#and also i have given them a whole dialogue bit about how they would like to give each other hickeys so i am considering being nice | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

soaps-mohawk · 4 months

Text

Cherry Red, Crimson Blood

Chapter 2 - Adjustments

Summary: You're struggling a bit in your adjustment to your new life, and you're finding some of them are easier to get along with than others. Luckily you're not in it alone.

Pairing: Poly 141 x reader

Warnings: Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics, Alternate Universe, a/b/o typical classism and sexism, military inaccuracies, let's be real this is so unrealistic but it's a/b/o you're not here for accuracy.

Author's Note: I'm so just overwhelmed with the attention this fic has gotten, but not in a bad way I promise! I'm just surprised is all. Thank you everyone that has read and reblogged and commented. I love all of you and so, since I have no self control, here is Chapter 2. Lots more world building and dialogue in this part, but I promise good stuff is coming.

Also I promise Soap will get his time soon. He's just the hardest for me to write, and you'll see why in this chapter.

MASTERLIST | <- Previous | Next ->

“She was lying.”

Price doesn’t bother looking up as a dark figure leans against the wall next to him. He stares out at the empty space between the barracks and the mess hall, not much traffic between the buildings during this time of day.

“About how she got to the institute.”

“Or at least not telling the whole truth.” Price says, turning to look at Simon. “Something tells me she’d talk if we asked.”

“She’s soft.” Simon says, letting his gaze drift off into the distance.

“She’s a civilian.” Price counters. “The CIA did a little training, but she’ll need some work. We can’t leave her completely defenseless...”

Simon turns to face him again. “There’s something else.”

Price pushes himself off the wall, heading back inside. Simon follows, the two of them making their way down the hall to his office. “There’s hundreds of American military bases across the world, thousands of regiments they could have chosen from, and yet, they sent her to us.”

Simon closes the door behind him as Price sinks into his desk chair. “You think it was deliberate?”

Price pulls open one of the drawers, pulling out the file Kate had given him. “Laswell said the CIA has had eyes on her for years.” He slides it across his desk to Simon. “There’s a lot of why's in this situation, and a lot of how’s. Like, if what she’s saying is true, how did a Staff Sergeant get his daughter into FIOT practically overnight?”

Simon glances up at him over the top of the file. “You think there’s something else going on with this Initiative.”

Price nods. “I do. I think there’s more than one experiment being run, and we’re the guinea pigs.”

You stare at your reflection in the mirror as you run a comb through your damp hair. You look tired, the dark circles that have plagued your face for the last few weeks looking even darker now. It’s been a long day, so long it’s hard to believe it’s only been a matter of hours since you boarded the helicopter in London.

Your new pack had made themselves scarce after dinner, leaving you to your own devices. You had been left alone after lunch too, and you had spent that time laying in bed, resting after the overwhelming scenting.

You’d played back the last few hours in your mind. Leaving London in the helicopter, meeting your new Pack Alpha, Laswell leaving, meeting your new pack, the scenting. You had plenty to think about, to stress over, and you had been surprised when the knock came at your door for dinner. You were equally surprised to see Gaz and Soap waiting for you.

You’d been sandwiched between them again as you walked to the mess. It was busier for dinner, and the eyes weren’t quite so quick to look away with the alphas missing. You know they have to be curious, with an omega on base following around two members of a SpecOps team, smelling like them. You know what they were probably thinking of you, what they were thinking your presence means.

You’ve begun to understand Price’s rules a bit more.

Price and Ghost had joined you as Soap said they would, coming in late from whatever they had been busy doing. You had been seated next to Soap, Ghost taking his other side while Price sat next to Gaz. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to you how close Soap and Ghost sat, and you remembered the look in Ghost’s eyes when Soap had approached to scent you. How his defensive stare had turned icy, threatening even, when he’d gotten close to you as if you were capable of hurting Soap. It had been a silent warning. If you tried anything, you’d have him to contend with.

Ghost is territorial, more so than most alphas. You had seen it just a bit in Price, but only because you had been watching for it. Ghost was silent in his claim, but his gaze spoke of his territorialism. As you sat at the table with them, you slowly felt the stares lessen, the curious alphas and betas around you slowly turning away from your table until you were left in peace. You knew it was all thanks to a well-pointed glare from the second alpha at the table.

They’d escorted you back to the barracks before disappearing again, leaving you alone. You’d opted for a shower to try and clear your head, exhaustion weighing heavy in your limbs but your mind was racing too much to really get any rest. You haven’t been told what their normal schedules entail or even what they look like, but you expect an early morning tomorrow. Since Price had said at least one of them needed to escort you around base, that likely meant you were going to be constrained to their schedules.

You know even when they’re not away, their days are probably full of training and briefings, much like yours had been for three months. They’re probably up early, earlier than you’d like to be, and then they go non-stop all day.

You wonder if they ever get a break.

Maybe this is a break for them.

You sit on the edge of the bed after you finish your routine, eyeing the pillows and blankets stacked at the end. They’re military issue, not as soft or as plush as you might have preferred. This is your new normal, though. Comfort isn’t exactly going to be a high priority.

Tears prick your eyes as you run your hand over the comforter. You know it’s the exhaustion, the stress of the day beginning to weigh on you. You’re worn out, and that’s causing a slip in the tight reins you keep on your mood. Omegas and alphas were both prone to being moody, and those who were unrestrained could lose control quickly. Alphas were quick to anger, while omegas could get depressed very easily. Exhaustion drives both to being grumpy, though alphas will descend into irritability and anger, while omegas will get whiny and weepy.

You hate it, how easily you can be driven to cry. How easily you can lose control. It makes you feel weak and helpless, but that’s partially by design. It was supposed to be your pack’s job to fix that, to give you that support and take care of you.

Except you don’t know your pack.

What would they do if you approached them like this, all teary and needy? Would instinct take over and snap them into their roles? Or would they give you an awkward pat on the back and leave you to take care of yourself? Gaz would help you, you think. He had slipped into that role so easily during the scenting. Your fingers twitch on the bedspread, your mind telling you to seek him out, track him down, even if it’s only to catch a whiff of his scent again.

Your phone screen lights up where it’s sitting on the nightstand, drawing your attention from the door. Kate had given you the phone just this morning before you left the hotel. It had her number on it, as well as your pack’s. You’d half expected to find messages already from them when you’d turned it on, but there had been none. They had kept that boundary of meeting in person first.

You pick up the phone, checking the message. It’s from Price.

Breakfast is at 0700. I’ll take you to see the Omega Specialist after.

Seven o’clock. It’s not terribly early. You’d eaten around the same time at the institute. You’ll get to meet the Omega Specialist as well tomorrow. You’ve met plenty of them in your time as an omega, but something about the idea of having someone there who knows, who understands is comforting to you.

You send a reply in acknowledgement for tomorrow’s plan before setting an alarm for tomorrow morning. There’s an uneasy feeling under your skin, a tickling in the back of your mind that you can’t seem to relax. Your eyes are drawn to the desk where the shirts still sit, and before you know it you’re moving to the desk, letting your fingers trail over each one.

You grab Price’s shirt, taking it back to your bed. You curl up with your back facing the door, holding the shirt against your chest, letting the scent of tobacco smoke and whiskey fill your nose. Silent tears slide down your cheeks, your face pressing into the pillow to muffle your sobs.

As you try to muffle your tears, you miss the sound of boots pausing in front of your door, the person on the other side standing there for a moment before continuing down the hall.

You let out a groan as your alarm pulls you from sleep. You had drifted in and out for a few hours before finally managing to get a couple precious hours of sleep. You’d woken when the others got up. You knew they were trying to be quiet but you had heard them shuffling around, talking quietly amongst each other. You’re normally a fairly deep sleeper, but in a new place you always struggle.

A new place surrounded by almost complete strangers.

You turn off your alarm, sitting up and rubbing your eyes. They’re burning a bit, the exhaustion still weighing heavy on your shoulders. You pad to the bathroom, splashing cold water on your face to try and make yourself at least look more alive than you feel. The last thing you need is them getting worried about you. That’s attention you’re not sure you want right now.

You blink sleepily at your closet, trying to decide what to wear. Were you allowed to wear anything? You didn’t have much besides the basics, since the only thing you had been allowed to wear at the institute was its uniform and the clothes they provided. Then when you were with the CIA, they had provided clothes for you to wear as well. The things you have now had been bought by Kate before you left D.C.

Everyone on base wore similar variants of the same uniform. You’re not military, though, so you don’t think those rules apply to you. No one had said anything about your state of dress yesterday. You opt for comfort, knowing you’d likely find out soon if you were going to be forced to dress differently too.

You’re tying your shoes when the knock sounds on your door. You had heard the others moving around, footsteps in the hallway, opening and closing doors, quiet voices talking and Soap laughing at something. You know it’s one of them, yet the nervous tickle at the back of your head is back.

Soap is leaning casually against your doorframe when you open the door. His face lights up in a smile as he sees you. “Morning, bonny. Sleep alright?”

“Yeah.” You shrug. “Tossed and turned for a while.”

“We didne keep ye up did we?” He asks, his smile faltering just a bit.

You shake your head. “No, I never sleep well the first few nights in a new place.”

“Well, our beds are always open if ye need something more comfortable.” He winks at you playfully.

Your face warms at his words, the double meaning not lost on you. You were right, Soap was going to be the one to push your boundaries the most.

Gaz elbows him in the ribs as he passes. “She’s been here a day, mate, don’t go scaring her off now.” He leans on the other side of your doorframe, giving you a smile. “Morning.”

“Morning.” You say, your face still warm from Soap’s teasing.

“You hungry?” Gaz asks.

You nod. You do feel hungry this morning, likely a side effect from your emotional night last night. You step out of your room, the two betas stepping back to give you space as you close the door behind you. Ghost is leaning against the wall next to his door, his eyes watching with the typical cautious disinterest that seemed to be his default setting.

Gaz and Soap sandwich you between them again, close enough their arms brush yours as you walk. It was almost as if they could sense your inner turmoil, the neediness still tugging at the back of your mind. If Ghost hadn’t been trailing the three of you, you might have been tempted to give in and grip their sleeves, or slip your hands into theirs. How would Ghost respond to such a bold move? The mental image of your body flying through the air as he punted you into next week almost makes you laugh.

Price is already seated at a table frowning at his phone over a cup of coffee. Gaz and Soap load up your tray for you, something you’re getting used to rather quickly. It was expected from the alphas, or at least Price, to coddle you a bit, but it seemed the betas were more than happy to get in on it as well.

The thought makes something flutter in your chest.

You’re seated between Gaz and Price again once you reach the table, Price greeting you with a tired smile. “Morning. Sleep alright?”

“Not really.” You say honestly. “New place and all. I’ll settle in eventually.”

“Maybe the Omega Specialist can give you some ideas to help.” He glances at his watch before looking at you as you spoon a heaping spoonful of porridge into your mouth. “Take your time. We have until 8.”

You listen to the conversation at the table as you eat, Gaz and Soap talking about a football game that’s on tonight. You feel eyes on you, your skin prickling a bit. You glance up, half expecting Ghost to be glowering at you again, but his gaze is focused on his eggs. You cast a quick glance around the mess, turning slightly to look behind you.

Three tables over, you find the gaze of some soldier focused on you. You haven’t paid much attention to anyone else on the base, but then again you haven’t had much time or reason to yet. You can’t read the expression on his face as he stares at you, but you feel a shiver run down your spine as your eyes meet his.

He stares at you for a few seconds before his gaze moves slightly past you, quickly dropping back to his plate. You turn around, finding Ghost staring just past your head. His eyes are narrowed, his scent coming off stronger than it had been. You can practically see his hackles raised, the warning clear in the air. You feel the urge to curl in on yourself, the threatening aura radiating from him makes you want to cower.

It doesn't go unnoticed by those at the table either.

“Easy, Ghost.” Price says calmly, Gaz turning to follow his line of sight.

“Bloody wanker.” Ghost grumbles before rising from the table.

You turn back around, but the soldier that had been staring at you is gone.

You nervously pick at your sweatshirt sleeves as you sit in the plastic chair next to Price. You’re still on edge a bit from what happened at breakfast. It wasn’t so much being stared at that bothered you. After now three meals in the mess, you’ve almost come to expect it. It’s Ghost’s reaction that has your mind still reeling.

“I’ve always hated the medical center.” Price says with a sigh as he leans his head back against the wall. “It smells too sterile. Makes my nose burn. Reminds me of too many close calls.”

His words jar you a bit. You hadn’t even thought about that aspect of his job. He’s used to getting shot at, to getting into fights, running head first into danger that would send most running the other way. You wonder how many times he’s been the one with the close call, and how many others he’s had to watch have their own.

You wonder how many times he’s had to make that trip to tell someone’s family.

You’re pulled from your thoughts as the door across from you opens. Price pushes himself to his feet, and you follow as a kind looking woman steps out. You breathe a quiet sigh of relief. You don’t have anything against male Omega Specialists, but you were already surrounded by men. Sure you have Kate, but she’s half a world away.

She’s tall, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Despite being a doctor she’s dressed casually, no white coat or gloves to be seen. Her eyes are light green and crease in the corners when she smiles.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Keller.” She introduces herself, shaking Price’s hand.

American. You think, silently breathing another sigh of relief. Kate really had pulled some strings with this one.

“Captain John Price.” He says.

You introduce yourself when she turns to you, shaking your hand. Her voice is soft and gentle, the scent of beta coming off her in waves.

“Come on in,” She says, leading you into the office. “Sit anywhere you like. Make yourselves comfortable.”

Her office isn’t what you expected either. Instead of the harsh fluorescents, the lighting is softer, warmer. There’s paintings and posters all over the walls, along with several plants. There’s a desk covered in books and paperwork in one corner and a bookshelf with several books packed into it in the other. There’s a couch on one wall, and a couple plush looking chairs on the other.

You move to one of the chairs, sinking down onto it. It envelops you in softness, and you feel as if you might sink into it and never be able to get out. After a day of hard plastic and stiff blankets, it nearly makes you weep.

Price takes the chair next to you, Dr. Keller sitting on the couch across from you. The office smells good, a light, neutral scent in the air aside from the pure almondy scent of beta.

“Alright,” She says, holding a tablet and a stack of files in her lap. “I always like to start by introducing myself and telling you a bit about me, then we’ll get into the important stuff.”

She jumps into telling you about herself. Where she grew up: California. Where she studied: UC Berkeley. What institute she did her residency at: West Coast Training Academy. Where she worked last before Kate called her in: some poor inner city institute in LA.

“Now, on to the more important stuff.” She says, turning on the tablet. “I got your medical records yesterday. You’re quite the healthy girl.”

“Yes ma'am. I have good genes. That’s what my mom used to say.” You respond.

Dr. Keller smiles. “Hardly even been sick. Your heats are all normal, too, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.” You say. “Except for a three month stretch two years ago.”

“Yes, the heat sickness epidemic that hit America.” She says.

You nod. “FIOT locked down completely and everyone was supposed to quarantine, but I heard a rumor that it was one of the beta food workers. She snuck out to see her alpha boyfriend and brought it in with her. We only think it was her because she disappeared not long after the first omega got sick.”

Dr. Keller hums. “I know not everyone was so willing to take it seriously. You made a full recovery, though. No lasting side effects, I’m sure thanks to the state of the art medical facilities that FIOT keeps.”

“Yes, ma’am. We were lucky it was just a mild case.”

“That is lucky.” She flips through something on the tablet. “Your lab results all look phenomenal. I like to do checkups monthly, just to ensure everything is working as it should. I know the CIA gave you quite the cocktail of vaccines while you were with them.” She turns her gaze to Price. “Captain Price, I’ve sent in a request for your team’s vaccination records as well. I’m sure you’ve had everything under the sun, but I’d like to ensure there’s no risk of any accidental exposures.”

“I don’t see a problem with that.” Price says. “If RAMC gives you any trouble, just let me know. I’ll get them for you myself.”

“Thank you, Captain.” She says. “One last bit in this part and then we can move on. I see FIOT issued an implant before you left, as is standard practice.”

You nod. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. You’ve had more than enough time for it to take effect so we won’t have to worry about any accidental slip ups during your next heat.”

Your cheeks warm at her words a bit. You’ve been trying to avoid thinking about that inevitable side of things.

“And your next heat is roughly six weeks away.” She says, looking at the calendar. “Don't be surprised if it comes a little earlier now that you’re being exposed to alphas again.”

Your stomach twists nervously at that thought. It was common for heats to be triggered early after exposure to alphas, especially after such a prolonged period without exposure to them. It wasn’t likely to start tomorrow, but you knew it could jump a week or two due to the natural pheromones alphas put off, and the instinctual call for the alpha/omega bond.

“You’re planning for the claiming to take place during the heat?” Dr. Keller asks.

“Yes, that’s the plan.” Price says.

“That is the most natural time for it.” Dr. Keller says. “Of course, it is always up to omega preference in the end.”

You don’t miss the way her eyes dart to you for a second.

“Now that that’s over with,” She says, putting the tablet to the side. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to do this next part with just the two of us.”

A beat of silence passes before you realize she’s asking you. Her eyes are on you, and so are Price’s. She’s asking you. She’s asking you what you want.

“I-I guess...yeah.” You stutter over your words, not quite sure how to answer. Is there a wrong answer? Would Price be upset if you said yes? Would Dr. Keller be upset if you said no? Your eyes turn to Price, trying to gauge his reaction.

“It’s up to you.” He says softly. “We’re here for you.”

You sit up a little straighter at his words, nodding your head. “Y-Yes. That’s okay.”

Price pushes himself to stand up. “I’ll be right outside.”

The air inside the room seems to lighten as he leaves, Dr. Keller reclining back on the couch as the door clicks shut. She pulls out a stack of papers and a pen before she looks at you. Your palms are sweating, and you’re starting to think you’d like the chair to swallow you whole.

“This next part can feel a bit personal, but I just want you to know that everything you say in here is as confidential as you’d like it to be. Captain Price is right. I am an Omega Specialist, I’m here for you. I’m not just a doctor, I’m here to help you in all aspects of being an omega. I know FIOT teaches a lot, mainly obedience and compliance. I want to make it clear that you can be honest with me.” She holds up the stack of papers. “No one is going to see these papers but me, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.” You nod.

“You don’t have to be so formal with me.” She smiles. “You can call me Dr. Keller, or Doc. You could even call me an evil bitch if you want, it won’t phase me any.”

You can’t help the small smile that forms on your face.

“I’ve got some questions I’d like to ask you. They’re a sort of tracker to measure how well you’re settling in and bonding with your new pack. I’d like to meet once a week until your next heat just to see how well you’re settling in. After that we can meet as often as you’d like. Sound good?”

You nod in approval. It sounds like a lot, but you also know you’re going to have a lot of downtime, even with your pack on base.

“Alright, let’s get started. How are you settling in? I know it’s barely been a day, but I want to know how you feel here.”

Your heart begins to pound in your chest. How do you feel here? How do you feel after being pulled from the institute and taken to a training facility where you found out you’d be moving halfway across the world to be a military pack’s omega.

This wasn’t what you had expected when you reached the age where you became an available omega. Most omegas at FIOT came from rich, powerful, important families and your purpose there was to be groomed into the perfect omega to return right back to that world.

You thought you would be chosen quickly. You had expected it. With your scores and your high ratings and your status, you were what most alphas dreamed of. Yet, the years had passed and though there was some interest, nothing had ever come of it. You weren’t alone in it. There were others like you, those who excelled at being an omega, but then seemed to stall in the selection once they came of age.

Of course, now that you look back on it, you can’t help but think it might have been done on purpose. The Omega Initiative was new, you had been told during your first briefing explaining why you were taken to a remote building somewhere outside of D.C. and greeted not by your new pack, but swathes of CIA agents. Military packs were nothing new, but they wanted to utilize the naturally formed packs and make them stronger and more stable by adding in omegas.

Only highly skilled omegas were considered for the program, but of course you had no say in whether you were going to partake or not. They chose the omegas and they decided where you would end up.

It wasn’t that dissimilar from being chosen from an Institute. At FIOT there was a screening process packs had to go through to be determined eligible to have access to omega files. Then the pack would have to send a neutral emissary, usually a beta, to meet the omegas in person and choose on behalf of the alpha. Most institutes don’t have that strenuous of a process, and some don’t have a process at all. In some, alphas themselves could walk in and choose an omega without even so much as a background check.

Omegas never got a say. As soon as you were handed over to an institute, the ability to choose was taken from you. Whoever your caretakers were as a pup signed over their rights to you and the institute became your legal guardian. They dictated your life up until you joined a new pack.

You had hoped it would be someone rich. If nothing else, you’d get to live a cushy life and you’d never have to worry about anything. When they told you what was really going to happen to you, you had almost cried. You did cry, late at night curled up in your bunk after hours of training and briefings.

Kate picked you for this pack specifically because she knew them and she knew you could handle them and their world.

Maybe if you had been worse at being an omega, things would have been better for you.

Or maybe they would have been worse.

“It’s...different.” You finally say, picking at your sleeves again. “But in a lot of ways, it’s similar to The Institute. It always takes me time to settle somewhere new.”

“Me too.” Dr. Keller says, writing some things down. “And with the time change, it’s just so much harder. I feel like I should be in bed right now, but it’s 8 AM. Have you started nesting?”

You shake your head. “No. I don’t even feel the urge to.”

“That’s fine.” She says, writing something else down. “In truth, I’d be more concerned if you were.”

Your eyebrows raise a bit. “Why?”

“During an adjustment period for an omega, especially in a new pack, there can be something that happens called false instincts. The sudden urge to nest, a drive to bond with pack members too soon, false heats. It’s usually brought on by a sudden change in environment, like when omegas are taken from a place where they’ve spent sometimes years with no exposure to alphas and are suddenly thrown into a space with a lot of alphas. It’s more common in larger packs where you have alphas, betas, and other omegas.”

“Could it happen in smaller packs?” You ask.

“It’s possible, though rare. It can cause some serious issues down the line when those instincts are actually supposed to begin to show up, like adjustment sickness. I’d say if you’re starting to feel the urge to nest or bond before the first week is up, then come talk to me, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.” You nod.

She smiles, turning the page. “How far have you gotten with the bonding process?”

“Just the scenting yesterday.” You answer.

“And how did that go?”

You pick at the loose thread on your sweatshirt. “Fine. It was...overwhelming.”

“They can be.” Dr. Keller says. “The new members of your pack, how are you getting along with them?”

“Fine, I guess.” You shrug. “I like Soap and Gaz. Price, he’s...he’s nice, and Ghost...” You trail off, not sure how to answer. If she’d asked before breakfast you might have said he doesn't like you. He doesn’t want you to be part of his pack, but after what happened at breakfast...

You can’t be sure he did it for you. He could have thought that soldier was staring at Soap or Gaz or even Price. He could have thought the soldier was staring at him and was annoyed with it. He had scared off the stares at every meal you’d eaten together, but how often did they get stared at? You couldn’t know if that was a daily occurrence and he was just growing sick of it.

He could be annoyed with you because you’re drawing in the stares.

“I don’t know what to think about him yet.” You answer.

She writes something else down, going through a few more questions with you. How is your appetite? How are you sleeping? Are you taking care of your needs? Do you have any concerns?

Before you know it the hour has passed and you’re walking out the door into the fluorescent, sterile hallway of the medical center.

“Remember, you have my number. If you need anything, I’m here for you.” Dr. Keller says as you part ways.

You walk with Price out of the medical center, glad to be out in the fresh air. It’s not particularly warm, and the sun is hidden behind a layer of clouds, but it’s better than the medical center.

“What do you think?” Price asks as you follow him back to the barracks.

“I think it went well.” You say, mind still reeling from an eventful morning. You’re beginning to feel your restless night.

“Do you like Dr. Keller?” He asks, probing a bit.

You nod. “Yes, sir. She’s nice.”

“Good.” He says, opening the door to the barracks for you. “I have to leave to oversee training for the next few hours.” He glances at his watch. “One of us will come get you for lunch.”

You nod. Of course you’d find yourself alone again between meals. You’re beginning to notice a pattern. “Yes, sir.”

His hand is warm as it settles on your shoulder, squeezing gently. You’re surprised by the touch, as small as it is. Were they too fighting the urge to get close to you, like you had this morning?

You can still feel the warmth of his hand even after it’s disappeared and he’s gone. You head for the rec room, deciding to avoid the constricting feeling of being shut in your room for the time being.

The TV is on when you enter, but the room is empty, playing some morning talk show. You move to the bookshelf against the wall, letting your eyes scan the titles. There's a surprising lack of military-based books shoved into the packed shelf. Of course there's a handful of old manuals and handbooks, nothing that you're particularly concerned about needing to read. You let out a sigh, standing on your toes to reach a Brandon Sanderson novel.

You look around the room but the remote for the TV seems to be missing, and it’s too high on the wall for you to reach the power button, so you leave it on, curling up on one corner of the couch as you begin to read.

You’re not sure how much time has passed when something moves in your peripheral. The sun has come out briefly, shining in through the windows. You look up from the book, suddenly feeling very small under Ghost’s gaze. His eyes are narrowed as he stares down at you, a thousand things flashing through your mind. Are you in his spot? Is this his book? Had he come to the rec room hoping to be alone and here you are infringing in his space?

“Come on.” He says, his voice rougher than it had been this morning. “Lunch.”

He’s already turned and heading out the door as you scramble up, leaving the book on the coffee table as you hurry to catch up to him. His steps are quick and wide, and you find yourself having to almost speedwalk to keep up with him.

Your thoughts are jumbled as you follow him out of the barracks and off towards the mess. Why would they send him to get you? Was he the only one available? Yesterday they had time before lunch to return to the barracks, or had that only been because of you? Or were they perhaps hoping this might offer a chance for the two of you to bond a bit?

Or were they entirely blind to Ghost’s disinterest in your existence?

Perhaps they were used to it. After so long together, perhaps they just thought it was normal. If you were brave enough to bring it up, would you get a “oh that’s just how he is” in response?

You can’t see the others as you enter the mess, Ghost leading you to the line. He stands behind you like a hulking shadow, his scent covered by the smell of gunpowder and sweat. You fill your own tray for the first time, grabbing things that look appetizing. You’ll have to get used to it eventually, even though the others insisted on doing it for the time being. When they’re not here, you’ll have to do it yourself.

Ghost leads you to an empty table, and you opt to sit across from him. You begin to eat, taking big bites to avoid the need for conversation, not that you really thought Ghost would strike up a conversation with you. Your eyes flicker around the room nervously, glancing over the entrances time and time again, waiting for the others to arrive.

“Stop twitching. They’re on their way.”

The words cut straight through you and you snap your head around to face Ghost. He’s got his mask pulled up to his nose, your eyes immediately drawn to the exposed pale skin. There’s light stubble on his chin. You remember how that had felt on your own skin when he’d scented you. He’s blonde, you think, or at least has light hair judging by the color of the stubble. There’s a scar on his chin, almost hidden by the stubble.

Your face warms as you realize you’ve been caught in your nervous fretting. Of course, you should have known he would take notice. There’s not a lot they don’t notice, you think. Though, when your survival depends on noticing even the smallest detail of anything or anyone...

You jump as a tray is set down next to yours, your eyes snapping up to see Gaz with a smile on his face. You turn back to look at Ghost, his mask pulled back down but you see a slight shake to his shoulders for a second.

Was he...laughing at you?

Your attention is drawn from him as Gaz takes a seat next to you, sitting close enough his arm is almost brushing yours. Price and Soap taking their usual spots as well. You’re beginning to pick up on the patterns that existed around them, and their own patterns. Perhaps that will make it easier for you to fit yourself into their lives. You knew from the start they weren’t going to change to fit you into their lives. They couldn’t. You were going to have to find a way to fit into their lives.

Gaz walks you back to the barracks after lunch, abnormally quiet as he watches you warily. He walks you to your door, leaning on the doorframe as you step inside.

“You alright?” He asks, big brown eyes shining with worry as he looks you over.

“Yeah.” You nod, shifting on your feet. “Just tired. I think I might take a nap.”

He nods, and you’re sure he doesn't quite believe you, but he doesn’t press any. “Alright. Happy napping.”

You close the door as he leaves, sinking down onto the edge of the bed with a sigh. It’s been a long day and it’s only lunch. Between the probing questions from Dr. Keller and the few minutes you had spent alone with Ghost you feel exhausted. It was good to know you weren’t entirely broken in your lack of nesting instincts, and perhaps your turmoil with belonging in this place wasn’t quite as abnormal as you thought.

What to do about Ghost.

He’s said more words to you today than he did in the entirety of the previous day. In fact, you think today might be the first time he’s spoken to you at all. You know he doesn’t approve of you, and you’d go so far as to say he doesn’t like you. You can imagine he fought the hardest against you being added to the pack. They were fine without you. It didn’t take a genius to see that.

You’re an outsider. A civilian. A risk.

An unneeded disruption to their lives.

You pull your phone out of your pocket, staring at the dark screen. You know Ghost might never accept you. He won’t want to claim you, he won’t mate you, but...perhaps you might just get him to tolerate you.

You unlock your phone, sending a quick text to Kate.

“Can you get a book for me?”

You regret your decision momentarily as you step into the rec room. Gaz and Soap are lounged on the couch, beer bottles open on the coffee table. The TV is playing ads, their attention on each other. You almost feel as if you’re infringing upon a private moment as they laugh, half tempted to race back to your room and hide until your hunger draws you out or someone breaks down the door to get to you.

“Hey!” Gaz’s face lights up when he sees you, Soap turning to look at you.

“Hey, bonny!” His face lights up with a smile.

“Do you mind if I join you?” You ask, shifting nervously on your feet.

“Not at all.” Gaz says, patting the empty spot on the couch next to him. “You want a beer?”

You shake your head. “No thank you. Never could get past the taste.”

Soap throws his head back as he laughs, slapping Gaz’s shoulder. “I keep tellin’ ye!”

“Yet you keep drinking it!” Gaz attempts to defend himself.

“Cause it’s th’ only thing we got!” Soap argues, leaning around Gaz to stare at you. “So, ye a football fan, bonny?”

“Well, I watched the World Cup a couple times as a kid.” You say. “My household was more of an American football and baseball household. Two of my older brothers played soccer, though they never were very serious about it. Mostly just did it to fulfill my dad’s physical activity extracurricular requirement.”

“What did you do to fulfill that requirement?” Gaz asks as he takes a sip of his beer.

“Softball. I was...not good at it.” You laugh. “I could catch and throw, but I don’t think I hit the ball a single time I was at bat.”

Both of them chuckle, turning back to the TV as the ad ends. “Don’t worry, we’ll turn you into a proper football fan yet.” Gaz says.

You watch the game with them, and it doesn’t take you long to realize they’re rooting for opposing teams. They explain things to you here and there in between yelling at the TV and each other. Despite how loud they are, you find yourself relaxing further and further, the tension from the last two days easing away, even as the two betas yell at each other over a soccer game.

Gaz tenses for a second as he feels a sudden weight on his shoulder. He turns his head slightly, noticing you’ve fallen asleep, your head drooping onto his shoulder. His lips quirk up in a smile as he gently nudges Soap.

“Wha?” Soap asks, turning to look at him.

He jerks his head to the side, leaning back just slightly so Soap can see. A grin breaks out on the younger man’s face and he pulls out his phone. “Aww, look a’ that. Think we should wake ‘er and get ‘er tae bed?”

“Nah.” Gaz says. “Let her sleep for now. She probably needs it.”

You sleep soundly through overtime, Gaz not moving until the post game is over, letting you sleep as long as possible. He knows you have to be tired, after the last few days and the time difference. You looked tired today, with dark circles and droopy eyes. He hates to wake you, but he knows you can’t sleep on the couch.

He nudges you gently, trying to rouse you. “Hey.” He nudges you again, your head finally lifting off his shoulder.

You blink sleepily, rubbing at your eyes. You make a quiet sound in protest of being awake, eyes drooping closed again.

“Come on, love.” He says, keeping you upright. “It’s time for bed.”

You cover your yawn with your hand, blinking at him sleepily. “Bed?” You murmur sleepily, Gaz smiling softly at how adorable you are in this state.

“Yeah, you’ll be more comfortable in bed.” He pushes himself to stand, hands on your arms to pull you up.

You make another sound in protest, nearly falling against his chest when he gets you on your feet. He wraps an arm around you, letting you lean on him as he guides you back to bed, Soap cleaning up the mess they had made.

You’re more awake once you get to your door, blinking up at him with bleary eyes. “‘S fun.” You murmur, rubbing your eyes. “Should do that more often.”

“You’re always welcome to join us.” He says. “Get some rest. You’ve had a long week.” He leans forward, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “Night, love.”

He waits until your door is closed before heading back down the hallway towards the rec room, a small smile on his face.

Taglist:

@bobaprint, @ashy-kit @anunintentionalwriter @mockerycrow @hayleybarnesx, @protokosmonaut @fruitymoonbeams-blog, @blue-blue0, @hindi-si-ikay @hanellokey, @thatonepupkai @redwites @kattiieee, @141trash @ghostlythots, @lothiriel9, @dillybuggg, @beebeechaos, @konigsmissedbeltloop, @kaoyamamegami, @thychuvaluswife, @idkkkkkkk8363, @wallwriterstuff, @bisky-business, @smile-child-13, @anomiatartle, @dangerkittenclaws, @bless-my-demons, @mystic60, @evolutionarry, @red-hydra @lunaetiicsaystuff, @cadotoast, @linaangel, @rancid-wasp, @codsunshine, @thriving-n-jiving, @slayerx147, @ferns-fics

(If you'd like to join the taglist, let me know!)

#call of duty #call of duty fanfic #141 x reader #task force 141 x reader #poly 141 #john price x reader #captain john price x reader #captain price x reader #gaz x reader #kyle garrick x reader #kyle gaz garrick x reader #john mactavish x reader #soap mactavish x reader #soap x reader #ghost x reader #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley x reader #a/b/o #alpha beta omega dynamics

2K notes · View notes

jonnywaistcoat · 4 months

Note

Hi Jonny! Re: your latest post, did you mean that guest writers are also involved with the metaplot portions (with Alice and Sam ans Gwen and the others), or just the case file/"statement" parts? Inquiring minds would like to know. Really enjoying Protocol so far!

So, the detailed answer to this is very complicated, as it's all about parallel production pipelines and varies quite a lot between guest writers, as they all had different schedules/availability. We'll probably dive into it more on a Q&A at some point.

Broadly speaking, the shape and story of the overall metaplot is all me and Alex. We'd have loved to get some of the guest writers involved for a bit more of a writers room feel, but time and logistics simply didn't allow for it. Once we'd sculpted the seasons, we sent out the episode briefs to the guest writers, along with a prompt for a possible case. Some of them used the prompts, others created the whole thing themselves. A few did a pass at the dialogue scenes, but most of these ended up being heavily redone by me and Alex when we were going through and weaving the story together and making the characterisation consistent (it was all being written pretty much simultaneously, so when drafting the guest writers really only had the pilot to go on in terms of writing the cast). Then there were a couple rounds of feedback/edits for the cases, and me and Alex adding in bits to tie the case into the metaplot a bit more and make the tone a bit more cohesive.

Like I say, it varied heavily based on the guest writer (and which of myself or Alex had the first edit pass on an episode), but if you're trying to guess how likely any given event/line was to be written by someone specific, the chances are generally something like

Overall story: 50% Jonny, 50% Alex

"Written by Jonny" episode: 80% Jonny, 20% Alex

"Written by Alex"episode: 80% Alex, 20% Jonny

Guest writer episode (case): 80% Guest, 10% Alex, 10% Jonny

Guest writer episode (scenes): 20% Guest, 40% Alex, 40% Jonny

To be clear, these numbers are purely illustrative, but they give you a rough idea of at least how it seemed from my end. April's been doing a fantastic job of organising the production, so apologies to her if I'm talking fully out my ass :p

#plucking numbers out of the air #collaborative writing is complicated #but very rewarding #tmagp #the magnus protocol

2K notes · View notes

phoenixkaptain · 2 months

Text

I love Stardew Valley and I love the community and I love how we all bond over pixelated chickens like we’re seventy-year-old women bonding over grandchildren- - -

But I get so annoyed with the character hate, like!!! All the characters are great!! All the romance-able characters are great!! I keep getting recommended videos about the bad parts of characters and I just want to scream!!

Penny: lovely. Charming. Kids are a big part of dating her because she teaches kids, of course she’s going to react a bit badly if you hate children. She is trying to teach kids so that they don’t have to have the same life she and her mother do, why do you hate this woman who is just anxious?

Shane: lovely. Charming. Perfect. “He still drinks after we get married, which ruins the whole story” NO. No. Shane is an alcoholic, and a severe one. If he quit cold-turkey, he would fucking die. “Harvey pumped his stomach” HE WOULD DIE. And I don’t care that my husband is messy, he has his own room and I don’t have to go over there!!

Maru: lovely. Charming. She hates working. She loves working on machines. She thinks about machines to build for you to make life easier. She’s adorable. She has a complicated relationship with her brother and I want to help them fix it goddangit because I love fictional siblings.

Elliott: lovely. Charming. An artist. He only leaves his home for like four hours a day. I can really relate to the desire to shave off all of one’s own hair. I feel that in my bones. Also, is friends with Willy and I fucking love Willy so A++

Leah: “she’s a lesbian” She’s fucking bi stop erasing bi rep in Bi Rep the Video Game

Sam: he’s a musician and a skater. This is what the perfect man looks like.

Emily: just the most charming. She has a complicated relationship with her sister because she takes care of her. She works at a saloon, how can someone not love a literal saloon worker? She’s crazy, she’s wild, she’s a flower child, I’m in love with her

Harvey: glasses. Doctor man. Occasionally puts on headphones to not so subtly hint that he doesn’t want to talk to you. This is what the perfect man looks lik-

Abigail: I don’t see a lot of people complain about Abigal, but I’ve seen a few and it just feels like- you guys love Sebastian so much but don’t like Abigail? What type of double standard is this?

Alex: everyone always says not to date him if your playing a female farmer, but honestly, his dialogue only cuts out parts if you play male. Like, he still says he felt different about you from day one even if you’re playing as a girl. The character affected the most by your gender choice in regards to dating Alex is George, and if you’ve already befriended George, he’ll apologize for being mean about your sexuality when he never even said anything mean about your sexuality, which is kind of funny

I never see people complain about Haley or Sebastian, which is fair, because Haley has a cute character arc and Sebastian loves frogs (this is what the perfect man lo-) My only problem is that people praise these two but rag on everyone else when I feel like all the characters are balanced pretty evenly in terms of good-bad traits.

Which trait is which is dependent on the person playing the game anyway, so when someone like me plays, I can’t help but find the characters perfect because I’m very forgiving when it comes to fictional characters’ undesirable traits. I mean, my favourite trait of all is stupidity, pure and unbridled, I’m talking facepalm-inducing, groan-worthy, the type of character people complain about the most; the type of stupid that makes people stop enjoying things. How can I dislike these characters who are cute and a bit awkward and so ready to bed the first hot farmer they come across even when that farmer sifts through their trash and passes out three steps away from their own house and drinks mayonnaise and would eat hay given half the chance. Like come on. They’re all moron-sexual. I can relate to that.

In conclusion: your favourite bachelor and/or bachelorette is as wonderful as you think they are and screw the people who try to tell you otherwise. The characters are great because they appeal to different people. Enjoy the game and enjoy the dating and I swear to God if I see another person say that certain farm layouts are bad because they don’t make enough money- the game doesn’t have a time limit! You can make as much money as you want! You could sell one sap everyday and nothing else and you would still be able to make it to however much money you desire to have. There’s not really a fast way to make ten billion gold, that doesn’t mean that the farm layouts you don’t like are bad and yes I’m ranting just because I love the slopes of the mining farm its layout is chamrjng and picturesque and provides a unique challenge to decorating and placing buildings and it’s actually the BEST farm layout because I just decided so and-!

Stardew Valley is a great game, 10/10 would recommend, and the new update is already great because I found carrot seeds and I like carrots :)

#the inane ramblings of a madman #stardew valley #stardew valley bachelors #stardew valley bachelorettes #i can judge all the characters pretty equally #because my fave partner is krobus #i love my creechur #he gives me hugs!!!#he waddles around my house!!!#i love this guy i want to give him all the hugs in the world #no joke he moved in and i hugged him like twenty times just because i could #krobus for bestest guy in the game #i love shane and penny was my first wifey and sebastian puts frogs in my home #but krobus man #🤌🤌🤌#long post #ignore me i’ve been seeing things with mine eyes and it doth cause me great bother

303 notes · View notes

feral--darling · 3 months

Text

In response to this post (https://www.tumblr.com/messiahzzz/742694448371236864/im-not-here-to-claim-that-wyll-doesnt-deserve?source=share) I saw the other day claiming that it's hostile for Wyll fans to "demand" more content for him, and that objecting to his lack of content is "misinformation"... I have so many thoughts.

I have a bit of an issue with calling a difference in opinion "misinformation" as though Wyll fans are lying about the fact that Wyll, as a character, is underdeveloped. I see a lot of people online who use data to back up their own opinion by manipulating statistics in a way that supports their argument without looking at the information holistically.

Sure, we can look at the length of time that Wyll spends on screen, and look at the number of words he was allowed to say throughout the game so say "haha! See, he gets plenty of screen time so you can all shut up about how his character has been done a disservice!" However, there is a huge problem when all of his "screen time" is purely used as 1) a method of moving along the main storyline because he is the *Son*of the Duke of Baldur's Gate which is the titular city in which the majority of the game is set or 2) as a backdrop to focus on other characters' stories (I'm looking at Mizora and Karlach here).

If we were to separate out scenes in which Wyll is present and scenes which revolve entirely around Wyll as a person and not in reaction to someone else, the number of "scenes" he has, according to the list given by the OP, goes down significantly.

1. The "Meeting Karlach" scene is almost entirely about Karlach and the outcome can be decided by the player character without input from Wyll. I would only very loosely call that a "Wyll scene" because it shares very heavily with Karlach.

2. Similarly, the "Mizora scene" has things happening to Wyll but much of the conversation happens between the player character and Mizora - they talk over Wyll as though he is a naughty pet who peed on the floor and the grownups have to decide how they're going to clean up his mess. This is, again, a case where Wyll is in the scene and things are happening to him, but we don't get any one-on-one scenes with him exploring how he feels about it, or what even happens to him. We get a line from the Narrator which tells us that it - his torture- feels like an eternity for him but lasts only seconds for us. What happened to him during that time? How long was he being tortured? Was he actually dragged through all Nine levels of Hell during that time? Did he meet all the devils at each level and get tortured by them? We don't know any of this, because the scene was not focused on what was happening to Wyll. It was focused on Mizora and how she was able to punish him as his Patron.

3. The tiefling party dialogue, where he spends most of the time complaining about looking like a tiefling regardless of whether he is speaking to a tiefling, in a party filled with tieflings, is... well. It's certainly a choice that was made by his devs and story writers. Do I think Wyll would spend the whole tiefling party complaining about how people who look like *tieflings* don't deserve to party because they have horns and claws? No. Do I think the brief kiss you can get from him (only if you choose one very specific dialogue choice and none others) is enough to balance out the rest of this inconsistency for his content in Act one? Also no. But I hope this doesn't come off as too "hostile" and "antagonistic" in the face of the fact that he was allowed to talk for such a long time! We should be grateful that we're even able to hear his voice for all that time even if the quality of what he's saying is subpar, right?

4. The dance scene is cute. It's one of the only scenes that is all about Wyll as a person and a character. He doesn't really talk about himself much, but at least Mizora isn't there so that's... something, right?

5. More scenes where Mizora is the focus. She comes to camp to demand that the player character frees Zariel's asset (and they can talk over Wyll the entire time with basically no input from him. Nothing about his background, past, present feelings, hopes for the future.) Do people understand the difference between being present in a scene and being the *focus* of a scene? A good example would be the difference between a scene where Mizora is talking to the player, vs when Elminster comes to tell Gale to kill himself. During the Elminster conversation, the player character is there, but it is clearly a conversation between Gale and Elminster. There is the option for Tav to leave the conversation to Gale (an option which is also there for Lae'Zel scenes with the Githyanki) and the interaction can go forward without much input from the player. We are watching two people converse. When Mizora visits camp, she talks to the player character and talks about Wyll like he's a dog. She is very much the focus of the scene and Wyll is a prop or background character.

6. The fact that Mizora joins the camp and there is no option for Wyll or Tav to tell her to leave is NOT A GOOD THING?? This just further goes to prove how much of Wyll's "storyline" is actually just a Mizora storyline. If we separated the parts of Wyll's content that revolve SOLELY AROUND the white-coded devil woman who enslaved him as a child (17 yo is a child to me, argue with someone else about that) ... he has the dance scene, the proposal scene (where the intimate scene happens off screen because the devs really just didn't want to animate a sex scene with a black character because who wants to see *that*?) and maybe a kiss at the tiefling party if you choose the one very particular dialogue tree that leads to it. (Honestly, why do you start that by saying "surely you know why I came out here to find you" ?? It doesn't intuitively lead to a kiss in my mind. AND THEN you have to roll a persuasion check to convince him to kiss you?? WHAT?? WHY?)

I, as a Wyll fan, have an issue with the fact that he has so few scenes AND that most of them are of such low quality that they can barely be counted as his scenes at all. So stretching the numbers to include any scene in which Wyll is even present in the scene... It's just not good enough to combat the obvious lack of care that has gone into the writing of his character. Sorry if that seems ungrateful, or "hostile" 🙃

On to the issue of his autonomy: I don't know if OP just hasn't played with Gale, Karlach or Astarion in their party to the end. Karlach's autonomy is that if you kill Gortash without her in your party, she will get angry and leave. Gale can decide to keep the crown and become a god whether or not you want him to, even if you tell him you don't want him to. Although Astarion needs the player character's help to complete the ascension ritual, if you don't help him and can't convince him that foregoing ascension is the right thing to do, **he will leave your party with all the equipment and gear that he has on him**. I don't know what he says if you complete the Cazador quest without him in your party but I can assume there will be some furious words and he will possibly leave. Why? Because his writers have given him enough personality and agency that I pretty much can guess how he would react to any situation. They are all clearly able to show their own wants or needs regarding their own personal storyline.

Wyll, on the other hand, apparently has no wants or needs. If you go to the Iron Throne and let his dad die, he is fine (i.e. he wont leave the party and there will be no actual consequences). If you choose to reject Mizoras' contract and condemn his father to death, he is fine. If you choose to damn him to an eternity of serving Mizora in return for his father's life, he is fine. The only circumstance in which he will leave the party is if you go the evil route and kill all the tieflings in Act one. Regarding his own personal storyline though? Tav makes all his decisions without discussing it with him and he apparently has no problem with that. There is no option to say "hey man, I've only known you for a couple weeks. Maybe you should decide how your life and future will play out?"

Again. It's an issue of both quality AND quantity.

Finally, the issue with the "Ansur quest" being moved from Wylls main storyline to a side quest is symbolic of the rest of the issues we have with Wyll content. Many of Wyll's quests could be moved to the "main quest" or "side quest" subheadings without affecting the game at all. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT. The companion quests should be PERSONAL to the COMPANIONS. The fact that THE ANSUR QUEST ABOUT THE EMPEROR was the CULMINATION of Wyll's PERSONAL QUEST was a travesty. The developers would not have been able to easily move any other companion's ENDING TO THEIR PERSONAL QUEST to a side mission without having any impact on the game because there was care an thought put into the other companions' personal quests that wasn't put into Wyll's personal quest. I'm hoping that they're gearing up to give Wyll an actual ending to his personal quest and that's why they've changed that quest to a side mission. HOWEVER, it has been months since the "full release" of the game. There have been 6 patches and 19 hotfixes and there have been no material improvements to Wyll's content and characterisation. The hope is getting spread thin.

Honestly, I feel that people who are only willing to point out the "hostility" of fans who noticed a discrepancy between the quality and quantity of content devoted to a black character and feel "scared" to interact with the fans of said black character should stay in their own fandom spaces where they feel safe. No one is asking for a saviour from the fandom who feels uncomfortable owning up to their own racism and anti-blackness (hint: we live in a world that was colonised by white supremacists hundreds of years ago. We ALL have racism and anti-blackness to unpack). No one is asking fans to interact with Wyll when they don't want to. No one is asking the fans to stop being racist. We're asking the *developers and writers* to stop being racist. To listen to black voices if they feel the need to throw a black character into their game which is mostly marketed to straight white men. And give Wyll the content he deserves.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #baldurs gate wyll #larian studios #larian critical

99 notes · View notes

noneorother · 8 months

Text

The grand unified theory of Good Omens S2 hangs on - you guessed it - a double meaning (and art). *Part 3*

Part 1 l Part 2 l Part 3 l Part 4 l Part 5 l The End? This is major spoilers for season 3 territory. You have been warned. I'm also going to split this into parts because wow, I have so many ✨Clues✨! My peeps, before I show you the prestige, we need to discuss Maggie. Maggie is SO WEIRD.

Right up top we get her telling us this. Who loves something since they were a baby? Since you were a kid sure, but how can you remember loving something since you were a baby?

This one's fun. The double meaning here is 1) I was a huge uptight nerd so I never went to parties and/or 2) I wasn't a human teenager so I never got to go to your earth parties. But check out when Nina and Maggie *first* meet in her coffee shop. We spend a lot of time in this scene, because it's framed as a meet cute, but it's also full of weird dialogue.

So i'm not a writer, someone feel free to tell me I'm wrong, but Maggie is remembered by Nina AS A COFFEE. She IS a skinny latte. This works on two levels again. 1) You're not important enough to me to remember you as a person, just as an order. 2) You do not fit into my memory of people I know, but subconsciously I remember you as NOT a regular human.

And then again when she leaves the shop, Nina isn't paying attention and just sort of subconsciously replies:

Again, two meanings. Maggie is unimportant to her, Maggie is also a *coffee*.

Which is weird, because as far as I can tell Maggie never drinks a coffee, or anything for that matter. Sure she orders stuff in the shop, and is offered food and alcohol, but we never see her actually drink or eat any of it. She stirs the tea but never takes a sip.

So what IS Maggie then? Many people have pointed out that Maggie and Nina are a coffeeshop AU of our heroes. Their visual presentation seems to be screaming Nina = Crowley! and Maggie = Aziraphale! And they *work* on opposite sides of the street and everything! So is Maggie just a stand-in for Aziraphale then, to make the parable work? Cool, then what's the parable?

Uh oh. What possible AU fiction ends up with the main love interests breaking up with their toxic ex, dancing in a ball and fighting demons together and then... just not ending up together? An AU written by kind of a bad writer who wants to show the two lovebirds he's trying to separate that it will never work. Oh hey look The Metatron is here:

Now, I think the same guy that has been adding bits and pieces in the past would have no problem adding stuff and/or people in the present to make a point. Maggie also seems to be pretty sure about quite a lot of things that I wouldn't be sure about, given the context.

Maggie's knows it's not going to do any good, but she has to tell them anyway? Tell them what, that Nina and Maggie talked it out and never ended up together? Wow, what a great message. Thanks Maggie. Maggie isn't just a downer of an example though, remember she's also A COFFEE! Shoved in Aziraphael's and Crowley's faces, asking them to take it and help her since the beginning.

There's a concept in magic tricks called a force, where it seems like someone has free will ; to put a card anywhere in a deck, or pick a number, or volunteer, but actually the outcome has been chosen for them by the magician for the trick to work. The actual trick is about getting the person to think they've freely chosen to participate in the trick, not the act of revealing the card. The real trick was never making Maggie and Nina try to fall in love, it was getting Aziraphael to think he had freely chosen to help Maggie get this whole thing going. And if we know one thing about Aziraphael, it's that he's actually terrible at magic. Aziraphael has been primed to take the coffee in S2E6, because he's been taking the coffee the whole season. Ready for the prestige reveal after the force? We're going right to The Metatron in Part 4.

#good omens prime #go season 2 #go3 #good omens s3 #good omens meta #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 #go meta #ineffable husbands #art director talks good omens #nina and maggie #coffeeshop au #go spoilers

187 notes · View notes

thankssteveditko · 8 months

Text

An overly-simplified introduction to the "Marvel Method"

As I begin to cover Amazing Spider-Man, it's probably worth explaining the basics of this up front for anyone who isn't aware. Over on Thanks Ken Penders, I talk about comics generally made the "traditional" way. A writer writes a detailed script, and then it's handed off to the art team to draw what the script says, with perhaps a bit of interpretive wiggle room. That's what you'd expect, right? But back in the '60s, Marvel developed their own creative method that came to be known as... well, the Marvel Method.

It varied from team to team, but the steps of the Marvel Method (or the "plot script" method) are basically this:

The "writer" comes up with a basic synopsis of the story - not a full script

The "penciller" takes that synopsis and draws up the full story, determining the specifics of what actually happens

Finally, the art is handed back to the writer, who comes up with the dialogue based on what the artist has decided to draw

The argument for this process is that a comic artist should be a strong storyteller as well, and that the artist may know how to break the action down panel-by-panel better than a writer would. In reality, the actual explanation is that Stan Lee was working on way too many comics at once in the '60s, and so he offloaded some of the burden of storytelling to artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko because... well, they were Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

It should probably not be surprising that the Marvel Method created a lot of problems.

For one, before long, Kirby and Ditko were basically just plotting whatever they wanted for Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, then letting Stan fill in the dialogue... but Stan was still getting full credit as writer, making it seem like the stories were all his doing. (He would eventually start giving them credit for plotting.) Even when Stan did give them plots like he was supposed to, sometimes they'd go do something wildly different anyway. Stan intended to make the Green Goblin an ancient Egyptian demon found in a sarcophagus by a film crew, but Steve basically went "I'm not fucking doing that" and made him a human villain instead. Can you imagine a comic artist going completely rogue like that in this day and age? It's nuts! (But also, Ditko made the right call there.)

Because Stan had the final say when it came to dialogue, this also meant he could directly contradict the intent of the artists. Hilariously, I've found anecdotes about Stan both watering down Ditko's later attempts at giving Peter increasingly Objectivist views and also removing references to the ideology from a Kirby story seemingly intended to make fun of Objectivism. But while these examples are funny when juxtaposed like that, on the whole it's easy to understand how frustrating it is to have Stan Lee swooping in at the last second and completely changing the meaning of your story, then taking the credit for writing it.

Is it any wonder that Kirby and Ditko both felt they weren't being given their proper due at Marvel and left for other companies? Is it any wonder that the Marvel Method isn't used much in the modern age? But, basically, this method and this history of improper crediting are why it's difficult to determine exactly who did what for a lot of these early Spider-Man comics.

#tsd post

164 notes · View notes

qcomicsy · 1 year

Note

Can you recommend me Bat-family comics to read? Which ones do you like?

Heyyyy

I would love it!

DISCLAIMER Keep it in mind I'm a casual reader so my recs might not be the most "this is every issue they are together" or the longer ones!

Let's go!

Nightwing Annual (2021)

Dick & Jason focused

This is one of my favorites ones, it focuses both on Dick's and Jason's relationship as Nightwing and Robin and Nightwing and Redhood.

The dialogue is great, it has both it's really funny bits but also it's really wholesome ones too and it's full of heartwarming moments.

I absolutely adore the way they handled Jason's Robin and acknowledges his violent tendencies without judging him for it.

He's not portrayed as overly violent and reckless, but as a normal teenager having normal reactions given the things he had to deal in his past.

My only criticism is Jason still using that damn crowbar and how they kept drawing Jason shorter the Nightwing for some reason. I think it was to accentuate the "younger brother" feelings so I forgive the artist.

But it's pretty funny.

He looks like short king

Robin & Batman

Dick and Bruce focused

Oh this one, this one it's so good, so good that almost got me crying on main. It's really beautiful, I wasn't the happiest about how Bruce behaved in the comic but it sat in a fine line between Batdad and Bruce being a terrible father/person.

He is too hard on Robin, but it does show how he is trying.

The art is goddamn beautiful, it has this watercolor look and Dick looks adorable on it.

It also goes deep in Dick's feelings about being Robin and what the whole jig means to him, it respects Dick's relationship with Bruce but without forgetting the love and the moments he had with his biological parents.

It's just really, really beautiful a goddamn gem between the many mistakes DC made with them two over those years.

For Tim and Dick I really recomend

Batman Prodigal (1997)

Note: The whole Kightfell series is great for a Bruce, Dick and Tim read. But for the Batfam feelings you can just focus on the prodigal parts.

Dick & Tim focused

The only thing you have to know to catch up is:

1. Bane broke Bruce's back and dignity, so he couldn't still be Batman.

2. Bruce found this guy called Jean Paul to fill for him.

3. Jean Paul is really fond of punishment and violence and the good ol' catholic guilt and goes a little bit too rogue as Batman for everyone's liking.

4. Bruce takes the mantle from Jean Paul and Nightwing fills in as the new Batman.

I wouldn't call exactly brotherly, because Tim wasn't adopted yet in the timeline this was published but they have their moments.

New talent show case DC #2017

Duke and Jason focused

This is also a favorite. It's a short story (unfortunately) but every single panel is worth it.

It's basically Jason and Duke bonding moment between fighting some baddies and trying to clown each other on the way. 10/10 will always recommend.

Robin War

Jason & Duke & Tim & Damian

This one I've read recently (thanks for the asks people send to me y'all are fucking great) and it's a fucking gem!

It shows a lot their chemistry on the battlefield and how fucking insufferable they are around each other. It also shows how Duke fits as a glove in this family of misfits even before he was an "official member".

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual (2016)

Another Dick and Jason focused!

Oh this one is a blast! It's also short but so goddamn worth it.

Basically Jason and the Outlaws take a gig in a circus to track a Russian bad guy (gotta love how comic books have unresolved beef with Russians until this day) and well it's a circus so how can you not call Dick Grayson?

It's so goddamn funny and it has no right to be, it still very close in the timeline where Dick and Jason were definitely not in good terms, so their interaction it's all so awkward it's a joy really.

We also got a flashback from Dick and younger Jason as Robin and even the flashback is goddamn hilarious, I had such a good time reading it that it's a must read!

Now If you're here for the angst and general feeling's™

I would highly recomend.

- Nightwing Year One (Dick & Bruce)

- Death in the Family (Jason & Bruce & Dick)

- Red Robin (Tim & Dick / Tim & Damian / minor Tim & Cass / Minor Bruce & Tim)

Note: They don't interact much in this run but when they do it hurts. It also can help you understand the beef between Tim and Damian better.

- DCeased (Damian & Steph / minor Damian & Jason)

Note: It's one of the many, many DC aus but this one it's 'pretty' good (it's decent). Definitely not Batfam focused but it has one one of my favorite Damian & Steph and Damian & Jason moments. It's also one of my favorites interpretations of Damian, he gets so sweet and mature over the years that passes in the comic and his reencounter with Jason rewrote my entirety brain chemistry.

Also unfortunately it's the only time we get to see Damian and Jon growing up together :')

- DC vs Vampires ( Batfam (except Duke because the author is a coward) specially Tim & Damian / Tim & Bruce / Dick & Almost everybody )

Note: Okay this one is a fucking car ride, a rollercoaster if you will. And it's ANOTHER DC au but with yeah VAMPIRES so buckle-up.

It has major Batfam moments in the beginning and one of my favorites Damian and Tim interactions ( I'm going to reblog this with photos because Tumblr is homophobic and isn't letting me add more photos in this shit >:( ). Then it goes hard on betrayal (trying not to add spoilers) and feelings so get ready for that.

I unfortunately haven't finished (casual reader remember that) but the much I've read was really, really good.

It gets very silly very quickly as anything made with vampires generally get (unfortunately they butchered a lot of characters in the process) but if you go head empty no thoughts you're going to get a lot of fun and maybe cry a little if that gets to you.

So this is it. I'm sure it has more of it, and oh I'm sure I forgot a lot of it but those are the one's I could get from the top of my head, so I hope you and all of the people who want to follow it have fun!

Also if someone has more recommendations feel free to add on the Reblogs, I'm sure I will eat it up anyway.

#Also Batman & Robin Eternal has been sitting on my reading list for a while (lies)#I've read a couple of panels today and seems really promising a lot of Dick & Tim & Jason interactions! Harpey my dear is also there to!#so if someone wants to check go for it I for now have no idea of it's good or not #but I will (eventually (*I hope*))#q asks #q recommendations #batfamily #batfam #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #alfred pennyworth

386 notes · View notes

swiftllama · 1 month

Text

February Compliments ☀️🔍

[Compliments Masterlist]

And we’re back! Not a lot of compliments for February but still a few so hope this will still be a fun read for you guys 😊

So let’s get into it!

February 2024

Is This Video Offensive?

So in this Flashback they reacted to the classic Molester Moon sketch 🌚 We only got one little compliment in this video but I thought I would still include it :-

They’re introducing the video dressed as moons and give each other a fist bump and saying how they’re ‘ordinary guys’.

Ian: “Anyway, um,” *turns to Anthony* “You look good.”

Another little moment I wanted to include which I just found silly :-

[talking about the pandora’s boxes that were opened with the creation of certain emojis]

Anthony: “The peach emoji…”

Ian: “Yeah, yeah, for real.”

Anthony: “The eggplant emoji.”

Ian: “Or do you think the creator was like, ‘let’s make it look a little bit like an ass’.”

Anthony: [laughs] “It’s a little bit like a huge, purple dong.”

Ian: “Dong.”

Anthony: “Yeah, I don’t know, honestly, it makes me wonder if they did know because it’s too perfectly ass-shaped. Right? I feel like it’s more ass-shaped than a peach. Peaches are not that perfectly ass-shaped.”

Ian: “I don’t know, bro.”

Anthony: “You seen some pretty good looking peaches?”

Ian: “I’ve seen some pretty tantalising peaches in my day.”

Anthony: [swallows] “Oh yeah? Do you want me to call you by my name?”

Ian: [in a low voice] “I could eat a peach for hours.”

👀 who doesn’t love Ian and Anthony flirting with each other 🤭🍑

What’s Wrong With This Soup? (Culinary Crimes)

So the boys went on Courtney’s new show and it did not disappoint with giving us some complimentary bestie moments :-

Courtney: “So the theme of this episode is foods that are vegan, gluten free, with some other twists as well.”

Ian: “So a lot of nuts, I presume.”

Anthony: “Besties with testes.”

Ian: “We are besties with testes, so.”

Silly but still quite cute, can never resist them calling each other besties even when it involves testes 😅

[First recipe they are given is soup]

Ian: “I have recently became a soup boy.”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Courtney: “You have become a soup boy. That’s why I put you on this case.”

Ian: “Oh, is that right? Yes.”

Anthony: “I have been a good soup boy’s assistant.”

Ian: “Yeah.”

Anthony: “Ian invited me over. I was a little assistant, we made some soup.”

Ian: “We made soup together.”

Anthony: “It was really good.”

WHAT?! THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER! IAN INVITED HIM OVER AND THEY MADE SOUP TOGETHER!!! ANTHONY WAS HIS SOUP ASSISTANT!!! 😭…. Sorry, screaming over. But that is the cutest thing ever! So after the whole moment in January where Ian dashed many of our fantasies of them making soup together, it ended up actually happening and I am one happy girl knowing it did 😊

Making Of “Would You Push This Button?”

So the BTS of the Would You Push This Button? sketch provided us with a couple moments :-

Not a compliment or anything but you know, gotta include the high-fives.

Now this other moment is complimentary but the dialogue isn’t that important so I’m just going to give a run down of what is happening :-

[Anthony filming Ian sitting recording voice audio that no longer is getting used for the main video. Ian rambles on about how only members get to hear it and how we’re getting it for free, but not really free cause we paid for membership, and how this audio was originally meant to be used as a Shut Up! intro but it wasn’t that funny, all while Ian is saying this you can hear Anthony laughing behind the camera]

Just another example of the fact that Ian is the funniest person to Anthony ☺️

Would You Push This Button? & MrBeast Copycat Watch Party

Of course to go along with the Would You Push This Button? sketch we also got the watch party livestream, along with them reacting to the previous sketch MrBeast Copycats Have Gone Too Far that they had missed.

[Earlier in the video Ian guesses that Apollo 17 was the last time humans set foot on the moon]

Ian: [reads chat comment] “Oh, I was right with Apollo 17.”

Anthony: “Damn! How did you know Apollo 17?”

Ian: “Just a good guess, I guess.”

Wee compliment from Anthony 😊

Chat comment: ‘What’s the latest soup Ian’s learned to make?’

Ian: “The last one that I learned to make was the African Peanut Stew.”

Anthony: “Oh yeah, that one sounds so good.”

Ian: “So good.”

Anthony: “I was like is that shit vegan?”

Ian: “It was so good- yeah, yeah, it’s vegan.”

Anthony: “Yeah, we got to make that one. We got to make that one next.”

Aw, soup boy’s assistant is wanting to get back in the kitchen with him 🥹

[Boys do a quiz to find out which Bratz doll they are]

Q: ‘What is a personal flaw that your friends accept you for?’

Anthony: “Probably shy and awkward. That’s true.”

Erin: “Do you agree, Ian?”

Anthony: [looks at Ian] “Do you accept me for that?”

Ian: “I accept you for that.”

Anthony: “Okay, thank you.”

Just a cute little one 😝

[Ian taking the quiz]

Q: ‘Pick a fashion icon’

Ian: “I think I’m a Bianca Jagger.”

Anthony: “Sure. That feels right.”

Another little compliment from Anthony cause why not ✨

Q: ‘What’s your favourite relic from the 2000s?’

Ian: “I’m going to do [sings] being young, carefree and stupid.”

Anthony: “That was mine too.”

#twinning #justbestiethings

Q: ‘Which y2k fragrance did you have/would you have on your vanity tray?’

Ian: “I am definitely Princess by Vera Wang.”

Anthony: “Yep. That sounds right.”

Just Anthony agreeing that Ian is a princess 👑

Ian: [on the personal flaw question] “I feel like I’m all of these things.”

Anthony: “You’re a drama queen…”

Ian: “I think my honesty can be harsh. I think- actually I can’t be wild.”

Anthony: “You’ve been wild.”

Ian: “I am a drama queen.”

Anthony: “When are you a drama queen?”

Ian: “I feel like I can be a catty little bitch sometimes.”

Anthony: “But that’s not a drama queen.”

Ian: “Like I love drama. Like whenever I hear that there’s a problem I’m like [rubs hands together] ‘alright, let’s go’.”

Anthony: “Yeah, but I feel like drama queens are also like in the drama.”

Erin: “He’s a little dramatic.”

Anthony: “Is he in the drama though?”

Erin: “I would say so.”

Ian: [laughs]

Anthony: “I feel like he observes it and talks about it.”

Ian: “Sometimes I can be the drama. No, I don’t think I’m- I love hearing other people’s drama…”

Anthony: “Yeah.”

Ian: “But I feel like sometimes my honesty can be harsh.”

Anthony: “Sure, sure.”

Ian: “Sometimes I, you know, like sometimes there’s things that just don’t need to be said.”

Anthony: [laughs] “And you used to have no filter.”

Ian: “Sometimes I say it, I think I’ve gotten a little bit better, where I’ll be like, ‘I- never mind’.”

Anthony: “Yeah, yeah. I accept you for it.”

Ian: “Okay.”

Anthony: “I’ve grown to accept it. I used to be very sensitive.”

Love how this started off as something silly but turned into a genuine compliment by the end of it.

[Ian gets Jade as his answer]

Ian: [reading answer description] “…bold and thinks outside of the box or just someone who’s wild at heart.”

Anthony: “I could see wild at heart.”

Just a little mini compliment from Anthony there

…

Anthony: [reads chat comment and laughs] “Why is Ian on such a high from getting Jade over Anthony getting Jade?” [Anthony really wanted Jade as his answer as the crew said that’s who he was like]

Ian: Umm, I just didn’t think I was cool, man.”

Anthony: “Dude, you’re cool, Ian.” [pats chest] “You gotta have a little confidence, man.”

A double compliment from Anthony in this little section, you love to see it!

[reacting to the MrBeast sketch]

Anthony: “Yeah, that one was good. Your Mr Beast character, you fucking killed it, man. And going into the horror mode at the end [of the video] was great.”

It’s been a very heavy Anthony complimenting Ian livestream as you can probably tell 😅 not that I’m complaining!

[reacting to the Button sketch]

Ian: [talking about his Mormon character’s wig] “Wow, the blonde really brings out my eyes.”

Anthony: “Yeah, it looks really good.”

We do know Anthony loves Ian’s blue eyes 😉

[Ian dressed as a woman in the sketch]

Anthony: “Your lipstick is poppin’!”

Just another complimentary moment I wanted to include 😄

Chat comment: ‘Ian plays the mother so well it’s scary’

Ian: “That’s because I am mother.”

Anthony: “Ian is mother.”

👀 Okay, Anthony…

And that was it for this livestream!

Making Of “Grimace: Where Is He Now?”

The BTS of the Grimace: Where Is He Now? sketch gave us a couple little moments, not necessarily compliments, but wanted to include them nonetheless :-

First was this moment where Ian and Anthony are looking at each other through a door covered with fake police tape and they reach through and touch each other’s hands.

(As usual sorry for the terrible gif quality, I tried 🫣)

But yeah, thought this was cute so wanted to make it part of this post 😊

And the other moment I wanted to include was as they were doing the outro to the video :-

Anthony: “Why do we need a fog machine when we have…”

[both Ian and Anthony blow out of their mouths so you can see their breath in the cold air]

Ian: “Wow, I don’t know if that looked cool on camera but…”

Anthony: “Felt cool.”

And then of course, gotta include one of their signature moves…

The high-five!

There’s A Werewolf Among Us…

So the boys joined in on this Games video along with Courtney, Arasha, Spencer, Chanse and Trevor where they played Werewolf, in which one person is the werewolf and they have kill off other players without being discovered.

[Arasha brings up how she used to play it when it was called Mafia and the others joke around saying that it’s no longer called that because it’s offensive to Italian-Americans]

Courtney: “Angela actually held up a sign in the front of the building, she was like - ‘Please stop’.”

Ian: “Yeah, she picketed us.”

Anthony: “She’s on strike for the day.”

Ian: [laughs] “She’s on strike.”

Love when the shoe is on the other foot and it’s Ian finding Anthony funny, always very cute ☺️

[Everyone saying they think it’s Ian]

Chanse: “I was gonna say, I think I thought it was Anthony, but I’ve changed my mind.”

Ian: “Well, I mean, I would say I trust you two [Anthony and Chanse] ‘cause you didn’t immediately just go along with it. If you were the werewolf you would have immediately just motioned to vote because you’re like, yeah, let’s kill another villager.”

Trevor: “Or maybe they’re trying to hide it…”

Ian: “No.”

Trevor: “Because they already had someone second it. So why would they jump immediately?”

Ian: “Right, but they would need to be to jump in.”

Anthony: “Or maybe there’s no information to even go off of in the first round.”

Chanse: “I nominate Ian.”

Trevor: “Yeah. Vote time?”

Spencer: “Unfortunately, Ian.”

Ian: “All right, I’m just…”

Spencer: “You have made your case.”

Ian: “Okay, all right.”

Spencer: “And it’s vote time.”

Ian: “I think Anthony’s safe. I don’t trust anyone else.”

It’s sweet how Ian says Anthony’s the only one he trusts here as everyone besides Anthony is saying they think Ian is the werewolf. It’s also doubly sweet when you think about the fact that Anthony actually was the werewolf this round and yet, he was the only one Ian trusted 🥺

[Arasha making her case for the werewolf not to kill her]

Anthony: “Why are you giving werewolf tips?”

Courtney: “She’s plugging all the holes.”

Ian: [puts hands up] “I am nominating Arasha [as the werewolf].”

Anthony: [puts hand up] “I am nominating Arasha as well.”

I love when they just follow what each other’s doing 😌

[Anthony’s character dies]

Trevor: [going to raise his hand but backing down and everyone asking what he was going to say] “I just wanted to do it again. I was gonna do it again, where I just make a blatant accusation for no reason.”

Courtney: “It is good, though, for the plot.”

Chanse: “It starts shit.”

Trevor: [puts hand up] “All right, I think it’s Ian.”

Courtney: “The werewolf?”

Trevor: “Yeah.”

Spencer: “All right, does anyone wanna second that?”

Ian: “I think that’s a terrible decision.”

Trevor: “No, not necessarily nominating, I just would like to, you know, cast some doubt upon his character.”

Spencer: “Gosh darn.”

Courtney: “Yeah.” [points at Ian] “You like wolves!”

Ian: “I don’t like wolves.”

Trevor: “You would kill Anthony.”

Ian: [makes a sad/unhappy face]

Trevor: “You would. You hater.”

Ian: “What do you mean I would kill Anthony?”

Trevor: “You’re trying to, like oh, I would never kill my best friend. Oooh.”

Ian: “I never-”

Chanse: “He’s trying to start shit.”

Courtney: [laughing]

Trevor: “See? See? Ian’s like, ooh, they won’t think it’s me because I would never kill my best friend.”

Ian: “This guy talks too much.”

Anthony: [laughs]

Loved this moment, especially how not happy Ian was with the accusation that he would kill Anthony, even in a game. And of course can never resist when it’s brought up that they’re best friends. Also loved how Anthony didn’t say anything and only laughed at what Ian said - the bestie-ism was shining through! 👯‍♂️

And that was it for this video!

With that, that brings us to end of the compliments for February 2024! A shorter one as I said but hope you all still enjoyed 😊

Thanks for reading and I shall see you next time! 🫶

#so happy to FINALLY have this out to you guys #massive apologies for being mia for so long I’m going go try and be better #hugely appreciate everyone’s patience though I’m very grateful for that #ianthony #ianthony compliments #ian hecox #anthony padilla #smosh #my posts

53 notes · View notes

tumblezwei · 4 months

Text

I am a Ruan Mei defender, not because I think she's a blameless misunderstood character, but bc I am very afraid of people interpreting her terrible actions as bad writing bc "the game still expects us to like her" or overexaggerating her bad traits in order to make Dr. Ratio look better by comparison.

And that's not to say I think Ratio is a "bad" guy either, I think the whole point of introducing him alongside Ruan Mei was to highlight how different the Genius Society operates compared to "normal" academics. Ratio's over the top arrogance makes him off-putting at first, but his genuine desire to spread knowledge to everyone who wants to learn it is the perfect contrast to the obsession and selfishness of the Genius Society, who only ever care about fulfilling their own desires without concern for those below them. Even Screwllum, the member who seems the most sociable and friendly, let Ratio carry on with his antics on the space station just to see what would happen, even though it put the Trailblazer in danger and threatened the whole facility.

So that is to say, Ruan Mei is like that on purpose. We aren't supposed to see her drugging us and sending us after an incomplete Emanator of Propagation and be confused as to how she's a "goody guy." She isn't. None of the members of the Genius Society are "good" people just bc we're allied with them. Herta uses Traliblazer as a guinea pig for the Simulated Universe after all, and we now know that as long as it's something he's curious about, Screwllum won't interfere to protect us even when he's already figured out the solution to the problem we're facing.

But I also want to do a little apologism for Ruan Mei bc sometimes the accusations I see lobbed at her is a bit much. Like, yeah, she drugged us, but it was a temporary inhibitor that literally only stopped us from giving people information about Ruan Mei. And she didn't do it just to fuck with us? Ruan Mei is incredibly aware of how emotionally detached she is and knows it's almost impossible for her to understand the affection given to her by her creations. She doesn't drug us out of some evil desire to control information, she does it bc she knows her time on the space station is temporary and wants to avoid leaving behind any memories of her being there. That doesn't make it okay and it's still presented alongside everything else she does that's uncaring towards TB and her creations, but it makes it a little more complicated than just "she's an unfeeling sociopath that would happily watch us die." It's bad, but it's also one of Ruan Mei's weird and not good ways of showing consideration.

It's interesting, is what I'm saying. It's compelling. And I don't really dig how it she gets reduced to a two-bit manipulator.

I'm a bit of a stickler for this particular thing bc it's something I truly adore about HSR's writing, and also something I see as one of the game's core themes. There is no clear divide between "good" guys and "bad" guys. The Genius Society is full of emotionally constipated weirdos who wouldn't pay a single bit of attention to us if we weren't interesting to them, but they're also important allies to the Express. The Stelleron Hunters are our biggest opposition and wreak havoc on whatever planet they enter, but we know that their goals somewhat align with our own and unless you go out of your way to be mean to her with every dialogue option, it's pretty obvious that Kafka is someone Trailblazer loves.

And even Cocolia, someone who almost destroyed the last remnants of civilization on her own planet, gets treated with sympathy. Bronya is allowed to mourn her mother and still see her as an aspirational figure, all the while Serval is allowed to break off ties with her and definitively move on from her past.

It's a theme that carries over to a lot of HSR's important side quests too, where often you're expected to choose between two options that both have some pretty heavy downsides no matter what. You have your own moral compass, and along the way the choices may seem crystal clear, but it's never so black and white as you predict. It's a game about decisions, about making your own way in life and learning about the different worldviews of those you meet. Good or bad, helpful or hurtful, it's not always so obvious as "this person did something bad to me, now I will forever dislike them."

"When there is the chance to make a choice, make one that you know you won't regret," "explore, understand, establish, and connect," "the Express welcomes everyone" etc etc

#this post took more turns that I originally planned #but once I got on one topic it railroaded me into the other #so now there's this #honkai star rail #honkai posting #rambling

67 notes · View notes

ovenproofowl · 1 year

Text

a lot of people have said it, but I’m throwing in my two cents just to get it off my chest.

Picard season 3 was . Bad . For a LOT of reasons . It felt like - as many before me have expressed - a self-insert fanfic with the dullest self-insert in history.

Jack Crusher wasn’t much of a character but he could have had some promise if they hadn’t spent an aggravating amount of time having him decree how different he always felt, you guys. Did you get that part? He’d always felt different. That sort of dialogue might have flown if we were dealing with Picard’s adolescent son, but instead we’re dealing with a 24 year old played by a 35 year old who looks every bit his age. (It was a hard 24 years, we must assume.)

The reason that Jack Crusher didn’t work for me personally, though, wasn’t because of how cliché his character was. I would have let that pass much easier if it wasn’t for the big ol’ elephant in the room. And that is simply that :

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY

Jack may have served a purpose to the storyline that was presented if only because he was the sole reason there was a Big Bad to be defeated in the first place. Everyone wanted to kidnap him, he brought the old gang back together just to protect him and then later save him from said Big Bad which was also actually .. him. Everything Was About Jack. But I’m not talking about the main plot. I Really Don’t Want to Talk About the Main Plot. Ever. What I want to talk about is what Jack represented that made him so unnecessary:

He was intended to represent Jean-Luc Picard’s only reason to start living.

Personally, that really, really offended me. Picard didn’t need to have a biological kid to have a purpose. In fact, it’s been established time and time again that he wasn’t ever really dad material. More of a... weirdly intense uncle. For a while, he wasn’t a fan of kids at all. Eventually, though, Picard is seen to warm to the idea of letting children within his general vicinity. This starts in TNG and continues on in season 1 of Picard. The Only Categorically Good Season of this whole. show.

In season 1, we see flashbacks of Jean-Luc’s relationship with a young Elnor, how he would read him stories and have sword fights with him. He was an absent father to an adopted child he hadn’t even realised he’d adopted and yet Elnor still fought for his hopeless cause. In much the same way, Picard meets Dahj and then later, Soji. He feels a kinship with these androids because of their connection to Data. He wants to protect Soji becase he couldn’t protect Dahj and Soji even canonically questions whether she should allow Picard to act as her father figure before she begins to remember where she came from. Both of these dynamics were infinitely more interesting and a lot deeper rooted. Soji and Elnor were both young twenty-somethings without parental guidance but found that guidance through Picard. Soji had her connection to Jurati, too, and Elnor had his with Seven and Raffi and that’s what made the whole group so intriguing to follow. They all had interesting connections to each other that had so many avenues to explore.

Unfortunately, the show decided to more or less write Soji and Elnor out of the story come season 2. Elnor was killed off for the majority of the season and only brought back by Q intervention in the last episode. Soji wasn’t even a part of the story at all. And do you know what’s sad about that? What’s really sad? Season 2 was trying to sell us the exact same message as season 3. That Picard needed a reason to live. But, like, not that reason. Not the reasons he’d already been given in the form of his found family with his Romulan and android adopted children, or even the rest of the La Sirena crew. No no no, we can’t have that, better get rid of them. This time, Laris is the focal point. Picard had been avoiding a romantic relationship with her because of a never before mentioned dark history surrounding his mother’s suicide. Because, sure, at this point, why not? While we’re at it, let’s also kill off Rios in the most slap-in-the-face out of character way possible and fling Jurati at the Borg for good measure just so she won’t be around for season 3. Her character development into the Borg Queen was pretty intriguing, but we’ll totally ignore that they even exist post her departure, just for funsies. Oh, and Soji and Elnor? Best not mention them at all come that third and final season. Otherwise, people might get the crazy notion that Picard already had a reason not to hunker down and die at the vinyard at the tender age of 104.

Season 3 picks up where season 2 leaves off in that Picard is now in that aforementioned romantic relationship with Laris. Except, no he isn’t because he immediately gets an emergency call from his ex and literally never sees or talks to Laris ever again. There wasn’t even a throw-away line or implied reference to her, but by now I’m sure you know the reason for that.

That’s right, folks. Because if we were allowed to remember Laris and what she meant to Picard, then we might just remember that other thing. Say it with me now!!

JACK CRUSHER WAS NEVER NECESSARY!!

In summary, there were so many brilliant options to give Picard for signficant found family dynamics, but the show just wasn’t interested in any of them. Season 3 wanted a Picard who had given it all up, who was ready to die because he’d never had a family to pass on his legacy. They wanted him at his lowest so that we’d all rejoice to see him return to the TNG crew. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive TNG fan and I could rave about the fan service and nostalgia porn for hours on end. If season 3 had stood alone as a singular unconnected event, it might even have been passable as a warm hug from old and beloved characters with some fun new spins to their stories along the way, juust so long as you didn’t squint too hard at the actual attempt at plot writing going on in the background.

But the fact of the matter is, Picard season 3 came far too late into the game. Season 1 held the building blocks to something new and interesting. By the end of season 2, it was becoming clear we were never going to see those blocks stand. By season 3, those blocks were just scattered headstones in a graveyard.

They teased us with the potential new show of Captain Seven and her Number One Raffi Musiker and that might have just been okay. . .

. . .If the La Sirena Crew had been allowed to be a part of that future.

In closing: Picard season 3? Too little, too late, mate. 👎🏻

#star trek picard #picard spoilers #anti picard #jean luc picard #jack crusher #anti jack crusher #soji asha #elnor #raffi musiker #seven of nine #i didn't mention everything i didn't like here or in fact everything I DID like #because if we ignore the plot and just focus on seeing the crew back then yes I did in fact enjoy quite a bit of it #and also vadic was the best goddamn villain and they should have done more with her oh my god #but i had to get this off my chest #and also yes i acknowledge that elnor was very much seven and raffi's adopted kid as much as picard's #but this has to focus on picard because.. well.. that's the name of the show right?#could've fooled me. i thought it was the jack crusher show #ok ok i'm done bitterness out #it's said and i'm moving on

328 notes · View notes

thatdeadaquarius · 1 year

Note

I have so many ideas but none of them can be put into words, all I can do is just wheeze as they come along🤣

Also remember how wordy and flowery Teyvat speech/dialogue is? ADD THAT TO THE FACT THAT TEYVAT HAS ITS OWN LANGUAGE---

Reader can understand the basic speech which is why they are so blunt (I love this idea so much 🤣) and can piece together an idea what the person is talking about.

*insert random person talking about a commission with a long ass backstory*

Traveller & Co.: *understands completely and making plans to retrieve said commission*

C!Reader: (They said they had a cart.... a bunch of hilichurls appeared... dancing?.... they want us to dance fight the hilichurls???? Dance off???)

Actual story->The person's cart got ambushed by a group of hilichurls and taunted them by dancing around it.

....... it doesnt always translate well

Also imagine Reader heaeing random names and overthinks it as a word instead of a name.

Example: Pantalone means pants in Philippine English (sorry not sorry Pantalone)

Tsaritsa??? Oh do they speak russian there??? - reader

Capitano -> captain in some countries

(I once mistake Sandrone as Sandalone and I just went "... ehh??? Standalone? Sandalone as in Sand Alone???? Sandal (Flip flops)????

Oh wait its Sandrone" ".... as in Sand and Drone??--)

-Vine Boom

VINE BOOM ANON MY BELOVED 💖❤🧡💛💚💙💜✨️✨️

Gif is me writing u anything ever:

AHFLALA FERRRALLL I STG I ALSO THOUGHT ABT THIS!! WHY U COULD ALSO BE BLUNT BC U ONLY GOT THE BASICS 💀 RIP

Man theyre written language looks so scary to learn, kinda like when I looked into trying to learn Mandarin/Japanese (and even Korean), the letters r just inherently so different i was so intimidated

And u dont even read it like left -> right like English

Omg i tried to reply to a arabic comment on my art post once, and i felt so acommplished when i finally was able to type "اشكرك (thanks)" but like, i had to put it on the OTHER SIDE OF THE TEXT BOX, LIKE ALIGN IT TO THE RIGHT INSTEAD OF HOW U KNOW ENGLISH IS INHERENTLY ALIGNED LEFT, IT WAS SO TRIPPY-

Going thru genshin life only understanding minimal words of anything anyone says is honestly how i feel like ive been playing Genshin LMAO

Those analysis videos/lore are saving a bitch's life out here

PANTALONE IS ALSO RLLY CLOSE TO SPANISH FOR PANTS I KNOW WHAT U MEANNN LOL

UR ENDLESS CONFUSION FOR SANDRONE PLEASE ANON U DIDNT EVEN GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST CORRECTION IT JUST KEPT GETTING WORSEEE 😂😭 SAME THO

That would literally be you in genshin tho, like i could easily see it being like, back to back misunderstandings 😭😭

Like u think u got it right (Oh so his name is Rex Lapis, wait what? Morax? Ok his name is Morax...?? What??? Zhongli??? WHO IS THIS MAN-)

JFC first they gotta have a whole different language (like u saw in game)

And ON TOP OF THAT THEY CAN TALK FOR 10 MIN STRAIGHT ABT THE WEATHER OR SOME SHIT??

No... just, no.

U quickly decide u like what little bits of language u could pick up so far, which just results in,

U guessed it, simple speech and short fragmented sentences (or broken Teyvatian)

U cant even bring urself to care when u give half the characters a heart attack and send the rest into laughing fits

No fucks given, they wanna make this extra hard on u by being wordy on top of a new language,

Yeah u dont care what comes out of ur mouth anymore

Also, since everybody is raised in Teyvat very few ppl dont know the language, which once again brings us back to ancient/older deities/creatures who have a more simplistic version/outdated version of modern language

Omg getting stuff mistranslated bc u cant understand it all/only keywords sounds like hell but also rlly funny

Traveler/Paimon: "Alright, yes, all is well. We will accept this comission, and depart soon."

You: "...they want us to?? Dance fight?? Hilichurls...???"

Traveler just stares at u half in pity, half trying to hide their amused smile, Paimon is giggling

The commissioner is shook bc a supposed ancient creature?? Just accepted?? Their simple commission?? And u think they want u to dance battle???

PLEASE U MISTRANSLATE THE HARBINGERS NAMES RIGHT TO THEIR FACES

Signora: "You shall rue the day you crossed the Fatui mortals!"

You: "Lady we don't care, just fight us."

(Signora just means 'Lady')

Signora: *offended gasp*

Traveler/Paimon trying to stifle laughter

Raiden Shogun jaw dropped a little

Pantalone: "What a pleasure to finally meet you traveler, and thine wonderful companions!" *little bastard smile*

You: "And it was awful to meet you, Pants."

Pantalone: 😶😧😡 "Pants?! HOW DARE YOU NOT EVEN GIVE ME THE MOST BASE RESPECT, AFTER I GREETED THEE SO KINDLY-"

Oh its so funny, everytime you talk about Childe you always phrase it like he's an actual child bc u thought everyone was just calling him a little kid for some reason (u dont know how Teyvat ages work, he could be for all you know!)

Not very long, but Vine Boom anon your brain >>>>

Ur ideas r so on point, i love them sm

That makes perfect sense why u could be talking blunt too, like an in world explanation really

For you, all the desserts🥰 ��🍪🍨🍰🍮🧋🍦🍡

Cheers,

🌒🌊🌧Aquarius♒️🌌🌘

#vine boom anon ilysm #yall r so funny i cant keep up help #big brain anons #genshin impact #ask box open #genshin sagau #my asks #sagau #genshin sagau ideas #gender neutral reader #genshin imagines #please send asks #:)#<3 #genshin isekai #genshin god reader

417 notes · View notes

strawglicks · 7 months

Text

Talking About Cathal's Flaws Because Why Not

cathal is my whole world my whole universe they are allowed to do anything they want they can end the world and i will stand by their side i adore them. ok now that i got that out of my system let me genuinely talk abt his flaws and analyze it a bit more in depth

To Be Real, He's Very Spoiled.

Now, it wouldn't be fair to demean Cathal to just some spoiled brat. But, to be fair, the only reason they've gotten as far as they have is because of their dad holding their hand through it all. Cathal's dad is the only reason he has a job, is the jr V.P, and hasn't gotten fired.

Their dad wrote their personal statement to ensure they were hired.

Their dad specifically makes sure, no matter how many disciplinary records they have, that Cathal doesn't lose their job. This line may actually imply that they HAVE almost lost their job (which makes sense due to the amount of rules they've broken) but their dad stopped it from happening.

Not to mention, even when made aware of his son slacking around, Allan straight up lies to management. He claims he'll disconnect the cable immediately, but according to the following lines in Cathal's battle:

...Allan didn't do anything about the cable like he said he would.

Due to all this, it makes sense Cathal is spoiled. They just have their whole future handed to them on a silver platter without them even needing to try. And because they're not even given the chance to learn, grow, or develop new skills, they wind up rather depressed and apathetic. Which leads me to another point.

Cathal is Extremely Apathetic/Careless, Which Affects Themselves and Everyone Around Them.

A huge aspect of Cathal's character is his laziness, procrastination, and carelessness. But I think it's important to dive into the "why" of these qualities.

Like I said before, Cathal has their career handed to them without even lifting a finger. There are several times he slacks off, doesn't show up to work, doesn't DO his work, etc., yet he keeps his job because of his dad and nothing is done about these problems. This is likely one of the biggest reasons he's so apathetic and doesn't care to get around to his work anyway. If there are no consequences, what's the point of following the rules?

And that's where most of this behavior drives from. "What's the point?"

If the toons won't attack Cathal, what's the point of Cathal attacking the toons?

If their dad just keeps getting repaired, what's the point of destroying him in the first place?

What is the point of any of this?

Cathal seeking a meaning and finding none leads to their apathy and carelessness, which then causes them to slack off and make things harder on their fellow coworkers. This is shown in things like this comic, featuring a skelecog who's overworked just to do a simple, minimal effort task just because Cathal didn't feel like it.

What's the point of doing ANY work when he can have someone else do it instead?

Which leads me into another point-

Cathal is Quite Selfish and Doesn't Value Anyone's Time But His Own.

There are several instances of Cathal being pretty self-centered, specifically about their time being wasted. Almost like a certain someone...(graham. its graham. im talking about graham. these two are like two sides of one coin but thats another post for another day)

Many of these instances can simply be found in their fight dialogue.

They give total attitude when you interrupt their shows, rushing to get back to it because they find it much more important than their actual job: fighting the toons.

They're shown to generally be impatient and rude whenever they feel their time being wasted. (This handful of lines also displays some of Cathal's attitude and snarkiness, which I think goes WAY unnoticed in the community)

Cathal doesn't even seem to have any shame in the fact he wastes time. As a matter of fact, he almost seems prideful of it, like no one seems to understand how pointless this all is except for him. It almost gives him a bit of an ego (almost like a certain someone.)

That All Being Said, I Don't Think Cathal Has Any Malicious Intent.

I think they're young, spoiled, and inexperienced in the workplace. Their only real jobs have been helping their dad with small chores around the office rather than working for a massive company as a whole (not to mention being next in line as Jr. Vice President of said company. it's a lot of responsibility to spring onto someone so inexperienced, and it's a big responsibility to just hand to someone who clearly has no interest or passion in it.)

Cathal's never been given a real chance to find something to be passionate about, or given any real motive to be passionate about the things he DOES have. I don't think it's an excuse for him to sit back and make everyone else's lives harder, but it is an explanation.

I think Cathal is an important character to mention when discussing Cogs. Inc and how capitalist companies like this tend to destroy people. All it's done for Cathal is drain him of any passion or motivation whatsoever, if he had any before. The one thing he seems to be passionate about is his Dad, which is why he puts up with all this in the first place.

Anyway that's all I had to say. Cathal's an extremely important character to me, my absolute top favorite from TTCC (alongside Graham) and is heavily underappreciated and underdiscussed.

Here's a drawing I made a bit back of Cathal gaming because. This has been sitting in my files and I haven't found an excuse to post it LMFAO

#toontown #toontown corporate clash #ttcc #toontown multislacker #cathal bravecog #cathal ray toby bravecog #my big juicy brain in full effect #strawglicks art gallery #hell ig bc of the last image it does belong on the gallery .#its almost midnight and ive had a long day so if theres grammatical errors or i repeat points. oh well.

73 notes · View notes

haunted-pool-noodle · 7 days

Text

DISCLAIMER i have not worked my way through all the eris dialogue yet so if she says something that contradicts all of this uhh. ill explode or something idk

anyway i feel like eris and hypnos actually have the potential to become besties when you think about it! like at a glance it does not seem like they'd vibe (and maybe wouldn't for a while) but i absolutely think they could

they both stand out to me bc (and honestly are both my faves bc) they don't really follow the same adherence to rules and responsibility that p much every other god does, particularly in the nyx family. hypnos constantly slacks off at work in hades 1, and the only reason he starts putting in effort is basically bc he wants approval from than and nyx. eris criticizes mel all the time for being so uptight, as well as nyx and than for being such strict rule-followers. they could both really connect over having someone else who is similarly opposed to that workaholic mindset (worth noting for eris, she refers to than as "brother number i dont even know anymore" and specifically doesnt care about him bc he's uptight like everyone else iirc, so i think she'd really appreciate having someone in the fam who isn't that way)

also, like. yes eris can be pretty cruel to mortals but hypnos is also pretty callous towards them most of the time? like he's pretty comfortable with the topic of death (which does make sense, given his job) but he just doesn't take it very seriously at all, like with natural causes he's just like "wow! sucks to be a mortal lol." plus that whole bit when he just suggests that thanatos just kill everyone all at once so they can hang out more like his ass does not care 😭 so i dont think he'd really care about eris tormenting humans, and in turn i think she might really like someone finally just being chill about it rather than looking down on her basically for being strife. also she'd probably find it funny how nonchalant he can be abt this, and in turn hypnos would enjoy her particular brand of chaos lol

thematically though, part of eris' whole thing is about how she feels ostracized from the rest of the fam bc strife is literally in her nature, while hypnos is shunned bc of his constant sleeping. both are pushed out bc of their very natures. but where they differ is hypnos prioritizes his relationships to the rest of the family and is willing to fight against his nature in order to do his job at the House and thereby impress/appease nyx and than, restoring his relationships to them at the cost of his personal happiness. meanwhile eris believes in being true to herself above all else, and if that means severing ties, then so be it. she mentions at a few different points that she's not going to change her nature for what anyone else wants, and that they shouldn't be surprised at how she acts, given that she's literally strife incarnate (an argument I've seen plenty of people give wrt hypnos sleeping at the job while being sleep incarnate). i think if they interacted more they could actually learn a lot from each other and maybe both move closer to the middle of that spectrum

also hypnos is usually seen as the childish one throughout hades 1 but eris is specifically stated to be one of the youngest in the nyx family so i would love to see some older brother hypnos content 🙏

#i fully hc that eris has curly hair but it's just cut too short to tell rn #bc with hypnos the fact that he's the only one in the fam with curly hair #is meant to show how he's the odd one out #eris is absolutely an odd duck amongst the siblings too #so i think they ought to be together in that camp #anyway i am unwell about them and rambling #hades game #hades 2 #hades 2 spoilers #eris hades #hypnos hades

45 notes · View notes

ggukkiedae · 5 months

Text

the relationship progresses

date: november 17, 2018

warning/s: brief mention of yoonmi’s biological parents,self-doubt about being loved, kisses

notes from cia: aside from when yoonmi is talking to namjoon and yoongi, this whole piece is in english, please keep that in mind bc i don’t want to italicize every dialogue here it feels wrong (also gif not mine, it’s from pinterest)

word count: 2.8k

yoonmi and mark take the next step in their relationship

She groaned, choosing to bury her face in her pillow instead of getting up. As much as she loved and respected her leader, she really couldn’t be bothered waking up so early in the morning. The older’s deep chuckles resonated throughout the room as he turned to more… persuasive techniques.

Namjoon essentially nudged her until she was lying on her back then took her hands, pulling her up into a sitting position. Not wanting to give in, she kept her eyes closed and let her head fall backwards.

“I thought you’d be more excited to get up today,” Namjoon’s smirk was visible through the tone of his voice. “Don’t you have a date?”

Her eyes snapped open while she shot straight up on her own. Right, she was meeting Mark. With the slightest bit of panic, she threw her blanket to the side and checked her phone. She gave Namjoon a pout upon seeing the time.

“Oppa,” she hit his arm, “you know I don’t have to be there until eleven! Why would you wake me up at eight in the morning?”

“Breakfast should be a pretty valid reason,” Namjoon placed a tray on her bed filled with a plate of pancakes and a cup of water. “That, and I thought you’d like to hear a few updates regarding the lawsuit we filed against them.”

She frowned but nodded as she started eating. Though she had not needed to be directly involved aside from discussing terms she’d like to include in their movement against her birthgiver and sperm donor. They did, however, continuously try to contact her to get her to call it off. How they got her contact details, she’d never know.

“It’s all good news,” Namjoon reassured her. “Given the rules of the concert and the copyright statement of BigHit, it does count against their actions and is enough to incriminate them. A restraining order is being drafted out as well by the legal team, you and Yoonsung hyung can go through it together tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good,” a satisfied smile appeared on her face, “because I really don’t want to cross paths with them ever again.”

Her leader patted her head, “You won’t have to. You don’t even have to fly back to London for this, your brother has it under control.”

“Remind me to thank Yoonsung oppa tomorrow,” her body relaxed upon knowing for certain that she didn’t have to see those people anymore.

Namjoon opened his mouth to speak, but a knock on the door caught their attention.

Yoongi stepped into the room, “We leave at 10:15, alright, Princess?”

Yoonmi saluted, seeing as she had just taken a bite when Yoongi opened the door and prefered to wait until after she has swallowed to speak.

Yoongi nodded, crossing his arms. “Hannah said she wanted you there for dinner, so eat, don’t skip. I’ll be at their dorm to pick you up by 9:30 after. Be in my sight by 10, okay?”

“Got it,” she smiled at Yoongi, satisfied at him smiling back at her before he left the room once again.

Namjoon chuckled at the interaction of his members before standing up, “I’ll leave you to it, then. Stay safe today, stay hidden, and have fun.”

“Thank you, oppa.”

“The outfit you have ready is cute, but don’t forget a sweater,” he kissed her forehead and walked out the room.

Yoonmi sat quietly at the small cafe Yoongi dropped her off at, gently stirring her hot chocolate while trying not to fall asleep. Maybe hot chocolate wasn’t the best choice of drink when she was fighting her own eyelids to stay open.

It was a rare free Saturday that she had in the midst of filming SKY Castle, the Japan leg of the Love Yourself tour, and the beginnings of discussions for her solo comeback. To her surprised delight, Mark also had the day off.

With the couple’s schedules being full in the past year, they found it hard to see each other in person often, but they made it work with quick visits to dorms or small and timed dates to hidden places.

A smile made its way to her face.

Mark had stuck to his word and had patiently stayed by her side for the year he was courting her, and now, almost a year into officially being together, he stayed with her despite the hassle of their schedules.

Yoonmi wasn’t as oblivious as most people thought her to be, not when she already knew what to look for. She was aware that there was a good chance Mark loved her.

The look in his eyes whenever he was looking at her, she could see it in the way her older brother looked at his wife. How could she not recognize a look she had wanted upon her for so long?

But she was scared.

What if she was wrong? What if there was a reason he wasn’t saying anything? What right did she have to assume he was possibly waiting for her to say it first? What if she couldn’t say it? Would he get tired of her eventually?

“Did someone order a double chocolate chip cookie with a boyfriend on the side?”

Mark’s voice shocked her out of her thoughts as he placed a tray in front of her. He quickly pressed a kiss to her cheek and sat next to her.

Another thing they haven’t done in their nine-month long official relationship. They haven’t kissed. She wondered if Mark got frustrated with how slow she was taking things.

She shook her thoughts away, choosing to focus on her boyfriend. “You scared me.”

“Sorry, Little Star,” he intertwined their fingers, “I ran a little late because the hyungs were curious.”

A laugh escaped her, “They still don’t know, huh?”

They had made a bet when they first became official about who would be the last to find out from their members. Yoonmi had her bets on Yoongi, but Jungkook lost that bet for her. (Thus her making Yoongi and Mark bond when they can)

Mark had bet on Taeyong mostly because the leader was faced with handling the entirety of NCT alongside the addition of Hannah and Jungwoo into 127, making him too busy to notice.

“Just Hannah,” her boyfriend took a sip from his drink.

“And Hyuckie oppa.” Yoonmi’s revelation made Mark choke a little. He hit his chest to clear his throat while she rubbed his back. “Did you not know that he knows?”

“You told him?”

She shrugged and gave him an innocent look, “We’re best friends, that’s kinda how it works.”

Mark nodded, “Right, somehow there’s no secrets there. Thank god, I didn’t think I could keep it from him any longer.”

Yoonmi took a sip of her hot chocolate and gave a dramatic sigh, “Ah, my boyfriend Mark oppa, and his boyfriend Hyuckie oppa.”

Mark simply laughed at her before noticing her drooping eyelids. He leaned down, aligning his face with hers, soft concern making itself known through his expressions, “You’re basically falling asleep. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she reassured him, “I should be asking you that. Should I really be taking your rest time away from you?”

“You’re worth much more than my time,” he gently tucked stray pieces of her hair behind her ear and smiled. “How about this? We finish our snacks and our coffee, then we go back to my place and just have a lazy day. Sound good?”

She gave him an apologetic smile. Mark had already booked them tickets to visit an aquarium, meaning he spent money on their date for the day already, yet he was there offering to just not take the opportunity in favor of having a lazy day.

“Hey, I know that look on your face,” he tapped under her chin so she could look him in the eye, “no feeling guilty. I actually want to have a lazy day, I just want to hang out with my girlfriend. It doesn’t matter what we do. I can transfer the digital tickets to Hannah and Hyuck, anyway. They’d appreciate the aquarium.”

“I want to hang out with my boyfriend, too,” she leaned her head on his shoulder. “Whatever you want to do, I’ll do it.”

“Eat up, then,” he nuzzled his cheek to her head, “we have a lazy day ahead of us.”

The lazy day wasn’t working.

Given both their workaholic natures, Yoonmi and Mark had once again settled on their laptops, showing each other different things they have been working on and getting each other’s opinions.

Some may call them crazy for doing this when they could be leaving work behind them for another day, but they both enjoyed making music. Being busy is something they were both used to, as well.

That’s how they found themselves on Mark’s bed, laying on their stomachs while they were going through each other’s files. Well, she was on the bed. Mark had draped his arm around her shoulders, which led to her tucking her upper body partially under Mark’s torso so he could properly use both hands to navigate his laptop. Mark had finished his turn, so Yoonmi had pulled out a few tracks for him to listen to as well.

“Dude, this sounds really good,” Mark bopped his head as he listened to one of her potential songs for her comeback. “I think you could lower the tempo a bit in the chorus, but otherwise I really like it.”

“You think so?” she looked at him.

Her boyfriend simply smiled at her, “You know you make amazing songs. Here, let me set it up to the tempo I imagined, maybe you’ll like it.”

She just laughed and let him take over the keyboard. Usually, she’d keep people from touching her tracks unless they were her members or the in-house BigHit producers, but she trusted Mark.

Within a few minutes, he played the song back, watching her intently as she took it in. A smile graced her face upon the realization that Mark was right. The slower tempo worked better for the chorus and sounded more pleasing to listen to in combination with the verses.

“Save that, please,” she felt Mark rest his chin on her shoulder, “I’m taking that suggestion.”

He turned his head, placing a light kiss to her cheek before turning back to the screen in front of them, “I got you. And, save. Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to exit the… What’s this?”

“Oh,” she looked at the audio file open just behind the one she had originally shown him, “this one isn’t really finished yet. It’s actually more like word vomit from my brain straight into a track, but I think you should listen.”

She pressed play and zoned out, debating if she should excuse herself to the bathroom as soon as the first line played. In My Dreams was a song she made after their last in person date in early September, just before she left for LA. It was then when she realized that she didn’t just like him, she loved him. She was actually in love with him, and it scared her because she—despite all the signs she sees pointing to yes—was not completely 110% sure he loved her back.

Looking back at the past year in her life, she would have saved herself a lot of grief. That’s why she decided to let this cat out of the bag now that the opportunity had presented itself. She may not be absolutely certain of Mark’s response, but she could have hope in the signs he had been giving her, right?

She zoned back in when she recognized the end of the song, hand coming up to tug at the ends of her hair.

“Okay,” Mark retracted his body, resting his hand that was once around her on the middle of her back so he could see her better, “first of all, that was amazing. Second, I don’t want to get ahead of anything here, but did you write this on a whim, or is this something you wrote, like, I don’t know… How do I say this?”

“With you on my mind?” she offered, not meeting his eyes.

His gaze on her felt warm yet curious at the same time, “Yeah. That.”

“I did,” she focused her vision on her hands and hair, avoiding even looking at Mark through her peripheral vision. “I wrote it with you in mind.”

There was a moment of silence that passed between them that made Yoonmi internally panic. Maybe this was the wrong move. Maybe it wasn’t time for this yet.

A finger placed under her chin and turning her head broke her out of her panic, and she was met with the softest look in Mark’s eyes.

There it was. The look she saw on her brother when he was looking at his wife. She could see the same emotions so clearly in Mark’s eyes that most of her doubt melted away.

“For real?” he asked her. “I don’t want to assume anything or to rush you. We go at your pace, okay?”

That was it. She was going to say it. No regrets, no listening to doubts. She wanted Mark to know. She took a deep breath.

“I love you.”

Her voice came out almost like a whisper. It wasn’t as confident as she wanted to sound, but it was genuine and honest. That was what mattered.

A smile broke onto Mark’s face as the words processed in his mind. He sat up, pulling her along with him before standing up. Yoonmi watched curiously as he. walked around the bed, closer to her side and kneeling in front of her.

“Was that necessary?” she laughed at his antics.

“I just want you to be completely comfortable when I tell you this,” he smiled up at her. “I love you. I have for a while now. I remember the moment I realized I love you. It was back in June and you fell asleep here, remember?”

She nodded, remembering that day. They had gone for a walk by the Han river and a quick trip to a dog cafe, where she had ended up absolutely covered in fur, so she had to borrow some of Hannah’s clothes as soon as Mark brought her back to his dorm. He had, of course, lent her a hoodie on top of Hannah’s clothes, just because.

Mark hummed in thought, “I think I just spent a good fifteen minutes watching you when it just clicked in my head. I love you. I love how passionate you are about your music and hobbies, I love how you’re still one of the kindest and most humble people I know, love being by your side, I love spending time with you, I love that I get to call you mine, and I just love you.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, Yoonmi just lunged forward to hug him, draping her arms on his shoulders and burying her face in his neck.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” her voice was muffled by his sweater.

His chuckle sent vibrations through her body as he wrapped his arms around her waist, sitting back on his rug and pulling her onto his lap, “We take things at your pace, Love. I’m ready whenever you’re ready.”

The new nickname made warmth spread from her chest the moment she heard him say it. She leaned back back, looking at him with a shy smile.

“Did you just call me ‘Love’?”

He nodded, pressing their foreheads together, “Seems appropriate, don’t you think?”

“You’re right, Love.” The nickname felt foreign yet natural at the same time, coming from her mouth.

Just then, she felt the urge to kiss him. With the adrenaline of their confessions and today’s theme of not listening to doubts, she made a decision.

Mark’s breath hitched as she leaned forward, letting their noses touch, but he leaned backwards so he was looking her in the eyes.

“Yoonmi,” he began, glancing downwards before meeting her eyes again, “can I kiss you?”

“Yes, please.”

That was the confirmation Mark needed. Not just a yes of agreement, but a yes of want as well.

Yoonmi closed her eyes as she felt Mark’s hand come up to the side of her face. She let him guide her towards himself until she felt him slot their lips together into a chaste kiss.

He pulled away, chuckling as she hid her face in his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, “I don’t actually know how to kiss.”

Mark just gently lifted her face to his. “Don’t worry. I can take the lead on this one.”

With that, he pulled her in for another kiss, finding a rhythm for them that she could keep up with.

From then on, Yoonmi only had two thoughts: Mark actually loves me and God, I think I might get addicted to kissing my boyfriend.

taglist: @sunflower-0180 @seaoffangirling @yourwonderbelle @1-800-enhypennabi @kamiiyou @strwberrydinosaur @uraveragefangirlsposts @caratinylyfe @1-800-minji @one16core @kimhyejin3108 @chansols @akshverse @toriluvsfics @billboard-singer @stopeatread @allthings-fandoms @jammingjaem

drop an ask or a dm if you wanna be added or taken out of the taglist 🥰 requests are also open!

#yoonmi.markmi #yoonmi.lyanswer #miya #yoonmi #kim yoonmi #bts 8th member #bts female member #bts female addition

52 notes · View notes