#⓶ ∥⤷: I'M KIND OF A LONE WOLF --------- [Interactions]

[ramblingautisticman]

(Okay, for some reason, the repost where I was talking about this just...disapeard?? So here I go. Again. I'm just going to post it as a separate thing.)

(Also, Warning, talking about child hood cancer, experimentation and torture, and the other general dark Logan or Wade things.)

Okay! So- obviously, with the timeline, it wouldn't work- but I can just change that because why not?

Imagine Wade being diagnosed with cancer at 8. He has chemo and some surgeries, then for a good 2 years he is cancer free. Of course, though, it comes back at around 11. There isn't anything they can do this time, though. The surgeries won't work, and chemo will only prolong the inevitable, so Wade has to accept his fate. His parents get approached by someone who promises to cure Wade, though. All they need to do is sign over their legal rights in regards to him, so that's what they do. Sure, they cured him, but only after years of being tortured and experimented on. Wade thinks his parents didn't know at the beginning, but after the first few months, he started to question if they knew what this place was. His parents had never been kind people, and Wade quickly decided his parents probably didn't care what happened when they signed that waver. He survives, though. He gets his mutation, and eventually, the X-Men manages to find the facility that has been doing this. He's glad all of the other kids have been saved and most of them reunited with their parents- he had looked after half of them in that hell hole so he feels responsible for making sure they are all save wherever they go- and he goes back to the school with the other kids who don't have a home to go back to or just don't want to go back home. It's weird to be a whole 17 years of age and not knowing how to function in the world. He knows how to survive, but that's about it. So, it's a struggle to settle into the mansion at first, but he quickly takes on the role of bigger brother to the younger kids. And yeah, he finds it hard to interact with the people his own age, too terrified to deal with the possible riddicule of how he looks.

Logan's been there awhile. He was found by the Professor after a few news articles popped up about some 'strange deaths' and he had investigated. No one at the school knows much about him- they know he lived in the woods for a year when he was 13, and that the Professor found him- but that's about it. Practically all the students avoid him like the plague in the halls and at meal times. It's not that Logan tries to talk to the others anyway, and he doesn't really want too. He's used to being a lone wolf. He keeps to himself, doesn't want to deal with others shit, and he plans to keep it that way. He's gonna leave this place as soon as he is 18 next year. He isn't even sure where he would go, but he refuses to join the X-Men. He can't bring himself too- to many accidents with the claws and panic attacks to be able to help people.

Naturally, Wade decides that Logan is the person he is going to befriend. Even if the idea of being judged terrifies him, he can't help but be interested in the quiet brooding bad boy.

[icarusredwings]

Getting deep into the x men fandom means seeing ships I don't agree with, so I don't interact, seeing posts that mischaraterizes one of the deepest charaters possible, so I don't interact, Seeing people actively say things that are blatantly wrong, so I don't interact.

Getting a large following is also kind of frustrating (Im not complaining I love you guys!) But I've had to block 2 people already today because they keep leaving rude replies to my comments on OTHER peoples posts or purposly come to my blog to tell me that how I view a charater is wrong. Had someone tell me that the stuff that happens in MY au is dumb because "that would never happen" like yeah bud. The writers at Marvel are too much of cowards for it to happen, hence why i'm here.

So my thing is... if im chosing not to interact with all of this- why is it still on my feed?

I feel like the more I ignore it the more I see and I do not wish to be the type to block someone simply because they make one post about a ship that personally isn't my cup of tea.

Also- I think Im starting to see the different sides of extremes, especially when it comes to one specifc charater.

Logan.

I have seen dozens of lovely stories, lovely rants, lovely head canons about this man-

But something that feels weird (to me at least) is people who are 45+ yelling at people who aren't even 18 that their story/headcanons are trash because they've "been enjoying Logan for 40+ years" as if this gives them any right to tell a 17 year old that they shouldnt write a charater how they see them.

It's also weird to me that there seems to be two sides.

Logan IS an animal and that's perfectly okay.

Or

Logan ISN'T an animal, and everyone who headcanons him as animalistic is fetishizing his mutation and are insulting him.

I get not liking a certain trope, but sir, that person is young enough to be your child. You have to accept that we all grew up with different versions of each charater. I Personally didn't grow up with any and get the luxury of indulging in all sorts of media all at once- therefore getting to see him from multiple sides and pictures.

I completely understand if you grew up with the original series and are upset to see that kids are headcanoning your stone cold angst biker man as wearing bow clips and 'making biscuits' on a pillow while watching gilmore girl with his boyfriend, and wearing pink fluffy hello kitty pants and a tight shirt that says "Milk"

I completely understand if you grew up with the movies and see him as a sexy gruff hot buff man and you love to write lots and lots of steamy x reader about him.

I completely understand if you LIKE logan wearing hello kitty pants and don't agree with the idea of him being a dark edgelord, lone wolf charater.

Do you know what I don't understand? Fighting over a charater when different timelines have been canon since the 80s. The Time Variance Authority (TVA) first appeared in Thor #372 (October 1986) which means ALL of your logans are the correct logan. Just not all the same.

Do I think Wolverine Orgins Logan would wear pink hello kitty pants? Nah.

Do I know that Deadpool and wolverine Logan is a whole different universe then Orgins Logan? Yes.

That's why people tag different logans and different aus. So what is all the fuss about?? What happened to the more the merrier?

Theres so many different versions of comic book logan, too, so don't even go there.

Feel free to ask my personal opinions but as far as I stand I could never be foolish enough to seriously go into someone elses post and genuinely be upset at them for how they perceive a charater. I get second hand embaressment when ever I see ANYONE doing it.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk. I don't care if I lose followers for this. Let the door hit you on the way out. There aint no reason to be harrassing folks.

[blackdragoness]

PAC: WHAT MAKES YOU STAND OUT?

1) Pile 1 - 10 of Pentacles

2) Pile 2- Page of Wands

3) Pile 3- 5 of Pentacles

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Pile 1 - 10 of Pentacles

💍WIFEY💍

What makes you standout:

- wifey material

- stable

- patient

- kind

- sustainable

- efficient

- workaholics

- might come from a great family or upbringing

- endurance

- "you better shape up, cuz I need a man but my heart is set on you" sandy from grease

- temptation

-personable

-charismatic

-public speaking

-might be great with animals

-high standards and high morals

Tarot Cards:

You are the TOTAL PACKAGE. Hot Mami Tamale 🔥This is why you are wifey material. You are the calm of any storm. You are a great problem solver. I'm channelling alot of masculine energy. A lot of men think about you. You may be surrounded by men a lot either in a work environment or friend environment, etc. Men know they can rely on you to complete tasks that may be too heavy for other women to carry. You may have many suitors. Early on you may doubt your self worth because many of your suitors may not take you seriously at first but then fall madly in love as time goes on. You may be extremely attractive whether you care to admit it or not. This is why men don't take you seriously at first. They think you are nothing but a trophy and a good time. That is until they open up Pandora's box and find out all there is to know about such a beautiful alien creature that you are lol. Men realize you are not one to play with because you aren't afraid to walk away from anything that doesn't serve you. You may be "the one that got away" for a lot of people. This is not a love reading but I am channelling alot of romantic feelings from the opposite sex (not gender specific). You may be perceived as someone who never struggles in romance as you have lots of romantic offers. You always seem to glow up and level up every time you close a chapter in your life. A lot of people from your past miss you and wish to reconnect. What makes you standout is how people react to you. People notice the various reactions you evoke in those you interact with. Even those who are widely known for being the Eeyore of the crew will crack a smile or laugh during an interaction with you. You make everything seem effortless. I'm hearing legacy. Those who chose this pile are destined to leave behind a legacy. It could be positive or negative, but it's your choice to write your own story. Whatever it be, it will be what your bloodline is known for for generations to come but also be what you guys are skilled at. People don't realize what you meant to them until you walked away but things seemed to be effortless for you once you walked away and chose yourself. You stand out for your self love and your love for others. You want everyone around you to succeed and thrive. Everyone feels more inspired and motivated when you are around. You are many peoples muse. Keep shining bright like a diamond hunty.

Channelled Movie: Land Before Time

Channelled Song: You're The One That I Want - Olivia Newton John & John Travolta

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Pile 2: Page of Wands

⭐SUPERSTAR⭐

What makes you standout:

- limitless potential

-innovative

-breathe of fresh air

-unorthodox

-thinks outside the box

-talkative and communicative but in a way that grabs your attention for a long period of time

-leadership qualities

-initiative

-strong aries vibes

-lone wolf

-menace to society

-catalyst for change

Tarot cards:

If you chose this group, the thing that makes you stand out is that you have an undercover celebrity vibe about you. What makes you stand out is that you do not see just now truly magical you are to other people. Whimsical. You seem like a fairy when people first meet you and they wonder why you settle for the life you choose. You might live a very simple mundane and minimalistic lifestyle. Nothing wrong with that but you stand out to people because they think you should be living more lavishly. It's like if someone who looked like Jennifer Lopez decided to settle for a basic 9-5 career while rocking Shein's and being okay with that. Granted, she would still slay but do you see why you stand out? You look like something that waltzed right out of a Disney movie. "if there was anyone who would make it big from this small town, it would be that girl!" A lot of people see you as a celebrity in the making. Like you could be a model, an actress, a super star! But you are at peace with working a basic job making minimum wage. You make people want to invest in you. However, there's Something about a lack of motivation and being stuck in between two worlds. Indecisive energy. This may keep you awake at night. Wondering about your stability and your future. You are a rollercoaster! When people meet you, they aren't prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions you take them through. You are hard to comprehend and understand. Some of the things you do may at face value seem completely disrespectful and inhumane. But as time goes on and people pick apart the incident, they come to understand the innocence of your actions. As much as people hate it, they can't resist it. People can become very addicted to you and lose sleep over you. People can develop very jealous feelings towards you wondering if you are entertaining others or if their partners are secretly entertaining you. Lots and lots of birds in your life. Lots of talk. Lots of chita-chatta. You stand out because you are very humble. You are okay with the simple and mundane things in life. A lot of people think you could be famous or widely known for the ideas you come up with but you don't seem to care for the recognition. This is why you stand out. You are very talented and skilled in many things yet you do nothing with it. You are someone who shines bright without even trying. you may not like the spotlight or being the center of attention but when you do open up and share parts of your world with others, they feel so warm and gooey like warm honey lol. People don't understand why you aren't utilizing your talents. But it's only because they are addicted to your honey! They wish they could have it 24/7 but they disregard the fact that you are a human being as well. You may like a lot of time alone. Inner peace. Boundaries. You see the world differently. You choose to develop and master your talents in private and use them only when needed. Fame is not what you are after. It's skill. But not many people understand that or know. You may not even know that yourself. That is why you do not care to show off your talents.

Channelled Movie: Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile

Channelled Song: Anti-hero: Taylor Swift

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Pile 3: 5 of Pentacles

🏍️RIDE OR DIE ALPHA🏍️

-charitable

-selfless , will take the shirt off your back to help someone in need

-Icy Queen vibes - you colddddddd AF bitch 🤣 I'd like to see a mf TRY!

-cut off game strong

-spiritual to the point where people think you are a little kookoo in the noggin

-out of touch, out of reach, out of sight

-known for overcoming deep struggles and being victorious

-Soldier energy

-experienced

-teacher, mentor energy

-moves in silence

-unexpected

-enigma

Tarot cards:

You stand out because of your resiliency and your indestructibility. Whoever chose this pile, you have been through the war field many times in your life. Wounded. Stranded. Deserted. Left out. Shamed. Abused. Manipulated. Betrayal. So much hate and malice thrown your way and still you rose. Gahhhh dayum Pile 3, y'all some muthafuckin' souljah's, lets just say that! Your world could have been flipped upside down And tossed around and yet you still rose from the destruction and created opportunities for yourself. Dayuuuummmmmm. This energy is huge and it's intense. Who tf are you? When people think of you they are AMAZED at your inner strength especially after they find out your history and all the battles you've fought. You are valiant. Chivalrous. Immovable. Courageous. Unstoppable. Warrior spirit. Phoenix rising. People may have seen you come out victorious from a very tumultuous time. It's shocking and astonishing. You see the silver lining in everything so even the sourest of life experiences, you are able to see the sweetness of it all. Real life influencer vibes. "N*gga, F*ck your twitter, bitches follow me in real life" -J Cole. In a league of your own. In your own world. Superhero vibes. Super Villain vibes. GOAT. Go getter. Midas touch. Alpha dawg. Regina George/Sharpay Evans vibes. Pristine. Prim & proper. Upperclass vibes. The popular girl in school. Girl next door vibes. Confidence on 30000x. Beyonce of your own world. Fierce. Magnetic. One in a million. Unique. Straight to the point. Cut-throat. No bullshit.

Channelled Movie: The Blind Side

Channelled Song: Scars to Your Beautiful - Alessia Cara

[urauntiefaye]

&Team as Werewolves

WC: 1686 

TW: &Team being werewolves? Pictures of wolves are used to help visuals. I do say females in this but honestly it could really be anyone. Also Maki(?), idk if this is a trigger but hey first work with Maki in it.

A/N: This wasn’t requested. I just really wanted to write it (yes, I am working on request I promise I'm just heavily hyper fixating over &team being werewolves/viking types aus) also their “wolf form” are essentially like actual wolves just bigger (think of twilight). Also, may have gotten carried away with Kei and Yuma. Oh, and for some reason some photos are bigger than others and I don't know how to fix it.

Disclaimer: In this I mention being "chosen" for their ranks, so like Alpha, Beta, and Omega. Essentially what I mean by this is that once a werewolf hits a certain age the "Moon"/"Moon Goddess" assigns them their rank. (Kind of like every other A/B/O fanfic out there because I'm not original)

Kei-Alpha

Overview: Kei was originally from another pack being the only child of the pack's leader, but due to his whole pack/village being attacked by humans they were all slaughtered. Kei was able to make it out alive because of his mom. This would inevitably lead him to being a lone wolf and having to fend for himself. It wasn’t until he had stumbled upon a young wolf trying to hunt a squirrel, his first instinct was to leave the poor pup alone. But when he saw him fall for the third time he would approach the younger wolf and help him. The younger being in awe of how he was able to get the squirrel with such ease. The younger wolf would eventually introduce himself as Taki and would lead him to his pack where Kei would meet the others. Becomes very protective of his pack. He doesn’t have any blood relatives left so his pack is quite literally his family.

Wolf Form: I feel like he would be bigger than the others. Now wolves in general are pretty big, but werewolves are a lot bigger and Kei is one of the biggest. I also feel like his fur would be the most complex in pattern and color wise. Like it’s just so beautiful looking like a painting. 

Fuma-Alpha

Overview: Fumas' family is very important to the pack. They are the muscle of the pack and do most of the physical labor. Have been the right hands of the pack leaders since the beginning of time. They also help train and lead the hunters of the pack. Fuma was no exception, known for having exceptional hunting skills and strength. Not only that but is humble, and was the second to get close to Kei after Taki. Fuma is very much at the top of all of the female list of possible mates. Is always socializing and interacting with the pack. 

Wolf Form: Another bigger than usual one, now he may not be tall in his wolf form but he is definitely bulky because of the muscle. His coat being white and dark grey, maybe with a bit of brown here and there. 

Nicholas-Alpha

Overview: Nicholas' family was also another highly respected family in the pack. But more known for their speed and agility making them also great at hunting. Unlike Fuma though he’s more reserved and doesn’t socialize much, he only really talks to the close members, mostly Euijoo. However because of his mysterious ways he is very popular amongst the females. Is also a major prankster in the pack, is always up to some form of mischief and often plays with the younger members of the pack(mostly Maki and Harua). 

Wolf Form: Even though he’s pretty tall in his wolf form I feel like he would be more slim which is fine since it helps him with being light-footed. Now he and his family are the only few that are solid black. 

Euijoo-Alpha 

Overview: Youngest son of the pack leader, because he was the youngest he didn’t have as many responsibilities as his older brother and was often “forgotten”. So because of this he would often spend his time with the other close members or with Nicholas. Would also tend to help the farmers/the people that tended to the gardens which were mostly Omegas and a couple Betas. However when it was time for his “rank” to be chosen he still had the pressure to be chosen as an Alpha, but everyone thought he would either be a beta or an omega. Most people in the pack even did a secret bet on what he would present as. His father would be harsher and add more responsibilities on Euijoo, what didn’t help was that his rank came late(Juju being a late bloomer). In good news though he was chosen to be an Alpha, which came to a shock to everyone including Euijoo. 

Wolf Form: Euijoo would be pretty tall in his wolf form, but would be average when it comes to his build. When it comes to his fur he would have a mixture of brown and white, the brown being the more dominant color of his fut. 

Yuma-Beta

Overview: Yuma was known as another trickster in the pack, not in the way that Nicholas was but in a more goofy, always messing around way. Always wanted to be an alpha so would always try to “act” like an alpha but when the universe had other plans for him. Now Betas can do things like Alphas, like hunting!Betas are essentially the middle ground. So within packs there’s two different jobs, you can either be a Hunter or a Farmer. Alphas can only be hunters, Omegas can only be farmers, while Betas can fit in both. Only issue is that they have to “audition” to be a hunter. And since Yuma was stuck as a Beta and wanted to be an alpha he would naturally try out to be a hunter. He struggled a lot at first, considering he was neither exceptionally fast nor incredibly strong. He was so close to being kicked out. Fuma saw how hard he was trying, Yuma always staying up practicing, even practicing when everyone else was taking a break. Fuma saw this, but he also knew something about Yuma that would help him. It wasn’t his speed, or his strength but his intelligence. He was trying so hard to ‘catch’ up with the alphas that he forgot that he had something most of them didn’t. Fuma would pull him aside and give him a pep talk, and when the final test for the trainees to see if they’ll make the cut Yuma did. 

Wolf Form: Yuma would have an average build overall honestly, but his fur would be another complex one like Keis, but would also be pretty interesting as I see him having some red in his fur. 

Jo-Omega 

Overview: Even though he and his entire family were omegas they were also the head of the farmers. His family were the ones to set a system and discovered/studied best ways to grow which foods. Jo is definitely still very quiet, however because he’s so quiet it makes it easy for him to hide and sneak around. He doesn’t usually, but Harua and Taki often convince him to sneak off to play with others or to eat snacks behind the grownup's backs. You would think he would go unnoticed, but he is actually pretty popular amongst everyone. Is very hardworking and was the one who taught the others how to preserve the foods during winter. How did he find that knowledge? Literally no one knows, but if I were to say between you and I it’s because he has a secret greenhouse where he also found books from humans who dropped them during their travels. 

Wolf Form: Very tall in his wolf form but is also very slim like Nicholas, his fur being almost white but is tan. Like a very light beige. 

Harua-Omega

Overview: Another omega, doesn’t mind being an omega, he really doesn’t. Being an omega lets him sneak through the cracks and break certain rules without getting in any real trouble. Yep, you guessed it, Harua is a known trouble maker within the community but only the omegas really know. The omegas refuse to tell any of the Betas and especially none of the Alphas about him. Harua is a troublemaker but not in the way Yuma and Nicholas are, it’s in a Harua is literally breaking some of the BIGGEST rules kind of way. Those rules being 1. Never roam out of the village by yourself 2. Never approach a human 3. Never enter a human village. But because Harua needs to have his little Ariel plot line he does it anyway because he’s very intrigued by them. 

Wolf Form: On the smaller side in height and built with his wolf form, however his fur is another rare/unique one as he has pure white fur. 

Taki-Beta

Overview: The pack little sunshine, literally, is always making people laugh and just makes people feel at ease. Is always willing to help around the village no matter what it is. However he does get distracted very easily and tends to wander off by himself at times. He doesn’t do it intentionally, it's literally because he was just walking with his head in the cloud or he saw a squirrel…which he claims to not be a bad thing whenever people make fun of him for it because if he never chased that squirrel he would have never met Kei. Both Takis parents died because of humans as well, so the whole pack/village pretty much raised him. Taki is literally the whole pack's child, but when he met Kei and discovered his past he instantly became close to him. Kei quickly became a big brother figure to Taki, he looks up to Kei a lot. 

Wolf Form: May be slightly shorter than average, but his build is pretty good. His fur is a dark brown giving that warm mid autumn vibe. 

Maki-Alpha 

Overview: It came as a surprise to his family since his bloodline is a mix of betas and omegas. However it adds up, he’s always taking charge and has always been gifted with speed and strength. To anyone who didn’t know his family would think it was expected of him to be an alpha. Is pretty stubborn though, always wanting to do his own thing and doesn’t like being told what to do. Because of this he gets into fights with others very easily, he will listen to older members of his group though(Kei, Fuma, Euijoo, and Nicho). It’s a respect thing for him pretty much, if he doesn’t respect you or doesn’t deem you leader material he will not follow what you have to say. 

Wolf Form: Another very tall and bulky one, easily breaking the average built meter. He’s another dark grey and white, but the grey on his fur is darker and some parts even black. 

[bobbydagen24]

little Creek backstory idea I've been thinking about recently.

( Look at that big adorable chubby smile lol )

I've talked before about the idea of Creek returning in a future film and being given a proper redemption story maybe with him returning and Branch and Poppy being forced to work with him

to try and save the village from some looming threat which Creek has knowledge on and the duo begrudgingly learn to give him another chance.

anyway when thinking about Creek recently I came up with this backstory idea for him to try and flesh him out a little more

the idea was that since I'm pretty sure Creek's age isn't confirmed? I'd have him be about as old as Branch or maybe even a year or two older

meaning he was alive and old enough to remember the years the trolls were trapped in Bergentown and following the escape like Branch he was left orphaned by the Bergens

but instead of isolating himself from everyone as a response to his Trauma like Branch did

Creek did live a fairly normal life as part of the community but basically growing up as a foster kid in pop village Creek developed an emotional distance to everyone around him

meaning his relationships while friendly and serviceable ( like his relationship with Poppy and the snack pack ) were ultimately just kinda surface level

since Creek never let himself feel any genuine connection to other people and instead developed his "" I have to look out for number 1 "" mindset since no one else was going to.

while you could argue this creates a problem in regards to him disregarding Branch's fears over the Bergens which it kinda does tbf but also Creek would have still grown up in a community

that hadn't seen a Bergen in over 2 Decades plus a community that actively rewarded mockery of Branch's fears, which means I think Creek with this backstory still not buying into Branch's fears

and making fun of him for them would still make sense especially since it helped his public persona as the chill fun guy who everyone liked

also I feel it would actually make Creek a bit of an interesting counterpart to Branch in a way if they were both orphans from the Bergen days

but Branch went in the direction of being outwardly uncaring and anti social and constantly afraid but ultimately he deeply cared for the people around him deep down.

while Creek seemingly was a normal kind caring member of the community but underneath he always was very detached due to his upbringing

making him think life was basically an every man for himself type of game since no one else was really looking out for him growing up other than himself.

like I said this was just an idea for a potential Creek backstory to flesh him out I'd been thinking about recently

and if Creek did come back and we got that whole redemption plot I feel he and Branch could have some interesting interactions where Branch actually realises

the two of them have more common than he'd have ever thought

I imagine Branch had always assumed Creek was some spoilt brat who had everything handed to him growing up so to find out he was actually a lone wolf who pretty much raised himself after the escape

same as him would probably throw Branch for six lol.

and maybe learning this about Creek actually explains somewhat why he behaved so uncaring towards Poppy and the snack pack post betrayal

since he never actually had much of an actual emotional connection to them and maybe he even assumed it was the same vice versa due to his warped world view

and that coupled with them coming to understand that he acted badly in selling out the village due to fear in extreme circumstances

I think could be a good way to get Branch and Poppy to understand him a tad more and give him another chance

maybe even teaching him a thing or two about actually forming proper emotional connections and letting yourself actually be vulnerable with other people.

Idk just a random story idea I had recently lol.

[makeitmingi]

Cause Baby You're My Muse [Chapter 44]

Genre: Romance, Idol!AU, Music, Slight angst

Pairing: Mingi x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Producer!Reader, IdolLyricist!Mingi, IdolProducer!Hongjoong, Idol!Seonghwa, Idol!Yunho, Idol!Wooyoung, Idol!San, Idol!Yeosang, Idol!Jongho, cameo(s) by other celebrities

Summary: You always preferred producing underground, having an unknown face and governed by your own rules. But when you start freelancing for idol groups, you say goodbye to your lone wolf lifestyle as you learn to work with idol producers and lyricists.

Word count: 3.2K

Warning(s): Indigo gets accosted and harrassed, toxic behaviour by side character, Indigo has a panic attack, someone gets punched.

Today was the last day of the music video shoot. The boys were amazing, giving it their all despite being exhausted from working tirelessly the past 4 days. You supported them all the way, not just Mingi. You would go to the shoot every day.

"How's it been?" Eden asked.

"Great. I'm learning a lot. And the boys work so hard. They really are dedicated to their craft." You replied, looking at the 8 boys film.

"They are." He patted your shoulder with a chuckle. You were told by Hongjoong to be careful when interacting with the members today because they are also filming their behind the scenes.

"Hello Atiny~! Today is the last day of filming for the music video." Yunho waved at the camera.

"Woohoo!" Wooyoung jumped up and down excitedly behind the taller boy.

"Are you excited to see Atiny? I hope you like the video. We've been working really hard on it. Look." Yunho pointed to San, who was currently filming his solo part.

"What's going on?" Seonghwa entered the frame, slinging his arm around Yunho. You watched in adoration, they reminded you of puppies but they each had their own personality which was rather adorable. You went to the camping chair where your bag was and picked up your coffee cup.

"It's time for us to go. Watch us, Atiny~" Seonghwa winked at the camera before going with the rest to the filming area.

"Wanna hear the project I just submitted?" You asked Eden, who was beside you. There wasn't much to watch now since they were filming repeated scenes.

"Sure." He sat up.

Eden was a good mentor, he gave good feedback and advice on how you could always improve. You were grateful that he was always open to guiding you and helping you whenever you asked.

"I'm going to stretch my legs and walk around for a bit." You told Eden. He nodded, turning back to his phone.

"Sohee. How's it going?" You asked.

"Hey, Indigo! It's going great now that it's the last day of filming. I feel like I finally have time to breathe and talk. What about you? How's your first music video shooting experience?" She giggled, waving for you to sit with her.

"Learning a lot. Everyone's been very kind." You said. She held your hand excitedly.

"Seyoon, please take over the behind the scenes filming while they film." You all heard the director say.

"I heard through the grapevine that you have a new fanboy. He was apparently asking about you." She nodded over to Seyoon. Your mask hid your sour expression.

"Is he a regular in the film team?" You asked.

"Not sure. I think he's new? The film team is usually amongst themselves, they don't go for the dinners with the rest of us." She shrugged. This meant Seyoon lied to you.

"Why do you ask? Do you think he's cute?" She asked, a little more excitement in her tone.

"He's... not my type." You replied with a slight shake of your head. You weren't going to reveal too much about your uncomfortable encounter and interactions with Seyoon, still uncertain of how she felt about him. For all you knew, she could grow to be friends with him or like him.

"You probably like the cool type of guys, right? From what I've heard, he seems too eager, too energetic." She scrunched her nose a little. You just nodded in agreement.

Mingi was energetic but it was different than Seyoon. Mingi was kind, patient and never made you feel uncomfortable.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Sohee asked.

"We just started not too long ago." You rubbed the back of your neck shyly, making her squeal happily. Jihyun, who was passing by, heard Sohee's scream and walked over, sitting with you.

"What are you so excited about?" She nodded over to Sohee, who had a big grin on her face.

"Indigo was just going to tell me about her boyfriend." Sohee giggled.

Meanwhile, Mingi's eyes were searching the area for you. They were having a break now and usually, you would come to them to chat but you were no where to be found. When he looked at where Eden was seated, your chair was empty.

"Wow, Indigo is really chatting up the stylists and make up artists. They're having a gossip session out there." Jongho chuckled, walking over with a can of soda.

"Ooh, gossip. Now, I'm interested to hear that." Wooyoung's head immediately turned.

"Just let her make friends with other girls to chat. Besides, we told her we're filming behind the scenes today so she's giving us space."

"Yes, I don't want her being caught on camera. Try to protect her identity as much as possible. We'll ask the editors to cut her out too if she does accidentally make it into the frame." Hongjoong said.

"As expected of protective older brother Hongjoong." San teased, clapping his hands.

"We should keep her away from that guy..." Yunho said lowly.

"Especially since he's one of the ones filming our behind the scenes now. I'm not sure if he'll try something weird or mess with her." Seonghwa added. Internally, Mingi let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that the others were just as protective of you or that they felt something about this guy was off.

"Meal's here." The managers announced. The Ateez boys lined up, each one picking up the styrofoam box that had their name and picture on it.

"Atiny~ We're eating delicious food. I hope you're eating well too." Yeosang smiled to the camera.

"We'll be back after finishing our meals. Bye~" Hongjoong covered his mouth as he chewed, giving a friendly wave to the camera.

"Everyone have your lunch breaks too." They heard all the other crews calling for lunch. You entered the room, greeting the boys with a brief wave before sitting behind Hongjoong.

"Are you gonna eat, Indi?" He asked casually as you leaned your back against his.

"Later." You replied.

"We heard you were making some friends out there, Indigo. Looked like a juicy gossip session was happening." Wooyoung teased. You pushed yourself off Hongjoong's back, making him grunt in annoyance as he almost fell forward.

"Are you guys spying on me?" You crossed your arms, raising a judgement eyebrow at them.

"We're just looking out for you." San cooed.

"I don't know if we're friends but we talk. It's weird, I've never really connected with a girl or girls before. The conversations are definitely different." You noted.

"True, between us and the other underground artists you're close with, Haneul's the only girl you're ever around." Jongho said.

"Yeah. Gender isn't what I look at when I make friends but I guess it is a coincidence that all my close friends are guys." You scratched your head. Seonghwa patted a space on the couch next to him.

"Want a drink at least?" He offered his bottle of juice out. He leaned over to grab a straw and stuck it in.

"Thanks, Hwa." You tucked the straw under your mask to sip. Mingi casually came to sit beside you, perching himself on the arm rest. His hand rested on the back of the couch to steady himself and not fall on you. But he made no conversation or interaction with you, he just wanted to be near you.

"When you guys are done, we're doing some tight shots of the units. So whoever is ready first can come out." The manager said after speaking to the director outside.

"Means Mingi's gonna be last because of how slow Joong eats." You snickered. Hongjoong glared at you.

"Here you go." Eden handed you a box of food.

"Thanks." You bowed your head, setting the box on the table. From the way he pursed his lips, you knew that he wanted you to eat now instead of delay.

"You should eat before it gets late." He said. Wooyoung, Yunho and Yeosang went out first for their unit shoot.

"Eat in here and close the door, then you can remove your mask. Or you can eat behind the changing curtain since we're coming in and out." San patted your shoulder.

"Thanks, guys. Really, don't worry about me. I'll eat. I'm just not too hungry now." You chuckled. In the end, you ate behind the changing curtain. Just in case someone didn't know you were here and came in, you stole Jongho's cap to cover your face.

"We'll let the managers and stylists know you're here so they don't come in." Hongjoong smiled. You nodded, waving him off to go shoot and not worry about you.

"But..." Mingi frowned slightly, trying to worry too much about you removing your mask with strangers around.

"We'll take turns coming in after filming and make sure she's safe, hyung. She's fine." Jongho assured, walking out with the taller.

While the boys continued filming and doing whatever you needed to do, you called Haneul on video call to speak to her. You missed her, having seen her for what felt like months already.

"Are you filming a movie?"

"It's not a movie, baby. Remember when Wooyoung showed you that video with seeing and dancing? It's that." You chuckled.

"You're gonna sing and dance? But unnie, you can't dance... You're not good when you dance."

"I don't think I'm that bad! But don't worry about my bad dancing, baby. I'm not filming, the oppas are. I'm just here to follow them and watch them film." You laughed. Haneul was probably the only person that could get away with insulting you or jabbing you without getting hit. She was always painfully honest.

"When are you coming home? I miss you."

"I miss you too, baby. I'm sorry it's been so long since I've seen you. But soon, I'll come see you and we'll do whatever you want. I promise." You sighed.

"Don't say sorry... Wooyoung oppa said you're always working so you can buy me ice cream, toys and take me to the zoo."

"That's true." You smiled softly. You made a mental note to thank Wooyoung later. For as long as you remember, Haneul was always kind of resentful towards your job for taking you away.

"I have to go, baby. I'll speak to you soon?" You didn't want to hang up but you heard voices outside.

"Mhmm. Bye, unnie. I love you."

"I love you too, baby. You're my entire world." You watched her wave before she hung up. You couldn't bring yourself to be the one to hang up. With another sigh, you gathered your empty food box and wore your mask. You quietly pulled the curtain back.

"Yah, stop making fun of me!" Wooyoung whined as Yunho and San made fun of his hand gestures. You felt Seyoon's eyes on you as he filmed them but took the opportunity to slip out of the room.

"Can I throw the food trash here?" You asked.

"Sure. Thank you!" She bowed her head. You walked to the area where the toilets were to wash your hands.

"Hey, Indigo." You stepped out of the female bathroom to see Seyoon there. You must have shot him an apprehended look because he took his hands out of his pockets.

"I just wanted to apologise. I realised my behaviour the other night was not very gentleman-ly of me." He spoke. You didn't react to that.

"So, I'm sorry." He repeated.

"Okay." You gave a brief nod before intending to walk away. You just wanted to leave the conversation. Odds are, you won't see each other anymore after today so you didn't want to bother too much with him. As you moved to walk past him, he suddenly grasped your forearm. You recoiled with a hiss, as if his touch burned.

"That's all you can say when someone apologises to you? 'Okay', that's rude." He frowned.

"What? Want me to jump for joy or fall to my knees in gratefulness? This just made it clear, you're not apologising because you genuinely feel bad. You're apologising for yourself." You couldn't hold back.

"Listen, here-"

"Indigo? Are you here?" You let out a mental sigh of relief when you heard Yeosang's voice. Seyoon shot you a look, challenging you.

"I'm here, Yeosang!" You yelled out, all the while maintaining eye contact with Seyoon. There were other things to be scared of but he wasn't one of those things.

"There you are." Yeosang walked over with San in tow. The two shot Seyoon a cautionary look, they definitely felt the tension in the air. San wrapped an arm around you, pulling you to stand behind him, almost protectively shielding you.

"Everything alright here?" San asked, a displeased frown on his face. You shrugged, subconsciously rubbing your arm where Seyoon grabbed you.

"Yeah, we were just talking." Seyoon replied.

"Well, the captain is freaking out because he thought you got lost. Let's go." Yeosang paid no attention to Seyoon and smiled at you. San turned you around and led you away.

"Are you okay?" San frowned worriedly once you were a good distance away from the bathrooms.

"Mhmm, he wasn't going to do anything but still, you guys came in time." You sighed.

Mingi sighed in relief when he saw you emerge with San and Yeosang. What he didn't like was seeing Seyoon stroll out a few seconds after.

"Did something happen?" Mingi asked. Yeosang shook his head, which made the rest of the boys there let out sighs of relief. Hongjoong and Seonghwa frowned, they would definitely be bringing this up to the lead director later as well as the KQ staff when they get back to Korea.

They weren't doing it just because it was you or because of favourtism. Well, yes there was but they also didn't want such a person to be working under KQ's name and harrassing others.

"Keep Indigo safe but remember where we are and who we are. We are always being watched." Hongjoong reminded the rest. Now you felt bad.

"I'm sorry. You guys shouldn't have to worry about me. Focus on the shoot, I'll be okay." You assured them.

"I didn't say that for you to be guilty." Hongjoong raised an eyebrow.

"I know, Joong. I wouldn't want you guys compromising your image just to protect me as well. Seriously, there are people around, he won't try to do anything." You said.

"Just stick with Eden or your friends if we're filming okay?" Wooyoung placed a hand on your thigh. You nodded with a hum.

This reminded you of the harrassment situation back in Korea. The reason why you didn't want to tell anyone else. You couldn't have them sacrificing their image, their career, their reputation as idols for you. It wasn't worth it.

"Go film! It's the last day, give it your all. Even if I know you guys always do." You chuckled, waving them off, trying to show that you're unbothered so they wouldn't worry anymore.

"Watch us." Yunho grinned, patting your head with a soft smile. You gave a thumbs up as they went to continue filming.

"Wow, you're really close with them, aren't you?" Jihyun raised an eyebrow as you sat with her.

"Do idols usually separate themselves from the crew?" You asked.

"Sometimes, just because they're closer and have their own stuff to do. Doesn't mean they're rude of unfriendly, they're still playful with everyone." Sohee shrugged.

"But they seem to really care about you. Like the way Yunho sshi patted your head just now." Jihyun pointed out.

"I've been working closely with them every day for the past few months since I've joined the company so I guess we're closer than work colleagues. Especially Hongjoong and Mingi since he's always in the studio with me producing." You reasoned. The two girls nodded, it made perfect sense.

"They're good boys. Playful and chaotic but honest and hardworking." Jihyun said. You agreed, seeing them in the studio and filming, they are very hard workers.

"Hey, Indigo. You got a little something on your mask." Sohee pointed. You hadn't even noticed.

"Do you need a spare? But I only have pink ones." Jihyun offered. She must have noticed you only wore white or black masks.

"No need, I have some spares. Thanks for telling me, I didn't even notice when I went to the bathroom earlier. That's embarrassing." You said shyly.

"It's not! It happens." The two assured you.

"I'll be right back." You stood up and went into the artists resting room. You knew that Mingi always had some spare masks in his bag, he had them in case you ever needed one.

Going behind the curtain, you removed your current mask and checked to see that there were some finger stains. Your hands must have been dirty when you put it back on after eating. This is why you mostly prefer wearing black masks over white ones.

"So that's what you look like." The curtain drew back, making you jump back in shock. Seyoon stood there, a smirk on his face. What made you stunned was the recording camera in his hands.

"Stop!" You yelled, scrambling to find the dirtied mask to wear. You reached for the camera but he held it away.

"I think now, you owe me an apology. Don't think you're all high and mighty just because you're some one hit wonder producer." He grabbed your collar.

"Let go of me!" You squirmed.

"YAH! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" A loud shout made Seyoon turn around. Even so, his grip on you was relentless.

The Ateez boys, managers, Eden and some staff members stood there in anger and shock, witnessing the scene before them. Seyoon's eyes widened, he didn't think anyone heard you shout.

BAM!

"Mingi!" Hongjoong and Yunho went forward, holding the tall rapper back and pulling him away from the fallen male. Seyoon was on the ground, holding his jaw in pain. Mingi's force made Seyoon released you immediately but you dropped to the ground. Your heart pounded in your ears and you had no control of your body.

"Get a hold of yourself!" You've never seen or heard Yunho yell before but now that you have, it scared you. Everything was so loud, you wanted to curl into a ball and just be away from everyone.

"Indigo." Seonghwa moved first, rushing to your side on the ground. Your head hung low while your eyes shifted from left to right, your entire being shaking.

"Breathe, sweetheart. Breathe." Wooyoung was on the right, rubbing your back to get you to catch your breath.

"Let's clear the room. Get Mingi out of here. Now." The managers stepped in immediately.

"We're pressing charges." Hongjoong said to no one in particular as he and Yunho removed Mingi from the room. Two bodyguard came and grabbed Seyoon and escorted him out.

"H-He... H..." You tried to form words but nothing was coming out coherent.

"Ca-Came...ra..." Was all you could say. But Wooyoung seemed to know what you meant. He left you with Seonghwa and left the room.

"He got her on video! Where's the damn camera he was using?!" You heard him yelling outside. Seonghwa pulled your head to his chest but you couldn't stop shaking. Your mind was racing and tears blurred your vision.

"I..." You choked as dark spots appeared and you blacked out.

~

Series Masterlist

[ghostgorlsworld]

Moondrunk Monster Part 4 (werewolf!ghost x reader)

You're a retired combat medic that made a mistake, costing you your cushy office job. As punishment, you're sent to an active war zone, where you meet the 141, a squad of werewolves that slowly accept you as their own. (I know, I know I'm bad at summarizing)

WARNINGS: SEXUAL ASSULT, not explicit just discussed. Pls be cautious

Nothing much happens lol but we are ramping up the tension. I promise ghost will interact more in the next chapter, he's just shy--also maybe a ghost pov soon? Idk i'm thinking about it

Part 4

You awoke with cotton mouth and the kind of dizziness that only comes from the best pain medication the military has to offer. 

It was dark outside now, the quiet hum of the generator and Shane’s soft breathing in your ear. Graves was set up in the far corner of the infirmary, Avon passed out on your bunk in a mess of tan limbs and tan scrubs.

A man in a skull mask was asleep in the chair in front of you, his head tipped back against the wall, his legs relaxed and spread wide. He was still caked in muck, which meant that he had been there all night.

Your bladder twinged, the reason why you were awake making itself known. You had to piss. Badly.

You slid off the cot carefully, eyeing Ghost as the springs creaked. You didn’t want to wake him, especially not to tell him you were about to piss your pants. 

Your boots were by his feet so you went without, padding past him in nothing but your military issued socks. You were on enough medication that you could hardly even feel the ache in your shoulder, but it made you clumsy, your hip bumping into a cabinet on your way out. 

You held your breath, glancing at the sleeping Ghost in your chair. 

He didn’t stir, his chest moving up and down rhythmically. You stared for a moment. It wasn’t often he was this…relaxed. 

His sleeve had ridden up, exposing pale, tattooed skin on his wrist. It took your breath away for a moment, your eyes stuck on that tiny sliver of skin that told you he really was a man, a man that had curly blonde hairs on his forearm and a scar that looked like a bite over his wrist.

God, you really had to be lonely to be losing your mind over someone you’d never even seen. You didn’t even know his real name, just his moniker. Ghost.

Your bladder clenched, interrupting your reverie. You sucked in a breath and hurried to the bathroom.

The bathroom was thankfully a brick-and-mortar structure, a few of the female guards relieving themselves in the stalls or showering. You finished your business quickly, pausing at the sink to scrub your hands, and then, after seeing the dirt and blood on your face, attacking your skin with a rough cloth and generic hand soap.

Tomorrow, you would shower, you told yourself. Your arm looked even worse than it had before you fell asleep, your skin now smeared with the bright purples and greens of bruises, shiny with swelling. 

You blew out a breath. “You’re too old for this shit,” you told yourself in the shitty mirror, and it was the truth. You never wanted to get back in action. You missed your air conditioned office and comfortable scrubs, you missed iced coffee in the mornings and good food.

This was a punishment. You were the one woman that cried wolf, and in turn they sent you to this hellhole. 

You could die here. 

They had said it was your choice, that you could choose to fill Graves’ request for a medic, or be discharged, stripping you of retirement and the healthcare you had gotten too used to.

Graves had to know why you were here. Rumors spread like wildfire in the military, and you had been the hot gossip of the week.

The meek little nurse that had put a Colonel’s son in the ER. 

His name was John Wynn, and he was a bastard. You weren’t blind, you had seen and experienced the worst sides of the military, the sides they worked hard to hide. In the early days, before you learned to bite back, there were incidents. 

Recruits and sargents disappearing into rooms together, incidents hidden with orders from higher up, hands where they shouldn’t be, those were the things that happened in male dominated atmospheres, and for a long time, you accepted it.

Until some punk twenty five year old with a single tour under his belt and his daddy’s power tried it with you. It took you off guard when it began, you’ll admit it, it shook you more than you thought it would.

You just didn’t think you would have to fight in the world you had grown comfortable in, and you convinced yourself that it was nothing. The way he looked at you, touched you, how the new recruits scurried from him like frightened rats. 

You should have known better.

But then again, he should have known better. You weren’t his usual victim, the shy, anxious-to-please recruit that would do anything to keep from being reported. 

In a decade of service, you managed to keep your soul. You were damned if you would let that insignificant little rapist take it from you. 

John Wynn ended up in the ER with a shattered cheekbone and a bruised dick, while you walked away without even a fingerprint. His daddy wanted blood, but a few of your superiors tried to protect you and gave you the option to get out of sight for a while, at least long enough that you could finally bring yourself to walk away for good.

You sighed, straightening in the mirror. You looked like hell, your hair wild, your face swollen. You wondered why Ghost still stared.

You were quiet as you made your way back to the infirmary, your steps stumbling and clumsy. The drugs were hooking even deeper into your system, slowing your brain.

That was probably why you hadn’t noticed a pair of yellow eyes watching you from the darkness. At least, not until they moved, a massive shape coming into sight.

You hadn’t seen a wolf in its true form since Donny shook you like a rag doll. The shock of it stopped you in your tracks, your breath catching.

It was silver, the pale fur catching the moonlight like a…

Ghost.

He watched you from the shadows, the stare so familiar it was disturbing to see on an animal’s face. 

He was huge. The biggest you had ever seen, scars marking his muzzle so badly you understood why he wore a mask as a man, his left ear bitten through and ragged. 

You stumbled, the meds making you as weak as a kitten. “Ghost is that you?” You whispered. “Why’re you…”

He looked up. 

The moon was full.

You peered into the 141’s tent. The beds were empty. 

They were gone too. 

“You can go,” you whispered. “I’ll be fine, LT, I promise.”

Ghost growled, an unearthly sound that sent the hair on your neck standing straight up. He bared his teeth, long fangs snapping. 

It felt wrong to stare directly at his face, so you didn’t, settling on his strangely humanoid shoulders. “Alright,” you said, shuffling along. “As long as you don’t try to eat me, LT.” He rumbled, as if say no promises. Ghost rose from his haunches, standing to his full height under the moon. You wondered what the overhead cameras saw, if they wondered why their LT was standing in the middle of base, furry and naked.

In fact, you were wondering that yourself. 

Your heart raced. It was such a human instinct, to see a predator and want to either kiss it or run from it. 

“Jesus,” you said weakly. “I wouldn’t want to run up on you in a fight.”

It was shocking really, the reminder that these men you had been treating like friends were truly not like you at all. As much as Soap laughed and spoke, there was still an edge to him, the way his eyes glinted when he smiled, the too-sharp edge of his teeth. 

Ghost seemed to like your attention, his ears perked at the top of his head. It was oddly endearing, and you normally considered yourself a cat person.

It was like he wanted you to see him. Wanted you to be…impressed?

“Right,” you said, forcing a nod. “Well, off to bed for me I think. I’ve had a weird day.”

You wobbled your way back into your cot, stripping your socks off your feet before settling in. Ghost watched you all the while, hungry and intense as he stood vigilant in the shadows. 

For days after, you still weren’t sure if Ghost had truly shown you his other form, or if you had dreamed it up. The memory was blurred and hazy–you mostly remembered the piercing yellow-eyed stare, the way it made your stomach twist.

It was as if you were twenty again, nervous and stuttering on a first date. Just being around him sets your skin on fire.

You had never been attracted to a wolf before. In the past, you picked responsible, healthy men that had good jobs and stable lives because your life was always so chaotic. It was nice to come home to a man that would rub your calves and ask about your day.

Ghost didn’t seem like that kind of man. For one, he wasn’t a man–and again, you had no idea if wolves even liked human women like that. Like everyone else in the world, you had heard rumors about certain preferences but…he seemed different. 

He barely touched you. Barely spoke to you. 

But his eyes. They were always, always on you.

So, one day, you got the balls to ask Soap. 

“Does your kind…um,” you began, unable to stop yourself from blushing. “Does your kind like humans?”

Soap paused in the knife he was sharpening, cocking a dark brow at you. “How do you mean?” God, he was going to make you say it. “Romantically, I mean. Does it happen?”

Soap was silent for a moment, his mouth twisting as he dropped the knife onto the table. It took you a moment to realize he was laughing at you, his hand pressed to his mouth. 

“Shut up, Soap,” you said, humiliated. “Just answer the question.”

He gives you a good razzing, his eyes twinkling like he knew exactly why you were asking. “Bonnie, when was the last time you met a female wolf?”

You frowned. You hadn’t thought about it. “Never, I suppose.” “Ever wondered why?” You shook your head. “It’s a recessive gene. Passes from father to son or mother to daughter in most families, though I s’pose a few of the older ones could be exceptions. Most of the wolf-women I’ve met prefer human men, and vice versa, it’s a way we reproduce, see, two wolves means that the child will be closer to an animal, but one wolf is balanced.” 

“So…your kind prefers humans?” Soap made a face. “For the most part, yeah. Even me.”

You raised a brow, smiling. “Oh, even you? What, do you have somebody at home I don’t know about?”

To your surprise, Soap flushed, the tips of his ears turning pink. 

“Wait, do you?” You asked, taken off guard. He was only a handful of years younger than you, but he was wild and restless enough that it seemed strange to think of him settling down. 

He laughed, flashing teeth at you, even as he looked away. There was something about Johnny that was so hungry, the urge to be needed, to be liked. He made himself a better killer just so he had a purpose in the world.

“No,” he said, “I don’t. There’s a pretty girl in the cafe down the street, and I’ll go in just to hear her ask me what I want.”

“That’s kind of sad,” you said. Despite the obvious…wolfishness about him, he was handsome, dark hair and blue eyes and that ridiculous mohawk. He was too young to look so alone.

He shrugged. “It’s different for us, lass.”

The back of your neck prickled. You were being watched.

“Well, Johnny,” you said, standing. “You miss all the shots you don’t take, and I don’t know a single woman, excluding myself, that could resist those baby blues. Do me a favor and ask her out next time, you’re too young to feel old and miserable like me.” Soap smiled, a bit of cheer back in his eye. “You’re only three years older’n me, lass, I wouldn’t call ye old.” You waved the statement off, already thinking of the rounds you needed to take, patients you needed to check. “Please, I haven’t had a proper date in years, I may as well be eighty with cats.”

Soap hummed, amused like he knew something you didn’t. “I’m sure your dry spell will end soon enough. Did you see Graves eyeing your arse over the coffee machine?” You kicked him for that one, a good swat in the knee as he fell over himself laughing.

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

Hello, I just found your blog and after going through a lot of your posts/asks I completely agree with most of your opinions on HOTD ss2. I also wanted to ask your thoughts on the characterization of Aemond and Aegon this season. With Aemond there were a lot of disappointments for me in how the writer treated his character. I know the two nude scenes caused a lot of mixed opinions, but in my opinion, they were completely unnecessary and didn't contribute much to character building. Like Alicent's 3 sex scenes, I feel like the showrunner is just taking advantage of Olivia/Ewan's popularity. Aemond has very few lines, does not interact with anyone in his family, and we hardly know what he thinks about the events taking place. He is removed from the narrative and we hear about how others think of him rather than knowing what he really thinks. Him becoming a villain left a bad taste in my mouth because of the way the writer stuffed it and forced us to swallow it instead of finding a way to build it up properly. It makes me, an Aemond and Ewan fan, feel sad for effort that Ewan has put in just to receive little screen time and bad writing for the character he cherishes so much. With Aegon, even though I'm not a fan, I found him very interesting right from season 1. And in this part, I think the writer has put in effort to compensate for what is considered to be worsening the character's image. Overall, Aegon in ss2 was received very well and he won the sympathy of the majority of viewers in the fandom. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, ss2 disappointed me a lot and I have very little hope for the second half of the season, but I still look for reviews in the fandom because it's still a highlight for me after every episode.

Good day/night!

The way Aemond has been treated this season is awful indeed. Of all the Green characters he suffered the most (maybe along with Alicent) from the writers attempts (regrettably, successful ones) to divide TG and deprive them of common purpose and pretty much any affection for each other. The scraps of the latter we got (for example, those between Aegon and Helaena) might have gone unnoticed altogether for the majority of the viewers if not for the actors' interviews (and I doubt that many of GA folks have watched those anyway).

It seems that the writers decided to make Aemond into a "lone wolf", so to say: a person who, due to some kind of mix between arrogance and grievances suffered in the past, feels like he doesn't need anyone in this life because 1) everyone he searched love and compassion from failed him, 2) he is utterly confident in his ability to handle every problem that may arise on his own. I personally don't like the concept of Aemond being isolated from his family - but the main issue here IMO is not even the idea itself but the execution. While I'm not a fan of the brothel part either, I believe that those scenes could have fitted into his arc better - if not for the sloppy and neglectful manner in which this arc has been built. Skipping the important bits of Aemond's story (like reaction of his family members to Luke's death), making him indifferent to the murder of Jaehaerys and depriving him of the scenes that could have connected the different points of his emotional and psychological journey (mainly of the scenes with other Greens) - all of it makes it difficult to perceive the different sides his character is supposed to have.

Ultimately, as I see it, both Aemond and Alicent are treated by the show as tools for presenting the audience with the story of Westerosi feminism: the former - to uphold the image of "cruel men", the latter - to paint the image of a victim (who is also kind of responsible for her own suffering at the hands of men because she chose the wrong side).

As for Aegon, he's been the luckiest out of the Green characters storywise - but it doesn't mean that I'm satisfied with the show version of him. Dumbing him down, using him as a way to show how callous and cruel other Greens (specifically Aemond and Alicent) are - that's not the treatment I wanted for one of my favourite characters. I would even go as far as saying that if the Aegon we have seen in the show so far was the only Aegon I knew (without me having any knowledge of either source material or Tom's interviews or participating in fandom) he wouldn't be one of my favourite characters as I simply would have very little interest in him. Once again, in comparison with other Greens he's doing really well, but I can't help but feel that Aegon - and Tom - are also being used to create a character the audience can pity and to have a good shot at the Emmy campaign. And as soon as HBO guys get what they want (or if they don't get it), Aegon might be thrown under the bus just as easily as it already happened to Aemond after he attracted lots of attention to season 1.

To sum it up, the main issue of HotD is that HBO doesn't care for the characters and for the story: it cares for the hype, viewing numbers, reviews and awards. And with this kind of attitude it's difficult to expect any significant improvements in the quality of the show.

[thankskenpenders]

How do you feel on the whole Misadventures arc of IDW? You touched upon it briefly, but I'm still curious. I myself found it frustrating since I despise "everyone trusts the newbie first" plotlines, and TBH "Silver and Whisper just stake out Duo and then attack him once confronted" felt like a frustratingly stupid way to resolve things. The pacing of the four issues, with how it felt like little happened, honestly made it feel like a collection of stories meant for an Annual that never came out.

I disagree. For one, I've found the pacing really refreshing. Even though this is a "breather" arc after all the stuff with Surge and Kit and the Eggperial City, it feels like we've had a lot of meaningful developments for the supporting cast in a short amount of time. Instead of spending 4+ months exclusively on one idea and one set of characters, we're hopping all around and getting these shorter stories from a wider variety of characters. But they all feel connected, primarily due to the background plot of Clutch and Mimic trying to undermine the Restoration. It feels like a whole lot of pieces are being moved into place for whatever's in store, whether it's getting Knuckles off of Angel Island more, having Silver and Blaze finally become a team, or establishing new threats for the Restoration.

And, yes, I'm even here for the silly backup story about Rough and Tumble messing up Cream's house. That stuff's fun! I've never been a person who thinks that everything has to be plot, plot, plot all the time. I love heavily episodic series. I like seeing what happens when you mash together random characters who haven't interacted before.

I kind of see why this might feel like the sort of material that's usually saved for the Annuals, but his was the norm during the Archie days. We didn't have Annuals, we'd just have backup stories about the supporting cast, or one-off issues that weren't necessarily part of a four-issue arc. That's something people have been interested in seeing from IDW from the very start, and folks like me were excited to see them finally give it a shot.

As for the stuff with Mimic/Duo: that's actually been my favorite part of all of this. I think it's made for some extremely juicy drama. Yes, it's a story about a suspicious new character showing up and people immediately trusting him, but, like... forget about the trope for a second and step back. This is just how the Restoration works. They aren't an exclusive club, they're a humanitarian volunteer group that's constantly welcoming in any help they can get. Every new character who decides to join the Restoration has immediately been welcomed in. The HQ is constantly full of randos. Amy put Jewel in charge of the whole operation after one conversation. Lanolin in particular has barely known Tangle, Whisper, or Silver any longer than she's known "Duo." She went on literally one mission with Tangle and Whisper before all this. The villains are observing the way the heroes work and taking advantage of it.

I also disagree with the claim that Whisper and Silver were being stupid in trying to confront Mimic. Well, okay, they kind of were being stupid, but it feels completely in character for them. Silver's always been a little too eager to act without thinking first. This is one of his defining character traits going back to '06. The irony here is that for once he was RIGHT, but the villain he accused of being a villain made him think it was just another case of Silver starting a fight for no good reason. And Whisper's acting rash because she ALWAYS acts rash when Mimic is involved. Any time Mimic has been a threat, Whisper has decided to go all lone wolf out of a fear that Mimic will kill Tangle like he killed the old Diamond Cutters. It's a constant struggle for her due to how deep that trauma is. It was the whole premise of the Tangle and Whisper miniseries!

But really, I just think it's so deliciously evil for Mimic to be playing the Restoration like this for so long. To me, it'd be a crime NOT to do something like this with Mimic. It's such a perfect use of his nature as a deceitful master of disguise. Whisper IMMEDIATELY figuring him out, only for Mimic to pit Whisper's allies against her, gaslighting her into trusting him and thinking that she fucked up? That's great! Well, I mean, it's terrible for her, but I'm here for the drama.

This is all a ticking time bomb that's going to impact so many characters when it goes off, and I can't wait to see how that plays out. How much damage will Mimic and Clutch be able to do to the Restoration as an organization? How will Lanolin react upon realizing her grave mistake? How will Whisper, a character who already has massive trust issues, respond to having some of her worst fears come true? She already left Restoration HQ once out of a fear that Mimic would target her friends, and then almost immediately after coming back THIS happens? How will Tangle respond to being caught in the middle of all this? And now Surge and Kit are apparently getting thrown into the mix as unexpected wild cards next issue??? This is the kind of drama I really eat up with these characters!

(If I have ONE small nitpick, though... it's that I initially misread the issue with the confrontation, and thought that Mimic really did break his own arm in his fight with Silver to help maintain his cover. I was like, holy shit! That's messed up! Mimic's messed up! But then I realized he was faking his injury. I kinda like my initial read better, but it's, you know. A kid's comic. That probably would have been a bridge too far lmao)

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

weekend prompt: millinda and unintentionally ominous looming

Millinda is growing in my brain from 'haha how would these two interact' into 'oh Miller is her pet piece of wet bread.' I'm going to end up writing Blue Team makes Miller a real Spartan eventually, I just know it. Thanks for the prompt! (It got away from me)

-

Miller was finding that working with Blue Team, while incredibly stressful, was also incredibly rewarding. He felt like he was behind the camera of a nature documentary, watching in real time as the S-IIs wordlessly and flawlessly took down their prey. There was some chatter on TEAMCOM, but it was mostly from him doing overwatch.

Again, they adapted to the drills and scenarios immediately, including him and listening to what he had to say. His intel mattered. He mattered. There was no mistaking himself as part of Blue Team, but they had him at their disposal and made use of him. He helped before shit hit the fan and he wasn't playing catch up. Even if he left each session with Blue Team exhausted. Wire tight tension and the utmost focus for a prolonged period of time left his head hurting. Miller was being pushed to the limit and he liked it. Training with the best was like opening a door he never knew was closed to him. Troop movements and team cohesion and every other significant detail flashing across his screens let him direct them and grow.

That's how he found himself socializing with them beyond the desk job. Spartan Town was only so big. Blue Team was full of natural leaders, and their reputation preceded them by a country mile. That's why Miller was flabbergasted when Linda 058 singled him out.

"You want me as your handler?" He tries not to stammer.

The height difference between them was negligible but the confidence coming off Blue-4, Linda 058, was overwhelming. Jared could find some steel in his spine when it mattered, but not in the face of her many goggled helmet or piercing green eyes. It wasn't that she saw him and found him lacking - he got that from others - she pinned him in place with a look and left him feeling exposed. Like she could go for the kill in an instant.

She nods. "One sortie. Low risk. Training exercise."

Miller's dumbfounded. This is the chance of a lifetime, but the what-ifs are already shutting down his higher thought processes with anxiety.

"A solo op with me as overwatch? What about your team?" He grasps for some kind of stability to add to the conversation.

"Don't need a babysitter." She says resolutely.

"Wait, is this for me?"

"Training exercise." She says again, with a curt nod.

"Yes, I guess." Miller agrees and Linda nods again, barely a lift of her chin in acknowledgement and then she leaves abruptly.

And that's how Miller gets to see Linda 058 patrol the edges of Banished space. The factions were a mess and who better to recon than the Lone Wolf herself. It was easy to sneak an Owl down to drop off a single Spartan. Local flora masking her presence as soon as her boots hit the ground.

The mission goes well, for once. Miller is both by the book and trusting his gut. He doesn't chatter incessantly out of nerves, something he prides himself on after the fact. Instead he finds himself copying Linda's silent focus while keeping an eye on the bigger picture she cannot see. It's a weird feeling. One he can't label until it hits him.

Trust.

Snipers don't go out in the field alone, unless they are exceptional. Linda let him see what that felt like.

He makes calls and marks points of interest, and even a few dropships. She trusts him to watch her back. In return, he has to trust her to make the right call. She goes closer to enemy fortifications than he'd ever want his S-IV Fireteams to go without proper intel.

"Blue-4, you're getting too close for quick extraction."

She flashes green once over comms. A moment passes and she flashes acknowledgement twice.

Enemy Detected.

Linda becomes a shadow in the underbrush and Miller goes into overdrive. He doesn't flood her HUD with markers, but notes her approach, the flight vectors the Banished Phantoms are following, and the warping on the helmet cam.

Cloaking.

Miller squeezes every bit of intel out of the situation without impacting Blue-4's focus or giving away her position. He finds himself breathing in time with her. Slow and even, her vitals present onscreen barely show an uptick while he finds his own heart racing. She has her job and he has his. He does it and he waits.

The warping goes away, moving along the ridge line overlooking the Banished outpost.

Linda slinks back into the vegetation and towards evac. Neither of them let down their guard until lift-off.

Miller congratulates her, more out of habit than necessity and thanks her for the opportunity. It feels like brown-nosing, but the "thanks" she flashes back makes it worth it.

The mission was a success, and Miller relaxes - his second mistake. The first was agreeing to the mission in the first place. His third is having a publicly posted schedule on S-Deck with his fireteams' schedules. His fourth was discussing the mission and how to improve within earshot of Linda, not that he noticed her there.

Blue Team was no help. Kelly smiled at him when he approached them about Linda's newfound habit of popping up near him, randomly, at all hours. Miller had gained a second shadow, one that loomed over him and took his dessert when he wasn't looking.

"Working on your situational awareness." She had said.

He had yet to scream on comms, but it was a near thing when he noticed her in the vents of the Op Center. At this rate, Roland was going to get jealous over someone else competing for "who can give Miller a headache fastest?"

Miller just wanted his dessert and peace of mind back.

[paperlunamoth]

I feel like the "no one owes anyone anything and no one is morally obligated to do anything for anyone or be considerate or help anyone and we're all just a bunch of animals who can't be expected to do anything other than ensure our own survival and people expecting anything from one another is childish and cringe" attitude is explicitly anti-human tbh.

Like this is full fledged misanthropy and apathy covered up with an edgy "fuck yeah, fuck everyone, I'm a strong independent lone wolf" attitude. The fact that it is presented as the "mature" alternative to "entitlement" (read: the view that people should look out for each other and that people deserve things) is especially wild. Like, no, thinking that if other people take issue with your behavior then that's a "them problem" is not mature or based. Neither is thinking food, shelter, or medical care are not human rights. Neither is deliberately upsetting people you don't like just to upset them. Neither is turning away people in need, who you are fully able to help at little cost to yourself, because you don't feel like it. Neither is trying to justify any form of morally dropping the ball with "I don't owe" when what you really mean is simply "I'd rather not."

You believe that people don't have any ethical obligations to one another beyond the most basic, "don't rape or murder" level tenets because you're a selfish and self-centered person who doesn't want to take responsibility for how their choices impact other people and doesn't want to live in a genuinely pro-social world, not because you're a strong willed stoic survivor who's earned the right to be a selfish ass because you've worked hard for it or something. Your ilk are the people who fuck in public restroom stalls, who blast music on the bus with no headphones, who ghost friends because they bore you, who leave garbage on the floor because "someone else will get it," who refuse to assist anyone whose needs are remotely inconvenient, who express profound glee in response to "offending" (read: bullying) others. You view any and all altruistic acts performed by yourself or others, no matter how small, insignificant, and/or effortless, as gracious charity, as going above and beyond, something exceptional that recipients should be infinitely grateful for, because, of course, said recipients are owed nothing, deserve nothing, and are not entitled to kindness from anyone. You do not see everyday altruism as the basic moral duty that it is, as the backbone of healthy human interaction, something to be expected, equally as unworthy of special praise or recognition as abstaining from rape or murder. Your world is aggressive, selfish, cold, petty, individualistic and small, and yet you claim there is nothing wrong with it, that it is a good world, that anyone who objects to it is simply inferior to you in some way, too weak, too infantile, too, without any recognition of the irony, selfish. And that makes sense, in a way. Why would you see such a world as bad when you share so much in common with it?

[kyouka-supremacy]

ooh how about Yosano for the ask game?

Yay Yosano!!! I love her so much <33

Favorite thing about them: Her backstory,,, It's just a masterpiece, for me it's really the peak of bsd's writing. “We don't want your skill. We want that kindness of yours” and “You don't need a skill at all. There's real value in your sadness.” ueueueueueueue. In two chapters it made of a relatively flat character a complex and human one, and we love to see that.

Least favorite thing about them: Nothing, she's great??? I can't think of anything.

Favorite line: There's no line that hits me in particular I can think of, but I really like the emotion / delivery of some of them. This one I like tons:

brOTP: Aaaaahhh I love her I want to see her interact with everyone. Older-sister kind of characters are ALWAYS my favourite. I love her dynamics with Ranpo and I like to think they have this sort of sibling complicity of two people who have known each other for a very long time and love each other deeply. I like her relationship with Fukuzawa, I like how explicitly protective he is of her, I'm glad she has someone she can trust who looks after her and makes her feel loved. (Actually, the Yosano / Fukuzawa relationship makes me emotional. Because Yosano was so deeply traumatized and broken and basically dead when he took her under his wing, and she looks so healthy and confident and serene in the canon timeline, it's basically a miracle; and the only way this could have happened is by having someone who deeply loved and cared for her, someone who kindly guided her through every step of rehabilitation. It moves me a little). I really enjoyed her interactions with Atsushi!! And I like to think Yosano and Kyouka would hang out, I feel like Yosano would be happy to sort of return the favour and help back a little girl who was able to slip out of the darkness just in time; I can see them have this kind of inter generational relationship where they go shopping together and chat about girl things.

OTP: I really like kousano!!! I feel like Yosano deserves her spicy pm love affair too ahah. I think it's got lots of potential for both fluff and angst, and I believe it's a cool relationship to explore for both characters!! I wish they'd meet in canon. When I first watched the anime I was low-key into ranposano, and though I don't feel very strongly about them anymore, I think it's a nice ship nonetheless!

nOTP: Nothing. Really I don't dislike ships pffttt.

Random headcanon: Something I don't think I ever brought up but that I firmly believe in is that whereas all the other ada members live at the ada dorms, Yosano, Ranpo and Fukuzawa have their own house where they live together. Fukuzawa took Ranpo to his home when he adopted him, and then Yosano joined them when they took her in because I mean, there was no way that they could leave her alone, right? So they've always lived together, and they are happy together, they never felt the need to change that. That's the real ada found family for me if there ever was one. Really like deconstructing the idea of nuclear family or of the fact that children can't live with their parents as adults while still being independent. Also it just makes sense? And it's heartwarming to think that Fukuzawa, the lone wolf with no friends of relations, now lives in a happy and lively household.

Unpopular opinion: Yosano existing isn't enough to beat the bsd being sexist allegations, I'm so sorry everyone I wish that was the case.

Song i associate with them: Kilmer by Niru Kajitsu, I just wish I didn't (个_个) There's even a beautiful fanart of Yosano in the style of the Kilmer pv here. Also Fräulein=Biblioteca by nyanyannya, just based on vibes alone (the purple butterflies!!), to mention something a little less depressing lol.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

(Took me like. One hour to pick just one. She's always stunning in Harukawa's art style.)

Favourite illustration:

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[inchidentally]

https://x.com/safeforlando/status/1750936311563723024?s=20

I don't need to add anything. The best driver duo on the grid without a doubt <3

you're so right to say there's nothing more to say, anon. and yet ! lol

(behind a cut so no one can think I'm literally reporting facts here or that I'm living and dying by my own weird and pointless takes I'm just enjoying over-analyzing for fun)

(I am fully switching off RPF/narrative here)

so temporarily switching off friendships or any kinds of ships and focusing solely on driver partnerships, I love how certain Lando's always been about what Oscar has done for his (Lando's) performance. I think this is where age and generation play some part bc Carlos and Daniel are both firmly in the same age group and separated from Lando to a certain degree bc of that. they both viewed Lando as a little brother type of teammate and their careers were never perceived by themselves as especially tied to McLaren or to Lando. they'd both kind of become the lone wolf type by then which is honestly how most drivers have to be. (even moreso in the Max/RB dominance era)

whereas Lando isn't just toeing the line by saying he's a big team player, he adores working in groups in absolutely every area of his professional life and even having hobbies that put him with a minimum of 3-4 people. he also needs to feel the safety of a support network to be at his best. he's the very opposite of a lone wolf. hell, he literally said 'it took an actual village to raise me'.

he very intentionally developed the shared interests with Carlos and Daniel to create those kinds of bonds and familiarity (that's The Lando Effect). and while it's too much of a leap to say for sure, I think it's likely - at least at the start - that Lando felt like they might each have been his teammate for longer than they were. either way, the shared hobbies and friendly bonding didn't really translate to his time time spent with them in team meetings, speaking to the engineers or in development back at the factory. Lando has said he and Carlos were on completely different planes of experience and ability and Carlos was one foot out the door after what, the first year? and well, we know the lack of synchronicity between Lando and Daniel as drivers that started to set in not long after that first season together.

so when it was announced Lando's next teammate would be a rookie and also younger than him, he didn't really hide that the swapped dynamic worried him - even if he was half-joking. and then Oscar being so quiet and independent a person definitely threw him. he even describes their pre-season interactions as friendly but only really having time to say a few words. Oscar had his own work cut out as a rookie (and as we found out, wanting to prove himself most to the engineers and folks at MTC) and Lando already had a full life running alongside his racing career.

and it sounds all projection-y and armchair psychology to say this but genuinely it's clear to state that unlike the usual PR push that a lot of new teammates partake in, Oscar's been notably disinterested in any of that - not even just overplaying a friendship or a bromance with Lando for the sake of the cameras. that's an especially unusual choice for someone who could really have used the Lando Effect boost to his own image after contractgate with Alpine and the hoards of Ricciardo fans/McLaren fans ready to hate someone they saw as a snake or a pretender (usually both). especially considering Oscar pre-F1 was extremely active on social media and had his own viral moments and a much more colorful, fun personality than what he's allowed F1 fans to see so far - it was a pretty deliberate choice to not carry that over right away to selling the partnership with Lando.

we might be able to glean through the murk of Netflix's highly questionable editing of this upcoming season of DTS how much was really going on behind the scenes between Lando and Oscar around this time. but it really seemed like Oscar was more focused on letting his loyalty to the team and his own driving do all the talking (and Mark Webber often said as much). when you compare a lot of those early Lando and Oscar videos and challenges to his Prema ones, he's so unusually quiet and reserved. so he had absolutely no interest in trying to sell himself as a persona or a character to F1 fans. he was perfectly sweet and polite! and boy, did Lando enjoy having someone with endless patience for him lol.

but it's very marked how, despite whatever was or wasn't developing between them as teammates, Lando has consistently always said the same as he has here about Oscar being so talented and giving Lando that "push" and how "you hate and you like it" bc it made him (Lando) take his own driving to the next level. that healthy competition and 'wow, this guy is bringing it' seemed to strike him immediately. Lando can't lie for shit so if he'd found Oscar to be a crappy teammate in any way there's no way he'd be able to choke out any praise for him even for the sake of the team alsgfljasgfa.

and I liked that here in I think March? he said how he planned to get Oscar into all his own hobbies and bring him out of his shell, but apart from one last minute invite to golf that never really happened. we know they spent a fair amount of down time together but it was always mentioned in passing rather than posting about it online or having anyone film it (that we know of yet). the reason I like it is because Lando went on to say how Oscar has reminded him by example to "keep calm and be yourself". and in this interview he'd said how he considers himself and Oscar to be pretty similar people in terms of their approach to their F1 careers. so instead of them bonding through hobbies and interests or both of them being chatterboxes, I think they bonded (if that's the word?) over not being stereotypical extroverted drivers in terms of their personalities and also that they've so adamantly never wanted to have driver in-fighting make life harder for their teams (and themselves). plenty of guys from F2 and F3 can attest to that for Oscar and of course there's The Lando Effect as far as Lando's concerned.

you could almost say they both needed to be teamed up with the other bc for all that Oscar projects Just a Guy, he also finds himself incredibly awkward when it comes to everything about his job outside of racing the car or talking about the car. Lando's just as much the same but he's learned to charm his way through it. he's still awkward as hell even in Quadrant promo videos and he's been doing those regularly for years now, and with all his friends there! they're both enough off-center that they either need an extroverted teammate to lean on or in their current situation, someone who can sympathize.

which I think considering how much loyalty to the team and a sense of 'home' and consistency are for Lando, it makes all kinds of sense that Oscar was the teammate to show up and really form that partnership that he considers to be 'the strongest' on the grid.

they're the same generation, have the same ethos when it comes to their racing careers and Oscar not only went through a court case to get to McLaren he then extended his contract to 2026 the second McLaren made the offer. Lando's got stability as well as a serious challenge from Oscar. he's more poised than ever for that win(s). and now I just hope he listens to Oscar in other ways like not self-flagellating in front of the cameras so much and focusing on where he has done well.

[rickybaby]

Laila I hard agree with your tags RE: Italiano leaving. I’ve seen people joke that Danny must have fucked his girlfriend or something but I don’t think it’s anything personal (in that way)

If I had to guess I’d say it was something big, maybe business/money related. I kind of hoped Daniel just realized what a shit trainer Michael was (I can rant on his bs practices all day, but he pushes some unsustainable and sometimes outright dangerous ideas like extensive fasting, etc. etc. which have always rubbed me the wrong way). BUT I think in reality Daniel hasn’t really acknowledged/processed how NOT OKAY that whole McLaren stint was for him. He still talks to Zak, all the McLaren mechanics, friendly with Lando and Oscar, so if it was just “Michael let him down and wasn’t putting his best interests first in McLaren” I think Danny would have just let it go.

One thing he’s not stupid about though, is his money/business (and also, what a lot of people don’t acknowledge, his privacy). We don’t really hear a lot about Danny post-season. So I feel maybe the fall out had to do with Italiano going on podcast after podcast talking about Daniel and then also (presumably) raking in money for it. Again, all allegedly completely-just-going-from-my-own-vibes, Michael Italiano do not sue me

I do think there was a catalyst that led to their break-up sometime after the last race last year, because if I remember correctly, Jack (Doohan) had mentioned that Michael would be training him for F2 while still working with Daniel during his year off. But then, this never happened and MI ended up going to AT. All I'm saying is, whether something happened or someone sat Daniel down and talked to him about it, Daniel on his own would never have realised how harmful whatever MI preached was. And i think whatever it was, really hit Daniel hard because every time he's talked about coming back this year, whether it's the lone wolf comment or other things, he's constantly talked about how he's approaching training differently and how he's realised prioritising his recovery and rest is important.

Regarding your comment about whether Michael wasn't putting Daniel's interests first at Mclaren, I think a lot of people got the same impression, especially if you go by his comments on his Pitstop appearance this year. The way he framed it kind of implied that he was annoyed at Daniel's decision to take a year off and there was the implication that this derailed his own career and aspirations, which fair enough.

But coming to whether it could have been money/business-related, I feel like this is more like it. You do get the impression he was more in it for the money and the fame. Forget the part about dming girls and the cheating allegations, but the side-hustle part of it?? With the F1 season getting more and more hectic and trainers like Brad and Angela leaving because they can't keep up with the strain and time demand of the new calendar, how can you have the time to dedicate to other private clients? To me, it just means you're not really giving your 100% to the driver you are meant to support. Then, there was the mask debacle thing in 2020, his whole 'merch' collection and the way he continued to make money off his posts of Yuki this year.

And then the privacy thing - I know just because Daniel looks like such an open guy that people don't realise how private he is. Even during the whole mclaren debacle, not one person from his side ran their mouth in the press when you constantly have the family or friends of other drivers making snide comments or liking posts they shouldn't. And then, there's mr. Italiano making appearances in dodgy podcasts and obviously whatever he says, people are bound to take it as him meaning it about daniel because that's who they associate him with. And then the whole leaking of his private medical info, coming after the one and sole sighted interaction of theirs must have come as such a betrayal to Daniel

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

I like rewriting things for fun because this is just what my brain is like, and on my rewatch of Gravity Falls I was struck once again by how out of place "Roadside Attraction" is. Honestly I don't even dislike it that much, it just feels misplaced? Like, it's a season 1 episode thrown in right before we start gearing up the final arc. I'm hardly the only person who thinks this, but I thought it would be fun to throw my hat in the ring and come up with my own alternate version. Thinking about making a comic about it maybe??

So I've given it some thought, and here's how I would write "Roadside Attraction" (with the benefit of 10 years of hindsight, no deadlines, no supervisors breathing down my neck, and access to pieces of storylines that have only all come together completely after the show ended): It got long so it's under the cut.

I really like the idea of the road trip itself, and I really really like the idea of Dipper and Stan getting this bonding episode. Especially with Stan trying to be a role model for Dipper in a way that Ford has no experience with, playing into both of their insecurities of not being good enough. I just think the focus was too messy. There's a lot of different messages that could be fit in to the whole flirting thing, and I think the episode kind of confuses itself. I'm also of the opinion that the show is at its weakest when romance is the focus. It's just infinitely less interesting than the familial and platonic bonds that have been so lovingly set up.

So instead of the focus being on flirting, we're going to one of Stans favorite skills- lying!

The original episode centers Dippers conflict on not knowing how to deal with an unrequited crush and then acting on some bad advice from Stan. But the episode doesn't really succeed in clearly painting what was actually bad about his advice and why it was bad that Dipper followed it, it gets all muddled up (he wasn't cheating, he was literally just talking to people. It's messed up that ultimately he was objectifying them as subjects for "practice", but he also thought these were going to be one-off interactions. It's all too shaky to actually take a lesson away from in the way the episode wants you to.)

So we're shifting the focus from "confidence with girls" to "confidence" in general. Dipper expresses his insecurities with not being a very confident person, he doesn't think he's brave or cool or tough and he's scared of other people seeing him as weak. So Stan tells him to get some practice talking to people the only way he knows how-by making stuff up! It's very easy to be confident if you just pretend you're someone else! Sure, maybe Stan Pines isn't much of a winner, but Hal Forrester is doing great! And who's to know that he's not Hal Forrester? Stan is a showman and a con artist, if there's one thing he knows how to do it's perform. And that's kind of... All... He knows how to do. It's the thing that's kept him alive for 40-odd years. But it originated in a deep-set belief that Stan Pines is a bad person to be. He has to be someone else in order to be someone worth being around.

Most of the episode can play out as it did but with this framework. We can even keep Darlene! (Stan chatted with her under a false name and acted like he was some kinda unattached drifter lone wolfing it on the road. She heard that and thought "oh good, no one to come looking when he goes missing!" Then gets thrown off when a bunch of kids come and save his ass.) And a different side story for Mabel and the girls. Spitballing here- uhhh Candy and Grenda try to distract Mabel from her feelings about her Summer Romances because she's clearly upset but is trying to hide it. Wacky shenanigans abound. By the end the theme about authenticity comes full circle and Mabel feels better by earnestly talking through her feelings with her friends. It gives Candy and Grenda a bit more time to have some real emotion and follows up on Mabels lesson in "Society of the Blind Eye". She already learned that it's better to live with the bad stuff and learn, but now she also knows that you don't have to carry the bad stuff alone, and that a good friend won't stop being your friend because you aren't performing happiness. That theme can then be picked back up and really hammered home during "Escape From Reality" when she starts facing how shallow Mabelland is.

Anyways back to the primary A plot:

Instead of the crowd of girls it's just a crowd of kids who are all calling him by a different name and claiming to have bonded over a bunch of different interests he doesn't actually have, so he panics and runs out of there. (Basically a Kidz Bop version of what would happen if some of Stan's old "buddies" caught up with him)

Now on the drive home, they have a different conversation. Stan admits that his way of doing things isn't a very stable one, and it always ends with him being alone, but since it was his only option for so long he doesn't really know how else to be. And then Dipper can reassure him that, he, at least, thinks his Grunkle Stanley is pretty great. (Emphasis on the Stanley). Maybe they can both figure out how to be actually confident, together.

ALSO THE B PLOT IS FORD BEING LEFT HOME ALONE WITH WENDY AND IT'S REALLY AWKWARD UNTIL MONSTER STUFF HAPPENS AND THEY GAIN A MUTUAL RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER AS BADASSES!

The monster stuff could be anything tbh, maybe the science magic bullshit from the portal reactivating aggravated a long sleeping cryptid and now it's out for revenge on whoever interrupted its nap. That way we can reinforce that the space between dimensions is weak for a plot sprinkle while primarily focusing on emotional development for the main characters before we get into "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future". I called it a B plot but it's honestly probably more of a glorified cutaway gag, I don't know how feasible it is to fit all of this into one episode.

I have a really specific scene that I would want to happen at the climax of their side story where Wendy saves Ford's ass at the last minute when he wasn't expecting it and he's like

"How on earth did you manage that?!"

"Dude, my dad is Dan Corduroy. I've been training for stuff like this since I could walk."

"Boyish Dan???????"

And then Wendy suddenly has tons of new ammo to tease her dad with because no one has dared use that name since the 80s