#(could totally be misremembering this of course)

[cultivating-wildflowers]

two different mutuals on my dash

[maidenvault]

During my last rewatch of the prequels I was actually shocked by how much I've misremembered or decontextualized certain moments in my mind because of how they're often talked about in fandom as showing the Jedi as too arrogant, too bureaucratic, generally just burying their heads in the sand while everything goes bad etc. So I'm gonna try to address every individual scene that typically gets brought up to argue that this is an actual theme in Lucas's portrayal of the Order.

The Council doesn't take Qui-Gon's account of meeting a Sith seriously.

Mace and Ki Adi Mundi do both express doubt this guy could be a Sith. (Understandably! Historically they've never known Sith to be able to hide their existence, and for them to have survived totally in secret for a thousand years is a pretty wild thing for Qui-Gon to be so sure of.)

BUT Yoda admits that the dark side is hard to see, and Mace assures Qui-Gon they'll do everything to find out the identity of the attacker. Later he's ordered to go back to Naboo and try to draw out Maul to discover more. Qui-Gon accepts this and doesn't ask for backup. Why should he? He held his own against Maul before, and Maul's probably not gonna show himself again to face a ton of Jedi. They end up missing the chance to learn who trained Maul because of how things go down, but Qui-Gon's death isn't the result of the Council mishandling the situation.

At the funeral, Yoda says the presence of one Sith means there's another out there. They know they've got to be on guard now and will be, but they've got no more leads for now.

2. Qui-Gon's not here to free slaves.

There's this idea that slavery existing on Tatooine shows the Order is apparently too tied up doing shady things for self-interested politicians (footage not found) to help the people who really need it. But Padme's shocked to know the Skywalkers are slaves for a reason. The truth is there isn't a lot of slavery in the galaxy at this time because the Jedi have helped keep it that way for centuries only by working with the Republic. In TCW we see that Zygerrian slavers have a particular hatred of Jedi because they're literally The Anti Slavery People and did so much of the work to crack down on their trade. But Tatooine is controlled by the Hutts and they simply don't have the resources to start a war with them.

(And honestly, it's crazy how people talk like Qui-Gon's a monster for honestly and apologetically telling Anakin no, that's not why he's here. This is a child he's already indebted to and who has a hero-worshipping idea of Jedi, it would be fucked up for him not to be clear about how he can't help him and his mom.)

3. They doubt Dooku could be behind the assassination attempt.

This I understand shows the Jedi to be a little naive. But they knew Dooku as a good man, and at this point he and his followers are still putting on a show of wanting to secede for idealistic reasons (and a few of them, manipulated by Dooku, actually do have good intentions). Only later do the Jedi learn they're illegally building an army before they've even officially left the Republic and clearly have no interest in the peaceful resolution Padme's been advocating for. And they only find this out because they have Obi-Wan investigate the assassin and this very quickly leads him to Dooku.

4. "Arrogance, yes. A trait more and more common among Jedi. Even the older, more experienced ones."

In context, this line from Yoda is clearly not meant to be taken so seriously. Obi-Wan says he fears Anakin is too arrogant, and this is Yoda's light-hearted way of telling him not to be so hard on him. Part of training a Padawan is learning to trust them so they can grow, and Obi-Wan perhaps needs the reminder that he isn't done learning himself.

Of course Yoda saying this could be partly motivated by them having been caught off guard before by the existence of Darth Maul and the dark side clouding their awareness, as we're told repeatedly throughout the PT they know is a problem. But it's kind of contradictory to take this as confirmation that this is a serious fatal flaw of theirs. If someone acknowledges their own arrogance then they're aware of their ability to be wrong, which means they can't actually be that arrogant. If truly meant in a general sense and not just as a gentle reproof of Obi-Wan, it's a pretty self-deprecating comment coming from Yoda.

5. "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist."

Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu gives this haughty response to Obi-Wan looking for Kamino, a system that's not in the Jedi Archives. So being so overly confident in the infallible knowledge of the Jedi, he takes her word for it and totally drops this lead.

Except no, he goes to someone older and wiser to figure out what this actually means. And he and Yoda are forced to conclude that the unthinkable - a trusted person among them somehow had reason to erase information from the archive - must nonetheless be what happened. This is honestly an exception that proves the rule: Kamino, and we can assume only Kamino, is missing from the archive only because it was removed, which is so suspicious it just shows he must be on the right track to discovering something. Jocasta is kind of snooty about it but theirs obviously is supposed to be one of the most accurate and complete databases in the galaxy.

6. Obi-Wan doesn't believe what Dooku tells him about the Senate.

For one thing, in this conversation Dooku's lying about basically everything but this. And I can't ever stress enough that Palpatine is a threat unlike anything the Jedi have ever dealt with before, who's already taken control of so much before they even know they're fighting anything, so the idea that a Sith is controlling the Senate would be really hard for anyone to believe.

Still, we know Obi-Wan reports this to the Council anyway. But it's a vague statement and they still don't have any information to act on. Palpatine soon has them very busy putting out fires in the war, and naturally fighting the Separatists who are led by Sith seems the best way for them to get to the bottom of what exactly is going on with the dark side. And they do finally turn their attention to how power-hungry Palpatine is getting once the war is nearly over and they've got the bandwidth for it, and think about what they might have to do if he's the threat to their democracy they fear, but of course he's too many steps ahead of them all the time.

---

So basically, what we see the Jedi being so guilty of in these examples are thought crimes. When confronted with the crazy explanation that happens to be true, their instinctive reaction is "No, I don't think that's possible." And then they do their due diligence to uncover as much of the truth as they can anyway. And Yoda, the Grand Master of them all, is often the first to admit that their first assumptions could be wrong. But Palpatine wouldn't be a good villain if his moves were predictable and he couldn't get an advantage over the good guys - that's just how storytelling works sometimes and it's not that deep.

It honestly felt stupid typing so much of this out because it's 90% just describing what actually happens in these scenes. But I guess it's a lot to ask that people actually carefully watch the films they discuss. 😒

[generallyyapping]

Thoughts on Whitney?

Dude I have too many, although I think seeing more of his family dynamic would clear a lot of it up. Unless he comes from a totally loving family because then what the fuck.

I feel like Whitney craves attention or validation, maybe both, so I'd put money on some kind of negligent homelife. Whitney cares far too much about what other people think of them to have very doting parent imo.

Plus I think it’s interesting that Whitney's insecurity is their looks when they're such an exhibitionist. They seem to have very little reservation about getting naked in public, plus isn’t it confirmed that they’re pretty high up on the beauty scale? (I can’t actually remember what number but I think it was like a 5 or I’m totally misremembering)

Of course that doesn’t doesn’t mean they aren’t insecure about their appearance. However, I think it could also tie into them being insecure about how they look to others, what their reputation is like and how people think of them.

Like with Kylar’s halloween scene, Whitney is scared but refused to run like the rest of their friends and if they PC asks if they are okay after all that they snap at them (“Fuck do you mean…You think there’s something wrong with me”)

There’s also the fact that they are a lot nicer when their friends aren’t around but I don’t really think any of this is is new information, I just think it’s interesting and I really want to know where they’re attitude stems from.

I should make a post of my favourite Whitney interactions cause they have some good ones.

Also, it’s been a hot sec since I wrote that post about Bailey so I can’t remember exactly what direction my brain was firing in but I think the comparison between Whitney and Bailey I wanted to make was how they’ll both sell the PC out of it benefits then it’s just that Bailey is actually doing it for themselves whereas I feel like Whitney’s doing it more from insecurity, comparing those two kind of highlights that Whitney is still in highschool.

[kaleldobrev]

Once Mine

Pairing: Apocalypseverse!Michael x Apocalypseverse Fem!Reader | Michael!Dean (Dean Winchester) x Fem!Reader

Summary: Michael thinks him possessing Dean can be a win-win for the both of you

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Michael not taking no for an answer

Authors Note: Flashbacks are in italics | Yes, I really did call the Archangel Michael “Mike” | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡

Apocalypse World

Y/N was sitting cross-legged on her usual chair reading through a book she has read through hundreds of times. That was one of the things she had missed most pre-apocalypse: books, and having access to them. Since the apocalypse happened, she still had access to them but they were scarce; a lot of them had been burned to ash and she salvaged all she could.

She closed the book she was currently reading, her eyes starting to get tired looking at the text. As soon as she placed her book down, the door opened, and a smile formed on her face — it was as if he knew she had been done with reading. “Hey Mike,” she said.

He rolled his eyes at her. “You know how I hate when you call me that,” he stated, his voice stern.

“But yet, you never correct me,” she said, getting up from her spot on the chair and walking over to him.

As soon as she met him, her arms instantly wrapped around his waist, and he couldn’t help but wrap his arms around hers. “True,” he stated. “Don’t let the other angels hear you, cause they’ll start calling me Mike.”

“I’m sure they’ve heard me plenty of times,” she stated. “Particularly moaning it,” she grinned, whispering.

“True. You aren’t particularly quiet,” he grinned back.

“I love you, you know that?” She said, her hands moving to wrapping around his neck now.

He nodded. “And you know I love you too right?”

“I sure do,” she answered, their lips finally meeting.

Main Universe

Michael looked at you, sitting on the couch across from him — a coffee table was the only thing separating the two of you. The way you held your hands he knew you were nervous and he honestly didn’t know why, as nervous was the last thing that you should be.

Michael got up, and he couldn’t help but notice your eyes move as he walked; your heart beating rapid fire. “Want a drink?” He asked you, as he found his way behind the bar, taking out two whiskey glasses.

You shook your head. “I’m good thanks,” you stated, your voice meek.

“You sure? I know you like whiskey,” he said, starting to pour the amber colored liquid into his glass.

You looked at him, slight confusion on your face. “Um, I don’t actually,” you confessed. Oh yeah, my Y/N liked whiskey, he thought, not Dean’s Y/N. “Sorry,” you apologized.

“No need, must of misremembered,” he lied. He never misremembers. “It’s Dean that likes whiskey, not you.”

You nodded in agreement. “I don’t like beer either,” you said, your voice still meek sounding but it started to become more comfortable at the same time.

“So what do you drink?” He asked, genuinely curious. It slightly amazed him how different you were compared to the version of you in his world. Although you were an exact copy, you were still very different in every single way.

“Rum and coke, wine, vodka cranberries,” you said, naming a few. “I guess I like drinks that don’t really taste like alcohol. Dean he would…” you sighed sadly, starting to pick at the skin around your nails. “He would always jokingly of course, make fun of me for my quote on quote girly drinks.”

“How would you like a rum and coke?” He asked you.

“I’m honestly okay,” you responded. You didn’t know why he was being so nice to you given the situation. He had taken complete and total control over your boyfriend and he was acting like nothing was remotely wrong. You weren’t sure how to feel right now: nervous, scared, or both.

“Alright,” he said, drink in hand as he sat back down. He looked at you for a moment, admiring your face, a face that he hadn’t seen in quite some time; in person anyway, as he did have several pictures of you…of Y/N and him together from his world, from his other vessel.

“So why am I here?” You asked. “You clearly have what you want. You have Dean. Why do you need me here?”

“I feel that we can make this a win, win for the us both,” he stated. “You see, although there was no Dean in my world, there was a you there,” he began, taking a sip of his drink. “Her and I well…the way you feel about Dean is the same way her and I felt about each other.”

“You were in love with her,” you stated, and he nodding confirming. “So why aren’t you there with her? I mean, wouldn’t she…I don’t know, be confused with this new vessel of yours.”

“Well, based on yourself, if she were still alive, she’d have absolutely no problem with my current vessel,” he grinned. “Sorry about that by the way. This must be…hard for you.”

“That’s an understatement,” you slightly snapped, choosing to ignore his comment about the other you being deceased. “You mentioned there being a win, win. How can there be a win win when you have complete control over the man I love?”

“You see, we can both get what we want here if you agree to stay by my side,” he began. “My Y/N was killed by my brother, and there is no replacing her she was…perfect in every single way but, you’ll have to do despite being the downgraded version.” Ouch. “But, as long as I’m controlling Dean here, he can’t die. So, you’ll never lose him.”

“I already have,” your tone still snappish. “As soon as you took control I lost him.” Dean might of as well as been good as dead once Michael took control of him, as you knew you’d never be able to actually talk to Dean again. Yes, you’d still technically see him, but you weren’t actually seeing him. The look behind his eyes weren’t the same, the way he talked wasn’t the same, and the way he moved wasn’t the same. He may of looked exactly like your Dean but he wasn’t your Dean anymore.

“I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a day or two to think it over,” he stated, starting to get up from his chair. “I think you’ll find I can be…very persuasive.”

“And if I still say no?” You asked.

He grinned at you, a grin that had made you uncomfortable. “Let’s hope it won’t have to come to that.”

Apocalypse World

“I need you to promise me something,” Y/N said, looking Michael in the eyes.

“Anything,” he said.

“When I die —” she began.

“You won’t,” he interrupted.

“Mike, you have to be realistic. I’m not going to live forever. I’m just human,” she said, her tone shifting.

“I can get an angel to possess you, but make sure you still have complete control,” he suggested.

“Mike, you know I don’t want that,” she said. “I know you’re afraid of the aspect of me dying but, it’s going to happen one day. And I need you to promise me something.”

He looked at her, not wanting to hear her, but he knew deep down that she was right. She one day was no longer going to be here and he needed to be prepared for that. She was human, which meant she was one of the most fragile beings, the simplest thing could kill her or take her out, especially now in the current world. “Okay,” he finally said, his tone changing.

“When you find someone that makes you happy, don’t force it, and don’t try to make them me,” she said. “Because I know you Mike, I know you’ll do that. I know you’ll try and turn them into me, but…no one is exactly like me okay? You gotta remember that.” Y/N knew him far too well, knew that he was going to do the exact opposite of what she had told him when she ultimately passed. He loved her too damn much to want to be with anyone but her; he loved her too damn much to want to let her go.

“I promise,” he said, unsure if he was lying or telling the truth.

Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 @jackles010378 @mrsjenniferwinchester @syrma-sensei @k-slla @justletmereadfanfic @deans-daydream If you'd like to be added to a tag list, let me know!

[twig-tea]

Lately I’ve been feeling like Thai bl is truly all over the place with so many shows airing at once and some of the best ones flying under the radar while discourse is focused on a couple of the big messy ones. I think you’re the only person I know who is actually watching ALL of them and has been here for the whole evolution of the genre, so I’m curious what stands out to you about this current moment. Do the shows feel different to you? Is the way fandom is interacting with them changing? And what are your current favs?

I ended up writing a thesis, sorry friend lol To be fair to me there are 3 questions in there, all of them meaty! I've done my best to give a sense of where I'm at with Thai BL and how it feels like it's changed over time.

Caveating all of this: I am just one fan who I'm sure has had specific experiences that will colour my opinion, also a lot of this is just vibes so I'm open to being told I've forgotten something major or misremembered what it was like! If you are reading this and your opinion or experience is different please share, with stuff like this I'm always interested in hearing about differing opinions because the fandom experience will depend at least partly on where you hang out. For years, my main fandom space for BL was the YouTube comments section (RIP me).

Overall feel

Honestly, things overall don't feel all that different to me in Thai BL in particular, even though I'm about to talk about a lot of changes and ways it actuallyd does feel very different below lol And after reflecting about it, I think it's because these things still feel very much in flux, in a way that they've felt in flux this entire time. Producers are still figuring out the best funding and distribution models and merch models to make money; creators are still calibrating how queer these shows can be and still be popular; actors are still figuring out how to do BGP (business gay performances) without having fans interfere in their private lives off the clock. Writers are still trying to figure out how to write 12-episode arcs that don't drag in the middle or fumble the ending (which is also not new). The tension between established ships, fan expectations, and genre requirements has honestly been there almost the whole time, though the reverberations of missteps is louder now because of the larger fanbase that is (comparatively) more plugged in to live viewing. The core question in BL has always been 'how do we make this marketable', and that unsurprisingly hasn't changed, though the answer to that question has over time, if that makes sense?

Shows

Do the shows feel different? As a whole, I'd say yes. The biggest differences are of course total quantity and overall quality, but the actual distribution of % of shows that have high(er) production values (i.e. quality) feels close to the same--it was close to 50/50 in the late 2010s and now is maybe more like 40/60 with a higher percentage coming from more smaller production companies. But the numbers we're talking about are something like 15 shows in e.g. 2018 and something more like 50 shows in 2023 (being vague because there are shows that people could argue over whether they should count). The quality overall has increased, even the pulps look better, sound better, and tend to feel a little bit more put together than the pulps of even 2020 (please note that these are all relative qualifiers, most of these shows are still not objectively good). 2020 in particular was a watershed moment for high production value BLs; we get colorists and special effects artists, and sometimes decent sound production now!

There has also been an improvement in terms of what is depicted and how certain subject matter is treated very generally, though I think that's still in flux. Things like evil ex girlfriends are less common than they were and the women in BL are more likely (in general, still not always) to be treated as realized characters. We've gotten more and better femme representation in ensemble shows, and the "gay for you" trope is much less common. Consent is now considered sexy and is much more common than it was; non-consent as "sexy" has eroded and is much less common. Things that used to happen in almost every BL now happen in a much lower percentage. I also feel a little bit less worried about some of the actors on pulp sets because there is more general scrutiny about things like minor actors, intimacy coordination, BGP (business gay performance) expectations, and sexual exploitation. Overall, show recommendations these days come with fewer caveats.

The assumption that if you worked with someone on a BL once you would stay with them as an established pairing was surprisingly early in BL; I don't know if it's just because there were a few shows that had side pairings then get main shows, so the actors did work together on a few shows in a row, which made them feel established, or whether it's because the BGP started early to build hype both before and after shows aired, or whether audiences just made homophobic assumptions about how if two actors had chemistry they had to be gay for each other, and otherwise nobody would want to "play gay" more than once, or would want to have to kiss too many other men....in any case, there were huge scandals and blow-ups around this in BL on even the earliest shows, and some early shows were snubbed because of the pairing alone. Similarly, it was established very early in BL (i.e. 2016-17) that an unhappy ending for a pair would result in your show being panned; cheating was also a guaranteed flop in BL circles (though some ensemble shows that had gay relationships in them such as Friend Zone did fine with cheating plots and unhappy endings). Overall it feels like some things were only depicted in early Thai BL and creators have avoided them since due to the audience reception at the time. I will say, generally, that there have now been enough examples of people in a "branded pair" moving on to a new pair or multiple shows, that it feels less like a death knell to a BL career if one of the actors says they no longer wanted to make BLs, or if they switched companies.

I pay a lot of attention to queerness in BL, and that has changed a little bit too, though not in the way I expected. I had been expecting a more clear and steady trajectory in BL, but we've instead had real swings, and I've realized there will just always be shows that feel more or less actually gay or queer than others, and that's ok. Early Thai shows really spoiled us for good queer content, GayOK Bangkok and Diary of Tootsies are still shows by which i measure what we get now, and both of those are from 2016. I would say that more "mainstream" BL (i.e. by one of the major production companies) hit what turned out to be queer saturation around 2020 and that's where I was most surprised not see a more clear trajectory; rather than things getting more queer from there, I'd say a greater percentage of shows overall feel more queer, but we haven't (and I now suspect won't) reach the queerness we had in Thai tv in 2016. That being said, my secret running list of things I want to see in BL gets shorter every year as entries get crossed off, so I would say the range of queer experience is slowly getting captured as more content continues to be made by a wider range of production houses (PrEP being mentioned in a mainstream show is my white whale).

I know some people assume that shows are higher heat now overall, but I don't think that's true. I do think Thai television producers and directors have overalll gotten better at capturing sensuality, and acting workshops have improved chemistry-building overall too. But from what I can tell the ratio of high head and low heat content is still pretty similar to what it's always been, maybe slightly higher (e.g. at a quick glance I'd guesstimate 30% of shows had a sex scene in 2018 vs 40% in 2023).

Fandom

The main differences in fandom from the really early days and now are the ways we, as international fans, are able to engage with each other, with thai audiences at the same time, and with content creators, and the entitlement that comes with that. In the 2010s we were almost always watching after Thai airing, with either fansubs or, later, official subs, trailing online releases by days or weeks, which themselves may have trailed the Thailand airing date by days or weeks or sometimes even months. That became less true around 2019ish, and especially in 2020 when I think Thai producers were desperate to reach audiences during the start of the pandemic (and when audiences were desperate for something to distract us from what was happening in real life).

As a fan in the mid-late 2010s, watching something was either unofficial via a fansubber, or you were wading through hundreds of Thai comments to find anyone else writing about the shows in English. Now, it's actually rare we don't have immediate international distribution, though it may be paid. If the subs are not up at the same time as the official upload, even on free sites, fans get furious. It's a bit surreal to see people complain about waiting a few hours for subtitles, especially on YouTube, when we sometimes waited months for a series to finish being subbed (not to say people didn't complain back then too, because they sure did! But there were fewer international fans overall, and it wasn't an expectation that there would be subs, so fewer people complained when it happened). This meant that a lot of people only watched shows when they were complete, and people were not watching with any kind of synchronicity.

With international fans moving into simultaneous watching with Thai audiences, we suddenly had the chance to talk about shows as they were airing and affect the conversations about them and even, sometimes, the decisions. Folks seem to have differing opinions about what makes a BL, and what makes a BL good, and they are vocal about when a show doesn't meet their standard. This has always been true, but the strong opinions have more of an effect on the discourse when they're expressed in real-time to the show being aired. Also, when we have literally 3x the number of Thai shows being aired (nevermind other countries which have also increased), it seems so much more egregious to me to complain if a single show doesn't meet your particular taste. Just go watch something else! That was less possible in 2016, but now nobody has any excuse lol Please note here that I'm not saying shows should not be criticized. But when you have one loud faction saying shows should have nothing but innocent kisses if any skinship at all and showing more is distasteful and possibly homophobic, and another faction saying a show should be panned if they don't have at least one sex scene and if there is no good kiss it's homophobic, I don't know where that leaves content creators but I see the tension and how it sometimes results in my least favourite tropes like "blushing maiden" even after a couple has canonically had sex. These factions have always existed in BL fandom, this is not new, they just both seem particularly silly now with so much content to choose from.

The shows that get attention and the shows that get snubbed feel the same too, in all honesty. You can ask yourself the following questions:

Is the show a little slower paced?

Are the story beats less melodramatic?

Do its characters feel more human?

Do they feel more queer?

Is it a comedy?

Is there any risk of an unhappy ending?

Do people not think one of the lead actors is hot?

Do people ship one of the lead actors with someone who isn't his costar?

Do people have to do anything other than go to YouTube to watch it?

If the answer is yes to any of those questions, and especially to the last one, fewer people will be watching, even if the show is good. That's always been true. [Shows I'm thinking about when I say that: Make it Right, He's Coming to Me, My Ride, You're My Sky, Oxygen (though the sides in this one are also at fault), YYY, Something in my Room, Ghost Host Ghost House, Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Soul, Cooking Crush.] All this is to say, there have always been shows that have been ignored, though I agree with you OP that with more shows airing, more are being ignored at any given time.

The other thing is that when a show is good, it doesn't necessarily invite discourse. The messes are often what encourage people to dig in, fill in gaps, linger in the adrenaline. The part that does feel different is also related to the increase in genre BLs; genre stuff in general tends to get more attention in fandom spaces, and the way people are functioning as fans feels different in that they're bringing the way they interact with genre content to BL as BL has started having larger and better funded genre content. I'm thinking about those early genre BLs like He She It, My Dream, Love Poison, Golden Blood, So Much In Love, Why R U....we started getting genre shows in BL in I think 2017 and basically had 1-2 a year until 2020ish and then it increased from there; and the ones that had funding and decent distribution got engagement until they started going off the rails, and then they had even more engagement and then fell off. I don't think it's a coincidence that the shows last year that got people to write meta were La Pluie, Be My Favorite, and I Feel You Linger in the Air. When a show is building a world, there's more to say and interrogate about it, and when a genre show fails, it can fail more spectacularly than a regular romance story. The most popular BL shows used to all be straight-up BL bubble romances, but I think genre shows really started to take over a greater percentage of the popular spots in 2022 and 2023. Again, the main difference here is that there used to be 1-2 stand-out shows per year, and now there are closer to 6+ per year, and as we got more stand-out shows the variety of what type of show stood out as popular has expanded. I do think the overall percentage of shows that are more standard romance plots has reduced, partly because Thai production companies are running out of popular y-novels to adapt. So I'm anticipating we'll continue to get more genre content going forward, and maybe a higher percentage of original works too.

Shows I'm Enjoying Right Now

Right now, the Thai shows airing that I'm watching are:

Cooking Crush

Dead Friend Forever

Cherry Magic Thailand

City of Stars

The Sign

Playboyy

PitBabe

7 Days before Valentine

For Him

Of those, I'd currently most recommend Cooking Crush as a generic BL recommendation. Dead Friend Forever is very good, but is not a romance and is difficult for some to watch (there are a lot of dark themes in addition to the gore and scary bits).

Cooking Crush is doing so many things I love. I've written about the way it's set up its major conflict to be amongst the friend group here, and way the show is depicting communication between the two main characters and how they improve their communication with one another as they get closer here. Two of my biggest BL pet peeves are a conflict for the sake of a dramatic penultimate episode that ignores or retcons a character's growth or the building of trust that a couple has already gone through in the series, so the fact that this show is working so hard to establish strong communication between its leads and then setting up the significant drama to actually about friendship rather than romance is something I cannot overstate my excitement about. To tie this back into what I wrote above, this reminds me of Diary of Tootsies and I mean that in the best possible way.

Dead Friend Foreever is, like I mentioned above, not a romance; it's a slasher horror melodrama with a very well established mystery, an ensemble cast of mostly hateable characters (which I admit isn't usually my thing, but since they're likely all going to die as a result of the genre they're in I'm finding that more tolerable than usual, and there is at least one character I like). DFF did a great job of structuring the story for the ultimate payoff of information reveals. There are a lot of shows that have been messing with non-linear storytelling recently, Cooking Crush being one of the ones that actually does this poorly in my opinion, but Dead Friend Forever effectively uses non-linear storytelling so that we find out important pieces of information about particular characters at a time when that information will have the most emotional impact on what is happening in the "present" of the storyline. Every time there is a reveal, it informs what we've already seen, recontextualizes it, and means we understand some of the character motivations and actions differently from when we saw them the first time. I mentioned above that there are dark themes in this show; one of the things that I really like about this show is that the impact of class is not glossed over, and that the consequences of these events feel very real for the characters; people do terrible things in this show, but these actions are not treated lightly by the show itself.

You'd think these two shows would have nothing in common, but there are things that they share that put them both in my top category. Generally, in both of these shows, the character arcs are clear and logical; when a character does something, even if I don't like the action itself, I can understand exactly why they that and can see how it matches where they are in their arc at the time. The shows show change in characters as a result of what they experience, and the relationships in this show really matter. When characters start acting in ways that feel out of character or against their own arc because they have to in order to drive the plot forward, I struggle to remain invested; that's not happening with either of these shows. Both of these shows also treat serious topics with seriousness, and consequences for actions are real and felt by the characters in the show (and if someone gets away with something, the show is clear that this is not just). Nothing has happened that hasn't been signalled or implied earlier. Both shows also have clear class consciousness and represent the disparity caused by classism in a critical/harsh light.

Whew! I think I got to everything you asked. Thanks again for the extremely interesting question!

[futurama]

OK so finally after however long it's been I'm doing this sorry lol!!

I love characters like lil Hal So much. the ones that get discarded/neglected. something about that loneliness is so fun to explore, especially in Hal's case. the horror n despair of being a normal person and then one day waking up in what equates to a sensory deprivation tank with nothing else to do but talk to your lifelong friends who suddenly don't even view you as a person with thoughts and feelings anymore, but more as an obstacle or plaything. it's so fucked and it's Sooooo good. I honestly don't know how he kept it together while enduring all of that.

During my first read through of homestuck I had to pause just so I could go on a rant when dirk called him something along the lines of a shitty experiment that turned into a monster. Like, dude.. he's not a monster, he's YOU. (moot point because those two things are synonymous to dirk lmao). but for real... he's you, from when you were 13!! of course he's going to be irritating and fuck things up, especially when being irritating and fucking things up is all he has to do. I know it's because of dirks' self loathing that he treats Hal the way he does, he's basically a walking, so to peak (lol), reminder of everything he hates about himself, and a guilt-free target for dirk to take all of his shit out on, because it's not like hal can actually feel anything, right? (and if he Could, would it even make a difference?) oughhhh. but, I honestly can't entirely blame dirk for feeling the way he did about Hal because I don't know if the average person could stand having their 13 y/o self around for very long.

This is where things start getting fuzzy for me about Hal, I can't remember many specifics on the conversations he had with everyone, but I vaguely recall Hal just kinda.. not really fighting back against his situation for the most part?(aside from insisting on getting a body so he could gtfo and do something else) like, he knew how everyone felt about him, he Definitely knew that dirk hated him, but he never seemed to be mad about it, never seemed to be mad about his situation, or at least he didn't show it. I was kind of surprised he didn't go the whole Evil Robot trope route, because he'd have been totally justified in doing that. If anything, he probably felt like he must've deserved it in some way (he's still dirk after all), and I think that on top of still genuinely caring for his friends (Sob) is probably what kept him from flipping his lid. I could definitely be misremembering things though. I can't remember if dirk always hated himself or if that kinda developed as the comic went on. Maybe Hal was just a chill guy who didn't GAF lawl.

most of what I've said here just feels like conjecture based entirely on fuzzy recollections, I didn't do any research for this.... I definitely need to reread HS!!!! anyways LIL HAL!!! Love him. I feel so bad for him and deserved way better than what he ended up with. I was so hyped when I thought he finally gonna get a body, and then my blood drained from my face when I saw that shitass sprite silhouette in the back of the panel. well, at least he was happy..... :(

no no its ok… yes. yes ive been waiting for this. thank you for getting back to me with your thoughts on lil hals character, i always think its nice to sit down and reflect on your favorites every now and again lest we lose sight of what makes them important in our own eyes ^_^ its also been an eensy weensy handful of years since ive last reread homestuck so i totally get it. im sure id have a lot more to say about hal and dirks relationship if it were fresh in my brains but im running on memory and nostalgia at the time being… oh well!

ive for sure been drawn to hal since being introduced to him all those years ago, but i think a lot of people are typically drawn to the doppelganger of our favorite guys as theyre born unto us with an inferiority complex! theres nothing better than loving and maybe even idolizing a character and then finding out they have a lame, pitiful copy living in their shadow. enticing and relatable. now that i type it out its fun to think that there are plenty of homestuck characters with that specific sort of complex but ESPECIALLY the striders. hal and davesprite are copies of guys who are copies of guys (who are copies of guys…) they really have the worst of it i think!

i dont believe dirk is a monster though, i think that he just has a lot of stuff that is very hard for him to work out on his own though he only wants to do it on his own. i just dont think he trusts anyone else to help fix the gripes he has with himself but in turn isolates himself from that potential comfort and connection that is shared with talking to other humans. i think having hal, a reminder not only of his own existence but his past existence sitting on his face at all times was a really bad idea. in hindsight. i wish i could have told him not to do that, but at the same time its really fun to see him get really mad *blushes*

me personally i read the rooftop conversation between dirk and hal as dirk coming to terms with the fact that he does not actually want to kill himself and is ok with moving on from the person he used to be in turn allowing hal to grow as his own character and move on from the perma presence of his better self, or at least that would have been the case if he weren't thrown into a sprite with equius and left to be a nothing character alongside davepetasprite <--PERSONAL OPINION

anyway its fun to type about hal and co with you :) its always a treat to draw him even though i dont fuck with homestuck anymore but thats because ive adopted him as my son and roommate and brother and pet. i love drawing him and always will

[mehbzz]

do you think the boys would be into period sex? billy i can see being kinda weirded out at first but easily swayed by all the blood. stu… well, you know hes down, but they’d both have to hide just how much theyre into it

(also pardon me if you’ve talked about this before n im misremembering!!)

18+ Period sex/oral, dubcon toeing the line of noncon, anal sex, toxic relationship

Stu x Billy and Stu x Billy x F!reader.

----------------

The desk was smacking against the wall almost violently, and Stu felt an odd twisted sense of glee that his mother would probably notice the damage. The wood was warm beneath him as Billy fucked him over it, papers and pens still clattering to the floor with every thrust. Stu had lost the chase but he couldn’t really find it in himself to be disappointed about it.

“Caught you fair and square,” Billy panted. He kept a hand firmly planted on Stu’s back, nails digging into his skin and keeping him pinned down against the desk. “Thought you knew how to survive a horror movie?”

Stu clenched his teeth biting back the whimpers that threatened to escape his throat. It was too quick, too much, with not even close to enough prep, but Billy’s needling about him failing to escape was hurting him more.

“Even bunny lasted longer than you,” Billy’s breath was heavy, his voice strained. “But gotta admit I do like your ass better.”

Stu choked down a whine as Billy’s hips pressed hard against his ass, cock pressing deep, too deep, his nails scratching in to the varnish of the desk.

“Shame I dropped the knife, really want to mark you up right now. Did I tell you I fucked her with it?” Billy leans down, his chest flush against Stu’s back as he whispers and Stu feels his balls tighten and throb at the memory. “came around that fucking knife like she’d never had anything better.”

“Fuck Bill,” He knew, of course he did. Billy had recounted the story to him numerous times, the first time he’d heard it Billy had his cock buried so far down his throat he’d nearly blacked out.

 “So quiet baby, you not enjoying yourself?” Billy pulls back and thrusts forward hard. “rather be on your knees? Want me to make you choke on it instead?”

“You talk too much,” Stu groaned, his breath was quickening just at the thought of it. “Monologuing while getting fucked is kind of a turn off you know?”

Billy didn’t seem to appreciate that, a series of abrupt thrusts forcing a cry from his throat.

“Aw there we go. You moan so pretty for me,” Billy’s hand smacking hard across his ass at his displeased sound. “You lost the game. If this had been real you’d been gutted and bleeding out right now.”

The moan Stu let out was loud, his momentary annoyance lost at the thought of it. Caught, covered in blood, bleeding out while Billy fucked him, his cock throbbing painfully with the image.

“You cheated.” The lack of control is starting to niggle at him, as is Billy’s smugness at catching him. Stu slips one hand between his legs, half expecting Billy to tell him to stop, the relief when he doesn’t sending shivers down his spine. Forehead dropping to rest against the desk as he stroked his hand up and down his cock, closing his eyes as he jerked himself in time with Billy’s thrusts.

“Cheated? You ran upstairs dumbass,” Billy’s thrusts turning slow and so deep that Stu felt like he could feel it in his stomach. “Stupid mistake, I’m embarrassed for you.”

“Totally my plan,” Stu pants, nails scratching deeper into the varnished desk as he tries to control his breathing, the slow deep roll of Billy’s hips starting to cross the line into genuinely uncomfortable. “Had to get you active. You've been moping after bunny all week. It’s boring.” There's a touch of genuine bitterness to his words that he's a little annoyed with himself he couldn't hide.

“You don’t miss her too?” Billy asks and Stu shakes his head automatically before the question truly registers. “Really? You don’t miss our pretty pliant little bunny? The way she squirms and whimpers?”

“Fuck-, shut up,” Stu’s cock jumps and twitches hard at Billy’s words. “Miss that pussy maybe.” He forces himself to answer, although he doesn’t sound as convincing as he’d like. Because he does. He does fucking miss you and he hates it. Even breaking in to your house and railing Billy in your bed had done nothing but make him miss you more. He wants to bend you over his knee and spank you for every day you’ve been gone, force you down onto his bed and eat you out until you scream for him. His spiraling thoughts about everything he wants to punish you with pushing him close to the edge too fast and too hard, his hand tightening around his cock, squeezing himself tightly and forcing himself to calm down.

“You sound a little bitter,” Billy sighs, words breathless and almost slurring together in that way that Stu knows means he’s getting close. “You jealo-,”

“I’m not jealous.” He answers too quick, the words tumbling out of his mouth before Billy’s finished speaking. He's not jealous. He’s just a little annoyed at the lack of attention he’s being getting, that’s all.

Billy slows even more, his pace faltering and shallow. That annoys him even further because he doesn't want Billy to notice how he’s actually feeling.

“Tired out already? Need me to take over?” He tries to fuck back against him but Billy grips his hips and pulls slightly away.

“You don’t need to be jealous,” Billy drags his fingertips down Stu’s spine. “you're mine Stu,” digging his nail into his skin to scratch along the faint white B that lived at the bottom of his spine. “You’re marked as mine.”

Stu wants to respond, wants to snap back but all that leaves his throat is a desperate moan. It’s embarrassing how quickly that word can unravel him, and he’s pretty sure Billy knows it too. As Billy’s hips start to move again Stu’s mind goes blissfully blank, the pleasure finally reaching snapping point and his back arching as he came, hand tight around his cock and shooting white ropes across the carpeted floor.

“Fuck me.” He mumbles, he feels shaky, a slight tremble in his legs that has him glad Billy hasn’t pulled away from him. “Jesus Bill.”

“All right?” Billy murmured, in that soft oh so quiet tone that Stu loathed and loved in equal measure, the tone that seemed to be reserved for him and bunny alone.

Shut up. Shut up is what he wants to say but he just grunts, burying his head in his hands. He shifted his hips and winced, somewhere during his mind blinding orgasm Billy must have cum too, he feels wet and sticky, even though Billy is still buried deep.

Billy murmurs something softly again as he pulls his cock out slowly, although he doesn’t move away completely, keeping his pelvis flush against Stu’s ass as his thumbs stroke idly across his hips.

“Still can’t believe you ran upstairs.”

Stu shrugged, not bothering to try and stand up from his bent position, lifting his head to rest on his palm with a sigh. “Panicked.”

“Panicked?” Billy sounds incredulous, he moves away and Stu bites down the urge to drag him back, instead turning his head to watch as Billy leans back against the desk, close but not quite touching him.

“Plead the fifth,” Stu mutters. He doesn’t want to talk anymore and Billy doesn’t push it. He stands slowly, stretching his arms high above his head with a groan. He can feel Billy’s gaze on him and he’d be lying of he said he didn’t flex, just a little. Tilting his head and cracking his neck, definitely not showing off the smooth column of his throat as he does so and defiantly not enjoying the definite hitch in Billy’s breathing as he watches. The one place Billy so desperately wanted to mark up and the one place he absolutely couldn’t. Neck and collarbones. A weakness in Billy that he took great joy in teasing and tempting him with.

“Wanna shower with me?”

Stu doesn’t answer, the sudden invading thought of what would his mother think if she came home and found the two of them naked in her office making him pause, his gaze lingering on the mess he’d left on the carpet. Billy would never let that happen, but the chaos that would ensue would be fascinating to witness.

“Stu?”

“Yeah, sure,” He kills that thought before he feels too tempted to try and let it happen, turning his head so he can look at the mask lying in the corner of the room where it had been haphazardly thrown. “And next time you’re leaving it on.”

The sounds of voices from your kitchen takes you a little by surprise. You recognize Stu’s voice immediately, dread pooling low in your gut. You weren’t supposed to see him or Billy until later that evening, and You had  long ago made him promise not to turn up unannounced. You really should have known better than to trust he’d stick to that promise.

You take a deep breath as you enter your kitchen, stopping as you see Stu chatting animatedly with your dad. your gaze lingers warily on the open can of Jolt sat next to him, seems like the lazy afternoon you were hoping for was not going to happen.

Your dad looks disinterested and is focused on the paperwork in his hands with a barely concealed look of annoyance that Stu seems oblivious to. perched on the edge of the kitchen stool with one knee bouncing quickly up and down, he seems filled with more hyper energy than usual, making you wonder just how many of those drinks he’d actually had.

You both want and don’t want to interrupt the conversation, in all honesty you want to cancel your plans with Stu and Billy and just go to bed, even though it had been a week since you’d seen either of them, and you know full well that they are going to be sulky about the fact that you had to work on your first morning back. You shift awkwardly, gripping your keys a little harder as another cramp tugs and pulls low in your abdomen. Your period had taken you by surprise this morning during your shift, having no choice but to use one of the cheap uncomfortable pads from the women’s restroom. You take a deep breath, entering the kitchen and your heart skipping a beat in mild alarm as Stu instantly swivels in his seat to look at you.

“You kept in touch?” Your dad asks, he hasn’t acknowledged your hello and you try to not let that sting, the conversation you’re interrupting apparently one about your recent trip. “She was only gone a week.”

“I had one phone call.” Stu’s gaze is fixated on you, and you don’t miss the blatant disappointed emphasis he puts on one.

“Oh good.” Your dad is obviously disinterested in the whole situation, already focusing back on the papers and files in front of him.

“Yeah she rang pretty late, but woo boy was she-,”

“Sorry I’m late, we should get going right? The others will be waiting.” Embarrassment flares, your face heating to an unbearable degree as it dawns on you what Stu is talking about. The need to get him out of your house overriding your desire to make yourself more comfortable first.

“Aw but I was just telling your dad what-,”

“He’s busy, and we'll be late.” You tug at his arm and he immediately tries to intertwine your fingers with his. You pull away quickly, giving him a small shake of your head as you glance back at your Dad, who thankfully is still riveted to the paperwork in front of him. “I’ll be back late ok?”

Your dad gives you a distracted wave goodbye and thankfully Stu follows obediently behind you.

“You dick.” You smack his chest with the back of your hand as you pull the front door closed.

“What?” He rubs his chest before his hands are reaching out for you again, skimming down your sides to hook into the waistband of your jeans. “Just wanted your dad to know how sweet it was.” 

“Can you stop with the touching?” You bat at his hands again, sighing when he ignores your request.

“Can’t control my hands,” He tugs hard on your belt loop, pulling you back into his chest and leaning down to nuzzle into your neck. “You’re looking foxy as hell right now.”

It takes an immense amount of willpower to pull away from him, but the first lick of his tongue across your skin does make you move. “We’re outside,” You dodge his attempt to touch you again.  “And what was sweet?”

“You being away but still thinking about me. How you missed me. And my di-,”

“You better not have said that to my Dad!” You glare at him and he laughs.

“C’mon it was hot, hearing you get off like that. I could hear how we-,” He trails off with a grin as you hiss at him to shut up, giving him the finger over your shoulder as you start to walk down the road. “Fine fine.” His arm snakes around your waist, hand dipping into the back pocket of your jeans and giving you a quick squeeze. You don’t immediately pull away this time. It’s risky but it does feel good to have him touching you, to have him so obviously wanting you. “Glad youre back though bunny, Bill been driving me crazy with his moody ass.”

“He’s always moody,” You tease but Stu just shrugs, and you smile drops slightly. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, you left us.”

You blink, a little take a back. “I didn't leave you, I went on holiday.”

“Left, holiday, Whatever,” He waves his free hand in the air, dismissing your words. “You left, he crashed. He's gone all tortured artist, sulky, wont play with me, reading shit about men turning into bugs.”

“I- what?” You frown. “Bugs?” 

“I mean it's hot, it suits him but fuck it’s boring.”

You don't know what to say, concerned and confused in equal measure, but Stu doesn't seem to care .

 “So you gonna tell me about this Trevor?”

You frown up at him, the angle a little awkward with him so close, a little thrown off by his abrupt subject change. “What about him?”

“Curious who my babygirl hangs out with.” There’s a hint in his voice, something that sounds a little annoyed, even jealous as he speaks. “Your dad said you spent a lot of time with him.”

“You’re not serious?” It hits you the wrong way, and adds fuel to something you’d been noticing for a while, Stu’s seemingly growing possessiveness. Possessiveness you didn’t think he deserved to voice considering he was the one with the girlfriend. Hypocrite you think but don’t say it out loud. He looks disappointed when you step away from his side, the groping of your ass getting a little too over the top for walking in public. “Werent you just worried about Billy?”

“Bun bun,” He pokes your cheek, making you flinch. “You’re back, he’ll get over it, so tell me all the gory details.” His teasing tone feels a little flat, the shortened version of your nickname also only making an appearance when he was upset with you but trying to be subtle about it.

“Don’t do that Stu,” You swat his hand away as you fight to keep your tone calm but it doesn’t quite work, frustration lacing into your words. “There’s no details to share. He’s practically family.”

"Not actually family though."

You sigh, wincing as another cramp stabs at your insides; you thought they had finally eased. “No, not actually.”

“So? What did you to get up to?”

"Are you really being serious right now? He's my Uncle’s friend.” He nods but doesn’t comment, his raised eyebrows letting you know he’s expecting more. “He gave me a ride a couple of times, he came to family dinner. Family dinner. Because he is family.”

"I bet he wanted to give you a ride alright," Stu waggles his eyebrows. It feels wrong. His attempt at teasing you not matching the glint in his eye. It feels vaguely threatening.

“For fucks sake," You fight to keep the annoyed tone out of your voice. You don’t want to deal with this. You want a hot shower aand to curl up under a ton of blankets.  “If I want to hang out with someone then I will thank you very much.”

“Two dicks not enough for you anymore?”

"Wow, ok,” His words hurt, you can’t tell if it’s an ill judged attempt to tease you or if he’s actually accusing you of something. “Fuck you too. You’re not seriously jealous?" The accusation escapes you before you have time to think it through. “You really want me to spell it out for you again? He’s family.” You finally snap, cutting off whatever he’d been about to say. He shuts his mouth with a look of surprise at your outburst.

“Jeez relax, overreaction much? I’m only teasing,” His eyebrows raise and you can tell he’s trying not to roll his eyes. “Sorry for taking an interest.”

“Interest? You were just accusing me of-,”

“I wasn’t accusing you of anything,” Stu shoves his hands in his pockets, his eyes wide. “I was only asking what you got up too.”

“You-, whatever,” You wave your hand dismissively, trying not to wince as another cramp makes your insides twist painfully. “I had a good time, I’m glad to be home, let’s just drop it ok?”

It lapses into silence again, and you try not to make eye contact with him but you can feel him watching you intently, his surprised look replaced by that carefully blank mask that Billy is so good at. You hate it on both of them.

“You ok bunny?” He pokes at your cheek, grinning wide when you swat him away. The sudden flip in his attitude throwing you for a second. “You seem a little grumpy.”

“Fu-,” You click your tongue. “I’m fine. Can we just go? I want to see Billy.”

Stu stares at you for a beat longer before he shrugs. “Sure,” he bows low, arm sweeping out in front of him as he holds that infuriating grin. “Lead the way.”

“You’re early.” Billy rubs a hand over his face as he sits up from his place on the bed, rubbing his palm across his face as he scoots to the edge of the bed. He looks exhausted and his slow clumsy movements hit you with a sudden rush of affection. You smile softly at him as you come to stand between his knees. Billy glances up at you with slight tilt of his head, he doesn’t look particularly happy to see you and a little knot of guilt starts to form in the pit of your stomach.

“I wanted to see you,” You falter slightly when he doesn’t respond. “How’s the bug man?”

“What?” The look of confusion that flits across Billy’s face has you biting back a laugh, his eyes narrowing at you before he glances over to Stu. “What have you been telling her?”

“Nothing man, not a thing, just you know, about the whole Eric Draven vibe you’ve had going on.”

Billy tenses.

“I missed you.” You cup his face, drawing his attention back to you and interrupting their bickering before it can escalate. You did miss him but his reserved welcome has thrown you off a little. You lean down and kiss him on the cheek, but it doesn’t get the reaction you were hoping for, moving to press a tentative kiss to his mouth instead. “I missed you a lot last week.” It seems to work, his hands finally reaching up to rest on your waist with a soft sigh.

 “I missed you too,” Billy murmurs. His tongue darts across your bottom lip before dipping slightly into your mouth. Its an odd kiss, feels more like he’s tasting you than kissing you, but you let him do what he wants. Humming contently as he flicks across your bottom teeth, he tastes like beer with a hint of cigarette smoke. You grimace slightly but bite down the urge to tell him off fro obviously smoking when he'd promised you he wouldn’t anymore.

"I missed you so damn much," He repeats, the kiss switching into something a little rougher as he nips at you, his hands tugging at the hem of your t-shirt, a move you try to stop before it goes too far. You break the kiss, gently pushing against his arms, straightening up and moving slightly out of his hold. The argument with Stu has left you feeling a little bitter, has soured your mood and reunion with them more than you thought it had. Billy picks up on your unease, he always does, and his face shutters, going blank as he shifts his weight, giving you no choice but to take a step back from him.

“I didn’t get that kind of welcome,” Stu moves up behind you and loops his arms round your waist, hooking his chin over your shoulder and one hand dipping under your t-shirt to rest over your ribs. “Where’s my kiss?”

“Don’t,” You grip his wrist, stopping him from touching you any further.  The cramps were getting worse; you didn’t want things to escalate, you just wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Sure looked like it. You’re so snappy today,” Stu huffs into the side of your neck, annoyed at your reluctance, even Billy looks a little offended. “Is it that time of the month?”

“You’re just annoying.”   

“See, snappy.”

Billy’s gaze briefly flickers over you, you know him well enough to know that he’s perceived your reluctance to go further than kissing him as a rejection, his gaze a little cold before he focuses on Stu. “What did you do?”

“Hey, I did nothing. Our moody girl here jumped down my throat,” Stu rest his chin on your shoulder, one hand trying to dip inside your panties and you dig your nails into his wrist in an effort to stop him. “I was only asking her about her holiday.”

“You were not-,” Your look at Billy makes you pause and the guilt flares in your chest, he looks hurt and tired and you just want to start this whole day over. “Ok fine I’m sorry for jumping down your throat. Can we drop it now?” You wince as another cramp hits you, body curling back against Stu like you could move away from it. “And you know what? Yes. I am on my period and it fucking hurts ok?”

It’s silent for a few seconds, for some reason expecting them to withdraw from you but Stu’s grip tightens rather than lets you go. “You’re in pain?” He sounds a little too excited as he asks you that. “Orgasms are supposed to help with that you know,” He takes your momentary surprise to slip his hand out from your grip to press tightly against your abdomen. “I could make you feel better?”

“No.” He gives in to your attempts to escape his hold, letting go of you only long enough to grip you hips and spin you round to face him.

“C’mon, I missed you,” He presses a kiss to your lips that you refuse to return. “And you snapped at me. You hurt my feelings bunny.”

“Because you’re a jealous asshole,” Your words are muffled against his mouth but he hears you, nipping sharply at your bottom lip in retaliation. Hard enough for you to jerk back out of his hold and straight into Billy’s chest.

He grunts softly as he loops his arms round your waist, holding you firm against his chest.  “Don’t be mean, she’s in pain,” Billy mumbles as he speaks, you can tell how tired he is but you can feel how hard he is too, pressing against you as he holds you tight.

“Can we take a time out?” You thread your fingers through Billy’s but he seems less inclined to let you go than Stu had. “I am in pain and you’re making me a little uncomfortable here.”

“Uncomfortable?” Billy repeats dully and a little weight of dread drops in your stomach. “You were all over me a minute ago.”

The atmosphere is off. It’s not the ‘welcome home we missed you’ meet up you’d been hoping for. Between Stu’s amped up hyperness from earlier and Billy’s coldness, they seem unhappy with you and its putting you on edge. Stu softly grips your jaw, guiding your chin up to look at him before you can explain yourself. “You’re really bleeding?” Stu keeps hold of your jaw but lets his free hand rest against your hip. You nod reluctantly. “That’s what a period means genius.”

“Explains your moodiness.” Stu mutters, sliding his hand across your abdomen, and tugging at your jeans zipper, you move quick, latching onto his wrist with a firm grip that he ignores.

“Can we stop now?” You arch a little against Billy’s hold, freezing when you brush back against his cock. “Seriously I don’t-, I don’t like this.”

“I missed you though,” Stu pauses in his exploration of your zipper. “and I want to make you feel better.”

He tugs at your jeans again and you let go of his wrist, against your better judgement, trying to ignore the alarm bells going off in your head and the little voice that was helpfully pointing out that you were outnumbered here. hoping that maybe when he sees the unsexy sight of your old underwear that he’ll give up.

It doesn’t, he looks completely fascinated as he lets your jeans pool at your feet, his fingers hooking into the waistband of your panties and you squeeze you legs together before he can pull them off too. “Don’t.”

“It’ll help. Let me help you,” Stu’s fingers tap impatiently on your thigh. “It’s been a week, a whole week without you. I really really need you right now.”

“It’s ok. It’s just a little blood bunny,” Billy whispers into your ear, his hands sliding down your thighs and pushing gently, encouraging you to spread your legs. “Let Stu help you out, it’ll make you feel better.”

You don’t want to, but the want to not upset Billy further has you giving in. You can’t look at Stu as you reluctantly relax your legs, letting him pull your panties down your thighs and letting them fall to the floor. It looks wrong, and you feel so embarrassed as Stu kicks them away but neither of them seems to pay your underwear any further attention.

“Stu please,” Your plea descends into a quiet moan as he circles your clit with his index finger, sliding further down against you and you panic, squeezing your legs tightly shut before he can do what you think he’s going to do. “Don’t do that.” “Don’t do what?” He pauses, fingers still against your skin.  “Don’t what? Use your words, baby bunny, otherwise I don’t know what you don’t want.”

“I don’t want that. It’s-, I’m on my period.” You feel a bit foolish saying it again, but the need to stress that you actually are bleeding is too strong to ignore, embarrassment making you feel like maybe they don’t quite understand that fact. Billy sighs, and you can practically hear the way he rolls his eyes in the sound, his breath against your neck making you shiver.

“We know. Open your legs sweetheart,” The pet name takes you by surprise, murmured softly against your ear as his fingers stroke over your hips and across the tops of your thighs. “I want you to feel good, alright? I don’t like you being in pain. Open them for me.”

You shiver; his soft whispers sending goose bumps over your arms and down your spine and you’re obeying him before your mind registers the movement, Stu wasting no time in sliding his hand back between your legs, his index finger slowly stroking up and over your clit where he rubs gently before he slips two fingers inside of you easily and makes a sound low in his throat that sounds a mixture between a groan and a whine. “Fuck bunny, you’re wet.”

“Does your stomach hurt?” Billy asks.

“Yeah,” you whisper, not bothering to correct either of them before you screw your eyes shut, your insides clench, a wave of cramps so hard that it makes you want to cry, head falling back against his shoulder. “Everything hurts.”

“Want him to stop?” It sounds like a sincere question but even as Billy asks it Stu shows no sign of stopping. You want to say yes but don’t want to be proven right, but then Stu crooks his fingers, thumb stroking over your clit and the brush of pleasure is all you can think about. It does feel good, and it does seem to be helping. You watch Stu’s face as he glances down at his fingers as he pulls them out of you, and his groan is enough to have your insides clenching hard in need rather than pain. You could see the fascination written all over his face as he slowly dipped his fingers in and out of you.

“"I'll be really gentle bunny, I will make you feel good,” he whispered, slipping his fingers out of your cunt and holding his hand up to show Billy. “What a fucking mess.”

Billy’s quiet groan in your ear makes your breath hitch.

“Let me take this off.” He tugs at your tshirt and this time you raise your arms obediently.  A small murmur of approval in your ear as Billy lifts and removes your shirt as Stu slides his hand back between your legs, cupping you tightly before moving upwards, smearing your blood and wetness up over your hip. You feel torn between revulsion and desire, your breath hitching in alarm when you catch Stu’s gaze, his eyes are dark as they lock on yours in a way that feels borderline predatory. “Need you to lie down.”

“No.” You speak without thinking but before you could continue or backtrack Billy has a hand curling softly around your throat.

“No?” he squeezes gently, “Bunny. Don’t say no,” sliding his hand down to cup your breast. “So pretty,” he murmurs.  “Do they hurt too?”

“Yeah," You suck in a sharp breath when he teasingly pinches your right nipple. “They’re sore.”

“Yeah? Stu’ll make it feel better. Come lie down with me.” Billy shifts to your side and you reluctantly follow him back to his bed, conscious of the way Stu is watching you like a hawk.

“I-,” You shift awkwardly; they don’t seem to be taking your reluctance seriously so you try a different tactic. “Probably gonna make a mess of your sheets you know. How about we swap roles?” Billy just smirks; drawing you into a kiss as he gently pushes you backwards, following you down onto the bed.

“Wanna swap Stu?” Billy keeps one hand on your shoulder, as if he’s expecting you to try and bolt as he turns to look back at him. You watch as Stu shrugs off his jeans, his eyes never leaving your blood smeared thighs as he starts to crawl up over your body, giving you no choice but to lie down.

“No fucking way,” He grins above you, leaning down as if to kiss you but moving at the last second to bite down on your earlobe. “I’m going to eat you out.”

You glance cautiously between him and Billy at your side. “Stu that’s- it’s-,” What you really want to say again is no, but it doesn’t seem to be working. “Messy.” You finish lamely.

He ignores you as he begins to kiss and nip his way down your body, his fingers tugging at your bra strap but Billy’s little whispered Leave it on has him moving on to sucking little kisses down your stomach. His mouth lingering on your hip as he nips gently at you, your body arching into him just a little and making him shiver. he would never get over how eagerly you reacted to him, especially when you obviously didn't want too. His tongue soothing over the bite before he positioned himself between your thighs.

“You’ll feel so much better bunny,” Billy was sitting patiently beside your head, hand idly stroking your hair and for one brief second it’s what you had actually wanted this morning. A soft, affectionate gentle reunion, but then Stu dips his head and licks his tongue through the wet folds of your cunt, making your head fall back with a loud moan.

“You taste like blood,” His voice was hoarse and strained and as you looked down at him, you could see him stroking his cock with his free hand. “So sexy, bunny.”

You opened your mouth to respond with something sarcastic but the words died in your throat when he buried his face back between your thighs. You hissed at the contact but couldn’t move away from him even if you were brave enough to try. Billy shifted closer, his attention seemingly fixed on Stu’s head between your thighs.

One finger stroked through your folds up to your clit, gentle and testing. It was slow, gentle, so unlike what you were expecting from Stu. The barely there stimulation was a kind of torture, leaving you squirming and eager for more. But it feels good, warm building pleasure easing the pain slowly.

 "Stu," you gasped, arching your back. "Please." 

 "Please? You want it now?" His smirk was clear in his tone, even as he teased the very tip of one finger into you.  

"Stop teasing," you grumbled. “Thought you were going to help me?”

“I am helping you.” He sighs, alternating between greedily dipping his tongue inside you and sucking gently at your clit.  His name tore out of your throat as you gripped his hair between your fingers, hips rocking up into his mouth. He shifts one hand from your thigh to press flat against your stomach, holding you still as he fucks you with his tongue.

“Is it helping?" He eases off, two fingers slipping into you with a lewd noise and without even thinking about it, you attempted to close your knees, shrinking a little in embarrassment.

Billy murmurs your name in warning. “Don’t.”

You force yourself to relax, Stu pumping his fingers steadily, thumb grazing over your clit. 

"Fuck," you breathed, arching your back and rocking your hips down onto his hand. You squirm and Billy sighs as he strokes his thumb across your forehead.

"Stay still," he murmurs, his voice thick with arousal.  "He’s trying to help you bunny, just look at me ok?”

Stu’s nose brushes your clit as his tongue delves inside of you and you cry out, your back arching as you break Billy’s gaze, eyes squeezing shut as you feel sparks of pleasure running all through your body.

"Stu, please.”

“Look at me,” Billy repeats, his fingers grasp your chin, pulling your face towards him. He wants your attention and you’re not giving it to him, you can tell he’s amused and a little annoyed by your inability to keep eye contact.

"You like it like that?" Billy asks as Stu crooks his fingers, rubbing up against a spot that had pleasure rising embarrassingly quickly. "Slow and gentle? You gonna cum for me?” 

“For me,” you can feel Stu’s breath across your skin, his lips brushing the inside of your thigh as he speaks. “I’m the one doing all the work here.”

“I-yes-,” It’s all you can manage as he sinks his teeth into the tender skin of your inner thigh and you hissed, arching into him as you clenched and fluttered around his fingers, thighs tightening around his head as you ride out the slow warming wave of pleasure. You felt uncomfortably wet and sticky between your legs and thought of the mess you must be making on Billy’s sheets briefly crossed your mind.

Stu slows as your moans turn into whimpers, his tongue lapping over you softly once more before he sits up. It’s hard to look at him, blood smeared all over his lips, chin and nose, somehow more but not as much as you were expecting, but the way he is staring at you makes you shiver. He looks scary, feral, but he's also got a shit eating grin on his face because he knows he made you feel better. “Gonna fuck you now.” “Greedy.” Billy finally speaks up and Stu freezes. Something passes between them; a brief silent conversation that you know you’ll never be a part of but whatever was said Stu was obviously getting his way, as he moved his hips between your thighs.

“You’re going to be a good slut and suck him off while I fuck this bloody little pussy.” He stroked the head of his cock along your cunt and you heard him swallow hard as he watched your blood coat the head. “Fuck that’s hot.” he shuddered hard as he let his cock rub against your cunt, nudging your clit and teasing you as he glides through your wet folds. He moved to kiss you and you tilted your head, trying to avoid his mouth and he tuts, obviously displeased with the movement. “I want my kiss.” It’s a sulky, childish complaint but the puppy dog eyes and pout he gives you looks terrifying combined with the blood smeared across his face. You don’t want to but you don’t move away when he leans into kiss you again. Grossed out by the taste of your blood on his lips, coppery and sticky, you forced yourself to relax as Stu grips your jaw hard, holding you still and digging his fingers into your cheeks until you open your mouth for him. He swipes his tongue in to your mouth once and then pulls away with a low groan. Your chin felt sticky but Billy was quick to grasp your wrist tightly as you tried to wipe your hand across your mouth, Stu poking you on the nose at your grimace.

“Don’t ruin it bunny, let Billy fuck that bloody mouth of yours.”

You nod your head in defeat, biting back a moan when the head of his cock presses at your entrance, your breath stuttering as he begins to push inside. The stretch of him is unfairly divine, and you try not to think about the messthe two of you are going to make.  “Fuck, look at that.” He draws out slowly, not even half way inside you, his pupils blown wide as he stares between your legs. “You’re beautiful, bleeding all over me.”

Billy murmurs your name, his patience at being ignored obviously run out as he tugs your hair to draw you attention back to him, his cock hard and ready in front of your mouth. You open slightly reluctantly and circle your tongue lightly over the tip, but he inhales sharply, a breath that turns into a needy plea when he abruptly pushes forward.  "Just a bit more, bunny."

He starts slow, letting you accommodate to the intrusion, and then slowly begins pushing further down your throat, forcing you to take him until you retch, but before you can pull away his hand grips the back of your head, holding you in place.

“Hold it there for me, breath through your nose.” His fingers wind into your hair and Billy shudders, groaning appreciatively at the sight before him. Your eyes are swimming with tears as you try not to choke. The look of adoration he’s giving you is making you want to try your best to please him, but its difficult trying to forcing yourself to breathe through your nose without panicking. “Fuck, bunny, been thinking of this the whole time you were away. You choking on my cock.”

You hum in response making his breath hitch but a sudden thrust from Stu makes you jolt, makes you gag hard around Billy’s cock, instinctively reaching out one of your hands to press against Billy’s stomach as you tried to push him away, to give you some breathing room.

“Don’t.” One of his hands quickly finds yours, giving it one you think is supposed to  be a reassuring squeeze but it feels vaguely threatening instead, but he still takes pity on you, drawing back just enough to give you some breathing room. “relax.”

You try, but although he’s encouraging you to relax he’s not stopped moving, his hips unable to stay still as he thrusts slowly into your mouth. "That's it. Fuck-"

Encouraged by his praise, you try to take him deeper, swallowing around him as the tears started to slide down your cheeks. you must look a mess but Billy glances down at you with such adoration it makes your heart soar.

"Are you crying?" Billy groans, a thumb swiping under your eye. "Cute."

There’s a hum of approval  from Stu, his pace not slowing for a moment as he slid his hands up to your breasts, brushing  his thumbs over your nipples as he leant down, biting and sucking hard at your skin with each roll of his hips. It was all overwhelming in the best and worst way. Delicious pressure was curling low in your gut, and you couldn’t stop your hips moving in time with his thrusts, chasing after your release. Stu groaned at the movement, reaching a hand between you to push his thumb to against your clit.

 “Come on, baby, you can do it,” he stutters out. “I know you can cum for me.” You were close, your orgasm creeping up on you quickly, but you could tell from Stu’s faltering thrusts that he was close too.

"m’close," Stu mumbles against your neck, tongue wet and sloppy over your skin as he strokes over your clit. “I can feel you squeezing my cock, bunny. Come on, come on."  He shudders, sounding a little desperate but his frantic fingers slick and clumsy against your clit gives you just the right amount of stimulation to do as you’re told. Another slow roiling wave of pleasure that draws a strangled cry from your throat as Stu fucks you through it. You could barely breathe as Billy started to fuck your mouth harder, his own moans getting louder as he watched your back arch.

Stu hissed, the feel of you spasming and clenching around him and the sound of you gagging around Billy’s cock enough to make him reach his own peak. His hips bucking into yours one final time, burying himself as deep as he could go as a flood of warmth settled in your belly and he came with a low hoarse moan.

Billy’s movements become rougher as he curses, dragging your face to his pelvis and holding it there as he bottoms out, cumming down your throat with an eager moan. Stu’s fingers fluttering across your throat as you swallow and Billy withdraws from your mouth, leaning back on his hands with a contented sigh, eyes closed and heaving chest as he catches his breath. You’re coughing hard, retching almost, cum and saliva dribbling down your chin, and Stu wipes his fingers through the mess, rubbing it into your skin as he continues to trail his fingers over your throat.

“Missed you.” Stu whispers. He’s still inside you, his cock twitching and softening sending little pleasurable shivers through your body.

You don’t bother saying anything, just wince as Stu finally pulls out of you, the rush of fluids immediate and all three of you stare at the redness coating his cock. He swirls his fingers along his shaft in fascination, coating his fingers in the mixture of bloody fluids. “Shit,” he sounds dazed, and there’s a soft grunt of agreement from Billy as he slumps down beside you, a hand resting across your thigh as you  both watch Stu stroke himself. It is hard to look away from, even in your exhausted state and you feel yourself zooming out as you watch, lulled into a dreamy relaxed state as Billy’s fingers trace up and down your thigh.

Stu’s hand tapping against your jaw makes you jump, forcing yourself to look up at him. His thumb brushes gently across your cheek as one hand still languidly strokes his cock.

“Clean me up?”

Billy can't help the gentle smile as he glances at you over the curve of Stu's shoulder. Curled almost against the edge of the bed, half covered by the blankets and the hot water bottle Stu had found you held tight against your abdomen even in sleep.  Your hair is damp still and he knows for a fact you're going to be annoyed about that in the morning. Annoyed further when he tells you how adorable you look. It had taken him quite a lot of effort to tempt you into the bath with him earlier, which had surprised him, and hurt, but you’d caved eventually, you always did.

He hugged Stu closer, letting the sting of hurt disappear with the warmth of Stu’s skin  before giving into the temptation to press a flurry of soft kisses across his shoulder blade. “You awake?"

It’s quiet for a minute, long enough that Billy thinks he might actually be asleep until Stu shifts with a sigh.

"No," Stu said slowly, sleep making the word more of an inarticulate grunt.

Billy tightened his arm around Stu’s waist, pulling himself closer until he is flush against his back . Stu makes a noise that he interprets as probably irritated, a noise he ignores and instead slides his hand up Stu’s hip and over his ribs.

"You doing?" Stu mumbles.

“Touching you?” Billy’s breath is warm on his skin and Stu shivers when another kiss is pressed to his shoulder. He doesn’t say anything, and Billy’s roaming fingers reach higher up his chest, only pausing when Stu still doesn’t respond. "You want me to stop?"

"No. kinda." Stu whispers, trying his best to keep his breathing even, failing completely when Billy scratches a nail lightly over his nipple, only just catching hold of the whine that wants to escape. "sleep."

"Oh." Billy’s amused huff sends goose bumps down his spine. “Sleep.” 

It’s tempting. Very tempting, to let his fingers roam over Stu’s chest. A few more tweaks and caresses over his nipple and he’d give in, he knows it. It’s one of Stu’s major weak spots but instead he smooths his hand down Stu’s torso, letting his nails scratch teasingly over his skin before relenting, wrapping his arm around his waist and smothering his face into Stu’s back. He smells like you.

[allwormdiet]

Gestation 1.4

[claps hands] Let's do this shit

And, of course, there's no reason why Taylor never even considered using a cellphone for totally non-traumatic reasons.

Interesting that Brockton Bay still has payphones, feels like another Earth Bet divergence unless I'm crazy and people were still using payphones back in 2011. It's been long enough that I could be misremembering.

Noticing she says "more" venomous instead of "at all" venomous. Also interesting that Taylor's still getting used to the sensory input from her bugs. Something for her to practice I guess.

And I've said it before but I'll say it again, fuck whoever thinks Taylor Hebert has a weak power, this woman is a walking plague of Egypt.

And now we see Taylor doing what she's wanted to do for months, unleash her powers in righteous fury, and she loves it. She's practically getting high from it. You can see how capes keep doing what they're doing even when it makes them miserable or threatens their lives, it's the gratification of doing Their Shit.

She has power over someone else, she's punishing a wrongdoer, she's protecting innocents (as far as she knows). No wonder she can smother the guilt at taking pleasure in this moment of pain, she has every reason to justify this glorious moment.

And now all of a sudden things are back to being serious and Taylor's high is quickly replaced by the fear that she's committed to something she's not sure about being able to resolve.

Taylor Hebert getting mean will one day be a cause of global alarm, and Lung's gonna be the first one to learn that. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

I'm not gonna put the excerpts in but her attacks on Lung's eyes are fucked up in a really impressive way. It's so creative and gross and mean and I bet this fight is a really good indicator of where every fight is gonna go.

Better to learn that powers are bullshit now than later.

"Dad can you pick me up I wanna go home"

TO BE CONTINUED

Current Thoughts

This chapter is mostly just fighting, so what I'll give credit on is that it's a cool fight. Lung is busted as fuck and the fact that Taylor managed to get any meaningful hits in is a mark in her favor... although I guess "meaningful" is a complicated one if you're dealing with a regenerator.

I'm kinda excited to say that the only thing I'm thinking about now is that I wanna see where this fight goes. This feels good, and not just because we're coming off of the low of the Docks/ABB narration.

[more-than-tender-curiosity]

HI I just finished The Chosen and The Beautiful by Nghi Vo and was wondering if you'd read it/had any thoughts on it?

Yes I have, and yes I do. Spoilers below.

Anyone who's on this blog knows I approach adaptations of any sort with a very critical eye. But! I am willing to at least try with any of them, and like with many others, I was just sort of disappointed.

The concept really, really drew me in. A very much queer retelling of Gatsby? Oh god yes. From Jordan's point of view? Absolutely. And they're not all white? Oh fuck yeah!!! Like the concept of Jordan as a queer Vietnamese woman reacting in real-time to the story we know in love was what made me pick this book up before most other adaptations.

Unfortunately, the magic really, really threw me off. I don't hate fantasy as a whole, but it's far from my favorite and it really felt out of place in this world. Everything would be fine and realistic and then all of a sudden they're drinking demon blood or there's a really fuzzy depiction of a portal to a gay nightclub in 1920s Manhattan. This sort of application of the fantasy themes felt unevenly applied, erratic, and unfocused, and to me, came at a detriment to the rest of the novel.

Part of the base novel for me is the magic Nick finds in the real, actual sights before him. Gatsby's parties. Daisy's house. The Valley of the Ashes. This story doesn't need magic, per se, because the magic comes from the narrator's wonder at their often otherwise mundane surroundings. I don't know if Nghi Vo didn't trust Jordan's pragmatic, cynical point of view to be able to see the magic in this story (if she even should have had to, to begin with) or if she just really wanted to write a fantasy story.

Characterizations also felt entirely off, and not just in a realistic, necessary, interesting way that would have to come about to adjust for Jordan being a woman of color and in control of the story. Gatsby talking about sucking dick and cock comes to mind immediately. What was that? As someone who knows way too much about that man, it doesn't really bring to mind that 'absurd formality' and tightly-wound liar with a silver-plated tongue.

Which is another thing. Look. I'm ace. I know other people are getting it on. These two things coexist. But...a lot of the adult content in this story felt rather shoehorned in, kind of in the same way as the magical stuff. Especially the ending with Nick and Jordan. By that point I was really fed up with the book and sort of skimming with eyes that hadn't blinked in a while, so maybe I missed something, but while I am fully aware of and supportive of Jordan getting lucky whenever she wants, it just felt like fanfiction I would have written at age 14 in how the sex was just suddenly THERE.

Again, it's been a minute since I read it, so maybe I'm misremembering a little. But still.

I think Nghi Vo had a story to tell that could have been better served as its own free-standing plot rather than a Gatsby adaptation. Instead of really working cleverly with the source material, the two sides of the story are working against each other. it's like trying to add milk to lemonade. Two good things don't necessarily mix to create a great end product. Maybe if she had kept it as realistic fiction (because I would have loved to see how a real queer Vietnamese 'Americanized' woman, even as Jordan Baker, would have actually lived through this plot—that's actually what I thought it was when I picked up the book, and I had no warning for the wind-flying in the beginning), or just written it as a totally un-Gatsby story, I think it would have been served much better.

Of course, everyone is allowed to write whatever they want and I'm glad for that. But as someone who cares very deeply for the source material and wants so desperately to see more taken from it, Chosen just felt off the mark for me. It wasn't what I hoped it would be, in a bad way. I learned a little bit about Vietnamese culture, which was nice. The prose was fine except for some really fuzzy bits where I genuinely lost the plot. I just wish it was different. Either a realistic fiction interpretation of the Gatsby story from the eyes of Jordan as a queer Vietnamese woman (which is what I thought it would be) or as a 1920s fantasy novel about a young Vietnamese American woman's struggle to ground herself in a changing world (which I probably wouldn't have picked up, to be completely truthful). Unfortunately what we're left with is a talented writer's attempt at doing too much at once.

I'll try to read it again if you suggest, but it kind of sits down there with Self Made Boys, where the concept was so interesting but there were just some major parts that sank each project as a whole. Oh, well. They can't all be @irisbleufic's The Pursued and the Pursuing.

[emma23]

Rumor as it :

Steven grant x reader

If you want to support me, take a look here 💕

https://ko-fi.com/settings?tab=profile

It’s a quiet evening at the museum gift shop, just another shift that blends into the others. The fluorescent lights hum softly as Steven fumbles with the tiny, breakable knick-knacks at the counter, clearly preoccupied. You’ve been here for nearly half an hour, pretending to browse keychains, but really, you've been sneaking glances at Steven, wondering when he’ll finally spill whatever’s on his mind.

You catch him looking over at you, his expression somewhere between painfully shy and totally conflicted. “Steven?” you ask, trying not to smile at how endearing he looks with his tousled hair and oversized sweater hanging off his shoulders. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Spill it already.”

Steven's face turns bright red, and he shifts from foot to foot, visibly uncomfortable. “Ah, well, you see…there’s something that’s been on my mind. Bit awkward, really,” he mumbles, scratching the back of his head.

“Out with it!” You lean in closer, both impatient and genuinely curious now.

“Right, okay…” He glances around, checking that no one else is listening. “So, er…there was this guy. At the bar last week. And he said something... something about you.”

“About me?” you blink, both surprised and intrigued. “What did he say?”

“Well…” Steven hesitates, his cheeks flushing even deeper. “He, uh…he must have quite an imagination because, well, what he said was kind of…lewd.”

You frown. “What did that pig say?”

Steven hesitates, looking almost embarrassed for the other guy. “Uh…you really want to know, huh? Alright, well, he said that you were, um, flirting with him. Something about you pushing him away when, apparently, you could have been, er, making out.”

Your jaw drops. “Ew! No way!”

“I know, I know! It’s ridiculous, right?” Steven says quickly, trying to reassure you. “I told him, you know, that he was probably…uh, misremembering things.”

You roll your eyes, shaking your head in disgust. “He’s so gross. How does he even come up with that? What else did he say? You said it was ‘lewd.’”

Steven hesitates, looking anywhere but at you. “I… I guess I did say that.”

“So?” you prompt, crossing your arms. “Out with it!”

“Um…do you want to… talk here?” he stammers, glancing around nervously.

“Tell me what that son of a—actually, you know what? Just say it!”

“Right, okay. Well, he said that you, er…propositioned him—”

“What!” you exclaim, your face scrunching up in disgust.

“Y-yes, erm… something about, uh… ‘letting him,’ you know…” he mumbles, clearly mortified.

“Letting him what?” you press.

Steven’s eyes dart around nervously before he clears his throat. “Um…‘you…all night.’”

You gape at him for a moment, processing the absurdity. “Oh, ew. Ew. That.”

Steven swallows, still looking like he’d rather sink into the floor. “So…uh…did…did this actually happen?”

“No!” you blurt out, half-laughing, half-horrified. “No! Of course not!”

Steven lets out a sigh of relief but then narrows his eyes. “Y/N, if this actually happened and you’re—”

“It didn’t, Steven!” you cut in, feeling flustered. “Why would you even—”

“Alright, alright!” he says, holding his hands up. “I believe you. It’s just…you know, I just…wanted to clear the air.”

You sigh, softening. “Look, Steven…you were at the bar too. I was talking to you across the room, remember? I was drunk, okay? And, well…I was upset because, honestly…” You look down, nervously playing with the edge of your shirt. “I really…wanted you.”

Steven’s eyes widen, and he fumbles over his words. “Oh…uh…ahem. Right. I…I didn’t realize.”

“I know,” you say softly, meeting his gaze. “But I didn’t want to break your trust by, you know, doing something stupid. So…there.”

He clears his throat again, his voice a bit shaky. “I… I see.”

“So, does that clear things up?” you ask, hoping to dispel some of the awkwardness.

“Yes…yes, I think it does,” he says with a soft smile.

There’s a moment of silence, charged and lingering, as you both stand there, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Steven reaches for your hand, his fingers warm and reassuring.

“Let’s…get you home, yeah?” he murmurs, his voice softer than you’ve ever heard it.

You let him lead you out of the museum, the quiet walk back to your place filled with a warm, almost giddy tension. When you finally reach your door, you hesitate, turning back to face him.

“Steven, I just…I just want you to know that…well, I still…y’know…really want you,” you admit, your cheeks burning as the words leave your mouth.

Steven’s breath hitches, and before you can second-guess yourself, you lean up, pressing your lips to his. He freezes for a moment, shocked, but then he melts into the kiss, his arms wrapping around you as he pulls you closer.

The kiss deepens, filled with a long-awaited, pent-up yearning. You stumble back into your apartment, hands tangled in each other’s hair, mouths hungry and insistent as the door shuts behind you. The night that follows is a blur of whispered confessions, soft laughter, and tender touches as the walls between you crumble entirely.

Hours later, as dawn begins to break, you lie tangled together, the silence comfortable and peaceful. Steven looks over at you, his hand brushing a stray hair from your face as he smiles, still half-dazed.

“So,” he whispers, grinning. “You’re really good at making bad choices, aren’t you?”

You laugh, nudging him playfully. “If they lead me to you, Steven, I think I’ll keep making them.”

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on the Brilliant Minds fall finale

so she isn't dead and we're just picking right up with no Wolf monologue

there's the expected guilt

good to know it doesn't look like the guys are competing over Ericka (though I have a bad feeling one might find out about the other)

love that the sports music started playing

another ethical dilemma similar to Roman's

don't jeopardize the patients, dudes

is this the first time we saw Carol's house (don't correct me if I'm wrong I could just be misremembering)

there goes a her-centric flashback and there goes my theory about it being some neuroweirdness of Wolf's

and the truth will out to both of them

people who say they're fine are never fine

glad Wolf and Nichols aren't turning this into a fight

and Allison's sounding a little like a horror villain

another Carol flashback (that I feel like was biting from Black-ish, black doctor new mother with postpartum depression) and wtf did she do

common theme of normal-or-not and I totally get where Wolf's coming from

sports music keeps playing and Van makes a play

I really hope that was the predicted in-danger and nothing's gonna happen to any of our heroes

better now and it feels like Wolf's trying to help them both get better

I've talked about Wolf/Dana parallels but this episode is kinda hammering home the Carol/Jacob ones I've heard others talk about in conjunction with both needing to realize they're pushing themselves too hard

Carol's anxiety kinda giving me anxiety

first kinda-fight but I don't think it's what Nichols thinks it is, maybe it's just my neuroweird projecting but I think Wolf and his too-much-empathy-for-his-social-skills didn't want Ezra to get the surgery because he wouldn't want it

of course Dana wins quietly in the background

but Jacob and Van appear to playing a very different game

Ezra helping Wolf realize maybe he was a little too dogmatic

and as in the episode with Van's diagnosis Dana hears everything

okay please don't tell me the entire triangle just blew up please tell me that's just fall finale drama

called it on the BPD shit

it feels like everyone's situations are paralleling each other again

hammering the theme home are we

are we going to see more of Allison (and that necklace is cute af)

Carol standing up for herself

Wolf and Nichols proving to be almost as Sherlock-Watson-coded as House and Wilson (if you took the name out that line about if I didn't see you as my equal I wouldn't bother arguing with you that could be used in gifsets or w/e for so many pairings and then have people argue over it being appropriative/not being usable for straight pairings because it came from a gay one)

okay there's the danger we were warned and worried about and I'm having to reassure my might-be-a-HSP ass that she's too core to not be okay (just like on East New York (may its memory be for a blessing) when Officer Bentley got shot in the fall finale) and maybe that just means Jacob and Van have to settle their differences or no one has a chance but I'm wondering how the hell this ties into neuro (I swear, if they make Ericka somehow gain some condition to not make her the "token normal one" next to Van's synesthesia, Dana's anxious-avoidant and Jacob's CTE and don't handle it well...)

[project-changeling-zero]

another issue i have with sonic prime - shadow the hedgehog. ( very long )

.

just gonna say this upfront - do not interact if you are a prime shadow fan and just want to insult or start an argument // debate with me in the comments.

.

ever since his debut in the show, shadow in sonic prime has been frequently called 'the best he's been written in years', well loved by a large majority of the prime fandom.

because of this popularity, i was under the belief that shadow was going to be more like how he's written in sa2, satbk, or sonic 06. i've since learned that many shadow fans ( that i've seen ) just like shadow on screen

which isn't necessarily a problem, but i think it's safe to say the sonic fandom has always been a mixed bag when it comes to critiques of the games and their contents ( ever since sa1, or even before that, to sonic frontiers, but i can't comment on the comics, as i've never read them ).

so, in hindsight, i should've proceeded with caution and not take popular opinion into high account.

anyway, i'll get to the point. shadow in sonic prime is one of the worst characterizations of shadow i've seen. i think the only one worse is shadow from the sonic boom universe.

shadow is quite frustrating in this show for a few reasons:

he loses the chaos emerald within five minutes of obtaining it, like an absolute idiot.

he antagonizes sonic every chance he gets and seems to believe the only way to resolve an issue is through violence or aggression. like, yes, of course, shadow, i totally wanna listen to you after you punched me in the face so hard that i literally suffered amnesia.

does next to nothing in the entire show ( up until, like, s3? ), but acts like he's needed.

insults sonic's friends for no reason ( originals and alters alike ).

somehow thought the tech was the only reason sonic could pass through the gateways when he literally saw sonic pass into new yolk before he got the tech. it'd be one thing if he knew sonic could pass regardless and figured the tech would help himself pass through, but he just ignored or forgot what he saw, i guess??? and this is never brought up again.

real question, what does sonic need him for again? even if shadow was never there, sonic would eventually come up with the plan on his own. it's not rocket science.

keeps insisting the alters aren't real people ( this is a problem of the show in general, esp where they go back and forth with sonic in particular, but it's extremely aggravating with shadow as, even if he was right, he's basically saying that sonic shouldn't care about the people that look like his friends, even if they're copies ).

last but not least, HE KEEPS BRINGING UP THAT HE'S THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM, WHO FUCKING CARES, GET A LIFE-

( should i also mention how misleading it was for it to seem like shadow was concerned and trying to warn sonic about the shatteverse, only to immediately go on the assault when the two meet up? what the fuck? )

after i got my hopes up by the reviews and all the love for this show, this was just sad and annoying to watch. how many times is it gonna take for sega and any writers associated with them to get it?

shadow is not an overtly aggressive, hot-headed, domineering person. that was never what shadow was or was supposed to be.

shadow is a kind, loving person. yes, you might not see it from pretty much every canon media of him aside from a few select games, but that's who he was meant to be.

of course, in sa2, he did nearly destroy the world. the difference between that shadow and prime shadow is that, in sa2, he did it out of the love he had for maria and because his memories were affected, making him misremember what maria really wanted.

in his debut game, shadow is meant to be something akin to a guardian angel. the 'ultimate lifeform' meant wish fulfillment, immortality, healing. and to have shadow believe that sonic is the true ultimate lifeform instead speaks volumes of who he is and how he's changed in a considerably short amount of time.

in prime, shadow isn't any of these things. sure, he protects sonic every now and then, but for a while, i didn't even know if it was because he actually cared about sonic or if it was because it was necessary to get back home. the 'ultimate lifeform' doesn't mean anything to him or to this show. it's just to wave his big dick energy around. it shows he doesn't actually see anyone, let alone sonic, as his equal.

yes, shadow is standoffish, but it's not like he's ever been out of touch with emotions or relationships. i don't believe that it was because of maria's death that shadow had essentially 'shut down', but rather because he wanted to grant her wish as soon as possible. and even then, he saved rouge's life. while the game could've led us to believe it was because she had the chaos emeralds, they showed us that he just couldn't let her die if he could prevent it by showing that he couldn't save maria way back then.

this is what a lot of the games, and frankly, most of sonic media in general, seem to have entirely forgotten about shadow.

even as a child, it wasn't difficult for me to understand that shadow did care. that he does care. in fact, that's pretty much what drives him throughout his entire debut game, that he cares so much for maria, so much for her wish, and, eventually, so much for humanity.

i think the closest we've ever been to getting a characterization just like shadow in sa2 is in sonic 06. say what you will about the game, i personally like it ( i acknowledge it has a lot of flaws, but let me be ).

in sonic 06, shadow doesn't have any hostility with sonic. in fact, sonic gives a silent thanks to him for saving him from silver. and shadow proves that you don't have to tell your friends you love them in order for them to know, 'cause he loves rouge and omega in this game. he deeply cares about them and is noticeably disheartened when he discovers what becomes of omega in the future.

shadow doesn't become persuaded by mephiles' tactics to turn against humanity, even when he gives plausible ( but not 100% ) evidence that it is likely authorities would blame shadow for the downfall of humanity, due to his power. in fact, the only thing about any of that information that brings shadow pause is the fact omega would have been the one to arrest him in said future.

and to mephiles' face, he accepts the possibility humanity will turn on him head-on and tells him that he will choose his own fate, that he will fight like he always has, that he decides how his story ends.

i find it hilariously sad that the few games that gets shadow is a game largely hated by a majority of the sonic fandom ( this included me at some point, i'll admit ). i think i'm seeing a turnaround though, especially with P-06 in the works, so that's some good news.

but back to my main point, there's a reason why sa2 and s06 shadow work much better than prime shadow. because shadow honestly, truly, completely cares.

he saves rouge from prison island.

he works alongside sonic without a second thought.

he saves humanity from his own wrong-doings.

he acknowledges sonic's power.

he saves rouge from eggman.

he is upset about omega's possible future circumstances.

he protects sonic from silver.

he is aware of how much rouge cares for him.

he helps in bringing sonic back to life.

and he does all of these with little to no complaint, no sarcastic remarks, almost no attempt to hide his true feelings under a mask, none of that. shadow is completely true to himself. shadow doesn't only care about others, he cares enough about himself to know who and what he truly is and everything he's capable of.

like, goddamnit, shadow isn't my #1 favorite sonic character, but he's SO close in these specific games.

this is why prime shadow feels so hollow and dry in comparison. he's just devoid of almost everything that made shadow... well, shadow. and it's been like this for years!

i'm not sure why people are saying this is the 'best he's been written in years' when, for a long while, he was no different from a majority of his characterizations.

but, hey, he's better in s3, right?

well, yes, but we don't know why he's like that.

in s2, he had balls of steel for treating and talking to sonic the way he did, but now he's...

kinder? protective? actually listening? ( sort of, dude's still kinda stubborn )

what the hell happened???

did his sympathy finally kick in? did he get hit by a coconut and had amnesia for a while? was he one of infinite's copies ( honestly, i would've bought that )?

seriously, what happened?

yeah, obviously, s3 shadow still has flaws, but i think if they were established in s1 or s2 and slowly developed over the course of the show, he would've actually been a really good character.

not that the shadow i know would call the alters 'not real' anyway, but, y'know, for the prime universe and all that.

anyway, overall, i think shadow in sonic prime is one of the worst versions of shadow to date. in their efforts to make him cool ( i guess? ), they made him devoid of a lot of emotion and connection with the rest of the cast, but especially sonic.

completely pushing shipping aside, shadow and sonic do not have a healthy relationship in this show. i'm not going to ignore that sonic definitely has flaws in his writing, but the relationship is unhealthy from sonic's passiveness and shadow's aggressiveness.

due to this, i only like specific moments of prime sonadow, and all of them are in s3. which is saying something.

if it were me, i would've written shadow more true to the original, with my own minor creative liberties here and there, in terms of his personality.

with sonic, i would've made it so he's definitely more on the line of friendly allies with him, but not quite friends yet. throughout the show, their bond would've become stronger and stronger, with a lot of queer undertones ( c'mon, i'm gay and i like these little freaks, leave me be ) and mayhaps a romantically undertone ending, if i didn't wanna be bold about it? maybe? i'm as transparent as glass.

i absolutely would've included omega into the cast and make his relationships with omega and rouge very important to shadow and his character, 'cause HOW DARE YOU TAKE THAT AWAY?!

generally speaking, there's just a lot i would've changed about shadow if i was in charge of writing sonic prime, but alas...

i can only write fanfiction.

and yes, i'm absolutely serious.

thank you for reading this long, ridiculous rant with me about a popular character that is guaranteed to get me some flack in one way or another.

lemme know if you'd have done anything different with shadow's character in the prime universe, or if you have any questions!

[y-rhywbeth2]

So, BG1 and BG2 Spoilers ahead:

Flicking through the original games again to check on certain lore points and also stopped on Sarevok's dialogues to make sure I'm not hallucinating, but nope.

Sarevok misremembers his past and his attitude towards Bhaal has changed. If he's supposed to be the same guy, then hey, Larian, you could've, I don't know... explored what the hell happened?? It would even be relevant to the themes of Bhaal's cult, indoctination, loss of will/identity and his shitty parenting?

I mean, I can kind of see where the whole "Durge, do what I failed to do so that Bhaal may live again through you" stuff came from, though I feel like they missed the mark a smidgeon (Sarevok seems a little too devoted to Daddy in BG3 from what I remember - he was not originally. Sarevok has no respect for Bhaal (dude's got twice the daddy issues of the typical Bhaalspawn), he's only interested in his power.):

Sarvok: "You are indeed family. No other could have lived to oppose me in person. Of course, it will not matter in the end. Ultimately I will prevail, and a new era will be born unto the realms." Charname: "You are mad! What do you hope to gain by resurrecting a dead god?" Sarevok: "Father Bhaal is dead, but the slaughter I will orchestrate will prove me to be the most worthy successor. It will raise his power from the ashes. The streets will run red with blood when my work is finished!" Charname: "Successor? Deities are not known for sharing their power willingly!" Sarevok: "Fool! I do not wish to RESTORE his power - merely to RAISE it! With the divine blood that flows through these veins, I shall assume control over that which he so foolishly lost! I shall BECOME Bhaal. THAT... is the only acceptable outcome. [...] Face me! Face the new LORD OF MURDER!"

Sarevok: "Fuck Bhaal, he didn't deserve his job, so I'm taking it."

As for the bitching about being resurrected against his will, oh he's so annoyed. How could his cruel sibling do this to him against his will???

UM, LARIAN???

Sarevok: "So. You have finally arrived. I have been waiting for you." Charname: "Sarevok?! Didn't I kill you for the last time in Hell?" Sarevok: "You did indeed... although that was no fault of mine. [...] I have done nothing but attempt to reform myself since."

Sarevok: "Regardless, I spotted [this pocket plane] forming and guessed at its purpose. So I came here and waited, kniwing that eventually you would come... and that then we could discuss my... deal." Charname: "What kind of deal? What could *you* want?" Sarevok: "What do you think I want, dear [sibling]? I wish to exist... I wish to be alive again. You can do that. The smallest fraction of your soul, my [sibling]... given freely, with the taint of our dead father within it. That would recreate my flesh, restore my mortality... Sarevok would live again!" Charname: "I killed you once before... what makes you think I would want to return you to life?" Sarevok: "I do not come to the table empty-handed, [charname]. You think me a fool? [...] I can help you. And that has its price."

Charname: "Forget it. I don't trust you." Sarevok: "As you wish. By all means, stroll about and examine what you will of your domain. Time passes and events move with them. I'm sure it will not take long even for you to realise the truth"

Basically, he holds you hostage in this tiny dimension and won't let you progress with the game until you share your soul with him and resurrect him.

Charname: "...I will restore you." Sarevok: "So I have cheated death! Thank you, dear [sibling]... no gift could please me more." ... Sarevok: "I live! Flesh and blood and bone! I am ALIVE! Ha ha ha ha ha! I swore I would scratch and crawl my way back into the world of the living... and I have done it! "Though my sword and armour have not appeared. No matter. Without the Bhaal essence to channel their powers, they are of little use. I shall make do without them, as I once did. Thank you, [charname]. I am pleased."

Oh, he totally didn't want to escape! See how mad about it he is! See how happy he was in the afterlife??

*muttering*

(Sarevok bitches about this in his journal and Solath manifests over his shoulder and whacks him over the head with her staff because excuse you?? After all that nagging??)

[austajunk]

How about 2, 3, 7, 8, 12 and 18 for Komaeda? :3

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I love Nagito. Let me just say that. I do. But I also love the fun little ways life continues to shit on him. He constantly gets his shit wrecked and it is endlessly funny to me. He opens his little mouth during the trial and everyone is like "Komaeda... please... I beg... shut the fuck up!"

He sees the most beautiful creature in the world to him and falls in love--as he gets SHOT IN THE FUCKING CHEST. It's awesome.

As a Despair, he has to babysit bratty children (poorly and he even bullies one) and gets mercilessly harassed and cut up while having to watch the most lesbian confrontation of all time (complete with sunrise and cherry blossom tress in the background).

I could watch Komaeda eat shit for days.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

He really just had to ruin that SeikoxRurukaxIzayoi threesome and get them expelled, didn't he?

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I like that they draw him looking like the messed up little weirdo that he is. The artwork and deep dives are just chefs kiss.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Guys, stop acting like Komahina is the only valid ship out there. We all know Nagihoe Hoemaeda is a total slut. There's enough of him to go around. I really wish the fan base just... generally wasn't so gatekeepey with him.

Then there's the woobifying.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

He's blessed with amazing oral sex skills. Good with the tongue surprisingly. But very low stamina. Poor guy.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Aw man don't make me pick his relationships. They're too interesting. My favorites are his relationships with Hajime and Chiaki, of course, but...

I will list some that I feel don't get much attention.

I like his dynamic with Kazuichi because I feel like Nagito actually does fantasize about befriending him. But I think that's because Kaz attached himself so easily to Hajime that he's envious of Hajime's ability to just attract others to his side. When Nagito identifies Kaz's trust issues and breaks him down in the fourth chapter of DR2, it shows that he's been watching the mechanic and he knows how to eat away at his insecurities. Then there's the DR3 interactions and how Kaz had to carry him and get shit on because of Nagito's luck cycle. It's pretty funny.

Then there's his interaction (tho brief) with Gundham where Gundham refused Nagito and his apathy to steal his moment in Chapter 4. How they are both contrasted in the trial as both having to go through the Final Death Room (I may be misremembering the name) and the roulette challenge. Gundham is scraping to fight for his life because it's important to him. Nagito simply doesn't care but wants to end them all after going through the same challenge. These two were the antagonist giants of Chapter Four.

With Sonia, Nagito is notably respectful and protective. It's very sweet. And in return, Sonia has this more curious side about her. I think Nagito makes her curious because his motives are so unknown to her and of course, occult loving Sonia just has to work him out in her head and understand him whilst Chiaki is more accepting of how he is. Against I just think it's sweet.

[ssa-dado]

Philosopher and #4 for the character ask game, please! 🫶

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Okay, just a heads up, because I have some wildly specific ideas for the most random reasons:

BONES: I’ve only watched the first two seasons, but hear me out: she and Brennan. ICONIQUEEE Two intellectual powerhouses going head-to-head, but from completely opposite angles. Brennan’s hyper-rational, scientific worldview versus Philosopher’s more nuanced, abstract, philosophical perspective. Brennan would scoff at anything even remotely psychological, and Philosopher would probably say something snarky about science being limited by the rigidity of data, not getting the full picture etc. (enemy to lovers when?)

STAR WARS (The Clone Wars): Because she’s literally Satine in real life, it makes perfect sense for her to hang out with Obi-Wan: exchanging philosophical banter, clashing with every ideal he holds dear, and hopefully [REDACTED] him while she waits for Aaron to finally make up his damn mind. They’d have an absolute blast debating Jedi ethics, galactic politics, and whether the Jedi Code is a sham. Obi-Wan would be totally smitten while she would have fun but ultimately thinking, “Yeah, this is nice and all, but you’re no Hotchner.” Unfortunately for her, Obi-Wan has an annoyingly good sense of humor and is so dry and sarcastic that she wouldn’t get as much fun out of challenging him. Still, smash - because he has a beard. And sometimes that’s all the justification you need.

SUITS: Purely because it’s a lawyer-filled world, and I want to see Philosopher go into lawyer-overload mode. She’s always going on about how much she hates lawyers (do we believe her? That’s up for debate) so it would be so fun to see her eyeroll at everything that comes from Harvey's mouth (and I want her in that stupid mock-trial with Luis for Mikado's custody). Of course as you know this is totally biased by our SUITS brainrots (damn I really need to write them downnnn). Bonus: she and Donna would 100% be besties. Donna would take one look at her, understand her evil nature, and the two of them would start running the office within a week.

TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY: It would also be ridiculously fun - not just for her, but for the entire BAU - to appear on one of those real crime documentaries where experts break down and comment on cases they’ve solved. Good. Now, imagine her having to share her interview segment with Aaron. BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE It starts off professional enough, but then the cracks start to show. They’d accidentally veer off into bickering mid-interview because one of them just has to comment on how the other misremembered a minor detail. She’d roll her eyes at his “Unit Chief voice,” and Aaron would glance sideways at her like he’s fighting the urge to smile, or murder her, or [REDACTED] her. Probably all of the above. But then ofc it gets worse. The yearning kicks in. The camera catches those lingering glances, the way Aaron’s voice softens ever so slightly when he talks about how “her insight was instrumental to solving the case.” (PRETTYYYYYY) And the way she pretends not to blush but totally does? A national audience would eat it up. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is watching the documentary at home, screaming and commenting on their secret groupchat how they're basically flirting on national television. AAAAAA lovebirds.

Character Ask Game

[pillarsalt]

Wikipedia anon here, i feel SO embarrassed for misremembering so much about that article. the concept of the cotton cieling and the reminder of the sheer amount of institutions/resources that have been taken over by tims/tras makes me so upset i didn't want to recheck the article again, even though i should have. (it was some time ago i saw the rb of your comic and did my first check, then saw your comic again and remembered about doing so, to clarify. yes i'm an absolute mess i apologize)

i appreciate you so much for not only getting what i was trying (and failing lmao) to explain but also looking into and linking the talk page because JFC!!! so sharing differing opinions for a topic (with cited sources!!) on wikipedia is a no-no, but it's totally fine when you and your friends retroactively decide pro-topic views make you look bad and so you delete the entire article and rewrite the definition of said topic to be about generically "being left out of spaces :.-(" instead of being honest about it being homophobic, rapist rhetoric (which is the reason you're trying to hide it in the first place) hoooooooly SHIT

if genderism ever blows over (with how long it's stuck around for, and with no one being willing to talk about objective/legal concerns like the WPATH files and Maya Forestater, let alone even have a conversation with a GC person, at this point i'm not hopeful...) everyone who contributed to the widescale abuse and trauma of women (especially lesbians), girls, gay men, gnc people, and tip (medicalized or not) could spend the rest of their lives begging for forgiveness and it wouldn't be anywhere near enough. not that i'm expecting them to do that, of course. it's not even blown over yet and we can see from the cotton ceiling article that they'll absolutely try to just gaslight everyone and pretend it never happened (and if it did, it wasn't that bad, and if it was bad it was your fault for not doing your research, etc etc)

ANYWAY i'd rather end on something positive, so thank you again for sharing your wonderful art on here!! seeing there's a talented, feminist female artist who's into pokemon and mlp but hasn't bought into trans ideology is so healing for me. hope you have a lovely day!!! :) :) :)

I wouldn't be embarrassed, I mean the article's not completely empty but it's obviously been stripped down to next to nothing compared to what it used to contain, and half the cited sources aren't really relevant at all. They briefly mention the MTF porn actor who coined the term but failed to mention the scores of other popular MTFs who were vehement proponents of the rhetoric (Riley J Dennis is the first one that comes to mind). And yeah that dude in the discussion page saying he's going to be watching the page and reverting any edits he doesn't like, isn't that very wikipedia illegal? I don't edit wikipedia but I'm fairly certain that camping on an article to make sure your edits aren't edited is not allowed.

It's definitely been a trend with "progressives" to flip the script on anything they've done and can see was wrong in retrospect, claiming "no actually YOU said this, not me." It's a very good reason to keep things documented, and I have huge respect for people who keep the receipts so we can hold people accountable for the harmful bullshit they've spread around. (Speaking of which, I think now is a good time to remind everyone that Eli Erlick is a rapist, another interesting fact that has been unsuccessfully scrubbed from the internet.)

Thanks for your wonderful words as well :) Have a great day too!