#because given the amount of shit he got he should be going through a (completely justified) fucking joker arc fr

[themoonking]

sorry not sorry but if you were ever a prequel hater i'm gatekeeping you from being a prequel lover now that it's popular to do so. you don't get to shit on the prequels for no reason only to turn around and be a prequel stannie (ESPECIALLY a hayden christensen stannie) now that kenobi is the hot new star wars thing. obikins don’t touch my post, i am also gatekeeping you <3

#the prequels had shitty dialogue? that's subjective but either way its the same exact quality of dialogue as the original trilogy #so if you constantly make fun of the pt for its dialogue you HAVE to constantly make fun of the ot for ITS dialogue #or else we both know that thats not the actual reason its just an excuse #the prequels had shitty cgi? they were all made in the late nineties/early aughts i wont say this this was the most cutting edge shit around #but it was pretty standard quality special effects for the time #you can't hate on a film because it's cgi aged poorly its unfair because this was quality shit at the time #the story was dumb? i have nothing to say to that because i can't help you if you don't have taste #ewan mcgregor was the only actor from the prequels that the 'fanbase' was even a little bit kind to #hayden christensen never got a moment's peace about his (fucking GOOD) performance and yet somehow despite that #maintains nothing but love for the films and excitement and joy at his return which makes absolutely no sense #because given the amount of shit he got he should be going through a (completely justified) fucking joker arc fr #natalie portman was treated horribly for daring to be a woman in a star wars film and then even more after the films were made #for daring to talk about star wars #despite the fact that she was In The Movies #like that one tumblr post where someone sends an ask about who does she think she is wearing a star wars shirt when she probably #hasnt seen the movies #(same ask might have also called her a bitch idk) #where the person who received the ask has to be like 'that's natalie portman and she was IN THE MOVIES' #jake lloyd's life was basically ruined and he was a fucking child when he was in the phantom menace (never forgiving y'all for that one) #and even alleged prequel lovers act like they needed to be 'fixed' like the way some 'pt lovers' talk about tcw and how it 'fixed' the pt #as if they arent just spouting the same shit that pt haters say fr #but that's a topic for another day another post i wont get into that now #i speak #star wars #kenobi #i've been a prequel stannie basically from birth i wont allow former pt haters to jump on the bandwagon #you know how people who hated the amazing spider man films started being andrew garfield stans after nwh came out? #and ppl who were constantly shitting on rpatz for the cardinal sin of playing batman before a TRAILER was even released #suddenly became stannies once the film was released and was best batman film ever made? #and how ppl who were stannies from the beginning were like 'absolutely fucking not'?

[zentraex]

Summary: You made a lot mistakes in your new job, but do you regret them? Nope, not a bit. But who can blame you for it? If you wouldn't have done them, you never would have met this pretty boy.

Remember: German Grammar is a lot different then English grammar. I apologize for any mistakes.

Pairing: Francis Mosses (doppelganger) x gn! Reader

(A/N): I usually write for mha, but this men dominates my fyp on TikTok and I can't stop grinning like an idiot about all this fanarts. My men is just too attractive for his own good. Nevertheless, Tumblr has too few fanfictions for him, so I had to do it myself. Still, I am not that proud about how it turned out. It certainly sounded better in my head, but I don't care. One shitty fanficion is better than none.

Art by @asteriscks on TikTok

This game is not mine, but Ignacio Alvarado. I also used phrases from the game.

Mistakes? Yes, but no regrets.

It's been a week since you started working for D.D.D as a doorman. 

You can remember your first day so well, it could have been yesterday. 

Well... probably because your life is constantly at stake. 

_

It started with a mistake that you ended up here. It was completely unexpected since you always made sure, that you sent your rent to the right account. 

Surely no one can blame you for a small typo, right?

Well, your landlord, who kept pounding on your door until you woke up, surely did.

"What?" you asked, annoyed, as you opened the door.

"When do you plan to finally pay your bill? The date has already been overdue for two weeks!" he complains. 

What?

"Sorry, but I've already transferred my money to you."

"Well, I didn't get anything. Do you still have the receipt for the transfer?"

"No..."

You already knew what that meant: double payment.

"Look, today, I'll transfer it to your account again, okay? If it doesn't work this time, it's not my fault."

You were about to close the door, but your landlord had other plans when he held the door open with his foot.

 "No no no. You will give me the money now. I don’t trust you. Why would you transfer it to me today, when it should have happened two weeks ago. You will give it to me now."

Your eyes widened. 

Now?

"But I don't have that much money in my hand? Who's got that?"

"Then I'll have to kick you out for now. But don't worry, no one is going to buy an apartment here anytime soon, so you can move right back in as soon as you give me the money."

Staring stunned at his smiling face you could have sworn you were about to hit him. 

"The keys?" 

With watery eyes, you grabbed your keys, placed them in his outstretched hand, and frowned.

What kind of person had such sharp fingernails as he does?  

You were sure that he could definitely have stabbed someone with them.

Thank God, I didn't hit him. 

"When do you plan to give me the money? I've heard that all banks closed today. Some kind of holiday among them, I've heard."

What!?

How were you going to get through the day today? You intentionally left everything in your apartment since you were so sure that you could have given the money to your landlord in a matter of minutes. 

"You’re telling me this now!?"

"If you had paid, you wouldn’t need to know." 

That filthy bastard.

No matter how angry you were at that moment, your panic was overweighting.  

What were you going to do now? 

Shit.

"Man, I really wouldn't want to be in your situation...", the landlord murmured.

Fuck the nails- This guy deserves a punch.

Just as you raised your fist, he speaks again.

"But maybe we can agree on something.

Then you stopped. 

"The D.D.D., which is responsible for the safety of all residents in this area, is looking for doormans. Ours has recently...quitted, which is why we are urgently looking for one. They pay three times the amount of your rent in a week. If you take the job, I can overlook your sloppiness this time."

Three times your rent? In a week? And for what? To sit there and check a few documents. You'd be crazy not to take the offer! 

"Okay. I'll do it. Where can I apply?"

"Don't worry, I'll sort it out for you. Tomorrow, you can start”

_

Looking back, it should have been clear to you that something was wrong. Starting with the sudden his sudden threat, the fingernails and this stupid story about the holiday of the banks. 

Maybe it was just because you were too panicked at that moment to think rationally.

But let’s be true here: when are you thinking rationally? If you did, you would certainly have quitted after your first day.

_

"Welcome and congratulations on your new job."

After watching the short video, a man in the yellow suit came to your window. You are so shocked that you can’t even answer.

I'm going to die today!

After all, you know it yourself: you're too gullible for the job. There's no chance you'll unmask a doppelganger who copies someone well.

“As you could see on the introductory film, your job is to verify the entry of the neighbors of your building. Each day there will be a list of individuals who will request entry to the building. It is possible that there are individuals who request entry and aren’t on the list. In which case you will mark on the checklist that they are not on the list and proceed to question the individual. Also, you must verify that the ID and the entry reqest are correct and have the respective D.D.D. logo. Don’t forget to also check the expiration on the IDs. Remember it’s Febuary 1955."

Your gaze wanders to the note that was stuck to the wall. 

Arnold Schmicht F02 – 01

Anastacha Mikaelys F02 – 04

Robertsky Peachman F01 – 02

Steven Rudboys F03 – 03 

Mia Stone F03 – 01

Rafttellyn Cappuccin F03 – 04

Admittedly, you don't know any of your neighbors, neither by character nor really by sight. You were never the type to care about your neighbors. 

"I wish you good luck."

C’mon Reader, be like Henry…

But better.

The first inhabitant was Mia Stone and you already started to sweat.

"Good evening."

Was she real? Was she a doppelganger? 

With shaky hands, you reached for her ID and entry pass, only to find that everything was fine. She was also on today's list and her appearance doesn't show any deviations either, right?

Just to be sure, you looked into the folder that described her appearance: 

Long hair

Small round nose

She has freckles

...

...

...

Freckles?

Your eyes wandered again to the woman in front of you, who was waiting patiently behind the window. 

You narrowed your eyes a little and leaned forward to get a better view of her.

No matter how long you stared at her, you didn't see them, her freckles. 

"You look different...", you murmur after a while.

"What's wrong with my appearance? I think everything is fine with my appearance."

Her photo on her ID and Entry Pass both have no freckles. 

Perhaps a mistake on the part of the D.D.D.? 

You're about to press the green button, but then you see her grinning slightly out of the corner of your eye. 

Shit. 

She almost had you. You're really not made for this job.

Your hand slammed hard against the red button, causing the siren to blare and the metal window to crash down. 

"3312," you murmur to yourself.

"You have contacted the D.D.D.. A group of agents has been sent to your building. Please wait for the cleaning protocol to run."

Cleaning protocol? 

What happens to those who were cleaned? They certainly won't be killed, will they? 

What if they will?

What if your judgment was wrong?

What if...

Your thoughts were interrupted as the siren fell silent and the metal window went up, only to reveal the yellow man.

"Cleaning protocol completed. You can continue your job."

It took a while until someone finally came again. 

This time, your heart was pounding faster. Significantly faster. And this time, you can't even say for sure that it's all out of fear. 

Milkman...

You definitely can't deny it: he's probably one of the most attractive men you've ever seen. 

You don't even have to look at today's checklist to tell he's not on it – a face like his would have caught your eye right away. 

"Francis Mosses, huh?" you murmured to yourself as you looked at his ID. "You're not on today's list."

"I’m not on today’s list because I had to leave due to an emergency."

Long nose

Thin chin

Tired eyes

Short hair

Wears a hat

It all fit. The only thing left now was a call. 

Just as you began to spin the wheel of the phone, he said, "You're new here, aren't you? I've never seen you here before."

"Yes, today is my first day."

"Must be hard, huh? I've heard that more and more doppelgangers are appearing and they are becoming more and more error-free. It would be a shame if such a pretty face as yours were to disappear forever."

Your cheeks turn red and suddenly you feel shyer than you actually are.

"B-But your job has to be hard as well. I didn't think that being a milkman would rob you so much sleep."

Francis smiles a little. So little that you almost didn't see it at all.

"It's not. I just stay up for a very long time. If you like, I can bring you some milk sometime. It's refreshing, calms the nerves."

You bite your lip slightly when you have to refrain from a question.

What milk do you mean exactly?

My God, why were you just such a sucker for handsome men?

"I'd be delighted, Francis."

You talked to him for a while and you quickly forgot that you were actually going to call someone. 

"I'd like to talk to you more, but I don't want to stop you from your work. I'll see you tomorrow, right, Reader?"

And you quickly forgot that you never told him your name. 

You pressed the green button.

_

"Shh," whispered the voice of Francis next to your ear. 

It was your third day, your third time to change shift.

Well, it usually would have been.

Your vision and mouth were blocked by the bloody hands of the doppelganger who claimed to be Francis.

He had killed the doorman, that should have taken over your shift.

You had to admit, that you were more than inconsiderate. After all, you didn't ask for his entry pass, nor the reason why he wasn't on today's list.  

"I'll let you go now, yeah? No wrong move, okay?"

He laughed softly as he released his hands from you and turned your chair, so you were facing him. 

"We don't want to hurt you, do we, Reader?"

The sentence shouldn't have given you hope, because after all, you were more than sure that you were going to die one way or another.

Maybe you should have shown a little resistance. For your honor, but....

Oh?

He is so close to you that you can practically feel his body heat. Or was it your own? Your face, despite your situation, was burning. 

Even though he said he was letting you go, his hands ran over your body and you couldn't deny that it did something to you. 

Were you so shameful?

"Actually, I wanted to wait, but I couldn't take it anymore.  I've been patient long enough, haven't I? It was so much work for me, to let you get this job."

You didn't know what to say. Honestly, you didn't know if you would even be able to answer him. 

His breath touched your throat as he spoke, "I think I deserve this, don't I? What do you say, Reader? Do I deserve my reward?”

If you were going to die anyway, why not enjoy the last few minutes?

Regardless of whether he was a doppelganger, he had lived up to his title as "Mlikman" that night.

_

"You killed the real Francis Mosses?" you asked the next day. 

Francis grins, almost so much so that his real form was threatening to show itself.

"Yes, of course. What would have happened if he had come before me? You would have sent the D.D.D. after me."

Well, he had a point, huh?

No matter how wrong it was, you were glad it didn't come to that. 

You didn't know the real Francis Mosses. That's probably why his death was so insignificant to you.

"Have you killed more people?"

"Just more doppelgangers you let through."

Your eyes widened. 

You were so sure you caught them all. The false success was the reason why you didn't quit…well, it was one of the reasons.

"How many have I let through?"

Francis just continues to wear his smirk as he gives you a kiss on the forehead.

"Don't rack your pretty head over it, okay?"

You just nod, smiling.

"Are you going to kill others...?

You don't know why you added your next question. Probably because you wanted to feel special. 

"Would you kill for me?"

"Hooooonn"

When you turn your gaze to his face, two white pupils stared at you and his grin is inhumanly wide and black. 

You don't know if it's joyful or sadistic, but it definitely made you feel special.

_

Looking back, you made more than a few mistakes. 

But honestly? 

You don't regret a single one of them. After all, all of them have led to an all-too-familiar knock on your window.

When you look up, he waves, the milkman. 

#francis mosses #francis mosses x reader #francis mosses x you #x reader #x gn reader #x you #x y/n #yandere #milkman #milkman x reader #that's not my neighbor x reader #yandere francis mosses #yandere milkman

[bad-and-drawn-that-way]

Another Vox enthusiasts I see? Well if I may...

Vox with a GN Hacker reader who was turned entirely digital after manifesting in hell. They don’t even have a physical form they’re completely stuck within Hell’s databases, their skills are obviously useful to him so he offers them a place on the team which they immediately accept on the condition that Vox makes them a vessel to inhabit because holy shit are they going stir crazy.

I’m not entirely sure how Vox’s abilities work but given he can at the very least project himself onto screens and the like I get the feeling that he’d plug himself into the system whenever they talk. Mostly because it keeps them grounded, they’re alot calmer when he’s actually next to them and not looking in through a screen.

I hope this didn’t get too wordy or long I just wanted to be thorough because I have massive brain rot for this techno mf-

Take your time with this request! Kisses darling <3

-📽

Dude, does anyone else remember having Shimeji's or that internet episode from Fairly Odd Parents? Cause that's what I'm about to write!

Digital Pet [Vox x Digital Reader]

When you first manifested in Hell, you were completely unaware that you had ended up in Hell itself. Because instead of manifesting in the overcrowded circle designated for sinners, you instead found yourself in a digital landscape. Countless screens surrounded you like a million portals. You could see the different shapes and sizes of the devices being used in hell and could even alter whether or not you saw what was being displayed on the screen or what the screen could see itself like a window to Hell.

At first, you had a massive meltdown. From what you could tell, you were the only one in this digital Hell custom-tailored to leave you isolated despite having access to every device in Hell. You wondered what you did to deserve the extra punishment layered on top of not being good enough for heaven, especially since you hadn't done anything particularly evil when you were alive.

You lost track of how much time passed. You entertained yourself by jumping from system to system. You'd watch shows that sinners binged, and you'd watch the city from large advertisement screens that overlooked the sinner's circle of Hell. Anything to stave off the loneliness.

One day, that all changed when you felt an electric buzz make the hairs on the back of your neck stand. You heard the voice of someone swearing and immediately pulled yourself away from the screen you had been sticking your nose into. When you turned, you saw another demon who was still sparking with some bright electric energy as he dusted himself off.

For a moment the two of you just stared at each other in shock. As far as you and Vox knew, you were the only ones who could access the digital realm of Hell's database. Vox is immediately wary, but you are thrilled as you approach him quickly.

"H-Hi, oh my god!" you breathe as you look him over. He didn't look new to Hell, but you had never seen anyone else in the same pocket of space as you before. "Did you just die? Have you seen anyone else? Did you just get here? It's been so long since I saw another person that wasn't on a screen!"

Vox blinked as you rapid-fired questions at him. He looked you over as you rambled something about the irony of his face being a screen when he finally shook his head and held up a hand to stop you.

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down," he started. "What are you talking about? How are you even here? No one else should be able to traverse through the database of Hell but me."

Vox's interest only grows as you explain your situation. "I see," he hummed as he looked you over with new intrigue. "I wonder if you have similar abilities to mine and just got caught in the in-between..."

It was easy enough for him to lure you into a deal. The sheer amount of panic you expressed when he pretended he was going to just leave you there was hilarious at the time. In exchange for you "surfing the web" for him, so to speak, he took you on as an apprentice of sorts. Vox trained your abilities and helped you hone your magic. While you had every hope of one day figuring out how to manifest in the physical realm the way he did, Vox cleverly avoided any pursuit of the possibility.

He liked having full power over you and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't starting to grow attached. While you hadn't learned anything about manifesting physically, you had learned how to appear on his screens. He'd never admit it to you out loud, but he found the tiny image of you running around on his devices and talking with him to be pretty damn adorable.

Despite his manipulation, the two of you actually slowly became friends. He found himself genuinely proud of you whenever you popped up to show him something new you had learned. There was a weird warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest when you would bounce with excitement at your new discoveries.

Sometimes you'd ask him to play a certain show or song for you. Even after you learned how to control inactive devices so you could look up anything you wanted, you still liked to ask him to play things for you just so you could watch them in his presence. You'd send memes to each other and Vox had to quickly excuse himself when you sent him a crudely drawn image of Alastor slipping on a banana peel while he was in the middle of giving a presentation at a meeting.

Vox was emotionally constipated, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell that the warm feeling in his chest was growing and he knew you were the source. He clutched his chest as he stepped into his lair and saw you sleeping on his desktop toolbar, waiting for him to come home after a long day at work. He had promised you that you'd watch the new episode of a show you'd been watching together, but his gameshow had run late.

He sits down with a sigh and traces over your sleeping form, feeling something twist inside of him as his claw only met with the cold, flat surface of a screen. He wondered what it would be like to hold you. To touch you. To have you in his arms while the two of you lay on the couch while you made him watch stupid shows instead of...

"Fuck," Vox whispered to himself as he pulled away from the innocent image of you. He clutched his face as he slumped forward in his chair. He had a decision to make.

And so do you, dear readers! I want to make a part two to this, the real question is:

#vox x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel vox

[usedtobecooler]

I have SO many virgin!eddie thots... but definitely face sitting, the reader riding him, sloppy bjs... the list goes on. I would love to see him get more confident and possibly lightly degrade the reader since she came from him calling her a slut? That fic was so important to me 🥹😭❤️ keep up the good work!

no because me too my brain is running at a million miles an hour with ideas!! though i think once eddie got more comfortable around our reader he'd really start being vocal... i feel like it would go a lil something like this.

warnings | sexual content (18+ minors dni), oral m receiving, dirty talking, degradation, dumbification, bimbofication, crying during sexual acts.

It's only the second time you've ever given Eddie a blowjob, the first time hardly long enough to actually count, considering the second you'd gotten your mouth around him and sucked properly he was cumming down your throat with an embarrassing yelp.

You had told him - in confidence, may you add, - a few days prior that you had enjoyed being degraded in the past. Eddie didn't flush as dark at your filthy words as he once did, but he did still gawp at you all wide eyed and mouth hung open.

You didn't expect him to actually take anything on board that you said, he still stuttered on his breath when you'd talk dirty to him with your cunt in his mouth or your hand squeezing his balls.

Yet here you were, shoved down in the tiny space between the dashboard of your car and the passenger seat on your lunch break, mouth sucking him down wet and hot, when all of the sudden his gravelly voice comes out of nowhere and shocks you.

"Yeah? You like having a mouthful of cock?" Eddie's rambling but his words lack a bit of heat due to the amount of moaning he's doing between talking, fingers harshly gripping and pulling the hair on the crown of your head, "You're such a slut for it, bet you do this for every guy who plays dumb for you."

You moan around Eddie's cock at his words and try to shake your head no, tears pricking at your eyes as your fingers slip deftly under your skirt, palming at your clothed cunt through your panties for some sort of relief. Your eyelids flutter, two fingers rubbing quick circles on your clit through the fabric, shoving forward a little to force more of Eddie's length down your throat, choking and gagging as you go.

"Fuck, you should feel how good it is having your throat close up around me," Eddie's sighing, a whimper escaping when you gag again, sucking him down hotly, "who's the desperate idiot now?"

You whine, slipping Eddie's cock from your mouth in favour of his balls instead, licking and sucking hotly at them whilst your free hand came to wrap around his shaft, tugging him quickly, "Me, I'm the desperate idiot," You admit, the words muffled around your mouthful.

"Putting that dirty mouth to use for me," Eddie coos, looking down at you with wet eyes full of admiration as you slap the head of his dick against your puffy, abused lips, mouthing hotly at it with a small smirk on your face, fingers still rubbing over your cunt fast, "Can't even wait for me to finish and touch you, you're that hot for it."

"M'just your desperate whore, all yours, handsome," You're shuddering against your own hand, licking fat stripes up his cock before sinking back down onto it, hand twisting around the length you can't fit down your throat and sucking and licking hotly to get Eddie to completion.

Eddie falters quickly with how fast you're going, words catching and dying in his throat before he can get them out, "Jesus Christ, fuck, shit," He's moaning loud, fucking his hips up into your mouth wildly and making you choke, "Fuck, make me cum you st-stupid slut,"

You look up, making eye contact and Eddie is a goner. The look of the mixture of tears, sweat and spit on your face has him whining and shoving his hips up harshly, cumming down your throat so hard you gag, struggling to swallow the mouthful he so lovingly gives you.

You continue licking at him slowly whilst his cock softens in your mouth, fingers still working on your cunt. He slips from your mouth eventually and you whine against his bare thigh, biting down and screaming when you eventually cum, legs shaking and eyes wet with tears.

You lie in between Eddie's spread legs for a moment before you eventually speak, "Don't get it twisted, pretty boy. You're still the bitch in this relationship."

#then once it was over he'd be stuttering and apologising profusely worried he'd upset you!!! #virgin!eddie #virgin!eddie munson #eddie munson #eddie munson fic #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x female!reader #stranger things #my fanfic #mine #smut #x reader #fem reader #stranger things imagine #joseph quinn fic #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn x you #joseph quinn smut

[naeldeus]

jjk 251

Megumi is a background character to his own tragedy

Chapter 251 dropped, and a certain character is not coming out unscathed. Our cast is trying to seperate Sukuna and Megumi, and after a few tries, Yuuji finally reaches Megumi. But Megumi denies Yuuji's help, having lost the will to live, allowing Sukuna to launch a counter-attack once more. For this, Megumi is called a bum and slandered all over the internet. Yuuji and Megumi's suffering is pitted against each other by the fandom. Part of it is memes, sure, but it's clearly more than that.

Realistically, Megumi and Yuuji are going through very similar events. Megumi lost his sister and teacher while under Sukuna's possession. Yuuji lost his friend, his mentor right in front of him in the span of minutes. Sukuna killed an untold amount of people in their bodies. Both went fetal after it happened. So why is the response so contrasting?

Yuuji's trauma in Shibuya is front, right, and center. His relationships were developed on-page, the reader is just as shocked by the loss of his loved ones, we're grieving right along with him.

Meanwhile, the events Megumi goes through aren't given the same care. Ever since he got fed the Finger Special, at no point does the narrative slow down so the reader can digest what's happening. Megumi's plot and struggles gets glossed over, skipped, or is a complete tonal disconnect to what's actually happening.

Tsumiki wakes up: the only on-page interaction is Megumi telling Tsumiki to go back to sleep, even though she woke up from a nearly two-year coma. She doesn't show up the entire Culling Games arc even though Megumi's participation was to save his sister

Tsumiki turns out to be an incarnated sorcerer: Megumi's reaction to his sister being dead and possessed is practically non-existent because Sukuna takes over Megumi right after

Tsumiki gets killed by Megumi's own technique: This is the worst one, imho. Yorozu is completely in control during this fight, we learn nothing about Tsumiki. There is almost no acknowledgment on how horrifying this situation really is. The narrative focuses more on Sukuna trying to kill Yorozu, creating this disconnect where Tsumiki is seemingly already dead but she has to die again for Megumi's angst. Does it really matter that Tsumiki's body needs to be killed by the 10 Shadows? Isn't the fact that Megumi will forever remember her dying by his own hand not enough? There is accidental pseudo-incest in this arc and it's completely unacknowledged. The tone is just all over the place.

Megumi takes the damage of 5 Domain Expansions: Is he brain dead? Was his soul damaged? Is he fine? What are birds? We just don't know

Gojo, Megumi's guardian, gets killed while possessed: Megumi and Gojo's relationship is a hotly debated topic amongst fans. Is Gojo Megumi's father figure? Are they even close? Did Gojo hold back from trying to kill Megumi or did he think Megumi was a lost cause? Is Megumi even aware of what's going on?

And the ultimate kicker to all of this: Megumi has shown up for a handful of panels for most of the events described. His story is absolutely horrifying and would cripple any man, but it's all off-screened or shrouded in vagueness.

But to large parts of the fandom none of that matters. If Megumi's friends put aside all their pain, why can't Megumi? Setting aside that Yuuji very definitely did not when it was him, I believe this is a direct consequence of the lack of character work. For months now, character after character dies, and no one reacts to it. Gojo, the biggest hope to most of the current cast, died and the story moves on to the next contender in the same chapter he kicks it. They all just jump into the fight like they're swapping party members in an RPG. It's no wonder Megumi gets disrespected for being the one guy who breaks down to the shit he goes through like a real human being. Why should the fandom care when the story itself does the same thing?

There's a lot of parellels Gege could have drawn between Yuuji and Megumi, and while that might still happen, the way Megumi has been treated as a plot device makes the entire experience incredibly unsatisfying.

#jjk #jjk spoilers #jjk 251 #i posted this on reddit but i also want it here cause this blog is a collection of my thoughts #though i haven't seen the megumi slander on tumblr as much #so it's not as applicable to this platform per se #t

[sensei-venus]

Random Thoughts/Headcanons on Hawk/Pregnant!Reader/Pregnant!Midwife!Moon

(Unedited) (Based around this Discussion) ( @gemini-sensei because we be vibing to this shit so much🥰😍)

I keep thinking about how as they both get bigger the more cuddly they get with each other.

Hawk is all for it during the first half of the pregnancy because he feel like it’s safer. He can’t be around them constantly because he still has to go to work. With Moon basically still having her own work schedule along with Reader, it’s best bet they stay together.

Most of the day they are completely hip to hip with each other. After a long time of thinking about it they believe it was honestly their best option that they got pregnant so close together. Yes multiple hormones and growth and so on. But they got to go though it together and they could lean on each other if the need to.

(Yes I made this part a little sad. Why because I can.)

During the first half of the pregnancy Reader starts to get dizzy more often then not. At first it’s completely harmless, Moon being a midwife says it’s completely normal to occasionally get a little dizzy. It’s just a normal symptom of pregnancy. But then one day when Reader is at work, she is in her own little office and she passes out in her chair. Luckily it’s only a minute or two that she’s out but she wakes up and freaks out. She calls a ambulance and goes straight to the hospital.

Moon and Hawk drop everything and rush to the hospital.

Moon is upset because she has no idea what is wrong, now she’s thinking about her own pregnancy and how she should have been there with Reader. Hawk is the same way, thinking he should have quite work for a while and went on leave to take care of both of his girls. But ultimately they don’t blame each other because they couldn’t have known any of this would’ve happened. When the doctor finally lets them back they find out that Reader developed a intolerance to something. It was most likely brought up and amplified because of the pregnancy. No one would have know until it actually happened and they could diagnose it. The doctor tells her that she doesn’t need bed rest but she needs to be relaxed and most importantly have someone with her if she can.

After they get home they have a long much needed conversation. Hawk and Moon don’t want to force Reader to do anything she doesn’t want to, but they make a good argument.

She needs to be in a relaxed and safe environment now.

Moon doesn’t want to bring it up but she does. She has more then enough money from her mom tucked away in a offshore bank account that she can use any time she wants. It will be replenished as well any time she calls her for more. If she was frank about it none of them needed to be working with the amount of money her mom has given to her. Reader understands this and after long though she agrees that she can’t go back to work. So she leaves her job and goes to work with Moon.

Moon’s job is pretty cushioning, she has a great work schedule for the most part and luckily enough she could take on as many clients as she wanted. She promised herself and her lovers that she would stop taking any more new clients the minute she found out she and Reader was pregnant. She only had three clients who where all in late stage pregnancy, when her and Reader where about four months in she was all done. Her clientele list was completely blank and she officially stopped working after that.

Moon makes it a big deal that she pulls out her midwife equipment every once and a while to use on the two of them. She has a portable heartbeat finder. Sometimes she pulls it out and she takes turns between using it on herself and Reader. They listen to each other’s babies heart beats. Moon always giggles when she does Reader’s because Reader always ends up laughing mid way through. The little heart beats always seem to lift their spirits when some days are worse then others. Hawk loves to listen to them as well when he is home with them.

Hawk loves taking them out to baby stores all the time when he’s off work. They like shopping on line for stuff but going in person is so much fun. He gets to spend the day with his baby mamas. Looking at all kinds of new stuff that they had no idea existed. Some times his head spins a little because when he sees something he likes he always had to double up on it. Reader and Moon are dead set on making sure to get doubles of everything and or matching things. Matching outfits are Moons favorite thing to pick out with the help of Hawk.

Hawk thinks it’s the cutest thing when they first start showing. The two women do everything together now that they are pregnant. At first Moon is the bigger one, naturally do to her being a few weeks ahead of Reader in pregnancy. Reader helps her do things like reaching down, reaching up so on. They tie each others shoes if they go out and can’t wear slip on shoes. They help put on each other’s underwear. It’s literally one of the cutest things he has ever scene.

But then Reader starts to catch up with her.

Both of them are big and can’t do much. They have to work together to do the most simple things. If they need something off the floor or drop something, one of them has to brace against something and help hold the other so they can reach down and get it. Cue days where they act like they are going to get up and do stuff when Hawk is leaving for work, only for them to get back into bed or lay on the couch together. Moon try’s her best to stay active but as time goes in she just can’t. Reader hates walking around at that point and just makes Moon stay with her all the time.

Hawk literally burst out laughing one time because he came home to them both laying opposite to each other on their bed. Reader was crying because she wanted something from the fridge. Moon was also crying but because her feet hurt and she just couldn’t bring herself to get up to go get it for the other women. Their just hormonal sobbing together until Hawk brings them what they where both craving from the kitchen.

Insert Hawk crying when Moon’s baby starts visibly moving around. Kicking, punching and moving around and in her big belly. Everyone is so excited to see the baby start to move around. Reader is in awe as she feel the baby move under her hand. She asks so many questions about what it feels like because a she has been able to feel is flutters so far. A few weeks later Reader’s baby starts moving to. Both women go crazy at this. Taking turns feeling each others baby’s kick.

Hawk takes multiple pictures of them with their bumps together.

All of them are in silent awe when the baby’s kick each other for the first time. They both decide to move around at the same time as the two women are touching belly’s.

Honestly I could go on and on with those three. But Moon/Reader are always so cute with each other pregnant.🥰 I love @gemini-sensei so much because she always makes me think about some of the most random cuteness things in my head.

#cobra kai #cobra kai blog #cobra kai ask blog #cobra kai headcanons #cobra kai imagine #cobra kai blurbs #cobra kai blurb #domestic blurb #poly hawk & moon #poly hawk and moon #hawk x reader x moon #cobra kai hawk #cobra kai hawk x reader #hawk headcanons #hawk moskowitz #hawk cobra kai #eli hawk moskowitz #eli moskowitz x chubby reader #hawk moskowitz x chubby reader #cobra kai x chubby reader #cobra kai moon #moon cobra kai headcanons #moon x reader #moon x chubby reader #pregnant!reader #pregnant reader #pregnant moon #pregnancy headcanon #midwife!moon

[an-architect-of-words]

Until Dawn fan theory (development theory about the gun-and-saw trap)

Ok…. Hear me out. I want to get my thoughts straight before I post something similar on Reddit.

I am wondering if Chris initially was not going to have the option to actually fire at Ashley. And I’m wondering if “do nothing” is meant to be the most “correct” decision.

A few months ago, I was trying to figure out why the fallout of the gun-and-saw trap scene was so weird. I started wondering if Chris had ever actually shot the gun. It actually makes no sense that he did. I looked at these things:

There’s no animation for him actually doing it. The gun gets aimed then the screen goes red with the gun shot effect.

No matter what, Mike and Sam can hear Chris telling Ashley he’s still deciding when they break into the room.

Chris is always surprised that the gun has blanks when he tries to shoot the Psycho. If he’s already tried to kill himself or Ash, he shouldn’t be surprised.

Chris’s choice is NEVER brought up by anyone even once. Nothing in the actual dialogue refers to him shooting Ash OR himself. (Josh mocks Chris for attempting to shoot Ashley in the face, but that dialogue is actually NOT tied to Chris making the choice to kill her. It’s tied to him aiming at her first. If Chris aims at himself but then shoots Ashley, this dialogue doesn’t happen which is actually so weird. Of course, Ashley’s behavior changes if he did. There’s no kiss, and she locks him out. But let’s note one thing: Ashley’s flashback when she kills Chris also doesn’t show him shooting. It shows her reaction to him aiming at her, even if that didn’t happen).

There’s also the fact that blanks will still kill you at close range, but it’s also possible we’re just supposed to accept that blanks are harmless in this world.

Now, after taking time to think and read more— I get that he is meant to have fired even if it makes no sense. The trophy says he did and so did the devs in their Halloween stream.

But I’m not done thinking about this.

My next thought was that the scene acts as though “do nothing” is the “canon” choice here. The story proceeding from this scene just behaves as if he did nothing, even if he fired already. I’ve seen people point out holes in this scene that I’ve already addressed above. BUT these largely check out if the player did nothing. Chris’s “I can’t decide” dialogue then makes sense. Him shooting at the Psycho makes sense. Nobody giving him shit for shooting Ashley or praising him for shooting himself makes sense.

To further this thought— the totem attached to this scene ALSO indicates the player should do nothing. We get a guidance totem of Chris putting the gun on the table.

So that’s where I am with this. The whole scene behaves:

like aiming at Ashley was really bad. It’s given an odd amount of narrative attention— in comparison with Chris ACTUALLY having shot her. Again, of course, him actually doing so triggers the death scene. But it was always funky to me that we have Josh’s dialogue and Ashley’s flashback only referring to the aim.

like Chris never shot. There’s no indication he did after you make the choice. So many things proceed like he did nothing. The totem tells you to do nothing even though Chris shooting himself also saves him.

So we come to my main point. I had a theory that, originally, Chris could only aim at Ashley but not shoot her after, and that, for some reason, the story was meant to lean into “do nothing.”

I stopped thinking about this theory for a while until I was just browsing through more PS3 footage, as one does. And saw this:

Here, Chris picks up the gun and there’s no initial aim option. Ashley just gives the “it should be me” dialogue. Then we have the following options: AIM AT ASHLEY or SHOOT.

Oh my gosh guys. I’m just— THIS COMPLETELY SUPPORTS MY THEORY FROM MONTHS AGO which I deleted off of Reddit because I got self conscious about it being wrong. I mean, I still don’t think this proves anything. Of course, I can’t know for sure because I can’t find a build where Chris does aim— but it looks like there was only a choice to aim at Ashley or fire at Chris. In any case, Ashley’s “it should be me” dialogue does not seem determinate. She just says it whereas that’s attached to a choice in the final game. Here, it looks like there is just one choice and it’s this.

Final thoughts:

I’m actually not sure how there initially being no option to actually shoot Ashley fits with all this emphasis that Chris should do nothing. I think there are still dev conversations that happened that I don’t know about, obviously.

I was thinking about when and why this was changed. The easiest answer is that… it’s way lame for Ashley to kill Chris over him just aiming at her. If he actually fired, her not opening the door is less petty (though…. Ugh I hate that scene either way).

Another thing to point out is that, in a Halloween stream, a dev mentioned that the gun trap was VERY hard to get right and took a lot of their energy. It seems as though they tried lots of directions with it and filmed different things.

If you have any other helpful info on this, tell me!! I’d like to post this on my theory account on Reddit but I’d love to talk it out with people more.

#until dawn #until dawn fan theory #Chris Hartley #ashley brown

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

Ficlet about a little bit of nothing, corrie guard Blaze and Vorn having a lighthearted conversation during patrol, and oh, there is unhealthy amount of mention of piss.

Wordcount around 700.

Gems of the Republic

(The Clone Wars)

“Hey, LT! CHECK THIS OUT!!!”

Blaze’s overenthusiastic voice screeched through the inner channel of the radio which made Vorn sneer from annoyance. Staying on guard while on patrol duty as your brother relieved himself in a semi-public place was not something he enjoyed nor approved. But here they were. Gems of the Republic. Using Coruscant’s alleyways as their personal fresher. Something to boast about to the starboys.

“I’m not interested seeing your dick, Di’kut!” Answered Lieutenant in the comm. “And don’t shout.”

Blaze ran back from the alleyway, with one hand still readjusting his codpiece, and fingers entwined over some object in the other.

“Sorry, LT, got excited.”

“What? From peeing?”

“Wha- no, ew, no??? Look!” Blaze excitedly held out his hand, a credit chip shined on the top of his palm. “Ten creds!”

The helmet may hid their faces but Vorn knew that his kih’vod grinned like an idiot. He carefully looked around then he reached out and folded Blaze’s fingers over the credit chip to hide it from prying eyes.

“Put away. We shouldn’t have money on us anyway.”

“I will see the civvie who will call me out for owning money found by trash bin.”

Blaze stashed the chip in one of his pockets then proceeded to close the gap between him and Vorn who was already on their established route. Lazy day on Triple Z, they call it. Sometimes the very presence of the Guard was enough to make citizens think twice before acting out.

Vorn spoke in their inner channel.

“You really should check yourself out with Headshot.”

“Why?”

“Peeing during duty? Unacceptable.”

“Are you just shaming me for having bodily needs?”asked Blaze with mild discomfort by the fact that he has to do with anything with the medbay, but also because Vorn was chewing on his skin again.

“I’m shaming you,” said Vorn with such pompous manner he could pass as a senator “because you are supposed to hold it till the shift’s end. Or at least reaching the guard post and not urinating in the middle of the city. When we were deployed to Geonosis, we had to hold back for at least 30 hours, no pee-breaks.”

The anecdote of Vorn made Blaze’s eye roll and blink so hard, the motion activated his helmet screen and his schedule shifted from the right corner before his eyes. He dismissed it with a quick blink as well.

“You are just shitting me” he scoffed.

“Nu draar!”

Old troopers and their mando’a. But Blaze started to get a hang of it now for a while. “Nah, you totally shitting me. How come your balls didn't explode from all that piss?”

“My balls.”

“Duuuh?”

“Fucking hell.”

“Nah, I don’t buy it” declared Blaze and quickly lost interest in Vorn’s warstories, given that Vorn always had something to make it a lesson for a completely unrelated issue. He was pretty sure, half of them aren’t even true. He wanted to ask about it but Vorn was quicker.

“Speaking of buying, what are you going to do with the creds?”

“Hmmm,” Blaze pondered a bit “I always wanted to try that cafshop near the Market. You know, where they sign your name on the cups.”

“That’s nice.” nodded Vorn.

“Yeah! I could buy you one too!”

“Don’t waste your money on me” Vorn scoffed by the idea, but gentle warmness swirled around his whole upperbody, and he was glad the helmet hid his reddened face. Being taken care of is not something he expected but very much welcomed, though his mouth told otherwise. “It’s yours after all.”

“Alright, then I ask Lily” shrugged Blaze, but his voice was full of tease.

“What-! You little shit, that’s how you treat your Ori’vod!”

“SELF-PROCLAIMED Ori’vod! I just let you tag along with me because no one can stand you and your warstories. Speaking of which… I should ask Fox if he ever peed in the sands of Geonosis.”

“Okay I thought we had been over the piss-topic” Vorn sighed. “How about you just don’t.”

“Too late I already asked him.”

“Me’ven?!” gasped Vorn in disbelief.

“CorrieNet. I asked him.”

The hidden application of the CorrieNet appeared as Vorn brought it before his eyes with the very recent post by Blaze, 24 seconds ago.

@Pyromantic - Blaze CT-9133 14:32

[@CommanderCaf, sir, have you ever peed in the sands of Geonosis?]

Yet again, gems of the Republic.

Mando'a Di’kut - Idiot kih’vod - Little brother/sister Nu draar! - No way/absolutely not/not in the world! Ori’vod - Big brother/sister Me’ven?! - What?! (expression of disbelief)

You can read about more about the CorrieNet here, the CG-exclusive social media platform, but because this is a shared concept between me and @ithillia in our stories and RPs, please don't use it under this name. Please reblog, if you enjoyed it, my corrie blorbos will be over and back!!! And I planned to do a little continuation for it with them actually go to that cafshop, if you are interested, throw me a comment so I can tag you when it's finished! :)

#original clone character: blaze #original clone character: vorn #coruscant guard #clones #my ocs #clone ocs #the clone wars #star wars #mamuzzy writes stuff

[boliv-jenta]

Nico x f!reader x OMC

Part of the Kitten Series.

WC:3.6k

Warnings: Smut. Angst. Idiots.

Ready?

Summary: Things with you and Nico get even more complicated now you're under the same roof.

Straight into smut so...

The high quality sheets of Nico's guest bed, your temporary bed, help to hide your bitten off moans. While your orgasm stuttered and struggled to gain ground, you cursed yourself. Putting a temporary hold on having sex with Nico had seemed like the smart thing to do.

Moving in with him changed the dynamics of your relationship. Visits with Nico were usually all about having fun. A diversion from real life. A time to allow you to be free. When you brought your real life with you, things got complicated.

Angelo's absence was more frequent, the three of you were on good terms. When he did come around, well, that all still worked out just fine. Now that he'd move in with Owen he just wanted to be home more. Which you and Nico understood completely. He also wanted you to spend time with Owen, again, you and Nico completely understood. It was just you'd both rather stick hot pins under your fingernails. Owen was lovely and seeing him love Angelo so fully was truly beautiful. The problem you both had was his job. The man spends his time unpicking people's behaviours and mental health. How hard would it be for him to see all the things you and Nico were trying to hide? No, best to stay clear of him.

Angelo had been around the day you moved it with Nico. Most of your things were taken to a storage facility by the movers. The few boxes and couple of suitcases you had kept with you should have taken the three of you one trip. It should have only taken a few minutes once the movers left at 10am. The three of you eventually made it across the street at 2pm. Nico and Angelo carried the heavier stuff while you wheeled your suitcase. It wasn't a particularly heavy suitcase and the sturdy four wheeled design made it easy to pull. Unfortunately, your legs were like jelly from the amount of times they'd made your toes curl. Nico had insisted that you do 'god knows what with the two gays' in every room. His own little screw you to your ex-husband. When your body had given out, Nico took even more pleasure than usual in bending Angelo over the very expensive carved oak dining table that your husband insisted was his, despite you buying it. The legs took some punishment as Angelo urged Nico to go faster and harder. It must have moved a good foot from its original position by the time they both came. Nico first since he'd just fucked you to the point of oversensitivity, then Angelo with the help of Nico's fist. His cum painting the dark wood below him. You hoped your ex-husband enjoyed his dining table as much as you did. The weekend was easy and comfortable. Then came the reality.

Nico worked from home. Most of his work he conducted in the morning after he worked out. Nico went for a jog every morning. A fact that you weren't aware of because of your own workout habits. They happened to cross when Nico came running through the back yard as you finished your laps in the pool. The sight of the water dripping down your body glistening in the low morning sun and the sweat making his t-shirt stick to him in a way that highlighted every muscle proved too much as the two of you tumbled on to one of the loungers in a tangle of slick limbs. That had led to neither of you doing any work that day.

The next day you both made it through the morning. A few more pages were added to your latest assignment. Since Nico's office was a small converted pool house with its own bathroom, you didn't see him all morning. Lunch passed without incident too. You were making a sandwich when he came in. You offered to make him one. You ate at the breakfast bar in silence. Simple. It was nice, just two people having lunch. No tension. No looking at any bigger implications.

After lunch a knock came at the door. "Shit. Is that the time?" Nico wiped off his mouth and hands before going to answer the door.

As he did, a woman walked in with no hesitation, she didn't even wait for a greeting nevermind an invitation. "Buenas tardes, Nico. ¿Listo para ir?" Her voice was warm as she leaned into Nico for a hug. Only as she did so did she see you. "Oh, I didn't realise you had company."

"Mi querida tía. This is…." Nico began only to be cut off by a wave of her hand.

"I know who she is. That husband of yours…." She huffed and muttered something under her breath in Spanish"...he was no good. You are better off without him. You are much better off with my Nico."

Her sentence hung in the air, thankfully, not for too long as she spoke again. "Do you have any plans this afternoon, mija?"

"Not really. I was going to…." You began.

"Well, that's settled. You can come with us. Vamos, Nico." There was no room for argument. You doubted anyone had ever won an argument with the woman in her life.

"Er…I have to get my things together." Nico grabbed his phone from the counter and began to look for his keys.

"I will wait by the car. Don't take too long." With that she left as swiftly as she entered.

As soon as she left he turned to you."Sorry about her. You don't have to come." He found his keys and looked for his sunglasses, not letting his eyes drift to you.

"I feel like it would be easier if I did. Tia? Is she your aunt?"

Nico let out a soft breath. Part of him was hoping you'd come. Maybe you could get a glimpse of a different side of him.

"No, Mrs Ramirez lives one block over. We met at the park. I take her with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"What do you guys do at the park?"

"We play chess."

The afternoon at the park was delightful. Mrs Ramirez had welcomed you in the fold. The fold mainly consisting of retirees.

"So how long have you known Nico?" You asked her as you sat on a bench in the shade of one of the large Valley Oak trees.

"About a year. He was jogging past my house when he caught one of my neighbours letting her dog do its business on my lawn. It'd been going on a while, she didn't like a Mexican bringing down the house prices. I asked her to stop but I thought if I was too loud about it she would make it seem like I was causing problems." Your hand found her as she spoke, a gesture she mirrored.

"He got her to stop." she chuckled.

You could easily imagine him getting the woman to pack it in. The bedroom wasn't the only place Nico was dominant in.

"He didn't think I knew, but I saw. The next day I caught him and thanked him with some freshly baked orejas. He has such a beautiful smile." A smile of her own bloomed at the memory. "When he returned my tupperware, he saw that I was playing chess by myself. He started to come by for a game. After that he started bringing me here. He's a good boy." A different story than what he told.

"He is." You smiled watching him finish up a game with an older man. His smile was broad as he shook the man's hand. He said something you didn't catch and the man let out a belly laugh.

"So do you like Nico or the pretty one with the curls...um...Angelo! Which one do you like better?"

All you could do was stare at her with you mouth gaping.

"I was born in the morning but not this morning. I know what goes on at those parties. I see you with the two of them. The way you all look at each other." Her hand still rested on yours. There was no judgement in her tones. "I don't mean to pry but I hope it's Nico. He's happier with you around. He talks about his wife less. I feel like he's healing."

Her words swelled in your heart.

Nico caught you gazing at him and held it for a moment, a warm smile on his face. The way you looked at him, there was pride in your eyes, he could have looked at you all day. He'd missed that look from a woman he cared about. It made him feel as if he were worthy of it.

With the warmth of the afternoon settled on your skin and in your heart, the mood back at home was light. The two of you cooked dinner and danced around the kitchen to music you could only catch the odd lyric from. The dancing brought you closer until you grinded against him as he nipped at your neck. The thin material of your dress ranches as he dragged his hands over your curves. Pulling your ass against him before moving on to your chest. His hands engulfed your breast, squeezing them through the confines of your bra. He didn't bother reaching inside or removing any other clothing apart from your panties. He wanted to keep this energy going. It was light and carefree. It was safe. The weight of any decisions made about your relationship, far from his mind.

Sweeping you up he set you on the counter. Entering you before leaning back a little.

"Watch." His hand came to your neck to tilt it down gently.

He wanted you to watch him inside you. To see where he was joining you. Where you were becoming one.

Nico had stamina, but it wasn't just a physical thing. Years of avoiding his own thoughts made it easy for him to compartmentalise in the moment. All the other little things that get him closer, he can tune out. The way you look, the way you smell. The way you sound. All he thinks about is touch. Specifically whatever is around his cock or in his ass. Then he concentrates on delaying that pleasure.

Right now, all that was going out of the window. He wants everything from you. The sighs and moans from your lips. The tension in your fingers as you grip his arm and shoulder. The way your teeth are troubling your lip. The way your brow is slightly furrowed as you watch him disappear inside of you. He slows everything right down. He begins to withdraw completely before pushing the bulbous tip back in, making you feel the stretch each time. He doesn't care that his mask might be slipping. He's fucked you a million times, this is different. This isn't about getting off, this is about claiming you. He saw the way the others looked at you at the park. They were just as enchanted by you as he is. He became jealous of them getting your time. He wanted all of your attention on him. As you trembled on his cock, it definitely was now. He could feel that you were close. You both watched as he filled you completely. Angling his hips up to reach that spot your body slid forward. You were face to face when you both came simultaneously, moaning against each other's lips. The air became thick as if a heavy cloud of gas had descended. With one spark being the only thing needed to start a fire that would burn your walls down. In his post orgams clarity, Nico was ready. He wants to close the distance to capture your lips in a soft kiss, to pour everything he had into it. He was ready to be vulnerable. His therapist had agreed as much at his last session. It was all there, on the tip of his tongue as it darted across his lips.

I want you. All of you. Be mine.

With all the bravery he could find, he began to close the gap, only to be stopped by your forehead against his and your hands at his chest. "That was…wow. I better get cleaned up."

"Yeah, sure. I better get dinner started." He gave you space to jump down off of the counter as he turned away.

The warm water of the washed away your tears. This was too hard. How had it all become so messed up? At first you hadn't entertained your feelings for Nico. You were swinging, not starting a new relationship. Then Nico put ideas in your head, about your own worth and what you deserved. For a brief moment you thought about being with him. Until he'd told you that wouldn't happen. Which you believed, until the hotel. That felt like the start of something. Maybe it was. Then Angelo left and the divorce. Now, it's there, in his face, in his touch. He's ready. Ready for something more. Something you wanted. So why the hell are you so scared?

It was a stupid nightmare, of all things, that broke the proverbial. It wasn't the first time you'd had a vivid nightmare. Dreams of past regrets or losses would often take over at night. Usually waking you with a sense of sorrow. This one had the added extra of a horror movie twist to scare the life out of you. It woke you shaking, your heart was beating in your ears, your stomach twisted in knots. Once you were awake and out of the dream you began to calm. Head still heavy with sleep you tried to let it claim you again. Then your bladder decided it would like to be emptied.

The guest room faced the bathroom. It was a short dart across the hall. Peering out you saw that Nico's door, to the right at the end of the hall, was tightly shut. Treading lightly you snuck across the hall. Shutting the door behind you and opting for the natural moonlight to aid you, you used the bathroom as quietly as one could. Again you peered at Nico's door. Still closed tightly.

"Jesus!" The sight of Nico appearing from the moon lit living room scared the hell out of you.

At first he laughed until he turned on a nearby lamp and saw how utterly terrified you looked. The phrase dear in headlights came to mind with you standing there doe eyed looking at him. Lower lip trembling while you wrapped your arms around your body in an attempt to comfort yourself. At four in the morning it was easier for him to show his true intentions, hoping the blanket of the night would cover for him.

"Hey, you're okay. I didn't mean to scare you. Come here." His touches were softer than you usually received as he pulled you to his chest.

"It wasn't you. I was already freaked out…" the thought of him thinking you foolish stopped you there. The amber glow of his eyes in the lamplight, highlighting his sincerity, made you continue. "...I had a nightmare."

Without a word he led you back to bed. He left you for a moment to straighten your bed, he fixed the sheets you had twisted in your sleep. He flipped your pillow to the cool side before slipping in and motioning for you to join him.

"You're safe. Whatever your nightmare was, it's done." He tugged your back into his chest, making you the little spoon to his warm, soft big spoon.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Feeling a little self conscious, your mouth ran away with itself. "The first part. It was about my mom. I have those often. The second part though, frickin' vampires!"

"Oh, yeah?" A hint of a smile brushed your bare shoulder.

"I was in this hospital-like room. Ready to sleep. Someone told me to block out all the light so they could come in if I needed them. I remember thinking 'but then the bad vampires could get in.' Then I thought 'No, they need an invitation.' Then some metal wire art came off of the wall and was twisting and twirling in my face while a voice in my head kept screaming 'Let me in, invite me in!' That's when I woke up."

"Well, luckily for you, bad vampires can't enter here."

"Really?" You rolled your eyes debating whether to send him back to his room for making fun of you or to ride it out to enjoy the comfort of his arms.

"Really. They can't enter the lair of another vampire."

A smile spread across your lips as you realised he was playing, not mocking.

"Oh, really. Is this how you choose to tell me you're a vampire?"

"It's pretty obvious. How do you think I keep my youthful looks?"

"But I've seen you out in the day. You have a reflection. I've never seen you drink blood."

"Sunscreen. Very high factor. Modern mirrors use aluminium not silver. It's only silver we have a problem with and I feed off sex. I still like to bite and suck though."

God, this was stupid. Two grown adults having a conversation about vampires. You loved every minute. It was rare to see Nico's goofy side.

"Wouldn't that make you an incubus?"

"No, I just saw their schtick and thought it looked more fun."

That was it for you, laughter consumed you until you yawned, sleep tugging at you once again.

"I'll keep you safe. Go to sleep." It might have stemmed from a joke but his words were sincere.

Nico was thankful when you pulled away from him a little to settle down to sleep. That way you couldn't feel his heartbeat. It was thumping in his chest at the feeling of protecting you in his arms. The way you had calmed and instantly melted into his embrace. You trusted him. You trusted him to protect you. He'd had that before and he had failed. He'd failed her. How long would it be before he failed you? There might not have been vampires in the house but other demons sank their claws into him. Ones that he thought had left him. Maybe they had just been obscured by the glare of the light that shone out of you. A beacon beckoning him to a brighter future. They dragged him from the bed once you were fast asleep. Throwing on some clothes and sneakers he decided to try and outrun them.

In the cold light of day it was easier to see what you needed to do. If you weren't ready for a relationship with Nico you had to put a pause on everything. Usually Angelo was there to break the tension if those moments arose. To prune the bud before it blooms. He hadn't been there and it bloomed inside your chest, opening so fully that it felt like it was pressing against your heart. It ached with temptation. To let the love in it grow.

Nico was a good man. Nothing like your husband, who had hidden how little he cared under a veneer that kept you fooled. Mainly because you didn't want to look close enough. Poor Nico had been scrutinised from the moment you felt an attraction to him. He constantly paid for the shortcomings of the other men in your life. No matter how safe he made you feel, you couldn't let yourself go completely. Living here, going through all the little pieces that make a relationship. Working, living, loving together. It was getting much too tempting to let go and fall completely.

Sitting in the yard the glare from the sun was a welcome alternative to the thoughts hurting your brain. This was getting too complicated. As if on cue, Nico came into the yard.

"No swim this morning?" He panted while checking his stats on his watch.

"No. I'm a little tired after last night. Can we talk?" You shifted to give him room to sit opposite him.

'Can we talk' your gut twisted as soon as the words left your mouth. It was never a good phrase. Were you being too dramatic? Everything that was lurking beneath the surface between you two, you'd grown used to it. It was like living on a fault line. You knew the danger was there. That you could be completely consumed at any moment but it was worth it. It was worth it to feel at home.

"Is everything alright?" He eyed you as he sat.

"Yeah. I was just thinking while I'm living here. It might be a good idea to not sleep together. It just feels a little too close to a relationship." It feels like we're in the relationship that I want to have with you.

"Yeah, that makes sense." There was no emotion in his tone. He answered as if you just told him turning down his thermostat could save him money.

The lack of reaction on his part gnawed at you. "I mean we could still have our nights with Angelo."

"Of course. He wouldn't let us out of that." He offered you a smile. "I'm gonna get a shower."

So that was it. The smart and fair decision. It felt stupid and unfair as you tried to remember his touch to gain the relief your body needed. As you thought about his face. His eyes that perpetually sparkled with mischief. How soft his lips looked when they curved into a smile. How soft he looked when that smile was for you. Your feet were at his door before you even thought about it. You'd heard him come back earlier while you were showering, the door was closed so he must be in there. A deep breath filled your lungs in an attempt to calm you. A breath you then held to listen better. Nico let out a moan. It was deep and satisfied. It shot to your core. Then you heard a woman giggle.

Tags @kirsteng42 @prolix-yuy @thegreenkid2 @hquinzelle @fangirl-316 @gracie7209 @jedifarmerr @doommommy @scorpio-marionette @sturkillerbase @harriedandharassed @aynsleywalker @mswarriorbabe80 @quica-quica-quica @rise-my-angel @adancedivasmom @graciexmarvel @kinda-nobody @movievillainess721 @munsonownsmyass @mandoloriancookie

#pedro pascal character fanfiction #nico x f!reader x male oc #nico house comes with a bird

[lycanbucky]

yeah dude the way caesar reacted to your ask seemed excessively defensive. i think that on some level there should be an expectation/responsibility for compassion when we are posting about violence like animal cruelty online (even as a meme), at least on blogs where it is not something you would reasonably expect to see. and i guess it is his choice not to, but it is definitely not ridiculous of you to ask. he said its your job to create your own experience, but if everybody randomly posted animal violence and then got angry would somebody asked for it to be tagged, then that would be impossible. his own logic relies on the (correct) premise that other people are less of an asshole than him.

Exactly! I absolutely agree that we need to create an online environment that’s safe for ourselves and our personal needs, and to expect some amount of deviation outside of our comfort zone.

But using tags is rendered completely useless if even one person refuses to use those tags, especially for commonly upsetting or triggering content. And like you said, in cases where it’s not something we’re expecting to see. So if I’m the one responsible for curating my online experience, but I’m not being given the context to do so, somehow I’m the one at fault for asking for the proper filters. Ok. 😂 I understand that we have no way of predicting what will upset those around us, but a certain amount of empathy and understanding is needed if we’re going to get anywhere in life. It costs nothing to be kind, and to instead react with purposeful and inflammatory misinterpretations (to the point of negatively impacting their own well-being, it looks like), says a lot more about them than it does about me. Plus, they literally told me to block them, since they would be refusing to use tags. So I did. And apparently that was an issue, too, lol.

It’s just wild to see how far they’re going to misinterpret what I wrote, and to project their clearly significant issues onto my words. I made a request, and was denied, so I followed their suggestion and blocked them while acknowledging that I wouldn’t be getting that kindness from them. And somehow that translates to (and I quote, because I just checked and they’re STILL going on about this, lmao), “framing them as a huge piece of shit,” “lashing out,” and “harassing them to all hell.”

Like, my post is right there. All I said was, “I clearly won’t get any compassion here, so I’m peacing out, and I hope nobody treats you in this way when you’re upset and need kindness.” And they’re making post after post about it, talking about how I’m accusing them of being a horrible person, how I’m in an echo chamber of entitlement, etc.

I don’t know who they are or what they’re going through, but they’re clearly in a rough place if they feel the need to latch on this strongly to a simple request and unfollow. They made the choice not to use the tag, so I acknowledged that and blocked them, yet they’re the one creating a whole ruckus about it. They didn’t have to post it publicly, but I guess they needed the validation. Who knows.

Thank you for your support in this, though! It’s been a while since I’ve been caught up in any internet drama, so I guess it means I’m managing to surround myself with kind-hearted people outside of this. 😊

[aprillikesthings]

okay one more tonight

Which according to netflix is s3 ep1 but ehhhhh it's really a continuation of s2 imho

The Price of Power

(ominous)

I told myself I'd make this post shorter than the last few and I'm 99% I completely failed lol but this one had a LOT of lore and shit

AAAUGH

Angella's protectiveness is usually annoying but tbh I would feel the same way here in her situation, anyway Glimmer got it from somewhere lol

low blow, Shadow Weaver

I couldn't figure out why she woke up gasping so hard even though I just watched the last episode like three hours ago lol (Hordak had cut off her air until she passed out, and this is where she woke up, poor thing)

Catra: "It doesn't matter what I do. I don't get to win." :( but also "winning" should not be the objective of your life and you will spend the next season and a half being forced to learn that

Once again Scorpia's obvious one-sided love is painful to watch.

I hate that she's not entirely wrong!!! Like given her life up to this point of course she'd come to this conclusion. D:

Glimmer: The Horde is evil, and EVIL PEOPLE DON'T CHANGE Adora: I'm standing right here. Like you're literally talking to me.

(Okay but it's often true in the case of abusers, especially in romantic relationships. If you haven't read "Why Does He Do That" you should. Majority of abusers don't change for long--he talks about the circumstances under which they do, but repeatedly notes that it's very very rare and that a lot of them are good at faking improvement just for the amount of time it takes to get you under their control again. In any case that's why if people believe your partner is abusing you, the universal advice is "you need to leave.")

uggggh and the worst part is, she's actually right about a number of people in the Horde! I always knew it was a matter of time before Scorpia left the Horde, for instance.

But Shadow Weaver? Adora wants to believe this because Shadow Weaver was her mom, basically.

that's not how it works!!!

NOT REALLY.

I know I'm going to end up referencing this post again later, but it's worth a read:

"You think Shadow Weaver should have had a redemption arc? From her perspective, she DID." It also compares her arc to Catra's.

(spoilers for the rest of the show obv)

Anyway Bow and Glimmer offer to go with her, which is a good thing to do if you're ever going to try to talk things out with your abuser, because 1. they behave better in front of witnesses, generally speaking 2. other people are more likely to spot manipulative bullshit

yeeeurgh the way she says it is so icky

seriously she lays it on thick "oh I've missed you my child" eat dirt. Even after Adora's like "lol nice try" she's still like "oooh, so clever, I always knew you were smarter than everyone else" like you're still doing it.

"I was special only as long as I obeyed you" damn right

Compassionate to a fault as always, but also, I know there's still that bit of hope in there, the same one Catra had, of making her happy and finally getting loved. Adora has a huge advantage Catra didn't, though; which is that she has a great deal of love in her life from other sources. :(

Hordak: I am Evil and Scary!!! And I want Catra GONE. Entrapta: Yeah, okay. So anyway like I was saying, Catra's improved everything, but also, we need her to get us this thing!!! Hordak: No. Go away. Entrapta: :( k but I'll leave the info here for you to read on your own

The sad thing is, Shadow Weaver can be a good teacher.

ngl that's cool

also ugh. Shadow Weaver is in fact honest here: she's got nowhere to go, she wants revenge, helping Adora's the best way to do that.

plotty stuff I want to remember later: Hordak's goal is opening a portal into space to get Horde's armies through and defeat Etheria forever--and this is the first time a bunch of characters find out the Horde is bigger than one army on Etheria, and the reason he's close to getting that portal now is that Entrapta is helping him, and that once upon a time Hordak did succeed in opening a portal for a moment, and Adora was the result--she wasn't born on Etheria.

Glimmer: you're a fuckin' liar Shadow Weaver: I mean usually yeah lol. But like, why would I bother this time, what would I get out of it?

has anyone written an essay/post/paper about Adora as a bit of a Jesus figure

(I mean a LOT of people treat She-Ra like she's a messiah equivalent? But uhhhh that's also just how The Chosen One trope tends to go. Plus Jesus didn't resurrect himself so he could kiss a girl--though he did choose to show himself post-resurrection to Mary Magdalene first, so interpret that as you will.)

Anyway Adora kinda flips out at this information (she knows in her bones that Shadow Weaver is telling the truth) and bolts from the room

airbrush THAT on the side of a van lol

The way she screams "answer me!" at Light Hope is so good

Adora: babies don't remember shit????? Light Hope: oh.

There's a "vaginas are portals to another dimension bc childbirth" joke in there somewhere.

plot plot the First Ones came from beyond the stars, the sword is made to only respond to "one of their own kind," congrats Adora you're literally a different kind of person than every other person on Etheria.

(the timelines on this are confusing to me, I can't remember if Mara taking Etheria into another dimension also fucked with time passing, OH HEY I FOUND A FAN-MADE TIMELINE no idea how accurate it is tho especially considering the number of typos/misspellings, also elsewhere someone said each season of the show is apparently meant to be a whole YEAR?? I was thinking a few months at most??? I need to find if that's Word of God anywhere)

Theoretically yes but Netflix doesn't have the rights to any of the He-Man stuff, sorry

When Mara cut Etheria off from the rest of the universe she destroyed the portal capabilities. If you open a portal now bad shit will go down

(uh oh)

Adora: omg Mara's from the same place as me???

LIAR

Light Hope: being She-Ra is an honor!

Oh look it's one of the major themes of the show! Being The Chosen One sucks, actually!!

GEE, REALLY??? you think maybe people like getting to fuckin' cHOOSE

Adora: man I am tired of people not telling me shit!! Fuck this I'm gonna see what I can actually figure out on my own

She wants to know why Mara stranded Etheria. Remember that constellation being over part of the Crimson Waste that was in the whole "Mara portal Serenia" message bullshit? That's where she's going

Glimmer and Bow: road trip! road trip!

i'd be pissing myself in fear ngl

Hordak: this bitch is a failure!!! Catra: no u

everyone's reaction to that is priceless omg

LOL SHE'S RIGHT THO does Hordak want to spend his day looking at files listing how many bits of armor they need

I was gonna make an Entrapta joke but the next line is "and that's why you can't defeat a group of teenagers" and damn she's got a POINT

BAAAHAHAHAH

"My girlfriend doesn't want to do stacks of paperwork and shit either, it turns out; anyway you're going to get us some old spare parts First Ones' tech from the Pick-n-Pull Crimson Waste"

(I just realized people might not know what a Pick-n-Pull is--it's like a junkyard of cars where you can go and just take parts off of things for cheap. You have to find and take the parts off yourself.)

Catra: dude nothing lives in the Crimson Waste??? Hordak: heh heh I know :)

AAAND END OF EPISODE

Sadly I have the energy for another one but my headphones are killing me and I can't do it in the bedroom without headphones because Daci is trying to sleep. Which is a shame because the next episode is Huntara!!

ALSO y'know that timeline I linked way earlier in the post? parts of it are kinda iffy but I'm lol'ing because good lord as bananas as the lore can sometimes be, I'm still thinking that one for Steven Universe would be even wilder (and we know Rebecca Sugar actually had one, written out on paper, with a ton of color-coding). But also this summary of Adora's first convo with Light Hope is WILD because IT'S NOT WRONG (hardcore spoilers ahoy? but also if that's an issue you shouldn't be reading these posts lol):

Adora encounters Light Hope and is given the quest to "balance the planet". Light Hope attempts to isolate Adora from her friends my saying that balancing the planet requires her to let go of her attachments to her friends. This bears remarkable similarity to cult-psychology isolation tactics. It is especially worrying once you know that Light Hope is a Paperclip Maximizer and "Balance the Planet" is a euphemism for "rebuild and rearm the Weapon of Universal Genocide".

And if you've never heard of "paperclip maximizers" the wikipedia page about them is awesome but also I once wrote a post about the gems from Steven Universe also being paperclip maximizers. Here's a quote from the wikipedia page:

Suppose we have an AI whose only goal is to make as many paper clips as possible. The AI will realize quickly that it would be much better if there were no humans because humans might decide to switch it off. Because if humans do so, there would be fewer paper clips. Also, human bodies contain a lot of atoms that could be made into paper clips. The future that the AI would be trying to gear towards would be one in which there were a lot of paper clips but no humans. (Nick Bostrom, “Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence”, 2003)

#april rewatches spop #the price of power

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

since youre still accepting then 8,9,10 (and maybe 11,12 if you want to) for vash ,wolfwood and millie ,meryl please ! either as ships or individual standalones!!

alright, under the cut for length (+manga spoilers!) i didn't do every single one of these, but i did several!

vash the stampede + 8. a post-canon headcanon

going to cheat a little and combine this with 10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

as i alluded to here i think the ending of the manga is Completely Fucking Bonkers and i refuse to consider it canon. what actually happened... well, i wrote 25k about it so i don't Need to elaborate, but tl;dr vash and LR settle down in a little house and live peacefully and quietly as they slowly start to recover from the horrendous amount of shit they've collectively been through. vash sleeps a lot.

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

vash and wolfwood slept together after wolfwood got vash off the ark, right before wolfwood left for the orphanage, and wolfwood vanished out of vash's bed without saying goodbye. if circumstances hadn't been. what they were. vash would've given him an absolute earful about it.

11. something [other character] believes about them that isn't true

in the aforementioned post-canon au, razlo spends a lot of time thinking that vash blames him for wolfwood's death. he doesn't. he did, but he knows now that it was wolfwood's own fault.

12. something they believe about [other character] that isn't true

vash thinks knives must hate him. he's wrong (though given the way knives treats him, it's an understandable conclusion to jump to) and also projecting.

nicholas d. wolfwood + 8. a post-canon headcanon

:')

in aus where he survives, he eventually works up the guts to go back to the orphanage, and still can't quite believe he's going to be welcomed with open arms until he's already been tackled into the sand by a dozen children. (he tries very hard not to cry and Does Not Succeed)

9. a missing scene that definitely happened

[i trip over my feet and 67985749 unwritten fics about vash and wolfwood and the various intense intimacies of staying in hotel rooms together falls out.]

10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

i find it bewildering that wolfwood didn't know razlo existed given that he was with LR at assassin boarding school for several years. it's much more interesting to me if they did know each other, especially if they met several times, but razlo never introduced himself and wolfwood never saw him in action. he just knew that occasionally livio wasn't livio.

11. something [other character] believes about them that isn't true

vash never believed wolfwood meant him any harm. that was true eventually, but not always.

12. something they believe about [other character] that isn't true

here!

meryl stryfe + 8. a post-canon headcanon + 9. a missing scene that definitely happened + 10. I recognize canon has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it (+ what should have happened)

cheating again, because my brain is starting to turn into soup. i promise i have more milly and meryl thoughts, they're just behind a paywall (a decent night's sleep) right now.

meryl (and millie), rather than chasing vash down with a camera, help him get away quietly from the people after him, and spend the next several months deliberately leading the various people hunting vash away from him, so he has some time to visit his friends and get some much-needed rest.

millie thompson + 8. a post-canon headcanon + 9. a missing scene that definitely happened

about ten months into working as reporters, meryl loses her voice for about a week, so she takes over the cameras, and millie does the talking.

she's really, exquisitely good at it. she's funny, very straightforward, and has the kind of insights that just don't occur to most people. she and meryl take turns after that, and it takes some of the stress off of both of them.

#trigun #character ask meme #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #meryl stryfe #milly thompson

[josjournal]

A Part of the Family

Written for @wordplayfics

Theme: Scramble

Zayn groaned when he heard his phone ping multiple times in a row. Rolling over, he slapped his hand on the nightstand until he made contact and dragged it closer, dropping it on the mattress twice in the process and having to start the entire slapping thing all over again. When he managed to pull it close enough to read, he turned it on and realised he still hadn’t opened his eyes. 

With great effort, he managed to slit them open enough to wince against the sunlight shining through the curtains. It never failed that he always managed to leave them open on the nights when he got the least amount of sleep. His phone pinged again, drawing his attention from the window.

A string of text messages from his boyfriend filled the screen. Three more appeared before Zayn could unlock his phone. The last text was simply, “ZAYN!!!!” He panicked when the phone started ringing, Liam’s face filling the screen. Liam never called. Something must have happened.

“Who died?” Zayn asked when he answered. 

“What? Someone died?” Liam asked. “Who? What happened?”

“Liam, you’re texting and calling me like a madman, so if someone died, doesn’t that, like, mean you would know who it was?” Zayn asked, amazed he’d managed to string so many words together in a somewhat comprehendible sentence. When the only response was silence, Zayn continued. “Why are you calling?”

“Brunch,” he said.

Zayn froze while sitting up and immediately started scrambling off the bed. He’d completely forgotten in his rush to finish the midterm art project that he was supposed to be having Liam and his parents over for a ‘meet the parents' brunch. He pulled his phone away to look at the time and started moving faster. They were due to arrive in less than an hour.

“We can just do it another time,” Liam said when Zayn hadn’t said anything. The hurt in his voice was enough to get Zayn to move even faster, and he managed to get his feet caught in the duvet and fell to the floor. 

“No. No!” Zayn said. He already had the food in the fridge. He just had to figure out what to turn it into to impress Liam’s parents, hopefully. “It’ll be fine. I’m just going to jump into the shower. See you when you get here.”

“Are you sure?” Liam asked. “If you’d rather not do this, I understand.”

Zayn swallowed past the lump in his throat. Liam’s last relationship had ended because his girlfriend refused to meet his parents, so he knew how vital this brunch was to Liam. He wasn’t going to lose him over his own forgetfulness.

“I’m sure. I love you. See you soon.”

“Okay,” Liam responded, sounding only moderately happier. “I love you, too.”

Zayn threw his phone onto the bed after Liam hung up. “Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered. Looking around his room, he decided to keep the door closed while his guests were there. He did not have time to clean up the disaster left over from the work he’d done the night before. 

Hurrying into the kitchen, he pulled open the fridge and grabbed two packages of cinnamon rolls. They could cook while he showered, and then once he was done with that, he could start cutting up the fruit and figuring out what he wanted to do with the eggs and veggies he’d bought.

Forty minutes later, Zayn stood at the hob. He’d pulled his damp hair into a top knot. He wore a grey tee shirt underneath a grey and white flannel. He’d put on his one part of jeans without holes in the knees. On his feet were the fuzzy socks that Liam had given him for Christmas. 

He stared into the pan as the butter melted. He’d been thinking about making omelettes but wasn’t sure if he should wait for everyone to get there so he could customise or just make a bunch ahead of time and hope there would be something for everyone.

A knock at the door distracted him from the pan in front of him. He knew Liam had a key, but he figured he didn’t want his family knowing that, so he turned off the flame beneath it. “Coming!” he called out as he made his way to the door.

“Waiting!” Liam called back, followed by a giggle. 

He heard a woman hiss, “Don’t be rude.”

Zayn pulled the door to find Liam looking properly chastised with people Zayn recognised from the multiple photos Liam had shown Zayn. “Welcome, Mr and Mrs Payne,” he said, stepping back to let them pass.

“Geoff,” Liam’s dad insisted as Karen stepped up and pulled Zayn into a hug.

“Oh, Liam, he’s so pretty,” Karen said. “His photos don’t do him justice.”

“Mooooom,” Liam whined.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Zayn said, returning the hug.     

“Call me Karen,” she said, pulling back and holding Zayn’s face between her hands for a moment before patting his cheeks and moving further into the flat.

“Sorry,” Liam said, pressing a kiss to Zayn’s cheek. 

“They seem lovely,” Zayn said, still feeling nervous, but Karen’s aura put him at ease. “Now, help me finish cooking.”

When Zayn and Liam got to the kitchen area, Karen stood over the pan, watching a mix of eggs and ingredients. “Mom,” Liam said.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just wanted to help.” She turned to Zayn, eyes wide.

“I appreciate the help, Karen,” Zayn said. “Now tell me how I can help you.”

It took about fifteen minutes for the egg scramble Karen had started to cook. Geoff and Liam set the small table in the corner of Zayn’s living room. Once they settled around the table, the ease of conversation surprised Zayn. He’d been so nervous about meeting Liam’s parents, and after oversleeping, he’d been sure everything would be an absolute disaster. Instead, when the plates were empty, Zayn felt like a part of the family.

Cross-posted to AO3

#ziam #jos boys #ziam fic #my writing #wordplayfics #wordplayfics 2022 #a part of the family

[txemrn]

Would you elaborate on why you think Ethan and OH MC should not be together? Is it because of the age difference and different levels of maturity? Career? Personality/temperament differences? I'm really curious. I think that throwing the canon away required a certain amount of courage :) And I also want to say that I appreciate your Tatuum creation and how she suites Ethan. (1/2)

Hey, Anon!

Thank you so, so much for your Ask and your comments! I appreciate your curiosity! 💜

I want to preface my answer with this: this is my opinion and how I view these characters. I am more of a realist, and a lot of my views are based off of the question, "Now, would that really happen?" Some people in the fandom take Ethan x MC very seriously, and I respect that. I am not here to argue, nor are my intentions to insult others because of their passion for these beloved characters.

So, why shouldn't these two be together? You are actually hitting the nail on the head with your questions! They have some major differences that I believe in reality would cost them a healthy, long-lasting relationship.

The first thing I want to point out is this: if a man wants to be with you, he's going to be with you. If he's making excuses or keeping you hidden or is being wishy-washy*, a re-evaluation needs to happen. He either doesn't want to be with you like that, or he's not ready for a relationship and YOU need to back away.

Now, I can already hear someone saying, "But she was his subordinate, and they weren't allowed to fraternize!" And my response is this: a man at his caliber that has worked his ass off to get where he's at would go through the appropriate channels to be with you... if he wants to be with you.

*Some call it a "slow burn" and think it's romantic; I call it being "hot and cold" ... (and yes, I still chose him lol)

Let's talk about age, maturity and career. There is a fairly large time gap between Ethan and MC. It's not about age as a number; they are both in 2 completely different stages of their lives. Here's Ethan, this established, well-respected, world-renown, published physician. He has been through some life experiences as well as career experiences that you can't teach. He's tough, comes across as an asshole because he has learned the cost of being a physician; he understands the gravity of having patient's lives in his hands. And let's not forget his childhood and abandonment issues, not to mention something has happened in his life where he's been conditioned with a desire to prove people wrong (I actually HC him starting out as a poor student because of this; telling an advisor he wants to be a doctor and being laughed at because he didn't have the grades).

MC is a fetus MD. She literally just got out of school a couple of months ago. She has been in school for the past 6 years, not experiencing the real world--only doctor world. She's a novice, VERY inexperienced, literally a rookie. Interns are given shit for being newbies even though they are very, very smart... but they are still learning how to apply theory to practice, and truthfully, they don't become proficient until spending several years with patients and caring for them.

Quite frankly, I don't know one attending that would be like, "sure, I'll hang out with the interns"--and those are the nice ones. I would cringe and be embarrassed for this poor pixel when MC would bring him around her resident friends.

But... I think the thing that bothers me the most is the fact that I felt like Ethan, this established nearly 40-year-old man, has to change who he is in order to make it work with this young baby doctor MC. Is it possible they just weren't meant to be? I'll be honest: I don't understand his attraction to MC in the first place based on what he seems to value.

Some people call it "growth", and sure, maybe he has as a person. We're never done growing, and even relationships change us and grow us. But watching this hard-ass, God-complex asshole that is married to his job suddenly go soft, sharing his feelings and becoming touchy-feely with MC was bizarre to me (MC became his therapist).

Side note: do you remember when everyone was getting pissed off because Ethan wouldn't say "I love you" ... my eye still twitches to this. lol

Now, I understand this: Open Heart is a game. People play it almost like it's a fairy tale. The idea of having a secret love affair with your boss, and his hot and a doctor and smart... *swoon* I get it. It is hot (and when he says that big words, come to mama! lol)!

The same thing goes for writing fanfiction. I think people enjoy the fantasy of Ethan Ramsey; the idea that they can save a man from himself and change him and making outwardly more loving and gushing and openly sexual and romantic...

And you know? How dare I poo-poo on someone's fun, you know? Coming on here and daydreaming about Ethan (or any of the LI; Liam or Sam or Adrian, etc) serves as some readers/writers escape from reality. But... I think it's important that we have a healthy recognition of reality and why certain things actually wouldn't work.

Anyway, thank you so much for the thoughtful question! I hope this makes sense and serves to clarify my realistic views on Ethan x MC and why I personally just don't buy it.

*hugs*

(Part 2 to come lol)

#you asked #i tried lol #open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x f!mc

[incarnateirony]

Guys.

Guys, please.

The WBD merger, and the cancellations happening of any preferred product or whatever, is many things. It's upsetting, it's confusing, it's infuriating. But I can tell you right now, these decisions are not being made to just. Fuck POC or LGBTQ content.

Lots of shit is dying or getting kicked around and reshaped right now.

Yes, Batgirl got cancelled. Yes, Zaslav implied he didn't have faith in it. But that also came attached to it being incomplete, which is true. Because it was complete *for HBO Max Direct Release* which is a different caliber of graphics, marketing and all else than cinema releases.

And amid the many details in the cancellation, Zaslav stated that direct to streaming movies will no longer happen and are neither profitable or sustainable, which is why all products matching that description are dropping dead, or going through a stage to TRY to convert it to cinematic.

Batgirl was given this phase. However, Batgirl's original SVOD release budget was 70K, then increased almost 30% to 90K, already.

With WBD 43 BILLION dollars in debt, and their entire procedure being around cutting costs, can anyone tell me where they see the argument to double it over for extended scenes, bringing back actors and sets and equipment, completely retooling their special effects and paying out global cinematic marketing?

We can argue, like, we should have faith in a black latina actress!!! But that's not it either. At the end of the day, cinematic releases even still see pretty slim margins after everyone's gotten their cut. I mean like. Even super ultra blockbuster types might make, weeeeeeee... 100M profit on a 400M budget. So what do you propose we ramp Batgirl to? from 70 to 90 to? 150? 250? and most of all, if this was conceived before WBD's current 10 year new DC plan was created, is it even going to lead anywhere for their future franchises? How much do they have to change THERE? How much will THAT cost? And if not, how much extra are we investing into a reboot we're just going to reboot again a year later?

When you sit there and look at it, you realize, it's not that she's black. It's that she was in the wrong stage of development at the wrong time with the wrong funding source and the wrong targeted release type. That's it. It's business. Sometimes business falls apart. If they write off the project without completing it they can get a substantial amount of that money back, rather than spending MORE to squeak out a profit that's... less than getting that money back.

A huge, HUGE amount of the time, LGBTQ or POC people ARE unfairly targeted by the system. But right now, that's not the targeting metric. Anyone that fits certain profiles like that budget, release type, etc, is getting knocked off. Black, white, gay, straight, DC, cartoon, whatever. It's dead, Jim. And it's all because of the bottom dollar. the whole system's getting hit by a ripple, nobody said Fuck Batgirl In Particular

Let it be said, this isn't an argument for the ethicality of being this uncaring about your customers. On a business decision, it's safe. WBD owns so much we can't get away from them if we try and they could cancel 20 batmovies and we'd still mostly turn up starved for the one we finally get. He fucking knows that. So we can yell into the internet all day but these changes aren't being reversed.

The malice is money and greed oriented, touched with a bit of reasonably excusable business choices as best anything in capitalism can be excused. Not race, gender, or sexual orientation oriented. I promise. Please don't dilute actual protests to things anchored IN these issues by muddying it up by things that anyone who understands this is just going to dust off, because it fucks up being listened to when we really are being actively targeted on the premise of who we are.

#wbd #warner brothers #discovery #hbo max #batgirl

[lettersfromleslie]

TOUR FADES / FINGER DAYS / & THE TWISTY PATH UNSCROLLIN AHEAD

Welly well, much has happened since I last wrote ya, as ever. The new album, "Halfway Home" went live on August 5th. There was a slammed release show at the Sultan Room. Vinyl records, CDs, and cassettes started tip-toeing their way out into the world. A hectic and sweaty phase of nightly park busking. And then off on my first tour since 2014, an 11-date meander around Central Europe.

What a lot of ground to cover! Especially looking back at it from the start of this next phase of lassitude and healing. I reckon I'll just not cover most of it, for now. It's out of sight, out of mind. I'm back in my place in Brooklyn, with a garbled head and a bandaged finger, all of it behind me, and little idea of what comes next. I always knew the old lost feeling of having-put-something-out would find me once I got home, but it's been stepped up some because of my damn finger.

The finger phase, that's how I'll remember this time. Here's what happened: Two thirds of the way through the tour, in Slovakia, on my way from Bratislava to a concert Nitra, I caught my left index finger in an especially slicey metal door. One minute I was whistling away, thinking bout my set, looking forward to diving into some Raymond Chandler on the train ride over, and the next I'm looking in complete disbelief at my finger, half the damn tip hanging off and the blood starting to flow. A lot of paper towels, a panicked ride to the hospital, a very sheepish phone call with my Slovakian booking agent from the E.R. waiting room, asking her to cancel the night's performance. And then a big, serene Slovakian surgeon preparing the needle and thread. "Do you think you could give this finger a bit of extra love?" I mumble, lying down on the operating table, hot on top of everything else because I'm still wearing my coat (too much blood and paper towels to take off). "I mean, not doubting you, but I really need that finger to be okay. I'm a guitar player. I'm here on tour." "You play the guitar? For work?" "Yeah." "You should take better care of your hands, then!" "Well, yeah." "How long before you go home?" "About two weeks." He looks at me laconically. "I think you will not be playing guitar in two weeks." My finger was anasthetized, disinfected, stitched up, bandaged. I was worried about the bill because I have no health insurance. As it turned out, the out-of-pocket cost of stitching up a finger in Slovakia comes to $37.10. So that was something.

Depressing conversations followed, of course. Everyone around me took it as a given that the remaining four dates would be cancelled. I refused to consider it... I figured that as much as I love noodling around on the guitar, I'm a yodeler first. Shit, even if the crowd showed up and I was just standing there in a hospital gown with me finger in the air, mumbling apocalyptic verses, that sounded like less of a bummer than if I cancelled. Besides, I had other acts to consider - the lovely Andrea Bucko, a local celeb in Bratislava, was opening the following night, and after that two shows with my old friend Karl who would open with his act Interbellum. Even if I bombed I wanted to give them a chance to play. So, what can you play without a left index finger? Started looking around for autoharps. I found out that Bratislava is not a great place to search for autoharps. I started looking around for keyboards. As luck would have it one of our contacts in Bratislava was able to loan us a small Yamaha keyboard - one of those slightly cheesy-sounding jobs with the built-in speakers, drum patterns, and an unnecessary amount of functions. I stayed up half the nite trying to re-arrange my songs for keys while taking breaks to ice me throbbing fingey. As good a way as any to keep yer mind off the catastrophes...

I was thinking about David Byrne the whole time. Last January Ariel and I had snagged tickets to see his American Utopia show on Broadway, and days before the concert half his band had tested positive for COVID. Rather than cancel the show, he'd written all ticket holders a breathless email in which he wrote that he would be happy to refund or change our tickets, but that we should know he and the remaining band members were creating an "Exciting new show, a show you'll never, ever see again, a 'Once in a Lifetime' experience, that will only be seen for a few performances!" What was striking was how badly he still seemed to want us to come. Every seat was filled in that theater that nite. And all through the chaotic, stripped-down performance, Byrne and his band did everything they could to make the crowd feel like they really were getting something special, something that attendees of the regular show wouldn't experience. For the crew it must've been a nightmare, but for us in the crowd it was inspiring.

So I'd like to thank D.B. for that one, as well as his music. That's the attitude I took to putting together a new set... And the show went on, eh? I stumbled and gaffed plenty, but I made sure everyone was in on it. "We'll always have this, me darlings" - said jokingly, but I meant it - "Up to the days of our deaths we'll always have Stubby Bob's Fingerless Roadshow - for your eyes and ears only. Enjoy!"

Hell, I'm proud for seeing it thru. And I hope everyone does remember it. Aside from Nitra, the day of the slice, not a show was cancelled.

That was that. Ariel joined for the last part of the tour and we flew back to NYC via Romania, a country we'd both always wanted to visit. Took a night train from Budapest to Sibiu, going thru the grotesque learning process of changing a finger bandage in our rattling sleeping compartment. Spent a week slinking about Transylvania, dragging me mummyfinger around the vampire-kitsch of the local tourist industry. Spooky season. Just right. Blew some tour money. Pushed off the reckoning.

Anyway, here it is, that reckoning. Out of work I be for a while, sitting on my arse in Brooklyn watching the weather turn from gold to grey, signing bills for suture removal and hand specialists. No workers comp for DIY busker bum tours, chappies. You just pay the dang bill. As part of my ongoing effort to never have a real job, I'm planning to go out into the parks all the same to tell fortunes and improvise poems for finger money. Can I predict the future..? Guess we'll see.

And you - have you listened to the new record yet then, eh? If you're here reading this, I reckon so. I'm doing two long-form bits here back to back - keep scrolling for my post-partum thoughts on the new baby. What a lot of luv I have for those songs. Every one I send out into the world feels like a form of life insurance.