#(probably gonna make another once the new season drops)

[toobusybeingdelulu]

no because why do I have the feeling that the night at the Byers’ house steve needed that fight more than billy? think about it. When seeing Steve on the porch he immediately relaxes (leaning against the car, lighted cigarette, hand on the belt) while Steve is more closed off and tense (arms crossed etc).

Steve knew that that encounter would have ended in blood one way or another, while I don’t think that Billy did: he was just there to pick up his sister. His night had already been ruined. Not even a fight could fix it. And also he had to hurry up because Neil was waiting for him, and last but not least… I don’t think he had wanted to fight steve in the first place, despite what everyone may think. I’ve always had the impression that, in canon, he wanted to get to know him in a non-antagonistic way, but didn’t know how to properly… do that, you know? So yeah, a bit of advice on the basketball court, with just enough pushing to not give Steve the idea that he was some sort of pussy (after all, we‘ve seen how he was raised), then some compliments under the shower and a little bit of encouragement (‘don’t sweat it Harrington’ ‘today is just not your day man’ + side eye at Tommy when he teased him about Nancy + ‘don’t take it too hard man, a pretty boy like you has got nothing to worry about.’) and he probably thought that maybe he was doing a good job at it?

Well. Steve did not think so. How can we blame him tho? Let’s remember that Steve is in a hurricane of emotions in season 2: he just lost his spot as king of the crowds, his shot at a normal life and his girlfriend. And then there is this new boy (who is going through just as much of a change) who cannot stop being in his space, and being mean, and pushing him around, and how could he believe that he was being friendly? Of course he is gonna think that dude’s just being a dick for the sake of making his life hell, for some reason. Even the compliments he threw his way may sound as mocking for someone who had been told to his face by his girlfriend that he was nothing but bullshit.

So.. yeah. It’s safe to say that these two idiots did not understand each other, so a fight had been inevitable. And of course it was started by Steve. Because he is the one that had a different perception of Billy’s behaviors towards him than billy himself: maybe he thought that he would have fought him even if he had told him the truth. Or some reasonable lie. Either way, it would have been inevitable. but least he could have a little fun before the first punch, ergo the “were you dropped too much as a child or what?” Because what the duffers and even his fans don’t understand about Steve Harrington’s character is that he is still a former mean girl. No matter how hard they try to uwufying him. Did he change since s1? Sure. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be bitter. That he can’t be awful sometimes. And selfish. But that is fine!! Because that’s what made him interesting in the first place. And the night at the Byers’ had been one of those times. Did billy get out of line with his violence once started? Sure. But Steve threw the first punch. And he needed that fight, because unlike the monster in the fridge, THAT was something familiar. THAT was something normal teenagers did.

and the thing that makes this dynamic even more interesting? Is that Billy loved this side of Steve (“looks like you got some fire in you after all huh? I’ve been waiting to meet this king Steve everyone is telling me so much about”) Because, once again, it was something that he recognized.

In the end, they were both scared kids trying to find a bit of normalcy in each other’s blood in order to escape their respective monsters.

[emeraldbloodcrown]

Once More

Chapter: Three - New Acquaintances Pairing: Poly; Tattoo Artists!141 x Baker!Female Reader Summary: Not getting the answers you want, you decide to catch a break at the town's festival, meeting two new strangers. Content/Warning: Still none, Kyle's dimples Word Count: 3.1k

Sharing a look with Anna both of you crouched by her sides, hooking an arm around her and guiding her movements until she could settle down on her bed. You swept another look over her body, trying to see the beginning of a bruise or her favoring an arm; anything to prove that she was injured. But you couldn't tell and she wouldn't say.

"Alright," you huffed exasperatedly. "Yell if you need anything."

Your grandmother waved you off, turning her hand as if to shoo you out of her room and you watched her pull the covers over herself before Anna closed the door.

You walked down the stairs in silence, a charged atmosphere between you both but Anna only addressed once you were back in your room.

"Do you buy it?"

Raising one of your eyebrow, you shot her a skeptic look. "Do you? Heavens, I don't want her to actually be injured but the way that just sounded… Plus, I can't shake that she's hiding something."

Anna furrowed her brows, "Anything in particular?"

"No, nothing I could point out but it's sitting there in the back of my mind, like things just don't fit together."

Climbing back into bed, you pulled the covers over you, setting an alarm for the next morning with the decision to start figuring out if your mind was playing tricks on you, or if there was truly something your grandmother was keeping to herself.

The next morning came faster than you had expected it, your entire body still aching from the day before and desperate for more sleep, and your finger hovered over the snooze button - just ten more minutes, or an hour - before you woke up enough to remember why you had set it so early to begin with.

The reason how your grandmother wound up owning a bakery had to do largely with her love for sweets. According to your father she had always been baking and progressing recipes to perfection. That was a similarity you apparently shared with her but where your drive came from a plethora of food allergies that made store bought foods feel like a round of Russian Roulette, she simply didn't like the taste, always complaining why she should buy it when she could make it so much better.

A sentiment that was soon shared by family and friends and after the first few people who hired her for making cakes and treats for their parties, she started to dream about doing that for a living and once her children had been old enough, she was able to fulfill that for herself.

Your grandmother had an unmatched love for good sweets and you reckoned that, with her age, it had been a long while since someone had gotten her something that hadn't been from a store, which could be just the right thing to get her to be more indulgent once you ask her some questions she's probably not gonna like.

Question was just what you were gonna make for her.

By the time you had something to show for your efforts, it was already an early morning and you could hear the slow, single footsteps of your grandmother making it down the stairs.

"Smells good in her, dearie. What're ya making?"

She circled the counter, one hand clutching the corner tight enough her knuckles were turning white and peaked into the pot.

"Quarkinis, hm?"

You hummed, rolling another ball out of curd dough and dropping it carefully into the hot oil.

"Gonna use powedered sugar?"

You hummed again.

"You used vanilla pods?"

Another hum.

"Two or three?"

"Don't play me; you've always used two and a half."

From the corner of your eyes, you could see her lips curl into a soft smile, nudging your side.

"I never understood your obsession with these. Ever since we made that trip to Germany, you just couldn't get enough of them."

"Cause you brought me there in the midst of the carnival season. Of course, I was gonna get hooked on sweets, music and bright colours. And," you raised a finger for emphasis before pointing it at her, "you combined Kreppels and Quarkinis for me so I wouldn't have to decide which I liked more."

There was a pause before your grandmother addressed the elephant in the room: "I also made them for you whenever we needed to talk."

"Sure did." Taking the last batch out of the oil and turning the stove off, you grabbed her a plate with the already filled in sugared curd balls. "Come on."

Your grandmother and you sat down in front of each other, the plate between you. She took one, observing the shape, giving it a small squeeze before taking a bite from it. 

She closed her eyes for a moment, her smile widening and pride shining in her eyes when she opened them again.

"Alright, what do you wanna talk about?"

"How did the fire start?"

You could visibly see how she was closing herself off: her shoulders drew high, lips turned into a thin line and her gaze hardened.

„I told you. Electric fire. The wires were old, was bound to happen one day."

You nodded. The report she had shown you when you had gotten back did state the cause of the fire as an electric one. Anna and you had already decided that you wanted everything of the bakery be new so that nothing could backfire on you due to age or over usage, so you had called someone to check and redo all of the wiring.

The thing was, given the tight-knit community, you had wounded up getting the son of the man who had done the check-ups for your grandmother, so they had both shown up for the appointment, meticulously checking everything after the father had apologized to you - 'could‘ve been your granny just the same' - and what they had found had raised more questions than answers.

All of the wiring was just as it should be, except for the one that had caused the fire. Which, father and son had pointed out, had started at a strange angle. It was too burnt now to truly tell, but you knew what they were trying to imply.

Someone had meddled with it.

"We just so happened to get the same electricians as you." 

"Oh, James‘ son? How nice of him to take over for his father" 

Her smile reappeared but it didn‘t reach her eyes, too practiced, as she went into an anecdote about something James did in his younger years.

"Sure, he also said that it‘s unlike his father to mess up like that-"

She didn‘t even let you finish properly before she started into an excuse.

"Well, didn‘t you always say that old people have a hard time coming to terms with the things they can‘t do anymore? And it‘s not like James‘ father is getting any younger either."

"Grandma."

She halted at the tone of your voice and watched as you crossed your arms and leaned over to rest them on the table.

"What aren‘t you telling me?"

"I don‘t know what you‘re talking about"

"All of the wiring was good. Kinda unlikely for it to burn your shop down, don‘t you think?"

"It was an electric fire," she insisted.

You knew you should back off but you also had the feeling that if you didn‘t push now, you might never get any clear answer from her.

"That‘s not true, and you know it!"

Her chair scratched over the floor as she slammed her hands on the table and got up.

"Stop it. You have no idea what you‘re talking about, just focus on rebuilding and leave everything else in the past. Where it belongs, I mean it."

You watched her leave before you deflated and pressed your hands over your head together. That wasn‘t ideal, but even if it wasn‘t the outcome you had hoped for, her reaction did show that something was off.

You took your time cleaning up, so by the time Anna found you, you were sitting on the window sill in the living room, window wide open and the hand closest to it holding a lit cigarette.

She came to a stop next to you, holding your shoulder to squeeze in and take a seat next to you, resting her head on your shoulder.

"Been a while since I've seen you smoke."

"Been a while since I've had a reason to."

She took the cigarette from your hand, taking a drag from it herself before she answered. "Yeah, I heard both of you yelling. Got anything?"

You shook your head, a bitter expression taking over your face. "Nope, only told me to drop it."

Anna scoffed and you couldn't help but smile. Years of working together had taught her that you were known for your stubbornness, often taking up fights with management for the sake of your residents' wellbeing. She had experienced it so many times that she had grown used the tone of voice that would precurse you not listening.

The same tone that was in your voice right now.

"Which you're obviously not gonna do."

Wrapping your arm around her shoulder, you squeezed her body. "Aww, look at you knowing me so well," You took your cigarette again, taking another drag, "No, I know something's going on."

"Well before you make that bomb explode, we got a festival to get to."

The sun was just starting to set when you and Anna arrived. The town square had been transformed: fairy lights and colorful pennants with the town's emblem hanging between the old street lamps and a stage right in the middle of it with several stalls loaded with a wide variety of food or little trinkets to buy.

You watched the pre-teens dancing to a mix of popular songs on stage before you hooked your arm with Anna and wandered into the masses. Quickly you noticed that nearly every family business was represented on this festival in one way or another but any bigger shop, those that had hundreds of branches all over the country, were missing.

A sudden pull from your elbow made you stop and look to Anna who had stopped, her fingers still in the crease of your elbow but she was focused on something on your left, her eyes filled with a child-like wonder. You had an inkling what had put her in such a state but you followed her line of sight, and heaved a sigh when you saw indded what you had been expecting.

Behind the row of food stalls were a few festival games set up, among them a shooting gallery with the woman working it advertising a giant sparkling Pegasus as the main prize.

"I want it…"

"5 pounds for three tries; that's gonna add up fast."

"I knooow"

You almost laughed when you heard her honest-to-God whine and you couldn't help but egg her on a little.

"You don't need it, tho"

Anna grabbed your arm with both hands and shook you while she kept whining.

"I want it so bad. I need it! Come on, have a heart."

"Okay, okay!  Where's your cut off?"

"500," she replied instantly and you snapped your head at her.

"The fuck you are; go lower. We ain't made of money."

"495"

"Try 50 or I'll keep your wallet hostage until we're home."

"You're a horrible friend," she said while grabbing the bills from you and stomped towards the game.

"For keeping you from bankruptcy? Yeah, so horrible."

Your only answer was Anna flipping you off. Laughing to yourself at that, you decided to take a look around to find something to keep you occupied while Anna tried to score her new friend.

You set your eyes on a claw crane and found if Anna could waste cash, so could you. Most people walked past the money trap, leaving only one person in front and you used the time to figure out which prize you wanted to try for.

"Bloody hell," he exclaimed in front of you, smacking his hands against the machine as it beeped sadly, indicating a loss. Noticing your eyes on him, he turned slightly, allowing you to see his, admittedly, pretty face; clean shaven and dark skin so soft to the look that it made you think of needing to do more of a skin care routine.

"Sorry, didn't mean to shout."

"All good. Which one were you trying to get?"

He made space for you and you stepped to the controls of the machine, feeding it the money for the first try. Surprised by your question, he pointed to plushie of a red panda holding a heart.

"That one. For my girlfriend."

You smiled at that and set the crane up for the panda.

"Oh please, you really don't ha-"

"They're a favorite of hers?"

You got on your tip toes for a moment before you decided to take the arm a little more to the left and letting it go down.

"Yeah, saw some compilation of them and has been obsessed ever since."

"That's cute."

The claws opened and closed around the leg, slipping a bit but had grabbed enough chunk of the body that it held on. You cheered the machine on as it so ever slowly moved to the front, and jumped in joy when it slid down the hatchet, and the machine beeped a success.

Taking in by your joy, the two of you high-fived before you went to retrieve the toy and give it to him.

"There was really no need for that but thank you," he said, adorning a sweet smile that dimples pop out in his cheeks.

"Anyone willing to get that angry for his girlfriend deserves some help. Besides, I often get lucky with these machines. Only them, tho," you laughed.

"Gotta remember that for next time then. I'm Kyle, by the way." Putting the panda under his arm, he reached to offer his hand and just as you were about to give him your name, you heard it being scremed by a very familiar voice.

Turning around to the commotion, you saw Anna waving, and when she noticed she had your attention, she waved the giant Pegasus in her arms.

"Unbelievable…"

"Your friend?" Kyle asked and, once you nodded while sighing in exasperation, he continued, "She looks fun. And she's found Johnny."

You looked again. Hooked around her arm was a man: tall with a mohawk, shirt exposing the intricate sleeve on his right arm, and an easy smile on his lips as he chatted with Anna and let himself be dragged by her to where you were standing with Kyle.

"Look!" Anne yelled when she was close enough, excitement bubbling in her voice.

"Can't believe you actually won it."

"Oh no, can't take the credit for that," she pulled Johnny closer, "he got it for me"

Mohawk guy - Johnny - winked at Anna, "Cannae leave a damsel in distress, aye?"

"And I'm sure you only had noble intentions," Kyle scoffed, smirk on his lips to which Johnny only rolled his eyes.

"I see ye got the toy fer yer girl."

Kyle clasped a hand around your shoulder: "Curtesy of my new friend."

Clapping his hands together once, Johnny said, "That calls for drinks. Come on."

You joined Anna's side just as Johnny went to Kyle, wrapping an arm around him and patting him on the back.

"Glad you could make it."

Johnny lead the three of you to the backside of the festival where a couple restaurant had their outdoor seating left open and offered food and drinks for a lower price. Naturally, seemingly ever table was occupied but Johnny found one almost hidden away at the far back.

Anna and you sat down next to each other with both of the boys opposite tou, and when you all had a drink, you clinked your glasses together in a toast.

"To new acquaintances."

Talking to new people had never been your strong suit, especially when you couldn't hide behind one of your expertises. But there was just something about how Johnny and Kyle created a pleasant atmosphere that even you could let yourself loose and not worry how you might be perceived.

"Am serious, Simon looked ready to murder him. Poor lad just about pissed himself."

Johnny had been retelling stories of their work, most of them having a Simon guy at the front of some customer forgetting their place.

"Wait, wait," you interjected, "so Simon's the big guy, right? Dressed like he's ready to rob a bank, that one?"

Johnny nodded vigorously, almost bouncing in his drunken giggle fit.

"And you have actually customers who throw a fit with him?"

Anna and you looked at each other incredulously, ready for Johnny to anounce it was a joke but nothing happened.

"So people are insane here, that's good to know."

You finished your drink, taking another look at Kyle. He had been joking with Johnny and sharing his own stories but for a while he had been absolutely quiet, eyes glued to the phone while his thumbs flew over the screen. A sharp curse escpaing his lips, getting Johnny's attention too, before he threw his drink back, patting his jacket for his wallet before Johnny stopped him.

"I got ye. Donnea worry, can pay me back later."

"Thanks, man. Sorry, I'll make this up to you," Kyle said, shifting his eyes as if to include you and Anna in the apology.

"Take care"

Anna nudged you, showing you the time.

"We should probably get going too," she said, raising her hand to flag down a waiter.

That seemed to get Johnny's attention, his head turning back to you both.

"Sure, ye girls mind if I bring ye home? Jus' tae be safe."

You hesitated for a moment but Anna jumped on the chance, swooning about him being a gentleman and hooking arms with him as soon as you were ready to leave. You could practically see hearts in her eyes and you realized where this was heading; sighing.

The entire way home,the conversation kept going but mainly between Anna and Johnny but you found yourself smiling at his attempts to keep you a participant and not just a listener while Anna chatted his ear off.

It didn't take long until you were almost home, bakery to your left when Johnny stopped, observing the work you had been doing.

"Damn me, almost back to her glory."

"And we're not even close to done," Anna exclaimed, letting go of Johnny in favor of hugging her new friend to her chest.

Johnny looked at you, "Cannae wait. Ye ever need help, ye know where ta find me."

[bugeater77]

Nandermo things u probably forgot about

not in any order(i wrote them whenever i remembered them)

(scroll down for images, the ones pictured are highlighted) - Nandor holding guillermo up to make him feel like he is flying multiple times (quite possibly nandermo hug)

During the simon the devious episode where nandor once again takes him flying, they hold hands (last image)

Nandor telling guillermo to stay by his side until he falls asleep in the curse episode, then going to grab his hand but stopping (5th Image)

"you'll probably have to take it in the waist and out the shoulders" - guillermo knowing Nandor's exact measurements

Nandor getting so frustrated while talking about the other vampires wanting to kill Guillermo that he kicks and destroys a box

"take a picture of me having fun and then send it to guillermo so he knows how much I do not miss him" - nandor

Guillermo DROPPING EVERYTHING ON THE GROUND when he hears about nandor's engagement

"it's not gonna last." -Guillermo SHIT EATING GRIN after realizing that gale and nandor are not gonna be together

Guillermo PUTTING HIS ARM AROUND NANDOR AFTER THE GAIL EPISODE he thought he had a chance :( (4th image)

Sean calling Guillermo Nandor's boyfriend and lazlo not questioning it not one bit

pulling guillermo back way before he was supposed to after trying to use him as bait for the sire

this was also while he was shaking his money maker if i might add

like the second he did it...

entire scene where Nandor tries to convince guillermo to come back from celeste

ENTIRE HOMOEROTIC FIGHT SCENE

might i mention that nandor obviously thinks guillermo fighting him is hot??!

Guillermo gripping nandor plushie after he leaves (3rd image)

Guillermo has silver lined seatbelts in his car, meaning he was planning to rescue nandor for a while

"traveling the whole world with my nand- master" - guillermo

ermmmmmm glitter portrait ?!!

Nandor wishing to be human the SAME AMOUNT that guillermo wishes to be a vampire, seeing him as an equal

"my furry little friend" - nandor

Marwa, who likes EVERYTHING nandor likes, kissing guillermo all over his face

The wwdits cast interview about nandermo, which to me feels like a deep extreme very canonization

Nandor's pure jealousy after finding out about guillermo becoming a vampire

Him waiting for SO LONG outside of panera bread

Going to guillermos house to look at his baby pictures

talking about his goth phase with his mom...

"if i'm lying, kill me now" - nandor

Nandor being so upset and holding guillermos body after thinking he was dead

Nandor grasping guillermos sweater

speaking out against the baron to keep guillermo safe, which if you watch season 1 again you'll see that he is TERRIFIED of the baron

so excited to talk about guillermo killing vampires.... wtf is wrong with u nandor but we're not gonna get into that

"I will fix"

PUTS ON GUILLERMOS CAPE

he is so excited to kill derek, not to turn guillermo human, but literally just to kill derek out of jealousy

Nandor's face while guillermo is talking about his love life(second image)

Guillermos face after Nandor turns Gail into a vampire (first image)

guillermo hammering the door as hard as possible to wake nandor for his super slumber.

duh nandor knowing every part of Guillermos thank you card

The entire last episode actually?

theres absolutely more but this is all i remember just from my brain

(new additions) In another cast interview, Kayvan Novak says “I think he’s coming to the realization that his type is Harvey Guillén flavored.” about nandors type

Nandor makes guillermo spin around in his wedding cape

Nandor says he got the idea of having a wedding ever since him and guillermo "watched the wedding planner on that rainy sunday together"

ok listen closely, the wedding planner is about a woman planning a wedding falling in love with the groom causing him to leave the bride

he did NOT CARE WHO HE WAS MARRYING. BUT HE KNEW HE WANTED GUILLERMO TO PLAN IT FROM DAY 1

[oceansssblue]

Can I request a Hunter x reader fic where they have a knife throwing contest? (You can choose who wins)

cool request! I'm down!

Decided to do a little flirty thing between a badass female reader and our sexy sargent. Note for everyone that requests me something; if you want speficically a female male or neutral reader do tell me! If not I'll jump to whatever I feel.

Hope you like it!

Xx,

Sky.

"A SHARP SMILE"

TBB REQUESTS –HUNTER/F READER 📩💖🔥

WARNINGS: PUBLIC KNIFE THROWING CONTEST, SEXUAL TENSION&SUGESTIVE (BUT NO SMUT), FLEETING MENTIONS OF ALCOHOL AND A SINGLE FLEETING REFERENCE TO PROSTITUTION.

Hunter carefully watched another round of the knife throwing contest develop in front of his eyes. Cid's Salon had been experiencing a drop in it's sales for quite a few weeks now; and after Tech's comment on how announcing special shows or activities could be an adecuate solution to such a problem, the Trandoshan had oficially inaugurated "Friday's Knife night". Tech had pointed out he had been alluding more to a special drink's discount or karaoke night; but Cid had waved an impatient hand at that, and claimed Ord Mantell didn't catter to the same "Coruscant's sweethearts". Hunter could only agree. The idea of the citizens in Ord Mantell singing a ballad was... Something.

The contestants were good for normal everyday people standards. Most of the knifes always ended up properly stuck to the wood board; though only a few of the participants were skilled enough to hit the borders of the –one round human, another round twi'lek, and so on– black siluete. He could tell who tried just for fun and who had had to use knifes before to defend themselves. None were good enough to match Hunter's seasoned abilities, though; which was the reason why he had comformed himself to remain a silent spectator instead of an active participant.

Almost an hour later, Cid announced the last contest of the night. Hunter studied everyone who payed the fee and wrote their names –and identifications– down on the list; wondering if he should just play in this last chance. There was nothing that ruled him out. He could inscribe himself and win the price; Omega could do with a new set of clothes, as she was outgrowing her current one quite fast. Hunter gulped down the leftover of his drink and patted Echo's shoulder; making his way towards the line.

Upon seing him, Cid rolled her eyes.

"Gonna double that bet, Broody?" she tempted him.

Hunter nodded with a shrug.

"That way I might be able to pay the exagerated fee you'll probably request from us next time" he smiled falsely sweetly, signing his name and turning to walk away towards the wood board.

Cid glanced at you waiting patiently on the line and smirked. Oh, was Broody in for a surprise.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You silently studied your competition. You needed to repair your bike and you were confident on winning that price. The bet was higher than the rounds before as well; the first place just had your name written on it. Plus, half of the participants were already embriagated at this point of the night. It wouldn't be too difficult, or so you hoped.

There were some new faces and some regulars. Your mind quickly divided the participants into three groups; real competition, like Raak –a duros you have had the bad luck to fight against with more than once in the past–, complete drunk disasters, and strangers you weren't really sure were to place that could be a potencial surprise. Like the male human clad up with heavy looking armour as if he was ready to jump on on an open battlefield anytime now; your eyes quickly detecting a vibroblade hidding in a compartment on his thigh. The guy certainly cut an intimidating figure; broad shoulders and trained muscles moving under his armour. His long hair –pushed back and away from his tattood face with a red bandanna across his forehead– didn't sweeten his looks; he still looked... A spicy kind of dangerous.

The corner of your lips inevitably tugged upwards. You've always had a nick for this kind of men; men who could ruin you but who you quickly put into place.

Right then and there, his eyes flickered over the room; quickly landing on yours, almost as if he could feel your stare.

You arched an eyebrow in half surprise, half amusement, and half defiance. Well, wasn't he some kind of well trained soldier or mercenary perfectly aware of his surroundings... You almost wished he could make you a run for your money; give the night some exciting real competition.

Your perspective on such a handsome attractive man would forever be tainted if he just made a dissapointing mess of his knife throws. Just in case he didn't, you threw him a quiet side smile.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hunter's eyes couldn't help but bore into the female stranger; watching without missing a beat how the woman carefully picked up a knife from the table of possibilities offered by Cid. She slowly examined the weapon, turning it around in her hand patiently; studying it's shape and weight while ignoring the muttering and impatient calls from the crowd around them.

She seemed to nod to herself and he took in the way she positioned herself in front of the wood board; stance impecable with her body slightly turned to the right side, fingers gripping the shiny end with just the needed amount of strength. With just that and the way she concentrated on the siluete –not her hand–, and how she retracted her right arm back before quickly throwing her knife forward, Hunter already knew she had done an good job. Still, he couldn't help but feel surprised at the precision with which the knife got stuck to the center of the chest markings on the twi'lek black siluete; and how she swiftly and calmly abandoned her stance as if it was nothing.

For the second time that night, the pretty woman catched his eye and arched her eyebrow towards him; as if she were asking him a silent "there, that's my shot. What about yours?".

Hunter's hand confidently grabbed a sturdier knife from the table and got into position. He was... Intrigued, for now; but he'd show her how it was done.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You couldn't help but feel a tingle of excitement and arousal at such a sight. The man –you have discovered his name was Hunter, appropiate for the way he moved and watched– is definitely not a dissapointment of any kind. Round after round, he had matched you outstandingly well; all of his knifes hitting the exact center of the targets, not letting you stand ahead of him for a single point. He glances at you each time he finishes a throw now too; indulging in your little game and warming up the blood in your veins. It has been a while since you felt this attracted to someone; more so with him being a total stranger.

When it's the other participants time to throw –Raak following the two of you closely behind– he casually stops besides you; his eyes never leaving the contest in front of you.

"How' you learnt to throw like that?"

His voice is deep and slightly husky. Oh, this couldn't get any better.

You keep your wits together regardless of your thoughts and reply just as nochalant.

"Life has a strange way of throwing shit at you" you answer, arms crossed in front of your chest, eyes on the board. "I prefer to throw my shit back at her".

He glances down at you, and you can't help but smirk quietly. You know it's vague, but you're not about to spill all your secrets. He'll have to work with that.

"What about you?" You ask back, this time letting your eyes drive up to his dark amber ones. "You gonna tell me you know your way around a knife like that just by being a model Ord Mantell citizen?"

He hums non-comitally, eyes boring into yours. You have to force yourself not to fidget at such intensity. He really is something.

"Thought my outfit gave it a way" he humours you.

It pulls a smile on your face. Yeah, he's not giving away unnecessary information to potencially dangerous strangers either. Well, at least he's smart and has a sense of humour; you'll give him that.

"Last round, handsome" you push your luck and teasingly move your very fingertips along his shoulder and down to his arm. He squints his eyes at you and you grin up to him innocently. "Better not get distracted".

Hunter hums and moves to pick up his last knife.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The man has, once more, impecably hit all of his knifes on each center of the human siluete target. You only have to repeat the same and you'll both split the price; it's not ideal, but you'll have just enough to fix your bike with the savings you've been keeping this past month.

After picking your knife up, you glance at him one last time. Maybe as a way of saying goodbye. If he's a sore looser, or if he simply doesn't want anything else to do with you, this would probably be your last time of enjoying the sight of such a specimen.

You don't expect to see him with his... Daugther, though. It's obvious the way they're related with how the blonde kid looks up at him; chatting up excitedly and the love and admiration she holds for him bright in her wide eyes. He chuckles quietly, slightly bent down towards her, and pats her shoulder affectionately. Behind the girl, three other men have approached the scene too; perhaps equally interested in watching the final wrap up. Perhaps to support Hunter. They're all wearing the same kind of armour; minor alterations, but it's obvious they're a squad of some sort. A family. And they all look at the kid exactly the same way.

You glance at her, and then down at the knife in your hand, a million thoughts speeding through your head. You haven't had the easiest of childhoods. War is all you remember for a big part of your life; your teens spent running away. You had been forced to adapt to the cruel ways of the galaxy very quickly; and with the options being either becoming a prostitute or an assassin, you had made the choice that finished moulding the person you are today. You're not proud; but you're not exactly regretful either. There are a few deaths you always carry in your conscience; but you mostly only accepted the requests you hand-picked yourself, so you've kinda done your part wiping your corner of the galaxy from scum. Not the prettiest of jobs, and certainly not one you would go proudly announcing around; but life's life. You'd like this kid to have an easier one; and by the way her family are head to toes covered in armour, ready to fight ay any given second, you're guessing it hasn't been going exactly that way til this point in time.

You catch Hunter's eyes staring at you. Your heart beats faster inside your chest. Your hand tingles.

You turn towards the target. You calmly position yourself. You take a deep breath; and then, your last knife flies to the target.

Laughs and cheers errupt around you. The blonde kid smiles.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Here you go, Broody" grumbles Cid, reluctantly pushing the pile of credits into Hunter's opened hands.

Hunter smirks.

"Bet all against me, huh?" he asks, inevitably happy.

Cid gives him the side eye.

"Well, my pockets would be full if my girl there didn't succumb to your supposedly good looks" she quotes with her hands, then roles her eyes. "I never quite understood the hype for humans anyway".

The Trandoshan walks away, still muttering a hundred of insults and dissapointed comments. Hunter doesn't feel a tad of guiltyness; Cid might not have won the bet, but she had definitely made good money on Tech's idea. The salon had been to the brim, drinks flowing around constantly. She really can't complain.

Hunter leaves the earned credits with his brothers and then turns to scan the lingering crowd. He quickly finds you talking to another participant near the entrance of the Salon. He excuses himself from his family and walks towards you.

You quickly wrap up your conversation with Raak with a forced smile, and once the Duros has reluctantly walked away, you turn to the approaching figure with a honest one.

"Ah, the man of the night" you chirp, roaming your eyes ever him quickly. "Got all those credits in a safe place?

Hunter glances back at Wrecker.

"Don't think anyone's gonna try to steal from him" he answers in good humour, and you nod in agreement.

You've never seen a human that big.

Hunter studies you quietly for a pair of seconds; then tilts his head.

"I admit the knife in the crotch was a good dramatic ending" he comments, then asks genuinely "Why did you let me win?".

You hum and take a look back at his family.

"Kid's cute. She yours?" You directly ask in return.

Hunter smiles.

"Sister" he explains. "More like an adopted daugther, now, though".

You can see the love he holds for her as well in the way he speaks and his features soften.

"Well, I've done some bad things in the past, but I still got a heart" you explain, trying to sound casual. Vulnerability is not often showed in planets like this. "You probably need those credits more than me".

Hunter is surprised; both by your reasoning and the fact that you're admiting it out loud to him. People aren't usually that honest and... considerate here. Or in the majority of places in the galaxy. This... Doesn't really match the idea of this dangerous –though sexy– woman he has in his head. This suddenly makes you more... human.

"What were you going to do with the price?" He asks, curiously.

You shrug.

"Repair my bike. I can usually do it myself, but I can't seem to find the problem this time".

Hunter hums. He doesn't take his eyes off of you.

"One of my brothers knows his way around mechanics pretty well. Maybe he could take a look at it, no need for extra payment."

That's sweet. You nod and smile up at him.

"I'd appreciate it".

You fill yourself with courage and take a tempting step towards him; right hand gently travelling upwards to rest in his chest plate.

"Now, why don't you follow me home for the night, mm? We can take a look at my bike tomorrow. Whatcha say?".

Hunter's turned on just by the fact you have been the one to ask. He has certainly had his fair number of situationships in the past; but he usually always have to be the one to make the first move. This time, however, he seemed to have catched your eye since the start; and you're decided to see this attraction through. He likes that, a woman that is self-assured and knows what she wants. He's happy it's him for this night.

He exchanges a glance with one of his brother's –the one with the headseat and the scomp– and then makes a polite gesture with his hand. He smirks playfully. You already know you'll be having a good time.

"Lead the way, mesh'la".

THE END.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Wohooo! This spicy little one was so much FUN to write! I hope you all liked it as well, specially the user that requested it.

I'll publish a Tech Mermay long oneshot TODAY AS WELL; and the next one planned will be a Wolffe one.

Stay tunned!

Xx,

Sky.

Back to my main masterlist here:

[lunaroserites]

Art and Ice - Doodle

Pairing: Eventual Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

Characters: Natasha, Wanda, Pietro, Loki, Bucky, Sam Wilson, Clint Barton, a lot of the avengers cast is mentioned.

Summery: MC asks Bucky to be her focus on her project.

This might a 2 or 3 parter (it's gonna be more because cannot help myself). College AU, our boy Bucky is on the hockey team, and reader is an art major (because I love that trope and couldn't help myself)

Warnings: Not beta'd! All mistakes are my own. Friends fluff, swearing, mentions of college students being college students. Bit of friendly harmless flirting between friends. Bucky is a playboy. Fighting.

Word Court: 2770

Likes, reblogs, comments are appreciated!

Please do not repost, translate or otherwise copy my work elsewhere, without my express permission, thank you! Lunaroserites on tumblr and ao3

Catch up here: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 ❤️

“You think I can just say fuck it and drop out?” The words tumbled out of your mouth quickly as you walked with Nat toward the arena. Practice was in the afternoon today because there was a game tonight. According to Nat our rival team would be here later to do some warm up before the game tonight. 

“Seriously?” She raised a manicured brow at you. 

“Maybe Pietro was right. I should be a drama major,” you whispered, mostly to yourself. You knew you were being over dramatic about the ordeal, but Barnes was an egotistical jerk and he was going to make this project hell. Was that a pessimistic take on it? Maybe. Were you wrong? Probably not. 

You pulled your school hoodie tighter, winter's grasp was holding on tight this year. The wind nipped at your nose and cheeks as you both made your way into the arena. Once inside the main doors heat blasted at you, you rubbed your arms with your hands and looked at Nat who was doing the same. 

“You are dramatic. But it’s gonna be fine,” her confidence almost made you believe her. Originally you were just going to wait and ask him outside the arena, in hopes maybe his cocky, surefire attitude would be on the back burner. But Nat said practice was amping up now as the season drew closer to playoffs and the team would be traveling a lot more. Nat led us to our seats next to the bench, another woman was sitting there already. 

“Peggy!” Nat said cheerfully, as she sat down next to her. 

“Natasha!” she said cheerfully back. “Who’s this?” She smiled at you. You waved and introduced yourself.

“Oh you’re the one doing the art project? Steve mentioned it,” she asked. 

You nodded, “news travels fast?” you laugh a little weirded out how she already knew. 

“Hockey players gossip worse than fishermen wives in the locker room...”

“And out of it,” Nat added with a laugh, Peggy chuckled as well.

 “And Barnes can’t shut up about the fact you drew him,” Peggy said with an eyeroll. Right, you thought. Peggy probably spent a decent time around him, since Steve and him were best friends, from your understanding it was rare to see one without the other. 

“I’m not surprised,” you chuckled, looking down at your sketchpad. The night before you stayed up and watched videos of Barnes’ best plays and a couple of his interviews. There were some very detailed pictures of his face there. You quickly turned to a black page so Nat wouldn’t see it and poke fun. When you found a muse, it was hard for you to focus on anything but it. You could feel the hole you were digging getting bigger and bigger. 

“Fuck,” you glared at Barnes as he slammed into the glass in front of you, startling you. He had his helmet lifted and he was giving you a bright and flirty smile. You raised an eyebrow at him and shook your head, uninterested in his antics. He slipped his helmet down and pushed back, skating backwards, he moved so fluidly, you couldn’t help but pay attention. 

“Oi! Barnes. Pay attention,” someone snapped, you looked towards the voice and stared for a moment. 

“Coach Fury,” Nat said to you, “the only person that can get Barnes to pay attention besides Steve,” she finished. You nodded before looking back at the players. Your eyes were drawn to a smaller player, he wore a 12 on his back, Stark. He had been in one of your business classes you took in your second semester. He was an interesting guy, cocky and arrogant, he also came from money. His father was the owner of Stark Industries. He was speeding up and down the ice with ease. 

“12, he's fast,” you murmured to Nat, who nodded.

“He broke a record last year, his size makes it easier for him to zoom around,” Nat answered as she looked down at my paper, “Barnes really has your eye doesn’t he, this is like the Hela thing all over again,” she chuckled.  

“Yeah,” you blushed deeply and looked back down at your paper. You really wished one of the other teammates caught your attention, if Clint did this would be much simpler. But of of course the school hot shot had to be one to catch your eye.

“Hey,” Nat lifted your chin and made you look at her. “It’s fine, muses come and go. That’s how art is,” she smiled, that was one thing you loved about Nat, she never questioned or made fun of your muses or how ridiculous an idea you had was when it came to your art. She would poke fun, and make silly jokes, but nothing harmful. Just good natured fun. Her support was unwavering and true. 

Nat was a dancer, she was studying dance and dance theory. That’s how you two met, you accidently stumbled into one of the dance studios after hours instead of the art room. She was there practicing, and made small talk with you. You ended up just sitting on the dance room floor and working on your project talking with her as she practiced. 

“You know what’s funny, I didn’t think about dance for this project,” you chuckled after you relaxed a little. Nat’s face broke into a wide smile. 

“It would be the same as Pietro and the track team, but at least we look cute in our dance attire,” she mused lightly. You laughed loudly at her comment. 

“You really hate those track uniforms,” you shook your head as you chuckled some more. Clint zipped passed a moment later and Nat‘s eye followed him like a magnet. “Goodness, you’re so in love, it’s sickening,” you mused, she pushed your shoulder playfully. 

“How long have you two known one another?” Peggy asked. 

“Since first semester,” you answered her with a smile. 

“You guys are such good friends, I would have expected childhood bestfriends,” Peggy said, as she smiled at Steve who skated by. 

“We just clicked,” you shrugged, returning to your sketchpad. 

Practice drew to a close a little while later and you followed behind Nat and Peggy as they made their way back toward the locker room. There were a few girls, including Pepper Potts, Starks on again/off again girlfriend. Every other week Nat would be talking about it. The girl Bucky had on his arm last time was missing from the group of girls waiting for the players to leave the locker room. First out was Clint, and he made a beeline for Nat, instantly pulling her into a hug and pressing his nose into her neck, she squealed a little as his cold nose made contact with her skin.

Peggy excused herself to go wait by the door for Steve who emerged with Barnes a moment later. She whispered something in Steve’s ear and pointed over at you with a smile. Steve nodded and waved with a small smile of his own. Barnes followed his gaze and instantly he perked up when he noticed you. He swaggered toward you, past the gaggle of girls waiting to try and get his attention, you noticed a couple of them glare in your direction. You stood with your arms crossed over your chest, sketch book tucked against your side. You looked up at him as he came up to you making a complete stop a foot in front of you. He really didn’t care about personal space, you took one step back so you didn't have to crane your neck as much to look him in the face.

“And what do I owe the pleasure today Doodle,” you cocked an eyebrow at the nickname, and squinted slightly. The nickname didn’t make you scrunch your nose or want to gag so it wasn’t the worst. You sighed heavily and danced on the balls of your feet for a moment. He just stared, watching you intently, a dumb cocky smirk plastered on his face. 

“Would you let me draw you for my art project?” You asked, you wished the weight bearing down on your shoulders lifted but it didn’t. You dreaded the thought of spending more time with this menace of a man. His lip twitched further upward and showed some of his perfect white teeth. 

“Ah Doodle, I thought you'd never ask,” he ruffled your hair with one of his big hands. You groaned and moved your head from him and tried to fix your hair. 

“Don’t touch me, please,” you said sternly. “I just need permission to draw you and use your likeness.” 

“Ah don’t be like that,” he moved forward and you stepped backwards and to the right, dodging him. He huffed in annoyance and you stared at him with your arms crossed again and slight scowl. “Will you be at the game tonight?” He asked, finally standing upright, his own arms crossed across his broad chest. 

“Seats are sold out besides the reserved seats for team partners,” you stated, “so no not tonight.”  

“There's always a seat reserved for my girl, you can have that one,” he stated matter of factly. 

“I’m not your girl,” you said back firmly. “This whole thing is for my art project,” you moved your hand jestering to both of you, “it ends once my project is done.” 

You couldn’t quite place the look on his face after you said that, but you could pick up the small look of challenge in his eyes. It seemed he was making this game, like he was contemplating how long it would be before you would cave and give him what he wanted. Another notch in his bed post. From what you could tell based on his body language alone he was not used to being rejected. Women usually flaunted over him and fell in his lap, all he had to do was choose who he wanted at that moment. Your determination to not be one of those girls was considered a challenge to him, met head on with stubborn determination to break you down and get what he wanted in the end. That made your stomach twist at the thought, he only wanted to do this to sleep with you, have some fun and then dump you off on Loki’s lap heart broken. 

You shook your head, lost in your own thoughts. Barnes was still looking at you, a contemplative look on his face. He had his chin in his hand as he rubbed it, “this will be fun, see you tonight Doodle.” You glared at him as he walked away, twirling his keys around his finger. 

“Jerk,” you said softly to yourself before you made your way over to Nat and Clint. 

“Well that went better than I expected,” Nat said quietly as the three of you left the rink until you had to be back later. 

A sleek black car was parked at the curb, you waved goodbye to Nat and Clint as you ran over to the car and slid into the passenger seat, you rolled the window down and shouted “goodbye! See you later,” Nat waved and they continued walking. 

“Hey Loki!” You said cheerfully. 

“Hello darling, I take it asking Barnes went well?” He asked as he put the car in drive and pulled out from the curb. 

“It went alright. The cocky bastard,” you clipped your belt in place and turned your head to look at Loki fully. “He’s already flirting with me,” you shook your head in annoyance. 

“At least he has good taste darling,” Loki said sweetly as we sped down the freeway into town to have an early dinner.

“Have fun darling,” Loki shouted out the open window of the car as he dropped you off at the arena. You turned back and gave him an unamused smile and flipped him off. 

“Yeah, fuck you,” you said with a slight laugh and turned away, waving, “love you dork,” you said over your shoulder. Nat was waiting just inside the arena for you and led you to your seats. 

“So one of the perks of dating hockey players? Free seats?” You mused sitting down next to her, the arena was still pretty empty as the game didn’t start for 45 minutes. 

“One of them,” she chuckled. Warm ups started and Clint stopped for a moment in front of us and lifted his helmet.

“Hey girls,” he said with a smile before darting off to warm up. 

“Looks like Barnes just noticed us,” Nat said as he skated over. 

“He had me clocked from the parking lot,” you grumbled. Nat laughed loudly and placed her hand on your shoulder wiping a tear from her eye. 

“You’re not wrong,” she said between giggles. Barnes skated forward and came to stop sending glittering flecks of shaved ice toward the glass. 

“Nat, Doodle, how's my new favourite girl?” He asked with a cocky smile. You rolled your eyes, and placed your cheek on your hand as you looked at him with a deadpan expression, Nat smirked next to you. You watched as Barnes ran his tongue over his teeth, he then winked and skated off to join warm ups. 

“Do the woman he dates actually like that attitude?” You mused absently as you doodled on the open page of your sketchbook. Nat shrugged.

“Honestly, they’re probably more interested in his looks, and don’t care about anything else. That or the potential paycheck he’ll be earning if they can tie him down long enough,” She said softly. Your gut twisted uncomfortably at that, and you grimaced. Sure the guy was an arrogant prick, but he deserved better than that. Nat noticed your facial expression and nodded. “It’s not really fair, there's moments when he’s more than the arrogant show off, he’s pretty sweet. I think he’s just gotten used to hiding it; he doesn't bother being anything else.” 

“Be what they expect of you and no one will question it,” you hummed. You mindless doodles turned into a simple sketch of his face. You admired the sharpness of his jaw, his mouth set in a soft line that was slightly upturned.  

The game started, and you were too focused on watching Barnes skate to really watch the game. Not that you really understood the sport enough to really understand what was happening in front of you. First intermission passed and they were half through the second period when a black punk landed on your sketch pad. It startled you and your head shot up and you meant Barnes eyes. Nat was giggling next to you as you picked the offending puck up and handed it to the kid sitting behind you, who happened to be wearing a Barnes jersey. The kids day was made and Barnes’ narrowed his eyes at you. You smirked back in return and went back to drawing. 

The crowd erupted in loud chants as Barnes scored with less than a second left in the third period, winning the game for your college. You watched as Barnes skated around celebrating his goal only for the captain of the other team to get up in his face. You tensed up as you watched the guy push Barnes shoulders and then grab his protective gear getting in his face. 

So the rest of the team came to investigate and there was an all out brawl on the ice right in front of you. You stood up and looked down. Barnes was on top of the captain, his fist raised and he was breathing heavily. 

“Bucky,” his name left your lips before you could stop it and he had to have heard you because his face tilted in your direction for a fraction of a second and the captain took that as an opportunity to flip Barnes over and bring a hard fist down on the bridge of his nose. You shrieked as blood gushed out of Barnes’ nose. Nat was standing next to you as you both watched in horror. 

You turned your head and saw your college coach hopping the bench and helping refs break it up. Steve hauled the other team's captain off his best friend and shoved him into the arms of other teammates who pulled him further away. Steve helped Barnes up and took his face in his hands, Barnes just gave him a dopey smile. His gaze turned to you for a moment and he smiled a bigger smile.  You looked at him with wide eyes and your mouth agape, horrified. 

The captain of the other team didn’t look like he fared much better. He was bloody and his eye was swelling shut with each passing second. Coach Fury looked pissed, and was stalking over to the other teams coach for a few words, a ref following close behind.

Taglist: @vicmc624, @calwitch, @learisa, @aaqua-tofana

Feel free you send me a message if you have a request or would like more, or would like to be added to the tag list <3

[salamandergoo]

STWG Prompt: Pisces

A magazine slapped down onto the table and Eddie dropped into his seat just a moment later.  "Gentlemen!  We enter into a new month, it is time for the ritual."

"The ritual," Dougie and Jeff echoed, rehearsed.

"Not the ritual," Gareth groaned, stabbing at his lunch.  "It's going to be the same as last month, it always is."

"...what's the ritual?" Lucas asked, saying it slowly like Eddie might yell at him for asking.

"Oh, horoscopes!"  Eddie opened the magazine with a grin, paging through it and clicking his tongue.  "Hopefully no plagues are written in the stars."

"Horoscopes."  Mike looked at him flatly.  They'd only been sitting at the Hellfire Club table for a week now, and in that week, horoscopes hadn't been mentioned once.  "You believe in that shit?"

"Nah.  My mama loved 'em though.  And it's kinda fun."  He tapped the magazine on the table and cleared his throat.  "We enter Libra season, may it be prosperous for our resident Libras!"  He gestured to Gareth and Jeff.  "It says here that Love is within reach!  You just need to be brave enough to grasp it."

Gareth glanced at Jeff and scoffed.  "Total bull."

Jeff grinned.  "I don't know.  Eddie, is this your little ploy to confess your long buried feelings for me?"  He fluttered his eyelashes and blew a kiss."

"You want to be my type so bad it almost makes me love you," Eddie teased as he leaned in just a little closer.

Dustin balked and Mike had gone pink, staring down at his sandwich and refusing to look up from it.  Gareth rolled his eyes again and gestured to the boys.  "What are you guys?  What are your signs?"

"How am I supposed to know that?"  Lucas still seemed a little confused.  "Is it like... by month?  My birthday's in April."

"Early or late?  What day?"  Eddie tapped at the pages.  "That'll make you either an Aries or a Taurus."

"The 8th.  Early."

"Aries!  According to your horoscope, you'll need to be brave and face your fears in the coming month.  An emotional cold front is coming your way, young one."

Lucas glanced over his shoulder towards another table, where Max was sitting with her hood up, staring out the window at the overcast sky.  "I'm pretty sure I've been facing an emotional cold front for a while already."

Dustin leaned forward curiously.  "I'm a Pisces, what does it say for that?"

"Why do you know that?" Mike asked, some of his initial standoffish-ness worn away.

"Steve and Robin have this game where they make up terrible horoscopes for each other."  He shrugged.  "Robin's a Pisces too, and Steve is a Cancer."

Eddie hummed.  "Pisces, huh?"  He too a bite of his apple.  "Be extra cautious with your belongings.  Damn, looks like someone is going to rob you, Henderson.  So the stars decree."

"So the stars decree," Dougie and Jeff echoed.

"I hate it when you guys do that."  Gareth threw a chip at Jeff's head.

"Why do you think we do it?"  Jeff grinned and threw the chip back.  "Come on, Eddie, what's Dougie's?  Something about doom and gloom, right?  Something about how he's gonna die?"  He laughed as Dougie kicked him under the table.

"Well, our fiery Aries friend will be facing- oh."  Eddie's eyes widened a little.  "It's actually not doom and glooom this month.  Keep your aim true to your goals, even when progress is slow."

"Oh."  Dougie nodded, considering.  "That actually is kind of nice.  I can live with that."

Eddie chuckled and turned his gaze to Mike, cocking his head with a smirk.  "And you?  Let me guess, fire sign.  You're probably an Aries too.  Or a Leo?"

Mike shrugged.  "I don't know, end of December."

"After the 22nd?"

"Yeah."

"Capricorn, then.  ...seriously?  You're an earth sign?"

Mike squirmed a little under his stare.  "Thought you said you didn't believe in this crap."

Eddie shrugged.  "There's a little bit of truth to everything.  That's what mama thought."  He looked at the magazine and snickered.  "This month may test your patience."

Mike hunched in on himself, glaring at Lucas when he tried to pat his shoulder.  "Most months get on my nerves.  This is stupid."

"Aw, he's like a baby raven," Dougie teased before elbowing Eddie.  "Alright, come on man, what's yours?"

"The most important horoscope!  Let's see here, Cancer says... I am invincible and nothing can bring me down.  Damn right!"

"Let me see that."  Jeff snatched the magazine from Eddie.  "...oh.  What do you know."

"The stars are in alignment for a good month ahead."  Eddie chuckled and took the magazine back.  He tapped it on the table before tucking it into his bag.  "The ritual has been completed!"

"The ritual has been completed!"  Gareth grinned as Jeff rolled his eyes.

"This is why everyone thinks we're satanists, you know-"

"Let the people think what they want, they're just mad I don't read them their horoscopes."

[cattyanon]

Another Sonic Prime AU

Well then I suppose I am obligated to share if you're staring that intently! :)

To preface my explanation I would like to state that Shadow can traverse through the Shatterspaces on account of how else are they gonna get home? There is a catch though. That being that it becomes draining to stay in a Shatterspace for too long. He can stay in one maybe like a day or two but if he doesn't return to the void and rest there he risks the same potential fate canon Sonic risks at the end of season 3.

Anyways, infodump about Sonic's situation below:

So instead of him starting in New Yoke he's pretty obviously started in Boscage Maze. He comes hurtling out of the sky and before he can regain any bearings he slams head-first into a tree that happens to be situated in a place where he then drops into the Scavenger's territory.

As you can probably imagine, the scavengers do not take kindly to his presence. They find him passed out and tie him up for questioning. And when he does wake up he's extremely confused and has no idea what's happening- even more unable to answer any and all questions they might have than in canon. They (mostly Prim) don't take kindly to his confusion 'act' and accuse him of trying to come and steal from them but failing miserably and injuring himself in the process. Eventually Prim decides to have Gnarly throw him over the edge WHILE STILL TIED UP and tells him something along the lines of "if you live then maybe you'll gain a little more respect".

Literally the only reason he comes out relatively unscathed is because he instinctively curls into a ball as a defense mechanism. It kinda hurts due to the bindings but it works- he lives. He then manages to free himself and, in true Sonic fashion, has this inexplicable urge to run once he regains his bearings. But he doesn't get too far because without any limiters the Prism energy inside him is prone to bubbling up and eventually spilling out in a way that starts to burn up his shoes.

Not knowing what else to do he goes into survival mode. He doesn't know how he knows some of things he does but he's thankful for it regardless. Then comes a pivotal turning point in the plot...

He saves these baby flickies from a giant wild cat (i assume there's probably more than giant flickies in Boscage Maze that we just didn't get to see) by taking a hit for them in his panic to protect them and as it happens, the parents saw the whole thing. They come swooping and chase off the giant and, appreciative of him saving their babies, decide to help nurse him back to health. Since this is Sonic he does recover faster than your average mobian but it's definitely not Shadow levels of fast.

By the end of him recovering he's hesitant to leave them. They'd been the only ones to show him compassion so far and it's not like he really knew anything about where he was. So when they attempt to nudge him back into the wild he makes it very obvious that he wants to stay with them. And having bonded while he was recovering, the flickies are like "okay fine you can stay" in their own bird way.

And since I like angst there's quite a few things that happen to him before Shadow finds him, with the most notable one being how the Prism energy effects him since he doesn't have limiters/regulators to keep them at bay.

Since the Shatterspaces are heavily implied to be made up of Prism energy in some way and that in canon his shoes and gloves adapted to the world he was in, something similar happens. But unlike canon he has no way to suppress it. So instead of just changing his shoes and gloves it starts to effect him physically. And adapting to his surroundings, he takes on giant flicky-like qualities. Up to a certain length his hands and feet become more bird-like and his arms develop giant flight feathers. He doesn't get a beak but now most of his teeth are sharp fangs and he's got that little pattern on his face that Birdie has. To top it off he's grown a few feet and has the ability to control plants to a small extent.

And although this isn't because of the Prism energy, it's worth noting that his time spent with the giant flickies has rubbed off on him in that he learns how to communicate with/understand them and might have developed a few bird-like habits that I need to think on. (if anybody knows any interesting bird specific habits do tell) He also becomes a Mangey-like situation where he doesn't really know how to speak anymore (except bird noises) and has very feral tendencies.

And then Shadow comes along and has to not only deal with trying to put their world back together with Sonic the way he is but when their world DOES get put back together he's also going to have to deal with explaining Sonic's situation and help reintegrate him into society since he's the only one he feels inclined to trust besides Tails.

As a side note he very much does not like Rouge, Knuckles, and Amy in that order due to his not so good experiences with their Boscage variants.

[fandomsnstuff]

We're moving so i did So Much today to prep my room for staging or whatever, i didnt even get to writing until like. 9:30 or 10, so it's short and sweet today, posted with just over an hour to spare

@taznovembercelebration

Day 12: coworkers au

Lup's just trying to help Magnus out and make a little extra pocket change. Why does shit always have to go sour?

Read it on AO3

When Magnus first proposed his idea for a winter time side hustle, Lup didn't think it'd really get off the ground. Who was going to pay to have someone put up their outdoor Candlenights decorations for them? Decorating is half the fun of the season. But she agreed to help when she could.

Turns out, a lot of people will pay for it. They had to introduce a service to just put lights along the eavestroughs. People hate doing that shit, but she and Magnus run like a well oiled machine. Neither of them necessarily need the money, but it's a nice little bonus to end the ear. Plus it gets them outside during the few hours of sunlight. Take that, seasonal depression.

Lup's up on a ladder, adjusting some of the attachments along one part of the house. Magnus is somewhere nearby, fiddling with another string, trying to untie the knot it tied itself into over the past ten months in storage. “We wrap these up nicely, don't we?” He says. “Every year, we bundle them up so we don't have to do this, and every year they're impossible!”

Lup attaches a few extra hooks to the house. “Just give it a good shake, they'll sort themselves out.” She hears the jingling of little lightbulbs clinking against each other, and Magnus exclaims happily. “Told you.” She snaps the string she's working on into the new hooks. “Alright, Mags. Give that a tug.”

Magnus plus his untangled string into the end of hers, and pulls gently on the join. The droops in the string pull taut, and the lights hang perfectly straight down. Lup nods, satisfied.

She's taken two steps down the ladder when her foot slips. She tries to throw her hands out behind her, but she lands hard against the frozen ground. “Holy shit!” Mangus runs over and drops to his knees by her side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says unconvincingly, “just waiting for the sky to stop spinning.”

Magnus inhales sharply. “Alright, uh, I'm gonna call 911.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“No, I super do. Because, one, you just fell off a ladder onto dirt that's been frozen solid, without any snow to break your fall, and two,” he pauses, and she can see him cringe, “I, uh, don't think your elbow's supposed to bend like that.”

She cranes her neck up to look, and she really wishes she hadn't. Her arm is laying in a way it really shouldn't be. She drops her head back against the ground. “Why doesn't it hurt?”

“Shock, probably? Just- don't move.”

“Roger.”

By the time the ambulance shows up, it hurts. The paramedics do whatever tests they have to. She wiggles her fingers and toes, she knows her name, where she is, the date, the president, all that good stuff. They stabilise her arm and load her up. Magnus stays behind so he can drive his truck and meet her at the hospital.

Once there, they do some x-rays and it turns out she fucked up her arm real bad. No concussion, thankfully. They set the bone, which hurts like a bitch, but she gets a pink cast out of it.

“I always wanted to break a bone when I was younger,” Magnus says as the nurse wraps Lup's arm in the hot pink material.

The nurse laughs. “That's pretty common.”

“I dreamed of having a red cast. Like, firetruck red. And everybody at school would see my cool red cast and sign it.”

“I'm living my dreams, babe,” Lup says. “Hot pink cast for the win.”

“Hell yeah.” He high fives her good hand.

She looks back at the nurse, “how long do I have to wear this anyway?”

“With the complexity of the break, it could be six to eight weeks."

“Eight weeks?!”

“Maybe more, if an x-ray shows that it's shifted or not healing properly.”

“It didn't feel like kids had casts on for that long in elementary school,” Magnus says.

“Simpler breaks don't need as long.”

“Damn.” She looks at Magnus, “I don't think I'll be going up any ladders any time soon.”

“Yeah, god, please don't.”

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Watched Haikyuu!! Battle of the Garbage Dump (SPOILERS)

Did I enjoy myself? Absolutely!

Did the story still hit?? Hell yeah!

Was it well produced? I very much think so. The cinema experience definitely was a lot of fun and compensated somewhat for the condensing of the story.

Do I wish it was still a season instead of a movie? Yeah kinda

Look, I specifically set out to not read the final two inter high matches of the manga because I wanted to experience it purely through the anime. So do I know if there’s anything that got cut for time? No. I can tell that there probably were. And I think I could feel the slightly rushed aspect of the movie coming through at only an hour and a half when it should have been closer to 6ish hours of content.

But the experience they produced via the movie was still such a good goddamn time that I didn’t really care in the moment.

The whole Kenma POV sequence intercut with flashbacks had me on the edge of my seat bc ALL OF A SUDDEN THAT WAS THE END OF THE MATCH. I genuinely have no clue if that’s how it was played in the manga but I thought it was thrilling.

I think other than a clear sense of montages in the movie rather than hanging onto every single point being made at a time like they have done in the past, they did make some clever choices on what moments to focus on. The Hinata-Kenma dynamic with the Karasuno-Nekoma dynamic playing out on the wider scale just honed in on the fact that these are two very close teams with friends and rivals with such a deep admiration and respect for each other finally having a no holds barred match for the win.

It just made every moment hit harder knowing that every point made by the opponent was both a loss and win for their side bc they lost that point but they got to see how amazing their friends have become.

Like Kuroo watching Tsukki kick absolute ass and Tsukki constantly aware and grateful how his improvements were borne from the advice Kuroo gave him???

TSUKKI ADMITTED VOLLEYBALL WAS FUN AND HE FUCKING SMILED TOO. MAYBE HE WAS LAUGHING AT THE WIN BUT THE PRIDE AND JOY IN HIS FACE.

The fact that at all points each side was admiring the other side for how they’ve improved or how good they are and there were just these precious little squabbles like between Kuroo and Tsukki complaining the other one should just drop the ball bc the rallies are going too long or Yaku and Nishinoya stopping to admire how cool the other libero is.

Coach Nekomata said it best: “Curiosity and respect instead of fear”. Just two besties having a really good match.

THE DEBUT OF HINATAS BAM JUMP.

Kags hearing one word from Ukai to have confidence in both Hinata’s resilience to move beyond this shutdown by Kenma and also faith that he’d be able to do his new and improved jump if Kags just gave him the opportunity. AND THEN HE DID IT. Thus shocking everyone around him once more that Hinata had another level to him??!

Tsukki always and forever hyping up his best friend Yamaguchi. Kuroo trying to get a ride out of him by saying Yamaguchi might try to win on his own (after Tsukki specifically says he himself wouldn’t be able to win alone) and Tsukki says “he’s the guy who will surpass me”. MY BOI LOVES HIS BOIIII

It was also so interesting to basically have Kenma be the protagonist of the movie. Like it starts with him and his backstory. And the volleyball match ends from his POV. And he, like Tsukki, can finally say he had a lot of fun and found volleyball fun. And he has Kuroo and Hinata to thank.

Look my friend who had zero context for the story as a non-anime fan found it such a fun movie.

Haikyuu is gonna Haikyuu no matter the animation or the production value or the amount of screentime bc the story at its core is such a good goddamn story.

Am I worried how the second will going knowing they’ve got the Seagulls match PLUS timeskip PLUS MSBY vs Schweiden Adlers match?

ABSOLUTELY. I HAVE NO CLUE HOW THEY INTEND TO WORK WITH ALL THAT STORY LEFT.

But this one was a lot of fun. And I really enjoyed it.

[kogurazu]

I'm just gonna rant my chest out regarding the recent Watcher's announcement because I'm still trying to process wtf has just happened & it's pretty late at night. (For the record, I'm one of their international viewers from a 3rd world country.)

It sucks that I cannot buy their official merch that is already expensive (due to conversion rates) + not being able to deliver in my country when I've some spare cash. That's fine by me.

It sucks that I cannot go & watch their live shows being available at certain countries that doesn't cost a damn fortune (plane tickets, hotel bookings, converting currency, etc.) + not in a million years they'll stop by SEA to do tours/live shows. That's also fine by me.

However, the way how they hyped up the announcement mentioning big things are coming only to just drop a video saying "Hey, we're leaving Youtube as the money ain't flowing much to cover our 'extravagant' expenses & all future contents will be locked behind a paywall. So if you're unable to watch most of your beloved shows because you can't pay then toodles!" That's NOT fine by me, let alone anyone else in the matter.

Even if I've a fuck ton of money to spare, I'm still not buying their monthly/yearly WatcherTV subscription because it's JUST. NOT. WORTH. IT. Who wants to buy a monthly yet alone yearly subscription just to watch 1-2 episodes of a show I like being put out weekly per season & then waiting for some time before another new season of another show that has a 50-50 chance whether I enjoy it or not pops up to fill the void? Not me, that's for sure. Damn, I rather subscribe to Netflix or buy YouTube premium if I could because the money spent is worth the content I can get on a monthly/yearly basis.

I get putting exclusive contents such as BTS, special interviews/podcasts, early access to episodes, etc. behind a paywall since they're just nice bonuses for fans who're able to support them but locking REGULAR YOUTUBE content that's not being released consistently & have nothing much to offer behind a paywall? I think you're losing your crackers on this one chief.

After watching the announcement video, I feel plainly numb & disappointed that this is the route they're going for. I understand they need the funds to make videos, pay people & also wanting the freedom to make content that you want to make without adhering to the restrictions of advertisers. I get it.

But what I don't get is this mind numbing decision to spit at the faces of people who can't afford to fork out some cash to enjoy their once free favourite shows that helped cheer them up during the tough times. It's even more disgusting what I heard from Coffeezilla's recent video about Watcher mentioning that they don't even give out a free WatcherTV subscription to their Patreon members as a way to say thank you for your patronage is really saying something eh?

_____________________________

4 years ago, I found Shane & Ryan via Buzzfeed Unsolved just like everyone else randomly being recommended to me on Youtube. I binge watched all seasons of Buzzfeed Unsolved exactly at the same time they're announcing their departure from Buzzfeed to go do their own content at Watcher. What's this? A channel where I can watch the ghoul boys do their own thing? Hell yeah, sign me tf up.

It's really nice to see Watcher growing & trying out new different shows. I'm aware not all the shows they put out matches my taste & that's fine by me. Probably there's an audience out there who enjoy these shows that aren't for me.

I remember the time I was excited when they bring in Ghost Files & Mystery Files which can fill in the Buzzfeed Unsolved void. Are You Scared? & Too Many Spirits are the shows I enjoy listening to them as background noise so that I can focus on my work.

Puppet History & Top 5 Beatdown is where I enjoy the chemistry between the talents & guests. Weird, Wonderful, World & Tourist Trapped is where I enjoy seeing cool places run by passionate people & is like a nice, come hangout with me type of video blogs.

4 years later, this is where I'll be hopping off with the knowledge that I can't no longer be able to enjoy all these shows anymore like I used to just because I can't afford to whip out some measly cash to pay for regular content that I can easily find on Youtube for free.

Even if you leave up the old videos on Youtube (after you've backpedalled your decision to remove all the videos entirely in the first place due to the backlash & gaslighting us into thinking we misunderstood but your Variety article says otherwise), the whole ordeal just makes the experience to re-watch all the content that I used to love & enjoy feels awkward & left a sour, bitter taste in my mouth.

With a very heavy heart, I say thank you for the fun shows you have been putting out these past 4 years & farewell to Team Watcher. I don't know how're you going to recover from this but I wish you a best of luck moving forward.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

I’m so torn on whether I want there to be an angsty desperate mid-season kiss before the resolution just to make us scream or drag the tension out til right after the resolution when everything is Finally Settled For Good and rain is falling and Aziraphale can make his apology/confession and it’s slow and tender and deep

(either way, if the Penultimate Kiss isn’t a 360-degree revolving shot I don’t want it, v much convinced that was what Neil wanted to do for the Final Fifteen before he changed his mind)

i genuinely daydream about this (and s3 in general) an ungodly amount (do i just need to pull on my big girl pants and dive into the foray of writing fic??? probably) and try to juggle what would make sense for the narrative and the characters, and make it less about what i want to see from s3 personally ep1 sex scene cold open + '7 days earlier titlecard'

babes i know this is not at all what you asked for (tldr at the bottom) but bugger it im gonna write out where im currently at with the whole 'i would give all my worldly goods for s3 to go something like this'

(and if i ever write fic consider this basically the framework) (and therefore is half serious half bants) (and if nothing else helps keep meta/speculation straight in my head - imagining it all in context):

ep1 cold opens with another BTB flashback but set after the s2 one (aziraphale and crowley arguing about the brewing rebellion for example, aziraphale tries to warn him again etc, no wing lift), and then hard cut to modern day aziraphale, stood in the exact same position but alone, in his new regalia blah blah blah, roll opening theme

so ep1 is likely gonna be a fair bit of exposition of the second coming, right? maybe there's a timeskip? either way we get glimpses into their existences in the After. im undecided whether crowley would remain in london, or specifically the bookshop? (i think he would, because there's opportunity for a mirror of the 'he saved my books' moment - ie. not let muriel sell a single one - which im sure you can imagine could be Delicious later on), but in any case i think crowley - given that he's keeping tabs on tadfield etc in s2 - would start noticing that maybe the world isn't quite right, Loads of people have started going missing (also dropped as clues in s2), natural disasters etc. Hmm This Is Strange

meanwhile, we get a bit of insight into aziraphale's daily headache in heaven, until they finally get the fax from 'god' about the plane carrying the big JC (and, look, Whoever it is that gets off the plane, whatever theory you subscribe to, let's say hypothetically it's absolutely not jezzy c and aziraphale knows it... warlock? idk). aziraphale realises it's all gone A Bit Wrong, ah shit gonna need to talk to crowley.... rolls credits

(plus im sure there will be new characters plus possible reintroductions of previous ones etc etc that will need screentime)

so they don't interact at all until ep2, not until maybe like 10 mins in - muriel calls mr crowley, he gets to the bookshop and walks in

aziraphale waiting in there, casual as you like with a dainty cupperty (wrong, he's shitting himself), and there's the awkward moment of 'oh when we were last here alone you snogged the living daylights out of me', but they're very much Not Talking (About It)

aziraphale explains what's going on, it's all going wrong, They Can't Find Josh, crowley probably gets a bit shitty with a bit of 'i told you so', aziraphale gets pissed off too because 'he's kinda got a point', but regardless please help

i think crowley would initially refuse - why would he want to be involved at all??? in ending humanity once and for all??? - and would probably leave after a bit of a wessex-flashback-callback of 'we're not having this conversation'/'fine'/'fine!'

idk maybe aziraphale would go back to heaven and start to reeeeeally panic, because the guy they've got in heaven is definitely Not The Messiah, and aziraphale needs to find Him before shit really hitteth the fan, but he needs someone on earth to help him (sigh better go back and ask crowley again)

crowley meanwhile takes this information and possibly works out that actually lol turns out the second coming came a bit early, and yeah probably do need to find him before the world starts going completely to shit - aziraphale comes back and crowley agrees this time (✨a new Arrangement✨) (OH 'THE ARRANGEMENT' WOULD BE SUCH A GOOD EP TITLE)

but it's like. The Arrangement if it was truly all Just Business - they're Not Friends etc

maybe crowley going back to hell in reconnaissance mode would feature here? deploys the beloved tactical turtleneck again? ends up claiming the grand duke position or something? or has been grand duke all along? idk

now i would LOVE another long cold open of flashbacks, but idk if that's gonna happen, probably not. but possibly ep3 is them strategising, sharing intel, Still Not Talking, trying to put the pieces together (i still convinced that warlock/greasy johnson are gonna fit in here somewhere so like. return to tadfield? ripe opportunity to bring back The Them, Anathema/Newt etc)

REVERSE WALL SLAM and maybe a little bit of a spat where some of the anger from the final fifteen is let loose or something - but nothing resolved

probably some more shenanigans of shit going down in heaven, with Cheesus running rampant - angels starting to wonder wtf is going on (and god still has her out of office email on)

maybe the end of ep3 is that they work out what's happening - who JC is, where he is, why the second coming has already started, idk but like major plot pieces start slotting together

so ep4 is where it starts getting hazy but like. i feel that this is gonna be roundabout the time where aziraphale and crowley are in the bookshop researching like mad, trying to piece stuff together, come up with Plans, and maybe crowley goes looking in aziraphale's desk, and unearths the Photo - CUE 1941 FINAL FLASHBACK

and then we return maybe to present day? and this is where they finally get out all the shit that has been building up over the centuries, and culminated in the final fifteen - all the times they've upset the other, lied to the other, etc

tender bit towards the end of this - i need a "my dear" or even BETTER a "darling" thrown in here somewhere

however. i don't think there will be a kiss. a lot of shouting, crying, and maybe yeah stuff coming to some kind of tentative resolution/understanding, but not a kiss. idk i just don't think they'd be ready for it - they might come close to it, like i suspect happened in 41, but they both just honestly say they're not ready but that they meant what they said and that their One Day is coming, they're not done, they're not over 🥹🥹

nownownow hmmmm - end of ep4? angels/demons both come for them; shit's going on in the background, they've twigged this time they're Up To Something, and this time the bookshop isn't protected as it should be - get their arses hauled up to heaven. and major thing? metatron/crowley showdown - not a physical one but a...... 'oh didn't he tell you, aziraphale?'

EP5 LONG ASS COLD OPEN OF THE WAR AND THE FALL

book of life explanation in here somewhere idk

and then yeah maybe a bit of a pinnacle moment for aziraphale of choosing crowley after whatever is revealed from the fall? because he's keeping his promise dammit and he's choosing their side, always their side

firefight out of heaven (if aziraphale falls in the process im gonna throw hands but also. mmmm whump material) and maybe then the 360 kiss? bc you're so right and i totally agree - im glad they didn't do it for s2, but i do think it was initially intended and I Need It

someone gets injured probably but they all flee down to the bookshop and start preparing for whatever is about to come - heaven and hell vs. them/humanity etc. plus the dream sequence of the bookshop will never leave my mind Ever

idk if they'd stay there tho, maybe get back out to tadfield. further heart to heart probably after the whole fall, all cards on the table, 'is there still an us'/'of course there is you old silly' thing

and whilst i don't think ep6 will be like a huge battle, seems a bit ooc, Shit Goes Down, largely gets resolved in the first half just like s1. vavoom (not that kinda vavoom) (maybe) sorted

second coming gets sorted. idk how. but it does

id love for there to actually be some kind of interaction with god? in a way? even if she just stays silent, and they basically just come to their own conclusions about What The Point Is, and she just. smiles like the mona lisa

then the rest of ep6 is just. pure south downs

kiss

OOOOH a kiss outside the front door of their new yellow cottage (i live and die by the yellow cottage aesthetic) (because it's ✨pretty✨) AND IT'S RAINING BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE THERE'S A CUTE LITTLE GABLE PORCH OVER THEIR FRONT DOOR now there's a Vavoom

and another

oh go on then have another. and a cuddle. artful shot of them waking up of a sunny peaceful morning in bed together snuggling (ft. tasteful duvet/blanket draping? yes pls)

end of s3 has them slow dancing in the lounge/kitchen (in the GARDEN???) to The Song and the nightingale flies away from the windowsill outside (you can pry this visual away from my cold dead hands)

RIGHT so this is complete overkill @silcosmoke and for that you have my most profuse apologies bestie but. tldr yes a passionate snog in the midst of Tension and Drama, and then just lots of lovely little nice ones ☺️💕

[charlieconwayy]

why jay/leia is the intended endgame: an unnecessarily long post

the very obvious answer to this is the whole legacy argument. who didn't know when the character descriptions dropped that those two would be a couple just for the whole "haha the kelsos are still driving the forman women crazy" joke? (which they haven't even made yet, which also makes me think we have in no way seen the last of them. we are DEFINITELY getting an eric freakout) kelso was a joke character nearly his entire stint on t70s. they never portrayed him as a good bf or caring ab . . . well anything other than sex, and then eventually betsy (trans!jay kelso theory?). jay, however, they make a big point of showing/saying that he is not like his dad. there is an entire episode dedicated to red realizing that jay is a good boy and that is not kelso just bc he is a kelso.

this is the jay defining moment for me. i think if they had cast a lesser actor than mace this could've come off as 'haha jay trying to get into leia's pants' but mace delivered it so genuinely and sincerely that it is very clear to me that leia is not going to be someone that jay gets over easily. he's this "reformed playboy," yet we never see him be anything less than a gentleman to leia. i am pointing out this line in particular bc of it's OBVIOUS parallel to eric saying that he needed to go to africa so that he can deserve donna.

i have trauma from the gmw fandom debating to death who the corpanga was supposed to be (as if that was a good thing lmfao) but there is literally no debate that jay/leia is the new donna/eric. jay is the cool hot love interest who centers the neurotic dorky protagonist. plus, i mean, the car scene within the first three episodes? be so serious here.

the show spent sooooo much time on jay and it would be so weird to me if they suddenly were just like "actually nate is the male lead now!" i think he probably got the least amount of screentime of any of the kids.

i know the showrunner came out and said leia needed to find a ~deep connection not built on lust~ and that's where nate came in. i do agree with that to an extent, but nate/leia is clearly just to throw off the viewers. also, nate is the kelso archetype more than jay is, lbr. (i could do an entirely separate blog post on that). yes, nate and leia connected. they were able to confide in each other about their relationship issues. does that mean there's romantic chemistry there? no. it just means that they were there for each other in an important moment.

is a big proponent of leia/jay's relationship built on lust? i would argue moreso on leia's side than jay's, but also, leia didn't like jay bc of his looks. she liked him because he made her feel special and treated her with respect. she liked the kind, sensitive part of him. it was only once they had that moment where she began to ~lust after him. and for anyone to argue that jay's feelings for leia are lust related is fucking stupid because

like jay could get any girl he wants canonically. he likes leia for leia. he likes her for all of her little quirks and flaws. plus there is ANOTHER episode dedicated to her feeling she needs to put out and him saying he only wants what she is comfortable with. c'mon man.

this is not some lust related fling that was built on nothing but mutual attraction. i'm not gonna act like their convos ever get super deep or anything (mainly because we only got ten episodes in season one), but nate/leia rly didn't either. like. they were both just upset about jay and nikki. and then they almost kissed.

are nate and leia probably going to be a focus in season two? oh, for sure. but the obvious endgame is jay and leia.

like be so for real.

i could also talk about the difference in her expressions here for hours but i'll just leave all of this here.

[radexchangeprogram]

Ok ok- this post is gonna be me talking about my thoughts about the new game and such.

I will be honest, a big reason I haven’t been writing is bc I’ve been burnt out with Obey Me bc of the direction of the writing, but this game makes me really hopeful.

I’ve seen some people say that they think this will be a pre-mc game and that Solomon will be the MC, but I don’t see them going that direction. Solmare’s whole thing is otome games and I think a big draw Obey Me had/has is that self insert element. However, I definitely think Solomon will play a much bigger role in the game.

I think the game is going to be a series reboot.

long post w spoilers below the cut

Here’s why:

Obey Me is a lot more successful than many other of Solmare’s ips. This isn’t to say their other games don’t have fans, but Obey Me is definitely a lot larger. I don’t think they were expecting Obey Me to get this big when they were initially writing the story.

I think when the game first blew up, Solmare probably resorted right to pushing more of that fan service and provided quantity over quality to make fans happy, which I get it, it’s an otome game and a lot of us like fanservice. But I think they realized it’s a lot harder to write when you’re trying to please everyone at once and it’s a lot harder to maintain consistent fans.

Gacha games get a lot of their funding off of whales. I will be honest, I used to whale in Obey Me. I had the money and tbh, I was very impulsive. I have not opened the game since the anniversary and before the anniversary, I had not opened it in months. And I imagine many other people who are still fans have been doing the same.

I think Solmare realized this and has been trying to fix it (e.g., having events focus more on one character as opposed to shoving every character possible in there), but with the way the main story is structured, there isn’t much more they can do to make it flow well.

I think the story will definitely involve RAD and the exchange program, we can see Thirteen in the trailer at RAD.

Image taken from @animepikagirl

Solmare has also been very good about listening to the options of fans (compared to a lot of other companies of the same genre) and I know a lot of fans have been very vocal about being disappointed in recent stories and the lack of character development.

As much as it pains me to say, I think Satan is the best example of how poorly they’ve handled their characters. The poor man has been flanderized to hell and back. Compared to his season 1 self which talked about his love of cats while still giving him a personality and exploring his psyche, and you’ll see that it’s been reduced down to him purely loving cats. Even as early as season 2, he started really getting reduced down to that (e.g., the reaper’s cave. It was a funny season where he pet the trap cat and wasn’t the worst example, but I think it highlights when the writing started to go downhill). I think they realized the flanderizing has become a major issue and want to avoid it in the new series. I may be biased because Satan is my favorite character, but he was name dropped in the hints.

Another character that I think they will probably want to do better with is Asmodeus. Given that he’s pactmates with Solomon and Solomon was name dropped in the hints, I think he will also play a much bigger role in the story. Obey Me has done fuck all with Asmo despite him having the potential to be one of the most uniquely written characters. @/Neocoded has a lot of posts about how Obey Me has fucked Asmo fans over with it’s frankly poor writing and tbh, they also have a lot of posts that talk about the really cool potential Asmo could have as a character if handled correctly.

Overall, I’m very hopeful that this new game is going to be Solmare showing that they’ve learned from the writing mistakes they made in Obey Me:SWD. I think now that they have a bigger budget and likely bigger team, they’ll be able to invest more in the quality of their content to maintain their fanbase better. I’ve been playing this game for 3 years this month, I started playing 2 months after launch. This series is still very special to me but I want to see it improve instead of settling for frankly mediocre writing. This is not meant to bash any of the writers or Solmare, but is simply my honest opinion in how the quality of the writing tanked after season 1 and how I believe this new game will be Solmare showing the fanbase that they want to take the franchise in a new direction.

[incorrecttowerofgodquotes]

Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Episode 6 Review

- I can no longer be happy

- Poor Elan. I knew he wasn’t going to live to the end but he DIED in episode 6! Maybe I’ll get attached to the new one, but I won’t ever forget Elan 4. Also there’s the fact that Elan isn’t a clone, but instead a kidnapped child (probably from Earth) who’s been forcibly experimented on. Those Peil technology guys make Guel’s dad look like a saint.

- Elan was really going through it this episode. His mental break down in the Pharact was really sad. He just wanted to have his own life. He wanted his own birthday! Though at least Suletta gave him a small bit of happiness before his death. The two really had a bond, and when Suletta finds out what happened I don’t think she’ll be able to recover. Really gotta wonder how long she stayed sitting at that bench waiting for someone who would never arrive

- Also real Elan is pretty adorable as well, though I also want to punch him and shove him in a locker. I’m going to guess he’s the real leader of Peil Technologies and the witch Prospera was referring to. I can see him taking up the second arc big bad spot.

- As for Suletta. The Eri clone theory is becoming more and more real, but it got even more horrifying. Bel drops that the events of the prologue happened 21 years ago, which is weird cause Eri was 4 at the time and Suletta is 17 now. That would mean Suletta is really just an Eri clone, in fact, she’s not even the first. There are twelve GUND bits in total, Aerial, and eleven drones. Those eleven drones are probably failed Eri clones that got five nights at freddy’d into a machine. This is corroborated by Elan’s GUND vision of multiple young girls firing at him.

- Prospera now seems to be an old, bitter woman trying to get revenge for her husband’s death and her daughter’s robotification. While normally I would agree, the fact that she’s been cloning her daughter and then turning the failed ones into robots is fucked up. She probably doesn’t even see Suletta as human, just another tool to get her revenge. I also doubt she’ll treat Miorine well even though she also hates Delling.

- Now let’s talk about best boy Guel once again. Dudes reenacting one of the hit slice of life shows in the past five years, Yuru Camp. His homeless arc has started and he’s already thriving. Dude is so fucking stupid I love him. Our Earth House group is probably going to find him one day sitting in the woods like a gay cryptid and Suletta’s gonna want to take him back. At least his dad is nice(?) enough to keep paying for his tuition, though that’s probably just so he could use him again if Guel ever ends up looking promising again.

- Miorine is such a supportive wife, it’s great. She’s caught between wanting Suletta to act in benefit for the both of them, while also wanting Suletta to enjoy her school life. She’s understanding that Suletta was forced into the marriage and wants to experience things at her own pace.

- I’ve seen some people get mad that Suletta has been getting ship tease with the guys, but like, Suletta hadn’t heard of gay marriage until she arrived at the school and was suddenly engaged. Just like how Miorine doesn’t deserve to be forcibly married, neither does Suletta. If she wants to experience love on her own, then she should be allowed. And for anyone scared of being queer baited, Utena did the same exact thing and it ended fine.

- Now for the future, I’m not quite sure what will happen. Shaddiq will probably get a couple episodes to shine and Guel will join the Earth squad but other than that… *shrug*

- The final thing I want to leave off on is the theme of birthdays. Eri’s entire life was destroyed on her birthday and Elan never had one. Birthdays are something that humans created and celebrated, so to not have one makes one feel less human. Since Miorine and Suletta’s engagement will be finalized on her 17th birthday, I’m expecting Prospera to start some Red Wedding shit. It’ll probably happen either at the end of the cour or the end of this season (if we’re getting two)

[dragons-hoard-of-fandoms]

Well, that...

That was something. (Cut 'cuz spoilers. Long. Small angry rant near the end.)

I can't really say it was bad, but, y'know, can't say it was all that fantastic either. Just doesn't feel like the "conclusion" it was promised as - which is honestly understandable, given that the new show is on its way. And, y'know, having to pack everything into only eleven minutes doesn't really grant ya much wiggle room. I feel like there'd be a much better payoff if it had more time to work with - twenty-two minutes like the Wil Film seasons, or a full TV movie.

It's definitely more satisfying than "Endings," tho, so I'll give it that.

I think I speak for everyone when I say I wish we'd gotten more of Oni Lloyd. Considering it was being hyped up as this big final ultimate form that may or may not end up rampaging across the city, destroying everything in sight as Lloyd takes out all the anger and frustrations that have been building up within him probably since this whole "destiny" nonsense was dropped on him, enacting a role reversal of the Kryptarium fight when Garmadon tries to face him only to finally understand exactly how he made his son feel back then when (despite Garm actually genuinely giving his all) Lloyd nearly kills him, has him by the throat and tells him "I have no father," while the Ninja are forced to confront the possibility that the only way to save their friend is to destroy him...

Yeah, Lloyd going full Oni for like five seconds only to immediately back out before actually doing anything was a letdown. But who knows, maybe they'll come back to it in the new series. Get on it, writers! Let our boy go crazy go stupid! Don't make this another Tornado of Creation!

Garmadon's second redemption certainly has room to grow. He's clearly trying, and I appreciate that, but I wish he'd made a more obvious effort that he was trying to reconcile with his son. I get that he can't just come right out and say it, not when he still can't quite comprehend just what "it" is, and I get that Lloyd wouldn't be able to just roll over and forgive him, not when he's probably still having nightmares about Seasons Eight through Ten and his whole original motivation from Season One is now his greatest fear... But still. I totally called that Christofern was serving as a stand-in for Lloyd when it came to Garmadon's feelings about him, but it felt like they were trying to push it from an allegory to a literal - pretty much any time Garm's ability to care was called into question, Christofern was the example given. The only arguable exception is that one scene with Nya, but even then, it's deflected onto Christofern so bluntly that's it's practically calling us stupid for thinking Garmadon's empathy could extend beyond his plant.

Again, tho, the new series still has a chance to remedy this. Sensei Garmadon could still return to us in some form. The Dragon half could still claw his way out of the Departed Realm, reunite with the Oni, and give Lloyd his real dad again. I like to imagine Garmadragon has been barreling across the multiverse screaming "HAVE YOU SEEN MY SON" for the past eight seasons, and the only reason he hasn't shown up yet is because there are a lot more than fourteen Realms out there. He could still turn up.

Look all I'm saying is Lloyd and Garmadon's Oni heritage has gotten its time in the spotlight, give the Dragons their turn. And while you're at it, acknowledge Wu's inhuman qualities for once. He's DragOni too.

Other Stuff I Don't Have As Much to Say About:

"Compatible" really doesn't hit as hard as Tommy was trying to convince us it would. IDK, maybe what with Zane dying every other weekend we're just desensitized to the whole ordeal. It was cute, tho, I certainly won't deny that.

Clutch still has Nadakhan's teapot. Is that ever gonna be relevant or

I can't believe they had Zane fight Mr. F and not reveal Mr. F as Echo. What do we gotta do to make them bring back Echo?!

Did they really think revealing the Overlord was responsible for the Devourer was some big unexpected twist? Pretty certain we all gathered that WAY back the first two seasons.

On that note, WOW was she-whose-name-we-do-not-speak-in-this-household's heel-face turn stupid. You were literally working with the dude who released the Devourer in the first place! If it was so easy for you to blame Lloyd for that, you should've been able to trace it back to the Overlord right from the start!

Yes I still despise she-whose-name-we-do-not-speak-in-this-household with every fiber of my being. Yes I still would've laughed and cheered if she had been murdered on-screen in such a brutal and violent manner that it never would've been allowed on television if they weren't Legos. Yes I still want Lloyd to go on an insane Oni-powered rampage with her as the first and only casualty. No I am not sorry and no I will never forgive her and no I will never accept her as anything other than the thing that ruined Garmadon. SHE IS NOT HIS DAUGHTER AND NEVER WILL BE AND I WOULD GLADLY REWRITE THE ENTIRE SHOW FROM SCRATCH TO PREVENT HER FROM EVER EXISTING

Can't say I was expecting the Ninja to lose their powers again (I figured they would've permanently gone full Dragon or something - another "dead without actually dying" case à la Nya turning into the ocean), but, y'know, can't say I'm too shocked by it either. Last time this happened was, what, Season Five? If anything they were overdue.

All in all, a decent end to a season and an alright end to an era, but not so much to an entire series like it's being billed as. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, and I've definitely seen worse finales (*cough cough* Star vs. the Forces of Evil *cough*), but that's not to say there isn't any wasted potential here. Maybe there wouldn't have been such high expectations if it hadn't been played up as this heart-wrenching, soul-crushing eleven-minute epic. Maybe if it'd lived up to the hype I wouldn't be writing this. Or maybe regardless of how things turned out, there would always be a little disappointment mixed into it. Who's to say, really.

Either way, the 2023 series certainly has a lot to live up to, and a fairly solid foundation to build off of. There's still a few loose ends to tie up, plot points to resolve, mysteries to uncover, stories to finish. What's up in the other Realms? Where are the Time Twins? Will we ever see Morro again?

We're just gonna have to wait and see, I suppose.

[local-writer]

This post contains spoilers for twd; Daryl Dixon! If you haven't finished the first season, then please do not read this post!

I also want to give a warning about talks of self harm and suicide (something the show didn't do, which pisses me off), so please be cautious. That being said, if you haven't watched the 5th episode yet, please be cautious of this as well.

I just finished watching the season final and holy shit CAROL IS BACK IM SO HAPPY

If she actually manages to make it to France and track Daryl's ass down then she is officially a better tracker then Daryl lmao

I hope she does find him and she's able to bring him back home, because the last episode genuinely had me questioning Daryl. SURELY he's not thinking of staying in France??? Surely the writers aren't stupid??? EVERYONE, me included, wants to see Daryl reunite with his family, and most importantly, Rick, who we know is alive and HOPEFULLY will return home. Carol said over the radio that someone came back, and I'm really hoping that it's Rick and Michonne.

They all deserve to be together again, and I'm genuinely gonna be pissed if Rick doesn't come home and Daryl stays in France 🙃

I personally don't think Daryl would do that, it's just not like him to replace and forget his first family. Like, it's great that he found a possible love interest and another kid he cares about, but I hope he doesn't stay. Maybe he could talk them into going with him? Idk I hope they work something out. The relationships he built with them is cute, heartwarming, and I don't want to see them separate but I REALLY don't wanna see him stay either.

Another thing I want to talk about is the ending of the last episode. Okay, I know they can't show Rick with Carol (if he came home) because that would probably end up spoiling the new Rick and Michonne series. But we all know that Rick would have went with her to find Daryl, his brother, just like Daryl would and HAS done for him. So that makes me wonder if Carol lied to Daryl to try and get him to come home? But again, I'm hoping that Rick and Michonne came home. 🤞

I will drop this series so fast if they don't reunite. I know that probably makes me sound like a brat who didn't get her way, but it's the ending that the series and the characters deserve, and there's no better way to end it in my opinion. That's how it should have ended a long time ago, and don't get me wrong, I love all the new series they're coming out with, but it kinda feels like they're drawing out the series as long as possible so they can milk it dry. Hopefully this doesn't take the series down a shitty road in the end.

Oh, and can we talk about Isabelle in episode 5? And her almost suicide attempt?? I know the show is all kinds of fucked up and I think we've seen shit like this before and should expect it but the wrist cutting was a trigger for me. I didn't like it and I wasn't expecting her to almost go through with it. What was the fucking point of even showing it, she didn't even pierce her skin (and no, I'm not saying she should have for the scene to make sense, I'm glad she didn't) If there was a trigger warning, I sure didn't see it, but they probably should have considered putting one. Idk, maybe I should have expected it from her, considering she's tried it before in her past, but I didn't think that information was a clue that she would even think about trying it again later. Needless to say, I'll be more cautious whenever the next season is out, that's for sure.

Sorry that half of this was a bit of a mini rant, I wanted this post to be more on the positive side, because I genuinely enjoyed the first season, but the ending was questionable and it ticked me off a bit at the slight possibility that Daryl may end up staying in France.

On a more positive note, I thought the super strength that some of the walkers had made them more scary, and it was cool to see Daryl fight them. He's such a badass!

I said "what the fuck?" more than once with these new walkers lmao. That one on the boat that Daryl was being held captive on scared me when he started ripping that man's guts out and just- flinging them instead of eating them. THAT'S NOT NORMAL WALKER BEHAVIOR WHAT IS THIS DEMON. The black eyes even make them look like demons from Supernatural. 😭

Oh, and I wasn't expecting Daryl to yell at Laurant the way he did, which really broke my heart. I bet those were things his dad said to him when he was a kid. Although I kinda wished to smack Daryl, I guess I can't blame him too much. We learn from our parents, and Daryl learned how to take his anger out on kids from his dad, which is all the wrong ways (you're never supposed to take your anger out on kids, your own especially). I'm just glad Laurant forgave Daryl, because he didn't mean it. And no, I'm not saying it's okay what Daryl said, so don't come at me because I'm not defending Daryl's actions here.

Well, I guess that's it for now until next season. Share your thoughts and opinions if you want, I'd like to hear them!