Shallow Runs Deep

[shallowrunsdeep]

If you've written me, please know I'm not ignoring you. I'm just watching Austin dancing in the rain and I'll get back to you when I'm done.

[shallowrunsdeep]

Are they kidding with the shot?

I promised not to say inappropriate things, but who takes a photo of someone sitting on the back of a couch wearing a watch....

when their hands are obviously protecting precious goods.

This was deliberate, I tell you!

They should have just put the shot of him slowly caressing the band closed in this location and I'd have invested in this collectors piece.

[shallowrunsdeep]

Folks, just block abgossips.

We go through this every 3 to 6 months.

She's not an Austin blog.

She started out as a blog that shit talked Austin's career. She did about five of those, all of which we blocked.

She gained traction when she started shit talking about Kaia Gerber cause gossip pages in the fandom can't break up with her.

And then she latched on to Alice.

She goes quiet when Austin drops something cause it takes attention away from her.

Then she comes back with something to rile up the fandom.

She's submitting her own anons.

She knows nothing about Austin.

She just wants to stir the pot, so deprive her of her attention and just let her keep talking to herself.

[taurusmuses]

Alice no one gives a fuck

[shallowrunsdeep]

I'm too sick to really get into this, but Voyage LA is a known scam.

Read the comments on her Insta and Voyage LA's Insta.

If you really want to know more, there are multiple Reddit threads on how people lost their money to them.

Hate that she got taken in. 🙄

View this post on Instagram

[shallowrunsdeep]

Favorite photo from ten years ago

The Variety Fandango Sundance Studio Presented by Dockers, Day 2, Park City, Utah, America - 24 Jan 2016

Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

I know the long hair is controversial, but I’ve used this photo as an inspiration to write some of the most emotionally devastating Sebastian Kydd fiction that I can imagine. His expression is hard to read.  Is he sad, angry, hurting, or just pensive? It all depends on the person looking and the way they read his expression.

I’m always intrigued that more people don’t write about Sebastian. I think it’s because it feels “icky” to write about a teenager, but teenagers grow up and become men. Sebastian is one of the few characters Austin played where you can create his life story. Once he leaves Carrie, his life is a blank slate. You don’t need to create an AU (although you could), there’s no need to change his back story because it’s full of trauma, and if you want to make him evil, you can use that backstory as a way to do it. You can rescue him from that trauma, or use the trauma as a way to make Sebastian rescue people. You can do anything you want with him from age 18 on and will all be canon, because there is no canon.

There’s a 16 year age gap between the age Sebastian was and Austin’s age now. That’s 16 years of photos to inspire just about any situation.

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

[thefloatingpickle]

Torn lately between busting out an end to I Know You and wrapping up the couple other loose ends on my master list then sorta soft abandoning this page. Or just doing the same and letting the page slowly shift away from any particular fandom.

I've talked with my trauma therapist my last couple visits about how much my lack of social skills paired growing up not realizing most people didnt make sense to be because I had no idea till 6 months ago I was autistic, made most spaces where communication or close bonds improve the experience harder for me.

And it can be hardest places like here where I put effort into projects, feel proud about them, feel like they improve over time on my end, just to watch the returns on those projects diminish to almost nothing.

People also tend to get super close to one or two blogs but don't stick around after a couple weeks when it comes to others. Figuring out if I did something wrong every time a mutual I grew accustomed to certain levels of interaction from when they inevitably change up is as rough on me as no longer hearing back from friends who ghost honestly.

I'm just not sure I'm mentally designed to run a space where being a people person, coming across charming and being able to hold a crowd are needed. And I know im an okay writer at best, so I never feel like what i post makes any difference in the spaces I try in the first place.

Anyway, this is a pointless rant that I will probably remove about the fact that i'm unsure if social media is making my confidence issues worse.

[shallowrunsdeep]

Sorry for not getting back to you yesterday. I’ve got some family drama that keeps blowing up every time it doesn’t get its way or the attention it needs.

I totally respect you wanting to move wherever you go.  It’s hard writing when you have an underlying need for perfectionism that was put there when you were growing up. It’s what keeps me from posting the stories that I write. I never think they’re good enough, and no matter how much I try to just switch over to I’m writing for enjoyment, I always hear the voice in the back of my mind telling me it’s not good enough. And not getting the engagement feels like rejection. It steals the joy. And people can tell you a million times just to write for yourself, but it’s not really helpful, and it doesn’t change how you feel.

I know that it may not feel like it, and it’s going to take some time, but eventually you will be able to better regulate those dopamine hits. Your stories are amazing and I love them all, but they aren’t you, and how people interact with them doesn’t reflect on how people feel about you. The people who care will always take the time to learn what you need and work to help find a way to meet you where you’re at.

I also think the break from feeling like you have to put stuff out when you’re sick will be really good for you. Your focus should be your health, and getting rid of things that don’t bring you joy will hopefully make life easier. You don’t always have to perform, and sometimes just doing the basic things in life is enough. 

The people that care about you are going to follow you wherever you go. We care about your mental health and we want to see posts like this, so if people can’t handle it, then put a hex on them (don’t do that, it’s bad karama) and let them go. I’d rather have these kinds of conversations with you, because that’s more important to me. You post so many things that I want to talk to you about, but the drive to keep this blog about Austin has kept me from talking to you about them, so I’m going to go ahead and open up my side blog so that I can get beyond the need to try to keep everything about Austin. I’ll dm you when I get it open. Just keep in mind that if I don’t get back to you immediately it’s not because of you. My medical problems are still ongoing, and I’m trying to take care of a mother who won’t stop doing stupid things like ignoring the fact that she has a broken knee and shouldn’t be walking around on it 24/7. Like I said, family drama. 

I think that you’re making the right decision. And people will follow. You’ll shed the excess baggage that’s just hanging around, but you’ll be engaging with people who want to be where you are. And you’ll find new people who want to join you. And if you ever change your mind, you can always come back to this blog. Whatever feels best for you and makes you happy should be the most important thing, cause you deserve to feel good about yourself. 

Also, never feel like you have to write a novel in response to my responses. I learned how to stretch three words into a 10k word essay in school, and I’ve never gotten over the habit.

[thefloatingpickle]

Torn lately between busting out an end to I Know You and wrapping up the couple other loose ends on my master list then sorta soft abandoning this page. Or just doing the same and letting the page slowly shift away from any particular fandom.

I've talked with my trauma therapist my last couple visits about how much my lack of social skills paired growing up not realizing most people didnt make sense to be because I had no idea till 6 months ago I was autistic, made most spaces where communication or close bonds improve the experience harder for me.

And it can be hardest places like here where I put effort into projects, feel proud about them, feel like they improve over time on my end, just to watch the returns on those projects diminish to almost nothing.

People also tend to get super close to one or two blogs but don't stick around after a couple weeks when it comes to others. Figuring out if I did something wrong every time a mutual I grew accustomed to certain levels of interaction from when they inevitably change up is as rough on me as no longer hearing back from friends who ghost honestly.

I'm just not sure I'm mentally designed to run a space where being a people person, coming across charming and being able to hold a crowd are needed. And I know im an okay writer at best, so I never feel like what i post makes any difference in the spaces I try in the first place.

Anyway, this is a pointless rant that I will probably remove about the fact that i'm unsure if social media is making my confidence issues worse.

[shallowrunsdeep]

I’m sorry it took so long for you to get the autism diagnosis. I know what it’s like to spend most of your life not knowing your neurodivergent and think there’s something wrong with you, but people not engaging with your posts doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong or that you’re not sociable enough to keep an audience.  You don’t have to be a people pleaser or come across as charming to hold an audience here. Some pretty vile people have some really big audiences. 

I’ve already told you why I think people love some stories more than others, but there’s no rhyme or reason as to who's going to win the popularity contest on social media. 

I’ve created a side blog that I’ve done nothing with yet because I’m trying to keep my main blog Austin focused, but by doing that I’m not having conversations with people. That may be an option for you, because this fandom is like being in high school. People have divided into tags (cliques) and trying to get them to speak to each other is impossible.

I don’t know what your experience was like before, so I don’t know what you’ve lost, but do you want to be here? Cause if it’s not bringing you joy then taking a break from the fandom might be a good idea. I do it all the time. 

Also, for me, what would bring you joy in the fandom? Cause I don’t want you to leave, but I also don’t want your mental health to struggle. Is there a specific thing that you’re not getting that people might be able to provide if they knew you needed it?

I’m going to support whatever decision you make, I’ll be here wherever you go.

[shallowrunsdeep]

I don't get it.

I’m going to start this by saying that I’m sharing my opinion in this ddofab. We all know everybody has one, and we don’t always have to agree with each other, and just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean their opinion is wrong. We all like different things, and just because I don’t like something that you love doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me or you, we just have different tastes. 

Consider this my version of Unpopular Opinions.  

When I first saw this photo of Austin I gasped. Not with joy, but with horror. My immediate thought was “oh no, no, no, no, no, Austin, you can’t be wearing that. You look like my dad.” I mean, if my dad had been white, 6’2 and looked like Austin Butler. 

Photo by: Vanity Fair, the Hollywood Issue, November, 18, 2025 (This is behind a paywall, so I can't actually see who the photo credit belongs too.)

I’ll concede that it’s the rearview perspective, but that outfit…well, this was what my dad wore every…. single… day… of… his… life. Granted the shirt was usually some sort of plaid shirt, but the only time he wasn’t wearing blue jeans and a button up was when he wore a t-shirt that had a front pocket where he’d store his cigarettes (if he hadn’t rolled them up in his sleeve). Sometimes the tee was in a dark color, but mostly it was white, because Sears and Roebuck always sold them in packs, and why would a man waste his time shopping somewhere else when he could buy his Craftman tools with their lifetime warranty in the same place as his clothes.

My dad and Austin shared the same ethos about clothing. He would have tease him relentlessly for paying thousands of dollars for clothes that the original owner paid $20 bucks for, but he’d have given him a ‘proud of you, son’ if he’d been alive to see Austin wearing the same outfits repeatedly on the Caught Stealing press tour.    

Anyway, my point is that I can’t look at Austin in this photo and not see my dad. I love my dad. I was a daddy’s girl, but I don’t wanna be lusting after looking at Austin and thinking of my dad. It kills the mood real fast.

This one may get me kicked out of the fandom. 

I apologize in advance to my mutuals, but….

I appreciate the man cleavage, but this black leather Givenchy by Sarah Burton jacket should have stayed on the couch it was made from. I look at this picture and I’m like, “babe, somebody gave you some really bad advice that day”. The smolder only works if you can see his eyes. Was the one eye being exposed supposed to happen, or did his sunglasses slip? It’s confusing. 

Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

I’m telling you that even Austin knows this jacket was a bad idea. It’s why he took it off and paired it with a white tee shirt when he left the after party. The white tee shirt and leather pants were sexy. This jacket, not so much.

Tell me there’s a difference between this couch and that jacket. The couch looks better. It doesn’t have wrinkles, and you can sit on it. It has a purpose. It serves a need. The only thing that jacket does is make me wanna take it off of him, and I mean in that a completely non-inappropriate way. That alone means it needs to be confined to the closet of things to never be seen again.

Lemieux et Cie, Rousseau Leather Sofa, $8420.00

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

[shallowrunsdeep]

I know I'm cheating, but photos are pictures, and movies are moving pictures, so I’m technically just redefining my terms. 

The conversation lasts less than 30 seconds.

Austin: What is your, what's your history with cooking?  Action: I was a chef my whole life.  Austin: You're a chef your whole life.  Action: This is what I always wanted to do. Austin: And what type of, like how did you start and then where did you get into and how did you learn? Action: I just wanted to fuck. So I learned how to cook.  Autin: Really? Action: Yeah. I needed something other than this gorgeous face, you know. Come on, Austin. Not everyone's fucking, uh, a supermodel like you, baby. 

The beauty happens at about 13 seconds in. 

The expression on Austin’s face when he registers that Action’s says he just wanted to fuck. Austin hesitates for a second, the cogs in his mind turning frantically as they try to come up with a response. He knows he’s being filmed. He knows he needs to respond, but he’s not Action, so he doesn’t know what to say (or can’t say what he’s thinking) and he freezes. It lasts for just a few seconds, but my obsession with it has lasted for more than eight months

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve watched this video. I’ve analyzed it second by second, and I’ve become obsessed with watching Austin Butler eat. I’ve never really understood people's obsession with food until I saw Austin eating this meal. The way he stares at his food before he takes a bite, his uninhibited reaction to what he loves, the joy that shines through when he takes the first bite. The sounds he makes. He has the proper manners, but if the camera wasn’t there, he’d be licking the plate. 

This isn’t the first time I’ve featured this video on ddofab. I could analyze it forever because there are so many nuances. Just watch the video, and watch Austin’s expressions and you’ll see why this is my favorite photo of the year.

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

[shallowrunsdeep]

Hottest co-star

Warnings: This post is borderline PG13 / R. Also, I mean it to be light hearted, so don’t freak out.

Let’s be honest. If you’re putting anything other than Callum Turner here you’re risking being kicked out of the fandom.  

Does anyone even remember any of Austin’s other co-stars? No? Didn’t think so.

I have a prediction for the future. When Miami Vice ‘85 comes out, it’s going to be a battle royale between Callum and Michael as to who’s the hottest, and it’s going to be really fun for those of us on the sideline. The content we’re going to be fed will be delicious. 

This is the only acceptable photo of Michaeland Austin because....curls.

Callum and Austin: Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Apple TV+)

Michael and Austin: Photo by wme and sinners movie (Instagram)

Picking one of Austin’s co-stars as hotter than the other is like inviting hornets to nest in your attic. They’ll stay up there silently building a colony until you piss one off, and the next thing you know, you’re being swarmed. People are passionate in both their love and hate of Austin’s co-stars, so I’m going to create a new verb tense - Future Manifesting.

As in, I’m manifesting this future collab.

So what makes Charlie Austin's hottest future co-star?

Have you seen him?

Photo by: Ryan Pfluger for Variety (September, 30, 2025)

This is what Ryan Murphy had to say about him.

Sound familiar?

Photo by: Unknown

I'm not the only one who sees the perfection of this pairing.

St Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, gifted us the first sighting of them at Paris Fashion Week in March 2026.

Photo by Aitor Rosas Sune/WWD via Getty Images (GQ, January 28, 2026)

Tell me you can't see them matched together and not swoon.

Charlie: Photo by Unknow Austin: Photo by Focus Features

They're even beginning to dress similarly. They're so hot, they'd melt the movie screen.

Charlie: Photo by Carter Smith for Nexflix Tumdum

Austin: "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon" (August 12, 2025) Image: Getty

Clothing credit: World Vintage, LA (Austin bought that sweater. They need to keep him out of the knitwear section.)

Charlie is an Aries and Austin is a Leo, so they balance each other out. 

Charlie is uninhibited, so we get great quotes like: 

“…..I also try to make love as often as I can. That's an important part of fitness…..” (Men's Health, March 7, 2017)

And 

“When I was 18 I was getting f*cked in the ass, completely naked on national TV, you know?”  (Attitude, September 7, 2017)

I need them on stage together, doing a press tour, just so I can see Austin’s reaction when Charlie says something like that. It’s like an ache in my soul. The blush on Austin's face would light up the sky.

I'll leave you with this.

Austin's wearing Charlie's shirt. A shirt he bought at World VIntage L.A.

I'm telling you he's sending me signals. He's telling me it's meant to be.

Edited on 5/20/2026 to include credits for photos. Also, I changed the gif of Austin wearing Charlie's shirt for obvious reasons. And I tagged @dailydoseofaustinbutler cause I forgot to in the original post.

[shallowrunsdeep]

Y'all, why didn't anybody tell me they moved Hawaii from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean?

[shallowrunsdeep]

Best on screen kiss

Sometimes I wonder when Austin says things if the innuendo is deliberate or just my desperation.

I love how, after the kiss, he looks at the camera as if he's saying, "Oh yeah, I did it. What you gonna do about it?"

And even on his knees, Feyd will always take control.

“Dune: Part Two”

Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

“[The kiss] with Stellan Skarsgård? Oh yeah!” Butler said when asked about improvising the moment. “He’s game for anything. He’s the best…it’s always about how you’re trying to affect somebody else.”

Quote from: Austin Butler Confirms Kiss w/ 'Dune 2' Co-Star Stellan Skarsgard Was Improvised | Access Hollywood Time Stamp 2:09

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

[shallowrunsdeep]

Tranquility

I’m not confused about the date. Tumblr and I just had an argument about how much Austin one post could take. Silly Tumblr…there’s no such thing as too much Austin. 

When I started making this post the MYSLF Eau De Toilette Intense campaign film hadn’t come out yet. 

What a difference a week makes. 

YSL Beauty's marketing department owns me in a way that I'm not ashamed to admit.

These ads do unspeakable things to my mind, body and soul.

They are sexy, seductive, and erotic.

But more than that, they make me feel alive, and there have been times over the last few years that I didn’t think that I would be. 

I've watched Austin dance, laugh, and cry over a million times through each ad, and every time it’s reminded me that it’s okay if I’m not able to do any of those things,

I’m not someone who shows my emotions easily. I’m the rock that holds everything together while the world falls apart. Some of you can relate to that, some of you can’t. Not everyone’s path is the same. 

But I’ve been tried over the past week by the “OMG, AUSTIN’S NOT BEING THE MAN THAT I WANT HIM TO BE SHOW I BETTER SLAP A LABEL ON IT SO I CAN MAKE FUN OF IT TO MAKE MYSELF FEEL SUPERIOR” crowd in the fandom. In all honesty, I get tried by them everyday, but this week was hard, because I don’t understand tearing down something that brings someone else joy. And this was too close to my heart.

It would be easy for me to let you steal my joy, but I’m not gonna. Instead I’m going to share the inspiration for Dancing with Myself with you, because I feel like some of you need it. 

Keep in mind this song was written in 1978 /1979. 

Regarding the inspiration behind the song, Idol told Rolling Stone that he went to a discotheque in 1978 in Japan, and saw them "dancing to their own reflections in the mirror and not really with each other." For the lyrical meaning, he remarked, "I think a lot of people think it's about masturbation but it really was about these disenfranchised youth dancing and that was their world, really." He conceded, "But I mean, there's a masturbatory element to it, too. There's a masturbatory element in those kids dancing with their own reflections. It's not too much further to sexual masturbation. The song really is about these people being in a disenfranchised world where they're left bereft dancing with their own reflections. These kids were almost disaffected from each other and with their own reflections."

“Disaffected from each other and with their own reflections.”

What a lonely place it must be. 

I hope for you that some day you find the peace and tranquility that I get from watching these ads that you like to mock. I hope you find just a minute of the joy that they bring me. 

I’m gonna go watch Austin spin in the rain with his shoes off cause I slowed that video just to see him in a wet, white shirt.

YSL MYSLF

MYSLF L’Absolu Fragrance | Campaign Film ft. Austin Butler

MYSLF EAU DE TOILETTE INTENSE | Campaign Film ft. Austin Butler

Credit: Billy Idol Instagram

(thanks to @brokbrainy credit for the original post of the video)

YSL advert #austinbutler dancing with myself remix with original vocal -BFI

MYSLF EAU DE TOILETTE INTENSE | Campaign Film ft. Austin Butler

[brokbrainy]

Billy Idol sharing YSL “Dancing with Myself” remix using his 1980 original vocal track on his IG! Austin Butler on the dance floor, hands across the cool eccentric guy generations

[shallowrunsdeep]

The Shannara Chronicles premiered on MTV on January 5, 2016.

It’s hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t seen it - and a lot of people who have - why I love The Shannara Chronicles. 

The obvious answer is what drew me to it to begin with….Manu Bennett. 

I first heard of Manu when he was cast as Azog the Defiler in the sacrilegious movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I first saw him as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in the tv series Arrow. And I first realized that I was not at all prepared to watch adult tv when I closed my eyes through many of his scenes as Crixus in Spartacus. What I respect most about Manu is the respect he has for his co-stars. And that respect never fades. Casting for The Shannara Chronicles was announced in Dec 2014, and the cast of the show started doing the comic con circuit in 2015 in preparation for the premiere in Jan 2016. In almost every interview, Manu praised Andy Whitfield just as much as he had done when Andy died in 2010.  

He heaped that same praise on Austin. Manu buried him in love because he knew that Austin was suffering having just lost his mother. Manu wouldn’t let him hide from it. He made sure that everyone knew what Austin was sacrificing for the role of Wil Omsford. And if you watch videos from those interviews, you can see it in Austin. He’s going through the motions, and he’s letting Manu carry the burden for him. Manu does it, because that’s who Manu is. 

That shy kid that Austin talks about all the time…he’s present in those interviews. You can tell Austin doesn’t understand how popular he’s become. It makes no sense to him because he just wants to act. Why would anyone want to know his hair care routine? Because they find you attractive Aaron Jakubenko tells him. How do you not fall in love with that young man? 

Wil Omsford was Austin in a lot of ways. He started out as a bumbling, naive kid with no knowledge of the world outside his town (no, I’m not saying that part’s Austin). He always believed that people were inherently good, even when they’d done things that weren’t. He had a sense of justice and fairness, and his only desire was to heal people. He didn’t believe that he was the Son of Shannara, and he certainly didn’t want any part in Allanon’s idea of his destiny. 

His journey changes him, because that’s what journeys do. And the WIl we meet in season 2 is a darker Wil. One who’s more mature. He still doesn’t want to believe in his destiny, but he’s trying to come to terms with the pain and losses of his past as he moves toward a future that’s different from the one he wanted. 

Austin’s physically changed in season 2 as well. Not only has he cut his hair, you can see his body becoming smaller. We now know that he was also struggling with trying to come to terms with a future that was different than the one he imagined. 

Shannara is not perfect…the plotholes are deep, the special effects are not great, Amberle Elessedil made me almost stop watching the show….but if we only seek perfection, then we’re going to miss out on the possibility of joy. 

There’s so many clips that I wanted to share on this post, but most of them are gone from the internet, and I’m not a video editor. So in addition to the opening credits and the introductions to WIl and Allanon, I’ll share two clips. One is full clip that everyone uses to imagine Austin is having an orgasm (oh yeah, I said it), and the other is Wil being tortured cause I like my WIl in pain. It also shows how well Manu and Austin played off of each other. They were good together, and I miss them.

This is my second DDof AB about Shannara. You can find the kinder, more loving post here.

TW for blood / gore below the cut.

'How Did This Guy Ever Save The World?' Ep. 201 Official Clip | The Shannara Chronicles (Season 2)

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

'Destiny Is Stronger Than The Wishes Of One Man' Ep. 203 | The Shannara Chronicles (Season 2)

[thefloatingpickle]

I watched this whole show for Manu Bennet. We've met twice, I have a crazy story (with witnesses) of Manu kissing me on the mouth at a Comiccon after we talked about his show Spartacus.

But Austin made an impression, I watched everything he did after and slowly he won me. After Elvis I was on his team, after Feyd... he owned my little fandom heart.

I love your analysis of Wil and Austin's similarities. I think Wil and Hank are different parts of Austin, as close as we've seen to his true self.

[shallowrunsdeep]

You did what with Manu Bennett?

Girl, you can't just casually drop something like that and then walk away.

I want all the detail, and I want them NOW!!!!!!

I agree with you that Hank and Wil are closest to the true Austin. I have theories, but some people on here are too wild to share them with.

[shallowrunsdeep]

The Shannara Chronicles premiered on MTV on January 5, 2016.

It’s hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t seen it - and a lot of people who have - why I love The Shannara Chronicles. 

The obvious answer is what drew me to it to begin with….Manu Bennett. 

I first heard of Manu when he was cast as Azog the Defiler in the sacrilegious movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I first saw him as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in the tv series Arrow. And I first realized that I was not at all prepared to watch adult tv when I closed my eyes through many of his scenes as Crixus in Spartacus. What I respect most about Manu is the respect he has for his co-stars. And that respect never fades. Casting for The Shannara Chronicles was announced in Dec 2014, and the cast of the show started doing the comic con circuit in 2015 in preparation for the premiere in Jan 2016. In almost every interview, Manu praised Andy Whitfield just as much as he had done when Andy died in 2010.  

He heaped that same praise on Austin. Manu buried him in love because he knew that Austin was suffering having just lost his mother. Manu wouldn’t let him hide from it. He made sure that everyone knew what Austin was sacrificing for the role of Wil Omsford. And if you watch videos from those interviews, you can see it in Austin. He’s going through the motions, and he’s letting Manu carry the burden for him. Manu does it, because that’s who Manu is. 

That shy kid that Austin talks about all the time…he’s present in those interviews. You can tell Austin doesn’t understand how popular he’s become. It makes no sense to him because he just wants to act. Why would anyone want to know his hair care routine? Because they find you attractive Aaron Jakubenko tells him. How do you not fall in love with that young man? 

Wil Omsford was Austin in a lot of ways. He started out as a bumbling, naive kid with no knowledge of the world outside his town (no, I’m not saying that part’s Austin). He always believed that people were inherently good, even when they’d done things that weren’t. He had a sense of justice and fairness, and his only desire was to heal people. He didn’t believe that he was the Son of Shannara, and he certainly didn’t want any part in Allanon’s idea of his destiny. 

His journey changes him, because that’s what journeys do. And the WIl we meet in season 2 is a darker Wil. One who’s more mature. He still doesn’t want to believe in his destiny, but he’s trying to come to terms with the pain and losses of his past as he moves toward a future that’s different from the one he wanted. 

Austin’s physically changed in season 2 as well. Not only has he cut his hair, you can see his body becoming smaller. We now know that he was also struggling with trying to come to terms with a future that was different than the one he imagined. 

Shannara is not perfect…the plotholes are deep, the special effects are not great, Amberle Elessedil made me almost stop watching the show….but if we only seek perfection, then we’re going to miss out on the possibility of joy. 

There’s so many clips that I wanted to share on this post, but most of them are gone from the internet, and I’m not a video editor. So in addition to the opening credits and the introductions to WIl and Allanon, I’ll share two clips. One is full clip that everyone uses to imagine Austin is having an orgasm (oh yeah, I said it), and the other is Wil being tortured cause I like my WIl in pain. It also shows how well Manu and Austin played off of each other. They were good together, and I miss them.

This is my second DDof AB about Shannara. You can find the kinder, more loving post here.

TW for blood / gore below the cut.

'How Did This Guy Ever Save The World?' Ep. 201 Official Clip | The Shannara Chronicles (Season 2)

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

'Destiny Is Stronger Than The Wishes Of One Man' Ep. 203 | The Shannara Chronicles (Season 2)

[shallowrunsdeep]

A fic rec you say?

Always and forever @thefloatingpickle 's

Shattered

13 glorious chapters of not one, but two, Feyd Rautha’s - one Feyd, one Rautha - fighting over who gets to do unspeakable things to the Y/N.

Followed by A Game for Pleasure - an epilogue that’ll make you realize that kids games can really be fun if you play them right.

The story is not for the faint of heart. It is Feyd and Rautha, so read the triggers. 

But here’s why I love it. 

First, because I love the floating pickle.

There’s no second, there’s just this. 

Feyd is not the most popular Austin character to write. You can’t wrap him in a cuddly blanket and put a bow on him (although someone created a gif with a pink bow to prove me wrong). He’s a complex character, and his violence terrifies people. He’s never going to be the savior who whisks you off your feet and carries you off into the sunset. He may kidnap you and carry you off, but what’s waiting as the sun sets probably is going to involve some bloodshed. 

But what he’s not is psychotic.  Psychosis is a symptom of a medical condition, not the condition itself. And not everyone experiencing psychosis is a killer who likes to torture people. 

When most people think of Feyd they think he’s a psychopath, but that’s also not a clinical diagnosis. It’s a symptom of Antisocial Personality Disorder. 

The term psychopath is a combination of Greek words that translate to “suffering soul”.

And that’s what @thefloatingpickle subtly explores in Shattered. How two boys that had their minds manipulated by a Bene Gesserit mother, were taken from their families and raised by an abusive uncle to become weapons of war. Their purpose was to become killers so they could become Emperor, thereby giving their uncle the ultimate power he craved but was too weak to take himself. 

The Y/N character follows a similar path. Raised by her family to be the bride to a more powerful family, her life is bartered away. I can’t say more without giving away spoilers, but let’s just assume that anyone who gives their child to a Harkonnen doesn’t have their best interest at heart. 

The most exciting part of the story for me is when the two families come together - not for the smut or relationships - but because it challenges us to challenge our beliefs. How can we have sympathy for the Y/N and not for the Feyd and Rautha. If they are simply surviving in the world they were raised, then is what they are doing wrong?

Don’t get me wrong, they do a lot of wrong things, but that’s the point I’m making. We judge them by our standards, but if we were living in their world, would our standards apply? 

She’s completed the world of Shattered unless I can convince her that a chapter about heteropaternal superfecundation twins would be the best idea ever, but I promise that it’s worth the read . 

@thefloatingpickle has written stories for each of Austin’s characters, and I would recommend all of them too. She’s one of the few writers who dared to be ‘deranged’ enough to imagine Gale Cleven falling in love with a woman, so there’s a WIP for anyone who wants to be inspired. And Vernon’s there too, in all his deranged glory. But Benny, Hank and Feyd are her babies. Handyman Hank? Got that. Vampire Feyd? Got that too. Werewolf Benny? Better make sure you love horror movies, cause that one’s a WIP and it’s wild. And she’s got a beautiful Frankenstein inspired story as well. 

Now @thefloatingpickles is humble and shy, and she’s probably going to be a little surprised that I’ve recommended anything she’s written, but she deserves it.

If you do decide to go visit, leave a comment if you like the story and reblog, reblog, reblog. Liking does nothing for writers. You don’t even have to leave a comment. It takes a second to reblog, which is about 30 minutes less than it’s taken me to type this out. Reblogs are the lifeblood of writers. It’s the only way their work gets seen. 

And if you’re looking for other writers, always read the comments left in someone’s story or go through their blogs to see what they’ve reposted. 

Finally, I know it can feel odd to recommend your favorite writer or story. It’s like choosing your best friend out of all your friends, but you have to start somewhere. You can recommend as many fics as you want and it doesn’t have to be a special day of the week. You don’t have to analyze things like I have (cause nobody but me is doing that), or even give a full review. But get the names out there because a lot of writers have given up because they aren’t getting engagement. 

Everybody loves a fiction where they can pretend they’re Austin’s love interest, and I respect that. But there are a lot of people creating worlds that deserve to be explored. We don’t know about them if people don't tell us. 

@dailydoseofaustinbutler

[thefloatingpickle]

This is so unbelievably lovely. I wont get too deep on it here but my health has taken a back slide thats made the last three days rough. So this... couldn't be better timed.

I'm so grateful for everyone my stories touched. But I am the most grateful for those like you and others who have become my friends as well.

[shallowrunsdeep]

Aw, hon, I'm sorry about your health. I hope that whatever it is, it's something that will get better. I know setbacks are tough. Just know I'm sending you love and healing vibes.

I'm glad that you continued writing, even when you didn't feel like it. And that you were willing to let this stranger into your life. You've helped me through some of the roughest times of the past two years.

I hope that thinking about the fact that they're breathing each other's breath here helps cheer you up.