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#also one of those where you cannot just pick like 4 shots you gotta do more to contain it all lmao
zelkam · 10 months
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— the untamed (2019), episode 31
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naranjapetrificada · 1 month
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For the writers' ask game: 11, 18, 37, please?
Thanks for asking ♥️
Answers behind the cut to spare your dashboards. If you want to play the "get to know your fic writers" game, just pick your question(s) from this list!
11. Link your three favorite fics right now
I always have so many favorites but three recent favorites that I cannot recommend highly enough are:
The Tolling Bells by @edsbacktattoo, which was recently completed and an incredible experience to follow. As a writer, I will never have enough praise for what was accomplished here. As a reader, let me just say that if you like visceral longing and existential overwhelm that still has a happy ending, you've gotta give it a try.
As We Go Hand in Hand by @petrichorca, which is such a sweet, poignant, healing one-shot about Ed's post-canon headspace as he reckons with the size of his love for Stede, how badly he wants to marry him, and how unworthy he still feels of it. Ends with them in a believable but secure place.
The recently resumed Prevailing Winds by holograms. Not sure if they're on tumblr. Anyway, it's an alternate timeline AU, in which Blackbeard and The Gentleman Pirate die the deaths that happened IRL after having a completely different love story, but Ed comes back to do it all over again in the canon timeline. He seems to be the only one who knows what's going on and is desperate to protect Stede and himself from the fates they met before, and his new story is interspersed with flashbacks to the other one, where we get to see them fall in love and what ends up going wrong. It's fascinating as both a reader and a writer, and I'm so impressed with how they're handling telling such a complex story while managing to make every character believable in both timelines.
18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?
Titling usually happens like 2/3 of the way through? If it's a one-shot I usually figure out something that's relevant to what's been written so far that a) sounds good and b) sparks some curiosity. Although sometimes the titles are also just very prosaic.
That 2/3 rule applies for my current longfic as in I was 2/3 of my way through Chapter 1. The thing the title comes from is probably not going to actually come up in the fic until chapter 4 or 5, but the timing still works.
For the chapter titles I'm using songs, but I'm using them completely free of context. The content of the songs has mattered significantly less than their titles, and I have a whole doc full of song titles that I think I'm gonna use for future chapters. The exception, so far, might be Chapter 3. I had a non-song title for Chapter 2, then everything relevant to it got pushed back to 3. So there's a chance that anything could happen, really!
37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?
Oh my goodness this is such A Question for Chapter 2. With Chapter 1, I knew down to the exact line I wanted to end on, which meant I knew which scene it would be, which meant I just had to figure out what came before. For a first chapter I think that can work because that's when you're sort of presenting your thesis statement (if not to readers then at least to yourself). I don't think that will be viable going forward.
I had some idea of where I thought Chapter 2 could end, but these chucklefucks are so verbose (especially in their heads) that every single possibility I'd previously thought of ended up being wrong. All of those scenes got pushed back to Chapter 3 at least. I knew I didn't want chapter 2 to get too long or the trend of ever increasing chapter length would absolutely paralyze me and o would never get anything else written.
The end of Chapter 2 is literally, literally the first part of it that could have worked as a stopping point for me, and the whole chapter still ended up being ~1500 words longer than the previous one. I have a feeling that "finally a good stopping point!" might be the way it gets decided in the future, although I guess what makes a good stopping point is stuff like the end of a pivotal scene, the reveal of an important bit of information, a character resolving to do something, etc. We'll see!
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ghostbustersreborn · 1 year
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Chapter 4.
"This, this is bad." Egon claimed.
"You, know I never realized it before but I shouldn't tuck my cuffs into my boots." Peter realized. "Not sexy." He shook his head.
"That's the least of our worries right now, dad." Tara informed him.
The ghost army all began charging towards them.
"You're not getting paid by the minute, Fred!" One ghost said to Fred.
"Obliterate these annoying Ghostbusters... once and for all!"
Fred's eyes glowed red.
"You might want to stand back. This could get messy." He growled.
"Shut yer trap and get it done!"
Fred shot his proton gun at Peter, capturing him in a proton stream.
"Daddy!" She cried out.
"I got yer trap right here!"
Peter was encapsulated in the blue light, the trap threw open below him.
"This looks bad." He said. "Yep, definitely!"
Just like that, he was trapped.
"One down, four ta go."
Tara's eyes welled up with tears.
"I'd like to wake up from this nightmare now!" She yelled to the sky. "Please!"
She fell to her knees, she rocked back and forth.
"Please, make this stop." She sobbed. "I just want it to end. I don't want to do this anymore. I want my life back to normal, I want to be alive again. Please, make this stop!" She begged.
She looked up moments later, seeing Ray captured in a capture stream.
And Egon and Winston with their arms held back by two of fake Peter's team members.
"Game over, Ghostbusters. Actually, it was game over back when I whacked you boys, i'll give ya a credit for dying stubborn."
"Come on." Came a voice.
"What?" Tara sniffled.
"I have an idea." Jiff motioned.
She reluctantly got up and followed the kid over to where the trap Peter was in.
He picked up a rock and stood it over the trap.
"Case ya ain't noticed, yer pals left ya high and dry seeing as i'm the one with the gun. I'm the one in charge, now?"
The kids dropped the rock onto the trap, ripping it open.
"No! Stupid kids!" He pushed them out of the way. "Come on Venkman. Make yer move! I ain't got all-" Peter was flown out of the trap.
"Whoa! Those traps suck. Gotta remember to talk to the guys about inventing a more humane- treatment?" He looked around seeing four angels floating before him.
"For there must be a balance between realms that cannot overstep. The truce between light and dark must be preserved. Fret not The Lord helps those who help themselves." Spoke the male angel.
"No!" Fred screamed.
Tara smirked.
"Finally, getting what he deserves." She said.
"Great, thanks. For the platitude. I'll be sure to ask not what my country can do for me while I am it, you guys are sold." He told them, turning back.
The spirit was thrown out from Peter's vessel, going back to his normal form.
A puny looking mafia boss.
"Move, move, move.."  He begged.
The Ghostbusters surrounded him.
Peter stood in front, with his proton gun aimed at the ghost's head.
"Not so fast, I want to know what you were up to in my body and I want to know now. I also don't appreciate you hurting my friends and especially my little girl." He said, his voice dripping with anger.
"Daddy, watch out!" Tara yelled.
"Eep!" Squeaked Fred.
"The arrangement must be honored."
They all turned towards the dark and ominous voice.
It was a red looking dragon monster with two heads.
"The Venkman belongs to us now, yum!"
Peter's eyes widened.
"Say, again?" He sounded nervous.
"What part of "You belong to me now" Don't you understand? Less talk, more boiling alive in skunk urine."
"Yeah, that urine thing sounds really fun but hang on. I wasn't quite myself for a little bit." He defended himself, hitting Fred with the wire of his netruona wand. "What kind of arrangement are we talking about, exactly?" He questioned.
"Your presence of here is bad, not only is it impossible for the living to reach purgatory, but there's no oxygen here for you to breathe. Plus, there's this eternal truce thing. This place is neutral, we shouldn't be tampering here." It exchanged. "We bent the rules to get you here as favor to lucky. In return, we get to torture, dismember, and disembowel you for eternity."
"Wow. I never imagined a demon to be patient." Peter said out loud. "And expository."
"After all I done, the bosses were gonna throw me under the bus."
"But my dad's not the one you dealt for!" Tara stepped in. "His soul wasn't even in his body at the time. He was possessed by THIS piece of shit. You dealt for him, not my daddy."
"Atta girl." Peter said, proud.
"Watch yer tongue, brat." Hissed Fred.
"Great, now what do we do?" Asked the dragon thing. "You know what I always say.." Spoke the other head. "When in doubt just eat 'em all!"
Peter shot his gun at the beast.
"Did it work?" He hoped.
"Ow."
"Not sure. But they seem weak." Little Venkman noticed.
"Step back, Jack!" Peter advised before shooting at it again.
"Be careful, you're only going to have fifteen seconds, tops before the pack overloads!" Egon called.
"Kick it's butt, Venkman!" Winston encouraged.
"Peter, you've got to turn up the juice. It's too powerful!" Ray yelled.
"Great. No pressure or anything.." Peter said sarcastically, turning up the setting.
He shot at it full speed.
"Think you're bad, huh? You might be bigger and you DEFINITELY smell worse but at the end of the day." He proclaimed. "You're nothing but a different kind of ghost." He then turned to the others. "Not, to be a pain but I could REALLY use that other trap right about now." He requested.
"Where is it? Anyone see it?" They began searching for it high and low.
"Once the trap opens, we're going to need split-second timing to keep from getting sucked in ourselves." Egon slightly worried.
"Well, that's just great." Tara tried not to stress.
Holding the trap was Fred.
"Promise me something." He panted. "First chance you get. Bust them skunks what threw me to the wolves.."
"Last thing we ever need is help from you!" Winston snatched the trap from him.
"Come on, kid! Don't ruin my moment of redemption!" he whined.
Zeddemore popped him in the jaw.
"Just get out of the way, loser!" He snapped.
He ran over to where Venkman was with the trap in hand.
"Cut the beam, Venkman!" He ordered.
He stood in front with the trap held out towards the beast.
"Now!"
Just like that, the dragon looking thing was entrapped and gone forever.
Tara let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding in.
Peter fell to his knees, panting.
"I can hear it screaming in there. That'll teach it to mess with us." Ray confirmed.
Tara ran over to her father, she kneeled down in front of him.
"Daddy, you okay?" She checked on him.
"Yes. I'm fine. I'm great." He responded.
He pulled her into a hug.
"I missed you so much, sweetheart." He stroked her hair.
"I missed you too." She said back.
"I love you." He told her.
She felt tears well up in her eyes. Tears of joy this time.
This was the first she's ever heard him say "I love you." To her in years.
"I love you too." She said back to him, hugging him tighter.
Suddenly, he started having a hard time breathing. Tara pulled out from his embrace.
"He can't breathe here! He's still alive!" She remembered.
The guys helped pick up Peter, they headed for the portal to the mortal world.
"Move it, people! Venkman doesn't have much time!" They hurried.
"Come on, Peter it's just oxygen. You can do it!" Ray encouraged.
Peter's eyes rolled in the back of his head.
"Peter!"
"Don't give up, Peter. We can do this." Egon motivated him.
"Daddy, I know you can fight it. Please, don't leave me." Tara begged.
*
One Week Later.
"It ain't possible."
"No.."
"Huh?"
"Don't look so surprised, boys. It's all about who you know. Turns out we made some friends in really high places." Peter remarked.
"I can't believe you guys dumped us in the east river." Ray said, insulted. "Do you know how many showers it took to get the smell out of my hair?"
"Easy, Ray." Winston calmed him.
"I've had a stomach ache for a week, thanks to you!" Tara scolded.
"If you're wondering how we found you, our contacts on the other side tell us Fred Sans like a buteaogallus urubitinga." Egon exchanged.
"And those things can sing. Let me tell you." Ray added in.
"He's pretty mad at you guys for selling him down the river." He informed them.
"This won't change anything. You take us down, another will just take the reins of the pipeline." Explained the ghost. "Probably the yakuza."
"Don't worry your pretty little head about. We'll shut them down too." Ray determined.
"One thing i'm confused about. I understand why ghosts would deal with to get out of purgatory but, what was in it for you?" Winston asked them.
"Old habits die hard." They simply explained.
"Not anymore." Peter settled before they shot at them with their guns.
Winston's lady friend from before appeared in the church.
"Let's give Winston a minute, here fellas." Peter motioned.
Tara smiled before they went outside.
The lady waved at her, making her blush.
Peter took notice of this and laughed.
"Someone's got a crush!" He said in a sing-song voice.
"I do not!" She swore.
"And pigs can fly!" He chuckled.
"I will kill you." She threatened.
"Want to go back to the purgatory again?" He teased.
She fell quiet.
"I thought so."
*
(This was traumatizing.)
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dameronology · 3 years
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love in the time of p.t.a. meetings {marcus moreno} - 4/5
summary: after a few months of slightly chaotic bliss, you & marcus start to think about the next steps in your relationship. {series masterlist}
warnings: swearing 
this is up a little later than i wanted & i do apologise, i once again stayed up all night and i cannot recount a single thing i’ve done. enjoy!
- jazz
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Things between you and Marcus quickly fell into a routine.
You kind of had to when you both had kids; their lives needed structure. Depended on it, in fact. It wasn’t long before both of your lives were entangled in more ways than one, mostly for the sake of Missy and Jack having security around them but also because things between you were so good. Neither of you were trying to rush by any means, but when it worked, it worked. You were both good at communicating with each other - not that many issues really cropped up - and you both understood that your children came first. Things progressed easily and naturally, and he made you feel secure enough that you didn’t have to question whether or not it was too good to be true. 
Five months had quickly passed and you were both comfortable. Marcus Moreno was your boyfriend and it wasn’t a big deal. Okay, it had been at first - especially the first time he planted a kiss on your lips in front of the minivan brigade - but now? It was normal. It felt like he’d always been there, and you took it as a good sign. You got on well with Missy, especially since she’d witnessed your spat with Carol and started to think the world of you, and Jack...well, he was obsessed with Marcus. You couldn’t blame the kid. 
‘Jack! Put the soup down!’ 
It was another one of those mornings. It was a Sunday, so you didn’t have to worry about getting up early for school or work but you’d been at Marcus’ till late the night before. You and Jack ended up spending a lot of time at his; there was a swimming pool and a big garden for Optimus Prime to run around in, so it tired both of your tiny spawns out, which worked in your favour.
 Even when the kid had spent four hours swimming last night, he’d still risen that morning at 6AM like Jesus Christ on the third day. You’d woken to find the kitchen covered in smashed eggs and ham, then your oven had broken and the toilet was blocked again. 
You’d been halfway through reversing the problem when you’d heard Jack shuffling in the kitchen. You were stood in the hallway, still in your pyjamas, with a toilet brush in one hand and the other balled up into a fist. 
‘Jack, the soup is about to-’
You paused mid-sentence, watching as the bowl he was trying to reach for toppled straight off of the counter. You’d only washed his hair ten minutes ago, and you might as well have not fucking bothered because it was now covered in chunky vegetable soup. And the Chewbacca onesie he loved so much? Trying to peel that off him for the next few hours to wash the Heinz out of it was going to be a whole task in itself. You’d only just been to the laundrette the day before, and you’d gotten to the point in life where having a place with its own washing machine was a sign of success. 
‘Mum, there’s soup in my hair.’
‘It’s okay.’ You took a moment to breath. ‘We are not going to cry.’
‘I’m not crying.’
‘Wasn’t talking to you, buddy.’ You rubbed your temples for a moment. ‘C’mon, let’s go hop in the bath.’
So much of parenting was just...stopping to breath. Stopping to take a moment to remind yourself that although your love for your child was unwavering and unconditional, you sometimes felt like screaming. All you’d done for the last five hours was go in circles, cleaning and lecturing and cleaning some more. It made you wish you were at work that day, because at least then you could have conversations with people that weren’t about what cheese they wanted for lunch or what cartoon they wanted to watch. 
‘I just had a bath.’ Jack muttered. 
‘Yeah well, you need another one.’ You took another deep breath. ‘I’ll be there in a minute-’
‘- I don’t want a bath!’
‘And I don’t want a kid that’s covered in soup!’ You shot back. ‘C’mon, buddy. Just do as I say, please?’
Your conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. You frowned for a moment - you weren’t expecting anyone. There was no post on Sundays and you hadn’t seen your landlord since the day you’d moved in. Your nosey neighbour knocked sometimes, usually asking about the noise (he didn’t have kids, clearly) and you were this close to telling him to mind his own fucking business. 
‘I swear to god, if that’s David again, I am going to shove this can of soup up his - Marcus!’ You almost did a double take when you saw your boyfriend stood at the door - he really chose his times, didn’t he? You hadn’t even had time to put the fucking toilet brush down. ‘Hey.’ 
‘Hey, baby.’ He greeted you slowly, eyes slowly taking in your appearance (and not in a sexy way). ‘Were you not expecting me?’
‘Shit, did we have plans?’ Your eyes widened. 
‘No, but Jack called. He said you’d asked him to ask me to come over, but I realise half way through that sentence that starting with Jack called probably means you had no idea.’ He offered you a goofy smile. ‘He said that the sofa had exploded and that you needed help.’
There was a lot to unpack there. When had Jack done that? More to the point, when had he learnt to use the phone? How had he worked out your phone password? The kid couldn’t do up his own velcro and now he was a Russian hacker, apparently. 
‘Oh my god.’ You groaned. ‘I am so sorry. Things have been batshit here this morning and I’m sure he had my best interests in his weird little heart, but he made you come all this way-’
‘- Marcus!’ Speaking of the devil.
Jack pushed past you, wrapping his arms around Marcus’ waist. He leant down to pick him up, lifting him off the ground - albeit at a distance, due to Soupgate. 
‘Hey, buddy.’ He greeted him. ‘You been causing trouble again?’
‘Not on purpose.’ Jack replied. ‘Mum says I need another bath.’
‘I think she’s right.’ Marcus said. ‘Why don’t you go pick out some clothes and come back in a minute, yeah?’
‘Okay!’ Seemingly impressed by the newfound trust in him to choose an outfit, Jack wriggled himself back down to the floor, trotting towards his bedroom. Seriously, how did Marcus do that? Perhaps his ability to have authority over your archaic child was another hidden power of his. 
‘You look like you need a break, baby.’ He reached out, gently running a hand down your arm.
‘I’m fine, he’s just been a lot today.’ You sighed.
‘You have soup on your shirt and fluff in your hair.’
‘Couch stuffing.’
‘Huh?’
‘It’s couch stuffing. Except that was Optimus Prime and not Jack, which makes a nice change.’ You muttered.
‘Look, Missy is at her abuela’s today and she’s been begging for ages to see Jack again.’ He said. ‘What d’you say I drive him over there, you clean up and we hang out? Just us, no kids, no dogs, no stress.’
‘That sounds like a fucking dream.’ You couldn’t help but smile. ‘But Optimus has consumed half the couch and I gotta keep an eye on him-’
‘-we can bring him with us!’ Marcus grinned. ‘He loves the garden.’
‘Are you sure? Because I remember you saying you had work plans today and I don’t want you to cancel them on account for the fact I can’t control my own kid. Or life.’
‘You two come first.’ He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. ‘Three, including Optimus Prime.’
--
In the time it took Marcus to drive Jack to his mum’s and get back to yours, you were able to clean up. The apartment was still a state, but it hadn’t been properly tidy in...how many days had it been since Jack was born? Because it hadn’t been clean in exactly that many days. You felt a little bad dumping him on Anita when he was still covered in soup, but if anyone was able to wrestle him into the bath and some clean clothes, it was her. You’d met her a few times and she was absolutely lovely, but you had no doubt she could be terrifying when need be. She was the sort of woman you aspired to be.
By midday, you were driving out the city. There was music playing quietly over the radio and you were watching the houses go by; even though it was cold out, you had the heater on and you were bundled up in a leather jacket, Marcus’ scarf snugly around your neck. It smelt faintly of his aftershave, which had become one of your favourite scents over the last five months. The time had gone so quickly. You’d seen each other practically every day since then, and having the kids meant you’d been fallen into being domestic pretty quickly. The simplicity of it all - him and you and getting to this point so easily - was overwhelming in itself. 
Your first relationship had been so complicated - so finicky and filled with unnecessary arguments. That should have been a sign early on, but then you’d gotten pregnant with Jack and getting married had seemed like the obvious thing to do. His presence meant you wouldn’t have changed anything, not for the entire fucking world, but it made you a little sad to think about how long you’d wasted on what had clearly been the wrong person. Meanwhile, Marcus’ situation had been entirely different; he’d had the right person the first time around and then he’d lost them. You never felt like a replacement to his wife, or even thought about the notion, really. That had been another part of his life. You were a new part and it didn’t mean he was forgetting the past. The two could co-exist without taking away from each other. 
‘You’re deep in thought.’ Marcus observed. He moved one of his hands to rest on your leg, giving it a light squeeze. He did that a lot, usually whenever you were sat beside him at the table or on the sofa. It was just a him thing. 
‘Yeah, sorry.’ You tore your gaze away from the window. ‘My brain always goes a little into overdrive when things are quiet.’
He chuckled. ‘What’s on your mind?’
‘You, actually.’ You tangled your fingers with his, thumb brushing over the back of his hand. ‘I was just thinking about lucky I am and how good things are, and how it almost feels too good to be true.’
‘Better believe it, baby.’ He replied. ‘Because it is true.’
‘I know.’ You peered over at him with a smile. ‘It’s just...my only perceptions of relationships were based on the single one I’ve had. Everything was so complicated and exhausting. This is completely different and it’s so nice. And normal. And I don’t know, that sounds stupid-’
‘- it’s not stupid at all.’ Marcus peered over at you, shaking his head. ‘It’s natural to be a little apprehensive after a bad relationship and if there’s anything I can do to help, you just have to tell me. You know that, right?’
Maybe it was the way he said it, or maybe it was just him, but you knew for certain that he meant that. There was sort of a silent agreement now that you were both in this for the long haul. Your mum had always said that you’ll know when you know but you’d always written that off. Mostly because you hadn’t known the first time round. But, now you did. You did know and though you weren’t going to admit that to Marcus, you never doubted him for a second. 
‘I do.’ You said. ‘But he’s in the past now - and hopefully it’s where he fucking stays.’
‘I have contacts. I can find him and set Miracle Guy on him.’ Marcus’ grin had returned. ‘Just say the word.’
‘You make a tempting offer.’ You smiled back at him. ‘But the past is the past and I’m ready to...slam the lid on that dumpster.’
‘Do you think he’ll ever want to come back into Jack’s life?’
You pondered for a moment. ‘I don’t think so, but if he did, I dunno if I’d let him. I never wanna be the person who stops someone from seeing their kids but what he did was...it was unforgivable.’
‘You don’t have to make that decision until it actually happens.’ Marcus gently said. ‘And I’ll support whatever you choose.’
He pulled into the drive way of his house - his nice, clean, sofa-stuffing-and-soup free house. Optimus Prime leapt out the car as soon as the door was open, practically tearing past the two of you and down towards the yard. There was a moment of silence and then a splash!
‘Guess he found the pool.’ Marcus commented. ‘At least it’s heated, I s’pose.’
Truth be told, he loved having the three of you at his house. It felt like whatever had been missing before was slowly making an appearance as your relationship progressed. The irony was that you brought nothing but chaos and clutter with you, but that was exactly what made it feel like a home. It was small things; the painting that Jack had done for him at after school club was now hung up up on the fridge, and there was a photo of him and Missy on the fireplace with Optimus Prime. Half of the thousands of blankets of pillows that had been at your place had ended up on his sofa, thanks to the countless sleepovers. 
If he could have it his way, Marcus would have you live with here all the time. The energy that you and Jack brought made everything feel complete. He loved the evenings where Missy and Jack would play out in the pool, and you two would sit back inside, complaining about the cold. Then there were the nights where you’d take both the kids back here when he was working late, and he’d come home to find you piled on the couch watching an old movie, with your burnt cooking abandoned on the stove, surrounded by boxes of left over take out. It was the kind of thing that was so simple and so domestic, but it was everything he wanted. 
That was probably the flashpoint moment when Marcus Moreno realised he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you. He already knew he loved you - he’d worked that out about three months in, when you’d fallen asleep in one of his shirts whilst trying to wait up for him - but he hadn’t said it. He’d hinted at it and made back-handed comments but he’d barely admitted it to himself, let alone to anyone else. He knew what you and Jack had gone through before and it broke his entire fucking heart. You both deserved someone who stand by you and support you, someone who would embrace you both for the craziness and warm energy you brought everywhere with you. More than ever, he was realising he wanted to be that person who gave it you. After all, you’d made his life so much brighter without even trying.
Snapping out of his trance, Marcus looked over at you. You’d already ditched your shoes and dropped onto the sofa, pulling one of the blankets with you. This was exactly what you needed. A quiet house, your favourite person and a cable knit blanket. 
‘Hey, baby?’ 
You looked over at him, smiling at the name. ‘Yeah?’
‘You know I love you, right?’
You blinked in surprise, sitting up. ‘I know.’
‘You do?’
‘You’ve never said it, but I can tell.’ You nodded, before offering a smile. ‘And I love you too.’
‘I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.’ He slowly approached you, dropping onto the sofa beside you and taking your hands in his. ‘I think I just got so caught up in everything and feeling everything that I forgot.’
‘Why are you apologising?’ You couldn’t help but scoff at him, leaning forward to press a kiss to his lips. ‘It’s your actions that say it, Marc. Hearing it is good but you showed it a long time ago.’
‘I know, but really you deserve to hear it everyday.’ He smiled against you, helping you move onto his lap. 
‘You do tell me everyday, with the things you do.’ You reminded him. ‘Like meeting me in the parking lot with coffee, or bribing Jack into going to bed early with video messages from your superheroes, or doing my grocery shopping when you know money is short.’
‘Why wouldn’t I do those things?’ Marcus seemed genuinely confused. ‘It’s you.’
‘I love you.’ You repeated the phrase. 
‘And I love you.’
He pulled you into another kiss - this time it was a little firmer, not unlike your second declaration of love. Marcus did all those things without thinking, simply out of his intense want for you to just be happy. He was the same with Missy, always doing little things to make her life easier just because. It was just part of who he was, and it made him happy to see his loved ones happy. 
With your body pressed against his and your hands tangled in your hair, Marcus realised he didn’t want you to ever leave again. He didn’t want you to have to drive home in the dark at ten because all of your stuff was on the other side of town. You did stay over sometimes, but then you’d have to creep out at 6AM with a sleeping Jack in your arms to get home in time to get ready. He wanted you here all the time. You should have been here all the time. 
‘Move in with me?’ 
He both did and didn’t mean to say it out loud. He did because he wanted you so badly to be a permanent fixture in the house, but he also didn’t because the idea might have been a little absurd. Was it too soon? What if you didn’t want to leave your place? He knew you loved your apartment. It was your home and had been for a long time.
‘What?!’ You suddenly pulled back from the kiss, eyes wide. 
‘I mean...if you want to.’ Marcus slowly said. ‘Hell, Missy and I can move to your place if that’s what you want. It might be tight but she loves the dog and I just want to be with you-’
‘- hey!’ You cut him off, planting your hands on his shoulders. ‘You’re rambling again, but that’s besides the point. I would love to live here.’
‘You would?’
‘I would.’ You smiled. 
It made sense. Aside from the glaringly obvious fact you wanted to, it was also practical. It was closer to the school, closer to your work and it had a fucking swimming pool. Marcus was already clearly financially secure and moving in wouldn’t mean relying on him, but it would have meant that things for Jack were a lot more stable. Missy loved the company of you both, and it meant she would finally have the dog she wanted so bad. 
‘Missy would be okay with it, right?’ You asked.
‘She was the one who put the idea in my head, actually.’ Marcus admitted. ‘I’d thought about it but then she kind of asked in passing why you don’t live here, and I couldn’t give her an answer.’
‘Your kid is smart.’
‘D’you think Jack will-’
‘- I’m going to stop you there.’ You cut him off.
‘Right, I probably don’t need to ask that question.’ He chuckled.
‘Exactly.’ You pressed a kiss to his nose. ‘Don’t forget the dog, either.’
‘How could I? I can literally see him peeing on my lawn right now.’
‘Our lawn.’
--
Exactly three weeks later - and after a hefty amount of paperwork and hours of sorting through Jack’s endless amounts of crap that he insisted on hoarding - moving day came. 
Anita had insisted on having the kids again. They were both excited, but perhaps a little too much. They were probably more likely to get in the way of things if anything. Children, a dog and large boxes? It seemed like a match made in hell. Plus, she had a whole ass training course in her back garden and if that didn’t wear the kid out, then you were definitely going to take him to the Heroics to get tested. The thought alone was enough to tire you out. 
You didn’t have too much stuff to move. You’d been half-moved into the damn place before Marcus had even made the formal proposal, so that made things a lot easier. You were keeping your sofa for Jack’s room, but the rest was going to Goodwill. Most of it had come from there in the first place.
‘I think that’s the last box.’ Marcus announced, exiting the bedroom. ‘I didn’t realise that a five year could own so many variations of storm-trooper toys.’
‘Oh, yeah.’ You replied. ‘There’s the original trilogy ones, sequel trilogy ones, dark troopers, shock troopers, clone troopers - and I realise half way through listing them that you don’t care.’
‘I never said that!’ He placed his hands on your waist, pressing a kiss to your forehead. ‘I’m excited to learn.’
‘I’m sure Jack is excited to tell you.’ You grinned. 
Then, it faltered slightly with the realisation you were actually leaving this place. You’d never intended for it to be your permanent home, but it had still been the centre of your entire universe for half a decade. Every room told a story; the crayon marks on the bathroom wall, the dents behind the TV from, the crack in the living room mirror. All caused by Jack, naturally. The last five years was contained entirely within these four walls and you got bleary eyed at the idea of it becoming someone else’s. 
‘Hey, don’t cry.’ Marcus gently wiped away a tear from your cheek. 
‘You know, the rent is still paid till the end of the month so we could revisit the idea of you and Missy living here instead.’ You tearfully smiled. 
‘You’re kidding but you know I’ll do it.’ He pressed another kiss to your nose, grip on your arms tightening. 
‘It’s okay.’ You moved so that the kiss landed on your mouth instead, capturing his lips in a brief kiss. ‘I knew we were gonna outgrow this place. I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.’
‘I know. Still kinda feels like it all came out of no-where, huh?’ He replied. ‘In the best way.’
‘You’re right. In the best way.’ You firmly nodded. ‘Can you believe I was 23 when I moved into this place? I found it on Craiglist within ten minutes of finding out I was pregnant.’
‘Do you wanna take a minute before we go?’
‘No, it’s fine.’ You shook your head. ‘We should get going.’
The apartment was just that: an apartment. And the house you were going to was just that: a house. But the people you were with? That’s what made it count. It wasn’t about the four walls or the roof over your head, or whether or not it had a big yard and a jacuzzi bath tub (though, that did help). It was about the laughter and warmth inside; the faces in the photos on the wall and the people you came home to after a long day. It was the smell of your burnt cooking and the pizza you’d ordered in place. It was Jack’s toys left in the exact place where someone could trip and it was Missy using all the hot water in the morning so that Marcus’ showers were practically arctic. It was everyday things that reminded you of the people around you; the people that made it home, and how lucky you were to have them.
That was home. And you’d found yours. 
taglist: @naivara-duneimith @1-2-3-4-5metalfingers @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky​ @lyanna-the-giantsbane @phoenixhalliwell @crazycookiecrumbles​ @bitchin-beskar​ @comphersjost
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americachavez · 3 years
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did cas really tell dean to kneel before their new god? did that actually happen? i thought him beating the shit out of dean in that alley was the most unrestrainedly horny thing this show had ever done ACTUALLY you know what scratch that new question: top horny moments from the cw's supernatural (2005 - 2020)
getting this ask feels like my sins of the last week have been weighed against the Trials I Have Gone Through since the premier of supernatural on the wb in september of 2005 and I’m not sure if it is a punishment or reward
some notes before we begin:
the ep with dean’s male siren was like, conceptually horny but not actually that horny because the dude was uglie. I’m sorry to this man
all you sam girls out there. I respect you but I do not respect jared padalecki who is JUST tall and has zero sex appeal. but those eps where he’s like, drinking ruby’s blood and then eating her pussy are. you know. I’ll give you that
I am ONLY UP TO SEASON 10 so fair warning this is not comprehensive but the horniness does seem to drop off sharply after the mark of cain is no longer in play lol gotta love a good demon murder tattoo plot
this is easily the most insane thing I’ve ever done, including the destiel manifesto
S1 EP12: the scene where dean gets healed by the faith healer, on his knees with a hand in his hair and looking somewhere between religious ecstasy, brain death and an orgasm. starting this list off great
S1 EP22: azazel possessing john winchester. no I will not explain further if u know u know <3
S3 EP10: dean being taunted by a dream version of himself, this is where we first got the daddy’s blunt little instrument line. still burned in my hippocampus a good 13 years later thank yew
S4 EP1: dean crawling out of his own grave covered in grave dirt. hot. the HANDPRINT. HOT. also tangent but this reveal after the s3 finale was WILD back in 2008 I hollered in my dorm room after canvassing for obama. simpler times man
S4 EP 1: cas’ intro scene. the barn. the shadow wings. the hair??? getting stabbed in the chest by the man you just pulled out of hell. getting aaaallll up in that personal space. his little eyebrow. “you don’t think you deserve to be saved.” OUTRAGEOUSLY FLAMING
S4 EP02: “I dragged you out of hell I can throw you back in.” <<< this angel tops. mark dean down as scared and horny etc
S4 EP16: this ENTIRE EPISODE but specifically the part where dean tortures alastair as some kind of foreplay and then alastair kicks his ass. carved you into a new animal. jesus.
S4 EP16: wait I forgot about the part where cas also gets his ass kicked and looks all....hm. dazed and covered in blood while he’s on his knees and about to die. yeah.
S5 EP4: I mean this entire ep is unfairly horny considering everyone is dying of a zombie plague and hasn’t showered in like, 4 years but if I had to pick one hmmm. the dean/dean interrogation scene with the panty kink yeah I know it’s not original but hm. it happened. also misha collins just being able to convey that CAS IS A FLEXIBLE SLUT with a single roll of his shoulders. who SAYS this man can’t act!!!!!
S5 EP18: the ALLEY SCENE. DEAN DOESN’T FIGHT BACK. CAS HOLDS HIM UP OFF THE GROUND AND THEN THROWS HIM ACROSS THE ALLEY. WHY DID EVERYONE THINK CAS COULDN’T TOP. you all had brainworms.
S5 EP18: when cas locks dean in the panic room to stop him from saying yes to michael and “well cas not for nothing but the last person who looked at me like that I got laid” I hate this show. wait I think the blow me cas line is in this episode too what the fuck were they on here
S6 EP5: the scene where dean gets turned into a vampire. between the old dude who I think calls dean a pretty boy (??) and soulless sam....watching??? no ******* but there were just some absolutely foul energies in that scene and I still do not understand WHAT they were thinking
S6 EP20: cas doing a double smite on two demons by slamming them to the ground and then shoving another demon back in its vessel and then smiting him in the same motion. TOP. ENERGY.
S6 EP22: season 6 is possibly cas’ horniest season because he’s like, going through angel puberty after getting his first boner for dean, but the final cas eps are. whoof. cas eats a bunch of souls and proclaims himself to be a new god in order to handle said boner, and then the season ends with cas telling them to bow down and profess their love to him, their new lord, or he will destroy them. note: the way this is framed makes it look like cas is only staring at dean while he says this, even though sam and bobby are also there. the season ends with dramatic zooms on both cas and dean’s faces respectively. this made me actively regret ditching this show after s5 lol
S8 EP??: literally EVERY SINGLE PURGATORY FLASHBACK. cas dean and benny are all purgatory hot in the “pop 10 cranberry pills and risk the UTI” kind of way but also. dean being the hot girl bottom between two tops who hate each other. I really. whew. I need to go take a shower.
S8 EP17: if I get canceled for including the crypt scene on this list I blame you bud. but dean on his knees begging a brainwashed cas to stop killing him WAS sexy. how many times has dean been on his knees in this list wait there’s another one coming up next jsldjfsldkjf
S9 EP2: abaddon getting dean on his knees (YEAH) and pulling his hair and praising him for always coming when called HELLO???? the only thing that ruins this is dean says “I can’t tell if we’re gonna fight or make out” because this is the CW and they won’t let him say fuck
S9 EP6: ah. this entire episode is Emotionally Horny but the horny horny part is when they’re in the car and dean is telling cas to unbutton his shirt and. watches. I know this was on my destiel manifesto but I need it here too
S9 EP9: cas, covered in blood, slitting another angel’s throat and eating his grace after getting tortured. that shot alone made me understand why this website was so goddamn horny for misha collins for nearly a damn decade
S9 EP11: MARK OF CAIN BABEY. cain watching dean beat up a bunch of demons as an audition for taking on the mark, while crowley also is a fucking voyeur to the whole thing. cain is also a hot silver fox with daddy energies. I said what I said
S9 EP 16: dean getting the first blade. he’s chained to a pillar and being menaced by a foppish dandy who wants to add him to his “collection” (WOW). dean then kills him with the blade and whew. murder is sexy sometimes
S9 EP21: dean being pinned against a wall by abaddon’s power, then using the mark of cain to break her hold, calling the first blade to him psychically and then killing her. god the mark of cain is hot
S9 EP23: dean waking up with the demon eyes NUT
S10 EP2: demon dean beating up that dude with the boring backstory and kicking his ass. really was a go on baby I got your flower moment because I hated that dude and I love demon dean
S10 EP3: demon dean being chained up and taunting sam about how his brother is gone, then hunting sam through the bunker. demon dean in general was VERY fun for me, someone who loves trash
S10 EP9: dean going berserk and killing a bunch of pedophile rapists/child abusers. I’m sorry I know this show is trying to preach morality at me about monsters and unnecessary murder and humanity or whatever but we blew past that like 8 SEASONS AGO. also the mark of cain is sexy
S10 EP14: the rest of this list is really gonna be mark of cain stuff isn’t it look I’m here to have fun. cain and dean’s fight. cain continuously tossing his mane of hair back and taunting dean with the picture of what he’s going to become, who he’s going to kill. dean begging cain to tell him that he can stop, and then ultimately killing him. rip daddy.
S11 EP4: again I have not watched this however. every shot of this episode is PRESTIGE TELEVISION because driving a muscle car is sexy. and especially the shot of dean all beat to hell and begging his car to start and giving her a little kiss from his fingers to her dash. ugh. masculinity.
S12 EP10: the bearded salt-and-pepper daddy look returns, only it’s an angel this time and he’s wearing a vest and shirtsleeves and he swordfights with a hot redheaded lady in a suit and an eyepatch. this show is good sometimes!!! and oh fuck lol I just realized this is the same guy who played krissy’s hot hunter dad in s7 probably the first guy who’s hotter as an angel than a hunter. huh.
S12 EP 11: dean riding larry the mechanical bull to “broomstick cowboy.” I have no idea where this factors into the ep but I have seen. the youtube clip
S13 EP23: from what I can tell s13 is way more emotionally horny than boner horny, although dean burning cas’ body was sexy. but the horniest part was dean saying yes to michael and then michael taking over and saying “thanks for the suit.” we are going to ignore the silliest fight scene in existence as well as the final shot ending on a FREEZE FRAME like a goddamn tiktok
S14: not gonna pick a specific moment because I have not watched yet!!! but michael dean is hot. idk why michael is weirdly hot and I cannot stand any iteration of lucifer on this television programme. it should be the reverse but I’m forever an older sibling stan apparently. someone who is catholic could probably explain this better.
S15 EP13: genevieve padalecki and danneel ackles fight flirting as ruby and anael I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY HELD OUT ON THIS TILL THE LAST SEASON
I know I am missing things but this is already an absolutely incomprehensible screed. I know I’m missing shit from the latter seasons but give me time I’m pacing myself
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purrincess-chat · 3 years
Text
Cat’s Definitive Ranking of Every ML Episode as of 4/22/21
Are you guys ready for this? I did the thing. You’re all welcome. Don’t ever ask me for anything again. You can watch me get progressively more unhinged in real time. 
Now, just to preface this, I did not give this too much thought. Most of these are just my gut feelings. I went through every episode and just made some snap judgments based off the lasting impressions I’ve been left with. These are my opinions. If you don’t like them, tough. And also I don’t care. Go spend 4 hours making your own damn ranking. And shut the hell up. Anyway, this is probably the longest post I’ve ever made, so I’m gonna put it all under a read more. Click on it if you have an hour to read it. Okay, here we go!
1.     Origins II- Good starting point for our heroes. Good establishment of canon ships and character dynamics. Umbrella scene literally stole my wallet. Cannot emphasis enough that I am whipped for the umbrella scene. I wrote a whole ass AU just to say how whipped I am for the umbrella scene. In the Rain will play at my wedding. Jk. Weddings are for suckers. But dammit if I don’t want these kids to get married. 10/10
2.     Origins I- Good introduction to lore. Good introduction to characters. Good establishment of status quoyo. Just good. 10/10
3.     Simon Says- Listen, I am nothing if not a shipper at heart. This episode just sparks joy. And the whole series almost ended when Gabriel almost jumped off the roof. I was really rooting for this one. This was the episode where I saw Ladrien and went yes, ma’am, I’ll have one of those. 10/10
4.     Evillustrator- Are you all surprised? Cat, the MC-skeptic ranked the pivotal MC episode so highly? Well, let me tell you all a thing, I started this fandom out a MC shipper because of this episode. Their first interaction is gold. I don’t deny that. I enjoy it. This is the MC dynamic I fell in love with. Yall toxic shippers ruined MC for me when you opened your mouths and spat in the face of Ladrien and baselessly declared MC the sin-ship. We all know it’s Ladrien. Stop kidding yourselves. Boy in leather catsuit? Please. Basic ass vanilla bitches. I’m getting off-topic. Solid episode 10/10. We love to see it.
5.     Stormy Weather- Baby’s first Miraculous episode. It holds a special place in my heart. It’s a solid episode. Good establishment of what the show is. Fun villain. Good times. Fond memories. 10/10
6.     Riposte- Listen, I know I’m an Adrinette stan, but hear me out: Ladrien. It’s just so good. And Kagami was compelling in this episode. It was just really solid. It’s my favorite s2 episode. If you ask me if I want to rewatch Riposte, the answer is always yes. 10/10. We stan.
7.     Gorizilla- Okay, so this episode has some solid Adrinette in it, but the real reason it ranks so high is that fucking Ladrien trust fall. I stare at that scene for hours, you guys. HOURS. It is absolutely just *chefs kiss*. Sometimes when I need a pick-me-up, I just go watch gifs of that catch on loop. 10/10. Beautiful. Radiant. Carefree.
8.     Gang of Secrets- I have been keeping most of my opinions to myself about s4 (mostly because I’ve backed way the hell out of this fandom), but GoS was pretty solid. Gotta say, it’s the first episode in a long time with this show that made me actually excited to see what happens next. Most other episodes I was like, okay, that was cute. The show is still meh overall. But GoS really got me like oh shit, is ML good again? 10/10 for making me feel things again.
9.     Oblivio- Told you guys this one was probably rated higher than I thought. Oblivio is just really fun. There is good Adrinette. That “No wonder I fell in love with you” paired with the softest of Adrien smiles just sends me. And the kisses. The unquestionable trust. These two kids literally woke up together alone in an elevator with no memories and said welp, you’re my boyfriend/girlfriend obviously, I don’t make the rules. Honestly, how anyone could argue that these two dorks aren’t made for each other after that episode is beyond me. 9/10
10.  Backwarder- Okay, I know I am weird and alone for this one, but I really liked this episode. It got a lot of shit for the constipation capsule thing at the end, but like who cares? We finally got some more backstory on Fu. He got a love-interest who is dope as hell. This episode is my favorite lucky charm use ever. Like that queen DID that. I like Backwarder, guys! Fuck off. 9/10.
11.  Kwamibuster- We all know I am a Marinette-stan by this point, but our girl was SHINING this episode. This bitch said gimme all them and let me go whoop this bitch’s ass, and she DID. Hawkmoth could never. Multimouse is a gift, and Marinette is a boss ass queen.  9/10
12.  Chat Blanc- Listen, this episode was very good. I enjoy the idea of my children being happy in another timeline somewhere very much. We got all 4 sides of the square in an episode. It’s just really solid. I know this is the fandom’s favorite, and everyone is gonna shit their pants because it didn’t make my top 10, but this is my list. So, I put it at number 12. It’s good. I like it. It just didn’t steal my wallet like other episodes did. Put the pitchforks down. It’s gonna be okay, you can still love it more than me. 8/10
13.  New York Special- I know everyone felt some type of way about this special, but I wasn’t mad at it. My perception of it might be clouded because I watched it in Disney World where I was chilling and having a great time, but like this special really did somethings for me. The Adrinette was top tier. Tippy top tier. Even though they hurt us in the end, I am okay with it because it just means the children will grow and come out stronger. I don’t care if it’s not technically canon. Ask me if I give a fuck. I don’t. I had fun here. 8/10. Solid.
14.  The Collector- This one might shock a lot of you, but let me paint you a scene. It’s the first episode of s2. We have just come off a 2 year hiatus. The fandom is thriving. We’re hungry for canon content. We have hopes and dreams and expectations. Everyone is going wild with theories. This episode confirmed something that was long since obvious (in my opinion) and ended the stupid arguments people had been having. It made Gabriel actually seem semi-competent. We got our first taste of how Chat/Adrien will react to his dad being Hawkmoth. We got a peek at their life. Adrien’s isolation and sadness. They were so close to figuring it out. The battle was epic. Like Collector really had them on the ropes there for a second. It’s a solid episode, yall. I’m not wrong. Hate me all you want, but this episode brought it. 8/10
15.  Despair Bear- Is this episode up this high because of the Adrinette slow dance scene? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT IS. Okay, but fr though, shipping aside, this episode gave us hope that Chloe was actually gonna redeem herself. I mean, she didn’t but, we didn’t know that at the time. Seeing her run around trying to be nice was fun. And then she actually did something good, and we had a moment of okay, she’s capable. We’ll get there. We didn’t. But what a ride this episode was for making us think she would. 8/10
16.  Startrain- Cat, you’re just ranking all the Adrinette episodes highest. And? What of it? Are you surprised? You clicked a blog that has simping for Adrinette in the description, and you’re surprised all my favorite episodes have Adrinette? I’m not wrong, you’re just an idiot. The Adrinette nap cuddles aside though, this was a pretty good episode. If you don’t think too hard about the whole space thing, we got a look at Max’s life, his mom is a driven, smart lady doing her best. Adrien rebels against papa for once. Alya stops a Lila scheme. Chloe gets to play the hero. Alya and Nino actually investigate like the heroes they are. Gabriel gets to realize what a dumbass bitch he is. I mean. Guys. Startrain is solid. 7.5/10
17.  Sapotis- This one shot up in rank for me after GoS, but tbh it’s always been a solid episode. Alyanette sleepover? Check. Alya becoming a superhero? Check. It’s a fun episode. And looking back, it’s nicely called back to later in GoS. We love it. 7.5/10
18.  Sandboy- Idk why I enjoy this episode as much as I do, but I do. Sandboy is a cute bean. I love his aesthetic. We also get hilarious looks at everyone’s nightmares. “Plagg, who turned you into a sock?” cracks me up cause like Adrien, bby, no XD And Chat Noir’s nightmare. I think it would have been interesting though if since Sandboy dusted the Agreste mansion, if we got a peek at Hawkmoth’s nightmares. It would have been a nice hint of plot to go along with Master Fu’s nightmare. Also Plagg giving the akuma the slip like the clever boy we know he is deep down? 7.5/10
19.  Furious Fu- If you guys haven’t realized by now that I love Fu, idk what you’re doing. Pay attention. I know that some people don’t like him, but I’m just gonna say it, you’re wrong. Fu took care of the Miracle Box for over 100 years, and this episode kind of gives some insight to what the Order was like. Very strict. Lots of rules. And ya know what, Fu said fuck the police, I’m gonna befriend these little magical demigods, and fuck off! Like what an absolute legend. I was really happy to see him living his best life, and that he and Marianne got married because it’s what he deserves. We love to see it. 7.5/10
20.  Gamer- People like to shit on Marinette in this episode, but like honestly, if I were in her shoes, I’d have probably done the same thing if I had the skill. Ain’t nothing wrong with a girl trying to spend time with the boy she likes. And Tom and Sabine being absolute shipping trash. I love them. And the awkward Adrinette. The introduction of the lucky charm that Adrien STILL carries. Wholesome. This was a good episode for their friendship, and we love to see it. 7.5/10
21.  Christmaster- Okay, I know a lot of people hated this episode when it aired, but I thought it was really funny? Everyone skidding around in the ice rink was hilarious. If you don’t take this episode seriously, it’s really fun. Chris is pretty cute, and damn right Ladybug is the best kid in the world. Idk. This episode is fun. I’m not mad at it. Sue me. 7.5/10
22.  Weredad- What? Another MC-heavy episode in Cat’s top 30? Listen, I don’t hate canon MC. The fans just annoy me. This episode was funny. The secondhand embarrassment and cringe was real. Plagg taunting Adrien because he knows the secret was great. Marinette being a self-saving queen was great. It’s a good episode. I like MC, you guys. I do. I swear! 7.5/10
23.  Miraculer- This episode was interesting to me, and I think it’s still a good development episode. For one, Sabrina finally got her own akuma episode named after her. Secondly, because it’s a big step for Chloe, just not in the way we expected. It totally makes sense that Chloe can’t have her Miraculous back because literally everyone knows her identity. Can’t argue that logic. And she is the first person to ever refuse to become akumatized, so like mad respect. I know a lot of people had high hopes for redeemed Chloe (myself included), but I think watching a character fall from revering someone to hating them is also an interesting path. The friends to enemies arc as it were. Idk. I liked this episode. It was an opportunity for Chloe to grow, even if she didn’t in the end, but we’ll talk about that later. 7.5/10
24.  Lady Wifi- I like Alya. I feel like I don’t say that much, and people make some assumptions because of MDCSP, but MDCSP is just a concept I wanted to explore. It doesn’t really reflect how I feel about any one character. Except maybe Lila. And Gabe. But every other spite fic I’ve written branching from Chameleon, the class has been fine. Alya has been fine. So, let it be known that I like Alya. Lady Wifi was a fun episode. Putting aside the fact that she thought Chloe was Ladybug for no reason, I like her akuma. I like the interactions we get with LadyNoir in this episode. After GoS, this episode gets a bit funnier. It’s solid. 7/10
25.  Dark Cupid- I don’t have much to say about this one. LadyNoir. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Send it. 7/10
26.  Volpina- So many things about this episode. It introduced a new antagonist who we didn’t exactly 100% know was going to be an antagonist at the time. This episode sparked a lot of fun fan theories for a while. Who was Lila? How was she going to shake things up? Not to mention this episode gave us a taste of plot and lore, and set up Marinette meeting Master Fu officially. Lots of intrigue sparked from this episode. And that LadyNoir door scene? OOOOOO 7/10
27.  Hearthunter- One word: Adrigaminette. This episode was so cute for them! I loved seeing them all goofing and running around together. Adrien and Kagami being absolutely in love with Marinette when her hair is down. They both love her, I don’t make the rules. Not to mention, Marinette takes a big step by letting her friends be happy without her. Kagami not wanting to hurt Marinette. The drama!! Gabriel being a messy ass bitch to his friends. It loses points for the abomination of an akuma, but overall, I wasn’t too mad at it. Yet. 7/10
28.  Glaciator- More MC in Cat’s top 30? It’s more likely than you think. Listen. Listen… Listen. MC is fine. This episode was the closest thing to fanfiction that we got. The balcony scene was really sweet. I was drinking the irony. We got introduced to Andre the icecream fraud. Andre the please just give me the flavor I asked for man. I could have done without Chat pouting, but the LadyNoir in the end was pretty good. I wish they’d done more with Ladybug’s feelings for Chat. Had her question herself a bit more after this one, but overall, it’s cute. 7/10
29.  Zombizou- A lot of people started hating Mlle. Bustier after this episode, and like I can kind of see it, if I squint, but I did not draw that same conclusion from this episode. Mlle. Bustier just wants good things for all of her students. They’re 14 ffs, she just wants to be a good influence on all of her students and wants them all to be successful. But go off, I guess? Plus, this episode was basically just a spoof on zombie apocalypse movies. We got so many things. Julerose, Myvan, DJWifi. Chloe actually showing some depth and emotion. LadyNoir. We won this episode, babes. Sorry you didn’t get the memo. 7/10
30.  Timetagger- Okay. This is the last episode in the ones that I’d venture to call “good.” Number 30. I enjoyed Timetagger. I know people have feelings about timey-wimey bullshit, and like I’m not gonna lie and say I’m thrilled with it either (I mean, I changed the rabbit’s power in MDCSP) but that being said, Timetagger was so sassy. Bunnix was cool as hell. We get to see that LB and CN are still doing the thing in the future. So many questions sparked from this episode. It was fun. Idk. I liked it. That’s all I got. 7/10
31.  Malediktator- Okay, from this point on, less comments because this is the section that are more or less just meh to me. Like they’re fine. This episode was fine. Chloe was fine. Chat playing with the laser was cute. 6.5/10
32.  Mayura- Adrien’s speech at the end. Nuff said 6.5/10
33.  Ikari Gozen- Ryuko/Ryuuko. Gals being pals. 6.5/10
34.  Reflekdoll- I talked about this earlier, but I don’t hate this episode. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. Sue me. 6.5/10
35.  Anansi- Nino is the goodest boy. Also I need more of the gang taking Adrien on adventures via Facetime. Stat. 6.5/10
36.  Shanghai- This one is new, and tbh I still haven’t watched it with subs, but I had a good time. Fei was cute. The boy squad was cute. Adrien bonding with Great Uncle Cheng was cute. Hawkmoth getting literally dunked on was *chefs kiss* 6.5/10
37.  Gigantitan- I love overly supportive, ride-or-die girl squad. 6.5/10
38.  Party Crasher- Idk why this episode was funny to me. Kim is the purest bean. We don’t deserve him. 6.5/10
39.  Desperada- This episode was an emotional roller coaster, and even though we all collectively hate Aspik’s stupid egghead, we love the Ladrien this episode provided us. 6/10
40.  Oni-chan- Listen, I loved seeing Lila get a tiny bit of karma even if she made it up in the end. I loved Chat going off on her. I loved seeing her get outsmarted in the end. 6/10
41.  Frightningale- My good lesbian Clara Nightingale. We stan. 6/10
42.  Style Queen- I like Audrey in a “she’s the worst person I’ve ever met, I want to travel the world with her” kind of way. She’s funny to me. Idk. I love her firing everyone. She’s the one I love to hate. She’s the worst, but we love her for it. Plus this episode gave us Plagg’s adorable little Cataclysm that destroyed half the city. 6/10
43.  Gamer 2.0- Chat confidently strutting in heels made this episode worth it. And we get to see the beginning of Marinette being overwhelmed. Plus it was the return of gamer!nette. 6/10
44.  Troublemaker- I don’t hate this episode as much as the next person either. It was fine. Jagged is a manchild, but we love him for it. He’s a Marinette stan which like mood. The Adrinette at the end was cute. I wasn’t mad at it. Idk. It’s fine. 6/10
45.  Reflekta- Where are all my Juleka stans at? I loved the LadyNoir banter in this ep. V. cute. 6/10
46.  Dark Owl- This episode was fun. And it really shows their level of trust. Plus Plagg and Tikki interacted. 6/10
47.  Timebreaker- Have I ever mentioned that I like Alix? I like Alix. 6/10
48.  Silencer- I don’t hate this episode as much as you’d expect me to, and that is 100% because of the LadyNoir. 5.5/10
49.  Prime Queen- Chat purrs. 5.5/10
50.  Syren- I think the fish power-up is adorable. Ondine is a gem. Kim is a pure bean, but we been knew. 5.5/10
51.  Befana- I like Gina, but this episode fell flat for me. Almost as flat as the animation. 5.5/10
52.  Reverser- Another episode that everyone hates that I am actually fine with. This episode made me like Nathaniel more. Probably because I was previously indifferent toward him. Marc is cute too. 5.5/10
53.  Mr. Pigeon- Marinette is one clever girl. And the Adrinette hand-touch. 5.5/10
54.  Felix- Felix is a gremlin of chaos. A true chaotic neutral. He gives his uncle the finger, and I think that’s beautiful. 5.5/10
55.  Truth- Bet you expected this episode to be higher. While I did enjoy watching toxic people’s world crumble, this episode still gets a meh from me dog. 5/10
56.  Lies- The Adrigami was cute, and I respect Kagami as a character. The akuma could have been better tho. 5/10
57.  Princess Fragrance- Not much to say here. 5/10
58.  Copycat- 5/10
59.  Bubbler- 5/10
60.  Mime- 5/10
61.  Animan- 5/10
62.  Robostus- 5/10
63.  Ladybug- This episode ranks this low purely because I don’t care about GabeNath, and I hate that Lila won something in the end. But Adrien saying I won’t hesitate, bitch! At the end was nice to see. 5/10
64.  Catalyst- I know I ranked Mayura way higher, but Catalyst fell flat for me. Like it was fine. Wasn’t as into it though. 4.5/10
65.  Puppeteer- One of my favorite lucky charm uses. 4.5/10
66.  Pixelator- My favorite Cataclysm. 4.5/10
67.  Horrificator- That almost-Adrinette kiss tho 4.5/10
68.  Pharaoh- 4.5/10
69.  Kung Food- 4.5/10
70.  Rogercop- 4/10
71.  Guitar Villain- 4/10
72.  Dark Blade- 4/10
73.  Bakerix- 4/10
74.  Antibug- And now onto the bottom 10. To start us off, I will just say: UGH, this episode annoyed me. First of all, Sabrina didn’t even get her own episode. Chloe was a piece of shit. Idk why they made Ladybug the one in the wrong when Chloe was being obnoxious. Ugh. 3/10
75.  Captain Hardrock- I’m gonna be honest. My apathy for this episode has grown into loathing. Toxic stans are 100% to blame. Birthday ruining, bitches. This is the reason I threw a breakup bash after Truth. Yall deserved it. 3/10
76.  Christmas Special- I didn’t hate this episode as much as everyone, but it still wasn’t great. 2.5/10
77.  Stormy Weather 2.0- This episode was really dumb. It didn’t need to exist. 2.0/10
78.  Queen Wasp- Why did we give Chloe a Miraculous after this episode? 2/10
79.  Animaestro- Did we really need a self-insert? Did we really? 2/10
80.  Puppeteer 2.0- Listen, this episode would have made more sense in s1 or at the very latest early s2. Adrien gave a whole ass speech on how great Marinette is, then he turns around and is like idk if she likes me… Clean it up. 2/10
81.  Miracle Queen- I could talk at length about how much I hate the ending of this episode and what they did with Chloe and Master Fu, but we’re just going to remain calm and give it a solid 1.5/10
82.  Frozer- This episode made no goddamn sense. I call bullshit on so many things. Just ugh. 1/10
83.  Chameleon- Surprisingly, even though this episode sparked many, many spite fics out of me, it’s not my least favorite because at least Ladybug semi-redeemed this episode. Still really dumb and ooc tho. 1/10
84.  Feast- Okay, okay, okay, here we are. Bottom of the barrel. Cat’s most hated episode, and you wanna know why? You want to know why this episode fills me with the rage? Because we spent two fucking seasons building up all this mystery and lore and intrigue surrounding Fu’s big mistake, and they dropped the fucking ball! They did my mans so dirty! They could have really deepened his character, deepened the Order, deepened anything other than whatever fucking affair Gabriel and Nathalie have going on, but NO. They made it some stupid, bland-ass thing that got resolved magically in the end, then just ignored it for the rest of the season. I will never not be salty about how they did my boy Fu in this show. I’m happy he found his peace, but fuck if I’m not livid about how they did it. Whatever. Chat being done with Ladybug’s shit when they’re about to get eaten was funny I guess. .5/10
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legionofpotatoes · 3 years
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I love your art, it is very detailed in a neat way. Was wondering how you got started making it as a source of income? How did you get your first paid work, I'd love some advice on how to get started, if that's ok
Thank you. Of course it's okay, although I doubt I have enough work experience in art to really delve into this. I only went full freelance this year, and had been juggling art as a side hobby until then. If you're still interested in my somewhat narrow perspective, and are okay with my long-winded rambles, I'll give it a shot:
So to answer your question fully, I'll describe how I started and move into personal advice and learnings later on. As a disclaimer, I am a white cishet dude in my late twenties with a moderate cocktail of mental illnesses, but overall I can pass for a functioning adult so a lot I have to say may come laced with privilege I cannot fully identify.
So uhh I began drawing in around 2012? I think? Maybe halfway through 2011? And I mostly made fanart for things I enjoyed and tried to branch out in communities that felt nourishing to my style and interests (I caught a bug for alt posters and enjoyed mainstream movies so I spent a long time on posterspy early on). There were a handful of opportunities that came from there but I could only accept a couple because of primary workplace commitments. Still, it showed that networking in a focused community was definitely a good place to start; I myself have huge trouble committing to social networks and really staying socially active, but I knew it was an essential ingredient in succeeding so I tried to make myself be involved in challenges and art support trains etc. as much as I could.
In parallel to all that I also ran a few third party online stores (redbubble, teepublic) for disposable income and would sometimes, if rarely, hit around $100-150 a month from those sources combined. It is a sort of thing that requires helper accounts on other social media sites to promote it on, because the stores themselves have a huge volume of content that translates into low organic discoverability. Obviously it was never gonna be the way towards financial independence through art, and with community projects being few and far between, I opened private commissions in around uhhh 2017 I think, focusing on offering a few styles I knew I could do well, and sometimes operating in individual fandoms (it was mostly a bioware thing to be frank). But I had to close them back down after a year or so, again because of work-life conflict and how badly it was burning me out. The reason I kept trying to monetize this hobby is because I honestly hated what I did for my main job and wanted to see a way out in some shape or form in the future.
And then in 2020 I had to quit my main job altogether because of *gestures at pandemic* and deal with a mental breakdown from all the wonderful things it did to us and me specifically. I took a short break and decided to give art a shot full-time, and that was around May this year. I was planning on opening up commissions again (and I still am), but a few sudden opportunities that fell in my lap moved that timetable down and now I'm grateful to even be doing something I am getting adequately paid for.
So, with that somewhat limited perspective, here's what I've learned that I'd tell myself if I was just starting out:
1. Being a fan of something can be a shortcut towards effective networking kickoffs. Which are important evidently. If you love something and enjoy making content for it, join communities, settle into a combination of social media websites that feel right for those interests + your body of work + your inner rhythm, and try to play to content discovery as much as your mental health allows you to. Like I said, I know that I myself am incredibly bad at self-motivating to talk to people, so I found that synergizing common interests into fanart - which I enjoyed making anyway - could be a way to give myself a gentle nudge forward and build those bridges leading to community activities, which then net experience and coverage. Sometimes even freelance projects from official avenues. Again; picking the right spaces for what you're after is key. Companies roam twitter, concept art recruiters scour artstation or linkedin etc, instagram can land you private commissions and collab opportunities, so on and so forth. Find your niche and try to kick up dust. However...
2. I do not believe that any social profile can replace a good portfolio. The thing that made an immediate difference to me this year was building a coherent, simple website with my best work front and center and a contact form on top. Every single opportunity I got came from that form (maybe via twitter or instagram initially, but always sealing the decision after going through the website), so I firmly believe that showcasing your skills and portfolio in a visually arresting and user-friendly way is a big priority. I had some reservations about tackling that task but fortunately I had help from a savvy life partner and we slapped it together via wordpress in less than a day. Twitter/whatever social media is prevalent in your target groups is definitely important to get the right eyes on your shit, yes, but those eyes will then look for a second stop where your work and rates are more clear and concise. Simplicity is key imo, I cannot overstate this. So make a cute, simple portfolio!
3. Your skills and rates will grow and change as you do. Let them. Over the years I built several lasting professional relationships from my obsession over mass effect and kept getting opportunities both from bioware and their partner companies, some small and some a bit bigger. A one-off job earlier this year opened an unexpected door to another much larger commitment, and then the work I did there brought some attention from small businesses looking for commercial commissions. These were all incredibly different projects in terms of scope and budget, and I've been tackling them all on a case-by-case basis and slowly coming into my own irt my needs, rates, and SOW thresholds. It is still a work in progress (and a LOT of literal work as well), and very much a thing I struggle with in publicly marketing, which is why I felt a tad underqualified to answer your question in the first place (obviously I did not let that stop me). But what it means for me now is that I am rapidly developing into whatever my "version" of a functioning freelance artist is, and when the conditions for that guy are met, I need to be able to confidently plant myself and operate from that space despite past precedents. Do not let anyone bully you into downpricing what you yourself perceive as legitimate products of personal growth and development. Speaking of which...
4. The shitty challenge of turning envy into inspiration, and paddling outside your comfort zones in full riot gear. it is hard, but realizing that being a miserable, self-hating artist in my early days got me nothing but more misery back was the first real step I took and what truly blew the hinges off. I was just not pleasant to be around, I would badmouth my work all the time, and it all somehow made sense in my broken mind because the validation I sought was purely external and the way I sought it was through eliciting sympathy via self-victimization (even when I made something objectively nice). It all led fucking nowhere. Except perhaps to my own narcissism that I one day managed to identify and start managing. So I started looking at things that made me seethe with envy and calmly deconstruct and figure out their inner workings instead, do studies, and find nuggets of inspiration or discover new ways to approach rendering or building up specific elements. It was an application of analytical diligence to what I wanted to be a purely emotional, esoteric workflow, but that I deep down knew wasn't. Art is a discipline and a skill, and maybe it isn't a straight line, but you gotta find some line to thread nevertheless. Being self-hating was almost an identity I had to break out of, and despite it still being like, 4-5% there? I realize its cause and effect on me, my work, and those around me, so it is with a conscious choice that I gently set it aside when I work and especially when I learn. It won't always stay quiet, but the effort is the difference. Your doors towards accepting true growth and venturing into uncharted territories, art styles, and networking will really open from there. But there's a huge caveat...
5. Toolsets, accessibility, privilege, and all the good things that enable artistic expression and profitability are not given equal to all. you might do all the mental work I mentioned to be ready to rock and roll and learn and draw your way out of anything, but digital art is a fucking money pit that asks almost too much at times. I don't got a good case study here but identifying and ensuring accessibility to the tools you need to do your best work is, like, super important. The ergonomics can improve as you make money and settle into the job, but the basics have to be made available to you. And some of that might not even be under your direct control. That can be anything from pen tablets to software subscriptions to opportunities in hiring sullied by sexism or what have you. You gotta navigate all that through careful networking and money/time management. I don't do a good job of devoting specific slices of time to work/study, and my primary clutch is iPad software which went from a good deal to a nightmare scenario over the years. So all I can say here is do what I didn't; network, invest in a PC/tablet, and pick a software you'll learn that won't burn a hole in your pocket.
6. Be nice to work with? This one is hard to articulate and has landed my own ass in hot water in my early years because of how socially inept I am, but nothing is more worthwhile than being.. like. a good person to work with. That can be anything like meeting deadlines, or sometimes missing them but eloquently articulating why, being generous in early stages, being communicable and not too wordy in your emails, having a good grasp on abstract artistic concepts and how to describe them in simple terms, having a clear, laid out framework of your working rates in commercial and non-commercial projects and sticking to those guns with grace, understanding when you need to say no and saying it well, the works. Just being nice. Sometimes that might mean going headstrong with something you believe in, or simmering down and sucking up to the big man, all relative and adaptive. Part and parcel of the service provision dance that we all have to do in order to make bank. Know your lines here, obviously, and don't like. work for nazis. or uh.. *shudders* exposure. but be nice and empathetic and communicable and word will travel eventually. Skill may be in abundance these days, but good people are most certainly not, and capitalism has a way of bubbling up scarcity. Grim, but uh, them's the breaks.
I know I'm ultimately telling you to like. Have a body of work, make a portfolio, grow, and network. But that's really how I see it for now. And being nice can be a cherry on top that sets you apart, along with the inherent irreplaceable voice of your artwork. I think I rambled on enough, but if there is something specific you need my help with, even if you want to come off anon and talk in private, please feel free.
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beatriceeagle · 4 years
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I'm more of a fantasy than sci-fi person, but consider my interest piqued. Why should I watch farscape?
Okay, the thing is, every Farscape fan’s pitch on Why You, Yes You, Should Watch Farscape ends up sounding very similar, and that’s because Farscape is a black hole that sucks you in and does things to your brain, and after you’ve watched it you are never, ever the same, which incidentally is basically the plot of Farscape.
I would summarize the basic plot for you, but that’s work, and luckily, the show’s credits sequence includes a handy summary that I will provide instead of doing that work: “My name is John Crichton, an astronaut. A radiation wave hit, and I got shot through a wormhole. Now I’m lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen, please. Is there anybody out there who can hear me? I’m being hunted by an insane military commander. Doing everything I can. I’m just looking for a way home.“
So let me break down that monologue into its component reasons you should watch Farscape.
1) Some of the strange alien life forms are Muppets.
Farscape a co-production with the Jim Henson Company, and while there are many aliens played by humans in make-up, there are also a considerable number (including two of the regular crew) who are Muppets. By which I do not mean Kermit. I mean really gorgeous, elaborate works of art.
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Also, even a lot of the humans-in-makeup aliens just look cool, and incredibly weird. Here’s an alien who appears in a single episode of season 1:
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Not that there aren’t, you know, occasional Star Trek-style “these guys are just humans with weird hair,” or whatever, but in general, the aliens on Farscape look really alien. And that’s more than an aesthetic choice; it’s Farscape’s driving narrative principle. The aliens look alien, they act alien, they have alien values.
You know how a lot of sci-fi shows will have a stand-in for “fuck,” like Battlestar Galactica has “frak”? Well, Farscape has “frell.” And also “dren.” And yotz, hezmana, mivonks, loomas, tralk, snurch, eema, drannit, dench, biznak, arn, drad, fahrbot, narl. Some of those are swear words, but some of them are just words, never explicitly translated, that the alien characters will pepper into their speech, because, well, why should translator microbes be able to completely translate all the nuances of an alien culture? You’ll pick it up from context. One time, in passing, a character mentions that he’s familiar with the concept of suicide, but there’s no word for it in his language. I cannot emphasize to you enough how fleeting this moment is; the episode is not about suicide, we’re not having a great exchange of cultural ideas—at the time, the characters are running down a corridor in a crisis, as they are about 70 percent of the time—it’s just that the subject got brought up, and this character needed to talk around the fact that he literally didn’t have a word, in that moment. Things like that happen all the time, on Farscape.
Because more than anything else, Farscape is a show about culture shock. John Crichton is this straight, white Southern guy, at the top of his game—he’s an astronaut! he’s incredibly high status!—and then he ends up on the other side of the galaxy, where none of his cultural markers of privilege hold any meaning, where he doesn’t know the rules, where he literally can’t even open the doors. And he has to unlearn the idea that humanity is central, that he is the norm.
2) John Crichton, an astronaut, is pretty great.
A show that’s about a straight white guy with high status having to learn that he’s not the center of the universe could easily be centered around a really insufferable person, but one of the subtle things that makes Farscape so wonderful is that Crichton is, for the most part, pretty excellent. He has a lot of presumptions to unlearn because almost anyone in his cultural position would, but he’s also just a stand-up guy: compassionate, intelligent, open-minded, decent, forgiving, brave, hopeful.
And the galaxy tries to kick a whole lot of that out of him. It doesn’t succeed, mostly, but if Farscape is about anything other than culture shock, it’s about the lasting effects of trauma. How you can go through a wormhole one person, and experience things that turn you into someone you don’t recognize.
That’s kind of grim-sounding, but ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that Farscape is almost fanatically devoted to character work. Crichton is not the only character who sounds like he should be one thing and ends up being another. All of the characters—all of them, all of them, even the annoying ones—are complicated wonders. And you don’t have to wonder whether the events of the episode you’re watching are going to matter. They will. Everything that happens to the characters leaves a mark. Everything leaves them forever changed. Whether it’s mentioned explicitly or not—and often enough, it’s not explicit—the characters remember what has happened to them.
3) The living ship houses a lot of excellent women, among them the ship itself.
Ah, the women of Farscape, thou art the loves of my fucking life.
There’s Aeryn Sun, former Peacekeeper (that’s the military that the “insane military commander” hails from) now fugitive, currently learning the meaning of the word “compassion” (literally). She will break your fingers and also your heart. John/Aeryn is the main canon romantic ship.
There’s Pa’u Zhoto Zhaan, a priestess of the ninth level, current pacifist, former anarchist. Sorry, leading anarchist. She orgasms in bright light! (Oh my god, Farscape.)
There’s Chiana, my fucking bestie, a teenage(ish? ages in Farscape are weird) fugitive on the run from a repressive authoritarian state. Chiana is like a seductress con artist grifter thief who mostly just wants to survive so that she can have fun, damn it. Characters on Farscape do not really discuss sexualities (sex, yes, sexualities, no) and it would be fair to say that several of them do not fall along human sexuality lines generally, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that Chiana is canonically not straight.
Then there’s Moya, the ship herself, and it’s hard to get a straight read on Moya’s personality, since she mostly can’t speak. But she definitely has opinions, and things and people she cares about. And she moves the plot, though that gets into spoiler territory.
Past first season, further excellent women show up: Jool (controversial, but I like her), Sikozu (I once saw a Tumblr meme where someone had marked down that Sikozu would lose her shit when someone pronounced “gif” wrong, and that’s absolutely correct, and it’s why I love her), and Noranti (who is incredibly weird, and incredibly hard to summarize, but man, you gotta love her willingness to just show up and do her thing). Plus, there’s a recurring female villain, Grayza, who I could write probably multiple essays about. (I don’t know how you will feel about Grayza, as not everyone loves her, but I think she’s fucking fascinating, especially because she’s not actually the only recurring female villain. We also get Ahkna!)
(Side note: I should mention, here, that the cast of Farscape is really, really white. There is one cast member of color, Lani Tupu, but he pretty much represents the entirety of even, like, incidental diversity in casting for the series.)
Anyway, Farscape is full of awesome women, and also awesome and unexpected men, and it really enjoys playing with audience expectations of gender roles, generally. Literal entire books have been written about the way that Farscape fucks around with sex, sexuality, and gender. It’s a little weird because it was the late 90s/early 2000s, and sometimes that does come through, but Farscape’s guiding principle was always to try not to present American culture of the time as the norm, so like. It is not.
(An aside on Farscape and sex: Literally every character on Farscape has sexual tension with every other character. If you are a shipper, this is a Good Show, because no matter who you ship, there will not only be subtext, you will get a Moment of some kind. Multiple characters kiss the Muppet. Farscape is dedicated to getting into the nitty-gritty of the galaxy—I like to think of it as showing the guts of the universe—so a lot of the show is kind of squishy. They live on a biomechanoid ship, instead of androids there are “bioloids,” there’s a lot of focus on strange alien biologies, and lots of weird glowing fluids and things. I think the sex thing is kind of part and parcel of the larger biology focus: Farscape is really fascinated with how we all eat and evolve and live and die and, well, fuck. Which is in turn, kind of part of its focus on making everything really alien.)
4) Other stuff you should know.
Farscape as a whole is excellent, but it was kind of the product of creative anarchy—an Australian/American coproduction (oh yeah, everyone except Crichton speaks with an Australian accent) that was also partnered with the Henson company, whose showrunners were based in America but whose actual production all took place in Australia, and who was just constantly trying new things. So individual episodes can vary wildly in quality. It really takes off in the back half of season one, but no season is without a few off episodes.
It is extraordinarily funny, and I really think I haven’t stressed that enough. It’s one of the shows I want to quote the most in my daily life, but almost all of its humor is really context-dependent, and if you just wander around going, “Hey Stark? What’s black and white, and black and white, and black and white?” people look at you really funny.
It’s very conversant with pop culture generally (although obviously sci-fi  specifically, and Star Trek most specifically of all) and really enjoys deconstructing tropes, often to the effect of, “Well, Crichton really does not know what to do here, does he?” but sometimes just to be interesting.
There are also a lot of themes about science, and its uses and misuses.
The whole thing is fucking epic, and if you get invested at all, will take you on an emotional ride.
This show is weird. I know that that’s probably come across by now, but I think it’s worth reiterating as its own point: Farscape is so weird. Like, proudly, unabashedly, trying its hardest, weird. An amazing kind of weird.
If you’re into fantasy, you should know that there’s a recurring villain who’s just a wizard. Like, they don’t bother to explain it any more than that, he’s just a fucking wizard.
In summary: You should watch Farscape because it is a weird, wild, emotional, epic romance/drama/action/allegory full of Muppets and leather and one-liners and emotional gut punches and love, and if you let it, it will worm its way into you and never let go, which, now that I think of it, is another Farscape plot.
Send me meta prompts to distract me from my migraine!
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walker-lister · 3 years
Text
Fic writer review
Tagged by @picnokinesis thank you Taka! 
1. How many works do you have on Ao3?
Twelve! (I’ll have to write another to make it 13 lol!)
2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?
665,232
3. How many fandoms have you written for?
Just the one that I’ve posted online- Doctor Who, and specifically Thirteen! 
4. Top 5 fics by kudos?
1. Rising Tides (270)- I’m incredibly touched this has the most kudos as this was the first that I put a lot of effort into, I had with my previous works but this one was longer and covered complex themes, so it’s very touching! 
2. Timeless (214)- This is the first fic I wrote! I remember doing it right after the series 12 finale as I was so compelled by the ending! I’m very pleased it’s been appreciated, a very kind way to be welcomed into the writing community!
3. On Hallowed Ground (127)- This one I also find so touching and I’m so pleased this many people enjoyed it as I became consumed by this and wrote it over 6 days so to know so many others also enjoyed something that quite literally consumed me and basically wrote itself is just fantastic! 
4. Ipseity (123)- I have a soft spot for this one, too, my first longer (ish) fic that I planned out and I’m really pleased people enjoyed it! I think it all started because I wanted to see 13 in a leather jacket and was very intrigued by the prospect of her having past lives she didn’t know about! 
5. Heaven Sent (110)- Ahh, I’m so happy this has made it to this list! I’m writing the final two chapters now and it’s been a passion project, my whole heart’s gone into it so to know this many have enjoyed thus far and we’ve still got a while to go (just coming up to halfway!) is really... ahh, I’m chuffed! 
5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?
Absolutely, they’re so precious to writers and I really appreciate people taking the time to leave one! Also, it’s nice to chat with your readers and it’s how I’ve made many friends! 
6. A fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
Hmmm I had to think about this for a while, I don’t really think I’ve got any with an angsty ending, I think bittersweet might be the closest, in which case I’ll say ‘On Hallowed Ground’ as it’s angsty with the circumstances but also hopeful at the end.
7. Do you write crossovers?
No, although sometimes my mind wanders over doing a Doctor Who/Merlin crossover fic, all for the bants of seeing those characters interact (Graham and Gauis immediate besties), but I don’t think I’ll ever write it!
8. Ever received hate on a fic?
I have not, which is nice! 
9. Do you write smut?
hahaha nope! I do include sexual themes in my work, but do that annoying thing where it cuts away before they get to the actual smut bit! I just can’t do it, it’d be terrible, although I know someone who wants me to ( @ivyinspace 😉)
10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Wait that happens? 
11. Ever had a fic translated?
Nope but if anyone wants to please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
12. Have you ever co-written a fic?
I have not, although had talks about it!
13. All time fav ship?
All time?! Gotta be the Titanic. Lmao no I’d say Thasmin, although I am partial to some Thoscei 
14. WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever finish Cosmic Fireworks. I wish I’d left it as a one shot tbh but I don’t want to delete the second chapter off ao3. But I can’t see myself finishing it, I wasn’t into it as much as I am normally with my fics, but we’ll see, who knows, perhaps one day I’ll wake up with the inclination! 
15. Writing strengths?
*mind goes blank* 
ermm... I think I’m quite good at taking complex themes and exploring them well- I find that the pieces come together easily in my mind and (provided I write it all out and plan first) it’s like I can lay out a problem and carefully craft the solution. I suppose that might make me good at characterisation? I also think that I’m good at setting the scene and describing places maybe.  
16. Writing weaknesses?
I write way too much, I need to be more concise. Also I think I have a habit of needing my characters to show they’re good people, and that means sometimes my own voice carries over into theirs, and perhaps I could be better at exploring the complexities of characters, if that makes sense (something that goes beyond characterisation is what I mean, like maybe I’m making the point too hard sometimes). I also think that sometimes I need to chill- there doesn’t have to be a big point to scenes sometimes, no great narrative or thing to take away, sometimes it’s just the pleasure of reading something that’s important, even if it’s silly. 
17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?
I wish I could speak another language, but alas I cannot, otherwise I would, but I would then put translation. 
18. First fandom you wrote for?
It was actually Merlin, I never published it online but it was when I was about 13/14 and first discovered fanfic and was a huge fan of Merlin I thought, ‘that sounds fun let’s do it’! I was already writing little silly stories anyway so it was like a whole new concept which also felt familiar, although they were awful so I’m glad they never went online! 
19. What’s your fav fic you’ve written so far?
Agh idk! In terms of a story I think is good quality and engaging, I’d say ‘On Hallowed Ground’ as it’s concise, the plot and emotions mix well, I think, and overall I’m really proud of it. But in terms of my favourite one to write, I’m not sure if I can pick one. I enjoy writing them all, although tbh with some there are chapters I just have to grit my teeth through to write (by my own fault because I make things way too complicated!), but enjoyment is what it’s about! But maybe I’d single out my aus because they’re more my own invention that the others, in particular Heaven Sent- so that and Rising Tides, final answer! (see, this is what I mean, I write too much jfc...)
This is open to anyone who wants to do it!! 😊
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Text
Keeping Secrets - Part 4
Pairing: Dean x Reader
Warnings: Angst, Fluff
Word Count: 3,307
A/N: This is Part 4 of Keeping Secrets. Please let me know what you think!
Series Masterlist
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You’re almost dozed off when you hear an awful crashing sound. You jump up out of bed and run down to Abby’s room first, but she’s still asleep and looks alright. You knew that you should have gotten a security system or a gun like your parents tried to talk you into doing. You didn’t think that you would ever need one but now… You take a deep breath as you walk on down the hallway, grabbing the broom that’s propped up against the wall in the kitchen.
There’s another sound from the garage and you can feel your heart racing as you walk over towards the door. You fling it open, jumping when someone pops up from around your car. You let out a surprised scream as you lift up the broom to take a swing.
“Woah! Woah! It’s me! Sweetheart, it’s me!” Dean hollers out as he holds both of his hands up.
“Dean?” you say and you let the broom drop to the floor. “What…”
“Well, you said that you were having problems with your car but you never answered me when I asked you if you wanted me to fix it…”
“So you just break into my garage and decide to take care of it yourself?”
“In my defense, I didn’t break into your garage because you kind of left it open,” Dean tells you.
“I forgot to shut it but that isn’t an invitation to you to walk on in here and start fixing my car that I never asked you to fix in the first place.”
“Well, someone has to take care of you.”
“I can take care of myself you know.”
Dean gives you a look before he picks the broom up off of the floor. “You think so? What were you gonna do? Clean me to death?”
“Don’t make fun of me. You’d better be glad that I don’t have a gun. I could’ve shot you.”
“I doubt that you’ve got the aim.”
You roll your eyes as Dean props the broom up against the wall. You hear Abby holler for you and you take a deep breath. “I’m going to go make sure that Abby’s okay. Please don’t take on anymore of my projects while I’m in there.” Dean smiles and salutes you and you roll your eyes at him once more before you turn to walk on inside the house.
“Mommy?” Abby whines from the living room where she’s crashed out on the couch.
“What is it, babygirl?” you ask her as you walk over towards her.
“What’s going on?”
You take a deep breath. “It’s nothing, Abby. Mommy has to take care of something but you can go on to sleep, okay?”
“Okay,” Abby yawns as she lets her eyes slide shut. You let her drift off before walking on out to the garage once more.
“Dean!” you scold when you find him still tinkering with your car.
“Well, it has to be fixed,” he tells you. “Like I said while ago, someone has to take care of you, sweetheart.”
“And like I told you while ago, Winchester, thank you for the help but I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah?” Dean asks as he looks over the hood at you. “Do you know how to fix a car?”
“No,” you tell him. “I do know how to drive my car to the dealer, though.”
“They rip you off.”
“Dean…”
“Look, I know that you’ve not been taking care of yourself, (Y/N). You’re stressed and you’re tired. You have to take care of yourself in order to take care of Abby, and you’re not doing that so let me do it. Now I might not be able to help you with whatever’s been going on with you, but the car I can fix and you are going to let me fix it.”
“I am taking care of myself and Abby,” you tell Dean as you feel the anger bubbling up inside of you. “Yeah, the dealer might rip me off but it’s my way of taking care of me and my daughter and I don’t think that you have a say in it.
“She’s my daughter too so yeah I do kind of get to have a say in what happens to her and how she is taken care of,” Dean tells you as his voice gets louder with anger. “You told me that she’s our daughter and that all decisions would be mutual…”
“The car has nothing to do with how she’s being taken care of, Dean!”
“What if something happens to Abby and the car is broken down and an ambulance doesn’t get there?”
“Dean…”
“(Y/N), you need to be able to take her somewhere if you have to and I’m just trying to help out,” Dean tells you. “Why are you so upset over this?”
“Why are you being so adamant about it and ignoring me when I tell you that I don’t need your help?” you ask him. “Not to mention the fact that you’re throwing Abby in my face.”
“Now how did I…”
“By insinuating that I’m not taking good care of Abby because my car isn’t running right now. I will get it taken care of but I don’t want you to do it,” you tell him. “And yes you are right when you said that we agreed that all decisions would be mutual. Who gets Abby when. What rules we’re going to have for her and stuff like that. Who gets to fix my car is not on the list of things that are up for negotiation.”
Dean takes a deep breath. “Why don’t we both just be honest as to why we’re being so stubborn. Okay?”
“Okay,” you breathe out.
“Good,” Dean says as he walks over towards you. “I want to fix your car because when you said that it was giving you problems, something inside of me snapped and I thought that by fixing your car I might…”
“Might what?” you ask him.
Dean takes a deep breath and he looks you in the eyes. “I thought that I might be able to get over this overwhelming urge to help you.”
“Dean, I know that Abby is your daughter too but you do not have to feel bad about not helping me with every little thing.”
“I’m not talking about because of Abby,” Dean tells you as he gives you a look. He’s hoping that you’ll understand what he’s trying to tell you. When it sinks in, your eyes widen a bit and you can feel your heart pounding in your chest.”
“Oh,” you breathe out.
“I still care about you and it’s not just because you’re the mother of my kid,” Dean tells you softly.
“Dean…”
“Sweetheart, you broke my heart,” Dean whispers. “And I know now that it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t want to pack up and move without telling me, I know that. But I also know that if you’d told me that you were moving then you would’ve had to tell me why and you would’ve had to tell me about Abby.”
“I was stupid enough to believe the lies that you wouldn’t want us or that it would ruin your life,” you choke out. “I knew that neither of those were true and still aren’t.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, sweetheart,” Dean swallows hard. “When you walked into my classroom that day, I thought that I was seeing things. I told myself that I would not let you walk out of my life once more. And then you told me that Abby is yours and I thought ‘she’s moved on.’ When you told me that she’s also mine, I cannot describe to you what I was feeling. What I was thinking. I only wanted to know my daughter and then I thought that maybe if I could make that turn out okay, then maybe me and you had a shot at whatever was between us, and if not then that’s okay too but you still gotta let me take care of you, (Y/N).”
“You’re not supposed to take care of me. You’re supposed to take care of Abby and Abby only.”
“(Y/N)…”
“I can’t have you here helping me out because it hurts standing here in front of you knowing that if it weren’t for me, then the three of us could be a family right now like I was hoping for when I found out that I was pregnant.”
“That’s why you’re wanting me to go so bad?” Dean asks you softly. “Because you still have feelings for me and you’re blaming yourself because we’re not a family even though that’s what you wanted?” You nod and Dean gives you a sad look. “Can I be honest here?”
“Okay,” you whisper.
“I want that too, sweetheart,” he tells you softly. “I always saw myself having a family with you. When you told me that Abby is mine I… I wanted to have a hand in being her parent but I was also hoping that I could do that with you.”
“We are still a team in this.”
“Sweetheart, you know that it isn’t the same thing.” You feel tears well up in your eyes and Dean frowns a bit at you. “Sweetheart…”
“Abby’s first,” you tell Dean softly as a few tears slip over your cheeks. “I know that we’d still be together if I weren’t so much of a coward and I had told you about her but it’s different now because Abby is old enough to know what’s going on. It isn’t like she’ll be too young to remember anything if we couldn’t make it together.”
“You are not a coward,” Dean tells you softly. “And I know that Abby is first, but don’t you think that it would be putting her first if her parents were on a more united front?”
“Not if it’s for the wrong reasons,” you tell him.
“Okay, maybe we would be being a little selfish, but Abby wants it.”
“Just because we all want it doesn’t mean that…”
“Don’t start making excuses after you said that you wanted us to be a family,” Dean tells you.
“I can’t,” you choke out as the tears starts freely flowing down your cheeks.
“And why not?”
“Because,” you swallow hard and look Dean in the eyes.
“Because what?” Dean asks you softly as he crosses his arms over his chest.
You take a deep breath. “Because I don’t want Abby to get hurt when we can’t make it happen.”
“Why wouldn’t we be able to make it happen, sweetheart?”
“Because you might start thinking that I used Abby to get to you, Dean,” you lie and you look him in the eyes.
Dean’s expression softens a bit. “Sweetheart, why on earth would I think that?”
“Dean,” you scoff. “Seriously, we haven’t spoken to each other for five years then I randomly run into you and you find out that Abby’s your daughter. Next thing you know I’m jumping at the first opportunity to be with you in that way. Honestly, Dean, if I were in your shoes then it would look suspicious to me.”
“(Y/N)…”
“I couldn’t take it if we found out that we’re not supposed to be together anymore,” you tell Dean as tears well up in your eyes. “I have so much already weighing on me. Getting fired because I was trying to take care of my kid. Getting turned down for every job that I apply for. My car is broke down and I can’t make the rent this month and I will probably have to find another place…”
“Woah, woah, woah!” Dean says as he holds both of his hands up a bit to stop you. “Sweetheart, why didn’t you tell me that you can’t make rent?”
“Because I don’t need pity.”
“(Y/N), I told you that you’re going to have to put your pride aside…”
“This isn’t pride,” you tell Dean as tears well up in your eyes. “Let’s drop this, okay?”
“Hey,” Dean says softly as he reaches out to gently grab onto your arm. “Tell me the truth, sweetheart. Is everything okay?”
“No,” you choke out. “I’ve got two more calls turning me down and I… I don’t want to fail Abby and I thought that everything was going to be okay now.”
“Everything is going to be okay even if it takes a while to get there, sweetheart,” Dean tells you softly.
“I… I feel like everything is falling apart and I can’t drag you down with me.”
“Sweetheart,” Dean whispers as he rubs his hand up and down your arm and his small, simple act of kindness causes you to break. When you don’t resist Dean’s gentle touch, he pulls you in tightly to him, carefully holding your head in place over his chest.
“I feel like I’m failing,” you sob and you turn your head a bit to hide your face in Dean’s chest.
“You are not failing, sweetheart,” Dean tells you softly as he rubs his hand up and down your arm.
“I’m trying so hard but everything just keeps falling apart and I don’t want to lean on you because…”
“Before you tell me that you’re not supposed to, I have to tell you that that’s a bunch of crap,” Dean says softly. “(Y/N), you might think that you’re just the mother of my kid to me, but you are so wrong. Think about how things used to be between us, sweetheart. That doesn’t go away. You’re so much more to me than Abby’s mom but I’ll respect that you don’t want to be anything more than that. But I still need you to know that I’m always here for you and nothing is going to make me turn you down if you need my help.”
You turn your head a bit to look up at Dean. You see the kind expression on his face, the softness in his gorgeous green eyes, and you can feel the softness in his gentle touches against your skin. That feeling inside of you that’s there everytime that you see him is welling up inside of you and you need him to go away so that you don’t say or do something stupid. “Go.”
“Sweetheart…”
“Dean, I can’t lean on you because I need to know that I can make it for me and Abby and having you bail me out isn’t going to do me any favors. If we decided to try us and we couldn’t make it, then I’d still have to be self-sufficient.”
“(Y/N), excuses aren’t going to make it any easier on either of us,” Dean tells you. “Sweetheart, you can’t keep pushing me away because this feeling isn’t going anywhere and we both know it. This feeling of knowing that this is what is right. (Y/N), even Abby knows. She wants this.” Dean stops and he takes a deep breath. “(Y/N), I want this. And I know that you do too but you are scared and that’s fine. But don’t make yourself miserable trying to fight it and making excuses as to why we can’t have what the three of us so obviously want.”
You swallow hard as Dean stares into your eyes. You know that he’s telling the truth. You know that Dean’s right. You’re scared. Scared of how this might affect Abby especially if the both of you couldn’t make the picture perfect family happen. She’d be crushed. But then, she’s already upset that neither of you seem willing to even try.
“Dean?” you whisper as a few tears fall down your cheeks.
“Yeah?” Dean breathes out as he reaches a hand out to gently wipe your tears away with his thumb.
Your heart is pounding in your chest but you’ve gotta say this before you chicken out for the hundredth time. “I need you to know that I still…”
“Mommy!” Abby hollers, causing you to flinch a bit in Dean’s hold.
“Please stay in the living room, baby, I’ll be in there in a minute,” you holler.
“Does she even know that I’m here?” Dean asks you.
“No,” you choke out. “I didn’t want an encore of what happened this afternoon.”
Dean nods his head a bit before he slowly pulls his hand away from your face. “What were you going to tell me?” he asks you.
“Dean, I need to get in there to Abby,” you tell him.
“(Y/N)…”
“Dean, you need to go so that I can go take care of our daughter.”
“Alright,” he frowns. “You’ll tell me eventually?”
“Maybe,” you swallow hard.
Dean sighs as his eyes meet yours, and he can’t help but to glance down at your lips. Gosh, if he knew that you wouldn’t kill him then he’d just take what he wants. “Call me if you need me for anything. I mean that, (Y/N).”
“I can take care of me and Abby by myself,” you tell him softly.
“I’ll be here tomorrow to finish fixing your car,” Dean tells you as if he didn’t hear what you just said.
“Okay,” you swallow hard. “I don’t guess that telling you no is going to get me anywhere.”
“Probably not,” Dean chuckles lightly as he turns and begins to walk off. “If you or Abby need anything then you call me. I don’t care what it’s for but if you need me, I’ll be here.”
“I know you will be, Dean,” you tell him softly. He walks out of your garage and turns to wave at you before you push the button to shut the door. You take a deep breath before turning around to walk on inside and jump a bit when you find Abby standing there with her little arms crossed and bottom lip jutted out in an adorable little pout.
“Was that Daddy?”
“Was what Daddy?” you ask her as if you have no clues as to what she’s talking about.
“Were you talking to Daddy?”
You take a deep breath, knowing that you can’t lie to her. “Abby, honey, Daddy was here fixing Mommy’s car but he’s not here now.”
“He didn’t even want to see me?” she asks as tears well up in her tired eyes.
“Oh, honey,” you breathe out as you walk over to scoop Abby up in your arms. “Daddy wanted to see you but I told him that it might not be a good idea since you kind of threw a fit today when he had to go. I didn’t want that to happen right now.”
“Is Daddy still going to take me to school?”
“Of course he is, babygirl,” you whisper as you hold her tightly to you and you begin to carry her on down the hallway to your room. “Which is why I ran him off because you both need your sleep for school.”
“Oh,” Abby yawns.
You take a deep breath as you walk into your room and gently lay Abby down onto your bed. “Abby?”
“Hm?” she breathes out as you carefully lay down beside of her tired body.
“You didn’t hear what me and Daddy were talking about, right?” you ask her.
“No, Mommy,” she breathes out. “I didn’t but I could hear Daddy’s voice.”
“Good,” you sigh in relief.
“What were you talking about?” she asks innocently.
“Let’s leave it up for Mommy and Daddy to discuss, okay?” you ask her.
“Okay,” Abby huffs as she curls into your side.
You smile softly at her before pressing a soft kiss to her head. “Get some sleep, babygirl,” you whisper softly to her right before you hear the soft snores that put a smile on your face.
Tags: @polina-93 @campingmonkey​ @justanotherwinchester @squirrelnotsam @adoptdontshoppets @imaginationisgrowth @deanwanddamons @hobby27 @cookiechipdough @akshi8278 @flamencodiva @thatmotleygirl @torn-and-frayed @screechingartisancashbailiff @sunflowers-n-rocknroll
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joyfulhopelox · 3 years
Text
content tag game ʕ→ᴥ← ʔ
Tagged by the lovely @kithtaehyung i also just realised that i am that awful at tumblr and making sure to sort my tags that i missed an important person who tagged me 😭 @bangtanhome 💕 i am so sorry, i had this in my drafts and i could swear i tagged you but it didn’t since i was not on mobile 😭 i have also been tagged by @secretum-scriptor 💕 (wow tumblr is doing a great job with notifications)
thank you for the tag it’s such a wonderful way to get to know someone and i thoroughly enjoyed reading yours ❤️
I am tagging: @hobipaint  @hobiandsprite @missgeniality @mochi-molala @rosietae @pjmsdior​ @rosereveries @yoonjinkooked @randombtsprincessa (you do not have to do this also! please ignore if so!) there is a message for everyone at the bottom if you wanna jump straight to that.
1. what fandoms have you written for (but do not currently)?
Once Upon A Time, Dr Who, Sherlock, tried my hand at Haikyuu, Naruto, MCR, The Maine, Suits, The GazettE, Gackt, Big Bang, Infinite...ok, i never realised how much stuff i had....this is shocking to me
2. what fandoms are you currently writing for?
Just BTS
3. how long have you been writing? 
Since 2008? On and off so i still consider myself a newbie
4. on which platforms do you post your stories? 
Used to post on Quizilla, ff.net, asianfanfics now just on Tumblr
5. what is your favourite genre to write? 
Fluff, angst with happy end. Anything that ends well, even if the ending is open, it just needs to have a glimmer of hope in there. 
6. are you a pantser or a planner? 
well, both? i aspire to be a planner, end up being a pantser most of the time. I just let my characters take me where they want to.
7. one shot or multi-chapter? 
One shot, multi chaptered (even though i have my Voir Dire series) makes me feel bad when i can’t meet the posting schedule.
8. what is the perfect chapter length in your opinion? 
10k-30k? Depends on a lot of things (that is for one shots though) as a chapter i would say 5k
9. what is your longest published story? is it complete? 
Voir Dire as it is a chaptered fic, stands at 27k at the moment and it is not finished (got a long way to go) but my one shots, the longest is my yoongi hogwarts au one which is 13k (for now-they seem to be getting longer)
10. which story did you enjoy working on the most? 
tough one, i enjoy all of them, each has left their mark on me and helped me grow and experience things, but if i had to pick i would say Voir Dire as it made me do a lot of research plus mafia au has always been something i have wanted to write or sleeposal! It was only a drabble but working on it has been such a fun experience for me! 
11. favourite request you’ve have written and why (if any?) 
there is one coming out soon, it was an arranged marriage au yoongi which was meant to be a drabble, and it ended up a 12k one shot.
12. are there reoccurring themes in your stories? 
i had to ask the person who has read the most of my stories about this because i try to not have any reocurring themes if i can help it, i like to diversify depending on the story. and seems like i have succeeded somehow, i think?
13. current number of wips? 
mostly collabs for now this monts is quite collab heavy, and some drabble requests but i think the other ones that i have planned equal all those in number so i would have to say in between a lot and a lot
14. three things you have noticed about your own writing? 
i have a lot of expressions i use repeatedly throughout my fics (i am trying to get better at that), i have improved on the heaviness of the plots and emotions quite a bit and my grammar (always gotta be careful with that), i also like metaphors...like...a lot
15. a quote you like from a published story. 
I was quite proud of this one, it’s a drabble called i wish you knew 
‘Life is never simple. Life doesn’t care about the wishes of two young lovers. Life doesn’t stop just because you want to hold his hand forever. Just like the heat of the summer, your fire dwindled to a steady heat. Like the remnants of a bonfire, your flame became hot coals. A summer was not enough to keep your love burning, and the scare of your first fight reduced it to smoke in an instant.’
16. a quote from an unpublished story. 
this is hard, because this has been in my drafts for so long, and i do not know if it will ever see the light of the day as it is so close to home that i may chicken out of actually publishing it but: it is meant to be part of my Love Blossom Series, Taehyung’s Story, it would have been entitled White Tulip;
‘You knew that it was soon to be over;  the warm smiles, the secret touches, the pads of your fingers brushing against each other. You could feel it in the hugs that would end up with you, a giggling mess swept off your feet, the loving stares, the kisses you would steal from each other during your short break. You knew, behind all that, there was heartbreak lurking, waiting to strike. Your foundation was not strong enough to hold everything up. ‘
17. space for you to say something to your readers. 
i never know what to say, which is funny because i write, i should be able to express my feelings easily, yet i can’t say enough thank yous, and i cannot express how much each and every one of you means to me. whether you have commented or not, reblogged or not, followed me or not, or just stumbled upon one of my fics randomly but still stayed and read, it all means the world to me. It makes me so happy to read comments and see what everyone things of my 2am musings, and i feel like even if i have or not interacted with you i’m surrounded by friends who get to see this side of me. thank you and i love you all! 
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silverhandsass · 3 years
Text
Can You Feel The Sun (Pt.4)
Things are finally coming together y'all OwO
— SPOILER ALERT - this is post-game stuff, read at your own risk —
Read on Ao3
— — — — —
Johnny is not here.
He was never here.
So for the entire year that she had been focusing on getting her own shit back in order, Johnny was—
"I thought you didn't need permission, Alt! You said there would be no point in talking to the souls before you took them all away, how could you leave him—"
"I did not leave him." The urgency and strictness of her voice shot a spike of ice into Val's chest. "He remained in Mikoshi too long."
"What does that even mean? Why did he stay there?" Val asked, stepping closer to Alt—if that even helped, she didn't know.
"You should see for yourself," Alt replied, then waved her hands in a wide arc around her.
Suddenly, the pixels and blocks that formulated the cyberspace around them both began to shift and change. The blue tinge came back as she realized a familiar setting had been made. The table and booth at Tom's diner.
"Wait..."
Then, beside it, Johnny's car appeared. The doors were opened and the back of it had sunk low to the ground. There were the sounds of voices talking and laughing; no words to be heard but the voices echoed eerily like a memory. It was when they leaned against the back of his car and talked, one of their many sweet moments shared by flipping off the corpos of the world.
More of these spots began to appear nearby; the couch and bed of her apartment, the rollercoaster cart with only a fraction of the rails showing, the Pistis Sophia, the place where they bonded at the oil fields, Kerry's couch and the Seamurai, and finally...
The piers.
As Valerie approached them, she could see that on one of the docks, a faint silhouette of Johnny appeared. She kicked into a sprint to get to him, only for Alt to call out to her.
"He is not truly there." Val's approach slowed to a brisk walk and Alt continued. "These are the places he wished to see one last time before coming with me. A few minutes, he said. He stayed long enough for days to pass in the real world. Then, he was gone."
"What..." Val turned to face her. "What the fuck does that mean?"
"An outside force of Netrunners accessed Arasaka's systems. Either they were hired, or they were a separate faction. They were peering inside Mikoshi. They found me, and they found Johnny. It was easier to take him—he did not know how to defend himself within cyberspace. They tried to take me, so I left."
"You left?" V spat, "How could you fucking leave him like that?"
"I could not risk them seizing control of me or gaining access to beyond the Blackwall. Mikoshi needed to be shut down. It provided an ample distraction for me to leave. They could not find me this way," she explained.
"You didn't even fight? You could have helped him, you could have saved him," V argued.
"He would have been used as bait, and there was nothing to save. I would not blindly rush into a situation I know nothing about without first considering all its aspects. That, V, is where the human factor comes in." Alt did not need to say it, but V understood her meaning clearly. She was also talking about V's visit to the Blackwall.
"He trusted you. We both did," V spat.
"I was ready to take him. He was not ready to leave. I told him of the risks. He did not listen. Much like you," she reminded.
"So if-if he's not here," Val took a staggered breath. "Where is he?"
"I do not know," Alt replied.
"How could you not know?" Val gestured her arms wildly. "You are one of the most powerful entities in cyberspace, how could you not know?"
"They did not march into Mikoshi announcing their presence. They snuck in, shrouded by ICE. They were careful and prepared. I could not place their location or identity before I left."
This could not be happening. Valerie took a few steps back and she shook her head before running both hands through her hair. Not only was Johnny nowhere to be seen, but he was missing. Was there even anything of him left? Had he been chipped into some other gonk's head? Did that gonk die? Did he die? Was he well and truly gone? Or was he still stored away somewhere in another briefcase, left dormant and alone?
V was just starting to lose herself in those thoughts when Alt's form shifted once more, moving closer and hovering.
"You must leave, now," she demanded.
"Wh—" V looked up, "Alt you have to help me, this is... It's Johnny. It's Johnny."
"I cannot help you. You have been careless in your methods of reaching beyond the Blackwall that you did not think about your way back. You left the pathway open for anything to pass through, making it easy for anyone to reach this place—to reach me. But while I was able to shut it momentarily, shortly after your arrival, it will not hold if I do not shut it down properly. Leaving it open is dangerous and staying here will kill you. You must leave."
As she stepped backward toward the wall, Val looked around at the various locations that had been made around her, as though she was trying to commit what Johnny had done to memory. She looked for his silhouette once again but it was nowhere to be found. "Can't I stay just a bit longer?"
"You are still tethered to your body through the connection of the external rig. You must leave now before the wall is sealed for good. You are asking too much of your human body by staying here longer than you should. If you do not leave now, it will soon cease to be your choice."
V cast one last glance at her surroundings, beginning to pant as she approached the wall. She looked up at the AI once last time and gave her a small dip of her chin. "Goodbye, Alt."
"Goodbye, V."
She reached out her hand and placed it flat upon the beaming red surface of the Blackwall, feeling her surroundings fall apart. She had barely any time to register the change before she felt her existence yanked—tugged hard in such a way that all simulations of air escaped her lungs.
Her vision fell away pixel by pixel until it was all to bright, bright, bright.
Cold. Fuck. It was still too cold. She forgot about the damn ice and the water and—fuck, fuck, fuck!
Launching herself into a seated position, V gasped for air and felt her body shiver and shake. She soon felt Dakota's hands upon her as the cable was disconnected from her port. A second pair of hands joined in as both Panam and Dakota helped V out of the tub. They were both speaking rather loudly, saying things, but she could not hear them clearly just yet. Her mind was still catching up with her, not only trying to piece together what she had heard, but attempting to snap back to reality.
Then, the tears came.
"What the hell were you thinking? You didn't even tell me your plan, you didn't even ask me what I thought, you just went right on in there and went ahead, which—" Panam pointed at Dakota, "—we're gonna have a long discussion about, by the way!" She then brought her hands down on her thighs as she bent down a little to meet V's eyes. "What the fuck, Val?"
V had been sitting on the same cot that she'd usually commandeer whenever she got back to camp. She had a thick synth wool blanket wrapped around her to keep her warm and she made a point to avoid eye contact with anyone for the start of the whole conversation.
It wasn't even a conversation, it was a scolding.
"What if you died?" Panam argued, "What if suddenly I got the news that hey, that fucking gonk of yours walked into an ice bath and melted anyway! All under your nose! What then?"
She did have a point.
"I know, Panam, I..." V sighed heavily. "I know. And I'm sorry. It was... It had to be done."
"Why? What the fuck did you need to do that you couldn't talk to me about? You know I'm ready to help you, you just had to ask," she said as she knelt before her, shifting a bit closer.
"You wouldn't have agreed to this."
"Why?" she prodded.
"Because I had to see him."
There it was. The look of realization. Val had mentioned the man that was the very reason they had to charge into Arasaka in the first place. She had insisted before that it would have been just as much her fault as it was Johnny's, but Panam was fine with just blaming him. Particularly for the number of people they lost that day.
"And? Was it worth it?" Panam asked. "Did you find him?"
V watched the frayed ends of the blanket as she fiddled with them, picking apart loose threads. "No, I didn't."
"What?" Dakota blinked, stepping forward. "I thought you said he was beyond the Blackwall. We used your—" she paused, "—those memories."
"Apparently he never left Mikoshi and someone pulled him out," Val replied, her voice slowly beginning to crack a little as she faced that truth. "He's gone."
"But... we can find him, right?" Panam frowned.
"No, we can't," V finally looked up, and Panam's expression fell.
V had been entirely monotone the moment she began speaking after the tub. Both her mind and her body were still in shock by the events and the revelation. An entire year had passed since they parted ways, he could be anywhere by now.
"Fuck that, there's gotta be a way," Panam countered.
"Nothing short of walking right into Arasaka again to figure out what happened a year ago. Something I'll have to do alone, and it would be suicide."
"Okay, if you mention doing anything 'alone' one more time, I'm going to kick your ass," Panam warned.
"I'm never taking you back there, Panam. None of you, not after everything that happened," after all the lives that were taken. There was an uncomfortable silence between them as understanding fell into place.
Before anyone could keep talking, Panam stood up and then promptly wrapped her arms around V. She then pulled away but kept a hand on her shoulder. "We'll figure this out, we'll figure something out that works... If he's out there, then he needs you."
"Didn't think you'd want to go looking for him," V admitted, looking up.
"That's because you need him too."
Well then.
"Get some rest, V. I'll yell at you some more when you can yell back," Panam told her, a faint smile showing that it was merely a joke.
It was one that V certainly appreciated. She nodded and mumbled a thank you to both of them before they left. Slowly lowering herself onto the cot, she tried to clear her mind and get some of that rest she truly needed. Instead of wondering how she could possibly find him and hoping for the chance that he might still be out there somewhere, that he could be saved, Val shut her eyes and cried herself to sleep.
A few mumbles and wisps of words escaped past his lips, but beyond that, the man remained still. It was impressive that he continued to fight hard for consciousness when science itself was working against every muscle in his body. Bryce was uncertain how long they could keep this up, but it was necessary in order to keep the man sane. After all, one doesn't normally come back from the dead after around fifty years.
Still, it had been two weeks since their last conversation. He was not going to be happy about that, about being put down for such long periods at a time. After his general volatility, it was hard to predict how much time would have been enough.
They only had one shot at this.
The doors opened behind him and a set of heavy steps approached. Then, a clearing of a throat caught his attention, finally. "Had a ping in the net today regarding that friend we've been looking for. You'll never guess where."
Bryce blinked and finally looked away from Silverhand's body, turning to Tommy. He was holding out a datapad for him, one that he took without delay and began to read. The corners of his lips quirked up as he realized what that Merc had been up to. He shook his head and pressed the top of the datapad to his lips, glancing back down at Johnny.
The man was on the brink of his daze, nearing the time for his next dose. He continued to let out a few mumbles and sighs here and there, as though he was awake but not quite present.
"Go," Bryce ordered, handing the datapad back to Tommy. "Do what you can."
"How much do you want me to say?" he asked.
"As much as you need to, but nothing about him," Bryce reminded. As Tommy nodded and left the room, he turned back toward Johnny and leaned in just in time for his injection. "Your old pal's been causing some trouble again, Silverhand..." he chuckled. He could have sworn Johnny's eyes moved to him when he spoke those words, but it was hard to tell past the fluttering eyelids. Finally, Johnny drifted back into deep sleep and Bryce sighed, pushing away from the bed.
"Get ready to bring him back soon," he ordered the nearest doctor. "We're going to need him ready to talk."
Find the Merc.
That friend we've been looking for.
Your old pal.
What were they up to? What were they on about? Johnny had just been able to start hearing things a bit more clearly when he felt the Propofol coursing through his system, when he felt himself sink once more.
Find the Merc.
No. It couldn't be.
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blackdragonturds · 3 years
Text
“Here” pt. 4!
Reader’s POV
Two hours later…
“ugh…What the hell happened?”
I sat up in my bed rubbing my pounding head. Erron was seated in the chair next to my bed but crawled onto my bed upon hearing me wake up. Sitting down next to me, he places his fingers on my wrist to check my pulse.
“Hey, are you…what the hell? There’s a black crescent moon on your forehead.”
“There is?”
He grabbed the small jeweled handheld mirror off the end table next to my bed to show me. True to his word, a small black jagged moon was on my forehead above my eyebrows in the center. It made me wonder how it got there. But…I kind of liked it. Placing the mirror down beside me, I finger comb through my hair.
“Shang must have done this. Are you doing all right?”
He had his mask off as I finally got to see what he really looked like. I felt something warm spread across my face but he smiled.
“At least you’re awake. I was well…”
“Hm?”
“Well…nevermind. Its not important. You hungry?”
“A little. Why?”
“Well, the Kahn told me to tell you that if you’re feeling peckish that you can join the banquet.”
“A…banquet? I’ve never attended a banquet before…what should I wear?”
Erron chuckled and got off my bed to present to me a gift box with a silk ribbon tied to it.
“The Kahn had his silk weavers make you something nice to wear for it. I don’t like to get all goody-goody with this kind of thing so here.”
I take the box from him, pulling off the ribbon. Inside was a beautifully knit silk scarf and a headpiece made of gold and silver, a delicate silver moon in the center.
“Its…wow…thank you.”
Erron fixes his hair as he reminded me,
“Also, since the Kahn wants you as his soothsayer, well…he would want you to show off your status to the royal court but it’s your choice. I’ll save you a seat at the dining hall.”
I rise from my bed and place my scarf around my shoulders.
“Where’s the dining hall?”
“Well, since you are of high status now you come with me. He did say he wants me to guard your life at all costs.”
“All right then.”
I put on my shoes as he loaded his pistols. The same ones he used to shoot off my restraints in the Outworld Market. I followed him out of my room and he asked me,
“I gotta know…what made you want to leave Earthrealm?”
“Well, you first.”
Erron sighed as he began in a somber tone,
“I left about a hundred or fifty so years ago. I felt that no one needed a guy like me. I didn’t score points with the ladies, I didn’t fit in anywhere, and I easily shot Jesse James in the dick in a high noon draw. I’ll never forget that.”
His warm brown eyes met mine as he asked,
“Now, what’s your story?”
I gulped as I told him,
“Well, I left because my home was invaded by now I assume Outworld. I remember these…men, with long sharp teeth and blades coming out of their arms. Most of them were bald and hideous-“
He cut me off with a question.
“Ah, stupid Tarkatans. They jump at the chance of invasion. So…what were your folks like?”
I thought for a moment thinking of what I should tell him,
“Well, I had a loving family…a baby sister, my little brother, and I was the oldest. We lived in a little cottage my dad built all by himself. I was an introverted kid and well…my parents died when Earthrealm was invaded. I was only five at the time, my brother was three and my baby sister was six months old.”
Erron asked gently,
“What of your parents?”
“They were loving and kind to all three of us. But those creatures slaughtered my family and kidnapped my baby sister. I was helpless because I was just little. I didn’t know what to do.”
Erron was quiet with his response.
“My father was a cruel son of a bitch. My mom hated me and I was beaten almost daily.”
I felt pity pinch me.
“I’m so sorry…”
“Well, It’s in the past and I wanna keep it there.”
“Okay. But I think you’re a nice guy Erron.”
“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself. Mousey, a bit of a scaredy cat and a bit clueless but cool.”
His brutal honesty hurts but he’s right.
We approach a large wooden door as the sight of the dining hall came to view. Roasted cattle over an open fire, being rotated on a wooden pole, bowls of exotic fruits from Earthrealm and Outworld, a stuffed turkey, even some finger foods. I could smell exotic teas and what smelled like soups. Musicians bang on large drums as other musicians play various instruments. Dancers sway like leaves around the end of the room. Servants of multiple races served guests and court members eagerly as the smells and sounds made my stomach gurgle.
“Oh I’m so hungry! This looks delicious!” I squeal excitedly.
“Well, lemme show you to your seat.” Erron purred.
He led me to a fancy chair next to the end of the long table, and at the head of the table sat Kotal Kahn eating something pink and jiggly. I take my seat as Erron pulls a napkin off the table and laying it onto my lap.
“Thank you…”
Erron took his hat off setting it on the floor next to his chair. I tried to reach for an apple as the Kahn addressed me,
“Please, allow me.”
“Okay.”
He snapped his fingers as a servant came to his side. He ordered the man to take my plate and fill it with food. Erron waited his turn next to me, and soon, his plate came with ribs and some boiled potatoes. Mine had the same portion but a chilled apple with it
“Thank you Kahn.”
“My pleasure.” the emperor purred. As I ate, I could barely contain myself how delicious the food was. I saw D’Vorah across from me eating something like a pork chop and the same pink jiggly stuff the Kahn was eating. She was smiling feeding her slug creature.
The Kahn must be going through a lot to make me feel welcome…
I sipped my wine one of the servants poured for me as the Kahn rested his arm on the arm of his throne looking at me.
“Is the food adequate my dear?”
“Yes, it is thank you.”
“I’m sure you have many questions.”
I nodded putting my cup down.
“So if you’re the emperor of Outworld, why did you pick a slave to be a soothsayer? And what is a soothsayer?”
Koala Kahn sighed popping a few grapes into his mouth,
“Well, an indigo like you can easily feel things most mortals cannot. You perceive the world differently and you can have psychic visions. I figure you would be a great addition to my court.
It began to make sense now. he continued.
“If you were a sleigh beggy you would be an excellent mage.”
I asked cautiously,
“A sleigh beggy?”
Erron wiped his mouth and pointed to a girl with short red hair and beautiful green eyes. She was eating some ham and seemed to be chatting with a fellow mercenary.
“That’s the Kahn’s court wizard Robin.”
“She’s beautiful…” I mused.
Total Kahn agreed,
“Yes she is. Now you, you’re special. And that moon crest on your forehead?”
I touch my forehead as he went on.
“Is more proof you are worthy to serve me.”
**********
Thanks for reading!
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pinkhairedlily · 3 years
Text
Grab It Before It Passes
Chapter 10 of  The Spring He Came Back | 10 of 12
What was she thinking? She was late to work because she slept in. And why did she sleep in? Because she and Hitsugaya talked until morning. Nice sabotaging your business, Hinamori. She arrived in front of her shop, breathless from her fast cycling, and she was greeted by a small line of her constant customers. When the morning storm died down, she started to prepare reserved bouquets despite feeling lightheaded. It was already lunch time when she finished all her orders and walk-ins.
The bell on the door rang again, and she stood up from the counter to meet her next customer. Maybe I’ll skip lunch today.
“Don’t skip lunch today.” Hitsugaya was yawning as he entered the shop. Hinamori was thankful he got rid of the glasses and kept his old hairstyle. He waved her closer and indicated the bento in his hands. “Sorry for keeping you up until morning.”
If there were other customers right now, I’m pretty sure his words will be taken out of context. Well, we were kind of intimate last night. Hinamori soothed the forming ache on her temples. He rushed to her side and cupped her face anxiously. “Are you okay Momo?”
“Oh, am I interrupting something?” a supplier came in at that inopportune moment, a crate of azaleas in their hands.
Before Hinamori could go to them, Hitsugaya bridged the distance in quick strides and took the crate. “No, is this all? Hinamori has a headache so please let me get this.”
“Ah, Dr. Hitsugaya.” The supplier recognized him and instantly became awed at meeting one of Soul Society’s prodigies. “Of course, of course. Uh, wait, Hinamori, you’re still set for farm visit?”
Trying to control her blush, Hinamori smiled at her supplier. “Yes. I’ll see you at 4. Thank you.” She followed them to the door and placed a lunch break sign. “Please don’t do that again when I’m at work.”
“I’m sorry. I acted on instinct.” Hitsugaya placed the bento boxes on a nearby table and the aroma escaping from the box ushered her closer.
It didn’t occur to her that she should dwell on his statement. She was hungry, and she needed caffeine. She devoured her food and answered Hitsugaya’s questions on flowers in between bites. “Aren’t you eating?” she asked while she took a large bite from a tempura.
“I also woke up late so I just went straight to my lunch meeting at the academy. Too bad I wasn’t able to buy you tea on the way here.” He stifled a yawn again.
Hinamori finished the last of her meal, and set aside the box. She checked the counter once more before she gestured him to stand and follow her. “Let’s drop by quickly at my favorite café.”
--------------------------
“Black tea with an extra shot of black tea for Momo,” the owner, Yuki, called out. “And uh, iced americano for Hitsu-“
A visibly irked Hitsugaya took both cups from his hand. “Thank you. Now, Momo can we go?”
“Hey Yuki. Thanks again. You always have my back on tiring days.” Hinamori flashed him an apologetic smile which he shrugged off. He has a knowing gleam in his eyes, and he was obviously trying to send a message.
“What do you mean? You’re my favorite customer. Come again tomorrow?”
“You bet. I gotta go. It’s a busy day.” Hinamori was slowly getting annoyed by Hitsugaya’s impatient tapping on the counter. She didn’t know what set him off, but they rushed off from the café. “What’s wrong with you, Shirou?”
He walked along with her until they reached the flower shop. “I gotta go for another set of meetings. What time do you close?”
“I have to go by four. Now, please tell me what irritated you in that café because I needed my favorite drink and you’re making my headache worse.”
“He knows your favorite brew.” And with that, he shuffled away like his feet was on fire.
And now she too was pissed and exasperated by his childish behavior. Very Hitsugaya of him. “He is a barista. Isn’t he supposed to know what my preferred brew is?”
--------------------------
She was mounting her bicycle when he came around. Surprisingly, he bought a bicycle of his own. “Sorry Shirou. I need to go to the flower farm.”
“Can I go with you? I’m also done with the meetings for today.” Recalling that he was not able to reserve a hotel and would most likely go back with her to the compound, she finally agreed.
They arrived at her supplier’s flower farm after a 30-minute ride. Hitsugaya seemed to give her space as he stayed behind with the welcoming staff and answered their questions about his life abroad. She went with her supplier and surveyed the next batch of flowers she would pick for the next batch of delivery. The Peruvian lilies were not ripe for picking as it was still very early in the spring as well as the dahlias. She eventually settled on tulips, gardenias, and daisies.
“Hinamori, can you check on my peonies and gerbera? We have a bad outbreak of thrips this time.”
“No problem. I’ll look around a little bit more.” It was a good thing she bought her sampling kit. She constructed a makeshift laboratory in her room a year after she became a florist where she studied common plant pests. She would provide her personal concoctions from natural ingredients to deter continued onset. Inorganic pesticides have more lasting side-effects on the flowers’ blooming time which would inevitably affect her sales.
“I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.” They were shifting their feet nervously on the ground. “But are you and the professor together?”
Hinamori squatted down to the level of the flowers, checking the underside of the leaves for signs of the culprit. “No, we’re just friends.”
“He’s a really in-demand person with his recent re-appearance here in town, but he finds time for you.”
She proceeded to the next plot. There was a lot from her naked eye. “Maybe he’s just good at scheduling his tasks and it so happened that he’s relatively free today.” It was bad but not unmanageable.
“I heard he turned down speeches in museums and luncheons. Town gossip.”
Could they have been gossiping about their past? If he gets associated again with her and it backfires, what would she do? “It’s gossip so it’s not reliable either.”
The supplier was trying their best to get their point across. “I’m saying, he really looks out for you. It couldn’t be any more obvious, and it would do you good if you allow yourself to accept it.” Contented with what they said, the supplier retreated from her space and returned to the staff house.
She had a bad habit of repressing these discussions when she was occupied with something else, and would only recall them just as she was falling asleep. She pushed it at the back of her mind until she wrapped up with sampling. Finally done, she saw Hitsugaya in the middle of the azalea field. She quickly made a flower crown from the discarded flowers and went to him.
Quietly sneaking behind him, she successfully landed the crown of yellow, orange, and red daisies on his immaculate silver hair. She chuckled at the bright contrast. “Pretty boy.”
“Come here then.” He grabbed her hand and slid a bracelet of white azaleas on her wrist. He also added a small circle of twine with a lone flower on her ring finger. “Pretty girl.”
It couldn’t be any more obvious. Again, she pushed this memory at the back of her mind.
--------------------------
She was losing sleep for two days in a row. Baba accidentally destroyed the heater in Hinamori’s room, and in Hitsugaya’s room so they huddled together in her room. Baba was quite happy with the arrangement, but Hinamori was not. Not when her futon was beside Hitsugaya instead of Baba being in the middle. It also didn’t help that he would always turn in his sleep and reach out for her hand. She would be there lying, her hand warm in his, his sleeping face in front of hers, and her heart beating out of control.
Trying to have some semblance of normality in her life, she stopped seeing him for lunch, making up excuses that she was busy with accounting and meeting suppliers. But he dropped her off those two mornings, earning interested glances from her customers and showed up a few minutes before she closed shop. Hitsugaya showed up again, bringing cookies this time and her favorite brew in ice. He was spending an awful lot of time in her favorite café. “Yuki makes the best americano and the best oat cookies,” he said as he munched on one.
“Thanks, I need a sugar rush.” Hinamori was tired, she didn’t think much of it when she leaned in and took a bite directly from a cookie still in his hand. As any other moments recently, it was also the exact time when Rukia, Renji, and Rangiku entered the shop.
“Looks like you didn’t need our help at all, Professor,” Rangiku jeered.
And like any other moments recently, both of them would burst into intense redness. The 3Rs bought cakes for sharing and some wine. Rukia and Renji were full-time faculty in the academy and were officially together. They were set to be wed this year, but the two were still finalizing how they would break the news of wedding bells to Byakuya. Rangiku, on the other hand, became a freelance educator for the poor and disadvantaged in nearby towns. She was also recognized as an affiliate professor of the academy. Her work allowed her to reconnect again with her childhood friend, Gin. Hinamori was yet to meet the guy, but she guessed they were probably in the dating stage already. They were lucky – to have found friendship and love and have these requited.
Stop thinking about IT, Momo, she told herself.
“Hey, Momo, you’re up for a beach trip?” Renji asked. “It’s your day-off tomorrow, right?”
“I really can’t. I have to take care of Baba.” She hoped to sit out this one because these rumbling emotions were becoming too much for her to bear in silence.
“This one’s on you, Hitsugaya. Good luck.” Their friends snickered on the bet that he can persuade Hinamori to go.
--------------------------
For some reason, she cannot say no to him. Nor Baba. Her grandmother was left in care of two of the best medical staff and a neighbor who will send text messages to Hinamori and Hitsugaya every hour. Since she traveled an hour by train and was already here, she might as well enjoy it.
It somehow escaped her mind that she couldn’t swim so she stayed on the beach, perfectly fine in a summer dress and a slice of watermelon to cool off the heat. When she saw Hitsugaya running headfirst towards the water with his abs on full display, she almost choked on her fruit.
He really grew up. He’s not shorter than me anymore, and he has muscles. Why does he have abs? Hinamori was at the end of her wits, and the watermelon was not helping cool her down. She retreated to their space and laid down under the shade of the large umbrella. Maybe I should sleep my time away.
After a few minutes, she heard him calling her name. Acting asleep, she actively ignored him. “Momo, are you okay?” His figure loomed before her, the abs directly in her view. She fluttered her eyes open and gave the most annoyed look she could at the dripping Hitsugaya. “Sunblock please, Momo?”
“I’m trying to sleep here!” She huffed indignantly and pulled out her reef-safe sunblock, squeezed out a rather large amount and slapped it on his cheeks.
“You weren’t sleeping. You were pretending.”
“Shut up, I’m applying some protection on your face. Also you’re an idiot because why would you run to the waters first?” She held his chin on her hands and gently lathered the rest of the sunblock on his face. “Okay, you’re good to go.”
“I can stay for a few seconds. Doesn’t this take a minute to set?” His eyes were never left her face. What was this atmosphere?!
“Go get a room,” Rangiku shouted from the water. “I’m getting lonely in here.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea!” Hitsugaya shouted back to Rangiku. “Sorry about that Momo. I’ll leave you alone.”
What did just happen? Is this what they call flirting? Hinamori was truly exasperated so she set out on a walk by the beach. After a few minutes, Rukia joined her pace. Like her, Rukia didn’t know how to swim.
“It’s pretty confusing, huh?” was her first statement.
“Why is everyone talking as if they have the same topic in mind and I’m out of the loop. Am I missing something here?”
“Momo, you’re dissociating again.” She patted her back and smelled in the breeze. “It’s all out in the open and you just have to step forward and grab it.”
“Can you all stop talking in abstract?” Hinamori pleaded, tired from discerning and reading between the lines.
“From someone who noticed it only later in life, notice it now. We’ve seen it coming, but it’s different if you finally realize it. Grab it now before it passes.”
It was a fairly normal beach trip with lots of card games and a watermelon eating contest between Hitsugaya and Renji. By landslide, the watermelon master Hitsugaya Toushirou won. They ended the trip with sparklers, and Rangiku said they have to make a wish before they ran out. In her mind, she only wished for one thing. It was the one thing she should have said aloud when they were kids and when he left ten years ago. On the trip back home, they sat beside each other.
“What did you wish for?” Hitsugaya asked. His cheeks were flushed red from the sun.
She looked at him straight in the eye and said her wish aloud. “For you to stay.”
It has become a habit, him reaching out to touch her hand and her allowing his fingers to wound through hers. “You’re trembling.”
“Don’t go.”
He kept their wound hands inside his jacket’s pocket in an effort to keep her warm, mistaking her confrontation with her feelings with the remnants of winter. “Thank you, Momo.”
NEXT CHAPTER | 11 OF 12 | INTO THE WONDERFUL UNKNOWN
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Marco’s Home for Lost Boys
Read on AO3 - Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5
Tagging:
@lfh1226-linda
Chapter 5: Grief
Summary:
“I’m in. Let’s go get your dad’s stuff back.”
“Em, maybe this is a bad idea.”
“Bullshit, if you can do it, I can do it. Besides, I asked to do something exciting.”
Notes:
Warning for Character Death and also violence.
6 months later
“Come on Ems, one more?”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to get me drunk,” she giggled.
“Only if it’s working” Neal slides the glass toward her.
Her laugh was sloppy and loud, a snort escaping her nose.
“One more!”
She tosses the shot glass back as the warm liquid burns down her throat.
“You are so hot.” His hands are on her hips, pulling her toward him. She drinks in his lips, tasting of whiskey and peanuts.
As if on cue, her phone begins buzzing on the table beside them.
“You probably shouldn’t answer that in your condition, Ems.”
“Hello Captain!” She giggles into the phone.
“Swan, you need to come home.”
“Well, I’m quite busy right now sir…”
“Emma...”
“And honestly I don’t feel like coming home so I don’t quite think I…”
“Emma, it’s Marco. He had a heart attack. They did everything they could, but…”
Emma feels like the whole world has started humming in her ears, her knees buckle under her, phone slipping from her hand onto the table.
She can’t comprehend what Neal is saying on the phone to Killian before he hangs up and picks her up off the floor.
“Ems, Jones is going to come pick you up. Lets just sit on the couch until he gets here. I’ll go get you some water.”
This can’t be happening. Marco can’t be dead. Not her Papa.
She’s an orphan again.
~
Neal opens the front door on the second knock and he immediately smells the whiskey on the boy’s breath. Killian pushes past him to find Emma sitting on the couch, staring at her feet, a glass in her hand.
He grabs the glass and sniffs it to find it is water, but she smells like she rolled in a barrel of booze.
“Underage drinking? Bad form, Cassidy.” He scowls at Neal standing in the doorway.
“Save the lecture Jones, we were just having a good time.”
He looks down at Emma, “Swan, you alright? Can you walk? We gotta go.”
She stares straight ahead, and he kneels so that his eyes meet hers. “Hey,” her eyes meet his. “let’s go home ok?”
She blinks, recognizing him for the first time since he walked into the room.
“He’s gone.” She whispers and his heart breaks for the second time that evening.
“I know, love. Can you stand?” His hands cup her elbows as he stands and pulls her with him. She wobbles on her legs and leans into his chest.
“Seems like a real good time you two were having.” He peers over at Neal. “We’ll talk about this another time.”
He ushers Emma outside and opens the door to David’s truck, helping her into the seat.
Climbing into the truck himself he sighs and looks over at her. “I’ll try and cover with your brothers as best I can, but you’re gonna need to shower when you get home to wash the smell of alcohol off.”
~
The hot water numbed her face, standing under the stream in the shower. Killian had moved her quickly through the house and past her brothers before they even got the chance to console her or realize that she was anything besides utterly broken with grief.
The next few days went by in a blur.
The house was buzzing with activity with Arthur and August returning from college for the funeral. Robin shut down his bar for the week to be at home and help with the arrangements.
It was weird having so many people at home. Even though she knew it was only temporary.
Soon Arthur and August would go back to Boston and Seattle, Robin would go back to working 7 days a week at the “The Sleeping Lion”, David was on his way to building a life with Mary Margaret and she was sure overheard the two of them whispering about him moving out in the near future.
Killian was hardly around anymore either. He began working as a Boat Captain on the “Jolly Roger”, a tourist attraction where you got to sail with pirates on a real pirate ship, guyliner and leather included. But even when he wasn’t working, he was always out doing “something”.
It would just be Will and her. They had just started their senior year in high school. She was a couple months to her 17th birthday. What was she going to do now as everyone was leaving her?
She did everything she could during those few days to ignore the shouting in her brain. She packed up boxes in her father’s room, cooked dinner for her brothers, cleaned up the messes they left behind while they ran here and there trying to prepare for their father’s funeral.
She did everything, except cry. No matter what she did, the tears wouldn’t come.
Even as she stood in front of her Papa’s gravestone, rain coming down and bouncing off the freshly moved ground, David’s arm wrapped tightly around her, she found no tears.
Once they returned home that evening, she was starting to feel like she was suffocating. She wanted to yell at the next person who apologized for her loss and asked her how she was doing.
I’m fine.
“Swan, you should eat something.”
“I ate.”
“Swan.” She looked up into his narrowed blue orbs. “I happen to know you have not eaten anything since breakfast, and that was a piece of toast.”
“Geez, are you keeping a tracker or something? I’m sure I ate today.” She tried to push past him, but he held firm and his hand wrapped around her arm.
“Emma, I know there is a lot going on in that pretty little head of yours, but you need food if you wish to remain on your feet.”
She reached over and grabbed a cracker and cheese off the tray in front of them and shoved it in her mouth. “Happy now?”
He rolled his eyes but allowed her to move past him toward her room, slamming the door behind her.
Run.
E. You busy? I need a drink!
She clicked her fingernails on her phone waiting for the response which came quickly.
N: Come on over.
Emma grabbed her jacket, lifted the window upward and jumped to the ground outside. She was across town in her yellow bug in no time and running up the stairs to Neal’s home.
After the second knock on the door, it opened with Neal’s father standing in the frame.
“Emma, I’m so very sorry about your father.”
Emma smiled weakly. “Um thanks, Mr. Gold.”
“Please come in, my son said you would be stopping by.”
Neal appeared behind him and Emma stepped into the house.
“Please ensure you and Ms. Swan are responsible.” He nodded at his son and pulled on his jacket. “I apologize but I have business to attend to and cannot stay to entertain.”
“Oh well, it was nice seeing you.”
When the door closed, she turned toward Neal. “Um is he cool with me being here while he’s gone?”
Neal laughed. “Yeah, he even gave me a nice bottle of whiskey for us to share.”
“Woah.”
“Yeah, he can be cool sometimes. So, what do you say we crack this thing open?”
Emma was finally feeling a bit less claustrophobic being in Neal’s house. No one to mill about or force food upon her. In fact, Neal hadn’t even asked her how she was doing.
She grabbed the glass from his hand and quickly tipped her head back, feeling the warmth hit her stomach immediately. She grabbed the glass and poured a second shot.
“Woah, not messing around.”
“I just need to drink and not have people ask me how I am.” She sighed.
“Ah feeling suffocated then?”
“How do people think I’m doing?” She rolls her eyes. “Oh, I’m just fine, I’m great, who needs a father anyhow, I’ve done it without one before.” She parroted.
“Woah, Emma.”
“Don’t, Neal. I don’t need someone to comfort me. Just someone to pour the damn drinks.”
“I can do a lot more than pour your drinks.” His hand lands on her thigh.
She stands up and starts pacing the room, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and taking a swig. “I want to do something exciting.”
“Well, I was just trying to do something exciting but you’re now over there and I’m still sitting here.”
“Not sexual. Exciting, dangerous. Something that reminds you that you are alive.”
“Ok I think you’ve had enough to drink.” He tries to take the bottle, but Emma yanks it away from him.
“I’m serious. I just want to feel like I’m still here.”
“Well, I do have to do an errand tonight that might fit in that category.”
“Errand? How does that even fit in the category of exciting.”
“Well, it’s not exactly a… shall we say legal errand.”
Emma sits down next to him wide eyed. “Neal what are you talking about?”
“Never mind, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She takes another long drink of the whiskey. Why would Neal be doing something illegal?
“What exactly is this errand for?”
“Ems, I shouldn’t talk about it.”
“No, I want to know. Maybe I’m interested.”
“That’s the thing Em, you are not the type to be interested in this sort of thing.”
“Hey, I can be the type.”
“That’s the whiskey speaking.” He pauses. “Look, it’s not a big deal, I just have to pick something up that was taken from my dad.”
She stares at him. “Oh my God someone stole something from the pawn shop?”
He nods. “Uh yeah, something like that. And my dad asked me to get it back for him.”
“Well, if it belongs to your dad, then whoever took it should just give it back.”
“Exactly but well, they don’t actually want to give it back, so I have to kind of…” He looks at his feet, as if he doesn’t want to proceed. “I gotta go steal it, Em.”
Shit.
Her phone buzzes and she looks to see that she has missed a lot of messages.
K: Everyone is going to bed.
Will: Are you going to sleep all the bloody time now?
K: Are you alright in there?
David: I know you are taking this hard Princess but know that we are here when you want to talk.
Will: I was going to come talk to you, but Killian is being an arse and told me to leave you alone. Just checking to see how you are doing. I’ll talk to you in the morning.
K: I guess you aren’t coming out of your room anytime soon so...
K: Goodnight, Swan!
She takes another long swig. “I’m in. Let’s go get your dad’s stuff back.”
“Em, maybe this is a bad idea.”
“Bullshit, if you can do it, I can do it. Besides, I asked to do something exciting.”
“Ok but, you can’t tell anyone we did this ok?”
“Well duh.” She jumps off the couch and puts the whiskey down. “So, do we wear all black or?”
He laughs, digging into a small cabinet and putting something in his jacket pocket. “Nah what you are wearing is fine.”
She frowns. “Oh bummer.”
He grabs a black beanie from the cabinet and tosses it to her. “Fine, wear this so your hair doesn’t stand out so brightly. It can be your disguise.”
She giggles and pulls the beanie on, not sure exactly what the hell she is getting into. But she needs this. She needs to feel like this isn’t the end of her. That she is still breathing, and life goes on.
~
He can’t stop tossing and turning in his bed. His mind won’t turn off. It’s been a whirlwind for the last week since their father had passed. Everyone had stayed busy to ensure that all the tasks were completed.
Grief was tricky.
Everyone had a way of coping with it. Robin and Arthur had thrown themselves into work by getting all the details and chores done, August was slowly drowning himself in a bottle, David chose to drown in love by spending every moment with his girlfriend, and Will had cried until there was nothing left. He had been taking it hard after having found his father on the floor of the kitchen.
For Emma, she seemed to choose avoidance. He had barely seen the girl cry since their father’s passing.
Killian found that for him, grief was about figuring out your next move. Where it would take you from that exact moment in time.
And his next move was going to take money and a fair share of it if he was going to get his own place with Milah and ever have hopes of buying that ship.
He was already working 5 times a week at the harbor as a bloody pirate captain on the “Jolly Roger”. He got to wear some authentic leather pirate gear and he had to admit he looked dashing in the guyliner. But the job wasn’t going to get him the ship he needed to get out of here.
So, he got desperate.
He knew working as bag man on the side for Gold wasn’t exactly a hero move. Tossing his lot in with Gold was suicide to many who had done so before him. But Gold paid him double what he was making on the Jolly and offered him an extra bonus a few times to muscle some blokes who had refused to pay what they owed Gold. Gold was a private man, so his services had stayed out of the public eye which was exactly how Killian had wanted it.
Besides, as soon as he had the money he needed, he was done with Gold. He wasn’t proud of what he was doing, but it was a means to an end. And he would leave this town as soon as he had the money he needed anyway.
Everything he had planned was moving along except for one piece.
Emma.
Emma had gotten herself involved with Gold’s son, Neal.
Killian needed to make sure she got away from him before he left town. Neal was trouble. He was cocky, reckless, and selfish. Traits that were only going to get Emma hurt.
But he didn’t know how to tell Emma the truth about Neal without exposing himself to his own lies.
He looked over at the clock, 1:15am.
He groaned and pushed his covers off, sitting up on the bed and rubbing his eyes.
Maybe he could drown himself with that bottle for a little bit. Maybe it would allow him to find sleep.
Tugging on his boxers, he quietly padded through the house and opened the cupboard door, pulling the bottle of rum from the shelf.
“Can’t sleep either?”
Killian almost dropped the bottle to the ground at the sound of David’s voice.
“Geez, mate, not a good idea to sneak up on a man in the dark.” He stepped forward to see David sitting in a chair by the fireplace, a drink in his hand.
“Guess we had the same idea.” He held up his glass, the dark amber liquid swirling at the bottom.
“Aye.” Killian took the seat opposite with his own glass in hand, taking a sip of the liquid.
“Can’t believe he’s gone.” He sighed.
“What will become of this place?” David continued. “Everyone will be graduated adults next year.”
Killian’s raised his brow. “You really think Will is going to graduate?”
David laughed. “We’ll get him there.”
“Aye.” He nodded and then took another drink.
“We should probably talk about that though. You know, Will and Emma. They are both almost 17. Old enough that they will let them still live here, but I guess one of us will need to be their guardian until they graduate.”
“Hadn’t thought of that, but I haven’t the means to move out yet anyway.”
“Yeah, I was actually going to talk to everyone about this before Marco passed but,” He paused. “I had planned to move out in a month. I’m going to start working at the station for Sheriff Graham and they offered me a place close by in town.”
“Oh, wow that’s great news, Dave.”
“It was. But now.”
“No, you should still stay on your plan. Besides, I know you and Mary Margaret would love some privacy now and then.”
“Well, there is that.” He smirked.
“I’m happy for you, mate. You deserve happiness.”
“So, do you brother.”
He swirled his glass before taking another sip. “I’m a pirate captain five days a week, what more could I ask for?”
David stood to refill his glass. “You make a good point there…” he paused at the window. “Did Emma go out?”
“No, she’s where I left her hours ago, brooding in her room.”
“No, she’s not.” He turned, gesturing to the window. “Bug’s gone.”
~
This was the dumbest idea she had ever had.
Emma’s hands were numb from standing in the cold. Neal was hunched over the door, with small tools sticking into the lock as he jiggled them, but nothing was opening the door.
“Do you even know what you are doing?”
“Of course, I do, but I can’t do it with you yammering in my ear.”
“It’s just that you’ve been at this for a while and the door is still closed. I thought the point of this mission was for us to get inside.”
“Ok smart ass, you think you can better?”
She laughed. “Um no. I mean. I’ve never broken into anything in my life.” She stared at the tools sticking out of the lock.
Live a little Emma.
“Ok fine, move over.” She shoved his hands away from the tools. “So, what am I supposed to do?”
“I was joking.”
“Just tell me what to do.”
“Ok that wrench there, you push that in. Then take the pick, you need to move the pins around until they click into place and you can open the door.”
Emma pushed with her hands and could feel the pins moving around like a puzzle in her head. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt lost in her thoughts when she felt the door push.
“Ems, you did it, you’re a natural.” He beamed.
“Great, I have a future in criminal behavior.”
He pulled her up to him and kissed her before tugging her into the dark of the building.
“Just stay here ok. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait Neal, you aren’t just going to leave me here are you?”
“I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into the black and Emma stood silently in the corner of the shop they were in.
Suddenly she heard voices coming from the direction Neal went.
“Neal?” she whispered.
She stepped forward into the dark. “Neal?”
Suddenly she heard his voice and saw him running toward her, “Run Emma, Run.”
Emma turned to leave but felt something grab her from behind. She kicked backward, making contact with whatever had grabbed her, knocking them backwards, the shimmer of something long and silver in the man’s hands.
Neal ran past her, grabbing the door and yanking it open. “Emma let’s go.”
She tripped as she tried to run to the door, falling into something that caused her to land on her knees. She knew she would have bruises tomorrow. Dragging herself up, she stumbled forward in the dark before hands grabbed her ankles and she fell forward again. “Neal! Help!”
“You can’t steal from me.” She heard a gruff voice coming from the man holding her ankle and she kicked at his hand with her free foot. It was enough to free herself and she clamored to her knees and onto her feet to grab the door handle, yanking it open.
Just as she stepped into the alley, she felt a pain in her side, a burning sting that made her scream out in pain. She shoved as hard as she could with her hands at the man standing behind her, a long silver knife falling to the ground as his back hit the concrete wall behind him.
Run Emma, Run!
She didn’t look back; she didn’t stop running until she got to the road. She looked around and realized she was completely alone. No man trying to grab her. And definitely no sign of Neal.
She knew she needed hide. To get out of the open. She looked around until she got her bearings and headed toward where she had parked her car on the back street.
She expected to find Neal at the car, but he was gone.
He left me.
She pulled the door open and locked the door behind her, looking around to make sure no one had followed her.
She breathed heavily, her hand clutching her side which was still burning. When she pulled back her hand, all she saw was blood.
And then everything went black.
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can you please give some reasons why you don’t think Caryl is done after this? Don’t see how it can happen now unfortunately.
not to invalidate your feelings, but are we even watching the same show, my dude?? 
there has never, in ten years, one decade, 87,600 hours, been a more caryl heavy season of twd
i’ve done several in-depth analysis posts, and i gotta get to bed soon, so here are the highlights just to ease your silly lil’ mind (under the cut bc it ended up being a stream-of-conscious novel):
first and foremost, we have a new showrunner, who is a woman, which is always a plus for our female characters bc we have someone who will make sure they’re three-dimensional people, and that was a big problem with caryl for a while. gimple put carol into a “i was abused but i got strong but now i’m sad bc i killed ppl :(((” corner and let her collect dust, and tbf, he also put daryl in the “i was abused but i got strong but now i must wallow in my Man Pain in silence” corner, and then he kind of just forgot about how they had an amazing chemistry and focused more on his three season-long dick jerking contest between Rapey Man #3 and Main Lead Male Grappling With Loss and Morality. so that helps us out a lot!
now in terms of the actual show, i’m just gonna like, list things without giving analysis or clarifying bc i’m tired and have already explained a lot of it, but if you need me to explain again you can just message me and i’ll answer it when i’m awake:
caryl’s storyline has been set up to sail since the start of s9
carol and zeke were always going to breakup, and she only married him for henry and escapism bc she’s never dealt with any of her trauma ever in her entire life and there is a lot of it
the title cards indicated as such
carol’s wardrobe change between the time jump in s9, and between “the calm before” and “the storm” indicated as such
carol’s wardrobe this season also indicates where her mindset is rn
kang is rewriting carol’s storyline, and in effect, rewriting caryl’s storyline, in order to right the wrongs done before, and that’s why it’s taking so long, bc she wants to tell it properly instead of just having them smash in the middle of a field with no build-up
not that we’d be against it, but i personally prefer it this way
carol trusts daryl as a father figure more than zeke. see: her asking him to watch over henry bc zeke is too idealistic, and “so what if i dream about you being my husband and henry’s dad sometimes? shut up”
carol went to visit daryl in the woods to escape her marriage that she didn’t actually want to be in anyway
carol got daryl to stop isolating himself
daryl then proceeded to do all his therapy homework and has settled down and is like “cool, time to finally get with carol!”
except kang is telling carol’s storyline properly
which means that carol is in CrazyTown rn, bc she has 1. been in an abusive marriage 2. seen her daughter walk out of a barn as a walker and then get shot in the head 3. seen a small girl stand over her dead sister while wielding a bloody knife and smiling like a maniac 3b. after having promised her late father she’d protect her 4. had to shoot said maniac girl in the head 4b. after having promised her late father she’d protect her 5. made a connection with a small boy against all efforts to the contrary and then he got eaten 6. finally saved a child and thought she finally broke her curse and got into a rly boring weird fantasy marriage in order to protect him only to see his reanimated head chilling out on a pike among a line of all of her dead friends
AND SHE REALLY NEEDS TO DEAL WITH THOSE THINGS, OK?
so she has #cracked and is spiraling, and daryl’s entire storyline this season has been “shit carol is trying to smuggle guns to rendezvous with the enemy,  wait shit lydia is getting beat up let me help her, wait shit carol is kidnapping whisperers and torturing them in the basement, wait shit lydia ran away, wait shit...” etc
SO HE HAS A REASON TO BE KIND OF TIRED RN 
but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care, it just means that all this tension is leading up to something INTENSE between the two of them. it’s going to come to a head Big Time, and i am v v v hype
anyway back to random things that have been pro-caryl this season
they keep juxtaposing zeke and con with carol and daryl, and caryl pick each other every time
carol’s choice of weapon suddenly being a bow
flower symbolism
boat symbolism
new mexico
acorns and bracelets and their subsequent #meanings
THE FUCKING DREAM WHY ARE WE NOT STILL OBSESSING OVER THAT DREAM THAT DREAM WAS SO IMPORTANT???
she. literally. dreamt. she. was. married. to. daryl. dixon. in. literal. canon. and. stated. it. wasn’t. the. first. time. and. that. she. thinks. the. dreams. are. good. like wtfffff
daryl does not have feelings for con and is very explicit about it
the fact that it keeps coming up is delicious tho
“follow my voice” vs “follow my light”
“i’m the one you talk to”
the repetitive use of we/us
“if i only knew what you told me i wouldn’t know shit”
“i NEED you to stay”
alpha/beta foils and parallels
repetitive reminders of both carol and daryl’s past abuse
did i mention the dream where she dreamt that she was married to daryl bc i feel like that might have been important
carol having sex with zeke
yes that’s a good thing
yes i’m entertained by it and totally chill
we are at the very top of the roller coaster, lads, we are tying up all the strings, we are making sure carol and zeke have closure, we’re gonna get (probably in an irritating murder way) closure with connie, and Then There Were Two
10.14 is called “look at the flowers” for christsake
“i could never hate you” ok fanfic trope number 6 billion
all of it
literally all of it
this has been a crazy romantic, tumultuous season, and some really meticulous and purposeful and beautiful storytelling and it is about to pay tf off
until i am given E X P L I C I T reason not to:
I WILL STAN KANG
and also, just to add, there are characters and plotlines that exist outside of caryl, and the writers have to incorporate all of them. there are gonna be scenes with them, there are gonna be things that happen that seem negative but that make sense when you look at them on a larger scale. you cannot, CANNOT, look at each individual thing and take it at face value. we have a showrunner who knows how to write now, so little things mean bigger things, and not always the things you expect
i know this is not the proper use of bullet points
it is past my bedtime
but anyway caryl is coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
stay hype, stan kang, and get daryl to call carol sweetheart 2k20
the end
-diz
p.s. remember that dream? wild huh
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