#BC SHELLY IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTED THIS AND I LOVE SHELLY TOO MUCH 🙄

[love-toxin]

oh my god ur eric draven piece….. him finishing his revenge spree and still continuing to live afterwards is just insane. like grappling with the fact that he’s Still here and stuck with the grief and emptiness even after he’s killed everyone who hurt him and shelly…… im sick. im ILL!!! resenting becoming human again bc its torture…. he needs to be comforted and by god i’ll do it (LMAO)

ugh!! i love it!!!! the absolute horror of putting all your rage into a single act of self-sacrificing vengeance only to realize there's no going home in the end....just have to sit with what you've done and realize you don't belong anywhere anymore. everybody you love and hate are dead, and the few people of the former that aren't you can't have anything to do with because being near them will only hurt them worse. knowing you're probably a monster and you'll never find love or comfort again, but even worse, you don't know if you even deserve that much in the first place.

so when you come along and you try to get close to him, he shies away. flees if he has to. hides. you remind him too much of the life he loved before his death and it's too painful knowing he'll never have that again. he forgot there were sweet people and kind people and people who love indiscriminately and because you're one of them, he finds himself inexplicably drawn to you despite telling himself it can never go any further. he has to hold back. you deserve someone alive and...happy. you don't need his burdens weighing you down, you've got a whole life to live and people to meet and lovers to spend your life with.

but because he's drawn to you, he finds purpose. people in this city love to prey on the vulnerable, the weak, and the fragile, they would even eat each other alive if it came down to it. and the thought of you ever being in pain, in trouble, of you being accosted on your way to work or grabbed on your way home--oh, it boils his icy blood. he would rather rip his own limbs off than ever see you taken advantage of by some filthy scum off the street.

so even though he hates it--hates being alive, hates having to live with his regrets and suffer his pain--he seeks his purpose through more destruction. remorseless life-taking. nobody who hurts you or tries to hurt you is innocent, so they all deserve to be taken out with the trash in the worst ways possible. the man who drugged your drink is dragged out the back door of the bar. the guy who bugged your car has his own blown up while he's in it. the creeps who jiggle your doorknob at night hoping it's unlocked? they'll never find all the pieces of those ones.

because you're deserving of so much more than a life of feeling scared and being alone. Eric tells himself that if you ever find a partner that can protect you he'll stop following you around, but he knows deep down that's not really gonna happen. he'll follow you to the grave. besides, you have so much love to give and he can't deny that he deeply enjoys how badly you want to get close to him, to know the man that is always in your peripheral but can't quite work up the nerve to say hello. even though he's convinced it can never be, he can't help wondering whenever he stops and stares at you from across the street in the rain, watching you through the window as you work....could you be the reason he's still here?

[stonewallsposts]

Rome 2023 

Earlier this year my oldest son asked if we'd want to go with him, his wife, and her parents to Rome. We decided that this kind of opportunity- to travel with my kids again (my youngest son is coming too), isn't going to happen often, so we are going. The tickets are for the end of November. When I started looking up the things to do in Rome, there is SO much to see, especially for someone who likes history.  

I have a list of 21 things to see which I'm considering my must-see list, though a few  of the things could be dropped if necessary, or combined since some of them are 'neighborhoods' that we will be in. I don't know that I need to see the catacombs, and the ancient Appian way is basically a road, so I could probably drop that one too. But there are so many monuments and ancient constructions in the area of the Colosseum that I could add another bunch of sites to see just in that area. 

My son, his wife and her parents are arriving in Europe earlier and traveling to Croatia first. I wouldn't have minded going to Croatia, but my wife just started a new job about 6 months ago and she doesn't have the level of PTO saved up that it would take to travel all over. And my youngest can't be away for that long either since he has pets and will need to board them. So, our trip will be more abbreviated than my oldest son's.  

But still, I'm really looking forward to seeing Rome. I've been there twice before, but only as a stopping point to switch trains. And all the Italians I've met say you HAVE to see Rome for the historic value. I've sent my list to an Italian girl that worked with us at the law firm, and who moved back recently to see if she would suggest anything else as "must see". It was kind of funny, but I actually used ChatGPT, the AI program, to compile the list. When I asked it what the 10 most important sites to visit in Rome were, it actually came back and said something like: "It's really hard to narrow it down to only 10 places, but try these." So I returned: "Alright, add another 10 sites to the list." Which is how I arrived at the 20 places. But then I added the Circus Maximus and the Ponte Fabricio- the oldest bridge over the Tiber, constructed in the 2nd century... BC...let that date sink in. And around the Colosseum there are monuments and arches built by a few of the Roman Emperors that didn't make the list. But that I would love to see. 

Over the next few weeks and months, I want to do some more research and see what kind of timing I might need for each of the attractions and see if I can plan them out so we can maximize what we're able to see.  

Then my oldest is planning on visiting Milano too, where we have family. I sent them a message and mentioned that my son would be coming to Milan, and they were like: you and shelly aren't coming??? 

I said no, we don't have the time this trip to make multiple stops, which they understood. But I am kind of bummed, because there are some new nephews and nieces that we haven't met yet, but, that's the way it goes. We'll have to go back again another time.  

[ourobororos]

Can I get uuuuuuuhhh random hardenshipping headcannons. Au or otherwise.

sure ^^ ill do general ones and au-specific ones

- theyre both good cooks! archies vegetarian and maxie loves cooking heavier meat dishes but they work around that and teach each other nice recipes :) also maxie cooks insanely spicy food his spice tolerance is ridiculous (to me its a hoenn thing)

- they battle a lot! not only bc of that rival thing theyve got going on trying to one-up each other (insane) but also to try different strategies and improve their skills. the type disadvantage makes it interesting when maxie gets the upper hand lol but when theyre not being insane about it its in good fun. battling over who pays for delivery tonight

- that competitiveness isnt just for battling theyre like that for everything. everythings turned into a competition or a race and shelly and tabitha are telling them to calm the hell down but its FUN! its fun

- for the au: they avoid each other a lot esp at the start bc they dont want to address those feelings and grief and stuff ofc but BUT they do get nice moments together in just silence. just the two of them by the lake or in mt. mortar by the waterfall, neither ready to talk abt any of it but just taking in the peace and silence. theyre both exhausted they dont need to even say anything its a shared understanding and solace

- LAST ONE also for the au. maxie is always quite hot to the touch and while it usually doesnt bother him sometimes its too much esp when hes riled up and upset abt something. archies always freezing cold (1. corpse and 2. like dreary ocean water) hes usually feeling preddy numb to everything but heat can be really comforting. they should hug or something 🫂

[missandrogyny]

for @cherrystreet , who asked for this and honestly loves me and my call and delete au more than we deserve

—

He’s driving to work on a normal, Friday morning when he hears it.

See, Louis doesn’t usually listen to the radio—it’s unnecessary, since he’s got Spotify on his phone, an aux cord in his car, and all the songs he likes segmented into a bunch of playlists he can pick and choose from, depending on his mood. Besides, it’s got ads, which is incredibly annoying, and a person prattling on and on about God-knows-what, which is even more annoying.

But he’d stayed up really late last night, marking papers and binge-watching Game of Thrones late, and well. No matter how much Louis tries to deny it, he’s no longer nineteen, and by extension, no longer capable of running on two hours of sleep.

Which is why he does two things he normally doesn’t do.

First, he stops by a Costa and buys himself a coffee. Fucking disgusting, that shit, but sadly, necessary.

And second, he turns on the radio.

He regrets it the instant he does—as expected, there’s a twat already on the radio, waffling on and on about things Louis couldn’t care less about. He’s got a really annoying voice, this one, and Louis thinks that’s probably why he’d been put on morning radio; he seems like he’s capable of waking up even zombies by talking about Cheryl Cole’s hair or Rita Ora’s new bikini.

God. What did Louis just do to himself.

Still, he leaves it on, half-listening, half-focusing on getting to the school. The sooner he gets there, the sooner he’ll get to the teacher’s lounge, where he can nap until it’s time for his first class.

He’s just about managed to pull into the school parking lot—five minutes to seven, he notes happily—when the DJ says something that catches his attention.

“… Cute Lou from the loo!” The twat with the really annoying voice is saying, sounding incredibly smug about the whole thing. Louis tries his best to suppress a laugh, rolling his eyes. It’s a horrible pun, but, to be fair, it’s also quite creative. Louis has to give the DJ points for that.

“What am I gonna say?” From the radio, someone else speaks up, his voice much deeper than the DJ’s. He speaks slowly, like he’s mulling over everything he’s saying. He sounds familiar too—there’s something about his voice that kicks up a strange sense of déja-vu.

It’s also really obvious, judging by the question, that this man is playing call or delete. That’s always a load of fun to listen to.

“She’s cute right?” The annoying-voiced DJ asks, still sounding incredibly smug. It takes a moment for Louis to place the voice as Nick Grimshaw’s, which means this must be the Breakfast Show or something. Makes sense, since it’s so early in the fucking morning. “Do like, a romantic declaration over the phone. And ask her out for dinner.”

Louis has no idea what compels him to turn the radio up. “A romantic declaration?” The other, nicer-voiced man replies. Now that he’s hearing it again, he’s pretty sure he’s heard this man’s voice before, but from where, he isn’t sure. Most possibly from a film or something, because this is call or delete and the only people who play call or delete are film stars or musicians, but also there’s something about this man’s voice, something that makes him feel like they’ve spoken before, or at least exchanged a few words.

Grimshaw laughs. “Yeah,” he says. “It’ll be fun! I’m dying to know who this Cute Lou from the loo is, anyway. You never tell me anything, young Harold.”

Harold. The name jogs something in his memory. Louis’ pretty sure he doesn’t know anyone named Harold—it’s an old-person name, and the list of old people Louis knows is decidedly short. It’s even shorter when Louis adds the factor of the person being somewhat famous; Louis doesn’t think he’s ever spoken to an old, famous person who went by the name Harold.

But then the Grimshaw did call him young Harold. So, either that was sarcasm or…he’s not that old.

He’s so focused on trying to figure out where the fuck he’s ever met a young Harold that he stops paying attention to the radio, doesn’t hear when the person decides to get on with the dumb call or delete game. He does, however, hear when his phone rings shrilly, and it startles him, making him jump up on his seat and bang his knee on the underside of the dashboard.

“Fuck,” he mutters, annoyed at his own reaction. This is why he doesn’t drink coffee, it makes him all jittery and jumpy.

But whatever. Louis grunts, using one hand to rub at his knee and the other to answer the phone, not bothering to look at the caller ID. “Hello?”

He’s met with a dead silence. Louis frowns, confused.

“Hello?” He tries again, slower this time. The person on the other line still doesn’t speak, but Louis can hear someone breathing. It’s kind of creepy, if Louis’ being honest.

Or maybe what’s creepy is the way someone one the radio is saying hello, muffled, like they’re speaking over a phone line, just a split-second after Louis.

Louis narrows his eyes at his radio. Either he’s being haunted by a ghost that’s possessed both his phone and his radio, or this is a prank call.

“Hel-lo?” He says again, this time, making himself sound as annoyed as possible. If this is a prank call, Louis has to admit it’s a really well-executed one.

“Hi,” the person on the other line finally replies, and Louis is surprised by how low and deep the voice is. He’s even more surprised when young Harold on the radio says Hi too, just a split second after.

Louis pauses, an idea forming slowly in his mind. He looks at the radio suspiciously. “Hello,” he tests, and hears the muffled, phone voice on the radio a say the same thing split-second after.

“Hi,” the man on the other line says, and, as expected, young Harold on the radio says the same thing.

Holy shit. “Hello,” Louis tests again, and the muffled phone voice on the radio repeats what he just said.

“Um, hi,” the man replies, followed by young Harold saying the exact same thing.

It’s official. Louis is going completely, batshit insane. He’s never drinking coffee again. “Mate, are you having me on?” He demands, a bit shrilly. On the radio, he hears the muffled voice say the same thing, which only confirms his suspicions. He glares at it, before shutting it off completely. “Who is this?”

How do you have my number, he thinks, but he doesn’t ask—one question at a time. He’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that a famous, young person named Harold has his number and landed on it while playing call or delete on the radio at arse-o’-clock in the fucking morning.

“Hi.” Young, famous Harold who Louis is apparently talking to on the phone, stammers. “Sorry. I mean, hi. Um, sorry again, uh, for saying hi, but, hi. Hello. I’m Harry.“

So he’s not Harold, he’s Harry. That certainly widens his prospects. By a bit too much though, because Harry is an extremely common English name and Louis lives in fucking England. He can’t even begin to count the number of Harrys he’s met in his life.

“Harry?” He asks. “Harry who?”

There’s a pause. “Just, uh, Harry,” Harry says cryptically. “We met in the loo.”

Makes sense, because somehow, he’s supposed to be Cute Lou from the loo, but. Has he even met a Harry in the loo? Louis racks his brain, thinking it over. Maybe he met a Harry in the club he and Stan went to a few weeks back? He can’t really remember; his memory of that night is extremely fuzzy, drenched in tequila and regret. Maybe one of his kids’ parents’ name is Harry, and they met in the loo during a PTA meeting. But no, Louis doesn’t remember a Harry at a PTA meeting, much less giving his number out to a parent.

He’s just about to give up and say, sorry mate, wrong number, when a weird idea occurs to him, all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

And. Fuck.

This is—this is Harry Styles, one-fourth of England’s most beloved, most popular boyband. Harry Styles with the curly hair and the green eyes and the dimples, who can charm anyone in seconds; Harry Styles, whose face is plastered on the billboard across from Louis’ house and behind the door of Lottie’s bedroom in Doncaster. The same Harry Styles, Louis notes, feeling slightly faint, he met when he tried out for the X-Factor back in 2010, the one who had been so nervous that he’d accidentally weed on Louis’ trousers.

He remembers it vividly now, remembers teasing him over the weeing accident. Remembers giving the cute boy a hug, and creepily smelling him. Remembers asking for an autograph and a photo, then giving the boy his number before leaving in what he’d thought was a mysterious and alluring flirting tactic at the time. God, he was such an embarrassing little shit. There’s a reason why he’d repressed all of his memories from before he turned twenty.

Louis winces. “Curly Harry? As in Curly Harry Styles?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s me.” The relief in Harry’s voice is palpable even through the phone. Now that Louis knows it’s him, he can appreciate his voice more—it’s much lower than Louis remembers it to me, but it’s still just as slow and raspy. “Yeah, Harry Styles, hi. That’s me.”

And Louis, because apparently, his brain never grew out of his being-embarrassing-when-talking-to-a-cute-boy phase, blurts out, “You’re the one who pissed on my trousers five years ago!”

It’s official. In order to save the world from secondhand embarrassment, Louis must die. Jesus, he knew Harry was on the radio, why the fuck did he even say that?

“Um, yeah,” Harry replies hesitantly. God, he probably hates Louis. “I’m sorry about that, again, by the way. I don’t really—I don’t actually remember what happened at that moment, I just—”

Louis wants to stop talking about this right now. “No worries,” he interrupts, as casual as he can. “It was a great way to leave an impression. So, what’s up, why’re you calling?”

There. He did that quite well. There’s hope for him yet.

There’s a silence on the other line, like Harry doesn’t know what to say. If Louis were him, he’d just hang up. Fuck this whole dumb game.

But Harry is evidently not like Louis because he pushes on. “Are you still cute?” He says, quicker than Louis has ever heard him speak, his words mashing together.

And it dawns on Louis that maybe, just maybe, Harry is finding this just as mortifying as Louis is. That he, too, doesn’t know how to act, talking on the phone to a boy he’d weed on years ago, when he was a bright-eyed sixteen-year-old just on his way to making it big.

There’s a strange sort of solidarity in this, in the way both of them are unsure how to navigate the waters of a long-delayed conversation, in the way their first proper exchange is being broadcasted to a whole bunch of people listening. And really, Harry is the famous one here, which means that Harry is the one everyone is listening for, Harry is the one who’s got a million eyes on him. Harry is the one who’s going to live with the embarrassment if Louis chooses to continue embarrassing him, because tabloids and fans and social media never forget.

When put like that, how could Louis not try to make it easier for him?

He snorts. “Uh, yeah,” he says, trying to sound completely at ease. He hopes it works—hopes that his easy cooperation will help relax Harry, even just a little bit. “I think I’m still pretty cute. I’m never not cute.”

“Not ‘handsome’ then?” Harry’s reply comes, and there’s a slight shift in the tone of his voice, one that has him sounding a bit more confident. Louis bites his lip in anticipation. “Or ‘rugged’ or ‘manly’?”

“No, I am,” Louis answers immediately. “Cute and handsome and rugged and manly. I’m all of those things and so much more. Keep up, Harold, you should’ve already known this.”

It’s a bit conceited. Louis doesn’t really care.

“Sorry,” Harry replies, and he might be smiling. Louis isn’t sure. “It’s not as if I’ve seen you in five years, or anything, Louis.”

“Whose fault is that?” Louis shoots back easily, doing his best to sound mildly displeased. There’s an opening here, one that Louis hopes Harry takes, so he can get this call or delete game over and done with.

And Harry doesn’t disappoint. “Mine,” he says confidently. “Let’s fix that, though. Go out with me.”

Louis lets himself have a dramatic pause. “What? What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, Lewis,” and Louis lets out an involuntary noise at the mispronunciation of his name. Harry giggles a bit though, which is good. It means he’s relaxed enough to laugh. “That I like you a lot and I think you’re really cute and handsome and rugged and manly and I’d sort of like to hold your hand and take you out to dinner sometime.”

Well. It’s very forward. Louis definitely wasn’t expecting him to be that forward. “Mate, I don’t know,” he says. “It’s been a while. What if I’m a taken man?”

“Then you’ll break my heart,” Harry answers, and this back and forth is easy, much easier than Louis was expecting. This is call or delete game is actually quite fun.

Or maybe it’s just Harry. Maybe talking to Harry is just a lot of fun.

“But I hope you’re not,” Harry adds, almost way too sincerely.

Honestly, Louis hasn’t been on a date in about a year. The last bloke he’d went out with broke things off when they were getting a bit serious, claimed he couldn’t do any of that commitment thing. And Louis is definitely curious to see Harry Styles in person, to see if all the photos live up to what he looks like now.

But then again, this is a game. A prank. Louis doesn’t want to say yes, because then Harry might feel bad for pranking Louis and feel obligated to take him out.

“But I don’t know you that well,” Louis finds himself saying, the words flowing out of him easily. “So for me to give you a chance, you’re going to have to sell it. Come on then, what’s your edge over the other guys vying for my attention?”

If Harry is surprised by that turn of events, he doesn’t make it known. “Well, I’m still curly,” he says, without missing a beat. “You liked my curls, didn’t you?”

His curls were a complete mess when they met. It looked like his hair had grown a boy, and not the other way around. Louis thinks it’s best not to say that, though. “I did,” he says. “But I can find other guys with curls easily. What else?”

“I’m funny,” Harry declares, after a moment’s pause. “Knock-knock.”

Of course. “Who’s there?” Louis asks. He catches himself grinning like an idiot in the rearview mirror, and he scowls at his reflection, pinches his own cheek to stop himself from smiling.

It’s just a dumb knock-knock joke. He really needs to get it together.

“A cow goes,” Harry answers.

Louis rolls his eyes. “A cow goes who?”

“No, a cow goes moo.”

“You know what,” he says, trying to sound uninterested. “You remind me of my little sisters. They’re twelve.”

“They must be hilarious then,” Harry replies, the exact same time his phone lets out a series of vibrations against his cheek. He pulls it away from his face, puts Harry on speakerphone.

“A lot more hilarious than you,” he shoots back, as he navigates to his messages. There, at the top, Lottie has sent him a bunch of texts, ranging from how the fuck does bloody HARRY STYLES have your number to HE’S FUCKING FLIRTING WITH YOU????? ON THE RADIO???????  WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS MY LIFE

Teenage girls are so dramatic.

Harry, oblivious to what he’s doing, giggles cutely. Louis finds himself laughing too, at Lottie’s incredibly dramatic texts and this entire, surreal morning.

“Okay, fine,” Harry says, once they’ve both stopped laughing. “I’m really romantic.”

This should be good. Louis takes Harry off speakerphone, tries to stop himself from grinning too much. “That little declaration earlier was the farthest thing from romantic, Harry.”

“No, but look, I can try again,” Harry says, sounding determined.  "Roses are red, violets are blue—”

”—oh my god—”

“—I think you’re hot, go out with me, Lou?”

“That was terrible,” Louis says, trying to stop himself from laughing. Even over the phone, Harry Styles is ridiculously endearing, and a whole lot charming. Louis can kind of see why he’s got the entire world falling over themselves for him. “I give it a three out of ten.”

“Shut up,” Harry says, but he’s laughing as he says it “So, what do you say, then? Dinner?”

Louis sighs dramatically. “I’m not easy to please, Styles,” he says. “I demand a lot of attention and cuddles.”

“Okay, yeah.”

An idea forms in Louis’ head. “I also like long walks on the beach, horseback riding, sleeping in front of the fire, having my photo taken by paparazzi everywhere, having Taylor Swift write songs about me—”

“Wait, what?” Harry interrupts, but Louis ignores him.

“—Free concert tickets, being able to attend A-list events, meeting Beyoncé and Jay-Z, drunkenly talking to Tom Hanks, baking Stevie Nicks a cake,“ Louis takes a deep breath. “I just don’t know how you’ll be able to provide all that for me,” he finishes, a bit sarcastically.

There’s a moment of silence where he thinks he’s miscalculated, thinks that he’s accidentally offended Harry, and he’s just opened his mouth to apologize profusely when Harry—

Harry laughs.

It’s loud and full-bodied, like it’s coming from somewhere deep inside him, and it sounds relieved and happy that Louis finds himself giggling too, finds himself laughing along with Harry Styles over the phone, like it’s just the two of them. Like it’s just him and Harry and a phone line, like there aren’t well over a million people listening to every word they’re saying.

“I don’t know if I can,” Harry replies.

“Hm.” Louis hums. “You’re right. You’re just curly and you have ridiculously bad jokes and you have no romantic bone in your body.” He pretends to think about it. “Maybe I’ll get a popstar boyfriend instead. You know that bloke, yeah, Zayn Malik? From that boyband, One Erection was it? He’s really fit. Cheekbones and smouldering eyes and all that. Maybe he’ll be able to take care of my needs.”

“You know, then.” Harry states, and the happiness in his voice is audible over the phone.

Louis rolls his eyes, grinning all the while. “Harold,” he says. “I have five little sisters.  And I’m not dumb or blind, your face is everywhere. Here in London, at least.”

“You’re in London?” Harry asks, excitement in his voice.

“Yeah, moved two years ago.”

There’s another silence, where Harry seems to be digesting this information. Then, “So, how about dinner, then?”

He probably remembered he was meant to be playing a prank. Louis decides to just end the entire thing. “Um, you don’t have to continue, Harry,” he says. “I do know you’re playing call or delete with Nick Grimshaw.”

“You do?”

“I mean, yeah,” Louis replies, biting his lip. “Aside from the fact that I was listening before you called—Cute Lou from the loo, by the way, ha—” that nickname is really fucking ridiculous, “—my sister texted me, asking how bloody Harry Styles has my number.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her that we met when we engaged in a rather fun game of watersports,” Louis says, the same time his phone vibrates against his cheek again. He pulls it away from his ear, sees that he received a string of random capital letters from Lottie, and decides to ignore it.

“You did not,” Harry says, when Louis puts his phone back to his ear. He’s laughing as he speaks.

“I did,” Louis insist, his grin threatening to grow wider. He should really tone it down a notch; his cheeks are beginning to hurt.

Still, he can’t help but tease Harry a little bit. “And it’s true, anyway. I have proof. I’ve still got those trousers somewhere, I could still say they’ve been splashed with Harry Styles pee and auction them off. Your fans would love them, I’m sure.”

Those pants have since been washed and stored in a box somewhere in his mum’s house in Doncaster. Or maybe given away to charity. He’s not really sure.

“Oh, God,” Harry says. “Please don’t.”

Louis tries not to laugh. “But how much money would I earn?”

“Louis,” Harry says helplessly.

“Harry,” Louis replies back.

“Lewis.”

“Harold.”

“Grimmy,” Grimshaw speaks, and Louis feels his little Harry Styles bubble pop. He’s suddenly acutely aware that he’s sitting in his car in the school parking lot, grinning like a loon and wasting gas. “I’m sorry, I had to interrupt, despite how entertaining your flirting is, I’m afraid we really don’t have enough time. We’ve still got to play a couple of songs, and answer a few more fan questions.”

“Okay,” Louis says, and he can’t help but feel a tiny sliver of sadness in his chest. It’s dumb, he knows—he hasn’t spoken to Harry in five years, but. Somehow it still feels like Louis would miss him, when they eventually hang up.

God. He’s so pathetic. Louis slaps himself in the face quietly before turning off his car’s engine. He needs to get it together. He’s still got a full day’s worth of classes to teach.

“Bye Harry,” he adds, making his inflection as happy as he can. He doesn’t want to weird Harry out by being too clingy, after all. “I’ll talk to you soon. Have fun at the rest of the radio show, and good luck with whatever.”

He waits for Harry to say “Bye Louis,” before he hangs up, pushing his phone into his trouser pocket. He grabs his bag, locks his car, and brisk walks all the way to the teacher’s lounge.

He finds Luke, the English teacher, already in the lounge, a cup of tea in his hand. He raises an eyebrow when he sees Louis. “You alright, mate? You look a bit wired.”

Louis waves a hand as casually as he can. “`s nothing,” he says, as he makes his way to the small kitchenette for tea. His hands are shaking as he takes down a mug from the cupboard, and he has to take a few deep breath to calm himself. He hopes Luke doesn’t notice. “Just a weird morning.”

“Oh?” Luke asks. “Wanna talk about it?”

Louis drops the teabag into the cup, pours the hot water already in the kettle. “Got pranked, that’s all,” he says breezily. He picks up the mug, savouring the warmth of it between his hands, takes a sip. The taste of it immediately calms him down. “Nothing too nasty though. Was a good laugh.”

Luke opens his mouth to say something, but Louis beats him to it. “`m gonna head to my classroom. Wanna do some marking before the kids come trickling in. Gonna be a long day, for sure.” He waves at Luke, doesn’t wait for him to respond before he’s slipping out of the teacher’s lounge, making his way to his classroom.

He leans against his desk, using one hand to pull his phone from his pocket. He ignores Lottie’s numerous texts, navigating all the way to his call history and tapping on the first number there.

It takes him a few minutes, and a few false starts, but eventually, he manages to compose a text that he deems decent enough. finally have your number! after five years, wow. nice talk to you today. you’re a long way from the sixteen year old i met in the loo, eh?

He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, and presses send before he can think about it too much. After, he buries his phone in the deep recesses of his bag, and proceeds to ignore it for the rest of the day.

He’s got things to do.

[moved-to-void-kissed]

💬 hi im in ur inbox again feel free to ignore this one bc its longer than what the original prompt talked abt but .. would love to hear any ideas for like. if adri & luna had a "hey this is what u missed!" convo in the celebi quest .. was going to add taka in there as the timetravel partner bc im biased but elias being there also sounds funny

The fact that you took the time to send all these asks means a lot to me, friend. Thank you very much. I will not ignore this.

I will give a disclaimer that, since Adri doesn’t actually do the Celebi quest in our version of events, I hadn’t really had any ideas about this concept before you sent the ask. I had sort of envisioned lines from Adri as a part of the quest, since she can say about “don’t worry I stepped in as shadow champion while you were gone and before shelly became the new champion! after luna became an elite four member I took up a position as ghost-type gym leader and I take my battles in iolia valley”. However, this is something a bit different.

(source: this post by queenieboo22)

send me 💬 and a character and I’ll give you a line my self-insert would say if in a canon interaction with them - this is a full default Anna Route situation, meaning Elias is the other time traveller and it’s also in tier 3 instead of post-Tao Trio where you moved it to.

If you just want the one line: “I’m just.. so sorry that I left you all alone!”

And if you’d like the whole (dialogue-only) conversation: it’s under the readmore.

Luna: “My love.. It really is you! You’re still exactly as I remember you.. Oh, I cannot express how happy I am to see you again!”

Adriana: “I know it hasn’t been as long for me, but I am so glad to see you as well, Luna! How have you fared? Is everything alright?”

Luna: “Yes, with all things considered, I like to think I've done quite well for myself. I'm one of the Elite Four now, you see!”

Adriana: "Oh! That's amazing, Luna, congratulations! You're truly deserving of the title."

Luna: "Hehe, thank you kindly! I have been working closely with the Champion to help her keep a better record of this region's history, as well as to preserve what aspects of its old culture would be remiss to lose entirely. It would have been lovely to have you here to see our progress, I must admit."

Adriana: “I am so sorry.. If not for the Relic Stone in our original time being so inaccessible, we wouldn’t have had to travel through time like we did..”

Luna: “Ah, don’t worry too much; when the Champion figured out the answer, it brought us all much solace. Though it was still a miserable affair for myself, and others too, to begin with. Incidentally, where is.. the man who travelled through time with you..?”

Adriana: “As far as I’m aware, Elias is still.. Ah, yes. Up on the stairs over there, still miserably losing in a shouting match with Radomus.”

Luna: “Hah! I daresay Father shall trounce him in all arguments he could muster. ..I cannot say I was sad to be free of him. Though with the young master having previously been lost to us as well.. nothing remained of that time to me anymore. And I must admit, it was not entirely a miserable childhood when I look back on the time I spent with him..”

Adriana: “You’re.. referring to Taka?”

Luna: “Yes. I'm afraid that, even as we worked to deal with the anomalies from the New World, the only person we found from before was that young man who fell into the Void alongside us both; Cain, I believe."

Adriana: "Oh, I see.. Well, I'm glad Cain was brought back, at least. But I wish the same was true for Taka somehow, as well, even considering his fate. I know that you and him had grown up together, after all.."

Luna: "I know that I'm blessed to be part of such a lovely family, but.. With you gone, even once we realised you would return someday, it still wasn't easy. Nobody was surprised when I took up the training of Ghost-types once I joined the Elite Four, after all."

Adriana: "They are your secondary type specialty?"

Luna: "Of course! Not only do they fare quite well on my battlefield of choice, so it was a logical choice from that perspective as the final Trainer before the Champion, but.. I felt it was only natural to honour you in any way I could."

Adriana: "That's.. Luna, I'm not sure I know what to say.."

Luna: "My love.. Why are you crying?"

Adriana: “I’m just.. so sorry that I left you all alone! And- the fact that you did something like that for my sake.. You really didn't have to do anything like that at all!”

Luna: "Oh, there's no need for you to apologise! It is what I wanted. Please, come here; it's alright, I promise.."

Adriana: "Ah- Thank you.. If you're sure, then, thank you. To be entirely honest, the whole concept of being ten years in the future is still.. a little bit overwhelming to me. Seeing everyone and how they have grown older.. It's lovely, but it takes a lot out of me."

Luna: "I can only imagine how surreal this must be for you. But, even so, we hoped - and later, knew - that you would return someday. Even though you most likely aren't able to stay here with us as we are now, I have faith that everyone who's here at the moment will still be here once you reach this point yourself. In fact, I believe that with you still in our lives for these past ten years, as the shining shadow that you are and always have been.. It's safe to say that things will turn out even better than they already are for us now."

Adriana: "Hehe.. I must admit, I would like that. I want to be there for you, and for all of my friends here. Thank you, Luna.."

Luna: “It is never a problem! So please, do not worry, my love. When Celebi takes you back to the time you originally came here from, and ten years pass for us both.. I know that I will be standing here alongside you still.”

[stevesharrlngtons]

what i want.

roman godfrey x reader

summary: takes place in s1 of hemlock grove just after roman’s coma and the aftermath.  

word count: 3.1k

a/n: yeaaahhhh so i know this is st related but it felt more right to post this here over my marvel account? anyways, i just really really wanted to write for roman and this poured out of me yesterday (which is surprising bc i can’t remember the last time i wrote a fic all in one day) but even though i already know this is gonna flop, i wanted to post it anyway just for fun (: i hope you enjoy and if you do read, please let me know that you think!!!!

With an ear pressed to his chest and a hand cradling his neck, you counted the rhythmic beats of his frail heart.

He looked the same, felt the same, smelt the same; but the man we lay still below you wasn’t Roman. Not in the metaphorical sense at least. This man who’s lashes lay gently against the apples of his cheeks obscuring his large doe eyes, wasn’t your love. He was still and quiet and lacked the emotion of your Roman. Your Roman who could never hide how he really felt, who wore every feeling on his sleeve, unable to mask his emotion.

At least, always around you.

A soft french ballad played in the background as you hunched over his hospital bed in the attic of the Godfrey home. You could hear the faint scratch of the needle against the vinyl, more so when there was a lull between songs.

Heavy footsteps entered from your right and you knew before they reached you that it was Shelly to fetch you for school.

“I know, Shell.” You said quietly, like you might wake Roman from his restless sleep if you spoke any louder, “I just need a few more minutes with him.”

The tall girl loomed over you both, watching you stroke Roman’s cheek lovingly with your thumb, the rest of your nimble fingers still holding his thin neck.

She had never experienced the kind of unequivocal and palpable love that she did when she observed you and Roman together. She often wondered if all the tales of true love and soulmates that were regaled in some of her favorite novels were actually true? Because the way you looked at Roman, and the way Roman looked at you, could not be fabricated or faked.

After a long beat of silence, Shelly gripped her phone and typed out a simple message to you.

“I miss him, too.”

She could see tears forming in your eyes once more. Your eyes that seemed to have not ceased their perpetual filming for the last two weeks Roman had been under.

All you could was nod in response. When Shelly placed a dense hand on your shoulder, you silently wept.

It all felt so surreal. But Roman was always larger than life, you probably should have prepared for something like this. You were just so scared.

That night two weeks before, when he had come to you in the pouring rain, drenched to the bone, you had been scared then, too. Roman was dramatic, yes. But never anything like this. He trembled fiercely and his fingers twitched and his muscles rippled with fear.

He didn’t seem himself as you wrapped him in blankets and placed him in your bed to warm his icy bones. You had wound your arms around him as he cried into your neck, tears and snot streaking your skin as you soothed him the best you could.

“I’m ugly, I’m a monster, I am unlovable and disgusting.” He chanted between hiccups and deep intakes of breath, like he was under a spell.

“Please stop, please don’t say that. You’re not, you’re not, you’re not. I love you, I always will.” You whispered sincerely to him, beginning to shutter yourself at the uncharatieric behavior he was displaying.

He startled you even more when he grasped your wrists together with one hand and flipped you onto your back, meeting you with a fierce kiss before you could comprehend his actions.

It was all teeth and tongue and labored breathing as Roman pulled your strings in only the way that he could. Once he was inside you, he only became more brutal. It was more pain than pleasure as he looked at you with soulless eyes and his mouth agape. But everything Roman was, was good. Even now he felt like heaven.

When he had finished and pulled two orgasms from your body, he collapsed on top of you. You cocooned him with your limbs, whispering loving words and frightened questions as his body seemed to pass out from sheer emotional exhaustion, anchoring you beneath him.

The next morning, you were dressed in nothing but Roman’s cardigan and tucked underneath your duvet with no knowledge of his departure the night before.

It was only minutes after you woke that Olivia called to curtly inform you of Roman’s condition.

You placed your own hand, the one not holding Roman, over Shelly’s and squeezed it.

“He is so lucky to have you.” You said, swallowing thickly to look up and give Shelly a smile, “He loves you so much, I know he’ll wake just for you.”

Shelly knew you were trying to soothe her as well, something you had a knack for since you came into the two Godfrey’s lives. She appreciated it greatly, but wished you would let yourself swim and stop trying to make sure she stayed afloat.

“You, as well. He will wake for us.” Shelly typed and you squeezed her hand in a tight pulse.

“We can only hope.”

You dropped Shelly’s hand as she went to turn the music off while you kissed Roman goodbye.

“Where, today?” Came Shelly’s mechanical voice as the music ceased.

“His left eyelid.” You replied, standing up and stroking Roman’s porecelain cheek.

You had taken to kissing a new part of Roman each day as you left him. To cherish him even while his mind was missing. You were saving his lips for when he woke, hoping his subconscious would crave your mouth on his enough to jar him from his slumber. Roman was never quiet about his appreciation for your lips.  

“And tomorrow?” She asked.

“The other.”

As you sat in english class, you couldn’t help but feel Peter’s absence in the seat next to yours. With neither him nor Roman around, you felt off kilter. The boys had been going through a rough patch lately, but Peter was still your friend when Roman wasn’t looking. Giving you winks that would reply with an eye roll, and chatting between classes. You believed you could mend the fence between the two men by simply being Switzerland, but after the police incident, Peter wasn’t so sure.

But you and Roman were alike in many ways, you told Peter as much.

“You two will work this out. Even if it gets hard.” You say flippantly one day as you rummaged through your purse for a tube of lipgloss.

“Yeah? And how do you know? Are you an oracle and just haven’t told me?” Peter jokes as you take the cosmetic from your bag.

You remove the fuzzy doe-foot applicator from the pink make up with a loud squelch and smirk at him.

“Because not only do I know everything,” a swipe of the goods on your lips, “But, I always get what I want.”

Now, his absence along with Roman’s seemed to be significant. Connected.

And then you got a call.

And the ID almost gave you a heart attack.

You fled the classroom without the formality of an excuse. It wasn’t any secret that you and Roman were a couple, so some teachers had been far more lenient with you since he had fallen under. Thankfully, Ms. Day was one of them.

You ran from the class and around the corner for the veil of privacy before you picked up the call.

“Roman?”

“God, how I’ve missed your voice.” He said, punctuated with his melodic laugh.

You burst into tears, clenching your phone tightly in your sweating palm as Roman cooed to you.

“Hey, hey, no. No tears, baby. Too fucking hot to be sad, you know that?”

“I’m not sad, God no! These are tears of joy, of fucking relief.” You felt suddenly very fatigued from the worry and dread escaping your body at the sound of Roman’s voice, and slid down the wall to the grey linoleum below.

“Good, hate to think you’d forget about me after two weeks out of commission.” You could see his smile in your minds eye and your stomach twinge with love.

“You know I could never forget about you.” You replied, whipping your damp cheeks on the back of your hand.

“I’m glad. I was counting on it.” You can see his smirk now.

“Dick.” You laughed and he did as well.

“Eh, you love me.”

“Yeah, yeah I do.”

There was a silence and you wished so helplessly that he was in your arms. Your Roman. Not the still and sterile one. The one with a wicked tongue and a beautiful smile that he offered to you so freely.

It was in this silence though, that you heard the purr of an engine.

“Baby, are you in a car? Are you with Olivia?”

“Uh, no. Not exactly.” And the bubble of joy popped just as it had formed.

“Roman, where are you? Why are you in a car?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about, my love.” He hummed quietly his adoration and immediately you knew what was happening.

“Put Peter on the phone.”

“How did you-”

“Just fucking do it, Roman.”

You could hear him curse, then the shuffle of the phone being passed between hands.

“Hey, (Y/N/N), how’ya doin’?” Peter asked, faking a calm tone.

“Let’s forget the goddamn pleasantries, Peter. What in the living fuck are you doing trying to track this wolf when Roman just rose from the dead?”

“Rose from the dead sounds a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Does it sound like I give a shit?”

“Frankly, no. It doesn’t.”

“And what does it sound like I give a shit about?”

“Probably Roman not doing this right now.”

“Bingo, Fiddo. Now you either take him back to his house or I am coming to find you two and I promise you, I can be scarier than Olivia.” You hissed into the receiver, looking around to make sure no rouge students in the halls were hearing your conversation.

“Oh I don’t doubt it. But this was his choice, (Y/N). Nothing neither of us can do anything to change his mind.”

“Peter, I swear to-” This time, you were the one cut short.

“Baby, listen,” Roman said after commandeering his phone back.

“No, Roman, you listen! I know you have some attachment to helping kill this thing, but now isn’t the time.”

“But it is. It’s complicated, but you just have to trust me on this.”

“I do trust you, Ro. I do. But I don’t trust whatever this thing is.” You sighed, leaning your head back against the wall, “Unfortunately I do trust what it is capable of. Which is a fuck tone pain.”

“I’ll be safe. I have Peter, Peter’s got me. I got this. We know what we’re doing.”

“Wish I could believe that.”

“Baby, I promise. I swear, even. We are gonna find some answers and then I’ll be home to you in one piece.”

You pause and Roman calls your name from the phone, his voice vulnerable.

“It’s funny. This morning you were in a coma and you were more safe then than you are right now.”

“I love you.” Roman says firmly.

“I know.”

Another pause and you know you can’t scold your way out of this one.

“Just… please call me when you get back. I don’t think I can take another minute of being away from you.” Your tears were beginning again.

“Me too. You’re all I can think about,” Roman sniffles, “I need you, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

You both sit in silence on the line before Roman tells you he needs to go.

“Ok… but hey, Turner?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Hooch to be careful. Both of you just… be careful.”

“Always.”

And the line goes dead.

After school you debated going straight to the Godfrey residence to wait for Roman to return, but decided against it. You weren’t sure exactly what Olivia knew and didn’t know, and didn’t feel like being alone with her while you figured it out.

So, you waited anxiously in your bedroom, doing everything possible to quell your shaking nerves. You had a perpetual tremor in your body as fiddled with your phone to try and distract yourself. Which was partly true, the other reason your phone was glued to your palm was so you would know the second Roman contacted you.

Though, as the sun descended in the sky and the night sky spanned for hours, you were becoming more restless. Whatever Peter and Roman were doing was no doubt dangerous and time sensitive, and it made you sick that it was nearing midnight without any word from either boy.

As the night continued to wear on and your mind ran away from rationality into an amalgamation of pure fear and absurdity, you decided you couldn’t sit around anymore. You weren’t going to wait for Roman to call and tell you he was home safe. You were going to drive to his house and wait for him there, and if he wasn’t back in an hour, you’d go out looking for him yourself.

As you put on a pair of house slippers and a sweatshirt over your nightgown, your phone vibrated on your vanity. Your heart began to speed up in your chest as you rushed over to the table and picked up your buzzing phone. On the screen was a text alert from Roman, with only one word present:

Come.

And you didn’t need to be told twice.

When you arrived at the Godfrey’s, you fled your car so quickly you almost forget the keys in the ignition. You ran up the front steps and banged both fists on the door needing to use your excess anxiety and adrenaline for something. And while you didn’t want to face Olivia’s wrath, your judgment was clouded by the chance of seeing Roman, alive and well.

When Roman finally opened the door, you wasted no time throwing yourself into his arms. He stumbled at the impact of your embrace, but was quick to remedy his shock by wrapping his arms around you. The feeling of this made your throat constrict.

“Jesus fucking Christ I missed you.” Roman all but growled as he firmly smoothed flyaways from your hair and placed his strong hand on the back of your neck.

“You have no idea how much I missed you, Ro.” You said, voice thick with tears as you began to pepper kisses anywhere you could reach.

Neck, jaw, ear, temple, cheek, shoulder, trap, clavicle, repeat.

Roman groaned appreciatively in your ear as you covered him in your lips.

“You scared me half to death you know?” You said between kisses.

“I know, I’m sorry. Things have been… odd. I still can’t remember it all.” Roman says, his tone confused.

“Well, Olivia said-”

“I know what she said. I just don’t know if I believe it.”

You furrowed your brows and tried to wiggle in his hold, silently signaling for Roman to place you back on your feet, but he only gripped you tighter.

“Not yet. Just, stay a while.” His voice wavered.

You finally pulled back to look at him, his eyes red from tears and shadowed. Sometimes it was difficult to look at him, his beauty and pain were just too much.

“I’m staying, Roman. You couldn’t get me to leave if you wanted to.” You reply.

A wash of emotion washes over his features as his lip quivers and his eyes attempt to blink back tears. You opened your mouth to try and alleviate him of whatever he was feeling when his mouth crashed to yours.

You forgot how good his lips felt against yours as your mouths meshed together. The velvet of his tongue and the mint and smoke on his breath. His hands gripping you everywhere as he pressed you impossibly close, moaning into you with deep primal noises sounding from his chest.

“Roman, baby,” You pulled away for air and Roman promptly moved his attention to your neck and clavicle. “I need you. Take me upstairs, I can’t wait any longer.”

Roman groaned and bit you hard on the shoulder before hitching your legs higher on his hips and running you both up the winding staircase behind him.

Bruises, at the behest of his mouth and fingers, littered your body as you lay on Roman’s chest as you both still reeled in the blissful aftermath of your climaxes. Roman’s fingers idled along and spine while his unoccupied hand rested behind his head.

He had begun to tell the tale of his night, of Peter and the turn and Chasseur and his mother. He told you Peter was upstairs unconscious and that he was unsure what was going to happen when he woke.

“So, after all this, everything’s still shitty? Is that what you’re saying?” You muttered.

“Essentially. But I have hope… we’re going to figure this out. I know it.” Roman nodded, like he is reassuring himself more than you.

“Me too. You two are smart,”

“You flatter me.” Roman chuckles and looks down at you.

“Just trying to butter you up to get into your pants.” He laughs again and slaps your ass.

“Clearly it’s working.” He replies.

“Well that, and I always get what I want.” You say with a content smile.

Roman hums, “Don’t I know it.”

“You enable it.”

“Again, I know.” He kisses your forehead and you burrow closer to him.

You two lay in silence a bit longer before he sighs.

“I think we should move to sleep in the attic. Just in case something happens with Peter and he needs us.”

We. Us.

The small implication in his word choice makes you smile and once again fall under a wave of emotion, just so happy that your Roman was back to you.

You don’t know what you had done if there was no we or us with Roman any longer. But you choose to not fixate on the past.

You just nod and kiss the underside of his chin. Roman gives you a small grin and begins to get up. As you do the same, Roman throws you one of his white button downs, giving you a stern look as you raise an eyebrow in question.

“Just put it on. I got two weeks to make up for, baby. It started with reuniting, then fucking, and now you in my shirt.”

You try to hold off the wide smile that was threatening to take over your face and put on the shirt, buttoning it to just above your cleavage.

“Yeah? And what’s next?” You ask, watching Roman round the bed toward you.

“Sleep.”

Now in a pair of threadbare silk pajama pants and nothing more, Roman extends his hand to you.

“Shall we?”

“We shall.” You reply, taking his hand, weaving your fingers as he led you to the attic.

i hope you enjoyed even though it was for a different show!! and if you did, pls i’d love some feedback (:::: also let me know if you would possibly want another roman fic bc i have other ideas lol

[starrysupercell]

Hi! I adore your fanfic and ideas very much! they are very cool. I would like to know what your head canon with poco , el primo ando Amber. I am Latin, greetings from Peru. 😌💚💚💚 (Sorry My mal inglés💦)

Hello! 💙💙 Thank you so much. :) I'm glad I'm able to reach so far. And no worries, I understand you perfectly. 😊

So for the Entertainers Trio! 🔥🎶☄

Ellll Primoooo! 👊

He comes from a big family. Right smack dab in the middle, so he knows how to get along with everybody.

He's a extroverted people-person who loves attention, so wrestling was perfect for him! An athletic sport that comes along with some acting.

Great with kids! The younger Brawlers love him. Nita fights him on sight and Leon is amused by him. Jessie thinks he's cool but when he was the heel persona El Rudo, she was so sad.

He even manages to teach them things sometimes. For example, he once told Penny not to play such cruel pranks on people, and she laughed at him mockingly, but he actually frowned at her! She felt guilty and has slightly toned it down since then... but she won't admit it, ever.

He's the one who got Amber hired at Starr Park. I want to say they're cousins, but I want to keep relatives within the Park to a minimum... plus it's so on the nose! :p so we'll see what I choose.

He's so courteous and good too. ;w; He's one of those guys that you can trust in an uncomfortable social situation. Either he can tell and swoops in, or someone approaches him and greets him like they know him, he'll play along with no hesitation. Afterwards, he'd give them the option of "Want me to drive you home safely or call you an uber??"

He has no patience for bullying or rudeness at all. While he gets along with most people, he can be defensive at times. For example, Shelly's attitude, Bull's temper and/or Mr. P's demands can be a big issue with him. He's very quick to forgive though, he's a big softie.

Crippling fear of failure plagues him.

But not anymore, not here at Starr Park :D

~

Poco! 🎸

His guitar skills are phenomenal. He plays without a pick bc he's a skeleton, so he doesn't have to worry about the sound it produces. However, since skeletons don't have vocal cords, he can't sing very well.

If you point out that by that logic he shouldn't be able to talk either, he just calmly strums a chord and asks you what song you want to hear.

Poco is a firm believer in music fixes everything. Feeling down? Music. Feeling pumped? Music! Stage on fire? M-music? Mysterious Park is enslaving people around him? Um.. music...

He makes an effort to be there for everybody, so nobody dislikes Poco. If you do, anybody will assume it's from your end, not his.

However, sometimes he forgets about his own well-being. It's little things here and there that pile up, and it's a mountain before he realizes it. Oftentimes, Primo and Amber recognize when he's bummed, but on the rare chance neither don't, he gets down about it. That good ol' thought of "I'm everyone's friend but am I anybody's best friend? Do people even think about me." :/

The answer is yes Poco. Okay!? Ò~Ó

~

Amber! 🧯

Only child.

She loves to shine, and pushes herself to be an overachiever. She knows how to take her own steps, and on the rare occasion that she compares herself to others, she's just like "well, I gotta try harder too!"

Sometimes, she may seem insensitive, but that's when she's in her own little world. When she realizes she's accidentially wronged somebody, she'll do everything in her power to make up for it.

She's so easy to make laugh, excitable, cry, etc. She wears her heart on her sleeve.

She's super appreciative that Primo got her the job here at Starr Park.

She's just a really big sweetheart, tbh.

She looks up to a lot of people in the park. Shelly, Max and Surge are a few of them, because they're just so capable and strong.

She also sometimes forgets to take a break, because she's so determined to get better, but you can rest assured that Poco and Primo reel her in.

~

As a Trio:

Altogether, these three have the "bestest friends" vibes you could ever ask for.

They're fun, sociable, friendly and helpful.

They may be a little overwhelming because they just love talking about anything. Small talk, big talk, medium talk.

They're very tight knit! Three guitar strings in a row. A tag team who'll jump in at any time for the others. Three...um, trees on fire next to each other.

Poco is the voice of reason in the group, but even he's barely responsible, lol. He's easy to shrug things off in a care free way, and goes along for the ride.

Primo makes the most impulsive decisions, with highly varying results. (Like for example, with one skin he's king, and another he was what, dipped in toxic waste??)

Amber, try as she may, creates the most chaos. Trying to fix it doesn't really go well, and she won't not try to fix it.

If you go anywhere with them, be prepared to talk or to jam to music full volume.

[isnt-it-too-dreamy]

i find it interesting to observe how my feelings towards these characters change as i grow older.

when i was 14 and first watched twin peaks i loved cooper and i loved audrey and they were basically my favorite characters.

i think i have always loved laura and emphasised a lot with her (since she was my gateway to twin peaks (i read her diary before finding out what twin peaks even was)) but not the way i do now. she's probably my number one favorite twin peaks character now bc she's the most fleshed-out and realistic. and i think one thing that greatly impacted my feelings about her is turning 17 myself and passing 17 by and turning 18 and growing older and older... older than she ever got to be. 'cause i remember as a younger teen 17 sounded so old to me. i think only from the perspective i gained now i understand how sad laura's tale really is. like, this is a child. she died a child. it's horrific.

i still like cooper but very differently. he's not the center of twin peaks to me anymore and all his issues are actually...so obvious to me now. lol. i still love audrey, too, i think not a lot has changed there.

but some characters who i really have this newfound love for include albert, james and donna, bobby, shelly. also kind of almost everybody else, i have to say. they were times during this rewatch when i was just so happy all of a sudden just bc, idk, hawk was there. or andy. then again this general love for all the characters has probably already been there in the past and i just can't remember.

but the aforementioned characters are some i didnt really care about much as a teen or that i hated, even. i used to be so annoyed by james and donna but now i just see them as, in some way, typical teenagers and there's something so sweet about them to me, and they don't annoy me anymore. and i really really love bobby now, who i used to not like at all. he may seem silly on the outside but to me there's something so pure at the center of who he is, something that couldn't be corrupted by any of the pain he eyperienced. i used to not care much about shelly either but now i love her--i think bc her life was so different from mine as a teen i just couldn't get into it emotionally and frankly didn't even care yet to try. but now i can see that she leads one of the hardest lives in twin peaks and she's kind of an echo of laura too, to me, bc just like in laura's case, everybody kind of knows she's suffering and nobody cares. a difference ofc is that shelly's social standing is worse and there's this bitter notion that, had she died, people would have reacted very differently than they did to laura's death.

both shelly and bobby are at their core such good people imo.

i was also surprised by how much i'm moved by albert now. especially in comparison to cooper i discovered that albert is someone i have a lot of respect and admiration for. i think he's a good person too. i think that's a reflection of things i understood in adulthood too... that often people who care a lot and who really want to help have to keep a certain distance in order to really be able to do that. i think that's something albert can do that cooper cannot.

i think at the end of the day you can say that as i'm growing older i'm learning to understand--and love--people who are quite different from me. when i was younger i loved audrey bc she reminded me of myself. i loved cooper bc at that time there was only one person who truly cared about me and respected me, and i idolised him so much... and as i was so, so young i thought he could take me away from my unsolvable life; from myself. i think cooper and audrey reminded me of that.

the characters that i started to really LOVE now--albert, shelly, bobby--don't remind me of myself. they remind me of people i have loved. people who were very different from me, who at first scared me, or annoyed me, or who i thought i would never, ever grow to like or want to be in any kind of personal relationship with.

i think that's one of the beautiful things about getting older: discovering that there is so much more outside of your own ego and that so many of the things you think you know are really not so.

[kirbylord]

Now that I (finally) finished watching the newest season of Doctor Who, I want to give my thoughts. This review includes spoilers, by the way.

Spyfall Part 1: 8/10. I had low expectations going into season 12, but this episode was great compared to all of last season. I loved the mystery and the monster and, of course, the big reveal. I was shocked! I absolutely adore the Master, he’s so goddamn childish. and did you know that O sent the doctor a pic of a catfish, bc he was one??

Spyfall Part 2: 9/10. After the first episode, I was excited going into this. (Since I watched this season after it all came out, I didn’t have to wait a week, fortunately.) I loved it, especially the reference to the four knocks/drums and the Master’s tissue compressor from classic Who. I think Dhawan’s Master has now become my favourite incarnation, although to be fair, I’ve only seen two other incarnations on screen. The only thing is they dropped Ryan, Yaz and Graham being fugitives of the law immediately by the end of the episode, and everyone who was present for Bartman’s presentation I guess just forgot that he has/had control over all their phones?

Orphan 55: 5/10. It started off strong. I got Midnight vibes at first, but the monster really wasn’t that good. The fact that they were all humans affected by global warming made me feel kind of pessimistic about the future, and most of the side character’s arcs ended poorly. I like the girl (I forget her name) who Ryan got a crush on, I wish she was around for more than one episode. I also like the furry girl with the tail... don’t judge pls.

Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror: 9.5/10. I love this episode so much and I’m not even sure why. The guy who played Nikola Tesla was such an amazing actor and after the episode I just wanted to know more about the real person behind him. And the Doctor’s chemistry with Tesla was so nice to watch. It really made me like Whittaker’s Doctor more, since I felt pretty iffy about her after season 11. Also the monster was good, reminded me of the spider woman from season 4.

Fugitive of the Judoon: 7/10. I thought bringing back the judoon was a weird decision, since I didn’t enjoy them during Tennant’s era very much. However, I surprisingly enjoyed their presence. Jack definitely brought the rating up for me, he’s just an extremely likeable character, but why didn’t he get to meet the Doctor? I would have loved to see her reaction (or disappointment) to seeing him again. Overall, this episode was very confusing. I liked Ruth as the forgotten doctor, but I don’t know how to feel about the Doctor having other incarnations than the ones we already know. It almost feels like Chibnall tried to create as much mystery as possible since people didn’t enjoy the lack of a storyline last season. Basically, idk.

Praxeus: 4.5/10. I kind of liked it, I guess. The mystery was intriguing, but I think there was too much here. And the girl whose friend died should definitely had more of a reaction to her FRIEND DYING IN FRONT OF HER. But, I thought the ex-officer and the astronaut (sorry, I forget their names) relationship was sad and cute. I’m so glad they didn’t kill off the astronaut, I’m tired of people dying.

Can You Hear Me?: 5/10. I would have put this at a 4, but I actually liked the story of the two gods. I would say they’re trying to fit too much story in a single episode, but I think DW is just like that in general. I’m glad the companions are finally getting some character development, that was probably the highlight of the episode.

The Haunting of Villa Diodati: 6/10. The idea of ghosts in DW is pretty cool, but I found most of the episode boring? I guess? I didn’t pay very close attention until the cyberman came on screen. It was an interesting concept, but I’ve never been super invested in ghost stories. I thought they would incorporate Mary Shelly into the story a bit more, too.

Ascension of the Cybermen: 7/10. It wasn’t bad. I’m glad they brought the cybermen back, but now I’m just confused about where they fit into the timelime? Why does the head cyberman feel emotion? Maybe it was explained in the episode but... I didn’t care much for the side characters, though I was interested in how Brendan fit into the storyline. Of course, my favourite part was the Master showing up at the end.

The Timeless Children: 8/10. This finale is leagues better than the season 11 finale, even if it retconned all of the Doctor’s past. I love seeing the Doctor and the Master together, you can just tell they had a deep connection with each other when they were children from the way they act. I thought the whole Timeless Child storyline would ruin my experience as a DW fan, but it really hasn’t changed all that much, besides making the Doctor even more of a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character than she already is. I just have one question: if the Doctor was Brendan in the past, then why was he on Earth? Maybe it will be answered next season. I guess the Master is dead now, but he’s like a cockroach, you can never kill him, so I expect he’ll be back at some point.

Overall: Maybe it’s because I haven’t watched old seasons of DW in years, but I would say this is one of the better seasons. I know I’m probably in the minority here, though. I always try to go into new seasons with an open mind because DW changes all the time and most people are not open to big changes. Whittaker is a good Doctor (and actor in general) and I feel bad that she has to deal with a lot of hate because she’s the first female Doctor. Also, all the diversity is a good thing, shut up. There literally cannot be too much diversity, that’s literally how the world is in real life. I’m looking forward for season 13. I heard Graham and Ryan might not be in the next season, sadly. And I have a strong suspicion the Captain Jack will be back (lol) to meet Thirteen.

[inrevrse]

𝐥𝐞𝐭  𝐦𝐞  𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞  ...  bernadette  kruger  .  a  𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒚   𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕  year  old  𝐜𝐢𝐬  𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞  who  uses  she  /  her  pronouns  &  identifies  as  𝒃𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍  .  she  currently  works  as  the  owner  /  manager  of  the  town's  local  diner  ,  the  golden  spoon  .  people  often  describe  her  as  welcoming  ,  genuine  &  knowledgable  –  but  also  defensive  ,  stubborn  &  sometimes  withdrawn  .

legal  name  :  bernadette  alison  kruger  . –  first  :  french  ,  meaning  brave  bear  . –  last  :  german  ,  meaning  tavern  -  keeper  (  low  saxon  )  ,  potter  (  high  german  )  . nickname(s)  :  not  applicable  . age  :  forty  -  eight  . date  of  birth  :  may  seventh  |  1971  . hometown  :  hartford  ,  washington  . current  location  :  hartford  ,  washington  . ethnicity  :  german  ,  norwegian  ,  swedish  . nationality  :  american  . gender  :  cis  -  female  . pronouns  :  female  |  she  /  her  . romantic  orientation  :  biromantic  .   sexual  orientation  :  bisexual  . religion  :  non  -  practicing  catholic  . occupation  :  owner  &  manager  of  the  diner  ,  the  golden  spoon  . living  arrangements  :  three  bed  ,  two  bath  home  . language(s)  spoken  :  english  (  primary  )  ,  conversational  german  .  she's  also  able  to  understand  some  french  ,  although  it's  limited  . accent  :  standardised  american  .

okay  so  ...  this  is  a  long  time  coming  (  aka  i'm  slow  as  hell  )  but  here's  some  small  points  about  bernadette  that  i  deem  as  (  somewhat  )  useful  !  also  some  wanted  connections  &  other  points  are  at  the  bottom  okay  thanks  bye  mbvxcbvx  .

born  &  bred  here  ,  baby  !  hometown  represent  .

 first  of  all  i  sort  of  loosely  based  her  off  of  shelly  from  twin  peaks  (  i  say  that  only  bc  of  the  diner  waitress  situation  )  .  the  diner's  been  in  her  family  for  years  &  it  was  always  a  comfort  to  the  town  /  community  ,  or  somewhere  that  they  felt  like  they  belonged  .  bernadette's  father  was  always  compliant  with  everyone  feeling  welcome  and  safe  there  ,  but  he  also  kept  it  rather  family  -  owned  by  only  letting  a  few  people  who  weren't  of  blood  relation  work  there  if  they  needed  .  

 so  ...  that's  where  bernadette's  always  grown  up  in  .  she's  been  there  since  she  was  old  enough  to  legally  work  ,  and  she  doesn't  know  much  else  than  working  .  she  comes  from  a  tight  -  knit  family  dynamic  (  just  her  ,  her  older  brother  &  parents  )  ,  where  the  four  of  them  were  very  ,  very  close  &  basically  inseparable  .  

 her  childhood  was  pretty  much  standard  ,  as  i  mentioned  above  it  was  all  about  the  '  legacy  '  of  the  diner  ,  etc  .  so  she  was  pretty  much  a  workaholic  &  lacked  social  life  ,  which  really  hindered  on  her  social  queues  &  dynamics  with  others  around  the  town  ;  although  she  had  a  few  close  friends  that  she  stuck  with  throughout  high  school  ,  and  after  .  she  got  her  first  &  only  real  relationship  in  her  early  days  of  college  ,  and  after  dropping  out  (  she  decided  it  wasn't  for  her  early  into  the  course  )  &  returning  back  home  ,  they  were  engaged  ,  soon  to  be  married  .  

 spoiler  alert  ,  the  marriage  didn't  last  long  .  it  wasn't  all  sunshine  &  rainbows  ,  no  one  told  them  love  was  hard  .  they  were  in  the  honeymoon  phase  for  longer  than  expected  ,  although  they  ended  on  pretty  good  terms  (  and  later  became  parents  ,  but  again  ,  it  was  unexpected  &  were  on  good  enough  terms  to  co  -  parent  efficiently  to  raise  their  child  )  .    

 other  than  that  ,  bernadette  has  turned  into  some  form  of  home  body  ;  allowing  her  child  to  live  their  best  life  (  but  still  having  a  watchful  eye  over  them  ,  and  keeping  them  in  the  business  as  any  way  possible  ,  e.g.  :  you  bet  they're  either  washing  dishes  or  serving  those  tables  to  make  money  )  so  they  don't  have  the  regrets  that  she  seems  to  have  ,  or  having  just  realised  in  the  years  of  her  parent's  passing  .  she  wishes  that  maybe  she  wasn't  so  tied  down  to  the  idea  of  staying  in  one  place  for  her  life  ,  then  she  would've  been  able  to  experience  the  world  more  ,  or  perhaps  not  have  her  defining  trait  be  the  name  of  the  golden  spoon  .

personality.  

she's  the  sweetest  person  ?  ever  ?  i  mean  if  you  push  her  she  can  turn  a  full  180  ,  but  she's  so  used  to  being  hospitable  that  she's  got  the  back  bone  of  a  wet  noodle  .  the  mom  that  everyone  wants  to  be  ,  or  wants  to  have  .  the  sort  of  owner  to  let  things  slide  within  her  business  as  long  as  it's  not  too  damaging  ,  you  know  ?  

good  at  giving  advice  ,  always  there  to  listen  to  someone  no  matter  the  situation  ...  hopeless  romantic  .  all  of  these  things  all  somehow  come  together  in  one  small  package  ;  but  ,  here  we  are  .  love  her  thanks  !

wanted  connections.

-  her  daughter  /  son  !  please  .  i  feel  that  they're  close  ,  not  the  best  of  friends  because  hey  ,  it's  natural  to  fight  ,  but  they  always  make  up  for  it  along  the  way  .  

-  the  ex  -  husband  .  like  i  mentioned  ,  they  ended  on  good  terms  !  is  it  possible  for  them  to  rekindle  their  long  -  gone  &  short  -  lived  relationship  ?  who  knows  !  the  possibilities  are  endless  .  

-  the  core  friend  group  .  the  people  who  stuck  with  her  through  the  high  school  /  college  years  ...  besties  ,  wine  moms  ...  the  best  kind  of  moms  .  

-  anything  else  ...  please  i'm  begging  .

[chaoticoconut]

BARBARA GORDON HEADCANONS THAT MAKE ME SWOON!!

(and so can you!! alfkvoekfndnej does anyone get that reference anyhoo)

I couldn't NOT post these idk I was showering and then I was hit with a mf tornado of hcs about my favorite gal and I figured I'd share :))))

Barbara and Tim are actually the most potty mouthed members of the batfam, excluding Kate. Jason is close, but only when he's upset (which probably seems trivial bc he's yk always upset but I hc him a pretty chill if not bitter and snarky guy). Tim cusses more when he's tired, but he consciously tries to bite his tongue. Barbara has no remorse and cusses very casually and openly, because she sees no point in abstaining. It releases endorphins guys. Duh. She uses those ridiculous "holy heck Batman!" lines as Batgirl unless she's genuinely thrown off her game. She limits her cussing a lot as Oracle bc she's not one to offend people, and you never know. It's most definitely a civilian thing for her, and anyone who knows Babs knows she's a fucking sailor.

Her favorite food of all time is pizza. Her dream house has a brick pizza oven. She has a food blog with every pizzeria in the greater Gotham area ranked from best to worst. Her favorite of all time is the Gotham Pizza Garden, which is located in Old Gotham near the police station. Technically it's the second best pizza in Gotham, second to Gargoyle Pie Company, which is renowned for being the epitome of Gotham-style pizza and is always busy. She has a lot of memories of GPG though, and loves both pies. GPG also has an incredible Chicago style pizza, which is her second favorite type of pizza. She does however believe Gotham style is superior and thinks less of Dick for disagreeing (@blanddcheadcanons tie-in heyo!!) Very few things make Babs as happy as gourmet pizza.

She grew up watching Teenage Mutant Turtles, Powerpuff Girls, and Star Trek. They all hold a very special place in her heart. There is totally a connection between her love of pizza and TMNT and turtles and mixed martial arts. She once got the boys to go as the turtles for Halloween, with her crushing it as April.

Speaking of turtles, she's had a pet turtle named after icon Nichelle Nichols since high school. Yes, she does call her Shelly. Yes it's cliche. No she does not care. She also has a calico cat named Cornflake that Dick gave her as a birthday present. She doesn't have pet dogs until she and Dick finally settle down. She never had them growing up because her father is allergic and her mother was a devout cat lady. She's not really sure why she never got any on her own, she's just more familiar with cats. After her mom passed away, she did get a bunch of bunnies whom she and JJ named after their favorite horror movie monsters and serial killers.

She loves slasher flicks. It's a family thing. JJ was creepy about it, Jim loves the thrill, Babs loves the mythos, and her mom was never really afraid of anything and found them funny.

She inherited her mother's love for baking. She left her her cookbook, which contains an amazing mixed berry pie recipe. Her pie baking abilities rival Alfred's. She even begins to branch out with her recipes and experiment with all sorts of fillings and even cake-pies (fanfic au tie-in heyo). Everybody loves a Barbara baked good. She knows everyone's faves and literally crushes holiday season. Dick is all about the og mixed berry pie, whereas Jay, who loves lemon everything (hc I saw awhile ago that I just love) prefers either a lemon meringue or a raspberry lemon. Tim is all about strawberry open face while Steph prefers cherry cheesecake or pecan pie. Cass and Bruce both love her cinnamon apple pie. Duke loves just about anything she bakes, but especially her more adventurous, contest winning pies like kiwi-blueberry-black cherry and other originals. Kate will die for Babs' cherry pie. Damian prefers blackberry or mixed like Dick. Alfred is a sweet potato pie kind of guy himself. There's a farmer's market in Blüdhaven her mother went with her to when she was a kid that Barbara still goes to get get all the fresh fruit.

Even better than Barbara or Alfred baking alone is them baking together. Roy Harper is also a pretty good baker. They all trade recipes with Martha Kent. M'gann brings wine to the manor and assembles them all for fun days of baking.

She's also totally the type of gal who made a shit ton of cupcakes when she ran for class prez and stayed I from Batgirl duties to finish them. Just saying.

She picks baking back up as Oracle but several hero emergencies lead her to burn perfectly good desserts.

She and Roy will always have puppy-love crushes on one another and be totally oblivious. They both did ballet as kids, love baking, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, shameless empty flirting, and tech. They're completely platonic and really great lifelong friends. They met at a Wayne gala as kids.

As if she wasn't already talented enough, she's completely ambidextrous. I'm jealous. Dick and Wally are left handed. Bruce is similarly ambi. Selina's a leftie. Maybe Alfred too.

She likes to enter contests and win for fun. She's a monster. Everything from baking to video games to weight lifting, she loves showing people up.

Dick, Babs, and Tim all snore atrociously loud. The batfam hates it. She's the quietest out of them all, but she's also a blanket hog. And a major cuddler.

Her favorite colors are grey and green. Purple does deserve an honorable mention however. Her apartment is a fair mix of green and grey decor and covered in books.

She was a total ballerina growing up, just like her mom wanted. That was until she discovered how kick ass martial arts were, and she got a little too jacked to continue with ballet as a formidable career option. Her next best option is becoming a cop at this point, but her father believes that not only would it be far too dangerous but a waste of her skills (like ballet cough cough). This upsets her so much she goes off and invents Batgirl, complete with a stole grappling gun from evidence.

In college she works as a barista and excels at it. Her dream is to open up a cafe/bakery/flower shop with Dinah some day. She wants to call her half Bean Me Up Scotty! (another hc I saw and fell in love with)

Babs is also a pretty good cook being that she became the family chef at a young age (Jim can barbeque and make spaghetti. That's literally it. Maybe some breakfast). Cooking lessons from Alfred certainly helped.

Her personality is so versatile. She can get along with pretty much anyone due to her wide range of interests and skills which is what makes Oracle so bad ass. She's also a Libra so she adapts fairly easily to any group without seeming fake.

She has a podcast where she rants about tech and feminism and politics and plays video games

She SO took Latin in high school and dominated competitions. She loves classical studies and is a dork for Greek and Roman mythology as well as linguistics. She has a pretty good grasp on all of the romance languages, and learns languages fairly quickly.

She always smells like mint and books. She has killer mint shampoo and conditioner, which is a Kean family thing (they just love the scent). She always smells refreshing.

She likes coffee but prefers tea always. She's like Ramona Flowers with tea

Her music taste is total 90s nostalgia (grunge, boybands, air pop, ska, hip hop) meets far too indie 4 u. Yes she's pretentious. Yes she loves chick rock and *NSYNC and Britney and Kurt Cobain and Biggie and deal with it. She also loves shit you've never even heard of. Was totally into the Gotham punk scene as a teen.

She collects vinyl and books and horror flicks ugh hipster queen

She loves spicy food and Dick cannot stand it. They both like sour candy though

If your Barbara Gordon didn't graduate high school at 16 she doesn't have rights

She was all of the Robin's first crush. Duh. Tim will always think she's the gold standard of women. He likes that she usually sticks up for him. He doesn't mind being seen as her male equivalent lmao

At some point Jay and Babs are roommates and it's literally the best I'll talk abt that later

Her type is guys with dark hair or blonde gals.

[dorkshadows]

BBC Dracula (2020)

I finished BBC’s Dracula LOL. Decided to take my own advice and judge it for myself. So I guess this is my informal “review” of it, spoilers and all. Apparently it’s only 3 episodes, which was... not a good choice given the way it went. But anyway, I went in expecting it to be objectively bad because the trailers were not good and nobody was hyped for it. But I rarely like things the internet is actually hyped for, so ofc I had to give it a chance ;)

Disclaimer: All my personal opinions. Also, the truth is I have never actually finished (or enjoyed) a Moffat show so everything I know about his and Gatiss’ writing comes from tumblr posts I’ve seen in passing (some praise, some complaints, mostly complaints)

Overall, I found BBC Dracula entertaining and it was a lot better than I expected. So things I liked and didn’t like below the cut.

Things I enjoyed:

-Dracula himself was actually kinda hilarious. Did I think the character’s design was attractive? NO. But he was funny to me; there are characters who are so over-the-top bad TM that they become so problematic they circle right back to being non-problematic and he fits into this category. What a hammy villain. Honestly enjoyed his personality and “I’m so evil whatever hahaha” attitude, but I think the creators thought the character was more physically appealing than he appeared.

-Agatha Van Helsing!!! Both of her! My favorite character! You can never go wrong with fem!Van Helsing and even this series couldn’t ruin that. She was so cool. 

-My dad’s galaxy brained review: “This feels less like Stoker’s novel and more like a Gu Long book.”

-For 0.3 seconds, Harker and Mina were Edgar and Shelly Parker and I was weak for them. 

-My standards for Dracula romances are very low, so I was already on my knees thanking the moon and stars when nothing happened between him and Mina. No attraction, no reincarnation, no forced romance! 

-The main “ship” of the show was Dracula and Van Helsing, and like, they actually had good chemistry. They had a pseudo early!Barnabas/Julia vibe minus the romance. Drac was into Agatha because she’s smart, strong, and cultured. Maybe I’m giving this show too much credit, but I actually do think it deserves a kudos for basing Dracula’s attraction to Agatha entirely on her personality. I was down for it, like not in an OTP way nor do I think a ship like this could work without one of them becoming better or more evil, but I was down for it. 

Stuff I’m on the fence about:

-Harker’s casting choice. He just didn’t feel like Jonathan to me. I mean, his acting was good- he just didn’t look the part. But on the other hand, I’m glad he was... not typical fangirl fodder because I’m not strong enough to handle the idea of there being a 500k word b/dsm a/b/o of this version’s Dracula/Harker on AO3 and there being whole essays about how toxic this ship is. Just the idea of any of this happening is too objectively unsexy to me

-I liked the twist at the end of ep 2 lmao. Because I was like “what??” and wanted to see how the hell they’d carry on. The Harker Foundation gave me major Hellsing vibes and for a second, I thought that was they way this show was gonna go lol

-Zoey being able to access her ancestor’s ghost/getting possessed by Agatha by drinking Dracula’s blood. I mean, OK, but it all seemed very convenient and awkward (and a flimsy excuse to do the reincarnation thing without actually doing reincarnation). On the fence bc I love Agatha and IDGAF if she possess her descendant

-Van Helsing’s always one step ahead of Dracula, but it never humbles him for long. Nothing gets to him for more than 5 minutes and 99% of things keep going his way. I mean, it’s fun to watch a villain enjoy being a villain- no tragic backstory or anything, just villainy for the sake of it- but 3 eps down, it’s hard not to call Drac a “mary sue”

Things I did not enjoy:

This screenrant review sums it up better than I ever could: 

https://screenrant.com/dracula-2020-bbc-netflix-bad-disappointing/

-Quincey was not Quincey at all. Arthur was cut (or was he the gay best friend? Hard for me to tell. The treatment of non-straightness in general was #lmao on this show). Lucy’s arc could have been good if it was done less shallowly, but the above review rightfully calls it out. She was being punished for her “vanity.” And I didn’t buy her “in love with death” thing at all- the whole time, it felt like she was being fake-deep and Dracula was dumb enough to take her seriously.

-Mina had it the worst though- reduced brain cells, reduced importance, just reduced in general.

Other thoughts I can’t quite categorize:

The ending was less poetic and more confusing because so little time had passed. I said I was down for Dracula/Agatha but not like this lol. This ending felt like it should have happened after like, 10 episodes of character development with at least 2 instances of villain/hero team-ups. So now he doesn’t fear death because she told him he actually fears death? He’s willing to die with/for her because... ??

It’s a very interesting idea that he can’t feed from Zoey/Agatha because of her cancer. He literally holds no power over her and he can’t save or damn her no matter what he does (unless his blood can cure cancer and I was half expecting that to happen because he’s a mary sue). The only thing he can do is kill himself by drinking her blood so they can die together. It all sounds very poetic and star-crossed rival-lovers-ish on paper, but it was so ??? to watch.

Dracula and Van Helsing had 3-4 memorable encounters, but no real bonding moments (as enemies or otherwise). I could see why Dracula was so weak for Agatha- they succeeded in that. But there’s nothing to support the feeling as mutual. Sure, she thought he was interesting because he was a sentient vampire. But as a person? Nothing happened to justify their “together in death” thing as this great consummation of a relationship. Also, she died as Zoey but he was into Agatha and um... ok.

Also, Dracula’s plan for world domination was forgotten really quickly and had nothing to do with the plot in the end. BBC Dracula honestly would have benefited by becoming a Hellsing ripoff where Zoey Van Helsing keeps the count captive and uses him to solve supernatural shenanigans. At least there would have been a coherent plot and something to justify their attachment to each other.

Final verdict: It had a strong start and could have been a 7/10, but the writers betrayed themselves and now I give it a 4.5/10. The half point is an award because I laughed many times. 

[mikumutual]

answers aa themed questions nobody asked because i’m cool and sexy

also i havent played the 5th or 6th games so

YOUR FAVOURITE…? 1. Favourite Ace Attorney game? honestly? phoenix wright ace attorney! everything’s fresh, there aren’t many weak characters, and the plot is remarkable (especially the fifth case). the whole trilogy is really good as one unit though 2. Favourite case? 1-4, 1-5, 2-4, and 3-5 are tied lol, i can’t make a decision to save my life. 2-1 is really really funny tho 3. Favourite defendant? as a defendant, lana skye. as a person, edgeworth 4. Favourite prosecutor? as a prosecutor, franziska von karma. as a person, edgeworth 5. Favourite ship? wrightworth obviously... ive probably put more thought into them over the last 3 years than any other ship 6. Favourite victim? probably mia fey or gregory edgeworth... but for non-relevant victims, neil marshall :( 7. Favourite murderer? shelly de killer, i LOVE that guy. but dee vasquez was very cool as well 8. Favourite assistant? maya fey!!!!!!!!!! but i like kay faraday a lot too (im so sorry ema) 9. Favourite witness? adrian andrews... or maybe iris? i mean i didn’t like iris but god what a person 10. Favourite quote? “It doesn't matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses... The truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have. Erasing the paradoxes one by one... It's never easy... We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth. This I promise you.” - Miles Edgeworth i made this one of my senior quotes :]

YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE…? 11. Least favourite Ace Attorney game? uh fucking apollo justice. literally what the hell was that 12. Least favourite case? turnabout visitor wasn’t very strong? i guess it’s fine as an intro, but it’s also wonky with the timeline of aai 13. Least favourite defendant? max galactica. he’s better in the anime though 14. Least favourite prosecutor? manfred von karma, obviously. i like every other prosecutor (who i know of) though, even winston payne is pretty funny in hindsight 15. Least favourite ship? “miles edgeworth/female oc”. there are a lot of bad ships though, mostly involving phoenix & his assistants. dont do that please 16. Least favourite victim? zak gramarye for kickstarting that shitty, shitty game 17. Least favourite murderer? again mvk... but also fucking frank sahwit LMAO 18. Least favourite assistant? i guess trucy 19. Least favourite witness? fuck everyone from turnabout big top unless it was the anime episode 20. Least favourite memory of Ace Attorney? repeatedly trying and failing to download the emulator for aai2 hbjsjhdb i eventually got it but someone had to send me the download fully pre-patched and i felt kinda useless DO YOU PREFER…? 21. Phoenix Wright or Apollo Justice? phoenix wright. fuck that “GOTCHA!” mechanic jesus christ 22. Maya Fey or Trucy Wright? maya fey. nothing personal against trucy but i just dont like aj hbjsdjhsdb also maya is really sweet and fun and she has the best sprites. she seems like she’d be a good friend, it’s too bad that she doesn’t have the time for them as a spirit medium and all :( if maya ema and kay got to hang out together itd be wild 23. Investigations or trials? trials are easier in my opinion because investigations have several things you could be doing without such a linear style, so if you miss something, you won’t really know until you wander around forever 24. College Phoenix or Hobo Phoenix? college feenie!!!!! he’s like trilogy feenie but more emotional and less witty. i like to pretend that hobo phoenix doesnt exist 25. Klavier Gavin or Kristoph Gavin? who would say kristoph 26. Ace Attorney or Ace Attorney Investigations? ace attorney but only because phoenix is in it lmao. im actually rewatching a playthrough of aai now, and playing aai2 at the same time, so while it is on the mind, i feel like the cases characters and mechanics - while loved - don’t hold up to the OGs 27. Apollo’s perceive, Phoenix’s magatama, or Athena’s Mood Matrix? i actually kinda like the mood matrix more than anything because it has a really good UI and the magatama is kinda grating. but FUCK the gotcha mechanic it is SO FUCKING STUPID and IMPOSSIBLE TO USE.  where is logic chess 28. Ace Attorney trilogy or Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies? you already know my answer to this one 29. 3D models or sprites? i do like the 3d models a lot but i like the original sprites more! imo original pixel sprites > 3D models > HD sprites. mostly bc the hd sprites are garbage (see here, here, and here) 30. Ema Skye as she is in Rise from the Ashes or Ema Skye as she is in Apollo Justice? rfta !!!!!! shes actually really nice as an assistant, esp considering the fact that we actually see her interact with her sister, which is something maya didn’t have very often. also her random appearance in aai was well appreciated by me

MISCELLANEOUS 31. Did you like what they did to Phoenix in Apollo Justice?

NO I AM SO FUCKING MAD WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO HIM ISN’T HE A LAWYER WHY COULD HE NOT JUST DEFEND HIMSELF FROM THE FACT THAT HE “FORGED EVIDENCE” IT WASN’T EVEN HIS IN THE FIRST PLACE SOMEBODY ELSE FORGED IT AND HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT, MANFRED VON KARMA GOT AWAY WITH A FUCKLOAD OF NONSENSE AND SO DOES EVERY OTHER LAWYER SO WHY IS IT THAT PHOENIX CAN SURVIVE EATING A POISONED GLASS NECKLACE AND GETTING HIT OVER THE HEAD WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER AND FALLING FROM A BURNING BRIDGE INTO A RUSHING RAVINE AND BEING HIT BY A CAR BUT HE CAN’T FUCKING DEFEND HIMSELF LIKE HE DOES IN EVERY OTHER CASE BECAUSE THAT’S THE POINT OF THE GAME AND ALSO HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER

32. Your opinion on Dai Gyakuten Saiban? haven’t played it! it looks pretty cool though

33. Do you think Dai Gyakuten Saiban and/or Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 will get localised to the West? doubt it, since the creators have said that it won’t be. but the fan translations are pretty good, so i think it’s okay

34. Do you think Miles Edgeworth should get another Investigation-game or do you think another character deserves a spin-off? i mean he already has two, so i guess he doesn’t need another? like i love edgeworth but he’s not as fun without phoenix around. ngl i would play a franziska game. or a maya game, or any spinoff revolving around a side character. hell i’d play hotti game if it meant it took place in the trilogy era

35. Opinion on the soundtrack of the Ace Attorney-franchise? REALLY good. really really good. i love how each game of the trilogy has different composers but each track has the same theme and feel!!!

36. Do you like where the franchise is heading or did you prefer the atmosphere in the original trilogy? seriously absolutely completely prefer the trilogy. i’m sorry but the rush of youth and trust is way, way more enjoyable than whatever “i’m 35 and therefore middle aged” nonsense is happening in the 2020s

37. Capcom suddenly announces that Phoenix will no longer appear in the Ace Attorney franchise! Your reaction? He’s been replaced by Penny Nichols. Fuck you.

38. Capcom suddenly announces that the Ace Attorney franchise has ended for good! Your reaction? it was me i ended it

39. Would you like there to be another Ace Attorney/Professor Layton crossover game? i didnt play it but i really like the idea!!!!!! aa crossover games are really funny to me, i mean have you seen edgeworth in project x zone 2, lmao

40. Would you like an Ace Attorney anime? we have one now! honestly i don’t think it did a very good job of representing the cases, but it did do a good character remix of turnabout big top so that they’re not creepy anymore. they also did a really good job with the anime-specific cases, like the one on the train! it feels a lot better paced when it’s intended for that medium rather than just adapted.  also the childhood episodes made me cry

41. Opinion on anime cutscenes in Ace Attorney? like in 5 and 6? mm, the art style is kinda weird, and i don’t really like the voices, but i guess not everything can be pachinko and prozd

42. Would you want to play an Ace Attorney game where you take on the prosecutor’s role? YEAH ACTUALLY!!!!!! it might be kinda weird being on the right side of the screen though lmao

43. Do you like having DLC in Ace Attorney-games? uhhh i hate having to buy extra things, but i’ll admit that they are pretty funny

44. Opinion on Lamiroir’s storyline? i only played aj so if shes in other games idk but i thought she was fine

45. One thing you think the Ace Attorney games can improve on? stop having creepy characters please. also jesus christ if phoenix and edgeworth arent wearing rings in aa7 i will become the ceo of capcom myself

46. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you like it to be based on an already existing case or would you like an all new storyline? i mean the musical did a pretty good job of adapting existing cases, so it might as well be new. it would be kinda hard to balance the games’ timeline & character development without being repetitive or an au

47. Capcom suddenly announces an Ace Attorney movie! Would you prefer it being live-action, 3D animated or 2D animated? stylized 2D animation, probably? i would want it to feel more like into the spiderverse than an anime, though. in my dream ace attorney movie, they’d just need a high art budget, several plausible deniability wrightworth scenes, and prozd to voice edgeworth

48. If there could be an Ace Attorney crossover with whatever franchise you’d like, which one would you choose? (Does not need to be a video-game franchise) your turn to die is probably closest in characterization, although its premise is more “locked in a room” than the open-world investigation of aa

49. Opinion on recurring witnesses? (Wendy Oldbag, Lotta Hart, Larry Butz, etc.) honestly, i like them a lot! i don’t know why people hate them so much - i mean, i know lotta lied, and wendy is a horrible old flirt, and larry just kinda sucks all around. but they’re also pretty funny to have around! larry is a constant comic relief who reminds you how much better nick & edgey are in comparison, lotta is likeable as a general character (like in 2-4, although yeah, not remarkable), and wendy oldbag is really funny. she’s so fucking funny. none of you appreciate wendy oldbag’s quirks and you are SLEEPING ON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

50. Do you think Dual Destinies deserved its M-rating? no idea, holy shit, it got an m-rating? i mean every game before it has had blood violence and very mild swearing, and since DD probably doesnt have anything too sexually risqué, i doubt it deserves a rating any harsher than the rest of the series

okay thanks thats all

[oahumyheart]

The plan was to get dim sum, but ofc plans never go right with us haha He met us at my house at 1230 and instead of getting dim sum we left to go get chinese food. Joc, shelly, jesse, him and I piled into my car and took off to LB. I thought it would be awkward since he was going with all 4 of us, but he did really well. He was quiet at first, until the girls started roasting me and then ofc he joined in and laughed. The bill was was $111 (angel number :D) and i told joc to grab my purse so i could pay and before i was able to reach inside my purse to get my card he pulled out his wallet and laid 7 20 dollar bills and smiled at me. OOOFFFF i looked at him and i felt the same sensation the first time he cooked and cleaned at mardanys house. idk the way he did it was so smooth and he gave me a smile and oofff i wanted to do things to him lmao.  After we ate, we went and got ice cream and watched the sandlot at the house. Poor thing kept falling asleep so we all left him and didnt say anything while he gently snored lol the 5 of us talked for a bit after the movie, just about everything. shelly explaining the urkaine situation, joc talking about prom, juan and i talking about conspiracies. We literally talked for like 6 hours in the living room haha we talked so much about conspiracies and mandella effects that we watched a movie about it . what i love so much about him, is that he talks shit. like hes not afraid to tell it like it is, hes not afraid to call someone out. like we were talking about my old high school & adult crushes and hes like “ you choose the worst ones, ugly and no personalities. do better” and i was too stunned to speak lol i was like yeahhh ur right hahahah all of us shared stories from when we were younger. joc and shelly included him in the convos and asked him questions lol even jesse talked to him and laughed when juan made his jokes. there was a moment in conversation when he explained that his family isnt close, and the girls were so confused and in shock. haha i dont think they are aware most families are not like this, and he said “ this is not normal to me, my family does not sit around watching movies together and talking and laughing together. my sisters dont hold hands while they are walking across the street, or hold onto each other while sitting on the couch.” and jesse who never says anything goes “ dude, i know! my family is the same way. i had to get used to this too, but over the years ive learned this is just how they are. they’re super close” and juan goes “ yea , its not weird anymore for me, im getting used to it” . after the girls went upstairs and jesse left we were downstairs for a bit talking. We didnt talk about us for a change which felt nice. We just talked and laughed. Thats when i brought up the fact that i realized i laugh my hardest with him, like he is genuinly the funniest person i know. And i was in deep conversation and i shared something ive only thought about me:  “ I feel like its going to end soon, I feel it in my bones him: i was thinking in my head while you were sharing earlier “shes over it” me: like i could cry because it fucking feels so fucking wonderful. like i feel so much lighter. but i feel guilty, bc i wanted this and now i dont want it anymore. like i know ill be okay. him: you shouldnt feel guilty, you wanted it, you got it and now you see it doesnt serve your purpose anymore. me: i know, but a part of me feels guilty because i prayed for this. i begged God and the univierse for this and I feel like im throwing away a gift him: was it a gift if it stressed you out? and made you doubt yourself? and made you cry? me: touche  i kinda sat there just processing what he said, and i was stunned bc hes right. everything he said was true. we switched the convo back to what he was talking about. but i noticed his eyes smile when he realized i realized. i saw the twinkle and felt the energy lighten. i hugged him tight when he left and thanked him for lunch and for coming over. like i hugged him tight and my head was against his neck for a brief moment. “ thank you so much for lunch, you really didnt have to do all that” . “why you saying thank you if you already venmoed me -_-” . 🤣

[gothicpoets]

Get to know me tag!! 

Thank you @markincolour & @peachjy for tagging me!! I enjoyed reading all of your answers and hoping you’re both having a lovely day! 💖

RULES: you must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people THE LAST: 1. drink: coffee 2. phone call: my mom 3. text message: one of my best friends 4. song you listened to: Cherry Bomb - Nct-127 5. time you cried: the other day? i cry every week as a coping mechanism for my weekly sufferings  6. dated someone twice: i never dated anyone... kinda thankful 7. kissed someone and regretted it: i never kissed anyone before  8. been cheated on: nah 9. lost someone special: kinda?  10. been depressed: I’ve been depressed since 1998 lmao 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: yeah... but the hangover is so awful LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14. Blue, Black, Purple IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. made new friends: yes!!! I love all of them 16. fallen out of love: yeah kinda  17. laughed until you cried: yeah especially whenever i tell stories to my friends over snapchat about something and i can’t control myself aksakjsdks 18. found out someone was talking about you: yeah i had to find out from my best friend and it was soo funny and petty but that’s a long ass story 19. met someone who changed you: all of my best friends :( 20. found out who your friends are: yes, especially after high school 21. kissed someone on your facebook list: no, i deactivated fb years ago anyways GENERAL: 22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: don’t have 1 anymore so none?  23. do you have any pets: yes!!!!!!!! i have two doggies :D their names are Shelly and Wrangler 💖💖 24. do you want to change your name: i want to change my legal name to Tina but that seems like a lot of work 25. what did you do for your last birthday: not to sound like that person but i was alone on my 18th bday and took selfies and napped  26. what time did you wake up: 7:44am? 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: i was getting ready to sleep omg i’m getting so old... this entire summer the latest I’ve stayed up was probably 5am? but i mostly sleep early bc i tend to get tired easily just by breathing 28. name something you can not wait for: getting my own place and decorating it with my future significant other!! i’m so emo 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: this morning before i dropped her off at work 30. what is one thing you wish you could change in your life: wished i had more close friends irl? i have more internet friends than those irl and it’s pretty sad but ppl around here suck 31. what are you listening to right now: i just wanna run - the downtown fiction 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: i don’t think so and besides that’s such an ugly name i wouldn’t even remember 33. something that is getting on your nerves: not being properly trained at work personally so i gotta annoy my coworkers whenever i have an issue that i can’t resolve myself :/ plus i’m the youngest in my department so it’s kinda hard but i’m pulling through 34. most visited website: this demon site itself sadly 35-37. tag yourself i’m the fact that 35-37 doesn’t exist 38. hair color: dark brown and my roots are growing back with my black hair but i’m planning on re-dyeing it before i start school soon 39. long or short hair: i look better in long hair but short hair is good on me sometimes... i kinda regret cutting my hair back in May :( 40. do you have a crush on someone: i used to like 2 ppl when i was in school but they both have bfs now so i kinda backed off but we’re all acquaintances tho so it’s nice! 41. what do you like about yourself: my humor and music taste 42. piercings: none, my ears closed when i was little so i never got the chance to re-pierce them and i feel like i’ll look weird with pierced ears since i haven’t had them in years omg 43. blood type: is it sad that i genuinely don’t know or i forgot?  44. nickname: my friends call me Teeny and it’s really cute but some friends call me other stuff too but it’s mostly a meme between us! i enjoy when ppl give me their own nicknames for me aaaahhh :( 45. relationship status: depressed 46. zodiac: capricorn 47.pronouns: she/her 48. favorite tv show: grey’s anatomy, the walking dead, bob’s burgers, the flash, teen wolf 49. tattoos: i have 3!! i got 2 peonies on my left shoulder that’re together, then cherry blossoms on my arm and a heart near my wrist 50. right or left handed: right 51. surgery: none 52. piercing: none 53. sport: i don’t like sports so therefore i can’t read 54. vacation: hoping i’ll visit Vietnam one day!! 55. pair of trainers: converse MORE GENERAL: 56. eating: i love sushi 57. drinking: i literally bleed both water and coffee it’s so bad that’s the only two i drink all the time  58. I’m about to go: eat before i get ready for work which i don’t wanna go at all rip :( 59. waiting for: my life to be consistent knowing what to do with my life bc i honestly don’t know anything at all and nobody’s telling me what 2 do 60. want: to be in a relationship and have monies... oh and also a corgi i love them so much 61. get married: hoping so one day!!! 62. career: I wanna become a writer :) WHICH IS BETTER: 63. hugs or kisses: both 64. lips or eyes: both 65. shorter or taller: taller 66. older or younger: older 67. nice arms or nice stomach: doesn’t matter 68. hookup or relationship: relationship 69. troublemaker or hesitant: Jinyoung HAVE YOU EVER: 70. kissed a stranger: nope 71. drank hard liquor: yeah 72. lost glasses/contact lenses: i lost my glasses once and i ended up sitting on it later and breaking it asiosakaskl 73. turned someone down: yeah 74: sex on the first date: nope 75. broken someone’s heart: i guess so?? it all ties with the drama that is really funny  76. had your heart broken: nah 77. been arrested: nope 78: cried when someone died: yes 79. fallen for a friend: no DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 80. yourself: sometimes 81: miracles: depends? 82. love at first sight: to me, u can like their appearance and all but u can’t really fall in love with them without knowing anything about them! it’s unrealistic  83. santa claus: nope 84. kiss on the first date: idk 85. angels: Angel7... i miss them

OTHER: 90. current best friend’s name: i have a few best friends and i love them all so much.. they know who they are if they read this lol 91: eye color: brown 92: favorite movie: i don’t have one omg i’m too picky

[salora-rainriver]

Gaycoding and You: a Useless Ramble about Milkshakes and 1950s Humor

Ok lemme just start out this Disk Horse by saying that y’all are fuckin fakers. There’s no fuckin way my whole dashboard was secretly hardcore Archies Comics fans who read every motherfuckin issue and have been following the exploits of the Riverdale Crew for years. Shut the fuck up, we all read the comics casually while waiting in line at the grocery store, and now that a dude is confirmed ace, you all basically did the discourse equivalent of pullin’ an all nighter the night before the midterm. 

I’m calling your fucking bluff, you ain’t intimately aware with ANY archies comics characters. Do y’all even know the name of that old lady who’s the teacher who has to deal with Archie n Juggy’s shit? the one who looks like a pencil with a cotton ball slapped on it? Cause I fuckin don’t. For all I know, she’s one of the fuckin Pearls from Stevens Universe, and she took a teaching job in this obnoxiously idyllic suburban neighborhood because she’s a masochist. 

So now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s move on to this alleged “gay coding,” 

Aight so in all the times I’ve read dem Archies Comics, Jughead’s basically been the dude who has 2 things on his mind: burger and nap. That’s it. Sometimes hes thinking of havin a milkshake with that burger. Nice cold 1950s diner style milkshake. His favorite napping spot is a hammock under two trees. It’s probably in his backyard or by the lake in the park and he just has that hammock permanently set up. Maybe he has multiple hammocks permanently set up around Riverdale and no one takes down the Jughead hammocks because that would be rude. In the carefree high school world of Archies Comics, where girls wanna date boys and boys wanna date girls (seriously there’s fuckin PAGES detailing the lighthearted yet completely overdramatic conflicts of archie, reggie, betty, veronica, and their Hetero Drama), Jughead is the quintessential Man Who Doesn’t Give A Single Fuck. As far as we know, he’s not even aware that schoolwork and romance and jobs exist. He literally doesn’t even look once at anything that other people build whole story arcs about. This is his character, this is the comedic trope he fills. He’s the straight man to Archie’s Hetero Bullshit, but he’s also the clown who’s amusingly uninterested in things he should be interested in. like his grades. get it together, Jughead. 

At least, that’s the impression I get from all those years casually readin Archies Comics while my mom loads the veggies on the conveyor belt. Who tf knows, maybe Mr Happy Meal Crown batted his eyelashes at Reggie and blew him a kiss like a big fat flami- aw who am i kidding, the only reason Jughead would bat his eyelashes is during Masochist Pearl’s class cuz he’s bored and wants to sleep. 

Anyways, Jughead’s character out of the way, we need to talk about this weird-ass idea that every single example of a male character refusing to date women is Gay Coding. 

Now I’ve mainly read only the Classical Literature that my middle n highschool teachers gave me to read, and not much else, but BOY HOWDY did I read the SHIT out of those. You’re talking about a girl who cried her ass off at the end of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, in a hotel lobby where people were starin at me like I was a weirdo. Point is, I paid more attention to those verbose messes than most ppl my age, cause I’m a nerd. 

And let’s get something straight. Lack of APPARENT attraction to a character of the opposite gender ISN’T gaycoding. And no I’m not saying this because of modern-day conceits like “someone not attracted to the opposite gender could simply not be attracted to ANY gender”, no you wet blanket, listen to me. 

If Mr. Hooke isn’t interested in marrying Ms. Fairweather, there’s three main reasons for that, and you can usually tell which one it is right off the fucking bat: 

- Hooke is Gay as Shit, and in love with his assistant, Sir Appleseed. You can tell because he’s always seen hanging out with Appleseed, and the two of them spend a lot of time together and regularly express affection for each other with words of praise. Also Appleseed’s like a decade younger and he’s very pretty. Very very pretty. A paragraph is written about how Appleseed has a lithe yet muscular body and nice abs. Any modern reader will giggle at how obnoxiously gay this is. People will debate at length on whether the author intended Mr. Hooke to look like such a fuckin flamer. 

- Hooke is straight, but he’s a misogynist intellectual who sees the advances of Ms. Fairweather as a distraction from his Deeply Important Work. Whenever someone mentions Ms. Fairweather or women in general, he speaks at length about how he refuses to give in to their succubus wiles, and how he has a greater purpose. He may also mock Fairweather’s perceived shallow desires. The modern reader soon starts to feel intense hatred for Mr. Hooke, because the dude is so fucking obnoxiously CONCEITED, SHUT THE FUCK UP, but victorian guys probably deeply respected the dude for his chosen celibacy. 

- Hooke is just a weirdass loner introvert. People confusedly ask him why he won’t marry Ms. Fairweather, and he just kinda ignores the question. He doesn’t seem to have a single opinion on the woman’s advances, and seems almost oblivious to them. The intent of the author was, of course, to portray Mr. Hooke as an eccentric man, and also maybe to push the idea that women are a drain on mankind’s intellectual pursuits. Or maybe the author just wanted to show how “weird” Hooke is for not wanting to get married. Either way, the modern reader will start desperately wanting to shake said author by the shoulders and shout “YOU WROTE AN ASEXUAL CHARACTER, YOU NITWIT!!!” 

The point I’m trying to make here is that merely not wanting to date the opposite gender isn’t gaycoding, it’s too fuckin ambiguous for that. Either the character’s gay, or they’re straight and also illustrating weirdass misogynistic cultural standards, or they’re just a fuckin weirdo, in a way that was probably meant to imply neurodivergency, let’s be real, but any modern reader would unanimously agree it’s probably just asexuality, written from the perspective of people who don’t realize that’s a thing that can exist, and it isn’t a weird nameless “fuck marriage” disorder. 

Anyways, 1950s is a bit different. In the context of Post WWII Oldies, specifically comedic comic books set in a suburban high school, if a dude doesn’t want to date, it’s more likely that the authors saw him as someone who was too dumb, ugly, lazy, or nerdy to ever get with a girl, so they made him uninterested in women just because it’s not very funny to see a dude get sad bcs no one will date him. We can feel better if we imagine they’re just uninterested. And That’s Jughead. He’s not coded gay, he’s coded as a nitwit food-obsessed lazeball, and if we’ll be honest, the original writers PROBABLY wrote him with Stoners in mind. 

Jughead’s not running through a literal maze of women to get to his precious delicious milkshake because he’s gay, my dudes. He’s doing it because he spent all morning fuckin Blazing it, and he’s got a fierce case of the munchies, and munchies waits for no girl. He’s got that in common with Norville Rogers, AKA Shaggy from Scooby Doo. WE HAVE SEEN THIS TROPE BEFORE.

Point of the matter is, when the writers made him ace, it’s because they decided maybe Jughead should be more than a cheap stoner joke who’s friends w/ Archie. He’s still a stoner joke, of course, but now he’s a stoner joke that also cleverly doubles as an example of the ace community injoke about cake. You know the one I’m talkin about. 

And that’s all folks.