#there are like two or three episodes of the series online

[wcters]

𝟳 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗧 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬/𝗡 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗘

pairing: matt sturniolo x fem!reader

word count: 2.5k

summary: a video that someone put together of moments where you and matt where being cute

warnings/notes: established relationship, swearing, pda, i’m trying to be inclusive so please let me know what i can do that i haven’t done already!

In the beginning, you could say you were kept a secret, but only because you didn’t want to be in the public that early in your relationship. Besides that, your and Matt’s relationship was never kept hidden. Matt loved you and liked to show you off, but you weren’t a social media person. You were fine with being in the background of things and posted on his social media, but you wanted your private life to stay private. You knew what you were getting into when you decided to date an influencer, and you had no problem with it as long as he respected your wishes, and he did.

You didn’t even know he was an influencer when you met, not being on TikTok a lot. You were working ━━ and still are ━━ at a clothing store in LA when you first bumped into each other ━━ quite literally. You were coming out of the back when he backed up into you. You both apologized and went back to what you were doing. You asked your co-worker if she knew who he was because you thought he was attractive. She told you he had been there a couple times before but didn’t know his name. When you were ringing him through, you gave him his receipt. He grabbed it, wrote something on it, and handed it back to you. Low and behold, it had his phone number and name on it.

Ever since then, you two had been . . . You. You immediately kicked it off, going on dates and hanging out, finding out about how he was a triplet ━━ you assumed after seeing the three of them in the store ━━ and finding out he was famous. You used that word, he denied and told you he wouldn’t call it that making you laugh. You had moved to LA for school, and told him that you wanted your private life to stay private if you got together . . . And it did.

You did end up being in the background of videos and livestreams, posted online, and you did feature in a podcast episode, but you never expected videos or compilations of you or matt, let alone just you, so you were surprised when you saw a video titled 7 minutes of Y/n and Matt being cute. You have to admit you smiled and took a screenshot, planning to show Matt when you next saw him. You would wait if you weren’t impatient . . . But you were. He could watch it later. You hadn’t really had a clue as to what would be in it. You didn’t really pay attention to clips of you or you Matt. You had Matt as your boyfriend to experience those moments.

The first series of clips to show up was the many times you had walked in to Matt’s room while he was streaming, and not realizing until you stopped looking at your phone and saw him looking at you. This was always followed by your voice off camera apologizing and him replying with ‘it’s alright babe. You need me to get off?’ He always asked you that when you walked in, not wanting to put the stream over you, and he never did. If you said no, you’d either lie down in his bed and go on your phone or head out to the couch to watch a movie. If you said yes ━━ which you rarely did unless you had a bad day ━━ he would immediately end his stream with a quick goodbye and his attention was on you in an instant.

There were multiple times where you had to help the boys with something for a video. Whether it was setting something up, figuring something out, etc. you were always there. Sometimes it was off camera, sometimes Nick would cut it out, but this time it wasn’t. You remembered them filming this video, being over there when it happened to help if needed and make sure nothing bad happened (them burning another house down).

The three of them had managed to get it out of the box and bag and get it into the right position, but not how to get some of the poles in. “Maybe we should ask Y/n?” Chris suggested as he held up the tent. “No, we don’t need to.” Matt shut down the question as he fiddled with the metal pole. The oldest and youngest were caught looking at each other before they both yelled ‘Y/n!’ You were seen running in, panic in your eyes before you realized nothing bad had happened. “You scared the shit out of me,” you told them, half scolding them, “either way, what’s up?”

“We need help.” Nick smiled, holding up the tent. “You don’t know how to set up a tent?” “We do, it’s just a bit more confusing inside.” Chris answered. “I had nothing to do with this.” Matt butted in, hands up in defense. “Alright. Back up.” You noticed why Nick maybe kept it in as you watched the clip. You were instructing Nick and Chris who were holding up the tent as Matt was gathering more poles. When you asked him to pass you one, you kissed him on the cheek as a thank you forgetting you were on camera. After that, Matt had looked at you like you hung the moon and the stars. To Nick and Chris, you did as you had help them set this whole thing up. To Matt . . . He was just admiring his girlfriend.

After you had gotten together, it became second nature for him to let you know if he was coming up behind you. His hands would grab your waist while he made his passed you. It was seen in the background of multiple TikToks. You didn’t really notice it happening after the first few times because it had become so normal for you, but clips of these motions had made it into the video. You didn’t think those were caught on camera . . . But you didn’t really mind. You thought maybe part of it was because of you how you met, but you really didn’t know, and you’ve never asked.

The next clip was one you’d never forget. When Nick and Chris asked you to help them prank Matt . . . How could you say no? You would never be involved if it was something bad, and this one wasn’t. You knew about Matt’s “crush” on Liam Neeson ━━ having had an idea before he ever admitted it by the amount of times you watched movies and Liam Neeson just happened to be in it ━━ and almost laughed when they told you the idea.

They had asked you to distract him for a long enough time that they could set up all of the pictures, blankets, etc. You wouldn’t say this to Matt’s face, but his room was a little boring - he had the same black pillows and comforter. Without any of your stuff that you had “left” in the room, you were worried about what it would look like. When it got closer to the time that you would be heading back to the house, you had started to get excited. Matt had noticed this and asked what was up, so you had to play it cool . . . You aren’t good at that and you ended up texted Nick and Chris saying something along the lines of ‘he knows somethings up, I don’t have a poker face.” Either way, he didn’t have a clue what was happening.

Your and Matt’s footsteps could be heard through the camera as you made your way toward the door. Matt had texted his brothers and when they didn’t answer, tried to FaceTime them. That’s what could be seen when Matt opened his bedroom door with you behind him smiling. “Oh . . . my god.” Matt spoke, shock on his face. Chris and Nick laughed in response. “This is the prank?” He asked them, “Liam Neeson all over my bedroom is the prank?” The boys nodded. “Wait - Were you in on this?” Matt asked as he turned to you walking toward him and into the room. “‘Maybe.” You shrugged. “I knew something was up,” he wrapped his arms around you as you walked, “you were acting weird.” “I don’t have a good poker face!”

Matt continued to look around the room before Chris turned his camera to face you. “How do you feel about this?” “Well, it’s just a little more Liam Neeson than normal, but it spices’s his room up a little bit more.” “Totally.” Nick agreed.

You had a habit of leaving your things with Matt. Most of the time, it was due to the lack of much needed pockets in women’s pants. When you didn’t ━━ or forgot to ━━ bring a purse, you’d ask him to throw a chapstick or a hair tie into his pocket or wallet. Other times, you were just too lazy to carry something and didn’t want to stick it in your bra.

You also tended to get Matt little keychains to hang on his backpack or car keys. Most of the keychains were from when you went back to Canada to visit your family and bought him something, but you also liked to thrift them too. He would always take them and immediately put them on something. It was his way of silently showing that your his girlfriend and that he loves you, and the things you do for him. Giving him things was your way of saying he’s yours too.

When they posted the TikTok of guess who’s is who, you expected them to only do their things because it was about them, but you were surprised when you saw little bits of you in there. A Canada keychain hanging on his car keys and backpack, a hair tie with his jewelry, and chapstick with his skincare. The comments were flooded with people talking and mentioning you, knowing which one was Matt’s stuff. You smiled when you saw this being featured, and your comment that said ‘girlfriend duties”.

When you had featured on the Cut the Camera Podcast, you had mentioned the Let’s Trip and Versus tour and how you and Matt had to do long distance for a bit. You went to a few of their shows - being flied out per Matt’s request ━━ but because fn your job, you couldn’t be with them the full time. When they were on tour, it felt like you and Matt never saw each other, but in reality you two spoke almost all the time. To some people, Matt could be described as clingy, but you were too . . . And you didn’t mind that about each other.

You never knew that your FaceTime’s were ever caught in camera, but they were in this video, so you guess they were. The boys had done vlogs on the bus, as well as TikTok’s, and this video showed Matt talking to his phone that showed a blurry you. You didn’t even spot that. You could hear you and Matt talking, but too quietly to make out what you were talking about. Long distance was always hard for you and Matt, but you made it work. You would be stupid not to.

When the boys travelled for videos, you usually didn’t go. Not that you didn’t want to, but you had a job in LA and couldn’t be travelling all the time. But when Matt, Nick and Chris asked you to come with them to Texas to shoot a video for Sam and Colby and tour the city, you said yes. You’ve been to a couple of states in the U.S. and thought ‘why not?’ to visiting Texas. Plus, Matt had talked about that amazing thrift store they went to while on your and you were a sucker for vintage.

You didn’t feature in the Sam and Colby video ━━ besides little bits of you in the background ━━ and offered to film if they needed someone to. Matt was scared, and wanted you there. Nick had gushed to you about him wanting to do the Estes method, and you and him wanted you to witness it. You did, however, feature in the Texas vlog the triplets put out on their channel - being seen in the background. But this clip was a specific one from the video.

You were used to the cold, having grown up in Canada, and handled it pretty well. But one night when you went out for Italian, you didn’t dress well enough for the weather. You didn’t think Texas would be that cold . . . But you assumed wrong. While Nick and Chris were talking to the camera, you were in the background shivering with Matt beside you. You were in a long sleeve, vest, and sweatpants. Your legs were warm, you upper body? Not so much.

“You alright?” Matt asked you, moving behind you to wrap his arms around you. “Yeah, a little cold. But it’s fine.” You replied, leaning into him. Matt was like a walking heater. “You sure? You want to switch jackets?” He leaned his chin on your head, swaying you back and fourth. “I’m alright, but thank you. You’re too sweet.” Your conversation wasn’t heard by the camera, but your movements were. Matt could be seen moving his hands up and down your arms and holding your hand as you walked into the place.

You and Matt had similar, but different music tastes. You would recommend each other songs and made playlists, as well as a playlist you both shared with music you both liked. You two would listen to this constantly; while hanging out, in the car, baking and cooking, just doing regular tasks. Matt had given you some guilty pleasure songs, and you had given him some . . . Though he would have never admitted it to anyone besides you. That was until the truth or eat video.

“What is your guiltiest pleasure song and when was the last time you listened to and got into the groove?” Nick asked Matt. He paused, a couple songs immediately popping into his head. “I got to check,” he said as he took out his phone and opened your shared playlist. “This is one that Y/n showed me one time and she loves it.” Matt clicked the song and it started to play. “That sounds like Y/n,” Chris nodded as Nick agreed. “Yeah, that would be my guilty pleasure song. It’s one of her favourite songs so it’s on a lot.”

You remembered seeing a lot of top comments on the video taking about it and seeing the clip a couple times on TikTok with the comments being the same. The next clip after that one was an Instagram story you posted of you two in the car, Matt driving and lip-syncing to the song. Everyone had freaked out over that.

People would also freak out when you would wear his clothes. You had a habit of doing that, you lived oversized and Matt has Great style. TikTok’s and Instagram stories of you wearing a sweater or sweatpants that people recognized were Matt’s were also littered through the video as well. And moments of him slipping a sweater on you or turning you around to see if it was his.

A lot of the moments included in the compilation were just regular things that couples did . . . But you loved the video. You liked it, and sent it to Matt over text with the message ‘people must really like us’. Safe to say, the person who had made it freaked out.

#emma writes #matt sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #nick sturniolo #nicolas sturniolo #chris sturniolo #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #sturniolo x reader #x fem!reader #x reader #imagine #youtuber #youtube

[ordinaryschmuck]

I love that The Ghost and Molly McGee's forced cancellation isn't just frustrating to fans of the show but to people in the animation industry as well. They're just as sick as we are about how much studios disrespect animation. They keep looking for the next Spongebob, Simspons, or goodness forbid Family Guy, but instead having faith in the creators and their content, they just...wait. They wait to make a profit and do the bare minimum to market their shows and make them available.

Let's look at Gravity Falls for example. I remember that when Gravity Falls was still airing, you would be able to find out a new episode was coming out based on coming across a commercial by random chance or by the people working the show promoting it online. Add that with the fact that it was on a different channel that required you paying MORE for your cable to get it. It WAS available through Disney Channel, a channel more available at a cheaper price, but the entire of Season Two got moved to the more expensive Disney XD, where Disney shows go to die, because...REASONS. With no warning or announcement. I think I found out about Gravity Falls moving to Disney XD because the trailer played during a commercial break. And that's just the START the show's problems. Mixed in with poor marketing, the show would have a crazy inconsistent schedule, where we'd have four episodes a week, a few months of NOTHING, a few more episodes a week, nothing for a few months, a random episode playing between that nothingness with next to no promotion, and all of that happening to the rest of the show until it finally died a slow death with its series finale where four episodes got stretched out for six months. That...is NOT okay. And it doesn't stop with Gravity Falls.

Steven Universe, OK KO, Ducktales 2017, Amphibia, The Owl House, and now Ghost and Molly McGee are all shows that had similar and sometimes WORSE treatments as Gravity Falls did, where the networks gave next to NO marketing, the creators had to promote their own shows themselves, and the airing schedules were so inconsistent with wildly long hiatuses that only the most dedicated fans were willing to keep watching. General audiences (mainly kids) weren't willing to keep up with shows that had ongoing stories if the episodes stories kept being too spaced apart and never had reruns as frequent as other shows like Teen Titans Go or Big City Greens (Or whatever's constantly on network TV nowadays. I don't know. I mostly watch shit on streaming).

The people of the animation industry is catching onto all of these tricks, and they're getting sick of it. They're getting sick of inconsistent schedules. They're getting sick of trying to bend over backwards in every possible way to make the show they wanted. By either making serialized content as episodic as possible so the network could air it more or by condensing their stories as much as they can, already expecting that forced cancellation to happen sooner than later. And in some cases, they don't even get the luxury of being told their show is ending. Did you know that Inside Job and Paranormal Park both had seasons that were already in development before Netflix pulled the plug shortly after releasing new episodes of their shows? Did you know that The Ghost and Molly McGee was already working on a Season Three before Disney shut that down so they had to force out a series finale that would still be good despite the cancellation? Because it's true. It's ALWAYS true. Creators want to make MORE, but the studios won't let them because they didn't profit off of it. Except they WOULD HAVE if they treated it better.

I want kids to grow up with characters that stick around through their childhood, just like I did with mine. I want kids to have their own Ed, Edd n Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door, Phineas and Ferb, or Kim Possible. I want kids to watch shows that last more than two-three seasons, stick around for years, and leave an impact as if they have all the time in the world because to them, it feels like they do. I want kids to have a show that ends on a high note because the creators wanted it and not because the networks demanded it. But the unfortunate thing is that it doesn't seem possible nowadays. Because if a mostly episodic show like The Ghost and Molly McGee fails, despite being charming and inoffensive and something most kids will love, the what hope IS left.

#the ghost and molly mcgee #gravity falls #steven universe #ok ko #ducktales 2017 #amphibia #the owl house #disney #cartoon network #netflix #animation #rant

[thenightling]

“The Oldest Game”

   I was surprised to find someone in my Sandman Facebook group actually complaining about “The Oldest Game” in The Sandman Netflix series (episode 4).  They seemed disappointed that it wasn’t a “Real” battle but instead it was “like watching them play Dungeons and Dragons.”  Meanwhile the majority of us Sandman fans loved the scene.  When I first read that scene that was when I knew I was reading something truly different from the usual DC content.  I was reading something truly special.          To the person complaining about it, I am afraid The Sandman might not be to your taste.  There is very little physical combat and scenes like The Oldest Game / “I am Hope” are what hooked a lot of us.

       The Oldest Game is based on something TV Tropes (and The Sword in the Stone) calls a “Wizard’s Duel” or a Wizard Duel.  The concept turns up a lot in folklore and mythology.  It’s where two magical entities (sometimes sorcerers, sometimes Gods, sometimes shapeshifters) have a duel of wits and creativity using their powers and imagination.   There’s a similar trope called the Transformation chase and there is an overlap but the transformation chase usually requires there being a chase.  You see a sort of single-person transformation chase in Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among thieves.  

     In The Sandman this battle was for Morpheus’s helm.  If he won he got his helm back.  If Morpheus lost he would have been enslaved by Choronzon The Demon.

     Here’s how the game usually works. The challenged usually gets to make the first move. They pick a form or a spell and it is usually non-lethal.  You’re supposed to start small and build up to bigger / more imposing things.  The battle follows TBL (Turn based Logic) like in a tabletop or online text based role playing game. So the Dungeons and Dragons comparison isn’t actually wrong so much as it’s not quite the right role playing game.  (Yes, I AM a nerd. Thank you for noticing.)  

     After the first move is made the opponent may take the hit and then make an offensive move (attack) in return or instead of taking the hit, they can make a defensive counter move to avoid taking the hit but in doing so the person loses the opportunity to make a offensive move.  If you’re clever you can sometimes get away with a single move that does both but that is tricky.   So the choice is usually take damage and attack or protect from damage and not attack until the next turn.  The game is usually about “one upping” the opponent so you go for something slightly bigger and better than what they used.  

     In some versions of the game you are allowed to defend yourself and then make an attack move during the same turn so you don’t have to make the choice of defense or attack. In both variations, if you’re clever enough you can come up with a combo of attack and defense in one move but that’s rare.  

      Usually it’s like this.  If your opponent throws a magical dart, you can create a shield or shoot a similar projectile but in some variations you can do both if you can pull it off in a single concept (like creating an armored knight holding a sword and shield). If the rival turned into a rat, you can turn into a cat.  Hopefully you get the idea.  You can’t go too big too fast or the creativity and strategy the game is known for is lost.  It’s a game of wits and creativity after all, not really brute force.   

     Recently I have seen some people try to argue that during the Lucifer and Morpheus version of the duel that Despair can kill Hope and that Lucifer could have won if she was willing to say she is Despair.  No, that may have just caused an unhappy stalemate because pretty much everything that can destroy Hope can also be destroyed by Hope.  Hope kills Despair as surely as Despair kills Hope.  They are two sides of the same coin after all.  It would just be an infinite loop at that point.  However there is also the argument that Hope springs eternal while Despair is always only temporary, depending on your perspective.  

      I have provided three pop culture examples of The Wizard’s Duel.   The first is the version in Netflix’s The Sandman between Lucifer and Morpheus.

The second is from Disney’s Sword in the Stone between Mim and Merlin.  

The third is from the 1963 film The Raven starring Vincent Price and Boris Karloff.  I have a bias in favor of this one since I love this movie. It was written by the late Richard Matheson, directed by Roger Corman, and starred Vincent Price. It came out the same year as Disney’s The Sword in the Stone.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZOwaeAEIw0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxqhjWcS8zQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gBhMdJ23Q

#The Sandman #Sandman #The Oldest Game #Wizard's Duel #Wizard Duel #Morpheus #Dream of The Endless #Lucifer Morningstar #Neil Gaiman

[kickbutts-singsongs]

I know no one asked, but I have exactly zero (0) people to talk about bkdk with irl so here you guys go

My BKDK Journey

Yes, this sounds stupid, but my god it’s been almost three years of an absolute rollercoaster of feelings and denials and tears and revelations…

and if you don’t mind, I’m gonna rant about it.

(not spoiler free)

_____

May 2021

To start off, i wasn’t always a bkdk shipper.

I shipped izu*cha at first (not saying it’s a bad ship btw; it’s actually quite cute. im just afraid people’ll be mad if I accidentally invade their tag lol), primarily because I assumed that would be the ship that became canon.

But also, my veryyyyy leasttttt favorite character… was Bakugou Katsuki.

When I tell you that I would’ve loved nothing more than to somehow spawn into the bnha universe and punch that brat in the face— AGHHHHHHHHHH

Now this wasn’t all his fault: A) I watched the dub first lol, and B) he reminded me of someone that i was not in a place to stand up to at the time, and his constant anger, yelling, and harsh treatment of Izuku—who i began to relate to—made me hateeee him.

There was a time when I literally said “if he died, I wouldn’t miss him.” <- this was later proven false lol

So, I was watching the anime dub with an absolute animosity for our resident deuteragonist, but on top of that…

I was watching it with a friend with a crunchyroll account who lived in another state that I was visiting and staying with for two weeks, so by the time i had to go back home, we’d only gotten up to the part where All Might was getting Inko’s permission to let Izuku stay at the UA dorms.

Anddddddd in my drive to consume more bnha once I got home, i somehow stumbled across an Instagram account that posted bnha sub episodes divided into parts,

but they only had season four and onwards.

Sooooo I never saw the second half of season three… more importantly,

I NEVER SAW DEKU VS KACCHAN 2!!!!!

(I will say that I had seen a couple photos/edits/etc, but I never knew what had been said, or why they fought)

_____

June 2021

At this point in time, I’d been exposed to a lot of the fandom. My fyp on both IG and Pinterest were filled to the brim with all things bnha (because this is what happens when one has a hyperfixation), so I saw a lot of stuff.

Especially fanart.

This is where I started learning about the different ships.

I saw a lot of the side character ships and thought they were adorable (kamijirou, todomomo, even kiribaku), but then I saw some with Izuku.

Izu*cha was a given for me. I didn’t think there was a single person that didn’t ship it. But then I started seeing fanart of ships like tododeku, shindeku, and bakudeku.

And my first reaction to finding out that people shipped my beautiful baby sunshine boi with the person who bullied him for years?????

HELLLLLLLLLLL NO

So with my (unknowingly) limited knowledge of their relationship, i was very much an anti (i never spoke out or anything, i just reallyyyy didn’t like the ship lol)

(And then, you know, I started to see all the bkdk hate online and kinda went “okay not touching that”)

But that began to change…

_____

August 2021

…after I saw a manga leak for the first time.

I was scrolling thru my feed and all of a sudden. BOOM!

I was like 😧

IS THAT IZUKU?????

And i looked in the comments and yes it was.

I checked out the page and found that they had an entire account of manga leaks and was so happy.

I quickly began to read from the very bottom of that account, and it started from right about where Izuku first began his vigilante arc (i had no idea how much was in between then and where I left off on the anime, but I was willing to read it lol)

And so I waited diligently for the leaks every week (a practice I have continued to uphold lol), until one day, i came across an untranslated series of panels from the latest chapter. I looked at it and it was of Katsuki and Izuku, facing each other in the rain (you know the one). I knew the leaks would be coming a day later, but I wanted to look through them anyways, so I did.

I didn’t understand a word they said, but the pictures and imagery of them as kids then middle schoolers then where they were now seemed so touching…

And then I came across a pair of kanji that I recognized.

I was like “wait WHAT???”

I zoomed in and went “that— isn’t that—? That’s part of Midoriya’s name, right???”

And then I was like “wait a second… omg that’s Izuku, isn’t it. That’s the freaking kanji for Izuku.”

And it was!!!!!

So inside I’m having a mini freakout cuz—

Bakugou just called him IZUKU

Fast forward to the next day, and I looked at the translated version, and found out that not only did he call him Izuku,

He

Freaking

APOLOGIZED

And I was like “huhhhhhhh”

What happened between now and the most recent anime episodes for this to occur???? For Bakugou to do a complete 180 and apologize????????

Well, I finally got my answers…

_____

November 2021

…when I started reading the manga.

I started from the beginning, cuz I wanted to see Horikoshi’s art style and the extra drawings and all the other stuff…

And when I tell you that Katsuki became a whole new character to me—

First, I read everything about early-on Bakugou— without hearing him yell in his dub voice—and realized “oh wow he really is just a kid with issues and a worldview that he’s now having to change.”

Then, I finally read what happened in that space between moving into the dorms and the beginning of season four (most importantly, DvK2).

Cried.

Then, oh then, I got up to where season five ended and the rest of the manga began.

. . .

Funny thing: back when I read the leaks to ch322, I remember thinking to myself, “huh. what did Bakugou mean by Shigaraki making swiss cheese outta him?”

😦

THE WAY I GASPED

AND THEN CRIED

OH MY FREAKING GOD

That was the moment where i truly ceased to hate Katsuki cuz holy character development batman

Then, of course, we see them in recovery

And then the vigilante arc and apology scene *sobs*

And then I was caught up.

(Btw I finished the entire manga up ‘til ch334 in just over a week. I read for nine days straight. During the school year. My emotions were all over the place goodness gracious I could barely concentrate.)

So that’s how I went from being a Bakugou hater to going “you know what he’s a complex character and he’s slowly becoming a better person” and realizing that he was now one of my fav characters and therefore cursed to die but I’ll talk about that later

Was I now a bakudeku shipper?

Hah nope.

_____

December 2021

I began my dive into the true essence of any fandom: fanfiction.

Over the course of winter break, I had started off with fics that had no romantic pairing (I just wanted to see my boi Izuku), but then somehow stumbled across Mastermind: Strategist for Hire and then read the entirety of the For Want of a Nail series (shoutout to Clouds btw ❤️) cuz I was like “ok whew no bkdk fics” which was my mindset at the time.

But somehow (I can’t even remember how I found it) I came across a bkdk fic. It was called For Want of Izuku’s Toe Joint by Talavin (okay now that I think about it there’s probably a simple explanation lol).

I don’t quite know what compelled me to start reading it, but I did.

And I really liked it.

But not in the “I’ve been converted” kinda way.

It was like an “I shouldn’t be enjoying this why am I enjoying this?” kinda feeling. Like my head says no but my heart says yeah.

A really really really really guilty pleasure.

So, from that day on, whenever I came across any form of bkdk media, I would simultaneously feel discomfort and yet an odd sense of satisfaction.

A snippet of my daily life:

Me: *comes across bkdk fanart on pinterest*

Me: eww

Also me: *stares at it for like five minutes straight*

Me: who even likes this?

Also me: *saves pin to my mha board*

Me: not my ship

Also me: *scrolls down to more like this*

Bless my heart I was in such denial.

_____

July 2022

Bit of a timeskip, but nothing of note really happened in those last six months so here we go.

We’ve gotten to the point in the manga where the final arc is underway and Bakugou is about to KICK SOME BUTT

He’s revealed his Panser Strafe support item and I’m gushing about it to my friend (she kinda fell out of the fandom but still tolerated my rants bless her)

Oh, side note: it was then that I also expressed my concern for Bakugou’s “alive” status

Evidence:

For reference, some of my favorite characters are:

Beth March (Little Women)

John Reese (Person of Interest)

Joss Carter (Person of Interest)

Leonard Snart (Arrowverse)

Logan Echolls (Veronica Mars)

Fantine (Les Mis)

Eponine (Les Mis)

Jean Valjean (Les Mis)

Simon (Lord of the Flies)

Piggy (Lord of the Flies)

Grace Stone (Manifest)

Bubaigawara Jin — Twice (BNHA)

Wanna guess which of these guys died?

Trick question! It’s all of them (:

Yeah so anyways those following chapters really made me excited and nervous cuz YEAH KICK HIS ASS BAKUGOU but also IZUKUUUUU WE NEED YOU

hah hah.

_____

August 2022

Utterly gobsmacked. Cried. Disbelief. Horrified. Confusion. Anger. Went through the five stages of grief and then some.

Sometimes I hate being right 🥲

But the good thing that came from this was that my positive view of Katsuki only grew after seeing his utter faith in Izuku (and his thoughts being on him in his final moments???? 🥺🥺🥺)

And it was at this point in time where I could admit to myself “you know what? i see it. i see the appeal. i wouldn’t mind this actually becoming canon.”

Did I think that it would actually become canon?? No.

_____

September 2022

I don’t know how I thought Izuku was gonna react to seeing Katsuki’s body on the ground, but GOOD LORD IT WASNT THAT

Even sweet little blind me realized “oh wow he like really feels intense stuff for Katsuki huh”

(But some things I missed—cuz I was still a bit wired for izu*cha—were shigarakis implications “yeah u looooove the present I got u” and the freaking HEART that blackwhip caused??? when Izuku reeled himself back in???? like how did i miss that i read that chapter like fifteen times??)

So this is all to say that I’ve missed any and all actual bkdk hints up until this point. I finally lifted my head out of the izu*cha fog when…

_____

July 2023

…Ochako and Toga had their chat about romance.

The first actual hint was when Ochako had told Toga “I’ll give you my blood for the rest of my life.”

Little blind me became a bit less blind that day, cuz I was like “um. ochako? that— that sounded kinda like a proposal. like. a marriage proposal. ochako??”

And then those chapters just kept getting better!!

Bebe Ochako’s determination???

The Spirited Away moment?????

“I’m envious of your smile”????????

“YOU REALLY THINK IM CUTE?” “THE CUTEST IN THE WHOLE WORLD” LIKE 😭😭😭😭😭

For the first time, I was looking at the manga without the assumption that izu*cha would be endgame. And it only got better after I…

_____

August 2023

…got Tumblr!!!

Everything was downhill from here folks.

In the best possible way.

I came across some analyses of what was going on with togachako, and consequently led me to some bakudeku analyses. I read them and my goodness they made so much sense.

Like not even just personality-wise!! Those metas brought in actual things Horikoshi said about wanting to go outside the norms of shounen (and about not liking the Naruto ending 💀), and compared bkdk to tropes in different works of fiction, and even discussed how bkdk made sense narratively. They properly convinced me of the ship.

And then for good measure, I reread the manga in its entirety thru a bkdk filter, and lo and behold things took on new meanings and my eyes were opened.

I totally and irrevocably shipped them! And I actually thought they had a chance at being canon!!

(And then I binged so much bkdk fanfiction omg you wouldn’t BELIEVE like I read the ones with the highest kudos first and then just picked the biggest collections I could find and read down the line

It was like being on drugs like each fic gave me more dopamine than the last I was so happy oh my god)

_____

October 2023

And then finally, the day came.

The answer to “is bakugou alive yet?” became a yes.

We screamed. We cried. We jumped for joy. We told bakugou antis to suck it. But most of all, our bkdk hearts soared to see our boys make eye contact with each other for the first time in over a year 🥹

And from that moment on, I truly began to believe that bkdk would indeed become canon.

_____

And so, this concludes my 42672288 page rant about how I came to be a bkdk shipper.

Thank you for reading, and before I go, I want to ask:

How did you guys get into bkdk?

Did you convert over from izu*cha? Or perhaps tododeku? Or maybe kiribaku? Or are you one of the few who have shipped them since the beginning??

In any case, I’m happy you’re here. And while it may have taken me a couple years, I’m happy that I’m here too :)

(and thank you @animelover32456)

#this may just be me screaming into the void #but at least it’s out there #bnha #mha #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bakudeku #bkdk #my bkdk journey #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #my thoughts #and also I’m going to admit without admitting that I might or might not have made some ocs a mere two months after I started bnha… #and the two leads were very much bkdk coded 💀 #I was going to make a next gen au and so over the course of two years I carefully crafted 20 students (names personalities and quirks) #and I had some cool villains #honestly some of my quirk ideas were awesome #maybe one day I’ll post some of them… we’ll see #but if anyone asks if I ever made any ocs NO I DIDNT #🎶song sings🎶

[bestworstcase]

What was the thing that made you go "Oh, RWBY is very smartly written"? Because it seems like a lot of the online space just keeps insisting that it's a badly written mess that deserves to be rebooted, despite that not being the case.

i remember very distinctly hitting players and pieces and thinking “oh yeah this is going places” because that episode is where things like characterization and tempo start to really click into place. and then in volume two—

okay this is a really specific analogy, but. the first discworld book i ever read was thud!, which if you’re not familiar is quite late in the series and very much not a book that makes much sense if you haven’t read any previous books in that line. i had a fucking blast but also spent the whole book in a state of bewildered disorientation trying to piece together the MASSIVE AMOUNTS of missing context undergirding the story.

watching volume two for the first time felt a lot like that, except because it’s happening at the start of the story all of the question marks are, uh, surprise tools that will help us later.

this is a risky thing for a story to do. a lot of people—i would even tentatively hazard most people—would not enjoy the experience of reading thud! as their first discworld novel. deliberately seeding information this way, as a scattering of tips-of-icebergs incongruously floating around in what appear to be the tropics, risks irritating your audience by asking them to pay close attention to small details that don’t make any sense yet, before you’ve earned their trust that there will be a worthwhile payoff for investing that effort.

rwby, uh, delivers. in spades. the rewatch value of the first three volumes but especially volume two is off the charts just on the strength of the foreshadowing alone. that’s not an easy thing to accomplish! foreshadowing is difficult!

the third thing is the momentum and escalation as the dominoes fall in volume three. speaking as someone who’s written a story paced in a similar way—the slow build to sudden out-of-control explosive catastrophe—it’s really hard to get right. you have to set up the pieces in such a way that it’s believable for things to go so, so badly wrong once you flick down the first domino. and rwby pulls it off fucking flawlessly. and then does it again with the fall of atlas.

that’s not even getting into how much the story rewards digging your teeth into it.

the story just fits together really well at every level, broad strokes down to the tiny details. which is not something that happens by accident; intricate narratives takes a lot of planning and care.

[infaria]

So, so, so, SO many people miss the point of the walten files and it's genuinely saddening, because it is such a delicate story hidden behind horror. What makes the walten files stand out from the rest of the big analog webseries out there is the fact that it's so far the only one that is both horror and drama in genre. The only other online indie horror projects that I've seen put focus on placing actual depth into characters so far is welcome home and the tanji virus/oracle project duology (a duology that I highly recommend people to watch, it deserves more recognition).

Martin has said that there's more to the characters than meets the eye, with bunnyfarm specifically noting that "this is a story about broken people, beautiful people"

This is probably why most theories people make are doomed to fail from my point of view. Martin doesn't seem to be particularly interested in creating an epic horror that ends in a thrilling battle or to create the "most SHOCKING, SCARY analog horror ever?!?!" as random reaction channels title their videos as. Maybe this is why Martin deviated from the original format. The walten files 4, despite being 36 minutes long, did not add too many answers to the mystery. Instead, there was a perfect balance of giving more context as well as well as giving more character to pre-existing characters, such as suzan, ed and molly, the antagonist (whoever he is), felix, jack and charles. All that through dialogue and actual cinematographic scenes. The story wants you to take personality and psychology into account when theorizing as well.

I won't post all my theories, but now that we have 4 out, I'll give my two cents on the "who or what is bon" mystery, based on a mix of character analysis and hints given throughout the episodes, site, hidden media and martin's statements.

I never believed the "felix killed and placed jack into bon" theory as someone who discovered the series after bunnyfarm's release. Felix is a coward, self centered, is irresponsible and refuses to acknowledge his issues. And people mistakenly interpret that as "evil capitalist who only cares about his hide". I won't analyze felix (at least not today), because so far he is the one character who we have the most context about his inner psychology and woo boi, there's a LOT of issues this guy has, but point I am trying to make is that he doesn't seem like the type to kill jack because, believe it or not, from what I can gather, he'd never kill a person on purpose.

The only possible scenario I can see the "felix put jack in bon" theory being true is if jack attacked felix after learning of the kids, so felix accidentally killed him in self defense.

Felix is shown to be alive in 1981, so it's unlikely it is him being bon either. (funnily enough, if that wasn't revealed, I'd think him being bon as a good theory, something that, yet again, I'll probably touch upon a future dissection of his character)

The only two scenarios I can think of is a) either jack put himself, either on purpose, or accidentally in bon, b) bon is a third party or c) jack is bon, but someone else placed him in

Out of these three theories, I believe a) is the least probable, with c) being second in place. It is possible jack got depressed to the point of doing something this intense, however it was implied in the Relocation project and the findjackwalten site that he is very likely alive. Here I am mostly going on hunch, but I don't think martin would choose the "Man loses family, ends up depressed and then a vengeful insane spirit" route. I did say above that I believe felix to more more likely to fit that role of "person going mad from mental stress", but I actually believe that he'd be more likely to snap, considering his mental stability after the crash. Also I don't see how jack could accidentally get into bon.

I honestly think both were red herrings from the very start of the series. In fact, walten files 4 pretty much added the possibility that they have nothing to do with the murders (excluding ed and molly*), aside from felix being heavily hinted to have tried covering up the bon incidents instead of reporting them like a normal, law abiding, responsible citizen.

Cyberfun Tech episode pretty much revealed to us that the "bon is just a malfunctioning animatronic" theory is not true, as bon clearly has something controlling it. So I can only see the above theories being correct.

This places the c) theory as most believable. The issue is who is the third party. People have speculated it is the original ceo of cyberfun tech or a demon. I'd personally lean towards the ceo, a demon would be too random for a story that focuses so much on personal strife. And since I am part of the "jack is alive" theorizers, I also don't believe the "manifestation of jack's anger" theory. Something that keeps bugging me also is why did the person who honked at felix during the car crash didn't report anything, it's weird, as if someone saw the perfect opportunity to use felix as a scapegoat for the murders. Maybe bon has an accomplice?

I'm stepping into tinfoil shadow government territory here though lmao

*I know I am being nitpicky here, call me a law nerd all you know, but I especially get frustrated when people throw around heavy words without knowing their terminology, as that can have pretty bad consequences when applicable to real people. Another small fun fact just for extra trivia knowledge: Age of consent doesn't always mean legal, if you're a minor, please protect yourself. Back on topic, no, what felix did was not murder. It's a shitty, also fairly common douchy behavior in my country called "causing death through driving under the influence of alcohol". Here's the difference:

(The first picture says California, but the same exact thing applies to law articles from multiple countries)

This post probably ended up on a passive aggressive tone, I apologize ToT

#the walten files #rant post

[irisbleufic]

Of all the bullshit I never expected to be back on with the same intensity of October through December of 2000, Beetlejuice was not it. But I finally got to see the musical yesterday, and the part of me that has adored all 94 episodes of the animated series from the moment I started watching them on ABC Saturday mornings in 1989 just fucking flared—this fond, awful tightness in my chest. It’s the first TV show I ever imprinted on; it’s been with me since childhood. Surreal.

About 4 years into watching the cartoon, I finally saw the live-action movie that the cartoon was based on. I hated it, because it was so malevolent and empty compared to the incredible world-building characters in the animated series. Serious shout-outs to Stephen Ouimette and Alyson Court for all that stunning, hilarious, and often moving voicework.

Now, okay, I need to go back to 2000 again to make this all make sense. I’d watched the show from 1989 until whenever the 4th season ended. It wasn’t until I was in my first semester of college, newly transplanted to New England, that I found a couple folks within my program who had loved the show growing up, too. I ordered all of the episodes on VHS. It was difficult to track them all down in 2000, and it was expensive. But I pulled it off, and we had Friday night watch parties for weeks over the month of October. But that is not where this ends.

I was in the process of winding down the writing I’d been doing on Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow for the entirety of my senior year of high school. Suddenly, I’m in college and watching this fucking cartoon and thinking, there is so much heart in this. How the fuck is there so much heart. I haven’t seen two characters this wholesome codependent in, well, ever. I went looking for forums and mailing lists devoted to the cartoon. I found a mailing list. There were a handful of artists drawing amazing fancomics on there, and they were like, what do you do? Oh. I write. And they were like: do you understand how desperately some of us have wanted fic, but just can’t find it?

That is the wrong thing to say to me when I’m on a downward spiral of realizing I’m not going to escape a fandom without getting myself into a project so long that it’s all I’ll be doing for fucking months on end. If you’re one of the people who knew me back then, you know what I did for those four months in the fall/winter of 2000. I wrote a novel. Sure, I came close to failing a couple of classes, but it was the first time I understood exactly what I was capable of building as a fanwriter. Maybe even as a real writer.

“Time Will Tell” was hosted on a friend’s Angelfire site for a handful of years. People found it via LiveJournal, too, because I linked it there. I put it on AO3 somewhere circa 2012 and took it down again in 2017 because I didn’t feel there was enough interest in it, and also, my 19-year-old editorial foibles and typos were aspects I wanted to amend in it.

The musical took more inspiration from the cartoon than the film. I’m stunned and grateful for that. I found the “Time Will Tell” file buried pretty deep in my Gmail folders. I’ve been reading it since the drive home last night. I just can’t believe there’s now enough of a fandom for me to consider finally polishing it and getting it back online. It’s one of my two oldest surviving pieces of writing.

Anyway, sorry for the Gotham fic delays that I’d been trying to get a handle on. Now that the semester’s over, I feel that getting this thing I wrote twenty-three years ago back to the light of day is the best use of my time for a couple weeks.

If you’re one of the people who read “Time Will Tell” back in the day, thank you. I don’t know how many people out there still remember it beyond maybe ten or so friends I’m still in contact with all these years later. I’m sorry it disappeared for a while.

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice the animated series #lydia deetz can fuck right off for reminding me she was the reason i wrote first-person pov for the first time ever #and can take all the credit for making me feel less alone as a kid #maybe this is why ghosts never scare me; bj is such a delightful dumbass and set my expectations pretty high/low depending

[makethatelevenrings]

Somewhere Only We Know - THREE

Chapter Warnings: swearing, spoilers for 2x02

series masterlist

You were so engrossed in searching for an audio for this TikTok that when a knock sounded on your door, you nearly launched your phone in surprise. A guy with a young face and big brown eyes peeked around your door and let out a quiet greeting.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

“No, no. No scaring at all,” you exclaimed. “You must be Colin Hughes.”

He was the first player on your list to meet with to discuss social media plans. Keeley helped you set up an online calendar that she sent out to every player with your information and the instructions to pick out a meeting time. Most players opted to do it before or after training which meant you had a few hours of work in between meeting with everyone.

“Come in,” you said. “I know you all are on strict diets but I baked these yesterday. It won’t break my heart if you can’t have one, that just leaves more for me and Keeley.”

A tray of cupcakes sat on the table next to your desk. You had baked them in a flurry of inspiration last night. A mixture of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, you piped on green frosting and then black and white frosting to represent the ball. It was cute, in your opinion, but you hadn’t posted anything until after the players saw them so you could know if it was embarrassing or not.

“Oh, wicked,” Colin exclaimed. He took a vanilla cupcake and then settled himself in the plush office chair on the other side of your desk. “These are fucking amazing.”

“Thank you. Now, this doesn’t have to be a super formal conversation, y’know? I took a gander at everyone’s profiles and saw that you’re really passionate about Welsh independence.”

“Is that an issue?” He looked a bit sheepish and you shook your head.

“Nah, if anything it makes you more personable. My only issue would be if you’re a fascist fuck, but I don’t think that’s part of Plaid Cymru’s platform, right?”

A grin grew on his face and you laughed. “Listen, Hughes, I might be a social media manager, but I’m not dumb.”

“Didn’t think you were but it’s nice to know for sure.” His phone buzzed and he glanced down at it, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown. You immediately caught onto his attitude shift and titled your head to the side.

“Something wrong?” you asked. He shrugged and pocketed his phone before crossing his arms over his chest.

“Nah, just some stuff with the team.”

“And my job is to know what’s going on with the team,” you pointed out. “So spill.”

Colin sighed and pulled his phone out once more. He pulled something up on the screen and then passed it over to you. A photo of Coach Lasso seated with the one and only Jamie Tartt was on the screen. Oh. Was Lasso asking him back on the team?

“When Tartt was last year, he was a right fucking tart. I wanted to be liked so I went along with it sometimes, but he was a knob to me too. I like coach, but I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

You handed his phone back to him and shrugged. “Just because he might be coming back doesn’t mean you have to act any differently. If you were a knob, I’d have called you out the second you walked into my office. Are you really going to let one guy ruin the person you’ve become?”

He considered your words for a moment and then nodded. “Thanks, yeah. I guess I needed to hear that.”

Sitting back with a victorious smile on your lips, you turned your attention back to your desktop which had his Instagram pulled up. “Now, let’s talk about your social media presence. You post frequently and have great engagement with fans, which is perfect. Keeley gave me the list of desired sponsorships so while she puts pressure on their marketing teams, I’m going to come up with a plan to make your accounts appeal to their brand. How does that sound?”

“Good, good. Can you show me how to do reels? Isaac said mine look like shit.”

“Bold words for a man who livetweets every episode of Bridgerton.”

Two days later, you found yourself bundling up in AFC Richmond gear thanks to the bitterly cold temperatures outside. Of course, today was the day you started photographing practice for social media. While Keeley sat inside the warm offices, you were forced into going outside. The blonde promised hot cocoa when you returned, ordered on the company card, so you readily agreed to freezing your nose off. Maybe the cold would help you stay awake too.

What had started as a night of planning out your next round of posts and recipes turned into cyberstalking Jamie Tartt. There were pages dedicated to fans ooing and ahhing over his skills on and off the field. Yet every single interview you saw of his showed just how truly egotistical the man was. It seemed as though he was incapable of discussing anything other than himself, whether it was boasting about his soccer skills or how he pulls women.

You had to admit that his soccer skills were pretty fucking good, even based on your limited knowledge of the game. One video of Jamie Tartt’s best plays turned into two and then it was one in the morning and you needed to be up at seven. Fuck.

That’s how you found yourself here, in the tunnel leading out to the Racetrack. Your breath puffed out in visible clouds against the frosty winter air and you grimaced. This was going to be the longest two hours of your life.

“Ah, fuck,” you murmured as you tried to remove the cap from your camera lens. The bright AFC Richmond blue and red gloves that Higgins gave you were incredibly warm, but the fleece made it hard to maneuver things. The cap popped off and promptly fell to the ground, landing at your feet.

“Fucking fabulous,” you huffed. You bent down to grab it but a hand already enclosed around the small piece of plastic. Standing back up to your full height, you came face to face with the one and only Jamie Tartt. He extended the cap towards you and you grasped it, feeling the warmth he emanated through your gloves.

“Thanks,” you said shortly. “Back at it, then? Good luck.”

“I don’t need luck,” he replied, almost as if it were a reflex. You raised an eyebrow at his conceited response and shrugged.

“Alright then, choke for all I care.”

With that, you glided past Jamie and out onto the turf to start taking photos. You had no time or energy to worry about him and his ego. The sooner you got all the photos you needed, the sooner you could get into the warm stadium once more.

Tag List: @shiptheship​ @teigo-the-explorer​ @geeksareunique​ @queenofthekill​ @actuallybarb​ @for-fucks-sake-im-alive @maggiecc​ @alipap3​

#jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt series #jamie tartt fanfic #ted lasso fanfic #somewhereverse #jamie tartt x reader

[jokerislandgirl32]

Zach Varmitech Photoset: Koala Balloon

Zach Varmitech’s eleventh appearance in Wild Kratts was in the episode Koala Balloon (Episode 22, Season 1).

JIG32 Comments (yeah, buckle up, I’m feral over this episode):

We only see Zach for a few minutes in this episode, and despite being sick he still managed to mess things up for the Kratt Bros and the creature world! And it is all because he wanted some eucalyptus tea to help him feel better. Which causes mixed emotions in me….

One, I do want him to feel better, but flying all the way to Australia just to get tea…I mean couldn’t he just have had it sent in the mail or something, lol. Does the man not know how to order items online or do drive up pickups? I mean, Zach…I literally looked it up….you can get it from Target or Walmart for 5 bucks…he can fly his jet, drive his car, or whatever to the store, and it be ready/brought out to him in less than 2 hours….

Two, Zach is sick…Zach is sick…Zach is sick 😉🥰😍, yess, I quite enjoy sick Zach, he is so whiny and needy, and I just wanna take care of him and make him feel better 😘!

Three, Zach is a typical man child when sick. He is so whiny, dramatic, and helpless. Even more so than usual…if he’s that poorly behaved with a cold, I’d hate to see him with something more serious like the flu or stomach bug. He’ll probably start writing his last will and testament if he comes down with one of those.

Four, the fact he throws poor, sweet Koala Balloon out with the balloons attached to the poor baby….okay, Zach…I love you, but that makes me angry. Don’t let me start wacking you with your tissues (I’m joking…).

All the posts for my Zach Episodes Screenshots Series can be found at #zach screenshots

P.S. I’ve been working on a Zach/Ziolet sick fic…I’m in the early stages, but the topic makes me feral!

#wild kratts #zach varmitech #wild kratts zach #love zach varmitech #zach screenshots #wild kratts screenshots #wild kratts screencaps #screenshots #screencaps #koala balloon #illness tw #tw illness #saving for later

[fluffyhare]

Like Real People Do, Part 9! ♡ (Casper x Avery)

☁️ Summary: Avery and Casper visit Avery's lighthouse for the first time since they met. Avery discusses the prospect of taking Casper to visit his home. Tons... and I mean tons of sappy fluff. This is the longest part I have written, so far.

☁️ Warnings: Do I even need to say it, at this point? Ridiculously indulgent, super gay, suggestive, and lots of tickling (both ler and lee Avery, ooh~). No minors or no-age blogs, I am dead serious. I will block you on sight.

☁️ Author's Note: Nothing really to add this time, honestly... other than just how grateful I am that other people read and enjoy this fic. It's so special to me, and I love writing it, even though I get writer's block sometimes! I am still struggling with that a bit, so I am unsure of when the next part will be out. Thank you for being so kind and patient. 💙

This is a series!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9 *you are here

If you just got here and want to know more about my characters, you can read my comic starting right here!

A low roll of thunder coaxed me awake, followed by rain softly thrumming on the window above my bed. Lifting one hand to rub my eyes, I reached out for Avery with the other. Nothing but cool, empty sheets. All at once, I was painfully awake. 

“Avery…?”

No reply. As I looked over, I saw that he'd even made his half of the bed. Who does that? 

I sat up vertiginously, my ears ringing as my feet found their way to the carpet. Dim, translucent sunlight filtered through the venetian blinds as I waited for the punishing hypotensive episode to pass, knowing that if I stood now, I wouldn't be standing for long. My toes curled with anxiety as I recalled flashes of the previous day; it had been pretty intense, what with the crying, the deep conversation, and the… session, afterwards… What if I’d scared him off…? 

“Avery?” I called a bit louder, this time in the direction of the living room-kitchen, which was all one space in my tiny apartment. Silence. My heart sank. Had he really gone back home without saying goodbye…? 

A metallic clang resounded from the doorway, followed by an unintelligible comment. Only then, after sitting upright had allowed my sinuses to clear, did I smell cooking oil and… eggs? 

“In here!” 

His voice was pleasant, but preoccupied. I measured a relieved exhale as I pushed myself to my feet, wobbling a bit as I stepped into my slippers. I should've known he wasn't the type to just leave without a word, by now. A twinge of shame stirred in my chest. 

As I entered the kitchen, Avery stood over the stove, my spatula looking like a child's toy in his large hand. He was the tallest I'd ever seen him, presumably due to the rain; the top of his curved head nearly grazed the ceiling as he turned to me, lighting the room up with his characteristically huge smile. It didn't matter that it was raining… I had all the sunshine I needed, right here. 

“Good morning! I made tea, would you like some?” 

“Hehe, sure… You didn't have to make us breakfast, that's so sweet of you! I didn't know you knew how to cook… What are you making?” I poured the tea, glancing down at the cast-iron pan, where Avery was doing what could only charitably be described as “cooking”. His intended preparation for the eggs was visually indiscernible.

“Well, I… I've never cooked anything before, but I figured I would try my hand at making fried eggs! I found a recipe online from this wonderful woman named Linda, she's a mother of two children and three “fur babies”, as she calls her dogs! Oh, Casper, they are so cute… no wonder she took so many photos of them! I learned other things from her, too: Did you know that there are so many uses for essential oils? Just this morning, I learned that peppermint can be used to keep wasps away! Isn't that interesting? I never expected to learn so much from a recipe for eggs.”

“Yes, that's very interesting,” I said, hiding my amused smirk behind my teacup. “I didn't even know you liked eggs.”

“I’ve never had them before, I just wanted to make them for you. Though, they didn't… really come out the way you like them, I apologize...” 

I blushed as it dawned on me that, not only had Avery quietly observed and remembered my favorite preparation for eggs, he had learned to make them just for me. 

“Oh, honey… they look delicious. I'm so touched you did this for me, what a sweet cloud you are!” 

Avery chuckled sheepishly as he took a plate from the cabinet. The eggs were a partially-cooked swirl of clear, white, and yellow. I couldn't blame him; cast-iron was not ideal for frying eggs… even I struggled, occasionally. I could see pepper, though – at least he’d used seasoning! 

“Perhaps it won’t be so bad,” I thought, but as the first bite entered my mouth, I had to compose my face in a mask of calm; it was the saltiest thing I had ever eaten. Though I tried to conceal my disgust, my eyes watered as I watched Avery's hopeful expression turn sympathetic. 

“You can be honest. I promise, I won't be upset. It was my first try, after all. Did I use too much salt? I thought it might help your blood pressure.” 

I turned my back to him as I spit into the trash can. 

He winced. “That bad, huh?” 

“It was a compassionate thought,” I said, wiping my mouth, “but, um… it's better to under-season until you get the hang of things. I'm really sorry. Please don't feel bad, okay? I know you did your best.” I wrapped my arms around his middle, nuzzling my head into his chest. “Thank you… Really. You are so kind.” I meant it. 

Avery pulled me closer, one hand on my back while the other stroked my hair. I closed my eyes as I turned my ear against him, listening to the wind whistle and howl just beyond the soft barrier of his body. I watched the rain soak my patio furniture. Truthfully, I wasn't very hungry. It was still fairly early in the morning, and all I really wanted to do was cuddle with him. 

“Casper… Are you okay with everything we did last night…?” 

His square glasses framed his large, concerned eyes as I looked up at him. 

“You mean, like… the teekay stuff?” I tried to hold his gaze, but turned my attention back to the window as I felt my ears flush. He chuckled, softly. 

“Yes, the tickling stuff. Prior to last night, I'd never held you down before. Well, I might have held your foot hostage, once,” – my blush deepened – “but last night was… a bit different. Was it okay? Were you uncomfortable, at all?” 

I was grateful for Avery's cool body against my hot face. “I… n-no. It was perfect… ah… really,” I stammered, struggling to attach words to the flustered, enthralled, gratified thrill he'd given me the night prior. It wasn't just “okay”; in terms of tickling… in terms of most things I'd ever done with another person… it was the best I'd ever had. 

“Was it fun for you, too?” I summoned the courage to look back up at him. 

He smiled again, tenderly, his face brimming with affection. I could only wonder at what I'd done to deserve for someone to look at me the way Avery did; in that moment, I was the only person on Earth. 

“The most fun I've ever had, dewdrop.” He cupped my face in his palm, stroking his thumb along my cheek. Then, he giggled a bit. “Goodness, the way you howled… I was certain I'd hear a knock on your door, any minute!” 

“Avery!” I squeaked, now flushed with a full showing of red as I buried my face in his chest. Avery's hearty laugh filled the room, causing a flurry of butterflies to take flight in my belly. God, how I wanted to hear more of that. Anticipation tingled along my fingertips as I restrained the urge to give him a ticklish helping of his own, right that instant. “That isn't very fair, you know,” I whined into his shirt, “I can't pin you down like that.” 

“Well, true, you can't conjure like I can… But, if you'd like a bit of ‘quid pro quo’ as it were, I'd happily allow it.” 

My heart fluttered in my chest. How was he so compliant? I felt the buzz in my hands spread up my arms, wondering if he'd really be able to withstand a real tickling from me. 

“Really…?” 

“Of course! I hardly gave you a fair shake the first time, and I have to admit… I did enjoy it quite thoroughly…” A delicate cornflower shade rose in his cheeks. 

“Well, I don't have to work today, and frankly, I'm not particularly hungry… well, not for food. We could start right now, if you like…” 

I flashed him a look that seemed to catch him off guard; his eyes grew wider, and he lifted a hand to his lips, as if preparing to cover his face. 

“Ah, well, I, um…” 

Before he could finish stammering, I offered another suggestion. “Listen… I'll get dressed and put on my raincoat. If we're gonna do this, it should probably be at the lighthouse… you were right, it would really suck to be interrupted… and you are much louder than I am.” 

I twirled away with a giggle and a flourish, leaving him with his watercolor blush leaking all over his face. 

+++

My eyes scanned the apartment courtyard. Luckily, the rain had kept most of my neighbors indoors. I motioned for Avery to follow me outside, then quickly locked the door. He hoisted me into his arms, my green raincoat squeaking as it crinkled under my knees.

“The cloud cover is low, today… I should be able to conceal us there. The altitude is well within the safe range for humans, but tell me right away if you start to feel hypoxic, okay? Are you ready?”

I cuddled into Avery's chest, watching the rain roll off his skin and clothes. I wasn't sure if it was a human-made product, like Scotchgard, that made his clothing waterproof, or a Cirropian invention. Either way, he did not seem phased in the slightest by the rain. I supposed that made sense, considering that he was rain on the inside. My fingers curled into the front of his shirt; though we'd flown together before, takeoffs still made me nervous. 

“Ready,” I replied, a bit shakily. 

“Hehe… Don't worry, okay?” He hugged me closer, nuzzling his face under my coat hood and kissing my cheek with his cold lips, forcing a giggle out of me. “We’ll be there before you know it. Just hold on tight, and don't look down.” 

I felt Avery's chest expand as he drew in a deep breath, crouching low to the ground, before he rocketed upwards, my stomach lurching as he launched us into the sky. The rain thundered against my rubber coat as it was met with our upward momentum, and I tucked inward as much as possible to shield my face. The rush of autumn wind was cold as it wrapped around my neck, hands, ankles, and anywhere else it could reach. With my head reeling and knuckles white from my grip on Avery's shirt, it felt like an eternity before we slowed to a stop. 

“There, now. That wasn't so bad, was it?” 

I blinked, looking up. Everything as far as I could see was white. Reaching out tentatively, I swished my hand through the damp, icy mist, watching it swirl around my fingers. As I shivered, Avery tucked me closer to him. 

“It's weird to think that this is what it'd feel like, if I could reach into your body.” 

He stepped gracefully through the air, cutting a path through the milky cloud. The way he moved reminded me of the rooftop scene from Howl’s Moving Castle; whimsical and effortless. 

“Perhaps a bit, though, I can assure you… nothing inside me is as still as this cloud, hehe. My storm is always raging, no matter how docile I might appear. If you were to stick your hand into my belly, you'd feel wind, lightning, hail… it wouldn't be very pleasant.”

“Well, no need to worry about that. I don't need to reach inside… at least, not to make you giggle! All it takes is a light stroking across the surface…” I traced a fingertip along the underside of his chin. “Isn't that right, Avery?” 

To my surprise, Avery bubbled up with giggles, scrunching his neck a bit as I ran my digit along his skin. Until that moment, it had not occurred to me that he might be ticklish there! It was no surprise, however; so far, Avery was ticklish no matter where I tried. 

“Awww! Avery, are you ticklish on the underside of your head?” 

“I… aheh, I suppose I am…” He was clearly embarrassed, but with his hands preoccupied by holding me, he couldn't cover his face. His eyes shifted away from me, a nervous smile drawing up the corners of his lips. It was easy to forget that he did not know his own tickle spots; since Cirropians were unable to tickle each other, he had never experienced it prior to meeting me. 

“Oh, god, that is so cute. I can't wait until we land… I wanna scribble all over under there.” 

I watched a flurry of emotions pinwheel across Avery’s face; surprise first, then a deep blush… before he seemed to compose himself, meeting my gaze with an impish glint. 

“I hope you don't think that, because I am holding you, I'm powerless against your taunts… “ 

He winked, and as he did, a foggy white hand appeared before my eyes. I gasped, but obviously, there was nowhere to run; I could only cling tighter to Avery as the silky digits of his duplicate hand scribbled gently under my chin, along my jawline and down my neck. 

“Ahahahahavery!” I squealed, shrugging my shoulders as I tried to hide as much exposed skin as possible. It was of little use, however; the ghostly fingertips were not only agile, but quite dexterous as well, affording them perfect timing to strike wherever I was unable to guard. As was usual with Avery, I quickly realized the futility of trying to fight; for someone with no experience, he was ridiculously good at tickling. 

“Ooh, what happened, dewdrop? Did you get a little too big for your boots? Did somebody throw a stone right back at you… right into that little glass house of yours? You're not ticklish under your chin, are you? Right heeeeeere?” 

“Plehehehehease! I'm gonna f-fahahahahahall!” 

“As if I would ever let that happen… Not to worry, I can handle all your helpless squirming! Just relax and enjoy the in-flight entertainment, we'll be landing shortly.” His voice was laced with barely-contained laughter. 

“AHAHAVEREHEHEHEY!” 

+++ 

My legs wobbled as he set me down on his doorstep, still quite giddy, and more than a little flushed. Chuckling, he rested his hand on my back to steady me as he unlocked the heavy lighthouse door. 

“I know you're eager, but let's have tea first, okay? I know it may have seemed spur-of-the-moment, but… the primary reason I gave you a tickling was because I could tell you were getting cold, and I wanted to get your heart rate up. We can do whatever you'd like once you’re warm.”

I held his cool, soft hand as he led me up the winding staircase into the coziness of his tiny kitchen. 

We'd only been together for a few months, but it was difficult to remember what my life was like before Avery; it was as though some secret part of me had known him all along, and was quietly waiting for me to meet him again… to find him again, in this life. Even the scent of his kitchen, of his skin – the wet stone, sea, and old paper bouquet of his life – were somehow familiar to me, even the first time, and even though I'd never lived near the ocean before. Perhaps that was why trust, in both directions, was so effortless with Avery; in some way, right from the start, we saw each other in ourselves. 

“You've been staring into that teacup for ages… Are you alright?” Avery’s wooden chair scraped the tiled floor as he inched a bit closer. Just beyond a gingham-print curtain, raindrops pelted the springline window that illuminated the small space. 

“Oh, sorry. Actually, I… I was thinking about Cirropa. Do you ever get homesick…?” 

“Yes, quite often… But, I do call my parents when I feel that way, and that makes me feel a bit better. It isn't the same as being with them, though.”  

“Do you ever visit, or do they ever visit you?” 

He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms thoughtfully across his chest. 

“Well, I’ve been living in this lighthouse for about six years… and in that time, I have only visited once. It isn't difficult to visit Cirropa, per se, but it does take quite a bit of energy. Aheh… I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but sen-clouds – sentient clouds, like myself – are forbidden from inhabiting, or even visiting Earth. If you've ever watched Star Trek, the principle can be likened to the “prime directive”; your kind is not ready for the technology and capabilities we possess, or, broadly… to know of our existence. I am the only one for whom an exception has been made, and only given the dire circumstances that I am here to address.” 

I watched the rain streak its way down the glass.

“You weren't supposed to meet me, were you…?” It wasn't a question. I finally looked up from the tiny pool of black tea, and into his clear, gentle eyes. 

“No, I was not. Sending anonymous data and reports to scientific labs and institutes was the only contact with humans I was intended to have.” 

“Will you get in trouble because of me, if anyone finds out...?” My words twisted with guilt.

“Perhaps… but, probably not. The alternative was that I allow you to drown, and no Cirropian would deem that acceptable. Not all Cirropians hold humans in high regard, it’s true… but none of us are so cruel.” 

“I can't blame them for how they feel… I’m so sorry for what my species has done to yours. It makes me so sad… and so angry, too.”  

“I understand, but, pet… you cannot shoulder that burden for humankind. All we can do – both of us – is work and hope for a better future. It's just that simple… and just that hard. But, I believe the effort will be worth it in the end. Don't you?” 

He offered a tender smile, extending his hand for me to hold. I took it. As I did, he pulled me into his lap, wrapping his arms securely around me. Melting into his embrace was as natural as breathing. We shared a quiet moment together, listening to the rain dance and the ocean waves crash against the distant shore. 

“Avery… Do you think I could meet your family one day?” 

“Certainly. In fact, my parents already know about you.”

“What?! What did you tell them?” I pulled back to look at him, incredulous. He laughed, rubbing my back reassuringly.

“Hehe! Nothing but the truth; that you are very kind, intelligent, and honest… and that you're the apple of my eye, of course…” 

I flushed deeply, looking away from him. With one soft knuckle, he gently tilted my head back to meet his eyes. 

“They’re very excited to meet you, Casper. Nobody back home has ever met a human before – you'll be quite popular, I'm sure of it. And, I just know my parents will love you… much like I do.” 

I tittered, breaking away from Avery’s hold as I felt my ears flush. “Aww, hell… I love you, too, fluffy-head.” 

Avery gasped, feigning offense. “Was that a swear I just heard out of you? And in my home, too! The nerve of some humans, my word… I suppose we’ll just have to correct that, won’t we?”

I started, leaping out of Avery’s lap and nearly slipping on his kitchen rug as I darted for the door. I wasn’t typically the type to run, but, hell – he’d already gotten a free shot at me on the ride over, what was the harm in giving him a little run for his money? Plus… I was supposed to be tickling him! If he was going to get me again, he was going to have to work for it!

“Ohoho… now, you’re in trouble,” was the last thing I heard as I swung around the corner, giggling uncontrollably as I rushed down the winding metal staircase toward his bedroom. My heart fluttered in my chest as I tried to listen for him over my clambering footsteps, but I didn’t look back to check if he was chasing me. I wasn’t even sure what I’d do once I arrived in his room – maybe hide under the bed? Given the narrow nature of the lighthouse, there weren’t a lot of other options. 

“Almost there,” I thought, but just as my hand touched the doorknob, my feet lost traction with the floor. 

“W-wait, WHAhahahait!” I laughed as Avery grappled and carried me through the doorway, tossing me like a ragdoll onto his large, soft bed. Then he was on top of me, his quick fingers tickling every spot on my torso that he could reach.

“Wait for what, exactly? I was already kind enough to give you a headstart! Did you really think you could outrun me? What were you going to do when you got here, hm? Hide under the bed?” He teased, shaking his head in amused exasperation as he squeezed my sides, kneaded his fingertips into my tummy, and scribbled under my arms, never staying in one spot for too long. I thrashed against the bed, overtaken by delightfully panicked, hysterical laughter; my grin was so big, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open.

“PLEHEHEHEHEASE,” I howled through my laughter, trying to roll onto my belly to protect myself from the full-frontal attack.

“You certainly make a lot of unclear requests! Please what, dear? Please find all of your most ticklish spots, and tickle you there? Why, I’d be delighted to!”

Avery did not stop me from rolling over, but as he responded by sitting on my hips, I instantly realized the mistake I had made. Not only had I ensured I wouldn’t be able to predict his movements, I had no hope of protecting myself from this angle. He didn’t even need to conjure extra hands – he simply lifted my left arm over my head with one hand, and began scritching away at my armpit with the other.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOOO!” I screeched, burying my head into his pillow as I laughed wildly, my free hand clawing at his quilt in futility. Much to my embarrassment, I was also beginning to drool on his pillow.

“STAHAHAAHAP AHAHAHVERY!” I kicked my feet in ticklish glee against the bed, the rest of my body practically immobilized.

“Hehe, my goodness… the way you squeal when I tickle you here! This spot must be terrible for you, isn’t it? Tell me… are you ready to apologize, yet?” He changed tactics, using only one fingertip to draw a quick, torturous spiral in the center of my hollow.

“YEHEHEHES! I’M SORRHEHEHEYYY!”

Avery snickered as he switched to an impish flickering motion, still with just one digit. “Let’s make sure you mean it… sorry for what, dear?”

“S-SWHEHEHEHEARING!” I could barely get the word out. My body trembled beneath Avery as I had completely given in to laughter, my face practically glowing with heat as tendrils of blue hair plastered themselves to my hairline. Finally, he relented, moving off of me and helping me to roll over.

“Look at how flushed you are! Oh, dewdrop…” He tittered affectionately, cradling my burning cheek in his chilly palm. “You’re as red as a strawberry.”

My head swam as I sat up, still giggling as I complained, “Dude, look! You made me drool on your pillow, I feel bad…” 

Avery's hand on my cheek slid down to my chin, angling my head gently to look at him. He leered over the rim of his glasses, his tone low as a smirk played along his lips.

“You realize I've tasted the inside of your mouth, right…?” My eyes widened as they met Avery's sultry gaze; had I not been so flushed already, I would have. “I'm not fussed over a little drool… especially if I am responsible for causing it.”

My lips tingled as I was weak but to recall the frigid softness of his kiss, my eyes wandering from his eyes down to his mouth, tracing the tiny divet of his cupid's bow. As he spoke, his endearing, crowded teeth were revealed to me in vulnerable flashes, contrasting with his authoritative demeanor. I imagined them, smooth and hard as crystal against the tip of my tongue.

“I…” 

“Yes…?”

“C-can… can I…” 

Before I could finish, Avery leaned his plush lips into mine, tugging me closer as he circled an arm around my back. We fell together onto his quilt, our bodies a tangle of limbs, hands and skin, gaps between us closing until I was unsure of where I ended and he began. The cool silk of his body brushed and pressed against mine, wrapping me in his huge embrace and enormous love, kissing like he’d been waiting all his life for this moment. 

In my besotted haze, I could still appreciate the differences between this second kiss, and Avery's first one; his effervescence was now tempered with a savoring patience as he mirrored my tactics, elaborating on my techniques nearly as soon as he'd learned them, rendering them uniquely his own. His passion was so intoxicating, it took a moment for me to realize I was dizzy for another reason. 

“Avery… l-let me breathe…” 

“Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Did I get carried away?”

I tittered, stroking his cheek. “No… you were wonderful. You're great at kissing. And… a lot of other things, too.”  

I watched his blush spread beneath his pale, translucent skin. Even though he'd just been kissing me like he'd never get another chance, he still sheepishly avoided my gaze at the compliment. 

I continued, adopting a sly tone, “Speaking of which… aren't we here, in this lighthouse, for a reason?” 

That same surprised kaleidoscope of emotion from earlier twinkled across his face; surprise, embarrassment, then guilty reminiscence. 

“O-oh, that's right…” 

“That's right, is right. Roll onto your back, for me?” 

Avery repositioned, laying with his arms at his sides. I straddled his hips, folding my arms across my chest as I sized him up, a small surge of confidence pulling my lips into an approving simper.

“Are you ready?” I asked. 

“Hehe, as I'll ever be…” He replied, already giggling a bit. His cotton tank top rested loosely around his torso, offering little protection for his sensitive skin. As I lifted the hem of his shirt to his lower ribs, I watched his blush spread down his neck. 

“What have I gotten myself into… “ He laughed, covering his face with his hands. 

“Oh, no. None of that. You're not hiding that grin from me this time, Nimbus. As a matter of fact, I think I'd like you to lift your arms up.” I smirked wickedly. 

Avery's eyes filled with a recognizably giddy panic, but he wordlessly complied, lifting his arms and placing his hands behind his head. Except for where his wrinkled shirt laid across his chest, his upperbody was completely exposed. 

“N-now listen, Casper, aheh,” he stuttered, squirming a little beneath my weight, “you would do well to remember that whatever you dole out, I am perfectly capable of- pfffHAHAHA!” 

Before he could finish, I pressed all ten of my fingertips into his bare, rounded belly, scribbling them gently into his softness. 

“Capable of what, peach?” I teased, snickering as he softly rocked his body from side to side. I was a bit proud to have caught him off guard, and easily followed his movements. “Capable of gales of laughter?” 

“G-geehehehehe! Don't s-start whihihith THAHAHAHAT!” He howled, his tummy trembling beneath my touch as he kept his arms dutifully raised, his huge grin and vibrant blush on full display. 

My heart melted to see him go to pieces like this; all of his clever wordplay, physical strength, and supernatural abilities were nothing in the face of a little tickling. He was completely undone, laughing with all the reckless abandon of someone who never even intended to hold back. So dear was he, that I could scarcely continue teasing him for the intensity of my own fluster, but I'd painstakingly memorized too many weather puns to just let them go to waste!

“Don't start with what~? All these tickles I've been saving for a rainy day? Well, I'm definitely not going to let you rain on my parade… it's best to make hay while the sun shines…!” I peppered him with idioms, working him into an even more desperate, giggly lather. 

“CAHAHAHAASPER!” Avery whined with delicious, bubbly anguish, the surface of his skin beginning to glow and buzz with electricity. My fingertips skittered from the middle of his belly to his sides, quickly pinching and tweaking his delightfully squishy body. 

“Hehe! Coochie, coochie, coo! Wow, you're so ticklish! I'm barely even touching you, Avery!” He truly was wonderful to tickle; everywhere I touched seemed to get at least a giggle, his more tender spots eliciting booming, thunderclap-like laughter that bounced off the many bookshelves and illustrations in his bedroom. 

“Alright… let's see if you can handle the spot that you just love to torment me with…” I leaned forward, hovering my fingertips menacingly over his armpits. 

Despite not knowing if he was ticklish there, given that I had never tickled his pits, Avery was already so giddy that he simply cackled away, regardless. 

“Wahahait! WAHAIT!” He begged, but much to my amusement – and though they were trembling a bit with the effort – he kept his arms up. 

“Ohoho, yeah? Wait for what, giggly cloud?” I taunted, grinning as I wiggled my fingertips mere centimeters from his smooth hollows. Avery's entire face radiated a saturated blue as a flurry of sparks began to fly off from his skin, landing harmlessly on his thick bedding. His large eyes curved into mirthful half-moons, simultaneously fearful and glittering with excitement. 

“Tell you what – I'll give you until the count of three to tell me what you want me to wait for. Ready?”

“I, ah- Cahahahasper! Ehehehehe!” 

“One…”

“I- I have to tell youohou somethihihing!” 

“Then tell me! Two…” 

“THAHAHAT'S NOT ENOUGH TIHIHIME!” 

“Hehe! Well, it's too late now! Three!” 

With that, I lowered my whirling fingertips to his exposed pits, gently scribbling into his supple skin. 

Avery's back arched off the bed as his uproarious laughter filled the room, a shower of sparks surrounding us like a miniature fireworks display. I chuckled affectionately below his howling as I watched tears forming behind his foggy spectacles. I had to admit, it was impressive how long he kept his arms raised, despite how outrageously ticklish he clearly was. 

“Oh, this is too perfect. You had some nerve calling me a glass house; just listen to you! You are just as ticklish here as I am, you fluffy dork!” I let the moment overtake me, spidering my fingertips from his underarms, to his neck, to under his chin, scritching merrily long the silky underside of his cloud-shaped head. 

Finally, completely overcome with laughter, Avery could take no more. He lowered his arms and ensnared me, wrestling me onto my back and assailing my face with kisses. His hands held mine firmly to the sheets, ensuring no chance of escape as I squealed gleefully, my feet kicking as I endured the loving torture. After a while, he collapsed beside me, a deeply contented sigh rolling from his lips. I cuddled into him, resting my head on his soft chest. 

The stormy morning faded to a drizzly afternoon, and as the breaking waves and tinkling rain harmonized, Avery's breathing regulated, slowed, and fell into the rhythm of sleep. I whispered, hoping to catch the edge of his consciousness before he drifted away. 

“Avery…?” 

“Yes, my dear…”

“Did you really have something to tell me?”

“Hehe… yes, actually…”

“What was it?” 

“Mmm… I'm going to take you to Cirropa, soon… I promise...” 

As we slipped together into an indulgent mid-day nap, I tucked that promise – along with Avery's tender, patient love – away in the innermost pocket of my heart. 

#tickle fic #tickle fluff #tickling community #casper and avery #like real people do #fluffylore #writing #my fic #romance #tickling #ocs #my ocs

[lunar-years]

roy and jamie and keeley are so hot together and i wonder what you think the public perception of them is like? jamie and keeley were into pda (at the gala, in the locker room, jamie’s pics of keeley lmao) but keeley implied that jamie would hate the tabloids invading their privacy. do we know how long jamiekeeley were even together for?? and then there’s roy who’s super protective about keeley, hates talking to the media, and threatens the paparazzi taking pics of them in s1. idk where i’m going with this but I’m just thinking about that throwaway line in s3, where jack assumes keeley’s talking about jamie when she refers to her “famous footballer ex”. in my head i think keeley likes the grand gestures in the public eye with jamie, but she also loves the private sacred moments no one else gets to see. it’s just really interesting to imagine what they’d be like when they all get together!

Ugh they really ARE so hot together aren’t they!!

Anyway this is such a fun thing to discuss. First off, I don’t think we know for sure how long Jamie and Keeley were together :( But the entire locker room seems pretty familiar with her in episode one, and as a couple, the two of them seem fairly established to me. Not as in like, a serious way necessarily, but in a way where it’s clear they’ve got a lot of trust between them and do know one another. Also, it’s been both long enough for Jamie to have fallen in love with her and for Keeley to have had the deep impact on him that sets into motion all the growth we see in him from that point on. So in my mind, I think they were together for like, a year and a bit. Pretty much as long as Keeley and Roy were together, honestly.

I think the two of them definitely enjoy being public-facing enough to like, have online fan clubs and a big Twitter Stan presence LOL and also they’d be totally pumped to make it onto like, top power couples and best dressed lists. And they both really care about ~their brand~, reputation and image in a way Roy just doesn’t. So I do think they like attending events together and showing out on red carpets and posting pics together on their socials!!

I LOVED that line in season one about Jamie hating the tabloids getting in their business. I think it shows that he respects Keeley, that in his own way, that relationship was special and sacred to him even when it was happening, and that he does have a line between his public and personal life. And then I think we see throughout the series that Jamie is (maybe surprisingly?) actually a fairly private person. Yeah he’s got this whole very loud online presence, but that’s very different than like, him.

So yeah, I think he and Keeley enjoy being public, but only when they can curate what they’re putting out there and have it be under their control. And Jamie would’ve fully supported and endorsed Roy’s smashing that pap’s camera on his first date with Keeley, lol. All three of them I think cherish the moments the world isn’t privy to the most :)

My headcanon is that they don’t go public as a throuple until after Jamie retires, and I think they wouldn’t couple off (as in, publicize that just roykeeley or jamiekeeley are together) when it means leaving someone out, even if that person is Roy who hates the publicity anyway. It would just rub them all the wrong and they all agree they don’t need to kiss one another in public that bad. So I think they keep the romantic/relationship side of things pretty private amongst their families and close friends, BUT I also think they wouldn’t hide being close to one another. The fans definitely know how close they all are, and they don’t try to totally avoid being seen publicly hanging out, in pairs and all three. Also the online rpf shipping community is definitely rampant lmao.

And I think there’s also an element of like, they want to be available to publicly support one another. Being totally private isn’t worth it if they can’t show up for one another when it matters. Obviously, Keeley wants to be there for all their games, and Jamie and Roy want to be at her work functions and events that matter to her just as much, and at a certain point, if people are gonna talk they’re gonna talk! I think Jamie kind of helps Roy come around to this way of thinking as well. Enough to where they can be a little more open with caring about one another, and hug on the pitch maybe a bit longer than they hug anyone else, and even joke about one another in interviews (okay, that one’s mostly Jamie), and not give a shit. So everyone is aware on some level they’ve got a deep bond, but they just don’t know the exact nature of that bond and rjk aren’t forthcoming lol.

#ted lasso #royjamiekeeley #asks #ship post #Jamie Tartt #roy kent #keeley jones

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Charlie Cox: ‘I love being a superhero — I thought that ship had sailed’

Charlie Cox on the return of Daredevil, the joys of sea swimming in Dalkey and his rewarding character-driven work in RTÉ’s Kin

Kirsty Blake Knox   April 27, 2023 (X)

Charlie Cox is a busy man; he smiles widely from the back of a car as it ferries him from a physical therapy session to the set of Disney’s Daredevil.

“We’ve just kind of started, it’s really great. Pretty intense, hence the physical therapy,” he says.

Cox has returned to play Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer-slash-superhero.

The show started life on Netflix and ran for three seasons before it was cancelled in 2018.This resulted in an online #SaveDaredevil campaign which resulted in 400,000 signatures begging Marvel to bring him back.

It took a little time; a contractual clause prevented any characters from the Marvel-Netflix shows from appearing in any non-Netflix projects for two years after cancellation.

And now Cox is suiting up again in his Spandex costume, running around punching people in the face and fighting for justice. It’s a demanding shoot — the series is 18 episodes long. And he is a fan of doing as many of his stunts as possible.

“I kind of get involved as much as I’m allowed to and is appropriate. Obviously, the stunt team are professionals and there are things they can do that I can’t even get close to,” he says. “I feel like the name of the game is to get as involved as you can… it makes the scenes more realistic.”

Cox took on the role, which had once been played by Ben Affleck in 2015. At the time, landing the role came as a shock.

“I never thought of myself as being appropriate casting for an American superhero. That never really occurred to me,” he says. “And in my 20s, a lot of my friends, and a lot of British actors, had gone and done that already. So when I got to 30 I was pretty confident that ship had sailed. I was very fortunate to get a character that I’ve now been playing for almost 10 years. It’s unbelievable.”

Cox is a father to two young children (seven and three) but they are a little young to fully grasp the role their dad plays in the Marvel Universe.

“I’m not sure they quite understand… One of the books we read him (his three-year-old) is called Superbat. A bat who is a superhero. But that’s his only real understanding. And so he thinks that I’m Superbat,” he laughs.

Cox realised he wanted to be an actor while in school and studied at Bristol Old Vic drama school. His first big break came in 2007 when he starred in Stardust alongside Robert De Niro and Michele Pfeiffer.

He has performed on the West End and Donmar Warehouse, in dramas like Treason and took on the role of Owen Sleater in Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire. For Irish viewers, we can see Cox on our screens every Sunday night, as Michael Kinsella in gangland drama Kin.

It’s pretty unusual for Marvel Universe actors to appear in a homegrown Irish drama. But Cox’s wife is executive producing the series. When another project he was attached to fell through, he read the scripts and felt compelled to be part of it.

“I’ve been working probably 20-plus years, and there’s a handful of times where I’ve read a script and felt like I’m reading something written by a truly brilliant writer,” he says. “And that quality of scripts never ceased. Sometimes you can get a really good pilot episode. But then as you get deeper into the season, some of the writing starts to disintegrate a little bit, but with Peter (McKenna) that was never the case.”

Obviously, the scale of production is a lot smaller on Kin than other productions, but he says these productions can be just as, if not more, rewarding to work on.

“If you have a limited budget, the way you handle that is you write long character-driven scenes… So weirdly, the lower budget stuff often is more appealing. Because you get to really get deep into the character and the relationships and the dynamics… it’s sort of like theatre. So, from my point of view, sometimes that stuff is more appealing.”

He continues; “I’ve learned I’m not precious about my character’s involvement. I don’t care much if my character does cool stuff … what I care about is, ‘are they moving?’”

He says this is some of the appeal of playing Michael.

“This life that he’d come from…and now he’s trying to rekindle a relationship with his daughter. [The] vulnerability, and the desire, and the need to fundamentally change his nature. That was really exciting to me.”

Cox perfected his Irish accent by listening to the voice of former Dublin goalkeeper, Shane Supple. He got up to speed with Ireland’s gangland scene by listening to podcasts featuring award winning crime journalist Nicola Tallant.

“I was kind of blissfully ignorant of the whole thing,” he says. “When I actually read the first two scripts, I just thought it was all fiction and then I agreed to do the part and I started doing my research. I was like, ‘oh, shit, this stuff is happening. It’s current and it’s happening right now.’”

Despite the violent nature of the series, he found filming and living in Ireland to be idyllic.

He and his family were based in the seaside village of Dalkey — where Matt Damon was holed up during lockdown. Cox became a sea swimming fanatic while residing there.

“I absolutely loved being there… I had conversations with my wife about moving to Dublin because I loved it so much. It’s not really viable with my job… Season one, we’re in lockdown. We lived in Hanover Quay, which was delightful…

“Season two, we moved to Dalkey. I felt like it was one of the best kept secrets in Europe… I was swimming in Vico every day… I found it to be like a haven. And I would love an opportunity to go back at any stage.”

Cox is extremely polite and amenable. And modest — despite his success, Cox says he still suffers professional insecurities.

“I never think I’m going to be hired,” he laughs. “I read years ago that Christopher Walken always thinks his job he’s doing is going to be the last time he is hired. I don’t quite have that, but I certainly identify with it. I’ve never felt like ‘Oh, I’m always going to be hired.’”

He says this comes with some advantages, as it makes him more present.

“I’m filming in New York and I’m lucky enough that I’m still able to play a kind of a lead in a TV show,” he says. “You know, the time is ticking on that in a big way. And so I certainly don’t want to wish that away.

“It would be easy to kind of bemoan the amount of hours you have to work, and missing the family, but there’ll come a time where I would kill to be able to be the lead in the TV show. I think the trick is to really enjoy it while it lasts.”

As he makes his way out of his car and towards his makeup chair, I ask if he has any projects outside of Daredevil coming down the tracks.

“I’m going to be doing this until the end of the year. And then I’ll be back on the panic station wondering if I am ever going to work again,” he laughs.

~*~

#finally a new interview at last!!! 😁💗✨ #I just spent the last hour running this through at least half a dozen applications to get around the damn paywall #I was starting to worry nothing was going to work 😬 but it finally came through \^.^/ #charlie cox #michael kinsella #matt murdock #kin amc #daredevil #daredevil born again #interview #article

[nightmarewolf937]

Runaway!Reader with their trio of Deathgrippers meet the Betrothed

Gn!Reader X Dagur The Deranged

Part 1

Author Note: I'll be trying to write more often and even if I don't write a chapter, I'll try and atleast write a headcannon or short preview of the next chapter. Anyway the story is finally beginning and this takes place in Defenders of Berk (episode 3, i think), I'll be trying to stick to the script and not drift too far from cannon than I already have. I hope you enjoy and I really enjoyed writing this. ❤️❤️❤️

Summary: [Y/n] has been traveling with their trio of dragons for a few weeks now and has started flying the largest dragon, DeathStrike. The other two, recently named Gravetail and Gorewing (credit to whoever made those names, I found them online but couldn't find the username or account) follow after on one of the daily flights. Thankfully they did because our Reader finds herself in trouble when the young Chief of the Berserker Tribe finds her again.

It was midday, the sun was slowly dipping further down in the sky but it wouldn't be dark for another few hours, the growls and rumbles made by the beast that carried you was comforting. You still weren't quite used to being so high up in the air, the other two of your companions were following and sometimes bumping into the other which caused a series of snaps and roars.

The smallest Deathgripper, Gorewing, would often glide beside his larger brother and nuzzle against your hand whenever he sensed your fear. Gravetail was much more reluctant to show any concern for their new human packmate, often giving low growls when he heard you take a sharp breath every time DeathStrike would glide higher or dive down lower.

It was all quite peaceful, despite the dragons that could literally rip you limb from limb, but you knew they wouldn't.

This peace however was quickly unsettled when you landed on an island, Dragon Island. It was getting late and you wanted to find shelter before dark, you could feel the stares of your companions and sighed. GoreWing was quick to saunter up next to you and purred deeply as you rested a hand on his head crest.

DeathStrike gave a low growl as he stalked up to your other side and nudged you gently, giving a narrowed glare at the youngest dragon when you placed your other hand on his head crest. He too purred, but much deeper and rougher than GoreWing.

GraveTail gave a snort with a shake of his body and walked passed you all, but you didn't miss the dragon's warning snarl to his brothers. He could try and hide it or pretend he didn't, but you could see he cared about you comfort and safety.

These dragons cared about you more than any viking ever did, your own family had given you up to protect themselves instead of trying to find another solution. They had very quickly given in to Oswald's demand and signed your life away on a treaty with dragon blood. The memory made you frown and glare at the ground, your sudden anger caused your dragon friends to pause and look at you.

It was only when DeathStrike growled worriedly did you relax your expression and shake off the past.

"Sorry guys," you murmured an apology, GraveTail snorted again in exhaustion before stalking towards you and pressing his head crest against your forehead quickly.

It was a comforting gesture that wasn't often given to you by the deathgripper, but you appreciated it whenever he did. You smiled at the feeling of rough scales against your skin and you felt your body relax, GraveTail pulled away and took the lead of finding shelter.

GoreWing whined as he was now at the back of the pack, you were kept in the middle as always and you had a deathgripper on either side of you, aswell as behind you. It was like a protective barrier formed around you and you felt safe, even though you knew what these three could do.

A growl from GraveTail caught your attention and you looked to see smoke, not from a forest fire or dragon, but most likely from a campfire. You found that rather odd as not many vikings were keen to set up camps on Dragon Island, considering the large amount of flying beasts that called it home.

"Okay, we're not going that way. Oh you're kidding me," you groaned, you would have to pass by that camp if you wanted to reach one of the caves you remembered on this island.

There were other caves, but that one had some of your supplies stored in it and you couldn't exactly go the night without them. You hadn't eaten all day and hunger was tempting you, you could almost smell the food you left in that cave from here. It should be okay if you snuck around whoever else was on the island, hopefully.

"DeathStrike, GoreWing, GraveTail," you called, getting a reaction immediately as the pack of deathgrippers now sat infront of you. "Um- I think we should sneak passed whoever that is, flying would catch their attention and besides we've been flying the entire day. I'm sure your wings need a rest, but that means you guys can't just kill whoever it is."

DeathStrike growled, GraveTail snorted and GoreWing whined.

They were like three toddlers who couldn't get their way, but with the nervous frown on your face they relented and gave low agreeing chuffs. You smiled and gave each dragon a quick pat, even GraveTail let you give him a quick pat on the head.

Now all you had to do was be quiet and sneak passed the potential stranger, not so bad....right?

#dagur x reader #httyd x reader #deathgripper #gn reader

[that-ari-blogger]

The Cooler She-Ra (Huntara)

Let me clear something up.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power doesn't get good, and it doesn't go places. It is good, and it has been in those places since day one. The first story discusses the cost of war with considerable nuance, lest we forget. Yes, the quality of the writing, animation, and debatably the acting increases as the series goes on as the crew finds their feet. But the themes of this series are explicit from the jump and do not change. 

Reading that back, that was a bit more confrontational than I intended, so let me try and phrase it a different way.

For a lot of episodic stories, good and bad, the overwhelming vibe is of acceleration. The themes start out slow, then get piled in over time. Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, for example, starts with the basic idea of friendship and secrecy, but matures to discussion of family, history, and legacy over time. This isn’t a flaw with the writing of Mystery Inc. at all, it’s just a way of writing.

Watching She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is like being in a single roomed house with a few small windows. You can see the outside world and the story through those windows, its clear enough to know there’s something interesting, but you can’t see the whole thing.

Then in season three, the walls start falling down and you start to realise where you have been the whole time.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power)

I’m going to start with something small that isn’t particularly related to the rest of the post, but I think it’s of equal importance and can’t be ignored. Huntara is gay.

This may not seem like a big deal, but it kinda reframes the rest of the series. Because up until this point, the queer coding we have seen has been a few background characters, and Spinnarella and Netossa, who have an implied relationship.

That’s just what it is, coding. They are coded together, but it isn’t dwelled upon. If it had only been season one that got made, I guarantee you there would be eejits online who would argue that they were platonic friends.

But Huntara explicitly flirts with another woman in a bar. This is a named character, who is casually queer, and that is what sets the precedent retroactively. Now it can no-longer be argued that this series isn’t interested in showing queer stories. Now Spinnerella and Netossa’s relationship is essentially confirmed, as the series has made itself and its stance abundantly clear. This is a show with queer people, it isn’t subtext, and it hasn’t been subtext this whole time.

Let me be clear, I am not arguing that Spinnarella and Netossa aren’t married in the first season at all. They are together, end of argument. But on a literary level, it is coding in that season, and it stops being coding retroactively.

The reason for the coding angle is actually linked to the casualness of Huntara’s sexuality.

Unfortunately, in popular culture and mainstream storytelling, the idea that a character is straight unless proven otherwise is a general attitude. This often means that a queer character isn’t queer unless proven so.

But Huntara establishes a different precedent, casualness. Huntara is just gay, there is no fanfare about it. The episode doesn’t dwell on it. But at the same time, it’s undeniable. This is a series where people are just queer, there doesn’t need to be confirmation, you can assume.

Anyway, Huntara, the episode, is still early on in season two, so it is still setting up what ideas the series will focus on. I mentioned earlier that the series as a whole has themes that it has been discussing from the get go, and I stick by that, but every season and every episode has to zero in on something (with exceptions) for clarity’s sake. In this case, Huntara centres around the idea of revelations, hence this post. Nothing in this episode is what it seems.

Worldbuilding is a key storytelling concept that is rarely dwelled upon except by Game Masters for TTRPGs, and Necrit. But it’s actually one of the most important elements of any work of fiction. Stories are based around vibes, and the easiest and most effective way to set up a specific feeling is to evoke that through the setting.

For a few key examples, Bloodborne is a story about injustice, horror, and monsters hiding in plain sight, so what better place to put it than the false civility of Victorian London? Similarly, The Magnus Archives is a story about injustice, horror, and monsters hiding in plain sight, so it is set in modern London. As a contrasting example, Robert Galbraith’s series, “Harold Pots and the Magicky Magic Stuff”, is about how the status quo is fine, actually, and that any attempts to change that is tantamount to murder, so it is set in a British boarding school. I disagree with the premise of one of these stories, can you tell which one?

The Crimson Wastes is an area where nothing is what it seems and everything wants to kill you. The ground could easily be quicksand, or deadly bushes, or a pile of snakes.

The opening scene is a phenomenal way of establishing the new territory. Not the dialogue, but what it shows you. Enormous skeletons of creatures that couldn’t handle the environment litter the ground, fossils that stand as a testament to life that had to adapt to survive

A bird drifts past the characters, landing on a plant. It’s peaceful. Then the bird literally iced, and falls from view, leaving the camera to focus only on the plant itself and all of that terrifying glory. This is telling you a few things. One, look twice at things before jumping in, not everything is as it seems. Two, this story is dangerous, and not even a cute little bird is safe from death. Three, nature and magic are one and the same. I wonder what that will mean going forward.

Also, there is a reason that the Horde hasn’t managed to conquer this area. I think praise needs to be given to the sound design of this episode. The scratching noise that accompanies the skeleton is unsettling, and it exists to make you remember that image. This area is dangerous in a different way to anything you have seen before. Not even the villains of this story can reach you here.

However, there is humanoid life here, which comes back to the theme of revelations and things not being what they seem. Making a living in the Wastes is possible, and that bar being literally inside an enormous skeleton is about as blunt of a metaphor as you are going to get. Surrounded by death, there is life.

Enter Huntara’s eponym, and let's take her apart, starting with her character design.

Huntara is practical, first and foremost. She carries a weapon that can double as a stick to poke things with from a distance (remember this), in case they turn out to be dangerous. She is dressed in simple clothes, not too heavy as to cause her to overheat, but enough to protect her from the sun. She is partially armoured (remember this too), and wears the exact same shoes as Adora, hinting at her background, although she has reinforced and repaired them, again, she’s practical.

But there are two things that I’m missing, and they are the two most obvious things about her. She’s built like a brick privvy, and she’s cool as all hell.

The coolness thing is partly based on her sense of self image. This is someone with a distinct sense of style, utilitarian as it may be. She has styled her hair, wears clawed earrings, and has that tattoo across her head, as well as the torn crop top. Despite her surroundings, Huntara has taken effort to make herself look good. She’s confident in herself.

The strength thing, on top of being the other seventy percent of her coolness factor, leads me into something weird about her design: she looks like Adora. Bear with me on this one.

This isn’t exact. Don’t get me wrong, the designs aren’t a one-to-one thing. Her design just has the same energy as Adora’s. The short jacket, with its jagged collar, kinda matches Adora’s jacket. But where Huntara’s is open (remember this too), showing off her strength and confidence, Adora’s is closed in, restricting her and keeping her polished and refined. I mean “polished and refined” here in less of a mark of quality, but more in the sense that she has a lot holding her back and holding her down. 

Similarly, Adora has those shoulder pauldrons, making herself look bigger, like a prey animal with false eyes. But Huntara has boxy shoulders that form a shape language, as she has actually developed the defences Adora pretends to have. In that way, she acts as a more completed version of Adora, which is interesting.

Finally, there is that hair, which is put up in a similar way to Adora’s, not the same, but alike enough to make the silhouettes echo. The shot below is about as much proof I have for this crackpot theory.

But she’s not exactly a good role model, is she? She’s duplicitous, which harks back to those ideas of revelations and second glances that I mentioned earlier. But she’s also standoffish, at which point I will bring back those elements of her design I said to remember, the spear, the partial armour, and the open jacket.

Huntara isn’t emotionally healthy, she has just dealt with PTSD in a different way to Adora, she has run. She has adapted to keeping things at a distance, and not letting people get close, exemplified by the polearm that doubles as a long range weapon. She is also terrifying, which also helps her stay isolated.

This all covers up for the fact that she has very few emotional defences. She is only partially armoured, and despite her best efforts, she has nothing protecting her heart. Adora brings up something that is a little too close to Huntara for comfort, then asks her about it, and her only reaction is to make a threat.

She does this twice in this episode. She feels emotionally vulnerable, and immediately pins the cause of that vulnerability to the closest wall. It's as if it's a stock reaction.

“Huntara doesn’t run from anything. I want to be here.”

I call bollocks on that. It’s a mantra, a myth, not an actual response. It’s like saying “haven’t you heard the legend”. But I actually want to talk about the vernacular a bit here.

The second sentence is reminiscent of a character not yet mentioned in this episode. She has intellectually acknowledged that things are bad, but she has convinced herself, emotionally, that this is where she wants to be. She wants this, this is her life, she cannot be out of control. Similarly, if things go wrong, it’s what she deserves, because she wanted this. If the phrasing of that and the need for a feeling of control doesn’t sound exactly like Catra, I don’t know what does.

On a different note, the third person thing isn’t done by many other people in this series, but isn’t it a funny coincidence that two of the people who do it are in the same place at the same time? Who could have foreseen this?

Putting it mildly, Adora, throughout the series, has an identity crisis going on. She cannot decide if she is Adora or She-Ra, and it leads into a true Jeckyl and Hyde plot that I discussed in more detail in this post, which manifests most acutely as her referring to herself in third person. When she is most powerful, she is She-Ra, and Adora is a different person. But when she is feeling weak, she is Adora, and She-Ra will save her.

Although, in another weird twist of fate, Huntara knows more about She-Ra than anyone else besides Razz and Light Hope, because she has heard of the legends and has studied what Mara left behind, she gives us a summary of what this whole She-Ra thing is, through all the biases of Adora and Mara. So don’t think this line escaped me:

“She-Ra is a person?”

From everything that Huntara has seen and heard, nothing has told her that She-Ra is an individual. Instead, it's a thing to be revered, a concept rather than an identity and this is… correct?

She-Ra isn’t another person who Adora becomes, it isn’t an identity for Adora to assume, its something to be, like a hero, or a friend. It’s a facet of Adora, rather than her whole being. But Adora can’t see that, because of the aforementioned identity crisis.

I mentioned in my last post that season three gets as close as this series gets to evading the tragic format without actually breaking free, and I think that the talk of identity is a good place to explain where Adora fits into this.

Adora’s tragic flaw is also her greatest strength. She thinks incredibly quickly. This makes her a phenomenal tactician in the short term but causes her to be incredibly shortsighted. This is in contrast to Catra, who is always about ten steps ahead of everyone, ut can’t see the forest for the trees most of the time.

So, Adora internalises things quickly, and a majour side effect of this is that she doesn’t always complete things rationally. Her identity problem isn’t so much this incarnate as just this problem exactly.

She has been given a magic sword and told a bunch of things about it, and she has taken that at face value and moved on, internalising this in a way that isn’t accurate. She is She-Ra, but that doesn’t remove everything else about her.

Adora has been tossing up the idea of giving up her past and embracing this new identity that she has been given, and season three presents her moving away from that idea. Huntara is an example of that extreme, and it isn’t enviable.

But at the end of the season… well, you will just have to wait for more of my blog to see how that works out.

Or you could just watch the show.

Lastly, I would like to talk about Hordack and Entrapta, because their scenes in this episode are both really cute and really thematic.

The reveal of Hordack’s frailty plays into that idea of revelations that I have been talking about, but it also plays into his and Entrapta’s themes of failure and self worth and sets up those themes in Horde Prime.

Stylisation is something that this series plays around with a lot when it comes to backstories and asides (I conveniently have a post talking about this idea in detail), and that comes back for Hordack’s flashback.

This is simple, incredibly so. There are simple shapes, and very few colours on display. It is flat, but in a way that is very clearly intentional. Hordak has an extremely simple worldview. He isn’t a two dimensional character, but like Glimmer, he sees the world in an overly reductive way.

The colouration also sets Horde Prime out from the rest of the scene here, holding him up on a pedestal. Hordak and everything around him is a shade of red, orange, or yellow. It’s warm in tone, but also blends together with the purple to make Hordak look at home, and one with his surroundings. But Horde Prime stands out, and the eye of the viewer is drawn to him because of that abrasive green. He is at the centre of Hordak’s mind.

The flashback does this multiple times, using that green like a highlighter to focus the viewer's eye on the most important part of the image.

Also, this looks like a political poster, doesn’t it? It’s propaganda, and Hordak has taken it, hook line and sinker. That actually serves to explain the flat stylisation, it’s conveying simple ideas. Horde Prime doesn’t get any detail to what he actually looks like other than “he probably looks like Hordak” and “he’s got a cape and that collar thing”. This is the idea of Horde Prime, not the actual guy. We are looking at the pedestal this character stands upon, rather than the character itself.

That collar thing is actually a neat little character design element that is reflected in Hordak until this episode. Entrapta replaces it with her armour, and I think its important that Entrapta and Horde Prime are immediately presented as opposites.

The literal only thing we learn about Horde Prime’s personality in this episode is that he doesn’t particularly like individuality. Failure, defects, and deviations are all worthy of being killed for. You have to prove your worth, instead of it being assumed. And even then, I am inclined to doubt whether Hordak will be able to prove himself, no matter what he does.

Entrapta is villainous, kinda. She is aligned with a machine of war and death, which isn’t the most ethically sound of activities. But, she opposes the main villain of this story on principle.

“Everybody needs help sometimes. And you shouldn't be upset that you're not perfect. Take Emily! Her programming is glitchy, the left leg sticks, and she's loud. Emily's got quirks, but that's why I like her. Imperfection is what makes scientific experimentation possible. Imperfection is beautiful. At least to me. … And you're really too obsessed with this whole failure thing, I mean, I'm a failure... I don't fit in. I became friends with Adora, but she abandoned me. Then, I became friends with Catra, but she doesn't talk to me anymore. But that doesn't mean I give up. I scrounged up a few more pieces of First Ones Tech, and I can't think of a better use for it than this.”

Imperfection is beautiful.

There is also the scientific aspect of Entrapta, which I think hasn’t been discussed that much. She-ra makes a point of equating the natural with the good, and the artificial with the bad. But Entrapta is a scientist and an inventor, where does she fit into that?

Curiosity. Science is the study of the world. It is a means of learning more about nature, and to create things from that nature. She experiments, and understands. Imperfection is beautiful, and if there is one thing nature is good at, it’s variation.

Entrapta doesn’t exist in contrast to nature, but parallel to it. All she does is express the natural aspect of this story in a different way to everyone else.

Final Thoughts

The sound design of this episode is unrivalled so far in the series, and it will get better over time. The sting at the start with the skeleton is perfectly unsettling, and the ambience of the Wastes is superb.

Also, the cinematography of the fight in this episode is really well done, filled with motion and dynamism and tactical expressions of character. The sword duel is cool, and the fact that Glimmer is out for blood isn’t really dwelled upon, but it's notable that both of the goons she fights survive the experience through sheer force of luck.

However, Huntara figuring out Adora was from the Horde because of how she fights was a little weak to me. “I recognise that training”, really? Not the boots? Not the fact that she keeps bringing up the Horde? Ok.

Next week, I will be looking at One Upon A Time In The Wastes, so stick if that interests you.

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#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #what's so special about...? #she ra and the princesses of power #spop #she ra #she ra princess of power #she ra and the princess of power fanart #she ra adora #she ra spop #adora #she ra hordak #she ra entrapta #she ra horde prime #spop adora #spop hordak #spop entrapta #spop huntara #she ra huntara #huntara #fuck jk rowling

[pendragonsclotpole]

i’ve watched the first three episodes of the pjo series and then decided to wait. ostensibly this is because once season one is done i can binge it all in one go like i read the book, but i have a confession to make. i can’t stand to watch it.

hear me out: i read these books when i was in grade school. tlt? fifth grade. the rest of the original series? powered me through sixth grade and into seventh. hoo? eighth grade and first year or two of high school. i was a baby. percy jackson and his friends were either my age or older than me and doing shit i could not even comprehend.

i’ve seen a lot of discourse online about the changes made in the show and how they don’t align with how some fans remember the books, and i think that criticism perfectly echoes my feelings on this series. when i read pjo, i saw myself in the characters and saw my interactions with people older than me in their interactions with adults or older characters. case in point sally and luke.

i’m gonna have to make another post about my feelings for show!sally vs book!sally (tldr: book!sally reminds me of how i thought of the adults in my life and their complicated relationships with other adults as a kid, show!sally shows me that things were never so clear cut, surviving/being a survivor is mastering how to balance on a tight tope into adulthood, and sometimes the monsters we remember from our childhoods are a lot more pathetic than we ever realized. don’t even get me started on how i spent my whole life thinking of sally as a woman in her late twenties/early thirties with nothing in her life put together. seeing her in the show was a slap to the face for that notion, because sally seems so much older, but also so much closer to my age than percy in terms of maturity if not actually and what does that mean for me?)

but now about luke. jfc he looks so young. i think it was so easy to demonize luke because he was older, described as college aged, and perfect and popular and a mentor. he felt so responsible, so caring that the betrayal from him in tlt felt so much worse because as a reader i inherently related to percy, annabeth and thalia.

but growing up is realizing i’m now older than book!Luke in tlt and if i was faced with the loneliness of not having at least one good parent, i might be just as bitter as him. heck i do have one good parent, and i think i’m just as bitter as him about somethings. i’m older than him and somehow still feel so much younger. and also, show!luke’s actor is so young looking! i didn’t expect that to be such a hard pill to swallow, realizing the actor is actually 19 made me want to roll up into a ball and cry because fuck, did i look that young at 19??? i’m still in my early 20s, but somehow you do so much growth in the span of those years that just blows my mind. it isn’t fair and it feels like loss and at the same time, i think i understand why rick riordan and the rest of the writing/production team made the choices they did. on the one hand, they could have stuck to the books as faithfully as possible and recreated word for word the story we remembered from when we were kids, but on the other hand, they had the chance of portraying the story as it was and now would be now that we’re the grown ups.

i’m gonna finish the season, eventually, but i don’t yet have the emotional maturity to not hate every little change.

#luke pjo #pjo headcanon #pjo #pjo disney+ #pjo tv show #percy pjo #pjo fandom #pjo series #pjoverse #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #luke castellan #sally jackson #rick riordan #the mortifying ordeal of growing up #and realizing you are the adult

[lambcow]

My Plan for the Upcoming Twilight TV Show so that it's actually Good

I heard recently that they're doing a Twilight TV show. The rights are out there at the very least. Who knows when it will happen and what network will produce it where, but it's going to happen.

But here's my thing - they're going to do it wrong if they do it the way I think they will, which is anything like the timeline of the Books/Movies. As a hardcore Twilight fan (yes I'll admit it, I spent a long time in fandom as a preteen, okay? It was my first online fandom and the first fanfiction that I wrote) I have Opinions(TM) about how to make the show in a way that would make it interesting. Stephanie Meyer had interesting ideas and I stand by this! There's a lot of untapped potential in the series and I think if they did it right it could be a really, really cool show! But there's not much going on if we just rehash the same events of the books over again at an episodic level.

No.

I present to you, not the TV show "Twilight", but the TV show "Cullens", which starts off with Carlisle Cullen as he has come to America when he finally starts to build his Coven.

This is NOT the story of whiny Bella Swan and her falling in love with Edward and becoming a vampire over 4 books or 5 movies, but rather the story of a man who has already spent over two centuries as a vampire, struggling because of his love for humanity as he finds purpose and meaning as he builds his family. We follow his story as he collects his coven.

We truly open on the show when Carlisle finds Edward dying of Spanish Influenza and decides to turn him for humanity's sake because he would die and because he as a man is lonely and this boy is so young, only 17, and Edward's mother begs him to do whatever he can to save her son and who knows, maybe Carlisle's been watching him and he sees him like a son already too. Maybe we get flashbacks to Carlisle with the Volturi for those 20 years he stayed with them in Italy back in the early 1700s, who knows. The fact of the matter is, that Carlisle is a doctor at the hospital where Edward is, and for whatever reason that we as an audience are compelled to understand in this first and important episode is Carlisle is finally done being alone and craves family and Edward resembles that for whatever reason, so Carlisle gives in and turns him. The next several episodes are an arc about their relationship as we deal with newborn Edward. We know how hard it is to adjust to being newly turned. After he calms down, Edward then has to confront his mortality and that of his family, we see him start to remember his family and confront those memories. More flashbacks to the Volturi as Carlisle explains what being a vampire is to Edward etc.

We follow the pair then as they travel around with the cover story that Edward is Carlisle's nephew. It's three years later when Esme enters the picture. What we know already is she attempted suicide and Carlisle turned her to save her - and that they have history since Carlisle treated her for a broken leg some ten years prior when she was 16 years old. Fast forward to now and she's gone through an abusive marriage where she ran away from her husband several times, most recently after getting pregnant, and has just lost her baby due to a lung fever. At her wit's end with all of it, Carlisle finds her after she jumps off a cliff attempting to end her life. They end up falling in love and getting married after she is turned. That's several episodes I'm sure. GREAT ARC. But Esme struggles with blood lust, which is a great transition into the conversation for what happens just a few years later with Edward...

We can tie more vampire politics into the show (especially the Volturi into it) when Edward goes through his Ripper phase when he decides he doesn't want to drink animal blood like Carlisle teaches him. The two fight but what can Carlisle do? Maybe there are other vamps around as well to cause extra drama. Who knows? It is a TV show, after all. He goes off on his own and that's a whole plot. I'm sure the network could find some interesting ways to make this dramatic for a few episodes and keep enough plot points alive. Add in some new OC's and side characters. Remember the Denali clan? When do they start being formed? There's not a lot of context on them, just that they're close with The Cullen's. Maybe we get some of their story and interaction here. Maybe Sasha (the original leader who was killed by the Volturi for creating an immortal child) reaches out to Carlisle at some point near the beginning and this is when they all become vegetarian vampires together before the whole Denali clan is formed too.

Fast forward to when that arc is resolved. Edward is back with Carlisle and Esme and the peace is back. Now, we get Rosalie... Now, the thing with Carlisle, is he doesn't turn people just to turn people. He's very moralistic. We learn that all the time about his character. I'm sure our little trio has traveled on from Chicago and is in New York where they encounter Rosalie Hale who was assaulted nearly to death by her husband and all his buddies. Carlisle is somewhat of a matchmaker here and hopes Rosalie and Edward can keep each other company for their immortal lives... it makes me wonder what episode and background we can throw into the show here. Did Carlisle know this girl in any other capacity? Why are his dad senses tingling about Rosalie anyway? That's gotta be an arc.

Anyway, turns out Rosalie is not only not interested in Edward, but she's only really interested in staying with the Cullens because being alone forever would get lonely, so she stays with them... but that's after her revenge arc because Rosalie Hale is a certified Bad Ass. She goes after her Fiance and all his Dude Bros and takes them all out, and I can just imagine her executing this flawlessly as a vamp. I do wonder if Edward reads her mind about her plans and asks if he can help her, though. Eventually, she gives in and it's Sibling Bonding(TM) at its finest. It's this bonding that convinces Rosalie to stay with the Cullens after all, and that's that.

Next, we get Emmett. Now, this is a fun one! Because we get Emmett who starts pining over the gorgeous Rosalie Hale when they move to this new place. I'm not sure it says where they are, but I digress. Do we have a bit of the Bella/Edward vibes here? Are there warnings of "don't let the human close"? Is this around the time when we've just had the Denali arc and are reminded of the human child being killed? Is Carlisle having flashbacks? What is the drama? Make it interesting, TV people! Is Edward mad that Rosalie is flirting back? Is it harmless? Who. Knows. -- But then, it doesn't matter because Emmett is getting mauled by a bear in the woods and... wait, why is Rosalie even there? Why does she even find him? Hmmm, seems like she's following him around protectively ;) well- whatever the reason and drama, Emmett is near dead and she saves him and brings him to Carlisle to be turned. The reactions of the coven... the reactions of the town, of his family, of his friends, the drama. Make it interesting, once again, people! This is TV gold! It's cliches and everything you want for TV, c'mon! And then, of course, since they were already practically in love already, they really can be together, but now they have to leave because Emmett is supposedly dead and the Cullens are complicit in that for some reason too perhaps. So they get out of dodge and where do they go now?

If you guessed Forks, Washington, you're right. It's the first time and it's time to get into the legends and deal with The Wolves(TM). It's all about the Quiluetes and it's time to make a treaty with The Pack(TM). Ephraim Black is Jacob's great-grandfather and the leader of the tribe. Whoooa boy. I can think of sooooo much they can do with this,. And just how long do the Cullens stay in Forks the first time around? It's a whole arc. Maybe it's a season. We get some good wolf content. We get some pack dynamics. It's great. We get some beef between Rosalie and the wolves maybe, because there's obvious dislike between her and the wolves later and it's gotta be for a reason more than just their smell, I know it. So, several episodes there. Maybe even some fighting. I know it ends with a treaty, but that's not easily won. Maybe it's Rosalie they found first and one of the wolves attacked her before they were able to make talks for peace. Yeah. I can see this season being really fun.

So, after all that goes down, maybe there's something with the Volturi? Something with the Denali? They do end up staying with the Denali Coven for a time. Maybe they go somewhere else for a little while after they've overstayed their welcome in Forks. Sometime around the 1940s they leave. During the 1950s Jasper and Alice wander upon them and at this point, I fully believe we would get a several-episode arc of Jasper's origin story with the Civil War and the Newborn Army - but they've gotta make it interesting somehow, so there's gotta be a parallel conflict in the timeline that makes it relevant, like I keep saying, make it interesting. Who knows where the Cullens are living right now at this point, but there's crazy everywhere and they're vampires they're practically magnates for danger and chaos. Make something up. Family drama, vampire drama, whatever you need. Where are more of those OCs. And don't forget! We have all the covens and vampires from the battle in Breaking Dawn that we can draw on at ANY point in the show for extra vampires to make any of this interesting as well! Make. It. Make. Sense. How does Carlisle know everyone all the time??? Add spice, add interest, and make the Cullens well-connected in a way that makes sense!

Once we get through Jasper's origin story, we get how he and Alice met, which of course is that Alice saw him in a vision. Alice is such a fun character.

And what do they do in the interim 60 years until Bella? Um, not really sure, but we can find some filler or we can time skip. Not like we haven't been doing that anyway. I also have this vague idea that the whole first few seasons are vaguely a la How I Met Your Mother where they're always telling the story to Bella or Renesmee or someone anyway -- oooh telling the story to Ren would be cute actually... that has potential. Grandpa Cullen telling his granddaughter about how all the family got together. That's adorable, whether you like Renesmee as a character or not. Tell me I'm wrong... Anyway, so then maybe it's like, "So what about mom?" or something and we jump to the actual plot of the Twilight books.

But we don't just get the Twilight books, we get the full in-depth. We get the shifters in La Push full with Emily and Sam and Quil, Embry and Jake, and Paul and all the bois, we get the whole story from Bree Tanner on the side as that develops. We get random check-ins with the Denali clan, because that's relevant! We get Edward's perspective on things as well when he meets Bella and how he runs away to the Denali clan because he's dead lusting for her blood! We get complex feelings and all the arguments about it! We get Rosalie and Edward fighting because isn't she being hypocritical about Bella?

We get the Volturi and more drama from the throne room as they learn about the Cullens and their drama just like we have been following Volturi drama on and off all series long. We know the personalities of Caius and Marcus and their dynamic with Aro. We've already heard the origin story of Jane and Alec and we know how brutal the terror twins are. We get the Volturi women Sulpicia, Athenedora, Chelsea, Heidi, and Renata. Don't even get me started on Demitri and Felix and my headcanon of their epic friendship. So, yeah, Volturi stuff.

All of it comes to a head at the final battle in Breaking Dawn just like we know but with so much more meaning than ever before because of the rich history we have from seasons upon seasons of "The Cullens" or "Cullen" or whatever you end up calling this show. It's amazing, it's beautiful, we've laughed, we've cried, we've become a family over and over again and Carlisle has a family and this is his family and he is happy.

Will they make it like this? Probably freaking not, but this is my one request to the universe. Don't make a "Twilight" TV show. Make a "Cullen" TV show.

Please.

#twilight #new moon #eclipse #breaking dawn #twilight saga #stephenie meyer #stephanie meyer #twilight tv show #bella swan #edward cullen #alice cullen #rosalie hale #carlisle cullen #cullen #emmett cullen #jasper whitlock #jasper hale #esme cullen #the cullens #charlie swan #jacob black #team edward #renesmee cullen #renesmee twilight #fanfiction #fanfic #meta #tv #streaming #new show