#this escalated

the fact derek hale was never allowed to talk about his trauma will forever make sad, frustrated and angry. he is probably one of the most traumatized characters to grace television but he's not allowed to acknowledge any of it.

the other day, on the teen wolf sub reddit (believe i know. it's a sickness that i keep going back) i talked about how it bothered me how it is peter and jennifer that get to talk about paige. in visionary, peter is telling a story. paige isn't really a person to him and we know there is no way what peter tells stiles and cora is the whole truth. for her part, jennifer has mythologized paige's death and almost sanctified derek for committing the virgin sacrifice that allowed the nemeton to have enough power to save her when kali left her for dead. it's partly why she's so obsessed with him. in a twisted way derek saved her so paige is just a means to an end.

meanwhile derek doesn't even get to so much as say her name or confirm the real story when he was the one who had a relationship with paige. he is the one who knew her as a person, loved her and mourned her. .

someone in response to my saying that was like yeah well derek's not just gonna talk about his trauma. he's not that kind of guy.

and i'm like why not? characters suffering is not the only interesting way to tell a story.

if derek's story was to eventually evolve than that could've been part of it. opening up and healing.

imagine how powerful it would've been if derek was able to reach out to scott in the wake of allison's death and be able to tell scott about paige, that he understood all to well what scott was going through. imagine how much character growth that would've been for the both of them. derek finally able to reach out to someone emotionally and for scott to reach back finally able to set aside his issues with derek to see him as a person.

the missed opportunity that was cora hale. we could've learned about talia and laura and pre-fire peter via a couple of conversations between her and derek. there wasn't even a proper reunion between the two. (the fact most of our information about talia hale comes from gerard fucking argent still pisses me off).

malia was also a missed opportunity. derek had what? maybe one real scene with her? malia's character development should've been related to her reconnecting with her father, readjusting to being human and her figuring out what it means to be a hale by blood and what that legacy meant to her. not putting her immediately into a romantic relationship with stiles. derek could've factored into that. specifically regarding loss and guilt.

like derek finding out he had a cousin and malia finding out that just because she doesn't really care for peter doesn't mean there aren't other hales she can possibly have a relationship with.

isaac and stiles being bitchy to each other is fun but it's jealousy based due to scott. i think they could've overcome this eventually. imagine them hating theo together???? beautiful.

scott and isaac. i love them. adore them. but i will forever be pressed about that scene where scott throws isaac into a wall. like, fuck off. it was weirdly out of character for scott. instead of all the stuff about allison they could've talked about their dads. scott weirdly doesn't talk much about rafael and that bothers me because rafael mccall needed to be read for fucking filth (i am a child of an alcoholic so this may be a me thing). like we saw how much stiles hated rafael mccall. it would've been interesting for isaac (who was living with scott and melissa) to in turn be protective of him.

we had a whole episode of kira having a life changing field trip with derek and i wanted more that okay. that was a dynamic we needed more of.

i maintain lydia and derek's relationship would've been like two reality show judges. two beautiful people dealing with a world of plebs. lydia martin making derek hale have a spa day was a missed opportunity.

jordan parrish and derek hale being the personification of "someone is going to die." "of fun!" meme from parks and recs.

derek hale (and everyone else on this show) should've been allowed to unpack some of their trauma suitcases.

So something’s up, there’s a war room situation at Waystar, all hands on deck, etc. Everyone’s been there for hours. Gerri’s tired and hungry and irritable, Roman’s making these obnoxious crunching noises while he snacks, and finally she snaps and snatches the bag away from him. 

Before he can stop her, she pops a chip  in her mouth.

I’d say you can imagine what happens next, but the fun part is that you don’t have to!

Except it’s Gerri, not J, so as steam billows out of her ears and sweat pours down her face and she gasps for breath, she’s trying not to be conspicuous or draw attention to herself. Even though she’s literally dying.

Now, if the team is spread out and Roman and Gerri are alone (or mostly alone) in her office, he’d probably be pissing himself with laughter but also trying to help her by, I don’t know, rubbing her back or something equally ineffective, and she’d be able to let go a bit more and gasp for help/water/etc. and just try to keep it together enough so that people can’t tell through the glass walls that she might need an ambulance. 

If, on the other hand, they’re all together in a conference room—Roman, Karolina, Frank, Karl, Kendall, Logan—it’s a different story. I like to think that Roman would have the quick-thinking wherewithal (and mild guilt, even though she stole the bag in the first place) to invent an immediate though clearly fake emergency and get her out of there before the worst of it all kicked in because he knows how much she’d hate for anyone to see her lose her composure so spectacularly. That said...it’s Roman, who is not necessarily known for his practicality and cool head in a crisis, so. 

https://youtu.be/7oTfvJff7go?si=bWy1Q6dFxNIWiipX

LOL no but look, I found a scene from Scrubs where Kelso has exactly the sound that I mean :D

"Oh yeah? Just like the first time you stumbled here, when you tried to mess things up?" There's nothing but pure rage and hatred against him now as she pulls out a dagger and points it back to the giant portrait of his future self.

"She may not remember things but I do. I'm always here, hardship after hardship- and you know what you did? You LIED! You USED her! Just like all the others before you!" Her feet are planted firmly to the ground as the heat of the situation intensifies, as if she can and will strike at any given moment.

I'm all for that clout 👈😎👈

Harry Potter is left on the doorstep of Privet Drive 4 and the tabby cat turns the corner and disappears from Surrey. Minerva McGonagall apparates to the outskirts of Hogwarts’ wards and maybe stands still in the November night, still stiff from a day spent on a wall, and watches the lights flicker in the castle’s windows. And maybe that is when the news, the impossible news, the news she hadn’t wanted to believe set in.

Voldemort is dead. And so are the Potters her students James and Lily are dead.

Protective, kind, just Lily and bold, boisterous, caring James.

And maybe she turns her back to Hogwarts-classes aren’t taking place anyway and her absence has been dealt with for a day already-and blindly makes her way down to Hogsmeade. She passes by the lights of the Three Broomsticks, where the jubilant and noisy celebrations ring so wrong within her. Past the dark windows of stores still partially fortified from years of war until her shoulder pushes the door of the Hog’s Head open.

Aberforth Dumbledore is just closing up when she stumbles in and orders a firewhisky in a monotonous voice. He knows her as he knows every teacher, from going for a drink and chat away from impressionable students’ eyes. But he knows her with a proud posture and clear eyes-a far cry from the witch in front of him. So he cleans up around her and locks the door and windows with a spell as he tips off her glass and fills one of his own.

Halfway through her third glass (not firewhisky, but something harmless that burns just as badly he keeps under the counter for the odd student on a dare) Minerva starts talking. About Lily and her refusal to give up on friends. About James and his skill in Quidditch and Transfiguration and abysmal grasp on the theory behind it. About relief after eleven years of war and the number of years leading up to it and how can they celebrate when so many are gone? About James and Lily’s little son, just past one, left alone with muggles, with a letter, next to the milk-And Aberforth’s alarm bells start ringing.

He may never have had children of his own, but he once had a sister he loved dearly and whom he took care of for long, too short years. Who had been harmed irreparably by people who didn’t understand magic. Leaving a magical child with muggles is the worst idea since dementors. And leaving a magical child of over a year (don’t they walk by then?) alone, outside, IN NOVEMBER does decidedly not sound particularly bright either, how in Merlin’s name did the boy end up in that situation? Oh, his brother had decided that would be the best course of action for the child? On the grounds he “has to be kept from his fame”? And only that? Are you quite certain the lad has nobody else left in the world, Minerva? Sirius Black is his godfather? That sounds about right, he and James snuck in here a couple of times, dragging those other two along. Well there you have it, Black must be worried sick if he can’t find his godson. Give the Potter boy to him, who knows what could happen to him in a muggle neighbourhood.