#(thank goodness for her episodes in season 2 or I would have nothing to work with)

[freakadr0id]

ROTTMNT Charater Fighting Style Analysis - Part 5: April O'Neil

Oh, would you look at that? It's finally here! After three weeks, multiple rewatches, and several pages of notes and drafts in Word, I've made it to the final individual character* analysis.

This is a continuation of my series of posts analyzing each of the Turtles' (+April's) fighting style, their strengths and weaknesses in a fight, and how Rise uses that to highlight different aspects of their character. I highly encourage you to read the first one (Leo's) before hopping into this one for full context. There is a bit of a TL;DR at the end.

[Part 1: Leo] [Part 2: Raph] [Part 3: Mikey] [Part 4: Donnie]

Last, but ABSOLUTELY not least, is our Girl with the Plan and President of the Dorky Pals for Life Club…

April O'Neil: The Scout/Jack-of-all-Trades:

My analysis for this one might be a bit of a surprise for some, considering a few people have said they already have an idea of how I might categorize her. Going into my analysis, I too thought I had a pretty solid understanding of the way she fought, but by the end, I found that there was so much I missed - I ended up coming to a conclusion that was quite different than what I was expecting.

Fighting Style:

Dynamic and Precise

April is a very strong, energetic, and multifaceted fighter, which allows her to hold her own in battle, even when she's the only human present. She is a primarily offensive fighter with a diverse skill set that she is able to utilize in almost any situation. With her bat, April demonstrates a surprising amount of physical strength as her weapon requires a significant amount of force in order to be truly effective. She also has gymnastic skills that make her a notably agile fighter, giving her an advantage in both speed and maneuverability. She approaches battles with great enthusiasm, amplifying her overall movement and attacks.

In this sense, April's fighting style is rather similar to Mikey's, as they are both quick, nimble fighters that excel offensively while implementing acrobatic movements to deliver quick attacks and make up for a defensive disadvantage. However, she distinguishes herself with a weapon that is very different from Mikey's and by having a larger, more practical set of skills that require unique tactics. Instead of mystic powers, she has a wider range of general skills that end up being incredibly beneficial in battle. She has a fluid fighting style that undergoes the most changes in the show as she learns new techniques from both her allies and enemies and incorporates them into her method of fighting.

Despite the energy she brings into battle, April is surprisingly meticulous in the way she approaches her fights. Instead of running wildly into battle, she is actually quite deliberate in when and how she attacks. April doesn't blindly attack enemies and only goes in for a strike at opportune times, aiming to deliver a few quick, accurate hits that efficiently damage her foe. This gives April the ability to participate and contribute to fights as a human without putting herself at unnecessary risk or becoming a liability.

Strengths and Roles in a Fight:

Jack-of-all-Trades

April is the generalist of the team. While the other members of the family tend to stick to one type of technique or a particular style of fighting, April has knowledge and experience in multiple fighting techniques, skills, and occupations that make her an adaptable fighter. This makes her perfect for "rounding out the team" by providing some extra strength and making up for any weaknesses that may be present in the team. Because of her dynamic fight style and ever-growing list of skills and techniques, April occasionally fights with an amalgamation of the other turtles' roles and fighting styles. April is seen acting as the Wild Card by keeping enemies on their toes with fast movements and nontraditional weapons; a Bruiser/Pummeler (a slugger, if you will) by delivering multiple hits in quick succession with her bat; or even a Striker by going for those accurate, singular attacks. If there's a role that needs to be filled in a fight, odds are April can deliver.

April also has the largest set of practical skills on the team, thanks to the experience she has gained from her numerous (former) jobs. In situations where a very specific set of expertise is needed, April can usually provide that to some degree. This makes her a versatile asset to the team in ways that even Mikey can't be, particularly with battles set in urban or unconventional environments. One of April's greatest strengths as a combatant is her ability to use the environment around her to her advantage - that comes with her dynamic fighting styles. Granted, that applies to all members of her family, but because of the considerable variety of knowledge and experience at her disposal, she has more options when it comes to utilizing her surroundings. Some of her skills are incredibly hyperspecific, however, usually limiting which ones she can use at any given point.

The Scout

April also acts as the team's Scout [No - I'm not just saying this because she happens to have a bat]. She is the one that usually goes ahead of the others before, or at the start of, a battle and gathers information about the enemy and their movements. This typically involves April disguising herself in some way and infiltrating the enemy from within, but there are times when more conventional stealth is needed. She is small and quick enough to sneak past enemies and through different environments, giving her multiple options for her investigations. April also provides information to the team during battles, as she can still apply her "stealth" abilities and use her agility to move around the battlefield quickly and mostly unnoticed.

April's precise fighting style also plays into the Scout role as she can quickly get in and out of fights when needed, which is beneficial both when she is by herself or in a group. A scout needs to be fast, precise, and agile to make up for their lack of defensive capabilities - this fits April's fighting style and abilities to a T. The Scout role plays directly to her strengths as a combatant and decreases her risk of harm as a human in chaotic mutant battles.

Utility:

As a fighter, April is particularly well suited for individual, one-on-one battles. Her primary weapon, a bat, is a generally short-range melee weapon that requires a good amount of accuracy and is limited by its small reach and defensive capabilities. Her fighting style incorporates this by focusing on accurate attacks and accurate timing while utilizing dynamic movements to increase her optimal attack range. When combined with her established proficiency with her bat and adaptive creativity, April becomes a formidable opponent in fights with a small number of opponents. Even without her bat, however, April's ingenuity, agility, and large skill set make her an extraordinarily capable fighter one-on-one.

However, due to her overall lack of mystic powers, limited defensive strength, and the natural restrictions of her weapon, April can struggle in fights with more enemies. Not only is she at greater risk of harm with so many moving parts, but it also doesn't work as well with April's fighting style - she simply doesn't have the range or attacks needed to affect a wider area. That isn't to say she isn't able to handle herself in group fights (she very clearly can), but it just isn't her strong suit.

Some of April's numerous abilities that give her the title of "Jack-of-all-Trades" can be incredibly situational and require a specific set of circumstances and environmental conditions in order to be utilized. While she still has these skills to use to her advantage, not all of them can be used at one time, although at least one of her skills will probably be applicable in any scenario.

How it Plays Into Her Character:

As a member of a family full of mutants and magic, it is only natural for April to want to contribute to the team by participating in fights - but as the only human in a family of mutants, this also means she is left at a bit of a physical disadvantage in comparison to the others. Most people would likely feel a sense of inferiority or weakness in the face of such a disparity, but not April O'Neil. One of April's greatest strengths as a fighter and as a character is her persistence and clever thinking, which is seen in her fighting style. Instead of getting discouraged at her apparent disadvantage to her brothers, April persisted and found ways to use her own natural abilities to her advantage. She may be physically weaker than the turtles, but by implementing a fighting style that relies on precise attacks and her agility, she is less likely to get hurt while still doing a significant amount of damage to the enemy. Her dynamic and precise fighting style embodies April's ability to adapt and persevere even when things are against her.

April's role as a Scout is indicative of April's intelligence while forcing her to dial back on her impulsive tendencies. It is essential for anyone acting as a scout in a battle to be intelligent and clever to be able to acquire information and make observations that are actually useful to the team. April demonstrates her intelligence and quick wit by always assisting the team with the knowledge that is essential to their success, and constantly observing different elements of a battle, even when not formally acting as a scout. The Scout role does, however, expose a potential challenge for April when it comes to impulsive actions. As a whole, I wouldn't say that April is an impulsive character - she is certainly the most level-headed of the bunch - but as the oldest sister to a bunch of teenage boys, it is only natural for some of that to wear off on her from time to time. April is usually pretty tactical about when and how she goes into fights, but there are a few times in the show where she can rush right in if she's especially passionate about something. In order to fully be effective in her fighting style and roles, she has to be sure to not give into those impulses and keep a steady head throughout the fight.

In a Team Fight:

In a coordinated group attack, April is best suited for an initial or follow-up attack. Her speed and agility mean she can get in and out of a fight quickly and her precise fighting style creates a perfect combination to provide a solid initial set of strikes to weaken or disorient an enemy. This doesn't provide much in the way of setting up the next attack, but it could be followed up with an equally quick attack from someone else. Her fighting style also lends itself to a quick follow-up attack and is particularly effective if the opponent is disoriented prior to her attack. April's quick movements and attacks can add to the enemy's confusion and deal significant damage at the same time.

However, April does not do well in a position that requires her to set up for the following attack, nor is she fit to go last in a team attack and deliver a final strike. Since her attack style implements a small number of precise hits to damage an enemy, she does much better at targeting specific weak points on an opponent rather than worrying about how someone else could further add to her attack. Her physical limitations and lack of mystic powers also restrict her ability to deliver the last attack (at least, not by herself). While it doesn't mean she isn't a strong fighter, being the final attacker in a team attack doesn't work well with her physical strengths and the advantages she has with her fighting style.

~-~-~-~

[TL;DR: April is a Dynamic and Precise fighter with very fluid and adaptable fighting techniques and a tactical and accurate approach to her attacks. Her large, diverse set of practical skills and flexible fighting methods give her an advantage by acting as a Jack-of-all-Trades. April also operates as the team's Scout by using her intelligence and precise fighting style to gather information and make quick, opportunistic attacks on an enemy. These all demonstrate her tenacity, perseverance, and creativity by presenting it through her adaptive fighting methods and approaches to battle.]

I have a feeling this one may be a bit divisive... I'm pretty happy with what I've come up with here, but it took some serious self-persuasion to get past the titles and categorizations I already established for her in my brain prior to my analysis - and I think that will be the case with a few others. Hopefully I’ve managed to make my case well enough.

Thank you so much for all your support on this little "series." You have no idea how much it means to me to have people actually read these, much less receive such positive responses to them. I'm thrilled that many of you seem to enjoy reading these posts almost as much as I enjoyed making them. DON'T WORRY - THIS IS NOT MY LAST POST FOR THIS SERIES. I have one more kind of "Wrap-up" post planned after this as an overview of their collective team dynamics, miscellaneous thoughts/"corrections", a brief explanation as to what inspired me to dedicate hours of my life writing these silly things, and (if you guys are interested) a small breakdown of my thought process and approach towards my analyses. I don't have a fully planned time to release that, but know it will be coming at some point in the near future.

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt april #rise april #rottmnt april o'neil #rise april o'neil #wow #I can't believe this ended up as big as it did #not just this post #but all of them overall #I can't believe I thought I could put it in only two parts at one point #oh how naive I was back then #I was kind of nervous going into April's analysis #I knew I really wanted to cover her fighting style #since she is just so awesome #but we simply don't get that many fights with her #so I was worried I wouldn't have much to talk about #boy was I wrong #(thank goodness for her episodes in season 2 or I would have nothing to work with) #Hey kids! #let's play the 'Will Tumblr Put This Post in the Tags' game! #analysis #rottmnt analysis #character analysis

[theoddest1]

Okay so this new episode that came out (Episode 4) was poorly handled.

TW /// SA

- No warning before the show starts...why? And even if there is no way for Viv to add one, for some stupid ass reason, why didn't she announce to the fandom properly "Hey, this will have very deep topics and imagery that may not be suitable for all audiences."? Why have arguments on threads and fail to do this very easy thing. At least if the episode came out, people would get a heads up, and the word would spread faster PLUS people would see that you at least TRIED

- The episode opens up with a scene of CNC porno played for laughs in an episode that tackles SA. Complete tonal whiplash. Why did it have to open up with Angel showing everyone a porno? It serves no purpose other than to get a cheap laugh (that never came) out of me or anyone else who watches and because of the topic of the episode revolved around it. I'msure that if the episode WASN'T ABOUT SA, that joke would not have been there....but it is. There was legit no good reason to start this fiasco off with such a tone deaf opening.

- Charlie is actually fucking useless and a burden in this episode, serving no other purpose other than being the gateway to further the issues that befall Angel when "trying" to help. This all screams forced. Worse of all, Charlie does nothing to actually HELP Angel out of this, even though he has a clear black eye thanks to it all and literal mirrors breaking as a result of the abuse. We never see an actual development between the two thanks to her foolishness and garbage writing, and it's resolved easily as if this is some early Disney cartoon season that's on a strict deadline. Regardless of whether she apologized or not, she essentially caused the issue and did NOTHING to actually clean her mess. The goddamn B A R T E N D E R had to be used to salvage the pieces. So far, Charlie, as a character, is utterly pathetic and has been a burden to the cast twice so far. Vaggie, who tried to prove herself (moreso Vaggie's fault for going the extra mile for no reason but an obstacle nonetheless), also had an issue that involved Charlie's utter lack of a backbone. Hey, what was it that Charlie said in the pilot that her dad taught her and one of the only thingsshe learned from him? "You don't take shit from other demons"

- Only one scene from the abuse shown was handled well, and it was when Charlie visited, screwed everything up, and Val asked Angel to come to his dressing room. Aside from that, the whole SA imagery is jarring. While this time, the fast pace of it all is not bad, the quick shift into it all with Angel switching from enjoying to hating, to smiling, to frowning, ALONG with the quick pace of it all with the PRIOR KNOWLEDGE SHOWN and the SONG PLAYING, I am getting mixed messages here. Imagery? Shows Angel getting assaulted multiple times with either a forced smile or for some reason ENJOYING sex with Val and the role play situations showcased, is he INTO his abuse? Lyrics? He seems to find arousal in Val controlling him. The song legit reads as follows

"Addicted to this feeling, I can't help but swallow"

This doesn't read like he is "forced" it reads like he is yearning the toxic relationship. Now if this was one of the main issues with the abusive relationship, where it was a codependency built on romanticising the abuser and Angel learning to break free from that horrible view of someone who never loved him and actively harms him, this lyric would make a lot of sense....but that's not what we are shown at all. From the jump, we are shown that Angel HATES being with Val, to the point of him straight up avoiding his texts and voice messages, they actually do an okay job (despite the shoddy voice work) on showcasing how manipulative Val is and his outright explosive temper through this scene in episode 2. We see that Angel does NOT wanna have association with Val, is tired of it all, and even got drunk to down his sorrows. Yet these lyrics present it all as though it's just a very rocky love life like those songs you hear on the radio with the singer lamenting about how awful their relationship was but still miss their toxic boo-boo. It just...doesn't read like an SA song and could mean anything regarding the type of abuse he is facing. It's kinda vague in hindsight. That's MY take on the lyrics, though.

- Husk's song is a trash fire. He sees Angel is down in the dumps and proceeds to talk shit about him pretty much relaying his sorrows, saying it's okay to feed into your vices, and downplaying the actual situation at hand. So let's get this straight.

Angel- A sexual abuse victim forced into sex slavery to appease all sorts of people's sexual desires whether he likes it or not, including pleasuring his pimp who physically abuses him often all cause he sold his soul

Husk- Gambled his life away and lost his title as overlord, serves under Alastor all cause he sold his soul.

How is this even...the same at all? Even if Husk is lacking some context, he SEES that Angel normalized drinking roofied drinks and works for Val SOMEONE HUSK SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AND WHAT HE DOES but nah, screw Angel. Even if he honest to God (irony) wanted to actually help, why tf would Husk think this was sound advice? Why does Husk just SUDDENLY care? No build up, no memorable dynamic, no nothing. Realistically, CHARLIE should be the one singing with Angel or maybe Vaggie because she heard the story from Charlie. Not Husk. He is self aware enough where he knows this "advice" wouldn't work but nah. Nothing about the song makes sense. Telling someone going through it that "you're a loser" pretty much a no one, an insignificant individual, when VAL has made it clear that Angel would be nothing without him...yeah no the only reason why this whole song "worked" was cause the writers wanted it to, so Angel is happy with being a loser for being a victim of SA and selling his soul to someone who abuses him in various ways consistently.

This episode is terrible

Jarring for any newcomers

Who have no idea who these characters are

#vivziepop critical #hazbin critical #hazbin angel dust #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel husk #vivziepop criticism

[kamaluhkhan]

ours are the moments i play in the dark

pairing: conrad fisher x fem!reader

summary: you come back to cousins beach after a few years away. conrad is not particularly happy that you're back - and you aren't particularly thrilled, either. too bad there's a history (chemistry?) neither of you can deny.

warnings: ANGST (im so sorry in advance...); flashback is from conrad's POV and the rest is from reader's perspective; mentions of sex + losing virginities (nothing too detailed/graphic); reader has an ex who's referred to with gender neutral pronouns; reader and other characters drink alcohol (pomegranate margaritas ;) ); hints of alcoholism (reader's mother); jealous reader who's trying her best; pining conrad who's a bit of a jerk; reader and conrad fight A Lot (they will make up eventually i promise!!)

tags: @stargirlsirius-recs, @ifilwtmfc, @qwertyb2577, @allnrsnz, @baconeggndcheez, @peanutbelley, @imogen-skye, @geekinthefuschiahair, @tvije, @drikawinchester, @maybankslover, @junnniiieee07, @elcpsstuff, @fangirl-kimora, @redbierd, @starkeylover

a/n: thank you so much for all the love on my conrad series so far! i love these characters and writing their stories, and it means so much that others are enjoying reading my work. there is one more part left and i promise it will be happier so stay tuned :)) i haven't watched the last two episodes of season 2, but i'm planning on writing a bit for that, too!! thank you x infinity ♡

part one | part two

i lost a friend / like keys in a sofa / like a wallet in the backseat / like ice in the summer heat (finneas, "i lost a friend")

now — summer, age 18

“you know, you guys aren’t fooling anyone.”

“and what exactly do you mean by that, steven?” you challenge, taking another sip of your soda. 

it’s the fourth of july and susannah invited you over for her annual celebration. susannah always hosted fun parties, so you were more than happy to accept because it meant eating some good food, listening to an upbeat playlist, watching some fireworks, and just relaxing. essentially, susannah always delivered the best of summer, rolled into a carefully planned event. 

the sun was shining, and everyone was having a good time, including you — at least, until you saw conrad and nicole in the pool, engaging in some serious PDA. you immediately got out of the pool and went to sulk near the drink table, where you were happily alone until steven came over to join you.

“i’m just saying, man. you and con are definitely going out of your way to prove that you’re mad at each other,” steven explains. “but we all know how much you care about each other.”

steven is right about the first part: you and conrad had done your best to avoid each other since the incident at nicole’s party and its fallout. if you and jeremiah had planned to go surfing and he invited conrad, you would always back out at the last minute. if you were over at the fishers helping belly pick out an outfit for a date with cam, conrad would conveniently stay in his room. not to mention, any time the two of you did cross paths — which was rare, but jeremiah and belly were persistent in requesting that all five of you spend time together, like the old days, they would say — it resulted in meaningless, petty arguments. the two of you had always been competitive and very comfortable teasing each other, but the difference was that now, your interactions were no longer good-natured.

you thought steven, belly, and jeremiah hadn’t noticed, but you should have given them more credit. to anyone who knew you, it was pretty obvious that something was up between you and conrad, even if they didn’t know what exactly it was.

“there’s a thin line between love and hate. and right now you guys are that line.”

“thank you for your insight,” you say sarcastically. “be sure to include that in your college essay — i’m sure princeton would love to have you.”

steven rolls his eyes at you, just as nicole arrives at the drink table.

“hey guys,” she greets. she reaches over to grab two cans of peach iced tea before you stop her. 

“conrad’s allergic to peaches,” you say. “so you might wanna get him something else.”

nicole looks at you for a second before nodding and reaching for a can of sprite instead. 

“thanks,” she says as she walks away. 

once she’s gone, steven gives you a pointed look.

“what?” you scoff. 

steven just shakes his head. “love and hate,” he muses, leaving you to join his parents and shayla near the pool. 

you then decide to go inside briefly, where you find belly and jeremiah, pouring vodka into a blender.

“we’re making pomegranate margaritas!” belly exclaims, practically giddy. 

“well, you gotta use the good blender for that.” conrad seems to appear out of nowhere from behind you, instantly reaching for the aforementioned good blender and placing it on the counter.

you were already in a sour mood from seeing him with nicole earlier, but belly looks at you with hopeful eyes, and you remember what steven said earlier, so you mentally promise that you would play nice with conrad. you owe belly and the others that much after being absent for so long: a carefree summer, just like the ones you used to know. 

you imagine that jeremiah sent conrad a similar pleading look because, miraculously, you and conrad don’t argue with each other as you help mix pomegranate margaritas for everyone. you actually engage in playful banter and laugh at the other’s jokes. you even feel sorry for him when his father, who wasn’t supposed to be here, walks in. you can feel the good mood slipping, so you suggest heading to the beach for a change of scenery.

belly had invited cam and a few more girls who are doing the debutante thing with her, and with steven bringing shayla and conrad bringing nicole (which, you are totally fine with, of course, especially after a pomegranate margarita), you had a pretty solid party forming on the beach, away from the adults. 

of all people, belly suggests some drinking games. it’s all a blur of sand, laughter, and vodka spiked fruit juice. once you were all the perfect amount of tired and tipsy, the group settles down, and gigi suggests a different game.

“we should play truth or dare.”

“oh my gosh we should!” belly smiles, tapping your leg enthusiastically. “remember? we used to play it all the time!”

you smile back. “of course i do.” 

when you were kids, you, belly, steven, jeremiah, and conrad would play truth or dare any chance you got. it was never very serious, mostly goofy pranks and harmless questions. you had all grown up since then, and somewhere along the way, truth or dare had become less innocent than it used to be.

“y/n,” one of the debs — dara, if you remembered correctly — turns to you. it was the first time your name had been called, and in all honesty, you were perfectly happy just sitting back in the sun and sipping the rest of your drink. “truth or dare?” 

you choose truth, mostly to avoid having to get up from your very comfortable seat on the sand.

“are you a virgin?”

your mouth suddenly feels dry. you’re not ashamed of your answer, but it doesn’t help that you can see conrad glaring at you from the corner of your eye. you take another sip of your drink before answering. 

“um, not really.” 

“it’s yes or no question,” nicole says. 

“then my answer’s no,” you declare.

“what?” belly screeches. she sits up straighter to turn towards you, and in the process spills some pomegranate margarita on her dress. “i can’t believe you had sex and didn’t tell me? when? with who? what was it like?” her cheeks are slightly flushed. a sober belly would have likely asked you in private, or at the very least, not in front of people you barely knew. in that moment, you almost regret the pomegranate margaritas.

almost. because maybe it’s the silence and everyone’s expectant stares, or the adrenaline you feel from winning most of the drinking games, or the effects of the drinks themselves, but you convince yourself that it’s as good a time as any to tell the story. a sober you would have known to tread more carefully given the context; that would have been about three pomegranate margaritas ago, though. 

“it’s kind of a cliche story, honestly,” you start. “it happened last summer. it was raining that night, so we were hanging out in the back of my teammate’s van, just talking, and one thing led to another….we didn’t plan to do anything, but we got caught in the heat of the moment.” you choose your words carefully, deliberately avoiding eye contact with conrad.

“how was it though?” belly asks, leaning in closer.

you shrug. “a little awkward, i guess? neither of us had sex before then, and we were both figuring stuff out. like, he couldn’t open the condom wrapper because he was so flustered, so i had to help him. it was nice, though,” you admit. “when the rain cleared, we went out to stargaze and fell asleep on the beach.”

belly sighs. “so romantic.”

“you’re right about it being cliche,” steven laughs. he has an arm thrown around shayla, and uses the other to gesture towards conrad. “conrad, man, that sounds almost exactly like your first time.”

you feel your entire body heat up, and it's not because of the sun shining down on you. conrad’s gaze finally meets yours — for a split second only, but it’s enough for steven to notice. 

“holy shit! it all makes sense now!” steven exclaims, suddenly standing up.

jeremiah frowns, looking between you, conrad, and steven. “what makes sense?”

“i’ve been trying to figure out why y/n and conrad have been so weird around each other this summer, but it’s obvious now: they lost their virginities to each other. they had sex!”

nicole stiffens and narrows her eyes at conrad. “you told me you never hooked up with y/n.”

“well, that’s definitely not true.”

“belly,” you warn, looking over to conrad once more. his cheeks are turning red, and you imagine a storm brewing beneath his dark blue eyes. 

“i don’t know about last summer,” belly continues, completely oblivious to the tension building. “but i do know that they kissed at your party.”

“i knew it,” nicole scoffs, pushing away from conrad. “i knew it.” with one last poisonous glare towards conrad, she storms off.

conrad sends you an equally poisonous look before chasing after her. the party dissolves shortly after.

feeling defeated, you lie back in the sand, close your eyes, and let the sun shine down on you once more, taking deep breaths to slow down your heart rate.

call it karma or a cruel twist of fate or just a really shitty coincidence, but you’re finally the one left alone on the beach.

then — summer, age 17

conrad was more than a little surprised to see your name appear on his phone. it wasn't like you were completely off the grid — you texted, though infrequently, and followed each other on socials. he scrolled through his instagram feed and saw the occasional picture of you wearing a costume at a halloween party or sipping hot chocolate on a snowy day. photos that never quite fit the image he had of you in his mind: in cutoff denim shorts and a swimsuit and layers of sunscreen, with sand in your hair and popsicle stains on your lips.

“hey,” he answered after only three rings. 

"hey fisher, any friday night plans?"

he told you he was working on his college essay.

“homework on a friday night in the middle of summer,” you tsked. “i never realized how much of a nerd you are.”

conrad laughed. “i mean, that’s on you for just realizing that.”

 “fair enough,” you hummed, and conrad could practically hear your smile through the phone. “if you’re in the mood for something more fun, look out your window.”

conrad wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but you standing in the driveway of his summer house was pretty low on the list. you waved at him frantically, telling him to hurry up and open his window.

he was still in awe as you climbed through. conrad tried to memorize the image of you then and there, standing in front of him in his bedroom: wearing dolphin shorts and a light jacket, with chipped turquoise nail polish and a bright smile.

"you drove all the way here?" 

"well, they haven't cracked the science behind teleportation yet," you say playfully. "so i didn't have many options."

"i can't believe you're here," conrad smiled, and that’s when you finally hugged him. he held on tightly, afraid you would leave at any moment if he let go. you smelled the same, like chlorine and vanilla sugar.

once you broke away from the hug, you pointed towards something behind him, pinned to his bulletin board. conrad followed your gaze and felt his cheeks heat up.

“i missed you, too, connie,” you teased, eyes lingering on the newspaper clipping of your swim team making it to nationals thanks to your record time. 

“mom showed it to me,” he explained, the smile on your face making his heart beat out of his chest. “she’s so proud of her little mermaid.”

your smile fell, just a bit, but enough for conrad to notice a shift in your mood. you always did a good job at hiding the weight of the world on your shoulders, at least around the others. not so much around him.

you sighed and sat down on his bed. “you know, after that swim meet, my dad lectured me about not being fast enough,” you explained. “winning by only a millisecond apparently wasn’t enough to impress college scouts, at least according to him.”

“your dad’s a jerk,” conrad said instantly. he sat down next to you. “and an idiot, if he can’t see how amazing you are.”

“thanks, connie,” you whispered. it looked like you were going to say more; instead, you picked up his laptop. “wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you were working on your college essay. you really are a nerd.”

“shut up,” conrad laughed, nudging you with his shoulder and trying to grab the laptop from you.

you nudged him back. “it’s a compliment! schools go crazy for trust fund nerds.”

“yeah, yeah.” conrad waved you off. “so, you’re in cousins for the summer?”

all you did was smile softly and close the laptop, finally handing it back to him.

conrad’s heart burst with joy. because not only were you there — finally there, after all that time away — but you were staying. his mom would always muse about summers in cousins being magical, but conrad didn’t quite believe her until you were gone and he felt that magic fade away. 

“do you wanna go downstairs? belly’s watching it happened one night with my mom and laurel.”

“as much as i love susannah’s favourite movie,” you started, and conrad’s heart soared again at you remembering his mom’s favourite movie. “i thought maybe it could just be the two of us tonight? maybe we could go for a drive.”

that’s how the two of you ended up at mermaid grove — a secluded stretch of beach about an hour away from your houses. it was near the mall your mothers sometimes went to, and during one of those excursions when you were young, all the kids wandered off and found it. the only time you’d been there was during the day and with jeremiah, belly, steven, and your siblings, so it felt different then, at night with just the two of you.

it started raining on the drive over — which only took 45 minutes without traffic — so you were hanging out in the back of your van. the van actually belonged to one of your teammate’s cousin who was somewhat of a hippie, you said, which explained the smell of weed and bohemian decor — battery powered rainbow fairy lights, colourful pillows, an elaborately patterned tapestry. the space was definitely intimate, or maybe it felt that way because you and conrad were sitting as close as possible to each other, shoulders touching and one of your legs tangled with his. he was scrolling through the pictures on your phone of your last swim meet in california, where you'd gotten the chance to visit stanford, while you were peeling an orange. 

"you would love it there, connie,” you gushed. you dug your fingers into the orange peel, and the smell of citrus started to fill the air. “the beaches are beautiful and the waves are amazing. it’s like, always summer.” 

conrad sometimes felt like summer was the only season of the year that he was truly awake, truly living. everything else felt like a dream, one that he would always describe to you in mundane detail; conrad even kept a small journal throughout the year, writing things down that he needed to tell you once you reunited every june. but one journal had turned to two, almost three, and conrad was trying really hard to not resent you for that.

“anyways, i think i’m going to apply in the fall.”

conrad stopped scrolling through your phone, pausing at a picture you had taken of a lemon tree. “doesn’t your dad have princeton lined up?”

“you make it sound like he bought my way in, when it was actually hours and hours and hours of training to get that scholarship. on the national best swim team.” you mimicked your father’s patronising tone for that last part; conrad hadn’t seen him in years, and he could still recognize it. 

“you’re right, though. my dad would flip his shit. even if i got in with a scholarship, it’s so far away and i have the twins to look after, but a girl can dream, right?”

“i feel that,” conrad assured. you gave him a sad smile, knowing that his dad was as intense about football as yours was about swimming. the worst part was that you both loved your respective sports, until they became a burden. you both had other burdens to deal with, too, when it came to your families. 

“in an ideal world, the two of us wouldn’t have to worry about anything else. we’d live in a place by the beach, surf every day, and hang out in the sun while sipping ice-cold, fresh lemonade.” just like we used to, conrad added in his head.

“in an ideal world,” you agreed. “we’d also adopt four dogs, each named after one of the beatles. you can teach them how to play the guitar.”

conrad laughed. “if i couldn’t teach you, there is no way i can teach one dog, let alone four.”

“well, they wouldn’t get distracted by your dreamy blue eyes like i did.” you winked at conrad, and handed him the freshly peeled orange before he even had time to blush.

“take it,” he protested. “you drove all this way — you should eat something.”

you shook your head and placed the orange in his hand before you pulled out another fruit from your bag. “i picked some of these up on the way here — best peaches on the east coast.” you took a big bite. “remember the summer we found out that you had a mild peach allergy?” you asked, juice dripping down your chin. you wiped it with the sleeve of the varsity jacket you wore.

conrad laughed at the memory. belly and steven had brought back candy from their trip to toronto. conrad practically inhaled an entire bag of fuzzy peaches, and didn’t realize that they weren’t supposed to make your mouth itchy — the “fuzzy” part wasn’t literal. that felt like so long ago, but there you and conrad were, settling back into each other like no time had passed.

as the night grew darker, you and conrad shifted closer to each other. conrad ate orange slice after orange slice as you devoured your peach, all while looking through the photos on your phone. you’d occasionally interject with a short story or comment, and there were still raindrops falling on the roof, but for the most part, there was nothing but a comfortable silence between you. 

you moved to wrap the orange peel and peach pit in a napkin, just as conrad swiped onto a photo of someone kissing your cheek.

“who’s that?”

you leaned over to check. “oh. that’s sam.”

“are you dating?” conrad asked, trying to seem casual about it. just a friend asking another friend about their romantic situation. as a friend. 

“we were,” you explained, sitting back next to him. “they broke up with me a few months ago.”

conrad sighed in relief, which he hoped you didn’t notice. “sorry.”

you shrugged. “it’s fine. apparently i’m emotionally distant.”

that wasn’t much of a surprise to conrad. sam might have been an idiot for breaking up with you, but they were spot on with the emotionally distant part. out of all the time you’d known each other, conrad had only seen you cry once, maybe twice. you were usually the one wiping away tears and putting on a brave face, inadvertently, or maybe purposefully, hiding your own vulnerability. 

still, that wasn’t something conrad was about to stir up.

“what? you?” he joked instead.

“shut up,” you said, rolling your eyes, but the wry smile on your face gave you away. “how about you? broke any hearts this past year?”

conrad thought for a moment. there was aubrey, who his football teammate said had a major crush on him. they had been texting for a while now, and were on the edge of maybe becoming something. but then, there you were, stirring up feelings conrad had long buried — or, at least, tried to. if part of his head was always in summer, then part of his heart always belonged to you. 

“no.”

“got your heart broken?”

he thought back to a few weeks ago, when he ran into your mom at the grocery store, and she said you wouldn’t be coming to cousins again that summer. you hadn’t spoken at all to each other for a month or two before that.

“no,” he lied.

you hummed, and took your phone away from him. 

“wanna hear something trippy?” you asked suddenly. you always had a knack for changing the course of a conversation to where you wanted it to go.

“what?”

“well, since it takes a while for light from space to reach us, when we stargaze, we’re actually looking back in time. like, the star that’s closest to earth — other than the sun — is four light years away. or is it five?” you paused. “anyways, if the sky was clear and we could see that star, it would mean we’d actually be looking at that star from summer, five years ago.”

“very trippy,” conrad agreed. “it’s like a cosmic time machine.”

you hummed. “do you ever wonder what our past selves back then, at like 12 or 13, would think of us now? i think about those summers and how magical they felt.” 

magical. you turned to smile at him softly, and conrad couldn't help but agree.

“i always thought you’d be my first kiss,” you whispered. 

that threw conrad off guard, and it took him a few seconds to regain balance. the van suddenly felt too small and the lingering scent of fruit shared between you two, mixed with the familiar smell of chlorine and vanilla from how close you were sitting to him, became overwhelming. his heart was beating out of his chest — not because he didn’t feel the same way, but because he did.

conrad knew what his 13 year old self would think of him now: he’d be up in arms over his awkward pause, screaming to finally tell you how he felt then, and how those feelings hadn’t really left. how you made him feel safe, excited, confused and angry. how there was a space in his heart just for you, and it was painfully empty when you left, but now that you’re there again —

“sorry,” you said, cutting through the silence. you subtly shifted away from conrad. “i didn’t mean to make things weird.”

“you didn’t,” conrad answered instantly. he registered how you were now slightly hunched over and brought your knees to your chest, how you bit your lip and avoided eye contact — a few hints that you felt uncomfortable, deflated even at his lack of response. 

so, he moved closer to you and gently placed a hand on your knee. 

“you didn’t make things weird,” conrad assured once more. you were brave, he decided: for a lot of things you did, but right then for being so honest, so vulnerable. it inspired him to do the same. “i mean, this might make things weird, but i always thought you’d be my first…you know. at least, ever since i knew what sex even was.”

you finally turned towards him, your lips slightly parted. 

“yeah,” you breathed. “me too.”

conrad’s eyes flicked to your lips, then back to your eyes. 

“do you still want to —”

“yes. i - i mean, no pressure, but if you still want to —”

“i do.”

you smiled then and conrad felt himself do the same. 

when you kissed for the first time, it was like rainclouds parted and the stars came out, shining bright in infinite darkness. the two of you became tangled up in each other: you sat in his lap, legs on either side of his waist, your chests pressed together and your fingers tangled in his hair, which drove him crazy. conrad let his hands explore your body, gently grazing the skin under your shirt. his lips tingled from the remnants of peach juice on yours, but he kept kissing you. 

it was awkward and exhilarating at the same time. you asked each other if what you were doing felt good and right and were slightly embarrassed if the answer was no, but still adjusted if needed. at one point, conrad was fumbling with the condom wrapper and you had to open it with your teeth; he jokingly pointed out how you used to do the same with packs of sour patch kids and you giggled before kissing him again.

the two of you lay down on the floor once you were done. your head rested on conrad’s chest and he had his arm around you, idly tracing shapes on your skin with his fingertips. he craned his neck down to look at you.

even in the dim lighting and after years apart, you looked the same. even if you’d never been that close before, at least not in the same way you had just been, you felt familiar. 

you tilted you head towards him and smiled. 

“what?” 

there was something about the way you looked at him that still made him blush, and conrad hoped that with the lack of bright light, you wouldn’t notice. 

“sounds like the rain stopped,” he said. “wanna go stargazing?”

it was slightly chilly, so you let conrad borrow your varsity jacket, even if it didn’t fit perfectly. the sky was clear and full of stars. you spent the rest of the night there together, on the beach. 

in the morning, conrad woke up before you. he watched as you took slow, deep breaths with your eyes still closed. you looked so peaceful — until the sound of your alarm prompted you to wake up.

“shit,” you exhaled, your eyes wide once you noticed the sun had risen. “what time is it?” 

you searched frantically for your phone, only to find it right next to you.

“shit,” you repeated once you checked the time. you stood up right away, sand kicking from underneath your feet. “this is bad.”

“what —”

conrad didn’t have time to even ask you what was wrong because you bolted to the van. he followed you.

“what’s wrong?”

you looked at conrad, brows furrowed. “i have to go. i don’t want to leave you, but i have to go.”

“it’s okay,” conrad reassured. he stepped closer to you and placed a hand on your cheek. “i’ll be here when you get back.”

“i’m…” you step away from him. “i’m not coming back.”

“what do you mean?” he tried to steady his voice, but a dangerous mix of hurt and anger threatened to wash over him. conrad’s heart dropped, knowing all too well what was likely coming next, but he hoped, wished, that it wouldn’t be like before.

“i’ve got a swim meet in boston,” you exhaled. “but i can drive you home on my way there.”

“you’ll come back to cousins after,” conrad declared, as if saying it out could change what would happen next. “you said you’d be here for the summer.” 

you shrugged, stumbling over your words. “technically, i didn’t say that. you just assumed and — ”

“and you wanted me to believe it, right?”

you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. “just — let me drive you home, connie.”

the use of his childhood nickname — the one he secretly despised, except when it came from you — was what made him snap.

“i should have known,” he snarled. “god, i should have known. you don’t care about me, about us. swimming over everything, right?”

“that’s not true.” your eyes opened, but you still wouldn’t meet his gaze. “i do care, but you know the pressure i’m under —”

“fine. you want to talk about pressure?” conrad laughed, bitterly, all his frustration bleeding out and pooling at your feet. “my mom had cancer, and you couldn’t even be there for me. texts and phone calls only do so much when you’re watching the woman who raised you wither away to nothing.”

your eyes softened slightly, finally looking at him. you took a step forward, but conrad took another two back. 

“conrad —”

 “no. don’t,” he snapped, making you stop. “why did you even come here?”

“i was close by and…” you paused. “i guess i just needed to come back, even just for a bit.” 

"figures," conrad scoffed. “you only care when it’s convenient.” 

“that’s not true,” you repeated. 

conrad waited a second for you say something more, but you didn’t. 

“well, i’m really glad you got what you needed,” he mocked. “tell me, does nostalgia and sex help you swim faster? impress college scouts? make daddy proud of you?” 

you stiffened slightly. “don’t be an asshole.”

“no, no. congratulations!” he clapped to emphasize his point. “i’m so glad i could help you! guess you just needed a quick fuck before your big competition for some good luck. hope it works out in your favour.”

there was so much venom laced in his words, and he could tell you noticed. you looked at him like he was a stranger. 

“fuck you,” you finally said. your voice was shaking slightly and it looked like tears were forming in your eyes. “you can walk home, for all i care.” 

without another word, you got into the car and drove away. conrad watched your car become smaller in the distance as he stood alone at the beach, wearing your jacket and replaying every word he said.

now 

it’s hours after susannah’s fourth of july celebration. the adrenaline and alcohol from early wore off, and you’re sitting on your front porch, sipping tea from your favourite mug. you were hoping to relax, but the sight of conrad fisher storming up to you threatens that.

“where do you get off, saying what you did earlier?” 

even under the low light of the porch, you can see that his face is red with anger. he came here to argue, but you’re too tired to really care.

“well, shit, conrad,” you sigh. “don’t blame me. blame — blame truth or dare and pomegranate margaritas and steven for being so goddamn perceptive.” 

“you lied,” he accuses, crossing his arms. “you said you didn’t tell belly about us kissing at nicole’s party.”

“at least i didn’t lie to my girlfriend,” you point out, your voice dull from exhaustion. conrad is momentarily at a loss for words, furrowing his brow even further, so you decide to steer the conversation in another direction — away. “look, i just had to pick up my drunk mother from the bar, so i’m really not in the mood for this conversation.”

you move to leave, but conrad grabs your left wrist before you reach the door. the sudden action startles you, and you release the mug you were holding in your right hand. it falls to the ground, the break clean, and the rest of your tea spills onto the porch. you exhale sharply, turning back to face conrad.

“i don’t care,” he snaps. “you fucked up earlier today. you never should have mentioned that night. talking about it like it actually meant something to you.”

“you know what, conrad? maybe it’s hard for you to believe, but that night actually meant something to me.” you laugh bitterly, feeling more awake than before. “and, yeah, now i’ve spent so much time regretting it. because maybe i hoped that we’d start dating, but even if that didn’t happen, i never expected to lose my best friend.”

conrad rolls his eyes. “i don’t know how you can stand there and call me your best friend. best friends don’t leave each other —”

“fine, i did leave,” you interrupt. your voice is slightly raised, and you can’t help but feel a new rush of adrenaline flowing through your veins. the fact that conrad is standing in front of you, suggesting that you were the one to blame for the hostility between you — that made you frustrated, angry, even. 

“i had other shit going on,” you continue. “and maybe i didn’t handle the situation well at first — that’s on me, sure. but i wasn’t the one who ignored texts and sent calls straight to voicemails. i’m not the one who’s spending the summer avoiding everyone who knows them because they’re too scared of others finding out the truth. i don’t know who you are this summer, but i know the real you, conrad.”

“no, you don’t.”

by now, you’ve walked closer, standing only a few inches in front of him. if you reached out, you’d be able to brush the bangs away from his forehead, but you don’t. 

“i do know you,” you assert. “in fact, i hate how much i know you. i know that “yesterday” by the beatles is your favourite song, and the first one you learned on the guitar. i know that you’re crazy good at chess, but let jeremiah win sometimes when your dad is watching. i know that you love playing football, but hate that you’re expected to play it. i know that i hurt you last year, so you had to ignore me because that was easier than admitting how you really feel because — because you’re scared.” 

“you’re wrong.” conrad stares at you, his gaze heavy on yours. 

you shake your head. “i know that you didn’t tell anyone about what happened between us because it meant something to you. and that really scares you, too.” 

“you’re…you’re wrong.” conrad’s voice wavers a bit, his eyes soften ever so slightly, and you know you’ve struck a chord. 

“i’m not,” you say. “and, honestly? i’m so fucking tired of waiting for you to realize that. i don’t care anymore. whatever was between us during all those summers, it's obviously not here anymore."

“you’re wrong,” he’s like a broken record, stuck on the same lyric. 

"stop blaming me for fucking this up," you continue. "it's your mess, too, conrad. and i’m so fucking tired."

it’s late, and it’s dark, and you can’t bring yourself to stay here anymore. without saying anything else, you step over the broken porcelain of your favourite mug and into your house, leaving conrad alone on your poorly lit porch.

when the sun rises and you go outside in the morning, the pieces are gone. 

#the summer i turned pretty fic #tsitp season 2 #tsitp fanfic #tsitp #tsitp conrad #conrad fisher #conrad fisher x y/n #conrad fisher x reader #conrad fisher fanfic #conrad fisher imagine #conrad fisher x you #conrad fisher x fem!reader #conrad fisher fluff #conrad fisher angst #the summer i turned pretty #saf writes

[hezuart]

New helluva boss episode is out, any thoughts?

Season 1 Fizz: Robo Fizz was mean and called children ugly. Real Fizz called his guests “freaks”. Called Moxie an "ugly little bitch". Bragged about his fame and the money made off his robots and was even really pissed off his robot was destroyed at that theme park and wanted to sue

Season 2 Fizz: Extremely insecure, extremely nervous, hates the robots produced in his image, never bad mouths anyone and is really kind and nice to his competition, knows ASL and gives inspiration to children 

Who on earth is this guy???? You’re not Fizz??? By god, she’s done it again! Another male main character has been uwuified!! 😰When will it end???

~~~

Mammon: “You’ll be like the son I never had!” Fizz is elated at this, but Blitz’s dad already treated Fizz like the son he never had? Literally gave him a card saying he wished Fizz was his son. He was treated super well and was the most beloved within his circus. I mean, he did lose that, and him explaining everything he has is because of Mammon, and so I get it, he has an attachment to all this. I like that we are expanding on his character, but I feel like its overdone. The insecurity is a little too much. The panic attacks are a little too much. (Dude lost his arms and legs in a freak fire accident and its a creepy fan that he probably has to deal with on a daily basis that sets him off? I feel like he would be a tad bit mentally and physically stronger to deal with. I mean, he fricken talked back to STRIKER, a serial killer holding him for ransom locked in a cage last episode??? But he freezes up when an annoying fan criticizes him? Just feels inconsistent.) 

Mammon saying “If you’re a chick, give up on your dreams, because woman ain’t funny” and then Vivziepop’s name appearing in the corner… there’s so much to unpack there. I think Viv meant it as like “I’m a woman, so I can write that joke!” or “I’m a woman, who wrote this show and is therefore funny so Mammon is wrong and it's ironic!” But it's been established that Viv neglects and mistreats her female characters. They’re either all bitches or cardboard cut outs whose entire existences revolve around a male character. It’s low-key sexist. On top of the fact that, Viv may not actually be funny because most of the actually funny jokes in the show were written by Adam and Brandon, who are both men. So its VERY ironic, but not in the way she believes it to be. 

The irony of Mammon hiring an Imp who idolizes him only to exploit him and treat him like garbage… weren’t their exworkers of spindle horse that felt that way? 

Some people think that Fizz’s creepy fan is like.. Viv’s poke at her critics but I don’t see a comparison at all. This guy is a super super big fan that wants to work with Fizz, which isn’t what the Viv critics want. I’m pretty sure that’s the whole point- is that they want nothing to do with her? So I’m pretty sure this guy just represents a creepy fan, which everyone gets. Like a Syndrome character. 

Also in season 1, Blitz killed imps left and right for Stolas, but when that fan is actually getting close to Fizz and threatening his life, Blitz doesn’t kill him on site. He just hits him with a gun. Thank goodness he kills him later but Blitz has never really been discreet. It was just weird forced timing I guess. Season 1 Blitz would have never hesitated. He would have killed that guy on site.

I will never get over Asmodeus’s weird coat, his anatomy changes with whatever he’s wearing lkdsgjldkfj 

Mammon and Fizz are pretty much just Valentino and Angel Dust , but no physical exploitation (other than his robo replicas)

The Glam and Glitz sisters are really cool I’m obsessed with their performance, but we go right back to Viv’s 2 types of women: bitches. They’re bitches to each other too. They’re sisters who have like amazing choreography and on stage chemistry, and yet they constantly fight, like… how do they even function 

ALSO THEY GOT TOM HARDY TO SING HE’S NARRATING THE COMPETITION YOU GOT THE INTERNET’S FAMOUS MUSICAL COMEDIAN TO SING A SONG FOR YOUR “COMEDY” SHOW WHERE THE SONG ISN’T EVEN FUNNY It looks like he wrote it himself but… if even Tom can’t make it funny then who can???? I’m mad on his behalf 

Also… the ASL imp

…. “I want to be a clown just like you! : D “ Fizz: Exploited for money as a clown ever since he was young, gained a boatload of insecurity because his boss was so pushy, forced to deal with sexual encounters, sold his likeness into a popular sex doll without actually wanting to, lost his arms and legs in a freak fire accident because the circus tents aren’t safe- Also Fizz: “You can do whatever you want to : ) “ This would have been a sweet moment if this wasn’t Helluva Boss!!!!!! This is Hell!!! what on earth are you doing Viv!!!! Kid pls do literally anything else with your life  Also how and why does Fiz know ASL

Ozzie and Fizzie getting a love song is cheesy you know, but…. Stolas X Blitz fans wish man… they WISH Oz x FIz is literally just the better Stolas x Blitz. Like this what the Stolitz fans want but its given to the side characters for some reason. Fizz’s end song was nice but All our main characters are just so flat Sad uwu special sweeties that have done nothing wrong... I'm just so sad to see them become former shadows of their badass selves. Our main characters were greedy, selfish, mean, sometimes creepy assholes. Now they're not. It was either an accident, they're hypocrites, or they were abused- and im like... this is Hell, can't we still have our main demon characters be assholes? I'm so curious what the explanation is gonna be for Blitz x Verosika. Is she gonna be framed as the bitch who ruined the relationship? Did Blitz "accidentally" steal her car and credit card because he was drunk? Like what else are we gonna strip away so he's "relatable"?

Nice to see Wally Wackford back I missed him 

I like how fiery Ozz’s design gets Ozzie confessing he loves Fizz to an entire crowd so all of Hell knows and everyone is like “OMG I KNEW IT! GOOD FOR THEM!” Being with a low class demon was something to be ashamed of. A power imbalance. Something seen as taboo in Hell. Now we have 3 top sin embodiments dating the lowest of low class in Hell and not only do people not care negatively, they’re happy for them. There’s no stakes. Our main characters can do whatever they want “You’re gonna regret revealing that Ozz!” how who are you gonna tell? the romance police? fricken Now we have Mammon! Add him to the reoccurring villains I guess!!!! yeesh 

(Clowns are apparently also like… influencers in this world for some reason???? I still don't understand Vivziepop's clown obsession I think this is just not my jurisdiction )

All things considered, not a bad episode for season 2, but im kinda at the point where I don't think helluva boss is gonna deliver anything outside of abused main characters with cute relationships I don't think they're gonna do anything else

#helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #text post #ask

[prince-liest]

I’m a sex-repulsed ace, and reading the latest chapter of 666 (as well as your analysis here on Tumblr) made me realize that I have been subconsciously thinking about MY OWN sexuality from an allo perspective? And that it has kinda been messing me up?? Like, ever since I learned that sexual attraction was actually a Thing and that it’s Important To People, I had been carrying around a fear of being deficient in some way and not being able to love to the same extent as allos. (1)

Even though I know logically that’s complete garbage and totally untrue, I felt left out of the loop because people seemed to care strongly about this thing I couldn’t even imagine. Whenever it looked like a relationship might happen I panicked for a reason that I couldn’t understand. But now I’m starting to realize that it’s because I was subconsciously terrified of an ‘ulterior motive’ behind the other person’s reasons for wanting to be with me. (2) That part of the reason they even cared was because of something I don’t experience. So thank you, because this realization just clicked into place while reading your work. The thing is, this way of thinking was just internalized in such a way that I didn’t even realize it was there until literally this week. And I think you’re right; one of the main reasons behind that is because I’ve always consumed media written from an allo perspective. (3) If ace/aros are shown at all, they’re depicted as “lacking” and their character development usually revolves around being “fixed” by the story. When I was ~10 years old my mom sometimes let me watch the Big Bang Theory with her (looking back, maybe not the best decision). Anyways, there was one episode deep into the series where Sheldon (who for the past nineish seasons was probably the closest thing to mainstream ace rep) has sex with his girlfriend for the first time. (4) Afterwards, he says something along the lines of “that was better than I thought it would be”, and it’s presented as a Very Good Thing and a big step in their relationship. I think a lifetime of stuff like that makes it very easy to internalize aphobia and feel like the lesser part of the relationship. Or to feel like the other partner is making a huge sacrifice to be with you. That got wayy too long, sorry. All that was just a lot of words to say that I appreciate you. Take care of yourself!(5)

The portrayal of asexuality that you see in media being almost exclusively as you described is very tedious to me because it presumes that something is inherently lacking in aro/aceness rather than that feeling of "lacking" being something that is induced by societal norms. Actually, one of the things that I find additionally alienating is that fandom spaces specifically have been getting better and better about ace characters - but got damn does fandom not jive with aromanticism. Like, a character doesn't want to fuck? That's becoming a liiiittle more fine, it's 2024, we stan consent. But not shipping someone romantically?? Not so easy, now.

I'm glad that my work has been something that resonated with you in this respect! Alastor cares a lot about his reputation as a demon but is pretty blatantly a person who could not possibly give less of a shit about being "wrong" for not being experiencing romantic or sexual attraction. The explanation Viv gave at one point for his own understanding of himself (that he thinks he's just "waiting for the right woman") actually stuck out to me a lot because it's a very "well, nothing is wrong with me for not feeling anything, it's the world that's failed to produce a suitable person" perspective.

But having that kind of confident perspective of your own rightness in the world is really not often portrayed in media, or even in fandom, which even ten years ago was still in the throes of standardizing "Oh, no! Me, gay? These feelings are so wrong!" style m/m content and is honestly not that far off from essentially that for aro/ace characters.

Anyway, all of that is to say that there's not yet much out there that doesn't frame allo/amatonormative values as the default that "even aro/ace people can (and should want to) achieve," and that it's really fun to write a fic that is unequivocally from the perspective of a character who is aroace and doesn't see it as even remotely a fault in himself. Does he have moments where he's a little confused and trying to process how things fit for him? Absolutely. But he just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who thinks he owes romance to Vox of all people, hahaha. I've written him trying to conform to allo/amatonormativity more with Mimzy, because I think the social standards of their time could push him into it, but Vox? Absolutely not, he does not respect Vox enough for it to even enter his mind.

And then, on the other hand, writing it from an aroace perspective centers the way that romantic and sexual interest can feel like a betrayal of a good thing. With a character like Alastor, it frames romantic and sexual attraction the same alien way that we usually see aromanticism and asexuality framed as.

In the end, this is just one of a plethora of different experiences that aro/ace people can have, but it's one that I really wanted to see represented more, so I'm very happy to write it. I'm glad that you're enjoying it!

#ask #personal #Anonymous #long post #t #aroace #ace #he cares about Vox at this point! #but that's. not really the same as respecting him. #anyway this next chapter is important to me because it's very #how do I put this #“this was okay at the moment but that doesn't mean he's okay with it overall and forever” #“and it does not mean that they've 'progressed' their relationship to the point where Alastor being aroace is a 'nonissue'” #“(feat. ofc the heavy implication that it was an issue in the first place)” #ANYWAY. SOMETIMES I HAVE A HARD TIME EXPRESSING THIS IN NON-FIC WORDS #SO HOPEFULLY THE FIC AS IT CONTINUES SPEAKS FOR ME. I AM GLAD THAT IT HAS SPOKEN TO YOU SO FAR <3 THANK YOU!! #sexuality #my writing #hazbin hotel #this is a hot button topic atm and it took me a minute to write a reply #that didn't seem like it invited discourse lmfao #actually I still feel weird posting my opinion this strongly oops OH WELL

[radiant-reid]

LOVE your work, I seriously think you're amazing! Could you do a part 2 to the blurb you did about Spencer and the season 14 arrest?

Maybe she really fixed on his comment about how he'd be gentler with her and now she can't stop thinking about him and he notices which makes him a bit cocky? Maybe at the end of the day he brings her back to his hotwl room and shows her how gentle he can actually be? A little smutty??

waittt this was the same episode

R18 content, nothing too kinky but she does call him sir

Something compels you to walk from your room to his once you get back to the hotel. He stayed back at the hotel as well while the rest of the team went out for drinks, and you're choosing to read into that.

"What did you mean?" You ask as soon as Spencer opens his hotel room door. You shouldn't be there, you know that. It's a terrible idea, and you'll be embarrassed forever if you'd taken something he said the wrong way, but you can't help yourself.

So maybe you're going to have to quit your job, change your name, move across the country-or better yet, to a new country- get some plastic surgery, and start a new life. It's worth it for a shot with Spencer Reid.

He frowns at you, and you don't realize until then that he's not wearing a suit. It should have occurred to you sooner since he likely doesn't sleep in a dress shirt, tie, suit jacket, and dress pants, but it hadn't. His t-shirt and Caltech sweatpants are a cozy, comfortable look for him.

"What did I mean by what?" He asks in reply. "Do you want to come in?"

You step forward into his hotel room and he shuts the door behind you. "What you said earlier, about what happened before." You say.

"Descriptive." He teases. He stands less than a foot away from you, cupping your cheek to hold you there. "Tell me what you want, sweetheart."

"You." You admit.

He nods, pleased with you. "How? I promised I can be gentler, but maybe you want me to get rough with you."

Unfortunately, you know you have to pick. "Gentle, first..."

"First?" He repeats, smirking. "Does that mean I get you more than once?"

You nod eagerly. "You can have me as many times as you'd like."

"Good." He agrees, stepping close to you, until your hips slot with his. "I've got plans. Lots of plans. Things I want to do to you, positions I want to put you in."

It makes you shiver when he talks like that, heat rushing to your core. "Yes." You agree.

"You haven't even heard what those things are." He teases, profiling your reactions. "Needy. Although, I might have to test that theory."

You know what he's talking about from how his hips roll against yours, and you can't help but moan, nodding in agreement.

His hand presses against the zip of your pants, and he slowly pulls it down. Before he can touch your skin, he presses his lips forward to capture yours in a passionate kiss. While you're trying to focus on kissing him, he distracts you by unzipping and tugging down your pants.

You moan when his fingertips graze the developing wet patch in your underwear, feeling your arousal. "I'm rarely wrong." He reminds you.

"Please." You beg pathetically, thrusting your hips forward.

He nods, shushing you with a kiss on your forehead. "I don't usually take requests, but I'll make an exception."

"Thank you." You say before adding something you profiled he would like. "Sir."

He pulls you closer, taking his hand off your cheek to firmly grasp your hips. "Smart girl." He coos. "Strip for me, baby." He requests. "Want to see how beautiful you look."

You make a show of it for him, unbuttoning your blouse and slipping it over your head before stepping out of your pants. You're thankful you wore a matching set of underwear.

His hands are back on you again, wrapping around your sides and running his thumbs over your stomach. "Just as gorgeous as I knew you would be." He compliments you, eyes fixed on you. "So beautiful."

You kiss him as a form of gratitude, your own fingers tracing down his chest to palm the bulge in his pants. "How do you want me?" You wonder.

He moves you with a slight amount of force to demonstrate what he's capable of and drops you on the bed. "This will work." He says.

He slots a knee between your thighs, lips attaching to your neck as he leans behind you to skillfully unclasp your bra. His kisses continue down your neck.

"Fuck." You whine, tugging on his curls.

"Language." He scolds, using his hand to hold your throat so you can't look down. He holds you there while he nips at your skin, no doubt leaving a trail of marks in the wake of his lips.

Subconsciously, you grind your hips against his thigh, leaving a wet spot on his sweatpants. "Please, I need more." You beg.

"I know, darling girl." He assures you, pulling back and kissing your lips once more before he takes his shirt off before he tugs his sweatpants down, moving from the bed to take them off. You use his absence to tug down your underwear, exposing yourself fully to him.

Determined to feel all of him, you touch down his chest before reaching his cock, pumping him in your hand. "So handsome."

He drags your hips to the edge of the bed, standing between your legs so he can nudge his cock head over your slit. "Beg for me." He instructs.

"Fill me up, Spencer." You plead. "I want to feel all of you."

He keeps his face close to yours, making intense eye contact while he slides into you, throwing his head back immediately. "Shit, you feel amazing."

You bite your lip, nodding in agreement.

He knows what you're doing and he shakes his head. "No, I want to hear you."

You oblige his request, moaning loudly while he settles inside you. "Move, please." You say, touching his arm.

If he weren't so enamored by how tight and wet you feel around him, Spencer would have teased you about being so desperate. He thrusts in and out of you, filling you up so well you're practically screaming his name.

"Being so good for me." He compliments, not holding back in his deep, perfectly timed thrusts inside you. Every time he pulls out you miss his cock, and every time he fills you back up again, you swear he's gotten longer and thicker.

His fingers travel to your clit, softly circling it as he pushes you closer to orgasm. "I'm so close." You tell him before letting out a string of pleas.

"Let me feel it." He insists. "Cum around me."

It sends you over the edge, gripping his cock as you cum around him, stronger than you ever have before. He follows soon after, thankfully thinking forward enough to pull out and cum on your stomach.

He rests his forehead against yours, panting as you both come down from the high. "I'll, uh, go get something." He says, back to the awkward Spencer you first met, as he scurries to the bathroom to find a face cloth to wipe up his cum.

He's gentle as he touches you, leaning down to kiss you. "Was that okay?" He checks.

You nod, beaming up at him. "Everything I've wanted for a long time."

"Me too." He agrees. "And I'm very glad I get to do this again... if you still want that."

"I really do." You assure him. "Can I sleep here?"

He nods happily. "Of course. I'll get you something to wear."

"Don't want me naked in your bed?" You tease, sitting up to watch him rummage through his bag.

He chuckles, turning around to throw you a shirt. "I would accept that offer eagerly if I'd slept more than a few hours over the last few nights." He tells you. "But when we're back home, and we have a weekend together, you won't be wearing anything... maybe a few selected outfits."

#spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid smut #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid fandom #criminal minds #criminal minds smut

[chaifootsteps]

Okay sorry I was talking with my mother

1) I hate sir Pentious’s new character. Sure, he’s fun. But oh my gosh, I miss his old character. The way that’s he’s not at all remorseful and just purely wants destruction  and to rule over the pentagram city. But now he’s too goody goody(I haven’t seen the new episode, pls don’t spoil it), and turned WAYYYY to easily over to Charlie’s anti-Christ ass, and wanting to be redeemed. He should have stayed a spy for longer and I would’ve loved to see his dynamic grow with the Vees(especially Vox) and how he worked for them as a spy. His rape scene wasp so uncomfortable and unnecessary, and speaking of that his and cherris relationship should of never of even been thought about. It’s such an awkward thing, as they’re rivals and Cherri has destroyed things that he’s made and insults him.

2) speaking of Cherri, she offered Angel drugs(which seems like it’s a normal thing for them as she’s so causal about it) when she knew he was there at the hotel that’s for redemption, but also she was so rude to Angel when he was trying to get Nifty out of the cleaning closet??? She’s a much better friend in the pilot and in the addict music video. She’s showing actual friendship and concern for Angel, nothing like she does now.

3) Alastor. Sure, I like his moments, but he’s so painfully edgy it’s not that good. His radio sound effects are good, I miss the old effects that he had in the pilot and his old voice actor, but of course viv is a “it’s my way or the high-way” gal and she dumped all of the previous cast. He’s nearly completely different now, claiming that Charlie is like his daughter(I swear to god he better be manipulative to her in that moment), when in the pilot he openly mocked her and what she was trying to do. He seems way to open about his emotions and wanting r help Charlie, using a TV(???) and playing along when what she wants to do. He also seems to much like an attention whore, which could be a good character trait if he wasn’t the way he is now. Also he’s too touchy touchy with everyone, especially Charlie.

4) Angel dust is not as interesting now as he was to me in the pilot. Now he’s just a porn star who gets raped and abused and is going to be redeemed. I’d love to see his old character traits(from before the pilot and during, such as mafia, insane, violent, ect), rather than just “oh he’s a gay sex spider who sometimes does violence but he’s such a good person now for finding love and refusing drugs!!!! :3”.

5) Husk’s new voice. I see the appeal of his new one, but his old voice actor just hit different. Make that skinny 1970s gambler man sound like he smokes 5 packs a day. Also I can’t stop thinking about the cat from Coraline.

6) almost everything about vaggie. Her design, her actions, and her backstory. It’s cool that she’s a fallen Angel but oh my gosh!! Don’t reveal that in the first season!! Slow burn that shit!! And why did she do quickly realize that he’s murdering ‘innocent souls’?? They’re in hell for a reason, she didn’t have to think that just because it was a kid it was innocent of any crimes it did. They revealed it too soon, it would have been a good twist for season 2.

7) vivziepop seemingly mocks Christianity and I had to look up how Saint Peter looked like, AND SHE WHITE-WASHED HIM SO BAD. HE LOOKS NOTHING LIKE HE SHOULD, AND HES SUCH A COMPLEX PEROSN FROM THE BIBLE AND AND SHORTENED HIS CHARACTER SO BADLY.

Anyways, my TED talk is over. Thank you

Thanks for your TED Talk, Anon. It was an excellent talk.

#Anonymous #vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

[showtoonzfan]

HELLUVA BOSS: S2E4 REVIEW

Ganna be honest, this episode wasn’t AS bad as I thought it would be, like I’m lowkey shocked. It’s certainly not the worst out of what we’ve seen, and it didn’t piss be off to high heaven, especially since the runtime is short and Blitz and Stolas are away from one another here, but….it still wasn’t….good, so let’s get into it.

So everyone already knows this episode was….so fast paced. Andrealphus doesn’t even get a proper introduction, and like I said before, in the span of one fucking minute, we have Stolas and Stella petty banter, Andrealphus, and Striker coming back to kidnap him. For starters, Yayy….glad to see Stolas and Stella acting like petty middle schoolers towards eachother. I was right when I said that the writers can’t figure out what they want their dynamic to be. Like….this is supposed to be the same couple that’s in an abusive serious situation, and it kinda doesn’t make me take them seriously if they’re just swearing at each other and bickering Viv. Also, glad to know the writers are outright saying “cheating is okay”- simply because Stella never liked him, so again….way to take the flaws Stolas had in season 1 and completely erase them and excuse them, just because you want Stolas to be in the right. It’s so distracting how fucking retconned they are, they might as well just have said “Stolas did nothing wrong” in Loo Loo Land if these were the writer’s true colors all along, but since Viv wrote this episode, I’m not surprised.

They hyped Andrealphus up but he gets like….two scenes and doesn’t do much like…lmao. In The Circus, again…they try to make it clear that divorce in the Goetia family is uwu serious, and Stella mentions Andrealphus, implying that he would be upset, or is a threat. When we actually meet him tho, he isn’t even….upset about the divorce? Why did Stella mention him then? What was the point of foreshadowing him and having Stolas say he doesn’t care what he thinks if Andrealphus was just going to be all like “oh you’re getting divorced? Okay, give us money then”- like it’s so fucking underwhelming but we’ll get back to him and Stella later. Also we see that Stolas has a scheduled meeting with Ozzie, implying that he may be trying to get that crystal after all. But…can this show just fucking….stop teasing us with future shit and just do it already? I’m so tired of the show dangling plot threads to come later in our face but they either NEVER come or the execution is underwhelming.

Blitz continues to be the most annoying and unfunny character in the entire show. His jokes and dialogue are a fucking pain to sit through and the scene where he’s trying to announce his appointment and fights with the lady in the waiting room drags and is unneeded. In fact, this whole side plot was unneeded. Viv doesn’t know how to fucking balance this show, she wants episodes to be serious and story driven but have a slice of life filler side plot at the same time and guess what? It doesn’t work or blend well. The constant cut aways are distracting from the main plot and you could have used this premise for a different episode. Loona doesn’t even have any dialogue, you could have at least improved the relationship between her and Blitz or had a moment of her being thankful that he was here and comforting her, appreciating him more….ya know….character development……..something that would have made this side plot actually useful since this is supposed to be a fucking “character driven” show about the relationships between the characters, but no. This side plot existed to pat out the run time and give Blitz and Loona something to do so they’re not just sitting there. As usual Loona does nothing, is useless and only there for the furry porn. The shot of her butt with the needle was 100% on purpose, I can tell.

(Also we’re on season 2 and only now finally get to see an upfront interaction of Imps being treated as the lower class, but it doesn’t do anything. This show tells us instead of showing us, they constantly remind you that imps are at the bottom but Blitz still literally has a good job that pays well and aside from the wrath imps providing food too feed hell, there’s no exploration of how imps having it lower than any other demon species. If anything it seems like Imps and the rest of the Hellborn species are all on the same ranking because Viv can’t storytell.) Also what is with the bleeping? I really don’t get it, it’s not funny and it’s distracting, making scenes awkward.

Predicted it, but Moxxie and Millie were…unneeded in this episode and were only included to fight Striker. These two really are useless when they’re not the focus and you can tell Viv has no idea what to do with them when they’re not. Also…..Viv…..Viv……is Moxxie strong, or not? Make up your fucking mind. In this episode he’s able to get the upper hand against a bigger imp, make him bleed and tie him to the car without an issue, and yet he’s been characterized as weak and not the muscle of the group. Is he strong or not? YAYY MORE CHARACTER INCONSISTENCIES! And glad to know Millie did nothing….as usual. Besides fight.

So Stolas has officially become Angel Dust, and Moxxie is slowly turning into Blitz so that’s great. It’s amazing how there’s barley a difference between the Stolas and Angel tho, he’s just Angel Dust. And Chaz. And Blitz. And every other fucking gay male character Viv writes. The constant cursing, the quick sassy witty banter, the sex jokes of him being tied up, you can tell Viv wrote this with those “harder” jokes between Moxxie and Stolas like…wow, it’s amazing how her gay characters have recycled personalities, aka the Sassy gay twink. Anyway, to me, Stolas before was horny and rabid don’t get me wrong, but something about the way he is in this episode just irks me more. I get that he hates Stella and Striker, but now he just seems like a petty sassy royal bird who acts like a child 24/7…..and it’s unfunny…..and annoying. All these characters are written like fucking children I can’t.

Apparently Striker has a reputation, is wanted around Hell and is well known for being an assassin now??? I thought he was just some Imp who was hired to kill someone? Lmao yet another retcon because if this was the case before, you’d think IMP would have heard of him in Harvest Moon. What’s also retconned is Striker saying he was asked to give Stolas the “full royal treatment”, to torture him I guess but….no? He was hired to shoot Stolas with an angelic gun. Why didn’t he just fucking shoot him. Speaking of that, where is the fucking angelic gun? The IMP gang had it last, and now they don’t have it. Also I already pointed this out but…Stolas can’t recognize Striker despite meeting him in episode 5 upfront. Let’s actually talk about Striker tho. He wasn’t perfect but he certainly was the best part of the episode. I actually applaud Bosco for his voice acting, and the scene with him snapping at the band to leave him alone was the only joke that made me laugh. I didn’t care about Striker that much before but this episode honestly made me did now, ignoring the fact that he’s characterized as egotistical. Problem is tho, like the rest of the antagonists, Stikers kinda just a tool. So he….may or may not be dead, I legit have no idea. If he is dead however….boy oh boy, that would piss me off, because IF he IS dead……then way to go guys, you killed off the only interesting and cool character. 🫠

I expected it, but it’s amazing how everything beforehand regarding him was for nothing if he does turn out dead. The tension he had between him and Moxxie? Would be gone. The fact that he appeared in Blitz’s hallucination, being someone who was similar to Blitz but they used their skills differently yet were the same regarding being mistreated by the upper class? Would be gone. Striker wanting to rebel against the higher class? Gone. Blitz doesn’t even get to interact with him before he dies, for a character that clearly had an impact on him. I was going to applaud this episode for actually being consistent and keeping Striker the same person who despises the upper class for what they do to the lower class, they even imply that he had someone he cares about taken away, but it’s all fucking gone if they KILLED HIM OFF. It all would go nowhere in the end and it pisses me off now because you HAD an interesting character, a villain who contrasted the main character, who had a point and could be humanized, and who rightfully calls out Stolas and his people being the scum of the earth, and now he might be dead because once again, Vivzie is an impatient writer who pushes the story forward too fast before we can even get to know these important characters, and also doesn’t want Stolas to be in a position where he’s in the wrong. Bro was literally eating at a rich place where imps serve you, treats his butler like a stress toy, talks down to Blitz and other imps…he’s not innocent Viv.

(It’s also obvious but this episode suffers from pacing issues, the constant cut aways, and scenes moving by so fast we can’t digest any of it. The FIGHT scene tho? Good god that was a mess, it’s literally faster than Millie’s fight scene from last episode, and the annoying songs playing as we kept cutting to Blitz at the appointment REALLY doesn’t help. I really feel like this studio can’t handle fight scenes….at all, or knows how they work. The video literally gets fucking blurry at one point like what the FUCK LMAO…..either hire someone who knows how to animate action scenes or don’t do action scenes at all.)

I knew Stella was still going to be one note, so I wasn’t surprised, but honestly what did piss me off is how stupid they make her. She was inconsistent before but now she’s just an idiot, because apparently she needed to be TOLD that once Stolas dies, everything goes to Octavia. Like are you kidding me? She’s so dumb that she needed to be told that?? She doesn’t even respond when Andre mentions Via, lmao her whole character really is “me hate Stolas and me want him dead” and nothing else. I’ll give the episode this, even though we barley got to see Andre, he wasn’t insufferable like I thought he would be, in fact, he’s more tolerable than Stella and Stolas combined since he’s the one who’s annoyed at their bickering and calls Stella out for being dumb, but that’s not a writing flex. Andre clearly seems to be the smart mastermind leading Stella now, I have no idea wether if they’ll later make her sympathetic and paint Andre out to be the baddie leading her, or not, it would be bad writing either way tho. Speaking of that….the way Andre treats Stella is off, and I don’t mean in the way that he could be evil. Like other critic blogs have been saying, he calls her attractive, a minx, and a vixen, all words you….wouldn’t really call your sister. It’s really gross and I’m starting to think the information we’ve been given of these two secretly screwing might be true. Like…if we’re doing straight up incest, I’m ganna hurl.

Andre also is all like “if we keep him alive, we’ll have more opportunities, let’s wait till we can get the upper hand”- and I’m…..what? You HAD the upper hand, that’s number one, and number two, this dialogue is VERY vague and makes me feel like Viv had no idea what exactly Andre’s end goal is here, so she used this dialogue as an excuse to figure it out later since she doesn’t plan shit ahead. Because what is Andre’s end goal? It’s confusing. Stella wants him dead, but then they’re talking about money and possessions. Andre seems to want to help Stella have Stolas’s estate, but she just wanted him dead because she hates him. Now you’re telling me she wants his estate too? YAY MORE RETCONS AND CONFUSING PLOT HOLES. Guess we’ll have to wait for Viv to figure out their motivations later lol.

Yada yada another retcon, Blitz cares for Uwu Stolas and is a dumbass for acting like he never knew Stolas could get hurt despite having a fucking angelic weapon on him and learning royals could be in danger in the last season, moving on-

So we’re finally at the end, the most important scene, the text scene. For starters, just like the other critic blogs have been saying……Ozzie’s finally……FINALLY gets brought up again and acknowledged, and it’s over a fucking blink and you’ll miss it half- assed text message. Like….WOW Viv, way to scrape the bottom of the barrel and confront this in the most underwhelming way possible. Would have been actually impactful and better if we saw this go down on fucking screen and have Blitz and Stolas address this in person, but nah let’s just have it happen off screen because storytelling and Viv? They don’t know each other!

But putting that aside, I want to talk about two important problems I had with this scene, because nobody is talking about how these messages make no goddamn sense. So if you actually read the messages between Blitz and Stolas, I hate how Stolas is characterized here, and I don’t mean how he’s suddenly acting like he always cared about Blitz because that’s been a problem since Ozzie’s, I’m talking about how oblivious and emotionally clingy he is. Like…seriously these text messages are a fucking mess. He suddenly acts clueless to how Blitz feels, wondering if he was upset or not, as if Blitz didn’t fucking tell him exactly why afterwards. Fuck you mean by “you just took off?”- I’m sorry Viv, did you forget the scene where Blitz drove Stolas home that night and called him out on his bullshit, saying all he did was treat him like a plaything? Because yeah, Ozzie’s may have finally been fucking mentioned in this show, but now it’s retconned AGAIN because apparently Stolas is a dumbass and can’t remember why Blitz was mad at him in the first place when he had spelled it out loud and clear. Stolas’s text messages make it out to be like they left the restaurant after Ozzie’s taunting and the scene with them at Stolas’s house never happened. Then Stolas is saying shit like “okay well phew glad you’re not upset then Ozzie is a kidder lol I didn’t mind the jabs he makes at me”- I…..WHAT??? What the fuck is going on? Why is Stolas written differently here? Why is the events of Ozzie’s written differently now? Stolas was literally embarrassed by Ozzie calling him out and hid in his menu, much to Blitz’s dismay. They then leave, Stolas can obviously tell Blitz is upset, and when he tries to reach to him gently, Blitz shuts him out, causing Stolas to cry alone. This episode is apparently now acting like their quarrel never happened because the dialogue is written as if they’re referring to Ozzie’s torment, not Blitz calling him out. This legit pisses me off because the show is once again telling us what we saw didn’t happen and rewriting it to fool us. Making Stolas out to be some vulnerable softie who cares about Blitz’s well being too—

And finally, Viv does what she does best by wanting to make you ship Blitz and Stolas together SO badly, but accidentally contradict herself by showing even MORE proof on why these two aren’t good for each other. Putting all the retconning aside, in this case it’s that…surprise surprise, Blitz is constantly miserable and unhappy around Stolas, or whenever they interact. And it’s not even that Blitz can’t communicate, or sucks at emotions, he just doesn’t fucking LIKE Stolas, and I don’t understand how many times the show is going pin that nail on the head until something actually happens, because this scene would have been more impactful if we weren’t already HERE before. Remember The Circus Viv? Stolas going through his Instagram and noticing Blitz was miserable all the time, and reflecting on how their relationship was a figment of his imagination? This scene is the same, it’s just done through text messages now. Why are we doing this again. And I don’t get what Viv’s end goal is here. Is she trying to make Stolas realize that Blitz never gave a shit about him (because we’re on season two and this bird brain can’t take a hint) or is she trying to make Stolas go “I thought he didn’t care but omg he texted me “get well soon” he DOES love me!” Yeah…probably the last option. This ship sucks. If anything…..why can’t Blitz and Stolas just be fucking friends? You wanna say they care about each other? Fine. But romantically, it just doesn’t work. They aren’t good for each other, and function better as friends, but GOD forbid, we can’t have that because they do the dirty in bed SO IT CAN’T BE PLATONIC, it must be romantic! I was literally right, this ship gets worse and worse every passing episode and Viv wants you to ship it so hard despite the fact that she STILL hasn’t given me ONE good reason why they should be a couple. End of story.

So that pretty much it. This episode was nowhere near has bad as the previous three, it’s the most tolerable, but still heavily flawed in the writing department. The dialogue still lacks nuance and sounds like an edgy 12 year old wrote it, the world is still empty, pacing was off, the animation was off too at times, the constant sex jokes during serious scenes are distracting and take away from what’s going on, the side plot didn’t need to happen, there’s also SCENES that didn’t need to happen, there are multiple retcons and empty plot holes/threads, and Viv once again can’t write a complex serious gay couple. She just doesn’t have the writing chops for it, especially since she keeps rewriting aspects and flip flopping between who is the worse lover and who isn’t. I’ll talk more about this episode later, you know how I rant a lot lol. Tomorrow I’ll be finally answering inbox questions too! If you managed to read my endless rant essay, I thank you! See you soon!

#vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #helluva boss criticism #helluva critical #helluva boss #helluva boss Stolas #helluva boss andrealphus #helluva boss Stolitz #Stolitz critical #review

[alumi-san]

Things I liked in season 2:

Priyaleb was cute.

Caleb is a character here, and he's such a nice guy!

Rajbow moments.

Rajbow not breaking up (yes, it's important).

Wayne and Raj are lovable himbos as they are. They, Julia, MK, and Demian, carried this season.

Chase is eliminated in the second episode (I don't like him).

Zee being Zee.

Damien and Nichelle, being a king and queen of this season.

Ripper is a better person and not as gross or annoying as his s1 self (though it's also his downhill).

No fart jokes, thank god!

The humor is better.

Julia and MK are the most unexpected friendships we have this season. They're definitely my favorite antagonist duo in total drama. They are so terrible in a good way.

Raj and Wayne's farewell scene had the best animation in all series.

THIS

This right here is the most wholesome moment in the series by far. I want to hug people who created this.

Things I didn't like:

They didn't change the intro. It's laziness to me.

The fact that the teams almost didn't change. The only differences: Caleb, Emma, and Nichelle on Priya's team. Chase, Ripper, and Axel on Bowie's team. I'm not very angry at this, but it's very boring.

Priya and Caleb should've been eliminated earlier.

Emma being eliminated in the 3rd episode is a crime.

Bowie and Emma did not reconcile. They didn't even interact with each other this season!

Demian being a character tool (he didn't deserve it).

Rippaxel was hilarious but came out of nowhere.

Priyaleb has too much screen time.

Priya became Courtney after episode 7 and tried to kill Caleb.

Ripper is a completely different character here. Did he had a character development off-screen???

Caleb and Axel do not have anything besides their romances.

Is it just me, or did they take Bowie strategic and sassy part away from him? Don't get me wrong, he's still the best, but something was... off.

Wayne's not using his captain/leader skills. Considering he's the winner of this season, this would've been very useful.

The whole separation between Wayne and Raj was too short. To this to work better, Raj should've been eliminated earlier (how painful it didn't sound).

Tho I'm happy between Bowie and Raj, I think Raj should've gotten mad at him. I mean, they builded up the hole. "Bowie is lying to his bf," and then nothing really happened!

Them throwing Mille character development and making her worse.

"I'll be back and get revenge on you!"- and then she didn't (episode 13 doesn't count!).

Poore Nichelle. She was too powerful.

A personal preference:

Priya's coming through self-discovery to learn what she wants would've been interesting.

Imagine if Chris said that Priya and Bowie were actually choosing teammates for an opposite team. It's would've been so bold and interesting!

Demian should've been in the final three instead of Caleb.

I would prefer Wayne to be eliminated instead of Raj.

My dream finaly was Raj vs Julia or MK. Like fair vs cheating, get it? Plus, Ruj taking revenge on one of them for eliminating Bowie.

Rank: 6/10

It's still way better than All Stars.

#total drama #total drama 2023 #td #tdi 2023 #td priya #td bowie #td chase #tdi emma #td ripper #td raj #td julia #td millie #td mk #td damien #td caleb #td wayne #td zee #td axel #td scary girl #td nichelle

[loveronlineee]

Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 spoilers.

At first it was denial.

I saw the signs. I saw how he said Never change Dustin Henderson. I saw him say again and again that he’s no hero. I saw him go back to give the others more time. I watched as he lay so close to gone with Dustin holding him and I still didn’t believe it.

Then it was shock.

How the time skip happened and everyone was safely back, out of the upside down. No mention of Eddie from anyone, until Dustin.

Then it changed again, going back and forth between heart wrenching mourning and white hot anger.

I am upset. The kind of upset where your feelings overcome your body and you can’t even stand, your knees giving in beneath you. Crying on the floor. Watching the tears fall onto the ground, inches from your face.

I am upset. The kind of upset where you can’t even hold back the fury. Where nothing will calm you down and you’re shaking and tense, and you just have to feel that feeling with every fibre of your being until it turns back into tears.

I convinced myself that Eddie wasn’t going to die. I read posts saying that Eddie and Jonathan were gonna have scenes next season, they put forward the point that Why would there be so much promotion for a character that wouldn’t even be in the next season?

I couldn’t even enjoy the rest of the episode after that. I couldn’t be excited about Robin and Vickie. I didn’t feel anything when Hopper and Joyce reunited with their kids. I didn’t care that Hawkins was in trouble. Nothing else mattered after that. I felt numb.

Thank you Joe Quinn. For bringing alive a character that I love more than any other I ever have. No other is even close. And fuck you Duffer brothers for absolutely ruining him.

I’m only half serious, because I understand that when you make something and people love it, you’re terrified that one day you’ll fuck it up and all those supporters will turn on you. I know that the Duffers originally didn’t want Eddie to be that likeable, since they planned on killing him. But they didn’t change what they planned even after casting Joe.

And I think what makes me the most angry is that his death wasn’t even a good death.

No one mourned for him. There was no funeral. We don’t even know that much about what happened after. We can assume that they just left his body there, to rot in the upside down. Alone. Forever.

He never got to meet Will. He would have loved him. He would have taken him under his wing and protected him and become a second older brother. He never got to meet El and see her awesome powers in action. He never got to meet Hopper, or Joyce, or Murray or Argyle or Holly or any of the parents or anyone else.

I wanted to see him become part of the group. I wanted to see him interact with the others. What would Hopper have said after taking one look at him? It would’ve made me laugh whatever it would’ve been. I wonder what Eddie would’ve thought of Dustin’s girlfriend Suzie. Did he even know that this girl with superpowers was Mike’s girlfriend???

His name was never redeemed. Everyone still hates him. He never graduated. And no, he didn’t die a hero. His death wasn’t an epic sacrifice like Billy’s was. He died even though the exact same thing happened to Steve and he survived.

His death didn’t feel like it meant anything.

And it should’ve

It could’ve.

If Eddie died it could’ve been him protecting Steve, Nancy and Robin. He reaches the house, saves them but ultimately doesn’t make it. Maybe he makes such a ruckus that Vecna has to find him and kill him himself, giving El and Max more time to save themselves.

If they were planning on it, it could’ve been so. Much. Better.

Duffer brothers you made me fall in love with a show and continue to love it for 6 years. And you ruined it in just under 4 hours.

But even after everything, I still love this show. And I will not stop writing. Eddie Munson you stole my heart and I have no regrets about that.

And I will share this love with every person who reads my work and interacts with my blog who loves him too.

I’ll write Eddie the story he deserves.

Eddie I love you. You freak.

- Willow.

#willow’s warbles #vol 2 >:( #eddie munson #stranger things #stranger things season four #stranger things season 4 #volume 2 #stranger things 4 #stranger things season 4 volume 2 #eddie munson x reader #reader x Eddie Munson #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #st eddie munson #eddie munson fluff #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things spoilers #st spoilers

[nice-and-accurate-ramblings]

⚠️WARNING: Spoilers for Good Omens Season 2 Episode 6 below the cut!

DO NOT CLICK BELOW THE CUT IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS! I’m live-blogging this because I need emotional support apparently

Eight battery operated candles,,, no more open flames in the bookshop I see

“It all looked so simple in Jane Austen :(” Aziraphale have I mentioned that I love you

JANE AUSTEN DIAMOND ROBBERY IS A STORY I STILL VERY MUCH NEED

Bees :)

Oh god Angel Crowley look is infinitely worse in context for some reason

SOCKS AND SANDALS CROWLEY. REALLY.

WHAT IS THAT WALK, I-

Maggie has BALLS and I love her

MAGGIE STAY BEHIND THE THRESHOLD PLEASE

Shax I am going to fight you

MAGGIE I FUCKING LOVE YOU

oh no

Oh no

That was an invitation

This is vampire rules isn’t it

Fuck

OH no

never thought I would be happy to see that circle light up

“You can all leave now and nobody will be hurt” “you’ll be hurt”

Hey uh. Did the theme song change? That guitar riff is new?

Wait yeah things have DEFINITELY changed in the theme song, unless I’m crazy I don’t think the Bentley drove through the theater before?

SOMETHING IS UP IN THE DOWN THEME SONG

Crowley is so fuckin smug lmao

Crowley has adopted Muriel hasn’t he

“I don’t have clearance. You’d have to be a throne or a dominion or above.” Crowley just opened the fucking file. “I haven’t always been a demon, and they never change their passwords.” COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL GUESS ITS TIME TO REVISIT THAT ASK ABOUT THE HIERARCHY OF HEAVEN

Aziraphale really said siege warfare o_o

“Does what you say make sense in your head?” Nina I love you

MOTHERFUCKERS IT WAS AN ARMAGEDDON PLOT!! I WAS RIGHT!! … and wrong, Gabriel was a dissenter!!

Gabriel is a major asshole but he is uh. An asshole opposed to Armageddon: The Sequel

NINA AND MAGGIE YOU BADASSES

“Why all the fire extinguishers?” I AM CRYING

Oh no. Saraquel is sharp o_o

Oh my god they were coworkers

He is Crowley’s emotional support Angel and it happens to be mutual thank you very much 🙄

Nina and Maggie my beloveds

What the fuck happened for Gabriel to be against Armageddon, I need to know

FOR IT TO HAPPEN TWICE

Was Crowley- WAS THAT TALKING ABOUT SATAN OR ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE

“Junior recording Angel, 38th class” congrats Muriel, you’re no longer the lowest ranking Angel in heaven!

THE BOX!!

He’s letting them throw books, they’re desperate, Crowley HURRY

Okay so his memory was in the matchbox that was in the box but fell out?

IS THAT A HALO?

AZIRAPHALE HAS A HALO!!!

oh that. That killed a lot of demons.

Yes I believe you did in fact just start a war. Holy shit.

HE BLEW UP HIS HALO. Well fuck.

“Apparently if we do a miracle together it all works a bit too well” yes hm you two do work very well together don’t you 👀

SO THAT’S WHAT THE FLY IS!! CROWLEY YOU ARE HECKIN SMART

This is some ineffable bureaucracy if I’ve ever seen it

Everyday playing in the background 👀

WELL. THIS IS INTERESTING.

bobbing my head along to Everyday with Gabriel and Beelzebub :)

OKAY I DIDN’T. EXPECT THIS. BUT I AM ENJOYING IT VERY MUCH.

“I JUST FOUND SOMETHING THAT MATTERED MORE TO ME THAN CHOOSING SIDES” OKAY. OKAY YEAH. MHM YUP YES OKAH YES

I am going insane.

I was not expecting these two to get together before azicrow

IT IS VERY QUIET AND GENTLE AND ROMANTIC INDEED

The Metatron is a surprise homie

OKAY. SO CROWLEY APPARENTLY JUST. KNEW THE METATRON. AZIRAPHALE IS ALL AWED BUT CROWLEY IS LIKE “OH YEAH. YOU.” The Angel Crowley lore deepens

Don’t call Muriel dim >:(

“We need a little us time” 👀

HE’S CLEANING UP THE BOOK SHOP FOR HIM I AM CRYING

NINA CALLING MAGGIE ANGEL- I AM GOING TO COMBUST. HELLLP

oh my god if they just convinced Crowley to have an honest conversation

Metatron. What was that. Stay the fuck away from them. Mind your fucking business.

Muriel was given The Crow Road :)

AZIRAPHALE LET HIM TALK

No.

No. Noooo no no no no.

OUR SIDE AZIRAPHALE. OUR FUCKING SIDE.

Don’t you dare. What happened to the “I regret nothing” on your playlist.

YOU DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO HEAVEN.

I SWEAR, DON’T DO THIS

TO-

I-

“Well obviously you said no to hell, you’re the bad guys!” WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE?! WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR OWN SIDE?!?!?!

I’m going to simply pass away now.

Stop. STOP. HE WAS SO HONEST AND THIS IS- CROWLEY IS CRYING AND IM CRYING AND

nooo not the glasses 😭😭😭😭😭

No nightengales,,, we could’ve been us

“I forgive you” cool cool cool cool cool cool cool I have been stabbed in the chest

The second coming?!?!?! Fuck

NOT HIM TURNING OFF “A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BARKLEY SQUARE”

I am unwell

I am going to need so much fanfic after this

I WAS JOKING WHEN I SAID I WAS LIVE-BLOGGING FOR MORAL SUPPORT

HOW LONG UNTIL SEASON THREE 😭😭😭😭

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 #good omens s2 #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #good omens s2 spoilers #gos2 spoilers

[battleswanofciya]

Okay *mentally prepares to be viscously attacked* tbh I really don’t see any chemistry between Carmy and Syd, it’s just not there. It might be that the actors don’t have good chemistry(not their fault at all)but I just don’t see it and as soon as I saw them together I fully expected to start shipping them but no matter how hard I thought about it I just couldn’t manage it. They have great friendship chemistry but no romantic chemistry.

Now *prepares to be even more viscously attacked* about halfway through the first season I realized that Richie and Syd have great chemistry, classic enemies to lovers trope yes I’m a sucker for that trope no I do not see it everywhere(I hate the Shuri x Namor ship but that’s a different rant which I might go on later we’ll see)but even in season 2 it’s very obvious that they have some sort of tension. In the first episode she almost bumps into him when he’s coming out of the basement and they kind of awkwardly stand there looking/not looking at each other and baby there is some tension there! I’m not even gonna talk about the last episode of season 2. Yes I am aware that Richie is an asshole but he is working on it which is obvious in episode one of season 2 where he fucking counts so he doesn’t lose it! It’s even obvious in season 1 episode 7 where he doesn’t freak out at Syd as much as he usually does, yes he still acts like an ass but less so, and only really loses it when she pulls his daughter into which is so fair that was really crossing the line I love you Syd but you can’t pull that shit and even when she accidentally stabs him in the ass he doesn’t start screaming at her like he definitely would have in the beginning of the season.

I know another thing people freak out on sydrichie shippers is the age gap but I honestly don’t see a problem with it, they are both consenting adults and if they want to start a relationship who are you to tell them no? And if you can think of one reason why age gaps are so weird please feel free to comment, I can’t think of a reason of what’s wrong with them as long as there’s nothing illegal and no grooming going on before age of consent.

Thank you for coming this far in my little rant and if you wanna attack me go ahead but be warned: idgaf what you think and I will reply to every comment.

#the bear #carmen berzatto #carmy berzatto #carmy #sydney adamu #syd #richie jerimovich #richard lawrence jerimovich #sydrichie #no hate but I can’t stand the sydcarmy ship

[oneatlatime]

The Avatar State

Season 2!

I KNEW Aang wouldn't be ok with getting possessed by the megafish. Called it!

As well as the most comfortable looking hammocks I've ever seen, this boat has decorative turtleshells.

Having learned the very hard way that bending is not infallible, the northern water tribe finally takes some safety precautions and installs non-bending means of locomotion on their ships.

So glowy is called "the Avatar State." I was kind of attached to calling it glowy.

Pakku continues his consistent and unwavering pursuit of being a poophead. You almost have to admire his unwavering jerkiness.

We're going to see Bumi! I like Bumi.

I don't know about constructing a building complex that near a waterfall. The cherry blossoms are nice though.

So they weren't eaten by vultures after all. Not so subtle exposition from Iroh. And then Zuko is as subtle as a kimodo rhino with his backstory rehash. That being said, there was probably a few months between seasons, so a refresher was needed.

Yes that did come out wrong. Rare misstep from Iroh.

This is Zuko's crazy talented sister right? The one he was angsting about in the snow cave? She seems to be just as much of a dumbass as her brother, although she makes her stupidity seem threatening instead of embarrassing. I don't care how much political power you have, you can't win against tides. Literally the last episode was all about how the ocean always wins.

I am begging you guys to see the pattern here. First time the Gaang got a hero's welcome, Suki's village burnt down. Second time, the whole season finale happened. At this point it's probably safer if the Gaang sticks to going where they're not especially welcome.

Aang saying "I try not to think about it too much" is kinda ouchy given his nightmares at the beginning of the episode.

WAIT A MINUTE

Gotta look something up

That's Bato's map! The animators had no reason to have such crazy good continuity.

I don't think Aang is too happy being described as "the ultimate weapon."

Thank you Katara for calling the general on his pushy steamrolling. They've committed to nothing.

I think the guy in front has a burn on his cheek. I have been surprised by how few burns I've seen after a whole season's worth of episodes. We've seen Zuko's, and Bato's. But the Fire Nation is supposed to be this all-dominating unstoppable war machine, so why isn't every random earth kingdom background character covered in burn scars?

It's amazing how many people can't see the 12 year old for the avatar. Guilting him into cooperating by showing him wounded vets? Harsh.

Also, the last time Aang tried to leapfrog his destiny he burned Katara. Yes, the war needs ending, but maybe don't skip learning the basics before you try?

Heh. Basics. I sound like Iroh.

Pretty sky. I was hoping for a continuation of the 'so pretty it hurts' background trend. I wouldn't have equated fire with electricity, but apparently Zuko jr. can make lightning? And yes, this is very obviously Zuko's sibling: unreasonable and completely out of touch with reality, although rather in the opposite direction than Zuko. The lightning you're throwing around will still kill your target whether or not your hair is pretty while you throw it.

Aang this seems like a bad idea. Even you think it's a bad idea.

The earth kingdom seems to use green lighting. It's weird.

Katara is unreasonably angry about this. The hard work being thrown away isn't really her's, it's Aang's.

Please do not give the hyperactive airbender caffeine.

They gave the hyperactive airbender caffeine. Starting to think this general's not so bright.

Shout out to Aang' voice actor for such an accurate rendition of getting sucker punched.

That's pretty good. Momo really understood the assignment.

The sacred Bellows! This just gets stupider and stupider.

Pretty.

Well in MY country, politeness is only owed to people who don't pour the power of 1000 mean girls into a single line read. I'd be quick to get to the point too if it would get her out of my house.

The ego on this girl. She drops a life-changing bombshell on Zuko, who has spent the last three weeks as vulture food, and explodes when the conversation doesn't immediately pivot to showering thanks on her for the extreme hardship of going somewhere on a royal ship? She's surpassed Zhao's whole season of assholery in barely half an episode.

Now we get the real reason Katara was so angry about "wasting their hard work" or whatever it was she said. She's frightened. I get that. Glowy floaty Aang is frightening.

Another rock and a hard place situation. People are dying everyday, Aang is 100 years late, but the Avatar state is scary, and turning a pacifist into a weapon is a bad idea. Once again the world needs a fully realised Avatar and all they have is a half trained 12 year old.

Iroh's right. It IS unbelievable. Mostly because Zuko jr. is nowhere near as subtle as she thinks she is.

Doubling down and lashing out when the truth is uncomfortable: classic Zuko. Iroh really puts up with a lot.

This is how you know it's a dream: real Zuko runs towards mysterious glowiness.

I'm not a dreamologist, so I have no clue why Aang would dream about hurting Zuko while glowy after being told that the avatar state is hard for his loved ones to watch. Seriously, why is Zuko in this dream?

"Uncle! You've changed your mind!" "Well someone's gotta save your dumb ass."

Not to imply that this general isn't INCREDIBLY stupid, but he's certainly done something right to so solidly secure the loyalty of his soldiers. That's the avatar, and also a 12 year old kid, and they don't hesitate.

It's all wibbly

Double nutshot. Boy's got heels of steel.

Apparently the horse bird things can do parkour.

Things you can get away with in cartoons but not live action: this eye colour. The only place I've seen this colour in the real world is goats.

I like how the voice acting for the helmeted fire nation soldiers sounds like it's coming from inside a metal helmet. Such a tiny detail but they put the effort in.

Nifty transition between screaming Zuko and screaming Aang.

This! Why doesn't every earthbender just to this to their enemies? Turn them into sitting ducks. You don't even need benders to finish them off, just a guy with a bat. How has the Fire nation gotten this far when their enemies can do this?

That's going to cause some trauma.

Iroh is a beast. He's taking out the whole royal guard. I also love that they're lining up to be taken out. So polite. They could teach Zuko Jr. a thing or two.

I feel like Zuko usually does better than this in fights. And really, I know little sisters are extremely talented at goading, but Zuko's really too easy to goad. His sister's not even trying that hard.

This episode's most satisfying shot. Hoping the tides take revenge for that earlier comment.

That's the lowest quality animation I've seen in this show. It bobs unmoving across the screen.

What the hell is the green lady throwing? Elaborately carved thingies?

So it's actually very dangerous to Aang to go glowy. And to the world in general. Neat. I guess an unmatchable power like that needs some sort of limiting factor.

"You're out of your mind." THANK YOU.

No, THIS is the episode's most satisfying shot. About time someone did that to him.

Katara's "I think we're all set" Is a delightfully polite 'get fucked'.

Wow she got those printed up quick.

"There will be no place left to hide" except a short run upstream.

That ends a bit suddenly.

We did not go to see Bumi. Bummer.

Final Thoughts

Quite the explosive start to the season. They really hit the ground running. Also this is very much not a show where you can skip seasons.

Katara was right about it being a bad idea to try and run before Aang can walk. You can't blame the general for wanting a quick way to end the war with few casualties (on his side at least). You can blame him for being really bad at listening. Does earthbending cause stupidity? Because I definitely remember that all non-Bumi earthbenders we've seen so far are not too bright.

We've met what I'm assuming is going to be the antagonist of the season. I don't like her. I'm aware that I'm not supposed to, what with her being the bad guy and all, but would it be too much to ask for a fun villain? This girl's just mean. When Zhao was first introduced, the episode turned into a win for Zuko. This girl's introduction just makes him even more pathetic than usual. I guess starving on a raft for weeks has negative side effects, because this CANNOT be the same Zuko who one-shotted Katara in the spirit oasis.

This does answer my question of what they're going to do with Zuko and Iroh this season. They're going to ground. Zuko's scar is pretty distinctive though. I bet that's going to cause problems.

Sokka has never suffered fools, and seeing him knock out the general is just so satisfying. Both water tribe siblings were supportive of Aang in their own ways this episode: Katara by standing up to the general and giving Aang on honest opinion on what's going on; Sokka by backing up Aang's decisions for and against the proceedings. And also literally standing up for Aang against the general's soldiers. We already knew they were ride or die, but it's good to open the season with a refresher.

Before this devolves into a discussion of the differences in required narrative elements in season openers during the bingeing/streaming era compared to old fashioned network television, let me say one more thing: poor Appa hasn't been sidelined this hard since The King of Omashu.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #The Avatar State #avatar the last airbender

[flythesail]

If the show had Drewson endgame, I think I would still want to see them break up in season 1. Season 1 Nancy seems very not ready for a relationship to me, so I think it would have been neat if we got to see Nancy grow a little as a person, then realize how great Nick is and how close they’ve gotten, and then have them get back together in a later season—but not too late! Late season 2 or sometime in season 3 maybe. I think it’s such a waste that the show was started with Drewson and then they pretty much never acknowledge it again after s1! Anyway sorry for sharing my ramblings here

Yeah, me too! Though I personally wouldn't have them get back together until late s3 or s4 because I love drawing out a relationship haha. I think if you're going to start a show with a couple established, break them up, and have them reunite to be endgame, *the* key thing is developing their relationship along the way. I hate nothing more than throwing a couple back together at the end just because "they were always meant to be" when nothing was done to further develop their relationship past the reasons they broke up.

Nancy and Nick, however, had some good growth over the four seasons even no longer being romantic. If they had been endgame, they easily could have played that up more for a satisfying reunion. It's fun to do it that way too because when you have a couple together at the start, you miss out on the slowburn. Yet this way you kinda get the best of both in a reverse sort of way.

Now, drewson to me seems like a case of right person, wrong time. I think s4 made that clear to me because they work well on screen together and after some individual character development, they'd have been a lot more equipped to work through their issues. Earlier I'd probably have been like oh no they wouldn't have worked just because I was more invested in fanson and nace. But rewatching after the show is over I've really been loving looking at all the what-ifs. And I love Nick and Nancy too so... !

On the topic of closure, I just rewatched 1x13 and the one thing that stood out to me is that The Whisper Box is far from closure for Nancy re: Nick. Later when they're all back at the Claw, you can tell she's almost ready, even wanting, to open up to him. But by that point fanson is developing so she's missed her window.

I suppose there is some focus on it from s2 up until 3x01. In 2x01 everyone's reminiscing about the day they met. 2x04 has Nancy acknowledge she never knew he took stuff apart as a kid (leading to his mechanic job). Nick says she never asked. The idea being now they're building the foundation for a relationship they didn't before. So I'd agree Nancy wasn't ready for a relationship in early s1. The issues she had with Nick weren't even necessarily unique to a romantic relationship. Nancy was having the same issue letting the entire crew into her life.

Back to Nick, though. I think 2x18 could be considered closure. In the dreamscape:

"But you can't give in to it, cause you did feel okay again. Right?"

"You were a part of that. That's why it hurt so much when you chose George." "But I'm still here with you." "Thanks for still being my friend."

But! The problem is this is dreamscape!Nick. So he never gets to hear it.

Then, by 3x01 it's clear Nancy is at peace with it all. She tells Nick she likes the green when he's picking a paint color (George's color, specifically).

So I wouldn't say they don't acknowledge drewson after s1, but they mostly do in a roundabout way where it's either in Nancy's head or just symbolism to show she's happy for him and George now. I suppose if the dreamscape is *the* closure, it's on par with the rest of the show. It's not the only time something happens in a "supernatural" way. The downside is that it just doesn't include Nick and is more for Nancy.

My one thought is maybe they'd have given them a more direct conversation if we didn't drop down to 13 episodes. Or, if they knew s4 was the final season prior to the very end of making it. But then again, I can also see why they wouldn't have prioritized it since by s2 fanson was well established and nace was starting to be intentionally written.

Regardless of closure, I think they have a really beautiful relationship. Sure, they break up early on. But by s4 they've become to each other as friends what they needed to be back then for a lasting relationship.

(Please don't apologize for rambling because I just did the sameeee exact thing haha.)

#i just have a lot of thoughts on them at the moment #drewson #nancy drew cw #nancy drew #flytheask

[lunar-years]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💜

💖 thanks for sending!!

nothing is burning here, my father would laugh: post Man City Jamie-centric, vaguely pre-ot3 episode tag. Never have I felt more compelled to write fanfic than after watching that damn hug!! Also this was my first Ted Lasso fanfiction so it is dear to me :)

Waterfalls: Jamie/Roy focused canon-divergent ot3 between s1 & s2. I'm just really proud of myself for finishing that one because it sat in my drafts half complete for over a year. And then I successfully came back to it and figured out where to take it and got it finished!! Which is big for me.

all your cracked perfection: gen Jamie-centric childhood->canon timeline coming-of-age fic. I like this a little less now that we've met Georgie, because a lot of the fic features Jamie's relationship with his mum but I wrote it before we knew her!! so it isn't totally canon-compliant, but I think most of it still works with canon nonetheless. Mostly this was just really fun to write even though the topic was heavy and I also liked playing around with different POVs in it. I wrote it mid-season in a ravenous Jamie Tartt-induced haze after the Amsterdam episode emotionally wrecked me.

Still, Sometimes,: My latest! Ot3 established relationship, post s3 future fic! This was a behemoth to write and is kind of my manifesto on future royjamiekeeley and how I imagine them maneuvering through life's hurdles together, so I feel very passionate about it!! i also challenged myself by writing the whole thing from Keeley's POV because I find her the hardest to write of the 3 :)

Whatever Our Souls Are Made Of: This is a Stranger Things Jonathan/Nancy soulmates AU! Nobody seems to read fanfic for this pairing so it has like 2 views (/s) but I adore them and had so much fun writing this!! I pretty much never write the classic, trope-y fanfiction AUs, but the opportunity with their canonical matching scars was simply too good to pass up. It was a big challenge but a fun journey.

#I think my ted lasso fics are by and large my best works #but I have a jancy st series that’s still ongoing in the drafts that I’m sure I’ll come back to eventually #I am nothing if not queen of writing for pairings ten people care about #ironically Ted lasso is a much smaller fandom but rjk is probably the most popular pairing I’ve ever written for lol #stranger things fanfiction #ted lasso fanfiction #my writing #royjamiekeeley #jamie tartt #jancy #stranger things #ted lasso #fic recs #in this case self recs! #asks

[littlegodzilla]

So it's season 2 of twd, and reader and norman have picked out a house in Georgia and are moving in together.

(both now have 3 season contracts for twd) the audience really responded to both their characters. reader's character is like daryl: good at hunting and tracking. (maybe it's similar to the first movie they did together. the writers have the characters as best friends).

then norman's ex (please make it an imaginary person, not his actual ex helena) is cast in a recurring role. meant to be daryl's love interest.

MEANWHILE reader and norman find out that she is pregnant! they're both so happy. But what about the show?

The show will have to make reader's character pregnant, too. But is daryl the father? someone else? How does this affect their relationship on and offscreen?

(maybe his ex is killed off sooner than expected and daryl gets with reader's character? or shane is the father? or there is another actor (hot actor of your choice) who is cast on the show as reader's love interest?)

Okay, maybe that's a lot. We'll talk. I hope this all makes sense. <3

Hiii!!

As you wish, we have more about Norman and Plus Size! Reader! Thank you very much for the support and thanks @minervadashwood for your incredible ideas, I love them so much.

Okay, enjoy this new part you all!!

Hope you like!!

******************

My Big Girl.

Norman Reedus x Plus Size!Reader.

Part 3.

Requested by: @minervadashwood

Warnings: Little jealousy. fluff. smut (Norman is a horny boy, sorry.) Norman stills blonde.

Words: 3400

Taglist: @phoenixblack89 @browneyes528 @lilythemadqueen @darylsgarden @thefemininemystiquee @green-eyedladywrites @hail-yourselves @ruinedbythehobbit @xxtinasxxblog @ravenwings73 @spenciepoo338 @b-tchymoon @minervadashwood @darylssluttt @let-love-bleeds-red @ravendixon @livingdeadblondequeen

*****************

You open the front door, your heart pounding in your chest. A huge smile forms on your mouth as the inside welcomes you.

Welcomes you.

Norman wraps his arms around your body as he rests his chin on your shoulder. A smile forms on your mouth, reaching up to stroke his hair as he kisses your cheek.

You've finally bought a house in Georgia, nothing too over the top, something comfortable and cozy for the time you spend there filming the new season of TWD. Because yes, you're still on the show. Apparently people have been fascinated by Daryl and Merle's story, getting Norman to sign on for several more seasons. Your character is also being liked, from the first episode they changed some scenes and plots for the first as well as the second season. Apparently they wanted to make a love trio between Rick, Lori and Shane, but they saw the chemistry you and Norman had and decided that your character would be Shane's girlfriend. You didn't mind, you had a good relationship with John and he was fun to work with, Norman found it a little harder to be present in the scenes you shared. Especially if you had to kiss each other.

"Is that necessary?" He'd say, crossing his arms. "I mean, he's already touching her hand, there's no need to kiss." I growled protesting like a child.

"Save that jealousy for your scenes Norman, they'll do us good to make it more real." Scoffed Greg making you all laugh.

Of course things changed with the end of last season, once Shane was out of the game it left a lot of open doors to play with, both in the main plot and in the love theme between your character and Daryl. It wasn't a forced situation, after all, in the original comic Shane Walsh didn't live long either.

Norman's kisses down your neck bring you back to reality, you smile and purr, letting yourself do it. His hands tug at your shirt, hiding under it, squeezing your breasts and you hear him growl in your ear.

"God, they're even bigger than before..." He gasps pushing his hard crotch against your ass.

That's another piece of good news you've recently learned - you're going to be parents! You hadn't really planned it this way, you hadn't really talked about it seriously either, but it was clear to you that someday, if Norman was ready too, you'd like to have a child. Watching him interact with Chandler and Madison made your heart flutter. He was good and kind to them, joking around and helping them get their nerves out of the way in front of the cameras. You knew that being a real father would involve more than just games and jokes, but something told you Norman could surprise you so much more.

"I'm pregnant." You told him one day. When you weren't in Georgia, you had also bought an apartment in New York, near the China Town area. Norman was drinking a beer and got the bottle halfway to his mouth.

"What?" was the only thing he was able to say and it scared you.

"I-I'm pregnant..." You whispered with some fear, now unsure how he was going to react.

"A-and..." He stammered and walked towards you, taking the beer from your hand. "Y-you can't drink, i-it could be bad for our son and..." His voice trembled turning into little whispers.

Maybe it wasn't reaction you expected, at least at first, but as he was aware of the news, the bigger your smile became, as you saw his eyes begin to sparkle and even a smile formed on his mouth.

"Our son..."

"Yes..."

After that you needed to talk to the TWD production after all, it was going to be a long time filming, your belly was going to get bigger and bigger and even though you all end up losing some weight due to the intense temperatures when you were filming, everyone would notice some changes. But it didn't seem to be something they were worried about, they gave you congratulations and it was all in their hands.

"Norman... the door..." You gasp, closing your eyes.

"Right..." He grunts pushing it with his foot, slamming it shut with his heel. A chuckle escapes you and you turn to look at him.

"Our stuff is out..."

"Screw them, I'll get them in later." He assures you, kissing you intensely, making you laugh against his mouth.

He gropingly guides you to your room. He only pulls apart a little to remove your shirt and his eyes look at you with latent desire. You feel your cheeks light up a little, Norman has always been an easy man to read and you can perfectly see the love and lust that is shaking him at that very moment. His hands caress your shoulders slowly moving down to your belly, always round and soft, now it is more bulging and hard, Norman's hands touch it adoringly. You never thought you'd meet someone who loved something you didn't yet have with you so much. He kisses you again with intensity, his hands leave your belly to unclasp your bra, you sigh with relief, your whole body is changing and growing more than normal, wearing a bra is sometimes becoming a nightmare. A moan escapes your mouth as Norman catches one of your nipples in his mouth, licking and sucking, while with his other hand he massages your other tit, pinching your nipple between his fingers. All that attention gives you goose bumps and your panties keep getting soaked.

You push him gently to break the contact, look at each other and kiss him to start undressing him. Norman helps you with quick and somewhat clumsy movements, you kiss his mouth again, bite his chin and move down his neck as your fingers play with his chest hair. Norman bends his head sighing, his fingers caress the red marks on your skin, due to the bra, and kisses the strap line imprinted on your shoulder. He tenses slightly as you pull his pants to the floor and try to kneel in front of him.

"Wait, wait."

"What's wrong?" You look at him confused.

"M-maybe you shouldn't do that... I mean, maybe it's not the most comfortable position..."

"Norman...we both know we've been in 'more uncomfortable positions'" You start to say, watching him redden. "I'm pregnant, it doesn't invalidate, I think I can still suck you off..."

"Yes, but... God, why do you have such a dirty mouth?" he grunts with some desperation, his cock still pulsing inside his pants. "Come." He asks you, preventing you from kneeling on the floor.

He guides you to the bed, where he carefully sits you down and positions himself between your legs, his crotch still hidden by his briefs, in front of your eyes.

"See, this way you're comfortable and I don't feel guilty because I want you to suck me off." He says sincerely and a giggle escapes you at the sight of his red ears.

You settle on the edge of the mattress, kissing his abdomen, following the line of hair that traces your way from his belly button to his underwear. Norman sighs as he feels your lips on top of the fabric, moistening his length.

"Don't play with me, honey..." He warns you with a growl.

You smile and slowly pull down his briefs, his cock rises before you, you hold it rubbing it slowly without taking your eyes off him, before opening your mouth and licking his glans. Norman gasps as he feels you catch him fully in your mouth, you hollow your cheeks sucking harder as your head pumps at a slow pace.

"Oh fuck, I love your dirty mouth, baby." He bites the tip of his tongue, slowly moving his hips against you.

You hum against his length, the vibration of your voice runs all over his cock, seeping pleasure all the way down to his balls, Norman throws his head back letting himself be carried away by the pleasure.

Norman holds your hair and slowly pulls his cock out of your mouth, its tip brushing against your wet, reddening lips.

"So precious and perfect." He smiles and you let out a giggle.

He holds you down and lays you on the bed. He finishes undressing you to stand between your legs. You moan and arch as his fingers enter you, touching those perfect spots he always manages to find as his tongue and lips give due attention to your clit. Your eyes roll every time his fingers twist inside you and his tongue doesn't stop stinging your sensitive muscle.

"No-Norman!" you moan his name as you feel your orgasm jolt you rolling your eyes.

Norman doesn't pull away until your legs stop jerking, unconsciously locked against his head, though he doesn't mind, he loves feeling trapped between your thighs, tasting you, soaking in your scent. Slowly he sits up, licking his lips. He settles between your legs, his lips kiss your thighs, your bulging belly, he plays with your breasts until a new moan escapes your mouth, he keeps moving up and kisses you slowly, moving his hips, the tip of his cock rubbing against your folds. You wrap your legs around his waist, his belly pressing against yours and tensing over your body.

"Hey... "He stops again and you look at him worriedly. "D-do you think we should...?"

"What are you talking about?" Now you're even confused.

"It's just... What if I hit it?" he mumbles and you open your eyes wide. "What if I hit it unintentionally?"

You can't help it, a violent guffaw escapes your mouth, having to cover yourself with both hands. Norman looks uncomfortable, he sits back on his heels looking at you, frowning.

"Honey, this isn't the first time we've had sex, being pregnant."

"I know! But it was smaller, now it's bigger and maybe..."

"Norman, listen to me..." You ask him. You hold his shoulders making him lie on top of you again. "I love your cock, I really do, and yes it's bigger than average, but trust me, you're not going to hit the baby and cause a concussion." You are unable to say that without laughing. Norman fidgets nervously, still a little hesitant. "Besides, the doctor said sex was good for pregnancy." He looks at you cocking his head..

"When did he say that?"

"Honey, are you going to finish what you started or do I have to do it myself?" you sigh with some impatience. Out of the corner of your eye you see his cock straining against his stomach again.

"I love it when you take control..." He grunts and you take it as an invitation, you lean on his shoulders, but. "No." He stops you by holding your wrists, puts your arms above your head and clasps both your hands with one of his. A new cramp of pleasure runs through you. "Not this time, I have to get some of my pride back." He says, a chuckle escapes you that dies in your throat as he slowly enters you.

"Norman..." You gasp his name closing your eyes, biting your lip.

"Fuck, always so tight and wet for me." He snorts and thrusts harder staying wedged inside you.

A moan escapes from both of your mouths. His hand squeezes tighter on your wrists, you wrap your legs around his waist and he begins to move slowly, your hips accompanying him finding that rhythm that drives you both crazy.

The room immediately fills with moans and gasps, the heat of your bodies intoxicating the atmosphere, the increasingly intense pleasure swirling inside your bodies.

"My God Norman, it feels so good!" you cry out arching your back. He releases your wrists and holds your legs apart, spreading them a little wider, thrusting harder, faster, watching his cock lose itself inside you, again and again. "I'm... I'm going to..." You assure him and your hands cup your breasts, playing with your nipples.

"That's it, honey, play with you, let me see you play with your tits." He asks you in a husky voice.

"N-Norman!" you whimper in frustration because suddenly his thrusts are slower.

"What if I didn't let you cum?" He speaks viciously, never taking his eyes off you.

"I'll kill you." You assure him and he chuckles, pausing momentarily, pulling his cock out. "Norman, I swear to God..."

Your threat comes to nothing as he thrusts hard inside you again, your back arches, a guttural moan comes from you, your eyes roll as your orgasm hits you hard, Norman continues to fuck you, feeling your body shudder, your spasms clenching his cock getting himself to cum, he grunts and huffs through his teeth giving a few last thrusts before stopping completely. He lies carefully on top of you, hands bearing his full weight, his face resting in the hollow of your neck. Your arms go around his shoulders, stroking his hair, you hear him purr and smile.

***********

It's been a couple of weeks since you arrived in Georgia, now the whole cast is there, ready to shoot again. You show up on the set to see all your co-stars, Andy and Melissa are the first to come up to you and give you a hug.

"Congratulations" They say at the same time and you laugh.

"You couldn't hold back." You joke and Norman looks at you apologetically.

"You know I can't hide anything from them." He defends himself, but you shake your head, you know how much Andrew and Melissa mean to him, so you have nothing to say.

"Alright guys, I'm glad you're all okay and we have some surprises." Greg wiggles his eyebrows and everyone congratulates you as you break the news. "As you may have seen we've modified the script a bit to introduce pregnancy into the story, plus we have some new people with us that I'd like you to meet." He keeps talking and one by one he introduces the people who will be joining us this season.

Momentarily you notice Norman tense up next to you. Greg finally introduces a tall woman with beautiful hair and striking eyes, she smiles politely and a little self-consciously, but soon spots Norman and her smile grows wider. Clearly they've known each other before.

"Norman!" She greets him and walks toward him to hug him. Norman blocks, but responds to her gesture nervously.

"H-hello, Liz." He whispers pulling away from her.

You know how to read his body perfectly after so long together. You know he's tense, nervous, whoever this woman is, he wasn't expecting her there. Instinctively you take his hand, squeezing it to encourage him, Norman looks at you thanking you for your hand. He smiles and you notice him relax a little.

"How do you two know each other?" You want to know, he tenses his gesture, and shakes his head.

"It's... We were together a while ago..." He looks at you and you nod, there's nothing special about it, you never thought you'd be Norman's first girlfriend, it was stupid to think that. But there's clearly something else.

"And who are you?" Liz asks you and you open your mouth to answer.

"She's my wife." Norman grabs you around the waist and your heart races. "And we're having a baby."

"Ah... congratulations, I guess." She looks at you in surprise, walking away down the set, leaving you alone.

"I'm sorry..." Norman apologizes. "It was a complicated relationship..."

"It's okay, Norman, you don't have to apologize." You smile kissing him. "We've all had a past and you don't have to explain yourself to me..." .... N-nor lie..."

"Of course I want to tell you, and... Did you say lie? I didn't lie to you."

"To Liz... you said I'm your wife..."

"So what, you don't want to be?" He looks at you worriedly and you laugh with a shrug.

"Way to propose." You scoff and he reddens a little.

"I admit I had it planned differently..."

"You had it planned?"

"A little, maybe..." He rubs the back of his neck, nervous.

You laugh again and kiss him, wrapping your arms around his neck. The conversation ends there, none of you press the issue, you focus on the job now that you're all there. The producers tell you how the new season is going to work, your pregnancy is the little that remains as a memory of Shane, the odyssey of the whole group looking for where they can take shelter until they find the prison. Liz's new character.

"Will she be Daryl's girlfriend?" Doubtful questions.

From the last chapters of the first season there was a slight interest from the hunter for your character, nothing exaggerated, but that became more and more evident as Shane was losing his mind, but now it seemed that they wanted to nip that in the bud and involve a third person. It didn't make sense to you.

"Relax, I'm not going to steal him from you." Liz jokes even though her voice doesn't sound kind.

"Liz..."

"Actually she'll be attracted to our good-hearted redneck, we'll be counting on a confused Daryl which I'm sure Norman will play to perfection."

"Sure thing, boss." He nods, fiddling with his script in his hands.

"Unfortunately Liz's character, she won't last long with us..." He looks at the woman apologetically and she laughs.

"We all know how this show works, it's okay, it'll be fun."

"And we'll get back to our little moments between Daryl and our pregnant girl."

Everyone seems to be okay with this, you now understand the situation a little better, but for some reason you're still not comfortable with it. You know you can't get jealous, it's stupid, it's more than obvious that Norman isn't comfortable around Liz, but... she was his girlfriend once upon a time, maybe there's still something between them that maybe....

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" you jump in your own skin when you hear Liz next to you.

"R-right... Is something wrong?"

"I know why Norman chose you..." She starts to speak and you suddenly feel your defenses rise, ready for whatever she has to say. "You're good for him, just look at him. You can tell he cares about you."

You look over at Norman, he's standing back, talking to the rest of your cast mates, but he's got his eye on you, worried about what Liz are talking to you about. You smile.

"Norman has his good and bad things, but he's loyal and he's never going to do anything to really hurt you." You smile Liz giving you a gentle tap on the shoulder. "He's very lucky to have you."

"No...I'm lucky to have him...thank you Liz." You smile gratefully and the woman walks away.

*************

You enter home after a long and hard day at work, neither of you say anything, during the way, Norman has felt you very pensive and that worries him, he has seen Liz talking to you and he doesn't know what she has been able to tell you. Your relationship didn't end badly, but there were some strains that weren't properly ironed out, Norman knows you know he's no saint, but he also doesn't want your head filled with misconceptions and he can't explain himself.

"Are you okay?" he jumps into his skin when he hears you. Your hands caress your belly and you have a tired grimace on your face. You nod and shrug.

"Yeah, I think, I don't know... Are you okay?"

"Tired and surprised, trying to take it all in, I guess." You smile again.

"Hey, if Liz has told you anything that might have upset you..."

"No, she just... wanted to talk to me." You explain. "I think she was worried about you, I guess."

"Worried about me?" a snort escapes him and he walks over to you, wraps his arms around your waist and kisses you very slowly, enjoying you. "I've never been better, and it's because I have you..."

"Norman..." You feel your eyes fill with tears, pregnancy is making you more emotional than usual.

"I'm serious, I've been happy, of course, I have a good life, but..." He smiles and touches your cheeks with his thumbs. "When I think about my future, you are in all my ideas and plans... you and our baby." He assures you and his hands move down to your bulging belly.

"You in mine too..." You whisper trying to hold back tears.

"I love you." He assures you and you feel something cold slip on your finger, you look down discovering a beautiful ring with simple details, Norman shows you that he wears on his middle finger, the same model, bigger. "It's a promise, okay? When we finish this season, when we have our baby with us..."

"Yes, Norman... yes, I do." You smile and hug him, kissing him again.

You both melt in an intense embrace, a kiss that lengthens, soft, charged with all the emotions and feelings that invade you.

All the love you both feel.

**********

I hope you liked it!!

See you in the next stories!!

#my stuff #norman reedus #normanreedus #daryl dixon #ask me #smut #one shot #request #smut request #one shot requests #norman one shot #norman reedus request #norman reedus x reader #norman x reader #norman reedus x plus size reader #norman reedus smut #norman reedus fanfic