#'her name wouldn't make any difference'; or in terms of how I would write it if I weren't writing for bf in here:

[namism]

their love languages

➳ categories: canonverse, gender neutral reader

➳ summary: Looking into everyone's top love language/s with Sanji, Nami, Law, Zoro, Kid, Koby, & Sabo.

➳ notes: thank you for 200 followers!! i don't write headcanons, but here's a special treat for everyone who's ever read, liked, and supported my fics! 🧡

Sanji: Words of Affirmation

Above everything, Sanji is a smooth talker.

He's incredibly good at romancing you through his words that it doesn't take long for you to completely fall head over heels for him.

Canonically, he calls people with different pet names. "Mellorine" is arguably the most creative. If he were with you (or were trying to flirt with you), he would definitely create a personal nickname that only he would call you.

That said, there is no defeating his terms of endearment. All of them are truly endearing.

Also, best believe that he's amazing at communication.

You know how couples need therapy because their communication sucks? Yeah, that's not happening in a relationship with Sanji.

If this man can flirt through words, then he can talk things out with you.

Overall, Sanji is a very romantic person, but he would work out the most with someone whose primary love language is words of affirmation.

Acts of service as second? Sure. Quality time as third? Sure, but overall, words of affirmation takes the cake.

His sweet talking is just something an ordinary person can't resist.

Nami: Quality time/Gift giving

Is this a hot take? Maybe, but Nami is definitely sweet to whoever she ends up falling for.

She values hanging out with her friends and the people she cares about, so it wouldn't be any different if it were with you, the person she's into. Something about spending time alone together is intimate for her.

On another note, Nami would totally be into giving gifts.

Being the treasurer of the ship apart from the navigator, everyone is aware that she's strict with where the Straw Hats' money goes. It's safe to say that this would be the case for her personal savings as well, even though she likes to treat herself every so often.

But being a shopaholic just means that she loves buying things not only for herself but also for you.

Nami would totally buy you gifts if she finds anything that reminds her of you, and you can imagine it playing out sweetly.

Who knew the frugal Nami would willingly spend money on someone she likes? It makes you feel incredibly special because she doesn't casually do that for other people.

Law: Quality time/Acts of service

If you were a member of Law's crew, he would definitely appreciate the one-on-one appointments with you whenever you needed a checkup or anything of the sort.

Call it unethical, but let's be serious—he's a pirate who happens to be a doctor (or is it the reverse?), his epithet is quite literally "Surgeon of Death," and above all else, he isn't doing anything malicious when you come to him.

Instead, it's all sweet and innocent. If Law were to like you, he initially wouldn't know how to act around you, so he's grateful for the quiet moments that you share together alone, no matter the circumstance.

He would enjoy your company and would totally think that being extra cautious and careful toward your health is a good way of subtly letting you know that he cares for you.

He would be the type to do things for you without being asked. Usually it would be medical related, but once he gets more comfortable about showing his feelings, best believe it would be more than just that.

Zoro: Acts of service

Zoro is the type to save people, so he would keep an eye on you every time danger arises.

While he would save any innocent person or civilian in danger, his decision to rescue you whenever you need rescuing comes from a more personal reason rather than simply playing a hero.

Newsflash: it's because he likes you.

He isn't the type to show his interest toward someone through other means anyway, so his best bet is showing it all through actions that you never asked for to begin with.

His feelings would become more obvious the more he does things for you without question, which he would be pleased by because it would mean that you're picking up on his signs.

He would work best with someone whose love language is servitude, especially if you're the type to appreciate the little things that people do out of genuine concern.

Kid: Physical touch/Words of affirmation

When it comes to Kid, he's heavy on physical touch if you already have an established relationship.

Of course, he wouldn't do anything if you guys aren't official yet—even though he's bolder at flirting than the average One Piece man, he wouldn't want to come off as creepy.

Hence, physical touch is the way to go once you're together. He would be the clingy type in his own unique fashion.

If you aren't together yet, he would show his love through words of affirmation.

However, it isn't anything like Sanji's sweet talking in a way that is straight out of a romance film. Kid has his own way of doing things, so he would affirm you through compliments that often have one or two cuss words in them, which end up sounding mean but isn't actually mean.

For example: "Great job, brat. You did a shitty job last time, so it's nice to see you outdoing yourself."

Kid is just that guy, but he can also be sweet if the moment calls for it

If you're into those kinds of things, then dating him would be no problem.

Koby: Acts of service

Koby wasn't dubbed "Koby the Hero" for nothing. This man is deemed a hero even outside of work because of what he does for you.

Koby would be the shy type in a relationship since he stutters as a habit, so he would comfortably express it through actions.

Similar to Zoro, if you need rescuing, then he will be there. He would do things for you out of kindness because he likes you.

His love for you would be innocent and sweet.

On that note, Koby would be the type to do the smallest things for you, so if you're the kind of person who would be driven insane by the smallest acts of kindness, then Koby's your guy.

He would hold the door for you, get a glass of water for you if you're thirsty, check up on you randomly, and ask you to continue speaking if you accidentally happen to talk over each other.

Koby does his best to express his feelings, so he hopes his actions are good enough.

Sabo: Acts of service

In a perfect world, Sabo would make an amazing Prince.

It would seem ironic given how he canonically hated the nobility (including his family) because of the way they looked down on the less fortunate, but if Sabo never left nobility, he would be a Disney Prince.

Sabo does things in service, so it would be no different for him to initiate acts of service toward you.

He would be the type to do things without expecting anything in return.

Similar to how he would drop everything should Luffy or Ace be in danger, he would immediately go out of his way to save you or tend to your needs if the situation calls for it.

It's his way of expressing that he cares for you, and he sure as hell would make sure that you know he's interested.

[starsmuserainbow]

Blackfire watched Vergil return to the kitchen once more, and gave a silent nod of thanks when he placed the food down for them before taking a seat again himself. "Oh, that's fine for me. I can take pretty much any level of hot - the hotter, the better, really." She didn't really mean the food here - it wasn't like she was even noticing a difference with most hot or cold food - but it was also at least somewhat about the food, or to mention her resistance against heat. Might come in useful for him to already know that, on one of their 'adventures' that they were planning for. And of course, for 'the hotter, the better', she was in perfect company here. Not that she was going to say that out loud.

Trying the food as he asked the question, Blackfire decided to answer first, and shrugged slightly. "In a way, it both is and isn't my birth name. It's the english translation of it, basically, and I liked it enough to keep it." And usually, she would keep her answer at that, perhaps add that she much prefers this translation over the original (which, is accurate in a way, but also not in all situations), but with the earlier sharing of their stories... now that she had told him this much, her name wouldn't make any difference. "My actual birth name is... Ariand'r." It's been a while since she even last said it, so somehow, it still took a moment to actually give it out. "Obviously, that's tamaranean; and I'm not exactly using it for anything anymore. But since you asked so nicely while preparing a meal that well, you earned yourself a complete answer to that question." Lifting up another spoonful of the food, she added: "This is really good." The taste itself wasn't that special, to Blackfire, but it tasted good nonetheless and she could tell it was well done. "Would you rather I call you Darkslayer, then?" Blackfire asked with a smirk, not really expecting him to prefer that name (though also being willing to call him that if he actually wanted). Funny. The words 'dark' and 'black' kinda fit together pretty well. ... Why was she thinking that?

Ever since he and Blackfire started traveling together, there were some hints in there was something more growing between them, an unlikely feeling, but an evident one. He started to feel this air between them not too long after they spoke of their histories and the insults that were directed at them, derogatory words that were utterly disgusting to say. Vergil never expected to have so much in common with Blackfire.

it was almost like it was written in the stars for them to meet, dark, ominous starts though, considering that they both were working towards their own gain, rather than helping others like every other person who had powers. What was it with people becoming superheroes? Either way, so far, they both were getting along well, and there was good chemistry between them in conversation and teamwork. So the idea of spending more quality time with Blackfire secretly filled him with a profound joy, a reaction he was suppressing, of course, he couldn't let his emotions get too far in the way -- but part of him, couldn't resist the urge to think about how they could be.

[{ 🗡️ }] - "Sounds like a plan. The food should be ready right away, I'll go prepare the plates."

With that, Vergil walked over to the kitchen, the smell of freshly cooked food greeting him as he entered. Taking the rice out of the cooker and pouring it onto the two plates, evening out the portions. The meat was cooked and chopped so he also poured that on top of both plates, adding the cooking vegetables on top, finally completing their meals. Chicken Stir Fry was complete. Coming back with both plates he sets them down on the tables, handing her the silverware she would need for the food, he joins her at the table.

[{ 🗡️ }] - "Here you are, let me know what you think. Be careful right now though it's hot. For drinks, I have soda in the fridge or freshly made tea on the counter, feel free to help yourself."

Picking up his spoon, Vergil goes in for a scoop, blowing on the food a bit before putting the spoonful of food into his mouth. As he chewed, the half-devil could tell right away that he had cooked this dish to perfection, good, he wouldn't settle for anything but the best. After downing his first spoonful, there's a question that coms to mind.

[{ 🗡️ }] - "So, I'm curious. if you don't mind me asking. Is Blackfire you're birth name? Or did you have a different birth name? Because even though some call me the Darkslayer, it's more of an alias or codename."

[feralrabidcrow]

My Merc LGBTQ Headcanons

Disclaimer: my headcanons aren't set in stone so these are like, what I assume them to be in the average fic I write unless stated otherwise. For example, usually I headcanon Medic as bisexual, but I might make him gay in an AU if I want to explore that instead. And I might make a merc I usually headcanon as cis trans if that's a story I want to explore with them.

Scout: Bisexual and hasn't quite come to terms with it yet. He has a strong preference for women, but being stuck living closely with a bunch of men definitely has him experiencing thoughts he never did before.

Soldier: Transgender and technically bisexual, but he thinks he's straight because he considers having sex with Demoman every night 'masculine male bonding to strengthen our manly friendship'. Demoman doesn't have the heart to tell him that yeah, it's pretty gay. He's trans because the hypermasculine American patriot named Jane Doe of all things is just Valve spoonfeeding transgenderism to me. I also like to entertain the idea that he's forgotten that he's trans (lead poisoning) and regularly breaks into the medbay screaming at Medic about how the communists stole his penis until Medic finally gives up and just gives him bottom surgery.

Pyro: Genderqueer butch lesbian who uses any and all pronouns.

Demoman: Pansexual, it makes no difference to him what gender his lovers are. I think he's known this for a long time too, no sexuality awakening that caused him any turmoil, just always knew that he didn't have a preference.

Heavy: Gay, and unlike Demoman, he definitely did not know until very late in his life. After joining Team Fortress, to be exact. After meeting Medic, to be exactly exact. Living in isolation for so long definitely stunted his ability to explore his sexuality. He had a 'crush' on a girl when he was about 6, but he only liked her because she had red hair that he thought was pretty. Looking back, it meant about as much as a crush when you're 6 can be expected to mean. He always assumed that the reason he didn't feel a desire to find a woman and settle down, like his mother always hoped he would, was because he hadn't met enough women to want such a thing, and if he did meet the right woman, that's when the feeling would click. Then the feeling ended up clicking instead with a maniacal doctor who liked putting black market zoo organs in him.

Engineer: Biromantic and sex neutral asexual. He always assumed he just liked women, simply because he didn't realize he could like both. After Medic told him that he liked both women and men, things started making a lot more sense. He can handle being in some specific sexual situations, but he refuses to be on the receiving end of anything, and exclusively gives.

Medic: Bisexual, reciprosexual/recipromantic. In simpler terms, Medic does not feel romantic or sexual attraction to anyone unless he knows for certain that they're attracted to him first. As a result, he has never made a first move in his life, and is also sometimes very bad at picking up on romantic advances unless they're extremely blunt.

Sniper: Gay, I don't really know what else to say he just gives me huge homo vibes. He probably got a mindblowing handjob from a bloke behind a Macca's that changed his life or something. Yes I think high-tech TF2 Australia that's basically a spoof of Wakanda still has Macca's why wouldn't they.

Spy: Bisexual, I'm going to be honest I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Spy's sex life but he definitely fucks men look at him just look at him. He's fucking men. And Scout's mother but also men.

[brotherwtf]

hellooo, hope ur well :)) if u put john & gale in a modern au, as in they’re here now, do you think there would be any changes to their dynamic or like maybe even their own personalities??

I'm doing very well anon!

i think they'd be very different in the modern world. Gay marriage is legal in the states and no one really bats an eye at queer couples showing affection any more (they're allowed to do it in public more than they were in the 40s) so I think that would make the dynamic different.

John would still be very loud about his affection for Gale, he'll hold hands with him all of the time, kiss his hair while they're waiting in line for anything, and laugh loudly at anything Buck says while they're in public. He'd basically wax poetic about his husband to anyone who will listen, Gale has become sort of a micro celebrity at John's work because of how much he talks about him. Every time he comes to pick up John, all of his coworkers will say hi to him and ask him how he's doing. It makes Gale smile that John is so forthcoming about his affections. John will follow Gale around like a puppy and gets excited when Gale gets excited about something, he just loves seeing Gale happy.

Gale would probably be a little more willing to allow John to shower him in love and probably shows it a little more, too. He allows John to take his hand in public (most of the time, sometimes he gets self conscious). He'll let John take him to couples events and absolutely drown himself in John's wide smile the entire time. He also talks about his husband any chance he can get, the animal shelter knows so much about John it's like he comes every time with Gale. Gale will kiss his cheek every time he comes to get John from work and doesn't care who sees them. He gets so excited to talk about his husband, any time he meets someone named John he'll beam and say "My husband's name is John!" and go on a tangent about something that he's done

Gale is very comfortable with his sexuality, he has been for a long time. I think in a modern au Marge wouldn't necessarily have been a love interest, maybe Gale only thought he was in love with her because of how jealous he was of her, or how pretty she was. He eventually realizes it's because he wants to be just like her, desired by men and able to love them so openly. Marge is definitely Gales best friend, a twink and his supermodel best friend are basically inseparable.

John is more conflicted about his sexuality than Gale is. He didn't really grow up knowing about such terms and words, so felt like he was "broken" when he liked boys the same way he liked girls. Only when he met Gale and Marge in his adult life did he learn the idea of being bisexual and liking all genders. It takes him a while to allow that to become his identity, but he eventually wears it with pride.

I'm actually welling up at the thought of them going to pride together, wrapped in pride flags and being so unafraid of showing their love.

geez I just love writing about them so much. every time I get to write about how domestic they are my heart actually fucking soars. thanks for the ask!

[genericpuff]

Genuinely curious as to if you asked permission to use Rachel’s characters and she said yes or if you just decided Lore Olympus is popular enough to make a fan comic of and are hoping you don’t receive a cease and desist? Can anyone create a remake comic of original content and just change what you don’t like about it and it’s considered legal if you say the characters belong to the original creator? There is plenty of disappointing media out there that could be remade. I understand you cannot use their characters for profit so is just posting it ok?

Yes, anyone can, because it's called fanfiction lmao Obviously in my case the term "fan" is being used loosely here as at this point it's more like "foe"fiction LMAO but the same principles apply. Unless I try to claim LO is my own creation or make a profit off Rekindled, I should be in the clear. If legal action was taken against me then it would set a precedent against all forms of fanfiction, rewrite, redraw, etc. content around LO which are all essentially doing the same thing Rekindled is doing. I think people tend to view Rekindled as somewhat of an "exception" that's vulnerable to legal action because it's an actual weekly comic put into practice in the same playing field as LO (though they're on massively different bases obviously LOL), but there's not much more separating it from the LO redraw accounts or even the genuine fan accounts that have learned how to draw in Rachel's style (and use it to make their own LO self-inserts and whatnot). I had the time and resources and experience to do what I do through Rekindled, but every redraw, rewrite, fanfiction, etc. account are making the exact same statement I am, whether intentionally or not - "I do/don't like the canon, but/so here's what I think it would be like if it went like this".

There is definitely plenty of media out there that could be remade, and a lot of them are by the fanfiction writers out there who are filling that niche within their respective fandoms. LO is the one I want to do because it's the one that interests me and compels me the most to rewrite.

Not to mention, it's already a bold statement in and of itself to say that I'm "using Rachel's characters", a statement that likely wouldn't hold up in court LMAO Her "characters" are literally just stylized self-insert versions of public domain figures. She did not write The Hymn to Demeter. She did not create Hades, or Persephone, or Hecate, or any of the other characters she writes about. She does not own an entire religion or its deities. The only thing that she really "owns" is the licensing rights to the name "Lore Olympus", and while the style of LO is very unique and identifiable, you can't trademark/copyright a style because that uproots the entire foundation of what art is (ironically no one has had an original idea SINCE the Greeks, we all just learn and adapt our styles based on other artists that we get inspired by and learn from).

Shit, there are series completely unrelated to LO that get harassed or otherwise warned that they could cross into "legal territory" with LO just because they're Greek myth comics. Punderworld, Theia Mania, H x P Ficlets, all of these are comics that also tackle the H x P myth, and while they aren't attempting to do the same thing as Rekindled (as they exist on their own terms) it's really disappointing when I see people talk about these comics purely through the scope of Lore Olympus as if LO invented Greek myth. If WT/Rachel tried to pull rank over the story's "characters", they'd be picking a fight with every other Greek myth comic, book, movie, etc. and they oughta know that's not a fight they're gonna win lol

So everything beyond LO's branding is, in and of itself, fanfiction. Rekindled is just another level deeper by being fanfiction of a fanfiction. As long as I'm not profiting off Lore Olympus' namesake or distributing my work with the misconception that I created LO, it's legally fine. Morally, I'm sure it doesn't exactly make me a saint to do it, it definitely took a lot of hubris for me to say "yeah I don't like how you wrote your story enough that I felt the need to rewrite it completely" and I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking doing so is icky. There are certain lines I won't cross - I don't use the general LO hashtags because my content is very critical and my work isn't really for the fans, I don't encourage anyone to "show Rachel" what I do here because none of what I do here is obligated to be seen by her (and I know it wouldn't be in her best interest to see it anyways, she's literally said that she doesn't like criticism so why tf would I wanna show her a comic that exists to criticize her work lol), and I'm not planning on posting it to Webtoons because that's Rachel's territory. I don't want to overstep both in the legal sense and in the moral one. I think it's more than enough for me to just post my stuff here for the people who are seeking it, and not profit off it or directly affiliate it with LO/Rachel beyond crediting.

All that said, in a moral and legal sense, what I'm doing is literally the basis of fanfiction, and I wouldn't be going to such lengths and spending this much time every week putting out episodes every week if I never cared about LO and how it made us all feel, even if some of us don't love it as much as we used to.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Gestation 1.2 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

My thoughts were on Emma on the bus ride home.  For an outside observer, I think it’s easy to trivialize the importance of a ‘best friend’, but when you’re a kid, there’s nobody more important. 

Yeah, that definitely feels like it hits/rings true for me.

Of course, what's weird about this phrasing here, are the 'when you're a kid' and 'for an outside observer' bits. Like, that's more self-aware than I think Taylor should be, and the latter part especially feels like something someone reflecting back on these events years later would say, rather than what someone in the moment would think?

But maybe that's just Taylor's voice.

A friendship that deep is intimate.  Not in the rude way, but just in terms of a no-holds-barred sharing of every vulnerability and weakness.

"Not in the rude way"? I'm... I mean, contextually I think I guess this means like 'not in a sexually intimate' way, I guess, with the use of that phrasing, but that's got to be the weirdest way to put it I've seen, nor did it seem altogether necessary. I don't think anyone would have assumed it was meant that way. I certainly wouldn't have, but it's not like it ruins the work.

That notebook was – had been – my notes and journal for my hero career.  The testing and training I’d done with my powers, pages of crossed out name ideas, even the measurements I was using for my costume in progress.  After Emma, Madison and Sophia had stolen my last backpack and stuffed it in a wastebasket, I had realized how big a danger it was to have everything written down like that.  I had copied everything over into a new notebook in a simple cipher and wrote it bottom to top.  Now that notebook was spoiled, and I was looking at having to copy some two hundred pages of detailed writing into a new notebook if I wanted to preserve the information.  If I could even remember what was on all of the ruined pages.

And so the history of the wormverse turns. Without this, without the kickstarting element, and having that kickstarting element destroy so many of her notes and ideas... she doesn't go out half-cocked like she does. Doesn't face Lung, doesn't meet the Undersiders... and so the wormverse turns.

Many worm fics, especially Altpower fics, do indeed start with the Locker, or even whatever the alternate trigger is, or somewhere similar, and that is understandable, but it also makes a great deal of sense for Wildbow to start here. Three months between the locker and Taylor actually doing anything would have been very dull to read, even if much of it was skipped over. And having Taylor immediately go a-heroing as soon as she was recovered (as much as one can be) from the Locker would have been indicating a very different sort of personality for Taylor. Taylor did got get the most immediately useful power - and she's already probably a pretty thoughtful person, based on what I indirectly know of her.

So it's another key establishing character element for her. I can certainly see why - if every character is established so well - so many of Worm's cast burrows themselves into various people's minds and won't let go. I can see why Worm would have grabbed readers once they started, with all these well-placed hints and details.

Okay, so it had been harder than that.  Not just any spider worked, and the black widow spiders themselves were hard to find.  They weren’t typically found in the northeastern states, where it was generally colder, but I was fortunate that that key element that made Brockton Bay a tourist destination and a hotspot for capes also made it a place where black widow spiders could live, if not thrive.  Namely, it was warm.  Thanks to the surrounding geography and the ocean bordering us on the east, Brockton Bay had some of the mildest winters you could find in the Northeastern States, and some of the most comfortably warm summers.  Both the black widows and the people running around in skintight costumes were thankful for that.

Which came first? Brockton Bay being unusually warm for it's location and thus black widows? Or black widows and this Brockton Bay being unusually warm for it's location?

With my power, I had ensured the spiders could multiply.  I’d kept them in safe locations and fattened them on prey I directed straight to them.  I had flipped that mental switch that told them to breed and lay eggs as if it was summer, fed more prey to the hundreds of young that had resulted and had earned countless costume spinners for my trouble. 

Honestly, this is a reason shard-granted powers are pure bullshit (affectionate), because sweet jesus, this level of control over the bugs, which should have minds humans can't understand? That should not be so simple, and yet.

Yeah, I needed a life.

Yet another cornerstone of a stable timeline. Taylor not having a fucking life.

It wasn’t a great looking costume, just yet.  The fabric was a dirty yellow-gray.  The armored sections had been made out of finely arranged and layered shells and exoskeletons I’d cannibalized from the local insect population and then reinforced with dragline silk.  In the end, the armored parts had wound up dark mottled brown-gray.  I was okay with that.  When the entire thing was done, I planned to dye the fabric and paint the armor.

Knowing what Taylor will be experiencing shortly, it's kind of surprising she didn't realize how villainous her costume looked, but I do suppose I can understand a combination of a desperation to be a hero and being too close to it, and probably just... not wanting to think of it, etc, was a factor.

Also, and like - I've seen lots of very clear dates for various events, where do those come from? It's not in the text, is that something Wildbow provided later? did people run the numbers using the existing dates and just hope they weren't missing anything?

[therealvinelle]

I know you and the muffin are still in the middle of writing fics with these characters and so i might be asking for spoilers. In that case feel free to tell me to sit down and be patient, but I must ask:

Do you see any way for a relationship between Tom and Alphard to work long time?

What got me wondering was the latest chapter of The Man Who Would Be King when Alphard thought about how he might have chosen similar to Andromeda if things had been different for Tom and him.

And I don't think they would make it either way, however much I want them to.

In canon adjacent timelines they could have left Britain together but Alphard's strength is to never really pick a side and get by that way and I'm not sure he could actually leave his family behind.

And in female!Alphard timelines I think the fact that there's now options besides Tom would result in him (or rather her) being able to eventually get over him or at least pick a more acceptable man and suffer in silence forever.

So yeah, are they doomed in all universes or could they make it?

This is an interesting question, because it depends on what we mean by working (and on what we mean by spoilers).

The thing about Alphard and Tom's relationship, as depicted in our fics, is that we haven't actually gotten into why it happened, nor how strong their feelings are. What made Alphard interested to begin with, why is he still carrying that torch, how did Tom get sucked in. We haven't really shown their problems either, only hinted at them.

I will say: it's not in mine and @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin's nature to write uncomplicated pairings, to have relationships without problems. Aro/Carlisle being a great example, they always get together in our fics (Blue Moon and The Invitation excepted) and by all accounts are capable of being very happy together, but they have significant differences that go unresolved (namely, that Aro kills people every other week for sustenance, while Carlisle is on the animal diet).

It wouldn't be interesting to write a ship that has no problems, where there aren't valid reasons they shouldn't be together, and Alphalord certainly have both. As for them working in the long term, yes I do see it (though not saying either way as for whether that's in the cards for The Man Who Would Be King specifically).

Hope this somewhat answers your question.

[cowgurrrl]

Okay this is very random but I recently discovered a song called “Dangerous Hands” by Austin Giorgio and for some reason I imagine rockstar!Joel having actress!reader be featured in the song and the music video like soon after they get back together and the music video is like the big announcement that they’re back together and idk I just love that so much! If you enjoy the song I think that would be a super fun story, can’t wait for the proposal/wedding content for OFTM though!!

Sorry this took literally so long but the wedding content for OFTM is coming soon!! I’m writing it now but I hope you enjoy how this came out 🥸

Thank God I Found You

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Summary: this ask

Warnings: none! Just fluff :-)

"Do you know how many other actresses there are in Los Angeles?" You ask, and Joel groans from his place on the couch. Daisy runs toward him, thinking he's in trouble, and you laugh when she lands on his chest. 

"But why would I hire someone else when I could hire you?" He asks, his voice a little strained with the forty-pound pitbull on his chest, as you perch on the back of the couch to look down at him. 

"Because nobody except for our families knows we're back together." You say, petting Daisy. She leans into your hand and slumps against the cushion with an overdramatic harumph, making both of you laugh. 

It's been almost six months since you and Joel got back together, and somehow, nobody knows. You've managed to keep it under wraps with strategic NDAs, at-home date nights, and keeping each other off social media. It's been peaceful getting to reconnect without public eyes on you, and you want to keep it that way for as long as possible. However, it's been getting harder and harder to keep it a secret. It's exhausting always waiting for someone to talk to a news outlet or for one of you to slip up on social media or in an interview.

Joel planning a music video for "The Yellow Subway" has brought all those feelings to the forefront. He wants you to star in it, playing yourself, considering how the entire album is about you. He's even talked about paying you, ensuring it's union work, basically giving you any and every incentive possible to get you to do this. Still, you're hesitant. Ever since your last Shakespeare in the Park in New York, you've vowed never to work with another partner again. It's been seven years, and you know Joel would never do anything close to what your last boyfriend did, but there's still that fear.

"This could be how we tell everyone," he suggests. "Could be kinda cool." You take a deep breath and slide your hand from under Daisy's head to play with Joel's hair. He puts a hand on your hip, and his thumb kneads circles into the muscle. 

"I read the script." You admit quietly, and he raises his eyebrows.

"You did?" He asks, and you nod. "What'd ya think?"

"I thought it was familiar," you say, and he laughs. It's true. It's basically a visual retelling of your time in New York, and it wouldn't be hard to trace the timeline, lyrics, and story to you. The song is also named after the yellow Q Train you took from Hell's Kitchen back to the Upper East Side. "But I also thought it was really, really beautiful." 

"Yeah?" 

"Yeah." 

"So, what can I do to get you to do this?" He asks softly, adding a little more pressure to your hip, and you sigh. "A million dollars? A trip to Bora Bora? Sex every day for a year?" He lists, making you laugh. You occupy your mind by tucking a curl behind his ear and focusing on his touch.

"You really don't think going public will change anything between us?" You ask, and he sits up, agitating Daisy enough to make her get up and walk over to her bed. 

"Do you think it'll change anythin'?" 

"I don't know. We were public before, but that was different. It wasn't on our terms. We were literally forced to be seen out together," you shrug. "And I kinda like our little bubble. It's quiet. It's just for us. We've never had that before." You say, and he nods. You swing your legs over the edge of the couch and slide into his lap, your mind still whirring with thoughts as you straddle him. It's not that you don't want to share your love with the world. It's that the world got pieces of you before he did, and vice versa. But you also don't want to always be looking over your shoulder for sneaky paparazzi and nosy fans. If you're going to go public, you want it to be on your terms. 

"If you don't wanna do this, you don't have to. We can… keep our bubble for a little bit longer." Joel says as he kisses your cheek.

"But then you won't have an actor for your video."

"A little birdie told me there are a lot of actresses in Los Angeles lookin' for work," he teases. "I want you to feel safe and comfortable for as long as possible. If that means keepin' things quiet for a little while longer, that's fine. I just care about makin' sure you're happy." 

"How are you so perfect?" You ask, and he laughs.

"Could ask you the same thing," he deflects, locking his arms around your waist and pulling you to his chest. Daisy snores lightly from the corner of the room, but other than that, the only thing you can hear is his breathing and the ticking of his watch. Everything you see, feel, and smell is Joel. "I love you." He whispers.

"I love you, too." You whisper back as you push his too-long curls out of his face. Then, like time slowed down just for you, Joel brushes his lips against yours and kisses you. You think this is your favorite way to kiss him. So much of your early relationship was about how fast you could get through dates and obligations, and everything went by so quickly that you barely had a chance to catch your breath. Since you've been back, everything's been intentional and slow, like if things pick up too fast, too soon, this will disappear. Slow kisses, movie nights with the girls, pool days with Daisy, holding each other just because you can— all gone in the blink of an eye. You wish you could freeze those moments and replay them forever so you never forget what they looked and felt like. 

"Wait," you say, suddenly pulling away from Joel's lips. He furrows his eyebrows and pouts but doesn't say anything, so your thought doesn't run away. "I have an idea."

For the next three months, you and Joel spend time capturing those quiet, intentional moments of intimacy. He gets clips of you and the girls dancing in the kitchen to an ABBA song while cookies bake in the oven. You get clips of him strumming guitar by the fire pit in his backyard with your legs laid across his lap. At one point, Ellie even picked up the camera and got clips of you two working together to set up your Christmas tree, playing with Daisy in the backyard, and even watching the New Year's Eve fireworks from the balcony. It's a messy, complex, blurry snapshot of your lives, and it's perfect. 

A year to the day since you and Joel got back together, the music video for "The Yellow Subway" premieres as an anniversary present. It opens with Sarah's beautiful cursive handwriting announcing, "A year in the making." Then, as pieces of your shared life play, Joel sings the song he wrote when he thought he would never see you again, let alone get to hold you the way he does in many of the clips. You each post it to your Instagram with pride and only a little bit of (healthy) fear. You caption yours, "To the love of my life, thank you for being patient with me. I will always get coffee with you." Joel captions his, "You're my favorite secret. I love you, pretty girl."

Your posts blow up with comments, reposts, and likes, and the music video surpasses one million views overnight. Neither of you really cares about that. The only thing you care about is the fact that the entire world knows you're back together, and nothing has changed. You still fall asleep in his arms that night and make breakfast together in the morning. 

You're unsure what the next year of your lives will look like, but if it's anything close to you sliding Joel a cup of coffee while he cooks eggs for you and the girls, you think that's pretty damn good.

[sapphire-weapon]

Hi! Love reading your writings on the whole RE franchise, and I just would like to know what you think about on a certain part regarding Separate Ways. I bought the game a while ago and have been replaying it nonstop. One thing though that always sits with me (and that I can’t seem to find any other type of discussion for) is the scene where Ada comes across Luis’ death and as she watches it from afar.

Do you think Ada genuinely felt upset and angry at Luis’ death like Leon and Ashley did? How did she feel about it in general? How she did it affect her long term or short term like it probably does to Leon? I know she chases after Krauser, but Ada constantly gives me mixed signals on how she feels lol (but I am autistic and may not be able to read her tone, face, etc, etc.). So some different perspective on it would be nice :) Thank you!

I've found that Ada gets sentimental and develops attachments to people and things. This is a character trait that she carried from OG to Remake. She's of course not a bleeding heart "save the children" type, but people grow on her and she gets attached to them. Think of the three people we actually see her interact with meaningfully in the Remake series so far: Wesker, Leon, and Luis. Ada develops some kind of attachment to all of them.

Incidentally, I think this is also why she refuses to call Ashley by name at any point in SW. She doesn't want to get attached to her, too.

We know that Luis's death affected her because of this moment:

Ada wouldn't have fucked with the bombs to save Ashley if not for Luis's influence.

In fact, Luis's death was the catalyst for a lot of change in her.

So, when Ada witnesses the "For Luis" scene and she stands up and says:

That's her own way of joining in the chorus of "For Luis" -- because helping Leon and Ashley was Luis's dying wish.

I think what would be helpful would be mapping out Ada's character arc in RE4make:

the lie she believes: looking out for myself is the most important thing

doubt moment #1: helping Leon during the village fight and at Mendez's house

test moment #1: Wesker taking her blood and yelling at her for incompetence

test moment #2: Luis expresses a desire to help Leon and Ashley

doubt moment #2: learning that she's infected, too

doubt moment #3: chasing Luis into his burning lab

doubt moment #4: sending Luis away as U3 approaches

CHANGE MOMENT: Luis's death

reinforcement of change: Ada fucks with the bombs even after Wesker pointed a gun at her

further reinforcement of change: refusing to give Wesker the Amber, despite knowing what he's capable of and willing to do to her

moment when she's actively realized that she's changed: encountering Ashley

ending mindset: helping others helps me help myself; I am not an island

I think Ada realized that she couldn't have gotten as far as she did without Luis's help, and she saw that Luis was sincere in his desire to help. So, to watch him fail sparked an "I can't let it end like this" feeling in her, which then prompted her to honor his dying wish.

What's interesting about Ada -- and what probably makes her so hard to read for a lot of people -- is that she doesn't realize right away that she's changed. Most characters have their "aha!" moment as part and parcel with their change moment, but not Ada. Her change kind of sneaks up on her and hits her all at once when she encounters Ashley and finally sees the face of the woman she's been helping all this time.

But, again, none of that would've happened without Luis.

[ashxketchum]

Final day of November!

I wasn’t planning on posting this anywhere tbvh, but since I’m in London I thought, well this is a great way to end TyHil Month!

So this is the 2nd part of my PokeDigiBey TyHil focused Hogwarts AU. First part can be read on FFN as Chapter 28 of One Hundred Tales. This picks up exactly where that ends, so if you read that you would have no problem following the dynamics here.

I can’t be sure about the word count as I’m posting this from my phone, but this is unedited and sort of a dump of all my thoughts for this chapter so please excuse any bad writing.

TyHil Hogwarts AU Part 2 (Our Golden Days)

xxx

As the greenery surrounding the castle began to change colour and the gentle October chill greeted the students every morning, the first visit to Hogsmeade rolled around in the blink of an eye.

While running around from class to class and being buried under a pile of homework every day since the term began, Tyson's open invitation still managed to dance around Hilary's mind every time she lay in bed and closed her eyes for the night. She tried not to think too badly of herself for not being able to give him an answer yet. Despite the sometimes doubtful look that would cross Sora's eyes if his name ever came up in the conversation between them, or the slightly curious arching of Charlie's eyebrows if it was Hilary who brought him up in the conversation. No, there was no reason for her to feel guilty over being fickle minded, since Tyson had made it clear that he would wait. And besides, even if Hilary was able to figure out a response, the two of them barely had the time to sit down and talk about their feelings anymore.

Having opted for the most amount of subjects in their year, if Hilary was not dashing from one end of the castle to the other to make it to her next class on time, she would be glued to a corner in the library, frantically scribbling on parchments trying to finish all her assignments on time.

Tyson was kept equally busy by Kai taking every opportunity to squeeze in a Quidditch practice after classes. Rumours about the likeness of the Gryffindor team practicing at odd hours to Ghosts roaming around the castle aimlessly cropping up did nothing to deter Kai's dedication. The only one who did manage to influence the Captain in some capacity was Mimi, when she threw a tantrum in the Common Room about how she was not able to spend time with her friends anymore and Kai, unable to stand tall against her crocodile tears and shrill voice, caved into allowing the team to rest for a whole weekend. Not that it made much of a difference in the end, since the entire team, including Kai, spent their free time snoring away in their beds which only made Mimi more upset.

The only time Hilary could see Tyson lately was in the Great Hall during meals or in the few classes they shared, neither of which made for spaces where she could bring up the topic of his Hogsmeade invitation privately. Though what she would've said if they got the chance to talk was an entirely different matter. On days when she felt like she was on top of her schoolwork and managing her prefect duties marvelously, there was a skip in her feet as she turned every corner expecting to see Tyson so she could tell him that maybe taking up his offer didn't sound so bad after all. But then she would get back her graded homework for one of the classes and the feedback wouldn't be what she wanted to see, making her want to stay buried in her corner of the library, knowing that Tyson would never be able to find her there.

It probably wasn't a good sign that when she came across a book in the restricted section that talked about potions used for stabilizing moods, Hilary's first thought was to try that out for herself in the hopes so she could either be giddy or grumpy all the time, rather than swinging back and forth between the two like an out of control pendulum.

Not trusting herself around the book, she decided that it was time to head back to the Common Room and continue her studies cozied up against the fireplace with the soothing sound of her friends chatting in the background. As the portrait door swung open to allow her entry, Hilary was surprised to find that the room was emptier than usual considering how it was a Friday night. One quick sweep told her that the Quidditch team was missing, possibly still out practicing, she concluded with a sigh. She spotted Mimi with some third years and made her way towards the group. Settling her study material on a desk close to Mimi, she greeted the group of girls with a smile before picking up a book from her pile, An Advanced Outlook into Arithmancy, a bit ahead of where they were in the course right now but it wouldn't hurt to go through it once.

She almost put a tear in the page of the book on account of clutching onto it so hard when May got up to excuse herself, announcing that she wanted a good night's sleep before her first ever Hogsemeade visit.

The first Hogsmeade weekend was tomorrow.

And she still hadn't spoken to Tyson.

Hilary sunk into the chair, holding the book high in front of her face so Mimi or anyone else wouldn't be able to see the pained expression on her face. Regardless of her feelings, she didn't want Tyson to keep waiting for her to show up tomorrow. Technically, as Sora would say, she had already stood him up once this year and it just won't be right for her to do it again.

She hoped that her guess about the Quidditch players still out practicing was true because she knew that heading up to the Boys dormitory to ask Tyson to step out for a few minutes would embarrass her into oblivion.

Forcing her eyes to concentrate on the book in her hand, Hilary made up her mind to wait out here for Tyson to show up.

What she would say to him when he did, was something she'd decide after looking at his face, which itself made it seem like she was fighting a losing battle. Though, as her fellow housemates began to trickle back up to their rooms slowly, there still was no sign of any of the players returning.

Mimi stayed to talk about some trouble she had been facing with her Muggle Studies classes lately, but it wasn't long before her eyes began to droop and Hilary suggested that they pick up the topic later over the weekend. Nodding agreeably Mimi rested her head against Hilary's knees, sleepy eyes staring at the entrance of the common room in wait of possibly Misty or Sora.

The candles lighting up the room had long since dimmed, making Hilary wonder just how long Kai was planning to have their friends slave it out tonight. It was only when the clock kept ticking and she felt Mimi's soft rhythmic breathing against her leg as she dozed off, did her wonder turn into worry. She had kept her book away a while ago but her hands were itching to do something as she waited, so she began to stroke Mimi's hair, the softness of which instilled some calm into her now tensed body.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the portrait door swung open to let Ash and Misty in, the pair of them looking extremely frustrated yet relieved at the same time, if that were even possible. Mimi woke up at the sound of their arrival, rushing to Misty's side so she could share all the things that had been planned for their Hogsmeade visit tomorrow in her friend's absence. The two walked up the staircase with looped arms, Misty looking livelier by the minute as Mimi kept on talking about Hogsmeade. Ash watched them leave with a pout on his face, when neither of the girls bothered to turn around, he glanced at Hilary and mumbled a good night before dashing up the stairs of the Boy's dormitory.

Hilary wanted to call out to him, ask him if everything was okay with the team but he was out of her sight before she could form the question in her mind. It didn't take long however, for another handful of members to show up. Her face almost perked up at the sight of Sora stepping through the portrait, but when the door closed behind Charlie and Tai, it was hard for Hilary to fight off the disappointment and worry in her voice. All three of them wore similar expressions as Ash and Misty, with the only difference being Charlie looking extremely furious as she stomped off towards their room without bothering to meet Hilary's eyes. Sora was kind enough to indulge her though, even before she asked.

"Were you waiting up for us? Sorry for the delay." Sora smiled tiredly.

"That's okay, I had company." Hilary nodded towards the pile of books and parchment still scattered on the table. She then glanced expectantly towards the door, hoping to see Kai and Tyson walk through it any minute. But after a long pause where neither Sora nor Tai offered any further comment, she frowned at the two of them and folded her arms across her chest, "Why aren't Kai and Tyson back yet?"

Sora's eyes met Tai's without missing a beat and a silent understanding passed between them, one that Hilary knew meant that she would not be finding out anything from either of them tonight, which made her throw up her hands in frustration.

"I'm sorry Hils, but they'll be back soon and I will explain everything tomorrow. We're really tired and we just want to crash," Sora said, her voice on the verge of cracking as she fixed Hilary with a pleading look that may have put a puppy to shame.

"Fine, go on then."

Hilary shook her head exasperatedly, gesturing towards the staircases. Tai and Sora seemed unsure whether she would change her mind so they leapt at the chance to escape, not even bothering to respond to her good night wishes.

She ought to feel upset about being left alone in the Common Room once again, Hilary thought, but since her anxiety over what had happened with the Quidditch team tonight had almost taken the form of a boggart ready to torment her by showing the worst possible outcomes, she found it hard to assume the room was empty.

Kai staggered in almost half an hour later, and by then Hilary had almost befriended her imaginary, anxiety bridled boggart. She had sunk quite low in her chair so when he entered the common room, Kai didn't notice her. Hilary herself had fixed her attention on the door, wondering if Tyson was going to step through it next. When that didn't happen, she turned her attention towards Kai, who’d already covered the distance of the room to reach the stairs that led to the boys dormitory. He had his back to her and she was surprised to see that his Quidditch robes were covered in mud, as if he'd spent the evening rolling around in it.

"Kai, is Tyson okay? Why isn't he back yet?" She called out, and Kai almost jumped in his spot as he turned around to face her, covering his face with an arm which only made her more anxious.

"He'll be back later. We will talk tomorrow, Hilary. Good night."

The lighting in the room was too dim for her to figure out exactly what it was Kai wanted to hide from her, but his usual stern voice felt strained, like speaking itself was painful for him. She didn't want to push him if he was hurt, but his response was too vague to calm her nerves. It didn’t help that only after another 30 minutes, which felt like 30 hours, did Tyson finally appeared through the portrait door.

"Tyson are you okay?" Hilary sprung to her with a renewed energy, her shrill voice making Tyson jumped as he noticed her in the dark and empty common room.

"Why are you still up?" He was headed straight towards the dormitory stairs but halted midway to frown at her.

"I-" She started to speak but when her mind registered the meaning of the words on the tip of tongue, Hilary cleared her throat and tucked a few strands behind her hair to hide her embarrassment as she muttered quietly, "I was worried about you."

"You were worried about me?"

Tyson’s jaw dropped down as he stared at her, deciding that he could sacrifice rest a little further, he turned away from the stairs and walked up to her. Hilary instinctively took a few steps back, making sure that there was an appropriate amount of distance between them, yet it wasn’t of much use because she could already feel the warm, inviting magnetic pull that Tyson always carried around him, tugging at her to come closer.

"Are you okay? You look-" Hilary managed to face him with a little difficulty, controlling her expressions by talking.

"You should see the other guy."

Tyson grinned at her, while his robes were not as badly drenched with mud as Kai’s, it was still not a pretty sight. She already dreaded the worst as she let out a sigh and asked the big question.

"What happened?"

"Kai and I got into a fight,” Tyson said in a very matter of fact voice, like this was just another normal school night activity for them.

"What?"

"Which isn't new.” He shrugged at the look of shock on Hilary’s face, continuing with his carefree explanation while scratching the back of his head, “But uh, things escalated this time. Unfortunately, Madam Skyla happened to be passing by the pitch and saw us fighting so…"

"So?"

"So I got detention."

"Kai too?"

"Nah, he probably only had to write a letter of apology. He is the Captain and well…" Tyson stopped to roll his eyes as he explained, though when Hilary expected him to pass out a smug smile, he instead let his shoulders droop and let out a defeated sigh, "I threw the first punch."

If she’d been her younger self, she would’ve taken this moment to berate Tyson for lacking patience or relying on violence for solutions. But now that she knew him better, and because she could see the guilt that darkened his humorous face, Hilary decided to gently ask him more about the problem instead.

"Why did you two fight?"

"He's acting like if we don't spend every minute we're alive and breathing on the pitch, we'll end up losing everything!” Tyson immediately responded, his voice more animated yet laced with a lot of frustration.

"He was going to make Ash and Misty ditch their first Hogsmeade visit to come to practice tomorrow." He added, scrunching up his nose in a look of utter annoyance, "I get that he wants to win since this is his last year, but I could not let him take that away from those two." Just for a moment, at the thought of Ash and Misty perhaps, his face changed to its usual softness and Hilary felt the corner of her mouth tug itself towards a smile as she watched him.

"Obviously the pipsqueaks were too afraid to say anything, so I brought it up…” Tyson paused to avert his gaze, his cheeks turning pink as he added, “Not so nicely and that kind of turned into a full fledged fight. Then Skyla came along, broke it up, gave me detention for the weekend and cancelled all the reservations Kai had made for the pitch until Thursday."

"That's a relief." Hilary couldn’t help but feel relaxed over the conclusion, though when she met Tyson’s questioning stare, she shook her head and quickly explained, "I mean, not the detention part obviously, but with the pitch unavailable now all of you will get a chance to rest. Even Kai."

"Yeah, we desperately need that."

"Skyla didn't deduct any points, did she?" Once again, her anxiety jumped the gun and she found herself blurting out this question knowing full well that Tyson’s reaction to this would not be helpful.

"Nothing you can't make up easily in class on Monday." He snickered at her, as expected. He peered over her shoulder, taking one step closer towards her to get a good look, “Let's see- is this the Arithmancy assignment, due after Christmas holidays?"

"I wanted a head start.” She mumbled, feeling the colour rise in her cheeks.

"Two months seem about right then," he said, his snickering now turning into a full fledged laugh.

She was glad to see him return to his usual mood, making fun of her study habits had that effect on him the fastest perhaps. A moment of silence passed between, and Hilary, assuming that this would be the end of their conversation, began to wrap up her study material. She'd half expected Tyson to head back up to the dormitory, but it seemed that she wasn't the only one who had been mulling relentlessly over his invitation this past few weeks.

"So about tomorrow…" Tyson cleared his throat, waiting for her to meet his eye before he continued, "I'm gonna have to take a rain check on-" he paused, and Hilary swore that she could feel the passing of every second in her veins as he searched for the right word to use. "Our- uh my plan." Bringing up a finger to scratch the tip of his nose, Tyson turned his gaze towards the floor.

It was rare to see him look embarrassed, and Hilary would've enjoyed the sight had she herself was not feeling the weight of the tension buzzing between them pulling her down towards the ground, her knees wobbling in an effort to make sure she didn't fall down.

"I doubt I'll get out of mowing the entire pitch, cleaning the goal posts and then help Brock in feeding the magical creatures before night time."

"That's okay!" Hilary quickly spoke up, trying her best to smile at him through her burning cheeks, "You did the right thing, standing up for Ash and Misty like that."

Tyson shrugged off her praise, though he could not hide the smug smile taking over his lips.

"I still remember our first visit."

"I'm sure you and I have very different recollections of that day considering you switched my chocolate frogs splurge with very real and very slimy frogs."

"That was the first time I actually saw you cry." "I'm sorry by the way, for that prank. It seemed like a very funny idea in my head at that time."

"Water under the bridge." "It's getting late, you should get a good rest considering the day you're gonna have tomorrow."

"Yeah, I can't believe I was the one who asked you and now I'm the one who can't make it."

"Don't worry too much about that, we'll just go next weekend. After you guys win the first match, of course. And besides, Matt will need my help keeping an eye on the Third Years-"

"What did you just say?"

"Matt will need my help-"

"Before that."

"W-we'll go next weekend."

"Just the two of us?"

"Yes."

"So it'll be a date? You will consider it a date?"

"Yes."

[timelyovertime]

Marvel Mystery Comics #2

Date of publication: October 13, 1939

Starting with the second issue, Marvel Comics gets 'Mystery' added to its title. It's more of a standardized title than a reflection of the contents, as the next book will also be a 'Mystery Comics' & there isn't really a lot of mysteries in either. It could be a case of language evolving over time though, and mild intrigue with an occasional villain reveal was enough to count as proper mystery back then, I'm not sure.

This is the first time we are seeing a cover date too, since the image I used for the previous issue had that corner torn off. Saying on the cover that the comic comes out in December, but then releasing it in October, is just an advertising gimmick to make it seem cutting edge when it first hits the shelves & stops it from seeming out-of-date a couple months later. No idea if comics still do this, but it made trying to find the right order to read them in pretty annoying before I figured out what was going on.

Interestingly, the first page is actually an advertisement for a different publisher's comic. Silver Streak Comics #1 would come out around the same time as Marvel Mystery 2, but it didn't come to have the long-term success of the two big superhero comic companies, & its titular flying speedster is now in the public domain. Timely's cross-promotions wouldn't last long, as their popularity quickly made them self-sufficient. Reading about the Silver Streak's convoluted origin, I can see why he's not the one who stood the test of time.

The following page is a recap of the first Human Torch story, with the framing device of it being notes left by Professor Horton before his death. It's a cool way to get readers up to speed, especially since the changed title might make kids think this isn't the same book. The choice to kill Horton off-screen like this without explanation is odd, but maybe it's just to write out the possibility of him making a second Torch, which would be ironic considering a future development. While I haven't gotten quite that far, I am aware that this death will get retconned anyway, so who knows.

The story starts off at an auto race track with a woman reading the newspaper, who strikes up a conversation with a stranger about the news of Horton's death, revealing that it was because Torch's escape burned his house down. (Which doesn't track with either visual depiction of Torch jumping out through the roof, or the fact that Horton left notes about it- I'm going to err on the side of clumsy early comic book fumbles instead of assuming that's clever foreshadowing for years later.) Little does she know, the stranger she is talking to is none other than the Torch himself, who tells her that Horton deserved it because he wanted to use the Torch to make money. And, I have to point out, Horton did say "WE could make a fortune" in the previous issue, there's not actually any signs that he was being a selfish money-grubber, and Torch's personality in these early stories makes me think that we're not actually supposed to think he's morally justified here so much as he's self-centered & taking his personal offense as more important than a human life. It's not an interpretation that will track with his characterization in the future, so Horton appropriately gets a bad rap going forward, but that's how I read these early stories at least.

In any case, the race begins, but a car locks up & crashes off the track, bursting into flame. Torch rushes down to try saving the driver, but not only is he too late, he's blamed as more cars start to burn, despite the fact that a big red plane keeps swooping down right before each one ignites. After burning a cop's hands because he remains super-heated after turning off the flame, he allows himself to be arrested, & his cellmate luckily happens to be a former member of the racket, telling him it's run by a man named Blackie Ross, who pumps cars full of incendiary rounds so that he always wins with his own car. Which has to be the least subtle form of rigging a bet ever, I think even if I was a child in the 30s I would have noticed a fighter jet shooting at cars until they explode in every race so that the same guy wins every time, even as a burning freak of nature I don't know how Torch got successfully framed for this.

Torch breaks easily out of jail & a few days later is staking out the next race, ready to leap onto the plane when it passes by so he can melt its engine. He catches the pilot, but the plane explodes, destroying all incriminating evidence, so the Torch flees to think of a new plan. The criminals come up with a plan of their own, & Blackie's girlfriend pretends to be the sister of a victim in order to lure the Torch into a trap, a giant vat of water. They load the Torch into a truck & drive him out to a pit where limestone is burned, & dump him in there. Now, if they kept him in the water, it would have been fine, but they dumped the guy whose entire thing is being on fire into a giant kiln, so of course he escapes, & runs overnight (he can leap far, but they haven't decided he can fly yet) to reach the next race just in time for it to begin. As he rushes after Blackie & his goons, the car crashes & the stands burst into flame.

Then he does this. Fire apparently has some degree of sentience, & acknowledges the Human Torch as "their master", so if he yells like this, flames will obey him & disappear. This is easily the most baffling bit of lore I've seen so far.

Blackie's men escape, with Torch in hot pursuit, & we get our first example of a staple of Human Torch stories, both here in the Golden Age & later with Johnny: asbestos as a flame-retardant solution for mundane villains to deal with overwhelmingly literal firepower. It's kinda hilarious in hindsight, with multiple characters revealed to have suffered the predictable result in the modern era. In this case, they don asbestos suits, then force the Torch with hoses into a vat of molten steel. But he bursts out quickly, & Blackie escapes once again using a smokescreen.

Torch is approached by his cellmate, who reveals he was an undercover cop the whole time, which could explain why the police were so easily duped, but doesn't as a cop will later apologize for thinking he was responsible. He directs Torch towards the airport, assuming Blackie will make an escape by plane, & Torch gets there just in time to melt the propeller. There's a brief fight, which is relatively pretty interesting for these early comics because Blackie is in his car the whole time, trying to run the Torch over. It's still one-sided though, & after setting the car on fire, Torch gets Blackie to sign a confession, forgetting he was still wearing the fire-proof asbestos suit.

While in the first Torch story he felt like a tragic gothic monster, a modern, modern Prometheus, in this one he felt like a cryptid. Partially because at multiple points characters are baffled to see that he left blazing footprints behind, but overall he just has super bizarre vibes.

Our Angel story takes us to Hong Kong, where a woman named Jane is arriving by boat with instructions to find The Lost Temple of Alano and its cursed treasure for the Smithsonian. She is being watched though by two people, a "gruely-looking stranger" & a well-dressed American who had been on board the same boat. She gets a rickshaw to her hotel, & the American man gets his own, threatening to throw the driver in the water if he can't keep up with her. Almost immediately though, the gruely stranger leaps out of an alley with a knife to kill her, & the American leaps to her rescue, punching him off the docks. He is, of course, the Angel in his civilian clothes.

A heavy-set man, Mr. Sumner, also comes to her aid, & the Angel notes that this man is someone he recognizes, but in disguise. He quickly writes a note for Jane & slips it into her handbag before Sumner can drive her away to the hotel. In the car, she reads the note, warning her that her worst enemy may pretend to be her best friend. Meanwhile, the Angel finds her assailant & follows him to a gang of thugs that he throttles.

That night, Sumner creeps in through Jane's balcony & takes both her gun & the map to the temple, revealing that the supposed curse on the treasure was just him murdering any competition looking for it. He calls his men & tells them to be ready to dispose of her, not realizing on the other end of the line was the Angel after having beaten them all unconscious. After Jane tries & fails to get away by crashing the car, the Angel leaps into action, defeating Sumner & giving an exposition dump of his backstory as actually being a member of the original expedition who started the curse rumor before disappearing. Finally, he confesses that he has absolutely no proof that Sumner & this missing person named Lelong are the same guy, but assures Jane it's true anyway, showing he's just that good.

This was actually the first Angel story I read since most uploads of Marvel #1 are incomplete, & I'm inclined to think it's a better introduction to the character. All the same key points are there, like being clever enough to be right with just a wild hunch, & he's just as highly violent, but he never needs to kill anybody in this one, so he doesn't. His reputation now might be different if the two were switched around.

The Sub-Mariner story here picks up immediately where the former left off, as he dives into the water from Dorma's stolen plane. While not always the case, Namor's strips tend to have a much more consistent storyline than anybody else this early, usually following from one to the other. The narration says he has come to wage a "war of espionage against the white man". For the first five pages, Namor does not say a word. He is dragged into a water pipe &, feeling threatened, lashes out at powerplant workers & police officers. He takes refuge in the sewer, where he finds a homeless man & steals his clothes.

Realizing though that he needs better clothes, he knocks on the door of a nice looking house, which is answered by a stereotypical African-American butler who reprimands him for being a bum but still trying to use the main entrance, his dialogue written with an eye dialect as is unfortunately standard for any black characters fluent in English for this era. The owner of the house, a beautiful woman with a cigarette, invites him in before accidentally setting her dress on fire. Namor rushes to put it out, but as soon as he comes in contact with the hat, his pores spontaneously erupt with water, dousing both of them & putting the fire out.

The servant calls for an ambulance, & Namor, after stripping, almost leaves, but then decides he covets the girl. He leaps atop the ambulance, & once they have reached the hospital, he threatens to kill the doctors if they cause a scene, then ties them up & kidnaps the unconscious woman. The cops catch up to him once he reaches the docks & open fire, but Namor is completely bullet-proof. He jumps into the water with his captive, but 2 officers follow, one saving the girl while Namor kills the other, before disappearing in the depths. Torch being a selfish cryptid freak is a reading of his early stories, but Namor being one is explicit fact.

This installment of Masked Raider opens up by explaining how a one-handed killer named "Hook" Tebbs is leading an entire town of outlaws, who are looking to recruit new men for a big train robbery. The Raider poses as a lone bandit that recently stole $10,000 in a bank robbery in order to get an in with the gang. Tebbs gets rough with him right away for not being shown respect, but he throws Tebbs into a barrel & draws his guns on the rest of the gang, & this impresses Tebbs enough that he welcomes this outlaw they nickname "Streak".

They let "Streak" in on way too much information, & that night he lets the sheriff of the actual town nearby know their plan is working. The gang also includes a Mexican member, with an over the top accent, who "Streak" gets into a fight with and calls the first ethnic slur in Marvel's history. Most of the men leave for a job, but Tebbs wants to speak with "Streak" so they both stay behind; he shows him where their loot is stashed down the well, but tells him not to ever go down there. As soon as he turns his back, the Masked Raider does go down there, & Tebbs is waiting with a gun to tie him up. But the Raider easily escapes (I guess it's hard to tie a knot with a hook hand, but it's not explained), makes a smoke signal for the sheriff, & they round up all the criminals. My main takeaway is just how stupid the entire "don't go down the well" gambit is.

American Ace opens by explaining that after the First World War, an evil monarch, Queen Ursula, was exiled for 20 years from her nation of Castile d'Or. She has just been rescued by those loyal to her who have taken over the government, so that she can rule again in secret & start a war of revenge by having one of their own politicians assassinated by someone disguised as a citizen of the nearby country of Attainia (which was retconned into Attania 70 years later). The titular American Ace, a mining engineer here named Perry Wade (although that will also be retconned a couple times), flies to Attainia unaware of the impending war, & is knocked unconscious in the first air raid. It's a short & uneventful strip that only really serves as a set-up for Perry's ongoing adventures, which... didn't exactly play out, but we'll come back to that when it (doesn't) happen. Like the first Sub-Mariner story, "The Origins of the American Ace" was also originally supposed to be in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, & the longer comic from that was split up into this issue & the continuation in Marvel Mystery Comics #3. The only other notable thing is that this begins Marvel's participation in the proud comic tradition of making up countries in order to avoid setting something unfortunate or controversial in an existing one.

The prose story this time, Death-Bird Squadron, is actually about the Angel. In a town in Poland during an air-raid, he leaps on top of a building, then onto a passing bomber. That's right; the cover of this issue is depicting the written short story, rather than any of the actual comics. That turns out to actually be pretty common in issues where the short story involves one of the comic characters, to compensate for the prose only having a single picture in it alongside the title. He climbs up the bomber & punches through the metal, grabs the pilot, & throws him at the tail-gunner with so much force that it shatters both of their skulls. He's not a hero who actually has any super powers, but this little story is written by a David Cooke instead of his creator Paul Gustavson, & David obviously hadn't actually read either of the existing Angel comics. The Angel then uses the gun to shoot down the other planes before crashing the one he was using into the last of them, & he leaps out of it to land lightly on the ground below. Maybe Mr. Cooke just didn't know how anything worked. It ends with him thinking about how this is just one more act of heroism the world will never know he was responsible for, which is pretty funny given how he is introduced as being an infamous crime fighter. Come to think of it, the start of the story also describes him as being dedicated to fighting war-mongers, even though he's almost always fighting street-level criminals. What a mess.

The second installment of Ka-Zar starts with showing that Zar's mate, the lioness Sha, doesn't trust him. He remembers seeing a mirror in the previous part of the story &, wondering if it was still in the abandoned camp, goes to look for it. But, upon reaching the camp, he hears sounds he identifies as the apes led by Chaka, who you might remember from last issue's title card. Inside de Kraft's tent he finds the mirror already in the possession of one of the apes, Bardak, & the two violently wrestle over it until Ka-Zar makes Bardak admit defeat. He allows Bardak to live, but back at their cave Zar disapproves of showing mercy.

As Sha's tolerance for Ka-Zar becomes more strained, he & Zar go on a trip to look for the elephants that are led by Trajah. Before finding Trajah though, they are attacked by another elephant that Trajah tells them has had "the madness come upon him", presumably meaning he has gone into musth in preparation for mating. When they return, they find Sha has given birth to two cubs, & Ka-Zar gets the shit kicked out of him for getting too close. Zar gets mad, but admits that it was Ka-Zar's fault & he should stay away from the cubs.

Bardak. this whole time, has been brooding over his humiliation, which reaches a boiling point when the lady ape he likes makes fun of him for it. He decides to enter the cave when no one is around to steal the mirror back, but cannot find it, & is chased out when Sha returns with her cubs. Desperate, he swings down & snatches up one of the cubs. Sha's roars bring both Zar & Ka-Zar, & the rest of the ape tribe, who mock the lions while Zar threatens war. Bardak throws the cub from high in the tree, but Ka-Zar catches it safely, then climbs after the ape, & manages to kill him with his knife, earning Sha's acceptance.

And instead of ending it on that nice note, we have All-in-Fun & Loony Laffs, both of which are another page of 5 single-panel jokes like the one that started Marvel Comics #1. They're funnier this time, but that's not saying much.

This was the final Timely Comic to be published with a cover date of 1939, but going by actual release dates, it's not even the last one this month. Next time we will start a daring new book, with a new cast of characters. Unfortunately.

[wasawattpadkid]

Idk if you’d want to write this or not, but can you write a fic of Tatum x Sidney? I think they’d be lowkey so fucking cute and I would love to see them together in your writing. I think the plot could be like a heated makeout at a sleepover? They’re playing a game or something and then start kissing and it’s heated..

Here it is! I wasn't sure if you wanted full on smut and if you did I wasn't sure what all you wanted to read so I kept it short. Hope you like it!💕

The Sleepover

Pairing: Tatum Riley x Sydney Prescott

Warnings: ⚠️smut 18+⚠️ girlxgirl, slight fingering, biting, worship kink (?), This is probably the fluffiest smut I've written

It was just like any sleepover they had before. The same pillows and pajamas but things were different. The haze in Tatum's eyes was one Sydney had never seen before. Something stirred within them, something without a name. The world outside that small bedroom didn't exist as the two girls stared at each other. No one knew who made the first move. Tatum turned her head as Sydney gently caressed the base of her neck. The kiss felt like heaven and hell all wrapped in one little press of the lips.

It was addicting. Sydney was sure to crash the moment they parted. Tatum pulled on her friends bottom lip with her teeth. The little growl that left the blondes lips made Sydney's breath catch in her throat. Tatum pulled away leaving her friend breathless. It was shameful some would say. Sydney certainly thought so but that didn't change the lustful want that plagued her brain. Tatum was sure of herself. Her whole life she knew what and who she wanted. Wrong or right she did what she pleased.

That's where the girls differed. Sydney didn't act on her emotions. For years she thought even entertaining the idea that her and her friend could be more than that was ridiculous. Her eyes never left Sydney as Tatum slowly unbuttoned the top to her pajamas. The brunette wanted to scream for her to stop terrified of what this could mean for the long term. All she could do was stare in awe of the friend that so easily seduced her.

With a gentle hand Tatum pulled Sydney in for another kiss. This one was dangerous. It wasn't at all like the one before. Both the girls knew this was it. There was no going back now. Friendship be damned they needed each other. Carefully Sydney placed her hands on Tatum's breasts testing how far she was allowed to go. An eager moan escaped the blonde's lips as verbal encouragement. "Kiss my neck." Tatum whispered against Sydney's lips. Willing and able the brunette moved her lips down to the sensitive skin under her friends jaw.

Tatum giggled holding Sydney's hair back. She was gentle and precise with her movements. It was as if she was mapping out every little piece of Tatum's skin just so she wouldn't forget it in the morning. Sydney had never done anything like this with anyone and Tatum was well aware of that fact. Tatum thought her careful nature was adorable. She unlike her friend was no stranger to sex. Most of the time it was with men who simply saw her as a means to get off. It was over as soon as it started. She didn't feel loved with them like she did right now.

"You can go lower." Tatum directed the girl whose lips were a swollen shade of pink. The bed springs cried as Sydney slowly pushed her friend back. Her lips never left Tatum's pale skin. It was erotic how intimate sex was with someone she considered her best friend. It wasn't the same raunchy lesbian bullshit they played on TV. As Sydney's hands roamed Tatum's naked torso she felt worshipped. Loved and adored by millions just by feeling the touch of one person. The only person that mattered in that moment. Sydney pressed a soft kiss against her nipple making Tatum's back rise ever so slightly off the bed.

With a smile Sydney wrapped her lips around the bud slowly drawing circles with her tongue. Just watching Tatum's reaction was enough. Sydney always admired how attractive her best friend was. She could easily get any guy she wanted and for good reason. It wasn't until now that she was truly struck with how beautiful Tatum was. Her skin seemed to glow as Sydney gave the same treatment to the other nipple. Tatum's harsh breathing was loud in Sydney's ears. She couldn't begin to imagine the backlash of being caught.

As much as she enjoyed the attention, the fact that Sydney seemed to lack some bothered her. Tatum sat up making Sydney stop what she was doing. "What's wrong?" The fear that this might actually be a dream was heavy on Sydney's heart. "Nothing but you know you can take your clothes off too?" Tatum wasn't a modest person. It was hard for her to understand why Sydney wasn't the same way. Being topless didn't bother Tatum especially around her best friend. Sydney had undressed around Tatum many times before but this was different. Tatum would be looking at her in a way she wasn't sure she could handle.

Tatum picked up on her reluctant behavior. "You don't have to do this. We can put on a movie and forget this happened." The simple word "forget" upset Sydney. She couldn't throw away the memory of this happening. "No." She shook her head. "No, I want this." Tatum was relieved. This meant more to her than some teenage experiment. Tatum grabbed the hem of Sydney shirt looking up at her before taking it off. With a silent nod Tatum pulled the shirt off tossing it to the ground.

Sydney didn't look down feeling more self conscious than she ever had. Tatum grabbed her friends chin with two fingers forcing the girl look at her. "You make me so happy." Tatum smiled making Sydney laugh shaking her head. "I'm being serious." She smiled as she spoke before she pressed a kiss on Sydney's lips. At this point Sydney had gotten used to the feeling. Tatum's hand found it's way between her friends thighs softly rubbing her clothed core. A moan escaped Sydney a little too loudly. Tatum pulled her lips away replacing them with her free hand. "Shh we can't do this if you can't be quiet."

It was humorous. There was no pressure, no fear between the girls. Tatum's hand slid down into the waistband of Sydney's underwear. A small gasp left the girls mouth as she got used to the feeling. "This okay?" Tatum asked slicking up her fingers before dragging them gently over her clit. "Yeah." Sydney mumbled now aware of her volume. Tatum licked a stripe up her friends neck biting the flesh at the end of her trail. Her fingers continued their motion earning a few low moans from the girl.

The night was long, both Sydney and Tatum taking turns trying new things. They laughed and joked in-between kisses not wanting the sun to continue to rise. "It's literally 5 in the morning." Tatum said checking the light up clock on her nightstand. Sydney covered her mouth with a laugh as the two girls lay naked underneath a blanket. "I could make breakfast?" Sydney whispered rolling over to face Tatum. "Ooh breakfast. You mean you're not going to throw on your pants and jump out my bedroom window?" Sydney smiled knowing exactly who she was referring to. "I can but I'm going to need a little more than my pants though." Anyone could tell the girls were delirious by their constant giggles. "I think we should just go to sleep and we'll have breakfast for dinner." Tatum curled up next to Sydney as the brunette played with her hair. "Sounds like a plan."

[arche0ps-moved]

can you please tell us more about your cool earthbound (or mother in general) headcanons. . . one's already mentioned are so cool I WANNA KNOW!!! ps YOU ARE COOL IN GENERAL TOO!!!!!!!

OHHH MIKE YOU SCAMP .. TWIRLS MY HAIR!! This could be long so. Under the cut !

okay first guy: ness I love ness.

Ness is a trans kid!! he doesn't know the right terminology for any of it but he knows he never felt like a girl. his family all support him ofc, but Tracy got a little sad thinking ness wouldn't play dollhouse with her anymore (he still totally does)

Ness looooves gross stuff. Bugs, mud, bones, etc. Call me autistic the way I study those bugs (<- ness)

oh also he's autistic 👍 very sensitive to loud noises and the cold, and wears almost the same outfit everyday because 1. different outfit everyday is HARD . 2. He likes his outfit!!

his special interest is baseball :)

him and pokey play on the same Onett baseball team and have an unofficial rivalry with the Fourside Fogies . one time they trapped pokey under the bleachers. it was a whole ordeal (hc from soypeople thank you bestie)

ness was their number one player!! until. yk. giygas. after all that he quit going to school and became a shut in for a good while (he'll be okay)

Paula helps teach him the PK moves!! Fire freeze thunder etc etc. In return him and pu teach her how to heal and such (none of them manage to learn starstorm, though ..)

Ness is overall an overly caring kid. he'll often put others before himself, especially in the line of danger. But he can also be very stubborn if he chooses to (if he's angry, he'll most likely give you silent treatment until he simmers down)

Ness and Paula date in the future :]

ok paula now.

Paula is a transgirl!! she knows the terms bc she's a fast learner (with gifted child syndrome)

When she grows up she most likely takes over the Polestar preschool

Funnily enough, her favorite color isn't pink. It's green!

Her parents are a bit overprotective of her .... Ness and her had to practically beg to go fight Giygas

Much like Ness, she cares a lot for her friends. Unable to heal them with her PSI, she resorts to carrying around lots of healing items for her pals! (And wet towels for Jeff, since he overheats easily)

She doesn't mind any temp, but sweat is an unpleasant sensation for her (it's gross, it smells, and ew, it's wet! Jeff shares the same sentiment)

She isn't a damsel in distress, obviously. She probably would've beaten up Montoli and Carpainter all on her own if she didn't have the brain to accompany her (though, an hour longer in the cage at Happy Happy and she probably would've started a fire ..)

OK JEFF TIME I LOVE JEFF :) copy pasting some jeff-tony hcs from my personal discord teehee

When Jeff couldn't stand in class Tony would take his assignments to the teacher when they both finished (albeit a bit later as Tony took more time on his)

Tony signs the end of the Y in name with a small heart when writing Jeff. Jeff was oblivious to it's meaning till he got older

Tony will sometimes break stuff on purpose when Jeff has nothing to tinker. Just little things that they won't miss if Jeff can't fix them (he always fixes them)

Jeff shares what he doesn't eat with Tony (tony has a bit appetite!)

Jeff carries Tony's bag in his lap when in his chair

Neither of them use air fresheners or perfumes. It irritates Jeff's nose and Tony has asthma. Win!

They don't have the same taste in music but like to listen to each other's music when working in their dorm. They take turns putting in tapes

Jeff prefers classical music .. Tony calls him old for it (it's endearing. He's memorized Jeff's favorite artists)

Jeff falls asleep in class a lot .. tony makes sure to write plenty of notes if he does

Non Tony related ones:

Jeff is autistic! And physically disabled. His legs were injured in the novels boat incident, so he uses a cane(or crutches) and a wheelchair depending on how well he feels

He doesn't like being babied or carried around much, but if it's necessary he'll allow someone to lift him (mostly ness or tony)

Distant relationship with his dad obviously. It gets a bit better but they never get as close as they could

Jeff modifies his chair to have rockets on them. Because it's fun!

Even after getting his prosthetics he'll still use the chair whenever he feels tired

As stated in my fic he hates the heat so so much. He'd rather run around in the snow butt naked than spend a minute at the beach

Okay that's enough Jeff sorry for the favoritism <3 pu time!!

I spell his name as Pu thanks to mysthlarey (thank u bestie)

Probably very stressed. It's hard being the newest king and also 14

His hair is shaved on the sides and tied into a long braid. No reason behind it he just likes it that way tbh

Despite his resting-mean-boy face, he's super sweet under that Princely attitude! (He's got a lot on his shoulders, it's hard to relax)

Much like in game he's very . Uh. Physcially weak. Most people don't expect that because of his "fighter" look, so they don't usually mess with him

He's a picky eater bc of sensory issues. What do you MEAN you guys can eat rice? Yuck! (It tastes fine, but the feeling is .. bad. very bad)

Water enthusiast :) often the one to remind Ness (water hater) to drink some water

Tallest of the group (sorry jeff)

Funnily enough he doesn't grow once he hits his current height. Sooner or later Paula matches him in height and he finds it p funny

Uses his future kingly status to mess around with his friends. (Ex: DEAR NESS. THIS IS THE KING OF DALAAM. COME OKAY WORLD OF WARCRAFT WITH ME OR ELSE I WILL START A WAR WITH EAGLELAND. signed ur bestie xoxoxox :) )

bonus time oh goodness oh me oh my! Random character's!

Tracy uses she/they

Picky uses he/they. they match!

Picky loooves spiders (<- he doesn't know about pokey)

Tony's family actually live in Scaraba- they sent him off to Winters since it has the best school in the 3 major continents (he was eligible, so why not take the chance!)

Pokey and Ness liked to draw comics together :) they're probably super cringey now

Picky, Tracy, Ness, and Pokey all used to walk to school together. Sometimes pokey had to carry picky since he was half asleep

Ness doesn't actually eat trash burgers okay it was ONE TIME you can STOP BRINGING IT UP POKEY

pokey needs glasses due to his bangs fucking up his vision. will he ever get them? probably not

aloysius minch is bisexual. win I guess

[bluberimufim]

Writerly questionaire

I was tagged by @xenascribbles (read its post here btw!!) and I've been wanting to do it for a while (it's been so long ago, I'm sorry!!!) because it sounds interesting. Unfortunately, it's long and I am NOT concise.

I'll just leave the tags here: @squarebracket-trickster, @full-on-sam, @olliexwrites, @macabremoons, and @cheeto-flavoured-pasta + anyone else who wants to join!!

About me:

When did you first start writing?

I think I've mentioned this before, but I started writing in 5th/6th grade to kind of codify the lore and story of my friend group's playground activities (because a series of drawings was just not cutting it). Then, we collectively found out I enjoyed it and my friends started asking for fanfics of books we all liked.

Are the general themes you read different from the ones you write?

I don't really go out looking for the themes of a story, I usually focus on interesting plots or characters when I'm shopping for books (I know themes inform story and characters but you know what I mean). Also most themes in my stories are 100% a posteriori (DoS was my first time having themes in mind as I was writing). I usually write the 1st draft and go "oh shit, a theme".

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (room, coffee shop, desk, etc)

I mostly write in my room, usually sitting on my bed because I hate chairs. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention my college's big auditorium, specifically during boring architectural theory lessons. Any project of mine has been at least 30% written during class time, I can assure you.

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

I go for a Really Long Walk while listening to music. And fun fact: I've had to make my walks bigger because of this, because when I'm having Thoughts I start speedwalking like a crazy person and it was genuinely shortening my Idea Time because I got home too quickly.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

I wouldn't say it's a 1 to 1 thing, but I think the environments in our lives always afects us. In terms of the places I write about, I think my fascination with circuses and magic shows (from which came B&W) stems from the fact that there are no good ones around here. The ones from my childhood were genuinely so lame. But I think mostly it's the way I was raised? My parents are artists and they've made a point of showing me all kinds of art since, like... ever, and I feel like it really influenced me as a person and, therefore, my writing.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

A few years back, I noticed a tendency in my main characters to feel a great sense of nostalgia towards the past, in a way? There was a very prevalent sense of "things were ok at a previous point in my life but not now and I wanna go back". I don't really understand where this came from tho.

My characters:

Would you please tell me about your favorite character? (Current wip, past wip, never used)

I am, on every level, deeply insane about every single named character in DoS. But mainly Seth and General Fallin. I just think they're really interesting. I particularly like the general, mostly because I have almost no chances to write about him, while Seth is the POV character. There's just something about the different perceptions of his actions that are integral his character as a general in a war setting, as well as his inherent hypocrisy in constantly stating how much he cares for his people and being more than willing to commit atrocities for them. Idk, he's got that Nuance.

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life?

Probably Reyna, from B&W. When I first wrote her, I was her age and tried to create someone who I'd like to hang out with.

Which of your characters would you dislike most in real life?

I already despise Nester from the dystopia WIP and he's not even real. And also, I think Diedrich would be insufferable irl.

Tell me about the process of coming up with one, all, or any of your characters.

Most of them kinda start out as concepts. For example, Seth came to be because "healer that takes the life of everything around them for power" sounded like a cool idea. Sometimes they're informed by characters I like or historical figures: Viktor is loosely based on Robespierre, Lucille is vaguely inspired by Cio-Cio San, General Fallin has some faint hints of Griffith, etc.

Do you notice any themes/traits about your characters?

I've noticed that every single one of my 4 WIPs has the extremely specific trope of an older character using the protagonist as a replacement for their dead loved one (usually their child, but sometimes disciple or younger sibling) and projecting onto them. I have no clue where tf this came from but it feels like something a psychoanalyst would greatly enjoy.

How do you picture them?” (as real people you imagined/as models/actors that exist in real life/as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc)

I actually picture all my characters in my artstyle!! Actually, I "see" most of the worlds in my stories through my own artstyle!

My writing:

What’s your reason for writing?

You see, I have all of these ideas. They are just lying around. And, as I said before, just drawing them isn't gonna cut it.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

On what is actually my least-read fic on ao3, a person left me a multiple paragraphs-long comment about how they would be thinking about that fic for years, that I wrote the characters as "canon but better", that they would read any other fics I posted in the future, and that they made an account to leave said comment. I'm not saying that this is the only type of comment I enjoy, but it has really stuck with me for the past year and when I read it I kinda wanna cry. So. I guess that.

How do you want to be thought of by those that read your work? (for example, as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition as a talented worldbuilder, or a role model, etc)

I've always wanted to be one of those writers that just really Gets the human mind, you know? Like, I've read stories where my regular person brain was going through all sorts of Things while my writer brain kept shouting "THIS MAKES SENSE!! THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!", and that's who I want to be. (I feel like I'm not expalining myself correctly???) This is kind of a tangent, but I've read/watched stories so good that I was left just literally Sitting There, my thoughts completely silent, literally incapable of being a functioning human being for about an hour because my brain just wouldn't come down from the story. And that's my goal in life <3

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Probably my character building.

What have you frequently been told your greatest writing strength is by others?

My story ideas/concepts. Like settings and worldbuilding and such.

How do you feel about your writing? (answer in whatever way you interpret that question)

Overall, I like it! I spent a long time working to a point where I can actually enjoy my own work. And I'm obviously not saying it's perfect. No one sees more flaws in it than me (bc I virtually never show it to anyone), but I won't say it's bad to sound better. I'm having fun, dammit!

If you were the last person on earth, and knew that your writing would never be read, would you still write?

I would still have stories to write even if there was no one to show them to. I would still draw and sing without an audience too. Because my art is, at its core, for me. It's a need.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? if it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence?

I used to consider what others might like, and I still kinda do sometimes because my main beta reader is my MOM, but I've mostly let it go tbh. After draft 2 of B&W I shouted "I'M NEVER WRITING ROMANCE AGAIN!!!" and here we are. At the end of the day, I'm writing mostly to have fun, so I should be able to do whatever I want.

That was fun!! I love questionaires/this interview format thingy. Makes me feel fancy.

If you're made it all the way down here, hiiii <3<3<3<3<3<3 sorry for never shutting up and not being concise. It will happen again.

[meganechan05]

Random Gokkan Theory before Episode 38's Preview drops.

So the only important characters in KingOhger that don't have their last names revealed are Douga, Kuroda, and Morfonia (edit: and Shiokara. My b. Messed up bc his name has a specific bug connection). Of the 3, only Morfonia's name has a connection to her country's insect (morpho butterfly).

But my fanfic-writing arse decided to figure out how to name her parents in my Sailor Moffun AU so I decided to look up different species of the morpho butterfly to name at least her Mom. And I reached a theory:

Morfonia is not named specifically after the Blue Emperor Butterfly from what I've seen.

Now the term "morpho" is used for both the genus and subgenus. The subgenus being the one where the blue emperor is found. I can assume everything would immediately link Morf to the Blue Emperor much like how we connect Rita to the Blue Admiral.

But what none of the species under that subgenus have is the end of Morf's name "nia"

The closest would be the "morpho deidamia" but it wouldn't match up with her name and the character names typically try not to deviate. Closest one would be Sebas's real name which is after the Idolomantis diabolica. The only difference would be using ン(n) instead of ル(l) in Japanese.

I know the exception could be made for Morf as well given how blue is the closest thing we could get to purple in terms of butterflies, but if they really wanted to name her after an emperor butterfly, why go with the morfo and not the Sasakia genus that the Japanese purple emperor belongs to?

Now the crazy part is that I decided to take things a little more literally. Say... Morf's hair. I shouldn't, but I find it very interesting how she is the only young character to have hair that isn't your usual shade. Himeno's hair is most likely a natural blonde with pink streaks but she constantly wears wigs or dyes it so I honestly don't know. Yanma dyes, Gira's streaks are natural, HoneyWeb are just old and stressed so they're graying 🤣. I can't explain Karras with her split hair and the Papillio deHaani doesn't have any traces of white, but eh.

But I will make an exception for Morf simply because she's such an outlier with Himeno when it comes to straying from standard Japanese hair colors while also at a young age.

So in comes the subgenus "Pessonia" which just so happens to hold species of morpho butterflies predominantly white in color.

I will say it's very weird how the last part of her name is most likely from the subgenus name and not anything else. But I'm only guessing this simply because we don't know her last name and character names tend to be actual pieces of their scientific/Japanese/English names. Still weird how Gira is the only one that got his name from the English name.

But this is just a personal theory that came up during fanfic writing. I do hope the Gokkan episode does reveal her last name. Imagine her being called "Morfonia Luna" or something.

[masonscig]

can i ask why people in the fandom seem to really dislike mishka? (censoring her name and such) this is not meant in an offensive way to you or to anyone else, i’m just new here and kind of confused. like did she do something legitimately wrong or are people just irked by the writing of the new book? hope you have a great day <3

OH yeah sorry i can definitely see how that's confusing to new people LMAO

so, it's a bit of both imo – i've been here since 2020, shortly after book 2 dropped, so my perspective is a lot different than newer fans

so, one of the reasons i censor her name, is because tumblr changed the search functions – used to be, when you looked up something, it was only things that were in that exact word order in a tag – so if you spelled t/w/c wrong in some way, it'd only show up results that were misspelled, if that makes sense

but now, it's like if you look up any word, random posts that mention it anywhere in the post will show up too – and i would rather not open myself up to the m*shka bootlickers bc i just do not have time for that LMFAO

i rarely maintag things these days because i just don't want to be perceived by so much of this fandom, but that's just a me thing

also, in terms of what she did "wrong"... on top of problematic stuff in text, there's a few things i can think of off the top of my head:

encouraging white/washed art by reblogging on to her dev blog while knowingly having the official skintone palette locked behind a paywall (patreon)

when called out for the above, they did vet their pieces i guess – by only reblogging black and white pieces, and art of detectives. then they stopped reblogging art completely

posting a white hand for a morgan instagram edit – and taking hours to delete the harassment in the replies, some of which being actually racist comments with slurs pointed at black people

in a q&a video, referred to m as an "attack dog", which was super insensitive, considering the consistent comparison of m to an animal across all platforms (text, tumblr posts, patreon content)

her treatment of f over the years, both in text and outside of it. her asks were a huge reason that the fandom has an infantilized view of f and they don't even consider them to be a love interest (much less one that gets physically intimate). they see them as a child. this bullet point is a massive one that would take too long to explain. i could probably write an essay on how problematic it is to immediately "other" your singular black character by literally making them an otherworldly alien, but i do not have the time

how she writes nb/trans characters. from what my friends have said who code dive, they get the same dialogue and variants that women do. obviously if you don't code dive or play with nb characters you probably wouldn't notice, but there are a good chunk of people in the fandom who play with nb oc's so... this is something that should be better, but it's not

to add to the above, she said she was getting sensitivity readers but... did they do anything? look at book 3 and tell me if they actually did anything (i have a feeling maybe those sensitivity readers were white queer people)

overall, it's very hard to explain and condense the fuckery my mutuals and i have seen both m*shka do over the years, and what her fans have let slide/incidents they've coddled her up during.

sadly, she doesn't take hard stances on things. she just lets things happen and that just. doesn't bode well if your argument for all these mistakes is "ignorance". if she's getting 10k a month on patreon plus sales (not to mention the fact she's a grown ass woman), then... it's the bare minimum to ask for her to be mindful of her audience and to do better.

and also book 3 sucks xoxo