#//Simon happy Entity is with Simon here

[frogchiro]

🐙 here!

love monster!simon

imagine waking up with him on a lazy Sunday morning. you wake up with all the blankets pushed to the floor. why would you even need them?

bc Simon is literally your own personal heater.

he rumbles every time you nuzzle right under his chin. his arms feel like they sear into your body because he’s so warm and it’s so cold.

he will purposely purr and chuff at you to make sure you don’t leave. he gives you a small pout and you’re suddenly back in bed when you were trying to leave.

he takes the time to slowly scent you. rubbing the tip of his nose over your throat and nipping at the area between your shoulder blades. he’s just so excited that you’re here with him. in his nest. letting him scent you.

may or may not lead to soft sweet lazy sex in the morning just because you smell so good. and it’s even better when you smell like him.

monster!simon who absolutely adores you and won’t let you leave the nest for the day because it isn’t safe. stay here. with him 🥺

HELLO OCTOPUS!! this is way overdue too but I keep rereading it from time to time and I absolutely adore monster Si ;;

And he adores lazy days off! Especially when he's back from deployment and he needs to 'recharge' and what way could possibly better than spending the whole time glued to your side!

fem!reader, nsfw but it's really nothing big and incredibly fluffy <3

Since he's a monster, a creature, entity, eldricht being; whatever you call it, he sees you as his mate, someone who cares for him and he cares for in return, and his version of caring is keeping you in your nest where its drowning in his scent and he knows it's safe! He'll loudly voice his displeasure if you try and move away from him in the morning, chuffs and rumbles leaving his maw as he just hugs you impossibly closer, hooking his leg over yours and fully encompassing you with his massive body.

Scenting and marking is also incredibly important to him; what better way than to show everyone that you belong to him than having you drown is his scent and bite marks litter your throat and chest. Will absolutely melt into and eldricht horror pile of goo if your nuzzle under his stubbled chin and neck OR lick his cheek <3

Also soft possessive lovemaking in the morning is his favorite thing ever <3 It definitely won't be his usual rough domineering pace meant to release pent up stress or the heat induced brain clouding fog telling him to breed. Oh no, it will be overwhelmingly soft and slow, big strong hips moving lazily against yours, heavy cock thrusting slowly into your aching pussy and his knot just teasing against your enterance, your soft moans intertwining with Simon's pleased purrs and chirps and deep rumbles, his long tongue sneaking out from between his razor sharp teeth to lick at your cheek; a large monster soothing his sated happy mate <3

[mikichko]

141 x white reader recs? 👉🏻👈🏻

Hi nonnie 😊

I'm not going to lie, this ask bewildered me a bit! I wasn't sure if you were being serious or not since this fandom is basically 90% white. Going by those numbers I'd assume there's a plethora of white content for you to enjoy, love.

I can't imagine that an ask for recommendations of an demographic that isn't typically featured in reader inserts would stir you up so much. Right?

Regardless, I do truly love to talk about my favorite writers so here is a list of writers (in addition to the previously mentioned) whose work I absolutely adore.

In no particular order:

🍂 Early

Starting off strong with the individual that sucked me into this black hole of a fandom. I absolutely love Early's writing style and their focus on fat readers. I reread a ton of their works constantly! Currently The Space in Between is what I read at the gym when I'm doing my hot girl walk 🥰🥰 Ensnared me with this Current Fave: The Space In Between

🍂 PFHWrites

Following it up with the second cod blog I ever followed, give it up for P! I absolutely adore P's works and the thought that he puts into the creechurs 🐈 (P patented term) in his works. Writes incredible pieces for transmasc!readers that I absolutely adore Ensnared me with: No clue actually! I just think of P as this entity that one day appeared on my tumblr dash and whose work I've been in love with for ages (tbh it was probably porn but...) Current Fave: Binders and Boyfriends

🍂 glossysoap

Glossy, my beloved Soap worshiper in arms 💕 Glossy has an incredible knack for writing that's amplified by her vibrant personality and how much she uplifts other writers in the community. I adore her to death and am so glad we have such a great writer like her in the fandom Ensnared me with: Bloody Shame (kyle fuckers rejoice) Current fave: Pushing Boundaries

🍂 kyletogaz

Our wonderful beautiful Jess 🥰💕 Resident Kyle and F1 enthusiast I have suuuch a fun time reading Jess' works (even when she is emotionally destroying me ;-;) I have her post notifications on so I don't miss a single work :') Ensnared me with: Simon fixing your attitude Current fave: Sharing is Caring

🍂 swordsandholly

Holly's Cherry Bomb 🍒 series has me by the goddamn neck right now! I am actively choking as I type this out because of how fucking good it is. Her depictions of Simon in 'Double Date - Double Down' solidified me as a fan from the beginning Ensnared me with: Double Date - Double Down Current fave: Cherry Bomb

🍂 stellewriites

Stelle's wonderful personality shines through so brightly that when I followed her I didn't even realize she wrote. When the cognizant part of my brain finally kicked in and I finally realized she was a writer I berated myself for not reading her work earlier. So happy that I stumbled upon her and her work 💞💖 Ensnared me with: Amazing personality <3 Current fave: Choices Made in Anger

🍂 syoddeye

Sy is another writer who I just cannot remember how I came across them! Honestly, someone else probably reblogged one of their works and I fell in love with their writing style. Whoever it was I am immensely thankful. Sy makes works that are so marvelous my brain gets more wrinkly every time I read something of theirs ❣ Ensnared me with: It's a black box I'm so sorry Current fave: The Lift (this is lowkey my motivator before the gym)

🍂 dragonnarrative-writes

Dragon's works have got me foaming at the mouth. Another creator who I have no clue how their works came onto my timeline but all I know is that I am so thankful. Every one of their works is a treat akin to indulging in something ridiculously delicious. 💘 Ensnared me with: Autumn Embers Current fave: Autumn Embers (particularly Part 3A ;))

🍂 indigosunsetao3

Indigo was actually recommended to me under a post lamenting the lack of Alex Keller works! And boy am I glad she was because the way she writes about Alex Keller makes me rattle at the bars of my enclosure for this white man. Absolutely amazing content that I am so happy to have been told about her! 💓 Ensnared me with: Older CIA Alex Keller Current fave: Move In Day (Alex Keller fuckers rejoice)

I am missing so so so many incredibly writers who I adore as well but because of time constraints I didn't have time to include them. Honestly, I'll probably just keep adding this list and using it as a rec list!

This fandom has been blessed with so many folks who create marvelous pieces for readers across the spectrum. We're fortunate that writers have cultivated such an accepting space 💕

[whateveriwant]

Happy Sunday! Whatever you do, definitely don't imagine Simon stuck in a time loop, forced to relive the worst day of his life over and over again 😀

The worst day of Simon's life? you might wonder. What would that be? Good question!

How about the day that Simon, at the tender age of four, came face-to-face with the boogeyman himself? His mother had warned him of the ghoulish entity, the one who lurked in shadows, inflicting pain on those who would seek to misbehave. What she didn't tell him, and what Simon would discover for himself that night as he awoke to the sounds of screaming, was that the boogeyman was no mere specter. She didn't tell him how he punished indiscriminately, uncaring if you were a woman or child. She didn't tell him how he wielded his fist like a hammer, his breath stinking of booze and cigarettes. And she didn't tell him (because how could a mother begin to explain to her young son?) that the boogeyman would wear the face of his own father.

Or how about the day that Simon realized he made the biggest mistake of his life? When he first joined the army, he had lofty ideas of honor and glory; action and duty; responsibility and yes, if it came to it, even sacrifice. Call him naive, but what else could you expect of a boy who's been fed nothing but a trough of propaganda his whole life? Simon surely didn't realize, not as he signed his soul over for a pair of dog tags. He didn't realize, not as he queued up with other lost boys for his chance to play soldier. He didn't realize even as he was shipped out with less than two months of basic training under his belt. No, Simon didn't realize until it was already too late, until it was staring at him across the blood-soaked trench with glossy, unblinking eyes. It was only then, looking into what remained of the face of a friend, that Simon realized there is decidedly very little that is ‘dolce et decorum’ about dying in war.

Or there's the day Simon discovered hell exists right here on Earth, and it's ruled over by a devil called Roba. Simon had thought that living a life already full of pain and horror would have thickened his skin like the rings of a tree, making an impenetrable armor even a mortar couldn't dent. But all it took was the careful orchestration of one wicked man to prove that even the toughest of trees can be felled. Day in and day out, he endured a steady stream of beatings, tortures, and assaults. Day in and day out, he was forced to the brink of his sanity, tipping over it once or twice. Day in and day out, the once unbreakable soldier entered a new circle of hell, and as he descended, finding each pit worse than the last, he wondered if he would ever make it out alive.

Or there's the any number of days (and there are a dreadful many) that Simon lost the only things in his life that ever truly mattered to him. The day he came home, the taste of betrayal acrid on his tongue, to find four mangled corpses had replaced the people he called family. The day he failed, the target vanishing like smoke from a gun barrel, his hands wet with the blood of the sergeant he had come to consider a brother. The day he never saw coming, the day that smashed what was left of his heart into pieces, the day he lost the best thing to ever happen to his miserable excuse of a life; the day he lost you.

It was years later, long after he'd hung up his masks and tags, that they came for you in the dead of night. Payback, they'd said, for something he'd done when he was still in the service. Though you had no affiliation with that period of his life, they knew that by taking you – by hurting you – it was the perfect eye for an eye. All Simon could do as they bound and beat you was watch from across the room, his own chains rattling desperately. He watched as your fingers bent at odd angles, your clothes adhered to your skin with blood, the bones in your face shattered and swelled until you were unrecognizable. You were strong – stronger than Simon ever wanted you to have to be – but that didn't stop his heart from breaking with every abuse your body received. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he tried to get through to you, even as the sickening crack of your femur threatened to drown him out.

It was hours (it felt more like decades) that you were both dragged through this misery. Simon watched the whole time, hot tears obscuring his vision, his voice keeping you awake between the syringes of adrenaline pumped into you. But eventually there came a point in which you slumped, a sort of finality to the way your limbs sagged, and Simon couldn't help how his own heart stopped pumping. The room was loud in his ears, louder than it had ever been thus far, and yet, not a single sound was made. He shook his chains to rouse you. Get up, he ordered. Get up, my love. Get up! he begged, screamed until his vocal chords shred. His pleas were met by only silence, a slowing trickle of blood leaking from your mouth, and when the ones that did this to you declared that revenge was now claimed, Simon knew the last thread that wove any sort of meaning into his life had finally been cut.

Any one of these days could be a contender for the worst day of Simon's life, an eternity of torment looped within a 24 hour cycle. And no matter what he does, no matter how hard he tries to change things, it's never enough. He is never enough.

[nellasbookplanet]

Book recs: Queer science fiction, part 2

There is a lot of queer sf out there, and I read a lot of sf. When I started working on this list, I quickly realized it was impossible to include all that I’ve read and enjoyed in one single rec post. Thus, this is my second queer sci-fi book rec post. For queer sci-fi part 1, click here!

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean “guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending”, but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don’t always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of “gay best friend”, word of god, and a blink and you’ll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

If you want more book recs, check out my masterpost of rec lists!

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Vivian Liao is a highly successful innovator, but she may have bitten off more than she can chew and fears the government may be coming for her. As she goes into hiding, she attempts to pull off one last stunt that could fix everything - but something goes wrong, and suddenly Vivian finds herself waking up in the far future, under attack by an army of robots in space. Hoping to find her way back home, Vivian must assemble a crew of dangerous outlaws to help her hunt down the Empress of Forever, the all-powerful entity who pulled her into the future. Lesbian main character.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

Novella. On the outpost of a human colony by Jupiter, a man has gone missing. On the case to find him - and figure out why he disappeared in the first place - is enigmatic investigator Mossa. Her search leads her to the colony's university, and with it, her ex-girlfriend Pleiti, expert on Earth's pre-collapse ecosystem. Together they come to realize that the case is much larger than just a missing man, and could decide the outcome of humanity's very future. Sapphic.

My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan

Nine years ago, all complex technology was made illegal. This complicates life for Joel, young transgender single father, as a bionic just uploaded itself into his brain without consent. Scared of losing his daughter, Joel tries to keep the bionic secret while using it to fix his life, but things quickly get more complicated as the bionic gains more and more control of his body. A bit simplistic in writing style but makes a lot of cool parallels of bodily autonomy to Joel’s experiences as a transman. M/M romance.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez*

A strange child lands on an isolated planet, scaring its inhabitants into handing him over into the hands of Nia Amani. As captain of a transport ship, Nia is not only the planet's only contact with the outside world, she is also a woman out of time, years compressing into months as she travels through space at high speeds. Now responsible for a child who doesn't speak and in a galaxy that wishes them ill, she must rethink exactly what she wants to do with her life, and what she's prepared to give up. Features multiple major queer characters.

The Abyss Surrounds Us (The Abyss Surrounds Us duology) by Emily Skrutskie

Young Adult. Tumblr classic back in the day! Cassandra Leung's family are keepers of sea monsters, genetically engineered and trained to protect ships from pirates. On her first solo mission, Cas finds herself kidnapped by pirates seeking to obtain their own monster. Now they need her help to train it. As Cas seeks to regain her freedom, she must also reckon with unfortunate growing feelings for one of the pirates keeping her under guard. Sapphic.

Ancestral Night (White space series) by Elizabeth Bear

Haimey Dz is part of a three-man salvage crew in space (one of the crew being the sentient spaceship himself). When the small crew comes across a derelict ship that proves the scene of a horrible crime, they must go on the run as they seek to uncover a conspiracy that involves both ancient secrets older than humanity itself, and Haimey's own hidden past. On their tail is a dangerous space pirate, convinced that Haimey is the key to it all. Lesbian main character.

Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch) by Ann Leckie*

A space opera in which sentient spaceships can walk the ground in stolen human bodies, so called ancillaries. One of these ancillaries, the sole survivor after the complete destruction of her ship and crew, is one the hunt for revenge against the most powerful woman in the empire. This series does very cool things with gender!

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

Five New Yorkers find themselves experiencing strangness as the city itself begins to wake up. They are its soul, its avatars and its protectors, and now they must keep it safe as it wakes as something alien and monstrous attempts to kill it before it's even fully alive. Mix of sci-fi, supernatural, and lovecraftian horror. Multiple pov characters of varying queer identities.

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb series) by Tamsyn Muir*

Gideon, raised as a swordswoman by unfriendly nuns, would rather run away and make her own life, but her services are needed. The Reverend Daughter, Gideon's childhood nemesis, has been invited to a trial to win a place as an immortal by the Emperor's side, and she's in need of a bodyguard. Listen, if you’re on tumblr I probably don’t need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it’s exactly as good as people claim. Humorous and spooky but also absolutely gut wrenching and clever with a lot of political commentary. There are also, indeed, lesbian necromancers in space.

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Salvagers trilogy) by Alechia Dow

In a universe run on science and magic working hand in hand, Boots Elsworth makes a living selling fake treasure maps and Nilah Brio is a racer. When one of Boots' maps turns out to be more real than expected and Nilah has to go on the run after having been framed for a murder, the two find themselves on the same spaceship, working with Boots' old captain to find the rumored treasure and reveal the conspiracy its hiding before the people hunting them catch up. Features a main f/f relationship.

The Company of Death by Elisa Hansen*

A wild mix of genres, where a zombie apocalypse has struck and vampires gather up humans to keep their food source from going extinct, a robot travels across America with a young man she’s tasked to keep safe, and former-vampire-hunter-recent-zombie Emily teams up with Death himself to stop the apocalypse. Features bi and ace characters! Bonus rec: the author also runs the youtube channel Maven of the Eventide, where she talks about various vampire media. Check it out!

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi is a violin master who made a deal with a devil, and who must now save her soul by delivering the souls of her students in place of her own. Lan Tran is a mother and a refugee of an alien war, hiding on Earth with her children in a donut shop. Katrina Nguyen is a trangender runaway and violin player, in the need of a mentor. As their paths cross, their lives change forever. I would categorize this as cozy, however it does also deal with some pretty heavy themes.

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson*

Young adult. Young artist June Costa lives in Palmares Tres, a beautiful, matriarchal city relying heavily on tradition, one of which is the Summer King. The most recent Summer King is Enki, a bold boy and fellow artist. With him at her side, June seeks to finally find fame and recognition through her art, breaking through the generational divide of her home. But growing close to Enki is dangerous, because he, like all Summer Kings, is destined to die. While the main relationship is m/f, it features a worldbuilding where bisexuality is the norm, which is portrayed in its major characters.

The Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne

Nix Marr is a soldier and damned good at it, but that doesn't prepare her for her next mission: bodyguard for Subarch Kessandra, beloved royal and Nix's bitter ex, as she ventures into the underwater city of Fall to seek the cause of a bloody murder spree and a possible deadly contagion. But Kessandra has enemies, the answers she seeks marking her as a possible threat for the nation's rulers. On their way in an isolated and enclosed underwater ship toward Fall, the contagion catches up, and Nix will have to put her hurt feelings aside if the two are to arrive alive. Sci-fi with flavors of horror and the supernatural.

Adaptation (Adaptation duology) by Malinda Lo

Young adult. Strangeness is afoot: all over America, birds are hurling themselves against airplanes and causing crashes. As flights are canceled and travelers stranded, Reese and her debate partner and longtime crush David are forced to head home by car. Accident strikes, and the two wake in a military hospital with no memory of the last month. Returning home, strangeness follows the two, especially as Reese encounters the mysterious and beautiful Amber Gray, who may know more than she lets on. Features a bisexual love triangle.

Lizard Radio by Pat Schmatz

Young adult. Fifteen-year-old Kivali, abandoned at birth and adopted by the nonconformist artist Sheila, has as a girl in boys clothes never fit in with the other kids. Sheila has always been supportive, until she one day sends Kivali off to CropCamp. While Kivali chafes at the strict rules of the camp, she also finds herself making friends, and maybe more, for the first time. Strange coming of age story, featuring exploration of gender and sexuality in a dystopian setting.

Isle of Broken Years by Jane Fletcher

Young spanish noblewoman Catalina thinks she’s done for when the ship she’s traveling on is attacked by pirates and she’s captured. Things gets worse when the entire crew is stranded on an inhospitable island where time works strangely, dangerous monsters terrorize the woods and something alien stops them from leaving. Strong Lost vibes. Lesbian romance. Admittedly quite indulgent but very fun and creative.

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) by Marta Wells*

After having hacked its own governor module, SecUnit uses its small amount of new freedom to secretly download and watch as much media as it can between doing its job guarding humans. But when the scientists it’s been charged with keeping safe come under attack, it must make a choice about whether to continue keeping its freedom secret or risk it all to save them. The series features both novellas and full length novels, and balances humor with scathing critique of capitalism. While it can be debated whether SecUnit counts as agender, asexual and aromantic, as it is a robot (I leave this up to individual judgmenet), however the series also has a diverse cast overall.

The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James*

Young adult. After the spread of a global virus causing infertility, teenagers Lowrie and Shen are now the youngest humans alive as the adults around them race to find a cure. As they investigate the ruins of the world, the two come across records from the past, of how grief stricken people turned to raising artificial children in apps and how these 'children’ developed, and through these records the two learn of their history. Bisexual main character.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah*

In a near future America, inmates on death row or with life sentences in private prisons can choose to participate in death matches for entertainment. If they survive long enough - a rare case indeed - they regain their freedom. Among these prisoners are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, partners behind the scenes and close to the deadline of a possible release - if only they can survive for long enough. As the game continues to be stacked against them and protests mount outside, two women fight for love, freedom, and their own humanity. Chain-Gang All-Stars is bleak and unflinching as well as genuinely hopeful in its portrayal of a dark but all to real possible future. Sapphic.

The Disasters by M.K. England

A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access to its systems. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.

Nax Hall may be a hotshot pilot, but that doesn't stop him from being expelled from the prestigious Ellis Station Academy in less than 24 hours. But as he's to be transported back to Earth alongside other failed students, the school is viciously attacked. Nax and the three other students only barely escape, and are left as the only witnesses - and the perfect scapegoats. Now they must go on the run together and find a way to clear their names. Bisexual main character.

Dust (Jacob's Ladder series) by Elizabeth Bear

In a dying spaceship, orbiting an equally dying sun, noblewoman Perceval waits for her own gruesome death. Having been captured by an opposing house, her wings severed and life forfeit, Perceval’s execution is imminent - until a young servant charged with her care proves to be Perceval’s long lost sister. To stop a war between houses likely to doom them all, the two flee together across a crumbling, dangerous spaceship. At its core waits Jacob Dust, god and angel, all that remains of what the ship once was. And he wants Perceval. Sapphic and asexual characters, however be prepared for kinda fucked up relationships.

Under Fortunate Stars by Ren Hutchings

Two ships have gotten stuck in a rift in space, isolated outside of time. One of them is the Jonah, a ship dodging a generations long war against an alien species, carrying a small crew of smugglers, an unintended passenger, and a hijacker. The other ship is the Gallion, which arrived from 150 years in the future carrying an alien ambassador - and whose crew is awestruck at meeting the heroes of the Jonah, known to have ended the war. As the two crews struggle to understand each other's timelines, they must also work together to leave the rift before they're stranded forever. Multiple queer characters, however the main romance plotlines are m/f.

One Last Stop by Casey McQiston*

Twenty-three-year-old August has a lot to deal with. She just moved to New York, got new job at a pancake diner, and acquired several slightly chaotic roommates. So what if she likes to flirt with the pretty girl on her subway commute? But Jane turns out to be more than just a charming stranger: she's lost in time, displaced from the 70s, and unable to leave the subway. Romance with a dash of timetravel sci-fi, One Last Stop is a delightful story of love and queer community.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings*

In an alternate version of our present, the witch hunt never ended. Women are constantly watched and expected to marry young so their husbands can keep an eye on them. When she was fourteen, Josephine’s mother disappeared, leveling suspicions at both mother and daughter of possible witchcraft. Now, nearly a decade and a half later, Jo, in trying to finally accept her missing mother as dead, decides to follow up on a set of seemingly nonsensical instructions left in her will. Features a bisexual lead!

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

A decade ago, the massive ship House of Wisdom was abandoned in orbit after its entire crew was killed in an outbreak in a matter of hours. Now, Zahra and her people hope to claim the ship as their own by kidnapping the sole survivor to gain access. But the danger of the House of Wisdom is far from gone. Horror, no major romance but has a major gay character.

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant

Young adult. Twin sisters Olivia and Viola's parents are both xenobiologists, bringing them all over the galaxy. Most recently they’ve settled on a new colony world to study its life, but it proves more dangerous than they could’ve ever imagined. Under attack from alien monsters, the sisters must keep each pther alive while also coming to terms with a dark family secret. Sapphic horror. Part of the Alien franchise but stands well on its own.

[alltimefail]

Happy Day 6 of Cast Appreciation Week to Lukas Gage, Joshua Colley, and Gabriel Drake!

I am once again fashionably late lol, but we're still pushing forward! None of these guys are on Tumblr (to our knowledge haha), but I’m singing their praises everywhere today!

Our perfect Cat King, Monty, and Simon… we love you boys so much! 💜💀🔎

Transcript of my letters below the cut!

LETTER 1:

Happy Cast Appreciation Week! October 25, 2024

Dearest Lukas,

You poofed on screen in your little throne and I yelled at my TV, “YESSS BITCH!” very loudly. That sentiment toward The Cat King pretty much persisted every time you appeared, just so you know!

You are an enthralling, incredible actor. Your gestures, your delivery, your expressions, the way you played off of George’s Edwin so, so well... it was simply genius. I would believe you were half-cat if you told us that in earnest because The Cat King’s mannerisms were spot on. You masterfully walked the fine line of a character that’s as incredibly charming and alluring as he is wicked and dangerous, which is no easy feat. Some of the most divine characters in fantasy are the “Chaotic Neutrals,” the tricksters, the ones who do what they want, when they want, and will go to any lengths as a means to achieve their ends because the audience never knows which version of them they’ll get next. I felt like every time we saw you on screen, we learned something new about your character, no matter how brief the time was.

I never wanted Edwin with The Cat King, yet I found their chemistry to be electric. I could not imagine anyone else playing the role, and I don’t know if I’ll ever view a “Shifter” entity with the same kind of delight I view The Cat King, and I know that’s largely due to your unbelievable performance.

You are our Cat King, always and forever, and we will all be here to support you (and fight for you) in all your current and future endeavors.

All my love, Veronica “V” @ atfsims1

——————————————————

LETTER 2:

Happy Cast Appreciation Week! October 25, 2024

Dearest Joshua,

When an actor can take a character I would normally not love and somehow charm the heck out of me, that’s when I’m really impressed... and you did that with Monty!

You radiate such a fun, warm, inviting energy; that part of you found its way into Monty and, somehow, into my heart. I joke that I’m a Charles-adjacent spirit, so much like Charles I was averse to Monty at first, but I was shocked to find myself starting to see him as a little possible extension of the group and hoping he would stick around and shake Esther’s influence! I blame you, really, (a compliment, lol) because you’re so darn talented and you made Monty glow on screen. He was complex and naiv, innocent and whimsical, and you captured his essence and “Born Yesterday” sparkling outlook on the world with expertise.

I didn’t even want him and Edwin together and I pouted, full-on pouted, and said, “Awww, poor Monty... we’ve all been there babe” when Edwin told him he didn’t reciprocate his feelings! I can’t say enough about how impressed I was with you, truly. Monty is a quintessential part of the narrative in my opinion, and I could not imagine anyone else playing him.

You are our Monty, always and forever, and we will all be here to support you (and fight for you) in all your current and future endeavors.

All my love, Veronica “V” @ atfsims1

——————————————————

LETTER 3:

Happy Cast Appreciation Week! October 25, 2024

Dearest Gabriel,

First off, you played your role so well that Simon, despite his flaws, became one of the characters that fascinated me the most. Seriously!

I wanted to see more of him, to see more of his and Edwin’s past dynamic, and to understand how he got to the point he did in life. When I’m watching the show back, I can’t help but wonder if Edwin might have told Charles about Simon, or about their brief passing in Hell, and what Charles would have thought about their conversation. While Simon’s actions angered me and were objectively abhorrent, I still felt immense sympathy for him, and during his scene with Edwin in Hell, I wept for them both. I was moved by your portrayal of his complexities, and although our time with you was brief, it made a lasting impact.

The scene you and George had together in Hell is perhaps one of the most provocative conversations between two canon queer characters on screen. When I think of the impact Dead Boy Detectives has had on the LGBTQ+ community, your scene is one of the first ones I think about, and Simon’s self-hatred is a tragedy all too common amongst our own. Seeing it play out was heartbreaking, but necessary. You did a phenomenal job.

You are our Simon, always and forever, and we will all be here to support you (and fight for you) in all your current and future endeavors.

All my love, Veronica “V” @ atfsims1

[paragonrobits]

the vibe I'm getting from Golbetty and the question raised if she can be reversed from being fused with Golb lends itself to another question:

Does she WANT to reverse the fusion and become Betty Grof again?

One of the curious things about Betty is that she is something of a mystery. We don't really know that much about her, where she came from or her family. It's possible she's related to Slanislav Grof, a psychologist whom her name is an homage to, but there's not much evidence for this. The only thing we have to go on about her personal desires and life goals is what she wanted to do with her life before she got fixated on Simon, and this in turn leads me to the biggest thought here: that Betty's most defining non-romantic concern, and the one that seems to pop up the most in a purely positive context without the self-destructive tendencies that pop up in her romance, is that she wants to learn.

Golbetty seems to just be constantly vibing; staring out into space. She clearly has a cosmic awareness. It's hard to say exactly how much, but she IS aware of things; she knows to shove Simon's mind into Shermy to guide him towards understanding some perspective (and perhaps tell him why she wants to move on, and wants HIM to let go), which takes place in the far future and which would suggest that in her current state, she may be outside time and observes all worlds and times.

So if she wants to learn, but not necessarily DO things with it but just learn, this would be an excellent way to do it; being at peace and learning all there is to know, understanding people and every person across every world, understanding how they all fit together and affect each other, knowing the things that have been forgotten or were never recorded and would be impossible to learn any other way.

Additionally, Golb is a tremendously dangerous and mindless entity; the Lich is the way he is because he studied his ways. There was very little suggestion that Simon would be SAFE contacting her, even if Betty was a part of it. Golbetty has little trace of Golb's destructiveness or mindless urge to destroy. She doesn't seem to be able to communicate in a human sense anymore (but, tragically, that seems to have been her problem to begin with), but in this state, Gollb is contained; no longer an existential threat to all things.

So I submit this theory: Betty is happy being fused with Golb to control it and prevent it from unnecessary destruction, and to use this new position in life to learn and understand more than she ever thought possible.

[positivelybeastly]

X-Force #50

All right, well, we finally did it, gang. We hit the big 5-0, and it's all done. And guess what?

It's all up hill from here! Wednesday spoilers below the cut, and . . . quite a lot of rambling? If I'm honest?

So, we open up on X-Force trying to kill good Hank and Simon, because they are dumb, despite Kid Omega and Sage asserting their genius. They blow up their little gay boat of love, and our intrepid heroes get pitched into the drink.

So . . . this is . . .

Why is Simon wearing a rebreather/oxygen tank?

Dear reader, I implore you to open this link, and scroll down to Simon Williams' powers and abilities.

Immortality: Williams is functionally immortal. Because of the ionic energy that empowers him, he no longer ages and is immune to disease and infection. This same energy sustains Williams' physical vitality far more efficiently than the biochemical process that sustain ordinary human life.

Self-Sustenance As a result of his transformation he no longer requires food, sleep, water or oxygen to survive. Simon is now a fully energized entity who can sustain himself indefinitely without nourishment, easily able to live outside habitable planet orbit.

Benjamin Percy, writer; Drew Baumgartner, Assistant Editor; Mark Basso, Editor; Jordan D. White, Senior Editor.

All four of these men are incapable of Googling basic facts about a character that Marvel has owned and been using since the 1960s. Basic facts that are available if you do so much as a basic skim of the man's Wiki page.

So, why is Simon wearing a rebreather/oxygen tank? So that evil Beast can destroy it and send Simon up to the surface, and good Beast and evil Beast can talk uninterrupted. That's the only actual reason. This is laziness from both an editorial and a writing standpoint, since you could have easily just had evil Beast use some kind of gadget to achieve the same effect, but don't worry! This won't be the most egregious lack of attention to detail this issue!

Yaaaaaay . . .

"My Beast," huh, Simon?

Gay.

Also, this scene makes X-Force look fucking pathetic, because Simon could literally wipe the floor with every one of them and not break a sweat. Simon 'my fists are LITERALLY as strong as Thor's hammer' Williams has nothing to fear from fucking Omega Red. His pacifism is the only thing keeping you from looking even stupider than you already do.

Orchis attacks to give the rest of X-Force something to do. I don't care.

But we do get this funny fuckin' shit.

Tie him up?

Logan, did you forget the last time you fought Simon? Or the time before that?

Anyway, the Beasts talk. It's not a particularly interesting conversation, for the most part.

God, this plan is just so fucking stupid.

But.

There is one moment that actually kinda works.

It's really funny to me that two of the worst Beast writers of all time, Brian Michael Bendis and Benjamin Percy, both managed to grok this essential fact - Hank McCoy loved being this version of Hank McCoy.

He was happy.

He was comfortable.

He was loved.

Feline Hank, as much as I love him, as much as he's my favourite iteration of the character, was never happy in his skin. How could he be? It wasn't something he chose, it was forced upon him. To save his life.

Well, what if he didn't want to be saved? What if he felt his life was so miserable that he might've thought, perhaps I should just let it all end?

He had moments, sure. But he never really escaped this feeling. This fear, this anxiety, this trauma, this pain. He carried it with him for the rest of his life. Just constant trauma, death, misery, regret, mistakes, chances not taken, failures.

But he would never be the same again. It's funny. He's the version I love most, but he's the version of Hank who could never love himself.

Which . . . is partly why it bugs me when people say Hank has internalised mutantphobia. Like, he kinda does, but I honestly don't really feel like it's quite that simple. He's comfortable in his simian form, he loves it, he only very occasionally angsts about it, he is happy. It's when he turns feline that he hates his mutant 'gift,' because now he has to worry about what might come next.

This is not the same as, I hate my mutant powers because they make my life inconvenient, because it means people hate and fear me. He can deal with that. He's been dealing with that since he was seventeen and nearly beaten to death by an angry mob for saving a child.

This is, I hate my mutant powers because they are turning me into something less than human or mutant. Because I am a danger. Because I am in danger.

And his fears are validated. He nearly kills Blindfold and Armour. He eats Logan's leg, tastes human flesh. He spends the last seven issues of Whedon's Astonishing X-Men with the taste of human skin and meat on his lips. How the fuck is he meant to be happy like this?

Anyway, back to X-Force. The two Beasts fight. Orchis shit happens.

Fuck off, Logan. Stop acting like you're at all relevant to proceedings.

Gay.

"X-Force ain't the ones you root for. But we get the dirty jobs done."

You didn't fucking do anything.

Hank and Simon could have fixed this entire mess without you. The only reason you were fighting a Sentinel was because you drew it to your location with your jet, firing at a gay little blue man and his fruity ionic boyfriend! You didn't contribute anything!

And then, as if to cap it all off . . .

What a self-aggrandising load of wank.

Hey, what was Colossus' plot arc through this series?

He spent 5 years being mind controlled and killed his girlfriend.

What was Domino's plot arc through this series?

Well, she got hurt a lot. There was that one time she got skinned. That was fun.

What was Laura Kinney's plot arc through this series?

There were entire issues where she didn't speak a fucking word.

You had.

50.

ISSUES.

And this is the best you could come up with?

"The plan was always for the war without to lead to the war within these two characters."

Is that why Wonder Man was more important to the climax of your book than Logan?

Go step on a fucking Lego, Ben.

This was allegedly a run all about black ops wetwork, the sacrifice of your soul to the harsh work that protecting your country requires, the inexorable slide towards moral degradation that comes from compromise.

It ended with a blue man in a stupid plant suit sacrificing himself to save a D-list actor from a bomb that would have crushed Mars into a pocket dimension, all so that his clone can go and become roommates with said D-list actor.

Ben Percy, of all the writers the X-office has welcomed into its midst, you were certainly one of them.

I just . . . this was what was worth jettisoning 40 years of Hank McCoy's personal history for? This cockamamie bullshit? This excuse for you to whip your dick out and pretend you're Larry Hama, when you can barely measure up to Chuck Austen?

Also, Jonathan Hickman, you're kind of on my shitlist for this, too. You may write a halfway decent comic book every now and then - and make no mistake, they're mostly halfway decent, I think he scrapes greatness with his ideas, but his execution is. Dry.

But that's better than his eye for talent, clearly.

I hate being negative. I feel guilty every time. I don't enjoy it. I hate to dwell. I hate to spiral. I hate to obsess over things.

But X-Force is just . . .

X-Force was, just shit. I will go to my grave telling anyone who'll listen that it's not worth reading.

"It'll read better in trades!" No, it won't.

"It has such a good team!" If you burn a pie made of good ingredients, you still have a burnt pie to eat.

"The art is so good!" And if you put sprinkles in a toilet bowl, it's still a toilet. It just looks prettier now.

Oh, and just in case anyone from Marvel ever reads this - they won't, they only hang around on Twitter so people can jerk off about the panels they write explicitly to be shared by the X-stans - I've pirated every comic I've read in the last 10 years. Every issue of X-Force? Pirated. All these caps? Pirated. Every time someone asks me where to read comics, what to read? Pirate links.

I didn't pay a dime for this series. I still feel like I got ripped off.

I almost can't believe it's over . . . what am I going to do with my life now that I don't have X-Force to complain about?

Oh, yeah. I can just read good comics. Nearly forgot about that.

But hey. That leads me to . . . I don't know, I guess, the end of an era.

Because Hank didn't get his memories back. Maybe he will in the future, but I don't have faith that there's anyone at Marvel that feels this strongly about Beast, so I doubt it. I need to write this down, anyway, for the catharsis. It'll help me say goodbye.

Rest in peace, Hank McCoy, 1985-2018.

You were the Beast I fell in love with. You were the man who taught me to be gentle when the world was unkind. You were the man who taught me that sometimes you don't have to love the body you're in, you just have to want to keep on going, because it can get better. There's always that chance. You were the man who led me to my boyfriend of 12 years, who I love more dearly than anything else on the planet. You were my friend when I didn't have many, and you've helped me make a lot of friends I quite appreciate. People I'm proud to know.

You're gone now. A lot of people aren't going to mourn you. They don't appreciate what was lost. But that's okay. I'll tell anyone who'll listen how brilliant you were. I'll try not to hold it against the version of you I'm left with, that he isn't you. He was you once. He could be like you again. Maybe better. I'd like that. I hope that's the case.

I'll keep writing you. I honestly don't think I could ever stop.

I'll try my best not to be sad that you're gone.

I'll try my best to instead be simply glad that you happened.

I'll give the past its due.

Which is all you can do, in the end, for the dead and for the past.

Well.

That, and live.

[minusgangtime]

(In case I'm gonna do a Sprunki blog one of these days- Let me just put this here lol

(It's very long so read if you can-

(TW: Mentions of death, gore, mutilation at the horror world part)

So I think this AU will be where the happy world and the horror world are seperate alternate universes- I'm still working on the AU's name :T

Oh, and btw, most of the things here are canon divergent, so I might not follow up with most of the lore ☝️

First of, we have the happy world-

Oren, Raddy and Pinki are in a poly relationship (Oren is dating both Raddy and Pinki- Raddy and Pinki aren't dating but are good friends)

Oren is the defintion of a cool cat (cool butterfly??) and love skateboards

Raddy (the red dinosaur(?)) likes sports and working out (and needs anger management ngl-)

Clukr (silver beetle) and Garnold (golden yellow fish) are inventors and work partners on building robots and machines (maybe they're not just "friends"? 👀)

Fun Bot and Mr. Fun Computer look up to Clukr and Garnold as their father figures since they've built them

Vineria (green snail) is a gardener and is into plants

Vineria wears a wig-

Gray and Wenda are opposites but are best friends (not related but they've known each other for a long time)

Gray (grey cat-like demon) is quiet and introverted while Wenda (white kitty) is chatty and extroverted

Brud (brown dog-like slime creature) isn't really the brightest Sprunki but he's a very silly and goofy guy :3

OWAKCX (lime hedgehog) (pronounced oh-wah-ka-ks") works as businessman

Most of the Sprunkis call OWAKCX "Lime" cuz it's easier (he doesn't mind tho)

OWAKCX has a crush on Vineria but is nervous to tell her in person

Sky (sky blue bear cub) is the youngest of the Sprunkis (he's 14 while everyone else are adults)

Sky likes collecting plushies- His favorites are teddy bears

Durple (purple dragon) is a collector and can play the trumpet- He also likes reading books

Mr. Sun is pretty much a talking sentient sun- That's it :P

Mr. Tree is a talking sentient tree who has a lot of wisdom- He's also lived around to be 50 years old

Simon (yellow alien) is described as "eater of foods" :P

Simon has golden retriever energy :>

Tunner (tan reptile bunny hybrid) is the sheriff of the Sprunkis and tries to protect them from danger

Pinki (pink bunny) is big sweetheart and cares a lot for her friends

Jevin (blue vampire bat) is a mysterious guy- But despite his ominous look, he's pretty chill and tries to join the other Sprunkis' activities

Jevin and Tunner are married ^^

Blackhat (unknown entity) is.. well.. pretty much a terrible person- He's in jail-

OWAKCX and Blackhat have some.. pretty bad history- It could explain why he's super anxious and paranoid

And now the horror world..

The horror world was like the happy world until Wenda found a black hat that she given by a mysterious black figure

Oren had the inside of his body cut open- He's also blind in both eyes

Raddy got hung by his neck and had half of his face and the lower part of his body ripped off

Clukr's cymbal crushed half of his head

Fun Bot and Mr. Fun Computer have no injuries but seem aware of what's going on (they've seen some things-)

Vineria got mutated by her wig where this version of hers turned out to be a fungus

Gray is uninjured and was able to escape, but he's very traumatized- He just wants his friend back <:(

Brud got half of his head bitten off by Simon (he doesn't feel any pain, which is why he's alive)

Garnold got the springlock treatment in his own robot suit

OWAKCX had the skin of his mouth and lower body ripped off like it was paper

Sky got himself impaled by four metal rods (jesus.. ._.)

Similar to Fun Bot and Mr. Fun Computer, Mr. Sun and Mr. Tree have no injuries but are very aware of what's going on

Durple got corrupted and became an abnormal entity- He also has a very stretchy mouth

Simon morphed himself to be more monstrous

Simon bit Brud out of hunger which he instantly regretted (Brud quickly forgave him cuz he doesn't even remember the incident lol)

Due to stress, Tunner shot himself in the head, thinking he wasn't able save all his fellow Sprunkis and he failed as a sheriff (thankfully he was found by Jevin)

Wenda is either possessed and/or manipulated by the black hat, which she ended up attempting to murder some of her friends

Pinki got her face ripped off by a wooden plank (HTF reference?)

Jevin also escaped uninjured, but is determined to put an end what is happening

Legends say that even Wenda is fighting off the black hat..

Thank you for coming to my lore dumping UvU)

[grizzersmamma]

A Gentle Touch | Simon "Ghost" Riley x John "Soap" MacTavish | Daemon AU

Summary: First fic in my Call of Duty daemon AU. A short fic about Soap and Ghost touching each other's daemons for the first time.

Notes: Unedited we die like OG Ghost.

Pairing:  Simon "Ghost" Riley x John "Soap" MacTavish.

Warnings: Fluff, Past Childhood Trauma.

Series Masterlist: Here

CoD Masterlist: Here

Next

John often wonders what must have happened in Simon’s life for his daemon to pick such a fierce form to settle on. Elanor is a beautiful creature, sleek and elegant and dark as the night. A stunning panther as large and dangerous as her human, able to go from quiet and disinterested to fighting with a surprising amount of power and speed in the blink of an eye. 

She tears through their enemies with brutal strength, yet still dances about the battlefield with unmatched grace and agility. John can never resist pausing to watch her work, just as taken with her as he is with her counterpart. He knows he must look like a lovestruck fool, but he can’t help it, far too enamoured.  

It was difficult to describe what it was between Simon and himself – he found all the potential labels lacking... something – boyfriend sounded too childish for the intensity of their relationship and partner felt too formal. They were just Ghost and Soap. Johnny and Simon. A package deal. Two halves of a single entity.  

Despite their closeness, Simon still had a certain weariness around their daemons. He would always get so visibly anxious whenever Gwen, Johnny’s daemon, got too close to him. He will allow the other daemon near his own, but will otherwise shy away from her.  

Elanor is always happy to receive attention from Gwen, laying passively while the honey badger eagerly grooms her fur. Price seems to think it’s absolutely hilarious whenever he sees the beastly daemon rumbling away happily while her face is covered with drool. In public, the two daemons are the picture of professionalism, but the moment they’re away from prying eyes? The poor feline is being smothered with affection.  

The first time Johnny asks if Simon would like to pet Gwen, the man had jerked back as if he’d been physically struck. “Why would I do that?” he asks, eyebrows furrowed in what must be a scowl behind his mask.  

It’s difficult to not take his clear reluctance to heart, stomach twisting uncomfortably. Perhaps he had misjudged how their relationship was progressing? They had slept together, spent evenings whispering sweet nothings to one another and discussed fanciful dreams of what the future may hold. Yet, he must have misread things if Simon is so repulsed by the idea.  

He’s about to brush off the idea when Simon continues, “why would you want me to hurt you?”  

Soap simply blinks, “why would that hurt me?” he asks, gently taking Simon’s hand and encouraging him to sit on the bed beside him. He gets the feeling this is going to be a long conversation.  

“Touching her will hurt you,” Simon sounds just as confused as John feels.  

“You wouldn’t hurt me, Simon,” he starts gently, encouraging Gwen up and onto his lap, “I know you wouldn’t, I trust you.” He knows it can certainly hurt when someone grabs another person’s daemon as it’s easy to use too much force, but surely Simon knows how intimate the action can be, right? How it can bring two people so much pleasure and joy? 

It seems that is not the case, as Simon hesitates, staring hard at the small honey badger. “You’re sure you want me to touch her?” his gaze is intense, searching for even the tiniest hint of unease or uncertainty.  

John nods, “of course, but only if you’re comfortable with it.” 

Gwen crawls to the very edge of his lap, leaning forward until her neck is stretched out towards Simon. He’s cautious to respond, offering out a hand to her so she can made the first move, freezing in place as though he’s dealing with a wounded animal.  

The badger, although very excited to finally be able to interact with Simon, moves slowly to nudge her nose against his open palm. She gives it a quick sniff, pleased when she encounters his familiar scent, before nuzzling her face against him. He’s still wearing gloves, the layer of fabric still separating them from true contact, but it’s a start.  

Over the weeks that follow, Simon begins to grow more comfortable touching the smaller daemon, getting into the habit of scratching her head whenever she’s within reach.  

It isn’t for another month that he finally places an ungloved hand to the top of Gwen’s head. Simon’s eyes are constantly darting between her and Soap, waiting until he’s sure neither are distressed, before his fingers slowly, very slowly begin to caress the animal’s fur.  

The sensation of Simon’s hand so tenderly stroking his daemon has John near enough melting, his whole body tingling with delight. His head is fuzzy, hardly a thought passing between his ears, and he can tell Gwen feels the exact same given the way she flops down into Simon’s lap with a pleased sigh. That reaction seems to be all that Simon needs to relax into the action, starting to scratch just under Gwen’s chin, before massaging his fingers down her spine.  

By the end of it, both Soap and his daemon are practically a happy puddle stretched out on the bed, drifting just on the edge of sleep.  

Touching Elanor is a much more complicated subject.  

He doesn’t want to ask to touch her, not when Simon clearly has some sort of trauma surrounding people touching her without permission. He wants to allow her to come to him first, lest either of them feel as though he’s trying to pressure them. They don’t discuss it and, after a while, John simply forgets about it, content with knowing they will never feel comfortable enough to allow it.  

He is proven wrong, however, one day when he’s sitting on his bed, working on a sketch in his journal. Simon is across the room sat at Soap’s desk working on some paperwork.  

From the corner of his eye he sees Elanor slink over, creeping up and onto the mattress. He isn’t paying much attention, not until she lays down right beside him, her side brushing up against his leg. His stomach flips as a thrill runs down his spine. Glancing up at Simon, he sees the other man hasn’t reacted, continuing to scratch away at the papers before him.  

“Elanor?” he whispers to the massive cat, meeting her beautiful golden eyes.  

She blinks up at him, staring at him silently.  

John moves his hand toward her, pausing just before her face to give the feline the chance to move away should she need it. But to his surprise, she leans into his touch, rumbling in obvious delight.  

Simon, meanwhile, whirls around as though he’d been jabbed, gaping at John and then at his own daemon. He looks anxious, but says nothing, only watching how John gently cards his fingers through the cat’s dark fur. The brit shivers, breath catching as Soap’s fingers feather down her back.  

“Sorry,” John laughs, pausing his movements, “is this... is this okay?” 

Simon’s throat bobs in a dry swallow, “yeah, uh, yeah, it’s fine.” His face is brightly flushed, looking everywhere but at John. His shoulders have drooped and he seems to be struggling to remain upright, hands tightly gripping the desk. “You can keep going if you want,” he mumbles.  

Trust Simon to never ask for something he wants, simply allude to it vaguely. Regardless, John starts stroking Elanor’s soft fur, his whole chest filling with pride at the way both man and daemon relax. Gwen cuddles up against Elanor, nosing into the panther’s side, the two daemons quickly passing out together.  

When John finally looks over again at Simon, the man is resting on the desk, peacefully asleep just like his daemon.  

[vickozone]

The Magnus Archives

-S5 Notes-

<- previous notes

Handwriting translated below:

#161 old memories, tape that Gertrude should have gave them, Jon says “I love you”, they don’t need to eat to live

#162 Gertrude and Gerry bonding, Tim and Sasha talking about a very relevant subject and Jon and Martin are leaving the safe house.

#163 [VIETNAM FLASHBACKS] [BAGPIPES INTENSIFY]

#164 Gross statement about an infection in a town and Helen talking to Jon and Martin like a proud aunt is beautiful. “I knew you crazy kids would make it work!”

#165 “Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched thing.” The Stranger statement. Not!Sasha messed up!!

#166 Martin suddenly is on a murder episode and a dude turned into a worm. Helen says “Slay!”

#167 “Yes, Martin, you are my reason.” Sweet bonding and why Gertrude didn’t have anymore assists.

#168 “I’m not going to kill a man just because you’re jealous!” “Why not?” Oh, Martin. Oliver Banks shall live another day and we are crossing The End domain

#169 Let’s willingly run into a burning building, disregarding your boyfriend and getting revenge together! Jude is now dead and Martin was just struggling in the background. He chose revenge over his boyfriend. Interesting. “We’re burning!”

#170 “I’m Martin Blackwood, and I am not lonely anymore!” “Oh… Hello!”

#171 No way I just spent 23 minutes listening to Jon talk about skin flowers in a botanical garden. “That your boyfriend?” “It is, actually.” “Oh.”

#172 Creepy theatre show that made me genuinely uncomfortable with The Web

#173 Where do you think all of the children went? That’s right! The Dark with Callum! Yay!

#174 Simon calling Jon killing him “rude” is hilarious and immediately dipping is iconic. Weird Vast domain with big explosions. Helen loves some good gossip.

#175 The Extinction items, hate for umbrellas, and Martin’s squelchy couch. We’re going to The Hunt next. Oh no.

#176 Adoptive uncle Trevor and Julia are dead. AWESOME HUNT STATEMENT! And we got Basira! :D

#177 ‘Dr. David’ Jon is so hot. This episode has so many trigger warnings. Helen is so silly. Basira is rad, staying with her boys. Won’t let them have a moment tho

#178 More Flesh. Gross processing line and Jon admits that the thing that traumatized him the most was Daisy going to kill him in the woods. Poor babies.

#179 Daisy is shot and killed. Basira is on her own and I have a reason to give Jon a cane.

#180 I have never felt more serene in my life. I can’t even describe it. I was smiling, giggling, and everything feels okay. Salesa and Annabelle are here and I love Salesa’s voice and HE CAN PLAY THE PIANO! Teaholding fluff, om nom nom, this episode is one of my favorites. The I-Spy game <3

#181 They decide to stay at Upton House for a bit longer before leaving. Jon feels his powers again and forgets the whole experience of ignorance. Pity. Seemed like a nice place. I like Salesa.

#182 Anatomy Class student hospital and Breekon asks Jon to kill him. I feel bad for him. :(

#183 “I’m sure I love you.” “I love you too.” THEY SAID IT!! Helen was concerned for them. She’s like a wine aunt who acts motherly to them. Also, Martin’s domain…

#184 Jon made Jordan an entity. That’s a lotta ants! Jon is just… so complicated.

#185 Ouch. Police brutality and wrongful imprisonment are rough subjects. That guy pleading out to Martin HURT. Martin is… somewhere at the end. Alone again, oh, Jonny, I feel horrible.

#186 Martin went from being a joke in Jon’s anger to being one of the most well-developed characters. He is either going to kill himself of Jon. Martin legit talks to himself. Statement made me cry. This better end with them being happy together.

#187 HELEN! D: Aw, man… I liked her. That poor woman. Calm down, Jon! Helen was their friend till the end. Dang it, that was a nail-biter.

#188 We’re in London now! Eyes, man. They’re everywhere. We grieve for Helen a bit. Did I mention EYES?

#189 MEL AND GEORGIE! OMG! They… made a cult and can hide from The Eye. Great.

#190 Fresh take on modern dating! Antichrist plus one! Archivist mocks poems, beloved pet turned monster, and a blind prophet

#191 Jon sleeps with his eyes open. Georgie wants to avenge her cat (I think I’ve seen this film before), mystery can, and Jon and Martin discuss death. Sobbing atm.

#192 Rosie is literally just going with the flow. It’s weird to see someone else’s perspective on things. Jonah’s incantation is awesome and gosh, I love Martin

#193 Elias 'high as a kite' Bouchard’s origins. Jonah’s distorted voice is hot.

#194 THEY HAD AN ARGUMENT D: After a gruesome metamorphosis statement, Jon tried to find Martin to apologize only to find he was taken to HILL TOP FREAKIN ROAD

#195 Just Basira and Jon, catching up and trudging through water. Omg. The Mr. Spider tape.

#196 Earth shattering rip-in-space time crap. Annabelle is wicked cool. Martin keeps getting sucked into things AND THE TAPES!! ASDFEKGLZMV

#197 MARTIN! ANNABELLE! TAPES! THE LIGHTER! INTER-DIMENSIONAL PIT! WE NEED TO DESTROY JONAH AND THE EYE SIMULTANEOUSLY! LES GO!

#198 If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you too? Ew, bones reforming. Chill ep. Silly.

#199 Group agrees on plan after ten minute discussion. Martin consulting Jon while he cries in his arms HURT!! Also, Mel thanks Jon. This is going to end horribly, isn’t it?

#200 Statement ends.

Crying tally: |||| |||| (I cried ten [10] times listening to this stupid podcast)

[valeffelees]

Ask game: 18, 28, and 30!

heyo! :)

18. do you believe in ghosts?

oh yeah for sure. i would be hard-pressed not to, i'm anything but a skeptic when it comes to shit like ghosts and cryptids, etc.

28. do you collect anything?

YEAH, and i love to talk about it and show my collections off to people. my favourite collection is my fandom collection, it includes all kinds of things like art prints, pins and keychains, clothes and accessories, funkopops, books and bookmarks, fanzines, mugs, calendars, plushies, tea tins, stickers. i've even got a replica of okkotsu yuuta's sword.

my simon snow book collection is a part of my fandom collection, but at the same time, it's kinda like its own entity. i'll attach a picture of my spreadsheet under a read more!

i have a collection of sock monkeys, too. and a box i've been keeping momentos in since i was in middle school.

30. what’s one thing that never fails to make you happy/happier?

answered this one here, but another thing that makes me happy is when ppl tag me in or send me posts they think i'll enjoy. i love when ppl send me pictures of cows, rats, pandas, ferrets, snakes. dogs and cats. moo deng. or fanart of a character they know i'm abnormal about. or when ppl tag me in posts bc they KNOW i'll reblog that shit with my "thinking about davy cadwallader" tag. those are the BEST notifs to get.

—

❌❓= i don't have this edition, but i've found it somewhere.

❌❗= i've purchased this edition but it's still in shipping, OR i don't have this edition bc it's not hard to find which makes it low priority compared to other editions i'm looking for.

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: “Casper & Nova”/“Cheers”

Airdate: September 28, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

"Casper & Nova" Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Sonja von Marensdorff, Jacob Winkler

"Cheers" Storyboarded by: Anna Syvertsson, Hanna K. Nyström, Jim Campbell, Jackie Files

Directed by: Ryann Shannon (supervising, "Casper & Nova"), Steve Wolfhard (supervising, "Cheers"), Hans Tseng (art)

Well, here we are: The final two episodes of the Fionna & Cake miniseries. Were they good? Was the miniseries worth it? Should the show finally be allowed to die, or should there be another season?

My answer? It's complicated.

Read on for more!

But first, a quick recap: At the start of "Casper & Nova," Fionna and Cake return to their "normie" world, where they find out that not everyone is happy about the possible restoration of magic. They also discover that the Scarab, a cosmic entity that wants to destroy their world, has followed them through the portal. Meanwhile, Simon finds himself transported to a dimension wherein he faces GOLBetty, who in turn transports him into the mind of Shermy, a character living in a future version of Ooo. In order to track down that world's ice crown and undo everything that is going wrong, Simon-as-Shermy reads a book called "Ancient Artifacts" that details the adventures of "Casper and Nova." This book causes Simon-as-Shermy to realize that he has been following his own wants at the expense of Betty's.

In "Cheers," Simon then finds himself teleported to an alternate flashback in which he decides to go with Betty to search for petroglyphs. As the event plays out, however, Simon realizes that this was not what actually happened; he and Betty then recognize that they could have made better choices. Simon is returned to the GOLBetty dimension, where he coughs up a dandelion that represents Fionnaworld; he then shoves this into his head, which Fionna catches. Using the seeds of the flower allows Fionna to enliven her friends, and then, in the nick of time, Prismo teleports a number of Fionna and Cake's allies (i.e., Peppermint Butlter Tank, Baby Finn, Jay, and Little Destiny) into Fionnaworld. They collectively fight off Scarab and fix the damage her caused. The miniseries ends with Simon going to therapy while Fionna and her friends rebuild their world.

Before I dive into my review, I wish to emphatically state that unlike some members of the Adventure Time fandom, I enjoyed these episodes. They sated me, with a healthy number of solid jokes (e.g., Shermy and Beth's plan to overthrow Gibbon, which begins with "Praxis" and ends with "Burn Parliament") and bursts of freaky horror (e.g., the Lich's 'death,' Scarab's face) keeping me engaged throughout. But while I enjoyed them, I cannot help but also feel disappointment. I do not think that "Casper & Nova"/"Cheers" are anywhere near the show's best installments, and they are certainly not comparable to the heights established by past finales like "Come Along with Me" and "Together Again."

Of these two episodes, "Casper & Nova" is easily the most awkward, as much of the focus is on Simon-as-Shermy/Beth or the story of the titular characters—both of which are storylines that feel unnecessary and confusing. Why did GOLBetty transfer Simon's mind into Shermy's? Was there any deeper purpose, or was it just an opportunity for us to check in Shermy and Beth? I completely understand the impulse to revisit this world (I, for instance, would love an Ooo 1000+ miniseries), but I do not understand why the writers felt like featuring it at this point in the story, rather than earlier when the characters were actively universe-hopping. Likewise, while I get the allegorical purpose of Casper and Nova, I cannot help but feel that the allegory itself was redundant, especially since the episodes practically beat us over the head with the metaphor ("SIMON… IS… CASPER! BETTY… IS… NOVA!"). Somehow both too messy and too straightforward, "Casper & Nova" was a needless bump in the road that negatively impacted the miniseries' pacing.

"Cheers," in contrast, is a stronger episode, but one that is also marred by its own problems. Chief among these is the finale's focus on emotional tidiness at the expense of plot logic, which leads many of its beats feeling deus ex machina-y. Consider, for instance, the big climax: Scarab has gone berserk and is wreaking havoc in Fionnaworld. But before Scarab is able to fully destroy the unauthorized universe, Simon magically coughs up a flower representation of Fionnaworld(?), which he drops through the portal in his head(??). Fionna catches the flower and disperses its seeds, which manage to heal all that Scarab had destroyed(???). This is one of those moments that, when I watched it, felt emotionally satisfying, but after contemplation, makes no sense. If Simon coughed up the world, how is he able to use the portal in his head to give it to Fionna? Isn't the flower the world? And why would dispersing the universe-flower heal Fionnaworld? It all feels like a big, messy swirl that has been varnished over; on one level, it works, but only in an immediate, superficial way. Closer inspection causes the cracks to appear.

I am further conflicted with how the miniseries deals with Simon and Betty's relationship. I think that telling kids to not sacrifice their lives for the sake of others is a great message, but there is something weird about how it is used in these episodes. The miniseries seems to at first imply (especially in "Capser & Nova") that Simon was single-mindedly fixated on himself and could not see that Betty was devoted to him. But this does not really make sense given how he devastated he was when she disappeared and how desperate he was to find her and apologize to her. From my perspective, the problem was not that Simon took Betty for granted, but that both of them were equally fixated on the other, to the detriment of themselves: Betty threw her life away to cure Simon, leading her to become an eldritch demon god, whereas Simon was throwing his life away in attempt to bring Betty back. To be fair, the miniseries does hint at this idea when it has Betty say that while the two of them could have "made better choices," but by having her admit that they were both to blame, the episode kind of blows up the whole "selfish Simon" element that was beat over our head in "Capser & Nova"!

Having said all that, the miniseries' ending—which sees Simon going to therapy—was a strong, albeit abbreviated, moment. Not everything in life can be cleanly repaired. Sometimes, loss is loss and we have to deal with the seeming meaninglessness that it leaves in our hearts. That means that we have to make sense of the senseless, which is a daunting task. For Simon, this task was to recognize that the past is the past and that Betty loved him, sacrificed herself for him, and is gone. When we push away this emptiness and refuse to confront it, it is very easy for us to lapse into nihilism, seeing everything as bleak and hollow. But if we are able to, we can also open up and discuss this emptiness with others. This might not sound like a big deal ("I talk to myself all day in my head! Why would I need to talk to someone else?") but there is something powerful about conversing with another person; it lets us admit out loud what it is that is bothering us, which prompts us to consciously face our worries and fears. And because we are with another person, we are not alone in this fight! Now, I realize that therapy is not an option available to everyone (alas), but I applaud the show for suggesting that, if available, it can play a major part in overcoming depression.

Given everything I have said in this review, as well as the previous ones, was Fionna and Cake worth it? Yes, yes it was! While it might not have had the strongest ending, it nevertheless proved that the series still has gas in its tank. I hope that we get more Adventure Time content in the future (I, for one, would love an Ooo 1000+ event series), and if this comes to pass, I hope that the writers take the time to learn what worked, what didn't, and then go from there.

Final “Capser & Nova” Grade: B-

Final “Cheers” Grade: B

Final Fionna & Cake Grade: B+

[theshebinator]

✪ PARTNERS MUST BE 18 OR OVER ✪

✎ INTRO

Sheb | 27 | He/They | ENG

I'm pretty new to the rp scene. Started on a whim in 2022 and fell in love with it! I'm not a beginner writer though, and I have about 15 years of fiction, fanfiction, and comic scripting under my belt to prove it!

✎ 3rd person, semi-lit to lit. No pressure for timely responses. VERY open to novel-length rps and long, convoluted AUs and plot lines. Will happily keep going until one of us dies.

WILL DO - Adult content (must be over 21), angst, fluff, light gore (think slightly above PG-13), villains, OCxOC, AUs, crossovers

WILL NOT DO - incest/pedo/zoo, self harm, suicide, age regression, bodily waste, homophobia/transphobia/racism/sexism/bigotry of any kind (EVEN if its fictional! I just don't want to), drugs, non-con

ALL smut and romance rp will require clear consent and all parties may revoke consent at any time for any reason.

Exclusively on Discord, Tupperbox or similar preferred.

DM if interested! ૮ • ﻌ - ა

OCs and Fandoms under cut

✎ OCs

Sedgewick Wolke - Alien, 30s, He/Him. Nerd, out of touch, well-meaning, gay. Imprisoned for 8 years after accidentally destroying his kind (whoops!). Trying to make up for it all, needs everyone all day long to like him so much.

Sybil Wolke - Alien, 20s, She/Her. Cunning, dry wit, impulsive, will kill you, bisexual. Thrust into leadership after 90% of her kind was killed, bearer of the curse (chosen from birth to be a messiah. She's handling it really well.) Sedge's sister.

Rin - Wolf, Adult, She/Her. Tough, kind, used to looking our for herself. Bastard child with a strained relationship with her dad, but knows how to swing a staff.

Neska - Wolf, 20s, He/Him. Gooey center with a tough outer shell. Was born to breed new gods and die a horrible violent death by said gods. Mama's boy, large build but frail health.

Ha Forte - "Catgirl" (alien), 30s, She/Her. Rough and tumble, but very short with most of her weight in her tail. Pansexual. Researcher on earth, unfortunately landed in rural Michigan. Something of a tinkerer.

Sophia - Lesser Gryphon, 50s, She/Her. Lesbian. Ornery, crotchety, and desperately lonely. Doesn't like to talk about her past much and prefers to be left alone. Has a soft spot for kids, though.

Harley "Happiness" Stermann - Star Entity, 20s, He/They. Pansexual. Egomaniac, paranoid, flashy, has done things he's not proud of. Has a strained relationship with the truth.

Maxim "Mania" Stermann - Star Entity, 20s, He/They. Pansexual. Even worse than Harley, but doesn't feel any shame about it. Stereotypical villain, loves violence and bloodshed. Can be tamed, but not recommended. Harley's brother.

All my OCs are open to be shipped with yours if you want!

✎ FANDOMS

Wandersong - Miriam mainly, but will happily be Kiwi or Audrey, or any minor characters as needed. LOVE Mirikiwi, Audwi, RGB!! And AUs!

Adventure Time - Ice King / Simon Petrikov is my preferred role, but still flexible. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO WINTERKOV/SIMONCEST WITH ME!! Petricrazy and Wintergrof are also great!

Don't Starve (Together) - If you want Maxwell to berate you for thousands of words, I'm your man! I also like being Wes and Wilson. LOOOOVE Maxwil and Wilwes!!

Homestar Runner - Strong Bad main, yet flexible here too. More than willing to rp my OverloadAU as Homestar. STRONGSTAR NATION!!!

Send me an ask or DM me if you're interested! I might even doodle scenes from rps winkwonk

[maurice-memes]

Welcome to Maurice Memes!

It's been 3 years, and I haven't made an intro post yet💀 Maybe it's time... this post is subject to change btw!

Who Am I?

For those who are already familiar with me, I'm most well-known in this fandom as Maurice Memes! But you can also call me who I actually am, AtomicStarCat (<-main blog link) (or Atomic)! I can go by anything you want me to, even Maurice's Funky Purple Socks!

I use any pronouns you want to use with me! Call me anything you'd like!

I'm currently 19 years old, but sometimes I still feel like I'm 12 *cry*

I am ace-aro, but I really love making friends!

I'm really bad at reaching out to others in this fandom and being consistent with liking posts, but I really love everyone here, and I'd love to know you better! If I'm not following your LotF blog, please let me know!! I'd love to see more content! I don't talk much, but I promise that if you reach out to me and talk to me, that would make me so happy!! I really want to become closer to everyone here! I'll do my best to appreciate you all better!

I'm kinda off and on in every fandom I'm in, so I'll post consistently for a while, then disappear for a while, but I'm never gone forever! This fandom means so much to me, I'd never forget it!

What Do I Like?

Lord of the Flies! Why else would I be here?

mostly children's media, like Digimon, Powerpuff Girls Z, Precure, and Legend of Zelda! But I won't post about that here^^

About My Art and Requests!

I'm an artist! I draw mostly on Notability, but I sometimes make finished pieces on Ibis or make sketches on Freeform!

I mostly sketch silly things and mini-comics, but I have done some character memes in the past and may do some in the future.

Requests: I will most likely take any and all LotF character/LotF ship requests! I can also draw your designs for the boys if you ask me! I'd love to see them!

I also look at trades for LotF characters, LotF ships, and OCs, just ask! (I always consider OC trades, but won't always accept)

I also have a dead Percival ask blog, @percivals-mailbox, but you can still send stuff in if you really want to!

About my LotF!

My active ships: Jack/Ralph, Roger/Simon, Maurice/Sam, Platonic Maurice+Piggy, Bill/Robert, Percival/Mulberry Boy, and Johnny/Wilfred!

I don't particularly dislike any ships as long as they're portrayed respectfully and healthily! Just don't ask me to draw something weird like a bigun/littlun ship😅

I headcanon Ralph and Mulberry Boy as brothers, and I post about them sometimes without context haha

I have one(1) AU called LotF Academy that's slice of life, which also includes gender bends of all the characters as separate entities in the same world! You can ask me to draw them together!

I don't post very often explicitly about my headcanons, but I will talk about them if asked!

Conclusion!

I only have a couple rules!

Respect me, yourself, and others on my page.

I don't support discrimination of any kind, incest, proship, basic DNI, etc., or endorse anything 18+ on my profile. I say endorse because I don't have problems with healthy 18+ content, just that it makes me uncomfortable as a sex-repulsed ace.

Do not use my fan art on any of my social media without clear, linked credit, and do not use any original art on my social media without explicit permission under any circumstances!

====

Find me elsewhere! OC requests are always open on toyhou.se! I’m also on Art Fight!

atomicstarcat.carrd.co

Thank you for reading my long intro! I'm so happy you found your way here, and I hope you will continue to visit for years to come! I can't wait to meet you!

[aristocratic-otter]

Hello everyone on this nearly-still-Sunday-night. Thank y'all for the tags. I've been extremely busy, though more with creating valentines for the discord valentine's exchange than writing. Still, I've got some words in every WIP. Below the cut for length.

Thank you and tag backsies for Wednesday to @artsyunderstudy, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @fatalfangirl, @hushed-chorus, @ileadacharmedlife, @frjsti, @takitalks, @confused-bi-queer, @thewholelemon, @chen-chen-chen-again-chen. Your fics are so freaking brilliant, it's unfair how much talent is concentrated in this fandom.

From Westward Son (Only three chapters left!)

 I remember drowning. I remember fighting the river back in Virginia; trying to hold my head above water, trying to hold my breath until I just…couldn’t anymore. I remember falling falling falling.

Then Shepard is on me. “Simon!” he shouts frantically. “Is she…” 

His voice snaps me out of the spiral of memory I’d been trapped in.

From The White Chapel (writing the last scene this week!)

I kiss him. And kiss him. And kiss him.

He kisses me back frantically. On my lips, my nose, my cheeks, my eyes, anywhere he can reach. “You shouldn’t be here,” he’s mumbling between kisses. “You need to leave. Before it’s too late.” But, even if I were inclined to agree with him, he never stops kissing me long enough to let me go.

From: Raising Dragons (a chapter and a half to go)

I truly think we became a single entity for several seconds there. My thoughts were his, his were mine and our bodies were united in every possible way. 

Now, we’re exhausted and happy, ready to sleep the remainder of our wedding night away in each other’s arms. 

At least, we were ready. Until Niamh began pounding on our bedroom door with all the subtlety of a battering ram, shouting, “Simon! Baz! Your eggs are hatching!”

From: To Heal a Broken Mind (18,000 words and nowhere near finished):

I never want him to go home. I refuse to examine that thought. It’s not hope. I know there’s no hope for him to fall in love with me. He’s straight. And he hates me. But maybe he hates me a little less now?

From Double Your Pleasure (WILL be done by the 24th) (will have art, too! I'm excited about who I'm getting to work with) (and that's all you're getting 😉)

I do know the spell. But I’ve never tried it before. I’m flammable, and a mispronounced syllable could be fatal for me. But I can’t face down my own clone’s confidence. He thinks I can do it. 

I’m going to try. 

From Saving Simon Snow (18,000 words and about halfway done):

I settle back against the plush leather seats of Basilton’s Jaguar. Really, what right does an eighteen year old have to own a car like this? He says it's his father’s, but he drives it deftly, confidently. It’s like he was born to drive this car. 

I shake my head. I know I’m perseverating on the car because I don’t want to think about the numerous ugly outcomes that are possible for Simon.

Should I be excited that 2/3s of my WIPs are nearly done? ...well, there may be three more WIPs waiting in the wings 🤦‍♀️

Tagging a few more folks: @angelsfalling16, @annabellelux, @bazzybelle, @bookish-bogwitch, @basiltonbutliketheherb, @bloodiedpixie, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @dragoneggos, @excalisbury, @erzbethluna, @fight-surrender, @facewithoutheart, @foolofabookwyrm-activated, @giishu, @gekkoinapeartree, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @ionlydrinkhotwater, @johnwgrey, @j-nipper-95, @jbrrring, @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists, @krisrix, @larkral, @letraspal, @messofthejess, @moodandmist, @nausikaaa, @nightimedreamersghost, @otherworldsivelivedin, @onepintobean, @petrodobreva, @prettylightsbigcity, @raenestee, @thehoneyedhufflepuff, @theearlgreymage, @tea-brigade, @technetiumai, @whogaveyoupermission, @yellobb-old, @yeonjunenby

[forabeatofadrum]

Happy Out of Touch Thursday and remember the 21st of September yada yada. Thank you @artsyunderstudy, @larkral and @wellbelesbian for the tags yesterday. I didn't have time yesterday to post since I am super busy with my new degree and it's Not Going Well, but I do have something to say (partially regarding my degree, but more on that later.)

Remember my myosotis plant? The one who was thriving, but suddenly started dying? Well, a while ago I got rid of the dead parts so that the plant could focus on the new ones and this is her now:

It's nowhere as grandiose as before (the plants don't even grow that high so I had to make a photo from a bird's perspective), but she's alive and that's all that matters!

NOW. FIC STUFF. MY DEGREE. WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON? Time After Time, my MCD Snowbaz fic where Simon dies in the White Chapel and where an immortal Baz only sees him every 20 years when the Veil is lifted. I started a new philosophy master and again if we ignore the fact that I am terrible at it (so far), I actually have something that's on my mind and I have a question for people who've read it.

Spoilers for the ENDING of Time After Time under the cut. Do not read it if you haven't read Time After Time.

So first, the weather: @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna @tea-brigade @ivelovedhimthroughworse @moodandmist @whogaveyoupermission @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @ionlydrinkhotwater @1908jmd @special-bc-ur-part-of-it @chen-chen-chen-again-chen​ @cutestkilla ​ ​ @martsonmars​ @facewithoutheart ​ @shrekgogurt @boyinjeans @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites @blackberrysummerblog @whatevertheweather

Okay, I am not sure how many people will read this, but if you're here, hi! And if you're here, you know that Time After Time ends with the end of the universe.

Or maybe you didn't know that and you're just here for the philosophical ride, which is fine.

So, Baz is immortal, but again, without an universe to exist in, he perishes as well. But OH? What is this? The chapter continues with Baz... being somewhere.

I wrote all of this with only a very basic idea of Descartes' cogito (which is the fancy word for the "I think, therefore I am" quote). In fact, I mostly knew it from a Klaine fic, which isn't surprising, and this was a very, very obscure homage to a fic that has nothing to do with this one. But now that I am actually delving into Descartes' philosophy on substance dualism, I am looking at this passage in a complete new way.

A basic bitch explanation of (substance) dualism is that it's the philosophical belief that there's a separation between body and mind. Descartes questions everything, including the existence of reality, which includes his own existence. He realises that he has, in his opinion, reasons to doubt whether his physical body exists, but the fact that he doubts means that he has a mind, and therefore, he cannot doubt that his mind exists. Get it? Hence, "I think, therefore I am" refers to him being able to rationalise his thoughts about existence, whatever they might be.

The relation between his body and mind is causal. If he has a mind, he can imagine having a body. They are separate entities, hence the whole dualism thing, but they co-exist. But since it's causal, you can say that you need to be able to understand the existence of your body by thinking about it. After all, your body moves according to what you mentally want it to do. Or that is what Descartes says. Full disclosure, dualism no longer holds up due to neuroscience, but whatever. The idea still stands and philosophy is all about ideas!

If you wish, you can reread the passage I just added above. Freaky, right?

Given that Descartes was trying to rationalise existence in general, and I wrote into the fic that Baz thinks of the existence of his body... my question for readers is this: Do you think Baz and Simon still exist?

I have thought a lot about this second ending, and I asked a previous question. I didn't mean to write some philosophical shit, but here we are. Descartes would argue that Baz exists, since he thinks. Because what is existence? After all, Baz is very well aware of the fact that there's nothing.

If this is non-existence, then what does non-existence even entail? He and Simon can spend the rest of whatever this is wherever they are, but what are they?

But then again, isn't his awareness of nothing proof that there is something? Isn't his perception of non-existence the proof of existence? Or is this the perfect "proof" that dualism is real in the Carry On universe, namely that the mind can continue to exist as a separate entity? But then how does that relate to Baz "feeling" corporeal? He has shoulders, because he wants to have them? Or does he even have shoulders? Maybe he's just under the impression that he has them.

(For the story's sake, let's say that he does have them. Otherwise we can argue that Simon actually doesn't show up at the end, since nothing is real, and that makes me upsetti spaghetti. I mean, Baz says it at the end. He doesn't have time to ponder whether this is real.) (But for philosophy's sake: is Simon even real???? And if nothing is real, then how can Baz no have time???? PHILOSOPHY!)

I am aware I am going all over the place and I am also aware there might not be a clear cut answer. That is how philosophy works. I admit, I don't even know if Simon and Baz exist at that point. I purposefully left it up in the air. The idea of them reuniting is cathartic, but it is indeed just an idea. But all this dualism shit did make me appreciate this chapter more and I think I am free to appreciate my own stuff, so I am asking the question.

So: do you think Simon and Baz exist at the end of the fic? And follow-up question: does it even matter?

----

----

---

As an extra, this is Simon's POV from the last three chapters of Time After Time. I did come up with that while writing the fic, but I never found space to add it: basically, as Simon said before, time passes weirdly. So for him, no time has passed. He moved on. He disappeared from Baz's flat, where they danced and said goodbye, and the next thing he knows, he's at the spot where the second epilogue takes place. He's a bit confused, because "is this the next step?" and stuff, but then he sees Baz. Baz is there with him, so he reaches out and smiles when Baz turns towards him. The implication here is that whatever is next after the Veil is supposed to be paradise or whatever you want to call it. It's supposed to be the thing you want. And what Simon ultimately wants is to be with Baz. Awwww!