#[nobody actually talks to me anymore on here tbh

[3416]

anyway. this is maybe my favorite thread i’ve found on twitter the past couple days about why empathy directly translates to being able to enjoy sports regardless of the outcome. we’d all be better off and less bitter if we were willing to embrace the randomness of sport (especially ice hockey) or admit that the people we’re watching are actual people, lol. thank you twitter user himbeaux_on_ice for the logic in a sea of ugliness lkjsdklfjsdkl

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

hi! i saw on your shipping chart you had meenah and cronus as moirails and noted 'would have prevented all problems' and ive never really seen that take before. id love to hear your thoughts on that if you wanted to talk about them, your analysis in general is always amazing

Sure! I know this one's going to be controversial, but TBH I'm kind of fascinated by their dynamic. So please bear with me here and come into it with an open mind; I was also really surprised when I noticed what was going on.

Also, standard disclaimer that nobody has to agree with me or ship my ships, I literally don't care, HCs are valid, death of the author, etc. etc. This is just a canon discussion blog, and there's kind of a weird amount to read into in the canon between these two.

Okay, so, first of all, quick refresher on moirallegiance: it's not necessarily about being BFFs, it's very specifically about pacifying each other, keeping each other calm and stable, and preventing each other from causing harm to oneself or to others.

Ergo, the marker of moirallegiance rests not on "do these two get along as BFFs?" and instead on "do these two keep each other calm and/or mitigate each others' harm".

So with that out of the way, Cronus and Meenah. We know that Cronus has a redcrush on her, echoing Eridan's redcrush on Feferi, and that Meenah is not interested at all. Cronus shoots his shot with her, she's like ick, no & leaves, and that's that on that. Cronus then rounds on Mituna and says some unbelievably cruel and shitty stuff, but here's Point #1 - Meenah shows up again, and Cronus stops immediately, and then is noticeably calmer and friendlier to Mituna. Compare:

CRONUS: you are a brain damaged reject on a team full of rejects. a rejects reject. i vwould havwe culled you myself if that vword meant vwhat it should havwe on our planet.

-

CRONUS: vwell, this is clearly absurd, but nyeh, vwhat the heck. CRONUS: mituna, i just cant take it anymore. i think my ghost is going to kill itself. MITUNA: WH0W4H L375 FUCK!!!!! CRONUS: vwait... CRONUS: really? MITUNA: N0 0Y0 P135H3 0FF 1ND107 FUGG1NG G4R484G3  #FUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0UFUCKY0U CRONUS: oh.

So at the very least, SOMETHING conciliatory seems to be happening here, whether that's pale or ashen. But I'm going with pale, because it continues.

Their second conversation together is really interesting - not only has Cronus stopped redflirting with her, but he no longer even seems interested. Compare this to the section with Mituna above:

CRONUS: oh sure. no grub sauce on your hands! MEENAH: wow you did it MEENAH: ampora you totally changed my mind about you lets start makin out immediately  #not CRONUS: just admit it. you havwe it vwithin you to be just as harsh to our behelmeted buddy as i am, if not more

Like, he doesn't even ACKNOWLEDGE the "let's make out #not". Not even in an indignant "see, you keep playing with my collapsing and expanding bladder based vwascular system" kind of way. Literally just breezes right by it, which says to me that he isn't even really that into her concupiscently.

But more interesting are the actual contents of the conversation. Cronus is the only person on the entire team who's able to make Meenah have misgivings about how awesome the Condy is.

MEENAH: man MEENAH: a girls gotta have fuel for her pimp ride know what im sayin MEENAH: like MEENAH: i probably took care of him good MEENAH: you know how it is someones gotta take care of the guy anyways MEENAH: and... yeah #38(

This is the first and only time that Meenah even acknowledges that the Condy - herself at her worst - is kind of shitty. This is the first and only time she's ever expressed any emotion for the Condy other than fangirlish admiration or rage against Caluborn for enslaving her. For whatever reason, she actually listens to Cronus when Cronus takes her to task, and he's actually able to make her genuinely reflect on her worst tendencies.

But maybe more damning is the fact that in their first real conversation together for nearly an eon, she almost fixes him:

MEENAH: i heard a rumor you think youre a human now MEENAH: that true CRONUS: its a privwate matter. i dont see vwhy i should havwe to talk about it vwith you, and open myself up to more of your judgmental scorn. MEENAH: sounds like another desperate cry for attention imo

[...]

CRONUS: to be honest, she might be right. sometimes i think i might only be saying im a human to get attention. maybe i should givwe it up.

Cronus's fundamental emotional problem is a sense of purposelesness and ennui. Born into a caste of high privilege, with his identity overshadowed by said position, he's been handed an unpleasant cocktail of entitlement, lack of true emotional support or connection, and lack of a real, authentic personal identity - especially because the thing he DID seem to derive a sense of identity and purpose from - his little Harry Potter wizard backstory - was driven out of him. In other words, he's kind of a shitty rich kid that doesn't really know who he is outside of that, and his humankin stuff is an attempt to fill the wizard hole without addressing his real underlying issues. It's a Bad Thing for him to be doing, and something he should drop in order to start addressing his genuine insecurities, feelings of emptiness, and lack of identity or purpose. In other words, it's harm he's performing on himself, and a single conversation with Meenah being enough to make him reconsider it? Hmmmmmm.

In fact, I'm not the only one picking up on the pale vibes. The specific way that Kankri interrupts the two reads as incredibly pick-me in pale:

KANKRI: Listen, I was d9ing y9u a fav9r. Y9u d9n't need t9 6e dating any9ne wh9 can't appreciate y9u f9r wh9 y9u really are, 9r m9re imp9rtantly, which fantasy versi9n 9f y9urself y9u m9st str9ngly identify with.

[...]

I just wanted y9u t9 kn9w that I'm here f9r y9u, and am prepared t9 lecture t9 y9u extensively, I mean, listen t9 y9u extensively, a69ut y9ur ultra-imp9rtant pr96lem.

"Don't take Meenah's advice about your problems! Take mine instead, I care about you sooo much more than she does!" lol. I have a whole essay on how Kankri and Cronus are actually super toxic for each other, in an interesting foil to Karkat and Eridan, which I'll link here in a bit (I'm on mobile RN and it's hard enough C/Ping my sources).

In any case, Kankri slides in at exactly the moment where Meenah's about to fix Cronus, and proceeds to make Cronus worse. The details are in the Cronus and Kankri essay, but TL;DR it's kind of implied that Kankri is the one who talked Cronus out of the wizard stuff in the first place, which pretty much disqualifies the two's relationship from pale, given how harmful that was. This whole thing is pretty reminiscent of Gamzee coming between Karkat and Eridan when Eridan is trying to comfort Karkat about Sollux dying, because it's implied Gamzee has a palecrush on the guy. That might be subjective, though.

What isn't subjective is the fact that Meenah unironically defends Cronus's wizard beliefs when Aranea starts shitting on them.

ARANEA: Whatever the case, it was pro8a8ly for the 8est, since pretty much everyone who had half a think pan thought [Cronus's wizard beliefs were] all a 8unch of ridiculous nonsense. MEENAH: serket why do you got to hate on other peoples religions MEENAH: dont you kno they just as much a load of crackpotty bunk as all your spiritual bullfuck ARANEA: 8ut I........ ARANEA: Yes, I guess I was out of line.

She doesn't do this for anybody else. Not long after, it turns out she's absolutely joking about defending Kurloz:

MEENAH: wow serket MEENAH: just wow so rude MEENAH: poor clown ARANEA: Don't give me that! I seem to remem8er you having more than a few unkind words for him 8ehind his 8ack. MEENAH: yeah im messin witchu he sux

And even proceeds to shit on HIS spiritual bullfuck:

MEENAH: )(ONK ARANEA: Honk honk! ::::) MEENAH: lol im glad we can both agree that clowny fuckin soda cult is the dumbest shit ever

So... weird, huh? Seems like she gives Cronus special treatment for some reason.

That's it for the diegetic stuff to go over, which, yes, means that there's a bit of non-diegetic stuff to discuss. It's not much, but here's Hussie's commentary from the Act 5 Act 2 book, on Mindfang's journal entries about Dualscar leading up to the 3x showdown (emphasis mine):

In the end, even though violets are the ruling class, she doesn't care much about them either. All she cares about is keeping her stranglehold on power with this complex, staggered, oppression-based sort of pyramid scheme. Note how it says the Condesce doesn't even know who Dualscar is. That's how insignificant he is, ultimately. Similarly, all Eridan was to Feferi after a while was a tiresome pest. The way that situation played out could also be seen as long-delayed karmic backlash for Dualscar's irrelevance to her, at least from a very Amporan point of view.

Now, while the specific context here is about how, from the point of view of a shitty entitled guy, Eridan killing Feferi is kind of a retribution for the Condy not giving a shit about Dualscar, all of Hussie's commentary is meant to be interrogated just as much as the base text, and it just makes me wonder. The dancestors very much treat their Alternian counterparts as alternate versions of themselves, consistent throughout their interactions, meaning we ought to consider Duascar and the Condesce to be versions of Cronus and Meenah.

If it is, in fact, the case that Cronus and Meenah would've made for excellent, harm-reducing moirails for each other, then murderstuck being a karmic backlash for their ultimate irrelevance to each other takes on a much greater implication - one that traces back to Cronus's classpect.

Bards start off massive karmic chain reactions, resulting in improbable victory or abject defeat, sometimes both; Hope is an aspect whose main application is making fake things real.

So I'm not saying that Cronus believing that an evil wizard attacked him when he was younger but was inadvertently sealed away and that Cronus was therefore karmically destined to defeat this wizard, but then having his beliefs shattered halfway through, led to him karmically contributing to the eventual creation of LE via his Hope abilities "inviting destruction" by making only the first half of his fake prophecy true, but - oh, no, wait, I am saying that. Man, that really sucks for everybody. If only Cronus had a friend who was, for whatever reason, willing to stick up for his dumbass wizard faith.

If only.

[freakcliff]

drama that I think happens in xaviers school for gifted youngsters. imagine this all as like some sort of yikyak posts im too lazy to format it

"guys living in the west wing isn't that bad you just hate people with mutations that aren't easy to hide and control" "okay but as a telepath the psychic vibes coming from there are sooo hard to be around. I'm always hearing the screams of untold millions coming from one of the rooms (not naming names) and I had to move out because I couldn't sleep"

"why are there so many day students this semester like seriously if your mutation is small enough you can still live at home why are you taking up space from people who *actually* need it" "hey as a day student I got kicked out of three public schools before coming here so maybe you should stop assuming things"

"tbh im just waiting until i get my high school degree and then I'm joining the brotherhood of mutants" "um... aren't those guys terrorists?" "they're only labelled terrorists because society is mutantphobic and the government is so awful at protecting mutants that they have to take extreme measures to protect themselves. you should go out and see real activism instead of the useless shit the x men are doing" "hey guys can we not talk about this magneto killed my dad"

"have you seen some of the new kids here lately. if I didn't know better I'd think they were baselines tbh like nobody cares anymore if your mutation is enhanced strength or cognition go back to public school" "my mutation is my massive cock and balls ;)"

"has anyone actually taken a class with wolverine??? hes always here but i never see him on the course listing??? what does he even do??" "hes the art teacher obviously"

"party tonite in the annex BYOB" "isn't that where the couple with a baby lives???"

"how can someone be a telepath if they can't read minds?? isn't that an oxymoron??" "telepath is an umbrella label that encompasses a lot of thought-based powers--some telepaths feel emotions more than thoughts, some are better at controlling minds than reading them, but a lot still call themselves telepaths because it's easier than listing all the specifics" "uhhh source??" "me? I'm an empathic telepath?"

[rafesgoldrings]

after rewatching most of s2, I noticed that rafe always ends his sentences with “okay” for like reassurance or to see if they understand him and it honestly makes me feel bad. so may I request like the reader reassuring rafe? doesn’t matter the plot tbh

(it can angst-y or light hearted, i’m just in the mood to be sad😭)

It was getting exhausting being with Rafe. You loved him so much, but ever since all the shit with Ward went down he changed. All he cared about was the gold, Barry had started coming around more and the two of them would disappear for hours, days even. Then they’d come back and throw a party, get drunk and high off their asses, and Rafe would act like nothing was wrong in your relationship. Each time you tried talking to him about it, he’d just brush you off and tell you he was handling shit. But that wasn’t enough anymore, you couldn’t keep doing this with no proper explanation.

“Rafe” he’d come home late again, not even saying hello to you as he walked into your bedroom, pinning you down and kissing up and down your neck trying to take off your shirt. Acting like sex would magically fix whatever was going on, but not this time. He kept kissing up your neck, not paying any mind to your solemn tone.

“Rafe, stop” your hands moved to push him away, watching his face screw up in confusion. “What? What’s wrong?” how one person could be so oblivious was beyond you. What wasn’t wrong?

“We need to talk, please. I’m begging you to just talk to me” the pure pleading tone you spoke with broke his heart. He knew that he’d been absent, had been pushing you away, but talking about it made everything going on real, and making it real meant he had to deal with the emotions and consequences that came with that.

“Look, I-I’m trying to take care of us okay? I’m trying to take care of you” he rubbed at his temples frustrated, you didn’t understand. Why did nobody understand that he was just trying to take care of shit?

“But you take care of me other ways Rafe. Like when you acknowledge my existence as more than just sex on legs. When you actually talk to me and treat me like your girlfriend, when you take me on dates, when you come home and we take turns cooking dinner. That’s taking care of me” you shook your head, you knew this was a 50/50 scenario. He was going to either actually listen to you and the two of you would work on it, or pick a fight that would be the final blow to your already fragile relationship.

“No no no no…listen to me! I’m the one taking care of all this, me okay? Y-you just wouldn’t understand, you don’t know how much shit I have to deal with, how fucking hard it is” his voice was slightly raised now, standing in front of you pacing back and forth, but as soon as you flinched when he pointed his finger in your face, he broke.

Tears streaming down his face, sobs wracking his body making it hard for him to breathe, arms wrapping around you as he collapsed to the ground and placed his head in your lap. It broke your heart seeing him this way, seeing the strong tough exterior he put on finally crack, the way he was being so vulnerable with you. You placed your hands on his head, cradling it, telling him it was okay. You were here, he was okay, he could trust you.

“It’s too much. I don’t know how much more of this shit I can take” it came out muffled, but you heard. You swear you could hear your heart shatter.

“Then stop trying to do it alone. Stop trying to act like you’re okay, you’re not okay Rafe. It’s going to take time before everything is going to be alright, you just have to let me in Rafe, let me help you” he raised his head from your lap, his sad eyes staring directly into your pleading one’s

“Okay” it sounded so defeated, but also like relief. Relief he had someone who cared about him for once, who wanted to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone in this, who loved him enough to call out his bullshit.

You pulled him into a gentle kiss, hands cupping his cheeks as you felt him gently push you back into the bed. He crawled on top of you and peppered kisses down your jaw and neck before you pushed him away again.

“Let me take care of you tonight. Let me show you how much I love you” flipping the two of you over so you were now on top. Gently undoing the buttons on his shirt, you bent your head down to gently kiss the exposed skin.

“Going to make you feel so good baby. Help you forget all your problems tonight”

Tag List: @sweetestdesire @congratsloserr @xyzstar @dreamingwithrafe @madelynie @outerbankspov

[thegreatimpersonator]

since y'all seemed to want this.... here's the live notes i took while listening to each song for the first time (bold are thoughts i had during later listens)

fortnight: 

‘i was a functioning alcohol till nobody noticed my new aesthetic’ what the fuck does that even mean…

love the fact she gave post the female collab treatment. don’t wanna hear what he has to say. 

they’re voices sound actually good together? 

some pockets of the melody are catchy

okay i don’t hate this 

ttpd:

her red flags are on fire in this song lol

this seems very half-cooked

also jacks weird mixing continues to plague us all

CHARLIE PUTH???? WHAT THE FUCK WHY HE HERE

tattooed golden retriever??? ……no way

my boy breaks all his favorite toys:

i blinked and it’s half over

this also is like… half cooked and didn’t need to be released tbh

i love the way she sings the second verse tho

down and:

the production does not match the vibe

did tpain produce this

i’m… kinda bored lol

like i have nothing to say this also didn’t need to be released tbh 

this grew on me a lot actually

so long london 

the production is so futuristic? 

oh im obsessed with how she sounds on this one

her talk-singing in the verses is great

honest lyrics without any clunky unnecessary metaphors! a win!!

the fast-paced verses with th slow chorus is really really cool

a favorite so far

daddy i love him

i can barely hear her? the bad mixing continues 

‘growing up precociously sometimes means not growing up at all’ oh yeah WE KNOW

is this…… is this about her dating matty and loving how people hate him… no fucking way she’s this stupid

SHE IS BEING THIS STUPID

‘it’s white noise’ yeah yeah that’s exactly how id describe him  

.... anyway y'all remember when fans really believed the little mermaid theory and this song was supposed to be about how 'joe stole her voice' lmaooo

we will pretend this one doesn't exist!

fresh out the slammer

are we getting another ‘i didn’t cheat technically’ song lol

what is this weird tempo change….

okay kinda catchy

it’s sounds exactly like you are in love at the end….. jack is really out of tricks

florida

‘my friends all smell like weed or little babies’ what the fuck is she even talking about anymore 

i’m sorry but i’m laughing at the phrase ‘fuck me up florida’

again the production sounds so detached from the vocals 

i honestly still have no idea how i feel about this one

guilt as sin

an real instrument?? wow crazy 

okay she’s kinda cute? catchy and fun, love the melody

i love when she goes up at the end of the vocal 

okay…. i don’t mind this one she’s catchy, a little too long and drawn out but cute

who’s afraid of little old me?

what is this production? it’s way too soft to be as threatening as they’re trying for 

why did jack push her vocals back so far when she’s supposed to scream…. that’s ruins the whole thing…. she’s supposed to be screaming and threatening….. not quiet and far away…. hello

this song is trying very hard to be threatening but it’s not... vigilante shit 2.0

‘you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum they raised me’…………… upper middle-class pennsylvania? 

‘i’m drunk on my own tears isn’t that what they all say, that’ll  sue you if you step on my lawn’ okay bar?

the bridge was good but that’s about it.

i can fix him 

…………… not another matty song oh god

‘i can handle a dangerous man’…… im too stunned to speak this is so embarrassing 

wow taylor really is that girl who like ‘women supporting women’ and then dates/defends a racist bf…. a walking example of white feminism

intersectional feminism found dead.... twice....

loml

okay this is really nice? 

I WAS ACTUALLY ENJOYING THE SONG WHY DID SHE RUIN IT BY SAYING ‘MR STEAL YOUR GIRL’ 💀

if we ignore that one line we're good this is good. im refusing to let that line ruin such a good song

i can do it with a broken heart

‘bitch smile’ why are there so many cringey lyrics on this album lol

what is this song omg why do i kind of like it 

taylor please learn depressed isn’t a synonym for sad 

they recycled the mastermind production 

wait till taylor finds out most of the entire world is sad while they're doing their job and has to pretend they're not

smallest man who ever lived 

oh i think i like this?

‘you said normal girls were boring’ GIRL AND YOU DIDNT IMMEDIATELY GET UP AND LEAVE??? EWWWW??? she's not beating the pick-me allegations

'i just wanna know if rusting my sparking summer was the goal' okay love that line

i like this a lot

the alchemy

no….. no way this is real

i cannot

THE SPORTS METAPHORS WE JOKED SHED DO THAT AND SHE ACTUALLY DID IT OH NO 

touchdown ✅ teams ✅ benches ✅ winning streak ✅ the league ✅

she’s doing…… the worst thing ever this is so laughable 

the corny lyrics are on overload 

‘this time it’s heroine with an e’ didn’t she write folklore? i can’t remember 

that literally was an snl parody of a taylor song

clara bow

love how the guitar sounds… bet money this is an aaron track 

a stevie nicks reference!! a win!!!

i like this one a lot no cringey lyrics yet

nope never mind she name-dropped herself don’t like that

overall really liked it tho

the black dog

i think i like it?? this is kind of what i expected the album to be

okay for once the weird production choices kind of pay off

imgonnagetyouback

kinda catchy? 

she loves a fancy car getting wrecked line

the pre-choruses are the best part 

this would’ve been better without the jack of it all bc he loves a song that doesnt build to anything

this just comes down to personal preference: i don’t like her lighter vocals with jack’s heavy production (ie most of lover lol)

the albatross

a real instrument!!! production that matches taylor’s voice and is well mixed!!! aaron’s arrived!! 

i think it’s solid, has good writing and she sounds great. that's about it.

chloe or sam or…

took me a solid minute to have any semblance of a fuck to know what was going on but okay

okay i love this one

wayyyy more emotive than like… most of the original album

a lot of the 2nd version (or whatever this is lol) are way more emotive, maybe because her voice isnt drenched in reverb so we can actually hear her voice emote better

how did it end

this sounds like an old school adele song? 

i love this one too…. 

her being upset people wanna know what happened but then also feeding it while promoting the album oop 

i love the story of this one it's so refreshing

so high school

THE PRODUCTION is so good ugh aaron never fails 

the man here is a walking red flag girl and the lyrics are ~not it~ but the production is too pretty to hate it

fuck these lyrics are so bad lol

maybe if i disassociate hard enough i can ignore the lyrics and just listen to the production and vibe

give me a karaoke version of this song and we'd be so back

i hate it here

i mentioned disassociation and she made a whole song about it!!!! this one’s mine!!!! 

‘without all the racists’ GIRL HUH

WHAT WAS THE REASON

also... girl don’t act like we don’t know you’re fine with that lololololol

if i had a dime for every time i was liking a song to then have it slapped away because of a bad, out-of-pocket lyric…… 

thank you aimee

this isn’t grabbing my attention 

oh the bridge is interesting 

it’s meh 

i will never be thanking the people that bullied me thanks tho

i look in peoples windows 

what do you mean aaron didn’t produce this??? it’s well-made and has instruments? 

i love this one, again a really interesting and unique concept that's very refreshing to hear at this point when a lot of the songs feel repetitive

the prophecy

aaron guitar!!!! 

she’s nice i like her 

i've really grown to love how she sings this one, the melodies are cool.. however i feel like we've heard the same melody.. like on this exact album... where she upturns at the end of every line...

cassandra 

this seems very…. familiar… idk i feel like we’ve covered this (i mean there are 31 songs we’ve already covered everything lol)

this is such an aaron song, that's a classic 'the national' piano

i like her voice in this one tho, sounds good

peter

oh love i love this

now this? THIS feels the most like a taylor swift song

once again she’s at her best with a simple instrument and emotive simple lyrics

the piano reminds me of champagne problems

the bolter 

i like this! the chorus is so cute

oh i like that ending line a lot!

she’s cute, a little long and drawn out but cute

robin

i haven’t seen anyone talk about this one

welp…. i literally have no feelings toward this one but sounds pretty! 

the manuscript

oh this is soooooooo powerful 

i love this concept 

her ending the album on another introspective album that sums everything up a la dear reader yep yep!!

if you actually read of this ily 💗

[perfectfangirl]

notes after rewatching fallout s1 ep8

• maximus is once again on a [brotherhood of steel] vertibird. this time is much different though. he's no longer a nervous, inexperienced squire. he's a man with a mission. a completely different one from the start. he's going to dupe the brotherhood of steel and buy time. to help lucy. • as he stares at two knights, it flashes back to lucy telling him to find her after all this. they do. but they cannot stay. • as the vertibird travels to filly, the transmission on the vertibird goes "the locals put up a fight, but so did we". makes so much sense why cooper told lucy to leave the griffith observatory, the brotherhood of steel really probably would've killed her • filly has been uh "secured" by the brotherhood of steel and maximus presents the not actual head to elder cleric quintus. elder cleric quintus in an obvious move asks maximus "you're wearing the knight's red. where's your knight?" in this moment, it is [the still injured] dane who takes the head from maximus to give to elder cleric quintus. maximus makes eye contact with dane and i swear i felt a mountain move

• maximus divulges that knight titus is dead to elder cleric quintus. elder cleric quintus, ever the inquisitor says "this is not the first time a brother in your company has fallen into misfortune..." dane precariously climbs the stairs elder cleric quintus is sitting atop. worry and fear spreading across their face with every step. "is it?" elder cleric quintus finishes. • of course they check this fake head and it does not register anything in it when a device is used on it to detect the resource. maximus has been had. "i fear you lied then. just as you lie now." elder cleric quintus accuses. "no artifact, m'lord" • maximus is visibly going into shock, his deception having been rooted out swiftly, easily • the problem here is that accidentally getting the wrong head is plausible. but coming back without your knight and possibly being the one who sabotaged another member are all red flags. elder cleric quintus is left with no choice but to assume here tbh

• as maximis initiates a speech check to begin bargaining for his life, two knights who escorted him in now hold him down. priests or whatever start chanting. a third knight with a gun walks up behind a kneeling maximus. ah ok this is an execution now, got it • "please listen to me! i can get you the real head!" maximus begs, the barrel of this large gun touching the back of his dome. the terror is visible and palpable but only on maximus' and dane's faces. "confess." elder cleric quintus hisses. maximus pleads again "don't kill me and i can lead you to it!". fair bargain to me, nobody else in that town knows where it is except maximus • in this same line, the camera is on dane. such fear in dane's face. • as maximus yells "i can help you!" dane drops to their knees, breaking the thick tension with a confession of their own, "please, m'lord. my injury was my own doing. not his." before dane can continue, maximus once again reminds, desperately "please... please, i know where the head is!" with dane next going "for the sake of the brotherhood, please listen to him!" • elder cleric quintius says something interesting to me. he says "such a display of loyalty. don't see that much anymore." elder cleric quintus is not talking about the brotherhood of steel. elder cleric quintus is talking about dane's loyalty to maximus. remember back with episode 1 where i said dane is maybe in love with maximus? yeah

• in this scene we learned that not only did elder cleric quintus still suspect maximus gave dane that foot injury despite having him squire for knight titus but that dane also self inflicted that injury • maximus is let go, almost assuredly having pissed his pants 😭 • notice how elder cleric quintus was elevated above everyone else in this scene. he was atop the stairs in filly and anyone who spoke to him kneeled. his position and his rule in this faction is of interest to me for sure • the next shot with elder cleric quintus and maximus is very star wars and i'm going to explain that • in a dimly lit private meeting, elder cleric quintus asks maximus "you think you're the first squire who coveted his knight's armour?" he then asks how knight titus perished. "he died running" maximus says almost in a disillusioned way. upon hearing this, elder cleric quintus replies "the brotherhood has lost its way." i wonder how many other knights are scared

• "we once ruled the wasteland... and yet power is taken. not given." oh, fallout--- • "a lesson you seem to have learned." yes and no, i love how maximus taking the armour of a [terrible] dying man wasn't so bad to me, it felt like self preservation, that man was going to get maximus killed otherwise • "so, if what you say is true, and you can lead us to the relic, then together, you and i, we will have power. and with it... we will start a new brotherhood." here is exactly where i see some star wars. anakin. anakin and palpatine. the circumstances are only a little bit different. orphan, raised in a cult, never given opportunities they desire, vulnerable so an old manipulator is in their ear trying to gain power. practically twins. • listen... i only now understand elder cleric quintus runs a chapter and not the entire thing. mans wants it all. not a bad bargain for maximus and the fusion core can do this. • elder cleric quintus reminds maximus that his entire life he wanted a home. there are flashbacks to maximus surviving the shady sands incident and him seeing a knight. he asks maximus simply this "build one with me."

• lucy freshly laundered, hair laid, clear skin, with the stinking, rotting head lands at the observatory where moldaver is. armed femme guards greet her at the gate. • crazy scene! as lucy strolls through the observatory, there's crops, farmers, children playing. and even ghouls. a ghoul she saved at the super duper mart recognizes lucy, "it's her." the person next to them puts an arm on their shoulder. i am not crying! • getting sick to my stomach realising the brotherhood of steel descended on this place with children 😞 • meanwhile, the cowboy ghoul we all know and love slinks across the wasteland, trailed by dogmeat. this flashbacks to the day cooper's life turned upside down. the day he spied on barb at vault tec • billboard on the side of where cooper and dogmeat are walking is for sunset sarsaparilla, a consumable item in fallout: new vegas

• cooper having to put on a mask and pretend [act!] like he's not spying on his wife by driving her to work [wonder if he "bungled" that oil change on purpose] • "you know, most guys with a ride this nice, they wouldn't be willing to get their hands dirty." foreshadowing, metaphor, a thing, front and center • this was the last time cooper told barb he loves her and still meant it • cooper is spying on barb in the parking lot, the military taught him nothing 😭 • here come bud askins! enough! i hate him! go away 😭 • the car bud is driving is the messerschmitt kr200 • because cooper is actively spying, barb has yet to enter the building, fiddling with the prototype pip boy. but all the while, bud interrupts cooper's espionage to have another rambling business meeting type conversation with him. cooper is once again nice to this evil man

• barb states after being asked by bud what's wrong "uh my pip boy. it's been acting strange. the transmitter is always activated..." cooper looks spooked. he's been listening in a lot, i see • bud suggests taking it to it but barb says she can fix it herself. wonder if she did finally figure out where the pip boy was transmitting to before... • lmao cooper's like "i'm heading out. i promised janey that i would teach her some roping [😢] and bud, who cooper is not fucking talking to responds to this statement anyways "oh, yeah? i don't have kids myself. but i do have a training program for up and coming executives and that's basically the same thing." bud spilling the vault 31 thing right there yet another time • once again, someone else is trying to talk to cooper but all he is thinking about and fixating on is barb. i am hurt but i am also amused 😭 • no, barb has not told cooper 'bout no junior executive program, bud. bud calls this shit "bud's buds" 😭. bud explains "the basic idea is that the biggest obstacle to achievement has been the brevity of the human lifespan. it's prevented us from working on projects that require centuries, maybe even millennia, to see through. so ideally, bud's buds will keep my project on track centuries into the future." the ravings of a madman, your honour ☝️

• cooper's face through this spiel is comedy but also barb having to pull this man off her husband is too, like get off of him 😭 • bud's statements about architecting programs that run centuries into the future being paired with cooper telling lucy her life was planned hundreds of years ago... oof, chills • because of the frequency and distance, cooper is starting to hear static. barb and her pip boy are getting too far away. cooper overhears barb ask bud if his pip boy has been acting up before it is consumed by static. copper rather softly says "fuck." to himself. now parallel this to the bait scene where he loudly yells it lol • i guess cooper goes there a lot because cooper decides to walk in the building to get closer to hear better and there's no issue there

• lucy enters the observatory and it's very beautiful inside like a painting of a decadent ruin. you can see the sky because there's a huge hole in the roof. • hank is there or whatever, trapped in a cage like a damsel in distress. there's a new california republic flag on what's left of the wall, you can hear the hissing and groaning of feral ghoul rose before she is panned to. this is hank's worst fucking nightmare, huh • i just realized... hank has a ring on his ring finger on his non dominant hand. a gold band. he disgusts me so much omg • moldaver welcomes lucy to this unnerving and gothic abode. moldaver is having uh dinner, freshly made, warm on the table. there's fruits, bread, stuffed meat. hopefully she's been starving hank this whole time and he can only look. moldaver's hair is also laid and billowing in the wind • feral ghoul rose is tied down with rope in the chair ☹️

• "join us. it's my turn to host, isn't it?" sick! moldaver offers lucy a chair. lucy expressed her pre reveal rage "i've had a lot of time to think about this moment. you wouldn't believe the things that went through my head. one night, i actually tried to stuff an old grenade into the neck hole. i guess i was gonna walk in here and blow everybody up. but it's not really how i was raised." oh lucy. it wasn't how hank was raised either. and look at what he did. twice. • lucy then says "so, if you don't mind, i'm gonna keep things civil!" and then plops siggi's head on moldaver's food 😭 she said civil, she's still gonna be petty rotf • rose roars at lucy as moldaver takes the cold fusion capsule out of siggi's head, at last retrieving free energy and releasing it from the shackles of this man's cranium. thank you, siggi ❤️

• lucy then asks for hank back. "very well. but first..." moldaver has put the small capsule in a vial and holds it up to observe it "what if i tell you how i know your father? who he really is?" this has got to be the juiciest episode. hank objects immediately. moldaver is about to ruin this man's whole career. • as moldaver tells lucy that lucy thinks hank was born in a vault like her and her brother, it changes back to norm coming up on vault 31's whole thing. norm finds bud but he's different. this weird guy is now a brain. in a jar. on a roomba. and he's stuck. trapped behind a fallen broom or something 😭 this is funny because back in the vault tec meeting scene, while cooper was spying, they showed bud tripping up the stairs while talking to barb gldgldlf • while stuck before norm helps him, bud keeps saying "no, no i'll get it this time." and "the key to the future is humanity." [parts of his little speech from the vault tec meeting] i'm howling, how long has he been stuck like this? • bud tells on hank quick because bud tells norm once he recognizes "wait, you're not betty. or hank." like oop them the two main villains right there, huh

• lmao ok but when bud sees that norm is like, someone outside vault tec knowledge has found out what's in vault 31, bud decides to idk kill norm?? 😭 • bud's like "initiate protocol 53" and takes out a syringe. the music is menacing. but he's a brain in a jar on a roomba 😭 • norm just dodges bud but bud cannot stop showing his hand "the secret must be guarded. don't go in there. don't you go in there! don't read anything in there. or turn on the lights. don't you access the info tree or look at the terminal." like omg shut uppp 😭 • back in the past, cooper is assisted to a waiting room at vault tec where his film posters are on the walls. he is brought there by a pre war betty. • in the same scene, we get another drop. henry works with barb and asks to meet cooper. he's a big fan. henry is hank.

• ugh this next scene makes me ill but we need to speak on it because it's realistic, it's damning, it's indicative, it's abject. and it's the secret meeting all the powerful entities have while cooper listens in • they got the legion of doom down there, y'all. they got robco, west tek, big mt, repconn, and vault tec. everybody in here is menacing af. barb less so. on the surface. • lol mr. house telling fred of big mt that he could lose money running a casino amuses me, that's so fallout: new vegas • "sure, rumours of the peace negotiations have set us back, but we're here to offer an opportunity." and the opportunity is nuclear annihilation and crimes against humanity • it almost seems like every conversation bud was having with cooper felt like a business meeting because he was using cooper as a practice board for this meeting here. cooper can do two things at once because just because he always thinking about barb doesn't mean he didn't hear every word bud has said

• bud tells the companies at this meeting that the vaults are capable of being sufficient for centuries. but then bud said something i hadn't noticed first watch. "meanwhile, our competitors... you know, every other human who isn't us... will be dead on the surface." very big what the fuck, how did the competition become vault tec versus everyone else • they cut back to cooper listening intently and his brow is becoming more and more furrowed • "because after all, what is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction? time. time is the apex predator. and in the event of an incident, time is the weapon with which we will defeat all of out enemies." whoa whoa whoa when did "competitors" turn into "enemies"? the fuck? • "this is how we will win the great game of capitalism. not by outfighting anyone. but by outliving them." the company's representatives are still not very sold on these vaults. because they all start arguing after bud's monologue

• something happens next i have so many questions about it [and so do others] because next what happens is that barb [who hasn't spoken yet] looks at her pip boy then looks up. there's a shady figure observing all this. who on earth is that? i personally thought it could be the president of the us. others i have seen say they think barb knows she is being listened in on but not by cooper but by this person? i guess this is for future seasons • you know this is the scene where cooper is so sweet and trusting. before barb speaks, he goes "come on, barb. set 'em straight" 😞 he would've put his life in her hands if she asked him too, he would've faced god and walked backwards in hell for her. • barb starts "when i think about the future, i think about my daughter... janey. how do i provide her with a better future? that's what we've invited you here to discuss." cooper was on bated breath and prematurely says "yes" thinking barb was doing something right. but little did he know 😢 • norm walks deeper into vault 31 and sees that it is different, it's smaller than vault 33 or even vault 32. brain on a roomba tells norm this is indeed the vault hank is from. but not before telling norm "you'll never find out." and norm simply pushing a button for lights "oh he's gonna find out" lmaooo • norm has found the plot twist of the century. it's a vault full of people in cryostasis. norm's expression mirrors lucy's upon figuring out exactly what hank has done [though norm doesn't know the full extent of shady sands, he now knows hank is lying] • for whatever reason, bud finally decides to spill "these are bud's buds. my buds. america outsourced the survival of this country to the private sector. but it would have been insane to keep a failed nation alive. so, we kept vault tec alive instead. a well trained staff of highly supervised junior executives from my own assistant training program. because the future of humanity comes down to one word: management." bud's evil speeches are uniquely corporate management but we must listen to his ravings to get a glimpse of the scope here

• it appears it was bud's idea for 31, 32, 33 "because it was the spirit of competition that made our companies great, and i propose we bring this same spirit of competition to our solutions." barb says, adding onto the deal as vault tec vault locations light up on a map behind her and bud • barb tells the representatives that vault tec has over one hundred vaults spread across america. and that any company in the meeting could take some to experiment on and play out their own ideas for how to create conditions for humanity to survive. barb simply adds "whatever you want to do, no one needs to know" who is this man married to? • norm responds to bud's revelation "so what's vault 32 and 33? just people to be controlled?" [yes!] "what? no! when you put it like that, it sounds downright morally questionable." and then bud continues on to talk about eugenics but managers 😭 • "they're our breeding pool, the ultimate expression of hr r&d. genetically selected to breed with my buds to create a class of super managers. people with positivity. people who make lemonade. people who inherit the earth after we've wiped the surface clean." cannot believe fallout made management, already a horror genre, into something even more frightening. norm repeats but in question "we wiped the surface clean?"

• the companies in the meeting start rattling off ideas as follows "we could intentionally overcrowd a vault so people have to compete to survive inside it.", "we have been developing a robot that delivers milk to the front door. it's quite intelligent. i would like to see a vault governed by it.", "what about using a vault to develop super mutants soldiers using illegal immigrants.", "we could pump psychotropic drugs into the air supply.", "we could separate parents and children and only the smartest kids reach adulthood." each more diabolical than the next • cooper is in disbelief overhearing this, his expressions and mannerisms looking like mine • mr. house's evil ass chimes in "there's a lot of earning potential with the end of the word. but we're talking about making a significant investment based on a hypothetical. how can you guarantee results?" barb then goes on to respond to this by saying the most earth shattering plot twist implied in this entire game and show series. "by dropping the bombs ourselves"

• the very next scene is a shot of cooper. looking at it again, i almost want to say his eyes were very well welling up with tears moments before barb's evil reveal, like any normal person would at the thought of people talking about overcrowding a vault to see what people would do or separating children from their parents, all for fun and all after an apocalyptic situation. so if cooper wasn't divorcing over what barb said then, he was sure to start them papers when she suggested they do unethical and cruel vault experiments on innocent people • it's a close up of cooper's face. his expression is so soft. the hurt and betrayal written all over it. he married a monster. and she works for the devil. • not unlike lucy or norm's reactions, cooper is barely processing and is supposed to be meeting hank in that waiting room. three times in the same episode hank is at the scene of the crime. • barb continues on "a nuclear event would be a tragedy... but an opportunity. perhaps the greatest opportunity in history. because when we are the only ones left, there will be no one to fight. a true monopoly." her delivery here almost seems forced, i do wonder if she was prompted. but she still said it. and regardless of her motivations, nothing about this can be good. i do know the statements could be interpreted as vault tec dropped them themselves or vault tec having influence and indirectly doing it. either way, barb looking real unfamiliar and like a divorcee now

• we're zapped back to moldaver talking to lucy • funny hank likes the anticommunist propaganda film cooper made, "the man from deadhorse", and particularly the killing joey, "feo, fuerte, y formal" scene, the scene cooper ain't even like, the scene his principles started to waver. hank found adoration and kinship in that. funny. • all these moments in time are happening at once, they are dropping plot twist after plot twist after plot twist • moldaver informs lucy that hank has walked the earth far longer than she realises "...part of an organisation that thought they had the answers to all of the world's problems." • "this is our chance to make war obsolete, because in our current societal configuration, which took shape without intentional guidance, we have friction. we have conflict, and we have war. and war, well... war never changes." cooper is hanging onto her every damning word, growing numb in front of hank [who is fanboying incessantly]. pair this with lucy finding out who hank really is and what he did to shady sands • i was dissociating like cooper was the first go around so i barely registered hank asking for that autograph in the waiting room, makes cooper's line about it later in the observatory a hilarious drag

• hank... does not not attempt to stop moldaver from these divulgements. only towards the end does he. and by then, lucy already knew them to be true • "he never told you where he's really from. when he's from. he never told your mother, either." the "when he's from" is so?? • lucy asks moldaver what she knows about rose. "she was like you. she was kind, loving, curious." fully onboard with the theory moldaver and rose were together after rose left hank btw • the brotherhood of steel is preparing an invasion of the observatory. maximus and dane meet up here and idk. i think the direction given to the actors here was "look like you want to kiss but don't" • maximus thanks dane for saving him. but by telling the truth, a still injured dane is being sent out to fight too as punishment for self inflicting. dane apologizes too. they never meant to get maximus in trouble • actually started tearing up seeing maximus tell dane about lucy. that maximus thought he was meant to go on that mission with lord titus. "i'm leaving with her. i am going to where she came from. a vault. it's a place that's peaceful... and safe, where nobody ever goes to war." maximus trusts dane so much, he's telling them all this with such a big, wholesome smile. personally victimized again.

• "there's nowhere safe, max. and there's no leaving. i wish there was." i said before that dane is right. and about the brotherhood of steel. there is no leaving. they would find him. not only that, most vaults and especially the one lucy came from are experiments. he wouldn't be able to go even if he wanted to anyways ☹️ • ironically, hank and his cohorts could not control what was going on on the surface so eventually, rose correlated the siphoning of water from vault 33 with activity on the surface. ok but compare this with norm discovering hank and the vault's secrets--- lucy and norm are just like rose omg • in the same moments we learn that a. rose ran away and didn't succumb in a famine b. that she ended up in shady sands with her children c. that lucy only vaguely remembers this time but she was there d. that yes their was thriving communities and e. hank hated what rose had done so much, he destroyed shady sands with a bomb • "that's how vault tec deals with competition" and it's nuclear annihilation

• lucy is aghast. she cannot believe what she is hearing. her face gently contorts into tears. hank keeps saying moldaver is lying. it is all he is saying. • we receive flashbacks of lucy's memories. as they become clearer for where they were, it flash's back to when maximus showed her the giant crater. they have been brought forth with new contexts • the more moldaver speaks, the more it makes sense that hank is in a cage, like a wild animal • as lucy is shown searching through her memories, moldaver and hank begin to talk at the same time. a post apocalyptic cacophony. a song of good and evil. • shady sands is shown with streetcars and some still standing buildings. hope. all gone. • in between lucy's memories is something else. not entirely sure if they are hers. but. it's love. love is the only explanation for why you'd keep a shambling ghoul for twenty years.

• they're talking over each other but i have slammed their words as one. "lucy? she's a murderer. lucy, look at me. she invaded our home. lucy? she killed out people. do not listen to her." hank says. "lucy? what you brought me is cold fusion. it's limitless energy. and we can build our own world. it could be a better world. it has clean water and medicine and power. but for everyone. because when vault tec bought my research, they made it proprietary, so only a trusted vault tec minion can activate cold fusion. all i need is for him to give me the code" moldaver says. • after moldaver says this last part, something in hank shifts. he yells and smacks a stool against the bars of the cage, startling lucy. "lucy, look at me! look at me! lucy!" • ignoring hank, lucy after all this asks through a whimper "my mother. what happened to her?" "i think you know." moldaver responds just as pained • earlier they showed in flashbacks rose wearing a necklace. the camera pans to the ghoul sitting at the dining room table. it is wearing the same necklace.

• the weight of revelation after revelation culminating in the harshest cruelty of lucy's story, that her own father bombed shady sands in such a way that her own mother became a ghoul and was here this whole time on the surface, is breathtaking agony. how could he? how could he? • never mind norm not being there to know or to react, that's a story for another season • imagine being moldaver and being the gift to humanity, starting communities of light, beauty, and goodness at least three times over--- being snuffed by evil almost every time but still dusting yourself off and trying again every time too. moldaver could've filleted hank alive. but didn't. moldaver is a saint. • lucy gazes at her feral ghoul mother, the last vestiges of her old life blowing out of her like the wind blowing through her hair. there's no going back. this is what it is.

"just give her the code. give her the code. giver her the code, dad." me? i would've cocked a gun on the second ask, not asking him a third time • the code is "101097" and that is the exact date the first fallout game dropped 🙂 • mechanisms and machinery whir as moldaver's stolen technology is assembled and cold fusion strikes to life through the apparatus. this is the only good thing hank has ever done. • speaking of crises, norm is still at vault 31, gobsmacked, he walks over to a panel showing everyone who is reactivated and everyone who is dormant. or at least i think everyone--- i just know we do not see barb or janey here • during this time, bud's annoying no body havin' ass scoots his roomba in a compartment and shuts the door so norm can't leave ☹️ • "well, it was great meeting you. i actually have to get home." 😭 this is the first time norm has sounded or acted like a little boy, so i'm crying, this is a thirty year old man in real life so i am pained 😭 • "so you're just... you're gonna keep me here?" norm asks bud. "just until we're all ready to go to the surface." bud says. or rather bud's disembodied brain says. "that could be hundreds of years" norm replies "true. that's why i'd suggest you wait it out in your dad's pod. unless you want to starve to death. not much food in here. except the occasional very large bug." not norm's options being starving to death or cryostasis--- let him out pleaseee 😭

• "i did what was necessary to save our people. and that woman over there... she's no different than me." first of all, he doesn't get to play that game. second, i'm sorry but did moldaver bomb the world twice? hank is a megalomaniac • before moldaver can give the wasteland cold fusion again, some other power hungry and power thirsty entities are arriving. the big [fucked up] fight of the brotherhood of steel versus the nice folk down at the observatory • i now see the full picture of why moldaver is worshipped--- she is the energy messiah. she's been the second and third coming of energy christ • lucy is still stunned so isn't talking or moving much. but hank makes attempts at excuses for what he's done. "lucy? i loved your mother. but she stopped being your mother when she left home. when she took you into danger." lucy is looking at hank like she doesn't even recognize him. hank is looking real unfamiliar right now.

• it is sunset. and the brotherhood of steel is flying down on the observatory. but not before getting fucked the fuck up a little by some strategically placed cannons. one guy even falls out of a vertibird directly into the propellers of another vertibird. these people are in hell • in between invasion shots, hank tries last ditch efforts to get through to lucy "you've seen what it's like up here. everyone equally afraid, equally miserable." a knight uses a gatling gun on people running away. seems familiar, doesn't it? "forced to do horrible things in order to survive. lucy, i had to make a choice. between their violent world and our peaceful one. and i believe, lucy, i know i made the right choice." moldaver waltzes out of the observatory badassedly with a gun. to defend her life's work with her life.

• listening to a man defend committing genocide twice is core shaking. the way i know hank is crazy because minutes before he says him and moldaver are no different but turns around and says he made the right choice. hank, if the choice you made was so right, then how are you no different than moldaver? someone you just said was a murderer, a liar? you're a much worse murderer and liar, hank • this is the first battles for maximus and dane so they go in not knowing what to do exactly • blood spills on the fruits of someone's labour, bullets and rockets shoot by everyone as a fight happens for yet another resource battle in a long line of resource wars • people are being crushed, thrown, stabbed--- you name it. they goin' crazy out there • "if the problem with the world is factions endlessly fighting, endlessly at war, then what is the solution but to get rid of the factions? to make the world us, only ours to shape" in need him to shut up. like enough 😭 lucy is not on this planet, she somewhere else

• as some knight mows down people of moldaver's group, the baddest ghoul in the west has arrived • "i'll bet that outfit makes y'all feel like a big man, don't it? well, i know, cause, well, i used to wear one back in the day. there was only one problem with it. there was a flaw in the welding just below the chest plate. i wonder if they fixed that in the new model?" cooper takes a shot and mortally wounds a knight in said defect. "i guess not" 😭 • everybody's fatal flaw with cooper is letting him talk, people be so focused on what he sayin', they never notice what he's doing. he had a whole speech while loading a gun and the brotherhood of steel let him, his speech stats is maxed out oh my god 😭 • so every knight in this scene fears for their lives and nobody but cooper's brain works so he tricks one of them with a big gun into shooting i guess a circuit breaker. because them lights turn off and then it's chaos lmao

• "did you get him?" "i can't see shit" nameless and faceless brotherhood of steel fellas ask ldgldlg • cooper starts taking these knights out. one by one. through the power suit chestplate defect. in the dark. • "find the fucking ghoul" oh not today, buddy lmao • cooper, playing with these men like it's just another tuesday, takes out a hand grenade. in the dark. and pulls the lever. in the dark. on a hand grenade. • cooper throws it like, on or inside the power armour and the blast is crazy, i simply would not fuck with this man • hank is begging lucy to let him out so they can go home. lucy in tears peers back at her feral ghoul mother still strapped to the dining chair. • a headless armour suit uh walks into the place where they are. then it's maximus behind it. probably the only survivor left in cooper's wake. maybe that's on purpose 💀

• maximus wants to do the right thing but i definitely hate he wasn't putting pieces together [i mean how could be, he just survived by the skin of his teeth] because damn he turned hank aloose 😫 • hank looking at maximus like "who is this?" but maximus is making the mistake of listening to hank because hank immediately turns this into a medium of escape "i'm her father. can you get us out of here?" • lucy's trance is only broken when she is being forcefully removed from the observatory • lucy having to break it to maximus her own father was the cause of his suffering too ☹️ • before maximus can turn into disillusioned lucy and cooper before him, well hank has up and got in a power suit ughhh • kinda think maximus would've either killed hank or given him to the brotherhood of steel so hank trailing along with cooper, maximus, or lucy was a dead start. he has burned every last one of them and now they all know

• "lucy. you're coming with me" hank says in the armour. maximus tries to take a swipe at hank but hank takes a swipe at him and maximus is knocked out. lucy falls to her knees trying to awaken him ☹️ • lucy, having enough of this shit, takes maximus' gun and pulls it on hank. "you see what this place does to people? i'm your father, lucy. you came all this way for me. you're not gonna hurt me." but you know who is? cooper mothafuckin' howard. • "oh, you want another autograph, young henry?" "hell, this kid used to pick up my wife's dry cleaning" get him again for me! flame his ass, cooper! • bear with me while thinking about how lucy has her corpse finger and can't pull the trigger on hank but lucy's trigger finger on cooper's hand did. she did hurt him. • i don't know if lucy was listening but i wonder if she truly registered this ghoul is the movie start cooper howard • the sky is so pretty in these last scenes btw • cooper repeating hanks favourite line from one his movies back at him but with contempt and disdain lmao • "now, i've waited over 200 years to ask somebody one question. where's my fucking family?" cooper triumphantly implores to hank, gun raised. y'all i think he dropped the accent right here for a moment on the last sentence omg • hank still bleeding from being grazed by cooper, says nothing and flees. he leaves lucy behind. he leaves rose behind. again.

• maximus is out cold and lucy can't wake him up, she shakes him and everything ☹️ • as death and destruction is once again in wake, cooper says the iconic fallout line too • "war never changes. you look out at the wasteland, looks like chaos. but there's always somebody behind the wheel. and that's who i want to talk to. that's where your daddy is headed." "but you let him go!"--- ok so first of all, i've been speculating when cooper starts being nicer, softer, more vulnerable around lucy and whoaaa this conversation is as open heart as it gets for this, i mean he already explained he's been looking for his family for 200 years. i get why he told hank that but the monologue about war... i know this comes from a deep place of being a veteran and maybe even flashbacks. but him not keeping that to himself is incredible character development to me. lucy being upset with cooper for letting hank go sends like girl you had the gun locked on him first, maximus was the one who let him out anyways like 😭 • "well, it's easier to track a stuck pig then to ask where it's off to." he's right but can cooper say stuff in regular ways fldgdlgldf •"you want to know how i know your daddy, don't you? let's just say that everything about your whole little world was decided over 200 years ago." must be crazy for all this to happen to lucy and norm in two weeks • "now you can stay here with him, but when his tin can soldier friends take this place... and they gone take this place... they will kill you and everybody here. or you could come meet your makers." whew. the brotherhood of steel is just. not great. • cooper has his back turned to walk off, leaving him open to lucy's gun [again!] but this time, she's not shooting or aiming at him. she's aiming at rose. a mercy kill long overdue. • cooper really thought. i guess he trusts lucy. i don't know. but he lets out a deep breath upon seeing where she actually shot. wow. wow

• "you coming?" 🥹 • lucy all but has to leave maximus behind. they can't be together. not here like this. "i'll find you" lucy whispers as she kisses maximus one last time on the lips [vaultknight, one last time] • lucy arises and has made her decision. "okey dokey", she says, resigned, she will follow cooper to meet the makers • moldaver says "rose" as she returns back to the room. moldaver is wounded. but she is still thinking about rose 😞 • moldaver activates the cold fusion. it begins to light the ruins across the landscape. moldaver lovingly caresses rose's now unmoving hand. and says "we did it, rose." yes. you did it moldaver. you saved the world again, queen • in her last moments, moldaver asks maximus "what do you suppose your brotherhood would do with infinite power? maybe you can stop them. maybe you can't. maybe all you can do is try." moldaver succumbs to her wounds. • dane decides for maximus that maximus must have killed moldaver. dane raises maximus' hand. a chant is started in his honour. maximus looks like he wants to jump out of his skin. "all hail knight maximus" • it is night and we are shown a scene of cooper, dogmeat, then lucy emerging from an entrance and heading past the hollywood sign. "me three (my echo, my shadow, and me)" by the inkspots plays • it takes until sunrise but hank finally makes it to his destination while a deathclaw skull lays before him • we're in new vegas, baby! 🎲

[passionartx]

Hi!! Firstly, I LOVE your Tangled AU, so glad to see Tails getting more focus in AU’s. I wondering: Do you have any general Tails related headcannons?

Hiya! 💛✨ Thank you so, so much! And ooo this is such a fun question. Tbh, I have too many, I could write an essay! This account isn’t as popular as my au blog since I’m pretty inactive on it so probably only like 3 people will see this… but I hope those hypothetical 3 people enjoy my inevitable waffle and chaos! <3

Will also use this opportunity to hype up some friends and people who’s work I admire!!!

A few of my favourite Tails Headcannons! :

- I love the idea that him and Sonic were 4 and 11 when they first met.

- Sonic will always be Tails’ big brother first and foremost… however, as Aosth Tails put it: “You’re my mom, you’re my dad and you’re my picket fence!”. Sonic having accidentally become the closest thing Tails has to a parental figure has a hold on my heart and I love how writers like @chaoxfix and my homie @myyla-x portray this in their fics!

- After having first met (and honestly even a few years in) if Sonic ever had to leave Tails alone for a while for whatever reason, maybe to protect him from a particular battle, Tails would deal with hardcore abandonment issues. Poor lil guy would fear Sonic wouldn’t come back, that he didn’t want him around anymore (which is made 10 times worse if you headcannon he was abandoned by his parents). Lil guy wouldn’t know what to do with himself <\3

- Tails reminds Shadow of Maria. Probably my favourite Tails headcannon! Though I guess it’s more of a Shadow headcannon… am I using this as an excuse to talk about it? More likely then you’d think. But ahh, those blue eyes, yellowish fur, sweet gentle childlike wonder, love of life and learning + Ian flynn has confirmed given her upbringing Maria was prob a bit of a science kid. Ah <3 Plus that brings the idea of Sonic and Tails’ dynamic reminding him of his with Maria’s and that makes me want to cry. I actually have a WIP fic about this headcannon but it’s been a wip for like a year… hopefully one day I’ll finish it cause I’m literally obsessed with the idea and want to see it through.

^ Also extra nostalgic about this headcannon cause my friendship with @sh-0-w-1-sh literally started cause they were looking for art ideas and I was like TAILS REMINDING SHADOW OF MARIA!!! And here we are almost a year later!

- For better or for worse he’s picked up a lot of his big bros traits. I’m talking puns, poses, that lil nose rub and foot tapping, occasional cockiness, being self sacrificial, the list goes on. Once he realises this or anyone else especially Sonic points it out, he’d probably be super embarrassed and deny it <3

Speaking of picking up habits…

- While he would definitely be scared by certain situations like this ( << the Starline issue 35 and 36 situation being a good example with other people being at risk and him not really understanding the situation or his role in it ) I think Tails would be pretty desensitised to being kidnapped or hostage situations at this point. He’d probably just find it an inconvenience more then anything or be entertained by the hypothetical villains incompetence. Me and @myyla-x had a conversation about this idea once and… it’s been like 6 months and we’re still talking about it. One day that’ll make sense. We got a lil carried away. Just a lil. Anyway someone get this kid therapy. <3

- An already pretty popular one but I felt the need to mention it cause I relate, but he gets so sucked into projects and his inventions that hours and hours can go by and he just zones out and forgot to eat… well, anything but mints at least.

- Tails is a theatre kid. :D Is this self projection? … maybe. If nobody else gets me @guiltypandas gets me <3 :,)

- I think Tails would be in denial if Sonic died. As smart and logical as that little guy is, given how Sonic has beat the unbeatable, has come back before and seems invisible… yeah. <\3 I think he’d always hold onto the hope that it would only be a matter of time until Sonic comes back… even if this time that wouldn’t be the case… my friend @whitecatindisguise actually wrote an amazing fic about this when we talked about the idea called He’s (Not) Coming Back (which if you haven’t already you should totally check out cause it’s amazing! And a heart breaking! The best kinda fic :,) )

- I think Tails has a heart of gold…but I also think depending on certain circumstances if he hadn’t have met Sonic he could have gone down a much darker path (which I guess ended up being somewhat proven with Nine in Sonic Prime!). Me and @casperangel have screamed about this too many times then I can count and it haunts me.

- Tails is a sweetie, a cutey patooty, like an adorable little house cat… but similarly (and yet again as proven thanks to Prime!) Tails definitely has a feral side. Especially if he hasn’t gotten enough sleep or gets his mints confiscated. @dunkinbublin and @studioboner ‘s accounts are absolute goldmines when it comes to Tails multitasking being an adorable lil guy and a feral lil menace!

- Tails and Tangle have sibling energy! I mean, Tails is basically everyone’s adopted little brother, Knuckles and Amy especially, but I think him and Tangles dynamic isn’t talked about enough and I’m super glad we’ve had some sweet moments with them in the comics! @pocketscribbs is feeding the Tails and Tangle nation fr <3

This was super fun! Thank you so much again for asking and I hope you have an amazing day! And if someone actually read all of this… you’re a trooper :,) <3

[ca-suffit]

Just want to clarify for the billionth time (and I'm pinning this shit) that I don't run this account anon out of cowardice or to hide anything or bcuz I want ppl to perceive me as one racial identity or another (there's prbly more on this list, I've been accused of so much shit). I do this anon so we can focus on the topic itself, bcuz I've seen this fandom for *years* use everyone's identity across a whole spectrum to say that there's a flaw in their existence and that's why nobody should listen to them. It's always only on topics of race and/or fandom racism. Cuz the bottom line is that *nobody* is supposed to talk about this or bring attention to it. Ad hominem attack page of the white supremacy handbook. I've already exposed that this obsession with my identity is why white fandom ignores that I'm here. They've been v willing in the past to go after every individual account before me that had a known identity behind it, for doing *far* less than anything happening here. Yet when I show up and start going after them harder than anyone else, all at once, they just ran and suddenly shut up. They couldn't talk about "secret" bullying anymore when someone is standing right here saying hey let's fucking talk. They had no identity to use as a distraction, so they ignore me. I don't care what identity ppl want to say I am, what gossip is done in DMs and inboxes. That's typical for here and every fandom. I want to ask why my identity matters tho? What does it fucking matter who I am. There is no reason to care, so ask why they do. What is the goal in "exposing" me?? Do u think I'd stop if u did? Do u think anyone here cares?? It's not even an account about me. It never was but it *especially* is not now. This fandom's (and all of them tbh) ad hominem attacks like this rely on ppl being afraid for their reputations and egos. I don't have that fear. U must be fucking joking if u think I made an account to document and discuss fandom racism, after years observing this shit here with fucking Anne Rice fans, and u think I'm scared of these threats. U think I didn't see this coming.

I'm not here trying to get Sam Reid to notice me or w/e the point of these ppl otherwise seems to be. I've got receipts on most everyone's ugly, racist behavior so if he ever wants to know about that then hey. Don't act like it's *my* fault u did that shit and ppl remembered it.

This is also why ppl here think reputation matters to everyone, bcuz it matters to *them* for this v specific reason. All u ppl who have hated the show since the beginning and are now on ur knees when it gives u attention u crave so much. Fucking embarrassing. And u think that's the way all of the rest of us are lol. I don't rely on random celebrity endorsement to fulfill the void in my life, I have an actual identity.

The more u do this, the more it proves my point that *ur* only point is personal harassment to shut ppl up. So kiss my fucking ass.

[nathaaaan]

Concept; danne au, but Anne has more control(the core is pushed back/can only influence but not control her)

In my humble opinion, that’s a great idea! I can see Anne forcing The Core to either be trapped in her subconscious, or force them back by will (both are by will tbh). I feel like the helmet’s eyes will be blue, or maybe black like it’s turned off, if there’s even a helmet at all. What if she rips it off or something? That would be cool.

Anyway.

Anne would be sick and tired of being controlled and manipulated to the point where she technically just becomes a worse version of Sasha

Sasha was a huge influence in her life, she was bound to learn from her, but because of her kind and understanding nature, she never really did what Sasha did. Until now. Anne doesn’t understand anymore, and she can’t afford to be kind. She doesn’t understand why Hop Pop hid the box and then lied to her about it (in this AU she never really got over it despite forgiving him), why Sasha tricked her [twice], and she doesn’t understand why Marcy lied to her.

I feel like Andrias and Anne would actually have a semi-good bond here. Due to the fact that Andrias understands what Anne is going through. I think he might actually try to reach out and talk to her, but Anne is confused. Confused on why Andrias seems so genuine, so trustworthy, but the problem is that she doesn’t trust him—she can’t. Afraid that his tender gestures are just another ruse for her to let her guard down. Somehow, Andrias manages to coax her out of her shell and talk to her a few times (like twice), as Anne is just a child. A child who has been crossed far too many times by the people she care(d) deeply for.

Anne would probably also get information and what not from The Core. The opposite happened. Instead of The Core getting Anne’s memories, Anne basically gets The Core’s. Or they just tell her because they’re desperate. Anne likes these ideas because if she has all of this control, nobody can hurt her again. It’s a win for her because she can’t be fooled again. And since she has all the information she needs, she just needs to execute everything properly.

The Core is just a whiney voice in the back of her mind lmfao.

Enough about Anne, what are Sasha and Marcy doing? Marcy goes home, and Sasha starts a rebellion. Of course, it can go differently, but I can’t think about how Sasha would ever get through the portal with the Plantars, or even Grime.

Also, The Core could probably convince Anne to give them control sometimes. Anne would be fine with this because she can just take back control if The Core does something she doesn’t approve of. It’d be especially useful for fighting because Anne would go from “I don’t want to hurt you,” :( to “Let me kill you,” :)

Anne’s hurting, yeah, but she doesn’t really want to hurt others, because she’s Anne, so she’ll let The Core do all that.

i kid you not, i stared at that ask for 10 minutes, then took an hour to think/write about this. :)

[arievanille]

hellooo! so first of all I LOVE YOUR ACC ITS TEWWW CUTEEEE and it inspired me to make my own! buttttt idk if this is the wrong place to ask but nobody else would answer my question 🤕. i am christian and i love shifting but i recently got into loa and im not sure if its a sin to actually do it? like i want things in life but would it make sense to go that route with God involved? idk its just been a thought of mine for the longest…

THANK YOU SMMM!!! My account took so long to be what it is, many many talks with God about how I wanted it & here we are!

anyhow, i do not know about the loa because i myself don’t really dabble in it anymore as much. If i have a plan or a project or whatever calls for it then i talk with my Lord and we talk about things & usually things that pop into my mind that i want are usually from him so we work together for me to get it.

I believe that the loa is nothing but belief and faith tbh so technically.. all you be doing is putting your faith and belief in a plan that was for you already you know?

but involving God in anything you do is what matters most! talk to him!

[saturday-byte]

Hope this doesn’t bother you a lot, but can we get some headcanons of the teachers? I was curios about ur vision for them

Dw it doesn't bother me !! I love getting asks ^^

Anyway it's going under read more bc this feels like a long one

Sketch

• she/they enby, omnisexual (<- me when I'm projecting)

• mentor figure for the newer teachers

• gives drawings and crafts as gifts, might or might not have various voodoo dolls

• uses Colin as a monitor for digital art

Tony

• he/him, bisexual

• you CANNOT tell me he doesn't drink tea 24/7. Most British mf I have ever seen

• weird hearing, very sensitive to loud sounds but can barely hear normal talking tones. Applies to his own voice too so that's why he screams a lot

• kind of an inferiority complex for the decaying use of clocks over technology lol

Shrignold

• gay and homophobic idgaf

• aware of the harm he's doing but genuinely loves his cult- "family" a lot

• likes telenovelas, granny type of beat

Colin

• he/it Libramasc, pansexual (here I am, projecting once again)

• has haphephobia but is working on it (this one might as well be canon idk)

• everyone has a computer day, so even if you see him every day you only get screentime once a year

• autism 🫵

• his tail is retractable

• has SO MANY viruses, that's why he glitches and talks slow

Healthy band

• doing them all together bc how can you think of them alone :[ don't separate them

• common fanon of them being a family ykn the drill

• their "birthday" (or date of release lol) is actually fridge and steaks anniversary

• depending on the day they either make the most rancid bizarre food or a 5 stars, Gordon Ramsay approved meal

• running on the same luck, fridge can either be filled with normal groceries, nothing (you have to buy groceries) or gore. Like those are his guts leave him alone

• everyone hiding inside fridge is apparently a normal bonding experience

• bread boy is transfem !! (Should we start calling her something different?)

• spinach is also a she/they enby, nobody in here isn't lgbtq

Lamp

• he/him but doesn't really care, pansexual

• has been trying to be sober but he's already very fucked up, that's why he's like That™ in the TV show

• the other teachers we see in his episode are his party friends

• absolutely watches the others dreams, likes to bother them about what they mean

★ ok now the TV show ones

Briefcase

• has an absurd amount of skills, barbie kind of ridiculous

• lives with his brother and sustains them both

• workaholic

• was mr.petersons before red guy

• actually not that bad he's just really fast paced, genuinely just lost the trio on the fabric

Coffin

• he/him goth gf <3

• doesn't like music AT ALL. And is very mean about it

• besties with the tissue box !!

• originally only used his hush tone for work but it slowly morphed into his normal voice

• pretty bad PTSD

• very kind with kids and people in general tbh, it might be something useful for his job but it's just how he is really

Lily and Todney

• I don't think about them a lot sorry

• they know what they are doing and that their whole family dynamic is pretty fucked but they genuinely just really want a mom tho ,,,

Warren the wo-Eagle

• genuinely just hate him so I don't think about him a lot either lol

• had no power over the trio because he was fired and not technically a teacher anymore

• his whole Thing (ykn) comes from bullying and a feeling of inferiority. He still sucks tho

Mr.Transport

• well. I guess I just don't think a lot about the newer teachers

• was actually a really nice teacher before still going to work at 120 years old

• nobody really liked him but he was the other's only way of going outside the house so they endured him

• there was a fight over his will. People died

Electracey

• she/they enby n°3, lesbian

• really scared to touch her batteries now, has caused her to get cranky but still refuse to change them until forced

• puts up light shows for her friends

• huge sci-fi and videogames in general fan

• Colin's cousin. Actually all electronics are related

• wanted to be a music teacher but her biology said no

★ this is more of a general one but all of them are somewhere in the aroace spectrum !! I think it comes with the object nature. I have not defined where all of them fall tho

That's it I think. This is so long I am so sorry I just enjoy them a lot so I have a lot of thoughts

[vashti-lives]

So like, I have a lot of complicated feelings about the whole discourse around comments and how people comment so much less than they used to but one thing I think people my age have forgotten and younger people have no idea about is that in the era of LJ and the height of ff.net there were A LOT more negative comments than there are today, at least as far as I can see.

For one thing, in the mid 2000s really fucking mean negative comments were so common there was a term for them "flames" and people would regularly mention them in the authors notes of their fics. "No flames or I will delete this story" "flames will be used to roast marshmallows and which Inuyasha and I will eat while laughing at you" "this story contains SLASH! that means boykissing!!! DON'T LIKE DON'T READ! NO FLAMES!!!!!!" etc. You get the picture. It was a different time don't judge. This happened more on ff.net than it did on LJ but it definitely also still happened on LJ.

If you've ever looked into the whole Ms. Scribe thing and puzzled over why anyone believed her, this is why. She was making shit up for fame and attention but lots of authors experienced similar harassment that was actually real. I know people like to be like ~in my day people knew how to use the back button~ but let's be real. Some people weren't using the back button they were going into the comment section to be homophobic and explain all about how you'd burn in hell one day.

I'm not saying nobody gets mean comments anymore but the fact that we don't have a special word for it now and people aren't constantly talking about it in their author notes strongly suggests it's less of an issue.

Even aside from that in 2024 we have commenting etiquette that just, didn't exist in 2004. Its commonly understood now that offering unasked for critique is bad but like, that didn't come out of nowhere. "Are people allowed to send critique to the author of any fic they read?" was an absolutely HUGE fandom fight that got hashed out again and again for years before finally settling on, "mmm let's not." In 2004 this was not a settled debate and imo leaving unasked for critique was much more common, and in fact people who were coming from closed forums and things like yahoo groups felt it was *good* etiquette to always leave critique because that's how it was done in their much smaller communities, which were often more focused on improving specific skills.

If it is true that people leave fewer comments now* we might be experiencing the reality that you can't have your cake and eat it too. The more rules we have about what kind of comments you can and can't make the more people at the fringes are going to decide its safer to just not comment because what if they do the wrong thing and make someone mad? Several years ago my dash was just awash with artists begging people to reblog their art and also awash with artists complaining about the tags people left on the art they were reblogging, it was extremely clear to me that this was a choose one situation. EITHER your art gets reblogged a lot and sometimes people say dumb shit or you shield yourself from bad tags and get a lot fewer reblogs.

There are a number of posts going around right now about how don't you know authors can SEE the comments you leave on bookmarks!! And I've often thought that the end result of this campaign is going to be even less engagement than people are already getting. It's not going to result in nicer comments in the bookmarks its only going to result in less bookmarks.

TBH I actually think getting less negativity in your inbox might be worth fewer comments? Like, I'm not sure fandom made the wrong choice here but I do think continuing to police the kinds of comments people leave is going to continue this cycle so if you really really want your readers to engage with your fic you are going to have to accept that some of those comments will be shit like "UPDATE PLZ" or whatever. I don't think there's a way to get less of the bad comments without getting fewer comments period.

*In addition to everything I've written above there is a part of me that thinks the biggest problem is just that AO3 has a hit counter and LJ didn't and so when people were primarily using LJ they just didn't know how many people read their work without ever interacting. Combine that with the fact that everyone is functionally writing for much smaller fandoms because there aren't mega fandoms like there used to be and you get authors who feel like they're getting less engagement without actually meaningfully getting less engagement, because their OFMD fic isn't getting the number of comments that their 2010s era SGA fic got. Even when they understand OFMD is tiny compared to SGA they don't have the hit counter for their SGA fic to see just how many lurkers there were. the ratio might actually not have been as far off as you think!

[zephfair]

More Fic Writer asks! #1, 3, 11, 12, 17 annnddd 30 for a story of your choice ^_^ Enjoy!

Thank you so much the ask! I appreciate you!!!

the last sentence you wrote

This is from my Raven Cycle Hallmark Christmas movie fic that will probably never be posted but like I said in a previous ask, it's my holiday emotional support fic.🤣

“Dick,” a low, gravelly voice growled down at him. Gansey hid his wince from the cold voice as well as the chill of lukewarm coffee soaking through his cashmere, and most probably, the black shirt of the brick wall/man he ran into.

“There’s no need to resort to name-calling. I was about to apologize for spilling on you,” Gansey said, pulling himself straighter but it only brought the man’s stubbly Adam’s apple and chin into focus.

“Fuck, no, that’s not...” then a softer voice—a tone that brought back memories of green fields, the smell of hay and cattle, the tug of a boyish hand in his, days filled with laughter—warmed him in an instant when it said, “Gansey? Is that really you?”

3. how you feel about your current WIP

Oops, this is the one I answered here about that holiday fic that I am trying to work every single Hallmark Christmas movie trope into.🤣

11. a WIP you’d like to finish someday

I have one more Bleach fic that's been halfway done for years. I'd like to finish it just for completion's sake. And I have a bunch of Raven Cycle fics that I still open, read, and then close because the magic fic fairy has not visited me and finished them. Unfortunately. 🥲The two that haunt me are the Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU and the Sugar Daddy AU. I want them to just be exported directly from my brain onto the page without me having to actually type, you know?

12. a trope you’re really into right now

My bedtime ritual includes curling up in bed with my iPad and rereading some of my favorite Ronan/Adam fics. I am always in the mood for a good AU that's either romantic comedy or just romantic with always a happy ending. No dark themes or angst for me please.

17. talk about your writing and editing process

I wish I had more of a writing process tbh. I don't have any energy these days. I plan fics and get all this great dialog and plot while I'm driving on Saturdays, but when I get home, I'm too wiped out to even write a word. Sometimes I scribble down an idea or a phrase that will hopefully jog my memory about the witty conversation I'd imagined. (Spoiler: my memory doesn't like to jog anymore than the rest of me so much of my imaginings are lost.😂)

But when I'm actually writing for real, I try to just keep the flow going. If I get bogged down in a scene or want to add something that I'll need to check on, I just put a placeholder. I don't want to interrupt myself when I'm in the zone, so to speak, and I can always come back and look up or fix that section later.

When I first get a fic idea, I do try to write down the outline as it comes to me and those snippets of conversation that I can hear clearly.

I'm guilty of only performing minimal editing. I know my stuff could definitely benefit from a beta reader, but it's been years since I've had one. I'm always on the lookout for basic spelling, grammar and punctuation errors but gah, they still sneak past me. I know I tend to be verbose so I do try to cut when I can. I keep a file with some of the things I cut, if I really like a passage or a phrase, maybe I can use it again someday where it will fit better.

But in the end, writing fanfic is mostly for me. I adore and crave the validation, for sure, and I'm sure with a beta and much care, I could create a better story. But right now, I don't edit as strictly as I should because I might really love that paragraph, and I'm going to leave it there anyway. For me.

30. share a fic you’re especially proud of

I answered this before and said my Bleach tentacle smut fic lol, but I'm actually proudest of my earliest Da Vinci's Demons stuff. Nobody outside the minuscule fandom has even seen the show, but I was in a strangely good writing mode those couple years, and I think I wrote my best "writing," with pretty turns of phrase and actual plotting and pacing. And smut, always smut.

Thank you so much for the ask, lovely! 😘💖💖💖💖💖

[fatedbutblinking]

scorpius malfoy x cho changs daughter: secret relationship

scorpius malfoy and cho changs daughter have a secret, forbidden relationship. she is a smart, kind, beautiful gryffindor girl, even moreso than her mother, and attracts a lot of attention. whereas no father lets their daughter near scorpius because hes a deatheaters son with a reputation of sex, smoking and disobeying hogwarts rules. this has especially been relayed to her, as her mother experienced firsthand the death of cedric due to death eaters. but, no matter how hard she tries, she cant stay away from him.

sexual tension. long glances in class. sneaking off during balls when theyve both got different dates, her with james potter and him with an angsty slytherin girl. meeting in the bathroom. midnight strolls through the corridors, teasing her with nobody around.

they almost get caught, and that changes everything for her. her parents would kill her if they found out she was sneaking around with a deatheaters son. but she cant stay away from him.

so she hatches a plan without telling scorpius: shell date her best friend james potter, someone all of her friends and family wanted her to be with anyway, so that nobody suspects anything between her and malfoy. what does james get? hes into teddy lupin, and he needs to cover up his feelings for him by dating a girl. with all the attention he was getting from girls, people were starting to wonder why he wasnt dating anyway.

scorpius fucking despises this. he doesnt know about the plan because she doesnt want to hurt his feelings or risk losing him. they continue to have sex on and off, still wanting each other, but he feels like shit that shes with james instead of him. he doesnt understand why she keeps coming back to use him if shes got a boyfriend already. and its his bestfriends brother - its fucked. feeling betrayed, he shags other girls, ones that want him because the bad boy act is appealing. he makes sure she sees him.

for a while, she lets him. because shes been loving him from a distance for so long. but everyone has a breaking point. she meets hers after seeing scorpius go off with a really pretty veela girl, someone who looks nothing like her, and she becomes so insecure that she sleeps with james.

james, on the other hand, is in shock that hes not completely gay. maybe like 80 percent. but she is really really hot so he cant even blame himself tbh. because hes not fully gay, she suggests they end things with each other since its caused enough pain for everyone, and shes already lost the boy that she loves. hesitantly he asks her to hang in there and stay with him until he figures out his sexuality properly.

so she watches malfoy from a distance again. he absolutely despises her.

james meets a boy he likes in school. they get along really well. he speaks to her about it, and he comes to accept that hes bisexual. he also accepts that teddy will never be his, and theres more out there that actually suits him.

one day she bumps into scorpius at dinner. malfoy takes one good look at her and walks the other way.

"malfoy."

"dont."

"please. i cant stand that you hate me."

"theres a first time for everything, angel."

"i just want to talk to you."

"i dont want to hear it."

"youre being a dick."

"youre the dick, angel."

"im a dick-angel?"

"you know what? fuck off. youve got no right to stand here talking to me like that when you fucked off with james. i mean, james? of all fucking people."

"but i didnt."

"you -- "

"because i loved you. i love you."

the words just come out. she cant even help them. she supposed she would prefer being known as a cheater to everyone than for outing james sexuality.

shes crying now. sobbing.

"im beyond in love with you, and i dont know what to do."

"dont cry, angel. fuck, please dont cry."

"i cant be away from you anymore, malfoy. please dont go."

"i wont. i promise."

"malfoy -- "

"dont talk, just breathe. youre choking on your own tears."

"but i -- "

"i know," he says. "and ive loved you too."

then james decides to stand up and come out publically. that makes it all clearer to malfoy. eventually they do have to confess that james and her had shagged one time to test if he was really gay (and because she was insecure), which scorpius almost kills james for, but he was shagging people too so he accepts it. scorpius and her get together properly. everyone thinks of them as the couple they never expected, but the one they needed.

[uglyduckling339]

KY'S LIFE IS STRANGE DOUBLE EXPOSURE NONSENSE LIVEBLOG: Episode 5

(spoiler warning OBVIOUSLY)

tutorial episode 1 episode 2 episode 3 episode 4

So i took a minor (like a week long) break after ep 4 bc ugh but im back now :D

highkey after that SHITSHOW of an ep (4), i dont even remember what the plot is nomo

max jumped into the storm ! okay girl yodo

chat im gonna be so fr this entire ep was hella confusing. it was a nightmare but not? it was real but not? what the fuck happened

anyways 2 moons 😍 it's to signify that the universes are indecipherable rn

HER JOURNAL ENTRY AW :( "i'm playing it with somebody new now"

i'm lowkey scared of this nightmare scene. LiS' scene was literally HORRIFYING

wait is safi like in a diff world from us

okay yes rhis is 100% a nightmare jesus fuck

pompedo text but cat is so cutesy

WARREN?? OH MY GOD

another glitch lmao, mose's cig is puncturing through the ash tray

YO HE GOT SAFI'S LINES.

POSSESSED MOSES??

Okay this is highkey cool

OH MY GOD IT'S SAFI NOW?? WOAH

OH. SHES IN OUR MIND TOO ! DUH

max take a selfie quick get her out

BLUE BUTTERFLY?? DONT FUCK W ME RN.

dog is this real or fake. im so lost.

WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES 🗣

oh my god

oh my god

oh

my

god

BLACKWELL

um. why is it max and safi 😭 thats so random

it's giving me and my mutuals when we quote LiS ngl

highkey this is funny to watch

i'm so using this scene for a tiktok

oop girl u dont got no power nomo

OH ALSO !! TRAUMA YIPPIE

i feel like this would've hit better if they js redid the og scene w nathan and chloe but wtvr

JOYCE KATE AND VICTORIA??? OH MY GOD

i bet chloe's gonna be the last text in this

guys i forgot how to universe hop lmao

GO FUCK YOUR SELFIE??? THE BINDERS??

for yalls info, jeffershit got to 24 girls according to the binders on the table

WOAH RACHEL ON THE WALL

more trauma yay

"he is selling you for parts" ?

OH MY FUCK. THE SEAT.

OH MY GOD

"I'm not 18 anymore" YES !! YES MAX ILYSM

yeah okay so lucas is violently compared jefferson. broski one is WAY worse n it's not lucas i fear

the camera shaking was crazy omg

YESS FREE URSELF MAX !!

why's there a giant ass tree here lmao

MORE SITS 🗣

yall know damn well how much i fw these sits

apparently safi spoke but i couldn't hear the audio for her, i could only read the subtites ?

also the music has gotten highkey fire tbh.

it's giving Before The Storm vibes

one huge complaint about this game is the lack of dialogue between characters. in LiS u could spend ages talking to every single minor character and now beyond cut scenes theres like. reggie diamond vinh and loretta n thats it.

AH WHERE DID YALL COME FROM

this gotta be a nightmare bro yall keep jumpscaring me

Reggie !! my fav !!

bro what is a time vortex.

yay that totes made sense ! 10/10 explantion

poor reggie i love him sm :(

VINH !! MY OTHER FAV

Omg wait so they all remember both worlds?

woah okay sick

brother move ONNN. she dont like u

nobody:

max: maybe you should focus on what's in front of you (me) and move on (towards me)

LMFAO GWEN'S JS CHILLING OUTSIDE MID-STORM

ngl that's such a mood. Me too girl.

jesus so like max is gonna have to tell EVERYONE about her powers after this

AHHH CHLOE TEXT

"so tired of being sorry" max :(

LMFAO? VINH/MOSES ROMANCE AU OKAYY

YO WHAT THE HELL

Chloe in the Dark Room core

I HAVE SO MANY COMMENTS BRO WHAT

um okay we're gonna move on from that polaroid but. okay man. enjoy his telescope ig

woah this is a new place

oh my gosh this is a post-storm motel

WAIT OKAY SO i chose bae>bay, what happens in bay>bae for this scene??

this is making me sad guys. chloe come home

oh dear god please not another dorm time loop

bro what is max on abt this is very clearly the same fucking room💀

ohh the painting is diff.

its still the same room tho

FUCK U MEAN THIS IS A DIFF ROOM BRO ITS THE SAME AS THE LAST 2

okay actually i lied. cleveland doesnt have a hot plate

OH MY GOD IS THIS THE FIRST ROOM POST-BREAK UP :(

why is this bitch YAWNING so much. wake up.

woah wheres the color

THE WALLS ARE FAKE?? WOAH

okay yeah girl take a nap. no problem. totes time for a break. right now. mid-storm.

omg it's like her sense of reality is slipping

OHH okay fine. thats why they're the same room. that's kinda chill ig

N E B U L A

baby wake up this is a nightmare

oo double sits !!

fucking bitch ass fuck ass fucking dvsidhjdjd

loading screen.

max not hiding her powers core

this game is SO pretty btw. i love the sky

"i need her" U ALREADY GOT 2 WHOLE ASS LOVE INTERESTS. DOWN GIRL

these doors are so trippy damn

all that for her to be right behind us. cool

okay i like safi now that she's normal again

OKAY CONFIDENT MAX !! ILY

wtf they are soo gay in this ep

i'm genuinely gonna crash out over these loading screens oh my fucking lord

safi is literally chloe w superpowers

yeah okay she kinda got u there max..

oh great Safi's magneto again

oh hell no. max snap on her please. beat her ass into sense

safi out here planning the damn avengers innitive lmfao

what am i even agreeing to.

yes mr nick fury (safi) 🫡 i will be there to join your superpowered team🫡

oh yeah i forgot yasmin is like bleeding out rn

oh my god :( chloe reached out :(

MAX ANSWER HER?? LMAO WHAT

oh fuck yeah guys remind me to watch a video of this part bc i missed what max said abt the text

it's kinda symbolic how in the most peaceful scene we've seen with max, she still hears chloe's voice from likely the worst day of her life. like a symbol for how her trauma will never be fully gone, she's just living around it.

okay ik i was rambling this whole time about wanting her to have a breakdown but honestly this is what i actually wanted :( max healing ily

also tessa rose jackson is an absolute BEAST musically. holy shit

OH so the world's merged? hm

ig it's cool that they remember everything now, max isn't alone w the memories this time.

TIMBID GUY AND GOTH GIRL AW

reggie <3 loretta <3

okay so loretta's grown on me soo much. she's obvi annoying but she doesn't mean actual harm n she's kinda nice

and reggie my fav ! i love him sm

i may have forgotten reggie and vinh fucked (?). yeah my bad man

i'm still so confused. what was real and fake in that storm? what do they specifically remember?

"do u feel 2 ppl fighting in ur mind for the truth" (or whatever tf loretta said) nope ! skill issue on ur part girl

oh wow max asked for consent before snapping pics of every1!! rare sight fr!

that feeling when u post pictures roasting ur students and friends but don't respond to chloe elizabeth price's text

ALSO :( I MISS IRIS :( WHY WOULD U GIVE HIM AWAY :(

is it bc the text. that wasn't real max, i promise ur cat didn't fr send hate to u

good god how does diamond know abt our powers bro

WAIT DO THEY ALL KNOW ABOUT HER POWERS??? HOW DID I MISS THAT?? DID THEY LIKE TELL US THEY ALL KNOW??

max is HARSH with these captions

lmao "Vinh in his natural habitat ; A bar'

bro i love gwen sm. what is that pose😭

NOW HOLD UP MOSES. I DID N O T GIVE MY SEAL OF APPROVAL. ALL I DID WAS LET HER LEAVE TOWN. THAT'S IT.

no hate but why is diamond here and not reggie?? reggie was WAY more involved with this supernatural stuff then her

okay and that's the end of the game !

jk actually there's an end-credit scene (because it's the MCU apparently)

cool so diamond has magic. and safi just happened to know purely bc of a nose bleed. radical 😐👍

guys if u wanted to announce the avengers you could've referenced LiS2 or true colors instead; that's also ok instead of making another character w powers.

IM DYING BRO i've been making avengers jokes and then all i see is a fucking "Max Caulfield Will Return" screen😭😭😭 this is a joke there is no way yall are serious rn😭😭💀

okay um tryna lock back in now, i've got a couple notes:

so overall, this game was VERY if-y. it had some good moments, but the storyline was super unstable and it felt like they didn't really know what they were doing while writing it.

I liked the concept of a multi-versal murder mystery, but once they drifted away from that and started spiralling into the weird Super-Safi storyline it got kinda confusing to follow along

I truly think they had a really great idea with this game, but the weak plot-twists and boring storyline absolutely bombed it. (I guess you could say that the only murderer in this "murder mystery" was the game's plot killing itself)

I also think it had a really lovely messege about overcoming trauma, and I liked how they treated Max's PTSD with the storm (plus her heartbreak from Chloe was actually well handled, which was a huge concern for me when I heard abt it). I think her Dark Room trauma was treated kinda weird bc of the time vortex thing but honestly that was more of a plot-clarity issue over a conceptual problem.

At the beginning, I was HEAVILY judging the music. Maybe my tastes have changed in the past month or sum but now the music isn't that bad (I still HATE the intro song tho) and I actually like the new vibe this game brought to the LiS world. It was def different from the OG LiS game but I feel like thats a good thing since a huge portion of this game is proving that Max isn't that same teenager anymore. She's changed, the world around her changed, and so her new game is a reflection of that.

Also, the cat content... I LOVED customizing the cat, but I thought the add-on was gonna be more obvious and didn't even realize that I had missed the actual content until I went into the trophies menu after playing lmfao😭😭

I have like a million more comments abt this game but I feel like I got all my major stuff out already so I'm gonna stop rambling lol. I still have my pricefield rant/analysis i'm working on and I'll probably make some small comments while I platinum the game but this is it for my live-blogs !! Thank you to my hundreds of adoring fans for sharing these out to world and to the actual 3 people who interacted and decided to try and deciper my insanity ! 🫶

[likesunsetorange]

I’m a e2l fan so I want anything you could give us about it like characters likes /dislikes ? Small snippet (sorry Im so excited for this fic I’m asking for alot :,(no pressure though <3)

love you hope you’re doing good

hiii! you're so sweet, ily2! i'm mostly good! a little stressed bc school but i'm keeping it pushing haha

and you're not asking for a lot!! i've actually been talking a lot about this au with a few of my moots lately so i've been itching to share about it so honestly go crazy with asking about it!!! since i haven't gotten as many asks about this au i guess i'll make this ask kind of long and just kind of dump some of the stuff from my notes into it? and i have a tiny snippet i can share too!

so i'll just go on a long ass tangent below lol

okay, so first thing about this au, the one thing i really want to emphasize (without spoiling) is the whole thing about this au is that their breakup reason is important, but also that nobody in particular is at fault. sometimes life just happens, and things happen, and sometimes you just need to take a step back and re-evaluate yourself, your goals, and what you really want! it's about coming back together and choosing that person in the end because you realize not being with them is worse than whatever drove y'all apart!

tbh a lot of this au is partially inspired by my own breakup & how the experience of me getting over it! i was in my early 20s for the first time being single after being in a relationship since i was a teenager and i was like woah wtf idk how to be single/without a partner. so that's a big focus of that! learning how to find yourself and realign your goals and all that!

but we can get into the characters now!

eren:

definitely is a bit more obvious about missing mikasa, but tries to act like he doesnt (he has her highlight still up lol, not doing a good job at it)

mostly just works a lot while they're not together

after they breakup, mikasa moves out of their apartment, so he's stuck seeing all their stuff all the time

the first time they see each other its messy, they get into a big fight lol, they aren't allowed to hang out together lol

but he realizes pretty fast that he regrets the breakup, but he sees that mikasa seems to be doing okay, so he wouldn't wanna intrude on that

he gets armin in the breakup basically (mostly bc he sees armin more, but armin still talks to mikasa, just not as much as he does to eren obvi)

he picks up some of mikasa's hobbies bc he misses her so much lol he's down horrendous

at the very least does miss mikasa at least as a friend

mikasa

after their breakup, because she's kind of trying to spite eren, she starts going out a lot to cope—her "hot girl era" essentially lol

she definitely starts prioritizing herself a lot more, and spends more time with her friends and figuring out what she wants outside of eren

but she definitely misses eren, she's just better at hiding it lol

she partially thinks he just doesn't want anything to do with her anymore (a lot of this is just them being fucking idiots lol), and she basically doesn't try to stalk him or see what he's up to bc she doesn't wanna know out of her own peace of mind

she has very bad flight anxiety so when they fly to italy, she lowkey kind of hopes that eren doesn't change his flight (he does bc he has to do something not even to be petty), and she has a very terrible flight experience and all she wishes is that eren were there

and here's a little snippet! this takes place the day after they break up!! sorry for rambling LOl but hope you enjoyed my little tangent! :)

“Damn, Mikasa,” Gabi called out from behind her, only causing Mikasa to turn around. “We didn’t know you went out on weeknights.” 

Gabi, one of the college freshmen who worked at the gallery, had a tendency to say whatever was on her mind, never bothering to filter herself. Even if Mikasa had grown rather close to her since she started working at the gallery in August, sometimes she wished Gabi would just shut up.

Mikasa scoffed, confused as to what even prompted her to say that. “What are you talking about, Gabi? And don’t cuss so loud, especially where guests can hear you.”

“Your eyes, they’re all red. Not to mention how bad your bags are,” she said, pointing to her eyes. “Seems like someone was a victim of Sunday Funday.”

Mikasa lifted a finger to touch her eye—still puffy, but from tears, rather than drinking.

“Gabi, you’re not supposed to say stuff like that—it’s rude,” Falco chimed in.

“Hey, it’s not my fault she can’t handle her alcohol,” she shrugged, turning back toward Mikasa. “It’s okay, Mikasa, the prettiest girls are always the biggest lightweights. But anyway, are you feeling okay? Does our favorite party girl need some Tylenol? A Liquid IV, maybe? Even a Gatorade?”

Was she supposed to answer honestly? Tell them that she had spent the entirety of her night crying because she and her boyfriend had broken up. That she was sure that the cops almost got called by their neighbors from how loud they were yelling at one another? That Sasha couldn’t even understand her when she called, telling her she needed somewhere to stay because she stormed out of their apartment, not even giving Eren the chance to finish his sentence, somewhere after one of them had uttered the words, “We shouldn’t be together anymore?”

She had been doing so well, pushing the thoughts to the back of her head, trying to get through the entirety of her shift without thinking about everything—about him. She only had an hour left in her shift, but all of her efforts had been to no avail.

It was as if the wind had been knocked out of her, she suddenly lost the ability to breathe, and she felt all the blood drain from her face.

We aren’t together. We aren’t together. We aren’t together. The words playing in her mind on loop.

“Hey, Mikasa. Are you okay?” Falco asked, his eyes flooding with concern as he looked over Mikasa’s current state.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” she said quickly, before running off to the bathroom.

But maybe just this once, Mikasa was lucky for Gabi’s inability to shut her mouth—at least being hungover was a good enough cover for sobbing her eyes out in the bathroom.