ColdFlash is now the number one ship for the Flash fandom on AO3!!
:)))))
Honestly, Iām still so baffled? I remember there being a single page worth of fics on AO3 when I got into this ship, and this being considered a rare pair and a crack ship, for the most part. I say this often, but I neverĀ expected this ship to get nearly so big as it has.Ā But then, weāve had a lot of people jump on the bandwagon after episodes like Rogue Air and Family of Rogues :)Ā
More important than quantity of fics though (to me), is the quality. Iām constantly in awe of the amazing writing in this ship. I donāt get as much time to reader othersā works as I would like to, but Iām often just blown away by how good some of the fics are. AndĀ we have everything from 100 word drabbles to the 200k and counting novel than is Rogue Z, with enough versatility that I think pretty much everyone whoās somewhat into this ship can find something that interests them :)
Beyond that, we have an awesome community, at least those of us who are in the tags or contributing to discussions, and itās all justā¦ amazing? I have over 1000 followers at this point, which boggles my mind, but itās really freaking cool. And I personally donāt feel like itās a competition between us and other ships: I love this fandom as a whole, and Iām just constantly in awe of how awesome the people I get to talk to in this fandom are.
So all in all, I guess weāre doing something right? <3
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
This is just a quick post about tagging. Iāve mentioned this before, but if itās possible, try to keep any coldflash posts only in theĀ ācoldflashā tag without taggingĀ ācaptain coldā orĀ āleonard snartā. Those tags are more for other posts about Len, in part because there are a tonĀ of us in this ship now, and we sort of end up dominating the tags if we use those ones. Also, people mostly track or go into those tags looking for things specific to just Len so it can make it harder to wade through.Ā
I know that most of you do this already, but Iāve gained like 400 followers in the past two months so I thought this would be a good time to bring this back up :) Please feel free to signal boost this!
Hi, I'm not sure if I missed something but I don't understand why Caitlin was crushing (so obviously, the writers were really laying it on thick there) on Jay. I mean, she mourned for a really long time for Ronnie when he was her fiance, and now that they're married and he died, shouldn't there be an even longer mourning period? Unless she's trying to find a new escape or something? But she seemed in s1 to be very loyal to ronnie even though he was presumed dead.
Hey! Long post (theyāre always long ;_;) under the cut.
The writers really were laying it on thick, but thereās a few reasons she could be crushing that hard, and so suddenly. One is, as you mentioned, a bit of an escape, or a sort ofĀ āreboundā -- which tend to be intense but short-lived. I have zero judgement about rebounds, as they can help people refocus, move past old relationships, and have a little fun in the meantime.
But in terms of her mourning process for Ronnie, thatās a bit of another story. In season 1, Caitlin hadnāt only lost Ronnie. Sheād lost him, her career or at least all her intended plans for it, many of her friends (as itās clear that STAR Labs used to be bustling and is now down to just her, Eobard, and Cisco), and her boss is now also one of her patients. Beyond that, she also helped create something that killed a ton of people and the city hates their lab for it. She spends her time looking after a coma patient (until Barry wakes up), which is not nearly a full use of her skills, and worrying about what damage she helped do Central, feeling guilty and partially to blame for Ronnieās death. Sheās traumatized by everything that happened and feeling relatively alone and isolated, mourning and depressed. And over the season, we see her reconnect with the world around her more, reaching out, smiling, and a lot of that is through a renewed sense of purpose and friendships. Finding Ronnie is alive absolutely helps with that too, but even before that, she was beginning to move on, and considering putting herself back out there.
Then Ronnie comes back into her life and itās a bit of a dream come true, except that Firestorm doesnāt stick around. Ouch. They just got back together and heās leaving again? Suddenly sheās in a long distance relationship and her and Ronnieās lives are moving in separate directions; they never really got that much a of chance to reconnect? And yet she marries him, showing how strong that love is, only to lose him all over again. She never wanted him to be a hero, and yet he was, twice over now.
But by this point, Caitlin has lost him and grieved him once already, and sheās readier for this. And so, in those six months of the time skip, Iām certain she grieves and mourns. But now, a lot is different. Her and Ronnie werenāt so intimiately close, not living together let alone in the same city prior to this, his loss isnāt felt in her daily life to the same extent. Her career prospects are looking up and not down, her friends and family are more able rally around her and she has a tighter network, and she has Martin Stein who is probably going through something very similar, as his other half (literally) has died. I can only imagine Caitlin and Martin got a lot closer during this time, missing Ronnie together.
So I find it easy to understand why she mourns quicker this time, and is ready to move on faster/sooner. Itās not that she loved Ronnie any less the second time around, but that she herself is far more ready to (as Martin would say) move forward.
Any headcanons about Hartley and his relationship with music in the show-canon, given they've pretty much ignored his comics-canon obsession with it.
As a headcanon, I take it as given that he loves music, plays music, and is obsessed with it, but we never got a chance to see that in the episodes with him. I like to think that with his enhanced hearing, heās especially picky about the music he listens to (more so than ever), but he truly loves it and it helps calm him down and focus.
Re: Hartley, it might be interesting if, actually, having done what he did with Harrison, he can't give up crime. Because he's got a record now/there's a warrant out for him, and he doesn't want to end up back in the Pipeline or in Iron Heights, but he's got no other means of support since Harrison destroyed his career, he's been barely scraping by in menial jobs since the particle accelerator happened and if he's only stealing from his parents it doesn't count, right?
Yeah I had wondered about that as well, to some extent. Heās definitely got a warrant out for him, though I donāt think it would be for what he did to Wellsās house, because I donāt think Wells told the cops it was Hartley, he said it was a teenage prank if I remember right? But heād have a warrant out for what he did to his parentsā building and destroying that police car (and thatās assuming they donāt know it was him on the dam, but there was definitely enough eye witnesses and security cameras at the Rathaway Industries entrance to pin it as him). Even that being said though, the Flash picked him up and whisked him away (for no reason -- he could have gone to prison, his meta-ability wouldnāt preclude a regular prison holding him), so maybe they didnāt draft up a proper warrant on account of that?
So it could go either way, mostly depending on how much information the CCPD had and what they did with that information, but in either case he hasnāt been formally charged with anything yet. I wouldnāt be surprised if heās gone the way of being a criminal to support himself, but Iād love to see that heās doing something else.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
I always sort of figured part of the thing with Hartley was the dislike of double standards. STAR Labs seems to have had quite high expectations of its employees, and Cisco broke a lot of them just by turning up. For someone who's grown up in the sort of highly competitive environment he did, that's pretty much a big sign saying 'better than you', because why else would Wells put up with those eccentricities from Cisco where if Hartley did them he'd be out on his ear.
^^--- thatās a very good point. I agree most certainly, but would also say itās more than just that.
I donāt know that itās STAR Labs that had especially high expectations about how to dress and hold oneself, more that it had expectations for the scientific mettle and rigor of the people it hired. I mean, I imagine it had to have had expectations of professionalism, but was probably lax compared to some places (as Eobard surrounded himself with people he knew would impact the course of history, their professionalism be damned). But yes, thereās a āheās clearly Harrisonās favorite and I donāt like thatā vibe that we get from Hartley, and it probably has a lot to do with the things Cisco gets away with just by virtue of being.
That being said, thereās probably more afoot too. Cisco is especially lax in professional compared to most people, and I do think that created some of the immediate negative associations for Hartley come from his upbrinigng. Hartley would have been raised in high society / old money, where there are a lot of strong expectations about how to dress and act, most of which Cisco defies the second he steps into a room. Hartley would react negatively to that just from aĀ āculture shockā perspective: heās never known how to deal with people like Cisco, especially not in professional settings where he typically feels more in control.Ā
More than that, though, I do believe he harbours a bit of envy for how easily Cisco gets along with people and how naturally others like Cisco and flock to him. Hartley has probably comforted himself about his lack of inherent sociability/likeability by telling himself itās because heās too smart to get along with others. When faced with someone like Cisco, who is intellectually extremely capable and yet so very different from Hartley, having all this thing he himself probably desires (the easy approval of others), Iām sure it grates on him, and he attempts to undermine Cisco in order to prove he is smarter (and thus itās okay that heās not as likeable).
I mean, thatās just my interpretation of Hartley, and with how little of him weāve seen in the CW canon so far, thereās a lot of possible interpretations. Heās also had a history of being rejected, most notably for his sexuality due to his parents, and so he probably has a strong desire for social approval, and sees that Cisco gets that social approval so easily where he feels heās worked tooth and nail to get it. If that is the case, heās not being entirely fair, as there are many social barriers Cisco would have had to overcome to get where he is, but again, the easygoing manner of Cisco can make it seem like thatās been the case. Ā
Not a writing prompt, but what would you think would happen in the scenario that one anon mentioned about Cisco finding Hartley volunteering at a homeless shelter and refusing to believe it isn't for some nefarious scheme?
Ah thatās tough, for a few reasons. Thereās this tension between Hartleyās CW characterization and his comics characterization. Sticking with the CW canon, Hartley volunteering at a homeless shelter (which again, I would kill to see), would definitely send some alarm bells ringing for Cisco. As discussed hereĀ and here, Cisco is actually more suspicious by nature than we typically realize (I mean, making the cold gun, helping create the pipeline prison, consistently suspicious of Lisa [with good reason], and willingly suspicious of Wells [with only nightmares as evidence for why]).
So with that in mind, I think itās realistic for him to think something is afoot. Heās only seen theĀ āwork sideā of Hartley, which can be cold, mean, and demanding, and then later the scheming and dangerous side of Hartley. So to see that despite everything else, Hartley genuinely cares for others and believes they deserve better and wants to help them, that would be a hard pill for Cisco to swallow right off the bat. I can see him accusing Hartley of being up to no good, and then tailing/following him after toĀ āproveā that Hartleyās got some secret plot going on. Maybe heād enlist Joeās help.
Eventually, heād have to come to the conclusion that Hartley is genuine about this. I think that would frustrate him because it would seriously challenge his perceptions of this person who was a bit of a bully to him at work, and then with whom he faced off not just intellectually but also physically (and Hartley bested him at both, more than once). Because Ciscoās probably adopted this belief that heās better than Hartley because heās aĀ āgood personā and Hartley is a dick, and this is evidence against that. And honestly, those types of realizations can be mentally/emotionally frustrating and exhausting for most people because they challenge us to change how we perceive people and the world, and growing as an individual can be painful work.
I think thatās what would happen though. Cisco would have to change how he sees Hartley, ultimately (unless he tried to apprehend him for no reason, but Cisco typically isnāt the one who does that sort of thing). And I think it would be good for Cisco, in the end, to grow like that. Depending on his proximity to Hartley, he might actually apologize to the other man for having been so suspicious about the volunteering (Ciscoās not at all above apologizing when he believes heās done wrong). Hartley would probably play it off with a glib comment, but after a moment of hesitation, heād ask Cisco if he wants to volunteer with him sometime and see why he does it. An olive branch, if only because Hartley actually isnāt a total dick, even though he doesnāt know how to communicate with people without attacking them (a defense mechanism).
1- Iām gonna be making a proper tags page soon so that this blog is easier to navigate for people looking for things. Tags I plan to include are: coldflash, len posts, barry posts, gifsets, music/playlists, videos, legends of tomorrow, commentary/meta, geography, central city, and gen (general) flash, as well as tags for my long fics (73 seconds, aatjs, tumbling together), and my tumblr drabbles/writing (many of which donāt make it onto AO3 so iām sure itād be nice if they were easier to find). if thereās any other tags you me to make sure i include on my tags page, let me know!
2 - i've discovered i really enjoy content creation (writing, commentary, research, and even making gifs). so while i know i donāt really do writing prompts, if thereās every commentary you want me to do or elaborate on or questions about the show, please ask away :) i know many of you already do, but just in case i thought iād post this reminder, and iām especially happy to do commentary/analysis for specific scenes.Ā
also with that in mind, iām enjoying learning more and more about gif-making, so while i wonāt guarantee to fill gif prompts or anything, iām open to suggestions on gifsets you guys might like to see, knowing it might take me a while to make things if I do get around to it? and not just like specific scenes being made into gifs, but iāve always thought gifs can be a really cool storytelling medium, like this recent and lovely gifset of Rogue Z, so Iām open to scenes and quotes and stuff like that (and have very little experience haha so consider yourselves warned).Ā
