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channeleven · 1 year

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LTA: Sonic Voice Actors

A/N: This is a remake of an old post I made on deviantArt a while back. Otherwise, I’d like to revisit an old topic for nostalgia sake.

No need for an elaborate introduction, no need to re-open old wounds. I’ve been on a Sonic binge lately, and one thing led to another. I’m gonna focus on the game actors, so nothing from the cartoons or the movies, save for some examples from Sonic X because those feature characters from the Adventure era. Let’s get into it.

Sonic

Let’s be real, in the late-2000s, Ryan Drummond was like Jesus to a lot of people, you’d think this would make me hate the guy to get some contrarian cred, but I don’t. He not only manages to nail Sonic’s character, along with the attitude the character’s games once had, but he has more range than anyone gives him credit for, he was once Knuckles, and he was Metal Sonic, with otherwise different takes and dictions. I respect Ryan a hell of a lot as an actor and I will always recognize him as the OG Sonic, I just wish he had better fans.

But Jason Griffith was also great, he just needed time to really own the role, and time he got. I’m not saying this out of incredibly late sympathy, he actually got very good, but even then I like how he gave Sonic a somewhat friendlier and dorky portrayal, gave the character some extra dimensions, sure he’s cool, but deep down he’s far from perfect. Not to mention, like Ryan, Jason also voiced three different characters with much different dictions, and he did it well.

Roger Craig Smith seems like he’s gonna be Sonic for a long time and sure, he seems happy enough about it, I don’t know about you, but I’m Rogered out. He fits the role, certainly, but given he has been Sonic for over a decade, I need a break. Thank you Ben Schwartz. There is also the matter of Roger’s take basically fitting into the Sonic games taking a more lighthearted turn, and yeah I can see that.

What makes me really gravitate more toward Ryan and Jason is that they had to develop their takes overtime. Ryan was the first Sonic actor when the games turned to acted cutscenes, and he had more to his credit so he had more time to really develop it. Jason had to brave backlash and hate, and he made the role his own, and both had otherwise light resumes. Roger was already a known voice actor, so beyond getting into the role, it was obviously not gonna be long. He’s a good fit for Sonic, but I don’t feel like he earned it.

Tails

Never hire child voice actors. I’m not saying this because children don’t turn out the best performances, okay I am, but Tails had to go through three voice actors in his initial acting days, that’s bound to eat up time and resources. The Bringas brothers and William Corkery are the own levels of bad, from flat line reads to, well, William Corkery, but hey he trucked on and got to appear in an episode of Drake and Josh.

Amy Palant, on the one hand, good on SEGA for putting their foot down and hiring adult women to voice kid characters, on the other, it’s a bit rough, but I could see improvement. It’s a hell of a lot better than William Corkery and that’s good enough for me.

Kate Higgins is the clear winner for me, basically offering a more polished take on Palant’s performance, but for some reason she got replaced by Colleen O’Shaugnessey, but she also does a good job too. So the moral of this story is to not rely on expendable actors, lest your name is Brian Peck.

Knuckles

This may be controversial, or not, but I’m gonna try to explain the best I can.

Knuckles also had three different actors during the Adventure era. He was voiced by Michael McGaharn in Sonic Adventure, then he left for some reason and was replaced by Ryan Drummond, then for some reason Scott Drier handled the rest from there.

People are otherwise in between on McGaharn, but I think he actually did the role well. I get back then Knuckles was a much different character, more chill or whatever, and McGaharn manages to capture that, and I can give him the benefit of the doubt of this being his first time voicing the character, and this being the first time we had voice acted characters in a Sonic game, well, a Sonic game officially published by SEGA. I feel like he can take the character anywhere, he has more range than people give him credit for. For instance, he played Ken in Detective Barbie: Mystery of the Carnival Caper, and played Ace Ventura in a PlayStation game, and each make use of unique vocals. I have faith he could go above and beyond.

Ryan Drummond didn’t do too bad of a job either, I’m able to distinguish his Knuckles voice from Sonic’s, and he can easily convey different emotions and tones. It’s too bad we only got to see his and McGaharn’s takes on one game, and for Ryan it’s an expenable party game, which may be a guilty pleasure like Shadow the Hedgehog for me.

...and then Scott Drier came in, and here’s the controversy.

Even to this day, people herald Scott Drier as the best Knuckles, or are at least vocal and... I don’t see it. I get the idea his voice suits the character, but, let me be blunt. He’s not a good voice actor, hell he has hardly voice acted in anything else beyond some Winnie the Pooh stuff. He comes off as grating to me, and he gives me no confidence he can go above and beyond the ultra chill diction. There’re scenes where it feels like he can easily punch up his lines, but he doesn’t. I’m not against Knuckles being chill, I just feel like Scott didn’t do the best job at it, perhaps he was screwed over by jumping into the role when the Adventure era was about to come to a close, but another actor had a similar fate, but when we get there.

Dan Green, yes, he makes Knuckles angry and shit, but it’s handled well, Dan Green is a more experienced voice actor, and if you told him to handle things calmly, I’m sure he could do it. Like Jason Griffith as Sonic, Dan had to adjust to the role, and admittedly, doing the Yu Gi Oh voice put him in a low ebb, but he made it his own by the end. You may not like the character he put on, but I don’t care, I feel like even if it’s a disservice to what Knuckles was, he gave a livelier take, put in more emotion, and this was before the character truly fell off.

Travis Willingham basically carried on Knuckles’ take from the 4Kids era, and he honored the lobotomy the character would take during the mid-2010s, but is it his fault? No, and he does a good job too.

So yes, I get why people like Scott, but god damn he was not destined to be a voice actor. Maybe if he was around during Sonic Adventure, he would have more time to develop the role, but as is, he doesn’t inspire me with confidence. Also, another interesting fact, he appeared in an episode of iCarly, iCook, among other roles in shows shot in San Diego. If Scott had proven himself elsewhere, could you let me know?

I think Dan is underrated, and he’s my pick for this.

Amy Rose

Jennifer Doulliard started out good, I’ll admit. I could imagine her voice fitting the character very well, she has spunk and she has heart. But I feel like over time she got worse. It really came crashing down in Sonic Heroes where she came off as a grating teenager, and her interest in Sonic became 90% of her character throughout the game. Talk about going backwards.

Lisa Ortiz wins. Short answer. Long answer, even if she uses a common voice for other characters she played on 4Kids dubs, admittedly it’s a perfect fit for Amy, going back to the balance Doulliard once had, and for whatever shit people throw at Sonic 06, I think she did okay in that game. She can be annoying, she can be great, that’s just what Amy Rose is all about.

Cindy Robinson has actually improved immensely as Amy, given her rough start back in her first year as the character. She can adapt to any situation emotionally, and once again, balance. Lisa was a great Amy Rose back in the day, but Cindy Robinson earned her reevaluation, and that’s worth some respect.

Cream the Rabbit

Sarah Wulfeck... suuuuuuuuuucks... I’m sorry. She only had one stint at Cream, in terms of games that allow for longer dialog, but she was really not ready for this, at all. She is annoying, and not particularly natural. For whatever shit I gave William Corkery, he was a kid at the time, Sarah Wulfeck is a grown woman. She doesn’t sell the character at all, and because of how late she got into it, it was gonna take a hell of a lot more for her to really adjust to the role. I mean, when it comes to brief lines, she does well there, so does Scott Drier, but the full dialog... you know what, I’m coming off as an asshole, let’s just move on.

Rebecca Honig may be considered annoying to some, but to me she’s not as annoying as Sarah. Simply put, her voice suits the character more, even if they overdo it on the cutesyness at times, but that’s what 4Kids were about, literalism.

But Rebecca walked so Michelle Ruff could run, akin to Kate Higgins as Tails, Michelle gives a refined spin on Rebecca’s take, she wins basically.

Big the Cat

No opinion on Kyle Herbert simply because I didn’t hear that much of his take.

This is gonna be quick, both Jon St. John and Oliver Wyman play into the stupid nature of the character, but I guess he wasn’t intended to be that stupid in Sonic Adventure. On the other hand, Oliver provides more personality and life to the character.

Jon’s Duke Nukem, he doesn’t need the win.

Shadow the Hedgehog

Remember how I said Scott Drier played Knuckles only twice when it came to the games? David Humphrey was dealt the same deck of cards, only this time it was a debut. Does this mean David’s take sucks? Hell no. It was rough in Sonic Adventure 2, but by Sonic Heroes he did it great, which is why I’m more disappointed in Scott.

That isn’t to say Jason Griffith doesn’t do a good job as well. Even when Jason was reviled for his take on Sonic, there were some people who really liked his take on the character, and hey, if people can accept a darker shadow, why can’t they accept an angry Knuckles, amirite? At worst this marks a backtrack on Shadow’s character development, but at best, it’s a good performance.

Kirk Thornton is to me what Jason Griffith was to people who probably hated his take on Shadow, or just see him as emo. That is all.

I’d call it a tie between Humphrey and Griffith.

Rouge the Bat

There is a lot to unpack with one of her actors, but let’s keep this in proper order.

Lani Minella is a voice director who already had a fair collection of video game credits to her name, for instance, she was Bubsy Bobcat, at one point. Lani also only had two opportunities to voice Rouge, and she did it very well, beyond the obvious adjustment she had to do in the first game. So good on her.

So Caren Manuel. How the hell can I justify this? Well, let me see if I can explain. 4Kids, or at the very least the union they hire tend to hold a literal mindset when it comes to dubbing, that is, to act out everything that occurs on screen in order to make it look natural. This would mean characters making noises when a character’s mouth is open for example.

This would also apply to certain characters, have a scrawny stache? Be French. Have a big hat? Be southern. 4Kids did what they did because to them, it made sense, and this is not referring to or justifying any censorship they have done.

Now what the hell am I telling you this for? Think of it like this, you work at 4Kids, you’re greeted by this bat character with big tits and a penchant for theft, and given that you’re conditioned to find voices that suit the character, what would you do?

The best way I can sum up Caren Manuel is that she did what was asked of her. They wanted her to do a deep seductive voice to a character that looks like a grown adult, the only problem is that this led to inconsistency. It’s honestly kinda sad, because Caren is capable of a wider range of voices, just look at her work on Winx Club. The performance, in a bubble, if this was the only voice Rouge would’ve had, it probably would’ve been received better. I can’t hate her, honestly I feel bad for her, she was forced into a role that didn’t do the character justice.

So... where do I stand with Karen Strassman? Well, her depiction marks a return to form for the character, so that’s well and good. It’s all her here.

E-123 Omega

I’m gonna switch things up and go a bit out of order. Three out of the four Omega actors I know about offer similar performances, so here’s the one.

Maddie Blaustein, take what I said about literalism and apply it here. It’s not good, and it’s kinda worse when you take into account we heard her in Sonic 06. That’s as much as I’m gonna say because, let’s not forget, Maddie passed away in 2008. Rest in peace.

That leaves Jon St. John, Jeff Kramer and Vic Mignogna, all three are quite consistent, so let’s do a little processing of elimination. Like Kyle Herbert’s Big the Cat, I never heard enough of Vic’s Omega, and especially after what happened to Vic, I doubt I’d hear him attempt the character any more. Jon and Jeff are almost exactly the same, but again, Jon is Duke Nukem, so I’ll give it to Jeff. For some more unneeded trivia, did you know that along with appearing in other SEGA games like NiGHTS, he was also Superman in that one game Rerez talked about.

Vector

I knocked Marc Biagi long ago, but I grew to like his take on Vector. I thought it was one note, but he offers a great balance between goofiness and gruffness, and how many times am I going to say great balance? While this wasn’t his first Sonic game, it was his first time playing Vector, and last time he played Gerald Robotnik, so he got range. Whoever I go with, I respect Marc greatly for demonstrating a good range.

Carter Cathcart, is an asshole. Too harsh? Let me try again. Carter Cathcart is an asshole who offered a lackluster performance as Vector. It feels like a more cartoony version of Biagi’s take, and given that it was heard the most prominently in Shadow the Hedgehog, I mean it added to the game’s unintentional hilarity. But why is he an asshole? Well you remember when 4Kids lost the dubbing rights of Pokemon to their brand owners? He joined the latter and basically fucked with people who complained about the lackluster performances in the initial new dub.

Keith Silverstein is basically a marriage between Carter’s goofy take and Marc’s more restrained one, it works, so good on him. He doesn’t strike me as the head of a struggling detective agency, but to be fair all Vector was in Sonic Generations, and Sonic Free Riders, was a cheerleader or just there.

Espio

I think they just wanted Bill Corkery so they could get free actors. He has some roles in other video games, persisting to this day, and I think that helped him bring out a decent performance.

Okay to sum up, Corkery, David Willis and Troy Baker have different approaches to that of a ninja character, and they all bring something unique to the table, Corkery goes for a contemporary performance, Willis’ is more restrained, while Baker is pretty distinct, and no I never heard much from Matthew Mercer in Sonic Forces.

I’m calling it a three way tie.

Charmy

I’m harsh on Tails’ kid actors, because Emily Corkey as Charmy outperforms them easily, and yet she did little to nothing else after this, and I can say the same for Colleen O’Shaugnessey who continues this.

Amy Birnbaum, she did good, but it’s clear her Max (Pokemon) voice bleeds in every now and again. Now yes, while Lisa Ortiz’s voice isn’t distinct, it suits the character and became its own. Perhaps Birnbaum’s Max was just too familiar to be associated with any other voice? I’d give it to Emily Corkery.

Since this ran short, here’s some trivia. Amy Birnbaum played the skeleton in the PC Game I Spy Spooky Mansion.

Silver

Perhaps unique in the 4Kids actor, as his voice in this period, Pete Capella, was not part of 4Kids. But otherwise I have nothing to say. Pete was dealt a bad hand debuting in the dead horse that is Sonic 06, but he got to play the character more in fan projects. Quinton Flynn is basically a perfect copy, so that’s good.

Blaze

I’m calling it a draw, both Bella Hudson and Lisa Bailey did the character justice.

Tikal

Elara Distler had a good voice but a not so good performance. Rebecca Honig had a good performance but the voice isn’t that good. I mean I can forgive a lackluster performance in Sonic Adventure (again, first Sonic game that used proper voice acting), but I’m a stickler for good performances.

Draw, call it a draw.

E-102 Gamma

Steve Broadie passed away in 2001, rest in peace. Basically he offered a prototypical Omega voice and did it well. But, did you know he, along with Marc Biagi, Elara Distler and the Bringas brothers all appeared in Frogger: The Great Quest?

Andrew Rannells returns to demonstrate 4Kids literalism, but he does a better robot voice than Maddie Blaustein, may she rest in peace. I find it a weird casting choice, but Andrew is capable of better, he was in the Book of Mormon one time.

Eggman

And obviously, Deem Bristow died in 2003. Which is a shame, because he was a great actor, giving Eggman a wide array of emotions, from a powerful evil disposition, to some over the top craziness that just adds layers upon layers of personality.

But there’s no denying Mike Pollock was also great. Sure his voice was heard with other characters, but he really made Eggman his own. Why else would SEGA be willing to keep him on to play Eggman in the games, and beyond?

So who is the Eggman in my opinion? Both of them, both are the Eggman, with the master plan, they are the Eggman.

And I never bothered with the Sonic Riders series so I have no opinion on the Babylon Rogues actors, I never heard much of their takes. Later.

#sonic the hedgehog

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badgirlcovenrep · 3 years

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omg chenrich prompts? hell yeah!! Okay so how about immediately after the council meeting? Steph taking Alex to the hospital because u KNOW its steph who takes her to get treated

As is expected I got a little carried away 😁

So this is a bit of a mix between chenrich in the hospital and medical grade painkillers Alex lol

Hope you enjoy!

No one could have prepared them for that community meeting. Steph shook all over just to think of Jed luring Alex into the woods. Of him leaving her for dead in some awful mining hole.

It made her so furious. Even hearing him cry, blabbering like a sad shadow of the man she'd known (the man that was all a charismatic lie, showmanship, to hide the disgusting truth) her anger, her hurt was too fresh for the girl to gather any sort of sadness for him.

"I'm sorry, Ryan," Alex repeats, standing at the bar with them.

Ryan is staring, speechless, at his father's crying shadow.

"I'm so sorry-" she tries to take a step forward, but her feet falter, and Alex nearly topples over to the ground, grunting in pain as Steph jumps to hold her elbow and help steady her into the floor once again.

"Fuck, Alex, you need a doctor." Steph insists. But Alex is looking at Ryan with so much concern that she can't get her to move.

"It's not your fault, okay?" Ryan finally speaks, breaking out of whatever haze he'd been in to look back at her, "It's not your fault. I just- need a moment to process all this. Go with Steph, you're hurt."

Alex finally looks at her then, and Steph can feel herself plead with her eyes - because she might not know a lot about these sorts of injuries but she's smart enough to know - just by the way she's swaying back and forth on unsteady feet - they probably have another minute, at most, before Alex collapses.

"You did it." Steph mumbles, voice filling with unbridled pride as well as urgency, touching down Alex's arm to hold her cold hand, "You did it, ok? You can settle down now."

Her brown eyes are hazy, blinking back to Steph with rapidly heavying eyelids.

"Good. That's- That's good." Alex slurs back, the last reminiscent of adrenaline leaking out of her body in a heavy huff, "very, very good-"

Steph barely has a second to process what is happening before Alex's body gives out. By some miracle, she's able to flip her arms around her shoulders just fast enough to stop her from falling to the ground.

****

Pike helps her take Alex to the local hospital before going back to deal with Jed's arrest.

It's a small hospital and probably has about ten rooms, but given that these sorts of things (bad things) rarely ever happen in Haven Springs, they're quickly given a private room, and Alex is just conscient enough (before she passes out from the painkillers) to tell the staff she could stay.

Steph doesn't think she would have left either way. Not without knowing Alex was alright, but it's good to have permission to sit by her as she fluttered in and out of drug-induced, heavy sleep.

The doctor had given her the run-down of the other girl's injuries. Five broken ribs, stage two trauma to the head - probable concussion to be assessed once she was more awake - a punctured lung, internal bleeding all around the ribcage, and a bullet wound to the shoulder.

She was an absolute mess of scars. A walking, breathing miracle.

Steph had heard the doctor talking to the police when she stepped out to get some snacks at the vending machines. "She should be dead." He said, with such conviction and surprise, it made her stomach turn.

Steph felt that she could do nothing but sit by Alex's sleeping form, slowly realizing that she was absolutely screwed. Because she already liked this girl way too much - and God, what a roller-coaster of emotion she'd been put on the last month - but how could she not? When Alex just waltzed into everyone's lives like this determined, selfless little light? When she was so obviously a rare soul, made of so much sweetness, and softness, and strength, Steph doubted she'd ever come across someone like her again?

Looking at the circumstances from the other side now, it seemed as inevitable as any of it.

"I can feel you thinking." Alex's voice startles her out of her thoughts. Steph looks up to meet her tired brown eyes, looking so soft and vulnerable without her glasses and surrounded by clean hospital sheets, "You've been broody lately."

Steph giggles, choking on her own emotion, "Guess I'm still mad about Jed." It's not a lie. She is upset. But there was a lot more than that, more about how her insides swelled with emotion when Alex looked at her - but she leaves it the way it is.

"I forgave him." She shrugs. And Steph knows she did, she was there after all, but that didn't mean the drummer was quite as ready herself.

"Well, I didn't." And maybe that makes her childish - resentful - but she can't take the image of him pointing a gun at Alex out of her head. The image of him pulling the trigger, sending her off to what could very well have been death - "at least you made him cry like a baby."

"Jerk." Alex smiles, eyes squinting back at her in humorous indignation before they slowly turn more vulnerable as she adjusts herself on the mattress, patting the empty space beside her body, "Can you- come lie down with me?"

There's nothing, truly, that Steph would have liked more. She would take any chance of being closer to Alex (and of getting off the uncomfortable hospital chair) but she was also still afraid - still scared something might go wrong and they'd lose her. "Are you sure? You're hurt."

"Please?" Alex pleads, blinking back at her with honest-to-God puppy eyes, even if still a little glassed-over from the amount of Vicodin they were pumping into her veins. For the umpteenth time in the past few days, Steph has even more confirmation that she is screwed.

Because, honestly, there's nothing Alex couldn't get her to do with just a slow blink of her brown eyes.

So she gets up and climbs into bed with her. It's incredibly tight for two people, and they are instantly pressed together as Alex scoots over the pillow so they can look at each other, alone in this hospital room that smelled like industrial-grade detergent.

Alex reaches forward and takes her cheeks between her palms, so very close Steph can't help but catalog all the cuts and bruises covering her face.

"You're so pretty." The girl says, finally, and Steph can hear the tiny slur in her voice. She's probably still drunk on a shit ton of medicine, but it does nothing to stop the drummer from blushing profusely, "you're, really, really pretty. Have I told you that?"

"Hm- yeah you sorta- do that when you're on painkillers." Steph comments, and her eyes can't help but fall to Alex's mouth.

She has a tiny cut on her lower lip, and Steph's fingers itch to touch it. To feel her skin again, like that night on the roof, when she felt so warm and tingly, like a live wire of electricity that could swallow Steph whole. For now, she holds her distance.

"But it's true." Alex pouts, "and you're really hot when you're protective too."

Now that- that was different from anything she'd said before. And when she looks up, the girl realizes Alex's eyes have turned to stare at Steph's lips too.

"Yeah?" She asks, a little too cocky given the situation, but oh well, you can't blame her for the swell of pride that takes over her chest.

"Yeah." Alex teases back, "Thank you. For taking care of me. For being mad at Jed for me- even if you can't do anything about it." Her tone turns sincere, and her eyes flutter everywhere but Steph's face, Alex's dead giveaway that she was trying to hold something back.

"Oh please, I'll rip his mustache off." Steph jokes, because it's her default strategy when she doesn't quite know what to do, "You have lost your right to upstanding citizen facial hair, sir!"

"Fuck, Steph, don't make me laugh." Alex says as a few stolen giggles escape her lips, creating ripples across her shattered chest that made her hiss with pain.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Steph apologizes, and on instinct, she leans closer to run her hands over Alex's arm in reassurance, holding the weight of her body above Alex with her elbow.

From this angle, they were even closer, and Steph was staring at her from above, watching Alex smile at her, head on the pillow and a half-lidded, humorous expression on her face.

"Oh, this is nothing. Just a few cuts compared to my fighting days." She jokes, and Steph's heart is filled with so much concern, so much love for this girl she can't help but fluster with anger.

"Shut up. You're gonna hurt yourself if you don't take it seriously." Steph says, "you're like, seriously hurt, Alex, you could have died."

Steph wants to ask, but Alex's free hand reaches forward and pulls her closer, fist tightening around the collar of her button-up shirt, and suddenly they are so close her hand shakes with the itch to touch her, "See? Protective Steph is so hot."

"I know. I'm sorry." Alex has the decency to look reprimanded, smoothing one hand over Steph's shoulder in a simple act that sends calming waves over Steph's flushed skin, "I'm okay. I promise" she's being sincere, Steph knows she is by the way she frowns slightly in concern. However, there's a quiet, teasing smile spreading across her face.

And Steph honestly used to think she was smooth.

She made girls blush by the minute. Awoke the bisexuality in at least a few of her drunk makeouts on the way from California to here. She used to be a real flirt, ready for anything a pretty girl could throw her way. But sitting here, with her torso half hovering over Alex Chen's body, her tongue feels heavy, and her brain can't conjure a single thing to offer in response.

It's at least a relief that she doesn't say anything, because a second later, Alex is smiling at her with her coy, knowing little smirk, and pulling her in for a kiss.

Steph is far too focused on not crushing her further, very deliberately placing her hands on both sides of her head to better hold her weight, but she still feels the strong, dizzying zap of electricity as Alex's lips touch hers, her lungs filling with liquid, warm waves of emotion.

And maybe, Steph thinks, it'd be fine if she never breathed air again.

#chenrich fanfic #send me chenrich prompts #i dare you #chenrich #alex chen #alex chen × steph gingrich #steph gingrich

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jonsa101 · 3 years

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Yes, There’s Only 14 Episodes in Season 3 But Sharpwin is On Track and Progressing How They’re Supposed To.

There has been so much talk about this season’s writing and the lack of Sharpwin scenes that I thought I would just address everything in this post.

First, the writing this season is NOT BAD! In my honest opinion I actually think this season has some of the best writing in the series. Compared to season two, the writing is head and shoulders above what we got last year. More than ever before we are diving into these characters stories, seeing friendships form, getting a better look into their home life and seeing secondary characters shine! This is a good thing! These were the things that were so desperately needed in season 2 but we didn’t see this play out. I’ve said this before in my infamous season 2 rant and I’ll say it again, a show can’t solely depend on a ship! It has to have great storytelling and good character development for all of it’s main characters. This is what New Amsterdam failed to do in season two and they’re now making it up for it in season 3. The only area I would say the storyline suffered was the Cassian, Helen and Max “love triangle.” There was definitely more intent with that plot before the pandemic. Cassian was not only supposed to be a catalyst for Jealous Max and Sharpwin but he was also supposed to come in and challenge the way Max did things. Cassian’s whole thing was self care first=great patient care which was the complete opposite of Max and the two of them were supposed to clash. Obviously this completely changed due to the pandemic. You can’t have a storyline about a doctor prioritizing himself first for “better patient care”in the midst of thousands of doctors globally throwing themselves on the frontlines and even loosing their lives to COVID-19. It would have been a terrible look to have that storyline so they clearly scrapped it! What we saw was probably them trying to salvage whatever was left from the original plot while they still had Daniel Dae Kim in the limited amount of episodes for season 3.

Apart from that, I think the writers are doing a fantastic job in terms of character development this season. Arguably I would say that Iggy probably has the best storyline so far and that’s incredible for his character. Tyler Labine is acting his ass off and Iggy’s scenes with Lauren, Vijay and Martin were top tier!!! We are finally getting a Max and Reynolds bromance that was teased in season one but literally know where to be found in season two! It’s great seeing them bond on screen and I hope we get more moments with these two. We’re also seeing Reynold’s “life plan” blow up in his face and we finally have some closure with Bloom. They kept us in limbo for so long! We didn’t know if him and Bloom were truly over but now we finally know. Also, it seems like he and Evie are officially done as well and he might have a new love interest on the horizon. For Lauren, she’s clearly seems to be having a coming out story which is something I didn’t see coming at all. I’m really curious how they’re going to play this out for her and can’t wait to see it unfold. Last but not least, for Max and Helen they are both going through massive character development phases which leads me to my second point.

I love a good Max and Helen scene as much as the next person. To me they’re the ultimate ship and I want to see them thrive and flourish but just because we don’t see Max and Helen interact doesn’t mean that the show isn’t properly developing or investing in their relationship!!!!!!!!The relationship between Max and Helen is so nuanced that their relationship doesn’t hang in the balance because they don’t have more witty, flirtatious, or emotional dialogue. Don’t get me wrong, I adore those moments. Those scenes between them make us the passionate sharwpin shippers we are. At the same time though, we have to truly take a look at why the state of their relationship is where its at now and why from a narrative perspective their current interactions make sense. In order to do this, we have to take a look at where Max and Helen left off last year.

At the end of season 2, Max made a move on Helen and almost kissed her in her office. After this moment occurred he never addressed it and at the time he was still dating Alice. There’s no doubt in my mind that this was the catalyst for why Helen started dating Cassian in the first place. She had practically laid her feelings out there and told Max he was the reason she gave up half of her department. After this revelation and the massive, intimate moment he initiated in her office, he didn’t even have the decency to address it. He swept it under the rug and wanted to keep the same relationship that he had with her like nothing ever happened. Even though Helen was aware about Alice, we now know from season 3 that Helen felt a type away that Max never “officially” told Helen that he was dating her. This is IMPORTANT!!! Max and Helen did not end on a high note in season 2. In fact, the very last scenes we see of season 2 is Helen blowing off Max to go on a date with Cassian and Max breaking off things with Alice. I know this wasn’t intentional due to the season being cut short but it definitely contributes to where they are now.

Fast forward a year later, and not only do we still have a massive almost kissed elephant in the room between Max and Helen but also the trauma of being on the frontlines of a pandemic and going through the biggest social justice movement the world has seen. This is something I’ve said many times over but I’m not sure the fandom recognizes how much these events have permanently altered these characters and changed the dynamics of this show. COVID-19 changed everything. The Black Live Matter Movement for the first time grabbed the attention of the world and changed everything too! Max and Helen are in the process of trying to heal and rebuild their lives the best they can as individuals after such a tumultuous year. At the same time, they are acutely aware of the feelings they have for each other and the UST between them and are carrying the weight of that as well. Naturally guys, the combination of all this is going to change most dynamics in a relationship. Things are awkward and distant because Max and Helen are awkward and distant!! They have a lot of shit that they’re going through as individuals and subconsciously as a “couple.” They are clearly not in a healthy place to be as vulnerable as they once were to each other. And how can they be when their feelings have literally been eating at them for over year?! It’s hard to ignore that and try to force yourself to go back to the way things were. Especially when their feelings have “technically” been out in the open since the end of season 2. They both know what it is! They were steps away from unleashing years of built up sexual tension between them and they went on with their lives like it never even happened. Max walking in on her and Cassian kissing in HER OFFICE and subsequently having that convo with Helen was not for shits and giggles. It triggered the BEAST of his feelings that he had fought so hard to suppress. There is no doubt in my mind that when he saw them in her office kissing, he was having some serious dejavu to their almost kissing affair last year. He‘s in love with her and she’s in love with him but this what happens when you continuously try and run away from those feelings and let it fester instead of trying to deal with it head on. The dynamic were seeing between them now is a result of their unresolved issues and it absolutely plays into Sharpwin’s story. It doesn’t take away from it. It makes sense for where they are NOW!

If we look at season three holistically, you’ll realize that a momentum for something significant happening for Sharpwin has been set through the acting and writing. I got to give it to Ryan Eggold. He has that fire and desire, Mr. Darcy type level acting down to a tee so far. It is so satisfying seeing Max so overcome with his feelings that you can tangibly see it in his body language and hear it in his voice. We have seen Max taken aback by Helen before but we have NEVER seen him like this. I keep on saying it but this is different guys. Something has shifted and it seems like Max is on the verge of exploding. His feeling are burning hot right underneath the surface and it’s a beautiful thing to behold. Last night’s episode was ripe with this type of content and Ryan was in his acting bag! It wasn’t an overtly “Sharpwin” episode but the writing and the acting is so clever and methodical, it will have you thinking otherwise. At the beginning of season 3 Max told Helen that he wants to build something better for Luna and something better for her. Was last night not a beautiful reflection of that? One question asking Max if he has ever loved a black woman put him in the shoes of his patient’s husband and had Max advocating for his wife like he would advocate for Helen if it was her! If that’s not fucking romantic I don’t know what it is and if the alarm bells aren’t going off that there is something deeper at play here with a huge payoff around the corner I don’t know what to tell you! Another moment that sticks out to me like a sore thumb is when Helen was telling Cassian that her brother died. I wrote about this in a previous meta of mind but Helen at her most vulnerable telling Cassian that she feels like she’s running out of time is SO SIGNIFICANT guys!!! It’s not only tell us that she fears that she’s missing out on the windows of opportunities for the wants and needs in her life but it literally sets the pacing of how quickly Sharpwin is going to progress. It is the beautiful freudian slip that tells us exactly where things are headed for these two. To me this is equivalent to Max telling Helen “I love my doctor” and “what if I want you?” in season 1. This episode had no interaction between Max and Helen but it was a MASSIVE Sharpwin indicator through and through! These are just a couple of examples but even their respective journeys in parenting is so Sharpwin driven. So in all I’m not mad in the direction the show has taken to showcase their relationship this season because Sharpwin is deeply interwoven in the storyline this year even if it’s not overtly obvious through emotional dialogue/ interactions.

Also, one thing you have to realize is this, season three is wrapping up a lot of loose ends from season 2 and when it comes to Max and Helen these two points will be/ have to be addressed in the next six episodes.

The Almost Kiss

Whether or Not They Want To Be Together

The showrunners know without a shadow of doubt that the resolution for these two points is owed! If Sharpwin is talking about their almost kiss, there is no way that they aren’t talking about what they mean to each other and what their future looks like together. Both solutions literally go hand in hand and I promise you they are not delaying the resolution for that till season 4. It’s not happening fam. We will see this play out within the next six episodes. So in hindsight, more Sharpwin interaction are on the horizon.

When I was making predictions about this season I wasn’t aware that this season would only be 14 episodes. I’m sad that season 3 is so short but that still doesn’t change my mind for where I think the story is going. Call me crazy but I’m sticking to my guns. There is something about how Ryan is portraying Max that is signaling something huge. Also I just trust the context clues that i believe the show is giving. I trust it! Anyway y’all! If you have any sharpwin question just DM here or message me on Twitter! my username is @oyindaodewale.

Love you guys! ❤️

#sharpwin #new amsterdam #max goodwin #helen sharpe #max x helen #sharpwin meta #new amsterdam meta

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hmslusitania · 3 years

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I see we're going ape over buddie and Choices tonight so

Yknow in 2.07, when Shannon comes back and her and Eddie have their first scene together? The argument at the end, after Eddie says it wouldn't be a good idea for her to see Christopher bc she left them, she says she needed him, she needed a husband and a co-parent - and "I needed someone to have my back!"

To which EDDIE says, "I always had your back"

*insert Incredibles "coincidence? I think NOT" gif here*

(Also side note, I do like that the show doesn't try to sugarcoat what Shannon did being messed up, and that Eddie's own actions weren't really the right thing either[thinking about his conversation with Buck where he says he got to pretend he left for a noble cause even tho he was running], and that it was just a sticky situation that neither of them were equipped to handle in any way, and snowballed. I do kind of wish we could've gotten post-divorce Shannon and Eddie and Christopher interactions, figuring out how they fit together, if at all, bc I like those intricate and messy situations but I could see how that might get too close to retreading old ground re: Michael and Athena's divorce. But I do hate how ive seen the fandom like. Seem to oversimplify things with Shannon sometimes? And make her the ultimate villain, and Eddie Did Nothing Wrong, Ever)

Hi Anon!

The decision to have Buck and Eddie's first bonding moment end with "You can have my back any day" and "or, y'know, you could have mine" only to then six episodes later find out that at least a contributing factor to Eddie's marriage dissolving was that he "didn't have her back" is like. Such a galaxy brain chaos move for them to take, honestly. Like?? They could've had the phrasing be literally anything in 2x07 but instead they had it directly echo Buck and Eddie in 2x01. What was the reason? Why did they do this?

As for the rest of your ask:

(gosh this got long and, uh, opinionated. It is Not Pretty below the cut)

One of the things I really liked about Eddie Begins is that we did get to see him at the beginning of his journey in being Chris's dad because it gives us an opportunity to appreciate how amazingly he's grown as a father. Like, he didn't start out as a perfect dad and he was definitely kind of lost in the woods at the beginning there when it came to the whole "how do I parent" thing. And before Eddie Begins, we'd only ever seen the end result of the growth he's gone through, where he really is a fantastic dad whose son is basically his entire reason for being. Before Eddie Begins, we get to hear him say things like "I left first" and "I've failed that kid more times than I can count but I love him enough to never stop trying" but we kinda have to take that on faith? Because we hadn't actually seen him be anything besides a good dad until we saw his Begins episode. (And even then in his begins it's like "area man in his early 20s unsure how to care for small child while also coping with PTSD and a toxic support system" which like. yeah. no shit. there's one hell of a learning curve there)

The thing about Eddie and Shannon as a couple and as parents that always gets to me is that they were so fucking young. We don't know exactly how old Eddie is in the show, but we can guesstimate pretty safely that he's around the same age as Ryan which would make him between 23 and 24 when Chris was born, and it seems reasonable to believe Shannon was around the same age. It's also a pretty common reading in the fandom -- although I'm not sure how much canon support there is for it because we really, really don't know anything about their relationship pre-Christopher unless I'm forgetting something -- that they got married because Shannon got pregnant and that was the Done Thing. And when you're 23-24, baby on the way, freshly married, that is just like. So much. It sure as hell ruined my parents' relationship when they did that exact thing, and then they disliked each other until they were 27 and then they got divorced, and no one was happier than me about it, I have to tell you.

Back to the show, I can only give you my impressions, obviously, but the impression I have always gotten from the whole "I left too" conversation and the context that goes into it and the different behaviours we see exhibited by the characters is that Eddie "left" first and it comes across to me that he was basically an early twenty-something kid running scared from the abstract concept of being a father in general, and then when he was forced home by an honourable discharge, and was confronted with the reality of Christopher, he managed to step the fuck up and become Christopher's dad. It's there in 2x02, right? "Oh, you've got a kid? I love kids!" "I love this one." Eddie doesn't strike me as a Swiss Army Knife all-purpose Dad(tm) the way Bobby is. Eddie is Christopher's dad. (and like, of course, he's obviously moved by kids when he's on a call, we've seen that enough times to know that if there's a child who can even glancingly remind him of Christopher, Eddie's sense of self-preservation goes out the window, and I love that about him as heart-stopping as it can be in practice)

Shannon, on the other hand, didn't run from the idea of being a mother -- at first. When she left, it wasn't from the abstract. She left Chris (and "gave up" on Eddie, thanks Helena). She was not running from a concept, she was running from a reality. I think Shannon is a fascinating character to include in a television show as a side character, because she really isn't a one note character. Like, she was unarguably a bad mother, and from what we saw, she was a questionable romantic partner to have (but as you said, anon, Eddie was also not 100% the best romantic partner when he was with Shannon either; their entire relationship so far as I can tell was built on sexual chemistry which, uh, super does not sustain a relationship), but she also seems to have been a devoted daughter? I mean, yeah, it's entirely possible that her mom being sick was a convenient excuse to bail -- and obviously she didn't come back after her mom died, and didn't, y'know, contact her son or husband in the interim, so yes, I can see that being a valid way to read the situation. I don't think she's the Ultimate Evil, because she strikes me as a very human character in all the ways that people are more often than not really fucking flawed.

But then we get back to the actual break-up scene. The first time I watched it (and second, and third; then the fourth time the person I was watching with was like "I mean, sure, but it could also be read in this light") her "I'm just learning how to be someone's mother" speech really bothered me? Partly because it was the abstraction of it, right? Eddie doesn't like kids, he likes Christopher, and Shannon sort of had the inverse journey there, I guess, where it went from she didn't know how to be Christopher's mother, to she didn't know how to be a mother. And that speech bothered me because it always sounded to me like she was bailing again. She begged Eddie to let her back into Christopher's life (guilt? I guess?) and like, straight up bribed him with sex which was sure a choice, and then decides -- for a second time -- that she's out. It sounded, to me, she was handing Eddie papers and maybe, in a few years, possibly, once she'd had "time" to "figure out how to be someone's mother" she would try again. Just like she had in the interim between leaving when Christopher was little and the time of season 2.

And like, that could totally be a misunderstanding of the scene and what she was saying. It's what I took away from it, but that could very well be influenced by the fact I was raised by divorced parents and my dad had custody and if you count up all the time I spent with either parent when I was a minor, I was predominantly raised by my father and have had an especially tempestuous relationship with my mother that is mostly (sometimes) repaired now that I'm in my late twenties and have not lived with her since I was sixteen.

Back to the show, and to your comment that the fandom tends to treat Shannon like the Ultimate Evil and act like Eddie Did Nothing Wrong, I mean. Yeah. Fandom as a rule tends to shirk nuance. We're all fools here on the internet sitting in our blue industrial waste container crying about a wee woo show. I personally believe a more nuanced take on that might be that Eddie has shown a great capacity to learn from his mistakes (sometimes to make fun, shiny, new ones, but for the most part, just like ends up doing better the next time) and Shannon did not show that capacity in the time we knew her.

I think, depending on what they did with it, there was potential for an interesting storyline if they'd played through the divorce. I don't think it would've been rehashing ground covered by Michael and Athena's divorce because I can't see Eddie and Shannon having reached a point of amicability and friendship. The only thing we know they had in common was Christopher, and frankly, when you boil it down, the ways they engaged with Christopher as a person were so disparate that -- to me -- it really didn't seem like they had Christopher in common when you get right down to it. But I wouldn't have wanted to see Christopher and Eddie dragged through an ugly divorce process. They deserve better than that.

There's also a conversation to be had about Shannon's blatant ableism towards her own son, but that is extremely not my lane since I am not disabled myself. But even from an outside perspective, basically their entire parking lot conversation in Haunted, uh, haunts me with it's repugnance and the fact that instead of calling her on any of it, Eddie "Chronically touch starved" Diaz's response was to kiss her? Gosh golly do I wish that was one of the mistakes he learned from properly instead of finding a new, shiny version.

ANYWAY this got long, tl;dr (although if you clicked on the read more, you probably read it) version is No, Shannon is not the Ultimate Evil, she's a shitty mom not a demon in a skin suit and a pretty yellow sundress; and No, Eddie is not a flawless human who's never done wrong in his life but holy fuck is he trying and he'd be the first person to tell you he's made mistakes (and often has been); and no, sorry, I don't want to see the divorce storyline play out because we probably would've had to see either Eddie Bashing, Shannon Redemption, or Shannon turning up again like a cardboard cut out of a cartoon villain the way Eva did and I want to be witness to exactly zero of those things.

#the ghost ship answers questions #I...honestly don't know what to tag this as #I have thoughts about eddie and shannon's relationship #that are probably unpopular opinions #teal dear she's a shitty mom not a demon in a skin suit and a pretty yellow sundress #and I also don't like her for personal reasons #and eddie is not perfect but I wouldn't want him to be and like seeing him try to improve constantly #and also am personally predisposed to like single dads #also for personal reasons

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ishouldreallybeelsewhere · 3 years

Text

I Don’t Dance; An Analysis

By someone with no idea what they’re doing

Can I just say,,, this song slaps. Like, ignore everything,, all the connections, all the subtext, all the whatever, this song (I Don’t Dance from High School Musical 2) is just rlly good. I’ve been listening to it a lot (shocker) and I have to say, perhaps pop isn’t so bad. I’m lying, of course, rock forever, but also not the point. Now, onto what I was actually planning on talking about.

Songs can say a lot, especially when paired with dances, and to see the full meaning of a song, one must look past it’s surface level meaning and dive deep into the subtext. Contextually, the song makes sense as just talking about baseball, but on a surface level only. Look into it for even a moment and you’re sure to find all the queer subtext you need to confirm the theory that High School Musical as a whole is a metaphor for accepting your queer identity.

A quick overview of the song; it starts as a friendly game of baseball between Ryan and Chad, the dancer and the jock. That’s fairly straight-forward, and as they play, Ryan encourages Chad to dance, insisting that he can and should, while dancing in ways that enhance his own playing. I should mention right now, I know fuck-all about baseball. I learnt to spell it, like, 15 minutes ago. It should not be spelt like that. Regardless, I’m gonna do my best to some-what grasp/avoid the thing entirely. Anyway, I’m getting off track. Back to what I was saying, the song is Ryan encouraging Chad to dance, in a somewhat flirtatious matter. The song ends after a dance routine involving the entirety of both teams, and then, in the following scene, Chad and Ryan are shown having a good time, talking and laughing while eating lunch, WEARING EACH OTHER’S CLOTHES!! If someone can give me a heterosexual explanation for that,,,, don’t.

Now, for what I’ve been meaning to get to; what does the song actually mean? (I use the phrase ‘Now,’ at the start of a lot of sentences, sorry in advance.)

Obviously, it’s about accepting your queer identity and living your life to its fullest, not allowing the heteronoramilty of the world hold you back. Anyone who’s ever watched the movie can tell you that, however, as is the way with any piece of explanatory writing, I have to assume that you’ve never even seen any of the movies (heathen).

The plot doesn’t matter. I don’t care about all but four characters, Zeke, Sharpay, Chad, and Ryan. This will primarily be about the latter two, and their own acceptance of who they are.

From the start, Ryan is flamboyant and feminine, the archetype of a gay man, as ‘subtlety’ isn’t really a thing in High School Musical. Less so in the sequel, aside from the sub-text of course, but they had to get that past Disney’s censors. Also, Ryan is one of the ‘villains’ of the trilogy, meaning that he can be queer-coded as much as the writers desire. Off track once again. I apologise. No I don’t. Anyway, Ryan is a theatre kid. The theatre kid, excluding his sister, of course, but as I said previously, Sharpay is not the topic of today’s discussion. Why is theatre so important you ask? Well, not only is the whole point of the trilogy theatre and musicals, but it’s often associated with queer identity, gay men, and femininity. While that is not true, necessarily, it works well as a metaphor and for subtext in the series. Ryan’s theatre/dance-centered personality is made as such because he is one of the few openly gay students in the movie. Theatre and dance, in this context, are queer. And Ryan is incredibly open with his sexuality, especially after he steps out from his sister’s shadow and comes into himself, realising who he is in his entirety.

Chad is on the opposite side of the spectrum. He’s, to put it bluntly, a Chad. Sporty, masculine, ‘straight’, everything he’s expected to be, but, secretly, he knows that that’s not quite true. He’s likely bisexual, as we never recive a label I will refer to him as such, and he knows this about himself. He accepts it, but refuses to act on it, or really acknowledge it, so it is not true acceptance. He is still hiding and suppressing part of himself, dancing only when everyone around him is doing the same, conforming to the heterosexual society that we all must reside in. So much of who he appears to be centered around sport and straightness, but after he is left by his closest friend (Asshole Troy. My cousin stunt-doubled Zac Effron once lol) he’s unsure where to go, and accepts an offer to play a friendly game of baseball against Ryan.

Ryan knows that Chad is bi. He knows that Chad is suppressing and hiding a part of himself, and, on some level, understands what that’s like, and knows how harmful that can be, and takes it upon himself to change that, and the game begins. Literally. And of all games, it’s baseball, one of the only sports I know filled to the brim with euphemisms and gay slang, and let me tell you, I know very little about both things, but I did actaully do research before this.

Chad knows what Ryan is trying to do, and rejects it, insisting that he has to ‘just do his thing.’ He steps up, the batter, insisting that he can be straight, that he doesn’t need that other part of himself to feel whole. Ryan sees clearly that this is bullshit.

‘I’ll show you that it’s one in the same, baseball, dancing, same game.’ In this line, Ryan is explaining that Chad doesn’t need to give up his masculinity or his love for sport to live in his true identity, that dancing and baseball are the same thing, different flavours. He can stay who he is while still being true to himself and stop suppressing a part of himself. He’s also flirting, a lot. Saying that he can show Chad what he’s missing.

‘I wanna play ball now, and that’s all. This is what I do. It ain't no dance that you can show me,’ replies Chad, saying how he doesn’t agree, and has no wish to change who he is, regardless of the consequences. He doesn’t think that the two parts of his identity can live in harmony, and he’s gotten this far in life while suppressing his queer side, he can do it forever. Of course, as you likely already know, dear reader, this is far from true, and Ryan has made it his mission to prove that, through song and suspiciously flirtatious dance.

‘You’ll never know, if you never try.’ Ryan now is telling Chad that he’ll never know if he can be happier as an open bisexual if he doesn’t try to expirience life in a different way, and is also telling Chad he’s dtf.

‘There’s just one little thing that stops me every time.’ Chad is on the verge of agreeing, accepting Ryan’s advances, when it cuts to his team, watching him play. He can’t come out, can’t fully accept himself, even if he wants to, without risking rejection from his team, from his friends, and having to possibly leave behind the world of sports that he so loves. The masculinity is fragile in this one, I must say. But his team not backing him up, leaving him behind, that scares Chad more than anything at that point in his life. Even if it is living his truth, he won’t risk the life already built up around him. In his eyes, nothing would truly be worth it. But Ryan won’t give up on him.

Then the pair go back and forth, arguing over whether Chad has it in him to accept it, risk everything to be who he truly is. ‘If I can do this then you can do that.’ Ryan is telling Chad that if he can play baseball while still retaining his queer identity, then Chad can do the same while dancing. Doing one thing does not invalidate or cancel out the other. He can, and should, do both, to become a more complete version of himself. However, Chad’s team is still supporting him only in baseball, at this point in the song anyway.

‘Hey, batter, batter. Hey batter, batter, swing.’ At this point, no one is actually swinging at the ball, showing that this is not what they’re talking about. ‘Swing that way,’ is often used to refer to whom one is attracted to, and Ryan is telling Chad to ‘swing,’ to come to terms with his attraction to men, and to Ryan himself. While they are singing this, Chad is literally approaching first base, not too dissimilar from the bases in a relationship. Like, any other sport, any one at all, and they had to pick this one. Even urban dictionary agrees it’s gay as all hell.

‘Bases loaded, do your dance. It’s easy.’ Here, Ryan is telling Chad that baseball is almost a dance on its own, it requires movement and coordination like dance, and at this point Chad can’t disagree, because the bases are loaded (I do actually know what that means) and he has to hit the ball and free them up, else something happens (reaching the end of my baseball knowledge sorry).

‘I've got what it takes, playin my game. So you better spin that pitch. You're gonna throw me, yeah.’ Here Chad is admitting that Ryan is distracting him, his dance and words throwing him off his game. ‘I’ll show you how I swing.’ Chad is play-flirting now, not-quite-mockingly responding to Ryan while dancing, ever so slightly, while still remaining in the game. He comes closer to accepting it than he has before, but still refusing to truly accept it.

With Ryan’s line, ‘hit it out of the park,’ we return ever so slightly to the literal playing of the game, and Ryan telling Chad to give it his best shot, showing his support despite being on the opposing team. Moments later, members of Chad’s team begin dancing as well, using the movements to enhance their play somewhat, and, subtly, showing their support for dancing and all that comes with it. Chad, however, has still not reached that point.

‘Lean back, tuck it in, take a chance. Swing it out, spin around, do the dance.’ Ryan’s now explaining how connected dancing and baseball really are, how they can easily coexist, of course playing into what Ryan has been trying to convince Chad of the whole time, that he can accept himself and still remain as Chad-like as he wants.

‘I wanna play ball, not dance hall.’ Chad doesn’t care, instead staying steadfast in his position that sport and dance must stay seperate, but his actions betray his words, as, however mockingly it may be, he does in fact dance along to those lines.

‘I can prove it to you til you know it's true. 'Cause I can swing it, I can bring it to the diamond too.’ Ryan is not giving up. He’s trying his best to say that he’s a dancer, sure, but his skills help him on the field. Were he not a dancer, he would likely not be as good at baseball as he is, explaining that if you are repressing a part of yourself, then you are not living up to your full potential, and not living life to its fullest.

‘You’re talking a lot, show me what you got.’ Prove it, Chad is saying as he throws the ball. And Ryan swings, and hits it, sending it far out over the playing field, proving his point, and with that, Ryan relents. Now, as he says he doesn’t dance, he’s dancing with his whole team behind him. They’re showing their support, and the dance becomes almost making fun of his past stance, and now he and Ryan flirt relentlessly through the song, as they dance.

They repeat their banter, all while dancing, and they come extremely close, closer than anyone else in the court, coming closer and closer to first base.

‘You can do it.’ It’s Chad’s team now, dancing behind him, showing their support for him, and insisting that he can dance, he can accept his identity in its whole, and they will still be behind him, still accept him for who he is. Chad and Ryan dance across from each other, back and forth, all of both teams and the crowd, all of them showing support.

Even as it returns to Chad batting, he does so bouncing on his toes to the music, and as he scores a home run, clearing the bases, each of his team members who are on the bases reach home with a flourish, a dance move of their own, even though they themselves are straight. Likely.

However, during the whole song, Ryan and Chad were openly flirting, the song is many things, as Chad knew his sexuality, he just wasn’t comfortable enough to admit it. At first the flirting was jokingly, on Chad’s side anyway, but tensions rise as the song continues, and Ryan makes sure Chad understands that this isn’t a joke, he means it. And that takes a few minutes for Chad to truly accept. The song is about self-acceptance and the chemistry between the two characters, more chemistry than literally any other characters, including Troy and Gabriella.

As the song ends, and Chad scores a home run, winning the game, the two fall over each other at the home base, and it’s over, the scene is anyway, and with the end of the game comes the end of Chad’s suppression. He can finally accept his bisexuality with the knowledge that his team will stay behind him and that he can be happy with a man just as he could with a woman, something that prior to this song, he didn’t truly believe.

And then, in the next scene, Ryan and Chad are wearing each other’s clothes, talking about the game in a far friendlier manner than any previous interaction. Together, they have hotdogs and good conversation, and the swapping of their clothes, including hats, implies that they totally fucked. Not to sound insensitive, obviously, but please, if you can think of any other explanation, please enlighten me.

Now, how does this tie into the rest of High School Musical? I should mention now I’ve not seen the third one and can barely remember the other two. However, I believe I know enough for my point to have some grounds. In this movie trilogy, theatre is queerness, as I have already explained, and conforming to society is heteronormativity. The path of Troy accepting that he loves theatre and basketball at the same time is one of accepting himself in his entirety. While I don’t personally believe that the character himself is queer, it is still a path of acceptance that still resonates with much of the LGBTQ+ community who would watch this movie.

The whole idea of the series is rejecting the status quo and living your life without rejecting any part of yourself. This is taken to another level between Chad and Ryan, someone who has accepted himself completely, and someone who doesn’t want to give up the life he has. There is little else to be said on the matter (LIES! I could talk about this for so long) so it appears time to wrap it up.

I don’t care that much about High School Musical. That may seem surprising, but before this weekend, I couldn’t tell you the character’s names. It is a strange feeling to fall so completely into something that you ignore all schoolwork to write an analysis (strong word) of a clip of a movie. I downloaded the Osu map (after finding it by accident) and played it until I got an S, even tho I’ve had the game only for a couple weeks, barely ever play it, and the easiest version of the map was 2.3 stars. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to it, and I had to finish this piece of writing so I could have some semblance of peace, as all my friends are tired of hearing about it but I need to get my thoughts out. Perhaps now that this is done I can pay attention to the science class that’s been happening around me. I think I’ve said all I can, and I hope that is enough to satisfy my mind. And I am well aware that there is someone out there who has done this with fewer and better words, but I don’t really care.

TLDR; High School Musical 2 is gay, and even more gay than that is Chad and Ryan. Thank you and goodnight.

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hoochy-coo · 3 years

Note

I have a bunch of questions for WS anon since I am interested in other celebs possible pr too!

1. With your job, is it regular for anyone working in the industry to have tea? And do people working in or share what’s real or not?

I would say it gives you the opportunity to hear gossip or rumors that only people in the industry would know. I will say you'd probably need to go out of your way to learn about it. In my case I work with athletes and aside from the people they hookup with, their scandals, vices it's not really a place with tea. But I do make a lot of friends in the industry and we gossip all the time and they share from their respective fields and about the celebs they work with or have a connection to. I guess it's the same as any kind of workplace gossip.

Working in what? You mean working in pr? A celeb's pr team will never tell you what is real/authentic or straight up fake or a mix of both. The most they'll give is what strategies they impose or how they mold things. But not directly, oh this is fake btw. For obvious reasons, they keep a lot of things secret and things only they would know. A lot of friends in pr do like sharing input or teach our gc how things go or look for the signs or the strategies we wouldn't even have figured without their help. A lot of times we also just hear a lot of rumors from inside sources that just outward contradicts what is being presented by the media/pr play of a celeb.

2. Can you tell me your thoughts on often thought pr couples? I am not a harrie at all and I see this from pop culture blogs.

lily/timmy - I don't know if it's pure pr or not but I've at least heard Timmy was also hooking up with other women during all those times he was with Lily. A lot of people have told me it's pure pr/mostly pr though. They did seem like a nice match as future it girl/boy but their reunion it didn't seem as interesting.

seb/ale - I actually don't follow either of those two enough. I thought Seb has always been pretty open about his gfs? At least I thought him and Leighton were pretty public. For his current gf, if it's pr then he hasn't gain a lot of fame imo. The only place I see him relevant or getting talked about is the tumblr/twitter stans which while loud isn't that big. I mean his fans sure let his last film flop hard, I doubt the BO was even enough to pay him.

henry/nat - I feel like I blocked out Henry's love life when he was dating a 19 year old. But I would say this is real. Until I see Natalie suddenly becoming a star I'd say this is pretty standard for Henry. Him and Kaley, yeah none of you can convince me that was real.

chris/jenny - A lot of people will kill me, but since Jessie admitted she also thinks they're pr then I'll admit I do too.

tom/zendaya - I think they're real. Either way I love it. We can probably judge based on how long this will last.

shawn/camila - real, but my friend says they're way more subdued in private at least

bennifer - I already sent an answer to this before

ben/ana - the blueprint

hiddleswift - pr

abelena - pr

If you're asking if I think they're pure pr, I don't know what happens when they're alone together to say it's all fake. I imagine hiddleswift, abelena, ben/ana probably hookup in private but was never as serious or real as they made it appear. If you're asking if they're real and using it for pr, well yeah I would say all of these would qualify as they're using it for pr too which isn't a bad thing. Like Ryan/Blake are obviously real and using their relationship for publicity.

3. Do you think hiddleswift was bad pr for Tom?

Not really. I do think it was meant to be longer with a full better rollout and ended too early with Taylor backing out. As someone who considers herself a self-hating swiftie, Tom gained a lot of loyal fans in the fandom for example and hiddleswift was pretty memorable pop culture moment in general.

4. How do you really feel about the holivia questions and harries in general since you tend to get the most abuse from them?

I'm irritated because of the angry anons and people who can't respect opinion. Other than that, my opinion on holivia still remains the same and it will not physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, or financially hurt either Harry or Olivia. In the first place, I don't remember ever spending money for them. I think as long as Jessie allows pop culture discussion and allows the question, we can all and should respect opinion. I'm not in any way anti or pro holivia. I don't mind a pr relationship cause to me it's a normal and harmless part of their job. I also don't think pr should be equated as bad at all. We're kidding ourselves if we don't think celebs are like this.

5. I’m just basing this from the harry stans in this blog, but how do you see Harry benefit from holivia?

I already said this to my one harrie friend here but I always saw his fans overestimate his fame. Harry is big but he isn't BIG. He hasn't come to the level of Taylor, Drake, Ed, JB, or their counterparts for actors. Every celeb who came at that level went to levels of attention seeking and pr. When you're trying to venture into film, there are separate pr that could also be demanded from you. Being big in one industry doesn't equate to being an instant hit or success in the other. Especially when the film industry does have a lot of hesitation with singers to actors. Especially when with Harry he seems to want to be taken as a serious actor rather than the easy going route many of his contemporaries have done to jump start their acting career. Harry is being talked about a lot by blogs and accounts that used to barely mention him before. He is being discussed as a regular gossip which didn't happen for years. Imo fans just think he's too big for anything or that he is immune to pr or attention seeking. Me and my friends never saw him that way and we also never saw Harry as incredibly relevant or big, rather than he has an incredibly dedicated fanbase

Question for WS anon but I would also like to hear your opinion Jessie? Do you think Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling call the paps . Because I've generanlly heard that he is an extremely private ccelebrity but all those spottinga with his kid don't necessarily seem very organic to me Also are there any celebs that dont really call the paps?

You can be a private celeb and still call the paps. Ryan is a private guy but he has always been pretty open who he's dating and end of day they don't give us a lot of update or info about their relationship. Abel has started calling the paps a lot, but in hindsight he's still very private about himself.

I think the only celebs who don't call the paps are ones who don't have publicist.

- Worcestershire Sauce Anon

!!!

You answered this so thoroughly, thank you! X

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vro0m · 2 years

Text

vro0m’s rewatch - 37/288

2009 Malaysian GP

Recap + GIFs!

And here we go then, first scandal of the season...

What happened?! Why did we see an image of Lewis saying “i can’t tell you how sorry i am”? What is this?

Oooooh. Friday, Martin Whitmarsh, who’s now replacing Ron Dennis, suspended team manager Dave Ryan and then admitted to the press that his team had misled officials after the Australian GP?! What? Oh so he lied and “directed Lewis to do the same”. We’re told ever since the penalty in Belgium 2009 (which is when Lewis was penalised after the race for overtaking Raikkonen too quickly after giving back advantage when he cut the chicane) McLaren has been paranoid about such things happening again. So back in Australia, Lewis overtook Trulli and Trulli went off track so he radioed “The Toyota went off a line at the second to last corner. I overtook him. Is that OK?” and Dave Ryan told his engineers to play it safe and instruct Lewis to give back the place (remember when he was P3 and then suddenly P4 and we didn’t really know why?). However, Lewis was right, he didn’t have to do that. Ryan realised that and felt guilty, because it cost Lewis the podium. So afterwards, they went to the stewards and Ryan said the engineer didn’t make that radio call and Lewis backed him up. Basically the point was to make it look like Trulli overtook Lewis under safety car.

I mean this is dumb AF. The FIA has access to the radio logs anyway. And it worked : Trulli was penalised and Lewis got his P3 back.

Oh this is bad. Really not a good look for Lewis. Really disappointing. This sounds like something Alonso would do. Hence why Lewis was apologising, because obviously they got caught. On top of that he was right from the start so he would have gottent his 3rd place back anyway, so it’s twice as stupid. Anyway Dave Ryan has been suspended, Whitmarsh puts the full responsibility on him as a senior of the team. He’s kind of apologetic of Lewis saying he’s young and an excellent champion and a good ambassador for the sport. He says they have to guide him to do better because this is an embarrassment to everybody involved. Yeah. Well Lewis acted incredibly stupid this time. Anyway, there might be further consequences to all that further down the line.

Qualifying report now : Ferrari was overconfident (lol), Massa is 16th, Buemi got off track, Lewis 12th, Seb 13th because he got a 10-grid penalty for that accident in Australia. Brawn still in the front.

Omg, that new journalist I hate (Eddie Jordan, btw, I didn’t know his name last time around) is now interviewing Ecclestone and they’re talking about Max Mosley who, may I remind you all, got caught in the act with pr*stitutes in n*zi uniforms, and Ecclestone is saying he was out of line to ask him to step down but they were under pressure from investors and now it’s all okay anyway because everybody has forgotten about it. He literally said that. Dear God. I hate them all.

There’s been a tropical rainstorm in the morning and they are definitely expecting more rain for the race. As always it’s extremely hot here, one of the toughest races of the season.

Aha they’re talking about the upside down plane thingy that is making a comeback in 2022 iirc? That’ll be interesting to get a look at what it does then.

Formation lap.

And they’re racing!

Wow, Nico jumped right in and gets out of the first corner in the lead! Lewis up in 10th! Kovalainen off, out of the race! 2nd round, 2nd DNF for him. Kubica is also out. He complained about a weird noise in his engine during the formation lap.

10 laps in. Nico, Trulli, Button, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Alonso, Webber, Glock. Lewis still in 10th, behind Seb, who pits.

Almost 20 laps in, it seems it’s starting to rain? Ouh yeah. It is. It’s an actual thunderstorm. Like, there’s lightning bolts and everything. Whew that’s gorgeous. Alonso is off. Jenson pits. It’s all about timing to get the wets before the actual downfall. Yeah here we go. A lot of them pit now, including Lewis.

He has issues with his engine? He’s really calm on the radio though.

Almost 30 laps in, the rain is still light. It’s inter territory for now, as the commentators note. OMG THE COMMENTARY BOX JUST GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING?! We lost all the images and then it came back on. Crazy. Now it’s starting to rain more heavily. Safety Car deployed purely for the rain. I guess it might get red flagged. I mean yeah, we now see many replays of cars spinning all over the track. Yep. It’s a red flag.

Lol, Massa is on the radio complaining about needing another visor and his mechanic just told him “Felipe, baby, stay cool!” (I posted a video of that here btw)

Wow, the thunder is LOUD.

The commentators are perplexed by the fact that they stopped the watch. The drivers are soaked. Everybody is worried because the race is somehow happening later than usual and it might start getting dark soon. Of course, we’re now talking about half-points. Nobody thinks this race is gonna start again. Raikkonen is literally gone to the point it raises questions. While everybody is waiting for a decision, they all state how very experienced Charlie Whiting is and how much they trust his judgement. The respect is obvious, unlike with Masi.

Now it’s weird, because they’re bringing the cars back on the track. Aligning them on the grid. They’d like to avoid a half-points situation, they would only need 9 more laps to count full points. But the commentators are still weirded out about the fact that they stopped keeping time. If they had kept doing it, they would get close to the cut-off. The regulations state that the watch and the time keeping (unsure what the difference is, I think one is for the time on track and one for the window in which the race can happen if I remember correctly?) are supposed to go on during red flags. Also people are now unlapping themselves on the grid. I don’t know what’s going on and apparently nobody does. If there was to be a restart, the lapped cars would be released 1 minute and a half early (why??? as they have unlapped themselves??).

Raikkonen is literally out of his driving gear chilling in the Ferrari HQ.

10 minutes to the official end of the race? And they’re supposed to give a 10 minutes warning if there’s gonna be a restart?

It’s over, I think?

So, Jenson Button has won, Heidfeld P2, Glock P3. Whiting had to go into the cooldown room to tell them exactly what the order was because it’s so chaotic right now nobody knows. There’s the whole rule of the standings being decided on the last completed lap before the red flag and everything. Lewis is P7 in the end.

The drivers all agree that the decision to stop the race was right. Nico says he was aquaplaning at 30km/h on full wets. Lewis learns from the journalist he’s P7, he thought he was P5. He asks confirmation to whatever McLaren representative is with him who says “officially seventh but we are still discussing it”. Please don’t discuss it too much though, it didn’t go well the last time you tried that shit eh?

He says it was undriveable and the worst conditions he’s seen for sure. Aaaaaand they’re ending the broadcast on a terrible cover of Umbrella by Rihanna.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #2009 #2009 malaysian gp #vro0m's race reviews

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thepunkbug · 3 years

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Okay, so there’s a lot going on right now to do with Brendon Urie from Panic! At The Disco, and I figured I’d give my take on it.

Before I start, I should say I got most of my information from other people on social media - YouTube, Twitter, Tik Tok, and I read some articles. Because of where I got most of my information, I won’t be able to link anything, so I implore you to do your own research as well. That being said, here’s a brief rundown of what happened, with my opinion at the end.

First and foremost, Brendon has been called out for being racist. There’s a Vine of him mouthing along to the n-word, and while he didn’t outright say it, he did still mouth along to it. Being white, he had no business doing that, and he should’ve censored the word out entirely, but he didn’t. He’s since apologized and been a supporter of BLM, even going onto Twitch when George Floyd was killed, and making a post on his Instagram about how white privilege affects him, all of which can be found on YouTube or Instagram.

Secondly, he was accused of being transphobic. Most of you are probably confused because he is pansexual himself, and he wrote a song about bisexuality, and he can be found decked out in pride flags at concerts. However, there is a video of him at an interview saying the transphobic slur, and since he’s cisgender, he has no right using that word. From what I know, he was explaining his sexuality when someone asked him about it, and he quoted what someone had said to him, which included the transphobic slur. He’s since apologized on Periscope (I’m not sure if there’s a YouTube video of that or not), and as we all know, he’s been a huge advocate for LGBTQ+ rights ever since.

There’s also a video of Brendon joking about raping fans at a concert. You can find this on YouTube, where he says something along the lines of “If I see you after the show, I’m gonna fuck you. I don’t care if you want it - I care more if you don’t!” If the video isn’t edited shorter, you can also hear Dallon Weekes say “And I’m gonna watch,” though no one ever mentions that. This isn’t me trying to get Dallon cancelled. Quite frankly, I don’t like cancel culture and I think people are way too trigger happy to destroy someone’s career. My only reason for interjecting this is if you’re gonna get mad at Brendon for making that joke, then get mad at Dallon for adding onto it, too.

More recently, he’s been accused of sexually assaulting a fan. Someone on Twitter by the name of Kam retold a story of being a minor when he met Brendon, and Brendon was kissing and touching him inappropriately despite knowing he was a minor. There were also other accounts saying similar things happened to them. However, from what I know, the whole Kam thing was actually a Wattpad self-insert fanfiction that someone stole the plot of, and the multiple different accounts were actually one person, and they were lying, so there’s absolutely no evidence of Brendon sexually assaulting a minor or behaving inappropriately in that way whatsoever.

Lots of people also get upset with the Zack Hall thing. Zack Hall was Brendon’s bodyguard for a long time, and Breezy Weekes recently came out and said that Zack Hall basically sexually harassed her the entire time Dallon was in Panic!. Other people came out and said they had similar encounters with Zack Hall, and he’s now fired from Panic!. Similarly, when Kenny Harris was accused of sexually harassing/assaulting minors, he was also fired. People are upset because Brendon is remaining friends with Zack Hall, though I really don’t think that’s any of our business. As far as I see it, they’ve been close friends for years, and it’s hard to just drop that, even if they do something you disagree with. Also, Zack was fired, which is what people wanted. I think it’s dumb to hold Brendon to a friend’s actions, especially when he already fired him and removed him from fans, like everyone was asking him to do.

Also (and I’m not as well informed with this as other topics), there’s an interview somewhere of Ryan Ross being uncomfortable with Brendon’s stage gay. I’m not sure how many times they had that conversation or how often Ryan asked Brendon to not touch him or do the stage gay routine with him, or how many times Brendon disregarded that once they were onstage. Brendon should’ve respected Ryan’s wishes and not touched him the first time he was asked, but again, I don’t know the specifics here, so this is all I can comment on here.

[Edit: I had someone reach out to me in regards to the above information, and I decided to keep everything I originally wrote as context. According to them, there isn’t an interview of Ryan saying he’s uncomfortable with the stage gay, and it was all in fact scripted between the two of them. It sounds like people basically made up Ryan being uncomfortable with the act, in which case, these accusations also appear to be entirely false.]

As we all know, Brendon struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, which literally impairs judgment and makes you do things you normally wouldn’t do. This includes saying things you shouldn’t (making rape jokes to a supposedly 18+ audience while likely drunk, high, or both) and doing things you shouldn’t (the stage gay routine). I’d also like to point out that a lot of the stuff he said at shows was probably to entertain, particularly the stage gay stuff, and there’s no way in hell you can convince me the audience didn’t eat that shit up. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did those things to get a reaction, and you know he fucking got one, so while I disapprove of him making Ryan uncomfortable, I also understand the audience there, expecting it, probably didn’t help either.

I think that’s everything. As you can see, it’s a lot of stuff, but I don’t think any of it is as bad as people say. Mouthing the n-word once doesn’t make a person racist. Saying a transphobic slur once doesn’t make a person transphobic. He especially isn’t either of these things when you take into account how he’s since apologized and shown incredible support for BLM and the LGBTQ+ community, which I think says a lot about him as a person.

This is going off track a little bit, but I think it’ll make a point. My dad grew up in the seventies, in a time where homophobia was rampant and racism was common. My dad grew up homophobic and racist, and he used homophobic slurs all the time as a teenager and a young adult. To this day, my dad has prejudiced views about race and sexuality, but he’s obviously changed his opinion since then, with education and understanding. He never apologized for the things he said back then, mostly because he isn’t famous and no one has called him out for it.

The point is, if people held my dad responsible for things he said in high school and college, when he was the most ignorant, the most sheltered, the least exposed to other people and cultures, then he’d be labeled racist and homophobic now (which he technically is, simply by virtue of being white and straight, but that’s a conversation for another time). We need to give people room to grow, give them resources to educate themselves and combat their ignorance. Brendon Urie has DONE that, multiple times! He’s never been accused of racism aside from mouthing the n-word in a Vine, which, should I remind you how old Vine is? He’s never been accused of being transphobic aside from that one time he used a slur, when he wasn’t even using his own words.

I’m not trying to excuse what he’s done. Using those slurs, making Ryan uncomfortable [edit: probably not true], joking about rape, none of those things are okay, and that’s pretty damn obvious to everyone, I think. However, it’s also evident he’s changed since then. As far as I know, he’s never used a slur since then. He’s an advocate for BLM and the LGBTQ+ community. He’s struggled with addiction, which isn’t easy for anyone, and he’s been able to grow and become a better person since then. I absolutely agree with holding him accountable for what he said and did, especially the things we don’t agree with. He’s a public figure, and he has to be aware of what he says and how his actions have consequences. That’s just how it works when you’re in the public eye.

Do I think Brendon Urie deserves to be cancelled? Absolutely not. He’s human, and all humans change. I’m not the same person I was ten years ago, and ten years from now, I’ll be someone else entirely. If someone held me responsible for every mistake I ever made and completely disregarded my progress and personal growth, I’d look like a horrible person. Why aren’t we keeping that energy for Brendon? Hold him accountable. Keep him responsible for what he did. And allow him to improve. Allow him to educate himself. Allow him to better himself. Allow him to be fucking human, for fuck’s sake.

So, there’s my take. I’m still a Panic! At The Disco fan, and I’m still a huge fan of Brendon Urie himself. Unless he regresses completely and becomes Kanye West or some shit, I will continue to support him. He’s not even as problematic as some other people’s faves, so I’m not even gonna feel bad for continuing to support him. I’m acknowledging his shortcomings and recognizing his progress, because I understand that this isn’t black and white or two dimensional.

If his actions aren’t exuseable for you, then that’s fine. If you can’t be a fan of him of Panic! anymore, then that’s your decision. For me personally, I think his growth says a lot about his character, and I’m gonna continue to stick it out with him. You don’t have to like him, but quit being so close-minded about the good he’s done in all of this. It makes you look excited to destroy a person’s career, and quite frankly, I’m tired of trigger-happy, cancel culture junkies. Take it elsewhere.

#brendon urie #panic! at the disco #brendon urie allegations #rape tw #drugs tw #addiction tw #alcohol tw #racism tw #transphobia tw #homophobia tw #slurs tw #cancel culture #thepunkbug

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amphtaminedreams · 4 years

Text

Farewell to Spooky Season, AHS Style: Lookbook no.12

Hi to anyone reading,

Happy belated Halloween!

I capitalise it because if I'm gonna recognise any day as sacred, it’s the spookiest one of the year! Halloween 2020 obviously hasn’t been as exciting as usual, parties and club nights being banned has meant there’s been far less opportunities to dress up, but I still managed to get out for the night before they announced the upcoming second lockdown and do a couple of spooky movie nights (and carve a pumpkin!)!

I originally intended for this lookbook to be last minute halloween costume inspo but I was lazy and didn’t manage to get it out on time-a lot of these looks minus the makeup and maybe an accessory or two could work on any day or night out so I thought I’d go ahead and post it now anyway. Celebrating the fashion moments of American Horror Story is something I’ve wanted to do for a while; it’s probably not the first show you’d think of for sartorial inspiration but Mr. Ryan Murphy has fucking fantastic taste in stylists and the first five seasons of AHS in particular, which I’ll be focussing on in this post, have given us SO many amazing looks. The man may be guilty of many things-subjecting us to the character of Will Schuester, trying to turn Richard Ramirez into a thirst trap, embarrassing everyone who raved about how good Scream Queens was when he wrote season 2-but costume related laziness is not one of them. We see more consistency in a Ryan Murphy character’s wardrobe than we do in their story arcs and I respect that because honestly, as much as I love joining in when it comes to ripping into his ability to cohesively bring an AHS season to a close when it airs, I’d probably be the same; if you put Lady Gaga in front of me and told me to write her lines I’d probably end up getting overly invested in what her character was going to be wearing in the scene too.

So! Enough Ryan Murphy bashing from me! I’ll get on with it! Starting with 3 season 1 inspired looks:

Murder House: Elizabeth Short, Tate Langdon and Violet Harmon

-striped jumper from caitlinlark on Depop, kick flare jeans from ellagray-

When it comes to reflecting on season 1 of American Horror Story, all I can say do is thank the internet overlords that Tumblr has moved on from the romanticising school shooters and wearing normal people scare me tops phase to instead collectively taking the piss out of the “GO AWAY, TATE!”, “YOU’RE ALL THAT I WANTTT! YOU’RE ALL THAT I HAVEEE!” exchange.

In terms of fashion *moments*, whilst season 1 doesn’t stand out as much as the seasons that come after, Violet and Tate’s wardrobes did give birth to a bit of a 90s grunge renaissance with their oversized knits and faded jeans and layering of textures. It did also give us good costumes in the form of Alexandra Breckenridge’s Moira O’Hara and Mena Suvari’s portrayal of the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short; unfortunately, I didn’t have a slutty maid costume lying around so I did the best I could at giving the outfit Elizabeth wears when she makes that fateful visit to the Murder House a modern, more party appropriate update.

In terms of season rankings, Murder House isn’t my favourite. It starts off really great but lulls a bit towards the end and I could never get behind Violet and Tate as a couple because you know, one of them is a school shooter who sexually assaults the other’s mum, and that’s a hurdle that I think most couples might struggle to get over irl. That being said, it was the season that started it all and showcased some of the most innovative writing and directing on TV, and it opened up a spot for horror on primetime television which as far as I know was kind of unheard of before then. Back when I first watched it, I had no idea what to expect not only because I’d never seen horror in a serial format but also because it seemed to be able to get away with the kind of storylines you’d expect network executives to fire people over. It introduced us to Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters and Denis O’Hare who would go on to make the show what it is today and more importantly, through Jessica’s glorious portrayal of Constance Langdon, provide us with an endlessly versatile meme format for this trying time.

Asylum: ‘60s Lana Winters, ‘70s Lana Winters, and Sister Mary Eunice McKee

-afghan coat from louisemarcella on Depop, red AA skater dress from julietramage, pink gingham co-ord from zshamim-

I think we can all agree: Asylum would’ve been a perfect series of television if it wasn’t for the completely unnecessary alien storyline. Like, I get that they fit in with the whole good vs. evil theme as a kind of non-biblical alternative to the idea of a higher, all-powerful being but there was already so much going on that it just wasn’t needed. Aside from that, I think the general consensus amongst watchers of the show is that Asylum has the best writing of any season and I think I’d tend to agree. It’s not my favourite because it’s too depressing to rewatch but if we’re talking the first time round, this is the series that had me hooked. Lana Winters?

Iconic.

Sister Mary Eunice? Iconic. The Name Game? Iconic. Remember when you couldn’t go a day on Facebook without seeing that one photo of Naomi Grossman as Pepper used as the go to “what I really look like” photo in one of those “expectation vs. reality” style posts on your newsfeed? Those were simpler times.

Because this season was mostly situated within the hospital, we didn’t get that many proper outfits but when we did, they were stunning; if I had to state my absolute favourite AHS character of the entire show I’d probably go with Lana Winters and the part her wardrobe played in her characterisation would 100% play a part in that. The late 60s/early 70s was such a wonderful period for fashion and through her character we get to see both of those explored a little. Of course there’s also *that* Sister Mary Eunice scene with the red slip dress and suspenders too which yes, could be a perfect halloween costume, but I also strongly believe should be a perfectly acceptable outfit for any day of the year.

Coven: Misty Day, Madison Montgomery, and Zoe Benson

-chiffon dress from rags_to_riches on Depop, pinstripe corset from hanpiercey, and tennis skirt from mollie_morton-

I hate to be a basic bitch but I have to say it: Coven is my favourite season of American Horror Story. Once you get over the complete waste of Evan Peters’ acting capabilities that resulted from the *choice* to have him play Kyle, the unnecessary rehash of the Evan/Taissa pairing from season 1 in what I can only assume was an attempt to capitalise on the popularity of the questionable Tate/Violet relationship, and the subsequent sacrifice of any interesting character arc we could’ve foreseen for Zoe Benson beyond her obsessing over a resurrected, non-verbal frat boy, it’s a perfect season. A supreme (heh) balance of horror, humour, and character drama, as well as the stunning aesthetics and forever quotable dialogue, make it my go-to season if I’m ever considering a rewatch. And if you disagree, let me jog your memory with the most mainstream (not to get all “normal people scare me” and suggest AHS is not a mainstream show, I literally just mean in the sense that even those who have never watched the show will have seen this) reaction GIF set any FX show has even spawned:

Buzzfeed employees had a field day, Emma Roberts enthusiasts (I mean me) finally saw her cemented as the pop culture icon Scream Queens has since showed us she deserves to be (because not enough people have seen Unfabulous, Nancy Drew or Scream 4) and the gays everywhere rejoiced at the year’s worth of meme fodder they’d been provided with. It was Madison Montgomery’s world and we were truly just living in it.

And the fashion! I mean, Stevie Nicks meets 21st century teenage witches! Come on!

Freakshow: Dandy Mott, Maggie Esmerelda and Elsa Mars

-olive green satin skirt from morganogle on Depop, headscarf from tonijordan, platform sandals from elliefewt, PVC skirt from bethpin_, corset top from sadieflinter, beret from house_of_erotique, flame detail platform boots from mad_rags_vintage-

When people talk about the declining quality of AHS, they usually point to Freakshow as the beginning of the end, but I have to completely disagree. I wasn’t a fan the first time round but on rewatch it’s probably the most emotional season of them all; no, there aren’t as many “horrifying” moments as in other seasons and Elsa is probably Jessica’s worst performance (which is still an incredible one by anybody else’s standards), however it makes up for it with the most sympathetic bunch of characters yet, and on the flip side, also one of the most amusingly depraved with Finn Wittrock’s Dandy Mott. Fans usually argue that the season went downhill once *SPOILER* Twisty the Clown was killed off but for me, he really primarily served as the catalyst for the far more interesting devolution of Dandy, who, imo, is the show’s strongest villain to date, rivalled only by Bloody Face. Then there was the episode Orphans too which made me cry buckets, the sole AHS episode to do so.

We got a lot of great fashion content in this season too: the theatrical opulence of Elsa Mars’ wardrobe, “Maggie”’s nomadic fortune teller costumes, and all those twee suits we saw Finn Wittrock in. Highly underrated if you ask me. It seems an odd choice for me to use Elsa’s Dominatrix look as an inspiration for one of my looks here when we have that Life on Mars performance outfit and all the extravagant robes Jessica got to waltz around in for reference buuuut I didn’t really have anything to do the vibrancy of either of those justice so I went with the black leather option which is much more me. Am I saying I moonlight as a dominatrix? Maybe. Lol, no. I wish. It’s not for lack of trying. WHERE ARE ALL THE GENUINE TWITTER PAYPIGS AT!? Your girl wants to insult creepy men and get some new clothes out of it xoxo

Hotel: Hypodermic Sally, Liz Taylor, and The Countess

-silk white bralet from xlibby_maix on Depop-

Hotel is another season that I liked a lottttt more upon rewatch, once I knew I was okay to tune out the (completely predictable and utterly nonsensical) Ten Commandments Killer storyline that so much of the season initially seems to hinge on. I love Chloë Sevigny but the fact that her and Wes Bentley’s wooden John and Alex Lowe are positioned as the protagonists at the expense of the far more interesting Liz Taylor, James March and Hypodermic Sally really does a disservice to what is an otherwise great season upon initial viewing.

The visuals this season are magnificent and I think if I had to pick one character’s wardrobe to steal from the entire cast of AHS characters, it would be The Countess (a toss up between her and Misty Day tbh, so I kinda just settle for low-key channelling both). No fucking idea where I'd wear any of her clothes to but I’d make it work. Liz Taylor and Hypodermic Sally have some amazing looks too-there’s just honestly so much to choose from; that being said, this post wouldn’t be complete without a specific ode to the vampire goddess Elizabeth Bathory, who is everything I want to be in life minus the murderous qualities:

Everything. EVER-Y-THING. LOOK AT HER!

Lady Gaga is really a fucking goddess isn’t she. And people were claiming before they’d even seen it that she couldn’t act? A patriarchal society doesn’t like women that can do it all. Just saying.

Anyways!

That’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed the post if you did read til the end! Sorry I couldn’t get this out before Halloween, I was typing and Picmonkey-ing madly from 2 in the afternoon on the 31st but I taking fucking forever to get ready and had to abandon all hope of getting it out on the day by 4PM. I’ve got so much content planned and it sucks because a couple of them are lookbooks which now feel completely redundant given we’re heading into a second lockdown, but maybe I should just do it anyway? The grunge inspired moodboard I just did seemed to get a good reception too so I’ve got some more of them planned.

As always, hope everyone is keeping well, and feel free to inbox me with any suggestions, queries or even just to say hi if you need someone to talk to! I check here quite a lot so I should see it. Lots of love to everyone in this time!

Lauren x

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ghostyprince · 4 years

Note

How about "You smell nice." for a fluff prompt - DoneGhosting

@doneghosting Thanks for the prompt! I hope you like this.💖

Ryan doesn't mean to mention it, he doesn't even mean to notice it, really. But Shane must have started using a new cologne or body spray or whatever because he's been smelling especially nice lately.

Ryan can't really pinpoint the scent exactly, there is something peachy, infused with vanilla. He likes it a lot though, is the thing. He thinks it fits Shane especially, not to mention the fact it's so out of the blue. Very on-brand for him, to spice things up and roll with it for a while. Like that awful mustache.

When he first showed up like that, to the set of Unsolved, Ryan was admittedly distracted the whole entire time, stuttering through his script way more than he usually would. Every time Shane gestured with his hand, he wafted another whiff of that wonderful peachy smell to Ryan's direction.

It's like it was clinging to Shane's clothes, to Shane's skin, his entire being and it was driving Ryan a little crazy.

It also made him feel kind of creepy. Being attracted to Shane, having a crush on him, in fact, was one thing. But there is no way Ryan would be so deeply in love with him that such a small thing like Shane impulsively changing up his self-care products would affect Ryan this goddamn much, right?

Well, no. It really affects him and it's increasingly becoming more and more of a problem. Because Ryan did try to keep quiet about it. He bottled all that shit up real good.

He resisted the urge to just press his face into Shane's neck and breathe him in because that would be *weird*. The desire to touch Shane's hair hit him up even more often than before too, but that was it, he's been good, not acting up on all of that.

Who is he kidding, he wants to touch Shane everywhere. Not just in the fun, sexy time way.

He is so fucked.

He knows he is, precisely after Shane pulls him into a particularly long hug that week. Ryan honest to God does not know how he got through that situation acting like nothing was wrong. Like he wasn't half-hard by the time he got home later that evening because he could still smell Shane on himself.

His head was swimming when Shane let go of him, Ryan's whole being was filled with how incredible he smells. He couldn't help but wonder if Shane would taste like that too. Ryan knew he wouldn't, that's ridiculous, but a man can daydream.

They were in the process of shooting a Watcher Weekly when Ryan apparently couldn't take it anymore. His brain to mouth filter fucked off to somewhere this afternoon, probably because of the chill nature of these filming sessions.

They're close to wrapping up and he's feeling all loose but bubbly at the same time. So, when Shane leans over him to put his mug on the table next to the couch and that peachy, whatever it is that Shane uses hits his nose, Ryan obviously gets flustered as all hell. Resulting in that, he blurts the first thing that comes to his mind.

"You smell nice."

And to be honest, he said some weird-ass shit both on and off camera lately, getting bold with his very obvious flirting, since they always laughed it off. Shane never took it seriously, which yes, hurt Ryan's feelings a little, but maybe he wasn't ready to face the reality of Shane actually flirting back, or for real rejecting him.

Shane isn't laughing now, however. He freezes for a second and meets Ryan's gaze, still half-draped over him.

Ryan might just feel his lungs lock up, and that is really ironic because Shane is so close, he could have another whiff of him, but Ryan isn't sure he can even breathe at all at the moment.

His whole world halts to a stop for a second, even though in reality it's probably not that serious. And then Shane is giving him this small smile, almost smug like he's been waiting for Ryan to break, there is a bit of lazy satisfaction to it but it's gone in an instant, leaving Ryan dumbfounded, and wondering if it was even there in the first place.

There is some awkward laughter on Steven's part. Shane too laughs it off this time, gives a Look to the camera and breathes out a quiet "okay", before moving onto another topic, easily. But Ryan instantly knows most of his private little moment with Shane won't make the cut.

"You do smell nice," Ryan tells him after they wrapped up the shoot because he can never let things go. And maybe he's too curious to receive a proper answer from Shane.

"We all can't smell like 'Sport' and 'Extreme'" Shane comments, complete with air quotes, shrugging off the compliment.

Ryan snorts out a laugh, but he doesn't want to let Shane off the hook just yet. He went this far, it would be stupid to back out now. "I was wondering what was it. It's uhh very fruity. New shampoo?"

"It's a little something I got from Sara," Shane says, choosing his words carefully, and Ryan really wants to know what that's all about.

"A little something," Ryan repeats, knowing full well Shane can see the cogs turning in his head so he explains before Ryan could even ask the question. Another reason why they work so amazingly.

"A perfume of sorts."

"Well, it's nice. Even though you're weirdly making a big deal out of it." Ryan grins at him, half-heartedly but he can't tear his gaze away from Shane's eyes. Especially because Shane is slowly stepping into his space and Ryan forgets to breathe again.

Now that they're standing flush against each other, Ryan realizes just how much he has to crane his neck to look up at him properly. It sends an unexpected, but welcome shiver down Ryan's spine.

"I think it's you who makes a weirdly big deal out of it, Ryan," Shane says, lips curling into a smile. Ryan's skin burns under his gaze.

He continues before Ryan could search the part of his brain that didn't turn into jello yet. "Do you wanna know why what Sara gave me is special?"

"Why is it special?" Ryan asks eventually, voice scratchy like he hadn't had a drink in a while, like they've been standing there, right next to their desks for ages while the others slowly filtered out.

"You see, she said something about how it would only smell really strong to the person that has a romantic interest in me, let's say."

Ryan's eyebrows climb up to his hairline and he can definitely feel his face heating up now. It only serves to make Shane's smile wider. That's a good sign, right?

"And you out of all people believe in that?"

"No, not at all." He says and Ryan starts wheezing, breaking the moment because he can't help it. Shane holds up a finger, to continue as Ryan quiets down, "But, you were still all over me all week and it would've been entertaining to watch if I wasn't waiting for you to say something."

"You could've just asked me out, dumbass." Ryan huffs, but his smile is bright, matching Shane's. He has no doubts now.

"I could've. I still could, actually. But why didn't you?" Shane asks, amused and it's a valid question. It's also one that Ryan doesn't feel like answering now. Instead, he grabs hold of Shane's collars and he already knows what's coming when Ryan drags him down, still having to raise on his tiptoes to reach Shane's lips.

It really isn't the best kiss either of them had, they mostly just press their smiles against each other, but it's perfect.

Ryan says after, eyes bright with excitement. More because Shane just kissed him, for real, than the magic but it's a close second. Shane sighs.

"You know, I think that perfume really was magical, maybe we're onto something here.”

"No, Ryan, she just got tired of me pining and moping about you. It's nothing but a placebo."

"Okay, but what if it was real? All week, I've been-" Shane cuts him off, by cupping his cheeks in both of his big hands and Ryan has never been happier to shut up as he melts into the kiss.

They can argue about it later, over some fancy dinner, maybe.

#shyan #skeptic believer #shyan fic #shyan fanfiction #fanfiction #i got so many cute prompts #i'll fucking spoil ya'll in the next few weeks #anonymous #anon #answered #asks

209 notes · View notes

vanillabegonias · 3 years

Note

hey, sorry if this like, super annoying, but i really loved "the mysterious case of captain america" and i liked the formatting so much, i just wanted to ask how you did it, because i want to write a somewhat similar styled fic for a different fandom, and it's okay if you don't want to answer this lol i was just wondering because i think it's the nicest formatting i've ever seen in a fic and i'd really love to know how you did it, even if you don't answer this i hope you have a lovey day!

Hi anon! This wasn’t annoying at all, I’m so glad you liked it! I originally meant to post the skin but tbh I’m terrible at explaining things and have just been sitting on it incase anyone wanted it lol

I’ve included the workskin and a small explanation on how to use it but 1) Tumblr post formatting is beyond my ability to understand so it looks little janky and 2) there may be one or two mistakes that i’ve over looked but the workskin is directly pasted from Ao3 so I know that at least is functioning :)

Let me start by saying I have no idea what I'm doing and this is probably messy and overly complicated but here's the workskin I cobbled together for my fic.

/*all this is optional, all it does is hide chapter titles and turn the header and links red*/

#workskin .title {

color: #8B0000;

font-family: "Courier New", courier new, Monospace, Courier, Lucida Console;

font-weight: bold;

}

#workskin a:link {

color: #000000;

font-family: "Monospace", Courier New, Courier, Monospace, Lucida Console;

font-size: smaller;

}

#workskin a:visited {

color: #8B0000;

}

#workskin a:hover {

color: #8B0000;

font-weight: bold;

}

#workskin a:active {

color: #0033cc;

}

#workskin .chapter.preface.group .title {

visibility: hidden;

line-height: 0;

}

/*background ‘container'*/

#workskin .bdy {

background: #000000;

width: 100%;

margin: auto;

box-shadow: 0 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.30), 0 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.30);

}

/*buzzfeed box (container that centers everything)*/

#workskin .buzz {

background: #000000;

margin: auto;

max-width: 300px;

text-align: center;

display: block;

color: #ffffff;

}

/*facts and information text*/

#workskin .info {

background: #000000;

color: #ffffff;

max-width: 300px;

float: center;

font-family: Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

font-size: 130%;

text-align: center;

padding: 6px;

margin-right: 2px;

margin-left: 2px;

display: inline-block;

}

/*red text*/

#workskin .ooo {

color: #8B0000;

font-weight: bold;

}

/*ryan and shane commentary section*/

#workskin .chat {

max-width: 290px;

font-family: "Sans-Serif", Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

font-size: 120%;

padding: 6px;

display: inline-block;

}

/*shane dialogue*/

#workskin .sh {

color: #f7f200;

float: left;

text-align: left;

margin: 0;

padding: 0em 0em;

max-width: 70%;

clear: both;

display: block;

background: #000000;

position: align-left;

}

/*ryan dialogue*/

#workskin .ry {

color: #2E64FE;

float: right;

text-align: right;

margin: 0;

padding: 0em 0em;

max-width: 70%;

clear: both;

display: block;

background: #000000;

position: align-right;

}

/*transcript log*/

#workskin .transcript {

color: #ffffff;

max-width: 300px;

font-size: 120%;

padding: 6px;

font-family: "Sans-Serif", Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

display: inline-block;

}

/*left person name (optional)*/

#workskin .lname {

color: #FFFFFF;

font-size: .70em;

text-align: left;

margin-bottom: -1.5em;

font-family: "monospace", monospace, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

display: block;

clear: both;

}

/*left person dialogue*/

#workskin .lper {

float: left;

color: #FFFFFF;

text-align: left;

margin: 0;

padding: 0em 0em;

max-width: 70%;

clear: both;

position: align-left;

}

/*right person name (optional)*/

#workskin .rname {

color: #FFFFFF;

font-size: .70em;

text-align: right;

margin-bottom: -1.5em;

font-family: "monospace", monospace, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

display: block;

clear: both;

}

/*right person dialogue*/

#workskin .rper {

float: right;

color: #FFFFFF;

text-align: right;

margin: 0;

padding: 0em 0em;

max-width: 65%;

clear: both;

position: align-right;

}

/*quote box*/

#workskin .qbox {

color: #ffffff;

max-width: 100%;

font-size: 120%;

margin: auto;

font-family: "Sans-Serif", Calibri, Candara, Segoe, Segoe UI, Optima, Arial, sans-serif;

display: inline-block;

text-align: left;

}

/*quote text*/

#workskin .qtext {

float: left;

color: #FFFFFF;

text-align: justify;

margin: auto;

max-width: 95%;

padding: 10px;

clear: both;

position: align-justify;

}

(/*character image*/

#workskin .mpic1 {

width: 100px;

max-width: 100px;

}

/*photograph*/

#workskin .mpic2 {

width: 300px;

max-width: 300px;

}

How to use:

**You'll notice the is everywhere, that's just a personal stylization choice and not mandatory.

Enclose EVERYTHING in these two <div class="bdy"> and <div class="buzz"> The entire story should begin with these -meaning place them where you want to start the formatting and at the end of the formatted area add </div></div>

<div class="info"> TEXT HERE </div> -will format the text, if you want to add the "ooo creepy and important" red text just enclose that part with (this can be used in the info section, transcript section and the quote section)

example:

During the Second World War a man only publicly known as CAPTAIN AMERICA was presented by the UNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION or USO to the American public. Their hope was that his fictitious exploits and all-American look would appeal to Americans to enlist and purchase bonds for the war effort.

The show consisted of three acts –an opening dance number featuring 30 female dancers, a stunt involving 3 SHOWGIRLS BEING LIFTED ABOVE THE CAPTAIN'S HEAD ON A MOTORCYCLE, and a another act that consisted of talking up war bonds and PUNCHING A FAKE ADOLF HITLER ON STAGE

</div>

The conversation between Shane and Ryan (or Left speaker and Right speaker) are put into <div class="chat"> CONVERSATION </div> and each speakers section is put between or followed by a

example:

(scoff)

what?

…that's ridiculous…

it’s not that ridiculous

</div>

The "transcript" follows a similar layout as the chat, except there's an extra bit that allows you to mark who's speaking.

example:

THE TRANSCRIPT READS:

THE CAPTAIN:

COME IN. COME IN. THIS IS CAPTAIN-

CARTER:

WHAT’S GOING ON

THE CAPTAIN:

TARGET’S DEAD

CARTER:

WHAT ABOUT THE PLANE

THE CAPTAIN:

THAT’S A LITTLE BIT TOUGHER TO EXPLAIN

</div>

The quote coding section begins with <div class="qbox"> followed by the start of the paragraph, , encase the quote with and if you want a multi paragraph quote just add the code again, don't close off the paragraph until the end of your quote section and close off everything with </div> to end the "qbox" section.

example:

QUOTE

“THEY DIDN’T WANT US TO KNOW HIS NAME. WE KNEW IT WAS A HUGE SECRET BUT IT WAS SORT OF FUNNY TO US THAT THEY TREATED HIM LIKE SUCH HUGE SECRET WHEN HE WOULD GET NERVOUS TALKING TO US GIRLS.

CAP WAS AN INCREDIBLY SHY AND KIND MAN. WE ALL THOUGHT OF HIM LIKE A LITTLE BROTHER. HE’D WALK US HOME AFTER WILD NIGHTS AND GAVE US LITTLE DOODLES WHEN WE WERE MISSING OUR GUYS. HE WAS A SWEET ONE FOR SURE.”

END QUOTE

</div>

The two image codes are for locking the image to a certain size, they won't mess up the dimensions of your image but they will lock the width to a certain size so that they don't bleed over the side of the "container". I'm pretty sure they can be placed in any section but you might have a problem with alignment.

example:

JAMES BARNES DIED DURING A MISSION in the Austrian Alps, marking the FIRST AND ONLY HOWLING COMMANDO WHO WOULD LOSE HIS LIFE IN BATTLE

SO, the full layout would be

INFORMATION TEXT

INFORMATION RED TEXT FOR MAKING AN EERIE POINT

</div>

LEFT TEXT

RIGHT TEXT

LEFT TEXT

RIGHT TEXT

</div>

QUOTE

“QUOTE PART 1

QUOTE PART 2”

END QUOTE

</div>

THE TRANSCRIPT READS:

LEFT NAME:

LEFT TEXT

RIGHT NAME:

RIGHT TEXT

</div>

</div></div>

Obviously you can rearrange the sections however you want, what's important is that you always close off a section when you move onto another and enclose the ENTIRE formatted area with </div></div>

You WILL spend an insane amount of time adding and so beware!!

If anyone has any questions or a cleaner way of doing this please don't be too shy to hit up my ask or msgs, and have a lovely day anon!

****I would appreciate that if you use this or get help out of it you leave a like or reblog (even cooler would be shoutout) ♡♡♡ and feel free to edit this anyway you like :)

#asks #I am v bad with words forgive me anon this was nice to read ty #the skin tutorials on Ao3 were a godsend for this

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luci-in-trenchcoats · 4 years

Text

Love Her (Part 9)

Summary: The reader and Dean spend a quiet morning together reflecting on their pasts before they try to get to the bottom of the reader’s legal situation...

Masterlist

Pairing: Doctor!Dean x foster daughter!reader

Word Count: 4,100ish

Warnings: language, mentions of death

______

“There’s flowers here,” you said as Dean picked up the old ones from the cemetery ground fifteen minutes later.

“I bring some for your mom when I come see Jo,” he said, setting a few new blue ones down.

“Thanks. I haven’t been here in a long time,” you said.

“I didn’t know her but she’s important to me,” he said. You took one from his hand and walked over to where Jo was and set one down.

“What about Mr. Jones?” you asked, pointing at the space between the two of them.

“Yeah. You can have one too Jim Jones,” said Dean. “You keep an eye on these ladies for us when we’re not around. Unless you’re a zombie. Otherwise stay there.”

“Zombies aren’t real,” you said.

“I ain’t taking my chances,” he said. He carried the dead flowers over to a trash can and dropped them inside, holding onto one fresh one. He waved you over and he started to walk along one of the small roadways.

“Where are we going?”

“Adam,” he said. “I haven’t been since the funeral but I’m pretty sure it was up here somewhere.”

“You know it wasn’t your fault,” you said.

“He was a child. I wasn’t,” said Dean.

“If something like that happened with me and the twins, would you blame me?”

“No. Never,” he said.

“Then why would you blame yourself?” you asked. “I’m also starting to figure out that adults don’t know half the shit they pretend to.”

“That’s kind of the secret of being an adult, sweetheart. None of us know what we’re doing,” he said.

“Well I think you’re wrong if you think what happened to your brothers was your fault,” you said.

“You don’t know what happened,” he said.

“He fell and hit his head. What, you're gonna find a way to turn off gravity so that doesn’t happen?” you asked. He stared at you before he broke out into a laugh. “I’m serious. You can’t control physics. It wasn’t your fault.”

“You know, of all the people who ever told me it wasn’t my fault, no one ever quite put it like that,” he said. “Gravity. I like that one.”

“Dean.”

“I know it was nothing I did, Y/N,” he said. “I’ve had nineteen years to come to terms with that. Last night was just...I shouldn’t have acted like that in front of you.”

“You’re human. You’re allowed to act like one,” you said. “I was glad you did. Not that you were upset but...you care about me enough to get upset over me...and Adam too.”

“Still the stuff about Adam...I shouldn’t have done that. Ana said one little thing and it set me off,” he said.

“You didn’t get violent. You got upset. Everyone was upset and you take care of everyone else so much you just bottle it up. You gotta let Ana and Sam take care of you sometimes. God knows you aren’t going to let me do it,” you said.

“Can I talk to you like an adult for a minute?” he asked as you walked and you nodded. “The reason I got so upset last night wasn’t just because we found out that something potentially bad has been going on this whole time. It’s that someone I care about, that is my responsibility, was hurt and I couldn’t protect them the way I was supposed to. Again. First it was Sam in the fire as kids and then Adam died and then Jo and then you got ripped away and I realized I should have done more for you and it was just one more person I failed.”

“Dean,” you said, putting your hands in your pockets. “You know that’s completely fucking wrong, don’t you?”

“Uh, no and watch the language,” he said.

“Uh, yeah. You freaking bring my dead mom, a woman you’ve never met by the way, flowers for her grave. That alone should tell you how wrong you are,” you said.

“How did I not fail you?” he said as he stopped all of a sudden.

“You didn’t forget about me. You didn’t stop caring about me. You gave my little brother and sister a dad, and now they have a mom too which I am happy they have because they never had those things. You came back for me. How the fuck did you fail me, Dean?” you asked.

“I shouldn’t have had to come back in the first place,” he said.

“Dean. I’m not a kid. I’m not Ry or Rae. I know you aren’t Superman. You can’t save me from everything. I don’t need to be. But you try on the hard stuff and the only other person that ever gave a shit like that was my mom. You’ve never failed me, Dean. You helped me,” you said. “You didn’t even want me at first and you helped me.”

“That’s not true,” he said.

“You wanted a little girl,” you said.

“Yeah, I did. But then you bumped into me at Paula’s office and yelled at me and I asked her who you were and why you were upset and I chose Rae and Ryan and you after that. I wanted all of you. The idea in my head of my family changed. I wasn’t going to adopt a kid because I needed it but because they needed it more,” he said. “I just wanted all of you after that.”

“Why didn’t-“

“You were angry and so protective of yourself and the twins. You never would have believed me. It was okay. I know us even now, it’s okay if you’re still angry at me.”

“I’m not angry. I was on Saturday night but you kept your promise like you said. I’m not angry at you Dean. I’m done being angry at you,” you said. “Unless you eat my triple fudge ice cream, then I can’t promise anything.”

“I’ll do my best to stay away,” he said, starting to walk again. “Ana has reminded me to be careful around women and chocolate.”

“Smart woman,” you said, bumping his arm. “She’s cute. Ana.”

“We are not having this conversation,” he said.

“Of all the shit we talk about and talking about girls is what scares you?” you said. You giggled, Dean pausing as you kept walking.

“Well if that’s not the most adorable sound I ever heard,” he chuckled. “I’ve never heard you giggle before.”

“I don’t remember the last time I did,” you said. “Oh, and you are not getting out of this one that easy.”

“I like her. What’s there to talk about?” he asked, a shy smile on his face.

“You have such a crush,” you said.

“She’s my fiancé. I think saying I have a crush is a bit redundant,” said Dean.

“You love her?” you asked. He looked back over his shoulder and nodded. “Jo probably would have wanted you to move on and be happy you know.”

“It’s different this time. I don’t love Ana less or anything. One was just, my person, and the other was my ‘we’re both hurt but we can help each other’ person,” he said.

“Ana said she was married before.”

“She understands what it’s like to have loved someone like that before and then lose them. We both do. She’s not scared of my crap and I’m not scared of hers. It’s not any less than what it was like with Jo. It’s just different,” he said.

“I understand,” you said. He veered off to the right and you followed him, Dean slowing his walk. He was looking around for a moment before he stopped at a grave and you stood beside him. “So you haven’t been here since the funeral?”

“No,” he said, setting the flower down. “Too many bad memories.”

“Did you have good ones?” you asked.

“Yeah. I went to college not long after Adam came to live with us. I never knew him as well as Sam or my parents did. He used to avoid me at first. I think he was afraid. I was so angry at dad back then. I don’t blame him,” said Dean.

“Yeah but obviously that changed,” you said.

“I never hated him. I hated the idea of him. But not him. He was just proof of dad’s cheating. But he was a scared little kid all by himself. So Sam was a brother to him and I tried to be one when I was around. I’d take them out for ice cream or we’d go to a baseball game. The camping trip was Adam’s idea. He was so excited. He told all of his friends at school his big brothers were taking him camping,” he said. “It was right after they got done with school for the year. The first two days were great. Then we went for a hike and I got lost.”

“You got lost?”

“Mhm. It started to storm. I slipped and fell. My shoulder popped right out. I shouted pretty loud and Sam and Adam came rushing over apparently they were that close. Sam fell too and landed on his arm. But Adam fell backwards and hit his head. Kid never even felt a thing. Split second and he was gone,” said Dean. “It was an accident and it was my fault.”

“I’m pretty sure Adam would agree with me and say you’re wrong. Again,” you said.

“I know. Can you give me a minute?” he asked. You nodded and went back to the path, finding a bench to sit on. Dean wandered over a few minutes later, sighing as he took a seat. “I should come up here more often. This part of the cemetery. It’s pretty.”

“Feel any better?” you asked.

“Yeah. Ana sort of told me I had to go face my fears,” he said. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Death doesn’t scare me,” you said. “A lot scares me but not that.”

“You know if I could give you your childhood back I would,” he said. “In a heartbeat.”

“S’okay,” you said with a smile. “I didn’t have the most awesome childhood. I think adulthood is going to go better though.”

“How’s it going so far?” he asked.

“Four days in and it’s pretty good. I get told to swear less often at least,” you said, Dean shaking his head.

“Watch it around the twins and not directed at people,” he said, holding up a finger.

“Deal,” you said. “But it’s good. I feel better. Aside from the whole concussion thing.”

“If there’s ever a next time, let me take the hit, alright?” he said.

“I hope there’s not a next time,” you said, Dean running his thumb gently over your bruised cheek. “So I know I asked this morning but are you doing okay now?”

“I’m better, sweetheart,” he said as he stood up. “Come on. We should head back before our prison warden gets pissed at us for staying out too long.”

“Ana won’t care,” you said, walking back down the path.

“Y/N,” he said after a few minutes of silence. “What you said last night...and the stuff you said today...your mom would be so incredibly proud of who you are. I know I am. You have the right to be anything but kind and you just keep on telling fate where to shove it.”

“I don’t like when you’re upset,” you said. “I don’t like being mean to you either. I’m done with that, Dean.”

“Come on,” he said, kissing the top of your head and throwing his arm over your shoulders. “Let’s go home, sweetheart.”

“Can we take a break?” you asked Sam after his near constant questions that afternoon. He nodded and you put your hands on your head.

“Headache?” asked Dean as you heard water be set down in front of you.

“M’kinda dizzy,” you said, squeezing your eyes shut.

“Just take a second,” he said as you felt Sam’s hand on your shoulder. “That was a lot of walking earlier and Sammy’s lawyer stuff confuses me even.”

You took a few deep breaths and your head got clear again, Dean checking you out when you lifted your head.

“Let’s call it a day,” said Dean. You opened your mouth to protest but he frowned. “Y/N.”

“Fine,” you said.

“Go take a nap in your room. Lights off, no reading for the next few days,” he said.

“Alright, alright,” you said. He went with you and shut your blinds as you lay down with your blanket, letting out a sigh.

“I'll come check on you in a bit, sweetheart,” he said, pulling your door shut.

“She okay?” you heard Sam outside the door.

“Yeah. Too much overstimulation. Brain still has a bruise on it. She needs more breaks if we’re gonna do this again tomorrow,” said Dean.

“I think I got most of the information down, at least on her end,” said Sam.

“So what do you think is going on?” asked Dean.

“I’m not a criminal lawyer, De,” said Sam.

“Sam.”

“Something shady is definitely happening. That was not a standard clause that we found in those papers. Nothing can go beyond this house right now and I mean nothing. The next thing to do, and I will go with Y/N and you tomorrow, but we are going to go downtown and we’re signing the paperwork to have Y/N be released out of foster care. Someone that is not Paula. I’ll read it and then Y/N can sign it and she’s good,” said Sam.

“You think someone might try to take her again?”

“I think she’s in a gray area right now and we want to get her out of it. Yes, she has rights like an adult but we don’t know what might try and be pulled,” said Sam.

“Obviously the dad is involved,” said Dean.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” said Sam.

“Sam, it’s pretty simple. He’s involved.”

“Odds are, yes. But I have to check everything out, very carefully, just in case,” he said. “Okay?”

“I know. Thanks,” said Dean.

“She’s my niece too you know,” said Sam. “I care about her.”

“Adam wouldn’t have been that much older than her. Only nine years,” said Dean after a moment. “You’re not that much older than her.”

“Ana said you guys went up to the cemetery this morning,” said Sam. “I thought you were too scared to ever go see him.”

“I used to be. I needed to go see him though. Y/N has a way of putting things in perspective,” said Dean.

“Kid’s been through shit too,” said Sam.

“But we always had mom and dad. Even when dad and I were horrible to each other, I always had mom or you or Jo or Ana. She had to be Rae and Ryan’s mother half the time before she wound up alone.”

“You had to be my dad half the time.”

“Sam-“

“It was not pretty when the affair came out. You like to forget that mom left us for months and dad was off with his dying girlfriend and you took care of me and Adam. I never forgot that,” said Sam. “Why do you think Y/N can get in your head so easy? You guys are so similar you don’t even know it.”

“I know,” said Dean with a sigh. “Just get her safe tomorrow, Sammy. You can’t even understand how badly I need her to be safe. I don’t want anyone controlling her life anymore.”

“I will. You have to promise to be calm tomorrow,” said Sam. “We’re taking no chances.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior, Sammy.”

“We’ve been waiting over an hour,” you said, laying your head against the conference room table the next day.

“A lot of being a lawyer is waiting around,” said Sam as he taped his pen.

“Remind me to never be a lawyer. No offense,” you said. Sam chuckled and Dean got up from his chair again.

“Relax, Dean,” said Sam as Dean started to pace.

“I’m worried,” said Dean.

“Over what?”

“Have you met me? Everything,” he said.

“Is that why you’re a family doctor?” you asked, both of them looking at you. “Again, no offense. Just curious.”

“No. I uh, wanted to do cardiovascular surgery at first,” said Dean.

“Heart surgeon,” said Sam.

“It’s not just the heart,” said Dean. “But the state offers a deal since family doctors are in short supply. Basically less school, less bills, and the state would cover my student debt as long as I work as a family doctor for ten years. I like kids so it was a no brainer,” said Dean.

“Do you like it?” you asked.

“I like working normal hours and it’s typically non-life threatening stuff,” said Dean. “Pay ain’t bad either.”

“We didn’t have a lot growing up. You’ve seen our parents house,” said Sam.

“I get that,” you said. “Your house is the nicest I’ve ever stayed in.”

“Our house,” said Dean. You lifted your head up. “Our house is the nicest you’ve ever stayed in. Also, our house is nice but it’s not half as nice as the other ones in the neighborhood. A lot of money is getting tucked away for your kid’s college funds. Besides, you’ve never even seen Sam’s.”

“I moved in there like three months ago,” he said.

“Still nice. He has a pool,” said Dean.

“And where is Sam’s new house?” you asked.

“Birch,” he said.

“Isn’t Birch like two streets over?” you asked.

“Mhm,” said Dean with a smirk. “Little brother just couldn’t stand to stay away from me.”

“Don’t make me vomit,” said Sam as the door opened. All three of you turned your heads when you saw a woman you didn’t recognize walk in.

“Kelly Norris. I oversee the local office,” she said, holding out her hand and shaking each of yours. “May I ask what is going on that a lawyer, an ex-foster parent and a foster child are requesting to work with me directly?”

“Just want to make sure my client can leave the system successfully,” said Sam.

“I’m gonna need more than that,” she said.

“A legal adult consulted my services in order to properly leave the system. She is eighteen and this paperwork contains a lot of legalese that most adults couldn’t understand. I am simply here to help,” said Sam.

“We have people to help fosters that are leaving understand those kinds of things,” said Kelly. “It’s a straightforward process that very rarely involves lawyers.”

“I’m sure it does. What’s the harm in having me read over a document with my client?” asked Sam.

“Paula indicated that it was Dr. Winchester who requested a lawyer look at the documents,” said Kelly. You started to get a bad feeling and got up, poking your head out of the room. You quickly went back inside and over to Sam.

“Say you aren’t my lawyer,” you mumbled. He cocked his head and you grabbed his arm. “Say it’s someone else and you’re filling in.”

“Excuse me but what is going on?” asked Kelly.

“Sam isn’t actually my lawyer. He’s filling in for someone today,” you said.

“Well who is your lawyer?”

“Jody Miller. She’s a senior partner at my firm. Something came up last minute and I’m filling in for her,” said Sam.

“You three stay here for a moment,” she said. She left the room and Sam shut the door, throwing his hands up.

“What was that?” he said.

“There’s a cop in the hall,” you said.

“A cop?” asked Dean.

“Oh shit,” said Sam, looking at you and then Dean as you saw it click for him. “I’m pretty sure she just saved all our asses.”

“By lying?” asked Dean.

“By separating herself from us,” said Sam as you nodded. “You sure you don’t want to be a lawyer someday?”

“We’re still screwed if your boss doesn’t cover,” you said.

“Jody will cover. Don’t worry,” said Sam.

“Okay, can you two please explain what is going on?” asked Dean.

“If I’m thinking where Y/N’s head was at, which is very smart for thinking all of five seconds, she’s afraid they were going to say something along the lines that you have an unhealthy obsession with her, I was involved in order to help manipulate Y/N, and that Y/N may be an adult but she’s not mentally capable of making those decisions for herself and should remain in the system until age 21,” said Sam. “Right?”

“Yeah,” you said.

“How did you come up with that on the spot?” asked Dean.

“I read a lot of books?” you said.

“Yeah, well, good for us,” said Dean, rubbing his face. “Unhealthy obsession? Really?”

“Paula likely cited something against you,” said Sam. “I don’t want you to speak to anyone. You are here because Y/N is currently under your care only.”

“What about when they ask where I’m going to go?” you asked. “If I can’t say home.”

“You don’t speak either,” said Sam as he pulled out his phone. “I’m going to get Jody down here. Now.”

“Jody’s awesome,” you said to Sam as you were walking through the parking lot.

“Now Samuel Winchester,” she said when she stopped all of a sudden, Sam gulping as he slowed his walk. “Would you care to tell me why I just lied and pissed off the head of freaking foster care?”

“It’s my fault,” you said.

“Honey, no it ain’t,” she said, looking back at Sam. “Well?”

“Cause they are up to something. This Paula chick that works there. We had to get Y/N in a place where she can’t be moved again. She’s an adult to do as she pleases now,” said Sam.

“You, the foster dad, talk,” said Jody.

“Uh,” said Dean. “I uh-“

“I’m pretty sure they were going to try and force me to stay in the system. Paula was at least,” you said. She glanced at Dean and then Sam.

“Give me a second alone with her,” said Jody. You walked over to an empty parking spot, Jody crossing her arms at you. “That was the right call you made back there. The boss chick ain’t involved I can tell but if you ever hear from that Paula again, you contact me immediately.”

“Okay.”

“Now’s the part you have to decide. I don’t like people that hurt kids so I’ll do this one pro bono. You can decide to dig into this woman, dig into crap you might not want to know, or you can walk away right now and forget about it. Those two boys can’t make that choice for you. It’s got to be yours,” she said.

“She kept me from my family. I want her to pay for that.”

“That’s what I figured. For now let me and Sam work this,” she said. “Consider pre-law while you’re at it.”

“I just want to be left alone honestly,” you said. She nodded.

“The hardest part is over. No one is taking you away after this.”

______

A/N: Read Part 10 here!

#spn #supernatural #dean x foster daughter!reader #au #series #dean winchester

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vagrantblvrd · 4 years

Text

Superhero/supervillain AU where Jeremy’s power is shapeshitfing something along the lines of Mystique.

Pair that with his incredible ability to mislead/lie/etc., and there’s an amazing AU of superhero!Jeremy who is recruited by government agencies/superhero teams for undercover work and so on.

Spends 99% of his adult career in the superhero field as someone else - guy has henchpersoned for the most vile superheros on Earth (and other worlds, because why not) and all that?

Maybe his bosses take advantage of his skills/abilities - God knows younger Jeremy wasn’t super bright - and maybe he’s responsible for a few injustices. (Wrongfully convicted people that begged him to think about what he was doing and he just thought they were trying to flip him?)

And you know at some point one of his bosses is sekritly a baddie and frames Jeremy for some horrendous incident.

A bus of nuns chaperoning orphans on their way to adopt kittens and puppies rescued from breeding mills that featured in a news segment with Sarah McLachlan in the background because someone on the news crew forgot to put their phone on silent and it’s their ringtone because they love sadness or some shit, idk, but it makes Jeremy look awful, okay?

He has to go on the run and the only one he can turn to is, you know, this supervillain type in Ryan?

Former superhero0ish government agent/whatever Jeremy was who got burned the same way and fakes his death to come back as a masked supervillain.

He was supposed to be Jeremy’s next assignment but Ryan got a new head henchperson in Gavin instead, and just.

Yes.

The three of them working together to expose the baddie who framed Jeremy because common enemy/goals?

And Jeremy realizing how he’s been used all this time.

Ryan is like.

Obviously doesn’t trust Jeremy, but he knows what it’s like to be in his position? But he can’t go easy on Jeremy so he and Gavin basically haze him?

Send him off to do the grunt work when something like that needs doing. (Lol at him over the cameras they’ve got watching him as he has to slog through the sewers looking for an entrance to some facility or other they plan to infiltrate. One not on the blueprints - and doesn’t actually exist because someone gave them bad intel and the knew that? But they don’t let Jeremy in on it until he returns to the base/lair and is like no success, guys.

AND.

Sparring sessions with Gavin on the sidelines on his laptop or whatever and Jeremy and Ryan really going at it?

Ryan intentionally provoking Jeremy, needling him about all his past missions and how many times did he do the baddie’s dirty work for him? How many lives has he ruined and so on until Jeremy mcfreaking snaps.

Has been trying not to think about that until they stop the baddie and he can wallow all he wants? But Ryan won’t let him.

Ryan totally lets Jeremy pin him, this close to actually killing him in his anger?

But then Gavin’s there, calm and cold and ruthless with this knife or what have you at Jeremy’s throat and a polite, “Perhaps you should rethink things, Jeremy,” or “I don’t think so,” or something else super cool sounding my brain won’t cough up right now, but like.

The first time Jeremy sees Gavin as the threat he is and not just this somewhat bumbling henchperson?

Also.

He looks at Ryan and the isn’t gloating like he thought he would be? Hes just. Got this look on his face that’s a bit satisfied because you know the same thing happened to Ryan before, something that made him take a good long look at his life and the things he’d done thinking he was in the right and just, idk.

Then that whole sequence of Jeremy really re-evaluating his life up to that point. All the shit he did as a government agent/superhero/??? and how everything went wrong when he was framed.

Even the way he’d been looking at Ryan and Jeremy as temporary allies, useful in the moment but no real reason to give a fuck about them once everything was over? (Except there was this part of him that had grown to like them, even if they were bastards to him at first?)

While this is going on one of his old bosses finds him and offers him a deal - help them put a stop to the baddie and they can clear his name. Reinstate him, promote him, whatever, because they’re desperate and think Jeremy’s just going to fall in line that easily now. (Oh, and when Jeremy mentions Ryan and Gavin he’s told they have to be stopped as well because supervillains??? Duh, Jeremy.)

Anyway, Jeremy tells them he’ll think about it and goes back to the base/lair.

Ryan has this look on his face like he knows something happened, but he doesn’t mention it. Turns back to Gavin who’s briefing him - and other henchpersons - about some new intel they got while Jeremy was gone.

Gavin glances at him, and Jeremy has the feeling he knows something is up too, but like Ryan doesn’t bring it up.

This intel that will help them get the baddie for sure this time and everyone works on some plan to that end.

Jeremy feeling guilty as hell the whole time because on one hand he could have his life back, get a damn promotion he should have gotten ages ago in the bargain and all that?

And all he has to do is betray Ryan and Gavin and the others who took him in when his life got all fucked up.

He keeps getting these looks from Ryan and Gavin - and like. Other henchpersons, but no one says anything.

The sparring sessions and whatnot continue and one day Jeremy’s like oh, fuck me, because Ryan and Gavin are going at it in the training room, right?

All Ryan’s power and strength up against Gavin’s speed and agility and it’s the cliche of it looking like they’re dancing rather than fighting?

Because, look.

There’s probably some history between them too, you know?

Former agent/superhero Ryan and this absolutel fucking bastard in Gavin who’s some internationally renowned thief/assassin and their flirty/sexual tension-filled encounters over the years?

Gavin being the one to help Ryan when he was betrayed by his bosses/whatever and all this trust and the whatnot, and of course they know one another’s fighting style forwards and backwards and all that.

Anyway.

They’re having a fucking blast, trading quips and pithy one-liners and it’s like. Jeremy doesn’t even know because it goes so far beyond the oh, no, he/they’re hot thing into something completely else.

And then!

The day of the Final Battle and the three of them at the forefront and Jeremy being forced to choose between getting his old life back, or....not.

Baddie’s been stopped/killed by his own hand because of course, and now it’s this one last choice on Jeremy’s part.

Ryan took a bad hit in the fight and Gavin protecting him with his body and -

He’s not even giving Jeremy a pleading look, with Jeremy standing there and choice to save them or destroy them in the pal of his hand (to be all fricking poetic about it), no.

He’s just watching Jeremy like hey, no, he gets it, he does, and also after all this, what’s your decision gong be, hmm? like he’s expecting Jeremy to betray them.

So of course Jeremy gets angry, fucking pissed, because he didn’t do all this personal growth shit for nothing, you know?

Turns his back on the people who went to him for help, expected him to fall in line like a good little sheep or whatever and tells them to fuck off.

Causes a distraction and calls in some of the henchpersons for a emergency exctraction and they hightail it to a sekrit bunker or whatever Ryan ha set up somewhere.

Jeremy sticks around long enough to make sure everyone’s going to be okay and then gets the hell out of there. (Guilty as hell and thinking he’s more than worn out his his welcome with Ryan and Gavin and it’s just better this way?)

Roams aimlessly around for a bit, does acts of superheroism and whatnot when he runs into a bad situation and then moves on.

And then, of course, there’s this time he superheroes his little heart out abd gets abducted by these henchpersons?

Doesn’t know who they work for because nondescript clothing/armor, and gets taken to some base/lair and put into your standard interrogation scene?

Uncooperative as hell with the asshole using the voice modulator asking him all these questions? (Kind of thinks this is it, this is how he dies in some assholes hidden base/lair/bunker like a loser.)

But then!

One of Jeremy’s answers is just an incredibly creative way to tell someone to fuck off an die? And the asshole with the voice modulator fucking loses it, starts laughing like an asshole and the modulator gets turned off or something because after a moment Jeremy recognizes the laughter.

Fucking Gavin.

Wheezing and squeaking until he turns the PA or whatever off, and the enforce type in the room with Jeremy sighs.

Looks up at the observation window that goes does cool high-tech shit to go from foggy white/reflective mirror to see-through glass and Gavin waves down at them, stupid grin on his face and still laughing.

The enforcer type sighs again and reaches up to pull off the mask/helmet/whatever and of fucking course it’s Ryan.

Him and Gavin looking all over the damn place for Jeremy all this time.

Well, okay. They gave him a few months to get his shit together, but when he just went on with his moping and it stopped being productive/whatever, they decided enough was enough.

Which is how they got to this little point in time.

Ryan sits down across from Jeremy and just. Looks at him.

Jeremy who hasn’t been taking the best care of himself and all that and just.

“You’re an idiot.”

Which Jeremy knows full well?

Doesn’t get the feeling Ryan and Gavin are going to kill him, because nah, but. There’s probably some yelling in his future.

Which, yes?

But also smooches.

First though, long involved talk. Awkward flirting with Jeremy - fucking finally - realizing Ryan and Gavin are all oh, no, he’s hot about him and have been for a while. Didn’t do anything about it before now, because no way to know if he’d turn on them or not, and best not to complicate things further?

Once Jeremy picked them/their side over getting his old life back they thought it might be okay to test the waters and see if he was likewise interested in them?

But then he ran, and they were like, well okay, thinking that was as good as an answer? (And then they found out he was just. Getting himself in deeper and deeper in all the moping and going nowhere good, and just. Yeah.)

But now!

Awkward flirting and awkward dates and someone being daring enough to kiss someone goodnight on the cheek and all the dumb idiots in love shit I love.

And then the smooches and the whatnot.

Also the three of them being ~supervillains and the whatnot, because yes.

#ragehappy #jerevinwood #superhero aus #looik #idk #i lost the thread early on and it turned into nothing but cliches #sorry???#technically not a fic #vagrant fic

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