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hanasnx · 2 months

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diff anon but what fandoms did you meet your close moots through? i don’t know if that counts as indy lore

that counts! more under the cut. i wanted to talk about all my mutuals

@its-clockwork-princess one of my best, oldest, and dearest friends. years and years of friendship, roleplay, fanfiction, writing. every time i see a duo on screen or in any media my first thought is always her and my second thought is always “us.” we went through a thousand different fandoms and i can’t remember our first but we definitely bonded heavily over fandoms like marvel, dc, and fnaf at the very early stages of our friendship. her dad was actually dating my mom for a long time, which gave us plenty of time together. literally cant even summarize everything we’ve gone through together, everything we’ve built, seriously been friends for a decade and i plan on staying that way for the rest of my life. i cant imagine my life without her, how bleak and colorless it would’ve been. i’m honored to know such a generous and kind person, and someone who helped shape me into who i am today. a love truly unconditional.

@ohgodmyeyes loved his takes on anakin, thought he was so real and so down to earth even though he could stand to be more egotistical considering how talented he is. i think about a certain post he made about anakin -> vader's dick literally once a day. i'm not even exaggerating at all when i say it was my roman empire. in just that small amount of time i was taught his quiet confidence, his exquisite way with words, and his unapologetic thought process. i maintain a distance from him because i'm playing the long game and from what i've seen on his personal posts i feel like he might be overwhelmed if i come on too strong, as i often do. but that doesn't stop me from grinning every time i see him in my notifs and i get to think, "this message was approved by ohgodmyeyes." very proudly.

@somuchfrstardust we talked in the comment section of anakin edits on tiktok i feel like and then i was like "hey wanna be friends" and we haven't talked in a while but that's totally cool, that's just how i am. i still consider them my friend i think they're a rly cool person.

@banakinbabygirl was one of the first anakin/hayden blogs i followed, i love how they write smut. it's a very emotional way of writing, very heavy on the descriptions and realistic reactions that drew me in and kept me there.

@starmanskywalker is one of my favorite writers in general. anything on her masterlist is an instant recommendation from me, instant like, instant reblog, instant indy review. i'm such a jealous person in general but the way i feel about alanis' writing is beyond jealousy. it's admiration, it's fondness, it's awe. i don’t feel envious i feel fulfilled. i was very proud to become her mutual, her friend, be on a first name basis with her, and write fanfiction with her. we have a collab we've been working on for a while but because we're both so busy and it's such a big project it takes a lot of time and a lot of love, but i'm still so excited for the day it's finished and can be published.

@xstarkillerx is so much more than a person i met on the internet. truly one of my best friends, and i can’t imagine not having him in my life. there’s so much i can say that i have actually already said on this blog before. donnie has a way with seeing the world i just love to hear about. i’ll ask his opinions and experiences on everything simply to hear what he, specifically, has to say about it. when we have conversations inhibitions are left at the door for the both of us instead of just me. i feel skinless, muscle-less, body-less with donnie. an entity obsessed with him on discord as we write novels to each other, sonnets about how we view the world and its fictions. donnie is my bread and butter, and i’m so glad i found him and stalked him and forced him to be my friend and now he’s reliant on me just like i want.

@weixuldo such a sweet person and very understanding of me and my boundaries. i first found wei’s blog through their fanart of darth vader which i loved so much i sent every single one of their posts to my best friend who i mentioned at the beginning of this post. i still go back to look at those works every so often to brush up on my love for them. such a talented artist i’m very happy i’m worthy of a follow back, and that we enjoy each other’s content.

@mcondance i met through hobie brown back in june 2022. i loved how they kept luring me to their page by mentioning me and my hobie works they kept reading, i swear they were using my vanity as bait and it worked. they are, genuinely, so fucking funny. i only have friends that are funny don’t get me wrong, but there’s something about jupie that when i’m talking about them to other people, that person is like “omg jupie is so funny.” like. jupie just transcends my sense of humor to other people’s. they’re funny to the masses. i’m very bad at texting, but jupie is a person i try to reach out to so they know i’m virtually loving on them. they like the attention. another writer i’m so pleased to be mutuals with when they’re so skilled at the part of writing i always feel like i’m most wooden at. the side of smut writing that takes feeling and sensation and even an edge of genuine horniness, jupie is so good at translating that onto a page.

@murdrdocs is another mutual i gained from the height of the hobie brown era and i believe i saw her content through jupie’s page. now we don’t get to talk too much but that doesn’t mean i don’t think she’s not a super cool person. i don’t read much, but the things i do get to read specifically on icarus’ page make me very proud to be her mutual. not only is she an accomplished and gorgeous writer, but her blog designs are always envy-inducing. she shifts her aesthetics so seamlessly—even tho i know how changing a theme can be draining and time-consuming—and it’s always easy on the eyes. her navigation is especially creative and i’ll never forget her newspaper clipping themed announcement for last kinktober.

@princessbrunette another writer i’m constantly in awe of. i met her through her anakin works, and invited myself onto her kinktober taglist when she was still a relatively new blog that’s how much i was instantly attracted to her work. her style is so distinct and so refined, i can overlook non canon work because hers is just that good. she’s also very funny, and has a gifted silver tongue. i’m always impressed with how she’s able to paint a picture in her pieces using nothing but the most concise and visualizing words. it’s not often that i watch something because a friend watched it, but i watched obx for her so i could still enjoy her work that’s how much i love it. our universes we create in our dms are so special to me.

@empiresheir was someone i met through their anakin one-shot about order 66 which i’ve reblogged several times and it’ll never be enough. it was such a good piece i gave live updates to my best friend who was reading it too. i sent those screenshots to her orc cos she deserved to know what i had to say. she was also an essential help when i was writing my kinktober project, kind enough to read my pieces and give me line by line feedback just like i like so i wouldn’t go crazy from lack of attention on pieces i couldn’t post til october. not only another talented and powerful writer (capable of dropping my jaw at how insanely good she is at wording things), but such a sweet person to talk to. and though she’s not active in the fandom anymore i think of her fondly and i hope she’s having such a good time with baldur’s gate.

@darthvvder had a collection of anakin drabbles that i found on wattpad of all places and i was amazed at what i read. thoroughly impressed by the physical reactions her works were eliciting in me. got me to care about smut tropes i hadn’t cared about before simply bcos she was so good at writing them. i posted about a line that gripped me and she commented that it was her, i followed and the rest is history.

@jarebare99 is my boyfriend :) he gets an honorary mention. i wrote him an entire book of poetry and my thoughts on him so he can read that if he’s feeling left out from everyone getting paragraphs. i met him in irl not through a fandom but idc.

@ddejavvu was someone i’d see in my notifications including my inbox every so often and she was very recognizable. i really can’t remember how us being mutuals happened? i’d like to say i somehow discovered she wrote and wrote well and once i began noticing i consistently liked her content then i followed and lo and behold she was following me too. mei is very respectful of my space and i like that she texts me without expecting an answer back bcos i like to read her updates and don’t always know what to say. i have some of her inbox messages i gatekeep and i go back and read them every so often and think about how diabolical it would be if i answered them and floored the world, but i have yet to be ready to share the genius.

@anakincentric technically through anakin. even though we don’t talk much bcos both of us have really similar no-contact ways that doesn’t mean i don’t think she’s real sweet. i like when she pops in, drops a banger, and then peaces out. like a disney cameo appearance.

@harrisonbrainrot i wanna say han/indiana. i feel like i was already following his blog because i got to read some of his stuff when i was in a han mood and was like, “yea, this guy gets it.” and then when we reconnected in the comments of someone else’s post, i told him i was a big fan which was true, and then wham bam thank you ma’am mutuals. i have no idea if he knew who i was before or if he was following me, but he’s cool asf. not only is he hot and chill, he’s also really kind with me about not texting. a very generous soul who let me use his crunchyroll to watch jjk out of the goodness of his heart, which i am kissing him for. one of the rare writer’s on here who’s unapologetic in the shit they say, which i always admire and prioritize in who i choose to follow. love his han characterization, so when he’s reblogged a han work of mine, i believe it’s been christened by the harrison ford pope.

@anitheus tagging this blog bcos it’s what i followed first but i also follow her other account @silxani because i love her art style. i love how she draws anakin every time. her spider-sam fanart, and her nsfw anakin works are my favorite, as well as the fanart she made of us for my birthday. gorgeous art style i could look at all day, and i like her personality when we text.

@ivysangel i wanna say it was dc comics but i can’t remember the character, might’ve been jason todd. she came for the dc, and stayed for the other stuff including my general tomfoolery. she flatters me with kind words about how i’ve influenced her, which always makes me soft. we have a lot in common, which is always so much fun to compare, and i love that she watched batman beyond when i recommended it even though i wasn’t expecting her to a) do it and b) love it. she’s aware and respectful of my boundaries when it comes to sharing my ideas which i appreciate, and i love seeing her in my inbox. we haven’t had enough time together for me to nail down everything i like about her, but i will.

@loveliestlovelygirl eloise caught me by surprise bcos it’s not often i get instantly hooked, or at least it hasn’t been that way for a while. i haven’t been in an anakin mood for a while, but i still reblog her works instantly so i can get to it later because i know i’ll like it even though i haven’t read it. idk much about her, but her theme makes me bonkers jealous. it’s so beautiful. like her chapter HTML for her fallen angel au makes me drool.

@psuedosis newest mutual. her reaction towards me made me instantly endeared, and i loved her jet works. some zuko pieces as well! hit at the right time bcos i just finished atla animated. very excited to get to know her more.

boom. indy lore and extensive thoughts on tumblr mutuals.

#indy shoots the shit #thanks for the msg!!#anon #indy lore

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ganondoodle · 10 months

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genuine genuine genuine question- wwwhy do you not like the zonai? (zonau? not sure if thats like. the worlds coolest plural or a translation difference) given your content with more monstery designs i would have thought they'd be up your alley!! however. i have also not played skyward sword (as much as id like to) and i know most of peoples upset with their existence and the totk storyline is because of its conflicts with that plot? i'm very excited to see what you do with your rewrite/botw2!! given their slight presence in faron in botw, it would be cool to see you repurpose the zonai in some way that doesn't conflict with the plot you're going for, something that makes more sense with the cryptic kinda bare minimum we had in botw? sorry if you've explained your stance on the zonai before <3

hhhhhhhh i had ranted alot about it but i hope you are prepared- (also "zonai" is sonau in german but im choosing to write it with a z so people recognize it at least, im pretty sure zonau is also the orignal japanese word for them)

i am fine with their design, in fact, i LIKE their character designs, however i dont like everything else about them.

and no its also not bc it affects skyward sword bc it doesnt affect ANYTHING in skyward sword, bc skyward sword is the VERY FIRST zelda game in the timeline and totk is nowhere near it, totk draws several paralels towards skysw bc its meant a sort of soft reset for this new era but its really just thematic overlap and references bc those are cool (i know alot of people are trying to convince the entire fandom that totk somehow is crammed into the old timeline but trust me its never anywhere near confirmed nor does it make any sense, heres the lil graphic i made last month to clarify how i think its meant to be understood .. quite obviously even -

i dont mean to sound .. mean, but some people read too much into little phrases or references to older titles (like first king of hyrule .. doesnt have to mean the literal firstest of the first ones in all of forgotten history ever, just the first of THIS hyrule for example), and while im not against theories i am very annoyed when people try to say its somehow canon when its NOT)

with that out of the way;

i dont like how they are 'integrated' into botws world, they feel unnatural and shoved in everywhere, they have been everywhere and did everythign better and cooler and no part of (this) hyrule was untouched by them their architecture feels not integrated well either and design wise its rather bland, while the sheikah shrines for example while obviously not natural and very 'techy' they still build a harmonizing contrast while the totk shrines are pretty laughably unfitting compared to them the basically complete disappearance of all sheikah tech related stuff bothers me immensely bc why would you just get rid of it istead of developing it further (i know about purahs towers and think they are just like a worse version of the previous ones; and before this argument comes up again, them destryoing it all -somehow- bc they were afraid of it being taken over again is a dumb excuse bc then they should be even more scared of zonau tech- even MORE unknown and advanced tech literally falling from the sky) you could have done SO MUCH with the ancient shiekah tech it drives me nuts

i also think it tipped the delicate balance of the kinda medival setting + high tech that botw had set up compeltely over, the zonau tech just .. is so painfully obviously only the way it is to give you little lego parts to glue together (i know its a focus of the game ... or at least the gamePLAY but it could have been done better, again i think they managed the balance perfectly with shiekah tech, its weird and isnt natural but doesnt endanger the believability of it ... the zonau tech just throws that out the window rly ... how cool would it have been if you could built lil guardian walk thingies djknhfkd )

in general they just feel like a complete replacement for the ancient shiekah and are so SO desperately trying to make the zonau the COOLER and BETTER versions of what the shiekah were (you COULD have connected them in a cool way, like there being ancient shiekah labs build in the old zonau mining facilities bc they used zonau tech as basis for their own tech etc)

like instead of building on the set up and potential botw had prepared, they just scrambled to make a 'better' version of botw, like oh no forget THAT ancient civilization we have an EVEN MORE ancient, and EVEN MORE highly developed peoples there that were also everywhere before you but also were never really hinted at- and then repeat botws structure .__.

having an old and forgotten civilization of whom only some withered ruins remain gave botw a much more real feeling, a world with a history that you will never know (you know, bc that makes it intriguing and is just .. a good choice of worldbuilding imo)- and then totk comes along and reveals everything and also nothing, we know too much of them to be intrigued by their mystery and also not enough to actually care about them (also them beign presented as the good perfectly perfectestest kingdom of light that can do no wrong other than underestimate the eeeevil guy while they also had their hands on every part of the land and made all other races be their face and nameless servants just ... thats weird man!! i know its a game, even if its only aimed at kids my god they arent stupid either!! you really present me with that and expect me to take it at face value what argh)

again i think they COULD have been integrated into it, but the way it was done completely threw me off, im not mad about them EXISTING but about how it was DONE in the game

the way they were done robs not just totk but also botw of mystery and intrigue, for example i much rather had them stay a mystery, only ever talked about in some text and some old and almost completely withered ruins left, you never get so see what happened there in the past, you can only guess, but you have to deal with the fallout anyway and thats just ONE possibility, there are so many and it feels like they chose the most boring one every single time

sometimes knowing less is better than knowing half

(maybe i can make it clearer when .. or if i can get to illustrate what could have worked -in my opinion- better .... sorry for ranting again ;__; )

#ganondoodles answers #ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #ganondoodles rants #i WANT to like this game so damn much #but cant with the way it was done #and i didnt have big expectations either #sorry if i sound agressive #the way i type just reads to others like that somehow #im desperately yelling in my cage with tears in my eyes thinking about the potential it all had

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the-final-sif · 4 months

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It’s the holidays, and having learned more about them from his friend c!Sapnap, c!Dream decides that he would like to get his guardian, XD, a gift.

Sapnap got both his dads gifts while he and Dream were out on an adventure. The two of them had ventured down into the caves until they managed to find a strange old city underground.

Sapnap had been spooked by the black, blue and glowing substance that grew over every surface, slowly consuming the city, but Dream knew exactly what it was! It was sculk, and it was harmless as long as you kept quiet. There was a warden that would show up if you got really loud and annoyed the sculk, but as long as you were very polite it wasn’t a big deal.

Despite this, Sapnap had been a scaredy cat so Dream had gone in instead, and after asking the moss to make sure it wasn’t using any of the old stuff, he’d found some cool discs and neat shards that looked like the night sky. Both had been very interesting and he’d given most of it to Sapnap, keeping only a few of the night shards for himself.

Bad apparently loved music and Skeppy ate minerals so he should love the shards. Sapnap was sure he’d never had anything like it.

Dream had been quite happy to help his friend with his gifts this year, but it had got him thinking.

XD did so much for Dream, he’d been taking care of him for years, built his mask to keep Dream safe, and taught him how to fight. Taught him how to explore.

They’d been ramping up training lately. XD had been spending more time with him. Dream was almost 13 now, he was getting taller and broader. He was feeling more and more like he was getting ready for… whatever it was XD was preparing him for.

There was a tension growing, and XD seemed… off. Nervous? Tired? Whatever it was, it wasn't happy.

Since his guarden was stressed, Dream really wanted to get him a gift. Sapnap would be spending most of the holidays with his dads on a trip to some kingdom (they had invited Dream along, but Dream had his training and also being surrounded by people constantly seemed like way too much), so Dream had plenty of free time to figure something out.

Only that left him with a seemingly impossible question. What do you get for someone who seemed to be able to get anything?

XD’s magic let him summon just about anything, so anything that Dream could get him just seemed… empty.

The question had been bothering him for nearly two weeks now, through training and-

“Hello, little one.”

Dream quickly hopped out of his bed, grinning brightly at his guardian. He hadn’t been expecting XD to show up again so soon, but here he was! It’d only been a day or so since they last spoke.

“Hi, XD! Are we training again today? I’m a bit sore from yesterday but I can still fight, I really want to fix my sword swing. I mean, axes are better, but I know my sword is still too high…” Dream trailed off, the expression on XD’s mask had changed from its usual smile to something a bit more… concerned?

“Not today, little one. Today, you need to go somewhere.”

That got Dream excited, he snagged his adventure bag, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement. It’d been awhile since they went on an adventure together.

“Where are we going? Should I bring anything in particular? How long will we be gone?”

XD didn’t seem quite as excited, but his mask still shifted back to a smile.

“Unfortunately, I can’t go with you this time. This is something you need to do alone. Don’t worry, it won’t be dangerous. Or not really dangerous. Not like things will be in the future. I can’t tell you how long it will take.”

Dream’s excitement fell a bit, traveling alone wasn't as fun, but it would be a good chance to find a gift for XD. Maybe inspiration would hit while he was traveling?

“Okay, so where am I going then? How will I get there?”

XD’s mask shifted to something more contemplative.

“I can’t tell you. It’s not… it’s not quite a place that you find. It’s a place that finds you. It’s almost time for it to find you. Go looking and follow your instincts. You should… if I’ve done everything right, you should get there.”

As XD spoke, he did something he rarely did. He reached out and adjusted Dream’s mask. Straightening it just a little.

In the movement, Dream felt something shift. Not a lot. Not much at all. But just a little. Just enough that he felt a bit odd. A bit taller maybe?

It was weird, Dream tried to shake the feeling off and focus on his task. The instructions didn’t quite make sense, but he trusted XD. If XD said the place would find him, then that must be what would happen.

“Okay! I’ll… try to find it I guess. How will I know when I’m there?”

As he asked, he moved to climb down from his tree house, only for XD to scoop him up instead, teleporting both of them down to the base of the tree.

XD cradled him for just a moment, squeezing him in a hug before carefully putting him down.

“When you find it, you’ll know. Be safe little one.”

“I will.” Dream promised, and then XD was gone. And Dream was on his own.

Now that he was alone, he could feel a charge to the air. There was something out in the woods. He needed to find it. And maybe he’d find a gift for XD on his way.

#dreblr #c!dream #dreamwastaken #dsmp #dream smp #c!sapnap #dreamxd #c!Sapnap #godling c!Dream au #godling dream au #sif writes #sif speaks #i lied we're two parts away from the murder #but I'm happy with the next part too

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schrijverr · 1 year

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Interview with Eddie Munson about Recent Resurgence of Corroded Coffin and Appearance in A Collection of Queer Photography

Title speaks for itself. Interview with Eddie after the book is released, which caused a new interest in Corroded Coffin.

On AO3.

Ship: Steddie

Warnings: mentions of the AIDS crisis, mentions of homophobia, mentions of police violence, mentions of stopping with smoking, self identifying use of d-slur and f-slur

~~~~~~~~~

Today I go over to the house of Corroded Coffin front man Eddie Munson to talk to him about the renewed popularity of the band after Jonathan Byers published his work from 1986-1994. The book of photography is about growing up queer and the found family that Eddie also was a part of, giving insight into the private life of the group.

When I get to the address, I am greeted with the sight of a big house resting on a plot of land with a driveway that splits into two. Around the house is not a neat lawn like many other houses in the neighborhood have, instead it is full of wild flowers and grasses, a few trees and what looks to be a vegetable garden in the back. I have to check I have the right front door, before ringing the bell.

Soon Eddie Munson himself is opening the door and greeting me warmly and leading me to the living room I recognize from the end of the book.

Dressed in black sweatpants and a fraying Dio shirt, hair in a bun, he looks comfortable and a bit like a king in his castle as he sits down on one of the couches, gesturing me to take the other one. Though, not before giving me something to drink.

It’s afternoon, since he wanted the kids that he and his husband, Steve, are fostering to be out of the house, so they wouldn’t come under scrutiny. The two women he shares the house with, Robin and Rose, are of to work. It’s peaceful, but not quiet, metal music playing softly in the background.

I jump right in, asking him if he saw the recent success of the band coming. He laughs and shakes his head:

“No, man, not at all. We were all just hyped for Jon’s and Nance’s project to be taking off, you know. We knew some Corroded stuff was in there and that a few fans were excited about it, but we’re an old band, past our prime. And then that tweet about me on the phone to Stevie went viral and suddenly our numbers were going up and we were getting tagged in stuff. Some people made art, it’s really cool to see.”

He looks genuinely excited as he talks, loose grin on his face. I ask whether the fan interactions are different now than in the 90s.

“Totally, but not bad different. It’s a lot more connected today with social media and everything, which is really cool, since you get to know what people are thinking outside from a quick meet and greet or random encounter. Don’t get me wrong, I loved meeting fans back then, but this has its charm and we all get to hear from old fans now who didn’t have the money or ability to come see us back then. That’s definitely a bonus.”

Curious I ask: Have you noticed a difference between new fans and older fans?

“There is always generational differences. Trust me, I’m very glad that people have changed so much in how they think, but sometimes you’ll hear a kid say something and you’ve gotta turn your head in surprise, because it was unthinkable back then. But there are a lot of good kids out there. Mostly the difference is knowing lore. It’s hard to get to know things about a band that was big back then when you weren’t a part of it, but a lot of older fans are talking about it. It’s great to see that we built such a nice community out here.”

I tell him that a lot of people are wondering if the band is planning on releasing anything new now that they’re back in the spotlight, but Eddie shakes his head to that.

“No, no, sorry. I know people want us to, but we’re done. I still write music, even produce here and there. Jeff has his own record label and the other two are enjoying retirement. We get together to play for fun, but none of us want to do the tours and the press and the whole circus again. That shit is fun when you’re twenty something. We’re old now and I already missed enough time with my baby, I don’t have time for it, I don’t want to be away from home. Plus, we always got kids coming in and out, I’m gonna be there for them, because they need me more. It’s really sweet that people are enjoying our work, but done is done.”

He doesn’t want to comment on the kids, beyond that they’re great, since they haven’t ask to be anywhere close to public scrutiny by being in foster care. He says it sucks enough on its own and that he knows, he’s been in it.

So, I let the topic be and instead ask about Steve, who he mentioned. At the name, he lights up in a way that reminds me of romance novels.

“Steve is the best, he truly is. When we were big in the 90s, we had to hide, so I never could dedicate songs to him, tell the world how much I love him and say what songs are about him. It’s nice that I get to do that now and that people are noticing him with the book that came out. The most important person in my life.

Like, people underestimate how fundamental Steve has been in the success of Corroded Coffin. It wasn’t easy to do senior year for the fourth time, I nearly dropped out a thousand times, but Stevie kept me in school, which meant I got to have an okay job when we moved to Boston, so we could even live there as Robs studied, you know. And he kept working as Corroded Coffin tried to make it, he literally made sure I could follow my dreams and I have never been more thankful to him for that.

He was also our biggest fan all throughout. At the start he’d help us make merch and sell it when we played bars, but as we got bigger he couldn't come to our shows often anymore. He’s had a lot of knocks to the head, so too many loud noises are a no. I nearly gave the whole thing up a few times when we were on tour for months and I couldn't see him, but he always knew what to say to make me feel better and keep going.

Stevie has been my rock. He has done so much for him and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make him as happy as possible, because I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

The passionate rant is filled with love and it’s a little painful to cut him off, but we have limited time, so I move on to the book that launched him and the rest of the band back into the public eye. It is a view into his private life as well and I ask if that has caused any issues.

“I mean, you’re always going to have a few people who try to make it weird or think they know you now and have a say over you, but that is with everything, not just this book. Overall, it has been mostly positive, you know. I got to talk about things without having to make it a weird public announcement thing. It’s not like I want to give a press conference about the pride of back then and Nance does a way better job of talking about it and I feel like Jon’s photographs say a lot more than me talking about it.”

The photographs are very powerful at points, I have to agree, but I am still curious about what he thinks of the book and his life on display in a way it hasn’t been before. So, I ask if he has a favorite part. He laughs at that, a little sheepishly and jokes:

“That’s like forcing a parent to chose a kid, I think. They’ve done a great job in showing us in everything we did.”

Then he gets a little more serious as he says:

“I do appreciate them putting in my uncle Wayne. Nancy asked everyone what parts we wanted in the book and what parts we didn’t, I told her I’d love it if Wayne got a shout out and she did more than that. She worked with me to make those two pages, to make sure he was there properly.

Uncle Wayne did as much for me as Stevie did, you know. He was my rock and I wanted him to be remembered right. He never was a man of many words or anything, but he was always there. He took care of me and Steve when we got kicked out and he worked hard to put me through school and he made sure I felt normal. That it was okay to be a gay kid in Indiana and that I wasn’t going to die before reaching twenty-five. It might seem insane to think now, but that was just the way it was back then. If you were queer, you weren’t getting old. But Wayne did.”

He wipes away moisture in his eyes and I pretend not to see it. A grin is back on his face in no time and he lightens the mood by saying:

“Though I think I’m required to say my wedding is my favorite part. I love the real wedding we did in 2015, but that first fake one was special. It wasn’t big or anything, but everyone we cared about was there and it made us feel connected, like it was truly permanent. Like we could have that in a time where it seemed the world would rather see us gone. It felt like a powerful fuck you and I’ve always loved that.”

I smile at that, a powerful fuck you seems to be very fitting for the man in front of me. Even in casual clothes, he looks like he could fight you and win, yet also comfort you when you need it.

This has given me the opportunity to ask about one of the wedding photos that has intrigued me ever since reading the book. It is called “I Knew They Would Get Along” and is of the couple with Dustin, one of their friends, now professor at Stanford.

“Oh yeah, that’s a funny story,” Eddie tells me with delight. “Me and Stevie ran in very different circles back in school. Despite sharing a senior year, we never really talked until after. He babysat Dustin and the other twerps, I ran the DnD club they all joined when they got there. Dustin pestered us for months to just try and see if we would get along. We both refused. It wasn’t until spring break ‘86 that we actually talked and it was sparks from the start.”

Seeing how he talks about his husband it is almost impossible to imagine him being anything other than 100% infatuated, but he looks to be truthful.

With the mention of that spring break, I can’t help but ask after the allegations that he was proven to be innocent of and the injuries he sustained during it in the earthquake that hit the town after. He has been private about it in the past, so I know I’m pushing my luck.

Indeed he closes off and just says he doesn’t want to talk about it and his tone indicates that he means it and I will be cut short if I ask further. So, instead I ask about other parts of the book, namely Corroded Coffin’s start in Boston.

“Boston was great. It wasn’t Detroit, Cleveland or LA, but it was better than the small bar we used to play at in front of the local drunks that’s for sure. We already knew we were going to Boston in the 80s, most of the guys studied there for a bit, before dropping out. I knew Robs was hoping to get into a program there and where Robbie goes, Steve goes and where Steve goes, I go. If we wanted Corroded Coffin to continue, we’d go with them to whatever big city they ended up in.”

The book also showed to the close friendship between Eddie’s husband, Steve, and Robin Munson, a linguist. Even now, the rockstar shares a house with Steve’s practical other half and her wife, Rose. I ask him if that was ever hard or cause friction between them.

“No are you kidding?” Eddie practically laughs in my face, not out of malice, but out of disbelief. “I already knew the two were a package deal when I started dating Steve. Besides, Robin is a blast too. She’s fucking hilarious and has great taste in music. In fact, it has always been comforting to know I wasn’t leaving Stevie by himself when I was out touring. I mean, I was best man at their wedding, it was never a thing between us.”

I ask if it isn’t weird to not have the house alone, but share it with another couple.

“Nah, man. Like I said, I love Robs and Rose is amazing too. The two are family. I would let everyone of my family live with me as long as they want. They’re my people and I love having them around. It’s nice to have more people in the house, I wouldn’t know what to do if it was quiet and empty all the time. We often host DnD one shots or movie nights here, it’s great.”

The game is mentioned quite a bit in the book and is well known now, but they never spoke about playing it in their heyday and I ask whether they’ve gotten reactions to it with their new popularity.

“Yeah, it’s nice. A lot of people are excited that we seem to play, it’s cool to see how much more popular it has become and how many people find the same excitement in it as we do. Playing DnD was different back then. When we started it was in the height of the Satanic Panic and we were branded as freaks for it, so I guess that stuck with us. We didn’t want to loose cool points and reveal we played games on the tour bus, though our manager did tell a few people about it. I think Gar convinced a few paps we were obsessed with Ludo for a little bit. That was hilarious.”

At that I ask if there was a lot they had to hide that they don’t now. There is of course Eddie’s sexuality and that of Gareth, which Eddie comments on:

“Hiding is part of being a celebrity, if you don’t want people judging your every move or shunning you for inane shit then you have to keep some shit to yourself. It can also make you go off the rails to have nothing to yourself, but never talking about our sexuality was hard, you know.

For me it was something I wanted to share. I wanted to tell the world about my baby and how happy he made me, but I never could. I couldn’t tell them I didn’t sleep with that model and no, Robin wasn’t my secret wife. Or that I didn’t like the way girls would flirt with me, because I was happily taken and that I didn’t know what to do with the bras people threw at me or the panties they made me sign or how they’d offer themselves up for a one night stand.

Management would’ve killed me if I breathed a word of that and it was constricting at points. It’s what I hated the most about being famous, always having to be careful about being watched when I was with Steve outside. I already didn’t have every day with him and I couldn't even cling to him 24/7 without being scared.

I think it’s really cool how we have openly queer celebrities now. I know it seems silly to younger audiences, but that wasn’t a thing. Not really. I only came out in 2001 and it didn’t go over well with many, many people. The closest thing I got is all the songs I wrote about Steve that were either subtle or had switched pronouns.”

In response to that, I ask him if he has anything to say about what it was like being queer when he was young. The book shows a great deal, but I am curious what Eddie himself has to say about the experience.

“As a kid it was mostly scary. Like I said, Satanic Panic was happening, not to mention AIDS. It was terrifying. I count my blessings every day that I didn’t have to loose anyone close to me to it, but it was just horrible how the scene seemingly got smaller and smaller as more people dropped like flies. It just made me so frustrated and angry that the government wasn’t doing anything. A lot of people were mad.

I really love the photos Jon took back then. He has this way of capturing moments, people as they drop pretenses or show who they are. He has an eye for it and that makes his photography so powerful or intimate. They show that those prides were protests. We had to be proud of who we were and stand together, because it would all go to shit otherwise.

Community is so important. I have always found great solace in being surrounded by others like me. I think that you can see it in all my show clothes how much of my inspiration came from the leather scene I’m a part of. A lot of metal style has roots in the leather scene. People often don’t realize because it turned homophobic later on, but metal has always been very queer.”

This seems like the best moment to bring up the arrest photos. The book gives a little context about it, but I ask Eddie what happened anyway.

“Robs was being totally metal and part of the tits out dyke crew, they were the best, but definitely a risk. When she was at risk Steve decided to be a diversion to make sure she could get out. He figured her scholarship and future were more important than his job right now.

Nancy saw Steve getting arrested first and went to argue with the police, but they weren’t listening to her. Sexist pigs honestly. I threw my argument in as well, but I was just another crazy fag in leather with long hair that they didn’t like the look off. And I never go without a fight, I stopped running in 1986 and I haven’t looked back. In this country that means getting a few punches to the face, Nancy joined the fight, got hit too and arrested. At this point, I consider us lucky to have come out of that encounter alive.”

The story is humbling to me and I sit in silence for a second. Eddie seems to notice that I don’t know where to go from here, so he just grins:

“Don’t worry. Just don’t talk to cops and demand a lawyer, cooperate enough to be safe and memorize the phone number of someone you trust and don’t bring your own cell with you. I’m not likely to get arrested again and for it to go bad. Times have changed, different groups are now a target than me. I guess that makes me lucky, but it just all sucks. Tell your readers to keep voting and keep being vocal.”

I promise him I’ll put it in there and then stiltedly change the topic to ask about the addiction he kicked. Corroded Coffin spoke about it at the time that they were trying to quit smoking, but never went beyond that. The book shows a little bit more.

“Quitting is fucking hard. I haven’t smoked a cigarette in twenty-three years and I still sometimes think about it. But I don’t regret stopping for a second. My lungs will never be the same, but I saw uncle Wayne die a slow death to lung cancer, I don’t ever want to put my family through seeing me like that.

Like, if anyone out there smokes or vapes, cut that shit out. It’s not worth it, I promise. In the long run, it’s not going to make you happy and it can only be bad for you. Trust me, you don’t want to go through that. Find people who support your quitting and buckle in for months of hell.”

He looks very intense, but quickly shifts back into a charismatic face when he is done with his spiel. It’s wild how easily he moves between faces, while being totally genuine. Eddie Munson is a fluid and fascinating entity and I understand how he captured the interest of many when he first rose to stardom.

There is only enough time for one last question, so I ask him what is in the future for him right now. It gets me a big smile as Eddie answers:

“Right now, I’m going to wave you goodbye in a few minutes, then wake Stevie up from his nap. We’ve been re-reading the Lord of the Rings together, so we’ll cozy up on the couch. Then, before the kids get here, we’ll make them some snacks, listen to how their days have been. If needed I’ll try to help them with homework, even though I’m useless at it. Robs and Rose will be home soon after, we’ll make dinner together, I’m sure Robin will complain about her coworker again and then tonight I am going to call the little shits. It’s Tuesdays, we always try to call on Tuesday.

I’m living a slow domestic life, man, and I am content. In my future are hopefully many more slow days.”

I thank him for his time and shake his hand. He gets up and shakes mine, thanking me in turn for not minding to come out here and tells me I was a pleasure to have over. Then he does as promised and waves me goodbye.

As I walk over the driveway, I mull over the conversation we’ve just had. Eddie Munson is not what I expected him to be like, but in a good way. I am very curious to see where his newfound visibility in the public eye will lead. Something tells me, we haven’t seen the last of this rockstar, even in his newfound domesticity.

A/N:

This whole work is finding a balance between Eddie being a supportive friend and trying not to sound too egotistical/arrogant about my own work lmao (and like shoving my own opinions down everyone’s throat, sorry xp)

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gasha40k · 8 months

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It’s looking exceptionally bloody out here. Lots of good progress on my Khorne lads recently, and lots of good reading progress, too!

To start, I’m now about 3/4ths of the way through Khârn: Eater of Worlds, and it’s going pretty good so far! Lots of murder, which is par for the course for a World Eaters book. I like how the book expounds upon the Legion and its structuring quite a bit, as it’s one of the only Heresy-era novels where we get to see the Legion without Khârn or Angron. I like the Caedere a lot, I like how Dreagher is a normal person, and I like the human apothecary, Skoral, and her cool ceramite arm. I’m excited to see how it ends, but that’s enough book club.

A living myth known by countless infernal titles across the stars—the Apostate Scion, Betrayer of Valefar, Exile of the 8th, Deserter Lord—yet who himself claims none, Lord Akselos is a nigh-untouchable killer whose very name heralds the singlehanded slaughtering of entire worlds.

This is the Deserter Lord Akselos. Akselos was introduced to the blog a handful of posts ago when I first built him, but since then, I’ve not only fleshed out much of his backstory, but I’ve also given him a coat of paint and a nice base to go with it.

Billowing black cloak and beckoning hand for Khorne worshipping purposes, and definitely not because he is a bitter and melodramatic individual

I’m really happy with this mini. It may not be my best paint job, but I think it’s a solid kitbash, and all together, I think that he looks super cool. I am definitely satisfied with how he turned out. The painting isn’t super advanced but it’s cohesive and pleasing to the eye. This model also gave me a few challenges, primarily painting white. I’ve only used Wraithbone so I was a bit horrified using Corax White, but I think it turned out pretty okay.

Another challenge was figuring out how I’d base him. Because I want most of my World Eaters army to be visually similar, I figured that whatever base Akselos got would be the same base that I’d give my other World Eaters, so I had to decide on what would best fit both him and the rest of the army. I decided on some black, sort of mountainous rubble-rock with inlaid skulls (for Khorne, of course). I’m going to go over this and place some little patches of Valhallan White to break up the grey and I’m going to splatter the blood paint on the white snow, but this’ll definitely do for now.

Of his many names, Akselos is known most bitterly as Oathbreaker by the Ultramarines 8th Company, or at least by those few that remain in the 8th who still remember him.

I tried to keep the visual theme of asymmetry pretty strong throughout this model. Akselos’ soul is deeply conflicted, and has been for some centuries now. Currently, he is torn between two existences: that of the renegade Ultramarine, desperate for vengeance, and that of the Saint of Khorne, struggling to ascend attachment.

His right arm is made of Ultramarine bits. The Macraggean pauldron and Tacticus arm are all that remain of his old armor. Akselos wears this defiled heraldry as both a constant memento of his shame and a constant reminder of his hatred.

His left arm consists of Eightbound bits, who are the most daemonic units in the World Eaters roster. It’s visibly more corrupted than the rest of his body. After losing his human arm in a particularly desperate battle, the Ruinous Powers gifted Akselos with this charcoal black replacement. He pays for the gift by frequently nourishing it with the blood of the slain.

This won’t be Akselos’ actual squad, his escort squad will be a bunch of similarly white-headed Berzerkers built with Legionairy bodies to represent that they’re more renegade than WE

Akselos isn’t alone, though! I’ve officially “finished” my first squad of World Eaters. Again, the bases aren’t quite done. I’m going to add bloodstained Valhallan Snow to essentially all of these. I may also do place transfers here and there, and I’m definitely going to highlight Wally and Akselos, but the models and bases are done to a reasonable standard and I’m satisfied with calling them finished.

Shoutout to Wally he’s a day one

Here’s the squad leader, Kardon the Eternal, otherwise known as Wally the World Eater. Kardon is a veteran of unknowable age. Some claim that he fought for Khârn after Terra, some that he’s a hero from the Great Crusade, but all agree that he has been alive for millennia with the sole purpose of claiming skulls for Khorne. I think he’s a neat little homage kitbash and a solid paint job. Kardon looks purposely kinda simple so that he can either fit with a larger squad of 10 Berzerkers or lead a smaller squad of 5.

This is his squad of 5! Not much to say about the rest of these bozos, except that the first guy had a bit of a “stepped on” incident and I lost the haft of his axe, so he wields a little chain hatchet now. I like to think that the axe actually started as a two-handed Eviscerator, and over time, this guy has slowly whittled it down into a baby axe by hitting shit with it way too hard.

That’s all I got for now. Very happy with where this army is going. I hope to soon get my hands on Angron, and that’ll be a huge fucking chore, but it’s super exciting because I’d love to field that man. Beastly unit and awesome character. With Khârn, Invocatus, and Angron, I’ll only need Azrakh the Annihilator to finish my World Eaters canon character collection, and I’ll only need… a lot more units to boost my collection to 2,000pts. I’m hoping to eventually get my hands on the Combat Patrol to bolster my numbers, but that won’t be for a while since I’m a broke ass bitch. Thanks!

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #painting #chaos #world eaters #unchained path

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voyeuristicvixen · 10 months

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Capt’s Log No. 42_SL’s BIG 20!

iM SuCh a NeRd ! I really do have a designated outfit for Mentoring in AND it matches Bellisaria Welcome Center. W my matching bot friend lol I have been learning a lot as a mentor from other mentors, things about SL and the various worlds and niches you can find here. When you stay so enmeshed in your reality in SL you tend to forget just how vast it is. Its really unfathomable at times, just like they say our galaxy is continuously growing as we are discovering new parts of it, SL is a quantum realm in a way... I have to write a whole article about my views on SL and the astral world and the correlations therin. I digress

SL20B was a blast! I attended the premier of an SL documentary that was amazing, I got to see Phil Linden, Strawberry, all the OGs that was great! I love the talks that they do and all the different things that showcase how amazing SL is, the gifts and exhibits, and opportunities to volunteer and meet new people, and of course THE MUSIC!

My pops did a great couple of sets, it was really dope to see him in a different SL crowd of people that may never have stumbled upon Meroe or the Movement by themselves, that in itself is really cool to me because his sets always plant seeds for self reflection and spiritual growth and understanding. I really love when he does the cinematic spoken word because that is something unique that ive NEVER seen or heard anywhere else in my life. It is truly special my dad goes off!

Gigi, Lex, and I are usually there to support when we can! Partying it up and being the vibes! These glowsticks Lex gifted us def elevated the mood, Lex is a W stage hand. Also, I have to mention because this is something that never goes away, prejudice and racism in SL... during events like this there are always a few bad eggs that bring down the vibes with weird comments and actions towards avatars that look like us, or represent themselves with a strong spiritual and purpose led conviction. Its all about frequency, not all frequencies will mix but people on SL can sometimes come off quite prejudice or whatevs. lmao. Even self hating for some people! When you really dig into the various regions and worlds in SL you can see how perverse/self hating many of the themes can seem. Its quite interesting. Lol high going off on tangents. Look how cute Gigi and I look !! XD

I got to do my own set it was dope af “Summer Of Love” was my set theme, I put together a set that represented my time in SL thus far, I played a whole Hippie woodstock classic rock set with my favs Jimi, and all the greats. I played Grateful Dead in honor of my first home “Darkstar “ and the old hippies from the lot... XD Then I played some Drum and Bass in honor of one of my fav clubs ive been going to for 10+ years Bassline Junkies. The same folk there and say “Oi oi“ when I enter, Eon the hamster. Great fellow! Then I played house music, in honor of all the various house groups I am a member of and clubs I attend, I fell in love with house in SL, and i ended it with just some feel good jams

oh! and I did a reading for Secondlife and its residents and the future of SL how could I forget that XD yep It was a blast I kilt it . I even built the set in blender and everything!

I wore this belt as my everyday attire on my old SL avie before mesh was a thing. This was my favorite ! It has flexi fabrics that flow when you dance and walk tied on it and little pouches and gris gris bags on it. It was a very sentimental set for me tbh. It was the first time I participated in SLB and it was also the first time I used mic in a full curated set and everything.

Happy Satisfied W My New Strawberry & Patch! I got Phil and Ober bears tooo I collected a bunch ngl XD

Mystory Connect is about to pop off, prepping for major RP vibes ! I am so ready to bring new ppl on the regions and make fun stories and tings, we been plottin and plannin! I am now the Real Estate Agent for mystory! I am super excited because these regions are so well built, you can drive everywhere, ride your bike , you can take the subway which is real working subway, its got all kinds of dope commercial and residential spots to live and work and have great roleplay in. I just love how intimate and homey these regions are, and there are always people around, but its about to be even more poppin with all the new things coming in that we rollin out!

Me and Val havin a cute lunch meeting date at ITALVIBEZ ! That restaurant is the BOMB.COM I love getting oxtail bowl, beef patties, and the guava smoothie drink!! Theres also cute sippy cups that I get for Yemsters she loves them!! Baby ITAL eatsssss :p

#blog #secondlifeblogger #secondlifeblog #secondlife #secondlifephotography #secondlifephoto #sl20b #mystory #mystoryconnect #roleplay #secondliferoleplay #blackgirlbloggers #black girl gamer

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yassifiedwelder · 11 months

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I have been brainstorming soooo much for this #Spidersona thing I have been doing research and working out character arcs and designs and back stories with friends. I really want music to have a major roll in this. I’m thinking I could create a playlist and mess around with those Spotify codes to create a code in the book each person could scan and that song could play as they read through the next couple of panels.

I think I’m mainly posting about this to record it. I’ve never felt this was about a project or idea and I really think I could flush this out into something tangible. I technically have all of the knowledge and skill to work through this and create a physical copy of this graphic novel/idk “interactive” multimedia experience lmao.

Anywho, if anyone happens to see this please drop some songs/playlists for inspiration below. Go obscure, I’m talking like 3 weird recordings on YouTube from a German club obscure, but also I don’t mind the classics (I do plan to have a badass helicopter scene involving all of these mutant freedom fighters to #CCR .)

Here’s some songs I have ideas for rn

THESE ARE THE VIBESSS!

If anyone bothers to read this far hello! Welcome to this virtual project log. I have a tendency to ramble when I’m in a creative mood so after I have that time I like to sit back and reflect on what I’ve learned and write it all down and share it looking for comments questions and ideas. So I hope you like it!

The first video is the amount of pages so far, (the post right before this) I am planning on trying to digitize and rewrite the first “Issue” as a readable post on here so I’m gonna get started on that’s soon. I’m taking a lot of inspirations from Zine culture and alternative comics, body horror ideas from things like the Fly and Johnny the Homocidal maniac, all set to a soundtrack built off of the foundations of rock and the oddity’s of today. The color palate is as if the album cover for the Mountains Goats’ “Goths” came to life, with a formatting similar to one of my favorite books “My favorite thing is monsters” (look it uppppp)

Also, HEY MR. MOUSE! I’m not trying to make money off this, I’m just trying to make some fun art and share it with the world. BUT if you wanna use my characters,hmu (I am delusional) we can work out a deal, have your People call my people.

But that also goes to anyone else out there who wants to work together, my dms are open . . . (Mostly to bots rn)

OH Kay back to it . . . .

In the next pictures are some character designs that are very very very very much inspired by my friends. They’re strange enough that unless you know me by name then you would never get it Lmao . . . But the characters are kinda cool. I really tried to use actual habits and adaptations that these animals have in real life compared to how the human body would have to accommodate for its ability to defy nature. Planning for this to be kinda gory. I’m excited.

Also PSA I know I’m not an amazing artist, I’m going more for story and style over photo realism idk, this is just for my enjoyment, thank you for your time 💖💖💖 to help keep track I’m gonna tag all of these with #OnetaAquatica I’m excited to explore this story and world.

#Spotify #music reccomendations #anti war #historical fiction #fanmade story #Oneta aquatica #spidersona #spider oc #spiderverse

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pbandjesse · 1 year

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It's our last cruising day. It has felt. Bittersweet? I desperately miss our home. But this trip has been incredible. I have been looking forward to it so much and now it is wrapping up and that feels so strange. I'm going to cherish these moments for the rest of my life for sure. But today also felt hard. Like we had to shift our minds to consider the real world again. I am so happy with James. I am so lucky to have them. I am sad we won't be together every moment of the day. I think some people who knew me before James would be surprised that I never get bored of their company and don't need as much time alone. It feels like growth.

Today was still a good day. We both slept in. Only until 8 but still later then we have been. We changed timezones again and it was confusing for our bodies for sure. We weren't sure if we would make it to the origami after breakfast. So once I was dressed and it was only 815 I suggested we go to origami first.

And that was fun! It was only a few of us so me and James sat in the front. James went to guest services to go and make sure our 730 departure was correct, and then we got to make origami butterflies.

I messed up the first one but James got it right away. I did a second and it came out a lot better. I think I could remember this one for the future. So that's pretty cool! Love to have that kind of thing in my back pocket.

We went to breakfast next. And the shifting of the boat still made me a bit sick. But it has never been to bad, just a little uncomfortable.

After breakfast we did a little walk around to go find the theater. Which was huge! I didn't realize how big it would be. We got to participate in the deck and engine room Q&A. Both of us asked the captain questions and we got to see a video about how the ship was built and it was wild to see. Other people had good questions. We learned about how the ship deals with waste and how it makes its own water and about the staff and how the captain and engine main officer got these jobs. And that they do 10 weeks on and 10 weeks off, while the staff does 7 or 8 months on and 2 months off. It was fascinating.

Absolutely worth it to go see that talk. We went for a walk next. Around the inside of the ship. We went to the card room. Did the trivia and crossword of the day. And then back upstairs. We went to see some of the pictures they took of us again and they are so silly! The Photoshop was very bad which made me laugh. We would go back to the room to get some stuff to do and then to the observation deck.

I worked on my embroidery. Had a soda that was to syrupy. People watched. We saw some people get excited about something in the water and we saw a whale again!! I have not been fast enough for pictures but seeing it blow water was so cool. I wish we had seen more whales but that's alright. It was still really awesome that animals and critters we have seen.

Lunch was nice. They had tacos for the first time. And the Mexican I so tired desserts were the best so far. I was just enjoying James's company and watching people and watching the water. I was still a little tired and uncomfortable from the swaying but I was happy.

We went down to the 8th deck to walk outside and it was so nice out! We didn't have sunglasses so it was a little hard to see. But we went to the back of the ship and it was so beautiful. We took some pictures but I didn't love them. We would try a few different places for pictures and they would improve. James looked frowny in a lot of them because the sun was in their eyes. But they are so handsome. I love them so much.

We sat on the ground and watched the water and talked about real stuff. About what we need to do when we get home. About feelings. About time. Fears. I just held onto James and watched the water and I told them how much I want to be a team and that we are stronger together. I'm glad we can talk about scary or uncomfortable stuff.

Eventually I told James I wanted to go back to the room and lay down. And so we did that. I played a puzzle game, James played Zelda, we watched a video. And eventually I fell asleep.

James went to walk on the treadmill and I woke up to text from Callie asking about pulling water in the frog tank. She is leaving our place tonight and I am so thankful for her. I am also so excited to see my Sweetp. I miss him so much and I'm sure he's been very confused about where we are. I tried to tell him we would come back but who knows if he understood.

After James came back I decided we should use the hot tub again. There were way to many people on the pool deck. But we did get in the hot tub with a few other people. Which made James a little uncomfortable so I wasn't as relaxed. Also a jet was right on my back and it made me itchy from vibrating to much. But I was very relaxed after so I'm glad we did it. I love being in the water. I love looking at the water. I love being with James in the water. It was so nice. We chatted with the others for a little. But when more people came we gave them out spots and headed in.

We returned our towels and got showered. And then started working on packing.

Fingers crossed they don't measure out luggage tomorrow because I had to expand my suitcase to fit my new hoodie and James bag is very lumpy from laundry. But we got everything ready. We have the stuff for our tote and backpack but it's all ready and I'm very proud of our packing ability.

After we finished packing we got our activities and went to the observation deck. Where I downloaded things on my phone because I had some service again. I watched a bird going the same speed as us so it looked like it was flapping but staying in one spot. I worked on writing this post. And then we went to dinner.

It was later then when we have been having dinner. So it was a little busier. But we got all of our favorite things. And the desserts were very good tonight. I am going to miss our nonsense meals a lot.

James went to get us drinks and I overheard the couple next to us. They just got engaged! She was fiddling with her ring in that way I did at first. It was so sweet. They were in their 40s and I'm so happy for them. I love love.

After dinner we decided we should go back out to deck 8 and watch Canada come in. We decided we are not getting off the boat again. But it'll be nice to see the city from here. I am still sorry I wasn't able to get any thrifted souvieers or get James their Canucks thing. But ehse small sadnesses are very much overshadowed by my big joys.

I am a little filled with anxiety. Just a little. Transitions are hard. And tomorrow we have to wake up early to get off the ship back in Seattle and get picked up by our ride to the airport. And then it's the airport! Which has all its own scaries. And then after our long flight we have a long drive home. But man am I looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to being with James. Of going home. Of all of it. I hope it's just beautiful.

I am so thankful that I have been able to document this journey. And I hope the next adventure is as beautiful even if it isn't as grand. Good ight everyone. Wish us luck and safe travels home!

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platonic-qpr-selfshipping · 1 year

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national goof off day, say something nice day, and embrace your geekness day ! :>

thank you so much for sending these <3 I'm gonna answer each one with a different f/o :D

National Goof Off Day - What do you two like to do together to destress?

About Asra. Any activity can start a nice, comfortable and de-stressing day with Asra. If I'm the one getting a little overwhelmed, he'll gently hold my hands to see if I'm open to touch at the moment and ask if I want to talk about it. His presence and his tea making skills are all I could ask for, but his voice and his words and perhaps a little joke here and there... He will also offer to do a tarot reading and have a non judgemental conversation. If im not mentally tired because of the stress, he'll take me out to somewhere new, but if I am he'll still suggest taking a nap in a realm where it'll only be us and nature. When he's the one feeling stressed, I bring him something he likes and ask him if there's something I can help him with. I dont mind what it is, I would read him some pages if he's too tired to do so but needs it for research, help him organise stuff or even do some planning in case he needs it or it helps him see things from another perspective and feel less weight on his shoulders. After some talking, I'd suggest to cuddle for a bit and he always loves the idea<3 I'll still be doing little things to take extra care of him during the next day, like taking him out to eat to his favorite place and kiss his forehead when he has to work again on whatever is causing him that stress. If we're both needing to destress at the same time, we can even just lay down together to recharge for a bit and then do any of the activities I mentioned before

Say Something Nice Day - What are your favorite qualities about each other?

About Mammon. He's actually so considerate and kind, always taking others into account and even putting them before himself and his needs even though he's the avatar of Greed. He has a heart of gold and loves everyone deeply, although he may not be the best at showing this, but I am very wary of details so I can't help but notice how he tries to be a cool example for Luke, how he's the first one to step up when his brothers need someone's help and how his words dont tend to reflect his actions but both are cute nonetheless. For him... I guess it could be my actitude? at first, it went unnoticed for him because I can be very quiet when there's not much trust between us, but he's the brother i would be spending most time with so it was only a matter of time for me to naturally become a bit more of a talker, and even an excited one when he accepted to listen to me about something that interests me a lot and even seemed to enjoy the conversation. After that? I would love if he's always trying to make me smile and get me all hyped up about something because he loves how happy I look like and talk in those moments, which also make him feel like expressing himself. It's all about feeling free and cared for <3

Embrace Your Geekness Day - Gush about your F/O's weird quirks or unconventional interests.

About Claude. This made me immediately think of him because how wouldnt I talk about Claude's interest in poison for this question. Also my headcanon is that he always makes tea somehow too hot and everyone has to wait for a kinda long time with the tea already poured into their teacups because that's still b o i l i n g. Continuing with the poison interest, there's the thought that he could have had to learn about the topic from a very young age because of his circumstances, but also the option of him learning about it out of curiosity and fun because he's built like that ig. It started as a joke to intimidate other classes but now he has books about it and different poisons and its specific uses throughout history and Raphael is gifting him any new ones his parents get

#it was harder than i thought to think from their point of view omg #i dont usually give much thought into why they would like me and this took me some timeª #these are some nice questions tho!!!#asks #thank youuu #selfshipping #self ship community #self ship #queerplatonic f/o #selfship #f/o #f/o community #self shipping #all i write is about you

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pandjseetheworld · 2 years

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Day 2 in Cappadocia

For our second full day in Cappadocia we took another tour with the same guide and crew. We really enjoyed the people on our tour the day before that we signed up to join them again! Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and we were going to be exploring an underground city which i was very excited for and we were going to be hiking through a local valley. Here is a brief overview of our day and some notes I took about the things we saw!

First Stop: Kaymakli Underground City

Christianity occupied the underground city from end of the first century to the fourth century to avoid persecution for practicing their religion. Once they were legally allowed to practice their religion, they left the city to live aboveground, only to came back to the underground city in the 9th century for protection from attacks by neighboring Muslims.

There is no written sources about the underground city so everything known is an educational guess but the city is an engineering feat. There are 8 levels underground but only 5 levels are able to be visited today. There are ventilation shafts built throughout the city that make it easy to breathe. The city is made of old hardened volcanic ash which is easy to carve. Every “floor” level is 3-4 meters deep.

Kaymakli was estimated to house roughly 4,00o people underground. The underground cities were built for protection from the Roman Empire and other invaders.There are roughly more than 300 underground cities in the area that have been discovered to this point, but may be many more as they are often discovered by accident.

Second Stop: Soganli Valley

Soganli Valley is our guides favorite valley and isn’t nearly as touristy as other local valleys. It was so nice to hike through the valley and see all the hidden caves churches and fairy chimneys in the area. The people lived in the caves until the 60’s and there are over 300 churches in the area. Unfortunately a lot of them have been destroyed naturally or by people but this was a trek unlike any where we’ve been before! It was very unique and a lot of fun!

- We got to visit the Snake Church which was preserved and in the Soganli valley

Lunch in a Greek Town

Third Stop: Marble Art Studio in Urgup

We saw 2 marble art demonstrations that were fascinating. The artist puts vinegar in water and mixes around different colors, she then laid a piece of paper and a scarf onto the colorful water and the color was transferred to the paper/scarf. It was very incredible and unlike any form of art I have seen before. It was very cool :)

Fourth Stop: 3 Famous Fairy Chimneys

This is a panoramic point with three large fairy chimneys

Fifth Stop: Pink Lotus jewelry

Next we went to a Jewelry store to learn about precious stones from the area and see some of the nice pieces they designed. One of the most unique stones in Turkey is called the “sultanite” which is only found in country. My mom bought be a beautiful necklace to remember our honeymoon and vacation together!! The sultanite is especially cool because it’s the only natural stone that changes color depending on the light. It’s a very interesting stone and I am so grateful to bring a piece home! Thanks mom!

Sixth Stop: La Vanta Panorama

Our last stop was to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking a castle. The view point sells coffee and teas and was an excellent way to wind down from a long day and just relax. It was another fabulous day exploring Cappadocia and learning about its history.

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everplaythisgame · 2 years

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Ok Cerebelle so when you break harsh news to someone you should always do it in a compliment sandwhich. Start by puffing up his ego. Talk about how cool his heels are or something. Then tell him you and Iris are going off on your own. And then finish by telling him just how excited you are to explore his theme park. This plan could not fail.

Cerebelle takes a deep breath.

CEREBELLE: Listen, Mr. Maxilla. You’re….a very kind man. You’re really nice, y-you’ve got a great theme park that you’ve put together here, you’re probably very talented, b-

MR. MAXILLA: Why THANK you!~~~ You are too polite. Almost TOO polite! Hahah!

CEREBELLE: You’re. Uh. Welcome. But as I was saying, me and Iris here are just gonna go….off on our own for a bit. You know. Just explore on own. For a while. Because yknow! You’ve built up such a big theme park and it’s so big, that I don’t doubt that my mom might just be someplace we haven’t looked.

A dark shadow drops over Maxilla’s face as he lowers his head. Evidently, he seems to acknowledge that Cerebelle’s white lie about “only leaving for a little bit” is just that - a lie.

MR. MAXILLA: What you mean to say is…you’re leaving.

Cerebelle is fully expecting Mr. Maxilla to go ballistic. For this to be the final straw. For this to be the breaking point, for Iris to be right about how it was wrong to ever trust this strange, spindly man in the first place.

But…no. He just goes along with it. And moreover, his tone is not intimidating, just…accepting.

CEREBELLE: ….I-

MR. MAXILLA: I know you’re going to try to lie to me again, Sara Bell. That you’re thinking of it. To tell me that your plans of parting are only temporary when you intend them to be permanent. I know, Sara. I know.

Pupil, stood at Mr. Maxilla’s side, looks at its other friends with afraid worry.

MR. MAXILLA: But, even if I wanted to, I cannot stop you. I can’t stop you from running away. I could. I could insist you just follow my lead a carry longer. Just a smidge further. But that would only be delaying the inevitable. There’s an old saying my father taught me: A foolish man prevents, and a wise man accepts. To be a roadblock in what will happen regardless of my input would only be stalling for time. And a stalling man is a fool to those trying to carry on their way.

Mr. Maxilla cocks his head down slightly.

MR. MAXILLA: If it’s your wish to leave, Sara Bell. Then I am none the wiser to stop you. I have no say in what you can’t and can do. But if you do part, which you will - heed this advice if nothing else.

MR. MAXILLA: …

MR. MAXILLA: Make the decisions that are right to you. Not to those around you. But you. You, as a person. Because if you get too addicted to just going along with the word of other people, then… who knows. Maybe you’ll end up in a concrete playground like me.

Mr. Maxilla pats Cerebelle on the head with an uneven hand.

MR. MAXILLA: Take care, kid. It’s an inferno out there.

Then, without even allowing Cerebelle a window to say anything more, Mr. Maxilla takes his leave, making Pupil reluctantly start to wander to the side of the group.

What does Cerebelle do next?

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justcourttee · 3 years

Note

Adrien asks mari out and she says i would of been so happy in the past but now its too little to late. She's engaged to Damian but they haven't announced it yet

Bittersweet

It had been a while since Adrien had found himself in Gotham City. Too many years to count on his hand. Yet when he received an invite from Marinette he didn’t hesitate to hop on the next flight to attend her gala.

He had no idea that she had created a partnership with Wayne Enterprises, in fact, he had no idea they were interested in the fashion world at all. Then again, why should he be surprised? When Marinette put her mind to something, nothing would get in her way.

Ever since he had taken over his father’s company, Adrien hadn’t had much time to keep up with his old school friends but it hadn’t stopped them from trying to keep him in the loop. From what he could gather, Alya and Nino would also be attending, Rose and Juleka too. It would be nice to see them all again, especially Marinette.

Stepping out from the warmth of his hotel room and into the cool streets, Adrien couldn’t help but let his mind drift to thoughts of her.

It took Marinette moving to the States for him to realize how much he was in love with her. It was something he never wanted to admit seeing how much he adored Ladybug, but as she disappeared from his grasps, he was left to face his true feelings.

Glancing at his phone, Adrien confirmed that he was mere minutes away from the address she had listed. The gala was still a few days away, but Marinette asked if he had wanted to meet up for a late-night coffee, a Gotham specialty. Even her scarf that she had gifted him ages ago couldn’t hide the red on his cheeks as he imagined the perfect date with the girl of his dreams.

He paused, reaching the door of Deja Brew, his heart beating a million miles a minute. Somewhere in this late-night shop was his best friend. How would she react to seeing him again? Would she be as excited as he was? Would she feel the same way as she did?

Taking a deep breath, he pushed through the door, his eyes glancing through the scattered exhausted customers until they landed on her. She still hadn’t noticed his presence, her nose buried into her sketchbook, her coffee still steaming beside her seemingly untouched.

She was early.

The thought almost drew a laugh as he approached the counter to place his order. Of course she would have finally picked up some time management skills by now. Marinette was 27 and slowly making a name for herself as the future of the fashion industry. That wasn’t something accomplished by constant tardiness.

He picked up his cup, placing a ten into the tip jar, the hostess’ raised eyebrows making him smile. He could already hear his father scolding him. After all, that wasn’t the way to becoming a billionaire. You only make money by holding onto it.

Honestly, Adrien didn’t understand why he had to be a billionaire. His father said it would raise the bar for their line, but it just wasn’t in Adrien’s heart to hoard all of the money unnecessarily. Maybe the Waynes offered Marinette the same advice. Maybe they had something they could relate to together.

“Excuse me ma’am, is this seat taken?”

His heart had finally slowed down but as her eyes slowly peeked up at him under her lashes, it immediately began somersaulting once more.

“Oh Gods, Adrien!” She was out of her seat before he even had the chance to set down his coffee, her arms flung around his neck. He hoped and prayed she couldn’t feel his chest threatening to explode. “You should have said something! I’ve gotten into the bad habit of zoning out in public places.”

Her smile was blinding as she unwound herself, slipping back into her seat, motioning for him to sit as well.

“How was the flight? Did you fly private or first class?”

Adrien gasped, his hand covering his chest as if she had shot him.

“I only flew business thank you very much.” Marinette’s look of mock disbelief earned a small chuckle.

“That must have been so hard for you. I really am sorry you went through so much trouble for my sake.”

“You know, I would go through so much more for you Marinette.”

Her smile faltered for a moment, so quick that if he hadn’t been staring so hard at her, he might have missed it. Did his statement make her uncomfortable? He had only meant it jokingly with the truth laced in, but he was sure his eyes gave him away. They always softened when it came to her.

Marinette cleared her voice, her true smile shining once more as if the falter never happened in the first place.

“You’ve missed so much, I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about from the beginning?” She nodded as she dove into her move to the States and how she began as an intern for the CEO, Tim Drake, years ago and slowly worked her way up to personal assistant.

She recounted how Tim found her sketchbook at work one day and showed it to his father. Together they agreed that she was their way into the fashion industry, an investment that could open the door to many more jobs for the Gotham citizens.

It took two years, but she finally had a full line that was presented at Bruce’s first fashion show.

“So many big names were there Adrien! I really thought I was gonna faint!”

His smile became softer and softer as she recounted meeting the rest of the Waynes and finally after six long years, she had made enough of a name for herself to be holding her own official Gala, the Wayne’s simply a sponsor.

“That’s amazing Marinette, you’re amazing.”

She beamed proudly, her smile pulling at his heart.

“I couldn’t have done it without them. They are genuine and kind people and they are pretty much family.” Something glistened in her eyes as she spoke of them. It could have been obvious to anyone, Marinette cared so deeply for these people.

It was Adrien’s turn to falter as an ugly thought passed.

She’s so comfortable here, she would never want to come back to Paris with me.

He was shocked with himself. This was no time for jealousy. His best friend, the love of his life, was excitedly telling him about a future she had built for herself and the only thing he could think was that it was an obstacle keeping her from him?

Adrien desperately wanted to smack his own forehead, but for Marinette’s sake he straightened out his smile instead.

“I’m so sorry. I’ve only been talking about myself! What’s new with you? How’s your dad’s business? Do you have anyone you’re seeing?”

His eyebrow raised at the last question. She asked the question he so desperately wanted to ask her. And she did it so casually, equating it to his work and social life. Did that mean she was also fishing for his response?

“Nothing much. Dad wants to move from a multi-million dollar business to a multi-billion dollar business so he’s been pretty aggressive about money lately. He didn’t even want me flying over here for the gala.”

Marinette snorted much to his amusement. She knew how his dad was and how petty he could be as well.

“And as for your last question,” he paused watching her face carefully. “No, I am not seeing anyone.”

He waited for the reaction, any reaction really. But none came. Instead, she simply nodded as if she expected as much. Maybe he had read into it too much. She really could’ve just been asking for the sake of catching up. Should he ask too? Was that what she was leading up to?

Adrien cleared his throat before taking a long draw from his cup. This was so nerve wracking. She looked so content, so grown. This was a Marinette who had grown leaps and bounds while he was still stuck in this high school romance that was quite possibly one-sided.

“Well, I hate to cut it short but it’s going to be a long day tomorrow and Damian will be here any moment to pick me up.”

She slid out of her seat so effortlessly, her sketch book snapping shut before it disappeared into a bag that he hadn’t even noticed. Her smile was just as warm as he remembered, but something was missing from the girl he loved.

“Your eyes.” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Marinette’s smile faltered as she tentatively reached up to touch her eyelid, confusion etching it’s way into her face.

“Is there something near my eyes Adrien?”

“No, no, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I just-” Adrien bit his lip, trying to string his thoughts together before he sounded even more like an idiot. “You used to stare at me with such soft look. I’m sorry I never noticed, but once I did, it was all I could see. Yet now-”

He trailed off as her lips drew into an o, her hand moving slowly from her eye to her lips, trying to hide her shock.

“-now, I can still feel the love in them, love directed at me, but it’s not the same love is it?”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't find the right words. He knew she was trying to explain that he was wrong, but couldn’t bring herself to lie. It was the only confirmation he needed.

He slid out of the booth, his hand grasping the scarf slipping from his neck.

“Marinette, I was so excited when you invited me out tonight. In fact, I thought of it as a date.” She tried to reach out, but Adrien took a step back, tears brimming in his eyes. “I don’t blame you at all, please don’t think I’m saying all this to make you feel guilty. I just had to get it off my chest.”

Adrien blinked hard, trying to spill the tears clouding his vision. This was harder to say than he thought. Her eyes were so distracting, the sympathy oozing toward him in waves.

“I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I know you’ve made your life here and I would never dream of taking that from you. Hell, if you asked me to, I would drop everything to be at your side in an instance. Is there any chance at all that after the gala ends, we could give this a shot? Just one real date. Not some deluded fantasy I created in my head, but something we both consent to.”

He flinched when her hand finally made contact with his upper arm.

“Adrien, I love you. I really do. But you were right when you said my eyes had changed. That soft look is meant for someone else now. He and I had tried to keep our relationship quiet, but tomorrow at the gala, I was going to announce my engagement to Damian.”

Adrien couldn’t help the small sob that left his mouth. He was painfully aware of the few scattered glances all directed toward him, but he couldn’t help it. He felt Marinette pulling his head down until it laid resting on her shoulder, her small arms wrapping around his figure. It was embarrassing how hard he cried, unable to hold back his sobs any longer.

“I’m so sorry Adrien, I had no idea your feelings had changed. You were always chasing after a dream when we were younger and when I left Paris, I had finally decided that there wasn’t a chance after all between us.”

He knew she meant her words as a comfort, a promise that at one point, she would have gladly accepted his offer. Why couldn’t he have seen it earlier? Why was he so blinded by a partner who never even revealed herself right to the end? He had someone who trusted and loved him with all of their being and he ignored their feelings for a what if.

Adrien slowly pulled himself from her grasp, his smile shaky. He took a moment to use the end of his scarf to dry his soaked face.

“I’m glad you told me that Marinette. I really am. And I hope you and Damian have a long and prosperous life together.”

Her eyes widened, her mouth forming the wait, but he was already out of the door, running. It was a cowards move, one he would mull over all night. But it was too painful to look into the eyes of one you love and only find pity reflecting in them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“So you came?”

Adrien turned, his smile bittersweet as he embraced Alya, his fist connecting with Nino’s outstretched hand.

“How could I not support her? She’s worked so hard to make this a reality. My feelings can take a backburner for one night.”Their eyes all trailed to the center of the room where she stood, her arm threaded through with the man he assumed to be Damian Wayne. “Besides, you can tell. She loves that man beside her more than anything in this world.”

The glint of the ring on her finger caused an aching in his heart. Despite it all, he really did wish the Wayne boy no ill will. If he was who Marinette chose to spend the rest of her life with, then Adrien trusted her decision.

“I’ve never seen her smile so bright. And to think, I used to believe her smile was at its maximum blindlingness.” Nino’s chuckle earned a small chuckle from Adrien as well.

There was no denying it.

Marinette was where she belonged. The only thing left was for him to support her in any way that he could. And that was exactly what he planned to do.

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#daminette #maribat #miraculous ladybug

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spenciegoob · 3 years

Text

Swing to the Stars

this fic swap is for @reidgraygubler ... I really hope you like it, shadow :)

A/N: AAAAH! this is my first fic swap and I’M SO EXCITED!!!!

Summary: Spencer meets someone in his little hiding spot, and desperately hopes to see them again.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Gender Neutral!Reader

Category: fluff with a dash of angst

Content Warnings: mentions of Maeve & William Reid, talk of a case involving teens, mentions of bullying, mentions of guns and pepper spray (not used)

Masterlist

Word Count: 2.4K

___

The first time I climbed that treacherous hill, dirtying my converse for all to see what my night activities truly consisted of, I was alone. I enjoyed it like that, I came here by myself, and I intended to keep it that way. When I sat on the swing dangling by two dangerously flimsy ropes, I thought how ridiculously large the slap of wood used to make it was. My elbows were bent a little over a 90 degree angle just to reach both sides, but I never thought past it. I had other things on my mind that night.

I thought about my mom. I knew she would have loved a secluded, little space like this. She would’ve probably read to me here, using different voices that held deep emotion to convey each story with a precise amount of dedication and love. Each story to her was special, and I silently thank her every day for passing that trait down to me.

Unfortunately, if I thought about my mom, I thought about my dad. William was never a kind man, and I could pride myself on one thing; I would never be like him. He didn’t deserve to know a place like this. It was too serene, too beautiful to house a man so willing to abandon the two people who should’ve been the most important to him. I was glad he would never get the chance to sit on this swing.

I thought about my family. How Garcia would jump with excitement at the prospect of having a picnic overlooking the city, yet quiet and missing the sounds of cars zooming by or overlapping chatter. I thought about JJ, and how Henry would beg her to push him in the swing, because to a little kid, it was perfect. He didn’t look at the frayed rope and fear that it would snap. I hope he never starts to fear the world like that.

The second time I found myself back at the bottom of the hill, I made it halfway to the top before seeing a couple getting up from the swing they were sitting together on. I realized then why it was so comically large; it was meant for two people. Thankfully when I reached the top only half out of breath, the two were starting their descent to where I came from.

This time when I sat down, I thought about Maeve. I would’ve brought her here, shared the little secret corner of the world I built for myself. She would’ve loved something like this, and I know if life wasn’t so cruel, and I was given the chance to show her, we would’ve talked for hours. So that’s what I did that time; I talked to Maeve. To anyone else, I probably looked like a crazy person talking to himself, but much to my delight, not many people made the trip up the hill to find this place.

Now I go whenever I need a break from my mind, which unfortunately is more times than my schedule allows me to take that leisurely walk. I spend my nights sometimes after a particularly hard case there no matter the time, using the ropes that scratch my hands as my lifeline down to Earth. I watch the stars, screaming and cursing at the world in my head and waiting for the sky to respond. It never did, and the next case always came in the following morning.

This particular time that I found myself at the bottom of the grassy hill waiting to be climbed, the case I just returned from involved kids across the board. A teenage unsub was killing his fellow classmates that have wronged him. Unfortunately, the BAU had to witness his stressor recorded for the whole school to see. It involved vile insults being thrown at the young, defenseless boy only for the bullying to escalate to violence.

It was awful.

As I trudged up the hill with less excitement to look into the vast unknown than usual, I couldn’t stop thinking about the unsub. All he wanted in life was a friend, someone to talk to, laugh with, share memories together. No matter how wrong it was, I saw myself in him. Our souls held the same scars given to us by people who had no right to go digging for such a deep part of ourselves. If I didn’t make it, would I have turned out like him?

When I reached the top, completing my journey once again, I saw them. Sitting there, staring out into the sky, mimicking my thoughts to do the same on the jet ride home. I could only make out half their face lit up by the light casting down from the full moon, but I didn’t need to see more to know they were breathtaking.

I would have turned around to return home to nothing more than books reread thousands of times and stale coffee, but I already made the mistake of stepping on a rather large branch that broke in half. The crunch coming from their right immediately had them on edge, and reaching for their bag that I could only assume had some sort of weapon inside. I hope it was legal.

I felt terrible for breaking them from the trance they were in. They were deep in thought about something that was probably going to become a solution if I hadn't interrupted their musing.

“H-hi, I’m sorry to scare you. I didn’t expect anyone here this late. Not that you being here is a problem! I didn’t mean to disturb you,” I frantically shouted, although there was less distance between us than I originally thought, and probably seemed crazed by my volume level.

They just giggled at first, but upon seeing my distraught expression, their face turned more kind than humorous.

“That’s okay. I’m just glad I didn’t jump so fast to pepper spray you. That would definitely be the worst case scenario.” I let out a breath of relief for some reason. Here I was, in front of a total stranger thankful that their weapon of choice wasn’t a gun. I’ve been on the wrong end of too many during my years.

“Did you know Chemical Mace, more commonly known as pepper spray, was invented in the 1960s by a man named Alan Lee Litman and his wife Doris Litman at the time. Their reason was actually because one of Doris’s female coworkers was attacked and robbed, so they thought to create a nonlethal weapon with easy accessibility and use, considering not everyone is able to use a gun. It wasn’t until 1987 however that the Litman’s sold their creation to Smith and Wesson where it was mass produced and later sold to law enforcement.”

“Wow, I don’t think I did.” They laughed again, but something in my heart told me it wasn’t meant to come with malicious intent. “Do you do that a lot?”

“Do what?” I asked, even though I had some inclination of what they were referencing.

“Spout random facts. I’m not complaining, that was very cool, but I am fully intrigued.” They smiled again at me fondly, the kind of smile that left me a little breathless, even more so than the 45 degree incline I had to climb to find myself in front of them. There was nothing to convince me they weren’t authentic in every word they stated.

“I do it quite often, yes. It gets annoying after a while though.” It was true, I was told on many occasions that my rambling got old very fast. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re close to me for too long. I tend to stop being the awe-striking genius, and become the nagging, walking encyclopedia.

“I don’t see how that could become annoying.” It sounded sad coming from them, like I had insulted their oddity. I would never, and I was really hoping to find out what it was.

I had nothing further to say that would express my shock, and slight fondness over their praise, wary of its honesty even if it did come from them. I hadn’t known them for more than 4 minutes and 36 seconds, but it was enough to figure out that they weren’t a liar. It wasn’t from profiling either.

“You know, there is room for two people here if you wanted to join me. I’m sure you didn’t climb that hill for nothing.” They continued for me. If they noticed my surprise, they said nothing about it.

Usually, I would be skeptical of being in a close proximity with a stranger, but as I approached them carefully, even if their hand was no longer reaching for mace, I felt the passing between our eyes. It was as if we had shared every part of ourselves with eye contact, and as crazy as it sounds, I felt the somber thoughts that lingered from their previous reflections.

So I sat down, grabbing onto only one of the scratchy ropes, and enjoying the way I could rest my elbow against my side now that I was using the swing to its fullest potential. I stopped caring about the probability of the ropes snapping under our combined body weight. The worst that could possibly happen was I bruised my tailbone a little bit, but I wouldn’t care past the initial embarrassment. At least I had someone to show that with.

“Do you ever think about what’s out there?” They asked once I was settled on the wood slab as comfortably as I could muster. Being boney didn’t necessarily help. Before I could answer, they continued. “I can tell you’re a man of science, if the fact dump wasn’t any indicator, but I mean beyond the facts, and the known.”

“No, I don’t think about it.” It was a lie, I think about it every time I’m here, but I wanted nothing more in this moment than to know how they saw the stars.

“I do. Quite frequently, actually. I mean, I’ve read every book there ever was about the stars and space, but there is still no answer to my question.”

“What question?” I had to know.

“What’s exactly written in the stars,” they replied, using their hands to showcase the sky above us. I sat back and thought for a while. Like the books they’ve read, I too didn’t have the response to their question. God, how I wish I did.

I don’t know how long we sat there quietly. One of the perks of total darkness in the dead of night is that the moon couldn’t tell time the way the sun did. We got lost in the cosmos together, contemplating sharing our own troubled thoughts with each other. It would have felt right if we did, but alas, the ringing of my cell phone dropped a pin in our reflections.

“I- I’m sorry, I have to take this,” I rushed out before standing up and accepting the incoming call from Penelope. I knew it was a case before her bubbly voice rang through my celular. I allowed the disappointment to bleed through my tone when I told her I would be back at the BAU shortly, hoping that the small release of the emotion would be enough to ward it off in time to turn back around.

It didn’t.

They were already looking at me expectantly when I made my way back to the swing, bending down to retrieve my satchel I had abandoned on the ground. The amount of guilt on my face must have been enough to tell them I had to leave abruptly, despite the fact that the only thing I wanted to do was stay for even just a second.

“That’s okay,” they spoke softly, giving me a tight lipped smile. “We’ll see each other again.”

“How do you know?” I couldn’t help but be skeptical. Life never did work out in my favor. They looked up at the sky once more before answering.

“Just a feeling.” I let a full grin break out at their response, the first one I’ve had when visiting this place. I turned around to start my journey back to the office where dark, and twisted things lurked behind manilla folders. Before starting my descent however, I spun around quickly, almost losing my footing and taking a tumble.

“Woah there tiger, don’t hurt yourself,” they giggled at me, one that I returned with my own breathy laugh.

“I just don’t know your name.” It baffled me a little bit that I hadn’t thought to ask before this, but they just gave me one last smile, tilting their head in faux contemplation.

“Ask me next time.” I will.

***

It’s been a year since I met them, and I haven’t seen them since. Not for a lack of trying however. After that case, I went there every night until a new one arose, this time taking me to Oregon. They hadn’t been back, and part of me wondered if it was because of me. Did I not try hard enough the first time? Should I have ignored my ringer until my phone had 5 missed calls from Penelope?

But then my eidetic memory swooped in to save me from going down that road, one of the only times it wasn’t the cause of my self destructive thoughts. Because while I replayed the conversation over in my head wondering where it went wrong, I remembered their eyes, and their smile.

I remembered what it felt like to sit with them, and thankfully that was enough to convince myself our meeting wasn’t in vain.

I never was the kind of man to believe in the universe. The whole notion that “everything happens for a reason,” felt like a lie created to somehow blame an external force on the chaos in one’s life. There were so many things in my life that had no reason for happening, and to blame that on anything or anyone but myself would be a cheap excuse of a way out.

But for some odd reason, the universe aside, I believed in them, and strangely enough, I don’t think they would have blamed me for the life I had to live. So, as I sit down tonight on this familiar piece of wood, I choose to stare at the stars instead of the ground, and believe that if I spoke aloud, maybe they would hear me.

And they did, because my efforts to sit on one side of the swing in case they returned to me were not in vain. I didn’t look over, I didn’t have to to know it was them. I had already relaxed once their presence was known in my peripherals.

“Y/N,” they spoke, causing me to change my view on the stars to their side profile. It wasn’t all that different than staring at the constellations spread around us. “My name’s Y/N.”

___

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fourfucksake · 3 years

Text

let it snow

request: Can you do something with Chris sleeping with a friend? Maybe she comes and stays over and it snowed to hard for her to leave. They watch a movie and drink a little and it leads to rough sex on the couch?

pairing: chris evans x fem!black!reader

warnings: language, smut

word count: 2k

p.s i’m sorry for being inactive! i’m fine, just lazy

Visiting Chris right before Christmas was a tradition that we both shared for a long time. A few years ago, we met while filming a movie together, and our friendship blossomed very quickly. Being casted for that movie was my first role ever; back then, the show-biz, “the” Hollywood was truly one big puzzle that I had to solve on my own. The role I had wasn’t big nor significant, but it meant everything to me. The memories from those filming days were so close to my heart. Not to mention the friendship I built with Chris Evans that was also very dear to myself.

In that movie, I played the girl Chris slept with several times and at the end she finally got him to solve a mystery which led to a plot twist. Despite this description, the role wasn’t really that big, and I only had like three scenes where my character was somehow important. As imagined, all the sex talks we had as our characters were the start of me developing crush on him. Yes, I adored him as a fan for years but after that once scene where we almost kissed (and had to reshoot it way too many times) made me go crazy over him. It was downright embarrassing that literally no man that I have ever slept with made me as turned on as Chris did by almost kissing me.

“Chris!” I yelled while greeting him, giving his body a warm hug. His huge arms wrapped around me always gave me the snuggest feeling inside, I loved the smallest touch of his affection on myself. A loud laugh left my lips as he picked me up, completely erasing the distance between us. I gave him a small peck on a cheek before my feet were back again on the ground. “No Dodger?” I asked out of curiosity after not being able to spot one of my favourite creatures. “Nope, not today. He is with Scott, I left him there since I only came to this house for a couple of days before going back to my brother’s. Didn’t want to move him around like that, you know?” He explained as he rested his shoulder on the doorframe while I undressed from the heavy winter clothing. I hanged my big, fluffy coat and took my boots off before we entered his big living room.

Our “Christmas Dinner” was filled with laughs and banter. I almost forgot how amusing Chris really was, he always did everything to make the other person laugh out loud. Being with him was always great fun and however horrible that sounds I was ecstatic when the snowfall outside transformed into an apocalypse. Of course, I pretended that I really need to head back home, and nothing will stop me, but Chris refused to let me leave in this weather. After twenty minutes of going back and forth in argument, I gave up. He seemed pleased which was a relief because I would’ve hated feeling like I’m not wanted.

Chris made us both a cup of hot chocolate as we continued to talk. We made a promise regarding Christmas gift, swearing on each other’s lives that they will only be unwrapped on an actual Christmas Day. Still, I had a feeling he will open his as soon as I leave through that door. My eyes rolled as he deliberated about how his gift was surely better than mine, Tired of his annoying whimpers, I picked a TV remote and started looking through films on Disney+. “This will shut you up for like an hour or, at least I hope so,” I said with a silly face and showed him the middle finger as he laughed in response.

Focusing on the TV screen, I tried not to think about different, erotic scenarios of the both of us. His presence near me was enough to make my thoughts livid. His hand was placed on my knee, which I could not stop thinking about, no matter how hard I tried to. If Chris knew what my dirty thoughts were including him in, he would most likely show me where the door is. Or, possibly, throw me out of the window. I couldn't help but stress in his presence. It was simply not possible not to. When I thought I could control myself around him, he would start stroking my thigh, driving my consciousness crazy. He could sense that I was nervous, or at least I thought that he could, because he looked at me with his bug puppy eyes. He said nothing, just stared in the bluntest way possible. I returned the stare, unable to form words that would make any sense.

Gazing into my eyes, he positioned his hand on my cheek. Involuntarily, a familiar shiver ran through my entire body. Ugh, he was perfect, and I hated him for it. I just knew I was not the only girl to feel this way about him. You didn’t have to know him to lust over his self. I opened my lips as he began to approach me, getting closer to my face with every millisecond. Our lips finally joined in a passionate kiss. My hand quickly rested on top of his, caressing the skin on his fingers which were placed on my face. My hormones were screaming and in a spare of the moment, (and inflow of confidence) I moved onto his laps and sat on them straddling. I took over the situation with dominance, but Chris quickly took it back when he put his hands on my ass and lifted me up to lay myself on my back on the couch.

“I wanted to do this for so long, you have no idea,” He whispered right into my lips as his hand slipped under the fabric of my sweatshirt. A long, drawn-out moan escaped my mouth as his lips found their way to the skin on my neck. I was panting hard with my mouth open. One of my hands landed between the locks of his hair that I pulled on. I cursed softly under my breath as his fingers tightened on my hip and then moved to my breasts that were still covered by the fabric of my top and lace bra.

“So damn beautiful.” His words sounded like a tune to my ears. Now, I could confirm that no compliments sounded better than those formed by Mr. Chris Evans himself. His fingers sneaked into my private part once again as they slipped under my leggings. I consciously and willingly let them do so. I was already excited, maybe even more than I wanted to admit. Rarely has a man managed to bring me to this state by not doing anything special, but Chris definitely did.

My mind was full of thoughts concerning what we were doing in this very moment. Has he already done this with some other naive aspiring actress? Am I just another name on his long list waiting to be crossed out? My morals and standards, and more importantly, my substantial self-respect were all screaming at me right about now. Unfortunately, my thirst and excitement won the arguments inside my head. “Chris, p-please,” I whispered and desperately pulled the hair at the top of his head. “F-Fuck me,” My lips finally formed a dreadful plea for more.

Chris didn't wait any longer, as if I gave him an order that he had to obey. He quickly deprived my body of all of its clothing, his hungry gaze followed my flesh this whole time. He was discovering every inch of my skin for the first time, concentrating on it as if he wanted to remember every single detail. I did not want to do any worse than him, therefore my hands also started a fight with his clothes, aggressively removing them from his body.

“Condom, I need-“ He mumbled inexplicably, the second part of his sentence was most certainly inaudible but at least I understood what he started looking for from its first part. I watched him out as his fingers grabbed the fabric of his pants. He reached out to the pocket, grabbing a silver wrapper between his two fingers, and I stared at it with a rather surprised look. He was prepared for this and I let him. He knew or at least he wanted this to happen. And I let him. Stupid girl.

My eyes followed him precisely as he returned to me. His knees settled on the couch and I opened my own wide for him to view. I licked my two fingers slowly before directing them to my pussy, slowly caressing and massaging it. Chris was watching me this whole time and his gaze was getting more and more hungry which undoubtedly stimulated all my senses.

Our eyes reconnected and we both smiled at each other at the same time. I licked my lips as I watched the rubber material slide smoothly over his swollen cock. He got closer to me and hit my entrance with his dick several times which was met with a loud moan escaping my lips. I was seconds away from begging him to push inside of me, but my needs were met with his sudden actions. Satisfied was an understatement as I felt his impressive length penetrating my inside.

From the first thrust, his hips moved quickly, with force. I felt him whole, from his core to his round tip. I felt his body pressing onto mine as his balls slapped my flesh with each movement. I tilted my head back and gasped like a wounded animal. My hand blindly travelled to his muscular torso, digging my long nails into his skin. He hissed in response, but his movements became faster, only adding extra pleasure to my private part. I felt my insides pulsing in response to his dick slamming onto me.

Chris grabbed my leg under the calf and placed my heel on his shoulder. I took advantage of this placement and stretched my leg at the knee as I placed it as comfortably as possible on his shoulder. My hand rested on my boob, which I squeezed, and his eyes rested on the new image in front of him. We didn't exchange a single word, but we both gave each other the right glances that boldly approved of every move on our part.

Feeling ecstatic to say the least, I enjoyed every moment. I needed this. I needed to forget about the world, cool my abusive emotions and relish this quick experience. He gave me precisely what I craved. Moreover, I was confident he adored it just as much, which I saw from the droplets of sweat running down his forehead and from his plump lips producing multiple curse words as his body moved within me. His chest rose quickly and fell rapidly with each hard thrust. I rolled my eyes in pleasure, unable to help myself. I was so close to the orgasm that the man of my dreams was driving me to.

Feeling his warmth inside of me made me toes curl. This was so fucking good. I could confidently say that he too enjoyed himself, which the droplets of sweat running down his forehead and a bunch of swear words escaping his plump lips indicated. His chest rose and fell quickly with each hard thrust. Unable to help themselves, my eyes rolled in great pleasure. My breathing was rapid and unsteady as he drove me to a needed orgasm. I couldn’t feel his cum inside of me but his moans and pleads ensured me of his sweet release.

We looked at each other’s eyes when our breathing finally normalized from all that we have done right on that poor couch. Thankfully, I sensed no strange atmosphere in the air that could foreshadow the end of our friendship. Everything seemed so normal, so platonic and I felt an unimaginable sense of relief. “Round two?” He scanned my face with a smirk placed on his lips and flames in his eyes. I smiled in response because no words were needed to answer his question. My legs wrapped around his hips once again, his posture bent down in order to link our lips in a kiss, indicating a fresh start to our next game.

#chris evans imagine #chris evans imagines #chris evans one shot #chris evans smut #chris evans #imagine

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avatar-news · 3 years

Photo

The Fire Nation Awaits 🌺 An in-depth look at the ever-elusive islands in the era of Korra and when we will finally pay them a visit

[Artwork by Avatar News; not official.]

Note: This article was published before the official announcement of Avatar Studios at the Paramount+ investor day.

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” We’ve all heard those words a million times. The four elements, and the power to control them bestowed by four subspecies of giant lion-turtles, are at the very heart of the world of Avatar. The balance between them was once upon a time broken by one of the four, the Fire Nation, forming the main conflict of Avatar: The Last Airbender. For much of Aang and the Gaang’s quest at the close of the Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation was a forbidden, far-away location, until the curtain was finally drawn back in the aptly-named Book Three: Fire when our heroes entered the inferno, undercover behind enemy lines. A dramatic tropical destination! New outfits! Culture shock! Needless to say, it was a big deal.

→ 🌺 The big reveal of the Fire Nation in Book Three: Fire had its own marketing push, matching public anticipation.

When the Hundred Year War ended, the newly-instated Fire Lord Zuko dedicated his life to righting the wrongs of his forefathers and working with Avatar Aang to bring the Fire Nation back into the fold under peace. By the time Aang’s successor debuted as the next Avatar in the titular The Legend of Korra, Zuko had abdicated the five-pointed crown and his daughter, Fire Lord Izumi, took the stage leading a reformed, rebalanced Fire Nation.

There was no more war, no more enemy lines, yet the Fire Nation became more distant and mysterious than ever before.

Korra’s close encounters with the land of fire

To this day, Korra has never visited the Fire Nation, nor has it been seen at all, nor do we know anything about it in her era. In fact, practically the only thing we do know is that its leader is a noninterventionist, which conveniently gets it out of the way of making an appearance in Korra’s journey as the Avatar so far.

The closest we have come to seeing the Fire Nation in The Legend of Korra was in Book Two: Spirits, Chapter Five: Peacekeepers. In the midst of the Water Tribe Civil War, Korra sets out across the sea to get help from the royal family, however, she is intercepted by a dark spirit and never makes it to her destination. In the next episode, she washes up on a secret island home to the Bhanti sages, which probably technically counts as Fire Nation territory, but as we know from The Shadow of Kyoshi (more on that later), this faction predates the Four Nations themselves so it doesn’t really count.

→ 🌺 Korra washes up on the beach of Bhanti Island in Book Two: Spirits, Chapter Six: The Sting.

No, as cool as that location and the events of the Beginnings two-parter that happened there were, it wasn’t the main draw of seeing the Fire Nation that we’re still waiting for: seeing how the Fire Nation, which was already industrializing in Aang’s time, changed over the decades, compared to places like Republic City and Ba Sing Se; meeting new characters; visiting new and familiar locations; worldbuilding both new and expanding on what we already learned.

After this aborted tease in Book Two, we never come close to the island country again (at least not with this Avatar and in her era; yes I’m leading up to something...). Instead, the focus turns strongly to the Earth Kingdom in the third and fourth Books, and beyond.

Keep in mind that The Legend of Korra aired for about two-and-a-half years total from 2012 to 2014. Since then, the story has continued in comics. The comics era has lasted from 2015 to present-- seven years to the animated series’ two. In that time, there have only been two comic trilogies due to various production troubles, and neither have touched the Fire Nation. Instead, they directly continue the Earth Kingdom-focused threads started in Books Three and Four of Korra, both originally airing in 2014. Or, in perspective: we had a focus on Republic City in 2012, the Water Tribes in 2013, and the Earth Kingdom from 2014-2021.

Will we finally see the Fire Nation in the next graphic novel trilogy?

This question comes to mind every time new Korra content is supposed to roll around, and the powers that be know it-- it’s a pretty obvious gap in the world of Avatar right now. This franchise is iconically built around four elements and the Four Nations based on them, so one of them being MIA is quite glaring, and for that reason everyone is understandably always asking about it.

The most concrete confirmation we’ve gotten was this AMA answer from franchise co-creator Michael Dante DiMartino in 2016, two years after the show ended and a year before the first graphic novels did come out:

“Yes, hopefully in the [Korra] comics, we’ll have a chance to go to the Fire Nation and see how it has changed since A:TLA.”

Since then, as previously discussed, two comic trilogies have come and gone, obviously not getting closer to the Fire Nation-- and I would actually argue entrenching themselves further away from it.

I want to make it clear that I’m against fan entitlement. Creatives telling the tales they want to in service of the story and the artform is how the industry should run. I’m just hoping to offer some perspective on how we got to where we are almost a decade into the era of Korra and the metatextual pacing of the franchise itself.

Either way, the next Korra comic trilogy has been official confirmed by the editor for Avatar at Dark Horse Comics in this informal statement on Twitter:

We’re not ready to announce any details yet, but we are working on the next trilogy. I really appreciate your patience and hope it’s worth the wait! ✨

There’s currently some kind of holdup for which we really have zero context or information, and we of course have no idea what this next trilogy will be about. (I do speculate a bit on what it could be a few paragraphs down.)

But, like what turned out to be Ruins of the Empire before it, I faithfully made a mockup graphic for my post announcing the confirmation of the next The Legend of Korra graphic novel trilogy. And like before, I chose to completely speculatively and blindly make it Fire Nation-y, as if the next comic could/would(/should?) feature it. This is mainly because I feel like that’s what most people’s eyes would be caught by and thus result in the most successful post (hey, at least I’m honest), but also because it’s just fun.

Here are both images, from 2018 and 2020 respectively:

→ 🌺 Speculative edits I made for my posts on the announcement of previous and upcoming Korra comics before we knew anything about them.

In both cases, the response was huge, and people were super excited about the prospect of Fire Nation content just from my quick speculative mockups. I am of course hoping that the new artwork I made of the Krew for this post will have a similar effect (it’s the first time I just straight-up drew it instead of editing existing images) but again it’s really mostly just for fun.

Anyway, until the next trilogy is properly revealed, we’ll just have to wait and see.

However, that’s not the only place this could happen.

Are they saving the Fire Nation for an animated movie?

With Avatar’s HUGE success on Netflix last year, interest in the franchise rocketed to an all-time high. The streaming wars have begun, and Avatar’s owner and its parent company, Nickelodeon and ViacomCBS, have finally started to notice.

ViacomCBS is launching Paramount+ on March 4th, a relaunch of its existing streaming service CBS All Access. Paramount+ is meant to be a big expansion and refocus to compete with the big hitters: Disney+, HBO Max, and, yes, Netflix. (There’s quite an entanglement there, with Netflix being the home of Avatar’s big year and the upcoming live-action series.)

One of the keys to a successful streamer today is high-profile originals to drive new subscribers. ViacomCBS knows this and they know Avatar has just become among the highest profiles a property can have, breaking records and going toe-to-toe with other big-hitting sci-fi/fantasy/genre franchises. This knowledge goes right to the top of the food chain: the CEO of ViacomCBS mentioned Avatar by name when discussing potential originals for Paramount+.

I have previously discussed how The Search relates to this. The Search was the second ATLA comic trilogy, focused on the search for Zuko’s mother in the thick of the Fire Nation, and if you didn’t know, it was originally pitched by Bryke as an animated movie after the original series ended.

I just want to be clear that what I’m discussing here is purely speculative, but this is the only other piece of the Avatar franchise that we know was optioned for animation besides the shows themselves. It’s possible they would be interested in going back to this idea as a Paramount+ original (and it would certainly be popular among audiences), but it is of course set during the era of Aang and thus covers both a time period we’ve already seen, and also by nature of already being released as comics, events we’ve already seen too.

However, the whole point of this article is that there is one major, huge thing we haven’t seen yet, with massive anticipation building for a decade behind it: the Fire Nation in the era of Korra. So, again, this is just speculation, but it’s also possible that they could return to the very smallest seed of the original idea for a The Search movie, and do a Fire Nation-focused Korra movie now.

→ 🌺 ATLA’s Fire Nation-focused The Search was originally pitched as an animated movie.

You can skip this next part if you don’t want to see me embarrassingly promote my fan idea 😆 but this is where the artwork I made for this article comes into play. The general idea for it, and the reason I tried to replicate the show’s style as much as possible, is that it’s what a Fire Nation-focused movie could maybe look like. Something as standalone and unrelated to Earth Kingdom drama as possible, with fresh new looks for the Krew to get people excited for something fresh and new! I really feel like the Avatar franchise has so much potential for expanded content like this, that’s why I have high hopes that Paramount+ will make the most out of it! You can see the individual characters’ artwork in larger size here. Ok I’m done back to business.

If the idea of a movie seems too impossible to you, we can also take a deeper look at Bryke’s involvement with upcoming comics instead.

After Korra ended, they officially each went their separate ways. They vaguely consulted on Avatar stuff, and Mike of course wrote the Korra comics, but Bryan was planning on writing and drawing his own original non-Avatar comic series and Mike was releasing his own non-Avatar novels. This all appears to have come to a stop when they signed on to showrun the live-action retelling of ATLA at Netflix, officially reuniting the partnership and committing to Avatar again in a big way. Of course, they ended up leaving that project over creative differences, but it did result in a big, lasting change: this time they remained official creative partners and have indicated they’re still working on Avatar now, together. This is a far cry from the official breakup after Korra, so it begs the question what exactly they’re working on. I of course have my fanciful predictions of a sprawling expansion of the Avatar franchise at Paramount+, but what if it’s actually a combination of the ingredients from before the live-action series...

More speculation, but what if the reason for all the mystery behind the next Korra comics is because they will be made by Bryke, with the two of them co-writing and Bryan doing the art for the first time? If that’s the case, they could want to make them a bigger deal than the other Avatar comics have been so far, and maybe that’s why it’s taking so long to iron everything out, have a more significant story, have more of a marketing push, etc. If they’ve been saving the Fire Nation for something big, this could be it.

I personally think this is less likely than a show or movies or something, but it is possible. Anything is possible right now since we know so little about the large-scale direction of the franchise moving forward, just that it’s gonna get big.

⛰️🌋 The Fire Nation in the era of Avatar Kyoshi

We’re not done! Despite everything I’ve written here, believe it or not, the Fire Nation was actually the star of the show in the last year.

With the debut of the Avatar franchise’s first original novels, Kyoshi made a huge splash (in a way only she can). If you haven’t read them yet, you NEED to-- they’re some of the best Avatar content EVER. The Rise of Kyoshi hit shelves in 2019 and The Shadow of Kyoshi followed in 2020. The latter is of particular interest here, because it was almost entirely set in the Fire Nation and featured practically everything and anything you could want from a visit to elusive islands. Though obviously set in a historical period some four hundred years before Aang’s time, Kyoshi’s sojourn in the Fire Nation gave us a huge amount of new information, a depth and breadth of worldbuilding, culture, and character we’ve never really seen in Avatar before. It truly makes the most of the literary medium, so hats off to author F. C. Yee for the passion and effort he put in.

In The Shadow of Kyoshi, we learn about the era of the previous fire Avatar before Roku, Avatar Szeto. Through Kyoshi and her own Team Avatar, we learn about the different clans and islands of the Fire Nation, as they experience the fraught early reign of Fire Lord Zoryu and the conflict between the Keohso and Saowon clans, culminating in the Camellia-Peony War. We get a multitude of fleshed-out perspectives from the upper crust to the flea-bitten underworld, matching the heights of the worldbuilding quality of Republic City. It’s such cool, intricate stuff, and really shows Avatar’s potential (and that’s all just the worldbuilding-- the character work is also top-notch).

That’s not the only place the Fire Nation has shone recently. One of Insight Editions’ awesome scrapbooks, Legacy of the Fire Nation, gave us a tour through the royal family’s history, including never-before-seen looks at young Iroh and Ozai and much, much more.

All this just goes to show that the Fire Nation has been a hot ticket throughout the ages and there’s one conspicuous gap in that history: the era of Avatar Korra. With so much recent expansion and development of the Fire Nation in our world, it would be perfect to see the culmination of it all in the current time period in the world of Avatar too.

If this made you excited for the potential of what the Avatar franchise could look like in the coming years, same boat!

The next concrete date where something could be announced is February 24th, when ViacomCBS will host their investor day and present their streaming strategy, including Paramount+ originals. There’s no guarantee Avatar is mentioned, but I’m keeping a hopeful eye out.

As for comics, Dark Horse’s schedule marches to its own beat, so there’s no way to know when the next drop of information is coming our way.

Could this finally be the comics that take us to the Fire Nation, or could the much-anticipated visit be in another medium like animation? Stay tuned-- as always I’ll post as soon as we learn anything new!

#korra comics #paramount plus #the fire nation awaits

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