#this thought has actually been in my brain for half a decade

[truebluewhocanoe]

Why are the Twelfth Doctor's season finale titles like that. Death in Heaven -> Heaven Sent/Hell Bent -> The Doctor Falls. It's like they're telling their own story in just a couple words. Why does it sound like a story of an angel falling from heaven. I need to go to sleep

#doctor who #twelfth doctor #doctor who series 8 #doctor who series 9 #doctor who series 10 #this thought has actually been in my brain for half a decade

[marvellous1917]

Icarus

(Part 1)

Pairing: mob!Bucky x tattoo artist!reader

Summary: you come home from work, only to find a mob boss in your house looking for your roommate.

Warnings: mentions of a gun, mentions of arms and drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping, torture, swearing, tattoos, gambling, think that’s it

A/n: I’m a simple girl. Mob!Bucky makes my brain go whurrrrrr. This is pure self service because I have this tattoo lol. Been along time guys what’s up?

————

“Late night?” The deep voice came from the dark.

“Holy-” fear spiked through your heart from the unfamiliar sound, your arms dropping the bags and your back crashing into the closed front door, “-who.. who are you?” You asked the unfamiliar voice. Turning slightly you see the long haired, leather covered man sat in the dining room. His left arm rested on the table, the prosthetic shining, the light from the street lamp outside shining through the window. His face was half shrouded in darkness, the other half showed his eyes, a little confused but also amused.

“You’re not Caleb.” He replied, sitting back in the chair, tilting his head to the side and moving something that looked suspiciously pistol shaped off of the table and into the inside pocket of his jacket, you reached up and flipped on the light.

“N-no no, I’m not. I’m his roommate.” You said, finally registering who you were talking to. The now fully visible metal arm was a pretty big giveaway, if nothing else. ‘There is a mob boss sat in my kitchen, what the fuck’.

“What do you want with Caleb? Does he owe you something?” The thought was out of your mouth before you could stop it. “Oh god no sorry forget I asked. Sorry... sir? I don’t-”

“I’m assuming from that reaction you know who I am,” He said, smirk on his face as he stood and moved closer, your back pressing flatter against the wall beside the door with every step he took.

“Of..of course I do, everyone in New York knows who you are..Sir” You replied.

“Hmm, I’m gonna take that as a compliment doll,”

“It is! Sorry! Congrats on all the… mafia shit.” Did I just say ‘mafia shit’ to a gangster.

The silence is awkward, his face blank and all you can think is ‘Oh my god I’m gonna die.’ His face twists into a …smile.. you think, y’know its hard to tell, fear has your vision all fuzzy.

He then starts to..laugh. He’s laughing? He’s actually laughing.

“Is this something you do before you kill people? You laugh, give them a false sense of security then shoot them?” You ramble quietly, confused at what’s happening.

He moved his left hand to rest on his stomach, the metal catching the light, shining right in you eye and it fully registered that, holy shit, James fucking Barnes, The Winter goddamn Soldier is in my house. This man is literally wanted by every law enforcement agent in the country, he’s in control of one of the most ruthless organisations in the world, they traffic arms and drugs and gun down anyone that gets in the way. Apparently, at least that’s what the news said. The stories about him though, way more upsetting.

The rumor was that after he left the special forces, he was captured by an organisation that wanted him to work for them. When he tried to escape the first time, they took his arm, and he was stuck working for them for a decade. The story goes that after he finally escaped, he tracked down everyone that was a part of it and killed them all, by himself. Alone. Just him. On his own. Then he took over their supply and demand and built his empire from the ground up.

“Oh god.. ‘congrats on all the mafia shit’, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while…” he pushed out while chuckling. “I’m gonna get that shit tattooed, I swear,” he said.

“I could do that for you,” it was out of your mouth before you could stop it. ‘Oh my god, shut up Y/N’ you thought to yourself.

“What?” He asked, eyes flitting over to yours, his piercing stare causing all sorts of feeling to rise inside your chest; fear, confusion, attraction. Attraction? What? Damn him and his pretty face. He’s a killer Y/N, remember that?

“Nothing, sorry” you answered, looking down at your feet.

“No what did you say Y/n?” He asked again, his voice more stern than before. If you weren’t so scared, you would have questioned how he knew your name.

“I said that I could give you that tattoo, sorry, just slipped out” you replied, unsure what his response would be to your completely unnecessary comment.

“Stop apologising would’ya doll, there’s no need.” He said, sort of sweetly, a small comforting smile on his face, the pet name causing all sorts of lovely feelings inside.

“Sor.. yes Sir,” you corrected yourself.

“And stop calling me Sir darlin, only my employees call me that,” he said, “well my employees and some others..” he said with a dirty smirk, causing your eyebrows to raise sky high.

“Sorry Sir,” you said quickly, not even thinking. “…shit.”

“Seriously doll, you don’t need to be so scared of me,” he stated, his right hand reaching out and landing on your shoulder, your muscles tensing for a second then relaxing when you saw the look in his eye, he was telling the truth

“Ok.. then can I ask why you are here?” You ask, some fear creeping it’s way into your voice despite his reassurance. He kept his face carefully still and he looked you up and down, the feeling of being examined was strong, like he was trying to decide if you were worthy of knowing his business.

“You got it right earlier, your roommate owes me something, and I came to get it from him,” he removes his hand from your arm as he spoke after a tense silence. He was being purposely vague, trying to gage your reaction, to see if you were really clueless or you were playing with him.

“It’s money right, I mean it has to be, what else could he owe you. I told him to stop freaking borrowing money I swear I tried to stop him, but he never listened to me..l”

“You’re rambling darlin, you realise that?” He cuts you off with a smirk on his face.

“I’ve been told I do that when I’m nervous. I don’t know how much Caleb owes you and I don’t know what the situation is but.. if you.. I mean..”

“What doll? What are you trying to say. I won’t be mad, I swear,” Barnes responds, one side of his lips tugging upwards at your mumbling.

“Could you give him some more time?”

He was not expecting that. ‘Brave little thing’ he thought.

“I mean I don’t know how long he’s owed you for but he’s getting back on track I swear, he’s getting better, he is, in-fact he’s at a gamblers anonymous meeting right now, and he has a job interview tomorrow so he can pay rent and pay back people he owes money to.” You rush out, trying to help your friend, “Of course he never told me that he owes money to a mobster but that besides the point” you add quieter, more to yourself than anything but Barnes still heard it. He chuckled and ran his flesh hand through his hair, pushing back the long strands out of his face.

“He does owe money to a mobster, quite a lot in fact so I’m gonna have to say no to that request darlin, I’ve given him long enough.” He responds, his tone dripping with authority, the Brooklyn drawl on the pet name he threw out made your heart beat faster.

“Please. Please just think about it Sir.. uh Mr Barnes.. Sir. Caleb’s had a rough go of it lately, he lost his father not too long ago and he’s been a mess ever since, if you could just give..”

“I already said no once doll, I don’t like repeating myself.” His tone was final, and even though his words were not that intense, the threat in his voice hung in the air like poison gas before slamming into your chest, the fear that had previously been quelled came racing back, sitting on your shoulders like a lead coat.

The silence stayed for longer this time, you eyes firmly fixed to the floor to a sound even the possibility of upsetting the man that had broken into your home.

“So you’re a tattoo artist huh? He asked, his low voice calming you some. Huh he’s trying to make me less afraid of him, what kind of ruthless criminal is he?

“Yes..um I am,” you answer, incredibly aware of the position you were in, better to go along with whatever he did.

“You got a flash book?” He questioned, genuinely interested.

“Uh yeah I do.” You reply awkwardly, not sure where this new line of conversation was coming from.

“Can I see it?”

“…sure,” the word came out as a question.

He nodded at you, and you took it as a sign that you were good to move. Turning slowly and moving away from the wall to your bag on the floor, you reach down and grab your flash sketchbook and hand it to him.

“Are all of these available?” He asked, flipping through the pages, taking in each design.

Seeing him like this, calmly looking through the sketchbook makes it very easy to forget who he was, a ruthless calculating Mob Boss, wanted for almost every crime under the sun.

“The ones with the X’s over them have been done before but could be repeated if someone really wanted it,” you answered, slightly more confident in yourself as you were talking about something you loved.

“This is Latin, right, what does it mean?” He asked, moving to stand next to you pointing to a design in the book, an alien inside a bottle of wine.

“‘In Vino Veritas’, it means ‘In wine, there is truth’” you say, “ I though it was funny, y’know.. ‘the truth is out there’..aliens..” you trailed off, not sure how to explain that design

He let out an quiet amused sound, his shoulder brushing yours, sending a trail of chills down your spine.

“This one is beautiful,” he said, pointing to a different design on the next page.

“Thank you, it’s Icarus, I have it tattooed on me, it was hard as hell doing it on my own leg,” you say, proud of the design you created.

“Icarus, what’s his story? I can’t quite remember, ” he asks.

“It’s a Greek myth y’know, Icarus and his father were held captive by King Minos in a tower, his father created wax wings so they could fly away from their captors. The father warned Icarus from flying too high or too low, but he ignored his fathers warnings and flew too close to the sun and his wings melted. It’s a moral story to warn against the dangers of complacency and hubris, but to me it’s just a tragedy.” You say, turning to face him, making eye contact with the man. He listened intently to the story, his face unreadable but you thought you saw a flash of something in his eyes, maybe he related to the myth, a man that was once held captive, now with everything in his hands, in danger of losing it all if he flew too close to the sun himself.

“A tragedy huh? I don’t think there’s anything tragic about it. He was warned not to do something dangerous and he went and did it anyway, it’s his own damn fault,” he stated, something slightly argumentative in his tone.

He looked straight at you while speaking and you couldn’t help but feel as if he was looking into your soul, like his statement was some kind of test.

“I agree with the idea that he got what he deserved, but I meant it as a tragedy for his father. Creating something so pure for you and your child to escape from captivity, only for your child to ignore your warnings and pay the ultimate price for it. His father probably spent the rest of his life regretting escaping his prison because that was the action that ultimately lead to his sons death. It’s heartbreaking if you see it from a different perspective,” you say back, not really expecting him to engage you in a philosophical debate.

“Hmm.. that’s an interesting way to see it, I’m not really one for looking at different perspectives, mine suits me just fine,” he answered, the fact that this man was dangerous came screaming back to you with the look on his face, blank like he was devout of all emotion at that moment. You got the feeling he wasn’t speaking metaphorically anymore.

The tension was palpable, you not knowing what to say next and him deciding he was done talking for the time being. He placed the book down on a side table, and turned back to you. “Y’know what, I want it.” He said, confusing flooding your brain.

“Want what?” You ask calmly, not wanting to push your luck with the man.

“That tattoo, the Icarus one, I want it.” He answers, leaning back against the side of the table he was sat at earlier. His crossed his arms, which should have been intimidating, but for some reason the only thought floating through your head was Damn his arms are bigger than my head. Gimmie.

“You want the Icarus?” You ask, somewhat stupidly and he had just said that.

“Yes I do,” he answered simply, “Are you free tomorrow?” He asks, smile on his face.

“Umm not really, I have a few appointments tomo..”

“Move them, hell cancel them. Block out a spot long enough for me to get this tattoo.” He states, cutting of your sentence.

“I can’t do that, it’s too short notice and I could loose..”

“I’ll pay what ever you lose for cancelling the appointments. I’m getting this done, tomorrow.” He cuts you off again, a finality in his tone that warns you it would be pointless and probably rather stupid to argue.

“Uh..ok” you respond, shaking your head a little, still trying to figure out what just happened.

“Great.” He clapped his hands together and the sound made you jump. Barnes either didn’t notice it or just didn’t care. “Give me your phone.”

“Huh? Why do you want my phone?” You question.

Barnes just rolled his eyes, walked forward until he was stood right infront of you, toe to toe, staring down at you with a semi amused look on his face.

“How am I supposed to find out where your shop is if you don’t text me the location?” He said sarcastically.

Literally a million different ways, google it for starters, get one of your goons to find it, stalk me and follow me there.. c’mon man think. Obviously you kept these thoughts to yourself but Barnes smirked as if he could hear them anyway. Pulling out your phone and handing it to him you ask, “What time do you want to come in for?”

“Around 1-ish doll, that ok?” He asked, knowing that it is, as he’s already told you to move/cancel your other appointments.

“That’s fine by me Bar..Mr Barnes” you answer, slipping up, almost forgetting the level of respect you should probably show to the gangster in your home.

He calls his phone from yours, adding the new number to contacts in both phones, “there, now you can let me know the address of your shop.”

“I’ll sent it to you tomorrow.. unless you want me to send it now?” You asked he hands your phone back , uncertain of what he wanted

“Tomorrows fine” he answers, walking backwards towards the front door, “I’ll see ya in the afternoon doll,” he says while opening the door and mostly leaving until he pauses completely, slowly turning back towards you.

This is it, he’s been messing with me this whole time and now he’s going to shoot me.

“Tell Caleb he has 6 weeks to get my money back to me or I’ll be paying him another visit, ok doll.” He says, no question in his voice. He waits until you answer with a “Yes, Mr Barnes,” and disappears into the hallway outside your apartment.

It takes about 5 minutes for the shock to fully wear off, and it causes you to stagger over to the couch, fall backwards onto it an ask into the empty room, “What the actual fuck just happened?”

As soon as the question was out of your mouth , your phone buzzed in your hand.

James:

Don’t ever call me Mr Barnes again Y/n.

It makes me feel ancient.

I hate that.

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fic #mob!bucky #bucky barnes #mob!bucky fic #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel imagines #bucky imagine #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #tattoo artist!reader

[dragonmuse]

How to be a Dirtbag Fic Writer

I got to do some talking about writing today and I couldn’t stop thinking about it so here are my full thoughts on the matter of being a dirtbag fic writer.

Being the disorganized thoughts of someone two and a half decades into the beautiful mess that is writing fanfic (and a few non-fanfic things too).

What is a dirtbag fic writer? 

 I am talking about someone who is not cleaning up anything. We show up filthy, fresh out of rooting around in the garden of our imaginations. We probably smell a little from work. We will hand you our hard grown fruits, but we have not washed them and we carried them in the bottom upturned parts of our t-shirts. The fruit is a little bruised. It’s not cut up or put in a bowl yet. But we got it in the house! It’s here. Someone can eat it.  

Why dirtbag it? Because the fruit gets in the house. If you’re hemming and hawing, if the idea you want to do seems to be big or you want it perfect and shiny. If you’re imagining a ten thousand step process, so you’re not taking the first step? Dirtbag it. 

How do I dirtbag? 

That’s the best part. You just write. Sit down. One word after the other. No outline, no plan, no destination. No thought of editing. Just word vomit. Every word is a good word. It’a word that wasn’t there before. Grammar sucks? Who cares. Can’t think of the perfect word? Fuck it, put in the simplest version of what you mean. 

Write the idea that you love. The one thing you want to say. Has it been done 3000000 times? WHO CARES human history is long, every idea has been done, probably more than twice. YOU have never written it before. It’s your grubby potato that you clawed out of the ground and guess what someone can still make it into delicious french fries. 

Now here’s the critical part. Write as much as you can squeeze out of your brain. One word in front of the other. 

And then I challenge you this: at most, read it over once and then put it into the world. Just as it is. AND THIS IS IMPORTANT: DO IT WITHOUT APOLOGY OR CAVEAT.  I challenge you, beautiful dirtbag to not pre-emptively apologize. Do not make your work lesser. THAT IS YOUR POTATO! It has eyes and roots and dirt clinging to it because that is what happens.  We are dirtbagging it today. Hell really confused people at do #dirtbagwriter on it.  

Dirtbag writes id, base, lizard brain. Dig in the fertile garden of your imagination. What is the story you tell yourself before you fall asleep? What’s your anxiety this week? Your fantasy? What is going well? What do you wish things looked like? Who is the feral imaginary character you’ve been crafting to take your frustrations and joys out on? 

But, VEE, I wish to have an editor and an outline, use a cool software like scrivener instead of retching up onto a google doc and making it look NICE and PRETTY!

COOL! DO THAT THEN! IF YOU’RE ACTUALLY DOING IT! You should have a process! That’s cool and healthy and necessary for sustainable writing. But if you’re not writing because all of that seems too much? THEN DON’T. 

Did you know fic is free? That we do this from love? From sheer desire? For the love of the game? If you have a process, and the words are flowing, amazing, I love that for you, you don’t need this essay.  If you don’t, let us continue. 

What does dirtbag writing look like? 

It’s messy. It’s a little raw and tatty around the edges sometimes. It’s weird.  It’s someone else’s first draft. Maybe it winds up being your first draft, Idek, that’s your business. 

It’s jokes that make YOU laugh. It’s drama that would make YOU cry if you read it. You are your first commenter. You are your first audience (and possibly continuing pleasure! If you don’t go back and reread your own work sometimes, you might be missing out on one of your favorite authors cause you wrote it for you! Wait until you’re not so close to it. Years sometimes. Then hey, maybe some of this is pretty dang good actually.) 

It has mistakes. 

Dirtbags make mistakes, but dirtbags have published pieces. They have things other people can read out there. 

What if I don’t get good feedback? 

Look, the most likely outcome of any new, untried fic writer (and even established writers trying something new-ish)  is that you get no feedback. That’s real. Silence. It’s eerie, it’s terrible, it sucks. I don’t want to pretend it doesn’t. But nothing is not negative. It’s a big fic-y ocean out there and we are all wee itty-bitty-sometimes-with-titty fishes.  

You should still do it all over again. And again. And again. You get better at writing by writing. You just do. Nothing else replaces it. If your well is dry? Fill it with new things. Go do something new, read a new kind of book, watch a new film,  (libraries have so much good shit, you don’t even have to spend money for so many things if you have a library card), just go for a walk in a new direction. Stimulate yourself. Got a cup of something hot and eavesdrop on conversations. Refill yourself with newness. 

And hey, speaking of, do you leave comments? Because you get what you give. You can build relationships with people by commenting and that builds community and community means places to get feedback in the end. Comments are gold. They are all we are paid in. Tip your writers with ‘extra kudos’ or ‘this made me laugh’. And hey, when you go back for a re-read so you can tell them your favorite part? Ask yourself how they made that favorite part? What do you like about it?  Tone? Metaphor? The structure? Reading teaches us how to write too! 

BUT, okay. Sometimes. Sometimes there is actual bad feedback and people suck. 

You know the best part about being a dirtbag? Unrepentant block, delete, goodbye. You don’t own anyone with a shitty opinion any of your precious time on this earth. You did it for free, you gave them your dirty, but still delicious fruit and they went ‘ew, this is a dirty strawberry, how could you not make a clean tomato?”  Because you didn’t plant fucking tomatoes, did you? Don’t fight, don’t engage. Block. Delete. Goodbye. 

If someone in person, looked you in the eye when you brought them a plate of food to share at a party and they said “Why didn’t you bring me MY favorite? This isn’t cooked well at all.” You would probably write up a Reddit AiTA question about it just to hear five thousand people say they were an asshole.   Fic is no different 

And hey, when you dirtbag it? You know you did. It’s not your most cleaned up perfect version. So who cares what they think? You might make it more shiny and polished next time! You might NOT. 

Ok, but what if I don’t finish it? 

Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if it’s bad? 

Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if it doesn’t make sense? 

That’s ART, baby. Fuck it, post it anyway. 

What if what I want to write doesn’t work with current fandom norms? 

Then someone out there probably needs it!  And what the hell is this? The western canon? FUCK IT POST IT ANYWAY* 

*Basic human decency is not a ‘fandom norm’. Don’t be racist, sexist, ableist, fat shaming, classist or shitty about anyone's identity on main, okay? Dirtbag writers are KIND first and foremost. Someone saying you are stepping into shit about their identity is not the same as unsolicited crappy feedback about pairings. In the immortal words of Kurt Vonnegut: "God damn it, you've got to be kind.”

You’re being very flippant about something that’s scary. 

I know. I know I am. I know it can be scary. But no risk, no reward and hell, you aren’t using your goddamn legal name on the internet are you? (please for the love of fuck do not be using your legal name to write fic) You’ve got on a mask. You’re a superhero. With dirt on your cape. 

That niche thing that you think no one cares about? Guaranteed you will find someone else in the world who wants it. Maybe they won’t find it right away. Maybe they will be too shy to comment or even hit a button. But your dirty potato will stick with them. They will make french fries in their head.

You have an audience. But they can’t find you if you have nothing out there. 

Go forth. Make. 

You have some errors in this essay. 

PROBABLY CAUSE I DIRTBAGGED IT.  But I picked this strawberry for you out of my brain, so I hope you run it under some cold water and find the good bits and have a nice snack. Or throw it away. Or use it to plant more strawberries (I know that’s not how strawberries work, metaphors break when stretched).  

#dirtbagwriter 

Go forth and MAKE

#writing #i'm not an expert #I just have been doing this a long time #and these are my feels #please feel free to throw away this strawberry

[saiscribbles]

What are your future plans for your channel btw? Although I like your content criticizing Lily, I think it’s best for you to move away from her because her time on the internet is a huge trash fire that never leads to anything good.

I’d personally really like to see you talk more about Hazbin Hotel or Steven Universe! Your streams are really fun and I love having them on the side while I work. :)

BOLD OF YOU TO ASSUME I HAVE A PLAN!

Much like I never actually intended to start a Steven Universe AU series I never actually intended to become a YouTuber in the first place.

Here's the story:

For years now I've been doing a stream weekly on Twitch where I just talk with chat while drawing. One day Hiding in Public/Private released a couple of great videos on old SU hate videos, including Lily's infamous "Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why".

Not too long after that Lily released "Was I Wrong About Steven Universe?" as a nakedly obvious response. I thought hey, wouldn't it be funny if one stream I just react to this video? Just for funsies? To see if Lily has actually changed her mind on anything?

What I didn't expect was I'd end up spending like half an hour explaining Shoujo Kakumei Utena of all things during that video reaction.

I was kinda impressed with my own recall of Utena despite not having watched it in full in over a decade. So I thought eh for funsies lemme cut down that part and slap it on my account. Which is the same account I've had since 2006. I've put videos up there just for my friends and small number of fans before, as you can see from this Minecraft video from 11 years ago I filmed and edited for my friend for her birthday.

And then that Utena video got 5k views. On my completely unestablished YouTube channel. And I was like... huh. I knew people are annoyed by Lily Orchard but damn.

By that point I had also already decided to react to Lily's video on the Steven Universe Movie the next stream. Cause obviously the SU movie is something pretty near and dear to me that I know very well. And Lily's video was SO BAD and had so many OUTRIGHT LIES in it I thought well hell, let's cut down the two SU reacts into a video too!

It'll probably get like 10k views tops.

And then I'll just fuck off back into the shadows whence I came.

And I suddenly found myself with 3,000 followers.

And I suddenly found myself monetized.

And that video just passed 200k views now. In 3 months.

So I was like... well shit. Now I have this new audience over here on YouTube. I should probably actually give them something. I mean the added revenue stream is nice but I'm not looking to become a career tuber. Mostly I felt like I owed it to this new audience I now have.

So I started doing my art stream on YouTube as well! And I also have been game streaming, if you haven't checked my Lives recently. I've been streaming I Wani Hug That Gator, of all things, while doing silly voices and we're all having a blast. I already wanted to get back into game steaming this year even before this giant explosion in attention.

So for now that's the only thing resembling a plan! I'm gonna keep art and game streaming and cutting videos from those streams. I'm not a video essayist. I can't write and perform a script, I'm just not good at it. But I am very good off the cuff which is why I'm a streamer. I can explain things when prompted. So hey, come to my Wednesday art streams (2pm EST) and poke me for art and writing advice! Or to pick my brain about Steven Universe and Hazbin. I thrive on chat interaction! And then those can be shorts and videos too.

I do plan to do at least 3 or 4 more Lily reacts in the future just because they're videos I think would be funny to react to. But after that? Who knows!

#Sai-chan #YouTube #Ask Answers

[gabessquishytum]

So we all agree that Hob is the World's Greatest Lover, 600 year reigning Pussy Eating Champion, etc etc. But think of the comedy potential if instead he was just...kind of mediocre at sex. After all these centuries he's still satisfied with a quick wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, and he's not a particularly generous lover. A lot of the sex he's had over the years has been with prostitutes, so he doesn't feel very guilty about not making sure they finish, and his wives and long-term partners have mostly been a bit prudish/sheltered because of the time periods they lived in (some of them may not have even been aware that female orgasms were a thing). But none of them ever complained, so he assumed he was pretty good at sex.

And sure, he's had experiences with men (he's been a sailor at times, after all), but back in his day oral sex with any gender was kind of unhygienic and gross (cue the "ripe smegmatic sausage" meme) so the man's never given a blowjob in his unnaturally long life. Now, he *thinks* he knows all there is to know about sex because, to be fair, he has probably done it more times than any other human alive. But the reality is, his idea of "kinky" is any position other than missionary.

So he's surprised (and his ego is a bit bruised) when Dream seems disappointed but amused after their first time. He's worried Dream is going to dump him (and he's beating himself up, thinking he's so stupid for ever believing he could live up to Dream's standards), but Dream just smiles fondly at him and promises to teach him everything and train him to be a worthy lover for an Endless.

So after that, every night when Hob is in the Dreaming they work on his sexual education. Training montage: Dream makes him practice sucking his dick and eating his pussy until he really is the Pussy Eating Champion. Dream expects to come at least three times before Hob is even allowed to think about his own orgasm. Dream fucks his brains out and makes him a plug and a cock cage out of dreamstuff to wear in the waking, so he's always ready and can't cum unless it's on Dream's cock. Hob is, of course, a very eager and studious pupil, and he's more than happy to do anything Dream wants; he's realizing he's actually a lot kinkier than he thought. He loves being dommed by Dream, and Dream considers his education to be complete when Hob is able to successfully Dom *him* (which may or may not have been his goal from the beginning). The student has become the master, etc etc.

I love it here, you guys are so good to me <3 bad sex is so one of my kinks, especially coupled with a lil humiliation kink.

It's entirely fair to believe that Hob might have got a little bit too comfortable over the years. Recently his sexual experience has very much aligned with his modern image - middle class, a little boring, would probably rather just have a cup of tea. He's been sleeping with women mostly, and sadly he's been lulled into a false sense of security when they assure him that yes they did cum, honestly. Even in the decades before that a lot of what he did was drug fuelled and he can barely remember most of it.

Dream is a little disappointed, but on the whole he's amused and quite looking forward to giving Hob an education - after firmly telling him that his dick is nothing special and he really needs to work on his stamina (Hob is sitting there in stunned silence wondering how on earth this conversation is making him hard.)

Hob spends the next few months not being allowed to put his dick anywhere near Dream anyway. He's only allowed to pleasure Dream with his mouth, and only very occasionally allowed to cum. Dream is the strictest of teachers and resorts to corporal punishment when his student doesn't behave (spoiler alert, Hob also enjoys this more than he ought to).

Slowly Hob picks up the skills that he either lost or never had in the first place, and Dream becomes much more agreeable with him. After nearly half a year Hob is finally allowed to fuck Dream again, only this time he's wearing a cock ring and his purpose is only to bring his lover pleasure. Dream is so pleased with his progress that he even lets Hob cum inside him.

Before long Hob is coming home from work, grabbing Dream by the waist and hauling him over the sofa to tongue-fuck him until he screams. Which was more or less what Dream was hoping for during their first encounter. He's quite happy to sit on Hob’s (admittedly quite nice) dick these days, because he knows that Hob’s primary objective will forevermore be to make him cum.

Even if he does occasionally have to tie Dream up to do it. Oh yes, Dream needs to be educated too - about the perils of working too much and not letting off steam. Hob is only too happy to take on the role of teacher, this time.

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw humiliation

[mugentakeda]

i just loveeeee the idea that there was a big gap of understanding between lu ten and iroh the same way theres a big gap of understanding between zuko and iroh. mistakes that iroh didnt realize he made with his son he then also made with his nephew and still not realizing it. a whole world of things about lu ten that iroh didnt know about, and will never know about. im gonna talk about it though because i am insane so look away from my cringe

lu ten had gone to his father with problems before, and iroh cant help but wonder, now, if his son had ever been trying to imply deeper things in between sugarcoated words because there were things you just didnt say in the palace, and irohs head had been so far up his ass he hadnt seen it. despite it being waved practically right in his face by his son, desperate for sound advice from his father, whos brain was too waterlogged by thoughts of how he was going to pull off his next bloody conquest. like how zuko was always howling for help, hurt and confused like a cornered animal, hidden deep under his fits of rage, and irohs head was Still so far up his ass that he kept meeting zukos silent begging for straightforward guidance with convoluted proverbs. he can sit here and bury his face in his hands in shame over the sheer amount of times hed failed his nephew without realizing, and how much convincing it'll take to get his nephew to understand that yes, iroh did fail him so many times, and he couldve prevented so much suffering simply by holding himself to the same standards he held his nephew to. all those times during those three years before the avatar returned that he couldve done something. sit here and think about how sad it is that he has to even try hard to convince his nephew such a thing, how sad it is that he finally got zuko to stop seeing ozai as some all-wise god that can do no error as a father, just for zuko to start seeing iroh as some all-wise god that has done no error as an uncle. but he can at least go and do something about it. he can never do something about what he did to his son. the things he knows he did, the things he doesnt know he did, and everything in between. he will never find out what lu ten truly thought about him. he will never have that reconciliation, that silent scream of relief and violent shiver in the crook of his neck that zuko gave when iroh yanked him in close after their separation, with his lu ten. he just has to hear about his own son through word of mouth and somehow be content with that. and worst of all, its all his own and his god damned family's fault. no amount of healing and learning by trying to do right by zuko and the world he helped nearly ruin not much more than a half decade ago can act as a balm for the agony that brings him. he knows healing his guilty conscience isnt supposed to even be a reason for why he helped the avatar, but god- it's when the rationality leaves him and he realizes that this is something he cant seem to make himself be the bigger person in. he knows its his own fault, that there are hundreds- thousands, maybe- of earth kingdom sons he personally stole from earth kingdom fathers, and only gave up on his siege when the consequences of his war came into his own backyard, but he cant help it. doesnt want to help it. hes still angry and hateful anyway. his son should still be here. his son should still be here. his son should still be here. and if he tells zuko about how much he still hates himself as both an uncle and a father, zuko will definitely rush to reassure him, all the while he is chained to his desk and meetings day in and day out, fixing this uncles mistakes best he can, losing sleep and forgetting to eat. none of it will mean anything to zuko, if it means he can make his uncle feel better. and if that happens, iroh might actually vomit in front of his nephew.

#i love when characters outright refuse to heal or move on!!!! yayyy!!!!!!!!! three cheers for bitterness and hate forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #making lu ten a personality and then remembering hes lit dead so so cool. Like hes just dead. he will never come back. No plot armor #sometimes... characters having unsatisfying unhappy ends.... is the best. #THIS NIGHT HAS OPENED MY EYES.... AND I WILL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN........................ #HE SAID HED CURE YOUR ILLS... BUT HE DIDNT AND HE NEVER WILL.................................... #(starts vomiting blood everywhere #i should tie this with my hcs about ursa and lu ten being close cus they were left alone together in the palace a lot #and how lu ten helped shoulder a kind of deranged amount from her by basically co parenting zuko and azula with her #meanwhile ursa was a grown adult and lu ten was like . 15 #oh the curses of being the eldest sibling oh the horrors #atla

[duochromium]

me and my buddy W.D. Gaster were discussing headcanons about how different 2hus act when drunk and i found it amusing so here’s the highlights

- reimu is very much an alcoholic but in denial. marisa is aware and is currently planning an intervention with kasen.

- cirno and her gang collectively have zero alcohol tolerance. cirno barely even acts different when drunk anyways she’s already a klutz and has no filter

- byakuren has only gotten drunk once in her life and she regrets it every single day of her life

- seija acts extremely formal and polite when drunk. like a businesswoman at a meeting type formal. no slurred speech or anything

- ran does not allow chen to touch alcohol. there’s no law against young youkai drinking and it wouldn’t effect her brain development or anything, ran just forbids it because she’s kind of a helicopter parent

- yukari refuses to drink any alcohol that isn’t extremely fancy red wine. after enough drinks she starts hitting ran

- aunn has never gotten drunk because she doesn’t see the appeal. there’s no moral code as a komainu not to get drunk or anything she just thinks alcohol is nowhere near as cool as religious freedom

- you know how kyouko is so loud that she has to actively try not to hurt people’s ears? yeah i’m sure it’s not fun being around kyouko when she has much less of a filter

- sanae refuses to get drunk. suwako and kanako gave her the usual “alcohol bad” lectures and stories that you give to your children and it stuck with sanae for life. no reimu i don’t want to drunk with you it will give me permanent brain damage

- sagume has sworn off alcohol because she knows if she were to get drunk she’d probably blow up an entire continent or something by accident

- utsuho is a genuine threat to the wellbeing of gensokyo when drunk. last time she was given unsupervised access to alcohol it caused an entire incident. satori has banned all alcohol in the mansion except for a liquor stash that she hides from the other three

- we have no idea what would happen to koishi if drunk. she’s already fucked up enough

- yuyuko, due to how much of a fatass she is, is nigh immune to alcohol

- eiki has never been drunk but komachi is drunk on the job over half the time. eiki gave up on trying to lecture her about it decades ago. “at least she’s doing work at all”

- remilia doesn’t really drink but she does have a glass of red wine within her proximity at all times just so she looks more elegant

- sakuya refuses to drink for fear of it disturbing her work flow but in the astronomically rare event of her actually getting a break she immediately begins drinking more than even an oni could handle

- patchouli stopped drinking a decade ago after she invented magic drug spells which she has since formed an unhealthy relationship with. marisa tried it once and called it “phony bullshit” citing that “it just doesn’t cut it like the real damn thing”

- if drunk words are sober thoughts then i really don’t want to think about what yuuka would be like drunk. the words she must usually keep to herself are probably enough to bring gods to their knees

i encourage you to reblog with your own additions

#touhou #touhou project #headcanon

[quinnsteria]

Hoy Quarlow/Super Macho Man (MachoQuarlow) Headcanons 1/?

Citing this as part one in the title because I don’t trust myself not to talk about them more. Anyway this is just my insane scribblings about these old men since this ship has been rotting in my brain for months and I need to share them with the world

Anyway. Let’s begin with some background:

Hoy Quarlow is the age he’s said to be in the game: 78 years old

Super Macho Man is lying about his age. He’s not 27 but is instead approaching his early 60’s. He lies about it because, like a lot of typical big stars, he doesn’t want to be seen as older in fear of being discarded and out of the industry’s spotlight.

Hoy Quarlow and Super Macho Man joined the WVBA (Side Note: in my au it’s called the World Video Boxing Association because it was the first association to both broadcast the fights live, but also to package and sell recordings of the fights to consumers) around the same time. Although they weren’t there at the very-very beginning of the WVBA’s formation (since my au takes place in the current year and the timeline would be messed up), they’re both older so they were there before any of the other current boxers.

Hoy came from another boxing league but joined the WVBA once he realized his old league was very stingy on his paychecks. Because of the money the WVBA produced from both the recording sales and how much money they raked in for allowing the boxers to be as theatric as they wanted.

Although his hard work and determination led him to rising in the ranks, his sales were low. So, he studied what made boxers among him so popular: their personas. So, Hoy decided to also stretch his creative muscles too. He upped the ante and straight up brought a stick into the ring. It became a Hoy Quarlow staple. That, and the fact that he started to ditch the shorts and shirtless look to take on something with more personality.

Super Macho Man came in with that name all while being a scrawny kid. Believe it or not, but for a good while, SMM was considered a Glass Joe figure when he first started. When he got in the groove though and started upping his gains, he quickly rose in the ranks and grew into the name he gave himself.

He originally joined the WVBA because he wanted to be a movie star, anticipating that the sales of the WVBA recordings will get more eyes on him and he’d be recruited on for actual movies and not just fights. However, as he started to fight more, he became happier with the spectacle of being a WVBA boxer and the fame he gained, deciding to make his main goal staying at the top and not so much appearing in movies (although he’ll absolutely take a movie deal when offered).

Hoy and Macho were sorta aggressive to each other at first. Hoy, still riding high from his placement in his past league, looked down on a lot of other boxers. This is a character flaw that, of course, got resolved later in life (we can see this with how he acts with Birdie in the SNES Super Punch-Out!!), but it was definitely a flaw he had in life at one point. He saw Macho as full of himself and not yet having the skill to back it up. He correctly guessed that Macho was doing this for fame and judged him accordingly, seeing it as an unfit reason for joining the WVBA.

Macho saw Hoy as full of himself as well. He thought Hoy needed to get over himself and stop being so “needlessly mean.” Macho knew his pursuit wasn’t noble, but to him, it didn’t matter. He was so full of himself to pre-set his persona with actually being this, well…. a super macho man. He believed he’d grow into the name (which he did). He found it stupid how Hoy was only about a decade older and he was judging Macho this hard. Macho would often tell him straight up that one day, Hoy would be eating his words and watching Macho rise while Hoy himself sank down the ranks. This is only… uh… half true.

Right now, Macho and Hoy and right next to each other in the Special Circuit. Macho is Rank #1, right before Mr. Sandman (The WVBA Champion). Hoy is Rank #2 in the Special Circuit, right before Super Macho Man.

As they both aged, Macho and Hoy started to get along. With Hoy becoming sillier and way more relaxed, he was able to connect with Macho more. With Macho getting more full of himself, Hoy sorta saw himself in him and although he has fun with him, is trying to guide him away from the lonely life that being that high in ranks can bring. There’s all these camera flashes and people will be all over you and asking for deals, but they don’t love you.

OKAY… now that that’s over, I’ll be putting more headcanons under the cut. It’ll be more shippy, but it’ll still work as a “background section” if that makes sense that outlines their life together. I think this post should be in general about their background. Okay… cool.

I think Macho was kinda mixed up about his feelings for Hoy. Their relationship was definitely simmering for years, real rivals to fun friendly rivalry to friends to lovers. Macho never expected to fall for Hoy at all, and when he did, he didn’t know how to feel. He wondered what it’d be like to date another league member. Could he do that? What would the press do? Would the gossip magazines make Hoy look like a cougar… 🤨? Either way, he was nervous.

What also adds to it is that Macho is a pretty famous playboy. If he starts actually dating long-term (which he… actually kinda wants to explore with Hoy), how would that affect his reputation? With all these worries involving insecurities from outsiders, he was definitely indecisive with what he wanted to do. Hoy on the other hand… had different problems.

I fully subscribe to the “Hoy is Dragon Chan’s grandparent” headcanon. Hoy’s wife (aka Dragon Chan’s grandma, was married. They had a daughter who, just like her son, was a very determined kickboxer. She fell in love with Dragon’s father and they soon had a son, Dragon Chan. However, one fateful day, when Dragon was about 10 or so, his parents died in a fatal car accident (or at least that’s what my explanation is right now). Years later, Hoy’s wife died as well. She had a heart attack, although many say it was onset by a broken heart.

Dragon Chan, after getting kicked out of his kickboxing league while trying to live up to his mother’s legacy, joined the WVBA and gave him a place there. Dragon became popular quickly, and his ego became bigger (this is supported by his overconfidence in the ring and in pre fight rounds alongside his “chicken dance taunt” when he KO’s/TKO’s you). Dragon’s behavior only slightly reminds Hoy of his own ego at that age, and Hoy, although still giving advice to his grandson, knows that Dragon needs to discover his own path to humbleness.

Okay back to the tragedy of Hoy’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law. These tragedies caused Hoy to feel as if death followed him and anyone he loves. He blamed himself for all of their deaths, even if he had nothing to do with them. He was afraid to love again and to make another family, although this attitude is usually hidden by his now lighthearted personality.

Of course, this caused Hoy’s love life to become… confused I guess? Hoy was deathly worried of his family hurting even more. He was also worried for Dragon Chan, believing that there’s a chance he’d be mad that Hoy is trying to “replace” his grandma and pretend she never existed. Of course, Dragon doesn’t really care for that. His problem arises with Hoy’s dating choices when he realizes that it’s Super Macho Man of all people that Hoy is dating like huh that jerk grandpa? That loser? Cmon

I’ll probably elaborate on this in another post but the beef between Dragon Chan and Super Macho Man is so special to me. It’s like a family movie where the kid doesn’t like their new step-dad except the kid is a 22 year old grandchild who can actually kick Macho’s ass if he wanted to (and he does)

I think the first person to actually make a move was Super Macho Man. Macho was able to catch Hoy in the locker room after a fight and he asked Hoy if he would like to “hang out” sometime together, outside of WVBA mixers or some other thing, of course.

Hoy found it cute. He sorta laughed softly at it at first before he saw Macho’s dejected face. He realized it was genuinely series and he kinda flushed. Definitely went kinda quiet with an “O…Oh,” before trying to think of what to say next.

He agrees by the way. Though I think in another post I’ll elaborate

Annddddd that’s all I have for now! Thank you for reading and I’m sorry it was so long! These guys have been in my head for a bit now woah

#punch out #hoy quarlow #super macho man #machoquarlow #dragon chan #sorry for the ramblings I’m insane #quinn speaks #long post

[writing-frenzy]

More Kinda/Sorta SI!Aizen, now with some UraIchi thrown at him because Cywscross makes me love it

In relation to the First of the Kinda/Sorta SI!Aizen AU (I feel thats a good tag at least), if anyone wants to read that first to make sense of the mess this is gonna be: this is just a basically more of a dump of interactions and headcannons that I would like to see between Canon and Kinda/Sorta verse (easy way to differ the two, I'll put KS! before their name.) but adding some other spices and ideas because my brain is going weeeeeeee!

But yeah I made the mistake of re-reading remake the universe (remake us) by cywscross which I can not regret because how they characterize Aizen and Urahara and Ichigo makes me go so feral, so beautiful and all that, I feel something like cute aggression? but I guess make it ship aggression in this case? eh, whatever, but once more I'm gonna note all this out because why not? these three are crowding in my head, and they refuse to leave, so I have to get them out in some way, so be forewarned of some UraIchi being liberally sprinkled everywhere.

So, I've touch on some things in this verse that I kinda want to go deeper on, which have also been buzzing around in my head.

KS!Aizen is someone I'm actually unsure if I still want him to be the Fifth Division's lieutenant or the Fourth's; like, this idea is just bouncing in my head rent free, because all KS!Aizen really has to do is change the cycle of souls and make sure the Visored are created; he could do that in almost any division, some of them would make it even easier, especially with how many still disregard the Fourth and all their efforts.

But for some reason, I actually want KS! Versions of Shinji and Aizen to actually bond; like, I think I actually want them to be something like friends? (Battle brothers, back to back on battlefields and in mires, blood coating their blades as it is either us vs them, you vs the enemy, a mentor, a guide, a voice that can help them when they are so stuck in thoughts and memories, who makes the world seem more real, someone I can have at my back and trust, someone who can keep up, someone I know I will see on the other side, just a little more broken, but not gone like so many others) just, the thought of it makes me actually grin? Like, KS!Shinji will be just a bit sus of his second, because KS!Sosuke is still plotting shit and hidding his true power levels, fudging a bit on his Zanpakuto's ability but not completely so he can still get away with some shit.

And then... somehow, someway, I want KS!Aizen to experience An Emotion; I want him to actually feel betrayed, because god can you imagine? (And the thing is, no matter the Aizen, no matter the man, he will hold a grudge forever to the very end... except, maybe, for those his broken, jagged mixed up heart has actually let in; Canon!Aizen won't know this, never having lets anyone in, but KS!Aizen? well, there is very, very little he wouldn't forgive KS!Urahara for, but KS!Shinji?... He'll give the man one chance.)

Also, considering the Visored; that is actually an interesting situation in my head. Like, it doesn't take anyone too long to find out that KS!Aizen is actually trying to make such people a thing, without the fate worse then death going on, and of course his fellow guys are so fucking sus about that, because it makes them wonder if he had a hand in the situation? It's just, Sosuke is actually fully embracing his Hollow, learning the tricks and exploring his new abilities with a single minded focus that unnerves most everyone... It, made the first decade and a half very tense, KS!Aizen even leaving afterwards for about 3 decades with few visits to drop supplies and spar, most doing their best to avoid him, except maybe a few.

(KS!Gin narrowing his eyes, looking at his mentor who took him and Rangiku from starvation and the streets, sponsored them both in exchange for Gin's mind in the future, Rangiku's strength, someone who looked at him and all his sharp edges and thought him worth something more then Rukongai trash, never even looked at his friend with any sort of lust but calculative of her strength and how to make her stronger. Gin thinks of his mentor who wouldn't do anything without a reason, who constantly still works to the bone despite their exile, never lets himself grow dull, who trains and trains, even as the rest of the Visored exclude him for a bit. Looks over to Urahara, that stupid mask still on but unable to hide his own considering gaze as they take in the trickiest of the Visored.

Gin knows Aizen; he does absolutely nothing without reason, with only as much effort as needed. What does it say that he's doing so fucking much, even spitting blood in spars and constant late nights judging by the bags when he lets his illusions down just enough to rest.

It isn't hard to get the rest of the group with the program, just takes his own special nudge here and there.)

So, with some shit, spars, out all dogpiles, shouting and one too many sleepless nights, the Visored and Kisuke do manage to pin down Sosuke enough for him to admit that the Visored need to exist, that while he has been trying to create them he has never picked anyone against their will, has had only too many volunteers to pick from, and with the balance of souls needing to be kept, it's not like people cared to much of Rukongai's outer districts people.

The relationships get better when they see how the Visored that Sosuke has created actually join them, completely, 100% loyal to the man that gave them a chance no one else in all of Soul Society ever gave them. Sure, he experimented and caused them pain, but that's just how life is in the outer districts; they lived one more day, got more power, and became strong enough to protect themselves. (Visored!Ulquiorra because brrrrrr) Sure, Aizen had to shut down most of his labs because of the exile, but he has his sneaky, sneaky ways of getting into Soul Society and getting shit done, so he was able to take at least a few successes. (I'm gonna say maybe 10 or so? the rest he either humanely killed or just wiped their memory and dumped them with a care package) so the KS!Visored group is bigger then in canon, and can be made up of OCs or even random canon characters that might turn a few heads :D the possibilities are fun~

So yeah, the Visored from the Gotei are still sus, but Aizen is still one of them and he does obviously have good intentions somewhere even if he is being very vague about just why, so after a bit they still accept him as one of their own.

And then the Quincy :D (They're like; damnit, ain't that a damn good reason to share?!)

And then they find out about KS!Aizen's shitty situation of forced to live in this bloody world and make Visored or get your soul shredded. (That night, Sosuke finds himself nearly suffocating from a mandatory cuddle pile, KS!Kisuke refusing to let go of him even as the other Visored yell about snacks and fighting over movies or tv series to watch. Even as he rolls his eyes or huffs, he does have a small, barely there little crook of a smile on his lips.)

Now, we have KS!Uraai or Urazen there already... so my brain is like; why not a have budding/kinda already Post Canon!UraIchi forming between the canon characters? In this verse of it, I feel like Ichigo and Sosuke bond over having to wrangle their respective mad scientist creator, sharing tips and tricks on dealing with him, actually going to the other because they can vent to someone who actually understands about loving the blond, who doesn't judge him for it, (doesn't tell him that's what he gets for choosing someone like that instead of someone normal) and who actually offers good advice, tips and tricks that actually helps him with his relationship. There are the movie nights, but then they also form a book club, hang out, dragging their respective blond on double dates and bonding time so they can ensure he's getting fresh air and not killing himself.

And yet both Sosuke and Ichigo are pulled up short the minute anyone calls them friends; like... huh...

On the Urahara's side; for one, I'm gonna say they both have different kinds of injuries, different types of actions, because for KS!Kisuke, he's almost always had an equal in KS!Sosuke, who (desperate, with not enough caffeine in his system, bags under his eyes and way too much paperwork because nobles are still fucking assholes and the captain can't fire or demote them unless it's an actual big reason) approaches the Twelfth's captain and decides: Lets go with the Ichigo Approach.

KS!Aizen: *Stares with dead eyes* Good day Captain Urahara, I am coming to you with Ulterior Motives and not nearly enough sleep to care.

KS!Kisuke: *blinks, surprised, but honestly amused because it is honestly refreshing for someone to come out and say it* is that so? What do you need?

KS!Sosuke: Nobles to get an actual brain or any decent work ethic, but I doubt that's coming anytime soon, so can I possibly use your reputation and some of the Twelfth's work space to scare most anyone who would try and dump their paperwork on me that is most certainly not my problem?

KS!Kisuke: *Now thoroughly amused, doesn't comment about the ill words about nobles because he is still sore about being tossed from the Second* Sure, just make sure you pay it forward in the future.

And then the two get into a debate on some research project, showcasing just how smart KS!Sosuke is, able to keep up and challenge his friend, and thus the rest is history. So, this bond has it's own effect on KS!Kisuke, someone who after being abandoned ended up finding someone just as smart, twisted and monstrous, who just gets him in a way no one else ever has, even as they differ and clash just enough to find their jagged edges catching on something and holding on to it ever so obsessively. KS!Kisuke doesn't have Canon's guilt, or at least, not as much because for him, it was either watch Aizen and his comrades suffer a fate he wouldn't give an enemy lightly/last resort or save them as much as he can; not to mention how with KS!Sosuke's action in his verse, none of the Visored actually blame Kisuke all the much here, and with how Sosuke just keeps training, fighting, never stopping even after most would stagnate...

Well, let's just say that the Visored and the Shouten crew have very different power levels compared to the canon crew.

(KS!Sosuke: *Raises an eyebrow* "Perfection? Sounds like just another form of Stagnation to me.")

So yeah, both Urahara's are different beasts to deal with; I'm pretty sure the two would take pot shots and digs at the other, see what gets under the other's skin, at least when they're not enabling each other in another research binge. KS!Kisuke would probably also find Ichigo fascinating, wanting to see how the other ticks, which KS!Aizen has to smack him or drag him away before his counterpart tries to stab him. Meanwhile Ichigo has to make sure his Urahara doesn't stab KS!Aizen out of reflex, which he is getting better about.

just, the possibilities for this verse, it's fun to think about even if it starts to mutate oddly in my head~

#Bleach #Aizen Sosuke #Kinda/Sorta SI!Aizen AU #Uraai #Urazen #UraIchi #but now my brain is wanting to stick KS!Aizen in a magic au #lets see how that goes for me

[crispyjenkins]

living icarus epilogue/omake

Mando'a:

mesh’la — “beautiful”, but not necessarily physically; used in this context as a sort of equivalent to “love” or “애인”? used instead of copyc because my brain does not like how that word sounds out loud

just wanted to add this scene i couldn't get out of my head, but i liked where the main fic ended, so. here. have an omake of boys bein in love and such

  Obi-Wan grows his hair out, after, before chopping it all off again. Keeping it just long enough for a single French braid that ends at his shoulders, he takes to letting Rex weave a matte ribbon in 501st blue into the plait every morning.

  He doesn’t wear armour anymore, at least nothing more than some reinforced plates under his tunic and the single vambrace from Rex’s old kit; he doesn’t go back to Jedi browns and beiges, though, instead choosing to dress in the muted jewel tones of Melidaan, newly renamed and once again a part of the Republic. 

  Which is where Rex finds the two of them a couple of months after the fighting actually stops —they’d still had to deal with Dooku and all the other insurrectionist planets, afterall, as well as Skywalker, who hadn’t taken Palpatine’s death well at all— invited back to join the celebration of the reopening of Zehava, the capitol. Technically, Rex isn’t supposed to be there, Melidaan’s new government is staunchly anti-war and think the clones are followed by conflict like particularly annoying harbingers, but Obi-Wan had insisted on sneaking him in, and even if he hadn’t, Rex wouldn’t have let him face this all alone.

  Tahl’s grave is exactly where Obi-Wan had first dug it, miles out of Zehava on the outskirts of the forest that had almost been decimated during the civil war. Someone has planted some kind of creeping flower over the entire hill, that has all but overtaken the rough gravestone Obi-Wan had managed to make between battles all those years ago. There’s a fancy, honorary gravestone in Central Zehava, but it’s little more than a monument, and Rex isn’t surprised when Obi-Wan skips paying his respects to her there, to instead hike all the way out to the real one.

  Disguised, Rex stands over Obi-Wan’s shoulder as he carefully buries his padawan braid at the foot of the overgrown headstone, coiled up in a small wooden box Frisbee had found in some market or other in Mandalorian space. Skywalker hadn’t even noticed Obi-Wan had never offered his braid at the end of his apprenticeship, not that he had deserved such a hallowed show of thanks, but Rex is glad there had never been a confrontation about it, so that Obi-Wan can have this moment with his first Master over half a decade late.

  “Stop thinking so hard,” Obi-Wan’s voice pulls him from his thoughts, the man not even looking up from where he’s knelt with his eyes closed over Tahl’s grave. Rex snorts, checking their perimeter once more before moving to stand next to Obi-Wan properly, secretly pleased with the relaxed, fond smile on his lips.

  “Forgive me, Mesh’la,” he snarks, letting Obi-Wan lean his shoulder into Rex’s thigh, “I did not realise you didn’t prefer the strong and silent type.”

  Obi-Wan barks out a laugh. “You are far from a strong and silent type, my dear,” he returns easily, smile widening.

  Feigning offense, Rex steps back to let Obi-Wan get to his feet. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing, nothing, my dear.” With a smirk, Obi-Wan brushes his knuckles over Rex’s cheek as he passes him on the way back to the path. “Now, enough of that: our Jump back to Coruscant will take about a week, but once we’re there, how do you feel about helping me find the illegal sabbac den Kote is running out of his apartment, and convincing him I don’t know a lick of Mando’a?”

  Oh, Rex is ever so in love with him.

#rexobi #crispy writes #see i'm the living icarus #obi wan as anakin's padawan au #angst with a happy ending #obi wan kenobi #captain rex #clone wars

[excelsi-or]

summoned (pt. 4)

Back with another one! I hope you've all been doing well!

pairing: woozi x fem!reader/fem!OC

w.c. 2.8k

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

Jihoon is actually impressed at her suggestion. They had debated different relations for the better part of an hour, with none of them sounding right. With her forehead against the coffee table, inspiration seemed to strike.

“You’re a demon.” She slowly sat up as she said it.

Jihoon didn’t even bother to entertain that statement.

“What’s the limitation of your magic?”

If Jihoon still had a stomach, it would have shrunk at the word. “There is no real limitation.”

“So, you can manipulate thoughts.”

“I can…” Jihoon quickly continues. “But if I was okay with that, I would have manipulated your thoughts to make you think that bringing me here was a good idea and on purpose and somehow swindle you into handing over my soul.”

“I’m not saying collect my friends’ souls. I’m saying maybe we don’t need to come up with an excuse if you can just ‘whoosh’,” she flicked a finger in a wand-like motion, “the thought from their brains.”

As Jihoon trails behind her on the walk to Hansol’s now, he can’t help but wonder again if she’s a demon. But he would have known. Just as he knew that Seokmin was an angel when they met. 

Still, her intuition and her ability to come up with slightly cunning ideas make him skeptical. Not that her ideas have been evil or particularly manipulative, but there is a finesse that Jihoon likes.

And if he likes an idea that isn’t his own, well, his hackles go up.

Hansol's the one who answers the door. He throws an arm around her shoulders and waves his bandaged hand in Jihoon’s face. “So, come up with what you’re going to say?”

“We’ve sorted it out.” She looks back over her shoulder at the demon. “Right?”

Jihoon nods.

The apartment is brightly lit and warm, suggesting there are many bodies in the apartment. But it’s the smells that entice Jihoon. The smells from the nearby kitchen are intoxicating. He peers into the kitchen on the left to see who’s cooking. Three men, all who appear to be giants, are milling around the stove and counters.

Jihoon towers over the human and he assumed that Hansol was just oddly tall, but no. Every male in this woman’s life is a giant, and Jihoon just so happened to stumble into an average-sized, maybe almost smaller than average-sized, body.

No wonder Seokmin is–

“What are you doing here?” Jihoon hisses when Seokmin walks out of the kitchen.

Seokmin’s eyes widen. He looks between her and Jihoon. “This’s who summoned you by accident?”

She glances between the two of them. “Seokmin, this is Jihoon. Jihoon–”

Seokmin tips his head back in disbelief and then grabs both their hands, dragging them into a bedroom. Seokmin doesn’t bother with the lights, so they stand huddled in the room lit only by the dying sun. The smell of lavender is almost overpowering in this room.

“What are you doing here?” Seokmin demands.

“I asked you that and you didn’t answer.”

“Huh, it would make sense that you could tell each other apart,” she muses. “Should have thought that through.” She shrugs. “Do you guys actually know each other?”

“Jihoon,” Seokmin looks to the demon, “that’s the name you chose this time? Anyway, we’ve bumped into each other over the millennia.”

Jihoon's stuck on a different point. “You know he’s an angel?” he asks the human. “Because he told you or because you asked?”

He can see the human calculating an answer.

“She has this tendency to draw things that she knows. She kept drawing me as an angel.” Seokmin turns to his friend. “I’m assuming that’s true?”

She gives a half-shrug.

“So, yeah, she knows.”

“Seokminnie’s been a friend, for what? The last decade or so?”

Seokmin nods. “Graduated high school together.”

“You went to high school?” Jihoon exclaims. He holds his hands up, as if to put a pause on this conversation. It’s not lost on the others that his palms start to glow red.

“Hey, hey, hey,” her voice is soft, as she moves into Jihoon’s line of vision, “no one else knows anything. Hansol’s the only one who knows who you are.” She holds his gaze until the red glow in his palms starts to ease. 

Jihoon lets out a long exhale, his breath warms her, but she waits. “You have so much explaining to do. I am not taking this ‘just a feeling’ bullshit anymore.”

She doesn’t acknowledge what Jihoon says. “Now, isn’t the reason you wanted to come was because you wanted to talk to Myungho?”

“What does he want with Myungho?” Seokmin’s voice sounds immediately defensive.

“No soul sucking,” she promises. “Just talking.”

As she pulls the door open, deeming the conversation done, a voice calls that food’s almost ready. Jihoon follows her out to the living room.

“Introductions?”

The demon hums grumpily.

She introduces Jihoon to the boys. “You’ve actually met most of them.” She points to the two on the couch directly across from them. “Hansol and Seungcheol oppa.” Sat on the floor, leaning against the couch near Seungcheol and the bookshelf, "That’s Myungho.” On the couch to their left are two people that Jihoon knows. “And you know, Jeonghan oppa and Seokmin.”

Jihoon follows her to the kitchen. “At the stove is Seungkwan, Hansol’s roommate. Chopping stuff is Mingyu, and,” she nods at the man sat at the small dining table, “Wonwoo is the one watching.”

Wonwoo nods when Jihoon meets his eye. “And you?”

“Jihoon.”

Before Wonwoo can ask his next question, Jihoon pushes it out of his head and replaces it with a new one. One directed at her and not him. “How’s your solo show going?”

“Hit a speed bump, what with the injury,” she replies. Wonwoo nods musingly, as if he already knew about the injury. “But I spent the afternoon trying to work on it a bit with Hansol.”

“It’s in two months,” Wonwoo states.

Jihoon decides to leave the conversation and join the others in the living room. He takes a seat next to Seokmin.

“She said something about Myungho,” Seokmin says quietly.

At the name, Jihoon looks across the table at said Myungho. He has a black mullet, which Jihoon believed should have died as soon as they came into existence. But somehow it works on this man. Maybe it’s his slender face. His fringe falls into his eyes and Jihoon can already tell that his style outdoes everyone else’s in the room. But what Jihoon’s eyes are drawn to is the camera sat on the table.

“The photos.”

“Photos?”

Jihoon nods.

Seokmin doesn’t ask about it, and Jihoon doesn’t question why the man is suddenly so trusting. “Myungho-yah.”

The man looks over from his conversation with Seungcheol and Hansol.

“I’ve been telling Jihoon about your photos. Can you show us your stuff? Since you brought your camera along.”

Myungho nods and folds his long limbs together so he can stand. Jihoon stares up at him in awe. He’s just as graceful folding himself back together to sit next to him.

Myungho turns his camera on and motions with his head towards the kitchen. “She asked me to bring it. Said she wanted a look at the other photos we took a few months ago.”

Seokmin glances at Jihoon before saying, “She asked specifically? Which ones?”

Myungho goes through all the photos. A blur of colour speeds past Jihoon’s vision before Myungho begins slowing down. As the photos come up, Jihoon tries not to react to the now obvious smoke coming off of them. There’s a black haze around each of the buildings, darkening the photos even further. Jihoon wants to pass a hand over the preview screen to see if the haze is actually coming out of the camera or if it’s his imagination.

When Myungho gets to the abandoned building photos, the haze is almost so dark he can barely make out the structure at all.

And the haze is coming out of the camera. 

Jihoon can tell Seokmin’s trying not to cough. He puts on a strained smile, chattering with Myungho about the locations. Apparently, Myungho is planning to put these exact pictures into a showcase that he has in a few months.

“A magazine also asked if they could also see these photos. Thought they were so basic when I took them,” Myungho chuckles. “I wasn’t expecting these ones to be the photos, you know?”

“Yeah,” Seokmin answers, “wow. That’s… insane. They’re really… good.”

If Jihoon weren’t thinking so hard, he would be annoyed at Seokmin’s constant elbowing.

“Okay, out of the way.”

Jihoon watches the stream of giants walk over with pots and bowls of food. The spread is put on the coffee table, since apparently none of these humans own a dining table. Bowls are handed out, along with utensils. Seungkwan thanks them all for coming, smiles at Jihoon and tells him that he hopes he likes the food, and then ushers them all to eat.

The energy in the room is so joyous that Jihoon wants to leave. Luckily, he only has to steer three minds around a few times to avoid the ‘so who are you’ question. The group seems very accepting overall, but Jihoon’s hardly paying attention to the conversation. His brain is trying to piece together what that haze means. It’s clearly something perceivable by humans.

When he catches her eye across the room, she looks to the balcony.

Jihoon disentangles his limbs from Seokmin and Myungho’s and steps around everyone to get to the balcony door.

“Whoop,” she breathes as Jihoon tugs her after him with a little extra help. 

Jihoon closes the door behind them. He almost laughs at her vice-like grip on her bowl. It’s a cool summer evening, and while goosebumps litter her skin, she seems unbothered and continues to eat. She looks to him expectantly.

“We need to go.”

“We?” She checks her watch. “Your dead of the night rule is coming up, no?”

“First of all, that’s not until 3 AM. Second, you said you’d help me.”

“I did, but you haven’t exactly explained what you need help with.”

“They’ll sense me if I get too close,” Jihoon says. “These places will be riddled with…”

“Human scent,” she laughs in disbelief. “Fine. Okay.”

“Okay?”

“You asked for my help. I said I’d give it. One condition.”

Jihoon’s eyes narrow. She’s now just finding the cat eyes cute rather than unsettling. “Some of the boys come too.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Because?”

“Because…” Jihoon doesn’t have a reason for why they can’t come. He could care less about their safety.

His silence seems to encourage her to explain. “What if I get caught? At least if we’re with cameras, we’ll have cover.”

Jihoon opens his mouth to argue but knows she’s right.

After a moment of silence, as Jihoon tries to predict how things could go wrong, she says, “I think we’ll be fine.”

He frowns. “And you just know that.”

She nods, her eyes moving to her food for a second. “I just know.”

“Explain more.”

“What? Now?” She looks around him to the door. “They’re going to start wondering where we are.”

“I can deal with that. Seokmin can also deal with it. Explain. More.”

She hums. “Later.”

Jihoon’s brow furrows. “How is the information going to be any different later?”

“Later,” she insists. She slips around him. “We can talk about it later.”

After asking the boys if any of them would be willing for a late night photograph spree, Jihoon has learned that most of them are scaredy cats.

“Guys, those abandoned buildings gave me a great vibe for my comic. Can you guys stop being babies and please come? Jihoon already said he’d come.”

“Do we have to go at night?” Seungkwan asked.

“Why are you risking your safety?” Jeonghan demanded.

“That’s why I’m asking for a couple of you to come,” she snorted. “Please.”

Myungho, Hansol, and Wonwoo agreed to come along.

“I can’t believe you’ve recruited humans to do your bidding,” Seokmin hisses as Myungho drives them to the abandoned building.

“One, I’m a demon. Two, angels do the exact same thing. Three, I really only recruited the one.”

Seokmin sighs, his gaze going out the window. “Well, unsurprising. She’s cunning that one. Cunning with a good heart.”

Jihoon glances at Seokmin, waiting for more.

Nothing comes.

It isn’t until they break out of the city limits that Jihoon starts to notice anything. It seems all the humans except Myungho have fallen asleep; Seokmin is alert next to him. Out the window, the moon that had been intensely bright has dimmed; and the stars are hard to make out.

Jihoon practically has his face pressed to the window to get a better look. “Stop the car.”

Myungho hits the brakes so hard that those that were asleep, wake. Hansol and Wonwoo look dazed, but she curses in the front seat.

“Are we gonna walk from here?” Hansol asks, still trying to get his bearings.

“Yeah.” She sounds extremely awake for someone who’d been fully asleep a minute ago. “Might as well take in all the ambiance.”

Everyone piles out and the photographers begin snapping photos. She doesn’t even pretend as if she’s actually here to draw.

Jihoon is in awe. He hadn’t realized from the images that it was an area of abandoned buildings. He catches up with her in a few strides.

“Which one was the one from the photo?” Jihoon asks.

She motions for him to follow, Seokmin taking her other side. Hansol’s hand grabbing hers stops them in their tracks.

“Where are you going?”

“On an adventure.” She peers over Hansol’s shoulder at Wonwoo posing for Myungho’s photo. “I need you guys to help me out.”

“Whatever you need.” Hansol waves at the other two to follow and they trail after Jihoon and Seokmin.

The demon can feel the energy pulsing in the air. He doesn’t need her to lead the way to the building; he could get there just by the air pressure. He has to stop, because if… anything else is here, they’ll be able to sense him too. He grabs Seokmin’s wrist, burning his jacket a little. “We can’t go in.”

“Wonwoo-yah,” the humans continue past, ignoring Seokmin and Jihoon now lagging behind, “you cool to record us going in?”

Wonwoo tips his head, though he’s already swinging his camera into his hands.

“Just so I don’t need to keep coming back.”

The man nods his understanding and lets them walk a few paces ahead before recording. She motions towards the building they’re going to enter. She isn’t sure what exactly Jihoon is expecting her to find, but the sinking feeling in her stomach is making her a bit sick.

Hansol’s grip on her hand tightens.

Myungho flanks her right side, snapping a few photos of her and Hansol as they step into the building.

The inside is just as creepy as it had been the last time they’d been there. The first floor is built, but the draft from the unfinished second floor makes its way down. She looks around before leading them down a hall on the first floor.

Hansol whispers, “What are you looking for?”

“I’ll know it when I see it,” she murmurs back. The feeling of the air being sucked from her lungs returns. However, it’s not from a demon coming to take her soul; it’s from the smell in the room. Wonwoo, Myungho, and Hansol all start coughing. She shakes her head and pulls them back out. She saw a shoe and a shadow of a body.

She drags Hansol up to the second floor to make sure there’s no one else around, and she only has to crest over the stairs to see enough. She urges them to head back downstairs.

“What the hell was that smell?” Wonwoo demands after he stops recording. He’s practically gulping the air outside the building. “It’s like something died in there.”

Myungho nods his agreement. “Yeah, rotting meat or something.”

Hansol’s eyebrows rise with realization. He hadn’t recognized the smell. “You can’t be serious.”

They see Seokmin and Jihoon standing in the distance.

“Those scaredy cats didn’t come?” Myungho demands. “I thought they were right behind us.”

Jihoon’s eyes go over all the humans before landing on her. He meets her eye and she shakes her head. Once Myungho and Wonwoo are far enough that if she whispers they’re unlikely to hear, she says, “No one’s there. Just… stuff that’s been left behind.”

“You’re sure,” Jihoon states.

“Whatever’s there is now just,” she pauses, “whatever they left of them.”

Jihoon looks to Seokmin.

“For scaredy cats,” Myungho calls, now standing at the driver’s side of his van, “you guys sure are slow.”

part 5

#seventeen #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #lee jihoon scenarios #woozi scenarios #woozi imagines #svt #woozi #lee jihoon #woozi fic

[hislittleraincloud]

More proof that Wyler is garbage and Wyler people are gross...there was a promising gifset of a S2 AU where the creator has Joel Glicker enter Nevermore and starts dating Wednesday (😃😃😃😃😃), but then the whole thing revolves around Tyler TURNING INTO A STALKER like this:

Because having a violent stalker who threatens your boyfriend IS SO FUCKING SEXY AMIRITE? Surely even Netflix Wednesday would find someone threatening to kill someone she likes/loves HOT, right, because she reacts so well to assholes threatening the people she loves. My hope for that 'story' is that Wednesday would protect Joel with her life, given that she opened herself up enough to actually date him and love on him publicly as shown in the other gifs in the set (which I love, those are brilliant).

I don't really have beef with the creator of the gifset, its story potential is excellent, so long as Wednesday serves up Tyler's comeuppance for trying to kill her. (By that time, his Hyde brain had already taken full hold, with all of his gaslighting 'romantic' pretenses dropped.) However, unfortunately since it was posted by a Wyler stan, I don't think its story would be going in that logical direction, since it seems like they're tryna romanticize his stalking.

But that's not the half of it...the rest is in the comment replies about Joel and it makes me sick

You're fucking 🗑️

ABSOLUTE 🗑️

Fuck that monster.

Stalking in the manner that is portrayed in that potential storyline is not a positive thing. It's not sexy. It's villainous, and it turns Tyler into a full-on villain. (Jesus, he ain't even cute! He's the type of 'teen heartthrob' that mag editors have been foisting on tasteless teen girls for decades, only for the girls to grow up, reflect, and say "WTAF was I thinking?"...like Kirk Cameron...not really cute either, but the lot of us who thought he was just facepalm at our own embarrassing teenie bopper lack of taste. Plus, Tyler LOOKS like his Hyde 🤢**) And Joel did absolutely nothing to deserve that. Joel is to be protected at all costs.

My guess is that none of y'all ever had an actual DV situation where there was a stalker. I have. It's part of that whole attempted murder accusation. That bitch stalked me. Stalked AND kidnapped me from our school at knifepoint. She threatened to murder my cat. She broke into my house and chased me with a fucking butcher's cleaver. I WAS 15 YEARS OLD. It was not fun or entertaining, and it ruined my life as it was back then.

Anyway. Yeah that was triggering to me, given my experience w a stalker (and actually, I had two stalkers at the time...yeah, high school was hilarious 😒). But violent, threatening stalkers are bad and TLDR: Joel is Wednesday's first canon kiss, and she liked him. Don't ever come for Joel, or I'll come for you.

**On the flip side, Xavier/Percy is odd looking too, but he's got the type of face that fits with the oddness of Addams Family lore. He is very unconventionally attractive, while Tyler/Hunter is the definition of mid.

#wednesday #wednesday addams #joel glicker #wyler people #wyler stans #tyler stans #i stg this fucking fandom #tyler galpin #wyler #weyler #wednesday au

[fantasyiswaybetterthanreality]

My Experience with Lego Friends

So way back in 2011, when I was but a wee 8ish year old, my mother and I were walking through the Walmart toy aisle. We moved through the girls section and saw this:

And my mom screamed. No Joke. An employee came over to ask what was wrong and she yelled. "There's Lego's for girls!!!"

That was my first introduction to the franchise/Lego theme. Now I was just as excited as her. Before Friends, I only had one Lego set that Mom had to search extensively for because there weren't really any proper sets for little girls.

So she bought me Lego Friends.

And more Friends.

As a budding Lego lover, I built them. I watched the corresponding TV shows on Netflix. I talked about them with my friends. I received a bunch of sets on my Birthday and Christmas.

A few years later, Lego started to release Disney Princess sets and Lego Elves. While I never got into Elves while they were released (something I regret now that I'm older), I watched the mini movie and series that were released on Netflix.

And then in 2018, Lego rebranded Friends for the first time.

Originally in 2012, Lego Friends advertised a young group of highschool girls and their subsequent adventures in their hometown of HeartLake City. This is what the lineup looked like:

(From Left to right: Emma, Stephanie, Olivia, Andrea, & Mia

Four white girls and one African American, and an extremely light skinned one.

And the "new" line-up in 2018:

(From Left to Right: Andrea, Mia, Emma, Stephanie, & Olivia)

One Asian, one one Hispanic, one African American (dark-skinned not light), and two whites.

Now my 12 year old brain was mad about the changes, especially since American Girl (another toy brand I loved) had rebranded one of there lines and honestly, butchered the best parts about the line.

But after someone told me it was wonderful that they were being more inclusive, and after I looked at some of the sets, I came around.

So I continued to collect the sets. I watched the corresponding show on Netflix.

Then January 2023 rolls up, I innocently stroll down the toy aisle at target and see

"What the hell is this? What's wrong with the logo?" (<- Actual thought from my brain)

After a quick scope around the Friends section, I figure out it's another rebrand. Now, I'm on the fence, holding out judgement.

A few months pass, I see a few new Lego models. A boy in a wheelchair, a girl with half an arm, a girl with Vitiligo. I'm starting to feel hopeful about the rebrand.

However, the core 5 girl squad don't seem to appear as much. So finally, I turn to google like a normal person. And find out that they got rid of the core 5 girl squad and that there's a "New Generation of Friends".

...

Yeah, that ticked me off. The girl squad was my favorite part of the Friends brand.

So after finding this out, I go on a mini-boycott, because apparently, I am still a petulant child when it comes to Legos.

And then around September, I tread into the Lego section of a store for the first time in a while.

And spot a set that has the cutest animal in it. The familiar longing itch to buy a new set returns. My mom approaches me, and we start talking about the rebranded sets. She points out a couple sets with cool architecture.

And I let myself enjoy window shopping for Legos again.

Fast forward to Christmas, I get a set titled HeartLake City Community Center. I haven't built it yet, but I'm looking at the box \/,

Wait a minute, who's that in the corner? Is that who I think it is?

IT IS!!!!!! IT'S STEPHANIE!!!!! AND SHE'S THE MAYOR. HAJKSHJKDHKJLSAS

So I make a red string/conspiracy board theory, that this 2nd rebrand of Legos is *literally* the next generation of Friends. Like, the core 5 grew up and these are all the new kids that live in the city.

I bring this up to my parents, and Mom's thinks it's an awesome theory since it's been a decade. The girls should be allowed to grow up and have adult lives.

I don't think much more about it until I'm browsing the Lego store this afternoon for Lego Monkie Kid Sets, and come across a new set titled Andrea's Modern Mansion. Of course I click on it.

(All following pictures are screenshots from the Lego website)

Front ^ and back \/

Wait, what's that in the middle?

Are those pictures?

THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephanie and Mia graduating! Family portrait! Andrea with her baby! Olivia and Emma!

That's it. The rebrand has won me over. I love seeing all this later in life core 5.

Stephanie's the Mayor, like her idol from the original show. Andrea's a singer, has won some awards, is married, and has a child.

I can't wait to see what they do with the other girls.

Also, look at the reunion!

They're doing karaoke! I can't take it.

#Lego #Lego Friends #lego sets #lego shows #core 5 #Lego be careful #you almost screwed this up for me #Watch your rebrands #At least you know better than American Girl #Yes i'm still salty about the Beforever rebrand #I will drag it through the mud #for the rest of time #Ruined a perfectly educational doll brand #lego monkie kid #I'm going to buy a set #as soon as possible

[fyeahygocardart]

A belated R.I.P. to Kazuki Takahashi

It’s been nearly a week since the event and, now that I’m on my off week from work and with time to actually somewhat collect my thoughts (and for my brain to be a bit less mush after 100+ hours of work)...

I can’t say that I have a whole lot new or different to say than that of so many others since we all learned of the death of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s creator last week. Was at work and was checking Ygorganization’s site and was floored by it and then seeing the many comments of how this series has affected people over their lifetimes.

Obviously, this series has been a major part of my life. From watching the last half of the first episode when it first debuted on Kids’ WB to recording the episodes on VHS when I’d have soccer/bowling on the weekends so I could watch it back later....to all the successive series thereafter...to the card game itself and biking to the local card shop for packs when I was younger and seeing how the game has evolved and eventually teaching my wife how to play (and hopefully, when he’s older, playing with my son)...And, of course, doing this site for going on a decade this coming October.

With all that being said, to the man whom has indirectly (family aside) probably had the biggest impact on my life, thank you.

(And for those that wish to peruse some of his arts previously posted, please see here).

#fyeahygocardart #yugioh #ygo #kazuki takahashi #yugioh tcg #ygo tcg

[oddygaul]

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and also just Scott Pilgrim

-footage from Rebuild of Scott Pilgrim

I watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, then realized it had been nearly 15 years since I actually read the comics, so then I re-read all of those. I wish I had just done it in the right order to begin with, because doing it this way really scrambled my thoughts about both works. In my defense, how was I to know Takes Off is actually a sequel? What am I supposed to do, read things?

I was pleased to find that the original Scott Pilgrim honestly holds up pretty well. Takes Off is clearly such a reflective work that I was expecting to find the original story a lot more problematic than I had in high school, but… for the most part, it really knows what it’s doing. Yeah, a lot of the characters are shitbirds, but they’re meant to be shitbirds. The entire point of the book is showing us flawed people who intermittently make shitty decisions, and giving them a chance to grow, reflect, and treat the people around them better.

So generally, I still really liked Scott Pilgrim. All the goofy-ass character art and the surreal, unexplained quasi-fantasy Canada bits that made it tick back then still work. This time around, I really appreciated the writing and dialogue for not only its bevy of solid jokes, but for how fucking weird it is. In the past decade or so, I think a lot of ‘quirky’ humor has homogenized somewhat into a particular tone. Call it Whedonization or globalization or internet brain or whatever you want, but it can sometimes feel like anything aiming to be comedic hits a lot of the same beats.

The Scott Pilgrim comics, however, are a weird time capsule and their own vibe entirely. These fuckers just talk like aliens sometimes. They say random stuff, but it’s not *holds up spork* random, it’s “shit sorry I was kind of half listening but I think the thing I’m about to say is relevant” random. It’s less big swings to try and land a punchline, and more of two people letting loose a stream of consciousness at each other, lending a sense of constant confusion to the proceedings. It’s absolute nonsense sometimes, and I was way into it.

This ties into a slight shift in my read on Scott as a character, too. I always just saw him as a huge asshole - and that led to my biggest issue with the movie, which was that Cera plays him way too meek and doesn’t suck nearly enough. Reading the comics again, though, while Scott absolutely does suck, he’s just so fucking head empty that I warmed up to him a bit more. He’s still an asshole that doesn’t take responsibility for how his actions affect others, absolutely, but also god damn he’s so dumb that it softens the blow sometimes.

There were some little details about characters I’d forgotten that I really love - like the fact that Scott is actually a really good cook, but does it purely through intuition without knowing what anything’s called.

Art-wise, I liked it a lot more than I remembered, too; it definitely starts out a bit rough, but there’s a lot of charm to the characters and their weird gremlin mouths. I also laughed at some of the manga inspiration I didn’t pick up on before; everyone’s got big anime eyes, sure, but the grey screentone Clip Studio pattern fills? The hiring of assistants to do polished background work as the author gets into the later volumes? Ahh, classic.

Takes Off was a lot of fun, too. I gather that a lot of the internet fandom is upset it wasn’t a straight retelling of the original story with killer animation, but man, you gotta let creators create what speaks to them. Bryan Lee O’Malley started Scott Pilgrim twenty years ago. He’s been both married and divorced since then. Surely he’s gone through as much growth and change as we all would in such a timespan - how could you expect someone to just re-tread the exact same ground on such a personal story?

I find it interesting how prevalent this trend has become in the past decade or so - a creator or creative team returning to an old work - seemingly out of necessity, as the IP has become such a juggernaut that it’ll happen with or without them - and refusing to just tell the story again by the numbers. Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion is the closest spiritually to this, but even recent ‘remakes’/reboots like Final Fantasy VII and God of War 2018 have followed the same path - creators ruminating on the strengths and weaknesses of older work from a more distant lens to create something new. They all seem to have arrived at this methodology independently, too (O’Malley said he only watched the Rebuilds once Takes Off was written and well underway); it’s not about chasing the trend of an altered remake, it seems to just be a natural desire to reckon with the past this way.

Because of this, one of the reasons I really wish I watched the show after re-reading the comics is to have a better sense of the evolution, and the change in tone and message. Due to watching Takes Off while having only a hazy recollection of the original, I made a lot of assumptions about how the original work must have portrayed things, to explain what Takes Off’s themes were a rejection of: that by giving Ramona more agency, she’s less of a damsel in distress/prize to be won, and isn’t defined by her body count… when in fact, neither of those are really the case to begin with. Ramona has plenty of agency in Scott Pilgrim, she fights as much as Scott does, and really is only defined by her body count as narrative framework, not judged in-universe by the other characters* **.

*I think some of these misconceptions may have come from having rewatched the movie more recently than I read the comics, as the movie (if I remember correctly, which this entire blog has established I likely don’t) does tend to treat Ramona as more of an passive object. Her subservience to Gideon in the real world (rather than in her subspace mind prison) comes to mind.

**Also, you could argue that the framework of the story itself being ‘guy fight’s girl’s evil exes in order to earn the right to date her’ is inherently placing importance on Ramona’s body count and someone’s romantic eligibility/desirability being defined by that but like… man that just is clearly not the vibe imo

If anything, I think the real lack that the show was trying to make up for wasn’t Ramona’s lack of agency, exactly, but a lack of screentime. Takes Off simply spends more time inside Ramona’s head, letting us see things from her perspective, and understanding the reasons for why she is the way she is and why she does the things she does. In some volumes of the book, she’s aloof almost to the point of feeling like a trope; it’s clear (especially later on) that there’s a reason for the way she acts, but the story just doesn’t necessarily communicate it very well. In the show, with Scott sidelined, we get to spend a lot of time with Ramona, understanding her thoughts and feelings, which is certainly a welcome change.

Anyway, intentions of the changes aside, I wouldn’t trade Takes Off for a straight remake in a thousand years; the sense of utter surprise I felt while watching the story take a hard left turn was exhilarating***. Plus, if the reason you love a series is the characters you’ve developed a bond with, what could be better than canonized fan fiction written by the original creator, showing your favorite characters interacting in new and novel ways? How could one not be excited to see Gideon and Lucas bro out and watch anime together? How could one not be thrilled to see Wallace Wells enact further chaos upon the whole province? More than righting storytelling wrongs, Takes Off is making space to tell more stories and round out everyone’s favorite supporting characters in a franchise that, due to the inherent density of its plot and setup, simply hasn’t had the real estate to develop all of them and let them breathe.

***Having just played through NieR recently, I almost felt like the show had scanned me, detected I had gotten Scott Pilgrim Ending A before, and was throwing some NG+ bonus content at me lmao

As far as the production goes, I was impressed overall, but thought it did suffer from some awkward timing and pacing issues. It’s stiff competition when your inevitable point of comparison is an Edgar Wright movie - even other live-action movies can seem stiff and slow compared to his frenetic pacing and constant cuts - but it still felt remarkably low energy at times, especially in the back half. Now, this is a problem you see a lot in anime dubs; English and Japanese are two very different languages, with different cadences and construction. Since a cast is typically required to dub over already existing animation, the translated dialogue often ends up being elongated and unnatural when it should be a quick back and forth, or hurried where it should have a little more breathing room. Given, though, that Takes Off was not only recorded in English before Japanese, but actually recorded before animation then animated to the dialogue (exceedingly uncommon), I was surprised the show still had this issue.

Regardless, the boarding in the first 4 episodes or so manages to be bombastic enough that this isn’t a problem; there’s a lot of wild camera angles and perspective shifts that keep things dynamic even when the dialogue itself isn’t moving too quickly. The animation highlight for me personally was the fight in the video store between Ramona and Roxy; great idea, incredible execution.

While Science Saru is the main production studio, I was intrigued to spy a bunch of other studios listed in the credits - WIT, Shaft, Ufotable, Trigger - but upon some further research it looks like they were just doing inbetween work.

Also the music includes slapped - I was jamming hard to Kidnapped by Neptune and Konya wa Hurricane, and then that United States of Whatever drop? unreal.

#will's media thoughts / virtual brain repository #shows #comics #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim

[imaddicted2hs]

ONE SHOT- Broken Mirror

Its going to be sad sad so brace yourself guys.

And yes hey, posting after like decades lmao. Its just a little something i have been feeling lately so if you wanna feel a lil sad, this is the one shot maybe.

Word Count- 1.4k

Warnings- Angst

Happy Reading!!

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I slowly breathe in as I mindlessly open my case. I grab the neck of my black guitar, pulling it out carefully. “You will play great y/n I know, don’t stress it too much yeah?” I give my friend a small tight lipped smile and look around to see if he’s there.

We don’t have the same class anymore but he has friends in my section so he often visits during the common break. I have spent nights memorising this very song by heart. I learned to play it on guitar so that I could sing it all out, all my feelings for him. But it will be like a knife was stabbed in my heart if he doesn’t show up. I notice a few heads turn towards me as I sit on the desk, positioning my guitar. I feel the coarse strings on my fingertips as I hold some random chords and give it a light strum. Before beginning with it I quickly glance at the door and to my surprise I make eye contact with him. It’s so quick that I barely see anything other than his green orbs looking at me and his body leaning at the door frame basically effortlessly. Without giving it a second thought I start strumming the intro attracting a few more half interested peeps around me. I get lost in singing right away because I have always felt those lyrics deep in my bones. I was in no way a singer but I was fine enough to not make other people’s ear bleed and sound tolerable if there was light music in the background.

“I wanna taste his lips, yeah cause they taste like you, I wanna drown myself in a bottle of his perfume.”

I made sure to change the pronouns as I sang the song and I tried my best, I really did, to not turn my head to the left as I said the you part but it was almost like my actions were out of my control. Ofcourse I regretted doing that because as soon as I turned my head, he stared right at me and I saw his eyebrows shoot up, which was almost unnoticeable, but I caught the slight surprise in his eyes. Regardless I continued and it felt like the song ended too fast or I swallowed a whole verse or something but maybe I was just being paranoid. My idiotic brain made sure to not skip looking at him at any of the ‘yous’. It was almost embarrassing because I felt like a few people noticed it. I strum the last chord and let it echo as I pull my hand away and smile at the small crowd in front of me. I didn’t even notice that I’d attracted a good amount, probably around 50 people, as I played. Not even a second later I heard a small applause and my friend's rushing words like “dude how” or “damn girl” as she gave me a side hug. I didn’t have the guts anymore to look at him again and my only friend who knew about him gave me a sympathetic look which I just shrugged to in response. So what really was the deal? Harry Styles. The boy I have liked since 7th grade, which means it’s been almost 5 years now. We were not strangers no but we weren’t close friends either. The dynamic we had was too confusing for me to understand properly. We actually did pretty great when it came to texting but it all came down to puddles of awkwardness and almost forced conversation whenever we tried to talk face to face. It wasn’t like that for the first year I’d met him but after two years of not seeing each other and only texting at times, it all ended in this weird ball of confusion. Almost like an intangible mess of lose threads. And what made it worse was my old ex best friend, now like a frenemy, was closer to him than I could ever be. It was almost excruciating to watch them talk so freely and even laugh together. It’s a thought that can make me bust into tears at anytime of the day so I won’t go down that road. I hear a few “that was really nice” and “great job, keep it up” as I start to put my guitar back in because boys around here can’t be trusted. All the compliments made sure to put a permanent smile on my face but my bubble is popped as soon as I see him approach me. “You looked adorable while playing the guitar.” It takes me a second to get a grasp of what he said but I mutter a quick thanks as I try to find something, anything, to do with my hands as we talked. “Could we talk for a moment?” I close my eyes and mentally curse myself because I had a feeling that this would happen but I also had a small hope that he won’t find the guts to do this. “Sure ofcourse” I reply as coolly as I could. I follow him as he tries to make small talks. I know I can break the ice and make it less hard but something inside me doesn’t want me to. Almost as if my soul is enjoying watching him struggle. “So how’s life treating you?” “Nothing much, what about you?” Him and his dry replies again. I just shrug in response to challenge that response. “So who’s the guy crush?” He askes me all of a sudden and I just scoff as a reflex. “Are you really asking me that right now?” My question is laced with annoyance and I can see that he’s taken back by my sudden change in mood but I’m done pretending now. Before he can say anything I attack him with my words. “Not a single glance I gave you was the answer to the question you just asked? I can’t take it anymore Harry, I can’t. Either you are just naive or you just don’t want to see what’s right in front of you.” My voice is shaking but I continue because his face portrays not a single emotion right now.

“You give me all of these mixed signals and I almost believe that you like me but then you sometimes say stuff that screams ‘we are friends’ right in my face. I like you Harry and this all is killing me.” I just stare at him because I know he deserves atleast a little time to comprehend it all. He sighs before he makes a go for it. “Y/n you’re cool and a nice friend but I’m just not looking for a relationship right now. But I promise that we can be really good friends. You can trust me.”

“That’s it? Good friends after this? What? Okay not looking for a relationship. With me or in general? And why didn’t I hear you say that you don’t reciprocate these feelings? What if that girl you like liked you back? You would date her I’m sure.” I can’t think straight as I bombard him with all these questions with tears daring to fall from my eyes. He just gives me a look from which I can’t make out anything and I just stand there watch him leave after he mutters an apology. I want to scream at him. I want to yell and let him know that now also he did nothing but communicate badly and I hate him for not liking me back but I don’t say any of that. Instead I break into tears and let all the frustration out because it really isn’t his fault. He never asked me to fall for him and he never asked me to get attached to him. He didn’t promise me a strong bond or a friendship. He didn’t because he didn’t need to. I fell into the ugliest trap of one sided love and I resent the fact that anything like that exists. I get a hold of myself and I sprint into the nearest restroom. I wash my face, tell myself everything is fine and somehow make it out alive of the next three hours of school. I reach home and in no time I lay on my bed and I cry and cry until I have no tears left. He didn’t feel the same. It felt like I had looked in a mirror, but it was broken. I’d shouted but the voice hadn’t echoed. I had thrown a pebble in the lake and the droplets hadn't repeled. I didn’t like this feeling and I just wanted to wallow in my sadness for the whole night. And that’s exactly what I did.

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Thoughts??? Constructive criticism is welcomed, reblogs are appreciated and I hope I have improved. I'll writing something longer and better soon maybe. See ya till then;)

#harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry 1d #harry styles #harry styles and y/n #harry styles angst #harry styles one shot