’s budget) to CGI (which was still in its infancy, still not exactly cheap, and still broadcast in SD anyway), it was a rare thrill to see any meaningful interior details in an exterior shot. Disco’s modern VFX have given us some tasty, tasty treats in that department, but nothing quite as sublime as all the pink Doopler light glittering through the Cerritos’s windows.

Mariner says she’ll take her contact Malvus down with her, and threatens that they’ll end up “in the same cell.” Malvus is a Mizarian, a species introduced in TNG’s “Allegiance,” in which Captain Picard is held in a mysterious prison with one. I think I see what you did there, McMahan?

Bartender… so hot… lesbian circuits… overloading…

The Tendi and Rutherford C-story was, well, a C-story within a 22-minute episode, so there wasn’t much to it, but the one scene that mattered actually mattered a lot. I’m ambivalent on whether they should end up romantically involved—I’d prefer they don’t, but they’ll be one of the cutest couples in Trek history if they do—and as long as they keep that pure, sweet friendship between them at the heart of whatever else happens, I’m on board.

Carol Freeman was already one of my favourite captains before this season, and she’s been steadily moving up the list. The quiet throughline about her ambition to be on a better ship has been fascinating so far, and it’s starting to actually make me feel a little conflicted: I’m of course rooting for Captain Freeman to recognize her worth, make Starfleet recognize her worth, and become the ass-kicking captain of a hero ship that she’s clearly ready to be—but that almost surely means she’d be kicking ass off-screen, because LwD isn’t about those kind of adventures, and I’d be devastated not to have Dawnn Lewis on the show every week. So I’m kind of on the edge of my seat about this one!

I had so many favourite jokes this week I put them in a separate list:

“Even the replicated water on the Titan tasted better” is a low-key brilliant dunk on people who can’t shut the fuck up about the cooler places they used to live.

“Ooooh, they have a Quark’s now! That used to just be an empty lot where teens would make mistakes!” ← That’s literally me every time I go back to where I grew up. I felt so Seen™ I almost hid under a blanket.

“I would never go down the stairs!” (evil grin) (goes up the stairs)

The “well, shit” expressions from Mariner and Boimler as their crashed car sank right into the water… which started to bubble innocuously… and then the bottles of Data bubble-bath popped up, paying off a joke I thought had already been paid off—that was the one that woke up my poor cat this week. Just exquisite timing.

“YOUR PAGH IS WEAK, AND IT DISGUSTS ME!” “I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t like your tone!”

“Okona’s in there? He’s not even Starfleet! This is outrageous!” made me shout “NO!” at the screen like I was scolding my cat for scratching furniture. (She did not wake up that time.)

Best background joke: the neon sign at the dive bar advertising FREE SHOTS & BEERS. (Get it? Because they’re on a Federation starbase? Where nobody uses money?)

And of course Quark merchandised DS9.

This wasn’t just a standout episode of Lower Decks, this was a brilliant episode of Star Trek, period. The Dooplers, though extremely silly, are nevertheless also a clever sci-fi metaphor for real and relatable personal/interpersonal issues, and an effective plot catalyst for meaningful character growth from all four of our ensigns and the captain.

The jokes were hilarious, the action was kinetic, the A-, B-, and C-plots linked up thematically, the visuals were consistently and thoroughly gorgeous, the character beats—between Mariner and Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford, Mariner and Capt. Freeman—were all genuine, heartfelt and wholesome, and the references to other Trek canon were both deep and deeply affectionate.

Only 15 episodes in, and this series knows exactly what it is, exactly what it wants to do, and knows that it can knock our socks off doing it. Mike McMahan has said in recent interviews that the back half of S2 (and the apparently almost-fully-written S3) is a straight line uphill in quality from here—which surprised me at first, because McMahan seems like a pretty chill dude who doesn’t normally brag about his own work like that.

But then the Prophets sent me a vision of my space dad Ben Sisko, who reminded me of the words of 1930’s baseball player Dizzy Dean:

“If you can do it, it ain’t bragging.”

[Thanks to cygnus-x1.net for the screenshots this week—I was too lazy to do my own.]

#star trek #star trek lower decks #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #lwd spoilers #amy's episode notes

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romchomp · 3 years

Text

10 Good Romances from 2020

10. The Half of it [movie: on Netflix]

This is at number ten mostly because it’s not technically a romance, but I thought it was worth fitting on this list somewhere considering it’s themes of longing, friendships, and familial bonds. It’s a slower paced film but it works in the story’s favor for the most part. You do end up wanting to see more by the end, more so because it doesn’t feel like much happens in the film other than the characters were engaging. One of the stronger points might just be the clear love and passion put into this project by Alice Wu. This was crafted with careful hands and I have a lot of respect for it. The engagement factor was it’s fault.

9. Happiest Season [movie: on Hulu]

Happiest Season is a Christmas romance movie that had a significant amount of talk around it for most of 2020 and of course it did, it’s a lesbian holiday film. It’s largely a comedic film, though the plot is the journey of someone coming out to their conservative family. It serves its purpose well. It’s entertaining, funny, and features Kristen Stewart.

8. Ao no Flag/ Blue Flag [manga]

You could also probably argue that Ao no Flag isn’t a romance but I'd have to disagree in this case with it's major themes questioning the boundaries between platonic and romantic feelings. It also makes attempts at examining and looking into sexuality, although sloppily. At times even negative, but the intent never felt insincere . The art style is absolutely beautiful. The main three are wonderful. It would have benefited from a more thought out plot but it’s good for what it is.

7. My Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom [anime]

A sweet and hilarious fantasy romance with a unique premise. The anime has a cast of very endearing (although also incredibly dense) characters. It’s not at all what I’d expect from an otome-turned-isekai harem. It’s outrageous and has a vast love web to complicate matters, but all the characters are well meaning enough that it’s all quite fun to watch. This anime, if anything, is an interesting phenomenon and actually pretty clever. I’d strongly recommend it.

6. Love is War S2 [anime]

It has continued to be hilarious. More side characters are involved and the old ones have only been more active in the plots of this season. Production continues to be phenomenal. There’s not too much to say on this one. It doesn’t stray from the first season, so if you like that you’ll like this.

5. Feel Good [tv series: on Netflix]

The chemistry between the main two characters is amazing and what keeps the show so engaging. I watched the whole thing in one night. While entertaining, there are plenty of frustrating scenes as well and events and pieces of dialogue that I wish were written differently. The series is short, at only 6 episodes but manages to bring an emotional experience. Drug addiction is a heavy theme in the series along with loneliness, poor friendships, dependency, and codependency. I’d say it’s a drama with lots of wit. It’s a solid Netflix original if you have the time to watch it.

4. Adachi to Shimamura [anime]

With it’s slow pacing and confusing message via the alien character (if you know then you know), Adachi and Shimamura’s enjoyment relies on the characters, and the main two certainly carried the series. While the chemistry between them was questionable, their dynamic and their inner monologues reflecting on the relationship resonated with my own high school experiences to such a personal degree that these characters have become all time favorites of mine. I have to say that the mangaka did a really good job at capturing the experience of when queerness and friendship intertwine. Of course if you can’t relate to the characters this will be hard to watch, but give it try.

3. Fruits Basket S2 [anime]

Massively improved in soundtrack and execution compared to the first season of the reboot. Season two remains loyal to the manga’s story (which was expected) so naturally there’s more drama and deeper development given to a majority of the characters. It was by all means a good second season and I look forward to the finale.

2. Normal People [tv series: on Hulu]

Normal People is the type of story that emphasizes the flaws in people more than the strengths, but doesn’t polarize the characters and allows them to be relatable and human. Both main characters are deeply insecure, and end up being the only person they openly talk about their insecurities with. The story is divided by different phases of the main characters’ lives (high school, college, post). This structure serves for a sort of yin and yang narrative between the main characters not only in personality, but in their position in life at a given time. The camera work is simple, but beautiful. So much of the show is just talking and yet I was always fully captivated. If you have Hulu please give it a shot.

1. A Summer’s End- Hong Kong 1986 [visual novel]

The relationship between the two girls was rushed, but never to the point of ruining my enjoyment and the leads remained endearing and likable. The dialogue was dry at times, however it was sincere and delivered well in emotional scenes. With gorgeous visuals and an enticing soundtrack, it’s clear the visual novel was a passion project taking into consideration the independent studio behind it (Oracle and Bone). Despite its flaws I think the positives make up for it enough to create an emotive experience. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

[list is also on my blog if you want to check that out]

#a summer's end #adachi to shimamura #my life as a villainess #feel good #normal people #ao no flag #the half of it #happiest season #netflix #hulu #romancejunkie #top ten #THIS IS LATE AS FUCK #gotta stay in character amirite

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disco-tea · 3 years

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In the last episode I noticed that when diego was talking about the people who loved him back, the camera cut to everyone except five. But diego was facing him directly. Do you think the writers did it on purpose or it was just like an unconscious decision? Because it bothers me lol

That’s been such a talked about moment (or rather the absence of) and I honestly don’t know which it is and it bugs me! I would have LOVED to have seen Five’s face in that moment, to get a glimpse of his reaction...would it be soft, would it be sad? I don’t know but I feel incredibly robbed. I mean, on one hand, I would like to think that it was just a slip-up but it feels so deliberate and it sucks because it’s yet another thing Five is absent from. Diego literally goes out of his way to look at all of them, even at Vanya despite everything and all his anger toward her last season. But not Five even though he’s literally facing him.

And the thing is, from a somewhat objective POV, there’s really no reason for Diego to think that Five doesn’t at least care about him a little, no more than Luther or Vanya, whom he didn’t initially have the best relationships with. Yes, Five was missing for years, but it’s not like Diego hasn’t spent time with him. They weaved in and out of each other’s plots plenty in S1 and even more so in S2. They went on their whole mini quest for Harold that ended with him helping carry Five home and presumably watching him get shrapnel removed. Five helped get the gun that would’ve cleared Diego’s name. He gave Diego advice, that even though he didn’t want to hear it at the time, Diego ultimately ended up following. Yes, Five left him in the asylum at first, but they didn’t really seem to have that much of an issue with each other after that besides the usual bickering. Diego saw how Five got when he talked about them dying. He tried to reassure Five about Reginald. They were literally fighting together and protecting each other in the scene just before this. Diego bent bullets to give Five a chance to run for cover, something he previously wasn’t capable of doing in that timeline. It just doesn’t really make sense to me. It would be one thing if they hadn’t really interacted, but they have and they’ve actually played somewhat important roles in each other’s plots. So...I’m stumped.

One possible explanation could be that’s it’s deliberate but not for the obvious reasons? Maybe the writers just didn’t want to paint Five as vulnerable in that moment. He had previously been on high alert and ready to take out Lila, if need be. But again, that doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me because they had no problems letting Five show emotion about finding out about Lila’s parents. And honestly, seeing Five’s reaction to Diego’s admission of love would have not only enhanced the little moment where Diego leans around and tells Five to stop in an “I’ve got this. Trust me.” sort of way, but it also would have added to the entire scene where Five finally uses his powers correctly to save the people he loves. Five is arguably the most dangerous person there (in skill and experience anyway) so it just absolutely befuddles me that he wouldn’t be included in that moment.

I just don’t get it. It seems like a pretty big thing to just forget about in such a pivotal moment and I don’t think there’s an *obvious* thematic reason for him to be excluded. So I guess I’m just gonna be haunted by the lingering fear that Diego thinks Five doesn’t love him until I either see some evidence to the contrary or it proves to be some kind of sneaky groundwork yay me 🤡

#thank you for the ask #ask box #five and diego #five hargreeves #diego hargreeves #umbrella academy

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vexedtonightmares · 3 years

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hey :) do you mind sharing some more about the skam austin panel today?

yeah for sure!! i’ll put what i remember under the keep reading tab for ppl who wanna hear about it :) i only went to the panel, not the rewatch (bc money lmao) so there are probably some other things they talked about that i missed, but i’m sure there are other ppl on here that can fill you in on any gaps that i miss!

it was valeria (jo), julie (megan), and lakeisha* (shay), and pedro (p jo) on the panel (he was the moderator, the other three did most of the talking), though they did mention other castmates throughout :,)

*lakeisha was the name they went by on the panel, and in the info before the panel it said they use they/them pronouns, so that’s how i’ll be referring to them throughout this

all of them started out by talking about what they’re doing currently, julie said she’s dropping out of school because her therapist told her “you as a person matters more than you as a student” which i thought was a great sentiment as well

lakeisha said they’ve been making a lot of clothes and music (also throughout the whole thing they kept showing us their shoes and they left to pee like halfway through something they were answering one time hfjskaj)

they then talked about their audition processes (val had the most chaotic series of audtions omg i would love to see her audition tapes)

val originally read for either jo or megan, and she had literally just moved there like right before casting and almost didn’t go to her audition

she said that she decided to be the loudest person in the room so that they couldn’t ignore her, and that carried her through most of the rounds of auditioning

she said that at the end she said “if you don’t choose me, which you should choose me, but if you don’t, please choose another latinx actress because you have no idea how much it means to see someone who looks like you on screen”

julie auditioned because she was hoping julie (andem) would bring lisa and tarjei and she basically wanted a free meet and greet djkfshk

she found out about skam og on tumblr !! she’s one of us 😌

she thinks julie andem is the coolest person in the world

they told her that she was pretty much everything they envisioned megan to be, so they cast her fairly early on and then had her partner with the marlon prospects

giovanni, who eventually played tyler, auditioned for marlon and they kissed during their audition even though they weren’t supposed to

julie went to high school with till who ended up playing marlon and people would always ask her what it was like to get to make out with him and she was just like .... we just working bruh

lakeisha found the ad to audition on instagram and decided why not because it said it was a paid job

they looked up a bunch of improv games the night before because they had no experience and had no idea what they were doing

in the audition julie asked what the tattoos on their hand meant (and also the one thing lakeisha was excited about being out of contract was that they could get as many tattoos as they wanted without asking for permission)

they all had a lot of love for julie andem and loved working with her

val said that she’d always try to make julie laugh and she said that julie is the reason og and austin are so good, because it’s her story and her vision

they roasted the shit out of fb too (as they should)

basically fb ghosted them and never renewed the show but also never cancelled it so technically they don’t even know if anyone else could get the rights to reboot the show somewhere else (lakeisha said ‘skam austin onlyfans’ lmao)

i don’t remember which one of them said it but they said fb is like an inconsistent dad lollll

they also think that fb sort of finessed julie/her team because they were under the impression that it would be like og where they had their own website for the show and everything, but then it ended up just being a facebook page

they also filmed promo for season 1 that never ended up being used but they don’t know why

lakeisha felt super disrespected by the fact that not only did they not get their season, but also the fact that they just dropped the show like it was nothing and none of them even found out that they probably weren’t getting more seasons until they saw that their instagram accounts were gone

everyone was upset about the igs getting deleted too because they put so much work into the content on there for it all to just disappear

val said “no one tells a story like the one that was about to be told” and everyone agreed

val said that if the show would have continued, jo would have been undocumented and they would have shown her trying to navigate college (not only were we robbed of a jo season, we were robbed of college seasons 😤)

jo x jo were definitely going to be a thing

val said that when they wrapped s2 she was like finally!!! because now they could get into the stories that they really wanted to tell and really knew would make a difference (everyone vehemently agreed)

they were proud of the fact that they’re the most diverse cast and that they don’t just treat the characters of color like sidekicks like the other remakes do

julie talked about how skam france was the only remake to have jonas not accept isak right away when he was coming out and how it was suspicious that he happened to be the only non white jonas and that was the choice they made

val said that druck is the only remake she’s watched but she likes it

they also talked about how, even though it’s great that the cast was so diverse, practically everyone behind the scenes was white

val said that she didn’t really think about it much at the time because she found it hard to speak up since she was very young and inexperienced but looking back she wishes jo’s body wasn’t so fetishized as a latina (she didn’t clarify whether she was talking on a production level or within the fandom, but she talked about costuming so i assumed she meant more on a production level)

they all wished there was more representation off screen as well as on

shay x megan was brought up and julie said that shay was going to have her own love interest (am!even !!!!) come season three, and that it wouldn’t have been megan

she also said that megan was mostly just confused and like ‘haha i kiss girls when i’m drunk’ but then she also said that megan and shay never had feelings for each other at the same time so 👀

she was upset that they made megan and marlon get back together at the end of season 2 because she wasn’t a fan of them together, but she said it also makes sense because a lot of teen girls go back to their toxic exes even when they know it’s not good for them

lakeisha said that they hated shay’s acrylic nails because it didn’t make sense to them for her to have them (especially since shay was a musician)

they also said that they’ve been pretty confident and open with their sexuality since they were around 12, and that one time in middle school they dated a boy because he had an xbox and then they were like oh no is this toxic am i using him because he actually has feelings for me?? hdskafja

they also said that the cfgc music happened because they heard that the boys from og also had a song and at first i was like wtf are they talking about but now i think they meant the penetrator song 💀💀

julie has a cfgc shirt :,) and they all stole a bunch of clothes and stuff from set, val said she took a bunch of outfits that jo never wore which makes her sad to think about now

val’s favorite scene to film was the car scene in s1 before the party (she said it was one of the best moments of her life) and julie said she liked that one as well (val said there’s a shot of her looking into the camera and flipping it off but they didn’t include it in the show, i feel robbed)

people asked how it felt for lakeisha to be the first lesbian isak and they said that they didn’t feel like they were, because they didn’t really get the chance :(( but they also said that the idea itself was very intimidating and there was a lot of pressure around it

they also said that they and gio were very very close both on screen and off, they said it wasn’t even like they were an extension of one person, that’s how close they got

there were a lot of improvised scenes, particularly with val, and she also said that incorporating spanish into jo’s dialogue was mostly improvised

julie, val, and pedro also all talked about how they’re all mexican, and how each of their life experiences vary so much from one another, on the show and off and julie said megan’s upbringing was a lot like hers

they all also said that they liked the music the show used and a lot of them have emotional attachments to a lot of the songs

val said she wishes they used more frank ocean and i agree

they also said they’re not sure if there are bloopers or anything, but they’d love to see them if there are

i’m trying to think of anything i missed ahhh i feel like they talked about so much but i think i’ve got the key points soooo

that’s all !!! hope this was interesting to ppl who still care about austin like i do :,))

#skam austin #asks

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