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adastra121 · 2 months

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Touchstarved as Fairytales (sort of)

Kuras= Rapunzel. We’re gonna save him from that damn tower. Something something being blinded juxtaposed with the visual of a thousand eyes. A crown of thorns after the fall. Golden tears. Healing from past wounds and scars through love and hope.

Leander= Snow White. A twisted version of it. You’ve found yourself lost in woods, an unfamiliar hostile place after running from the world you know. You stumble into a safe haven. This kind, heroic, prince-like mage tells you he and his Bloodhounds (hi, dwarves) can help you. Will you trust him? If he offers you the apple, will you take a bite?

Vere= Little Red Riding Hood. He gives me “wolf that leads the hero astray" vibes. Are you going to end up devoured at the end of the story? Will you follow the straight and narrow path to the Senobium or will you follow the wolf right into the woods, wild and dangerous but promising a freedom you’ve never known?

Ais= The Little Mermaid. Find exactly what you are seeking in this unfamiliar world you’ve ventured into or lose everything. Risk letting your body dissolve in the crimson waters, losing your voice to the Groupmind for some vague hope of love and happiness. Because the chance for that is always worth the gamble.

Mhin= Beauty and the Beast. This was the easiest. A curse that’s turned them into a beast. A desperate search for a cure clashing with a desire to remain confined in one’s own fortress, in the familiar. Until a certain stranger ventures in, and makes them see the inherent beauty in change. In transformation, no matter how monstrous it is.

Elyon= Rumpelstiltskin. Gold spun on mottled grey and a tower that does not understand your power but greeds for it — seeks to imprison you for the bounties they foresee. So you make a deal with the devil. He gives you the gold in exchange for pieces of yourself and he might save your life. It’s all an investment. He’s searching for something beyond gold — and you might hold the key to it.

Sen= Sleeping Beauty. Reversed. The curse is that she can never rest. She doesn't sleep. She doesn't dream. Instead, she passes each day as though she’s in a waking slumber, the world grey and dreamless and devoid of meaning. Her mind and body serve only one purpose, to fulfill her goal of revenge. When will she remember what it is to be awake?

#I would like to read some fairytale aus with them #I think that'd be cool #another specific niche that is very self-indulgent but hehehehe!#I love fairytales! I grew up with them and I also love when people put a different spin on them #I don't know why I already think of Elyon as shady #making sketchy deals with sketchy people where he always comes out on top #but I think he'd be a cool rumpelstiltskin. seeing you as an asset and helping you for a price but accidentally falling in love with you.#haha loser #the name would be a metaphor for whatever he's keeping secret because it'd be dangerous for anyone else to know.#names hold power. letting himself be known is letting someone else hold power over him. and that is deadly to him.#touchstarved #touchstarved game #touchstarved kuras #touchstarved leander #touchstarved vere #touchstarved ais #touchstarved mhin #fairytales #fairytale #fairytale au #sort of

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thefirstknife · 4 months

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Hi Bel,

I keep seeing comments about people complaining about the quality of destiny’s writing and story in the last few weeks. I haven’t really engaged with destiny since season of defiance, what’s currently gotten everyone so riled up? I thought that people were enjoying Season of the Deep/Witch in terms of narrative, why is Season of the Wish causing people to deride the destiny writing staff again?

I don't know!

Deep and Witch have been absolute bangers in every aspect to me. I've been enjoying all interactions and lore tabs we've received. A lot of them are stuff that we've never had before, a lot of reunions and closures, a lot of development and interactions between characters who you wouldn't really think would have much in common.

Sloane's return and healing from what she's been through has been fantastic, Drifter opening up with her to help her because he also got help from others was fantastic, Sloane reuniting with Aisha and Shayura brought me to tears (Shayura's descent into madness was triggered by immense trauma of Sloane staying on Titan and Titan disappearing), everything with Sloane and Zavala...

Witch was just incredible in every single way; the focus on Eris, the amount of Eris and Ikora content!!!!! Everything about Xivu and Savathun and their interactions together!! Eris finally fulfilling her goal she promised Savathun YEARS ago, getting that closure.

Wish so far has been equally great to me. All the new stuff about Ahamkara is amazing, finally giving us proof for long-standing speculation about Ahamkara and how they aren't universally evil creatures and expanding on them as a species. I love all interactions we've had so far; finally we have Petra back, Mara's singleminded focus on figuring out how to defeat the Witness and her continuous work to improve as a person, ALL SJUR MENTIONS!!!!! I won't talk about the "leak" because we have no context for it so I will wait for the full story to be revealed before I can pass judgment; something that I think should be a lesson to learn from this entire year. Maybe wait for the story to finish before judging the story.

Literally everything this past year that involves Osiris, but especially this season now that he's back in his element with the Vex. And of course every little detail we get of him and Saint. Osiris honestly shaped this year for me with everything that he's done to uncover the biggest mysteries. I think a big reason is that a lot of people just don't like Osiris, which I consider a massive skill issue.

Other than that, I don't know what are the issues people have besides just not being interested in any of these storylines and attributing it to a nebulous "bad writing" claim. I also genuinely believe that way too many people get wrapped up too much in fandom, imagine storylines they want to see and then get disappointed when the actual story doesn't go there. Almost like people forget that this isn't their story and these aren't their characters. A lot of it is also fandom completely warping characters into not what they actually are and then feeling like the canon story is the one that's wrong.

Whatever is the reason, I guess everyone is entitled to their perspective of the story and everyone is free to explore the story in different ways through fanfics and AUs and whatever. I do that too!

But I would definitely ask people to be normal with how they engage in criticism, especially in the current state of affairs. Writers are developers; they experience a ton of harassment and negativity from the community and also from inside the company. And they are online: they can see what we're saying. It's been documented that community commentary has been used to harass writers:

Imprint this into your brain and never forget what these people had to go through. Let's not forget also the way people treated Seth Dickinson on social media when he was active with Destiny fans. "Fans" were actively arguing with him about his own work (telling him that HE is wrong) and were utterly disgusting towards him when he tried explaining what he wrote. His works are now hailed as the best writing in Destiny and people want him back. If I were him, I wouldn't want to come back ngl, not with how he was treated and not with how fans are still treating writers (and hey, Seth wrote LF Collector's Edition! So he was back, technically, this year!). Let's not forget that a lot of writers are members of various marginalised groups. And I'd definitely not want to go back with zero support from leadership.

Which is also an important aspect for all developers, including writers: sometimes they have orders they may not like, but can't argue against. They do the best they can with what they're given, the time they have and directions they receive. And with that in mind, I am enjoying everything we've gotten this year, obviously with some specific complaints about things I didn't particularly enjoy (like the universally mid reception of Defiance; I've spoken about my gripes with it before, a big one being the shafting of Suraya who should've at least been mentioned in a lore tab).

I can tell that there is passion in their work, even if maybe they would prefer to do more with it, but can't. Maybe even if they want to take different routes, but can't. But from what we got, I can feel that they care about this world and these characters. I can tell that someone lovingly wrote about Sloane and her friendships with two grieving women. I can tell that they deeply cared about Sloane's friendship with Zavala and that they loved showing us Saint and Drifter caring about a fellow trauma survivor.

I can tell that the writers are immensely careful and loving towards Eris; everything she went through was crafted with love and passion from both writers and her VA. Eris' story is such a fundamental aspect of Destiny and I can tell that this was important to the writing team and that they gave her everything they could to do justice to her character and her arc and her healing and her release from the cycle she was trapped in for so long.

I can tell that there are writers who care a lot about Osiris and Saint and their relationship. I can tell that someone cared a lot about expanding on Ahamkara and giving them more personalities. I can tell that someone cared DEEPLY about Sjur and Mara and that her repeated mentions are the passionate work of writers who want us to remember her.

I could go on. And I know that not everyone sees it this way, which is fine; we all have different ways of perceiving stories. I enjoy discussing things we in the fandom disagree on and I enjoy hearing different perspectives! Unfortunately, this has recently become rarer and rarer. And for the love of god, please try and treat writers with some respect, especially now, especially those who are still working and doing their best with the shitty situation they're in. None of the cries of "poor devs" ring true to me unless the same is given to writers, instead of treating them like punching bags.

#destiny 2 #long post #for the record: yeah i also have some gripes with some writing decisions. it's normal #but i feel like those are things that i can learn to accept or let go or even have my mind changed with a different perspective #or by just accepting that the writing team was limited in some way and that this was the best they could do #it happens to every story at some point #and yeah capitalism is the death of art. destiny's story would be better from start to finish if it weren't a shooter mmo #but that ship has sailed a long time ago. like. in 2014.#it's honestly a miracle that we got even a fraction of the stuff we got considering the target audience of fps mmos #and it's fine if this just isn't good enough to some. happens #but i think we can move on without being shitty about devs yeah?#in all likelihood writers may even agree that some of the stuff they had to write isn't the best or isn't what they wanted #calling them bad writers over circumstances we don't understand is just shitty #just like it's shitty to do it to any other dev over bugs in the game or badly implemented features or whatever #none of these people are sitting at their desks maliciously laughing while deliberately creating 'bad' things #and this is especially bothering me for writers because of how atrocious people are to artists of all kinds #almost like writers had to strike this year to be respected and treated as people that matter

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lyraofthestarsss · 1 year

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Jimmy solidarity fans how are we feeling

#i know I asked this already in a different meme post but #everyone is so split it’s kinda wild #some people are like uuuu ueueueeue uhuhuhuhhu #some people are like YEAHHHH LETS GO #my post #mcyt #trafficblr #life series #limited life #jimmy solidarity #solidarity gaming

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svtskneecaps · 11 months

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yknow what with the strife building between forever and bad and the ripple effect that might have on the server at large i think now is the perfect time to fridge bad. go touch grass, mr boyhalo, it's time to see people either fall apart or come together without you. bc listen. listen. when the dms are bumpin with 'bad can you ___' every thirty seconds. sometimes you just gotta steal badboyhalo and see what the fuck happens. i just want to know.

and i also want bad to slEEP GODDAMNIT

#qsmp #qsmp badboyhalo #he ended stream early for once but i don't believe for a second he left the server #for the love of god freeze dry this man #like i want to see how him being gone affects the server at large #(bc he's such a steady support for egg parents + theory people + dungeon raiders)#(like the french love him the brazilians love him philza knows if he can't take care of the kids bad will)#(fit lets bad watch ramon while ramon and dapper hang out)#(and shit dude bad and dapper are attached at the hip like it was devastating in the days after dapper lost his life bc before that-#-you barely ever saw bad ALONE; they went EVERYWHERE together even to secret order meetings)#bad please get in the freezer and nap for like three days #i'm in a funky mood and i'd LOVE to fuck around and find out #tho i understand completely that the lore is busy with a different angle and i will not find out #((i'm holding out hope to find out sometime but i recognize now will likely not be that time))#((the worms in my brain are curious and they would feast deeply on the answers))#shut up vic #block game brainrot #it's 4am btw if this isn't coherent its bc i didn't proofread bc it's 4am lol

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extremelyputridfishbreath · 6 months

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so like. im not gonna beat around the bush- ARE WE NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS. ARE WE??

*SLAMS THIS ON THE TABLE*

I AM CONVINCED THIS MAN DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING! THINK ABOUT IT:

The hover discs Aunt Arctic mentions automatically despawn after you use them to place the detectors/transmitters in both episodes they appear in. With the knowledge that Gary does not test his inventions often, to the point where Aunt Arctic feels the need to warn you...is that intentional feature(keep in mind you use them to access higher up areas like the ceiling of the Sea Caves)...or a bug because he did not test them? Keep in mind the discs disappear near-immediately once you're done placing objects, so you CAN end up free-falling to the ground afterwards from several feet above in the air.

Knowing this, what else is this man hiding? Sure, we know that the Auto-Warbler 3000 works...but is that because this is an invention he personally tested, or in spite of being untested? Did the Jet Tube's avoidance systems have glitches because of an unforeseen bug Gary happened to run into...or is this something he made, gave to Rookie and didn't test for whatever reason?

Keeping this tidbit in mind, is Gary knocking down Herbert's defenses because he is SO smart, or did he just get lucky? Is he better at programming than making inventions? Or does he actually test his coding skills more than his inventions? If so, why?

IF this 'brilliant penguin' was intended to be Gary (which I'm fairly certain it is but hey, CPI closed down before it's time so who knows for sure?)

Is the reason the Party Sub ended up sitting in the Sea Caves related to his tendency to not regularly test his inventions? Or was it simply because it broke while he was testing it?

Because he does not test things as rigorously as his Club Penguin counterpart (who, as we know makes up to 3000 versions of his inventions before they are considered done, and asides from some examples like Mascbot's being used at their 'near-perfect' 2999th iteration or prototypes like the Electromagnet 1000 are rarely used until then)... does Club Penguin Island Gary name his inventions with the '3000' at the end because they have been tested, or for aesthetic reasons?

#club penguin island #club penguin #gary the gadget guy #as an aside: im thinking of cpi more since i picked it back up and played through most of the adventures again #considering changing gin to an /amur/ leopard for cpi because it feels like a change that would've been made tbh #although sonata would still be an arctic fox...just drawn with a summer coat instead. i dont think id change penelope into a different #owl though...maybe? idk depends if i see any compelling swaps for her cpi counterpart #real talk i cannot believe people were dragging gary prime (as in original game gary) for the test sled when it's informed consent that #you're using a prototype when this motherfucker (affectionate) IS LETTING YOU RUN AROUND WITH INVENTIONS OF DUBIOUS QUALITY #i say this as someone with adhd when i say this man has adhd <3 working on so many projects and so many dont get finished #although tbf to ME <3 at least ive been chipping away at my lore documents lately. i mean i still struggle but yk #and yk be slacking off writing down stuff so i dont forgor isnt like. me handing out inventions that probably arent safe like candy <3 #i could be writing down important stuff right now :') oh well * points and laugh at cpi!gary * THIS MAN IS A POSER

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autumn-may · 1 year

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thinking about the chess game in kh3 and yes I know it’s symbolism but honestly what the frick even was that. Imagine you’re playing chess with your bestie and after you beat him he just says ‘there’s more to light than meets the eye 😈’ and takes his king and moves it back to the beginning??? And puts seven more pieces on the board?? And Xehanorts just like cool with it???? Honestly if I was Xehanort and Eraqus did that to me I wouldn’t even have waited 64 years I would have taken him out right then and there

#And for you people saying that this isn’t chess and the rules are different it’s very clear Xehanort had no freaking clue that could happen #Hc that’s how eraqus wins half his games once xehanort is good enough to beat him #He just goes ‘um actually there’s a secret rule that lets me put all my pieces back because this one brought their hearts back from death’#‘And also two of your pieces aren’t evil anymore they were double agents so they’re on my side now’#‘And the double agents were working to make replicas for my dead pieces so I get three more’#‘Sorry sucks to suck’#And Xehanorts just like ok #Kingdom hearts #kh3 #xehanort #eraqus #kh

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quietwingsinthesky · 21 days

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not to bring up mass effect but that’s one of the most interesting things it ever posited when it came to the idea of organic vs artificial intelligence. a machine, if sentient, knows who created it and why it was created. and a person will never know that. like, even lacking spirituality, even if you ascribe all this to random cause-and-effect, that doesn’t actually get you any closer to understanding why there is a you. but a robot can look their creator in the eye, can read out the whole of its purpose, and know that no matter what it modifies, this is what it was made to be. and what if it was made limited, or flawed, or shackled. there are elements of that a person can relate to, maybe understand, but not all of it, not enough to fathom how different the experience of the world is when you have no questions about your origins.

#also not to talk about mass effect but this is whyyy i love the geth so much. it feels like this would be something you could easily take #in a cold and logical direction because of this whole. lack of questions.#but the geth are so brimming with this sort of. faith. you know? its written into every way they’re referred to. they call the reapers the #old gods. older. we must assume. referring not just to them but to the quarians.#they call splinters of their hivemind that disagree ‘heretics’. legion accepts that name specifically because of its implications.#for a whole game the geth are mindless enemies and then suddenly they’re a *people*. and legion takes the name of a biblical demon.#we’re getting off topic here but its mass effect let me ramble. AI are banned because this fundamental difference in worldview makes them #unpredictable to organic life. makes them dangerous. legion accepts the name of a demon. accepts what the geth are seen as and what they are #and still asks. if they have a soul. they were not made with one in mind. they know this. they know they were not created to have one.#the point of the question isn’t. objectively. do they? the point is. do you consider them to. will you treat them as if they do.#because the flipside of all of this is that you know a robot’s origins too. you know their purpose. so. could you treat something made #this way as if it has a soul.#you know? sorry im getting very pretentious here. i miss mass effect 2 and my littke guys

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felizusnavidad · 4 months

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unpopular opinion but i really miss those days when it was all about the music in taylor swift fandom

#time for a little rant because i feel like i need to get it off my chest rn #i feel so disconnected from this fandom lately #mostly because literally everything is about travis these days #like don't get me wrong i'm really happy that she's happy but #i just don't feel the need to talk about her relationship 24/7 like some of the swifties #and honestly it's all just too much #everything is about taylor and i'm not even excited anymore when i see new pictures of her #because it's just too much???#i truly love her with all my heart and i always will but even i am tired and i've been a swiftie for literally half of my life #why do people have to discuss every single detail about her love life #and who cares if she's going to be at the game again #let her live maybe #i'm sorry but it's just so annoying lately #this fandom is being too fucking loud and i'm tired and it's not even fun anymore #remember when the eras tour started? amazing times #we were talking about it all the time and discussing every single detail of the tour and the songs and all #now it's all about her new relationship guys it's not... like... WHY.#it makes me so sad because it used to be different #ugh #i might get hate for that but i don't care i just really needed to say that #taylor swift #ts #talking shit for the hell of it*

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krittec · 1 month

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I need a portion of the HoTD fandom to sit down and stop being so overtly horrible towards actors and actresses simply doing their job and getting into the minds of their characters to do a better job, then being berated by people because it doesn’t fit their personal understanding of a character that they don’t play or spend elongated time in the mind of.

This goes extra for the women of the show because I’m sick of seeing ‘Cunt’ and ‘Bitch’ being thrown around because someone explained how the character they play saw a situation, or saw themselves in that moment because it’s always a vital way to play a character or give insight.

Some of y’all are no better than some of the characters in this show. It is a fictional TV show at the end of the day, take a damn walk if you feel the need to harass someone for no good reason.

#the actors are going to have a better understanding on the characters #spending time in outfit and with the script writers plus getting vital information from georgie himself #than someone who read a biased version of a fake history book #can we be honest and stop attacking people now #let’s also recognise that show canon and book canon are likely different as with the main series #y’all are so lucky the actors haven’t snapped back yet #i’m so close to deleting twitter and tiktok #house of the dragon #game of thrones #hotd #got #asoi&f #a song of ice and fire

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sunnysideaeggs · 1 year

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We spent 8 seasons watching how everybody south and north of the wall scorned Jon for being a bastard and how even the doubt of the future king being illegitimate (while having the very plausible excuse of looking like his mother) burst a giant war where almost everybody dies and now we are supposed to believe Rhaenyra putting bastards (that don’t even look like her) on the throne has no political repercussions whatsoever?

#oh how we’ve changed #i think the change from the main audience of got and hotd have made an awful difference of how they portray the characters #for example in got we had littlefinger and cersei #and they were awful but people loved them bc they were smart and knew how to play the game #and characters like ned #people love him but they know he made stupid choices that killed him #and the main audience of got was older millennials and gen x or baby boomers #but in hotd most audience is younger millennials and older gen z #and it shows #so much faux feminism and fear of making a character unlikable if they aren’t perfect #they wanna make Rhaenyra a girlboss that never does wrong but she makes dumb choices too #and the narrative doesn’t acknowledge that #why is everything a misunderstanding or a mistake #let them be evil #even daemon got watered down #we have no conflict this is a hero vs villain story done wrong #good girlboss rhaenyra vs evil r*pist aegon #anti rhaenyra targaryen #Rhaenyra Targaryen critical #hotd #anti hotd

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a-casual-egg · 1 year

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It's a one-shot, and it's got td spoilers

So, @a1asta1r posted something about wanting someone to draw/write Raj teaching Bowie how to skate, and since I was already thinking about it, I thought I might as well. Hopefully, it's good. Anyway, without further ado

—

If someone asked Raj if he likes away games or home games better, it would take him 30 minutes, maybe more, to tell them he likes them both equally. With home games, The Snow Owls have home advantage, which is obviously a plus. With away games, the team gets to travel and see different places. Therefore, both are good, so how could he choose one to be better than the other? It's impossible! This time however, he has to admit he’s more excited over an away game.

—

When The Snow Owls found out where they'd be going for their next game, it sounded oddly familiar. Raj asked Wayne if he knew where they'd heard that name before, but Wayne was just as lost as Raj. It wasn't until after practice that Raj remembered Bowie saying something about it, something about how he lives around there, maybe? Raj unlocks his phone and texts Bowie to double-check.

It takes a couple of minutes for Bowie to respond, but he does respond with a confirmation and asks why Raj asks in the first place. Raj types out a very ramble-y text in response about how he has an away game there soon and how the place sounded familiar and how he remembered Bowie saying something about it. Then Raj puts his phone down out of nervousness that he said too much.

He quickly checks his phone again when he hears it buzz.

"Thats cute, maybe we could hang out if you're there long enough" Bowie responds.

Raj stares at the text for a couple of minutes. His brain fills with ideas of getting to hang out with Bowie physically again. They could hold hands, and hug, and maybe even kiss. Raj feels his face heat up at the last thought and a smile forming on his lips.

Raj realizes he's been zoned out for a while and should probably say something, so he quickly texts back, "yeah that sounds nice"

“Who knows, maybe you’ll tell me more about hockey then you’ve already told me and you’ve told me a lot.” Bowie teases

Raj audibly chuckles as he feels the feeling of embarrassment swell in his chest. Does he really talk that much about hockey? Well, before he met Bowie, he did think all there was to life was hockey. Not that he was upset about it. Hockey’s pretty much his favorite thing in the world. That, and his friends, but his friends are all on his hockey team, so Raj guesses they get grouped in with all the other parts of hockey. Either way, Bowie’s been added to the list of his favorite things, and he knows Bowie doesn’t mean anything by it.

“Yeah, maybe we could go skating or something”. Raj pauses, “Do you know how to skate actually?”

“I’m sure you could teach me~”

Raj holds his phone to his chest, just thinking about it. He could teach Bowie how to ice skate. He’s been doing hockey and by extension ice skating for years. Besides if Bowie fell at anytime Raj could catch him and he could help him balance by letting Bowie hold on to him for balance. Raj’s face heats up again, a blush covering his cheeks even more.

“Alright it’s a date” Raj texts back then quickly following it up with “if you want it be a date I mean, ‘it’s a date’ is just a saying but if you want it to be date that’s cool too, I’m totally cool with it being a date”.

“It’s a date then” Bowie responds and that makes Raj’s smile even wider. He puts his phone down and flaps his hands from happiness.

—

Bowie knows more about hockey than your average person thanks to Raj. He also knows that Raj is in his element when playing hockey and that it’s nice to just watch him play. It’s a tense game with both teams tied. They’re in the third period and it’s still anyone’s game. Internally Bowie is cheering for Raj and the other Snow Owls, he’d do it out loud but that’d probably distract Raj. So he sits back and watches Raj be in his element.

If anyone in the stands glanced over at the stylishly dressed gay they would see him making heart eyes at a certain Snow Owl, his Snow Owl. His Snow Owl is too busy playing hard to send a loving look up to Bowie and would probably be too embarrassed to do so anyway. It’s okay, Bowie knows he’ll be looking lovingly the entire time he teaches Bowie how to ice skate. Bowie lets his mind wander to Raj teaching him how to skate. Raj’s hands in his, getting to cling onto Raj, getting to see Raj’s flustered face when Bowie flirts with him. He’ll probably kiss him too, that’s bound to make Raj blush. He gets shaken from his thoughts as a loud buzzer buzzes, signifying a buzzer beater.

It’s the winning shot, and the crowd in the stands that support The Snow Owls are going wild. Bowie looks over to Raj to see him celebrating. It makes him smile fondly. Raj and Wayne pull each other into a big hug. They both hoot in celebration, and other Snow Owls do the same. As Wayne turns away to high-five another teammate, Raj looks up in the stands scanning for Bowie, their eyes meet, and Raj smiles his little awkward smile. Bowie finds it adorable. He smiles in return and waves. Raj smiles wider before quickly turning away to cover his blushing face and to leave the ice with the rest of the team.

—

Raj finds Bowie later and he jogs up to Bowie, still a bit out of breath.

“Hey”

“Hey to you too”

Raj smiles and rubs the back of his neck, “So, you ready to learn how to skate?”

“I’ve never been readier.”

“Ok, then let’s get you some ice skates, people who just wanna skate can get some over here.”

Bowie grabs Raj’s hand as Raj leads him over to the ice skate rental. Raj walks a bit faster, trying to hide the blush on his face. After they get the skates, they find one of the other rinks. They find one that isn’t too crowded, and they sit down on a bench to put on their skates. While Bowie puts his ice skates on, Raj instructs Bowie in the best way to tie his skates.

“If you’re so knowledgeable about this why don’t you just do it?” Bowie asks teasingly.

Raj’s eyes widen a bit before saying “Uhh, sure I can do that!”.

Bowie smiles to himself before bringing the ice skates in front of Raj so he can tie them. Raj ties Bowie’s laces while explaining step by step what he’s doing so Bowie knows what to do if he wants to ice skate on his own someday.

“I know I’m explaining something as simple as tying laces and I don’t mean for it to come across as me babying you, I don’t think you’re a baby unless you want me to call you baby as like a pet name I mean, I’m not saying if you want me to be mean to you I just-” Raj rambles as he finishes tying them.

Bowie puts a finger over Raj’s mouth and smiles, “it’s okay, I promise.”

Raj just looks at Bowie’s pretty face for a few seconds before responding with “right, okay, cool cool”. Raj rubs the back of his neck again, “You ready to get on the ice now?”

Bowie nods and tries to get up but wobbles a bit as he gets up. Raj grabs him before he can trip and fall. In return, Bowie clings to Raj so he doesn't fall. When Bowie catches his balance, Raj moves his hands to Bowie's hands. Bowie holds onto Raj as he awkwardly walks in ice skates for the first time. Raj leads Bowie into the rink and holds Bowie steady as he steps on the ice for the first time. Bowie tightens his grip on Raj's hands as he steps onto the ice, essentially fearing for his life. Ok, maybe it's not that dramatic, but he could fall, and that would hurt a lot. It would hurt psychically, and it would hurt his pride. He looks up from his skates to Raj's face, Raj is smiling softly, trying to reassure Bowie that everything will be fine. Bowie takes a deep breath and eases his grip on Raj's hands a little bit as he calms down slightly and so he doesn't cut off circulation of some kind.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay so it may be tempting to look down while learning to skate, but you shouldn’t do that.”

“But what if I want to look at you?” Bowie smiles.

“Oh! Uhhhh, that’s fine. If you want to look at me, I mean, I meant not looking straight down, like at your feet. You shouldn’t do that.”

“Oh alright. I’ll just have to look at your adorable face then.”

Raj’s brain stops working for a second, and he lets go of one of Bowie’s hands to rub the back of his neck and chuckle nervously. Bowie, on the other hand, starts to wobble with only one of Raj’s hands to help him balance. He tries to skate a bit closer to Raj so he can grab ahold of Raj with his now free hand but trips in the process, falling almost face first into Raj. Luckily, Raj catches Bowie before they both end up falling onto the ice rink. Bowie clings onto Raj for dear life.

“Uh, Bowie?” Raj asks, muffled by Bowie’s arm over his mouth.

Bowie hesitantly pushes himself off of Raj and moves his arms from Raj’s head to one on Raj’s shoulder and the other in Raj’s hand. Raj holds Bowie’s hand but doesn’t move his other hand from Bowie’s waist.

“Heh, guess you could say you couldn’t help falling for me?” Raj jokes, smiling expectantly at Bowie.

“That was corny, but it was also cute, so I’ll let you have it.” Bowie smiles at the corny joke and Raj’s face.

They stand there for a little while, just smiling at each other until Raj remembers what they’re here to do. “We’ll need to work on your balance first. I’m gonna let go so you can get ahold of your center of balance, okay?”

“If you must.”

“It’ll be okay. You should hold on to the wall for support, too.” Raj says, pointing to the low wall next to them. “I’m still right here to help.”, Raj gives Bowie’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Okay, I can do this, you got this Bowie.” Bowie says as he tries to hype himself up.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Raj slowly lets go of Bowie. Bowie wobbles and holds tightly onto the wall but slowly gains his balance. Slowly, being the keyword as Bowie trying to balance on ice skates takes longer than he cares to admit. He does do it, though, and smiles at Raj when he succeeds. Raj smiles back with a wide smile.

“See, it’s not so bad! You’re getting the hang of it already!”

“Raj, I haven’t even started skating yet.”

“Well no, but balance is very important to skating, and you’re doing well!”

“Thank you.”

Raj skates closer to Bowie and takes Bowie’s hands in his, “Do you want to start trying to skate now?”

“Only if you’re holding my hand.”

Raj intertwines their fingers and smiles reassuringly, “I’ll be right here.”.

“Okay, how exactly do I start skating?”

“Okay so you’re going to want to point both your feet forward and turn your right foot slightly so it can be your pushing foot, like this.” Raj demonstrates.

Bowie does the same.

“Okay, good! Now keep your balance centered above your skates and bend your left knee deeper and push off with your right foot.”

Bowie hesitantly does the same, and he slowly glides forward a bit messily. Raj skates right next to him.

“Now just keep that position, and there you go, you’re gliding!”

“Are you sure?” Bowie asks nervously.

“Yep! Then you just keep gliding until you want to stop.”

“And how do I do that?” Bowie asks nervously.

“Oh yeah! Okay, so point your knees slightly inward and press on the outside edges of your blades. Your toes are supposed to point in toward each other, too. Only use a little bit of pressure, though.”

Bowie awkwardly does as Raj instructs, and a bit of snow kicks up as he stops.

“There you go!”

“That feels embarrassing.” Bowie sighs.

“Well this is your first time doing it. You can’t do incredible on your first try. Ice skating takes a lot of work. I fell a bunch when I first learned.”

“Really?” Bowie asks incredulously. The idea of Raj failing at ice skating seems absurd, even if it was when he was little. Bowie just can’t picture it.

“Yeah, I cried a lot.” Raj admits, embarrassed, “but I kept going and look at me now!”

“Impressive”

“My point is ice skating is hard for everyone, so don’t beat yourself up over it. I think you’re doing a great job.”

“Well I do have a great teacher.”

“Heh, thank you”. Raj says, blushing.

Bowie tries to lean forward to kiss Raj but trips forward, landing in Raj’s arms. Raj helps him up and holds Bowie steady, and Bowie holds Raj’s face in his hands. Raj tilts his head up for Bowie to kiss him. In Raj’s arms, Bowie leans into the kiss. Raj melts into the kiss. To him, the only people there are him and Bowie. That is until he hears someone yell his name.

“Rajie, there you are! Oh hey, Bowie!”

Both Raj and Bowie turn to see Wayne waving at them. Raj feels his face heat up out of an embarrassment. Meanwhile, Bowie waves back at Wayne.

“Coach’s been looking for you, Rajie.”

"Oh, right. I better head back now." Raj says shyly.

Raj and Bowie make their way out of the ice rink and change back into their shoes. Raj returns the rental ice skates while Wayne and Bowie chat. The trio finally make their way back to the coach of The Snow Owls and the team.

"There you are, Raj! Thought we lost you for a minute there." The coach says.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Raj apologizes.

"No harm done, kid. We gotta go know, though, so say goodbye to your friend." The coach gestures to Bowie.

"Uhhh, bye Bowie, it was nice seeing you." Raj says shyly.

"It was nice seeing you too, goodbye." Bowie punctuates his goodbye with another kiss.

Bowie savors the surprised and flustered look on Raj's face before he turns around and leaves. Raj weakly waves goodbye, and Wayne puts his arm around Raj's shoulder.

"Good going, bud! You got two kisses in one day!"Wayne says excitedly.

"Yeah," Raj responds, dazed.

"Alright, nothing to see here, boys. Let's roll out." Instructs their coach as the boys move out.

Raj runs, grabs his bag, and follows behind the rest of the team right next to Wayne.

"So," Wayne starts, "What were you doing with Bowie anyway? If I'm allowed to ask."

"I'll tell you when we're home." Raj says, patting his best buddy's back. Right now, all Raj is thinking about is Bowie and a nice long rest.

#td spoilers #total drama #total drama 2023 #total drama revival #total drama reboot #total drama reloaded #I've seen it as both #td Bowie #td Raj #td Wayne #Rajbow #I imagine Bowie and Raj are from different places in Canada #like Wayne and Raj are from Northern Alberta and I don’t think Bowie is #so trying to figure out a reason that they would be in the same place so they can hang out was something #I don’t know how long hockey teams stay in places for away games but let’s pretend they stay for a bit after #also Raj gets to be autistic #egg writes #I hope people like this

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