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#probably never going to happen but at least we have fanfiction
silly-putty-sirius · 1 year
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Cramps (Poly!Marauders x Reader)
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Pairing: Poly! Marauders x Fem! Reader
Warnings: Mentions of periods, cramps, migraines, and puking
Summary: Y/N wakes up with the rude awakening of her period and after struggling through her entire day she finds comfort in her boys who know exactly what to do.
A/N: This is not my first fanfiction or even Marauders fanfiction but I decided to make a blog specifically dedicated to them so I hope y’all like it <3
Today completely and utterly sucked. After waking up without any of your boyfriends arms around you and venturing to the bathroom and realizing you’d started your period in the night you knew it would suck. You cleaned up before changing the sheets in James’ bed and getting ready for class, which you dreaded twice as much as usual. At least it was potions which you quite enjoyed.
Immediately after potions you had a terrible migraine and that mixed with your never ending cramps forced you to run to the bathroom, puking up all of the breakfast you didn’t even eat. After emptying your stomach you dragged to your next class, herbology but the cycle continued all day with your migraine and cramps only intensifying. You didn’t even want to go to dinner by the time you were done with class but figuring your boys would worry and you probably did desperately need to at least try to eat you begrudgingly made your way to the great hall. After sitting down the boys immediately knew something was wrong judging by the way you grabbed your stomach and put your head into Sirius’ chest shielding your eyes.
“Hey pup, what’s wrong?” Sirius said gently and he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and head to helped further shield you, having a pretty good idea whats going on already.
“Stupid period”
“Aww I’m sorry darling, after dinner we can go cuddle and I’ll get you a heat pack,” James spoke from the other side of you, now moving one of his large hands that radiated warmth to your stomach to lightly rub on it in an attempt to help sooth your pain.
“Thanks Jamie, where’s Remmie?” you questioned as you looked up and realized your other boyfriend was missing.
“He’ll be here in just a moment princess, just had to go to the bathroom,” James explained now fixing a plate for you with his unoccupied hand as Sirius was placing kisses to your hairline as you’d buried your head again the lights being to much.
At that moment Remus finally walked in, immediately noticing your state as he shot a concerned look at the other boys who just mouthed to him what was happening so they wouldn’t disturb you to much. At that Remus pulled out a chocolate bar from his bag and walked over to you kissing you on the cheek with some struggle and silently placing the candy in your lap, chuckling at how you lit up slightly at the sight of it.
“Thanks, Remmie.”
“Of course my love,” he spoke placing a kiss to your now visible lips.
You took a few sips of water while nibbling at the fruit James had placed onto your plate and the chocolate bar from Remus feeling slightly more relaxed as Sirius’ hand had replaced James’ so he could eat and was rubbing soft circle on your stomach. After everyone had finished their dinner the boys stood, waiting for you to do so knowing that your stomach hurt when you stood. You slowly did, but immediately regretted it as pain burned through you making you nauseous as you ran to the bathroom for what felt like the hundredth time today. As you emerged you were greeted by three very concerned boys, Sirius having his arms out for you knowing you would get sick again if you had to walk to the dorm. You gladly accepted and allowed Sirius to pick you up, placing one arm under your thighs and the other across your back as you ventured to the boys dorm.
You’d fallen asleep at some point on your walk, only waking when Sirius set you on the bed and Remus started to change you into more comfortable clothes. You went to the bathroom after allowing Remus to finish changing you once he insisted you not do it yourself, quickly cleaning up and brushing your teeth. Once you were back in the room you claim bed onto Sirius lap, allowing him to rub your stomach again as he placed soft kisses all over your face. Remus walked over to you with a glass of water that you gladly accepted as James walked into the room with a heating pad and tea for all of you. You curled up on Sirius’ lap, James to the left with his head resting on Sirius’ shoulder and his fingers rubbing your arm gently, and Remus to the left slowly rubbing your thigh while reading out loud to you all taking a break every once in a while to place a kiss onto the three of yours heads. And that’s how you spent your night, listening to Remus’ soft voice and sipping tea as Sirius’ hands helped to dull the pain in your stomach and James placed soft kisses all over you until finally you all drifted off.
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fantastic-nonsense · 2 years
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While you are digging into batfam lore, could you perhaps help explain what the batkids' legal names all are? Fanfiction has messed me all up. Did any of them actually legally take Wayne as their last name? I see it most often with Tim (i.e. Timothy Drake-Wayne) and Cass (i.e. Cassandra Wayne) but I haven't read any comics that I recall that actually called them that.
Sure! A quick rundown of who's actually part of the Wayne family:
Wayne family: Dick, Jason, Tim, and Cass were all legally adopted at one point or another in the post-Crisis universe (post-reboot is....complicated. Dick, Jason, and Tim are all once again adopted after a long series of retcons; Cass's status is still unknown). Damian is Bruce's biological son.
NOT Wayne family: Barbara Gordon, Stephanie Brown, Helena Bertinelli, any members of the Fox family (Luke, Tam, Tiffany, Jace, etc), Harper Row, etc.
Duke is a complicated case; he was Bruce's temporary foster son for a year before moving in with his cousin Jay, who now has custody of him. He's...sort of considered Wayne family, in that at least Jason and Tim consider him to be sort of their brother, but he wasn't adopted and no longer lives with Bruce.
Other: Kate and Bette Kane, who are Bruce's cousins and part of the Kane family.
As for legal last names and who actually calls themselves Waynes:
Damian's legal last name is Wayne. The al Ghuls tend to call him "Damian al Ghul" when he's with them, but legally his last name is Wayne; it's also the name Damian goes by UNLESS he's specifically attempting to leverage the al Ghul name amongst his family or the League of Assassins.
Dick continues to go by and think of himself as "Richard John Grayson" even after being adopted, though he explicitly calls himself Bruce's adopted son in several arcs after his adoption happens. You can take your pick of reasons why this might be (and there's quite a few to choose from, mostly connected to Dick's love for his bio parents and already being an established adult when Bruce adopted him), but Grayson was and remains his legal last name.
Jason canonically remained "Jason Peter Todd" after his adoption, per his death certificate:
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Jason's death certificate, naming him as "Jason Peter Todd." -Batman Annual #25 (2006)
He was also "Jason Todd" to the general public; it's what people call him when they talk about him both before and after his death. The Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth comic (specifically RHATO #33) confirms that this is the case in the post-Flashpoint universe as well. However, there's a pretty reasonable canon foundation to assume that had Jason's adoption not happened in the 80s and had writers not wanted to complicate things, he probably would have chosen to hyphenate and become Jason Todd-Wayne, based largely on a) Jason's relationship with Willis Todd and b) Bruce and Jason's relationship before his death.
We simply don't know what Cass did. Cass was adopted off-panel in the vague period in between Batman RIP and Final Crisis, but Bruce's death threw everything up into the air; Cass was then promptly put on a bus and shipped out to Hong Kong for the duration of the Reborn era, and since she shows up in a grand total of 8 comics during that time we just don't get enough information to make a judgement call about her last name. Her two appearances in Tim's Red Robin book still call her Cassandra Cain, but it's unclear whether Fabian Nicieza, the writer, even knew her adoption had happened:
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"Cassandra Cain, former Batgirl, remains one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet..." /// "Cassandra Cain, aka The Black Bat, Hong Kong operative for Batman, Inc." -Red Robin #17 & #25
Since Cass never had much of a public identity to speak of in the first place (and for a long time didn't even want one), it's super ambiguous what her legal status is and what last name she holds post-adoption. It's pretty reasonable to assume she becomes Cassandra Wayne, though, and it's also my personal preference. Though her relationship with David Cain is complicated, she doesn't hold much attachment to him as a father; likewise, there's really no reason for her not to take on the Wayne name given her attachment to Bruce.
Tim is the complicated one here, mostly because his adoption was such A Production™. Tim was formally adopted about a year in-universe after the events of Identity Crisis (when Tim’s dad was killed by Captain Boomerang). The adoption was pretty high-profile; Tim and Bruce even sat for an interview about it:
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From 2007-2011, he's called Tim Drake and Tim Wayne (and occasionally Tim Drake-Wayne) pretty interchangably depending on the writer and situation. His legal name is probably Tim Drake-Wayne, though it's actually ambiguous. He tends to go by Tim Wayne in public while usually referring to himself as Tim Drake in private:
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"And by the way, it's Wayne when I want a favor or a table at Bartese, and it's Drake when I look in the mirror." -Red Robin #15
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"A question for Mr. Wayne--" /// "Reporting live from the reopening of the Newton Community Gym where Tim Wayne is about to address the crowd." -Red Robin #14 and 15
Post-Flashpoint, that adoption was erased and Bruce and Tim’s relationship was very strained; in the Rebirth era, his adoption was implied to be canon again in both Tynion’s Detective Comics run and King's Batman run, but we didn’t get confirmation until Infinite Frontier and Urban Legends, where Tim is once again explicitly adopted and occasionally called Tim Wayne, though he still mostly goes by and is referred to as Tim Drake:
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"But just to be clear--we're not splitting the bill, Tim Wayne." -Urban Legends #4
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"...and then Mr. Wayne just adopted you? Awful generous of him." -Urban Legends #4
Tim is also the only one regularly referred to in public as "Bruce's adopted son." Most of the time they're referred to as "Bruce Wayne's wards," so whether the adoptions are public knowledge or not is questionable, but their status as his wards and foster kids is not. Though they largely never lived in the Manor at the same time, they've all attended various public functions as Bruce's kids and acted on Bruce's behalf in various capacities while in the public eye.
tl;dr Tim is canonically the only one who takes the last name "Wayne" upon being adopted; he generally continues to refer to himself as Tim Drake, but canon calls him "Tim Drake," "Tim Drake-Wayne," and "Tim Wayne" pretty interchangably afterwards. Dick doesn't change his name and canonically Jason didn't either, though you could make a case that he might have hyphenated had his adoption been written in the modern era. We don't see Cass enough after her adoption to know either way; however, her existing canon relationships with Bruce and her biological family heavily support and/or imply that she probably became Cassandra Wayne.
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paracosmic-murdock · 10 months
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i loved the present and i love you ;; matt murdock x fem!reader
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pairing: matt murdock x afab!reader
summary: your birthday isn't your favorite holiday. damn, you don't even celebrate it properly and you weren't precisely looking forward to it. however, this year you have Matt and he won't let it go unnoticed. at least you will notice.
disclaimer: this is a os from a fanfiction with multiple chapters. there's no need to read the entire fic (i wouldn't complain if you do;)), but there's a couple things you should know (no spoilers / minor spoilers):
▪︎ matt and reader met in columbia, this is a (past) academic rivals to lovers fic. ▪︎ reader is peter parker's adopted sister ▪︎ reader doesn't know about matt being daredevil (yet)
warnings/tags: shameless smut (minors dni), oral sex (r receiving), fingering, praise kink, established relationship, mention of past injuries, sad origin story (r), mention of ben parker's death, hating birthdays, but not so much anymore
word count: 2.5K
from: your forever is all that i need on ao3 - discontinued
✰ mila's paracosm (main masterlist)
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The last time you happily celebrated your birthday was before your and Peter's parents died.
Your first birthday after that was spent crying in your bedroom while May and Ben tried to make you leave your room. They tried so hard, and you knew it, but there was no ounce of strength in you that could help you cross that door.
Eventually, everyone stopped trying.
You felt guilty. Ungrateful. Like the worst human on Earth. But birthdays celebrate life and you felt like you didn't have a pinch of it inside you.
However, you let Ben talk to you in this fatherly way you had missed. You would know about it because you'd had two fathers by then, and even though Ben never had children of his own, you felt like you had had three.
Ben said it was okay if you didn't want to celebrate your birthday. He said it was okay to mourn however wanted. He said it was okay to miss everyone you had lost. And he meant it, you knew.
So, for years, you and May used to bake birthday cake from the box, Ben and Peter would buy balloons and candies and it was just the four of you. That, until Ben passed away.
That's when you stopped celebrating your birthday for good, and every person who got into your life and stuck long enough to get to your birthday knew you didn't like it.
You got birthday gifts, though, and didn't really hate the thought of someone caring about you enough that would get you a present.
Still, here we are.
"Is it Y/N's birthday today?"
Peter looked at Matt. "What? Nope."
"When is it, then?" Matt frowned, catching Peter's heart jumping suddenly.
"When our parents adopted her it didn't say." he lied, expecting Matt to let it go. "Why the question?"
"I overheard her talking on the phone with someone. Said someone sent her a basket full of all her favorite candies, a gorgeous necklace, and wished her a happy birthday. She said thank you." Matt explained. "I was thinking about it and realized that we never threw her a birthday party at college, and she was great friends with the guy that hosted the best parties."
Peter shook his head. "Fine. It is her birthday, but don't talk about it. Pretend today is any normal day and we'll all be just fine."
"Why? I would really like to take her out for dinner and get her something nice." he questioned. Peter sighed.
"She was big on birthdays when she was little, but after everything that happened, she started hating them. The last of her birthdays we celebrated was before Uncle Ben died." Peter replied. "May and I always give her cute presents, she says thank you and the day goes on as if nothing had happened."
"So now I will just know it's her birthday and do nothing about it?"
"Exactly." Peter nodded. "It's for the best if you don't wanna upset her."
"But someone already gave her something and she didn't seem that mad."
"It was probably Louis or Donna. At the office, the inner circle knows. The first time they threw her a big party and she got sick right there. Y/N then told them the truth. From that moment on, they send her a gift saying nothing else, she calls them to thank them, and if she brings it up or it feels fine, they wish her a happy birthday," he told Matt. "There's only one other person who knows about it, but nothing to worry about."
Matt clicked his tongue. "It was another person."
"Please, don't do anything. She probably doesn't want to deal with that today." Peter pleaded after a long silence.
"It's fine, I won't." Matt agreed. "Are the two of you doing something today for her?"
"Nope," Peter replied. "I'm going to put on the suit and May has reading club at Mrs. Irwin's place."
"She is going to be home alone on her birthday?"
"Not really, she'll eat a bunch of candies and watch rom-coms." Peter sighed. "That's how she likes to spend her birthdays, there's really nothing wrong about it. Don't feel like you have to do something."
"Hi, sweetheart."
"Hey, there." You smiled, not that Matt could find out from the other line or anything. "How are you?"
"I'm great now that I hear your voice," Matt replied. "Miss you. You should come over."
You hummed. "We had lunch together."
"Still miss you."
"Now?" you questioned, feeling lazy because you were watching 13 going on 30 and eating chocolates and were comfortable in Matt's t-shirt you stole and pajama shorts.
"Nope, is it fine in 5 minutes?"
"How about if you come? You can join me in bed and we can cuddle, but no sex because I showered early and I don't wanna shower again."
Matt chuckled. "I don't mind if you haven't showered."
"I love it that you miss me and everything, but is something else happening?" you asked, having your own theory in mind but not wanting to test your luck. "Like, what's the occasion?"
"Well, you came over two days ago unannounced with no occasion… I thought that missing you would be enough."
"I had an occasion, I wanted sex."
"You don't want sex now?"
"I won't complain at all, but I don't wanna leave home."
Matt laughed. "But we'd have privacy here."
"Peter is staying over at Ned's and May is out on a date with someone she hasn't told me and Peter about. Don't tell Peter, though. He thinks she's at her reading club at our neighbor's."
"Okay… See you in an hour."
"See you."
"Why won't May tell you and Peter about her date?"
You snorted. "Because we were teasing her too much about it the last time. In our defense, it was Happy."
"What was happy?"
"Happy is a human male. He works for Stark. He's his driver but they're like best friends of some sort."
"His name is Happy?"
"I don't know, that's what we call him."
"And why would you annoy May because of Happy?"
"It was so weird, I'm telling you." You widened your eyes. "They're like oil and water… But he's nice."
Matt laughed. "If you say so."
You snuggled onto him and smiled. "Thanks for coming."
"You don't have anything to thank me for."
Nowadays, seeing Matt in anything other than his work suits was rare to say the least, so having him by your side in just a t-shirt and sweats as if he was going to work out was a miracle.
Your fingers started softly tracing the silhouette of his body, the tip of your fingers wandering delicately, causing goosebumps on his skin. You chuckled. "You like that?"
"What?" he asked, playing pretend. "Don't know what you mean."
You scoffed as your fingers went to his face. "You don't know? Let's see."
Then you went to his torso, going lower until you reached the hem of his t-shirt. You lifted it slightly, making him lightly whimper.
"Oh…" you muttered as your index finger ran into a prominent scar. Its length was about three quarters the one of your finger and its relief was higher than any scar you had seen before. "Is this…?"
Matt flinched as he noticed the direction you were going. "It's- uhm… really old."
Thanks to the darkness of your room and the only lightning that allowed you to barely see were the moon and the streetlights, you didn't notice that the scar was still pinkish and that he was lying. "How did you get it?"
"I was…" Matt sighed. A made up story he had built in case anyone ever saw the scars and he couldn't explain the truth to them came to his mind. He knew you deserved better than that. "lightly stabbed."
You gasped. "What?"
"Yeah, I… was trying to be the hero and got stabbed. You wouldn't want to see the other guy, though." he replied, making you laugh because you were convinced he was joking. "I didn't either but from what I heard it wasn't that cool for him."
"I wanna keep that version in my mind, so I'm allowing it."
Matt smiled and gave you a kiss. His hands touched the bare skin of your arms in a seductive kinda way. "How about we leave this one on and make this night a good one for my pretty girl, huh?"
Now you have goosebumps.
He lifted your t-shirt, drawing tender circles on your skin and delighting himself with how perfect it felt. His fingers met with your bralette, the lace fabric making him think that maybe you weren't really discarding the possibility of sex. He was completely right, and he would not fuck that up because now he had you right there for him. And he wanted you.
As a result of this growing desire, Matt slipped into the bra, stumbling with your sideboob and tracing its outline until he reached the valley between your breasts. Then, he went to your hardening nipple and circled it.
You gasped almost mutely. "I haven't showered since early in the morning, so maybe you should stop doing this to me? You know, because it-"
Matt shook his head, kissing your temple. "I don't care, sweetheart… If you don't want to, I'll stop, but don't think for a moment that I could-"
"Find me dirty? Because I am."
"You smell like you. This perfume of yours I love, although fading a little… You washed your hair this morning, so you smell like the same shampoo you've used since college. Your fingers smell like chocolate and your lips taste like chocolate and I'm certain you've eaten more in the past hour than what a human being should ingest in a week. Always the biggest sweet tooth I know. I'm not gonna lie, you've sweat today, as have I. As has everyone else on Earth. I don't care. You're perfect."
That motherfucker is going to be the death of you… Fucking man, how much you love him.
And that argument of his? Feeling that cherished, plus his caresses, plus his subtle kisses on your cheek and neck, plus everything that he makes you feel? It was a major turn on.
"Oh, there it is…" he noted in a loud moan. Matt's hand left your breasts and went south, feeling the matching lace fabric interrupt his path to your sex. "You smell so good, and you taste even better… Can- can I? Can I, sweetheart?"
You nodded impatiently, and he was even less.
As soon as he felt the motion beside him, the air shifting, he went full in.
You flinched at the sudden contact with his cold fingers, and he groaned at the sensation of your arousal meeting his eager digits… The mere reminder of how long your scent lasts on him was enough to make him hard.
Matt used his other hand to manhandle you until your back was against his front.
His fingers worked you up until you were wet enough for his finger to slide into you with such ease. "You're perfect," he muttered, his fingers following a steady rhythm of ins and outs you eagerly matched as his hips grinded urgently against your ass. "My perfect girl…, you feel so good."
"So do you," you said, your arms holding onto his strong biceps. "God, yes… Just like that, yes…"
Matt's middle finger left you empty, but then did his comeback along with his ring finger as the palm of his hand gave you that intermittent friction your clit begged for.
With endless moans escaping from your parted lips and the most desperate breathing leaving your exploited lungs indicating Matt you needed a release, as the loyal devotee of you that Matt is, he obeyed your body's wishes as if it was a command. For him it was.
And he never stopped grinding, and he came.
And you followed.
As soon as he made sure you were done, his hand abandoned your aching core and went right to his mouth, where he licked it clean.
"So good…" he whispered in bliss. Then, Matt undressed you. You let him. "My pretty girl's taste is perfect."
His mouth didn't waste any time and searched your cunt. Matt drank every residue of your arousal on its surroundings and then buried his tongue inside you.
His tongue went up and down your slit trying to collect every drop he could get, and then he swirled it on your sensitive, needy clit with the purpose of creating more and more. He was eating you out faster than you could register and it felt so goddamn good.
As if he was just told that this would be his last meal in a long time and he is only trying to eat as much as he can so the fullness lasts longer.
Your fingers tangled in his hair as you pulled him closer. "It- it feels so good."
"Does it?" Matt moaned into you. "I'm glad… You taste way better."
A desperate gasp escaped from your lips as your orgasm felt closer and closer. "Please, don't stop."
You could swear you felt his smile down there. "I won't…"
So he didn't. His tongue only focused more on what he had learned you liked.
Your thighs held him in place and he felt lightheaded, but didn't care. Matt's hands gripped your hips and held on for dear life so you wouldn't move too far from his sinfully skilled mouth.
With distressed moans and more urgent movements and a coat of sweat and curled toes and arched back and his name on your lips like a spell, you announced how close you were.
And then that filthy explosion of sensations took over you ever so harshly that it took you a while to stop the loud whines that made sure to let many of your neighbors know that the man that entered your home a few hours ago gave you quite the session.
Everyone knows that his name is Matt and that he made you feel so good.
Neither one of you was ashamed of it, especially not Matt. He would gladly do it all night long so no one forgets who you belong to and who satisfies you that well.
He kissed you and as many times before, you tasted yourself in him.
"I gotta tell you something about today."
Matt nodded. "Peter told me."
"You aren't mad because I didn't tell you?"
"Do you think I would've done that if I were mad?" he questioned, and he could feel your incredulous glance. "Yeah, I have… Forget about that one," Matt smiled. "I'm not mad, I don't have any right to be… Peter explained everything and I understand that. Maybe someday you'll want to celebrate it and I'll be right here, alright? Meanwhile I can give you a gift like this one every year."
You snorted. "You'll just use any excuse to do that at this point."
"Oh, if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black." he mused. "Happy birthday, sweetheart. Love you."
"Thanks. I loved the present and I love you."
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smytherines · 22 days
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I often wonder if I would feel differently about The Staircase Scene if I had seen SAF when it first came out in 2016. The first time I saw it was probably around October or November of 2023, and like... the context is different now.
Whatever we want to say about the personal story arcs of these characters (and I know I'm in a tiny minority because, for me, killing Owen does not constitute a satisfying close to Curt's arc, that's totally fine), there is the very real issue of the sociopolitical context that this scene takes place within- both in their time (1961) and in ours.
One very cool thing about SAF is that, in order to understand these characters better, a lot of younger queer folks end up learning about the Lavender Scare, about Executive Order 10450- which officially prohibited gay people from working for the US government- for the first time. That's an incredible, precious thing to me. Yay queer history! It's important!
The show itself never addresses the fact that both the US and UK governments had very public, very brutal campaigns equating homosexuality with communism with being a traitor to your country. But if you want to understand these characters, and especially write fanfiction, you're really incentivized to teach yourself some fundamentally important aspects of queer history.
In the 54 Below concert, before singing Not So Bad, Brian Rosenthal talks about how when they were developing the show they thought N@zis were more or less a thing of the past, that they're fully aware of how differently that song might be taken now after an escalation into a more open embrace of fascism in the US. And they're absolutely right about that.
But I think that's also perhaps an issue with the staircase scene, or at least it is for me. Obviously homophobia and transphobia were not "fixed" in 2016, they were still massive problems resulting in violence and discrimination and brutality. But institutionally, at least, you could look at the situation and point to some things that were gradually getting better.
In 2016 trans youth in my state were legally allowed to receive gender affirming care. In 2024, they are not. It's not that homophobia and transphobia went away and then came back, but there was a very real resurgence of the use of the media and of governmental power to inflict pain on queer & trans people and chase them out of public life- bathroom bans, gender affirming care bans, Don't Say Gay laws, trying to make drag illegal, equating queer and trans people with pedophilia. There has been a big cultural shift back towards the same kind of violent governmental moral panic that our beloved Curt & Owen would have lived under.
Whatever we want to say about these characters and this story (and there's tons of fascinating debate there), there is still the base of a gay man killing his ex-lover ostensibly to protect US foreign policy objectives. Killing the man he loves- or loved, at least- to protect the secret that he is gay. And that hits different for me now.
I watch that scene and it is heartbreaking on a personal level, but its also heartbreaking as a queer person who just wants to scream "your government will destroy you for being gay, you don't owe them shit!"
Owen tries to explain that the surveillance network is happening, that the future won't wait for Curt to catch up. Barb has been saying she's working on the same thing for the US government the entire show, but Curt just kept ignoring her. And I just want to say "Curt, honey, what do you think your government is going to do to you with that surveillance system? Do you think you're useful enough to keep around even though you have sex with men? Because I promise you they will not care."
It feels tragic to me because on some level it seems like Curt would actually be safer with another gay man having control of all the world's secrets than he will be if the government he has dedicated his life to gets their hands on that same technology.
And the thing is, having a tragic ending doesn't make the show bad. This show is great. This scene is spectacular. It makes you think, it makes you feel things, it does all the stuff that great art is supposed to do. Absolutely none of what I'm saying here is meant to denigrate the show as a musical or a story or even a queer story. I hope it doesn't come off as me saying "actually this show is bad," because I don't feel that way at all.
Clearly I live and breathe this show. That's why I spend all my time on here analyzing every scene, every frame, every facial expression. I love this show so much that I can't help but deconstruct it and look at all its component parts- including the sociopolitical context both now and in 1961. Because that context, despite never being explicitly mentioned, is important to our understanding of these characters.
I love these characters so much that it's actually pretty difficult for me to watch A2P7 anymore, because the staircase scene is so emotionally devastating to me that it's hard to try to swing back into that more comedic tone (even though Spy Dance is a certified bop).
I'm not even sure what my point is with all of this, other than to say that Spies Are Forever is a show that is great and fun and funny as written/performed, and becomes gradually more emotionally devastating when you rewatch it or when you understand the subtext of it. When you can engage with the themes of gender and sexuality, surveillance and technology, trauma and trust, and tease out even more satisfying theories around this show.
So yeah. It's a musical. It's about spies.
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theshipminer · 3 months
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Decided to rewrite Hazbin Hotel because I was bored
You can consider this a fix, or whatever. I don't really care. I just thought that the show had fantastic ideas, meh execution. It's whatever. Anyways, shoutouts and apologies to my sister, @aimasup, for bouncing ideas with me, and for being the one who had to listen to me ramble on about all of this. If anyone wants to ask me questions or anything, I'll be happy to answer. Anyways, endless rambling for what basically is fanfiction under the read more:
Premise is still the same: Hotel in Hell re-Habilitates Horrible Has-beens
Probably at least three seasons
Season 1: Episode 1: Probably reuse the pilot for the first episode, albeit with their updated designs and other miscellaneous improvements.
This season establishes Hell, the Hotel, and other wacky shenanigans that the hotel goes through to rehabilitate sinners
Hitler probably shows up at least more than once
The Overlords of Hell are the main antagonists
There’s also the looming deadline of the yearly purge, so that’s fun
Season 1 finale: The Hotel staff finally go to heaven! Charlie’s ideas are finally being recognized! But, oh no! The head of the angels, Adam is a dick!
It gets worse! They couldn’t wait an entire year, so the next purge is in three months! What is everyone to do?!
In the end, everyone except Charlie has a great time. Alastor is conveniently absent for the entire episode.
Season 2: business as usual? Everyone is extra excited, except Charlie. Perhaps the time has come to ask daddy for help? More than usual?
Oh, yeah. Lucifer is probably gonna be one of the patrons in this season, I guess. Maybe we also discover what happened to Lilith in this season, but then again, it will probably depend on what the show does with her.
“I miss my wife, Tails. I miss her a lot.”
Somewhere, the truth finally gets out. Charlie has been keeping it in all this time because she hopes that maybe talking to Lucifer will solve this whole dilemma and Adam, massive dick that he is, won’t attack a former angel!
It doesn’t work.
Season 2 mid-season two-parter: the purge happens early. A massive battle between Hell and Adam’s forces happens. Maybe the hotel staff and the Overlords team up for this one, with some “persuasion” from Alastor?
Naturally, Adam is defeated, and Charlie wants to redeem him as well. The Overlords disagree, and take him prisoner.
While in captivity, Adam lets slip something interesting: God is nowhere to be seen. And he hasn’t been for a very long time now. Naturally, the overlords are interested, but of course they won’t want to let an angel leave alive, now wouldn’t they? The audience doesn’t learn this until the end of the season, when Alastor himself learns this vital piece of information. And only when he spills it to the main cast.
RIP Adam, you won’t be missed.
The rest of the season is back to business…? Nope! After hearing that God is missing, the Overlords realise that Heaven is basically prime for the taking. So they’re planning a full-blown war.
To help in this war, they plan to unseal the Root of All Evil, who shall henceforth be referred to as ‘Roo’.
Roo is considered the most powerful of all demons, even more than Lucifer. The angels sealed her away a long time ago, but the seal has started to weaken.
Season 2 two-parter finale: After learning about the vital piece of information, Alastor tells everyone that the Overlords are planning to go to war with Heaven, and also about Roo. He doesn’t tell them about God, though. Where would be the fun in that?
Roo has been unsealed and naturally, the Overlords can’t control her. Who could have seen this coming?
Charlie , naturally, doesn’t like war. The battle against Adam could be classified as self-defense, but she never wanted it to escalate to this. So she decides to try and kill two birds with one stone: defeat Roo to hopefully find a way to prevent war, and also to hopefully destroy evil at its source and have everyone stop being evil? Charlie really doesn’t want to have to kill someone. I mean, Adam was left alive, and he’s probably doing well for himself, right? (Does she know?)
A grueling battle is held, and against all odds, Roo is defeated. the Overlords no longer have a weapon against heaven, all should be well, right? All that’s left to do is find some common ground with Roo, find out why she’s so evil, and hopefully stop evil from happening.
Yeah, nah. Roo gives Charlie a HUGE “The Reason You Suck” speech about her naivety, and pretty much forces Charlie to kill her with her own hands. Sucks.
Oh, yeah, and Alastor finally lets spill that God is missing. Great job, Al. You fucking asshole.
Season 3 Episode 1: begins with Charlie pretty much depressed after the previous season’s events. Everyone tries to cheer her up. It’s all comedic, until the final part where they have a heart-to-heart and remind Charlie of all the things she’s accomplished with them, even if they haven’t gone to heaven yet.
The end of the episode has Charlie realize that, with God gone, that means that the yearly purges probably didn’t happen under God’s watch, meaning that if they bring God back, things will finally be right again!
It’s finally time to take action, and everyone is gonna go to Heaven! How? I dunno, how do the Exorcist Angels come down to Hell? I dunno, some kind of elevator that no one was brave enough to hijack?
The rest of the season takes place in Heaven. Hotel shenanigans happen again, but in heaven, this time!
Charlie meets the other archangels, and while they’re still dicks, at least they’re less so than Adam. Unlike Adam, maybe they’re more like Alastor in terms of demeanor: they don’t particularly care what kind of plot Hell’s up to, but they’d certainly be interested in how these sinners will manage to come up into Heaven.
Should they meet Jesus in Heaven? A parallel to Charlie in Heaven, he wholeheartedly supports Charlie’s endeavors and basically becomes her first friend in Heaven?
The overarching mystery is: where is God? What happened to Him? Why does Archangel Michael take so long to use the bathroom?
Eventually, like, near the end of the season, we finally meet God.
Wouldn’t it be funny if, after three whole seasons of extravagantly designed characters, demons, angels, sins and virtues alike, we finally meet the Big G Himself and He’s just… a dude in a robe and a beard? How funny would that be?
Anyways, we finally get a reason for God’s very, very long absence: after thousands of years of humanity’s evil, and His many failed attempts to purge evil from the world, His last attempt finally broke Him, and He spent the rest of time in a depressive slump, pretty much never ever leaving His room. He’s, ironically enough, lost faith in humanity.
The final ‘patron’ of the ‘hotel’ is God Himself. Charlie and the others have to convince Him that humanity is worth believing in, and to give them another chance. Of course, they succeed.
The finale could be that God has officially recognized the Hazbin Hotel as an official way for sinners to redeem themselves: a “very definitely final chance to enter Heaven”. If sinners can’t redeem themselves even in death, then they never will. Charlie’s friends are the first sinners to finally ascend to Heaven, but they stay behind in Hell to help run the hotel.
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panlight · 5 months
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Breaking Dawn has always read like a fanfiction to me. I'm aware this has probably to do with the fact, that Forever Dawn was written before New Moon and Eclipse, and SMeyer just rewrote some pieces of it.
But this made me think - most fans probably have an idea of how they would have liked the story of Bella and Edward to end and those endings might all be a little, or even very different. What would your perfect ending for the Saga look like? You can place it after any point of the story - just after the first book, in the middle of New Moon, around the end of Eclipse, wherever you want.
It really does have a lot of fanfic-y tropes. The big wedding. The over-the-top tropical honeymoon. This is an 18-year-old middle class girl getting married here. Sure the Cullens are rich but she's not an actual princess or something, this always felt hugely over the top to me in a fanfic-y way. And then the baby, of course. It does tick a lot of boxes of the sort of fanfic that imagines what happens after the book/movie/show where the main couple get married and have a kid.
For me, vampirism without consequences is just completely uninteresting. Bella getting to have her cake and eat it too not only undermines all the themes in the earlier books and makes Edward's brooding about being a vampire seem like unnecessary whining, it's also just boring.
So my ideal ending is an actual follow up to Eclipse. Bella and Edward follow through on their compromise plan: wedding, sex, and vampirism in that order. There's no baby; Bella is turned on Isle Esme and spends a few months there on a secluded island with no people (the groundskeepers are given time off FFS Edward can clean the house) eating wildlife and adjusting to vampirism.
But she actually has to like, adjust. It IS has hard as people told her it was. She can still do well at it, but with struggle. I mean, Carlisle never killed anyone either but he did it by banishing himself to the woods and starving to the point that he unthinkingly attacked some deer. I believe it was hard and he struggled and so his triumph feels earned. Bella can still control herself better than average but I wanna see her struggle with it, versus like, one tense afternoon with Charlie and then totally being fine around humans and going to see lawyers in a sexy outfit, no problem. That felt anticlimactic.
Also there should be some fallout with Jake, and she should probably have to cut ties with Charlie and Renee. She MADE this choice to become a vampire knowing she was giving these things up, so for Breaking Dawn to be like "Nevermind! Haha!" about it was deeply unsatisfying. It killed the conflict and tension for Jacob and Charlie to still be part of her life and accepting of the weirdness of it.
For me, the whole point was Bella was sacrificing a lot to be with Edward. That is where the romance and angst lies. Getting to be beautiful and immortal and rich and powerful AND with the person you love AND keep your father and best friend AND get a perfect baby who never cries and sleeps through the night AND conquer the bloodlust in like 2 seconds was just . . . boring. All the stuff I had been interested in seeing how it would resolve was resolved in just the easiest, least interesting way possible. A perfect example: the wedding. We're told that Renee is going to freak out about this early marriage and even THAT relatively unimportant conflict is just instantly resolved with "actually, Renee's totally on board!!!!" Snore!
So yeah. Bella is turned on the honeymoon. It's hard. She cuts off ties with Charlie; maybe she fakes her death, maybe she just disappears. Jacob refuses to talk to her, but Sam is like "whatever she made her choice we're not going to start a war over this." And in this way Bella is actually cut off from her human life and has to start over with the new family and new life she chose. We probably have to resolve the Volturi situation somehow; maybe a trip to Volterra to prove she's been turned and some conflict with the Volturi comes into play.
But ultimately I just want an epilogue where she comes back to Forks with Edward to check in on Charlie and Jacob from a distance. She watches Charlie with Sue (or someone else) playing with step-grandbabies, she sees Jacob, who has stopped phasing and is aging and married with kids of his own, and it's hard. It's sad to see them going on without her. And Edward looks at her like he's about to apologize for the 239470242th time for robbing her of a human life and she's like, "No, the life I have with you is worth it," because THAT's the vibe! That's where the romance is! Her being happy in BD means nothing because it was all so easy for her! Her being happy despite the downsides of vampirism is where the romance lies!
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hyperfreaksating · 6 months
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NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN - 8/9
Heyaaaa fellow buggy simps ! I wish y'all a wonderful day !
Here it is ! The penultimate part of Nerver leave me again ! I just came back from my vacations and I felt the urge of writting Buggy things, sooooo here we are (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧
~
Author Note : this was my favorite part to write I have to say ! I hope you'll enjoy it. As usual english is not my native language, just started the anime, didn't read the manga, not trying my best to write something good, just making myself a little gift as an author
Content : Buggy x FemReader + kids, no use of Y/n, no physical description except for hair color. Alcohol, sadness, angst, a bit of yelling & screaming buuuuut also a lot of fluff & cheezy at the end, trust the ride darlings (~˘▾˘)~
~
[ FANFICTION MASTERPOST ]
~
Take a DEPRESSED BUGGY ILLUSTRATION & let's go !
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If you missed the ship I'm on
You will know that I am gone
You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles
~
Never leave me again - 8/9
Buggy was deathly hangover.
He was lying on his desk, drooling, his captain's hat falling on his face, an empty rum bottle in the hand. He couldn't remember having his mind clear for once in the last two months.
Two months. It's been two months since you disappeared. Two months without seeing his kids. Two months sleeping - more like trying to fall asleep between two panic attacks - without you by his side.
Ah, fucking Reddie, you did the things right this time didn't you ? You left a note on your pillow, a looooong letter explaining in detail why you decided to leave him, to take the kids away from him for their safety - at least the time of Skye's recovery, but that you were not sure to come back one day. Every word you wrote felt like another knife in his heart.
He never felt this much like a shit - and oh god, he often felt like a shit in his life. He was trying really hard to be mad at you, because you abandoned him again and took his babies away from him, but the fact was that he was mostly mad about himself. How fucking stupid he was. When he saw Skye crying and screaming on the floor, something broke in him. At the moment, he couldn't do anything but freeze and fly away from his responsabilities. Now, he would trade anything, his boat, his crew, his treasures, chasing the one piece, to come back in time and tell you that no, this kind of accident would never happen again, clown's honor. Fucking stupid pride. Fucking stupid ego. Fucking stupid broken mind.
A vivid pain came over his head when he heard knocks on the door. He stood up a little. This was probably Cabaji, coming back from his daily patrol to look for you and the triplets. He has been sending his crew to your research every day and night since you left, but hasn't received any results yet.
"Enter, enter" he grumbled, massaging his painful tempers.
Cabaji entered the room and nodded at him with respect. Buggy smirked when he saw what looked like concern in the eyes of his chief of staff. At least someone on this boat still gave a shit about him. He raised an eyebrow to him, a silent question on the face.
"Captain… we found them." Cabaji said.
Hearing these words, Buggy felt his heart exploding with hope. A manic grin grew on his face, from one ear to the other.
And without even realizing it, he started to laugh, for the first time in two months. 
~
Life could have been better, life could have been worse.
Makino was really nice to you, the village was peaceful and Skye's arm was almost totally healed. You missed Buggy's presence every day and the triplets seemed to mourn life on the ship, but deep inside you knew you took the right decision. At least for a short time.
Two months ago, you were such a mess. You called Nami and asked if the strawhats could come to the island you were on as soon as possible to take you away. She accepted without any questions.
You ran away in the night, when triplets were too tired to be noisy. You took a moment to write a letter to Buggy. You were aware of the severe impact your choice would have on him and you wanted to minimize the harm the best you could. 
Nami, Luffy and Zoro came in a small boat to take you away. Their jaws fell on the ground in front of you when they saw you, tired and messy with three kids with either red noses or blue hair - letting no doubt about their father's identity.
"Do I really need to explain?" You grumbled, and they silently took you aboard.
Skye, Rory and Blaze quickly felt asleep in the small cabin's hamac, and you started explaining everything to your old friends : how Buggy was a good father - you chose to ignore their puzzled expression as you said so - but how irresponsible he could be, how much you were scared for your kids safety after Skye's accident and how you needed a place to rest, at least the time of her recovery. Nami never stopped rubbing your back while you were crying.
"You did well calling me, Reddie." she said with a soft tone, "I'm so sorry. We will find a place for the four of you to stay."
She took a moment to think before pursuing.
"I could take you back to my sister's location, at Cocoyasi? You know her and now the village is free from Arlong it's a pretty good place to live."
You shaked your head nervously, and answer sobbing:
"N… no.. it's where Buggy and I started to flirt, I … he would know "
Zoro and Luffy raised an eyebrow to each other. Apparently they didn't notice your love story with the genius jester started there.
"Luffy …" you finally asked, looking at your former captain "you always talk about your birth village in positive terms… do you… do you think I could stay somewhere there with the kids?"
Luffy's eyes opened wide, and he sent you one of these big, warm smiles only him holds the secret off.
Road to Fuschia village was quite a long way, you had to spend two or three days on the sea. You were surprised to see how easily the triplets get along with your former crew. On the second day of your trip, they spent the entire afternoon playing with Luffy's gum gum abilities on the desk.
"They are adorable, Red'. I'm sure everyone gonna love them at Fuschia." Nami said as you were both watching Rory and Blaze running in opposite directions, each one holding one of Luffy's cheeks  - Luffy laughing as hell all along.After playing a bit with her brothers Skye ran to you, asking for your arms, and you took her close to your chest, tenderly caressing her hairs. It would be clear for everyone who ever saw his wanted poster that Buggy was their father, and you were scared that people would somehow reject them  because of this. Or that they would reject the twins because of their red noses, too. "I hope you're right, Nami" you answered softly.
Luffy introduced you to Makino, the village bartender, and you agreed to assist her at the bar in return for two beds for you and your children. She stared a little bit too long at the twins noses but didn't say anything, and you were thankful to her for this. Your old friends spent the night at the island to grab some forces and eat a bit before going back to their own journey. Spending time with them again was great.
The next morning you came to the beach to say goodbye with your three little rug rats.
"Thank you. For everything." You whispered to Nami, holding her in your arms.
"It's ok Reddie. I hope you'll find some peace of mind here." 
Next to you, Blaze and Rory were jumping on Luffy's back, and Skye was looking at Zoro with sparkle in the eyes. 
"Promise ? Next time you'll show me how to use a saber ?"
She asked. Zoro looked at her with a little smile.
"Of course, if you're tall enough to handle it." He answered, playfully rubbing her head. 
You gathered the triplets around you.
"Come on kids it's time to say good bye ."
You whispered. You nodded at Luffy with gratitude, before looking at your former crew going back on their ship. You stared at their boat until it disappeared into the horizon. Now, it was only you, all alone with three kids who inherited their father's temperament. 
All of this leaded you here, two months later, cleaning the bar all alone while triplets were sleeping upstairs.
It was a warm and peaceful evening. You took the night shift after putting the kids in bed. Becoming kind of a single mom made those little alone moments precious to you. 
You were whipping the counter when loud stomps came from the outside. You raised your head and froze in panic.
 Buggy, Cabaji and Mohji just entered the bar with brutal gestures.
~
You were so beautiful, and it made him so mad.
When Buggy saw you here, froze behind the bar, a wave of contradictory feelings hit his heart. In a first time, love , hope and relief. You were alive, you were doing well. And you were so pretty with your messy red hair around your head and he was so happy to see you again that he could feel himself falling in love with you for the second time. But quickly, all his anger, sadness, and grudge came back to him. You left him again. You betrayed him. You took his precious kids away. And shit, you chose this village to hide. Shanks village. Tooth grinding, he walked to the bar furiously, Cabaji and Mohji on his steps . For now he just wanted to see his kids.
 "Where are they ?" He asked, looking you in the eyes, with a rough tone.
You looked nervously to Cabaji and Mohji before answering.
"Bugs I …"
He lost his nerves and walked closer menacingly, screaming at you.
"DON'T "BUGS" ME. YOU PROMISED TO NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. BUT WORST. YOU HAD NO RIGHT. NO RIGHT TO TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME."
He noticed a hint of guilt in your eyes, and he had to admit that it was satisfying.
"Please Buggy" you answered with a small voice, "let the crew go and I'll take you to them, trust me…
- Trusting you?" He sneered, "Why would I do something so stupid ?"
However he snapped and Cabaji and Mohji went away. You whipped your forehead with the back of your head with a sigh of relief. He looked at you, arms crossed. He couldn't help but love you. He couldn't help but be mad at you. 
 "Bugs I…, you started.
- Shut up, take me to the kids.
- No please I…
- I SAID SHUT. UP." 
He screamed violently, hitting the counter. He immediately regretted it. This kind of impulse was what costed him his family. He let himself fall on one of the bar's chairs and put his head in his hands. He looked at you, desperate, almost begging.
"Why, Reddie ? Why did you leave again? Why did you take the kids ?"
Without him realizing it, the anger in his voice morphed into sadness and despair.
" In you I finally found someone I thought I could trust buy it's the THIRD time you leave me. I thought you loved me. I thought everything we shared meant something."
He swallowed in anguish before pursuing.
"I… I know I fucking messed up with Skye but I thought you… I thought we could… Damn Reddie you can't… just tell me why. What's so wrong with me that you can't stay by my side?"
Saying these last words he bursted into tears. You looked at him with a soft smile, full of compassion. Answering, you started to fill two glasses with beer.
"Buggy… it's not you." You put  one the glasses on the counter in front of him, and he nodded thankfully before taking a sip. "Leaving you… it was the hardest thing I ever did in my life. I loved you, with all my heart Bugs. And I still love you. And every second without you is like missing a bit of my own heart.
- But… ?"
He raised a sad eyebrow to you, waiting for your answer with apprehension. 
"But… I love them more." You said, looking at the stairs next to the bar. "I… I never thought I could love someone this much. Yes, the postpartum was a fucking hell, and yes, they often are fucking pains in the ass. But… but when I saw Skye crying in pain on the ground I… it was like a primitive instinct. I had to take her out of the danger. To take all my kids away."
Listening to you, Buggy couldn't resist and detached a hand, letting it run in your hairs. He smiled at you sadly and whispered :
"And this danger you ran away from… it was me ?"
As you answered, you caressed his hand with tenderness . 
"I don't know… not really. Oh Bugs most of the time you were so amazing with them! I could never have dreamed of a better father for my kids. But that night… when you said you couldn't promise me they'll never get hurt again… I… I couldn't.
- If I knew I'd lose them… lose the four of you, I would have said something else. I was so fucking scared Red… I... "
Tears started running on his cheek again. With a soft gesture, you whipped them away. He shivered feeling your hand on his face. Damn he missed you so fucking much.
"Bugs I…" you started, screams came from the stairs and interrupted you.
"DADDY !"
Buggy looked over his shoulder and felt a manic grin grow on his face when he saw Skye, Rory and Blaze running to him, full of joy.
~
Buggy felt on his knees, gathering his kids in his arms, covering them in kisses and hugs, tears going down on his cheeks.
You looked at him from behind the bar, your heart shattered by emotion and guilt. Even though you knew the kids were missing their father, you didn't realize just how much until now. Skye, Rory and Blaze were all talking together in a nonsense mess of questions, stories of their life at Fuschia, and soft words to their father who couldn't do anything but cry under this love attack. He fell backwards and ended up sitting on the ground, Rory and Blaze in his arms. Their combined laughs filled the bar. He kissed his twins foreheads with loud noises, spreading red makeup all around their faces.
"Oh my little goblins I missed you so fucking much"
You laughed, allowing the swear to pass this time. 
Buggy's eyes went to Skye, in front of him. He kneeled before her and put his hands on her cheeks, looking at her in the eyes, and his face became more serious. 
"Skye my cotton candy princess I'm so, so fucking sorry, I promise I'll never let anything hurt you again sweetheart" 
Skye jumped at his neck and he held her as hard as he could, paying attention to her injured arm.
You put a hand in front of your mouth. Seeing the scene made you cry as hard as you could, as your love for him came back to you like a boomerang. 
~
Buggy stayed like this for a moment, his three kids in the arms. 
A few minutes later, the triplets were tired and had trouble keeping their eyes opened. 
"I think it's time for them to go back to bed, Bugs" 
You whispered with tenderness. 
Skye blinked at her father and asked. 
"Daddyyyyy can you read us a story?"
Buggy turned his head to you, a silent question on the face. You nodded. He smiled, and jumped back on his feet. He somehow managed to grab all his kids in the arms. 
"Alright kiddoes it's story time !"
He said joyfully, and you chuckled looking at him disappear in the stairs.
You finished cleaning the bar. When everything was done, you went upstairs. In your room, Buggy was sitting on the ground and reading a book to the kids, who were all snuggled under a blanket in the bed they shared. 
"… Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!"
His tone and gestures were theatrically over the top. Peter pan. Of course. 
You smiled and lied on the door frame for a little while, looking at him, not wanting to break the magic. You realized how much you missed those moments, and how much you wanted things to go back to how they were. You went downstairs back to the bar, letting him ending his story. 
~
When the triplets finally fell asleep, Buggy went down the stairs to the bar. 
You were here, sitting at a table, drinking a glass of rum. He smiled at you, and you smiled at him. You raised the rum bottle to him. 
"Wanna share a drink ? Like good old times."
He nodded with enthusiasm, and sat in front of you. You poured rum into a glass for him. He raised his glass to you before taking a sip.
"Damn I forgot how exhausting it was to put them in bed" he grumbled, and you chuckled. For a moment, it was like you never left. 
You rubbed your glass nervously.
"It was a mistake." 
You whispered, anguish in the voice. 
He stopped drinking to look at you with a questioning glance. You bit your lips and looked back at him.
"Leaving you. Taking the kids. They love you so much. I.."
Buggy smiled sadly. All his anger for you was way behind him now, and he just enjoyed being by your side. He sent a hand to caress your cheek with tenderness while the other one was still holding his glass.
"It's ok Reddie." He whispered. "I'm the one to blame. I couldn't admit it but when I saw Skye on the ground… I felt like the shittiest man on earth. I could have punched myself in the face. I almost did it."
He chuckled nervously, drinking a bit of his rum. He couldn't remember being so vulnerable with someone before. But it felt easy. Natural. And being with you again… He felt the same feeling as when his limbs were detached from his body for too long and he finally got them back. For the first time in two months, he felt complete. 
You closed your eyes and leaned against his palm, before looking him in the eyes. 
"I missed you so much." You whispered. 
Suddenly, all the weight he was holding on his shoulders since your departure disappeared. His thumb rubbed your cheek, right under your eyes. 
"I missed you too Red'. More than words can express." He admitted, never stopping looking at you.
You fixed your gaze on him. In your eyes he saw an infinite tenderness, and a love that could beat any barrier on the way.
~
You shared an intimate silence. 
It was so good to be at his side again. It was like having back a missing part of you. But you knew you still had serious shit to discuss. You took a deep breath and broke the silence.
"We have to find a way to make it work."
Buggy played with his glass, nervous. 
"What do you mean ?" He asked.
You stood up and started walking around to chase away your nervousness. 
"I mean…" your started, anxious. "I mean that I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad you apologized to Skye. And oh gosh, I never again want to take care of three toddlers without you by my side. But…"
He turned on his chair to look at you, and his face was filled with apprehension. 
"But we have to make sure kids won't get hurt anymore." you finally said "Or at least that they could handle it, Bugs." 
He stood up and went to your side. He held you by the waist, a protective gesture you missed too damn much. You crossed your hands behind his neck.
"I'm so fucking sorry Red'. For everything." He whispered, looking down. 
You smiled and put your forehead against his. You changed so much. He changed so much. It was hard to believe you were the same idiots who flirted  in a drunk burp contest, an eternity  ago.
"I'm sorry too, for leaving, for breaking your trust, again and again." You whispered. You carressed his cheek tenderly. 
"I love you, Bugs."
He smiled and captured you in a passionate kiss. You stayed like this a few moments. He broke the embrace and touched your chin. 
"We will find a way to manage it, Red. I promise."
You were about to talk but he put an index on your lips, raising an eyebrow with a playful glance. 
"But ! But. If you want me to keep this promise babe, you have to promise me something in return.
- And what would it be ?, " you asked, your hands playing with the hairs on the back of his head.
He looked at you in the eyes, and you saw all his insecurities, all his vulnerability coming back to the surface as he whispered to you :
"Never leave me again."
You cupped his face in your hands, and deeply kiss him again, and again, and again. 
"I promise " you whispered in return. "I won't leave you again"
And for the first time ever, you knew this was a promise you could keep.
~
sorry for all the cheese I guess ! See you soon for the VERY LAST PART
。゜(`Д´)゜。
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the-ninja-legacy-whip · 6 months
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In which the Marvell Siblings also attempt propaganda (they're not very good at it)
Miranda: ....(psst, Jesse, they're still here! Start the pitch!)
Jesse: O-Oh, what?! I though you were gonna do it—
Miranda: UGH, I have to do everything. *clears throat*
Miranda: Hey, you, random person on the internet!! Do you like polls?! Do you like making numbers go up?! Do you like clicking buttons?! Do you like having a say in things you don't even have a real opinion on?! Then have we got a poll for you!
Jesse: We're up against a real titan of a story/series (and it's like, suuuper well-written and dearly beloved. Very well deserved recognition!) and...we probably don't have the manpower to beat them, honestly ;w;
Miranda: But what kind of a competition would it be if we didn't at least try to put up a fight?! That's why we put our goal at getting to 40%- the perfect amount to keep up the heat, buuuut won't be totally embarrassing when if we get annihilated.
Jesse: We've crawled all the way up from a 69/22 split, and with the final days closing in and us being so close, we're attempting for another push forward! Who knows, we miiiight stand a chance...?
Miranda: Hence why I'm starting this hashtag: #CLOSETHEGAP!! Tell your friends!! Tell your friends' friends!! Tell a beloved mutual! Tell a complete stranger! Tell that guy that just joined yesterday! Tell the dude's that's been here for longer than you've been alive! Tell your children's children's children! Tell an alien! Or a shark! Or your pet! Get your grandma in on this!!!!
Jesse: (Please don't actually use that hashtag though. It's never gonna catch on anyway.)
Miranda: (Not with that attitude, hmph.) CLOSE THE GAP! CLOSE THE GAP! CLOSE THE GAP!
Jesse: I'm not chanting that.
Miranda: Anywaaaay, dear person of the interwebs, if you wanna be a statistic, or help out a friend, or wanna do something hilariously on brand for ninjago tumblr, or contribute to chaos, or have nothing better to do, or gain some fandom redemption from losing that tragic antigone poll or whatever–
Jesse: -or maybe you just happen to actually enjoy the story we're representing, which is greatly appreciated—
Miranda & Jesse: THEN CLOSE THE GAP, AND CAST YOUR VOTE TODAY!!
Miranda: (I toldja it would catch on >:3)
Jesse: ...(Ugh shut up)
Jesse: Just remember, keep it wholesome, keep it clean, and be a good sport regardless of outcome!
Miranda: And definitely don't be an asshole!!!
Jesse: Mira.
Miranda: What? I'm just setting the boundaries! It's just a poll; it's not that serious -_-)/
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melloween-candie · 10 months
Text
Hold still [C.G]
Bully Carl Gallagher x Bullied Reader
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Summary
You've known Carl for a very long time, and for a very long time, he has been picking on you. It started off small but gradually escalated to a much more painful issue. Your friends think he likes you. You think it's the other way around. But Carl, his thinking is different.
A/n - I realized that I have been using the same point of view throughout almost all of my writing, and I figured it was boring to constantly read like that, so I'm changing it up! Anyways the point of view I've been using is secondary. Figured if anyone cared- I am now going to try writing in first person.
Also, I figured I might as well finish this since it's been sitting in my drafts since day one. It's small and simple, I kinda wished I did more to it, but who knows- maybe I'll make a part two for it someday or just recreate it entirely.
Some parts in this fanfiction aren't canon. Meaning it wasn't from the show!!!
Warning: Self-harm, bulling
Word count: 1,443
[Angst/fluff]
Part 1, Part 2
Shameless Masterlist
Fandom Masterlists
/"Talking"//Thinking//Muttering-Whispering/
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***Y/n's Pov***
I was cleaning up the bloody mess I made on my wrist. This was the third time this week that I did this to myself. I couldn't help it, though. I've been feeling depressed lately, at least more than usual.
It's not anything in particular. However, my mother would say otherwise. She thinks it's all cause of that "no good Carl." In her own words too. Though she wasn't wrong.
I've known Carl for years, and he hated me ever since we met. I don't know why he hates me; he just does.
I never did anything to him in particular, or at least I don't think so.
"Y/n! You better hurry; otherwise, you'll be late again!"
That was my mother. I should probably go...
"Coming!"
Time skip!~
It was currently breakfast time here at my school. I normally hate breakfast time, along with lunch and free time too... My friends say I'm weird for that, but truth be told, I hate it because of him...
"Yo! Carl!" A random guy yelled. "What's happening?" He says as they get all friendly.
I bit my lips and held my books tighter. All-cause Carl Gallagher just entered the room.
Carl Gallagher... He's umm... something? Most people would call him a bully, especially if they saw the way he treated me, but honestly, I just think he uses me as an excuse to not look weak. After all, back then, during elementary school, he had this reputation of which he'd beat up kids just for looking funny.
Honestly, I envied him about that. Not caring about what anyone else thinks and just doing what feels right to you. I want to live like that.
The bell rings, signaling everyone to head to class.
Oh great. I hate this part. Reason is because I'll have to walk past him and if you were listening, he's not so friendly with me...
"W/n! There you are!" Carl gave you a big smile. "I was looking for you!"
"Ah... it's Y/n..." You said, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. "Never changed the name." You laughed awkwardly, trying to break that uncomfortable feeling.
"Rrright. Anyways! Where's my homework?" Carl didn't sound so friendly no more.
"Right here." You handed him your notebook. "If you could, I'll need tha- and he's gone." You sighed in defeat as you walked towards your first-period class.
I know that was pathetic, and you probably dealt with worst, but that was him being nice. Believe it or not, I got lucky. He was in a good mood this morning soo...
You entered your class and sat down.
Anyways, Carl used to like me. Or at least that's what my friends would always say back when we were still in middle school.
Nowadays, they don't really care about my situation with him anymore. It's old news to them. Which I don't blame them even if they did care; they couldn't change anything about it.
"Y/n? Y/N!"
"Uh?!" You snapped out of your thoughts. "Oh, hey, bff/n. What's up?"
"What's up?! What's up with you? I've been snapping my finger's in front of you for the last minute. What were you thinking about?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
This is bff/n. S/H/T are amazing. In fact, S/H/T is the only one that still cares about well the Carl situation.
"Did Carl do something again?" S/H/T said?
"No. Not exactly..."
"Where's your notebook?" S/H/T asked.
"Uhmm-"
"I KNEW IT! HE TOOK IT AGAIN, DIDN'T HE!"
"Keep it down!"
"Y/n! How can you be okay with this!"
"It's okay, really-!"
"He's tormenting you!" S/H/T interrupted. "Eventually, it'll turn into something way worst!"
"He's been 'tormenting' me for years, and it's never gotten too bad-"
"TOO BAD?!" S/H/T yelled. "He gave you your first panic attack! He embarrassed you countless of times..."
And there S/H/T goes. This is going to take a while.
You rested your head on the palm of your hand as the teacher walked through the door. Closing it, signaling that class is about to begin.
Time skip!~
"Look, Y/n. I'm just worried about you. Every year Carl does this to you, and only you; for some reason, doesn't that make you feel somewhat uncomfortable?"
"I mean... Eh?" You shrugged your shoulders. As your best friend groans in irritation.
"Look, Y/n. There's a 50% chance he likes you, and the other 50%, well, who knows but try to fight back or at least say something!"
"Ughh, bff/n. You know that will only make him mad," I said as I grabbed my math book for my next class. "And besides, as long as I don't irritate him, I'll be fine."
"Yeah, well, still..."
Time Skip~
Math class was as irritating as usual. Carl being Carl, kept throwing paper balls at me. Him and his group of friends kept snickering to themselves, making it a little hard to concentrate... Why did the teacher assign me to sit next to these people... ugh.
Anyways that's not the worst part. The worst part was when we got our homework papers back. Normally I would get really good grades in math, but today I got a B+. I rolled my eyes in aggravation. I have to bump this grade back up.
However, I thought it was only my grade that dropped... When I got into the hallway, Carl grabbed me unexpectedly.
"What the h*ll is this?!" He held his homework paper to my face as his other arm held onto my shoulder, pushing me against the lockers. The people just walked on past, pretending they didn't see anything.
"Uhhh..."
"Uh- UH?! Don't act stupid!" He yelled tauntingly. "You're supposed to be the smartest person in our grade! So why do I have a B on this paper?!"
"Look I'm sorry but It was just hard for me to focus during that lesson-"
"THE HEL* DO YOU MEAN HARD?!"
"Well- Well, maybe if you'd stop throwing paper balls at me, I could have focused better!"
Uh oh. That was the moment I knew I had screwed up... Carl's face turned bright red with anger as he dragged me towards the janitor's closet.
It was dark and dusty in there; it was like barely anyone ever cleans in there.
"Listen you! I told you before I gave you my homework- give me an A, or I'll kick your as*!"
I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I said something I thought I never would-
"Why?! Why do you even care? I mean, you've never cared about anyone or anything before, so why do you care so much about your grade?!"
"Are you stupid or something? I don't, but football does. If I don't keep a good grade average, I'll get kicked off, and if I get kicked off, I'll kick you off this EARTH!" His hold on me grew tighter. I couldn't help but back up; because of this, he pushed forward.
"Ow!" I squealed. I could feel the blood starting to droop down my arm. I didn't realize this, but there were a lot of sharp objects in here... or at least it felt like it. With that, Carl grabbed the dangling on switch, turning on the lights.
He didn't notice at first, but eventually, he saw the blood. He looked at it and then looked back at me. He still had that irritated look on his face as he continued to hold onto his homework.
"Tch." He quickly grabbed my arm and pushed back the sleeves. I couldn't even react. "What the he*l?" His tone became quieter, but if his face could speak, it'd say something like, "Seriously? Cutting yourself? You're so weak."
Then without even saying anything, he started looking for something, not letting go of my wrist while doing so.
"Wha- What are you doing?" I said as he yanked my arm. He then clearly found what he was looking for, but the closet was a little too small, so I couldn't really see what he was starting at. He grabbed it, and I heard this taring sound. To my surprise, he was holding a piece of tissue, cleaning up my wound.
"You need to be more careful." He grumbled.
Huh?!?! I was so confused by this. He must have assumed that those cuts and scares were all accidental...? But what's weirder about this is why- why does he care?!
Maybe my friends were right... at least in a way. I blushed at the thought. Maybe he did like me, at least a little...
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A/n
I wanted to give the reader the feeling as if Y/n is actually talking to you, as if you are the voice in, well, your own head. Or if you want you can think of it as you talking to an invisible friend in your head. Which ever works for you.~
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azumasoroshi · 1 year
Text
minidura chapter 4 react
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simon i SWEAR ill get you out of there and that horrendous art style
also though. TEENAGE SHIZAYA CHAPTER LETS GO???? idk if narita made the minidura or if it's a separate illustrator but they are giving the FOOD rn
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i was wondering where the official knowledge that simon forced izaya and shizuo to eat sushi together came from. i mean i guess this isnt official and it was probably stated in the anime somewhere but still, good to see it illustrated pff
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AAAAAAAAA ive seen this image around tumblr but i didnt realize it was from minidura 😭 i thought it was fanart or smth (<-dumbass)
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wait im actually going crazy over this akwjhkjdshs they're washing dishes together!!! now we just need them to do laundry and taxes and-
im going to go over the image limit this time on god
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wow cant believe they're bathing each other too (<-delusional)
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something about the first shizuo panel reminds me of aggretsuko. which is. actually. huh. arent they both like adults with anger issues. durarara aggretsuko au when
also deadass i forgot dennis existed until i read about him in a shizaya fanfiction and i was like "who's dennis" pfgfkhkd
so true though never throw kitchen knives kids
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LMFAO HE JUST GAVE THEM MORE WORK INSTEAD OF RESPONDING
they're gonna be here all day at this rate. actually shizaya as fast food/restaurant staff au when because they'd have the stupidest rivalry known to man and i need it
fucking imagine shinra walks in and sees shizuo and izaya working by the counter
i hope izaya gets to eat fatty tuna by the end of this though. god knows he's gonna look cute as hell
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made funnier by the fact that izaya at least definitely knows how to cook with how long he's been on his own and needed to feed his sisters
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damn ive actually never seen someone's vein burst in a way where blood sprays out in anime akshGKJHJKSD thats impressive actually
dont look now but this may or may not inspire me to make a mermaid/pirate au (<-obsessed)
who needs kaiju battles when you can have blue fin tuna vs crab
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they're literally never leaving this place bro they're gonna be stuck here for eternity. anyway here's a literary analysis of durarara pointing out why russia sushi is actually representative of dante's inferno /j
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i want to read those blurbs so baddddd screams sobs bangs table
rip dennis dude he doesnt get paid enough to deal with shizaya
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rippp time to listen to izaya pine hopelessly for the man he cant stop annoying for five seconds
simon had the right idea. too bad shizaya are shizaya
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what is that face izaya. i cant tell if he's irritated that simon's right or irritated that simon cant understand how instinctual their hatred is or amused that simon thinks he and shizuo could be friends or amused because he thinks meaningless fighting is hilarious
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oh......that kind of hurts actually
i can imagine izaya suggesting it as a joke and then lying in bed that night thinking about how it's never going to happen and it really sounds like a funny joke huh? (he is not crying)
i cant believe simon's been dealing with these bitches for like 7 years now like dude has the patience of a saint
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😭give him his 50,000 yen simon
we can see that the crack in the sign is actually fixed now too ahhh time really flies when you're stuck in a relationship of mutual hatred
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chibizaya is so cuteeeeeeeee
im sure he intended to paint himself that way in his recollection though pff
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THATS RIGHT SHIZAYA BE THE PORCUPINES. SNUGGLE. DO IT
step aside erika, simon is the face of the shizaya nation now. especially with that "you just have a shizuo complex dont you" quote that i found the other day which i still havent recovered from
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HAUDGHUSDH orihara izaya, pro unreliable narrator
hilarious how we never see tom's face. just his dreads lmfao
dennis and simon are so done with like izaya bro i think they can tell at this point that he's horrifically pining and has no healthy outlet for it. the bills go to him because they're bullying him
it'd be funny if they billed him 50,000 at the end actually pft
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I KNEW WE'D GET THEM EATING TOGETHER!!! I HAD FAITH
they're so cute oh my god can i make that my header or something
10/10 chapter im going to punt izaya into a wall and get simon flowers
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ladybirdswritings · 7 months
Text
BEAUTY AND THE HYBRID - Klaus Mikaelson Fanfiction
summary: the slip of burlap rope brings an unsuspecting girl into the arms of a vicious, bloodthirsty creature.
warnings: mentions of ab*se, stockholm syndrome, captivity, dea*h, and violence.
next chapter <3 | ao3 | tag list
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one
"Oh fuck yeah!"
"Birdie!"
My face tints a rose-like pink, burning at my cheeks as I scold my sister with wide eyes. She is happy today, and that's rare for us. Regardless, happy or not, her sailor's mouth never fails to mortify me. The patrons of this syrup scented diner stare for a moment, but return to their meal soon enough.
Birdie is fourteen today, and her eyes are eager and swimming with starvation as she inhales the powdered sugar air. I can't really afford this, not right now at least. Probably not tomorrow either, but today is her birthday. She'll only be fourteen once and- mom would have done the same thing. In fact, mom did do the same thing. Many times for me. When I turned twelve, we snuck into a cake shop and ate each sugared treat cased in glass displays. That was my favorite birthday.
I am not brave enough or- stupid enough to steal from anyone else. I have done enough of that this week.
"Dude, they have french toast coated in chocolate syrup."
Birdie is drooling now, I smile at her.
"Whatever you want, Birdie."
It's sad, how this is like Christmas for her. A warm meal at a shitty Mystic Falls Diner for the big one four. I will do more, soon. This however, it will be dealt with if I just take over Riley's night shift at the Grille- she won't mind the time off anyways.
The waitress is a strawberry blonde, her legs seem to go for miles. Her eyes are a pretty blue and her smile is tinted pink. Birdie wastes no time.
"Chocolate syrup french toast please! Heavy emphasis on the chocolate syrup... Ooh! And a stack of four pumpkin pancakes with whipped cream and lots of bacon and eggs on the side. Some orange juice too."
The waitress stifles her grin as she jots Birdie's order down on yellow pad paper.
"And for you?"
Birdie looks at me hopefully. I gaze into her eyes for a moment and pretend that my next words will be a request of pumpkin pancakes too.
"Oh that's everything, I'm not hungry."
Guilt floods them,
"I can hold off on the pump-"
"No Birdie, really I am not hungry."
I'm starving. My stomach growls in protest, luckily quiet enough for only me to hear. Birdie believes me, at least I hope she does as she sinks back into the booth.
The waitress smiles sympathetically, nodding once before scurrying off.
Birdie is impatient, drumming her fingers on the cherry wood as we wait. It isn't just the food she's impatient for. She groans.
"Ahhh- apple! C'mon- can't we just take a two second peek at what's in the big dumb thing?"
My brows twitch in discomfort and urgency, and I lift my finger to hush her. Maybe what that man said was all just to scare me, maybe he thought it was funny. It is the month of halloween after all, I have learned in my years here how serious all of Mystic Falls takes it. Still, I don't wan't to take any chances.
I shake my head at her,
"No. Not happening. That dude told us to keep this locked tight under all circumstances."
Birdie only rolls her eyes at that,
"Pfft. That guy was probably just trying to scare us. Ooh! I bet its drugs, or illegal weapons! Or illegal drug weapons!"
I shush her again.
"It doesn't matter what it is, it's not ours. I'm not opening it. I need it safe till midnight, till I get the payout and we get the hell out of Mystic Falls."
Birdie frowns, eyes gazing at the lonely jack-o-lantern glowing golden on the concrete outside.
"You think all that money is gonna buy us real fancy meds for dad? Like ones that'll get him better quickly?"
I wince at the question, I want to say yes but I truthfully don't know. He's worsened this month, I only hope these days. So does Birdie. It's her birthday, I can't make her sad.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out, we always do. Dad's gonna be fine. We're gonna have lots of money, money for medicine and money for unlimited pumpkin pancakes until you're at least forty three."
Birdie nods in agreement with that statement, "fuck yeah." she whispers. She tries to keep it discreet but, I hear it anyways. I ignore it.
The strawberry blonde waitress returns, juggling Birdie's food on a golden arm. She places four plates down in front of my lanky sister, her eyes light up like a million fireworks have ignited within them.
"Brought you a coffee pot sugar, its on the house."
The waitress, Karen, she smiles softly and it's warm like the coffee pot. She throws pink packets of sugar and small cups of cream in front of me. It'll keep me awake, I'm grateful. I thank her as I pour the bitter drink into the mug and breathe in the aroma.
Birdie is devouring her food as if it will up and leave her.
"My my, all this food. Today a special occasion?" Karen inquires, I nod with a warm grin.
"It's her birthday."
Karen gasps, "A birthday!? Well how old are you sweetheart? Old enough to pay the bill?" She jests.
Birdie shakes her head, teeth crushing a mixture of chocolate whipped pumpkin toast topped with bacon and egg. Whatever she could fit in her mouth. "Nope. Fourteen." She speaks muffled with a mouth full of food- her words are hardly audible, masked by her chewing. I repeat it to the waitress.
"Well then, a birthday calls for a special treat don't it? I'll go get one."
I nod gratefully, "Thanks. Hey um- do you guys have a bathroom?"
She points to the right and I slide out of the booth-gripping the white oak case in my hands. I'll bring it with me. I would be a fool to lose it, let alone leave it with my very occupied sister. I almost don't believe it's anything of importance, probably just some cruel prank. My intuition reminds me just how too good to be true it sounds. Yet, I am hopeful this month. So I'm playing along anyways.
My eyes are glued to the case as I walk right, so much so that I don't see the polished boots in front of me. I gasp, accepting the fate of the floor before it even greets me. We never meet. I clutch on to the fabric smelling of maple and bourbon. It tethers me, lifting me to my feet.
It is silent, I meet ice blue eyes.
Christ...
They bore past my very being, into something I don't even see myself. My soul, maybe. He is tall, tall enough that it makes me feel quite small. He has golden brown hair that curls at the tips, and golden brown stubble that surrounds pink lips. His eyes, they're all I see.
I stumble, he steadies me again with two strong hands.
"Holy shit!" Birdie calls, maybe amused- maybe relieved. She saw that, everyone saw that. My cheeks are pink again, as are the tips of my ears. The man's eyes wander around us, and it seems like that is enough for everyone. They all mind their business and return to their meals. As if he just cast a spell to detour their gazes.
His hands still grasp me as his eyes devour my composure.
"Are you all right?" His voice is like honey, stuck in a glass pot but glazing sweetness dripping from the very lid. It is deep, accented. He isn't from here.
I can't speak, I feel like I am crushed under his boot, the same one I tripped over. I only nod.
He releases me, slowly.
His eyes remain on mine, until they don't. He peers at the white oak case with an expression I cannot begin to describe. I watch him for a moment, analyzing. Fear strums at my core... its familiarity- I think. Or maybe I am just paranoid. I gulp, bending down to collect the case in my hands in an instant before he gets the chance to. I gaze at it, praying my fall didn't disrupt whatever lay inside.
He gazes at it too.
I have to speak now, otherwise I will be stuck frozen here.
"I apologize I um- I should have been paying more attention."
He doesn't tear his gaze away from the case. Not at first, for a moment that seems far too long for me to stomach. He breaks, eventually and a part of me is relieved but it seems a bigger part of me wishes he would just return his stare toward the case again. His eyes feel like they're burning through me. Like as if I try and speak again, my voice will falter to nothingness.
"You're alright, sweetheart. On you go."
Sweetheart. It calms the nerves. I nod gratefully, but his eyes returning to what is grasped in my hands just reminds me of why exactly I should be stepping rather than shaking. A gulp, then I am on my way, feet clashing against the noir tiles. Birdie is accompanied by the waitress, I catch glimpse in a napkin holder and sigh in relief as I push through the faded blue door.
I am eager to release the case from my burning hands, I was gripping it tight enough to callous my reddened palms. I throw it on the ceramic sink as the faucet squeaks, my trembling hands splash my pink face with warm water. I heat even more.
The mirror greets my pallid features, sunken in with exhaustion and hunger. It also meets my eyes, swimming with a melting pot of emotions. My breaths are shallow and labored, and my heart is pounding on its cages.
I splash my face again and yet? I cannot shake the feeling that this won't be the last time I see that man again...
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Text
Fan fiction writing and why you as a reader and writer need to care that what happens now is not right
And here is What The Popular WRITERS from THAT fandom taught me about fanfiction writing, and why I won't try that again
And The 10....More Than 10 Lessons I wish I knew earlier about fanfic writing in a fandom
Let me tell you my story....
I wish I've never posted, and if I knew, how the general new author is being treated around I most definitely would not. Or at least I would think twice....or more times.
I thought, that people are genuinely so supportive, to all and every author, by observing interactions between people.
Turns out .....They. Are. NOT.
THERE IS NO SOLIDARITY TO THE FELLOW AUTHOR ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NEW.
NO ONE CARES TO CHECK YOUR THING.
NO ONE CARES TO HELP.
NOTHING.
THEY GO TO THEIR FAVORITES AND PRAISE THEM PUBLICLY and all the time AND THAT’S ABOUT IT.
A LOT OF PEOPLE GIVE UP AND QUIT BUT THEY COULDN’T CARE LESS.
* I have seen authors write anonymously to other writers blog, asking for advice, after they have been trying a long time but have been ignored, discarded and etc. despite doing their best.  Trying to get into the writing guild, or telling their pain of being exhausted trying.
I never wrote to another blog, but it's horrible that there is not even a way to tell how disappointed you are. I wrote on mine, but none of my followers gave a f*, neither whoever else from the fandom, so I quit trying.
At the end: I got 2 kind messages from people, who were not even my followers. I'm greatly and forever thankful to them!
But nobody else cared anyway.
That's the most horrible part of it.
After being ignored for long, at the end there is no one to talk to about it.
-- Here what I've learned though. Go there on your own risk.
The following post contains: cynicism, sarcasm and correct facts. With a pinch of salt. If you are under the age that grants EMOTIONAL MATURITY  and critical thinking you may as well skip.
I would advise you to read it if you are a new author and want to post your thing or an author that had seen it with their own eyes....
AND IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF FAN FICTION AS SUCH AND THE DIVERSITY OF IT, YOU NEED TO TRY TO ACT DIFFERENTLY.
OTHERWISE...THAT WON’T BE THE FIRST OR THE LAST FANDOM THAT WILL SEE THE CLIQUES AND ALL THE ELSE THAT COMES WITH IT.
One of the places I saw.....Not the fandom I come from but you get the idea.....
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SO HERE.....
The 10..... More Than 10 Lessons, I wish I knew earlier about fanfic writing in a fandom
Lesson One
It doesn't matter how good you are.
You might be the finest author out there and write great and all......
and STILL get nothing under your fics ( or 10 to 20 notes mostly likes), no comments or engagement - no matter how good you are.
I say this,IN CASE you posted and got nothing, SO YOU to know that probably, 99,9% probably, IT’S NOT YOU.
And in  A LOT OF CASES - it DOESN’T GET BETTER WITH TIME.
I CAN’T TELL YOU IF IT WILL GET BETTER....because SOMETIMES IS DOESN’T AND SOMETIMES IT DOES.
That’s how most of the authors ( new authors and not-seen but good authors) GET TREATED IN GENERAL.
Lesson Two
The ONLY thing that matters is, who are your ...."friends".
And to make the right kind of....."friends", you need to BECOME A PROFESSIONAL SYCOPHANT, AND go on popular blogs TO EXERCISE EXCESSIVE FLATTERY, in hopes that you and your fan-fics will get noticed.
The hard truth:
You only become seen and/or  popular if popular blogs - the more popular the better - reblog you and recommend you.
Or if you have many ENGAGED WITH YOUR WORK friends and/or followers.
The catch is....that your followers and/or friends NEED TO CARE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK, and reblog, comment and engage with it.
Otherwise it all empty numbers in a list that does nothing!
Side note: I, personally, would recommend going to REDDIT.
Those people know the truth, and we talk active authors, who fic write 10 years and more. The name of the fandom does not mater, because all this is in every fandom on tumblr.
Yes - it does happen. And no - it's not right but...no one else cares. Except me, and may be someone else I don't know personally.
However - I'm no part of any fandom, and am practically free agent with no moral obligation to sugarcoat s***t.
Here is me, leaving you clues. Anyways, I base that all on research that took a year and a lot of googling....so ...yeah
Back to our program:
So if you want to make....”friends” on the right places......
You need to heavily socialize, leave long sophisticated comments as if it is your day to day highs paying job in case you want to be an author.
AND IN CASE YOU HAVE ANY LIMITATIONS such as:
sensory overload
social anxieties
making friends is hard for you for one or other reason
anxieties of any kind
and etcetera
You have got yourself a problem.
And now about the writers guild here.....Ah, the writer guild - here what I have seen:
Lesson Next
The Other authors treat you like competition
*If that's not how you got treated - good for you.
In all other cases:
Unless you are in one of their friends circles they won't:
engage with you and/or your fics
even try to help in some way
They will keep to themselves and their groups.
And if you sink - you sink.
They couldn't care less about:
you being new, and needing the most of support only to gain some sort of visibility, other than 20 likes/ notes.
In fact - the less competition with fics, the better
99 % Silent treatment , 1% Else
If you get lucky.....You will know it.
Lesson Four
A lot of authors use their free fan fic writing, as a stepping stone to original books....which would sell.
And that means they try gather a following, that will probably buy their original books only because they were fans of their fic.
You will feel it.
That's why they treat you like competition in a first place.
Otherwise no one, could be so cold hearted, and just ignore cries for help by a fellow writer.
Unless it is a business or about something people need.
Unless you want to get rid of those people, and have less competition.
Not to mention that comment I read under someone's writing "If someday you publish a book I will buy it...."
And then watching that ALREADY HAPPENING as Someone else “published*”a book ( *welcome in the era of self-publishing), and now offered the said book, signed and etc.it as a “reward” in a “follower CELEBRATION” EVENT.
Yeah, it seems.
I will wonder no more why people act like they do.
Well I thought it's for fun....
There is no fun in stepping on others because you need to to do marketing for your (future) writing endeavors.
Some of us were there just for fun and sharing with like minded people.....But ah well.....
Lesson Next and even the last point aside....
As someone else mentioned,  some people may "reject" you simply because they secretly envy you.
Or perceive you as a "threat".
Or simply because...they don’t like you...or your avatar
( *shrug*)
No one however would tell you how they feel, they will "smile and nod" and then stab you in the back.
So BE AWARE.....
Lesson
A lot of authors will ONLY INTERACT WITH YOU, and your writing, no matter the quality of it, and with respect and consider you, IF YOU ARE A POPULAR  BLOG....especially popular writing blog.
It does not matter how good you write, or what good you do.
You may be a great writer, and a person, and they will still ignore you.
Because they ONLY need the POPULAR BLOGS SUPPORT.
BECAUSE....THEY ARE POPULAR.
Your support as  not-popular, means nothing to them.
Because, the only way to get higher in "fandom hierarchy" is to ...FLATTER and CATER TO POPULAR  writing BLOGS, in a hope than they will become friendly and/or recommend  your fic.
That's THE ONLY WAY  your fic to be read and seen.
And Unless you have a lot of engaged followers and friends is the other option.....
But the usual way is the fic/ fics to be recommended by others...and most importantly POPULAR OTHERS.
So that that type of writer blogs/ people -
will rather compliment, and flatter a bad  fic and writing BUT POPULAR author, THAN to  tell / recommend  anyone who is NOT.
As those authors aim to get seen themselves that's what they do.
Lesson
Being  POPULAR  does NOT guarantee a good writing or a GENUINE E PERSON BEHIND THE NAME
That's was the most disappointing of it all.
Lesson
BEING  POPULAR AND BEING GOOD IN WRITING, ARE TWO SEPARATE, AND COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS to start with.
As I mentioned earlier....
I personally have seen "bad" writers get more notes. attention, a$$ kissing, and love by the fandom than good ones.
And if you ask why....I can't tell you because I don't have a clue.
-- On the questions of how to get into the writers circles--
There is NO guarantee that you will succeed though.
NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO.
Lesson
You need to be proactive in "making friends".
IMO - That "you must do this, or that or else" demand, is not a fun thing.  That "making friends because otherwise no one would read, you" is NOT a friendly activity.
It's more like mutual benefits. and that is not a friendship.
It becomes a barter - "read mine I will read yours" kind of deal, or authors gives what the crowd needs, because they do not read otherwise.
Once you go there, once you go to the barter side of it -because it's a barter-a fic material/s for engagement... and it becomes a "business".
Yes, no one pays you ( fanfics must be free copyright and all in mind).
But the time investment still stands. Both sides.
The readers though invests time for enjoyment.
And the writer......THE WRITER DOES THE WORK
THE WRITERS do all the work, including activities such like but not limited to:  
cold pitches = reaching to other blogs* not knowing what the outcome will be * mainly popular blogs*
marketing = bringing your fic to the attention of your readers
design = designing your dividers, mood boards, fic covers and etc.
investing time in it = writing  ( for free *)
And the problem:
if you can’t even get some attention - comments, reblogs, some talk or anything at all on your work - what's the point?
Investing time, no one will return you, in something that gives nothing back? Not a wise "investment"* (* fanfiction is free taking in account copyrights and al that. And should stay that way.)
Also such writing for online posting becomes:
Dull
Time wasting activity
It becomes HARD WORK
And hard work for nothing is NOT "fun"
No engagement = no fun
You may become bitter, and quit writing altogether
and etcetera
And it's supposed to be fun.
And as added bonus:  Business is where people would play dirty, if they need to. AND THEY DO.
P:S Don't get me wrong though. I'm sure that some people could find friends like that. But at large - it is not the right way to do it. And in general - not a good idea.
Lesson
Unless you are (already) popular, or have many friends, or belong to a large group, in which people support each other's writing, mostly  based on personal internal relations and friendships, or have exceptional people/social skills - you are doomed.
That's about it.
And in case you have any sort of social anxiety, get sensory overload  by too much online interactions, or have any other limitation...No one cares.
In general they do the silent treatment.
They may also rather discriminate, and then marking and covering  that up as "I owe no one nothing" if you try to say something. Or they would simply ignore all legitimate complains, or worries you may have.
Unless you are popular, have many engaged followers/friends and etc.  Then you get the special treatment.  
Ah, well. That leads to Lesson Next.
Lesson Next
There is no place where a new, or not so new authors can voice their concerns.Nothing organized and no one will show you to one even if it existed.
You either write ANONYMOUSLY on other blogs, preferably popular, or the fandom may exile you and other pleasantries, if you even try to point a problem.
Otherwise, if you are not popular, and you write on your blog, your posts would most likely:
get ignored - unless you have engaged followers
get no notes - unless you have engaged followers
Lesson
It doesn't matter how good you are, it only matters if you are at the right place, at the right time.
In other words, AT THE END,  if you have got the lucky, is all that matters.
And if you are lucky, you will know.
--And now and more lessons - fic wise--
Lesson
The only fics that are being written are x reader content.
Want to write OC?
Tough luck.
You try. Prepare for disappointment.
Don't theorize about it. Don't EVEN think about it.
DON'T.
Unless you are already popular, or have many engaged with your writing friends, or belong to large group in which people support each other writing...sounds familiar ?
My case: I wrote with not described, not named OC btw. I used "she" instead of "you". Got 10 likes, and people not giving a fuck. Based on other fics that were getting 90 and more notes and interaction mine was not bad. Nevertheless. No one cared.
Even popular writers, when writing with characters, and not 'x reader' fics, were getting less notes on their writing, compared to their x reader fics.
Lesson
No one wants to write what's not popular. And that leads to.....There is No diversity.
Because it would not be read, because the "almighty" readers, who  have the power to "praise and punish" with their attention.
And what for an author would write hours and hours only to be rejected.
Anyways here it is...
And that lead to LESSON NEXT
Lesson
EVERYONE WRITES TO WIN
also know as being seen fanfic author in a fandom. ( also as - Getting more than 99 notes on your writing)
There is no organic, natural interaction.
It's either mutual benefiting friendships
....quid pro quo AND only if you are lucky. A lot of people CAN’T even get that no matter how many times they recommend and read others...
Also servility and sycophancy
or you are on your own.
It's either praises on popular blogs, and in friend circles or complete silence.
But you may get lucky if you like gambling with the unknown. In that case - good for you.
And as winning - being seen and known author - is the one goal here, despite the fact what they will try to make you think.....
They will play DIRTY, if they need to.
AND THAT OFFERS NEXT LESSON ON ITS OWN:
Lesson
Sycophancy, Servility and Flattery  or
How to get into a writers friend circle as a new author
If You want to get in writers friend circle, a.k.a become a seen fanfic author, you do that by exercising general and/or high level sycophancy, servility and extreme flattery on popular blogs.
And it does not matter whether you really like what you read or not.
Note : You may, in fact, enjoy popular writers, some are very good. Some of them are genuinely good people too. But you need to be careful.
In the most cases. though.....
You need to:
write sophisticated comments
interact for hours, and as if it is your high-end paid everyday job -- 'cause authors love that s**t,
And if you don't do that - you don't exist, and they will forget about ya.
Also - you need to write ungodly amounts of fiction, BUT only one that fits their taste...otherwise...or ELSE.
And in short:
if you want to be seen as an author, and/or to become popular, you need to do it and be very social about it no matter if you have limitations of whatever kind. Otherwise no one will help.
Though.....There is the downside......
You may never get in one of those circles, no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, and  for one reason or another.
EVEN if you do the sycophancy and flattery and servile stuff.
Even if you sell your soul, it may not happen and have the desired effect, because it's a question of luck.
So - choose wisely. Wanna play roulette with a loaded gun with all bullets present but one?  That's the odds.
Anyways, and in case you don't succeed to enter one of their circles:
Then you get ignored, because no one gives a f***** otherwise.
And you write, create and put efforts and time into nothing.
Unless you don't mind to be ignored, or you create and write nevertheless, and not for any attention.
Side Note: It's not about popularity as such  by the way. It's about a normal amount of attention, every creator needs now and then.
LESSON
EVERYONE  in the fandom is a “WRITER”. ALSO AVID READER AND WRITER COMBO
Which you may or may not be.
And even if you comment under other people fics and recommend, you may NOT get anything back.
( I saw many people say that while I was searching ....)
That’s why I said that all that sycophancy and friends with benefits is bad....
It becomes work you need to do for some reason other than enjoying writing and reading fiction and communicating, and it becomes messy.
._.
--Lessons about characters--
Lesson NEXT
The People in the fandom, have and are entitled to a group, fandom-shared, pre-conception of what behaviour certain characters of the actor NEED TO EXHIBIT in the fiction written, in order to be acceptable in writing.
You either write a lot of what they need, want, crave and etc. otherwise - no one reads you, if you do not comply.
And never, in no case, don't you dare to forget. that you the writer MUST, in all and every case, to write ALWAYS and ONLY, with "YOU"......or else.
They punish by ignoring, exercising their "right" to do whatever, and in this case exercising their "right" to ignore, and do the the silent treatment, because what for ill-meant audacity is you- the writer, to offer something for diversity.
( /sarcasm intended. And please think for yourself why such behaviour is UNACCEPTABLE).
It does not matter, if you have an interesting story.
Unless you are lucky, and get the jackpot like that one person I followed.
Or unless you only create what they think the character should be like, and a lot of it.
(Or unless you are backed by a lot of people who love all you do.)
In all other cases - you are doomed to fail.
Here more about the characters.
Examples:
* Markus Pike is a sweetheart.
I saw a fic about a "bad "Marcus once. It had 42 notes. The usual amount of notes, that this same author was getting on their fics was about 800 and more.....
Next - The EQ 2 character.
Oh dear. I can talk about that for hours. Don't even get me started.....
He is usually perceived as rude and mean. And is always like 99,9 % always dominant. The mean, rude, heartless dominant kind of them.
He usually spits....on things, cheats his wife, bangs the babysitter, calls you a wh******, and he is possessive and all that.
And sometimes he is abuser and that kind of thing. And sometimes there are fics about him being submissive. And they allllll ( except some) are in some sort of Pit.
And that's it.
No other men on tumblr.'s fanfiction All Dominant. The rude kind. All into BDSM dynamic. That's it.
--
Side Note: I don't have problems with dominant characters!!!!! And I don't have problems with personal preferences and kinks.
I do however have problem with the lack of diversity. Because there is NO diversity.  
People from the dominant spectrum, come in varieties as  everyone else. Also people as a whole are different.
Lesson Unless you follow the unwritten rules of THAT writing fandom, you are doomed as new writer.
Or unless you get lucky...whatever you have, and get.
Have an genuine author need to write something out of love or whatever ?
You better be popular, or have a large friends and/or followers circle.
And last, but not least:
CLIQUES.
Cliques everywhere
Wanna genuine high-school rejection feeling?
You are on the right place.
So that's that.
If you did any of those, and you've succeeded, you are probably:
already in a writers friend circle and you "enjoy" fics and friendly talks with your writer friends
and/or are seen author.
Good for you. Congratulations for things working ot in your favour
----------Otherwise--------------
Welcome to The Void of The Ignored -- We don't have fun here.
-- Thank you for reading my observations and  for the utmost patience. Thank you for not getting offended by my cynicism and sarcasm. My intention is not to "offend".  I don't like to be rude.
But to point out things that need fixing
In conclusion -
I don't think that this way of behaviour is welcoming to new authors or authors who may have limitations - like social anxiety, sensory overload for one reason or another, or anything else on that note that makes it harder for them, to be authors under your ruler ship.
I personally won't ever post fan fiction online, especially in this community.
But if you, whoever read this all, think you can handle the rejection and the pain that comes with it - You are welcome to try.
Your time, your life.
And If you are lucky, you may have it better.
I however won't do that again. I only felt like my duty to leave a warning.
Because no one warned me, and I needed counseling because I got PTSD because of all that ( and not only). That's what they told me.
So my rating personally:
- 10000000 stars Would NOT recommend.
--
Disclaimer :
As I mentioned, that's how I was treated and what I saw. Also apparently, that's a standard way in which the writers on tumblr behave as a whole. ( by doing some research you find some very interesting and unsettling things. )
P:S I put so many disclaimers and side notes, because the last time I tried to states something politely, that was my opinion, and my feelings, with me being in a state of depression because of that "fine treatment" no one warned me about,  it was taken as "offense" - which it was not.
See my rules of online conduit and behaviour here. Ones I adhere to, and I never go against.
I believe in common courtesy, thank you.
I apologize, if that is too old-school to you.
That resulted in me being dumped by my EX-fave, content creator. Because their bestie got "offended", that they were no longer able to use my deleted content for their fic. And they were a heavy user of  my content. I wonder though, and what if I was the one who had 2000 followers, not the other way around....what it would be then?
And for the record - I DON'T PARTICIPATE IN friendship triangulation. Whoever wanted that, was NOT me.
--
Also - I won't tolerate to be "punished" for having an opinion.
One, stated in not rude manner. I ALWAYS try my best not to be rude.
But seriously, some people get offended, if you do not think like them, and that's childish at it's best.
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avelera · 9 months
Text
Man, having just written out how Pratchett writes Normal People as his protagonists and Gaiman writes Magical-by-Birth People as his protagonists, now all I can think of is what Pratchett would do with Hob Gadling's character.
Just, like... "Men of Good Fortune" in the original comic does not treat Hob kindly. The narrative is actually kind of nasty towards him being a Normal Guy. The show is lightyears away from that and Ferdie brings so much natural charm to the character, so it can be easy to forget this, but comic Hob really does receive sort of the brunt of some subtle classist attitudes, shown as coarse, rough, greedy, unpleasant, filthy, and disinterested in moral improvement until the far more aristocratically depicted Dream basically shoves it in his face that what he's doing is wrong.
But I'm first and foremost a Pratchett girlie at heart. I'd argue he's one of my most foundational authorial influences, I think I'm incapable of writing humor that isn't inspired by his comedy, and he was a formative influence on my personal morality with his strident egalitarianism.
Now, Pratchett isn't naive or bucolic about average, everyday people. He certainly doesn't say that normal people are never coarse, rough, greedy, unpleasant, filthy, and disinterested in moral improvement, but he says special people are too. No one is perfect in his world and being higher ranked definitely doesn't make anyone better than anyone else. Everyone is gray. Everyone is messy. And there is no absolute ideal of one-size-fits-all goodness other than minding how you go and not treating people as things (a gross simplification but I could wax poetic for hours on Pratchett's egalitarian morality).
Now for myself, I think one reason I fell in love with Hob Gadling's character is because he is such an unusual immortal character. He's not magical or aristocratic or in any way a superhero because of his longevity. He is Just A Guy who became immortal by chance and it takes him a long, long time to improve in even the smallest ways in terms of morality. Dream nudges him to examine his choices but we get the sense that Hob took it the rest of the way after that nudge and continued to improve as a person, not to saint-like levels necessarily, but resolving to move more mindfully through the world than he did before.
The narrative in the show is more gracious to him, allowing him a great deal more charm and more sympathetically implying that all of us could probably use a nudge at times to become better versions of ourselves, that it's not necessarily easy to do alone, but what's important is that upon receiving that nudge, we do try sincerely to change and improve, and might still fall short. The reimagining of Hob's character for the show feels much more mature overall than the comic source material, portraying in my opinion a more sympathetic and adult worldview.
The Hob Gadling we see in the show to me at least is a much more Pratchettian character in the sense that he is a Normal Person in an Extraordinary Situation. Now, I don't think Pratchett would necessarily go in a Dreamling direction, since Pratchett (like Gaiman) tends to shy away from Romance As Plot and he rarely focuses on it directly, at best it happens at the periphery in his stories. And in many ways I think he would treat Hob unsympathetically but it wouldn't be because of Hob's low origins. Pratchett just tends to have an even hand with making all of his characters ridiculous. No one is too high up or refined to avoid his satirical jabs. A Pratchettian Hob would probably not be the romantic hero that he's often portrayed to be in fanfiction (but then again, Aziraphale and Crowley were not the romantic heroes that fanfiction portrays them to be either when they were written by Pratchett).
Still, it must be said, that I find it fascinating to imagine what Pratchett's sensibilities would do if applied to our peasant-born immortal character who eventually, painfully, after over 500 years finally begins with a little help from a friend to bend his life towards trying to not be a complete shit head about how he operates in the world. I feel like it's a character that Pratchett would have a very unique spin on.
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wolfofansbach · 8 months
Text
Personal thoughts and meditations upon the occasion of the Riverdale series finale. 
Probably like four people are going to read this but I feel compelled to write it out anyway. This show has genuinely been a massive part of my life. I watched the first episode because some high school friends encouraged me to (IRONICALLY, BRO). I was in high school when I started this show. Those friends of course long ago fell away, unable to continue, unable to wacth anymore, but I have kept the faith. All seven seasons. Every. Single. Episode.
I’m not even entirely sure what captivated me so much about the show. I loved the atmosphere of season 1. I genuinely wanted to find out who killed Jason Blossom. Was genuinely fucked up by episode 1 x 12 and the first season finale.
I have such fond memories of watching the first season. I distinctly remember a road-trip I Tok with my friends the summer of 2017, and joking about  maple syrup drug empires and the “weirdo” line back when that was the wildest scene on the show. Joking about how sick of the song ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons (2017) we were. 
And then I decided to get involved in a fandom for the first time in a couple of years, and so I revived my old Tumblr, and I began Posting. And reading posts.  
That was my last summer after high school and I was so nervous about college but this show and this fandom helped me get through it. My freshman year I lived in a dorm, and if you wanted to watch TV you had to go down to this common room, so every Thursday I would go down there like an hour ahead of time and occupy the place to make sure the remote was in my hands by 7 PM. A few times I failed, and I missed an episode because of it. But rarely! 
I remember that slowly dawning feeling as season 2 progressed. Scrolling my Tumblr feed and slowly seeing people come to the realization: “wait…is it just me or does this show actually suck.” Was kind of frustrating at the time, realizing that the writers just like…were bad, but in retrospect? Beautiful. Incredible. Legendary. 
And you could even say that’s where the fun really began. Yes, there’s plenty to hate, but also Riverdale is brilliant. The show of all time. For real. No other show has done it like Riverdale. They just haven't, and they never will. The age of the cable television teen drama is ending, and what a hell of a last hurrah Riverdale has been.
The Red Circle. Jingle Jangle. The Gargoyle King. Edgar Evernever and his fantastic rocket. Bret Weston Wallis and Donna Sweett (genuinely cannot say their names without giggling). Jughead getting hit in the head with a rock and faking his death for like…some reason? I genuinely can’t remember, something to do with the Hardy Brothers idk. Tabitha sprinkling the devil with the tears of the Virgin Mary. The normies can laugh all they want about “epic highs and lows” but do they remember the even funnier lines like “if there’s no wedding, that means the gargoyle king has won” or “word of my exploits serving Nick his comeuppance…” THEY NEVER WILL. ONLY THE TRUE FAITHFUL UNDERSTAND. 
And is silly as it all was, I have genuine affection for these characters. Like Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Archie, Cheryl, Toni, actually mean a lot to me. YES they’re fake but I want the best for them (and for Beronica to be canon but you know we can’t win them all). I’m genuinely grateful that this show has existed and been a part of my life for the past six years. 
Moreover, I credit this show for seriously getting into writing. I’ve actually written almost a million words of Riverdale fanfiction. Much of it will never see the light of day, but it exists. Maybe I even have one or two left in me, I don’t know. At the very least I’d like to finish a few uncompleted fics. But I’ve also branched out. Since I started seriously writing in 2017, I’ve also finished several original manuscripts, and who knows, maybe one day I’ll get one published. Stranger things have happened. 
So, thanks Roberto.
And thanks to all of the very cool people I’ve run into in this fandom. I honestly wish I’d gotten to know most of you better, but them’s the breaks. Hopefully this isn’t weird but I’m going to tag a few people in particular. 
@village-skeptic. I know you’re not in the fandom anymore (lucky you), but thank you for, once upon a time, reading every one of the 200,000+ words of a 17-year-old kid’s turgid, indulgent, Riverdale Spanish Civil War fan fiction. I never, ever would have finished that story without you, and I credit it with giving me the confidence to keep writing, and in fact to write everything I’ve written since then. You’re brilliant and awesome. 
@satelliteinasupernova. Thank you for also reading Interbellum (are we noticing a pattern), and more importantly for all of your wonderful drawings. INCLUDING fanart of some of my fics. You have no idea how happy that Strange Death of Elizabeth Cooper piece made me. You rule. 
@sullypants. You were a perennial presence on my feed. Always wonderful to see. I love your taste in art, and I love those ‘penguin classics’ covers you made for a few of my fics. Thank you also for beta reading a few fics for me back in the glory days. And thank you for chatting with me a couple times over the years, including a few times when I was in quite unhappy places. 
@stillhidden. I’m not sure if we’ve ever actually talked, but you like or reblog everything I post and it makes me feel like I’m not just shouting into the void. Same goes for @frauleinfunf Thank God for dutiful mutuals. 
@sonyascomet. I can’t remember when I started following you but you have a really good sense of humor. And I’ll always remember when you kept posting about “Greg” for Succession and I, not knowing anything about Succession, kept imagining Greg Heffley. 
@stillhidden thank you for your world-weary Riverdale posts. You truly understand fandom like few others.
@halcooper. Your devotion to the neglected parents of Riverdale is truly admirable. Every time I see Lochlyn Munro in some weird low budget horror movie I’ll think of you.
I hope I didn’t forget anyone who would be offended by my forgetting, but I doubt it. 
All this to say this show has been a genuinely huge part of my life for six years. SIX YEARS. I graduated college, my God. I wish I could say I became a millionaire or a successful author in that time, but nah. Maybe one day, but for now I’m just kind of vibing. And unfortunately, I’ll have to vibe without Riverdale from now on. 
But as I sit myself down to watch the very last episode of this show, I remind myself that we’ll always have the memories. And I’ll always be an unapologetic Riverdale enjoyer. As a great man once said, snakes don’t shed their skins so easily. 
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sineala · 11 months
Note
Hi QQ - I was going through your comics reading lists (these are AMAZING THANK YOU, I've been reading Avengers since the 90s but was never great at keeping up with it consistently/linearly. My Q: Is there an issue where Tony *reacts* to Steve coming back to life after Civil War? There doesn't seem to be anything in Stark: Disassembled, or in the main Avengers run... after all the crying and angst post-CW, you'd think there'd be... something? A breakdown? Did I miss the issue where that happened?
Okay, so. This doesn't happen, because it can't happen, logistically speaking. The very end of Stark Disassembled, in fact, explains why this isn't happening. The tl;dr version is that we don't get a reaction from Tony -- at least, not a reaction in which he is meaningfully aware that Steve has actually come back to life in the way you want him to be aware of it -- because the time period covered by the brain deletion includes Tony's entire memory of Steve's death.
This is why fanfiction exists.
Having said that, you will also probably really enjoy Avengers/invaders if you have not read it, for reasons I will explain.
I have added several panels and some discussion of both of these subjects below the Read More.
So, at the end of World's Most Wanted (IIM #19), Tony deletes his brain to keep the SHRA database out of Norman Osborn's hands, because Osborn wants to find out people's identities (okay, probably mostly Spider-Man) and hurt them. Since Tony's brain is a computer now, thanks to Extremis, it's just a matter of... well, deleting his entire brain.
At this point in canon, Steve is still dead. Technically Tony should know this, but thanks to the amnesia (which progresses in severity throughout the arc), it seems possible that Tony has forgotten this as early as IIM #17:
Tumblr media
That doesn't seem like a guy who remembers Captain America is dead, is what I'm saying.
Anyway, at the end of #19, the last of the brain delete happens, Norman Osborn beats Tony's face in, and Tony falls into a coma.
The subsequent arc, Stark Disassembled (IIM #20-24) is about the process of bringing Tony back, healing him, and restoring his memory. He gets the RT implanted in his chest to control some of the autonomic functions of his brainstem, which is no longer functional. They also have to restore his memory, literally, from an earlier backup of his brain that Extremis made. Tony has left his friends instructions for how to do this.
In the middle of this, Steve comes back to life (in Captain America Reborn) and we see him in IIM #21 joining the rest of Tony's remaining friends in helping bring Tony back to consciousness:
Tumblr media
So Strange has to journey with Tony through Tony's mind and at one point everyone has to defeat Ghost, and that happens, and #24 is the end of the arc.
At the very end of #24 is when everyone learns that Tony's brain backup isn't as current as they would have liked it to be -- specifically because Tony's reaction to the news of Steve being alive isn't what it should have been if his memory were complete. Steve's talking with Tony's doctor, and the doctor tells Steve that he mentioned to Tony that Steve was around... and Tony didn't seem at all surprised to hear that Steve was alive again.
Tumblr media
Whoops.
Essentially, the backup of Tony's brain, that has now become Tony's current set of memories, was made before Steve died -- before Civil War even started. Fandom tends to assume it was probably made shortly after the initial Extremis installation. So Tony doesn't think it's surprising that Steve is alive again because, as far as Tony is subjectively concerned, Steve has always been alive. The last thing he remembers about Steve is that Steve was alive (and that they were running the New Avengers together and everything was happy), and when he wakes up, Steve is alive again, and so to Tony that seems fine. That seems normal. He doesn't remember Civil War. He doesn't remember Steve dying or Steve coming back. And he never will.
Now, this doesn't mean that Tony isn't upset about finding this out. He's very upset. In fact, the next (and final) page of #24 gives us Tony's reaction to reading all the news from the period of time he no longer remembers.
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So, yeah, Tony's not taking this well.
But Tony no longer has experiential memories of this period of time (Civil War). He doesn't know what it's like to see Steve alive again after Steve being dead because he doesn't have the memory of Steve being dead. We'll never get that reaction from him. This is what canon-divergent AU fanfiction is for, and there's a bunch of fic that brings Steve back early so we can all experience this. (I wrote one! That's what my fic Double Time was. A lot of fandom has written them, and they're not as popular a subject these days but there are a lot of classic 616 CW fix-it fics about this.)
(Also, weirdly, Tony's AI in Secret Empire has a conversation with Hydra Steve that strongly suggests that he, the AI, remembers The Confession. Which really shouldn't be possible; I suspect a lot of Marvel writers have actually forgotten the amnesia happens.)
With that having been said, Avengers/Invaders is absolutely the comic book you want to read because it is the closest you will ever get to canon giving you the thing you want. It's a 12-issue miniseries that takes place after Civil War, while Tony is still the Director of SHIELD and Steve is still dead.
So for complicated plot reasons that basically come down to "everyone is really sad that Steve is dead," they... get a Steve back. But not their Steve. He gets plucked right out of World War II and brought to the present, along with the rest of the Invaders. So Tony gets to meet a Steve who is alive while Tony remembers that Steve died.
Tony's reaction to the news of Steve being alive, here in Avengers/Invaders #1, is to lock himself in a room staring at pictures of Steve:
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Definitely psychologically healthy! We're doing great!
Actually, no, he's really not okay. He blames himself for Steve's death, and he is depressed and grief-stricken, and this situation is making him a lot worse. Because not only does this Steve not know him, they can't tell Steve (or any of the Invaders) anything. Since time-travel is involved, they can't give Steve any knowledge of the future. Tony can't tell Steve he knows him. Plus, Tony actually has to fight him to bring him in, which really messes Tony up.
In a scene that gets my vote for One of The Most Painful Things I Have Read In A Comic, there's a conversation Tony has with Steve in Avengers/Invaders #5. The Invaders have been assuming that this is actually some kind of secret Nazi trap, and so Tony has the job of sitting Steve down -- tying him to a chair, actually -- and telling him that, no, really, he's in the future, and sorry, he can't give him any details about it. He can't let Steve change the past.
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So Steve doesn't take this at all well.
Steve tells Tony he's wrong, and he correctly reads Tony as feeling guilty about something, and he looks at him and asks him, "Who'd you kill to get where you are?"
This is, of course, probably the absolute worst thing Tony could ever hear from Steve. Oh, the angst. I love it.
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Eventually Tony pulls himself together and tells him that, yeah, he got a friend of his killed and he feels guilty about it and he wishes he could change the past, but he can't, and so he can't let Steve change the past either.
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This is when this Steve starts to trust him.
Later on, there's a nice scene where Steve expresses sympathy for Tony, having been told about Civil War -- it must have been hard for Tony to do what he thought was right, Steve says -- but it's clear he doesn't know any of the details and he certainly doesn't know it was him and none of this can be the absolution Tony wants, but it's the closest thing he's going to be able to get.
And of course, after World's Most Wanted, Tony doesn't remember any of this either -- he doesn't remember anything about Civil War or the period afterward, until he wakes up right after Steve comes back. So this is also all gone.
So, yeah. You can't get exactly what you want in canon, but you can read a bunch of fanfiction about it, and you should really read Avengers/Invaders. Hope that helps!
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ReLife Drabble
I have been taken ahold by this prompt from @dat1angel. It has me in its grips currently (and may or may not be distracting me from other things I should be doing) I can't stop think about it.
I will say I have never wrote a full fanfiction by myself, though I have co-wrote and beta'd fic before, so who knows if I will actually finish this, but I have already planned it out to through the fist death loop. So y'all will at least get up until then, even if it's slow coming cause finals season and then I'm going out of country for a bit.
Anyways here's a lil drabble of what I have so far:
“Here we go again.” Jimmy thought disparagingly as he looked around the clearing that everyone was waking up in after suddenly being transported there. He had just been swimming with the cod in his empire when a purple glow began to surround him, causing him to pass out only to wake up in whatever game the Watchers have in store for them this time. Looking around the clearing Jimmy recognized the 13 other faces with him, noticing that the Watchers chose to drag the cast from that time they had soulmates in these games back. 
Standing up as everyone else began to orientate themselves as to being in the games once again, a loose circle formed while attention started to turn towards Grian to find out what the catch was this time around. “While we all understand that what happens in these games is ‘no harm, no foul,’ there is still some tension between us from Double Life, even though we’ve had games since then. So They have brought us all back together to ‘fix’ it. I can tell that there is something else They want to achieve, though They are not giving any details. Other than that there is no gimmick this time around, a new world with borders as usual and just normal 3rd Life rules…”
While Grian was explaining the ins and outs of the three life system in case anyone had forgotten, Jimmy’s mind began to wander, thinking about why they were dragged here once more. “The Watchers can claim it’s to ‘fix’ the tension leftover from Double Life, but if that was truly the case, why wasn’t Lizzie here? Or Mumbo? Or Zed? Or really just anyone who was also affected by the relationships that were formed during Double Life even if they weren’t in the games themselves. Most of the tension afterwards came from those that were on the outside not understanding the games and the situations we were put in. And even then, most relationships have come to some agreement or understanding over what happened and the new bonds formed. Barely any tension was still held between players, though in some cases like Mumob, Scar and Grian trust was having to be rebuilt. But overall it doesn’t make much sense to bring just the Double Life players back to ‘fix’ themselves, without any gimmicks. And this secret motive Grian could sense, what could that be-?”
“And with that the game has begun. The grace period is over and any damage taken from this point on can and will result in consequences. Welcome to ReLife.” Grian’s explanation of the game comes to an end, drawing Jimmy back into the conversations around him as people split off to begin gathering resources while the sun is still up. Breaking off from everyone else, Jimmy began to collect some wood, basic tools, and easy food. Looking for a surface cave that hasn’t been claimed yet, he was still caught in thought by what the Watchers want from them. “He’s a champion of the Listeners for Aeor’s sake! He understands Their motives somewhat. Watchers like entertainment and feed off of high emotions, though They like chaos and other negative ones the best. They wouldn’t want the tension from Double Life to be resolved so what could this secret motive be?” 
Coming across a small cave opening in a hill he could spot a bit of surface iron and coal. Figuring this is as good as he’s gonna get, seeing as most of the good caves are probably claimed, Jimmy jumps on into the small opening to gather a bit of coal for torches before setting up a spot with furnaces and tackling gearing up. After about fifteen minutes of mining the visible iron without exploring too deep into the cave he figures he’s collected enough iron for a few tools and maybe a piece or armor or two. Turning around he heads back to his furnaces to take a small break while everything begins to smelt. Hearing footsteps approach, he begins to turn around when a voice calls out.
“Hi Jimmy!” Scott’s voice drifts through the cave opening. Fully turning around he sees his husband smiling down at him as Scott continues to mirror the same greeting he gave so many years ago in the first game. “Of all people I find it’s you.” Climbing down to join him in the cave, Jimmy can’t help but smile at his husband’s soft laughter at how they were brought together once again. 
“Out of all people I run into first Petal, it’s you. How are you holding up? I haven’t gotten much gear yet, been running across the surface for so long looking for either people or a place to settle first.” 
“I’m doing okay. I kind of just wandered off looking for a cave without anyone in it, needing to think, but I’ve found enough iron for some tools and maybe a few pieces of armor. They’re smelting right now, but maybe we can split it?” He saw a soft but concerned look cross Scott’s eyes at his words.
“If you’re offering, I wouldn’t mind having some for a few pieces of gear, maybe a shield? I’m sure we can find more to be enough for both of us if we go deeper into the caves. But Petal, what’s got you stuck in your head so much that you went looking to be alone?” His voice conveyed nothing but concern and care for the other.
“Its just that Secret Life ended not too long ago, it’s too soon to be in the games again. Plus They like our suffering! Find it entertaining! Why do they want us to ‘fix’ our relationship issues after Double Life?” He began pacing, voicing his frustration a little louder as he got worked up. “And this ‘something else’ that Grian could sense. What is it? What secret agenda do They have? With no gimmicks this time around to add onto, it can’t be entertaining enough for Them to actually feed! And with my curse of being first out everytime, I know that I probably won’t be around long enough to get answers.” Towards the end of his rant, the frustration in his voice turned to tears as Scott came up to hug him. 
“While I don’t have answers for you Petal, you’re not cursed. You have bad luck Jimmy and sometimes these guys don’t make it easy for you.” Reaching into his inventory, Scott pulled out a very familiar flower, “With the circumstances being so familiar as all those years ago, I promise that this time I won’t become a widow and you will make it to the end. That is if you’ll marry me again, Love?” Scott asked, breaking the hug and extending the poppy in his hands towards Jimmy.
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