#that is Not a phrase you just fucking throw around because you dislike someone

[imtotallyokandnormal]

》☆Proxy Info!☆《

Sooo because I felt like dumping all of my brainrot in one place I'm gonna talk about the personalities of some of the creeps in my au!

Sorry in advance for how long these are, I put em under the cut so you can save yourself the scrolling.

(Links to images in titles and dividers by this person!)

》☆Jeff the Killer☆《

Basic info:

Full name: Jeffrey Hodek Woods

Age: 21

Pronouns: he/him (according to him, "I dunno, the guy ones I guess?")

Gender identity: Male

Orientations: Bisexual, demiromantic (openly bi but doesn't know what being demiromantic is)

Height: 6'0"

Likes: Slipknot, spicy food, dogs (cats too but only sometimes), horror and action movies, cartoons from his childhood, being annoying on purpose, working out.

Dislikes: Being touched without asking, complete silence, people with all bark and no bite, weird smells (especially strong chemical smells).

Extra: Jeff is Italian-American, as an homage to the original Jeff Hodek :>

Personality info:

Due to a rough childhood AND generally just being pretty fucked over by life, Jeff has a habit of acting reallyyyy tough and cocky. He doesn't like to sugarcoat things often, so he sometimes comes off as overly blunt.

He carries himself as a very confident guy, someone who will usually say what's on his mind whether people like it or not. This doesn't NECESSARILY mean he's a bully about it, but it doesn't mean he's always thinking about the nicest way to phrase things. Obviously this means he'll often speak his mind when it's COMPLETELY not a good idea, and he will often be stubborn about standing his ground.

He can have strong opinions on things, just for the sake of having strong opinions. He will die on a hill just to prove himself right. The Operator kinda fucking hates him honestly dgjudgdgiohf

Despite his brazen nature, he can be fairly friendly and fun to be around once you get to know him. He's spontaneous and very passionate when he gets into the spirit of something. When he sets his mind so something he goes barreling for it at full speed.

He's also INCREDIBLY loyal, like if he's decided he likes someone it'll be hard to make him dislike them. He's got your back, no questions, no caveats. He's kinda like a guard dog when he's friends with someone, like as soon as he hears someone shit-talking them he's ready to fucking throw down.

He's also very smart, quick on his feet with things and has a very good sense of logic. He might not have a specific field he's especially focused in like EJ, but as far as pure logic goes he's one of the smarter proxies in the manor. That's why The Operator bothers to keep him around, because otherwise it'd probably dispose of him just because it finds him annoying 😭😭😭

Appearance info:

Instead of only fire-related burn scars (which he still has a lot of), Jeff also has a lot of chemical burns, and healed scars of varying sizes all over his body. His smile cuts are healed, but are the most obvious cuts on his body. His body/face aren't white, but are instead his natural skin tone (kind of a warm beige, obviously varies in his scars). He also doesn't have a fully reconstructed nose, like he has kind of a bridge but it doesn't look like his original nose.

He's got a kinda sexy biker/emo band member aesthetic going on, like band tees cut into tank tops and black cargo pants are his go-tos. He also likes to wear regular tank tops that fit him snugly because he's a little bit of a show-off and likes to flaunt his muscles. He doesn't usually accessorize way too much, he usually just has a belt and spikey/studded wrist cuffs, probably some leather fingerless gloves too. When he's not wearing a hooded jacket-flannel combo he has a beat up leather jacket on. He obviously wears converse cuz he's emo but also big chunky combat boots that add almost 2 inches to his already towering height. Definition of unnecessary intimidation. He's also got piercings! Both ear and facial ones because he's hot. Definitely some tattoos too.

He has long thick hair that he dyes black (fucking emo I'm telling you) and it has tons of choppy layers that he cuts himself. He usually either keeps it down or throws it up in a ponytail (it looks a little like a big spiky pom-pom :3). He likes to experiment with his hair, he tends to just change his hairstyle on a whim if he's bored (keep him away from the kitchen scissors for the love of god he always uses the worst tools for cutting his hair). His hair tends to just naturally be messy so he doesn't usually put product in it.

As for makeup and nails, he somehow does so little and it enhances so much. All he does is put some black eyeshadow right around his eyes, rubs it around and boom, done. His nails are also painted black usually, and almost always chipped.

》☆BEN Drowned☆《

Basic info:

Full name: Benjamin Jacob Lawman

Age: 14 (does not age past this due to being dead)

Pronouns: he/they ("they is fine too I guess" *secret gender feelings unlocked*)

Gender identity: Male (...? He'll figure it out later)

Orientations: Does not know, does not care ("if someone's hot then they're hot I dunno- can I get back to my minecraft build now?")

Height: 4'2"

Likes: Video games, especially the LoZ games (who would've guessed), anything related to internet horror, hanging out with the older proxies, junk food, EDM, animals, bugs and tardigrades.

Dislikes: Being bossed around, comments about how young he is, valley girl accents, being alone too much, baths and pools.

Extra: Ben wanted to be a limnologist when he was still alive.

Personality info:

Now Ben is a 14 year old boy, not just for a year but for all of eternity as he knows it. He's not exactly gonna be HAPPY about this fact, because he still has some leftover young teenager angst to work through. Part of that angst includes not being taken seriously by everyone else in the manor because he's wayyy younger than everyone else.

To combat this Ben tends to try and copy mannerisms he sees in the "cooler" proxies (mainly Jeff since he's closest with him), so he tends to act sarcastic and snarky when in front of adults.

He's impulsive, especially if how he's perceived by others is on the line, so he's definitely doing dumb shit with the older proxies to make them think he's cool like racing stolen shopping carts or attempting (and failing) to prank The Operator, which just gets him in trouble.

He tends to keep to himself unless he's around people he's friends with, preferring to play video games and not having to interact with people. To him, it's better to just stay inside and distract himself than go out and let people comment on how young he is constantly.

There are parts of him that still remain from when he was alive, though. These traits especially come out around Sally, who he sees as a little sister. He understands how much it sucks to be dead so young, so he doesn't want it to suck as much for her.

He's patient with her if she can't figure out certain things, and tries to explain it in ways she'd understand. He's almost like a teacher in the way he does it, like he starts broad and narrows it down little by little until she gets it. This is how he teaches her things like ecology (one of his favorite science subjects by the way).

He's also good at telling how people are feeling, how people act if they feel certain ways. He's good at recognizing those kinds of patterns, and while he doesn't always openly try to help he tends to do it in more quiet ways. If you receive an anonymous candy bar at your door with a little sticky note on it saying "get better soon, dum-dum" no you didn't.

Also he doesn't mind being made fun of for his height as much as he minds the age thing, and often likes to use it to his advantage by climbing on people if they try to be comedians about it.

Appearance info:

To nobody's surprise, Ben loves the LoZ games, so obviously if he has the ability to cosplay Link all the time every day he's gonna take it. Ghosts can kind of shapeshift in a way if they're in their incorporeal state, so he absolutely goes apeshit. He gave himself the long blonde hair and the big ol elf ears and one of the cool Link outfits, but upon realizing he'd be picked on for his appearance he later he decides to abandon the outfit and switch to "cooler clothes." He also gave himself the bleeding black and red eyes because he thought it looked badass.

Clothing style? 90s teenage dirtbag mixed with gamer bro that hasn't seen the sun in ages. Big baggy pants with a big baggy LoZ shirt and a neutral colored flannel (probably has holes in it) is his default outfit, but also regular sweats and a t-shirt works just fine. Everything he owns is in a desaturated earthy color scheme, especially green because of fucking course. If it's not a variation of green, beige or brown it's probably black because he's gotta subtly let himself cosplay Link if he can't have the full Link outfit. He usually wears converse or vans, and pairs them with the weirdest funky mismatched socks you've ever seen in your life. Usually wears a beanie to compensate for the Link hat but sometimes he feels comfortable enough wearing it around his friends.

His hair is grown out and also kinda messy, but that isn't on purpose he just genuinely doesn't bother styling it most of the time. If he does do something with it it's a half up half down kinda deal, and the ponytail part is very small because some parts of his hair aren't the same lengths (unintentional layering basically). He has bangs and two long framing pieces, always sticking up and sideways every-which-way. Only ever lets Jeff or Nina touch his hair to style it because those two are basically his siblings, plus he knows they won't fuck him up on purpose.

He does let Nina paint his nails and dress him up sometimes but he absolutely does not want ANY makeup on his face....unless Sally is doing it but NOBODY ELSE CAN DO IT.

》☆Toby Rogers☆《

Basic info:

Full name: Toby Erin Rogers

Age: 20

Pronouns: he/they (*Thinks about it for a good 20 seconds as if he's only just considered this now* "Ehhhhhh...yeah- but also no.")

Gender identity: Demigender/demiboy ("Not like a guy, but guy...adjacent, I guess?")

Orientations: Pansexual, panromantic (calls himself gay for the funnies, but also because he is very gay)

Height: 5'8"

Likes: Playing guitar (he plays acoustic guitar specifically), doing dumb shit with his friends, going on walks in the forest, anything midwest emo.

Dislikes: People assuming he's weak/stupid, sudden loud noises, chalk, alcohol, being unable to help people he cares about.

Extra: Toby can fit about two packages worth of peeps in his mouth at once.

Personality info:

Toby has been through SHIT, even before becoming one of the proxies. He's been bullied for shit he couldn't control his whole life and has been isolated from the world just to get away from being constantly ridiculed (not to mention the abuse and death of the only person he could fully trust), so I think he'd actually like being around people that'd understand him in that way.

He's a lot more open around the proxies because at least THESE people could understand feeling outcasted, right? So even though it takes a while (quite a long while, had to learn he could trust the others first), he eventually lets himself be the goofy, impulsive, free kid he never really got to be.

When you get to know him and he knows he can trust you, he's really fucking considerate. Honestly probably the MOST considerate person in The Manor, like as much as he jokes around he genuinely cares deeply about the friends he has and he can be SO sweet. He's also very loyal, a little bit of a guard dog like Jeff but he's just a TINY bit more subtle about it.

He's the FUNNIEST person in the room, like he can make a joke out of almost any situation and he incorporates his awkwardness to enhance the humor. He's definitely gotten a little better about his awkward tendencies since first starting as a proxy, but sometimes he slips up on a social cue or something and he's generally able to be lighthearted about it. He does tend to crack jokes about his tics, especially if they happen with good comedic timing.

But make no mistake, as great as he is, he is so deeply, internally so filled with ready-to-go rage. As soon as his friends are fucked with it's almost like flipping a switch. He IS one of The Operator's top proxies for a reason, and he will show you said reasons. His anger starts quiet, a glare at whoever pissed him off, a tight grip on their shoulder or wrist. From there, if he's provoked further, he's not holding shit back.

He also has deep and complicated issues with trust, to the point that at times he's scared of trusting his own friends. He doesn't like being unable to trust people he cares about, especially since most of them are pretty much his family now. But for him sometimes it's hard not to be paranoid.

When this happens, or he feels any kind of overwhelming emotion, he tends to isolate himself until it passes. His tics tend to get worse when he's feeling a ton of stress, especially his motor tics, so he prefers riding them out in private. As much as the others tend to be perfectly chill about his tics, sometimes he prefers to just be alone if he can help it.

Appearance info:

Toby's still got his cheek gash in this au, but he's also got a bunch of other knicks and bruises from various things. Due to his CIPA he tends to bump into things and not notice if they've left a bruise so after a while he just sees it and goes "??? How'd that get there?" Along with that he's got a lil bit of facial hair, not anything that forms like a beard or mustache but enough to be kinda fuzzy. And BIG dark circles, he does not sleep.

This guy literally has two modes: Literal Marietta Song As A Person, or Slut. No in between. Guy is a walking talking Weezer album, a total Joyce Manor enjoyer. And when he's not that he's all the members of Måneskin at once, for funsies.

No but seriously he does have the aesthetic of literally any image that comes up when you type Midwest Emo on Pinterest most of the time. I'm talking huge grandpa sweaters, sometimes cardigans, earthy colored flannels, t-shirts over long-sleeved shirts, beat up pair of converse (or beat up pair of boots), the works. Similar to Ben, his clothes tend to have earthy tones but definitely incorporate more brown. He also likes to mix it up with orange and dark blue, especially if he has dark blue jeans. A lot of his clothes have patches that he learned to sew on himself (Jane helped him out a little). And any accessories he has are likely things he's gotten from other people, such as a bracelet Sally made or some fingerless gloves Nina doesn't wear anymore. But what about his Slut mode you ask? Look up Damiano David. You'll understand. He has a pair of sexy red cowboy boots hiding in his closet and he's waiting for an excuse to use em.

His hair is literally the cutest grown out mullet you've ever seen in your life, literally so fluffy and it swoops out at his neck. He cut himself some bangs with help from Jeff (more like Jeff forced his help on him because he knew Toby was gonna do it WAY too short). He likes to fluff it up with some hair mousse and sometimes uses one of Nina's many curling and straightening irons to really add volume.

Toby likes having his nails painted by OTHER people rather than himself so he lets Sally or Nina or Jeff paint them for him. He likes to try out different colors, he really just lets em go crazy. For makeup he usually doesn't wear any, but occasionally he'll let Nina give him a makeover to practice new makeup looks on him. He always looks hot afterwards (thought he was hot before too).

》☆Sally Williams☆《

Basic info:

Name: Sally Maryam Williams

Age: 8 (does not age past this due to being dead)

Pronouns: she/her ("Oh! Ben and Nina taught me about this!")

Gender identity: Female

Orientations: Does not know, just loves everybody ("Uhm- well girls are really pretty- but boys are pretty too! Everyone's pretty!- oh, except for Ben." *mischievous smirk*)

Height: 3'9"

Likes: Ben and Nina, creative activities (like painting or making crafts), reading books, collecting various objects, dressing up, cats, visiting cemeteries.

Dislikes: Unfamiliar people (especially men), losing things, being alone, having her hair touched/brushed (unless Ben/Nina), yelling.

Personality info:

Despite everything that Sally has gone through, she is an incredibly joyful, optimistic kind of kid at heart. She makes her own happiness as a way to keep herself feeling safe, and her efforts spread to other people in the manor.

She's generally friendly to everyone in the manor but won't outright go talk to anyone by herself unless it's Ben or Nina. Those two are the only people she fully trusts being alone around, so she'll usually be following or pulling one of those two along. She is very extroverted and gets most of her energy from being around others, but she needs a little encouragement when spending time with people she's not familiar with.

Once she does know you and trust you enough though, expect her to chat your ear off and ask you to do things with her. Once you're her friend she'll treat you like she's known you her whole life. She's really sweet and likes to give people gifts, especially stuff she makes herself. She's also the type to get into mischief with you (as long as Ben gets to go too of course). She's very talkative and asks everyone how their day's been, because she's genuinely curious.

Adding onto that, she loves to learn things, like anything that has information will probably pique her interest. She tends to ask people questions, anything that she thinks they might know (Ben might have to pull her away once the other person's tired of answering, she's just got a lot of things to ask).

Although she's a very sweet girl and loves being around people, she can clam up very easily if she's faced with something that scares her. Not a lot of things get to her, but one big thing that immediately gets her panicked is getting lost or being left alone (specifically if she doesn't know someone's nearby, she's usually fine in her room by herself). Once she realizes she's away from someone familiar she's quick to get panicked. Depending on the circumstances she might run away or try to fight off people trying to help her. While this is rare, it does happen.

Similar to Toby, she has trouble processing big emotions. For her, anger and fear are really hard for her to control, so she tends to run away and isolate herself when she feels they're getting too strong for her to handle. Being a ghost, sometimes her handle on her physical form gets harder to maintain when she's upset, so she'll most likely be incorporeal when she's dealing with really rough things. She hates feeling these things, she doesn't like having people see her like that, which just makes her feel ashamed of herself afterwards.

Luckily, Nina is especially patient with her when this happens, so after she's calmed down enough she'll go to Nina to decompress. She's really glad to have someone help her and love her, she's so grateful she has family to fall back on.

Appearance info:

Since Sally's a ghost and can basically customize herself, she usually makes herself look like a version of herself when she was alive. The only differences would be things she wished she had when she was alive, like long hair down to her knees and eyes that change color with her emotions (because who DIDN'T want that as a kid). Depending on the day she might change little things for fun, like giving herself cat ears or a unicorn horn. She doesn't have the focus or energy for making big changes (otherwise she'd always be looking like a magical girl with a rainbow color pallette and angel wings).

She LOVES having all sorts of clothes and dressing up because it lets her express how she feels and what she likes. Her clothes are usually very girly, ranging from princess dresses to jumpers to monster high and barbie t-shirts to every kind of skirt known to man. Though sometimes she likes to sort of copy Ben's style, wearing overalls over an mlp shirt and a flannel and beanie to pull it all together. Honestly if she likes you or thinks you're cool she'll try to dress like you at least once.

The only consistency with Sally's hair is that it's almost always long, otherwise she goes nuts styling it different ways. Her and Nina are always doing cute hairdos, Nina helps her braid it or do pigtails or whatever Sally feels like. She loves doing different bang styles, she's always got those lil kids scissors with her in case she wants to chop herself some bangs (it's ok she'll get better at it). Basically it changes depending on how she's feeling, just like her clothing styles.

ACCESSORIZES TO THE MOON SHE LOVES ACCESSORIES ABD SHE INTENDS ON USING AS MANY AS POSSIBLE. Makeup and nails? Obviously! She often likes to do it with Nina in the mornings. Don't forget colorful clip in hair extentions too! Her closet is full of as many things she can get her hands on and she couldn't be happier about it.

#this was really really fun to write i hope you guys like my take on these guys so far! #so far i put in the people I've been thinking the most about for this au since i had the most ideas for them #but there will be more to come! #normal aus! #creepypasta au #creepypasta sally #creepypasta #creepypasta jeff the killer #creepypasta jtk #creepypasta ben drowned #creepypasta toby #jeff the killer #ben drowned #toby rogers #sally williams #proxy #slender proxy

[thesmpisonfire]

(Part.2 of Agent 03 Dapper-napping, Cellbit's nightmares :>>>>>>>) - :>

Does Cellbit Dream of Agent 3?

Well yes, but it's complicated. He does, though those memories are so mixed in with his other traumas that it's more of a tangled web than anything tangible. He tends to never sleep long enough to get nightmares. Never really reaching rem sleep and so never really getting time to dream. He couldn't care less to remember his dreams because they keep him up at night and being traumatized that badly just makes you want to forget more than anything else. Sometimes he can sleep but usually in the comfort of others that make his dream state far less likely to become a nightmare.

Yet, nightmares still do happen. He's gotten very good at waking himself up from bad dreams. But sometimes the dreams feel a little too real. He knows what his trauma nightmares are like. The fragmented walls of his prison cell, the cold isolation of that island. The prison-like feel of this new island. That bears fucking face. But his nightmares in the white walls of the federation, don't fit the theme. They don't seem like nightmares at all, just strange re-tellings of a regular day of an office worker. The horrible sensation of a mask being too tightly woven to your face. Clothes that fit a little too well to be comfortable. Sensations that you know dreams can't recreate this well unless it's happened to you before.

The masked faces of your fellow workers, a few of them, in dreams past, but in this dream, there's only one. He walks up to you, says some gibberish, distorted by the dream, but you know you disliked what he said. Actually you know you hate him, well, you dislike working with him at least or that he hates you for some reason. It's hard to tell exactly why, just that is inherently there. He's not in a mask like you are, just himself, painfully so.

"So are you going to tell me my mission or no?" You hear yourself say.

"Yes, dickhead be fucking patient." He's angrier than usual, which is not saying much considering that's how he always is.

"Language," You taunt. You know how much he hates that phrase. He flips you off, You smile behind your mask, careful not to laugh or make a noise.

"Language my ass again and I'm sending you to the nearest fucking ocean to drown."

"Considering you can't do this task yourself says a lot about your capabilities to perform that threat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~." He throws a book at you, you catch it flawlessly. He flips you off as he mumbles insults about you to himself as he walks away. You don't react and simply read the mission you've been given. You really have no clue why he dislikes you. Maybe he hates the other you? Well you're not meant to dabble about your other self much, risks of merging are possible should you both try and discover too much about the other. Messing with memories is finicky, and so you take precautions to keep those memories in line. Yet this coworker is so irresponsible considering your delicate situation. You plan to taunt him about it should you see him again. Carefully taking the book into your office and turning to the singular page of written text.

Please acquire The Fabergé Egg labeled '04' also known as 'Dapper' by the residents of Quesadilla Island. Please transport '04' to one of the designated locations for retransfer. Make sure to perform the prep for memory wipe Type A1.

'Dapper' Notes of Acquisition

Egg '04' is known to sleepwalk outside of protected areas. You are considered one of his Trusted Tíos.

A simple enough task. You hope this Dapper doesn't mind a few more nightmares in his life.

The Castle is quiet. How you like it. Far too grand for you, a simple fed worker. Yet it's where your other self spends his time, so you get acquainted with his home. You wait for Dapper's name to wander during the night. Keeping a careful eye on your map as you walk silently around the castle. Strange, messy and far too dark for your liking. You hear someone sleeping above, who you don't know. Vaguely you remember a 'husband', your 'husband'? ugh- No not your husband... his husband, his husband. Not yours, never yours, emotions are failure points. You were taught well.

It's not too long till Dapper's name appears, and soon after he wanders off. You track his name on the map carefully. He's obviously sleepwalking or at least still waking up from his sleep. A good time to catch him off guard, if he wasn't wandering around the farms of his caretaker's base. You do know that the cameras can't see you properly and that perception of you is distorted. But you can't help but be careful anyway. As you walk closer to your target, he doesn't notice you get closer.

It's easy and quick to stab it with a needle. To see him go completely unconscious and quickly pick up the thing as you locate the drop off point. The eggs aren't too heavy, the same as a small child. More awkward to carry than anything. Especially as you keep an eye out for any followers. The elevator flooshes and you set down the egg on the warp plate you find. Carefully following and destroying the plate as you pass. The egg slightly moves, waking up slightly sooner than you'd hope. So you hurry it along.

"Dapper, Follow me," You say grabbing the wrist of the egg, pulling it along. It listens though it's scared but it hears your voice and calms itself. It's not too far from the drop off point now. Quickly grabbing your keycard and swiping it in one clean motion.

You didn't do that. You didn't do that. You remind yourself you did none of this. You remind yourself this is not you. You remind yourself you don't work for the federation. You remind yourself this is all a dream. You are not part of the federation. You left us, and all that remains is me. You are not me. You are you and I am me. Remember this is all a dream Agent 03. All a dream. Remember that he is Agent 03, and you are Cellbit. Remember to not remember. Remembering is the first sin of being Agent 03. You cannot remember.

You did none of this.

Cellbit.

Cellbit.

Cellbit.

Cellbit.

Cellbit.

Cellbit.

"Cellbit? Gatinho? Estas bien?" He feels his heart beat way too fast, the sweat that's swelling from his skin and goosebumps piling up. The feeling of that deep empty hopelessness eating at his soul. Yet he also feels the soft embrace of another, who holds him tight in a hug. Who keeps him here in reality, whose warmth keeps him from falling even deeper into despair.

"Sí, when you're here, guapito," giving a short sweet kiss to his love. "Just a another nightmare."

"Voy a matar a la próxima persona que tormenta en tus sueños. Pendejo."

"No le mates a nadie. It's fine, guapito. The nightmares just happen." Another kiss tucked between the words. The nightmare feels farther away now. Less real as you sink into reality with your guapito. Your husband keeps you grounded. And those nightmares aren't real.

Those nightmares aren't real...

YEAAAHAHAAAA YESSSS OMG NONNIE. THIS ONE IS SO GOOD OMG

#qsmp #cellbit #agent 03 au

[cosmicjoke]

what was that anon talking abt about how eruri shippers are white supremacists or the ship is tied into white supremacy? I dont like the ship either but I've never seen that (im not saying it doesnt exist or that I dont believe them at all, I'm just curious). Can you please elaborate if you know what they were referring to? /genq

On a different subject- just some constructive criticism, your response to that anon left a really bad taste in my mouth because you made your dislike of a random ship about how the Evil Gays are trying to "advance their agenda" through gay shipping...I get what youre trying to say but that is a REALLY loaded phrase in relation to gay issues, as were several other phrases you used, for example, saying gay shippers are delusional, biased, and self centered for projecting their sexualities onto characters. I also hate when ppl misunderstand characters canon relationships and try to pretend their fanon ships are supported by canon. I also hate eruri bc personally I just do not like the ship. But blaming gay people for it is more than a little fucked up lol like you could just say you hate eruri without dragging all gay people into it and making this statement about how the gays are evil for experiencing fandom in a way that you dont like. ESPECIALLY since straight people never have to worry about representation, while a lot of queer ppl "project" their sexualities onto canon characters due to a LACK of that representation. I'm sorry but someone saying "I think Levi is gay" LITERALLY does not hurt you at all, while it might be extremely validating and beneficial to somebody else. If you want to make posts critically analyzing AoT and discussing aspects of the fandom you don't like, you also have to analyze your own biases and how they might affect your posting.

I don't know what they're referring to, as I said. I've never seen any "white supremacy" in the eruri fandom. People love to throw that term around. They love to see racism everywhere.

Look, I'm going to get blunt here, because this is basically the second time in as many weeks that I've been criticized for using general language when referring to a general group, and accused of targeting a specific group. That's an assumption on your part because you're looking to be offended.

When I say "they" and "them", I'm talking about shippers IN GENERAL. ANY SHIP. Not just "gay" shippers or "gay" ships. And I'm not talking about shippers as a whole, but the ones who attack others for not accepting their ship as canon. And when I say people are projecting themselves onto these characters, again, I'm referring to people in general who do this. Whether that's their sexual orientation, or gender identity, or whatever. People project all the time, and then want to force their view of these characters, super-imposed with their own, personal traits, down everyone else' throats. I'm talking specifically about the group of fans who attack everyone and anyone who doesn't accept their headcanon version of these characters as canon. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You do.

I never blamed gay people for anything, ffs. I never said gay people are "evil". What's "fucked up" is you putting words in my mouth that I never said and then accusing me of being homophobic based on these made up words. I never said people calling Levi gay is hurting me, either. I said focusing on his sexuality and making his sexuality the most essential aspect of his person when discussing his character is distracting and potentially leads to bad interpretation because it literally has no bearing ON his character. His sexual orientation is irrelevant to who he is. People who make their entire identity about who they want to have sex with or who they're attracted to will often project that onto fictional characters, and then get mad at anyone who doesn't do the same. You're doing it right now. And when said characters sexuality has nothing to do with who they are as a character, doing this is harmful to ones ability TO UNDERSTAND said character.

I'm not biased toward gay people. Again, that's all you making assumptions because you want to be offended.

And I don't hate eruri. How hard is it for you to read? I've stated multiple times, in multiple different ways, that I've both written and read countless eruri fics. Some of my favorite AoT fics are eruri and it's the ship I primarily engage with when reading AoT fic. But I guess you just missed that little detail. Convenient for you, since it doesn't support your desire to see me as some homophobic bigot who's insensitive to the gays.

But whatever, I guess.

#idiot anons at it again #anon asks #tw discourse

[certified-anakinfucker]

7, 11, 12, 21, 33, 34, 41, 45, 51 - For my favorite Kingpin, Kovapaqe 💖 (I picked a lot so you don't have to answer them all if you don't want to 👉🏻👈🏻)

HI ELIZA!!! look at the two of us. taking solid months to ponder our blorbos

(from the weirdly specific asks)

7: What would you (mun) yell in the middle of a crowd to find them? What would their best friend and/or romantic partner yell? As mun - KOVAPAQE IS AN EGGHEAD (to which he will whip around and yell 'THE FUCK?')

His best friend - The hunter Unihmawa, or better known as the Cavern Maw, uses a call and response tactic. "Kala 'kolo kuuwa?" → "Siiirok!" (It should be noted that failure to respond is allowing a full-scale search and rescue op.)

Rhysaa - All she has to say is his name, or any pet name they share. He will materialize out of thin nothingness to be at her side.

11: If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference? Kova's neat trick is how most of his nervous ticks are done physically behind his back, or they are otherwise hidden by his armor. Worrying this hands behind his hand, clenching and unclenching his jaw/grinding his teeth under his helmet, balling his toes up in his boots. You'd have to strip him bare just to be able to tell.. and only the real Kovapaqe would agree to do that. A pretender would only know his fiercely murderous Kingpin bravado, refusing to bend for any force, responding to insolence with violence.

12: What's something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific! Remembering the time he laughed at Rhysaa for wading hip-deep into a mud pit to retrieve her escaped jetpack.. and then in order to escape a particularly angry mama, he had to run chest-deep into the same mud pit. Number one event of make Kova start cracking up uncontrollably every time it crosses his mind - he swears he still hasn't been able to clean out all that muck ever since.

21: What common etiquette do they disagree with? Do they still follow it? He doesn't think Hutts should be bowed to, as they've done no real work to earn their keep as a fat fuck up on a throne. They're just scheming and conniving, using other bodies for their bidding. But sure, he plays along, though he makes it very clear he is unhappy about it.

33: How do they greet someone they dislike / hate? You're not even getting a basic hello, he's just going to stare at you with all the contained malice of a blood borne predator. He will not make any effort to make you feel welcomed; as a matter of fact he is wishing he could be a Sith so he could telepathically scream at you to get the fuck out before he reduces you to mince meat.

34: How do they greet someone they like / love? Keldabe! Strong handshake/grasping forearms! Throwing shit at you because NO FUCKING WAY IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! Lots of loudness, cursing, he's standing on top of something just to be bigger than you but it's all fun and games!

41: What phrases, pronunciations, or mannerisms did they pick up from someone / somewhere else? He speaks Mando'a with a distinctly Kaasi-accented base; his Finder is a Force-null Pureblood who was exiled from their family.

And since Buir raised him from just months old, he's picked up: their ferocity in battle, absolute view of disrespect as a killable offense, passion and fervor for all things in life, a slightly guttural take on Basic pronunciations. He learned his metalworking and piercing skill from Buir.

45: What's something unimportant / frivolous that they hate passionately? By the fucking stars he cannot stand Hutts. Literally the Hutts. He fucking hates Hutts. Most of everything they stand for included.

51: What's a phrase they say a lot? "HUT'UUN!" to get all the ripe little cowards out of hiding so he can beat their asses.

#cheeri inquires #cheeri ocs #i need a swtor tag #oc tag | [kovapaqe / bloodhound / kingpin]

[gratuacuun14]

The Star Wars Fanbase, and why we're kinda f*cked

The title basically says it all. I had the great pleasure of watching the livestream of Hayden Christensen at Star Wars Celebration, and there were a couple of people in the comments who were being horrible generally to the prequels and Hayden. Verily, 'twas fucked.

Now, I understand there were problems in the prequels, but bashing an actor for their roles is actually ridiculous. That's a whole other thing.

But it sparked a train of thought, after one of them started throwing around phrases like 'you aren't a real Star Wars fan'. And that made me wonder: what is a Star Wars fan? (And does the existence of real ones imply the existence of unreal or metaphorical- sorry)

I would personally define it as someone who enjoys Star Wars material. And honestly, that's all it should be, right? But I think some people have it in their head that to enjoy it, they have to enjoy what they enjoy. For example, I don't enjoy the Rise of Skywalker or Attack of the Clones, and I dislike Jar Jar. But, I wouldn't criticise someone if they liked those things, or disliked Empire Strikes Back or Rogue One.

However, pretty soon I fell prey to my own definition after one individual said that compared to the prequels, Rise of Skywalker was a cinematic masterpiece. I disagree with this, but certainly thousands would agree. I critiqued Rise, saying it was a Dark Empire ripoff, and was immediately accused of bullying sequel fans the same way prequel fans were bullied. And that made me feel terrible, because I didn't want it to come across that way.

Why is that even a thing? Why is there a divide? Why the ever-loving fuck does it matter? Surely there's more that unites this crazy, diverse fandom than divides? We've all got most Star Wars-based loves in common. This doesn't really have a conclusion, just food for thought.

#star wars #star wars prequels #sw sequels

[elmendea]

“There’s common sense and NONsense!”

My belated thoughts on RoP Ep 3, due to a migraine. Because you know what you’re able to do when you have a migraine? Exactly nothing. What fun! Moving on:

Things that bug me/possible nitpicks:

- I get that using the word "humans" is more up-to-date than using "men", but I mean...the Ringspell itself uses the phrase "mortal men", so I kind of wish that was used instead across the board. or maybe just "mortals"; I think it could work because all the other races have their specific names: hobbits (Harfoots), elves, dwarves. If you used the term "mortals" you'd be fairly aware that you're referring to mortal humans. Just the poet in me, I think!

- I was SO looking forward to far more Tar-Míriel than we got, sulk and moan. Cynthia is just ethereal. Oh well, next week.

- puzzled as to why Arondir uses Quenya when apologising to the tree -- wouldn't it be more likely for a Silvan Elf to use Sindarin or even Nandorin? Might be a formality thing, but, eh...

- nnnnot really feeling much for Eärien, honestly. I'm going to take it on good faith that there's going to be a necessary narrative reason for her to exist, but as of now she's not instantly likable. (Not that I dislike her, either. She's just kinda...there?)

- God, the CGI on that Warg was only vaguely believable if you squint very hard. The design was absolutely fine IMHO (I mean, Wargs are corruptions of wolves, and what's more corrupted from a wolf than a chihuahua? Plus, those wee beasties can be FIERCE and completely out of their trees), but ugh, the way it blended into the scene sort of...gave me rotoscope-y vibes.

The good stuff!

- remembering that non-Uruk orcs are not terribly fond of sunlight! YES! (They'll put up with it, but they won't enjoy it.)

- the belowdecks scene lighting is honestly just *chef's kiss*, and Galadriel is so pretty with her hair all oceaned-out like that *___*

- loving loving LOVING Lloyd Owen's performance as Elendilf. I mean, er. *cough* He's just the right mix of brooding and hopeful. That smile when he says "...home." He still loves the place, even if the politics are starting to sour and he knows it.

- NUMENOR. good lord above, Numenor *____* They honestly saved the best scenes for the show; I remember being underwhelmed with Numenor in the trailers, but in-ep it looks astounding; and paired with that MUSIC. literally epically beautifully. I just. I want to go there. (Not LIVE there. Just visit. :P)

- god I am loving the barely-restrained "fuck around and find out" glares Galadriel is throwing at everyone. To be fair, I'd be doing the same. (But then, I have also been accused of being unlikeable, so. 🙃)

- ...goddamnit, I'm becoming genuinely fond of Halbrand, silver tongued devil that he is. Now watch him turn out to be Sauron, or the Witch-king, or someone similarly horrible.

- also, watch me be proven wrong, but I honestly don't get any UST between Galadriel and Halbrand. I get the feeling of a smirky-ass bastard who enjoys riling up an already tempestuous person just to get a reaction (and Galadriel just can't help biting back every time he baits her), but not romantic/sexual tension. (I’m also interpreting it as a way of Halbrand keeping Galadriel at a distance, no less. He seems to use his take-nothing-seriously attitude as a shield.)

- "the sea is always right!" YES THIS. *beats down her inner Falathrim*

- Ismael's performance as Arondir continues to kill me in a good way. The absolute agony on his face as Médhor dies made me choke up.

- holy shit, Halbrand, my dude, CALM DOWN. The retribution is outweighing the original crime about twenty-fold right now. O_O;; (And this from a man in his cups, no less?! Gotta admire his co-ordination, if nothing else.)

- Elendil pulling up huge Beleaguered Dad With Young Adult Children energy on Galadriel is so unintentionally hilarious, I swear. XD

- honestly, I can't believe people are complaining about Galadriel enjoying horseriding. Why wouldn't she? And in that moment, she's free, just racing across a beautiful island on a beautiful beast, on her way to answers. Of course she's going to look happy.

- Poppy is so fussy and adorable and pure and I will protect her with everything in me. When she got teary during the remembrance/waiting circle, I teared up, too, which is...I’m honestly NOT the teary sort of person, so what is this madness.

- sorry, I think Nori's punishment was WAY too harsh. Firstly, she's a child who made a mistake -- which yes, Sadoc does note, but then puts a family with an injured member at the back of the caravan? It wasn't as if the Stranger did much other than knock down a pavilion and just basically give everyone a giant fright. So...let's risk death for a WHOLE FAMILY already suffering (with a younger child!) because their teenage daughter acted like a typical dumb teenager, and...didn't really cause much damage, in the end, except to some people's nerves. My poor little Tookish munchkin. So much for "nobody walks alone"! (Yes, I get that one family lost is better than the whole tribe lost, logically, but meh. I don’t have to be logical, damn you.)

- ohoho, how the tables have turned! The shifting power and mood dynamic between Galadriel and Halbrand is golden. When she has the upper hand, she’s deliciously smirky herself. (AND AAAAHH. that statue is Uinen or I'll be damned!)

- THAT. BLOODY. CLIFFHANGER. I literally shouted at my screen when the credits started rolling, oh my god. I feel SO trolled but it's a weirdly fun feeling? Roll on, next week~

#Rings of Power #The Rings of Power #src: The Rings of Power #post: thoughts (mine)

[ricciardhoes-archive]

if you think daniel buying a ring for himself is a red flag…………….u are so sheltered omg i really hope you never ever meet someone who has actual red flags

#like oh my god. do you hear yourself. #that is Not a phrase you just fucking throw around because you dislike someone

[ectonurites]

i’m SO interested in timkon from kon’s perspective!!! i haven’t read almost anything from dc so 90% of what i know is from meta on tumblr and all the context i have is literally everyone going “walking bi flag superboy and twink robin are in love, trust me on this” but then all the “proof” of (non-52) kon being into dudes (aside from *gestures at him*) is about bart?? so i’m like ok maybe this is an unrequited thing, but then everyone is going “kon is crying screaming throwing up bc tim has a boyfriend and it’s not him!!!” and i’m like ok i’m gonna believe you guys, i’m invested at this point, but y’all tricked me with the coffee thing so i’m keeping an eye open for selenur

LMAO. Okay so I do wanna say that like, the way I view things with them probably isn't necessarily the way everyone in the fandom does, especially because.... tumblr DC fandom in particular is not renowned for reading the comics and looking at things in context, versus I read a lot of comics and somehow retain a lot of the information (as is evident if you follow me/see my posts go around). Also as a whole, I feel like a lot of fan content with Timkon comes from a Tim-centric POV rather than having as much deep digging into Kon's thoughts + content (understandable in some ways because his solo? very uncomfortable a lot of the time!).

Before digging into things, disclaimer: I'll be talking a bit about Kon's dating history, and Kon at age 16 dated Tana, a 23 year old woman (he also dated another adult woman, Knockout, but that doesn't really come up as much here). It's fucked up, it's not a good thing, I hate that it's something that happened. But when talking about Kon's relationships it's not something I can like... ignore or gloss over, ya know? Because it was a big thing for him for a while and is part of his story. I just want it clear that like... while i'll be talking about it seriously as one of his relationships, it's something I actively dislike. But it's not something the narrative has him treat as bad, so when talking about Kon's perspective it might not come across as negatively as I personally view it, if that makes sense?

Anyways, the way I see things, Kon potentially developing feelings for Tim doesn't really happen until after Kon comes back to life (and even so not in a way I think he'd be at all that aware of), which places it pretty shortly before the end of the pre-reboot world. I think there are like, things that built into it earlier, which I will go into, but as a whole a lot of this is in far more subtle ways than the more obvious moments we can point to for Tim having feelings for Kon.

This post is incredibly long and probably kinda disjointed, just a fair warning 🤷‍♂️

Quick note that I don't usually like the "proof" phrasing that you brought up in the ask, anon, when discussing these sorts of things. I prefer to approach posts I make like this from an angle of supporting/explaining a reading/interpretation of the text, rather than necessarily "proving" something. What I've laid out here is a lot of how I interpret things, based on looking at Kon's history and the connections that I've noticed across it, rather than saying anything all that definitively.

To start I want to discuss some of Kon's dating history. Kon has two long-standing love interests (Tana and Cassie) and then a lot of smaller shorter-lived ones, some of these shorter ones are still rather impactful (for better or worse) and I've done a more in-depth list of his love interests that goes into all of them before here, but the two longer ones are gonna be more brought up/relevant to this post. One thing that his relationships with Tana and Cassie have in common versus his shorter more fling-like romances is him considering the girl a best friend/close friend first. Obviously this doesn't mean 'ah yes he falls in love with everyone he considers a best friend' but it's a present component of the relationships that are most impactful for him.

Tana is someone he meets basically right out of the cloning tube- they meet in Adventures of Superman #501 which is the first issue focusing on him. There's immediate aesthetic attraction obviously, but over the course of the craziness that is Reign of the Supermen they become and remain best friends, not moving into dating territory until his solo comic afterwards. He's on Young Justice with Cassie for a while where she has very clear feelings for him from before the moment she met him- but he doesn't start to actively show feelings for her until after a very specific moment- when Tana is murdered in front of him and Cassie during Sins of Youth (Superboy #74). After Tana's death, Kon begins getting overprotective of Cassie in ways that actively annoyed her (in Young Justice #29 she complains about it) and at the end of the comic he confesses feelings (in Young Justice #55).

I think 'it's a significant traumatic event that sparked him feeling more for her than he had before' is the main takeaway I want to highlight here. Because then, as we enter the Teen Titans run, Conner is hit with this big traumatic revelation about himself... with his best friend Tim right there with him (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #1).

Quick recap of some Tim & Kon stuff before this point, because their friendship had been a kinda complicated thing. Their first meeting had them pitted against one another because of Poison Ivy before eventually managing to work together, and the two started getting on each other's nerves pretty quickly once Young Justice starts rolling. It's very clear Kon thinks Tim has a stick up his ass, and Tim thinks Kon doesn't know how to take anything seriously. It's also clear imo that Kon from pretty early on wants Tim to think highly of him/respect him (like how when Batman told him that Robin thinks highly of him, Kon immediately parrots it back to the alternate universe Bruce as one of his first ways to self-identify in Superboy #60) and does think pretty highly of Tim too (thinking about Young Justice #3 at the halloween party the way Kon & Bart are so quick to defend Tim) even if he's hard-pressed to admit it.

The primary thing that holds Tim & Kon back from being closer in this whole era is the lack of trust because Tim won't share much about himself. This blows up between them on Apokolips with their big fight, and Kon's talk with Linda afterwards (in Young Justice #38) makes it clear how much he really does care about Tim & their friendship despite the tension they had.

Linda: You said it fine. So... what are you doin' up here? Conner: Thinkin'. Linda: About what? Conner: I dunno. Stuff. Linda: Boy, it's like pulling teeth with you sometimes, y'know that? Conner: I was just thinkin' about what went down on Apokolips during the war. Robin and I, well... We had words. Linda: I take it they weren't all nice ones. Conner: I said I don't trust him. Linda: Ouch. Conner: And ignored his orders. Linda: Double ouch. Conner: And implied he might be collecting files on us like Batman with the J.L.A. Linda: Mortal wound there, kid. Conner: Screwed up big time, didn't I? Linda: That's the problem with wartime, kid. For every person who covers himself with glory, there're a hundred guys who cover themselves-- and others-- with dirt. Conner: Or wounds. Like that one on your belly looks really nasty, you know? Linda: As okay as someone who nearly got herself disemboweled can be. Conner: Guess, in a way, me and Robin and the others were lucky, huh? Linda: In a way, yeah. On the other hand, some of the deepest wounds are the ones you can't see. Conner: *Sigh* You got that right. (Young Justice (1998) #38)

Once World Without Young Justice happens and Tim's name is out in the open, the big tension between them is gone and that really marks where I think they more mutually start seeing each other as best friends (but worth noting- Kon had called Tim his "ex-best friend" in Superboy #92 right after their fight on Apokolips- so as far as I can tell from what I've read, he thought of Tim as his best friend first- even in that era with their lack of trust)

Anyways, yes. So they are established best friends when we get to things like Graduation Day (where Kon drops his defensiveness as soon as he realizes how not okay Tim is during their scene in the closet together in #2)/the dissolving of Young Justice after Donna's death, and then the start of the Teen Titans run where they find out about the Lex thing together.

Now, to relate this back to the stuff with Cassie- finding out 'surprise! Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents' is a very different type of trauma than witnessing a death of a loved one, but Kon's reactions in these situations I think correlate, just matching what the trauma was. After witnessing Tana die in front of him and Cassie, he becomes overprotective of Cassie because he doesn't want something like that to happen to her too. After finding out this new traumatic thing about himself with Tim, he becomes pretty emotionally dependent on Tim because he's the only other person that knows/understands what's going on. It's Kon latching onto the other person who was present in a way that makes him feel better about what happened, and growing much closer to them in the process.

Kon's emotional dependency on Tim in this era I think is exemplified by the way he reacted to Tim quitting Robin & Steph stepping into the role- he's a jerk about it to Steph, and gets very upset about it around Tim.

Conner: So you approve of this new Robin? You want her to be in the Titans? Tim: I don't have anything to do with it. But she's a strong young woman. She really is. Conner: It's your ex-girlfriend, isn't it? Spoiler or whatever she used to call herself. Tim: Let it go. Conner: You're my best friend, Tim. How can I? The Titans aren't the Titans without Robin. They just aren't. Tim: Just because I'm not wearing a cape doesn't mean we can't hang. Conner: It won't be the same. I've heard that from too many friends I never talk to anymore. Jack: Tim, opening credits are rolling. Tim: Dad! Dad, this is-- Jack: What? Tim: ...Nothing. I'll be down in a minute. (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #14)

One little detail here that I know is just Johns not being aware of how things were actually going in the Robin book (something clear from this entire arc) but that always sticks out to me is Kon just jumping to assume Steph is Tim's ex when they hadn't actually had a proper breakup- absolutely not one that Tim could have told Kon about considering Tim & Steph were in fine standing before he quit Robin and he apparently hadn't communicated with Kon since that happened. Kon just really is placing his frustration on her, in a way that... I dunno. I think he'd be upset like this at anyone else aside from Tim being in the Robin costume, but the way he highlights who she is feels oddly targeted. Because he knows this new Robin has a personal connection to Tim too, it's like him going "You're my best friend and you're abandoning me, but because this girl is/was your girlfriend you're just gonna let it happen."

Obviously though, this situation gets resolved and Tim comes back into the Robin role, and their friendship picks back up (with Kon confidently saying "I knew it," when Tim calls to tell him he'd be coming back in Teen Titans #15). But they're still keeping this secret, and it's still this heavy thing weighing on Kon. Kon tries to be there for Tim when he's got bad things going on (Jack's death) but Tim has a much harder time letting himself depend on Kon. Also all the Titans Tomorrow shit happens, and everyone's gotta grapple with that possible future. Eventually we get to the "Do you think I have a soul?" conversation, where everyone on the team's bravery about coming forward with their secrets inspires Kon to finally do the same- before it all goes wrong. Lex takes over, Kon attacks the team, and is then plagued with guilt because he hurt the people he cares about.

And while he mentions everyone in his monologue bit after he'd quit the team and was hiding out in Smallville, we only see recaps of two, Tim and Cassie, as he talks about them: "I broke Tim... and I... I hurt Cassie... I hurt her." (in Teen Titans Vol. 3 #26). Plus during his whole mind/soul journey with Raven in the same issue, he again specifically highlights the two of them.

Being in any way responsible for harm coming to Cassie has been basically one of his biggest fears ever since what happened to Tana. And Tim is the person he's been relying on emotionally the most in recent times because of knowing about stuff with Luthor. So these two together are just this huge focus for him in terms of the guilt, they're grouped together in his mind, at this point they're his most important people. (and even after he dies and comes back, when he talks about this with Cassie later in Adventure Comics (2009) #2... he once again specifically brings up Tim and her separately while grouping everyone else together)

Now, shortly after this is when Infinite Crisis gets rolling, Superboy-Prime first attacks, all sorts of shit happens, Kon and Cassie fuck consummate their relationship in the barn before the final battle gets going- and then Kon dies in her arms after saving everyone. Tim gets there too late to say goodbye, we know the drill. Thus sparking the One Year Later era where we learn about Tim and Cassie both spectacularly failing to cope in even remotely healthy ways, etc etc. These are the things that you dig into for how Tim feels about Kon.

For the point of this post though, discussing how Kon feels about Tim, we've gotta fast forward to once he's back. Worth noting such things as 'all of the year after Infinite Crisis, the OYL era, most of Final Crisis, and everything in between' happens in that time he's gone, which causes a lot of change in both Cassie and Tim.

When Conner comes back, it's not like... everything just fits back into place exactly the same as it was before, for him it feels like he's been gone days but for them it's been well over a year (and a crazy eventful one at that). Cassie has become leader of the Titans, she's got responsibilities and is definitely a bit more hardened by the things she's lost, and getting people back doesn't just undo all the grief. Tim has gone off the deep end in ways because of just how many losses he experienced in such close succession (and while some people come back, they don't all for him), and is throwing himself into his search for Bruce. Meaning that neither of the two incredibly-important-to-Kon dynamics are what they used to be, and that forces him to approach things in a new way.

Alongside that he’s also back in full force dealing with the Lex/Clark angst. We find out about the lists he keeps comparing traits of each clone parent, and Cassie immediately catches onto the way he's trying hard to push himself into following Clark's path of life in Adventure Comics (2009) #2. Cassie tells Kon about the kiss that happened between her and Tim (while very specifically saying the reasoning behind it happening was her and Tim both missing him), and they reconcile their relationship but it's clear… things there are different now, because everyone and everything's changed, but that doesn't mean they should waste any of the time they have together.

And then the following issue is his first moment reconnecting with Tim. Where he sees how closed off and distant Tim’s being, how much he’s letting guilt destroy him, how much things aren’t the same between the two of them anymore… and Kon even says it’s freaking him out the way Tim’s acting. Eventually we get to the big moment, where Tim admits he tried to clone Conner.

Tim: My girlfriend died. My dad died. My best friend died. And I couldn't accept it. I couldn't lose you too. Conner: So what? Tim: I tried to clone you. Conner: Tim- Tim: But I failed. Like I failed everyone else. Conner: Tim, even if it'd worked, it wouldn't have been me. Tim: That's what Cassie said. And I know that. I know it wouldn't have been you, Conner, but... but it would've been something. Conner: Man, between everything you've gone through, Cassie's gone through, and Bart's gone through, I picked a really suck-ass year to be gone, didn't I? Tim: The worst. I am so screwed up right now. (Adventure Comics (2009) #3)

Even though I don’t think Tim was consciously aware of it, this moment was... Tim admitting the extent of his feelings for Conner in a subtle specific way that Conner would have been able to pick up on. I’ve gone into this in more detail here- but back when Tana had died in front of Conner and Cassie, Kon's immediate reaction was "No! There must be a way to save her... Bring her back... Clone her!" (in Superboy #74). To do the exact same thing Tim tried to do.

Back in Superboy #92, the instance where it really feels like Kon has feelings for Bart he just doesn't know how to grapple with, he phrases things like "Or some Freudian thing where I secretly think of Impulse as a chick-" in his head, and I feel like here in this instance he'd be having the reverse sort of thought- "Is this some thing where Tim secretly thinks of me like I thought of Tana?"

This is kinda the point where I start to see a... shift, in how Kon thinks about Tim- or rather it's that Kon is thinking more about what Tim thinks of him. (I'll get back to that idea later- but I want to cover some events of things that happen in chronological order.)

But even though Tim's not in a good place here clearly, once things are more out in the open Kon can see that even though they each are different and things maybe aren't the same anymore, much like how he and Cassie could reconcile- he and Tim can figure their stuff out too.

Presumably in-universe next the rest of Boy of Steel happens and Tim shows up again there with the whole core four reunited at the end as Kon throws his journal in the fire. Then we get into Blackest Night- where Kon has to face his own mortality in a complex way and Cassie's the one there to help him, strengthening their bond.

Over in Red Robin in the Collision arc Tim and Kon have their reuniting moment on much better terms once Tim has found proof about Bruce and everything- and we get the very well known hug scene, where Conner affirms to Tim that all he ever needs to do is yell for him and he'll be listening. A short while later now that Tim's not fully isolating himself he actually calls upon his friends to help with the Ra's stuff. Things are looking good with them again- but even so Tim's still not around full time.

In the Teen Titans book, around this time Conner and Bart officially rejoin the team, and there starts to be some tension between Conner and Cassie in a new way- where her feelings for Conner start seeming to get in the way of her being able to lead the team and make tough calls on the field, because she's too preoccupied worrying about him. Over in Conner's solo content he's also further trying to adjust to being back in Smallville, and doing some more reflection on his life and who he is- the stuff I was talking about over in parts of this post about these concepts of 'normality' and what that means for him. By the end he reaches a point of acceptance that he doesn't need to be 'normal', but while things are ongoing he's trying to figure out just... what it is he's really doing in Smallville, what life he wants to live.

And so this combination of things leads to Conner breaking up with Cassie

Conner: I meant what I said earlier. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be a Titan and I'll always be here for you. But-- I think it would be best for both of us if we stopped seeing each other. Cassie: What? Conner: You want to focus on leading this team and me... Well I want to try having a life that isn't only about being Superboy, Isn't only about Wonder Girl. I want to have a life as Conner too. Something simpler. Normal. I need that right now. Cassie? I figure this was coming anyway. Thought I'd make it easier for both of us. Right? Cassie: Sure. Yeah. Conner: I still love you, Cassie. Cassie: I love you. (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #91)

So now Conner is in this place where he is single for the first time in a long time, and he's starting to do a lot of thinking and reflection on his life so far- figuring out who he is outside of just a superhero. The very next issue of Teen Titans is the crossover with Red Robin, and Conner is pushing hard the whole time on how happy he is to have Tim back around (and ultimately Tim does rejoin the team). This is also where we get this well known scene between the two of them:

Damian: Here's another one for you, clone boy. Conner: Seriously-- how do you put up with that little snot? Tim: I don't. I try to limit my contact with Robin as much as possible these days. Conner: Wish I could do the same. Still refuse to call him by your name. I don't care what costume you or him wears. As far as I'm concerned, you're my Robin, always will be. Tim: And you'll always be my clone boy. Conner: On second thought, maybe we should trade both of you in for Batgirl. I hear she's good. (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #92)

Where Conner is acting similarly in a way to how he did back when Stephanie was the one in the Robin costume- refusing to really even acknowledge anyone else in the role because to him that should be Tim. One thing I do also notice here is that... Conner says this sweet thing to Tim, which probably comes off a little more intense than he was intending it to (the 'my Robin' phrasing), but when Tim throws something similar back at him in a teasing tone (by taking Damian's insult and making it a term of endearment) Kon immediately redirects the subject with a joke... which makes me think back to Superboy #92 where Kon writes everything off he's maybe feeling about Bart as a joke. Kinda like he went "Woah- that interaction was very tender there for a second, and I don't know how to deal with that besides making a joke," ya know?

Especially if we consider the earlier notion I presented of 'he's thinking a lot more about what Tim thinks of him' and that being something he's just not sure how to approach or think too deeply about (like to question why he's now grown this concerned with Tim's opinion on him), so him switching gears quickly to keep avoiding it... checks out! Conner's not in a place to approach any of that sort of thing yet, he's still figuring out his basic place in the world.

Which brings us to one of my favorite more overlooked moments of Tim & Kon together, from Superboy Vol. 5 #6, where they talk on the Titans Tower rooftop at 5am about their places in the world, Conner being unsure if Smallville's really the right place for him- or rather how much longer Smallville will be the right fit. It's also showing Tim and Conner having their... their trust and dynamic back, now, even after everything that's happened.

The following issue though is the reason I keep harping on this concept of "Conner is thinking a lot about what Tim thinks of him," because Superboy Vol. 5 #7 is where Conner gets affected by a Red Mercy, an alien plant that causes the person it latches onto to experience their worst nightmares come true (the exact opposite of the Black Mercy- a plant that causes the person affected to experience their dreams come true, from the famous Superman story 'For The Man Who Has Everything'). Within this nightmare world, Kon discovers he had betrayed everyone and was embracing his Luthor side, he had done something to (presumably killed) Cassie, had killed Bruce and many others... and Tim is leading a resistance against him, with a mission to kill him. When the nightmare progresses, another thing happens right in front of Kon: Tim is shot and killed.

Which means that among the fears we already knew about, like being turned into Luthor's monster... some of Kon's other worst nightmares/greatest fears are the concept of Tim hating him and the thought of seeing Tim die. These are things they specifically devoted page space to, out of all the possible fallout that could have come from Conner switching sides (even Cassie who has been consistently shown as one of the most important people to him doesn't show up here, we're just told he did something to her).

Conner: Tim? Why are you dressed like that? What's going on? Please... just stop for a minute so we can figure this all out. Tim: You had your chance to talk. You had your chance to stop this. And every time, you deceived us... betrayed us. You destroyed everyone we care about... you destroyed this entire town. No more talking... Elongated Lass, hold him. Hawklad, Negative Boy... kill him. Conner: This is insane! Something's wrong Tim... This can't be real! I don't remember Anything! Tim: Take him down! Hawklad: What's the matter, Kent, suddenly growing a conscience? Or are you just mad that you're finally the one being hunted?! Conner: [I need to find Psionic Lad. I was with him... maybe he can help... If he's even still alive.]

Conner: I... I don't want to hurt you guys. Just stop so we can figure this out! Tim: Don't listen to him! Everything he says is a lie! I bet you think you're just going to tear through us like you did the others, don't you? Conner: Tim, I don't-- Tim: Well I've got a surprise for you, Conner... A unique cocktail of the Bane Venom and Hourman's Miraclo formula is coursing through me. Bruce managed to synthesize it before he died. Before you killed him! Conner: Tim... Don't... Tim: "Don't"? "Don't"?! After everything you've done? After what you did to Cassie? Conner: C-Cassie?

Conner: Tim! Tim: Arrgh! Conner: No! Simon: Don't worry, Conner... I'm on it. Conner: Simon?! Negative Boy: I'm gonna kill you Valentine!!! Simon: Whatever, freak. (Superboy Vol. 5 #7)

I think it was worth noting that Kon's scream of Tim name as he was killed was... literally put in a different color for emphasis. This was also the case with the other person we see killed during this whole nightmare dream thing a little later: Lori, Kon's kinda cousin on the Luthor side. Aside from those two the other person who nearly gets hurt/killed is Ma while Luthor tries to manipulate Kon into doing it. So the bonds that we see as most important to him here, the ones he's at this point most afraid of losing/fucking up... are his family, and Tim.

So... yeah, Tim and Tim's opinion of Kon is very clearly prominent in his mind at this point if an evil space plant so strongly latched onto that as a piece of all this! Whether that's something Conner's choosing to acknowledge/analyze or not, it's there. To me the place it makes sense for that to have started being something on Kon's mind is back where I first brought this idea up- Adventure Comics #3 when Kon may have been comparing Tim's reaction to his death with Kon's own reaction to Tana's. I can just see that as... sparking a train of thought that just kinda keeps going even if he's trying to ignore it. And once Conner and Cassie cut things off, while she's still obviously important to him, she apparently doesn't reach the level of importance in his subconscious that she'd physically show up in this sort of thing while Tim does.

Anyways, since this places us really close to the end of the pre-reboot world, there's really not that much more with the two of them together afterwards, just a few interactions over in Teen Titans like Tim trying to reaffirm Kon how he can as they're stuck going against some clones of him at the end:

Conner: Look at him, Tim. Looks just like I did. Tim: They're not you, Conner. Conner: Aren't they? Didn't I start out the same way? A blank slate? Tim: It's not who you were, it's who you are. You have a life, and friends, and a family. Conner: Good point. I have a lot. And I aim to keep it that way. (Teen Titans Vol. 3 #100)

And then I mean, reboots happen, Kon's gone for a hot sec, and now he's back since Young Justice 2019. Conner's one of the only people who for sure remembers all this above stuff I just mentioned, his memories of the pre-Flashpoint world are untouched because he was absent for the reboots. Meaning even as Tim's feelings and memories have changed and been taken away and restored... Kon's have been exactly how they were, just with the added layer of "Kon has missed everyone while he was stuck on Gemworld." Since coming back there wasn't all that much focus on just the two of them from Kon's side, until the little bit we got in Urban Legends actually:

Conner: You know, I think I heard from you more when I was dead. Tim: Superboy? Stephanie called you, didn't she? Conner: She's worried. Thinks you're acting weird. I told her it must be a day ending in Y. Tim: You wouldn't call if you weren't worried, too. Conner: What's going on, Tim? Who's Bernard? Tim: He's a... friend. He's in trouble. Conner: Can I help? What do you need? Tim: ...I don't know, Conner. (Batman: Urban Legends #5)

This interaction as a whole just fascinates me, and Fitzmartin's choice to include it in Tim's coming out story in general. Conner's line about when he was dead just... to me that has read since this dropped as "I know you were so desperate to have me around when I was dead that you tried to clone me, but now that i'm here again you're barely talking to me." Which... lots to unpack there combined with all the questions and Kon's clear concern... especially if we consider the 'saying you tried to clone me was kinda like an informal confession of feelings' idea as something in the back of Conner's mind. With him now seeming... kinda frustrated/concerned that Tim's not paying even close to that kind of attention to him anymore. Him asking about Bernard like this and getting such vague answers from Tim (as Tim's being in general cagey and avoidant) also just makes me really curious about how Kon will like, respond to finding out Bernard is now Tim's boyfriend, I can just see so many different ways it could go.

But anyways, basically.... my ultimate point in all of this is less to say there's a definitive "Yes, Kon is 100% clearly in love with Tim" indication, but more to point out "There's a framework here to support the idea of Kon having thoughts/feelings for Tim comparable to those he's had for love interests in the past," if that... ah... makes sense?

Anyways if you read all of this- I hope it even remotely made sense!

#okay i can't reread and edit this anymore my brain will melt #u wanted thousands of words of me talking abt timkon? u got it #sam explains

[sugar-petals]

can you give us more thoughts about domestic yoongles? the taemin's one (wich I love) just made me miss the cat boy so much ;o;

i have a phd in househusband yoongi so let me fire out some ideas for ya.

myg at home headcanon

🐱 word count. 1.9k | fluff, slice of life, slight nsfw mentions, x reader, bullet points

The doorbell sound is a recording of Yoongi imitating a doorbell. He’s such a meme. Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

Seemingly, he teaches himself a new recipe every week. To perfection. Yoongi is very particular about sticking to the recipe and wielding his kitchen tools in the right way. He collects knives, olive oil, and still hates cutting onions.

He separates sleep time, work time, and couple time as the holy trinity. For each, he switches his mood.

Blushes easily no matter for how long you’ve been together.

Establishes his own radio show where he DJs at one point.

Yoongi keeps an extreme track on the garbage schedule. He knows exactly what is due when. Separating the trash is a must. That includes sorting out fake friends trying to get between your relationship. Your social circle as a couple is extremely deliberate.

Yoongi deems himself a terrible host for guests. Unless Hoseok is there to drag him out, it's true he rather stays in the kitchen or at the barbecue preparing the menu courses rather than making small talk. He leaves the hospitality bits to you, however you want to go about it.

What he lacks in conversing with guests, he makes up in bed, God is absolutely fair.

He sings and hums pretty often and has his own vernacular of extraterrestrial uwu noises. It's an alphabet that you have to yet decipher but it's incredibly cute.

Self-made paintings everywhere around his house. 

Yoongi hasn't gone clubbing since grammar school. The most he does is going to a restaurant at lunch with very close friends. And always in a work context. His private life is so secluded from everything else and paparazzi just don't spot him anywhere, Dispatch thinks he must live abroad.

Very well, he does consider his big ole house a separate country. It's a living organism with a studio, gym, trophy room, small-size basketball court, and vastly equipped kitchen. A home theater as well, he likes American movies (like Inception) and Korean action genres, and you can stream whatever you fancy in there whenever you like. 

Yes, he has underwear with cute little bears on.

There's even a little pond in the backyard. Yoongi, Pisces he is, likes fishes after all. Sometimes he sits at the edge of the 'Little Ole Min Lake (LOML)' and stares into the water for literal hours with his chin parked on his palm.

His fridge is so high-tech and futuristic, even Yoongi is rendered clueless by its AI sometimes. The washing machine, too.

Yoongi watches RuPaul’s drag race. What did you expect? He finds it so humorous.

Owns lord knows how many comic collections.

Favorite holiday destination: New York.

Christmas is basically 50% you unveiling new music equipment to him in the garage and Yoongi almost fainting at the sexiness of it. The other 50% is spent holding hands and orgasm after orgasm until the new year since you loose track of time.

Goes on long rants why he’d marry you again every weekend.

Making you presents is his specialty. Always accompanied with a hand-written note. He writes a lot of things by hand for you in general. Texting, basically never. Always on paper.

No sex without a blanket and socks on. Yoongi gets cold very very easily and just doesn’t like showing skin. You buy him a heated blanket for his birthday, he even uses it in his studio chair.

Chronically addicted to making out.

Matching black outfits and glasses.

Laughs at even your worst jokes or phrases you didn’t expect you even uttered.

Yoongi owns the phoniest, most secretive-looking black car ever and nobody knows about it. Even he forgets he owns it, in fact he genuinely acts like it just doesn’t exist. Hilarious. And that guy has a level 1 Korean driver's license. Which allows him to drive trailers and busses and fucking trucks, and construction machines, let that sink in.

It's really a genius curse. Yoongi being put to the test will always deliver but he won't choose to execute his full skillset if he doesn't have to. Well, pragmatic. He's not as phony as he thinks he is, which is even more hilarious.

He uses that behemoth of a car so scarcely because he'd rather have things delivered to his doorstep and he's stingy with gas. Also, he doesn't like traffic and driving because of the traumatic shoulder accident and his tendency to space out. Translation: You drive that thing... that monster... it really is an impressive, fast, and scary machine. 

If someone devious ever even remotely manages to invade his privacy and get past the doubly-installed security system, he has enough money to deal with it no matter what.

If it concerns your privacy, he's a red belt. And owns Jin's number if a taekwondo master is required. Jimin's if it needs someone with kendo skills.

If Yoongi needs someone to go on a complete rampage, Jungkook lives just down the block. He can sprint to Yoongi's bunker I mean mansion within 45 seconds. 30 if it's very urgent. 20 if the reward is an instant ramen splurge with Yoongi's black card.

He has a sexy, glamorous sword collection hanging on the living room wall anyways, so. Who the hell is dumb enough to mess with him and his expensive lawyer in the first place.

But just in case, who knows... Yoongi settles matters shruggingly, anonymously, and with cash and he's too exhausted for violence, but don't underestimate his deter-min-ation and network for emergencies. Also, he is Agust D after all.

He will bonk a naughty burglar or kidnapper across the head with a wooden cooking spoon or take him down by throwing a basketball if the situation requires it. Damn, his reflexes are so fast, a feral cat in motion. So, lean back and sip on your drink of choice. Things are cared for.

If Yoongi is the one being kidnapped or a highly skilled stalker invades the property at night when he's fast asleep (nothing can wake this man during certain hours, strong REM right here): Don't forget that honeyboy is a Dodgers fan. There are signed baseball bats everywhere in this damn house.

In that sense, your parents visiting you here for the first time thought you were an undercover thug couple. Not to worry mom and dad, you both just like sports very much okay.

Yoongi walks around in all black clothes and the rooms are all seemingly dark. Even if you live together, you don't know his skin care routine. It's clear to you he's some sort of vampire.

Since Yoongi always forgets to remove his makeup, you made it a habit to wipe it down when he's about to pass out. He won't lie, he enjoys that kind of affection.

Holly is your resident child. You're essentially a family.

He insists to tackle this by himself, Yoongi sees his therapist monthly. Not shifting responsibility is something he's stubborn about and he pours his emotions into writing. You will do conversation about deeper stuff, but he says it's mostly up to him and his own mind. He dislikes burdening you or opening up too much and it's something to respect rather than force him about. If he wants to share a thought, he will. It doesn’t mean he can’t trust you or sucks at communicating (we know that he’s direct). Yoongi simply can’t put that much pain in such few words nor should you alleviate it for him.

Calls from the manager faze Yoongi as much as Jimin is bothered by gravity. If he’s busy kissing your body slow mo, who the hell dares to disturb his worship. 

This man had so many let-downs and interpersonal catastrophes in his life, he's super discerning with people. Because he rolls that way, during their first meeting Yoongi uses his psychology certificate on your friends. You see him squint at them, he listens very closely. After they pass the vibe check aka meow radar, he befriends them, too.

Yoongi doodles Grammy trophies everywhere to manifest them.

Yoongi shaves his legs.

All the sex toys he’s ever bought are black. Gotta vibe in style.

He spends ridiculous amounts of time in the studio but he's yours for the remainder of the night, breakfast, and he makes a lavish lunch and dinner.

Um, consider his head parked between your legs. The Hongkong line was not a joke.

Doesn’t mind you squishing his cheeks whenever and for how long you like. 

Every other weekend he gets flowers, vouchers, and gifts — not because of fans, they don’t know where his house is, but because he donates so much.

Namjoon often drops by and cleanses the area with his crystals.

Yoongi is a photography major so you can ask him to take professional, ceiling-high black and white shots of you.

Feeding each other food lovingly. Man, this guy got lips.

He set up a library just for you, in the exact historical aesthetic you like the most. Send him the link to any book you want, it's basically in the online shopping cart already. As I said, he wants to make you presents like every week.

Sometimes he sits on the other end studying English videos and vocab while you read. And yes, he's already 95% fluent but pretends being merely intermediate. He knows technical terms even native speakers have never heard of.

He collects pajamas and earrings.

Swears on the phone.

Namjoon being the horniest member is a cover-up story. Yoongi masturbates almost unreasonable amounts of times, by himself and in your arms when going to bed. Not gonna lie, it’s a sight to see his hands at work. He’s almost equally obsessed with fingering you once you ask him.

Yoongi was the one asking you to move in and almost had a nervous meltdown before meeting up with you to tell you just that. 

He’s the little spoon and of course a sleeping burrito to hold tight.

Finds you equally attractive in any state or styling. Yoongi practices what he preaches, he always reacts the same and says the same. 

Jams out to outrageous beats Namjoon sends him by dancing in the studio. You walk in on him every time. Was embarrassed at first, now you dance along.

Has bought you a life-sized Yoongi pillow and customized you a giant Shooky to hug when he’s not at home over night.

Owned a wine cellar until he quit drinking. Turned it into a piano room instead.

Only you know Yoongi has a serpent and dagger tattoo.

Scrubs the bathroom religiously.

The house smells like restaurant food and his extravagant perfumes half of the time.

Sometimes he has to remind himself he’s married to you and not his coffee machine. He shall be forgiven. You can’t complain that he doesn’t love you enough, nor is he ever not adorable when drinking his latte.

Never wears short sleeves. It can be scorching and he’ll wear a jacket. 

Tell him and the cap stays on during sex.

He grows his hair out and puts it in a low bun. The bangs remain.

Yoongi has installed the most fire-proof building in the entire city it seems. That he wanted to be a firefighter when he was young definitely shows. Figures the house has to be protected from heat: His blasting studio music and Yoongi himself are just way too sizzling.

Still melts into a puddle when you kiss his nose.

Couple sunrise watching. 

© submissive-bangtan 2017-2021. all rights reserved. do not repost or translate. all depictions fictional.

#yoongi #yoongi hc #yoongi x reader #bts #bts x reader #bts hc #yoongi scenario

[proserpina-magnus]

Regulus Black dating a muggleborn

word count: 2863

[ warning; gender neutral reader, mention of death, description of crying, angst, no happy fucking ending, swearing, mention of lap sitting (none sexual), kissing, awkward teen love, regulus is kind of edgy and a dick sometimes ]

Fanon Regulus, not Canon. This doesn't line up with anything canon! So please do not take this seriously.

- Did I say dating? I meant secretly dating.

- Regulus spotted you studying alone at a table in The Three Broomsticks, he just couldn't hide the part of him that felt an intriguing feeling towards you.

- He asked a few people around, nudging them and gesturing towards you, asking a small "who are they?"

- It took him a few days to finally get someone to answer him and once he knew your name, he knew he'd fallen into a rabbit hole. he couldn't stop thinking about you, his mind twirling around your name in a constant spiral.

- Luckily, you had been partnered with him for a potions assignment. he couldn't talk to you, he couldn't even mutter a "hi" he was so nervous.

- He had never felt this nervous feeling in his stomach, it was coming to the point it was drowning him.

- Finally, the next day during potions he was able to gain enough courage and actually talk to you about the project, though his voice sounded so mellow and drawn out, like honey.

- He didn't try to engage in conversation other than the assignment, so when you offered that you and him could go to the library and do a bit more research, he said yes almost immediately.

- You both decided to go after dinner since the library wasn't as filled in the evening.

- So when he came back to his dorm after eating, he tried to change into something more casual than his school uniform. it took him a good 15 minutes to pick what he deemed was fit for the occasion.

- He was just about ready to step out the door with his books until his dormmate said something that caught his interest.

- "you're meeting up with your potions partner, arent you?"

- "Yeah, why?'

- "Nothing, it's just their a mudblood, you shouldn't be hanging around those types of people"

- "oh... I didn't know they were a... mudblood"

- 'yeah, nasty they are. you should just ditch 'em"

- So regulus did, he ditched you. he felt guilty, leaving you all alone in the library. you must had thought he was another pureblood prick.

- His conclusion was right, you waited for a good thirty minutes for him. When you realized he wasn't coming, you just decided to do the whole project yourself, it was better if you could just get this stupid assignment done yourself so you'd both could go your separate ways.

- The next day when he got to potions class, he saw you pass in a report to Professor Slughorn. He felt his stomach drop, he knew well enough you had finished the assignment last night without him.

- After class, he caught up with you, pulling you aside as he watched you stare up at him blankly.

- "what?" you had asked him, a hand on your hip as you gave an annoyed sigh.

- "I'm sorry I ditched you, I just didn't know you were a... muggle-born" he admitted, looking anywhere but your eyes as he caught a few of Slytherin boys looking at the two of you.

- "whatever, Black"

- " you didn't have to do the whole assignment, I would have helped you."

- Your eyes met the Slytherin boys who were watching you both, you gave a pitiful frown.

- " don't worry about it, I get it. next time, just tell the professor you don't want to work with me. don't lead me on for a stupid joke"

- He didn't get to explain himself as he watched you walk away, he felt horrible. he had never felt this deep connection to someone before, it made his heart sink when he watched you turn the corner.

- A few months pass, he hadn't gotten another opportunity to talk to you again. he felt like an idiot, he had a chance and he completely blew it,

- Late at night, regulus would stare at his ceiling and dream about what would happen if he had just done what he wanted if he had gone to finish the assignment with you. You both would meet up, exchange dislikes and likes, talk about your dreams for the future.

- He couldn't focus on quidditch, it was coming more frequent of his team captain yelling at him.

- Luckily, he had gotten another opportunity to talk to you again. both of you were selected to be a part of the slug club. Regulus was going to say no, but when he heard your name get mentioned, he joined.

- The first dinner party of slug club, was like a dream. his eyes scanned over your outfit and how it looked absolutely pleasing on your body. his eyes kept siding over to where you sat and when you caught him, he would just look away.

- After a few more meetings, he was done with the 'whole looking away whenever you looked at him' ,  there were only a few more months of Hogwarts left. his eyes met yours and he didn't look away, he gave a smile.

- When you had smiled back, he couldn't help but smile a bit wider, his cheeks glowing with a red flame.

- The next meeting, you had sat next to him. it didn't take long until you both had been exchanging words and stories, laughing at jokes and giving each other shy looks.

- After a dinner meeting during slug club, Regulus offered to walk you back to your house common room. (if you are in Slytherin, then he would just walk with you till you both had to go separate ways to your dorm).

- Once you arrived at your destination, it was awkward. He looked anywhere but you, his face was hot with red as he began to get flustered.

- You had said a quiet goodbye, turning to head back to your dorm but he grabbed your hand. Holding you back as he stiffened up and asked you out.

- "will you go out with me? This weekend, it's a Hogsmeade trip, I'll pay." His words were hard, but his body language was a complete mess.

- "you're not gonna ditch me again are you?"

- "no, defiantly not ." His words had still been raw and hard, he felt like he was going to throw up butterflies.

- "I'm a muggle-born, I heard you purebloods don't really like us very much. This kind of seems like a set-up"

- God you hoped it wasn't a set-up, ever since you've sat next to regulus at the slug club meetings, he had stolen your heart.

- "It might become an issue for some... people, but it doesn't bother me much"

- Regulus was defiantly not good at phrasing things, especially romantic feelings.

- You didn't take his words too seriously, you debated for a minute. You wanted to go with him, it felt like every nerve was alive.

- "Alright, one date couldn't hurt" with your words, you leaned up to kiss his cheek.

- "goodnight Regulus" ... and then you had disappointed out of his view. Once you reached your dorm, you screamed into your pillow with excitement.

- The date went well, you both had gone to the three broomsticks sticks and sat at a table near the very back.

- You had talked about everything you could, Though he made sure to stay away from the conversation of his family. He didn't want to ruin the date by mentioning his pureblood supremacist family. It's sorta a mood killer.

- You both stayed out of busy spots, even hiding and giggling in a bush as his dorm mates passed.

- That was your first kiss with regulus, tangled in bushes and twigs as you heard footsteps fading. His lips were soft, his hand coming to rest on your cheek.

- When you pulled away, both of you were flushed and looking towards the soil. He walked you back to Hogwarts, separating ways.

- You both couldn't see each other often, only giving each other looks in class or exchanging waves when passing each other in the hallways.

- It was fine for a few months, though the secret meetings were stressful yet fun. You didn't want to hide anymore, which resulted in your first fight.

- "don't you get it? I can't be seen with you! I've told you about my family. They don't like muggle-borns, this Voldemort guy doesn't either and I can't risk exposing our relationship! You'll get hurt!"

- "I don't care if I get hurt Regulus! Our love shouldn't be hidden because your afraid of what people will think! I'm tired of this sneaking around, I'm sick of it!"

- The fighting continued for minutes, both exchanging hateful words. At one point he had said something very vial, saying he couldn't be seen with someone like yourself.

- "What is that suppose to mean?" You sneered at him, eyes tearing up as your arms crossed over your chest.

- "you know damn well what it means," he said back, quick and hard as he just glared down at you.

- You huffed, turning away as you wiped at your cheek. You turned back, shaking your head at him before disappearing out of the room.

- He stayed in the room for a while, thinking about everything. He was so angry, his veins were about to pop from frustration. He hated his family, he couldn't believe that he would lose the one he loved because of his ratchet mother and father.

- He went to Sirius, which was a first in forever. He explained everything to him, he told him how he was sneaking around with a muggle-born and how he didn't want to stop loving you.

- Sirius smirked, thinking he had finally gotten Regulus to betray their spoiled family. Sirius talked his ear off, telling him that he was glad he was gonna change himself and come join the hated family member club.

- Regulus didn't just want to leave the family, he wanted revenge.

- He disregarded Sirius, telling him to piss off and leave him alone for a while.

- The end of 6th year was coming up and Regulus wasn't given any chance to speak to you. He knew damn well you both hadn't separated, just fought. Though he laid in bed at night and worried so hard he thought his brain was gonna rot.

- On the train, he made sure to pull you into a compartment with just you and him. Shutting the blinds so no one will disturb you both.

- "Regulus I don't want to talk to you"

- "I can't meet with you or write to you all summer, I'm not putting up with this break anymore. I only have 2 hours with you and I'm not wasting it."

- "aren't you afraid you're gonna be spotted with me?" ... Regulus wasn't quite good at sarcasm (HA! As if) but he knew well enough from the tone of your voice that you weren't too happy.

- Regulus sighed hard, watching you look out the window as you played with the bottom of your shirt; tucking it in and out of your skirt/trousers (or whatever you're comfortable in).

- "I'm going to do something crazy over the summer break and I don't know if it's going to work but all I know is if I can protect you, I will."

- "regulus what are you talking about?" You asked, you felt worry build up in your stomach. You reached out, grabbing his hand.

- He instantly interlocked your fingers together, he moved to your side as he stared deep into your eyes. His eyes always looked so cold, but right now in this moment, they felt warm.

- "I love you, honestly, if I could marry you right now I would"

- He denied to speak about what he said before, he didn't give you any more information.

- Halfway through the ride, you had been positioned on his lap. His arms looped around your waist as his head rested in the crook of your neck. He let you play with his hands.

- " I love you too" you mumbled in the quiet atmosphere. Regulus held you tighter at the words.

- "hmm?" He hummed, wanting you to say those words again.

- " you told me you loved me, I didn't say it back. But I do love you regulus, I love all of you."

- Regulus felt himself smiling, he couldn't stop the wide grin as he nudged his head into yours lovingly.

- "I can't wait to see you after the summer break" you whispered to him, kissing his forehead as you felt the train start to slow down.

- Dread filled the empty spaces as you hugged each other as tight as possible, not wanting to let go.

- "it's alright, I'll see you after summer. I promise" he whispered into your ear, before bringing your lips to his and kissing one last time.

- The kiss felt like fireworks, there was so much longing and passion mixed into it you didn't want it to end.

- Sadly, the kiss ended and regulus soon disappeared in the crowd of people.

- That summer, regulus had gotten the death mark, he reeked of anger and emptiness. All he wanted was to see you again, to hold you in his arms and kiss you until you both couldn't breathe.

- He had gotten close to Voldemort, he played all the deatheaters with his fake words and praises. He had learned about Voldemort's Horcruxes.

- Regulus had sat at dinner, fork pressed into his hand as he thought hard. His love for you was so strong, he would kill for it.

- He counted down the days until summer break would end.

- 2 more weeks.... 13 days... 11 days... 8 days...

- On the 7th day before September 1st, his plan came to action. He would destroy Voldemort's Horcrux and defeat him and after, he would live 7th year in peace.

- Though his plans didn't come to a win. It stormed and rages of rain came upon him as he made his way to the cave. All he could hear was his heartbeat and the sound of rain outside, along with the padding of Kreacher feet.

- He could hear his breath, his eyes casting over every edge and dark spot. He smiled, he was going to do it, he was going to defeat Voldemort.

- "Whatever I say Kreacher, don't listen. Just keep feeding me the water"

- Kreacher grumbled, "of course, sir"

- "for you love, all for you" regulus whispered before dipping the shell into the crevasse, bringing it to his lips as he took a sip.

- Drinking the liquid felt like poison, regulus had to fight himself to not throw it up.

- The liquid was almost gone, but Kreacher had to take regulus place and force-feed him. Regulus was begging and thrashing, saying whatever came to mind.

- Regulus couldn't finish the drink, weird slimy skeletons climbed from the water surrounding them. Regulus was in a horrid state he couldn't even tell.

- When Kreacher finally force-feed him the last of it, regulus mind came to stillness. His limbs too weak, but he was able to understand that the weird-looking skeletons were not friends.

- "Kreacher, take the Horcrux and go! Hide it! Try anything to destroy it! Go!" He had yelled out, voice dry and strangled.

- Kreacher had to obey by request, he snapped his fingers and disappeared with the Horcrux.

- Regulus tried to fight, his wand shook in his hand as he casts spells after spells. It worked for a few minutes, but there was only one of him and so many of them.

- Regulus was pulled into the water, he kicked and thrashed in spite of trying to get loose. He couldn't swim even if he escaped, his eyes stared through the muddy water as his lungs filled with it.

- Regulus thought of you, your smile, the first time you kissed him, the way your hand fit in his so perfectly, the way you would send him kind eyes whenever he passed you in the halls.

- He sank, and of course his body was dead, but his mind was still there. He was barely conscious enough, but he was there. His body limp and rotten as the years pass.

- His disappearance travelled fast, you had heard first on the train.

- The first years had wondered why a a 7th year was weeping so bad that they couldn't even stand properly.

- You shook hard, gasping and not even trying to grab anything as you sank to the floor of the train. You couldn't care that people were giving you looks, your boyfriend was gone.

- Regulus was gone.

#regulus black #regulus black x you #regulus black x reader #regulus black smut #regulus black headcanon #regulus black imagine #regulus black oneshot #marauder x reader #marauder x you #regulus black x reader smut #marauder era #marauders headcanon #sirius black #regulus black x gender neutral reader #marauders headcanons #regulus black x reader headcanons #marauders angst #marauder angst #marauders era angst

[nemicoamatomio]

And once again fandom fails to grasp nuance in source materials.

Point one: we have no idea of the context of this “night out” Joe and Nicky are having. Taking care of one’s mental health is extremely important, and with couples, sometimes that takes the form of date night. And to compound that, mental health is the only health the immortals have to attend to, and they probably rarely do. They probably have this mentality of “well I’m immortal, I have to help, I have to throw myself into the chaos, and I have to be ok. I don’t get a choice.” Years upon years of violence will fuck you up, plain and simple. And if Joe and Nicky have been feeling the effects of poor mental health for years, and they’ve been trying to self-care via date night for years, and keep getting interrupted, then it’s perfectly logical and reasonable for Nicky to get a little irked. Perhaps Nicky’s having a tougher time than Joe, and that’s why he reacts the way he does, and why Joe is more willing to allow their night to be interrupted. Like, imagine the worst week of your life, and you finally just sit down on the couch with a book and some tea, and someone interrupts. You’re probably not gunna handle it all that well either.

Point two: the immortals can’t take on every bad guy. They would have come to that realization a long time ago, and expecting yourself to do so would destroy you—you’d feel guilt every time you missed one, you’d never be able to walk down the street without panicking. These two would have had to accept that some things are out of even their control. So acting like they should have jumped up as soon as they saw a Nazi in the club is simply unrealistic. They’re going to be around evil people sometimes, and they’re going to have to let it go. Maybe this is a fact that Joe has a harder time accepting—which is why he’s side-eyeing the man like a goddamn champ. But herein lies the nuance. Maybe Nicky isn’t saying they should ignore the Nazi because he’s indifferent to his evilness, maybe he knows that a night off is something Joe needs for his mental health, so Nicky’s trying to maintain it for Joe’s sake. Because note who immediately escalates the encounter when the Nazi insults Joe? Yep, you guessed it, NICKY. He’s willing to let the evil man be so long as he isn’t engaging in anything evil at the moment, but the second he does, Nicky instantly reneges on his earlier suggestion and verbally unloads.

Point three: Nicky could be being fondly exasperated by Joe’s inability to do something for himself, and actually has no conviction in the words “can we have one romantic night without starting an incident.” (Also note the way he phrased it—not “can we have one romantic night out without YOU starting an incident.” It’s “we.” It subtly implies that, no matter how it pans out, Nicky will always throw himself into the fray with Joe. It’s no one’s fault, and he never said these past incidents were Joe’s). It’s playful banter. “Oh, babe, remember all these times this happened before? I’d prefer if we didn’t, but please bare witness to how adoringly I regard you when it does happen.” Because Nicky is smiling during this whole thing. He’s not actually upset. It’s how friends talk to each other. They rag on each other. And at their core, Nicky and Joe aren’t just lovers, they’re best friends.

TL;DR take a deep breath and stop trying to find reasons to dislike Nicky. Without context (which we will never have, not 1000 years of it, not in a 10 page comic book), we can’t possibly understand this interaction beyond a surface level.

#ughhhhh discourse sort of #I try not to do this on here #but the immediate knee-jerk Nicky bashing really irked me #let them have date night FFS #the old guard #joe x nicky #nicky x joe #the immortal husbands #kaysanova #tales through time #tales through time spoilers #also replies are turned off again cuz I know how some of you are

[tuiyla]

for send a character: Ms. Quinn Fabray!

My fave walking Greek tragedy!

favorite thing about them

Is it weird if I say all that she goes through? Like, sucks for her but it makes high-stakes television. I suppose I love that there are so many readings of her story and sure, that's because Glee's inconsistent and they legit hated Quinn but let's look on the bright side. I particularly like the queer reading of her story. And then when it comes to her character I just find it inspiring that she keeps on going. She makes tons of mistakes in the process, sure, but Quinn always stands up. Sometimes literally after mere weeks of having been hit by a truck.

least favorite thing about them

She really does make a lot of mistakes though, huh. I suppose, even though it's juicy on a narrative level, I don't like how reverts back to her old ways as a sort of defense mechanism and how it involves her shutting people out. Nooo Queen Bee Quinnie don't do that. Like remember when she came back to Lima for Thanksgiving, Santana expressed concern about Marley and Quinn went "yeah well I'm fucking my professor and also you're an insecure little bitch haha." Like, girl what? Chaotic queen truly. One step forward two steps back with her.

favorite line

I find this one to be quite underrated:

This freshman just gave me a hug and told me to ‘never change.’ Poor thing is too young to realize that change can be so good.

brOTP

I just wish her all the friends in the world but I'm partial to Quinncedes and the absolute tragedy it was to just ignore them post season 1. They're forever besties in my heart though. I also really like Quartie.

OTP

Honestly just any person (cough woman cough) who makes her happy and she can maintain a healthy relationship with. I really don't see Quinn ending up with anyone from the established cast but I like Faberry and Quinntana in fics. My ultimate Quinn OTP is her and therapy though. Oh and Quinntina is a really good crackship.

nOTP

I do like the themes and idea of them with what Glee was going for but in practice Quick is just... no. No. Nope, they can remain friends and maybe help with each other's issues but Quinn should not be with Puck.

random headcanon

Hmm well I've written before about what kind of mom she'd be and how I think she had a girlfriend at Yale. For this I'd probably say something about her home life, like her sister Frannie reaching out to her around graduation time or later, full of regret for having lost touch for years and wanting to reconnect. It's a strenuous relationship because when Quinn got kicked out Frannie didn't so much as call and that wasn't very sisterly of her but they eventually learn to make something of the bloody mess that is the Fabray family. It takes Quinn years to truly be able to look at Frannie as a big sister she can trust.

unpopular opinion

Once again what is unpopular lol. Let's see, people throwing the phrase pretty privilege around without showing any understanding of how it applies to Quinn is quite exhausting. I dislike when people dismiss or diminish her trauma in any way whatsoever; I don't consider myself someone who goes ultra-hard for her but I won't have that. And, despite the flimsy canon, I do not see how anyone could view her as straight. Sapphic UHT rights in this house.

song i associate with them

Madonna songs, I think Papa Don't Preach is soo underrated. But I also love love how Keep Holding On is like, her song, despite not singing on either version. Brutal also has Skank Quinn vibes.

favorite picture of them

Dianna Agron is like a marble statue of a Greek goddess so you know, any picture but I do like her season 1 Cheerios look and the season 3 short hair. And who could forget Skank Quinn, we hardly knew ya. Let's go with this one:

#glee asks #ask meme #quinn asks #quinn fabray #thank you anon i do love thinking about her #look how cute she is #anon

[sirtadcooper]

Javier Peña and the Brown-Nosed Bear

Fandom: Narcos Category: Gen, Humour, Crack Relationships: Javier Peña & Steve Murphy Characters: Javier Peña, Steve Murphy Word Count: 1,900+ For: @djarsdin and @javierian.

Warnings: Swearing, drug mentions, crack (as in a silly idea) treated far too seriously, period inaccuracies, food, McDonald’s.

Summary: Javier Peña is not having a good day so Steve Murphy brings him a McDonald’s Happy Meal to cheer him up.

Notes: This makes no sense. The Happy Meal menu is from the UK in 2021, the toys are from 2018 and the boys are in the 1980s. But just go with it, for me, pretty please?

This, all of this, was inspired by @djarsdin’s tag “someone get this man a happy meal” under this already dryly funny post by @javierian. This is for both of you. :)

Any Spanish is from Google Translate so please forgive me if it’s wrong.

(One-shot.)

Javier Peña and the Brown-Nosed Bear

Javier is staring blankly down at a page, cigarette hanging loosely from one hand as he cups his chin with the other. The typewritten words are blurring and he’s read the same paragraph countless times now, in limbo, unable to get any further.

A small red box, having evidently just been thrown in his direction, lands with a soft thud right under his nose. Javi jerks back with a start, blurry black and white suddenly replaced with bright red and… yellow? Javi blinks, his tired eyes finally focus — it’s a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

“There,” says Steve, “now cheer the fuck up.”

He sets two soda cups down safely on the desk and throws himself down onto his chair with enough force to send it rolling backwards a few feet. Identical Happy Meal box cradled lovingly on his lap, he rolls the chair forwards with his feet until he’s close enough to his desk again to put his boots up on it.

Looking over, Steve nods meaningfully at Javi’s paperwork.

Javi follows his gaze. “Shit.”

Javi’s half cigarette has been dropping flakes of ash onto his page. He swipes the tiny flakes away with the side of his hand — when only faint grey stains remain on the crisp white paper, he rests the still lit cigarette on the rim of the ashtray and leaves it sitting there, hazy wisps of smoke rising into the air.

“You look like shit,” Steve comments needlessly around a huge bite of a chicken burger.

Javi grimaces, rubbing at his tired eyes. He feels like shit, he doesn’t need to be told, thank you, he wants to say. Instead, he says aloud, “How’d things go with your C.I.?”

Chewing noisily, Steve shrugs. “No shop talk over dinner. I’ll tell you later. Eat up.”

With a pointed look, Javi sets the paperwork aside. Perhaps he will try to finish it again later, perhaps tomorrow, or even better still it may find itself in Steve’s annoyingly sparse inbox.

Opening the red and yellow box, Javi finds a bag of fries and a box of chicken nuggets. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was — as soon as the scent of fried fast food hits his nostrils his mouth starts to water. He glances at the clock — well after four in the afternoon. Last time he had checked it was just before one.

“Oh — almost forgot.” Steve plunges his hand into his jacket pocket. First he places a tiny tub of ketchup on Javi’s side of their desk, then a wad of napkins an inch thick.

“Your kid joining us?” Javi asks, meaning the excessive collection of napkins, but concentrating on pulling the lid off the ketchup dip.

Steve, halfway through his chicken burger already, adopts an enigmatic expression. “I’ve learned to be prepared.”

Javi is absolutely ravenous — the chicken nuggets and fries after almost a day’s unintended fasting are heavenly.

They both eat in companionable silence until—

Crunch!

Javi looks up from his food, takes a moment to register what’s in front of his eyes. “What the fuck is that?”

“It’s a carrot stick.”

“What’s it doing in a kid’s meal?” Javi asks, and then, more to himself, “Why am I eating a kid’s meal?”

“One — it’s healthy. Connie and I are watching what we eat right now and trying to keep in shape.” Javi can think of other ways two married people could keep in shape, but hasn’t the chance to voice his opinion as Steve carries on, “Two — shut up, it’s tasty, ain’t it? And three — I thought it might cheer you up, you’ve been a real downer today.” He doesn’t use a finger to emphasise each point, rather a wiggle of a carrot stick with the end bitten off. Javi decides instantly that he doesn’t like that.

“I’m touched,” he says dryly, dipping a fry in his sauce. He really is touched by the kind thought from his partner, but the kind thought is wrapped in so many layers of hillbilly bullshit that it’s hard to find the words to express that. He leaves his gratitude unsaid, veers the conversation away. “How did you order all this, anyways? Your Spanish isn’t that good.”

Steve appears offended, which Javi knows to mean that he isn’t offended at all. “Hey, I know the words for ‘drug dealer’ and ‘cocaine’ and ‘gun’.”

Javi peers into his red and yellow box — only a plastic bag with something black inside remains. “I don’t see any cocaine in here,” Javi mutters under his breath, deliberately loud enough to be heard.

“These carrot sticks are better than coke, believe me,” Steve says, shoving another piece of carrot into his mouth with a triumphant grin as if that proved it.

Javi shakes his head, sips on his soda. “Lying bastard.”

Steve’s expression gives nothing away.

“I just pointed at what I wanted. Took me a few attempts but I got there in the end. How do you say carrot sticks in Spanish? Just, you know, for future reference.”

“Palo de mierda,” Javi tells him with a straight face, without hesitation.

“What?”

“Palo de mierda,” Javi says again, unrepentant — he holds in a breath, hoping that Steve doesn’t catch on. He needn’t have worried.

Steve repeats it a few times, committing the phrase to memory. Javi stuffs a whole chicken nugget in his mouth before he can laugh.

They lapse into silence again — or as silent as it can be when one of them is crunching on raw carrots.

Chicken burger and carrot sticks finished, Steve wipes mayo off of his moustache with a napkin. A few minutes later when Javi reaches for a napkin from the pile as well, Steve looks very pleased with himself.

Javi starts tidying up, collecting the leftover rubbish from his desk and putting it inside his red box. Only his soda remains to be finished.

“Nice,” Steve says and Javi looks up — he’s got a little stuffed penguin toy in a plastic bag. “My little girl’s gonna love this.”

Javi reaches into his box and pulls out a bag too — it’s a black thing with a brown nose and tummy, some kind of stuffed animal he doesn’t recognise. He turns it over — there’s a card inside.

SLOTH BEAR, it reads.

“Here you go,” Javi says, lifting himself out of his chair to reach across their desk made out of two desks. He holds out the sloth bear in its plastic bag for Steve to take — but Steve doesn’t make a move, just stares at Javi like he’s sprouted an extra head that’s just told him the sky isn’t blue. Catching his look, Javi asks, “What? It’s for your kid.”

“No, no, man, that’s yours,” Steve says, shaking his head along with every ‘no’.

Javi doesn't retreat, just shakes his outstretched hand as if to tempt him — the little bear in the bag jumps up and down and the plastic crinkles noisily with the movement. (Javi hasn’t thought of the Serpent tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden for a long time.)

After a few moments of them staring stubbornly at each other, bear in a bag suspended between them, Javi falls back into his chair with a huff. He looks down at the bear in his hands. “What am I going to do with this?”

Steve rolls his eyes and lifts up his hand, fingers wiggling to beckon Javi — or the bear — to him.

He gets the bear — it flies across the desk and slaps him on the cheek with some force, bouncing off of him and to the ground. Steve bends over in his chair and it rolls back slightly as he strains to reach the bear where it has landed. He straightens, the bear clenched securely in his fist, and fixes Javi with an outraged look. “What the hell?”

Javi takes a drag of his half-finished cigarette, blows out the smoke. “It’s a tiny stuffed animal, Steve, it can’t feel a thing.”

“He’s got a brown nose.”

“He?” Javi mutters to himself, but is talked over.

“He’s got a brown nose, d’you know what that means?” Steve points at the bear’s pale brown muzzle, just in case Javi hasn’t noticed — he has noticed, he just doesn’t see why the hell he should care.

Steve’s expecting an answer — Javi rolls his eyes, feebly attempts, “He — it — has been using a sun bed wrong?”

“No, it means he’s your mascot,” Steve declares with childlike glee.

Javi blinks in the face of Steve’s unaccountable delight. “You’re losing it, Murphy.”

“He is. Think about it — how much brown-nosing do you and me have to do on a weekly basis? It’s a fuckton. I can handle it fine because I am calm and collected and an excellent people person — but you? You look like you’re constipated the whole time — quit flipping me the bird, man, I’m serious here — and the big cheeses know it, Javi, they’ll start taking a real dislike to you. But this bear is an expert, look at him, it’s all over his face. You take inspiration from him and he’ll show you how to brown-nose like the best of them.”

Steve holds out the bear in the bag for Javi to take. The three of them stare at each other — Steve with a look of ridiculous seriousness, Javi with straight-up disbelief, and the bear with the blank expression of the fucking inanimate.

“Kiss my ass,” Javi says, and in one swift and graceful movement he’s out of his chair and heading for the restroom. His knees protest after sitting for most of the day but he’s not fucking stopping. He has to get away from this maniac. “I’m going for a piss,” he throws over his shoulder as he disappears into the corridor.

When he returns several minutes later Steve is gone — but the brown-nosed bear is unwrapped from its plastic bag and nestled in between his outbox and his pen pot.

Javi sighs, but the bear stays.

TWO DAYS LATER

“Ambassador Noonan wants to see us about my C.I.,” Steve tells Javi, almost apologetic, as he puts the phone back on the hook.

“Both of us? Great,” Javi says, the final word sounding chipper but dripping with sarcasm.

They both head for their desks, collecting I.D. badges from drawers and putting their coats on. Steve fiddles with his hair — which makes very little difference, Javi thinks — and picks up his car keys. “I’ll drive,” he says, and goes on ahead.

The brown-nosed bear catches Javi’s eye as he turns to leave. He pauses despite himself, mutters, “Fuck it.”

He puts the bear in his pocket and follows Steve out of the building.

In the meeting, every time Noonan says something that will needlessly halt their progress in catching Escobar, Javi squeezes the bear hidden in his pocket and tries to look less ‘constipated’, as Steve succinctly put it.

Steve’s C.I. will get them a small step closer to Escobar but a small step is better than none at all. Noonan is pleased, grants them some extra funds and manpower to follow the C.I.’s lead. In all, the meeting goes much better than usual — they leave with more than they arrived with.

Javi and Steve are descending the stairs to the underground parking lot together when Javi says, “Palo de zanahoria.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Palo de zanahoria. Carrot sticks. In Spanish.”

#narcos #javier peña #javier pena #steve murphy #narcos netflix #mcdonalds #djarsdin #userjoanne #javierian #*mine #*fanfic #javierian we have never interacted i don't think but please accept this crackfic for you <3 #i'll hopefully post this to my ao3 too

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #18- Rung Psychologically Tortures a Man with Poor Snack Management

So, Swerve’s having a less than stellar day, and for once it isn’t linked to his deep-rooted sense of self-loathing.

Good thing he already emptied those stills, otherwise this would be just the hugest mess.

Thanks to some off-panel Whirl shenanigans that took place prior to this storyline, Swerve had Brainstorm put in a few security measures. Of course, Brainstorm being Brainstorm, never does weaponry in any half-measures.

Still, it isn’t quite enough. Looks like Swerve’s going to have to break out the big guns for this guy.

There’s a lot going on here, so let’s break it down.

On the character side of things, it would appear that Swerve is a merciful god of robot booze, as he’s not yet banned anyone from his small business, even when he probably ought to- Fort Max I get, and Whirl has the whole “is also an Autobot” thing going on, but Cyclonus has actively attempted to murder Swerve in the past, and also is the closest thing to a Decepticon they’ve got on the ship at any given time.

On the weaponry side of things, it would seem that Swerve having blown his face clean off his skull back in issue #12 got back to Brainstorm, who- because he’s married to his career and loves a project- immediately got to work on a gun that Swerve could actually handle with his funky little cartoon-man hands. Of course, that doesn’t mean Swerve’s going to get away with his dignity intact, oh heavens no! This thing has a literal smiley face slapped on the front of it. Well, you know what they say: it’s Nerf or Nothing.

Swerve blasts a hole in the Legislator with his silly, silly gun, and the bar is saved from further destruction.

I like to imagine that Brainstorm recorded that victory line himself, because he wants to support his friends, in his own, bizarre way.

Things are looking rough for the rest of the Lost Light, as the Legislators have completely flooded the ship with their forces, as the crew do their best to fight them off. Blaster’s had his titty compartment blasted open. Huffer is screaming. The medics have taken to violence. Skids has broken out the brass knuckles and is making god-awful math puns. The Legislators are still coming, without any end in sight. It’s a real shitshow.

Over on Luna 1, it would appear that Ratchet immediately passed out after seeing Pharma, which is a fair response to seeing someone who’s supposed to be very much dead, I think. Pharma calls Lockdown, they have a bit of banter, and then the scene moves on to whatever Cyclonus and Whirl are doing.

Because these two are the only ones on the away team who can actually fly, they’ve broken off from the rest. Whirl’s getting antsy, and decides he’s gonna fight something. Cyclonus, though he does mention that Rodimus told them not to do exactly what Whirl is suggesting, seems to agree with this line of thought.

Speaking of Rodimus, him and the rest of the gang are zipping around on those M.A.R.B.s, though it appears as if some of the passengers have switched drivers. Rung’s over with Chromedome now, holding on to him for dear life. Maybe they’re having an impromptu grief counseling session as they run from danger. Tailgate’s with Rodimus, and he’s just pointed out that Ratchet got left behind. Rodimus can’t deal with that right now, though, and decides that they need to get away from all these gotdang Decepticons and then figure out their next step.

Then he’s distracted by the literal lineup of dead Titans just hanging out on the moon.

Luna 1’s kinda fucked up.

Cutting back to our framing device- nope, still haven’t gotten caught up with the present yet- Ambus asks what Rodimus did next. Well, a lot happened. A lot. Chromedome jumped out of his therapy session with Rung and transforms into his alt, which I want to say is the only time he’ll do it in MTMTE. Whirl and Cyclonus are faffing about in the sky, more or less toying with the Decepticons following them. Rodimus wants to pull another Fantastic Voyage, much to Tailgate’s horror.

Rodimus zooms into the first crack he sees, but doesn’t manage to lose his attackers. Tailgate provides commentary, as Rodimus wraps the little guy around his neck like a cape, leaps from the M.A.R.B., and does some super sick gymnastics, hanging from a pipe jutting out of the ceiling as the guys who were chasing them run into… well, I assume each other, but it’s not terribly clear.

Crisis avoided, Rodimus drops down, transforming as he does. Tailgate goes with him, because gravity is still a thing on the moon, and we get a reminder that he’s only got a couple days left to live. Unfortunately, it would appear he’ll be spending his final days rotting in a prison cell, as Lockdown shows up with everyone else in handcuffs, forcing Rodimus to come quietly. Everyone seems very put out by this whole situation, especially Brainstorm. He’s downright furious, probably because he got captured by the guy with a fish butt on his head.

Oh, the indignity of it all!

Then again, maybe he’s just focused on working up the cajones to ask just what the hell is going on on this super weird moon. Lockdown obviously isn’t a bad enough dude to be running this operation- we saw what happened the last time he went against someone who actually had the time to plan something out- so our away team has deduced that there’s someone higher up on the food chain here. Also, there’s the whole issue of money clearly being a major factor in all this.

That sort of tech doesn’t just fall out of the sky.

As they’re being walked down this corridor of tension building, Chromedome spies Ultra Magnus in an adjoining hallway. He calls to him, but is very solidly ignored. But there’s no time to worry about Magnus being a rude shit, because it’s time for character reveals!

There’s an interesting little detail about Tyrest’s character, which is a little hard to see given the layout of the art for this page, but here it is, on the end of his staff:

Now, I know that the Autobot badge was appropriated from a symbol meant to represent Primus, but that was millions of years ago. So much for being a neutral party, huh Tyrest?

Rodimus is real peeved about being chased, shot at, arrested, and held against his will, and fully intends to give Tyrest a piece of his mind. Tyrest isn’t interested, however, telling him to shove a sock in it, or be “held in contempt.” While this is happening, Perceptor and Brainstorm have noticed the positively humongous and positively ancient space bridge that Tyrest just has lying around in this room.

Oh no, this is about the baby field from last issue, isn’t it? Brainstorm’s going to jail for infant arson.

Rodimus greatly dislikes this whole situation, and expresses himself through the art of verbal abuse. Smash cut to them back in the cell, Ambus not seeming terribly impressed with how Rodimus handled himself with Tyrest.

The tale is finished, we know where we were. Now how to move forward?

Chromedome asks for a bit more information on our new friend, because the whole “Ambus” thing is throwing him off, and with good reason: how do you tell your late husband’s ex that you had to blow up your mutual partner to keep him from being eaten by a lippy bastard? But this isn’t the illustrious Dominus Ambus- this is MINIMUS Ambus, the lesser known brother. Chromedome/Dominus isn’t completely taken off the table, however, as Minimus uses some awkward phrases that seems to tell me Dominus isn’t confirmed dead.

Rung wants to know what Minimus’ whole deal is, seeing as he’s also in prison with the lot of them. Minimus explains that he’d been moving a shipment of energon derivatives, when Tyrest had arrested him for having traces of space cocaine in his goods.

Was taking his eye really necessary, Tyrest?

Minimus was placed into custody years ago, and has been awaiting trial this whole time. Not exactly sure why, seeing as this moon isn’t exactly off the chain populated. Maybe Tyrest’s just been busy doing things that are absolutely NOT nefarious in any form or fashion whatsoever.

Minimus mentions that he’s lost his Autobot badge, and Rung offers to let him borrow his own- which we’ve never seen him wear because it’s apparently too big for him- but Minimus would rather he wear it himself.

Tailgate doesn’t take to this bit of information about the appeals system very well, seeing as he’s not got years to wait around. He’s beginning to panic, not trusting Cyclonus and Whirl to break them out, and starts needling the others to do something. Brainstorm reveals that his briefcase, which he’s had this entire time, as he always does, has an attention deflector built into it, making it effectively invisible to Tyrest and his goons. Rung feels a certain kinship with the briefcase in that moment.

Imagine walking up to a widower and saying “Hey there, honeybunches, how about submitting to that crippling addiction your late spouse begged you to quit so we can bust out of prison?”

Of course, Tailgate’s only told Cyclonus about his condition, so no one’s exactly raring to go busting out, since they’ve assumed everyone present is effectively immortal.

Over on another part of the moon, Ratchet’s finally waking up from his stress-induced nap to find Pharma channeling his inner Jigsaw. Ratchet gives him some constructive criticism on his new hands, but Pharma’s kind of over listening to whatever Ratchet thinks.

Oh, I hope it’s one of those gag gifts where you open it and get hit in the face with a pie. Those are always a laugh.

Back on the Lost Light, Swerve is looking for his very best friend in the whole wide world. I really hope the feeling is mutual, because there’s no way Swerve would survive that sort of rejection.

The doors to the oil reservoir open, looking like the elevator scene from The Shining, and we see what’s become of our dear, dear Skidsy.

Skids is pretty sure all this Legislator nonsense is because of him, and he’s not about to let people die for his sorry butt today, no siree. He’s gonna save the day.

Then again, this is about where Star Saber pops into existence behind him and stabs him through the spine, so maybe not.

Behold, a bastard!

Star Saber in the IDW run is well-known as being a witch-hunting zealot who can and will commit acts of violence over any perceived slight against Primus he identifies in any given living creature. This is a stark removal from his original character, who is so pure-hearted, kind, and generous, he literally adopted an orphan to raise as his own son. So, what exactly happened here?

TMUK happened.

Back in the days before Roberts was a professional scriptwriter, back before IDW had the license for Transformers, the members of the TMUK fan group decided that Victory’s Star Saber was going to be evil. Why isn’t exactly clear, only that it was a decision that was made not by Roberts on his lonesome, but more as a collaborative effort. Of course, this Star Saber isn’t a one-to-one copy of the TMUK Star Saber- that guy was much more conniving and, uh, Hitler-y, than what we have here.

Getting back to the story, Swerve tries to save/avenge Skids, firing with his custom gun, only to miss every single shot.

Looks like there’s going to need to be a rework on the My First Blaster.

Swerve gets beaned over the head with the butt of Star Saber’s sword for his troubles, his visor shattering in the process. Damn, sure hope he’s got a reading prescription, and not anything he’ll actually need to see.

Back over on the moon, Ratchet’s pretty uninterested in playing Pharma’s little game. It’s just as well though, because, as it turns out, Pharma’s an impatient guy. Must be an absolute nightmare during the holiday season and birthdays. He throws open the box, revealing what’s inside.

THAT IS NOT PIE.

But we saw Ratchet’s face over on the other side of the room. How can he be in two places at once? Well, here’s the thing about Transformers…

They’re pretty darn hard to kill.

Back in the cell, Rung’s doing his part as a member of the away team by passing out snacks. Tailgate reveals his awful garbage disposal mouth. We get the down-low on Tyrest.

Once upon a time, Tyrest was an engineer. Then the war happened, shit got crazy, and suddenly he was organizing exoduses and peace talks with genocidal maniacs, and got appointed Chief Justice by the space pope himself.

Rodimus comes over to get in on the little snack party Rung and Tailgate are having, mentioning the Aequitas Trials- the very ones that were recorded onto Ironfist’s brain back in Last Stand of the Wreckers. Minimus comes over, warning Rodimus to keep hush-hush about those, since they’re top secret and all. Kind of a weird thing for you to do, Minimus. Hell, why do YOU know about these super secret trials, Mr. Nobody Trader Guy? Those were after Dominus disappeared, so it’s not like you had an in through your cool older brother.

Rodimus gives everyone the skinny on the trials, despite Minimus being weird about the whole thing.

Perceptor knows all this already, but I suppose it’s possible Rodimus is the only son of a gun who isn’t subscribed to Wreckers: Declassified and isn’t aware of Perceptor’s whole deal.

Minimus moves the topic over to the crew of the Lost Light, latching on to Skids specifically the moment he’s mentioned. Rung does his due diligence and offers Minimus a ride on the snack train. Minimus declines, Rung insists, and the box of space pocky is dropped on the floor.

Minimus goes to help Rung pick up the snacks, as Rung actively hinders the clean up effort.

Minimus is two seconds from snapping Rung’s scrawny little wrist like a toothpick if he doesn’t quit it. Luckily Rodimus is there to break up this positively bizarre situation. And then things get really weird.

Rung’s been watching Minimus since they got here, noticing things that were very familiar- speech patterns, mannerisms, tone, inflection, OCD behaviors, things like that. Once he developed enough of a hunch, Rung started intentionally antagonizing him by making a mess and putting his Autobot badge on in a way that isn’t up to standards. Why would he do this? Why would he want to cause an outburst in someone he just met?

Well, the thing is, he hasn’t just met Minimus Ambus. He’s actually been serving under him for the last year.

That’s a rather dark use of your doctorate, Rung, forcing a man to reveal his true identity by poking at his mental health until he was about to snap your neck over some candy. You did it so well, too.

Maybe you were on Kimia for more than just psych evals. What was your career officially called again? Psyops specialist is what they have listed on the Wiki. Truth be told, I don’t even know what that entails. Let’s look it up, shall we?

...I guess therapy is his side gig?

So either Roberts meant something else entirely, or Rung is actually super fucking scary.

#transformers #jro #mtmte #remain in light #issue 18 #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #overthinking about robots #incoming analysis #comic script writing

[intrepidmare]

MARE'S RECAPS ~ THE MANDALORIAN: CHAPTER 9 "THE MARSHALL"

Oh wow! It's been a while since I've done something like this. Last year, I caught up with season 1 about 2 days before the finale, so I didn't have the opportunity to write reviews/recaps. This season, though, I'm going to 😀 so here it is the first one! 

For the folks that haven't seen the premiere and don't want spoilers, scroll past this, fast and furious, because it's full of them. If you want to blacklist tags to avoid spoilers from me, I suggest that you add #mando spoilers, #the mandalorian season 2 spoilers, and #mare's mando recaps to the list.

I've seen the episode a few times (yeah, I'm that obsessed with the show) so some of my reactions are more visceral than others since I was too excited the few first times I watched it and I missed a lot of details (another reason to rewatch the episode more than once). This recap is loooooong, which is an indication of how amazing it was.

So this my final warning to those avoiding spoilers. Stop reading, right now. The rest of you… enjoy and let me know if you share some of my opinions. I'm always open to chat 😊

Chapter 9 ~ The Marshall

So it begins! It's so exciting!

I knew that Mando and baby Yoda walking in the street at night was going to be the opening scene. I started to think about it after watching the second trailer, and I'm glad that I was right.

It turns out that the red-eyed creatures were not jawas as I saw some people saying.

Baby Yoda was not happy with the little excursion to the fighting arena. Not walking on the streets nor inside watching the fight. I still laughed when he locked himself up in the pram, even if I've watched the trailer like a gazillion times by now and I knew he was going to do it.

And talking about the baby, he's getting more vocal I think. He's making a few new noises, whimpering more, which I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing. That he complains more means that he feels safe with his buir and isn't afraid of retaliation for it as he probably was with others in the past and the reason he didn't cry much in season 1. But it breaks my heart that he is stressed. And that child is anxious, I can tell you that much.

The fight with Gor Koresh's thugs was awesome! The gamorrean flying to squash Mando and failing had me cracking up. And omg! Din'd moves! Using his helmet as a weapon and throwing his vibroblade. And leaving Gor Koresh to be eaten! Man of his word, he didn't kill the guy.

On a side note, I would've never guessed it was John Leguizamo who gave voice to Koresh until I saw the credits. Of all the actors who could play the part, I never thought of him.

Umm, I'm curious about the time Mando has spent in Tatooine, which according to him it's been a lot and it makes sense since he knows so much about the Tuskens, their language and culture. I'm guessing he spent a while among them. He had to learn all that somehow. 

When I speculated that Mando was going back to Tatooine after watching the trailers, I said that I was going to riot if he didn't visit his favorite mechanic. Thankfully, I didn't need to worry. I loved Peli in episode 5 of season 1 and I loved her even more now remarking on Din's dislike of droids and trying to keep the baby for herself. Not to mention she complaining about not getting good help these days 🤣

And I ADORE the (improvised?) Birikad Din got for the baby. Of course, the baby is safer in the pram, right (guessing that's why he used it when he met Gor Koresh), but there's something sweet watching him carrying his son so close to him.

And I tell you, Mando has been spending credits lately in baby stuff. I mean, he got a new pram (which I initially thought it was the original that he had somehow retrieved from the garbage in Nevarro, but no, it's not the same, and neither it's the one that Kuiil made) and he also got the bag/birikad thing, which looks brand-new. I wonder what else he bought.

Watching the droids doing maintenance of the Razor Crest makes me think it's all for nothing, knowing that in a few episodes (it might be even in the next one) Mando is going to crash the ship. More than once perhaps.

😆 The baby still loves speed! I think riding on the speeder bike was the only moment that he truly enjoyed in this episode. Look at that happy face 

When they arrived at Mos Pelgo and Din went into the cantina, leaving the baby outside, I was like: Din! That's not responsible. How can you leave your son out in the inclement sun, alone! Then baby Yoda peeked in and I went: never mind. I take back what I said.

Oooh. Cobb Vanth! I love him! For a moment, I thought it could actually be Boba but it seemed illogical and that's what Mr. Feloni and Mr. Favreau wanted us to think. I was correct.

My gawd! Din's shock when Vanth took the helmet off. I just knew he would freak out the moment Cobb asked for drinks and I said to drink they need to remove their helmets and Mando is going to lose it when this guy does. And the standoff! Was so good! "Take it off or I will" is going to become a quite popular phrase in fics from now on, not in the same context, but yeah…

The krayt dragon… oh shit! Or rather Dank farrik! We can't see Mando's face or expression but I can imagine which one was when he saw the dragon eating the bantha the first time.

Oh my goodness. The baby hiding in the pot! Too adorable! 

I know every hardcore SW fan lost it watching Vanth modified speeder because is a callback to the Phantom Menace and Anakin but my first thought was: is he compensating for something? Sorry, I couldn't help it 

The dog-lizard creatures were kinda scary at first but then became adorable. Almost as much as baby Yoda getting out of hiding

Baby Yoda doesn't like dog-lizards things. He looked afraid to be eaten I think. Poor little guy.

And look at that! Din showing such growth! To think he was the one incensing others in negotiation 😆 this is a total callback to the jawas in Arvala-7. And I gotta tell you, Din freaking loves his flamethrower. He doesn't waste the opportunity to use it.

The krayt dragon eating the Tusken raider instead of the bantha was quite of a plot twist 😆

When they were planning the attack on the dragon, Cobb Vanth's face when Din told him that the bones and pebbles were to scale, and then when he had volunteered the villagers to help… priceless! 

I like the fact of banding together with others for a greater good, relying on others to accomplish something is going to continue being the theme of this season. It started last season but I think it's going to be stronger this time around along all of the episodes.

😳😲😳😲 this thing vomits acid?! What. The. FUCK?!!!

Cobb: I don't think it's dead

Mando: me neither

Me, at the same time as Din: yeah, nope it's not dead

Oh yeah! Teaming up with jetpacks!

When they showed the bantha with the remaining explosives my first thought was why didn't they use all those before?! That's why they didn't kill it!! Of course, it was just an excuse to grant Din a more grand win in the end, but you know, it's stupid not to use everything you have to kill the monster on the first try. Just saying

Wait, what? Din! What are you going to do? No! Taking care of the child is your responsibility, not Cobb Vanth's! I hate this plan of yours, Din Djarin!! Whichever it is!

Oh! Nice callback to the flaw on that jetpack. But makes me wonder, do all the rising Phoenixes have the same flaw? Cuz unless Din knows Boba in person and that it's his armor with that particular flaw, it means it's a common problem for all and I don't like it.

Get away, Din! Get away, Din!! FLY AWAY!! AAAAAAAHHHHHH! NOOOOOO! 

There he is! Damn, Mando! Don't scare me like that! Altho, it was a nice move.

Okay, but now I want someone to explain something to me. If the dragon's acid melted people at contact before, how the hell is Din so whole? I mean, sure for argument' sake let's say his beskar armor provides some protection, but he's not entirely covered in it. His cape and undersuit seem just fine, albeit sticky. Where's the logic in that?

The tuskens getting the pearl reminded me of the jawas and the mudhorn's egg, chanting zukka, zukka (or however egg is spelled in Jawa).

That's quite a piece of meat. The baby is going to be happy eating off it for days🤣

😮😮😳😳 BOBA FETT!!!!! Yesssssss!!

Okay, I've seen other people's thoughts and some think that Boba was after Cobb Vanth because he had the armor, but I don't know. If that was true then why he hadn't gone to Mos Pelgo and got it? It seems to me that it's more likely that Boba is following Din somehow because it's the second time in as many Mando's visits to the planet that they sort of cross paths. Could they know each other? Have some score to settle? It's possible. Din has spent much time on Tatooine -his words, not mine- so it wouldn't be so out of consideration that they actually know each other. That if Mando knows Boba is (fake?) Mando, I don't know. Probably not, but who knows?

Extra thoughts

I gotta say that Ludwig Göransson is killing it with the score music! Oh. My. God! So so so so good! I could tell from the trailers that it was going to be awesome this season but it astounded me in chapter 9. Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous! My favorite piece is when they're going to the dragon's cave to kill it. The orchestral sound of the already familiar music blew my mind!

#mare's mando recaps #mando spoilers #the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 2 spoilers #the mandalorian season 2 #din djarin #baby yoda #cobb vanth

[guardianofjunmyeon]

Finding Atlantis (part 13)

Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Lovers, PirateAU

Description:  20 years ago the seas became angry. Unruly and unkind to any sailor, to  any ship that dared venture too far out in her waters. Many a man has  heard the tales of Atlantis, the lost city, the key the ocean. But fewer  men know the tale of it’s missing child. The key to the ocean, the key  to Atlantis but a lost little one. The power one would hold should they  find this child would be nearly that of Poseidon himself. Thus, the hunt  began.  

A/N: oof this chapter is ...a bit emotional. I cried while writing this lmao i hope you all like it

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18

“We need to find port soon. We’re running low on supplies.”

“I know. I’m not sure how much longer we have to keep sailing. I’m not sure how much longer we can keep sailing.” You frown down at the map on the table while Yixing fiddles with the compass next to you.

A week. It’s been a week since the last trial and a week since there has been a single sign that your crew is still on the right track. No new hints, no change in song, nothing.

Each day that passes places a heavier weight on your shoulders. Time is ticking by but there’s no way to know just how much time is left on your clock. On Junmyeon’s clock.

Your first mate has been out of it since Isla de Sirena. He barely comes above deck for anything that he isn’t directly summoned for. Everyone can sense the uneasiness in his attitude; can see it on his face. The disquiet in his mind is so loud that you can feel it just by being around him.

“Have you talked to him?” Yixing’s voice breaks you out of your worried thoughts.

“Huh?”

“Junmyeon. Have you talked to him?”

You shake your head at his words and trace an invisible line across the map from where you started to where you are now. A quick stroke of your finger across the paper that represents all that you’ve gone through this month. It’s almost funny to see all of your near death experiences, injuries, loss, and pain being reduced to a simple 2 second line made with your fingertip.

“I’m afraid to,” you finally admit. You tap your finger against the map and look up. “This is the first time I’ve seen him like this in years. The last time was around when the three of us first started trying to get him home, remember?”

The frown that rests on Yixing’s face deepens at your words. “Junmyeon just gets lost in his mind sometimes. It happened before and he recovered, so he'll be fine this time too.”

He’ll be fine this time too. But what if he won’t be?

You focus your eyes back to the table and the writing on the map. “Do you think it would be better if we just turned around? What if we just…stopped all of this? If we went back to the way things were before?” Yixing’s silence pushes you to continue on, to fight against the heaviness settling in the air. “Maybe Jun doesn’t even really want to go home. You saw how he reacted when we talked about his dad; he’s been depressed since the start of this so maybe going home isn’t the best thing for him-”

“Not the best thing for him? Or not the best thing for you?” Your mouth dries and you clench your jaw to keep from saying anything else. “Captain, I understand that you are worried and that this is…a big change, but you cannot honestly think that going back to normal is the best option. You know what is going on with the ocean, you know that he needs to go back; you know that he misses home and he was never meant to be with us forever. This was always going to happen. This ending has been written from the start.

“It would be best for you to accept that now before you lose your chance to really say goodbye to him.”

You laugh dryly. “Why are you making it sound like we’re never going to see him again after this?”

“Captain-”

“We’re going to take him home. He’s going to fix things there and then he’ll come back to us. Don’t-” you swallow hard “Don’t phrase it like we’re never going to see him again. He left Atlantis once, and he can do it again.”

You feel Yixing looking at you. Disappointed or concerned you aren’t sure.

Maybe a mix of both.

Yixing sighs out your name with enough heartbreak coating the sound to feel like a punch in your stomach. “I’m not going to let you sit here in denial. Junmyeon is going home, and the chance that we will ever see him again after this is very, very low. You need to accept that now while you still have time with him. He knows this. I know this. The crew knows this. You know this. Pretending that it won’t happen will only make it that much more painful.”

You clench your fists.

Yixing stands up from the table.

“Talk to him. Accept reality and get ready to move on. 7 years is a long time to spend together, but you can’t expect that he will just stay at your side for the rest of your lives.”

The door shuts softly behind him. You exhale a shaky breath and close your eyes.

This ending was written from the start.

Ending. You’ve ended plenty of things in your life; why does this one feel so hard to break off?

~~~

The crew cabins is a space that you tend to avoid. Not because you dislike going there, but you feel as though your crew deserves at least this space for themselves. You have your quarters and you allow people to enter and leave as they please, but you know that the cabins is the one space where they can escape from your presence.

But there are times when you have to invade that space.

Times like this.

“Junmyeon? Are you busy?”

Said man looks up from the book settled in his lap to catch your eyes, his wide with surprise.

“Oh, uh no I’m not busy. Am I needed for something above deck?” He starts to get up from his bunk.

“No!” Your hands raise in alarm to stop him before you realize it. “No no. I just…I wanted to talk to you, if you’re free?”

His eyebrows furrow in confusion before he nods and takes a final look at the book to remember where he’s leaving off. “Of course, but I’ve got to admit that you’re scaring me a bit,” he chuckles nervously before closing the book.

Cut straight to the chase. Cut straight to the chase. Cut straight to the chase.

“So uh, what are you reading?”

Idiot.

His eyelashes flutter from his quick, startled blinks. “You came here to ask me…what I’m reading?”

You try to smile reassuringly when you nod, but you know that your piss poor job of trying to convince him isn't going well.

He narrows his eyes and then sighs loudly. “Yixing talked to me two days ago.” You hold back a groan as he sits up. “I was wondering when you would finally stop being a chicken and come talk to me.”

Oh great. “Traitor,” you grumble to yourself. “Okay yeah fine. I’m not here about your book. I wanted to talk to you about-”

Junmyeon stands up suddenly and your words stall on your tongue.

“No…”

Horror. You hear the emotion clearly in his single word. Conversation forgotten, Junmyeon rushes away and you stare after him with fear settling thick in your veins. Junmyeon is never one to cut someone off when they’re talking to him. Even less so being someone to be suddenly stricken with an emotion so raw and dark as horror.

“Fuck!”

“Captain! Where’s the Captain?”

“What is going on?!”

The myriad of voices come muffled from above. You hear people running around and calling out for you; it snaps you into action. Sleeping bodies around you startle awake at the commotion from above combined with your frantic feet stomping through the cabin back to the main deck.

It’s deep into the night, a time when the sky would be its darkest if not for the light of the moon.

But it isn’t black. A sickly shade of green paints the sky around you; a sinister and alarming feeling surrounding you. It’s far too bright and the moon is nowhere to be seen. Something isn’t right.

You look around your ship in alarm.

Sehun is the first to take notice of your arrival amid the disorder.

“The water! Captain there is something wrong with the water!” There is something wrong with more than just the water. You can’t stop your eyes from taking in the unnatural color of the air around you. Sehun’s grip on your wrist is tight and damp from the fear seeping out of his body in the form of sweat. He pulls you over to the side of the ship where most of your men are looking down at the water around the vessel.

It’s black.

Dark like ink and eerily still.

“Are we still moving?”

“The ship won’t move. We have no wind and the water is still,” Yeri informs you, turning away from the water with wet eyes. “We’re stuck. We don’t know what’s going on!”

Junmyeon. “Where’s Jun-”

“The dinghies!” a boatswain shouts.

You whirl around to find Junmyeon fighting off three of your crewmen in an attempt to climb into one of the dinghies. You run over and push through all of the bodies to grab his shirt and pull with all the force in your body. You fall backwards with Junmyeon falling with a loud thud at your side.

He tries to get on his feet and you’re throwing yourself on top of him to pin him down before he has a moment to even get on his knees.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” you shout in his face.

You expect him to fight you to get up, but he doesn’t. If he wanted to he could easily wrestle himself out of your hold. He seems too calm all of a sudden.

“I have to go out there. I need to go out there,” he says softly, chest rising and falling heavily.

“Go out where Junmyeon? There’s nothing out there; are you fucking insane?” You’re pulled off the ground and off of Junmyeon and held tightly in someone’s arms to keep you from tackling him. You feel livid. “You see that water and the fucking sky. What in Posiedon’s name could possibly be going through your head for you to think taking a fucking small ass dinghy into the middle of that water alone is a good idea?”

What is wrong with him? Has he not learned anything during these trials? Does he not care about his safety? None of you have any idea what is out there. He doesn’t even know what’s out there.

You feel your eyes stinging from the tears building. You’re so angry at him.

You can’t lose him.

But he doesn’t even seem to care.

The arms around you squeeze you tighter and you hear your name being whispered calmly into your ear. “Hey, it’s okay. Calm down you’re shaking.”

You suddenly realize that you’re shaking so hard in anger that everyone is staring at you with concern for your wellbeing. Not at Junmyeon for trying to jump ship. Not the water for trapping your boat. Baekyun’s words do little to keep you from vibrating violently in his arms.

“Captain…this is it. I have to go out there,” Junmyeon’s voice is soft, placating as he tries to soothe you. As if you’re the one overreacting.

You shake your head and gasp in a short terrified breath. “You can’t. Y-You can’t go alone Junmyeon. What if something happens? What if you’re wrong and you go out there and get hurt?”

What if you’re right and this is goodbye?

His smile is sad.

“I know that I’m not wrong. This is it. This is the en-” You elbow your way out of Baekhyun’s arms so that you won’t have to hear the rest of Junmyeon’s sentence.

“I’m going with you,” you state. “I’m not letting you go out there alone.”

You know that you’re being illogical. That you’re being careless, but you aren't prepared for this. You won’t let it end like this, you can’t.

“I’m not sure that that’s a good idea-”

Junmyeon cuts Yixing off with a simple, “Alright.”

“You can’t be serious,” you hear Chanyeol mumble incredulously.

“Alright. Come with me,” Junmyeon says with more strength. Off the ground and two steps closer to you, Junmyeon holds out a hand for you to take. “We said we were going to finish this, right? One last adventure together. One last time trying to find Atlantis. If you want to come with me I won’t stop you. We’ll finish it together, Captain.”

He smiles warmly at you and your chest tightens in fondness. His hand hanging there in the air is a simple invitation to end the mission at his side. It’s what you want isn’t it?

Apprehension and doubt suddenly washes over you, but you can't stop yourself from taking the deciding step forward and grabbing his hand in yours. Together. You started this together and you’ll end it together.

You like the sound of that.

Someone chokes back a soft sob, but you keep from turning around. If you look back now you may regret your decision.

He squeezes your hand reassuringly and you take in a calming breath to slow your racing heart.

You could die if you go out there. You know it. There’s a chance that if you go out there with him he is taken back home and the ocean takes your life to protect the secrets beneath her surface. That his feeling is right and you’ll go out on the water and you’ll both be lost forever. For different reasons, in different states of life, but lost forever all the same.

Knowing that you don’t know what will happen, you still can’t get yourself to change your mind.

Minseok is the first to break the sudden stifling silence. “Fuck.” He throws his arms around the both of you to pull you into the tightest embrace you think you’ve ever been held in. “Be safe out there,” he murmurs to you both.

When he lets go of you, he turns to face only Junmyeon with a solemnity on his face that makes you feel ill. “It’s been an honor sailing with you, Prince Suho.” He smiles, crooked and gummy and just a bit too somber for your liking.

You let go of Junmyeon’s hand as all of your crewmen take it upon themselves to say their goodbye’s to the only first mate the ship has ever known. Hugs, kisses, tear-filled words of thanks and safe travels. You put some distance between yourself and it all.

After going to Junmyeon, Yeri turns to you. The tears in her eyes spill over, thicker than before, when she rushes you to pull you in a hug.

You hold in your own tears. “I’m not leaving for long you know?” You try to speak lightly, but her crying and grip on your shirt do not lessen.

You all know that it’s not certain what will happen; even less so if you will come back from your fool’s venture out on the water with him. Junmyeon’s permanent departure is guaranteed, yours isn’t yet determined.

When Yixing comes to you, you feel even more sick and doubtful of your decision to follow Junmyeon out on the black water. You wonder if the green light being cast across the sky hides the melancholy you’re sure shows on your face.

“The only reason I’m not going with you is because someone needs to have some common sense and stay and man the ship,” he says simply. “If you don’t come back, I will swim out there to bring you back just so that I can kill you myself.” You bark out a shocked laugh at his words and the tension on his face relaxes just minutely. His hug is firm, but the shaky exhale that he releases is soft. You wonder if you weren’t meant to hear it. You hug him back in reassurance.

“I’ll be back. I just…I have to say goodbye to Junmyeon. You were the one who told me to get ready to move on. When I see him off myself, when I see that he is safe, I’ll come back. I need this to say goodbye; I need you to be understanding. Please, Yixing.” He doesn’t speak more, only offering 2 solid pats on your back before pulling away to let you know that he’s heard you.

You pretend that you don’t see wetness in his eyes when he walks off to start bossing around whoever is willing to listen and distract him from the impending departure of his two closest crewmen.

Your crewmen don’t say goodbye to you, not individually, and for that you are thankful. You don’t think that you would be able to handle it if everyone acknowledged your voyage as a suicide mission.

The hesitation and sadness is there on their faces even as they refrain from taking you in their arms and saying what you all fear will be a permanent goodbye. The look in their eyes is enough.

Jongin cries audibly, curled in on himself, and squatting low to the ground after Junmyeon takes him in his arms and tells him to stay healthy and continue to live a happy life. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo rub his back in attempts to soothe him, and you accidentally catch Baekhyun’s eyes as he attempts to calm the younger. You aren’t sure what emotion you expected to see on his face, if any, but you least expected to see…rage.

The frown on his lips and the pull of his eyebrows as he rubs Jongin’s back while trying to communicate something to you wordlessly is too much for you to be able to understand given the situation, so you look away and back to Junmyeon who is still being swarmed by crying people.

Sehun says something that you can’t hear clearly, but you see Junmyeon laugh brightly before he throws his arms around the taller’s shoulders and falls into him for a hug.

You can’t bear to watch this all play out for any longer, so you take it upon yourself to climb into the dinghy and prepare for the trip rowing out towards nothingness. Busying yourself with ropes, you only barely acknowledge that the boat rocks with the added weight of another body.

“You wrapped up your goodbyes quickly,” you say with a smile, pulling at the rope in your hand to tighten it. “Are you ready to go-” you look up from the material in your palms to…not Junmyeon. “Baekhyun what are you doing?”

Yanking the ropes from your hands and then angrily tightening what you’ve already tightened, he doesn't immediately respond.

He finally stops and huffs, irate. “I’m going with you guys,” he says when he finally looks at you. You don’t even get beyond opening your mouth before he continues on. “As if you’re going to see Atlantis without me. This was part of our agreement remember? Appeasing my curiosity and making sure me and my men get our part of the reward money. If you go out there and die or get sucked into Atlantis and I don’t get any money, a chance to see Atlantis or the chance to kill you myself when this is over then the truce was for nothing.”

The reward money. You’d forgotten about all of that. You haven’t even thought about what happens next. If you make it back. If you don’t get the money. If you have nothing to show for this adventure outside of the hole that will be left in your heart.

“Right. The truce.” you mutter. How could you have forgotten that this was all temporary and as soon as Junmyeon is gone, you will also be losing men you’d begun to consider a real part of your crew. You’ll be losing…Baekhyun. There’s the potential that the two of you will go right back to being what you were from the very beginning.

Enemies.

You swallow down all of the emotion thickening in your throat.

He crosses his arms over his chest and looks away from you, frown still set in place. “And besides, who is going to make sure your dumbass actually makes it back safely?” His voice quiets. The frown melts into more of a pout. “I can’t just leave you to die.”

Your throat tightens further. “Baekhyun-”

“Baekhyun!” Jongin calls out, interrupting you. You and Baekhyun turn in his direction. “Please be safe. Please come back to us,” he says.

The smile that spreads across Baekhyun’s face is one full of adoration. “Of course. Who else is going to take care of you if I’m gone?”

A gross feeling settles in the pit of your stomach. You decide not to dwell on it.

“Junmyeon, are you ready to go?” you ask gently, just loud enough to catch his attention as he pulls away from a hug with Seulgi and Ten.

He nods and makes his way into the boat. He doesn’t seem the slightest bit confused or concerned with Baekhyun’s presence. You allow him to wave to your crew as you lower the dinghy to the unmoving inky water.

“Did you bring the compass?”

“Don’t need it. The song is telling me exactly which way to go,” Junmyeon replies to you. He places a hand over one of yours, and you clutch the oar tighter in your grip. “I can row. It’s okay, you’ve done enough. You can rest,” he says softly.

You let him pull the wood from your hands and watch his movements closely as he takes over, taking you all farther out to sea, farther away from your ship.

You sit in silence, just watching him and trying to commit him to memory. The softness of his eyes, the thickness of his brows, the smoothness of his skin and the slope of his nose. The way his lips purse in concentration as he rows and the mole that sits there right above them.

You recall every expression he’s ever made around you. The happy ones, the sad ones, the angry ones and the tired ones. The stupid jokes he would say and the way he would laugh at any reaction they would bring out of people, good or bad. The way he cared for your crew and your ship, and the way he cared for you.

When is the best time to say goodbye when you’ve pushed it off for so long? Right before you never see him again? When will that moment come? Do you have hours? Minutes? Seconds?

The world feels too still even with Junmyeon rowing and Baekhyun leaning over the side of the dinghy staring into the reflective black surface of the water for a sign of anything.

“Junmyeon…” you start. He huffs out a breath from the exertion of rowing for such a long time and pulls the oars in for a break. He looks at you with curious eyes. You feel Baekhyun’s eyes on you as well. What do you want to say? What can you say?

I want to thank you for all of the years you’ve spent with me. For the laughs and the adventures and the support you’ve given me. I don’t want you to go because I’m selfish but I know that I have to let you go. I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone else and I’ll miss you.

I’ll miss you every day for the rest of my life.

I’ll love you every day for the rest of my life.

I hope to see you again someday. I pray this won’t be goodbye forever.

The words are there for you to take and verbalize. For you to get off your chest and out into the air. “I…I want to…” The first words get trapped in your throat and then die off soon after, when you notice something slowly crawling up Junmyeon’s neck.

“Junmyeon you’re turning blue…” you gape at him as bright stripes of blue appear on his skin, up his neck and across his cheek in delicate swirls and patterns.

“Holy shit,” Baekhyun gasps, eyes wide with fascination. The streaks crawl down his arms as well and you all stare as his skin is tattooed with the intricate glowing lines.

He holds up his hands to take a better look at the new additions to his skin. “This is new…”

“Your skin wasn’t like this before you left Atlantis?” Baekhyun asks.

Junmyeon shakes his head slowly and turns his hands over to examine them further. When he leans closer to the edge of the boat the designs glow brighter, more excitedly. The green sky shifts to a lavender. A gentler color, encouraging him to keep following his instincts.

“Should you…get in the water?” you whisper –fearful that your guess is incorrect and it will shift the atmosphere towards something dangerous.

You are only able to watch in frightened silence as he stares directly into the water, and then places both of his hands wrist deep into it without a moment of hesitation.

Ripples spread out abnormally far from where he breaks the tension of the obsidian surface, but he stays there with his hands still and a look of peace on his face. You look at Baekhyun nervously. He mouths a soundless, “Don’t look at me” with a helpless shrug.

When bubbles begin to rise beneath the little rowboat, terror grips you by your throat. You reach across the raft and grip Baekhyun’s wrist for some kind of comfort. Little bubbles quickly become larger and more aggressive. Junmyeon’s eyes close and the patterns on his skin glow even brighter as the bubbles grow in power. The boat rocks, glowing blue breaks through the black of the water from Junmyeon’s hands and surrounds the area just around the dinghy.

A circle of blue in a sea of black.

Your ears are filled with the most beautiful chorus of voices you’ve ever heard in your life. Soothing, warm, beckoning.

Like being welcomed home.

The return song of Atlantis, it has to be.

You and Baekhyun look at each other in wonder.

You can’t understand the language of the song, but the feeling it portrays is one of being caressed and greeted back home after years of being lost. Tears drip from Junmyeon’s closed eyes into the water below.

A smile graces his face. If even you and Baekhyun can feel this way, how must this feel to Junmyeon? How must it feel to be welcomed with such lovely song and feeling?

When Junmyeon’s eyes suddenly open, a faint blue illuminating his irises, the bubbles stop. The singing ceases.

And then the water opens up beneath you, and you’re engulfed by the ocean.

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