#but i had to get it all out beforehand because gosh there's so much story potential

[doodlejoltik]

the unwinnable game

[~2.7k words. Read it here or on Ao3]

Zugzwang (from German 'compulsion to move'; pronounced [ˈtsuːktsvaŋ]) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move.

Centuries after their battle atop Mt Coronet, Rei confronts Volo in a nondescript forest, somewhere on Pasio. But the answers he's seeking aren't so easily given.

aka. a continuation of that one dialogue cliffhanger in the Mysterious Stones chapter because I'm extremely normal about these two

///

“There's something you'd like to say, isn't there… Rei?”

Volo turns around and Rei musters up the bravest expression he can.

Now that he's here, he doesn't know what to say first; all his planned questions bounce around his head, clamouring for dominance. Why are you here? How? Since when? You have a Togepi and a Togekiss? Why a tournament? What do you know about the mysterious stones?

Were we ever really friends?

That is, it takes an embarrassingly long time for Rei to respond. In the end, what he says isn’t a question at all. “That Togepi in the ruins was yours.”

Volo only shrugs. He's got a languid smile on his face. “It might've been. She likes running around.”

Internally, Rei is relieved. So he hasn't been seeing things. But he doesn't let it show on his face, and crosses his arms. “Why’d you hide from everyone for months, and only show yourself now?”

“Now, I wouldn't call it hiding,” Volo replies, waving his finger. “This is a big island, and I've made a good few acquaintances here on Pasio already! Perhaps our paths simply didn't cross.”

With the number of times Rei has visited the ruins for mysterious stone research, the odds of that are vanishingly unlikely. “But why didn't you even try? It's not like I've been keeping a low profile.” Of course, the reason is probably something like I tried to end the world and it would be awkward. And that's what Rei needs Volo to say.

The Arc Phone sits heavily in his belt satchel, recording every word.

“Oh, I was just preoccupied. The ruins here are simply fascinating! Even though they're replicas, teasing apart all the ancient cultures used in their construction is such a fruitful area of study. You know me.”

Yeah, I know you. “Find anything interesting about Arceus?” Rei snarks.

“Not particularly!” Volo shakes his head, looking disappointed. Then he perks up, and continues, “Now, Dialga and Giratina however…”

“Oh?” Rei seethes quietly. Of course he had been watching. Why hadn't Giratina said anything?

“It’s curious, isn’t it, how they have seen fit to partner themselves with new wielders?” Volo smiles. “And Palkia too, I’ve heard.”

“It is interesting,” Rei forces out, adjusting his scarf. He recalls Volo's last parting line about Arceus, all those months ago. “Nice to know that they've bonded willingly with people in this time,” he says pointedly.

Ignoring Rei's tone, Volo continues, “That man, Cyrus, who controls Palkia. What a character, wouldn't you say?”

Rei has a lot of thoughts about the Sinnohans’ decision to allow Cyrus - a man who has literally tried to remake the world and not disavowed said goal - to keep the embodiment of Space with him. He'd thought Adaman and Irida had to be joking, at first. What would the Captain think if she saw what her descendant had turned the Galaxy Team into…

“I suppose you see yourself in him.” Rei says flatly.

It's only the two of them here, in the middle of a forest, in the dead of night, so Volo should have no reason to be evasive. And yet -

“Hardly,” Volo laughs off. “Intellectual curiosity, nothing more.”

This is going nowhere. Does Volo seriously think he can fool him again? Probably not - every remark is undoubtedly purposeful, but with just enough plausible deniability to appear innocent. So maybe he just wants to mess with him. Great.

A different strategy, maybe. He’ll surely make a mistake at some point if Rei keeps pushing. “This… tournament that you proposed,” Rei says. “I suppose you're participating?”

“Naturally!” Volo says cheerfully. “Battles on Pasio are done in teams, are they not? Perhaps you'd like to-”

“No.” Rei glares at him. Oh, now, that was going too far. Going to shut that line of conversation immediately.

“So hostile,” Volo sighs. “A united Hisuian contingent would've been a sight to see. Well, the clan leaders should be more receptive, at least.”

“Not if I can help it,” Rei says, crossing his arms. He’s well aware of how childish it sounds, but the thought of his friends falling for Volo’s innocent merchant act, again, is too horrible to consider. Mentally, he rapidly revises his priorities - he has to meet with Adaman and Irida as soon as possible and explain everything. Tomorrow, ideally. Does he have the energy for that? It’s something like one in the morning, right now. He's dead on his feet. But he’ll make it happen. He has to, before Volo does.

But what if he’s already too late? When had Rei last spoken to them? The dance competition, that wasn’t that long ago, right? At least a week, maybe more, his mind supplies. He'd just been so busy… and surely they would have told him if they'd met Volo.

This little anxious spiral must be evident on Rei’s face somehow, because Volo chuckles, stepping closer. “The world doesn't revolve around you, Rei. Not here.”

“You don’t get to act all high and mighty,” Rei snaps. “Not when you’re pulling everyone along on your own strings. I suppose you think you make the world go ‘round.”

But Volo has a point, no matter how much he hates to admit it. Rei’s been assuming he was someone significant to this whole saga. The appearance of the mysterious stones coincided with his and Akari’s arrival to Pasio, after all, so was he really wrong for thinking that?

And Arceus spoke to him first. That had to mean something.

“On the contrary, I simply meant that we’re all on equal ground,” Volo says. For the first time, goes unspoken.

“I’ll still beat you,” Rei vows. He’d done it before, he could do it again. No matter if he was still favoured by Arceus or not. “Because my bonds with my Pokemon, and my friends, are real. And you don’t know what that feels like.” Though intended to be a sharp jab at Volo, instead, a deep bitterness colours those final words.

Volo’s expression twists into something briefly unreadable before it settles into a polite half-smile. “You’re quick to assume the worst of me.”

“Quick?” Rei barks out a harsh laugh. “No, it was exactly the opposite.” He’d been strung along so thoroughly, accepting every strange behaviour as simply one of Volo’s little oddities. Only up at the Celestica Ruins did those allowances start to crumble – and by then, it was too late.

Volo’s look at Rei is one of intrigue. The way Rei's seen him examining ancient ruins, like he's something Volo wants to observe, or study.

And Rei has had it. Enough dancing around the subject, trying to draw it out of Volo; clearly it’s never going to happen. “Is this all just a game to you? You tried to destroy the world! You want me to think you care about anyone?”

Volo raises an eyebrow. “That's a bold claim. Surely if that had happened, it would've ended up in the history books, somewhere.”

Well – okay. The only person who knew what happened was the Professor, sort of. And Cogita. Arceus knows how she found out. But Professor Laventon didn't know half of it, even, Rei had just incoherently vented everything emotional and hurting at him, swore him to secrecy, and then hoped that he'd never have to unpack that again.

Clearly Arceus had other designs.

“We were friends.” Rei’s voice cracks a bit, there; he hates how true it is. “I thought we were friends. But you were going to kill me for standing in your way!”

Volo frowns. “Now, why would I do that?” He takes a few paces towards Rei and smiles, purposefully, grin stretching tight across his face. “I wouldn't want to lose my favourite customer, after all!”

Stumbling backwards to regain the distance, Rei exclaims, “I’ve bought maybe one thing from you. Stop calling me that!”

“Recipient of free samples, semantics,” Volo shrugs, entirely unaffected, and Rei wars with the competing urges to punch him or bolt into the treeline.

“Play dumb all you want,” Rei hisses, “but you’ve already shown your hand. I could tell them everything. You won’t be able to fool anyone ever again.” Least of all me.

Volo tilts his head with a smirk. “Well then, why are you here?” he asks, calling Rei’s bluff.

And though he can’t know that the Arc Phone is listening in Rei’s satchel, Rei realises that his motivations must be laughably transparent. Maybe Volo thinks Akari, or Cynthia, is watching the whole thing from the treeline. The specifics of it don’t matter, really. Rei’s been outplayed from the very beginning.

Volo makes a little movement with his hand. There's a sudden rustle of movement behind Rei, and he whips around, hand on Decidueye's Pokeball -

But it's just Volo's Togepi, who warbles in alarm and quickly toddles past him.

“What would people rather believe in?” Volo says lightly. “The accusations of a boy who jumps at shadows?” He bends down to pick up Togepi. “Or in the innocence of their friend?”

In Volo's arms, Togepi lets out an adorable squeak.

Over the Pokeball on his belt, Rei’s hand is trembling with misfired adrenaline. He carefully drops his hand to his side and raises his head up high. “Cynthia trusts me. I’ve been here for months, and we’ve worked together on the mysterious stones since they were first found.”

“And so?” Volo shrugs. “A working relationship is hardly worth much. I thought you would've known better, with what Kamado did…”

Rei flinches.

The worst part about it all was that no matter what ulterior motives Volo might have had, back then, when he’d been thrown out into the wild with barely a few days’ worth of supplies – Volo had been there for him when nobody else was.

Volo had seen Rei fall apart and put himself back together with forced cheer. And so, he knew exactly where the cracks were, where to strike with his words to disassemble Rei all over again.

Of course Rei knows Cynthia is responsible, and smart, and has been nothing but friendly to him – but he doesn't really know her, does he? And Volo is her ancestor. Which is pretty obvious, honestly. She’d probably like him immediately.

Just like everyone else did. Including Rei.

“Besides, you're not the only one who's been making friends in high places,” Volo adds smoothly. “I’ve heard that Bettie’s word is quite well regarded.”

So now that Rei had wised up to Volo's true nature, he'd gone and found himself new people to use. “You’ve always been like this, then,” Rei huffs. None of it had been real; their entire ‘friendship’ had been predicated on Rei's usefulness. “They deserve to know the truth about you.”

“Truth? Or your own opinion?” Volo scoffs. “You think so highly of yourself, Rei, but you're not the beloved Hero of Hisui here. No…” he smiles. “You're entirely ordinary. Do remember, it was everyone in that stadium who heard Arceus' voice.”

Admittedly, that stings. He'd thought - maybe - that Arceus was finally telling him why He'd brought Rei here. What he was supposed to do in this strange new land. But he'd failed, unable to clearly hear Arceus’ voice.

Rei spares a thought for the Arc Phone, once a vessel for divine inspiration, now reduced to recording mortals’ petty feuds. His messages to Arceus have been left on read for months. He's probably allowed to be a bit petty, at this point.

Volo continues, “Imagine! Any one of us could become Arceus’ champion.” Togepi makes a little noise. “Yes, even you,” he says indulgently, lifting her up to face him, and she goes cross-eyed following his waving finger.

It's horribly cute, the sort of thing Rei would've been charmed by before. And it's clear Volo is no longer taking Rei seriously at all.

What starts out as a wavering thought suddenly asserts itself with startling clarity. “I don't need anything from you,” Rei realises. He'd told himself he was here for evidence, something concrete he could hold against Volo, and that was true. But beyond that, he'd been after something entirely more personal.

He can walk away.

“I don't need anything from you,” he repeats, with force this time.

Volo turns his attention away from Togepi, and this of all things is what finally seems to make him genuinely confused. “Leaving so soon, Rei?”

Rei doesn't elaborate. He turns on his heel to stalk through the forest back to civilisation. Now, because if he says anything more he doesn't know if he'll ever bring himself to stop. Because he's asking for something he'll never get.

Volo's saying something. He doesn't care to catch all the words, though some of it filters through - “challenge”, “tournament”, and “rivals” among them. The general shape of the message is clear. They'll meet again; Rei's powerless to stop that. But as best he can, he'll shake off whatever lingering grip Volo still has on him.

He doesn't stop walking as the trodden earth turns to paved cobbles under his feet, and he makes it all the way up his building's winding stairs to the little studio apartment that he's been given. Home, for now. Collapsing onto the lone armchair, he takes the Arc Phone out of his satchel and turns off the recording. Thank Arceus for divinely bestowed infinite storage, he supposes.

Rei knows that if he were to listen to it, there'd be nothing of use. Only hidden barbs and Rei’s own ugly, wounded anger. It feels fitting to delete it, to banish the whole encounter to memory, and perhaps eventually, less than that.

He doesn't, and instead tucks it away in a folder several layers deep.

Maybe Professor Laventon wrote about the whole disaster in his private diaries. Rei knows he has them, bless the man. He'd once stumbled into the Professor's office late at night, after an exhausting, terrifying escape from an Alpha, ready to tell Laventon off for sending him there – and startled the Professor fiercely, who quickly shut the manuscript he was writing with a blush. So even if Rei had sworn him to secrecy, he might have confided in the written word.

That's something he can set Cynthia on digging up, then. Even just the suggestion that Laventon, the First Pokemon Professor, had such personal writings, would probably send her into an unstoppable research frenzy. That much about her, at least, he knows. If it still existed in this era, Cynthia would almost certainly find it.

And maybe he doesn't need evidence. Not for the people who matter, anyway.

Akari’s only a few doors away, their apartments close neighbours just like back in Jubilife Village. If he wanted, he could wander over there once the sun rose, have her fantastic tamago rice, and tell her everything.

Is he ready to take that step into thin air? To trust that he'll be believed, in something that's infinitely more convoluted and improbable than the simple plea – “I don't know why the sky is red, it's not my fault, I only ever did what you told me to” –

Well. Volo might've been the last one to break his trust, but he was in no way the first.

Can he make good on those words that he’d levelled so confidently against Volo? That his bonds with his friends are real?

Akari had never doubted. And Adaman and Irida had gone against Kamado's will, risking the standing of their people, just to help him. He would be doing them a disservice if he didn't at least try.

And in this dangerous game, it might be the only winning move.

Even as he makes this decision, he feels the pull of sleep. It's offensively late, or early, in the morning now, depending on perspective, and all of this is Tomorrow Rei’s problem.

There's no energy left to even stumble to bed. Rei falls asleep right there in the lumpy armchair, hand loosely gripped around the Arc Phone, Adaman and Irida’s Poryphone numbers on the screen, ready and waiting.

And, though Rei will certainly wake up sore with a crick in his neck come the morning…

For the first time in a long while, his dreams are not restless.

#trainer rei #rei pokemon #volo #volo pokemon #pokemas #pokemon #rei #fanfiction #// tikposting #// fanfic #so. pokemas has been gripping me so hard the past couple of months #that it's even tempted me into writing fic again after three years #yes i know this is about to be rendered non canon in just a few days when the next chapter drops #but i had to get it all out beforehand because gosh there's so much story potential #rei tries to play the game volo's way and fails miserably: the fic #he's out here trying to set up a trap not realising it's extremely obvious #when he does realise it's ten moves into the actual game and he's in the middle of a trap himself. fun #rei pov is very fun he has many many thoughts about things #thanks for reading!! #// tikart

[heartbreakblda]

 Random Only FriendsThoughts After Ep 7

Gosh, how much I love this show? It’s so fucked up and so wrong and so human… It really gives me goosebumps every time I am watching it. And for once I am really into reading proper character breakdowns about our heroes and I thought, maybe I should do the same. Just so see how my opinion is gonna change at the end. So here we are with what I think and feel about each main character after seven episodes. Let’s see if it changes with three or five more episodes to go.

Boston: Let’s start with the obvious one. Gosh, what a hedonistic boy. And yes, I say boy with a purpose as I feel that this BOY definitely still needs some growing up to do. He is just concerned about his own pleasure and his own needs and doesn’t see anyone around him at all. He is so afraid of any feelings that he just pretends he doesn’t have any. He lives a hedonistic lifestyle where everything is just about whatever is good for him. I honestly don’t think he has any feelings for Nick at all at this moment. I don’t even think he even respects Nick at all. It’s just pure manipulation and lust for him. He knows about Nick’s feelings and he uses them for his advantage. Does he have a chance to come back from this? Of course. Plenty of people have done shitty things. You always can come back from this.

Nick: Boston’s little toy. That’s how I see him mainly. Boston has shown him something he definitely has missed in his life beforehand. And I think Nick also is a bit gullible believing Boston’s sugar coated words where everyone and their uncle already know he is just saying it to get what he wants from Nick. Nick is not stupid, he is totally aware of Nick’s true colours and he still fell in love with him. And now… Well, once you have feelings it’s so hard to find the right way out again. And if nothing really big happens to Boston… I don’t think he ever will be what Nick needs him to be. Nick will always end with a broken heart here.

Mew: His character is interesting. He is an honour student, shooting straight from the hip. He was a virgin, but this doesn’t make him a naive push over. I honestly think he thought he could control Top. He has been doing this with Ray pretty much for years now. Mew says jump and Ray asks how high. So I honestly believe that Mew just really thought his love could change someone like Top. He thought he could make Top as perfect as Mew is himself. Because on the surface Top is actually pretty perfect. It’s just when you look at the nitty gritty when you see the cracks. But instead he finds out Top betrayed him and goes berserk. I have read now so often from people that say Mew and Top don’t love each other. Bullshit. They were pretty much in love with each other and that’s why it hit Mew so hard to find out he was betrayed. He saved himself for someone special. He thought Top was special. But Mew thinks now he was wrong. Which I am not sure he was. He is just always hunting for this perfect love story his mums had. But he doesn’t understand that this doesn’t exist?

I am not sure. Mew is a very interesting character and he is changing a lot right now. But I honestly think he loves Top, or at the very least loved the idea of Top.

Top: The character that gets the most shit undeservingly in my opinion. I really have taken to him because even though he is definitely a fuckhead… Well, they all are and that’s kind of the point of the show. That there is always shadow where there is light. Even the knight in shining armour can fuck his boyfriends best friend… And I don’t want to make light of Top’s cheating. But still. I think Top really fell for Mew. It might have been a bit of trophy hunting in the beginning as scoring a virgin is always a goal for someone like him. But I really think he liked that Mew wanted more from him than just his body. Because look at Boston. He has no interest in Top other than what he can do in the bedroom. This must be very hard for someone when people are just always interested in your body and your outsides but not really in anything else. So yeah, I think for Top the entire situation with Mew is completely new and he is very surprised himself about this. When Boston then starts to poke him about Ray and Mew Top has no idea how to react and with Boston pretty much almost forcing him… But I always found it interesting that Top froze the first time in the shower with Boston and even when they had sex, Top didn’t look like he was really into it until a bit later. We also have this confession about the fire, the fact that Top is extremely lonely and always has been and his issues with drugs. If this doesn’t sound like a man with a ton of mental health issues I don’t know. So yeah, again. Top is really interesting to me. I am curious how he is gonna deal with the break up in the next episode. Because here in episode 7 he almost went insane. Here, I bought some books for you. Like what? He is so lost, the poor lamb. I really believe his tears.

Sand: Gosh, how much I love this character. He is so caring and sweet and his taste in clothes and music is impeccable. So yeah, I am a bit biased with him, so please excuse this fact. Buuuuuut he is definitely also part of the fuckhead brigade even though his dark sides might not be as dark as the ones from other characters. But he definitely has a lot to deal with. His upbringing couldn’t have been easy with him having a mum like this and no dad. He is still struggling financially, has to take care of his mother pretty much and is just trying to make ends meet somehow. But he is definitely the one at fault with the recording. He used this to hurt Top and karma came back and bit him massively into the backside. I am sure he is so in love with Ray already. I think he can’t resist Ray’s smile and the puppy dog eyes and I think the biggest draw is that Ray desperately needs saving and if someone is good at this then it’s Ray. He is always the one helping out. It’s in his DNA.So when he sees a stray and hurt dog on the side of the road… Of course he is gonna take care of him, no matter how often he gets bitten. But I am interested to see what happens when Boing comes into the picture. Because I think then we're gonna see another side to Sand. His hate for Top really runs deep. So I am guessing there is gonna be more to come.

Ray: The stray puppy that needs rescuing at all costs. Gosh, what a sad existence this boy has. His mother blamed him for her downfall. I am sure his father blames him as well for the way things went with his mum after the birth. He must feel like he is just a burden to the entire world and it would be so much better if he just disappeared. He really is hurting just so, so badly. And I think that’s why he doesn’t even understand what Sand is offering right now. I don’t think Ray understands that Sand really loves and cares for him. I don’t think he feels he is ever worthy of any love. His feelings for Mew seem to be more grateful for helping him in the past. He was there when Ray was at his darkest point and I think that’s what Ray wants to repay him. I don’t think what Ray feels is love is actually still love. It has changed over time but I don’t think Ray has noticed that yet. And just on a side note… I have read that a lot of people think that Ray and Mew are now a couple. I don’t necessarily believe that. The words were not clearly said, Mew never said he liked Ray, he never accepted a kiss or anything. I can see them maybe hanging out and partying. But I am not so sure if Mew would really go this low and use his best friend like this. I just can’t see it. But we shall see.

So these are my opinions on all our six heroes after watching seven episodes. I really have to say I love everything about this show so far. There is literally nothing I can fault here. It’s just such gripping writing and it reminds me so much of how I was when I was still clubbing with my friends. The draaaaaama every evening. This one kissed this guy, but they had been together with a friend of theirs before and somehow they crossed over timewise and so on. Ah, the wondrous life of university students.

So yeah, let’s see how much my views are gonna change over the next few episodes. I still think we will get Mew and Top happy and I also think we will get Ray and Sand somehow together. I am not so sure about Nick and Boston. But that’s just because I wouldn’t be surprised if Boston just lights one last atomic bomb and than fucks off to america to live with his mother and to leave all the others to deal with the fall out. But again we shall see..

#only friends the series #thai boys love #gmmtv #gmmtv series #gmmtv bl #raysand #topmew #bostonnick

[emmadoodlewrites]

giving you permission to talk about therapy tickles more 🙌🏼 what do you think each of dtqk’s reactions would be to it? at what stage do you think they’d start regretting their decision? who would be most teasy?

a situation that i can imagine happening is that gogs would be teasing everyone the whole time, but using the “im filming i can’t!!” whenever they try to convince him to have a turn. except that at one point the massager starts joining in in the argument. and now the situation is one that george can’t say no to because they’re such a lovely person who’s been so kind to them? how could he say no it’s just rude? (drawn from uber story)

and so after throwing teases around all day, george is finally lying down on the massage table, subject to a taste of his own medicine from the 4 other boys in the room

godddddddd literally this is so perfect that’s exactly how I’d picture george’s turn going. and oh my gosh thank you for letting me rant about this more i definitely have more to say akljfhklasfj So here we go the events of a tickle therapy with dtkq!! (this ended up over 1k words wtf...)

First of all, 100% I think they’d make Dream go first. They’d make the excuse that since he’s got the most subscribers he gets the honor of being first. The massage therapist was told beforehand and is totally okay with being filmed and also plays along and tries to coax Dream into going for it akdljfh. You get the choice when laying down whether you want to lie on your front or back and Dream decides on being on his back to prove he isn’t nervous. And we already saw from my post earlier how his turn went. I really really liked your input llama about him constantly trying desperately to turn away from the camera. At some point he gives up and covers his face with his hands which the massager allows since Dream isn’t covering as many spots like this. The therapist focuses mostly on his sides and stomach for the majority of the session, since he seems to be most ticklish there. They switch between poking to scribbling the fingers, and every time the technique changes he jumps. His reactions mostly stem from rocking side to side, to arching his back to try and get away from the feeling. For the sake of time each person only gets about a ten minute turn, which is way too long in Dream’s opinion. But he makes it! 

I imagine since it’s literally their job, these specific massage therapists are extremely good at zeroing in on bad spots. Even on people who aren’t even super ticklish in many places. Because they’re professionals!! And since this is being filmed, and they’re in a pretty fun and relaxed atmosphere, anytime the find a spot, like maybe a specific rib or a place hidden place somewhere else, they’ll verbalize it like, “ooh this is a good spot” or “hey guys watch this” and then all of the sudden the one on the table bursts into cackles before they know what the hell just happened

The first time this ended up happening was with Quackity who was trying his damn hardest to keep still and calm for the massager. And it was working pretty well the first three minutes in! He had decided lie on his stomach more like how a regular massage would go, and he mostly had his head rested on his arms, pretty much just giggling freely and occasionally cussing out his friends anytime one of them through a tease at him. The area the massager found was on the back of only one of his lower ribs, which they noticed since he seemed to be involuntarily flinching a bit more anytime they went there, and quackity likely didn’t even notice he was doing it. “Uh oh, what is that? I think I’ve found something,” the therapist says very deadpan, trying to mess with Q as if something is wrong. “Whahat? What, is everything ok?” “I’m not sure, tell me if you feel this.” And with that they expertly use one finger to drill into the rib, and all of the sudden Quackity is not so calm anymore. He lifts his head away from his arms and arches his back completely, and he’s lifted himself slightly off the table with his elbows, completely in stitches from his laughter. 

After Quackity is done with his turn, he basically forces Karl to go next. Karl was the one who did the majority of the teasing for Q’s turn, and many of the rest of the group agreed in making him go next. He argues as much as he can but he is very much outvoted. He reluctantly lies down on his back and the therapist promises it’ll be okay and they will always stop when they're told to. Once they start, it is obvious to the therapist, the viewers, and pretty much everyone in the room that Karl is the most ticklish person in the group. The second their hands latch onto his sides he is just drowning in frantic laughter. The camera is panning back and forth from Karl to the massager’s reaction, who is also doubled over laughing from the contagious giggles and over the top squirming. There’s not even much teasing anymore for this turn, since everyone is just losing it at how funny everything is. 

Karl’s turn goes by pretty quick, and up next is Sapnap. He has watched a majority of the group go by now, and is super confident that he’s gonna be just fine! He even says so as he lies down on his back. The massager raises an eyebrow, “Is that so? Is that a challenge?” They’ve caught onto the group's sense of humor and have really warmed up to their way of messing around. (I imagine the fandom falls in love with this person after the vlog releases since they were so fun and friendly akldjfhlk) Sapnap kinda clams up like “no no it’s- It’s not a challenge I was just saying haha-” the group is absolutely teasing at this point. “Alright then, I’m gonna start now, are you ready?” “Yes” Sap even puts his arms above his head to prove his point, something no one else has done up to now. “You sure?” “I said yehAHAHA-” He doesn’t even get to finish his sentence as the therapist takes him by surprise. Sap also has a couple specific spots the massager ends up finding. One on his hips and another towards his sternum. After both spots are targeted at the same time, he yells stop, and after all his touch talk he’s the only one that didn’t make it the whole time haha! The therapist admits to him though that they did go a bit harder on him though since he had made such a big deal out of being able to handle it, hence why to bad spots were hit all at once pfft

Finally, as you said llama, George is peer pressured into having his turn. Before he lays down on his stomach, he mentions to the massage therapist that he’s really not that ticklish. Whether or not that’s a lie or not, we have no idea! But, the therapist replies that won’t be a problem at all ^_^. Just as George had said, once they begin, the most reaction he shows is a forced smile tugging at his lips that he’s trying to hide from the camera out of embarrassment, and just a little bit of squirming. The group is now messing around calling him ‘strong gogy’ and trying to coax him into laughing. After a bit of trying many different places, the massager finally finds a spot a little bit underneath his shoulder blades that makes him suddenly choke out a surprised laugh. “Ahhh there we goooo” They zero in on that spot and just like how George laughs when it comes to something funny, the longer they stay in a spot the louder and more frantic his laughter becomes until he’s cackling and asking them to move somewhere else. The therapist goes on to find a couple more places just like this, one on his thigh, and another right between his underarms and top ribs. By the time his turn is over he breathless and red in the face. 

They all thank the massage therapist greatly for allowing them to film and for being so kind to them since they were likely not very similar to many other customers they'd ever had. The therapist says they also had a blast, and the friend group went on their way to film some other places that day for the rest of the meetup vlog. 

#hooooooooly moly this is long #you can tell i am very passionate about this concept and have been thinking about it for a long time hahahaha #should i put this in the m-c-y-t-t tag?? #hmmmmmmmmm #yeahhhh might as well #i am ashamed of my brainrot and terrified to post this and for everyone to see my cringe #but when has that ever happened to me before akjdshf #mcyt tickle #lee!dream #lee!quackity #lee!karl #lee!sapnap #lee!george #emmadoodle concepts

[leaffiii]

Hi, sorry for waiting, i have a little headache

- Snake man and Gemini man have a little agreement between them. Mostly all they do is trying to investigate who was Gemini before he ended up activating all alone in Archive Sector 019. I honestly believe that ether Gemini has no memory at all or that he has only handful of fragments but nothing more.

- Gemini provides cover for Snake with holograms and Snake is the one to search for clues. Maybe Gemini himself is distracting guards, saying that he was curious about tours that will be there or just with pep talk, while Snake trying to search for something thats worth to look at.

- Sometimes Gemini asks Snake to search for some "dirt" about some people. But they aren't trying to investigate who is Mega Man, since if he will find out about this beforehand, it will be a lot of trouble with him, trying to figure out they're goal or just straight up fighting them.

- Gemini is actually weak to Search Snakes. In a sense that he finds them very, very adorable and useful. It's a big part of the reason why he chose Snake man to begin with.

- Search Snakes have mind of they're own, they are not just some modified security cameras. But they can be plugged in Snake to share information they have with him. Same with Aki too. (Imagine Mega Mini riding it, or having it in Aki's head, saying "get out, you are an outdoor snake!")

- Snake just thinks that Gemini is afraid of them, because he sees him looking at them a lot, but trying at all costs not to interact with them (Gemini DROWNS that urge to snuggle with them, he simply can't be seen acting like this)

- Gemini may or may not had intrusive thoughts about stealing Search Snakes after his deal with Snake man will be over. These thoughts might go away if he'd received some more character development because of Snake.

Thanks for listening to my rattle of an insane man, have some sketches

Oh my GOSH I am slurping these up like soup- let me try and reply to most of these because hrngnrng the brainrot is real and these are so cute

I currently consider most of the backstories spoilers, since I want to do more comics for the AU as a whole (For example, story-wise almost no one knows where Gemini came from. DZN-001 did end up disappearing from the archive a while before Gemini showed up in Silicon City though...). I'm glad i was able to spark theorization hehe >:].

But yeah! They do have a sort of "agreement", with Snake ending up working more closely with Gemini (Mainly since they work well together and get along pretty well), but there ARE others involved ;)

OOOH definitely. They both know a lot more than they let on, specific people of interest to them are notable figures from the Hard War, like Sgt. Night, but the reasons behind it are spoilery (oops)

OH MY GOD IM. That's so god dang cute, that's definitely being canonized oh my lordy

THE REST OF THE HCS TOO... i made the search snakes the little guys of all time, i should've expected this hrngnnrg /pos

I can't convey to you the sheer joy I get from seeing your art of them like.. i treasure all the fanart i get but these invoke so much positive emotions to me it's INSANE. It's . Thanmk you so much hhrnngng :]

Once I get the final two or three more planned robots designed, I'm gonna try and kick myself into story/backstory mode (or at least give them some profiles at least lol) so stay tuned ehehe :]

#fc!gemini man #fc!snake man #mega man #other's art #mmfc #mega man fully charged #leafy speaks #megaman #mmfc au #and yknow what #lets get a tag for the little guys too #search snakes #croc pop #other's headcanons

[takearisk-x]

I want to say that I'm so glad I discovered TPFY so early in the making because I'm enjoying so much being part of this journey. I used to only read complete fics, but being able to see you and your story grow really changed my mind.

We are at the half way mark of TPFY and I'm hoping that maybe you can share how was your experience with it so far?

💚💚💚 you are one of my favorite people on planet EARTH i’m so glad you found it too because you have made this experience infinitely more enjoyable and i’m so glad to have met you!

overall i’m having a blast. this is my first fic that i’ve actually outlined and written beforehand instead of writing and posting on the fly and it’s helped a lot with my own process and confidence. and even though i have everything plotted out, it’s still constantly evolving and changing. i’ve added sooo many scenes and plot points that weren’t in my first draft and it’s only made the story better (i think) so i’m definitely going to continue this process on my next project (if and when there is one)

i can’t believe the level of engagement i’ve received and i’m just so gosh darn honored that people were/are willing to take a chance on a hinny angst with a happy ending. when i rejoined hp tumblr at the end of last year i sort of dove in head first on ao3 and knew what i wanted to read… but i never could find it. so that’s how we ended up here 😂 be the change you want to see in the world and all that

i was so nervous after those first two chapters were posted because it was so glaringly obvious how far ginny and harry had to go before they could be in a place to actually *get back together* i was terrified there would be like … genuine push back and drama because their characterizations were so different from everything i’d read and i didn’t want to break some unwritten rule that said harry and ginny had easy lives and lived happily ever after.

(side note if anyone has any hinny angst with a happy ending ficrecs PLEASE send them my way, they’re rare and usually buried in the tags which makes them impossible to find so please please pLEASE pass them along)

but i’ve been absolutely amazed with the amount of love this story has gotten and how many people have reached out to let me know how much they appreciate the post war trauma and subsequent handling of that trauma. it’s been a very very good experience and i feel some imposter syndrome at times because i do feel that i’m not capable of doing this healing process justice but knowing that you guys trust me with it has been a big help

thanks for your message and all your ao3 comments!! they always make my damn day and i go back and re-read them all the time 💚

#i can’t believe we are ONLY halfway lol #remember when it was 13 chapters long #JSHDJDHFJSKAJF #the path from you #fairsquare16 #answered

[somedayonbroadway]

OMG PLEASE MAKE A FIC OF JACK CALLING RACE FOR THE THURSDAY CALL AND JACK BEING REALLY CONFUSED CAUSE HES NOT PICKING UP AND IT SLOWLY DAWNING ON HIM THAT SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH HIS BABY BROTHER!!!!

Oh gosh, sometimes I forget about this one…

Part 1

Part 2

Jack was restless. He had been for weeks now. All he had to do was paint and sketch but he couldn’t even show anyone but Katherine and he didn’t want to complain or make her feel bad. This was all they could do while Katherine’s father was after her. But today was Thursday and Thursday was good because he was allowed to make a single phone call.

So he stood up and walked into the study where Katherine was writing. He kissed her cheek. “Hey, it’s five o’clock,” he whispered. “I’m gonna make that phone call, huh?”

Katherine nodded. “Tell Race I said hi,” he smiled. “And maybe after that we can liven this party up a little bit,” she smiled, standing up and pressing their chests together. Jack melted at that, kissing the woman sweetly with a sly smirk on his face. “I know you’re miserable here,” she whispered. “But it’ll only be a little bit longer. We’re gonna get out of here and we’ll go back to our penthouse and you’ll go back to being your famous artist self and we’ll get our book published—“

Jack just kissed her again, stopping her from rambling. “Hey, we’re safe and that’s all we need right now,” he smiled. “I love you.”

The young woman kissed him softly once more. “I love you, Mr. Kelly.”

With a satisfied moan, Jack turned away with a smile and danced out of the room, glancing back over his shoulder to make sure his girl was checking him out. Katherine laughed and blushed as he caught her staring. “Creep,” he teased, as he left the room.

The house was small, but Jack wasn’t used to much else. Katherine, however, was used to large mansions that never felt cramped. Jack missed going outside but he wasn’t supposed to so much as pull back the curtains. It was stuffy and cramped but Jack collapsed back onto the crummy couch and pulled out his burner phone, dialing a familiar number and brought the thing up to his ear. He waited for a long moment but the thing went to voicemail so Jack hung up.

Every Thursday evening Jack called his little brother. He missed the first call, okay, no big deal. Maybe he was in the bathroom or the shower or something. Maybe he just had his phone on silent or something. So Jack waited a few minutes before calling again. Race normally picked up after the first few rings and told Jack a joke of some kind or a story without letting him get even a “hello” in beforehand. But again the thing went to voicemail. Jack squinted a bit, checking the phone and making sure he was dialing the right numbers.

His little brother knew all the rules. Jack wasn’t allowed to leave voicemails and Race wasn’t allowed to call back. Jack had to call him and Thursday was the only day he could in order to keep himself and his girl safe. So he looked down at the screen and bit his lip, dialing one more time.

Again the thing went to voicemail. Jack sat up, about to dial one more time before he stopped himself. His brother had never missed his calls before. So he stood up and walked to the kitchen, finding Spot’s number, quickly dialing that one. It didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail and Jack began to panic. He called again. Still nothing.

“Shit,” Jack hissed. Something was very wrong. Very very wrong.

He rushed into the bedroom, tearing into some boxes and finding his own clothes that he hadn’t bothered unpacking. He got dressed and pulled some shoes on and grabbed a knife. When he turned around, Katherine was in the doorway. “Honey?”

“He’s in trouble,” Jack insisted. “He ain’t answering me. Spot, neither, something’s wrong.” He knew it was a jump. But this was the first time this had happened.

So Katherine stepped in front of him. “Hey, you’re stir crazy, babe. I get it. I know this has been hard, but you're jumping to conclusions,” she coaxed. “Isn’t it entirely possible that he forgot what day it is?”

Jack shook his head. “No, he doesn’t, he sets alarms for everything so he doesn’t forget,” he insisted. “Look, you never had siblings and you’ve never been close to someone like I’m close to my baby brother, okay? Something’s wrong,” he insisted. “I have ta find him.”

The young woman shook her head. “No. Jack, you can’t leave this house, it’s too dangerous. If these people find either of us, they will kill you,” she hissed.

“You said those people would go looking for anyone close to you to get to you,” Jack insisted. “They can’t find me, so who do they go for next?” He grabbed his coat. “He’s the only family I ever had. I have ta go—“

“Jack, you don’t even know where to start looking,” Katherine insisted. “Look, we can call someone. Sit down and let’s talk this through—“

“Talk what through?! My brother is probably chained up in someone’s basement right now! I’m going to go find him!” Jack yelled and then he walked past Katherine and out of that house.

#anonymous #anon #anon request #anon ask #newsies #newsies live #newsies musical #newsies au #newsies fanfiction #newsies fandom #modern au #modern era #modern newsies #jack kelly #katherine plumber #racetrack higgins #spot conlon #sprace #sprace whump #much love #hiding #witness protection #stir crazy

[veeloopz]

What's you biggest inspiration for your comic series? what was the "aha!" moment where you were like "yeah let's do this??" Your art style is super distinct and professional looking too! have you ever considered trying to sell your comic in a physical form even if in small quantities?? or like working in the comic industry professionally? :3

you're a big inspo to me btw! I'd love to do what you do it's super inspiring, art and cosplay wise!

Oh my gosh I am actually weeping at this you are so incredibly sweet 😭😭😭😭😭

OK SO. Honestly I first made the whole idea of my comic when I was 9 so it was a huge mix of my interests from then, including Sailor Moon, Pokemon, and AtLA! Over the years it’s changed a LOT story wise! Now I get inspired by just fantasy stuff in general! I make my own creatures and stuff so it’s pretty much just me jumbling things I enjoy onto the canvas xD

Sabrinia was originally a human from this village, she was a gardener and got picked on by Geffory and others. She snuck into the forest at night to prove herself and got transported into this fantasy world, where Psychic Kitty finds her and takes care of her. There’s more to it but it’s a lot so I’ll leave it at that! (It was very similar to TOH now that I think about it lol)

I’ve always worked on my comic and it’s ideas/concepts since then, I have folders, sketchbooks and binders FULL of art from way back then! I decided to make it be a comic because I had always loved drawing comics since I was little. I made Sonic comics on lined paper and stuff LOL… But at first I wanted to make it a video game! Like a 3DS game! I decided not to since I was a child and I didn’t understand gaming stuff, so I went with the next best thing that I enjoyed and that I loved to do! Comics!

Thank you so much I am. So happy with how far my art has come since then 😭 I used to not draw noses (Sabrinia was totally NOSELESS!!) so I say I’ve definitely improved XDD

I also do want to sell my comic physically at some point! That is one of my dreams lol! I’d probably do it myself, I’d want to self publish it and copyright it beforehand! Same I’d I want to sell any merch! Torches & Beyond means so much to me so I kinda worry about selling stuff and all that lol. It’s more of a personal thing/story I’ve built up BUT it would be extremely cool to have it printed ! I may make a few copies to gift to close friends if anything for now :)

I’ve had some thoughts about working for comics professionally, but from what I’ve seen it’s all freelance! Which is super cool but I’m not sure if I could juggle doing freelance stuff with my already freelance comics and art I like to do. It would be very cool though!

But yeah thank you so so so much for this ask you made my day 😭😭😭 Anything you put your mind to you can do! That’s how I’ve gotten where I am with… everything I do! Cosplay especially lol! Cosplay is really difficult when you’re first figuring it out but honestly do it for yourself, no one else. Do it because you enjoy it! That’s my main mentality with all my creative things I do! It makes it fun and rewarding when you finish a big project !!

#veeloopz rambles #Veeloopz answers

[optimistic-tree]

Book Review: Out of the Dark by David Weber

I’ll be honest, I started looking for this one because it talked about the alien race being considered insane because we adhered to family dynamics, and the aliens didn’t even though they were a pack, because it was based on old assumptions about how wolf packs worked. This should have been a sign, but I was willing to try it. Who doesn’t like humans punching aliens for trying to hurt their kids?

It’s space war. Not like “humans and aliens brawling” like “the human military is scattered and society has broken down, and the only thing that matters now is how many weapons you have.”

And this is entirely pro-war, pro-military. Pro-hoarding. The politics are right of center, which might be nice for those who believe in those things, but I am not, and I doubt many people on this website are. And pro-hoarding, really? More concerned with making sure that the community isn’t overloaded or that they aren’t raided than the welfare with people they don’t identify with. And children. Points for caring about children. Perfectly willing to compromise with extremists, who have probably broken the law, which is what the narrative tells us, tells us to ignore the possibility he was committing crimes beforehand, about the one Muslim character, who it seems like was just advocating for less violence in the region.

The aliens are given relatable POV moments, and there’s some fun psychology moments, which were barely worth the rest of the book, but were still fun. The alien prisoners are experimented on, we never see anyone surrender until, maybe the end (I couldn’t finish it). Aliens try after massacring children, and I don’t blame the humans for not accepting their surrender, but no aliens ever try to surrender anywhere else? The information they get is from prisoners they’re torturing. These are the good guys.

There’s also a horrendous plot twist, like 90% of the way through the book. I would advise you spoil it for yourself, if your still interested and dislike giant genre shifts. I had to stop reading because of it. It’s so stupid.

Really. Unless you can’t stand spoilers.

Vampires. Futhermucking vampires.

And Sure, the next book explains their magic technology, and sure, their are hints I might have picked up if I had read Dracula Daily (I chose to muck my way through Frankenstein instead), but it’s pretty subtle, not everyone has read dracula, and no alien technology is used by humans for the WHOLE book. I’m pretty sure.

And sure, the situation was impossible, but that’s no reason to pull a deus ex vampire (vampire is vampire in latin). The death of all humans would have fit the story better. Or, heck, the death of all but a small remainder, unaffected by bio-weapons, isolated somewhere. It’d take a couple hundred years for the aliens to get back, and if they saw their were still humans, the might just turn around and go home. It’d be a little bit of a tonal shift, but it’d be hilarious, and a much more fitting end than vampires to a story about humans vs aliens. You wanted vampires, introduce them early

Gosh.

#spoilers #out of the dark #david weber #humans are space orcs #humans are space wolves #book review #military #islamophobia #steryotyping #bio-weapons #Aliens #survivalism #tw child death

[whimsicalwhespir]

another asmp question dump!

Favorite asmp character design?

2. Favorite character arc that you’ve made?

3. Favorite character arc that someone else has made?

4. Favorite symbolism arc/design/fight/etc?

These question dumps are super fun so I’m keep throwing em at you (anonymously) >:D

1. Oo that's a tough one oh gosh. Arthur, Sabrina, s2 Nagalie, Frogs, Bill (yes, I'm biased) and Arty are probably my personal favorites but everyone's designs are fantastic and have a bunch of thought behind them!

2. Whesp's anti-government stuff!! The whole thing was never planned and it was cool to see where the improv took me! Blowing things up and being seen as a real threat was quite fun and hopefully I can fall into some sort of villain role in the future, its incredibly fun if you can get it right!

3. Bill, Seek, Jupy and Double absolutely.

Bill's because he was very goofy but was an incredibly intimidating villain all the same. He actually joined the server and then didn't make an appearance for weeks because he wanted to flesh his character out.

Seek because I actually helped come up with his story and we had SO MUCH planned that we weren't able to do but the things that did come out were amazing.

Jupy because the shock factor of the "Captain is Jupy" reveal was so jarring even when I knew beforehand and literally everything about Jupy lore is cool as hell.

Double because their story was thought out beginning to end and was super well put together and executed!

Also I was there for a majority of the behind the scenes stuff for these three so I know a lot of things that the community doesn't which makes me appreciate their characters even more :D

4. Ohoho I know my favorites but they're yet to be completely explained so I'm gonna refrain from sharing <3

#wow an ask! #asmp #artist smp #im enjoying answering em! #SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG LMAOO #IM PASSIONATE ABOUT MY FRIENDS' STUFF #honestly i could rant about their stories all day #i may be a member but im always gonna be the number one fan of asmp

[wickedscribbles]

John anon here, your story was amazing and I loved it, thank you so so much!!!

Funnily enough, I’m demisexual myself! I dont at all want to sound rude or nitpicky with this btw omg, and keep in mind demi people can be different, but here’s some things that I experience as a demi person if you wanted to get a better sense of writing a demi reader

Might be because I’m bi but I personally don’t care if it’s penetrative or not, sex is still sex even if it’s only oral. For me, losing your virginity is more about the act of being sexually intimate in any setting (I’m not trying to be like “omg June you wrote in that they had been intimate before how dare you terrible job!!!!!!111!!!” quite the opposite, it was lovely to read and I enjoyed it immensely! And hey, this particular reader may be different than me in terms of how she views virginity)

But yeah, great job and I was super stoked when I heard you made the reader demi. Even if I personally don’t consider it ace or anything like that, it’s still super cool to be written out and have it explicitly stated, lots of love :]

Oh gosh I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And what a coincidence that you are demisexual as well. 

No that’s definitely not rude to say. I value your insight! When I was writing it I was curious as to whether or not doing things beforehand would be something someone who considered themselves demi would do, or if it depended on the individual, etc. 

Thanks for the kind words -- I was super nervous to write John for the first time, but it ended up being very fun to do 💖💖

#wicked answers

[the-firebird69]

So these groups are fighting and drinking every law in the book and getting pulled in for it. But what they were doing to Lily was just harassment and they're doing it to our son. So we're going to play with them in a big way all over the world let them know they're going to die I'm sending the orders now and why

Thor Freya

It's the only thing that gets your attention Trump and I've got your attention and I'm decimating your forces it's just much too big and you can't see it you have a small narrow-minded Outlook so I'm having my Army do it now and I didn't come up with it and my wife and Thor and Freya and then acting it now and you're going to hate it because it's how you treat people and I have seen a lot of satanists who treat people badly but you people are a stinking heap of s*** you go around bothering people expect them to leave you alone you go on harassing people and don't expect anything back when it comes back you dismiss it until they actually kill you fully now there's nothing really wrong with that right now because we're using it it's just a gosh darned annoying

Zues Hera

What's odd is you send it out and all sorts of people pick it up he says yes that's cover and they go on wackiness is correct it's been happening a little he says no revenge for how he's talking to us and that's another reason why we whack you he says and we kill you before you can get revenge because you're not here to get revenge on me and to cause it to happen after years and years of harassment you're going to prison you're going to jail until you die there because you're violating your people's rules and laws and your violating hours you're not getting anything out of it you're just a suck bag well it says that and it's true and they're all killing us and we should probably shut up and just get killed that's true as we really suck at what we're doing and it hasn't done anything and we're just telling everybody the story and riding and getting beat up and doesn't do anything for us sincerely it does nothing it says this s*** had kid of mine is influencing me and I believe it and it's wrong and it won't stop doing it and I'm already weakened and I'm doing things that are very stupid cuz Tommy f is having me do it and worst part is Dave is and it's his race and we're not bothering to go look for the most part and we're not trying to stop them or revive them ourselves somewhere to get the AI and we're hardly curious why they would go to Saturn I understand what you're saying what pieces of s*** we don't care about the matrix all these people are skinned alive I don't care about that for no reason it's extremely childish and people are bothering us today anyways cuz it's bja he says he has an army and he wants me to shut up and he says the goal is to go in and make it quiet and to do that you have to like wipe out a few areas of us I do understand what you're saying and Dave used to do it so now I'm kind of thinking about it he hits us personally we take huge huge hits and people want that not being fair to ourselves

Trump

The attacks and harassment on your clan will continue and two fruition until you're racist erased she can figure out all you want it's someone else is doing something and so on but I'm not a victim okay if I'm victimized we have to get up and over it and Olympus should be aware that we cannot allow it to happen

Zues Hera

We're going after you to s*** heads and the third one and the others and we're going to lay low and we're going to kill you in public just like they die in The pyramid shortly others of you will die beforehand like Dan will die and explosion and be burnt to death while the snake has him entangled and it's in Thailand and it's coming up pretty quick and he died several times in The sopranos and everyone sees it and everyone hates him and we hate him and he's right you can't be looked as being victimized and it's too much and we're going after them and we are sending the orders out now to eliminate their clan

Olympus

The max approved it more or less they didn't say no the last time we sent it out they can't stand them and there's ruining their plan and they're ruining everyone else's because they're blasphemes they want to prove us doing it but they are saying others should do it before we do

[genuinenoprize]

covid is not going anywhere ma'am, nobody is going to put their lives on hold for the rest of their lives. i spent three entire years not doing anything, not going anywhere besides work and home, and i wanted to die the whole time. we are way way past the point of being able to eradicate this because so many people don't care. working a job with a lot of people younger than me made me realize that these kids just do not care if they kill someone or not. I am the ONLY person who works there who still wears a mask everyday and uses gloves to make the food. it makes me sick to my stomach, but I can't just never do anything I want to do ever again because of these people. I do frequent covid testing and if I ever contract covid at a concert, I will just immediately quarantine myself and no one else will get sick. but I'm not gonna be miserable for the rest of my life waiting for assholes to care about other people, it's not ever going to happen. and I am immunocompromised btw. sorry if this came off as rude, wasn't my intention. I just think it's an important conversation to have. the people going to two concerts a year are not your enemy, it's the people that go out every single night partying without being vaccinated, without covid testing beforehand, the people not wearing masks, it's the people that don't care. that's your enemy, not the overworked poor people just trying to find some joy in life before their disabilities get so bad they won't be able to anymore. I hope you have a great day, and please be safe out there we need to keep people like you around. sidenote: you're really pretty ❤

Thank you, I was mostly venting on that post because concerts and especially conventions seem like parties to me since I constantly hear stories of otherwise responsible people going to one, catching it, and saying "I'm not sure where I got it". (this post gets personal and heavy below, feel free to skip)

For my part, I spent over 20 years living in my room under my parents in functional quarantine, and then moved out when an Actual quarantine started. Let me tell you it is not easier when it's your entire life. Like the suicidal ideation of growing up has been replaced with constant threats from people who couldn't be damned to wash their hands occasionally or read the news once every couple of years.

It feels like those truly reckless, selfless, arrogant assholes who pretend like covid "is over" or never happened as an excuse to ignore any responsibility or safety have taken part of my future from me. So, I'm touchy about this.

Though in retrospect the most frustrating part for me was hearing people talk during the very beginning, when no one knew how long things would last. Parents saying "Oh my gosh am I going to have to spend a whole 3 months with my child!? Shoot me!". People bemoaning how they couldn't possibly go a whole 6 months without sex. "How do you even spend that much time when you're at home?" "But what about my Disneyland annual pass?". From the word go it felt like people were screaming that they couldn't possibly handle the authoritarian punishment of,,, one of Skye's summer vacations.

It was hard not to feel bitter, not at the opportunities I've lost because I never really felt like I had them. It was hard not to feel bitter at others for having unrecognizably different lives and seemingly scoffing at the idea that they might have to live like I did, even for a little while. Maybe the most frustrating part of hearing those comments was admitting to myself that, by their standard, my life had been a waste up until that point. That my "normal childhood" really was just one long traumatic incident.

At the time I felt smugly superior because all these people were announcing they couldn't handle my hardships but now? I'm mostly burnt out. I occasionally find that fire when someone is being truly reckless in public but, most of the time I'm just exhausted. Probably from long covid, because I was stupid enough to go christmas shopping for my wife.

I am trying to do better, both to myself and others. But it's hard knowing that some people would watch us die just to avoid an inconvenience. Not to mention, since I'm trans, I'm sure some of them would cheer.

Trying to go on after facing that has been a process for me.

All this to say, I appreciate your message, and I hope you have a great day too.

#personal post #vent #suicide tw #covid

[dreamwritesimagines]

Burn The Witch 2 - First Impressions [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support and feedback to the first chapter my loves ! ❤ Here’s chapter 2, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think! ❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Word Count: 2500

Warnings: Mentions of blood, sex, violence, death, manipulation, language.

Summary: First impressions can be wrong.

Chapter 1 

Being a spy for years had taught you to be able to tell whether a mission would be dangerous or not before they even sent you there.

For example, the mission they had put you on three years ago where you had to poison the target in a very crowded ballroom while pretending to be an artifacts expert was a dangerous one.

Or five years ago when you had quite literally brought a dagger into a gun fight in a storage unit, that was also quite dangerous.

But something told you that going after Bucky Barnes would be the most dangerous mission you’d ever had so far, and you weren’t even going to be engaged in a fight.

Instead you were expected to make him fall in love with you, which-

To be honest, engaging in a fight would’ve been much easier.

“This is unacceptable.” Your best friend paced in the empty conference room while you nibbled on the chocolate, keeping your eyes on your phone. “You should’ve said no.”

“I can’t say no, it’s a mission.”

“No, it’s my father treating you like a—like a—“ she threw her hands up, “Honey trap!”

You shrugged your shoulders, scrolling down on the screen but then looked up when she snapped her fingers in front of your eyes.

“Y/N!”

“Chloe if I nail this mission, I’ll get the position I want. I could be a handler next year, do you know how big that is?”

“You need to stop pretending like you’re fine with this.”

“You’re sending me the files tonight right?” you asked, ignoring her huff of impatience and she sat down, crossing her arms.

“Yes,” she said, “Everything there is to know about Bucky Barnes is in there, lots of things you could use. I gathered it myself. His past, his interests back then, what he has been doing since he got here, his favorite porn, his favorite musicians—“

“I’m sorry, what was that last one?”

“His favorite musicians?” she played dumb, grinning and you shifted your weight.

“You wouldn’t do that background check on me, would you?”

Her grin widened as she wiggled her brows, “Just so you know, you’re such a cliché.”

“Jesus Christ.” You slipped a little in your seat, your cheeks burning, “I hate you so much.”

“No you don’t,” she sang and you tried to focus on the screen, but the door to the conference room opened, gathering your attention. Your jaw dropped as soon as you saw the figure stepping inside and you jumped on your feet as Chloe gasped.

“Keith?”

Keith was the third member of your small friend group. He was a field agent just like you were, and for years you, Chloe and Keith had always had each other’s backs, in or outside of missions.

Back at the academy you were inseparable and it had been months since you had last seen him.

“Figured I’d find you two here,” he said, “I just followed the scent of despair.”

“I thought you were still in Prague!” You rushed to hug him and he ruffled your hair before you batted his hand away.

“I was but I got called in at 5 in the morning. General’s orders.”

“It was about time my father did something right.” Chloe came to kiss his cheek, making him grin, “Gosh, it’s so good to have you back!”

“Good to be back, gorgeous,” he lifted her up in a hug before setting her down as she squealed, “I missed you.”

Your jaw dropped when you saw the file in his hand, “Hold on. Is that what I think it is?”

“It could be,” he told you, “That is, if you’ll have me in your mission.”

“The best news I got since I landed.” You pumped your fist in the air “Yes! Yes I do want you in the mission!”

“So then,” he said as he sat beside you and put his feet up on the table while you leaned back, “Is what I heard true?”

“Yes and you need to tell her she’s being ridiculous,” Chloe motioned at you and Keith pursed his lips.

“I just thought we put this whole honey trap thing behind us back in 1950s.”

“Exactly!”

“Guys come on, if Accords pass—screw that, even if they don’t pass, think about how we can use Barnes.”

Keith clicked his tongue, tilting his head.

“Will we use him more than we’re using you right now?” he asked and you rolled your eyes, grabbing the file in his hand.

“Your alias is Whistler this time?”

“Yep,” he nodded, “General says yours is Shrike?”

“Mm hm.”

“Considering what this Barnes mission entails, I’m surprised he didn’t call you Swallow.”

You kicked at his boot and he let out a laugh, holding his hands up.

“What? That was the terminology back in the day for agents seducing people for the mission, wasn’t it? Raven for guys, swallow for girls.”

“Hilarious,” you deadpanned and Chloe sat on the table, still pouting.

“You’re both fine with this then?”

“Chloe, the guy was around in World War 2,” you said patiently, “If I don’t want to sleep with him, I’ll just tell him I’m waiting for marriage, it’s probably not a foreign concept for him, old times and all. Happy?”

She arched a brow, “If you say so,” she said, “But you know there are examples of undercover agents falling for their targets, right? Especially in situations like these.”

Keith chuckled, “Yeah, that’d make a great story for your grandchildren.”

“Except that I wouldn’t get to have those grandchildren because I’d be killed.”

“Don’t say that!”

“Just let me know beforehand if the Winter Soldier decides to make an honest woman out of you,” Keith said and you stuck your tongue out at him.

“Look at you, making jokes.”

“I’m a funny guy, thank you very much,” he said, “So what are we doing tonight?”

“Killing some Hydra scum,” you said, “There’s this gallery opening, apparently evil guys love art nowadays. Who knew?”

“You need a spotter?”

“Sure thing.”

“After you guys are done killing that target, can we hang out?” Chloe asked, “We need to catch up.”

“Only if I get to pick the movie,” Keith made a face, “I don’t trust your taste after the last time.”

“10 Things I Hate About You is a classic!”

“Do you want to hear the one thing I hate about you, Chloe? Spoiler, it’s your taste in movies.”

“Play nice, kids,” you said, skimming the lines on the screen and Chloe huffed.

“Fine. And after that, we can work on the seduction mission.”

“You’re in on that as well?” Keith asked and Chloe nodded.

“Duh.”

“Look at us, Charlie’s Angels is back.” Keith said, “Wait, does that mean General is Charlie?”

You supressed a laugh and shook your head fondly, looking at Keith.

“I missed you, asshole.”

“Missed you too, trouble.”

                                                       ***

Working for the division you did had its advantages, and it never stopped to surprise you how you could always get the newest gadgets before going on missions. Chloe had installed certain features into your “sniper costume” as she put it, and one of them was a ring that would call the nearby agents of your team to your location, and the other one was a ski mask that was both bulletproof and could change your voice.

“Batman does it, why not you?” she had said before making you try it.

“Shrike, ma’am?” Keith’s voice echoed in your ear and you adjusted your earpiece before checking the harness around your waist, just in case you needed to jump off the building. Your team was already in position if you were in any way compromised, and you started setting your sniper rifle.

“Since when do you call me ma’am?” you asked Keith and he chuckled.

“Since they put you in charge of a team.”

“Don’t listen to him, guys,” you said to the rest of the team and took a look at the city lights, taking a deep breath.

Rooftops were always peaceful, even when you were holding a sniper rifle.

“ETA of the target?”

“Two minutes.” Keith said and you pressed your lips together, pointing the rifle at the entrance of the gallery, looking through the scope.

“So I think I found a movie for tonight,” Keith said as you shook your head slightly, trying to focus.

“Later.”

“James Bond?” he asked, “We can take a shot every time the movie gets something wrong about being a spy. We’ll probably be hammered by the end of the night.”

“One minute, Shrike.” One of the agents said and you exhaled through your mouth, your finger on the trigger.

“No seriously, don’t you guys like James Bond? I think it’s because of that movie I chose this line of work, but—“ Keith was cut off when you pulled the earpiece out of your ear to have a moment of silence so that you could concentrate when the target arrived, but as soon as you grabbed the rifle again, you heard the familiar sound of someone racking the slide of a gun, followed by a calm voice.

“Easy there,” he said, “Put the rifle down.”

You cursed at yourself in your head, then withdrew your hands from the rifle. Your earpiece was off, meaning that no one in your team could hear you, and you checked whether you could grab the gun from him, but he wasn’t standing close enough.

Professional.

You held up your hands, then slowly turned to see who was threatening you before your heart dropped to your stomach.

Damn it.

This was definitely not the way you were supposed to meet Bucky Barnes.

Thankfully you were wearing a ski mask, so your identity wouldn’t be compromised and the next time you met him, you could pretend.

And he would be none the wiser.

You pressed on the ring Chloe had given you to alert the others, keeping your eyes on the barrel of the gun.

“I thought I saw a glimpse of a scope.”

“Congratulations,” you deadpanned, trying to stall so that your team could get there, “You want a watch as a prize? A refrigerator?”

He looked almost surprised at your snarky comment and you shrugged your shoulders.

“Listen, it’s my target. So if you want to kill him, too bad. I was here first, early bird and all that, shoo.”

Even you could see his confusion that lasted for a second and a small smile pulled at your lips.

“Ah. You don’t know who my target is.”

“I know I’m not going to let you kill someone in a pretty crowded gallery.”

“Even if it’s some Hydra scum?” you asked and he pulled back.

“What?”

You stole a look at the entrance of the gallery over your shoulder as the limo pulled over.

“Mm hm. You really shouldn’t be stopping me Barnes. We got this, you can go and play the superhero with Wilson.”

“You know who I am.”

“Everyone knows who you are,” you stated, making him pause for a moment.

“I didn’t catch your name.”

You tut tutted, “Don’t be greedy.”

“Well, how do I know you’re not lying about your target if you can’t even give me your name?”

“Why would I lie about my target?”

“So that I would let you shoot him.”

“Aw, you’re cute,” you taunted him, tilting your head, “But I don’t recall asking for your permission.”

He stared at you for a couple of seconds.

“Who are you?” he asked and you grinned as you heard the footsteps coming closer.

“Until next time, soldier.” You said as the team burst through the door, guns blazing. He turned around to point his gun at the agents, immediately taking cover as you picked up the rifle again.

It was time to get back to work.

You looked through the scope, found the target and pulled the trigger, blood splattering over the walls and chaos erupted over the street instantly, people screaming and running everywhere. You looked over your shoulder to see your team managing to keep Barnes busy with the constant gunshots, then you checked the harness around your waist again and jumped over the roof to land on top of the car waiting for you in the street. The rope went up to the roof as you unbuckled it and got into the car, pulling the ski mask off your face.

“You weren’t compromised, right?” Keith asked and you shook your head.

“I’m not an amateur,” you said as he stepped on the gas, the car breezing through the road. 

“You don’t look so happy,” Keith said after taking a look at you and you pursed your lips together, deep in thought.

“He didn’t take me hostage.”

“Hm?”

“When the team burst through the door and I turned around to kill the target. He’s a super soldier, he could’ve grabbed me, use me as a leverage to get out of there. That’s what I’d do but he didn’t attack me or the team, he took cover.”

“So?”

“Keith, it’s the fucking Winter Soldier we’re talking about. He can kill a team of agents in seconds, but I bet he just got out of there. Without hurting anyone.”

“Maybe he’s just a good person.” Keith chuckled and you slipped a little in the seat, biting at your fingernails.

“I guess.”

“Would it be so bad?”

“It would make no difference,” you muttered, keeping your eyes on the city lights, “Good person or not, he’s my mission.”

“Clearly, but aren’t you going to feel just a little guilty if he ends up being a good guy?”

You scoffed a laugh and turned to him.

“I’m no use to anyone if I develop a guilty conscience,” you stated, “Much less to myself. You know that.”

A silence fell upon the car before he heaved a sigh.

“Listen, Chloe has a point as always,” he said, “These kind of missions are hard, okay? The longer you’re playing your part, the easier it will be to believe it. Feelings get involved, there are bunch of agents who ended up hesitating when it was time to bring their target in, so if you—“

“I won’t hesitate.”

“Y/N.”

“I won’t hesitate,” you repeated, “I swear. The minute this mission is over, I’ll bring him in. Orders are orders.”

Keith let out a whistle, “If you say so.”

You bit inside your cheek and leaned your head on the window, fixing your gaze outside.

“Considering the lack of alternatives,” you rasped out, “Yeah. Yeah I do say so.”  

Chapter 3 

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes #the winter soldier #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes imagines #bucky barnes x you

[1plus1kiyoomi]

Chapter 6: Fight or Flght Response

[prev] [next]

[masterlist]

——————————————————————————

warnings: mentions of sex and pretty much a toxic relationship

Morning comes and Kuroo wakes up with a headache. Eyes still closed, he taps on the other side of the bed, his hands looking for your body. “Love?” He groans. “Love, can you bring me some medication? My head hurts.”

Kuroo falls asleep once again and then wakes up an hour later. He sits up, his head ringing. “(Y/N)? Love?” He leaves the bed and doesn’t feel any presence of you in the house. “Oh, it’s 9AM. She must be at work already.”

Well, Kuroo’s not wrong. You are at your office but you aren’t working. You’re weeping at your table because you can’t seem to get rid of Kuroo’s words to his friends.

“So (Y/N) and I are trying to work our marriage out for a year, and she’s taking it way too seriously. While I can’t even look at her face! She messages me all the time about where I am, what I’m doing and all of that. She begs me to go on dates and nags at me if I miss it. I want to tell her off sometimes, but she’s a really good fuck. Like she’s amazing in bed and she lets me have it anytime so yeah. I guess it’s worth to stay.”

It keeps repeating in your head like a broken track. And your tears run down your cheeks and you know it won’t stop for a while. You stand from your desk and move to the little bedroom that is in your office. You lay on the bed and bury your face on the pillow.

The moment you heard his words come of his lips last night, you wanted to slap him hard, beat him up, tear his hair off his head, but you couldn’t. You were glued on the wooden floor of Kenma’s house, not able to believe Kuroo could say that. Your heart shattered into pieces that couldn’t be even counted.

But still, you went home with him. Even slept with him.

If your friends, especially Iwaizumi, find out about this, they’ll definitely tell you to leave him. No excuses. And you don’t want to leave Kuroo.

“Where did I go wrong? Is it because I’m ugly?” You take your phone out and open the camera app. “Very ugly right now. This is why he doesn’t want me to post anything about our relationship.”

Someone knocks on your office door so you wipe your tears quickly and open the Netflix app so you can pretend that you’ve been watching a sad movie this whole time.

“(Y/N)? The flowers are here,” Terushima says as he enters your office. “Why are you crying?”

Speaking of Terushima, he and Kuroo have become friends after their fight. When Kuroo picks you up sometimes and Terushima’s also there, you always find the two talking about hair. The blonde even goes to your place sometimes so he can style Kuroo’s hair. It’s their form of bonding so you really don’t have a say about it.

“This drama is just so sad,” you lie, showing him the screen of your phone that is playing a random sad movie.

“I didn’t know you were the type to cry cause of movies,” the blonde chuckles. “Anyways, fix yourself. Because we will be decorating a big function room starting this afternoon.”

“I almost forgot. The client wanted all real flowers right?” You sigh and sit up from your bed. ‘No time for crying. You’re a busy woman.’

“Yeah, so we have to make sure that the flowers will not wither tomorrow,” Terushima confirms.

You brush your issue with Kuroo under the rag and focus on your work instead.

Evening comes quickly and it’s finally time for your team to set up at the function hall. You had to wait until late evening to start since there was an event beforehand. The bestman of the wedding, Yuta, joined your team as the supervisor.

While you are setting up on the stage, you can feel your workmates throwing weird looks at you. “What?” You raise an eyebrow at them and one of your colleagues walks up to you.

“The best man has been staring at you ever since we got her,” she whispers with a teasing smirk. You roll your eyes at her and brush it off.

It’s always like this. At every event, your colleagues ships you with every best man or groomsman that shows interest towards you. They don’t know you’re actually married and think you’re single so they tease you. In hopes that you finally get to plan your own wedding. Sadly, you already are married and no wedding will take place.

You take a glance at the said man and he is staring at you, but not in a creepy way. As soon as you make eye contact, he smiles at you. You swear your heart skips a beat but at the same time you will never admit that it did.

“Miss (L/N)?” Yuta calls you out of nowhere. Surprised by his sudden presence, you fall on the ladder you are on and land on top of him.

‘What in the drama is this?!’

“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” You push yourself off of the man quickly and bow repeatedly.

“It’s alright! It’s my fault for surprising you.” Yuta stands up as well and when your eyes meet, you burst into laughter. “You’re much prettier up close.”

“So you’re the straightforward type, huh?” You let out a chuckle and he smirks at you. “I thought you’d be a shy one since you have been just staring until now.”

“Well, since you think I’m the straightforward type, let me ask you. Are you single?” Yuta smiles at you shyly this time and you feel your cheeks burn hot.

‘You’re married, (Y/N)! Don’t even think about flirting back.’ You mentally scold yourself and look away from the man beside you. “Find out yourself.”

The glamorous wedding finally ends and it was one of the best weddings you have every coordinated. The couple is so in love with each other and they are surrounded by supportive family and friends. The guests were very uplifting and fun in general. You even made friends with some of the guests and have gotten closer to Yuta.

“Thank you for planning our wedding. This is such a dream come true!” The bride thanks you with a bow. You bow back and say your thanks as well. “And Yuta’s a good boy.” The bride winks at you before she and groom leaves.

“(Y/N)!” Speaking of the devil.

“Yuta!” You wave at him. He runs towards you and pants when he’s finally in front with you. “Can I help you with something?”

“Do you have a drive home?” He asks you so you shake your head no. You’re just being honest. “Can I drive you to your place?”

“My place is just a 10-minute walk from here, so it’s okay,” you reply. You check the time and it’s already past midnight. “I have to go now. It’s really late. Bye!”

“I’ll walk with you!” Yuta offers. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“Okay, then. Whatever makes you sleep at night,” you joke and he just laughs.

The two of you walk home and Yuta shares random stories about his childhood. You like it. You like how he is open to you without you trying. You like how he’s initiating first. You like how gentle he is when he is talking to you. You like how he softly calls your name. You like how he’s not hiding that he’s interested in you. But you hate how you want Kuroo to be like that towards you. You hate how you’re still thinking about him.

Kuroo’s words come crashing into your mind again and you badly want to take Yuta’s hand and ask him to bring you home. But your mind is also telling you to come home quickly to Kuroo, even if you know he won’t be waiting for you.

“I’m here!” You say as you arrive in front of your condominium building. “Thank you for walking me.”

“No problem.” Yuta scratches the back of his neck. A change of demeanor happens, and Yuta becomes shy. “Can I get your number? I want to tak-”

“(Y/N)!”

Your world freezes as you hear Kuroo’s voice. It’s 1AM. Why the hell is he outside your building as well? You turn your head see him glaring at you with his arms crossed.

‘What do I do? Kuroo might misunderstand! And I can’t tell Yuta that Kuroo is my husband because he wants to keep our relationship a secret. Oh my gosh! What to do?’

You’re panicking. Your whole system is. You can feel your fingers tremble. Kuroo is walking towards the two of you and is already so close but you still don’t know what to do and say. The particles in your container are bouncing on the walls of your space rapidly because of pressure, and it’s making your mind go blank. Your fight or flight response is not functioning well.

Kuroo has been waiting for you at your building’s lobby since 10PM. He was waiting for your message about him picking you up at the hotel, but clearly you forgot about that. He thought you forgot because of fatigue but clearly that’s not the case.

Especially now that a man he has never seen before walked you back to your place.

“Who’s this?” Yuta and Kuroo ask in unison. Yuta glares at Kuroo, not liking how provocative the guy looks. Your husband raises an eyebrow at Yuta, his feline-like eyes glaring back at the unfamiliar guy.

“Kuroo, this is my friend Yuta,” you start to introduce but they aren’t even listening to you. They’re in this staring contest you don’t know about.

“And Yuta, this is Kuroo, my brother.”

——————————————————————————

Facts:

Your reactions when you are nervous are driven by the production of hormones and equip us to fight or escape from situations that are dangerous or threatening. This is known as the fight or flight response.

Nervousness can cause stuttering and rambling.

Anxiety may be partly genetic.

People who are anxious are quicker to pick up on changes in facial expressions than those who are but they are less accurate. Thus, it causes misunderstandings.

Taglist: @postsfromthe6 @elianetsantana @chaelysian @kiyobbie @lilxstan @moonlightaangel @oh-hey-its-a-simp @kellesvt @lifeisnotdiajoubu @starry-magicshop @stantalentstanunderratedgroups @mint-mai @torilovestowrite @faithmoonxd @agaashesmilktea @birdiewolf @yeibuub @maitenight @ashhhh26 @kageyamasgirl @tnu-ree @avatarkyoshithewarrior @kurokawa-aida @dabisdominion @chanayah @sevenseoul @marissaraeblr @amlnadya @weebintheinternet @shizukusimp @madmelle @soullesstaco @merrdlp @kouholic @kiyoomi-channie @kageyuh @kaachanultra @sabzhabib @134340-cm @toripersonalacc​ @itsimjaebeomsforehead @todobruhski  @graykageyama @coconut-dreamz @rienin @dawnsbaby @kagebunshiin  @heavenini @d-efend

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu smau #haikyuu series #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo tetsuro smau #kuroo tetsuro fanfiction #kuroo x reader #kuroo smau #kuroo x y/n #kuroo x you

[evanpeterssource]

Evan Peters and Billie Lourd Discuss the Art of Dying Onscreen

BILLIE LOURD: Let me set the scene for you: I’m sitting outside my house in my never-washed car, because that’s the only silent place in my home, and it’s not even in my home. I have a wireless breast pump with me, so if you hear a weird sound, that’s what that is.

PETERS: I’m in my bedroom, currently in my PJs. I worked a night shoot last night and am doing a night shoot again tonight. So, I’m drinking coffee and trying to wake up and get back into it.\

LOURD: I know how that goes. My hands are on my temples for you. Okay, Ev, I’m fucking obsessed with Mare of Easttown. I do not watch any shows because if I ever have free time, it’s usually spent napping or just lying in a silent room. But I failed all my nap times with watching this show. You’re a fucking genius.

PETERS: Thanks Billie. I appreciate it.

LOURD: Tell me the story of how it all came to be.

PETERS: They sent me the script and it said that Kate Winslet was going to be the lead, and that it was an HBO crime drama. So I was like, dude, I’ve got to really work on this one. I did the self-tape thing, so it was super awkward and weird.

LOURD: It was a self-tape? Wow.

PETERS: Yeah, I sent that in, and then the director and writer and showrunner were like, “You want to have some lunch?” And I was like, “They’re going to tell me to redo the tape, I know it.” And then they offered me the part, thankfully.

LOURD: That’s when you know you’re a really good actor, is when you get a part off a self-tape. I’ve never done that.

PETERS: Oh come on, you’re a great actress. You can do that single-tear thing.

LOURD: I do have a single-tear thing!

PETERS: That’s incredibly hard to do.

LOURD: Only when there’s a promise of bratwurst at Krafty’s will I do a single tear. What was the scene that you had to tape?

PETERS: The earlier scenes, where I’m coming in and meeting Mare and she just does not want me there at all.

LOURD: I was going to say, if you had to do that drunk scene, or the breakdown scene, that would be a nightmare. Did you know you were going to die? How did that make you feel? I’m a therapist now.

PETERS: It was a little stressful trying to navigate that. You had a finite amount of time to cram in all this stuff. Because you knew how it was going to go, and you wanted it to have an interesting arc, but… poor Zabes.

LOURD: Dude, it was fucking devastating. Zabel is so sweet, and you’re like, “No, he was on such a fucking upswing!” You’ve gotten shot in the head a couple of times now, which is pretty rare for an actor.

PETERS: Yeah, he’s got to work on that quick draw. But it was a cool scene to shoot. We kind of stretched out time and it was like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where it was a stare-down, and you’re like, “God, this feels like a really long time to be staring at people.” But Craig, the director, was like, “We’ll edit it. It’ll look good.” And nowadays, everything’s CGI, so back in the day they probably would have used blanks to help with that, but it was just a click. Or the other actor going, “Bang!” and all of a sudden you would have to get shot in the head. And you’re like, “What are we, 12, playing with guns?” It was such an awesome set that they built. They found this property that was like an abandoned bar, with a house on the back. And then set dressing came in and made it that amazing, creepy, disheveled, messed-up house that it was. So it was really cool to be in there and feel like, “Oh my God, we got the guy.”

LOURD: It’s amazing to watch you piece it together and look at each other and hear the pipe banging. It’s so suspenseful. We’ve got to talk about Kate. Can I call her Kate? Should I call her Kate Winslet? She’s so fucking magical. What was that like working with her.

PETERS: I was pretty terrified and nervous and stressed out before meeting her. I’m such a huge fan, and she’s one of the best actresses of all time. But she was so warm and down-to-earth and immediately disarming. What’s really cool is that she’s very collaborative. I thought she was going to be like, “Nope, I’m right. You’re all wrong.” You know, because she’s brilliant. But she was very open to new ideas and exploring things. I found that really reassuring, and surprising, since she’s set at such a high caliber.

LOURD: That’s so cool to hear. I feel like every actor’s dream is to get to work with her. Did you stay in your accents all the time? I always wonder that when people do accents.

PETERS: I was in it the whole time. I’m not good enough of an actor to be able to pop in and out of it. Somebody on set said there are different levels. There’s the learning it, there’s the “I have to stay in it,” and then there’s, “I’m so good that I can pop in and out of it.” Kate was that. She was incredibly English throughout the whole thing. Like [in British accent], “Oh, hi, Zabes. How are you doing babes? You good? Everything good? Okay, great.” And then she’d be like [in Philadelphia accent], “Let’s go get a hoagie. Let’s go down to the shore and check out the store.” I was just like, oh my god. How do you do that?

LOURD: That is so trippy. I don’t think I could do that.

PETERS: No, I could not do that. She’s really impressive that way.

LOURD: What was your favorite scene to do with Kate? I have to stop calling her that. Lady Winslet?

PETERS: There were so many. The bar scene was pretty awesome because it was so improvised.

LOURD: Oh, really?

PETERS: Yeah, it was just kind of fun to be at a bar with Lady Winslet.

LOURD: That’s my dream.

PETERS: But there was another scene that I really liked too: When I first got in the car, and I’m like, “Hey, are we carpooling?” And she’s like, “Ugh, this fucking guy.” And then I get in the car and she slams on the gas and I almost smoke my head. I thought that was really fun because it was one of the earlier scenes that we shot, and it set the tone for how much Mare was annoyed at Zabel being there.

LOURD: How did you do the bar scene? Are you allowed to get drunk?

PETERS: No, you can’t get drunk unfortunately. But I would say I’ve done a ton of research over the years. You know, at a couple of your birthday parties.

LOURD: Would you rather do a death scene or a killing scene?

PETERS: Oh, that’s a hard question. It really depends on how you’re killing or dying. Dying is such a challenge, as an actor.

LOURD: I don’t like dying.

PETERS: It’s so hard. It’s like, how do you do it? And does this look believable? Can they see me breathing? It really depends on how you’re getting killed as well. There’s so many questions and so many ifs.

LOURD: Killing me in American Horror Story was such a laugh. I hope they put in parentheses, “She said sarcastically.”

PETERS: Yeah, that was a pretty horrific day.

LOURD: That was a rough one. I’ve watched it back and I can definitely see myself breathing. And the eyes are so hard, like to actually keep your eyes open. I feel like I’ve made the decision to close my eyes. Do you do open-eye or closed-eye deaths?

PETERS: I like to do a little halfsies—a little open, a little closed.

LOURD: I like it. Split the difference. Have you been on the streets since Zabel died? Do people come up and hug you and thank god that you’re actually alive?

PETERS: No. I’ve gotten some text messages that were like, “Sorry, man. You’ve got to work on that quick-draw.” I’m super stoked that people like the show.

LOURD: It’s one of those shows that’s now part of the zeitgeist. Even my baby loves it. How long did it take to shoot?

PETERS: Gosh, we started in October 2019, and then I was supposed to be done at the beginning of March 2020. I had about two or three weeks left. Then the pandemic hit and they punted it to September. I was like, “Oh man, I’ve got to keep learning this accent for six months.”

LOURD: And not eat all the double doubles in sight. You had to keep that accent and keep that bod.

PETERS: Yeah, it was a challenge.

LOURD: What do you think would have happened with Mare and Zabel if Zabel didn’t die? It’s a real thinker.

PETERS: Ooh, that is a real thinker. I think they would have gone on a few more dates and then Mare probably would’ve realized that Zabel’s not the one. Zabel would have been devastated again.

LOURD: I think they could have had a shotgun wedding in Vegas and lived happily ever after. It could have been great.

PETERS: I like that for Zabel. That sounds good.

LOURD: Do you think you would have moved to Easttown or would he have gone back?

PETERS: I think he definitely would have had to move out of his mom’s place. For sure that would have been step number one.

LOURD: Were you sad when he died or did you think that this was the perfect ending for him?

PETERS: I thought it was an interesting ending to the character. He kind of came in, and then it was so shocking, but that’s the way death is in real life. You’re never really expecting it, and then it happens.

LOURD: It’s amazing you got to know the whole arc of the character before you played him.

PETERS: Yeah, it’s rare to get all the episodes beforehand. You make a choice in episode two and then you get to episode seven and you’re like, “Oh wait, that was totally wrong, what I did in episode two… Can we go back and reshoot that?” And they’re like, “No.”

LOURD: Did knowing the ending affect how you played him? He was so lovable anyway, but did knowing he was going to die make you play him even more lovably, if that’s a word?

PETERS: Yeah, that did play into it. There was talk about making him a little bit more arrogant and cocky. But I thought, when he dies, it’d be more tragic if he wasn’t that. So we tried to make him a little bit bumbling and not as good of a detective and really trying. We wanted it to be as shocking and sad as we could.

LOURD: Did you do any actor-y stuff? Like, a cologne you wore? Or did you wear a special hat?

PETERS: That’s so funny. I wish I wore a special hat to work every day , like an old-school 1940s detective hat. I did always have my coffee mug. There was a little bit of a Zabel-mug thing going on. And there were rituals. I would write in the mornings and try to get into it, stuff like that. But god, I wish I wore a hat.

LOURD: We should incorporate that into our future careers, to make sure we have a hat for every role we play. And then you could have a case at your house of all the hats you wore.

PETERS: That’s so goddamn funny.

LOURD: People are going to be like, “Billie Lourd is a psychopath.”

PETERS: Oh, you know what I did do? I wore a cross. You can’t see it, but when he died, I wanted you to see the cross on his neck. He’s got this weird thing with religion where he was raised religious, but then being in the line of work that he’s in and seeing all this death and awfulness, you start to question that. And then his mom is very religious. So I wanted him to be, underneath it all, a little bit religious and hopeful and needing the protection of god when he went out into the field.

LOURD: That’s way better than a hat.

#evan peters #billie lourd #interview #mare of easttown spoilers #txt #ours #extraordinaryxmen

[ask-runaan-anything]

Runaan@NYCC 2021 AU headcanons

If Runaan actually attended in person with the characters voiced by the VA's who will attend: gosh the muns got self-indulgent, this is long

Runaan leaves home for NYCC 2021 and sends Ethari a single Pleading Face emoji every time he thinks of him

Ethari gets 2472496 Pleading Face emojis while Runaan is away

Runaan brings his favourite book(s) with him to keep him company and also for Serotonin

Rayla mentions this to Callum

Runaan is all WHy did you Tell the HUMAN

but Callum did the exact same thing

Runaan is unexpectedly supported and he's not sure he likes it

they also make a plan for what he (and Rayla) can do if he ever gets very overwhelmed

Ethari@Rayla: Rule #1 is, do not let him shoot anyone

Rayla; *very serious nod*

he rehearses what he'll say at the panel beforehand, using flash cards

and some of the cards say things like "Thank you" bc Ethari worries he'll forget

Ethari color coding the flash cards for "Social" and "Informational" so Runaan can flip through them if he's put on the spot

he also asks Ethari what he can mention about him+what's off limits bc he doesn’t want to make Ethari feel exposed or anything

Runaan: please don't have a Q&A section please don't have a Q&A section please don't have a

host: so let's open it up for a little Q&A now-

Runaan, internally: *bleep*

Under the table he starts flicking through his flash cards

he doesn't realize there's no tablecloth and everyone can see him do it

he watches the recording of it later to find all his faults but Rayla sits right next to him and she's all, "Yes yes they saw you and guess what, no one assassinated you over it, it's okay!"

Runaan goes Soft™

it's like he can feel Ethari there with him through Rayla's words

he has to thank her but words aren't his style so he offers to let her drag him out of the hotel for the first time that trip

ten steps outside and he has regretti

but he promised and his honor is at stake now so he keeps going

Rayla takes him to a bookstore

its slightly outside his comfort zone but it's quiet, and the city streets are so noisy

Ethari texted her a list of recharge spots, and one was a bookstore, with a reading nook, so she takes him there and they curl up on pillows and hammocks for a while

Another time they go out to a coffee shop at 3am

Runaan sends Ethari a Pleading Face emoji

Ethari replies with “!!” and “IT’S 3AM GO TO SLEEP YOU HAVE A PANEL IN THE MORNING”

Runaan just sends him another Pleading Face

Runaan has noise cancelling earshrooms if he needs them

Ethari wears them while he hammers

Ethari sends Runaan jokes to distract him just before his panels start

And Runaan lies down at night to talk to Ethari with his phone near his ear so it feels like back home when Ethari cuddles him

Ethari sending his own homemade "good luck" memes just before Runaan’s panel, so Runaan can fall back on showing them to the audience if he gets nervous, which he does, and they LOVE it, and Runaan is like, “I can see my husband has some support in the human lands, I'll be sure to tell him,” and the room cheers and Runaan is like "Aaaaa this is making me feel so seen but also yes, my husband deserves all the support"

Runaan sleeps surrounded by like 8 extra pillows in the bed so he can feel as snuggled as when Ethari's actually there

and one is Ethari's

Ethari lending Runaan his scarf bc it smells like him

and Runaan not only sleeps with it right near his nose but he wears it during the panel

Runaan wearing his serious face at the panel and answering hard or angsty questions, and the whole time he has earshrooms in and their lil stems are pokin out of his ears

If Runaan is here then all the other characters with VAs at NYCC are also here, so it’s a panel of actual characters

Viren using chopsticks to try and steal one of Runaan's earshrooms out of unbridled curiosity, and Runaan just. takes them away from him. without looking over. and slaps them on the table like. no, bad human, do not steal my earshrooms while I'm talking.

Claudia's flipping through a book but it's a recipe book and she's looking up mushroom soup

Ethari made Runaan an anti-dark magic charm so he's safe and no one can use it on him, so he feels safe attending the panel at all

someone asking about Lachir and Runaan just brightening

also pspsps that person is @hoothalcyon

Runaan goes off for ten minutes unprompted and uninterrupted about his moonstrider, it's about as animated and excited as anyone has ever seen him

Clauds over on the side making big heart eyes

she asks if he has a picture and he says yes and she bounces over to him and squeals loudly

Rayla texts Ethari just then and Ethari gets a FaceTime call going so everyone can see Lachir in person back home, because ofc she is fine and alive

and Lachir looks derpily at the camera like "wat dis"

She do the blep, sniffs camera, makes it smudgy

Ethari laughing and protesting off screen

the entire panel and audience is all "awwwwww"

Viren loudly demanding a cute pet so people will like him too

Runaan does a discreet lil happy stim and it's so discreet that barely anyone catches it except one or two ND's who are like aaaaa

Rayla slipping behind Viren and putting an adoraburr on his ear tho

"One cute pet, courtesy of Xadia! You've had your Adorapox vaccinations, right?" she chirps sassily

yes the pox look like adoraburrs

you are very contagious and very adorable

Janai, someone asks her about Amaya and she gets flustered and Runaan feels seen

audience question during the Q&A: Runaan, who would win in a fight between you and Janai?

Janai, immediately: Me.

Runaan: Her.

Janai flexes, literally

Runaan is happy to give her the spotlight, which is why he lied, bc ofc he thinks he could take her, he'd do it at night and he'd steal her sword first, obviously

nowhere in the question did it say "fair" fight

Amaya is in the audience and she keeps signing flirty things at Janai no matter how loud the room gets or who's asking who what, and Janai keeps getting more and more flustered and distracted

Runaan has one (1) moment where he's actually relieved his husband isn't there

Ethari would want to tease him so badly

Q: Runaan, are you a good dancer?

Runaan: I'm passable, with the right partner.

Q: So can you show us some moves?

Runaan, blushing: Distinctly not.

whistling and clapping ensue

Rayla jumps up and grabs Callum's hand and says, "I can show you some moves!"

and they dance very sweetly and cutely with some basic Moonshadow moves

and Runaan is like "I can't tell if this is worse"

Q: Runaan, how did your marriage proposal go?

Runaan, after a long flustered moment: ...Successfully. *taps his horn cuffs*

Q from someone wanting to know how to follow Runaan on social media: Runaan, you're amazing, where can we find you?

Runaan: The Silvergrove, but you can't actually-

Q: No I mean, what if we want to follow you?

Runaan: You'd need to know the key dance, and that's protected information. Also, stalking isn't nice.

Q: But you stalk people.

Runaan: *dramatic eyebrows* And it isn't nice.

Next Q: Has Ethari ever gotten hurt, and what did you do?

Runaan: *crushes water bottle*

Host: Okay another question then!

his answers would be really short if he did not feel comfy interacting, which is probably most of the time

Rayla took away Runaan's bowblade before the panel started

Runaan: but that's my emotional comfort trick weapon

Rayla: No. Ethari's Panel Rule #1. No stabbing or shooting people.

they pass a weapons display in the artist alley and someone made a replica of the Bloodborne bowblade and Runaan’s like, hm that looks familiar

Runaan wandering the con and talking to all the cosplayers with cool looking weaponry tho

he takes pics for Ethari

Runaan wandering the con and asking Runaan cosplayers, "So who are you supposed to be?" bc he genuinely doesn't know

he doesn't think he should be in the pictures for security reasons but he takes pix of Rayla posing with everyone dressed as Runaan

social media gets flooded with pix of his hair from the back though

#itssosoft trends on Twitter

Rayla sets up a pic where half a dozen happy fans get to brush Runaan's hair at the same time, and he's stuffing his face with moonberry surprise so he doesn't get nervous

it actually makes him look happy and social and Ethari is like HOW, HOW DID YOU MANAGE THIS, MAGIC

people shyly approach him and ask if he and Ethari can adopt them and he says yes

he ends up in a coffee shop zone with a couple dozen people gathered around and tells them the importance of found family in Moonshadow culture and he doesn't understand why they're all crying

Rayla teasing Runaan and telling him to tell a pirate story

Runaan is like, "Spoilers for Season 5"

some superfan nerd like mun tries to get him to admit how much he knows about Xadia and history and the show's plot, and he does that one line that all stabby people say. "I could tell you. But then I'd have to kill you."

he gets half a dozen volunteers and he is so concerned

Runaan, Protector of Secrets

Soren starts to spill about 14% of a secret and from across the entire con hall a green fletched arrow just zips by

Soren is like "You know what, never mind"

Cracky: Viren runs through the room looking for protection, and Runaan is like ugh fine who's after you this time, and Viren's all, "No one, my children are just being so silly and I just need a break for five minutes, can we please have a grownup conversation about something serious and angsty, please I’m actually begging you"

Runaan spots the adoraburr on Viren's ear and he's like, "Adoraburrs get lonely if they're alone," and he puts another one on Viren's other ear

and then a bunch more so they stack like a hairband and they're happier

Runaan just smirks and walks away

the adoraburrs start squeaking to each other and Viren is like, "Ugh, I preferred my children's terrible puns" and the adoraburrs get huffy and all hop down and abandon him

he does not in fact get adorapox because Viren believes in inoculation

some attendees would try to convince Runaan to "seek asylum" in NY and not return to Xadia or something, and he'd be like "But. Ethari."

they remind him that if he goes back he has to wait in a coin, and he doesn't get it

"Wdym. Ethari is there. Not here. I have to be there."

"BUT. COIN."

"BUT. ETHARI."

Rayla's like, I ain't Naruto running all the way back

She clicks a car fob and there's a *boop boop* noise

and this hovering coin like Tenser's Floating Disk shows up and they hop onto it and surf into the distance

Rayla shouts "SPOILERS FOR SEASON FOUR I KNOW WHO DIES AND IT’S-"

and Runaan is like "RAYLA DON'T MAKE ME HAVE TO SHOOT YOU, I COULDN'T DO IT LAST TIME AND I CAN'T DO IT NOW, DON'T GET ME IN TROUBLE I SWEAR TO THE M-"

talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, everyone hopes they come back next year too

#NYCC 2021 headcanons #runaan #ethari #rayla #moonfam #viren #claudia #soren #janai #amaya #tdp crack #this is so self indulgent and we do not apologize pls enjoy