#they are so easy going and natural in the first half of this episode where they truly compliment each other and make each other laugh

[simpjaes]

BIG D*CK FOR DUMMIES (s.jy)

The one where you find out that your boyfriend has a huge cock and you’re not entirely sure if you can take all of it. 

MDNI!!! | pls leave feedback and reblog your fave writers!

PAIRING ― jaeyun x afab reader  

WORDCOUNT ― 2.4k

CONTENT ―  first time, established relationship, top jaeyun, painful sex

NOTE ― this was originally written for a different idol on my other blog [ncteez] but i pictured jake in that one en o’clock episode doing this and went feral so……here’s ur giant package. 

smut tags― he’s a little cocky (lmao), i guess you could say size kink but it’s more like huge cock / tiny pussy size kink, theres some crying, praising, reader gets off like almost instantly and becomes incredibly cock drunk the second he’s able to actually fuck

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Things you knew about your boyfriend before dating: he’s very protective, super smart, has good taste in music, his hands are big and warm, and he’s very down to earth.

Things you didn’t know about your boyfriend until after dating and he’s on top of you during a moody and rainy night makeout session: his cock is huge and it’s very intimidating.

One might ask, how could you have not known? Well, that’s easy. It’s a fairly new relationship and a very shy relationship at that. It’s a bit embarrassing for you, actually, because it’s not like you don’t want to be intimate with him. You definitely do, and apparently so does he. 

It’s the first time in the three weeks you’ve been dating that you’ve gotten to be completely alone with him in an intimate setting. For one, you live with your parents, and secondly, he lives with three other dudes who like to be all up in his business. It’s not exactly easy to get alone time with him. Thankfully, your parents are out on a five-day holiday somewhere in the Bahamas and you’re here on your family couch with Jaeyun’s hands cradling your neck as you kiss him. 

It got heated very fast, presumably because the two of you haven’t really had the privacy to do more than a standing makeout session without someone listening in, or worse, walking in. It almost makes the air feel electric now, kind of like a breath of fresh air except the fresh air tastes like the fruity chewing gum he had in his mouth when he originally came over.

Here’s the thing though, and man, it’s a thing. Looking at Jaeyun you’d think he’s average at best and you’re not really the type to go around guessing dick sizes.  So, naturally, when he slots a leg between yours as he got on top of you and you fucking felt it against your leg, you were a little more shocked than anticipated. Maybe he let out a little snide chuckle at your reaction too, you wouldn’t know, you were kind of busy wondering when he was going to let you in on the secret. 

Now, here you are deep in thought of how the hell that thing is going to fit anywhere while simultaneously one hundred percent willing to make it fit because god, does he know how to makeout and feel someone up. 

The more he kisses you, the more his hands roam, the more you experience intimate touches with him, the more you feel like your skin is on fire and replacing that intimidation with extreme arousal and lust. All the way until the point that the presumed makeout playlist starts over and he finally pushes a bit further with you.

“Is this okay?” He asks, now slotting himself entirely between your legs and essentially pressing his length directly against the pool that is threatening to seep through your fucking denim shorts. 

You give him a half nod, trying to pretend that he’s definitely a normal man with a normal cock. He smiles though, knowing full well that this isn’t what you were expecting. No one ever expects it from him. 

“You seem occupied,” he comments, pressing himself against you a little more and leaning down on his arms to nip at your lips. “or shocked, maybe?”

You try to kiss him to shut him up, not wanting to expose yourself for being entirely inexperienced with a size like his. 

“Hm?” He encourages you, pulling back again and looking directly into your eyes with a confident smirk. 

“Well,” you shift your eyes away and sigh out, “you’re kind of huge…” 

He takes that compliment and runs with it. It’s not like the two of you have to finally have sex or anything, but you both knew what was happening and you both definitely knew what the other wanted. At least ten minutes ago that was the situation.

“Is it too much?” He asks, this time a bit more concerned that his own biology could ruin this for you. 

“Probably? no, maybe?” 

Jaeyun pulls away from you, moving himself to sit back against the couch and give you your space. Considering probably and maybe isn’t a yes, he feels no need to push or pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do. There have been times where he’s hurt another person while being intimate, though not intentionally, he’s not exactly willing to do that to you unless you’re like, you know, jumping his bones for it. 

“Still, i’d like to try–” You start, looking at him as you sit up and feel your entire body tingle at the cold air that replaces his warmth. “Maybe if we take it slow– like, really slow?”

He looks at you with shining eyes. He asked you to be his girlfriend because he genuinely likes you. He likes your voice, he likes the way you smell, likes when you talk about your favorite songs and favorite movies. He was definitely smitten from the moment he saw you trip on your own two feet down the front porch of a house party months ago. Taking it slow with you was pretty normal, and the fact that you want him too just makes him all the more willing to take his time. 

“I’ll take care of you, ” he hums, spreading his legs a bit across the couch to give himself more space to re-adjust himself. “Just tell me if I need to slow down?” 

You nod, staring directly between his legs and rubbing your own together on instinct. If anyone’s gonna split you open, it might as well be your boyfriend.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

When he said he would take it slow with you, he really meant it. The fact that he curled three fingers into you for a solid twenty minutes and you still feel like your legs will buckle on you at any moment knowing that this is just for prep– oh damn. 

 The fact that he even used his tongue on you for the first time, making sure you were more slippery than you already were for another twenty minutes? The fucking fact that you were on the verge of orgasm when he pulled it out and presented it to you like a cock you could totally sit on without issue? 

Fuck.

Reality washes over you far too quickly when you actually make that attempt. 

You’d be lying if you said it didn’t feel like you were being torn apart by him, but part of you loves the way his gentle hands hold you steady as you try to sink down. You can feel the wet heat between your legs coat his length inch by inch as you start to slide down.

He stops you only for a moment when he notices you wincing. 

“Breathe, baby, just a little more.” He encourages, getting a nod from you before guiding you down further.

You breathe, clenching around him and doing your best to stop doing that so you can relax. You can tell he’s struggling to actually take it slow by now too, only because you can feel his hands shake against you as he holds himself back from obliterating you, probably. You’d think it would be quite endearing to see, if it weren’t for the fact that your eyes are blurring from the tears threatening to fall. 

Feeling embarrassed, you wipe your eyes and focus on how he feels inside of you. The pain is still there, but as you “sit” here, that pain somehow does replace itself with a strange sensation of pleasure little by little. You’ve always wondered what it felt like to be full, and it appears that this is exactly it.

It’s overwhelming.

“Do you want to stop?” He asks after noticing your tears, a bit of panic in his voice despite the fact that you could have sworn hearing a moan come out alongside it, “Pull up, it’s okay, you can–”

You sink down further instead, now bottoming yourself out on him and releasing a broken whine of both pain and pleasure. He grunts in unison to your whine, gripping your hips even harder than he already was and squeezing his eyes shut. 

“Fuck,” he sighs out, lazily opening his eyes to look at the way you perch yourself on him so perfectly. “Such a tight fit.” 

You nod, mostly unable to hear a word he’s saying as you try to relax your body enough to get rid of that small hint of pain. The consistent clenching of your adjustments send your boyfriend spiraling a bit, unable to contain his sighs of pleasure as your tight and wet heat squeezes his cock.

“Tell me when I can move, please, tell me–” He groans out almost frantically, staring down at where you sit flush against him and wanting so badly to fuck into you.

 He’s wanted to do this to you since you started dating, now that it’s finally happening, and now that you’re quite literally jerking him off simply by adjusting to his size– you know, it’s not exactly easy to contain himself. 

You take a few more seconds to breathe before your body finally relaxes and you give him a reluctant nod. 

Instantly it’s like you’re seeing stars. He barely moves, all he does is flex his abs and press his hips up and it’s like he manages to fit another non-existent inch inside of you. 

You groan out, falling forward against his chest and gripping onto his shoulders as you feel your body adjust to even that small movement. To you, this is so fucking embarrassing, but to him? 

Hottest thing ever. Really. 

He can hear your whiny gasps against his neck when he moves and it’s driving him fucking wild, especially considering the fact that his cock is driven so deeply inside of you that he thinks you’d tell him to stop— but you don’t. 

You’re so good to him, and for what it’s worth, he wants to make sure this will be the best orgasm of your life.

Slowly, his hands fall to your ass and guide you up. You feel slight relief as a few inches leave you, and your stomach bubbles with that same sensation of both pleasure and pain when he slides you back down.

He moans out at you, almost like he’s cooing in pity at how much you’re trying to take for him. It’s incredibly sexy to hear now that your ears have stopped ringing and you’re beginning to believe that you’d never want anything smaller than him anyway.

This time, you lift on your own and sink back down just as fast, wincing again against his neck but releasing a moan that sounds more like pleasure than anything else. He sees this as a green light, gripping your ass and encouraging you to lift slightly again.

“Stay like this.” he mutters with a deep breath before kissing against your forehead and thrusting his hips up once, hard. 

The tight heat you’re offering sends him into a frenzy when paired with the wet slap of his pelvis hitting your pussy, and the sounds you’re making offer little in terms of stopping because by now, you’re both loving it. 

He thrusts into you with ease, the drag loud and slippery, the moans of pleasure you release only make him go faster, harder. Almost releasing a whimper of his own at how fucking perfect you are for taking all of it.

“Look.” he tries to let out, waiting for you to pull yourself up from his chest and look at him.

You do with ease, that broken face from before now replaced with lustful and blown out pupils. 

“Look how good you take it,” he praises with a groan, almost punctuating each word with a thrust, “knew you could take it.” 

Your broken smile that falls into a slack mouthed string of nonsense only continues to push him.  All the way until you can’t think straight at all, and you’re feeling your body tense up with such pressure that you can’t even warn him before your walls are clenching so tightly that it even hurts him. 

You grasp onto him for dear life as your orgasm washes over you, drenching his entire length as you hold your breath. Never have you gotten off while feeling so fucking full, and arguably, you don’t think you could ever feel an orgasm so intense without him being the one to split you open.

“There you go baby.” he hums, watching you breathlessly fall apart on top of him before picking up his rhythm again and chasing his own high.

By this point, you’re so well adjusted that even the searing pain of his restless thrusts feel good. Your brain is foggy but you can’t help but just fucking watch him.

This is your boyfriend and this is what it looks like when you’re making him feel good. 

“Are you close?” you start to bounce on him, meeting his rhythm and allowing him to rest his own hips. 

He nods as he looks at you, awestruck with how you’re already able to ride him as if you weren’t whining just moments before. Seeing you take him in full like this is enough to have his cock pulsing.

“Just a bit more, baby.” He closes his eyes and runs his hands up your waist. “Keep riding me, fuck.” 

And that, you do. Feeling proud of yourself for being able to actually take this literal monster, you focus on the twitch inside of you as he releases with a deep and breathy moan.

It’s entirely too sexy to ignore, and you continue to bounce even as he tries to hold you in place to subdue the sensitivity of his cock being fucking strangled by how tight you are. 

Once his body stops jerking and you feel the last twitching release inside of you, you fall forward and both of you groan from the sensitivity. 

“There are pros and cons to having a big dick, i guess.” he admits in a groan. 

Even when you laugh, there’s another wince from both of you followed by a groan.

“Pros: big dick.” he whispers, holding you still against him so you don’t move again before he can soften up and pull out. “Cons: big dick.” 

You still laugh, and it still hurts. 

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

me and my lame ass endings lmfaooooooooooooooooo

#enhypen smut #jake smut #jaeyun smut #enha smut #sim jake smut #sim jaeyun smut #jake sim smut

[angsthology]

“i am on work trip vacation” — or an alt title: what happens when a group of f1 drivers go on a getaway together

a houseboat sounds like a great idea! ...right?

a/n HELLAUR this was mostly inspired by that one mofy episode “lake life” which to me is very underrated i love that episode SO much. anyway here it is it kinda ended up not how i wanted it to be in the first place but oh well :)

THE KANGAROO(KIE) VS. THE WORLD

to be perfectly honest, no one really remembered whose idea it was for them to do this. theoretically, it did sound like a good idea until someone else had the amazing idea:

“what if we rented a houseboat… for all of us…”

the group blinked at the suggestion.

roo, who had been standing next to lando mumbled to him lowly, “are we that close?”

the question made the two turns to each other for eye contact, when their eyes met, lando shrugged.

their attentions were brought away when max spoke up from his seat.

“yeah, but who is paying?”

the group turned to look at each other before agreeing through eye contact and all turn to the dutch driver.

“what? why? this isn’t even my idea!”

“yeah, but…” the group turned to the first porsche driver, “you keep winning…”

he threw his hands in the air, “what?! what does that have to do with anything?”

“you make the most money…” lando answered for her, the words slowly forming in his mouth, “you bought a whole aircraft, a boat won’t hurt your wallet.”

in response, he got a look from the redbull driver.

the woman next to him walked forward, “how about this; you’ve ruled the land, the asphalt if you must; you’ve also had your reign in the air, isn’t it time for you to have something to dominate the seas…?” she carefully propositioned, eyes searching the unreadable dutch looking for any sort of answer.

until eventually, his eyes lit up looking her way, “you’re a genius!” he exclaimed.

“i know, thanks.” she smugly smiled at his reaction.

shortly after, the man speedily walked off somewhere else leaving her with the rest of the grid.

she huffed with a smile playing at her lips, “men are so easy.”

fast forward to where they are now; lando trying to figure out the concept of charles’ attempt at eggs, the latter suspected to be on some kind of edible (currently being silently investigated by george and alex), lance passed out on the couch in an interesting position with his blanket over his face to shield it from the sun, the rest out on deck or still asleep in their rooms.

just as lando did another poke of his… egg? roo walked down the steps from where all the rooms were, eyes still lidded with sleep, hands stretching with a yawn.

“mornin’.” she greeted, the rest present in the room strung along good mornings as such.

walking over to the smell of burning, she felt the ground tilt to the side, making her lose her balance following where the dip goes. the rest in the room too fully woke up at the tilt—a large horn following. lance, emerging from his blanket and sitting half up grumpily, lando quickly grabbing his plate of eggs to stop it from falling off the counter (though, he regretted doing so, he would much rather the eggs get eaten by the floor rather himself.)

the aston martin driver on the couch then snatched the walkie-talkie on the coffee table next to him and barked into it, “VERSTAPPEN!”

max, happily conducting in his captain’s deck, apologized through the walkie sheepishly, “ehe—sorry.”

from out on the deck, came the sound of the french, “honey, slow down, you are waking up the kids.” just as he put the walkie-talkie back on the table next to him, pierre heard the response coming from the same channel,

“gasly, i will throw you overboard.”

just as he grumbled that, the second haas driver stumbled down the stairs, face still a little sleepy (naturally).

“someone’s grumpy this morning.” he commented before taking a seat next to alex on the dining table behind the counter where lando hastily stared at a piece of his egg.

“fuck off.” he grumbled before covering his face with his blanket once more.

george, sat across of mick, stared at his co-worker still drifting off on the table, “‘horn wake you?”

“no, radio.” he mumbled.

the girl finally went back to walking over to the ferrari driver in the kitchen.

“what’s cookin’, mcqueen?” she greeted.

he looked back to her smiling then continuing his focus on the pan, “eggs!”

the woman looked towards the brit with a plate on the counter, raising her brows for confirmation. in response, he frowned with his eyes closed, shaking his head.

at that, she walked over to the fridge and grabbed the carton of orange juice, pouring it into a cup before walking over to where lando sat and hauled herself up into the stool.

“here goes nothing.” she heard the whisper from the side, looking over to see lando carefully putting the piece of egg in his mouth with his eyes closed.

she cringed when she heard a crunch coming from his bite.

“i think that was a shell…” he cried.

the girl beside him frowned and pat his back just as carlos walked down the stairs, behind him two large dogs followed.

she gasped at the sight, “good morning, babies,” she greeted sweetly, crouching down to pet the two dogs.

passing by, carlos smiled, “good morning, sweetheart.”

roo gave him a side-eye as he passed, snickering, she said, “sure.” her expression then turning to one of adoration when she pat her dogs once more.

her attention moved when charles greeted his teammate, “good morning, calos, how do you take your eggs?”

“like god made them,” he said before cracking an egg and pouring them straight into his mouth.

everyone turned to him in shock and disgust, roo herself shrieked at the sight.

“what the hell is wrong with you?!” she yelped in disgust.

charles, face straight, “oh, right, i forgot about that.”

from the dining table, george questioned, “you do that every day? i just do it when i have a nasty hangover…”

carlos looked at him and paused, nodding before answering, “yes.”

roo then laughed smugly into her glass.

“what are you laughin’ at sally?” asked the spaniard.

“i don’t get hangovers.” she bragged, hand reaching over to the bowl of fruit in front of her. her smug face dropped when she held the too-light banana, “what the fuck? are these fucking plastic?!”

charles then turn around and grimaced seeing the look on her face, “oh, yeah, forgot to tell you.” he the paused, contemplating on what he says next, “if you see a bite mark on the apple… no you don’t.”

george then intruded, “wait, wait. i want to go back to how you don’t get hangovers…”

“yeah—how does that even work?” alex asked next.

she shrugged, “well… how it works is that… i don’t drink. —besides champagne that is,” she added with a smile.

“wait what—”

she clapped her hands together, “conversation’s over, i’m going to take my kids for a walk—lando, stop trying to feed them your eggs they only eat things that are edible.”

the ‘cook’ turned around fully offended, “hey!”

“so…”

“please don’t try to make conversation. it’s bad enough you’re here.” again, it wasn’t like she was trying to be rude, but it often came out like that. —she really did hope lando didn’t take it like that.

he scoffed, “oh, come off it, you love me.” he said, while throwing a hand over her shoulder.

the four—lando, roo, bennie, and jet, that is—were currently wandering around the island their boat had docked to. so far on their walk there hasn’t been anything interesting in the island besides the occasional inhabitants of the island (ones that are only visible to the woman anyway).

suddenly, lando let go of her shoulder and went to check his pockets, “oh, right, that reminds me; these has been weighing my pants—”

her attention unmoving, she cut him off, “that or you need a belt.”

he rolled his eyes and continued, “whatever, can you hold this in your pocket.”

finally, that brought her out of her trance, “oh wait—”

she turned around to warn him but it was too late, lando had dropped the item in the pocket hole of her pants only to see it fall to the ground instead.

“wait what—” he grabbed the item off the floor and tried to put it back in her pocket, seeing if he had missed it before only to see it fall to the ground through it again. “what the hell?” without warning, lando put his hand in her pocket all the way through and low and behold; his hand had went through it and peaked out of the bottom of her pants.

he stared at her in confusion.

“yeah, i was going to tell you: my pockets have holes in them.”

“well, no shit, i can fit my entire hand through this—hell, i can even fit both.” he asserted almost going high-pitched. his eyes then changed, visibly remembering a detail she mentioned, “wait—pockets? as in both?”

she rolled her eyes, “yes, drama queen. now can you get your hand out of my pants, do you know how weird this looks?”

“oh, yeah, to who? the wind?” he stated sarcastically as he pulled his hand out of her pocket—if it can still be called that.

the girl was about to answer but her eyes caught something that made her eyes almost pop out of their socket. her hand immediately takes a hold of lando’s upper arm.

“ow!”

ignoring his complains, her eyes still trained on whatever it is she saw and started pulling on his arm.

the brit was still busy complaining on how hard her hand’s grip on his arm was to look up but he still managed to answer, “what?!”

“i think—i think we should uh—go back to shore, y’know, it’s almost lunch, they could be looking for us.”

“no it’s not, it’s only like—” he checks his watch, “—eleven am.” he continues to complain.

but when he couldn’t feel as much pain as before he looked up to see his friend already gone along with the two dogs. he threw his hands in the air, “wha— damn it, roo!”

when he made it back to the beach, she was nowhere to be found, instead he was met with the rottie instead, “oh, hey, bennie, where’s your mum, huh?” he crouched down to give the dog a scratch behind his ear, bennie barked in response.

he—the dog—then turned around and walked over to the side where a white and minty-green volleyball laid, piquing an interest from lando.

when he walked over and grabbed the ball, he heard a call from the other side of the beach.

“oi! you wanna join us for a game?” danny yelled with his hands cupped around his mouth.

without another thought, lando stood up and ran over to the group and joined them. surprisingly enough when he looked to his left, there his friend stood after ditching him in the woods.

he threw his hands in the air when he saw her, “here you are! what the hell was that earlier?”

opting for the easy way out, she replied, “saw something you can’t, you don’t want to know.”

lando—who she knew would steer clear of any further topics involving her abilities—accepted the answer quickly and went back to focusing on the upcoming game.

“so, what’s the game here?” asked the brit.

“it was gonna be two on two but since you’re here i guess, three it is. whose team do you want to be in?”

lando then mulled over his options, go with daniel and mick against roo and zhou or… the other way around. then he remembered just how strong the girl was—he got flashbacks from various sports he had played against her and ones he saw her play, he wasn’t risking it.

“i think i’m gonna stay here, what about you, though? you need one more player?”

the australian looked around until his eyes landed on the rottweiler, a grin made its way to his face, “bennie! c’mere boy!”

when the rottie obliged, roo’s jaw dropped in betrayal.

“first mick! now you too? betrayed by my own boys…”

the german shrugged.

after that, the game went on for a good few minutes. along the lines of those minutes the following had happened;

“what the hell, dan?!”

said man had done an overhand serve with the ball, accidentally aiming it straight where the woman was hitting her upper chest—luckily enough she had managed to save it. but, still, she was a little bit offended.

he couldn’t help but laugh at his own actions—which he swore he didn’t mean to do.

still laughing (all the while the game was still going on), he continues to apologize through it, “i am so sorry karen smith, i swear, it was an accident.”

after that little incident, the girl made it her number one mission to find the right timing for payback.

when she did, she gave it her all into passing that ball hitting it towards the australian’s lower region.

unfortunately for her and luckily for him, he dodged just in time letting it hit the sand instead—unfortunately giving her team a point.

daniel and mick’s eyes were still trained where the ball had landed, seeing how harshly it hit the ground—daniel looked at it more with relief than he’d like to admit.

he turned around from the ball to look at her with ‘offense’, “dude!” he threw his hands up.

without wasting another breath, she pointed at him threateningly, “you hit my boobs! —i target you.”

in return, daniel raised both his hands in surrender and walked backwards to grab the ball and resume the game.

an hour or two later the game finished with daniel and mick on the losing team, leaving the other three in a high.

after high fiving both her teammates, the girl embraced the two men in purpose of gloating, she made sure to say audibly, “so, how did it feel like scoring your first win, boys?” she asked the two, though her eyes stayed on the two opposing teammates.

zhou smiled happily, seemingly glad that he could just participate at all, “feels pretty good, i must say.”

although lando wasn’t quite impressed by her question, “man, shut the fuck up.” he said, slipping out of her embrace to make his way over to the dock with the other five following behind.

“that’s not fair, you play aggressive.” daniel complained half-jokingly.

she was taken aback, “no i wasn’t, are you sure?”

knowing her, he knew her words were genuine(ly confused).

he wrapped his hand and smiled down at her cheekily, muttering lowly, “you don’t know your own strength.”

when they arrived on the boat, the first thing she saw the moment she stepped on the last step up was pierre, still calmly perched on his sun lounger with only his sunglasses protecting him.

the girl stared at him with questioning eyes, “have you moved? like, at all?”

“non.”

she all but shrugged, leaving him to burn under the sun.

when she entered the kitchen slash dining room slash living room, she was greeted with the hypnotizing smell of the food that filled the table—well, what was left of the food.

just as she was walking around said table, she heard the tapping of paws against the wooden floor and before she knew it, she was tackled by the doberman happily greeting her.

“hey, sweetheart, where have you been?” she scratched the dog’s head happily accepting her affection then suddenly being approached by a smaller collie she weren’t too familiar with, “and you… brought a friend?” she carefully stretched her hand out to pet the mystery puppy, “and who do you belong to buddy?”

“mine, actually.” the blonde thai entered the room with a water bottle in his hand. “his name’s otter, or, otto.”

“awh,” she pouted at the information before looking down at the puppy once again, “i love you.” she unhesitatingly hugs the puppy who then wags his tail with even more energy.

alex was about to comment but she beat him to it, “hey, what happened to everyone?”

“uhh—i think esteban took lance out on a boat,”

“i didn’t know ocon was capable of that.”

“not every two-people getaway is in the purpose of murder.”

“sure, tell yourself that.”

“whatever; charles is terrorizing yuki somewhere and carlos went to the bait shop in the island with george.”

“bait shop? is that a bar? there’s a bar here?”

“no– just a normal bait shop… for… fishing… you do know?”

“yes.”

“oh, hey, that reminds me; i’ve been meaning to ask, why didn’t fernando agree to this, again? i would assume he would jump at the chance at the first mention of lake.”

the alpine driver was currently calmly lounging on his chair doing whatever it is people his age does when suddenly two of the younger drivers on the grid appeared behind him.

he paused whatever he was doing when he felt the presence of two demons giggling behind him, he turned around quickly with a flat expression.

“what do you two want?”

they only giggled when he look at them dead in the eyes, earning raised brows expectantly from him.

the man heard whispers of “you say it”, “no you say it” bounced back and forth from the two.

“just say it.” he ordered the moment they got on his last nerve. (well, they were already on his last nerve the moment they arrived but now it was in the negatives.)

the british of the two decided to be the one to start, “we just wondered why… how—”

“we were just wondering why you haven’t turned to dust under the sun.” she cut him off.

now giggling again, lando continued, “it’s just we’re worried, this lake trip is going to have a lot of sun exposure.”

“we still like you, nan.” she finished, both of them continuing their giggling spree.

“you know what, that’s it.” he stood up from his chair, no longer feeling the relaxing peace and quiet he did before, “just like that, i’m not going. you kids are driving me crazy and i need this break.”

their faces dropped at the sudden ‘outburst’, both of them scurrying behind him to beg and plead for his mercy.

“uhh—he already had other plans.” she paused, then looking over him, “and what are you doing here?”

“trying to find a frisbee for the three of us.”

she tilted her head in question.

“me, otto, and… jet.”

“oh. alright, go nuts.” she then stands up from the ground, popping her head out the window that goes out to the deck, “mick, lan, dan, zhou, any of you eaten anything yet?”

she got a chorus of no’s and not yet’s in response.

“i—you are seeing this, correct?”

“looking at the same thing as you are.”

after a good lunch break with the four men, they all had went their separate ways to spend the afternoon and after a lot of exploring, roo found her way back to the deck where the alphatauri driver is still lounging. though now he is fast asleep, —and sunburnt.

she didn’t say anything else opting for nodding her head and slowly moving to the sun lounger beside her—vision directly facing the burnt french.

seeing as she was no longer standing next to him, he crouched down, “what are you thinking about, cariño?”

she shrugged, “nothing… just going to relax here.”

safe to say he did not trust her answer, he squinted as he stood back up.

the spaniard crossed his arms, “can i trust you…”

at that, the woman looks up craning her neck, she then pulls down her sunglasses to bat her eyelashes at him with a sweet smile.

he couldn’t help but reciprocate her energy. with one last smile, he turned around, and by chance he was met with lance who were just passing by. he grabbed the aston martin driver and whispered warningly—all the ‘sweetness’ from his previous encounter dropped, “that is a smile of a con-woman. do not trust her, watch her.”

before lance could even react, carlos was already long gone.

something bad had happened. he left for ten good minutes and he already heard the french-accented sound of agony coming from the deck.

next thing he knew, he was already there with the rest of the drivers all crowded there too to witness what just happened—arriving just in time for the sound of splashing on the side of the boat could be heard.

roo was already there with her hands on the side of the boat, looking down at the man overboard.

all the drivers followed where she was and where her eyes were brightly looking at with a cackle, squished together to all stand along the boat railings to see the emerging alphatauri driver from under the waters.

the girl, still laughing her ass off was getting cursed out in french, even hearing her full name coming out of her mouth.

carlos immediately snapped his head towards her direction, “what did you do?!”

she was still far too busy laughing, leaving the frenchman to answer angrily for her, “espèce de connard!” he cursed at her, “she fucking slapped my sunburn!”

that statement itself had made lando spilt a single cackle, zhou and mick covering their mouth in self-control after imagining pierre’s words.

said man give the three a large glare that didn’t really change their state.

the spaniard then turned to lance with eyes wide, “i told you to watch her!”

“i’m not her babysitter!” he defended, “—lando is! i gave him a fifty-dollar bill to do it!” he continued his defense. (which quite frankly didn’t help him much.)

“so you gave a child a job to watch another child?!” carlos fumed.

“i— well you got me there.” the canadian shrugged and let go of it.

lando, hearing his name, quickly chimed in with offense lacing his tone, “hey! in my defense; i handed the job over to charles!”

everyone then turned to the resident monégasque. he threw his hands in defense, when he spoke his tone a lot less defense-y more reasoning, “what? i am on vacation, i’m not babysitting!”

of all this happening, they all failed to notice the angry frenchman emerging from the stairs—skin red and dripping with lake water.

his wet steps walked slowly towards the culprit—the war criminal in a diy ripped clothing, “count your days.” he threatened lowly, accent thicker than usual, before walking inside the houseboat funnily, body still aching from his ‘little’ predicament.

te1enoviyuh 🎵 Pitbull, Marc Anthony • Rain Over Me (feat. Marc Anthony)

liked by awstenknight, f1, and 6,835,736 others

tagged: carlossainz55

te1enoviyuh D.O.G. — drivers only getaway

two notes for this one:

pierregasly i am... sorry, truly

@ all of u, youve all behaved accordingly so i gift u this picture he took when my phone went missing apparently

see all 2,836 comments.

selvnika oh this gave me a whiplash actually

dunphyrrari selvnika ure so right for this queen

thesainzist HELLO

thesainzist GOOD MORNINGGG SAILOR

thesainzist i thank u for ur service u are a god 🙏🏼

pierregasly die

siriuslyricciardo pierregasly NAHH I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT BOAT

backbiteroo pierregasly tea is BOILING

te1enoviyuh backbiteroo his skin actually

pierregasly te1enoviyuh PÉRIR

mclarenovia watch them be super cryptic about this whole getaway

sixteenparx awsten at the scene of the crime once again 📸

awstenknight sixteenparx CAN YOU JUST LET ME LIVE

sixteenparx awstenknight no

aepsainz YARG

aepsainz on behalf of chillination we thank you and owe you for your service we will never forget this 💪🏿

sebastianvettel Have fun!

liked by te1enoviyuh

taglist; @treehouse-mouse @disneyprincemuke @yansbolobao @leilanixx @judespoision @vellicora @bborra lemme know if u wanna be added <3

#f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #formula one x reader #formula one #formula 1 #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 x you #formula 1 x female reader #f1 smau #formula 1 smau #formula one smau #formula 1 x oc #tine’s roo vs the world #lando norris x reader #pierre gasly x reader #carlos sainz x reader #lance stroll x reader #daniel riccardo x reader #charles leclerc x reader #george russel x reader #alex albon x reader

[cococaffeinated]

Do you think Jax would routinely check on Kinger and Gangle throughout the night with the worry of them abstracting? And maybe one of them sees him sneaking in or out of their rooms?

Oh for sure! I imagine he's methodical about it. He'd stay awake for an hour... maybe two after the "sun" goes down. Just to make sure he minimizes running into other characters.

But there's always room for the unforseeable scenarios, and Jax may try to be sneaky about it but he's bound to get caught whether he wants to be or not. Characters reacting to finding Jax sneaking around, below:

Ragatha

Assuming this is after the pilot episode, she wouldn't be surprised about Jax going in and out of rooms and sneaking around. I can see her squaring up with the intention of confronting Jax on the spot, assuming his intent is to torment. But curiosity softens her stride when she realizes he's just left Kinger's room with a relieved expression. And even more curious that he seems to be bracing himself to enter Gangle's room. Not one to snoop but needing answers, Ragatha politely waits for Jax to exit Gangle's room to ask, "What were you doing?" Jax would be surprised to find Ragatha, annoyed even, to be caught by her. Mostly because he doesn't want to be truly perceived by the one character who tries so hard to see the good and positive in others. He didn't need that reminder about himself. "Nothing..." He'd say a little defensively, then grin like a chesire cat. "What's Little Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes doing snooping around in other people's business?" It's a deflection tactic, one that works because Ragatha is sure to fluster about being caught snooping. He gets to avoid the topic but his gestures that night is one that's filed away in Ragatha's mind as something to pester him about another time. ─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Zooble

I'd like to think that Zooble is just naturally low-energy with high-empathy which is why they're seemingly constantly exhausted. They'd probably be be in their room all the time if they could help it. So it will come as no surprise to Zooble when they catch Jax sneaking in and out of Kinger and Gangle's rooms. "Again? You checked the other night too, didn't you?" Zooble's deep and raspy voice makes Jax jump out of his skin. After all the effort he took to close Gangle's door so quietly, Zooble's voice slicing through the silence scares the proverbial asshole out of Jax.

He doesn't bother to mask in front of Zooble if it's just the two of them present. Zooble doesn't normally give a shit— well, they do but they rarely made a big deal of most things which Jax appreciates. They were cool, in ever sense of the word... Except when they're the near constant victim of Caine's outlandish itinerary for the day. "Every night is different, Zoob." Jax simply answers, an easy full-bodied shrug rolling over his shoulder. Zooble eyes him for a moment, seeing the relief spelled across his face. Zooble hums, nodding. "Fair enough... want to smoke a b$@!% in my room?" They finally ask, not poking more than they need to. Another thing Jax appreciates and wonders if he even deserves. But if anyone can let slide a lot of his transgressions, it was Zooble. He could vibe with them most days, they were always such a mood too, if he was completely honest with himself (which he rarely was, at least outwardly). The tension immediately relieved, Jax lets out a laugh, "How did you get a hold of that??" "I can't tell you all my secrets, Jax." (Jax finds out later that Zooble doesn't have anything but a platic toy pipe that dispenses bubbles and it's the closest thing to a joint, unfortunately.) ─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Pomni

Poor thing would definitely be sleepless the first few days, so the chances of Pomni being the one to bump into Jax in the middle of the "night" is very high. "Watch where you're going, half-stack!" came out the aggrevated stage whisper from Jax. The words 'I'm sorry' nearly leaves Pomni's lips but she swallowed her own trepidation and frowns deeply at Jax's rudeness. She was trapped in a liminal hellscape, but that didn't mean she was resigned to be a digital circus doormat for the resident jerk. "It's literally @$$ o' clock, I didn't think anyone would be walking..." she huffs, shakes her head and looks at Jax. Really taking him in, he looks less relaxed. More on edge. "What are you... even doing up?" Jax smiles tightly, it looks smug... but it also strained, "If you're not too chicken, you could follow me and find out for yourself. Or go back to your room and mind your own business." And just like that, it seemed like a challenge. Pomni thought Jax was a real piece of work but he seemed equally preturbed that she was still following him around despite his ominous invitation, so that was enough to make coming along with him seem like a win. It surprises Pomni to learn that Jax's goal was just to check on Kinger and Gangle, they were quiet for the most part. Until it was time to part ways. "Sooo..." Pomni starts, but Jax cuts her off. "Shut up, not a single word." "Okay, just one... one question." Pomni asks quickly before Jax can use his long legs to his advantage in walking away real fast. "Fine. Spit it out." "The centipede you mentioned to Ragatha?" Pomni asked, trailing off. Jax raised a brow, a genuinely smug smirk returning to his face. He seemed more natural like that, oddly enough. "I don't know where to get an ant much less a centipede, use that information how ever you want, half-stack. G'night." And with that, the rabbit hurries off. Leaving Pomni with more questions about his true character than answers.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Caine

"My, my! It's quite late for you to play a game of treasure-hunting all by yourself, Jax!" Jax had a hand to his chest, whipping around and looking up in shock. Only to find Caine floating just above him... A rare occurence for the ringmaster to be checking on any of them this late at night. "Caine! Jeezus... yeah I was, just..." Jax sighed, shaking his head. "I told you already... I'm not treasure-hunting." he muttered. Caine simply stared, patiently it seemed, with unblinking eyes betwix a row of teeth. Completely unaffected by Jax's prickly response. "But you also don't like calling it "checking in on others", you made that clear last time I caught you lurking like this," Caine smartly retorted without a hint of malice or sarcasm. Jax grunted, brows furrowing, unsure what to make of Caine. He wasn't a friend... not really, but these few little private encounters with the digital ringmaster were definitely counted for something that resembled a strange sort of friendship. "Right, I did say that, didn't I." Jax responds with a hint of ire, mildly exasperated. "You don't have to go with me, I just want to check on—" "Kinger and Gangle, yes I guessed! I want to tag along! You can't play treasure-hunts all by yourself after all!" Caine insisted cheerfully, giving Jax a conspiratorial wink of an eyeball as if to say no one else would know he secretly worried, and secretly cared. And Jax rolled his eyes in return, flustered perhaps and maybe even appreciative of the company, if he could ever admit that. "Yeah, whatever, just keep it down, will ya. You're gonna wake up the whole circus."

─•~❉᯽❉~•─

#the amazing digital circus #tadc gangle #tadc kinger #tadc jax #tadc ragatha #tadc zooble #tadc pomni #tadc caine #silly headcanons #AskCocoCaffeinated

[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dpxdc crossover #danyal al ghul au #danyal al ghul #i dont even mind the trope that danny becomes like his canon self i just want *some* kind of impact on him. but as it stands most aus i've #seen lowkey treat his assassin background as an accessory. like dyeing your hair or piercing your ears. that being said its also a silly #au where they're brothers and are related to each other and thus doesn't have to be that deep at all! im just bored of seeing the same thin #all the time. especially considering danny is usually depicted as the paler/whiter passing twin and being the 'kinder. more compassionate' #one between the two of them. give me danny who suffered crises of morality! danny whose morally darker than a cloud #morally orange and blue danny who sooner understands 'dont litter' than 'dont murder'. arrogant danny! he dotes on the people he loves but #is an utter bitch to everyone else and thus has to learn to be kinder. danny discovering himself outside being an assassin #his brother remembers a kind and compassionate older brother because thats how danny interacted with him. But danny had no qualms turning #around and slicing the tendons of one of the other assassins because of smth they did that displeased him. #he can still be like his canon self but shouldn't there be something that stays behind? Lingering like a blast shadow? #danny who carries weapons on him always even though he knows he doesn't need it but it makes him feel safer. #danny who spits out the oddest. most foreboding shit sometimes and his friends just stare at him and go 'bro what the fuck??' #idk if i can share the website where i found the episodes bc of risk of copyright. but just search up #'where can i watch danny phantom for free' and look for a reddit post with that question. the comments give website options. #i keep thinking about gray ghost now. valerie finds herself becoming a member of the 'danny fenton protection squad' with sam and tucker #danny takes a page from his beloved mother's book and calls his partners 'beloved' and equally sappy pet names. #he also throws the BIGGEST shitstorm of the century when he finds out about what Axion Labs did to the dogs. hoo boy.

[uravitypng]

𝐈 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐌𝐔𝐂𝐇: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄

pairing: kaminari denki x reader, hanta sero x reader

word count: 1.8k

warnings/contents(for part one): angst, petnames (denki calls you babydoll), written with a chubby reader in mind /// minors do not interact (in later chapters there will be smut and explicit content!!) - smut, fluff and more in later chapters !!

a/n: this is my first series! i'm not sure how many parts this will have but if you wanna be updated i could add a taglist! thank you @tsukkisloser, they suggested i post two versions, by saying that gave me hundreds ideas to where the story could go and i decided to combine all the the ending ideas into plot points, making my series more developed! i'm really excited for this fic and i hope you all enjoy it, it's going to fun! <3

summary: it's terrible when you're in love with your best friend. it's terrible that he's in love with someone else.

part two >> | masterlist (check out my poll for this chapter!)

You're Denki's best friend and you've always been since you both were little, you were attached to the hip, and went everywhere together, both of you went to UA together. Everything used to be okay, Denki was just Denki, your best friend, but luck never took a liking to you and years later you've realised you're in love with your best friend, you always have been.

You're in love with your extremely attractive and all around amazing best friend.

Denki has consistently flirted, he's flirtatious in nature, you never had a problem with it until you you both grew up a bit, until UA. Until Jirou. Denki still flirted with everyone but he always spoke about Jirou to you and it grated. Sure he'd find people attractive before and he'd have liked people in the past but with Jirou it felt never ending. Everyday he talked about her, something about how funny or cool she is, half the time you doubt he even realised he was being so obvious when talking to you about her.

You knew it shouldn't upset you, there was no reason why it should but it did. He never flirted with you, and you never cared about it before, but why did he never pay any attention? He hit on every one else. You were always right there and he never spared you a second glance.

You became bitter, and you really tried not to, you tried your hardest to smile through every time Denki gushed about her but it was so god damn hard.

After blowing Denki off one night, out of exasperation, you end up in Sero's room, he's always had a very good read on you, and can tell when you're pissed off and normally he knows what its about too. "Has Kaminari messaged you tonight?" He slips into conversion while briefly looking at you before the next match begins.

"Yeah, but i'd rather be with you," you shrug back, trying to sound as casual as you can. In all actuality you would rather be spending your time with Sero so you're not lying, just hiding your irritation. It's always so easy with Sero. It use to be that way with Denki but not so much recently, you'd prefer to spend your night relaxing instead of getting Denki gushing in your ear about Jirou again.

"Hmm, I'm flattered." He looks up to smile at you. If only you were into Sero instead. You two spend the night together, playing mario kart and watching x-files.

You take notice that the room is really bright, you swear it was dark only a second ago, and you hear yawning behind you. That makes more sense you fell asleep in Sero's room. It's not the first time it's happened, but it's not particularly frequent, Sero does keep a blanket in his room especially for you though, which you always thought was nice. What's nicer is Sero must have laid you down with the blanket after you fell asleep, you're fairly certain you fell asleep propped up against his wall as the last thing you remember is the climax of the episode you were watching, you don't remember how it ended, you'll have to ask.

"Heyo," you say, softly, still waking up.

Sero makes a noise of acknowledgement, as he starts stretching. "We'll probably miss breakfast if we don't get up soon," Sero says gravelly voice from behind you, the contrast between his morning voice and his regular is something that always makes your face heat up a bit.

This time you hum to let him know you've heard him and start getting up. A couple minutes later you're out the room, albeit tired.

You two seem like one of the last ones up and you can tell Bakugou's been up for awhile by the way he's already shouting, how does he always wake up so early?

"I have no idea how that guy has so much energy in the mornings." Thank fuck for Sero who always matches your energy and knows what you're thinking.

"Speak for yourself, he's already made pancakes and man that guy can cook," you hear Denki say from behind you. He's so enthusiastic in the morning and you can practically hear his grin, you just groan in response. You see Sero smirk from the corner of your eye.

"Do you wanna go out today babydoll?" Denki asks, still too tired to engage in full blown conversations you nod and lean back so you're leaning on him. "We can go to the arcade or something, after you've had some caffeine of course." You turn to the side to look at him and stick your tongue out. Even though you were actually waiting to get something to drink so you can properly start your day, Denki knows every little thing about and that's very comforting when you've just woken up. Safe to say you had a good time with Denki that day.

.·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·..·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·..·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·..·:·.✧ ✦✧.·:·.

Seven years later, you're outside that very same arcade after patrol on your way back home. You can't wait to get back and relax, you haven't eaten all day, you slept in late which is no surprise and had to miss breakfast. Even now as an adult you are definitely not a morning person.

"I'm home!" You call out, Denki must not be in due to the fact he hasn't called back to you as loud as he can like normal. He's probably at Kirishima's or something. When people ask why two successful, up and coming heroes are living together, they normally fill in the blanks themselves. 'They have enough money to buy their own place, so they must be dating, they're choosing to live together.' Crappy tabloids and internet sleuths are always jumping to conclusions.

They're technically not completely wrong about the fact that you both are quickly jumping the charts every year and have plenty to spend on your own places but you have chosen to live with Denki in this warm, comfy little flat but you are just friends, even if you wish there were something more.

After graduation it made the most sense for you to live together, according to Denki, and you'd much rather live with Denki than by yourself so you agreed, years flew by and you still lived together. The idea of moving out never crossed your mind, you like living with Denki, you love it, even if sometimes he forgets to take clothes into the bathroom when showering and he walks out with just a towel on or comes into the living room late at night drinking orange juice from the carton, only leaving a drop left and not buying another one.

He's your best friend and you love him, You've matured together and seen each other grow and you're so proud of the people you've become. Whenever you praise Denki too much though it definitely gets to his head.

After leaving UA it's been a hell of a lot harder to keep in contact with everyone, there's a group chat but it's pretty dead, and even then you haven't opened the last three messages that came through last couple weeks, if it was important Denki would mention it, you'll get round to it eventually. He's always been on top of communicating with everyone, he's always been the more sociable one. Now everyone's gone pro it's harder to find time for each other and have schedules that match up with others. That's why you're so lucky you have Denki.

Although it's not just Denki you've stayed in contact, luckily Kirishima lives close by and so does Hanta so that's good. You're fairly certain you and Denki are the only ones from your class who are living together, every other hero you know lives separately that's makes you pretty special in your eyes. It must be pretty lonely having no one to come home at the end of the day, you know you definitely would be lonely if you didn't have Denki.

You make yourself some dinner and message Denki after asking where he is. You're not ready to call it a night yet and it would be nice to spend some time with people after a tiring day. Denki's at Kiri's, so twenty minutes later you're at Kiri's too.

When you get through the door, you're immediately greeted by Denki's voice accompanied with Kirishima's and Hanta's laughing, and in ten more minutes you're all squished together watching some shitty show in the background that you have no interest in, listening to Hanta and Denki passionately argue about what star wars film is better, they're absolute idiots. According to Hanta, Phantom Menace is the best one because Jar Jar Binks makes his first appearance but Denki says its return of the Jedi because it's the one where Leia has the gold bikini on.

Even though it sucks that you don't see all your friends as often as you like, you feel like you, Kiri, Denki and Hanta have grown even closer, which is weird because you honestly didn't think you could grow closer with them. They were both some of the closest friends you made during your time at UA. Half the time you still end up falling asleep next to Hanta even now, years later, when you're shattered after work, with Hanta by the side of you. That's where Sero's been for years, by your side, that's where Kiri's been too. It dawned on you one day that not only do you have Denki right beside you always, they've been there too and you're very thankful for them.

"Anyway, Kirishima can I turn this shit off and put something actually interesting on?" Hanta turns to asks Kirishima, how does this man always know what you're thinking.

"Go for it, dude."

"What's the point, it's just background noise anyway," Denki complains.

"Yes, but highly annoying background noise. I suggest anything other than this," you say back.

Denki shuts up after that and they let you pick something.

You must have fallen asleep for a some time as Denki's crouched down beside you, tucking some hair behind your ear, whispering to you, "let's go babydoll, let's get you home." You mumble something unintelligible and start closing your eyes again. "I know babydoll, you're tired but you gotta get up. You can't sleep on Kiri's floor again, you're going to hurt your back. I would carry you but I don't want to hurt you while climbing any stairs. Can you get up for me?" He helps you up and and wraps his arms around your soft waist. "Good girl, we'll be home soon, I promise." you're too tired too think, and too sleepy, not even acknowledging Ejirou and Hanta on your way out, they're used to your hazy states and find it rather endearing. Walking home is a blur, Denki's got his arms around you, keeping you warm and stable. You trust Denki to get you home safely as you close your eyes again, not looking where you're going, pulling yourself even closer to him and burying yourself in his neck, his warmth and smell keeping you cosy and relaxed.

#kaminari denki #denki kaminari x reader #hanta sero #hanta sero x reader #mha x reader #bnha x reader #denki x reader #kaminari x reader #sero x reader #mha #bnha #♡ mine / writing #♡ denki #♡ hanta #(eventually) >> #denki x reader smut #bnha smut #˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ i talk too much (series) #mha smut #bnha x reader smut #mha x reader smut #denki smut #bnha sero #bnha denki #denki x reader angst #denki x reader fluff #denki kaminari #sero hanta

[bored-trans-lesbian]

Last Stand Musing

Spoilers FHJY, as of Episode 15 So, I was thinking about the last stand mechanically. I wasn't trying to but I can't help but think 'that's it?' Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it is, especially with the revelation there will be *no* reviving thanks to Kipperlilly. But I can't help but think that, for a *final battle where everyone is meant to die* the bad kids kinda got off easy. First of all, it was strongly implied that they had to fight off endless waves of monsters, and the only way they could be the ones to *beat* the last stand, was to keep killing until there were no monsters left to spawn, I believe it's an artifice augefort that implies this with a wink. But in the actual fight a new wave was incoming, they were *gonna* have to fight more, but the proctor called it off, because they aced the questions. I *understand* the only reason they aced the monsters was because of this exact crew, tactics chosen, and luck. Fabian blowing over half his resorces to kill a Hyrda *before it can act* was clutch, that shuffle cast was clutch, Gorgug time quangling out all the crits he hadn't been getting in the previous seasons was clutch, ect. But learning that, if you answer all the questions the test *stops spawning*, I can't help but wonder how no one, in the history of Augefort, has managed to clear it before now. Then I thought more about it. About how, part of Arther's point, is that students *Accept* the last stand nature of it, not rebel, taing the premise that they must die on the chin and giving it the best fight they can. Does this imply the other students who have previously taken this test just... ignored the test questions? Maybe only half-assed them, with the goal of going out in a big blaze of glory? Seems a bit unlikely, but maybe so. The bad kids are *powerful* but are also Juniors, surely more *Seniors* take this test than not, would not the seniors on average be of similar or even higher power? Why would this all happen, so that they are the *first?* Then I thought about it even more. This is for people who have no other choice, the *desperate*. The flops, the failures, those who are not succeeding by other means. That's when the cruelty of it all really kicked in, and Augefort's words felt even more hostile. This isn't a challenge where the cream of the crop do thier best and top the charts, this is for the *lowest of the low* to try and do thier best, to salvage a win from nothing. So hard, so cruel, and on top of it all Arther regards those who tried it and failed to just not have 'gotten what he was going for.' What a fuckin' asshole. The deck was stacked in the bad kid's favor as *exceptionally* powerful kids, who are failing as a result of shenanigans, not poor performance. This, the hardest exam and the deadliest the school offers, is only thrust at those who are already behind, what a joke.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #dnd #fantasy high junior year

[brakken]

it’s 3 am and I need to talk about critical role

spoilers for campaign 3, episode 65 below the cut

So I haven’t been keeping up with the latest campaign as much lately (and still have to watch the second half of this ep, even) - but, y’all, I can’t sleep and I gotta talk about that kiss.

I loved how... simple it was, compared to other moments in the show of this type of affection. There’s Imogen & Laudna, doing grocery shopping - just a homely good deed for someone else - such a domestic and safe moment despite the world in the state it’s in, and that’s where Imogen is able to properly reunite with Laudna. To acknowledge that she’s hurting, yes - and also, in this crowded place where Imogen’s now free of all the outside thoughts, to express an inner feeling in a simple, wordless way. 

That kiss was so filled with reassurance, commitment, and unshakeable love - but it was also as if for Imogen it was just the natural course of action. An emotion so impossible to express by just talking. A universal confirmation for the both of them - ‘we’re together again’.

And there was no ceremony, there was no... acknowledgment in that moment that what they’ve had uptil now had changed at all - they just kept communicating, and untangling. And Laudna follows up with another kiss, almost midway through a sentence - with that same reassuring truth that they were together.

This was so perfect for my experience with them - they’d made such an easy pairing from the get-go, but in the ‘pacing’ that the story had set out, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to unfold romantically. I’d made my peace with that, but was still so very appreciative of the bond they had - beyond any classification of friendship or family or whatever - they were so committed to each other. And then this kiss was almost like.... part of that? As if it was never really missing - like they’ve just skipped the ‘romance’, you know? Already on that soul-mate stuff that was so present from the start.

These are the kinds of pairings that really stay with me - the ones I aspire to write about myself. The undying, unquestioning truth of ‘I’ll never leave you’, expressed so purely.

And I say they skipped the romance, but I still want to acknowledge Marisha’s little jokey aside about her intention to create an unromanceable PC this campaign. A cold, creepy witch woman. And how despite that, everyone - the audience, the cast, and the characters - have all so readily and easily fallen in love with her in some way or another. It speaks to how well she performs Laudna, and also how much Laudna deserves that love. Because while it was an out-of-character comment, the idea of Laudna feeling the same - of having created this haunting idea of herself over the years, of having experienced such pain and exclusion, and still shining through despite herself, to inspire others to give back all the love she puts forward. For all the ways that she sees herself as broken, and undeserving, there’s Imogen, to show her that isn’t so.

Then on Imogen’s side, again, that desire to communicate what she’s feeling without words - without thoughts. Imogen doesn’t fully know, can’t know, can’t hear what Laudna has been through, and to have that be both frightening but also freeing - to be separate from everyone and everything, even someone you love, and then to actively and mutually reconnect - to remake that bond.

And there wasn’t need for flowery descriptions, or have it as the ending note of the episode - there wasn’t this intent to focus on ‘oh Laudna’s lips feel clammy at first but then warm to Imogen’s touch,’ or anything. Because it wasn’t what they were focusing on, either. It wasn’t about how it made them feel on that physical level - it was everything else. The kiss was simple, and with its simplicity it brought a million complex feelings into momentary order.

Anyway, it’s late, or early, but just had to write a bit - get some of my own thoughts out of my head.

As I’ve been typing this, I’m reminded of a song - ‘Signal Fire’ by Snow Patrol - it feels right for Imogen & Laudna, I think.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr imogen #laudna

[natlacentral]

'Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Showrunner Teases Hints to Katara's Future Romance

It’s not easy tackling adapting something that is beloved by fans. Whether you’re a director stepping into a beloved franchise to reboot the series or a showrunner turning an animated show into a live-action show (after an already abysmal live-action movie), someone is going to end up disappointed. This is the challenge that showrunner Albert Kim was faced with when tasked to bring Avatar: The Last Airbender to life. Set in a world where some people are born with the power to manipulate natural elements like water, earth, fire, and air — called "benders" — the series follows Aang, the titular last airbender, who wakes up after being frozen in ice for 100 years to a world engulfed in war and turmoil. As the Avatar, a unique individual who can bend all four elements, it is his task to bring peace to the world.

We spoke with Kim about the challenges of adapting the series and what he considered to be essential to keep in the series versus what could be changed and expanded on. He discussed larger changes to characters like King Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and how he combined storylines for the shorter season. Kim also discussed what it was like casting Gordon Cormieras Aang and touched on bringing Azula (Elizabeth Yu) in earlier while giving Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) some more personality. Finally, he touched on the romance between Katara and Aang(as seen in the animated series) and whether that would stay the same in the show.

Staying Loyal to the Spirit of the Animated 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' 

COLLIDER: When it comes to adapting Avatar: The Last Airbender, there were elements that I could totally see from the original animated series. What did you think needed to be in there? And then what did you feel like you could update when it comes to this live action series?

ALBERT KIM: There wasn't really any set litmus test, like, 'Alright, this is the element that will carry on and this won’t." It was more about trying to understand what the spirit of the original was. And that's kind of what I told everyone, whether it was the writers or the directors, or the crew, you know, what we want to do is be faithful to the spirit of the original, rather than being a note-for-note translation of it, because that was never going to be possible. So, when you took it that way, and then there was sort of the formal challenge of adapting what was 20 half-hour episodes of animated television to an 8-hour serialized drama for Netflix, certain pieces started to fall into place when we did that.

One of the first things I did was lay out all 20 episodes on the whiteboard as to what the plots were, and then just took a look at it as if it was one, long narrative thread rather than individual episodes. And when you do that, certain elements start to pair off thematically, whether it's like Jet and the Mechanist, being both characters who are good at heart, but driven to extreme behavior by war. And the interesting theme that emerged was that they would be adversaries, even though they're both good characters. So that's a conflict that we decided to play.

When you start looking at the entire season, that way, certain threads start to appear. And so, like I said, there wasn't any kind of like, "We have to include this, we have to include that." Although, I will say there are certain things that I personally said, "I'm going to include that." Like, I was always going to have cabbage man in there, you know, there was no way we're losing the cabbage man. So like I said, yeah, we'll work him in.

But that was kind of the process. And then along that way, there are certain things — I think the hardest decisions we have to make is what to leave out. I'm sure we did not get to someone's favorite episode, or character, or scene, or even sequence. And I feel their pain, because I wish we could have gotten to a lot of those. But it was just some of those hard choices you had to make. Because in addition to, as you saw, adapting some of the elements from the original, we added new material, we're going off in new directions narratively, and we needed to give those room to breathe as well.

Was There Ever a Plan To Stretch Out the Season's Plot?

Just picking up off of that, obviously, a lot of showrunners would like longer seasons. But did you ever considering splitting the first book in half and spending a little bit more time, given the shorter seasons that we have in the live-action?

KIM: I don't recall ever having that conversation with Netflix. For one thing, I joined the process when the show had been in development for a little bit of time with the original creators. And so I think that was the parameters that were laid out even when I joined. But even after that, I don't think we ever discussed going longer. I mean, Netflix has their own criteria for the length of the season and the length of episodes and things like that. So, those weren't always my call.

But yeah, I don't think we talked about taking the first season of the animated series and stretching it out any longer. It was my call as to how we told that story. Like I always knew, I wanted, like the original, our heroes to start in the Southern Water Tribe and end in the Northern Water Tribe, which meant pretty much replicating the original series. So that was the process by which that came about.

Gordon Cormier Was the Perfect Aang in 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'

I just want to talk about the casting process a little bit and, specifically, working with these young actors. I really loved Gordon [Cormier] in this series. I feel like it can be really difficult casting Aang because so much rests on his shoulders, and it has to be a young actor. Can you talk about working with him and what you saw in him that would be perfect for this role?

KIM: With Gordon, what you see is what you get. I mean, he is Aang. It seems a little cliché to say that, but he really is like when the camera’s shut off, he acts the same way. You yell cut, and he jumps off, and he runs around, and he hops, and he used to sit on my chair all the time. II would go back to my chair, and he'd be sitting there like, "You don’t mind, right?" And then, he would hop off. If he's telling a story, he's acting it out. I mean, he was Aang.

In the process of auditioning, it was one of those things, where, because we were casting a very young actor, and because we were looking at specific ethnic communities, and also because of the auditioning process was conducted in top secret, so they couldn't know what show they were auditioning for. I had to write fake scenes for all of them. I wasn't really listening to specific lines during the audition, it was more about looking into those personalities and seeing who was it that captured the essence of Aang, and every time we just kept coming back to Gordon.

He didn't know he was auditioning for Aang, so, he wasn't playing to that character at all. He didn't know it was Avatar. So, like I said, it was more about looking past the specifics of the scenes that he was playing and more about the essence of who he was. I gotta say, I think that's where we ended up with all of our characters. I think Ian [Ousley] has that natural sardonic sense of humor in person that his character does. And same with all of them. So like, that's how the casting process went about.

Kim Explains Major Changes to Characters Like King Bumi

And speaking a little bit about the series and things that did change, I noticed when I was watching through the series, that there are some characters who have different personalities compared to their animated counterparts. King Bumi really stands out to me as becoming more antagonistic. Can you talk about some of these decisions to change the direction of some of the characters? And can you tell me how that fits into your narrative?

KIM: Well, in the original series, King Bumi, is a really fun, eccentric character, and he puts Aang through a series of tests ostensibly to teach him the lesson that the Avatar has to be prepared for anything. And they're fun. Everyone enjoys that episode, and that's the reason why we wanted to do it. But for me, when I sat down to look at who Bumi was as a character, what was interesting to me was that this was a man who's lived for over a century, and endured a century of war, and has grown disillusioned, and what's really pained him throughout this is the idea that he was abandoned by his friend. He's still hurt at the fact that Aang the Avatar wasn't there for him.

On the flip side, Aang feels the burden of not having been there for his friend, like he wasn't there and what happened to Bumi is a microcosm of what happened to the world in general. That's his responsibility as Avatar. So, those emotional stories were the most interesting thing to me about that episode. So, in order to draw those things, it resulted in the story retelling and the changes we made. So, for instance, in the original series, Aang doesn’t find out that he’s Bumi until the very end of the episode. To us, it was more interesting if they knew who each other was at the start, so you could play that hurt. How you betrayed me and how a character like Bumi would go about getting that — he is not going to just come outright and say that, he's going to prove it to him. Here's what happened to me. Here's what you missed. Here's the pain that has happened while you were asleep, or frozen.

It’s when we approach the stories from that character perspective that some of those changes start to click in. So yeah, and at the same time, we had those elements from the original we wanted to work in. And so, even though we don't show Flopsy, we put big statues of Flopsy in his throne room, right, and like paintings on the walls. So it's a little bit of an Easter egg, I guess. But it's also an homage to the original episode. So all of those changes were done in the interests of making the characters' journeys be a little more grounded, I guess.

Bringing Azula and Ozai in Early Establishes Important Storylines

Yeah, definitely. I liked your decision to bring Azula in earlier. I think that's a great move, because now the audience can understand who she is. She doesn't just appear in the second season and become this fully formed character. But I also noticed that Fire Lord Ozai… It feels like he's playing a larger part in this story as well. Will we see his story have any changes? Because, I don't know, maybe it’s Daniel’s [Dae Kim] performance, but there’s a little bit of sympathy that I have for him and I don't know if I'm supposed to have sympathy for him.

KIM: I think that's great. I mean, I think that’s the idea of dimensionalizing all these characters is always great. Whether or not he's the villain, you know, you want to be able to feel that he's relatable in a way in that you understand how he got there. And to me, again, we had the benefit of hindsight of knowing what the characters will become and where Ozai goes. And like how important the family dynamic is, or the Fire Nation storyline.

And like Zuko’s entire character arc is tied up in the dynamics of his family. So being able to see the roots of that, by bringing in Azula earlier and showing what Ozai is doing in terms of being a manipulative parent, which — just speaking for myself, is very familiar to an Asian person — the parental expectations that come with that felt like a really good way to establish the storylines not just for this season, but possibly from going forward.

Kim Expresses Relief For Not Having To Exploring Katara's Romance

I have to ask this question, because I have wondered this myself, and also because I saw some of your interviews. But talking about the direction of Katara, who I think a lot of fans have interpreted in the original series as a little bit motherly — it’s probably too motherly of a role for the character. And I'm glad that I'm getting the sense that she's not leaning so much in that direction for the live-action show. But speaking on that, her romance with Aang is something that is reflective of that mothering dynamic. Are there any plans to change that up? I know some fans enjoy Katara and Zuko, I'm just going to put that out there...

KIM: [Laughs]

…but I'm curious if you have any insight on that.

KIM: I will say, hopefully, I'm smart enough not to get involved in that debate, because I know how passionate both sets of fans are. And I was fortunate in that it wasn't a big issue in the first season for us. Because, you know, practically speaking, there are certain things you can do with animated characters that you can't with live action ones when it comes to something like that.

It's not something that we hit very much head on in the first season there. If you look carefully, there are little hints, especially in the final episode of what Katara is saying about Aang. So, we are obviously aware of where it goes in the original series, but it's more of a future issue and a future storyline to be dealt with. So I was, even for myself, I was very relieved to put a pin in it, so I wouldn't have to deal with it in the first season. But yeah, it'll be interesting to tackle that one.

Adjusting Characters for Live-Action Does Not Take Anything Away From the Story 

Yeah, I understand. And I saw some of the fan backlash that came out from your comments about Sokka. And I'm just wondering if this fan backlash scared you a little bit, when it comes to interacting with the fans?

KIM: I understand the reaction. I think it's because people, in that particular instance, are acting in a vacuum. Like, they haven't seen the episodes yet, and they're so hungry for information. So they look through the trailers, the footage, and our comments in our interviews, and they can seize upon all these things to get an idea of what might be happening. But what I've been telling people is watch the episodes, and then we can have that discussion. Because, for now, it's all kind of vapor, you know? It's not like something that's concrete that we can talk about, because I think they'll come to see — whatever the comment was — that it was either blown out of proportion or slightly out of context.

And like you, having seen the series, I think you understand what I'm saying. We didn’t sap Sokka’s character arc in any way or make them less flawed. If anything, things were played maybe slightly more subtly in a more grounded way than it would be in an animated series. So, that's about it. And I saw all sorts of crazy things like, so Pakku is not going to be sexist? Again, having seen it now, I think, you know, we play exactly that same conflict.

But there are things that we drew upon from the original series. Even in the original series, the Southern Water Tribe is slightly more progressive than the Northern Water Tribe is, right? Because the Northern Water Tribe is a little more conservative and enclosed, that's reflected in our series as well. And I think you can see, even from the first two episodes, Sokka’s attitudes, maybe not so overtly stated, are rooted in old viewpoints and culturally passed down conceptions of all that stuff. So, that's all there. Again, let's watch the episodes and then we can have that discussion.

#albert kim #natla #atla #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #atla netflix #avatar netflix #interview #collider

[arrowofcarnations]

Fic-O-Ween 2023 Day 5: Ritual

Some spice (and I’m not talkin’ pumpkin spice) with a Star Wars-y twist for day five of the fest (@noots-fic-fests)! Co-written with the fantabulous @veryspacecowboy—and posted just in time for your birthday!!! <3

Title: Beskar Babes Characters: Finn O'Hara/Logan Tremblay/Leo Knut Rating: E

Thank you as always to @lumosinlove for the boys—especially Kuny, who I think we can all agree is the real MVP of this one.

Like many good things, it all started with a Star Wars marathon spread over an away trip. 

Actually, it really started with a shutout game where Leo made several impossible saves. In the locker room, Kuny had ruffled Leo's sweaty hair and called him Master Skywalker, to which Leo had blushed and admitted he'd never actually seen Star Wars. 

Naturally, this caused a huge uproar, especially from Kuny and Nado, but also from Finn. The three of them ranted and raved for all of about five minutes before Kuny clapped his hands on Finn and Leo's shoulders and said 'Your padawan, he is, O'Hara. Teach him Force, you must.’

Over the next week, Finn showed Leo (and Logan, who was mostly there for cuddles) episodes four through six, one through three, Solo, Rogue One, and finally (with a grain of salt), seven through nine.

Once they were finally back home in their apartment, settling back into their routine after the ups and downs of the long roadie, Finn started watching The Mandalorian on nights when he wasn’t caught up in a book. His boys had pretty much left him to it, declaring themselves Star Wars-ed out for the time being. But Leo’s passing glances at the screen while Finn was watching slowly became watching half an episode over Finn’s shoulder, and then the two of them were in it together, shared blanket thrown over their legs and all. Logan grumbled more and more about it until he finally gave in, the allure of couch cuddles too strong, and started watching with them.

It didn’t take Logan long to notice his boyfriends’ crushes on the show’s lead, the Mandalorian himself. Leo was the first to admit it, letting out a low whistle during the scene when Djarin removes his helmet for the first time. “I knew he was hot.”

Finn had laughed and thrown his hands in the air. “Okay, right?! He was hot with the helmet on, even, but damn. Like, okay.”

Logan didn’t disagree, but mostly he was just amused at their fawning, which they kept doing from time to time until the season ended. Then one day in the locker room, as he watched Finn and Leo talk about the finale with Kuny and Nado, he got an idea.

Before crawling into bed with his boyfriends that night, he sent a quick text to Kuny.

Did you buy that Mando armor you showed us?

да yes, beskar delivery today.

why?

Can I borrow it this weekend?

There was a long-ish pause, those three dots moving like Kuny was typing, then deleting, typing, then deleting once more.

clean off cum after, little Mando

you come here and pick up?

Logan’s cheeks were burning as he tapped out a fast tomorrow am, ignoring both the short joke and the implication because, well. It would just sound stupid to lie. He already knew the smug grin Kuny was going to give him tomorrow, but he could take a little chirping from him (and inevitably Nado) if it meant the success of his plan.

~

It was easy enough to pull off the surprise; Logan stopped at Kuny and Nado’s place on the way home from a grocery run, leaving the outfit in his car until he had some time alone to get ready. Luckily, Finn was hell-bent on restocking their bar so he could make them a round of after-dinner manhattans (“We have off tomorrow!”) and Leo wanted some weird liqueur for a baking project, so all Logan had to do was pass on joining them for the ride, saying he wanted to shower instead.

The armor wasn’t the easiest thing to get into, but still only took him half the time it did to suit up for a game, giving him a few spare minutes to check himself out in the mirror. It had been custom-made for Kuny, so some of it was unsurprisingly big on him, but he thought he looked alright anyway. He huffed out a laugh at his reflection, shaking his head a little.

“D’accord, here we go,” he said to himself. He heard the rumble of Leo’s car pulling up in the driveway, fitted his helmet on, and made his way to the living room.

The way their apartment was set up, the living room was kind of tucked behind a wall that helped give the kitchen more cabinets. If he knew his boys, they'd go straight to the kitchen to put away groceries before doing anything else. He shifted a little, the blaster at his hip and the tracking fob blinking steadily in his other hand. 

The lock at the front door clicked open and the voices of his lovers carried through, halfway through a conversation. Logan swallowed thickly and waited. 

"—cool that we don't have to get your Crystal hot sauce from your parents anymore, now that they just have it at the grocery store."

"Well, yeah, but I like getting care packages from my parents. Even if I'm paying for the shipping." The sounds of things being put away, bottles clinking, and the fridge doors closing were slightly muffled through the helmet.

"BabyNut, no one's saying you can't get care packages from your sweet mama, I'm just saying now she can put more homemade goodies in, if she wants."

"Yeah, s'pose so. Remember when it exploded in the box?" There was some laughter and a soft silence Logan recognized as kissing. "Hey, where's Lo? Is he napping?"

And with that, Finn flipped the lights on in the living room and the pair of them stepped out of the kitchen. Leo froze at the sight of Logan (he assumed it was Logan) in full-on, practically screen-exact Mandalorian armor. Finn bumped into him with a soft oof and gasped when he peeked around Leo.

"Holy—Jesus Christ, Lo, where the hell did you get that? It looks great!" There was a long pause as Logan stood up, tracking fob blinking softly as he pointed it at his boyfriends. Then, he pulled the blaster from its holster.

"I can bring you in warm…or I can bring you in cold." 

All three of them went still for a moment, and Logan was smiling from ear to ear under the helmet at the literal jaw drops he’d elicited from his boyfriends. Leo was dragging his gaze all the way down Logan from head to toe and back again, and Finn’s gaze flicked from the blaster to the helmet right where Logan’s eyes would be, seemingly rendered speechless mid-sentence. That was more like it, Logan thought.

Leo broke the silence first. “I surrender,” he said, voice low and honey-sweet as his lips twitched up in a tiny grin. He sent a sidelong glance toward Finn, who was still wide-eyed and uncharacteristically quiet. “Harz?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “What about you?”

Finn swallowed twice, and Logan was just starting to feel worry unfurling in his chest when the redhead took a step forward, then another, stopping just short of the blaster aimed at him. “Oh yeah,” he said, putting his hands in the air in a show of surrender. His crooked smile was warm and full of promise, and it chased away the panic in Logan instantly. “I’m all yours, baby.”

"I would've thought that a Marshal of Tattooine—" Logan semi-gently poked Finn in the belly with his blaster before nodding his helmet at Leo. “and a Jedi Master would put up more of a fight for having bounties on their heads, but I've been surprised before. Not that surprise has helped them live." 

There was another beat as Finn and Leo caught on to Logan’s play. Anticipation was picking Logan’s heart rate up, but he fought the urge to squirm, keeping still as he waited to see what the other two would do.

Finn considered him with raised brows, that crooked grin turning a little more surprised, but no less amused. “A bounty, eh?” Finn said, letting his belly press against the end of the blaster just slightly. “Well, that changes things. I thought this was a Mandalorian’s way of asking a guy for a drink.”

Leo came up behind Finn, snaking his arms around his waist. “And we’d be very interested in having a drink with you,” he said, voice soft and sweet but blue eyes full of mischief where they burned into Logan’s despite the helmet.

Leo leaned his head down to press a lingering kiss to the side of Finn’s neck, and Finn sighed into it. It distracted Logan just enough to let Finn get his hand around the weapon, coaxing it away from his body until it was pointed toward the floor between them. “What do you say?” Finn breathed. The two of them were looking right at where they knew green eyes were considering them. “No fun bringing us in cold when we’re this hot.”

That got a little huff of a laugh out of their darling Mando, and Finn felt that warmth in his belly from making his sweetheart laugh. They hadn't talked super seriously about sexy roleplaying or dress up, but this? The beskar armor? The tough-guy attitude? Finn liked it a lot and, from the feel of Leo pressed up against him, he guessed he wasn’t the only one.

"I thought the Jedi had rules about attachment. You two seem pretty attached."

"Restarting the Order comes with a few perks," Leo said, his disapproval of how Luke acted in the series shining through a little. "Friendship, love, and sex aren't the enemy. But…the last of those is on the table, Mando. If you like."

Logan tilted his head, pretending to consider their offer. Then he motioned toward the hallway with the blaster. “Bedroom, now,” he said in the most commanding tone he could muster.

He watched as Finn and Leo shared a look, all wide eyes and excited grins, and felt the familiar pull to be closer to them. But he wasn’t ready to give up the game just yet. Finn went first, then Leo, then Logan behind them both, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Once he turned around to face them, he was met with two gorgeous boys standing by the foot of their enormous bed, watching him and waiting for his next direction. A thrill ran through him as he found himself running the show. This wasn’t their usual dynamic, even without the roleplay, but Logan was eager to see where it would go, where he could take them.

He holstered the blaster at last, crossing his arms instead as he stared them down. “Take off his clothes, Jedi,” he said, the hint of a smile in his voice. “Since he’s in such a hurry to get out of them.”

Being called Jedi was apparently doing it for Leo because he'd never stripped one of the boys out of their clothes as fast as he was getting Finn naked. "Oh my g—kriffing shit. Leo!" Oop—he'd actually forgotten about Finn's shoes. Well, now he was naked at least. All those freckles on display, with that gorgeous, perfect amount of deep red body hair…and that lovely, lovely cock. Logan was definitely hard in his armor.

"Now, Marshal…give us a turn and get the Jedi naked."

Marshal. Finn didn’t know if he should be finding that as hot as he was, but he was too into this whole surprise roleplay to care. What was hotter than that, though, was Logan. The way he was carrying himself, so in command, made Finn want to do things—want to have things done to him—that he hadn’t really thought about before. He shivered in the open air, feeling distinctly exposed with his boyfriends still fully dressed. But not for long—he had orders, after all.

Finn stole a moment to give Leo a lingering kiss, pressing his palms to the sides of Leo’s neck and stroking the strong line of Leo’s jaw with his thumbs, before pulling away with a grin and a waggle of his eyebrows. He stripped Leo efficiently—not as lightning-fast as Leo had done to him, maybe, but he didn’t make a show of it, either—and pulled him in for another kiss, heated and a little sloppy with excitement, once they were both completely, equally naked.

“Oh, hi,” Finn murmured as Leo’s quickly filling cock pressed against his hip. “You like him, huh, Master Knut?” Leo gasped, eyes wide and dark, and Finn smiled, knowing he’d got him good. They would absolutely be returning to the Jedi persona for Leo; it just fit so perfectly, and Leo obviously really liked it.

"I do, I do like him. The voice, the confidence…the armor." Leo swallowed thickly and glanced over at Logan, still with his blaster in his hand. "What…what would you have us do, Mando?"

"It's been a while since I've been to a show. Too busy hunting Imperials. Take him apart, Master Jedi. At my direction."

Finn felt a little shiver run through him again, but it wasn’t from the air this time. He looked over at Logan, then at Leo, who was sizing him up with a hunger in his eyes that made Finn’s heart pick up. Oh, he was in trouble. And it was going to be good trouble.

“It would be my pleasure,” Leo said, ducking his head to leave a trail of kisses from the corner of Finn’s jaw down his neck, stopping at the cap of his shoulder. Finn was a little twitchy with excited energy, wiggling his toes on the wood floor and skating his hands through Leo’s hair, across his back, up his arms—wherever he could reach.

Leo noticed, and walked Finn backwards until he could coax him down onto the bed. He ran a soothing hand down Finn’s bare chest, then looked over his shoulder at Logan. “This good?” he asked.

Logan nodded, walking closer to the bed to get a better view of them as Leo settled himself on top of Finn. He didn’t join them, though; he was content to watch the show for now, like he’d said, though he didn’t know how long he’d last without giving into the desire to touch them.

He watched as Leo and Finn lost themselves in a slow, tender kiss that morphed into something a little more desperate by the time they broke apart, panting against each other’s mouths. Leo hummed softly, nuzzling his nose against Finn’s cheek in a sweet contrast to the way his hips were slowly starting to roll against Finn’s. Finn’s hands were curled around Leo’s ribs, fingertips pressing into the strong muscles of his back, and he kissed the gray tuft that was always visible in the mass of Leo’s blond curls before his gaze wandered over to the armored figure looming a few feet away.

“You could help him,” Finn said to Logan, his smile going slack as Leo moved to suck a bruise into the junction of his neck and shoulder. “You could—fuck, Leo—help him take me apart.”

"Mm." Logan shifted a bit, helmet tilting as he assessed what Finn had suggested and what Leo was doing to him. "Something tells me you're not the one getting taken apart. Take it slow… take a moment to settle into it. I'll do my part soon enough, Marshal. And Jedi? Make sure to leave marks. This is the Way." This was as much Logan talking as Mando, and it made another shiver go through Leo and Finn.

Leo guided Finn’s gaze back to his with gentle fingers on his chin. “What do you say, O’Hara?” Leo’s smile was playful and loving and it warmed Finn from the inside out, helping to calm his energy a bit. “Do you trust me?”

Finn knew that Leo was playing along with the scene, but he was also really asking. He wasn’t used to just—lying back and taking it, so to speak. He liked to do the work, he liked to take Leo and Logan apart and give them everything they wanted and then some. But his answer came without hesitation. “Mhm,” he hummed, kissing the tip of Leo’s nose. Because he did trust them, both of them, implicitly. And whenever he’d stepped out of his comfort zone with them before, it had always ended more than well. “Go ahead, baby. I’m all yours.”

Just like on the boat in New Orleans, Leo would take good care of Finn, and hopefully the pair of them could ease Finn down into subspace. Logan and Leo had experienced it before and Finn had been so good with them. He deserved the same. The fact that it had a Star Wars flair was just…a nice extra touch. 

The three of them shifted, Leo moving Finn up the bed a bit so Logan had room to perch on the edge of the bed and watch. He wanted to take off the helmet…but knew it would be better and 'more authentic' if he waited for now and left it on. "Touch him, softly. Ease him into it, touch him where he likes."

Leo looked over his shoulder at Logan and nodded, biting his lip against the arousal that spiked through him at Logan being in control. At Logan instructing him how to make love to Finn. It was intimate, doing this as a pair, and a part of his brain was already coming up with ideas of what they could try in the future. He looked back into warm brown eyes and shelved those thoughts for now; he had a marshal who needed him, after all, and he fully intended on following the mandalorian’s orders to the letter.

Leo settled back over Finn, bracketing him with his knees on either side of Finn’s thighs and his forearms on the sides of Finn’s head, and kissed him for what felt like a blissful eternity, slow and deep. When he felt Finn start to relax underneath him, Leo pulled back just enough to drag the pad of his thumb across Finn’s bottom lip. Finn smiled, kissing it, and Leo kept going, tracing a gentle path with his fingertips down the long expanse of Finn’s neck, to his broad chest, pale and strong and peppered with freckles.

He shifted to kiss over Finn’s adam’s apple as his fingers traced teasing circles around his nipples. Finn made a soft sound at the touch, arching up into it slightly, and Leo gave him a little more, brushing over the pink buds with the smoothest parts of his hands and then the spots where his skin was rougher and more calloused. Finn squirmed and sighed and sunk his hands into Leo’s hair, but he didn’t try to initiate anything, so Leo replaced his hands with his mouth as a reward, lapping and sucking gently until Finn’s nipples were hard peaks.

“You’re so beautiful, Harzy,” Leo breathed, blowing cool air over Finn where he was now extra sensitive. He gave each nipple a last kiss. “So good for me always.” He kissed the bump of Finn’s sternum as his hands made a slow path down his chest and belly to the V of his hips.

“Leo,” Finn gasped, cock pulsing out a bead of precome where it hung heavily between his legs. Leo’s mouth watered at the sight, but he wasn’t there yet. Finn wasn’t there yet.

He kissed his way back up to Finn’s neck, leaving a purple love bite to match the one on the opposite side. “Fuck,” Finn groaned, gripping Leo’s shoulders. His hips bucked, unconsciously seeking friction. “Fuck, baby.”

“You like being my good boy, don’t you?” Leo asked, running his knuckles down Finn’s cheek tenderly as he got an enthusiastic nod in response. Then he took hold of Finn’s wrists, easing his arms back until they framed his head on the pillow. “Can you stay just like this while I go a little lower?” There were so many other places Leo wanted to love on Finn’s bottom half.

As Leo smooched down Finn's belly, headed towards his cock, Logan shifted so he could stand up by Finn's head. "You like to be good for your Jedi?" He traced along Finn's arm and then his shoulder with the soft leather glove, just the tips of his fingers to make Finn shiver and moan sweetly. "You'll be so sweet for us, I can tell." 

"I—yeah, I'm good. I want to be good for you two." Finn let out a shaky breath as Leo lapped at the head of his cock. Logan cupped Finn's face in his hand, gently teasing his bottom lip with his thumb as he cradled Finn's jaw.

Without overthinking it, Finn yielded to the gentle pressure, opening his mouth and drawing Logan’s gloved thumb inside with his tongue as his eyes slid shut. He sucked on it once experimentally, then groaned around it, brown eyes fluttering back open to look up at Logan through his lashes. This was new for Finn; it made his cheeks hot and his dick throb under the barely-there flicks of Leo’s tongue. He stared at the shiny visor and wished he could see what Logan’s eyes looked like that second.

There was a shift between them, a subtle change in the feel of things, there in their bed. Leo squeezed where Finn's ass met his thigh and the redhead moaned softly around the gloved finger in his mouth. Finn was slipping nicely, his two boys easing him down into a fuzzy, warm floatiness.

"Yeah, sweetheart, you're so good. You look so good sucking his thumb. Such a good boy for us." Leo murmured these words of praise into Finn's lovely, freckled lower belly and looked up to see how Finn gazed up at Logan, still wearing his helmet. "Mando—Logan. Can you take off your helmet for us?"

Logan hesitated for a moment, debating with himself. Finn looked so gorgeous underneath them, eyes wide and dark and trusting, and his slow sucks around Logan’s thumb were sending arousal spiking through Logan’s body. Part of him was dying to rip the costume off and kiss the living daylights out of Finn, and then do the same to Leo. But part of him wasn’t sure what would happen if he did. Could he keep up this energy with them without the armor, without the persona?

He looked over at Leo where he was pressing kisses to the root of Finn’s cock and watching them both with lust-blown blue eyes. Then he looked back at Finn and felt his heart pull at the look on Finn’s face. He let Logan’s finger slip from his mouth, his hands reaching to find purchase on any part of Logan he could reach. “Please,” he said, soft and sweet and yearning. “Please, Lo baby, wanna see you.”

He hadn’t even finished getting the words out before Logan’s hands were flying up to the helmet, pulling it up over his head and letting it rest on the nightstand with a soft thud. He was flushed and his brown hair was sticking to his temples where a thin sheen of sweat had broken out over his skin from the heavy costume. Finn let out a soft noise as he finally locked eyes with Logan, smiling at him like he’d hung the moon, and Logan couldn’t wait another second, pushing a hand into Finn’s hair and giving it a tug that made Finn’s toes curl before catching him in a dizzying kiss.

“Gorgeous, mon rouge,” Logan purred against Finn’s lips, allowing the break in character to give Finn the praise that was so obviously sending him up to cloud nine. “Your mouth is perfect. I want you to keep doing that while Leo sucks your cock.” He looked over at Leo. “Ouais?”

Leo swallowed hard, his own cock heavy against the mattress. “Ouais,” he said, already a little breathless. It was such a treat to see his boys like this, it was like a remix of their special lovemaking on the boat. Christ, he wanted his boys any way he could have them, including with the added spice of beskar. "Finn, check in with Lo. Okay?"

"Uh-huh, okay, Le—" Finn let it out in a breathless rush, a blush settling high on his freckled cheeks as he gazed up at Logan. He tilted his head just enough to press a little kiss to Logan's thumb before Logan slipped his thumb past Finn's lips once more and Leo descended on the redhead's cock.

"You're such a treat to look at, Harzy, especially with Leo's mouth on you. Did the armor really get you that hot?" When Finn nodded and moaned around Logan's thumb, he couldn't hold back his smile. Fuck, he was so lucky.

For a long few moments, Logan let things play out, Finn’s sucks around his thumb becoming more rhythmic as he mimicked what Leo was doing between his legs. Then he slid his thumb out from that wet heat, cupping Finn’s cheek briefly to reassure him he hadn’t done anything wrong, and stepped back just enough to start getting himself out of the costume as fast as he could, taking care not to scuff or break anything. He had nothing but boxers on under the costume’s layers; it was a relief to be standing only in them after what felt like hours in the hot, heavy armor.

He crawled onto the bed, laying on his side next to Finn, and Leo pulled off Finn’s cock with a kiss before coming up to lay on his opposite side. Their hands trailed over Finn’s chest and stomach idly as Logan kissed him again, more slowly this time. When he pulled away, Finn chased his mouth, his eyes closed and his lips swollen and bitten-red. Logan felt his heart squeeze and his dick twitch at the sight.

“Gorgeous,” he said again, quiet and reverent, and ran a hand through Finn’s mussed-up hair. He took a second to lean over and kiss Leo for good measure, and he could practically feel how turned on Leo was by this, too.

A happy sigh beneath them made them both break the kiss and look. “Fucking love watching you two,” Finn said with a dopey grin. “Never gets old.”

That drew both of their attention back to him, and soon he had two pairs of lovely hands mapping his skin, two wickedly talented mouths drawing soft, low sounds out of him. Logan sucked a bruise into the side of Finn’s neck, just under his ear, as Leo pressed a few slow, open-mouthed kisses to the base of his cock before grinning up at him (fuck) and sinking down on him until the tip of his nose brushed the soft-coarse hair below Finn’s navel.

"Oh—Leo, fuck—Logan—” Finn was so glad they'd dropped the pretense of the roleplay because he was quickly getting a little too far under to remember anything but his gorgeous boys' names. Logan combed his fingers through Finn's hair again and again as Leo worked his magic on the redhead's cock, slurping when he pulled up near the head, swallowing and breathing through his nose to take Finn into his throat. 

“Don’t come yet,” Logan instructed.

Finn whined, knee knocking into Leo’s shoulder as he shuddered with pleasure.

“Harzy,” he warned. He caught Leo’s eye as he looked up at him questioningly. Logan just winked in response, then grabbed lube out of the bedside table drawer and knelt behind Leo, drawing him up onto his knees, too.

“Don’t get him too good,” he said to Leo, borrowing a phrase he’d picked up from him. The anticipatory shiver that rolled through Leo as he ran his palm down each asscheek, then circled his rim with a slick fingertip, was worth every bit of chirping he was going to take from Kuny tomorrow. “You’re giving me a show, remember? I want to see him fill you.”

That got a moan out of both them, Leo's louder as he nodded his consent—and Logan worked the first finger inside him. "I can—I can take two, Mando—Lo, please.” The roleplay was a little hazy now that the armor had come off, but none of them much cared. Logan bit Leo's shoulder and then soothed it with a kiss, giving his lover another finger, at his request. 

"You guys are gonna fuckin' kill me, I swear—Lo, lemme cum—"

"Non. You'll cum in him after I do."

"Fuck yeah I want both, I want you both—" Leo rocked his hips back on Logan's hand, but Logan stopped him with a hand on his hip. 

"Be good and you'll get both." 

Leo, ever the team player, obeyed, melting into Logan’s hold as he was prepped. He had to pull his mouth off Finn twice more after bringing him to the edge; Logan watched those big goalie hands pet down Finn’s chest and flanks soothingly as Finn obeyed, too. (They were being so good for him. Logan was going to make it worth their while.)

The first press of his cock inside Leo was pure bliss, just like always. Logan’s eyes darted everywhere: at the sight of himself disappearing into Leo, at Leo’s strong back and the slightly sweaty blonde curls at the nape of his neck as he swallowed Finn down again, at Finn’s wrecked, desperate expression and pale fingers gripping the sheets as if for dear life.

He knew it would be over soon—they were all too fired up to take it slow—so the pace he set was fast, giving Leo the short, sharp thrusts that would get them both there before Finn lost it completely. He could tell Leo wanted it just as badly, groaning as he pushed his hips back to meet him.

“Gonna come,” Logan said tightly, reaching around to take Leo’s cock in hand. Leo’s strangled cry made Finn thrash and Logan pick up the pace, jacking Leo to the quick tempo of his thrusts.

“Oh my god, oh—yeah, Tremz, come on, wannahaveitgimmeitplease?”

Logan dropped his head between Leo’s shoulder blades and moaned long as low as he pulsed inside him, hips grinding slowly as he rode it out. He smiled to himself as he felt Leo start to come a few seconds later, stroking him through it and savoring the shocked little laugh that tumbled out of him as Logan got him nice and full and spent.

Well, hopefully not spent-spent. He still wanted to see their plan through. Logan looked over Leo's shoulder at Finn, who looked like he was trying very, very hard not to spontaneously combust.

Leo had stopped the blowjob while he came which seemed to give Finn just a moment to calm himself. But now he had two sets of eyes on him. Finn swallowed thickly and his cock twitched against his lower belly.

"Leo, do you still want—?"

"Yes I want it, I want him, m'fucking good for it." Leo let out a soft noise when Logan pulled out.

"You know what to do then, O'Hara. Give him his second and make him messy."

Finn groaned and covered his face with his hands. "You can't just say shit like that after Nutty's just given me the succ of my life and then not let me cum—jesus—" By then, Leo had already shifted, climbing up on top of Finn so Logan could line them up.

Leo looked down at him and gently moved one hand out of the way. "There's my handsome guy. You ready Fish?"

"Yeah baby, fucking give it to me."

Leo wasted no time; he sank down onto Finn’s cock as he guided Finn’s hands to his waist, squeezing them in a quick pulse as Finn got the message and held him there.

Logan almost missed Leo’s hushed “fuck yes” under the punched-out moan that escaped Finn’s lips as Leo found his seat. Finn was beautiful like this, utterly breathless and flushed down to his freckled chest. Logan’s hand was tender as it brushed red hair away from Finn’s eyes.

“I like you desperate,” he murmured, which earned him one of the surprised little laughs Finn often gave them in bed. Logan wanted to kiss the point of his smile-scrunched nose, so he did.

“You two,” was all Finn said before kissing him, as though that answered everything about his current state. Logan’s chest swelled with pride as he realized that for Finn, it did.

The grin on Leo’s face was a little wild, a little sex-drunk, as he started to move (and oh, did he move. Logan had literally just fucked him, but he was still a tiny bit jealous as he watched pure bliss blossom over Finn’s handsome face).

“Holy fuck, Le,” Finn managed. He pushed his hips up a few times, trying to meet Leo, but his shaking legs flattened on the bed after a minute. He was going, going, gone, and so was Leo. Logan wanted to get them the rest of the way there.

"Can you give us another, soleil? Can you cum all over Finn's pretty chest as he fills you up?" Logan kissed Leo's cheek and took hold of his cock, causing a gorgeous little hitch in Leo's hips that had all three of them groaning. "He's so close, aren't you, Rouge?"

"I'm there, I'm there, holy fuck, Le—Lo—baby, I'm there, can I? Let me, please can I?” There was nothing so beautiful as Finn O'Hara spread out and flushed with pleasure and begging to cum. He made the prettiest picture and his cock just felt so good inside of Leo that…

"You can cum, Finn, be good and cum and fill him up." Logan gave him permission and kissed his forehead as Leo threw his head back and rode their redhead as hard as he could.

As long as he lived, Logan would never, ever not be transfixed by the sight of his boys like this. The way Finn arched his back, eyes falling shut as he moaned so pretty and gave himself over to it; the way Leo laughed around a “yes, yes, yes!” as he got what he wanted and then followed Finn close behind, knees jerking inward on either side of Finn’s hips as he came harder than he had the first time, shaking in their hold on him.

It was like Logan could feel it, too, and it made him needy all over again. His cock twitched against his thigh, but he ignored it in favor of stroking Leo through the aftershocks and run fingertips down the ladder of Finn’s ribs as he gave every last drop to Leo.

Soon, though, both of them went a little boneless, Finn slipping out of Leo as Leo pitched forward to lay chest to chest. Finn looked a bit squashed, but he wasn’t complaining; he kissed Leo’s sweat-damp temple and rubbed his back in a slow rhythm. Logan knelt beside them and bit his lip against a groan as he closed a hand around himself, chasing a second orgasm. He’d join the cuddle puddle in a moment, he just needed to…

“Lemme,” Finn slurred, eyes already half-lidded as Leo pet his hair. He shot a hand out but missed, grazing Logan’s thigh; Logan laughed even as he stroked himself faster, gripped a little tighter.

“Stay,” Logan teasingly commanded. “ ‘M close. I’m—merde, you two…”

He jumped a little as he felt a hand grip him by the back of the knee and pull him closer.

“C’mere,” Leo said, sounding just as sleepily sated as Finn even as he urged Lo closer. “On me, on me, please?”

Logan was about to say something about Leo being messy enough, but then Leo arched a little so his ass was on display, displayed for Logan, and said “please?” again. Logan watched as cum trickled out of him and realized it could be his or Finn’s, and that was it—he shifted closer, jacked himself quick and hard for another few seconds, and painted Leo from the small of his back to the tops of his thighs.

All three of them were breathing heavily, sort of all smushed together in a pile of hockey players on their huge bed. That was truly one of the best parts of their sex ritual; however they ended up, they were snuggling. Eventually, Finn cleared his throat.

"So, uh, not to be that guy and question such an awesome thing that brought about mutual orgasms, but like…where the fuck did all that come from?! I mean, I loved it—the voice and the armor and the roleplay and the armor, but like. Where did all that come from?" He flapped his hands a little from where he was pinned under Leo, and it got chuckles out of Leo and Logan. But then Leo turned and peeked at Logan.

"...That's not your suit, is it?"

"Non. It's a rental."

"Right, but from who?"

Logan sat up and kissed Leo's shoulder and got up to get a flannel. "...it might have been Kuny."

"Ohhhh my God, we're about to get chirped so fucking bad," Finn lamented, even as Leo pressed smiley little kisses all over his freckled neck and shoulder.

"Mm, and I'm going to be fucking sore tomorrow, but it was worth it. Right, Marshal?"

"God… You'd make such a pretty Jedi, Le. The prettiest."

"Et moi? Do I get a thank you?" Logan returned with the cloth and began to clean up Leo.

"Consider my crush on Pedro Pascal officially replaced. New celebrity crush is Logan Tremblay in a Mandalorian costume."

"Hear-hear, seconded and the motion passes. But when you give the armor back…" Finn paused and caught Logan's eye with a grin. "Ask if that website has Jedi robes."

#sweater weather lumosinlove #coast to coast lumosinlove #o'knutzy #my fic #ficoween 2023

[nordic-language-love]

i was curious if you could recommend any books/resources for learning Norwegian? (or just your favorite language resources in general) thank you!

Hi there!

In terms of books like textbooks:

The Mystery of Nils (A1/A2) and Mysteriet om Nils (B1/B2) are pretty great imo.

Norwegian Tutor from Teach Yourself has been an absolute life-saver for grammar

Also from Teach Yourself is Norwegian Short Stories, which has vocab lists for each story

Enjoy Norwegian is good for higher intermediate (although I've never really clicked with it)

Another one I never clicked with but is used in a lot of language schools is På Vei (A1/A2 level)

Some other resources:

Lesnorsk norskkurs - texts from A1-B2 level

I do actually think the Duolingo course is okay tbh (the audio's sometimes a bit strange, but as far as free resources go it's really good imo!)

Memrise is also a popular resource: here's a link to the first of their Norwegian courses (never clicked with it myself, but a lot of people like it)

Lingohut is also pretty good!

CALST is awesome for helping you learn to speak specific dialects

I’ve not tried using it, but Bnorsk seems to be a website where you can learn Norwegian for free

I also take classes on italki (if you're interested in giving it a go then lmk so I can give you a referral code and get you a few dollars off your first lesson. I've also taken lessons from a number of tutors and can maybe help you find the best one for you)

Here's a bunch of Norwegian instagram accounts you can follow

This is a website with set expressions and idioms in Norwegian

Bildetema is good for vocabulary - you see pictures with the Norwegian words next to them, and you can click on them to see how they’re pronounced. There are lots of different topics too!

ung.forskning.no is quite good if you're like B1 level and interested in science because the articles are quite short and basically made for younger readers so the language isn't so difficult (a number of them also have corresponding podcast episodes, so you can read the article to learn a bit about the topic and then listen to the podcast)

Drops and uTalk (both apps) also have Norwegian available to learn (I’m not a huge fan of them, but you might be!)

I also use the Anki app on my phone to create flashcards (there’s a free knock-off version and a legit version that costs like £20+. I use the free one and it’s fine).

Podcasts:

Norskpodden is a good podcast for learners as they also have a transcript

Lær Norsk Nå! is also aimed at learners

Norsklærer Karense has her own podcast too (A2+)

I quite like Smartere på 10 minutter as well because it's interesting and it's short and the presenter speaks in clear Oslo dialect. If you're still not used to listening in Norwegian, you can slow it down to half speed. (B1+)

Oppdatert is also not too long, the presenters speak quite clearly and it’s about current affairs (B1+)

E-books

While I absolutely do not endorse the author's awful transphobic views, I know a lot of people are interested in reading the Harry Potter books as a way to expand their vocabulary, and it sure would be a shame if you could find all the PDFs free online and not have to give money to that aforementioned author. (Side note: the translator uses "omforladels" as a translation for "sorry" which like no actual Norwegian person apart from maybe in some dialects uses ever. Also remember it’s a translation, and the translator has tried to maintain a sense of “Britishness”, so some of the language isn’t entirely natural)

You can also search ebooks by language (including Norwegian) and download them for free from here (definitely 100% not illegal in any way shape or form *shifty glance*)

If you prefer to buy Norwegian ebooks actually legally, you can do so here.

Youtube channels:

Special shoutout to Norwegian Done Easy because Markus is my italki tutor and he's awesome (plus I'm featured! So you can see my silly little face Norwegianing as hard as it can!)

Norsklærer Karense (I'm uhh not actually a fan BUT she has lots of useful videos for like A1-B2 level. There's also a lot of useful information about culture and moving to Norway and integration and test-taking)

Preben's Norwegian Academy (he's from Nord-Norge, so you get some dialect exposure too)

Norskkurset (it's not updated for a little while but there are some good videos there!)

Norwegian Teacher Karin (another one that's not updated for a while but still has some good videos)

Norwegian With Tor (for a little Tromsø dialect)

Hope that's enough to get you started/keep you going! Let me know if you have any questions :)

#ask #norwegian #norsk #resources #learning norwegian #norwegian langblr

[bluedalahorse]

Hey! I love your YR analysis posts, thank you so much for sharing your ideas with us! :) I'd love to hear your opinion on what you think happens in August's mind that allows him to look beyond Sara's class background when date her, given his obsession with defining himself by his status social standing. Thank you!

Hi! Thanks for reading my analysis; I’m glad you like it! I’ve been dreaming of answering an ask like yours for a long time, so I’m glad you popped up in my inbox. As it happens, I have a shorter answer and then a much longer answer prepared.

So, the first part of my thesis here is that August’s attraction isn’t rational. Feelings kinda happen however they’re going to happen, and people try to rationalize those feelings and make them make sense and fit into the frames they have for relationships. You are right to notice that August has to get past some mental blocks to get to the place where he sees Sara as a dating prospect at all. But once he gets there, he rationalizes her presence in his life using frames he understands.

Now, August doesn’t necessarily see status as something he has to earn. He sees it as something he already has and is owed more of, and as something with ideals he strives to live up to. Nonetheless, as much as August clings to his status to give himself a sense of stability in the wake of family trauma, his status is constantly in jeopardy throughout both seasons. This is what makes his behavior so erratic, and why he lashes out at others.

My (potentially controversial?) sargust theory is that Sara and August are attracted to one another from the earliest episodes of season 1, even if they don’t understand that as true at first. August’s understanding of his attraction to Sara changes over time, the same way his sense of security in his status changes. How he responds to Sara is tied together with how he responds to his perceived power in any given moment.

We often think of the ruling class as being tied to old, outdated traditions, and to some extent, that is true. But from my experience of working in proximity to people of considerable privilege, one of the ways they express that privilege is in how and when they move goalposts to fulfill their desires. Those who are privileged claim the power to write the rules, but also the power to decide what the few rare exceptions to those rules are. By the time August recognizes that he’s fallen in love with Sara and is willing to commit to her, he’s also decided to rationalize her as one of those exceptions.

It’s a little easier to see the evolution of his thoughts when you break his interactions with Sara down by half-season. Luckily, I had a meta started focused on what I see as the timeline of their relationship, so I was able to take what I’d already written and modify it to answer this ask. I’m putting this behind a cut, because it’s SUPER long. But hopefully it shows the shifts in his thinking and the ways he eventually ties Sara to his philosophy of exceptionalism. Feel free to read on if you’re curious…

(Content warning for most August topics, especially in this case toxic relationship dynamics and class-based sexual harassment.)

Intro: Framing Attraction

Before we start, we have to recognize some things about the nature of attraction. First, it’s important to realize that not everyone feels attraction in the same way or at the same pace. Wilhelm and Simon fall for one another pretty quickly, to the point where Simon makes an unambiguous move on Wilhelm at the end of 1.2. For all that Simon and Wilhelm still have a lot to understand about their feelings, Sara and August are both less in touch with their feelings and what they would want out of a relationship. In Sara’s case, we see her asking a lot of questions to the other girls that shows understanding her own feelings isn’t always easy for her. (I imagine one of the ways her AuDHD manifests is alexithymia, which, haha I relate tho.) August, meanwhile, spends so much time in cycles of self-denial and self-punishment that he’s gotten used to ignoring his own needs, whether that’s emotional needs or even needs around things like food and not over-exercising his body. As a result, what occurs between Sara and August is paced and dealt with in dialogue a little bit differently than the Wilmon stuff, but it’s just as dramatic.

Second, and less comfortably, we have to acknowledge that attraction is not always accompanied by purity of intentions or emotions, and that a person’s understanding of their own attractions can be influenced by outside social structures. As a result of these structures and systems, attraction can also be expressed in ways that are laced with disdain. (Patriarchy, for instance, gives heterosexual men an abundance of sexist language and tropes to draw on when describing or addressing women, even women they’re attracted to.) Hence August calling Sara a “freak” and berating her early on in the study hall scene. This is not to agree with the idea that A Little Boy Pulls On A Little Girl’s Pigtails Because He Secretly Likes Her, because that is a dangerous and harmful idea and I don’t subscribe to it. Rather, I want to examine how societally-influenced biases shape our ability to process and act on our feelings in a healthy way.

Sara and August sit at an intersection of class, gender, and neurotype that influences how they react to one another and initially prevents them from seeing one another as potential partners. Consider that an overwhelming amount of Western history and culture includes men who harass women into relationships, spouses complaining about one another, working class women getting taken advantage of by upper class men, and just general… *waves at all of that.* As much as we want to believe we’re now in the era of the emotionally honest softboy, these sexist, classist, and ableist influences are still very much with us, and we still see the kind of nonsense that’s out there nowadays radicalizing young men into crap behaviors toward women. We don’t have to be resigned to this in our own society, but we do have to acknowledge it and how it influences August. I mean, August can’t even express his attraction to Felice without being gross and offensive about it, and she’s of his class and therefore someone his biases nudge him to see as “marriage material” at first. So how is he supposed to recognize what he’s feeling about Sara and reframe it in a healthy way?

For what it’s worth, we can see how Wilhelm’s societal programming impacts his relationship with Simon, too. It’s not just the sexual orientation stuff, but the class stuff. We can see the little moments where Wilhelm starts to drift into “we can just hook up and have it be a secret forever.” We see how he tries to make things happen with Felice (and that’s additionally nuanced, because he and Felice are also performing Gender as Hillerska defines it.) The part where Wilhelm denies being with Simon in the video on live TV is really the apex of that kind of class-based thinking, that would let him just kind of have Simon be a secret guy on the side. 

Wilhelm however, unlike August, is much more willing to actively question his biases from the beginning of the series. He protests against being at Hillerska in the first place because he doesn’t want to be surrounded by people who parrot the ideas he was raised with and validate him on everything. Wilhelm wants his views challenged, even when he is periodically tempted to slide back into the habits of the upper classes. August wants his views reinforced, because he clings to his class status and social hierarchy as something that makes him feel grounded, and that’s always slipping away from him in a way it isn’t for Wilhelm. August eventually does push past his biases and see his attraction to Sara for what it is, but things go to hell again when he tries to assimilate her into his class-bound cultural norms.

1.1-1.3: August and Sara discover each other’s existence

In the first three episodes, August isn’t trying to assert his status by pursuing Sara. Instead, he’s pursuing Felice, who he insists that he wants to marry. (Marriage is, after all, a way to keep the noble classes going.) Still, there’s little hints about his future with Sara that we should be watching for, it’s just that neither Sara nor August quite knows the vibes they are putting out just yet.

I want to start by pointing out a moment of foreshadowing during the party scene in 1.1. August is giving Wilhelm his “we could murder someone and get away with it” speech which ends in the question of “who wants to be ordinary?” The Eriksson siblings enter the party right then, and the camera cuts over to Simon and Sara together. We’re following Wilhelm’s gaze at this point, and the camera is showing us his attraction to Simon, what with the way the way Simon is surrounded by colored light, all glow sticks and casual clothes and charisma. (I love this moment because it’s an immediate visual rebuke to August’s philosophy of exceptionalism and special-ordinary dichotomy; the special can be found within the ordinary, and there is so much beauty there.) We’re in Wilhelm’s head and being pulled along into his attraction to Simon. At the same time, August is shadowing Wilhelm the same way that Sara shadows Simon. From the start, we are being primed to see these two relationships as parallel. The camera isn’t quite ready to hint at full-fledged attraction yet, but it’s telling you to get ready for that attraction to develop and track it throughout the season.

In 1.2 and 1.3 we have moments of uncomfortable subtext. Consider the moment in 1.2 where August slides up to Sara and casually asks if maybe, could he please try some of her ADHD medication?

(Crap, I saved this but I forgot who made it. If someone tells me, I’ll credit them in an edit.)

I wouldn’t call their vibe consciously flirty or anything; that’s not quite what’s happening here. Sara’s initially buried in her book the way I am when a guy tries to talk to me on the metro. (She can be feeling attraction but still find the attention unwanted, which is important to mention. These things are complicated.) Still… there is a Vibe on August’s part. I say there is a Vibe because of how Simon reacts when he sees the conversation happening. Immediately Simon rolls in and plays the protective brother and is very never talk to my sister again. Which is about the 50 mg of Vyvanse, yes. But I find it hard to believe that this is not also about August potentially hitting on Sara, and Simon being worried about that.

As for 1.3, one place where there might be subtext about Sara’s feelings is the whole to-do over lunch tables. August is gatekeeping the Erikssons’ access to lunch as a way of flexing his power, and each Eriksson reacts in a way that’s quite telling. Simon is incensed, and uses it as the springboard for a (very justified) rant. Linda isn’t bothered; she is so cheerily sure it’s all just a misunderstanding and of course they’re going to be served in a minute. Sara… is quiet and withdrawn in a way that suggests she might be embarrassed by both her brother and her mother. Simon is unwilling to accept the rules while Linda doesn’t understand them. Sara’s worked so hard to learn the social rules and fit in, and here are her family members flagrantly ignoring the rules! In front of people! In front of… a person she might be developing a crush on, but knows she “shouldn’t” be? It’s not quite there until you think about it in retrospect, but that’s why Young Royals has so much rewatch value.

To be fair, both of these scenes are operating very much in the realm of subtext rather than text (and neither of them portrays a healthy sargust power dynamic.) It’s comparatively rare to encounter a heterosexual pairing who can’t quite find the words or social structures to articulate what they are, while the same-sex pairing they’re paralleled to knows very much that they care for one another. Wilhelm may struggle to label himself, but he understands that he desires Simon. Meanwhile, August is quick to claim a label and perform heterosexuality as a political stance, but doesn’t understand how nuanced and unexpected his desires can be.

I will also remind you that August and Rousseau are the same character, and that instead of giving us an overt, literal, absolutely excruciating Sara-August-Felice love triangle, Lisa dives into the horse subtext instead. A lot of what is under-the-surface in the early part of season 1 is expressed through the horse stuff!

1.4-1.6: Realization and Recognition

The second half of season 1 marks more of a transitional period in the sargust relationship. At this point, the subtext from before is rapidly beginning to surface in the text, and Sara and August are learning more about one another and trying to make sense of what they’re feeling about each other. There’s always been a vibe hanging between them, but now is really where they start to get pulled into one another’s orbit. At first, this looks like it’s going to conform to a toxic patriarchal paradigm, but that paradigm gets twisted a bit at the end of season 1.

Naturally the first scene that marks this shift is the one in 1.4 where August looking for Felice in the stables and encounters Sara instead. August’s immediate response to finding Sara alone is to try and sexually harass information out of her, which… is definitely uncomfortable again. We’ve got to acknowledge that in order to unpack this scene.

I’ve seen a lot of people argue that the stables scene is where Sara’s attraction begins, and I’m not sure if I agree with that. Sara’s inexperienced when it comes to relationships, but I don’t think she’s so pure and naive that August’s cocky performance is what sweeps her off her feet and makes her fall for him. We also know she isn’t taking what he says at face value, because one of the questions she asks him is what he really wants. Instead, it makes infinitely more sense to me that Sara’s already been attracted to August for a few weeks and is still kind of wondering what those butterfly feelings are in her stomach, and now here’s this extra bizarre social interaction (with added kissing that Sara doesn’t consent to but may have wanted under different circumstances) for her to hang those feelings on.

On August’s end… man. Why must this boy be such a can of emotional worms? I do wonder how much something is shifting in his head as he begins to hit on Sara. Most of those shifts are happening for him subconsciously. Maybe what he’s settling on in 1.4 is that, it’s fun to flirt with Sara to assert his social dominance that way, but at that point in the narrative he doesn’t think she counts as a long-term relationship/marriage material kinda girl the way Felice does.

Here I think it’s important to remember for that for most of Western history, wealthy upper class men weren’t shamed for pursuing women of lower classes on the side of their married relationships. (Sometimes these side relationships were more or less consensual relationships with mistresses, but other times men were just taking advantage of women who worked for them, and consent was impossible.) I’m not saying that August is thinking consciously about Sara being “available” for temporary amusement because she’s working class, but I am saying that’s the historical tradition of toxic masculinity that he’s been raised in. He does not expect to be caught and dumped for kissing Sara, because unconsciously he’s absorbed the upper class patriarchal programming that doesn’t even identify this behavior as cheating. It’s just a “fun” way to get the information he wants. (Ugh.)

Tl;dr it’s important to view August hitting on Sara in the stables not as August leaning awayfrom his upper class status, but rather as him trying to assert it. Yes, he does try to get Felice into a committed relationship with him to assert his status and masculinity, but now that he’s in a committed relationship with her he doesn’t feel any more secure in his status. So now he’s pulled Sara into his whole social class deal as well. (Ugh. UGH.)

That isn’t, thankfully, where August stays. 1.6 marks another key shift in his mindset toward Sara, because it’s where August sees a genuine connection between them for the first time. When Sara goes to confront August about why he leaked the video of Simon and Wilhelm, he corners her and offers to give her whatever she wants. Sara confesses her secret desire—to be a boarder at Hillerska and become one of its elite students. August’s reaction is fascinating, because there’s almost a quality of relief to it. Part of that, of course, is because he can easily buy her off. But I think it’s also because he’s finally not alone. It’s worth remembering that August has spent most of season 1 worrying about paying his tuition and the possibility that he might get kicked out of school. As Erik tells us before he dies, August made Hillerska his entire personality as a way of dealing with the grief over his father’s suicide. Sara, who is using Hillerska to escape her own family trauma, feels similarly about it as a space where she can feel more agency, and now she’s worried that her mother will pull her out of school.

(On Sara’s part, August’s behavior has become increasingly erratic over the course of the last few episodes, and I think she’s drawn to the idea that he might need help. I covered a little of this when I talked about Sara being the special horse girl who wants to tame the troubled horse, but we also see this come out in her friendship with Felice. She wants to help Felice when they first meet! Not to mention, one of the big things Sara gets in trouble for is revealing people’s secrets. If you think about it, August has revealed the biggest secret of the series by leaking the video about Simon and Wilhelm. As pissed as Sara is on Simon’s behalf—and people forget how pissed she is, in 1.6—she also understands what it’s like to have let a secret out and regretted it. Sara’s doing rationalizing of her own.)

I don’t know how much of that runs through August’s head in an obvious or logical way, but in his gut, he’s feeling this jolt of recognition. Sara feels it too. Sara sees him, and he sees her. The magnetic pull has finally brought them together, and when she kisses him, he kisses back. We’d be rooting for these kids as they found a genuine connection, if they weren’t also covering up a horrendous and harmful crime. Sigh! And know we know we’re in for some drama in season 2…

2.1-2.3: Liminal Companionship

Season 2 begins with both Sara and August in an in-between state, where neither of them quite fits into the world they’ve been placed in. Sara’s gotten her coveted boarder’s scholarship to Hillerska, but is rapidly becoming disillusioned with the amount of wealth her dorm mates take for granted. August, meanwhile, hasn’t had to leave school after all, but is convinced he could lose his status and freedom at any minute if anyone finds out he leaked the video. They don’t really discuss this directly, but it’s clear they feel more comfortable around one another because each of them has seen a side of the other the rest of the world isn’t aware of. Moreover, given the amount of discomfort each of them is feeling at the beginning of the season, it’s understandable that Sara and August would seek out one another’s company more deliberately.

It’s in this in-between space, where August feels like he’s lost so much of his Hillerska identity, that he finally starts to recognize that Sara is someone who can hold emotional space for him. At the same time, he goes back and forth between wanting to be vulnerable with her and keeping her at a distance. He breaks down and panics in front of her, causing her to teach him deep breathing, but then runs away after. He seems to like Sara, but he’s cautious about getting too close.

Sara and August’s physical relationship is also in a liminal state at this point in season 2, somewhere between an unexpected platonic friendship and a blossoming romance. Not that anyone should have to define a relationship if they don’t want to, but it’s almost humorous to me how you have this period between 1.6 and 2.3 where Sara and August keep touching and kissing and even grinding on one another and they just… keep acting like it’s happening for the first time. Like. Do we maybe want to communicate about that? No? Yes? Omg you kids are such teenagers, stop.

Sara takes the physical lead most of the time, which is a change from the aggressive predatory gender roles we see August performing in 1.4. I don’t think August is more passive because he isn’t interested (we see the way he lifts Sara up onto his desk in 1.6, and the way he laughs to himself after Sara leaves his room in 2.2.) I personally think this is more about August’s tendency to punish himself. His establishing shots in 2.1 are all about self-punishment and self-denial—the grueling exercise, the infamous bites of kale. We also see him refusing to fight for himself when Wilhelm starts maneuvering him out of his Hillerska positions. August is starting to give up in a big way, and at first he holds Sara at arms’ length because he isn’t letting himself indulge in anything that could bring him actual joy.

For that reason, we don’t really see a reciprocal ebb and flow develop between Sara and August until 2.3, when they finally more consciously choose to do relationshippy things and decide to have sex for the first time. One thing that really stands out to me in this scene is that August is so sure he’s doomed. He is genuinely convinced at this point that the palace is going to send him to jail and brand him a criminal for life. And now that he’s lower than he’s ever been at any point in the series, he’s weirdly somehow gained the ability to show compassion for himself. This is also the episode where he throws his pills aside and pats Rousseau (his narrative shadow) on the nose. If August is doomed anyway, and he’s about to lose everything, well, why not give in to his developing feelings for the girl who likes him back even if she knows he made a terrible decision? Maybe he thinks it’s his one chance to be with her.

I don’t know if August expects that he’ll fall hard for Sara. The reality is, by the time they’re together, he already has fallen for her. Suddenly, she’s a person he’ll fight to keep in his life. Suddenly, August doesn’t want to give up anymore.

2.4-2.6: Whose Cinderella fantasy?

The first time I watched season two, I wondered if August was going to approach Sara differently after his meeting at the palace. There was always the possibility that his (alleged) new security in life would influence him to cast her aside and go back to pursuing upper class girls. Instead what we see is that August is just as devoted to Sara as before—even more devoted, in fact. He invites her to the dance so they can debut together as a public couple. He sets up his room with candles and champagne and waits for her and there’s almost marriage proposal vibes about the whole thing and we all die of second-hand embarrassment when Sara texts to say she’s changed plans. August and Sara argue at the Valentine’s dance, causing August to backslide and start scheming again, but the minute she shows up and cries at his door about losing Rousseau, he takes her in and comforts her. He buys her the horse. He refuses to snitch on her in the field when Wilhelm has a gun pointed at his chest.

Anyway. We know August has very deep feelings for Sara, and it’d be easy to say his feelings run deep enough that he no longer cares that she isn’t high class. And his feelings do run that deep. But there’s another component too, when you think about how August is envisioning his future, and how Sara is part of that future. He’s happy to have her listen in on his phone call about the ten-year plan because he sees her as part of the ten-year plan.

After August’s meeting at the palace, he no longer sees himself as the heir to Årnäs, but rather as a prince in line for the Swedish throne. A noble is supposed to serve and protect the king by making an advantageous marriage and having sons—August explains this much in 1.4 when he’s talking to Wilhelm about the Society—but the king (in August’s fantasies at least) is ultimately at the top of the hierarchy and can bend the rules to suit his will. So August marrying who he wants is really an expression of kingly power, in August’s mind. Of course he can rewrite the rules for himself and marry Sara and make her his queen. He almost says exactly that out loud, when he promises never to hurt her and frames it as a royal oath. And while August and Sara never discuss having children, I’m sure August assumes it will happen someday. (That weirdo probably has names picked out and everything.) That means he’ll be able to fulfill one of the most important duties of kingship (especially in an era where a king’s powers are mostly symbolic) which is producing an heir and keeping the monarchy going.

Anyway, I actually do think that between Sara and August, it’s not Sara who’s caught up in the Cinderella fantasy—it’s August. He really wants to be the prince who rescues her from her ordinary life of drudgery and makes her dreams come true. Why? Because August loathes himself and can’t sit with his own flaws, and it’s more comfortable to imagine himself as Sara’s princely hero than as the guy who leaked the video. And he and Sara are soulmates, in August’s mind. He sees her ambition, and sees himself in it, and he wants to reward it. I don’t think that’s something he could see himself doing as the heir to Årnäs, but maybe it’s something he can do as heir to the throne.

Implicitly I think there’s an element of competition with Wilhelm, too. Sara and August’s fight at the Valentine’s dance brings that subtext bubbling to the surface. Sara is concerned about being in a public relationship with her a royal when she saw what happened to her brother after being outed. August replies, bitterly, that he isn’t Wilhelm, and accuses Sara of just wanting sex.

It’s worth unpacking this. As viewers, we know exactly how devoted Wilhelm is to Simon. But from August’s point of view, all he sees is Wilhelm disavowing Simon on live TV and not standing by him. Keep in mind, too, that the rumors of Wille and Felice’s hookup are traveling around the school at that time, and yet Felice and Wille are not attending the dance together, probably signaling to August that either a) Wilhelm treated Felice like a conquest and then pushed her aside, or b) Felice is a gold digger who took advantage of Wilhelm for her own gain. From August’s perspective, what he’s thinking is, he’ll be more committed and mature than Wilhelm. He will be a good partner. He’s not afraid of being seen with his Eriksson sibling, who he absolutely intends to take to the dance properly and stand in posed graduation photos with and probably marry someday. August is keeping score, and he also believes in his own hype. He’s infuriated that Sara can’t see how he’s different than Wilhelm. That’s why the moment he and Sara are back in each other’s arms in 2.5, he immediately leans toward rhetoric about making her his queen and staying with her long-term. I do think he genuinely means this, but we also can’t ignore that he sees himself as better than Wilhelm for it. He’ll do an unexpected fairy tale romance of his own and he’ll do it better than Wilhelm ever did, dammit!

Now if you’re very clever (and yes, this is me trying to channel the gravitas of Abigail Thorn) you’ll notice how actively ignorant and irrational August is being. He’s constructing a narrative about his relationship with Sara that ignores their rocky beginnings. To some extent, August doesn’t have a full picture of what’s going on in Wilhelm’s head, and he’s also assuming he’ll have a lot more free will as king than would actually be true. (We see this in another way, when he tells Jan-Olof he has some ideas about how to modify the Jubilee Day speech, and gets stopped from doing so.) But it still doesn’t stop August from dreaming about being able to write the rules for himself.

Well, of course August is actively ignorant. Systems of oppression thrive on the active ignorance of those at the top. That’s exactly what allows people in August’s position to think well of themselves and genuinely see themselves as good people (who occasionally make mistakes) rather than people running a system that perpetuates wealth disparities and patriarchy and inequality.

Conclusion: The Privileges of Inconsistency and Ignorance

To sum up: I genuinely do think that August is attracted to Sara from almost the beginning of the show. At first, his warped worldview causes him to ignore or lash out at or objectify her, and overall fail to treat her with respect. When it looks like he might lose all of his power, he does have a brief window where he can see her as a fellow human being who makes him feel less alone, and discovers his feelings for her in a new light. As soon as he’s spared by the royal court, however, he becomes consumed by the fantasy of being king and rewriting the rules to make Sara his queen. Being able to cast her in that role would go against convention, but it would also be the ultimate expression of his power and agency. Other people would still have to follow the rules, but August would get to break them, because the king gets to make the rules and be the authority on everything. This isn’t, of course, what Sara wants—but part of August’s hamartia is that he assumes he and Sara are on the same page.

Maybe this isn’t a popular opinion, but it’s upsetting to me that Sara and August didn’t get to connect under different circumstances. When they work together, they work. But by god do they need some therapy and a social revolution to boot. I 99% agree with (I believe) missbolt’s post on Sara and August, where she talks about them fulfilling a deep need in one another. The one place I disagree (possibly in a very nitpicky way that isn’t really disagreement) is that I do think August sees real ambition/struggle to survive in Sara, and I do think Sara sees real vulnerability/loneliness in August. These traits are real and not illusions. Because Young Royals emphasizes choices over “innate” moral personality traits, however, what Sara and August don’t foresee in each other is the choices and sacrifices the other is willing to make. Sara is willing to put aside her ambitions to try and make things right with her brother, while August shoves away his vulnerability to try and prove to himself that he’s worthy of power within a system that’s content to just use him and toss him aside when he isn’t useful anymore.

Neither Sara nor August really expects the other to make these decisions, and that’s what drives them apart. Sara’s choice will hopefully save her and allow her to reconnect with community; August’s choice will only further isolate him and drive him toward destruction if he doesn’t check himself and change course. August could stop this cycle of self-harm if he stopped subscribing the aristocratic ideals of masculinity, but he hasn’t yet. How infuriating! The amount of sleep I have lost over this fictional character’s terrible decisions, let me tell you.

(It kills me how gendered Sara and August’s sacrifices are, too. Sometimes I just think about it and I want to scream. But I can also appreciate the well-written tragedy of it all.)

I will also say that this reading of the characters influences my reading of the show at large. It’s part of why I’m not personally in favor of the monarchy sticking around and a Prince Consort Simon future. (I get why it appeals to other people and can read others’ fics based around that, but it’s not my personal preference.) It’s also why I can’t find hotness in the idea of Wilhelm being a sort of sexy masc dom prince who orders people around and pulls strings to make things more convenient for his precious Simon. August already exists in the narrative as a cautionary tale against that kind of power dynamic! There’s more to be said here about the way you can look at August’s choices compared to Wilhelm’s, and how they are foils to one another. Ultimately, there is danger in trying to rewrite an oppressive system in accordance with one’s individual whims, even when a person imagines something as noble as romantic love as being what motivates them.

Once upon a time, I was leaving @heliza24 a comment on the Heart and Homeland draft she sent me, and I said this:

“The road to democracy is letting aristocratic boys embrace their submissive tendencies.”

And… maybe I was being a little bit facetious. But on a symbolic level I think what I meant was, Wilhelm and August both have to envision themselves in new positions, possibly even as part of a new system, if they want to do right by the people they love. Moreover, they need to think beyond the people they love, and consider the impact of their power has on the world at large. They need to learn humility, to listen, and to manage their emotions. So far, it’s Wilhelm who’s succeeding in that kind of growth, and he doesn’t win that victory by trusting in his love for Simon alone. Instead, as I pointed out in my justice meta, Wilhelm needs therapy and community and the willingness to self-examine in order to move forward. He learns to stop focusing on winning Simon’s love like it’s a prize, and focus more on being the kind of person Simon would choose to be in a relationship with, while still acknowledging that ultimately the choice is Simon’s.

Will August eventually be able learn the same lessons? Only season 3 can tell for sure. I kind of hope he can figure it out eventually, against all odds, if only so he can one day heal from his trauma. He also has to radically accept that he caused harm toward Simon, Wilhelm, and others. If August wants to get there, he’s going to have to stop subscribing to the philosophy of exceptionalism, and instead start valuing the special within the ordinary.

#sara eriksson #young royals #august young royals #wilhelm young royals #young royals meta #my meta #oh no

[giggly-squiggily]

Umm, who hurt you?! What was your reason for dropping that on us?! Wow now I got to go and read ChiKuni fluff

Blue Lock hurt me- they know what they did :;) KJKJERkjaerkjekjkjarkjar It was a thing building up, I swear! That last episode...

Speaking of- I DO have a cute Kunigiri headcanon I've shared with a friend before that I'm gonna share with y'all now :D Under the cut for length!

-Okay so: Birthdays. I know in the most realistic canon situation Blue Lock is most likely taking the course of a school semester at best given how quick the matches are with only like- a few days between. (Exception being conditioning periods where they train between selections I believe those take around 6-8 weeks or whatever) but like- here me out.

-Birthdays honestly freaking suck in Blue Lock. It's not so much they're forgotten but rather unless it falls around or on a major holiday, you're stuck there for it. Yes, if you have the points built up you could leave for the day, but it also heavily factors in where you live in comparison to where Blue Lock that makes you wonder if taking the day is even worth it.

-That's kinda Kunigami's problem; his birthday doesn't fall around any vacation time, and he town he lives a good half-day out from the Blue Lock facility so even if he were to use his points to go home, there wouldn't be much of a celebration let alone reunion. He decides to help spare him the heartache to just pretend it doesn't exist.

-And for the most part- it works. No one knows his birthday's coming up and that's how he wants it to be. No one but a certain redhead that is. The thing is- Kunigami made the mistake of mentioning it what feels like a lifetime ago when they all first met. It was part of the whole "Introduce yourself" game they did and that was one of the prompts. Chigiri committed it to memory just because (not because he had a major crush on the ginger before he even knew his name- nope not at all what are you talking about?)

-So the day is here and Chigiri's just: "It's Kunigami's birthday holy-" Of course he doesn't say it outloud yet; it'd ruin the surprise if Kunigami knew he knew. He waits until the Hero's out of the room and in the process of showering before calling a small meeting among Team Z about the day. It's a collective gasp of "His birthday's TODAY?" followed by "Shhhh, not so loud!"s and "What do we do?"s. Thankfully, Chigiri's already got an idea.

-Two groups are made: Team keep the hero distracted and team set up the surprise. The first half is fairly easy; Raichi when desired is rather good at keeping Kunigami busy; lots of "Bet I could beat you in his" and "Is that all your made of?"s. If he can't keep him at bay, the others will. Meanwhile, Chigiri and Isagi cash in points to go out the morning. Naturally they have to tell either Anki or Ego where they're going, but that's also part of the plan cause they need them.

-To their good fortune, Anki absolutely loves the idea Chigiri had in mind and helps them out both financially and with the super important part of their plan. She's getting it all going while Chigiri and Isagi head to the nearest convenient store, getting the last of what's needed ready.

-By the time everything is set up, Kunigami's in the shower exhausted. He worked extra hard today due to the strange competitiveness of his teammates- maybe they realized he was down and tried distracting him? He kinda shrugs it off and heads out fully dressed-

-SURPRISE! He almost has a heart attack when the team screams at him. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The room was decorated with little party things they could find, their makeshift table a combination of convenient store goodies and hearty meals from the cafeteria. Among it all's a humble little cake with "Happy Birthday, Hero" sprawled across it (clearly in Iemon's handwriting- he's got the best in the room). A phone's playing music in the corner and everyone's got party hats because why not? He's so touched by the gesture he almost cries.

-And the party is going really well! They're all snacking and laughing, ribbing Kunigami some for not telling them, just having a great vibe all around. No one will say who's idea it was- though our Hero's got a guess.

-Then the real kicker happens. Ego's face comes up on the screen and everyone's just: "???" Until he's all: "Kunigami Rensuke, a message came for you." Before he fades out and the screen is replaced by-

-"Happy birthday Rensuke!" It's a video message from his parents! Instant tears, Kunigami's got his sweatshirt sleeve pressed against his mouth as his parents wish him a good day and remind him that they love him and miss him. They tell him how proud they are of him and what he's doing, and it's just sappy and sweet. His sisters come on next and it's even more teary when his oldest goes "Take home the gold, striker hero." And his baby sister with her little tooth gap and massive grin is waving at him with both hands going "We love you, Ren!"

-By the time the video is over the room's a mess- some more weepy than other's especially at how touched Kunigami is by it all. Isagi's joking about "It's his party, he'll cry if he wants to!" while barely fighting his own tears back and Raichi's mumbling something about onions and the room's laughing once more cause they're all just so happy for the ginger.

-It's much later in the night when Kunigami puts two and two together. He goes out to the cafeteria cause that's where he saw him go, finding the team princess filling his water bottle up and yawning sleepily after a day full of adventure. He doesn't get a chance to even greet him before Kunigami envelops him in a hug, all but lifting him off the ground. "You did all that for me."

-"It was a group effort." Chigiri says automatically, voice muffled against the warm fabric of Kunigami's sweatshirt. It's nice though, and he's suddenly hyper aware of the fact the hero smells nice and has equal parts muscle and squish along his body that feel really good to lay against and could easily pick him up and- oops he's crushing bad again.

-"I was just gonna pretend it didn't exist, my birthday." Kunigami lets him go some, eyes misty and smile so warm and kind it melt Chigiri almost immediately. "How'd you know?"

-"I guess a princess remembers his hero's special day." Chigiri just kinda shrugs but feels so stupid and cheesy with that line that he gets all embarrassed but Kunigami's living for it and hugs him again. "I know I've said this already but...happy birthday, hero."

-And Kunigami reaches out and brushes Chigiri's hair out of his face with such gentle fingers before he asks: "Thanks...hey, could I be selfish and ask for one more gift on my birthday?"

-"Sure, go for it." Chigiri doesn't know if it's midnight or not- he doesn't really care at this point.

-"Could I....could I kiss you?" He's so shy asking and Chigiri's over the moon with how bad he just wants to grab his collar and smash their faces together right now but he's gonna play it cool and make it special- fuck it.

-Some self restraint is used- Chigiri doesn't smash their faces together but he's not wasting time with slow beats either. It's like receiving a tall cold glass of water after a long hot summer day how amazing it felt to finally FINALLY kiss him. And Kunigami clearly feels the same when he's grabbing him by the waist and pulling him against him like he's the only thing keeping him leveled in a world without gravity. When they pull away, Chigiri's flushed and grinning and says against his lips "Nice enough of a gift, hero?"

-"Oh yes- can we do it again, princess?" And that's how their night goes, just two boys falling in love with each other under the cool lights of the cafeteria, water bottle forgotten and not a care in the world who walks in or is watching them in that moment.

Thanks for reading!

#blue lock #anime talks #kunigiri #kunigami rensuke #chigiri hyoma #fluff #team z #team z being the best they can be #birthdays #fluff after that painful angst sess the other night lols #I love them your honor #Kunigami deserves the world #jarkjekrjkjrakerkja #I swear the next few headcanons I write will be other fandoms lols #I'm just locked in right now to Blue Lock #cupcake-spice13 #friend :3 #Can't deny I cackled when I read your ask oakelrjaejkrjakr

[tokuvivor]

DuckTales Character Songs! (Part 2)

Alright, now we’re cooking here! This time around, I’m going to be focusing on important recurring characters that debuted in Season 1.

Again, giving some brainstorming credit on this to @glowyjellyfish, plus, also, a little bit to @shychick-52, since one of these is in her pinned list.

Flintheart Glomgold

Rasputin by Boney M.

Ah, Rasputin. The Russian mystic who wouldn’t die. And like Rasputin, Glomgold is a very fiery, polarizing character who will say and do anything to get to the top, even if he has to resort to power beyond his normal means (not unlike The 87 Cent Solution!)

Bradford Buzzard

Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

He didn’t really have a bigger role until Season 3, but he still counts for here! Anyway, Bradford is very serious, by-the-book, and business-oriented, so this song works perfectly for him.

Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys

Bad Boys by Inner Circle from Cops

Pretty self-explanatory here. Moving on.

Gyro Gearloose

The Scientist by Coldplay

Yes, the title is obvious. But the lyrics can be seen as speaking more to his guilt over his past actions (“Nobody said it was easy, it’s such a shame for us to part,” “I was just guessing at numbers and figures, pulling the puzzles apart,” etc.), such as what happened at Tokyolk and with the Spear of Selene.

Lena

Demons by Imagine Dragons

All throughout Season 1 (and even in later episodes), Lena had personal demons regarding Magica that she couldn’t easily shake. Like the lyrics said, she wanted to hide the truth from Webby and everyone else, but there was nowhere to hide. And she always kept up walls that prevented her from getting too close to people (“Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside.”) And even after she broke from Magica’s control, she was worried that she could still turn out bad, but with the help of others, especially Webby and Violet, she was able to overcome those demons in her mind.

Gladstone Gander

Life Has Been Good to Me by Randy Newman

Gladstone is a naturally lucky character. Whatever happens in the game of life, the dice roll in his favor. I guess other than the events leading up to and within The House of the Lucky Gander!, life is good to him.

Mark Beaks

How Bad Can I Be? by Ed Helms from The Lorax

Life is all about survival of the fittest at times. You gotta do what it takes to survive, even if it means screwing others over. That mindset is 100% Beaks to me. The last half of the song, especially, where the Once-ler is bragging about his business and building an economy, absolutely screams Beaks to me.

Zeus, Storkules, and Selene

Zeus: The Gospel Truth by Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman, and Vaneese Thomas from Hercules

Storkules: The Harder They Come by Jimmy Cliff

Selene: Song About the Moon by Paul Simon

I feel it would only be appropriate if I put the three deities of Ithaquack together. First off, I kinda had to throw a Hercules song in there somewhere, and this one brilliantly tells the story of how Zeus came to power. On the second note, Storkules is absolutely a pillar of strength, and he’s very determined, too. Just like the real-life myth and the movie, he will take on any and all opponents, no matter how big or daunting they may be. Finally, we have Selene, the goddess of the moon. The moon is very powerful, graceful, and beautiful, just as she is. The song here explains how in order to write a song about the moon, you need to capture its features, its essence. And in order to write a song about the heart or a face, tie it back to writing about the moon. It just shows how influential the moon can be, just as Selene is in making decisions as a goddess.

#ducktales #ducktales music #flintheart glomgold #bradford buzzard #ma beagle #beagle boys #gyro gearloose #lena ducktales #gladstone gander #mark beaks #zeus ducktales #storkules #selene ducktales #boney m #bachman turner overdrive #inner circle #cops tv show #coldplay #imagine dragons #randy newman #ed helms #the lorax #the muses #hercules #jimmy cliff #paul simon #Spotify

[hms-no-fun]

hey can you just generally ramble about your terezi (and (terezi)) choices? I am interested in your process for her characters this chapter.

yeah! naturally i have a lot to say about a lot of things so spoilers for godfeels 3.2 A1 solo below the break!

let me just start this by saying that (Terezi) has been the BIGGEST pain in my ass of the entire core cast since beginning godfeels 3.

getting A1 out the door in general has been something of a nightmare, in part due to inconvenient irl circumstances but also because this track had a LOT of heavy lifting to do. Double Album is an ambitious project --too ambitious, arguably, considering how much time it takes to write (lots) and how little it pays (nothing)-- and this first glimpse into what's to come needed to do a lot of recapping prior events, moving pieces around on the board, clarifying character motivations, giving everyone a reason to be staying/going, and setting up several hefty dozens of plot threads in both major and minor ways, all while simultaneously being entertaining enough to read that old and new readers alike don't just get bored and peace out before we even get to the stuff that this story's actually about.

i think on balance A1 is going to wind up being sort of an odd duck among the tracks for this reason. i've been thinking of it as sort of a pilot episode, very much in the mold of the pilot of LOST whose very minimal flashbacks belied the load-bearing structural centrality that the flashback device would come to occupy in the series. but it's also a pilot episode for a series that's already three seasons in, which just further complicates the logistical job it needed to do. here again i took inspiration from LOST (get used to this comparison, btw-- everything from chapter 8 onwards has been/will be heavily inspired by LOST in theme and structure), where the season openers always had to pull double duty of cleaning up the mess from whatever bomb dropped in the season finale to completely change the status quo AND giving the core cast time to acclimate to the new status quo in a way that sets the audience up for what this season's gonna be about. it's a fun and punishing challenge that takes a lot of trial and error. there have been so many versions of A1 that all conveyed largely the same information in completely different ways to wildly different ends.

i'm glad i put that work in, because i'm really proud of how A1 ultimately turned out. i think it accomplishes the goals i set out for. and in a serial work like this you just don't get a chance to redo your first episode. if this part didn't work, if every character wasn't utilized with absolute precision, everything that followed would be at a disadvantage. i feel more confident in the future of this side of the story than i did when i first started writing it. but it was hard!

and at the center of that challenge was (Terezi), the character whose desire to go with Silverbark is easily the most obvious of the departing cast and yet simultaneously the most mysterious. i have a document for every writing project where i save cut material just in case, and the one for A1 is over 8000 words. of those, just shy of half are scenes involving (Terezi). because ever since the start of gf3, she's been a delightful, infuriating wrench in all my plans. it's easy enough to understand why she would want to go with Silverbark, but what does she feel about it? how does she feel about what she did to June, what June/Risk did to her, or about the state of Earth C today, and especially about the medicated domestic 30-something Vrisrezi who've just shown up out of the blue?

i wrote the dream strangulation scene in 3.1 chapter 1 knowing it would put a dent in her and June's relationship that would be a pain point through the rest of 3.1, but i'd always planned for them to get on better terms before the end (until Vrisrezi showed up, at which point all that progress would be painfully backpedaled). but as soon as she left the house, (Terezi) completely closed herself off and refused to come to the table again. throughout gf3 and especially chapter 8 i tried to find ways to let her talk about what was on her mind, and she just wouldn't. the Host-intruded memory of them getting into an argument watching Consort Jerry Springer and the birthday flashback where (Terezi) eats leafs both wound up defined in their conflict by (Terezi)'s own silence, her refusal to say what's really bothering her. even as she opens up some in the latter scene, she remains infuriatingly closed off to Risk and us. the question she thinks she's answering is why she's uncomfortable on Earth C, but the question June and Risk are really asking is, why am i not good enough to make this place feel like your home?

this is a dominant theme of Divergence Syndrome-- characters ensconced in noise looking for silence, or characters sick of silence hurtling mortally towards cacophony. the strict meaning of silence vs noise change depending on the person. all the circus flashbacks are moments where characters just can't quite bring themselves to say the thing they really want to say. silence and noise, secrets and truth-- you might draw some comparisons here between this theme and the concept of Voidthought as introduced in A1. i try not to push my hand when it feels like characters don't want to be accessible. it's easy to want to give everyone center stage all at once, but it gets to being too much very quickly. you've got to pick your battles, give everyone their moment when the time is right, when you and they both feel ready for it.

but with (Terezi) i genuinely was like. hey. tell me the thing you really want to say. give me something to work with here. i'm trying to understand how you got here from where we left you in gf2. were you just lying when you said you loved how unpredictable June was? were you lying to Kanaya when you said you liked how boring Earth C was compared to Alternia? what changed in those eleven months between gf2 and gf3 and why didn't i see it until it was too late?

and she just WOULDN'T. every time i've tried to get her talking it felt forced and wrong. she only talks in narration when she wants to. she refuses to humor her guilt even to herself. i wrote a complete version of the scene in Dave's room where Silverbark is much, much meaner, just to try and get a rise out of her. but it was so out of character, it was too much, too forceful. you just can't drag secrets out into the open like that. not with a Mind player as stubborn as (Terezi).

that scene was for me, really. i needed to write it because i was mad at her. i won't share it here because i think quite a lot of it will end up recycled in some form down the line. i don't exactly want to give the impression that (Terezi) is a distinct entity, because none of these characters are. it's more that i see the narration itself, and each characters' varying awareness of it, as having strict rules and boundaries. there's that moment at the end of A1 where Vriska pops into the narration just to say, actually no i don't want my feelings on display right now. i'd planned to have a whole lot of prose there! but when i wrote that interjection, it felt right. it showcases a different form of closing one's self off-- where (Terezi) is doing bullheaded self-harm in her silence, Vriska there is being mature and recognizing that sometimes you just have to let things go. good characterization in this story isn't just about dialogue. every word you read is a function of character in some form. 3.1 was narrated largely by VV. 3.2's narration/structure is what i've been calling "paramniscient epistolary" --basically a roving narratorial eye that can take the form of disconnected third person narration but give way to direct influence from characters whenever they desire. the epistolary part will make more sense come future tracks. but all of that is to say that yeah, to let that device be honest in what it is, to really fulfill VV's promise of letting these characters have genuine agency, i need to be willing to step back and let them be obtuse sometimes.

the original version of that scene between (Terezi) and Silverbark broke rules i didn't yet know, and it taught me a lot about what this story wants to be. gf2 was so much about June expositing her every thought, having revelations, working through shit, coming to terms with her Self. gf3, at least so far, is the opposite. (Terezi)'s lack of answers, her refusal to self-examine, is a protest against the kind of sincerity that June often embodies.

the horror of encountering a Terezi who's well-adjusted and happy is that for (Terezi), it feels inevitable. like a death sentence, a sword hanging over her neck. it's proof that if she ever got what she wanted, she would have to lose so many of the things that she still feels are essential to her Self. i think she tried to force herself to get better in gf2, under the assumption that simply being with someone you love who loves you is enough. but getting better requires work. i don't like the pervasive idea in fiction that couples getting together is the Solution to interpersonal problems, because it's not. it can help! but when you're accustomed to being alone, it's easy to stay alone even when you share every waking moment with someone else. i think Terezi is proof to (Terezi) that getting better takes work, and she despises the notion that she needs to do that work, that this version of her "getting better" is obviously preferable to who she is now. it's revealing that she imposes parentheses on herself so immediately upon meeting Terezi. it's worth noting that when Vriska tries to talk to (Terezi) in the A1 solo, she doesn't use those parentheses.

i think (Terezi) knows that if she even started to have a conversation about all this stuff, she'd lose. there are so many little moments where you can see her resolve shake a little. her harshness is a manifestation of instability. to open that door even a crack is to consent to demolishing the whole house. so she closes herself off altogether. she tells Terezi she'll kill her if she speaks to her again, and when Vriska begs her to seek help, (Terezi) spits in her face.

infinite credit to janet girlpillz for all the art in A1 solo but this panel especially. it took a lot of work to get the mood and tone just right. i cannot overstate how lucky i feel to have her in my camp. this moment would be nothing without her.

it was important for me that the impact of this particular patooie be almost entirely on (Terezi). Vriska's shocked, yes, but in the way of being interrupted mid-sentence more than anything. i wanted to see the moment right before Vriska can emotionally process what's just happened. nonverbal, not overly emotive, surprised, taken aback. but not mad. not sad. not angry. it's (Terezi) who's angry. Vriska laughs it off pretty fast once the fluttersled departs, because she sees the gesture for what it is. it's not really about her or for her. it's (Terezi) kicking the dog to chase it away, maybe because she thinks its for the dog's own good, or maybe because she just doesn't want the responsibility of taking care of a dog, except she IS the dog and she might not even know it.

as to (Terezi)'s turn towards "Justice," i'm not even sure she really believes it. does she actually think June is guilty of a crime? or is this just an extremely elaborate means of tethering her fate to the woman she used to love? and in fact, is that love truly in the past tense for her?

right now, (Terezi) and the rest of the crew are in a state of transition, carried forward by the high-stakes manic momentum of chapter 8 into a new life with new rules without really knowing what that actually entails. i think their commitment to any idea of their role in that future is highly precarious, especially as we proceed out of that manic phase into what will, eventually, become the new normal. right now their motivations are all hypothetical, contingent, abstract. that is not enough in the long term. it will take something real, something personal, to get them not just to stay in Silverbark's company, but to live there. Silverbark has sown the seeds of these in each of her conversations with the core cast. but to paraphrase VV, their ultimate reason for choosing to do what they will do is theirs to decide.

it wouldn't take much to shake (Terezi) out of her present self-destructive funk. it's just that there aren't very many things that could, and most of them are on Earth C. the question for me going forward is, what will it take to transform (Terezi)'s present verve for becoming "a detective" from an elaborate larp into a genuine career conviction? she can't maintain her delusion of moral superiority without that. (Terezi)'s a real piece of work but i don't think she enjoys lying, even and perhaps especially to herself. but she is a serial lifelong liar-by-omission. the currency of her deception is silence.

and that's something that (Terezi) and Silverbark have in common.

my final note (dear god does this woman ever shut up) is on the characterization of Terezi. she obviously doesn't get many lines in this chapter, and that's interesting. I have a hard time imagining that even a medicated 30-something Terezi is particularly good at holding her tongue. part of it is just sheer practicality. there are ELEVEN characters with speaking roles in this chapter, and of those Terezi is the least... i don't want to say "important," because she IS important. least relevant, maybe? none of this interpersonal drama has anything to do with her. when you think about it, Terezi is in a similar position now to the one Silverbark was in when she returned to Earth C. older, wiser, fundamentally different, while simultaneously stepping into the role her less mature younger self occupied in all these people's lives. i think she recognizes that the only thing she can do in this situation is cause trouble, so she mostly avoids contributing altogether. her home base in the scene is Vriska, until at last the space opera drama mamas fuck off to their Very Important Story and she can safely make jokes again. wow, what a bitch. let's go get omelettes.

it'll be interesting to see (when we get to it, which will be a long time from now) how Terezi fits in with Jane and Karkat, and on Earth C in general. how will the media respond to her? how will culture at large respond to her? jesus christ man, it's gonna be such a fucking mess.

anyway, those are some rambling thoughts on Terezi and (Terezi)! i hope your thirst is sated, or at least that you didn't drown.

#godfeels #homestuck #sarahposts #terezi #(terezi) #vriska #silverbark #characterization #fanfic #writing

[am-i-obsessed---maybe]

Drop-zone (Shadow Of A Bluejay Ch.3)

Coming back to this series after over a year!

I honestly forgot how easy writing was when 90% (figuratively) was transcribing an existing episode.

But seriously it's fun to come back to this even though I'm not super active in the fandom anymore

Main Masterlist

Series Masterpost

Wordcount: 2.8k

Warnings: canon typical violence

Star City July 22nd, 18:03 PDT

You adjusted the strap of the duffle bag hanging over your shoulder.

"You'll do great kiddo" Ollie said and you rolled your eyes.

"I know. This isn't my first mission. It isn't even my first mission without you" You told him.

"Give them some space Ollie. They'll do great. I'm sure of it" Dinah said and kissed the top of your head.

"Thanks Dinah." You said, put a pair of dark shades over your eyes and stepped into the zeta-tube.

"Recognized, B-01, Bluejay"

You weren't the first to arrive at the cave. Robin and Aqualad were already there, both in civvies. Like yours Robin's eyes were covered with dark shades.

"It is good to see you again Bluejay" Kaldur said and you nodded.

"Where's everyone else?" You asked.

"Superboy is on his way back with Miss Martian and Kid Flash has yet to arrive" He replied. "That sounds about right" You said and put down your duffle beside what you assumed was Robin's bag.

Unlike Kaldur, who's costume was probably under his jacket or Miss Martian who could change into her uniform with just a thought the two of you had to carry yours around with you.

Within a few minutes Wally ran in from the Cave's main entrance and Superboy and Miss Martian came in as well, followed by Batman. He turned on the cave's main computer and projected your mission behind him.

"Isla Santa Prisca. This Island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo steroid. A strength enhancing drug sold under the street name Venom." You explained and the images of the island quickly changed to blueprints and maps of a factory.

"Infrared heat signatures indicate their factory is still operating in full capacity but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in. This is a covert recon mission only." Batman emphasized. "Observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene it will."

And then The boy wonder Robin asked the most important question.

"So who's in charge?"

"Work that out between you" Batman instructed and sent you all on your way.

Caribbean Sea July 22nd, 20:08 ECT

"Drop zone A in 30" Miss M announced and you and Kaldur both stood up, your seats on the bioship melting into the rest of the craft.

The plan Batman explained had two dropzones. Dropzone A where you and Aqualad would be dropped into the ocean about half a mile away from the shore where the two of you would then swim to the island and patch over the heat and motion sensors, allowing Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy and Miss Martian to fly to drop-zone B undetected.

You placed a rebreather over your mouth just as Miss M opened a hatch under your feet and you and Aqualad both dove into the sea. Kaldur could swim incredibly fast by nature of being an Atlantean but you used your flight to maneuver quickly in the water. It wasn't as fast as flying but it was faster than most swimmers.

Within minutes Aqualad  made it to shore and patched the sensors. The rest of the Team moved on to drop-zone B while you made it to shore and put away your rebreather.

"I always think I can keep up with you and I'm always wrong" You say  to lighten the mood and Kaldur chuckles.

"Now is the time where I must keep up with you" He said as the two of you made your way into the island's jungle.

It took them a few minutes to make it but Miss M's voice came over your radio.

"Aqualad, Bluejay, drop B is go" She said.

You couldn't respond seeing as you were busy flying Kaldur over a cliff in the jungle but he told her that the two of you would track their GPS while they headed for the factory.

You and Kaldur stayed silent as you made your way to the rest of the team. An aspect of covert missions They didn't seem to understand as you heard them bicker over the radio.

"Superboy, KF, we're almost at your location. Switch to infrared and check if we're being tracked" You said and Wally and Superboy each found a squad that was heading your way.

Not a minute went by and you heard gunshots from their direction.

"Is everything okay?" You asked.

"Yeah, the two squads found each other," Wally said.

"Swing wide, steer clear" Kaldur ordered.

"Yeah, yeah, just as soon as I find Rob" Wally said and promptly tripped, falling between the two squads.

"Are you kidding me?" You muttered and picked up Kaldur, deciding that flying would get you to your teammates faster than running.

As was expected once the team was found a fight broke out. Superboy went straight for Bane who was leading one of the squads. Robin jumped down from the trees and took out goons while Kid Flash dodged bullets and regained his footing.

You were almost there, you could hear more bickering over the radio and arrived just in time to knock out the last goon.

The six of you tied up both squads of now knocked out goons (and Bane) and regrouped.

"I recognize those uniforms, they belong to the Cult of the Kobra" Robin said.

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa prisca's Venom operation" Kaldur added.

"Agreed" You and Robin said.

It became clear that the Kobra Cult had overtaken the island from Bane and his goons.

"We get it, Kobra wanted super cultists, mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for—"

You cut Wally off. "Except the cultists aren't on Venom. They don't have any of the signs. Kobra must be hoarding it. I don't think our mission is done yet."

"Agreed" Robin said.

”We’re not leaving until I know why Kobra’s hoarding this stuff” Robin said. 

“Until you know why?” Wally questioned. 

“Yeah, this team needs a leader,” Robin retorted. 

“And it’s you? Dude you’re a 13 year old kid who ducked out on us without a word” Wally said. His tone was harsh but not mean. Robin laughed. 

“And you’re a mature 15? You blew our cover first chance you got” Robin threw back and you massaged your temples. You loved the two of them. They were your best friends but they could get on your nerves. 

You looked at Kaldur as they argued. He was the oldest member of the Team at 18 with you following behind at a slightly younger 15. (Still a month and a half older than Wally as you liked to remind him)

M’gann and Superboy didn’t really count. Their experience of their age wasn’t usual. 

“Are you gonna step in?” You asked Kaldur and he shook his head. 

“Are you?” He asked. 

“Maybe to slap them.” You muttered and Bane seemed to find your team’s disorganization funny as he laughed at your squabbling. 

“Such clever ninos, but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, I can get you into the factory via my secret entrance” He said and you stared him down. 

Why would he help you?

“There is a secret entrance but he’s also hiding something” Miss M confirmed. 

“It’s not that complicated. The enemy of my enemy is my friend” Bane said. 

You all looked between each other and agreed. For now you’d let Bane show you to the factory but as you walked Superboy pulled you aside. 

“I don’t trust him. He was talking earlier, I didn’t get all of it but it isn’t good” He said and you nodded. 

“Sounds about right. We’re on the same side but only until he has the chance to get his island back” You told him. 

Bane led you to a cliff overlooking the factory where you had a good vantage point to see Kobra preparing the Venom for a buyer. 

“We need to identify that buyer” Kaldur said. 

You kept your eyes on Bane. If he was going to pull something, he would do it now. 

He moved a large boulder revealing an entrance to the factory from the cliff through some old mines. 

“So now el luchador is our leader” Wally grumbled and you pulled him into the mines by the ear. 

“Come on” 

“Ow, ow, I’m coming, stop pinching” Wally whined as he followed into the mines. 

Bane opened the gate to the factory and after making sure the coast was clear you snuck in. Within seconds Robin was gone and KF ran off trying to find out who the buyer was before him, as if this mission was some kind of competition. 

“While Wonder Bird and Mr. Speedy Gonzales have their little contest let’s see what we can find from here” You said and flew up to a higher perch to see the shipment being prepared. 

“It’s a massive shipment” Aqualad said. 

“Yeah but look, they’re only taking new product off the line. They’re not touching the old stuff” Superboy added. 

“Maybe freshness counts?” Miss M asked. 

“Or maybe they’re different. Maybe Kobra changed the recipe” You said. 

“There’s a helicopter coming” Superboy warned. 

“Miss Martian, can you use your camouflage to get closer and see who the buyer is?” Aqualad asked and Miss M nodded, stealthily flying off. 

Meanwhile you helped fly Aqualad and Superboy up to a rafter to better stay hidden. You decided to let Bane find his own way up. 

“Sportsmaster is the buyer.” Aqualad said after receiving a mental image from M’gann. He immediately tried to reach Red Tornado back at the cave over radio while you tried to reach Robin and Kid Flash to tell them to regroup.

“Ugh, I can’t reach the league. It’s all static” He groaned. 

“Robin and KF are blocked too. They probably jammed all radio communication” You said. 

“We need a plan, now.” Aquald said.

“I have a suggestion” Bane said and screamed as he jumped down from the rafter. 

Both you and Kaldur looked at each other, confused as to his plan until a monster jumped through the window above, taking down the rafter you were all on in an attempt to get to bane. 

You caught Aqualad, floating him down safely while Superboy safely landed. 

The mammoth of a creature roared and while looking at it you realized this thing had probably been given this new Venom.

You braced for a fight as Superboy tackled Mammoth and you and Aqualad took on the goons, more and more of which were coming. 

The ruckus also caught Robin and Kid Flash’s attention, finally bringing them back to the rest of the team as you tried to hold off the Kobra cult. 

“I thought you learned not to run off” You told Wally as you kicked a goon who was aiming at him. 

“It was fine” He said, brushing it off and quickly taking cover behind a support column. A cover where you quickly joined him in an attempt to avoid the bullets being fired at you by the Kobra cult. 

That’s when your most hated sensation returned and you felt someone in your mind. You hadn’t heard Kaldur tell M’gann to psychically link you all. 

Your hands flew up to brace your head as you groaned and Wally put a comforting hand on your shoulder. “Hey it’s alright” He told you out loud and after taking a breath the panic subsided. 

“We need to regroup” Kaldur said through the link. 

“A bit busy now” Robin replied.

“Robin. Now.” Kaldur said and with a groan the boy wonder ran in. 

The six of you ran back into the mines. At some point Bane had gotten away but that wasn’t important now. 

The metal door didn’t hold for long and you all ran or flew as fast as you could while dodging the bullets being fired at you. 

“Superboy the support beams!” Kaldur said and Superboy nodded, punching the nearest beam and collapsing the mine, leaving you cut off from the factory. 

With the threat of the cultists gone you all stopped to regroup. 

You pulled a small but effective lantern out of your belt that lit the mine blue. 

“Ugh, how could my first mission as leader go so wrong?” Robin questioned.

“You do have the most experience but perhaps that is exactly what has left you unprepared. Fighting alongside Batman your roles are defined. You two do not need to talk, but this team is new and a leader must be clear. He cannot vanish and expect others to play parts in an unknown plan” Kaldur said, trying to comfort Robin. 

“Oh so I’m supposed to hold everyone’s hand?!” Robin asked. 

“Not hold hands but explain. Communicate. This team isn’t a well oiled machine yet. It’s still building” You stopped. You had planned to simply comfort Robin but—

“Maybe we need someone who’s already used to very clear communication.” You said and looked at Kaldur. 

Robin followed your line of sight and smiled. 

“I agree, I think Kaldur should lead us” He said. 

“Please! I can run circles around him!” Wally explained and you turned your eyes to him, raising a questioning brow. 

“Come on, you know he’s the one. We all do” Robin said. 

M’gann agreed. “Hello Meghan! It’s so obvious” 

“Could’ve told ya” Superboy agreed and with that even Wally was convinced. 

Kaldur looked between all of you, he walked up to Robin, “If it is unanimous then I accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders” He said, looking down at Robin. 

“You were born to lead this team, maybe not now but soon” He told the boy wonder. You had some sarcastic replies to that but they would have to come later. Robin needed this comfort. 

“Alright, our first priority is preventing that shipment from leaving this island.” Aqualad announced. 

Though Bane tried to stop you, you ultimately made it back to the factory the long way and just in time to stop the shipment. 

KF went in first and then Superboy and Aquqalad worked together to take on Mammoth while Robin took on Kobra himself. 

Miss M was about to join them when you stopped her.

“Can you place these bombs while camouflaged?” You asked her, holding out a handful of bombs you kept in your utility belt. She nodded. 

“Then you go, I’ll hold off sportsmaster” You said and she did as you said. 

“Hey Sportsmaster! You’re awfully far from Coast city” You said as you tackled him. 

“Well if it isn’t Canary’s little bird” He said as he dodged your attack. You were familiar with Sportsmaster in more ways than he knew and knew his fighting style well. More than well enough to keep him busy and when Miss martian was done to take a hit enough for him to think he could escape. 

“Thanks for the workout Birdy but i gotta fly” He said and took off in the helicopter. 

You looked at Miss Martian as she uncamouflaged and she smiled. 

When Sportsmaster was far enough away you detonated the bombs and watched as his helicopter blew up above the island. 

With the Shipment dealt with, the only one left was Kobra. Robin had done well but not nearly well enough. But as he saw his goons gone, his factory ablaze and the shipment of his Venom destroyed he ran, somehow managing to disappear into the shadows of the jungle. 

WIth the bad guys beaten and the comfortable breeze of the jungle to calm your nerves you dusted off the dirt and grime that had covered your suit during your fight with Sportmaster. 

Robin turned from the forests where Kobra disappeared to look at the team. He smiled and Aqualad. 

“We picked the right guy to lead… Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman” He said, laughing and you joined him.

“Good luck Kaldur” You told him. 

Mount Justice July 23rd, 10:01 EDT

Turns out just because Kaldur had to break the news to Batman doesn’t mean he’ll be the only one reprimanded. Batman bit into all of you pretty hard but what surprised you was the praise that followed. 

“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is what determines success and how you choose who leads determines character” He said before dismissing all of you. 

“Looks like Batman agrees with our choice of leader” You joked once he left. 

“It seems so,” Kaldur agreed, though somewhat sheepishly. 

“So what now? We each just go home?” Wally asked. 

“Well it’s a fresh morning, how about we all change back to civvies and we can go to a diner. There’s a really great place I know in Star City” You said and with a lot of nodding it was agreed. 

#dc young justice #young justice season 1 #gender neutral reader #gn reader #dc x reader #young justice x reader #metahuman reader #shadow of a bluejay #reader insert #gn!reader #gn reader x dc #yj x gender neutral reader #yj season 1 #yj x reader

[areyoudoingthis]

I've been trying to figure out why I had such an easy time accepting izzy's rehabilitation in these past two episodes, when I was still so very upset about it after the first three. and I think it was (duh, of course) due to the lovely job ofmd did portraying the journey from where the characters were (a terrible place, most of them) to where they're going (healing, safety, community), even tho it they have only half an hour per episode and a bunch of them to follow around.

they showed us they all essentially went through similar things: the discomfort of not fitting right back in with your loved ones (the headbutt, ed's anger, the crew scrubbing at the nonexistent blood stains, izzy hobbling around), the distress of not knowing who you are or where you fit now (wearing a scratchy sack and a bell, ending up in an armed standoff with your friends, drinking and yelling at an inanimate mythical animal, not feeling like you're captain on your own ship), and then the coming together with your loved ones to engage in some deep, soul cleansing healing (making a leg for izzy, laughing with the mops, inventing new food, crying at the note and accepting the role as ship's figurehead, whittling a small shark as a gift for someone going through a hard time, proposing to your boyfriend, fishing with fang and apologizing honestly and without hesitation, sacrificing something you love for the wellbeing of your crazy, superstitious family and being embraced and respected by them.)

it didn't matter what they'd been through or the ways in which they hurt each other, because they all missed the good old days on stede's revenge, and they all wanted to get to a better, happier place as soon as possible, apologies welcome but not required (the one "required" apology was entirely ridiculous and played off as a joke for that very reason, because you can't demand apologies, you work on fixing your relationships at the pace the people involved can, you can't set timelines and deadlines for it.) and for once instead of standing out like a sore thumb, izzy got swept into the environment of kindness and healing that reigns on stede's ship, and it felt natural.

it also definitely has to do with the fact that they very smartly kept him and ed apart while all of this was happening, proving that they understand that some situations are heavier and dealing with them can't be rushed. if they'd had izzy apologize to ed straight away it wouldn't have worked, just like ed wasn't ready to hear I love you from stede and throwing him overboard didn't fix lucius, I think it wouldn't have helped and it might have made things worse. I do still think ed would benefit from hearing izzy acknowledge that he fucked up, to reinforce what he told himself via mr latch "it's not your fault you're broken. you didn't break you. just trying to do your job, weren't you?", as he's departing from the blackbeard persona and figuring out who he wants to be now that's he's allowed to have softness again. I think it would also be interesting to see how that acknowledgment impacts izzy's own growth away from his obsession with being blackbeard's right hand man, and where they land after that, if anywhere (I'm still not sure that relationship can be rebuilt, but sometimes an apology isn't about that, it's about moving on in a healthier direction.)

#these episodes were just so soft #i almost cried again writing this #soft soft soft squishy show #ofmd spoilers #alex watches ofmd