#I had a few episodes that felt like a slog to watch five times but even then; I was still enjoying myself overall

[astro-b-o-y-d]

And with that, my watch of the finale is complete. Gonna head to the store for a little bit and then maybe give the shorts a couple of watches. And that'll be the end of it.

#Hayley Speaks #Kinda sad about it but also I've got writing to do :D #And it's not like I can't just do this again if I really want to #Anyway this was a VERY smart idea on my part #Took over a month but also it was pretty fun #I had a few episodes that felt like a slog to watch five times but even then; I was still enjoying myself overall #It's just such a good show #10/10 would recommend watching it this way #But also watch Roadside Attraction between The Love God and NMM; that's a good space to slot it in

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Seahorse (Spencer Reid x Trans Male!Reader) NSFW

Summary: Spencer and Y/N have always wanted kids. Here’s the time Spencer was brave enough to broach the subject of how they would go about it. Plus a few more times after that.

AN: @imagining-in-the-margins​ came up with the idea of Spencer’s trans bf having a baby amidst man many many prompts for Spencer x male!reader to indulge my daydreaming and I ran with this prompt. 

Thank you to @writing-in-april​ for being my beta on this one! Couldn’t have done it without you, beebs <3

This is the NSFW version. If you are under the age of 18, please do not read! Here’s a SFW version of the story.

Word Count: 5.7k words 

Content Warnings: Trans man is pregnant, coming off testosterone, impregnation kink, pre-op sex, allusions to Prison!Spencer.

Masterlist // Gif Credit // SFW Version

The halls echoed with the unbridled joy of little ones calling out “Nemo” and “Dory” at the sight of the clown and surgeon fishes. Spencer bounced on the balls of his feet as he looked around the next room in search of his goal. He stopped when Y/N spared a look in his direction, away from the tank that had captured his attention for a solid five minutes.

“JJ sent me a video of a shrimp solving a Rubik’s Cube the other day.” He grinned.

Ah yes. JJ had also sent Spencer a video of little Henry swinging a mini softball bat about just like Spencer had done. For one game and one game only he had insisted, despite Y/N’s own resolve that he looked hot in the kit.

The walk through the tunnel was the slowest slog Spencer felt, but it was the only attraction in the aquarium to properly distract him. Lights above them filtered through the water, bouncing off the painted walls of the tank in a blue glow. Various species in a perfectly balanced ecosystem swam around one another without a care in the world. A particular stingray flapped its body against the glass, and three children nearby laughed at its funny shaped mouth.

“I used to sit on my mum’s shoulders when we walked through these. Touch the ceiling as if I could pet the fishes.” And Y/N’s hands stretched up over him, his eyes following a shark that slinked overhead, “When I got too old, I’d just press my nose against the glass and stare back.”

Nerves returned at the sight of a circular tank in the centre of the room holding something familiar. Seahorses curled their tails around the plants that waved together like a crowd at a concert. Little babies bobbed about the parents, translucent and wriggly.

Spencer coughed and spoke while Y/N took in the creatures, “Did you know that the seahorse is the only animal where the male carries the children?”

Suddenly his throat was dry; the words he’d been rehearsing dragged to a halt. Y/N turned to face him properly, guiding Spencer to the left as a little girl stood on tiptoe to see the seahorses as he continued to struggle.

“Well, that might not be true actually.” Spencer choked a little on his words, his voice’s volume steadily declining into a soft whisper, “I know that some human men can have babies.”

Y/N’s face clouded with doubt for a moment. Then it clicked and his face cleared, “Spencer, tell me what you’re getting at.”

Spencer twisted his hands around one another, “Have you ever thought about us having kids… biologically?” He watched Y/N’s Adam’s apple dip as he swallowed hard

“You mean like me being pregnant?”

“Yes, have you considered it an option for us?”

The conversations of other aquarium patrons were forgotten as Y/N took his gaze away from Spencer. His eyebrows were low as he considered his words carefully. Y/N always thought about the implications of what he was saying, maybe a little too much. Spencer could be biased though; his impatience did not mix well with his anxieties.

Eventually, Y/N turned back with a brave face and said, “I’d have to think about it some more.”

“Ok.” Spencer nodded, his chin wobbling a little.

There was hope though: he needed to think “some more”. Implying Y/N had thought about this before.

Near the end of their trip, Spencer did find himself in a staring contest with a little seahorse plushie with large eyes and an anatomically inaccurate tongue hanging out. In all honesty, it was kind of ugly.

“Spencer, come on. You know how I get around stuffed animals.”

How empathetic his boyfriend really was, projecting feelings of love onto the inanimate objects then making the excuse that he had to buy it now.

Spencer did have to leave the toy behind though. Out into the sunlight of the parking lot, he winced before he put his sunglasses back on.

“Park?” Y/N offered his hand and smiled. It was an olive branch, something to say that Spencer’s query had not ruined their day out together.

Spencer accepted and squeezed his hand. “Park.”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Y/N had a hand on their lower belly, some space between the fingers as if there was an invisible bump there to accommodate. His head had tilted while he thumbed over the air.

As drowsy as Spencer was from work, his mind was focused without a distraction on what he had seen through the ajar bathroom door. He could barely pay attention to the Doctor Who episode Y/N put on. In fact, he doubted anything could take his attention away from the idea of having a child with-

“What do you think about me being pregnant?”

Spencer’s eyes shot wide open, then they were covered slightly by his inquisitive eyebrows in his attempt find an answer. Especially with Y/N looking on him while he waited for him.

“I think you’d be so beautiful carrying our baby. But if you wouldn’t be comfortable, then I wouldn’t make you. We still have surrogacy, fostering, adoption to consider,” was his answer. Never a lie, but the truth was always softened.

Seemingly satisfied, Y/N looked back at the episode. But Spencer couldn’t wait anymore, forgetting about anything else in the world except for this.

“What do you think, Y/N?” His body leant in towards his boyfriend’s.

Squirming in their spot on the couch, Y/N hummed before he answered, “I froze some of my eggs before I started my transition. I also sold some, for a down payment on a house or my wedding.”

Spencer’s heart thrilled at the possibilities. A house together? Matching suits at their wedding? He almost neglected to think about the fact that pregnancy was suddenly a very viable option for their future.

Regardless of Spencer’s many, many thoughts, Y/N continued, “And I thought that perhaps, if I found the right person, I would like to carry their child.” His palm opened up to him and Spencer instantly took it. “I know you’re the right person, but I’m not sure I want a baby now.”

“Of course,” Spencer lifted Y/N’s hand to his lips, “Whenever we’re both ready.”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Spencer pushed the dirty bedsheets into the washing machine; it wasn’t that big a deal. If the blood didn’t come out, then they could always buy a new set. Although they should really be saving money for decorating the nursery.

“Spenceerrrr.”

As the machine rumbled into life, Spencer returned to Y/N, curled up on the sofa with a heat pad to his gut. No amount of warnings from their doctor could have prepared Spencer for how emotionally straining it was to see his boyfriend suffering. Y/N was taking this a lot harder than Spencer – and rightfully so, it was his body that was changing.

“Why did I have to have such strong paternal instincts?” He grumbled with his eyes still closed.

Spencer let out a laugh, but it was cut off quick when Y/N whimpered loudly. He knelt down before him and cupped his face. Y/N’s cheeks were warm; his hands clung to Spencer’s wrists like a lifeline.

“What do you need?” Spencer asked softly and Y/N sighed, keening into his cooler palms.

“Can you tell me I’m handsome please?”

“You are the most handsome man in the world, and I adore you every minute of every day.” Spencer kissed Y/N’s pouting lips gently, “Handsome inside and out, I never wanna think about life without you. You just make everything in my life better.”

His fingers moved to brush away a tear that slipped down Y/N’s face and over the ridge of his nose. But he missed and it dripped onto the pillow.

“You’re doing so much for us, for our baby.”

“It’s not even real yet,” Y/N sniffled. His hands finally released Spencer and pressed the heat pad into him.

“It’s gonna be.” Spencer bumped their noses together, “We’re gonna be dads.”

A hoarse laugh met with a hint of a groan in Y/N’s chest, “Yeah. We’re gonna be dads.” That sound and those words were all Spencer needed to feel better. But he wished the same could be said for Y/N. The only thing he could provide was a promise of future relief:

“How about we order in tonight?”

“Ugh, yes.” Y/N burrowed his face into the pillow.

When their bed was made up properly, Spencer and Y/N cuddled together. Unfortunately, Y/N was restless, trying to find a comfortable position while his painkillers kicked in. Spencer kept his complaints to himself, allowing himself to be shifted around in Y/N’s hunt for relief. Honestly it was the least he could do.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

“The reproductive process begins when a male and a female seahorse do daily pre-dawn dances, intertwining their tails and swimming together.”

“Well, it’s nearly nine, so definitely past dawn.”

“I’m trying to be romantic, Y/N.”

Y/N adjusted the bed sheets around his middle, “We don’t have tails either and - if I remember correctly - your last sexy swimming encounter ended poorly.”

Spencer flushed at the memory of Lila in the pool; another memory turned the pink to red. Y/N had laughed so hard his gut ached when Spencer told him about how awkward he had been around Lila. This was before the context of the case had been disclosed, promptly removing the space for any more laughter.

“Baby?”

Y/N was touching his face. Spencer’s head emptied itself of all thoughts of Lila. This was not what he wanted to be thinking about right now. Y/N’s laughter maybe, but none of the rest.

Tucking a curl behind his ear, Y/N leant in close, “If I’m ready, and you’re ready, you know what happens.” His eyes wandered down Spencer’s face, “And it’s not swimming together.”

But, just as their lips were about to touch, Y/N jerked away from him. “Wait, I gotta brush my teeth first.”

Spencer moaned with indignation while falling backwards onto the bed as Y/N disappeared from view. A few seconds later, he heard the electric toothbrush buzzing. With a burst of energy, he stripped himself down to his underwear – a petty way to get back at Y/N who had made it very clear that undressing Spencer was one of his favourite parts of their sex life.

When Y/N returned, with the minty freshness he apparently desired more than his own boyfriend, he said “What? You already did this morning?”  His eyes looked down at Spencer’s chest and his lips twitched into a pout. 

Spencer held back his grin, keeping his triumph at retaliation to himself as he said, “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, Spencer.”

And with that, Y/N crawled onto the bed, over Spencer’s body and kissed him silly.

Any remaining thoughts of sleep were dispelled as the men took turns worshipping each other’s bodies. Impatience chased them in their desires, deliciously enticing them to push the pleasure further and faster. While Y/N kissed his neck, Spencer’s thoughts fixated on how perfect his boyfriend felt pressed up next to him. He couldn’t wait anymore, he just had to get inside him.

“Let me put a baby in you, Y/N.”

A whine passed through Y/N’s lips at his words as he adjusted his grasp on Spencer’s body, a hand in his hair to pull him back in.

“Do it.” He whispered into the space between them, “Please.”

As quick as they appeared, the insecurities Spencer and Y/N were holding released. Their moans harmonised when Spencer finally pushed into Y/N. His legs wrapping around his skinny waist, luring him in. Spencer was enraptured by the feeling of his boyfriend’s weight against him. God, he wanted to go slow, appreciate Y/N for all he was worth. But his greed got the better of his intentions, eating up all of Y/N’s encouragements – both the words and the noises snatched from his throat.

When they were both spent, Spencer and Y/N sagged into the mattress, wrapped up in each other and the covers. The burning warmth of their bodies drew up two soporific smiles on their faces.

“You know, a seahorses’ body shape means that they’re inept swimmers, and they can actually die of exhaustion.”

Y/N poked Spencer’s sternum. “Is that your way of makin’ fun of my stamina? Give me a few minutes; I’ll be on you like a rash.”

Grinning at such a prospect, Spence continued, “They also mate for life monogamously.”

He felt two fingers touch his cheek, "Spencer, I love you and your endless fountain of knowledge.” Y/N paused to peck the corner of his lips, “But I’m not actually a seahorse. And, though I do plan to mate with you for life, if you wake me up before the sun is above the horizon for a ‘dance’, I'm gonna suffocate you with my new body pillow.”

“Oh, you got your pillow?”

“It’s en route.” Hence why Y/N was content to use Spencer in lieu of said pillow.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

When Spencer disclosed to Hotch that he would need some time off because he and Y/N were considering having a kid, first thing on a Monday morning, Hotch didn’t let anything on. There was a hint of a hint of a smile though. His eye wandered to the school photo of Jack he kept on his desk, and he was greeted with the memory that Jack almost shared a name with Emily’s cat.

Naturally, Rossi found out next. Technophobe Spencer Reid had left his computer screen on a website for baby blankets, and Rossi had been the one to pass by first. After turning the monitor off, Rossi took Spencer aside in the break room and spoke about how wonderful it was that he was going to be a father. Then he kissed both his cheeks, leaving with misty eyes and a smile that he wouldn’t explain to Penelope passing by. Spencer blinked then finished making his coffee.

The next conference room meeting – the same day and just for an update on the paperwork deadline - Spencer simply decided to drop the information that he and Y/N were planning on having a kid as if it was his thoughts on their next unsub’s motivations were.

Three seconds of silence later and an uproar exploded.

From then on, the week was filled with pokes and ribbing at his upcoming parenthood. A peek into the future.

After making her a cup of coffee, Spencer sat opposite JJ at her desk and asked for advice. Her response: offering Spencer the opportunity to babysit Henry more. Obviously he accepted; more time with his godson was always a good thing. Then she went into how parenting was just a natural thing that he would know when the time came. Not very reassuring on its own, but with his best friend’s support, Spencer felt a smidgen better.

Penelope admitted that she had saved outfit ideas on Pinterest for Spencer – among other members of the BAU. When Spencer dared to enter her lair, she showed him several. Apparently that wasn’t even a dent in her collection, and she had already placed an order on a little bow tie. Spencer left before she tried to organise a shopping trip; neither Spencer nor Y/N were really fans of retail therapy.

Derek was teasing away, “Spencer and Y/N are gonna be baby daddies.” And every single time, Emily would join in. She liked to claim she was the reason Spencer was having a kid, reminding him of when JJ was pregnant. He had been incredibly weirded out by the baby kicking, but Emily had asked if he had considered having “baby geniuses” and he never gave an answer.

To be fair, Spencer never could have seen this coming. That made it all the better.

Apart from when Derek began supplying a realm of baby names, that varied from “oh that’s actually cute” to “oh my god, why would you even consider that a name for a real child?” Spencer was happy to rank them aloud for him.

The cat was only half out of the bag though.

Now Spencer had always been affectionate when he and Y/N were together. But the second it spilled into their public lifestyle, Y/N knew something was afoot. He was quick to pick up on this when he went to collect Spencer up for a chilled date night and Spencer kissed his cheek in clear view of the entire bullpen.

“You told them, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t wait, but I do have my paternity leave arranged!”

The team swarmed to deliver their congratulations. And it was then that they revealed that they all thought that Spencer and Y/N were planning to adopt or look for a surrogate. Their embraces didn’t spoil the unexpected second part of their announcement; Y/N looked like he’d simply put on a few pounds rather than gained a baby bump beneath his button-up. Naturally, there was even more of a hubbub than before when they discovered that Y/N was already pregnant.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

“Spencer, baby, you gotta calm it with the ocean theme.”

“But…” he pouted, holding up the finished mobile. Brightly painted sea creatures and chunks of coral dangled delicately in a circle. Sure enough, there were orange seahorses hovering about their habitat.

“It’s very sweet and I adore you for it,” Y/N kissed Spencer. “Not everything has to be related to seahorses though.”

“I guess not.” Spencer’s defeated tone did not last long. His face brightened and he whipped a blanket adorned with little seahorses and bubbles at the edges out of the cot. “But - this online store was taking commissions, and you always say support small businesses!”

Thank god Y/N had been the one in charge of painting the walls. An underwater mural would have been a step too far.

“You, Doctor Spencer Reid, are so…” Y/N’s hands were up in the air between them, searching for an adjective to describe Spencer appropriately. Then he settled those hands on his shoulders and Y/N kissed him.

When they drew away, Spencer spoke, “I’m so what?”

Y/N shrugged, “Just so.” He kissed him again, lingering longer than before and smiling as Spencer’s hands touched the obtrusive roundness of his belly that pressed into Spencer’s stomach. They were so close to meeting their little bubba.

“So are you.”

“Ok, don’t have a go, I bought this before the ban,” Y/N held out a gift, wrapped in sea-green tissue paper and bearing a blue bow.

Folding the blanket neatly over the bars of the cot, Spencer eagerly yet daintily unwrapped the present. As the tissue paper fell to the carpet, his hands trembled.  Eyes shining, he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the latest scan that was framed by tiny seahorses to thank Y/N.

There was more still, as Y/N explained, “There’s another behind there. I’ve seen the state of the one in your wallet.”

“It got caught at the bottom of the pouch,” Spencer said quietly, unbending the catch on the back of the frame. Sure enough, two of the same photographs spilled into his waiting palm. Truth be told, Spencer had already taped his torn photo together again and it was going to stay in his wallet. This spare would be in the post soon, on its way over to his mother. God, she was so excited to hold a baby again. The photo album would have to do for now.

“Could you maybe recant the ocean ban? Because I saw this and I knew it would really go well with the blanket and the mobile.”

Sighing, Y/N’s head tilted back, “What is it?”

The pretence of annoyance couldn’t be maintained towards Spencer’s face beaming back at him as he held up a wonky looking seahorse plushie. It wasn’t the same one he’d seen before. Some heartfelt child had taken pity on that one and given it a forever home. No, this was a perfect little present for his bubba.

Y/N thought so too as he let a grin settle onto his face.

“Ok, we can keep this one. But no more from now, alright?”

“I suppose. Besides, our baby isn’t our seahorse. You are!”

“You better not buy us a fish tank for my birthday.” A spike of nerves hit Y/N when he couldn’t quite catch Spencer’s eye to confirm his word. “Spencer? Promise me... Spencer!”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

“How are you feeling, Baby Daddy?” Derek hugged Y/N who was reclined in his bed. His body pillow propped him up for his visitors.

Y/N wrinkled his nose, “For once, I wish I was a real seahorse and I could have just sneezed her out.”

Katia Nikola Reid definitely looked like she’d been sneezed on when she first entered the world, screaming her teaspoon-sized lungs out. Named after a hero of both Y/N and Spencer, one day old, bundled in a blanket, she scowled at Spencer’s dopey face looming over her while Emily held her tight.

A hoard of presents huddled in the corner of Spencer and Y/N’s bedroom. Emily thought it’d be a great idea to bring the baby an Ikea shark that was bigger than the child – and would definitely take up around half of her cot.

“She’s already got him wrapped around her pinky finger.”

“Yes, she does,” Spencer agreed giddily.

Next, Derek took her in his arms, untucking her arms from the blanket swaddle to give her a fist bump. He swayed her about the room while Katia relaxed a little more. The deep humming in his chest soothed the wrinkles on her forehead. Katia stretched as if to touch his face, and her mouth gaped at him.

“Aww, baby genius is ready for a nap.” Derek yawned too, “Who’s gonna micromanage me while I put her down?”

“Me! Me!” Y/N said, his enthusiasm muted by tiredness. Spencer leapt to his side, helping him out of bed, his teammates watching fondly as he did so. Y/N was allowed out the room first, Derek close behind and clicking his tongue at little Katia.

“She’s so sweet,” Emily said, her eyes on the pair’s backs and the dangling loose blanket from under Derek’s left arm. “I’m so happy for you both.” And she hugged Spencer tight; Emily always gave such good hugs. Good thing she was going to be around to give plenty to his daughter.

Then, down the hall, he heard Derek say with sarcastic resignation, “Oh Spencer, I thought Y/N was kidding when he said no more seahorse themed items.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Y/N ended up climbing into the bathtub with Katia. Even as she had grown into her chubby features, looking more and more like him and Spencer with each passing day, she was still so small.

Sitting up with her in his lap to help her out, Y/N lowered her into the warm water. His fingers tenderly rubbed the blackcurrant scented soap on her tummy, copying her expression as her tongue poked out between her gums. Her jerking legs rejected the water that Y/N’s hands cupped to rinse the bubbles off.

“Oh!” Y/N said in surprise as Katia sneezed, “Bless you.”

He heard the front door go, but he let Spencer follow the clues to their bathroom. Sure enough, the Doctor soon entered with his jacket shed, already rolling his sleeves up as he dropped onto the bathmat. A hand curled at Y/N’s chin as he kissed him before it stroked over the damp wisps of hair on Katia’s head.

“Hello. Hi.” His voice was that bit more delicate as he caught Katia’s eye and welcomed her big gappy smile.

Y/N tilted his head towards Spencer. “Good first day back?”

“I missed you both.” Spencer swished the water around by Katia’s side, “Isn’t it incredible how she’s experiencing all of this for the first time?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Spencer giggled away as the surrounding bathwater yellowed and Katia flapped her arms.

“Mind your language.” He said without any weight to his warning, “Our little girl can’t help it.” Then he stood and prepared her towel, a deep-sea blue that brought out her eyes. “Can I feed her tonight?”

“Of course, baby,” Y/N agreed as he lifted Katia out of the tub, where Spencer caught her and bundled her up with skilled speed. As he dried her off, Katia cooed away to herself. She did get a little pissed off when he dressed her up in a clean nappy and a sleepsuit, but Spencer couldn’t take her crumpled expression seriously without the tears.

The rocking chair had to be one of his best investments for his daughter’s room. It soothed Katia from the darkest of tantrums, a familiarity that swayed her. She fit so perfectly into Spencer’s arms and he fit so contentedly into the seat. Her eyelashes fluttered slowly shut as she drank more milk.

Not quite strong enough to sit up on her own, Katia leant fully into Spencer’s hand while he burped her – thankfully not for long. Then it was off into her cot.

Y/N watched him from the doorway as Spencer stroked the apple of Katia’s cheek while she drifted off into slumber. An effortless smile danced on his lips even as he switched the lamp off and welcomed Y/N over to see their sleeping babe.

“Love seeing you with her, Old Daddy Spencer teaching her everything she’ll need to know.” The kiss that followed was certainly not appropriate for their daughter’s nursery, so he took Y/N by the hand, leading him into the hallway. Even then, between the short pecks that pressed against his lips, Y/N continued to talk, “Is this how you felt while I was pregnant?”

Breath hot against his face, Spencer swallowed hard while Y/N said, “Seeing my handsome boyfriend carrying our child? I think I get it now.”

His hand slipped up Spencer’s shirt. It was crystal clear what his intentions were. Spencer was already close to panting when he pulled Y/N flush against him. With more desperation this time, they fumbled around their home until they made it to their bed. Spencer’s hands aligned with the stretch marks on Y/N’s thighs as he grabbed them and pulled him on top.

He huffed as Y/N’s teeth tugged and released his bottom lip, “We have to be quiet.”

“I can be quiet.” Y/N ripped off his shirt in one smooth movement, “Can you?”

Spencer couldn’t give an answer. Instead he pulled Y/N back against him as they fell onto their sheets.

Their first time in months, it didn’t last very long, but it was exactly what they needed.

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 The biggest surprise of the evening was that Rossi put down his drink to hold Katia. To be fair though, he had already had a few. Hence why he was singing and dancing around the garden with Katia in his arms. What a sight to behold, it eased the pain of Derek and Hotch’s absence, their own kids to take care of now.

Eventually Rossi relented, allowing Penelope to take Katia, turning to Y/N who had kept a watchful eye on his actions, “Promise me you’ll bring her over when she’s allowed to eat food.”

“I can’t give her your food for her first taste. She’ll be disappointed for the rest of her life,” Y/N joked, Rossi letting out a boisterous laugh that made Katia giggle in turn.

Penelope got to hold Katia next and show her off to Henry who was very intrigued to learn more about his godsister – Spencer told him that was who Katia was and it stuck. Henry became Penelope’s little shadow until they found a seat for him and a cushion for his lap to hold the baby. His joy unbridled at such a responsibility was adorable. He posed for many photos, while Katia for once stayed quiet.

Spencer was tired but the best kind of tired. A night in with friends, watching his boyfriend and his daughter be welcomed as much as he was, it wasn’t a surprise but it was always a delight. And this moment right now, Y/N cradling Katia’s with one hand squeezing her little foot before he planned to take her into Rossi’s office? What a life they had cultivated together. As he sipped his drink, the bliss in his tummy was not doused by it.

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Slouching on the sofa, Spencer watched with tired eyes as Katia stumbled in the room, her hands held in Y/N’s while she waddled between his legs. Her round face lit up at the sight of Spencer. Her pace increased beyond her abilities and Katia swung forward a little as she almost fell over.

“Oh dear,” Y/N cooed while Katia got back to her unstable feet. “That’s it, there we go.”

Spencer wished he had the energy to properly appreciate this moment, especially since both his boyfriend and their daughter were grinning like they shared a secret.

Katia dropped down onto her nappy-cushioned bottom then began to crawl over to Spencer’s feet. His hands, although dirty, rough and near ruined, accepted her offer and lifted Katia up into his lap. They stayed for safety around her middle, keeping her sat up straight as she looked on him with those big eyes. Eyes that were fresh and untainted copies of his own.

Y/N sat down beside Spencer, leaning in close to Katia so he caught her attention, “Hey, why don’t you show your Daddy what we’ve been practicing?”

Looking away from both her Dads, Katia drooled and pushed her fist in her mouth. Y/N waved until he and Spencer were back into her line of sight.

“Go on, sugar plum.” He pointed to Spencer, “Who’s that?” And he mouthed the answer to her.

“Dadadadadada.”

It was barely above a whisper. But her little grin, the top of a tooth poking out of the centre of her bottom gums, the way Katia looked at Spencer when she said it? A soft “oh” fell from Spencer’s lips and he clutched her close, her chubby arms barely reaching around his neck. His breath shaking out of him, he kissed the thick thatch of hair that had sprouted in his absence. He could feel Katia whispering “Dadadadada!” again.

“That’s me, Katia, I’m your Dada.” He sniffed back the sting in his eyes at the absolute proof that, in his time away from her, she had remembered him. When he moved away, placing Katia back into his lap, he closed his eyes as Katia’s scrabbling fingers rubbed across the tip of his nose.

Katia made a sudden attempt to stand, throwing her entire bodyweight towards Spencer. Spencer’s breath was snatched from his lungs and the tension remained even after he caught her with ease.

“You ok?” Y/N said and Spencer noticed that his hand was supporting his against Katia.

Spencer nodded weakly, “Hmm, you?”

“Better now.” Y/N let his hand go and began rubbing Spencer’s back in the same circular motions that Spencer rubbed Katia’s.

A tug snagged Spencer’s head to the left and he tutted as Katia grabbed at his cheek, “Ow, Katia, no.”

Instead, Katia took a fistful of the next thing she could find, which was Spencer’s hair, and she cried out an identical (if higher pitched) “Ow!”

“You hurt Spencer, not the other way around, Katia. Stop faking.” Y/N scolded playfully.

But Katia repeated Spencer’s outburst again, “Ow!”

Y/N lifted Katia’s little fist from Spencer’s hair, and it immediately clamped down on Spencer’s finger as an alternative to wave about.

Spencer kissed her hand, still so tiny and forgiving against his. He looked at Y/N, blinking fast as he half-heartedly said, “She’s so like you.”

The lock of hair Katia had yanked on curved around Y/N’s touch as he put it back into the disarray of fluff that stood around Spencer’s head, “That’s funny, because I think she’s so like you.”

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Tilting the pram onto its back wheels, Spencer pushed it up the step and into the aquarium tunnel. Katia lay back in her seat while gumming on her blanket corner. Her eyes were ready to take in the sights.

Y/N knelt before her, suffering a few kicks to his knees from Katia’s excitement. Her pram clips were undone. Little Katia was released into her Daddy’s arms then plonked up onto his shoulders. Her starfish-like hands pressed up against the glass. Her mouth became as wide as her eyes as she pointed at the stingray rippling past. She had seen fish before (Carl and Rosalind at home) but never like this.

“Yeah, that’s a ray, Katia,” Y/N rubbed his fingers over her back, his hands still to keep her steady.

Spencer pointed his finger right next to hers, “They use their electro-sensors, not their eyes, to find their meals which consists of shrimps, clams, and -”

Katia shrieked – interrupting his and she smacked her hands against the glass. No one seemed to mind though. Some patrons in the tunnel even chuckled at her behaviour. Like she needed any more encouragement, especially with Y/N grinning up at her and tickling her sides to elicit more laughter from his daughter.

When Spencer’s hand dropped, Katia shouted again. A little confused, he returned it and Katia took his finger in her hand then began dragging the tip across where the ray was.

“She wants it as a pet, what do you say, baby?”

“I thought you said not to get you any fish for your birthday.”

Eventually Katia was returned to the pram. Her head was thrown back to watch the rest of the tunnel go by. Then she hid her face in her blankie once they were out in the last few exhibits. There was a little tug of war to get her to let it go (she was a lot stronger than Y/N gave her credit for) and see the one other exhibit that both parents were invested in.

Taking her hand again, Spencer squatted beside the pram. “Hey look, the men seahorsies have the babies. They’re just like your Daddy.”

“Your favourite Daddy,” Y/N ruffled Spencer’s hair while Spencer pretended to be outraged. Katia caught onto the dramatic expression Spencer was wearing and copied him with a gasp added for good measure.

“What d’you reckon, any of these were babies when we went to visit last time?”

“Well, Y/N, the lifespan of these seahorses is approximately a year. So they could be.” He knew it was unlikely but, for the sake of the smiles on Y/N’s and Katia’s face, Spencer let it be.

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x male reader #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid smut #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds smut #criminal minds fanfic #my writing #smut #wc: 5k+ #yes katia is named after a character from professor layton #and nikola tesla #r: male #r: trans male #spencer reid x trans male reader

[notes-from-sarah]

Reflections of the Sun and Moon

Link on Archive of Our Own

Link on Fanfiction.net

Rating: G/K

Summary: “In the firelord’s house approval was a zero sum game.”

When hunting for food with Sokka, Katara and their father, Zuko comes to realize that their families, while similar in many ways, are nothing alike. There’s only one person who has really ever treated Zuko like family, and the biggest regret of his life was driving that person away. Set after “The Boiling Rock” episodes. One-shot. Canon compliant.

“You mean you didn’t bring any food?” Toph said accusingly.

“Well-” Sokka began.

Toph’s stomach grumbled loudly. “This is still a problem,” she said, pointing at her gut. “You guys were supposed to fix it."

Zuko picked up his swords, “I’ll go get something, I think there’s a river not too far from here.”

“That’s more like it,” Toph said in an approving tone.

“It’ll go faster if we go as a group,” said Hokoda. “I’ll go with you. Katara, Sokka, do you want to come?”

“Of course!” said Katara as she jumped to her feet. “I’m the best fisher here anyway.”

“She really is,” Sokka chimed in, “she’s the big fish at fishing.”

Zuko glanced at him, Sokka had complimented his sister in front of their father for no reason. How weird, he thought.

*****

The little group set off towards the nearby river. Katara and Sokka were practically clinging to their father. Katara had looped her arm around his, and Sokka was talking a mile a minute, recounting all their adventures to this point, breathlessly jumping from one story to the next as Katara chipped in little comments. Zuko walked a few paces behind them, he could never remember hanging onto his father like that, even when he was very young. For that matter he couldn’t even imagine himself and Azula ever even sharing a second of their father’s attention. In the firelord’s house approval was a zero sum game.

They came to the river just as the sun was dipping below the skyline. “We have to work quickly,” said Katara.

“Let’s do the whirlpool,” said Sokka. “That’s always super fast.”

“We usually do it with Aang.” Katara looked Zuko up and down with a small frown, “I suppose you’ll have to do.”

“What’s this whirlpool?” Hakoda asked. “Can I help?”

“It’s a method of fishing I developed using beding,” Katara said as she waded into the stream. “Sokka and Zuko know how it goes, we’ll toss the fish to the shore and you can kill them.”

Sokka splashed into the water too. “Yeah, this will be over before you know it.”

The siblings looked expectantly at Zuko who was still standing on the shore. While he had seen Katara’s whirlpool before he’d never helped her with it. “Fine,” he sighed drawing one of his swords and sloshing into the riverbed. Standing opposite Sokka, about five feet apart, Zuko glanced at Hakoda who stood on the shore watching his daughter keenly.

“Ready boys?” Katara asked as she raised her hands. Zuko and Sokka nodded. Katara began to push the water, slowly at at first, then gaining speed the water began to swirl in a counterclockwise direction between the two boys. A moment or two passed as Katara span the water faster, her eyes closed in concentration. Zuko readied himself, this part took timing.

Fish began to collect in the whirlpool, at first just one or two would slip into the moving stream, but as Katara pushed and pulled the water to move faster more fish got caught in the current. Using his sword Sokka dipped the blade into the flowing water and expertly flicked it, catching a fish and sending it sailing through the air to land on the shore where Hakoda quickly grabbed it and finished it off.

Zuko tried to follow Sokka's lead, but he was not much better at fishing than he had been when he and Iroh had deserted the Fire nation after the battle of the North Pole. Zuko dipped his sword in the water and splashed wildly in an effort to dislodge a fish from the whirlpool.

"Get out of the water you, you, fish!" Zuko splashed more violently and actually managed to clip a fish with the flat of his blade tossing it out of the water and into the air. Gracefully the fish arced through the sky, it’s scales shimmering in the twilight as it flopped back and forth before landing with a loud SMACK on Sokka's head and then bouncing off and falling back into the river with a splash.

Sokka glared at Zuko as the sound of laughter from Katara and Hakoda filled the air. He jabbed a finger toward the shore. "The fish go that way."

"Sorry," Zuko said sheepishly. Glancing at how Sokka was holding his sword, Zuko copied him making sure to hold his blade more parallel to the shore. He began batting at the fish once more, and while not as fast as Sokka, he did manage to toss a fair number of fish out of the river.

“That’s more like it,” said Sokka as he swung his own sword rhythmically. “Nice and easy does it.”

“You three are doing a great job,” Hakoda said approvingly. “Katara, did you come up with this all by yourself?”

Katara beamed. “I did, we’ve done a lot of fishing since we left the South Pole so we needed a way to get a lot really quick.”

“I’m so proud of you.” Hakoda looked up from the fish he was cleaning. “This is such a great idea.”

Katara’s eyes didn’t leave the whirlpool, but Zuko could see her smile in the dim light. There was a time when he would have killed, maybe even literally, to hear praise like this from his father.

Katara began to slow the churning of the whirlpool. “Ready for the big finish?” She didn’t wait for an aswer. Jumping forward she pushed the whirlpool and the remaining fish in it into the air where she deposited them on the shore in a small wave. The water ran back into the stream leaving a dozen fish flopping on the wet bank.

The three teens slogged out of the river. "Now comes the stinky part." Sokka unsheathed his knife and began gutting the remaining fish. Katara joined him, her knife flashing as she worked quickly.

Hakoda glanced over at his son as he descaled his fish. “Hey, Sokka," he said, "how do fish always know how much they weigh?"

Katara rolled her eyes as Sokka pondered the question for a minute. "I don't know, Dad, how do they know?"

Hakoda held up a fish. "Because they have their own scales." Sokka and Hakoda burst out laughing.

Zuko stood to the side somewhat uselessly as the water tribe family finished cleaning the fish. He pondered the joke for a long moment. He honestly couldn’t remember his father ever telling him a joke

“Is that all of them?” asked Katara, looking around the shoreline. Sokka and Hakoda nodded, heaving the fish into bags. Shouldering a bag each, the small party set off back to the camp.

Zuko took the lead holding a small flame aloft in his palm to light the way. He strained to hear the conversation of the water tribe family, all the while having a realization of his own. It struck him that in a lot of ways Sokka and Katara’s family was similar to his. A leader father, older son and a prodigy younger sister. Missing mothers. A collision course with destiny because of the Avatar. A shiver ran down his spine. Of course, he thought, that’s where the similarities stop. Hakoda actually liked his children. Not something that could be said for the fire lord, probably for many generations.

“How do you plan on cooking these fish?” Hakoda asked, hefting his bag a little. “There’s a lot of them here.”

“Usually we roast them,” said Sokka. “Maybe stuff them with herbs if there are any available.”

“We have a lot,” Katara joined in. “I think we should dry as much as we can so we have plenty of food for the coming days.”

Hakoda patted his daughter’s shoulder approvingly. “That’s a really smart idea, I’m sure you’ll need it. You and your brother have become brilliant strategists. The both of you make me so proud.”

Zuko blinked hard for a moment, unexpectedly moved. Sokka and Katara, they were a team. They worked together. They didn't compete for their father's affection, they didn't have too. Hakoda loved them, both of them. He didn't demand greatness from them, yet they performed feats of greatness anyway. Zuko remembered his family being happy, once. A long time ago. Had it really been as happy as he remembered? Why had his parents abandoned that so quickly? He didn't think Hakoda could ever do to Sokka what Ozai had done to him. What had made his father that way?

His train of thought was derailed before he could begin to fathom an answer as they stumbled out of the forest an into view of the Western Air Temple. They made their way into the building where a small fire greeted them.

“There you are!” Toph jumped to her feet. “I was getting worried that you’d decided to go on another rescue mission an just skip getting dinner altogether.”

“We have plenty of fish, they’ll be ready soon.” Katara knelt before the fire and began unloading her bag. “Zuko, Sokka, can you two go to the woods and get me some skewers? Maybe seven or eight? It’ll make this go a lot faster.”

“No problem.” Sokka unsheathed his sword. “Come on fire boy, I need your light.”

Zuko followed Sokka out of the temple to the treeline holding up a small flame for him to see by. Sokka set about slicing small branches from the nearest saplings.

“So, you’ve been quiet this evening,” Sokka said. “Whatcha thinking about?”

Zuko looked from Sokka, then back to the temple where Katara and Hakoda were undoubtedly preparing fish, then back again to Sokka. “We caught a lot of fish today.”

Sokka paused his slicing to look over at Zuko. "Okay." After a moment's pause. "Is there anything else?"

Zuko glanced to the ground. "No. It's nothing." Sokka raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Well," Zuko finally said, "your family is so nice."

Sokka quirked his eyebrow higher. "And that's a problem?"

"No. I think it's nice. It's really nice that your family is so nice."

“I’m confused.” Sokka began chopping again.

Zuko felt a bit silly saying it out loud. "I, I just never really thought about what it would be like to have a nice family before. In some ways you and me are a lot alike." Sokka opened his mouth to object, but Zuko didn't stop there. "But I can't even imagine what would be like to have a family who loves each other and takes care of each other like yours does."

Sokka closed his mouth for a long moment, then after a moment’s thought opened it again. “I wish I could say that maybe your family really loves you, deep, deep, deep down.” It was Zuko’s turn to look skeptical. “But after fighting your sister at the boiling rock I think that maybe your family is just kind of terrible.” Sokka paused to gather the wands he had cut. “I also know that family is hard work, like really really hard work. And if every single person in a family doesn’t fight for it every day, you lose it.”

“I guess my family thought it was better to fight each other than fight for each other.” Zuko rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Sokka sheathed his sword and patted Zuko’s shoulder sympathetically. “Family are the people you fight for, not always the people you’re related to.”

Instantly, Zuko thought of his uncle. Uncle Iroh fought for him, he was the only one who ever had. At every step of the way his uncle had been there. At least, until he drove him away, refused his help and demanded to do it all alone. Zuko felt a deep sorrow settle into his stomach. Uncle Iroh had fought for him, but he’d never fought for Uncle Iroh. Zuko didn’t know if or when he would ever see his uncle again, but now he knew that he was sorry.

Sokka clapped Zuko on the back. “Why don’t we take these back to the others. I could sure use a good fish dinner.”

Zuko caught Sokka’s eye and gave a small smile. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

#Avatar: The Last Airbender #ATLA #Zuko #Sokka #Katara #Hakoda #Family #Fanfiction #Fanfic #Missing Scene #Image from cap-that.com #2k words

[jaspers-levis]

Episode Eight

Episode Eight: Cute Pajamas

Dinner went relatively smoothly after that, the two of you chatting well after the meal was finished, sipping your glasses of wine as the evening wore on. There was plenty of tension still; the two of you caught the other staring more than a few times and Paul was getting bolder and bolder with each glance, refusing to look away. You were sure that you spent the entire meal nearly as red as the tomato sauce on your plate and you hoped that his supernatural senses he mentioned over his first plate of spaghetti couldn’t tell that your heart was doing double time. From his not entirely hidden smirk, you were pretty sure he could tell though.

It took only a moment to wash up, and then the two of you collapsed on your couch to watch a mindless movie. Really, it should have been strange for you to have someone over, watching tv casually late at night, but with Paul you felt yourself growing more and more comfortable. After the first twenty minutes of the movie you found yourself getting more and more sleepy; without thinking, you rested your head on his shoulder. He shifted to put his arm around you and it felt like the temperature in the room jumped about thirty degrees, but it was the kind of warmth that was like laying in the sun on a lazy afternoon. You were comfortable in Paul’s embrace as if you’d always been meant to fit into his side like this perfectly. His heart beat steadily under your ear, lulling you closer and closer to sleep. You woke briefly when he shifted to put his feet up on the coffee table, but he gently stroked your hair and whispered, “Go back to sleep, I’ll wake you when the movie is over.”

True to his word, he woke you as the credits were rolling on the tv. “Hey there sleepyhead, how about you head off to bed? I’m gonna head out but I’ll see you tomorrow,” he grinned as you yawned hugely and stretched. 

“Bye Paul, thanks for coming over,” you rubbed a hand across your face and walked him to the door, watching as he stepped off your porch and melted into the woods, presumably to shift into a wolf and run the rest of the way home. You watched the forest for a few moments, the dark shadows hiding more than a few secrets in their folds. A wolf howled shockingly close by, raising goosebumps up your arms and you snorted, knowing Paul was likely doing it on purpose. You shut your door firmly behind you as you traipsed back to your bedroom to fall into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The next morning you woke to another text from Paul: want 2 go hiking today? weather says no rain til tonight

You checked your work schedule and found that your current project’s deadline had been extended a few days, so you sent back sure. Meet at Emily’s?

im already at ur mailbox lol

I just woke up, give me a few minutes

can i come in?

Yeah 

You’d barely sent the text when you heard your front door open and Paul walking in. “Good morning sunshine,” he greeted you with a grin as you walked out of your bedroom, leaning against the wall at the end of the hallway. He eyed your stained sweatpants and ratty t shirt. “Cute pajamas.”

You made a face at him and walked past him to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. “Coffee first, talk later,” you yawned, stretching.

“Okay, okay, I get it, you’re not a morning person,” he laughed, taking the coffee pot out of your hands and filling it at the sink. “I’ll get this started, go get changed so we can leave soon.”

“Mhmkay,” you yawned again, trodding back down the hallway to change into a pair of jeans, a t shirt and a worn hoodie. It wasn’t your cutest look, but if you were going to be sweating and slogging through miles of forest then you might as well dress practically. Quickly you braided your hair and washed your face and brushed your teeth, heading back to the kitchen with a pair of sturdy boots in hand. 

Paul silently handed you a cup of coffee, smirking as you practically chugged it. “Feeling more alive?” he asked, leaning back against your countertop. Today he was wearing another pair of cutoff jeans with a dark grey t shirt that hugged his muscles nicely; you tried your best not to stare as you finished the rest of your coffee and burned your tongue in the process.

“Only slightly,” you joked, sitting down at the kitchen chair to pull on your boots. “I’d feel more awake if I had one of Emily’s croissants.”

“Today is your lucky day!” Paul grinned, pulling a pastry bag out of his backpack and handing it to you. “Glad she gave me half a dozen, because I already ate five.”

“Wow, such self restraint,” you mumble through a mouthful of pastry, rolling your eyes. 

“Hey, I can’t help that I’m a shapeshifting being with an incredible metabolism that requires me to eat constantly,” Paul retorted, mock offended. “I got hungry on the way over here!”

“Okay, okay,” you laughed, finishing the croissant. “But it’s your fault if I pass out from hunger on the trail because you ate more than your fair share of breakfast.”

#paul lahote #paul lahote imagine #wolf pack #wolfpack #twilight wolf pack #wolfpack imagines #twilight #twilight fanfiction

[amillioninprizes]

An entirely too long post on how to fix Veronica Mars

So, anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows: 1) What a massive Veronica Mars fan I was and 2) how distraught I’ve been over the most recent season that debuted on Hulu in July. I’ve been pretty angry about it since it dropped, but the first month after I was pretty occupied with real life stuff. Now that I’m more settled, I’ve found myself getting sadder and angrier over time with just how terrible S4 was and what an obvious fuck you to longtime fans it was. It feels dumb to be so upset over a tv show, but this show got me through a lot over the past 8 years, and I feel like it’s been taken away from me.

 It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a new season. Ideally it would end here with maybe an alternate ending filmed to avoid alienating fans further. On the one hand, the botched release, overwhelmingly negative response, and silence from the creators after initial interviews don’t look good for renewal chances. On the other hand, Hulu doesn’t have a lot of streaming hits, it probably did relatively decent numbers, and there are rumors floating around that its pickup chances look good. On a personal level, I hate the idea that this is where the legacy of Veronica Mars ends, while at the same time being extremely wary of what the creators have planned. I think a big part of the disappointment with S4 was that the movie and books set up what could have been some really interesting storylines and situations, all of which RT and co. squandered for cheap drama and to apparently turn the show into an entirely new vehicle; additionally I had hope that S4 would be a chance to rectify some problems the show has long had, but again, S4 exacerbated them. At this point I don’t expect anyone higher up in the creative process or at Hulu to give a fuck about the fans or making the show better as long as they hit streaming targets, but here are some suggestions:

Fire Rob Thomas

 While he created the show, it’s become clear that not only has he lost touch with the audience and the original spirit of the character, he doesn’t seem too keen on putting much effort into writing the show (as I will discuss below). Then you have his clear misogyny: his views that women in relationships can’t be interesting, that what makes Veronica interesting as a character is her trauma and how much she can endure, and the fact that basically every female character in the history of the show has a history of sexual victimization. He thought that making the Mexican cartel hitmen “philosophical” was subverting expectations (which says a lot of what his expectations of Latinx characters are). Then this is the way he essentially exploited his long term fan base to earn a new season of the show, only to turn around and tell us that we don’t matter. From a business perspective alone keeping him doesn’t make sense; selling a streaming platform on your loyal fanbase and then proceeding to purposefully piss ~80% of them off would be pretty questionable to me as someone in charge. The sheer cruelty with which he treated not only the fans who have supported him for 15 years (I fucking used to liveblog iZombie y’all. iZombie!), as well as how he callously dismissed long time cast members in favor of celebrity guest stars should not be rewarded. He’s admitted in interviews that he would be ok with younger writers doing a reboot many years in the future; why not just let him have a producer credit and then hand the show over to someone who’s invested in making it good?

Put a woman in charge and diversify the writing staff

A big problem with a) Veronica’s characterization in S4 b) RT’s ideas about what makes female characters interesting c) the show’s long history of problematic treatment of sexual assault is that it comes from a man’s conception of the female experience. The Veronica showcased in S4 and that RT wants to write in the future is very much a male fantasy: hates marriage and children, traumatized, DTF, and is too cool for other women. RT stated in interviews that he wanted to show Veronica at a “crossroads” this season in a way he claimed had been shown for men but not women; many female viewers found this depiction to ring false (few women are spending their time fretting about how committing to marriage after five years in an established relationship will bar us from strange sex going forward). In addition to having RT at the helm, most of the show’s writing staff for the majority of its run has been white dudes, which doesn’t bode well for telling the story of a female PI in a diverse community in today’s political climate. Putting a woman in charge would hopefully help rectify these issues to make the character feel more true to life and put a damper on the misogynistic storytelling. The show has a natural candidate in RT’s second-in-command Diane Ruggiero-Wright (despite her problematic history, never forget #KeisterEggGate), who has admitted to not being able to watch the last episode. Jennifer Graham, who wrote both of the books, would also be a worthy addition to the writing staff; while the books had a mixed reception, most fans agree that she got Veronica’s character right. And with the show’s problematic historical treatment of minority characters, adding more POC writers going forward is also necessary.

Bring back Logan (alive)

You don’t have to be a LoVe shipper to recognize just how integral Logan has been since the inception of the show, not just as Veronica’s partner but as a character is his own right. Logan’s journey in many ways parallels Veronica’s, and shows a contrast in how different characters respond to similar trauma. The most critical plot line in the show’s history, the mystery of who killed Lilly Kane, simply doesn’t work without Logan’s importance to Veronica. RT and his defenders like to claim that Logan was holding her back from true growth, which is frankly bizarre as he is the only character to consistently challenge her, like when he tells her that she obviously isn’t happy this season. Additionally, Logan’s scenes this season were the lone highlight of what was otherwise a painful slog of a season. Of the people who have said they would watch a potential S5, a good portion are only interested because they believe that the ambiguity of the last 10 minutes of the season means he’s not really dead (despite what RT has said in interviews). Then there’s what Logan’s death does to Veronica’s character, effectively cutting off what would have been an interesting character arc and stagnating her forever. No matter how much they try to shove Leo the pedo creep and other milquetoast RT self-insert love interests on us, no one else can possible measure up to Logan’s level in terms of being able to match Veronica as a character, intellectually or as a result of shared history.

Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a Weevil/Logan interaction since S3 is a goddamn travesty and should be rectified immediately.

Bring back Veronica

As sad as I am about Logan’s death, for me the most upsetting aspect of S4 was the assassination of Veronica’s character. For many viewers (including myself), the character we saw Kristen Bell portray in S4 wasn’t Veronica Mars but a different character with the same name. Between her abusive behavior towards Logan, her general indifference to her father’s medical condition, her dismissal of Wallace, and her racism towards Latinx characters (using a kid’s lawyer to threaten deportation: not a good look!), she was lacking the marshmallow-y center that always balanced out the pricklier aspects of her character and made her compelling. This change in characterization was especially jarring given that she was not this way when we last saw her in the books, where she mused about having children and sent her half-brother Hunter to summer camp (side note, but does he even exist anymore?). Many of us who had grown up with Veronica were hoping to see her grow with us as a character; instead we got an extreme regression lower than we’ve ever seen her. It would be one thing if they were trying to depict a PTSD storyline, which would make sense given her background, but since her change in behavior is never addressed by the narrative, it just makes her look like a cruel asshole and makes it impossible to root for her. This is exacerbated by the fact that RT has made it clear he has no interest in portraying her inner life, as shown by his wanting to avoid showing her grief over Logan’s death because it would be a real downer compared to the entertaining but ultimately hollow banter and quips he wants to focus on. Veronica this season was also just plain dumb: you mean to tell me that the girl who nearly got killed by Aaron Echolls in her back seat wouldn’t think to check her backseat every time she gets in a car?  (And let’s not even start with RT’s bizarre assertion in an interview that she apparently votes Republican). Not helping matters was Kristen Bell’s performance, which felt very flat for me this season compared to S1-3 and the movie; I don’t know if this was due to personal limitations or a reflection of the bad writing. Writers of future installments and KB herself would be wise to revisit S1, the movie, and the books to figure out what makes sense for Veronica’s character, leading me to my next point:

Get reacquainted with canon, develop a show bible, and hire a continuity director

This show has long had a problem with dropped plots, timelines, and continuity issues. Shelly Pomroy’s party has two happened either in the summer, or the fall. Then we have the movie paradox: Veronica graduated high school in 2006, which means her 10 year reunion should have taken place in 2016. The movie was released in 2014 and the books seem to keep to 2014 dates. Then S4 states that Keith’s movie accident took place in 2013, and mysteriously ages Veronica up to 35 when she should be 32 in 2019. Logan mentions an Aunt Naomi in S4--why didn’t she take care of him after Aaron was arrested (and what happened to Trina)? How the hell is Leo working as an FBI agent when he presided over the disappearance of the Lilly/Aaron tapes? Veronica is shown to be tentatively forgiving of Weevil taking the settlement from the sheriff’s department in Mr. Kiss and Tell, but is then shown to be extremely angry towards him for it in S4. This is just a small selection of the inconsistencies within the show. Plus there is the problem of repeated plot lines: Veronica rejects Leo in favor of Logan in S1, then rejects Leo in favor of Logan in Mr. Kiss and Tell, only for her to...reject Leo in favor of Logan in S4 (and RT says he wants to leave the high school plots behind). This sloppiness doesn’t bode well for a series that is supposed to be about mysteries, which require tight plotting. It would behove TPTB going forward to once and for all determine a timeline of Veronica’s life, keep a detailed record of past plot and character points, and have at least one person on staff who thinks to remember this stuff (RT notoriously has only a “solid, not spectacular” memory of the show, no matter what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says).

Make an effort (and do your fucking research) 

Moving on from continuity issues to more general problems with the laziness of RT’s writing. He has basically admitted that he doesn’t care much about facts or characterization when writing plots--he shoehorns details to fit the plot rather than have it evolve organically from the characters and prior canon. I know that when writing it’s often impossible to make every story detail 100% accurate, but the extent of RT’s sloppiness is alarming. This excellent Reddit thread details a lot of the problems with S4 in particular, but this has been a problem since S2. Did anyone ever understand exactly why the Fitzpatricks were invested in framing Logan for Felix’s death? In the movie, it makes no sense that if Cobb and co. wanted Carrie silenced, they would add the complication of framing Logan for her murder--given her history, it would have been a lot easier just to make it look like she had accidentally overdosed. Given his previous patterns of villain writing fans were able to guess the identity of the S4 bomber based on casting alone. The mysteries in both Mr. Kiss and Tell and S4 are both ripped from the headlines, which indicates that RT wants to turn VM into the next Law and Order. Meanwhile, he complained about how hard including Logan in the story in S4 was, while Logan arguably had the best lines and most interesting scenes this season--apparently when you put an effort into things, they work out! This laziness extends past storyline issues and into factual problems that detract from the quality of the plot. Longtime fandom pals are probably tired about hearing me go on and on about how there’s no way Aaron’s lawyers could have gotten Veronica’s medical records due to HIPAA laws. Logan’s career change from naval aviator to intelligence is highly unlikely (and unnecessary, given that they changed it only to fridge him at the end of the season). Meanwhile, I know fanfic writers who have spent hours on the phone with strangers in order to research what type of firearm would cause a specific type of bullet injury. It’s very puzzling to me that RT wants to take the show in the direction of being mystery-only when apart from that one time he is piss poor at writing mysteries and puts no effort into them. I shouldn’t have to tell television writers to, you know, do their job but this is what we’ve come to in 2019.

Know your audience

A majorly annoying thing about the promo for this season is how in every single interview Rob Thomas did he was always talking about how he wanted VM to be like other shows and movies: Fargo, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Chinatown (which is apparently the only noir movie he’s ever seen). The thing is, if I wanted to watch those shows, I would; I watched Veronica Mars specifically because I enjoyed its unique qualities, and I would say most fans agree. The general perception within the fandom is that with this season Rob Thomas seems to have been aiming to dump the old, majority female, CW fanbase in order to achieve what he perceives as a cooler prestigious male fanbase; the issue is, new people aren’t going to take up a show in its fourth season if they didn’t watch or didn’t like earlier seasons. Also, trying to write a prestigious show doesn’t make your show prestigious. Considering that based on anecdotal evidence most of the people who like S4 seem to be male, he may have succeeded in the first part of his aim. However, this majority female fanbase he was so willing to cast aside are the ones who have run fansites and rewatches during fallow times (i.e. between S3 and the movie and then between the books and S4), so drumming up interest among fans (and therefore streaming views) in the future may be a challenge. Plus, women are a better advertising demographic since they are more likely to be in charge of household purchasing decisions, so maintaining us as a fanbase makes business sense as well. He may have tricked enough people into watching S4 that S5 is given a go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if streams are weak beyond that. If the show is to succeed as a commercial endeavor, better to go with appealing to a known quantity than trying to make a generic show that very few people have expressed interest in watching.

Bring back the mystery of the week

This is a more minor thing I felt was missing from S4. I think after the criticism of S3 not having a season-long arc RT overcorrected in focusing on one mystery. However, the mystery of the week had the following benefits: 1) giving chances for the characters to interact and telling us more about them 2) helping to modulate the pace of the season-long arc. With better writing a season-long standalone mystery could maybe work, but in the case of S4 specifically the mystery was kind of dull and repetitive and could have stood to include a couple of diversions in the form of a smaller case here and there.

Re-evaluate the creators’ interpretation of the word “adult”

Much of the promo and reviews for this season noted the more “adult” content to be expected this season now that Veronica’s grown. Many fans hoped that meant seeing Veronica act like, you know, an adult with adult problems rather than a teenager less mature than the actual teenager she was. Unfortunately, the show’s interpretation of the word seems to be more in keeping with a television rating sense of the word--meaning sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence (But apparently not the word “fuck.”). Look, it was expected that as the show moved to a streaming service and given the overall dramatic scope that there would be an upgrade in some of this sort of content (and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to steamier LoVe moments, which were sorely overpromised), but the way it was included this season felt like RT and co. included this stuff just because they could and not to serve the storyline. For me, personally, the biggest example of this was Veronica’s drug use, which I know didn’t necessarily bother everyone. Given her history as the daughter of an alcoholic as well as someone who had been the victim of two roofie attacks, not to mention the fact that her character never seemed to be into partying, I found it very out of character (and book writer Jennifer Graham agrees). It felt like RT included this just bc they thought it would be funny to see Veronica on drugs without considering whether it made sense for her character. Also, were the beheadings strictly necessary? Plus there’s RT’s little temper tantrum over not being able to use curse words this season--they weren’t present in the original show, no one was going to miss them now, and the “cuss” thing was just annoying and reminiscent of The Good Place. 

Dealing with a parent who maybe has dementia--that’s an adult storyline. Too bad RT ended it with a dumb excuse about “mixing meds” (another factual error! Pharmacy software would have caught it!) rather than actually exploring what it would mean for Veronica to see her father in decline and take over the family business (and give Rico Colantoni the exit he appears to want). This is the kind of adult content I would hope to see in future seasons.

Adult is not a synonym for “unrelentingly bleak” either. The original show, while dark, always had an element of hope that was completely removed from S4 (no matter what KB might claim). And would it have killed the writers to show Veronica wearing disguises and going undercover like she used to? There was nothing fun about this season (and no, I don’t count the multiple partying scenes as fun, more like sad).

Kill your darlings

It’s cliche, but it’s true. Another issue the show has long had is the writers keeping around characters or inserting jokes and references for their own personal amusement rather than for the story. The most notable example of this is the continued presence of Dick, a highly problematic character considering he pushed Beaver into the room with Veronica the night of Shelly Pomroy’s party, among a whole host of other racist, sexist, and generally obnoxious actions over the years. But because Ryan Hansen is so widely beloved among the cast and crew, so he stays. Then there’s the matter of the infamous Keister egg in 3x08, which the writers and KB have all expressed love for, despite the fact that said Keister egg is an example of sexual assault--which, even if the victim is a douchey fraternity president, is never funny. 

Also the constant Big Lebowski references are tiring. Watch a new movie.

Improve Neptune’s gender ratio

Veronica Mars, despite having a female lead, has always been a male-dominated show; other than Veronica herself, the only consistent female character over the original show was Mac (and she didn’t even come back this season). This is unacceptable in 2019, for any show. The books introduced promising female characters in the form of Marcia Langdon and Petra Landros, but Marcia’s character was was watered down for S4 and Petra was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Veronica and Mac have always been written as “cool girls” who looked down on other women for their femininity, which isn’t a great message. Almost every other female character, even the innocuous Parker, is portrayed as somehow bad or incompetent. I would love nothing more than a season centered on the women of Neptune and their interactions with each other. While we’re at it, stop giving every woman on this show a background of sexual victimization.

Treat VM as an ensemble show, not a Kristen Bell vanity project 

A major complaint from Burnt Marshmallows and S4 defenders alike was how little time was given over to the original core cast this season. While Veronica may be the protagonist, a large part of how the show became so beloved was her relationships with the other characters. Yet RT has decided that going forward VM will be a KB solo project, with her traveling town to town quipping and sleeping with strangers. This seems strange, given Kristen’s recent interviews talking about how difficult it is to shoot VM and how she never wants to be first on a call sheet ever again, not to mention how she asked for less screen time all the way back in S2, which resulted in the Weevil-Logan storyline, which was way more interesting than Veronica’s storylines during the first half of that season. (The traveling detective thing also seems weird considering that KB is pretty insistent on shooting in LA to be near her family.) Additionally, if this is truly the last season of VM with all the original characters, then no one got a proper sendoff. 

I’m not sure how willing much of the cast will be to return for future iterations, given how uncomfortable many of them seemed during promo as well RT and KB’s treatment of them (insensitive at best, deliberately mean at worst) this season (shout out to Tina Majorino for recognizing what a shit show this was going to be), but bringing back all the original characters into the fold and giving them significant storylines would go a long way to mending fences with fans, improving the show from a character arc perspective, and would also give KB the break she apparently wants. 

Recourt the fanbase

What has VM always been renowned for above all else? It’s incredibly loyal fandom which not only got it renewed twice during its original run but also put up their own money to get the movie made--I know many people who donated when they really couldn’t afford to. RT basically owes the last 6 years of his career to VM fans--the success of the Kickstarter arguably got him the iZombie show running gig, and the fourth season likely wouldn’t have even happened if not for it. Thus, the blatant cruelty and disregard with which RT and KB have treated fans during the promotion of S4 has been incredibly insulting and hurtful; I still can’t fathom what in the world possessed RT to think that throwing away this 15-year relationship was a good idea. It’s not a good sign when the 2 fansites most active during the post-movie period (VMHQ and VM Confessions) cease operations in the wake of S4, and when at least 3 out of 8 board members of the oldest running fan group, Neptune Rising (who were dormant during the post-movie period but played a critical role during earlier fan campaigns and in the S4 promo) resign. A fandom this loyal that was betrayed will not stand idly by if the S5 RT wants to make goes ahead; given the number of tweets the official Hulu VM account has had to delete in the wake of S4 due to the overwhelmingly negative response as well as the controversy over editing out Logan from S4 promos, I imagine that S5 will be a PR nightmare. Even if future seasons are amazing the trust can probably never be fully repaired, but it would be helpful for RT (or fingers crossed, a new show runner) and KB (as star and EP) to go overboard in reaching out to fans and at least admitting they made a misstep with the entirety of S4. Back in the day, the old Mars Investigation fansite was invited to set to conduct interviews; maybe do that again. Also someone should get KB some sort of VM fandom-fluent media trainer because I don’t think she has conducted a single interview during her entire stint on the show that didn’t anger fans (it might help if she actually bothered to watch the show).

Map out an endgame

Look, this can’t go on forever. As long as RT keeps leaving every installment open ended with the hopes of maybe getting renewed again five years down the line, the story is going to keep running into the issues the movie and S4 faced with having to shoehorn the characters into nonsensical plot lines to reconcile those endings and deal with actor availability issues. Either plot another 2-3 seasons to wrap the show up with a satisfying conclusion, or map out a greater timeline of Veronica’s life with spots where a mini series or movie here and there could fit in.

#Veronica Mars #still angry #mainly written for personal catharsis #need to stop being angry about this and focus more on studying synaptic transmission #Burnt Marshmallow #we use to be fans

[readyplayerhobi]

Honey Tea

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff

; Word Count: 2.2k

; Synopsis: A bad day is always made better by something soothing and warm, which is exactly what you get in the form of Jung Hoseok.

; A/N: Just something I wrote as I was feeling a bit down and wanted to be cheered up with Peppermint Hobi <3 just like honey tea, he’s soothing and calming. Obviously this is part of the Peppermint world. It’s unedited but whatever.

-

Today had been a crap day. A really, terrible day that had made you just wish that you could go home, go to sleep and get to tomorrow already. You didn’t even really have an exact reason to blame to justify why it had been a bad day. It was just one of those where everything went wrong.

You’d struggled to write an article that Taehyung had suggested to you this morning when you’d found yourself at a complete writer’s block. It had only been after you’d managed to slog through half of the article that your computer had promptly died and it hadn’t bothered to autosave for some god forsaken reason.

And then the deli down the street messed up your order and gave you cucumber for some god forsaken reason. In the whole time you’ve worked at Poppin’ Culture, you have never asked for cucumber. For good reason! The very smell of it makes you gag, so you’d been just delighted to have to almost throw away $5 worth of food because cucumber is an insidious food which infects anything it touches with its taste.

Jimin had been highly amused by your disgust and had traded you his lunch instead, happily eating your tuna salad with cucumber while you got stuck eating a sad cup ramen that didn’t even taste good.

Then you’d discovered that there was no peppermint tea left in the kitchen to make the drink that calmed you down the most, leaving you furious for the rest of the afternoon. To top it all off, Hoseok hadn’t been at work all day due to being at a gaming convention with the games team to help record videos there.

All you really wanted right now, was to curl up with your boyfriend on his couch and watch him play one of those RPG games he adores so much while you munch down on the delicious pizza he can get delivered from that place near him.

Instead, you’re stuck on your own couch wrapped up in a blanket in some ratty old pyjamas that look terrible but are comfy. And your food option is going to be mediocre Chinese from the restaurant down the block that you can never quite tell if you like or not. But you can’t be bothered to cook, because all you want to do is slob on the couch and watch a box set of something.

Not Breaking Bad, because you really just can’t get into it despite all the critical acclaim and Hoseok begging you to just watch it.

Instead, you’ve clicked onto Sabrina on Netflix and begin rewatching the series from the start. Neither you nor Hoseok had quite known what to expect once you’d started watching it, yet you’d both been pleasantly surprised with what you’d seen and had devoured the second season when it had arrived.

You only get five minutes into the first episode when your doorbell rings, causing you to pause Netflix and scowl at the door. Who the hell is coming by your apartment at this time and why are they interrupting your brooding time?

Groaning quietly, you stand and shuffle over to the door while wondering if maybe you’d ordered something. You normally get your stuff delivered to Hoseok’s lately as you’re there more often than not and his neighbour is nicer than yours.

Yours just likes to bitch at you and moan because they’d taken a parcel, as if you’d asked them to defend the nation or some bullshit. So it was just easier as Hoseok’s neighbour liked you and constantly tried to feed you cookies every time you went over. It was honestly to the point that Hoseok pouted a little at the attention you got, leading to you giving him half of the cookie every time.

Unlocking the door, you pull it open just enough to peer through with a moody face before you practically light up with happiness. Swinging the door open, you let out an excited noise before rushing forward to wrap your arms around your boyfriend, who laughs and holds the pizza box he’s holding in the air to prevent you from knocking it to the floor.

The boyfriend who should not be here but instead hundreds of miles away.

“Hobi! What are you doing here?! You’re supposed to still be at the convention!” You rush out, looking up at him with a grin as your chin rests on his chest. Already you feel better, just feeling his solid warmth in your arms and the comforting scent of him.

“Well...they decided that they weren’t going to film tomorrow as it was the last day. So there was no need for me to be there and I got the earliest flight I could.” He’s shuffling you into your apartment slowly, a strange little dance that involves him trying to keep you upright as you seem to be refusing to let go of him.

It’s only when he gives you an exasperated look, his eyes wide behind his glasses while he presses his lips together to try and hold in a laugh that you finally let go, hands moving off him hesitantly before you stand back with a pout.

“But you love those conventions, and that means you could have just spent tomorrow looking at all the cool games and playing them. Didn’t you say that erm...what’s it called is going to be there and you really wanted to play it? Err...Last of Us?” You could barely remember what he got excited over as he got excited over a lot of stuff, but this was a game you didn’t understand why he liked it. It was horror, and he didn’t do well with horror.

Yet he still loved it and went on about it constantly to you.

Hoseok moves past you after kicking off his shoes and heads into your tiny living room, shrugging off his backpack onto the floor before sitting on your couch. His apartment is bigger than yours, and you miss it intensely as he sits there. There’s something oddly comforting about all the nerd memorabilia of his place, making it look far more lived in than your place.

“It’s there, yeah. But I wanted to come home to you. Jimin messaged me this morning and said you’re not in a good mood so...yeah.” Your earlier bad mood seems like a distant memory now and you want to just sit on his lap and kiss him silly, the shy happiness at him voluntarily giving up something he was excited for to come home to you almost threatening to overwhelm you.

How anyone could dislike this sweet man was beyond you.

Sitting next to him, you accept the slice of pizza with a tiny thanks before you find yourself leaning against his shoulder and sighing heavily. He doesn’t say anything, just takes a bite of his own pizza and lets you stew for a few minutes before you take a bite of your own.

It’s from the place near him, the one that you’d been craving about and suddenly you’re feeling a little bit overwhelmed. The days emotions and stresses finally crack and you sniff pathetically, tears rising as you look down at your pizza slice as if it might have all the answers.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” Hoseok asks softly, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and pulling you tightly into him as he puts his slice back down before putting yours down too. Soft lips press to your forehead and he’s shifting you till you’re as close to him as you can get, legs laid over his lap. “Did something bad happen? You didn’t say anything in your texts?”

Shaking your head, you burrow your head into his neck and inhale him deeply. His innate sense of calm that he always carries with him is soothing right now, his hand making long and relaxing strokes along your back and you feel safe.

“It’s dumb, it’s just...I’m just being stupid. I just...everything felt like it went wrong today and I got super upset and stressed over it all. I’m just...overreacting.” You say pathetically, trying to reassure him that it was just you being silly over it all. Thinking back on it, you certainly felt like you’d over-reacted and felt a little embarrassed that Jimin had even messaged him about it.

Hoseok doesn’t say anything for a moment, just holding you close before he lets out a quiet and rests his cheek against your head. You let your fingers trail over his Pokémon shirt, long since used to his pop culture related fashion.

“Don’t say that, and don’t think that. If you were feeling stressed and upset, then you were feeling stressed and upset. You don’t have to justify it to me or even yourself, okay? Sometimes you just have bad mental health days, and that’s okay. I’m not going to laugh at you, you know I’m the last person who would do that. Obviously things have just piled up for you and today is the day you’d had enough. Are you still upset?” Lips pouting almost childishly slightly, you shake your head as best you can with it jammed between his shoulder and jaw.

“Good, do you want to talk about it?” He lets the question hang in the air and you ponder for a moment, wondering if you actually want to talk about anything or not. Eventually, you shake your head once more before leaning back till you can look at him.

Up this close, you can see almost every pore on his face from the tiny red dot that’s evidently a spot forming to the slightest bit of stubble on his upper lip. He has a ridiculously slow hair growth on everywhere except his damn head, where it grows like lightning and he has to get it cut at least once a month. But facial hair? The man can go days with only the slightest growth.

And he’s quite evidently been lax at the convention, leading to you running your finger over it with a teasing smile. “No, I’m okay. Honestly. Nothing to talk about, just...me getting a bit stressed and I think I missed you more than I realised. I feel okay now, I swear.”

He shifts his head away from you with the slightest scowl, his black rimmed glasses sliding down the elegant slope of his nose a bit more at the movement while his dark hair falls into his eyes, causing him to shake his head once more. Just as you’d said, he needed to get it cut already.

“Okay...but if you want to talk-” You cut him off by reaching up to cup his cheeks, running your fingers along the still smooth skin of his cheeks and squeezing until his lips purse out in a pout. He’s giving you a rather unimpressed look with his eyes, but you know he’s amusing you to make sure that you’re okay.

“No, I’m fine. I just want to eat pizza and cuddle with you. This, us, it’s what I needed. Thank you for coming back early.” Whispering by the end, you let one hand drop while the other plays with the collar of his shirt, running along the edge until you reach his black hoodie.

He sighs before kissing your head again and taking your hand, interlinking your fingers and playing with it carefully. “You’re welcome. I’d rather be here with you than in a room full of people I don’t know. I don’t like going to them without you, it’s just too much noise and people and...yeah.”

Smirking at him, you lean up to kiss at his jaw teasingly. “That’s sweet. I hope you were okay while there too. And I’m guessing the fact that you can get sex here has nothing to do with coming back either right?”

Hoseok is sputtering, his cheeks turning a bright red that rivals when he’s drunk as he looks all around the room and his free hand running through his hair nervously. “W-wha-what, no?! That’s not w-why I c-came back! I love you, that’s why! The s-s-sex is...a bonus.”

“I’m kidding, I doubt you even thought of that. But I will say that I love you, and thank you for thinking of me. It means a lot.” You lean forward and grab both pizza slices before feeding one of them to him, not even sure which slice was who’s anymore.

He watches you warily for a moment before accepting and nodding slowly. “I’m always thinking of you so, no need to thank me. And I love you more.”

“Are you wanting sex or are you trying to butter me up to let you play that game I don’t like again?” You eye him, narrowing your gaze on him as he steadfastly refuses to look in your direction even as you can see him trying to press his lips together.

“Sex?”

“Oh, you so want to play it don’t you? I hate it! Why can’t you play it when I’m not there?”

“Because I like playing games with you! And I like it!”

“Fine, but only because you brought me this pizza.”

“I love you.”

#armiesnet #networkbangtan #btscreatorsnet #btssunshinenet #hoseok fluff #hobi fluff #j hope fluff #bts fluff #hoseok drabble #j hope drabble #bts drabble #hoseok x reader #hoseok x you #peppermint hobi #peppermint hoseok

[eurello]

Franchises

Can I just start off the weekend with a small rant: I am so baffled by movie franchises. I love a lot of the original movies, but I've never watched any movie and thought, "I want to watch a thousand of this movie, it should just be this movie for years and years of my life." Even the very best TV shows, I'm over them after like a season or two. How can people sit through 25 movies about the same world and characters? Everyone's talking about this Mandalorian thing, and like, I watched the first Star Wars movies a few times, and really enjoyed them a lot! And then, that was sufficient about that. I can understand kids loving a franchise because kids like consistency and predictability and repetition and familiarity, because their brains aren't done yet. But what’s your excuse? 

I’m a completist -- I’m one of those people who never quits a bad book half-way. And so in some situations, I’ll just miserably keep gagging down content that went bad a long time ago, because I feel like I have to finish it. Usually, I’ll get into something when it’s a new, original, creative work, and then it turns into a franchise, and I feel like I’ve suddenly been taken hostage and what started as a commitment to three page-turning novels has turned into a death march through endless multi-platform content. I’m trapped -- I can see new writers and super creative original ideas springing up all around me, but I can’t turn my head to either side, because I’m locked into a dead marriage with a writer I no longer love. Which made me think about which things I’ve eventually given up on and at what stage, and what the longest I’ve stuck with something was. 

Star Wars: Watched the three original movies several times, watched that awful Natalie Portman prequel once, tapped out after that. 

Harry Potter: Read all the original novels, pre-ordered them even, very excited every time, loved ‘em. Watched about 1.5 movies, but felt super bored by them, since had already read all this. Had no further desire past the end of the story to read anything else by Rowling, or ever revisit any of this in any way. I seem to be the only person on the planet who exists in the space in between “completely uninterested in HP” and “POTTERMANIA POTTERFOREVER.” 

Deadwood: Loved it at first, but was quite ready for it to be over by the time the traveling theater group showed up, and was secretly pleased it ended soon after, despite everyone else rending their garments. Really resented the reboot because felt had to watch it, but then enjoyed it. 

Veronica Mars: Loved it for two seasons, there was no real need for season 3. Similar to Deadwood, resentful to have to watch a reboot, but then enjoyed it despite myself. 

Buffyverse: Watched all of Buffy and Angel, multiple times (although Buffy should have ended at season 5, and Angel at season 3 -- fight me). Even checked out first Buffy comic book, but found it super misogynist. No desire to revisit any of it, and hope none of it ever comes back, because I will for sure feel compelled to watch it. 

His Dark Materials: I read the books and loved them! I hear the new series is excellent, but I have no desire to watch it, because...I already read the books.  

LOTR: Read The Hobbit and the trilogy. Watched the trilogy. Watched about half of the first Hobbit movie before realizing this was never going to end. (Also, appeared in an improvised parody of the movies for over a year, but was at least paid to do so.) 

Hunger Games: Read the books, mostly because they took five minutes. Watched everything but the last half of the last movie, which has not been free on streaming yet, but mostly because Jennifer Lawrence is so pretty. 

GOT: Read them all, and, despite what I said above about HDM, watched it all. Really glad it’s over, at this point. 

The Walking Dead: Watched it forever, thinking it would surely end at any moment. Miserable slog. Finally realized it was a sunk-cost fallacy around the time Negan showed up, and quit and never looked back. I hear it is still going. 

Bridget Jones’s Diary: I thought the first book was really clever at the time! The second book was slightly less so, but a couple funny bits. The first movie was a fun girls’ night out in college. I hear there continued to be more of this stuff from there?!

SATC: I watched the whole show, and really enjoyed it. There are apparently also multiple movies of this? That people actually watched? 

Gilmore Girls: I watched all of it over and over for years, because it was my comfort food whenever I was experiencing a depressive episode (which was often). Outside of the context of depression, I think it was a really clever show for about four seasons. The reboot made us all so unhappy! 

Jessica Jones: The first season was a revelation! The second season was a disappointment. The third season felt like an actual punishment, and I quit halfway through. This isn’t really a franchise, but I include it, because it’s how I am feeling more and more about TV shows at this age, and it is very freeing to have finally discovered it’s ok to watch one season of a show, enjoy it thoroughly, and not watch any more of it ever again!    

Everyone complains about Firefly being canceled, and I agree with them in public, but down here where it’s unlikely anyone is still reading, I will admit one fo my deepest secrets: I actually think Firefly was the perfect length, I hope it never comes back, and I believe it would be much better if all good things ended promptly and permanently. 

#star wars #marvel #franchises #movies #boredom

[annakie]

Thoughts on a DW Rewatch & Mass Effect replay.

So I’m in the Eleven / Clara half-season now.

Also I’m now replaying Andromeda.  I have thoughts, about both.  I’ll start with Doctor Who then label it when I get to Mass Effect stuff.

Oh my God this gets long and rambly.  Apparently, I have a lot of thoughts.

So, season 702... I’m ready for it to be over.  I miss the Ponds.  I felt like most of the first half of this season was pretty great, honestly.  I’d forgotten how fun some of those episodes were, I think at the time we were anticipating a new companion so heavily that it was harder to appreciate those episodes?  I feel like there was a lot of criticism levied towards them that now I felt like was a bit too much.  The western episode was kinda meh but still not bad.

I’m not sure what exactly it is about these Clara / Eleven episodes that I’m still not connecting with but I’m in the middle of the Crimson Horror episode (which is a Vastra/Jenny/Strax heavy episode and enjoying it more than anything else so far this half-season.  

*edit later* NOPE NOPE NOPE I’D FORGOTTEN HOW THE DOCTOR FORCES A KISS ON JENNY.  GROSS.  SUPER GROSS.  SHE’S A MARRIED WOMAN, A LESBIAN AND DID NOT CONSENT TO ANY OF THIS.  BAD DOCTOR, BAD.

Honestly even with some excellent guest start acting, the Russian Submarine episode was STILL a slog and the ghosts in the 1950′s episode no better.  Like they still weren’t ridiculous and unwatchable but... just didn’t feel fun or interesting at all?  The Journey to the Center of the TARDIS episode was decent, and I felt like that wasn’t nearly as cool as it should have been..

I remember reading a criticism of these episodes early on where they said that the biggest fault is that they failed to give Clara any real characterization or solid personality other than “girl the Doctor is obsessed with”.  She’s SUPER IMPORTANT but not only do we not know why at this point but it really doesn’t feel... earned?  I don’t recall it ever feeling earned that Clara was supposedly always so important?  “The most importantest companion EVAR!”  

And as someone who stanned the hell out of a character who was hated in the fandom for “replacing” a previous companion I’m checking myself to make sure it’s still not because I Miss the Ponds.  Like, I don’t HATE Clara, I just, at least at this point in the rewatch, can’t find any reason to really LOVE her?  She’s there, she’s fine, Jenna-Louise Coleman is doing a great job with what they’re giving to her but... I don’t know.  It all feels... off.

I had forgotten all about the “the Doctor rides a motorcycle up the side of a skyscraper” moment and something hit me in that moment that made me remember that wow people hated that moment.  It felt really... shark-jumpy somehow.  

I love Eleven, but this half-season isn’t connecting with me, AT ALL. It feels like the writers just went and dug through a bunch of rejected script ideas, polished them up and were likle “let’s just do this until Matt Smith is gone.”  I’m anxious to get to Twelve.

Mass Effect Stuff

OK TECHNICALLY I haven’t finished ME3.  I still need to do the party and the goodbye scene, (Citadel Epiloge Mod installed) but I’ve gotten all the Stuff and done all the missions in the arena.  I just wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye yet, so I started Andromeda a bit early.

-----------------

OK look I had a point I wanted to make and never quite got where I wanted to go with it right here.  I’m too tired of trying to fix it, so this stands as written.

This playthrough had me ruminating a lot on Kaidan and Garrus.  I really love both of those characters, though in my heart I’ll always primarily love Kaidan, I’ve done the Garrus romance and wouldn’t mind playing that character again to see the romance one more time.  In ME1, I bring Kaidan everywhere all the time, and pick which other companion I bring to the story-based missions based on what I know is gonna happen like I’m sure most people do.  Wrex for Therum, Tali for Feros (though I REALLY wish you could switch before going to see the Thorian), Liara for Noveria, Ashley on Virmire, Garrus for Ilos/Endgame.  I rotate through all five for sidemissions.  

In ME2, Garrus is my always-bring companion, with Garrus + Miranda being my favorite team.  Except after the Omega relay, where characters with Throw really shine with all those husks running at us, Jack holds the bubble, and Miranda and Thane, who both have Warp to help take down the Reaper Baby, are the preferred team.  Also so Miranda can tell TIM to fuck off.

Then in ME3, once the game opens up, Garrus is back on the perma-team, with a preference towards bringing Liara along... until we get Kaidan back.  And then I realized I didn’t bring him to a single thing except a side mission or two until Earth.  Mostly, this is because I’m following the Kaidan Banter guide and it turns out Garrus is a real banter hog for most of the missions.  At leat he’s not James, who I literally never use unless I’m going on an N7 mission and feel bad that I haven’t taken him off the Normandy in awhile.  I mean, even Javik gets more play.  Also EDI doesnt leave the Normandy til near the end when all of a sudden she gets real important.  

But Garrus is always on the team for Priority Earth.  And that always felt like the way the main game should end, with your two favorites.  (Also what kind of monster wouldn’t bring Wrex to the combat-centric areas of Citadel DLC?  I keep thinking I should have runs where I bring other people but... Wrex is my other fave and we don’t get him with us AT ALL since ME1.)  

I love Garrus, so much.  And I was thinking with this whole parallel DW rewatch / Mass Effect replay think I’m doing right now how both Rose Tyler and Garrus Vakaraian are characters that were ruined for me for awhile due to their respective... overly enthusiastic fanbases who a small percentage of were dicks to people who loved other characters.  The Kaidan tag (and from what I understand Thane got some of this too, but not nearly as bad) was a pretty hostile place for awhile (and yeah I used to check the Garrus tag too and there was a small amount of tag-invasion there but uh, like 5% of what the Kaidan tag got) which made loving the character of Garrus a lot harder for awhile.  But when actually watching seasons 1 & 2 / the end of 4 of DW, or actually playing the games, those characters are awesome.  

Fanbases can be amazing or terrible, and time and time again I think you start to realize that no matter how great a fandom is, there are going to be a few people who can only enjoy themselves by feeding on drama, or on lifting up what they love by stomping on other people/characters/plotlines.  Going back through my blog reminded me that even the TAH fandom had some of this, with a small percentage of fans being real dicks to two prominent female characters in favor of their favorite ship, which soured even that just a tiny bit.  

It’s not fair to characterize everyone who loves a popular thing as someone who does this.  It’s also hard to avoid completely because there will always be jerks, or young/new people who don’t realize what bad form they’re showing.  I did learn by trying to fight it for a year or two, that responding might help that one person not do it again, but it’s not going to stop overall.  Maybe yelling a lot about Martha Jones did change some people’s minds.  It still isn’t that good of a look now, even knowing that in general I was pretty polite and logical about it.  I might respond to an odd comment now and again in some favorite character tags, but in general, turns out that kind of fight just isn’t worth it.

And those fights seem so stupid in the light of everything else happening in the world today.

Anyway, don’t be a dick about the things you don’t like.  

-----------------------

I also wanted to say, and I know I said it in a few other posts about this ME3 playthrough, but seriously I cannot believe how much ME3 is a changed game because of the modders.  I cannot imagine ever playing ME3 again without these mods.  There were so many small things that I kept thinking I should take note of to talk about and I’m sure I forgot 90% of them, but there’s things like... adding in mentions of the Andromeda Initiative, closing a few plotholes, mentioning Emily Wong, adding in many more Spectre console options which end up having their own plotlines, adding in an entire plotline about the VI civilization that had previously only been talked about in like, social media or Cerberus News Network posts, having the Normandy be so much more populated, seeing so many more other species on the Citadel with more variety in clothing for those species that have clothing / could have more variety, way more female Turians.... every time I play ME3 the game is more and more like the game we wanted when it came out.  

I am kind of itching to go back and replay it even now.

But hey, instead, its time to talk about Andromeda.

-------------------------

So first of all, yes, mods for Andromeda.  A few appearance mods, a lot of convenience mods.  

After having recently played DA:I and I think Andromeda and DA:I are a lot more similar than Andromeda and the previous trilogy, I had decided it was time to cut down on the stupid stuff Andromeda does, like “Oh, you want minerals?  Spend 10 minutes in each mining zone finding the PERFECT place to gather materials or you’re fucked”  No, thanks.  I’ll mine but give me that “one probe placed anywhere and you’re done” mod.  

Make the modifications and crafting materials I use actually matter. 2% damage increase is nothing.  Make my squadmates not suck because I remember doing 90% of the work myself before and that got exhausting with the number of spawns.  

I tried to not go overboard so things feel like cheating, but there’s enough out there to just get rid of the stupid stuff, and it’s nice.  And works together a lot easier than the DA:I mods did.

One thing I did do was install the Multiple Romance Mod.  I enjoyed it in DA:I, even though ultimately I only did 2 full romances.  I am **NOT** romancing Gil or Cora with the mod, I just wanted to experience all the content available for female Ryders at once, since I’m not going to have the energy to replay this 100+ hour game enough times to see every romance on its own.  So I am poly-romancing Liam, Jaal, Vetra, Suvi, Peebee, Keri, and if it lets me, Reyes when it’s time.  

I’ve only gotten all the way through Andromeda once (where I romanced Liam)  My second playthrough was right after my first and stalled out about halfway through (was romancing Jaal.)  It was one of those “I’m totally gonna get back to this! (She didn’t.)” things.  I’m gonna be honest, I enjoyed the Liam romance and was enjoying the Jaal romance, I’d done a fling with Reyes but not the full romance my first time through and the fling with PeeBee on my second.  Reyes was probably my favorite out of all of them.  So this time I decided.. let’s see which I love the most, all at once.  I don’t know if I’ll do this in the future, but this game is too long to not see all the content I wanna see, TBH.  

And you know, I still really do like Andromeda.  It’s a GOOD game.  And I’m forever going to be mad that we’re not going to see how this story ends.  This story deserved to finish being told.  Like, there are a lot of very legit criticisms about Andromeda, but it didn’t deserve the harshness it got.  And the worst thing about it, and DA:I both is that... there’s just a little TOO MUCH of it.  100 hours is an amazing amount of game but... it’s also just too much.  For now I’m not trying to 100% this playthrough.  My plan is on each planet to get the planet to 100%, take out the Kett or whatever major base, the Remnant Architect, and yeah probably clear out the sidequests that show up on the map, but fuck quests that are like “visit random Kett camps until you find the right datapads that don’t show up on the map!” or “scan random blobs in the forest that don’t show up on the map!”  

So like, do the content, not the filler.  

I still hate the vaults.  The first one is cool.  The rest are tedious.  But they’re mandatory.

I love everyone on this spaceship though.  They did the Tempest stuff SO WELL.  All the companions I think are... good?  There’s no one I don’t like, even the non-squadmate shipmates ship have so much interaction and so much to do/say.  It’s not like “a bunch of randos and Joker, with occasional appearances by Chakwas and the Engineers”  There’s no randos, it’s just a few people you have real interactions with, and its great.

The lack of enough beds in the bedroom will never not annoy me.  There’s 4 beds for... Lexi, Liam, Cora, Suvi, Kallo, Vetra and Gil?  Even if Liam slept on his couch, and Vetra put a bed in her supply room... still doesn’t add up.  What, do Salarains not sleep or something?  Does Lexi sleep in a medical bed?!?  Peebee sleeps in the escape pod, Jaal brings a bed with him, and Drack’s like “Eh I’ll just sleep in the kitchen”.  WHAT?  THE KITCHEN?

I mean sure there weren’t enough beds, even with the sleeper pods, on the Normandy either, but somehow that was less disturbing.  

Also, I know you’re supposed to HATE Director Tann but I love Kumail Nanjiani so I find it hard to be a total dick to him, even if he usually deserves it.  If he wasn’t an anti-Krogan racist I think it’d be easier to like him.  He was thrown into a pretty shitty situation and... did actually hold things together for some time.  He’s not doing anything out of malice.  He’s a dick, but also doing what he needs to do to keep the Initiatiave going.  Oh, except for being a anti-krogan racist.  (Honestly, I also think  “until he turned Cerberus Udina was just doing his job pretty well” too, so...)

Taking some screenshots as I go.  I mostly just take screenshots for me now.  I have a few thousands screenshots from a dozen or more games rotating through my desktop background, and I keep adding to it, and love it.

Anyway, I’ve gotten Eos, Voeld and Havral to 100%.  Time to go save the Moeshe.  I’m having fun.  

*edit from later* I’d forgotten that... idk if the dialog they recorded for Jaal was the first thing they recorded for him or they used a different VA or what but on the Save the Moshe mission his voice is VERY DIFFERENT and oh man, that is still bad.

Might take a break for when Onslaught comes out for SWTOR, though.  I haven’t really played SWTOR in months. Oops.

#personal post tag thingy #annakie's mass effect stuff #doctor who stuff #hey this gets REAL RAMBLY sorry not sorry

[residentlesbrarian]

Magic, and Princesses, and Horses...Oh My!

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

For the first review in this series I am going with one that I picked up while I was at ClexaCon 2018. I had the lovely experience of getting to meet Audrey Coulthurst during a panel and in Artist Alley. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down with her for a moment and talk about building fantasy worlds and how she and her editor worked hard to make sure the world that Of Fire and Stars takes place in has no concept like homophobia. We deal with that kind of hate enough in reality it doesn’t need to be in our fantasy worlds as well. Now onward to the review!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: Two princesses who couldn’t be more different are forced to ride horses together and magic happens. Literally! A great show of LGBT characters and their stories taken into the fantasy realm.

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review:

This book as a whole was far too much fun to read. I tend to shy away from high fantasy novels, even in the Young Adult vein, because they try too hard and tend to have ‘yikes’ level themes, but this book did an excellent job of immersing me in the world without forcing me to slog through an introductory lore dump cringe-inducing interactions. It did an excellent job of pacing out the necessary lore as we needed to know it without forcing it into the narrative. As a writer myself I lean more toward third person narration, but I can enjoy reading first person if the characters are engaging. This book does that really well, even when the perspective switches between Mare and Denna, it would be incredibly difficult to confuse which character is the narrator at any given moment.

The other aspect of this book overall that I genuinely enjoyed was the absence of homophobia. As I mentioned in my intro I knew about this aspect before I even opened the book, but it was still so pleasant to not have the constant sour taste of homophobia coloring the drama of the story. Don’t get me wrong, there is drama! Oh boy, is there, but the homophobia is refreshingly missing. Let’s look at the plot a bit now shall we?

I found the plot of the book was simple while also being twisty enough to not know what was coming next everytime. I did predict a few things before they happened but as someone who had timed contests to try and figure out the murderer in CSI episodes with my dad, I’m real good at figuring this kinda shit out. So surprising me is an accomplishment to say the least. I think the plot could have been a little stronger in places but it definitely kept the pace up and moving when it needed and slowed down for the more personal scenes with our heroines. Speaking of which let's dive into some character talk.

Our protagonists are Mare and Denna or more accurately Princess Dennalia and Princess Amaranthine. And let me tell you I love these two girls so much! They are very different in pretty much every aspect of their lives, and it shows in their interactions with each other and those around them.

Denna won me over quickly with her palpable nerves about meeting the prince that would one day be her husband, but also her immediate want to help in the struggles of the kingdom. As a middle child who always felt the need to excel in what I was doing I could really relate to Denna and how much she put what was right for her family and country before her own personal wants or needs. This chick is smart and is gonna be one hell of a queen some day if certain people, I’m looking at you Prince Thandi, would just get out of her way and let her help.

Mare, on the other hand, puts up the facade of not caring at all about being royalty when she genuinely does care about her family and the people of Mynaria. She was a delight to delve into, because she felt so genuine and real. I will admit I have a weakness for the more closed-off characters who have that extra depth to them. I like the ones that make me dig for the good bits, and Mare gave me my fix. Nothing about her character fit the usual mold of the princesses that society is used to. She was foul-mouthed, wore pants 9 times out of 10, and honestly just wanted to ride her horse as far away from the castle as possible, but the more we get to know her the more we see a girl underneath all of that.

As far as the romantic subplot, all I will say is it was masterfully done with the right tension filled moments and soft caring ones paced perfectly. I am weak and gay! I am a sucker for the rough and tumble character who is softened by the eternally optimistic one, gets me right in the feels every time.

The only other character point I want to talk about in this review before wrapping up is the relationship between Mare and Nils. Without ruining anything, Nils is a guard in the castle whom Mare has known for most of their lives. Nils on his own is a good character who is a bit of a Fabio but always respects the women he woos as far as we see. Which is not at all surprising with how we see him interact with Mare. From my interpretation of their relationship has not always been the platonic one we are treated to in the story. Whether Nils wants more to happen there or not is up to you, but the fact is he doesn’t treat Mare any differently regardless. He is there for her as comfort and a confidant when she needs it and I loved it so much because you don’t see that between queer female characters and their male friends very often. There is always an uncomfortable tension written into those interactions the were refreshingly missing here.

For my final thoughts I just want to say as a writer I really appreciate the way the story building was built into the story. Do I still have questions about the world as a whole? You bet I do! But those questions didn’t keep me from enjoying this story thoroughly and has me very excited for the sequel coming out later this year.

Queer Wrap-up: Okay, so now to talk about the brass tax. Why did I give this book five unicorns? There are two queer main characters who we get to spend time with and watch the plot unfold around them both. We get a world where Denna is more concerned about her personal feelings hurting an alliance that has been in the works since she was born, than the fact hose feelings happen to be directed at another woman. This book shows what I wish we could see more of in fiction, especially YA fiction. It shows our protagonists being unapologetically queer while also having to deal with everything else the plot requires. Outside of the romantic subplot their queerness is just another part of who they are. They aren’t defined by it and it definitely isn’t a weakness. I will say I was torn between giving this four or five, but it was the platonic relationship with Nils that actually pushes it over for me. As a queer woman who had a lot of guy friends it was so refreshing to read a relationship that fit my own friendships for once. Good on you Of Fire and Stars, five unicorns for you!

Links:

Audrey Coulthurst’s Website

Goodreads

Amazon

To close up this review I just want to encourage you to give this book a shot if you are a lover of high fantasy and want to read about princesses being badass, quick witted, and just...so gay. Also if you want to read this but don’t want spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

#of fire and stars #audrey coulthurst #resident lesbrarian #five unicorns #lesbian #wlw rep #ya fiction #fantasy #go to your local library

[heinekyun]

messy.

Kihyun oneshot | word count: 1446

This was a prompt done alongside @nabzzz - hope it’s not sucky! >.<

It was that time of year again, the month long slog before summer break peppered with more essays than you considered was strictly necessary, but for all the endless procrastination it required completing regardless. “Why do I always do this to myself?” It must have been the thousandth time you’d uttered the phrase that day, something to be admired given that it was only just 7AM.

“Wait…” For a brief moment you found yourself frowning, blinking at the dimly lit computer screen that had loyally and faithfully seen you through back to back episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine only a few short hours ago. Was it really 7AM? It couldn’t be right? The frown intensified as you squinted and brought your head closer, your nose hanging a mere millimetre from the luminescent screen. Fuck.

Casting your eyes around the room, dread rose up like a wave around you. For someone who had dutifully promised to complete at least two essays the evening before only to have descended into the void of Netflix, why on god’s green Earth did it appear as if a small, localised tornado had swept through the flat? Kihyun was going to freak. “He’s going to kill me. He’s going to kill me and then he is going to thoroughly clean away the evidence.” Though it was of some comfort to know that your last night on Earth hadn’t been spent slaving over an essay, the fact that your boyfriend would be arriving shortly to end your life was putting a stopper in the gently simmering pot of positivity.

Moving quickly, intent on making the room as passably clean as time would allow, you’d barely managed to make a dent at all when a far too familiar jingling of keys met your ears. “No.” That was perhaps the first time the arrival of your boyfriend had ever prompted such a thing, but after his flight he was sure to be exhausted. The last thing he’d want was a messy apartment, something he’d be unable to ignore even with his jet lag.

A further few seconds passed where, motivated by your guilt you tried to frantically kick an empty take out container under the sofa whilst shoving any mess within arms length into drawers. Of course, it was typical that despite your best efforts, Kihyun had made the journey from the front door to the living room faster than you’d anticipated, leaving you to do little more than gape at him shock.

Hair coiffed up to keep from obscuring his view, Kihyun paused at the threshold, eyes first finding you before they swept outwards. His expression was a mixture of confusion before his lips drew up in a half-smirk.

Trouble. Trouble was coming. But dear god did trouble look good.

Distracted, you only half noticed that Kihyun had opened his mouth, your name on the tip of his tongue before you surged forward, arms slinking around his waist, your head tucked carefully beneath his chin in a bid to win him over. “You’re home.”

“You made a mess.” He countered, his arms closing around you, and for a little while you both stood their wrapped up in each other, the mess momentarily forgotten about until you felt the the rumble from his chest as he released a laugh. You’d been deprived of this, of him for so long that though your immediately reaction was to separate from him and scowl, it took a few more minutes before you could conjure the desire to release him. It was only when you did that you realised he’d spotted the remains of last nights pizza, still half-poking out from under the sofa. Your cheeks heated instantly.

“Did you at least finish your essays?” He yawned, blinking a few times, and when you looked more closely you could see how truly tired he was, how he’d been doing his best to not just fall asleep where he stood. The tour had really taken it out of him lately, and still he made time for you.

“Yes?” You lie, but it’s convincing no one, certainly not Kihyun in his semi-conscious state. “No.” You admit, eyes focused on his shoes because really you two are entire worlds apart, the only thing that seemed to mutually annoy the both of you was being late, and that was only because your grades required near excellent punctuality. Other than that you were as different as day and night. Your professor’s description of you echoed teasingly in your mind.

Disorganised, indecisive and far too reckless. Yes, yes, and yes. You’d always been those things, your mind though creative had hardly been consistent. On the other hand Kihyun was sensible, and ambitious, and... tidy. God, he was so fucking tidy it drove you insane sometimes. Moving in together had been an interesting step. Lots of fights, and even more making up. The thought was distinctly a warm one, but the strain of Kihyun’s schedule had left little time for fun make-up sessions, and sometimes you found yourself wondering if he wouldn’t outgrow you.

The thought hurt, like the sensation of falling and waiting for inevitable impact. Turning your back to him you kicked the pizza box further beneath the sofa, a sad smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. Kihyun seeing only the small act of defiance, laughed, but you knew he was likely debating whether or not to grab a trash bag and clean up. “You’ve been gone too long, usually you tell me off or get pay back.” You’d been worried about that earlier, but now you crave it, something you can trust in to prove that nothing had changed.

“I still plan to.” The words are closer than you anticipated, and pressed achingly against the smooth skin at the junction where your neck meets your shoulder, making you jump before you sink against him. He’d been hovering by the door a few seconds ago, how had he crept up on you undetected?

“You’ve chosen an interesting method of telling me off.” Your words don’t seem your own, but you’re sure that has more to do with the way Kihyun is pressed against you, his fingers biting into your waist as he holds you firmly against him. Everything else feels distant when you’re with him. Kihyun has always been able to captivate you entirely.

“Well, I’ve been gone too long.” You groan, your own words thrown back at you. He’s teasing you, and it’s masterfully done for someone who had just gotten off a nine hour flight. “Did you manage to destroy the bedroom too?” His words imply more than you can handle, and you’re sure a better person would insist their boyfriend just go to sleep, but by the time you ground yourself enough to suggest just that, Kihyun’s lips have covered your own and you’re stumbling over pizza boxes and empty cans of drink to sink down onto the sofa, your laptop clattering noisily to the floor.

You both separate at the sound, snickering against each other. This feels familiar, and reassured you pay little mind to Kihyun smirking as he glances at his watch. It’s a further five minutes before you realise why.

“Don’t you have a class today?” His mouth, pressed against your throat tickles, and is half the reason why he doesn’t seen the panic set it in. Pushing against him you curse, even more so when he grips you tighter and leans back, his eyes dark. If he’s still tired he’s doing a good job of covering it up, you whine helplessly. Payback has never been this interesting before.

“I can’t be late, Kihyun.”

“I know.”

“I really, really, really cannot be late.”

“Absolutely.”

“And you need your sleep.”

“I do.”

His smirk never falters, even as he threads your fingers together, hoisting your arms above your head. “So I’m going to be late because you can’t keep it in your pants.” You sigh dramatically, the last of the battle within yourself dying, because admittedly this is rather less like a punishment and more like you’ve won a prize. Kihyun, a picture of innocence, looms above you.

“No. You’re going to be late because you can’t find a bin.” He retorts with his signature shade, and your protests weak though they were, are cut off as he leans down, and you find that you’re quite okay with letting him win this one.

#kihyun #oneshot #monstax #monsta x #monsta x fic #challenge fic #mx

[entamewitchlulu]

Year of Yu-Gi-Oh Part II: Toei Adaptation

After the manga comes the anime adaptation known infamously among the fandom as “season zero.”

Aired in 1998, “”season zero”” has no actual season relation to the main series Duel Monster anime.  Instead, it as produced and run by Toei Animation, and follows the basic storyline of the first seven volumes of the manga, mostly in a game-of-the-week style format.  Like the manga, the story follows Yugi Mutou, a boy who solves the mysterious Millennium Puzzle which awakens a spirit in him that challenges his bullies, enemies, and other opponents to magical games.  Unlike the manga, however, the anime version heavily alters many scenes, including the content of the games, their results (few, if any characters actually die from the games, unlike the manga), filler episode plots, and most drastically, the addition of Miho Nosaka, a former oneshot character, as a recurring major character.

But you all already know all of that, probably!  So here’s the important stuff: what did I think of my rewatch?  Well...

The sad thing is, I seem to recall enjoying this anime a LOT more the first time I watched it.  The second watchthrough was...less interesting.

Good stuff first, though.  Most of the main voice cast is absolutely stunning.  Megumi Ogata as Yugi/Yami Yugi in particular is incredibly strong, and I will never love a Yami Yugi voice more than hers; the soft, unassuming sort of confidence fits and characterizes Yami Yugi in a way that I don’t think any other adaptation of Yami Yugi ever could (sorry, Dan Green).  

Also, I really, really love seeing the smaller, visibly young looking Yami Yugi animated in general.  Yami Yugi absolutely becomes significantly older looking than Yugi in DM and in the later half of the manga, which makes little sense considering he is using the exact same body as Yugi.  I much prefer this younger, cuter Yami Yugi, which, in my opinion, makes his entire schtick far more intimidating.  Small, childish looking Yugi Mutou challenging you to a death game?  Far more frightening and eerie than loud, brash Dan Green-ified Yami Yugi just shouting at you, imo.  Jonouchi and Anzu’s voices really stand out as a personification of their manga characters, as well.

I may be in the minority here, but I also really, really loved Miho’s addition to the main cast.  She didn’t fit into every scene, of course, and there were bits where even I felt like her inclusion was forced, but for good chunks of the series, especially in filler episodes, she absolutely shone and stood out as her own character with her own goals and motivations, who was still a part of the group and participated--and even won!!--in many of the group’s challenges.  I also just like having another girl in the group, ya know?

Smaller details that I did like: overall color palette aside, I really, REALLY love Yami Yugi’s red eyes, and I continue to describe Yami Yugi with red eyes in every fic I ever include him in.  Ryo’s green eyes are also a fave of mine.  Also: NO JOHJI!!!!  Miho basically replaces him completely in Death-T and wow, that’s honestly an even better idea than to replace him with Honda’s dog!

Now before I move on to the more negative part of this review, lemme leave you with a cute picture of Miho Nosaka:

the rest is under the cut so as to avoid clogging up the dash even more, and so that y’all can avoid my negative bits if ya want.

So, down to business.  Why didn’t I really enjoy my rewatch of the Toei adaptation?

1) Pacing.  The plot episodes seem to rush themselves along as fast as they can, to try and fit as much from the manga chapter in as possible.  Filler episodes, or episodes based on filler chapters, drag out so long that it becomes a slog to get through.

2) Low animation budget.  Unfortunately, the limits of the time this anime was produced didn’t help it’s case either.  The color palette is a goddamn oversaturated mess, and some of the color choices are truly head-scratching.  Seto Kaiba with green hair?  Who decided that?  Wasn’t he already colored with brown hair on a manga volume prior to this adaptation?  Palette aside, action scenes are considerably muted due to lack of budget to fully animate them, resulting in strange cuts and boring shots.  A LOT of the charm and intensity that gave a lot of moments in the manga their punch is lost in the adaptation, as Takahashi’s more horror manga-esque style is heavily simplified and stylized to get to the screen.  The extra cartoonish coloring also contributes to a lot of the more intense scenes from the manga falling flat.

3) Sound direction.  It’s just boring.  Only Yami Yugi’s theme stands out, and even that’s not really top of the line.  Sound effects are silly and cartoonish, and I’ll be honest, I do not like the OP or ED.  And outside of the main cast....?  A lot of the voice acting sounds pretty dull and unmemorable.

4) Adaptation changes pt 1. Listen...I’m not here to be all Edgy and say this show was bad because it refused to kill people.  But this anime completely pulls its punches when it comes to...everything.  As far as I can remember, not a single person actually dies during the series, despite Yami Yugi killing or hospitalizing at least five-six people in the manga.  It just hits a lot less hard when all he’s done is given someone an illusion of being burned to death instead of him actually dropping his cigarette butt into the alcohol and lighting himself on fire.  For some reason, it just makes everything feel a bit flatter.

5) Adaptation changes pt 2. The games!!!  They’re boring!!!  The real draw, for me, of the manga was when Yami Yugi used ordinary items in his surroundings to pull together a game.  In the anime, he just pops them into a weird, nightmare dimension where weird shit happens and the games never make sense.  Not to mention, the anime adds a lot of extra encounters with Kaiba than the manga had, including extra Duel Monsters games.  And while Takahashi had little to no rules for the game in the first place, in the anime, when they don’t have a manga script to follow, it is a goddamn free for all. It’s like Calvinball up in here, making up shit left and right, even WORSE than the manga ever did, and it’s...not fun to watch.  At all. Not understanding what’s happening just makes me, as a viewer, feel cheated and let down.  

6) Adaptation changes pt 3.  Due to the nature of the adaptation, a lot of bits and pieces of character arcs were switched around, cut out, or straight up ignored.  Mokuba does not go rescue Honda from the blocks game in Death-T.  The Jonouchi-Hirutani arc is condensed from its original several chapters span into a single episode.  And there are other examples as well, that I think overall do a disservice to the cast and the individual characters.

So, my overall verdict?  Unless you are a super die-hard fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, particular DM, I don’t think the anime is worth the time.  It’s quirky, funny, and can be fun in places, but overall, it at least wasn’t really worth my second watch.

I’m still stealing Miho for my own purposes, though.

#yugioh #yugioh season 0 #yugioh season zero #lulu talks #year of yugioh #tbu

[ontheoddoccasioniwritestuff]

Seahorse (Spencer Reid x Trans Male!Reader) SFW

Summary: Spencer and Y/N have always wanted kids. Here’s the time Spencer was brave enough to broach the subject of how they would go about it. Plus a few more times after that.

AN: @imagining-in-the-margins​ came up with the idea of Spencer’s trans bf having a baby amidst man many many prompts for Spencer x male!reader to indulge my daydreaming and I ran with this prompt.

Thank you to @writing-in-april​ for being my beta on this one! Couldn’t have done it without you, beebs <3

This is the SFW version. Here’s a link to an NSFW version of the story, but do not read that if you are under 18!

Word Count: 5.7k words

Content Warnings: Trans man is pregnant, coming off medication, allusions to Prison!Spencer.

Masterlist // Gif Credit // NSFW Version

The halls echoed with the unbridled joy of little ones calling out “Nemo” and “Dory” at the sight of the clown and surgeon fishes. Spencer bounced on the balls of his feet as he looked around the next room in search of his goal. He stopped when Y/N spared a look in his direction, away from the tank that had captured his attention for a solid five minutes.

“JJ sent me a video of a shrimp solving a Rubik’s Cube the other day.” He grinned.

Ah yes. JJ had also sent Spencer a video of little Henry swinging a mini softball bat about just like Spencer had done. For one game and one game only he had insisted, despite Y/N’s own resolve that he looked hot in the kit.

The walk through the tunnel was the slowest slog Spencer felt, but it was the only attraction in the aquarium to properly distract him. Lights above them filtered through the water, bouncing off the painted walls of the tank in a blue glow. Various species in a perfectly balanced ecosystem swam around one another without a care in the world. A particular stingray flapped its body against the glass, and three children nearby laughed at its funny shaped mouth.

“I used to sit on my mum’s shoulders when we walked through these. Touch the ceiling as if I could pet the fishes.” And Y/N’s hands stretched up over him, his eyes following a shark that slinked overhead, “When I got too old, I’d just press my nose against the glass and stare back.”

Nerves returned at the sight of a circular tank in the centre of the room holding something familiar. Seahorses curled their tails around the plants that waved together like a crowd at a concert. Little babies bobbed about the parents, translucent and wriggly.

Spencer coughed and spoke while Y/N took in the creatures, “Did you know that the seahorse is the only animal where the male carries the children?”

Suddenly his throat was dry; the words he’d been rehearsing dragged to a halt. Y/N turned to face him properly, guiding Spencer to the left as a little girl stood on tiptoe to see the seahorses as he continued to struggle.

“Well, that might not be true actually.” Spencer choked a little on his words, his voice’s volume steadily declining into a soft whisper, “I know that some human men can have babies.”

Y/N’s face clouded with doubt for a moment. Then it clicked and his face cleared, “Spencer, tell me what you’re getting at.”

Spencer twisted his hands around one another, “Have you ever thought about us having kids… biologically?” He watched Y/N’s Adam’s apple dip as he swallowed hard

“You mean like me being pregnant?”

“Yes, have you considered it an option for us?”

The conversations of other aquarium patrons were forgotten as Y/N took his gaze away from Spencer. His eyebrows were low as he considered his words carefully. Y/N always thought about the implications of what he was saying, maybe a little too much. Spencer could be biased though; his impatience did not mix well with his anxieties.

Eventually, Y/N turned back with a brave face and said, “I’d have to think about it some more.”

“Ok.” Spencer nodded, his chin wobbling a little.

There was hope though: he needed to think “some more”. Implying Y/N had thought about this before.

Near the end of their trip, Spencer did find himself in a staring contest with a little seahorse plushie with large eyes and an anatomically inaccurate tongue hanging out. In all honesty, it was kind of ugly.

“Spencer, come on. You know how I get around stuffed animals.”

How empathetic his boyfriend really was, projecting feelings of love onto the inanimate objects then making the excuse that he had to buy it now.

Spencer did have to leave the toy behind though. Out into the sunlight of the parking lot, he winced before he put his sunglasses back on.

“Park?” Y/N offered his hand and smiled. It was an olive branch, something to say that Spencer’s query had not ruined their day out together.

Spencer accepted and squeezed his hand. “Park.”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Y/N had a hand on their lower belly, some space between the fingers as if there was an invisible bump there to accommodate. His head had tilted while he thumbed over the air.

As drowsy as Spencer was from work, his mind was focused without a distraction on what he had seen through the ajar bathroom door. He could barely pay attention to the Doctor Who episode Y/N put on. In fact, he doubted anything could take his attention away from the idea of having a child with-

“What do you think about me being pregnant?”

Spencer’s eyes shot wide open, then they were covered slightly by his inquisitive eyebrows in his attempt find an answer. Especially with Y/N looking on him while he waited for him.

“I think you’d be so beautiful carrying our baby. But if you wouldn’t be comfortable, then I wouldn’t make you. We still have surrogacy, fostering, adoption to consider,” was his answer. Never a lie, but the truth was always softened.

Seemingly satisfied, Y/N looked back at the episode. But Spencer couldn’t wait anymore, forgetting about anything else in the world except for this.

“What do you think, Y/N?” His body leant in towards his boyfriend’s.

Squirming in their spot on the couch, Y/N hummed before he answered, “I froze some of my eggs before I started my transition. I also sold some, for a down payment on a house or my wedding.”

Spencer’s heart thrilled at the possibilities. A house together? Matching suits at their wedding? He almost neglected to think about the fact that pregnancy was suddenly a very viable option for their future.

Regardless of Spencer’s many, many thoughts, Y/N continued, “And I thought that perhaps, if I found the right person, I would like to carry their child.” His palm opened up to him and Spencer instantly took it. “I know you’re the right person, but I’m not sure I want a baby now.”

“Of course,” Spencer lifted Y/N’s hand to his lips, “Whenever we’re both ready.”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Spencer pushed the dirty bedsheets into the washing machine; it wasn’t that big a deal. If the blood didn’t come out, then they could always buy a new set. Although they should really be saving money for decorating the nursery.

“Spenceerrrr.”

As the machine rumbled into life, Spencer returned to Y/N, curled up on the sofa with a heat pad to his gut. No amount of warnings from their doctor could have prepared Spencer for how emotionally straining it was to see his boyfriend suffering. Y/N was taking this a lot harder than Spencer – and rightfully so, it was his body that was changing.

“Why did I have to have such strong paternal instincts?” He grumbled with his eyes still closed.

Spencer let out a laugh, but it was cut off quick when Y/N whimpered loudly. He knelt down before him and cupped his face. Y/N’s cheeks were warm; his hands clung to Spencer’s wrists like a lifeline.

“What do you need?” Spencer asked softly and Y/N sighed, keening into his cooler palms.

“Can you tell me I’m handsome please?”

“You are the most handsome man in the world, and I adore you every minute of every day.” Spencer kissed Y/N’s pouting lips gently, “Handsome inside and out, I never wanna think about life without you. You just make everything in my life better.”

His fingers moved to brush away a tear that slipped down Y/N’s face and over the ridge of his nose. But he missed and it dripped onto the pillow.

“You’re doing so much for us, for our baby.”

“It’s not even real yet,” Y/N sniffled. His hands finally released Spencer and pressed the heat pad into him.

“It’s gonna be.” Spencer bumped their noses together, “We’re gonna be dads.”

A hoarse laugh met with a hint of a groan in Y/N’s chest, “Yeah. We’re gonna be dads.” That sound and those words were all Spencer needed to feel better. But he wished the same could be said for Y/N. The only thing he could provide was a promise of future relief:

“How about we order in tonight?”

“Ugh, yes.” Y/N burrowed his face into the pillow.

When their bed was made up properly, Spencer and Y/N cuddled together. Unfortunately, Y/N was restless, trying to find a comfortable position while his painkillers kicked in. Spencer kept his complaints to himself, allowing himself to be shifted around in Y/N’s hunt for relief. Honestly it was the least he could do.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

“The reproductive process begins when a male and a female seahorse do daily pre-dawn dances, intertwining their tails and swimming together.”

“Well, it’s nearly nine, so definitely past dawn.”

“I’m trying to be romantic, Y/N.”

Y/N adjusted the bed sheets around his middle, “We don’t have tails either and - if I remember correctly - your last sexy swimming encounter ended poorly.”

Spencer flushed at the memory of Lila in the pool; another memory turned the pink to red. Y/N had laughed so hard his gut ached when Spencer told him about how awkward he had been around Lila. This was before the context of the case had been disclosed, promptly removing the space for any more laughter.

“Baby?”

Y/N was touching his face. Spencer’s head emptied itself of all thoughts of Lila. This was not what he wanted to be thinking about right now. Y/N’s laughter maybe, but none of the rest.

Tucking a curl behind his ear, Y/N leant in close, “If I’m ready, and you’re ready, you know what happens.” His eyes wandered down Spencer’s face, “And it’s not swimming together.”

But, just as their lips were about to touch, Y/N jerked away from him. “Wait, I gotta brush my teeth first.”

Spencer moaned with indignation while falling backwards onto the bed as Y/N disappeared from view. A few seconds later, he heard the electric toothbrush buzzing. With a burst of energy, he stripped himself down to his underwear – a petty way to get back at Y/N who had made it very clear that undressing Spencer was one of his favourite parts of their sex life.

When Y/N returned, with the minty freshness he apparently desired more than his own boyfriend, he said “What? You already did this morning?”  His eyes looked down at Spencer’s chest and his lips twitched into a pout.

Spencer held back his grin, keeping his triumph at retaliation to himself as he said, “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, Spencer.”

And with that, Y/N crawled onto the bed, over Spencer’s body and kissed him silly. He did much more than that, enjoying their overlapping day off to the fullest before even leaving their home.

At ten to ten, sleepwear scattered about the bedroom floor, Spencer and Y/N sagged into the mattress, wrapped up in each other and the covers. The burning warmth of their bodies drew up two soporific smiles on their faces.

“You know, a seahorses’ body shape means that they’re inept swimmers, and they can actually die of exhaustion.”

Y/N poked Spencer’s sternum. “Is that your way of makin’ fun of my stamina? Give me a few minutes; I’ll be on you like a rash.”

Grinning at such a prospect, Spence continued, “They also mate for life monogamously.”

He felt two fingers touch his cheek, "Spencer, I love you and your endless fountain of knowledge.” Y/N paused to peck the corner of his lips, “But I’m not actually a seahorse. And, though I do plan to mate with you for life, if you wake me up before the sun is above the horizon for a ‘dance’, I'm gonna suffocate you with my new body pillow.”

“Oh, you got your pillow?”

“It’s en route.” Hence why Y/N was content to use Spencer in lieu of said pillow.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

When Spencer disclosed to Hotch that he would need some time off because he and Y/N were considering having a kid, first thing on a Monday morning, Hotch didn’t let anything on. There was a hint of a hint of a smile though. His eye wandered to the school photo of Jack he kept on his desk, and he was greeted with the memory that Jack almost shared a name with Emily’s cat.

Naturally, Rossi found out next. Technophobe Spencer Reid had left his computer screen on a website for baby blankets, and Rossi had been the one to pass by first. After turning the monitor off, Rossi took Spencer aside in the break room and spoke about how wonderful it was that he was going to be a father. Then he kissed both his cheeks, leaving with misty eyes and a smile that he wouldn’t explain to Penelope passing by. Spencer blinked then finished making his coffee.

The next conference room meeting – the same day and just for an update on the paperwork deadline - Spencer simply decided to drop the information that he and Y/N were planning on having a kid as if it was his thoughts on their next unsub’s motivations were.

Three seconds of silence later and an uproar exploded.

From then on, the week was filled with pokes and ribbing at his upcoming parenthood. A peek into the future.

After making her a cup of coffee, Spencer sat opposite JJ at her desk and asked for advice. Her response: offering Spencer the opportunity to babysit Henry more. Obviously he accepted; more time with his godson was always a good thing. Then she went into how parenting was just a natural thing that he would know when the time came. Not very reassuring on its own, but with his best friend’s support, Spencer felt a smidgen better.

Penelope admitted that she had saved outfit ideas on Pinterest for Spencer – among other members of the BAU. When Spencer dared to enter her lair, she showed him several. Apparently that wasn’t even a dent in her collection, and she had already placed an order on a little bow tie. Spencer left before she tried to organise a shopping trip; neither Spencer nor Y/N were really fans of retail therapy.

Derek was teasing away, “Spencer and Y/N are gonna be baby daddies.” And every single time, Emily would join in. She liked to claim she was the reason Spencer was having a kid, reminding him of when JJ was pregnant. He had been incredibly weirded out by the baby kicking, but Emily had asked if he had considered having “baby geniuses” and he never gave an answer.

To be fair, Spencer never could have seen this coming. That made it all the better.

Apart from when Derek began supplying a realm of baby names, that varied from “oh that’s actually cute” to “oh my god, why would you even consider that a name for a real child?” Spencer was happy to rank them aloud for him.

The cat was only half out of the bag though.

Now Spencer had always been affectionate when he and Y/N were together. But the second it spilled into their public lifestyle, Y/N knew something was afoot. He was quick to pick up on this when he went to collect Spencer up for a chilled date night and Spencer kissed his cheek in clear view of the entire bullpen.

“You told them, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t wait, but I do have my paternity leave arranged!”

The team swarmed to deliver their congratulations. And it was then that they revealed that they all thought that Spencer and Y/N were planning to adopt or look for a surrogate. Their embraces didn’t spoil the unexpected second part of their announcement; Y/N looked like he’d simply put on a few pounds rather than gained a baby bump beneath his button-up. Naturally, there was even more of a hubbub than before when they discovered that Y/N was already pregnant.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 “Spencer, baby, you gotta calm it with the ocean theme.”

“But…” he pouted, holding up the finished mobile. Brightly painted sea creatures and chunks of coral dangled delicately in a circle. Sure enough, there were orange seahorses hovering about their habitat.

“It’s very sweet and I adore you for it,” Y/N kissed Spencer. “Not everything has to be related to seahorses though.”

“I guess not.” Spencer’s defeated tone did not last long. His face brightened and he whipped a blanket adorned with little seahorses and bubbles at the edges out of the cot. “But - this online store was taking commissions, and you always say support small businesses!”

Thank god Y/N had been the one in charge of painting the walls. An underwater mural would have been a step too far.

“You, Doctor Spencer Reid, are so…” Y/N’s hands were up in the air between them, searching for an adjective to describe Spencer appropriately. Then he settled those hands on his shoulders and Y/N kissed him.

When they drew away, Spencer spoke, “I’m so what?”

Y/N shrugged, “Just so.” He kissed him again, lingering longer than before and smiling as Spencer’s hands touched the obtrusive roundness of his belly that pressed into Spencer’s stomach. They were so close to meeting their little bubba.

“So are you.”

“Ok, don’t have a go, I bought this before the ban,” Y/N held out a gift, wrapped in sea-green tissue paper and bearing a blue bow.

Folding the blanket neatly over the bars of the cot, Spencer eagerly yet daintily unwrapped the present. As the tissue paper fell to the carpet, his hands trembled.  Eyes shining, he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the latest scan that was framed by tiny seahorses to thank Y/N.

There was more still, as Y/N explained, “There’s another behind there. I’ve seen the state of the one in your wallet.”

“It got caught at the bottom of the pouch,” Spencer said quietly, unbending the catch on the back of the frame. Sure enough, two of the same photographs spilled into his waiting palm. Truth be told, Spencer had already taped his torn photo together again and it was going to stay in his wallet. This spare would be in the post soon, on its way over to his mother. God, she was so excited to hold a baby again. The photo album would have to do for now.

“Could you maybe recant the ocean ban? Because I saw this and I knew it would really go well with the blanket and the mobile.”

Sighing, Y/N’s head tilted back, “What is it?”

The pretence of annoyance couldn’t be maintained towards Spencer’s face beaming back at him as he held up a wonky looking seahorse plushie. It wasn’t the same one he’d seen before. Some heartfelt child had taken pity on that one and given it a forever home. No, this was a perfect little present for his bubba.

Y/N thought so too as he let a grin settle onto his face.

“Ok, we can keep this one. But no more from now, alright?”

“I suppose. Besides, our baby isn’t our seahorse. You are!”

“You better not buy us a fish tank for my birthday.” A spike of nerves hit Y/N when he couldn’t quite catch Spencer’s eye to confirm his word. “Spencer? Promise me... Spencer!”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 “How are you feeling, Baby Daddy?” Derek hugged Y/N who was reclined in his bed. His body pillow propped him up for his visitors.

Y/N wrinkled his nose, “For once, I wish I was a real seahorse and I could have just sneezed her out.”

Katia Nikola Reid definitely looked like she’d been sneezed on when she first entered the world, screaming her teaspoon-sized lungs out. Named after a hero of both Y/N and Spencer, one day old, bundled in a blanket, she scowled at Spencer’s dopey face looming over her while Emily held her tight.

A hoard of presents huddled in the corner of Spencer and Y/N’s bedroom. Emily thought it’d be a great idea to bring the baby an Ikea shark that was bigger than the child – and would definitely take up around half of her cot.

“She’s already got him wrapped around her pinky finger.”

“Yes, she does,” Spencer agreed giddily.

Next, Derek took her in his arms, untucking her arms from the blanket swaddle to give her a fist bump. He swayed her about the room while Katia relaxed a little more. The deep humming in his chest soothed the wrinkles on her forehead. Katia stretched as if to touch his face, and her mouth gaped at him.

“Aww, baby genius is ready for a nap.” Derek yawned too, “Who’s gonna micromanage me while I put her down?”

“Me! Me!” Y/N said, his enthusiasm muted by tiredness. Spencer leapt to his side, helping him out of bed, his teammates watching fondly as he did so. Y/N was allowed out the room first, Derek close behind and clicking his tongue at little Katia.

“She’s so sweet,” Emily said, her eyes on the pair’s backs and the dangling loose blanket from under Derek’s left arm. “I’m so happy for you both.” And she hugged Spencer tight; Emily always gave such good hugs. Good thing she was going to be around to give plenty to his daughter.

Then, down the hall, he heard Derek say with sarcastic resignation, “Oh Spencer, I thought Y/N was kidding when he said no more seahorse themed items.

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Y/N ended up climbing into the bathtub with Katia. Even as she had grown into her chubby features, looking more and more like him and Spencer with each passing day, she was still so small.

Sitting up with her in his lap to help her out, Y/N lowered her into the warm water. His fingers tenderly rubbed the blackcurrant scented soap on her tummy, copying her expression as her tongue poked out between her gums. Her jerking legs rejected the water that Y/N’s hands cupped to rinse the bubbles off.

“Oh!” Y/N said in surprise as Katia sneezed, “Bless you.”

He heard the front door go, but he let Spencer follow the clues to their bathroom. Sure enough, the Doctor soon entered with his jacket shed, already rolling his sleeves up as he dropped onto the bathmat. A hand curled at Y/N’s chin as he kissed him before it stroked over the damp wisps of hair on Katia’s head.

“Hello. Hi.” His voice was that bit more delicate as he caught Katia’s eye and welcomed her big gappy smile.

Y/N tilted his head towards Spencer. “Good day?”

“I missed you both.” Spencer swished the water around by Katia’s side, “Isn’t it incredible how she’s experiencing all of this for the first time?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Spencer giggled away as the surrounding bathwater yellowed and Katia flapped her arms.

“Mind your language.” He said without any weight to his warning, “Our little girl can’t help it.” Then he stood and prepared her towel, a deep-sea blue that brought out her eyes. “Can I feed her tonight?”

“Of course, baby,” Y/N agreed as he lifted Katia out of the tub, where Spencer caught her and bundled her up with skilled speed. As he dried her off, Katia cooed away to herself. She did get a little pissed off when he dressed her up in a clean nappy and a sleepsuit, but Spencer couldn’t take her crumpled expression seriously without the tears.

The rocking chair had to be one of his best investments for his daughter’s room. It soothed Katia from the darkest of tantrums, a familiarity that swayed her. She fit so perfectly into Spencer’s arms and he fit so contentedly into the seat. Her eyelashes fluttered slowly shut as she drank more milk.

Not quite strong enough to sit up on her own, Katia leant fully into Spencer’s hand while he burped her – thankfully not for long. Then it was off into her cot.

Y/N watched him from the doorway as Spencer stroked the apple of Katia’s cheek while she drifted off into slumber. An effortless smile danced on his lips even as he switched the lamp off and welcomed Y/N over to see their sleeping babe.

“Love seeing you with her, Old Daddy Spencer teaching her everything she’ll need to know.” The kiss that followed was certainly not appropriate for their daughter’s nursery, so he took Y/N by the hand, leading him into the hallway. Even then, between the short pecks that pressed against his lips, Y/N continued to talk, “Is this how you felt while I was pregnant?”

Breath hot against his face, Spencer swallowed hard while Y/N said, “Seeing my handsome boyfriend carrying our child? I think I get it now.”

His hand slipped up Spencer’s shirt. It was crystal clear what his intentions were. Spencer was already close to panting when he pulled Y/N flush against him. With more desperation this time, they fumbled around their home until they made it to their bed. Spencer’s hands aligned with the stretch marks on Y/N’s thighs as he grabbed them and pulled him on top.

He huffed as Y/N’s teeth tugged and released his bottom lip, “We have to be quiet.”

“I can be quiet.” Y/N ripped off his shirt in one smooth movement, “Can you?”

Spencer couldn’t give an answer. Instead he pulled Y/N back against him as they fell onto their sheets.

Their first time in months, it didn’t last very long, but it was exactly what they needed.

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

 The biggest surprise of the evening was that Rossi put down his drink to hold Katia. To be fair though, he had already had a few. Hence why he was singing and dancing around the garden with Katia in his arms. What a sight to behold, it eased the pain of Derek and Hotch’s absence, their own kids to take care of now.

Eventually Rossi relented, allowing Penelope to take Katia, turning to Y/N who had kept a watchful eye on his actions, “Promise me you’ll bring her over when she’s allowed to eat food.”

“I can’t give her your food for her first taste. She’ll be disappointed for the rest of her life,” Y/N joked, Rossi letting out a boisterous laugh that made Katia giggle in turn.

Penelope got to hold Katia next and show her off to Henry who was very intrigued to learn more about his godsister – Spencer told him that was who Katia was and it stuck. Henry became Penelope’s little shadow until they found a seat for him and a cushion for his lap to hold the baby. His joy unbridled at such a responsibility was adorable. He posed for many photos, while Katia for once stayed quiet.

Spencer was tired but the best kind of tired. A night in with friends, watching his boyfriend and his daughter be welcomed as much as he was, it wasn’t a surprise but it was always a delight. And this moment right now, Y/N cradling Katia’s with one hand squeezing her little foot before he planned to take her into Rossi’s office? What a life they had cultivated together. As he sipped his drink, the bliss in his tummy was not doused by it.

 ---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Slouching on the sofa, Spencer watched with tired eyes as Katia stumbled in the room, her hands held in Y/N’s while she waddled between his legs. Her round face lit up at the sight of Spencer. Her pace increased beyond her abilities and Katia swung forward a little as she almost fell over.

“Oh dear,” Y/N cooed while Katia got back to her unstable feet. “That’s it, there we go.”

Spencer wished he had the energy to properly appreciate this moment, especially since both his boyfriend and their daughter were grinning like they shared a secret.

Katia dropped down onto her nappy-cushioned bottom then began to crawl over to Spencer’s feet. His hands, although dirty, rough and near ruined, accepted her offer and lifted Katia up into his lap. They stayed for safety around her middle, keeping her sat up straight as she looked on him with those big eyes. Eyes that were fresh and untainted copies of his own.

Y/N sat down beside Spencer, leaning in close to Katia so he caught her attention, “Hey, why don’t you show your Daddy what we’ve been practicing?”

Looking away from both her Dads, Katia drooled and pushed her fist in her mouth. Y/N waved until he and Spencer were back into her line of sight.

“Go on, sugar plum.” He pointed to Spencer, “Who’s that?” And he mouthed the answer to her.

“Dadadadadada.”

It was barely above a whisper. But her little grin, the top of a tooth poking out of the centre of her bottom gums, the way Katia looked at Spencer when she said it? A soft “oh” fell from Spencer’s lips and he clutched her close, her chubby arms barely reaching around his neck. His breath shaking out of him, he kissed the thick thatch of hair that had sprouted in his absence. He could feel Katia whispering “Dadadadada!” again.

“That’s me, Katia, I’m your Dada.” He sniffed back the sting in his eyes at the absolute proof that, in his time away from her, she had remembered him. When he moved away, placing Katia back into his lap, he closed his eyes as Katia’s scrabbling fingers rubbed across the tip of his nose.

Katia made a sudden attempt to stand, throwing her entire bodyweight towards Spencer. Spencer’s breath was snatched from his lungs and the tension remained even after he caught her with ease.

“You ok?” Y/N said and Spencer noticed that his hand was supporting his against Katia.

Spencer nodded weakly, “Hmm, you?”

“Better now.” Y/N let his hand go and began rubbing Spencer’s back in the same circular motions that Spencer rubbed Katia’s.

A tug snagged Spencer’s head to the left and he tutted as Katia grabbed at his cheek, “Ow, Katia, no.”

Instead, Katia took a fistful of the next thing she could find, which was Spencer’s hair, and she cried out an identical (if higher pitched) “Ow!”

“You hurt Spencer, not the other way around, Katia. Stop faking.” Y/N scolded playfully.

But Katia repeated Spencer’s outburst again, “Ow!”

Y/N lifted Katia’s little fist from Spencer’s hair, and it immediately clamped down on Spencer’s finger as an alternative to wave about.

Spencer kissed her hand, still so tiny and forgiving against his. He looked at Y/N, blinking fast as he half-heartedly said, “She’s so like you.”

The lock of hair Katia had yanked on curved around Y/N’s touch as he put it back into the disarray of fluff that stood around Spencer’s head, “That’s funny, because I think she’s so like you.”

---> ---> ---> ---> --->

Tilting the pram onto its back wheels, Spencer pushed it up the step and into the aquarium tunnel. Katia lay back in her seat while gumming on her blanket corner. Her eyes were ready to take in the sights.

Y/N knelt before her, suffering a few kicks to his knees from Katia’s excitement. Her pram clips were undone. Little Katia was released into her Daddy’s arms then plonked up onto his shoulders. Her starfish-like hands pressed up against the glass. Her mouth became as wide as her eyes as she pointed at the stingray rippling past. She had seen fish before (Carl and Rosalind at home) but never like this.

“Yeah, that’s a ray, Katia,” Y/N rubbed his fingers over her back, his hands still to keep her steady.

Spencer pointed his finger right next to hers, “They use their electro-sensors, not their eyes, to find their meals which consists of shrimps, clams, and -”

Katia shrieked – interrupting his and she smacked her hands against the glass. No one seemed to mind though. Some patrons in the tunnel even chuckled at her behaviour. Like she needed any more encouragement, especially with Y/N grinning up at her and tickling her sides to elicit more laughter from his daughter.

When Spencer’s hand dropped, Katia shouted again. A little confused, he returned it and Katia took his finger in her hand then began dragging the tip across where the ray was.

“She wants it as a pet, what do you say, baby?”

“I thought you said not to get you any fish for your birthday.”

Eventually Katia was returned to the pram. Her head was thrown back to watch the rest of the tunnel go by. Then she hid her face in her blankie once they were out in the last few exhibits. There was a little tug of war to get her to let it go (she was a lot stronger than Y/N gave her credit for) and see the one other exhibit that both parents were invested in.

Taking her hand again, Spencer squatted beside the pram. “Hey look, the men seahorsies have the babies. They’re just like your Daddy.”

“Your favourite Daddy,” Y/N ruffled Spencer’s hair while Spencer pretended to be outraged. Katia caught onto the dramatic expression Spencer was wearing and copied him with a gasp added for good measure.

“What d’you reckon, any of these were babies when we went to visit last time?”

“Well, Y/N, the lifespan of these seahorses is approximately a year. So they could be.” He knew it was unlikely but, for the sake of the smiles on Y/N’s and Katia’s face, Spencer let it be.

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x male reader #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid x trans male reader #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds x reader #my writing #wc: 5k+ #r: male #r: trans male #katia is named after a character in professor layton and nikola tesla

[your-dietician]

Why Police Have Been Quitting in Droves in the Last Year

New Post has been published on https://depression-md.com/why-police-have-been-quitting-in-droves-in-the-last-year/

Why Police Have Been Quitting in Droves in the Last Year

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — As protests surged across the country last year over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, Officer Lindsay C. Rose in Asheville, N.C., found her world capsized.

Various friends and relatives had stopped speaking to her because she was a cop. During a protest in June around Police Headquarters, a demonstrator lobbed an explosive charge that set her pants on fire and scorched her legs.

She said she was spit on. She was belittled. Members of the city’s gay community, an inclusive clan that had welcomed her in when she first settled in Asheville, stood near her at one event and chanted, “All gay cops are traitors,” she said.

By September, still deeply demoralized despite taking several months off to recuperate, Officer Rose decided that she was done. She quit the Police Department and posted a sometimes bitter, sometimes nostalgic essay online that attracted thousands of readers throughout the city and beyond.

“I’m walking away to exhale and inhale, I’m leaving because I don’t have any more left in me right now,” she wrote. “I’m drowning in this politically charged atmosphere of hate and destruction.”

Officer Rose was hardly alone. Thousands of police officers nationwide have headed for the exits in the past year.

A survey of almost 200 police departments indicated that retirements were up 45 percent and resignations rose by 18 percent in the year from April 2020 to April 2021 when compared with the previous 12 months, according to the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington policy institute.

New York City saw 2,600 officers retire in 2020 compared with 1,509 the year before. Resignations in Seattle increased to 123 from 34 and retirements to 96 from 43. Minneapolis, which had 912 uniformed officers in May 2019, is now down to 699. At the same time, many cities are contending with a rise in shootings and homicides.

Asheville was among the hardest hit proportionally, losing upward of 80 officers, more than one third of its 238-strong force.

The reason has partly to do with Asheville itself — a big blue dot amid a sea of red voters in western North Carolina. Residents often refer to the city, a tourist mecca of 90,000 people tucked into the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, as the South’s version of Austin, Texas, or Portland, Ore.

Protests are commonplace, although none in recent memory had roiled the city quite like those prompted by the death of Mr. Floyd. Asheville has removed its three Confederate monuments, including the obelisk that dominated the central square for more than 100 years. In June, the City Council agreed to earmark an initial $2.1 million to pay reparations to the Black community of more than 10,000 residents.

The police already had come under criticism in recent years, churning through half a dozen chiefs in the past decade amid widespread complaints about overly harsh policing. Often cited is a case in 2019, when an officer pleaded guilty to assaulting a Black man after an argument over jaywalking — at night with few cars on the road.

The past year’s racial justice protests brought these long-simmering tensions swiftly back to the surface.

“There was a cloud over the building,” said Chief David Zack, 58, adding that younger officers were particularly traumatized by the events. “We knew we were going to be in trouble. I don’t think we ever anticipated getting to this level.”

The fact that the protests were directed at them pushed many officers to quit, he said. “They said that we have become the bad guys, and we did not get into this to become the bad guys.”

A sense that the city itself did not back its police was a key reason for the departures, according to officers themselves as well as police and city officials. Officers felt that they should have been praised rather than pilloried after struggling to contain chaotic protests.

Low pay deepened the frustration. With a starting salary around $37,000, few officers can afford houses in Asheville, where housing prices have sharply increased in recent years.

Finally, officers said they were asked to handle too much; they were constantly thrown at tangled societal problems like mental health breakdowns or drug overdoses, they said, for which they were ill-equipped — then blamed when things went wrong.

Officers who left said they endured a barrage of “good riddance” taunts on social media. Some said they were accused of leaving because the higher level of public scrutiny meant they could no longer beat up people of color with impunity.

One sergeant who quit after a decade on the force, who did not want his name published because of the aggressive verbal attacks online, said last summer had chipped away at his professional pride and personal health. He could not sleep and drank too much.

In September, somebody dropped a coffin laden with dirt and manure at the front door of Police Headquarters. “The message was taking a different turn,” Chief Zack said. “The message was not about police reform, but, ‘We endorse violence against police’.”

Of the more than 80 officers who left, about half found different professions and the other half different departments, Chief Zack said. New careers included industrial refrigeration, construction, real estate and pharmaceutical sales — anything far removed from policing.

Some officers decided that Asheville was the problem. Alec N. Dohmann, 30, a former Marine infantryman, could not afford a house in the city, and the rage directed at officers during the protests shocked his wife, who watched it live on Facebook. He took a police job in nearby Greenville, S.C., and bought a house.

“It is night and day,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ll be in uniform and someone comes up and shakes my hand, thanking me for what I do.”

The George Floyd protests in Asheville lasted just four or five nights, far less than in other cities, yet many activists said they remain alarmed by the degree of force police used against demonstrators.

Officers fired tear gas to disperse them, and in one widely criticized incident, the police ransacked a medical tent, chasing off the volunteers, slashing water bottles and destroying first aid supplies.

City officials seemed torn about how to respond. At first Chief Zack defended the officers over the medical tent episode, saying water bottles were constantly heaved at officers, but he apologized amid the subsequent uproar.

Mayor Esther Manheimer dropped into one daily police briefing, lauding the department’s efforts. The very next day, she publicly accused the police of mishandling events, several officers said.

Ms. Manheimer, mayor since 2013, said in an interview that the city was facing a “clash of cultures,” and that she had “obviously not perfected” her efforts to “thread the needle of supporting law enforcement employees, but at the same time demanding and calling for needed change.”

Calls for defunding the police have continued, with many Asheville residents saying the department’s problems started long before last year’s protests.

Rob Thomas of the Racial Justice Coalition grew up in what he described as a “drug house” in the now gentrified North Side. He said the Black community has long felt targeted, and he learned early that there was an unwritten rule among police officers that they would beat anyone who ran from them.

To him, the officers’ leaving is not a big concern.

“The ones who left are collateral damage of people advocating for change,” he said. “It is not these individual officers who are so bad or so wrong; the system itself is kind of messed up.”

Recruitment all over the country, given negative attitudes toward the police, has also become a slog, prompting Asheville to approve a modest salary increase. Several other cities, hearing about the mood among the police in Asheville, put up billboards there hoping to attract officers who were ready to move. It takes roughly a year to train new officers in Asheville, and of seven who started in December, six have already quit, Chief Zack said.

To make do, the A.P.D. has trimmed its services even as shootings and other violent crimes escalated, a trend that has been seen across the country and which many experts have connected to disruption from the pandemic. The police received about 650 calls for “shots fired” last year, Chief Zack said, and there were 10 homicides, compared with seven the year before. Aggravated assaults were also up.

The department shuttered a downtown satellite office, stopped bicycle patrols and is making fewer traffic stops. It published a list of 10 incidents to which it would no longer dispatch officers, including some vehicle thefts, and urged citizens to file simple complaints online rather than calling.

All but one of the seven officers who investigated domestic violence and sexual assault left, so the department is trying to get three officers up to speed on the skills needed.

“A lot of our experience is walking out the door,” Chief Zack said.

With a third of the police force gone, some activists and residents said they worried that the city would squander an opportunity for change, hiring replacements instead of exploring alternatives.

Justin Souther, the manager of Malaprop’s Bookstore, said that what he considered police overkill during the George Floyd protests renewed his conviction that Asheville should not be as reliant on law enforcement for dealing with issues like the homeless people who inhabit downtown. “People need help, not punishment,” he said.

Jill Coleman in the Spice & Tea Exchange echoed those sentiments, yet admitted that she was worried when she heard about rising violent crime.

“People might be feeling a little shaky with not seeing police around, but it is also exciting to think that change is coming,” she said.

Officer Rose, leaving the police after seven years, first worked for a moving company started by a fellow officer who had also quit. She felt angry, tired, disgruntled and like a failure all at once, she said. She slept badly and had no appetite.

“My story is not unique,” she said.

Some time in January, she decided she wanted to retrieve her badge, to give it to her grandfather, who had pinned it on her when she had completed her training.

She had to apply to Chief Zack to get it, she said. Leaving the police had been the hardest decision of her life, she said, and the chief dangled a job as a community liaison officer designed to make the department more transparent to the public.

Plus in an effort to “humanize the badge,” he had relaxed some of the rules. She could now wear short sleeves, for example, displaying the bursts of floral and other tattoos on her arms. Her wife, an Asheville native, endorsed her return as well.

She said yes.

Officer Rose said she still nourishes the idea first planted when she joined the police that she can make a difference in people’s lives, but she is more wary. “It was a rude awaking,” she said. “It’s like you are in a loving relationship, and then all of a sudden you are dumped and you don’t know why.”

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[maneaterwithtail]

I was answered TWICE in this Q&A

Helps also put in perspective their production, aims, and the influences

Helps as really unpacking along with @pirateshenani and @cartoonemotion the influence and differences and aims with the adaptation

Thanks to all the Toonzone Forum Members for submitting questions to the Fangbone! Fan Q&A! Your questions were awesome and so were the creators’ answers! We hope you enjoy reading through the answers as much as we did. Participating in the Answers portion of the Fangbone! Q&A were the creator and book series writer, Michael Rex and the tv showrunners Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott. (Editor’s Note: Questions asked were edited for brevity and clarity.) Will Fangbone! be renewed for Season 2? (superkeegan9100 and SparkleMan) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: By Grom’s bottomless dimples, it shall be so! (we hope) Michael Rex: Fingers crossed! --- Will Fangbone! air on any additional countries, networks and in other languages? (Ryan, RandomMe, NeoplanDan, I.R. Shokew) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: Absolutely. Fangbone! will appear across the world in a multitude of tongues in a multitude of places – that are too numerous for us to list (or remember). Perhaps one of our many traveling salespeople who criss-cross the world with a suitcase full of Fangbone! might chime in here… In all seriousness, Fangbone! Distributor DHX Media, has currently sold the series into Disney XD US, South East Asia, Taiwan, and Latin America. Hope to announce additional countries in the near future. Stay posted. Will the books be translated into other languages? In what other languages/regions can we expect to see the books published? (RandomMe) Michael Rex:Right now, there are no plans for translating the books. I’m hoping as the show starts playing in different countries, the publisher, Putnam, will solicit the books to foreign markets. --- If you could be one of the characters on the show, who would you be? (D-nice is the man) Simon Racioppa: Drool’s giant badger monster. He’s clearly just misunderstood and trying his best every day for an unappreciative master… Richard Elliott: I would definitely be a Shadowstepper – skulking in the shadows and outwitting barbarians sounds like a good time to me. Michael Rex:I’ve always thought of myself as Bill. At the end of 3rd grade, my school closed down, and I was sent to a new school. Literally all of my closest friends went to another school. So, when 4th grade started, I was very lonely and desperate for a best friend. Eventually, a boy named Mark moved into my hometown in New Jersey, and we became great friends. He was fun, and a bit wild, and had long black hair. We’re still friends today. Will Fangbone! have Christmas and Halloween episodes? (Ryan) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: Skullbanians don’t celebrate Christmas or Halloween. But they do have many other holidays – like Troll-smasher’s Eve and The Feast of Stoneback’s Feast. Endless possibilities for fun and adventure as you look at, compare and try to understand how Skullbanian’s celebrate versus how we do things here on Earth. What would Fangbone! think of Halloween? What would a Holiday Tree look like in Skullbania? Stay tuned. --- Does Fangbone! have parents? (Eggy) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: He has the mightiest of parents! But they are away in far off lands on an epic quest. However, those of you with the eyes of a blood-eagle may catch a glimpse of them in an upcoming episode. If you do not have the eyes of a blood-eagle, they nest on sharp mountain peaks. But be careful – they peck! Michael Rex:Yes. They’re on a great quest somewhere in Skullbania. Also, how did Venomous Drool become Fangbone! and Bill's worst enemy? (Eggy) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: If someone was keeping your detached big toe from you and wouldn’t give it back, you probably wouldn’t be pals with them either… Michael Rex:They’ve got his toe, and he needs it back. And, they keep beating him, and they’re only kids. It drives him nuts. --- How do you take an episode from concept to it airing? (martikhoras) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: Let us explain… No, there is too much. Let us sum up. First, five or six NERDS gather in a small room and try to imagine what insanity could happen to Fangbone! this week. They argue and fight and cry and hiss at each other until the showrunners (that’s us!) are satisfied they’ve worked their butts off to come up with the best of all possible stories in the universe and beyond. They’re sent away to dank dark holes to write their scripts, which are then torn apart by the rest of the nerds and reassembled until they’re so full of adventure and comedy that they leak all over the floor. Then trumpets are sounded and ACTORS assembled in a recording studio – where they ACT with such passion it drives everyone to tears (of joy). At the same time, ARTISTS design all the new locations, characters, and props that the writers say they desperately need (liars!) to make their script work. Then trumpets are sounded again and the finished script, designs, and recorded actors are handed over to a story-bored artist… Sorry, story BOARD artist – who listens to the writers explain how amazing their script is, then drinks enormous amounts of coffee and draws PANELS from the script one by one, matching the recorded actors and making that ‘amazing’ ‘script’ and ‘amazing’ ‘acting’ even better. Those panels go to the DIRECTOR, who along with an EDITOR, assemble it into an animated and voiced storyboard that we call a LEICA on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and an ANIMATIC on Tuesdays, Fridays, and the weekend. When the animatic/leica makes everyone giddy with excitement, it moves onto ANIMATION, where thousands (twenty-five) animators fight each other to animate the most exiting scenes – matching the animatic as closely as possible. The episode gets a few more passes to make it even better (fix all the mistakes) and then moves on to the real stars of the show – sound effects and music – who make everything approximately one million and a half times better. Then it’s a final pass for last minute mistakes and TA-DA! One finished Fangbone! episode ready for people to share for free on the Internet (please don’t share it for free on the Internet). What are your favorite parts of the show’s creative process? (Harley) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: Seeing a goofy idea that started in the writers’ room as a “what if…” become a real finished episode. Also, the creative process of deciding what to order for lunch. Then the creative process of regretting what we ordered for lunch. --- As a fan of the tv show, how familiar will jumping into the book series feel? (jfoley85) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott: As familiar as traveling to an alternate reality where everything’s kinda the same but your parents are snakes. So mostly familiar with some specific differences. Michael Rex:They’re actually pretty close. One of the things that I am most happy with about the show is that it IS the books. While the stories in the books are a bit more involved than an 11-minute episode, the entirety of season 1 goes much deeper than the books. On the down side, the books don’t have a cool song at the beginning. Every adaptation is a challenge from visuals, to performers depictions, and direction and framing. I'm noticing some changes from the two GNs (1st and 3rd) I've read to the episodes I've seen (pretty much up to Back of Stone). What would you say has been added, changed, or dropped and what is the purpose of these changes? (martikhoras) Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott:While the books are wonderful gateways into imagination, there’s only three of them. The television series is a hungry monster that requires more. Always more... MORE characters. MORE stories. MORE episodes. MORE human sacrifices to GROM! Michael Rex:Everything that has been added was done to open up the show, and allow for more varied stories. Skullbania doesn’t get much time in the books, but the creative team felt that it needed to be a big part of the show. Twinklestick was created as a way for Fangbone! to stay a bit more connected to his home world. Drool was greatly expanded on as well. He only lurks in the background in the books. Even though his actions are constantly felt, he doesn’t really get to do much. --- What did you read and watch as a kid? What were the inspirations for Fangbone! and Skullbania?(martikhoras) Michael Rex:Growing up the early 70’s, “Planet of the Apes” was everywhere. 5 movies, a TV show, and an action figure line made it easy to get wrapped up in. “Star Wars” came out in 1977 and it affected me deeply. Like many others in my generation, it felt like my 9 year-old imagination had been transported directly to the screen. I started reading about movie making, and I tried to understand the mythology Lucas was using in his films. (As a 10 year old, Joseph Campbell was a tough slog, but I tried.) Fangbone! is directly inspired by the 1982 film, “Conan The Barbarian,” which I saw in 8th grade. It was funny, gritty, violent, and exciting and I just loved it. Conan had always been around when I was younger, I’d see his comics and cheap paperbacks in drugstores, but I didn’t know much about him until the film came out. When I was older, I eventually got around to reading the Conan books by Robert E. Howard. As I was gearing up to write the first Fangbone! book, I devoured a huge pile of Marvel’s “Savage Sword of Conan.” Oddly, now that I think about it, Skullbania’s vast deserts and rocky vistas are probably inspired by “Planet of the Apes.” It’s hard to escape those early influences.

#adaptation #Fangbone #Series Creator #Michael Rex #Simon Racioppa #Richard Elliott #Q&A #Toonzone

[sincerepinkhibiscusrightear]

So, I finally watched Boku No Mirai. I wasn’t able to the day it came out because I was in class all day. By the time I got home I basically sat in complete exhaustion until I passed the heck out. BUT my feelings under the cut. Note: It is currently 9am, I am sleep deprived and slightly sugar high. It might get a little off track.

I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to watch this last movie or not. I, like the rest of you, am tired. So, so tired. I was afraid that it would make me angrier than I have been. It’s been three years. I just wanted it to end, but I was afraid of it ending.

I loved it. I cried five times throughout the movie. I was able to appreciate Meiko as a character. The thing that I was worried about the most and hated the most about Tri was rectified.

Does that mean I don’t have my problems with Tri? Heck no. But I’ve been angrier at Loss. But let me go through it.

I watched 4 of the 6 movies with my friend and fellow rp partner @spiritxgun and maybe he can speak of his own thoughts and feelings on the movies. We marathoned Digimon 01 together and went straight to Tri. We initially only meant to watch the first two movies. The first because I thought it was good. The second because it centred around Mimi, and she is the whole reason we watched. Since 02 barely has Mimi in it, there was little point in slogging through what I considered a terrible series just for 2 episodes where she was actually featured as a full character and not just seen for 3 seconds.

But Boku no Mirai crept up on us and I asked him to watch with me, and since we were going to watch the ending, why not the whole thing. Cue marathon. Anyways, sorry for the long sidenote.

Going back to the Real World, the kids have a quiet moment as they basically wait for what to do next. There’s a lot of unsureness and waiting. But there was a good scene with Yamato and Gabumon that I’m glad was there.

I’m not sure why Ordinemon preferenced going after Meiko on the pier and not Hikari in the bed. Ordinemon is 50/50 both their partners. Maybe Meiccoomon just held stronger influence. That’s likely it. Now it’s a desperate race to defeat Ordinemon.

I’m actually quite happy that Homeostasis wasn’t made out to be evil. Or that Yggdrasil necessarily went crazy. She was just doing what she thought was best, and I think it was rather kind of her to take the time to warn the children they were going against what she thought was against everyone’s best interests for peace, order and balance. Others may not see it as kindness, but that’s what I took away. These were her charges and while she doesn’t have a full range of human empathy, it is required, I think, to some degree to keep balance.

It just turns out the kids didn’t want her balance if it meant rebooting everything all the time. You know what? Good on them. I was starting to get annoyed that it felt like the kids were just caught between two feuding gods and had no business doing anything. So being proactive and fighting against her wishes was wonderful.

I also loved that Hackmon actually felt the most empathy toward the children. At least that seemed to be what was hinted with his words of ‘this isn’t what I wanted, either.’ Of course I can’t quote verbatim.

Actually, thinking of Hackmon and how James was surprised at Hackmon being Jesmon, I realized that we never saw Alphamon’s other forms. Any of them. Coupled with that, the mystery of the fake Gennai since Gennai was being kept with the 02 kids. Maybe Fake!Gennai is Alphamon?

Both of us wanted Fake!Gennai to die. Both of us thought at the same time how hilarious it would be if he got caught in the crossfire while gloating and just ceased.

I’m glad actually that one of my fears was proven wrong. I was hoping that Tri wasn’t just an excuse to establish the formation of the Royal Knights. That somehow Homeostasis wasn’t going to be overthrown for Yggdrasil, that constantly malfunctioning thing and get established a round table of knights that never seem to get along and always feud with one another and fall apart at the seems, replacing the concept of a Digidestined/Chosen Child for that.

I’m happy that the world isn’t idyllic and perfect like 02′s epilogue depicted. I hated it. Even as a child I thought it was too simplistic and fanficcy. Of course it sucks that everyone but the Chosen detest digimon now, but at best I expect an uneasy acceptance of digimon with fluctuating parts hate, neutrality and like for digimon as the world comes to terms with the idea of the Digital World existing alongside theirs.

I’m also glad that the memories of the digimon were restored. I know a lot of people hate the idea of their memories coming back. But it wasn’t the idea of the memories coming back that irked me. It was the status quo of the relationships not changing. At all. None of the digimon acted any differently or formed different relationships with their partners despite the lack of memories. Gatomon/Tailmon retained her Champion form despite the reboot making it so that in the new Digital World’s history she no longer had to struggle under Myotismon. But it seemed like the reboot wasn’t a complete clean slate. The history still affected the digimon in some way, and I think that was a hint that the memories would return. That something would be restored. I just wish there was a more visible contrast to there being a change in the first place. But I would have been just as angry if the memories had been returned in the same movie it was revealed they were definitely lost.

I’m sorry but Memory Loss for Drama/The Sads just is really a pet peeve of mine. I am who I am because of who I was, and my memories are a testament to that. So such a concept as one’s memories is important to me, personally. I don’t expect anyone else to share my feelings on the matter.

Regarding Wizardmon, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I think it was great how he was shown, but considering his hat was on the poster I would have liked to see him have more screen time. But seeing him there still made me cry and whisper soundlessly to James and somehow he still heard me through my microphone. How, I have no idea because honestly I was that quiet.

Since we’re talking about characters making appearances, I’ll also talk about the 02 kids. I am one of those people who don’t really give a fuck about the 02 kids. Sorry, but they more annoy me than anything. Except for maybe Iori and MAAAAYBE Ken. Maybe. If I hadn’t known that Tri was supposed to focus on the 01 kids I’d be more upset. But since it was very clearly established it wasn’t going to be on the 02 kids, I was satisfied with the idea that the kids probably wouldn’t actually be SEEN until the 6th movie and lo and behold I was right.

The movies do actually a good job with never letting us forget that the 02 kids are missing. But it was very evident we wouldn’t see them until the end. Why the 01 kids never wondered why they were absent, I’m not sure. I figured they moved to go to different high schools. An explanation just for clarity would have been nice.

The password for unlocking Meiccoomon’s memories was good, man. James was there speculating it would be Meiko’s name. But he figured that would be too simple. When he asked what I thought, I said ‘Ta much’ and TA DA! I win~

On Mimi, I was actually super happy that Mimi was so empathetic and passionate in this movie. I loved how she picked up Koromon. I wanted her to comfort him more. There wasn’t a lot of her in terms of screen time, but I was happy with what was there. It felt very ‘her’ to me, or how I always saw her to be.

The pacing was better than the last two movies. The animation budget seemed to be better, but I think there were a few quirks of what felt like a running-low-on-budget production, but it wasn’t as bad as that frigging montage of stills in Loss. That took both of us out of the story.

The second reboot itself felt a little iffy. Maybe I’d be more pissed if I hadn’t immediately thought of the concept that they already justified such a possibility with their more philosophical discussions previously. Plus it was definitely in line with Homeostasis and what she would do. Going back to Hackmon, I’m glad someone, even if it was Meiko, finally brought up the idea of whether or not Homeostasis even cared about them as people or was heartless, and going after Hackmon. Hackmon, likewise, I’m glad told Meiko to shut up about apologizing. But in a nicer way.

There was no repeat of conversations unlike Symbiosis, which started feeling repetitive. So that was good.

Both Maki and Daigo seemed to have died. Maki I stopped caring about, though I recognize the tragedy of her character. A Chosen fallen into despair and gone astray. She was abused and cracked under pressure of being a pawn. Daigo got his heroic farewell and I wouldn’t have been happier any other way. Even though he was the favourite of the newcomers. I just wanted him to be happy, but if he can’t be alive and happy, I’m glad he’s at least still happy while dead.

Orinemon’s ass shots were distracting. There’s no getting around that. Seriously who fucking flies like that? How is that natural looking in any way shape or form? It’s not aerodynamic by any means. Sure, her wings double as hands doubling as digimon n stuff but feetwings still need aerodynamic everything to fly properly. Legs down and bent over is not that.

I’m glad at least it felt like no other character got that treatment. Lillymon once with the flying I guess. But they could have been so much worse with Angewomon and Rosemon and they weren’t.

Yamato’s quip about shooting for space irked me. I’m sorry but why the fuck? Just a casual ‘lol I guess I’ll be random and quit my music career to 1-Up/Emulate Taichi’. You did NOT earn that! GTFO with it you are still a musician to me and always will be. Shoot for the stars in your music videos you absolute loser dweeb.

#boku no mirai spoilers #digimon adventure tri spoilers #thoughts #digimon adventure tri #our future

[rilenerocks]

Here I am at age seven, standing in the grassy park that borders Lake Michigan at Rainbow Beach on the south side of Chicago. Except for our brief sojourn in Iowa from my infancy through 1st grade, I was born into a family of non-swimmers, who managed to stay out of the water despite being virtually  lifetime Chicagoans. I was always clearly a water person. Sometimes you wonder how you got to be the different one in the family. I remember my parents telling me they thought I was going to be an Olympic swimmer. That was naïveté talking. For them, my voluntary entry into the frigid lake was my first step toward athletic fame. I learned how to swim adequately in that cold water and then improved somewhat in high school, where we had a pool that I mostly disliked. I always preferred swimming outside. I know how to do all of the strokes but basically, I’ve got a decent, comfortable breaststroke in addition to being an excellent floater. I’d never win a race, even when I was young. But I have endurance and can last a long time in the water.

The laat time I did any real swimming was in the beginning of March when I was lucky enough to be visiting friends in Florida, whose subdivision has a pool. Lots of the residents down there like the air temperature and the pool temperature to be what feels like a bathtub to me. I was happy to have it to myself a few times on cool mornings. Covid was on my radar before I left for this trip but during my ten days away, the progression of infections was ramping up and I was terribly anxious when I returned home through two airports and as a bus passenger. I bought groceries and self-quarantined for days before having the courage to walk across the street to see my daughter and her family. Within a week, I cancelled a long-planned sisters’ trip to Alaska and hunkered down along with so many other older people who I darkly refer to as “the death group” because of our age and co-morbidities. For the first few months, the sameness of my daily life didn’t bother me much. I had my spring garden to think about and work in, I started babysitting for my grandsons and found ways to see a few people by parking next to each other and chatting through our car windows. I was really grateful I’d had both my knees replaced so I could take walks.  

As the weather heated up, I started having some issues. Going for long walks and returning home drenched was not my idea of a good time. I started missing the water. Desperately. I knew the pools, both indoor and out, were closed in my area until the end of July. I set up a little kid’s splash pool and a beach umbrella in my back yard which really made a difference in how I felt for awhile. But I found myself spending lots of time on the internet, looking for bodies of water close to home, places where I could feel safe from the virus and yet at the very least, wade and feel a small sense of submersion. In addition to longing for that physical sensation, I started running low on the rocks and pebbles I’ve been using for years to decorate brick pavers which I use to surround trees and create borders for my different garden sections. I found myself going out in the yard to scrounge them out of a few containers I use as yard decorations.

I haven’t much liked this version of myself. Lots of people are struggling with this stressful time. And certainly there are those who are facing much more challenging issues than me. I’ve not been enjoying this rather petty and selfish piece of me that’s erupted at this point. I’ve been thinking that feeling trapped without the physical release of swimming is just one piece of a bigger picture. When Michael died, I realized how hard it was going to be to not have human contact on a regular basis. I lived my whole adult life right up until his death next to a warm body. I know, lucky me. But going cold turkey has been hard for me. Being a person who plans ahead, I decided to budget a standing massage and pedicure into my calendar. Those contacts plus haircuts went a long way to not getting in the weird place I could go with no physical intimacy. Add in swimming and hugs from friends and voila – ways to stay sane. But basically, all that planning has been negated by the threat of Covid. I honestly don’t know if there will be a return to my previous existence. So now, I’ve had two significant adjustments in three years, along with the limits of travel these days. Which brings me back to the lake. While perusing social media and chatting with friends, I saw that some people, admittedly younger than me and so perhaps less vulnerable to the virus, were on the road. And what caught my attention was the photos posted of one of my favorite places on the planet, Lakeside, Michigan.

The first place we stayed at in Lakeside was a bed and breakfast place at the time, sometime in the late ‘90’s. After basically going on an extended family vacation with a close group of friends further north in Michigan, our son, our youngest child wasn’t enjoying the trips  much. When our friends decided to invest in a place as a group, we opted out to be able to address our kid’s needs. From then on, we took different trips as a family. But Michael and I always slipped away on our own for a weekend in Lakeside, right on the shore of Lake Michigan. That felt like home. The lake there has this magic illusory feeling to it. You know you’re at the shore of familiar waters but sometimes it feels like you’re on the edge of an ocean when the waves are up and the water is so, so clear. After a time, as the kids got into their teens, they wanted to join us for these few days and we needed bigger accommodations. We wound up a little way down the road at the Lakeside Inn, a rustic lodge listed on the National Register. No televisions, primitive decor and furniture, it’s a little island of detachment from the rapid pace of daily life. As Starved Rock became our winter destination, Lakeside was our summer one, with an occasional fall or spring getaway on the side.

I waffled up and back about going. Was it selfish and stupid to go in this uncertain time? Was I just acting like the type of spoiled person I find so irritating? And even more than that, was I ready to go back to a place that holds so many beautiful memories of my life with Michael? I haven’t been back there in four years, since the summer before he died. We just had a scant day and a half back then because we were taking what would be the last big trip of our lives, our Utah National Parks adventure shortly thereafter. The only photos I have from that time are of Michael standing in front of our two favorite restaurants in the next town east of Lakeside, him at the beach and one of our feet in the water. 

But I have photos of our family enjoying Lakeside going all the way back to 2003. There were times when it was just the four of us. We lay on the beach, swam, collected rocks and read books. Over the years we tried lots of different restaurants in the small towns that line the Red Arrow Highway, some wonderful and others awful. I remember spasms of convulsive laughter, mostly in the expensive places, when we were sharing the most entertaining words from the book Depraved and Insulting English. We played Spades and Hearts at night or Scrabble and Monopoly. Some of us were more competitive than others. I took my son’s high school graduation picture there.

He convinced me that we should go back to Lakeside as he’s heading out west soon, and we’d have a chance for one more special time together. I made the reservations, worried that I’d get up there and cry the whole time.  I wound up doing my crying in advance. I looked through all the old photos with a combination of joy and love, nostalgia and pain. I got worn out but in a good way.

As the years passed, our family group went from four to five and eventually six. Three generations on the beach along with a couple of dogs on occasion. What I know is we had so much privilege and fun that eludes so many people. I remind myself of that all the time.

So off we went on our brief excursion. By doing the emotional work in advance, I was pretty relaxed. My son and I travel well together and we enjoyed our couple of hours drive, listening to music and chatting. We stopped at a cafe which made good sandwiches and then headed to the Inn. I was relieved to see that good Covid practices were being observed which also took away stress. After quickly checking in, we headed to the private beach, a bonus when trying to avoid crowds. The weather was perfect as was the water. I scavenged for rocks for a long time and finally got my body into the lake. We stayed all afternoon and into early evening.

We headed upstairs and drove over to a favorite burger joint for a takeout dinner. After a day of beach and driving we were tired and decided to call it a night. We headed back to our rooms at the inn. When I looked out my window I realized a glorious sunset was taking place. We dashed back down the 115 steps to get back on the beach in time to see the flaming colors shimmering on the lake. I was so glad. Who knows when I’ll be there again, if ever? We went back upstairs and watched an episode of a series we’d been sharing on Netflix. Then my son turned in for the night. I wrote for awhile and pondered how just a few hours away from this 5 month slog soothed my tired brain.

The next morning we ate our boxed breakfasts on the long porch that spans the front of the Inn. We decided to go back down to the beach for a few hours to soak in the last moments of our perfect excursion. No one was there but us. I think many people think mornings are too cold to take the waters. They don’t know what they’re missing.

  We reluctantly tore ourselves away for the ride home. I felt tired but restored. My body was so refreshed by the water and the vista from the shore. The same magic I always felt and had missed so badly. Although the time was brief, it’ll hold me for awhile. As we drove along, I was thinking of the face of a young native girl whose photo hung in my room at the Inn. I was haunted by the  layered look in her eyes, which were complex, sad and moving. Life has always been challenging for everyone, long ago, currently and certainly, will be in the future. Perspective is everything.

 Meanwhile, I’m back in the routine of these past five plus months. But I’ve replenished my soul a bit and additionally, my supply of rocks for the garden project of the winter months.

#reneerocks

Back to the Lake Here I am at age seven, standing in the grassy park that borders Lake Michigan at Rainbow Beach on the south side of Chicago.