#i like better. because i could have theoretically. except. i did not love it and i wasn't particularly good at it. also was still depressed

[maddy-ferguson]

i was so ahead of the curve the curve became a sphere is literally me i skipped a grade and now my friends from high school are done with school and are getting their first jobs and stuff and i'm in school with people who were born two years after me. like i lost three full years lmaooo

#but i'm not that mad or sad about it because i don't mind not working like AT A JOB i'm even considering going into academia which would #mean even more years but like we'll see because i will have spent EIGHT YEARS in university when i'm done since it's five years to like. do #anything actually do something. only three more years to go yay #year 1: depressed year 2: not as depressed but i failed the classes i needed to pass to do the thing i wanted to be doing so i was kinda #stuck but i didn't know what else i wanted to study so i was like. i'll just do this get through my three years and then i'll do something #i like better. because i could have theoretically. except. i did not love it and i wasn't particularly good at it. also was still depressed #for like the entire first semester and my first year i passed for like my first semester so during my second year i had classes for year 2 #during one semester classes for year 1 during another semester. it's actually easy but i don't know if that'll make sense the way i wrote #it. year 3 was 2020-2021 so covid and like i was saying the other day i was NOT working like i was kind of for the first semester but. oh #my god. my favorite class i learned like 60 pages like what we had to learn was 60 pages long and then you had to do like an essay or #whatever idk. no it wasn't even an essay but i czn't explain. i got like. a 3.5. OUT OF 20 #so i was like yeah i'm not doing this anymore this is obviously not working for me so for the rest of the year (oh yeah we had class online #fully from november to well april when it ends) i was like. rewatching grey's anatomy and whatnot. that's when i rewatched grey's. also ahs #my not working semester in 2021 is also when i watched dawson's creek! because that's when they put it on netflix. #fun fact #good times honestly? but yeah #also i think about some of the things i learned a lot like it's very good to know i'm glad that i know it #i Am bitter but it's for other reasons #and like i say: brf slt #rory dropping out of yale is kinda so me if i had ever dropped out😁 which is why her graduating on time is very annoying and boring. her #ass should not have graduated on time...

[suzukiblu]

If you are still taking requests I would love some Jason Todd!

There's a couple of ways to ID a soulmate, but the traditional–and usual–one is a kiss. Basically any exchange of bodily fluids will do it, of course, but most people kiss way before they get around to fucking bareback and a kiss is also definitely less likely to result in hepatitis than swapping blood with strangers. And, like, it's also more romantic and that tends to appeal to people more even when the involved soulmates aren't actually romantic. Like it's way easier to laugh off that one time you slipped your destined BFF tongue than it is to explain a bloodborne illness to your GP.

So naturally, Jason finds out who his soulmate is by accidentally bleeding all over the guy in the middle of a random stupid throwdown with supervillains in San Francisco.

Also, naturally said guy is Tim's boyfriend who still justifiably hates Jason's ass for all the fucked up shit he's done and said to Tim.

Jason is pretty sure this would count as another reason for Superboy to hate his ass, except the one mercy in this situation is that Superboy was unconscious for their accidental blood-swap, so he at least doesn't know they're soulmates.

The lucky bastard.

Fuck everything, Jason thinks, and then resolves to never think about it again. Which he doesn't, because even having a thought around Bruce is basically the same thing as handing the bastard a signed confession.

It sucks, admittedly? Like, Jason's not gonna pretend it doesn't suck. He didn't ever think he'd get a coffee shop meet-cute with his soulmate, assuming he had enough of a soul left to actually have one, but he'd at least expected to get somebody who wasn't already dating the brother he's treated worst and who did not, ideally, hate his guts.

Or who at least hated his guts in a sexy way that could result in a nice enemies-with-benefits situation to spice up his sex life and maybe hopefully one day evolve into . . . he doesn't know, frenemies-with-benefits? Or something?

Superboy is not gonna be up for cheating on his boyfriend with said boyfriend's adoptive brother, Jason is very damn sure. For one thing, if he was, Jason wouldn't want to fuck him anyway, much less be his soulmate. Jason is a murderer and a bastard but he is also a ride or die, okay, and he doesn't give a shit what the universe says, there is no damn way that he'd accept a soulmate like that.

Also, like, since the accidental blood-swap went down, now when they get close enough there's an empathy bond going and Jason can absolutely feel how fucking <i>besotted</i> Superboy is by every little thing Tim does and says and just is.

And he can also feel how much the guy hates him.

Jason has never had better control of his pit rage than since realizing that if Superboy ever felt it, it'd be absolutely undeniably obvious what it was and where it was coming from.

It is fucking amazing what a desperate person can get a handle on. Like, really.

Jason went to fucking therapy for this shit. It sucks and he hates it and he wants to burn down the whole stupid office every time, but he's still going every week because fuck forbid he lose control enough that somebody realize something is up.

Jason's self-control is not helped by the fact that Superboy has his own anger issues, but it's not like they get all that close to each other all that often anyway. He very rarely has to worry about Superboy picking up on anything from him. Mostly he just has to worry about not being any worse to Tim than he already has been and making excuses to avoid any situation that Superboy might theoretically pop up in. He has absolutely no designs on fucking up Tim's relationship. Ever.

He guesses he and Superboy could have a platonic bond, admittedly. Like, that's possible.

Except Superboy constantly insists on wearing a painted-on bodysuit and studded black leather and strappy belts and looking like a porn star parody of a superhero, along with regularly smirking like a cocky asshole who just so happens to be the second coming of sin, and Jason has a very difficult time not finding all of that just unspeakably hot, so that seems unlikely.

So yeah, Jason's definitely not telling anyone that they're soulmates. Possibly ever. At least not as long as Superboy and Tim are still into each other and in undeniably perfect romantic love, anyway.

It's not like Jason's waiting for them to break up or something, or for the probably likelier but much more upsetting option that is Tim fucking dying. He's a bastard, again, but he's not that kind of a bastard.

He really hopes this is just one of those bullshit bonds that don't actually become relevant until the involved bondmates are, like, octogenarians or whatever. Which is not something Jason would've ever expected to want from his soulmate, but Jason also did not ever expect his soulmate to turn out to be Tim's boyfriend, so yeah. Well, life's a bitch and also full of surprises.

It's impossible to always avoid Superboy, all things considered, but Jason usually can, and thanks to Bat-training and his time with the League and just who he is as a person he's very good at keeping his emotions on lockdown when the dude's around without it actually looking like he's keeping his emotions on lockdown. Mostly he just ignores him and acts like he thinks he's irrelevant, and Superboy seems perfectly happy with that.

But again, it's impossible to always avoid him, and they're on the same side and everything, more or less. Jason therefore can't technically bitch about the guy randomly landing in the middle of his rooftop stakeout wearing that cocky asshole smirk of his and also his painted-on bodysuit and studded black leather.

Or he couldn't, except that it is very obviously not actually Superboy wearing all those things. For starters, Superboy never wears that smirk when he's looking at Jason.

For another thing, Jason knows his own damn soulmate when he sees him. Like, he is not actually that oblivious or stupid a person as to not recognize his own damn soulmate.

"Hey, man," fake Superboy greets casually as his boots hit the roof. Jason runs the internal numbers on whether or not fake Superboy has real Kryptonian powers and decides better safe than sorry, then hits the panic button hidden in the collar of his jacket as he turns to fully face him, making the gesture look like an idle adjustment.

"Robin need something?" he asks, cocking his head questioningly. Seems wisest to pretend like he's falling for this bullshit, whatever it is. Especially if Kryptonian powers are currently a concern.

"Naw," the fake Superboy says, his smirk widening crookedly. "This one's an . . . off-the-books social call, as it were."

"Oh, we make social calls, now?" Jason asks dryly, resisting the irrational urge to hit his panic button again. Not actually a helpful urge, that. The thing's already streaming live audio and video to Oracle and the Batcomputer to get everyone in the loop on what the problem is, that's all that matters. Extra hitting would just make it likelier that fake Superboy might notice something.

"Maybe I just wanted to see you, Hood," fake Superboy says as his smirk turns into a wicked grin, and steps towards Jason with very familiar and incredibly unsubtle body language that, again, has never once been directed towards him.

Goddammit.

Well, good thing Jason hit his panic button, because there is no damn way this is ending well. He's never actually used the thing before, it's a recent addition to his gear now that he and the Bats are actually mostly working together again, but he already appreciates said addition very, very much.

Assuming that Bruce is packing kryptonite tonight, anyway.

Fuck, he'd better be.

. . . also assuming that whoever this fake Superboy is happens to be vulnerable to kryptonite. Or at least currently happens to be vulnerable to kryptonite. Jason's not sure if this is like a bodyswap situation or a more traditional possession or just a doppelganger or a shapeshifter, but who the hell even knows. Not mind control, he's pretty sure, unless it's the kind that really fucks with somebody's personality. Like, yes, that is Superboy's body language and Superboy's facial expressions and even Superboy's microexpressions, but it's just . . . not Superboy behind any of it. Like, very obviously not.

. . . weirdly obviously, actually. Like, Jason's really feeling the uncanny valley right now.

Ugh.

Well, hopefully this person or thing or weird psychic projection thinks he's fucking stupid.

"Did you now," Jason says, eyeing fake Superboy through his helmet. Schooling his expression doesn't really matter right now, except of course X-ray vision is a thing, so actually never mind, maybe it does. Again: goddammit.

Definitely gonna need to keep a handle on his heart rate here.

"Eh, what can I say, Rob was being a basic bitch again and I got bored," fake Superboy says with a dismissive shrug, which is something Jason would pistol-whip the real Superboy for saying but at least provides him a pretty solid script to go off while he waits for reinforcements to show.

He'd rather be making with the pistol-whipping, though.

#jason todd #red hood #batman #jaykon #rinfic #miri-tiazan #long post #wip: jaykon soulmates and timkon datemates

[brooooswriting]

For Sam maybe that Sam and R were dating before Sam left. Over the time that Sam was gonna R and Tara have gotten close (in a sister way) and hang out a lot so when R heard Tara got attacked she immediately rushed to the hospital and stayed there with her. Then Sam came with Richie. Maybe R could also be related to Sidney cuz I never really see Prescott R. And just scream 5 with some cute moments between Sam and R and at the end they kiss and Sam asks R to forgive her and that she still loves R

Five fucking years

Sam Carpenter x reader

Tara Carpenter x reader (platonic)

A/n: so this is a lot, but hey I hope you like it. And send requests for Jenna and her characters and Melissa and Sam or Vanessa

“We will get through this” was probably the sentence you’ve said the most five years ago to 13 year old Tara.

Four years ago you it turned to “we will be okay”

It then turned into “we will be fine without her” and then “let’s never talk about her again” and while the last one didn’t quite work the rest did. After she left you, you and Tara fell into a deep hole. Miss Carpenter never said anything about it, never really grieved and wasn’t there for Tara as she had to go through all this pain. So you had to stay strong for the girl, over the time that you and Sam had a relationship you grew really fond of Tara and her friends. They were little idiots, uncoordinated, chaotic and loud but they were really nice. By now Tara referred to you as her sister, when people asked who you were she always answered “family” and you believe that it was her way to cope with the whole thing and due to the fact that you didn’t really have somebody except Sam back then, it did make you feel better too. So you also always said that she was family too.

You were on your way to meet Tara at their house when you got a call from her. “Y/n, he’s here” she cried into the phone making you flinch and adjust the volume. “Who’s here T?” You asked calmly hoping to calm her too, “ghostface. He wants to kill me, I think he’s inside” your heart stopped before your foot pressed down on the pedal until it touched the ground. “I’ll be there in 5, go lock yourself up somewhere. Did you already call the police?” The only answer you received was a scream and then the line went dead. You tried to call her back several times but she never picked up, so you called the police and drove even faster.

“Tara” you screamed as you went inside, even tough the police told you to wait outside. “Tara where are you” you walked in the kitchen where you found ghost face standing over her pulling the bloody knife out of her body and turning towards you. “Get away from her motherfucker” you called out and tackled him to the ground. After a short wrestle he pushed you on to your back and climbed on top of you before stabbing you two times and slicing up your upper arm. As soon as you hears the police sirens he was gone. “Tara” you got out the best you could as you sat up to look after her, she still had a pulse making you relax just a tad as she was sobbing next you. “You’ll be okay, we will be fine” you mumbled as the police and the doctors came inside.

You always dreaded this day, and you had hoped that it would never come but after all you did live in woodsborrow and you were Sydney’s niece. And now? Now somebody you love got hurt because of you. You sat next to Tara’s bed, your wounds already patched up and theoretically you should have stayed in bed but you couldn’t leave the girl alone after what happened. “Hey, you’re alright” you mumbled to her as she woke up, your hand holding hers. “Are you okay?” She asked as she saw your arm, “I’m fine, he got some small hits but hey.” She grinned before her face turned completely serious “but for real, thank you. You acted like a real big sister today, you didn’t even think about leaving, you just saved me” your heart broke for the smaller girl. “Because you deserve it and a) I am your bigger sister and b) don’t think about her alright? She didn’t deserve you” you comforted her the best you could. “ and You took it like a damn champ” you joked as her friends came in, all of them immediately swarming her asking if she’s alright and what had happened. You talked for a while until the door opened again, your and Tara’s heart sinking when you saw who stepped inside.

“Tara, are you alright?” She immediately asked and went to her bed. She wanted to take her hand but then saw that it was already taken and that was the time she noticed you, her eyes falling to your arm and then the bandages on your stomach, “are you al…” she started but you shook your head. “Don’t” was the only thing you said, Tara squeezing your hand in a comforting manner. Sam greeted all of Tara’s friends before turning to the man behind her, you only get noticed. “This is Richie, my boyfriend” your heart broke a second time that day, “I gotta go. I’ll be close thou. Call me if you need anything” you mumbled to Tara who nodded, “Tara’s tired, we should all go” Amber said, all of them were nodding and leaving the room, “not you Sam” Tara said.

———————————————————————————

“I was so scared” she cried out while Sam carefully stroked her cheek, “and when he attacked y/n, it got even worse” Sam frowned and kissed her sisters forehead, helping her calm down.

Later they fell asleep while Richie sat on a chair in the corner, you checking on them every now and then, you couldn’t stand being in the same room as them.

“T, honey, I’ve gotta get checked up. I’ll come by afterwards again, alright?” You mumbled so you’d only wake her. “Yeah, thanks for staying even tough, you know, all of this” it made you chuckle, “obviously, you’re my sister” you grinned and placed a kiss on her forehead before leaving.

———————————————————————————

“Get the fuck out” you could hear Tara’s voice emerge from the room, causing you to throw the door open and step in. “You should go Sam” your voice was cold making her freeze, “y/n” she started but you shook your head. “Leave the girl alone, you’ve done it for the last five years so continue for a while” you brushed past her, sitting on Tara’s bed and wrapping her up in your arms. The older carpenter sighed and went outside. She pulled you outside, “I gotta do something, so you gotta look after Tara. Don’t let her out of your sight and make sure she” you laughter interrupted her, giving you the option to speak up. “Do you really wanna tell me how to look after T? It’s what I’ve been doing the last 5 fucking years Sam and we got through life just great, so why don’t you take your boy toy and go back to where ever the hell you came from?” Your voice was harsh and you could see her flinch, you used to be very chill, never really aggressive and always looking for solutions. “Y/n” she started again but you only shook your head, “I thought you said you had to do something” you turned and walked back to Tara’s room.

“What did she say honey?” You asked as you sat on her bed, hugging her to your chest. “She… she’s billy loomis daughter, that’s the reason she left. My mom had an affair and now after 5 years she’s putting all of this on me” a grumble left your lips, your anger bottled up inside you to give Tara the comfort she needed. “I’m very sorry to hear that” she hugged you closer, soaking up the comfort and warmth you had to give. “How are you feeling with Sam being back?” She asked into your chest which suddenly started to hurt, “I’m fine” was the only thing you said making her giggle. “I’m not 13 anymore, be honest. I know that you can’t feel fine” it was crazy how mature she got, “I don’t feel fine, it’s crazy. She left, she didn’t even break up with me, she ghosted me and now she’s coming here with this dude and she’s acting like you three are family” you sighed, blinking the tears away. “You’re my family” was the only thing Tara mumbled before falling asleep.

After some time you decided to wander around the hospital for a bit, your legs were sore from sitting and you were bored. You’ve been gone for about 15 minutes when you got a text from Mindy

“There’s a whole lot of police around Wes house”

And then the lights suddenly turned off. Without a second thought you sprinted towards Tara’s room to find her gone. Then a sudden scream leading you the way. “Oh, you” you grumbled when you saw Sams boyfriend in front of the younger carpenter. “Yeah, Sam called me to look after Tara” he explained still holding where Tara hit him, “I’m capable of doing that myself” you said checking the corridors for a masked killer. “Oh really? Why weren’t you with her then?” You were about to open your mouth when the brunette spoke up, “don’t you dare” it was directed towards him, he held up his hands and backed away.

He walked a bit behind which was why you didn’t immediately notice him being thrown to the ground and knocked out, you only noticed when you were being pulled away from the wheelchair. “Run” is the only thing you got out before your back made harsh contact with the ground, knocking the air out of your longs. He was quickly on top of you stabbing you again before standing up and walking towards Tara. You could hear her whimper and sob, you could hear Richies heavy breathing and you could hear your heartbeat in your ears. Then you heard him talk, “come on Sam, choose. Tara or Richie, I mean poor y/n is already out isn’t she? You left the poor girl behind like she was nothing and that’s what she’s always been to you” you tried to somehow get to Tara but there was no way you could stop him, he’d only get angrier.

The ding from the elevator was like being saved by the gong. The ding was quickly followed by gunshots and a thud, ghostface laying on the ground. Sam immediately went for Tara while Dewy came for you, “get him” you mumbled your heart pointing towards the man but Dewy hesitated and looked towards Sam. You were his best friends niece, you kinda were family and leaving you behind wasn’t that easy for him. Sam nodded, “take Richie with you” and even tough you just said the same thing it hurt a lot more when she said it. “No, NO! I’m not leaving without her. Don’t. Take y/n” Tara screamed with every bit she still had but you only shook your head. “I’ll be fine. It’s what I told you the last five years, isn’t it?” You smiled and watched them each carry them to the elevator, your eyes slowly closing.

You could hear the elevator door open again and somebody stepping out, you opened your eyes a bit to see Dewy in front of the masked killer, his gun held up to its head. You noticed ghostface getting the upper hand and getting ahold of the gun. You didn’t know where the sudden energy came from but you jumped up and tackled dewy into the elevator catching the bullet that was meant for him. “Fuck” you mumbled out as the bullet went through your arm and the doors closed. Tara let out a relieved sigh while dewy started to lecture you.

Your wound were being tamed in the lower parts of the hospital while the police searched upstairs. Even tough you were short you were allowed to go before Tara. “We gotta talk” you said as you entered her room, the nurse leaving you to talk. “They are gonna take you away, and I can’t do anything. Richie is threatening with a lawyer and I legally don’t have any say in the matter where you go or don’t go” you explained to her, tears streaming down your face and now, hers too. “What? You can’t leave me with them” she cried out causing you to hug her. “I’m not, you’ll go with them and once I figure out who this asshole is and once he’s done, I’ll come get you. Unless you’re happy there, it’s okay if you wanna stay with them then” you said and kissed her forehead a couple of times. “Promise you will come and get me?” You smiled and held out your pinky, “I pinky promise that I won’t leave you like she did. Ever” you kissed her head again before parting. “Where are you going now?” She asked making you chuckle, “Amber is having a party and I’m in desperate need of alcohol. I have a lot to process and if I don’t leave I won’t let them go without you” you chuckled with tears in your eyes. You’d get her back but it still hurt to let her go. “Then don’t let them take me” you sighed, “I can’t stop them, but I’ll come get you. 5 days maximum alright? I’ll come and get you and then we will get Mindy, Chad, liv and Amber and we will leave. Go wherever you want, meet Sydney in her cabin or move to Alaska. Wherever you wanna go” she smiled, “I wanna move to New York” she said with a small nod. “New York it is” you said your goodbye before leaving her room, walking into the lobby, where Sam, Richie, Gale and Sidney were talking. “Syd” you called out running up to hug her, “y/n. God are you okay?” She asked as she held you tight when you parted Gale immediately hugged you. “Thanks for saving Dewy, even though he didn’t chose to save you” she mumbled into your ear causing you to pull back, “he chose me, somebody else just didn’t” you explained with a shrug. “Well, we were just getting to know Sam carpenter” your aunt explained, “don’t get used to her, she’s very quick when it comes to leaving” you told her, looking shortly at Sam who was rolling her eyes. “That was uncalled for” was her response but you only shrugged, “I guess it depends who you ask” you hugged Gale And syd goodbye. “Where are you going?” Sam asked making you laugh, “your neither my girlfriend nor my mom so non of your business” you said and walked out leaving the four of them behind. It was the moment where Sidney connected all the dots, that Sam was your ex girlfriend who ghosted you, Richie her new boyfriend and that you were pissed. As she was about to say something a nurse came up to them, “Miss Carpenter, we need you upstairs” Sam nodded and followed while Richie excused himself to get the car.

The older woman signed some things before walking into her sisters room where she sat on a chair next to her. “Can I ask you something?” Tara nodded a bit hesitant, “how did you guys do the last 5 years? I know that’s a stupid question but I need to know” It was silent for a moment. “I was 13 Sam, without a dad and with a mom who was always working, who didn’t care about her child. So y/n took care of me, she became my family, pulled me out of my depression. I just wish I would have been old enough to take care of her too, but I wasn’t. So Sara did it” she answered, her voice cracking while talking. “Sara?” Tara sighed, “your friend? Or better said ex friend. She took care of y/n, still does” Sams eyebrows furrowed. “Did they…? Are they? She’s always been flirting with y/n even when we were together” a shrug followed the question. “She doesn’t like to talk about it, so we don’t. Just like we don’t talk about you”

After some silence Tara was brought into the car while Gale and Sidney wanted to talk to Sam. “I’m not gonna play bait. I’m gonna get my sister and my boyfriend to safety. It’s my job” Sydney laughed at her. “Really? Wasn’t it your job to keep them safe 5 years ago too?” “Syd” Gale interrupted her but she shook her head, “because if I remember it right you left them. You left your sister and girlfriend without a word. You sent them through hell. Don’t think that this is gonna erase everything” Sam scoffed before walking to the car.

“Sam, I need my inhaler. I don’t know where it is. I only have one at ambers house” Tara said, causing a argument to break out. “Fine, what’s the address?” Richie said when they finally decided to drive to Amber.

You were at the party, you were taking shots with Chad in honor of Wes, you watched him fuck up with Liv, you smoked weed with Mindy and finally met Sara on the couch in the living room where you sat on her lap, rambling about whatever in your drunk and high state. “Everybody out! The party is over” someone screamed and turned on the lights, the voice making you freeze, Richie. “Party is over. Get out” sams voice came from behind you cashing you to sigh as Sara tapped your thigh, signaling you to stand up. “Want me to drive you home?” She asked as you stood in front of the older carpenter, her hand on your waist. “No, Im going home with Mindy and Chad. Wanna make sure they get home safe” you mumbled to her, she nodded and kissed the corner of your lips before rounding the couch. “Samantha” her cold voice said, “Sara” was mumbled in response. As soon as she was out of earshot she turned to you, “really? Her? Real mature” you shook your head and walked away, trying to find Chad.

You walked around the house for a bit but no sign from the boy, so you returned to the living room where you found Sam hovering over a bloody Mindy. “What the fuck Sam” you yelled, pushing her away from the younger girl to press onto the wounds. “It’s you isn’t it? Is this why you are back?” Your heart hurt when you thought about the possibility that it was her, but after all she was gone for 5 years and now suddenly reappears. “Come on y/n, you know me. You know that I wouldn’t hurt you or Tara” she tried to calm you, taking her focus of Mindy. ���Really? Because if I remember right you did hurt us 5 years ago and I don’t believe that I know you anymore” before she could say anything Tara and Amber and Richie came from another room. “Mindy” Amber called out, pushing Tara behind her in a protective manner, “Tara and I were together the rest of you was on your own” after some more bickering about who the killer might be Liv entered the room, covered in blood. “Why are you covered in blood? Are you alright?” You asked her, still crouching next to Mindy. “I-I found-Chad he-he’s” Sam gasped, while Richie spoke up “it you. You’re the killer” Liv started to curse at all of you while Amber tried to calm her down, “I’m not the fucking killer” she cursed out and suddenly Amber laughed out, “I know. Welcome to act three” she pulled out a gun and shot Liv causing you to gasp in surprise.

She then pointed the gun towards you, Sam and Richie. Without a second thought you grabbed Sams hand and pulled her into the kitchen where you started to look for knives. The moment you got one somebody grabbed you and pulled you down the stairs to the basement. “What are you doing? We gotta get Tara” you cursed the couple out as you reached the bottom of the stairs, “how well do we really know Tara? Come on Sam you’ve been gone for a while and there are always two killers. She’s her best friend” you shook your head with a small laugh, in that moment you had to refrain yourself from becoming a killer. “Do whatever you want. I’m gonna go safe my sister” Sam looked at you walk away, “I’m gonna go too. You can stay here” she told him and followed you, quickly grabbing a knife too. “Oh, look who decided to join” you didn’t even look at her as you made fun of her, “I’m sorry for what happened Y/n” you rolled your eyes as you kept wandering around the house. “Let’s not do this, you go whatever you wanna do and then fuck off again. I’m gonna go look for Tara” you were about to part from her when she grabbed your wrist, “we are not splitting up, that would be stupid. We are both gonna look for her, together” you just nodded. You could have argued but it wouldn’t lead to anything and you’d only take longer to find the girl.

While you were looking for Tara you could hear a gunshot and some screaming. You opened a closet door where you found her tied down, “T” you mumbled moving to untie her feet while Sam untied her hands and pulled the tape off her mouth. “You stay hidden” you told her with a strict voice leaving no room for discussion. “You do too” Sam told you causing you to shake your head, “no, definitely not” it was a back and forth until you finally agreed that Sam would go outside and you’d wait to use the moment of surprise. “Be cautious when it comes to Richie, something’s wrong with him” you told her causing her to roll her eyes. “Real mature” was only mumbled in response before she exited the room just to see Richie and Sidney being thrown over railing.

It turned out that Richie was in fact the killer, together with Amber they captured Sidney, Gale and Sam in the kitchen as Amber went to look for Tara and you. “She’s gone” you could hear Ambers voice, you figured that she was talking about Tara but it meant that Richie was now downstairs alone. You gave the brunette a sign, which made her pick up the phone and call him.

“So what’s your favorite scary movie” the typical ghost face voice came out of the speaker confusing Richie. “You think this is funny? I’m gonna slice you open” he was distracted enough for you to act. You grabbed a saucepan and hit him on the back of the head knocking him out shortly.

By now Amber was back downstairs, Sid and Gale overpowering her. Setting her on fire and stabbing her. Richie was back to consciousness fighting with Sam. You were putting pressure on Gales wound when you heard Richie talk, “god Sam, you’re so stupid. You let me convince you that your sister and y/n were the killers and you were so heartbroken over this loser that it was way to easy to fuck you. That’s all I had to do because you would have taken anyone just to get over lovergirl anyway” you were about to move and help her when you saw her stab him through the jaw. She then flipped him over and kept stabbing him around 22 times. “Nobody messes with my family” she said as she stood up, shooting him in the head after Sidney walked to her. “You always gotta shoot them in the head” she explains. You all walked towards them, happy that it was over. You stood next to her, her pinky reaching out to wrap around yours causing you to blush. A scream came from your right, but was quickly stopped when a gun shot followed. Tara stood with her crutches, “you were a shitty friend” you both immediately ran towards her, engulfing her into a hug. “I’m never letting you go” you laughed into her hair causing her to laugh too.

Twenty minutes later you sat between Sidney and Gale wrapped in a blanket. “Can I talk to you?” Sam asked as she crouched down in front of you, you really really wanted to say no but you just couldn’t bring yourself to say it, so you nodded and stood up following her behind the ambulance. “I know you probably don’t wanna hear it but just this once let me explain and if you don’t wanna see me after that then I’ll never look for you again and I’ll leave Tara with you” it caused you to nod hoping that you’d be able to forgive her, you missed her. “After I found out who my dad is I went feral and I know that you know that, you were there for me through it all and looking back I regret not just talking to you but back then I was just mad at my mum and the world and when I realized how much I hurt you I decided that it’d be better not to ask you to come with me. I left without you hoping that you’d get over me and I thought that it wouldn’t be too hard for you to let me go. But I never thought about how much you do actually loved me. And I also couldnt let go of you, you were always on my mind. You’re still my lock screen and while Richie said a lot of shit today he was right about one thing, I could never let you go. No matter how hard I tried. And I guess what I’m trying to say is that I still love you and I want you back, I’ll do whatever you want to make it up to you. I want a Family, I want you me and Tara to move away, hell, let’s take Chad and Mindy with us and get away from all the things that happened here, please” she was rambling and begging by now, tears flooding her eyes. It was cute and 100% genuine. “Tara wants to move to New York” was the only thing you said before throwing yourself into her arms and kissing her. The people around you were applauding and awe-Ing making you break away to hide your blush in her neck. “Let’s go with Tara” she wrapped her arm around your waist and pulled you into the ambulance with Tara. Your hand stroking her head while sams held her hand. “So New York?” Tara asked as the ambulance door closed, causing all three of you to laugh.

You finally got your family together.

#reader insert #brooooswriting #jenna ortega x reader #tara carpenter x reader #sam carpenter x reader #tara carpenter x y/n #tara carpenter x you #tara carpenter #sam carpenter x female reader #sam carpenter x you #sam carpenter #sam carpenter x y/n #melissa barrera x reader

[thewertsearch]

Second part of the giga-ask compilation!

@publicuniversalworstie asked: Why assume the Horrorterrors would know that changing events would create a doomed timeline? That assumes both A) that the horrorterrors know the future and B) that they don't think it can really be changed. Maybe they genuinely thought they could change things, such as by perhaps fulfilling all the requisite loops a different way? Imagine a scenario where a time traveler learns of their death, therefore being destined to die, and instead fake their death to create the conditions under which they learned of the death originally.

It's possible. But if the Horrorterrors do have a way to trick the Alpha Timeline like that, then they've really been holding out on us by not mentioning it to the Players. Such a revelation would completely change the game - we might even be able to fake the Earth's death.

Anonymous asked: i want to learn more about coding to analyze homestuck better - do you have a place i could start? resources? idk love the liveblog hope you're doin well :]

Absolutely! I've got two separate answers for you, depending on what your goal is here.

If your main goal is just to analyse Homestuck, then you’re probably best off picking a language whose syntax is easy to understand, such as Python. You'll pick up on the basic logic pretty quickly, and the ~ATH snippets will start to make a lot more sense.

If you’re actually interested in programming for its own sake, then I recommend you start with my own first language, C. It’s a lot harder for a newbie to get to grips with, but doing so will give you a much more solid theoretical foundation then ostensibly ‘easier’ languages.

W3schools is a decent starting resource for both languages - but if you need more specific guidance, let me know, and I'd be happy to help!

@skelekingfeddy asked: actually grubmom having the same color wires as in that pic of sahlee wasnt intentional! i based it on how sollux’s game grubs have red and blue wires attached to them

Serendipity!

Anonymous asked: Did you run any mysterious ~ath programs on that computer of yours?

Honestly, running ATH on that thing would probably have improved it.

Anonymous asked: One voice headcanon I have for Terezi is the English dub of Power from Chainsaw man

Honestly, she sounds pretty much exactly how I imagine Terezi does. She even has the horns!

@martinkhall asked: I'm surprised none of the suggested instruments for a time player were an ocarina.

Some fruit is just too low-hanging.

@delicate-ruins asked: what's an animal you like that you think doesn't show up very much in media, be it fiction or news or just generally? example: i like secretary birds. but except for videos about them, i have never heard them references.

They're not obscure, per se, but there will never be enough sloths in media. The only fictional sloth of note is Sid from Ice Age – and he does not do them justice.

Capybaras are also underrated as hell – so much so that LibreOffice, which I'm using to edit this compilation, doesn’t even recognize the word as real!

Anonymous asked: “I’m trying to figure out if it’s fully a Breath outfit, or if there’s some Heir stuff too.” the general rule for god tier outfits is that the colors and symbol represent the aspect, the clothes represent the class. so, for example, if two princes of different aspects ascended, their clothing style would be the same but they would a have different color scheme. @skaiandestiny asked: If you haven't already figured it out, class informs the godtier outfit and aspect informs the colors and icon!

In that case, there is something about John’s outfit that says ‘heir’ – but nothing really stands out to me.

@driventopoison asked: Hey, I don't know if it's just me but it seems like you've skipped ahead. I have been following your liveblog daily, but I haven't seen you come across the windy thing yet. Is this because you were using the app or something? Also just want to let you know that I love your liveblog. Keep up the good work!

Thank you! Anyway, John’s Windy Thing is indeed documented on the liveblog, and it’s visible to me. I was using the app for some of that segment, though – are app-made posts particularly buggy?

@classpecting-guide-official asked: story about a modded game of sburb where the characters notice that something isn't right and slowly realize that their world is a lie

Back in Act 1, this is pretty much what I thought was happening. It was a simpler time.

@ignis-cain asked: Note the colors the capslock flashes for WV.

When WV locks his capsule, the button’s light flashes red and green – but I’m not sure what the significance of these colors is, in this situation.

Anonymous asked: i know i'm SUPER late to answer this, but i think the instantiation thing is the same as any video game, newly made with a prebaked history. when you name your character, that has been their name for their whole life, even though you thought it up a few seconds ago. when you enter the medium, the planet has a history and the denizens have memories, even though they just showed up when you entered.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is indeed what’s going on. The implications are just a lot more wild when the game is physically real, rather than virtual!

@kintatsu asked: So, I know I'm a little late to the party, but I have to point out: Alternian sunlight doesn't need to be THAT much stronger than Earth's to blind Terezi as quickly as it did. Trolls are nocturnal, which means they almost definitely have a tapetum lucidum (eyeshine membrane), which means that however much light entered Terezi's eyeballs? Her retinas were blasted by every photon twice.

Damn, Vriska. For a second, I thought this ask was explaining why Terezi wasn't in as much pain as I'd thought - but this alternate explanation might actually be worse than what I was picturing!

@delicate-ruins asked: It's delightful to see somebody read Homestuck and be as charmed by it as I and a lot of my friends were way back when we first read it, and the calm, digesting pace at which you're enjoying it is honestly so nice. I rushed way too much to catch up since my friends recommended it in about 2016, which means I went from knowing nothing about the comic to being caught up on it in like a week. I never sat down with the ideas and thought "hey, does this mean XYZ?" because quite often I got the answer five seconds later as I rushed to catch up. But seeing you asking those questions is so so fun. Yeah, DOES it mean that?? Guess we'll find out! In the meantime, we get to guess, which means we basically get to have fun twice. It's reigniting my enjoyment of homestuck quite significantly, I think!

Thank you! It’s really nice to be able to engage in a dialogue about the comic through these asks, which is something that wouldn't be possible if I was speeding through it. As I always say, I'm here for a good time and a long time.

@manorinthewoods asked: Alright, here's another transtimeline fun fact. Each of the kids was supposed to have a Quest related to their associated material - John had a land covered in oil, Rose's ocean was polluted with chalk, the gears of LOHAC were gummed by amber, and LOFAF was in a nuclear winter. Ultimately, while the ocean of LOLAR is still chalky, nothing but John's oil made the cut. ~LOSS (16/5/23)

I think it was a good change, then. Not everything has to be a pattern, and Dave's two weird maybe-quests are a lot more unique and interesting than a generic 'materials quest'.

@captorations asked: oh hey, this walkaround! so funny story, i used to run a blog where i posted one of terezi’s canon appearances each day, in order. yes, i completed my task, and more besides. however! when i was wandering through this as terezi, a glitch rendered me trapped. i decided that this counted as a noteworthy appearance, and took a screenshot. then, by sheer coincidence, it ended up being posted on… halloween. it was pretty great (also don’t forget to check out ctrl + t)

You accessed the double-secret version of Past Karkat: Wake Up, which plays the Earthbound Halloween Hack version of Megalovania rather than the Homestuck one.

Anonymous asked: Personally, I think John gaining so many levels so quickly is tied to his role as the heir - he gains so many levels without really trying, not because he's better than the trolls or his friends, but because he just kind of falls into it. The game rewards him for taking the path of least resistance.

That certainly makes sense if we just look at John - but I have trouble reconciling this interpretation with our other Heir. Equius certainly has some advantages, but they aren't exactly unique to him, as you'd expect them to be if his Heir class was responsible for them.

Yes, he's a highblood, but he's outranked by three non-Heirs - and his strength doesn't seem to be unique either, as Feferi seems capable of similar feats. Perhaps Equius will trip and fall into more unique privilege, but it hasn't happened yet.

Anonymous asked: my personal headcanons for midnight crew claspects: Slick - Prince of Blood, Droog - Mage of Space, Boxcars - Knight of Heart, Deuce - Bard of Doom. knowing you youre probably gonna attempt to analyse these LOL

Slick has had ties to Blood since he first met Karkat, so that tracks - and Boxcars is a shipper, so Nepeta's aspect is probably the best fit for now. I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll revisit them later!

#asks #full liveblog #act 5.2

[yallemagne]

"And now for you, Madam Mina, this night is the end until all be well. You are too precious to us to have such risk. When we part to-night, you no more must question. We shall tell you all in good time."

I have been thinking about this for a while. I simply cannot stop ranting about it. 

Here, Van Helsing is not leaving out Mina just for being a “fragile woman”. Her safety is really only an abstract concept in the making of this decision. 

"We are men and are able to bear;"

This is about building the men’s confidence. He singles Mina out as the weakest among them to empower the men. Take note that he didn’t run this by Mina at all, though he had the chance to? Only Jack? Because her input does not matter to him, but Jack's does. If Jack disagrees, he can reason with him. If Mina disagrees-- oh, well that doesn't matter! She won't.

He designates Mina as their damsel. Now, he doesn’t mean to make her a damsel in distress, but she’s forced to become a damsel nonetheless. She is made into a symbol of domesticity. She is the woman they will return from the war to who will fawn over them and make them all feel better after their wild vengeful conquest. This whole thing is a show to rally the men by pointing at Mina and saying “this is the object we fight for!” which is so damn dehumanizing. 

"but you must be our star and our hope, and we shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we are."

She is the star guiding their way. She’s their cheerleader. If her safety mattered so much, VH would be sending her home. Or, at the very least, he’d be decking the Harkers’ room with garlic- maybe even letting someone stay behind to keep her company/protect her. But it isn't about Mina’s well-being, this is a fucking ego trip. She has to remain in the asylum, only theoretically safe, so the sight of her will warm their mannish hearts or whatever garbage.

And Mina. Mina accepts this. She accepts that her job as a woman is to shut up and be pleasant so the boys don’t have anything to worry about. VH had to go through much trouble to get Lucy comfortable with talking about her pains, but now, he is content with telling Mina to not be a bother to them.

Mina loves being a woman. She has internalized misogyny, but the womanly things she feels disdain for are the things men revile. She provides much-needed emotional support, but god forbid she acts hysterical and ruled by her emotions. She scorns women who are different for their own sake (which is evil and selfish) and preens when she is called exceptional because she is different for other people's sake (which is noble and acceptable).

VH weaponizes Mina's femininity against her, and it is so heinous. He is well-intentioned, but he values the morale of his "soldiers" over her personhood.

There is so much more to say continuing from this point for how fucking wrong this decision is, but those things won't be apparent until tomorrow. To hint at it? I don't think Jonathan catches onto VH's greater purpose in leaving Mina out. I think Jonathan is truly thinking of Mina's safety first and foremost and letting himself be led astray by men who claim they know better.

All the men, even Jonathan, seemed relieved; but it did not seem to me good that they should brave danger and, perhaps, lessen their safety—strength being the best safety—through care of me; but their minds were made up, and, though it was a bitter pill for me to swallow, I could say nothing, save to accept their chivalrous care of me.

Mina is shocked that even Jonathan is assenting to this. This is not normal for her, and though she doesn't want to admit it, she wishes Jonathan would disagree for her sake. But she does not speak up for herself, thinking that doing so would be a selfish burden on the men, and god forbid she ever be a burden.

Chivalrous care. Chivalry is not done for the sake of women. It is entirely for the pride of men. I feel like Mina recognizes this, though she is prone to letting herself be mistreated. She knows that to go against Van Helsing's goodwill would hurt his fragile ego, and she couldn't possibly do that.

Manlike, they had told me to go to bed and sleep; as if a woman can sleep when those she loves are in danger! I shall lie down and pretend to sleep, lest Jonathan have added anxiety about me when he returns.

This is not healthy. But this is what she's so used to. Both she and the men pulled this same coddling behaviour with Lucy, and now it's Mina's turn to be left alone "for her own good". She and Jonathan were finally taking their first steps toward the honesty Jonathan values so much in marriage (a sentiment shared by Lucy). Hell, the team was coming together on the promise that they would be true!! And yet now, back to painful secrecy.

#dracula #dracula daily #mina harker #abraham van helsing #re: dracula #punching him punching him kicking him

[usedpidemo]

Update - 2nd year anniversary! (plus a reflection, and future plans).

Hi everyone! π here.

Today, May 13th, is the day I officially opened up this blog and began writing degenerate and immoral stories! 2 fucking years have passed, how time flies. So much can change in a year, and so do some of the stats!

First work: Sandwich - Red Velvet Wendy (published 05/13/21, 4:03 a.m.)

Highest note count: Awards after-party affair - Itzy Yuna (published 10/23/22, 1167 notes)

Number of works published: 80 fics (1 fic every 9.1 days)

500 followers: June 18, 2021 (36 days or 1 month, 5 days)

1,000 followers: October 12, 2021 (152 days or 4 months, 30 days)

2,000 followers: June 18, 2022 (401 days or 1 year, 1 month, and 5 days)

3,000 followers: November 12, 2022 (548 days or 1 year, 5 months, and 30 days)

Follower count: 3,953 followers (5.4 followers a day)

I wish I had something awesome lined up to celebrate this milestone, but I don't have anything prepared XD I've been busy and lazy at the same time. (Is that even possible?)

Actually, yeah, I do have a whole week's worth of cool things lined up this week! If I can even follow through with this one...

Monday: AMA

Tuesday: Reader Poll

Wednesday: ???

Thursday: ???

Friday: ???

I don't want to make the fun section of the update elaborately long, so I just want to say thank you so much to everyone for the support! Even though I'm not as active or as productive as I used to be, your eagerness never wavered, and you guys enjoy me talking about random shit on the side, whether it be song lyrics, Pokémon, or literally posts without any context to them. I love you guys. Here's to another year 🧡

Everything else from this point is a brief reflection and introspection of what I've been feeling since then. You can ignore this if you wish to do so.

So today marks the second anniversary since I opened up this Tumblr and became a degenerate writer. The work I've been putting up is getting worse—in a sexual and filthy way, not objectively—and my mental health has been getter much, much better! When I made the same anniversary post around this time a year ago, I was at an all-time low, mentally speaking. I really felt like I had not much left to give at that point, my skill has stagnated, and I thought there wasn't much for me to improve on. If you asked me if I had any future plans for this blog, I'd say I'd be done by the end of 2022, if not sooner.

It's now 2023, and I believe I'm as good as I can be right now. Slumps happen for a reason, and you can't always win, but it's how you bounce back from the lowest of lows that you reach highest of highs. And I believe I can still get better.

Genuinely, not to sound arrogant, because Lord knows I'm not the best fanfic writer—fuck no—I'm not anywhere close, even in a theoretical top 1000 list, but I do think some of my finest work have come up in my most recent fics. I don't know, it feels more polished and there was more effort and deliberation put into it. The numbers don't lie, either; every single work I published since May 2022 has over 400+ notes, and I've even passed the 1000+ note barrier twice! It goes to show that you guys are enjoying what I'm putting out as much as I love making them, slow and difficult it may be. I can fondly smile at last year's additions to my masterlist and say, "I can't believe I did that."

I do want to apologize if my output rate has drastically slowed down, and if I'm not as active as I was before. It's unfortunately part of the sacrifice needed for better quality control, and also because I have more personal commitments to attend to. 2023 has been fantastic for me so far in almost every department, except maybe physically—I could use more exercise—but that can be worked upon.

I do believe I'm on borrowed time. Again, look at the gap between fics over the past six months ago, and it's only going to widen once I enter my third year of college. I also have to begin considering what hobbies and other things I should do to occupy my free time, so I can be more productive as a person. This isn't to say I'm definitely quitting, but I expect more responsibilities to be shouldered onto me in the future, and having time for myself is going to be pretty much a birthday gift with how rare it might be given, and I'd prefer spending my time off recharging and relaxing instead of stressing over inconsequential or 'fun' things.

There's a lot of people I want to thank specifically, because while I was struggling with my own personal battles, they've been encouraging me to continue fighting and have been absolute lads—and lasses—throughout the past year. When I needed someone to talk to that wasn't my therapist, they were there, and I took solace in their comfort and companionship. I can't tag you guys, but if you're reading this—Chunk, Raf, Peach, Aaron, Sol, V1n, Iz, Ddeun, C.o, Kaede, Frisky, Smite, Shaun, Sins, Jett, Eros, Prael, Ken, Cray, CJ, Sooya, Gray, Svn—I sincerely thank you. God bless each and every single one of you. And to Tim, I really hope you can see this, but I'm truly, truly sorry. I hope we can find a way to bury that fracture in our relationship in the past, and we can reconcile. If not, then I just want closure and peace for the both of us.

So in closing, I want to thank you so much for sticking with me through the bad times and prospering with me through the good, and I'm always humbled that you've taken a chance on me when I started, when I was a hopeful newbie, two years ago. Now here we are. I appreciate every single one of you, be it a fellow writer, a reader, or a lurker.

With grace,

Peter / π

#update #anniversary

[phoenixyfriend]

if you’re doing the fanfic trope mash up, can i suggest 42 and 56 for jangosoka?

Fanfiction Trope MASH-UP: Send me two (2) tropes from this list + a ship and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story.

This ask meme is from over a year ago. Please don't send new prompts.

42. The Big Damn Kiss 

56. Awful First Meeting

Okay, so: time travel, as is standard for this ship

We'll say Ahsoka is ehhhh 23, has been doing Fulcrum stuff for five or so years, is very competent but not perfect. She falls into the past, as one does, shows up about a year pre-Galidraan, so Jango is 21.

Ahsoka has slipped into some undercover work, eeling her way into the upper echelons of society, attending galas and events and so on in fancy dresses and jewelry. How is she funding this? However you want. Maybe she robbed a Hutt. Maybe she has the codes to some shadow accounts nobody knows she's accessing. Maybe she found teenage Bail and talked him into bankrolling her based on The Future. Doesn't matter.

(Actually, the Bail thing would make a great fic on its own, especially if Ahsoka were young enough to pretend to be his girlfriend. Tell me that wouldn't be hilarious. Not here, but somewhere. Bail is absolutely in love with Breha, but like... the fate of the Republic! The fate of the Jedi! That's a cool thing to be doing! With a cool person!)

Point is, she's lying to a lot of very wealthy, very dangerous people when she shows up at these things. She could have theoretically tricked her way into being someone's long-term date, but that would mean dating to attend more than one, and she's not doing that. Better to just pretend to be the heiress to a company from the rims that's very rich but not quite rich enough for everyone in the Core to have heard of.

She is using these events to spy, of course. Slipping into hotel rooms to slice datapads, bugging white collar criminals with a tap to their favorite watch, wandering into servant's tunnels while pretending to be drunk, all the usual fun stuff.

She gets caught, of course.

Jango's side of the story starts about when Ahsoka's does, with him hearing tales of someone stealing information and sabotaging deals, and he gets hired as security by one of those especially important events. He keeps an eye on this, and he... notices Ahsoka.

He does not notice her as a spy, but as a person who is being harassed by an intoxicated, rich old man, whom she'd clearly like to ditch but cannot safely do so.

(At least, as far as he can tell. We know her better than that.)

Jango steps in, because it's not like he's got a lot to do right now, and intercepting drunk old men has been about the only interesting thing he's had to do all night. Ahsoka... I mean, she thanks him. Technically. She doesn't hide her distaste for him as a person. Jango would think this is just about him being Mandalorian, except she doesn't react as negatively to any of the others. She's neutral and ignores most of them, but there are two moments where she interacts positively, laughing at a joke or something. So. She just doesn't like him.

The night ends without incident. It's not until weeks later that there's an information leak. It could have happened during the party Jango was guarding, but it could have happened at any of three other incidents that same month. There was at least one midnight break-in, several days after the party; there's a solid chance his presence did discourage whoever this spy was from engaging, and made them delay their actions to a Plan B.

Months later, he's doing personal guard duty for the king of something or other. It's another gala or fundraiser or coronation or--honestly, he doesn't care. He's getting paid to keep this one specific person safe, and that's all that matters.

He's not the only mando there, so when he sees a young woman, vaguely familiar, stumble out of the hall with an expression that says 'drunk' as much as it does 'roofied,' he doesn't commit any dereliction of duty by excusing himself to just... see that she's okay. The woman is familiar, even if he can't place her. That usually means something; what if she's an assassin he's run into before, here to kill his client?

(That really is why he's following her. If she's familiar but unplaceable, that usually means she's In The Business.)

He follows her at a safe distance, and sees her ask for a bathroom, get pointed in the right direction, and then... go down the wrong hallway, and enter a room that he's pretty sure is supposed to be locked.

He gives it a few seconds, edging closer slow enough that his boots can't be heard (the music and carpet both help muffle the noise, but he's still wearing a lot of metal), and then opens the door to a library-esque space.

The "drunk" girl is hard at work slicing into a computer terminal she 100% should not be at.

They stare at each other.

"Give me one good reason to not shoot y--"

"I can give you intel on Death Watch."

Jango pauses. Considers. It is not his job to keep information safe, this time. His job is to just keep one specific man alive, and this is an unrelated crime.

There are footsteps in the hall, and he sees her start to look around the room for an exit route. He tries not to think too hard on how she was planning on making the very-much-screwed-into-the-wall vent work.

"Fine," he says, and she looks quick at him, and then at the door, and then disengages from the computer and hops the desk to--plaster herself against him?

She giggles, high and drunken, and fumbles for his helmet. "Oh, come on, Mr. Mando, just a kiss? Just one ki--I told my friends I'd run into a Mand--ma--Mandaloriana... Just a kiss! I wanna--wanna one-up 'em..."

He hears the door crack open, and has no idea what he's supposed to do to play along to this... cover? Cover, sure. "Ma'am, I'm on a job."

"And you can't play? Your friends are totally--"

There's a cough from the door, and Jango turns, and the security guard that actually works here is grimacing.

"You can't be in here."

They manage to talk their way out of suspicion, something about how she claimed she'd seen something important but was just trying to seduce him, does the guard know anywhere a drunk guest can be deposited? Thanks.

She does give him information, but she disappears before he can learn anything more about her.

(Galidraan is avoided, oh so narrowly, because of what she gives him. He may never know how close it really was.)

Months pass. He gets invited an event that isn't a job, but is rather some large gladiatorial event. He's not a fan of it--he's pretty sure the fighters aren't nearly as voluntary as people are claiming--but he goes. He watches.

A familiar face enters the arena. He stiffens.

His helmet can zoom in and analyze, and he finds that the cuffs she wears are Force-dampening.

Definitely not willing.

He dithers too long to figure out how to help, or if he even can, because she wins her fight (no deaths in these matches; makes it expensive to find new combatants), and is ushered out, and Jango himself is invited to an afterparty. Someone tells him that the winning gladiators get to attend. It's a reward, the food and fancy outfits. Even 'the pretty one you seemed to like' is going to be there.

People are still pretending that the combatants are voluntary. Jango grits his teeth. He goes.

He finds her, removes his helmet, meets her eyes from across the room. She is bruised and bandaged, but alert. She blinks at him, slow and measuring, and then taps her lips twice.

He doesn't understand, until she signs--where did she learn Mando battle sign?--and asks him to lie and say they're a couple.

(Well, she's using battle sign, not actual MSL, but he's pretty sure 'cover spouse you self extraction' is... yeah. Sure, that sign for cover is usually about cover from fire, and 'spouse' is a splice of 'law' and 'partner' that is usually hard enough without trying to hide everything, but he thinks he got the gist.)

(He does kind of owe her; the information she gave him was more useful than he'd expected, and even if it hadn't been, he can probably convince her to share something else as 'payment' for getting her out of this.)

He stomps through the crowd, pushing people out of the way, and then sweeps her into his arms and bends her backwards to plant the showiest kiss he can on her.

He holds it long enough for the silence to spread, and then pulls them back upright, closes his eyes, presses his forehead to hers, and hopes that it's enough to sell it to the people around them.

His hands drift down to her wrists, a calculated move that looks natural if he's lucky, and asks quietly for them to remove the cuffs.

Jango Fett is a very heavily-armored, heavily-armed man. People read into his quiet the way he wants them to: that he is very close to slaughtering a whole lot of them, and trying incredibly hard to stay calm.

There are cuff removals, and 'negotiations' for Ahsoka's freedom (he still doesn't even know her name, but he hears the fake she gave to the people who arrested her), and she leaves the planet on his arm, and on his spaceship.

She explains that getting arrested and sent to the gladiatorial arena was part of a greater plan, but that her extraction partner was delayed. They might be dead. She doesn't know, but she was already planning her own escape. She tells him she's gotten out of worse scrapes before.

The fic would end with them separating, and her promising to come find him again. Any sequel would involve a reveal of the Future thing, possibly after a one-night stand.

#ahsoka tano #jango fett #jangosoka #star wars #the clone wars #sw legends #time travel #phoenix answers memes #this was meant to be a 'how would you' not-fic but it ended up. half fic

[sulky-valkyrie]

happy friday! for dadwc may i request "I didn’t ask you for permission, I’m telling you that’s what I’m doing whether you like it or not." for.... Nanders?

Hi Jay, happy DADWC Day! for @dadrunkwriting

screenshot yoinked from this video, which is a delightful animated banter compilation

“Shit shit shit!”  Anders’ frantic muttering echoed down the hallway as Nate approached.  He wasn’t worried, of course.  Merely curious.  Not curious enough to investigate if he didn’t already have business on this side of the Keep, of course.  The mage was maddening: standoffish and aggravating all day every day, but inviting Nate to his bed every night.  Or just in Nate’s bed already when he completed his watch duties.  

The first time it happened, Nate had been so shocked at the offer that he'd simply walked out.

The second time, Nate had suggested it himself in a moment of desperation for him to just shut up, and hoping it would make him more bearable when they were out on patrol.  That had been a resounding failure, long term; Anders had been even more flippant and annoying after that, and Nate spent hours biting his tongue to keep from snapping that there were better things he could be doing with mouth.  

And now, yet again, he was making poor use of that thrice-blasted mouth, and ranting a torrent of profanity as he tossed the room apart and threw all manner of supplies on his bed.  Potions, food, a waterskin and, strangest of all, his Warden dress uniform.  

“Going somewhere?”  Nate asked from the doorway

Anders jumped and spun around, magic crackling on his fingers.  When he recognized Nate, he scowled and turned back to the shelf, then tossed a few more things from it to the mattress.  “What do you care?”

The vehemence in his tone and the fury in his eyes actually made Nate step back.  "I, I didn't see any orders," he stammered.

"And you're not going to."  He grabbed a bag and started dumping everything in it.  "I found my - a friend.  And I'm going to go get him."

"You have friends?"  Nate winced the second he asked.  It wasn’t as though Anders wasn't friendly, just that it was only on the surface.  He never seemed to let anyone inside, treated everyone with the same familiarity and indifference equally.  Everyone except the Commander and possibly Nate himself.  The Commander got respect, and Nate got, well, disrespect.  And a bedwarmer.

Anders shot him a glare over his shoulder. "Apparently not.  Not enough to fucking help when I ask, so I'm… ugh."

"What?  You're a Warden, if course we'll -"

"Commander said no," Anders snapped.  "So I'm on my own.  Again."

"Doing what?"

He kept packing.  "What the void do you even care?"

Why did he?  Daytime Anders was irritation piled on exasperation, but he liked Nightime Anders a great deal.  And, theoretically, they were the same person.  Nate took a deep breath and pinched his brow.  "You've shared my bed, why wouldn't I?"

"Hasn't mattered before," he muttered, then turned around.  "I'm going to Kirkwall. Karl is… he's a mage.  And I'm getting him out."

Fear pricked at his gut.  They'll kill him.  “So, you’re just going to do what, exactly?  March up to the Gallows and Conscript him?”

“If that’s what it takes.”

“It’s the Gallows,” Nate said sternly.  “They’re just as likely to haul you in for being apostate as anything else.”

He stabbed a finger at the uniform peeking from the bag.  “I’m a fucking Warden, they can’t.”

“And if they don’t believe you?”

“Then Kirkwall fucking burns,” he spat.  “You don’t get it, Howe.  I’m not asking for permission, or your blessing, or your help.  I’m telling you that’s what I’m doing whether you like it or not.”

“And what about us?  What about everyone here in Amaranthine?”  

“Us?  What us?  You can all burn too for all I care - I was only recruited because I happened to be here, and the Commander can't stand Templars.  You all fucking hate me, just be glad I'm leaving, alright?”

“Maybe if you weren’t such an asshole -” Nate started. 

“I love him!” Anders shouted.  “There, happy now?  I love him, I’ve loved him for years, and I finally found him!  I don’t give a shit about darkspawn, or any of you, and I’m going to get him back or die trying.  You got it?”

“What if the Knight Commander laughs you out of her office?”  Nate demanded.  “What then?  You can’t seriously think you can take on an entire contingent of Templars on your own.  They’ll have you down with a Tranquil brand on your forehead in under a minute.”

Anders spun around as he slung his pack over his shoulder.  “I’ve got a whole damn sea voyage to figure that shit out.”

“No, we need to figure this out now,” he insisted as he grabbed Anders’ elbow.

“Piss off, Nate,” Anders snarled as he shoved him back.  “You can get out of my way on your own or I can put you through through the fucking wall, but you’re not stopping me.  Not you, or the Commander or anyone else.”

Nate snatched his bag off his arm.  “I’m not trying to stop you, you fool, I’m coming with you!”

#dragon age #da drunk writing circle #prompt fills #anders #nathaniel howe #anders x nathaniel howe #anders x karl #nanders #kanders #da awakening

[out-of-context-aro-ace]

How would you describe platonic attraction? For reference I am aplatonic.

Thank you for the ask! Had to think a bit about this hehe

Till I did a bit of research about platonic attraction and the aplatonic identity, and thought about it, I wasn't sure if I was aplatonic too or not

For most of my life, I didn't have friends, didn't know how important friends were, and didn't know how to make friends

And of the people around me (read: classmates) they weren't my "type", so I didn't even imagine them as potential best friends

So I didn't really want to be friends with anyone irl in particular (except for 3 people ig but I didn't know how to go about that so we never became friends)

It was only when someone showed some kindness to me or someone else, or showed some interest in my interests, or I just thought they were cool, did I want to be friends with them, but didn't know how. I assumed the opposite gender one was a crush but thinking about romance icked me out so that was confusing

But even that isn't tried and true. Some people are kind but too loud and energetic for me so they don't unlock my platonic attraction. I can call them my friend to get my parents off my back and not make the "friend" feel bad. But I would rather be alone and we'll definitely never get to best friend level

I'd say platonic attraction is when you want to be friends with this one person and "get butterflies in your stomach" thinking about being friends some day

Maybe you like their energy or confidence. Maybe you like reading their fandom analyses. Maybe you love discussing a show with them even though you both have differing opinions, and your discussions are just playful banter of why X is better. Maybe you both joke around like you're fighting but it's over a very ridiculous or fictional thing.

And, because of that,

You want to give them book and show recommendations. You want to share a post or series you think they'd like. You found this perfect post of their fandom and you want to share it with them.

You're planning on what to get them as a birthday gift even though you don't know their birthday yet. You think you find the perfect gift or have the idea for one, but you don't wanna weird them out because you're not at that stage yet.

You can imagine the two of you being best friends, or best friends in that niche (i.e. Diff types of friends: an irl friend, a writeblr friend, an artblr friend, a fandom friend, etc)

I don't think I'm aplatonic anymore.

These are the feelings I have when I find someone I want to be friends with (not always all of them).

Sometimes, I want to be friends but they don't keep the convo going right so it stops right there. The platonic attraction dies out and then I don't mind if I become friends with them or not but I defo won't be able to give them the same amount of energy and effort.

Sometimes, I'll want to be friends with someone, or I'll already be friends with them, and I'll just be really excited to hang out with them. Each message of theirs puts a smile on my face and I can't wait to read it. I think that's platonic attraction.

You don't need to feel this way for everyone or all your friends, you can still be friends without experiencing platonic attraction, and, theoretically, you can not be aplatonic and still go life without finding anyone who you feel platonic attraction towards.

I know my irl platonic attraction is 0, except for those 3 people I mentioned above, but I haven't felt platonic attraction with irl people in years because no one's my type.

I'm using "type" because it's easier. What I mean is most people irl are too social/loud/overstimulating for me, don't share an interest with me, or don't match my energy or lack of it.

You could have your own standards. Or irl might not be the medium for you. Like, messages from my online friends can get overwhelming sometimes, but I can just go offline and/or reply later. I can find someone who shares an interest with me relatively easily, and sometimes they'll share my excitement in their replies and the friendship blossoms. Sometimes they don't and so I just stick to the questions I had for them and only message them when needed.

Theoretically, you could go your whole life without feeling platonic attraction because you just naturally make friends and/or don't have a reason to not be friends with everyone

I assume that if I was aplatonic, I wouldn't feel such strong feelings about being friends with people

TL;DR ig: imo platonic attraction is when just thinking about hanging out and being friends with the other person gets you excited and you actively want to try to be friends with them. But maybe you don't because you're shy or don't know how

#platonic attraction #aplatonic #friendship #my asks #my thoughts

[cursedvibes]

Do you have a favorite media like anime/manga, tv series/movies, books, video games, etc (if you feel like listing multiple) of all time? Why you love them?

Well, it's pretty tough to pick a fave of all time. (I ended up with 6.5 picks in this case) It varies a lot in my case and it's pretty hard for me to pin down something that I not only like, but liked for a while and will probably keep liking for the foreseeable future. My first thoughts were Naruto or JJK, but in case of Naruto, it is the series I have been a fan of for the longest time, but I wouldn't say I like the story overall much anymore, I'm mostly just obsessed with the Sannin. In case of JJK, I absolutely enjoy writing theories about it and fanfics and to pick apart character dynamics, but I'm not sure how long it will stay with me once it's over.

Thinking about it, I think I'd put it tentatively on the Fave Of All Time list because I could see myself keep coming back to JJK for Kenjaku, Yuuji and Tengen same way I do with the Sannin in Naruto, but I like the story overall more.

A way easier pick for me is Warhammer 40k, primarily the novels and audio dramas. It's just such a rich universe with so many stories you can explore there and authors keep putting out incredible material. There's always something new to find, no matter if comedy or thriller or horror or a mix of all of that and a lot of what I've read will keep haunting me for a long time. I can read hundreds of stories (theoretically, practically there unfortunately exist that many) about the Adeptus Mechanicus and never get tired because that faction just perfectly scratches that horrific sci-fi genderfuck itch in my brain. Definitely a Fave Of All Time.

I think another one would be the American Horror Story franchise. I haven't kept up with it past 1984 and I don't like every single season, but the ones I really like always have something I want to keep coming back to. Not a masterpiece, but a good mix of pulp, horror and interesting concepts that I just can't let go. Pretty much every season, except Freak Show I think, I watched in one day because it always managed to hook me somehow. The opening also used to really freak me out in the beginning, when I started getting into the first season. My favourite seasons are Coven and Apocalypse and they are just something I could watch at any time. I mean, Coven is worth watching for Angela Bassett alone, everything surrounding her only makes it even better. Apocalypse is a controversial pick and I don't like the ending either, but honestly, the way they characterize the Antichrist makes up for it. Reminds me a lot of The Omen II, but more developed. I like the thought that the Antichrist is just a boy with special powers, but who isn't inherently evil, the outside world eventually just pushes him to be. And I think for the most part they did a good job with it. Not all seasons hit for me, but this is definitely something I keep coming back to.

My other picks would all be manga. First one being Urasawa Naoki's Monster. In this case, the anime works just as well because I think some scenes even work better there than in the manga. Johan is one of the few animanga villains that actually gives me chills and the fairy tales in it haunt me to this day. I've actually travelled in the past and visited all the places depicted in the story, just to see how it looks in real life (pretty close to the manga although some places are made up). So far my favourite Urasawa story and I keep rewatching some scenes like JohAnna sending the boy into the red light district quite often because even on their own they are just that good.

Next one is Dorohedoro. I like Hayashida Q's whole style in general. It's messy, gorey, dirty and punk and Dorohedoro shows it best. The mix of silly antics, gore and actual horror is so good and she manages to balance it throughout the story really well. It's one of the few stories where I pretty much like every character. The worldbuilding is fantastic and while it starts out pretty whimsical, the high point of it had me on the edge of my seat. I'm really excited for the new anime season coming out and I'm curious if they will change up their style in any way. I like the style of the anime on its own for the most part, especially the backgrounds look really good, but I think if you don't use hand-drawn frames, it will be very difficult to adapt Hayashida's style and give you that same grunge feeling. There's an extra for the first season that's not made 3D and it looks so much better. The music has always been on point though and the opening and endings as well, so those will be definitely the highlights I'm looking for. Also, great to have more people experience the insanity of Dorohedoro because we're getting to the point now where the story really picks up.

Lastly, there are Houseki no Kuni and Fool Night. Both something I only recently started reading, but they both qualify as those types of stories that just keep blowing your mind. I mean, Phos' character development alone could make me rant for hours. I'm gonna reread hnk at some point from the beginning because I'm pretty sure there are a lot of little hints I missed on my first read and I'm already looking forward to that. The fact that I can reread this story multiple times and take something new out of it each time already makes it qualify for the list. Together with the artstyle it has something ethereal to it and that feeling while reading is another reason I like it so much.

Fool Night is quite similar, except a lot more depressing. Despite that, it isn't a constant downer though. You keep being confronted with problems and injustices quite similar to our world and it only gets worse the deeper you dig, but the characters nonetheless keep up an attitude that change however miniscule is possible and that makes you push on. The artstyle also works perfectly to enhance the atmosphere of the story. The lines can be quite shaky, but with a lot of detail and that makes the whole world in Fool Night feel uneven and distressed, but also incredible tactile and natural like the plants growing everywhere. It just started and there aren't that many chapters in English yet, but it's quite rare that I encounter a story where every single chapter manages to move me, even if it's just by revealing a little bit more about the world building. Honestly, can't recommend it enough.

#asks #wh40k #ahs #naoki urusawa's monster #dorohedoro #houseki no kuni #fool night

[mdhwrites]

Do you think if Owl House’s third season were longer instead of being crammed into 3 long episodes, it would’ve been better?

I actually did a blog about this literally the night before the S3 finale and the finale did not prove me wrong!

But I want to emphasize here that a lot of these problems... are due to S2 and S1. S3 is how it is BECAUSE of the writing choices the team made going into it. There were ALWAYS going to be problems with S3 because of how S2A was paced, because of the INSANE decisions made in the face of the shortening in S2B like the Collector. Just the insane amount of mismanaged time. But I like to provide evidence:

No usable villains: S1 had the most amount of threats that could be taken seriously and even they weren't treated the best. The EC were still mostly bumblers who could be taken out by Eda or Hooty with EASE, Lilith is used for comedy far more than threat in S1, even if her role as straight man works to keep some of her menace, Kikimora is barely there and Belos is introduced at the end of the season. All the one off villains are pathetic and usually defeated through brute force in their episodes proving that except by schemes, like Really Small Problems, they're all fucked going against Luz in S2 who now has actual power behind her. So by the end of S1, you have Hunter, Kikimora and Belos. S2A will then go on to make Hunter immediately not a villain, Kikimora a joke by the end of it and ignore Belos entirely until S2B while introducing no new real villains so now they only had BELOS and their time is running out. Also, their only human realm villain is a joke who got beat by Camila, let alone anyone with magic. Speaking of:

Edit: I straight up forgot to mention the coven heads but S2 does technically set them up... and then destroys the coven system, giving them no systemic power, and Luz literally saved all of theirs lives so they have no reason to fight her. Also because the Collector is straight up not a villain in S3, he would not be sending them out to kill people even if that were his style so they don't count as usable villains and neither does the Collector.

Power Scale Issues: In literally the sixth episode, Willow singlehandedly beats the shit out of an entire squad of trained MONSTER HUNTERS without even the element of surprise. She's just that strong. By S2's end, EVERYONE will be at her level. Luz at the START of S2, before glyph combos are introduced, takes down the Selkidamus effectively single handedly. She literally only needed physical strength of pulling the thing in and NO ONE acts like it's a question if she can slay it once she's given a sword. It's really fucking bad. And as they have magic in the human realm, all of these characters are still at that power level for what would have been the first half of the season. This means threats and villains are out of the question. How about character work?

Character Blandness: Willow has no character. She is wishy washy all the way through the series and this is true even in S1 where she is shy for half the episodes and also the most brazen person you know in the other half, sometimes in the same episode. Escaping Expulsion murdered about half of Amity's potential and Reaching Out made sure that there would literally never be a conflict about Lumity and made Amity only a bland love interest with daddy issues and her dad isn't in the human realm so you got nothing on her for the first half. Hunter had to have almost all of his shit dealt with by the end of S2 so he's a certified good guy at their side by the Day of Unity who at least half of the cast have accepted so all you have is backstory angst which they can only do so much of without it being repetitive or boring, especially if you want the BIG reveal to only happen shortly before his possession. Luz has her angst which can't be resolved until post Belos revealing it so you have half a season where NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING. You theoretically have Camila fluff and Vee angst/fluff potentially but people got pissed at Hop Pop and Sprig getting episodes dedicated to them in the human realm instead of the plot. How would most have reacted to characters who have made barely an appearance stealing half a season from the entire Hexide Squad?

Human Realm is Bad: By the end of S1, the Isles has cellphones, it has televisions, it broadcast news, it will fight for a wrong unjustly done, etc. S2 only doubles down as it introduces robots, child endangerment laws and other things that are just part of the human realm. That's why ALL of the fish out of water jokes in Thanks to Them are utter shit and require characters acting like complete morons because the two worlds are the SAME. And they have almost always been that way. The only difference is that one has electricity, the other has magic. As such, going to the human realm is just not compelling. It doesn't even have thematic reasons to do so except I guess to FINALLY actually show Luz being bullied and they didn't even do that in the specials.

And sure, stuff with the resistance could have been neat in the second half. The first half could have included good fluff like Lumity dates and Gus freaking out about the human realm for an episode. But... It would still be needing to introduce elements. It would still be scrambling for ways to fill the time because S2 killed most of the potential for the characters and was so focused on that goal, even in S2A, that it didn't introduce compelling plot elements for drama or good villains to play into its adventure elements.

Could it have been better? Possibly. But a lot of people felt how much S3's specials were just padding. Just wasted time. Now TRIPLE the length of the season?

Yeah... The shortening was a blessing, not a curse.

=======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#the owl house criticism #toh critical

[homestuckrichard]

The ending of Fionna's plot really resonated with me and fit with the position we started from and what we were going through. A young woman who feels lost in the world so she uses escapism to cope with the boredom of her reality. During her adventures in other worlds she learns that she has a say in what her world looks like and that it's worth fighting for. Super, I like it a lot.

However, the ending of Simon's plot absolutely did not appeal to me. It seems really strange. Simon's conflict is very similar to Fionna's (in general their characters are two sides of the same coin but I won't go into that now) except for the "dead wife" aspect, of course. The old guy feels lost in a world that has changed a lot. He wants things to be the way they used to be because in his current state he feels that his life has no meaning and he is of no use to anyone, making many mistakes possibly tragic in the process. So he embarks on a journey through other worlds that shows him that although he feels he could have been a better person ("The Winter King"), that he has hurt many people close to him and it would have been better if he had died ("The Star") and that the decisions he made were completely wrong ("Cheers"), it shows him that although not everything is perfect and that Betty is not coming back, his life has meaning but also that many people have sacrificed for him and he shouldn't let that go because it was all out of love(romantic and platonic). He returns to his world and begins to appreciate life again, seeing that he can change the world for the better if he wants to.

But that's not the story of Simon in Fionna and Cake. Literally by an ending that focuses on "Hey our relationship wasn't the best, it's too bad you didn't do something about it Simon," many episodes make no plot sense. Yes the tones that I presented in my vision of Simon's storyline do appear in the orginals, that's why I gave various episodes as examples, but by focusing on a completely different idea than before, episodes like "Destiny", "The Winter King", "The Star" and even "Jerry"(which I don't like because of the pacing. Yeah cool to see things from Simon and Betty's past but the rest of the episode is a bit boring and could have used that time for something interesting instead of walking around empty) ultimately have no role in Simon's overall story, Fionna's yes, but not Simon's. Why do we only see Finn and Marceline from the original world in one episode???? They, along with Betty, should be the main reason for Simon's final change. I know, Marcellina and Finn had a huge role in og series and distant lands and theoretically should give some space to characters who did not have as much time. HOWEVER, IF WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SIMON AS THIS CHARACTER THEN THESE TWO PPL ARE CRUCIAL TO HIM.

Also, sorry, but my girl, og Betty in the moment when she could talk to Simon one last time would not say "Ey, you should have come with me on the bus many years ago". She would have said that she loved him but that he should understand that her sacrifice was her choice and he shouldn't waste a newly gained chance for something that won't come back. What I like about the concept is that they alluded to the fact that their relationship was not perfect and a story about obsession could come out. But not with what happened in the original series ( and how this series started. The only manifestations of obsessiveness we see in them are only when they have magic objects to themselves. And as we know, every wizard in Adventure Time is closely associated with sadness, anger and madness. AGHHHHHH.

(I finish, I hope you liked my idea of better execution of Simon's plot, if you want I can tell you more about it.)

#bread speaks #fionna and cake #simon petrikov #betty grof #fionna and cake spoilers #fionna campbell #I hope I didn't make many mistakes.

[tolkien-feels]

Did Tolkien specifically state that elves were heterosexual or is it just some people?

(Like, I'm in no way trying to be rude, I just wanted confirmation since one of my friends ships Russingon, and the other said that elves were heterosexual)

Oh that's a minefield. I'll try to answer this as unbiasedly as I can, but keep in mind I am both 1) queer myself and 2) not interested in shipping as much as I am interested in other aspects of fandom. If either of these things makes me lean towards one side or the other, I will leave to your discretion as you read this.

I'll try to be as succinct as possible but we'll see if this doesn't end up long.

Also this is such a minefield, like I've said, that I will disable reblogs because I really don't want to deal with discourse at best and actual queerphobia at worst.

The first thing is that traditionally, shipping has never relied on whether an author would approve of it or not. So "You can't ship this because the author says you can't" is not an opinion that would have been given much weight for much of fandom history. "Could this theoretically be canon?" is an incredibly recent development, especially when it comes to queer relationships. So your friend could and should ship whatever they want!

In terms of authorial intent, better read people than I could point you in the direction of a small library of literary scholarship debating how Tolkien portrays gender and sexuality. It's a complicated, nuanced topic.

As for what he's actually said... That's difficult to answer. I don't believe there's a sentence out there that says "Elves are exclusively heterosexual." Does that mean that they aren't? Well, not quite.

Maybe Tolkien didn't think anyone would assume anything but that they were heterosexual, and didn't particularly think he had to clarify that point. Or, alternatively, he did not think they were in fact exclusively heterosexual but was not comfortable with exploring that due to a myriad of factors, so he chose not to address it at all. There's no real way of knowing this, especially not without dedicating a lot of time to studying it, which I have not.

In terms of "Has he ever portrayed a queer relationship?" Eh. Also difficult to tell. There is a lot of ambiguity in how Tolkien portrays a lot of relationships, including heterosexual ones. I could make a case why a lot of his canonical, heterosexual couples are purely platonic, and a case why a lot of his commonly-read-as-friendship, same-gender relationships are romantic.

Also, just because Tolkien did not portray something "on screen", it does not mean it doesn't exist in his world. The Hobbit has no female characters, but presumably, there should be women in the world. So that's also not the way to go about it.

There are a few texts where Tolkien discusses how elves view marriage and sex, but 1) their role in canon is debatable; 2) they contradict each other and also other canonical or semi-canonical sources; 3) they tend to be framed in terms of customs (=what was socially expected among elves) rather than unbiased worldbuilding (=what Tolkien knew to be true.)

This distinction would not usually matter, except many people have proved Tolkien often enjoyed playing with the gap between reality and tradition. The most important texts about elves and love also tend to have a frame narrative of having been compiled or translated, so that's also another layer.

This isn't an intellectual exercise. This is actually important. In general, when Tolkien lays down a custom, you can immediately think of something in direct contradiction to it, and he often draws attention to these contradictions in the text itself. So it's actually very important, when reading these texts, to remember they are fallible by design.

This may all seem like I'm trying to rule lawyer. I promise you that is not what I'm doing.

Here's what I'm doing: I'm showing that to get to an answer, you have to dig so deep that I find it extremely unlikely that this is an important, unchangeable aspect of canon.

Tolkien did change canon over the course of his life - making dwarves more heroic, for example, and working on fleshing out female characters. If he lived forever, and came to think actually he wanted to have openly queer elves, he wouldn't have to break canon nearly as much as he had to in order to revise other things that he did revise.

Honestly? Sexuality in Tolkien's worldbuilding is almost a non-issue. The etymology of the name Maedhros probably bothered Tolkien much more than his love life. You need to break canon much harder to have bearded Aragorn than to have queer elves. If we're sticking to strict, strict, strict canon, we are going to run into contradictions all over the place (ask someone about how nonsensical Tolkien's math is), and I tend to take cues from the text to see what is important to pay attention to.

This is of course subjective, but like, I find Russingon much more canon-compliant (although I don't ship them) than if you were to tell me Fingolfin, who was married in Aman, married someone else in Beleriand. That is enough of a taboo among elves that it comes up, explicitly and implicitly, at several key points.

Now, I still wouldn't care, because I don't need Tolkien's permission to do what I want, but I would say that breaks canon much more definitely than the mere idea of queer elves.

(If anything, Maedhros and Fingon might run into a different taboo - they're too close kin to be in a relationship. But that's a rule Tolkien can't seem to make up his mind on. Which kind of proves my point.)

Having said all this... I would tentatively say Tolkien did not mean for any elves to be queer. But that understanding is informed more by my understanding of him as a person than by my understanding of canon, because again, this simply isn't something that comes up in a clear way. Or if it does and I'm just forgetting something, it's obscure enough that I don't think it really matters as much as issues people routinely ignore in the fandom at large (eg linguistics, or elements drawn from medieval literature.)

So while I do think people are justified in assuming no, there aren't queer relationships in Tolkien, I also think that's got to be the weirdest hill to die on unless you are bringing your biases to the text.

EDIT: Adding @pearlescentpearl‘s reply because it belongs here

Weighing in with a supporting thought! IIRC the clearest thing Tolkien ever said about elven marriage is that it’s *for the sake of children*, which is incredibly congruent with many of the histories Tolkien liked to study. Whether you were straight or queer, having children was incredibly important for a number of reasons and having children within some kind of formal acknowledgement of a union was useful for a. the pooling of resources, and b. the allotment of resources to descendants (inheritance). so for elves, if the purpose of marriage is ultimately for children, and the making of children involves both parents pouring in the strength of their spirits to nurture the baby, a marriage didn’t have to mean ‘I am romantically and sexually attracted to this person’, although undoubtedly common. it could also mean ‘this is the person I’ve chosen to procreate with and no other reason’, which still leaves plenty of room for one or both to have queer relationships outside the formal union they make children with, which is also congruent with a lot of historic practices

[kimbapisnotsushi]

I know there aren't as many public schools as private schools but do you think there's token rich kids on those teams?

this is one of the FUNNIEST asks i've ever received and i am VERY happy about it because YES i absolutely DO think there are token rich kids on the nonrich public school teams so let's go!!

karasuno: kageyama. like . . . i imagine his parents have demanding work that make bank, which is why he was primarily raised by kazuyo. also, i've looked at the brand he uses for his bag - le coq sportif is CRAZY expensive. he's probably the only student in the whole school with something like that. if we want to go even further, kazuyo is a shiratorizawa alumnus, so his family's money or prestige or whatever could theoretically stretch pretty far back. and honestly? it's hard, switching to karasuno. kageyama feels like a fish out of water here where everyone seems to understand each other except him. but they try, and he tries, and he loves them so, so much, and he wants to be better than he was before. so he starts with gifts - little things like a spa day for everyone, or maybe a pile of quality snacks (he got the idea watching daichi treat them all the time), a new set of towels, whatever he can do to help them, to let them know how much he appreciates what they've given him.

nekoma: okay so uhh i did not mean to take it that far with karasuno LMFAO, anyways for nekoma i honestly think it's lev. like man something about his arrogance and confidence and how he doesn't seem to get connection the way everyone else does because he really never experienced that sense of community growing up as a rich kid. nekoma is where he learns and grows outside of that and comes to be a better person than he was before

dateko: hmm kind of tricky but i think it might be sakunami honestly. the money itself doesn't mean much to him he just wants to do what makes him happy. also i wholeheartedly believe he's a weird little bean and part of that weirdness comes from having had a childhood funded very differently than your average nonrich kid. he's quiet about it and doesn't flaunt it and is pretty self-aware, which is why futakuchi doesn't tease him for it the way he normally would.

johzenji: oooooh let's see . . . i think it'd be REALLY funny if it was, mmm, numajiri. i adore jiri and i bet sometimes he thinks the rest of johzenji are absolute heathens for how they act which is why he gets that look on his face sometimes LMAO. he's another one who's quiet and doesn't flaunt it and blends in with the others REALLY well, if not for the slightly haughty resting face he usually has.

#i know i'm missing some probably but i just wanted to get the major schools done #kageyama makes me ache so much #it's funny that lev sakunami and jiri are all in my prince and the pauper au for those reasons LMAO #kageyama tobio #haiba lev #sakunami kousuke #numajiri rintarou #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #haikyuu hcs #sou answers #sou says stuff

[byleresque]

This thought has been hunting me. People out there insist that Mike still loves El romantically and they're endgame, but in the show El doesn't think so. She canonically doubts these things. She broke up with Mike over it. People watching a show where a character says "we don't work as a couple and he doesn't love me" and deciding that they can make better judgement. We as viewers only see the plot relevant shots and theoretically they hang out and talk in between those, they know each other and their bond better than us as observers ever could, how are we supposed to ignore what El thinks about it all? El and Mike are the only ones seeing the full picture here and if we don't listen to them then what are we even going by? Dismissing her feelings because "of course they're going to overcome it they're the main couple"? Isn't it that IF they overcome it they'll be ONE of the couples in this show full of main characters and dynamics? I don't enjoy this interpretation of canon at all. I'm also uncomfortable with the notion that our feelings don't matter and we're all bound to end in the relationships that are socially expected from us

the way milkman isn’t even for milkman...

it goes so much deeper than El is sad because Mike doesn’t say ily -> something happens to change his mind that she is not privy to (i.e. several talks with Will later) -> Mike says ily and now they are the strongest couple to ever couple.

and maybe i know this because i like to watch shows with my eyes open, but El and Mike did not in fact come out of that stronger!!

anon you are so correct that people are dismissing El’s feelings. she is a girl already insecure because she’s lost her powers, she’s being bullied, and her boyfriend hasn’t told her he loves her in several months (how many?? like eight??) even though she says it in every letter she sends. she is desperate for a win. that, and she has been lying about her life in california for that long as well.

i think we don’t talk enough about El lying in her letters. one of El’s core traits, one of the first things she learned in the outside world, is friends don’t lie. for her to lie and lie to Mike shows a deep fracture in their relationship. she doesn’t trust him. she has doubts. maybe she rationalized it as not wanting him to worry-- but like Mike said, he knows about bullying. he knows about being the black sheep. so why lie?

because El doesn’t feel like Mike is someone she can lean on emotionally because he doesn’t lean on her either. they can kiss and hug and smile at each other but do they talk?? ever??

both of them would rather pretend to be content than admit their one piece of social currency, the only thing that gives them a perceived link to normalcy, is circling the drain. their relationship feels like it’s one wrong move from snapping in half which is, uh, exactly what happened.

and maybe a problem like this could’ve been fixed by talking and opening up, but they CAN’T because they honest to god just don’t know each other well enough to do that. what they have is the result of a puppy love crush stretched long past its expiration date. 

but back to the viewers... i think it’s frustrating/hilarious that people are like yep, they’re good! they may be broken up and avoiding each other, but they’re the main couple so they’ll figure it out :) like?? the amount of awkward milkman keeps serving us is just painful to watch. fun fact i did not watch s3 when it came it out because their couple dynamic weirded me out. i was like. am i going crazy or are these kids going way too fast.

i’ll be real with you anon i don’t think ANY of them have the full picture. El doesn’t know why Mike can suddenly say ily except perhaps overhearing Will encourage him to do it. ouch. F in the chat. Mike is all jumbled up from all the stuff Will has been saying, plus the painting and the GUILT oh my god. that boy ain’t right but that’s a conversation for a different post. and Will (honorary mention for being the #1 milkman truther) has the least pieces but is doing the most and unintentionally pushing milkman further off the cliff.

what kind of dramatic conclusion would that be if Mike and El were just fine in s5? El isn’t going to have any questions? They will suddenly be secure in their relationship? incomprehensible. and i totally agree it’s uncomfortable to think that you should just stick to the socially approved relationship and your doubts in that relationship are completely irrelevant. and i HAVE seen people talk about them as if that’s the only course of action left for them. “ohh well i don’t like Mike and El together but the writers wouldn’t make them break up again” says who?? they did it once! and this sentiment is always said to me with this vibe of the writers not being competent enough to fix milkman. as if every other couple in the show isn’t very well-liked. come on. come on now.

a milkman endgame would feel bleak. you would feel like they don’t have much of a future to look forward to outside of 2.5 kids and tv dinners. it doesn’t feel genuine, it doesn’t feel like THEM. how restricting would that be for El? how depressing would that be for Mike? and i think the duffers know that. i think they realized it would be a downer ending to these character arcs and pivoted in s4 to show Mike happily hanging out with the outcasts in the Hellfire club and El going on a backstory mission to rediscover her worth. all a part of the byler agenda

(so instead of that lets now imagine a byler endgame where they can stand up to the world together-- not mistakes and not afraid to live a little differently. they make themselves better just being together. and now El is free to find herself outside of all the goddamn men in her life. duffers i believe in you)

#the way the show even gives us el/max flashbacks and all the byler talks. like #el and mike both know what it feels like to be able to lean on a friend #although they both have weird distinctions for what you can do in a relationship vs friendship #'boyfriends lie' and 'because she's my girlfriend will!' come to mind #the kids are not alright!! #byler #anti-milkvan #in conclusion anon u are correct. ppl need to consider what el wants too #let me know if i'm reaching lol #lots of people assuming an endgame because of the infamous ily......... girl i Disagree #this got away from me. lol <3

[metamatar]

February Reading Round Up! In reverse chronological order of finishing

Reinventing Revolution: New Social Movements and the Socialist Tradition in India by Gail Omvedt

Been meaning to read for a long long time, was serendiptiously a reading groups' choice and on my tumblr dash. Very good, detailed tour of movements that have complicated "class first" - caste, gender, peasant, tribal and their evolution theoretically and historically. Enjoyed how obviously socialist and critical Omvedt is of regressive trends and fair to the demands of popular organising that trouble us. I made so many notes, and intend to revist her perspective later when I've studied more. Where I was familiar with secondary literature like, caste I think she did an excellent job illustrating the limitations and need for Ambedakrite movements.

The Final Question by Chattopadhyay, Sarat Chandra

Bengali literature written in dialogue with the anti colonial movement's understanding of the new role of the Indian woman, this book is angry in the best way. Something very Dostoyevsky like in the arguments between the characters, but, instead of a religious worldview you have a deeply modern, materialist worldview being sharply advocated for against revanchist cultural trends in the novel's heroine Kamal. It holds up really well for a book in 1936, and its tenderness in handling every character's hopes and despair is deeply touching.

The Play Of Dolls Stories by Narain, Kunwar

Tumblr Mutual Book Club pick! Short Story collection by Hindi experimental poet and writer. Very evocative stories that have the best onion like layers of thematic interests. Oft satirical but never bleak, with the exception of the last story which felt like an odd addition to the set.

Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Machado, Carmen Maria

Short Story collection as well, feminist and queer themes. I'd already read the Husband Stitch and was interested in what else the author could do, unfortunately not a lot more thematically. The stories are tightly written and gripping, only that they don't reveal much to me.

Dumb Luck by Vũ, Trọng Phụng

Tumblr Mutual Book Club pick as well. Relentlessly, satirically bleak, also colonial writing. This one is set in Vietnam when it was in French Indochina. Tetra said that every character is an antagonist and FR. Vicious, and a little too bleak for my taste, this is a more traditionalist critique of Vietnamese elite aping the French. The gender politics are absolutely bonkers, the translation I read does a pretty decent job of transferring the text's humor to modern idiom.

Vita & Virginia: A Double Life by Gristwood, Sarah

Biography of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackwille-West, picked up on a whim because of my interest in Woolf's 'madness' and her romantic letters. Really enjoyed reading the complicated polyamorous love lives these literati had. Virginia's struggles with her illness are quite movingly portrayed. Illustrated with pictures of the beautiful homes and gardens the subjects spent their time in so fun for me! Enjoyed how conversant the author was with their literary output and its critical reception and impact. Made me want to finish reading my Woolf books.

The Stranger by Camus, Albert

I thought I'd like this more. The distanced narrator is very poorly executed, so the protagonist's redemption? revelations? towards the end of the novel kind of fell flat. Style over substance problem I think.

The Horizon (Sumer, #2) by Gautam Bhatia

Conclusion to The Wall, also one of those I wish I'd liked a lot more than I did. Very fast paced in its third act, well plotted but weakened by its repeated revelation of this character is ACTUALLY on this SIDE. Like, its done with every family member of the protagonist. Worldbuilding remains memorable if a bit predictable. Would make a better movie.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Personally I love an old man vs a fish, even if it does not have the gay content Moby Dick promised. Excellent use of the novel for investigating the interiority of a man. It's been a short story kind of month I suppose.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by Lawrence, D.H.

I have already complained about how fascist this book is. Why does modern commentary elide on its very violent racism and sexism and homophobia? I don't think its erotic worldview offers much to not fascist post sex liberation readers lol.

The Idiot by Batuman, Elif

Sorry. Girl at Harvard was not compelling as expected, but I did get a lot from the third act where the protagonist confronts her love interest for real - honest writing that doesn't shy away from difficult conversations.

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, Mikhail

Stalin era Soviet satire (its a month for it!) Very conversant with Faust, which I had not read so that I think diminished my understanding of the book. Absurd, very Christian and very funny about the comedic aspects of Soviet life. Loved the ending, almost Tolkein like in its hope for pretty broken characters.

The World in a Grain of Sand: Postcolonial Literature and Radical Universalism by Majumdar, Nivedita

Postcolonial Lit: The Takedown. Incisive, excellent, gave me a lot of books I want to try that the author points to as bucking the trend of compliance to particularist, oft parochial and usually defeatist understandings that dominate the genre.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

also Bookclub pick. Devastating. Very effective use of the limited POV to illustrate the way shame damns love. Every few pages wrecked me. Tight and sparing with characterisation + description, but delirious with how emotionally close you ride with the protagonist. Best book I have read in a while.

#after seeing a do these for months i have given in finally! #thanks a <3 #what i'm reading