#Actually the first scene is probably alright. I just need to fix one thing

[the-sky-queen]

"I have to be greatful for what I have. It could've been worse . . . A lot worse."

Bullet belongs to @son1c

Momentum belongs to me!

Seeing son1c's Shatter-verse Sonics inspired me so hard. I absolutely had to draw them and make my own.

So allow me to introduce Momentum the Hedgehog! Momentum was born on the faraway Christmas Island where he lived a pretty good life with a few other friendly mobians. However, his happiness was abruptly torn apart when humans arrived on the island. Not the Chaos Council, but arguably something worse.

You see, the Council weren't the only ones who decided to conquer this Shatterspace. There were many other groups of humans looking to start and expand empires. The one that landed on Christmas Island took one look at the mobians there and decided to enslave them.

Now of course, Momentum wasn't going to just submit to these humans. He tried to help his fellow mobians break out, but it didn't end so well. They all got caught and recaptured. Momentum’s human masters punished him for his disobedience, blinding him in one eye, and took precautions to make sure he couldn't escape again.

Eleven years passed and Momentum was broken and beaten down, becoming a shell of his former self. He was sold from master to master. Nothing changed . . . until the day the Chaos Council heard of his existence.

Desperate for a new source of energy and knowing Momentum was an alternate Sonic, they decided to buy him. They intended to have Momentum run and generate power for them with his speed. All was going to plan until Nine figured out that the Council was purchasing a 'secret weapon.'

Can Nine free Momentum? We'll see . . .

If Momentum and Bullet ever met, I think they'd both stay quiet. Neither of them asked for this life. I feel like they'd both feel like the other has a worse life and that they should be grateful for the hand life dealt then, as terrible as it may be. They wouldn’t really interact with each other, especially since Momentum doesn't talk at all.

[babiebom]

When You Fall (i)

A/N: My first full fic on this blog! Thank you to everyone who voted! I will try my hardest to write and upload quickly, though I am not going to promise anything seeing as I have a job interview this Friday that I'm writing this(already passed by the time this is uploaded) and if I get it I'll be working more often. Though again thank you for voting and I hope you enjoy! Also a bit of a warning, some things from the game are obviously changed to make sense irl, like instead of there just being seasons there are actual months!(pictures not mine.)

Next Masterlist

TW: death, self harm in the form of overworking, cursing, depression, negative thoughts, funerals. Etc just sad

Genres: angst, potential happy ending, romance, some fluff. Multichapter Fic

WC: 4k

You hear your name being called, the voice is quiet under the ringing of your ears.

"Y/N!"

You attempt to force your eyes to adjust on the person, head and neck snapping quickly to face towards them. "Huh"?

"I asked if you were going to be alright getting to the graveyard alone…?"

You nod, swallowing even though your mouth and throat were dry. The funeral home was almost empty now; only you, your aunt and uncle, and a few friends that knew both of your parents and/or grandfather. Standing up straighter, you try to fix your face subtly, trying to act as if you weren't out of it for the entire funeral. "Yeah…yeah, I'll be fine. I promise." You clear your throat and offer her a smile.

She hesitates, lips trembling before she slowly gives you a hug. "Your uncle and I are here for you".

"I know".

As the two leave, as well as the rest of the stragglers, it's only you left with the bodies of your parents and grandfather. A sour laugh leaves your lips, tears kissing the corners of your eyes as you drag your feet closer to their caskets. To keep from crying you clench your jaw and curl your lips inward, slowly becoming overwhelmed with the idea of never seeing any of these three people again. If you would've known this was going to happen, you would've visited more, called more. If you would've known…well it doesn't matter anymore because you didn't know, and now you can't do any of those things. 

Slowly and one by one you press a kiss to each of their foreheads, letting your own head rest on top of theirs for just a moment before moving on, hoping the warmth from you would cure the cold coming from them. You stayed there for so long the funeral director had to escort you out, reminding you that they needed to be buried. 

Slowly you got into your car, remembering that everyone was probably on their way or already waiting for you and the bodies to show up. They were all going to be buried in Pelican Town, the same place your father had grown up, the same place you spent your summers during your childhood. 

Entering Pelican Town, nothing had changed since your childhood, and that made everything worse. Things hadn't changed for the town, and yet it wasn't the same for you. Everything has changed for you. The only difference was a couple new headstones, the graveyard now housing your mother, father, and grandfather; though you had noticed the additions of some that weren't there when you had last been here. The mayor was standing next to the open graves, making your heart clench at the finality of it all; the second they were filled with dirt would mark the last time you ever got to see their faces. 

Instead of standing with the rest of the crowd, you stand off to the side, crying silently as you watch the mayor pray over their bodies before they get lowered into the ground. You have to fight yourself to keep from yelling out, knowing that making a scene, making this whole process longer would affect everyone around you. It’s the middle of winter after all, everyone probably wanted to hurry and get back to their regular lives. Swallowing harshley, you only step forward when it's time for all of the guests to throw some dirt on top of the caskets. 

“I love you,” you whisper into the air, clenching your eyes closed and tossing the dirt in. A soft thump is all you get in response, the dirt scattering over the caskets. Your mother and father are sharing a grave, and your grandfather was being buried with your grandmother, the two finally being reunited after a decade and some change of being apart. 

You move backwards again, allowing the others who had arrived to say their final goodbyes. Avoiding looking at what was happening, you focused on the scenery instead. Pelican Town had always been nice, and being covered by snow it was no different. Everything had sort of a Christmas-y vibe to it, but that only made you feel worse. Letting your eyes continue to roam, you spot some of the towns-people walking around, obviously trying to get a glimpse of what was happening. They were walking far too slow to actually be trying to get somewhere, or maybe the calmness of a small town allowed them to take it easy even when they had errands to run. Your eyes connect with a woman with orange hair, her eyes growing wide the second yours stopped on her. She hurried away as soon as she realized she had been caught watching, moving from the large tree that she was under to presumably hide somewhere else. You scoff and turn your head to watch someone else, not really offended but somewhat annoyed that the public can watch as your normal life is ripped away from you. Bitterly, you wondered when the last time this town had held a funeral, or had even had someone die. 

Everything looked peaceful, your presence disrupting the environment and if that woman with the orange hair was anything to go by, this funeral was something that shook the small town that probably knew your grandfather better than you did. You wonder why none of them showed up to the funeral or to this burial. Your thoughts are disrupted by everyone bustling around you, hands on your shoulders words spoken to you, you figure out that the burial is finished by the people moving around you back towards the way you came.

The second you fully realize that the burial had ended, you race out towards your car, not wanting to stop and talk to anyone, not wanting to cry on someone’s shoulders. You decide then that the best course of action would be to throw yourself into your work. So, without another glance back, you drive away from Pelican Town, hoping you would never have to return to the place again.

Scrunching up your nose and frowning, you slam the drawer to your desk harder than you need to, ignoring the sound of the contents inside spilling and moving around. The sound of typing overwhelms your senses, and unlike the persona you’ve put on for the past couple of months, you get up and stalk towards the bathrooms. As you pass the other cubicles, the oncoming anxiety attack immediately takes over your being. 

You push open the bathroom door, wheezing and trying to suck in as much breath as you can. Yet it still feels like you’re drowning, as if every breath you suck in is instead water, and it’s impossible for you to come up to the surface. You fall onto the sink, leaning over it and heaving. Your legs threatened to give out, not wanting to hold you up any longer. Giving in, you allow yourself to sink to the dirty bathroom floor, dragging yourself in between the sinks and the wall, the gross overhead light giving you a headache. 

Your body shakes, still struggling to breathe. As you close your eyes, flashes of the funeral and the last time you saw each of them alive consume you. The second your ears start to ring, you realize that you’re already too far gone, and any of your attempts to self soothe were now made in vain because you couldn’t calm down. You needed help, but at the same time that was the last thing that you wanted. You can feel yourself shake, violently, and your head falls back and forth as you shake, and in the madness you realize that someone was shaking you, it wasn’t you yourself. “Please!” you heard someone plead, yet they sounded too far away from you. 

You open your mouth to reply, but nothing comes out of it, you want them to go away, and to leave you spiraling here on the ground, and in the back of your cloudy mind you hope that you still get paid for having this breakdown during work hours. Joja Co. wouldn’t take away your wages for this, right? You’re shaken again, this time rougher and your eyes begin to focus on someone kneeling in front of you. The ugliness that was Joja blue assaulting your eyes. You groan, and as you feel yourself begin to surface, realize that you had been screaming. Your throat now raw and hoarse as you begin to calm. 

The woman in front of you is someone you recognize, though you couldn’t recall her name. You only knew her as your supervisor that you rarely actually saw in the office, and behind her were two coworkers looking absolutely frightened and worried for you. Swallowing, you shake your head and haul yourself off of the ground, muttering a ‘sorry’ and pushing your way out of the bathroom. It was painful, the walk back to your cubicle, everyone was simultaneously watching you, but still not really looking at you. As if they wanted to pretend that your breakdown didn’t happen, and you are all too aware of how insane you probably looked, coming out of the bathroom with puffy red eyes, and messed up hair. 

It wasn’t uncommon for someone to have a breakdown at work, the expectations of your superiors and the company itself were always too much for some people to handle, yet you realized that you probably looked different than them, having run all the way to the bathroom, and not out the doors to the elevators. After a breakdown, the person always quits, yet here you are, sitting silently in your cubicle, brushing your hair out of your face as if everything was normal. 

Again you open the drawer and look at the letter that had arrived on your desk weeks ago.

Dear, Y/N

If you’re reading this, you must be in dire need of a change.

The same thing happened to me, long ago.

I’d lost sight of what mattered most in life…real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong.

I’ve enclosed the deed to that place…my pride and joy: New Hope Farm. It’s located in Stardew Valley, on the southern coast. It’s the perfect place to start your new life.

This was my most precious gift of all, and now it’s yours. I know you’ll honor the family name, my grandchild.

Good luck.

Love, Grandpa.

P.S. If Lewis is still alive, say hi to the old guy for me, will ya?

Taking in a breath, you laugh quietly to yourself. Your face still wet from your tears. It was ridiculous, hilarious even, that the very place you wanted to return to ends up the very place you flee in order to get back to yourself. 

You can hear clacks of shoes nearing you, coming from the direction of the same bathroom you just fled from. The woman stops in front of the opening to your cubicle. Staring down at you in your seat with aggravated eyes. The lack of concern annoys you to your very core, and with the least amount of emotion you can muster, you stare back up at her, the letter wrinkled in your hand.

"Yes?"

"That little breakdown you had there was very disruptive," she shifts her weight, "now you're one of your best workers, so we'll give you another chance, but next time something this unprofessional happens we'll have to let you go."

"Right," you swallow harshly, "about that, I need to take time off."

"Time off? Why do you need to take time off?" She asks loudly. You can see the people across from you look over with wide eyes. Vacations were never accepted, and were more likely to be taken as an insult. 

"Well, half of my family has just died...and I don't think I have a good enough mental state to-"

"We gave you time off already, we let you go to the funeral and have an extended weekend. How much more time do you need?" 

You scoff in disbelief, the woman staring at you with all seriousness of a person who has just been told the worst joke in the world. Did she not just witness the breakdown you just had? You sit back roughly in your chair, running a hand through your hair. Your patience started to run thin with the woman, and so in a huff you slam down the letter rather roughly before looking back up at her.

"Can I take a vacation or not?"

She gasps before angling her body back, now glaring daggers at you. "I am the boss, you do what I say. You've already taken time off, so you don't need any more. I'm really very disappointed in you-"

"But-"

"-and I don't think you realize just how lucky you are to be working for Joja Corporation. There's no other job as liberating and rewarding than working for and growing the Joja family."

You make a noise of indignation, completely taken aback with how she had decided to handle this situation, especially after seeing you in the worst state you've ever been in. "You know what?" You slam your hand on your desk, letting out a huff of air through your nose, now staring at the place your hand had settled. "I quit!"

You turn to watch her face as your words sink in. She splutters and takes in breaths as she struggles to come up with something to say as a retort. Laughing loudly in her face, you stand and push past her, going straight towards the supply closet, where you know there are extra boxes. Picking up the smallest that could fit all of your things, you completely ignore your now ex-supervisors desperate pleas. "You have to put in a 2 week notice!"

"Nah, no I don't." You shake your head, now filling the box with all of your things. You'd rather die than leave any of your cute cubicle things behind for them to throw away. Smirking, you carefully place the last plant you had on top of the other knick knacks you had, looking over to the angry woman with the best shit eating grin you could muster.

"I would say it was a pleasure to work with you, but that would be a lie."

The time taken to get back to Pelican Town was doubled due to you selling your car and opting to take the bus instead, and in that time you started to rethink your plan of starting anew without any backup plan. Everyone else that was riding with you had gotten off long ago, and you were left with those who were just along for the ride, having nothing else to do but stay until they were kicked off. 

You were grateful for the emptiness though, no one spoke a word on the way there; they simply allowed you to exist among them, thinking your thoughts without interruption. 

You grunt in pain as you're launched out of your seat, suitcases toppling over loudly. Embarrassed, you scramble to get up, hoping no one was secretly laughing at you because it would honestly cause another breakdown. The bus driver shouted out your arrival, staring at you specifically through the rear view mirror. Sniffing, you grab your suitcases and hurry off of the bus, squinting from the change of lighting.

"Hello! You must be Y/N" an orange haired woman standing waiting at the bus stop, friendly looking and sweaty. "I'm Robin, the local carpenter. Mayor Lewis sent me here to fetch you and show you the way to your new home. He's there now, tidying things up for your arrival."

You stare at her before taking her hand in a firm shake. She's pretty, and young looking but from the look at her hands she had to be older than you think. Her grip takes you off guard only slightly, rough calluses coming in contact with your own soft skin. You nod and grab your things again, wanting to get out from under the sun. There was a cool breeze cooling your skin, but just having been on a musty bus for the past couple of hours made you feel grosser than you normally would've. 

 "The farm's right over here, if you'll follow me" 

You want to tell her that you already know the way, that you've been here multiple times in your childhood, but you stay quiet not wanting to bring up memories that will just hurt you. You think staying silent is an even better idea when she takes two of your suitcases and heads down the road. 

Walking in silence is awkward for the first minute, and so you begin a conversation that you already regret happening the moment the first syllable leaves your mouth. "So," you swallow thickly, "how long have you been waiting out here?" 

She shakes her head and scrunches her nose. "Not long, maybe 15 minutes? First day of Spring is always brutal with the weather change."

You nod and keep walking, wanting to ask her more questions, yet you know that it would only serve to make everything more awkward. "Do you want something to drink? I have like a spare Gatorade if you're thirsty."

She makes a noise of acceptance and takes the drink from you, gulping it down quickly. The walk takes about 5 more minutes before you make it to a broken down fence.

"This is New Hope Farm."

You gasp loudly, a choked noise forcing its way out of your throat at the look of it. Grass overgrown, trees everywhere, boulders. It looked as if the place had been abandoned for years, and maybe it has been. Your grandfather must've been too old to continue the last couple of years, having been bedridden the months before his passing.  The air smells fresh, though, fresher than you've ever smelled it before, at least since you've grown up. A sense of calm settles over your being, just over the hurt and anxiety. At least you're okay for now. 

"What's the matter? Sure it's a bit overgrown, but there's some good soil underneath that mess! With a little dedication you'll have it cleaned up in no time." 

You smile at her as you open the gate for you both, entering the messy fields. It's another minute and a half before you actually make it to the farmhouse, "and here we are, your new home". 

You raise your eyebrows at the look of your grandfather's old cottage, it being slightly run down since you had seen it last. Your heart clenched at the sight, realizing that everything did in fact get old without you, or maybe alongside you. Taking in a deep breath, you jump as the door to the house opens loudly. A man, shortish and white haired leaves out of it. He looks slightly familiar, but obviously older. 

"Ah, the new farmer! Welcome I'm Lewis, Mayor of Pelican Town." You wait for him to descend the steps, stopping in front of you. You faintly remember him, with less whites in his head and a smaller mustache. His old hat on top of his head is the same from when you were little. You shake his hand, reminding him that you had met him before. 

"Ah, my apologies!"

You shake your head with a small smile, slowly getting tired of pleasantries. "It's fine I was like…maybe 9 the last time I saw you."

The conversation staggers a bit before Lewis sucks in a breath.

"You know, everyone's been asking about you. It's not every day that someone new moves in. It's quite a big deal!" He looks around, a flicker of sadness in his eyes causing you to wonder how close he and your grandfather were. 

"So...you're moving into your grandfather's old cottage. It's a good house…very 'rustic'." You raise an eyebrow at his words, it was obvious that the house had seen better days.

"Rustic? That's one way to put it. 'Crusty' might be a little more apt though." Robin remarks, looking around.

"Rude!" Lewis gasps, whirling around to stare at Robin in shock. You guess it's the fastest he's moved in a while because his hands grasp at his knees for a split second.

The woman lets out a laugh, slapping a hand over her lips in amusement. You let out a snort, silently agreeing with her.

"Don't listen to her, Y/N. She's just trying to make you dissatisfied so that you buy one of her house upgrades." Lewis says, sending the woman a glare. Robin, in turn, gasps in shock, her eyes darting between you two before frowning and huffing. Maybe she was trying to get you to buy an upgrade. 

"Anyway…you must be tired from the long journey. You should get some rest. Tomorrow you ought to explore the town a bit and introduce yourself. The townspeople would appreciate that." You nodded to him, but refused in your mind, not wanting to go parading around town introducing yourself to the villagers like some happy-go-lucky extroverted tv character. Lewis begins to leave, but stops a couple feet, maybe even a yard away. He has to yell in order to speak to you, and you sort of understand when you would rather not have to walk all the way back just to leave again. 

"Oh I almost forgot. If you have anything to sell just place it in this box here. I'll come by during the night to collect it. Well…good luck!" His voice is strained, when he shouts. You smile and wave, saying a goodbye to Robin as she walks after him. Turning to the cottage, you feel a sense of overwhelming sadness, your chest growing tight. You know that grieving is a process, and that healing isn’t a linear path, but a thought pops into your mind that this was a bad idea. How are you meant to process, heal, and move on when you’re surrounded by things that make you want to tear your hair out? Sighing, you head inside, setting your things down and snatching an axe off of the wall. 

You think to yourself that the healing can come later, preferably after you demolish the trees taking over the land, at least you’ll be able to see far enough to farm. Stepping back out into the sun, you get to work swinging the axe over your head as well as you can. The thump of the axe embedding itself into the tree sends vibrations up into your bones, yet the pain and unfamiliarity of the feeling makes you feel lighter than you had in weeks. Maybe you just had anger issues. But, chasing that feeling you swing again, and again, and again until both the tree and it’s stump has been reduced to logs that you could pick up. 

You leave the logs on the ground and move on to the next tree, and then the next, and you keep going until you can feel the sweat drip down your back, pooling around the edge of your jeans and your hips. Your breaths come in short, you huffing as you try to bring the axe overhead once more. Your chest is tight, and your head feels as if it’s not screwed all the way on. ‘One more time.’ You think to yourself, bringing the axe upwards. You can tell that the tree was close to being fully chopped down, and so with the last of your energy, you force yourself to at least complete it. Telling yourself that it was more about clearing everything quickly, you knew deep down that you just wanted to feel something other than sorrow. Your arms shake as the tool almost slips out of your grasp above your head. Arms burning, you force them forwards as you swing down, you hear the thump of the axe in the wood, and you fall over ears ringing, your vision fading to black.

[alpaca-clouds]

Fixing Karlach's Companion Quest

Let me ramble a little bit, after this post venting about the 3rd Act and especially how underused Karlach is was shared quite a lot. Because believe me people, I have thoughts in regards to how one could do her companion quest.

As I said: Out of the origin companions Karlach by far has the most lackluster companion quest. In fact her companion quest has less content than the quests for Halsin and Jaheira. Because basically Karlach's companion quest has only those steps:

Find the "Paladins of Tyr" and defeat them

Go find Infernal Iron for Dammon in the grove.

Give another Infernal Iron to Dammon at the Last Light in.

Defeat Gortash (which you have to do either way, no matter whether Karlach is on your team).

Which is not a whole lot.

The only decision Karlach will have in her entire questline is always "Does she want to die or rather go back to Avernus with Wyll?" And both are most certainly bad endings for her. And while Baldur's Gate (the city) is filled with those Steel Watch soldiers, that have a working infernal engine, the player does not get a chance to somehow try and follow up on it.

So... Let me talk on how I would write her quest.

Act 1

For the most part I do think Act 1 for her is alright as it is. I would maybe bring in some more tension into the story of some folks from Avernus coming for her. That does not need to happen in Act 1, but it should be hinted at. Because when we meet her, we learn that she had been haunted for days by folks from Avernus, but then... we never see anything of that outside of the paladins and the stuff with Mizora and Wyll. And that is kinda a let down.

Just hint at some infernal creatures being seen or something. Make her a bit more anxious about it. Something like that.

Act 2

The big issue is that Karlach has basically no content at all in Act 2 right now. Like, at all. You meet Dammon early on, bring him an infernal iron that you probably already have on hand. If you romance her you can get the first sex scene with her afterwards. And yes, if you actually go around talking to all the NPCs you will find one, who has a message from Flo, a demon who was a kind of "friend" to Karlach in the hells. Which is where we get introduced to the thing that feels like it should go somewhere - but never goes: The soul coins. While we can already collect those in Act 1, this is where Karlach actually explains what the Soul Coins are. And it is pretty clear that this at some point was the set up for a corruption arc... Only that this arc never happens.

Something I would do to play from this is, that sometime during Act 2 you will encounter some devil (maybe they'll actually come to camp) that will actually challenge you on Karlach. And during the fight she would through some way or another actually use a coin (just make somehow sure she has one) and there are gonna be consequences from that.

You can talk to her about it, she probably would just act as if it was nothing. Something like that. Just build that one up.

Act 3

See, I kinda think I know why the soul coin thing goes nowhere. Because for the Soul Coins to be used you need to have Karlach on your team - and generally speaking the game does not force you to have certain characters on your team. Sure, for some events on the companion quests you get highly encouraged to take the companion in question along, but... You are not forced to do so. And for Karlach to get corrupted she would kinda need to use the Soul Coins - and implementing that would have been a bit harder? However, here is what I would do:

Once you get into the city, you will sooner or later find Dammon. Karlach will ask about him, you take her to meet him. He will tell you, that he has no idea how to fix the engine. But the player will get the ability to note that ineed the Steel Watch are running on Infernal Engines, and hence understanding them might help. Hence, this will actually also give you another reason to go to the Forge, which can then double as Karlach's "Dungeon". You will try to find some stuff here - and from there you could go different parts.

Either you really frame the entire Karlach conflict around the soul coins, or you frame it around her want for revenge. I think storywise the soul coins would work a lot better - however they would also need a lot more change in the game.

Because a Soul Coin plot would probably build around her using the Soul Coins again and again and through it losing control. Basically a addiction metaphor. And for that you would either need to talk her out of it or the engine could actually fail earlier than the finale. If you really want to be a bit evil... let her die earlier on. I mean, the game lets characters leave/die earlier, so it is fine to let that happen, right?

The revenge plot is easier to do. You go to the Forge, deal with the Gondians one way or another, you bring those plans to Dammon and he realizes he needs something (a MacGuffin, a specific bit of information, whatever) to actually fix the engine. And this is something that Gortash has.

I wrote about this before: I generally think that even in another origin playthrough or a Tav playthrough the game would be better if you could actually get Gortash to give up rather than fighting him. For one, the fight against Gortash is boring, but also it would improve the story a lot more to get to see both him and Orin with a bit more nuance.

In this case the story would go like that: You go to Gortash. Given this is past the Forge storyline there is a good chance you destroyed his Steel Watch. He is pissed. Well, works good, because so is Karlach. Of course he does not want to help you - and Karlach wants to kill him. Still, you need his help to save Karlach. So you need to convince the two of them in one way or another.

I think this is especially poiniant because one of Karlach's biggest wants is actually a regretful Gortash. And sure, she will not realistically get that anytime soon. But give it a chance?

Well, either would work: A story about the Soul Coins - or one about the entire revenge plot. In my fics I went with the second one, because only a few plot points needed to happen differently for that. But if you were to remake parts of the game, I think both would be nice solution. (For my alternate Gortash confrontation: Hurt Begets Hurt.)

[indiaalphawhiskey]

fake fic title! "crescent moons fix broken hearts"

would love it if it could be hl? 👀

Sorry this took so long! I really needed to write something today to flex the muscle, I hope you and @awesomefringey (who submitted the t-shirt pic) like it. 🥰 (I tried to post this twice with a moodboard but Tumblr wouldn’t let me. 😒)

🌙 Crescent Moons Fix Broken Hearts

Sitting in the en suite of the lavish hotel room, the soft lighting of the vanity illuminating the planes of his face, Harry let the radical irony of what he was about to do wash over him.

It was a weird thing, he realized, this feeling of waiting for a moment your entire life – preserving it, building it up – only to have it finally, finally come in a form so different it was almost laughable.

Not almost. Harry did laugh.

Half because he caught sight of his ridiculously nervous expression in the mirror, and half because apparently, one minute someone could be the perfect pure, virginal (if a little sexually frustrated) Omega groom-to-be fitting their bespoke wedding suit in at a highly exclusive designer shop, and three days later, be that very same Omega, revenge and wildly expensive tequila shooting through their veins as they booked their would-have-been honeymoon suite to have raunchy sex with an Alpha they’d hired specifically to finally deflower them, once and for all.

Turns out getting dumped in a Saville Row dressing room because one’s ex-fiancé thought they were quote, “an uppity, frigidly cold fish who he probably had no sexual chemistry with anyway”, unquote, really lit a fire under one’s arse.

Harry flared his nose in anger, his thoughts murderous as images of his beautiful, wasted wedding invitations danced back into his mind, haunting him. His cheeks began their now familiar pinkening with his remembered humiliation, and then…

A soft knock unfortunately interrupted Harry’s montage of fantastic daydreams of running over every single one of his ex-fiancé’s prized watches to the intro of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song.

“Come in,” he called out gently – or as gently as one could through gritted teeth.

As the door slid away, the unfamiliar, unassuming coolness of rosemary and sage rolled in slowly. Harry wasn’t used to it; accustomed to sharing spaces with the scent of warm whiskey and leather layered with that wretchedly expensive cologne Harry had always hated.

But back to the sage.

Sage, and rosemary, and cedar, and… he let the last note tickle his nose as he tried to name it.

“Are you okay?” Louis Tomlinson asked.

… and soap, Harry realized, oddly comforted even as he wondered whether the name was a pseudonym; wondered if it was standard procedure to print such a convincing alias on a discreet calling card that would eventually be passed across an elegant brunch table at the Dorchester.

(‘Niall, don’t be absurd,’ Harry had sniffed, trying his best to push the card back towards him without making a scene. ‘Jesus, just be normal and introduce me to one of your investment bankers, or something.’

Niall had given him a long, silent, and completely unimpressed look in response, glancing down at the engagement ring Harry was still wearing, if only to make a point. Ouch.

‘Harry, trust me. After this shitshow, you of all people deserve an orgasm on the first go. Treat yourself.’)

“I’m alright.” The polite platitude was out of his mouth accompanied by a reserved smile through the mirror before he could stop it.

It wasn’t like he could tell the truth anyway; not like he could say, ‘No, actually. I’m fucking livid, because a week ago I was about to be married, and today my financial manager called to ask if my credit card had been stolen because there was a suspicious charge from RoyaLT Enterprises for a ‘Platinum Package – All Inclusive’ on it when I was assured this service would be discreet, goddamnit!’

He bit his tongue, mostly because Harry didn’t tell Louis about the jilting; had decided against it the moment he had clicked ‘Platinum’, the description reading ‘two-week session with certified heat coach (Alpha) focused on scent familiarity, building sexual rapport, and discussing intimacy needs in addition to agreed heat cycle partnership.’

A virgin who had saved himself for marriage only to be jilted a week before his wedding because he was, in fact, a virgin, paying for sex and intimacy, trapped in a room with someone who really shouldn’t be as attractive as he had turned out to be… It had all just felt a little too humiliating.

Which, speaking of…

“Sorry,” Harry blurted out softly now, slowly coming to his senses. He turned to face Louis, his eyes widening. “We’re… we’re on the clock, aren’t we? Am I… I’m wasting your time?”

Louis chuckled softly – kindly, really – and casually leaned against the door frame, crossing his ankles. He was shirtless, Harry only now realized, as he watched him slip both hands into the pockets of his silk pajama bottoms, making them ride dangerously low against his happy trail.

Louis shook his head. “You’re supposed to take your time, get comfortable with me.” He raised his hand to gesture to himself – what he was wearing, and then the space between them. “This is all part of it.” He grinned wide, and Harry had noticed he was handsome when they’d met, but the genuine warmth of his smile is what made it. (Well, his smile, and his abs, and the still respectable but no less impressive hint of a bulge in his pajama bottoms…) “It’s called the boyfriend package for a reason.”

Funny, Harry thought then, feeling just a little bit… well, a little bit wet. He’d never had a boyfriend who looked quite like this.

Niall’s wise words began to reverberate in his mind: ‘Treat yourself.’

Harry bit back a cheeky smile. He intended to.

— Or, When Harry Styles did things, he did them right. Why should losing his virginity be any different?

[toothlespoggers]

AAAAAAAAA STIMMING STIMMING JUST WATCHED EPISODE 4 (I think) OF THE NEW SEASON OF DRAGONS RISING AND BOY THIS SEASON IS SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT FROM THE FIRST AND ITS SO GOOD AND ITS AMAZING AND COLE IS SO FUCKING GAY FOR THAT GUY AND THEYRE SO GAY THEYRE SO GAY, THAT GUY WHATS HIS NAME

DID YOU SEE THE WAY HE LONGINGLY LOOKED AT COLE NOT ONLY HAS THIS SEASON FIXED ALL THE CHARACTER WRITING FLAWS THAT THE PREVIOUS ITERATIONS OF NINJAGO HAD BUT IT ALSO CONFIRMED COLE GAY HE GAY FOR THIS MAN, THEYRE SO GAY, NO ONE STARES AT ONE PERSON THE WAY THIS GUY DOES AND ISNT GAY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AND ZANE WITH THE FRONICKY PLUSH AAARGHHH I CANT BELIEVE THIS THEYRE LETTING ZANE REST? WHAT HAVE I BEEN SAYING YALL EVEN IF TUMBLR HASNT EXPERIENCED ALL OF MY NINJAGO OPINIONS, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS THAT ZANE NEVER GETS A BREAK. HES ALWAYS WORKING, HES ALWAYS FORCED TO GET UP AND DO STUFF BUT THIS SEASON HES PLAYED VIDEO GAMES AND STAYED BEHIND, HES CHILLING WITH THE FROG MAN AND ITS SO GOOD AND AAAAAA I WANNNA WATCH MORE EPISODES BUT I WATCH IT WITH PEOPLE SO I HAVE TO WAIT BUT IT IS THE BEST.

I love the ninjago writers SO MUCH if anyone has like any information on the behind the scenes decisions and stuff that’s gone into the development of this season that’s changed and improved the previous issues tell me I wanna know! Argh I’m so happy, they finally gave Cole a family outside of the ninja team because let’s be real Cole was kinda sidelined for ages he needs a nice family of people who respect him and also he needs a hot purple boyfriend to look after him!

Lloyd isn’t an npc, he’s a human being with flaws?? Like actual? Logical? Flaws? He’s not just a main character anymore?? His flaws aren’t even super annoying either. And like CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW FUNNY IT IS THAT TIKTOK AND YOUTUBE CANONICALLY EXIST? THE NINJA ARE LIKE, TUMBLR SEXYMEN??? IN THE LEGO UNIVERSE?? THATS SO FUNNY, WHAT?

all the jokes feel like actual people talking, the writing feels natural for the first time in years! Zane isn’t constantly abused, he’s happy and frog man is the best character and if Lego doesn’t immediately release mini figures for frohicky and all the other minor characters that are pretty important I’m going to Sue.

also I haven’t watched the next episode but if it doesn’t explain what happened with Zane to end up with a frohicky plushie I’m going to go ballistic, alright?

Hot take but I’m glad Jay isn’t there anymore ik he’s probably going to come back but he’s honestly the worst ninja nowadays. And also, KAI CHARACTER ARC FIXED??

KAI ISNT INSUFFERABLE UNLEARNING AND RUDE ANYMORE HES AN ACTUAL GROWING CHANGING PERSON NOW, AND LIKE I USED TO HATE THE SELF INSERT NEW GUYS BUT THEYRE SO WELL WRITTEN NOW IT JUST MAKES ME LIKE EM’ and sure Aaron can get a little annoying but he’s so autistic coded like openly autistic coded he’s like “is there a social cue I’m not picking up on?” COME ON, MAN. COME ON!!

also like I said, girlie, baby, Sora, honey, you are the GOAT. WE STAN!

also if something ever happened to Zane couldnt sora just like, fix him on the spot?

my only complaint is the fact the ninja haven’t just taken off the masks before the wolf people turn all magic-y like bbg just take it off.

one last thing, JUST SAY CHIMA, WE ALL KNOW THAT GUY IS FROM LEGO CHIMA DONT HIDE IT EMBRACE IT. AAAAA

also that skeleton lady kinda..

Look I’m an undertale fan I have skeleton brainrot, ok? Don’t judge me

[amethystina]

Good morning/afternoon 🌸

I am interested in reading about u have added to these following fics:

Who holds the devil (is it sad ? :()

Gravitational pull (this one is very sexy and sensual. I am excited to see what u added to it !)

I hope u have a lovely day/afternoon/night 🌷 and good luck with ur health 💗

Thank u for always spoiling us 🦋

Good evening! 💜

Alright, here we go!

Who Holds the Devil

To be honest, the most recent thing I did for this fic was to look through my plans for the coming five chapters and rearrange a couple of things. Because I noticed that some scenes needed to come in a different order for the story to make logical sense.

I don't have any snippets as such (again, a lot of it is just a series of lines of dialogue xD) but what I can say is that the next chapter will focus on the trial and Ga On's therapy appointment. Though the latter might not be entirely what you all are hoping for x'D

But there will be lots of Elijah, so that's something?

Yo Han and Ga On are also going to start having somewhat more normal conversations again, either in the next chapter or the one after that (it depends on how many scenes I can fit into the next one without it getting too long). That's not to say that things will be fixed or easy by any means, but they're getting closer to finding some sort of new normal.

Whether or not that's a normal they actually want, well — that's another thing entirely.

Admittedly, this is the story I'm the most careful not to give spoilers for, so sorry for being a little less forthcoming. But I will say that as things are planned right now, chapters 43-47 will all contain scenes I've been waiting months — if not years — to write. I am seriously so excited for a lot of them and I can't wait for you all to see them.

Lots of good things to come! :D

(and by good I sometimes mean painful but I promise it'll be worth it in the end)

Gravitational Pull 2

Oh man, do I feel guilty about this one. Because it's fully plotted. I know exactly what's going to be in it and I'm really looking forward to it since it's going to explore another "what if" scenario that breaks canon, but I'm just... not writing it? For a while there it was because I know this instalment will contain sexual content and that was — and still is — a bit intimidating. But I can't say I've never done it before since I've now written Each Touch. And, in all honesty, the sex in the Gravitational Pull sequel isn't quite as intense, though arguably more ill-advised from a social etiquette standpoint — all Yo Han's fault, obviously.

In the end, I think the main reason I haven't continued — despite wanting to — is lack of time and not having been able to prioritise it. I only have so many hours when I can write and, due to all of my health issues, it's always less than I would like.

That said, I have every intention of continuing and actually have a little bit written already. The fic will continue right after the first one — or the day after, to be more precise, when Yo Han, Ga On, and Jin Joo are in the car heading towards Hyeongsan-dong and the riots.

And here's a little snippet!

---

Ga On tried his best not to look at Yo Han.

The tension lay thick inside the car, the silence pushing against Ga On's eardrums. Judge Oh, who sat in the back, probably assumed it was because of the crisis at hand — apprehension at the thought of what lay ahead of them — but that was only partially true. Ga On was also struggling with an insistent, nerve-wracking hum of concern, making his spine stiff and throat tight.

Yo Han shouldn't be here. He was still injured — only a day had passed since he'd gotten shot.

No matter how grave the situation was, Yo Han should be at home, resting, not driving them to an area of Seoul that was quickly becoming as chaotic as an active war zone.

Ga On gritted his teeth — until his jaws began to hurt from the strain — and looked down at his hands. They were tightly clenched in his lap, his thumb rubbing restlessly over the other. Perhaps Ga On was being too selfish, but he didn't want Yo Han to put himself in danger like this — not when he wasn't at his best. Ga On could admit that Yo Han hid it well but since Ga On knew to look for it, he could see the subtle delay in Yo Han's movements and how he held himself slightly more rigidly than usual.

Yo Han was still in pain.

He still had a goddamn hole in his stomach but pretended that he didn't.

And Ga On had to play along, since Kang Yo Han couldn't show weakness. The people around them couldn't know that the chief judge was injured. The fact that their opponents did was already bad enough — and was probably why they chose now to try and overthrow him. They didn't think Yo Han would be able to fight back as fiercely — with as much precision — as he normally would.

They were expecting an easy victory.

But, even injured, Yo Han was a force to be reckoned with and, as always, would do whatever it took to win.

Even if it jeopardized his own well-being — and Ga On's peace of mind.

---

In canon, Ga On obviously had no idea that Yo Han was injured when they were doing all this reckless shit, but here he does. And BOY does he hate it. Which I can't blame him for. But it's also not going to stop Yo Han because, well, Yo Han.

I think I'm just going to have to schedule a time to finish writing this if I want to get it done — preferably sometime soon...

Thank you so much for the ask! And you have a lovely day too :D

WIP Tag Game

[sob-dylan]

I’m the passenger ending anon and I was more curious abt the last 3 minutes or so that’s all in a rosy “things are fine :)” kind of glow, it just seemed so disconnected from the rest of the movie. I LOVED bensons end scene I was eating it up Then hard cut to Things Are Ok :) Idk ! that’s why I asked bc ur no 1 passenger scholar on my dash

lol my bad, i probably should have realized that by "the ending" you meant the part that comes at the end 😅

i'll give a middling answer: it's alright. i mean, let's be honest, the passenger's strength isn't it's screenplay. there's a lot of good story in what mr. jack stanley wrote, but some of the pacing's a little bit awkward and a few things here and there don't make a ton of sense. that all kinda comes to a head in the last scene. but i don't want to throw too many stones, because i'm definitely no great writer, and i've alway found endings especially difficult. and ultimately, i do think the ending works.

even though it's a rough transition from the penultimate scene to the final scene, i appreciate that they took some time to show the positive aftereffects of randy's no good very bad day. there's a definitely a lot of information packed into that very short scene, and some of it feels cool, some of it feels weird. i'm glad that randy's standing up to his mom and going to hang out with friends. but who are these friends? did he have friends before that he just didn't mention? or did he make new ones between his kidnapping and now? his arm's still in a sling, so it feels like not that much time has passed . . . i like that he's kept in touch with ms. beard, but i hope he's doing a little more job-wise than just babysitting for her. his scene with hardy in the beginning showed us that he's in dire need of imagining a substantial future for himself. maybe he could teach! or become a librarian! i do like that they brought in ms. beard's daughter tessa, because for me the movie is all about children. it's about hurt children! and it's about how we need to do a better job of loving and helping and protecting our children! i know some people think it's pretty morbid and fucked up that randy teaches tessa the game that took her mom's eye out, but i actually think it's great that randy can accept that, yeah, it was just an accident, and he can trust himself to play this game for children without history repeating itself. and if it does, if tessa takes his eye out, then he can help her be strong and forgiving of herself like he's learned to be.

i'll admit that's it's all a little bit too tidy and saccharine. so i'm grateful that there are hints that randy's isn't totally fixed. if anything, he's got new, sexier, and possibly even worse problems. this is evidenced in three ways: he's got benson's jacket, someone was doodling a picture of two guys in a car (i've seen some people posit that randy drew the picture, but i hear that and think *jenna maroney voice* "did you draw that, randy? you might need help, because that is awful for an adult." i also think it's hilarious and sad and wonderful if randy found a way to tell tessa about him and benson and she illustrated it), and then finally we get the last shot as icing on the "oh boy this guy's gonna be fucked up forever" cake.

yes the ending is a bit clunky and perhaps even tonally out of step, but the last shot kinda made the whole movie for me. when i first saw the camera pan over to the stuffed animals and "supersoaker md50" kicked in, i SCREAMED! that was so killer! it was heart-wrenching! it was funny! and it was a good time! just like the whole movie! so yeah, the entire end scene maybe isn't all that great, but that last shot was. idk how i would have made the ending any better, so one great final shot is good enough for me.

[azeriairis]

Alright Mini-essay time

I'm going to focus on two main things for this one. The deletion of that one scene in SGA, and the ending of SGA, and how those put Universe in a bad place to begin with. Because I actually like Universe and think it could've done well if only they set it up properly.

Let's start with the deleted scene, if you don't know what I'm talking about it's this one here:

So What do we learn from this scene? Two big things; A: It may be possible to dial the 9th chevron, and B: Zelenka is one of the people working on this.

A is important because the knowledge that it may be possible to dial the ninth chevron makes the premise of Universe " we dialed the 9th chevron and we now have to find a way to stay alive on the other side " sound much more plausible, and not like something that was just pulled out of the asses of the showrunners.

B is important because if the writers knew what they were doing could've been used as a set-up to introduce the audience to some of the Characters from Stargate Universe in season 5 of Atlantis. I'll give two ways this could happen. The easier route would be to just put Zelenka himself into Universe, he's already an established character who is well-known and beloved by the fanbase who through this scene is tied to the research into the ninth chevron. It makes sense for him to be there, and him being there would guarantee off the bat that the majority of the fanbase already has a character they at least somewhat care about in Universe off the bat. The Other route is to have a Universe Character (probably a scientist or engineer) visit Zelenka during the 5th season and introduce them to the audience that way, maybe something comes up that requires Atlantis to go into lock-down and stop travel back to earth, and this character needs to help the Atlantis cast fix the problem, giving them an excuse to stick around long enough to begin to familiarize themselves with the audience. Either way you'll end up with a character in Universe that the fanbase at least has met right out the gate. This would be helpful because it gives the fans some reason to stick around at least long enough for them to get to know (and hopefully begin to care about) the other characters (that reason being " I want to know what happens to [character I already know] ").

Alright now I'm moving onto how Atlantis was canceled and why it should've been extended (Given the fact that MGM ran two shows at once during the SG-1 - Atlantis transition, it should be possible). First The fact that Atlantis was canceled and wasn't allowed a proper finale, rightly made many fans of Atlantis feel upset. Add that to the fact that Universe came basically right after and many fans had a sour taste in their mouths about Universe. Extending Atlantis to overlap with the first few seasons of Universe, would've given it the chance to come to a more satisfying conclusion and avoided the negative feelings around the Cancelation of Atlantis that may have prevented some fans from giving Universe a fair shake. Additionally as Universe was an experimental work, at least as far as the Stargate franchise is concerned, it had similar early stumbling blocks as SG-1 had as it figured out it's formula. Unsurprisingly resting the fate of a franchise on an experimental work that hasn't yet figured itself out is a ludicrously bad idea. If Stargate Atlantis continued into the early parts of Universe then Atlantis could've served as the frontrunner of the franchise whilst Universe figured itself out and familiarized itself with the fanbase. If Universe still flopped then the franchise could fall back on Atlantis until they came up with a new show to continue the franchise with, and if Universe succeeded then Atlantis would conclude and Universe would continue as the Frontrunner.

Also as far as Critiques of Universe, due to how different the vibes and all is they could've lessened up on some of the stuff, like the Nudity, in earlier seasons so that it isn't so stark of a difference. Then they could've slowly introduced it in so it's a more gradual (and therefore easier to get used to) change. Otherwise I don't quite know because I actually like Universe as it is.

[auxiliarydetective]

If you could form a crew out of any one piece character from any media consisting on ten people, who would you chose and why?

Now that I have more or less calmed down from the boop war, here we go!

You want me to make a One Piece crew out of 10 people from different media, right? I'm gonna give myself the little rule that I'm only allowed to take one character per fandom, otherwise my crew might end up being, like, half LXG or something. Also, another thing I'll be taking into account is how well the characters I'd pick would do in the world of One Piece because some people would just not have a good time there. And we're assuming that everyone gets more or less isekai-ed into the OP world, so they're not taking any technology stuff or fandom-specific powers with them (sadly). SO! Here we go!

Every crew needs...

A captain

A navigator

A doctor

A chef

A carpenter/shipwright

... and would benefit from having...

A swordsman

A gunslinger/sniper

A helmsman

fun people

10 people you say? Alright, here are my picks!

The Captain

You might not know who this is, but I pick Lukas from the Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer series.

(no gifs, how sad...)

Why? Because a good captain needs to have leadership qualities. People need to trust them and they need to be able to hold the crew together. And Lukas can definitely do that. Also, he can kick ass if he wants to. Generally, I think he'd thrive in the world of One Piece. And he knows a thing or two about fixing steam engine locomotives, so... Submarine pirate ship??? Steampunk-esque? Even if not, I'm convinced he could figure out how to work on a regular pirate ship as well. He's an engineer, he'll figure it out. Also also we need someone to babysit the rest of the crew and he is Dad™

The Navigator

So, this was actually tough, but then it hit me: DATA! MY BELOVED!

Someone let Data go to the world of One Piece, he would love it! And he would make for an excellent navigator, so his spot here is very deserved. Lukas can teach him about humanity and the beauty of life - they'd be such a perfect duo. Also, can definitely kick ass. And probably fix a ship. Also would hate the World Government despite the fact that he "has no emotions".

The Doctor

Some of you might call me stupid for this, but I picked none other than Doctor Henry Jekyll. His LXG version specifically.

LXG Henry is actually a medical doctor, as suggested by most scenes he's in, and he's got Hyde for when he needs to kick ass. I feel like he'd do well in the world of One Piece once he gets used to it. And the fact that he's a Victorian era doctor is actually helpful because the One Piece world doesn't have modern-day medical equipment widely available but that won't bother Henry because he never had it to begin with. Also he could probably mix together some substances to give his crew a strength boost once he gets over his guilt and fear of creating another HJ7. Also also I think talking to Lukas and/or Data would fix him.

The Chef

My pick would have to be Louis LeBeau from Hogan's Heroes.

I was originally considering Julieta Madrigal from Encanto, but LeBeau especially probably knows how to work with limited or sub-par rations and that's very helpful as a pirate. Also, he's small, so there's less space for the anger to go - which is bad news for the World Government, the Marines, and any hostile pirate crews.

The Carpenter/Shipwright

Okay, hear me out: Justus Jonas.

I think he could do it. My man knows how to tinker, he can probably work out how to fix a ship and have fun with it. It would be a challenge for his mind to learn it, which he would appreciate, and just generally the social climate of this little pirate crew I'm building would be good for him. Multiple parental figures, fellow autistic people... Fantastic! He'd get along with Data, right? Right??? Probably. And I'm convinced he could kick ass if he wanted to.

The Swordsman

At first I was a bit stuck with who to put here. I considered my beloved Diego Hargreeves (for the "get loved on, idiot" of it all) but then it hit me. We need the swordsman of all time... We need Link!

If Link is mute, that's not even a problem. Data will teach him sign language in no time. Easy! Just... don't let him into the kitchen.

The Gunslinger / Sniper

Okay, hear me out on this... My pick is the one and only Templeton "Faceman" Peck. Could technically be either the 80s or 2010 version since both have the potential to be silly, but the 80s version just fits in better here.

I mean, look at him! Tell me he wouldn't get along with the likes of Sanji. Also, he needs to see Momoiro Island, for reasons. I feel like a lot of people don't know that Face is the main sniper of the A-Team but he is! And his con-man abilities are a HUGE added bonus.

The Helmsman

This position was the first I filled and it has to go to the one and only Gordon Malloy.

Gordon can fly anything, so I'm convinced he could 100% learn how to steer a ship too. After all, we're in the world of One Piece. Not all ships are steered with steering wheels. And especially if it's actually a submarine this crew is on, it might have controls more similar to ones he's familiar with. Fighting-wise, I actually don't know if he'd be any good. He's a wild card. But I am convinced that he'd have a devil fruit, because my man has a history of eating things he's not supposed to because they look fun/tasty. He probably would kick ass with that devil fruit since he has the imagination needed to make it work.

Now, since I still have two spots left on my crew, time for...

Fun people!

Fun person #1 has to be George Luz.

He's here for the chaos, and I'm here for that. Him in combination with any of the people on this list is what I want to see. Silliest of all silly geese.

And for te tenth person... I honestly don't know! You know, just for the hell of it, get one of the Hargreeves siblings in here. Actually, this spot belongs to Diego, simply because he got beaten out of the swordsman spot by Link.

One sentence: Get loved on, idiot! That's why he's there.

There we go! That's it! This was really fun :)

(I don't have the energy to proofread this, I hope you don't mind)

[you-must-choose]

Ritchie and Laura

So I vaguely implied it in the very first post, but I'm heavily leaning into the whole "Ritchie is a Discount Ash" Thing in the Papa Meowth AU by making him a Zorua whose parents are a Zoroark and Sandslash from the future, as a parallel to Ash and Delia's whole Mystery Dungeon thing. Why they time traveled is spoilers for Sinnoh. He also has a human sister named Laura who has a mysterious connection to Celebi (mysterious because I haven't figured out what it is or what it means and this buys me some time), as Maria's counterpart.

They've got their own, mostly off-screen journey that strongly parallels Ash and Maria's, including stumbling into their own World Saving Adventures at roughly the same time, though the two journeys overlap occasionally, usually at either the few Canon times Ash and Ritchie have run into each other or during Adventures that are too big to have a reasonable counterpart. This means the two of them and their problems are going to end up plot relevant, especially in Sinnoh.

Anyway, here's their teams up through Orange Islands (they don't show up in the Orange Islands for the record, that's just where Ash and Maria's team list stopped so far). And yes, they both nickname their Pokemon.

Ritchie

Sparky (Pikachu)

Happy (Butterfree) (he probably caught it as a Caterpie but I'm basing the initial stage shown in the list on whatever they first get introduced as)

Naginata (Spearow)

Rooter (Venusaur)

Zippo (Charmander>Charmeleon) (evolves during his battle with Ash's Charizard, which is an actual battle this time)

Torpedo (Tentacool>Tentacruel) (evolves off-screen, not sure when that'll be revealed)

Alec (Morgrem>Grimmsnarl) (A perfect gentleman, in contrast to most of his species. Makes liberal use of Charm and Flatter.)

Sir Daniel (Cubone>Marowak) (the one I mentioned as evolving in the same match as Ash's Cubone. When he's a Cubone his skull helmet is a bit oversized and misshapen for some reason, so it covers one of his eyes and muffles his voice to the point he's almost completely unintelligible, though it doesn't seem to hinder his battling too much and it's fixed when he evolves. based on Sir Daniel Fortesque from Medievil, Because I Can)

Cowl (Arbok)

Grit, Gravel, Grunt, Grace, and Gray (five Dugtrio who Ritchie stumbled into catching in Digglet cave as Digglets. Counterparts to the Tauros Herd)

Quackers (Farfetch'd)

Flare (Beedrill)

Yogi (Ursaring) (Yes, he lives up to the name. How else would he be able to be Sorlax's counterpart?)

Laura

Cadmus (Meowth) (No, he can't talk)

Odie (Growlithe>Arcanine) (Actually evolves in the same scene he's introduced, since Laura bought a Fire Stone from the same vendor as Maria for the same reason that Maria bought Clefable's Moon Stone, at roughly the same time, and that's how they end up meeting each other.)

Rock (Squirtle) (basically Mega Man as a turtle since I made the Squirtle Squad Leader basically Sonic. Has Mega Launcher, Protean and Trace, and somehow knows Sketch, Mimic and Copycat) (yes I rotated which starter ends on what stage. because why not)

Zingo (Electrode)

Hobbs (Hitmonchan)

Grill, Grape, Grand, Gravy and Gru (The other five Dugtrio)

Mochi (Dratini)

Majesty (Nodorina>Nidoqueen) (also evolved at the Stone Vendor at the Indigo Conference because Counterparts)

Arc (Electabuzz)

Lilac (Alolan Vulpix with cybernetic augmentations. I'll explain when I'm done with the lists)

Whirl (Lapras)

...alright, so what's going on with Lilac?

Well, I needed to give them an equivalent to Mewtwo Strikes Back since Maria got a Pokemon out of it, but by that point in the timeline there's only one Mewtwo, and something Celebi-related made the most sense since Laura's connected to it somehow and Ritchie has his whole "my parents are from the future and my egg was laid there" thing, but there's no Pokemon that has a similar relationship to Celebi as the one Mewtwo has to Mew...

...so I made one up.

Celeborg is what happens when you try to take shortcuts when making a Time Machine. Some idiot Mad Scientist in the distant future decided that instead of actually working out how to travel through time, or bothering to program a proper AI, they'd instead install a Celebi DNA sample into a robot and call it a day. The resulting Reverse Cyborg went through a massive existential meltdown blowing up the lab and stumbling backwards in time in the process, and in its unstable mindset decided to make more cyborgs so it wouldn't be alone as the only Thing like itself (and also the scientist may have been working for an Evil Team so the programming that the Celebi DNA wasn't able to sub in for possibly included world domination-type stuff). Somehow Ritchie and Laura got involved and managed to calm it down and it decided to find a place in the present to live peacefully with any of the Cyborg Pokemon who were interested in staying with it.

Celeborg is Grass/Steel Type (because I continue to insist that Celebi's time powers come from its Grass typing and not its Psychic typing. though Celeborg does still learn plenty of Psychic moves) with Levitate as its usual ability and Download as a Hidden Ability. The version in the AU has both thanks to how Abilities work there. Might draw it at some point.

[nikatyler]

Zeph 1.0

oh?

(x)

I love this little shit

(x)

I accidentally threw a bomb at Gale...the one time I take him out with the party and I murder him right away

I'm sorry Gale I love you actually I really do 💀💀

"I threw" no actually it was my boyfriend, I'm innocent 😇 not like I'm controlling him or anything 😇

(x)

magic delulu besties, yay!

(x)

SHUT UP IS HE PROPOSING WHAT I THINK HE'S PROPOSING

I mean...

dsflakjasdklhgfjghadkfl

the giggle i just let out was not human

Oh lord

OH

So that's the bear scene I'm hearing so much about

Well that was. Something

(x)

welp what a night for Zeph because guess what they're bloodless too, good for them

(x)

sounds about right

(x)

Oh. Didn't have this combat the first time around here. Yay. I'm stressed :D

Yay family, what a lovely bunch they are :D

For real though I thought they would kidnap him, I was so worried I'd screw this combat 😂 I just wanna mess around the city before I get to the bigger quests (and also, yes, the battle with a certain evil vampire scares me, I didn't do well there before my big reload 💀)

(x)

oh god here we go again, should i do it for the achievement

this might be the worst thing i have ever done but let's go i guess. zeph i don't know how you're going to face your boyfriend tomorrow but that's a problem for future you 💀

pause i'm gonna go get dinner 💀💀

JFJFKFKFKDKSKKFNFJF WHATHEFUCK

not gonna lie i expected more people have done it 💀

teehee anywayyyy moving on from that back to this

(x)

i made four new besties

(x)

such a dramatic moment and all I can think about is that old "what are those?!" vine

(x)

who gave this game the right to hurt me so much 🥹

(x)

alright i took a break but now i think it's time to try and face cazabitch again. that combat was not going well for me at all before my big big reload but i think i learned a thing or two 💀

(x)

a good luck kiss before we go get absolutely fucked up :D yay :D

(x)

I'm stalling so bad lmao I don't wanna do this. If it wasn't for me getting stupid attached I would've been done by now for sure. 💀

What if I went to play Minecraft now. hole works need to continue you know

(x)

Fucking hell this quest is actually giving me so much anxiety I don't want him to get hurt but I'm hurting just knowing we're near

(x)

place your bets how many times i'm gonna have to reload

well first off i'm taking a break to do some duolingo because i'm not losing my 299 day streak

yes stalling again

wowie 300

besties i'm eepy i might go to bed

I already knew what was coming (the lines said) but phew. This is heavy. Think I'll actually leave the fight for tomorrow though

I did not leave the fight for tomorrow and I failed. Although I think I did better than before, I'm gonna crack this eventually (if not, I'll cry and you'll hear about it)

I may be stupid

Why did I not think of that dammit. If I wasn't so tired I'd go back to my computer now 😭

(x)

LETS FUCKING GO EAT SHIT YOU EVIL ASS VAMPIRE BITCH THAT'S RIGHT YOU'RE GONNA LEAVE MY BOY ALONE FUCK YOU

(x)

rip me i died dead

(x)

That was intense oh my god

(x)

same Karlach, same. smoochies

(x)

and what if my stuck-at-the-age-of-13 brain picked option 3 (I won't, but what if)

(x)

how i feel after this playing session

Jokes and silly aside, this was actually so good. Oh my god I would never shut up about this if I had the words. This did something to me for real

(x)

Shorter playing session today but I hit 200 hours 🫣 I don't have a problem, no no, not at all 🫣

And still not done with my first run 😂

(x)

Yesterday I was like "okay, I'll leave this combat for tomorrow, it'll probably take me ages to get through" and then I was done in 5 minutes? Maybe I'm getting good at this game idk

(x)

Karlach 😭😭😭😭😭

I promise in my next run I'll fix you 😭😭😭

(x)

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP YOU'RE NOT DYING I WON'T LET YOU I JUST WON'T

(x)

I promise in my next run I'll fix you 😭😭😭Duuude this combat is getting way too easy for me 😗 I should choose a higher difficulty in my second run. I didn't expect I'd get a hang of it

(x)

babyyyy ♥

yeah yeah she's a badass warrior and all but she's also baby

(x)

gjkldfjlkdf what

👁️👄👁️

👁️🫦👁️

(x)

bedfellows? we can be too? interesting choice of words 🤨

(x)

I can't be watching this before lunch or ever actually 👁️👄👁️

This game is wild

(x)

I love it when I cast a spell and so many things go unexpectedly boom and my laptop lags more than usual

Like the lag is bad. But it's a sign that the boom was excellent

(x)

i don't want to finish this game i want it to go on forever 😭

i'm acting like i'm not gonna immediately start a new run when i'm done but still

(x)

I was doing the house of hope yesterday btw 🤭

(x)

Okay I feel a little less sad now because I'm thinking of things I'll do differently in the next run and I'm excited but what kind of character do I play with 🤔

I'm really leaning towards bg3-ifying Ross but I still dunno what class I want him to be. Race even. I'm not sure if I want him to be a human here 🤔 half elf I could see but my current tav is a half elf…hmm. Full elf mayhaps? Dunno. I think that could work for him maybe

I might pull out that long ass dnd test and answer it in character for him to help me figure it out lol, work's slow today anyway

Welp I have figured out already that Zeph is a lot like Ross but so much nicer and without the whole "I was a dirty cheater in my late teens and dated half my high school" thing 💀

(x)

[hairstevington]

i wanna cut to the feeling (chapter 5)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Robin drags her best friend to a Corroded Coffin show. How were they to know sparks would fly between Steve and a member of the band? (aka, the fic where Steve fixes Eddie's hair before a show and falls in love immediately)

Word Count: 3K for this chapter!

Warnings: Language, Robin is happy and a good friend, drinking/smoking, Hairstylist!Steve freaking out over feelings, Rockstar!Eddie is smug af, alternating POV, GAY SCHEMING, they're both idiots

A/N: This is the last chapter I’m posting to Tumblr, so please head over on Ao3 to read the rest! Thank you to all who followed along so far!

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 and link to Ao3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh my god, she’s perfect!” Robin announced as she burst back into their too-small apartment. Steve jolted on the couch, not expecting her grand entrance. He waited for her to continue, as she always did. “You would have been so proud of me. I strung so many actually cute sentences together all by myself! And she’s really cool, and she thinks I’m funny, and also she’s so hot it’s absolutely bonkers that she’s into me.” 

“Robin, we’ve been over this. You’re one of the most beautiful women I know, alright? Of course she’s into you.” 

“Well, my personality usually is too much for people, as you know, but she didn’t seem to mind at all.” 

Steve listened as she continued, recounting their coffee date as she told most stories - enthusiastically and out of order. When she was finished, she collapsed onto the couch next to him.

“So, are you thinking there’s gonna be a second date?” he asked, curious. 

“We already have one set up,” she smiled. “The festival that’s in town.” Steve nodded in approval, knowing exactly what she was talking about - every year in November, there was a pre-winter celebration with cider and doughnuts and Christmas lights that went up way too early. It was a great place for a date. “Oh, and you’re coming.”

“Wait, what?” Steve was not at all interested in crashing Robin’s date. “Why? You said yourself that you managed to talk to her just fine without me today.” 

“You have to come because if you don’t, Eddie will be third wheeling.” She said it with a grin, knowing this was the piece of information that would sway him. 

“Eddie’s gonna be there?”

“Yes, Eddie’s gonna be there, dingus. Bri thinks it’s really cool that we’re friends, so I reached out to him and asked if he wanted to come with us.”

“But you’re not friends,” Steve pointed out.

“We’re close enough,” Robin shrugged. “Besides, he agreed to come, so the feeling must be mutual, right?” 

“I guess,” Steve answered, although he really wasn’t sure why Eddie would agree to go to the festival, unless Robin left a bigger impression on him than Steve had realized. “Aren’t you worried Bri is using you to get to the band?”

“Oh my god, it’s so not like that. You’re thinking about this too hard. The fact of the matter is, I’m terrible at dating and I really want to impress this girl and I need my Emotional Support Steve or I just know the whole thing will implode, I know it. And besides, it gives you the chance to be around Eddie again, so I don’t see the problem here.”

Well, when you put it like that, Steve thought to himself. The idea of seeing Eddie again was obviously enticing, and it would give him another chance to impress him. Maybe he’d actually allow himself to flirt, this time. 

But that’s when it hit him - Eddie thought that Steve and Robin were dating. 

He sighed. He’d probably just have to come clean. It was a stupid lie in the first place, and one that never was sustainable. Although, in Steve’s defense, he didn’t think he’d ever be seeing Eddie again. But he would, and soon. 

This was going to be a disaster. 

-

Eddie had never been to the Winter Festival, even though he heard about it every year. It wasn’t really his scene, to be honest. 

But pranking Steve Harrington? That was exactly the kind of thing Eddie was into, and if he had to do it at the Winter Festival, so be it. 

Eddie showed up at the big oak tree Robin told him she’d be at, and sure enough - there they were. Steve looked out of place next to the two girls, his hands tucked deep in the pockets of his jacket, his nose bright red from the frigid air. All three of them were quiet when Eddie approached, and he figured if anybody could liven up this party, he could.

“You made it!” Robin said, excitedly. 

She had asked him to show up and lean into them being old friends, so she could impress Bri. Eddie knew the game, and he had no trouble playing along for Robin, especially since he really had known her for ten years or so. Plus, he liked Robin, and he liked Bri. 

“‘Course I made it, doll,” Eddie responded with a grin. He pulled Robin into a hug, holding it a few moments too long to really sell the bit. He turned to Bri. “Nice to see you again.”

“You too,” she replied sweetly. Eddie looked to Steve last, who stood next to Robin completely frozen. 

“Hey,” Steve said with a wave. 

“Hey, Harrington.” Eddie could see Steve already knew he had fucked up with the whole him and Robin thing. He looked so incredibly uncomfortable, Eddie almost thought he wouldn’t have to do anything at all to get the satisfaction from the night he desired. 

Almost.

Phase one, play dumb. The four of them walked to the entrance of the festival, flashing their IDs and showing their tickets. Robin had been nice enough to cover Eddie, even though he told her it was unnecessary. While they walked as a group, they paired off as Robin/Steve and Bri/Eddie, which Eddie thought was weird on Robin’s end, considering she was supposed to be on a date with this girl. 

“So, Robin told me that you and her go way back?” Bri asked. 

“Hm? Oh, yeah,” Eddie answered. “She’s great. Always super smart, and quirky but in an endearing way.” This was not a lie by any means - that was and continued to be exactly what Eddie thought of Robin.

“Yeah, I like her,” Bri said. Eddie breathed a sigh of relief, as if he’d passed some test. It was also nice to know she seemed genuinely interested in Robin, and that she wasn’t just using her to get closer to Eddie as he’d worried would be the case. 

“Hey Bri,” Robin said, spinning around on her heels to face them. “Let me show you my favorite display.” Bri nodded with a smile, leaving Eddie’s side to join her date. 

“I’ll get everyone a drink,” Steve offered. The girls cheered, then ran off together. 

“I guess I’ll come with you,” Eddie shrugged, his eyes fixed on Steve’s. 

“Right. Yeah, okay.” 

They walked together to the booth with the crazy long line that was selling alcoholic beverages for way too much money. But Eddie had to give it to the town - the setup was nice. Cozy, despite the temperature. 

“So, what country is this collar from?” Eddie teased, pulling at the lapels of Steve’s coat. He noticed Steve twitch slightly from the contact, and smirked.

“This one’s just from China, I think,” Steve responded.  

“So worldly, Harrington,” Eddie said through a smile. Steve was already squirming, which was exactly Eddie’s intention. He was being nice, yet so deliciously wicked at the same time. There was an awkward pause as Steve decided what to say next, followed by a deep sigh. 

“So, listen, man. There’s something I should probably tell you.” He was visibly nervous, and barely making eye contact.

“Uh-oh,” Eddie mocked. No way, is Harrington about to come clean already? That wouldn’t do, considering their night had just begun and all. 

“It’s not really a huge deal, and maybe it’s not even a deal at all, I just, um.” Eddie stared at him doe-eyed, wondering how long it would take for him to fully form his confession. “Well, remember when we were at the bar?” Eddie nodded.

“Sure. Did you end up listening to that playlist, by the way?” Steve blinked a few times as he adjusted to the switch in topics. 

“Uh, yeah. I mean, not all of it,” Steve admitted. It was like twenty hours long, so Eddie never expected Steve to get through every song, but he was surprised to hear he had actually listened at all. He wondered if maybe Steve was lying. “But anyway what I was trying to say is -”

“Any favorites so far?” Steve seemed kind of irritated that he was being interrupted, which was exactly what Eddie was going for. 

“Uhhh…” He thought about it for a moment, then, to Eddie’s surprise, named quite a few songs off the playlist. But he wasn’t going to let Steve go just yet. After one song in particular, Eddie tutted in fake disappointment. 

“You would.” That comment finally threw Steve off his original point entirely.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’ve somehow picked the ones I always skip,” Eddie explained.

“If you always skip them, why are they on your Good Shit playlist?” Steve argued. Eddie raised his eyebrows, impressed. 

“Touche, Harrington.” 

After that, they got lost in conversation about music once again.

-

Why did Eddie have to be so damn hot? It wasn’t fair. Steve was desperately trying to do the right thing, and instead Eddie got him talking about anything except his relationship status with Robin.

But the thing was, he wasn’t questioning why Robin was off with another woman. He didn’t seem to care at all. Maybe he was completely oblivious to the whole thing, and maybe Steve was making a big deal over nothing. 

Which meant that maybe, he could pull this off with little to no humiliation.

The four of them spent the evening mainly together, and Steve managed to distract Eddie away from Bri and Robin anytime they did anything coupley - which, as the night went on, happened more and more frequently. 

They were actually incredibly cute together. 

Eventually, they’d seen all the lights, they’d spent too much on food and drink, and they were ready to leave. Crisis entirely averted.

“You know what? You’re actually not too bad, Harrington,” Eddie said as they were having their goodbyes.

“Uh, thank you.” He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that. “Are you insinuating that up until now you thought I was bad?” Eddie smirked. “Wow, okay.”

“Relax, I just wasn’t sure you were good enough for our dear friend Robin, over there. Now, I know for sure.” 

Steve’s heart sank. He really was hoping Eddie had forgotten about that whole thing, especially after the way they’d been interacting the last few hours. With them paired off, the night kind of felt like a double date, and Steve would be lying if he were to say he didn’t enjoy every moment of it.

Except for the moments he felt like he was being strangled by a web of lies he’s stupidly put up himself. Like this moment, for example.

“Oh, right.” Steve sighed, feeling frustrated as ever. “Eddie, listen -”

“Night, Steve.” Eddie’s crooked smile gave him butterflies. Goddammit. 

“Good night.” Steve resigned to the fact that every time he said goodbye to Eddie, there was a possibility it would be the last time they interacted. Even though he’d made it through this mess without embarrassing himself too much, he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened had he treated this night or the last one they’d had together a little differently. 

Whatever. It was over, for now anyway. Although, Eddie and Robin seemed to get along extremely well, so maybe not all was lost.

That night, Steve and Robin sat on the couch, her legs draped over his lap. The two of them were always kind of touchy like that. He listened intently as she gushed about the moments of the date that Steve hadn’t been present for. He was happy for her, truly, but she clocked something on his face he didn’t realize he was showing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, knowingly. When Steve didn’t answer, she went a different direction. “You and Eddie looked good together.” 

“Shut up,” Steve said, shaking his head. “I’m pretty sure he just tolerates me.” 

“Yeah, that’s not the vibe I’m getting,” Robin countered. “There’s nothing passive about the way he looks at you, trust me.”

“Fine, he doesn’t tolerate me, he hates me.” Steve crossed his arms, and Robin swung her legs off him, annoyed. 

“You know what they say about hatred, right?” Steve shook his head. “You’re in his head, dingus. There’s a lot of overlap between love and hate.” 

“Robin…” Steve whined with a roll of his eyes. “Did you not see him flirting with all those women at the show? I didn’t see him express interest in any men. We don’t even know if he swings that way.”

“First of all, I saw him express interest in one man,” she insisted. “Second of all, are you kidding me right now? Steve.” She shifted to sit on her knees, facing him. “Eddie is like, really fruity. I swear to god, your lack of gaydar is unmatched.”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Steve shook his head in disbelief. “I mean, yeah, I’ve had a history of not knowing women were gay, but I’m usually pretty good when it comes to men.”

“Yeah, usually,” Robin rolled her eyes. 

“Let’s see if we can figure out who’s right.” Steve took out his phone and pulled up Eddie’s Instagram, wondering if he could maybe find any proof either way on there. Robin peered over to look at his phone screen.

“Seriously? You don’t follow him, yet? What’s wrong with you?” Steve sighed, then clicked the follow button. He wouldn’t be able to see Eddie’s posts until he followed back. “You’re lucky I did this ages ago.” 

Robin pulled out her own phone, then the two of them took a quick glance at Eddie’s most recent posts. After a few minutes, their search was inconclusive. Eddie didn’t post enough to really give them any information. 

“I didn’t expect him to be so restrained on social media,” Steve said. He and Robin tended to post quite a bit.

And that’s when the realization hit him - He followed Eddie, and now Eddie could see Steve’s profile. And Steve’s profile would blow his cover entirely.

“Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?” Robin asked, always in tune with how Steve was feeling.

“Because Eddie’s about to find out I lied to him.”

“About what?”

“He thinks you and I are dating,” Steve admitted. He braced himself for Robin to smack him, or yell at him, or laugh, but she didn’t. Instead, she just gave him a weird look.

“Uh, no he doesn’t,” she said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, he does. That’s why I kept pulling him away tonight, so he wouldn’t find out.” 

“Steve, Eddie knows I’m gay. And he for sure knows I was on a date tonight. What are you talking about?” 

“What are you talking about?” None of this made any sense to Steve. Eddie had referenced their fake relationship on his way out of the date, so he couldn’t possibly know, unless -

Oh, shit. Eddie was in on this the whole time. What an absolute asshole. 

Steve was in a pretty bad mood after that, so he ended up going to bed. He’d found it was best to be alone at times like these. The plan was to get some rest, but he couldn’t fall asleep, so he just laid there and watched Tiktoks until his brain turned numb.

But then, naturally, he got the dreaded notification that reminded him of why he was there in the first place. 

Eddie accepted your follow request

Steve scoffed before deleting the notification, but curiosity got the better of him a few minutes later. 

He opened up Eddie’s page, staring at the images he’d looked at earlier, except this time he was filled with a lot more disdain for the person in them. He scrolled until the beginning, where he found pictures of when Eddie must have been a teenager. It was crazy to Steve that he’d gone through all of high school without noticing this guy - as Eddie had said himself, he wasn’t a subtle presence. Steve tried to scroll back up to the top of the profile, and that’s when his bad night somehow became worse. 

Oh no. Oh no no no oh shit oh god oh no.

Steve accidentally liked one of the posts. Like, he liked a post from a long time ago. Like, there was no way Eddie wouldn’t know that Steve had been stalking him at 2am. 

Well, if Steve was too embarrassed to show his face to Eddie again before, he certainly could never face him now.

Robin was asleep, so he couldn’t bother her. But he did know of someone who was in a timezone where it was only 11pm, and that someone tended to stay up late anyway. He dialed the number without thinking twice about it.

“Steve! Long time no talk! Wait, why the hell are you calling me? Is everything okay?” Steve froze, feeling stupid. Nobody called anymore unless it was for emergencies, although this felt somewhat like an emergency. 

“Dustin, hey. Sorry to bother you out of the blue, but I’m really freaking out over here.” 

-

Ahahahahhahahahha. Oh, this is perfect.

Eddie stared at the notification like it was a prize. He knew it was everybody’s worst nightmare - We all stalk people from high school, and we all fear accidentally alerting those people that we’re stalking them. And at 2am?? Eddie almost felt bad for the poor guy. He was probably losing his shit right now, wondering whether he should unlike the post, or embrace the mistake. 

Wait. 

It’s two in the fucking morning. 

Eddie thought back to all previous interactions he’d had so far with Steve. How awkward he’d occasionally get, how flustered he was every time Eddie touched him. Eddie had assumed Steve was being standoffish because Robin had dragged him out with her. Steve seemed so uncomfortable being at the bar, like he didn’t really want to be there in the first place. Eddie was giving him a hard time because he didn’t think it mattered. He didn’t realize that…that…

Jesus Christ. Steve has a crush on me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @ofherscarlettwitchways @paintballkid711 @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @justaloadofgarbage-blog @alliemunsonsstuff @thefruityfours @hobbitnarwhal @calivanus @wreckmyplans-thatsmyman @antheia @goodolefashionedlovergal @lillemilly @undreamingscatworld @missmagillicuddy @steviesbicrisis @gamerdano @menamesniall @eyeslikewildflowers111 @callmesirkay @stringischeese @eds-trashmouth @mnl-enuh @redfreckledwolf @itsanarrum @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins @gregre369 @stevesbipanic @momotonescreaming

[itsbenedict]

get star seeker sequel adventure thing up and running and through the first case

get datasouls combat toy complete up to the first miniboss combat

catch up on TFJ recap logs

become an accredited AWS Certified Solutions Architect and get that raise my boss has been talking about for ages

get an adjustable standing desk and under-desk elliptical thingy, and otherwise get an ergonomic workstation set up

fix the light situation in the bathroom

get through The Sekimeiya and really go to town on that mystery until it’s solved

also finally play Disco Elysium

finish TFTBN character portraits

get a beatrice portrait for my poster wall

run some TPIVW games

badger the condo association landlady until she does something about the junk clogging up that basement storage room i’m supposed to own, and clean unused bulky stuff out of my house

clearly this waitlist thing isn’t working out so take some steps to see an actual doctor for the first time in like three years (and maybe get a cancer screening, or do something about that closed sinus)

get through the remaining 7 WaniKani levels

Alright, so September- mixed bag! I definitely, 100% accomplished the main difficult goal for the Datasouls combat toy, but...

Wow! I sure did... zero updates! This is mainly because the next update's another big one, since there ended up being less meat on the bones of "now that you have magic-sight, reevaluate the crime scene with the new evidence" than I thought there'd be- but I still got less done on that big update than I thought I would. It's a pretty significant failure.

I've started bolding the stuff that isn't complete yet, since the wall of strikethroughs are starting to look a lot like "oh, I did so much stuff! I'm basically done!" and I don't want to lose track of what still needs doing. Apart from the raise thing (which is kind of out of my control, what with my supervisor's limited ability to negotiate budget and the crazy reorg that's going on), there's four things left. Two are just, playing some games, and shouldn't be hard (I'll probably save The Sekimeiya for December, when I've got holiday stuff to contend with)- but the other two I've got to get serious about.

For October, I'm going to try catching up on TFJ recaps. I stopped because there was this commission series I wanted to use as art for the next update, and that's now finally coming in after a long dark time in the artist's life. There's a lot to get through, and last time I decided "this'll be my thing for the month!" I only got through 13, and there've been more sessions since then, so... could be a big lift. I'm also going to try to get least get that first big update for the new J/A phase out, if I can swing that too. (It's also going to be rough at work, since I need to catch up on the last two weeks of vacation.)

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

Can I get the P4 boys with a hypermobile fem s/o with knee problems? If you want, maybe they find out when they see her in some unusual position (e.g. she does that thing where the hands are turned inward and the elbows poke outward while sitting in the W position).

Edgar and Herman are a little freaked out, Greggy and Law are just curious, but they're all valid XD

Is… she alright?? That’s not a natural position! That’s… it’s so odd. It looks to him like the kind of thing that would be incredibly painful. His first instinct is to ask if she needs him to do something for her; with the assumption that she must be stuck in that position and she’s hurting. After he finds out that isn’t the case, he’s very relieved, but also… well, disturbed isn’t really the right word. For someone who’s a talented poet, he can’t find the right word to describe how he feels about it. He just worries about her, that’s all. It’s a part of how she lives her life, so he does his best to adjust. Even so, he’s still there to do things that might help if she’d like him to. He’s forever bringing her tea, and whenever he’s sitting or lying down with her, he has a hand on whichever knee of hers is closest to him, like he thinks he can make it better just by being near. She won’t ever doubt that he loves her deeply, at least.

… Hm, curious. Doesn’t it hurt a bit, to sit in a way like that? Although he’s no stranger to perching in unusual positions, this is different. Does she feel any pain, or…? He does his very best not to overreact, and instead just sits down next to her, watching and taking notes in his head. She doesn’t seem to be hurting. Not right at that moment, anyway. It’s strange, and he’s always been drawn to strange things. He’s of the opinion that anything out of the norm like this is lovely in its own way — that artistic eye of his sees the beauty in everything. He quietly asks if she knows she’s sitting in an odd way, asks if she’s in pain, and probably has a few other questions about her condition. It’s a genuine fascination for him… though he hopes it doesn’t come off as insulting or overly interested. As always, he sketches her even in that position. She doesn’t stop being his favorite subject for a second. That said, he starts to offer her his… concoctions… more often, wondering if one might help the pain in her knees. If not, that’s fine. He’s by her side to do whatever may bring her relief.

What the devil — why is she sitting like that?! That’s going to hurt her later if she doesn’t fix it! Ever the athlete, trying to look out for his beloved’s best interests, his initial response is to go over and attempt to correct her posture. Of course, once he gets a closer look at the actual position she’s sitting in and the seemingly impossible way her arms and hands are turned, he actually gasps. He’s only ever seen those kinds of things when someone is very hurt, as in if a bone is broken. So he’s thrown into a panic, trying to take her hands incredibly gently and ask if she’s hurt, what happened, etc., not realizing that, well, nothing’s happened. The idea that she has some kind of medical condition that lets her do this without being injured doesn’t cross his mind until she tells him about it. Even then, he’s concerned. That just isn’t… he hates to say ‘not normal’, but, is she alright? Surely she has to be in pain from something like that? He never stops worrying where she’s concerned. He does at least stop acting so shocked, and from experience with his own aches and pains, he might have a couple of home remedies to help when her knees hurt. Regardless of anything, he’s always looking out for her, wanting to learn as much as he can about all this so he can take care of her. Ever the gentleman!

That’s… certainly interesting. It looks rather painful, the type of scene he’s usually only seen in real life with certain kinds of sports injuries or things like that. Just looking at it without knowing what’s going on makes him wince in sympathy, because to him, it looks like it must hurt in the most excruciating way. But, he’s a reader, and some of the books he’s read (whether for study or recreation) have actually been medical texts. So he’s not quite so unfamiliar with the idea of bizarre conditions which can allow a person to do something like that which wouldn’t be possible for the majority of people. He might go so far as to bluntly ask if she’s got this condition or that condition, doing it with a serious face as if he’s pretending he’s a doctor doing research. He clearly doesn’t know everything, however, so he just listens and is prepared to offer things that might ease any pain that she does feel. And he starts to read up more on whatever her specific condition is, in the hope of finding more things which may help. Despite being more quiet and subdued about it, he’s always right there, ready to give her a hand (… or a knee, as it were) whenever she needs him.

[reviewsclown]

Resident Evil Revelations 2012

So, first off and very obviously, this is the Silent Hill 3 movie? The opening is of Cheryl Mason like partway through the game in the amusement park area, but it's a dream fake out, and then the dream fake out is another dream fake out. Apparently this is actually a sequel to Silent Hills 2006? And also an adaption of Silent Hill 3. I had no idea going into this movie, Sharon is Cheryl from the first game, Alessa gillespie doesn't really change I guess, Christopher Da Silva is Harry Mason now? there's a line about him changing his name, and Sharon changed her name to Cheryl/Heather whatever. Kinda spoils things, knowing this, since there's a friendly character named Vincent and there's only really one Vincent in Silent Hill, and he mentions his grandfather Leonard too. They killed Douglas pretty early on to have Vincent be the companion, odd choice but I guess they needed a love interest? a little lame. Also they coudl've spent more time in Silent Hill and not the otherworld, they only had like, one scene. This'd be fixed if there was any downtime between the areas, just walking through the town or something. They go from the mannequin store to the asylum extremely fast, and from there to lakeside amusement park also pretty instantly. The Silent Hill 3 merry-go-round is there and thats cool but its mostly a stage for Cheryl and Alessa to fuse? or something? Pyramid Head has a fight scene at the end probably exclusively because they thought it would be cool to have that happen, Cheryl doesn't fight anything in this movie basically

Lot of, not very good CGI in the beginning, when they tried to show like, a scary version of the real world without going full Silent Hill in the mall. but once they stop doing that and it's just full Silent Hill rust transformations, that looks pretty good. The mannequin-spider is a pretty cool design, but the person that got TFed into a mannequin less so. I mean it's an alright concept I guess? but the CGI really wasn't there, it looked like I, Robot. Alessa turning from a creepy little girl into a creepy Cheryl, neither of the designs were good it has to be said.

Final Review: Eh, it's alright, not garbage but I think maybe they shouldn't have tried to make it a sequel to Silent Hills 2006 and also stuck closer to the game script possibly? If you want Silent Hill 3 flavored slop and you won't be offended by Silent Hill 3 but bad, this movie is for you.

[halibellecter]

So I have worked my nerve up and my hyperfixation has not gone away

Alright

I yelled about this on discord a bunch but hopefully this will be a little more cohesive.

So the year is 2009. I'm in high school. I watch this movie that, and I say this with all the love in my heart, is mid. It is so beautifully mid. I love this film so much. It is my favorite horror film. I can watch it over and over, never get tired, but the midness is inexorably linked with the charm.

Why are the worms on the eyelid and photo box earthworms from outside? What were those funky little guys doing in the crawlspace for 70 something years? Hey Reverend, what the FUCK does "he removed their eyelids not to make them see, but to make them UNSEEN"--- what the fuck does that actually mean, my dude? I've seen this movie probably about twenty times by now I still have no clue. Why is there a dumbwaiter (with, apparently, a SKYLIGHT? in the hide and seek scene Jonah is backlit, by what looks to be daylight from above), that slots side by side into a crematorium? Why does it have a full length side hatch with HOLES IN IT? Why is the only other access point for this dumbwaiter on the SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY? What kind of crematorium has a VENTED(?!!) front hatch, side hatch the full length of the side, with HOLES, and, apparently, some kind of rear access as well that goes through an external wall (the reverend goes to get Jonah's remains and he does that by going outside and removing some kind of grate? was that all there was between the flames and the outside world? a grate?!)?? Mr. Aickman, please, please turn on your location. I just want to talk, I have QUESTIONS--. While we're at it why do the bound spirits have little sleevies? Why did you leave their arms and legs free? What was the purpose of that, my dude? You were stacking them like cordwood, saving a ton of money on insulation, making batteries to power Jonah's seances-- did you. Did you want them to be able to like. Wiggle around in there? Like why was that a step? Did they need to be able to stretch?! How did you get their eyelids so flat? Did you press them? Did you have an eyelid pressing book, Mr. Aickman, can I vall you Ramsey, did you press them in a phone book? Huh? Ramsey please I have so much to ask you stop screening my calls.

--ahem.

I love this movie.

High school, 2009, I'm already a terminal otaku so why not get weirder? I become, and this is being kind, OBSESSED with this film. My first and only cosplay was a bound spirit-- I wore the costume until it fell apart, working a haunted corn maze two or three years running. My mom did my runes for me with lip liner, but since this was too realistic for her, she had to put in an error, lest she accidentally bind my spirit, I assume. Somewhere woven into the Aramaic, a different spot each time she did my makeup, she would put "867-5309". I went to Walmart in this cosplay. I overheard someone asking why the kids were waving at me, I was so scary! "She never scares the kids." I didn't. I would wave them through.

So if it was so mid and I've got so many issues with it, why was I so obsessed? Well... it scared me. It scared me in a way I'm just now fully unpacking. And it scared me so bad that I wrote an entire AU, just to fix it. My first oc that I used in roleplaying was from this AU. She's... gosh, she's about 15 in concept years. Wow. And... well... she was the first one to be written into the AU because she fixed the thing that scared me the worst about canon. That sometimes, horrible things happen to scared kids that had no choice and no agency, and nobody saves them until they've suffered for years, so damaged that they're so terrifying that they're a monster, nearly universally unable to be tolerated, never mind heard, let alone understood.

Spoilers for the movie, heh. Um, so, brief plot outline. Back in the 1920s Ramsey Aickman, a necromancer, owned a funeral home. He used many of the bodies for his magic. He had an assistant, a boy named Jonah-- the fandom (are you out there, fandom? please??) often takes him as Aickman's son, but not only can I not find anything in canon to confirm this, the articles about their seances seem to dispute it, repeatedly stating that he's "known only by his first name". Jonah is canonically horrified by the magic Aickman is doing. We see this repeatedly and we also see him try to run away and get physically DRAGGED back to the mortuary by Aickman, none too gently, either. It's made abundantly clear, multiple times, that Jonah wants no part of this, but that he also has no choice. He has no choice about participating in Aickman's seances either-- this is classic 1920s parlor mediumship, complete with what's either a Brownie Reflex or Argus 75 camera on hand-- with Aickman operating it instead of joining the circle, of course-- for photos. It's anachronistic either way, 20 years too far in the future for Aickman to be using in the 20s, even the LATE 20s....... hm. I'll have to watch it once more and zoom in. Anyway, the seances are not directly said to be difficult for Jonah, but it's heavily implied. He does not seem to be having a good time, clenching the sitters' hands, grinding his teeth. He manifests ectoplasm, which again isn't directly STATED to be harmful to him... but it's heavily implied to be physically painful. We see it explode in one scene, so it's volatile and dangerous. And Jonah manifests somewhere in his throat-- the ectoplasm comes out of his mouth-- so any time that happens during a seance, there goes his airway. He looks completely terrified when we get a shot of his face; you can't tell me that kid can breathe. And he is a KID. Look at this.

Not only is he a kid, if this character isn't autistic, I will eat my hat.

At the time I watched the movie, those parts didn't strike me as scary, so much as... well... what happened when the ectoplasm exploded.

It killed every sitter. The only one to survive who was in the circle was Jonah.

It killed Aickman, who wasn't even physically linked to the seance. Remember, he was working the camera. He has just a few last words to Jonah and they are: "They'll be after you now. Get out."

Who's they? Who's they. They-- the hundreds, no, literally HUNDREDS of bound spirits, canon confirmed by the number of bodies we see, in the house. You know, the ones powering up the seances. Without the necromancer who bound them to keep them in line, they're loose, they're pissed, and they take out their rage on the only target available: Jonah. The scared kid who just watched half a dozen people die, including the closest thing he's got to a loved one, arguably by something he did even if it wasn't his fault. The terrified sole survivor who gets run around the house, chased in a blind panic into the crematorium... and then they turn it on. When we see Jonah as a ghost, later in the movie, he's burned, blackened, the only untouched part are his bright blue eyes (and his immaculate, unsinged, ash-free nicely pressed wool suit, but we're, you know, just going to ignore that).

He can't speak.

His vocal chords-- he was screaming when he died. His throat doesn't work anymore. He can only make gasping, choking noises and he looks terrifying... so no one even TRIES to understand him, let alone help.

He spends the whole movie trying to protect the living family in the house from the wrath of the bound spirits; he is the ONLY thing holding them back. And everyone is terrified of him, and no one understands, and... and..... and.......

It just... it HURT it was so scary. I didn't fully understand the horror I felt. I'm still unpacking it now. Years later, with psych experience from both sides of the table, with so much more understanding of how cptsd and tries can work, and with my own ASD diagnosis sitting on my shoulder going "hm, yep, that response makes a lot more sense now".

It was the lack of agency.

It was the loss of control.

It was being not just misunderstood, while doing your BEST to do the right thing, but... actively rejected. Hated and feared. A thing of disgust. Who cares what you're trying to say if you're saying it with that burned mouth that doesn't move right anymore? It doesn't matter what way you're trying to show people to safety if they take one look at you and run screaming and I just---

I had to fix it.

So I did.

The fix-it AU of The Haunting in Connecticut is so far removed from canon that it's basically just me handing out canon nametags to a bunch of unrelated OCs. Sorry about that. Sometimes, much like in the movie, there's so much awful that you've just got to burn it all down and start over.

So let's start over.

In the quirky little burg of Roswell, New Mexico, we find a mortuary with a ghost hunting side hustle. Shrewd businessman, non-retired funeral director and mostly-retired medium Ramsey Aickman keeps both sides of the business going, from logistics to advertising. He even made some ill fated t-shirts.

[ID: Arching text reading Don't Go, under that is a stylized drawing of Aickman's face, then bowing text reading My Heart. As in, "Don't Go Aickman [Breaking] My Heart".]

Can't imagine why these didn't fly off the shelves.

His legitimate business is decent sized one with regular employees doing regular mortuary things. They handle the embalming and transport for funeral businesses that don't do that stuff in house-- which is a lot of them, actually. (Thanks, roommate!)

And then there are two other types of business... the kind that calls on the phone about strange things happening, and the kind that shows up to the business with an unmarked van and a body that the county coroner or next of kin is VERY sure is not "empty" yet.

Phone calls are handled by the whole small team, Aickman, secretary Wendy, who does not do spooky shit but does do scheduling and bookkeeping, Matt, powerful medium, local cancer survivor to Sighted empath pipeline rider, spoonie, IT guy, and medic......

...and if things get really bad, or someone comes up to the back door with a soul that doesn't want to rest, they call their combat specialist:

Jonah.

Jonah, listed as the team's demonologist, combat person, first in and last out of danger, a consummate badass lone-wolf necromancer (unusual in AU canon), who came to Aickman already fully trained and experienced in binding and controlling the dead. Not permanently; that's cruel, not to mention dangerous. But in exchange for the control and the power, she can open the lines of communication and figure out what they need to move on and help them. She's hiked into the desert with their eyes for one last sunrise that they fell from a precipice trying to see. Sifted through the gravel on the train tracks to find their locket and return it to their family. Put together who could have hit them in that hit and run, helped along by their memories, and sent the evidence on to police. Then the bodies--and their binding spells-- go into the crematorium, and the spirits go on to the next plane. She works alone-- to the extent that she can-- she's fiercely protective of the rest of her team, ESPECIALLY Matt, constantly putting herself between them and danger. For example, she won't let Matt do Empath Things until she's thoroughly checked out a new house. "There could be anything in there! you're a walking conduit. Stay here where you're safe." If there's a seance with a chance of something going wrong-- high energy or demonic presence-- Matt is never going to be the anchor. Jonah won't let him. It's not pleasant; she's not very empathic, and as a result, there's a lot of free energy with her as an anchor. Energy that usually manifests as ectoplasm, which, according to Jonah... well, I'll let her tell you.

"It feels like throwing up battery acid and fiberglass."

I'm told that it tastes even worse.

But that's fine, and her team doesn't need to know how bad it hurts-- do they suspect? Probably. But she'll never tell them. She's already used to pain and Matt is just a scared kid and he's already been through so much. He doesn't deserve to go through that, too. She'll step in front of him every time if that's what it takes to keep him from ever experiencing that kind of pain.

In the AU, she came to the team already trained; her magic was strong from a young age, but growing up in the South, she was just too blunt and direct to every get help with it from other humans. The shocked looks, scorn, the anger and teasing-- and the fear. All that stuff is Devil Worship. The Baddest of Bad Things. And she's not bad, she's not, she's a good kid, so she shut up.

Her teacher was one of those things that only Evil Devil Worshiping Witchcraft Going to Hell Witches could see, and by the time he got to her, she was well trained not to mention it to anyone. Instead she followed him, listened to him, studied under him for years. When they met she asked for his name and he told her to pick one for him, something clear. Jonah, ever the literalist, called him Bell. That day, most days of the years after it. The night that he gave her the binding runes that she uses to this day, crying as softly as possible under his blade and hanging on desperately to every little whisper of praise and reassurance. And until days after he vanished, when she finally stopped screaming it into the shadows of the swamp where they always met to train.

Sitri remembers her, of course, and maybe he'll even come back for her someday. She seems to be doing well without him... but he hears from his colleagues, very often in fact, that she still looks for him everywhere she goes. She was one of his most dedicated students.

And... that's the overview. I uh. Heh. Wow. I haven't written this much in... months. I um, I'm happy to answer questions I guess? If anyone has any? I'm going to go get a drink...

save me terrible horror movie from 2009