#the others are obviously blatantly concerned for obvious reasons lol
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kind of annoying how ppl on here are just SO eager to advocate for the outright culling of all introduced (aka "invasive") species and act like anyone who is concerned for the welfare of the introduced species are painfully naive and/or PETA members (I usually see this regarding feral/outdoor cats, but w other species too)
tl;dr there's SO much more nuance when it comes to introduced animal control methods than simply a TNR/culling dichotomy, and some of you NEED to learn that reading some reactionary rants against animal rights activists doesn't make you an expert conservationist!!
Source: I'm an animal behavior & conservation master's student who recently took a class on human-wildlife conflict and wrote an 18 page term paper reviewing the massive invasive species problem in Australia, all the control methods, and the various perspectives regarding those control methods--which earned me an "It was a pleasure having you in class!" from my professor 😌
strap in lmao this is a crash course in my term paper
the longer these people rant about it the more blatantly obvious it becomes that they're just jumping to the opposite extreme from animal rights activists bc they think that makes them good environmentalists or makes them seem smart. like I GET the appeal, ofc it would be NICE to have a simple answer to managing introduced species by telling yourself "the health of the ecosystem comes before the welfare of the dirty rotten invasive species, so let's just kill them all"
but like. first of all it's almost DEFINITELY a more complicated situation than 'introduced species overpopulates and eats and/or outcompetes the native species and causes them to go extinct' (there are MULTIPLE forces at work here). second, culling is NOT always the effective cure-all you think it is!!! for ex/ culling of cane toads in australia ends up just.... making room in the ecosystem for more cane toads!! ALSO! encouraging people to go out and kill every "invasive" animal they find can often lead to NATIVE wildlife being killed accidentally, AND killing methods that are extremely painful and drawn out!
then there's the issue of animal welfare, which yes, introduced species ARE entitled to. the terminology around the discussion of how to "combat" the tides of "invasive" species only encourages us to see this situation as a war with an enemy hell-bent on destroying our ecosystem. but that's bullshit. they're literally JUST animals, which have been displaced by HUMANS, and for some reason their population ended up thriving in this new place. they aren't evil, and they DO deserve some compassion.
that said, obviously control measures often need to be taken against introduced species when they become a significant problem for the endemic species, and often TNR isn't an effective or practical method on its own. but TNR and culling aren't the ONLY control options--there are actually several control methods, each with its own levels of efficacy and welfare, each of which differs depending on the specific species and environment. these include methods like immunocontraception (high welfare, moderate efficacy), releasing species-specific viruses (extremely effective in australian rabbits, but VERY poor welfare), or hunting & trapping--for actual USE, unlike with culling (moderate-high efficacy, relatively moderate welfare if done properly)
then there's the question of whether introduced populations SHOULD be controlled, and if so, how much, and should they be completely wiped out just kept at a manageable population, etc etc etc. the concept of battling invasive species is VERY much a western preservationist (earlier trend in conservation) concept. this idea that the ecosystem would run in perfect stable harmony if not for humans (and the species we introduce around the world), and it's our moral obligation to keep the ecosystems around us EXACTLY as they were when we found them... as much as possible. but that's simply not true!! yes obviously humans have had a... significant impact on the environment and its animals. it's hard to overstate this point! but that doesn't mean that we are supposed to play impartial gods over our local ecosystems and make sure things stay exactly the same.
the fact is, many indigenous cultures DON'T view introduced species as a significant problem, barring more extreme circumstances. in my research I found surveys of aboriginal australian opinions on invasive control measures and many had said they DON'T see them as invasive, because they grew up on this land and therefore have a right to be there, just like any of them. indigenous cultures, to my knowledge, also tend to have a stewardship over their land not based in CONTROL (like western conservationists) but as an equal PART of a functioning ecosystem. rather than trying to "fix" the ecosystem like a benevolent god, they are a PART of the ecosystem and they adapt to the changing balance of it just like all the other creatures must.
that said, when they DID believe it was time to take some control measures, those surveyed were much more likely to prefer control methods like hunting for use over things like poisoning or culling, calling those methods a waste of a natural resource.
anyways. I've spent way too long on this instead of doing my project lol. I gtg but please know you don't HAVE to advocate for culling invasive species to get ur conservationist cred!! there's a lot of nuance in these situations and it's not a bad thing to care about the wellbeing of ALL animals--it's actually a good thing!!
#i doubt anyones gonna read this but if you do and u wanna learn more dm me#i could also just send you a copy of my paper if ur interested#well. there goes my plan for finishing my project by 6 lmao#invasive species#conservation
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anonymous asked: Do you think that Jess yelling at Rory to go back to Yale was wrong? I like that scene but I keep seeing a lot of people say it's terrible because Jess pressures her to go back, and that he was wrong in saying he 'knew her' more than anyone
Are rogan fans still acting up about that scene? Because I just saw someone talk about that scene too, so I assume it's the annual "let's discuss how Jess is the actual Devil's spawn and Logan is God's gift to all women" session for them, lol.
Getting back to topic, I don't ever really see that scene as being ultimately wrong because as stated by Amy Sherman-Palladino (you know, the actual writer and creator of the show), the scene and Jess's appearance in particular was necessary in order for Rory to finally decide that she doesn't want to continue living her life the way she has in the first part of season 6, and decides to go back to Yale. I can understand not liking Jess's tone or approach, but I really don't understand why people continue to demonize him for the sole purpose of, I guess, trying to devalue the meaning of that scene and its weight in Rory's overall arc? Particularly because it's a scene many people and Lit fans remember and love. Jess isn't trying to manipulate her or pressure her into going back to Yale, he's reacting generally like that because he just came out of the bar where Logan was grilling him for at least 20 minutes while he continued to be rude and interrupt an outing that was supposed to be just between Jess and Rory. And if we're gonna discuss how that isn't enough of an excuse for the way that Jess talks to Rory in the following scene, why do we not discuss Logan's behavior in this episode in the same light then? Because frankly if Jess's behavior was deplorable, Logan's was arguably worse, because the only excuse you could even chalk up for the way he behaved, firstly towards Jess, then towards his own girlfriend, is that he's drunk and frustrated with his father's ambitions about his future, so he decided to take it out on the nearest two people he could find. That's quite the model behavior for a boyfriend so many of his fans deem perfect 🤔.
Jess wasn't in the wrong for asking Rory why her life is so different now and why it's obviously not the life she wants to lead, despite so many rogan fans somehow insisting that it is. You don't have to like his tone or approach towards the topic but frankly I would then expect you to also not like Logan's tone towards Rory either, no matter how many ridiculous excuses you can come up with it. The whole purpose of the scene with Jess is because it has narrative meaning in order to push the plot (and Rory) forward into her going back to Yale. And I have discussed this multiple times, but no, Jess saying "I know you" isn't him claiming Rory as some sort of territory, it's not even concrete that he proclaims that HE is the only person that knows her more than anyone in her life. You can just as easily interpret it as him saying that Rory is one of the only people he knows so well in his own life. If he had said something along the lines of "I know you better than your own mother", then I would understand the complaints, but he never does. And frankly, Logan isn't a better candidate for 'knowing her' more than Jess because not only have Rory and Jess known each other for a longer period than this, but Logan only knew Rory for about a year at this point and had been officially dating her for about 5 months.
Anyway, at this point it's blatantly obvious that the concerns so many people voice over this scene has legitimately less to do with Rory and her well-being and more to do with trying to sketch up some valid reason into framing that scene as negative even when the writer herself stated that it's a significant and meaningful scene. Especially when if they were actually worried about Rory being yelled at, they would also express dismay in how Logan later lashes out at her and then leaves her all alone while throwing money at her to pay the bill. But I guess that would also mean them admitting that their fave isn't as perfect as they want to think he is, so they can't.
#gilmore girls#anti rogan#anti logan huntzberger#i guess?#mainly it's always something about his fans though#also absolutely laughing @ apparently someone being all 'uhm sweeties this is not a good basis for a friendship'#about this whole scene like......#I mean firstly I would never take to basing my ideas on what a solid foundation for a good friendship is on a cw show that aired#exactly 20 years ago at this point#and secondly this is ironic coming from a rogan fan as if your boyfriend of 6 months cheating on you with multiple women is a solid basis#for a good relationship#or ditching you to get drunk with his friends when he ends up in trouble at his work#OR publicly proposing to you and then dumping you when you only say no to the proposal at your graduation day#OR making you the other woman while being engaged to a fiancee before trying to get you to continue being his sidechick#like can y'all for once just admit you don't like the scene bc it's popular and stop trying to force some pseudo-awareness about it?
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hello!! so while i also like zukka, i completely agree with you about how a lot of people just want an excuse to ship two teenage boys without actually caring about their characters. if you don't mind, would you be able to elaborate on that? you're really good at articulating stuff like this and i'd like to read your thoughts on it. if you're worried about it starting drama or anything though, feel free to ignore this lol
i actually don’t mind about starting anything in this case because i think i’ve made it pretty clear that i like sokka/zuko, and, by the way, i liked it before it was cool. so there. the problem is, people with contemporary fandom rot brain (which differs from 2005-2008 era fandom rot brain, when zvtara was the law of the land and we had yet to deconstruct twilight. or whatever) suffer from an affliction medically known as stupidhomoitis, in which people will find any excuse to ship two (usually young, but just as often theyre balding white guys) dudes together and then reduce their characters into dumb little archetypes. i dont really get the appeal of “shipping” in general, and if you know me well at all, you’ll know that the way romance is portrayed in almost all narratives that are sold to us is deeply unappealing to me. romcoms were invented by the hallmark channel to control women, and all that.
the way sokka and zuko are portrayed by a large portion of the fanbase is certainly no exception. as someone who was fascinated by the existence of voltron for similar reasons that i was fascinated by game of thrones (which is to say, it was blatantly obvious to me that the writers had absolutely no idea what they were doing and yet their fans didn’t seem to recognize this??? and i just couldn’t look away from the trainwreck because i kept waiting for the other shoe to drop – and then it did, obviously), i can say with confidence that sometimes i see a post about sokka that is clearly by someone who is confusing him with lants voltron.
i have seen multiple people imply that sokka is constantly flirting with and then immediately getting rejected by women he encounters, one even going so far as to turn this into a drinking game (have fun staying sober i guess), but this literally never happens once in the show?? the one time sokka does flirt with someone, yue is absolutely delighted by his advances because she finds his earnest awkwardness charming. suki takes initiative with sokka, and she’s his only other love interest in the show. for another example, i’ve seen people claim that sokka is a dumbass who can’t do math, when he is canonically very good at math both from a practical and theoretical standpoint. and a whole bunch of other nonsense that makes me want to ask “did we even watch the same show?”
sometimes i feel like people went from making katara (or sometimes mai) their blatant self-insert onto which to project their crush on zuko, to using sokka as this conduit. or, sometimes, it’s the other way around, which is admittedly more valid of them (especially bc they know they’ll never be cool enough to identify with suki). obviously, the phenomenon of projecting onto characters and shipping them thusly isn’t new or relegated to one fanbase, and it isn’t hurting anyone, and this doesn’t bother me. unless, it bleeds into your criticism of the narratives you consume, and you project your intentions onto the characters, thus muddying one’s analysis. the one-dimensional archetypes into which the characters are shoved are bad enough, but the racism that accompanies this, especially concerning katara is downright horrifying. i can’t help but wonder if people weren’t so romance-obsessed maybe she (or sokka, or aang) wouldn’t be interpreted through such a colonialist lens, and i find that saddening.
so yeah shipping is a disease get well soon luv xx
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you write for svt?? if your requests are open at the moment could you do maybe them being possessive because of someone else flirting with their s/o? or generic profiles? idk it's up to you really lol 😂😂 -♣️
I’ll go with short drabbles, and I’m not sure if you wanted it to be yandere or not, so I toned the possessiveness down a bit. It turned out to be more subtle jealousy than possessive, so sorry if it’s not what you wanted! Also because there are so many of them, I’m cutting this answer into three parts. Also just for future notice, for big groups like Seventeen and NCT, it’ll be good if you keep the members requested to 5 or less.
This was written as Fem!Reader.
(I actually state it in my rules, but that link’s not working rn whoops)
Seventeen Reacting to Someone flirting with their S/O (Half of Hyung Line)[1/3]
Part 1, 2, 3
Choi Seungcheol
It really irked him, honestly. Seeing that man so blatantly making moves on you. Who does he think he is? Can’t he see that your boyfriend was literally next to you? Seungcheol couldn’t tell whether or not the flirt was blind or ignorant, or both, because he certainly didn’t seem to notice the glare he was shooting the man in front of you. After the second (incredibly lame) pick-up line the lanky man threw at you, which you smoothly rejected, Seungcheol let out a loud exasperated groan.
“Hey, you do realise you’re flirting with someone’s girlfriend in front of them, right?” he asked, an obvious edge to his voice.
You glanced at your boyfriend’s side profile for a moment. Honestly, you weren’t surprised. Rather you were more amazed that he managed to hold back from punching the guy over the head the second the flirt tried to make a move on you. However, you knew his limits were being tested by the awfully tight grip he had on your hand.
“Hey man, chill… I didn’t know she was your girl, I swear,” was the flirt’s lame excuse. You almost wanted to laugh. As if he didn’t know. The two of you were practically joined at the hip, looking like any couple on the streets of Seoul. He had a lousy excuse, and it was clear Seungcheol thought so too.
“Yeah right. Do you need your eyes checked or something? We-“ He held up your hand, tightly clasped in his larger one, “Are obviously a couple, so get lost.”
The sad excuse for a man rolled his eyes and turned to you instead. “Hey sweetheart, why don’t you just leave this guy and come with me instead?” To say you were baffled was an understatement. Was this guy serious? Why the hell was he trying to aggravate Seungcheol even more?
You groaned and turned to your boyfriend, clutching the sleeve of his jacket.
“Come on, Cheol-ie… he’s not worth the time, let’s just leave,” You said.
Seungcheol looked down at you and his eyes softened. “You’re right, babe. Let’s go, the café closes soon anyway.”
As soon as the two of you turned around to leave, Seungcheol’s hand left yours and crept around to hold your shoulder, pulling you even closer to him.
Yoon Jeonghan
Jeonghan probably just about had it with the guy. He didn’t blame you, you were a sweet, pretty girl after all. What really annoyed him however, was the fact that the guy seemed relentless and completely ignored your numerous attempts to get him off your back. At that point, Jeonghan regretted leaving you alone while he went to go buy popcorn for the movie. With an exasperated sigh, the man marched up to the flirt, bucket of popcorn in one arm. The flirt was so caught up in trying to make a move on you, that he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Behind him, in all his glory, was a very furious looking Yoon Jeonghan.
“Whoa- what the hell man! What was that for?!” The man yelled at Jeonghan.
“Leave my girlfriend alone,” The blonde male said, stressing the word ‘girlfriend’ and his eyes staring daggers straight into the other man’s.
“Hey, hey! No need to get huffy, we were just making small talk, seriously,” the man sputtered out in an attempt to defend his actions.
Jeonghan rolled his eyes and nodded sarcastically, “Yeah, making small talk. As if I believe that you punk. If a girl says no, she means it, now get lost!”
Meanwhile, you stood at the side nervously watching the tirade go on. You were really hoping to get out of the situation without your boyfriend’s help, because you knew how sharp his words could cut when he got mad. You silently prayed that the flirt would get the hint and not irritate the blond any further, unless he wanted a bucket of popcorn flung at his face. Thankfully, that scene didn’t happen, and the man awkwardly shrugged off Jeonghan’s arm and walked off briskly.
After dispersing the situation, Jeonghan sighed, combing his hair back, exasperated. “Honestly, some people just can’t get the hint now can they,” he muttered under his breath.
His attention then turned to you and he quickly held your hand.“You’re okay right?” He asked, concern in his eyes, causing a light blush on your cheeks.
“Yep! Thanks for helping me out, Han-nie,” you said, pecking his lips. This time he was the one blushing.
“Anything for my lovely girl,” he said with a smile, wrapping an arm around your waist, guiding the two of you to the cinema hall.
Joshua Hong
Joshua usually wasn’t a possessive or jealous man, but that douchebag over there was really testing his patience. He could see it in your eyes as well, with how annoyed you were at the man’s persistence. Joshua glanced over at the counter, impatiently tapping his foot. Did McDonalds always take this long with their orders? He just wanted to get both your food and get you away from this uncomfortable situation already.
The food seemed like it was almost ready, but unfortunately, Joshua’s patience had just reached its limit. Wordlessly, he stomped over to you and grabbed your hand.
“Shua?” you stuttered out of surprise.
“Let’s go,” he said, his voice low. You could just feel his restrained anger and annoyance radiating from him.
“But Shua, our food!” you exclaimed. Your boyfriend sighed again and paused in front of the counter. Thankfully, the cashier had just put the paper bag on the counter and was about to call for the two of you, allowing you to quickly grab it and go.
Once in the car, you put the food at the back and turned to your boyfriend.
“You know, I had that situation handled…” you said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. The grapefruit-haired man groaned.
“I know, but that guy really got to me. I mean, you literally told him that you have a boyfriend three times! Heck, I really wanted to deck the guy!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands up, briefly causing the car to almost swing.
“Hands on the wheel, Shua-ya!” You warned, internally panicking for a quick moment. Joshua sighed, and glanced over to you.
“Right…I’m sorry but, [Y/N] …I just couldn’t stand it. You’re my girlfriend and it’s my duty as your boyfriend to take care of you when you’re in uncomfortable situations like that,” he said.
You smiled and nodded, placing a hand over his thigh, “I know Joshua, thank you really.”
Wen Junhui
It wasn’t often that Jun ever really got angry or jealous, even when he did, he barely showed it. He was never really the type to properly talk about his feelings after all, and so you, as his girlfriend, had to learn to watch his body language. It was during this particular scenario that you were thankful that you had learned to guess what he was feeling, even without saying it.
Earlier that day, both you and Jun went to a cat café for a date. Unfortunately, one of the staff seemed to disregard any possibility of the both of you being a couple, despite it being blaringly obvious, and slipped you their number. Safe to say, the paper with the digits scribbled on it did not go unnoticed by your boyfriend, even when he was busy entertaining a small British short haired kitten.
“Wow, that staff’s really brave huh,” he commented, glancing at the paper slip in your hand.
Nervously, you chuckled, “Yeah.” You then pocketed the strip of paper, having no intention of calling the number written on it. Before you could however, Jun reached his hand out to pluck it from your hand.
“Don’t keep it if you’re not interested. I’ll just throw this away for you,” he offered. You raised an eyebrow. His words seemed to carry a touch of nervousness or some kind of edge to it for some reason.
“Um, yeah sure. Just not here, maybe?” You said. You weren’t interested in the staff member who slipped you their number, but you weren’t about to hurt someone’s pride and feelings by letting them find it in the café’s rubbish bin.
“Why not? I mean, there’s no reason to keep something you don’t want, right?” he asked, his eyes staring back at you, blinking innocently.
You sighed, “Jun, you know I only have eyes for you. You don’t have to be jealous okay?”
For a moment, Jun’s face looked taken back, before he laughed it off.“I’m not jealous, seriously! What made you think that?”
You sighed again, setting the cat toy you were holding on the floor, “Junhui-ah, I’ve known you for years. I can tell you’re jealous even if you don’t admit it.”
That day, your boyfriend seemed clingier than ever, perhaps in a silent admittance to his feelings.
#seventeen#svt#seventeen x reader#scoups x reader#kpop imagines#kpop scenarios#seungcheol x reader#choi seungcheol#jeonghan x reader#yoon jeonghan#svt jeonghan#jun x reader#junhui#moon junhui#wen junhui#svt jun#kpop x reader
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I have some issues that I want to talk about...
Ok so I’ve been thinking about macdennis (as one does 25 hours a day) and I just wanna share something... so we all know Mac and Dennis are gay for eachother, as does anyone who’s seen them interact in the slightest, and that’s been apparent since the literal first episode of the show (this isn’t necessarily related but I think it’s cute that the literal first lines of the show are between these two gays but to continue on...) and the levels of said gayness have evolved over the seasons. We have season 1 twinks who are subtle (at least for the most part) in their homosexual subtext and this could be played off as two “really good friends” but nothing beyond that (not how I choose to see it but some do and that’s not necessarily invalid just because some of us disagree), moving on through the seasons the gayness becomes more blatantly obvious, it’s brought to the viewers point of focus in a more straight(lol)forward way and the climax of this really shows in season 5 with the tipping point being Mac and Dennis Break up. Other than the few scenes with Frank/Charlie this whole episode is devoted to the blatant codependency of Mac/Dens relationship, not to mention the sexual tension (which is completely unsubtle imo), they literally cannot function without eachother and there is NO heterosexual reasoning that can explain the extended scene (beautiful lips!)... as we progress further in the show the homosexual undertones only become stronger (I could site every point in individual episodes and have a thesis level of critical analysis but for the sake of brevity we won’t go there today) which can be seen in the double parter Mac Fights Gay Marriage/Dennis Gets Divorced, any Mac and Dennis titled episode really and many more (every episode or at least most of them shows some level of interaction between the two that makes the viewer go “hmm well that’s gay as fuck”). Continuing on though, I’m writing this mostly to get into the newer seasons (11/12 respectively) so obviously in season 11 we have the ICONIC suburbs episode where they literally move to a house together and take up their individual “marital duties” (i.e. honey do list, Mac staying at home and taking care of things in his way lol, and Dennis going to work, etc) and we learn a lot about their dynamic and see that the codependency has not in fact weakened over time but grown to incomprehensible levels, in the rest of season 11 there’s fairly limited interaction and Mac/Dennis team ups but in the 2 part finale of The Gang Goes to Hell there are some important pieces. To start Dennis in the beginning is the one who supports Mac’s decisions (saying something along the lines of “you don’t have to mean it, just say what he wants to hear” etc) and it shows how well he knows Mac compared to the rest of the gang, again we have limited interaction until the end of the first part but there’s some really interesting stuff once they do get to interact. I’d like to start with Dennis’ reaction to Mac coming out and how “he always knew”, he always knew and still acted the way he always has (and knowing that he knew, makes one doubt Dennis’ own self proclaimed heterosexuality), moving on, when the boat first malfunctions Dennis automatically reaches his hand out to steady Mac and doesn’t show any real concern for anyone else, fuck even after the boat steadies he keeps his arm reaching out towards him... there’s definitely more in part two but I’m going to skip ahead a little to the tail end of part two. Dennis hid the letters that Mac’s dad sent him from prison and he looks heart broken when Mac gets upset, showing that Dennis actually gives a shit no matter how much he tries to pretend that he doesn’t (this is pre onion that I’m talking about here) and I believe that he honestly was just trying to protect Mac from his shitty father (which could have to do with Dennis’ own daddy issues but we won’t get into that here), also in the end of this episode we have Charlie saying something along the lines of “send us a miracle” and Dennis looks @ Mac in that super love sick way (he is his miracle! i’m so soft i apologize). The last thing I want to touch on in this episode is that when Mac is shoved back into the closet at the end, Dennis makes a very frustrated face... the face of a man who just wants his best friend to come out already... wow ok this is long but let’s move on to season 12, that will continue in the next paragraph break for the sake of breaking up this wall of text...
Ok so in season 12 is where imo everything kind of culminates and comes to a head as far as Mac and Dennis’ dynamic goes...to touch briefly on Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer, we have “Well if Mac’s going to do it... I’m going to do it” (which speaks for itself) as well as Mac and Dennis just generally being portrayed as spending quite a bit of time together. Moving on to where everything really kicks off in this season imo is Hero or Hate Crime. We have Mac finally escaping from the closet but there’s a lot that’s woven into that, Dennis encourages Mac to come out of the closet until he actually does so (we’ll get to that in a minute) and when Mac leaves Dennis is the one who encourages the gang to just let him enjoy his first day out. The importance of Dennis pushing Mac to come out and then getting uncomfortable when he actually does is because HE NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, and when it does he makes the same fucking face as he does when he’s trying to hide his emotions during the RPG scene... after this episode Dennis becomes “emotionally distant” (to quote Mac himself) and he generally is just kind of weird about Mac being out, I personally believe that’s because he’s too scared to admit his own feelings and scared to have to explore his own sexuality and how that impacts his overall identity. Obviously next we have PTSDee and Mac’s dream/subsequent reality, so at this point it’s well established that Mac has a thing for notorious 5 star man Dennis Reynolds but now we have to ask the question “does Dennis reciprocate those feelings?” (spoiler alert: yeah he does but moving on), in this episode it’s made apparent that Dennis is aware of Mac’s attraction (and has been for a long time) but even though it comes very close, he does not act on that attraction in a substantial way and we as an audience collectively heave a disappointed sigh (in gay) and hope for better next time. Next up is the The Gang Tends Bar, which is a fucking masterpiece... so from the beginning we have Dennis trying to avoid Valentine’s day and get the gang to “just do their jobs!”. Later we have the parallel between Mac trying to talk to Charlie about Dennis and Dee trying to talk to Frank about Charlie (both convos are interrupted by that intruding Jerry) and that is really solid evidence for the Chardee Macdennis Theory™... to get to my point here we have the “I have big feelings” speech and Mac coming in to save the day with his gift. So this is where it goes off, Mac who is now openly out gives Dennis a Valentine’s Day gift and makes no move to clarify this as a friendly/unromantic gesture, and the way that Dennis looks at him (other than being hella gay) is one of realization and just realizing that someone actually loves him (our collective hearts break for the bastard man), and going back to Hero or Hate Crime, he makes that same face when he glances back at the gang which is him trying to hide his emotions and how much Mac/the RPG really mean to him. Lastly in season 12 we have DDL, imo the most crucial part of this episode as far as Macdennis goes is in the beginning when they are coming up with the plan, I’ll insert the script here because it says more than I ever could:
Mac: Look, I think the point is, maybe we got to close the emotion door for Mandy by telling her that you're gay.
Dennis: Yeah, right, but I already had sex with her.
How am I gonna convince her I'm gay?
Mac: Just go with me here. Brian's not above having a one-night stand with a woman, but he's got no room for her emotionally - because he's in love with me.
Dennis: With you?
Mac: Well, yes, the lover is me, of course.
Dennis: Mm.
So this to me is just the writers pointing out the nature of Mac and Dennis’ relationship, they literally change the dynamic in no way and they’re almost screaming “THEIR IN LOVE YOU FOOLS”... the rest of the episode shows Dennis being confused at Mac’s actions (”why would you say you want to raise the kid?!” and showing discomfort when Mac launches into the same “he’s my bottom” speech from Mortgage Crisis) and Mac becoming more brazen with his obvious huge crush on Mr. Reynolds. Dennis leaves dramatically at the end and takes about 10 times longer to say Mac’s name than any other member of the gang, while Mac looks on with that sad puppy dog look on his face. This is how they leave it, other than Mac and the rest of the gang blowing up the Rover.
So to get to the original point I was trying to make before going the fuck off... now that we’re in season 13 we all are kind of wondering where they’re going to take this. After all the evidence I’ve discussed here, plus literally the entire roster of episodes, I just want to say that something with a capital S is going to happen. I mean, why would they be focusing so much on their relationship (to the point of it being uncomfortable *cringes and thinks about the sex doll*) and not ... take that anywhere? I mean they’ve been upping the anti since around season 10 and I feel like that character development and plot evolution is not for nothing, RCG know what they’re doing and I truly believe that we may get something at least resembling canon Macdennis this season, add in the factor of promo like “The Machelor” and it’s almost impossible that we aren’t going to get anything... also in the promo for the new episode we have Mac and Dennis holding a fucking heart shaped object between their hands...HEART SHAPED and that’s a level of metaphor that’s not even trying to be subtle... anyways I’m gonna go now but these are my surface level thoughts on the matter and if you want to hear some more specific analysis (on episodes/scenes) don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll type out something similar and not as lengthy. If you made it this far, I wish your heart luck moving further in this new season and we can all cry together
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oooh 47 for the prompt thing!! if you don’t mind!! && def hiccstrid lol
A/N: At first, I was stumped by this one — but then I remembered this WIP I had of Astrid considering the way Hiccup was matured, and I meshed the two together. :-) I hope you like it!! xx Thank you for sending this in!!!!Prompt Number #47: “You’re seriously like a man-child.” // [Prompt List] // Titled Change.
Hiccup fidgeted beneath the intensityof Astrid’s steady gaze. She was perched on a stool in his littlecorner of the forge with her eyes trained solely on her boyfriend —not the metal he was shaping, not the odds and ends he was tinkeringwith, not the chiseled stick of coal that he was scratching against asheet of parchment, not anything other than him.
Just him.
He was obviously trying (and somewhatfailing) not to acknowledge the fact that she was blatantly staringat him, based on the way that he simply went about his business;Hiccup tapped hammers and clamped metal and, between his work, hiseyes would flash up at her, darting from his workbench to her face,then back down again in the matter of a fraction of a second. He didthat every so often, but with every fleeting glance, the next onefollowed even sooner.
Astrid resisted the urge to smile bypursing her lips, only to end up giving in at the thought of how some things never change.
Within moments, herplacid and studious expression has dissolved into a full smile — atender, gentle one that makes her eyes shine softly as she looks uponhim. Despite the utmost warmth of her expression, Hiccup stillfidgets and shuffles his feet. He opens his mouth, as if about to asksomething, but he shakes his head the tiniest bit and seems to optagainst it as he drops his eyes. The next time he looks up at her, helooks back up almost immediately after he looks down; some sort ofrapid double take. He’s looking for an explanation, and Astriddoesn’t exactly have one, but—
“...You’re seriously like aman-child,” she says, and honestly, she doesn’t exactly realizethat it comes out of her mouth — not right away, at least. Hiccuplooks at her with his jaw a little slack and his lips slightly openin a small, confused ‘o.’ He blinks blankly at her, eyebrowsknitted and all, and it’s his puzzled expression (he looks likehe’s wondering if he should be flattered or offended) that helpsAstrid re-board her wandering train of thought.
“I’m…” Hiccup wrinkles hisnose, setting down his pencil in a ‘okay, explain’ kind of way.“I’m a—I’m a what-now?”
The blonde can’t help her grin. Herboyfriend looks a little relieved because her smile meant that itwasn’t an insult, but he still doesn’t look completely reassured.She doesn’t blame him. If anything, the sparkle of mirth in hereyes is probably more concerning than comforting, though Astrid doesn’texactly know that — not yet. Her mouth moves faster than her brainsometimes, and she was still trying to catch up.
He just… He wasn’t the same scrawnyfifteen year old with the ever-meek expressions and perpetually stiffshoulders. He didn’t have the same soft, rounded face or the floppyhair or the limbs a little too long for someone of his height. He wasolder now, and Astrid of all people knows of the physical changesHiccup Horrendous Haddock has gone through, but the way he’s growngoes far, far beyond the physical plane. He’s maturedfantastically over the years, yet as uniquely handsome as he’sbecome, there was more to be said about Hiccup than the way that helooked.
That’s one thing that hasn’tchanged about him. His appearance may have shifted impressively,matching his matured character with startling accuracy, but just whenyou think Hiccup’s brandished all of the tricks he has up thoseoverly-strapped sleeves, he pulls something else, new and excitingand innovative, from some other compartment of his armor.
It was hard, actually, for Astrid totry to decide what had changed and what didn’t, because while a lothas changed, nothing has changed. Hiccup still had thatlopsided grin, he still talked with his arms, he still had thisburning passion for dragons and an insatiable curiosity for theunexplored world around them. He was a leader; he was a brilliantmind unparalleled by any other on Berk — if not the entirearchipelago. And these were all things that he’s displayed sincethey were young.
...So, that begged the question: whatwas different about Hiccup? What was new, and what had just beendormant? Astrid thinks she could be sitting across from him inthe forge for an eternity if she was put up to that sorting task.
“Like… A man-child,” she musesvaguely. He sets down the tool he was using to give her a quizzicallook.
“Yeah, I—I heard’ya, I just don’tknow what that means?”
Astrid snorts. “And you think Ido?”
“Um, yes. I would hope so, actually—“
“I’m kidding,” she soothes. “Ijust meant that… You’ve changed a lot. You’ve grown in waysthat nobody would have expected you to grown in—“
“—you sound like my father. Are yougoing to say you’re proud of me? That’s, that’s what dad wouldsay—“
“—but at the same time,” Astridpresses on, giving him a stern look for interrupting, “I feel likenothing is really all that different. You’re still the same HiccupI knew when I was fifteen and half convinced that if a dragon didn’tmurder you, I would be the one to do it—“
Hiccup barks out a laugh, a single dry“hah.” “A dragon would make it more painless. I’ll take thedragon.”
“Shush.”
“Love you,” he quips, almost... Smirking at her? What a dork. Astrid can’t fight her urge to grin.
“I know, now shush. As I was saying... You’re also different?And I can see that. I see these qualities that you’ve obviously hadsince you were a kid starting to shine through, all while this new…New maturity takes it all and elevates it to a whole otherlevel. People respect you, but you’re not your father. Except, youkinda are. But you’re also still Hiccup.” By now, there’s thisodd, knowing smile tugging at her lips. As if she’s gotten abetter sense of what she’s trying to say. Hiccup still looksmarginally confused and overall appreciative — at least it’sobvious that she was trying to compliment him in some strange,extended way.
“You’ve held onto your childhoodideals and it’s changed us all for the better, but you’ve adaptedtime and time again to what you think people need. You’ve got theoptimism of a kid and the sense of an adult. Well — most of thetime, at least.” Hiccup laughs and she knows she’s right. Shegrins. “So… You’re a child, and you’re a man, y’get it?”
“I’m a child,” he repeats slowly,eyebrows lifting toward his hairline. Then they drop in a furrow.“But I’m a man? And this—this is a good thing?”
Astrid sighs, not exasperatedly, butunderstanding of the fact that she’ll probably be the only one toever understand what she was trying to get at. With an affirmativenod, she beams back at him, propping an elbow on the table andcradling her cheek in her palm. “Yes, a great thing,” the blondesays while urging him to go on with his work with a wave of her otherhand.
Hiccup looks at her cryptically. Hiseyes are narrowed but the oncoming of a smile is hinted at by histwitching lips, and after a moment of holding solid eye contact, heblinks first, shakes his head, and smiles — not at her, though, tohimself.
For some ironic reason, it means more to her that way.
“Thank you, then.”
“You’re welcome, man-child.”
“Actually, I — actually preferbabe.”
Astrid rolls her eyes and laughsanyway. “Oh, so man-baby?”
“Augh, no, what? Never mind. Man-child it is.”
...Man-child. She snorts as Hiccup plunges into his own tangent about this new invention for Berk that’s been on his mind.
Yeah, she thinks — it was an amusing fit.
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Red Velvet Reel 6.2: Cele-BRAT-ion!
[Fic Directory]
Pairing: [Married] Spicyhoney (Underfell Papyrus x Underswap Papyrus)
Summary: As they struggle to get through this stupid bet, Stretch realizes he had way too high expectations for the evening and Fell monsters are stress. He knew that, and yet...
Characters: Edge (Underfell Papyrus) & Stretch (Underswap Papyrus) & Red (Underfell Sans) & Blue (Underswap Sans) & Classic (Undertale Papyrus) & Comic (Undertale Sans) & Slim/Puppy (Swapfell Papyrus) & Black (Swapfell Sans) & some poor random waitress lol.
Contains: Mpreg/Skelepreg! Meeting up in a (sports) bar! Everyone talks a lot and never shuts up! (More) Stupid Fellverse posturing and antagonism! Lots of headcanons!
Rating: Teen and up! (I guess?)
Note: Hah, a labor of love that I’m still not satisfied with but! Enjoy!
Underswap Papyrus – Stretch Underswap Sans – Blue
Underfell Paprus – Edge Underfell Sans – Red
Swapfell Papyrus – Slim/Puppy Swapfell Sans – Black
Undertale Papyrus – Classic Undertale Sans – Comic
“Typical,” Black let out an annoyed puff of breath, “Your kind are too curious.”
“My kind?” Edge propped his head up on his hand, smirking smugly even as he feigned innocence, “I would have never taken you for a coward, but appearances can be deceiving, I suppose. Would you like to look at the drink menu?”
“You!” Black curled his fingers into such a tight fist his knuckles cracked, scowl positively withering. “If you think I’ll be goaded by something so insufferably baiting and juvenile-“
“Put up,” Red popped his p’s for extra emphasis, leveling Black with a flat look, “Or shut up. Ain’t no one got time for yer bullshit- ain’t no one care.”
Black swore under his breath, banging the table once in frustration before turning to his brother, “Pochi!”
“Poochie?” Comic and Stretch looked at each other, unsure if they had heard correctly.
Slim looked up as though startled by being addressed, shoulders tense and sockets blown wide. Feeling so many eyes on him, he hunched in on himself, nervously picking at the myriad of bracelets on his wrists.
“Tell these overly curious buffoons which one you bet on,” Black sounded incredibly bored, waving his hand in the air dismissively, “And make up some inane reason why- you’ve already sunk enough money into this pointless game. Ah, wait- this crepe.”
That skirted a dangerous line. With a fearsome scowl, Edge slammed his hands onto the table as he pushed himself to his feet, looking very much like he was about to punch Black out. Unthinkingly, Classic grabbed his hands, squeezing them with a nervous smile as he gestured to the Slim with his chin, “Er, Slimjim! Once more, big voice, please!”
Blue sat up from his slump, looking confused, “Slimjim? The jerky?” He asked quietly, but Classic didn’t seem to hear him.
Obviously uncomfortable with so much attention on him, Slim looked down at the table with a shrug. When Black started drumming his fingers impatiently, however, he let out a shaky sigh and pointed at Stretch.
“Cuz...” He whispered to himself, snapping his bracelets against his bones with furrowed browbones. Slim started running his pointer finger along every bead on his first bracelet, flicking it up with his claw to catch on his palm before repeating the process, “...Ya know...”
Kinda weirded out but mostly sympathetic to how unhappy the hunched up skeleton looked, Stretch turned towards Comic conspiratorially.
“What obvious reason?” He whispered loudly, “Does this hoodie make me look fat?”
“Nope,” Comic winked as he whispered back, “I can’t Fathom why he’d say that.”
Slim smiled immediately, cheekbones dimpling as he scrunched his face up in a repressed laugh, “Nyeh.”
“Cute.”
Black choked on something, turning to cough into his elbow even as he waved off Comic’s offer to pat his back. He finished the rest of his drink in a big gulp, eyes still closed and coughing lightly, although it seemed oddly forced.
“That’s is extremely weird!” Classic spoke up loudly and cheerfully, puffing out his chest as he pointed at himself, “Therefore I, the Great Ambassador Papyrus, will return normalcy by explaining my bet! And reasoning!”
He dropped his voice to a loud whisper, “With the disclaimer that betting is a form of gambling, and gambling can be a very serious issue! Moderation is key, and if you or any of your loved ones are struggling with it, there are resources available!” He winked audibly, looking at Black earnestly, “I can be discreet! Just let me know how I can help.”
Whereas Black looked confused and annoyed, Slim seemed absolutely delighted, clapping a hand over his mouth to stifle a giggle.
“Sasuga, Papz,” he told Classic warmly, going back to playing with his bracelets as his bright smile dropped into something more neutral.
“I don’t know what that means, but thank you Slimjim, I think!” Classic answered just as brightly, before tapping his chin thoughtfully, “Where was I?”
“Talkin’ about dear Aunt Sal ‘n the chickens that roost in the ol’ barn,” Comic supplied helpfully, grin growing wider as his brother turned to him in complete outrage.
“Don’t be silly, Sans!” Classic tossed his head imperiously, sounding annoyed, “Everyone knows it’s cows that roost in the barn!”
He sighed loudly, “Where was I? Ah, Yes, I actually bet it was... you, Eggo!”
Stretch and Comic practically collapsed on themselves snickering, trying not to burst out laughing. Even Black seemed to be covering his mouth to avoid smiling.
Slim didn’t look up, but reached over to rest a light hand on Classic’s shoulder... who looked embarrassed. Edge’s cool look in their direction sobered them quickly, but his voice was kind as he turned to his counterpart, “I understand. It’s difficult to keep track of so many nicknames.”
Classic smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “I’m sorry, Papyrus- I just seem to forget everyone’s nickname when I’m thinking of your real names. I understand why we do it, and I hope we’re all satisfied with our nicknames- but it is still just so very, very frustrating!”
Expression softening, Comic leaned his elbows on the table, “Aw, Pap-“
“It’s fine! I’m over it!” Classic waved his brother off cheerfully, all smiles and overly excited energy. Stretch wasn’t entirely convinced. “Anyway, it’s because Sketchers is very much like Sans, and Sans- “
Despite their best attempts, most of the skeletons at the table couldn’t help smiling.
“Excuse me, Chexmix is absolutely terrible at taking care of himself! Ergo, Sketchers is too! Ergo, he wouldn’t have the discipline! To resist so many bad habits and temptations! It would be terribly difficult for him-“
Classic jerked towards Stretch suddenly, “Not that I don’t think you are not capable of doing these things! Oh no, I think you could absolutely do these things! If so motivated! Which you probably would be in that situation! In which case, if my guess is incorrect, I very much believe in you! Because I know you will be the best parent you can be!”
Stretch laughed in good humor, grabbing Comic’s glass in a toast, “Guilty as charged! No offense taken, bud.”
Classic beamed, turning back to Edge enthusiastically, “So it can’t be Sketchers! Well, probably not. And, well, you are kind of a control freak, Egg- eh, Edge! It would be better for your peace of mind to be in charge! And you are also very disciplined! And that is why it can only be you! Likely!”
Before Edge could say anything, he turned to Blue on his right. “Bluebell?”
“Oh, I already know the answer-“ Blue toyed with the straw in his glass, jolting when Classic gasped loudly.
“What?!” He was indignant, “And you didn’t even give us a hint?! How could you?! So this is pointless?! You even put a bet in!”
“I literally just said so!” Blue was drawing himself up on his knees in an instant, defiantly glaring only inches away from Classic’s face, “I didn’t put a bet in!”
“Blue,” Stretch called out wearily, making a ‘sit down’ gesture with one hand.
“No.” Black’s scowl was fearsome, managing to look annoyed and disappointed at the same time as he turned towards Red, “It was you.”
Blue sat down with a toss of his head, “See?! That was slander!”
“Me what, cuppycake?” Red put both his elbows on the table, looking smug as shrugged in an infuriatingly flippant matter. “Lie? Cheat? Of fuckin’ course! What kinda star-eyed bruto ain’t fuckin’ check, eh?”
“ ‘Kinda gamesman fesses up?” Slim leaned on the table, gold teeth glinting in a lopsided smile, “Black’d call that’d confession. I’d say yer just a dumbass.”
“HAH!” Red threw his his head back in uproarious laughter, smile wide and sharp as he dug his fingers into the tabletop, “Takes one t’know one, wardog!”
“Your bet is cancelled and the money you put into the pool forfeit,” Black nursed his new drink like he had a headache, “On account of poor sportsmanship and being stupid enough to blatantly confess to it.”
“What?!” Red slammed his fist down on the table, sizing up against Black on his side, “Ya fuckin’ huevon-!”
Edge finally spoke up, sounding almost bored, “When one is burned, it’s natural they would seek an expedient and convenient salve,” He rested his chin on his fist, a challenging glint to his eyes, “Who knew money was what soothed a royal guard the most? Or perhaps it’s a more personal problem?”
Oh no. Stretch didn’t like getting involved in this fellverse bullshit- too much posturing and exaggerated reactions that made it hard to tell when a real fight was about to break out or not- but Black’s eyelights went out. And his skull flushed a dark purple as positively murderous intent started to radiate off of him. Fuck.
“Black!” He knew this was a terrible idea even before he felt everyone’s attention shift to him, trying very hard to ignore the alarmed expression on Blue’s face. “So, buddy-“
Edge gave no outward indication of concern, but he did kick him under the table. Hard. “What’d you bet? Betcha agreed with your bro, right?”
Black stared at him, hard, for a long moment- long enough Edge had dropped the pretense of indifference to grab onto Stretch’s legs in a vice grip to yank him away at a moment’s notice. Red had a bone attack clenched in his fist. As did Blue, and Slim was sitting up alert and his eye- Yeah, ok, fuck-
“Let’s all calm down and have another drink, yeah?” Despite his laidback demeanor, there was a hard undertone to Comic’s words that sent a chill across the whole table. “If you Fellies got something to settle, take it outside. I like this bar, and it’d be a real shame if we were kicked out because a couple of boneheads couldn’t play nice.”
Comic gave a long sigh as he leaned back into the couch cushions, “S’not my place to say, but I don’t think Stretch’s having all that great a time. I know I’m not, and I don’t think Paps ‘n Blue are either.”
No one said anything.
“Well...” Stretch appreciated the attempted save, but this new chastised atmosphere of morose but still combative monsters wasn’t much better. Comic was looking like he regretted getting involved.
“All’s fair in love and war, right? I was hoping we’d be heavier on the love tonight,” Stretch waved his arm vaguely, shrugging with a forced smile, “But I’ll take what I can get. Let’s just, uh, lighten up on the liquor, and-“
“Fine.” Black was still seething, arms crossed tightly as he tossed his head imperiously, “Your money is still forfeited.”
“What?!” Red actually looked surprised, slamming his fist onto the table with a snarl, “What fer?!”
Blue cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, “You just admitted to cheating, bonehead!”
“Shh!” Red made an odd flicking gesture at Blue, “Buss out, Baby Blue! Always such a goddamn metiche!” He turned back to Black comparatively, completely ignoring Stretch who put his head down on the table. “S’ain’t-“
“I’m being lenient since you seem to have gone completely native,” Black gave Red a withering glare, “If this were in a Fellverse, I would have taken your hand as collateral.”
“Sans.”
Slim was usually so silent and unassuming, it was easy to forget he was there- but his quiet voice held tremendous power. He held a silent staring contest with Black for a long time, until Black finally looked away with a derisive toss of his head, “Like I said: I’m being lenient. Pray I don’t change my mind.”
Slim sighed wearily, leaning back on his seat and tossing his head over the head rest. He lifted his arm and started playing with his bracelets again, but at least everyone settled down. Even Red, who had Edge’s hand clamping his jaw shut firmly.
“I’m still not sure what gave you the ridiculous notion that I would deign to participate in something so trivial,” Black scoffed, leaning back against the seat as he crossed his arms. Ugh. And Edge had wanted- had especially specifically specified this asshole needed to be invited too. Stretch eyed the honey mead, only inches away from his face, longingly.
“However! If I had placed a bet, which I am not confirming I did-“ He understood now why the Fellverses tended to drink heavily among each other, but if they knew it was going to make them more combative, why did they even meet up at all? It couldn’t be that they actually enjoyed each other’s company, could it? “Then it would have been on that one. For obvious reasons.”
He didn’t need to look up to know Black was talking about him. “Forreal, what are you guys talking about?” Stretch turned his head to look at Slim, who just hunched further in on himself. “Is it my stats? The lack of fangs? My rounded edges?”
“Nothing worth worrying about,” Edge gave each Fell monster a cool look before turning back to his husband, “As you well know, value judgements based solely on cursory stat CHECKs are neither accurate nor effective.”
Oh yeah. During that minor freak out after Dyna’s checkup, Edge had told him Red was thinking along Underfell lines when he made those caustic comments. Something about Edge’s stats being better for defense of a pregnant partner, so it’d make more sense if Stretch was actually the pregnant one- yeah, okay. It would make sense other Fell monsters would come to that same conclusion too. And they would assumed Edge had too, and that as a couple, they had decided to go the ‘logical’ route. This was gonna be explosive to see play out- hopefully no actual explosions involved though.
Stretch tuned back into the tail end of a surprisingly civil argument between Edge and Black
“-And CHECKs won’t tell you a monster’s motivations or reasonings, their fears and specialties, which makes it incomplete!” Edge slammed his fist onto the table. “And they’re also very easy to manipulate into displaying false data!”
“What?!” Black looked honestly horrified, which seemed like an incredibly out of place emotion on his face, “They are not easy to ‘manipulate’- they have some of the strictest protocols and tightest security of all display mechanics! Conscripts can’t even change the color of their names without a royal reprimand!”
“Conscripts?” Edge blinked, flabbergasted, “A royal reprimand? Who has time-?”
“Um,” Classic had been shifting uncomfortably throughout every tense period, murmuring to Blue in hushed voices, before raising his voice again, “We haven’t heard from Sans yet! My Sans! Chexmix! No, wait- Cosmic! Er, Comic!”
Comic opened a single eye with a widening grin, not dozing quite as deeply as he made it seem, “Honest mixtake, Bro, no sweaturn.”
Blue and Classic rolled their eyes in unison, giving each other shared looks of annoyance. “Mix-take was good, points for well-timed creativity- but sweat-urn was weak!“
Comic’s smile just seemed to grow, leaning forward conspiratorially, theatrically whispering, “Should I Apollogize?”
Classic sighed, resting his head in his hands, “That’s a reach, but better than your usual material. Please just answer the question, brother.”
“Always so Sirius, bro, but ok- I’ll finish this off with a Big Bang,”He winked at Stretch, who had given him an appreciative salute. “Well, I put my bet in with my buddy Stretch here.”
Stretch hung his head with a sigh, “I guess I’m just more Papternal than I realized, a bonDadfied old man.”
“Nice,” Comic held his hand out for a fist bump, “I figured babies are a skeleton of work on your body, and who better than a lazybones to chill and let Pancake do their thing? Soulings are also gonna do all sorts of weird stuff to your body you can’t control, so a relaxed, carefree attitude is gonna be really helpful.”
He sighed, shrugging with a wink towards Edge, “But I’m starting to think I’m out 40g, huh?”
Edge’s expression shifted from preoccupied to considering in a moment, silent except for drumming his fingers on the table thoughtfully. He made a point to make and keep eye contact with everyone at the table, smiling almost coyly. With a nonchalant shrug, he slid the mug in Classic’s direction.
Stretch took advantage of the stunned silence to help himself to the other mug, “Yay, this one is finally mine~”
Then everything got LOUD.
[Part 1 ] [Part 2 - Here! ] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6]
#spicyhoney#Underfell Papyrus#underswap papyrus#underfell sans#underswap sans#swapfell sans#swapfell papyrus#undertale sans#undertale papyrus#skelepreg#fanfic#redvelvetreel#red sans#blue sans#edge papyrus#stretch papyrus#classic papyrus#comic sans
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12x16 watching notes
confession: I really like Mick
Also if he makes it out the season alive and comes back to England I’m finding him myself to kill him.
Maybe the show is running behind time and that’s why Cas’s car was parked in my town
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I'm barely taking off my shoes and sitting down with some tea and I'm getting a faceful of the werewolf lore
(Claire continues to be linked to Dean and hunting, not Cas and angels)
they're stressing the detail about the werewolves not being like the ones in Heart, still, with Robbie's helpful change in 8x04 to make werewolves easier to write. That's interesting to me just because we've spent so much time remixing everything lately that stressing that something isn't how it was in season 2 is more of a meta point than normal. There's also, I think, an assumption people know the show very very well by now, and it's written like you'd know all the random tiny plot details, or at least, the remixes and re-dos are all easter eggs for if you are well-versed enough in the show to spot them. Telling us it's not like it was in the old days has got more important than season 8 - which attempted to soft reboot the show TWICE. (in 8x01 and 8x12) ... Season 12 is the hard reboot where you hold down the power key for 10 seconds and then let it shut off before you try again :P
season 12 recap stuff, condenses down Dean vs Ketch interestingly with several more reaction shots than I'd have expected, including one from I think 12x08 while Ketch was showing off his toys - a real focus on Dean's conflict with them but NOT reminding us as a recent previous episode about stuff like Toni and Ms Watt or Sam getting tortured. Short term memory, or there's always the queer-coded stuff between Dean and Ketch and I do think it's going to be between them at the end whatever happens to Ketch just because they've been shoved together so many times now so it makes sense to make Dean's emotional focus here suddenly switch to hating Ketch, and Ketch making a play for him etc and Dean saying about that they've worked with people they don't trust, overlaid with a little clip of him and Crowley hanging out in glasses, which, of course, again parallels that his lack of TRUST in Crowley is oooh so layered with maybe not trust but reliance, familiarity, and a weird sense of even friendship or family if he'd dare admit it... to DEAN Crowley is much more than he might be to Sam or Cas - THEY would easily be like "uh we don't trust Crowley and hate working with him" while Dean's probably like "Okay so he turned me into a demon that one time and we're not making any excuses but - "
there's also speculation some people have about the fight coming down to the line about Crowley and Dean having to face if he really would save Crowley or not (even if he can pretend it's just repaying the favour for Cas or whatever)
also blah blah interpersonal drama with Sam and Dean, we know how that goes
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The sign we start on says "cold beer and wine to go" - what kind of a bar is this :P
I hope it doesn't have wine out of a vending machine but this is the sort of establishment my brain has decided to expect. (It's called the Lucky Badger so who knows)
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Oh dear the cold open girl is lying blatantly to whoever Ben is, saying she's studying (with her friend Angela, so... I have no idea yet but using a name with "angel" in it probably is an easy way to get in character mirrors >.>) - he's right behind her and turns out to have been watching her as she texted, so probably spotted her in the Lucky Badger or had been creepy stalking her
He seems to think it's a joke though so I guess he's either a werewolf so no wonder he's not taking it personally outwardly - if he's pissed off with her he's way more dangerous in other ways than just having a fight, or they're friends, and this actually is a joke to him. Either way, she didn't seem to like him texting her like that and wanted to lie in the first place.
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Nice shot of the moon.
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Oh, they're siblings. That explains the entire dynamic as a normal human interaction :P He's 100% allowed to teasingly be concerned about her getting into trouble, and the "busted" comment is because they both answer to the same higher power aka their parents. And if you saw your sibling at a bar they weren't supposed to be at, that's immediately within your right to jokingly freak them out via text message, because the whole level of interpersonal drama changes... if it was some bloke she knows being over-protective or over-interested in her life, then yeah. brrr. Of course the show has all the stuff about Sam and Dean policing each other and taking it too far with that and their overprotectiveness, but for now this all seems normal enough for writing siblings, as long as we stick a pin in that thought in case that's a meta thing later >.>
They also have mom drama. She won't let them get a car, aka a sign of being grown up and personal freedom - the girl teases her brother for not having a car but he speaks about it as "us". The mom is deciding when they get to grow up and on what terms. (In 12x01 it seemed like Mary might get possessive over the Impala and we were speculating/wondering if that would happen. So far she hasn't driven it or been given a reason to. Wherever they stashed the Impala between 12x08 and 12x10, Mary never got hold of it in the weeks they were gone. I'm now reminded I'm waiting for Mary to drive Baby for some reason.)
I'm tentatively labelling yellow plaid guy as Sam because tall, and girl in short shorts Dean because... she's shorter.
Kudos to the actress for doing all this in the snow
Anyway the brother tells the girl to act her age (they're now pinging my Twin radar which would be fascinating to have MORE fraternal twins in one season especially in the aftermath of God and Amara - Alicia and Max are interesting but I guess they aren't reliable data until there's more sets to measure them against), and doesn't want/need the car/personal freedom, or to be sneaked into a bar to get a Moscow Mule, while the sister is acting out and trying to get that freedom/do things beyond her expected age.
The brother says the mom is doing the best she can, which of course has been Sam's role mediating between Dean and Mary and wouldn't be weird for him to say
Also more teenagers/young adults thinking about leaving home/growing up - Gwen last episode leaving to go to vet school, these guys 2 years from whenever Actual Personal Freedom hits them (what age does that happen for Americans? I'd just assume 18 if they were British meaning they could be 16, which looks way too young for these guys, but American drinking laws are weird so they could be 19 and still 2 years off bar hopping as a way of life :P - anyway Claire should be coming up to 20, if she hit 18 in season 10, so I'll have to assume these guys are 19 and therefore a year older than when I'd assume teenagers get personal freedom >.>)
(they’re TV teenagers and therefore the actors are probably 25 with youthful faces)
Sam and Dean have regressed or never managed to "leave home" in the sense they never had a home to leave from and fell out of the nest aged Way Too Young, and there's been meta I'd seen about at least Dean and Cas (separately) having adolescence or childhood arcs, and of course in season 12 with Mary back, Sam and Dean are metaphorically zapped right back down to aged six months and four, respectively, with a need to reconcile Mary back into their adult lives, and for her to reconcile adult Dean and Sam back into hers. It's nice if the subtext is moving them up to adolescence in this respect because it means they're nearly adult and ready to fly the next properly and to be their own people. If they don't get mauled by hellhounds or werewolves first, like the poor sucker from last episode who never made it out of his hometown or married the girl... Bit worried one or both of these kids are about to die, because, well, cold open.
They are the right sort of age that the boy could get eaten, the girl turned, and then she's a new BFF for Claire as werewolf friends :3
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Yay she's genre savvy - she knows not to go into the woods when it's dark and full moon :P Come on you have to survive this...
Dean was being genre savvy last episode. Also Ben is not listening to his sister's concerns (and it seems fairly obvious speculation that Sam might not listen at first to Dean's concerns about the BMoL)
Oh AND he calls her a drama queen, after Sam said Dean was "dramatic"
I feel almost bad for making the call about this parallel entirely from the short shorts.
"It's fine I'll prove it"
You are so going to get eaten by werewolves.
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LOL she has a "Bae" in her phone that she's coming right back to
I hope it's Angela
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Nooooo she got attacked
she still looks, like, not devoured. She is presumably just turned. (Is she called Eden or Eve? I can't make out the dialogue at all here)
Heh called it, Ben gets his heart ripped out by the corny mask-wearing monster (a monster playing up being a monster - I'm on Monster Movie red alert because that's like a fave episode ever and we never refer back to it when we really should because it was Edlund at his best :P) - I mean obviously updated from the Nosferatu generation to the Scream generation.
I'm also gonna assume this lame teenage werewolf in a mask (come on, he's wearing a mask and a hoodie) is a peer they know, and like the shapeshifter had a thing for Jamie, kinda wants the girl for himself here.
I'm gonna assume Claire is our "Mr Harker" because she is, after all, a Dean parallel.
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Anyway that's a grim sibling parallel - the one who didn't believe/listen to the concerns gets his heart ripped out just for playing around not treating it as seriously as he should, and the genre savvy short-shorts wearing sibling who just wanted to drink in peace with the bae has presumably had as far as we know for now irrevocable damage done to her life...
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I hope someone's written a lot about Sam being trapped in this triangle:
because that's fascinating. He's definitely separated from Dean and encased/caged in it; whether it's technically a halo because it's glowing or not is a thought for later. But that's not an accidental shot and it's definitely singling Sam out
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Oh good, Dean's temper is doing well.
I thought he'd taken his jacket off for the first shot and was about to comment on that because Sam's in a bulky jacket, but it turns out they're just trying to kill me with the wardrobe because that IS Dean's jacket painted onto his back and shoulders there.
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Dean's chafing at having to "report for duty" with them - the getting cases was fun (especially when he didn't know where they were coming from, or at least, may have suspected but didn't ask questions)... but now he's being treated like a soldier, and he has issues with the big picture - it's staring at the map looking at the scope of their organisation that's got his mind on this, and that comes with the fact they're being used for the big picture stuff. Last time he felt like this, I think, was in season 6 between 6x07>6x10 where he's resenting working for Crowley doing pretty much this exact same thing with taking out monsters - of course 12x14 had aaaall the parallels and callbacks to season 6 and the Campbells.
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Mick's actually still upset about the poor dead people from last time we saw him - nice to see emotional continuity and that this really is part of his arc.
"Wow that is some world class repression, you really are British" - You know if there was an olympics for it, Dean would have taken home the gold medal pretty much every year until now. Shh Dean. Just because you're the Honesty Hour character NOW
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I love Dean's look at Mick after "stiff upper lip" - not sure if it's understanding, or intimidation, or a bit of both. Or the old "he said a weird phrase in a British accent, is that meant to be an innuendo" double check.
(Everything said in a British accent is an innuendo)
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Oh the girl's called Hayden, I think. Thank you, Mick, for speaking in an accent I actually understand :D
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Ahaha Mick did EXTENSIVE research. He's an EXPERT you guys. I really headcanoned hard he's always been a hit the library hard kind of guy, which is probably how he got as far as he did in the ranks of a top secret HEREDITARY order while having a coded in media as lower class accent. Kinda nice to find out he was top of his class in "hunter hogwarts" to quote whoever said that... For some reason I'm convinced it's Bobby but I think that was because he made a joke about phoning Hogwarts when they were hunting dragons.. hang on, I need to look this up.
OH Crowley in 9x11. Of course.
I wonder if he knows there's actual schools for this. We don't actually have much Crowley and BMoL interaction to go off.
I'd assume it's higher education style, sort of like going to law school or whatever, but instead you go to some country house with a big lore library... I can't imagine there are many students.
Dean has come to learn that people around him will incessantly reference whatever a Hogwarts is, while Sam, a Nerd, references it and Mick, a British Person Alive Since 1997, is just like yeah that place. This is almost no indication of nerd cred whatsoever.
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Sam's like "COOL" and Dean's like "Oh god shut up" with his glare. Like, he KNOWS he's watching Sam get suckered in with everything Sam would love (lore, Harry Potter references being acknowledged) so it's like, OBVIOUSLY you are not being critical and careful here, you just said "COOL" and looked at me with that enthusiastic smirk just like that guy who got eaten by a werewolf in a silly mask in the cold open.
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Also Sam WAS critical in 12x14 and ready to leave, but changed his mind after events; of course Dean didn't see that and doesn't know that Sam gave Mick the exact same wariness that Dean is giving him now.
However Dean always tends to be right (and it's blatantly obvious the BMoL are a bad idea to US) so clearly Sam didn't vet them hard enough...
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I love that Mick wants to come along for said personal development reasons and NOT because he's Umbridge-ing them like I had been speculating. (that's a verb, I'm British, let it happen :P)
He and Sam seem pretty good at talking each other up about 12x14 - Sam credits them wholly with killing the alpha vamp, like he might have just been the trigger finger but they did everything (and he and Mick did pretty much tag team it all, from making the bullets to getting one TO Sam to shoot the Alpha so I can see how circumstantially, ignoring the bigger picture of why the Alpha was even there, Sam can see that it was all their work and he just happened to be the one who picked up the gun - of course symbolic for how hunters work with the BMoL anyway, like Ketch seeing himself as their razor blade for slitting throats and nothing more) but of course Mick now credits Sam and "his mum" with saving HIM and sorting out the mess by being competent, and he has learned from them far more than we've seen Sam develop as a result of working with them.
He's got the dangled bait of the world without monsters to look forward to, and knows he just has to be the trigger finger however many more times, and it'll be done. MICK has to think about it in many more directions, and has come to realise he's on the front line, and it's DANGEROUS, so he needs to be more adaptable and trained in ways other than extensive research. Sam and Dean are the best hunters in the world because they combine research and fighting, and have access to MoL research and a smaller library of their own to help them, which means they'd probably have held their own at Hunter Hogwarts as Mick's classmates, and yet because of the specialisation, Mick comes out miles behind them.
(Actual Hogwarts taught practical skills right alongside the theoretical and academic, meaning the BMoL have a long way to go :P)
I don't think this is going to go spectacularly well for Mick, BUT whether he survives the season or not, or ends up helping them or not, it's interesting that he is developing and learning and wants to be more like them. They have a sort of siren call to other creatures/people - I mean just look at Cas and Crowley transforming after being in their presence. Mick being the character who is now obviously changing while Ketch is as bloodthirsty and awful as ever at this point says a lot more than anything else that Mick is being earmarked for positive development/change and realising the error of his ways because he wants to be more like a Winchester. (It could also be sort of sad/pathetic for him if he becomes a groupie but for now it looks like positive, because he still is very self-assured and in a position of power and not yet changing his overall goals for them, and also sees them as a resource)
(also if you were ever going to go on a hunt, you'd want Sam and Dean, top shelf hunters, to come with you and protect you :P)
Anyway Mick does sound a shade scared/frantic as he makes his request so we'll see how that goes for him
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Dean immediately like "He's dead weight"
ominious :P
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"These people have some serious knowledge" shown over Mick attempting to fit a very large box into a very small bag
I'm cackling
"You can't learn this in a book: you put on a flannel, you pick up a gun..."
I'M CACKLING HARDER. Dean is made even more clearly the genre savvy character, aka parallel to Hayden in her short shorts.
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Dean's got a brightly lit door behind him, Sam a dark staircase heading up. The bright yellow railings remind me of 9x23
ominous pt 3 (pt 1 was the parallel in the opening)
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"The better they are the better we are" - yeah, that's definitely that speculation Sam was won over because he thought he could improve and change them for the better and make use of their resources and plans and not just surface level what he SAW but what he thought he could DO with what he saw. It's earnest but it is also somewhat assuming he's going to be a positive force of change and mould them, which when they're so untrustworthy and all, makes me really nervous about hubris coming for Sam. Especially when he's the last character to need an arc with hubris, except perhaps below Cas. :P
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Again - "Mick held his own against the Alpha" - Sam crediting him with staying alive and maybe out-sneaking the Alpha but not exactly out-fighting him. Mick got thrown around and ended up not dying because the Alpha was more distracted with Sam as a known and more dangerous enemy in the room... Overselling Mick to make it sound like if he survived that... but he has no practical fighting skills and the whole point is cleverness won't get you so far, and you need to learn to fight, which is what MICK is saying, so Sam's misunderstanding there on a matter relating to Mick's safety and skill level...
Mick heard Dean saying he could be killed and Dean saying "Good" about him complaining about hearing that - because no sugar coating and if you're terrified for your life maybe you won't be an idiot, and listen to them :P
He then tells Sam he's babysitting Mick, which immediately makes me very worried for Mick because it puts Sam in a position of responsibility and of course narratively Mick is a very acceptable loss to demonstrate Sam's playing with fire with this decision.
Of course Claire is around so she's also going to be an innocent in the line of fire, again, for a decision that Sam and the BMoL will entirely get them involved in.
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PFFT Mick is listening to that podcast that Sam mentioned in 12x07... Did Sam share it with him or do they have the same tastes? Obviously back in 12x07 Sam was lying and using the snobby intellectual content as a way to deflect Dean's interest, not expecting in a million years Dean would want to listen, even just to have some noise in the car - obviously there's always the chance Dean knew Sam was lying from the start (like when he knew Sam was working with the BMoL probably and was challenging him in the start of 12x15 about where his cases came from, again for content on Sam's phone he was lying about) - anyway this time they apparently are listening to the very thing Sam used as his deflection and cover, which is pretty bloody ominous
So Dean complaining about the podcast has all its own connotations about lying and Dean complaining about it because it was something used to hold up a cover once - at HIS expense of being the dumb hunter who doesn't care about history. So I'm guessing if he bitches about the history lesson Mick starts giving here about hunting monks (awesome) it's not because he's being portrayed as stupid by the writing, but he's portraying HIMSELF as stupid in rebellion and anger at all this.
"In Europe everything's old" pfft
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Ohh dear, Sam's been working with them how long and NOW he finally has to ask, wait, even the monsters who aren't hurting anyone?
As it suddenly occurs to him, maybe they don't have any harmless vampire buddies (since Benny is dead) but wait, the BMoL are turning their attention to werewolves, and there's no werewolves in Britain because they killed them all, but GARTH.
Mick just raises his eyebrows like, okay, I'll believe that when I see it. He's been taught too much to give a monster the benefit of the doubt just because Sam and Dean said so.
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So we had the Badger pub earlier, now the Wild Elk lodge - of course it's a werewolf episode, so there's a theme of the wildlife in the woods... *pauses to google the distrubution of badgers and laughs at how the American badger is all thin and fluffy instead of built like a terrifying tank on little tiny skittering legs like the badgers that make living here a bit interesting, if by interesting you mean terrifying* (Yes I know they're not even knee high, have you ever been charged by one on a dark night?) Anyway, whatever badger they were thinking of, not as bad as a werewolf - the badger is lucky, and the elk is wild, with a pretty majestic picture, and of course it's a super fancy hotel
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Dean tosses the keys to Sam, and Sam fumbles them while trying to hold onto all the books from Mick. Probably not symbolic (filed under: "ominous" (pt.5))
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Last night me and Mittens were laughing about how Mick wows them with the fanciest hotel in the area and was in a crappy motel when he was on his own.
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This episode is now going down in infamy as the one where Dean was skinny dipping and we'd never see it in a million years
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I like how he says they've "ruined" him - it's not like they've never stayed in (suspiciously) fancy places before, but Dean's in a sort of culture war here with their lifestyle vs being pampered by a rich sponsor. Of course he steals everything, and doesn't play by the rules when taking a swim, and obviously is being unnecessary gross, still (I mean who knows, he probably DID pack more than enough boxers this time and went swimming in a spare pair, but when it's time to tell Sam, he has to gross him out...)
Also 2 Glynn episodes in a row where Sam is openly revolted at the idea of Dean's naked body.
better informed meta than I could ever write has already been written about how that frames Sam in relation to Dean as a sort of parental figure rather than peers (e.g. I'm pretty sure it's a trope that groups of boys who are peers, either brothers & cousins etc, and/or friends, would skinny dip together in a totally non-sexual way in the sort of hazy summy nostalgia stories I generally associate skinny dipping with rather than "fancy hotel pool" where obviously it's rude and transgressive no matter who you do it with or even if you're alone, as Dean clearly was, to not get them kicked out :P)
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Ooh werewolf cure. Plasma therapy - changing the bit that carries the blood, not the blood itself. I have no idea why I associate the lymphatic system with werewolves - if it was some pseudo science article speculating how it might work I read many moons ago, or if it's just because it's an "ly" word like "lycanthrope" :P
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"Not going to give him the satisfaction" - Sam caught between both sides, knowing Dean's secrets, but having clearly had a more Mick-aligned experience yet again, staying up reading, and of course Mick finishing Sam's sentence about what the potential werewolf cure would have been.
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LOL Mick uses "Buckingham" as an alias. Wow. Are you worried people won't notice you're British?
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His methods get them access, which I think is really just an early victory for him - he IS very smart and quick thinking and obviously 12x14 showed he could keep up with Sam in that way... Beginner's luck worries me :P Obviously whenever Cas starts hunting he has a ton of bad luck starting out - this is probably an 8x08 parallel in that way, with the "You were being bad everything" parallel right now of gaining information in an interview and dealing with grieving family.
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LOL the mom apologises to them and Sam's like "You have no reason to apologise after what you've been through" parallels to Mary and Sam much? I mean she was a parallel in regards to to Hayden and Ben anyway but now Sam's borrowing her too
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Oh no the mom thinks it's a nightmare about what happened to her kids and she might just wake up and it'll all be better... I'm sure Mary's handling being dumped in a dystopian post-apocalyptic nightmare world just fine :P
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*Sam and Dean recognise that Claire is Claire-ing via "smol, bad attitude"* - nice.
Wondering what the "big foot truthers" are and if they have a real part in this - obviously a guy in the mask parallels Thinman, too, as well as of course the original internet episode, Hell House, with the ghostfacers and Tulpa instead of ghostfacers and ANOTHER monster of their own creation that got out of control on the internet :P I also immediately remembered 11x16 for some reason and how the mom felt like her story was being discredited that it got picked up and reported by hokey paranormal websites - which was how Sam and Dean found the case, but was seriously upsetting her.
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"Oh, NO" Mick realising he's going to have to set Sam and Dean on the girl to kill her, or at least, if this was the Great Mick n Ketch Roadtrip episode with no Sam n Dean it would be open and closed "welp she's bitten, now you go kill her" - Sam, Mick's way IN to this, has been like "the ones who don't hurt anyone!!" already so Mick knows he's reluctant. His own faith has been challenged by WAY more experienced hunters pointing out that not all werewolves are monsters in the metaphorical sense, and she's also like, 18 and a girl with a grieving mother hovering around her, so this is going to be MESSY.
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Oh he hated telling the mother that. Compassion despite... all this. A CHANCE.
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And yeah, he lies about her being bitten - most likely he decides Sam and Dean will be too sensitive to deal with her because they are terrible at finishing the job (see also: Magda, and does THAT come out this episode, because it's pretty likely Ketch was on the phone with Mick when describing how they couldn't finish the job)... He can't really DOUBT his "programming" so much he'd give her a chance, and anyway he knows Sam and Dean would approve of that method so it would be fine to bring it up.
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Sam then failed to pick up the cue that it was Claire, that Dean immediately knew. Not sure if Sam's just not got his head in the game, or if it's obviously a point about Dean's greater closeness to Claire and probably a deep dread of her hunting and getting hurt even though it's what she wants to do and they've had to deal with that already before. If you're always running worst case scenarios for her, then eventually you'll be right :P
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Heeey it's a Gas n Sip! I hurt inside!!
(Have... Have Biggersons been gone since Edlund left? I can't recall seeing more than a sign for one once... I can't believe he took Biggersons with him in the divorce)
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Claaaaire
She has the red Gas n Sip logo (there's variations) and Cas is more likely to be associated with the blue... But it IS a Cas thing in GENERAL after his huge associations to it, so it's nice he's... sort of... watching over her, I guess.
She's got a beat up car with fast food rubbish in it, and a shoebox full of cheap phones. Oh, you are well settled in.
Like Hayden, she's lying to family about where she is and what she's doing.
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Okay Dean making fun of Claire with a fake call to wildlife services is the best thing since his impression of Rowena :P
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He should do more weird voices. I love when he has fun.
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I'm laughing so hard because I forgot in the last hour that I already reminded myself of the alcohol thing and then not only did I forget but MICK forgot and bought Claire a drink, and then Dean's like DUDE THIS IS AMERICA WE DON'T LET GROWN ADULTS DRINK UNTIL THEY'RE LIKE NEARLY 30 and I was like what the hell she was EIGHTEEN TWO YEARS AGO
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I'm with Mick here, let Claire have a beer. She's surrounded by responsible adults who'd never let her hurt herself >.> Bah, I suppose they'd never let it happen on American TV... We already had Hayden underage drinking...
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Can't believe Dean watches Downton Abbey and loves it
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Claire dealing with the downsides of being a smol blonde hunter on her own - grabby bartenders. Dean looks ready to kill a guy.
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"Foreign exchange student" I do love outside beloved characters trying to figure out the plot from being back in the Winchesters' orbit for the first time that year. For example Jody trying to deal with all the times Dean and now Mary come back from the dead.
(Jody, off-screen, still not over it since 12x06: "WOW")
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"Sam's best friend. They're like nerd soulmates" - just read Harry Potter already, you'll love it. Even BOBBY read Harry Potter, sheesh.
I don't think he's jealous of the BFF angle - at least not in the way Sam gets jealous, mostly because Dean has been able to make actual BFFs all over the place, and there's Cas and all... He's way more balanced about this particular thing, and would probably love Sam to have actual BFFs of his own if they were GOOD BFFs and not really sketchy operatives from some weird secret organisation that once tortured Sam :P Which is the angle he's playing up with his snarky criticism
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Claire lying to THEM about Jody knowing and then deflecting about calling her, especially now she's with professionals who will keep her safe so OBVIOUSLY Jody wouldn't worry and be fine with it because c'mon, WINCHESTERS
yes I am aware this is the same reason Mick is happy going with them as I said earlier :p
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Anyway Sam complains about road food, Dean defends it; again, mentions the Gas n Sip directly despite them not strictly knowing they "found" Claire at the Gas n Sip this time.
Claire and Cas parallels but also Dean defending living out of a Gas n Sip - metaphorically, but Cas LITERALLY did it.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that"
Pfft also Dean defending lifestyle choices connected to him and Cas... metaphoooor
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"Go nuts, it's on Harry Potter"
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Oh dear, Harry Potter is going to go kill Hayden. Surpriiise.
Except I assume this goes terribly wrong.
the lethal injection imagery is particularly unsettling - she's in hospital with a "condition" that's changed her life dramatically and this ~doctor~ is coming in and deciding for her to kill her with an injection because he decides her quality of life is not worth living/that she's a burden on society (because she will eat people's hearts but shh metaphor) and so he's just gonna kill her without even informing her about her ~condition~ or giving her any choices about it.
So yeah, he's only resembling some of the worst and most prolific serial killers ever - those "angel of death" doctors, who can often get away with it for a LONG TIME because people don't notice or don't value the people they kill.
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"I'm sorry" well he feels a little bad about it at least.
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Oooh moon activating a werewolf. I FORGOT HOW FUN THAT IS. This show seriously hates the moon :P it's such a classic image but it's so hard to structure a procedural monster hunt around it apparently. It's the sort of horror that's intensely personal to the one transforming or else the people in close proximity to them, depending on the metaphor. I suppose Bitten is the only other werewolf episode that could have realistically played with that because of the unusual framing, but it was expressly about CHANGING the werewolf lore to make it EASIER to write, so had to ditch this imagery anyway.
Also - new wolf eyes instead of the old contacts, these are more obviously CG and glowing and yellow, which is brilliant, and I approve.
I guess the moon touching her and her transforming is also the age old coming of age/puberty image for a female character (and female werewolves and the moon should be such a bigger thing but I suppose that would freak men out so no wonder I can't think of mainstream female werewolves :P)
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Buuut then Mick immediately injects her and oh no, life cut short just as it began :<
At least she scratched him up a bit in the process.. never managed to bite him. Boo. Give him a REAL reason to re-think all this
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Nooo she died.
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Pfft I guess Mick's redemption will be via death then because that's put narrative karma firmly against him, no matter how much he may change his mind as he's being hinted to do.
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THIS is great framing to make him look tiny, by putting Claire in the foreground:
"Hobbits" pfft
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So now all the PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS know she was a werewolf because the doctor points out she's completely healed, so Mick just... missed her bite? BAD INTEL
"... Right Mick?"
Dean doing exactly what he threatened to do and actually being directly and instantly skeptical of their benefactor.
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And Mick puts it down to a mistake, just like all the other bad intel they had... Awfully blurry what WAS a mistake and what wasn't
Like, they almost certainly knew about Ramiel, with this much hindsight of ~mistakes~ and bad intel.
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Dean says he'll take Mick and Sam will take Claire, but he and Claire storm out together because they're, well, peas in a pod. It's adorable. I love them. Also it leaves Sam and Mick to stare ruefully at dead Hayden.
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But then Claire is in Sam's trust now.
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I think the bar is going to be a dead end and it will be someone Hayden knew, because of the silly teenage werewolf in a mask from the cold open :P Also Claire needs to be in peril, but Dean going fruitlessly to bars with someone he needs to talk to/suss out is a Thing
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Claire is Dean - she said "awesome" and "dude" in the same breath, while telling Sam how she is. She also drove Sam there, and has her own plan and is telling him to stay behind.
He is firmly NOT in the fatherhood bracket to her.
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Anyway Claire plays to her age, with her hair like that, and her headphones she puts on just as an accessory. Sam gets told he's old to his face, which is something Dean passed through in the last couple of years, but now Sam's there :P I already reblogged the gifset of this paralleled to the similar moment of Dean dealing with hunting with Charlie in 8x20 and her music and getting told he was old, and basically doing this 4 years ago, which, conveniently, is his and Sam's age gap.
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Mick struggling to open the door with the American flag in the corner, mostly because he fucked up. LOL. He's been struggling to get through that door all season.
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Oh great, the grabby tribal tat guy is the "Bae" that Hayden was seeing - obviously older than her, was gross to Claire, the same age as her, and this reminds me of 10x20 and how Dean smacked that guy's head into the table for calling Claire a bitch and TO BE HONEST I get the feeling we're about to find out that was not exactly Mark of Cain behaviour but protective Dad Dean behaviour :P
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Dean is being super rude to Connor and defensive of Hayden aka the parallel to his daughter, Claire... heh
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Dean accidentally-deliberately interrogates Mick at the exact same time as Connor and I am overwhelmed with love for him because he is brilliant okay
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*Dean smiles until Mick admits to watching The Great British Bake Off*
Mary Berry would be ASHAMED of you, sir. Using her to lie like that! TUT TUT
*Sue and Mel closing in with various baking implements to enact their revenge on Mick's treachery*
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... see now I just want this to end with Sue Perkins showing up in a swish suit and kicking the snot out of Mick and I know there's some wish fulfilment you just have to let go but it's still going to hurt not to get
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Oh my god Dean now following up the Claire thing
"what are you, her dad?"
Uh, well.
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Basically yeah, I would assume, after that threat :P
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God I love how Dean and Cas are just her dads and that's a thing.
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Mick wandering around in his beige coat just lampshades how WRONG this all is
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I can not BELIEVE right after typing that Dean clamped his hand down on Mick's shoulder and gripped it tight
(to make him say "ow ow ow ow ow ow ow" and reveal his lies and falseness)
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I can't WAIT to reblog a gifset of that and just tag it with "Dean's elbow fetish for ts" with no explanation on the reblog.
I mean DAMN that's a dark and horrible mirror... I suppose also Cas has a mercy-related story this season with Kelly and the nephilim, and he already learned his first lesson about mercy in 12x10, and took it with better grace (snerk) than Mick has here. I mean Mick has narratively fucked up into not coming back from this land, but Cas obviously has a longer game and has already softened and changed his position WITHOUT fucking up to learn it, or at least, only being tangentially connected to a historical fuck up, where it was very very easy to blame Ishim for everything :P
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But yeah, Dean and Cas keep each other in check and the shoulder grab is their thing - now Dean uses it to expose lies and treachery on a dark Cas mirror, with that ~sacred~ touch of theirs being used to reveal the truth. Dean is like, on the side of Truth and Justice this season...
I don't think this necessarily means anything bad for Cas because he and Dean are in such a good place - rather it's using the example of Cas as a perfect GOOD person to show how terrible Mick is... Like I said about the Gas n Sip sign looking down on Claire, Cas is sort of all over the place here, and right now it's in Dean's use of that goodness in his life to expose the badness.
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"I did what needed to be done" Oh hello thing people say when they done fucked up and know it. Last said by the guy in Red Meat who thought he'd killed Sam for the greater good of saving his own ass and his girlfriend's ass.
I think werewolf episodes are still connected to that same thread of thematic stuff that turned up the Mark of Cain arc, because 8x04 set up so much thematic imagery for it, it's ridiculous, and of course that "did what had to be done" was a key phrase of season 9 - said so often in some episodes you'd die on the drinking game of it :P
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"she attacked me" PFFT BECAUSE YOU WERE A STRANGE MAN IN HER ROOM WHO WANTED TO KILL HER
"I had orders!"
"You had a choice!"
Hello there Cas mirror from season 4 just like we all predicted back at the start of the season (okay, in some cases, about Toni, before she was shipped off and Mick replaced her - but SOMEONE in this organisation was gonna get to this point at some point this season :P)
But he made a bad choice and chose to lie and go behind their backs instead of questioning, thinking and talking. Obviously Mick has a ton of missing footage compared to Cas in season 4 - 4x16 is where HE began SERIOUSLY questioning and following his doubts through and Mick’s just not put in the same effort, and already fucked up where Cas had not.
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Ooooh low blow then Mick brings up how Dean pals around with witches and demons - a witch who has saved their butts several times now, WILLINGLY, most recently in Glynn's last episode... And a demon who, well.
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Mick tells Dean to do his job, Dean explains how it's not black and white - and how Magda is an example, and Mick is like... yeah we have a code... and doesn't tell Dean what Ketch did.
I hurt inside :P
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VENGEANCE FOR MAGDA
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Also this has abruptly made me wonder if Mick is even part-way redeemable despite his interest in learning just because of his stance in the argument and not telling Dean about Magda... There COULD be a more nuanced sort of thing where he's judged for being the passive evil that authorises such killings as Magda's, like the people in government positions who do the evil of the government in a way where the blood is never on their hands literally, only figuratively... it really depends on if Mick REALISES what this ideology will do in the end, but he's keeping this secret for now and it's been made clear where he is in relation not just to killing Hayden, but all the awful the BMoL do
like if he killed Hayden but then immediately regretted it instead of sticking his ground, then he could have had a teachable moment (pfft) and because of regretting the blood spilled of his OWN people he was at least somewhat potentially sympathetic at the start of this >.>
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Claire goes and gets basically the same info as Dean did so I'm assuming creepy Connor is the werewolf just because he's the only character left with any connection to the MotW stuff :P
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The parallel from the cold open switches around though - now Hayden is in too deep getting let into the bar on the down low by a guy who likes her and I guess wants to add her to his collection in the same creepy way the BMoL want to collect top shelf hunters... Got Sam on the hook, but the older brother is concerned and goes along to check on her and save her, and she's only doing this because she's bored and stifled and wants another life from the one she has... Her brother gets his heart ripped out for the trouble of protecting her >.>
(I think both the readings work it's just the episode does swap it around with this reveal that Ben went to protect her specifically, but he had no idea it was a werewolf, he just wanted to take her home away from the creepy older guy)
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Oops, now Claire's lying is caught out. By Sam! Who is NOT ratting her out to Jody but letting her maintain that lie I guess while he feels Claire is under his protection so he doesn't need to worry Jody about it.
... Although makes you wonder from Jody's POV what exactly is going on when Sam phones her out of the blue to ask about Claire.
"... just wondering ... for no reason..."
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Oh no Claire :< She just wants to be alone because no one gets hurt and everyone's happy if she's not a burden on the-e-emmmmm *beats fists on the floor*
Do you think that you can catch the morbs from having been possessed by someone with them :P She sounds like Cas, at least, last year, although who knows, maybe this is a parallel to how he feels about why he popped back to Heaven, because he's depressed and it doesn't always make sense why he would feel like a burden or that people want him to be something he's not (Dean just wants him to be THERE) but Cas probably still feels bad he fucked up that vampire hunt, and now Claire is alone and hunting and miserable, and... She's probably paralleling Mary and Cas tbh.
Owie ow ow.
Because Mary also feels like her family wants her to be something she doesn't feel like she can be. And also they were very precious with her to start with (12x03 she had a lot of better reasons to leave but I think she felt enormously stifled on the hunt)... Argh.
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Sam sucks at talking to The Youth btw.
I find it quite ironic I watched 8x18 at some point in the middle of this and Victor makes a point of asking if Sam had kids or wanted them, and Sam's a bit like, no and eeeh in response, because, well, it's post-Amelia break up for him and it hurts and normal life is for people who shut the gates of hell and survive to tell the tale, really. But anyway. Yeah. Dean is effortlessly fatherly to Krissy or Claire; Sam struggles, and is surprised to be considered old, I think because he's still somehow got the backpack he had in season 1 that makes him look like a 10 year old schoolboy when he shoulders it, and in some ways he's never managed to get to the mature adult stage. Like, he needs to have genuinely lived it to absorb it into his personality, and he got as far as wanting to propose to a college girlfriend, or wanting to move in with Amelia and have a dog... He's never had a kid forced on him or someone he adopted... Magda was the first kid he'd potentially adopt HIMSELF for the entire show I think, and he still related to her directly; some part of him still resonates with the lost hurt child phase of life... I mean, watching season 8 and 12 concurrent, as I'm accidentally doing, we've got Sam wanting to shut the gates of hell and go live a normal life, and Sam wanting to rid the world of monsters and live a normal life. In both cases he's got this big hurdle before he grows up and completes any life stages I suppose.
Dean's sort of unintentionally matured on the fly, so he's still got an adorable childlike layer of his personality, but he also falls into being a father more naturally, and at the very least, something awoken by thinking Ben might be his back in season 3 for an episode, and having to think of him that way may have... idk flipped some levers or something. Sam's busy having it all ripped away and putting up big walls that need to be overcome before he can rebuild. Dean lost everything so young he's re-made his life within the framework of being who he is, and endgoals that fix everything don't mean as much to him - which goes right back to that conversation in 1x16 where Dean thought killing Azazel would bring the family back together to hunt, and Sam thought it meant he could go back to college and be a person again.
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*Claire stomping off listening to music and shutting out the world* I bet she's not going to get grabbed when she walks through this patch of trees or anything
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Wow she got attacked while walking through the patch of trees wow
(this is a totally muted reaction because I screamed "CLAAAAAAAAAAIRE" into Mittens' chat box with barely any context :P)
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She did seem like she has learned to fight a little, but the werewolf just totally overpowered her :<
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TBH I think she's probably close to normal hunter level - I mean Garth got bitten, and most hunters aren't crazily OP and used to fighting demons with nothing but a tea towel like Dean
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I hope no one's complaining about her being useless or deserving that... I think we're spoiled by Sam and Dean
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SAM HUGGING CLAAAAAAAAAIRE
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SAM BEING DONE WITH MIIIICK
I'm glad it was that easy after all and they didn't keep a load of secrets or make it hard. Killing kids is the line and Mick crossed it, and Dean told Sam, and Sam is like, yep, okay, bye bye Mick.
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Google: How to extract mom from BMoL now
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Google: How to un-werewolf my ward before my angel finds out
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I am not handling Dean's face in this scene
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Dean's trying so hard. He looks.. argh
"Maybe some people can control this. But I can barely keep it together on a good day." Aka she already is angry and lashes out and runs off etc and that's not exactly got better from having a sort of stable life with Jody... So now she's a werewolf she's terrified of what she'd do to them with extra violence in her, and she loves Alex and Jody so much she doesn't WANT to be near them...
So yep, now we have the Madison dilemma back >.> "I'd rather die."
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But this time Mick mentioned an old cure that doesn't work
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Google: how has werewolf medical knowledge improved since the 1920s?
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Ouch, 1/9 test subjects was cured. That's considerably worse odds than Dean had with the vampire cure - the Campbell recipe clearly described of the test subjects, one died and one lived.
It seems to work every time now so I assume they've refined the recipe a bit. Like, longer fever, but less chance of puking your guts up to death, because in 6x05 it happened quick and horrible but by 9x19 Alex is moaning and feverish and says she's been throwing up but is obviously having a slower recovery than Dean, but in a sense a long fever is much less violent and therefore easier to bear.
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Oh, nope, that was mice (WEREWOLF MICE AAW) - we have one dead human, and Claire saying "second time's the charm" - same odds, with ominous test data behind it.
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"It's my life. I get all the votes."
"It's her life"
Sam might not be great at the truth but he's always there for bodily autonomy.
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Dean puts the fear of God into Mick and by that I mean fear of himself :P
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Pfft the Lucky Badger has a huge "No under 21s" sign on the door which I don't think has been clear until now.
I find it somewhat surreal that a 20 year old is being treated as a minor and child but I suppose it's the law over there >.>
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I suppose Mick buying her a beer was a real sign of the culture clash which also is symbolic of him just not getting how it works.
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I LOVE they use a shot of the lurking Impala before they stalk Connor
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OH NO He was just a jerk... who totally deserved that.
Now what???
There's like no leads to follow??? Maybe lurk in the woods and see if a weird man in a mask is around??
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Meanwhile: high drama with Claire transforming and challenging Mick to kill her
AAAAAAH
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Oh good he didn't kill her. >.> well if he learned his lesson it's too late for both him and the Winchesters and the whole mission.
And they'd better phone Mary as soon as this is over, like, get the hell over here and never answer your phone to them again
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Pfft sedating and restraining her for his protection. Mick's really not very brave, and his methods are repeatedly showing his weaknesses, mostly because of his priorities.
Like, he thinks, I'm not as bad as Ketch but I'm still a coward and you're a scary monster
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Oh no Claire being sad about not telling Jodyyyy and she's going to be so maaad
She loves Jody and Alex so much... this is killing me :(
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AAAH MASK GUY
AAAH is that the OTHER douchey bartender? :P
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"You can kill me later, after we find Claire" in a way, knowing you've fucked up THIS badly is somehow liberating :P
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Ahaha, "Eat me, Teen Wolf" has that show ever been referenced here before?
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LOL it's the "the apocalypse made me do it" excuse for an episode - same as the ghoulpires in 11x04 being like "welp the Darkness is coming we're all doomed" draws attention. Now this dick is like "Mary and Ketch murdered everyone I love and so I'm hurting people" which means the BMoL are the bad guys on BOTH sides of the equation.
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"We weren't meant to live like this. A werewolf needs its pack" family stronger together message again, if very dark here
Sometimes monsters have a weird line on the truth - the vamps in 1x20 who talked about how revenge wasn’t worth it
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Hahaha Claire calling out "nice guys"
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Nooo, don't eat, Claire
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"I have a family and they love me" AAH CLAIRE
It's like Cas's declaration in 12x12!! except no one hears it but here come Sam and Dean to save her!
(And Mick)
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Uhoh Dean's got to fight Claire... this is not going to look good on his fight resume
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oh nope, he did just knock her out via throwing her into the fridge
sometimes you have just got to deal with a problem, apologise, and move on :P
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Yay Mick killed himself a monster
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Now fix Claire pls.
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She's very snarly still *looks dubious*
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Oh noooo
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OH YAY
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I hope Dean went out to pray to Cas btw
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She would make waking up with a face covered in blood look like a disney princess awakening
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Why are they giving Mick a second chaaaance? Is this because he helped Claire? This is because they don't know about Magda because that was the second chance and this episode has made it suuuuper clear >.>
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I mean THEY give him a second chance but to us and the story I think it's pretty clear Mick might help them at some point but he's on borrowed time and about the only way he could survive this now is if he, like, personally murders Ketch for them, although I'm not sure that will happen because Ketch and Dean seem destined for a reckoning, which to me means that Mick will probably get killed by Ketch and then Dean will kill Ketch and *invokes the entire Hmmmm whatcha say meme*
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ANYWAY EVERYONE LOVES CLAIRE AND CLAIRE LOVES EVERYONE AND SHE CALLED JODY HER MOTHER AND THAT'S IT I'M DONE
*lies on the floor and weeps*
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Hi, I'm an avid reader of Dark Horse Running and Where the End Begins, and I was wondering if you could share more on your thoughts of Vanitas? Specifically makes you think there's something beyond his apparent lust for bloodshed and cruelty towards Ven? Do you think there's any chance of a redemption for in the series? And also, how would you ever write/how do you picture pre-split Ven's characterization?
Hello! Sure thing! And I apologize in advance for how long this is inevitably going to be. 8D;
Specifically makes you think there’s something beyond his apparent lust for bloodshed and cruelty towards Ven?
This really isn’t something I attribute to him personally as much as
A) one of KH’s big themes is that darkness isn’t inherently bad, it’s what you choose to do with it that makes you who you are. Obviously, Vanitas has chosen to give into it entirely, but I think he has the potential to control it. The first comparison you could make is to Riku and Terra, but the biggest difference between those three, obviously, is that Vanitas doesn’t have a strong light in his heart to balance his darkness (not anymore, anyway) which is what calls into question whether it’s even really possible for him to change. But I think it’s a bit more accurate to compare him to Xehanort – a case of someone who’s given into darkness, but who (and I’m putting all my bias for the Wayfinder trio aside to say this objectively) isn’t actually evil. Xehanort does some terrible, terrible things of course, but even Nomura up and stated that Xehanort isn’t a “monster.” He never does things just for the sake of being cruel; everything he does has a purpose behind it. Granted, that doesn’t excuse anything he’s done and he’s still a terrible person, obviously, but it’s still a step above someone like Vanitas, who clearly enjoys hurting and mocking others, and who legitimately got excited when talking about the impending Keyblade War when he had nothing to gain from it besides participation and/or watching the apocalypse happen.
THAT SAID, I think there’s a grey area between Ultimately Good Guys who use darkness like Terra and Riku, and Utterly Evil Villains Who Are Swamped In Darkness like Vanitas. But I’ll talk more on that in a bit.
B) I think he’s as human as Ven is. Even though Vanitas was created unnaturally, I figure that he and Ven are really the same when you get down to it, since they each come from the same heart, and the only real difference was that Vanitas was given a new, separate body. And since all humans are potentially redeemable (in my opinion), I think Vanitas could change if he wanted (keywords: “if” and “wanted”).
And while it’s sometimes tough to figure out when Xehanort’s lying, when he’s telling a half-truth, and when he’s being honest, I also personally think that what he told Terra – “He has no control over the darkness in his heart[…] He’s an abomination beyond hope of salvation.” – was probably a lie, considering almost everything else in that conversation was false. Putting Vanitas down as irredeemable (whether or not it’s true in the end) was probably Xehanort’s way of ensuring that Terra would have no doubts about potentially tracking down this kid and killing him as he was told to do.
tl;dr: Xehanort lies a lot and I don’t think you can use what he says about Vanitas as definitive fact.
Do you think there’s any chance of a redemption for in the series?
WELL… if you’ve read those two fics of mine, then it’s probably obvious that I believe it’s possible, yes – but do I think canon will go out of its way to set up the circumstances that Vanitas needs to turn around? I’m really not sure. tbqh my dream scenario for KH3 is that everyone gets redeemed to some degree, that nobody has to die and we get the ultimate happy ending, and I personally find this to be more likely than just one or two villains getting redeemed. So specifically – disclaimer: I have nothing to back this up, this is purely speculation – I would think Vanitas only stands a chance at surviving and turning around if Xehanort does. From a plot/meta standpoint, it would probably make more sense for Vanitas (who is legit darkness incarnate) to be redeemed only if Xehanort (who’s given into darkness without letting it take total control of him, as I mentioned above, and is thus arguably an “easier” case of redemption than Vanitas) is as well.
To go deeper into it, though, I actually think Vanitas would stand a better chance of being redeemed if Xehanort survives. And before anyone jumps on me about how Xehanort mistreated him and is at fault for the way he is and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near him etc etc etc – first, I don’t acknowledge the light novels, and I think Vanitas would have been screwed up with or without Xehanort in his life. He had the natural inclination towards evil because of what his heart was made up of. Second, consider the circumstances of Vanitas’ life. Ever since being born, he’s had a purpose: fight Ventus, create the X-blade, usher in the Keyblade War. He trained for it for four years straight. If my suspicions are right and he’s one of the Thirteen in KH3, then again, he has a clear-cut purpose that defines his unnatural existence.
So even if he survives the War in KH3, his life will be radically different because he doesn’t have a purpose to fight towards anymore. Sure, Eraqus could adopt him with the rest and tell him to fight for the good side now, but what reason does Vanitas have to just suddenly throw away all his bias and beliefs, changing the way he is and suddenly fighting alongside the enemies he’s always looked down on? I don’t think it’d be that easy, which is why I say Xehanort could be the key.
Regardless of anyone’s thoughts on Xehanort personally, there’s no denying that he’s always given Vanitas purpose, that he’s the only authority and mentor Vanitas has ever known. He’s the only person Vanitas has had the potential to respect. So I’d think it’s much more likely that Vanitas would follow a reformed Xehanort long before he followed anyone else, especially anyone good and light-centric like Eraqus or Ven.
And you can probably see where these thoughts of mine tie into Where The End Begins, specifically. XD In particular – and I hope I don’t come off as too full of myself by quoting my own fic for my argument – I basically summed it up in this scene:
“I’m… kind of surprised he’s still here, actually.”
“He has nowhere else to go.” There was no pity or concern in Xehanort’s tone; it was simply matter-of-fact, as though this were an obvious truth. “Like anybody, he needs a purpose, and familiarity is always the best starting point.”
Ven didn’t hide his confusion. “You mean he chose to stay with you?”
“I did not twist his arm, if that’s what you are thinking. He is of my making, so I do not deny responsibility in the matter; I gave him some incentive to remain, but nothing more.”
Incentive…? Ven frowned. As far as he knew, Vanitas was assisting with the Heartless problem to kill time, but that was it–
He straightened up a little as a thought occurred to him.
“Wait a minute. He’s not still training under you, is he?”
Leaning his temple against his fist, Xehanort gave a thin smile. “Like yourself, Vanitas has much power, much untapped potential. More than I initially estimated. It would be a shame to let that go to waste.” When Ven’s face darkened, Xehanort added, “Or perhaps you would prefer to have him explore his abilities on his own – unguided and unrestrained?”
“N-No, but…”
“You can sense it, can’t you? He hides it well – remarkably so, considering his nature – but you of all people should know what he is truly like.”
…Although for the sake of fanfic plot, I’m complicating the matter a bit with how Vanitas has trouble putting his past aside and can’t always control those impulses (e.g. when he overdid it in knocking Ven around later on), but my ultimate point is that he does need guidance and purpose, and Xehanort is (for now) the only one who can give him that.
I think it’s also worth mentioning that, even should Vanitas be redeemed canonly, I don’t think he’ll necessarily join up with Sora and the gang as someone with entirely pure interests. I imagine him as more of the lone wolf who acts on his own the vast majority of the time, only grudgingly teaming up when necessary, and who’s really more of a neutral force than strictly a “good guy.”
AND THEN there’s the possibility that Vanitas might die in KH3, but be taken back into Ven’s heart and accept it, and thus be “redeemed” that way.
And also, how would you ever write/how do you picture pre-split Ven’s characterization?
Let me start by saying that I’m avoiding Union X spoilers like the plague, so I’m not taking that into account (on top of the fact that my thoughts on that are VERY COMPLICATED RN) so this conjecture is based entirely on what little we were shown in BBS.
I actually haven’t written Xehanort-era!Ven before, which admittedly surprises even me?? lol. But I’ve thought about it regardless, and I don’t imagine there was that much of a difference between Xehanort-Ven and Eraqus-Ven. I don’t want to use the “Vanitas’ birth” scene as a sole basis for Ven’s personality at the time; it was an extreme situation and Ven’s reaction – fear – was normal, so I don’t really like when people assume he was timid or “pessimistic.” If you took the scene of Eraqus and Ven from the end of BBS out of context, that could give the same impression. The fact that Ven stood up to Xehanort in his own way by refusing to give into darkness – blatantly disobeying his master’s orders – says he had a good sense of right and wrong back then just as he does under Eraqus. Xehanort even describes Ven when he met him as being “too benign” in his reports.
BUT moving from canon evidence to personal thoughts, I imagine Ven was probably more reserved under Xehanort. He probably didn’t have any real friends other than people he might have talked to in passing (assuming Xehanort traveled with him), meaning the majority of his interactions were with Xehanort, who obviously isn’t the most loving teacher, so I picture Ven being quieter and not quite as excitable since Xehanort wouldn’t have responded very enthusiastically to the kind of social butterfly personality that Ven has later. I also like to think he was happy with Xehanort (that flashback scene notwithstanding), but I also headcanon that Ven was an orphan prior, so for an adult take him in and give him an important role and so much attention (even if it wasn’t affectionate) would be kind of a big deal.
Plus he would have been curious about everything outside of his homeworld, so he would have asked a lot of questions, and since Xehanort holds intelligence in such high esteem, I can picture him taking the time to explain and pass on even some irrelevant knowledge, which again would make Ven feel respected and important. And that could have then led to Ven doing everything he could to respect and please Xehanort in return (again, that one flashback notwithstanding, since his morals/fear were called into question), so I also figure Ven probably tried to be as well-behaved as possible and mimic Xehanort’s behavior to a degree, reinforcing the idea that he wasn’t as talkative or prone to getting excited over everything at the drop of a hat as he is in BBS.
….THAT WAS SUPER LONG, SORRY. And I hope that rambling made some sense?? lol. Thank you for the questions, though, it’s fun to think about. :D
#ask#salve-sis#kingdom hearts#ventus#vanitas#xehanort#text post#mine#tl;dr#fanfic#headcanon#two cents#long post
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I am so unbearably jealous and hurt and upset about this situation and I need to vent. I used to have 2 really close friends at school. One was my freshman year roommate and one was a friend I met through my program; I think I introduced them. The 3 of us were always together, always messaging each other, always involved in each other's lives, planning trips, going out, staying in, laughing, crying - everything. My freshman year roommate, C, is still pretty much my closest friend. I know we've got each other's backs, I can trust her with anything, and I know she knows that, too. I'm not worried about our relationship. We're good. But in the past few semesters, I've had a falling out with L. It happened gradually. It started when she signed up to work at my workplace without asking me first - which, okay. I can get over that. Most of my initial anger at that was just a weird, childish feeling of "no, that's MINE." But I kept thinking about it, and even outside of my selfish reasons for not wanting her there, I had legitimate concerns. She tends to put a lot on her plate and then crack under the pressure, and this job requires a good amount of focus, planning, TIME, and emotional labor - I worried she'd either break down about it OR put it on the back burner because it's not a priority for her. I love my job, and I knew i'd feel hurt if she didn't make it a priority, ESPECIALLY if she wanted to talk to me about it. I worried I'd have to comfort her for not liking a job that I absolutely love. I worried she'd want my advice all the time, or worse - I worried she'd refuse to take any advice and dismiss my experience. I convinced myself I was being silly, that my concerns were unfounded, but within a month or two, ALL of those things happened. She talked about how she wouldn't do the job if it weren't for the good paycheck, and scoffed at me when I told her it meant a lot more to me than that. She came crying to me when she thought she wasn't good at the job, and didn't speak to me for days when I told her that there's always a learning curve and that she needed to work at it if she wanted to improve. She dismissed advice I gave her about scheduling with a "no offense, but forgive me if I don't listen to YOU because..." It was humiliating and I was angry. She'd also act like an expert when someone asked about our work, never mind that she'd only been there for less than a few months and still talked all the time about how she hadn't settled in to it yet. Anyway. The job thing was really only the tip of the iceberg. L thinks of herself as a Great Ally - someone who's always there to listen and learn and admit their fuckups - and that's true, to some extent. She's happy to learn and be a listening ear in terms of greater communities + institutional/social marginalization, and I'm glad. I admire her for that. But she does NOT do that when it's personal, when it's with people close to her, when it affects her directly. If a friend - me, C, or anyone else - tells her that she's made a mistake or done something to hurt us, her immediate reaction is to cry and make it about her. I was angry at her once because I felt like she was cutting me off socially on a trip where I was trying to meet people, so I was trying to keep quiet and keep my distance while I calmed down (hard to do, since we shared a hotel room). She could tell that I was upset, and she burst into tears and kept talking about how she didn't want to ruin my night and how she felt like such a horrible friend, and it got to the point where I ended having to comfort HER even though I was angry. It's not that I wanted her to feel sad, or that I didn't want her to express how she felt, but this is a trend with her - I feel like I'm not allowed to have any kind of emotions or to ever be upset with her in any way, because she reacts by making it about how performatively upset she is. This is ALL THE TIME. "L, I was hurt when you left me out of x." "IM SO SORRY I AM SO AWFUL I UNDERSTAND IF YOU HATE ME" "L, thank you for trying to check up on me, but you're not being helpful right now, please give me space." "OH NO IM SORRY I KNEW THAT I KNOW YOU COPE WITH THINGS DIFFERENTLY AND I SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT YOU ALONE I'LL SHUT UP NOW YOU SHOULD HATE ME" and in all of these situations, I end up rubbing her back and telling her it's ok and i don't hate her etc. etc. which is all true - I DON'T hate her - but it ends up minimizing the actual problem and turning it into Comfort L Time. And always, ALWAYS, when the comforting is over and she's calm again, she stops being willing to admit to whatever she did, and starts to play it off as "a big misunderstanding" where "everyone overreacted" and "haha but it didn't matter and we're all good now!" Where in my head, I'm saying ".....no, it wasn't a misunderstanding, no, I didn't overreact, no, we're not 'all good' if you're going to pretend you were never at fault." We've been drifting apart for months. I don't want to pretend that she's the only guilty party; I'm sure I've made mistakes, too, but I have absolutely no idea what I did. If L asks me if I'm upset or if she did anything, I'll pretty much always address why I'm hurting (if that's happening) and what I need. If I ask L if she's upset or if I did anything, she'll say some variation of "what? no! we're fine! you're great! lol" and then go to someone else - usually C - upset about how she and I don't get along anymore or there's "tension," but will absolutely never address anything with ME. back to C. Remember how I introduced L and C? I'm glad they're friends. I was glad when we were all friends! We planned a camping trip last fall together at a beach I'd never been to before, and most of the planning was "omg, she hasn't seen this, let's show her x!" It was silly and fun and I was really excited. We didn't end up being able to go - hurricane season hit - but we decided on a rain check. Well, when spring break was rolling around, L was telling me that she and C had been talking about revisiting the beach plans, and that she "wished I could come" but "knew I'd be busy." When I told her that I actually had a lot of free time that week, she was suddenly dodgy about the whole thing, saying "well, who knows if it'll work out," etc. It was blatantly obvious that she didn't want me there. She wanted to take our planned trip with C, without me. I asked C about it and she told me "no... I definitely told L you'd be free... that's why I was pushing for later in the week when you'd be here, but she kept trying to move it earlier while you were gonna be out of town..." So. It definitely wasn't in my head. She DEFINITELY didn't want me to come, and she also lied to C about it - when C confronted her, L claimed she'd never mentioned the trip to me. Ever since then, I feel like L is trying to "take" C from me. I know C is a person and she doesn't belong to any of us, but she and I are really close, and I hate feeling like someone is trying to keep us from spending time together. I would never try to make her choose between me and L; I know she loves both of us and wants to spend time with both of us, and that isn't a problem. But I know for a fact that L doesn't like it when C spends time with me. According to C, if I'm even brought up in conversation, L's attitude changes and she doesn't want to hear anything at all about things that C and I did together. She's also said a bunch of things to C about how she loves being close to her, and keeps guilt-tripping her and saying how she doesn't feel important or special or like a "priority" and it FEELS like she's trying to get C to ALWAYS put her first, ALWAYS hang out with her more, forget about her other friends because she wants to be The Best Friend. And it SUCKS! I know C can make her own choices, but she's uncomfortable, too. She feels isolated. She feels like L doesn't want to share her and it makes her feel cut off from everyone. I'm hurt by it, too, obviously. I see the thousand pictures L posts with C and I know it's irrational, but in my head, I've worked myself up enough to tell myself she's gloating/throwing it in my face. I haven't spent a lot of time with C recently because I've been in and out of town, and L knows that, and with her posting a bunch of pictures, talking/posting all the time about how much fun they're having and how close they are, and even changing her profile picture to a phot with C in it... I don't know. I think I'm just being bitter and overreacting at this point and imagining intentions that aren't there, but when my feelings are hurt, all of it FEELS like she wants me to see that they're closer now. They actually did end up going to that beach without me. C apologized and planned to take me there another time; L never mentioned it to me at all and posted a bunch of pictures from the trip documenting how amazing it was and how much fun they had together. I guess she got what she wanted, but like... fuck. The jealousy I'm feeling is irrational because I know my friendship with C is solid, and good, and healthy, and no one can really threaten that. So, I'm trying to get over the jealousy. I know it's dumb. But the anger? The anger is real. And I feel like the hurt - at least most of it - is justified. I don't know what to do. I just needed to rant.
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