#'the only correct way' bit is HYPERBOLE

[loveofdetail]

gale is a simp and a Romantic but he's not an uwu soft trophy husband. the only correct way to romance him is to reflect all that intensity and insane devotion right back at him. you gotta go full simp4simp with this man. when he's like "hey, i would like to descend into madness, and specifically i would like to do it With You" the correct response is omg I would LOVE to descend into madness with you I thought you'd never ask <33333

[paradoxlemonade]

Like a Flower in Bloom; chapter 1/3

Summary: Doc Monster is a many things: he's a tinkerer, a college graduate, a creeper hybrid, and a husband to his wonderful spouse, Ren. Most importantly, he is a father. And he would do anything to make his trans daughter Scarlet happy. Even if it means becoming a Buttercup Scout troop leader and herding a trio of middle school girls.

This is my @mcytblraufest fic, made in collaboration with my artist @watchmewhirl and beta-read my @raivaughn. You can find the masterpost for the art here.

Warnings: minor transphobia

Ao3: Here!

Next ; Last

---

Violence does not solve very many problems. It usually just creates newer, more complicated problems. As a rational person, Doc understands this. 

As an animal, however, he wants the Buttercup Scout troop leader in front of him to be eaten by hyenas.

The meeting wrapped up a few minutes ago and most of the girls and parents already filtered out the door. Doc told Scarlet, his daughter, to hang behind and talk with the other girls. She's more than happy to do so, chatting away with the Symmetry twins. 

He has a few concerns about how she was repeatedly sidelined during the badge event and wanted to ask about that. She hadn't yet joined the troop and was only there for a preliminary meeting, yes, but the adults could have stood to be a bit more welcoming to new members. 

Which led to him hunting down the troop leader, tapping her on the shoulder, and asking about her meeting policies. Which led to her trying not to sneer and just dismissing him out of hand.

Ms. Reflecta Symmetry doesn't bother to face him as she gathers up tubes of decorating frosting and glitter sprinkles and returns them to their original packaging. “I'm busy. Could you please wait a moment?”

Doc shakes his head. “I just have a question about how meetings tend to go, and then I'll be out of your hair. Nothing big; it’ll be quick.” 

Reflecta drops the decorating supplies back onto the camp table with unnecessary force and finally turns to face him. She gives him a plastic, simpering smile. “I think I can help you! Were you here to check out our troop and think about joining?”

“...Yes, that's correct.” Something about the way she carries herself sets Doc's nerves on edge. “Scarlet wanted to be a part of the group that was piping frosting onto the sugar cookies. But every time she asked you if she could switch groups, she got ignored or told to wait her turn, but she never got to be a part of the piping group. It seemed like she was… forgotten during the group changes.”

How does he phrase this diplomatically? 

“I was wondering if this was how most of your meetings run, or if you were just distracted. There were a lot of girls to keep from making messes, after all.” He's had long days before. It would be nice if that were the case here; this was the only close option for a troop in the area.

“Uh-huh.” Reflecta’s arms cross, fingers tapping away. She switches her expression to an equally-fake one of hyperbolic sympathy. “You see, I'm just not certain that your… child is a good fit for our troop. I’m concerned that they won’t have very much fun; we have a specific culture here. I'm sure you understand?” With that, she spins on her heel and continues packing up the materials from the meeting into an oversized patchwork tote bag.

Doc stands there for a moment, frozen stiff. “Excuse me?” What exactly did she mean by that? He steps to her side, working himself back into her line of sight even as she works and attempts to ignore him. “I think I misunderstand you. Could you explain what you mean?”

 She glances over to give him another apologetic look, but her lip is curled back just enough to show teeth. “It just takes so many resources for a Buttercup Scout troop to make sure all girls involved have an enriching experience. We've just had a few new girls join, so I'll need our treasurer to reassess the budget. Perhaps you should look into some other organizations in the area? I'm sure there's plenty that they would like elsewhere.”

Doc grits his teeth and wills himself to silence. Budget problems and personality are two different issues. That leaves one conclusion: Ms. Symmetry is full of shit. She just doesn't want Scarlet to join the troop. He'd hoped her earlier curt attitude was just her being busy with other kids—even gave her an out to claim that—but that doesn't seem to be the case.

He clears his throat. “Sure, yeah, I understand.” Before she can get another word in to affirm his agreement, Doc barrels on: “It's just a little surprising to hear, considering how well Scarlet seemed to get along with the other girls. The advertisement your troop posted on Facebook the other week also seemed so welcoming; was that scheduled in advance before your means were clear?”

Reflecta's smile remains, though the bottom of her eye twitches ever so slightly. “Something like that.” It's her turn not to give Doc a chance to respond as she jerks to face the remaining girls in the room. “False! True! Get your things. We're leaving.”

The two blonde girls that Scarlet is talking to perk up at the same time, like prairie dogs out of a burrow. Aside from the longer hair and extremely thick glasses that nearly resemble goggles they both wore, they were spitting images of Reflecta. One just nods without emoting much, while the other brightens and responds, “Yes, ma’am!”

The smiley one clambers to her feet, buttercup guide book clutched to her chest. She waves farewell and says something else before bounding over to her mother's side. The stoic one bumps a silent shoulder against Scarlet’s and follows a moment later.

“Ah, Scarlet,” Doc calls out. “You come on as well. We finished speaking, so it's time to go home.”

She nods and scoops up her cat plushie backpack.“Okie-dokie, dad!” Once it’s on her back and she gets her crutches situated, she’s by his side as he guides her out the door.

“Did you have a nice conversation with the twins?” Doc asks, a bit louder than necessary in the hopes that Scarlet won’t hear Reflecta hissing ‘I don’t want to hear about you two talking to that one again’ to her daughters. He directs Scarlet along a little bit faster.

“Yeah, they were really nice to me!” There’s a bounce in her step as she chatters away. “True didn’t talk very much, but that’s okay since False talked enough for both of them. I think she talks when she’s nervous and when she’s comfortable. And then she asked about my Jellie backpack, and—”

Doc ushers her out the doors of the community center, but his eyes can’t help but fall to the trans flag button on the strap of her bag. 

Truth was, a gnawing sense of dread hollowed out his chest when she insisted at age ten that she was a girl.

It’s an ugly thing to think, but it’s not because Doc doesn’t want her to be herself. The world can be mean, and the people in it even meaner; Scarlet suffering unnecessarily because she’s different from her peers became a regular staple of his stress dreams.

He hugged her worried, helped her pick out a name worried, went shopping for new girl clothes worried, met with her school teachers and the principal worried—

Today he drove her to a Buttercup Scout troop meeting worried.

Beyond the obvious of names and clothes and telling family members, the one thing Scarlet wanted was to become a Buttercup Scout.

Doc pulls his keys from his jacket pocket and unlocks the truck while they walk. Scarlet takes that as a cue to rush ahead and climb inside without assistance—door open, crutches against door, Jellie bag tossed into the seat next to hers, hands on the seat for stability, one foot on the running board, push off and lean forward, wiggle into a seated position, pull the crutches in and close the door. She has it down to a science at this point, though Doc will occasionally still offer her help if she’s having a bad pain day. He doesn’t have to worry much about Scarlet hurting herself.

And yet, now he has to drive her home, worried about disappointing and hurting her.

The air inside the truck hits him like a wall of heat when he opens the door, though he pays it little mind as he slides into the driver’s seat and puts the keys into the ignition. Until the air conditioning fully kicks in, he cracks the back windows just a touch.

A glance in the rear view mirror shows Scarlet looking out the window with a slowly slipping happy mask.

He’s pulling out of the parking lot before he can bring himself to say anything. “Did… you have fun at the meeting?” 

“Oh! Yeah, I did! False and True and me were talking, and they—”

“No, not near the end of the meeting, or after it.” His grip on the steering wheel tightens minutely. He makes sure to take the next turn carefully in spite of that. “I meant all of it—the badge work, the other girls, the adults—how do you feel?”

Another stolen look, and this time she’s pulling her knees to her chest.

“I mean… the girls were nice to me.”

He’s always been worried about her peers ostracizing her. Their parents hadn’t even come up on his radar.

Doc presses down on a sigh. “I’m sorry that troop wasn’t what you were expecting.”

“It’s fine!” she blurts out. “They’re fine! I want to be a Buttercup Scout!”

His heart twists. “I know you do, and we’re trying. It’s just… maybe we should keep our options open, sweetie.” The gentle comfort in his voice sounds fake, even to himself.

“What? No, no!” She leans forward in her seat to grip the passenger headrest. “I’ll make it work! It'll be fine!”

“Scarlet.” He's firm, but so tired, tired, tired. There's no way he's letting his daughter put herself in a situation where she regularly has to interact with transphobes. “I know you want to be a Buttercup Scout, but tonight wasn't fun for you, and it wasn't fun for me to watch you be upset. We'll keep looking, okay?”

Despite herself, she sniffles and hiccups. “But, but, there aren't any other troops in the area that work for us. You said that! I heard you and Papa talking about it!”

Fuck. He didn't think she overheard that conversation. She was supposed to be asleep on the couch after a movie, he and Ren sequestered in the kitchen to discuss in hushed voices.

 “All the others are too far, or they meet when I have physical therapy, or they aren't accepting new members, or, or—” The words seem to flood out of her before abruptly stopping with a sharp inhale of breath and another wet hiccup. “I just want to do what all the other girls get to do. I don't understand why I can't.”

With a grimace, Doc changes lanes and turns into the parking lot of a fast food joint. This isn't a driving conversation. 

Once stopped, he gets out of the driver's seat and opens the back. He slides in next to Scarlet and puts an arm around her shoulders. “Oh, mein Schatzi…”

She sniffles and presses her side into the hug. “S’ not even that bad. I dunno why I'm crying.” 

Doc picks up the Jellie plush from where it fell into the floorboards. Sure, it may have a few notebooks in it, but it's still a plushie and Scarlet sure seems to need one. He sets it on her lap and she has it squeezed to her chest in a blink. 

“This is something you really wanted for a long time. It's normal to be upset when stuff doesn't work out.”

“I wanted it to work out.”

“I know, I know.” He runs a hand through her hair. “Your papa and I will see what we can do, okay?”

“But—” She sniffles again. “I thought that—”

“I know what we said,” Doc murmurs. “We’re going to look into other options so you can be a Buttercup Scout. I cannot make any promises, but I can promise to try.”

She looks up at him with wounded eyes, shining with unshed glass tears. It seems that this cry was a long time coming. “O-oh.” Another sniffle.

She twists to the side and he's suddenly engulfed in a hug. “Thanks, Dad.”

He holds her close.

“Always.”

[pippin-katz]

you may or may not be the person who needs to know this, but you're the only person I can think of to share this with, and if I don't tell somebody, I might explode:

so there are some similarities btwn Merlin/Arthur and Alex/Henry, right?

and like

Alex : Merlin :: Henry : Arthur

right?

so isnt it weird the both Nick & Bradley James are Libras, while both Taylor & Colin Morgan are Capricorns? and both pairs have a three-year age gap? and while they share the same signs, the 90s babies/RWRB pairs have their birthdays at the end of the month before their 80s babies/BBCMerlin counterparts...

just so many weird coincidences, and I had to share it with *somebody*! thank you for listening/reading!

Dude I feel you on needing to tell someone something or you’ll explode; that’s my life lmfao

Now regarding what you’ve shared, that is really fucking weird! Those are some pretty specific details for them to share. I’m not a huge astrology person, but maybe there’s just something about that pairing that works? Especially when they’re close in age?

Post Writing Note: This spiraled so far out of my hands that it smashed my plans for the day. I've been writing this since 9:30AM and I'm now finishing at 4:20PM. You have been warned.

Taylor and Nicholas

What’s crazy is that Colin and Bradley’s dynamic off screen is similar to Nick and Taylor’s.

While Alex is a loud and outgoing character, Matthew mentioned in an interview that Taylor is actually on the quieter/more reserved side most of the time. I was a bit surprised, but if you pay close attention, he actually does seem like he’s quieter than Nicholas. It's more noticeable in the draw-off video and their little promos with the teapot. He's definitely enthusiastic, but in a different way than Nick, who acts like he just took a shot of concentrated caffeine.

But you can also see it in the friendship quiz if you look for it. It's there in the way that Nick is more... I'm not sure how to describe it- maybe scatterbrained? Or ditsy? I don't mean that as an insult by the way.

It's like he has pent-up energy and wants to be entertaining for the camera, so he initiates most of the jokes and sarcasm, while Taylor is kind of just chilling. He definitely makes some jokes, but the ratio between which of them is the first to say something that starts a joke is heavily skewed towards Nicholas. He also randomly forgets what's going on, and goes off on tangents where he bounces from one thing to the next.

I looked and looked for GIFs, but I couldn't find some of the moments I'm talking about, so I'll just write them out:

Nicholas gives Taylor 10 points, and he's like "wait, wait, did I get it right?" and Nick's like "yeah" before immediately remembering that he got it wrong even though they had just had the conversation

Nicholas gets a question right and he says "point for Taylor" and Taylor is like "no, for you" and Nick corrects himself with "point for Nick", then jokes and points between them like "you're Taylor, I'm Nick, okay, got it"

Taylor asks the bonus question about the major sporting event in Indiana, and Nicholas starts randomly listing names, like "the Big Game, the Big Football Game, the Bowl, the Indiana Bowl, the Great State Champion Lacrosse Game of Indiana" instead of stopping to think or letting Taylor give him the hint you can see he's been waiting to say between laughs

Nicholas randomly starts being sarcastic or hyperbolizing his behavior when talking: - "Taylor is the one American person who knows where London is on a map." - "I believe you competed in [the Cooper's Hill Annual Cheese Race] yourself, didn't you?" - "I'll give him a point." Taylor laughs because it took a couple tries to get the right answer. "The points, they are bountiful and plenty. We don't have to be stingy with them."

Nicholas describing a corndog by holding an invisible "weird thing that goes on a stick" and pretending to eat it while going "nhgnhgnhgnhg" as he spins it.

He also reacts more to Taylor getting questions wrong than Taylor reacts to him getting questions wrong. There's the whole bit about the "chip butty" and "English fry-up" that leaves Nicholas acting all annoyed, whereas Taylor sort of just starts immediately helping him with hints when he gets something wrong.

Basically, Nicholas probably has some form of ADHD and it seems to manifest as hyperactivity. Nicholas being so hyper and enthusiastic is ironic considering how quiet and calm Henry is as a character. It's such a drastic contrast between them.

Taylor is much more chill. He's definitely hyper around Nick, but there is a difference in them. Notice how Taylor just watches Nick do his silly intro, but Nicholas starts making movements with his hands and expressions during Taylor's. Also Taylor was talking completely normally until then, when he ended up doing the point at the end.

Similarly, Nick is the one who starts chanting USA, and Taylor joins in. We obviously see the difference when they each summarize the film. Nick is basically a hamster in a ball speeding across a room with how he tells it, and Taylor simplifies it a ton and delivers it monotone; yes, it's a joke, but it still highlights the contrast.

Bradley & Colin

I'm using past tense with Bradley and Colin because we only have videos of them from over a decade ago, so they've definitely changed since then.

The thing is, Colin was funny and vocal, but there were a lot of times where he got quiet, and he always felt more reserved, in the sense of there being more to him than what he's showing. He seemed to have a lot of layers to him that you didn't get to see unless you actually got close to him, if that makes sense.

I wouldn't call him quiet, but like in the video diaries and interviews of him and Bradley, he always seemed much calmer than him.

Colin was always very funny, but he was also self conscious. During one of the behind the scenes quest videos, Bradley talked about how he and Colin would create songs together, but whenever he wanted to show someone, Colin was dead silent. Bradley actually turned to him as was like, "What, is it stage fright?" and Colin is like, "I don't know what you're talking about." in a way that clearly shows he's deflecting the question because he's nervous or embarrassed. Bradley pointed and was like, "And that right there is a perfect example of what I mean".

Merlin is very bright and outgoing (at least before he develops depression in later seasons 🥲). He basically had no shame about most things. When he met Gwen while in the stocks and covered in food, he acts completely normally, like there's nothing weird about it. Obviously, this boy waltzed into Camelot and called the fucking prince a prat to his face. He was really bold and openhearted. Colin always felt more closed off, even though he wasn't always quiet.

What's crazy is that Arthur is much more refined and serious than Bradley. It's not to say Arthur is never silly or unserious, because he is, but his default mode is very composed because he's a prince and later a king. Bradley was like a fucking hurricane behind the scenes. He was know for driving everyone a little crazy because he was so hyper. He got his video camera taken away cause he was apparently being too annoying to the rest of the cast and crew.

Wrap-Up

Here's similarities I thought of in a rapid fire list, including what you said and what I covered:

The brunettes are both the "quieter" or "calmer" of the two.

The blonds both play a prince.

The brunettes both play a character who came from a place of humble beginnings.

The brunettes' characters are both usually the one to start the insults/banter.

The blonds are the more vocal of the two about their affections and admiration for the other.

The blonds are both Libras.

The brunettes are both Capricorns.

The age gap is the same for both pairs: 3 years.

I am going to make an entire post dedicated to the similarities between Bradley, Colin, and Merthur, and Taylor, Nicholas, and FirstPrince, because I have more, but it was getting more into the characters' so I'll save those for later.

What was that you were saying about needing to tell someone something or you would explode again? Nah, not me, could never have that problem. I'm so normal about this.

Thank you for sharing, I have no idea what to do with this information, but I am glad I have it. It will now haunt me 😂

Thanks for reading!! If you enjoyed this essay & would like to support me, you can give me a tip on my Ko-Fi! ☺️

[marshmellopie]

YOU THERE

Give me your spamton headcanons! Any kind!

loki i love you so much you don't know how much i've been wanting to share my headcanons oh my GOD [scans over my 20+ page headcanon doc]

putting it under the cut because it's a lot of random stuff, i didn't categorize anything so there might be whiplash between everything:

– Five feet tall, previously 5'10 when he was still an Addison. I made Puppet Spam was 4'5 for the longest time, but I decided to say fuck it and make him taller. Still short in terms of Cyber City residents though, I like to imagine normal Addisons are around 6ft.

– I sometimes forget to draw it and I can't really animate it consistently, but his knuckles are constantly bruised because he keeps punching things whenever he's angry. Experiences really severe temper tantrums/outbursts and usually resorts to violence.

– Do not touch his fucking hair if he doesn’t know you. He’ll legitimately plan your murder if you cut any of it off– and that’s not a hyperbole. He can’t grow it back and his hair is his pride and joy, so he will genuinely track you down and rip your goddamn soul out of your chest. It's also permanently black (besides the grey but that's from stress), he changed his coding when he was famous to have black hair. Could've been reversible, but some things kinda stuck after he fucked himself up and became a doll.

– Weird mixture of Addison and mannequin. Mysteriously fell incredibly ill with a virus that was destroying his coding after his phone went dead silent, and became desperate to the point of converting his remaining data into an inanimate object. Kind of like converting a PDF into a JPEG with the compressed quality and all. Kinda iffy with this one and not really canon-inspired, I swap between him gradually and suddenly turning into a puppet. Used to base it off the Acid Theory but I'm tryna be creative sjfkdsjf he did probably fall in/get pushed a few times but it didn't burn him to the point of no return, it definitely stung though

– Blurry vision in both eyes because he had the audacity to peek into the Shadow Crystal multiple times. Hacked his glasses to somewhat correct it, but it only works to a certain extent.

– Talks through a voice box. He really doesn't need to move his mouth at all to speak and has limited range of motion (he can't close his mouth all the way and has no tongue), but he tries to purely out of habit.

– gayest man in cyber city

– Eats basically anything. From spaghetti-code to cardboard, his body is kind of forced to digest all of it, but it obviously hurts him if it's not supposed to be eaten.

– Sometimes doesn't recognize his own reflection.

– Riddled with viruses for so long that he probably wouldn't ever be able to get rid of them. He could probably minimize them if he got treatment, but only to an extent. They're a permanent part of him now.

– His nose is simultaneously the strongest and weakest part of his body. Either pierces through metal or bends like a bendy straw depending on if you throw him or just lightly poke it.

– Terrifyingly amazing aim. Can throw a pipis at a specific target without much thought. His pipis explode.

– Calmed down a bit as the years went on (because he lost hope LMAO), which isn't saying much considering he's still extremely rabid. Was extremely volatile when he first decided to give up the good life and live in the dumpster. Frequently tried to break into the mansion, probably stole a few cars, mugged a few Plugboys, picked fights with other malware on the streets. He still continues to do these things, of course, but to a lesser degree.

– Spiteful cunt. Wrong him once and he'll never forget your name. Rarely apologizes even if he's in the wrong.

– Can't say names properly unless he's being completely serious.

– Upholds his end of most deals, but words himself carefully so that if what he has to bring to the table isn't up to par with what the other person asked of him (which is 99% of the time), he can easily swindle his way out of it. No refunds on the sword. It's broken? I told you that. Cut anything, two pieces. You heard me clearly, and you obviously had no qualms with it from what I could tell. (Except he'd say that in a really fucked up and more condescending way.)

– Constantly hears static, but it grows and fades depending on his mood.

– Laughs at the most inconvenient times. Someone's threatening him? He'll chuckle. He's nervous? A little giggle. He just received some devastating news? Roaring laughter.

– Very unreliable narrator and storyteller. Tends to exaggerate things that have happened to him (doesn't mean that he didn't go through some wild shit though).

– Doesn't celebrate his birthday, for obvious loneliness and conflicting self-resentment reasons. Also because he doesn't keep track of the time. He don't know what day it is fam.

– Can mimic voices really well, though he still retains that bitcrushed/noisy overlay and the ad pop-ups.

– Tends to chew on things occasionally as a nervous habit. He doesn't exactly have a tongue, so he instead picks up random small items scattered around (ie. a pencil) and chews on them. Worst case scenario he just grinds his teeth together.

– Gestures with his hands a lot when he speaks. It literally looks like he's going through an emote hotbar. Also very expressive when it comes to his face, despite rarely being able to frown properly. You can garner a lot about his mood from his glasses.

– Mostly bark over bite. Tends to make empty threats a lot when he's startled in hopes his loudness will be intimidating, but will indeed bite if he needs to… or wants to. Sometimes there’s no bark at all, and he’ll literally bite.

– Has a weird fascination with shiny objects. He steals many things that seem valuable or visually appealing and hoards them in his shop.

– Once you put the KEYGEN into NEO, it takes a little bit for him to actually take over the body because he's transferring his data onto it. Permanently. Even when he becomes small Spamton again, he's permanently linked to the machine now, so he can change into it at will. Technically not at will because he has trouble controlling it, but you get what I mean.

this was insanely long but thank you for letting me ramble <3

[ardentwench]

An expansion on this post about Steve and Eddie drunkenly eloping via an underground pastor at a pride event the same day they get together.

(If anyone wants to write anything inspired by this or the original post please do)

.

It’s 1990 and Steve, Eddie, and Robin end up visiting NY for xyz reason and when they hear about a Pride event they take the opportunity to go. They have fun, get emotional, somehow bond even more. Steve and Eddie have been teetering on the verge of something for what might be years now, the unspoken slow burn of falling in love with a close friend finally getting acknowledged, putting words and actions to the tension between them. They get invited to some more hidden low key community events to follow up the main event.

They get wasted, Robin gets distracted by some fellow lesbians. She gets Steve to let her slip away for a bit, insists that she’ll stay safe and believes Steve and Eddie can handle themselves without her for awhile, perhaps they could take the time to focus on this new evolution in their relationship.

When one of her new friends drags her to where a small excitable gathering is she doesn’t expect to see Steve and Eddie stepping up to the front of the scene. She can’t press herself through the crowd fast enough to interrupt the basement ceremony happening ahead of her. The audience is too loud in their catcalls for her to even make out much of what makeshift vows her friends are sharing but she can hear just enough to know some of it must sound absurd and hyperbolic to anyone paying close enough attention. She makes it to the front in time to see the swoon worthy kiss of a finale before the boys are gently guided to the side and gifted a Polaroid picture as the next couple falls into place in front of the pastor as he puts himself on the line to help same sex couples feel recognized in their commitment to each other.

She drags a giddy Steve and Eddie to a motel a few streets away, manages to keep them safely off each other long enough to snag a couple rooms, doesn’t even attempt to suggest they sleep apart and instead finds minimal sanctuary on the other side of a worryingly thin wall.

The next day they seem to remember all the important details and neither seem mortified with regret which is a big relief to Robin but there’s a stretch of awkward tension through the makeshift breakfast in her room before they checkout where they seem to be trying to get a footing for how to proceed with each other as boyfriends, let alone as unlawfully wedded spouses.

A couple jokes between the three of them and things start feeling more natural, less tense. Steve and Eddie make a few jokes about spousal privilege, Robin playfully laments she hasn’t even had an official girlfriend yet while Steve’s already snagged a husband. Steve counters with how to be fair he and Eddie had only got together a scant 6 hours prior to eloping and never officially used labels so would it really count as him having a boyfriend before her a girlfriend? And if that’s the case she can still brag about that since he won’t ever get to have a boyfriend since he’s married and all now.

It should be a joke but Robin knows Steve, reads the expression on his face, the inflection in his voice. She catches the way Eddie is eyeing him with heart eyes that reflect too much love and adoration and not enough humor for the joke it should be. She doesn’t miss the way he doesn’t make his own quick witted remark to correct or deflect Steve’s assertion. They don’t talk about it in further depth that day, or the rest of the trip.

When they return to their shared three bedroom home life continues in a way Robin assumed it would once her friends figured things out, the boys are more affectionate in a way that would be unbearable if it wasn’t so sweet and slowly one of their bedrooms becomes unused. There’s occasional references and inside jokes that crop up about the elopement but Robin lets it slide for quite awhile after, glad to see her two pining idiot friends are finally happily together. Within the codependency she has with Steve is a constant twist of protective concern and if she lets herself overthink too often she knows she’ll only spiral among a feedback loop of negativity.

It’s when the comments and jokes about marriage and husbands don’t peter out but instead morph into more casual comments that live on the side of too authentic for Robins comfort that the suspicions she’d felt turns to anxious worry that she stops ignoring.

The shiny new rings given to them for the ceremony are still in place on their fingers in a way that really only stands out on Steve’s normally unadorned hand. He gets offended when she suggests he moves it to a chain or something, quips about what kind of husband she must think he is before he gets quiet and swiftly changes the subject when her answer is a fake husband.

It’s 6 months after the trip to NY and Steve is pondering out loud to Robin, which is nothing new, but he’s going on about if it’s tacky to celebrate a 6 month wedding anniversary and how those expectations might differ between dating and marriage. She knows he’s more musing to himself than expecting a response from her but she can’t help the way she eventually explodes on him in frustration born from her concerns that he’s in too deep, too fast.

She suggests that maybe he’s taking the joke too far. He admits it doesn’t feel like a joke. She wants reassurance that he’s not just deluding himself, that the feeling is at least mutual. Steve is too insecure to speak for Eddie since they haven’t explicitly talked about it. They do mutually call each other husbands as a term of endearment and aren’t shy about voicing their love, but a lot of things just haven’t felt necessary to voice. Things just feel right in a way Steve isn’t sure he’s ever felt before. He gets why it sounds insane to want to take their elopement seriously but he thought if anyone would support him wanting to hold onto their opportunity to marry the love of their life, lawfully or not, it would be her.

Robin isn’t so easily reassured. She worries that Steve has fallen victim to playing out his youthful domestic fantasy to the point he’s speed running things and it could be to the detriment of his relationship and his future. She just doesn’t want him to get hurt. Her anxiety runs through all sort of reasons it’s a bad idea. And she lists them off in a near panicked ramble.

He’s young, the relationship is still new, they haven’t even been together a year. How is he sure Eddie is the love of his life? Wouldn’t he have said that about Nancy when he was with her? Has he considered if the trauma bonding is affecting his judgment? He really only came to terms with his sexuality a year ago. He hasn’t decided on his direction in life yet between college or a career. What happened to focusing on finding himself? What if he misses opportunities to find his true potential because he’s prioritizing playing house?

She was the only who knew about their drunken vows, there wasn’t any evidence besides the blurry Polaroid they’d been handed but when she couldn’t ignore the unsettled feelings about the situation she had turned to talking them through as vaguely as possible with Nancy, someone logical and sensible who also knew enough of Steve’s baggage to give some sort of informed insight as she vented.

Steve had been able to handle listening to Robins spiral of doubt, even as it bordered on lecturing, because he knew it came from a place of care and concern as she struggled to understand this discrepancy in their usually compatible logic. But when Robin begins sounding less like herself and more like she’s quoting from memory he doesn’t let her continue.

Robin ends up saying something that sounds just like Nancy and Bullshit. Suggesting Steve might care about being wanted in a relationship more than he did the reality of the relationship, implying every fast track couple was doomed to the fate of Ted and Karen Wheeler’s unhappy marriage or Joyce and Lonnie’s inevitable divorce. She alludes to his abandonment issues, his struggles with self esteem, and his lack of self preservation, as if they might have something to do with why he would want to honor his inebriated spontaneous illegal marriage instead of doing the more sensible and safe route.

Once he’s realized she’s actually been talking to Nancy about him he gets upset. He’s hurt and affronted and as much as he was willing to give Robin some allowance to judge him she had taken her lack of faith in him and in his relationship with Eddie too far. Knowing she’d gone behind his back to talk about him and Eddie to his ex girlfriend and had came out with such negative conclusions and assumptions made him feel raw and defensive. He lets his inner high school bitch take the wheel and watches Robin deflate as he begins correcting her where she’s overstepped.

He’s unable to stop some bitter self deprecation from slipping through when he tells her he might not be the smartest and may not be going many places, or making plans to do big things with his life, but that shouldn’t matter. Not everyone wants to make a difference to the world on a grander and more public scale than secretly saving the world repeatedly from the Upside Down. Not everyone’s priorities are to escape their hometown as soon as possible to disappear into a big city or learn it all at big fancy schools. The only opportunity he currently cares about missing is embracing the direction life will take him and Eddie together, and who they can grow to be while alongside each other. And maybe his aspirations seem lacking to someone as smart and talented as her and Nancy but he’s happy and content in a way he can’t recall ever experiencing, not even with Nancy. And maybe it’d be nice if his best friend didn’t suggest it was all bullshit or insinuate he was an idiot for wanting to keep that feeling alive and strong. There’s more he says but he doesn’t stick around for Robin to respond.

Eddie shows up in time to overhear something that could be taken out of context before Steve storms off but instead of assuming the worst and miscommunication dragging out the ordeal he actually checks on Steve and they communicate via a healthy discussion and Eddie confirms he is just as stupidly invested in Steve and meant every word of his vows too. At first Steve had tried pulling away when Eddie comes to him, Robin (and Nancy’s) words getting to his insecurities and stirring doubt where there’d previously been none. Eddie easily reassures him. Despite not being particularly religious he married Steve under God by the power of a badass rebel pastor and they didn’t need government approval or fancy paperwork or even their friends approval for it to be real.

Robin went to apologize to Steve and Eddie but accidentally eavesdrops which makes her feel even worse for doubting Eddie’s level of seriousness about Steve or that Steve couldn’t handle his own relationship and life, realizing that maybe if she hadn’t been so caught up projecting her own insecurities onto the situation she may of realized Steve and Eddie deserved more credit for understanding each other than she had initially been willing to give them. She does end up apologizing and Steve appreciates it even though he can admit he would of probably stressed out and made an ass of himself over Robin eloping so quickly as well.

For their 6 month anniversary they take the opportunity to get the kids together while everyone is still available. Eddie slips into one of his showy rants against the government and why some laws were better broken, ending it with the declaration that he and Steve being together is a prime example of how worth it some laws are to ignore. Most of the party roll their eyes, used to Eddie’s passionate spiels and gushing about Steve, something that’s only got worse since they returned from NY and were caught being borderline indecent at Joyce and Hoppers wedding reception. Steve had blamed it on their new relationships own honeymoon phase.

Mike who was hanging on Eddies words wrinkles his nose and points out in confusion that sodomy wasn’t illegal in Indiana. This gains everyones attention on him and he flushes, pointing out in his defense that he was just saying it wasn’t exactly illegal for Steve and Eddie to be dating like Eddie implied. The kids rush to tease Mike for just blurting something like that out despite the context until Eddie cuts in to correct the misconception that him and Steve are dating.

This immediately quiets everyone, confused and a little concerned they glance between their two older friends and Steve struggles to keep his face neutral. Beside him Robin shoves her own face in a book in an attempt to hide her own poor poker face. Almost simultaneously Max and Dustin both break the silence, rushing to get clarification and talking over each other as they ask what that means. Steve’s a bit surprised by the amount of hackles raising around the room at the simple statement. Max and Dustin especially looked prepared to follow through on previous shovel talks if necessary, hanging onto every word of Eddie insisting insists him and Steve aren’t boyfriends. They’re just shy of becoming feral as they try to make sense of the situation when Steve finally feels pity and casually chimes it that while sodomy isn’t outlawed same sex marriage is illegal, and yet…

There’s a moment of confused quiet that falls over the room only broken by Dustin huffing exasperatedly until Will lets out an almost involuntary sounding Oh. He’s all wide eyed and pink around the cheeks even before everyone focuses on him and Steve knows Will’s clocked the truth when he sees the way he’s looking at Steve’s ring finger. Will finally meets his eye and offers a hesitant congratulations. It’s only another bated breath before the kids stir with the revelations as their genius minds catch up to the insinuations.

They clarify for El how they eloped and what it meant, how they refuse to let the government dictate their use of matrimonial vows, holy or unholy. Eddie preens under the ability to brag about Steve agreeing to become his unlawfully wedded husband. Steve was prepared for someone to voice skepticism but when he hears Mike through the excited chatter grumbling about not understanding Eddie’s poor choices it means a lot for Robin to be the first to quickly shut it down, a chorus of vocal support following her lead.

[bugsbenefit]

just saying it now and i'll keep saying it until s5 comes out. but no matter what leaks we get (even if we'll eventually get something we can confirm as most likely correct) we still won't know what'll actually happen in s5 for sure in any way

for reference, one of the "correct" s4 leaks was Mike telling El he loves her in a romantic monologue. what the leak failed to mention, however, was that El was in a life or death situation, unresponsive while being chocked to death by Vecna, and that Mike was saying anything and everything he could think of like how he loved her since he saw her for the first time all while Will, Jonathan, and Argyle are standing right next to them

according to the leak it was a big dramatic romantic scene. what we got was the dingy badly lit pizzeria freezer and Mike almost crying thinking El was dying while telling provable lies

and that's just how leaks WORK. Always. either because the leaker doesn't have all the information, or because the scripts are intentionally vague, or even because the leaker only remembers certain plot threads well and is balling on the others (you also never have unbiased leakers. someone who doesn't know the show at all is going to leave important context out bc they don't realize it's relevant. but a leaker who favours a certain ship is going to (maybe even subconsciously) interpret scenes in that ships favour, and so on)

we could get a potential leak for s5 that for example says "Max dies in the void" but then what ends up happening in the show is she fades into the void or something and then wakes up in her irl body in the hospital in the next scene. the leak "Will kills El" could be about Will pulverizing her in monopoly (hyperbole), and "Mike and Lucas have a horrible fight" could be a 10 second spat followed by a scene of them joking together. you get the gist

essentially, even the leaks that ended up being "correct" in hindsight still only gave you about 20% of the plot while leaving out the most crucial bits

...what i'm saying is stop putting so much weight on leaks. even if we reach a point where we start getting some we can be pretty sure of. they'll still get shit so insanely wrong it'll be Painful post s5

[bonebabbles]

So since my rose-colored Gray Wing glasses have been torn of my face and stomped into tiny pieces, I’m now wondering if my perception of Clear Sky’s arc is also skewed. I thought his redemption arc was well done (until Star Flower came back) because he was sincerely trying, wasn’t expecting forgiveness, and (unlike a lot of redemption arcs) was not forgiven by most of the characters right away because of how bad his actions were. Until he got with Star Flower, I thought his redemption arc was damn near perfect. Do I have on rose-colored glasses for his redemption arc?

Clear Sky's "redemption arc" is one of the most incompetent bits of writing that has ever blighted the entire series and I promise you I'm not doing hyperbole. It is so bad that it drags down everything it touches, including Gray Wing, Thunder, Acorn Fur, and the entire concept of StarClan.

And, unfortunately, both things you cited there absolutely did not happen, I am going to have to eat your glasses. I'm gonna munch. I'm gonna cRUNCH

"He was sincerely trying"

He wasn't. He just stopped actively shredding random people on his border and then whines that he's "Trying So Hard," using it as yet another guilt trip tactic because he's still an abuser.

The SECOND anyone gives him any criticism (FOR BRINGING A WIFEBEATER INTO HIS CLAN MIND YOU), he twists the fact they're supposed to "forgive him" against them, starts calling Gray Wing slurs for having asthma, and gets offended at a warning while huffing, "no one tells me what to do!"

Like a big fucking baby

And he only let Tom into his clan (even implying he's not a REAL cat because he's fat + an ex-kittypet) because he promised he could show him how to "fight dirty."

AND ALSO he is fully aware that this man kidnapped children in a previous book; but Blazing Star completely forgets major details of the previous three books in a way that is absolutely unacceptable. You are practically reading a new continuity.

"He was not forgiven by the other characters right away"

He was. He was literally, immediately forgiven in the very opening of Blazing Star. By Gray Wing and Thunder, because the narrative decided that Everyone Is Responsible.

Even back in First Battle, right after the fight ends we get a line that gives Bramblestar a run for his money. "WE let it get too far." The narrative even scrambles for some reason to make a woman responsible and grabs Tall Shadow for some fucking reason.

Acorn Fur doesn't even mention that CLEAR SKY WAS STARVING HER FATHER before she decides to move in with him, because she would miss her parents too much on the moor... those parents who just died. In the battle Clear Sky started.

Everyone immediately forgives him and kisses his butt because "The guilt will hurt him more than any actual consequences :((( He was just under so much pressure of leading guys.... which is why he should continue to lead............"

I've actually had a hard time continuing my reread because I've actually been fucking enraged at how Thunder is swooning over his daddy "finally looking at him" uwu

This is painted like a good thing. This is a sweet and nice thing that finally, the abusive ghoul who shoved his face into a festering wound and said he shouldn't have been born just before trying to kill him and all of his friends 'respects him.' Oh Joyous Day Yippee Hooray!

How this ruins the other characters

It destroys Gray Wing because it makes ALL this dogshit behavior that he displayed for the first three books correct. In spite of how GOD awful this "Redemption Arc" is, you are supposed to believe that there is good "deep down" within Clear Sky. That all of this abuse apologia was wisdom. Gray was, and IS, right to take every insult and understand it as humility, and the Clear Sky on the page is actually a Good Boi who Really Does Love His Clan.

It ruins Thunder because even after ALL of that physical and emotional abuse and neglect, he's still supposed to honor Clear Sky as "You'll always be my father." These destructive impulses to want his approval are good and natural in this narrative, not something to confront or fundamentally question.

Fuck, just look at the Tom Redemption. The writers LOVE abusive parents. Even if they beat the shit out of your mom, get her killed, kidnap you, and had no part in raising you, "they still love you and would die for you." Tom's Redemption and Clear Sky's Redemption are just different lines in the same song.

Acorn Fur moves in with the guy who held one of her parents hostage and ultimately got both of them killed

And STARCLAN forms to "tell clear sky what to do," because in the baffling Fear vs Greed Dichotomy this series thinks is some kind of thesis, Clear Sky was just "afraid," not "greedy," and that means his fucked up little head can be fixed by the comfort a religious force can bring. He wasn't abusive because he loves having power over people, the thing that is right there on the page, nope, he really was just worried about death or responsibility or something.

This isn't even getting to the person he is in later material. He's a MONSTER in Moth Flight's Vision, as if his growth never happened.

And this is taking him all at face value-- in a meta sense, the sheer amount of female characters that get brutalized just for his man pain is legitimately dizzying. 2 mates die, 2 innocent women slaughtered, a child beaten and another starved to death, and even pregnant Star Flower gets pinned to the ground and licked on the face as her assaulter talks about how much he wanted her as a mate

This is the worst arc in the entire Warrior Cats franchise and it is spinning on the crap-axis that is Clear Sky's 'redemption'.

The arc is bad BECAUSE it is working towards this idea, that the best villain the series ever wrote has to become the writer's Poor Little Meow Meow halfway through 6 books, so we can get to our regularly scheduled Born Evil Foreigner Villains Who Hate Love And Friendship.

Imagine TPB but Fireheart cries that self defense against Clanborn cats makes you Just As Bad, Tigerstar was just scared or something, and you get two Diet Scourges. That's DOTC.

[taehyungfirst]

Just to correct anon, Tae said he and JK had worked on some songs together, not that they would release a song, let alone on Christmas, that was just shippers being hopeful. Same with recording at JK’s place, Tae said he recorded the guide for a song, and shippers started spreading that he recorded the entire album and that JK sang the guide etc etc, so when JK talked about it, jikookers were like “see, Tae lied”, even though Tae said the same thing as JK. And many instances where taekookers blew stuff Tae did out of proportion, so when JK talked about the same event jikookers would call Tae a liar based on taekooker theories.

Also about the alcohol thing that another anon brought up, jikookers called him a liar because he said during the Busan live that he hadn’t gotten drunk in two months or so and jikookers used his ig pics from NY to show he was drinking something, which is just… like maybe he forgot or maybe he only had that one glass and didn’t count it as getting drunk?

The only thing with Tae aside from his sense of humour flying over most people’s heads because they take him way to literally is that he is hyperbolic, a song he likes is his favourite song (or the song of his life) and two weeks later it’s a different song. He sometimes speaks in absolutes about the silliest things.

I’m not even saying Tae doesn’t lie, they all lie, but these are just very weird, small things that shippers hyperfocus on to make him seem like a villain, when even regular people sometimes forget stuff, but they don’t have obsessed losers keeping track of their every word.

All I’m getting from this is that jikookers need to stop being obsessed with Tae 😭 Analyzing what he says, trying to get gotcha moments, comparisons… his second fandom indeed.

As I said, it mostly happens depending on how you curate your timeline (and with a bit of common sense too, I guess), I never thought Tae was lying about those things because A. I listen to him B. I listen to him, easy as that. He always said he only did the guide at Jk’s, but it got twisted into the whole album and he was dragged for it because of what? He still did a guide there, at the end of the day. The drinking alcohol thing is so stupid I won’t even comment it, sorry.

[the-story-of-how-we-died]

What are your thought on Orym's character/character direction after last episode? You seem to be one the, like, two people whos comment on him arent all "Oh, Orym, my sweet, sweet summer child who can do no wrong and id alway right." but as complicated person.

Oh, that's a lot of pressure lol.

To be clear, I think it's a bit reductive to say that people view Orym as a completely 2D character. I think many people who like him are capable of seeing him in 3D. Most often, people point to him constantly trying to do right in a world where "right" and "wrong" aren't entirely clear, his struggles with being considered "the stable one", and his grief with his dead husband and father as his main traits. These just are often taken at face value, I find - he tries to do right, so everything he does is right, he's trying to be the stable one, so he definitely isn't stable, etc. (To be clear, I agree on that second one, he's definitely been hanging on by a thread for longer than I think he'd like to admit).

I think the biggest thing is that Orym's been running ever since his father and husband were killed. He claims its to find their murderers, and, while I think that's true to a point, I think the much bigger thing is that he's never actually stopped to deal with his grief.

This ties in with him being "the stable one". He's very good at hiding his grief, hiding it so well that I think most of his friends really do think he's moved on, or at least come to terms with it (save for Ashton, they see right through it.). So, when he does break down, it's all seen through that lens of "the stable one's breaking down". But I don't think he's ever been stable. He's been on the brink of falling apart ever since his husband and father were killed, and running away has been the only way he's learned to cope.

In the last ~5-10 episodes, however, I think he's slowly been moving away from "running away" to "getting revenge", but it's all still just a way for him to not deal with his grief. At the end, whether or not he gets revenge, I think he's going to stand there and realize there's still a hole, and that nothings going to fill it.

To the point of him always being morally correct, well, I don't think that's true. He certainly tries, but he isn't... special for that effort. Everyone of the BHs is attempting to do right by their world views, and are traversing just as complicated of a world as Orym is. I think Orym is just much more vocal on what he thinks is right or wrong. Which, also, I think aligns with what most of his fans think is right or wrong, which is where the "Orym can do no wrong" vibe comes from.

To be perfectly clear about my biases, I don't like Orym as a character, so take this all under that hue. While I understand a lot of his reasoning, I find his inability to deal with world views other than his own as well as his constant high-horsing to be incredibly annoying. He isn't the most moral of the BHs (I would attribute that to Ashton, though that is a topic for another post), but he presents himself as such, so every conversation about what actions to take next inevitably comes down to "Either go Orym's way, or he'll spend the next twenty episodes moping and complaining" (a hyperbole, I know).

Don't take this as me decreeing it as true, of course. It's just how I read the character.

Also, Liam really likes monologuing. Which isn't a problem in of itself, and I didn't find annoying as Caleb or Vax. But, when Orym does it, I find it extremely aggravating because it's nearly always composed of a few minutes of Orym wallowing in self-pity or lamenting about how people won't do things his way.

[winterrose527]

🔥

thanks for the ask, lovely! since there is not a topic I guess I'll just go off...

my unpopular opinion is that: some things ARE our fault

look, our generation finally got the therapy that every previous generation so sorely needed, but if there is one thing people of all ages and times are good at it is over-correcting, and we are no exception. And I think there is this tendency now to try to rationalize people's bad behavior, which in some cases is good because it's important to understand generational trauma & the root cause of issues in order to break the cycle, but it's that second bit that is imperative. breaking the cycle. the only way to do that is to do what we want previous generations to do, which is to take accountability.

somewhere along the line though people took 'what happened to me wasn't my fault' a step too far to 'so nothing is'.

it's so dangerous, and this isn't hyperbolic to say that some of the worst things done in history were by people who felt perpetually victimized. constructing a narrative in which all bad behavior can be rationalized? blaming a small group for rigging the game? we have seen these things before and they do not end well.

none of this is to absolve the traditional power structures or the oppressiveness of societal norms, etc., it is solely to say that justification of 'us' and demonization of 'them' without nuance or hesitation is terribly dangerous no matter what side of the aisle anyone is on.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

I am so tired of some people just making noise when they don’t have to. I used to visit poc writing tumblr, but stopped when mods criticized casting a correct teenager poc just because she wasn’t dark enough. And i see lgbt tumblr criticizing casting teenagers who didn’t come out as queer. I see a tumblr criticizing casting two white for a love triangle when none of them required to be another race. If show had 4 love interests, i would be ok with that opinion, but it had only 2. Don’t force it.

I admire blogs and individuals who create communities to promote equality and better representation. Sadly they step into straight-up policing territory a few times, making creators fearful instead of simply giving guidelines. As we say in Greece "let something fall down, bud!" It makes sense for people to make posts wishing there were more types of representation but I understand that you speak of the times when the represented individual wasn't "enough" for them. In these cases, I think that they are missing the point, and also derailing the representation discourse a bit.

It's natural for people to sometimes turn hypervigilant or bitter on posts and complaints. I named this blog "salty-aunty", so I can't complain about these human moments that I also share. And I am saying this as someone who fought once or twice with such blogs (on them misrepresenting Greek stuff, and presenting them from their own perspective, and one post spoke in a very eehm USian way about Greek genocide and our "race").

Needless to say, I don't like these moments of hyperbole, as well. Excessive criticism gets stifling in these cases, and it causes fear in the creative, discouraging one's attempts at inclusivity.

[romanarose]

“What a beautiful wedding” + any of the TF boys, possibly bitter guest situation (or not whatever works babe)

Love this shit baby I knew what I knew what I was doing as soon as I saw this. Will is my SON and I LOVE HIM

*********

Will Miller wasn't one to get dressed up, but tonight was special. He'd do anything for the couple he watched dancing in front of him. If all they asked was for him to get in a tux and stand at the alter with them, Fish, and Ben... well shit, that was an easy yes. He stood next to a wedding guest as he watched Santi and his new wife dancing their first dance, so completely in love, and leaned over to make chit chat.

"What a beautiful wedding" and it was.

"Yeah, too bad the groom's bride is a whore" The guest replied.

Will took a moment. Did he hear that right? "Excuse me?"

"Yeah, heard she's been with half the town before Santiago, and the other half since they got together"

This was partially correct, even if it was a hyperbole. She had, infact, slept with a lot of people before Santiago met her. That wasn't an insult, just a fact. Nothing more than what Santi had done. Probably less, honestly. If anyone was a whore in this marraige, it was probably Pope. As for what she had done since dating Santi, he knew that wasn't true. Will suspected they had a threesome with Fish at some point, but that wasn't anyones business, not Will's, not the town's, not-

"What's your name?"

"Mateo"

Certainly not Mateo's. And if he was implying she was cheating, which Will assumed he was, that absolutely was not true.

"Mateo, you know I'm a part of the wedding party, right?" Talking shit about someone at their wedding was bold enough, talking shit to a groomsman was a whole other move.

Mateo laughed. "Yeah, lucky you."

That made Will turn. He was still deciding Mateo's fate at this point.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Heard she's sucked off the whole wedding party today. How's that song go, once a whore, you're nothing more? Can't make a whore into a housewife"

Alright. That did it. And it was completely untrue.

"Did she not fuck you or something?"

Mateo laughed again. "No, seems everyone but me."

Will sighed. "Okay, here's what we're doing. You're leaving. When the song ends, we're getting your shit, and I'm escorting you out. The only reason I don't beat your ass right here is because I don't want to cause a scene."

Mateo looked nervous. "You try to take me outside, I'll make a scene either way."

Will shook his head. "No. See, I get the feeling the only one spreading these rumors is you. No one else cares what she did before she met Santi, Santi certainly doesn't. So you aren't staying here to keep doing that. Here's the thing. If I take you outside, I'm just going to rough you up a bit. Now, if you cause a problem, the others are going to have to get involved. Benny, you don't want to mess with him, he fights professionally. And Santi, he'll let us handle it tonight, but he holds a grudge. He'll make your life a living hell. Friendly guys like him and Benny know people. But who you really want to watch out for" Will grabbed his shoulder, turning him to where Fish was smiling, watching the bride and groom dance. "Seems quiet, right? It's always the quiet ones. Frankie here is just waiting for a chance to become unhinged. He's got a lot of shit in his life, and once he lets loose, it's game over. So, you better be happy it's just me."

Mateo moved to leave, but Will grabbed him by his jacket, turning to watch his friends. "Aht, aht, aht. Not yet. I wanna watch them dance."

*************

Send me a promt from the Emo Lyrics list

[roxanneminerals]

Cold Reunions Ch. 1

^Still hate that title but I'm bad at names. Well titles, really. If I could just call this thing 'Kevin,' I would.

You know what, fuck it. Kevin Chapter 1.

I absolutely despise this chapter and looking at it makes me wish I couldn't read. Okay maybe that's hyperbole, but I'm not happy with it. See, my problem is I have these scenes I know I want to happen, but I never know how to get characters from A to B. Also exposition is annoying and I know there's a way to do it well but I'm not a writer. Anyway I'm not going to spend anymore time on it or look at it ever again. It's your problem now 🫵

Anyway if you somehow stumbled upon this, this is my Pokémon swsh Crown Tundra fancomic/fic thing. Basically it's a three-year timeskip from the DLC (see, when I first started writing this, that's how long it'd been in real life 😌). Peony, Peonia, and Gloria return to the Tundra to each get away from their problems, but only seem to find more to be worried about as Peony starts to remember strange things about their last visit, and his recently released, supposedly reformed brother. All the while, dark clouds gather above the Max Lair as odd rumblings emerge from its depths...

I don't think I actually put a description on the prologue, so there ya go. Rest is under the cut. Don't accidently click it or you'll be scrolling for a while. My bad.

Oh also AO3 scared me so I'll just be posting here from now on.

By the time Peony stepped foot off the train with their luggage, the girls were already dashing out the door, chanting about their trip to the Max Lair. Clearly, Gloria had gotten over her funk. He fought the urge to chase after them, remembering his promise to Nia. Besides, she was practically an adult at this point, she should've been able to make her own decisions… right? The realization that he would soon technically be the parent of an adult child did not comfort him, so he did his best to shake it off. He decided to hang back and follow them at a pace, just to make sure they got to their destination safely.

As he trudged out of the station, he felt like a beast of burden, backpack on his back, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and suitcase in hand. The noon sun shone brightly over the tundra, causing the snow to glitter and granting a faint glow to the few remaining leaves that hung lazily from the surrounding trees. Stepping past the fence which encircled the station, Peony was met with the familiar face of the Freezington mayor.

"Ah, Mr. Peony! I'm so glad your family could join us this year for the Solstice Festival." The old man beamed. Peony didn't remember him being so chipper. In fact, he had seemed a tad prickly last time they visited, though that very well could've been his imagination. "Your daughters just ran past," he added. "I believe they were headed to the Max Lair."

"Hiya! Chuffed t'see ya, Mr. Mayor! It's my daughter and her friend, actually." Peony corrected, setting down his suitcase to shake the man's hand. "And I know, they're coming to the inn later."

"Ah, I see. Well, allow me to help with your bags."

"Oh! No need! That one's a tad--" Before Peony could finish, the old man had effortlessly lifted the suitcase at his feet. "--heavy. How did you...?"

"M'lad, I've been a farmer since I could walk."

"O-oh, right." Still a bit taken aback by the seemingly frail man's sudden show of strength, Peony bit his tongue as the two began their trek to the village. In the silence, he became acutely aware of an odd sensation of being watched, or rather, observed. It felt more analytic than malicious, like a scientist gathering data instead of a predator stalking its prey. Of course, being watched was being watched, and Peony silently kicked himself for his useless philosophizing about distinctions. Before he had time to dwell on the thought any longer, the feeling was gone, and the old man spoke up.

"A lot has changed since you folks last visited. Ever since, we've been having harvests like I haven't seen since I was a lad. Some of the more superstitious villagers have started to see the lot of you as a sort of good-luck charm, and who can blame them? Seems like our King has finally returned."

“I've been called a lot of things in my day, but lucky charm's a new one!" Peony laughed, pretty sure the man was joking, but it was hard to tell his expression behind his thick coke-bottle glasses and wool hat.

Indeed, the village looked in far better shape than on their last visit. Despite the thick blanket of snow which already covered the ground, the fields in the center of the field glowed golden with grain, which one elderly woman worked away at with a sickle, while another hauled the bushels off for threshing. In another patch, an old man worked diligently at cutting pumpkins from the vine. Next to him, a wheelbarrow overflowed with the orange and green gourds.

"Ah, here we are." In the midst of their conversation, Peony hadn't realized they had already made it to the inn. As the mayor fumbled with his keys, he continued to look around absentmindedly, his eyes landing on the wooden statue standing at the edge of the fields.

He had nearly forgotten about the region's big-headed harvest deity, but looking at the effigy filled him with a strange mix of nostalgia and unease. Without thinking, he found himself wandering towards it. Upon close inspection, he realized that the once bare and snow-covered statue had been cleaned and adorned with wreaths, candles, and incense. In front of it sat some of the finest looking vegetables from the harvest, presumably as an offering. He looked into the carved eyes of the wooden creature and for a moment, he could almost remember–

"Admiring our King, eh?" The old man's voice snapped Peony back to reality.

"Oh, aye. Looks like they're doin' rather well for themselves these days, yeah?"

He smiled. “Since our harvests have improved, some of the villagers have taken up worship of our King again by making offerings to their statue. Some have even tried to travel to the old shrine, though the path's proved too treacherous for us geezers." He paused, looking up at the great tree atop the snowy summit overlooking the village. "It's a shame so many of our ancestors' practices have been lost to history, though..." His eyes rested on Peony's face as if looking for something, but all he got in return was a blank stare. He turned his attention back to the Inn. "I've unlocked the door for you."

Peony followed the man inside, feeling immediately awash with warmth as the building's central heating met his face. It was only about noon, but he felt the overwhelming urge to curl up and take a nap by the fireplace.

"Your key is on the dining table, there are extra towels and linens in the closet upstairs, and I've gone ahead and taken the liberty of leaving some staples in the kitchen. Oh! And here,” The mayor reached into his coat pocket, retrieving a pamphlet decorated in shades of blue and white and handing it to Peony. On the front page was a drawing of the same weird statue as outside. “Here's some information on our festival," the mayor explained. “It's been years since we last held one, so we had to compile information for tourists and locals alike!” He chuckled. "You remember where my home is, correct? As with last time, please don't hesitate to call if you need anything." Half-listening as he leafed through the flier, Peony nodded.

"I believe that is all," the mayor continued. "I hope to see you folks Friday evening!"

“Ta, Mr. Mayor!”

With that, he took his leave. Peony set his backpack down by the door and headed to the dining room to grab the key before he forgot and locked himself out. To his surprise, aside from the expected key, sat two large gift baskets, one filled with all manner of fresh vegetables, and the other with a myriad of locally made sweets, breads, candles, soaps, and commemorative jumpers for each of the party. They certainly hadn't received this level of hospitality on their first visit, Peony thought, though it dawned on him that, last time, they hadn't expected Galar's Champion to be staying with them. He decided then that they should travel with Gloria more often.

[jonathankatwhatever]

It’s 25 Apr 2023. I just had a realization: I was thinking about my doubts being centered in the fact that I construct a version out of what I see and hear from you, and it then occurred to me that you couldn’t talk about what’s inside you openly the same as I never could, which meant you had the same conversations, tailored to you because we are each finite constructs within the grid squares. That suggests 1-0Segment pairings, like attention paid versus not paid, because my mode was to engage entirely in something as though that was the path without paying attention to the larger context, meaning I would absorb their ways of being and acting by becoming one of them, for better or worse.

That suggests a K occurred in which you picked a course, but of course you always pick the course because if this pairing is correct then you have a different guide form, one which works on the outer edge. Or from and thus to. Not sure. This is really murky. As a pairing, I delved inside dimensional enclosures, but of course so do you, as does everyone in some ways, so there would be a shared boundary with hyperbolic and n-sphere spaces over the Euclidean to manifest I//I. Translate that as I//I is not the simple rotation of a triangle or fD or Hexagon, etc. but is the axis on which any rotation fits. So we can spin a rock in place and that’s the same mathematical idea as a 2-sphere being a sphere.

Just realized I need to think through this arrangement of spaces. Hyperbolic exterior, but I’m using Euclidean as the boundary when it’s the n-sphere that describes the boundary. Oh, I flipped the meaning at the juncture, which is nice to see a few days late. Nice proof the idea of Attachment because we couldn’t have the definitions of this boundary without Triangular and grid squares. That makes clear why we can capitalize Boundary as notation: it isn’t Pi or any one definition, but it’s the various definitions of a boundary that describes the same space. Connects to manifold surfaces and to interior spaces. I see: the confusion in my mind arose because I saw Pi and e as calculations in 0Space, when they’re actually 0Space results, so what I seeing in my mind was the alternation within 0Space between the calculations and the ideals. And I picked the one, when in fact they exist side by side and you can see the juncture of Attachment in the notation Boundary. This applies at scale, so one or many.

I’m feeling a bit better. What’s going on seems to be a massive change in relations between my selves. The shell was able to do his thing, which meant leaping in the air to dance down the University Path stairs, the Winthrop Path stairs and the Summit Path stairs. He had a lot of fun, but every now and then I’d find myself trying not to be scared. Trust him. Stay the fuck out of the way. Let him be himself. You know it’s in those moments when you’re transititioning that you get hurt. But it’s impossible to be always in it, always into it. That’s I//I: there is always that Attachment, which is memorialized in the n-sphere. I think this may be first real explanation of why these pieces all fit together like this, why you can map a regular sphere to a sphere with a point at infinity.

And it connects to an idea that came to me while walking yesterday, which he also had a very good time with, that repentance isn’t just making up for what you’ve done but actually taking that harm into your heart and soul so you know what it feels like, what it felt like to be that other person. It’s actual empathy. The example which came to mind is that Germans really should be studying Judaism so they can learn to identify as the Jews they murdered. It is the only way they can confront themselves. It is the way to repent.

I see a split coming in Judaism anyway. It’s inevitable now that Reform and those less devout than that are accepting the paternal line. The solution should be algorithmic, meaning it’s a perfect use of the blockchain. Just enter the data about a Jew’s heritage and it’s a permanent record. I mean that if you can accurately track heritage, then people who want to keep to the old definitions can do that. The old definitions aren’t racial: a convert’s bloodline becomes part of the tribe. That’s normal for tribes.

My answer to the issue of refusal, like we want everyone here to follow our rules, is to say then if you are here you have to follow our rules. If that’s unacceptable to you, then you shoud see that your demands are equally unacceptable.

You are clearly hyperbolic. Maybe I am too but it’s not as obvious, certainly not at comparable scale. So, that explains why I’m becoming more hyperbolic: it’s the same process we’ve been describing in which the orthogonals approach the same values. I can see the simplest case of pure inversion positive and negative.

But as I remember, that came out of generating a grid square by rotating a bT around the 3rd End. We never finished that; we left out the transition from Triangular, which is 60 degrees, to grid squares. Oops, wrong! I did it correctly before, the gs form was generated by rotating around the center of a bT, not an End. That version of a gs fits with the version constructed by rotating around the midpoint of a 1-0Segment.

The version constructed around an End is different. It draws the midpoint lines of Triangular, so each bT is symmetrical along each of the 3 axes. That makes the center point used in the first version above. I think this may be something important, that this may be the generation of D3 or here 3D space in the sense of being able to locate in x,y, and z. That’s true. I can explain it in two Pathways.

One we’ve done before. That’s the construction of a D4 space out of both D2 and D6. That brings in Regularization as the generation of an ideal 1Space polygonal form with a center. This results in removing 2 of the 3 pairings in Hexagonal.

The other is what I mentioned day before or so, that I saw IC and the count of 4 as inherent to existence as the solution to the issue of there being 3fD to any bT. Where is the 4th? It’s constructed. So grid squares represents this in the 4square, which is also within any 1Square. That works when you count the contexts as we did years ago, that the 1 being constructed can be in any location, though these pair, with the typical being ordinary notation of positive and negative.

I keep saying that grid squares are a construction and that reality is a construction in grid squares. That is what this says in fairly blunt terms: there is a 4th grid square generated in relation to any 3gs. In dimensional terms, any D3 has attached a D4. Thus the more definite the D3, the more defined the D4, which relates to win probabilities and everything else. This was such a substantial upheaval of my thinking at the time that I nearly passed out from the strain. I could barely lift my head.

BTW, I’m doing this now largely with my right eye closed because my left has become focused on infinity and needs the upclose work. I can feel the eye opening and relaxing.

I noticed a number of teachable things in my routines. Example: I have realized, as you clearly have, that every bend or other movement down becomes an opportunity to reach for the ideal coming up. Like dance or weight training but without constraining the movement to a small set of Pathways. Like you can learn a Turkish get-up or whatever they call it now, like you can learn a squat, but then you’re training that specific movement, not all the possible movements, not all your personal potential movements. So a better design for training would be to do the strength move when you’re not doing the strength move. Or do the dance move when you’re not dancing. Meaning for me that I stand in whatever position I’m in and take that to its conclusion with my legs fully engaged, core tensioned and then extended upward. I’m getting closer to being able to describe the tensioning itself. That’s difficult. I can see easy examples like holding something and pulling across, learning how to do that with you arms, with different body parts, until you realize you can do it internally across the hips so you are pulled tight in various ways. Does wonders to pull out pain and free movement.

I found an amazing tensioning yesterday. Or rather, he did. He was standing at the top of a long flight of stairs and did a high stretch like a sun salutation which tensioned so the back lifted, so the chest kept that going, until the only direction left was into the neck and into the chin portion of the head, meaning I was able to pull that tight from all the way down my body. That neck area is just about the hardest place to tension like that, where all the pulling roots externally, when I’m not otherwise working that area.

So, to get back to the top, if I had conversations about what to say and how to act, but then I was sent out to become one of them in various ways, and you were too but not because entirely different scale means external direction so you can do that work.

Oh, I’m achieving contraction across my right knee unlike any I’ve been able to manage for many, many years. And I started taking off more from each foot, as opposed to jumping or leaping with nearly all leg movement (to avoid pain). I was surprised at how natural it felt now that I can do it.

I keep forgetting to type that each time I start to think about how this symmetry works, I hear that we’re the same, just expressed in different D3-4 forms. That’s the essence of what manifests as entanglement. Need to break.

[thedarling]

Copy Haste.

12:00 p.m. This Colleen Hoover book is... something. My demisexual ass cannot relate nor comprehend this level of instalove. There's no way people are really like this. This is pure hyperbole that frankly sucks. Every bit of these characters' motivations and attractions are so forced and all of CoHo's characters are the same book to book, including themes and devices. Where the fugg is my bingo card cause ALREADY I need to cross off: unplanned pregnancy, underage seggs, daddy issues, horrific death(s), instalove (obvi), "cheating", bro off his rocker, multiple trips to Target (of all places), STALKING™, detailed rape scene THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR... I need a medal for this one, I really, really do.

1:13 p.m. Jesus Christ... I've been notified that one of my reblogs may have 'sexually explicit content' and WHO CARES. A pair of tiddies, what is the big deal? Seriously, I can't stand people. It's bad enough that I can look back through my timeline (that's well over a decade now) and every other picture has been removed for probably the same reason. The shit I post isn't even that gnarly tho, like come on. CoHo markets her toxic books to teens and young adults with zero trigger warnings, but I can't repost a pair of tiddies (no face attached and anonymous)? Make it make sense.

7:04 p.m. Briefly reminded of my coworker asking me about my affinity for tea. At a minimum, I brew and drink a carafe a day (unsweet, I'm not a diabetic), which she thought was WILD, so much so that she asked if I had "a fetish"... Never thought that could be a sexual proclivity but the "tea fetish" visual BLEW MY MIND. I don't know if she doesn't know what that means but, I'm polite, so, all I said was, "...yes, you could say I fuck with tea." help.

7:20 p.m. Okay, I stand corrected, I did look up the definition of 'fetish' (away from my work computer) and it can be defined as an inanimate object that's worshipped (specifically linked to the word for 'sorcery' or 'charm') and this lesser known definition has nothing to do with sex... But I've only ever heard its correlation to sex... I don't know, you know what, FINE, I guess I have a fetish for tea.

[grotesquefave]

disclaimer: this fic in no way represents vox akuma himself, but instead the character he plays in this video cw: my rusty writing skills, ceo vox akuma x secretary reader, imbalanced power dynamics, dubcon, i listened to the asmr for the first time to get inspiration for dialogue so i'm sorry if it's too similar, hopefully i characterized him right?

Click. Click. Click. The sound of Vox’s brown leather loafers echoed throughout the hallway. Vox clutched his briefcase, walking past the empty desk only a few feet away from the door to his office. He stopped, turning to look at it. Where was…? Oh. That’s right, he had fired her. Though, they should have found him a replacement by now. He was a busy man, he had no time to schedule his own meeting or answer phone calls from business partners attempting to suck up to him in order to gain favor. He hoped that the new one would show some promise. The amount of secretaries in the past that had tried to offer him a blowjob in exchange for their job had made him nauseous. Did they think that he had no integrity? Well, it's not like he didn't indulge them once in a while.

Just as he pushed open the large wooden doors to his office, you came bursting through the doors. You panted heavily, forehead moist with your sweat from rushing through the streets and up the stairs (you didn't really have the time to wait for an elevator). Vox stood still, an awkward silence filling the room. "So what's your excuse, hm?" You fidgeted with your fingers in nervousness. Looks like you really blew it. Mr. Akuma was known to be a cutthroat business man, willing to sacrifice whatever or whoever stood in his way. "I-I'm really sorry sir!" Ah, of course you were groveling to him. He turned around to face you, eyes showing not a hint of sympathy. "Do you really think a sorry will cut it?" He spoke harshly, causing you to flinch a bit. Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes. Almost adorably pathetic. Maybe Vox also lacked a bit of integrity. "Follow me", he said before walking off into his office. You scrambled after him like a lost puppy. You felt the pit in your stomach deepen. Were you about to be fired? You had worked so hard to get this job, beating out all the other applicants, going through rounds and rounds of interviews. Vox stared up at you from behind his desk, studying you. Of all the things people had told you about him, they had failed to tell you that he was quite a handsome man.

You sat down in a chair on the other side, worried about your fate. "So," He broke the silence, "You are aware of how badly you fucked up today, correct?" You sat quietly, staring down at the floor. "Answer me." You let out a deep breath. "Yes sir. And again I am so, so sorry for-"" "There's no need for you to beg. I know how vigorous the interviews are here. After all, I'm the one who gets the final say in who gets hired here. It would really be a shame for me to let you go, especially since you're such a qualified candidate. Thankfully, I'm a generous man. I'll give you a second chance. In exchange for a favor, that is." Your eyes shot up, a surprised look on your face. Maybe the rumors weren't true. "Sir thank you so much! I'll do anything!" That was of course hyperbole but Vox didn't care. "Anything, you say? "You really should've been more careful about what you said around him. A charming smile etched itself upon the mans face, though it may have been more condescending than anything. "Well, I could think of one thing you could help me with." He stood up, towering over you. He almost glided over to you, standing behind your chair. His hands slithered down your shoulders and rested them on your chest. Your face was tickled by the feeling of his hair against your cheek as you held your breath. "Do you really want to keep this job? Cause if so, you'll do exactly as I say." You shuddered with the warmth of his breath hitting your ear.