#I feel like my discord are the only ones calling him John

[vii-doodles]

John my beloved 🩵 (at least that's what I call him)

#myart #fan art #fanart #käärijä #jere pöyhönen #käärijä fanart #Käärijä John #Käärijä blond wig #Cha Cha Cha käärijä #Ccc #I feel like my discord are the only ones calling him John #Ive also heard blond Jere and JereJere

[swifty-fox]

@bcolfanfic number 1 enabler so heres some Curt/Ken tenderness for the late night crew

Sequel to Bcol's

and immediate sequel to my drabble here:

Curt can tell when Gale has fallen asleep because the entire house seems to take a breath. He lays in the guest bedroom still in his clothes from the airport. From the gym. Hadn’t even stopped at his shoe-box apartment to change out of the loose black joggers and shirt with his nametag. His windbreaker wasn’t nearly enough for the Wyoming winter.

“John had a gun.”

Janie’s got a gun Janie's got a gun her whole world’s come undone from lookin’ straight at the sun.

Curt taps the tune out on his chest and glances over at the blinking alarm clock. Only Buck and Bucky would still have an honest-to-god analog clock in their home. But it’s comforting in a way, reminds him of childhood where things like suicide didn’t yet exist. Three-thirty AM. The witching hour his mamo would say and blow a kiss to the Brigid's Cross over the door frame. It’s late, painfully so and Curt’s eyes are so tired they feel covered in sand. But his body is wired, wide awake; fingers stained from drywall and fresh paint flecks. 

The hole was patched.

The aftermath was going to take a lot longer to fix.

Now that Janie's got a gun, she ain't never gonna be the same.

His phone chimes suddenly and he tugs it from his pocket. He knew he was hot shit but a Grindr notification this far out in the middle of nowhere was a surprise. He swipes past it without even looking. Ken’s name is at the top of his list, several unread texts from hours ago left unanswered after Buck’s assurances. 

New York was two hours ahead of Wyoming. The sun would be rising there. 

He tries to tell himself he doesn’t need to talk to Ken. It just felt right to update him on their friends. It wasn’t about Curt and whatever comfort he needed from the younger man. You didn’t seek comfort from things that meant nothing. So it was nothing. So he shouldn’t reach out.

Besides, he shouldn’t text Ken so early when the other man was probably deep asleep, shouldn’t text him and make him feel guilty for missing any updates on Bucky. He flicks his thumb up and down, hovering over the cracked-barely-beyond-use phone screen.

“Fuck it,” he mumbles, exhaustion and dialect blurring the words together into a mumbled ‘fuggit’.

He flicks out of imessage and opens Discord. Ken’s icon was lit up, the scrolling text below it taking Curt a moment of squinting to decipher. He wasn’t old, he was tired thank you.

KennyLemon playing Among Us.

Sweet boy, Curt thinks and then pulls a face at himself. His stomach untwists the smallest amount. 

The discord call rings for all of half a second before Ken’s voice comes over the phone.

“Curt?”

His stomach untwists just that much more. “Heya Kenny. You should be asleep.” 

“I couldn’t.” 

That's what Curt loved. Liked. Hated. About Ken. He was so sincere it was sickening, cracked his damn molars with it. How he’d made it through everything without bruising that tender center of his beyond repair was a wonder to Curt. Like a peach, one Curt was more than used to sinking his teeth into. 

You got one juicy ass Lemmons.

“Curt.”

“Yeah Ken?” He liked it when the kid said his name. Made something in his chest go all soft and gooey like chocolate. 

“I said, how’s Bucky and everything else?” 

Curt blows out through his lips, tries to exhale every bit of breath in his body until he could sink into the mattress and hide from this whole damn day.

“Brains all where they should be.” 

Sometimes it was good to be vicious. It kept him from feeling too much, feeling too tender. He was a New Yorker, take away his meanness and he’d be a hermit crab without its shell.

“Jesus, Curt.”

“I dunno what t’ tell ya Kenny. He’s halfway across the state where we can’t talk to him. Buck’s half dead from exhaustion or shock or both. I spent half the night patching a bullet hole in a wall my best friend tried to put in his head.” To his shock, his vague horror he feels his throat closing up, his eyes growing hot with burning tears. “Fuck.” He sits up, wipes his eyes violently and tries to yank his jogger leg up to get the straps of his prosthetic. The soft fabric catches on the plastic, on the velcro, on anything it can find. “Fuck,” he spits again just because he can.

“You okay B?” Ken’s voice was so soft and tender Curt wants to bare his teeth at it; just to protect himself. He does, only cause the other man couldn't see and so it wouldn’t hurt his feelings. 

“Can’t get m’damn leg off.” He mumbles, feeling hot shame mingle with the frustration. It was all grief anyways, hidden cleverly behind the mask called complex emotions.

“Wish I was there. I could help you.” 

Curt closes his eyes. Sweet boy. Wish you were here too Kenny.

He didn’t catch feelings. Was renowned for it, prided himself on it. He kept things casual because it was better that way, could see the way Ken was skittish as a stray kitten at the idea of anything real. He wasn’t about to go wading around in someone else's shame, but it did hurt in a special sort of way knowing the fear Ken battled with.

“It’s pretty tense here right now anyways. Probably for the best youse not.”

Kenny’s silent for a long time and Curt tries to swallow his regret, finally winning the battle with his leg and dropping it to the floor with a pointed thump. Take that you bastard. “Yeah you’re probably right.” 

Aw Hell. “It’s not that I don’t want you here Kenny.” He says haltingly, rubs a hand through his hair he still liked to keep short, “I just- I want you here a lot. First thing I wanted to do when Gale finally went to bed was call you.”

“Oh.” Kens voice was a little shaky.

Gentle gentle, be gentle with him Curt. His ma’s voice; always lecturing. You’re too rough Curt, Slow down Curt. Don’t push good things away just cause you’re scared Curt.

“Just so you don’t forget.” He finishes awkwardly “I like havin’ you around.” 

Curt thumps AC/DC against the hollows of his ribs.

Little lover, I can't get you off my mind, no, Little lover, I've been trying hard to find.

“You’ve got a real way with words Curt.” Ken teases.

They laugh, Curt pitching his low so as not to carry through the too-empty house “If y’wanted a poet you wouldn’t be with me.” He teases. A question hidden in a statement, the first time he’d dared acknowledge there might be something.

Because fuck he wanted Ken here. Couldn’t lie to himself now that he was hearing the younger man's voice over the phone. Wanted to tuck him against his side and bury his nose into those curls; sweet smelling and warm. Wanted to press him into the mattress and remind himself that they were alive and things were okay. Ken was sweet and sugar, sometimes Curt swore he licked it off the man’s skin. Whispered it into the shell of his ear as he ground his hips into Ken’s ass until there wasn’t a single ounce of space between them.

“You taste like dessert Lemmons.”

Curt grunts and adjusts himself. He couldn’t help his brain, his drive. But it felt beyond wrong to start anything right then and now.

“Yeah,” Ken smiles. Curt can tell. Ken smiled with his words and his body, just just his sweet mouth. “You’re right.” 

Too sweet, too sincere. It made him violent, made him want to bruise and mark and tease. He rolls onto his stomach with a groan, pressing his face into the mattress and counting backwards from twenty. 

“I wanna fuck you Kenny.” His words are muffled into the duvet but still legible. 

Ken sucks in a quiet breath, Curt can practically hear the other man blush. 

“You’re just sad and scared B.”

Curt squeezes his eyes shut so hard dots spring up behind his eyelids, his throat burns hot and it takes him several breaths to stave off the tears. 

“Yeah.” he mumbles “But I still wanna fuck ya.” 

Tug his curls, lick his stomach that wasn’t quite flat despite his fit state (Curt liked it that way). Kiss him til his lips were swollen and red. Red as his pretty curved cock when Curt took it to the root and slipped two fingers inside. Ken liked his fingers, he said. Liked how thick they were, the way the callouses caught and dragged inside him. The strength of them, liked to wrap his lips around middle and index and drag his tongue between them until Curt lost hold of his already thin control.

“You don’t gotta fuck away all your feelings sweetheart.”

It’s not bitter or reproachful, Ken’s statement. It’s gentle and kind. A reminder out of love, a lever opening the floodgates on the things Curt tried to keep in control. 

He gasps. The bed sheets are wet with tears, his nose running with snot. Fucking gross. 

“I dunno how t’ fix this one Kenny.” he whispers “The goddamn bullets still in the wall, rattling around in there like a fuckin ghost. I asked Gale if we should try to get it out and the look on his face-” 

“You can’t fix it for them.” 

“Whatdy-”

“You can’t,” Ken insists. “You can hold ‘em up and support ‘em and do all the things Gale can’t manage right now but the only one who can fix Bucky is Bucky and the only ones who can fix Buck and Bucky are themselves. You can’t put that burden on yourself or you’ll crack and all youse will end up resenting each other.”

“When’d you get so smart huh kid?” 

“I’ve always been smart, and don't get weird on me.” 

Curt sniffles loudly and grossly that Ken remarks on it, making them both laugh. 

It’s Buck and Bucky he owes his life to, who he would lay down his own for. But right now he doesn’t know what he’d do without Ken Lemmons.

It’s a sobering thought, a terrifying thought; one he can sit with for only a few moments before he’s drawn into that reactionary headspace of fuck, bite, take this tender thing and force it inside your ribcage before it hurts you. 

Kinda fucks you up when you’re raised that drinking a guys blood is the ultimate act of devotion.

“I miss you.” he says and fuck him he means it.

“Take care of our boys and come home soon B.” 

#mota #swiftywrites #curt biddick #ken lemmons #curt/ken #do they have a shipname

[blacktofade]

Gemtho Fortnight Day 6

Prompt: Gemtho prompt: RPF, Etho actually gives Gem his address (or a PO box maybe) so she can send him a Christmas gift, they start sending goofy penpal letters and trinkets back and forth, but it soon becomes extremely horny letters and perhaps physical nudes.

cw: rpf

“I went to the post office yesterday,” Etho says instead of hello when Gem answers the Discord call.

His voice is rough and strangely echoed, like he’s halfway to taking a sip of the first coffee of his day.

It’s early for him. Gem doesn’t usually see any sign of him until later in the afternoon, and her stomach jolts with anticipation.

“Get anything good?” she asks, feigning innocence, and Etho grunts.

“You’re the only one with my address.”

It’s not Etho’s address, it’s a PO box in Edmonton he’s kept open for months now.

It had started as a joke with Gem threatening to find him to send him a mic stand, but she’d only brought it up once, and yet a week later, Etho had dropped the address into her DMs. Nothing else, just the address, and Gem had taken it and ran.

She’d sent the mic stand, not that she expected him to use it, but she’d also included a Funko Pop of Kakashi, just because she wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.

Eventually, he’d DMed her a photo of the same desk setup that she’d seen before, but the tissue box was gone, replaced with the stand, and near his monitor was the ridiculous Funko figure.

It had made her feel strangely powerful.

She’d started sending him things regularly, not expecting him to continue paying for the space month after month, but nothing had ever been returned to her. It all made it to him.

She’d sent him Easter candy she’d found in the back of a pharmacy, almost a year out of date. She’d sent him an old Sega game with no label from a flea market. She’d sent him a little piece of her soul in the form of a postcard from Boston, wish you were here scribbled on the back.

Later in the year when she’d got home from Twitch Con, she’d sent him a signed photo of Bdubs. She’d got it from John as a joke after too many drinks in the California sun, when they’d both laughed to the point of tears at the thought of Etho opening it.

And a week later Etho had sent her a photo of it framed and sitting on the shelf behind his desk.

It was around that time she’d realized he was doing it for her — the whole PO box setup, his strangely candid responses. He was letting her sneak her way into his life.

Which leads to now and the reason why her palms are sweating.

“Have you opened it yet?” she asks and she hears a creak, like he’s leaning back in his chair.

“I opened it last night.”

Gem swallows, tugging anxiously at the hem of her sweater. “Am I wildly off-base?”

“Depends what reaction you were expecting from me.”

Gem takes a breath. “What reaction did I get?”

“I'm only human,” Etho tells her and Gem shuts her eyes and thinks she understands.

The envelope she'd mailed him had contained Polaroids. The kind of Polaroids she's never sent anyone else, the kind she's never wanted to take before.

She can imagine him at his desk, tipping out the contents and sitting in stunned silence. She can imagine him holding one of the photos — maybe the one of her topless, one hand resting on her ribs, face turned away from the camera but hair unmistakable — touching himself and knowing they'd be having this conversation later.

“That's the reaction I was hoping for,” Gem admits quietly.

“I'm going to keep the PO box open a little while longer,” Etho tells her, and it feels like an aside until he adds, “if you would like to send more.”

He says it like he's doing her a favor, but Gem feels breathless.

“Yeah,” she says, too quick to be anything but eager. “I can do that.”

“I'm also going to need your address.”

Gem's mouth is suddenly dry.

She can do that, too.

#gemtho fortnight #fic

[requyem]

Spooky month characters as kiddos! Part 1

Imma ramble about em below the pics

Lila was my first try at this, while brainstorming I just got the visual image of those funky little winter boots and I loved the idea so much I just rolled with it. Lila is a winter baby. At first I wanted to give her dress some frills then I realized, not only that I couldn't manage to make it look right but that it would clutter the design and not fit her so I removed em and replaced em with a belt, to also give a call back to her original design

Ignacio was the second one I did and... I had only two thoughts: ''pathetic/sad looking'' and ''oversized sweater'' that's it, that's all there is to his design and I love him. He probably got that sweater from his dad and just keeps it cause it's comfortable

Jaune was the first design where I started sketching without much idea other then a pose and shorts, I didn't want to just do ''jaune but small'' so I tried playing around with her shirt and body language and went with the idea of sportsy, she be rocking in soccer and baseball practice and ready to win and have fun

Bob started off the same as Jaune, not much idea for his clothes, I obviously wanted to keep his iconic turtleneck but I was struggling to figure out how to include it while also being able to convey this 'country' and '70's' feel that I wanted for kid Bob. So I ended up brainstorming looking at my tablet for a while before slamming my hands on the table and realizing, OVERALLS. HE NEEDS OVERALLS. And now I have an entire HC childhood for him about him growing up in a ranch on the countryside raising the pigs with his dad and taking care of stray kittens. I love baby Bob, he makes me very happy

Frank uhm... I'm sad. For context, I did these while on a ten hour long car ride back to Belgium, and Frank was the last one I did, it was completely dark out, the only light was my tablet screen, my body was sore af, I was tired and my creativity juice was going low. Frank is my absolute favorite character, although Jack and John are my comfort characters, Frank just makes me insanely happy and hyper, and I don't feel like I did him justice... Like I said with jaune, I don't want to just make ''that character but small'' but it's complicated for Frank because my guy probably has had the same T-shirt and sweater just in difference sizes all his life. So I was brainstorming for a while trying to maybe mix his T-shirt with sweater and I ended up settling on those collared T-shirts I hated as a kid. He probably doesn't care about style that much so I tried to express that by making one of his shoelace untie and having one of his sock not pulled up at all. Gave him a bunch of scraps and bruises because he probably spends 22h out of a day outside playing rough with the wildlife and other kids. When I posted this in a discord server we ended up throwing that idea around that he could literally get hit by a car and walk it off like it was nothing, he breaks his wrist and just snaps it back in place, slaps a random bandaid on it and calls it a day. I love Frank a lot lol

#spooky month #spooky month fanart #spooky month sr pelo #spooky month lila #lila spooky month #spooky month jaune #jaune spooky month #ignacio spooky month #spooky month ignacio #spooky month frank #frank spooky month #spookymonth bob #bob spooky month #bob velseb #bob velseb spooky month #spooky month bob velseb

[bambi-kinos]

After reading your view on John's treatment of Paul, I have to ask if you also have thougts on what happend between George and Paul during and after post Beatles. We know how they both treated him as the younger brother and how he tought they were to busy being John and Paul so they failed to see him though other artist saw him etc. We can also understand how he back away from John and Yoko. But what was his problems with Paul? Paul played on more George-Beatle songs than John did and George even played on John's solo record but said he would never play in a band with Paul again. Because there still seem to that he had another issue with Paul and there still seem to be tensions between them during the Anthology. Did Paul really deserved to be treated like that by both John and George. George went on a lot about his faith and spiritual seaching but not really lived up to it all the time. He played a lot about how unhappy he was in the Beatles and being famous buthe lived large with his cars and big house etc. I'm not defending Paul, well I do, but they both treated him so badly. Why, do you have any more ideas about that. Or what other artists, like ex Wings members etc who also complained about Paul's ways. I only ever see it as jealousy.

Legit had no idea how to answer this as George's dynamic with the rest of the band is opaque to me. I put the question to the McLennon server and they provided some very good answers, they have given me permission to copypaste it all here. I hope this helps Anon.

Note: I let the others talk and then I used Discord's "reply" function liberally to @ the different paragraphs. For tumblr I have rearranged the posts so that they read in order as full conversations instead of the weird mishmash that Discord produces. When you see weird timestamps, that is why.

***

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 11:00 AM received an interesting ask from an anon, its very long so i'm just copy pasting

ask

What do we think of this? my take is basically that George resented Paul because he replaced George with John and their relationship never recovered, which snowballed into these bigger issues about George's contributions to the Beatles and his growth as an artist.

I think it was amoralto who pointed out that Paul was safer for George to attack because Paul would forgive him whereas with John that wasn't the case. and yet George was able to cut John off later so what gives?

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:43 PM I think there's a lot to this dynamic that we're not privvy too. What we do know, however, are things like how during the white album sessions, Paul was constantly undermining George's suggestions. I think it was George Martin who said that. We can even see it a bit in Get Back.

On top of that, even to this day, Paul calls George his little brother in interviews. He has always viewed George as the little kid of the group and that would feel incredibly patronising and demoralising. Paul is a lot more wired that John, and I think that personality trait is just something that George stuggles with. John is the 'cool/fun parent'.

I know John also viewed George as the little kid. And I think this hurt George less because 1. John WAS that older kid/parental figure for so long. 2. You can't take what John was as seriously because he changes his mind day-to-day. 3. I think George honestly (probably) secretly respected Paul's opinion more. So Paul's remarks hurt more.

John = The deadbeat Disney dad. Paul = The more serious and caring/overbearing parent You can see how he would grow to resent Paul more. And I think he also blamed Paul for the breakup too. Or at least, how messy all of that was and all the horrible legal issues that came with it

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:06 PM this one hurts. oof. when I read about the break up in excerpts I get the feeling that George thought Paul's problem was the money and the business decisions and he didn't consider (or didn't want to consider) what was driving it emotionally….after all he felt like Paul didn't consider his feelings 😬

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:52 PM Anthology is interesting though. I really think George's attitude in that it partly because he needed to do it. He needed the money. I don't think he really wanted to do it. It was Paul's baby, and he also resented him for that. Hated Paul for being more comfortable financially too. Paul didn't need to do anthology. George did.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 1:53 PM genius, you're absolutely right

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:08 PM this was also around the time that Paul's sweet new deal with Capitol became a thing, i think, because Capitol offered like a significant profit increase for Paul on Beatles royalties if he signed his next few solo albums with them. That caused a lot of upset with George and Ringo iirc, so damn :(

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:55 PM (Also, Paul in a few interviews, has said that he was on good terms with John when he died - UNLIKE George. Almost rubbing it in George's face. I know he doesn't mean it. But I would be incredibly upset by that in George's position. To be constantly reminded of that.)

I think its funny that Paul is viewed as the PR savvy Beatles cause he puts his foot in his mouth all the time haha That actually might be why he's more reserved in interviews now. Sticking to a script… Who knows!

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:19 PM Ha, god, probably. Paul has his moments, there's a good 80s interview where he bemoaned Frank Sinatra attributing a George song to maccalennon, but he doesn't seem to have been humbled until the Heather Mills circus.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 1:57 PM In one of the AKOM podcasts they mentioned a George quote about how he was the closest beatle to John back when it was only them 2 taking LSD… it's my personal theory than in those months he almost felt like he was finally taking over Paul's spot in John's life…I dunno, I get very competitive vibes from George. In his mind he was competing for John with Paul. At least in certain points. And I think John took advantage of that.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:20 PM Absolutely. Reminds me of, ha, Paul when he said that John was their personal Elvis. They all wanted his attention and approval. I also wonder if George was seeking a mentor somewhere and if he thought John was it since they dropped together.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 2:01 PM It's very complex, the Paul-George dynamic

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:02 PM Paul is the one who's always looking for a "project" and can't turn off, being with him must have been exhausting and then you add being talked down to all the time. whereas John can be fun and turn himself off and then maybe the sting of being talked down to isn't so bad. And like we saw in Get Back when John said "we need George Harrison" because he realized George was looking for reassurance, so he could also build George up when he felt like he should.

I guess with John its more like "lots of fun with a few pointed barbs thrown in" whereas with Paul he's steamrollering you constantly and will only occasionally throw in a compliment.

maybe since Paul is more consistent, it meant more to earn his respect? or something like that, like Vanessa pointed out George was competitive for John's approval and attention.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:12 PM there's this consistent theme with George and Paul where Paul's closeness with John seems to really hurt and damage George. And its not like he could let it go easily either because Paul was also his teammate, not just John's. It was a quad act, not a double.

I think George said that being outside Lennon/Mccartney meant observing Beatlemania as a fan instead of as a bandmate. So he's getting all the trouble but very few of the benefits. And then there's the royalty issues on top of that.

Like, Paul was George's friend first, but then Paul pulped that friendship pretty much immediately when he saw John and never felt like he should do anything to fix it. And then George gets pulled into Beatlemania and then there's money problems and then Brian died.

Brian was George's big advocate I noticed, setting up a newspaper column in George's name (ghostwritten by someone else) because he wanted George to be his own brand outside the Beatles and maccalennon, so when he died a lot of that probably went down the drain too.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:23 PM George seems to have been very lonely in the Beatles but due to all this:

I know John also viewed George as the little kid. And I think this hurt George less because 1. John WAS that older kid/parental figure for so long. 2. You can't take what John was as seriously because he changes his mind day-to-day. 3. I think George honestly (probably) secretly respected Paul's opinion more. So Paul's remarks hurt more.

I guess it was easier to shift some blame onto Paul. A lot of George's spiritual journey appears to be about wanting to escape like when he sings about wanting to see God but being frustrated at how long it will take him. Its real but it also seems like he was pretty weary of life by his mid20s.

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 2:40 PM Yeah, you're so right. John was also the other Beatle who was more spiritually inclined. He was the only one besides George who was fully committed to the India trip. (At least for a time.) This was probably something they bonded over too.

There's also that quote… I can't remember what interview it's from. But George was asked what it was like being a Beatle and he says he doesn't really know. He always felt like he was on the outside looking in on Lennon/McCartney. It must've felt like a very lonely place.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 2:40 PM I'm fascinated by J&P but I give George a lot of credit for putting up with them both for so long. I would've cut them out of my life so fast 😂

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 4:05 PM honestly they ruined George's life in some ways!

#mclennon server #beatles meta #my meta #john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #the beatles #talktalktalk

[stormikitty]

Headcannons that carry over to almost every if not every DP au I think of (most if not all of them are DP/DC aus)

Danny and Jazz took dance classes when they were little, and Danny was always a dance prodigy. He can dance flawlessly on pointe and can do any style, though Danny and Jazz's main focus was ballet when they took dance classes. They still know a lot about most dance styles.

Danny and Jazz also took figure skating lessons growing up, but only in winter. They both still practice every time they go ice skating.

Danny is trans.

Danny and Paulina are dance partners (or were dance partners before Danny left Amity Park)

Paulina has dragon powers because of the incident with Dorothea's necklace.

Sam has dragon powers because of that incident as well, but hers are weaker due to less exposure.

Sam also has plant powers because of the thing that happened with Undergrowth.

Paulina and Sam both have dragon instincts because of their dragon powers. This means they are both VERY protective.

Ghost hearing is on the same level as kryptonian hearing. When Danny first became a halfa, everything was too loud for him to understand and sounded like white noise. Danny, Sam, and Tucker all started learning sign language shortly after the accident because of this. If Jazz didn't already know sign language, she quickly noticed that Danny wasn't understanding anything he was hearing and started learning sign language as well.

Ghost speech is not a language. It is a power that allows ghosts to understand and speak any and every language fluently, whether they've heard it before or not. But it's like learning every language with the time and effort it takes to learn 1. The power still needs to be practiced for ghosts to use it well. It's a skill.

Danny knew a few languages even before he died, so it was easier for him to learn ghost speech than it was for other ghosts who have that power.

Dani goes by Ellie because it didn't feel like she had her own name when she went by Dani.

Danny and Ellie both have fangs.

Danny and Ellie need more iron in their diets than any human.

Danny is 4 feet tall and will stay that height forever.

Ellie is at least 6 feet tall when fully grown because her growth wasn't stunted like Danny's.

Jazz is TALL

Danny is touch starved af but REFUSES to ask for affection.

Jazz is touch starved too, but not nearly as much as Danny, and her communication about wanting affection is slightly better than Danny's.

Danny gave Ellie a stuffed raccoon shortly after they met. Ellie named it Travis.

Ellie refuses to say the word "raccoon." They are Trash Pandas and that is what she calls them.

Danny has a giant panda plush that was given to him by 1 or both of his sisters.

Jazz has a stuffed red panda that Danny and Ellie worked together to get for her.

Danny is bisexual.

Sam is a lesbian.

Jazz is either a lesbian, bi with a preference for women, or aroace. (Lesbian in most of the aus I think of.)

John Constantine is Danny and Jazz's pseudo uncle, "Uncle JC," who they weren't allowed to see or talk to anymore after he got into a fight with Jack and Maddie about ghosts when Danny was 12. (This 1 is more specific to dp/dc, but most, if not all, of the dp aus I think of are dp/dc.)

I don't talk about these enough, but these are the headcannons going through my head with every, or almost every, story idea I come up with. I think I've mentioned all of these on discord at some point. I don't post all the story ideas I come up with, but many float in and out of my head and repeatedly come back. Sometimes, a possible story idea will be floating around in my head for weeks, and I won't write anything down or talk about it or post about it, and then eventually I either send it to the discord server to talk about, or post it on tumblr. Usually discord. But I only talk about the ones that I can put into clear enough words to talk about them.

#danny phantom #dc #dp x dc #dc comics #trans danny fenton #danny fenton #danielle fenton #jasmine fenton #jazz fenton #dani fenton #dani phantom #ellie fenton #ellie phantom #danielle phantom #detective comics #john constantine #i headcannon danny as 4 ft tall #headcannons

[askweisswolf]

Fanfic Writer Questions

Thank you for the tag @foibles-fables!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Currently at 89,257.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Oh man, uh. I think it would be better to say what fandoms I don’t write for at this stage, it’s still crazy to me to think it’ll be twenty years this year that I started writing fanfic. Currently I’d say Baldur’s Gate 3 has me by the throat, with a little bit of the DCAU (specifically, Justice League/Unlimited) and the occasional dash of Fallen Hero and Dragon Age that I post to Discord servers. I’ve also got a few Mass Effect short pieces floating around. I really need to post to my AO3 more.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’m going to mess with this one a bit and go off of my top five finished fics by fandom and stick to the ones I wrote solo, that way it’s a bit of a mix. I apologize in advance since a lot of these are years old at this point, but it definitely goes back to what I said before about writing in multiple fandoms, ha.

Rest for the Weary (Frozen) Flare (SPOP) The Same Big Sky (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) Skin Deep (Dragon Age: Origins) At The Door (Baldur's Gate 3) 5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to! I’m not always the best at it but I genuinely appreciate everyone who takes the time to comment on one of my fics, it means the world to me and I always love hearing everyone’s feedback and thoughts, it makes me so excited for my own writing.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

If we’re going purely by just what’s on AO3… hm. For stuff that’s a bit older, easily The Silence Is Your Answer (Fire Emblem: Three Houses). For something I wrote more recently, Few Finer Torments (Baldur’s Gate 3) because I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Shadowheart in Act 2 specifically.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

… Most of them. Oh my God I’m mainly a fluff writer, like I knew this about myself but to actually realize it so starkly is something else. Of my most recent stuff I’d probably say A Little Slice (Justice League Unlimited) has possibly the softest ending I’ve written in awhile.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully not.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not often but I do sometimes! All of it so far has been for f/f ships, mostly with a lot more focus on like… the thinking and the feeling aspect of it and not so much the physical aspect, if that makes sense? I just like using sex as a way to explore the characters, when I’m in the mood to write it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Oh, man, okay. I have written a few crossovers over the years, but my favorite is still one I co-wrote with a friend of mine for the Beast’s Lair fan forum back in the day that was just a complete off the walls one-shot crack crossover with Fate/Stay Night, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, and I think we had a dash of Highschool of the Dead right at the end. It was insane, we wrote it on a Skype call in a matter of hours.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not! When I was more active on FIMFiction.net though I did have a few people who did live readings of my fics, those were always neat.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I’ve co-written with him a lot before, but Pen Pals (Frozen) was co-written with Moczo. Just a heads up that I think he has it set that you can only read it if you’re logged in, if you want to check it out.

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

… I don’t think I can only pick one, man. I really don’t. If I have to, my brain always comes back to Shayera/John or Raven/Terra.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I feel like I owe everyone who started reading my The 100 fic or my Black Widow fic an apology at this point.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, emotional payoff, character study (I guess?). I have one friend who told me I write very good Catholic guilt.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sex and fight scenes are the absolute bane of my existence, for as much as I enjoy the character potential of the former in particular. I’m also slow as hell, I’ve been working on this one Shayera/John fic now for like a year trying to finish it before I post it and ugh.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If it fit the context of the fic I would, yes! I’d double check it with someone else who knows the language first, though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Like, ever? Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers to my old Fanfiction.net account when I was 13. I had a bunch of old stuff saved to floppy discs that I never posted, though.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This changes on a nigh daily basis, but currently I’m having an absolute blast with my The Beast Whisperer series focusing on my Tav who romances Shadowheart, so I’ll leave the link for it here.

Going to gently tag @optiwashere, @kittlesandbugs, @antigonick, @miabicicletta if you guys want to participate, no pressure! And of course anyone who sees this is free to respond as well.

#my writing #fanfic meme #ask game

[pearwaldorf]

I really need to stop listening to Malevolent in the mornings because it is Too Much to have such intense feelings about sad detective and eldritch hitchhiker before work!! But can I wait until after work? Also no.

This episode had the range, damn. Arthur completely off his rocker consumed with thoughts of revenge, John pleading with him to see reason, remember his humanity. Such a good role reversal.

One of the things I love about this podcast is how good the audio production is. In addition to Arthur's blindness being a clever conceit as a vehicle for (literal) description, And the music is part of this. There's not a lot of variation in what's used: Faroe's song, "You Call It Madness", maybe something else. And when you hear something else, that's like a big screeching siren that you need to pay attention. I don't even know what that discordant sound that plays when Arthur and John are having their argument about whether Arthur's intended actions are justified. Maybe something scraping over piano strings?

The pacing is also impeccable--just enough time for the building dread and concern for this character (who we've spent so much time with and rooted for) to coalesce before it all goes to shit. Arthur dropping the knife. Stabbing the empty bed. And then, a literal repeat of what Arthur and Yellow did to get into Uncle's room. The music box was a nice touch, in a real fucked-up way. I respect that.

I'm also so fucking mad the way "bedrock" is used in this episode. At first I thought it was John not getting the idiom quite correct. But the way it comes up again with Peter, it's also a base. Something with stability that you can use to build on, climb up from. I don't think we've ever gotten any information canonically about what Arthur and Peter's relationship was like until now. And he's absolutely cast in the same position as John: the constant, the one good thing. I have no way of knowing if Arthur included Parker in "Because I can't lose another person!" but I'd like to think so. (And oh, to be so intimate with the being who took somebody that dear and important away from you. There's a story there that I wish somebody would tell.)

(Also, there is something to be said about how all the important people in Arthur's life are ghosts by the time we get to know them.)

The thing about fictional characters(') suffering is that it is, ultimately, selfish. They're not real, so it doesn't matter if they hurt. Which is not to say that it can't be done poorly or gratuitously, but it is for us, the creators and the consumers of said work to tell us things we need to hear. You do not need to walk a hundred miles in the desert on your knees, repenting. A terrible mistake does not mean you are unforgivable. The discovery of your humanity can help you transcend the wrongs you did for eons. You are not a monster. And even if you are, it doesn't matter. Somebody will love you anyways.

The last part of the episode is satisfying on a level that some people might call fan service. But that particular term, I think, implies an unearned indulgence. Nothing about what happens is unearned. John pulling Arthur back from the brink with his steadying belief in Arthur's conviction, reflecting that humanity Arthur taught him. John reciting Robert Frost to Arthur!! I was ugly crying on my rowing machine! I have never had any emotional attachment to "Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening" or "Invictus" but I sure as heck do now!

And the apple! The beautiful crisp sound of it! (Somebody in the tag said it had to be an apple because it's the only fruit that makes a pleasing sound, which is also true. But apples are also the only fruit that could really survive through winter before the advent of modern transportation, and there's some symbolism in that.) wildehack made a comment on my fic about how Arthur is so spare in all the time we've known him: not just thin, but starved, and John fits himself into those spaces. And to see Arthur feel pleasure, enjoyment, expansive with hope? It was earned, and good.

ALSO HE PROMISED DATE NIGHT!

[edit:] I forgot about Faroe's music box! I thought Arthur would take it, but he doesn't need it anymore. And that's not a loss, that's closure, and I am so glad for him.

#pear listens to malevolent #malevolent podcast

[krethes]

Unfinished Friday

Got the idea from @tackytigerfic and lordy lordy lordy loo do I feel perceived 🤣

Soo this is a 7th year Marauder fic I started back in 2021 at the behest of the Wolfstar Discord that never quite got its feet off the ground.

“Oh, come on, Remus, it’ll be fun!”

He raised a brow and turned the page of his book without looking up. “No, thank you.”

A sigh. A familiar rustling of robes. The smell of rose and ginger. A flash of red hair. A press of pale fingers down the spine of his book. “Remus John Lupin, I hereby invoke the Favor.” Lily Evans regarded him with eyes like fresh spring clover, her free hand cocked on her hip as she leaned into his personal space. They were only about a foot apart now, and there was no escaping The Look.

He sighed, wrested his book from her punishing grip, and closed it neatly in his lap. “Of course you do,” Remus bemoaned softly, tucking the tome into the bag at his feet. There was nothing for it -- the Favor was one they traded often, something owed that passed between them almost as a joke. Normally, it was a quick glance over homework or something like ‘I can’t be arsed to get up and Our Boys are not around, so please could you fetch me a tea?’, not… this. “I’ve never played before.”

Lily smiled, her entire face lighting up with the gesture, light radiating from every pore. Merlin, but she was lovely, wasn’t she? Remus found himself swept up in it, and had to staunchly squash down the urge to smile back -- he was trying to be cross with her, smiling would ruin the whole thing. “But you’ve watched, haven’t you? Matches with your dad, right, on the telly? I’ll bet you know the rules better than I do.” She batted her eyelashes at him, long, mascara-dark things that got him every time. Girls.

She was trying to butter him up -- he knew this, knew her tricks after six years of friendship, and yet… It worked. Like a fucking charm. And it was The Favor, after all. 

“I do know the rules,” he admitted quietly, steepling his fingers together. His childhood had been rather lonely, after all -- mornings stretching into afternoons that lazed into evenings without other children to play with meant that Remus spent a great deal of his time reading or joining his parents at the television set. He’d been particularly fascinated by the game, of the men and women in peak physical fitness sprinting across a green field in shiny shirts and shorts, and it was the only time his father ever seemed to get excited about anything anymore. So Remus had been drawn to it, as much as he was to the sea, and absorbed the complexities of the game in his knowledge-sponge way.

“So…?” Lily wrapped her hands around his and pulled him to his feet with a little bounce, victory clear as day on her sunny face. At his nod of assent, she hugged him fiercely around the middle, her face tucked into his sternum in glee. “Yes, amazing! Right. So, you’ll be on my team!”

“Aren’t you...splitting them by genders?” He might be bent, but he wasn’t a girl. 

Lily shrugged. “Technically, but that’s just to foster some inner-team solidarity since we’re mixing the Houses.” She frowned faintly, the tiniest moue forming between her eyebrows. “Not much interest from some of the other students, I’m afraid. They don’t… want to be associated with a Muggle game.” 

She didn’t have to explain why -- it was plain. A Muggle game meant being labeled as a Muggle Sympathizer, as a Blood Traitor, even. They weren’t stupid -- they all knew there was a war on the horizon, about to come to a boil, but...they were still kids, weren’t they? Of-Age wizards, certainly, but only Peter and Sirius were eighteen in their little band, and they still deserved a spot of fun. 

“Besides,” she said, fixing him with a coy grin, “you’ll finally get to help me put Potter in his place! Black, too, I guess.” 

Remus snorted, shaking his head. “You can call him ‘James’, you know. You’re dating.”

“Don’t remind me,” she teased, though the look on her face -- doe-eyed and rosy-cheeked -- gave her away in a heartbeat. Their relationship was very new -- only a couple of weeks old, but Remus knew she was absolutely smitten with James Potter. “So, we’ll practice on Wednesdays and once McGonagall gets it cleared, we’ll have matches on Sundays! Potter-- alright, James, ugh -- was deadset we didn’t interfere with his ‘precious Quidditch’, but they’ll be early afternoons so don’t you start with me about your studies, Remus Lupin. I’m taking more N.E.W.T.s than you, I don’t want to hear it!”

Her rambling muted him, and he shut his mouth with an audible click. Well alright, then. Remus knew better than to argue when she was in full sail like this. The HMS Lily Evans was truly a force to be reckoned with. “Wait… the club hasn’t even been approved yet?” he asked, incredulous. It was unlike Lily to come into this half-cocked. Her sign-up sheet, though not as flush as she’d like to be, had an impressive amount of names on it. It would be a decent number of people to let down…

She pulled thoughtfully on her lower lip in a familiar nervous tic. “Well… Professor McGonagall seemed very confident she could get it approved… I trust her!” she decided, releasing her lip with a nod to herself. 

Remus grinned and ruffled her hair, earning him a well-placed jab to the ribs. “Alright, alright. Wednesdays and Sundays, then. I’ll clear my schedule.” 

***

Minerva had been delighted to hear about Lily Evans’s club idea -- football, indeed! Oh, she hadn’t seen a live match since she was just a girl, and even then, it was only the lads at the local co-op putting it on for a lark. She smiled to herself as she bustled down the corridors towards the Headmaster’s office, remembering those games. She announced the password -- ‘Curly Wurly’ -- and adjusted the fit of her hat. One had to look their best, after all.

Albus looked up from his desk and greeted her with a nod. “Ah, Minerva, welcome. You have a proposition for me, I hear?” He did not stop the quill scrawling across his desk, nor rise to greet her. That was fine, he was a busy man.

“Yes, Albus. Lily Evans would like to start an intramural football club.”

The quill came to a scratching pause, and he searched her face with pale blue eyes. “I cannot say that I can support a club that would only create more animosity between the Houses, Minerva -- Quidditch has done a fair enough job of that as it is, don’t you think?” 

She resisted the urge to tidy her hat again -- Albus had such a long way of speaking, never quite saying what he meant. Fortunately, she’d had decades of experience of dissecting his speech patterns, and had come prepared. “I agree, Albus,” she began, watching the flicker of light behind his eyes, “but this will be a mixed-House club. Miss Evans proposed a boys against girls game.”

“And do you think that to be entirely fair?”

Minerva frowned, drawing herself up a little straighter. “Albus, you are not implying that the girls cannot hold their own, surely?” It was 1977, for Godric’s sake!

The smallest of smiles unfurled across his lips and a familiar twinkle entered his eyes, one Minerva hadn’t seen in years. “Ah, of course not. I am certain Miss Evans will give anyone who thinks so a run for their money. Am I to assume you will be the faculty sponsor for this club, Minerva?”

Her schedule was quite full as it was, but perhaps she could convince Pomona to take on a bit more detention proctoring this term… “Yes, you assume correctly. Are we aligned?” She fixed him with a look of cautious anticipation, and only her rigid self-control kept her from Shifting into the cat at his nod of assent. “Thank you, Albus. I will keep you posted of the matches.” Minerva gave him a brief nod, took a cinnamon candy from his desk, and left his office feeling quite giddy indeed.

Football!

***

"Moony-moon-Moony, wait-- where are you going-- and ...AUGH!!! You're not!" 

"Traitor!"

"Padfoot, Wormtail, we knew this was a matter of time."

"Just-- maybe he has an explanation. You have an explanation, don't you, Moonfish?"

"Oof, Pads, that one's not very flattering, strike it?"

"Ah, yes, too right, Mr. Prongs, and duly noted. Well, Mr. Moony, what do you have to say for yourself!?" 

Remus looked at his three closest friends from across the white line painted on the Quidditch-turned-football Pitch with thinly veiled ire. "I'm not sure I understand the question, Padfoot-in-my-mouth." 

Sirius scoffed and gestured wildly at Remus's uniform. "Why, Moony, is your uniform...white?" He gestured to his own, very black, shirt and shorts. 

"Well, I'll tell you," Remus declared, leaning in all conspiratorial-like until he was fully in Sirius's space -- not, he noticed, that he minded. He cupped Sirius's face in his hands and inwardly rejoiced at how he practically melted, and smirked. "I wanted to be on the winning team."

"Oi!!! Out of bounds, Lupin! Foul! Card! Whatever… that means. Moony, you have betrayed us!" James cried from a few feet away, his face aghast. "What makes you so sure the lads are going to lose?"

Remus looked at the black-clad boys scattered across the field and cocked an eyebrow. They were...a motley group, to be honest, and largely pureblood. Xenophilius Lovegood was trying to coax a bit of rogue heather he'd brought in his pocket to take root in the grass of the Pitch. Peter was missing his protective shin guards. Damocles Belby looked a bit winded already, his ruddy cheeks even more crimson than they usually were. The other six boys just...looked a bit lost. Compared to the girl's team, which held Remus, Lily, Marlene, Mary, Sibyll -- not their best get, admittedly -- and a few younger girls Remus was embarrassed not to know the names of yet, they looked a bit... lacking.

Lily appeared at his side and glared at James with her hands on her hips. "Oi, Potter, don't harass my goalkeep," she snapped, though her frown quickly tilted up into a smirk. 

"Moony's my boyfriend," Sirius muttered sourly, casting sad, gray eyes up at Remus that made him feel just a little guilty. Nevermind, he'd make it up to Sirius later, do that thing he liked with his 

His ?? Teacup? Tongue? Wand? Textbook? No clue.

If you wanna...and if you qualify (most of you are way more responsible than me...): @msalexwp @r33sespieces @theresthesnitch (shh shh I know), @second-sister @elder-millennial-trash @quietlemonhush @aqua-myosotis and anyone else who wants to out themselves as a procrastinator 🤣

#unfinished friday #oof #it me #intermural #not to be confused with intercrural #though tbh i think that's what remus was talking about #marauders #wip #my fics #tag game

[mydaroga]

Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans 2023

I've always loved connecting with people who share my passions. For me, cons aren't about meeting celebrities or room parties, though those are both fine. For me, it's about meeting people whose eyes don't glaze over after thirty seconds of your special interest. So when I began my deep dive into Beatlemania, I wanted to find people who really wanted to chat. (Some of you have witnessed these efforts here, to varying degrees of success.) So I googled "Beatles conventions" and, on a whim, bought a ticket to the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago, partly because I had someone to stay with (over an hour away, but still) and didn't need to shell out for a room.

If my goal was to engineer a feeling like, say, my best one on one convos here, or the Meta the Beatles discord, or old school livejournal, or the K/S cons, it was only marginally successful. Still, I think it was a positive experience and I am considering attempting to afford the next one in February at the utterly stunning remodeled TWA hotel.

The Fest, which used to be called BeatleFest until Apple Corps intervened in 1997, has been ongoing since 1974 when founder Mark Lapidos asked John Lennon if he was cool with the idea of a Beatles convention. You can see various guests over the years here, so clearly it's a known quantity in Beatledom. Many people there this weekend have been attending since the beginning, and it's an annual (or bi-annual) tradition.

It differs from other fan cons I've been to in that the focus is largely on music itself. This is natural, but what I mean is, there is constantly at least one musical act playing Beatles music in some form. On the main stage and breakout rooms you also have guests: Pattie Boyd, Gregg Bissonette (Ringo's current drummer), Billy J Kramer, Terry Sylvester (the Hollies), Joey Molland (Badfinger), Jay Bergen (John's lawyer), Allan Kozinn (The McCartney Legacy), Bruce Spizer (various books about the recordings), Kenneth Womack (upcoming Mal Evans book!), Susan Ryan (long time Fest fixture and historian), Skylar Moody (Beatles TikTok), Jude Kessler (The John Lennon series), Sara Schmidt (Meet the Beatles for Real), Steve Matteo (Act Naturally: the Beatles on Film). There are dealers with vintage and current merch and memorabilia, a "museum" room with historic merch, old clippings, an "ashram" where you can attend various meditation and yoga sessions, a karaoke room, costume and talent contests, even a Beatles Rock Band setup I failed to attend despite my yearning to one day play it.

Some of the panels were pretty sparsely attended, and there was a strong feeling that a lot of people go to listen to the bands and stay up all night. But what that meant for those of us who were there to talk and make connections was, I got to talk and make a ton of connections. I met Sara Schmidt and her mother and they took me under their wing and introduced me to anyone who was anyone. I had a lovely chat with Ken Womack. Wally Podrazik insisted on taking a photo of my Nerk Twins shirt and demanded I email him. I spoke to Allan Kozinn about how a John boy comes to write the most comprehensive Paul biography ever. I met a lady named Tina who is going to hook me up with info about early slash and RPF fic (because I've heard several of you youngin's declare it's a relatively new phenomenon and I know it isn't!). I danced to a great cover band while looking like Twiggy. I had a lot of comments about my Stamp Out the Beatles shirt. I spoke to Steve Matteo about his book about the Beatles on film, and shared my own film work in which he took an avid interest.

All in all, it never got as in depth as you can with good fandom friends in a quiet setting. I've also heard that attendance and quality have gone down in recent years, and changes have been implemented due to stupid copyright shit (like, no being able to show any of the licensed films or cartoons? Which is a huge bummer.). But I do feel that I made connections and furthermore, felt embraced and included and warmly welcomed. No one questioned the fact I got here via "Get Back," no one challenged me on being new, no one made any attempt to gatekeep or Beatle bro at me. Only ONE person even asked who my favorite Beatle was. They all seemed genuinely delighted to have a new weirdo to share their passion with.

I haven't decided if I'm attending again, but I do already have plans in the works to suggest a few panels more in line with the type of con activity I like to see. Because even if it's not exactly the interactions I've been seeking, there's no substitute for face to face discussion and squee. And now, my photos!

Jay Bergen, Gregg Bissonette, Terry Sylvester, Joey Molland, Billy J Kramer, Pattie Boyd, and moderator Terri Hemmert.

So many shirts! My little outfits, missing my prized Stamp Out the Beatles sweatshirt:

Weirdass vintage Beatles merch:

And finally, what I spent too much money on because everyone I talked to had written a book, GDI. Plus, 1974 era buttons because I like old stuff and they were $10:

#kris talks a lot #the beatles #fest for beatles fans #conventions #beatles fandom

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 8 SPOILERS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER FREE discussion post for “Echo - Carl’s Route A Ending”  

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

We open with Chase hobbling downstairs to meet Jenna and Raven. The three decide to start searching again for anything that could unlock the door. Chase tries to distract Jenna from thinking about Carl, aware that someone is in her head too. The two talk about Carl’s mental health for a bit, before John leaves Chase with this ominous line.

The player is given direct clues that maybe James Hendricks I isn’t all he seems to be.

My interpretation of this line is Howly going, “Whoopsies, I finally figured out what I want this game to be and this route doesn’t fit into all of that... but it’s to late now so... enjoy!”

......

After searching for a bit, Chase sees Carl standing at the base of the stairs. The two return to the bedroom and Carl hugs Chase tightly as Intimate plays. Carl cries into Chase’s shirt, eventually saying that he had a panic attack. Carl confides in Chase over the whole ordeal, how he feels responsible for it being his family and his house. 

We’re starting to see the results of our actions, of telling Carl to fight off the influence digging at his mind. He’s more nervous and less confident than before. The two confide in each other, showing how they’ve grown and bonded with each other over the last few days. 

Well that throws a wrench into Chase/Leo unless the two fucking talk about that...

We’re parted with a few lines about only being together for sure in the ghost dimension, hinting at the two’s ultimate fate in the current ending. The two tease each other a bit before Raven calls from downstairs, signaling that him and Jenna have found something. Chase makes his way downstairs, still trying to keep Carl and Jenna separate. Jenna is head first in a stove grabbing for what her and Raven found. As Jenna grabs the item, she is pulled INTO the stove by an unseen force. Just as Chase and Raven begin to lose their grip on Jenna, Carl descends from downstairs and is able to rustle with the entity and pull her back.

I believe this entity is separate from John-Smoke-Monster that attacked Raven and then the group in the kitchen. It’s the same thing that attacked Chase in his dream... an entity that can attack in the metaphysical-scape the group find themselves in as well as something that can affect Chase’s mind.

As we learn in a bit, it is also most likely the creature that creates the slithering sound that stalks Chase and Sam in Brian’s Mass Grave location of the mines. These feeds into two theories I have about Echo’s supernatural goings-on that I’ll describe below:

1. This ‘snake’ entity is a higher level/class of entity above Echoes that serve THE Entity, causing mayhem to sow fear and discord above illusions and the amplification of negative emotions that generally blanket the town. Along the lines of Mirror-Man, 88883, and Bull-Head. The particular significance of this one remains to be seen, however it is particularity prevalent throughout the series. It is either stalking Sam, Sam AND Chase, or Sam and The Player, in a sense. It’s the lurking pit of fear that follows Sam, and pursues Chase through the mines as well as right now. Perhaps its in control of more than we can see, affect more than usual. I’m excited to learn more about it, and hear anyone’s thoughts on what the slithering thing could ‘mean’ for the narrative.

2. Echo, the town, has a ‘main’ entity, some sort of cosmic horror/god, ‘living’ in its mines. The dark force attracts OTHER dark and supernatural forces, that all are trapped in its ‘circle’ of influence. That entity triggers the hysteria, and the other malevolent forces simply act freely during so. And this is just the slithering-things many hunts for what ever constitutes it’s prey.

No matter the ‘reason’ or story significance behind the slithering thing, I will like to point out that it is definitely one of the more ‘Cosmic’ kinds of horrors we have seen so far in the series. Socketman in nature is DEFINITELY cosmic (infinite hell psychological torture), but definitely ‘looks’ like a slender-man/radio-head type of monster. A formless humanoid shape with tentacles is more on the Eldritch scale of things.

As Carl and Chase catch their breath after the incident, Jenna attempts to burn a piece of paper she grabbed from the stove, only for Chase to crash into her in order to stop her. Jenna deflects Chase’s attempted attack, hurting the otter's ankle again in the process. Carl and Chase pin Jenna until she calms down, unable to explain her actions. Raven takes the fox upstairs to relax. Chase and Carl talk about what’s probably going on with her.

We see that Jenna is much more ‘gone’ than Carl, and the two speculate that the wills of the ‘ghosts’ are probably affecting the surrounding events.

The two read the letter aloud as Daze begins to play. It’s a letter from James I to John, asking John to meet him at the mansion about rumors John is spreading. The two discuss the implications but can’t pinpoint what anything could mean. Chase notices that Carl is acting like himself again during this conversation

Chase, how many fucking times did Carl look at his dick in front of you for you to go, ‘ya that’s Carl’, and with that number of times, why didn’t you get ANY hint of queer from him for you?????

More reassurance that our choice has influenced events.

The door unlocks and the group decide to head out into the black void beyond the cabin. Chase is apprehensive about venturing out.

Chase is once again shown to be indecisive, even in circumstances that stand no reason, the otter is trying to keep things the same, to not make things harder for himself.

The group all decide to leave and head towards the only visible point, the bonfire in the distance. Carl and Chase conclude they’re walking outside in the desert somewhere based on how the ground feels beneath them, Chase wondering about what’s happening to the rest of his friends during all of this.

Chase looks back at the house, noticing a dark figure standing in the light of the window. It moves from the window to the doorway, slamming it shut as it rushes into the darkness presumably after the group. Carl and Chase rush to the campfire, Carl now carrying Chase on his back as the thing behind them approaches. 

The group reaches the campfire as the entity slithers around them, ‘like a person imitating a snake.’ Chase seizes up and passes out, then finding himself lying on the floor as oppressive heat and sun hits his body. He’s under sleep paralysis and can’t move or open his eyes. The entity is able to make Chase sleep through portions of the day, even cause bouts of paralysis. I believe this has Chase call into question how much he suffers is ‘regular’ amounts of paralysis, and how much supernatural. Coincidentally, he can’t open his eyes this time, which is different from most times he suffers from sleep paralysis. Chase falls back asleep… only to wake once again the mansion.

A repeating timeline of being stuck in circles is brought up in a more literal sense, referenced outright by the text to a similar situation.

Chase wakes to whimpering sounds, stumbling through the hallways to its source. And finds Jenna being hung in the concrete room. Chase tries desperately to lift the fox, trying to loosen the tension on her neck. Just as Chase is about to give out, Carl bursts onto the scene at the last moment again, knife in hand, and both lifts Jenna into the air and starts cutting at the noose. The group argue about the situation they find themselves in again, Chase and Carl even arguing about the Ram’s desire for weed. Through their bickering, Carl and Chase discover that Jenna is completely possessed by John now, only responding to his name.

This is one of the few instances we’ve seen Chase and Carl argue with each other in the game. One of those times is even behind a choice on this route. The situation is wearing down on the group more and more.

Carl and Chase try to reason to Jenna that something isn't right, Even Raven buts in to try and resolve the conflict.

Through the next argument, Jenna concedes, non verbally, to maybe being possessed, and the group determine that they need to find out the truth from both John AND James I perspective. Raven spots a previously sealed door and the group decide to travel through it. 

Ya we live in the House of Demons mountain range, I wonder why things are so bad.

Chase wakes up outside and alone, on the mountains to the East of town, overlooking Carl’s mansion. Upon noticing the mine, Sam warning Chase to ignore it.

Okay I know Sam then immeaidtely uses this opporutnity for a scare, ‘showing’ the hysteria to Chase to spook him before he does his full line... but I like to read this as Sam ‘warning’ Chase, even showing him what’s going to happen/what has happened. Deep down, even smudged and stained after so long and so many loops, Sam still has a good heart, and cares for the boy he’s found himself in.

Chase, after moving at impossible speeds up the mountain, notices that there are more buildings than Echo normally has. The town is more spread out with old fashioned buildings dotting the landscape. Carl’s house is bigger and older looking as well… the sound of train horns loops in the background.

The Entity’s ‘weakness’ in its illusion is sound. Loud sounds, like gunshots and train horns from the Prescott Railway that tie this time of day to Sunday night, break through the illusion. Something something hints at the double meaning of Silent Echoes...

Chase then wakes in Carl’s parent’s room with the group. The group celebrates… only to realize that the room is ‘off’, a mix between old and new. The group head outside, noting the extremely odd humidity, as well as noticing the buildings that shouldn’t exist. Chase explains his dream, about a stage and noose surrounding a tree to the group, and Jenna heads off without the rest of them.

The group arrives at a hanging tree, Jenna already there as they arrive. The body of a man hangs from the noose, clothes and body worn from the elements. Carl sees a piece of paper in the body's mouth and the group moves to gather it. As Chase goes to grab the paper, the corpse's eyes shoot open and Chase’s vision goes black.

Two unknown voices, presumably John and James I, argue back and forth in the void Chase finds himself in. The voices notice that Chase can now hear them, and reference that if he can, then ‘it’ is allowing Chase to.

Hey look, one of the main themes of the game. The truth will let you break cycles of pain and loneliness... you just have to ... Reach Out for it

Also the games first real big hint to an ‘Entity’ residing over lesser spirits, in this case Echoes. (Or maybe even actual Ghosts mixed with Echoes?)

...Chase then flashbacks to an event he witnessed while only a child. 

We know from other routes that this event happened after Chase killed Sydney, and was the main trigger for his spiral with mental health. After this he started seeing spiders on his walls, started falling more and more out of touch with his personality. I had compltely forgotten, but as we learn a bit later, Carl’s ‘major’ issue was that event we saw in the nightmare sequence, not Sydney’s death. And while the death of a friend didn’t sent the ram and otter up for success (okay murder of a friend), they both had further inciting incidents that set them off fully to declining mental states. I like the way this is framed in retrospect. There isn’t every always one THING that needs/should be fixed to ‘fix’ someone, never any single event that ‘breaks’ people... just one thing after another until we reach a tipping point. I think it’s a good point of view/circumstance to consider.

Chase awakens to Carl and Jenna arguing again. The two tell Chase that the corpse ate the letter after he passed out. Chase spots another letter in the foxe’s chest pocket and Carl retrieves it. The paper turns out to be a newspaper clipping, detailing Trisha Hendrick’s research uncovering that James I and John had a relationship. The paper details that crimes were against the missing children and sexual in nature… Just as Chase finishes the snippet, Jenna, now fully possessed by John, attacks Carl with a knife upon hearing the newspaper. 

Jenna grabs ahold of Carl’s horn and readies the knife for a final slash just as Chase hobbles over on his shattered ankle… and we’re met with a choice. 

“Grab Jenna” 

In Chase’s clumsiness, he misses trying to grapple the fox whose been shown to be agile and stronger than she should be.  The track ‘Death’ plays as Chase is stabbed in the chest with the knife on accident. Day turns to night as the shock hits the otter. Chase collapses to the ground as Carl rushes to his side.. Only to lose sight of Chase. Carl cries in agony over Chase as Chase begs for help.

As a side note, this was particularly horrifying to me on a reread, now understanding more of what’s happening.

Chase stumbles to the mansion as Carl argues over what happened to Chase. Chase sees Duke dead on the floor, most of his face missing and a ‘plastic thing’ stuck in his head.

This seems to me where Duke ‘saw’ his wife on Wednesday. It makes sense he ended up here... maybe the Echo of his wife getting some sort of revenge for her fate. That being said... I have aboslutely no idea what the ‘plastic thing’ could be, or if it’s even important.

 As then Chase succumbs to his wounds… and falls into nothing.

We’re kicked back onto the main menu as Chase has died with this choice. This is one of the game's few short bad ends. It serves the purpose of informing the player that what the characters see are not necessarily what’s happening in physical space, as Chase is knocked out of the illusion from his mortal wound, the time shifts to night, and others in the illusion can no longer see him.

“Push Jenna” (The ‘correct path)

Chase successfully pushes Jenna out of the way, with Raven coming in a few moments later to hold her down. Raven instructs Carl and Chase to run as Raven and Jenna struggle on the ground together. The two decide to run into town instead of the mansion, and after getting decently far away, Carl begins to have a panic attack. The ram heads off, saying he needs a moment and that he’ll be back. Chase panics, afraid of being by himself and losing Carl… eventually passing out.

Chase wakes to a snow covered Pueblo, all alone at the university.

The track, Drag starts to play, ominous tones and beats over a droning chord. The buildings are different from what Chase remembers, but he follows the sound of Carl’s footsteps through the fog. Carl’s ‘voice’ calls out to Chase. 

The first sign that the entity is only ever playing ‘back’ recordings.

Chase notices that the snow doesn’t impede his movement. An unknown voice calls out to him saying, ‘We’re not gonna hurt ya…’, the voice also being mechanical. More voices taunt Chase as he desperately searches for the Ram. The voices replay the dream sequence involving Clint and Jeremy. Chase continues to follow Carl’s ‘clops’ as sounds of violence ring out around him. Chase eventually finds Carl, in a twisted version of their old dorm room. 

They talk about their situation as Carl explains how he’s feeling. 

Intimate begins to play as Chase questions the statement. Carl explains that the incident with Jeremy and Clint were what caused him to become codependent on Chase initially, and their time at college together didn’t help that. 

Chase realizes that the location and nature of what they’ve been seeing is starting to become more and more evident. 

One can extrapolate, the location and appearance of the earlier nightmare sequences was from James I and John and that the group had been trapped in THEIR nightmare.

Carl is content with his place in the world, and wants to strive to change it, find his own happiness in life.

Carl says the panic attack from the dance and the stress his parents put on him caused him to finally crack at Pueblo. He also reveals a detail about the side story ‘Crash’... about thinking he had killed chase after dropping acid.

Carl awakens to his Ultimate persona, seeing the truth through the fog shakes off the illusion, and pulls Chase from it as the two find themselves in the diner.

I’m guessing Janice and Dale’s fate aren’t always the same as I feel like that would definitely be something to mention...

The two make their way back to Carl’s house. It’s night time now, a few bodies lie scattered in the road on their trek back. The two find themselves in the mansion, now back to normal. Chase and Carl notice that the surroundings and placements of the room match with the events of the nightmare… drywall on the plates on the kitchen table… among other oddities. 

IT WAS FUCKING PISS WHO DID THAT. NO ONE HAD TIME DO THAT UNLESS RAVEN FUCKING DID IT WHEN THEY LEFT FOR THE INTERVIEW! RAVEN COME ON MAN

The two find the ‘burned’ newspaper clipping that blames James I for the kidnappings of the Meseta children. The two hear Raven in the basement and go to investigate. Raven is tied up in a room, unaware of Chase or Carl’s presence as they find him. They’re able to wake him up with a touch as they explain what little they know to the husky. John had brought his letters to Raven, and the group read them together.

Seeing the truth, the group discovers that James I was a serial murdering pedophile, and that John only reported the bodies found at the Hendricks mansion. The three decide to leave, unwilling to ‘finish the game’ now that they are free from the illusion. As the three leave the room... 

Jenna is completely possessed, voice and image distorted despite chase being ‘awake’. John chases after Chase, slashing at the otters back and slicing him. John continues his assault. The two eventually tumble down the slope outside Carl’s house. Chase finds himself in front of the hanging tree, where he’s able to read the end of the newspaper clipping before John is able to attack Carl who came to intervene. The letter detail’s Trisha’s report, about how James admitted that it was him in correspondence to John in jail. 

The truth sets everyone free...

Chase’s gambit pays off as Jenna returns to her senses, all traces of John apparently leaving her. The scene fades as sirens of emergency vehicles blare into town.

The final scene starts on Chase typing his report, now in his dorm room proper. 18 months have passed since spring break when the game began. He recalls going to therapy after the incident, and that ‘everybody’ except Carl needed it. Jenna returned to school shortly after, now working on her Masters. Chase recalls the rest of the town going through their own nightmare that night, separate from theirs. Chase reflects on his scar and permanent limp. We only glimpse what happened to the other three during the weekend… 

…Chase reflects on his relationship with Carl, and while they two are close 

Chase wishes to return to Echo during the summer and uncover more mysterious surrounding the town, planning to stay with Carl during the time. (He wants to save his Gay-Uncle trapped in his head  🥺 🥺 🥺 ) just as Carl walks into the dorm, now attending Pueblo with Chase. The game ends with Chase joining Carl on a lunch out as credits roll. The track, ‘Echo’ plays, a remix of the title theme that opens with the tape recording sound effects being played.

CG’s witnessed during the prologue and route appear on the screen as the melancholy infused lofi-remix plays.

(The tape recording and lofi REALLY hits me in the feels for this track, ESPECIALLY with how bittersweet it is... because my god is Carl fucking best boy......)

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

And that Concludes the ‘good’ ending to Carl’s Route! We learn more about the route’s titular character, how Chase sees and thinks of himself and others, and we start to understand SOME of the ‘rules’ regarding the hysteria that seems to overtake the town.

The bittersweet ending with Chase injured and scared, and still without his ‘prize’ of a a boyfriend, is atypical of Dating Sims. Echo plays its hand as a Horror Visual Novel, rejecting its origins of a Dating Sim/Horror hybrid. With this being the first route, and that identity not fully decided upon during the writing of this route, there still is remnants of it lingering (such as the many voices with variables never called upon).

We learn that the supernatural events are linked to psychological projects, like in Silent Hill, but that there are definitely physical and supernatural powers outside of pure projection. Themes of truth, perception, self identity, and self acceptance are also explored on this route, with Carl’s ultimate decisions to be better for himself, that he deserves it and is good enough for it, being the truth that sets him free.

 -----------------------------------

Next week we’ll be reading Carl’s Route B until the end (a tad shorter than this entry!) On the choice between accepting and refusing James I influence, be sure to now select “Let it help us.”... I’m sure with the full scope of James I deeds you’ll be able to tell why this is the ‘bad’ end for the route.

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[loyaltymoved]

What's a headcanon about Adam you've been dying to share, but haven't yet?

*pulls out my enormous notebook full of headcanons*

I’m glad you ask.

I have so many that I just haven’t shared yet, or I have but they’re buried deep within the caverns of my discord server.

Growing up his mom worked a lot. She was a nurse, so she’d have such long shifts. He had a baby sitter when he was younger, but when he got to a certain age he was pretty self sufficient. He’d come home from school, do his homework, then fix himself dinner. His go to was a grilled cheese sandwich and spaghetti-o’s. He never liked using the stove for the grilled cheese, though. He could never get the bread toasty enough. So what he’d do is stick the whole thing in the toaster, on its side so the cheese won’t melt out the bottom.

Honestly, he was glad to have met John. He just wished that he’d stayed in his life more. He’d begged his mom to reach out. He’d plead with her to call him, to ask him to come visit. He loved when John did come to town. But of course the hunter could never stay long. He would have given anything to have had a dad in his life.

He always wondered growing up what it would be like to have siblings. But he’s honestly glad he was an only child (at least in his household). He would hate to see what he went through happen to anyone else.

He cant sleep on his back. He hates it. It just reminds him of his first death. Laying there with pieces being bitten off of him. He usually sleeps on his side (when he does, any more). On his back just feels too close to death.

While Michael doesn’t need to sleep, Adam will convince him to let them, even just for a little bit. It’s like eating. They don’t need it, but it just feels better.

When Adam and Michael are apart post-series, there’s this pain that starts to radiate through his being if it gets to be too long. They are, quite literally, not complete without each other. And he is in pain when he is not with Michael.

For the time that Michael was in the empty, Adam got a chance to live a normal life. He got a little job, he got an apartment. But he hated it. All of it. It just wasn’t the same. His soul started healing, but it wasn’t… full.

His heaven. His new heaven, is with Michael. Little moments. Like the diner, or a shared conversation. But he knows it’s fake, that it’s not the real Michael, just due to the fact that he knows exactly how Michael’s grace feels in his body. Where it settles, how the heat flows, everything.

He’s good at calming Michael down, and Michael is the only one that can calm him down.

#i. headcanon || i had to go through hell

[once-in-a-blue-moon-rising]

I posted 1,619 times in 2022

That's 773 more posts than 2021!

73 posts created (5%)

1,546 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@themirokai

@poeticallydead

@managerie76

@icatee

@turquoiseorchid

I tagged 1,547 of my posts in 2022

Only 4% of my posts had no tags

#art - 320 posts

#sherlock - 233 posts

#mystrade - 188 posts

#mycroft holmes - 186 posts

#greg lestrade - 183 posts

#it me - 134 posts

#ofmd - 125 posts

#fanfiction - 104 posts

#text posts - 62 posts

#the sandman - 58 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#they also sent me an email blaming ofgem as if they didn’t make the extremely conscious choice to take advantage of the higher cap

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

COVID day four downsides: can't sleep, too much coughing, stuff smells weird COVID day four upsides: got up and re-read Middlegame, The Empty House AND Experiments with Tequila before 8am

22 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

#4

a slightly rough mystrade manip that I made for the mystrade discord but which I think (I think) I want to share with tumblr too

34 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

#3

absolutely obsessed with The Queue, it's like following the NORAD santa tracker on Christmas Eve

37 notes - Posted September 15, 2022

#2

For Valentine's Day, a tiny preview from the first chapter of Fire Dancing with Snow. This is a first draft, so it may not appear like this when I post it on AO3, but I think you deserve a little bit of fluffy established mystrade goodness today. Works standalone even if you've not read my previous work. Set just after Greg meets John for the first time; Mycroft's POV. G-rated (though the full fic won't be). ‘Gregory?’ he said.

‘Hi’, Greg said. Mycroft was pleased, even in his distracted state, to hear him somewhat calmer than the last time they spoke. ‘Something odd just happened. Figured you might be able to enlighten me.’

‘John Watson?’

‘Dr Watson, yeah, didn’t get a first name. Just strolled onto a crime scene with Sherlock, never seen him before in my life.’

Mycroft hummed non-committedly down the line, thinking. He heard Greg shift his weight, and the clattering of officers on the stairs nearby.

‘Should I take it you’re planning to scare the pants off him and I don’t need to worry?’

That comment broke Mycroft’s reverie, and he choked out a laugh, surprised.

‘One could put it like that, I suppose.’

‘Good’, Greg said.

He paused, and there was something about the silence that stopped Mycroft from cutting in and ending the call with a promise to catch up later. It wasn’t a deduction so much as a feeling: that Greg was contemplating him, a glint in his eye, tongue poking out between his teeth.

‘Not literally though’, he added, and Mycroft smiled broadly, his heart thudding fondly in his chest. ‘Rumour has it the last bloke you tried to scare away from your brother still can’t keep them on around you, and he –’

Mycroft, utterly unable to stop himself, giggled.

‘Gregory, you are at work –’

‘– he really doesn’t want to share.’

Colour flared in Mycroft’s cheeks, and warmth flooded his chest.

‘You may tell him he has nothing to worry about’, Mycroft said, voice low and soft, the impending arrival of John Watson forgotten.

‘I will.’

The exchange hung in the air between them: warm and promising.

‘Although’, Mycroft said, unable to resist the opportunity to tease, his stomach squeezing pleasantly at Greg’s bark of laughter. ‘It’s presumptuous, don’t you think, to assume you’re the last person I tried to intimidate away from Sherlock?’

‘Presumptuous and correct?’

‘Yes.’

Greg chuckled. Mycroft heard him descending the stairs now; clearly, he was needed elsewhere.

‘I’d like to see you later’, Mycroft offered, the sounds of Greg’s work reminding him of the reality of his. ‘If you’re free.’

‘Me too’, Greg said, stopping again, presumably to find somewhere more private to say goodbye, because when he next spoke, his voice was quieter than before. ‘And I’d be more than happy if no pants were involved whatsoever.’

Mycroft almost snorted.

‘Stop talking about pants’, he said.

‘See ya soon’, Greg said, the grin visible from his voice, and then the line went dead.

57 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Ok, so I've seen lots of headcanons about Mycroft being distressed about the Queen's death and Greg comforting him (and, honestly, cute) ... but as an anti-monarchy Brit who loves projecting onto Mycroft, let me offer an alternative:

We know Mycroft referred to an unspecified royal as a 'very old friend', the implication being it's probably the Queen, but we also hear Mycroft at various points decrying any kind of intimate relationship on the grounds that everyone else is, comparatively, goldfish (although it's clear he adores Sherlock, and he and Greg are also clearly made for each other, I do think it makes sense for his character that they really are anomalies).

SO, let's interpret that comment as the fact that the Queen is, for him, a long-standing ally - not entirely deplorable, but mainly just useful to have on side because, ya know, she's the Queen.

And so when she does die, the cause of Mycroft's monumental headache is not grief, but the fact that he has to beat off journalists until the palace is ready to announce it, plus contribute to the logistics of the funeral, the coronation, deal with anger of those who think it's fucking outrageous that so much money is being spent on the whole rigamorale and not, idk, homeless people... AND now he has to speak to Charles. Who he really, really doesn't like.

And so when Greg turns up unexpectedly with coffee at Mycroft's office - and bear in mind this is a coincidence; the announcement's not been made to the public yet - he looks at Mycroft's face and he just knows, immediately.

'Oh my god', he says, plonking the coffee on the desk, and looking up at Mycroft. 'It's happened, hasn't it?'

'No', Mycroft says stiffly. Then: 'Stop smiling.'

But the thing is, Greg has never been super fond of the royal family, always a bit anti-establishment, even though he ended up in the police... and he can't. He breaks out into a full grin, and then he starts giggling... and Mycroft has never been able to hold himself together when Greg starts laughing.

And suddenly, the worst afternoon of all time is bearable, and they're giggling away together in Mycroft's office, trying not to laugh too loudly with the whole floor conversing in respectful whispers outside the door.

'Do you want me to lose this position?' Mycroft hisses, when he can catch his breath. He pauses. 'Although, it might be preferable to - '

'Charlie?'

Mycroft hums then, trying to retain some shred of... propriety, perhaps, not that Greg needs that from him.

'You're a horrible influence', he declares instead, and he lets Greg kiss him, and smooth his hair back, his laughter finally stuttering to a halt.

'I know', Greg says, and he steps back. 'Give me a text if you need anything else, yeah?'

75 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #it me

[scinnahunbun]

REMI IS BEST GIRL! (BUT TECHNICALLY NOT REALLY TBH AND HERE’S WHY)

Let me be clear, Remi is my number one favorite character in unO. Almost leaning to a comfort character. However, I do have some thoughts on her writing that I want to lay out. PLEASE take this as more of a ramble from an emotionally driven brain than a critique tho. I’m not shaming Uru for her writing, just vomiting my thoughts. I may get some stuff in canon wrong so I deeply apologize for it in advance!

As far as we are concerned, her and Blyke are the most morally good out of the characters in this webtoon. However, she’s not perfect. In fact, she makes a lot of mistakes in unO. I hate how fans only brush her aside as the “nice but naive one” or the “stock badass cute female charcter” when there are so much more potential to her. But sadly, there are times where I believe the webtoon itself thinks the same way as them. Remi is not as well-written as characters like Arlo and even *gags* John. She does seem like that at first but there are cracks in her that make her feel… kinda off. 

(sorry btw to the unOblr discord members. I know I’ve been annoying with these takes but i want to compile them in a post DX)

I do agree that she hasn’t been compelling since the Volcan arc. While she has her moments like her putting up the Safe House, it’s already predictable since she has been constantly shoved into the box of the “nice girl on the sidelines”, especially in the Rowden arc. I understand the need for spotlight to the other characters but it kind of hurts because I love Remi’s flawed side. My favorite scenes with her is when we see her vulnerable and reckless. When she prioritized her revenge over Volcan when Alana died over the danger of getting harmed herself or when she lost her cool and burst into tears over the idea of Arlo getting hurt like Rei. I love seeing this side of her because as much as she tries to be the active hero, she’s just a teenager with a hero complex who tries to do everything for everyone but ends up hurting the same people in the process.

With what we have in canon, I don’t buy that Remi “easily forgives” her friends, no matter how attached to them she is. Yes, she can be in denial for a while but I don’t think she would let them off completely. Arlo’s been trying to undo Rei’s hard work on the hierarchy for two years. Considering Remi’s persistent and active attitude and the influence Rei and her family has on her, I hardly believe she would tolerate what he did, let alone still be friends with him. It annoys me how every time he does her dirty or admits to doing something wrong, she just reacts with “>:( hmph, fine!”. And that extends too for Isen but it’s worse bc we don’t even see her get pissed at Isen. I like Remi and Arlo’s friendship in canon but since they are such good foils, it would be interesting to see them clash at first (not as intensely as John and Arlo tho) before having these small moments of friendship to have more of an impact.

I am okay with Remi being ignorant. I’m fine with seeing her on the wrong side. I just think it was handled poorly.  I can see Remi being naive but not to the point of complete inactivity. The only pre-Safe House Arc onscreen moments where I can see her fit into this “naive royal who does nothing and is ignorant of her actions” is when she does not apologize to John for Blyke shooting a beam at him (probably because jOHN SLAPPED HER AND CALLED HER A BITCH) or that funny haha scene in the webtoon’s first chapter where she playfights with Arlo for cake without the thought of accidentally harming others in the crossfire.  

Even though there’s not that much screentime of her being inactive, the same could be said for her work as Queen. Where was she for the past two years? Why was she so passive? She mentioned that she “tried to help others” during that time but that’s all we hear from her. We don’t see what she does or if she really does help low tiers before the Safe House arc. To me, it seems less that she’s naive and more that her existence was completely retconned for certain chapters just so John could have an excuse to absolutely roast her in that one episode (haha get rekt dumb bitch!1!1!1!1).

Remi is constantly overshadowed by other characters and honestly, I think it needs to be addressed. Yes, she has her own agenda but nowadays, it’s mostly swept away for Blyke or Arlo’s development or given a couple of moments to grow (X-Rei arc) only to suddenly be cut off so she could get beaten up by John.

On a related note, her giving up being X-Rei after a couple of scoldings by her friends just sounds so OOC, especially since most of her scenes are dedicated to the weight of Rei’s death in her and how far she went in order to. Thanks, I hate it. 

So that’s all of my concerns at the moment so here are the things I would love to see more from her:

Why was she a mostly absent Queen before Rei’s death? What happened to her in the past two years? Did she really do her part but Arlo’s efforts to dismantle Rei’s hierarchy were too much for her?

More platonic moments with her and Isen! I understand that she and Blyke are more close to each other because they are canon love interests but I would love to see more of her friendship with Isen with genuine concerned or tender moments since most of their interactions are just haha funny moments and scolding Isen for being a dum dum. I love the scenes where Isen puts himself out of the line to save Remi when she was fighting Volcan as well as Isen getting beat up driving Remi to confront John. I know that this is a Remi post but Isen feels like a third wheel comic relief most of the time and he deserves better—

Her thoughts on being coddled by Arlo and Blyke. I noticed they baby her a lot and while they have good intentions, it does come off as condescending at times.

Remi being a workaholic. I explained this in a post before but I really feel like this is a good main flaw for her. It also makes her a foil to Seraphina where even with Remi’s selfless intentions, she makes mistakes and it still drains her like how Sera was when she’s Queen. I’d love her to contemplate how she’s not good enough for anyone or always end up making things worse with her help or smth like that.

For a time before Sera’s Spectre arc, she was the only character who was literally breaking her back to uncover the Authorities and the one responsible for most of the improvement on Wellston since the Safe House. I want to see her tired and stressed out of her mind!

The first thing that caught my attention from her is how different she sees the hierarchy. Despite coming from an implied high tier family, it’s fascinating how we see her and Rei being raised with a more community-based mindset from their parents. I really like that and I love to see more of how it influenced her.

The influence Rei had on her besides his death. We get the idea that she had inherited a lot of values for him but I would love to see how much Remi tries to be him as a Royal and probably lead to an identity crisis on how much is the real her or her brother’s legacy—

Bring the X-Rei arc back. Please. 

Just her going apeshit in general. Make her scrunkly. Embrace her flaws. She deserves better.

I understand that we can’t explore this currently because of all the current events and having all the screentime be on the actual main characters. I don’t want a Remi-centered unO or anything but I still wish we had room for at least a few of these to explore. 

To address the title though, I would consider Arlo best girl okay bye—

#unordinary #unordinary webtoon #unordinary remi #unordinary rant #notmyremi

[spectrumed]

22. the other

There is this song by the musician John Grant that I very much appreciate, lyrically, though I can’t say that I am too familiar with him as a musician. It’s a song called “It’s Easier.”

And it's easier for me, to believe that you are lying to me,

When you say you love me and when you say you need me,

Yes it's easier for me to walk away and get on with my life

If I believe that you're deceiving me,

If I believe that you'd be leaving me one day, be leaving me one day,

Be leaving me one day

I’d rather be forgotten, than remembered. Or, well, maybe that’s wrong. I want to be remembered, but not quite like that. I don’t want you to know me. Not truly. I don’t want you to feel me. I don’t want you to touch me. I don’t want you to feel me. I want you to know me, to get a sense of who I am intellectually, but emotionally, I am shut off. I am in lockdown. Don’t think you belong here, don’t think you belong here with me. I am not just going to open up to anyone I see walking down the street, I am not going to open up to anyone I feel is close to me. I’ve got my secrets. I’ve got my lies. I better pretend I am someone I am not. Because I am worried you’ll be leaving me one day.

I hate you. You, the other. Why should I care for you? Have you ever cared for me? You’re strange. You’re foreign. You’re mean. I should isolate myself. I should build a wall around myself. If I am on my own, then I will know that I don’t have to worry about any unpredictable agents of chaos. Other people are hard to predict. Hard to truly know. They do as they please, and, by fuck, are they willing to act according to their own sense of what’s proper. The world isn’t a stage play laid out for the likes of me. Other people aren’t marionettes doing their best to satisfy our personal narratives. Narratives are all lies. There’s no narration to life. Good and bad only exist as fictions. In truth, there’s only that which is acceptable and that which is less acceptable. It’s all just a big blur. We’re all caught in the maelstrom of life.

The internet destroyed our previous conceptions of relationships. It used to be the case that one could casually state that no long-distance relationship could ever work, but these days? We’ve got the internet. It’s easier than ever to maintain a long-distance relationship. It’s easier than ever to communicate daily, without actually touching each other. Intimacy is different these days, though I am sure certain oldies will refuse to accept that. The net, for those of us who grew up with it, has permanently altered our way of perceiving others. For better or worse, distances mean less now than they did before. A lonely woman in Leith, Scotland may find the love of her life in Tehran, Iran. Does it make sense? Not necessarily. In many ways, the world we exist in today is utterly incomprehensible. But it is reality. It is the world that we find ourselves in. Reality trumps fiction. Reality trumps romanticism.

No, it’s not just a dream. Something was real, right? We had something. Here I am, scrambling for pieces, while you’ve likely moved on, realising that there’s some better place for you somewhere far away from here. I represent the old. You’re looking for the new. I can’t blame you. In fact, I congratulate you. After all you’ve been through. After that dreadful suicide attempt. Swallowing too many pills. Sure, I took it very hard when I read your message on Discord, but don’t you worry about my little opinions. Your life matters most. Or rather, your decision not to have a life matters the most. You decided to commit suicide. Unlucky for you, it did not succeed.

I deleted every picture I had for you. Because, of course, you broke up with me, and I wanted to be a good guy. A real good sort, the kind of a man you can point at and say that he’s not like those other males. You sent me naughty pictures, but I no longer have those naughty pictures. For a while I fantasised about taking a picture of your face and keeping it with me, the way that a proper romantic should respond to their partner committing suicide. But then I realised that you weren’t dead, and frankly, it would feel so awkward for me to keep your picture around. Why keep the picture of an entirely living girl around with me? It’s not as if she’s gone. She’s only gone in an alternate timeline. One separate from my own.

I can’t hate her. Of course I can’t. We bonded because we both had our mental health issues. And of course, for her to even attempt suicide, it makes her condition so much worse than mine. I am lucky in that I suffer from thanatophobia, the extreme and unreasonable fear of death. Yes I know, many might wonder how fearing death can ever be extreme, but I’ll remind you that phobias aren’t really phobias unless they get overwhelming. The fear of death does impede my everyday existence. The fear of death, ironically, makes me not want to live. I can only assume that this is where my OCD has taken its hold. The fear of the unpredictable. And really, what is less predictable than human mortality?

You woke up. From your coma, you woke up. Are you the same person? Am I to think of you as the same person? I don’t know if it is possible. To me, a real part of you died that night. I spent the hours just crying, just blaming myself. Can I tell you how much you hurt me? Or would that be wrong of me? After all, it was you that attempted suicide. How dare I pretend that I’ve got the slightest thing to complain about. You’re holy. You’re a martyr. If I happen to resent you, ever so slightly, then surely it is my fault. It is my fault for not owning the wider perspective. I am a little crab, and you’re the net that caught me. I feel insignificant.

I miss you, but I also fear you. I don’t want anything to do with you, but I also yearn for your attention. I yearn to know you’re doing fine, I want to know you've got everything handled, but I know things are probably just as bad as ever. There’s no rest for the wicked, and though I find you as innocent as ever, I can still recognise that you were deliciously wicked to my eyes. My eager eyes. Some may think that I am some innocent boob, some little 6’2” boy barely capable of perceiving the world outside of himself, but let me tell you, there's nothing about you that shocked me. I was all prepared for you. I was ready to love you. But you could never love yourself.

I am so sorry. I guess I didn’t do enough. Surely, there must have been some way for me to do more? Surely, if the butterfly effect is to be believed, then your attempted suicide all came down to some arbitrary detail, something I could have fixed. Why don’t I revert the tape, why don’t I simply press the right button on the remote? Why don’t I make it so that all of life is predictable and perfect? I should be able to, right? My lack of ability to make heartbreak like this not happen must mean that I am incompetent. It must mean that I deserve to feel this loneliness. That I deserved to have you attempt suicide.

Things can never be the same. You don’t need things to be the same. You need to recover. You need space. You need time. You need to take a breath. It’s hard to take any breaths when you’re dead. But luckily, girl, you survived. You just spent a couple of days in a coma, nothing much to worry about there. It’s not as if you’re deceased. Though, I am sure that some part of you wishes you did in fact die. I will never share this blog post with you, because I don’t want you to know just how much I resent you for putting me through what you put me through. I know you're suicidal. And please, hjärtat, I’d never want to see you actually die. I just want you to know that those days I spent thinking you were gone, those days caused me a lot of pain.

What's done is done,

I cannot change the way I feel,

And what's more, I am certain that I don't regret a single thing,

But sometimes I really miss your sweet, sweet love,

And wish that I'd wake up, and this would all be just a dream

#aspergers #autism #autism spectrum disorder #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #mental health

[rebelw1thacause]

@meaningful-negativity​:  ‘Ship Bias’

The first ship I would have a bias for is John Bender because, without him, Jasmine wouldn’t exist. A couple years ago, there used to be an app called Series and it had a Breakfast Club game that I recapped on my WordPress blog, which is where the character of Jasmine Ross originated from. Lucky for me, there was a Bender blog on TUMBLR and I immediately started RPing with them. Eventually, we started to ship our characters and I have fond memories of our threads and our RP chats on Discord. I really think that they were made for each other because Jasmine provides the comfort and safety that Bender can’t get at home and Bender introduces Jasmine to new things and gives her the courage to stand up for herself. @acrxmxnal​

My second ship was Loki, who happened entirely by accident. They first met when Loki accidentally saw Jasmine naked and ended up forming a genuine relationship. I think that they work well together because they’re not only considered monsters on their home planet because of what they are, but because they’ve both been ignored by their father in favor of their siblings while sharing a loving relationship with their mother. I really do think that Jasmine brings out the best in Loki. @heroesandironmen​

My third ship is Dr. Strange because the two seem to fit each other well despite that Jasmine’s more artistic while Strange is more scientific. Ironically, Jasmine’s powers are more science based while Strange’s are more magical based. Yet I feel that the two compliment each other well as they both seem fascinated by the powers of the other and both have bad histories with exes that they’re still getting over. @dxctorstephenstrange​

For my fourth ship, I’m going with Johnny Silverhand. When I first found the blog, I knew nothing about Cyberpunk but decided to try out the game so Jasmine could interact with the muse. I found myself not only falling in love with the game but creating a new ship. Though, I have to admit, this is definitely one of my darker ships TUMBLR wise as Johnny is a real piece of work. Sorry @fucktyrants​. Right now, the relationship is purely physical but there are hints that there could be something more. Unfortunately, giving Johnny’s personality, things could get really toxic but, as strange as it sounds, I’m actually happy about it. It really allows me to explore a darker more cynical take on Jasmine that I often don’t get the chance to. Plus, if it weren’t for Johnny, Jasmine wouldn’t have that illegal radio show of hers.

For my final ship, I would like to talk about one that is coming up. This would be Jasmine and Nat and, honestly, I think they’d be a good couple because both have father figures who see something to use rather than a person, whether it’s as the perfect assassin or the perfect daughter. Plus I honestly do think that Jasmine can be a shining light in Nat’s life. @heroesandironmen​

#muse shipping #i feel like giving up (ooc post) #what makes a rebel (muse headcanon)