#they obviously know there's always (at least) two and i think they'd realize that if they capture one

[danytar]

“Just good friends” [Tom!Glynn-Carney X Actress! Reader]

Warnings: none

Summary: You have a very close relationship with your friend... But everyone thinks there's something more between you two.. something special behind the scenes.

It was clear for everyone how close Y/N were to Tom as he was to her. the two of them are literally were stuck together like puppies.

She didn't want to fall in love with her best friend Especially after she get out of a previous failed relationship before. Even if it was years ago. she felt like she didn't want to trust love again. After all the pain it caused to her.

Now she want to focus on her career and business.

They were just a good friends.. or at least this what they were saying about themselves. But deep down they both knew that they were something more. They always knew... but were afraid to admit it. The sexual tension between them was palpable, sometimes even uncomfortable, and the actors around them thought they were secretly hooking up.

It was almost like a scene from a romantic comedy, where everyone knew that two people liked each other, except those two people. The two of them were unaware of their own feelings, and unaware of the fact that everyone could see it... except them.

And so they were together in this comfortable silence for a moment, their relationship being an open secret to everyone in the set, yet unspoken between the two of them.

It was like the two of them were just waiting for the realization to set in, just waiting for the "a ha!" moment... when they'd realize that they obviously liked each other.

But they hadn't reached that moment yet.In the distance there were whispers, people and the fans around them were whispering, gossiping, joking about them.

The whole set knew, as was obvious. It was like that old cliche, everyone was waiting for them to just say it... except the two of them.

And so, in the background, the whispers continued. Gossiping and joking about the two of them, about their "closeness". The two of them sat there in the quiet of the dressing room, unaware, almost oblivious to it all. And so the moment of that realization, of that quiet realization that they'd both liked each other for so long, was still far off in the distance.

And so they sat there in the silence of the dressing room, just looking at each other...

The silence had been hanging there for a moment too long. Something had to be said. It was like the air was slowly growing heavy from the tense silence. And Tom was the one who spoke first.

"I... uh..."

Tom continued, his voice still quiet, his nerves evident despite their apparent "romance". He was not used to talking with Y/N about this, or anything like it.

And so he was a bit awkward, despite his usual smooth demeanor in most situations.

“You look nervous.. what's wrong? ” she replies.

"Do I?"

Tom smiled weakly at her.His usual easygoing attitude and charm seemed to have left him for the moment. Instead he was a clumsy, awkward, and almost nervous mess.

His eyes darted around, seemingly not knowing what to do as his nervous demeanor was clear to see. And so, in spite of all his attempts to hide it, he was evidently nervous.

“Maybe you are”. she smilies softly and looks at him.

He smiles back softly, trying to seem more confident than he actually was. He was always charming and confident in front of the camera, in the spotlight.

But in the dressing room with her he was an awkward, nervous, almost clumsy mess of a guy. He tried to play it cool, but his awkwardness was clear for her to see.

The silence between them remained awkward and quiet, with Tom continuing to shift around in his seat. He was obviously nervous and uncomfortable, despite trying to hide it.

The two of them just sat there quietly, as the pressure between them increased. The tension was obvious, and their attraction to each other was evident in that silence

“Do you want to hang out after filming?”she suggested.

"Yeah, I'd like that... yeah."

The tension was lifted slightly as he answered. Despite his nervousness, he was a bit relieved that she'd suggested hanging out together. He was always looking to be with Y/N.

He'd wanted to ask her to hang out himself, but he hadn't been able to find the right words. So when she suggested it, it made him so happy, and he excitedly responded.

After completing filming some scenes Y/N was sitting on Tom's lap, while he was smoking and talking with Ewan.He had his arm around her, and was chatting with Ewan, smoking and casually talking about nothing in particular.

It was like a casual afternoon after filming was all done, and the two of them were having a nice relaxed smoke.

They looked happy and comfortable, a clear contrast to the awkwardness that had been in the dressing room earlier.She looked very stoned, and Tom seemed to be enjoying hanging out with her.

They were almost like a cute couple together, just relaxed, casual, and having a chill moment together.

But the casualness between them masked something else, something deeper, the two of them unaware. They were close and comfortable, but there was something else behind that closeness.

It was almost like a relationship, but with neither saying anything.It was like an unspoken connection between the two of them, a quiet, subtle intimacy that was clear for everyone to see... with the exception of them.

They both thought they were just friends, even though the connection was deeper than that.

“The lovebirds are very comfortable it seems”. Ewan chuckles and teases them.

He did so, taking a quick glance toward the two of them with a playful smirk. He was aware of their close relationship, and he knew the rumors that were going around.

Tom and Y/N were seemingly unaware of the rumors, but in reality, the whispers around set were not so quiet. And so there had already been talk of romantic connections between Tom and Y/N, rumors that the two of them were more than just friends.

And so Ewan smirked at the two of them as he took in the scene.

"Right... right, definitely. Just good friends. Good very close friends."

Ewan's tone was slightly playful, with an obvious tone of mockery to his voice. He knew that they were more than just friends, and so he was poking a little fun at them.

Tom and Y/N looked at each other for a moment, and just quietly laughed. They were aware of the rumors circulating about them, and aware that they weren't just friends, yet they continued with their casual tone and demeanor.

They were just in denial..

Part 2

#tom glynn carney #tom glynn carney x reader #hotd #aegon fanfic #aegon ii targaryen #house of the dragon #hotd fanfic #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon x reader #aegon headcanons #fanfiction #imagine #aegon x you #hotd aegon #my writing

[waspredteeth]

You know what I've realized these past several months on Tumblr and just...years of consuming content?

It's pretty rare for the fandom to acknowledge Gotham as a city. A real, living city with people in it. Like, sure we always get cutesy posts about Batman or the others from outside perspectives or fics that include interesting ocs (I love u if you do that btw).

But what I mean isn't that. What I mean is: does anyone think of Gotham and its citizens as actual people? Because I've sure seen kind of the opposite.

I see constant arguments or heavily biased (mostly misinformed) posts regarding what Bruce does and how the Batman helps the city. That his riches would get lost in corruption and no one can save the city unless there's violence. You could try and make the argument, sure. But we've seen time and time again in comics that Bruce uses his money to the benefit of the city. We've seen in comics that he employs people who are disadvantaged and gives them opportunities. People know Bruce Wayne gives jobs and treats his employees well. He donates heavily to charities, creates his own organizations, funds Leslie Thompkin's clinic, and consistently updates the safety of his own buildings. People (at least post-Crisis) would know that Bruce Wayne did everything he could to save Gotham after the Cataclysm earthquake/No Man's Land - that he went up against Congress. Of course, not everyone would like Batman. Not everyone would trust the Wayne name. They'd see a stranger who prowls nightly and may or may not rescue you. They'd see the privilege of an old rich name who gets to exert his influence over the city. If you go to him for help, you go to him with the fear, and anticipation of rejection or with the knowledge that he will be safe.

I've also seen the (imo) ridiculous notion that Crime Alley citizens would trust the Red Hood. Maybe some would now, after the reboots and actual comic book evidence that he's doing something. But I cannot fathom living in a city with such heavy crimes occurring and then trusting what is essentially a cop. People don't know the Red Hood. They don't know Jason Todd. They would only know: 1. he has tried and succeeded various times to take over organized crime and drug routes 2. he can and will kill if he sees it fit. In some people's eyes, he would be a cop with even less judicial oversight. In some families, he would be the killer of their breadwinner, of their fathers or family members or lovers. A man with a gun. Eyes without a face. If you go to him for help, you go to him for blood.

This doesn't even begin to lay out the insane amount of vigilantes who live/operate in Gotham. The Batman is not the only figure. The Red Hood is not the only figure. If you boil down Gotham to only the conflict between these two characters, you miss the nuances and varied opinions of the city by miles. If you boil down Gotham to just Batman-affiliates, you miss even more.

For every person who doesn't trust Batman, there's someone who'd prefer Huntress. For every child who lives in fear but can't trust an adult, there's Robin or Batgirl. For an abused woman, there's other women out there who help: Catwoman or Black Canary or Holly Robinson. There's people who'd never trust a vigilante but want safety, they'd have Leslie Thompkins (who operates in Crime Alley) or Lucius Fox who could give them a job.

Not to mention, Batman is very obviously white. There would be some people who would rightfully mistrust white men, and would prefer figures like Orpheus or Onyx or Batwing or the Signal or Huntress (post-N52). There's the Creeper, who would be terrifying but some might prefer the monster over the man. There's Ragman, an explicitly Jewish vigilante who was literally called the Tatterdemalion of the Oppressed and trusted by the poor and homeless. There's Batwoman, Mother Panic, Spoiler, Nightwing, Red Robin, Azrael, Bluebird, the enigmatic idea of the Oracle, Anarky, Ghostmaker, Gotham Girl/Boy, Catman, Alan Scott-Green Lantern, Wildcat.

Hell, maybe someone who lives in Gotham would just straight up trust Superman or the Flash or Wonder Woman more than anyone else. Maybe they'd never once trust someone acting for a perceived view of justice and would just trust an employer like Two-Face or the Riddler or any mobster.

I'm stressing my point here: when you write anyone who lives in Gotham City, keep in mind that they don't know they live in a comic book world. Secret identities are foreign to them, they only know the base actions of each vigilante. Each person's opinion will heavily vary. Every experience colors their view of the city and vigilantes as a whole. Just, idk, widen your horizons and consider about what someone living in a place like Gotham would really think.

To that end, read the comics!!! Research actual cities!!! Take in experiences and history!!! It's all interesting and just adds so much more.

You want one comic that shows Bruce helping Gotham and the various views of Gothamites, read Gotham Knights #32, published in 2002 and titled "24/7." Read it online illegally if you have to!!

#i'm not hating on existing content #make what you want! #I've just always wanted to see more #because there is more to explore #dc #batman #dc comics #batman meta #gotham city #DM for a link to the comic issue if you want #just be prepared for a comic website with pop-up ads #robin #dc meta #bruce wayne #I am Not tagging all these people

[yanderes-galore]

I hope you are having a good day. Could you write a platonic concept for Glamrock Freddy sharing reader with Glamrock Bonnie? I replayed Ruin and seeing Freddy's poster again made me think that those two friends (or more, if you want to see them that way) would be a great team and work together to keep the reader to themselves.

Yeah I can do that, was not entirely sure how to write Bonnie so I winged it.

Yandere! Platonic Glamrock Freddy + Bonnie Sharing a Darling

Pairing: Platonic - Sharing

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Overprotective behavior, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Clingy behavior, Isolation, Forced companionship.

There's no canon Glamrock Bonnie personality but I'm going to make a new version compared to my other one.

We can assume Bonnie is very caring as Eclipse's line was meant to be for him if I remember correctly.

As a result, both bots are very caring to guests and STAFF.

We can assume this whole concept took place before Monty breaking Bonnie and the missing kids.

Bonnie is probably a little arrogant but not as much as his other counterparts.

For the most part he'd probably be similar to Freddy.

Although I also imagine him as carefree and fun loving.

You are most likely close to the two as their mechanic like I do in most fics, or at the very least you work at the Pizzaplex somehow.

I think you're right to assume the two would share a darling.

They're best friends and nearly inseparable.

I can't imagine the two fighting so they'll have no big problems sharing.

You often visit Bonnie Bowl and the Main Stage to see the two.

Unbeknownst to you, you're their favorite.

The blue bunny and orange bear often meet up to speak about their best friend.

They see you as part of their duo now trio.

They only bond even more when they realize they have a shared connection with you.

I imagine they'd gush about you to each other and are very excited when you stop by.

The two are no doubt your biggest fans and hope you care for them too.

Of course these two are going to be a great team.

They both keep track of you and share information about you with each other.

You always have a pair of eyes on you as you work.

At this point they know what you bring to lunch, where you frequent, what you like… they have a lot more information than they should.

As your friends… they have to learn everything, right?

That's what they tell each other as they pry into your personal life.

Obviously you'll notice you see the two everywhere.

They are the bots you see most often.

I imagine they'd both act as parental friends or dads at times with you.

They have to watch you for overworking, right?

Oh! Can't have you getting hurt, either.

Care for an ice cream? You can hang out with them at Bonnie Bowl!

You try not to feed into their behavior as you don't want to be fired for slacking off.

Such information makes the two upset.

Their friend can be taken away from them that easily?

Hm… that won't do.

They definitely act like robot caretakers at times.

If you express any emotions that aren't normal or have any injury, one of them is checking in.

Bonnie will have you follow him to Bonnie Bowl for a couple of games.

Freddy's checking you over and even passing you a plush toy.

It's nice they care but they make it difficult to get them to do their job.

The STAFF members keep giving weird looks.

Honestly, if you ever felt like quitting or were told you were being fired, you'd end up disappearing.

Why? Well, your two “friends” ended up taking you away.

Oh, they never liked the other STAFF around you anyways.

They also didn't appreciate you ignoring them.

There's no need to worry! They'd never hurt you.

So there's no need to look so scared as they stare down at you from the darkness.

They made a little room for you in the maintenance tunnels.

They'll feed you, care for you, and be your best friends!

Don't leave your little room… they made it just for you!

They filled it with merch of themselves, there's an old arcade machine, a collection of blankets and pillows to be your bed….

They couldn't just let you leave!

Now you won't have to…

With them… you'll have endless fun!

So please… stop crying… give them a smile!

#yandere five nights at freddy's #yandere fnaf #yandere fnaf security breach #yandere fnaf ruin #yandere glamrock freddy #yandere glamrock bonnie #platonic yandere

[elvenbeard]

Maybe the biggest gift is the friends we made along the way 🎂

Happy Birthday, V!

Was staying up way too late and getting way too emotional over these fictional gonks last night, but yes... I've wanted to do a bigger scene like this for so long, and what better occasion than male V's canon birthday today!

These aren't all my favourites from the game (the sofa wouldn't be big enough for it xD), but the people Vince would like to invite over for the occasion for sure, let it be a year or two down the line when they all actually are in the same area at the right time and come together like this (and uuuhhh... obvious problems with one certain ex-bodyguard set aside and solved because I said so!). It would really be a special thing to have everyone there that's been with him during one of the worst times of his life. Thanks to them (amongst many others) he even gets the chance to celebrate another birthday.

Some more ramblings about some of the interactions I'm picturing here and why I placed everyone the way I did under the cut xD And some more pics to come in a separate post later :3

Front and center obviously Vince and Kerry and Judy, my faves, my loves <3 I think this would probably be one of only a handful of times Kerry ever meets Judy in person. He only ever hears her over the holo and knows her from what V told him, because she left Night City before they got a chance to meet prior to the game's endings. I think they would go along so well though, and besides Kerry, Judy is the person Vince feels closest to out of the group pictured here, and he'd be so excited to know Kerry and her get along as well.

Then Judy and Panam... I lowkey ship it so hard, and I mean, they would make one power couple, but at the very least I think they'd become good friends, maybe Judy even travels with the Aldecaldos for a while or joins them, like in the Star ending when she's romanced.

I put River in the back and center cause he's the biggest of the bunch and I think he'd love being there, watching over everyone in a way (and keeping an eye on Takemura, cause he doesn't trust him xD). I'd like to think him and Viktor get talking about boxing, workouts, maybe make plans for a friendly sparring match. Maybe they've even met before on some occasion, only just realizing it now. Viktor is btw out of the whole bunch the person Vince has know the longest, almost as long as he knew Jackie in my background story for him.

Goro keeps himself in the back because he definitely is the odd one out of the bunch (probably didn't wanna come in the first place), but maybe he's starting to realize this moment that a life without Arasaka is not the end of the world after all. That there's always room for new beginnings, no matter how unlikely it seems (but he's still gonna give V shit, and V is gonna give him shit, obviously XD they're bickering like an old couple probably, much to Judy's and Panam's amusement who previously were rather wary of Goro).

Then a pair I only really got thinking about when I set this up were Misty and Kerry because... It does kinda make sense, and I think they'd get along really well? Like, Vince and Misty have known each other for a few years, and he likes her a lot, but he's not as close to her as he was to Jackie for example. She was definitely a positive guidance throughout the whole mess in 2077, and he really appreciates her for always seeing the good in everything. And I think Kerry would be a bit confused about her in the beginning, but since he also has spiritual leanings I think they'd find a lot of common ground. I also think Misty would just treat him as Vince's partner, some guy, not be all in awe about him being famous - aware of it, but ignoring it, because it does not matter in the grand scheme of things how rich and famous you are but whether or not you're a decent human being.

And Nibbles is there because she lives there, obviously, this is her penthouse, her sofa xD Needs to make sure everyone behaves!

I had been thinking about including Rogue in the scene, but then I also thought... she probably wouldn't come xD Be like "nah kid, thanks, but you do you", and she's not that close with Vince on a personal level. Same goes for Claire, I love her so much, and while I think she and Vince get along very well, they're not as close (or maybe she just didn't have time).

I was pondering also if I wanted to include Jackie and Johnny in some way, because they can't be there physically for known reasons (and even though Vince wouldn't have invited Johnny just to annoy him, Johny would have come anyway to annoy him back, so there's that XD). Decided against it in the end because the ideas I had would have meant more editing than what I was ready to do just now, but I have some more ideas with Vince and Jackie and Johnny that work better in a different setting anyway.

if you've read this far, here's a piece of birthday cake 🍰

#cyberpunk 2077 #male v cyberpunk #cyberpunk v #cyberpunk vp #cyberpunk 2077 vp #cp2077 vp #cp2077 #virtual photography #kerry eurodyne #judy alvarez #panam palmer #misty olszewski #goro takemura #river ward #viktor vektor #nibbles #vincent ezaki #my vp #my screenshots #my headcanons #I'm dying everytime at Kerry's smile #and Judy's and Panam's and River's and... #I'm too bisexual for this #also I have a super neat new desktop background now :3 #and highkey lowkey wanna print it as an actual photo to put up somewhere #I might... just as well do that #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers

[shaunamilfman]

bro i cant stop thinking about ur perv lottie 😫 so good

Thinking about stalker!perv shauna like...just everything. y/n is a celebrity and shauna is their #1 fan. literally. she somehow gets close with people who know you and asks about you. obviously, she knows her limits, but i feel like she'd ask what perfume you wear, or what laundry detergent you use so she can smell like you. she seems to be everywhere you go, even on secret vacations that only you and your manager know about. you dont bother your security guards about her because she doesn't seem like a threat. until this trip at least.

she seems to be getting closer this time. accidentally bumping into you at this small shop, saying she's here visiting family and cant believe you're here. of course, you dont wanna seem like a snob, so you accept her offer of taking a selfie. except when you leave, you notice that your water bottle is gone.

this is getting too long so let me get to the point 😭shauna cornering you in your hotel room with a knife (she wouldn't actually hurt you. or would she?) and blackmailing you with all the scandalous pictures she took of you. it would ruin your image, you know that, so you tell her you'll do whatever she wants. and she wants you. she'll take pictures of you two fucking to keep for herself. (and to blackmail you again later)

just obsessed with shauna being a little freak perv... getting off on stalking you. she definitely steals a pair of ur underwear after too. smirking while watching your future interviews, because she's the one who gave you those hickeys.

bro im glad you liked it!

i can 100% get behind perv shauna. shauna 100% runs one of those accounts that track your every move. she's so well known amongst your fans for always knowing where you are/getting unreleased pictures of you. perv shauna absolutely sprays your cologne on her pillow so can breathe it in while getting herself off. she breaks into your hotel room while your gone so she can snoop around all your soaps and stuff so she can use the same ones.

shauna has such an innocent look about her that even if you realized she was following you around a bit you'd just assume she was a little obsessed but nothing to actually worry about since she's not very threatening looking. more than anything it was because you got a little kick out of someone so hot following you around

shauna getting a picture with you at the store and breathing the smell of your shampoo in. she's such a freak but you can't help but shiver at the feeling of her breathing so close to your neck. you don't believe a word she says, but you really cant afford the scandal so you smile and nod along. shauna stealing your water bottle because your lips touched it so you're practically kissing if you think about it 🤔

your practically exhausted as you come into your hotel room, more than ready to collapse into your bed. you look in horror at your bed as it's filled with pictures of you in various states of undress. you glance around the room and stare at shauna with wide eyes as you see her, tensing at the sight of the knife in her hand. you knew that you could call out for security and they'd probably get here before she could do any major damage, after all you did think she was too obsessed to actually hurt you all that much. but there was something about her that made you want to give it to her anyway.

thinking about eating shauna out while she talks about how much she wants you, how long she's fantasized about this (shauna is such a talker). perv!shauna tying you down and riding the strap while taking even more pictures of you?? you know letting her do this is just going to make it worse but... you weren't all that upset about it, honestly. you're more than happy to let her climb you like a tree, even if she kept saying weird shit about the smell of your soap.

shauna is so possessive in general but perv!shauna is leaving you a walking bruise. hair & makeup nearly cries when they see how many hickies you're covered in. they do their best but the worst one is still clearly visible. shauna definitely gets off watching the visible hickey on your neck as you promote your new project.

#antlerbf #minors dni #shauna thoughts 💙 #shauna shipman x reader #yellowjackets x you #yellowjackets x reader

[devondespresso]

i was reading a scoops era steddie au where eddie visits scoops often and one thing i noticed i alway want but have yet to see (bear in mind my fic pallette is basically just shit i see on Tumblr and occasionally reading every fic a certain author has written) is a specific scene of eddie noticing stobins missing when he goes to visit them at scoops the day theyre stuck in the bunker. cause they entered the bunker after a shift one night and didn't get out until at the soonest the next afternoon right before the mall closes so if either or both of them were scheduled to work then they'd be just... gone.

and how characters around them handle that depends on how soon (if at all) they're declared missing. did robin think they'd be in-and-out in their snooping and tell her parents shes be back a little late or did she think they'd be out kinda late fucking around and just lied to her parents telling them shes sleeping over at a friend's like how we know tina was going to cover for erica? did mrs Henderson freak out when Dustin didn't bike back home (knowing what happened with will) or did she know he was with steve and trusted that they were goofing off or something?

and usually i see Steve's parents not being home but what if they were?? they could panic because steve always has some sort of excuse for why hes gone or maybe just his mom starts worrying because while his dad never really asks about him she does and she knows hes probably not at some girls house right now because he at least would have told her. or maybe mrs harrington doesn't know her son as well as she thinks she does and assumes he is out at some girls house and is relieved hes finally getting to be more like himself.

maybe just one or two people in scoops troop are reported missing that night and maybe the search started for them is enough for the other's parents or friends to realize they're all missing. maybe none of them are because they each already had a coverup with the people who'd notice. maybe they spent a good few hours in that elevator regretting lying about where they'd be because now no one knows they're in danger and by the time they start looking it could be too late (obviously erica didn't seem to grasp this yet but shes literally 10 and it's definitely her fist severely traumatic life or death experience. for the others tho it could definitely be on their minds and i have seen a few fics where robin wonders about how steve and Dustin are reacting like they've done scary shit like this before together)

then morning comes and id give it until lunch with no calls or anything before parents who believed their kids were sleeping over to start worrying seriously. maybe they call the friend their child's supposedly with and get a confused parent saying they haven't seen them or maybe they get the friend picking up and confirming they're fine (like tina). but if Mrs Henderson gets worried and calls steve she'll either get the harringtons saying he isn't home right now or she won't be able to reach him. and knowing steves like a big brother and a best friend to dustin knows that if steve missing too he's probably at least missing with him and goes to the station worried about them both

and then theres the fact that scoops has to open in the morning, probably sometime around 10am. maybe steve and robin were scheduled to both work again and as 10am comes and passes scoops ahoy hasn't been touched. maybe some mall manager calls the scoops manager (forgive me ive never worked in a mall but i do work in a store-within-a-store and we have our own manager plus the big store manager) and asks where their employees are. if missing persons reports were filed that last night then the manager would be really worried while frantically trying to find someone to cover for them. but maybe no one knows they're missing yet and their manager is grumbling about their no-shows, maybe considering firing them for both disappearing without even calling out. depending on how much they know and if the reports were filed, whoever has to cover their shifts is either worried about their coworkers (probably moreso robin than steve because of his reputation) or utterly pissed that they both didn't show and they have to open scoops ahoy with a few hours delay and probably a good few karens bitching about being closed. or maybe one or the other was scheduled and while their no-show is really inconvenient at least someone's there to open and ask for backup

and then theres steves car still parked in the back where it was the day before. a bike left behind at the mall is less eyebrow-raising but a fancy car? Steve Harrington's car? Steve Harrington who was scheduled to work today but somehow isn't in scoops right now? is he skipping work while simultaneously wandering around his workplace? and whats worse is despite evidence being there *no one can find him*. maybe thats what it takes for people to realize hes like actually missing. maybe they think he was kidnapped, hopefully he just went home with some girl and lost track of time.

and then theres eddie. eddie whos been stopping by scoops for a while now. maybe he still doesn't really like Harrington but likes teasing him with Buckley or maybe they've gotten pretty close. maybe they're already dating. maybe eddie walks up to scoops one morning to find it closed or to find that one or the other didn't show up for work this morning. maybe he hears from the worker that ones missing or maybe they get a rant about how pissed the worker is to be opening alone. maybe he's the one to go to a mall manager or security officer worried about scoops being closed because he *knows* the people that are supposed to be there right now and they don't just abandon work at the same time with no explanations.

or maybe eddie visits in the afternoons and learns they're missing from their coworkers or maybe hes there because he saw it on the news and went on his our hunt. either way it'd probably end with Eddie looking around the mall for them because he knows steve isn't going to just abandon his beemer in a busy public parking lot. maybe he finds them high out of their minds while checking the movie theatre (this one i do see a lot and am obsessed with its so good) or maybe he doesn't find them at all (its a big mall and they are actively hiding from Russians who know they escaped. sure stobin are not being very secretive while high but dustin and erica are at least keeping them in less-discoverable locations). maybe he goes home knowing hes looked everywhere in that damn mall and assumes they're probably kidnapped and taken somewhere else (if he did find them tho that opens a whole can of worms for if, how, and how much eddie gets involved and while my brains gone down sone of those rabbit holes i don't think i will today)

and then they see the news about the mall fire. and eddie knows damn well that he looked everywhere in that mall but didn't see a trace of his friends but there they are on the news and apparently in the fire. maybe eddie assumes he didn't look hard enough. but maybe he sees how steves the only one with more than a few bruises on his legs, how despite them claiming he was trapped in rumble that also allegedly killed billy hargrove he looks like hes carrying himself on adrenaline alone and hovering around robin and the kids like something more than falling support beams could get to them. maybe its the fact that he look as shit as he did but wasn't laying down on a hospital stretcher like he would be if he just got those wounds.

_._._._

hi if you saw any typos no you didn't UNLESS theyre funny or actually concerning then you should tell me and i can react appropriately

also i swear i feel like doctor strange looking through every possible reality when i go on tangents like this. idk whenever i come up with little fics in my head or come up with different ways my favorite unfinished fics could end im always exploring as many different versions of the same scenario as i can and coming up with as many what-ifs as i can.

also i pressed the poll button by accident while making this and idk how to make it go away to we're trying just ignoring it and not writing anything in it to see if it goes away

actually fuck that it probably wont work so im adding a poll question as a treat for the people who read this far

#writing this was an experience except i don't remember any of it and i didn't even reread it to check spelling #i love thinking like this tho and coming up with all these different things that could happen with this one scenario #and following canon and trying to fill in the gaps gives just enough room to fuck around but still keeps me in the right direction #with just a couple deviations that are too good to ignore like eddie finding stobin while theyre high and getting water #im also writing my own little steve henderson au universe in my head loosely inspired by those steve henderson posts by that one person #i can't remember their user rn but if i ever actually share ill tag them as inspiration inlike the first post #but mostly its me taking steve right after s2 events and letting him get help from the hendersons because dustins his new best friend now #(regardless of if he agreed to it or not) #so uh yea if anyone wants to hear about it you should totally let me know because i will do a lot for external validation #im just an 8 year old girl playing barbies but morbid things are happening #stranger things #steve harrington #steddie #eddie munson #platonic stobin #steve x eddie #robin buckley #dustin henderson #erica sinclair #steve and dustin #steve and robin #platonic soulmates stobin #scoops ahoy #stranger things season 3 #stranger things s3 #stranger things rambles #claudia henderson #steve has bad parents #mrs harrington #stranger things thoughts

[bomberqueen17]

ok ok ok ok. ok ok. ok

yeah so i think i mentioned this? we'd contracted with the same company that replaced all the windows in our house to also completely remodel our kitchen. and we were on the schedule for february. and obviously what happened was someone was like "wait i can't have my kitchen torn out from Thanksgiving through Christmas through New Year's that's insane", and the company was like "ok cool we'll postpone," and then called everyone on the list asking if they wanted to move their project up, and got all the way to us before some sucker (us) was like "tear out a quarter of my house during the holidays? oh sure sign me up."

anyway. I hadn't realized but they're tearing out to the studs, and adding insulation and replacing the plaster with drywall. i mean this is all the way. Which is good because when they installed the bay window in the front wall they left a crack that the wind literally blows in from outside, in among the layers of plaster and lath and such, and i have a napkin shoved in there and had sort of been wondering if they were gonna fix it and if so how well. That well, the whole wall is going. So, good.

Anyway. So. I've been back from the farm for six days now and I've spent all of those cleaning the house-- clearing space in the living room, which fortunately hadn't really been put back together after the windows thing-- all the living room chairs are still in the basement-- and now the sideboard is in the living room, with all the dishes in it and all the food on it. We had our microwave and toaster on a stainless steel countertop unit from IKEA and now that is disassembled in the basement and the microwave and toaster are on a bookshelf in the living room. And our coffee has always been on a wooden cart shoved against the entryway wall, and now that's moved to a corner of the living room as well, to Chita's great delight (she can get on there. there's nothing to do on there but she can Sit There which is great.)

So anyway. Today I have to take everything out of the cupboards in the kitchen, that's what's left to do. Pots and pans, all our glasses and mugs, our dry goods and baking supplies, and then last but not least our tupperware and shit. It's not that much. it's okay. It's going to take me a bunch of hours. I can do it. It's not that much heavy lifting. Dude is at work with a full slate of meetings, so he'll be away the whole day. I have yet another sinkload of dishes to do, too.

AND a DIFFERENT company is also coming today, to replace our garage door, but that should be straightforward. They had said they'd do this two weeks ago and then just never got back to us, and yesterday we were going to call them and tell them that they were going to have to negotiate for driveway space with the kitchen remodelers, but they called us instead and said they'd be by today. the last possible day they can come. which is good because until they come, we cannot get our snowblower out of the garage, since the existing door is broken. which i did not know about until i was home the time just before turkey processing, during which time i had set up the estimate and contracted for the job and then they just didn't call us back and we hadn't thought it was urgent until the kitchen thing suddenly got wildly moved up. (I had MENTIONED the impending kitchen remodel to the estimator too, but only in a conversational "well it's not until february" kind of way, but i HAD mentioned it.)

So anyway. I need clothes on and I was just finishing my coffee and Chita has just climbed up into my lap and informed me we're going to sit here for several hours. Sorry booboo, i'd love that for us but nope.

#about the author #personal #kitchen remodel

[gnomewithalaptop]

I am once again thinking about my Reverse Falls plot bunny where Canon!Dipper switches places with his Rev Falls counterpart

Just hear me out! Like -- the dynamics would be so good. Because in either universe, the twins know each other better than anybody else, right? They've known each other their entire lives! So they'd obviously realize something was up pretty quickly, but the way that goes down would vary wildly depending on the combo you've got going on

That's why I really want Canon!Dipper in the Reverse universe -- out of the two of them, I definitely think he could "fake it til you make it" a bit longer than Mabel, but I also think the potential dynamics between him and Rev!Pacifica and Rev!Gideon would be fascinating to see play out. Cause like, let's be real: that kid can hold some grudges, and he's pretty pessimistic when it comes to people and second chances (at least compared to Mabel). I can see him having a really hard time wrapping his head around the personality shifts and trusting Pacifica and Gideon with anything -- which would only make things harder, since they'd already be predisposed to hating his guts. But also, just the idea of Dipper trying to navigate a strange world where his family is full of manipulative bastards and the entire town seems terrified of him makes my inner ten-year-old extremely happy

And then the dynamics with Rev!Dipper and Canon!Mabel would be playing out in tandem with all of this. And the script is completely flipped from Canon!Dipper's, because Mabel doesn't go into this knowing something's wrong. She has to figure that out for herself from context cues, and like. I doubt "evil mirrorverse version of my brother" is going to be her first guess right off the bat. So you get extra wiggle room for Rev!Dipper to get situated as a quasi-antagonist and start screwing things up, and you get fun hijinks while Mabel and the gang make several very wrong choices about what's going on with Dipper

And like. Okay, so: I've always interpreted Reverse!Dipper as somebody who's very pragmatic -- he's very much an "ends justify the means" sort of guy. Don't get me wrong, he's not as vindictive as Canon!Gideon, but he also isn't particularly sentimental either. He's lived his whole life in "every man for himself" mode (with some small exceptions for his sister).

And then I think about combining that kind of mindset with Mabel's unstoppable wave of optimism and endless harebrained schemes where she tries to make things better for a person she doesn't even know that well. And I think about Reverse!Dipper being faced with this realization that his world is dark and cold and uncaring because that's how he relates to the world.

Let's be real: at the end of the day, both sets of twins love each other so fiercely. It's just that the Rev Falls kids have gotten caught up in all these manipulation games and power plays, and once you get caught up in that kind of cycle, it becomes harder and harder to get out again. So I can see this swap having a positive shift on both the Rev Falls kids -- taking them away from their lives and showing them that they don't have to interact with the world this way

I'm thinking about Canon!Dipper seeing the humanity in Rev!Mabel and talking to her straight the way he did to Pacifica in Northwest Mansion Mystery. I think about how she hasn't gotten to be a kid because of the Tent of Telepathy's whole Dance Mom schtick, and finally getting it impressed upon her that that isn't normal. I'm thinking about Canon!Mabel showing Rev!Dipper it's okay to trust people and let them in. That he doesn't have to treat the entire world like it's out to hurt him, doesn't need to strike first to make sure the other guy never gets a chance to

Anyway. This got so long but -- yeah. I yearn for the Gravity Falls Mirror Mirror episode that exists only in my mind

#this-is-gnomes-writing-tag #fic idea #gravity falls #reverse falls #dipper pines #mabel pines #dipper gleeful #mabel gleeful #long post

[lucky-bishop]

WIP Wednesday!

Thanks for the tag @dear-massacre! This is from the possessive Peter Steterek which is quickly gaining steam (and a lot more words than I thought it would be initially)

"So, I couldn't help but notice that you were quite concerned about Stiles going missing. Something you haven't told me about, nephew?" Peter says, obviously putting on airs. He knows it. Derek knows it.  Peter also knows that Derek has put together that Peter was at least getting information from somewhere while he was dead, probably reasoning that it had to do with Lydia. Which, honestly, isn't a bad assumption, even if it's not quite correct. Peter also has his senses restored - for the most part - and, while this doesn't let him know exactly what Derek's thinking, it gives him much more information to work with. He knows that Derek smells like a combination of rage, grief, and longing every time he's in Peter's presence. He knows that his heart does erratic things when Peter's close - the same, interestingly enough, that it does when Stiles is around. Peter's no mathematician, but he can put two and two together, even if Derek diligently tries to hide these things. Derek's face does a series of complicated things, and he settles for growling at Peter. There's not anywhere near enough heat behind it for Peter to actually be intimidated, though. Not by Derek.  "My, my, and here I thought I was the one who had lost my faculties. Tell me - or, well, I suppose that's poor phrasing - do you still know how to use your words, nephew?" Peter should've realized he was pushing where he shouldn't have been, but knowing his limit there has always been tough for him. He has just enough time to think about that before Derek sends him flying across the loft. His nephew follows quickly, though, and where Peter is lying on the floor, Derek straddles him, and stares down at him. He pauses - Peter opens his mouth up to make a remark about it - and suddenly Derek is kissing him. Just like they used to - full-mouthed and desperate, like they never knew exactly how much time they had, if they'd be interrupted, if they'd get caught. It's so new, with Derek on top of him like this, his body unfamiliar and yet achingly familiar all at the same time. Peter can't fucking get enough. It's addictive. He wants more.

Tagging (no-pressure! but I know y'all are writing right now!) @like-lazarus, @lavender-lotion, @thotpuppy, @rabbitdarling

#steterek #teen wolf #my writing #wip wednesday #fic snippet

[misteria247]

Just imagine time:

It's late at night in the lair in the Rise Verse and Splints had just bid his boys and their new companions a goodnight. He goes to watch one of his shows getting comfortable in his armchair and blanket. Sometime during this watching spree he falls asleep.

It's about a few hours later perhaps maybe one or two am when he's awakened by the sounds of soft footsteps. He's instantly awake because these footsteps are unfamiliar yet at the same familiar. He glances around the room to see who has entered the projection room and then his old yellow eyes land on a figure.

Michelangelo stands at the opening of the room, shimmying in slight nervousness almost as if he's unsure of his next course of action and Splints takes over from there.

"Orange two, is something the matter?"

He'd ask concerned by the display from the older variation of his youngest boy. Michelangelo freezes up looking like a deer caught in headlights before he uncharacteristically answers the older rat in a somewhat shaky voice.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you I just......"

He'd trail off looking off to the side in that unsure way he'd have. Splints would see this and he'd soon come to realize that Michelangelo couldn't sleep, and perhaps suffered from a nightmare, causing him to seek the rat out on instinct before realizing that Splints wasn't his father. Splints would see this and beckon him over to come and join him next to his favorite armchair. Michelangelo hesitantly makes his way towards the rat and quietly sits down next to him. Splints just remains quiet, patiently waiting for the orange turtle to speak if he so chooses to. Then finally Michelangelo begins to speak, telling the older mutant about the nightmare he had and apologizing for waking him up because of this. Splints waves him off, content to just let the older turtle talk and take comfort in his presence. He'd listen and would see just how young Michelangelo was, would see just how much the world weighed him down. He'd see just how old Michelangelo was and see that weariness that he and his brothers always seemed to carry. Splints would see this and his heart would break slightly, knowing that this version of his youngest son was suffering so much and yet still kept his head up high and kept moving forward despite it all.

Splints would let Michelangelo speak all while having it hit him just how lucky he and his boys truly were compared to other realities. Once Michelangelo was finished Splints would offer him a silent comfort, a hug if needed and softly keep watch over the orange turtle until he fell asleep next to his chair. Splints afterwards would begin to mentally count down the seconds his own eyes closing and his ears strained to listen. It wouldn't be long before he heard three other pairs of footsteps entering the room, feel the eyes on him and Michelangelo before he'd open them and quietly beckon the other three over to join the two. Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo would settle themselves down next to their baby brother, not saying a word yet obviously wanting nothing more than to be close to the rat Sensei for at least this one night. To pretend for one night that he was their father and take that silent and gentle comfort he was offering them. Splints would let them, not having the heart to deny these four exhausted versions of his precious sons. He'd watch them for a moment as they'd drift off thinking about his own boys and just how much he loved them and just how much his heart ached for these other turtles. Soon after he'd fall asleep, knowing that his own boys would most likely join their little group soon afterwards.

In the morning Splints would surprisingly be the first to wake up and see the four newest additions that had camped around his favorite armchair and had fallen asleep. He'd smile a little smile, content to have these eight boys surrounding him and that he'd given some comfort to the older ones. Later they'd all go back to their original roles, and no one will mention what had occurred during the night. Already knowing deep down that it was inevitable that it would occur at least once while the 12 boys were so close to the Rise boys and their father.

And Splints afterwards would find himself quietly and patiently waiting for the older turtles to come to him again should they need him even if for only a moment.

Because no matter where they came from, no matter what time or place they'd been in before the present time period, Splints would always be their father and they would always be his sons.

#oli talks #ooc #muns ramblings #mindless ramblings of a madman #my writing #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #tmnt #rottmnt #tmnt/rottmnt crossover #tmnt 2012 rottmnt crossover #rottmnt tmnt 2012 crossover #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2018 #tmnt leo #rottmnt leo #tmnt raph #rottmnt raph #tmnt donnie #rottmnt donnie #tmnt mikey #rottmnt mikey #tmnt splinter #rottmnt splinter #I just want the 12 boys to have one moment of love and comfort is that too much for me to ask??? #Splints would totally indulge them whenever they needed it too fight me #Splints and his eight boys are my lifeline and I just want them all to be happy god damnit don't judge me shsgsgdgdhdgdh

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for wanting a perfect world? For context, I (???M) started working under someone(???M) recently, we'll just call him B for now. I had heard he was working for a personal goal of mine, and so I graciously offered my own abilities and assistance, while he promised a perfect world for our (mine and my colleagues') efforts.

However, recently, I've come to the realization that no, he does not plan to create these perfect new worlds he's promised us at all! Rather, he intends on destroying them all, and then simply leaving them that way, like a passion project long since abandoned! Of course, destroying them was always part of our plan, but it's much different when he's just going to leave them that way. The worst part of it all, really, as that this whole thing is just over some girl, and one who he already thinks is dead, at that! It's honestly just a waste of a perfectly good plan.

So, of course, I simple had to take matters into my own hands! I've been plotting against B, in secret, to make sure his nefarious plans don't come to pass. Which, yes, unfortunately, means helping the legendary heroes, but it's really a small price to pay for a perfect world! Besides, if I could convince them I'm on their side, there's no doubt that they'd help me defeat B. Compared to that, it's really nothing at all to save them from being brainwashed or lead them to the items they need to defeat him.

Of course, they did help me defeat B. They had no choice in the matter, obviously, if they wanted to save their worlds. So maybe they didn't know I was still alive and maybe I mind controlled one of them to help me further my plans, but it's nothing when you consider that I was creating a perfect world! B was just planning on destroying them, I'm really at least the lesser of two evils here, if not the hero! After all, I'm creating a perfect world, free from struggles, free from war and conflict! So what if it just happens to be one where I'm in control? If that's the price it comes at, it's really a small price, isn't it? And, again, it is much better than leaving everyone in a wasteland like B was planning, if anyone even did survive his plans at all.

So, could I really be the asshole for so graciously saving these worlds from their demise and bringing them to perfection?

#aita #am i the asshole #unreality

[j-ellyfish]

I don't know if it's just me, but in World Stars also the ship content is limited compared to previous years, even Ludwig and Feliciano are not appearing together in the same chapter in a long time *sad noises*

And there are many other ships that haven't gotten their moments in a long time too, maybe one of the few exceptions is FrUk, you know Francis getting very worried for Arthur who is about to leave EU

Oh yeah you're right D: Gerita was still doing good in early World Stars but not anymore :( Maybe this is also why 'newer' fans seem generally less concerned about Gerita and how it is slowly slipping into "uncommon ship" state despite its absolute dominance in the early Hetalia scene, but like, not even just early, I feel like it was still pretty popular up until maybe 2014/2015-ish. It doesn't seem to me that UsUk and FrUk are encountering the same fate, at least not to the same extent. Sure they got less shippers than they did at Hetalia Fandom's peak, I guess, but the Gerita case is the most interesting one.

Especially because it's like Gerita is now living up to a sort of ghost legacy. If you ask most people, they'd say "oh yeah Gerita is so popular, so annoying I want to ship other stuff because Gerita is saturated with fans and content". But ... This is not true. Not in the 2020s. It's no longer true. And this, what I like to call the 'Gerita effect' (because I guess it's a phenomenon that can happen in any community and not just with ships), causes the perception of something to no longer match the real, current state of that something. We're used to say Gerita is popular and coddled, because that's definitely what it used to be, but if we take a moment to observe the reality around us today, without bias coming from a relatively distant past, we'll realize that it is no longer the case. Not in the fandom and, as you pointed out, not even in canon material. I think this is the reason why, surprisingly, Gerita Week didn't get a lot of attention last year (I think it was last year?). I joined it for some days but, I won't lie, my brain kept feeling in a safe net mindset that went "well it's not like they need me, Gerita Week definitely will get a lot of content regardless since it's Gerita, so I shouldn't sweat it like this". But no, in the end I realized I was falling for my own veteran perception, which is flawed and biased towards the past, how the ships scenario used to be like in this fandom.

Besides this, I think the (relative) downfall of Gerita's popularity was also caused by other factors. First of all, Feliciano became a controversial character. While Romano was always a popular character, in the early fandom most of the focus on him came from Spamano as a ship, or his relationship with Feliciano. As more and more people started to deem Spamano problematic, Romano needed a new place in the fandom's heart. This, I believe, was what marked Romerica's rise. And Romano's arc at Alfred's is often used as an argument to put the two Italian brothers against each other and fundamentally deem Feliciano as "the evil, preferred, spoiled brother" (obviously I'm not implying the opposite is true, both Italies are cool, traumatized and deserve love) to enhance Romano's worth and rights as a character of his own, away from Feliciano's orbit because it was Feliciano's orbit, in the early fandom, what was kind of overshadowing Romano (Spamano was often a clutch-ship in Gerita fics and art).

Let's admit it, humans generally likes what challenges the status quo. So, this new (not implying no one in early fandom might've had similar thoughts but it wasn't a fandom trend) interpretation of canon scratched the right itch in many fans who've never been head over heels for Feliciano and/or for Gerita to begin with, and possibly enjoyed less popular ships on average.

Meanwhile, in the late 2010s something else changed fandom spaces: Yaoi/BL experienced a growth in popularity and broke out of the "loud Internet niche" enclosure. This came with a huge luggage of controversies and debates over the nature of the seme/uke classification and an undeniable growth in popularity of ships with no rigid roles (seke/switches) and the assumptions of sexual role based on personality and physical appearance losing terrain. This had, as a result, a certain degree of demonization of ships that happened to fit perfectly in the "typical yaoi couple narrative".

Guess which ship fit perfectly there? Gerita, obviously. So, I believe many people ended up perceiving "traditional Gerita" as sort of weird, rooted in "old schemes" and not as alluring as it could've been for the average teen in early 2010s. Of course, this also caused Itager and less fluffy interpretations of Gerita (which have always been there but not fandom-wide trends) to rise in order to spice the old ship up.

So, as years went by, these trends continued, they piled up but eventually made Gerita lose a lot of terrain to other ships, ships that fit the "new image of the fandom" better. Perhaps the fact that Gerita was associated so strictly with the early fandom (and Germany being the focus on one of an7is' tone deaf takes on the series) also contributed to its current state, due to the internalized "sense of guilt" we as a fandom tend to have due to some bad apples that populated and populate our fandom like any other.

Huhhh okay I'm not sure how this ended up being a dissection on Gerita's popularity but I hope you don't mind. Also I didn't want to bring up any drama involving fans because I think a single fan cannot do as much harm to a ship as trends and natural human behavior does to a fandom as a whole, as every fandom is fundamentally a bite-sized society like a town or a Country.

Speaking of FrUk, I was really happy to see France's more chaotic side slipping out a little in the Brexit arc, although it made me miss old Hetalia even more </3

#hetalia #ask #gerita #ary spoke

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

All right, I did a post yesterday about the Cowgate incident of 2003, which started because I read the disappointing news that the site of the incident will be closed to the public when I'm in Edinburgh this summer, and I literally read it during a brief period of being awake in the middle of a fever dream. And then of course I made a post about it, because if you wake up in the middle of a fever dream, you always have to post about the real-life incident that most resembles the content of an actual fever dream.

This made me realize it's been a little while since I've actually watched that video, I went through a year or so of re-watching it at least once a week (mainly because it became a go-to re-watch when drunk, particularly near the end of the night when I no longer wanted to focus on anything coherent or longer than a few minutes, personally I'd never want to be at a comedy show while drunk but I do see why they'd do this for a drunk crowd, it appeals to that side of the brain), but I hadn't seen it in six months or so. I thought, I've probably been building this up in my head a bit in the six months of not actually watching it. The idea of Cowgate as a weird drunken fever dream (though one enjoyable thing about it is that besides Adam Hills and the entire audience I'm pretty sure the people involved were sober, as that was sort of the Chocolate Milk Gang's thing, getting their name specifically because they were the only people who didn't get drunk at late-night Edinburgh shows, instead they went for milkshakes across the road) had become a running joke in my mind and sometimes my Tumblr references, but at this point it's more of a symbol than anything else. After writing that post that ran with the joke of it being an iconic violent ritual, I thought it would be fun to spend some of my sick day at home re-watching the actual video, expecting to find that it just looks like relatively expected raucous comedy show shenanigans, not quite as mind-breakingly weird as I remember.

...Guys, it's exactly as I remembered. It's so weird. I've made multiple deep dive Cowgate posts before, but not for at least six months (I think the last time I did it one was for the 20th anniversary, August 26 last year, so almost exactly six months, actually), and I think six months should be long enough to make me allowed to repeat myself on the subject. Because there's almost nothing I haven't said before, but watching it again made me want to say it all again. And I do mean almost - I think I did discover one new detail while watching it between fever dreams yesterday. It's pretty good.

Okay, first of all, here's the video in all its glory:

I cannot emphasize enough how much the first time I came across this it was 2 AM and I had no context for understanding where they were or what was going on. Since then, I have figured out: it's a show called Late 'n' Live. It takes place on many nights throughout the Edinburgh Festival, at a venue called the Gilded Balloon. The Gilded Balloon is owned by Karen Koren. It burned down in 2002 and was rebuilt nearby, this video is from 2003, in the rebuilt venue on Teviot Place. The Late 'n' Live event runs from around 11:30 PM to around 3:30 AM and consists of a bunch of comedians who come on, sometimes to do their own sets and sometimes to do shit like this, managed by a compere, and after that they bring out a band and it turns into a dance floor. At this time, it was known for being a bearpit with a drunk and rough crowd that sometimes got violent. For several years in the late '90s and early '00s, it was famous compered by Johnny Vegas. It was then compered, throughout the early- and mid-00s, by Daniel Kitson. I mean I think there was some crossover, obviously they didn't just have one compere for an entire month and people besides those two guys did it too, some people had to get some sleep at some point. Anyway, these are all things that I know as a direct result of the rabbit hole I went down after finding this video and needing to understand what the ever loving fuck was going on in it. I actually know a lot more than that about Late 'n' Live, but there isn't time for it all right now. I've watched a four-part BBC Scotland documentary series about the history of Late 'n' Live. I watched a Tim Minchin documentary mainly because I like Tim Minchin but a little bit because it had a lot of the Gilded Balloon in it and that was relevant to my Late 'n' Live research. I have an entire folder on my hard drive called Late 'n' Live and it has too many files in it.

One of them's a gif of David O'Doherty throwing his entire body with abandon onto different things at Late 'n' Live in different years: onto Jason Byrne in 2003, onto the floor in 2005, and onto Daniel Kitson in 2007. All clips I found in entirely different sources and decided they needed to be together.

Anyway. I'm getting off topic. Already. Cowgate. The point is Cowgate. I named the incident Cowgate because that's the name of the neighbourhood where the original Gilded Balloon was, and, you know, it was a cow. A cow and what looked like it had to be some sort of scandal. I think it's very clever.

So here's the thing. After I first found that video, which seemed like a tiny relic of one of many moments of one of many nights on one of many years that this stuff went on, and I set about obsessively looking things up for weeks to try to figure out what they were doing, in the process I came across a second video that also happened to capture the same moment. Amazing stuff.

The former video was on the Gilded Balloon's YouTube channel, and seemed to have been filmed officially by the venue staff. This latter one was a montage of videos taken throughout the night by an audience member who apparently had whatever people used to film things at gigs in 2003. Wouldn't have been a camera phone back then.

This video shed a bit of light on some of the essential mysteries of Cowgate, but didn't actually answer many, and to be honest it asked more questions than it answered. Obviously, one of the main questions I had about Cowgate was "Where did the cow come from?" I'd wondered whether the Chocolate Milk Gang had somehow procured it, or whether they took something that was already there. Both options would open up a lot more questions, such as where did they get it, and if it wasn't there because they specifically put it there for the purposes of taking it apart, how did they get permission to take it apart?

The longer video suggests that it's the latter. It shows Daniel Kitson earlier in the night, messing around with the cow the way he might if its presence on stage were a surprise to him as well as to the audience.

The other essential question is "Why did they attack it?", and this earlier scene may suggest a possible reason. From the dialogue, it seems that Kitson jumped on top of it because the crowd told him to, and then the crowd keeps shouting other cow-based challenges at him, and he makes fun of them for suggesting challenges that are too easy (jump off it, touch it, etc.). The video then cuts, but it is possible that he challenged the crowd to ask him to do something difficult with it, and they said to tear it apart, and then it escalated. That scene seems to be from the beginning of the night, and we know the actual Cowgate ritual was the last thing that happened in the night, because right after they finish Kitson brings the band out and that occurs after the comedy ends. So it's possible that they could have come up with the challenge at the beginning, spent a few hours sourcing various weapons, and then done this at the end.

That theory of course brings up other questions, like how they decided on the weaponry. And, again, why they were allowed to do that. The answer to that question depends on where the cow came from, which I still don't know. I once spent a week looking up the International Cow Parade because I thought maybe it was part of that, but I don't think so anymore. It has the word Metro on the side of it, and someone in the YouTube comments called it the Metro cow. So it was probably an advertisement, not an art piece. But I wouldn't have thought your allowed to take apart a company's advertising installation. Maybe it was going to be destroyed after the festival anyway? Also, why was there a cow-based Metro advertisement on the floor at a comedy gig anyway?

I'd like to go through the video in further detail, as I've done many times before, but not for six months so I think I'm allowed a new one, and also I've come up with one (1) new fact (theory) so that's worth doing the whole thing again. I've just spent two days sick in bed, please allow me to indulge in this.

- Right at the beginning, the "three chances" thing still confuses me. That line really suggests that this is a challenge, not just a weird stunt, that they are being tested to see if they can do it. Possibly tested by an audience that was told to come up with a more difficult idea for something the comedians could try with a cow.

But what are the paramatres of the challenge? To take the cow apart, sure, but the "three chances" line implies more specific restrictions. Did they try this two other times earlier in the night and weren't able to do it? Perhaps tried it earlier with fewer weapons? Or did "three chances" mean three people are allowed to work on it? Doesn't seem likely, as Kitson jumped in fairly quickly and made it four.

- Adam Hills sounds like he's referencing something with "literally bottle it". I know "bottle it" is a expression that means "fuck it up", but I don't see how that's literal in this case. Was there a bottle involved? What would bottling it mean in this instance? Failing the audience's challenge? I don't even know for sure that it was an audience challenge, that's just a guess based on the beginning. It could be something else entirely.

- The part where John Oliver, Demetri Martin, and David O'Doherty scurry across the stage like squirrels makes me laugh every time. Why are they all bent over? What are they hiding from?

- David O'Doherty appears to be the only person who came out carrying a weapon. In the first shot of the guys attacking the cow, DO'D is hitting it with a hammer that he presumably brought from backstage. The other two are pulling on it with their bare hands. Then, in a detail I find hilarious, Demetri Marin reaches behind him and grabs what appears to be a chisel off the floor. I guess what probably happened is he did bring that with him from backstage, then put it down, and we just see him pick it back up. But the editing makes it look like he's tried pulling the horns, it didn't work, so he turned around and grabbed the nearest tool, like a character in a video game that just finds useful weapons lying around.

- It also makes me laugh that Adam Hills used his rap-based narration to make sexual jokes about the cow, while Kitson puts his hand over his mouth/in the air like a rapper, to show he's totally on board with this gangsta rap thing, but also, they have shit to and it's (presumably) nearly 4 AM, so the actual content of his lyrics is going to be to give useful practical advice on how to get this job done. Because they're not combining the tools, and you really need to use the chisel and hammer together or it'll never work.

I enjoy the way at this point, John Oliver takes just the briefest break from attacking a facsimile cow with his bare hands to look up Kitson, looking quite impressed with his approach to the situation. "Yes, thank you Daniel, finally some helpful ideas instead of just cowfucking jokes, now let's get that chisel over here."

- It can be hard to see in the darkness, but this whole thing is basically a Kitson and Oliver-oriented plan. Kitson shouts at DO'D to "combine the chisel and the hammer". John Oliver then points like he's directing a play, getting DO'D to bring his hammer to the other side.

DO'D does this, but puts the hammer down on the ground over there, instead of combining it with anything. That's when Kitson taps DO'D on the back like a pretend wrestler tagging in, possibly deciding that if he stays on the sidelines rapping all night, they'll never get this done and be allowed to leave. So he pushes DO'D out of the way, and takes his spot next to John Oliver. Then he reaches down and grabs a random chisel off the ground, again like a video game character. Then he reaches over the cow and picks up the hammer that DO'D has discarded (like a video game character), so he is now combining the chisel and the hammer. At the same time, John Oliver has physically taken the first chisel out of Demitri Martin's hand, and starts working on the same end as Kitson. Now they're getting somewhere.

- This is one of those videos that's funny every time if you keep running it back to watch the same eight seconds over but this time focus on a different person. DO'D tries to get in after Kitson straight-up stole his spot, leans in but can't find an opening, gives up and walks all the way around them both to try the other end of the cow because clearly the Kitson and Oliver dream team have this end sewn up.

- Then, there's a curveball: someone with the word CREW on the back of their shirt comes out of absolutely nowhere, and hands John Oliver a lead pipe, like a character fucking Clue(do, depending where you live). Where did this come from? Do most stages have large bits of piping lying around backstage? Was John Oliver supposed to bring it on stage with him but forgot it so they had to run it out to him? Or did those crew people decide that they're not making enough progress, someone had better find a large pipe and bring it on stage and hand it to John Oliver so we can all go home.

I've been writing this post so far while watching the official video - the one off the Gilded Balloon YouTube channel - but I think you get a much better view of this specific part from the way it was captured in the montage by an audience member. It's another part that I find incredibly funny. John Oliver is methodically working away with Demitri Martin's chisel and his own hands. Then someone hands him a large weapon, and he immediately raises it above his head like a sword and starts whacking the thing full tilt. Scares the shit out of Kitson on one side of him and DO'D on the other. They both jump, Demitri Martin just cautiously circles away.

In the words of a John Oliver bit that is long outdated but lives on in our hearts and my DVD collection... whaky stick. Whacky stick!!!

Kitson, after initially jumping, responds by choosing to imitate John's style, and starts raising the hammer over his own head to attack it with full force in the same way. While DO'D literally cowers in the corner:

And Demitri Martin continues to do what he's been doing since John took his tool away, which is to run his hands over the body of a cow like a mechanic sizing up a car. He has contributed almost nothing to this operation. I don't even think Demetri Martin knows how to take cows apart. Too busy turning letters into numbers and stuff.

- After getting over the initial excitement of waving a pipe around wildly, John Oliver employs the more thought-out strategy of using it like a lever, trying to prise it open at the seam. Kitson gets in beside him and starts attacking this same seam, striking the weak spot repeatedly with the hammer. In the background, DO'D and Demetri Martin appear to try jumping on the thing.

This is the strategy they're still employing the moment the cow finally comes apart:

I've observed this from multiple angles, and at first I thought Kitson deserved the most credit for breaking it, but now I think it was mainly John Oliver's work. Definitely a team effort though (or at least a dual effort, not sure how much the other two helped, though to be fair the bigger boys took their tools away). It comes apart at the exact spot where Kitson was hitting it with the hammer, you can see Kitson give it a hard kick, then one more strike, then put his arms up in celebration as this strike breaks it in half. But I'm pretty sure it was John's leverage from behind him that allowed him to split the thing.

- At this point they all contribute to pulling it the rest of the way apart; Kitson and Martin hold the top half while Oliver and DO'D take out the bottom. This is another part I find very funny - the way they're so matter-of-fact about handing it out to the audience. Look at John Oliver and David O'Doherty marching this across the stage like they're workers delivering a coach or something:

- Then the camera shows the cow being crowd surfed. The YouTube comments say: "The Metro cow got smashed in two and crowd surfed over everyone out the back door". In his lyrics, Adam Hills talks about taking it up the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is the street outside, so all this suggests that they continued to take the cow outside and down the street. Was that part of the challenge? Was the initial plan to take the thing apart and then have it carried through the streets of Edinburgh? How far did this cow go?

- I have so far compared them to video game characters, board game characters, tag-team pretend wrestlers, a mechanic, and delivery workers. But my favourite thing to compare them to is probably at the end, when they celebrate like football players who've just won a big match.

"Great work everyone, good hustle out there, really pulled together as a team. Okay, now hit the showers. I want to see you all dressed and ready for milkshakes in ten minutes flat."

- There is so much going on in this video that I find it easier to not try to focus on it all at once, I have to do one thing and then backtrack. So now that I've gone through the whole video while looking at what the rest of them were doing, I need to backtrack and go over the lyrics to Adam Hills' song.

Question: Did Adam Hills think he was going to have to do this alone, or was he supposed to have Kitson co-MC-ing, but then Kitson jumped in partway through? Because I think the latter may have happened. Kitson was the compere for the whole night, as we see in the montage video.

Adam Hills If you had three chances Would you take them? Or would you quite literally bottle it?

As I said before: don't know what he's talking about there. What got literally bottled? Why three chances?

His palms are sweaty, his hair is sweaty He's ready to shoot spaghetti He's got a cow on stage It's got red horns, it's all the rage

This is veering wildly off topic, but I just want to mention that that Adam Hills got his off the cuff "stage/all the rage" rhyme because he'd heard DO'D use it in a freestyle rap battle with Daniel Kitson, that we know from the montage took place earlier than night (another one of my favourite videos, but we don't have time to go into this one right now):

It's cow tipping, it's not quite shitty Get that cow down in this city Take it up the Royal Mile, attack it with a hammer Kitson's on the stage, he's [?] with a hammer

Again, how far did the cow go? They had clearly planned from the beginning (of this song, at least) to have it out on the Royal Mile. YouTube comments confirm it left the building.

David O'Doherty's going up the ass It's time to fuck this motherfucking class Fuck the udder (x4) Let's get this udder fucking cow out of here

After all the times I've watched this video, this is the first time I've noticed that Adam Hills tried a pun on "mother fucking" there. Glad he's having a good time.

Daniel Kitson Davey, Davey, what you need to do Is combine the chisel and the hammer

Finally, some useful fucking advice.

Adam Hills There's Martin, Demitri Martin The Perrier win has left me smartin'

This was August 26, Hills' song mentions later that it's the last night of Late 'n' Live for that year, so the Perrier Awards had just been given out. In 2003, Demetri Martin won the main award over other nominees: Reginald D. Hunter, Flight of the Conchords, Howard Read and Little Howard, and Adam Hills. Adam Hills, who had also been nominated the previous year, when he lost to Daniel Kitson, and the year before that, when he lost to Garth Marenghi. So he is actually being, as a YouTube comment said, a pretty good sport to jump in and have fun about it. If I were him I'd probably resent losing out an award again and then not even getting to smash shit up.

John Oliver, he's the man If that pipe won't do it, nothing can David O'Doherty, he comes from Ireland, the land of the green Daniel Kitson, he's got a hammer He's also got one motherfucking stammer

I quite enjoy the way no one responds to any of this. Adam Hills starts calling them out by name, including bringing up Kitson's stutter and DO'D nationality and his awards rivalry with Demetri Martin, and none of them even briefly looks at him. They are all very busy and focused on the important task of destroying a cow.

It's time to break this cow down It's time to break this cow down It's not time to chow down It's time to break this cow down

I want this verse embroidered on a throw pillow. Actually, I think I want these entire lyrics printed out and framed on my wall.

Late 'n' Live, Late 'n' Live, it's the very last night It's time to wrap this show up tight Send it out the front, send it out the... [cow breaks apart] Break the cow, break it in half Lead it out the front to the path

Once again, talk of parading this thing around outside the venue. Where were they taking it?

Karen Koren, she's outside She's got petrol dripping down her eyes There was a fire at the Gilded Balloon The police found no one else was to blame If this season doesn't go well This fucking venue's going up in flames

That, of course, is a reference to the Gilded Balloon's history. It burned down in a fire in December 2002. It's now August 2003, and they're in a new venue that was rebuilt nearby. Karen Koren is the venue's owner. I'm pretty sure Adam Hills is implying that she's going to burn down the new venue if the performers don't do well enough. Actually, he's not implying that, he's outright stating it. What he's implying is that she burned down the first venue, presumably for the insurance money, and she is currently outside ready to burn this one down too, if they perform badly enough to make the insurance money worth more than the shows bring in.

The cow's in half, the cow's in half Let's hear it for the cow in half!

This is like that famous poem that was allegedly written by a child about a tiger breaking out of its cage. Sheer poetry.

Tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I Got out of bed at all The morning sun goes up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could, it'd all be grey But your picture on my wall It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad

What's interesting about this is that these are the lyrics to Stan, which is a different Eminem song from the one he was (sort of) singing at the beginning, which was lose yourself. This may or may not be related to the fact that Adam Hills is the only person in this performance who was not a member of the Chocolate Milk Gang, which was a group of comedians known for not getting drunk during or after late-night Edinburgh shows.

It may also be related to the fact that this is a clip of the Edinburgh show that Adam Hills had just spent a month performing:

So he had Stan in his head all month anyway, he was on stage and remembered he was supposed to be singing an Eminem song, his brain told him that the Eminem song he sings on stage is Stan. Fair enough.

Though it's worth noting that those aren't the correct lyrics to Stan either. The Eninem song says the clouds come up the window, not the sun. Why would it be all grey and hard to see if the sun came up the window?

Crowd surf the cow, people.

I want all those lyrics printed out in fancy calligraphy font. And ornately framed. And on my wall.

So that's Cowgate, in case anyone wants to know. But this is just stuff I've said before. I said I had a new detail, didn't I? Well here it is:

Who is that man, sat unobtrusively in the background, playing the percussion set? Of course we have no way of knowing, in such low quality video without any clear shots of his face. Or do we? Because here is a screenshot of Flight of the Conchords, sitting on that very cow, earlier in the same night! (We know it was the same night because it was taken from the montage of the whole night, which ended with a second angle on Cowgate.)

Am I wrong? I might be wrong, tell me if you think I'm wrong. But I think that's Jermaine Clement playing percussion back there. Based on the evidence that: He was there that night. He does play the drums. He's a bona fide member of the Chocolate Milk Gang. And he has the same vague outline and shirt colour as the guy in those screenshots. And he was in the background of the Kitson/DO'D battle rap video, playing guitar, so he does sometime play music to accompany other comedians doing weird shit at Late 'n' Live. My new detail is I think Jermaine Clement was on the stage during Cowgate.

It is cool, really. I mean, I'm obviously being vaguely ironic by treating this late-night comedy show stunt as a vitally important mysterious ritual. But I genuinely think that what happened there is fucking cool, if you look at all those people being on one stage doing something so stupid together, and then consider where they all went after that.

And if Jermaine Clement was there, that just adds to it. The variety and international breadth of all the different comedy careers all in one place just as they were on the cusp of taking off. I mean, by plenty of definitions some had taken off already, but they have all taken off significantly more since then. Almost as though on one night in 2003, they all sacrificed a cow to the gods of success and it worked. Of the main five people involved in the sacrifice rituals, there are three Perrier Awards (Kitson, DO'D, Demetri Martin - though to be fair two of those were won before Cowgate happened so I guess we can't attribute it to the sacrifice), an MBE (Hills), and a shitload of Emmys (Oliver). Which I think they should all bring in for the prize task of the Taskmaster episode that I imagine with those five as the contestants (it's okay, I think this is worth setting racial and gender representation on panel shows back by 20 years), the studio task is to take a cow apart, the winner gets all the trophies.

That's a lot of countries. The Australian Adam Hills, the British Daniel Kitson, the American Demetri Martin, the Irish David O'Doherty, the Kiwi Jermaine Clement, and the now-British/American John Oliver. All with wildly different types of careers. All, for different reasons, among my favourite comedians. I have seen or heard all of the official video or audio stand-up releases by all six of those people (and possibly 1 or 2 or several hundred or so unofficial ones as well). And not because of this video or anything, I sought them out because those are among my favourites and then they were all on stage doing this unhinged thing together.

It's the great mystery of my lifetime, I still want to know where the fuck they got that cow. And I'm genuinely annoyed that I won't be able to see the stage where it happened when I go to Edinburgh this year, but it's all right, I'll look at the outside.

If I ever get to meet any of these people, this is the first question I'm asking. No I don't need to know anything else about your career, just please tell me, what the fuck was going on with that fucking cow in 2003?

#Youtube

[bubble-popping]

I Forgot About Punz :( sorry punz

some more questions :) - when does punz realize that something is going on? is it like, right after dream breaks out and they don't meet up, or a little later? - how canon divergent is this au? like techno's personality is different, but does ranboo die in the prison escape? (wait no techno isn't as close to ranboo in this au?) - does techno make dream wear/do anything? or does he just kinda keep dream in the trophy room always - how exactly does techno teach dream to "listen to everything he says"?

sorry for asking so many questions...i've just been thinking about this au constantly

Pls don't be sorry! I'm having fun answering :D it's still kind of a wild concept to me that other ppl like my silly thoughts but I'm more than happy to indulge :))

And don't worry, c!Techno forgot about c!Punz at first too :)

Punz would realize something is up pretty much instantly. He and Dream agreed to meet right after the prison break in that snowy area, so when Dream doesn't show up, they're concerned. Then, he doesn't show up the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that, and then Punz is REALLY concerned. He saw Dream at the break-out and that is not a man who's equipped to handle himself in the Arctic wilderness alone for several days. They only waited so long because, well, they really didn't know what else to do. Dream specifically told him to meet there at that time, and following Dream's direction is what they do best. He'd have to keep up the appearance of looking for Dream anyway so as to not rouse suspicion. They'd pay Techno a visit, after Sam and Quackity had already been there, so Dream obviously isn't there but they can smell that something's off. (pushing the wolf hybrid!Punz agenda) Techno gives nothing away, but Punz knows Dream, and they know his scent (especially when it's all over the cabin and all over Techno and it's driving them crazy), and they know he wouldn't not follow through with a plan unless something uncontrollable got in the way. So, they do what a mercenary does best and starts tracking Techno.

The au itself isn't too divergent when it comes to major events, so all the canon stuff happens up until the obvious point after prison break. Ranboo would still die, but Techno wouldn't be as broken up about it. One less Syndicate member is unfortunate, though.

Dream is very rarely let outside. (only a few times has Dream's begging swayed him and he was allowed to roam the forest outside, with the caveat of staying on a 'leash' Techno made from enchanted rope to ensure he stays close) Techno much prefers to keep him in the trophy room, well-groomed and quiet. Something pretty to look at. The scars from all the torture aren't his favorite (least of all the hideous smile carved into his back), but he also thinks they're beautiful in their own way. If he had to say, his favorite would be when Dream wears nothing at all ;)

Techno found that Dream was alarmingly easy to control with some minor indulgence. He's positively starved for affection and comfort, not to mention in this au Dream did always have a crush on Techno which really showed during their shared time in the prison. He listens to everything Techno says for two main reasons: the prison had already done much of the hard work of removing any of Dream's autonomy or ability to think for himself and as long as Techno is able to spin the story that this is for Dream's safety, he's happy :)

#dnb #dreamnoblade #dreblr #tw stockholm syndrome #bubble answers #I promise u you are never bothering me with more questions nothing beings me more joy than talking abt my sillies :] #Into the Fire AU

[knickynoo]

(*knocks on your tumblr door and sidles in*) What do you think Doc would've done had Marty actually faded out of existence at the dance and never showed up to meet him at the DeLorean?

The way you start your asks always amuses me.

So, I thought about this a little bit, and here are my thoughts...

• After checking his watch and realizing how late Marty is, Doc probably would have stood at the curb, staring down the road and waiting. Eventually, though, he would come to the conclusion that something had gone horribly wrong. After waiting until the absolute last possible second (just in case Marty did show up in the nick of time to catch the lightning) he'd race his way over to the dance.

• Doc would enter the gymnasium to see crowds of panicking people on account of many of them had just witnessed an entire person blinking out of existence right there on the stage. It could very likely be a state of mass pandemonium.

• For real, though, what would happen to all those students and The Starlighters if Marty had just vanished? Part of me wonders if maybe there'd be an instantaneous Men in Black "neuralyzer" effect where they'd all have any memory of Marty wiped from their brains. Like, maybe he'd fade and everybody would just keep on dancing and the band would continue playing as if he'd never been there in the first place. Of course, this would also mean Doc's memory would be wiped, which would be a real tricky situation. (I'm ignoring paradoxes for the time being because I think the protective "bubble" would mean things Marty had changed would still stay in place for at least a little while longer.)

• Following that route, there would be evidence of Marty's existence and his influence all over town, but nobody would be able to remember who had done all those things. It'd be like, "Oh, yeah, Biff's car got wrecked the other day when...hmm. You know, I can't remember how it happened, actually. Weird." Maybe George would recall feeling a very strange "push" toward Lorraine all throughout that week, but it'd be nothing more than a vague feeling. This would be a fun thing to explore with Doc, though, seeing as he'd have the most evidence surrounding him but wouldn't be able to actually remember Marty or picture his face. It'd be really cool if he slowly pieced things together, though. The DeLorean, the extra clothes at home that definitely aren't his, etc. He could conceivably get to a place of, "Someone important was here from the future, and I was supposed to get him home, but the plan obviously failed."

• Going the other route, where there isn't any memory alteration, I definitely think Doc would walk into chaos. But he'd get a pretty solid idea of what happened at overhearing everybody shouting about the boy who disappeared in the middle of Earth Angel.

• Doc would then be tasked with scrambling to get George and Lorraine together in the coming days and before any catastrophes occurred time-continuum wise. I mean, even if potential paradoxes aren't an issue, what would he do? Just move on with the knowledge that this kid he just spent a whole week with will never exist?

• This mission could also go one of two ways. One: Doc meddling "behind the scenes" for days on end and manipulating George and Lorraine from afar to get them to reconcile and seal things with a kiss. (I assume Marty faded in this scenario because George didn't go back for Lorraine after Mark Dixon stole her away on the dance floor)

Two: Doc taking the very direct approach of just telling George and Lorraine what happened. Explaining to them that Marty had disappeared because he was from the future and surprise! He's their son. They have to get together to ensure his and his siblings' existence. George would absolutely believe this immediately. Lorraine might take some convincing, but I think she'd come around. Then, she'd be super weirded out, embarrassed, horrified, etc. But I think once things sunk in, she and George would be able to get their relationship back on track.

• Obviously, this whole scenario makes things complicated when factoring in what would then happen when 1985 rolled back around. He'd have to either ensure that Marty never travels back in time (because he had missed the lightning strike and been erased)—the less likely option—or he'd have to do something to leave instructions for his past self, detailing how vital it is that George and Lorraine kiss on that dance floor and that Marty makes it to the clocktower. Perhaps this could be in the form of a letter left in the car that his '55 self could then find upon Marty's arrival. Idk what '55 Doc would be able to do to make sure George mustered up the last boost of confidence needed to go back for Lorraine, but he would have to figure something out.

• I am once again ignoring paradoxes since the trilogy ignores them as well. Doc and Marty change and undo so many things and the universe never explodes, so I'm going to assume all this meddling in the above scenario would work out somehow.

This ended up being far longer than I anticipated—ya girl cannot control her rambling. To be honest, I don't even know if it all makes any sense. Was fun to write, though. Thanks for the ask!

#asks #back to the future #bttf

[valentinehorrors]

Strings

It had been a few weeks ever since Casey had been allowed to see behind Mikey's mask and he started to notice some things. More accurately, said turtle had decided to show something off to him and it hadn't left his mind ever since.

Usually when it comes to anything related to Mikey's true self, they'd only talk about it during their late night talks, away from his family's eyes. It was... weird at first, interacting and talking as though nothing had changed, it was almost off putting. He had to admit, he'd gotten used to the turtle's true self, he preferred his cold apathetic eyes to the lively fake ones he usually wore with his mask.

It may have been partly a pride thing, he was proud and a pinch smug over seeing what no one else could. He had learned a lot about Mikey, the real one that is.

Mikey liked puzzles, the kind that you have to think hard about, that takes days to solve. He had once told Casey about a puzzle that took him almost a week to solve, his face was stone as always but Casey could swear he saw the tiniest twinkle in his eye.

Mikey had an interest in chemistry, he had gotten into Donnie's lab late at night once just to read over the notes the taller turtle had scattered around. He never touches anything, the risk wasn't worth it, but at least he could watch Donnie under the guise of being his annoying younger brother self.

Mikey did like food, a lot, but the way that Mikey talked about it was off. There was something he hadn't told him yet relating to his hunger, Mikey promised he'd tell him eventually. But what the turtle had said was that he did truly love food, he preferred meat, the rarer the better.

Casey had offered to bring him a rare steak once, Mikey's reaction was... weird.

Regardless, the point stood, Casey knew the real Michelangelo.

His own family didn't know a thing.

But he was about to see why and how.

They were in the main living room of the lair, Mikey and Casey were watching anime on the TV, Raph and Leo were trying to beat each other's highscores at one of the few arcades they had around, Donnie had his face in his laptop.

An argument had started to brew between the eldest two brothers, slowly getting louder, Casey hadn't noticed it initially.

Then Mikey nudged his arm.

He almost reacted a bit too obviously when he saw the flash of cold eyes, gone as fast as it appeared. He got the message though, "watch."

So he did, it started simply with Mikey stretching, arching back. He then made a simple question, "what pizza are we having today bros?

Donnie was in his own world and just muttered, "anything."

Leo paused his competitive bickering and thought for a second "Um, supreme or something?"

Raph huffed "We had supreme last time."

"Oh I'm sorry, I had no idea you were so picky over your pizzas."

"Well sorry I get sick of having the same thing every fucking day!"

An eruption, seemingly out of nowhere. The bickering got worse, escalating to a full argument, not even about the pizza anymore. As Casey realized what had just happened, he noticed Mikey taking the TV remote and raising the volume of the show they had been watching, just a bit. The youngest turtle then called out "Not it!" Donnie on automatic was next to say "not it." barely paying attention.

It took a second for the exchange to register to the two bickering brothers before Raph pouted "Fine!"

Leo looked confused "What do you mean? No one is making you do anything. I can get it it's fine."

"So you can get nothing but boring cheese and supreme again? Hell no!"

Almost on queue, a commercial started to play, a new special going on at their usual pizza place, half pizzas buy one get one free.

Leo pointed at the TV "There, settled, and April doesn't have to pay as much."

Raph grumbled "Yeah whatever."

And just like that the eruption settled, cooling back down as they headed out of the lair, presumably to find the other human they were friends with.

Mikey did that, added fuel to the fire and put it out. Casey looked over at Mikey, he felt that chill a lot more this time, the one caused by those cold eyes, chilling and freezing Casey's core.

Danger

Donnie hummed as he realized the living room was pretty empty now, he stood up "I'm gonna run some tests in the lab, let me know when food is here."

Danger

The cold disappeared, "Okayy!"

Danger

The second that the lab door closed, the cold came back, his mask dropped, but his smile stayed, simply shifted to fit his true self.

Danger

Mikey took the opportunity to scoot closer as he whispered, "Don't worry, I've already taken into consideration any possible mistake you could make and have over forty different contingencies and explanations prepared."

Danger

"I know my brothers, I know how to pull their strings." Was that sinister tone on purpose? Fuck, his heart was beating fast. "There's nothing you could do to reveal my true self even if you wanted to.

They'd never believe you."

Casey was frozen, ice in his veins causing him to shiver.

Casey saw the strings for the first time.

#tmnt #tmnt au #tmnt 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt mikey #mikey x casey #yandere mikey #obsession #sadistic mikey #unmasked mikey #tmnt casey jones #tmnt fanfiction #2012 mikey #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012