#found a slightly better quality of the first season

[vulcansalute]

OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN as Roddy Temple in MR. SELFRIDGE

#oliver jackson cohen #ojcedit #ojacksoncohenedit #mr selfridge #periodedit #uservica #usermichi #mediagifs #mancandykings #perioddramaedit #perioddramasource #dailymenedit #flawlessgentlemen #tvedit #tvgifs #cinematv #cinemapix #filmtvcentral #found a slightly better quality of the first season #*

[darylsfavoritegirl]

hey pookies

Summary: Yall remember that episode where Daryl and Beth stay in this cabin after losing the prison (season 4, ep 12 to be exact) and thet play games like i have never.... and spend such a quality time and it's one of my fav episodes EVER! so it's fem!reader and Daryl but they play truth and dare and sort of open up about their feeling towards eachother because they're again friends with benefits lmao but it gets tense somehow👀😭😭 they find themselves in the midst of an argument etc etc and it goes on

This was requested by @duffmckagansbandana but ive also been fantasizing about this idea forever!! kalp kalbe karsiymis eheheheh

Warnings: Daryl being a dick because he is drunk and kinda slutshames the reader. Daryl grips the reader's wrists and it kinda hurts (?) a little bit of suggestive content. mentions of domestic violence/abuse

You held a glass of moonshine that Daryl found when you entered the wooden cabin. You were observing him securing the cabin incase something would occur.

"Looks secured enough to me." You mumbled spiritlessly. You took a sip of your moonshine as Daryl turned to you with a weary gaze.

"Ya really think dis the best time to get hammered?" He uttered in an evident blaséd tone. You ignored his question as he went back to securing the walls, windows. You wanted him to join you, drink booze with you, speak with you. The glass in your hand got warm before you could even consider to drink one more.

You observed his biceps flexing as he was fixing a hole on the wall. He was finally done. He turned to you, took a deep breath. You could see the sweat droplets on his forehead. His sleeveles black tshirt had damp spots around the neckline.

"You went the extra mile there." You said, failing to hide the waggish smirk bearing your face. He didn't respond to your statement but you saw the curls of his lips going upward.

He sat across you on the floor. His eyes were glossy, faint. You smiled softly as you poured him some moonshine. He gaped at you, anticipating you to stop. It was moonshine after all, God knows how long it had been sitting in this junk.

"Hey slow down." He uttered thinking you were gonna gulp down it yourself.

You saw his eyes following your motions when you passed the glass of moonshine to him.

"What? It's for you."

He didn't look at the glass once, his eyes were fixated on you

"Someone's got to keep watch." He spoke

You rolled your eyes in a cheeky way.

"No harm in drinking one glass."

"Go on." you added. Your eyes were pointing the dusty glass that was infront of him.

He gave in. He put the glass near his nostrils, sniffing the drink before taking a sip.

"That's a real drink right there." You said in a jolly tone.

" 's warm." He grumbled. He enjoyed drinking with you. The way you looked so content only made him cheer inside.

"Meh tha's a drawback." You said. You were popeyed. He couldn't deduce the basis of your zeal, yet he didn't question it furtherly.

You two spent a few minutes there, studying the cabin, studying each other when you decided to come up with something.

"You up for playing truth or dare?" You said in a hush that only left Daryl with a confounded face.

"What? Like kids?" He tittered lightly.

"You got a better idea?" You said with a significance of rebelliousness in your voice. You glared at him, waiting for a response.

"I'm worried about the others too but we can't spend this time just stressing one another." You muttered, avoiding an eye contact with him as you looked down at your drink and tapped the glass with your index and middle fingers. It was the reality. You were worried about the others, maybe even too much. However the best thing you could do at the moment was to hope for their well-being until you and Daryl started looking for them. He must've read your mind, he always did.

"Fine. Yea go first." He mouthed. Your mood shifted into a cheerful one by with just 4 words coming from him. You leaned forward slightly.

"Truth or dare." You queried. He leered at you in a gloomy way. You knew he was gonna end up savoring the game, one way or another in spite of feeling childhish at that moment.

"Truth.'' His tone barely above whisper.

You both took a sip from your drinks consecutively whilst you went on a ride in your head to come up with something to ask.

"What was your first impression about me?" You asked, not being able to hide the eagerness in your voice.

His eyes watched you cautiously. His gaze shifted somewhere else, trying to reckon the first day you met. A subtle smirk appeared on his face.

"Thought yea wer' cocky. Too cocky, even." He scoffed softly. You both stayed in quietude to remember the very first day you encountered with eachother. You chuckled.

"That was my coping mechanism. Confidence."

"Cocky." He opposed you in a childish manner, his eyebrows furrowed lightly at you.

You leered at him for a minute. You knew he was also thinking the first days when they took you in. You were drawing too much attention to yourself, pretty much everyone thought you'd be dead in a fortnight, though you didn't.

You sighed. Neither of you enjoyed thinking about any day in prison, it ached you in deep down. Neither of you could envision what your next move should be, spending this time in a wooden cabin in the middle of the woods didn't make it any better. You were in the midst of a chaos and it felt as if all your efforts were in the aim of lightening your agony.

Daryl reached for the moonshine jar that was sitting near you. He started pouring himself another drink. He almost filled the glass to the brim, peeking at you clandestinely incase you'd tried to stop him. You caught his leer and softly shrugged your shoulders indicating that you didn't mind.

He leaned against the wall of the cabin as he grunted. He took a big sip from his drink. You heard his gulp, the booze going down from his gullet. You couldn't help but chuckle at the sound, maybe you chuckled a little more than necessary. Gosh, you were getting lit; you thought to yourself.

Daryl guzzled up his second drink in less than a minute and poured himself another.

"Easy." You managed to say between your slowly-fading chuckles.

"And it's your turn." You hinted.

"Truth." You uttered without him having to ask.

He clattered an "Ahh." sound between his sips to imply he was notioning for a question. His eyes were locked on the ceiling, thinking, you glimpsed at his narrow, blue eyes. His gaze met with yours.

" 'S there sumthing ya didn't tell me 'bout the person ya wer'?" You looked dumbfounded, not catching what he could've meant by that. He must've read you like an open book. He scoffed " 'Fore all dis. 'Fore the world went to shit."

You couldn't fathom his question. He knew so much about you. He knew about your family that you stopped seeing after you moved to USA. He knew about your favorite childhood cartoons. He knew about your days as a school girl. He knew how you ended up in Georgia. He knew so much about you. Although he had never been the type to corner you with your life before the apocalpyse, you acknowledged that there must've been a lot of things you didn't tell him whether it was due to your choice or you never felt the need to do so.

"Yes." You said in cynicism. He remained silent. It was rather explicit that he wanted to investigate more; that he wanted you to elaborate.

Yet, you didn't. If he wanted to know more about you, he should've asked you more bluntly. You didn't avoid his piercing gaze. You could feel your nerves and brain going number with your increasing sips from the moonshine.

"I'm pretty sure there are atleast dozens of things I haven't told you about the person I once were."

He echoed a nonchalant glare. You, once again remained silent. You knew he'd always turn into an impossible and preposterous person to read whenever drunk. You questioned yourself. You questioned if this was a good idea after all.

He sighed. His eyes were narrower than before. He is getting wasted, you thought to yourself. You shifted your position wretchedly, grabbing your drink with both hands. You tried to put a constrained smile on your face.

The silence was unbearable so you spoke up. Your voice was raucity.

"So truth or dare?" You asked.

He gazed at you with a piercing look. You played the game not more than 5 minutes and the air had already started to feel stuffy due to intensity between you two. You couldn't understand why.

"Truth." He grunted involuntarily. He was only playing the game to pass time, to investigate and even corner you. His gaze was stern. Your smile faded away lightly. You thought of asking something private, asking something that was just about you two. Before you could even debate on that idea, you uttered

"Have you ever seen me as someone more than this?" You got hot. The alcohol was hitting you. You couldn't think clear, you spoke before giving it a second thought. You could feel your cheeks blushing. Your cheeks would never blush out of embarrassment nor humiliation. They would always blush when you did something extra, futile, stupid.

You didn't need to elaborate it. He knew exactly what you meant. He knew you had been wondering if he ever thought of you more than an appealing teammate whom he'd share a warm bed now and then. He had asked similiar questions to himself, always leaving them unsettled. He didn't want to give in, ever. He had to have a demenour where he wouldn't let anyone get too close. That was Daryl. Those were the obstacles he'd build towards anybody. You lifted your head only to meet his blue eyes. Daryl spoke the second he locked his eyes on yours.

"Ain't much of a world to keep your mind busy with that kinda stuff." He grunted. You got even hotter inside of your head.

"So, no?" You gawked.

"Didn't say dat." He looked at you with blank eyes. He didn't even get defensive whilst you were going nuts and trying your hardest to not make it plain. It was the intoxication. You were never like this. It was safe to say you did care about his feelings but you weren't a fool. You knew exactly how he'd close up, how well he'd hide in his shell.

"OK. It's your turn." You huffed as you darted away your eyes. Your temper highly depended on booze at the moment. You didn't need him to think that your mind was way too preoccupied with his words, the words that came out of his mouth with such ease. You hated the power he had on you sometimes.

He grunted with vexation as he shifted his position and leaned against the wall a bit more. Daryl rested his elbows on his knees, swinging his glass that had a little drink left in it in a motion. He kept eyeing you, so did you.

It was apparent that you both were bored to death, yet no one put forward the idea to stop it.

"Ya ever think 'bout the old world?" He grunted.

You raised your head, his eyes were squinting right at you.

"Didn't say truth." You hissed.

"Ya ain't gon' say dare neither."

"Right." You mumbled. He was biting on his pinky's nail out of lack of interest.

"Don't do that." You said as you grimaced.

"Ya gon' answer?" He insisted, his brows were slightly furrowed as he, not surprisingly, kept biting on his finger nails.

This game was all about you two finding something to bicker. You sighed. You were not looking at him but you could feel his eyes roaming all over you.

"Sometimes."

"Wish I could go back to those times." You whispered looking at the floor. Daryl's face darkened. You knew his life before the fall wasn't the greatest and perhaps this new world of silence, isolation was a jackpot for him. You caught his leer. Both of you remained in serenity.

You took a sip from the moonshine and asked the first thing that came to your mind.

"OK Daryl. Have you ever stolen something? like something big?" You begged with wide eyes. Only his eyes made you question yourself and your foolish question.

He kept swinging the glass in a slow motion as he narrowed his eyes at you. He wasn't offended. He wasn't angry.

"Ya know I didn't." He remarked. You sensed a sense of sorrow in his eyes yet you didn't step back, you never could when you were drunk.

"That's what you told me." You spoke, emphasizing the word "told" as if you were making it obvious that you didn't believe him. You kept your wide-eyed gaze. An undertone of exhilaration was on the surface of your voice.

"And after all, we barely knew eachother when we talked about this, right?" Stupid you, still couldn't make out what his gaze could've meant.

"Maybe you weren't being honest." You uttered.

"Come on. You must've done something with Merle." You insisted.

His gaze never left yours. You drank too much, you lost your basic human decency. Yet he responded spiritlessly.

"Was bein' honest." You could perceive that was the moment he lost all his interest in the game.

"Ain't no reason not to be, Merle was an ass."

He sighed. Great, now you reminded him his dead brother; at a time like this, in a place like this. Your smile and exhilaration vanished. Drunk you was never stable, you sighed as you looked down at your drink.

You lifted your head only to see him getting up, throwing his glass to the floor only for it to shatter in pieces. You flinched and leered at the pieces. You couldn't dare to look to his side. He grabbed his crossbow on the broken wooden table, slunged it over his shoulder.

"Imma take the first watch. Rest." He demanded. He breathed out before he left the cabin. You stayed there, not being able to move an inch. It was like you froze. You leered at the pieces of glass on the floor once again

"Fuck me." You groaned. You exhaled audibly, looking around the cabin. That was the moment when it hit you, he was drunk; way too drunk. God knows how he was holding up outside.

You immediatly got up, going out of kilter. You had been sitting for a long time, your body was cramping and you kept hitting to the dusty tables and chairs that were sitting in the middle of the cabin. Your head was spinning. You sauntered towards the door, grabbed the door handle. It made a squeaking sound that left you scrunching your nose.

"Come inside." You quaked, not looking at him. You were exhausted, maybe from the moonshine or maybe you were just, exhausted.

" 'm fine." He grunted. His back was facing you.

"Your drunk as much as me." You huffed with withered eyes. You were leaning against the door frame, your hand still gripping the door handle lightly.

Daryl scoffed.

"Your actin' like a child." You muttered under your breath. The alcohol was getting the best of you. His back was still facing you.

You leered at his messy hair, his vest, his arms gripping the crossbow. He was swaying in a slow motion, resting his weight on his right leg now and then.

"Just hate tha' ya still think 'm sum kinda redneck asshole." He muttered. He sounded rather disappointed, fed up with this whole situation.

"I don't." You whispered. Your eyes were wide, you couldn't process his words. He remained silent, typical Daryl.

"Daryl, I don't." You hissed as you grabbed the side of his vest, forcing him to face you.

He looked at your face with blank, stern eyes. You couldn't recognize the Daryl you knew in him. He didn't change his position, gripping the crossbow firmly as ever.

You were getting sentimental at his demenour. Your eyes were getting watery, you couldn't find words to utter. Nothing changed in him, in his cold stern stare that would make you hate yourself. He could never hurt you, that's what you told yourself but even a gaze of his could make you shatter inside. He got too close to you to a point where you could smell the booze from his breath. Deliberately, he rested all of his weight on you, cornering you against the door frame. You couldn't breath. He leered at your eyes with his blue piercing eyes for a hot minute when he spoke

"Ya'd be crumblin' 'n all if I spoke to ya 'bout your past." He hissed.

His glare was fixated on you as he got inside of the cabin. You breathed out quickly and wiped a tear that was to fall down on your cheek and looked at the woods.

"What the hell does that supposed to mean Daryl?" You turned to him. He was going through his backpack.

"Think ya kno' what I mean." He mumbled under his breath.

He grabbed a canned food and sat on the edge of small ladder. He wasn't looking at you but your gaze was at his fingers trying to get the canned food open.

"What if I don't?" You said calmly but at alert, waiting for his respond.

"I dun' kno'. Sellin' yer body for attention. Ring any bell?" He snapped, lifting his head to meet with your gaze. You stood there with complete silence, trying to process his words. His voice was pretty tall, which made you flinch.

"That's really low Daryl." You scoffed. You weren't offended, you were just astonished that he'd bring up your past as a barmaiden to hurt you.

"Right." He mocked. He was still on the small ladder, trying to open the canned food. He sighed as he threw it to the floor. He got up, completely ignoring you.

"Atleast I wasn't drifting behind Merle's ass, doing whatever he'd told me to do." You barked. You had lost yourself. You didn't care what your words would mean to him.

He turned to you, his arms flexing due to his firm grip on his crossbow. He got closer to you, his face was reddening. You could see his vein on his neck throbbing, he wasn't taking his eyes off of you. He clenched his jaw, lowering his eyebrows and leering at you with narrowed eyes.

" 'S tha' what'ca think?" He fumed.

"That's what I know." You uttered as you pout your face. You ran your hands through your hair to take a deep breath.

"Ya know nothing." He barked. He wasn't blinking.

"You were nothing." You whispered. Your eyes were getting red. You could feel them sting. Your vision blurred. Yet his rage was full of spitefullness. He gritted his teeth

"Pickin' up lonely dudes to get 'em pay ya was sumthin'?"

"Sumthin' yer dam' proud." He shouted as he pointed his index finger right at you.

You swallowed slowly. You were not looking at him.

"Just leave me be." You managed to mumble between your shaky, shallow breaths.

"No, I ain't gon' do dat." He boomed. He threw his crossbow on the mattres you two incompetently tried to turn into a cozy bed. He got closer to you, immediatly grabbing your wrists with his hands.

You looked at his hands grabbing both of your wrists quakingly. You weren't sorrowful nor furious. You were affronted at his grip on your wrists that left you in discomfort and almost, pain. You raised your head to meet with his hard-nosed gaze. You shook your forearms fiercely several times, hoping he would free you but he didn't. How could he do this do to you? Out of all the things out there, he chose to grip both your wrists. That was something you'd always highlight when you'd talk about the abuse you had to go through back when you lived with your family. How your father would grip your wrists and squeeze them thightly until you'd feel like passing out. You always told him how small it made you feel, how worthless. Didn't he say "What a dick" referring to your father. Now there he was, doing the exact same thing. You wouldn't believe it.

"Can't run yer mouth now, can yea?" He spat out. His voice was growing taller and taller. You tried to get to your other wrist with one hand only he would not let you;

"Daryl, you're hurting me." You panted, quickly exhaling. Your chest was going up and down rapidly, leaving you all panicked and crumbling under his brawny, firm grip. You looked directly into his eyes, looking for mercy; hoping this night would end without either one of you dying. His hard-nosed gaze not shifting into a softer manner at all.

You were still numb from the moonshine, so many thoughts pondering your head. You wanted to kiss him, end whatever this was. You were highly influenced by booze. You didn't care. You wanted to kiss him. You didn't know what the outcome would be.

So you did, you got on your tiptoes; your bodies were already too close. You closed your eyes and kissed him harshly on the lips. His grip on your wrists loosened, you almost toppled onto him which he didn't let it happen.

His strong hands grabbed the both sides of your face, pressing his lips onto yours like he pleaded for more of you. It all happened so swiftly that he shoved you on the wall harshly. He waited for a split second, his lips brushing yours. You could smell the pungent odour of alcohol mingled with the smell of cigarattes you smoked earlier that day. You didn't care. You wanted all of him. He panted rapidly against your lips. You stayed like that for a moment, his hands flawlessly placed on the temples of your head; the only thing you could hear was eachother's shaky breaths. You pressed your lips onto him once again. A tear that you had been holding so long fell down your cheek, you didn't mind. It was a joyful tear. You were both taking eachother breaths away that left your heart ponding like crazy. He rested all of his body weight on you, which you didn't complain this time. You could feel him growing under his jeans.

Your hands reached the collar of his vest and helped him take it off. You grabbed his bare shoulders and digged your fingernails into them. His hands shifted to your waist from the sides of your face. There was that void feeling in your stomach once again. How small you were compared to him, how you were like an insect which he could've crashed with his fingertips seconds ago.

You gasped when his hands went under your t-shirt, grabbing your hips and waist and stroking your skin. It became a sloppy kiss but you both liked it. Your whole body curved into his body, small moans escaping your mouth. He started going down on your neck from your plumpy lips. Your grabbed a fistful of his hair gently with your right hand, softly pushing his head down on your neck as he kept pecking on your soft skin.

You made up.

FOOTNOTE

Why is it actually so awkward do write even a basic kissing scene. it was painful. idk much about this fanfic it was way better in my mind but idc

@duffmckagansbandana deserves some credits too!! we exchanged so many thoughts during this :))

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon imagine #daryl dixon one shot #daryl fanfiction #the walking dead #the walking dead daryl #the walking dead fanfiction #twd daryl #twd imagine #daryl dixon angst #daryl dixon x reader #daryl dixon x you #daryl dixon x y/n #daryl dixon x female reader #daryl dixon gif #daryl dixon fanfiction #fanfic

[squib-2006]

So I’ve finally got some of my thoughts on the new season in order and letting my self sit on it for a while

Dragons rising season 2 spoilers!!!!!

So first off holy shit this season has managed to completely wipe out any fears I had for season two. I’m a generally anxious person and am pretty naturally pessimistic about most things and was pretty anxious about season 2 because from the stuff shown in trailers and promotional vids it looked like a “Lloyd chosen one” plot line and I have a history of hating that kinda thing because it’s been beaten to death in ninjago at this point. While a bit of that was there I found it was done quite tastefully and didn’t overwhelm everything else story wise.

I felt that the pacing of the first 6-7ish episodes was a bit all over the place. Having the training arc and the Cole-Zane plot lines happen in the same episode with the pov switching back in forth felt a little bit off to me.

Sora and arins character arcs are shaping up to be pretty good. Soras more confident in her self than season one and she’s trying to help Arin but I feel like the whole using her elemental power to help Arin will backfire into her face. Arin’s insecurity and the whole how can I be useful if I don’t have an element I fell is being handled way better than the dumb kai arc in season 11(dw I will get to that when I get to kai) and it’s about on par with the Lloyd powerless plot from hunted. I am really excited to see what they do next and if Arin will be really mad at sora or not cuz like he’s super nice and stuff and I fell like he would be sad instead of mad.

Nya didn’t really have a lot going on personally except the stuff with Jay which I’m iffy on because so much of Nyas character in older seasons revolved around Jay and I just hope they don’t go back to that and let her character breath a bit.

In the topic of Jay I really really REALLY hope he isn’t evil. That the idea because it’s really out of character and they are already pushing my buttons with the lost memory crap because that’s something that I’ve rarely seen done well at all and it makes me very nervous and I just don’t like it. I do like that Jay just seems to be a guy who hates his job tho that’s fun.

I think the writers are just having fun with Zane and I think that’s cool. I do wanna punch the administration guy who said Zane isn’t a person because he is and he’s a bean and I will not allow this nobody to slander him.

It was nice to see more of Cole this season. I swear him and geo are so cute. The hand holding and the fact that they basically adopted two kids together is amazing and I am fully on board for this ship.

The villans were really interesting. I hope they keep up the quality with them because the mystery of ras’ master and wtf happened with jordana is really exciting. Cinder was intresting and as someone who has no interest in men what so ever I am kinda baffled at why so many people want this man but hey you do you. I do wonder what happened to ash tho. The member of the forbidden five looks interesting too and part of me is hoping that the leaked “evil jay” minifig is actually this guy just powered up cuz the color palette is similar enough and I just don’t want an evil jay.

Wyldfyre is amazing her whole leg being broken then sneaking on the ship to the exasperation of kai (like he would totally have pulled something like this a few seasons ago the hypocrite <3) and the others was so good. I am curious about her talk with egalt she mentioned one of her family members getting the wasting sickness but it can’t be heat wave cuz he seems fine so maybe she had more than one dragon guardian??? I do hope that Kai’s portal abduction does affected going into part 2 and that she bonds with nya and the others over it.

Egalt and rontu were very interesting to me and I’m glad they didn’t go the route of them being the actual creators of spinjitzu and kept the lore consistent I was slightly worried about that. Hope they come back in part 2 too.

Bonzle was a big surprise for me. I likes her personality in season 1 but I didn’t expect her to be so important. She’s really sweet and the scene with wu was great too.

And finally last but definitely not least, the best character in this entire show and my favorite comfort character to beat the shit out of

KAI

IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. I LITERALLY HAVE NOT BEEN THIS HAPPY WITH AN EPISODE SINCE SEASON 4 EPISODE 7 THE FORGOTTEN ELEMENT (iykyk) I was literately kicking my feet like a little girl and crying and screaming my head off to the point I woke up other family members. Him unlocking the rising dragon technique by having his sister help and being in harmony with his family is so fucking sweet and I cried like a little bitch it was so good. I am also so happy that they used his old hair and didn’t just slap a smaller version of his current hair onto him (tho I kinda wish they had used the fucked up custom hair that was in the older episodes but I doubt that model is even in their hands so whatever(side side note I love the fucked up hair so much it’s so stupid I love it and will forever miss it)) him being such a dad to wyld fire was so sweet and then using the rising dragon technique after he saw his family in danger was just perfect. I do kinda wish there was more of a dramatic reaction to him getting yeeted by ras into the portal (kinda like any of the other ninja “deaths/major injuries”) but im fine with what we got. Except I kinda hate that only nya has an outward reaction in the aftermath. No lloyd reaction no Cole reaction and nothing from Zane and it makes me mad because every other time a ninja had their moment there was a whole team reaction. But I’m feeling like that’s to nitpicky and there’s still ten more episodes to fix that so fingers crossed. But kai also encouraging bonzle to close the portal even if he’s trapped inside is such a kai thing and hit me like a truck. Also him calling bonzle kid dispite her being much much older than him is funny and sweet cuz Kai’s big brother/father figure side is coming through and it’s so sweet. And the ninja never quit line is so great I was sobbing even more after that. (Tho I don’t know why he said he got it from Lloyd when it would have made more sense to have it be from master wu cuz that’s where he learned it but eh whatever).

While im really happy about kai finally getting some well deserved angst im also very anxious about it too. This could be the perfect opportunity for the writers to just conveniently forget about him for a while and idk if i could sit through that. Kai is a huge part of why I watch ninjago and he’s always been handed the shortest stick character development wise and technically he never got his own focus season either (and no i dont count the pilots because that focused mainly on all the ninja and was only two episodes, i also don’t count season four because it was more a group season, and season 11 doesn’t count because he got a half baked b plot that sucked) I’m very worried that I will loose enjoyment in the show because I dropped the show out of disappointment after season 11 because A LOT of premonitional material made it seem like a kai season and I got my hopes up and was let down so much. I’m very cautious when getting excited about things involving kai in particular because of that and I’m just hoping the writers don’t fuck it up.

Ok that’s enough negativity for once. I’m so excited for more and am foaming at the mouth for more!

#ninjago #lego ninjago #kai jiang #kai smith #kai <3 #ninjago dragons rising #kai ninjago #ninjago cole #ninjago nya #ninjago zane #ninjago jay #ninjago sora #ninjago arin #nya smith #nya jiang #zane julien #cole brookstone #lloyd garmadon #lloyd montgomery garmadon #ninjago lloyd #ninjago dr spoilers #ninjago spoilers #ninjago dragons rising spoilers #ninjago dragons rising season 2 #sorry for any spelling mistakes I just wrote this a quickly as possible #I’m excited but also cautious per usual #us kai fans are eating good tho

[mollysunder]

Shimmer, Plants, and Firelights: Is the Firelights' Tree HQ being Sustained with Shimmer?

One of the most impressive things about Ekko's community, the Firelights, is that they were able to build a real home for one other another against the brutal struggle to survive that the Undercity has been caught in for centuries. Arcane best shows the Firelights' success in community in their ability to build and manage a green community. In the Undercity, a place of Iron and Glass, where plants and clean air are such luxuries that they count as status symbols, the Firelights are practically bathed in it in their Treehouse HQ. But then when I rewatched the series, I remembered Ekko said they FOUND this tree. The Firelights didn't grow it from seed to massive old growth themselves (especially if the timeskip was just 6-7 yrs at most), they certainly cultivated it in a way that allowed the tree to support itself and them too. After finishing Arcane it was so easy to firmly associate successful plant cultivation and the hope it brings for the Undercity with the Firelights, to where I had forgotten that the plants do grow in the Undercity.

The first time we see plant life in the Undercity is at the Crab Palace, better known as the Cannery. Through the cracks in the ground are leafy ferns (I think they're ferns) and generally very healthy looking weeds. At first I'd assumed maybe this area was in a slightly less polluted area in the Undercity, but it's literally by the place Silco was drowned. The place where the river is so toxic it eats muscle tissue. And yet, in the light of day plants grow. In fact, even underwater vegetation seems to be able to grow too. And everytime we see an instance of vegetation growing and surviving in the Undercity, there is always a source of Shimmer and/or Shimmer production nearby.

In the Cannery we can see the literal veins of Shimmer (Void Veins?), act as a medium that allows plant growth.

In the time it took for the sun to set on 2nd episode we can see that even more fern saplings are growing on and around the Void Veins.

In Singed's cave where he is cultivating Rio, the mutation related to Shimmer's production the cave is filled with bioluminescent plant life. I don't know if this a normal plant in League of Legends, but in the real world there are no naturally occurring plants that actively glow in the dark. Not only do they exist in a cave system that's fed with water visibly polluted with visible chemical runoff they manage to grow in decent looking clusters with limited light.

Later in the season, Viktor's experiments with the hexcore show that the Void is capable of stimulating the growth organic life and Shimmer may be the key to maintaining it.

By the end of the season, Shimmer production is shown in a very controlled environment like the factory where plant life would be weeded out to avoid accidents and prevent damage to machinery. When the show reaches the Firelights' HQ, audience members like myself already forgot Shimmer's association with plant life. But looking back, it seems few requirements are needed for Shimmer to make plants grow. All the plants probably needed was light, moisture, and a healthy supply of Shimmer.

It makes sense that the Firelights' treehouse was able to grow so large and grand in a place like the Undercity with the help of Shimmer. Shimmer is a literal magic wonder drug (a super steriod) for humans, and magic doesn't need to understand basics of biochemistry, it's the Void. The real question is where is the source that's feeding the tree? The easiest answer could be that Silco dumps subpar quality Shimmer around the area, maybe the batches aren't strong enough but inadvertently make good fertilizer. The more worrying answer is that the Void Veins over the years have dug deeper into the Undercity than anyone, except maybe Singed thought was possible.

No matter the answer, if it's true the tree was only able to survive before the Firelights reached it would be devastatingly ironic for Ekko and his group. Shimmer, the drug that elevated their enemy and upended their lives also made their home possible. It could be an opportunity to look once again at the nuances of Shimmer's applications once more, especially as previously the Firelights and now Piltover are hellbent on destroying it. But it also makes their home an even bigger target.

Somewhere there is a reserve of Shimmer sustaining the Firelights' tree in a time where production in its industry has been effectively shut down. They are possibly living on an extremely flammable gold mine. The gold mine may or may not be closely psychically conected to other Void-connected transmutated people like Jinx and Viktor. It also doesn't help that Piltover's quick to storm in first and ask questions later in high tension situations.

#arcane #ekko arcane #silco #ekko #singed arcane #viktor arcane #firelights arcane #arcane season 2 speculation #season 2 is gonna be tough on the firelights especially ekko #they all looked a little too happy at the end of the season #also I'm pretty sure we're going to have a flashback of Heimerdinger’s village burning so thatt #that'll be a tough parallel #a bunch if things are gonna go wrong for them #i have more to say #arcane speculation #arcane meta #the firelights

[miastideclock]

quiet, bang chan

requested by: absolutely no one word count: 968 warnings: me being a simp, also not edited :)

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the humming of the fridge and the slight buzzing of the airconditioner in the other room. cracking of knuckles every now and again. soft tapping on two separate keyboards.

chan was sitting with his back against the headboard, tapping away on his computer. you were sitting cross legged, facing the headboard and using your pillow as a seat for your own laptop. it was just one of those nights where you had been doing each your thing, but together in a sense. you hadn't spoken in the past two and a half hours, but every now and then, you would rest your hand on his knee and rub your thumb against his exposed skin. in the same way, he would take the time to bend over and brush your hair out of your eyes and kiss your cheek once in a while.

you adored time spent like this. you both acknowledged that there was no need for talking all the time, and you could easily spend quality time together in complete silence, focusing on each your thing.

it had been a while since you rested your hand on any part of his leg, so while you were going from one tab to another, you reached your hand over and gave his thigh a light squeeze. it was then you noticed his shorts weren't keeping him warm anymore. the exposed skin on his leg was almost shocking to the touch. you looked up from your screen and at him, waiting from him to do the same.

"are you cold?" you asked him, just above a whisper. he was about to shake his head no when he went to scratch an itch on his leg, right by where you were holding your hand. it then seemed to shock him as well how cool his skin felt.

"i didn't even realize." he admitted, now rubbing his leg, trying to friction up some heat. you turned around and grabbed a wool blanket that was placed on the footstool at the end of the bed. you unfolded it while chan raised his computer so you could place it on his lap. after he had put the computer back down on top of the blanket, he did the same for you.

even though your laptop was resting on your pillow, you still lifted it so he could maneuver the blanket around easily. while you held your laptop up in the air, you looked out the window that was right over your headboard.

as far as you were concerned, the world was a much too noisy place. whether it was loud cars zooming by, or the sound it made when someone was walking across the street, you always thought everything would be better if it was quieter, or at least softer.

"the first snow." you whispered, mostly to yourself, but chan could hear it too. he finished up project-blanket, and looked at you in hopes you would give some context.

"pardon?"

you loved winter for that one particular reason. snow. it fell over the world in a gentle, white sheet that silenced everything. sounds didn't carry half as far, and footsteps grew softer.

"first snow of this season." you spoke again, this time putting your laptop down and nodding slightly in the direction of the windows. it was dark outside, so the only way you could really see the snow, was directly under the warm-colored streetlights.

"i guess it is." chan spoke equally quiet as he turned in his seat and looked outside. "c'mere, i have an idea."

you turned your attention over to the man who was no longer sitting next to you, but standing over by the closet. he changed from shorts to sweatpants, eagering you to do the same as he tossed you a hoodie of his. while you did as you were told, he left the room. you could easily hear based on his footsteps that he went to the kitchen.

after getting dressed and descending the stairs, you found yourself trying to place the smell that suddenly entered your vicinity. not many seconds later, chan revealed it to be hot chocolate as he handed you a steaming cup.

"you grab the massive blanket from the living room, i'll grab pillows for us to sit on, and then we meet out on the front steps?" he half instructed, half asked. you nodded in agreement, without really understanding what he was up to.

you turned around and moved to the living room, grabbing the biggest blanket you could find from the ottoman, as well as your slippers, and you walked out on the front steps. there he was, placing two pillows down for you, him patting the one he wasn't already sitting on, inviting you to join him.

after sitting down on your designated pillow, and wrapping the two of you in the big blanket, you took a sip of your hot drink. it was a nice contrast against the freezing temperatures you were sat in. instinctively, you scooted closer to the man on your left, trying to leech off of his body heat. he shifted and wrapped his arm around you, allowing you to snuggle into his side.

"why are we out here, by the way?" you finally asked, having yet to understand his spontaneity.

"i know how much you love snow, and how much especially you love the first snow; so i thought we could sit here for a while and watch it for a while."

it was the perfect reason. you did love snow, and especially the first snow. so there you sat, on the front steps of your shared apartment, watching the snowfall soundlessly.

no more humming of the fridge, or buzzing from the air conditioner. only muted nothingness.

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cheers, bentley♡

#kpop #kpop scenarios #kpop reactions #kpop one shot #kpop requests #stray kids #stray kids scenarios #stray kids reactions #stray kids one shots #stray kids requests #stray kids drabbles #stray kids imagines #skz #bang chan #bang chan imagines

[willgrahamscock]

hanniballs :3 was rly tired writing, sorry for mistakes and all of the OOC 😔

Hannibal sighed and looked at his meat racks, he had used up the last of his supply cooking a dinner for Will last night. He only regretted it slightly, as he didn't like having to hunt in the morning; it was uncivilized to get up so early in his opinion. He supposed the act of sharing with Will, making their stomachs come together as one was worth it.

Cracking the fingers of his giga-chad hands, he went up his stairs focused on one thing, the hunger in his stomach.

Hannibal's eyes searched through his Patrick-Batemen-Esque collection of business cards until he spotted the perfect one. 'Gabriel Sullivan', his nose crinkled in disgust, he remembered Mr. Sullivan oh too well.

The memories flashed of an intoxcicated Gabriel bumping into Hannibal at a gym (Hannibal was on the grind only at 2am). Gabriel had reached his hand onto Hannibal's shoulder and pulled him in close.

He was revolted just thinking about the vile words Mr. Sullivan had slurred out, "Heyyyyy soy-boy," Sullivan had hiccuped loudly, "do you want to hear about my new crypto-currency?"

As if the Hannibal Lecter would ever drink soy miilk instead of human blood!

Shaking his head slightly, Hannibal was returned back to reality, or at least, his version of reality. As he was sitting down in his car, he quickly put on his favorite song and his one inspirtion in life, Cannibal by Ke$ha. She was such a girlboss.

The speedometer was whirring alarmingly fastl, Hannibal glanced over and saw he was going 72 miles over the speed limit, oh well. Live Laugh Love.

Not long after, he had arrived at Gabriel Sullivans house, it was suprisingly well decorated, or at the least the outside was, for a man who put his trust into crypto.

He debated how he was going to do this, would he knock on the door and pretend to be a girl scout? Sneak in the windows with the positivly delightful curtains?

Before Hannibal could continue on with his musing, the door to the house was slammed opened.

How rude, not giving him enough time to prepare. It didn't matter though.

Stepping out of the car which Will had adornned with fishing equipment, Hannibal assumed the guise of a old man who was severly sick.

Almost immediantly, he was yelled at, "Who the fuck are you old twat? Get the hell of my property or I'm calling the cops!"

Mr. Sullivan has just now chosen the hard way.

Feeling the wood of his knife's handle, Hannibal coldly slide it into his hand, not caring if Gabriel saw it, there were benifiets to not living near other people, but no one being able to hear screams wasn't one, at least not for Mr. Sullivan.

He speedwalked as fast as a girlie could, managing to get close enough to jab into the pig's stomach, puncutering the pancreas. The glassy brown eyes stared at him, and he stared back, smirking slightly when the injured blinked.

Hannibal began smoothly, "Tell me, do you have one redaimable quality? Any cooking supplies? Blink for yes. This will go much better for you if you answer."

He of course meant better in the sense of taste, however Sullivan didn't need to know that yet.

Water welled up in Gabriel's eyes, but he managed to blink, hoping to save his life.

"Good. That will make this go much quicker then." Hannibal said right before snapping the other man's neck.

"Now to get to work..." It was as if time had suddenly sped up, or an author had work early tomorrow morning and realized they should have spent less time writing the set up and more time learning how to describe cooking.

First, Hannibal moved the body inside the house, for easier access to the meat. He was ready to cook a scrumdiddlyumptious meal, one historians would talk about for centerius if they found out.

The meal was... human balls!

The deilcacy wasn't one he often got to try, for the FBI would surely be suspicious if all the victims of the Chesapeake Ripper had gottern nuetared.

He hummed to the beat of Vivaldi's four seasons, whilst he carefully used his pocketknife to cut off the man's balls induvidially. After he managed to get them in a fairly circular shape (as was required for the recipe he was using), Hannibal raided Sullivan's food stores, grabbing almond flour, two eggs, and the rich people spices / herbs he had brought from home.

Making quick work, it didn't take that long to find a pot that he would be boiling his wonderful creation in.

You may be wondering what exactly he was cooking, well, you know how most people had meatballs as a side with their pasta? Hannibal liked to mix his food together.

Anyways, actually making the noodles took about twenty minutes, which was pretty good considering he'd never had balls cooked like this before, but there's a first time for eveything.

He grasped the two balls, dipped them in extra virgin olive oil, then scuptled the noodles onto it, making the ball's resemble his and Will Graham's faces. Once he was finally satisfied with his work, 30 more minutes had passed and he was growing hungrier by the second.

Putting water into the pot from earlier, he also dumped amounts of Saffron, Kaffir Lime Leaves, Long Pepper, Mahleb, and Black Cumin Seed inside, combining them to make a lovely concoction of all different flavors, enhancing that of the balls.

The water boiled quickly and he delicately put the ball faces in, not daring to ruin one of their designs, if Hannibal wasn't so hungry, he would have painted them with food dye as well.

Exactly ten minutes later, Will Graham showed up, wondering why Hannibal had texted him to come to such an ugly looking house. He sighed once he saw the blood drops on the front porch, he wasn't in the mood for human today, but it seems he would have to eat some.

"Ah, I see you've arived just one time. The act of procreation is one of the most intimate one can have, and yet the place where we can do it is the most painful. Perhaps God is gloating at us once more, for daring to continue after we left his garden. Tell me Will, would you leave the saftey of God's garden? Or continue to live in someone else's shadow, never being your own self?"

Will stared behind Hannibals shoulder, "Dr. Lecter, why are there noodle circles of our faces." Before Hannibal could answer he did his his leap and continued, "And what did you do with the dead man?"

The pychartrist tutted, "I though you would have been smarter Will. Those are his balls, so unfortanute of the poor man that they had to be cut off. I must admit I was curious what would happen if we ate the thing used to make another, but if it where shaped in our own image."

"I have one question Hannibal, who will be eating who?" Will smirked as he said this because hes silly like that.

"Oh Will, what is life but not the consumption of others?" Hannibals lip slightly moved upwards.

Will and Hannibal sat oppisite eachother at an unfamilar table, with tension thick in the air, they began to eat.

The food was so good the both them had transfered into cat's! And if there's one thing cat's do with dead bodies, it's eat them. So nothing really changed except Hannibal's person suit would cost more and Will has more a reason to hunt fish.

I never thought I’d be reading the most raw line

“The act of procreation is one of the most intimate one can have, and yet the place where we can do it is the most painful. Perhaps God is gloating at us once more, for daring to continue after we left his garden. Tell me Will, would you leave the saftey of God's garden? Or continue to live in someone else's shadow, never being your own self?"

In a crack fic about eating ballsacks.

#alex answers #please the way I can’t decide if I should be laughing or crying #hannibal #nbc hannibal #Hannigram #murder husbands #hannibal fanfiction #hannibal fanfic #hannigram fanfiction #I’m going to force everyone to read

[manysmallhands]

The Brits: Rated!

This weekend I watched The Brit Awards for the first time in an absolute age. One thing it reminded me of is why I don’t usually watch The Brit Awards: the staging was cringe, the presenters forgettable and the winners (Jungle! Bring Me The Horizon!) often completely baffling. RAYE’s coronation as queen of UK pop was at least a satisfying moment of well deserved revenge, but also a colossal round of arse covering and buck passing from an industry that was more than happy to screw her over and has in no way faced any real reckoning over it. As such, the stellar cast who were lined up to perform were basically the only good reason for me to stick around. I rated them as follows:

Dua Lipa - Training Season 

Absolutely banging opener, lots of fancy moves - including Dua being suspended in midair by a bunch of guys with no visible means of support themselves! - and an excellent (if slightly strained) vocal, a notable improvement on her Grammys performance from last month. I like Training Season anyway but this felt like a proper event. 9

Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding - Miracle

I’ve hitherto found Miracle a bit of a snooze but I finally started to warm to it last night and the bit at the end where it all kicked off was probably the best climax of the evening. While the choreography created an engaging sense of spectacle, Ellie was admirably low effort amongst it all and Calvin might as well have sneaked off for a fag, it was quite funny watching him stood at the back doing nothing. 8

Tate McRae - Greedy

I so wanted this to be great cos I can't stop listening to her but sadly that really wasn’t the case. There seemed to be technical issues at times but often Tate looked swallowed up by the size of the staging, just singing the odd line here and there while doing an admittedly top-line dancing routine. Not a patch on her recent NHL show. 6 

Jungle - Back On 74

Despite it being extremely lightweight I’m rather fond of Back on 74, but quite what Jungle are doing here (and winning best band!) is something of a mystery to me. Still, the Sault we’ve got at home put on a pleasant enough show without really straining themselves performance-wise, especially considering its acrobatic video. 7

RAYE - Medley: Ice Cream Man/Prada/Escapism.

I’ll admit that RAYE’s more "authentic" genre reworkings can leave me a bit nonplussed but I thought this performance was fantastic. Ice Cream Man was predictably devastating, Prada held up surprisingly well under its choral makeover and Escapism seems to take whatever she throws at it without so much as flinching. Not much to speak of visuals-wise but she really didn’t need them. 9

Chase and Status/Becky Hill - Disconnect

Chase and Status honoured their best producer award by doing their least good song of 2023. Becky Hill dutifully belted it out but there wasn’t much to draw the eye and the teasers from Baddadan had a distinct ‘look at what you could have won’ quality. 6

Rema - Calm Down 

In the year or more since I first heard it, I’ve gone from bored to lukewarm to kinda liking Rema’s megahit and the live setting here has finally pushed me over the top:  Calm Down is really quite good. It was helped along by a winning dance routine that played into its exotic rhythms but Rema's performance is the thing that really carried it, all understated charisma, flashing smiles and some truly iconic headgear. 8

Kylie - Hits Medley

There was a sense in which I wanted this to be amazing but in the end it was merely an alright performance, lifted by the fact that the UK loves Kylie and it was always going to feel like a bit of a triumph. The vocals were nothing to write home about, the track selection could have been better too, but by the time we got around to All The Lovers I was pretty much sold anyway. Ultimately, there are some people who are above meaningful criticism and Kylie will always be one of them. I mean, who gives a shit whether I liked it or not. 7

#Brit Awards #Pop Music #Drum N Bass #Afrobeats #Dua Lipa #Calvin Harris #Ellie Goulding #Tate Mcrae #RAYE #Jungle #Chase N Status #Becky Hill #Rema #Kylie #Soul #Youtube #Brits

[beardedjoel]

Part One of the Signs of a Lifetime Series

Pairing: Din Djarin x OC / fem!Reader

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: smut, mild violence, language

A/N: i wasn’t sure about posting this but I’ve been working on this OC nonstop for ages now and love her dearly, so I hope you enjoy her story! 

entire story is posted on AO3 if you wanna show me some love there!

Summary:

Bounty hunter Alya Kesyk was completely unprepared for the day she met the Mandalorian. She wasn’t looking to make any new friends, let alone change the entire landscape of her life going forward.

As a loner for the last decade, the last thing she expects is to meet someone who captivates her like this, and eventually changes her for the better.

Story begins pre-season one and may continue into the main story of the show.

Alya Kesyk was completely unprepared for the day she met the Mandalorian. She wasn’t looking to make any new friends, let alone change the entire landscape of her life going forward. It was just another day on the job for her as she swirled the dark liquid in her glass and peered around the moderately crowded cantina she was sitting in. The main bartop may not be the most inconspicuous place to be seated with plenty of more private booths lining the walls and corners of the room, but it gave her the best view of her surroundings. Over the years she had mastered the look of someone simultaneously not suspicious and not to be fucked with, which typically led to her remaining unbothered by other patrons when she was on a job. The ones that tested those waters with her found out quickly that they had made the wrong choice.

Alya took a sip of her drink as the main doors of the tavern slid open. She felt a bit of the cooler air from outside breeze past her as she turned with a deliberately passé look to see who had entered. Her facade almost faltered as she beheld the man covered completely in armor that entered. She could have sworn that the room quieted at the sight, even stilled a bit with new tension. A Mandalorian .

She wasn’t sure if this meant trouble just yet, but Alya turned her attention away from the door while keeping her ears open. The last thing she needed was any kind of scene caused by some drunk, aggressive asshole who might try to pick a fight with a Mandalorian and mess up her chances of finishing this job. She had been biding her time and gathering any last intel or movements on her quarry before moving in on him, and would be damned if anybody screwed this up for her.

The Mandalorian slowly sauntered up towards the bar, seemingly unfazed by the extra attention placed on him as he had entered the room. Alya figured that he was used to it by now - Mandalorians weren’t the most common sight after all, and they were perceived as dangerous to the average person. They were raised to be fighters, warriors, and absolutely not to be messed with. Even she found herself slightly unnerved by the genuine strength radiating off of him, but it was met with equal intrigue about who he was. He had on a shiny, pure beskar helmet that looked rather new compared to his other armor pieces - scratched up mismatched red-brown plates covering the rest of him. The Mandalorian seated himself with just one bar stool between them, and Alya felt her hair stand up slightly when her instincts told her something was off. No, not off, just… electric . The prickling beginning in her nerves was interrupted when the Mandalorian suddenly inclined his helmeted head towards her and spoke.

“You a local?” he said, his voice modulated to hell but with a quality that Alya instantly found herself attracted to. Focus , she hissed to herself in her mind.

“Depends on who wants to know,” she replied with a casual sip of her drink and a slight smirk. The alcohol warmed her throat, giving her that little bit of extra courage to sass this dangerous man with at least two weapons visible that she could count. She realized her suspicions upon first seeing him were correct and he was looking for intel on the exact bounty she was here to hunt.

She could have sworn she heard an exasperated scoff through his modulator. “Me” he said flatly. Alya silently praised herself that she had passed off looking like enough of a local for him to even ask, not that she had ever doubted herself. Something about him filled her with an instinct to trust, so she decided to go against everything she typically stood for on this strange whim that was stirring within her.

“I’m not local, but I sense we might have… mutual interests here” Alya peered over at him and the Mandalorian’s head seemed to look over at her more quickly than he had been moving before. It was impossible to read him through the helmet, but she sensed he was taken aback.

“Oh? And just what exactly do you think that would be?” he said while turning his body more fully towards Alya.

She discreetly pulled the bounty puck out of her pocket to show him and then slipped it right back in a few moments later, looking back up at her new companion with searching eyes. He made a sort of amused chuckle noise through the modulator in response but didn’t say anything.

“If my assumption that you’re a Guild member as well is correct, which I know it is, then I have a proposition for you.” Alya tried to keep her tone steady, detached but she felt her heart rate pick up a little.

“I’m listening,” Mando leaned even closer to her. She could see her reflection a bit better in the helmet and smoothed the few loose strands of her pulled back red hair behind her ears slightly.

“I’m thinking of a collaboration of sorts. Don’t ask me why. This is a high profile bounty which means good money for me, and not to mention I was here first and should be taking one hundred percent of the reward, but for some reason I find myself feeling generous today.” Alya held out her hands, palms open, and shrugged slightly. Something had absolutely struck her senseless about this mysterious man, and maybe her sudden urge to share a bounty for fuck’s sake was just to keep him around a bit longer. “You help me wrangle this guy up, we split the bounty, and then neither one of us leaves here empty handed.”

She watched Mando ponder for several moments, and began to worry she had said the wrong thing, pissed off the wrong asshole today. She had a bad habit of doing that, didn’t she, she wondered to herself.

“Okay.”

Alya quickly glanced up at where she assumed his eyes would be under the helmet and felt the corner of her mouth turn up slightly. “It’s a deal, then” she said, holding out her hand. She was surprised when Mando took it and shook her hand, her fingertips poking out of her fingerless leather gloves touched his gloved hands. While there was no skin to skin contact she found it electrifying all the same.

“Alright, tell me what you've got, we can compare notes,” Mando implored her, folding his hands together.

“The quarry has been hiding out here on Canto Bright long enough to actually secure a job somehow. And you’ll never guess where he works.”

The small chuckle came through the modulator again, quickly becoming music to Alya’s ears. “So you know the quarry works here, and you’re just… drinking at the bar?”

Now it was Alya’s turn to laugh. “Even bounty hunters deserve a break, don’t we? I’m actually scoping the place out instead of going in guns blazing, but maybe that’s not your personal style?” she teased back.

“Hmm. Fair enough,” he replied, crossing his arms. “So, how did you know?”

“Know what?” Alya raised her eyebrow slightly, looking at him.

“What I was here for. That I’m with the Guild.”

Alya smirked slightly. “I… had a feeling.”

“You’re just that smart, huh?” The Mandalorian’s voice sounded amused as he taunted her.

“Actually, yes.” Alya crossed her arms indignantly. “This isn’t exactly my first trip around the galaxy, y’know. It’s not every day that a Mandalorian just walks into the cantina where you happen to be getting a quarry asking questions, so I put the pieces together.”

“I can see that… clever girl,” he replied with a tantalizing tone that made Alya’s hair on the back of her neck stand up slightly. He seemed to have leaned closer to her as she was speaking, and she studied him carefully, taking in all the details of his armor. She simply raised her eyebrows, looking at him confidently.

“Are we gonna catch this guy, or what?” Alya pressed, and Mando laughed heartily at her aggressiveness.

After giving themselves another ten minutes to quickly make their plan, and for Alya to finish her drink, they were standing up from the bar and slowly walking towards the door to the tavern’s kitchen. Alya felt unbelievably powerful walking next to this mass of metal armor, having all the eyes in the room darting between the two of them and the patrons likely wondering what they were up to. They reached the door and stood on either side of it, holding off for a moment. Alya gave a slight nod to the Mandalorian to signal she was ready, and he returned it before they burst through the door together, blasters out.

The quarry knew within an instant, had likely been looking over his shoulder for weeks just waiting for this to happen. He turned and ran, his sudden momentum causing him to push metal bowls and utensils off the counters, falling with a loud clang that momentarily disarmed Alya. She snapped out of it quickly and realized he was likely heading for some employee entrance to escape. The Mandalorian called out after him and began sprinting, Alya following closely behind. Damn, he was fast, she thought, watching with amazement at his graceful speed despite all that heavy armor.

The chase went on longer than some Alya had encountered with her quarries as they weaved through a few streets and narrowly avoided groups of people jumping out of their way, but he was no match with both her and Mando chasing after him. She pushed her body, feeling the familiar pump of her legs and steady breaths she had done so many times in her self-training, and managed to push ahead of the Mandalorian at the last second and tackle the bounty to the ground, placing her thighs on either side of his body and holding his arms down. Mando halted in front of them with his blaster trained and ready to shoot. While his weapon was pointed at the quarry, he seemed to be staring at her for a few extra moments under that helmet before turning his attention back to the work at hand. She felt a small shiver at the prospect of his eyes lingering on her that she tried to quickly ignore.

“You just had to choose the hard way, didn’t you?” Alya said, sighing hard, as Mando handed her a pair of cuffs. She quickly slapped them onto the squirming man underneath her and stood up, stepping over him before letting Mando pull the bounty to his feet. Their catch made the usual grumbles at attempting to make a deal with them, offering them more than the bounty was worth, and other bullshit that they’d both heard so many times they lost count. Mando shoved him forward and they began their walk back to their ships.

Alya felt the usual high that came after chasing and catching a quarry, and having someone who understood the work by her side the entire time had been unexpectedly fun. She was used to working alone, and had been for almost ten years now, but found herself considering the idea of a partner in a positive light for the first time in a long time. Feeling self conscious, she tried to suppress her smile since she couldn't read the Mandalorian’s mood at all under his helmet.

"If you try anything --" they both started to say to the bounty at the same time, and then quickly looked at each other. Alya let out a laugh, and joked, "You stole my line.”

"I could say the same thing.” Mando put his free hand on his hip, holding onto the bounty with the other.

"Alright, so which one of us is turning the quarry in?" Alya pondered for a moment before adding, "Or we could head there together? Might make things less complicated."

"I can go. I have to make a drop anyway," Mando offered, seeming to ignore her suggestion of going there as a team.

They were mostly silent with Alya feeling a bundle of nerves, much to her dismay, as they brought the quarry the rest of the way up to Mando's ship - a Razor Crest . So very him, she thought fondly. She tried not to cringe as he got frozen in carbonite, but was impressed that Mando had the technology as she hadn’t even thought to look into that for her own ship. Her bounties had to ride along in a small holding cell and typically annoyed the hell out of her until she could turn them in.

As they stood somewhat awkwardly outside of Mando’s ship afterwards, Alya suddenly realized she had no idea how it would even work to split the bounty, since Mando was the one to take him on his ship. She also noticed at that same moment she didn’t like the idea of them splitting up so soon, feeling her heart sink slightly at the notion of it.

"So take him to Nevarro, get the credits, and have him leave half for me next time I'm there to collect from Greef?" Alya confirmed with the Mandalorian, trying to hide the disappointment from her voice. Maybe it had been taking it too far to think he would consider continuing on together. She tried to remind herself that she’d worked more than well enough on her own for years.

The Mandalorian nodded his head in response. “You trust me not to take it all for myself?” His tone sounded light, but he had a good point considering they had just met a few hours earlier.

“Should I have a reason not to?” Alya raised her eyebrows, genuinely surprised by his returning her sarcastic energy. This was not the impression of Mandalorians she’d gathered from all the things she’d heard about their culture.

“I’m a man of my word. Don’t worry,” he said with conviction, putting Alya at ease. She hadn’t truly thought about it until he brought it up - she had put an inherent trust in him, which she almost never did with anyone. How strange it felt to do that so automatically with Mando, she thought to herself.

"Good.” She bit her lip slightly, uneasy at the words she knew were about to come out of her mouth. “I know it was unconventional, but I did enjoy this for a change of pace. Having a... teammate, or partner, or whatever the hell." Mando remained silent, so she went on, feeling like she may be daring just a bit too much to say what she was thinking, but figured to hell with it. She probably had a low chance of seeing this guy again with the entire galaxy out there.

"I can say I do hope we run into each other again sometime." Alya offered a half smile his way. She had no idea what was driving her to be so open, so bold with this virtual stranger, but she tended to follow her gut most of the time, and this was no exception.

After a few more moments of silence, Mando answered, "Me too.” She smiled in return, hoping he was doing the same underneath that helmet. “You’re a hell of a bounty hunter, freckles. It’s not every day I find another Guild member at the same… level of expertise as me,” he added a moment later.

“Oh really? That full of ourselves, are we?” She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head. She actively tried to forget the nickname for her he had just thrown out there like it was a completely normal, everyday experience between the two of them.

“No, I…” he stammered for a moment, “I just meant… more about you. You were impressive out there.”

“Don’t worry, Mando, I was just fucking with you.” Alya said, giving him a quick wink. He let out a small, relieved laugh and Alya felt her heart skip a beat at the sound. She silently cursed herself - she had a hard and fast rule not to get attached to anyone or anything. Ever. And yet...

"Let me, uh, walk you to your ship," Mando seemed to blurt out, sounding as uncomfortable as she had heard him thus far.

"Okay, yeah." Alya said, filling him in on what landing bay her ship was in as they set off.

They walked in silence for a few moments, their hands dangerously close. Alya wasn't sure if it was just in her head, or if the tension between them was palpable to him too.

"Do you know where you're heading after making this drop?" Alya asked into the silence.

"Likely just some more Guild business. Guess I’ll see what comes up.”

He hadn't asked her about her next whereabouts and seemed very keen on them not dropping this quarry together so she finally accepted that he definitely didn't want any company going forward. It was probably just as well, she thought.

"Through here, it'll be quicker," Mando steered them into an alleyway to the right of them, touching her arm in the process. A slight buzzing went through Alya's head and she couldn't be sure if it was still the alcohol from earlier tonight or the feel of his glove on her bare forearm. She took a small breath to steady herself and followed his lead down the alley. As much as it made her cringe, her desperation to know her new companion better, to see more of him was taking over. One last shot , she thought, to try and see him again sometime.

"Uh look, if you don't want any company to drop the quarry, then maybe -" Alya started, but was cut off when Mando suddenly whirled towards her, backing her into the nearest wall behind her. His large, powerful form came at her so fast that she felt unsteady on her feet for a moment, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"And what is it that you want?" his modulated voice was lower, filled with something new, something more that she hadn't heard yet. Desire? His body pushed closer to hers and she realized she had forgotten how to breathe normally.

"I - I -" she struggled to form words, her head spinning. His sudden change in demeanor and tone had shaken her typically calm and collected mask. She was reeling - just a moment ago, he’d seemed like he never wanted to see her again, and now he was doing this? She simply looked up at him, blinking, trying to convey with her eyes and expression what she couldn't with words. Him. She wanted him.

He seemed to read it loud and clear, because the next thing she knew, his entire body was against hers, and he quickly pulled off his gloves before reaching up to grab the back of her head and taking a handful of hair. He used his other hand to tilt her head up so that she was looking where Alya assumed his eyes were under the helmet.

"Hmm? Is this what you want?" Mando pulled slightly on the hair he was holding and then reached the other hand to begin toying with her belt.

Alya felt her senses come back to her enough to hastily breathe out a yes. Mando quickly started undoing the buckle on Alya's pants, and taking his lead she reached for his as well. He stopped abruptly and grabbed her wrist, stopping her, and shook his head.

"No. Just you.” He said in a low voice. Alya nodded slightly, still in complete shock, her breath picking up as he continued undoing her belt and unbuttoned her pants. Her breathing hitched as he reached his hand under her waistband, sliding it down.

"Fuck," she said through gritted teeth as he moved his hand lower. She knew he could feel how wet she had already been because of him, and he made a satisfied noise at that fact as his fingers slid past her clit and felt it. Alya reached up and gripped the back of his neck and shoulders, wishing more than anything this damn helmet wasn't between them but she didn't dare try pulling it off.

He started stroking her clit slowly at first, but quickly increased the intensity as Alya let out a small moan. She grabbed at anything she could on him, finding his armor in the way but she clung onto it nonetheless.

"Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you were back there?” He murmured close to her ear, “I couldn’t wait to get you alone.”

“You have me,” she whispered through her panting as she somehow moved her body even closer to him with the little space that was left. Mando simply made a noise of what she assumed was approval as he slipped his fingers inside her, continuing to expertly circle her clit as he pushed the other fingers in and out of her at the most perfect, toe-curling rhythm.

“Maker, you feel so good,” he said, and she could hear his breathing quickening through the modulator. The fact that he seemed just as turned on by this nearly sent Alya over the edge. He leaned his head closer to her neck, trying to get as close as possible. “So good…” he murmured again, in her ear this time.

For a few moments there were just panting breaths between the two of them, Alya’s eyes half closed with desire. She could already feel the pleasure building in her core at just how fucking incredible his fingers felt, and he snaked his free hand down through her hair, trailing her back, and finally landing on her ass. He gave a short groan as he squeezed her ass, his body pressed so close there was barely room for his hand in between them.

Alya suddenly felt pleasure bursting through her, and while she had been trying to keep quiet in this very public alley, her moaning and panting were coming out at a completely uncontrollable volume. She tried to reach a free hand to cover her mouth or bite down on her fist, but Mando reached her face first with his and cupped the side of her cheek. He pulled his head back from where it was buried close to the side of her head and used his hand to tilt her head up, intently watching the waves of pleasure come over her face. He continued to plunge his fingers into her, letting her ride out her climax onto his hand. Alya felt her knees go weak as she came down from the height of her orgasm and tipped her head back against the wall behind her. Mando still had her head in his hand and she leaned her face into it, breathing heavily.

“Beautiful girl,” he said quietly, stroking her cheek, and she thought she could almost feel his eyes on her through the helmet, taking in the slight sheen of sweat on her face and her disheveled hair. He pulled his hand out from her pants and began to gently rebutton them and work on her belt when a loud beep interrupted them.

“Wh-“ Alya began to ask, still half delirious, and she heard Mando let out an exasperated sigh.

“Shit, it’s my comm signal, I set it up to alert me if anything or anyone is getting suspiciously close to my ship. And on a planet like this I don’t think that can be good news,” Mando explained. Alya felt her heart sink, but she nodded and gave a convincing half smile.

“You know I get it. How valuable our ships are to us. Go,” she said, inclining her head in the direction they’d come from.

“I… I’ll make it up to you,” he said, slowly backing his way through the alley, still facing her.

“I know,” Alya said, watching as he reached the street off the alleyway and reluctantly turned and started walking out of sight.

She stood, stunned for several moments, taking a few deep breaths and trying to understand the events of the evening. The only thing clear to her right now was that she didn’t think her life could be the same again now that he had entered it.

#aaaaaa can't believe i'm really posting this it's been my passion project lmao #my first time writing smut go easy on me #i hope literally anyone reads this bless you if you do #signs of a lifetime #fanfic #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfic #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din djarin x oc #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x oc #mando x reader #mando x oc #din djarin #din djarin fanfic #star wars

[yinlotus]

as far as i'm aware from reading US news (ny times) most of the smoke on the US east coast is from the canadian fires. also, the fires in canada are a lot lot lot worse than looks on the image you can see - hundreds of fires burning all across canada.

as a californian myself, i've also been kind of annoyed seeing all the news about like 'unprecedented smoke in nyc' like seriously? this isn't unprecedented, just for them specifically. I understand that seeing the orange skies was crazy but like...it's not new...I literally saw that myself during the fires of 2020 in Calif. i've had friends and family had to evacuate from nearby fires, i had to wear an n95 during the summer before covid because being outside in that air quality made me feel sick. my brother had school and sports cancelled because it was too dangerous to be outside breathing the air.

calif, oregon, washington, british columbia and all of the western US and canada (maybe mexico too, I don't know about impact of smoke/fires in central or latin america) have been dealing with this for years. australia and nz have been dealing with this too for years.

I'm sorry...I kind of just wanted to complain a bit...it was a bit jarring seeing all those headlines about it being new when it's really not, it's just only new for the US east coast which has the biggest & loudest mouthpiece coming from america.

i'd also love to see some resources about the fires in canada if anyone has sent you any. i know for california, Cal Fire (fire.ca . gov) has info on calif. since there was a lot of rain this year (i've never seen so much rain in my life) i'm hoping fire season won't be too bad but we never know...

hi anon!

it's okay to vent about it. i understand that for those who have dealt with or are currently dealing with large wildfires would be annoyed by those who are not experiencing it as they are. still, i don't think it's right to blame those people without educating them a bit on it first.

honestly even when it comes to the east coast smoke most news talk specifically about nyc than the other places dealing with the same thing. picky news coverage can be frustrating to say the least.

and you're certainly right about it being new to us but not everyone else. the east coast is generally pretty wet with hurricanes in summer (which hurricane season officially started around a week ago, which i'm curious if it'll be affected at all since the smoke is also going east into the atlantic and wildfire smoke throws off marine ecosystems and cyclones are worse when the water is warmer) and snow storms during winter. i think no matter where you are, people will react extremely if something out of the ordinary happens. personally i can't even imagine it since even when i lived on the west coast, it was near seattle and mostly wet.

thank you for providing some info on california! nobody else has sent anything yet, but i'll definitely post if they do! :)

my screenshot was from fire.airnow.gov and from zooming in more i get a slightly better picture of where the fires are but the low accuracy is likely because the site's focus is only the us. nasa is usually quite good in capturing this things in the states, so i checked the canadian space agency to see if they had better images of the fires. while i didn’t find any recent satellite images (best i found was a video from a month ago), i was directed to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) which has an updated interactive map on the homepage. This site alao has links to individual centers in each province.

#canadian wildfires #canada #canadian smoke #wildfire #wildfires #climate change #weather #meteorology #academia #studyblr #north america #raine answers

[cresneta]

On the off chance anyone is looking for ideas on how to spruce up the Yor cosplay they bought online I thought I'd post about some the modifications to the ones I wore to a con not too long ago. Mind you, this isn't about to turn into a cosplay account and I'm not planning on posting a full picture of me in either costume.

For the battle dress, as many of fondly refer to it as, I personally didn't care for the charm that it came with and ended up replacing it with a pendent that I found on Etsy. For this, you just need the pendent, a pair of scissors, and a needle and thread. You may also be able to find something at your local craft store that is closer to what she actually wears or possibly 3D orint something if rusts your thing.

This cosplay came with black stockings that are meant to be worn with shoes of a similar material. I used several coats of red acrylic paint on the bottom of the shoes that I wore for this and sealed it witg several coats of Modge Podge to help it last longer. If you do this, I recommend taking a bit more care witg tge masking tape that I did. For this part you just need red acrylic paint, a brush, masking tape, something to protect the surface you're working on, and some Modge Podge or other sealant. I propped the shoes up like that by putting drinking glasses inside them.

It's a small enough detail that I bet most people saw me missed, but I personally enjoyed having it. Here's what the soles of the shoes look like before and after walking around all day at a con:

The only thing I modified on the red outfit was the headband as I didn't care for the buttons that it came with and the ribbon that was used to tie it in place wasn't as close to being screen accurate as I'd like. While this still isn't perfect, I am happier with it than how it was originally. That being said, it is easier to put on with the ribbon than the elastic cord so that particular modification may not be worth it. If you're looking online for this sort of button, it's called a shank button.

As you can probably guess from the photos, for these modifications you just need a needle, thread, scissors, and an elastic cord that can be found in the jewelry section of your local craft store.

Just thought I'd make this post in case it helps anyone. It's really not hard to buy a Yor cosplay online, at least if you're in the US, and they're actually not that expensive. I wouldn't call them cheap either - they do cost more and are better quality than the sorts of costumes you can buy at th supermarket in the US during spooky season, but it's not as much more as you might expect.

Also, if you opt to get red contacts be sure to be careful about where you get them from and do talk to an eye doctor first. I've seen some horror stories out there about people seriously damaging their eyes by using bad contacts. I used Gothika lens which are FDA approved and have just a slightly different base curve than I'm used to.

(Also, I recommend picking up fashion tape to help things like the black stockings stay in place as well as the bandau for the red outfit if you've had similarly bad luck with finding one that fits)

#spy x family #cosplay ideas #yor forger #you can apply these concepts to other cosplays you may buy online #i doubt I'm the first to do it but I've yet to see another Yor cosplayer paint her shoes #i still occassionally those shoes as it's a secret nerdy thing for me #cosplay tips #not sure what else to tag as I didn't post a full cosplay pic

[c-40]

A-T-4 009 Adrian Sherwood Remixes

In 1984 Adrian Sherwood starts using his talents to remix artists outside his On-U Sound stable. Bristol's Y Records go under in 1983 and Y artists Shriekback sign with Arista, they have Paul "Groucho" Smykle co-producing and get Adrian Sherwood in to remix their singles

Skriekback - Cloud Of Nails (Pump Up A Storm) this is a version of Hand On My Heart which almost made it into the UK top 40. The Adrian Sherwood mix is reserved for a second 12" (which has a Paul "Groucho" Smykle remix on the a-side) as it's gloriously nuts but slides into the track effortlessly

Skriekback - Mistah Linn He Dead Mr Linn Drum is dead? is also on Shriekback's Hand On My Heart (Remixes) 12" but it first appears on their 12" EP Knowledge, Power, Truth And Sex, it's another remix of Hand On My Heart but taken further from the original. What do you think a little like African Head Charge but a bit harder than Drastic Season? Defo proto-Tackhead. I think it's great, remember this is before digi-dub

This is a slightly better quality copy of Mistah Linn He Dead, it's Chapter 6 if it don't come up straight away

On the bandcamp page for this Atmosfear remix I think it said something about Andy Sojka and Adrian Sherwood being a strange collaboration but I can totally see it. They're both involved in black music scenes in London from the late 70s, they both start record labels, both are pulling talent from the pot, lovers artists are recording soul and boogie records and vice versa. Surely you'd hear On-U Sound and Elite tracks on the same night at a Wild Bunch or Soul II Soul doo? Anyway this gem is released as...

Atmosfear - When Tonight Is Over (US Thunder Mix)

Depeche Mode - Are People People? The second of Adrian Sherwood's remixes of Depeche Mode's People Are People, this one is found on the limited edition embossed yellow Master And Servant 12" L12 Bong 6, the first is the On-U Sound Mix on the limited edition People Are People 12" L12 Bong 5. Sherwood was the first person asked to remix Depeche Mode

The original Science Fiction Dance Hall Classic is a remix of Master And Servant. It's different from what Art Of Noise are doing. There beats, synths, and samples are so clean and clear and this pushes up the noise and feedback

Depeche Mode - Master and Servant (An On-U Sound Science Fiction Dance Hall Classic)

#1984 #adrian sherwood #dub #new wave #synth pop #london #england #uk #80s music

[fuckinbrunch]

This one was only slightly better than I thought it would be. Doesn't sound appetizing to me in the slightest, and is yet another recipe that really shows you the era Tony came from. That and obvious New York City influences.

Yet again, I find myself running around town trying to find an ingredient that is just non existent out here. I 100% guarantee I could have found shmaltz in Montreal in a second. Checked 4 stores here, and asked online in a reddit group for my city. In the end, I made my own.

Not part of the recipe, but it wasn't difficult to get together. I recently bought some whole chickens for the roast chicken recipe, so I took all the skin from one bird and used that to render down into shmaltz. I butchered up the meat to use in other recipes, and saved the bones for stock.

This was so fucking messy. Chicken fat - unsurprisingly - splatters A LOT. Chicken livers are very wet, so there was a lot of popping and crackling going on. Smelled pretty good though.

I didn't photograph it because I forgot, but before this step I browned some onions. He says to be careful not to let them blacken, which I may have accidentally done a tiny bit. I picked them out and lived with my choice.

There's also a chopped up hard boiled egg in there. A 9 minute egg, to be exact. None of that chalky 15 minute shit up in here.

So, yup. Smoosh onto some seeded rye bread I may have used a seeded multigrain. That's it. Looks like low quality cat food. Smelled very onion-y and sweet. He said if possible, serve with some kind of soda I'd never heard of, and I bet it's hard to find outside of NYC (or maybe Montreal), so I didn't bother with that. I live out west now, shit is weird out here.

| Chopped Liver on Rye |

Taste is a 1 out of 5. The first few bites aren't bad, but I just couldn't finish it.

Difficulty is a 1.5 out of 5. Maybe a 2.5 if you make your own shmaltz.

Time was around 30 minutes.

Very old school kosher deli style sandwich. Made me laugh, because I habitually season that cast iron pan up there with bacon fat. In my house, this meal is definitely not following kosher law at all.

#anthony bourdain #appetites a cookbook #cooking #recipe #sandwich #Chopped Liver on Rye

[missdeepend]

The Change in Art Within Fairy Tail

The Fairy Tail anime has had its fair share in change of the animation. From what I noticed, the animation changes well with the overall feeling of the current time of Fairy Tail. I’m unsure if this was done on purpose, though I am fairly certain it was, at least for the Tartaros arc. Comparing the beginning of the story to the end, you can definitely tell there is a change which may be due to the overall change and more experience Mashima has in drawing which then reflects in the animation that the team is making. The first season it brightly colored from the very beginning. There is never a dull moment in the color and if it does, it is to reflect on the scene. The characters are much more expressive and the magic is almost enticing. It lures you in with this thrill and whimsical colorfulness that almost reminds you of a childhood story. Of a Fairy Tale. As the story goes on, it does have darker tones but, as stated before, it is usually to keep the atmosphere going and it still keeps the expressiveness of this being fantastical.  On the other-hand, when Fairy Tail ends in order to catch up with the manga we go from the happy 2009 feel straight into the darker 2014 feel, which I will say I enjoy slightly better mainly due to the quality of the animation improving. This art style is reflected well in the story. This is during the grand magic games, a bit before the Eclipse Gate arc is active, when the story gets significantly more intense. We have had more intense arcs before but this is a continuous moment of intensity. We have very few slow moments after this arc other than a part from a few fillers or moments between characters. Other than this, there are really no light hearted moments and instead most moments bring more tragedy to our beloved characters are an intense heartfelt moment.  This style continues though the rest of the series up until the 2019 series, or the Final Season. Some people do not like the style change and I can agree to some extent, but I still do enjoy it. It is a good mix between both of the different art styles we were previously introduced to. The Final Season has the dark mix for the more intense and serious fights where you know that something bad is going to happen, but it also has the brighter tones that we missed from the first season with the happier moments. The moments that remind us that we are dealing with our own found family. The magic still has their bright moments, but it is not as memorable as it was when we first began as we have now become sensitized to it. I would love to know what you guys think though. What is your favorite style? As I said, I love the 2014 version just because of how the characters look and wish I could have seen characters from previous arcs in that same art style. The 2009 version still gives a nice nostalgia feeling.

Anyways, I’ll see you later in the Deep End!!

#fairy tail #fandom #fairy tail anime #fairy tail discussion #art style #anime #anime style #anime animation #fantasy anime #adventure anime #anime discussion #art study

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job #32: “Snow” | February 9, 2009 - 12:30AM | S04E01

Hey! It’s a show I actually love a lot, how about that? Season three was a rough patch for the show, but I remember season four being an improvement. Not every sketch in this one hits it out of the park, but I feel this episode is pretty strong, and that it’s better than most season three episodes.

First, the most boring thing first: the DVD presents the episodes in a slightly different order, which is reflected in the episode number preceding the episode title on these posts. It doesn’t matter, and I honestly prefer to think of this one as the true season premiere, but DVD order trumps broadcast order unless I have some compelling reason not to do it that way. It doesn’t matter that much. It might not matter at all. None of this might!

We open with D-Pants, a disgusting sketch that essentially pitches a long-legged diaper that lets you fill up both your pant legs with liquid stool. This one memorably ends with the visual where the D-pants burst open and make a mess. The season four DVD blooper reel ends with additional footage of this if you’re a true sicko.

Tairy Greene continues to spread itself pretty thin. I don’t mind these very much, and they make for fine filler. I love Zach, but they probably could have made him look a little better if they used less of this footage. This version has an awkward line about sticking your tongue in a burrito that involves cutting away to a kid reacting as if to say “this guy’s crazy!”, which is not something I like to see in a Tim & Eric sketch. There is additional footage for this sketch also found in the aforementioned blooper reel. The blooper footage is more-or-less indistinguishable from what’s already on screen. This one has some okay qualities, but is basically an inoffensive dud.

Another sketch that’s not that great: introduced as Tim & Eric’s first video, it’s called Dumpers. It’s just Tim & Eric in red jumpsuits doing stomp stuff on a street corner. I wonder if this was repurposed from something else, perhaps the Hamburger episode? You know, the footage that also made its way into the opening of Tim & Eric doing the dance-off? I think the title refers to Humpers (link has no audio), which I’m not sure is technically their first video they made together. Without doing proper research, it might be a college video they made about how VHS is better than film.

David Liebe Hart does a song about e-mail, which devolves into crazy guy “rhyming” where repeats the word “e-mail” until he’s saying “ying yang”. He’s with his erstwhile puppet Albert Herman and he’s just as weird as the big guy. I enjoy gawking at this man. This is one of his more memorable songs, in my opinion. I think of him saying “YING YANG! E-MAIL!” maybe once or twice a year, minimum. 

This episode has a special guest star in Alan Thicke, who pitches the Napple. The Napple is a regular apple-tree apple covered in sleep sauce and injected with bowel irritant so it’ll knock you out cold for a 15 minute nap only to wake you up with gastro-intestinal distress. You may want to wear your D-Pants, the ad warns, which is a very impressive bit of synergy. Thicke looking into the camera and jerkily saying “me so sleepy” is another highlight. 

I really like the framing device on this one. It’s almost like proto Beef House. Tim & Eric have riffed on sitcoms before, and it’s well trod territory at this point, but there’s enough in here makes me laugh and smile and say things out loud like “ah yes, now this is enjoyable”. It approximates the cliched sitcom thing of being broadly appealing with spoon-fed inoffensive humor while also being weirdly vulgar and ill-conceived.

The plot is that it’s snowing outside, and people keep showing up to Tim & Eric’s house for various snow-related reasons. They decide to throw a snow party and also introduce sketches. Tim pees in a jar “in case the pipes freeze”, and leaves it out and about. DLH is handed the piss jar but doesn’t drink from it, which is probably him literally being too scared to drink what he believed was real piss. Ben Hur winds up drinking it, and he doubles down on the stuff, because his brain is dying. It’s maybe a little funnier if nobody drinks the pee, but I think it works as a precursor for the finale, where all the awful men in Tim & Eric’s house just start devolving into an ape-like state and just start grunting and drooling on themselves. 

EPHEMERA CORNER

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! - Season Two DVD (February 10, 2009)

All of the Awesome Show releases are “nice”, and this one is no different. This one has the usual extras (deleted scenes, extended scenes, promos, etc). This one sadly lacks the audio commentary tracks that season one had. I imagine they were churning out so much content at this time that sitting down to record commentary for it must’ve seemed like an especially not-fun proposition. It would be incredible if they did full season watch-alongs or recorded podcast commentaries now.

This one does have one really cool extra: a live-show with the Tim & Eric Not Live web series edited into it. It’s worth your time if you can find it around.

MAIL BAG

I watch Robot Chicken almost every day. You don't seem to like it, but I watch it almost every day.

It is patently not my sense of humor, but I'm happy for you for liking it. I do worse shit on a daily basis, so please keep doing what you're doing and go with god.

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #tim and eric awesome show great job

[dsumpsbluey]

My review of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2 DVD (A side post of sorts)

This post is my personal review of the Bluey Season 1 & 2 DVD set released in the USA around 2022. The preparation for this post ended up putting me on a DVD rabbit hole I didn’t think was possible before, so with that out of the way, let’s get to it.

The DVD Set itself: 4 discs containing all 104 episodes of Bluey Seasons 1 & 2, including a collection of shorts and Australian cuts of episodes that were altered/censored in the USA. My copy of the DVD came preowned from ZIA Records for a whopping $12, about half the regular MSRP ($25). I bought this as a means of preserving copies of each episode from the collection for my personal offline enjoyment. Currently, I’ve been using them to supply the screenshots for the Unofficial Bluey Timeline.

Quality: Well, I expected the episodes to be of lower quality due to them being on DVD’s, an obsolete format for quality when compared to their “blu”-counterparts. But while first checking each DVD to see if they worked, I’ve noticed that the quality on the season 1 episodes in particular really sucked. Each episode AFAIK was interlaced, which makes it a pain to view the episodes in any resolution bigger than its intended resolution. The interlacing affects pretty much anytime there is rapid movement, either from the characters or the camera; the times where the show looks normal is during still images, unless said stills are in the middle of a movement. Because of this, the look of the episode feels off while watching on a high-quality monitor, which in my case is my laptop display, and sometimes my phone. You probably need to play these on a CRT to not notice, but I don’t got one lol. I especially noticed this while making some content for part 2 of the UBT (coming soon).

I assumed that all the episodes in the collection would look like this until I inserted the season 2 DVD's, and found no interlacing?! Like, aside from the low quality, these episodes for season 2 look pretty good. Not only that, but even the season 1 episodes included in the “Australian originals” extras are noticeably better than their season 1 counterparts. To demonstrate, I made a video that displays the intro from both season DVD's to show the noticeable quality difference of each. Take note of the motion on Bandit and occasionally pause on some frames to find signs of the interlacing I'm talking about. Obviously, since both videos are low quality and squished down, the differences are hard to spot, but trust me that these are more noticeable in a fuller screen.

When paused, while the S2 video shows a freeze frame, the S1 video often suffers from some graphical like blurs, after images, and that pesky interlacing.

While researching, I found an archived reddit post from a year ago that also made observations of both season's DVD's I didn't notice, and found out that all of season 2, intro and episodes, were slowed down slightly, due to them being "Disney releases". After making some personal observations, I can safely say that Disney did indeed slow down all their episode releases. Now I can never look at Bluey the same way again; once again curse those darn Disney overlords for tarnishing our show. I found while making these comparison videos, that I had to make the season 2 footage faster by 104.25% speed (in adobe) to match.

Also, during research, I found out the season 1 & 2 disc set has a different set of discs, perhaps from when it was a Target exclusive. This video from Bentendo I watched before purchasing my copy had disc art that looks different from my copy.

Bentendo's copies from their video, notice how both season 1 & 2 share the same decal art

By comparison, these are my personal copies of the season set

I had to make sure my copies were legit (doesn't hurt to try). Sure enough, I found some Mercari listings of the set that had the new decals, though not plenty since most were still sealed copies. What I could only assume is that the set I got is an updated version that still came around 2022, as both disc copyrights share the same year. If I remember correctly, season 2 of Bluey wasn't previously out as a separate DVD release before the season 1 & 2 disc set here in the US. Perhaps my copy makes usage of the season 2 discs made for that separate release, but that doesn't answer why the season 1 discs are different. AFAIK, these decals weren't used in any prior release of season 1, so perhaps they're also new versions? If that's the case, why are they so crappy? With that knowledge, I'm not sure if any versions of these discs are any different quality-wise, as Bentendo's video only took recordings straight from their tv, and I ain't buying every episode again for the sake of finding out.

Other than that this DVD set is well worth it for those who don't pay for/want to watch Disney+. I sure hope in the future that the season 1 discs get the season 2 treatment it needs by the time season 3 does come out. I wanted to make this post since the DVD media hasn't been documented as much as I thought, so good to have it out here. Shout out to those I researched, their sources are embedded to the post. If anyone's got some knowledge about the DVD's in particular, leave a reply; I'd love to learn more about this. Anyways, got to get back on the UBT grind.

#bluey #dvd #bluey dvd #i didnt know it would become so complicated #i was up for hours man i wanna sleep #shout out to bentendo if they have a tumblr #this episode of bluey is called “dvd”

[cringengl]

Honestly the quality of the fanfiction depends so much on the piece of media itself and whether or not it lends itself to fanfiction. There r several indicators on whether a fandom is gonna have good fanfiction or not.

1) The size of the cast of characters. If the piece of media has a fairly large cast of characters then there's likely to be a wide range of tropes and pairings and there's more opportunity of things like found family, which is always popular as well as lots of different ships. The main cast doesn't have to be that big (like it could be 4-6 characters), but as long as there r lots of recurring semi-important side characters, then you're good. The characters should also be quite interesting and distinct.

2) The length of the piece of media. The length shouldn't be intimidating, but with plenty of plot and character development for canon, then there's more to write about and it can inspire fix it fics or canon divergence aus. This is why TV shows and book series' tend to have better and more fanfiction than singular movies and books.

3) The canon plot and world. The best pieces of media for the best fanfiction tend to have a similar world to our own that just has one fundamental difference, such as that it has magic, monsters or superheros etc. This makes writing the fic easier as the world is easier to understand and it also makes the canon media itself more accessible therefore inviting more fans in the first place. A complex world or one that's the exact same as our own with no special setting (such as a cool school or town, even if there's nothing fantastical about them) can give people less to write about. This leads me onto the plot. Although a large amount of fanfiction readers read for ships, it's best if the piece of media is not romance focused and is maybe of another genre primarily, such as Sci fi or fantasy. Romance can be a subplot but having it not as the main focus gives the writers much more flexibility in terms of shipping and reworking the plot as well as aus. Subplots that focus on the characters and their relationships are always a good thing for fanfiction.

4) Of course the obvious ones such as popularity and whether or not the fandom is dead. Obviously the more popular, the more writers there will be, the more headcanons there will be, the more tropes there will be. Although dead fandoms can have good fanfiction, as time goes on the fanfiction community grows and evolves. People now know that 3rd person is generally preferred to read over 1st person and that making the girl who "gets in the way" of the gay ship a horrible person is really boring and misogynistic and making her and ally and friend is more fun and less sexist. I see this wayyyyy more in newer fanfiction.

To sum up, here are the best types of media that cater towards fanfiction:

Multiple seasons or books in the series. However, TV shows r best since TV tends to be shown more in the spotlight as they are often made by more people and having larger corporations involved like netflix, therefore boosting it's popularity and having the ability to do more advertising.

Not being romance oriented and having a more gen plot, such as defeating an evil villain. Having subplots that revolve around the characters, their struggles and relationships.

Having a slightly different world to our own for the writers to play around with.

Having lots of characters to root for and to project on whilst still having a main cast to get to know really well. These characters should also be interesting and distinct.

Here are some pieces of media that therefore lend themselves really well to fanfiction: Harry Potter (this includes marauders as even though the fandoms and fanfiction is different, they take place in the same world. Ngl marauders is a great show of how we'll Harry Potter caters to fanfiction), marvel and my hero academia. There are so many others but those are the ones I think of off the top of my head.

Here are some indicators that the piece of media won't have good fanfiction:

If there's just one or two main characters that are kinda bland and no other characters that really have much screen time.

If the piece of media is a singular movie or book.

If the setting and world is uninteresting or doesn't have an importance in the story.

If there's only one big plot line and it's either solely romance, or just shows defeating evil and doesn't give much depth to the characters. A good balance is always the key to good fanfiction.

Lmao so next time you want to start reading fanfiction for a new fandom, think about these things to save yourself the possible disappointment of finding less than 500 works🥴

#ao3 #fandom #fanfiction #fanfic