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shiny-kaibernyte · 6 months

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Can i get romance hcs for Kieran?

Ask and you shall receive! I have so many requests but I couldn't resist doing this one! Do hope I fit the bill for this one as Kieran is an, interesting character to write for 💜

Pokémon Headcannons | Kieran (Romance)

Pokémon Scarlett and Violet DLC Spoilers ahead!

Warnings: Possessive behaviour; obsession

SPOILER WARNING For Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk

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(Was gonna use one of his Teal mask mission photos but i love this one to much not to use it. Straight up mood.)

When you step into his life, it is you and you alone who rules his heart.

Kieran’s drive for things is strong, very strong. And when he sets his mind on something; he will never stop until he’s achieved whatever it is he’s after. So when he set eyes on you, his goal was to give his all to you. And hope you will give your all to him.

Your Agias and Kieran are like siblings, he's the quiet one, Agias is the give me your food or else one

He will never force you to do anything you don’t want to. After the Ogerpon situation, Kieran spiralled into a state where he no longer felt danger. He would dive into every challenge head first, fight every trainer, every Pokémon and climb the most dangerous of mountains if it meant he could be the best. But when he’s with you, he’ll dial it back. Always staying within your comfort zone, the last thing he wants is to push the most precious thing in his life away from him.

Gets jealous incredibly easily. ESPECIALLY if it's Drayton. The Rivalry between these two is uncanny, it would be no surprise if Kieran felt true hatred towards him for a time. Though it's gone now. The jealousy of even seeing Drayton standing close to you is overbearing.

You and Carmine are practically best friends. You're the glue that keeps the pair bonded together.. When you are around Carmine doesn’t feel afraid of Kieran as you bring out her little brother, the brother she thought was lost to obsession.

If you are a member of the BB League, he will be a lot sweeter for you. He may get frazzled when the rest of the group is around and everyone is slacking off. But he will always apologise to you if you tell him he’s gone too far. Never to the others however. Even if you force him to, he’ll never mean it.

Is not an outdoor person, even with the yelling and the confidence, deep down he is still the same shy, excitable boy who just needs a hug. So his ideal time with you is sitting together and watching movies, or reading books.

He is a listener. He will listen to you for however long you need him to. Every word you say he will listen.

He isn’t good with words, even after everything that happened with Ogerpon and Terapagos. So he tends to be a lot more handsy, always trying to hold your hand, your arm, or just you in general.

Speaking of that, when out in public together, he practically is stuck to you, he eyes glaring towards anyone who shows you any form of interest, hand on his Hydrapple’s Pokeball just in case they don’t take his death stare to literal.

He’s a cheek kisser, deep down he is still extremely shy and closeted, so kissing you on the lips can fluster him even when he's the champion, so he uses cheek kisses as his way of saying he loves you.

Hug him please. He will melt. This poor boy needs a break from everything.

If he was a ship, you are his lighthouse. If you were a tree, he is your roots. You both complete each other.

When Kieran begins his ‘redemption arc’ he tries to redeem his actions slowly though he doesn’t exactly know the best way around it. So he asks for your opinions on basically everything he does. Carmine attempts to give input but as sibling rivalries go, it falls upon deaf ears.

His Hydrapple loves you, almost as much as Kieran does. Almost.

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just-my-latest-hyperfixation · 6 months

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Break it first

Written for the @steddieholidaydrabbles, day 2

Prompt: Came back wrong

Rated: M

CW: Mind control/brainwashing; Possessive behavior; Referenced character death; Aftermath of trauma; Aftermath of injury; Kidnapping

Tags: Kas!Eddie Munson; Dark Eddie Munson

Notes: So, I already had a fill for this prompt, but then @house-of-the-moving-image showed me this stunning piece of art and my brain broke like Steve's. We both have a bunch of other fills coming up for this challenge, quite a few of them collabs, and I'm so, so stoked to share!!! ❤️

He still remembers how fragile Steve looked.

They were in the boat house, Steve and Eddie. The others had gone out for supplies, but Steve had insisted on hanging back. Eddie hadn’t protested, even though the thought made his heart rabbit.

The second they were alone, Steve let himself slide down the wall and curled into a ball on the floor, face hidden between hunched knees, shaking hands clawing at his own temples.

“Hey, man!” Eddie jumped in alarm. “You okay?”

Steve took a while to reply.

“Fine,” he claimed, but his smile was a tense thing in a too-pale face. “Just headaches. Been getting them a lot. Robin thinks it's 'cause I got knocked around a few times too many."

Eddie quirked an eyebrow, pulled a strand of hair in front of his face. "That … happen often in your line of business?"

And Steve told him.

About fighting monsters with nothing but a nail bat. About Billy Hargrove. About Russian torture chambers and the headaches and the nightmares and the ringing in his right ear that never really went away. He looked so young, so beautiful, so broken. Eddie wanted to scoop him up and put him back together and hold him close so that nothing would ever hurt him again.

But he didn't.

Instead, he watched.

Watched how Steve squared his shoulders and put on a brave face for the kids. Watched as Steve threw himself to the front lines so that others wouldn’t have to. Watched as Steve got choked and torn apart, that golden skin painted in new scars, and told everyone not to worry, he was fine.

Eddie watched and Eddie didn't do a thing.

Because Eddie was weak.

Eddie was a coward.

It's a good thing he's dead.

Steve is still the one to throw himself into danger first. That's good. It makes it easy to catch him alone.

"You still have the scar on your neck …"

A flick of his wrist and the bats scatter into the clouds. Steve curses, scrambles to his knees, gropes for his fallen weapon- and freezes as he cradles his face in both hands, tilting his head up.

"... Eddie?"

"Not quite," he hums, sharp claws carding through soft hair. "I have his body and his memories, that's all. The name's Kas. I've been dying to meet you, sweet thing."

Those caramel eyes go wide. Steve tenses under his hands, tries to scramble away. That's okay, to be expected. He tightens his grip. Steve gasps as the vines on the ground wrap around his wrists and ankles.

"What are you-?"

"Sssh…" he brings their foreheads together, softly, slowly. Lets his mind wiggle inside the boy's, just a sliver at first, so he won't notice. Finds a crack, fine as a hairline, slips inside. Waits. "He was so in love with you, y'know that? It ate him alive, watching you sacrifice yourself over and over again. Seeing you suffer. Being unable to help, being unable to fix it."

Steve's mind flutters like a frightened bird as he encases it with his, gently, carefully. His arms twitch in their restraints, trying to break free.

He smiles. Always the fighter, his sweet boy.

"Dont worry," he coos. “I’ve got it all figured out now sweetheart. I’ll fix everything, promise."

"Eddie, wait-" Steve's mind flails. Realizes it's trapped, panicks, tries to break free-

And he pounces.

Steve struggles, briefly, but he doesn’t stand the ghost of a chance. He's human, and humans are weak. All it takes is a little pressure, and the tiny crack opens wide, welcoming him in.

Steve screams.

"I know, sweet thing, I know," he coos, curls himself around the boy's spasming body as he digs in deeper. "It'll only hurt for a moment. You'll feel so much better after."

He sees them now, the scars on that beautiful mind, the traces left by years and years of hurt. Sees how to fix them, sees what Eddie could never have seen. What Eddie was too soft, too cowardly to understand.

Sometimes, to fix something, you need to break it first.

And he does.

Tears at the cracks of that mind until it comes apart at the seams, shatters the fragments into so many tiny shards, grinds what is left into fine, fine dust. Steve screams and sobs and begs him to stop until his voice breaks. By the time the dust is ready to be molded back into shape, he is silent, bar for the occasional whimper.

He tells the vines to release their hold, cradles the limp body against his chest. He hums softly and kisses the tears from under the boy's unblinking eyes while he completes his work. He takes his time. This needs to be perfect.

"You with me, darling?"

Steve hums against the crook of his neck, so softly he nearly misses it.

When he looks down, those pretty eyes are blinking up at him, wide and wondrous like those of a newborn.

He chuckles. It's true in a way.

"Feeling all better?" he asks, claws softly tracing the shell of his boy's right ear. "Ringing should be gone?"

Steve doesn’t reply, just slips his eyes shut and nuzzles closer, every movement slow and sluggish.

He coos.

"Aw, sweetheart. You must be exhausted, that was a lot to take." He gently scratches at Steve's scalp, revels in the little sigh it gets him. "Don't worry. From now on, nothing's gonna hurt you ever again. I'll make sure of it."

Steve stirs a little at the soft press of lips against his forehead. His lids flutter, but they don’t open.

"That's it, honey, you rest. Let's take you home now."

By the time he has adjusted Steve's weight so that he can stand and start walking, his boy is fast asleep.

All of my holiday drabbles

#steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #steddie brainrot #steddie fanfic #fanfiction writer #fanfiction #fanfic #my writing #steddie holiday drabbles #hype's holiday drabbles

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matchaxberries · 11 months

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Gaara Relationship Headcanons

Gaara Sabaku (Naruto) x Gn!reader

Drabbles/Headcanons, Not requested, SFW

Summary: Gaara of the sand is perfect, no debates. Cute relationship Headcanons, fluffy.

Warnings: Talk about insecurities and nightmares, pet names, I don’t think there is anything else.

(A/N) Gaara is one of my favorite characters of this series. He deserves so much, and is soft. I do not care who thinks he’s terrible, he is perfect. If it’s requested at all I might make a smut version of this, or if I just feel like doing that. I also for the most part always will put the read more under the gif for my posts. I think it looks clean. :3 If anyone thinks I should change it, do suggest something else.

Gaara is insecure of himself, that’s obvious in the show. He likes physical touch, and words of affirmation.

In public, he isn’t too big on touch though. Being the Kazekage, he wants your relationship a bit more closed. He wouldn’t want anything bad happening to his lover because of his status.

He will melt into grains of sand if you play with his hair while sitting behind him. If you’re taller, he wouldn’t mind sitting right in your lap, or in between your legs. If you’re shorter, he would sit in the floor in front of you, while you’re in a chair just so you run your hands through his red locks.

He would be very flustered by any nicknames, he likes kind words, but pet names turn him the color of his own hair. Bright red. He isn’t going to tell you to stop though, no. He’s going to enjoy it, and pretend he doesn’t like it, and he will turn away from you so you can’t see his expression.

Back on him being insecure, he gets jealous or possessive over you fast. He sees you talking to someone who makes you laugh a bit more than usual? He is by your side in a moment, wrapping his arm around your shoulder. “What is so funny, (y/n)?” He will question, right in front of the person.

They will be scared, he is Kazekage. “Sorry, lord Kazekage-“ they’ll quickly let out, turning heel and getting away from you.

You’ll pout at Gaara, saying they weren’t saying anything with bad intentions. But he doesn’t say anything back, only drags you back to his office so you can tell him how much you love him, and how he’s the only one for you.

While you are laying and about to rest, randomly tell him how you love something about him. He doesn’t mind if he’s heard it before, it helps him fall asleep.

Gaara has nightmares frequently, he doesn’t want to wake you at all, but sometimes he jerks awake and you get jerked with him since you sleep right on him.

“I’m sorry my dear, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He will say, while out of breath. “Don’t worry Gaara, are you okay?” He will only nod, and hold you closer. He doesn’t like to talk about his nightmares, they’re often about things that would happen in his past. He’s afraid you’ll leave him if you find out that he’s a ‘monster’ in his own words.

Gaara doesn’t have too many facial expressions, at first it worried you, thinking you were boring him. But he assured you he just doesn’t react well, but he loves you very much, and finds you very entertaining.

Gaara likes to carry you around on his sand. He thinks it is fun, and you get to enjoy yourself watching over everything. He will have you float just a bit behind him, up a bit higher, but never out of his reach or sight.

His preferred pet name from you is love, sweetheart, and pretty boy. They all fluster him a lot, but those are his favorites to hear. He likes to call you dear, my dear, and on occasion darling. He keeps them to a minimum, and keeps them kind of professional. He will fluster himself by calling you something pretty out there.

Word Count: 571

Character count: 2,974

(A/N 2) The word and character counts on these might not be 100% accurate. I paste everything into a random thing on Google, so it might be a bit wrong. I might make a part two for this, but for now this is all, it wasn’t too much but I just wanted to write something more.

Masterlist

Request Rules

#naruto x reader #naruto #gaara x reader #gaara sabaku X reader #gaara fluff #gaara drabbles #gaara headcanons #gaara sabakuno #reader insert #character x reader

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ratboydefenselawyer · 2 years

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This is my first and probably last post I will ever make. I’m here to consume the content, not necessarily create it.

I see all of you fighting the good fight for Billy and his story. And I wanted to add my thoughts into the ring.

As someone who works with children and adults from abusive backgrounds EVERY SINGLE DAY. I can tell you that Billy checks every single box for being in his survival state 24/7.

I have had extensive trainings about trauma, how to recognize it and the effects it can have on a person and how they act. Personally I have endured a lot of trauma myself and had to unlearn a lot of unhealthy behaviors and ways of thinking because of it.

With that being said: someone who is in a state of survival constantly is not capable of thinking rationally, the only goal is to…survive.

Billy Hargrove was an abused child. A CHILD. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Does this forgive his actions? No. But it explains them. Gives us a deeper insight into the “why?”

Neil hit his son, he insulted him, called him a slur and then reminded him that Max, his younger stepsister’s well-being is in his hands. That’s a lot for a 17 year old to go through. Then he goes to the Byers residence where he’s insulted and lied to. His sister (who’s well-being is in his hands) is alone with 5 boys, one of them is his age? THEN to top it all off, Steve punches him? All that built up rage from what just happened with Neil comes spilling out. Oh and to make matters worse, he gets sedated and Max MIRRORS Neil’s abuse by making him repeat himself. Keep this in mind, while all this is going on Billy has absolutely no idea what is going on. He still doesn’t know what Max is doing with all of these boys in this house.

Moving forward- Billy gets possessed by the mind flayer, he still has no idea what is going on and loses control of his own body. He had to watch as his hands take the lives of many people to feed this creature from his worst nightmares. Then this group of children lock him in a sauna, he is FINALLY able to beg for help and sobs. Even then NOBODY tells him what’s going on, no one really makes an effort to help him. It’s only in the final episode of season 3 that El breaks through to him, she see’s his past, his mom leaving, the abuse. Even standing up to the mind flayer Billy has no idea what he’s up against, he’s still in the dark. All he knows is that it’s him or this child that showed him how to come back to himself. It’s him or Max, and as we already know Max’s well-being is in his hands. Nothing is more terrifying than Neil’s wrath. And in his dying breath he apologizes.

For my fellow Billy Stans- Please never let anyone bully you about what characters you can and can’t like. Your ability to see deeper into the characters and push past the hate is needed in this world. Not just in fiction, but in the real world. If you relate to Billy as I do, from past trauma, I am so sorry. I am so very sorry that you have to fight, explain and rationalize your love for him every time. For whatever reason you stand behind Billy Hargrove, it is valid. And unlike Billy’s story, I hope that yours doesn’t end in tragedy. My inbox is always open for those who need to talk.

Now, for the Antis- I want to say, good for you. You managed to take a broken and deeply complex character and reduce him to a heartless villain in your minds. Think what you want about him, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is how you act to the people who do relate to Billy. The name calling, the hate, the wild assumptions about real people!! It’s so insane to me. I hope that turning into the bully to make a point was worth it. How other people relate to a character doesn’t affect you in any way at all. Somehow many of you have managed to put people down and make them afraid to express their love for a character. It’s not something to be proud of.

I am not willing to argue with anyone on this, this is just my views and my opinion. Dacre Montgomery stated that he worked hard to humanize Billy Hargrove. Seeing his character be dragged through the mud and continuously be turned into the irredeemable monster by the Duffer Brothers and the fans is just really sad.

Billy Hargrove means a lot to me. For a lot of different reasons. He deserved so much more than he was given. He deserved a chance to redeem himself and to tell his side of the story. He deserved a chance to apologize for everything he did in his survival state. He deserved the chance to finally be happy and be surrounded by people who actually cared for him, who wanted to help him.

Just keep going everyone. ❤️

#billy hargrove #billy #harringrove #billy hargrove deserved better #billy hargrove stan #billy hargrove gifs #billy hargrove is alive

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psychelis-new · 1 year

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pick a pile: "Your soulmate's light and dark"

take a breath and choose the photo/number that calls you the most to read about what may be the "good" and "bad" sides of your soulmate: remember a soulmate can be either romantic or platonic (it's part of our soulmate family). I will let the message open to any type of soulmate also cause not everyone wants a romantic partner now.

As you can see from the pics, the reading is divided in two parts: if you feell called by the light side of one pile and the dark side of another, it's obviously fine. Sometimes lights aspect may mix up with dark ones and vice versa: it's fine. Nobody's here to judge what is really light or dark in everyone's life. Thanks to the 2 Anons who suggested this topic.

don’t take the reading too seriously. only take what resonates with you and leave the rest. if you're not called by any pile, let this reading slid as it may not hold messages for you. if you're called by more than one, there may be messages in each of those piles. remember that is a general reading and some things may not resonate with you. energies can change and readings are based on present ones (as you read); you're always in charge of your life.

(photos found on unsplash)

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

1 2 3 4 top part/colored pics : light sides bottom part/bnw pics : dark sides - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 1

--light--

Someone good with words and communication, very talented in what they do. Someone that may be rich, not just with money but also in experiences. Someone into magic or that has magical abilities (or perceived so). A joyful optimistic, open, ambitious, spiritual, not too corrupted by the harsh world, and healing for you. Your connection may bring healing to both of you. Balanced, may also be doing two jobs. Very giving to those they like/love, the classic "helping hand". May also be an healer as a job (also through communication). They may be healing some dark aspects of them too atm. Physical in their displays of affections (loves hugging).

song: quiver | lonas

--dark--

A "shield hard to break": might not be easy to get closer to them, not much physically but emotionally. May have had not positive past experiences or fear being played with; once they trust you though, nothing can break that trust (unless you do something stupid which ofc would make them show you a different side of them: I think may have problems with anger, at times). Kinda possessive/jealous of their partner and friends/family. Likes to take care of you/them and go beyond in order to do that (meaning they may second guess themselves, at least on occasions). [18+ MESSAGE: may be a dom and like to tie you or ordering you]

song: the boy is mine | brandy and monica

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 2

--light--

I keep hearing "simplicity is the key". Might not appear or stand out physically, but hides loads of amazing and different traits in their character. Sophisticated, empathic, harmonious, likes to be one of the many out in the world, but appreciate everytime someone (and in particular you/their family/friends) remind them of how much important they are. Wise, smart, into books, a philanthropist. Might be donating a lot to charity. The person you'd go to for advices. Has continuosly transformed, grown and adapted through their life. Might be popular, even just in their field or city.

song: the fabulous emancipation of one harley quinn | daniel pemberton

--dark--

Too kind for the world, too sweet, too easily hurt. Too giving. Still needs to work on boundaries and self esteem/worth. Tendencies to people please, feeling neglected and abandoned on occasions. Still needs to work on some of their traumas, despite how much they've already done. Might fear running out of time and gets anxious. Needs someone to ground them and remind them it's fine to not know and to be patient and hopeful. To not be scared. Might have fear of commitment/intimacy, and not realize when it's time to take a step back and see how much they've done. They want to do more constantly. They need to do better. Never satisfied. Always searching for something else, and for someone that needs them/their help. Needs to learn how to take care of/show up for themselves.

song: song of the sea | lisa hannigan

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 3

--light--

This person is light. And love. Bright, optimistic, happy, a warm ray of sunshine. Ofc they have some issues too, but when they're around others, they try to be as positive and encouraging as possible. They want to see people succeed. And applaude them. They are a gift from heaven to everyone they encounter. People may randomly start speaking with them, confessing stuff to them e.g. when on a train or in line at the grocery shop. They make people feel understood and never judged. Very welcoming, accepting and kind energy. Tend to not see immediately when they're being deceived, may be a bit naive.

song: if you love me | brownstone

--dark--

Nobody/not many know this cause they rarely speak about their darkest side, but they've been through hell and back. They've been in the mud, they navigated the darkest waters but still managed to came out so pure and kind as nothing happened. Only at their core they know and remember every little step of those trips (and sometimes they may still feel that deep hurt). They have known hate, judgment, abandonment, neglect... maybe even more. They stayed strong through all that, through all the physical and mental struggles. It doesn't matter if others aren't aware of this trait and tend to judge them easily as a "lucky one". They want to save others from experiencing the same hell, and for this reason they try to be this bright kind person everytime they can. They didn't let pain change them.

song: fade away | lucky daye

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 4

--light--

A little bright pure star. Someone who likes to be at the center of attention, doesn't mind that. Might be popular online/make public speeches. May like to be different or results different in their environment (clothing/style, physical features...). Healing eyes/smile. May help those around them to change perspective, to see how beauty is hidden in the darkest places. May have scars or some other particular feature/medical aspect, and not mind showing them and how well you can live even while being "imperfect". They may nurture everyone's fears, trying to help them balance their mind and emotions also by being an example/guide (for some). Someone everybody can learn a lot from. They "change the game" (and mentality) of people. Strong minded. They use their differences (whatever those are) as a way to stand out from the crowd. Not as something to be afraid but to be proud of. Leader.

song: wanna be on your mind | valerie june

--dark--

Might have slightly manipulative behaviour occasionally, in particular when triggered. May fear not making it, not having done enough, not being able to do enough. Might fear to be forgotten by their dear ones in particular. Despite not regretting being different, secretly wants to be as anyone else especially when triggered (our emotional immaturity comes out when we're triggered). Needs time outs to get away from those moments (especially in nature/meditating). Constantly fighting with their mind and emotions to keep a balance, may experience outburst of anger and powerlessness/unworthiness. Might try to isolate themselves, not to hurt others. A bit of self sabotage and impostor syndrome. Might find their self validation in others.

song: under my skin | claudia kane

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meraki-yao · 2 months

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RWRB: The Awardist Podcast Interview Thoughts

Alright after listening to the podcast giddily while aggressively stomping on the cross-ramp machine to work out my extreme happiness and excitement to the point that I burnt through twice as many calories than usual and soaked through my shirt, I'm here with thoughts

Pippin @pippin-katz, who sent me a voice message at 3 am my time to tell me to brace myself and be prepared for what's happening and what I'm going to wake up it, did their own version of a summary+thoughts with timestamps here, go check that one out

So my list of thoughts is gonna be a little more all over the place

Immediately burst out laughing with the "mouthful" joke, even more so when the boys both caught it lmao

"I am not happy to see Taylor's face" and "I have a Post-it I'll stick it over your face now" that is peak bestie behaviour

Nick honey I love you but I... do not believe you don't look through online stuff lmao we literally caught you likely fan content and edits you posted two Henry edits and referenced another one

I love how unintentionally in sync they are??? For the first question they started talking at the same time, and for the second they both started nodding and stayed silent forgetting this was an audio interview

"mate, mate, mate, MATE" and the last one being said in sync oh my god this is so much fun

The whole comment on the signing wars: what Pippin said, we were literally calling Taylor "that little fucker" yesterday when he started taunting us with more BTS (EVERYONE KEEP VOTING PLEASE)

"What possessed you? What have you got against me?", the same energy as "Why do you dislike me?"

Taylor's explanation of signing on Nick's face and how it started made me laugh and scoff a little because I translated that fucking moment: the first time it happened, Taylor was in China, it was the firstprince PR photo not the GQ magazine, he was on a boat, and he was the one to ask for the photos to sign lmao

Again, need to see them sign stuff in the same time and space: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!! :D

"Take it Nick" Nick's little snicker in response

A little heavy and personal but I wish I could talk to them and tell them how much the book, the movie, the characters and the boys mean to me and how it kept me somewhat afloat last October when I was drowning every single day, and how this story made me want to change myself and break out of my status quo

I know I've been saying Taylor knows Casey's pronouns and he gets them wrong when he's nervous, and I stand by that, but God the sigh of relief I let out when he used they/them

"Right Nick?" is so oddly comforting?

Oh my fucking God the "Top to Bottom" joke was a low-hanging fruit but it made me laugh

Also even the order was right! "Top to Bottom", "Taylor and I" (jkjk lmao) 😜

I really fucking hope that the "that's what I'm known for now, doing intimacy work on screen" is an offhand joke and that people don't genuinely label Nick as that

"Why don't you speak for this, Taylor" again, unexplainably comforting

"Seeing my mate at all these awards shows" made me remember a Chinese phrase "頂峰相見·", literally "meeting again at the peak", meaning "I'll see you when we're both at our best"

Nick's burst of laughter at the "who's a better kisser" comment

Taylor I swear to God 🤣 he combined the "is nick a good kisser" and the "who has your heart joey or Nick" questions together and said "I don't know, I don't know how to answer that question, I have no idea" DUDE YOU LITERALLY ANSWERED THE GOOD KISSER QUESTION WITH "YOU KNOW WHAT HE IS A GOOD KISSER WE HAD TO PRACTICE A LOT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT" WITH ZERO HESITATION (that answer, on that day, was first thing in the morning for me, and I lost my sanity for the next two hours)

I'm so fucking happy and Matthew comes from a theatre too, speaking as a theatre person and someone who has been dissecting this film since its release

I really think there's gotta be more improvised scenes? Or at the very least stuff like the morning after V&A that was a last-minute decision to add in and wasn't in the script, or maybe scenes where there wasn't specific lines written and they just reacted and spoke based on the scenario? Or even little moments, the shoulder kiss or something?

"Tay" OH MY HEART

Ok I can make an argument on both how Nick is like and not like Henry, but Taylor is so ACD that he basically fell out of the book? How does he not see that? (personally think Taylor's very similar to Alex with a bit of Marco?)

Oh my god the whole segment of the DNC/getting caught scene and Taylor's ass

"I will take this one" "yeah"

"I love working with her, we both love working with her" That's sweet- hang on Nick you just have this one scene with her

I have so many more questions about this scene: Was Nick actually in the closet for that one shot? How many takes did it take?

Taylor referencing a detail in Bottoms from like a 30-second scene in the movie!!! Yes!!! We love seeing friends being supportive of each other (suddenly want to hear Taylor's opinions on M&G lmfao)

"And I'm not even going to get into M&G"

The text question is kind of the only question that made me think "Why would you ask that?" because that was definitely more of a directing/editing thing

Nick really freaking loves the cake scene, he mentioned that as his favourite scene three times at this point, all times on audio, twice on video

Aw Taylor's story about Jack... 🥺

But somehow everyone knowing it lmao, and Taylor's fucking awful British accent

And at this point Nick starts swearing lmao

Awww Nick's compliment to Taylor

Tangent: what the fuck is a fuel museum?

Oh I just love hearing them finishing each other's sentences when one of them forgets the word

Lmao imagine just recovering from Covid and then needing to make out for two hours

"Next to a witchcraft shop" What the fuck lmao

Tangent again but I could write a sociology essay on what Taylor said about architecture and history

I swear to God, Nick's "go on Taylor" somehow being softer, you can fucking hear that that little shit is smirking

Taylor saying that he wants a second book from Casey and me immediately going "BOTH OF YOU QUIT YOUR FUCKING JOBS" (I have complicated feelings about the bonus chapter)

"What-if world" exactly!

Taylor pulling out the stats about the queer population: did he fucking calculate that on the spot or he just casually have that information in his head?

the little wrap-up by the hosts was so sweet but somehow talking about Taylor's ass again oh my god (his body hair being digitally edited, it was minx right?)

"it's so sweet and nice and we need more of this in our lives right now" YES WE DO, WE FUCKING DO

"he's gonna be second-guessing his booty" is not a sentence I thought I'd ever hear but here we are

Culture shock moment: the number to call the podcast/American phone numbers is 3-3-4 which caught me off guard for a second cuz here it's 4-4

And that's it for now! God, I need so much more of this, like, if this is what we get out of a half-an-hour podcast interview what would press and promo be like?

Now that we're back for awards I really freaking hope these new RWRB content will be coming back, maybe like once a week or something

WE'RE BACK WE'RE FUCKING BACK WE'RE FUCKING WINNING

EVERYONE GO VOTE GO VOTE GO VOTE

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #taylor zakhar perez #alex claremont diaz #nicholas galitzine #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry hanover stuart fox #firstprince #rwrb thoughts #AHHHHHHHHHHHH #rwrb ramble #my rwrb list #oh my god oh my god oh my god #ahhhhhh #rwrb bts #rwrb cast

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bonefall · 6 months

Note

post/734733274896809984/do-you-ever-worry-your-own-writing-might-come-off that makes sense. i was asking because i'm afraid of accidentally writing misogyny myself and i kind of admire what you do

Hmm... I wish I had better advice to give you on this front, but honestly, the only thing I can tell you is to consider the perspective of your female characters.

Women are people. They have thoughts and feelings of their own, so like... just let them have their own arcs. A lot of the worst misogyny in WC comes from the way that the writers just don't care about their girls (or, in the case of tall shadow, actually get undermined and forced to rewrite entire chapters), so they're not curious about their lives, or WHY they feel the way they do or what they want, or any direction for their character arcs.

Turtle Tail as an example. She'll often just end up feeling whatever Gray Wing's plot demands. She's gotta leave when Storm dumps him to make him feel lonely. She shows up again to love him in the next book. Lets her best friend Bumble get dragged back to Tom the Wifebeater, but is sad enough about her death to be "unreasonably angry" with Clear Sky, and then calms down and accept Gray Wing is right all along.

And then she dies, so he can have his very own fridge wife.

In this way, Turtle Tail's just being used to tell Gray Wing's story. They're not interested in why she would turn on Bumble, or god forbid any lingering negative feelings for how she didn't help her, or even resentment towards Clear Sky for killing her or Gray Wing for jumping to his defense. She isn't really going through her own character arc.

She does have personality traits of her own, don't misunderstand my criticism, but as a character she revolves around Gray Wing.

So, zoom out every now and then, and just ask yourself; "Whose story is being told by what I wrote? Do my female characters have goals, wants, and agency, or are they just supporting men? How do their choices impact the narrative?"

But that's already kinda assuming that you already have characters like Turtle Tail who DO have personalities and potential of their own. Here's some super simple and practical advice that helped me;

Tally the genders in your cast. How many are boys, how many are girls, how many are others?

And take stock of how many of those characters are just in the supporting cast, and compare that to the amount you have in the main cast.

If you have a significant imbalance, ESPECIALLY in the main cast, fire the Woman Beam.

It's a really simple trick to just write a male character, and then change its gender while keeping it the same. I promise women are really not fundamentally different from men lmao. You can consider how your in-universe gender roles affect them later, if you'd like, but when you're just starting to wean yourself off a "boy bias" this trick works like a charm.

Also you're not allowed to change the body type of any girl you Woman Beam because I said so. PLEASE allow your girls to have muscles, or be fat, or be old, or have lots of scars. Do NOT do what a cowardly Triple A studio does, where the women all have the same cute or sexy face and curvy body while they're standing next to dwarves, robots, and a gorilla.

Or this shit,

If you do this I will GET you. If you're ever possessed by the dark urge, you will see my face appear in the clouds like Mufasa himself to guide you away from the path of evil.

Anyway, you get better at just making characters girls to begin with as time goes on and you practice it. It's really not as big of a deal as your brain might think it is.

Take a legitimate interest in female characters and try not to disproportionately hit them with parental/romance plots as opposed to the male cast, and you'll be fine. Don't think of them as "SPECIAL WOMEN CHARACTERS" just make a character and then let her be a girl, occasionally checking your tally and doing some critical thinking about their use in the story.

(Also remember I'm not a professional or anything, I'm just trying to give advice)

#I wish I had more succinct and practical advice to give you besides the woman beam trick #Honestly I just kinda feel it out because I like telling stories about girls #I made it fun for myself by clapping and cheering and whooping and hollering whenever a girl does something #because it's not fun to write like a monk in a monastery #With the spectre of Brother Smockbimble looming over your shoulder telling you to Write Perfectly Every Time #Characters aren't real people. You can just fix it if you happen to fuck up or do better next time with what you learned.#Making mistakes is just part of acquiring skill #and writing is an art just like painting or drawing.#So don't make a fun OC project into homework! You should be enjoying making your own art! Express yourself!#Please understand that when I'm ripping into the series I'm being so harsh because it's bestselling corporate media #Read by HUNDREDS of thousands of kids worldwide #Raking in millions of dollars a year. Written by a TEAM of professionals.#So I have higher expectations of it than of a fandom rando on the internet. Or even a self-published author who's just One Guy.#Hence why I'm infinitely more charitable to Ratha than I am to Battle Cats #bones gives advice

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fallencelsetial · 2 months

Note

quastion. if you had to give each of the nu carnival guys a present, what would you give to each one? oh and let's assume monies aren't a problem here

To answer your Quastion. If Monies are not an issue, and I can just the boys whatever the hell I want, then-

Eiden: I'm getting this boy every single craft supply I can think of. Fabrics, yarns, tule, buttons, clays, pen, pencils. I'm getting him everything. He's so friggin talented and just an artsy boy. He'd definitely have an etsy or two on the side of his actual job.

Aster: You didn't say the presents had to be objects. Plus Asters got SO MUCH MONEY. Boy could get anything he wanted at any time. Hell. He's the clan sugar daddy. If I was getting him a gift, it would definitely be something practical. And Honestly, I'd probably just get him more staff. He's got so many things he's running, I'm sure he'd really appreciate the help, and especially, that he's not the one paying for it.

Morvay: Similarly to Aster, I wouldn't really get Morvay an object. What I would get him though, is food. He's a bit of a greedy boy. He's always getting yelled at by aster for sneaking out and feeding, and constantly getting overworked. I think he deserves a place where he can relax and indulge in his favorite things. I'm sure there's some club out there that has membership option and would allow him to just go ham.

Yakumo: Cooking tools seems too easy. I'm sure he's already got everything he needs. You know what? I'm actually gonna get him some alone time with Eiden. I'm getting them a vacation together. I'm gonna send him and Eiden off somewhere real private. Do you know how happy he'd probably be? Boy is so possessive. He'd be OVER THE MOON about having Eiden all to himself for like a week. And I'm sure Eiden would be happy about spending time with him too. Gross honeymooning ass bitches.

Edmond: I'm getting him all the porn and sweets he wants. Just because I know he's gonna be a bitch about it. I would know. I'm the same. "No, I'm not allowed to get this. People will look at me weird if I get that" and Now look at me. I have a whole shelf full of those books. I'm getting him all of it AND, He didn't spend any of his money on it so he can't feel ashamed about it. It was gifts. Now go. Be free.

Olivine: I saw a post somewhere about Oli not having any of his own clothes and how they would take him on a shopping spree and honestly same. And I'd help him pick out the sluttiest, most rebellious clothes possible. I was raised catholic. I know. I know how hard it is. We're going to get you so many things with Religious undertones so it feels safe, AND like you're breaking the rules at the same time.

Quincy: Gosh. He's such a simple dude. All forest man and shit. He probably would not accept anything that would make his life easier. Any more modern versions of tools he already uses would probably be rejected with a "This one works fine/better anyway" Getting a bunch of treats for topper might make him happy though. Actually might just get him something SUPER dad coded. Like a Flask/Canteen. Probably would say he doesn't need it, but would secretly use it anyway.

Kuya: We're getting him all the dumb weird shit. Mans has a collection of dumb weird shit. He's like Blade. Anything he finds intriguing he just keeps. I'm getting this man an old beat up Bakugan. "Check it out. It's opens when you place it on this card but ONLY on this card!" Do you know how psyched he would be??? He's so fucking simple. I'm getting him those boxes that show one character in one window, and another character on the other window.

Garu: I don't think he can have too many toys. I'm getting him so many more toys than what Eiden has already gotten him. Lots of meat too. Oh! And I'm getting him art supplies as well! His art fills me with joy. I love him.

Karu: ALRIGHT. I'm giving him play time. I'm buying/building him a whole play set. He wants to be ruler of everything and I am going to give him that. I am going to spoil the shit outta this puppy. I will get him his own little throne room. He's getting his own little kingdom where he is king, and EVERYONE BOWS TO HIM! He's also getting so much meat too. All Hail the Mighty Karu!!

Blade: I'm also getting him art supplies. Art supplies and Books! If we can find some that he hasn't read yet. Honestly the library is massive. Oooooh but if we go to a book store, there's bound to be new releases of something, and he'll read anything just to have read it, I'm sure he'd really appreciate that!

Dante: A vacation mother fucker. Shut up. Listen Child. I Don't want to hear it. Spa now. Break. Rest. Relaxation. Think of NOTHING. You know what? I'mma throw Eiden in there too. He'd probably help you a lot. Just like how Eiden would be a good part of the gift, for Yakumo, I feel the same goes for him as well. And also, Lots of gifts for Sooley.

Rei: Therapy. Notebooks. Lot's of notebooks. Replacement's for any Equipment he's broken. Some art supplies. Mostly charcoals for his sketches. All practical stuff too. I'd offer to fix some of his personal items, but...I think he prefers them dinged up and broken. Has a bit of a comfort in that. So the supplies would probably be most appreciated by him.

#nu carnival #ask #I hope this is satisfactory

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starlightwoofwoof · 10 days

Note

Do you have any other akumatized villain/victim designs for the smxmlb au?

Y E S I D O A C T U A L L Y -

honestly one of the main reasons I made this AU lol

soooooo I made edits of them cause I didn’t really feel like drawing them (except for Sweetener, I kinda had to draw him) but ye- HERE WE GO THIS MIGHT BE LONG BECAUSE I WANNA EXPLAIN A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT THEM

okay, first of all, of course I did the main characters, ✨ these little sh!ts ✨

These are Scratch and Punk, The Spooky Kids

okie so I think I might do a list of things for these guys lol

Reason for Akumatization : okay I have two ideas, we can go the goofy route and make them fight over a piece of Halloween candy from, like, 5 years ago- (or we can go the darker/more serious route and make it have to do something with like what happened in SM6)

Corrupted Item : That piece of candy- (or something else for the other route, not sure)

Fun Facts :

They got akumatized together

You might think they’re still in costumes, BUT NO THEY’RE R E A L

Their powers are making people do the Spooky Dance and celebrate Spooky Month .. FOR E T E R N I T Y

okay, next up, we have THE HAT BOYS ‼️‼️‼️

Rage, Regret and Rejoice (there’s no yellow lol), The Emotiongang

Reason for Akumatization : The trio were having a sleepover, until Ross and Roy had a fight about .. actually I haven’t really thought about it, probably something about Roy’s parents- (Robert didn’t even realize the situation until it was too late)

Corrupted Item : Ross’s beanie (idk why his specifically but ye-)

Fun Facts :

They also all got akumatized together

yes they’re inspired by those theatre masks-

Regret and Rejoice’s mouths on their masks can’t move, although, Rage’s can

honestly, I’m not even sure if I can call Rejoice a villain, he’s just happy to be here- (no thoughts, head empty)

They can produce auras from themselves of their respected emotions, making people around them feel the emotions they’re producing (Regret and Rage don’t like Rejoice’s powers since they mess up with their negative emotions, and evil plans-)

Next, we have the villain which I showed in the introduction post, K e v i n

The Sweetener

Reason for Akumatization : probably something Kevin-usual, him being angry about his job

Corrupted Item : His work hat

Fun Facts :

His powers are kinda scary- he has a bunch of candy, obviously, but they’re not normal candy. As soon as you eat one of his candies, you slowly turn into one of his candy minions and follow him wherever he goes, like some kind of zombie (whatever that means-)

I’m not sure what he is honestly, like obviously he’s a candy monstrosity, but idk if that’s gum, some weird form of cotton candy or even ice cream-

He is a BIIIIIIIIIGGGGGG BOI

He can speak, but he usually just roars, growls and groans most of the time

I kinda wanted to name him ‘The Candyman’ but I thought that was too basic sooooo The Sweetener was my next best idea-

And finally, the last one (for now-), we have Rad :D

The Glitch

Reason for Akumatization : .. I have no clue to be honest, Radford is such a happy guy, but ye-

Corrupted Item : His funky 3D glasses

Fun Facts :

His powers are being able to go in and out of screens (kinda like Prime Queen) and I like to think he can also possess people, like a ghost-

He is still a pretty happy guy, just more like the insane kind of happy-

man all I can think about is the Sonic Adventure 2 Dub (Hero Story) video where Eggman kept calling himself The Glitch- (watch me make a funny animatic thing soon lol)

OKAY THAT’S ALL OF THEM- (obviously I really want to make more, I just haven’t had many ideas, BUT MAN I WANNA MAKE AN AKUMA! STREBER SO BADLY- I know I can just make him vampire themed but still, I wanna make him more than that for some reason-)

Feel free to ask (or suggest, especially with Glitch’s backstory-) anything about them okie see you lateeeeeerrrrrrrr :3

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wen-kexing-apologist · 1 year

Text

Bed Friend Episode 8 Thoughts

I don't have like anything cerebral to say that I could write a full analysis on (yet) but BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE SO MANY FUCKING THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS EPISODE so here comes a ramble:

First thought, I am so angry on Uea's behalf. LIKE YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT UEA HAD THIS LOVING, PRECIOUS AUNT WHO LITERALLY BURSTS INTO TEARS WHEN SHE SEES HIM AND CANNOT STOP HUGGING HIM, AND SO CLEARLY LOVES AND CARES FOR HIM AND HIS MOTHER RIPPED HIM AWAY FROM A CHANCE OF GROWING UP FEELING LOVED BY SOMEONE IN HIS FAMILY???????

Honestly, a travesty that we didn't have more time of them interacting, as much as it would have been bittersweet to see just how much he lost by moving out of Lampang, I want a little bit more security that he will have family who loves him unconditionally. I wanted a little bit more time of him getting to bask in familial love.

BUT THAT'S OKAY BECAUSE I REALIZED SOMETHING, PINK IS HOME IN THIS SHOW! At least for Uea. He's surrounded by it when he's asking his aunt if he can stay for awhile...

It's the color his sister wears at his "birthday party"

Which like, is that whole event a tragedy for Uea? Yes. But is this the first time we get to see Uea and his sister interact with each other as adults? Also yes, so they have to establish how Uea sees her.

It's the color that Uea wears when he is talking with King in the pool

(and honestly, talking specifically about Lampang, but because I am gay and read in to everything, we're going to say it's also how Uea feels about King and vice versa)

So Jade tells King about Krit and Uea's resignation, and it cuts to King practicing dangerous driving habits, BUT ALSO LITERALLY CRYING?

It's kinda hard to see, but I swear I see a bright line of shiny tear running along the bride of his nose. King may be the world's Goodest Boy, but he definitely fucked up and he knows it and I, personally, am glad that he is thinking back to his fight with Uea and seems to be feeling bad about it.

And now for what @respectthepetty has been waiting for

BLUE BOY APPEARS

And this shot is going to be my argument that King is fundamentally a blue boy because there is an establishing shot of just the blue jacket as he walks up to the inn, his face isn't present in this scene until Uea turns around to see him, so we only follow this light blue jacket.

OK LISTEN, I literally have been going back through every episode to take pictures of all of the reflections in each episode so I can compile a like master post of them because the reflections in Bed Friend tells a lot of the story/does a lot of work to show the character's true feelings. But I saw this image and said "fuck it! I can't save this for later, I have to talk about it now" the way UEA HAS KING'S BACK AND KING HAS UEA'S BACK! The way their only thoughts are of each other, the way there is no way for them to break eye contact. If Uea faces the other direction, he will still face King's reflection. I JUST!!!! a million forehead kisses a couple massive hugs to whoever on the production crew was like 'hey! you know what could be kinda fun...?"

And then we get this shot? Another beautiful reflection, standing together but in two states of mind. King aware of his feelings for Uea and Uea's feelings for him, but Uea unaware that King reciprocates, still knowing there is something that needs to be fixed between them.

King comes here to tell Uea that he wants him to understand, and before King can make his confession Uea interrupts him to apologize for being rude to him and King does not accept an apology, because Uea has done nothing wrong, and not only does King not accept an apology from Uea, he tells him that he isn't mad at Uea and tells Uea that he himself was being jealous and possessive.

And honestly, do I think that King should have apologized here? Yes, but I'll accept this because he's able to name the emotions he was feeling that led to the behavior he exhibited. And then finally he confesses! "Uea, I like you!"

And honestly this show should have been called Tale of A Thousand Stars Reflecting Off Net's Eyes.

And I was SO HAPPY because FINALLY THEY CAN GET ON THE SAME PAGE, only to feel the gut punch of Uea's "Do my feelings matter?' immediately afterward because this has been the core conflict they haven't been able to voice. Uea's feelings have never mattered in almost all of the relationships he has with other people. His feelings never mattered to Pock, his feelings never mattered to Krit, his feelings never mattered to his step-dad, and his feelings certainly never mattered to his mother. Even with his sister, she's frequently used as a tool to get him to do things he doesn't want to do, and she's able to stand at Uea's side in a family argument, but she still allows her brother to compromise his feelings for her.

When Uea and King were in their uncomplicated phase of the FWB, Uea could start to believe that his feelings did matter. King listened when Uea told him to stop, King followed Uea's rules, King didn't use his bet to make Uea engage in pet play. And unfortunately, Uea only started to let his feelings matter to him when King asked him on a beach trip. He let himself be excited by that, and hopeful for that, only to have King cancel on him for a blind date.

King has made some dumbass fucking moves in the last couple episodes, but the smartest move he ever made was taking care of all the loose ends he was aware of before he went chasing after Uea. He resolves all of the conflicts that he knew about before trying to get Uea to come back to a hostile workplace where his relationship to King wouldn't feel secure if he had to still go on these arranged matches.

And King brings up the bet, and because I was kinda hoping earlier in the week for more of a blow out, or confrontation, I was really hoping that King would invoke the bet to make Uea stay and listen to him explain, but I love what they did with it here.

King asks Uea for a chance to make a move.

Not for Uea to be his boyfriend, not for Uea to forgive him, not for Uea to do anything but allow him to try to hit on Uea. Allow King a chance to date Uea.

And I honestly think Uea is surprised by this request as well. Because his feelings have so rarely mattered to the people around him, that I think it is still, even when King has been notoriously good about consent and embracing Uea's feelings, that it is a genuine shock that King isn't going for something massive with this bet. Just asking for a chance.

Oh poor "Are you sure?" Uea. Baby boy, I understand that it is hard to believe that someone would genuinely love and care for you, and I know that it is difficult to break through years of internalized homophobia that has been beaten in to you, But sure you haven't been completely blind to how much of a simp King is for you.

Side note: Kicking and screaming because King told Uea that he's never felt this way about anyone the way he feels with Uea.

This is getting long and my only thoughts on the rest of Lampang is "holy fucking shit they are so cute and finally they just get to be together aware of their mutual feelings, yeehaw!" so I'm cutting to when they return because....

KING FINALLY GETS TO TELL EVERYONE! And he's so fucking happy about it Jesus Christ, this dude. They are about to be disgustingly in love in the office the second that No Touching rule is revoked. And I love that we can tell Uea is getting more comfortable with all of this because, well one, he lets King say this, but two...

He's trying so hard not to be too obviously happy about this.

And yay! We get Uea's work family all together celebrating this queer relationship (because almost all of the people here are queer too) AND we get pink as a color in this scene because this is a loving home for Uea too.

fuck YES GET THAT BOY SOME THERAPY!!!!! I am so pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of therapy as important and necessary both in Bed Friend and in The Eighth Sense. Let's get my boy processing his trauma with a trained professional. I think it was @waitmyturtles who was hesitant this show because she wasn't sure if it was going to be a "Lover Waltzed Into My Life and Suddenly All My Trauma is Gone" type of story. I hope this is relieving to you that regardless of all of the postive changes King has actively made to Uea's life through getting Krit fired, and encouraging Uea to seek justice for his step-dad, that Uea is also being aided by Jade, therapy, and medication for his mental health.

King, careful, you're gonna be the next one getting a talking to by your boss for not getting your work done if you keep spending all of your time in the office hanging around Uea.

BUT ALSO!!! I mentioned in my Uea costume post for Episode 7 that King favors Uea's left side because he knows that Uea does not react well to people hanging around his right side.

So I just wanted to take a second to acknowledge the 1000/10 parallel here.

And speaking of comfortable, I do not think you understand how ecstatic I was to see Uea be like...genuinely comfortable and confident in himself. To just response to King's "Why are you sitting here?"question with "because I'm beautiful," FUCK YEAH YOU ARE, UEA. You bare beautiful and you do deserve to put yourself up on a pedestal so everyone around you can admire your beauty. #selflove

Side note: This is a great shot and King is so in love with Uea, and they make a truly believable couple so shout out to Net and James for the work they put in here. Especially when King spends the night at Uea's apartment and he's trying so hard to restrain himself and Uea is teasing him.

I know this is kind of a weird screenshot to put in here, but I don't have a gif of it, and I just really love how couple-y it feels for Uea to literally like spin himself over King to leave his bed to take his meds. It feels fun, and it feels comfortable. Uea is happy to crawl over his boyfriend to leave his bed. And shout out to Net for horny bastard rights on King's part cause King literally tracks Uea's every move from the second he dodges the kiss until he gets out of bed.

King fulfills his role as the doting and worried boyfriend, which is probably the sexiest thing anyone can do lets be real.

FINALLY IT'S TIME!!! The conversation that needed to be happening a long long time ago. And like, do not get me wrong, Uea is under no obligation to tell anyone any of this information, but without knowledge of Uea's history, King got himself in to a lot more hot water because he has no foundation of understanding for how and why Uea operates the way that he does. When I first saw this scene I think some of the English translation didn't go over the way it was supposed to and I really thought that King had fumbled the ball, but looking back through it the second time, I am interpreting his words a bit differently, and understanding what I think King was trying to get at. Mostly that if Uea is comfortable and trusts King enough to share this information about his step-dad with him there might be a solution to take care of whatever the problem is.

But honestly, I care more about the way King is hold Uea's hands here than I do about what the translation is saying, and above all I care more about

The honest conversation about mental health that is happening in this show. As much as I have really embraced and honestly find the like green tea ads in every BL to be endearing and like a staple of the genre at this point, I have a major appreciation and love for the shows that take the time to give the public health public service announcements. The Warp Effect, which I honestly can't remember having any actual product ads, for example spent most of their typically allotted in-universe ad space to talk about getting the HPV vaccine and the steps of a pelvic exam. KinnPorsche has a 20 minute video discussing queerness in Thailand and what is and is not appropriate to say. Bed Friend spent time in episode 2 showing the steps of getting an STI blood test done and now are talking about mental health and taking medications to treat it.

Listen, I'm a simple bitch, and simple bitches love when the pretenses fall away and the rules no longer apply because this is an extremely important and serious matter and King and Uea both know that he needs these comforting touches, and King doesn't have to ask permission to ground Uea with touch here.

And see! This is what I was talking about in my Uea and Red post, I love this color red on Uea. This feels like a real, legitimate, accurate red for Uea to be in, compared to the bright red that he is shown in near the beginning of the show. I never doubted that Uea was a red rascal, I just...feel like the bright red is a fake red, is a lie. Here, when he is being his most honest with King. When he is sharing information about himself that he had intended never to share with anyone, he isn't in the bright anxiety red, he is in this deeper red.

And listen, Respect The Petty, no one wants to agree with you more than me that King is a Blue Boy, but after this episode I am willing to concede that he is two-toned, specifically because of this outfit and this outfit only:

Black hoodie with a FUCKING RED ROSE OVER THE HEART like come ON! King wears so little red in this show so far. He wore red and black in Episode 4 for the beach trip, and since then has been sitting on a little red pillow on his chair in the office, but otherwise, this outfit?????? King carrying Uea with him in his heart everywhere????? AND THE YELLOW FLOWERS IN THE BACKGROUND??????????

And again, the English translation had me reeling for a second when King was like "For the thing you told me last night, I don't feel okay about it," before he was like "can I do something to your step-dad" and then I was very "casually threw aside a large rock" about it.

And I love that King does seek permission here to go through with consequences for #pransdaddarktimelineedition because something I did find very interesting in this episode was the possibility for a moral quandry about outing Uea as a victim in Krit's harassment to the entire office without Uea's knowledge or consent and how that could possibly have ended poorly for King's relationship to Uea. But, King is a man of action, and he will find solutions where he can, and will not sleep comfortably knowing that someone who has hurt Uea is existing without consequences and possibly capable of hurting other people. But Uea is here this time and this is Uea's history and Uea's trauma so he asks because Uea's feelings are the most important thing to King.

Uea back in blue and that blue matching the same blue-green tone of King’s shirt with the lettering on his sweater.

Ok that is mostly my thoughts on this episode, I might just turn right back around and watch it for a third time because fuck it, I have COVID, and I have laundry to fold. We ball.

Can't wait to tune in next week to watch Uea's Step-Dad get his comeuppance. Hope those charges stick. Don't love that we are seeing yet another person trying to get with Uea and threatening the relationship between Uea and King, but I really hope that is swept aside quickly and we get most of this episode and episode 10 of them just being disgustingly in love because I JUST! WANT! UEA! TO! BE! HAPPY! THAT'S ALL I'M FUCKING ASKING FOR!

If you read this whole thing you're my best friend now, sorry I don't make the rules, this is just so long for no reason. But I will not do multi-part posts unless I literally run out of image space. K, byeeeeeeeee

#bed friend #bed friend the series #ueaking #kinguea #king x uea #uea x king #netjames #jamesnet #net siraphop #james supamongkon #domundi #bed friend analysis #bed friend stray thoughts #bed friend episode 8 #bed friend ep 8 #it was write one beast or make like four separate post and i did not want to do that #i would apologize for constantly writing novels on this website but im not actually sorry so

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writing-for-life · 10 months

Note

So, you mentioned something about Thessaly in a 90s context in one of your responses to another post, and I was wondering if you could expand on that. Because yeah, I have no problem with her *existing* as a character, because obviously she has a role in the narrative, but I highly suspect that her perceived role has changed a LOT in the intervening years since the initial writing.

As someone who first read Sandman in 2022, I figured that her character role was to get us to question what we think we know about Morpheus. Can we really trust that he's changed or improved, or that he's even all that likeable, if he's literally jumping into bed with this thoroughly unpleasant woman who likes violent murder *way* too much and also seems to be transphobic to boot?

At the same time, though, I got the uncomfortable sense that we were supposed to *like* Thessaly. In a sort of, "You go girl, be a #girlboss, let's show these boys we can be JUST as good at killing as them!" sort of way. Which I rationalized as "well, that probably was progressive in the 90s, but the idea of cold blooded violence and emphasis on the possession of a womb being feminist ideals has aged poorly."

So, yeah, I'm wondering if that is anywhere close to how she seemed in the "intended" context.

[As always: Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!]

This is such a good ask, and I feel there are a lot of bases to cover here. Not sure if I’ll do it justice, but here goes…

Disclaimer straightaway: I absolutely detest Thessaly and everything she’s done narratively, and I’m neither a Thessaly-apologist, nor someone who loves her as a character. But I think we need to discuss her with a bit more nuance than I see in lot of fandom spaces.

I think first of all, we need to look at:

Thessaly as a fictional character

As you already pointed out, she naturally has a role in the narrative. I also think parts of her role in said narrative are sometimes a bit misunderstood. One prime example would be the idea she never loved Morpheus. And yes, she absolutely always put herself and her own interests first, so from that angle, she loved herself more than she loved him. That doesn’t mean she never loved him at any point though. Many people quote her saying that she never did as proof that she didn’t. But what people say doesn’t always align with what they feel or do: She says at his wake she swore she’ll never cry over him again—and cries while she’s saying it. That tells us two things: She *did* cry because of him before. And she *does* cry now.

Again, she is a selfish, utterly horrid bitch, but she loved him at some point, and she was mad at him for neglecting her and not paying her enough attention. That’s when it turned sour (and we know how absolutely shit at communicating with women Morpheus is, so they’re both as bad as each other in that regard).

I see her as someone who is totally disconnected/dissociated from her emotions, to the extent that she probably really believes what she says, out of some deep-rooted fear of any kind of vulnerability. Why that is—we can only speculate, because Neil never went into it, hence nothing we assume will ever be canon.

What can be considered canon, however, is that Neil has confirmed the fact that she *did* love him at some point—most notably in the Sandman Companion:

Hy Bender: […] Of course, she’s lying when she says she never loved the Sandman.

Neil Gaiman: Of course; I think that’s made explicit by the final panel, where she says, `I swore I would never shed another tear for him’ while crying. But after he’s won her and then returned to his duties, he wasn’t enough for her anymore. She wanted attention; and when she wasn’t getting it, she said, “Right. We’re done,” and walked out on him.”

I’d also like to point out that the most trans-exclusionary prick in the whole of AGoY is actually George, just that he’s not a woman, and hence, no one ever seems to mention it (he’s actually the one egging Wanda on, not Thessaly). Plus, walking the moon road is maiden, mother and crone to a T, and consciously so. Foxglove is the maiden, Hazel is pregnant, and Thessaly is ancient. So Thessaly’s choice was also based on that, and the only one who Wanda really could have *potentially* replaced would have been Foxglove; she presumably never had penetrative sex, unlike Hazel (in the archaic definition of what penetration means, so we don’t need to argue about lesbian sex practices now). We don’t know that about Wanda, no matter if someone sees her as a man or a woman. I didn’t mean to get that explicit about maiden status, but I guess it *is* important in this context (although yes, of course Thessaly said Wanda is a man, and I’m not arguing that either, but I still think it was grounded in her belief how moon magic works).

Which brings me to a very important point: Thessaly is ancient. Culturally, we can’t compare her to someone who grew up in the 20th century, also with regard to her violent inclinations. She is thousands of years old. She’s seen it all. She has a fierce sense of self-preservation, maybe even rooted in some fears or trauma of her own. All not very nice character traits, no, but that’s not the yardstick, and probably was never supposed to be. I also remember Neil saying he consciously wanted to oppose neopaganism and the watered down, new wave witchcraft of the time (late 1980s/early 1990s, and that, I really remember), which was all about the “divine feminine”, female empowerment, tarot cards and incense sticks. I’m being a bit flippant now, but it isn’t far off. It was more of a trend than anything. He wanted to consciously oppose it with someone who would still act according to ancient, rather violent codes and rules. And Morpheus will have known those, and probably found them less surprising than we do (doesn’t necessarily mean he’d condone them either).

The fact whether Thessaly should make us question Morpheus in the comics is a tricky one. What she definitely *should* make us question is: Morpheus could have quite easily broken some rules in the Kindly Ones when Thessaly had set up the protection circle for Lyta, and the consequences probably would have been less disastrous than playing by said rules. And we can safely presume he knew. We are also supposed to question the same when he lets Nuala call in her boon and doesn’t just say: “This isn’t really a good time, can we do this later?” (and he absolutely COULD have done that), but actually follows through with going ,“Well, what gives, I basically grant you your boon now and leave the Dreaming, even though I know the potential consequences.” So yes, Thessaly is supposed to make us question Dream’s choices, but probably not the way we think. And for that, we perhaps should look deeper into…

Thessaly the TERF and Feminism in the late 1980s/early 1990s

This might get a bit longwinded, and I am showing my age here. I grew up at the intersection of second wave and third wave feminism, and as a bisexual woman, I made a lot of experiences during the early 90s that feel wholly aligned with the plot of AGoY (which was written during that time). I don’t want to write a whole essay about feminism here, but second wave feminism was on its way out in the late 80s. A lot of the bad associations some people have with feminism today stem from that time (not always justified, because a lot of good was achieved during that period. But parts of it in specific sub-communities—definitely problematic). Equality vs equity discussions within the feminist movement were dominating everything, and the divide between radfems and libfems was getting deeper. People like Audre Lorde IMHO rightly criticised that failing to understand that not all women start on equal footing, that not all women are the same, is problematic (so you could easily see how this is incorporated into the narrative of AGoY).

Second wave feminism wasn’t just about making sure women had rights. It was very much about “all of us can do everything men do, and we want the same a man gets”. It was all about the workspace (so often very white, CIS, middle class), not being at home with the kids etc (of course there were also other topics, but this one was really quite dominant). You could even see it fashion (massive shoulder pads etc). All the while, actually *being* a man was vilified (again, just in certain quarters).

So I feel you’re on to something with your #girlboss comment, only that I don’t think it was intentionally set up to like her, but rather as a criticism of what certain quarters of the feminist movement were like at the time.

Personal anecdote: I got that type of schtick from WITHIN the LGBT community at the time. Bi-erasure was big. And there were radfem lesbians that would actually tell you that being bi doesn’t exist, that you are basically a traitor to your “sisters” and just a lesbian who isn’t fully out. The same shite they used to criticise about men who would say you’re only a lesbian because you haven’t found the right guy yet. And here they went, telling you that you can’t be attracted to men if you’re also attracted to women.

Third wave feminism has a much stronger focus on the individual woman and what it means to be a woman to HER. This also included trans women, much more than during the second wave. Judith Butler’s work is actually exemplary for this (in essence, there is no such woman as “the” woman—we’re all different despite sharing common traits and problems. Trying to make us all the same will only harm us in the long run).

And with AGoY and Thessaly, we are exactly at the moment in time (in the comics) where that shift happens. I think Neil got it right for the time, and understood a lot of what was going on. Many people in queer communities felt really understood and seen, myself included. I absolutely see how that translates differently today. But it always saddens me when the historical context gets completely stripped away, and people don’t take the time a work of fiction was written into consideration and only measure it from today’s viewpoint. We can, and absolutely have to be critical if the TV shows fails to address these points and just translates everything 1-2-1. Which I am fairly certain won’t happen, because Thessaly has already been stripped off a lot of her obvious TERFiness in the Audible. I’m not even sure if we’ll get her in the show—we’ll hopefully find out.

Phew, that was long, I’m gonna lie down 😂

#sandman meta #sandman #the sandman #thessaly #sandman and feminism #agoy #a game of you #Wanda #the wake

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bohemian-nights · 9 months

Text

In defense of Nettles innocence 🐑

Unpopular opinions coming through, Nettles is one of the most innocent characters during the Dance.

Every account of her being “less than innocent” comes from biased sources(the chroniclers) that don’t think that a lowborn girl, especially a homeless Black lowborn girl with a prostitute for a mother who’s had to steal for her supper, can be innocent. She’s simply not allowed to be innocent(other than acknowledging that the execution orders for her were wrong) based on the boxes that she’s been put into.

When you are dealing with a character like Netty you can't take one action in a vacuum. You have to cipher through the biased accounts and take into her entire life story to see who she is. When you actually look at her you have a girl who still possesses a great deal of empathy and compassion despite everything she’s been through and she’s been through a lot.

We never see her harming innocents. During the Battle of the Gullet, we see her defending her home(Driftmark) from the Triarchy:

The civilian casualties came from the Triarchy’s end, not Nettles and Sheepstealer who had come in to attack their ships at sea after they(the Triarchy) had already attacked Driftmark. Nettles never rained “fire and blood” down on the innocent people of Driftmark. She had only come in to protect them.

Furthermore, she shows great empathy when Jace a boy she barely knew was killed before his time during the battle. She mourns for his loss and sacrifice(in conjecture with witnessing the overall destruction of her home).

When the Blacks take the capital, shes not raining down fire balls, she literally just lands her dragon on Visenya’s Hill:

She isn’t a warmonger, or a war criminal, and while she’s technically a soldier, we don’t see her harming any civilians or instigating any fights. She sees very little combat and she’s not terrorizing everyday citizens.

Now onto her “innocence” or lack thereof. If she was forced to prostitute herself(aka if you believe that she’s not a maiden) then it’s most certainly not because she wanted to:

Her losing her virginity isn’t an empowering moment. It’s not a moment we should look onto to show she’s got agency or control or God forbid that she’s a wanton Jezebel. It’s a moment where we see just how dire her circumstances were. We can see how Westeros society harms girls like Nettles and leaves them vulnerable to abuse.

Nettles isn’t willingly having sex(we’ve got no indication of her having normal sexual relations with a lover, with the exception of Daemon, only that she potentially trades sex to feed her belly).

She's not some liberated medieval woman who because of her low status in society has sexual freedom. She’s not choosing to f*ck. That’s not what is happening here. It’s about survival plain and simple. In a world where women do not have many options and lowborn women even less, this is her only option. The option being rape(because again this isn’t something she wants).

She’s potentially a victim of pedophilic rapists. She would’ve forced herself to endure rape when she was a child as young as 9 all to feed herself. The act of losing her innocence is a sin on her abusers and not on her.

Let’s talk about her relationship with Daemon Targaryen. The most “villainous” thing she does is sleep with a man, Daemon, in an open marriage:

A man with whom she finds some amount of happiness (and she’s gotten so little of that). A relationship that hurts no one except her when it’s cruelly ripped away from her (and leaves her reeling in the aftermath because unfortunately, she’s the innocent who suffers from loving a man like Daemon).

In her other sexual dealings(her rape) she isn’t willingly choosing the course of action she’s taking. She’s doing so to survive, but with Daemon for the first time in her life, it’s not only about survival. It’s about her joy. This is what she wants and she puts herself and has someone who is willing to put her needs first.

As far as her slaughtering sheep and symbolism go, the sheep are more so a metaphor for herself. The sheep are her, not her victims or her sins. She's the lamb for slaughter. She's the innocent who is destroyed and transformed by others' sins to

Slaughtering the black ram(which symbolizes strength, determination, and triumph over one’s enemies) when she leaves Daemon marks her final transformation, because up until then I think she had hope and had found some happiness/peace in where she was. She is still a seed sprouting.

However, the last shred of what was is taken away with her execution orders. She therefore grows as a person. She’s overcome what has been thrown at her to come into her own. She is not beholden to anyone. She's her own woman. Yet at the same time, she’s still the same empathetic fearless Netty that she was. Those demons who sought to destroy her did not break her spirit. She's just been freed from them.

At the end of the day, Nettles is just a young woman who’s been dealt an unfair hand in life but still manages to rise above it all and never impart harm on a world that has harmed her.

She’s a scrappy girl who has to do what she has to, but she's not a “bad girl.” She hasn’t done anything reckless or harmful enough(any time she attacks, or steals, or whatever it’s in self-defense) to be considered a “bad girl” (which is why I find the accusation that she is downright untrue when you look at her character's actions) or that she’s even “morally gray” or a “wayward girl.” I think she’s an all around good person who hasn’t done anything fundamentally wrong especially considering the world she lives in.

Nettles is well within her rights to exact some vengeance on a world that has shown her nothing but cruelty and contempt, but when it’s all said and done what does she do? She chooses to lead a quiet life away from it all. She isolates herself and shuns polite society. She chooses peace and solitude rather than violence.

Does Nettles have to be an innocent character? No, but leading with the argument that she’s somehow a deeply flawed character who’s not a innocent to prove a point that you can do bad things and still deserve sympathy which is an important point to make, but it isn’t telling her story. There are plenty of characters throughout the Dance who are less than innocent that you can sympathize with, Nettles, however, isn’t one of them.

I think it’s a cop-out to say that Nettles isn’t innocent because that’s how the world, both ours and in universe, sees her. She’s not a mother whose innocent child has been unjustly murdered right before her eyes, or a little girl who witnessed her family killing each other, and she’s not one of the faceless victims of the Dance. She doesn’t have blonde hair or pale skin.

Physically, she’s not what we think of when we think of “innocent” and that blinds our own opinions of her and her story despite who she’s shown to be.

It takes more to see past our biases, to take off the goggles, and to truly recognize that she’s not a corrupted person than to say that she’s innocent because that is what we see when we look at her.

We don’t recognize that someone like Nettles is one of the innocents whose life was almost destroyed by the destruction around her. We don’t see that she is unquestionably a good girl who has a lot of garbage thrown her way but manages to rise above it and not sink into its depravity because that is not what we have been taught to see.

Instead, we see the less-than-innocent girl who while she did not deserve to be murdered, she still has something about her that leaves one feeling like she is tainted.

#nettles #nettles characterization #netty #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd spoilers #nettles asoiaf #nettles f&b #hotd meta #bncommentary #please no one take me seriously because I do understand the take that she doesn’t have to be innocent but at the same time screw it #I just feel like there isn’t enough evidence to write off her innocence

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olivia-anderson-fanfic · 7 months

Text

Have you never heard of such a thing, darling?

There is an abrupt cut to a classic YouTube channel intro. It’s the name ‘The Gotham Files, with Tim Drake’ in a metallic font, bouncing around to royalty-free, terrible dubstep music while fake strobe lights dance in the background. It is impossible to tell whether this is ironic or not. Assumedly yes, though, because then it cuts to a blank title card that seemed to have been ripped right off of a PowerPoint presentation that reads ‘Also Marinette is here’.

(The Timari Buzzfeed Unsolved Au)

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Case of Wayne Manor

A boy sits in a nondescript white room, on a white sofa, in a white shirt and black slacks. This could have all been controlled, of course, however, even the boy himself is not the most colorful – his skin is pale, his hair jet black, and even his eyes are a seemingly lifeless grey. He smiles at the camera, but there’s something unsettling about it. He shows off way too many teeth.

He waves jerkily. “Hello, everyone! I’ve gotten a lot of new subscribers since my last video hunting down the demon known as Poison Ivy –.”

There is an abrupt cut to a new bit of footage, in black and white to signify that it was from the past:

“If you’re a demon then you have to curse me,” the boy is saying from behind a camera.

A seemingly normal woman, though admittedly she is covered in enough dirt to make you wonder if she had just come back from digging up a grave, gives him a blank look. “Why would I do that?”

“You gotta.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Lame.”

The woman’s face drops into the annoyance that had clearly been threatening to appear for a while, and she starts to stand. The boy makes a squeaking noise and immediately runs in the opposite direction.

“– who was not a demon, she was just a regular lady who was really obsessed with poisoning rich people. Which is perfectly understandable and could happen to anyone.”

He nods sagely. There is no reason for this. He simply does. And does it for too long. It gets uncomfortable very quickly.

“But, this does not necessarily mean that ghosts and demons do not exist!”

He smiles.

“Now, in this episode, I am going to solve the mystery of whether Wayne Manor is truly hauhahaha–!”

He breaks character abruptly, bursting into laughter, covering his mouth with his fist in an attempt to smother it. A flush spreads across his cheeks, finally adding much-needed color to the room. “Sorry, I can’t – I can’t do my usual intro with you there.”

A person behind the camera giggles. “Aw, am I distracting you?”

“You were looking at me like you thought I was possessed, of course it was distracting.”

“You looked possessed, I don’t know what to tell you –!”

He laughs at her and makes a spinning motion with his pointer finger. “Oh my god, Editor!Me, just roll the intro here.”

On cue, there is an abrupt cut to a classic YouTube channel intro. It’s the words ‘The Gotham Files, with Tim Drake’ in a metallic font, bouncing around to royalty-free, terrible dubstep music while fake strobe lights dance in the background. It is impossible to tell whether this is ironic or not.

Assumedly yes, though, because then it cuts to a blank title card that seemed to have been ripped right off of a PowerPoint presentation that reads ‘Also Marinette is here’.

When the white screen disappears, the viewers find Tim standing alone in front of a wrought iron fence. The plants at the fence’s feet are overgrown, weaving intricately around the poles and climbing up the sides.

Tim had also climbed up the fence, evidently, seeing as he was still breathing a little heavily. The boy looks more normal now, wearing an old hoodie and jeans and smiling in a way that shows off his dimples. His cheeks have far more color in them now, but that just might be due to overexertion.

“Hey, so, GCPD – I know you watch my videos because Poison Ivy got arrested like a week after I posted – I would like you to know that I’m not actually trespassing. In order to trespass, there have to be people living in the place you’re supposedly trespassing in. Probably. I don’t know the law. But you guys don’t, either, so!”

He flashes a finger gun with the hand not holding the camera and attempts a wink. Unfortunately, Tim is unable to wink, so he just ends up blinking aggressively at a camera lens.

But that’s beside the point! He turns the camera around to point it at what one would, politely, call an abandoned mansion.

Less politely, it would be called a safety hazard. Half of the building looked like it had caved in on itself, graffiti covered the previously pristine white walls, and plants climbed in and out of every window. The back door hangs half off its hinge, and Tim doesn’t even want to imagine what has taken residence in the place since the Wayne family’s unfortunate passing.

“Everyone ready for another day of probably getting tetanus?”

There is no answer. He is talking to a camera.

Said camera speeds through the next few minutes of Tim exploring. Stagnant water and mold, dust bunny families and spiderwebs, a raccoon that Tim runs from immediately, rusting cookware still left out on the counter for a family that would never get to eat it, a moment to linger on Tim when he stubs his toe on a loose floorboard and heaves a deep sigh, a portrait that was peeling out of its frame, a broken grandfather clock, Tim posing in front every graffitied penis he could find, ransacked closets and cabinets…

He stops in the middle of the mansion, smiling widely when the camera is spun back to look at him. “Well, no ghosts yet, but we can’t rule them out. I guess.”

He takes off his backpack and begins rifling through it until he finds his Spirit Box.

“Now, I’m sure that most of you know what this is, but just in case you don’t: a Spirit Box will cycle through local radio frequencies at a rapid speed. The theory is that ghosts can string together these snippets of words to speak or answer questions.”

He shrugs his shoulders.

“Or, at least, that’s what people say. I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then, I’m going with a healthy mix of the ‘lucky coincidences’ and ‘confirmation bias’ theories.”

He flicks the nob to turn it on, and the radio immediately begins to cycle through vague sounds, the box crackling.

Tim shuffles a little, letting the box run as he shrugs off his jacket and sets it down so he can have a clean spot to sit for a while. He props up the camera on his knee and angles it up to show his face as he lifts the Spirit Box to his lips.

“Is anyone there?”

“Ye –!”

Tim looks unperturbed. “You said there’s someone there?”

The box sputters out an indecipherable string of sounds. A fluke, then.

He gives a small hum. “I see, I see.”

There is another moment as the box continues to make sounds. They’re deeper in tone now, but no closer to human language.

“Well,” he says. “If there is anyone in the room with me, I’d like to ask you to show yourself in some way. Possess something nearby, move something, make a sound –.”

The door slams open, and Tim instantly jumps to his feet, the camera catching a terrible view of the underside of his chin for a moment when he hugs it to his chest. Don’t worry, though, dear viewer, for he soon remembers that he is a YouTuber and quickly readjusts, pointing the camera at the door.

There is no one there, but a brilliant light illuminates the door opposite the room they are in.

“Wha…?” Tim says, his voice a whisper, only barely caught by his mic.

There is a person talking just outside the room. They are speaking in tongues.

Or perhaps in French, it is often hard to tell.

Regardless, the captions at the bottom of the video say that it is French and that she is apparently saying a vast quantity of demonetizable words that Editor!Tim could not write out.

The gist, though, is that she is apparently there because of a bet and not happy about it. Hence the many demonetizable words.

After a few seconds, Editor!Tim apparently gives up on censoring individual words, and instead chooses to bleep out the entirety of what she was saying. For the sake of monetization, not because he’s a stickler for rules or anything.

You might think that demonetizable words should be allowed when you are hunting ghosts and demons and the like, and Tim might agree, but he actually likes money, so...

What was the point here?

Oh, right.

Slowly, a girl makes her way into the room, her phone out in front of her like a pitifully tiny shield, the flashlight nearly blinding Tim.

She stares at him for a long few moments. She mumbles something to herself, but even in editing Tim had been unable to decipher it. So, yellow question marks litter the screen.

“Uh… hi,” Tim says, lifting his hand in an awkward wave.

[Ew, an American.]

Tim’s eyebrows shoot up into his hair. [You realize that you’re in America, right? Most people here are going to be Americans.]

Her eyes widen. “You… you speak French?!” she asks in heavily accented English, seeming mortified. Not because she felt bad about insulting him, but instead that she had been caught doing it.

[Obviously.]

Her face reddens, and she tries, unsuccessfully, to hide it with her free hand. “Oh. Sorry.”

“Are you really?”

She seems to consider this for a few moments, before shrugging. “I guess not.”

Tim should probably be offended. He isn’t, though. At least she was honest. Eventually.

She sticks a hand out. “I’m Marinette.”

He shakes it, smiling. “Tim.”

There were a few moments as they looked at each other, unsure what to do.

“I think your radio is broken,” she says finally, pointing at the Spirit Box. It lay on the floor, abandoned, just barely vibrating from the force of its own sounds. “Or, at least, it’s not getting any reception way out here. Keeps saying ‘Hi’.”

Tim frowns. “What time is it?”

“Like…” she looks at her phone. “About seventeen…”

She catches on to his blank stare. She glances behind herself, further into the house, as if considering braving the ghosts.

She is not brave.

She closes the door behind herself, smiling. “Right. American. Five in the afternoon.”

“Oh, that’s because everyone is getting off work and they’re greeting the sudden influx of viewers.”

“I have literally no clue how that correlates.”

“It’s ghosts,” he says, rolling his eyes.

She either does not understand sarcasm or simply does not want to risk it, because her shoulders hike up to her ears and she looks around quickly. “I’m going to kill Alya,” she hisses.

“If you hate ghosts that much, I don’t think that’s in your best interest. Because killing someone would lead to more ghosts, you know,” Tim points out.

Despite the fact that he keeps his tone as gentle as he can while breaking this news to her, she looks absolutely devastated.

Slowly, Tim picks himself up off of the floor, turning off the Spirit Box as he goes. The Spirit Box gives a high whine before sputtering out, but he pays it no mind, so this must not be important. He stuffs it in his bag and heads over to Marinette, slinging an arm over her shoulders and starting to lead her away, out of the room and through the many, winding hallways.

“Know what will calm you down? I’m going to tell you all about the family that once owned this place, and their unfortunate demises.”

“Are you streaming?” she asks, eyeing his camera warily.

“... does the way that I answer this affect whether I’ll die here or not?”

She giggles and does not answer. He does not seem assured by this.

Still, he points the camera at themselves and begins to explain: “The Waynes were a lovely family of philanthropists, and the town lost quite a lot when they were tragically shot after their family outing to the theater. To this day, twenty years after that tragic night, Gotham has yet to recover.”

A few moments of silence swallow them.

Text at the bottom of the screen says that this is not an editing mistake, and instead a choice made to respect the dead. There is also a timestamp where a person can skip to the next bit of ‘content’ if they so wish, and they would go on with their day none the wiser of the fact that Editor!Tim had called them a ‘limp noodle of a person who would not know morality if it walked up, introduced itself, and then punched them in the face’.

But, again, those people would be none the wiser, so…

Tim smiles charmingly at the camera, as if he had not just insulted a large portion of them without their knowledge. “Now their house is a prime hangout spot for dumb teens, such as Marinette and me.”

“I’m not dumb,” she huffs halfheartedly.

“You believe in ghosts.”

“Well, yeah, duh, I’d be stupid not to, seeing as my house is haunted.”

“You’ve seen ghosts?” Tim says, skeptical.

“You don’t see ghosts,” she sniffs, in that tone people use when they are offended by the stupidity they are being presented with. Tim gets this a lot, but never has he ever felt it was so unwarranted. “You just know they’re there. Like when they knock over your cups for no reason.”

Briefly, the image of a cat flickers on the screen. Because that is what she is describing. A cat.

“Okay. Unrelated question, is belief in ghosts common in your culture? Because they won’t treat you if it is.”

She shoots him an annoyed scowl, but there is something amused tugging at the corners of her lips regardless. “You’re the absolute worst.”

He grins. “Glad you think so. I put lots of effort into making people hate me, you know. It’s nice to have my efforts appreciated for once.”

“I wouldn’t say appreciated…”

“No no. I’m appreciated.”

“Okay,” she says easily.

They reach the front doors, and Marinette raises an eyebrow.

“You know, if you wanted me to leave, you could have just told me. I would have left.”

“I couldn’t just leave a woman in need alone,” he says, pressing a hand to his chest.

She looks unimpressed.

“... and, besides, I was pretty much done here, so…” he shrugs. “Figured I’d escort you out.”

She looks at her phone for a moment before shaking her head. “I appreciate it, but I can’t leave for another… twenty-three minutes.”

He thinks this over for a few moments, frowning. He glances back the way they came, as if considering hanging around for longer. And then he decides against it with a tiny shake of his head.

“You know, it’s illegal to be here,” he says.

“You’re here. And filming yourself doing the illegal thing. I think that makes what you’re doing way worse.”

Tim’s eyebrows knit together. “I mean, touche and all, but I was just saying that you could tell your friend that to get out of this.”

“... oh.”

He snorts into his hand. “Oh my god, did you really not realize?”

“Shut up! I hate you!” she whined. “I’ve had a lot on my mind, you know!”

“Yeah. Like cups falling off of tables, apparently.”

She punches him in the shoulder lightly, and he only laughs more openly.

Still, ever the gentleman (even while laughing at her misfortune), he opens the door for her. Still, despite her supposed hatred of him, she rushes through all too eagerly with a murmured thank you.

He only gets a second to follow after her before the door slams shut behind them, so close to hitting Tim in the back that the force of it makes his hair blow in his face.

Marinette throws him behind herself immediately, her hands up in a fighting position as if she intends to fight the ghost for him. Not that it would help, probably, but the thought was still there.

Tim looks a little touched as he rests a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

“Don’t worry about it, the place is old, and the loss of weight is probably just throwing everything off balance.”

“... is that supposed to make me feel better? Because all I’m hearing is that this building is super unstable.”

“Then it’s a good thing we’re outside now, isn’t it?” he says, grinning cheekily.

And, despite herself, she smiles back.

His expression drops immediately as something hits him to make up for the door’s near miss. He groans and falls to his knees in utter devastation. “I left my jacket inside…”

“It’s the ghosts’ jacket now,” she says, patting him on the back in a way that really isn’t as consoling as she seems to think it is.

Tim starts to fake cry.

There is a hard cut. Tim is back on the couch he had been on at the beginning, but his posture is more relaxed this time and his smile is actually normal.

“Well, as usual, there was no ghost to be found. Because they don’t exist.”

A pillow sails across the screen, very intent on hitting him, but he bats it away easily. Because it’s a pillow.

“But maybe the real ghosts are the friends we made along the way!”

Marinette groans off-screen. “Don’t do this to me. You’re going to make me have an existential crisis.”

He hums a little, his eyes gleaming as he leans back, letting himself sink into the plush couch. “So, as usual, there isn’t much to go over…” He smiles. “I guess I can talk about meeting Mari, though. My first thought when meeting Mari was…” He trails off, visibly mulling it over in his mind with pursed lips. “Well, my first thought was that she looked scared and it would probably help her if she had someone to do this with.”

Someone behind the camera coos, not noticing the way his lips begin to tug upwards into a smirk.

“My second thought was ‘The people like it when I have guests on. I can capitalize on this’.”

Marinette makes a sound incomprehensible to human ears and rushes into frame, a new pillow raised. Tim screams.

The scene cuts. Marinette and Tim are sitting on the couch together, now. Their hair is a little messy from the unshown pillow fight. Marinette is lazing across the sofa, her legs thrown over Tim’s lap, so it was safe to assume she had won.

“You want to know what I thought when I first met you?” Marinette wears a slightly sheepish grin. “I thought ‘Oh my god, why is the ghost so tiny? He needs soup.’”

Tim snorts. “No way.”

She nods, trying and failing to keep her expression neutral. She turns to look at the camera dead on. “And, if you guys at home don’t want to be mistaken for skinny little ghosts, then you should hop on over to the website of our sponsor, Hello Fresh!”

Tim rests his arm over the top of the couch, smiling openly. “We’re actually sponsored by Raid: Shadow Legends.”

Marinette snaps her fingers in her best overdramatic ‘awwwww man’ gesture, shaking her head. “God dang it. It was worth a shot.”

“Eh, I’ll still use it as an excuse to do my ad read now.” He turns to grin at the camera, opening his mouth –.

As one, everyone watching leaves the video.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 2

#maribat #timari #timinettte #timmari #this was supposed to come out on Halloween but shut up #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #red robin #tim drake

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albatris · 11 months

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I'm mixing up names and pronouns so sorry about that but can I please hear more about the vampire who thought they were hungry for someone's baking when they were really thirsty for blood 🥺that excerpt was so neat

:D yay I'm glad you liked it!! thank u for the kind words...!!

that's Nat! poor guy. he recently woke up on the side of the road covered in mud in his rental car with no memory of the past ten days... oh, and he's somehow turning into a vampire now! surprise!

so ya, he has no reason initially to suspect the mystery delicious scent he keeps smelling is human blood.... he doesn't know vampires exist let alone that he is one!! he's just broke n hungry n thinkin about sweet baked goods......

he's an anxious, awkward lad with a big heart and lots of feelings about things. he loves animals! especially cats! and in the story will soon come into possession of a very odd ugly scrungly rescue cat named Grub, who is the light of his life c: he's a vegetarian and an excellent cook, and shows his love for others by cooking their favourite dishes :3 he is incredibly smart and did well back in high school, but as an adult he's rather apathetic and unmotivated, n struggles with his self-esteem quite a bit 😔

Nat works (mostly) night shifts at dodgy petrol station chain Stop 'N' Go, where he takes naps on the clock and encourages shoplifting. he becomes a manager in book two purely by accident, but doesn't stick at it very long

he has schizotypal personality disorder too (like me!), which means he struggles a lot with paranoid ideation and social situations, as well as some mild psychosis. he struggles to make and keep friends, but he really does love people and being included in a friendship group, even if he's pretty nervous. his desperation for friendship often leads to him overextending himself though - kiddo will do almost anything to feel useful and liked :c

Nat's character arc mostly focuses on him learning his place in the world and becoming steadfast in his own values, and LEARNING what those values are n not letting himself get pushed around so much. he's an earnest, kind-hearted dude who wants to do good in the world, and he's trying to balance this with the fact that he now has to feed on human life to survive

he's also trying to solve the mystery of what happened during his ten day disappearance...... aaaand he might end up on a quest to kill and eat the centre of the giant vampire hivemind known as "the Garble" at some point. nbd <3

Nat's vampirism comes with a monster mode! it kicks in when he's extremely stressed or extremely hungry, and has rather too many mouths and eyes and claws. in this state, he is still able to recognise friends, but it takes him a lot more effort and concentration, and he's unable to understand unfamiliar humans or vampires as anything other than food, threats, or resources. it's a painful transformation and Nat really doesn't like going monster mode. it's very scary for him and can be very dangerous for others around him. his partner Quinn and his friends Alex and Zeke can usually calm him down though..... his other friend Yvonne will stay as far away from monster mode Nat as possible, thank you very much

Nat's preferred prey is abusive bosses and dirtbag CEOs and rich pricks, etc etc etc, all of which his own personal rich prick, Quinn, helps him track down and access. he is also not above eating particularly awful customers hahaha. like. if someone is screaming in his face for no reason or it's some creepy dude harassing one of his younger female co-workers, yeah, he might just go for a little spontaneous snack. can you blame him

so yeah! that's a lil about my boy Nat! he's the protagonist and main viewpoint character of "a rental car takes a left down rake street and disappears", the horror trilogy I'm working on atm :D

#a rental car takes a left down rake street and disappears

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