#the choice that the viewers are screaming at them not to make

[comradeboyhalo]

I was secretly kind of hoping that Fred was using Tubbo's feelings to get more information out of him and that Fred was more of a cold worker for the federation, not caring about anything other then his job from how high his position is as a worker and was playing up a facade of being a gentle person :(

i knowww it would've been so interesting to watch, or even to have a betrayal and then a redemption for fred. cause both walter bob and ron are very sympathetic, pitiful characters, but fred being a higher-up gives him more agency, and can have a different arc. but maybe another npc can have a switch up like that.

#(not directed to u anon) but yeah none of this is really criticism bc theres absolutely nothing wrong with how current arcs are going #its just every time i see a character who could make a bad decision backpedal and start feeling immediate guilt #i feel a bit let down #i kinda want more characters to choose the WRONG options #the choice that the viewers are screaming at them not to make #but again thats what i personally want as a viewer and its not what the ccs or admins want and thats cool #ask

[j-jinxee]

Ooo can you write about about how Alastor would use restraints, he’d defo get turned on by how helpless reader would look when they’ve got a chain wrapped around them, with his need for control.

PRISONER ☆

TYPE - Alastor x Reader

WARNINGS - restraints/being tied up, semi public sorta?, ownership, swearing, oral receiving, humiliation.

authors note - tysm for requesting!! especially for Alastor hehehe, hope u like ittt >:)

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

That night came back to you every time you got pulled down by that fuckers chain. The most regrettable night of your life, you were so far gone you really thought he'd help you. Making any deal while you were drunk was a bad idea, but making a deal with the radio demon?? Even worse. He's made you do sickening things for him in the past, all things you never would've done if your soul wasn't on the line; but nothing that made your stomach turn quite like this one.

You made the mistake of confronting him right before he went on the air. That pissed him off enough, and thought you needed a reminder of who you belonged to. Hence why you're tied up in his radio tower, chain around your neck, and screaming his name for all of Hell to hear.

Alastor made you crawl up to his radio tower, him holding the chain, then tied you up with dark sorcery, and clicked "start broadcast".

"Hello my dear viewers! Hope you're having a grand evening. Today will be a little different to my usual style of broadcast, but I trust you'll enjoy it nonetheless" His voice turned scratchy and demonic towards the end, making you nervous for what was to come.

The only luminance in the tower was the faint glow of the red sky, and the shine of Alastor's eyes. You had no idea how many people were listening right now, or what was even going to happen, you just hoped no one could tell it was you.

You swore you could smell his arousal. It was rare, but you could tell he liked seeing you chained up. He never expressed any romantic feelings towards you, only savage, animalistic needs to over-power you. You let him have his way, since there was nothing you could do about it, but this? This was a little past your limit.

Your hands were behind your back, legs bent, and whole body hoisted up. You had no clue what happened to your clothes, they vanished off your body when the ropse appeard around you. Your neck was angled slightly up from the floor, enough to see a little out the window, but not enough to hurt. That's when you felt him.

You gasped abruptly as you felt his hot tongue on your clit, "Ah!" It took you by surprise - to say the least. You obviously wanted to hold back your moans in order to keep some dignity... but, holy fuck he was good.

It was like being chained up increased the pleasure, you swore it'd never felt this good before. His tongue made you squirm, but squirming hurt, especially when you held back. You thought you may aswell give him what he wants instead of agitating him even more.

"Mmm- Fuck! Alastor please"

"Please what my dear?"

You didn't even know what you were asking for, you wanted to say please stop, but you knew you couldn't, it felt too good.

"Pl- Ah! Please don't stop!"

Yeah real good fucken choice, beg him to keep going and see where that'll get ya.

The next thing you felt was his tongue diving deep into your core, fuck. You knew he'd be skilled, but this was on a completely different level.

"Ohhh, fuck! I'm- I'm gonna cum, ah!"

Your legs attempted to collide, obviously being held back by the rope. As Alastor felt your thighs start to shake, he only increased his pace, sending you over the edge. The coil in your stomach finally snapped, sending shivers throughout your whole body as you screamed Alastor's name for all of Hell to hear. Even if they weren't listening to the broadcast, they might’ve still heard you.

Your vision was blurry, your face was hot, and currents of pleasure still shot through your core like electricity. Alastor got up and made his way to the control panel, "I hope this is to your liking dear listeners! Because we're just getting started"

...you've gotta be fucking kidding.

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

Rlly rlly hoping u like thisss 🤞🏻 I think it's aight, I just love writing for Alastor tbh hehe. Cheers x

#hazbin #fluff #hazbin hotel #smut #alastor #angel dust #angst #charlie morningstar #helluva boss #husker #vivziepop #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel smut #alastor x reader #alastor smut #lemon #lime #aftercare #fanfic #fanfiction #reader #x reader #request

[amuseoffyre]

With Black Sails being back in streaming in some areas, I'm imagining how much it would infuriate the current slew of people who are convinced that watching morally gray/bad characters makes you as a viewer a morally gray/bad person.

Our leading man straight up beats someone to death with a cannon ball in the first couple of episodes and kills many many many people while acting out of grief, loss, remorse and rage. Also, he is baby and cries in his cabin.

One of our leading lady abandons and double-crosses her lovers (both male and female) out of her desire to do what she believes is the right thing to keep their world alive and running, trading, bartering and fighting every step of the way.

And the best part is that none of these characters start out this way. We have so many idealists. The hopeful ones who want the better world, but the better world isn't something 'civilisation' will allow them to have and the carnage comes when they try and change things. It's a scream against the injustices of the world that pushes people to desperate measures to hold onto and protect what little they have.

This is how they survive. They paint the world full of shadows and then tell their children to stay close to the light. Their light. Their reasons. Their judgments. Because in the darkness, there be dragons. But it isn't true. We can prove that it isn't true. In the dark there is discovery. There is possibility. There is freedom in the dark once someone has illuminated it.

Everyone else is ruthless, survivalist, determined to do whatever they have to in order to get what they want/need. People make horrible decisions out of desperation and because there's literally no other choice. And there are consequences. Each action causes ripples in the canon pool. No decision, no matter how reckless/hopeless/desperately made, comes without repercussions.

Unlike so many series, what happens in the episodes before directly impacts how the events that follow play out. Action and reaction. It's a narrative that begins long before we join the story and, when we leave it, it's a narrative that will continue long afterwards. It's a bloody, chaotic, glorious and devastating would-be revolution.

In case I hadn't mentioned it, I adore this show with every fibre of my being. It is packed with so many layers and so much nuance and history and phenomenal character arcs.

#black sails

[bitdemonic]

date. april 8th, 2023

time. 8:59pm

—❝𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃.❞

𝐬𝐲𝐩𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬. FUTURESPOUSEPAC . . . a message from them.

𝐚𝐢𝐝. if the images above are too hard to differentiate between your intuition, use ‘pile 1, 2, 3, or 4’ for the choice selection instead. this reading has four piles. pic not included.

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫. 18+ content—no minors. please remember, this post is just for shits and giggles. use the best of your discernment, pinch that grain of salt. and although i write under the impression that majority of this content’s viewers are women, i do read for feminine and masculine energies. if needed to, please flip the roles as reversed for an accurate message. hope this reading is useful, but not for plagiarism bitch. enjoy.❦

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞

🃏 movement retrograde. sweetness retrograde. faith. rest.

𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

✞—. “i want it whenever i can get it. idc who’s around, i don’t give two shits about who’s looking. you’re the only person i ever want to have and knowing that i can have it? whenever we want? broad day, pitch black at night, at a park, at a concert, in the car it doesn’t matter and it never will. im going to shove my dick so far into you it’s going to come out of your mouth, that’s how carnal i am for you. my soul burns for you, im running off of petroleum gas at this very moment. you’re a diamond in the fucking rough. i mean, the faces you make when you cum are just . . . im so pleased, so blessed to have you as mine. to call you my lover, my one and only—not many have the pleasure of doing so, but i do.”

✞—. “i’d run ass naked up and down the street just to proclaim my feelings for you. you’re divine, you’re special, you make my crotch tight and my cheeks warm. i’d fuck you for hours upon hours, just to hear your moans. the same moans that remind me of the melody to a favorite song, the one i’ll keep on repeat because i never want them to end. keep your eyes open during sex, i want you to watch me have my way with you. to see the things i do to your body, the same things that make your insides twitch. moving back and forth, up and down, all around and through nirvana just to end it all in rehab. you’ll never want me to go, and i never will. i’ll even stay inside for a few minutes after, because i don’t want to leave us either.”

✞—. “i love you, but above that i lust eternally for you. love is nothing for us, but only because it was always a given—i’ll never stop loving you. it’s just during sex, the way i want to give all of my strength and trust into it, that’s something vulnerable for me. something different and new. but i’m willing to share that, without complaint too, because you’re mine. one person made special just for me, it’s natural that i show my appreciation. i want you to feel the way i feel for you, but through my actions more than my words. understand our connection with each act of pleasure i bring upon you, so on and so forth.”

✞—. “i’m always available to make love, to fuck—to tangle the sheets and wring out the perspiration from our bodies. making you cum constantly—endlessly, without losing stamina and without the thought of it having to end. scream for me, cry for me, moan for me—most of all, cum for me. do all those things and more doll, and promise to never stop.”

end.❤️‍🔥

previous reading

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐰𝐨

🃏 passion retrograde. creativity. abundance. confidence.

𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

✞—. “give me that pussy. that sweet, tight, warm cunt. i want it all over me—my face, my thigh, hell even my stomach, i don’t mind my love. i’ll be gentle, whether that’s taking it nice and slow or hard and fast—whatever pace you need. don’t ever be afraid to tell me what you desire, or better yet, take control of me because it’s yours. my cock has your name printed on it in red ink, signed by yours truly.”

✞—. “the sight when you’re naked, the swell of your breasts down to the curve of your thighs, it makes my heart clench. even the tips of your feet get me going. never stop riding me, lock your legs around my waist and bounce on me all damn day. cum in my mouth, cum on my clothes, cum on my fucking face—i’ll eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. you’re gorgeous, but even more so outside of the sex. i don’t care what people say, i don’t give a damn about what they think either. it’s you that i want and i want you right here, right fucking now.”

✞—. “strip for me, baby. pull off your shirt as i watch with my thick cock in hand. unclasp your bra, slide the straps from your shoulders, let it tumble to the floor. i’ll gasp at the gentle bounce of your breast, in awe at their beauty, before attacking them with my mouth. you’re my inspiration, the blueprint of the world’s desires. made for us—we all want a part of your essence to bring home for bragging rights. want to see your body shine under the spotlight, showcasing as aphrodite’s favorite, nothing but glitter and gold. on display as heaven’s angel. stand just like that so you’ll never fall.”

✞—. “show the others what they’ll never touch, the parts of you that they’ll only be able to dream of. the same parts that i’ve been trusted enough to feel, to love and appreciate. yes . . . like that baby, don’t stop. show me how much of a blessing it is to have the emulation of a goddess at arms length. how much of an honor it is, keeping the place that’d be gone and up for grabs if you decided to cut me loose. i won’t fuck this up, at least not again. i know what i have, and i’ll always need it in order to survive. you.”

end.❤️‍🔥

previous reading

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

🃏 happiness. intuition. magic retrograde. illumination retrograde.

[tw — somnophilia] this is a channeled scenario from your person but if this theme isn’t comfortable for reading i suggest choosing another pile!

𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

✞—. “i watch you sleep, you know. it’s hard not to, hearing the soft breaths escape your lips as the shadow of peace drapes upon your face. bathed in the comfort of being home, you’re content at last. sleeping, embracing the idea that nothing could interrupt the state of winding down. nothing at all—except me. fingers tracing along the hem of your underwear, dancing across the design pattern, before pulling the band of them and letting it pop against your skin. it’s kinda funny—more adorable if anything, the flutter of your lashes at the slight sting below your abdomen.”

✞—. “i do this all the time, or at least when it’s essential. when we’re both aware of how much you need it, i’ll tease away the sleepiness until it’s desolate and gone. you’d never guess it was real, the heat from an open mouth as it warms the center of your panties. that same mouth, dampening the fabric before placing sloppy kisses along the seams. you’ll whimper, tossing and rubbing as you’re mindlessly wondering what the hell kind of dream is this? why does it feel extra real, and why are your hands thrashing to grip at the pillows?”

✞—. “mmm, mmhm,” will fall from the lush of your lips, disrupting the quiet of the night with natural reaction. you’re spurring me on, you little minx. encouraging me to keep going, urging me to fuck with your innocence some more. to turn vulnerability into utter rapture. and i will baby, of course i will. you’ll be conscious at this point, blinking more than twice for obvious reasons, seconds before your face turns into disbelief and tempted half lids. feels good, doesn’t it? i know it does, you don’t even need to utter a word—that moan’ll suffice.”

✞—. “teasing becomes eating, eating until we’re impatient for the rest, until you’re frustrated from not being stuffed full with the other parts. oh yeah, baby—you’re definitely awake now. up and at ‘em, waiting for me to finish what’s began, waiting for me to send your precious body to sleep once more.”

end.❤️‍🔥

previous reading

𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

🃏 caution retrograde. trust. isolation retrograde. mystery.

𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞

✞—. “our kisses, the taste itself, intoxicate the sobriety of my mind. your mouth, placing the sweetest of sins against mine. i’m left to fend for myself, to stand on trembling legs, stumbling around the reality that is us—proceeding with caution. those lips, diluted in gloss or whatever else that has them shining brighter than a star. drenched in angel dust, sprinkled from the fingers of God himself, urging me to come and get blessed. and blessed i be, for i never want these moments to end.”

✞—. “i can’t stop thinking about those sounds, those kitten mewls that send my brain cells into overdrive. can’t forget the trail of poised hands rubbing and wrapping around my neck to pull me closer. you’re incredible. the sweetest thing since candied apples, just as you’re hell on earth. damn you, damn this feeling. damn the air thickening around us, damn the temperature rising in time with our heartbeats. i feel my chest concave when you go, the same way i feel it inflate when you walk into the room. engulf me with your presence, take me and never let me go—don’t let the others take me from you.”

✞—. “i want to be attached to your hips just as my hands are, how they know where home is when they grab at your waist and pull you in. pushing you against my abdomen to give your own hands some room, to let them run over the hem of my zipper before pulling away. i’d offer to finish the job for you, to fling my shirt and pants to the floor, but that’d ruin the fun wouldn’t it? the fun behind the tease, the persona of being daddy’s girl—spoiled and bratty, naughty not nice.”

✞—. “hard as hell to tame, but that’s the excitement itself. eyes going slender and sultry, bottom lip being bitten, hair tossed to glance over one shoulder—i feel ill, hot flashes and stomach turns, because you’re my kryptonite. tbh, you take all my breath away and funnily enough, i don’t want it back. it’s an eye for an eye, swapping out my oxygen for your full devotion. as long as i’m with you, i’ll never need to breathe again. to have and to hold forever.”

end.❤️‍🔥

previous reading

#bitdemonic #future spouse #future spouse pac #future spouse reading #pick a card #pick a pile #pick a deck #channeled message #channeled songs #channeled reading #tarotblr

[dekusleftsock]

Don’t y’all love it when a popular tiktok creator is analyzing a character and interpreting it so, so wrong, and him and his dumb ass take is spreading.

Like it was one thing for you to be wrong

ITS ANOTHER THING FOR YOU TO BE WRONG AND MAKING OTHER PEOPLE MORE WRONG

If one more person says that Izuku is “underdeveloped” and that he’s “uninterested in all of his other relationships” and that he “has a power imbalance in his relationships with other characters bc they care more about him than he does them” STOP. PLEASE STOP.

A fundamental part of Izuku’s character: He is an UNRELIABLE NARRATOR. Most of his character is, therefore, told through SUBTEXT.

Izuku doesn’t say that he feels ashamed about his feelings for Katsuki.

But he does say that he thinks they’re gross.

Izuku doesn’t say that he thinks that Toga and her feelings aren’t human

But he does say that she is the “perfect counter to this quirk”.

THE LIST COULD GO ON.

Izuku is an unreliable narrator in a third person omniscient story (though sometimes mha acts more like a third person objective story? Anyway). That means that the way we do not understand the story is not through a retelling of what is happening to you, the viewer, unreliably—instead it is not telling you the full extent of his character and his thoughts.

To say “izuocha’s relationship is underdeveloped because it’s one sided” is NOT the same as saying “bkdk’s relationship is underdeveloped because it’s one sided”.

Izuku has always been obsessed with Katsuki. At some point the rhetoric being passed around was that it was Katsuki who was underdeveloped and uninterested in the dynamic. Now that rhetoric has been reversed since we’ve seen so much of Katsuki’s POV.

Ochako has always been obsessed with Izuku, NEVER THE OTHER WAY AROUND. In fact, Ochako’s arc even surrounded letting go of those feelings… as literally said in the text. Because that is a textual statement that she makes.

Izuku does not understand how or what Ochako loves in anybody, especially him. She loves a unique sense of personhood, which Izuku has always carried, and of which she saw in the entrance exam.

Izuku does not know how to view things he deems as “girly”, and Ochako very personally CANT be in a relationship with someone that she has realized is very repressed. Her friendships turn from friends to fascination very quickly, into her heroic form. (Think her few moments with Katsuki in that extra, or how disinterested she became of Izuku as she saw him run away from help, and not know how to respond to an apology. Or, hell, how much more interested she became when Himiko was honest with her feelings in their second real confrontation. She even says that she “admires how she can love so freely, and say it with her whole chest”)

LIKE ALL OF THESE THINGS. THIS IS WHY IZUOCHA ISNT DEVELOPED. That’s a purposeful choice in genius writing, at least in my opinion.

Bkdk is a result of Izuku being uninterested in acknowledging said feelings, and this is shown to be different because of the amount of times he has had that imply a deeper emotion or thought that we are not told. Think black whip, controlling your heart solely surrounding katsuki, “my feelings are gross”, the ear piercing scream when katsuki was kidnapped and the “this was a total loss” line, relaxing into katsuki’s arms after the apology, only coming home because of Katsuki, comparing romantic feelings toga had for him and admiration to ALLMIGHT and not katsuki who was “actually in his life”, I COULD GO ON FOR HOURS.

This is absolutely NOT underdeveloped, this is called SHOW NOT TELL. Horikoshi is so purposeful in what he shows vs what he tells. He tells you that ochako and toga are the same, he tells you that katsuki is worried about Izuku, he tells you that katsuki is there to step in when deku can’t handle it on his own, he tells you that ochako has a crush on Izuku, and he tells you that Katsuki is Izuku’s “closest person”.

But he also SHOWS YOU SO MUCH MORE. Unreliable narration is such a key part of Izuku and his character. Izuku doesn’t understand Izuku as much as the audience doesn’t understand him. It’s why I genuinely think most interpretations of his character are wrong, because you really can’t take him at his word. It’s the same reason no one understood katsuki for the longest time, he was in the same circumstances of a character who is only showed to you, not told.

I know i named so many god damn references so if anyone is curious as to what specifically I’m talking about with what, I’ll gladly show what scene I’m referring to. Apparently I can’t remember a damn thing but this manga anyway.

#I’ll gladly be shouting this to the rooftops no one can shut me up #this was made like a month ago idk if anyone could tell but I just edited it LMAO #bkdk #midoriya izuku #mha deku #bkdk brainrot #bakudeku #bnha deku #mha analysis

[ihavealavalamp]

The Screaming Man // 2022

          … The pose of this particular sculpture was decided based on the prompt of impact; I wanted the posture and expression to perhaps startle the viewer, to convey the sense of someone screaming for help and reaching out a hand in desperation. I wanted to make it visceral, for audiences to feel uneasy when they see it and get a rush of emotion that will remain with them even after they walk away.            Ideally, this sculpture would be shown in an area that is wooded, where one may not see it at first. It is that jolt of recognition of the human form that would catch the attention of any accidental audience members, that realization that somebody has been silently screaming for help right in the corner of your eye and you hadn't even noticed. That it could have easily gone unnoticed and unheard, but now your attention is impossible to deny, that it is too late to plead ignorance without remembering what you saw, what cry for help you had no choice but to walk away from.           There is a meaning in that shame. It means something to me, and I know it means something to you as well. Something about guilt and helplessness and learned apathy, but I wish to let audiences decide what specific meaning it has to them. The type of impact is unique on the person, after all - at the end of the day, the screaming man is simply a man made out of sticks. Nothing more, nothing less. Not unless more is given, if one chooses to take the hand reaching out.

#hi..... havent been here for a lil bit but i've been keeping busy with sculpture :] #really happy with how this came out! the process was very fun and i honestly enjoyed making it so so much #the writing is from my artists statement for my sculpture class.. i hope it makes sense #articulating what i had in mind for this project is difficult hdsgfjs #my art #sculpture

[whore-ibly-hot]

💚👻Yan!Harold Biddle Hc's💚👻

"Viewer beware, you're in for a scare."

18+ Minors DNI

Warnings: Yandere themes, dark behavior, possession, general spooks, serial killer, bullying, angst teen ghost boy?

AN: Requested by an Anon, this man has me down so bad, and I hope this inspires others to write for him. I love both old and new goosebumps media, and how our reader meets Harold is VERY similar to the goosebumps TV show episode 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Enjoy and happy belated Halloween! Go watch Goosebumps on Disney ➕️. Never done an HC before...

👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚

💚In a situation for Harold to grow truly attached to someone, you would have to be from out of town, or visiting a family member, perhaps. Harold is filled with such hatred for his former classmates and there spawn, that even those who didn't kill him, he knows stood idly by and ignored him in school. Because of this, he probably wouldn't want the son or daughter of a former classmate.

👻Maybe you moved to Port Lawrence with your family, whether for work or a fresh start, or maybe your a distant cousin of one of the people in town. As long as you aren't a direct descendant, Harold will have an easier time coming to terms with these feelings.

💚Being new in town was hard for you, nerve wracking even. Everyone at this school seemed to have a clique or group, and even the loners had their own things going on. Luckily, you caught wind through overhearing some classmates that a party was being held on Halloween night. Hoping to make some real friends, you donned a costume and set out.

👻The address had been kind of hard to find, some old, blocked off road with a creepy mansion at the end. Still, the party was in full swing, teens dancing and drinking, strobe lights and shitty music filled the main room of the house. You asked one of your classmates, Lucas, about the house.

"Oh, yeah. Some kid died here like, a hundred years ago or something. Big explosions, a fire..." A skinnier boy in a cat costume cut him off. "Don't listen to Lucas, it wasn't a hundred years ago, dude. It was like, the 90s." He rolls his eyes.

💚A little uneasy about sneaking into a house, much more the site of a gruesome death, you tried to enjoy the party. After a few drinks, Dr. Pepper, you weren't trying to call your parents to take you home, you went looking for a bathroom.

This would prove pretty difficult. That same boy from earlier, Lucas, ate worms, and was puking in bathroom number one. The second bathroom was locked, and from the groaning and smacking inside, you could tell you didn't want to know what was going on inside.

👻This had left you with not choice but to go to the bathroom in the basement. Standing at the edge of the stairs and looking down the dark hallway, floored with rickety wooden steps, you had gathered your courage and descended.

💚Biddle had expected company, but unlike the mask he coerced Isabella into taking, or the camera he snuck in Isaac's bag, you didn't take anything. He waited for another, foolish teen to take something. He had a few items set out for specific peoples... but, he wasn't against another thief falling victim to his cursed items.

👻However, you surprised him. Just looked for the bathroom door, went, and then headed right back up to the party. When Mr. Bratt came home, the teens scattered, to cars and into the woods. Harold used this time to torment Allison, his burned, ghostly form shrieking at her. She had screamed in terror, and Isaiah soon found her.

💚You were driving home, but took pity and stopped to help a few of your classmates whose rides had fled. After several hours of dropping people off, you were finally able to get back home. A pair of pale ghostly eyes watched you from the window of your room. No one else had stopped to help their friends, much less strangers. How nice you were...

💚As days went by, and mysterious terrors afflicted the teens of Port Lawrence, you grew close to some of them. A busy body named Margot, a cheer leader named Allison, and a jock named Isaiah. All shared and English class with the new teacher (and owner of the Biddle house), Mr. Bratt. Mr. Bratt was odder at sometimes than others, almost like he was fighting with himself. He was always tired and dark eyed.

👻From deep inside, viewing the world through Mr. Bratt, Harold would observe the teens. It was just as he remembered it, the gossip, the catty looks and the fake smiles. But nothing sickened him more than watching you interact with the others, so sweet and kind, but only friends with the filth in this town.

👻On your end, you really liked Mr. Bratt. He was a funny teacher, always cracking jokes and saying something odd. He always gave you perfect grades, which was odd because you noticed you had gotten a few questions wrong when you would compare projects and assignments to classmates. Still, he was a great teacher.

💚Harold wasn't a fool. He had always been smart when he was alive, and his evil intentions had made him no less cunning. He knows he can't pursue you romantically as long as he's possessing a teacher. He'd rather not get his possession vessel arrested and sent to jail. He doesn't want his house empty, not right now.

👻When he heard you had taken up the role of a tech member for the drama department, he formed a plan. The old elevator platform to the schools abandoned basement was 'accidentally' left open, a gaping hole in the dark of the stage.

💚You unfortunately weren't aware of this, and had stayed late to finish some lighting set up. As you close up and turn out the overhead lights, the floor had felt as those it disappeared beneath you. As you plummet, you let out a pitch scream. It wasn't a long fall, not even that deep, but it hurt. Your hips and ankle were aching, throbbing, and red hot tears had begun to stream from your cheeks. You felt to scared to stand or move, but it was late. How were you supposed to get out of here?

👻As you whimpered, you heard a sound in the silence. Just then, a sound from the side. It sounded like a creaking floor panel.

"H-hello? Is someone there?" You called out fearfully. A boy, haired curly and tall looms over you. His eyes have dark circles, his face almost blends into the shadows of the basement, but... you chalk it up to blurry vision and bad lighting.

💚"Aw... how'd you end up down here?" He asked, voice low and slow as he had tilted his head. "I'm on tech crew, I fell. I think my ankle is... twisted or something. Could you help me?" She asks.

"Of course..." he drawled. His eyes darkened and a grin tugged at his cheeks as he said the next statement. "What kind of sick, sick monster would leave someone to die in a basement, all alone?" He said. You gulp and chuckle awkwardly. "Well, it's just my ankle. Don't think I'm dying." You joked.

👻"Course not. Come on." He had extended his hand to you, and hoisted you up against him with surprising strength. Despite the soft flannel shirt he was wearing, his skin felt frigid to the touch, yet oddly warm, an icey burning sensation could be felt where his hand was still on your arm.

"Should be a lever... right over-" he looks around, the snaps his fingers and points. "Right there." You had both hopped on the platform. "How'd you know how to get out of the basement, I heard it's been blocked off like, forever." She asks.

💚"I guess I just, know more than other people." He shrugs. Once he had helped you out of the school, you had gone to your car. Fidgeting with your keys, you faced away from him as you unlocked your car. "What did you say your name was?" You ask.

👻"Doesn't matter. Just a friend." When you turn to him with a confused look, he's gone. You looked around, but tired, you drove from the lot.

💚Back at the Biddle Manor, while Mr. Bratt tried to get a peaceful night of sleep without being possessed for once, Harold is in the basement, playing with the Polaroid camera Isaiah had tried so hard to destroy. He wonders, can it just take normal photos if he wills it too? He has other things to attend too, he can't always watch you, but he'd love a few pictures of you.

👻Even if the camera could only take pictures of your fate, maybe it wouldn't bother him too much. What would the future hold? Would you be with him? He hoped so, but the idea of what he could see that would displease him swayed him away from that path. No, he'll stick to watching you through Bratt, when he can, or through your windows on those precious nights you leave a curtain open.

💚As he sits in the room of his demise, he looks at his hands, black char marks occasionally appearing. For once, he doesn't focus on the burning rage and actual burning feeling that courses through his body. No, this warmth is softer. The warmth from when you touched him and he touched you. Contact, from someone who cared. Someone who he saw every private moment of, just to ensure that you had only pure intentions with everyone you met. Would you betray him if you knew, what he was like, who he was? He shakes his head. No. He holds all the cards now. He won't be weak ever again, he won't let you slip away.

👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚👻💚

General bonus hc's:

💚Harold only wears what teens at Port Lawrence high now think of as 'grunge'. Oversized sweatshirt, flannels, loose pants. He has never once brushed his hair, even when he was alive. He doesn't hate that grunge is popular now though. He enjoy leaving a flannel or a Jean jacket in your closet, hoping you'll assume one of your parents gifted it to you.

👻You can always tell when his ghost in nearby, even if he's not visible there are tells, even if you don't realize what they are pointing too. You might feel a stinging if he passes by, a side effect of the pain from his burns. The smell of smoke and dark room chemicals fills the air if he's around, and you feel like your being watched.

💚He'd like to kiss you, or hold you, but he's not ready to even attempt that, much less a real introduction. He's got a lot going on right now. For now, you'll only see him around town, at night when your alone. At a bus stop? Oh, that mysterious boy from the other night us passing by. Buying a snack? He's got some spare cash. Walking home alone at night? Good thing his lanky silhouette can be seen leaning out from under a streetlight. Don't worry, he'll walk you home. You wouldn't believe the sort of monsters that live in this town, that lurk. It's enough to give you goosebumps...

You wonder why you always forget to ask his name...

#yandere #tw.yandere #yandere fanfiction #yandere content #slashers #slasher x reader #goosebumps disney plus #goosebumps media #goosebumps slappy #goosebumps #harold biddle #biddle house #rl stine #goosebumps show #x reader #yandere x reader #yandere ghost #yandere monster #tw.dark content #yandere boy #yandere fanfic

[david-talks-sw]

Since people were talking about it recently: is there any official reason given of why Padme forgave Anakin immediatly after the Tusken Raider massacre? I always see a lot of diferent reasons given on the internet, from long and deep analises of theirs characters to "the writers didn't think about it".

Okay, folks (or single person who messaged me three times) I'm finally talking about this XD !

I got no official answer.

That said, here's a few points that I do think merit consideration, and I haven't really seen them mentioned anywhere.

1. Anakin is more regretful in the script.

If you look at how the scene is portrayed in the Attack of the Clones July 2001 draft of the screenplay, in Scene 118, pages 83-84...

... he's sorry and ashamed. He is in absolute shock of what he did. We get a bit of this, in the film...

... but in the script it's much more explicit. It starts out with him lashing out at Obi-Wan, at his own lack of power, but it ends with him breaking down and just apologizing over and over.

He didn't just kill them, he went Wolverine-style berseker and murdered EVERYTHING in his path, and he's thinking back on it with a clear-ish head now and realizing the gravity of his monstrous act.

When it's on paper, it reads very differently, to me. He's more remorseful, so Padmé's reaction makes more sense.

But there's a big difference between what you write in a script and what comes out in the film. Once you're shooting, myriad other factors come into play. So Anakin's dialog changes as the delivery and the rhythm are narrowed down, the beats in the scene shift around... but Padmé's reaction stays the same.

And that's where you get the disconnect.

Because what sticks with the audience more is this moment, now.

The anger. Not the shock and remorse.

So why the change? Well, George Lucas had this to say:

"He's very unhappy about that. Very sad and depressed. There was some dialogue here before that I took out, because it seemed to get in the way of the emotional moment of this scene where she says, "To be angry is to be human," and he says, "But to control your anger is to be a Jedi." And so that issue was actually laid out in dialogue at one point, and I decided to pull back from it... because it seemed to me that it was pretty obvious that was what was there. And I didn't think I needed to state it quite as boldly as I did. And that issue will come up at a later time, and I just felt it took away from the moment of his sadness. And I thought the sadness pretty much said the same thing without words." - AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

The reasoning was: too much dialog takes away from emotion.

An audience member will have a stronger emotional reaction from Anakin crying than Anakin crying while screaming "woe is me!"

I get (and generally agree) with the reasoning. But, personally, I have mixed feelings about this particular artistic choice.

On the one hand... if the intent is to show that Anakin made a big mistake and is sorry and sad because of his actions, then I think it's safe to say that it's not what most people took away.

Which then leads to things like John Ostrander writing Anakin as thinking he'd kill them all over again.

Also, it makes the viewer question the wisdom of Padmé's judgment.

But on the other hand... whether Anakin was feeling apologetic or not, he still did it. He still effectively massacred a whole tribe, he made that choice.

And whether the intent in that specific scene is conveyed efficiently or not, Anakin's character flaws (which the Prequels are really about) aren't really impacted and still tie together perfectly.

The only real change to that scene is that Padmé goes from having a more understandable reaction to "missing a lot of red flags".

2. Padmé thinks she can fix Anakin.

Here's what Natalie Portman had to say on the scene, which I think is an interesting take.

"She's this very powerful woman, and I think Padmé is sort of intrigued by this darker side she sees to him, especially because she's such a person who tries to fix everything. She sees problems in the world and she still has that idealistic passion… to think she can change everything, and she can change people who have darkness to them. And she sees goodness in him. She sees this passion. And she sees that there's a lot of anger in that passion, that it's not just the goodness and purity of her passion. So I think that is definitely attractive for her- that there's something that she can try and help heal or mend. That might be a big surprise for her when she can't." - Natalie Portman, AotC, Commentary Track #2, 2002

A part of Padmé is intrigued by Anakin's darker side, the "handsome bad boy" part... but that's coming from a place of "I can change him".

But the only thing that can change Anakin... is Anakin himself. Unfortunately, he keeps:

indulging his darker selfish impulses because he lacks discipline, acting on emotion despite knowing better,

regretting it for a moment and acknowledging that it was wrong,

starting again, never learning from his mistakes.

Which is part of the reason why their relationship is sort of doomed from the get-go.

#Screenplay Analysis #bts tidbits #Anidala #Anakin Skywalker #Padmé Amidala #Attack of the Clones #Star Wars #Episode II #hayden christensen #natalie portman #george lucas #QnA

[disformer]

What do you feel is more concerning for children with what is in the EarthSpark series; all of the clear terror and death, or having a they/them pronouned character?

Because the terror and death is seemingly entirely looked over but the ONE CHARACTER going by different pronouns is apparently nothing short of outrage.

Anon, I Am Nonbinary.

I’ll put a more thought out response under the cut

Earthspark drinking game take a sip every time an extremely young child has to emotionally support an adult or is put in life-threatening danger.

1. Steven Universe really ruined a generation of children’s media by making showrunners think they had to tackle issues like PTSD and trauma.

However, to give SU some credit, Steven was not 9 years old at the start of the show. It’s a really jarring choice that was probably made to capitalise on a more marketable demographic for TF and to keep the children’s play more lighthearted, but you get some really weird moments like (checks notes) a nine year old giving advice to an adult on how to handle trauma.

The issue with this is no nine year old should ever have to do this for an adult. They do not need to be wise beyond their years. They do not need to be a therapist for their caretakers. Grimlocks PTSD episode is one of the most egregious examples of this, where (not only is this depiction extremely one-note and weird) the narrative punishes Jawbreaker for not realising Grimlock is having a panic attack in the middle of their play.

As a framing device in a kids movie, what is a nine year old viewer supposed to take from this? The child brain is going to think ‘the adult lashed out and hurt Jawbreaker, it was his fault for being too rowdy.’ LIKE YOU WOULDNT SEE THIS IN PEPPA PIG.

And you do need to consider this when you’re writing children that young in your media, because kids are going to watch shows that have other kids the same age as them in it. There’s an almost instinctive camaraderie in seeing a fellow nine-year-old on TV when you’re at that age. So, the show is very likely going to be watched by 8-15 year olds which brings us to

2. JESUS CHRIST. THIS SHOW NEEDS TO CALM DOWN.

This show is way way way too interested in putting children in extreme danger. Constantly, towards the end of the series.

I’ll make a note first that it’s okay if kids shows have fun play-violence; kids like action. Children like low-stakes explosions. It’s not super serious and most TF media does this well, even if it’s tonally a bit more serious. This is not really an issue in a show like TFP or TFA which also had young kids.

Earthspark does not make its action low-stakes. Earthspark treats its violence extremely seriously; children cry, they scream, they get bruised, their parents wail when they see them in danger. Violence has a lasting impact, it has to because the show constantly wants to talk about trauma, so they can’t have video game rules. If they get hurt it has to impact them. Robbie and Mo are in consistent, life-threatening danger. They’re always being shot at or dropped off cliffs or almost killed and it always harrows them.

And kids can pick up on this. They’re going to realise that this is something that’s Serious, and Scary, and they’re going to be FREAKED out.

They’re also going to be freaked out when the children are fuckin. Tied into the bio-wall with tubes by Mandroid, or when Robbie has alien leukaemia and his parents are so so scared and has to rush him to the hospital and Mo is crying so much, or when their parents are seemingly killed and the kids are screaming and punching the ground and blaming themselves.

And that last part is important, because on several occasions the narrative reinforces this. The narrative. Of a children’s show. Says yes; Robbie and Mo have powers, and this makes them responsible for the well-being of the adults around them. Mo literally gets told this. By GOD. Before her parents proudly watch on without interfering as she fights in hand to hand combat with the villain (WHO IS, AS WE HAVE SEEN, FUCKING DERANGED AND WOULD LOVE TO KILL A TEENAGER JUST ONCE PLEASE PLEASE)

In conclusion, what this tells me is the showrunners are inexperienced. They didn’t consider what is appropriate for the subject matter of a children’s cartoon. They wanted to write about trauma, and war, and think kids are cute! And didn’t want their TF fanfiction to be narratively compromised by having to ‘dumb it down’ for kids.

The result is this is never a show I would ever put on for a 4th grade class in break time, at the risk of severely upsetting a lot of them. And it’s also a show I can’t enjoy as an adult, because it uses the language of a children’s cartoon to make nuanced topics more binarised and soppy.

#ask #earthspark #critical #like there’s also. more. abt why i don’t love it that much #but this is the part that struck me. #used to be a kindy teacher btw #ES critical

[beansprean]

Ghost Memo, watching Nadja about to scrub a 273-year-old wool rug with a wet mop coated in bleach and guano: No no no no no

ANYWAY this is my official season 5 wishful thinking AU, it's not going to be a formal comic timeline like my other stuff but I’m a little obsessed with it! Anything about it will be tagged #MFG s5 au

Masterpost

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1a. The house, exterior, night. Lower third reading “vampire residence”. A speech bubble from within the house cries out, “Ay, fucking- Nadja!” 1b. Full body of Nadja slumped in a an armchair in her and Laszlo’s crypt, a magazine featuring scantily clad women laid open on her lap. The same voice comes from offscreen: “Nadja! You know the rules! You drink it, you clean it!” Nadja groans loudly, head tipping back against the back of the chair, arms and legs hanging limply toward the floor, and grumbles, “Bossy fucking pig-brain…” 1c. Shot from the main foyer of the house as Nadja descends the stairs. Nandor is in the fancy room in the background, talking to the camera with a boom mic positioned above his head. Nadja sticks her tongue out in his direction as she passes. Nandor is saying, “No, I do not miss Guillermo. He made his choices. But now we all must contribute to the household until we can find a replacement familiar.”

2a. Nadja stands in the hallway, straddling the rug with hands on her hips as she glares down at a large half-dry bloodstain on the rug. A mop in a bucket of dirty water sits beside her, and Nandor’s voice is filtering in from the hallway, continuing, “Of course I am looking! Just… no one has been quite right!” 2b. Close up on the bucket, filled to the brim with bloody muddy water, as Nadja lifts the equally gross mop out of it, grumbling, “Treating me like a fucking washerwoman… not even in a sexy way…” 2c. Nadja turns back towards the stain, mop in hand, and stares down in shock when the rug appears to now be perfectly clean. 2d. Nadja snarls and throws the filthy mop angrily down at the rug with a wet splat, screaming “Fucking witches!”

3a. Close up on Nandor back in the fancy room, doing his talking head. He grimaces and picks at his fingers nervously, glancing away as he says “My reading? Uhh… it has been going very well. I have opened so many books...” From offscreen, Nadja yells “Nandor!” 3b. Shot from Nandor’s other side, framing Nadja in the doorway to the foyer. On the wall to the left there is a painting of “The Girl With The Pearl Earring” starring Laszlo. Nadja glares at Nandor with hands on hips and asks angrily, “Nandor, did you send the witches tainted fucking semens?” Nandor leans forward in his chair to face her, the camera on him also swinging over to get her in the shot. He replies, offended, “Of course not, I make only the best semens and Colin Robinson delivered my glorious seed to the witches just last week!” Nadja fires back “Well, you bloody donkeys must have done something, because they have cursed the fucking house!” 3c. Close up on the doorway, Nandor suddenly standing up in the corner and echoing, “Cursed?!” in fear. Laszlo sidles up to Nadja’s side, asking, “Cursed how, my dulcet darling?” Arms crossed defiantly, Nadja replies, “A cleaning curse! This is the third time I have gone to clean and the mess has disappeared on its own!”

4a. Nandor and Nadja in profile, divided by the doorway with Nandor still standing in the fancy room and Nadja in the hall. Laszlo is leaning on the door frame facing the viewer, hands casually in his pockets. He glances up at Nandor with one eyebrow raised as Nandor, looking confused, and Nadja, looking defiant, stare each other down. 4b. Nandor raises his eyebrows and folds his hands outward, placatingly, replying, “Okay…?” Laszlo grins up at his wife and says, “Sounds like a bloody good curse to me!” Nadja unfolds her arms and chops them through the air, glaring at the ceiling in exasperation as she declares, “There’s no such thing as good curses!” 4c. Close up on Laszlo in the doorway as Colin Robinson suddenly pops in from the hall, leaning in close as he throws out, “Maybe we’ve got ghosts again!” Laszlo leans away from him slightly in surprise, smile dropping. 4d. Return to previous shot. Nadja turns toward Colin, throwing out her arms angrily as she asks, “Why would a ghost want to clean our house?!” Nandor rolls his eyes upward, throwing out his own arms as he echoes, “Why would witches?!” Colin just smiles indulgently, enjoying the chaos. Laszlo hunches his shoulders uncomfortably in the doorframe, frowning as he looks away toward the fancy room.

5a. Close up on Nandor puffing himself up with superiority, hands imperiously planted on his hips as he begins, “Nadja, if you do not want to do your part of the chores-“ Nadja interrupts from offscreen, “Oh, blow it out your loose, hairy arsehole, Nandor!” The camera and boom are in view behind Nandor, eagerly recording the scene. 5b. Back in profile, Nandor leaning toward Nadja and echoing “Loose?!” in an offended way. Nadja leans right back in his space, spitting angrily, “If you would stop dragging your big, stupid feet about finding a new familiar, I wouldn’t have any bloody chores!” Nandor stutters back, “I-I am still making inquiries; it’s an important decision!” Behind them, Colin is leaning comfortably on the side of the doorframe, hands laced together in front of him and smiling as his eyes glow purple behind his glasses. Laszlo has turned to leave the frame, walking into the fancy room.

6a. Shot of the foyer from the doorway as Nadja marches away across the hall, throwing her arms up angrily as she declares, “Oh, whatever! Don’t blame me when you wake up without your testicles!” The paintings in the foyer include a vampire version of “The Scream” and a version of “American Gothic” with Nadja and Laszlo. In the foreground, Nandor stares after her with a grimace, muttering, “Fucking girl…” Colin turns toward Nandor, smiling, and prompts, “Hey Nandor, tell me more about all the books you’ve been reading.” 6b. Nadja, now alone, slumps into a high-backed chair in the library with her arms crossed, pouting at nothing. Behind her is a dilapidated side table carrying a few unlit candles and an overturned goblet crusted with blood. There are a few canvases tucked behind Nadja’s chair including one that appears to be a version of “The Creation of Adam” with Laszlo as Adam and Nadja as God, surrounded by bats.

7a. Close up on Nadja’s face in profile as she snarls and mutters to herself, “Stupid bloody men, never fucking listening to me…” 7b. Repeat of previous panel. Nadja’s eye widen in shock, mouth snapping tightly closed as a voice offscreen replies, “Tell me about it.”

8a. Bird’s eye view of Nadja sitting up in her chair with mouth agape, hands gripping the arms, and staring upward toward the ceiling. The edge of a familiar face is in the foreground, glowing with a bluish-green light. Nadja calls out instinctively, “What?!” 8b. Nadja repeats “What?!” even louder as we see what she sees: Guillermo, glowing bluish green, floating near the ceiling and absently cleaning a large portrait on the wall with a rag and unlabeled spray bottle. He is wearing the same sweater from the season 4 finale. Ghost Guillermo looks over his shoulder to meet Nadja’s eyes, surprised. 8c. Overlapping close ups of Guillermo and Nadja as he turns toward her fully, eyes wide and flushed with excitement as he cries, “Wait…Nadja, you can see me?!” Nadja stares back at him mutely in horror. In the bottom right corner is text reading “to be continued…?”

9. In the style of a movie poster. Ghost Guillermo, wearing that same sweater and a ghostly tail instead of legs, takes up the center of the frame, glowing in hues of blue, green, and purple. He has a feather duster held up in one hand and is holding the forefinger of the other to his open lips in a shushing gesture. Behind him in the top right is the vampire residence at a low dramatic angle, red door glowing angrily as light night strikes the sky beyond. Just below is a bust of Derek in his work clothes, looking up at Ghost Guillermo with a nervous smile. In the top left is a bust of Vampire Guillermo, wearing a red waistcoat and no glasses, scowling over his shoulder at his ghost self. Behind him, a silver crucifix with a broken chain floats past. At the bottom, Nadja, Laszlo, Colin Robinson, and Nandor stand waist-up in a row looking up at Ghost Guillermo. Nadja is grinning in excitement, Laszlo looks something between bored and concerned, Colin looks uncertain, and Nandor looks distraught and worried, wringing his hands together. The tagline is written in ghostly blue: “moving out… doesn’t mean moving on!”, and the title is listed at the bottom in dripping red font: “My Familiar’s Ghost”. At the bottom further text reads “coming October 2022” and “created by beansprean”. /end ID

#WWDITS #nandermo #nadja of antipaxos #nandor the relentless #guillermo de la cruz #ghost Guillermo #vampire Guillermo #laszlo cravensworth #colin robinson #mlm #blood tw #what we do in the shadows fx #what we do in the shadows #my familiars ghost #my art #fanart #image described

[rainbowsky]

Hi rbs, stupid question maybe but do you know why Yibo never stays during events like this one?

(I mean he just walks the red carpet very fast and then we almost don't see him for the night, he doesn't sit with other celebrities)

Hi Anon! ☺️

It's not a stupid question at all.

Of course no one knows for sure, we can only theorize. However, there are a few excellent reasons that immediately pop into my head for why DD doesn't linger and hobnob with others at these events.

He wants to avoid being a disruption

Let's face it, wherever DD goes the cameras and fans follow, and his mere presence can be a huge disruption to any proceeding. DD always tries to stay in the shadows so as not to steal other people's fire. Not just because he's humble and respectful - which he definitely is - but also to avoid anti attacks about him 'taking up too much space'.

A perfect example of this happened last night at the event. Eric Wang - his costar from Hidden Blade - was onstage speaking, and DD's face appeared on the screen briefly and the fans screamed really loudly, interrupting his speech. He was startled and looked around in confusion trying to figure out what had set everyone screaming.

This is the sort of thing both GG and DD no doubt want to avoid. They wouldn't want to be the reason other people's moments in the spotlight get derailed. Eric Wang is a friend and colleague, onstage in his own special moment. DD wouldn't want this.

And this isn't just an issue with the event itself, but also all the discussion and buzz that their appearance generates online.

Yes, of course it's important for them to be talked about a lot and viewed as popular and in demand, but that can often tip over into being seen to take up too much space - too many 'public resources' - which can lead to public criticism and viewer fatigue. It can also heavily contribute to the 'traffic star' 'teen idol' reputation, which I believe they're both trying to shake (for various reasons it's better if they can be viewed as serious actors).

He and his team want to minimize risk

This goes along with my first point - he and his team will want to do everything they can to minimize the risk associated with unscripted moments in the spotlight. Of all the reasons, I think this is actually the number one reason they lay low at events.

Whenever a star is out in front of people in a live public setting, there is tremendous opportunity for them to become the subject of embarrassing, hateful or even career-jeopardizing anti attacks, gossip and hotsearches. Especially at an event where other stars are present. Every move they make, every choice about where to look or how to stand, every facial expression, becomes an opportunity for misinterpretation or incitement of fan wars.

This is likely also why GG and DD are never in the same room when accepting awards at these things. When one is onstage accepting an award, the other is backstage. This ensures that there can be no camera cut to the other one, which would be massively disruptive (as with point 1) and potentially inflame fan wars.

And it's not just onstage moments that are a problem; all time spent in the room can be a minefield. For example, any time one star is seated next to another star every micro-expression, every slight move or action is analyzed and conclusions drawn about how the two feel about each other. This can lead to harmful rumors ranging from dating rumors to rumors they hate each other - all of which can lead to negative gossip and fan wars.

If a star is really friendly with another star and one of them ends up embroiled in scandal, that can lead to the other one being dragged into the same scandal just by association. DD especially is constantly the target of hate attacks. It wouldn't do for him to be seen getting too cozy with the next star on the chopping block. Antis would have a field day making it seem like DD was part of the scandal somehow.

Both GG and DD are at the level where frankly they don't need this kind of exposure anymore. They don't need the risk, and they don't need the 'rewards'. They simply don't need to be seen quite as much as some of the newer up-and-coming stars do. There comes a point where the risk/reward ratio shifts to where it's safer for their careers to not be so constantly in the spotlight.

He is at work

I know these kinds of events can be a lot of fun for fans and feel like a big exciting party, but ultimately for the star, they are at work. It's work. Because of the issues I pointed out above - along with so many others, no doubt - being put in the spotlight like that has to be incredibly high pressure and high stress.

These are tightly managed events, and a lot goes on behind the scenes to ensure that things in front of the camera go smoothly. They have to be at certain locations at certain times (for example, they have to be at the end of the red carpet when it's their turn to walk, they have to be in their seat when their award is announced), and they have to be looking their best and on their best behavior.

They have to look beautiful but not too flashy. They have to look relaxed even if they don't feel relaxed. Their facial expressions and behavior have to be appropriate. They're appearing, after all, in front of millions and millions of people - appearances which are being recorded, photographed and livestreamed from every angle.

Behind the scenes there are people managing their makeup and wardrobe, there are often interviews and photos with media, there are often brand-related bits that need to be captured on film.

It might seem glamorous to get all dressed up and go to a party and get an award, but for the top stars it's a high stakes public appearance where every moment is closely managed and timed up to the minute - even second.

Things are simultaneously fast-paced and incredibly dull. Top stars like GG and DD are usually the last to appear on the red carpet or onstage, so there would be a lot of waiting around in unfamiliar spaces surrounded with work colleagues and management.

With events like this the stars are often starving as well, as they don't have time to eat or don't want to risk ruining their outfit or having digestive issues while in the spotlight.

I'm sure being a surgeon or a detective also seems exciting to those outside the profession, but really it's always work, and these are some of the most high-pressure, high-stress, high-stakes jobs.

A public appearance like this is ultimately a promotional activity, not a party, celebration or social occasion.

He's a very busy guy

This is another huge reason GG and DD often sweep into an event and leave the first instant they're able to. Because they have incredibly packed schedules and many conflicting demands on their time. They simply don't have time to dicker around at an event for any longer than necessary.

They've left events like this to go straight to a filming set to get back in costume and back to work. It's just how things go when you're that high profile and in high demand.

It's too public

GG and DD have private lives, even just in WeChat groups, etc. where they can socialize with friends and colleagues out of the public eye. I doubt they get excited about being under the scrutiny of so many people at events like this.

This is just the norm

I feel the need to add that DD's behavior isn't unusual at all. I think sometimes fans get the impression that GG and DD make themselves unusually scarce, but it's just not true. All the top stars tend to vacate their seats the moment they have a chance.

Just look at this footage from last night when DD was accepting his award. Look at all the empty seats behind him as he's walking to the stage - all along the entire length of the stagefront where the top stars are always placed. Soon DD's seat will also be empty.

Anyway, like I said, no one knows for sure. It's not something he or his team is ever likely to speak about publicly. But just looking at the situation some features do stand out.

#bjyx #yizhan #ggdd in the public eye #tencent all star 2023 #ask

[dangermousie]

I decided to rewatch The King's Woman. MMMM.

A male lead who starts the first episode by putting a bloody head into the bed of his mother and her lover:

Proceeds to preside over a massacre:

And then pulls the sword on and almost kills (but eventually exiles) his own mother:

No current drama with that ML (especially ML not being a fictional person but Qin Shi Huang himself) would ever pass censorship now.

But, more to the point, what I love about this drama is, forget the term "red flag" beloved by the kids nowadays - this man is shown a bona fide ambitious, capable, magnetic monster. No coy flag terms needed. He's totally fit to be a period ruler, but as a romantic choice, oh boy! (His troops also murder FL's grandpa on their conquering rampage, but he's not personally involved, so that is the least of his problems.)

Between that first ep, the historical QSH and the fact that this is a prequel of sorts to Legend of Qin, which follows FL's son and where QSH is the villain (!), everything about this screams "this is a not a man who will mellow and reform due to the love of a good woman." But the drama is so brilliant because it uses the viewers' own yearning for a proper romance narrative, their experience with the default narratives being "ruthless man reforms for love" and the fact that not only does the OTP have great chemistry, but that ZBB, who as ML gives the best performance of his career imo, does portray the ML as someone who is impossibly magnetic and impossibly intense and utterly, completely in love with Dilraba's FL, to lead on the viewers to go "but what if...maybe...maybe?!" Only to then slap you with that infamous ending. (One of my favorite, most logical tragic endings of all time.)

God, this drama is SO GOOD!

ETA: I always thought that ending was both a perfect punishment and a perfect test. Because she knew, KNEW, he would kill her if she came at him with a weapon. But the thing he has to live with is not just the knowledge she merely used him to commit suicide by cop because she flipped the dagger at the last moment making it clear she never planned to hurt him, but the knowledge that it was also a test by her, wasn't it? If he loved her enough to be willing to risk being hurt/killed by her, to trust her, she'd be alive, he'd be unhurt, and I think this would have given them another chance - she'd have known he loved her above himself even when it looked like her love turned to hate, and I think this really would have enabled them to be happy in the future. But, as she knew he would, he failed that test. And he has to live not just with the knowledge that he killed the woman he loved and who never intended to harm him, but with the knowledge that he took his future of happiness away himself.

#cdrama #the king's woman #zhang bin bin #Youtube

[coralinnii]

Congratulations on reaching 2.7k followers! I’m not really surprised, as your writing is phenomenal. Would it be ok to request a continuation of two of your Legend has it... Twisted Halloween series? Specifically, Kalim and Sebek. They were my favourite of the series, and if I remember right they didn’t do well in your polls for this year’s Halloween event. If you already have them ready for Halloween then, just accept my congratulations and have a wonderful day. Thanks for your writing, it all ways brightens my day.

❋ Legend has it… ❋

↳ Sequel to the Twisted Halloween series

feat: Kalim ⭑ Sebek

genre: angst, tragedy, horror

note: sequel to Kalim and Sebek’s vers. in the Twisted Halloween series, no pronouns used, zombie?Kalim, reader is unstable in both vers., soldier!Sebek, ghost!reader in Sebek’s ver., pregnant!reader in Sebek’s ver., mentions of violence and worse in both vers., use of weapons for violence, average word count 700 words

This got darker than I intended…much darker. I cannot stress this enough.

Please regard the warning and make the best choice for yourself. I rather that you draw your own boundaries than for people read my stories. Remember, your mental health is more important than the latest update.

WARNING. Sebek’s story is set during times of war, in which great carnage, cruelty, and inhumane treatment of people occurred. The story reflects the inhumanity of this setting. While I believe in not erasing or running away from the brutality of violence and war, I understand that it can be extremely discomforting and triggering. Viewer discretion is highly advised. By clicking keep reading, you agreed to proceed while understanding the content of the story.

2.7K Followers Writing Event

Kalim felt cold if nothing else. He didn’t know what to expect the moment he closed his eyes, all he hoped was he’d managed to hold on just enough to let you get far away from danger, from what he will become.

He felt lost in the dark, in an almost unreal state of life. Was dying supposed to feel this way? Unsure of what to do, Kalim waited…for something…or nothing.

Then, Kalim felt something. A heartbeat. His own.

It pounded weakly against his heart, like it was out of practice. A beat, then another, and soon a rhythm began.

This beautiful beat started to grow warm in his stiff body, a tingle of a glow spreading through his chest and into his extremities.

“Kalim, wake up” a voice called out to him, tired and desperate but to him, it was the most beautiful sound in the world, because it was your voice.

Warm, rough hands encased his own as felt warmed by the gentle touch. Memories slowly trickled into Kalim’s thoughts, his dark vision filled with sweet smiles and better days. He saw images of you, though his thoughts scattered and he wasn’t sure what he remembered, but that lively warmth he felt seeing you was all he could focus on.

He needs to see it again, your bright smile. He wants to reply to your urgent calls to him. With the strength he thought he lost, the snow-haired man struggled to open his once-white eyes.

Through the blinding light, his eyes finally adjusted to see his memories come to life. Before him, you stood by his laying body with relief washing over your tear-stricken face.

You weren’t alone, however, In contrast to you, the people around you stood in the back, watching the miracle (whether good or bad) before them. Jamil stood between you and the wary strangers, carefully watching for what they might do in hasty fear, and ready for what Kalim (or you) might do.

“Kalim...” You whispered, oblivious (or purposely ignorant) to your precarious surroundings as you jumped to embrace Kalim’s revived corpse, as though you were used to the stiffness of his body. You had no fear left in you, all you felt was joy that your beloved could hug you back. Kalim, though confused, instinctively held you like it was ingrained in his body.

“This is madness!” One of the strangers screamed out, pointing his gun at the monstrosity in your arms. “You’re crazy if you think that thing’s human! There’s no cure, why can’t your crazy brain understa-”

Bang

The survivor screamed out once more in agony as the gush of blood escaped the fresh wound on his calf. The surrounding survivors jumped, either towards their injured comrade, away from him to stir clear of your target. The smoke hissed from the barrel of your gun, the same one Kalim left for you that horrific day.

“Shut up.” The cold tone in your command chilled the audience, not a soul dare to move in fear of incurring more of your wrath. “I promised to bring back those we lost to this cursed virus.”

Caressing Kalim’s cheek which still felt a little cold to the touch, you smiled once more before an icy chill took over your expression, a glare enough to freeze your followers to their spot.

“You followed me because you dreamed of a miracle to bring your friends and family back,” you scanned the anxious looks of your followers, most with guilty expressions over their greedy desires to regain what was lost in this wretched world, just like you. “I show you the breakthrough all of you waited for, but you dare to deny the results?”

You furiously fought back zombies at every corner while you dragged the possessed Kalim back to the safe zone. You spat in the face of the soldiers that refused to let your boyfriend join the survivors. You spent countless nights testing every theory and concoction for a glimpse of progress. With every failure, with every descent to madness, you’ve gotten closer to your miracle.

You’ve dreamed of the day you could return to your happier days, and nobody will get in the way of it.

You grew worried for your green-haired husband but tried to remain calm, if not for you then for your child who is growing steadily in your stomach. You spent the days caressing the warm bulge of your belly, the blanket that Sebek had clumsily knitted for you laying comfortably atop of you.

Typically, you would do your chores and tend to the fields but your family were very accommodating, taking over your responsibilities while caring for your needs. Your younger relatives would tease you, laughing as they told you that Sebek would scold them incessantly if he thought they weren’t tending to you as they should. You laughed along with them.

Then, large ships were seen coming to the shores of your village. You first thought that your husband’s troops returned and with the help of your family, you rushed along with the other villagers to welcome the allies.

Except they weren’t your allies.

Men dressed in unfamiliar attires lined themselves intimidatingly, weapons in arms. They announced that the nation that first promised your hometown’s safety has yielded to their enemies in return for their own safety, and that your village was henceforth under the control of their empire.

All the able men, both young and old, were forced to the fields to gather supplies and the women were made as servants to the invaders that destroyed their homes to build unfamiliar buildings. Even those with children such as you were not spared as you were used as hostages, forcing your families to comply lest they want you and your child’s blood to spill. You felt burning anger building but you instead bit your tongue, your family begged of your compliance, for your innocent child’s sake. Your family tried to console you, at least they spared harm to your unborn child, your relatives would say.

Until the invaders heard wind of who the child’s father was.

A child of the enemy nation, with a devoted lover and family. To them, your family were harbourers of the monstrous enemies, procreating more of their disgusting race. To the invaders, for the sake of the victory of their righteous nation, they must purge the savage bloodline.

Your screams tore out your throat as you begged for the soldiers, for anyone to stop the carnage before you. You were forced to watch along with the crying villagers as your family and many others were cruelly eliminated by the invaders’ hand.

You were dragged to the center of the bloody ground, where your people’s flesh and blood coated the once vibrant greenery of your hometown. The leader of the soldiers coldly dropped a dull knife near your kneeled form.

“That wretched parasite, or your life. That is your choice”

They thought they were being merciful. Should you choose to pierce your child, you had a chance to escape your own death. These soldiers had nothing against, only your child. The child that you wanted to introduce to your husband, looking forward to the day where you could see Sebek nervously trying to hold your child but melt once he felt the bundle of joy in his arms. These horrible men know nothing of the promise you made to your husband, to be by the shores to welcome him with your child wrapped in that messy blanket Sebek made for your precious baby. These foreigners called you barbarians, all while proudly carrying swords stained with your people’s blood.

Through your tears, inhuman rage indulged your soul. The stench of death and the cries of your neighbours as they begged for their lives devoured your sanity. Grabbing the knife before you, you gripped the dirty weapon in your soiled hands and with all your strength, you plunged it…

…into the leader’s heart.

In your blind wrath, you couldn’t even feel the assortment of swords piercing your body. Your eyes blazed with anger as you twisted the knife further your cursed torturer.

“M-Monster!” The wounded leader cried out, his body turning cold over the horrifying sight before him. The once fragile looking barbarian morphed into something inhuman. Your eyes turned into an endless void and your tears turned the same inky black running like blood down your cheeks.

Your vision was red, before it turned black. The last thing you remembered before falling into a sleep-like state, was gently caressing your wounded belly.

You woke up once more in an eerily silent field. Confusion initially filled you until the silent atmosphere broke as a loud child-like cry resonated. You looked down to your lap, and smiled wistfully.

“You must be cold, my child.” Undeterred by the wounds on your body, you started to walk towards your old home, ignoring the scattered remains on the fields. “Come, let’s go get your blanket. We need to welcome your father when he returns.”

#I seriously debated on actually posting this #i need to step back #twisted wonderland #twst #twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #disney twisted wonderland #twst scenarios #2.7k followers event #kalim al asim #kalim x reader #sebek zigvolt #twst sebek #sebek x reader

[thislilstangirl]

I hope you can do a take on the Rolling Stone interview with Tenoch Huerta... particularly that part about "romantic chemistry between Namor and Shuri". Absolutely love how you break down and analyze the Namuri dynamic <3 Thank you!!!

thank you for reading!!

and what a lovely interview from rolling stone. i loved reading tenoch’s thoughts and opinions, especially about representation and how namor became more human and grounded with subsequent scripts.

lets look at what he said about killing ramonda:

Remember, he had been trying to create this alliance with Shuri before she became a queen. And Namor is thinking about the future — not because he was planning to kill the queen. But he’s 500 years old. So for him, it’s just a blink. The time goes. In the future, she will be a queen.

now this got me SCREAMING. firstly because, again, he specifically talks about having an alliance with shuri, not wakanda in general. secondly, i love how namor sees time. he looks at shuri and sees her future, not her present. something poetic about that for sure. and he treats her like a queen because to him she might as well be. but of course, shuri isn’t queen yet. it adds credence to my “shuri and the rejection of queenhood” meta. namor is consciously bestowing queenhood onto her. when she rejects his allyship, she is also rejecting his view of her as queen.

and lmao, despite seeing her as a queen he still calls her princess. the princess-is-a-term-of-endearment-theory stands strong.

So to kill Queen Ramonda [Angela Bassett] was never his plan, it was a reaction because they killed a couple of girls of Namor’s kingdom, and it was just a punishment. It’s like: You kill people, I kill your people. But, yeah, I swear to God, first he tried to make an alliance the best way he possibly could! Then things happened.

We been knew. its a somewhat justified act of murder. and i love his choice of word- punishment. it sounds like what a god would do in the face of insolence.

now onto that question.

i’m in two minds about writing about this honestly, because at the end of the day shipping does not and has never required validation from the creatives or cast. it’s a bonus, but isn’t a requirement for a ship to thrive in anyway.

it’s a big enough win that rolling stone is even mentioning romantic chemistry in their interview and to tenoch. another reminder that general audiences were also picking up romantic undertones in their scenes. even if the intent wasn’t romantic, everything from the production design, writing, music, costuming, and direction, gave them enough of a romantic foundation for them to go down that path in the future if they chose.

let’s look at the question and the abridged answer.

Q: On another note, some viewers felt that there was romantic chemistry between Namor and Shuri when she was in your city. Did you play that romantic chemistry deliberately?

A: “I don’t feel it was a romantic touch [between them] I think it was more a human, intimate touch…

I mean, when you meet someone and you have a good relationship, whether this person is the gender that you prefer or not, you always have this ambiguous relationship. It’s normal. It’s human.

If that can evolve into a romantic relationship or not? I don’t know. It wasn’t our intention. It could happen or not.

The beautiful part of this relationship is, it doesn’t need to be romantic to be deep. It doesn’t need to be romantic to be beautiful and bright and intimate…These characters, they create something. I don’t know. It was magical, but not necessarily romantic.”

you know what? i’m okay with it. because what is romance when we think about it? it’s intimacy, it’s connection, it’s beautiful.

the words tenoch uses to describe their relationship are so telling. beautiful. bright. intimate. deep. magical. nothing antagonistic, nothing referring to it as a rivalry, nothing about manipulation, nothing suggesting that their relationship is unequal or inauthentic. those scenes in talokan, were pure, unadulterated connection.

and of course that doesn’t have to be romantic to be compelling, and the intent in those scenes wasn’t romance. but he accepts that because shuri and namor have such a good relationship, it’s normal for it to be seen ambiguous. aka a romantic interpretation is valid (not that we needed that validation).

in the fact tenoch doesn’t dismiss the idea. he very easily could have. If that can evolve into a romantic relationship or not? I don’t know... It could happen or not. not ‘that wouldn’t work out’ or ‘i don’t think namor could see shuri in that way’. just ‘it could be romantic, but that’s not how i was playing it those scenes’.

look, i don’t hold my breath when it comes to marvel and romance and that has been the case for years. it’s not worth the disappointment. if marvel doesn’t pursue nashuri/namuri/seaprincess i wouldn’t be surprised. but we also know that marvel, for better or for worse, listens to the fandom. and with the fandom being generally positive (i couldn’t imagine getting a hit tweet with some of my other ships let me tell you) i’ve allowed a little hope to blossom despite my better judgement.

now that marvel knows that the general audience loved their chemistry and we’re thinking romantic thoughts about them…the scene is set for marvel to make some concrete moves towards that direction in the future. but again, shipping is for fandom. and no one is prying this ship out of my hands.

#namuri #namor x shuri #shuri x namor #wakanda forever #wakanda forever spoilers #black panther #meta #seaprincess #mcu #nashuri #shuramor #ask

[mikuni14]

I wanted to reply to this post by @italianpersonwithashippersheart and it turned out to be a very long text, so I'm posting it separately 😉

I have a tactic of reading posts on Tumblr, that as soon as I start reading and see that the author is going in a direction that I know I won't like, I immediately stop and move on (ALTHOUGH sometimes the author writes something I don't agree with in such an engaging way that I read it to the end for intellectual pleasure, or it's someone I like with whom I disagree just this time, but I read it anyway because, after all, I like that person for a reason 😚). That's why, fortunately, I usually (<- key word, usually) avoid fandom wars and problematic fandom behavior. I do this because I know how irritating fandom can be sometimes, especially when a it goes to war to defend its blorbo, or ship, or the entire series. And I regret to say that defenders are the most aggressive... Personally, I don't mind fans living on ships, their blorbo, squealing about them and so on. (I mean, I do that!) Unfortunately, as I'm sure you all know, so many fans who live it, LIVE IT and it's not just fun for them, it's the meaning of their lives. This is where the attacks on actors come from, like the recent attack on Nut, a homewrecker 😆 in Pit Babe, having the audacity to be friends with the actor playing Alan AND HE BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE!, or, as in the case of DFF, tearing Ta into two parts by his ukes two fandoms lmao. Unfortunately, such behavior poisons a positive fandom experience and even I can see it, even though I try very hard NOT to see it.

It also seems to me that DFF viewers could be divided into two distinct groups: DFF fans and BL fans 😉 I'm a DFF fan and that's why I'm interested in meta, theories and Tan. I like PheeJin for their dynamic, but, I don't really care if they end the series as a couple. Besides, for me DFF is a mystery/thriller/slasher/social commentary series with BL elements, in which I DON'T HAVE to have a happy ending for BL relationships to be happy, I only want Tan to be happy. However, someone for whom DFF is only a BL series could be frustrated because 1) there is no monogamy 😬 2) there is "cheating" 3) the characters behave unpleasantly 4) the characters behave in ambiguous ways and it's often not clear what they think and whom they truly love 5) the characters behaviour becomes unpredictable and non-standard and often problematic 6) the plot keeps getting weird, instructions unclear 7) what about my ship?? *panic*

Regarding the concerns about the ending of the series: in any other series I would have EXACTLY THE SAME worries. But I look at DFF in two categories:

as a slasher

as a story about life, without a moral lesson

This makes me NOT worry about the ending because:

if you look at it as a slasher and my favorite film of this type, i.e. Scream and to some extent also Final Destination, there is no moralizing here, because the victims are often innocent and still die, because this is the rule of this genre: people die in masses

if we do NOT look at it as a story with a moral lesson, we also get rid of the compulsion to judge, like, did they deserve or not to die?

I know that in the DFF fandom we often joke, more or less seriously, that we would like this one or that one to die, or for everyone to die, but this is completely normal behavior when consuming media in which someone gets hurt. In the case of DFF, emotions are high because we naturally stand on the side of someone who is bullied and we see how others, through their actions or omissions, or often making stupid mistakes, saying cruel words in anger, contributed to the great tragedy of the entire family. But what I noticed is that the series does not actually moralize. It emphasizes very clearly that Non is a victim, but he is not entirely innocent and has made many stupid decisions himself, having had other choices, while also showing why he makes such choices. It shows Por as a complete asshole, while showing his environment and expectations towards him, but it does not absolve him. It even shows Keng not as a typical sweaty, brutal pedo, but someone who is genuinely concerned about Non, AT THE SAME TIME showing the issue of his pressure on Non, the money, the grooming.

The series presents dry facts, shows characters from different sides, in different situations, it also shows how events move from point A to B and further along the letters of the alphabet :) all the time discovering new facts that explain more and more, sometimes posing a seemingly already explained situation in a completely new perspective.

Personally, I don't get the impression that the series even WANTS us to moralize in our high glass tower, because the series clearly shows that the innocent, defenseless and vulnerable suffer and no one helps them. That a stupid event can lead to tragedy with the butterfly effect. That sometimes things happen beyond our knowledge, that we are just a pawn in someone else's game and, despite our sincere intentions, we cannot stop the course of events. And that the poor have a hard time and lose entire families and their future, with the first fatality in the series being the only son and the future of the richest family.

Therefore, I am 99% sure that:

we do not know all the facts that can turn all our predictions, judgments and faith in what is happening on the screen 180 degrees

whatever happens to Tan, Phee and Jin, I doubt it will be presented as a punishment/reward for anything

Tan can kill them all and not be the winner, Phee can kill Tan and live with it for the rest of his life as a loser

there is no way for the series to end sensibly AND with "the victory of good over evil" and"justice", because evil has been winning all the time and every kick to Non's face, the death of his parents, Tan's "madness", the death of two young people, the trauma of the others were proof of that, also all the lives lost and their future in which change for good is possible

At the moment, I have nothing to complain about the 10 episodes so far, for me the series is run logically, and any question marks that appear in my head, I am calmly waiting for their answers in the next episodes. THERE IS HOWEVER ONE THING THAT WILL ANGRY ME ABOUT THE ENDING: IF THE SERIES MAKES TAN A CONVERTED SINNER WHO CHOOSES LOVE, PEACE AND FORGIVENESS AT THE LAST MOMENT 🤮 I don't even want to think about it. This is the worst thing that can happen.

Despite everything, I still believe that the series will not do something so stupid at the end, that from a painfully realistic story about life with hints of a thriller and a slasher, it will turn into a fairy tale with a moral lesson, in which good (the established social order) will be rewarded and evil (anarchy represented by Tan) will be punished.

I have my dream ending, but whatever, it's my fantasy 😍 But at least 3 BL series from recent weeks ended exactly NOT the way I wanted, so I'm resigned to the fact that DFF may also fail in this matter 🤡

tl;dr everything will be fine, and if it's not fine, we have a great team to sit together and bitch together 🥳

@italianpersonwithashippersheart I fucking love rant posts 😤😤 I LOVED YOURS 💖💖💖

#dead friend forever #thai bl #bl drama

[firstelevens]

traveling on (and it won't be long)

sam/bucky | alternate universe (formula one au) | 2.6k words | rated g

The drivers from Team Stark get invited to the Met Gala and produce some content for their socials on the way. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

My beloved @sesamestreep texted me yesterday about the F1 AU boys attending the Met Gala, and naturally her wish is my command. Enjoy!

( also on AO3 )

Over the course of his career, Bucky has done no shortage of things that made him look stupid. There was his exclusively-cavorting-with-young-royals-on-yachts phase, the two years (pre-Alpine, of course) where his Instagram was exclusively thirst traps, that one summer when he decided to go blond…all terrible choices, in retrospect, and all things that he regrets. One thing he can say for all those phases, though, is that at least they were fun at the time.

He would give anything to be able to say that about today.

‘If one more person tells me to relax, I’m going to lie down on the floor and scream,’ he texts Steve, because Sam’s probably on lap twenty of a race right now, and Becca would probably just tell him to suck it up.

‘How are you still this bad at being on camera?’ Steve replies.

‘Peter used to just let me argue with Sam and hit record. These guys are making me read from CUE CARDS.’

Steve just sends him a laughing emoji in response, because he’s a traitor. (But then he follows up with a picture of Ellie and her baby brother playing with fingerpaint to cheer him up, because apparently siding with Steve in a fight against two boys twice their size was the right call when Bucky made it thirty years ago.)

It’s his own fault, maybe. If Bucky had spent less of his last year on the grid antagonizing the higher ups at Tuono, Rhodey and Nat would have had to spend considerably less time trying to placate them, and then they wouldn’t have had the leverage they needed to get Bucky to agree to this. 

The director calls for everyone to get set up for another take, and Bucky stands on his mark again, shaking out his shoulders and trying to reach for the charming version of him from the yacht parties and all those videos with Sam. When they call action, Bucky looks at the camera, pretends that it’s Sam, and lets the smile spread across his face as he reads from the cards: “I’m Bucky Barnes and today is the first Sunday in May. It’s time to get ready with me and Team Stark to go to the 2026 Met Gala.”

He doesn’t actually fall to the floor in relief when the director declares, after eighteen takes, that they’ve finally got it, but it’s a near thing.

After the cue cards, they film Olivia as she talks the viewers through Bucky and Sam and Joaquín’s outfits for the events, and Bucky just has to ask her questions and let her talk, which is a relief. Bucky gets about fifteen seconds after that to check the results of the race in Montreal and text Sam an emphatic, ‘CONGRATULATIONS I LOVE YOU SO MUCH’ immediately followed by an equally sincere, ‘they’re making me film my skincare routine you owe me so big after this.’

He knows that Sam won’t get around to checking his phone until much later, not until after the cooldown room and interviews and the presentation of the trophies, but still. If Bucky can’t pull him aside and kiss the hell out of him in a quiet corner the way did after all their races last year, the least he can do is be sure there’s a text waiting for whenever Sam gets to it.

Then he trudges to the bathroom vanity, where there’s a ring light and a camera set up by the mirror and a sound guy standing in the shower, reminds himself that he’s doing this because of how much he loves Sam, and launches into an explanation of the facial cleanser he uses and how important hydration is for race car drivers.

By the time the crew packs up for the night, they’ve filmed skincare, haircare (an overnight mask made by a New Orleans small business), and gotten footage of Bucky doing a Korean face mask (he looked ridiculous, but Olivia did one with him in solidarity, because she’s the best). As Bucky closes the door behind the last person to leave, he looks around the suite, now ringing in its emptiness, and falls into bed without even turning off the lights.

—

It’s not until morning that Bucky even remembers to check his phone. He’d plugged it in to charge far away from where they were filming, to avoid the temptation to check for replies from Sam every few minutes, and he’d been too tired to retrieve it at night. He swipes through his texts as he sits up in bed: selfies that he and Olivia took with the face masks on, pictures from Steve of Ellie and Jamie covered in paint after their art session, and then a stack of notifications from Sam. The earliest ones are from last night, a series of hearts and a ‘ thank you, baby’ in response to Bucky’s congratulations, then laughter at Bucky’s unwitting transformation into a skincare influencer, and a message that says, ‘guess I’ll have to think of some way to repay you for everything’ followed by that weird smirky emoji that shouldn’t make Bucky blush as hard as it does.

The rest are just updates: a good night text from when Sam went to bed, a message from around seven AM about a weird dream he’d had involving a tortoise, and then messages about heading for the airport and getting on the plane. Bucky replies to the very last one and then sets off in search of some kind of caffeine before the cameras come back in.

He doesn’t realize until much later that his ‘love you, see you soon’ text to Sam was only half true. They’re doing his makeup—eyeliner is involved, enough that he’s irrepressibly reminded of the era where his style icon was Pete Wentz—when Bucky notices that there’s only one camera in the room today instead of three. When he asks about it, the makeup artist tells him they had to split up the cameras between the three rooms, which she appreciated because she’d been worried that they would get in her way.

Bucky says something about how it must be hard to weave around all of that and do such delicate work, and she agrees, but really all that he’s thinking about is the fact that there are two other rooms. Some part of his brain had just assumed that Sam would be here getting ready alongside him, that they’d have at least gotten to see each other while being corralled into makeup and hair and wardrobe. He knows that Sam’s outfit has enough architectural detail that they can’t share a car there, but he’d hoped that they could at least swing a couple minutes with each other before he had to relinquish Sam to his adoring public. (And they are adoring, not that Bucky can blame them.) Something in Bucky’s chest sinks a little bit, but he swallows it and keeps chatting, very aware of the camera pointed directly at his face.

As it turns out, there’s a staggered schedule for Sam and Bucky and Joaquín to finish getting ready and head out, and Bucky’s up first. Olivia sweeps into his room right as they’re putting the finishing touches on his hair, one last tweak of the flowers tucked into the bun at the back of his head and a spritz of hairspray for the hair that’s down and brushing his shoulders as he turns his head.

“You look amazing,” she says, beaming at him. He grins and thanks her, then grins even wider when she takes a step forward and adjusts the lapels of his jacket, fussing with how the necklaces sit and adjusting the way his cape drapes over his shoulder.

He steps back for final approval when she’s done, turning to the side so she can get a better look at the cape. “Am I up to your standards? I won’t bring shame to your good name if people know you’re my stylist?”

“With your jacket collection? Never,” laughs Olivia. 

She gives his hand a squeeze before she shoos him out the door, and he calls over his shoulder, “Go get dressed already! How are you gonna upstage us if you’re not on time?”

“There’s one person here who’s gonna be doing the upstaging,” she says, “and it’s not me or you.”

As Bucky is ushered out towards the elevators, he sees Peter at the end of the hall, holding the door open for someone carrying an oversized garment bag. There’s a little bit of coral fabric peeking out, just like the material of Sam’s outfit, and for a second, Bucky thinks about making a break for the room. He’s an adult, he reasons. It’s not like they could stop him if he ran.

But then the elevator opens, and the camera operator gets in first, immediately turning to get a shot of Bucky at the doors, and he resigns himself to waiting a little bit longer as he steps in.

Bucky has attended exactly one other Met Gala before, when he was twenty-four and dating a British model who was maybe also some kind of duchess. He’d just been scenery back then, dressed all in black so as to avoid taking away from her outfit, which had involved so many ruffles in the skirt that she couldn’t even sit down in the car on the way over. As the door opens and he steps out of the car, Bucky finds himself wishing he was that invisible again, just for a second.

Then he remembers how hard Olivia has worked for months now, how excited the young designers had been when the team had gotten in touch about dressing the three of them. There simply isn’t a universe where Bucky allows himself to let them down, so takes a deep breath and straightens his back and steps out onto the red carpet.

Once he’s high up enough on the stairs, he undoes the tie that’s holding up the train of his cape, hopes that the damn thing works, and keeps walking. He only knows that the fabric unfolded properly when he hears the soft noise of silk flowers tumbling out in his wake, spreading out into a train as he goes. He tries not to look too pleased with himself and hopes to God that it was the right angle for photos. 

He’s just made it up to where people are being greeted and interviewed by a young woman who looks familiar. He’s seen her face on posters, and though he doesn’t know her name, she knows his. He tries not to feel too bad about it when she tells him how much she enjoyed this season of Need for Speed , and he opens his mouth to thank her when a ripple of gasps carry down the stairs, loud enough to be heard over shouting photographers and the ambient noise of so many people in one place.

“Did someone fall?” Bucky asks, looking ahead to where people are posing on the steps, but he doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary there.

“I’m pretty sure they’re looking that way,” says the interviewer, grinning as she points down at the very bottom of the stairs.

He turns to see what she’s pointing at and feels his breath catch in his chest, a second too late to join the chorus.

Bucky has only ever seen Sam’s outfit in parts: sketches on the wall of Olivia’s studio and individual pieces tried on during fittings, mockups shared on video calls and swatches of fabric pinned up next to a Botticelli painting. They were all too disjointed to form any kind of picture, and Bucky had trusted Olivia enough to know that the effect was worth waiting for.

Now, as he looks down towards Sam, he’s not sure that ‘worth waiting for’ does him any kind of justice.

His arms are bare, rings and bracelets glittering on his hands as a gold filigree cuff wraps around his bicep. The coral and gold fabric of his vest and pants must be tailored down to the millimeter for how they hug his body, and there’s a gold headpiece creating a halo around him like the one Bucky sometimes thinks he might have in real life.

And though Sam sometimes feels to Bucky larger than life—in his talent, in his kindness, in the vastness of his love—now he looks the part, too, the cape that’s settled on his shoulders arcing high up behind him in two curves like an enormous set of angel’s wings. It’s layer upon layer of soft, floaty fabric, coral giving way to pinks and purples and eventually a deep ocean blue that just sweeps the floor as Sam walks.

There are flashbulbs going off and people murmuring excitedly around him, but all Bucky can do is stare at Sam, watching as he jokes with a photographer and throws his head back in a delighted laugh. Bucky has taken his first step down before he even realizes it, then stops where he is.

He thinks again of the last time he was on this carpet, of how the greatest worry was that he would be a distraction and he was kept well clear of the pictures until it was decided that he could come back in. He couldn’t do that to Sam, not when he’s so utterly glorious a picture all on his own.

“He looks incredible,” says the interviewer, who Bucky really should apologize to. He’s about to do it, too, to say sorry and try to answer at least one of her questions before moving on, but his eyes are still on Sam, and he knows that he should tear them away except…except…

Except now it’s Sam who’s looking up at him , eyes wide. He would feel the weight of that gaze from a mile away, would know in an instant that it was Sam whose eyes were tracing the lines of his body. He would know the smile that spreads across Sam’s face, too:  slow and satisfied and with its own gravitational pull, for all that Bucky can’t turn away from it. 

The smile would be enough for Bucky, really. He’s well aware that he ought to be moving on, that people are looking impatiently at him from their various stations, but then Sam catches Bucky’s eye, raises a hand, and beckons him down.

There’s no way that people are supposed to be doing this, thinks Bucky, as he hurries down the stairs, but there’s no way that he’ll lose even a second of being at Sam’s side, not if he can help it.

He’s almost tempted to hover a few paces away, just so he’s out of shot, but Sam extends a hand to him before Bucky even makes it to the last step, interlacing their fingers as soon as Bucky’s hand lands in his.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he says, all warmth as he pulls Bucky towards him.

Bucky shrugs, not even bothering to hide his smile. “Well, you know, I didn’t have anything else planned tonight, so I thought I’d see what the fuss was about.”

Sam raises their joined hands and kisses Bucky’s knuckles, his eyes never leaving Bucky’s own. “You want to find out together?”

“Always.”

—

The next morning finds about five dozen texts from Becca and Steve on Bucky’s phone, every possible angle on Bucky’s awestruck face as he looked at Sam on the red carpet. None of them are particularly flattering, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide in pure wonder.

Still, Bucky thinks, as Sam curls an arm around him and wordlessly grumbles about being woken up too early, this time, maybe he’s okay with looking a little bit stupid.

#happy first monday in may y'all #sambucky #sambucky fanfic #sambucky f1 AU #my fic #down to the WIRE but I finished it while it was still temporally relevant so THERE #sesamestreep