#And then having Charlie come in wanting to solve the mysteries instead

[wishful-thinking64]

One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion #08

Two out of the three Hispanic characters in Hazbin Hotel are deeply rooted damaging stereotypes within Spanish & Latin American cultures and the one that isn't a blatant stereotype is misused. ___________

With Spanish Heritage Month right around the corner and being a Latina myself, I think it's more than fair for me to give my thoughts on the Latinos (in Spanish, it doesn't matter if there's only one guy in a primarily female group, you have to put Latinos) in HH. Let's start off with the least offensive out of the group, Carmilla Carmine.

We're introduced to her in Scrambled Eggs which is Episode #03 of HH. She invited each of the Overlords to a meeting to speak about how brutal this year's Extermination was and what they could do going forward. During said meeting, Velvette throws the head of a decapitated Exorcist on the table for her to try and take control of the conversation. Things before and during the song Respectless (why this song wasn't called Disrespect or Diss-respect is something I'll never understand) escalate as Velvette figures out that Carmilla is the one behind the dead Exorcist based on her body language and when she asks, "You know why this angel's headless? Do you have a disclosure?" Carmilla immediately ends the meeting thereafter, confirming her suspicions were correct. People have already criticized the mystery of the dead Exorcist being solved way too soon, though I haven't seen as many people criticize why the other Overlords didn't look or immediately question Carmilla the SECOND that Exorcist's head rolled on the table? Like, you guys know that she's Hell's top ANGELIC arms dealer, why wouldn't any of you suspect her from the start? Even if she had ended up being a red herring, I would've seen it as the Overlords using the process of elimination and common sense cause why wouldn't the ANGELIC arms dealer kill an Exorcist??? In any case, the reason behind Carmilla killing the Exorcist was to protect her daughters and thus someone we should sympathize with. Except that, we don't know anything about her daughters and we still don't know her. So why should I care? I have no attachment and therefore no proper reason to care for a character I JUST met. And don't get me started on her daughters as they're nothing more than minor plot devices who could've been replaced by Vaggie. Speaking of which...

Vaggie is based on two harmful Latina tropes and one harmful LGBTQ+ trope with these being the "Feisty" Latina, the Crazed Latina, and the Man Hating Lesbian. Whenever the "feisty" Latina is done in media, she's almost never actually feisty but rather plain bitchy. The word feisty is used because the show runners tend to want the audience to like this character as, to them, she's (somehow), "a woman who knows what she wants and how to take charge." We see this several times when Vaggie isn't interacting with Charlie though I would say the times that this backfired the most was in Episode #01 and Episode #04. Back in Episode #01 when Vaggie was working on the hotel's commercial she wants Alastor to help out with it. Mind you, she previously slandered the advertisement he had originally made for the hotel so I don't know why she wants his help with making a new one in the first place but nonetheless Alastor basically says, "Yeah. No. I'm not gonna help you cause you already know I hate modern media and you clearly didn't like what I had planned so figure it out." Now, instead of ending the conversation and leaving the man who wants no part in this alone, she holds up the camera that she has in her hands and not only films him but actively mocks him too. This isn't a "bold move" like I've seen people claim it to be, it was simply moronic since she already knew he was an Overlord that's killed and fought people over MINOR INCONVENIENCES. After this the two strike a deal which is another plain stupid move on Vaggie's part as that's only going to come back and bite her in the ass later on in the series. Meanwhile, in Episode #04, she told Husk to go after Angel Dust even though... A.) Going after the residents isn't in his job description. B.) If ANYONE is going after the residents it should probably be THE MANAGER since it's their job to make sure that everything between the staff AND customers is good. C.) She KNOWS that Husk has been sexually and physically harassed by Angel in the past as not only has she SEEN it but she's TOLD Angel to stop harassing the staff. I guess the safety of your co-workers doesn't matter though if Charlie's sad. D.) Lastly, I swear that there was a rule that was established early on about NOT FORCING RESIDENTS TO STAY AT THE HOTEL. Like, am I tripping or did the series retcon that super fast??? Anyway, the point is that the series has Vaggie acting like a snide bitch when she's interacting with anyone other than Charlie. This "feisty" Latina stereotype goes hand in hand with the crazed Latina. The crazed Latina trope is when a Latina will throw hands for the dumbest of reasons or for little to no reason at all. It makes it seem that Latina's are overly aggressive which is how the series portrays Vaggie. She's always seen wielding an angelic spear 24/7 knowing that she can kill any resident or staff member who steps out of line with her, constantly seen threatening to hurt others with it. Out of the two racial stereotypes this one has been called out the most as it's paired with the man hating Lesbian trope because every time Vaggie's threatened to kill someone with said angelic spear, it has ALWAYS been a MALE character. Okay, now it's time to end this off by addressing the elephant in the room that is Valentino.

Oh, God. Where do I start with this failure of a character? I suppose, I'll start with the Casanova aka the Enticing Latin Lover archetype. This involves a strong suave man who's tall, dark (or I guess light purple in Val's case), and handsome (I wouldn't call him that but that's how he's portrayed in the series) as well as being full of ulterior motives! He's the sultry hypersexual Hispanic seducer that everybody can't seem to get enough of. I wouldn't have nearly as much of an issue with this as he's the Overlord of Lust but with how the stans either absolve him of or make LIGHT of his crimes solely because they think how he looks, sounds, and acts is hot (brother eugh), with the show runners encouraging stuff like that on social media (yes, I'm referring to when people were comparing Val's personality to Karen Smith from Mean Girls with Viv agreeing with it cause he's so dumb), his sole purpose is being a plot device for Angel Dust and being fetish fuel. Which really bothers me considering that a good chunk of Hazbin Hotel stans are LITERAL CHILDREN! Continuing on, we have ill tempered and idiotic Machismo/Macho Man. The show can't seem to make up its mind whether or not they want us to take Valentino seriously or not. I get what they're trying to do by making Val intimidating and cunning at one point and a "charming" himbo the next but it's done in such a jarring way that could've been easily fixed had they shown him being more creepy towards lower class demons and Sinners but have him be "charming" towards Overlords and other members of Hell's high society. Like in the show, he's openly verbally violent towards Angel Dust while Charlie is in his presence (I also hate the fact that show Charlie didn't actually do anything when she noticed that Val had hit Angel cause pilot Charlie would've thrown hands regardless of what Angel told her) and doesn't give a flying fuck when she's turning into her demon form RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! Then there's the fact that the Hellaverse doesn't take violence seriously until it HAS to and then these moments can come across as unintentionally comedic. Case and point, when I initially saw Valentino backhand Angel Dust in Episode #04, I AUDIBLY LAUGHED. That shit SHOULD NOT have been nearly as funny as it was! It was meant to be a serious moment where the show segues into how Angel is abused at his job but there I was laughing my ass off in my room for a solid thirty seconds before I was able to regain my composure. Next up is point three about the Cholo or gangster archetype in which a Latino will wear stylish street wear clothes (similar to the outfit Val wears in Episode #04) and commit violent crimes. My previous points indirectly had me go into depth about the violent crimes part so let's move onto point four which is Val being a drug addict and drug maker. Latin characters (specifically men) have been depicted as drug dealers and druggies since AT LEAST the 1970s (it only makes it worse that Valentino supposedly died in this time period.) It's been heavily implied that the smoke from his cigarettes acts as an aphrodisiac which is why he blows it in other peoples faces so much. We see him smoking cigarettes (which contain so much God damn chemicals in them but especially nicotine) throughout the show like its nothing meaning he's gotta have a high nicotine intake (logically, he would've gotten lung cancer by now.) The last racial stereotype that they gave him is the raging alcoholic and I know that anyone can become a raging alcoholic however alcoholism is actually a very common problem among Latinos as more than 33% of them suffer from issues related to an alcohol dependency. It's an ongoing problem that many Hispanics face and seeing how Val is already shown to be a violent individual WITHOUT alcohol in his system, that's only going to make him worse and we saw that in Episode #02 when Val got more irritable and threw his drink in Vox's direction upon knowing Angel Dust was staying at the HH.

___________ People of the jury, I rest my case and I hope you all liked reading my thoughts and I'll see you later!

[bunnysnuff]

The quietness between us.

Pairing: Charlie spring x mtf!reader (sibling), Tori Spring x mtf!reader (sibling).

Trigger warnings; emotional withdrawal and detachment.

Request.

The house was quiet, save for the faint murmur of voices drifting from the kitchen where Charlie and Tori were having one of their usual hushed conversations. You sat perched on the windowsill in your room, knees drawn up to your chest, staring blankly out at the rain as it traced lines down the glass. The pale gray sky above felt like a reflection of the way you existed in the world: distant, muted, and detached, as if everything outside of you were just a vague dream that you floated through without truly belonging to.

Your room was still, wrapped in shadows that matched the overcast afternoon. The posters on the walls, the stack of books on your desk, even the soft cushions around you—it all felt like it belonged to someone else. Like you were a guest in your own space. You could hear the quiet tick of the clock on the wall, but even that seemed far away, as if it ticked in a different dimension from the one you occupied.

You didn’t hear Charlie knock at first. It was only the gentle creak of the door that brought you back to the present. He stepped in carefully, his movements deliberate, like he didn’t want to disturb the fragile calm of your world. Charlie had always been that way with you—gentle, quiet, aware of the way you often disappeared into yourself. Tori followed behind him, a silent figure as usual, her dark eyes studying you in that way she always did, as if she were trying to solve some deep mystery.

"Hey," Charlie said softly, his voice a tentative ripple in the silence. "You’ve been up here for a while... I just wanted to check on you."

You didn’t turn to face him right away. Your eyes were still fixed on the rain outside, watching the droplets slide down the windowpane like little rivers, endlessly moving but going nowhere. You felt him watching you, waiting, but not pushing. He never pushed.

"I’m fine," you said after a moment, though the words felt like someone else’s, as if they were being spoken through you rather than by you. You didn’t even know if they were true. Fine wasn’t something you could easily grasp.

Charlie didn’t move closer. He knew better than to invade your space when you were like this. Instead, he leaned against the wall by the door, his hands tucked into his pockets, his expression soft and understanding.

"We’re going to watch a movie later," he said, his tone light, like he was trying to coax you out without forcing you. "Thought maybe you’d want to come down. But no pressure. Just... if you feel like it."

The idea of sitting downstairs with them, surrounded by the warmth of their presence and the dull hum of a movie in the background, felt distant. Like it belonged to a different version of you, one who wasn’t so withdrawn, so spaced-out. But at the same time, there was a flicker of something—an understanding, maybe, that being around Charlie and Tori meant you didn’t have to perform. You didn’t have to explain or interact unless you wanted to. You could just be there, and that would be enough for them.

Tori, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke, her voice even and steady, the way it always was. "You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Just come down whenever you feel like it."

She stood by the door, arms crossed, her gaze lingering on you like she was reading between the lines of something unsaid. Tori always knew when to give you space and when to pull you out of it, but today, she seemed to sense that you needed space more than anything else.

Your eyes flickered toward them for the briefest moment, catching Charlie’s hopeful, soft expression and Tori’s more restrained but still caring glance. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to be with them, but sometimes the weight of being around others—even those who understood you better than anyone—felt like too much.

Charlie’s smile was soft but reassuring, as if to say, It’s okay. We’re not going anywhere. He lingered a little longer by the door, not saying anything, just being there, his presence a warm reminder that you weren’t alone, even if you felt like it.

Tori, on the other hand, stayed still, watching you with her usual quiet intensity. She didn’t smile, but there was a softness in her eyes that she reserved only for you and Charlie. She understood the way you withdrew into yourself, the way you sometimes needed to float outside of the world to cope with the way it pressed in on you. She got it in a way that few people ever did.

"You don’t have to decide right now," Charlie added, his voice gentle. "Just... we’ll be downstairs when you’re ready."

With that, they left the room, the door closing with a soft click behind them. For a few moments, the silence felt heavier, pressing in around you. The rain outside was still falling, the gray light filtering through the window, casting everything in a soft, muted glow.

You sat there for a while longer, your mind drifting again, but this time it felt a little less lonely. Knowing that Charlie and Tori were waiting downstairs, that they would understand whether you joined them or not—it gave you a sense of comfort. They never asked for more than you could give, and in that way, they made the world feel a little less heavy.

You weren’t sure how long you sat there before you finally stood up, your movements slow and deliberate, as if you were still half-asleep. But eventually, you found yourself heading downstairs, where you knew Charlie and Tori would be waiting—not asking, not pushing—just waiting for you to join them, whenever you were ready.

[popculturebuffet]

Top 20 Animated Episodes of 2022, Part 2: 10 to 1

Happy new year all you happy people and welcome back to my best of the year list. If your just joining us ..

YOU CAN FIND PART 1 HERE

To breifly recap for those who didn't go click that link

Now your all caught up, let's get to the list itself.

10. Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty? (Smiling Friends)

"And none of you are leaving until we solve this!" "You didn't need to raise your voice man"

Look i'm a sucker for restraunt based shows, humor and what not. I just love food, and love stuff set around it. I'm an easy orangutan resembling a person to please. So a fast food based mystery with a bunch of weird mascots ranging from the more understandable (A ketchup packet, a mustard packet and a drink cup), to the slightly abstract (Said drink cup being a man horrifyingly poured into it, a pile of salt and a pile of pepper) to the smilng friends of it (A pile of grease who cheerfuly wants to be included, two manic eyeballs and a century egg), and having all have various quirk (Mustard being a femme fetale who ends up taking too long with the build up, salt and pepper liking to kiss in the closet ("that that's beauitful), said cup talking WAY too loong about his doodies or whatever the fun twins were up to), it wasn't a hard sell. But the episodes still a nice break from form as the police have outsourced to our heroes so when Charlie and Pym find the head of Charlie's faviorite restraunt murdered after undergoing a menu change, it's up to them to solve it. It's just a densely packed, wondreful little joke fest, cumilating in EVERYONE having tried to kill him while no one actually didi t and our various supsepcts being free to run riot in the streets.. somehow. Pure comic magic.

9. The Circus (Helluva Boss)

"Son Cease this bitch crying"

Helluva boss had a BIT of a rough time getting to season 2: it took half the year, the intended season finale , a one off special that wasn't plot relevant was held up in some sort of legal trouble Vivinzie likely can't talk about legally, and in general it was just a headache inducing wait for the fans.

Said wait was well worth it though as we go tthe Circus an episode that gave a suprising backstory for both Blitzo and Stolas, and their relatoinship. It also gave us Jonathan Freeman, aka Goddamn Jafar as Stolas dad and got him to say Jafar's signature catch phrase"cease this bitch crying". Good times.

Said bitch crying is because as many fanas guessed, Stolas really had no choice in his relationship with Stella, and given Paimon's never had to actually.. you know get his sons to agree with more than that, he bribes him with the circus… the same one Blitzo grew up in.

I honestly didn't see the two being something resembling childhood friends coming.. well friends is pushing it, to Blitzo he's just a kid who was kinda neat and who he robbed a bit because his dad is the worst and sold him for an ultra slim condom and 5 bucks. Honestly it's hard to tell which father is worse, but it's clear his time with Blitzo is one of the only times Stolas was ever happy. Which is just sad. It also explains a lot… part of how stunted he is emotoinally.. is that he was kept in these palace wals never really allowed to grow or taught how and stuck in a loveless marriage.

Said marriage is somehow WORSE than it appeared.

Yeah really. Stella holds a still not divorced party and talks shit while he's right there. I'm mixed on this.. not on her being awful, given she's willing to scream in front of her daughter on a DAILY basis, treats Octavia more as a prop to get back at Stolas than an actual daughter, and called out a HIT on stolas, we knew she was bad. We just didn't know how abusive, selfish, or cruel she was. It shows why Stolas clings to blitzo so much: Sure they have actual chemistry.. but around him he can actually be himself and any demaning stuff.. is simply Stolas not realizing how much it hurt Blitzo to be treated like a toy. He can be himself for the first time instead of having to drink all the abysnth just to function.

We also see that Blitzo.. forgot any of that happened and in typical Blitzo fashion his plan for the grimiore was just to.. steal it and no one would eve rknow.. and gets caught almost instanlty. The only reason he's not dead is Stolas is horny for him, though we do see Blitzo's barb wired, land mined, and set on fire walls go down a sec as he plans to just abandon stolas in bondage.. only to realize Stolas really needs this and a few or so hours later

It shows the story of two deeply traumatized people who badly need each other.. but don't really know HOW to communicate that. Blitzo probably needed it as much as stolas did, he's just been hurt enough and it took seeing him vunerable to see past the rich asshole to the vunerable manchild underneath.

We also get ONE HELLLLL of a cathartic ending as after singing out his misery Stella barges in, berates stolas.. who finallys tands up to her. While his adultry isn't great and I do like that the series dosen't hide the effect the divorce has on octavia even if it's LONGGGGG needed, we get the sense that like so many failed marragies he tried. He tried to love her, he tried to make it work but it's clear any attempts at that are long past.. and given Stella tries to hit him when he declares their divorcing, damn the consequence,s he catches it. He's finally free, for whatever that costs him. And god it feels glorious. HIm breaking her things next episode helped even if the timing was fucking awful. I cannot wait ot see where this goes.

8. Whispers At the Zigguarat (The Legend of Vox Machina)

"I broke the world for us"

You heard me gush about Vox Machina plenty in part one

This was one of the two best shows of the year, and it knew how to close things out. We'll get to the second part of this finale later, as it's enough of it's own thing to warrant two slots, but after a season of well done storytelling as Percy shot his way through the list of people who wronged him, found out his sister was alive only to seemingly loose her again, and the party as a whole fought it's way through jail cells, half assed solo fancy mansions, crotch lightning duels, silver tounged Stephen Roots, and naked acid baths… it finally comes down to this. Vox Machina versus the Briarwoods and a brainwashed Cassandra and Vax, all to stop the power couple from destroying the world.

The episode is almost entirley one long fight scene, with the party nicely divided up: Pike and a silenced Scalan take on Necromancer supreme Deliliah, Percy tries to fight both his possed gun and his sister to snap her out of her possesion, Vex tries to hold off vax, Keleth tries to reawake the suntree and Grog gets his rematch with the vampiric brute with the cool sword that's TOALLY not going to be a problem in of itself next season, Silas.

The resulting fights are gorgeous and well built up: We've seen how much Vex relies on vax and thus her forced to fight to the death with him destroys her, we see Percy fight his need for vengance and growing possesion to save the only family he has left, and pike and grog's fights nicely give both payback for the party's first fight with the briarwoods: After getting utterly curbstombed in his first fight, Grog uses all his wits

Which amounted to fighting blind and using the fact Silas coudlnt enchant him to empale and suplex the fucker, then pull a raditz when Keyleth used sunburst.

While after Deliliah breaking her phalicry (and Ashley filming a tv show in the original stream), left PIke mia and nearly killed her future husband, pike got to strike back and show her just why Delilah was wise to take her out. The resutling fight is just one long brutal climax as the Brirarwoods get what they deserved and deliliah is left without her husband, her attempts to summon her god seemingly futile, with her sheer brokenness DESPITE being such a huge monster, amazingly conveyed by Grey Deleise in one of her finest voice acting roles. She was the crews first and top choice and their faith was ENTIRELY justified. She's left at the mercy of percy.. whose looking a little shadowy there buddy.. percy.. percy.. ohs hit. We'll get back to this later just.. hold on pal alright?

7. Thanks to Them (The Owl House)

"Dear diary: All I ever wanted was to be good at something, to be around people who also liked that something. And when I found the Demon Realm, I thought, 'Wow, I found it. I can learn magic. I can be a witch! I-I won't have to be the dummy in the principal's office anymore!' But I messed up too much, and put everyone in danger. Mama said I have to learn from my mistakes, so… I know what I have to do now. On Halloween, after the Hayride, I'm telling everyone I'm staying in the Human Realm. Permanently." So after a 6 or so month hiatus, the Owl House returned for the first of it's three finale movies, which hopefully won't be the last as said movie…is on the cusp of breaking FIVE MILLION views on youtube.

Yeah i'm proud and this episode easily shows why. Like the other owl house episodes I did a whole review on this but in shor tit finishes the rehabilitation of Camilla's character, both giving an in character reason for her hating conversion camp.. and ocne she has context fully accepting the isles as a part of her child;s life: she accepts her coming out with pride (As we all expected), basically adopts the kids temporarily (Except Hunter, he has a foreve rhome now), and most importantly outright walks Luz back from trying to abandon her friends and the isles. It's a story about forgiving yourself, something I struggle all too freaking often to do, and thus related to heavily. But quality wise it's just objectively good cramming at least a four or five episode arc into two episodes of special.

We also get great hunter moments, Veesha, and Belos back, which helped my only gripe about the collector: Given the entire series was set up with Belos as it's true antagonist and even the collector being free was his fault, i was worried about him being a quick boss just for this special.. and while his possesion of hunter was horrifying if smelling of

It still gave us a tense fight scenes that leaves our heroes going into the next fight with TWO villians to worry about, the fate of two worlds at stake and a dead bird corpse freshly baked into a teenager. It's… it's going to be a lot and I can't wait to see it in two weeks. As for it leaking.. yeah i'm stayin away from that so if you need me

6. The Feast of Realms (The Legend of Vox Machina)

"YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT"

Yeah i've never seen a show go from excellent to HOLY FUCKING SHIT so fast, so soon but after a two episode pilot that set a lot up, had david tennat playing another money hoarding creature of legend, and was generally good, the next episode is where the series really stepped up it's game now everything was in place and set the arc of the season in place.

In this case our ragtag bunch of heroes have just found respectablility as the protectors of emon, a new house, and a rousing round of ball tag. Seriously the joke shoudln't work this well, much like the literal pissing contest from final space, but the combination of Vax wincing "I didn't even agree to this stupid game" despite already having a point meaning even with that he's still participating, to his later revenge sucker elbowing Grod in his balls of many sperm for a three pointer and of course scalan knowing all the ins and outs apparnetly having become referee for hsits and giggles.. it's beautiful.

The real meat though is on our heroes having to mingle with high society…. which while not going how percy planned (Scalan accuses a noble of hitting on him for shits and giggles while Pike and Grog pound wine flutes like shots, as is custom), they get infintely worse when the Briarwoods, our big bads and the ones who murdered Percy's entire family show up and send him into ptsd. He opens up and our team heads on the offensive, with Vax sneaking out to go investigate while the rest of the heroe sput their apperance in at dinner.

Naturally.. none of this goes well. Percy has an outburst after Dellilah, clearly recognizing him, gleefully blames Percy's family for their own downfall while Silas enchants the kings mind, and Vax quickly gets caputred after. While he barely survives, it leads to a massive brawl, which not only puts the already awesome dragon fight to shame.. but shows our heroes arne't quite ready yet in a way that dosen't diminish their badassery: they had no ieda what they were expecting.. and thus while they fight the briarwoods well enough, they still mostly get laid out and Deliliah taking pike out early means an easy loss with the team minus a healer and the team dropping like flies, with Delilah cheerfully telling percy to stop by any time. Grey's performance as Delilah, as I said, is one of her best and this clinches it, the way she gives the necromancer plenty of personality and charm.. while still conveying she's pure evil to be stopped.

The scene tha tclincehs this episodes spot though is a draastic turn that, due to not having done any research on the campagin at that point, something I was NOT prepared for: Percy's response is to snarl "You let them get away'". While the entire main cast and our two main villians (Including Critical Roll dm and master voice actor himself Matthew Mercer as Silas), are fucking amazing, Talisen Jaffe does the legwork as percy and I was impressed to learn later that a LOT of Percy's most cutting lines and moments in this season were entirely just Talisen improvising. His various backstory monlogues are taken from the game, as is this moment as Percy SNARLS as he confronts what's clearly an innocent coach driver the briarwood left, leaves the poor man crawling.. THEN SHOOTS OFF HIS HAND as he puts on a creepy bird mask radiating shadows, while his teamate sna the audience look on in object horror. While Percy was no nonsense before he had a noblity about him, and not just because he rich.. and seeing his tightly put together mask of civlity peel off as a combination of possesion and his own need for vengance consumes him. The chillingly calm "Your soul is forfeit!' never ceases to amaze me and it' sonly our heroes getting arrested that stops him. It's one hell of a moment that sets the stage for 9 great more episodes of television and leaves the first batch of three on one hell of a cliffhanger, all thanks to good ol No Mercy Percy.

5. Fire and Ice (Craig of the Creek) Kelsey pondered her literary predicament. Was Kelsey… truly like Fire? Was Stacks truly like Ice? Were Kelsey and Stacks like… Fire and Ice? W-would that… be okay?

Another episode I reviewed, as part of a decent sized middle finger ot the don't say gay bill, and another classic. It also cements that had I gotten my act together Craig of the Creek would've had a place high on this list for some time, but even with a show this high quality that essentially serves as the spirtiual sequel to Recess, updating it for modern times with way more diversity and having it after school instead of during to allow for more creative freedom, this show is an absolute delight and this is easily one of it's best episodes.

See the show had long hitned at Kelsey being gay with her subtext with a blatant crush on wildernessa nad plenty of muttual ship tease with Stacks. The show didn't really make a bit deal out of it it was just clear she was likely into girls. The creators even just casuallyr evealed she and stacks were both gay via word of mouth. But the clever trick here is that just because the audeince could tell to the points the creator sdidn't bother waiting to confirm it.. dosen't mean the CHARACTER knows their gay.

As such this episode is one long coming out story for Kelsey and even then only the first, most important, and most nervewracking party ESPECIALLY for a young child: admitting it to yourself. Like Kelsey I ha dcrushes on men before realizing I was bisexual, but just.. never relaized it was more than appricating a man looks good. And I was about twice her age when the wave of terror of realizing hit me. So all these feelings of realizing this is real, not knowing what to do.. are hard.

It's doubly hard on Kelsey who has this relization in front of a target and is crushing on someone who not only may like her back, but is one of her closest friends. Kelsey's friendship with Stacks steadily grew over the series, the extroverted kelsey suprisingly meshing well with the introvert who prefers to stay in the library. The two even shared their love of reading with a secret society/book club that's progressed into writing their own books, all set up by previous episodes.. for the payoff here. Kelsey writes an adventure story reminicent of she ra with obvious avatars for her and stacks.. that are into each other. The problem is Kelsey and Stacks, being childrens, didn't realize their avatars were each other nor what that meant till Craig blurted it out for everyone. In his defense he both ENTIRELY doesn't realize what this means for both of them or the pain it would cause and as we see later in the same season wit his own love life it took him MONTHS to realize Wildernessa liked him after flat out confessing during capture the flag, and the obvious tension during breaking the ice. Craigy Boy is many things, most of them good.. but oblvious is very much one of them.

So this leads Kelsey into a panic as she realizes what this means and avoids stacks worrying about both destroying her friendship and how to progress the story… knowing it could mean progressing her relationship. We also get a nice moment as Craig misses the point.. but in a nice subtle bit JP POSSIBLY dosen't. It's left nicely vauge: my surrogate son is entirely dense… but there are little cues int eh animation that tell me him taking Kelsey to Kat, his sister Laura's girlfriend who turns out ot be a writer, wasn't just for writing advice.. but to help his friend sort out her feelings with people who not only likely had been there but who can ease her into it.

What follows is a truly great scene as Kat helps guide Kelsey, not only praising her writing.. but helping her realize that these feelings, while panick endusing are a bad thing.. and she should embrace htem. That having your feelings come through in your work isn't bad.. and said feelings are a good thing. ONe generation helps the next.. and through that Kelsey's able to not only finish the story.. but tell Stacks how she feel, leading to adorable handholding. Granted the story.. is far from over and hopefully we have enough time in season 5 or later this season to continue this before the series ends because damn you zaslav, as there's still a few steps in her journey to go but I can't wait to see the

4. Screech Leeches (Tuca and Bertie)

"Bertie you weren't a creep, you were a high school girl with too many hot wet sloppy high school feelings to know what to do with. Be kind to that creepy baby bertie, she wormed her way into my heart. " "Awww i'm your heart worm"

Another show bows out of this list though unlike Close Enough, where it comes off as JG Quintel has moved on… eeriley well at that, it's clear Lisa Hanawalt hasn't given up yet and the show might find yet another home. And given Season 3 was as good as ever and left with a lot of places to go, i'm hoping for. For now though the show left with a stellar season and one episode in paticular sucker punched me in the emotoinal gut. And while it sadly lacks Matthew Rhys using his belos voice as a sexy tree, speckle for more than one cameo or Tuca giving literal birth to bertie

It was easily the best of the season. Screech Leeches is really a stand alone, focusiong on Bertie as she spirals over her high school friend Muriel making a jordan peele style horror film that she feels is about her. What follows is a very long very painful flashback that shows just how lost Bertie was after her molestation: Her parents, as already establisehd didn't want to talk about it, her counciler was useless and her friends were worse than useless, none of them realizing what they did wrong or that it wasn't scoring… though one did go professional at being a bitch so… good for her..

Bertie does find a friend in Muriel who for the moment is what she needed: someone willing to lash out, who also had been sexually asaulted and gotten no help, and who helped her be angry. It's the kind of friendship we've all had: where you find someeone cooler than you and latch onto them.

And as we see while Bertie does start copying Muriel not only did muriel encourage it.. but then lead her on by kissing her. While Bertie then became a bit.. too obessive, it's as Tuca says at the end: She was a little creepy.. but also awash in 80 pounds of hormones, at a loss of any directoin. It makes Muriel rejecting her and tearing the poor girl apart so painful and there's no real cathariss: the film wasn't about her, and there's no real indication things would ever get solved. And that's how life is sometimes. Sometimes one of the worst moments of it. .is just an object lesson more than something you'll ever get real closure on. Hopefully the same won't be said for this series

3. The Beginning of the End/All-In/The Hardest Thing (Amphibia)

"Change can be difficult, but it's how we grow. It can be the hardest thing to realize you can't hold on to something forever, sometimes you have to let it go. But of all the things you let go, you'd be surprised what makes its way back to you."

Amphibia came to a close and while as I mentioned last part, the last batch of episodes was more.. okay.. the finale.. was true magic. While it's first part, The Beggining of the End was part of WHY that batch was okay, having the assembled army just go

When Anne was captured, which made little sense and felt like we just wasted a good chunk of build up building these armies when it amounted to fuck all. It's why this one didn't score higher, despite making it all the way to #3: it felt like an insulting waste in a series that really wastes little.

Thankfully what followed is easily one of the best tv finales i've seen, a masterful hour and a half (While the hardest thing was seperated it's basically one big movie) of payoff. And one of the first things it does once our heroes escape the floating castle, is make something I disagreed with, Anne's Parents staying behind, into something badass as they've become trained badasses in super suits and Mr. X, having done his face turn we all knew was coming now he realized that not all aliens are bad, just the one with floating final boss castles.

We get the epic battle we were promised.. as well as three excellent payoffs to each of the calamity trio's arcs: Anne shows how far she's come whil epunching a dictator in the face, Sasha fights her own self doubt and Darcy, and Marcy herself rejects what she's always wanted after realizing what other people wants matter and she can't just avoid reality. We also get abuses of goverment property, the Plantars conquering the very beings that took the kids parents so long ago, and k-pop, which is better than I ever thought it'd be. Yes i'm old. I know.

The final part dosen't let up with one final battle with the Core (Who I felt ended up underdeveloped , another small crtique), with an utterly epic version of no big deal.. and a truly tearjerking goodbye as our heroes have to accept amphibia is gone.. and instead of feeling like a copout.. it worked. I didn't like all the seperation.. but it worked for the theme matt was going for: Sometimes you have to say goodbye, nothing lasts forever.. but what the people you met taught you does.. and maybe just maybe they'll come back to you. And all live in a house together and be gay with each other. one can only hope. it was a truly fitting end to a truly amazing cartoon that became so much grander than I ever imagined and will stick me with me for some time. It's hard to let it go.. but this ep made it so much easier.

2. The Darkness Within (The Legend of Vox Machina)

"I know your in there. Darling, take off the mask…

See I hadn't forgot Percy getting ready to murder his tormenter. I did however didnt' mention things were even worse as Keyleth tearjerkingly took the bullet for Vex, who had been absolutely terrible to her all season worrying she'd loose her brother if he shot his shot with the ashari. Oh and Pike is gone, her astral projection she'd been using having run out

So it's not the best time for Orthax, the shadowy demon Percy unknowingly made a pact with and who increased his bloodlust for those who wronged him, to fully posses percy as Delilah taunts him, wanting him to finish the job.. so he can take full root in the man's soul and full control of the metaphorical demon he's unleashed, the creation of the gun. It's Percy's long dark knight of the soul and while it's clear Orthax nearly has him at this point and he knows he's being controleld by something.. he's not resiting at first. After all Deliliah destroyed his life, killed almost everyone he's ever loved, tourtured everyone in his home town, done countless other attrocities.. why not put one between the eyes? And the answer is simple: he does.. and that's it. Percy is gone.

So it becomes a tense battle between a possed no mercy percy and vox machina, who both don't want to hurt him and have to play keep away with depowered deliliah. While the fights in whispers were gorgeous, ther'es a reason it's on the list it's this fight that honestly compells me more. The fight there had plenty of character but this is the real climax: Percy versus his need to fill the void left by the briarwoods genocide of his family, versus the literal and metaphorical demon inside him, a living representation of vengance and how even if done for the noblest of reasons.. it only keeps going. As The List adds vox machina to each barrel it's clear this will never end if Percy isn't stopped.

It's also telling that what stops Percy isn't the fighting.. but a plea from Vex, love of his life and the only person able to get through to him so far. It's risking her life to stand up to him that finally get shim to relent if only for a second, taking the mask off.. and the animatoin is stunning as it is horrifying here as we see percy SOBBING with fear as he tells her when she asks him to put down the gun "I .. .can't it wont' let me".. and his solution is equally heartbreaking.. to put the gun to his chin and as Vex and Cassandra both beg him not to his response "I don't know what else to do"

Thankfully the shadowy demon puppeting him intervends then suggests him to psychological torment to try and get him to continue doing his bidding.

What we get is a truly gruelingly long nightmare as Orthax reveals himself, that he was there all along.. and uses hallucinations of Percy's family to torment him as he attacks unknowingly attacking his firends. Once again wha tfinally wins the day.. is love. This time the love of family as Cassandra takes her own turn, at vax's urging, begging him, getting him to let go… and let a round into his hand, freeing him from orthax.

The rest of the episode is largely wrap up, but well done: Percy apologizes for his actions, Scanlan wisely decides to just throw his gun in acid instead of dealing with it expense sbe dammed (Which Percy is righ tpissed about.. until a shadowy bird demon made of acid pops up as it screams it's hopefully last scream.. then he's a bit cooler about it), and Delilah gets hers… courtsey of cass. While Percy forgave her for his own soul.. she didn't have to.

Our heroes survive, whitestone has a chance to rebuild, Cassandra a chance to lead them, and our heroes are free to prance off to clear their name, taking a few days off.. which was good because the next shit show is literally around the corner. That dragon they killed.. was one of FIVE. and the others are bigger, meaner, smarter.. and heading right for Emon. See in you in a few weeks boys and girl! For now though it was an excellent way to end the season as Percy finally gets to breathe.. can he forgive himself? Can he move on? Will it take as long as it did in stream fo rhe and vex to see their menat for each other? All good questions.. but he's now free to answer them on his terms.

Hollow Mind (Owl House)

"Do me a kindness would you and call me by my real name?

After only making it to second place last year, Owl House wins top honors this year. It also FINALLY gives me a defending champion, as the last two years the winner was either on it's last season (BoJack Horseman ) or took a year off (Invincible), so while Owl house only has one more year to it, it has a very good chance of giving us our first two time winner!

For now though, it's gladly won top honors. It wasn't easy, I went back and forth between the top two a lot.. but in the end while both have some waking nightmare in there, the tight plotting, horrifying reveals, and sheer nightmare of Hollow MInd won out. In 22 brillaint mintues, we're taken inside Belos head… and neither Luz , Hunter nor the audience come out of there okay.

The setup is simple: Hunter barged in on the future CATS trying to get into Belos head, and not having fully been deprogrammed yet, tried tos top them. Luz trie dtos top him.. and so both ended up in his brain. It's a nice tense build up as the various flashbacks and a ghost child show us how Belos got here: We know he's phillip at this point, Elswhere and Elsewhen made that very clear, but we see that indeed his connection to the titan is bullshit

And in actually shocking news.. the sigils, while always figured to be something bad.. are designed to MURDER the participants. There was a lot of speculation as to what belos was planning, what his end goal was. And finding out he was phillip

So the reveal.. is painfully terrifying, and shockingly realistic… while he's using magic to do so and it's fantastical enough to slide by disney censors. .his end goal is still plainly, clearly, nakedly.. genocide. He wants witch kind dead.. nothing left and feels as a witch hunter that' shis job. That's all he's eve rwanted, why he made a pact with an elder god all of this.. was just pure bigotry in it's most gastly form. It's a simple motive.. but one that makes Phillip that much more horrifying as an antagonist. We all thought there was more to it.. but that's really all he wants and what all this was for and it suddenly changes the game: we needed to stop him.. but now if he's not EVERYONE who has a sigil dies. Every adult character we know except Eda is marked for death.

The reveal itself is chilling coming shortly after we find out Hunter.. isn't the first of his kind. Every one of the guards has died because Belos simply coudln't accept his brother was a bigot.. including the original Caleb as seen in some background flashback paintings. Belos has killed dozens of beings just for the crime of not being what he fooled himself into thinking his brother was. It's utterly chilling and Matthew Rhys gives the performance of his career as he gladly reveals everything, coldly tries to kill hutner, then gleefully tells Luz her paret in aall this.. I feel her not getting he was phillip soone rwas denial.. and finding out hits her hard. She helped cause this.. everything she loves is going to die.. and the guy responsible has the gall to ask for her help. She says no, he "can't reason with crazy" and luz BARELY surivives… it's a truly horrifying, long walk that ends with our heroes now having a short time to save the world, hunter runing and both our main heroes for the season utterly broken. It's a majestic half hour of television, the finest episode in oen of the finest shows i've ever seen.. and it firmly deserves this honor. A true masterpiece if there ever was one.

Thank for reading all of this. if you want more of my nosense you can find me HERE on twitter, and here's to another great year of reviews. Thank you all so much for your support. I love you all.

[marydontweep]

Mystery of Love

word count: 1,754

tw: implied infidelity

pairing: black male!oc x white male!oc

December, 1976

New York's weather seldom offers mercy.

The harsh, icy winter wind whips at the areas of exposed flesh on Emmett's body. His nose is beginning to take on a red hue, and a stinging numbness takes over his ears. He curses himself for being so ill prepared for the cold temperature. Nevertheless, Emmett stands his ground against the cruel climate. He won't give Mother Nature the satisfaction of stealing this long awaited moment away from him.

For months, loneliness had pierced his heavy heart. Phone calls, letters, and late night fantasies weren't enough to satiate Emmett's growing need. He just had to lay his eyes upon the object of his affection. Emmett wanted─no, needed to lose himself in his lover's rich brown irises. He longed for the all too familiar scent of baby oil and Vaseline that he was now accustomed to. He craved the feeling of soft yet aggressive lips moving in synchronicity with his own. Oh, how Emmett wants to thread his fingers through those silky ebony curls as the words I love you fell carelessly from his tongue.

But he must play it safe.

Their relationship, or whatever you'd call it, is a blooming rose. Though the physical aspect had been explored, the emotional aspect is fresh territory. Emmett would feel dreadfully silly making a declaration of his undying love just to be met with rejection. A fleeting moment alone with his lover in the shadows of uncertainty is better than nothing at all.

"I ain't been here since I was a little boy." Alexandre speaks, slicing through the silence with swift abruptness.

Emmett, languidly swinging himself back and forth on the swing set, looks at the younger man. The silvery light of the moon beams brilliantly upon Alexandre's honey glazed skin, casting a divine glow while his dark colored eyes twinkle beneath its luminance. Instead of pulling it into a ponytail, Alexandre lets his voluminous sea of black waves flow freely down his back. Since day one Emmett had found Alexandre's outward appearance very appealing, but tonight the young man is a sculptor's reverie.

Shifting awkwardly, Alexandre continues to talk. "Me and my brothers used to play here every day after school. Sometimes we'd lose track of time, and our momma would come looking for us. Man, we sure were a wild bunch!" He states gleefully, chuckling as he recalls the memory.

Alexandre's sudden urge to share tidbits of his childhood delights and surprises Emmett. Aside from his Afro-French parentage and New York upbringing, Emmett knows next to nothing about Alexandre's life, if he’s being frank. He is an enigma. A mystery waiting to be solved. To be honest, Alexandre's private nature reminds Emmett of himself. He too prefers to keep most parts of his life concealed. It was this commonality that piqued his interest in Alexandre.

Alas, Emmett can't resist the surge of curiosity brewing within him. He wants to peer into the very depths of Alexandre's mind, uncovering every moment of his life.

"How many brothers do you have?" Emmett blurts out. Immediately, trepidation settles into his bones. He really didn't mean to ask that question, but like vomit the words had come rushing out of his mouth.

"Well, you met Charlie already," Alexandre begins, absentmindedly tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. "And I got another brother. Plus, a sister. So, that's two brothers and one sister."

What are their names? Are they younger or older?

"What about you?" Alexandre questions. "Do you have any siblings?"

Emmett nods. "I have a younger sister."

A toothy smile forms on Alexandre's face. His teeth are pearly white and unbelievably straight. "That's one more thing we have in common."

"Yeah," Emmett fights back his own smile. "I─I guess it is."

Silence dawns upon them again. It isn't an uncomfortable silence either. The silence is quite peaceful. During the moment of tranquility, Emmett sneaks glances in Alexandre's direction. With his chin resting in his palm and his eyebrows furrowed, the young man appears to be deep in thought. Emmett wonders what is going on inside that pretty little head of his. The need to gain insight into the innerworkings of Alexandre's brain is almost overwhelming. Emmett, however, swallows the questions that threaten to spill from his lips.

In due time...

Without warning, Alexandre stands up from the swing. He walks towards Emmett, stopping to stand in front of him. Two long, slender fingers are propped under Emmett's chin, gently guiding his head upwards. Emmett shivers at the sensation of cold fingers against his skin. Alexandre's eyes bore into Emmett's with the intensity of a wildlife, burning through to his very core. Emmett's heart pounds savagely against his ribcage, and his hands become damp with perspiration. He can feel the butterflies violently fluttering around in his stomach. The power Alexandre holds over him─over his emotions is immense.

Emmett opens his mouth to say something─anything, but he struggles to formulate a coherent sentence. So, he utters not a single word. Emmett remains quiet as a mouse while Alexandre's fingers trace the line of his jaw. His touch is gentle. Careful. As if he is outlining the edges of a precious, invaluable drawing. Emmett's heart swells at the mere idea of being compared to a work of art.

Alexandre's other hand takes a hold of Emmett's hand, squeezing lightly. The younger man's hand is ice cold, but Emmett doesn't mind. He savors the pure intimacy of Alexandre's touch.

"Come on," Alexandre beckons, pulling Emmett off the swing. "I wanna show you something."

Emmett follows Alexandre to his car, getting into the passenger's side as Alexandre gets behind the wheel. The drive is relatively short─approximately four minutes, if Emmett had to guess. Therefore, Emmett doesn't have much of a chance to see most of the surrounding neighborhood through the window. He makes a mental note to ask Alexandre for a tour of Harlem the next time he is in New York.

Alexandre parks the car in a lot near a rundown apartment building. Emmett throws him a confused glance.

"Um, what am I supposed to be looking at, darling?" He asks, his tone light-hearted yet he wonders why the fuck they are there.

In response to Emmett's confusion, Alexandre laughs. He laughs like Emmett had just told the funniest joke in the world.

"The thing I wanna show you is inside the building, baby." Alexandre explains after regaining his composure.

An inaudible 'oh' comes from Emmett.

Great. Now he probably thinks I'm a ninny!

They exit the vehicle with Alexandre leading the way. Upon closer inspection, the building doesn't look as tattered and ugly. It still isn't pleasing to the eye, but it certainly looks better. The inside of the building isn't too bad either. Though Emmett is upset to discover that the lift (or, as Alexandre had referred to it, the elevator) isn't in service. Walking up three flights of stairs is not something that Emmet enjoyed. Nevertheless, he braves through it.

"Here it is! Apartment 306." Alexandre exclaims. He takes out a key from his coat pocket, hurriedly unlocking the wooden door. When Alexandre enters the apartment, Emmett is close behind him.

Alexandre turns on the lights, revealing a seemingly untouched living room. Plastic covers the furniture, the glass coffee table practically sparkles in the light, and not even a hair follicle resides on the cream colored carpet. In other words, there are no signs of anyone having lived here.

Placing his coat on the coat rack, Alexandre is brimming with excitement. "This is the apartment I grew up in," he moves to stand behind Emmett, his tall, skinny build towering over the older man. "I got it fixed up two weeks ago. Now, I don't really be here all that much, but I didn't want somebody else renting my childhood home."

"It's a lovely place," is all that Emmett can manage to say. Truthfully speaking, he is struggling to contain his exhilaration. Emmett feels like Alexandre is beginning to shed his walls, leaving his heart vulnerable to Emmett's deep affection.

“Thanks,” Alexandre replies, striding over to a tall, black shelf filled with vinyl records.

Alexandre begins rummaging through the ample collection of records. He is indecisive, taking out a record then putting it back not a minute later. Finally, something catches his eye─or at least Emmett hopes so. Alexandre turns towards Emmett with the record in hand. It's The Beatles' “And I Love Her” 1964 single.

Emmett can't bite back the grin that spreads across his face. "But I thought you hated The Beatles."

Alexandre sucks his teeth. "Hate is a strong word, Emmett," he says as he places the record on the record player. "They're talented musicians, but I just don't think they all that." Alexandre puts the needle on the record.

Emmett shrugs. "To each his own."

"I saw the single in the record store yesterday," Alexandre begins, talking in a hushed tone while Paul McCartney's dulcet, euphonious voice drifts throughout the room. He is now standing face to face with Emmett. "And I remembered how you loved The Beatles, so I brought it. It turned out to be a nice little tune, if I'm being for real." He lets out a short, awkward chuckle. There's an underlying timidity in Alexandre's entire demeanor. He seems uncomfortable as the words leave his mouth.

"Oh, well, that's very sweet of you, Alex." Emmett says, feeling the heat rising in his cheeks.

The younger man doesn't respond, but the glint in his eyes speaks volumes.

A love like ours could never die...

Alexandre steps closer, bridging the gap between them. He holds out his hand for Emmett to take. Emmett takes it without hesitation, allowing himself to be engulfed in a gentle embrace. He rests his head on Alexandre's chest. The thumping of his heart is strong─comforting even.

Dark is the sky...

As they slowly move to the melody, Emmett feels a shift in them both. The doubt that tore away at him from the very beginning is dissipating. Emmett can see, clear as day, the beautiful and vibrant scarlet petals of that rose blossoming beneath the radiant glow of their union.

I know this love of mine will never die...

Emmett has never felt this way before. Sure, he cares for his fiancée Claire, but the emotions Alexandre awakens within him are completely different. It feels right. He knows it's right. Anything this wonderful could never be wrong.

And I love her.

Love could never be wrong.

[the-autistic-agoraphobe]

I was scrolling through my Facebook when I came across this monstrosity. There is alot wrong with this post and I am going to discuss it.

First Autism isnt something that should be prevented or cured  to "prevent" or "cure" Autism is like trying to stop me from existing in a way because if I wasn't Autistic I wouldn't be the person that I am. Being Autistic affects every aspect of my personality and my life. When I hear the words "preventing Autism" or "curing Autism" I hear that people like me shouldn't exist. Which is very harmful and hurtful. Autism is not a bad thing it is a neutral thing and a natural variation of humans. To "prevent" or "cure" Autism is like trying to "prevent" or "cure"  gayness which isn't right. Autism isnt a disease or illness.

Secondly most Autistic folk don't believe the colour blue should be used to represent Autism because it is associated with a group known as Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks has been very problematic to Autistic folk as they advocate for a "cure" for Autism and subject many Autistic people to abusive therapies. They don't listen to the voices of Autistic folk when it's our disability. Most Autistic people prefer to use the colours red and gold instead.

The next problem is that Charlie Brown and Snoopy are wearing shirts that depict a puzzle piece symbol. Even though some Autistic folk like to use the puzzle piece as the missing piece to the mystery about why they have felt different for many years and found out that they're Autistic many Autistics are against the puzzle piece symbol for Autism. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is that Autism Speaks which was mentioned above uses it heavily. Another reason is that it implies that we are a puzzle that needs to be solved. Again Autism doesn't need to be cured. Only Autistic people should use the puzzle piece. A popular symbol amongst the Autistic community is the infinity symbol which implies that there are infinite ways of thinking.

The last thing I want to mention that it is highly likely that the business "Cooly sunny" isn't ran by Autistic people as they have made many mistakes with his post that an Autistic person wouldn't make. I feel as though they are taking advantage of Autism to make money. If you wish to support Autistic people this April I would advise buying Autism stuff from businesses owned by Autistic people. There is plenty of good Autism stuff for sale on Etsy.

I would advise that Cooly Sunny should stop selling these shirts and make an apology to Autistic folk and learn more about Autism from Autistic folk. They also contradict themselves by saying that they want to get rid of Autism but yet to accept Autism that doesn't make sense. Remember this April to listen to Autistic people about Autism. It's our disability and we know what being Autistic is like through first hand experience.

Image Descriptions:

1: There is an advertisement on Facebook from a brand called "Cooly Sunny". There is black text on a white background that says "Autism Awareness & Prevention Autism Awareness Month is is coming! We Wear Blue to rep the love, support and attention we give to those we love. Join the fight to end Autism with our new Autism Awareness & Prevention T-shirts. Care more about the vulnerable groups around you, they are kind but need your love! To help others is to help yourself, let's unite, give this cold world some more warmth! Everyone is matter! Everyone is loved! Shop Now (link to shop)

Hashtag AutismAwareness hashtag Autism hashtag Blue hashtag Love" Their profile picture is "cooly sunny" written in black text on a white background.

2: There is a blue shirt with white text on it. The white text says "I wear blue for Autism Awareness accept understand love" Snoopy who is a cartoon black and white beagle dog is on the shirt beside his owner Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown is a white cartoon boy. Both Charlie and Snoopy have their heads tilted up so you can see underneath their chins. They are both wearing blue shirts with puzzle pieces on them. End Descriptions.

[ghostchasersmagazine]

I've always wished for a Scooby Doo/Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan crossover, mainly to see how the Scooby Gang would interact with the Chan Clan themselves, although I can totally see them being super excited to meet Mr. Charlie Chan himself, given he's a famous detective.

I agree! I think a Scooby Doo/Chan Clan crossover would have been really neat to see on-screen (especially since The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan aired on CBS, so it was technically possible for them to have appeared on The New Scooby Doo Movies).

In particular I think that it would have been neat to see how the two groups' mystery-solving styles would work together, given that the Scooby gang's thought process was a bit slower and clue-based while the Chan Clan's was culprit-based and had a get-up-and-go style to it. I imagine it would work with the Scooby gang enhancing the Chan Clan's usual detective style; the kids would all split into groups based on who they think did it, with the Chan kids focused on capturing the culprit while the Scooby gang member(s) with them work on figuring out how said culprit supposedly did it.

There's also the fact that since The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan has so many characters it, there's a lot of different personality combinations to play with when it comes to interactions.

Starting with how the Scooby gang would react to Mr. Charlie Chan himself, I agree with you that I think they would be excited to meet him, in a "this is an honor" sort of way, or at least in a "this is so cool I'm hanging out with the Charlie Chan" way. I feel like that could influence how they would solve a mystery with him and the Chan Clan, too, in a variety of interesting ways. Maybe they be inspired to try extra hard and impress him, maybe they would try to mirror what he's doing exactly, maybe they would end up getting distracted by him in a celebrity sorta sense and begin to slip up. Lot's of possibilities there.

I do think it would be best to keep them working with the Chan kids and not him specifically though, like how he doesn't work his own kids directly to solve their mysteries. That way we can see the Scooby gang getting to be impressed at how Mr. Chan was able to solve the mystery or Mr. Chan approving of how they were able to solve the mystery themselves, whichever ending is preferred.

As for how the Scooby gang would interact with the Chan Clan proper, I can imagine Scooby and Shaggy having good interactions with both Henry + Stanley and the youngest Chan kids.

With Henry + Stanley its mainly in a comedic way. I think Stanley and all his disguises would fit in well with the skits Scooby and Shaggy do with the monsters, and would probably want to do them as often as possible. Relatedly, I think it would just further exasperate Henry, who was probably hoping that since Scooby and Shaggy are professional detectives, they would take things a bit more seriously and would help ground Stanley and his wild ideas. Instead he gets "Stanley but cowardly", much to his dismay.

With the youngest Chan kids, I like the idea of Scooby and Shaggy working with them because I think that's what the writers likely would have done. During these crossovers the writers tended to go the "cowards stick together" route, and those four (in particular Mimi and Nancy) are the closest the show has to that role. Likewise, since these four are the ones who have Chu-Chu with them, Scooby would be able to hang out with him and get the perquisite "companion character interactions".

I also like the idea because I think Scooby and Shaggy would just work well with kids more generally. For example, I think they would try and comfort Mimi and Nancy when they get frightened, and would be able to show them that guys get scared too (since they two them do get teased for being "scared girls" by their brothers sometimes).

I don't have as many ideas for how the other three Scooby gang members would interact with the Chan Clan, but I do have a couple.

For Velma for instance, I once saw a speculation that she and Henry could have an interesting dynamic, and I'm inclined to agree. I figure it would be the opposite of the situation I described earlier, with Henry and Velma getting along well and Stanley getting exasperated because the two of them keep taking everything super seriously and denying all of his out-of-the-box ideas.

I also think the interactions between her and the four middle kids could be interesting, especially with Anne. I imagine the two of them could bond over their views on gender/gender presentation, and that Velma could help her lead her group, as a sort of brain to her brawn.

For Fred and Daphne, all I can really think of at the moment is them working with the four middle kids and how that could tie into the "boys vs. girls" dynamic that appears throughout The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (a dynamic I don't super care for personally but cannot deny is part of the series). What I imagine would happen is that Fred would slip into his natural leader role during the mystery, which Anne wouldn't particularly appreciate, as she takes the leader role within her group and would not want to be usurped as it were by a guy. This would lead to the boys and girls splitting up further (but still staying in contact via Chan Comm), and interactions based on those smaller groupings. I would think that Daphne and Susie would get along, for instance.

[hearts401]

FUCKING THIIISSS AND THATS WHY I HATE FNAF 3S PLACE IN THE STORY LIKE

It’s a great conclusion to the missing kids story and leaves room for Charlie and Cassidy to continue (with golden Freddy and puppet not being there) for fnaf 6 and ucn

But also they’ve connected it to michael in a way that is frustrating. Freeing the kids AND getting rid of his dad??? NOOOOOO AUGH

I just wish his “heroism” was dedicated to his family because THAT WAS HIS MOTIVATOR

And the missing kids have something entirely different. They want revenge and refuse to rest. The fnaf 3 fire was someone holding their hands and telling them “it’s over now, you can rest” AND I DONT GET WHY IT HAS TO BE MICHAEL… if we could have someone dedicated to solving this mystery and helping these kids, someone who’s MOTIVE is to help these kids, it’d make more sense

But instead by using this as an attempt to kill William they’ve tied it to Michael

Yk what fuck it what if I say Michael shouldn’t be the fnaf 3 protag either what then. What if I say him coming to find William should’ve been fnaf 6 WHAT TJEN

I don’t Even think that he doesn’t feel sympathy for the kids. I just think that he has tunnel vision and wants to fix his family. He wants to put them back together. It’s just completely different from the mci… augh

Yeah Michaels my favorite. Yes im trying to make him less relevant because I think he overtakes the narrative so much it makes him boring. What about it?

[unhonest-iago]

Chuckle Sandwich as Academias

Charlie—Green Academia (x)

Grows algae under his bed

Has a mushroom identifying app on his phone

Makes his own paper & paper beads

The paper beads being used to make necklaces

Has his own herbs garden, hasn’t quite gotten the gist of growing vegetables yet

Has alarms set on his phone—reminds him when he needs to water his plants

Always forgets to de-weed as he finds them quite beautiful as well

Still wishes on dandelions and shooting stars

Walks barefoot a lot

You can always find a few ladybugs crawling around the tables outside—makes you have tea parties w/ him

The Secret Garden, Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry, & a Floriography book are some books that you can find in his library

Knows well enough to leave faerie rings alone

Schlatt—Chaos Academia (x)

Takes polaroids of the most random shit

Has the vibes of Shane Madej in that he seems to not give a shit about anything

Want to ramble about the obscure book about cryptid you found in the library at 2am? He’s your guy

Has the best pick-me-up coffee recipes; no one trusts his cooking otherwise

On his desk lays a slice of forgotten pizza atop a book

Instead of your usual battle jacket, it’s a lab coat that he put a fuckton of patches & pins on

You rarely see him in class or the library, yet he still gets decent grades

And when you do see him in the library, it’s him getting kicked out w/ a pissed off Ted few steps behind

For a science class, he randomly asked if he could get extra credit for a culture of mold spores claiming it was accidental when everyone knows it wasn’t

Couldn’t find a glass due to all them being dirty so you just see Schlatt drinking monster out of what looks to be an IV bag

Ted—Dark Academia (x)

Will solve an Agatha Christie murder mystery for fun but comes up w/ the weirdest theories

Purposely starts debates w/ stuff like; is water wet? how many holes does a straw have? was the dress blue or gold?

Quotes the ‘To be or not to be’ monologue from Hamlet—has a worn prop skull for it

Goes to Charlie when he can’t figure out what plant ol’ Shakespeare is referencing

Has a pinboard where he keeps writing ideas and odd poems on, most being on the back of old receipts

Partially for the pretentiousness, partially b/c why not?, Ted learns how to use quills

With it, once wrote Schlatt an elaborate ‘fuck you’

Has few moths framed on his walls, a small name tag hanging, telling what species it is

If you can’t find him, look for the big statue of the Abraham Lincoln; he’ll probably be sitting in the statue’s lap (x)

[therealvinelle]

What if Bella got possessed by a demon in Twilight? Like pretty standard, The Exorcist type of stuff.

A lot of you anons should just head on to Ao3 instead of my inbox because whereever you went with this fic idea, I’m sure it’d be delightful. Lulzy, but an absolute delight.

Since you say Twilight, I’ll just set the timeline to the beginning of the series, when Bella has just arrived in Forks. She got possessed just before leaving, as Renée wanted to try an ouija board.

So, for the purposes of this ask, demons are real within the Twilight universe. They have to be very few and far in between, though, since humans don’t know about them and they presumably don’t care about following the Volturi law.

Bella is Reagan and the demon Pazuzu has taken up residence within her.

As happened in The Exorcist, this isn’t very noticeable at first. Bella starts saying some messed up things, yes, enough so that the other kids at school avoid her and the teachers give Charlie a call, but she’s not running down the stairs like a spider. Charlie is worried about her behavior and calls Renée about this, but he’s not dialing up any priests just yet.

Well, Bella gets worse.

Edward, for the record, was interested in this delicious smelling girl with the mystery box brain up until she started spouting profanities in the hallways at other students. Not being able to read her mind, he assumes Bella Swan is just like that. There’s no challenge, no reward, nothing to keeping her alive, his only real reason for not eating her at this point is Carlisle. Though his sheer distaste at that vulgar human who dares to tempt him so makes him resistent to drinking her blood, just out of spite. She’s not his perfect damsel with the delicious blood, and that ruins a lot of the appeal. Not all, mind, because that blood is still delicious.

Though it does help when she’s pulled out of school. Edward can pretend vulgar hamburger doesn’t exist, even as he ruffles through her wardrobe for sweaters to huff.

Back to Charlie, whose daughter is now running down the stairs like the spider.

He sends her to every shrink he can afford, has all the doctors in Forks look at her, and none of them give him an answer he can believe. He’s at his wit’s end.

And this affliction, whatever it is, that’s affecting Bella, it doesn’t seem natural, not human. She speaks in tongues, sexually assaults herself (yes, this happens in the movie), growls and hisses like an animal, in every way acts like- well, whatever it is, Charlie’s ability to deny that this his daughter’s affliction is supernatural in origin is growing thin.

But none of the shrinks can help him with that, and Charlie is a “lapsed Lutheran”, so I doubt priests is something he’ll consider all that seriously. He needs occult help, yes, but from someone who will actually help Bella.

His mind turns towards Carlisle Cullen and his children, and how Billy reacted when they moved into town.

Charlie laughed off his friends’ fears then, thought it was ridiculous to believe the Cullens could ever be anything but human. He dismissed their unusual looks as just that, unusual looks, their too-good-to-be-true cover story as them being that wonderful, and was quite happy about it.

That was then, now his daughter is fast becoming proof that the occult is indeed real.

And Dr. Cullen is so very kind, excellent in his work as a doctor and above all knowledgeable.

Say that Billy was right, that these guys aren’t as human as they appear. Well, that makes them the only people in the world, in Charlie’s world anyhow, who might be able to help.

Which is how Carlisle has the town chief walk into his office, tell him his daughter is possessed by a demon, and that Carlisle has to come over and have a look at her.

Now, as I think demons would be extremely rare, we’ll allow that Carlisle with all likelihood hasn’t seen any of these before. Quite the contrary, he was once a man who persecuted women suspected of witchcraft. He understands Charlie a little too well, but is also not touching this exorcism quest with a ten-foot pole.

Except, the chief seems convinced that Carlisle himself isn’t entirely human.

What would a human doctor do?

Carlisle really has no choice here but to come with Charlie. Besides, no matter how one looks at it what Charlie said about Bella is highly disturbing, the girl obviously needs medical attention.

So Carlisle has a look at Bella, and his “ahahaha we’re all human in here” smile quickly stiffens as he finds that whatever’s going on with Bella, it is indeed not human. She’s spitting green goo, talking Latin backwards, inhumanly strong, impersonating Carlisle’s father, and depending on how closely we follow Pazuzu’s actions in The Exorcist she may have killed a man. There’s scars on her body spelling out pleas for help.

It becomes clear to Carlisle that this girl really does need an exorcism. Or something, anyway, this is terrifying new territory for him.

But he has neither any clue nor the authority to perform an exorcism, and he lacks the network to get his hands on a human priest who’ll do this. More, even if humans could help (and considering how misinformed they are about vampires, the odds of that are extremely slim), involving more humans than have already been pulled into this would not make the Volturi happy.

There’s really only one place to go where someone will have the resources to help this suffering human, and that’s Volterra.

There’s a risk that demons are like immortal children and Aro will kill her on the spot, but Carlisle, still spooked from father Cullen’s voice coming out of this 17-year-old girl in the 21st century, has no other recourse.

So he tells Charlie he’s taking Bella somewhere Charlie can’t follow, and it’s likely they’ll never see each other again, even if Bella is saved. Charlie is devastated, but the promise that his daughter could get better means he can’t refuse. Just the fact that Carlisle isn’t entirely human yet benign makes him the best help Charlie is able to get her.

Carlisle takes Bella to Volterra, where Aro puts on his best Max von Sydow impression and says “Ah, demons... I’ve seen this once before, in the memories of a merchant from Ur...”

Knowing Aro while not knowing the lore of The Exorcist well enough to know what to do about a demon possession if you don’t have a Catholic priest on hand, I imagine Aro dresses up in whatever it is that Sumerian priests wore thousands of years ago (he always told Caius those bedazzled costumes would come in handy someday, and look who was right! VINDICATION) and tricks Pazuzu into possessing one of the humans Heidi brought in instead. This human is promptly killed. Ta-da, Aro smiles to Carlisle, he solved the problem!

Bella wakes up surrounded by insanely beautiful people in an underground palace in Italy and remembers nothing. Carlisle gets the honor of explaining to this human girl that she was possessed by a demon, Charlie asked Carlisle to fix it, and now the nice man who makes jingling noises whenever he moves because he’s dressed head to toe in gold wants her to be a different kind of demon because he can’t read her mind.

Bella caught maybe half of that.

Carlisle refuses to elaborate on the “possessed by a demon” part. No, Bella, you did nothing embarrassing, no one thought you were weird. We hardly noticed you were possessed at all!

But he was serious about that last part, Aro noticed she has a special ability so he’d like for her to become a vampire.

Bella, still, overwhelmed, makes a phone call to Charlie explaining nothing at all but assuring him that the demon is gone. She is then made a vampire.

Edward arrives too late to the party, so late that the party is in fact over, as he didn’t believe Carlisle when he said hamburger was possessed by a demon. Now it turns out that the disgusting, vulgar girl was in fact a delicate flower and a damsel in distress this whole time. Except, now she’s a vampire. Woe! Theirs is a love that never bloomed.

Bella has no idea who this guy is, and asks Renata to make him go away.

[accio-victuuri]

Hi can you provide the link to read manhuas you prefer?

Hello Anon! OMG Manhua/Manhwa Rec! Here we go! I’ve only been reading for 2-3 months (consistently), so this will be pretty limited. I will link to the legit sites. A google search will direct you to others.

Most of these are WIPs and some, sadly, are discontinued. I won’t add TGCF or MDZS here cause those are already a given. 👇🏼

• Body Electric by Dong Ye ( completed, supernatural, lots of trigger warnings and plotty )

Ba Song is the hotshot cop who’s been handed an open-and-shut case: the suicide of a young woman. Except… who commits suicide by stabbing their own body and strangling themself? There's only one man who can help him with this mystery — Bo Shan, the renowned forensic pathologist with a severe and cold personality. What's more, his body produces bioelectricity, allowing him to acutely sense bodily injury with his touch. There's an electric current between them, and each touch sizzles with energy

If you like crime dramas and stories where they solve mysterious cases then this is for you. The romance is subtle, and their relationship is not insta-love. strangers to colleagues to friends to lovers trope. This also discusses alot of issues the society has that will make you stop and think. Ba Song is really the honorable MC in here who always wants to help people and do good. While Bo Shan is the reluctant one but deep inside, he wants to make a difference too. I wish they would make a donghua or live action out of this.

• 30 year old by S-Monkey - ( ongoing, age difference, blind dates, slice of life)

Charlie Wei is a single and handsome executive. He’s also a closeted gay guy who’s been on way too many bad blind dates with women. Charlie’s still hung up on his ex-boyfriend James and is… gasp, 30! Charlie’s family thinks he’s straight and too old to be without a wife! During another bad blind date, Charlie meets the flirty Ethan, who both annoys and intrigues him. Can Charlie finally come out and find true love with Ethan or will he continue on his streak of bad blind dates?

The cover looks melodramatic but it’s really not. This is so funny! I read this because people were saying it reminded them of BoXiao. And yes, there are moments here that remind me of them, but it’s more like an AU of BoXiao. I stayed up late trying to get caught up in the chapters and you won’t realize it cause it’s just that good. I love seeing the older MC loosening up and being more of himself. and the younger one being more responsible in his career. They just become better versions of themselves because of each other. It’s so sweet!

• I ship me and my Rival - by Pepa ( ongoing, comedy, reads like a meta )

This follows the adventures of Wei Yanzi, a third-rate actor in the Chinese entertainment industry, stumbles onto a shipping fandom for himself and another actor (Gu Yiliang) while trying to escape from the flame wars and negativity. He's so taken with this group of fans who actually see him as a good guy instead of an enemy/rival of Gu Yiliang that he falls head-first into fandom and becomes actively involved in trying to provide shipping fuel and the fans' daily dose of fluff.

IF THERE IS ONE thing you will read here, let it be this. It is hilarious. If you are a CP fan you will relate so much and it’s a good time. It just shows how people who think are rivals can actually be really good friends in real life. What we see is not always what it seems. and people will interpret things based on their bias. The MC here is so dramatic! how his inner feelings/reactions were drawn will make you laugh.

• Path to You - by Sinran (completed, slice of life, age gap fluff and comedy )

When almost college dropout Jensen attempts to drink away his problems, unemployed Nathaniel suddenly pukes on him and ruins his night. As an apology, Nathaniel offers to help Jensen with his studies. Despite Jensen's difficulties in getting along with people, the two become friends and something deeper begins to grow between them

The story is so soft. If you want something with mild angst/misunderstandings— then pick this. I love the progression of their relationship and how they take care of each other. There are other themes showed here other than the romance.

• Red Candy - by Hanse (completed season one with a cliffhanger, explicit scenes, assassins )

Shihyeon, aka “Red Candy,” is a secret agent whose code name comes from bathing in the blood of his marks on dangerous missions. Shihyeon’s tasked with seducing and obtaining intel from Hajun, a hot college professor. Shihyeon can disarm enemies, but didn’t expect to be disarmed himself by Hajun’s own tight body. Now Shihyeon’s caught between loyalty to his spy agency and Hajun. Can Red Candy survive the incoming wave of enemies and still indulge in the sweet ecstasy of Hajun’s embrace?

THIS STRESSED ME OUT MAAAN. Wow. I loved this. That season one cliffhanger. It’s definitely up there as my favorite. If you think about it, the tropes are really not original. An assassin is sent to shadow a person and they develop a relationship. That simple. But NOOOOO! There are so many things going on. The Main mystery plot, Their relationship, their shared past plus you have other sketchy secondary characters. And did i mention explicit scenes? Lots of them. I want this two to have a happy ending!!!

• Lone Swan - by Chu Man (discontinued, cultivation, star crossed lovers)

After losing his memory, Yiqiu Shen, a disciple from the decent sect meets a very special man named Luofeng Yan, who is the leader of the evil Divine Wind Cult. When escaping and conflicting with Yan, Shen gradually finds his original self as well as his previous love back. Together they rip off the facade of the martial world and reveal the hidden true

I didn’t want to add a discontinued story here, with no novel as a source material but this one made an impact on me. so. yeah. THE ART. breathtaking. The plot = layered. There are times I don’t even know who is telling the truth. It had so much potential and i hope it will get picked up again at some point. People rec this to those who enjoyed TGCF and MDZS, and they are right. 👍🏼

• Dragon in Distress by Si Wang Wen Hua - ( ongoing, dragons, past life, lost power, fantasy )

This is a story about a little Eastern green dragon and a little Western black dragon playing together.

The synopsis is pretty simple if you look at it but this one is pretty interesting. and surprisingly funny. tinie AoAo is so cute! 🤍 the other MC has tsundere tendencies tho. Lots of lore and more truths to uncover as the story progresses. I’m not giving it enough justice with how i’m reccing it, but if you like dragons and fantasy — give this a go.

• Breaking through the clouds 2: Swallow the Sea - Huaishang (ongoing, based on a novel, crime, drama, cases)

Wu Yu, a newcomer of the Public Security Bureau, is gentle and frail. He doesn’t care about the difficulties posed by Bu ZhongHua, his strict boss, and only wants to stay in the background to be paid on time with enough for food. However, no one knows that this young man’s head is targeted by top drug traffickers for a large bounty or that this courageous young man has once slaughtered the dragon of the abyss. With a chain of interlocking cases, a series of troubles come one after another. Can the two people work together to survive through the difficulties?

Do you see a pattern with me? lol. I like crime themes. This one is the same and by the looks of it, the cases they solve will take longer to unravel. I haven’t read the novel it’s based on yet so i’m just going with how the manhua is progressing. I like it when Wu Yu turns full on action-mode and when ZH takes care of him. Plus it helps that they are both gorgeous. I’ll get back this with a proper link.

• Where the Wind Stays - by Yusa (completed season one, curses, demons, possession, timeskip, explicit scenes)

To break an ancient curse that plagues the royal bloodline, young Prince Tasara is destined to be sacrificed in death. Nara is enlisted as a palace servant to carry out the prince’s execution when the time comes. But he develops a soft spot for the cursed prince, and after committing an atrocious and unforgivable act against Tasara, Nara is desperate to right his wrongs. Soon, their lascivious relationship that had been kept under wraps tests his resolve. Will Nara be tempted away from his original mission? There’s no telling how far he would go to earn Tasara’s forgiveness.

This story broke my brain, in a good way. I don’t wanna say much cause it will spoil the story. It’s the type that you gave to see and suffer through yourself. I am excited for what happens in season II!!!

Honorable Mentions:

I’m placing these here cause I have only read a few chapters and tho I liked them, I wanna read more before reccing it in full. 👍🏼

• I accidentally saved the Jinghu’s enemy

• Global Examination

• Monster entertainment

• Demon Apartment

And that’s it! Hope enjoy Anon! 😊

[medicaldoctordana]

HCs:

Mulder still goes by his last name (now Scully~ or would the Mulder’s be the Scully’s and the Scully’s be the Mulder’s? I think the latter) because what were his parents thinking when they named him Fox?

Bill jr tortured and bullied Fox, but he never once relented or gave in. He endured every bit of pain and it only pissed bill jr off more.

Mulder and Melissa worked together to sneak smokes from their mother’s purse. They skip out on Sunday service together and buy crystals and occult books they have to hide under a tree in the backyard.

Charlie tells all his secrets to his favorite brother, the one who encourages him to be himself rather than to get in line and be the navy man their father expects and Mulder fails to be like his other brother does

Maggie claims she doesn’t have a favorite child but Fox has always been a very special little boy. And he’s the only one that didn’t get the Irish genes and looks more like her jewish grandfather than anyone else in the family

Bill doesn’t know where he went wrong with Fox. He has so many questions about the world and while he admires his inquisitive nature, he just knows it’s going to get him into trouble one day

Dana and her sister fought all the time. It seemed there was never a moment of peace between the two other than when Sam would crawl in her big sister’s bed for comfort when their parents would yell and fight all night long

Teena has a hard time looking at Dana after Samantha is taken, trying to ignore what it is about her that made the consortium reject her and take her baby girl instead.

Bill is the only one that attended her graduations from undergrad and med school. He offered to pay for her schooling even when she was adamant she wanted to work her way through herself. Instead, he’d ship her the latest technologies to aid in her studies and bought all her textbooks before she had the chance to get them herself. He never said it, but he was proud of the woman she became despite the pain and distance between her family.

Scully grounds herself in science, trying to believe there was a plausible explanation for why her sister went missing in the way she did. Each time she thinks she finds an answer, she discovers it was covered by a hundred lies. She joins the x files still to bring validity and hard science to her partner’s work- an attempt (she’s told) to disband the crazy wanderings and spending of the one man, now two manned department. They never knew she was on his side even before they assigned her.

Mulder found the x files through his naturally inquisitive nature, that and his father always looked like the ghost of the man he knew when he’d come back from his deployments. After breaking in to his home office and pilfering his files, Mulder knew there was a conspiracy running deep through the US government. He was determined to find out what it was and why it was happening.

After Scully shared her history on their first case in Oregon, her mystery became his riddle to solve. They were bonded in an unbreakable force since that first night.

Life swap au I just thought of and am now utterly obsessed with…

Fox Mulder born into Bill and Margaret Scully’s family. Third born, hated by oldest brother Bill Jr. Best friends with oldest sister Melissa, caretaker and jolly good friend with youngest brother Charlie. Smothered by his family’s love and expectations but finding small ways to act out and defy the norm.

Dana Scully born into Bill and Teena Mulder’s family. Often at odds with younger sister Samantha before she’s abducted as a child. Was the favorite because she was smart and full of promise but was not the favorite because she stayed. Has never known the warm loving touch of a parent’s love.

Would they still find each other on the X Files? Yes. Absolutely, yes.

[wolfstarsthirdwheel]

(I'm a proud Percy Weasley apologist and my birthday is soon, so what do I do? Right answer, I'm posting headcanons about Percy Weasley. I wrote them a few months ago and now I decided to share them. Enjoy

Also pls ignore my shitty grammar)

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(1)Have you ever seen Percy Weasley with short sleeves?

You haven't.

So my headcanon is that Percy Weasley was very overwhelmed by all his work because he always wanted to make his parents proud and be the best

And he was doing self harm from his third year on

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(2)There are

Bill and Charlie

Fred and George

Ron and Ginny

Right?

So Percy was on his own. And as we know, he didn't have that much friends in school

And he has good grades most of the time

So he obviously spends much time in the library

And who's in my headcanon also often in the library? Sad kids that have homesickness or are just sad in general

Maybe they're also overtaxed by the homework

And Percy basically becomes the therapist of the ✨sad library kids✨and helps them with everything he can

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(3)Percy always was disappointed by himself because he couldn't play Quidditch

Like, nearly everyone in his family was so good at it and he wasn't

He tried in his second year, he really did

But he doesn't have the talent

So he forced himself to study more then every other twelve years old student. He wanted to have something he was good at, even better then everyone else

And because he wanted to be the best student he made himself and outsider. He acts like he doesn't mind but he does

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(4)Percy Weasley was so fucking proud of his siblings. No matter what they did, and even if he would yell at them at first because THEY PUT THEMSELVES IN DANGER AGAIN, he would always make sure they now that he is there for them and supports them in whatever they want to do. Unlike Molly, he always believed that George and Fred were incredibly smart and that they would be successful with their plans. Before Harry gave his reward to them, he saved money for their shop

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(5)Percy gives tutoring lessons before the exams, but he never told his siblings because he didn't want to be the one who they made fun of

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(6)Percy was always jealous of Harry. Not because it his money, not because he was famous, not even because of his Quidditch skills. He was jealous because Molly loved him so much. He was jealous because Molly was always there for him, she was the perfect mother. Percy always wanted that

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(7)Percy never trusted Dumbledore

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(8)Percy always protected his siblings from bad rumors. Every time someone said something bad about his siblings Percy stood up for them, no matter who said it or who he made hate him

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(9)Percy Weasley after Fred's death.

Percy doesn't know how to express his emotions, he thinks he doesn't have the right to be as sad as Fred. He blames himself and thinks that everyone does. He has panic attacks and gets kicked out of the ministry for them.

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(10)Percy Weasley didn't label himself at first. Until he was in the third year, he thought he was absolutely straight. Then he met this handsome boy, one year older than him. He had black skin, long, dark curls and his smile! It started with Percy being unable to not think about his smile. Then he always wanted to be around him. Not even touching him, just sitting next to him, looking at him.

From then on he tried to figure out what was wrong with him. He hated the fact that he couldn't solve the mystery about his sexuality. And he is afraid of his outing. He never told anyone except for Bill. Bill told him it wasn't a big deal or false in any way, but Percy never truly accepted himself they way he is.

Now it's optional to add Oliver x Percy

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(11)Percy Weasley didn't spoke until he was almost five years old. Not because he couldn't, but because he just enjoyed listening to his family more.

Then, almost ten years later, percy doesn't talk much again. But this time there's Noone he could listen to. He's alone with his thoughts and doesn't know what to do. So he just writes everything that comes through his mind down. Somehow, his habit to write it all down turns into poetry. Percy Weasley was writing poetry without even realizing it. Then, one day Bill gets home and sees Percy's notebook, and he didn't want to, he really didn't! But his curiosity was stronger and he took it. He just flips through the pages, some filed with words, some filed with sketches, and he just goes like WOW and tells Percy how amazing it is and Percy's like 'no, it's just calming me down, noting special', and Bill leaves it by that. But every time he sees Percy he asks for a look at his newest pages

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(12)Percy has a nervous habit. He stabs his thumbnail in his forefinger until it bleeds. As far as Percy can tell, Noone noticed yet. He just does it when he feels uncomfortable and doesn't think much about it. Somehow, his nervous habit turns into something he can't control any longer, and the wounds at his forefinger are getting Infected with some kind of bacterial stuff and he's like shit. He tries to stop but he can't, it's like an addiction. One time, only once, the twins convinced Percy to have a sip of alcohol with them. Long story short, it ended with Percy leaving as quick as possible because his finger didn't just hurt. It burned, and Percy felt like dying. He didn't know what to do, so he just sits in the library and sobbs until there are no more tears. As he looks at his finger, unable thinking what he was supposed to do, he noticed that it had an unhealthy green, orange, red color. He doesn't exactly know what he should call it, but it defenetly does look concerning. The alcohol in his blood distracts him from finding a way to make the pain go away. He instead thinks of 11 different assignments he has to finish due tomorrow, and he's so overwhelmed with his own thoughts he simply breaks down. He's not crying. He's not shouting. He just sits in the library and doesn't move for nearly two and a half hours, staring at a wall with an empty gaze. The only things he hears are his own thoughts, and damn, they suck.

After his... Yeah, I consider it breakdown. After his breakdown, he can think a little more logical again. He forces himself to get up and walks to the hospitalwing weakly.

[ellie-e-marcovitz]

Hi, Ellie! I have been thinking about this for a long time and I have come with a response for my mc. So, I wanted to know what would happen to Ellie too. If Jacob hadn't discover about the vaults, What would life have been like for Ellie at Hogwarts?

Sorry for my bad grammar, English is not my first language.

Nela💜

Aw, thanks, Nela. And your English is pretty good for a second + language.

If Jacob hadn’t found the cursed vaults in the first place... Hmmm...

I’ll admit I’m not great at seeing alternate timelines, but if he hadn’t found the vaults... If Madam Pince had locked away the book he had found them in, well, life would probably be pretty different.

He would’ve finished school, with us sharing his last year with a friendly Gryffindor/Ravenclaw rivalry over the course of the year.

There probably wouldn’t have been a ongoing debate about where I was going to school, more a friendly debate about which house instead.

Rowan would likely still be alive, but Rakepick would still be loose, maintaining her job at Gringotts and possibly causing trouble elsewhere. 

There would likely be another mystery to solve, though possibly not as serious.

Duncan, well, Duncan possibly could’ve still accidentally killed himself, messing around with potions, considering Jacob complained once that Duncan had gotten away with blowing up his cauldron during a potions class and hadn’t had points deducted from Slytherin.

Just outside of Hogwarts and not ending up as a ghost.

I would’ve joined the quidditch team in third year, not the end of fifth, most likely. And I would’ve still met Charlie, probably fallen in love.

I would’ve still gone to university, as none of the jobs in the wider wizarding world seemed to fit. Well, author, but that’s generally a hobby.

But I’m not sure I would’ve fought during the war. And that’s probably the scariest thought to me.

But, seeing as he did stumble upon this book, and did find the vaults, well... there’s no way to know for sure.

[marvelvsmarvel]

MCU Sinister Six Roster Speculation (long-form)

Spider-Man No Way Home is all but confirmed to include the multiverse, Doctor Strange, and the Sinister Six which features three of the previous Sony cinematic Spidey villains:

Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock

Jamie Foxx’s Electro

& William Dafoe’s Green Goblin

If we take into consideration that this is in fact the MCU’s Sinister Six and not to be part of the Sony-Disney joint custody Venom/Morbius limbo then we should also include:

Michael Keaton’s Vulture

& Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio

Four out of these five make up the original Six from the comics (no Goblin) with Sandman and Kraven the Hunter rounding them off. Here’s where it does get iffy because if he do consider limbo picks we know that Sony recently cast the real MCU Quicksilver actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as its Kraven the Hunter for a solo film. And then we also know that MCU Vulture was supposed to crossover in Sony’s Morbius presumably in a prison scene where Vulture and Morbius meet.

Either one makes Six but now let’s focus back on the MCU. There is Bokeem Woodbine’s Shocker and Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan who is set up to be Scorpion both of whom could possibly reprise their roles but where either one of them make Six again. So what options are there to kinda limit this search for Six?

My guess is that whoever the mystery Sixth person is would be in charge seemingly cancelling out thugs like Shocker and Scorpion. They would also need to be able to have the capabilities of accessing the multiverse to cross over the previous villains which cancels out the Kraven and Morbius as well. So while that doesn’t seem to have limited the guesses I have three that I feel incredibly strong about:

Kingpin Wilson Fisk: You mean like what Sony’s Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse did? I mean EXACTLY like the Academy Award Winning Best Animated Feature Film that beat not one but TWO Disney movies! Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk already exists in the MCU proper but recently he was rumored to have been added to the Hawkeye series as well. I have been rambling how Sonny Burch (Ant-Man and The Wasp) works for someone pretty powerful but he also made note to Hope “You think that I don't know what you've been building with all of this Quantum Technology? You can forget nano-tech. Forget A.I. Forget cryptocurrency. Quantum Energy is the future. It's the next gold rush. I want in.” That’s some serious knowledge for a mid-level shot-caller. What if Fisk is Burch’s boss? You follow the general plot that Fisk wants to reclaim legitimate power and authority behind philanthropic/business fronts. One of his investments is in a crazy former AIM (bring them back) Quantum Physicist named Dr Otto Octavius (Molina) who is trying to crack Quantum Energy. Octavius uses a harness he wears that controls four powerful limbs that assist in building massive Quantum tunnels because in no way can you get Quantum Energy from a machine that fits in the back of a truck... Anyways Octavius succeeds in finding a way into another dimension. Fisk takes this news and instead of simply running to a big press conference he sees an opportunity to become a hero to society if he can kill this public menace who murdered the superhero Mysterio assuming he actually died. In order to not have the murder trace back to him he doesn’t just use out of town killers but out of dimension killers which includes Green Goblin and Electro, and now a real multiversal Mysterio Daniel Berkhart (not Quentin Beck but still played by Gyllenhaal) who has some crazy illusion tech from his own dimension. Fisk also financially leverages a reluctant Vulture because he has experience against Spidey. This plays out level boss battle style with Kingpin being the final boss. This guess supports the rumor the Charlie Cox will reprise his role as Daredevil Matt Murdock within the film.

MCU Norman Osborn (not played by Dafoe): Talk about multiverse! Continuing me doubling down on my big guesses have Osborn be the person who bought Avengers Tower in Spider-Man Homecoming and rename it OSCORP. Within it and over the past 5+ MCU years Norman Osborn has been experimenting with Quantum Energy with the goal of solving time travel much like Tony Stark did (that no one knows about but the brilliant Norman Osborn came to that conclusion with Quantum tech himself). Have him succeed only then fall under Doctor Strange’s radar. Strange who then has his hands full with what Loki and Wanda are doing to the multiverse decides to ask Peter to stop Norman from messing with things beyond his control because “the universe depends on it”. Spidey agrees and does it in the most Spidey way which is just unintentional destruction of property seemingly destroying the machine which ends in an accident that exposes Norman to Quantum Energy that will later turn him into the Goblin. Norman starts to hear voices believing he is going crazy when it is really Quantum Entanglement just like between Janet Van Dyne and Scott Lang. Villains from other universes are calling out to kill the bug and so Norman gets back to work rebuilding the Quantum tunnel like a maniac to silence the voices. Doc Ock and Electro are brought to the MCU along with another Norman Osborn (Dafoe) who is already full on crazy. Mysterio Quentin Beck is revealed to have only faked his death and comes to MCU Norman with a plan to kill Spidey after learning about what he did at Oscorp. Vulture is again reluctantly recruited with money because of his previous experience. This plays out mob style with relentless combinations of team up attacks the ultimately leads to a Six on bug boss battle. This guess supports the growing concept of multiverse in the MCU by having two Norman’s from different timelines while also bringing the franchise in full circle paying off the moving day from Homecoming.

Nightmare/Other: Ultimately this would be the Doctor Strange 2 villain who is rumored to be Nightmare but regardless should be a multidimensional threat but I’ll use him for now. With Wanda and Loki breaking the timelines this threat is freed from the limits of or the imprisonment of their dimension and are out to send the multiverse into madness. In doing so they find themselves on earth where they will begin their takeover but must first defeat their greatest threat there. Tracing power back to the Sanctum Sanctorum they find Peter Parker hiding out there instead of Strange. Mistakening Peter for Strange in the case of Nightmare he feeds on Peter’s fears which after recent events is that ALL his villains would come after his friends and family. Nightmare existing as a multi-dimensional being therefore summons Spidey rogues Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro from multiple timelines and a couple from the MCU which in turn frees Vulture from jail and reveals Mysterio as alive from wherever he was hiding out at. Nightmare incites the rest of the Six to do his bidding through their own fears but Strange of course returns in time to reclaim Nightmare back into his own dimension for a future showdown. This plays out Nightmare of Elm Street (horror) style with the villains hiding out for Peter and attacking when he least expects it with the goal for Peter to survive the night until Strange arrives as opposed to battles to win. This guess doubles down on Strange’s confirmed cameo in the film because why else need the help of the Sorcerer Supreme if not because of a threat that “could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of”.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E111 (Redux! Oct. 13, 2020)

Gooooood evening good evening good evening, all! I started the VOD late for this recap and somehow the first four or so minutes of the show have a Twitch audio copyright claim, so I am reduced to only reading Brian's lips when he asks if we're on the internet. Hilariously, Marisha's background room is a comfy-looking blue/gold fabric wall with a ceramic colorful abstract lamp and a yellow silk scarf over the lampshade, and Taliesin's is an industrial looking games room in grey and black with multiple monitors, overhead speakers, and mysterious metal fixtures behind him. What a treasure this group is, honestly.

Tonight's guests: Marisha Ray & Taliesin Jaffe, discussing episodes 110 and 111 again. I wildly speculate once more about what might have caused their absence: jury duty? Sam appearing on The Masked Singer? Something to do with the animated show? One day, we’ll know, one day... (One day this “copyrighted audio” section will come back from the wars, too. Ugh!) Finally! The audio comes back to reveal Brian discussing the endless reality of digital meetings and Marisha talking about (I think) her glare-reducing glasses she’s wearing. Welcome to the New Age (welcome to the New Age, to the New Age).

Announcements: Marisha suggests checking out Dimension20, another live tabletop gaming group, which premieres live on Wednesdays at 4pm (CollegeHumor). 

Brian immediately wants to know how they feel about the revelation that Molly is alive. Taliesin’s personal reaction: he “knows some things” he can’t talk about and is aware of several possibilities that might be going on, but had a sneaking suspicion that there would not be a body for them to find. He says it’s almost all there for anyone to see in past material. Marisha’s personal reaction: she just wants to know how she’s doing with her theories, & was trying to block Tal’s face out deliberately as she was going off on her theories in the last episode. Taliesin says he thought her ideas were pretty good!

Cad has no clue what to think - it’s like listening to your friends talk about Buffy. Marisha thought it was a 50/50 Molly would still be there, but Beau had no idea. Not that it mattered, because as soon as Matt went through with it the reveal still blew their minds. Tal laid out his plans for the character with Matt during Campaign One (towards the end) after they all got their VM tattoos.

It is a “horrifying and gross” thing to dig up a body, and Beau was pretty reluctant to do it. Tal, as Cad: “Sometimes dead’s better.” The moral quandary of trying to speak with a dead friend was very different here than the frequent occasions they used the spell in C1.

Taliesin says his poker face is very bad, so it’s easier for him to over-react and let it all play out. The only other player he can see very easily from his place in their current setup is Travis, and because he knows Travis doesn’t watch TM, tweet, or participate in social media, he admits he thoroughly enjoyed watching Travis freak out at his freaking out. He says he only knew about 20% of what Matt described at the end of that episode. He was picking things to mug to increase Travis’s surprise. I love this so much.

Taliesin provided the table left leg shake; Travis provided table right. Ha!

Beau is really accepting her role in the Cobalt Soul. It’s good when “as a person, you feel like you can settle into your calling. Sometimes you can do more from the inside than fighting from the outside.” It’s a mirrored but opposite path of Keyleth from C1; Beau felt like she was too good for her duty, while Keyleth thought she wasn’t good enough.

Caduceus is not a big believer in jumping to conclusions. He does have an idea/notion of the “city of the undead” and thinks all this necrotic energy must come from somewhere, and wonders if this is the “capital of anti-death.” He’s willing to believe whatever he sees. This is one of the few things that trigger a bit of loathing and disgust in him. It was terrifying that the Wildmother didn’t know anything.

Beau is pretty confident in her Charlie Day impression laying-out-the-research last episode. She enjoyed taking the things that were known & extrapolating around them; this is a huge facet of Marisha’s own personality and she really enjoys it, so she built a character this time that would allow that kind of puzzle-solving. It’s also why she repeatedly notes when Beau journals, so she can avoid metagaming. Trent’s mention of Vess Durogna’s tomb raiding was completely circumstantial, and the only reason she’d made the connection to the Tombtakers was because she’d recently reviewed those notes for a separate unannounced project. Sometimes she tries to make connections and Matt is like, “It was...just descriptive. Just flavor. The curtains were red...” and she has to discard a paragraph of notes. She feels like it’s still something they have to do because of “look at what he does! Look! It’s totally valid!”

Cosplay of the Week: @kitsunstudios with a gorgeous Caduceus with a very intricate silk vest.

Caduceus’s takedown of Trent! One of my favorite moments in the entirety of C2. Taliesin felt Trent was an asshole; Caduceus felt sorry for him because of how dumb he thought he was. Caduceus’s response was "this is the dumbest man I’ve ever met in my life. He’s so dumb! Is nobody going to tell this guy how dumb he is? Oh, they’re all freaked out. Somebody needs to tell this guy he’s an idiot before somebody gets hurt.” (Marisha: “Before?”) Tal says it was the product of several years of therapy and many drunk conversations with Whitney Moore. It was from a genuine place of concern from Caduceus. “How are you allowed to have this much power and be that dumb?”

Brian loved how funny it was to watch everyone tiptoe around Trent and then Caduceus bulldoze through the end of the meal.

Taliesin: “Damage doesn’t make you interesting or better. It’s not what makes you good. Character isn’t found in damage. Just recovery.”

Brian & Marisha commiserate going through the stage where believing surviving something automatically made you a stronger person, better for the pain; instead it just meant you had to pick up the pieces after. Marisha talks about how strength through survival may be true for some people, but it shouldn’t be considered a necessity. Taliesin talks about how he used to think he had to be miserable to write. Brian talks about how believing he liked reading and writing miserable things only limited him for years.

Marisha feels it’s a C2 theme that almost all the PCs have someone trying to handwave or take credit for their accomplishments or explain their pain as being for their own good (Trent, Beau’s dad, Obann). She thinks it’s interesting to see all the various ways people try to take credit for your work/delegitimize you as a person. She loves that RPGs allow you to explore these odd moralities in interesting ways. The only way to fight it is to have a sense of your own self-worth, which is a problem a lot of the M9 started with.

Caduceus likes everyone, and really likes people who appear to need role models (Eodwulf). “With the right friends and the right bar and the right attitude, I think he’d be okay. Come over here where it’s so much better. That seems like an exhausting friendship that you have there.”

Marisha loves the mix of personalities in the M9; Veth, Cad, & Jester were all “we kind of like them!” after the dinner, and she immediately made eye contact with Travis and they both shook their heads. She knows Beau has to go along with it for Caleb’s sake for now, but she & Fjord are pretty sus of Trent’s proteges.

Beau is less concerned about Artagan’s relationship to Jester because “he showed his ass--she’s less worried about Jester now because a little of the magic is gone.” It’s a little like becoming an adult and realizing your parents are also just adults & human. Caduceus wasn’t suspicious of the Traveler for a long time until they got to the island. Aside: Taliesin loves the pantheon in D&D. “The notion of attempting to apply common Western conceptions of religion to a world where you have a pantheon of interventionist gods as baseline makes no sense to me. Everyone admits that every other god is there and doing shit; it has more in common with ancient Rome than anything else.” Now that he knows it was a con, he feels the wind had been taken out of it. He does have a sense that Jester’s gotten back together with an ex: “I hope that I’m really happy for you.” They’re both interested to see how Jester navigates the new relationship.

My internet goes out, of course. I panic for a second, thinking I’ve lost everything above, but all is well! Thanks, Form History Control addon!

Marisha loved punching Artagan, but regretting rolling so poorly. “I miss violence.” Dani lets us know it’s been about four episodes since the last battle.

There’s no way the Cobalt Reserve doesn’t have a single document on the Eyes of Nine. Beau believes “there are no real secrets” because people are just bad at not writing things down. For there to be no information at all seems really suspicious for her.

Fanart of the Week: @oddalchemist on twitter with some awesome Beau conspiracy red-thread boards overlaid a distant shadowy Molly walking away.

Caduceus feels a little guilty for really enjoying his time right now with the M9 and not wanting to go home. He’s starting to suspect that he’s going to go home very different than when he left. “He has the softest problems. I don’t know if I want to move back in with Mom & Dad.”

Beau is trying to get comfortable with the idea of being happy. Jester is probably Beau’s first real best friend & one of the first healthy female friendships she’s ever had. As long as she still has Jester in her life, she doesn’t care. For Yasha... “At the end of the day, Beau is a lonely person and has always been a lonely person. And I think you kinda reach this point where once you’re not lonely anymore, you can kind of come out of the fog and realize that was horrible! And terrifying! And is even more terrifying now that I know what I could have, and I don’t want to go back to that. At the end of the day Beau doesn’t want to be lonely anymore. There’s always been that flirtation with Yasha, but everyone had to figure their own shit out. And now it feels like it’s coming out a little bit of that haze, maybe this actually could be...” There are a lot of ways they complement each other & are good-different from each other. Marisha believes people can be attracted to more than person at once.

Caduceus doesn’t think nature turned against him on Rumblecusp, it was just a reality of nature being dangerous and violent. “He has a complex relationship with nature.” He doesn’t expect special treatment.

Thoughts on the mansion: “Man, it’s nice to be seen.” Marisha: “I don’t know how I ended up becoming the Scanlan of this campaign, but I’m living for it.” It felt like an echo of “I’m better for having known you.” They compare Marisha taking specific notes on the campaign to Liam taking specific notes on people’s favorite tapestries, comics, etc.

They talk about missing theme parks and daydream a park version of the mansion in CritRoleLand. It’s lovely.

Taliesin never expected Divine Intervention to work; he just wanted to roll some dice. He’s still processing what he saw/heard. They all agree it was very useful in the Vokodo fight.

Vilya! Marisha: “Ah! Ah! Ah!” As a player, Marisha was so deep in Beau’s eyes she didn’t pick up it was Vilya at first (especially since Matt really emphasized they should not be looking for C1 NPCs). Marisha’s brain melted. She bawled her eyes out on the ride home after that episode. Right after it ended, Laura told Marisha “Keyleth finally gets her happy ending,” and it makes Marisha emotional again since Keyleth’s story ended so bittersweetly. She talks about the very real feelings of “just wanting them to be happy, though!” She went back and listened to all her old Keyleth playlists. Everyone was teary after the episode. “Everyone has these 100% real memories of being these characters and having these good times.”

And that’s that for that! Thanks for your patience, all, and is it Thursday yet?

[prettywordsyouleft]

Miss Writer

Pairing: Brian Kang x female reader

World: To Be Continued

Genre: writer au / fluff

Warnings: none

A/N: So I had no intentions of returning to the TBC world so soon, but as you can read below, I had a bit of trouble trying to write something for 2021 and this is the result of my nonsense thoughts at the time. I really am happy I wrote this as it feels like a good opening act for what’s to come this year!

Word count: 1558

“Hey! Did you hear about the writer who didn’t want to write?”

“They what?”

“She sat there for hours on end, just avoiding every idea that came to mind.”

“But why? Aren’t writers meant to write?”

“Why am I writing this?” you complained out loud, sighing heavily and leaning back in your computer chair. Staring at the basic dialogue in your word document, you groaned.

Why was it so hard to write?

You had been through this before. Where the words wouldn’t flow the right way, and your characters felt hollow.

But that was because Brian wasn’t in the story at the time.

You couldn’t solve this the way you had back then either. Once Brian had gone back into the world he had stepped out of, you finished the story without any further mishaps. In this case, you didn’t have any other fictional characters stepping out of any novel you had written to send back in. You didn’t even have a character to write about.

That was no doubt the whole problem.

“Miss Writer,” a voice called out, and you turned, smiling warmly at the man leaning against the threshold. Brian tipped his head in your direction. “How’s it going? Is your next bestseller getting ready to leap onto the pages?”

“Ha! At the rate I’m going, I might as well retire.”

“What?” Walking over to your side, Brian then leaned down to inspect your laptop’s screen. “You’ve written only four lines in two hours.”

“Four lines are better than none, though, I can’t say they’re four impressive lines,” you muttered, pouting up at the man. “I’m broken.”

“Shall I fix you?” he murmured, leaning down to kiss you. His lips were almost on yours when the doorbell rang. Brian heaved in a heavy breath. “If that’s Sungjin, I swear…”

“It’s probably Lily,” you mentioned with a knowing smile, climbing out of your chair and heading down to the front door to answer it. When you swung it open, however, you merely stared back at the woman standing there.

“Can we help you?” Brian asked from over your shoulder, right when you gasped noisily. “Y/N?”

“You’re… you’re… no way.”

Sungjin leaned around the side of the house and grinned. “Y/N! You need to stop making people so realistic that they come to life.”

“I’m confused,” Brian announced as you began to bounce with excitement, reaching out to touch the woman’s hand before you.

She grabbed it warmly and grinned at you. “I’m so amazed to finally meet you!”

“Ella,” you murmured and then glanced at Sungjin standing all too protectively at her side. “You found your Constable.”

“Ella?” Brian echoed and then lurched forward, leaning over you. “Ella from the Protector story?!”

Ella nodded and held out her hand to Brian. “You must be the first of our kind, Brian Kang, right?”

“Our kind?”

“Well, I had to explain it somehow to Ella,” Sungjin admitted with a chuckle. “It’s not every day that characters step out of documents, now is it?”

“Maybe that’s why I can’t write,” you murmured, watching the instant despair cross over your friend’s face, whilst a smug smile appeared on your partner’s. Rolling your eyes, you shunted Brian in the side before stepping aside and letting them inside. “Come, I promise this time I’m more equipped to dealing with my characters in the flesh. I won’t be fainting this time.”

“I’m starting to get worried now,” Brian confessed later in the evening as he carried your cat Binks around. “If Ella’s here too, who’s going to be next?”

“Well, considering I can’t seem to create anyone, you won’t have a problem any time soon.”

Brian pointed at you in warning. “Don’t you dare go opening Destined’s file.”

“Ooh, now there’s an idea!” you teased, grinning at Brian as you approached him. Stretching up to kiss him softly, you shook your head. “I doubt I could love anymore more than you if I tried.”

“And you always say I’m the charmer yet here you are causing my heart to go erratic with lines like that,” Brian stated with a giddy smile, his eyes disappearing and turning into little crescents.

“Well, you can’t be the one with the upper hand all the time.”

“Miss Writer.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think Ella is the problem this time. I think you’re just putting too much pressure on your shoulders.”

“Pressure?” you repeated with a frown and Brian placed Binks down before nodding at you. “Of course, I’m under pressure! I have to get my first chapter to Lily by next week, and I have nothing, not even a name.”

“You’re trying to write the next best thing, aren’t you?”

“That’s the whole concept of being an author, Brian. Writing something better than your last story. We’re always on the path of personal growth during this journey, Brian.”

“I know,” he agreed initially, rubbing your shoulders affectionately. You let out a small whine, not realising how tense your body was until he touched you. Brian instantly moved behind you and started working out the knots residing there. He stopped, leaning close to your ear. “But can’t you just write something for fun?”

“Fun?”

“Isn’t that the whole point of writing? To enjoy the world you create. You’ve been non-stop since I’ve known you. Before my world, you write a four part series with Jinyoung, then a three part series with me and Charli. Right after that, you completed Protector, and now you’re looking to follow that up as quickly as you can even though it’s only in the publication stages.”

Brian stepped around to face you, his face growing concerned. “Why don’t you slow down? Write something just for yourself.”

“I have. I wrote you into existence,” you reminded, and Brian slid his hands around your waist and tugged you closer. Placing your palms upon his chest, you gazed up at him lovingly. “I have to write something worth publishing.”

“Do you?”

“Huh?”

“Why not write something that the world will never see?” Brian offered and you chewed on your bottom lip in thought. “I think you’ve forgotten the joy of writing just for yourself, Miss Writer.”

The following morning, you sat at your desk deep in thought. Brian’s words had played over in your mind throughout the night and still were at the forefront of your mind now.

Did he think you had lost your personal enjoyment along the way as an author?

“Hey, that can’t be right,” you hummed, shaking your head before posing your index finger back up to your lips.

Had you?

The last time you had written something just for your own pure enjoyment was Destined. Sure, you had been excited by your ideas ever since, and laughed, cried, grown frustrated and been endlessly happy with the words you had crafted. But you were also contracted to write down those words. Since the third part of Destined, you had been signed under the publishing house you belonged to and had written consistently since. You hadn’t taken any time to write for yourself, aside from short stories here and there when you didn’t feel like working on a bigger story.

Even though you had enjoyed the journey thus far, it hadn’t been one you took alone.

“Maybe Brian’s right,” you said, blinking a couple of times before reaching into the top drawer of your desk for your external hard-drive. Glancing at the clock to see how much time you had left before Brian got home from running errands, you took in a deep breath, opening up your older fiction files.

Back here you were full of naivety and fresh ideas. The world was your oyster, as the saying went, and you had been hoarding many of them. As you scanned the title of projects you once hoped to write, you shook your head in amazement.

“There’s so many ideas here that I haven’t tried yet,” you breathed, stopping on one and clicking to expand the notes on it. “Wow, an enemies to lovers story.”

You continued to make your way through, finding an assortment of ideas. From fluff to angst, and all those in between, you had ample inspiration here to fill an entire year of stories.

“Should I indulge myself in writing these for a bit and come back to writing my next novel at a later date?” you wondered, your smile growing as your computer’s cursor hovered over an idea that piqued your interest.

“I’m back!” a voice called out and you spun around in your chair, leaping up and dashing into the arms of the man you loved. Brian chuckled. “Well, I missed you too!”

“You were right! Instead of looking for the best idea for my next story, I need to take some time off and write for me.”

“I was, huh?” he mused with satisfaction, cupping your face within his hands. “So what do you plan to write next?”

“I have so many ideas! There’s general domestic stories and a murder mystery, some periodic pieces about pilots and regency era based ideas. Of course, there’s a bunch of fluffy ideas, with a few royal au ones and even pirates! But you know, there’s one I really want to try first.”

“Which is?”

You grinned before poking his nose fondly. “You’ll just have to wait and find out what’s to come.”

_________________

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