#like y'all need to start giving credit where credit is due

[lxvvie]

there's a part 2 to this where we veered on to the topic of... Gaz Nation.

Am I going to shake the table from my little-ass corner again? Probably. This was a good ass conversation and I really wanted to share my perspective.

Isn't it ironic, though, how Gaz is overlooked as a character but a good portion of the discourse about the fandom arguably centers around him?

But I give credit where credit's due. Gaz Nation goes hard in the paint for Kyle and for good reason. He's cool as shit. Fine as hell, too. And so, too, are all of the other characters in the game. They may not be your cup of tea and that's fine, but if your justification for excluding Gaz runs the gamut of him not being attractive to you or not being "interesting" enough—nevermind he's just as hilarious and badass as your faves—then some deep, deep self-reflection needs to be had. It doesn't have to be in your face for it to be racism and/or prejudice. It's so deeply embedded, so interwoven into the fabric of society that people can espouse these beliefs without even realizing they're doing it.

Just like how some people can really relate to other CoD characters, I find it interesting how that same grace isn't really extended to Gaz. My liking him amplified after writing for the fandom because the same thing that Gaz is denied as a character is something I've experienced in real life... and probably on here, too. I see a lot of myself in Gaz, and the unfortunate reality for us both is that before they see someone who's just as witty, competent, and skilled as any other character in the game, they see the color of his skin.

And if you still can't bring yourself to understand that after Gaz Nation and people who aren't even Gaz fans have said it, then yeah, it's a you problem.

But this isn't exclusive to Gaz in my opinion. He is the starting point. We can have an entire conversation about how other characters of color are treated by the fandom. Shit, we can even extend that to how BIPOC creators are treated because I don't know how some of y'all can't wrap your minds around the fact that your faves could possibly be attracted to a person of color.

So shoutout to Gaz Nation. Shoutout to the (W)horangi (W)horde, the Farah Fanatics, Valeria girlies, the Kult of Köthulhu, and all the other cliques who've pretty much helped me understand and put into words the nuance in how I view the fandom and these characters. Moreover, it's really done wonders for my writing, too.

And if you do have a rebuttal/response for this, sure thing, let us hear it.

#2queued4u. #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty fandom #gaz nation #just an observation because I've noticed some things about some of the Gaz girlies too. #By and large though I think it's really reactionary to the exclusion Gaz experiences.

[lastweeksshirttonight]

All right, gonna attempt to put the writing cap back on for this blog. And what better way to do so than to do a recap of everyone's favorite (episode) five car pileup of a game show?

It's Strike Force Wives time y'all

:thunderclap:

We are going to speak EXTENSIVELY about what a trainwreck Fallon is in this episode, but let's also take time to acknowledge that Stephen opens this episode by mispronouncing 'podcast' in two separate ways (podcant and codpast). While saying they're getting the podcasting thing down. This episode was cursed from jump street.

Giving Fallon credit where it's due, introducing John as "a frequent guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is objectively hilarious. Reminds me of the time Stephen introduced him on the Late Show as "you know him from The Love Guru", which is still the funniest introduction I have ever heard for anyone.

The introduction goes off the rails at 1:30. AND WE'RE OFF

Kimmel: "My first radio job in Seattle was called the Him and Me Show". [...] Fallon: "Which one were you?" Kimmel: "I don't know. To this day I don't know." I could listen to Kimmel talk about his radio show days for hours, honestly, just for wild bits of ephemera like this.

As we all know, the theme of this episode is Strike Force Wives. Now Fallon is clearly trying to do something akin to The Newlywed Game, where you ask a couple one question and you see if their answers match. Here is a scene from Parks and Rec showcasing the general idea (except as Tom's ludicrously named Know Ya Boo):

Fallon somehow manages to completely fuck up this very simple concept. I'll be honest, I STILL don't know how he screwed this up so badly. He just needed to ask both people the same questions and give them clearly defined subjects!

Moments right before disaster: "[Kate, John's wife] wanted more details than I had available to her, and I said 'Jimmy's gonna text you and it will all become clear.' ...He started texting her and early on, it was in no way clear."

Related, I love that Stephen and Kimmel's wives were totally up for it, Seth's did not want to do this, and John's wanted more details. Lines up pretty well with my sense of them (from the guys' descriptions and talk about them + Evie being a literal gem during the COVID shows).

Seth's kid shrieking in reaction to Seth going to try and quiet them was absolutely perfectly timed.

This will sound very silly, but I genuinely love hearing about how people met their partners. (Maybe because my story is a bit boring? Mr. Lee and I met on a dating app and managed to go the distance despite only having 3 dates before COVID shutdowns.) You can tell so much about a relationship from those kinds of stories. In that vein, Kimmel joking about how he met his wife Molly at work and spinning it, as a joke, into a sexual harrassment lawsuit waiting to happen before being a little more honest and vulnerable was very cute.

Seth and Alexi's meet cute at Chris Kattan's wedding sounds like a sitcom plot waiting to happen.

John and Kate met at "the opposite of a meet cute", the 2008 Republican National Convention. Regular followers of my blog/Buglers may remember this as the point in time where John lost his goddamn mind and did an episode of the Bugle fully naked and kept inexplicably bringing that up in-between bemoaning how catastrophically depressing his surroundings were. (Episode 44, if you're curious. Have you gone through The Bugle Archive? Maybe you should. Be sure to download and not stream!)

Kimmel: "[Your wife] could have been Sarah Palin." John, clearly holding back 15+ years of accumulated hatred and in the most purposefully even tone ever: "It could have been."

Stephen's story about meeting his wife involved him literally fleeing an old girlfriend by going to South Carolina, seeing a Phillip Glass performance that he wouldn't recommend, and seeing Evie across the room at that performance and immediately knowing she was the one he was going to marry. Which, as Seth and John point out, was probably really reassuring to that old girlfriend.

I'm pretty sure this is the first time we get loud clapping when Fallon mentions "Fever Pitch". I actually kinda like "Fever Pitch", but my grading scale for baseball movies is extremely biased and flawed. Let's be real, baseball fans, is "Major League" actually overall good? Because it's like half a funny movie and half a movie about a random baseball player stalking his ex-girlfriend.

Addendum: Queen Latifah should have been in "Fever Pitch".

Addendum to the addendum: This has been playing on a loop in my head for like a week so also Rob McElhenney should have been in Fever Pitch.

Update to Chris Kattan's wedding: Seth and Alexi were pretty convinced that Chris' marriage was not going to last very long, making their meeting even more sitcom-like. Seth thinks that Chris and his ex-wife themselves didn't really believe that wedding was going to take either.

Kimmel wants to see all the fights that come out of this game. He says this before the real chaos even begins in the episode.

Lessons about England - dimples were part of the class system in the 1970s. Totally true. Definitely a well-documented phenomenon.

As someone with chronic stomach illness, I deeply relate to Kate realizing John was the one when she was stuck on the toilet trying to determine if there was blood in her stool. That precipice where you are, as John so eloquently put it, "shitting yourself to death" in the same general area as your partner is when you find out if love is real, trust me.

With that, I also don't disagree with Seth that Kate bringing that up was probably because Fallon didn't explain this game correctly at all.

The first time I heard the little horn noise transitions in the podcast, I was so fucking happy and got really in my feelings about John and the Bugle. That apparently has not worn off at all in the gap between the last episode of the show and me re-listening to this one.

Kimmel is the one to finally break the game, as he asks the very difficult question "is it when she fell in love with me or when I fell in love with her?" Fallon's response is to acknowledge that's where it gets confusing, and then everything implodes with everyone. (John yelling "There's no 'I think', it's your fucking question!", incidentally, made me fall in love with John all over again. But was that the question? Maybe every question is, in a way, the question. The questions are truly the friends we made along the way.)

"Climb inside his head. It's a happier place."

Evie going to visit Stephen in Chicago and calling her sister about his monogrammed towels is the most Jane Austen thing anyone relates in this podcast series. She saw the magnificent grounds towels of Pemberly, Illinois!

Fallon's story about a driver dropping him off on the set of Fever Pitch (CLAPCLAPCLAP) and noticing his wife's smile and pop leads directly into John saying that Fallon described his wife like a horse. Why are you constantly thinking about horses John

Kimmel's "a horse with a Jansport" joke gets lost in the chaos, which is sad because it's the funniest part of Fallon's whole story of falling in love with his wife.

"My second question was 'what do you think bothers your wife the most about you?'" You can almost hear Kimmel's eyes bug out a bit before he follows up with "While we're pondering that..."

Kimmel has been thinking about Kate's story for a bit clearly, and is befuddled by the idea that a veteran combat medic would ask John to check her stool. I mean, he has a point.

Seth and Alexi seem like a parody of a chaotic couple sometimes. I cannot imagine caring about filling a humidifier. It seems to greatly occupy Seth's mind.

Molly and Alexi somehow ended up with different questions for the same round. Molly and Kimmel are on the same page about Kimmel's messiness at least?

Stephen pulling out his Colbert Report hat to tell Fallon "that's not what you said, but I'll accept it" made me cry laughing the first time I heard it.

Stephen: "I wanna say that she said that I'm selectively anal." Consummate frat bro Kimmel: 🤯

The moment where everyone starts going 'oh' after Stephen explains his fastidiousness is a nice, rare moment of everyone clowning on someone who isn't Fallon this episode.

Fallon thinks his wife is most irritated by his overthinking tendencies. Literally everyone else on this podcast is pretty sure that she's annoyed by his "inability to ask a coherent question". And a collection of badly worded questions asking basic concepts from all the guys.

Nancy then responded with what DOESN'T bother her, which...

I need to put a block break here because I've written too much about this podcast, lol. Happy Spooky Season!

ONWARDS!

I forgot this episode also had the adventures of Fallon eating the weirdest food possible in bed, like pizza and ramen. (Seth squeaks "soup?!" in a high-pitched quiet voice in the background.) Stephen, when asked if he eats food in bed, says he'll occasionally have a lozenge, which I am pretty sure does not qualify as food.

John: "What irritates me most about [Kate] - I hope she doesn't mind me saying this, she shits blood sometimes." Y'all I love two men and this is one of them

The Ryan Reynolds commercials are hit or miss, but the phrase "ivory underground bunker" is one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of to describe certain members of the US Congress.

Fallon forgot that there was a third option to his question about pet names. You could not script better escalation of absurdity.

The half-hit lightning strike is such a good noise. It sounds like a rustling sheet (something Seth notes pretty accurately).

Stephen's utterly convoluted explanation of how he thinks his imaginary version of his wife's pet name for him is Steve is, as Seth points out, a pretty solid way to answer a Jimmy Fallon question.

Seth and John both seem bewildered at the idea of calling someone "love duck", which, fair.

Esteban Colberto definitely is a deep cut. It's such a deep cut that it seems like Colbert completely fucking forgot about it.

Everything about Anastasio Somosa on this podcast kills me. Kimmel devoted almost 5 hours to making an AI message of Somosa telling Stephen he's proud of him as his son, which also kills me. If Kimmel and John ever joined their trolling forces, I think they could probably do some absolutely insane damage.

Molly's pet name answer: "Trump called him a low-rated loser, does that count?"

Alexi getting the pet name question so wrong that she just named her actual pet makes Stephen laugh harder than I have EVER heard him laugh. Ever.

Ranking everyone's family traditions from most to least weird: Meyers family's secret language > Kimmel's birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas (honestly a great idea) > Colbert men singing songs from the movie Zulu > Fallon banging pots and pans outside on NYE > Colbert family sharing the same story over and over again like they've never heard it > Kimmel making 20+ fishes > Alexi's father's karaoke nights > Oliver Uno championship (also a Lee family tradition, weirdly enough) > John and Kate having Italian food on Thanksgiving (this feels super LA, I know a lot of people who do this or get sushi)

Weird to hear Stephen briefly transform into my dad while discussing Zulu.

To round us off, a collection of quotes John has about Fallon's incredible inability to run this game: "Your staff all need their wages doubled." "Just because you inflect up at the end of a sentence doesn't make it a question." "They've had to insert an internal logic to what you're asking, and you're complaining that THEY'RE confused!" (upon the question being changed in the same round) "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" "When you ask her how's her day, what do you say? 'How do you think... days went? For your sister's sister?'" "You're being fed through Google Translate, that's how you sound." "Jimmy. How do you think this went?"

#strike force five #john oliver #stephen colbert #seth meyers #jimmy kimmel #jimmy fallon #this episode is still extremely funny every time i listen to it #woo writing!!

[the-daily-multi-fandom-post]

Glenns lover girl

Gleen's lover girl part 4 of ?

Taglist: @kaitebugg03​ 21stcenturytaegi 

  Warnings: Cussing, fighting, weapons, killing, zombies, talks about scars, idk what else.

word count: 3,682. Summary:

Authors note: I do not own the walking dead or any of the characters in the walking dead. Please do not plagiarise my work. I work on my writing and it takes hours to write. Please don't steal my work. You may repost it, but do not change anything about it. And give credit where it's due. Thank you. Go in peace :)

Glenn wakes up holding Y/n in his arms. He takes in the moment of peace. The soft rise and fall of Y/ns chest. The way she mumbles a little in her sleeps, the slight drool on the side of her mouth. He loves moments like this. Where he can admire his girlfriend, the woman he loves. It makes him blush thinking about the three words they swapped last night. He does love her. He loves her with all his heart. He never thought that he would fall in love in the middle of an apocalypse. He loves everything about her. The way she fights for the ones she loves; fights for her family and the ones she cares about. He loves the way she sacrifices for the kids and others in the group.

Glenn looks over her body. Not in a creepy way, but just admiring what's right in front of him. He notices a few scares on her skin. Her shirt road up a little exposing the small of her back. He sees thick welped scars. He wonders where they are from. Who hurt you? He asks himself. He'd kill the son of a bitch himself if he could find who hurt you. I never really paid attention to your scars. He respects your boundaries, he knows the conversation will come up when it needs to be.

Y/n turns over still asleep and cuddles up to him. Unconsciously throwing her arm over Glenn getting as close as she could to him. He smiles to himself even in her sleep she comes to him for comfort.

"I love you." Y/n mumbles in her sleep pecking his arm as she continues to sleep. Glenns heart flutters. He's never had someone love him the way Y/n loves him. He eventually falls back to sleep. The sun wasn't even up when he woke up. He goes back to sleep for a couple hours getting more rest that he needed for the run they were going to do today.

-

Y/n wakes up before Glenn. She decides to make him and the group breakfast since she was the first to wake in the group. Shane was on watch duty. He had been up all night and had a little while before someone would swap for watch,

Y/n fixes deer sausage and she made some biscuits out of the flour and lard they found at the store the other week. She was happy that she grew up in the woods camping. Happy that she knew how to cook thinks over a fire.

Everyone slowly starts to wake up. The smell of the good smelling food was making everyones stomaches grow from hunger. The smell of the deer sausage and biscuits cooking smelt so good.

"What you cooking girl? Smells good!" Shane says as T-dog takes over watch for him. "Good, Y'all eat up!" Y/n says with a smile on her face.

The group surrounds the fire pit. Each in their selected chairs. Y/n fixes everyone a plate. Each of them getting a piece of sausage and a biscuit. Y/n makes sure everyone has a good serving before she fixes her own plate. Glenn notices that, once again noticing the woman he loves still putting the groups needs before her own. But luckily she has enough food to fill her own stomach.

"Everyone say thank you to miss, Dixon for fixing our amazing breakfast this fine morning." Rick says with a smile on his face. "I think this is the best breakfast I've had since the beginning." Carl says with a smile on his face. "Thank you, baby." Glenn says as he kisses Y/ns cheek. Y/n smiles and nod.

"Y/n, are you going with the group today?" Lori asks just making conversation. Y/n nods as she finishes chewing her food that was in her mouth. "Yeah, if we find that hot head he won't act up as bad if he see's me. At least, that's what I am hoping." Y/n answers with a nod. "Yea, Big old bad Merle ain't as bad when she's around.. Sometimes." Daryl says with a smile on his face. "We better get going. It's going to get hot soon." Rick says as he stands up. "You're going?" Lori asks her husband with big eyes full of worry. "Dad, you just got back." Carl says looking up at his father. "I know, but it's my responsiblity. I am the one that cuffed him to that roof. I should be the one to help him get off of it.. If not.." He leads off. The group nods silently understanding what Rick means.

The group that is going to go find Merle gets ready to go. Y/n sits quietly sharpening her hatchet, waiting for the others to be ready to go for sure. "You ready?" Daryl asks. Y/n nods putting her hatchet in its sheath. "Let's go get our asshat of a brother." Daryl streches out a hand to help her stand up off the ground.

Rick walks over to where Dale was working on the Rv. "Rumor is you have bolt cutters." Rick says to Dale as he leans on the truck. "Maybe." Dale response as he wipes his hands on the red rag. "Yeah, we get to that roof, though, we'll need to cut that chain and the handcuffs." T-dog says looking at the two. "I never liked lending tools. The last time I did.. And yes, I am talking about you.. Let's ust say your bag of guns wasn't the only bag that was dropped. My tools got left behind with merle."

"I'll get your tool bag if you will loan us the bolt cutters, you have my word." Y/n says as she looks at Dale. "Look we are wasting time to find my brother. Either you give us the damn bolt cutters or we have to find some while were out." She continues after she gets inpatient. "Sounds like a gamble." Dale says. Y/n rolls her eyes looking around for where the bolt cutters were. "We'll be back." Y/n says kinda agressively. Tired of Dale dragging his feet. "In return I want to strip that van. We need the radiator hose out of it." Dale 'sweetens' the deal. "You can strip it to the bare metal." Rick agrees. Daryl lays down on the horn. "Come on, let's go!"

Shane stops rick. "Rick." Shane says as he walks up to him. "Hey man, got any rounds in the python?" "No." He deadpan answers. "Last time we were on the gun range, I'm sure I would wound up with a few loose rounds of yours." Shane says.

"You and that bag.. like the bottom of an old lady's purse." Rick laughs. "I hate that you're doing this, man. I think that it's foolish and reckless. But if you're gonna go, you're taking the bullets." Shane tells his best friend and partner. "Not sure I'd want to fire a shot in the city, not after what happened last time." "That's up to you. Well… Four men, four rounds. What are the odds, huh? Well, let's just hope four is your lucky number, okay?" Shane tells rick handing him the four bullets. "Thank you." And with that they leave off to find Merle.

The group that is going to go find Merle gets ready to go. Y/n sits quietly sharpening her large hunting knife. "You ready?" Daryl asks. Y/n nods putting her knife in its sheath. "Let's go get our asshat of a brother." Daryl streches out a hand to help her stand up off the ground.

The group going on the run gets their stuff together putting it in the box truck that they were going to take to the city. It was getting hot already, Y/n thinks to herself. If merle hasn't got himself off that roof he probably be severly dehydrated and probably damn near a heat stroke.

In Atlanta, they arrive outside the city limits.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl tells Rick glaring at him. Y/n agrees 100%. She is upset about her brother. She had a hard time to fall asleep last night. Just worried about her brother. "It's my only word on the matter. I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us." T-dog really does feel bad for what happened, he's not a cold hearted person.

Glenn stops the truck, "We walk from here." They get out the truck and starts walking along the railroad tracks.

--

The men cut through a fence. "Merle first or guns?" Rick asks. Y/n looks over at him shocked. Are we really questioning which to get first? If that was carl on a roof hanf cuffed he would go get his son first. Y/n huffs out of flusteration because if not the inner Merle would come out, cussing like a piss ant.

"Merle! we ain't even having this conversation. " Daryl says for him and his sister. Y/n nods eagerly. "We are. You know the geography. it's your call."

"That's our brother. If that was your son on the roof you would get him first no matter what." Y/n says looking into at the blue eyed sherriff. Rick wasn't talking to Y/n. She knows that, but she was going to put her imput into the conversation.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first." Glenn explains. They nod following Glenn to where they needed to go.

--

In the department building, the group finds A walker inside the store. Daryl easily kills it with a bolt through the head. "Damn, you are one ugly skank." Y/n snorts at her brother shaking her head with a smile. Daryl leans down grabbing the bolt out of her eye. They go through the store towards the stair case that lead to the roof. T-dog cuts through the chain and padlock and they enter to the roof.

"Merle! Merle!" Y/n and Daryl yell for their brother. Y/n holds her knife up waiting for any type of danger around the roof. "Merle!" Y/n calls. "No!" Y/n hears her brother cry thinking for the worst.

Y/n walks over to her brother and sobs along with her brother. The handcuff was empty and there lied her eldest brothers hand, lying on the ground. The group stares at Merles secered hand. Daryl turns quickly, pointing his crossbow on T-dog to kill him, but Rick pulls out his Python.

"I won't hesitate. I don't care if every walker in the city hears." That triggers Y/n she reaches for her gun and points it at Rick temple. The safety off ready to fire. "I suggest you put that gun down. I don't care if every damn walker in the city hears." She uses his own words against him. "DO IT!" Y/n raises her voice. "Drop the damn gun, Rick. That's my brother. He might be my last living relative. The last of my blood." Y/n cries. Tears daring to run down her face. Rick nods putting down his gun. Daryl does the same lowering his crossbow. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Y/n fusses at Daryl pushing him back. "We need this group, asshole. We are going to find Merle. And when we do then we can deal with the shit. Before hand we are looking for our brother. Okay? Not fighting our group." Y/n tells her brother. Holstering her gun.

"Anybody got a do-rag or something?" daryl asks the group. T-dog hands him one and Daryl picks up Merle's hand that is already decaying. "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs. Ain't that a bitch." He folds the hand into the do-rag and places it inside Glenns bag.

"He must've used a tourniquet.. Maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't." Y/n points out following the drips of blood. The group follows the drops of blood, T-dog picked up the tools on the roof remembering it for Dales sake.

"Merle you in here?" Daryl calls out him and Y/n guns at the ready. Merle wasn't there and the group walks down the stairs. There was a walker in an office. Daryl easily kills it with his crossbow and Y/n pulls the bolt out since she was closest to it. "Are these the bolts I got you for christmas last year?" Y/n asks with a smile on her face. Daryl nods, "I was saving them not wanting to lose any, but I figured the apocolypse is the best time to uses 'em." Daryl explained.

The group follows in and the coast is clear. "Had enough in him to take these two sumbitches out." Y/n points out. "One handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, our brother. He'd crap out nails." Daryl adds. "Any man can pass out from blood lost, no matter how tough he is." Rick tells the two siblings. Y/n nods understand what Rick was saying. Y/n doesn't think Rick believes Merle made it. Glenn gives her a sypmothatic smile. Y/n gives a tight lipped smile back to him and nods.

We continue looking for Merle. Where did the son of a bitch go? How far could he have gotten?

"Merle!" Daryl calls out for him. Y/n whinces. "We're not alone, don't forget that bro." Y/n says as she thinks about the unalive people walking amuck. "Screw that. He could be bleeding out." Y/n nods understanding her brother, but she wants to live to see another day. Not die with her group the people she has learned to love and watch them die from a city size herd of walkers.

We come upon a kitchen where a stove is still lighted. They find Merle's belt sitting on the top of it, "What's that burned stuff?" Y/n asked pointing down at the chared thing. "Skin. He cauterized the stump." Rick explains. Y/n and Glenn both cringe.

"Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle, but Merle." Daryl says confidently. Y/n hopes his confidence is true. She doesn't want to lose her brother. "Don't take that on faith. He lost a lot of blood." Rick says. Y/n wants to be upset, but she didn't want to get upset in front of the group. She know there is a chance that Merle is gone, dead. She would rather not think that, but she always has that in the back of her head. That way she is somewhat guarded up so the blow ain't as bad once it finally hits.

The group walked up to a smashed window and they realize that Merle had left. "Yeah? Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap." Daryl says pointing to the smashed window in front of them.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving." Daryl says. "You call that surviving? Just wanderin' out in the streets, maybe passin' out? What are his odds out there?" T-dog asks.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks. You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard." Daryl spits at T-dog. "What about 1,000 dead bastards? Diffrent story?" Rick asks Daryl. Y/n turns away from them trying to rack her brain on where he brother could've gone. Glenn walks over to Y/n pulling her into his arms.

"It's going to be okay. We will eventually find him. Whether it's now or a year from now. We will find your brother." He gives a blind promise. Y/n nods.

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get 'im." Rick doesn't let Daryl leave. "Daryl wait." Rick says as grabbed his shoulder. "Get your hands off me man! You can't stop me!" Daryl says as he jerks away from Rick.

"I don't blame you. He's y'alls family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how y'all are feeling. He can't get far with that injury. We could help you check a few blocks around. But if only we keep a level head." Rick says. "I could do that." Daryl agrees.

"Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T-dog says looking at the group.

The group moves into a diffrent room. Going in there to try to come up with an idea. Glenn takes a marker drawing out a map.

"You're not doing this alone." Rick tells Glenn. Daryl agreed, "Even I think it's a bad idea. And I don't really like you." Daryl respects Glenn, but with Merle being left on the roof really took away brownie points.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out. If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast." Y/n shakes her head not wanting him to go alone. He draws a map of the street on the ground and marks the tank and the bag of guns.

"Look, that's the tank. Five blocks from where we are now. That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met. That's where Daryl and I will go." "Why me?" Daryl asks. "Your crossbow is quieter than his gun. While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag."

"You got us else where?" Rick asks Glenn. Glenn points down the street. "You, T-dog, and Y/n, right. You'll be in this alley here." He points placing three erasers there holding their place. "Two blocks away? Why?" Y/n asks her boyfriend. "I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me.

"Hey, Kid. What's you do before all this?" Daryl asks Glenn. He notcied how good Glenn was at coming up with plans and things like that. Slowly Glenn was warming up on Daryl. "Delivered Pizzas. Why?" They didn't say anything they just went outside to where they need to be for the plan to work.

Glenn & Daryl craw down the ladder and run down the alley way. Rick, Y/n and T-dog head down the other alley two blocks down.

Daryl loads his crossbow ready to protect them.

"You got sum balls for a Chinaman." Daryl told Glenn. "I'm korean." Glenn says. "Whatever."

Glenn runs down the street, several walkers notices him , but they just start walking towards him. Not getting agressive to chase him yet.

Daryl waits behind a trashcan as a young man of Mexican descent walks down the alley. Daryl spots him and points his crossbow at him.

"Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" The boy gets startled. "I'm looking for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl asks the young mexican boy. "Ayudame!" They boy yells out. "Shut up! You're gonna bring the geeks down on us. Answer me."

Glenn sees the wakers start to converge on him as he grabs the bag o guns and Rick's sherriff's hat. Then he starts to run back down the street he came from.

"Answer me." Daryl says again pointing his crossbow at the boy. "Ayudame! Ayudame! Ayudame!" Y/n is the first to hear the yelling and just darts off to it. T-dog and Rick here the yelling for help and follow Y/n over to Glenn and Daryl's alley.

"Help Help!" The boy screams. "SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP!" Daryl hushes the boy. Scared walkers were going to find them.

Two other Mexicans also come down the alley and they start to beat up Daryl. Glenn comes back with the guns and sees what's happening. Y/n rounds the corner by then and sees what's happening. Y/n starts to run towards her brother making sure he was okay. Y/n looks up as one of them start yelling, "That's it. That's the bag take it! Take it!" Daryl shoots one of them in the ass with his crossbow. The man cries out as he lips over to the car. "Get off me! Get off me! Y/n! Daryl!" Y/n throw one of her knives at them hitting his back. Y/n continues running trying to get Glenn from them.

One of them men grab Y/n and leaves Glenn. Taking her since she caused more damage. A car pulls up and they start to back up. One of the walkers is crushed by one of the Mexicans. With no guns, but now Y/n as a hostage, the group flees leaving Miguel behind as well.

"Come back here, you sumbitches!" Daryl yells. Daryl grabs the gate and shuts it before the walkers can get at them. Rick and T-dog arrive to see what happened.

"Whoa, whoa. Stop it." Rick tells Daryl. "I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat." Daryl yells at the boy, Miguel. "Let me go." Miguel cries. T-dog shook his hea, "Chill out." He tells Miguel. "They took Y/n. They took Glenn first, but Y/n caught up with them and they switched him out. Why did they take her? That little bastard and his lil bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Daryl yells stomping over towards Miguel. "Guys! Guys! We're cut off. " Glenn says looking around. "Get to the lab. Go." Rick says. Rick picks up the bag of guns and his hat and the group runs back into the building.

end of part 4! to be continued.

#the walking dead #the walking dead: Glenn rhee #Glenn rhee x Reader #x reader #imagines #y/n #twd daryl dixon #twd fanfic #twd shane #twd fic #twd fanfiction #twd #twd daryl #maggie rhee #carl grimes #rick grimes #maggie greene #the walking dead Rick grimes x reader #abraham ford

[turtle-toe]

My experience with and opinion on fat acceptance

I am currently 16 years old and 5'6, 169 pounds. I need to tell my story.

I've been fat or chubbier my entire life due to poor eating habits taught to me early on. "Oh, you want thirds on that giant plate of yours? Sure, go right ahead." But I never really noticed until about 5th grade and really got self conscious in 6th grade. But, I was healthy. I'd say I was around 5'3 and 155-160 pounds. I moved around a lot, I was running with no thought about breath control every day at recess. But I still sucked in my guy and wore giant shirts so no one could see the shape of my body. Then, Covid hit.

I gained what i thought was so much weight during lockdown, as everyone else did too, as well as my oh so quirky mental illnesses. I was at 168 and it made me feel horrible. But not in the health way but the outer appearance way. Then I discovered fat acceptance.

I went from sucking in my gut to being sucked into a harmful mindset that I cannot change but that's okay.

Now, I have to give the movement credit where it's due; it both positively and negatively affected me. The negative part was that i gained about 20 pounds. I got to 180. The positive was that I gained confidence that I desperately needed. I started to not care as much about what I thought people would think, I started to wear more form fitting clothes, I started to even wear two piece swimsuits. But that 20 pounds felt absolutely horrible. And after about two years in the fat acceptance movement, I finally got out of it.

I finally stopped blaming everyone else, either for not being "fat positive" or for being the ones who made me fat. I finally stopped thinking the "naturally" skinny girls were my worst enemy. I finally stopped blaming my genetics. I finally realized just how much I was grossly overeating. I finally saw just how bad I was and how the path I was taking would've lead me to major health problems and an unhappy life filled with resentment and bitterness.

So I took that confidence given to me by the movement and I used it to better myself. After many ups and downs, I managed to get down to 162. I've gained 7 pounds back but I'm trying my best to be consistent. And this health journey started because I wanted to be healthier and just feel better, mostly because I wanted to justify it because I thought that it was wrong of me to want to lose weight to look a certain way. But honestly, fuck that. I don't care if it's fat phobic of me to want my own body to be smaller. So, health is a priority for me but I will be damned if I don't start looking the way I want.

And I tagged this with so many of these fat acceptance tags because I know for damn sure that I would've needed this post three years ago. To hear how it affected someone close to my age. So to anyone who is feeling like shit because you feel as though you can't lose weight or you don't feel as pretty as others; you can do this. You're absolutely gorgeous and handsome and pretty and interesting no matter how you look. But please, please, please don't take to the fat acceptance movement as a way go block out and ignore your insecurities. It doesn't work, it will only get worse. I lost those 17 pounds just by eating a few more vegetables and very inconsistent exercise. I realize everyone is different but it's way easier than you think it is.

Please, y'all, take care of yourselves.

#fat acceptance #tw fatphobia #fat liberation #fat life #fat activism #anti fatness #health at every size #haes #body postivity #body positive #body posititivity #intuitive eating #body neutrality #fat positive #fat positvity #fat politics #cw fatphobia #weight loss #diet #weightloss #healthy diet #tw weight #tw weighloss

[ogdoadfates]

It was only a cough: Ch #9 Chromatic orb

Holy shit! It's the next chapter! Huge thanks to @ravendruid for helping me out whenever I needed it! I hope y'all enjoy! And of course here's the ao3 link to the story!

Percy lay atop the van on his stomach, gun at the ready,  eyes trained on the front doors and windows for any sign of trouble. Yet his mind and ears remain focused on the two conversing below him. It’d started with whispers but gradually grew to a normal conversational volume after a while, to be honest, he reckons they’ve forgotten that he lay above them, easily eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Five bucks that Vax will be the one needing to get patched up.” Scanlan declares, where Percy would expect Keyleth to say something in defense of Vax or to tell the short man to knock it off she instead snorts.

“That’s not a bet I’d go against.” She says with a sigh. “He’s always more reckless after something happens to me, well, or Vex.” Scanlan just hums in agreeance, with the light clinking of what could only be him swinging his legs back and fore to where it’s hitting the bumper of the car. 

Gods does he wish he could see the expressions the two have on their faces, instead he’s left to play the game of context clues. The two of them have been hemming and hawing about how horrid everything has become and how they constantly have to be the ones to keep everything light-hearted, with a few nods to Pike at least attempting to do the same. 

‘Giving credit where it's due’ he catches Keyleth say. It’s truly mindboggling and eye-opening to hear their flow of discussion, it sounds both old and new like they’ve had this same conversation with slightly different words many many times. Which in all fairness makes sense, the two are almost always the ones left behind to guard whatever the group was currently calling home whether that's his van or some building they cleared. Doesn’t make it hurt any less that Keyleth goes to Scanlan with these thoughts instead of him.

It’s his shuffling that reminds them that he’s there, that he’s listening in, that he now knows some of their secrets. They fall silent once more. At least until Scanlan speaks.

“So, it snowed a bit last night.” An emotion that Percy couldn’t place takes hold of the musically inclined man’s voice. He hears Keyleth hum in agrenece before he hears the short man continue. “Think it’s going to again?”

Percival’s swears his confusion spreads to even his bones. Sure, Keyleth knows the weather better than everyone in the group but even he knew it was a definite probability to snow again. It’s too damn cold for it not too, not to mention it has been for the last week. Keyleth gives off a long sigh before silence reigns over them again.

He swears for a moment that they’d spend the entire time they waited for the others in silence till Keyleth speaks. “You don’t have to talk in codes, Percy is going to ask me the same question at some point regardless might as well answer it at the same time.”

“Okay. You doing okay? Like really, no stuffy nose, coughs aren’t hurting, no crippling pain or anything?” Suddenly it feels like Percy shouldn’t be hearing this, it’s unbelievably rare to hear such concern in the smaller man's voice that it almost feels like committing some sort of violation to be hearing it. “Cause I got to say. You scared the complete shit out of me when I found you. You looked like you were begging for death.” Percy is starting to regret Keyleth’s decision to forego the code words, as much as he wants to know if she’s okay the memory of what she looked like just a week or so ago is traumatizing in its own right.

“I’m okay, coughing a bit here and there but no pain. At least nothing more than the usual aches and pains.” Her voice is small but he doesn’t hear even a hint of a lie in her voice. “I know we joked about it a bit before but I’m more so focused on the others right now. I don’t have a good feeling about this, how about you guys?”

“I’m-” A loud rumble blasts through the air before Percival can finish even the first part of his sentence, rain starting to dribble down afterward. The two below him shift, knocking things about the van in their surprise, as Percy quickly finds his way off the roof of the van and into the back. A waterlogged gun would be horrific with them so close to what they're guessing is a hoard.

As they get resituated, Scanlan is more inside the van than before and Keyleth and Percy stay at the open backdoors, the rain starts to fall in sheets.

Pike is having a bad fucking time. The adrenaline in her body is helping her but gods will she be sore tomorrow not to mention it appears that it’s started to storm outside. Fucking great! Vex isn’t running as fast as her and Grog, Vax is purposely staying behind with her. Grog’s been doing a good job of clearing the path for them but it’s still not as fast as she’d like, to be honest, she has half the mind to have them break through another window to at least get outside. Actually, that could work. 

“Grog! If you see a window that goes outside smash it! We’ll get out that way!” She can tell he’s heard her by his louder-than-usual grunt. This plan comes with its own risks, Injuries caused by broken glass are no joke but at the same time, it’s better than being eaten alive by a hoard of debilitating undead.

If they don’t lose anything in their haste this will actually be a great haul, she isn’t too sure on how much the boys found but Vex and her hit the jackpot for painkillers and antibiotics. They will be using some of those as soon as they get back to the van but luckily that won’t actually put that big of a dent into the supply. 

Pike’s no stranger to anxiety, none of them are, but she’s starting to understand how Keyleth must feel close to a daily basis. Gods, how does she function like this? The last time they’d been in a hospital was when she almost died. It was excruciating. Being torn apart like a pinata but instead of candy it was flesh, if the others hadn’t gotten to her in time she has the feeling she would’ve figured out what her own intestines looked like. 

“Pickle!” Vax’s voice shatters the fog that’d started swirling in Pike’s head, she’d slowed down. She’s a hell of a lot closer to Vax and Vex now than she was. Head in the game. You’re well you’re not safe but you are mobile, so move! She shouts inwardly to herself with a shake of her head, speeding up again to catch up to Grog who’d suddenly taken a sharp turn.

She doesn’t have to wonder for long as to why he changed directions when the beautiful sound of glass breaking and cascading onto the floor reaches her ears. It’s a good break not much glass is left on the bottom meaning they’re less likely to stab themselves which is good cause they don’t have time to be cautious.

“Everyone out! Now!” She shouts as she jumps and tumbles out the window.

Thick mud, small glass shards, and deafening rain greets her as she hits the ground, her face and parts of her body hurt but she doesn’t focus on that as she rushes up to get out of the way as Vax leaps out. His landing is a lot more grateful than hers in the sense he doesn’t fall flat on his face but she doesn’t miss the loud hiss and grunt that leaves him as he hobbles back to the window to help Vex get through. Once Vex is out nothing happens for a second and Pike’s heart starts to drop before Grog bursts through the window, as soon as he stands up they’re running again.

It’s pouring and Pike can barely see in front of her face, it’s like having a perpetual waterfall in front of her, but she can see just enough to know where she’s going. In no way is it easy, she hears and in some cases feels the others almost slip occasionally.

It takes what feels like hours but most likely was only a few minutes till she sees the van, she commands her legs to run just a bit faster.

“Freddie! Start the fucking car!” Vax shouts and gods his voice is going to join her nightmares. He’s scared, gods when isn’t this poor man scared? First, his girlfriend gets sick which can be life-threatening for her but now his twin sister is hurt. Pike just wants to bundle everyone up in a blanket and put them in a safe, dry, warm bunker but she can’t and it hurts.

#critical role #keyleth #criticalrole #vax'ildan #vax #vaxleth #criticalrole fanfic #critical role fanfiction #vex'ahlia #pike trickfoot #pike #grog strongjaw #grog #percy de rolo #scanlan shorthalt #apocolaypse au

[vulturereyy-scribbles]

Please read!

Hey y'all. I know seeing me beg is probably getting old, but I'd really appreciate if you give this thread a read for my situation. I'm not sure what more I can do anymore. After getting strung along by a very promising job offer for months only to be fired immediately on the second day because I was 5 minutes late on the first due to the bus + "didn't engage with the team" (Despite the fact we only met for an hour and I was asking questions??) I immediately tried to turn back to the job I had left to make room for this one (I was also unable to afford transportation to my former job anymore) since my managers were sad to see me go. There's a new location closer to me, but I keep getting no response when I ask about getting on the schedule. I have been applying nonstop to jobs for... Since I moved here, really. It took me 3 months to find the shit job I was at before that barely paid my bills. I have gotten no less than 100+ 'no's or crickets from places. I think I've sent out well over 500 applications this year so far. Remote, local, food service, retail, fucking anything. This past round I've actually been getting interviews, but so far all of them have been no afterward. I've been to about five thus far. And they are also costly to get to. The bus system where I live is extremely unreliable and has been very unsafe to me (I have been followed + maliciously approached multiple times) so I have had to rely on uber to be on time to places. I don't have a choice. I'm disabled, poor as fuck, and don't have a car. Each interview I go to to be told 'no' has cost between 15-20 bucks each round trip, just to be there for 15-30 min. This is unsustainable given my current fucking predicament of not having money, but I don't know how else I can do this. I'm not going to be followed home again. My emergency commission queue has a decent amount of folks in it, but it is never enough to cover anything even totaled. My wrists have been in agony for days. Today I broke down crying over a piece because doing art has become painful. But it's my only income right now. I don't qualify for unemployment, believe me, I've checked multiple times. I'm not unemployed for long enough, and I didn't make enough for it to be considered a 'devastating enough' loss I guess. I'm waiting on my application for EBT. I've tried looking for local rent assistance or grants and have found nothing that I qualify for. I'm 1k+ in debt with care credit because of my cat's pancreatitis, and about the same amount in debt to various friends who have been generous in loaning me some cash. But it's not enough in this hell state. I didn't make rent this month. If I do not start a job this week, I will likely not make rent next month either. I have been looking for places to possibly move to that are cheaper, but not only would moving be an extreme cost, but I moved to this horrible city because it was the ONLY place in Florida I could afford at the time with two roommates. The house is falling apart. We've got black mold in almost every room. Bugs get in constantly and there's literally no insulation, I'm not joking. It got up to 90 degrees inside over summer. I don't know what more I can do in my situation. Taking on more emergency commissions is not something I can do with how I've damaged my wrists and hands, and I am already so burned out I wouldn't be giving my best work. I also don't want to scam people unintentionally by not being able to complete the piece but also not being able to refund. I'm trying to sell my collectables, but I barely owned anything expensive to begin with, and I need my laptop and tablet to make the tiny amount I can off art and apply for jobs. I don't know where I am going with this to end, but I'm just. Out of options. I don't know what to do. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. I'm trying so fucking hard. If you have anything to spare and want to, both my cashapp and venmo are Vulturereyy. I've also got a goal on ko-fi to try and cover the rest of what i owe for this months' rent and maybe meet the next one's, but its unlikely at this point. My average monthly costs usually come out to about $700 If you've made it this far... Thank you. I wish I had more hope for what the future holds for me. At time of writing, I have an interview in 6 hours, but I am too sick with dread to sleep. If you need any side work, know of any remote jobs, anything... Feel free to reach out.

#help #lgbtq+ #queer #disabled #adhd #autistic #ko fi support #donations #struggling #artist #art commissions

[nylonsandlipstick]

I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly towards me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn’t that kind of fear. I wasn’t afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it — if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes.

#eustace scrubb #narniaedit #narnia gif #nylonsandedits #usermoh #professorkirke #narniadynasty #useresther #vodt #i know ppl complain about this movie but i love the cgi and just #the whole look is amazing #like look at that Detail on his eye and just #ugh #it's beautiful #like y'all need to start giving credit where credit is due #and give these artists the appreciation they deserve #instead of completely putting down their work just bc y'all don't like the way the movie went

[and-not-to-yieldx]

patience and autographs - itto x reader

summary: A healer in the Shogun's Army, you're well known for your patience. Unfortunately for you, a certain Oni is known for testing people like you.

pairing: arataki itto x gender-neutral reader

genre: fluff. comfort.

warnings: light mentions of injuries, blood. cursing.

a/n: y'all, I had to get some Itto written. I can't wait to see more of this no thoughts man. enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing about Arataki Itto had ever indicated that he would be a well-behaved patient, but you had been hoping maybe you were simply not giving the Oni enough credit where credit was due.

Unfortunately for you, your first impressions have never been wrong.

"Ffff—uck!" The larger man howls as you tease out another of the crudely fashioned hillichurl arrows from his back, his spine arching as he jerks away. The thin arrows that dot his back look more like the quills of a porcupine and seem to bother him as if they were as much - that is, until you start to remove them. You give a cluck of your tongue in disapproval at his squirming, watching as he slams a meaty fist against the dirt ground of the little alcove you two have found yourselves squatting in. Itto is anything but well-behaved as he curses and groans, turning his gaze on you from over his shoulder.

"I thought you Shogun suckers were supposed to be good at your jobs!" He bemoans, giving another hiss as you dab a disinfectant soaked rag against the little mark where the arrow had been. "Burns, burns!" He hisses out, scooting forwards in his cross legged position in front of you. It is not unlike trying to trim a dog's nails, you think, all curled lips away from fangs and wiggling.

"And I thought the Great Arataki Itto would know better than to use his actual body as a shield." You drawl in return. You've risen through the ranks in the infirmaries of the Shogun's army because of your patience and skill. You're not going to let one obstinate oni tarnish your reputation. It is already bad enough that you had your guard down while picking some medicinal herbs for the Shogun's supplies. Even worse that a certain infamous geo-vision wielding oni had taken it upon himself to play hero.

He gives some high pitched whine before slowly, reluctantly pushing himself back closer to you. You actually find yourself scooting back until your back is against the stone wall. The man is a boulder in front of you, and you are effectively trapped between a rock and a hard place it seems. You sigh as he grumbles something you can't quite make out under his breath - somethingsomething greatest, somethingsomething savior - and continue to dab at those little puncture marks of his that have already stopped their bleeding.

"Alright," After a few more minutes, you've got the oni as cleaned up as you can. "You'll need to keep these clean and...!"

Suddenly, he is bent backwards, long white hair pooling in your lap as his fanged grin shines up at you. You are inches away from each other, your eyes widening as the curve of his horns prod the front of your uniform. Whatever you were going to say catches in your throat as it tightens, your heart pounding so loud in your chest you are sure that it is echoing in the cave around you. And when his grin only widens, you are gripped by the thought that archons, he must be able to hear it, too. You hadn't truly gotten a closer look at him, detached in your clinical professionalism you'd always maintained, but now, as his red eyes stare into yours...

"Thanks, Nurse." Your heart does a sickening flip in your chest before stopping altogether as he manages a low growl. His red brow arches as his gaze goes from your eyes, to your lips, and back to your eyes once more, the corners of his eyes beginning to crinkle in amusement. A man who looks like a mountain shouldn't be as nimble as he is as he straightens and turns on his knees, staring you in the face.

"It's good to know," His voice is low as the heat rises between you - how the man isn't the owner of a pyro vision, you aren't quite sure - each word punctuated with an intensity that makes you squirm. Oh, how the tables have turned now, and you suddenly feel the firm stone behind you as you shrink and he continues to lean forwards. Your eyes begin of their own accord to flutter shut and—

"The One and Oni has admirers even in the Shogun's Army!" Wait, what? You open an eye to see Itto with his arms stretched to either side of him, drawn up onto his knees farther away from you as he sharply flexes. Is the man...posing?! His shit-eating grin has practically taken up his whole face as his muscles bulge, the leather straps of his outfit straining against his chest. He turns his head to look at you once more.

And truly, it's that stupid wink of his that finally breaks you.

With a speed that surprises even you, your boot connects with his chest, pushing the demon away from you. It is like kicking a boulder, and you're surprised you even manage to get him to budge as he topples back slightly. Much to your chagrin, he is all grins and belly laughs as you scramble to the side with the intention of putting as much space between you as possible. "I am not an admirer!" Your protest sounds weak and childish, "I...I am going to rest." And really, you're just mad that you fell for that stupid, stupid oni's charm.

His laugh is bellowing as you turn onto your side with a huff, drawing your cloak tighter around you as you use your healer's kit as a pillow. Oni bastard, you think as you scrunch up your face, pointedly ignoring the heat in your cheeks and the way your stomach betrays you with each bit of fluttering and flipping. General Sara was right. Arataki Itto was not worth a passing thought, let alone the focus of member of the Shogun's Army.

When you awake in the morning, the cave feels much bigger and you realize Itto is gone. At first you're pleased that the man seemed to have enough social intelligence to get the hint. But you realize it's not without a parting gift. A scrap of parchment - did he go through your bag?! - he's slipped into your hand, in fact. It's a giant, crude signature of his with a little heart at the end addressed to his biggest fan and personal nurse. For all your patience, you can't help the noise of annoyance that tears from your throat as you quickly ball up that scrap of paper in your hands. This is how he has thanked you? An autograph?!

But just as you're about to throw it, you pause as you take stock of the way the branches at the mouth of the cave have been carefully arranged to hide its contents. It is subtle, but it is certainly different than how you'd fallen asleep. Quietly, you lower your hand, the annoyance fleeing from you in one deep sigh. The autograph is tucked away into your pocket as you slip on your healer's kit, telling yourself you'll dispose of it properly once you're back at the outpost.

-

It has been a week. The parchment is in the side pocket of your kit, deeply creased and well-worn.

#genshin impact #genshin fics #genshin fluff #genshin imagines #arataki itto x reader #itto x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact fluff #ceewrites #arataki itto #arataki x you #arataki x reader #genshin #cw: injury #cw: swearing #cw: blood

[redspiderling]

MCU Breakdown: Black Widow, Part 1

I can’t believe this is happening 😭

First of all, congratulations to all of you who’ve been here all these years. We got it. We begged for years, and it’s finally here.

For once I wasn't dreading revisiting this film to write down what I got from it. I felt more like I might not do it justice. This film is so special to me, but here it is, the MCU Breakdown of Black Widow, part 1 (of who knows how many).

I remember back when I started running this blog and talking about a hypothetical Black Widow movie that had never been announced, always "yeah, we would be happy to do it, maybe, someday in the future", and arguing that it would be important for women and girls, no matter its content. I'm so glad we got it like this. So, so glad.

The rest under the cut.

Let's start with some technical details. The film has a lot of setups and callbacks, nothing is done in chance. For example, I love how the light, and the sounds we hear when we first, and last, see Natasha in the film, are the same. We greet her in bright -birds cheeping- morning light, while she's riding her bike home, to her family

and we leave her in bright -birds cheeping- morning light, while she's riding her bike home, to her family (I'm using the term family very liberally here in reference to the Avengers for the sake of the movie, bear with me, you know how I feel about those dudes).

It's signifying new beginnings, each time, not endings. Notice how, what we see is natural light, which makes this scene pop out, and look more real because the light is coming from the sun, and isn’t artificially made on VFX software. You will notice the stark differences in colours and lighting when the emotions and the atmosphere change in this film, because there is a visual language being employed here, the director has a story to say, and she uses all the tools she has to tell it. The light is exactly the same in those 2 scenes, because Cate wants us to make that connection, even if we make it unconsciously.

Natasha is placed in such a positive way, both at the start and the end of the film. There's this discussion about how "real" their little family was, but it was the characters that muddled up that image. The reality of their lives in Ohio is presented in a happy way, that had deep rivers under the surface, for sure. This wasn't accidental, for a lot of reasons.

First of all, if you take it the literal way, they were spies, and had to present themselves as normal. If you take it the allegorical way, any girl could fall victim to trafficking, and if you take it the character way, both Scarlett and Cate wanted to showcase that Natasha is human. They also wanted to give her something that wasn't always dripping with pain and sadness. They were both parts of her life, yes, but there was also joy, and light, and once upon a time she had been a kid, playing with her sister.

Also, and this has been mentioned before but it bears repeating: I love the actress they chose for young Natasha, and I love how they presented her character. She's allowed to be a young teenage girl. She's not sexualised. She's at that gangly stage between childhood and adulthood, and there's nothing sexual about it, no provocative clothing, no excessive makeup. She's a kid.

Plus, I know Cate said the actress already had her hair dyed blue and they just decided to let her have it, but I think it works well for Natasha's character. That small act of defiance, even that early on, against the system that wanted to break her. Also, the film gives us such great character moments, because they let the camera roll and don't rush through scenes, look at Natasha looking at Melina comforting Yelena. We can see the pain, the fear, where she knows that this isn't going to last, and wonders about what will become of them once their lives begin to unravel.

We also get to see the joy on her face, the wonder of discovering the world, how often do you get to see Marvel characters do this, just live in the moment?

Bioluminescence: the production and emission of light by a living organism. Or how Natasha is a bright light, that shines from within. Not my words, Cate Shortland's words. I felt it when I was watching this scene, but it was lovely to have it verified in one of her interviews. I wish I could meet her, and tell her that everything she wanted to put on screen came through, incandescent and crystal clear. Fireflies are a symbol for Natasha, as a bright light that shines from within, and never dies.

Small details that I love, the magnet on the fridge: Don't forget, above a picture of Natasha. LIKE WE EVER COULD, CATE.

We have another setup here, where the family gathers up to have dinner together. Even the sitting arrangement is the same as later on in the film.

Notice also how both young, and adult version of Natasha, communicate so well with Melina, just with their eyes. It doesn't necessary show a deep history between them, but it does show a bone deep level of understanding. Not just of their current circumstance, but of their future, and of what it will do to them. Melina knows what's coming and she's says it "I'm sorry", but they're both resigned to their fate, Melina because she doesn't see a way out, and Natasha because, well, here she's a kid, and therefore is powerless.

The dynamics between Yelena and Alexei is so different. Yelena is young and doesn't understand, so they're speaking about completely different things. "I don't have my shoes" is what she says, and it's heartbreaking in its innocence, as Alexei is loading his gun and reading himself for battle. We can still see that he's not indifferent to her, telling her she can have "fruit loops in the car". He's not a monster, he just doesn't have a choice (or at least, he thinks he doesn't).

Also, notice how the camera angles are employed here: Natasha and Melina look each other eye to eye, Yelena looks up to Alexei, Alexei looks down on her, there is an imbalance of power and understanding in the second set of images, and the camera tells us that.

Melina doesn't let Natasha take the photo album. For one thing, it's certain that Natasha wouldn't be able to keep it. For another, Melina wanted the memories, and probably didn't want anyone else to realise/think that they cared about their little family unit.

There's just a lot of thought that's been put in the details of the script, to show us their bond, their attempts to hide it, to show the characters' personality in everything around them (notice the plants that are ever present in Melina's home, in Ohio and later in Saint Petersburg). She might seem cold, she has been through a lot, but she cares. And that care has brought her pain. And we have to see that pain, because we get the quiet moments like this one, where she stands alone in an empty home knowing that part of her life is over, never to return.

The mission, is the last thing Melina asks about. The last thing Alexei mentions, the last thing either of them cares about. First, she refused to accept that they had completed the mission and were now hunted, then she accepted it and they loaded their family in the car, and then she asked about the leaked files.

Also, notice how that shot is framed. Both images silhouetted by the light because it’s the moment and the prop smack down in the middle of the frame that’s important, now what they’re going through, emotionally, they’re not themselves in that moment, they’re nameless, tools of the trade, expendable in front of that tiny floppy disk.

Yelena is singing while the rest are plunging in despair, but still humour her and play her song.

I found this shot a bit... Jarring. I get it that for American audiences this would show that they're actually leaving "home" behind, but for the rest of us... Eeeh, I'll give it a pass because it is an American production and this is just something to be expected. I mean, Yelena's song was American Pie. We get it, you still love America, just because you're making a film about Russian spies doesn't mean you're a commie Marvel, it's ok.

But in any case, the setup for the action scene here was excellent. Happy, familiar music playing, car is on the main road, car goes off the main road familiar music gets toned down and eventually completely lost in the darkness.

Yelena knows what to do, we see it, so that we know that this 6 year old girl who holds her stuffed animal and walks barefoot has practiced for this moment.

By the way, Natasha did take another item with her along with the photobooth pictures (it also looks like a photo album with Disney princesses on it), it didn't survive the trip. We are informed of this for a very specific reason: Melina didn’t ask Natasha not to take the photo album out of malice, or just because she wanted to keep it for herself. She knew it wouldn’t survive the trip in Natasha’s hands. We also get a close shot of the image strip (and we get it again, during the credits), because it will be important, later on.

Bet y'all also forgot you were watching a superhero movie until this happened? That wasn't accidental, they wanted us to see them as normal people, this is the moment when that ends.

Natasha saved her family, even though she was a terrified kid.

I know that they did the huge titles thing to connect this film to Civil War but... Listen, Civil War needed the huge titles because that script and the way that movie was directed was a complete disaster. We needed to know where the characters were each time with huge ass title because there was NO OTHER WAY TO TELL. Between complete lack of a timeline, and the fact that you couldn't even tell what time of the day it was due to the horrible lighting, you definitely couldn't tell what the location was because it was irrelevant to the plot like, 90% of the time. Not to mention the title cards in Civil War were usually followed by dimly lit grey corridors so, yeah, give us a title so we know at least where they are, generally.

This film. Didn't Need That. For the most part anyway, there are 2 locations where the titles worked. First one was Ohio, the other I'll reveal later.

But here. Guys, they're Russian spies escaping from the US on a small plane... Where else would they go if not to Cuba?!?! This is the Black Widow movie paying for the sins of Civil War, in a small way in this instance.

Yelena tells Melina that pain only makes you stronger, Natasha cries, and they setup my heartbreak for later.

Natasha protecting Yelena, terrified, and staring men down the barrel of her gun anyway. Such a badass and heartbreaking callback.

Notice how this scene makes us look at how men view this. There's an allegory here as well, but I'll address what's actually happening in the film:

Dreykov notices Natasha's natural instinct to protect herself and her sister, and all he sees is something he can use. A tool for violence, instead of sex, in this case. But the implication is there. Not a person, or a terrified girl, just an object to be used by men.

So glad that piece of shit got blown up and never mentioned again. Any man looking for exposition on Dreykov to feel the "loss" when the villain is gone: Fuck you. Go get some therapy.

Moving on from that piece of shit, difference between Melina and Alexei: Melina apologised. Alexei lied, but he also tried to give them hope. We can see the devastation, because the soldiers never thought of them as girls like he did, and didn't blink before drugging them and taking them away.

Yet another setup, of Natasha and Yelena, drugged and powerless as they are taken away. Because it wasn't enough that they were kids, they took away all their choices, and rendered them unconscious.

What can I possibly say about this credits scene.

It's very real, probably the realest minutes in the entire MCU, and it's merciless. They don't try to sugar-coat what's happening, and there are no jokes to diffuse the drama. These are girls being trafficked from all over the world. I don't know about you but I felt the switch from true parallel to real life traffic victims like this shot that looks like footage from Interpol

to Red Room victims as being a clear shift, and I was actually grateful for it. Because here I could put my back against the fact that the red room wasn't real, otherwise I would have broken down before the credit sequence even ended.

It was a stroke of genius to create an introduction to this entire world like that. We rarely see credit sequences anymore and it's a shame, because when they're well done they tell stories in and of themselves, and this is one of the best I've seen.

Even the villain is set up here. He's pointing at girls and saying "that one, and her", like he's picking pigs for slaughter. How much more setup than that do you need, to want to murder that man dead? Not any more, that was enough.

Nobody speak to me I’m crying.

Subtle, but there. Trafficking (and traffickers) exists because it IS being tolerated by governments around the world.

Unnecessary title aside, who else says Natasha looks at herself in the mirror hear and repeats "pain only makes you stronger", as she's being hunted away from yet another family.

Then she's saying it again because it bears repeating and Natasha has been through A Lot these past few years. I love how unfiltered our first image of her is. After all she's been through, we basically see her stripped of all her tricks in a moment where she’s alone with herself and her thoughts(something we later learn she tries not to do much), and she's just a woman having a tiny breakdown in a semi-public bathroom. Again, human.

This is where I will leave you for this first part. Hey, I got through the intro, I count that as a win given just how long this breakdown has already been. If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading, come yell at me in my inbox whenever, see you for the next one xo

#MCU Breakdown #Black Widow #Black Widow Spoilers #Natasha Romanoff #I'd like to think that all my followers have already seen it but just in case

[blondebooklion]

why it drives me crazy when people say c!ranboo has no morals but think c!wilbur and c!ranboo could still have potential to be narrative foils

morals:

loyalty to family/friends: in both his normal functioning and his enderwalk stage ranboo is incredibly defensive of his loved ones. this is 100% the center of his moral compass. he doesn't do certain things he fears will upset others (thus succumbing to peer pressure yes) but i deeply disagree with people argument that that is proof he has no moral backbone. particularly due to a couple of instances:

ranboo visiting tommy in exile: while not directly breaking the rules there was a general expectation, especially the people ranboo spent his time with, of not really visiting tommy. it wasnt really a set rule or anything but ranboo was definitely putting himself at risk by doing so.

protectiveness over michael: when sam and puffy showed up to prank ranboo, he was incredibly defensive over his son. he was ready to kill to protect his son if it came down to it.

rescuing tommy+tubbo: while we have it confirmed this instance was in their enderwalk stage, ranboo going both proves ranboos values in the enderwalk are the same (or i'd argue strengthened even) ranboo moved protectedly in front of tubbo when he and tommy had separated

forgiveness: he is willing to give people more than one chance, he is incredibly quick to judgements but for the most part he does not rely on other peoples opinions of each other to dictate the way he feels about them, he does take it into account in his overall image of them, but like with revivebur, he is willing to offer him a chance.

reciporcity to kindness: when people are kind to him, he is kind back. y'all let this slide as a moral with techno. it counts here. no im not counting it as necessarily loyalty because he is polite and kind even to those he isn't close to.

self-reliance: for better or worse ranboo does not think he needs other people to survive, in many instances he has displayed thinking he and everyone else would be better off if he were isolated. he does not want to depend too much in anyone, which can especially be seen in his desire for wealth. i think it has always been more about i dont have to rely on others, if things go south i can still survive (obviously part or it is needed something to do on stream, im applying other characteristics of ranboo to infer) but we can also see this in him retreating to himself (panic room, not telling anyone about his book being missing) when he is threatened because he believes the best way to handle it is himself

security: ranboo is incredibly driven bu his desire for safety and stability for both himself and for his loved ones. he thrives on consistency. he struggles the most when things begin to change.

difference between foil and antagonist (just for clarity cause some people have been switching up the definitions)

"an antagonist is a character who is in direct opposition to the protagonist. their actions deliberately hinder the protagonist from achieving her goal. this relationship helps build conflict and propels a story forward."

"a foil exists simply to shine the spotlight on certain traits of another character, without necessarily creating opposition or conflict."

credit: masterclass

the opposing traits/beliefs that i think will cause the most conflict between the two (ranboos will be written like this and wilburs like this to differentiate)

leader vs follower

probably the most obvious contention point, pointed out on 5/05 stream by wilbur pressing ranboo on what he stands for. wilbur wants to be in charge. but i think ranboo is how wilbur wanted people to value him. wilbur wanted to be the guy that everyone liked because he believed being liked comes with power. ranboo does not necessarily want to be well liked by everyone, but he wants to at least be neutral so he does do things in order to keep them on his side

conflict driven vs conflict averse

wilbur thrives on chaos and conflict, much like dream he is willing to manipulate situations. rqnboo does everything he possibly can to avoid it

cockiness vs insecurity

wilbur is obviously bold and arrogant. he thinks extremely highly of himself and the postions he does and could potentially hold. he is ruled by this factor and often does not think about the consquences of his rashly made decisions(thats not to say he isn't calculated or intelligent, he is, he just focuses on how things affect him rather than others)

means to an end vs no ulterior motives

all of ranboos bonds are strong because when he cares about people he does what he needs to to take care of them, they usually initiate out of instances of kindness, but he does not seem to expect anything in return. he cares about people because he loves them, nothing more nothing less. wilbur however while some of his relationships were initially based on care the motives became corrupted and its hard to say whether there are any relationships he has at this point that aren't ruled by some kind of benefit for him (my only guess for that would be phil)

similaries: paranoia, trust issues, secretiveness

ranboo and wilbur really are two sides of the same coin, yes they are opposites in a lot of aspects but despite the differences in their values orginate from the same place they jutted of in two completely different directions, they tried to solve the same issue in vastly different ways. ranboos paranoia was attempted to be solved by isolationism, while wilburs mainly tried to solve it through manipulation. ranboo pushed people away and wil tried to force them to be around. both backfired for them and caused them to retreat further into the paranoid states demonstrated by wilbur blowing up l'manburg and ranboo catastrophizing with hearing dreams voice.

I think wilbur's main contenion with ranboo resides in wilbur thinking ranboo glazes through life easily, and that they disagree on what morals means. being more confrontational does not mean you are more or less moral than another person. wilbur does not understand that differing morals does not equal none at all.

I don't think their relationship is going to act as an antagonist because while ranboo is actively keeping an eye on wilbur it wouldn't really make sense for ranboo to suddenly be more confrontational. I know a lot of people are citing the Burr vs Hamilton relationship as parallels in their dynamicI want to remind you that narrative foils are not conflicting in nature. conflict can happen. but the point of them is to highlight the differences in character traits.

likening to burr vs hamilton

burr wanted power but he wanted it to come to him vs hamilton wanting power and actively chasing it

yes this makes sense for wilbur, but it doesnt for ranboo. ranboo doesn't want power. he never has. the reason burr waits on the sidelinesnis cause he is waiting for the chance to act, but ranboo is not waiting for something to happen, in fact he would rather have the exact opposite, for things to be as uneventful as possible.

"Hamilton’s success at the expense of his personal life is countered by Burr’s relative lack of success and his happy family life. Both of these are directly due to the two’s differing goals and approaches to life. Burr and Hamilton are two side of the same coin, opposite results with the same starting conditions."

source

this is exactly what I referenced earlier between the two. ranboo cares about family, wilbur about career. while a lot of their behavior originated from a similar place, their paths rapidly diverged.

hamilton's downfall at burr's hand

i'm gonna be honest i find it extremely hard to believe that a situation will exist where wilbur waits and ranboo acts. however, if one does i still firmly believe it will be revolving around (likely in defense of) the people ranboo loves and cares about, specifically michael, tommy, tubbo. it would be where he is cementing his views of choosing people. but wilbur being hesitant is still difficult for me to think of a scenario on which he would that hesitant? for it to be his downfall?

important to note: ghostbur did also akin ranboo to burr so it is definitely possible that this dynamic is going to countinue to playout in the future

I will shut up now thank you for reading. reminder that this is just my interpretation and analysis, obviously looking at different details could lead to different conclusions. i'm super willing to discuss as long as we are both going to be respectful of each others opinions and courteous <3

#ranboo #wilbur soot #revivebur #long post #also let me know if i need to tw anything else #tw paranoia #tw anxiety #tw death mention

[wannaliveattheholidayinn]

Ok, But Seriously, I Have Thoughts

I have... really mixed feelings about this episode, so I'm gonna talk about those feelings. And if my feelings about zep as a show and this season come out during that... so be it. (Seriously, this got long. I'd apologize, but I'm not sorry). Also spoilers for the new ep below the cut, but y'all should've been able to guess that

- I... Zimon seriously deserves just so much better. We saw them as a couple together for three episodes, and they honestly weren't explored enough. Zimon... and this is a very personal opinion, but they really do strike me as a couple who never fully leave the honeymoon phase... like ever. Like, of course, they'll fight and disagree on a lot of things, but they also can have adult children, and just kind of act like newlyweds even if they've been married for over twenty years. And again, I know that's a very personal opinion, but I mean... we all knew c/arkeman was gonna be endgame, and it just feels like zimon was never given an actual chance.

- However, I do very much appreciate that their breakup was not messy, there's still clearly a ton of respect for the other on both of their sides, and that Simon is okay.

- "We didn't belong together." No, you fucking did.

- I am not going to stop writing Zimon fanfic either. In fact, this might spur me to write more and work harder on writing Zimon fanfic.

- Rose. Fucking. Deserves. Better. I'm not even gonna elaborate on this one. We all know it.

- Despite the fact that I fucking hate c/arkeman and that it was very, very rushed... I'm giving acting and singing props to Jane. I Melt With You is a song that's extremely personal to me. It helped get me through a point in my life where... I was constantly feeling at war with others, myself, and even felt unsafe in my own home (something I still feel today, no matter how irrational I know it is). I just generally feel a strong connection to every version of the song bc of that, whether it's the original or the Bowling for Soup cover (that was in Sky High!), and... Jane just has a way of making me feel safe when she sings. So, I really, really loved her cover.

- Um... yeah, I'm gonna be real, I don't like the idea of Max having powers. I don't know, I just think it kinda changes the whole original concept of the show, and I'm not a big fan of that...

- Simon! Simon working on changing SPRQ Point!!!!

- I do not really like how they handled Simon's racial bias/systemic racism in coding storyline *after* episode six (aka it only really being mentioned in passing, not being further explored, etc.), but,,, credits due where it's due I guess? I like how they handled him going to Danny Michael Davis, and how DMD listened.

- Sidenote, I kinda find it weird we as a fandom don't refer to him as Danny... it's Danny Michael Davis, DMD, or fucking Willy Wonka jokes. Makes sense I guess.

- Um... the writing was just... so lazy. Yeah. It's... really sad, I think that the show would've benefitted from even one less ep. But on the other hand... lazy writing is lazy writing.

- I think it would've been better - honestly - if Zoey's feelings of loss hadn't been connected to Max in a romantic way, but in a platonic/familial way. We didn't see a ton of their friendship, and yeah,, I hate Max, but there are a few moments there where you can see a legitimate friendship that's really sweet. I also think if they had maybe explored Zoey's fear of losing Simon as well as Max and centered the finale more on Zoey telling Simon about her power, it would've just been a lot better.

- But... honestly, after I just aired out all my issues with this episode (and the season too kinda),,, I honestly liked it. I hate that Zimon broke up and I just generally hate cl*arkeman but... this ep had some really great moments. Zoey and Mitch were beautiful to see again. Mctobin, Davidemily, and Mo x Perry were all absolutely my favorite parts of the episode. Hell, I'll even admit I... well I don't wanna say laughed considering I was so close to crying, but I let out a weird, breathy noise resembling a laugh when Zoey just blurted out she and Simon had broken up.

I don't want to say it was a bad episode, because I did honestly, enjoy ~parts~ of it... but... it wasn't even that cl/arkeman happened, I knew it would, but how it did... it just honestly (my g.od i need to stop writing that word) seemed like they were trying to kill off or like... fucking quash *any* hope Zimon shippers may have had,,, and the writing was just so fucking lazy, I just...

I started the show after dance one night because my teacher showed us the Help! number bc he was an extra in it. And I had already been intrigued by the few ads I had seen for it. So, my mom and I watched it, and we loved it. So we kept watching. And it was good! It was really good! Sure it could be cheesy, but... that didn't matter. I latched on...

I don't know if, ZEP is gonna get renewed, and if it is, I don't know if I'll watch it if/when it does. I latch on to shows really fucking hard when I do latch on. It's why I keep rewatching The Good Place and why I'll never forgive Freeform/Disney/Marvel for canceling Cloak and Dagger. The way I latch onto things is probably a bit unhealthy. And the fact of the matter is, despite everything, my overwhelming feelings about ZEP are positive. And I latched on. I'd honestly do it all over again.

I have a lot of feelings about this fandom and this show, both positive and negative. Still, I love it. Unconditionally. Ultimately, I don't care if Zoey ends up with Max or Simon (though, seriously, she and Simon are made for each other). It's a good fucking show, ships shouldn't be everything that matters.

I began lurking in this fandom when I was fifteen. I began posting fanfic for it when I was sixteen. I'm almost seventeen now. I was planning to get Tumblr when I was seventeen. I also knew I wouldn't forgive myself if I hadn't made my presence here known if it didn't get renewed.

I want to thank @simon-haynes because, uh, holy fuck, I adore you. Running a blog for fandom is something I couldn't even fathom, especially when a large portion of the fandom doesn't like your ship. I legitimately can't believe you followed me.

Thank you to @jennakang. You are, honestly, one of the best writers I've ever read from. You were so incredibly supportive of my writing on ao3, despite the fact you didn't know who I was, and that really meant the world to me. Thank you so much for your contributions to the fandom. Also, uh, fun fact, I was the anon who, after you expressed the want to write the quarantined Zimon fic, sent in that ask that was like "please do!" and also "hope I'm not being pushy about this". I don't know if you remember that at all, but your response meant the world to me.

And uh, lastly @myheartissetinmotion. Um, wow. I know we barely know each other, but I can honestly say, you have been my anchor for this whole show. I love both your Tori content on TikTok as well as just zep content you do on there, and how you wrote her into zep on ao3. I personally like to think of you as the pioneer of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Tok. You were pretty unbiased when it came to ships on there, and that made me feel safe in a place where there were virtually no zimon shippers. Your content was funny, and I always found myself laughing or screaming "accurate" at it. I know, I'm the nuisance who every few months DMs you about something zep related, but I hope you know, you made me feel both seen and somewhat appreciated in this fandom. I cannot thank you enough, Isabella 💗

I know Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist may not be ending. But this still oddly feels like the end of an era. I'm not leaving the fandom, I plan to keep posting fanfic for it and everything. I just want everyone who may be reading this to know I love this fandom and I would not take any moment here back.

Also, this is me formally asking for a link to a Discord group chat since I know it exists but I'm too scared to actually ask any of you for it directly.

#zoey's extraordinary playlist #zep #zep spoilers #uh... #zep fandom #zep discourse i guess #zoey clarke #simon haynes #max richman #leif donnelly #tobin batra #mo zep #mckenzie zep #perry zep #david clarke #emily clarke #maggie clarke #mitch clarke #zoey x simon #zimon #mctobin #mo x perry #david x emily #anti zomax #jane levy

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Zena Lorell Spark Sheet

These are just a series of notes/dialogue about Zena. I thought it might be fun for y'all to see the writer's equivalent of a sketchbook. I'm still admittedly working her out, so let me know what you think works!

Random Scenes/Dialogue

At some point Din leaves Zena to look after the kid while he scout out a small town. Zena gets bored and decides to play some games with Grogu to pass the time. The first game is hide and go seek. It takes a while for Grogu to get the point of the game, but soon enough he catches on. Unfortunately for Zena, Grogu is a little too good and the second she starts to look for him, the little womp rat is no where to be found. She basically tears the ship apart and then starts to look outside, now starting to get worried Din might kill her if she doesn’t fine him. Then she hears a soft cooing from the trees.

Somehow, the kid managed to get himself all the way up the tree and is smiling his little face off.

Zena knows she has to get him down, but seeing as trees had never been a thing she had to deal with growing up, climbing to get him proves to be a challenge. And what’s worse, once she’s up there, she very quickly discovers she’s got a little think about heights.

It’s in this state Din finds him. Grogu smile in a tree with Zena clinging onto the branch for dear life.

—————————————

Early on they have to work out living arrangements since Din does need to sleep and has to take off his armor at least to shower. For a while that means Zena is sleeping in the cockpit, but her back can’t take it for long. Eventually, she comes up with a solution. She buys a huge thick blanket from a local market and brings it back to the ship. She then gets some rope and divides the space in half. She even gets some beads to put on the bottom so Din can hear if the curtain is being moved.

With the new sleeping arrangements, late night conversations start to become a thing.

—————————————

“It just feels weird that I don’t even know your name. Or is that another thing I’m not allowed to know?”

“Din. My name is Din.”

“Do you want me to call you that?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

—————————————

Grogu goes over to Zena’s side of the ship to sleep with her at night sometimes.

—————————————

“You sound different.”

There was a small shuffle of sheets on the other side, and decidedly no answer.

“Are…are you not wearing your helmet?”

An awkward pause followed.

Zena felt her blood go straight to her cheeks. Of course, she knew he had to take the helmet off at some point, but knowing it logically to be the case and for it actually to be confirmed were two different things.

“I can’t see you,” she assured, a little too quickly.

Again, silence. She held her breath, her ears straining for even the small hint of movement. After what felt like years, he finally spoke.

“I know.”

She let out a small breath of relief. Still, the awkwardness hadn’t left the air. She needed to say something.

“I like your voice.”

He didn’t say anything. It was getting ridiculous. She wished she could at least see the outline of his body. Then she could at least read his shoulders. If her cheeks didn’t set fire to the fabric, it was going to be a miracle.

“Thank you. I…like your voice too.”

Something about his tone made her stomach flip. She imagined downcast eyes and an awkward smile. Was he blushing? Could he blush?

“Goodnight, Zena.”

“Goodnight, Din.”

—————————————

Zena is not a fighter and needs lessons in shooting and basic self-defense.

The first time she and Din meet Cara, Zena goes outside and points her blaster at Cara to keep her from attacking Din.

“Stop right there!” Zena snapped.

The woman whipped around, her eyes making quick assessment of the threat.

“Safety’s on,” she smirked.

Zena looked down at the blaster; first mistake. In a second the woman had knocked the blaster out of her hand and sent Zena flying with one solid kick.

Options of where to place her introduction episode:

Before “Sanctuary”:

Pros:

Motivation for Din coming to Mir is to lay low; he comes to Zena looking for accommodations, money she receives is for lodging

Bounty Hunters are the one to scope out Zena’s place, she lies and that’s why her place gets robbed and eventually burned down

Her lying for him adds to Din’s guilt

Chance for Zena to get to know Grogu a bit before joining Din

She is there during the events of “Sanctuary”

Nice ending where Din says there is no reason why she can’t stay. “It’s green,” he offered. “And a lot safer.” “And you still owe me 10,282 credits,” she countered, though not as harshly as before.

Cons:

Din is still in a place mentally where he’s willing to leave Grogu behind if it means it’s safe

The lesson that they need to stay on the move might come too early: solution, have Din forced to land on Mir post escape and have Zena fix the Razor Crest as form of payment (Din knows Mir is too much of a hot spot to stay permanently)

Zena not likely to go along with the idea of lying low on a nowhere planet, when she just left a nowhere planet and Din still owes her money; solution, Din insist they’re still too hot after Mir and need some time to cool off, and there has to be some small time stuff he can do in the meantime

Not much for her to do since she’s not much of a fighter (on the other hand, good excuse to establish how less skilled she is compared to Din and Cara)

After “Sanctuary”:

Pros:

Din is now securely in the “keep on the move and make money where we can” mindset

Motivation for coming to Mir is to pick up some non-guild work better suited to such a far off out-post

For my own personal reasons, all the exposition about how long Din has been wearing the armor and the rules involved have been told and so doesn’t feel like a rehash

Zena more likely to not fight Din tooth and nail about landing on Tatooine

Zena’s first/second outing with Din involves getting shot at; ability to test her resolve earlier on

Cons:

Not much for her to do, probably spends most of the time either working on or commenting on repairs: Din volunteers her to work on the ship instead of the droids?

She and Din are more antagonistic, him leaving her behind with the ship is a struggle

Just not as fun of an episode to explore her and Din’s dynamic

Final decision; Introduce Zena in between “The Sin” and “Sanctuary”.

Din has to make a pit stop on Mir due to trouble with the Razor Crest. He knows Bounty Hunters are still hot on his tail, but it’ll give him a minute to think about where to go next with the kid. He goes to Zena for repairs.

Damage to the ship will take a few days, so for some extra money Din offers to pay for he and the kid to stay in Zena’s spare room.

Local gangsters try to rough up Zena a bit for protection money. (They know she’s got money saved, they’re just no sure where it is) Din steps in, which gets them to back off for the moment. Some exposition of Zena’s situation; she’s on her own, gangsters have always been a problem, but post Endor they’ve been even more of a nuisance since the New Republic isn’t stable enough to get anyone all the way out to Mir, and she doesn’t need help.

“You’re going to leave Mandalorian,” she said, bitterly. “And the second you do, they’ll be back and pissed. So, do us both a favor and pretend you’re not even here.”

Her father was in debt to the gangsters? It took her a long while to pay off the debt and she’s just now getting herself enough money to buy a ship. Gangsters don’t want her to buy a ship since she’s basically the only mechanic they have they can squeeze for repairs.

Din later apologizes for butting into her business, and she apologizes too, recognizing he was just trying to help

Need at least one nice little bonding moment between Zena and Grogu; Grogu actually seems to like her cooking, she has him hold some of her tools and play with the less dangerous ones, etc.

Bounty Hunter arrives looking for Din and the kid

Zena lies to cover for them

Bounty Hunter then meets up with the gangsters and figures out Zena was lying; Bounty Hunter and the gangsters then decide to form an alliance to capture Din and keep Zena on Mir

Fight breaks out; Din, Zena, and Grogu are able to escape, but all of Zena’ saving are left behind and her place to all but burned to the ground

“I can drop you wherever you’d like,” he offered. “There are plenty of space ports looking for a good mechanic. You could even join a crew, if that’s what you want.”

There was a long pause, the distant, harden looks never leaving her face.

“Do you have someone you can stay with,” he tried. “Friends? Family?”

“No.”

“Then where—”

“No!” She rose to her feet, anger fueling her. “You’re not just going to dump me on some back water stink hole! It’s your fault Cane and his crew decided to escalate things. It’s your fault that bounty hunter showed up. And it’s your fault everything I own save for the clothes on my back are burned to a crisp. Your fault. You pay for it.”

#star wars #the mandalorian #star wars oc #the mandalorian oc #din djarin #din djarin x oc #grogu #zena lorell

[dannyphantom-rewrite]

Character ref for; Jack, Maddie and Jazz,

Art by @gally-hin / @gally-hin-phantom

Okay so first off; in terms of Actual redesign, I didn't change a whole lot. I'm actually very fond of Jack and Maddie's design's, my only real issue was with their proportions. Like...look as a lady person who is also thiCC I do not have a fucking wasp thin waist and I'm sure I'm not the only one, lmao. As for Jack? Godamnit he looked like a brick on toothpicks. Just Let him be a fucking Bara man! Anyway of course I asked Gally to do this one bc they're fucking great at drawing different body types

I also cannot and will not take credit for Jazz's outfit. I didn't have any issue with her canon clothes aside from them being a bit plain, so what she's wearing here was literally pulled straight off of her original concept art, which I will link here.

Anyway, getting to the Actual character lore now, let's start with

Maddie Fenton

-Full name is Madeline (I haven't decided on a maiden name yet)

-Born and raised on a farm in Arkansas, had a southern accent that she trained herself out of in college bc it was just one more reason for people not to take her seriously. Still sometimes uses "y'all" completely unironically bc old habits die hard.

-She has a really big family, and they're proud of her accomplishments but feel like she's wasting her talent studying ghosts, because really, up until the Fenton portal was up and running there wasn't even any solid proof they existed. Her sister Alicia is the one outlier there, and even if she doesn't understand, it she completely supports her.

-She majored in engineering and minored in psychology at Wisconsin EDU. Her, Jack and Vlad were all in the same engineering class, and that's where they met.

-Maddie is particularly interested in how ghosts think, analysing their behavior, their motives. Not only that, but they aren't just dead people with unfinished business, they've built an entire culture in the Ghost Zone that is completely seperate from humanity, and she wants to understand all of it.

-skilled marksman and 9th degree black belt, (which is. The highest fucking level there is holy shit? I looked it up after I saw it on her wiki page.)

Jack Fenton

-He's from Minnesota (Amity park is in Illinois and him and Maddie didn't move there until after they got married) 

-okay, "but why minnesota specifically" you ask? Because. I crave. Foot ball discourse. 

-minnesota vikings vs green bay packers guys do you UNDERSTAND WHERE IM GOING WITH THIS 

-The funny thing is that Jack only watches football casually while Vlad is a fucking die hard so when these two got together to see a game it was like....

-Jack: Here to chill and have a good time.

-Vlad: Primed and ready to start a fist fight at any given moment.

-I am never not going to be salty about how Canon Jack was portrayed like a complete moron 99% percent of the time. Like no...theres a difference between Actual Stupid and ADHD induced dumbass-ery.

-Am I saying Jack Fenton has ADHD? Yes. why? Because I also have ADHD and I have always vibed So Hard with his Character.

-Jack is loud and easily excited about things that interest him. He's impulsive and fidgety and yeah, a bit absent minded. He has a mouth that clearly runs so much faster than his head. His train of thought doesn't get derailed so much as it stops and takes several different detours on the way to it's final destination.

-and that's only the tip of the iceberg, really, I'd need an entire essay to get into this completely, but I just really relate.

-Jacks skill-set / interests regarding ghosts vary a bit from Maddie's, most notably in the sense that he doesn't believe that they're static entities already set in their ways, completely incapable of change.

-Jack majored in engineering and minored in Biology at Wisconsin EDU.

-Jack's work with tech is a bit hit or miss. He definitely HAS the engineering skills, but the intrest isn't always there and he's constantly jumping back and forth between different projects. He tends to focus on the concept work and schematics and leave most of the assembly to Maddie as a result. It's an arrangement that works well for them, and has drastically decreased the number of unintentional explosions in the lab.

-A lot of Jack's work tends to revolve around ghostly biology and Ectoplasm, figuring out how ghosts are made, what makes them tick, what the hell Ectoplasm Actually Is, how it's used as an energy source, ect.

-and yes, that does also mean he handles the dissections.

-See that facial scar? Yeah, that's not actually there at the start of the series rewrite but it's very important for plot reasons so I had to include it. Can't say much more on the subject because SPOILERs owo.

Jasmine Fenton

-Jazz is a 18 years old, and a senior at Casper high.

-Which means she prepping to go away to college and won't be around to keep an eye on Danny.

-Obviously that doesn't mean I'm just writing her out of the story, oh no. Know why? Because she's also gonna go to Wisconsin EDU. ya know who else is in Wisconsin? Fuckin' Vlad.

-Jazz is autistic, Although she passes for neurotypical in part due to symptoms being completely over looked in girls due to gender stereotyping and also the fact that she doesn't have any special interests that are considered " "too weird.""

- Her hyperfixation with psychology started at a young age in an effort to better understand people, and social/emotional cues and all that.

-Jazz is well liked at school but she's not popular or apart of any specific group or clique. She's very kind and compassionate to people, and just about everyone knows her, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who actually Considered her a friend. Except maybe Spike.

-I'm gonna have to give spike his own Character ref at some point, but he's this scary looking goth kid that's been held back twice. He's actually super sweet, just really fuckin' quiet and anxious. Him and jazz kinda ended up gravitating towards each other. She might do most of the talking, but they look out for each other.

-its not like jazz doesn't try to socialize, but it's difficult and she's found it much easier and less stressful to just. Keep to herself and let her interactions with her peers stay shallow and superficial. Sure, it's lonely sometimes but it's better than constantly worrying about saying the wrong thing or making some other misstep.

-One of Jazz's other special interests is football, and it's not so much the players or the game as it is the strategy of it? Started out as one of those things you do to bond with your dad, and she ended up getting really into it.

-She absolutley winds up getting into stupidly intense discussions with Vlad about it, too, lmao.

-Her and Danny probably bonded over SBNation bc that shit has both sentient satellites and ridiculously complex football mechanics.

-She's completely oblivious to the fact, but Dash has a massive crush on her bc holy shit this girl understands football (hey bud your toxic masculinity is showing put that shit away)

-I mentioned that Danny was in Cheer for a bit in middle school so it makes sense that she'd also be pushed into doing some kind of extracurricular activity.....so.....she was in a martial arts class for a bit thanks to Maddie and has a good grasp on self defense.

I think that's everything? I feel like I'm leaving things out tho? Idk if I did I'll come back and add on to this later and also pls don't hesitate to ask questions bc it really helps me flesh things out better.

#danny phantom #art #danny fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #jazz fenton #ref

[ace-mob-boss]

Bruh America is so fucking broken, like the health care system is so horrible because there are people who are uneducated, over worked and most are paid way less than deserved. And not only are most staff in the health care system not paid enough but then, products like essential medicine are more then 12 times the average amount in the rest of the world. America has the highest cost for insulin in the world for 1 vial being 98 dollars where in other places it only cost at MOST 12 dollars. And then there's the over all over charging of hospital visits that would have people rather straight up end up dead then have to pay an ambulance fee, which by the way barely even goes to the driver, and end up in life Long debt.

There's so much more wrong with the health care system but don't even get me started on this countries damn politics. Our presidents literally don't do shit but wage war and start problems. "Oh but Barack Obama" Barack Obama did shit sure but he still wasn't the best y'all just like him cus he was the first black president. I'm not bashing him but he ain't do anything so long time benefits. There is a CONSTANT power struggle in this country at all times between Republicans and Democrats when in all actuality, half the time both sides are wrong. Democrats are just more reasonable, doesn't make them right. U.S. history should teach people how to act better so as to not repeat history yet we repeat the cycle over and over and simply destroy the country from the inside. The thing about 4 term presidency or presidency in the first place is that 4 years isn't enough to do anything and once someone bad is in power such as Trump it takes the next president there entire term to fix it. The political system is entirely to corrupt and even then, there are plenty of people in the judicial system such as lawyers who are underpaid.

Also, America's over all debt problem is insane due to it all being either student debt, hospital debt or bank loans. People shouldn't have to pay to earn an education to help people around them and create art and Express themselves and over all Learn and then be put into student debt that takes DECADES to pay off, scholarship or not. Like it's just insane.

Then there's the other problem with how many people are in poverty and homeless simply because you won't tax billionaires. And even then the banking system is fundamentally set up to be more expensive for poor people. Did you know, that if you have a bad credit score you have to pay more and faster for different things such as cars. And are trusted less. Jobs pay so little sometimes that people can barely survive. Did you know that America is the only place without paid maternity leave, the pure lack of free time in this day and age is even worse then anything we've seen in history.

This country works people till they burn out and die without even giving out livable wage until they are begged and sued. Billionaires/millionaires are allowed to constantly gain money they don't need to use as people starve on the streets and then treat other people as if they're stupid.

Society is also set up for minorities such as disabled people to fail or people with mental illness, deadlines and the abundance of restrictions is bad for minorities and most people in general. Laws are in place that over all disregard most disabled people's rights or people on the autism spectrum. Which is insane.

And then there's the problem with firearms, unsafe products and drugs. The drug problem can't be fixed unless the country is fixed, drugs are relied on because of how bad life is. People don't choose drugs over a happy life, they have a relatively shitty life and find something to make it not hurt as bad, this is scientifically proven multiple times. Plenty of companies put in as many harmful chemicals and ingredients into consumer products that damage everyone without care because of a want for money. Firearms shouldn't be so easy to obtain for teens to get them or racists to shoot whoever they dislike and kill innocents.

Then there are people jailed for things that they don't deserve out of pure discrimination that doesn't come to light for decades and when it does no one does anything even when the public recognizes how horribly discriminatory it was.

There's also another problem with the world in which once the moment you turn 18 and graduate high school in which you've been regulated and monitored and been made to adapt to a specific environment you are then instantaneously supposed to make huge life changing systems and wanting to simply relax can make you lag behind so easily is insane. There's overall a problem in education with homework in some places because of the stress it puts on many. Grades don't determine someone's worth or knowledge yet it can decide your entire life. You can be bad at difficult math such as calculus and physics but since you were in the class and failed you most likely won't get into a college you like.

Then There's the fact that throughout history we repeatedly don't follow other countries and then ruin our country as we are now, school should not have been opened so quickly, America reopened repeatedly until it got bad again.

Inconsequencly, there are plenty of easy enough solutions to climate change and pollution such as mainly suing electric cars, using energy generated by natural source such as hydraulics, pneumatic energy or even solar panels which are good for the economy. Plastic bottles and recycling can help plenty of people simply actually recycled.

There's also the problem with sexism motivating a lot of problems like the abortion laws or some school dress codes. The abortion laws cause people who shouldn't have children be forced to have children and that's how things like serial killers are created. People who don't want children or can't afford them or even were a rape victim might out the child in foster care, up for adoption, put them through abuse or child neglect all negatively effecting children's growing patterns, mental state and emotional growth.

Overall this country needs a revolution of some sort and the old generation to learn new ways or die out but also for this newer generation to be better educated.

There is to much ignorance in the current generation such as with how some of the believe it's funny to be homophobic or racist when it's obviously offensive, or toxic masculinity causing plenty of problems for men and women and how people online tend to post about what could possibly even trigger them for the world and oftentimes ruin their reputation easily with one post.

#rant #fuck america #politics are so bad man #i fucking hate this country 95% of the time.

[paradisewithinpain]

How They Respond to "I'm Fine"

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆●☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

⚡Harry⚡:

Not even gonna lie, this boy can be OBLIVIOUS

can tell something's wrong but won't push it once you say you're fine

(he doesn't like it when you snap at him)

ANYWAY

he eventually forgets about it and carries on with life

but after a while, he starts to see you're progressively getting worse

and every time he asks about it?

"i'M fiNE"

he starts to get worried and will think he's doing something wrong

poor boy

asks you to meet him in the astronomy tower

the two just sit in silence before he starts apologizing

you stare at him

"the fuck are you on about?"

he explains he's seen your behavior and how he thinks it's his fault

you stare at him for a minute then you start laughing

HARD

poor boy is over here like 👁👄👁

when you calm down you explain what's been going on

he just listens to you rant for a solid 20 minutes

he's just nodding along, agreeing when needed

when you're done, you feel as if a weight had been lifted off your shoulders

you kissed and thanked him before leaving

harry has no idea what he did but he's glad it worked

♟Ron♟:

LEMME TELL YOU

if there's anyone more oblivious than harry

IT'S THIS BOY RIGHT HERE

probably wouldn't even notice until Hermione or Ginny or sOMeONe wHO iSN'T oBLiViOUs points it out to him

then it all clicks

the distance

the quietness

the fake smiles

it hits him like a tRUCK

he doesn't know what to do at first

then it hits him

what is it that you both love with a passion?

FOOD

asks you to meet him outside your common room

shows up with the invisibility cloak and he leads you to the kitchen

you find a small picnic like space in front of the fireplace with all your favorite snacks

even the ones you adore but he finds absolutely repulsive

you throw your arms around him, a small thank you slipping past your lips

the two of you talk and eat till morning

when breakfast comes, the house elves find you curled up against each other, asleep

📚Hermione📚:

y'all

this girl is probably the only reasonable one

she'll figure it out pretty fast but she'll drop hints that she's knows something's up

SHE WANTS YOU TO COME TO HER

IS PATIENT AS FUCK

when you finally do come to her, it's in a secluded corner of the library

she's doing the extra extra credit

you find her and sit in front of her

THIS GIRL PUTS DOWN HER QULL SO FAST

she tries not to show it but she's freaking out on the inside

you start off with apologizing for your distance and she brushes it off, telling you it's ok

it's silent for a minute

then you RANT

she just sits and listens to your problems

and when your done, she offers reasonable solutions

best girlfriend honestly

🌵Neville🌵:

BABY

BOY

ok

sorry

this boy (like Hermione) would probably pick it up pretty quickly

BUT HE WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

this boy will straight up get frustrated about what to do

should he get you a gift?

but what if you dont like it?

should he ask if you want to talk about it?

but what if you dont want to?

HE'S SCARED

you would notice he becomes very on edge around you

you confront him about it and this boy just spills

your heart swells as he explains that he wanted to do something but didn't want to upset you further

🤧

you start explaining what's going on and he understands completely

the two of you just start talking and end up having a mini therapy session

I HAVE THIS IDEA THAT NEVILLE GIVES REALLY GOOD ADVICE

when you peck his cheek and tell him you would like to do this again sometime, he gets all flustered again

🦁Ginny🦁:

It doesn't matter who you are

YOU CAN'T LIE TO THIS GIRL

"Ginny, I'm fine-"

"I SMELL CAP"

literally will not take any of it

it doesn't matter how many times you tell her

SHE

WON'T

LISTEN

she's not gonna push you but she certainly will not put up with the crap you're giving her

you end up ranting to her after a quidditch match

gryffindor had won against slytherin and of course there was a party

you obviously wanted no part but you let your friends drag you to the gryffindor common room

you sat quietly in the corner until Ginny came and took your hands

you expected her to lead you to the dance floor

but instead she led you to her dorm

she sat you down on the bed and took your hands in hers

"talk to me, (Y/N)"

YOU WERE BOARDER LINE SIMPING FOR THIS WOMAN

but you stayed strong and explained everything

she just listened and rubbed her thumb against your hand

I'M SIMPING FOR SOFT GINNY

when you finished, she smiled and laid with you, pressing soft kisses on your temple

you cuddle till the sun came up

🎆Fred🎆:

I have a mighty fine feeling that this boy is just as stubborn as his sister

"Fred, I'm fine"

"And I'm Filch's favorite student"

thankfully for you, he let up on his pranks so he could spend time with you (much to George's dismay)

he's also really good at making you laugh

it doesn't even have to be a prank

he'll just say or do something stupid and no matter how mad or upset you are

this boy never fails to make you smile

but despite his dorky demeanor

he is SOFT

he took you out to the quidditch pitch one evening to watch the sunset

cliche

i know

BUT YOU LOVE IT

you had been doing slightly better due to Fred's constant jokes

but he was not about to let you go by without explaining what got you so down

he casually brought it up and you knew there was no running away from it now

when you told him about what was bothering you, he cracked the occasional joke but never really tried to derail the conversation

when you finished, he took you in his arms and told you how much he loved you as he pressed soft kisses to your neck

you swore you had never simped harder in your life

🧨George🧨:

this little mastermind

so I have this idea that fred is the one who comes up with the ideas for the pranks but george is one who kinda puts it together

ANYWAY

he'd come up with some weird elaborate plan to make you feel better

it'd probably involve multiple parts and A LOT of glitter

but in the end, you watched in awe as glitter danced around you

(if you don't like glitter it'd probably be water or smth)

you immediately knew George was behind it and you followed the trail of glitter or water

it led you to a hidden passageway and at the end of the tunnel it was no surprise you found George waiting for you

you laughed at his glitter/water covered appearance and helped him clean up

only to get some on you as well

it eventually turned into a full blown war with glitter/water bombs being thrown at every turn

in the end, you two laid out of breath by the shrieking shack

"so are you going to tell me what's been going on or do I have to go commando on your arse again?"

you laughed but explained yourself in the end

just like his twin, George threw in a joke or two but never drew any attention away from what you were saying

when you finished ranting, George took your hand in his and kissed it, making eye contact with you the whole time

"you're a badass, you know that?"

🍏Draco🍏:

ANOTHER PERSON WHO

DOES

NOT

TAKE

SHIT

like

I'm pretty sure the only reason he caught on so fast is because he does the same thing

ALL

THE

TIME

"(Y/N), are you ok?"

"I'm fine-"

he was dragging you to the room of requirement before you could even finish your sentence

when he opened the doors, you gaped in awe at the small bedroom that lay before you

he led you to the bed and sat your ass down

"Spill"

you tried to convince him you were okay but he still wasn't having it

he even pulled his iconic, "my father will hear about this" line

"dray, your father doesn't give two shits about me."

"Mum does. And you know she'd haul your ass faster than I could"

you knew there was no getting out of this

as you explained your troubles, draco's demeanor kept shifting

when you talked about someone getting on your nerves, he looked ready to murder

when you talked about how little sleep you were going, he went all soft

when you finished, he held out his arms for you

you knew how much Draco despised physical contact sometimes so this was a huge win for you

as you laid together, you felt a small kiss fall upon your head

"If you ever feel like this again, let me know, okay?"

"Just as long as you don't beat anyone up."

"..."

🐍Blaise🐍:

Sarcastic little shit

I love him

ANYWAY

this boy is SO OBSERVANT

you literally can't get anything past him

so it's really no surprise to you when he calls you out on how you're acting

you brush him off but this boy is so ambitious

he watches closely how you wince when someone is too loud or how often your eyelids droop

so because of his dedication to you, he comes up with a brilliant plan

it starts out with you meeting him after classes are done for the week

he takes you to the library where you finish up your homework for the weekend (he gives most of the answers)

when you're done, he leads you back to your common room and tell you he has a suprise for you tomorrow

when breakfast comes around, a letter is dropped in front of you and your smile grew as you read the familiar handwriting

Following the instructions in the letter, you came down to lunch dressed up slightly

during the midday meal, Blaise is no where to be seen

but before you can look for him, Malfoy approaches you and leads you to the great lake

you jaw drops as you take in the small picnic set up before you

Malfoy leaves as Blaise appears out of nowhere in a nice black button down and black slacks

he leads you to the blanket set out and hands your flowers

"(Y/N), you know I'm not good with emotions but I wanted to show you that I cared. I might now be able to understand but I can still listen."

so that's what he did

he listened to you talk for almost an hour as you went from ranting about your troubles to rambling about your favorite things

you somehow found yourself with your head in his lap, hands waving around as you explained the way airplanes worked

he just sat, admiring you

and he just listened

🦡Cedric🦡:

He lives because I said so

ANYWAY

this boy is literally one of the softest human beings on the earth

you better believe he can see right through your little charade

so what does he do?

he does ever little thing that's ever made you happy

doesn't matter how big or small

he's just looking to make you smile

because it hurts his heart to see you upset

will literally show up outside your class with one of your favorite snacks in his hands

or will hand you your essay completely finished so you can spend time sleeping instead of writing

doesn't matter what it is

this boy LIVES for you

so one day you're having a particularly rough day and you find yourself waiting outside Cedric's class

when he spots you, he immediately ditches his friends and makes his way over to you

the bags under your eyes are evident and anyone could tell from a mile away that your literally on the verge of exhaustion

Cedric takes your hands and leads you to the prefects' bathroom

he leaves you to do your thing, promising he'd be there when you finished

when you were done, the two of you made your way to his dorm and you laid together

you started talking out of the blue and Cedric being the admiral man he is

listened

when you finished ranting, you realized you had gotten up and started pacing about halfway through

you groaned and put your face in your hands as you sat back down

Cedric was not having it

he pried your hands of your face and littered it in kisses instead, a message of encouragement in between each one

you're so kind

kiss

you're smart

kiss

you're crazy good at transfiguration

kiss

you make me happy

kiss

I love you

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆●☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

#harry potter x reader #harry potter headcanon #harry potter #ron weasley #ron weasly x reader #hermione x reader #hermione granger #neville x reader #neville longbottom #ginny x reader #ginny weasley #draco x reader #draco malfoy #fred weasley #fred x reader #george weasley #george x reader #blaise zabini #blaise x reader #cedric diggory #cedric x reader #kriswrites

[thatbookgirl1118]

Aight y'all.

I keep seeing these Snape hate posts, and it's driving me nuts. I think a lot of people are just jumping on the bandwagon because of the disgusting things JK's been saying lately, and while I agree that she's being terrible, it doesn't have anything to do with Snape and I don't think that warrants condensing this man's entire complex, conflicting background into "guy got friend-zoned and didn't leave her alone."

So here's why Snape is not the horrible character y'all been making him out to be lately:

Number one. Lily. One of the favorite reasons for why Snape is terrible is that he's a 'creepy stalker' and wouldn't leave Lily alone.

Let's take a look at the facts.

Lily and Snape met when they were, like, eight. They were the only people who understood each other, and Snape was the one person Lily could go to when Petunia was being a royal biatch. They were BEST FRIENDS.

Then they go to Hogwarts, and they're sorted into different houses. Not just different, OPPOSITE. SLYTHERIN AND GRYFFINDOR. And you know what happened? NOTHING. LITERALLY. NOTHING. THEY STAYED FRIENDS. Yes, it was a bit of a strain, especially once Lily and James became friends, but in reality the cause of their falling out had nothing to do with her being a Gryffindor. And before she became friends with James, let's remember: she HATED him. VEHEMENTLY. And Snape agreed, especially considering he was FREAKING BULLIED BY HIM. James was a good person at heart, and he did a lot of good things, but let's please not forget that he made mistakes, too. It doesn't discount the good things about him, it makes him human, and let's please remember that THAT'S KINDA THE WHOLE POINT OF THE SERIES. So how things stand: Snape and Lily are inter-house friends, James is an ass. (Also, part of the reason Snape hated James initially was that he liked Lily, and so did Snape. The difference, of course, was that James was a complete ass to everyone INCLUDING Lily, and Snape was her best friend.) Then Snape starts falling in with the wrong crowd. And his friendship with Lily becomes a liability, because she's both a Gryffindor and, far more importantly, Muggleborn.

Now. I'm NOT saying that everything Snape did was okay. A lot of it was disgusting and despicable and generally horrible. But again. He's HUMAN. He's kinda the biggest grey area on earth, and that makes him HUMAN.

So, one day, when James is, as usual, being a complete ass, Lily stands up for Snape. And he's feeling scared, and embarrassed, and weak, and all the other things VICTIMS OF BULLYING tend to feel, and the girl he likes just stood up for him. Which had to hurt, because Snape wants her to see him as a protector, because he likes her, but she just saved HIM. Add this to all the conflicting emotions he must be having about the future Death Eaters he's hanging out with, and his desire to both have and protect Lily, and he's basically a ticking time bomb. And he explodes. And calls Lily a mudblood.

Major wtf is wrong w u moment.

But that's the point. He SCREWS UP. Because he's HUMAN.

At this point, Snape knows he's gone too far. He probably could've salvaged the relationship, and he probably knew that somewhere in his heart, but he was probably mostly feeling horrified and sick to his stomach and had also, lets remember, kinda convinced himself that Lily liked James and she could never be his. He didn't feel worthy of her. So he decides to distance himself from her, because he knows he's getting mixed up with the wrong people, but it's what everyone expects from him. But she doesn't belong there, and he wants to protect her (also one of the main reasons he probably got involved with these people in the first place, to try and protect her), so he tells her to stay away from him.

Now, if I remember correctly (I could be completely wrong because it's been a bit since I read the last book, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), Lily didn't actually stop. I'm pretty sure she tried to talk to him several more times after the incident. That's not the behavior a victim of stalking and abuse would exhibit, don't ya think? But even if this didn't happen, I think we've made a firm case for them being CLOSE FRIENDS. Honestly I wouldn't blame her for immediately abandoning his dumb butt after what he said to her.

So fast forward a bit. Lily marries James, and Snape joins Lord Voldemort. Then he hears the prophecy Trelawney gives, and not knowing who it pertains to, tells Voldemort. Voldemort then becomes convinced that it means Harry.

Now, Snape has not only just discovered that the love of his life is about to be killed, but that it was HIS FAULT. He told Voldemort about the prophecy. So he goes to Dumbledore and literally BEGS him to hide Lily. In return he turns traitor to the Death Eaters and risks his life over and over, all for the arbitrary promise he's been made that Lily and her family will be protected. AND HER FAMILY. HE DIDN'T PULL THE THING WHERE HE ONLY SAVES HER AND LETS THE REST OF THEM DIE HE SAVES ALL OF THEM BECAUSE HE KNOWS LILY DOESN'T LOVE HIM BUT HE. STILL. LOVES. HER. AND HE WANTS HER TO BE HAPPY AND SAFE EVEN IF IT ISN'T WITH HIM. Y'ALL THAT'S THE EXACT DEFINITION OF TRUE LOVE YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME.

And then, after all that, Lily DIES. As does James, and while he may have been Snape's rival, I think we've established that Snape is human, and that had to hurt if only because he was the man Lily loved and the father of her child.

And after all this, after risking his life for a promise that wasn't even kept, do you know what he did?

He stayed and helped Dumbledore. He was one of the main reasons Harry was able to defeat Voldemort. Yes, in the beginning, it was probably just a convenient way to avoid Azkaban. But he did what Dumbledore instructed EVEN AFTER THE MAN WAS DEAD. He could've easily killed Dumbledore and then joined Voldemort for real, but he helped Harry instead, because he was still atoning for what happened to Lily.

And speaking of Harry, let's talk about that relationship. From even a conceptual standpoint, before they ever met, think about what this boy represents to Snape. He's Lily's son, yes, but because of that he's a constant reminder of her and everything that happened with her. He's also James' son, Snape's bully and the man who got Lily. And to top it all off, he's the REASON SHE'S DEAD. If it weren't for him and the prophecy, she'd still be alive. Now, these are not things that are okay to think about an innocent child. I'm not saying he was justified in treating Harry like shit. In fact, I loathed Snape with my entire soul for the first 6 books. I'm saying LOOK AT THE FACTS. Snape is not a normal person. He's a Death Eater, who's done and seen terrible things, and only switched to the right side because of Lily. So he's not going to think to himself, "this isn't this innocent child's fault." Hell, even if he did, he's not going to take it into account when he interacts with the kid. And on top of it all, as is said several times, Harry is INCREDIBLY like his father. He looks like him, talks like him, and has a penchant for getting into trouble. So when he clashes with Snape (and honestly I think even if they didn't have a history these two would've clashed, they're just too different), Snape takes it personally and treats Harry like shit. AND YET. First year, when Quirrel tries to kill Harry, who saves him? Snape. Third year, when Lupin transforms into a werewolf (and Snape's been making his potion all year and whether Dumbledore forced him or not, let's remember that Lupin was a Marauder and while he probably didn't take direct part in the bullying, he certainly didn't DO anything about it, so frankly it's a miracle Snape didn't poison him), his first instinct is to protect the children - and frankly I think that would've been his first instinct no matter who those kids were, because regardless of the terrible things he's done, Snape is first and foremost a teacher. Fifth year, while he didn't do anything to help the kids directly, he takes the warning Harry gives him (they've got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden) and sends the Order after the kids. I don't think it's ever directly stated that it was him, but how else could the Order know they were there? ALSO. I'M NOT GLOSSING OVER ALL THE SERIOUSLY HORRIBLE THINGS SNAPE DID FIFTH YEAR. But he DID send the Order, so let's give credit where credit's due. He also gives Harry Occlumency lessons, which he made exceedingly unpleasant but he was still trying to protect Harry. Sixth year he hurts Harry in about a billion ways, but to be fair the majority of those ways were ordered by Dumbledore (I have a separate rant on why he's not a bad character either but this essay is long enough). He also tries to protect Malfoy this year, yes on both Dumbledore and his mother's orders, but Snape does recognize that he's just a child and shouldn't have to do something like this.

Now. Seventh year. Snape does a lot of really horrible things this year. Yeah, he does them because he needs Voldemort to trust him so he can bring him down, but that doesn't excuse them. I'm not going to unpack all those things here, because this is already really long, but I'm NOT just ignoring them. Actually I think that they're pretty important to his development, and how he loses himself a bit. But let's look at the two moments that really show the good in him.

Number one. He refused to fight McGonagall. This woman has not only been his colleague for many years, she was his TEACHER. He's known her since he was 11. She's witnessed everything he's gone through, every choice he's made, good and bad, and even not knowing all the reasons and details she STILL forgave him. She treated him with respect, as a fellow teacher. She TRUSTED him, and as far as she knows, he betrayed that trust. That HAD to hurt, knowing she thought he was a bad guy. So in his final interaction with her, when she attacks him to keep him from Harry, he doesn't fight. He can't tell her he's on her side, because he still has a job to do, but he just deflects her spells. His refusal to fight her is the last good piece of him, fighting its way out.

The second time was, of course, his final moments with Harry. After everything he's done to him, after the years of abuse and killing Dumbledore in front of his eyes, Harry still feels pain when he realizes Snape is about to die. He still feels the need to talk to Snape in his final moments, to carry out his final request (to take the memories to the pensieve). This is personally one of my favorite Harry moments, because it shows just how good and kind he is, that he even feels pity for a man he hates and doesn't even know why. But let's take a look at Snape. He's literally dying, but his first reaction to seeing Harry is to give him the memories, so he can defeat Voldemort. He is, to the very end, loyal to Dumbledore. And his second thought - his last - is Lily. He asks Harry to look at him, so that he might see Lily's eyes one last time, even if they're not really hers. His last thought on this earth was of her, and if that isn't love, I don't know what the hell is.

The point of all this is, Snape is human. He isn't necessarily a good person, but he isn't necessarily and a bad one either. Even as a child, he was never as kind as Lily, but she made him kinder. The time when he lost his way the most was when she stopped being there to keep him good. He thought she was happy without him, so he didn't think he mattered, and he did some pretty horrible things. People go dark when they think they don't matter. That was the entire reason for Voldemort's thirst for power. And when he realized she was in danger, and there was something he could do, he did it. Immediately. Without hesitation. He joined the good side and risked his life for the chance that Dumbledore would protect her and her family, even knowing that she'd never know what he was doing. He didn't do it to "get the girl." He did it to save the girl, to let her be happy. And when she died anyway, he spent the next 16 years trying to bring Voldemort down, and let's be honest, he probably didn't do it because it was "the right thing." He did it because it was what Lily would've wanted. He did it to honor her memory, and to protect her son. Snape wasn't some creepy stalker who got rejected and turned bitter. He fell in love with his best friend and spent his entire life trying to protect her and keep her happy, and then trying to honor her memory. He was a man entirely motivated by love, and honestly, I don't know what's more beautiful than that.

#this is really long #but i feel strongly about this #snape is complicated #but he loved Lily #his story is beautiful because it's complicated #harry potter #potterverse #book characters #fictional characters #book rant #fantasy #character development #lily potter #severus snape #pro snape