#I think tagging at the very end means it won't show up in the main searches so:

[cheapshrimpysheep]

hi, is it okay if I request a comfort(?) scenario/headcanons where Leona, vil and rook(separately) has a s/o who starts randomly wearing gloves and hiding their hands from them due to getting really bad contact dermatitis from their work and not really able to do anything about it work wise

COMMENTS: Coincidentally, I myself have problems with dermatitis on my hands. So, perhaps what I wrote comes a lot from my own experience. Especially the thing about using an ointment that worked once and for some reason no longer works. 😅 And having some trouble sleeping because of the itching.

I hope you and all enjoy it ❤️‍🩹

CHARACTERS: Leona Kingscholar / Vil Schoenheit / Rook Hunt

TAGS: Comfort; Fluff; GN Reader

WORD COUNT: An average of 610 words per character

Contact dermatitis is an itchy, inflamed rash that develops when your skin comes into contact with an irritant or allergen. There are two main types: Irritant contact dermatitis and Allergic contact dermatitis.

I decided to go with the first one since Irritant contact dermatitis is the most common type. It's caused by a substance that irritates the skin, such as soaps, detergents, solvents, or harsh chemicals.

CONTEXT: You got dermatitis after cleaning Ramshackle Dorm. It's not the first time, you already had it before, so you think you know how to treat it. Nobody needs to know. So you will take care of your hands at home and whenever you go out you will wear gloves to try to protect them. You'll be fine in no time... Right...?

Leona knew something was wrong the moment he saw you wearing gloves. Nobody starts wearing gloves out of nowhere just because. But he didn't need to ask anything because he saw you moving your hands as if those gloves were uncomfortable. And once or twice he saw you scratching your hands through your gloves and stopping immediately as if you had remembered that you shouldn't do it.

He wasn't going to get involved. At least not if it looked like you were getting better. But on the second day, you still itched. And on the third day, you had bigger dark circles than usual and the itching seemed the same or worse.

You had just returned to Ramshackle Dorm and the first thing you did was take off your gloves and run to the bathroom to treat your hands. Why didn't that get better? You were using the same ointment as last time.

“You should go to the infirmary.” Grim said “Hench-humans should take better care of themselves so they are always ready.” He teases you before showing actual concern. “You're not even sleeping well. I wake up to you scratching yourself every five minutes.”

You won't admit it, but he's right. You should go to the infirmary. Maybe tomorrow. That's what you're thinking when you hear someone knocking on the door. But you can't cover your hands now, the ointment is still working. So you open the door with one hand, using the door hide this one and place the other behind your back.

“Show me your hands.” Leona demands calmly. You look surprised and confused. “Show me your hands.” he reiterates, crossing his arms but still patient.

“Why?” you ask.

“Why are you hiding them?” he asks back. “If everything is normal, why don't you show me?” and smiles smugly.

I mean, he's right. Who opens the door with one hand behind their back. This is very suspicious. You hesitate, but end up stretching your arms in front of you to show your red hands and unhealthy skin.

But Leona isn’t surprised. He barely even reacts. As if you had just confirmed his suspicions. He takes off one of his own gloves and puts it in his pocket, holding one of your hands with his gloved hand while he runs the other carefully over your broken skin, to feel it. Does he know it's not contagious?

“The ointment isn't working, is it?” He sais. You had just put it in your hand, so he definitely felt the moist. He puts the glove back on. “Do you have your keys?”

You say they are on the entrance table.

“So grab them and let's go. Unless you want to be locked out of the dorm.”

“Let’s go where?”

“To the herbivores club party. To the infirmary. Where else? If you don't go there alone, someone has to take you. Don't tell me you forgot where it is?” he smiles smugly again. “And don't make me pick you up. You know I would.”

Vil saw your new gloves. Were you trying to change your style a little? No. That's not it. You were uncomfortable with those gloves. He knows about fashion, the same way he knows when a person is using a piece to hide some part of their body.

After classes you went back to Ramshackle Dorm, took off your gloves and applied the ointment. It had worked last time, but this time it didn't seem to be having any effect. You had just come out of the bathroom, with your hands smeared with pumice, when someone knocked on the door. Damn it.

You can't cover your hands now, so you open the door with one hand, using the door hide this one and place the other behind your back.

“Hello (Y/N)” Vil greets you. “I apologize for the sudden appearance, but can I come in to talk to you about something?”

You think for a second, you can keep hiding your hands behind your back, so you tell him he can come in. He enters and you close the door behind you, always hiding your hands.

“You've never used gloves before. It's not your style.” It didn't sound like he was criticizing you, like he tends to do with a lot of people. In fact, he sounded quite calm and neutral, almost understanding. “If there's one thing I know how to distinguish when someone starts using a new accessory, it's whether they're using it to try to improve their appearance or to hide themselves. And this second one tends to be a sensitive subject. That's why I thought it would be best to ask you in private. Did something happen to your hands? Are you injured?”

You tell him no, that you're not injured. Well, not exactly in that sense of the word at least. You end up telling him the truth about your skin and how it has reacted to cleansing products.

“Dermatitis? Let me see. I want to know how bad it is.” He now has that judgmental look on his eyes. Which makes you hesitate a little, but you are now also at the point of no return.

You take your hands from behind your back and show Vil your red hands and unhealthy skin, without being able to look him directly in the eyes.

“For the Great Seven! And you let your skin reach this point?” he scolds you. “When did this happen? Have you gone to the infirmary already?”

You say you went there the last time this happened and they gave you an ointment, which was what you were applying.

“And is it having any effect?” He asks. You say that, compared to last time, not really. “Then get ready to go to the infirmary.” He thinks for a second if you should protect your hands from the sun, which reminds him of the gloves he saw you wearing that day. “Let me see the gloves you were wearing.”

You go get the gloves and give them to him. He looks at you disapprovingly as soon as he picks them up.

“These cheap gloves? This material is horrendous! It's probably making your situation even worse.” He throws the gloves onto the entrance table. If there had been a rubbish bin there he would have thrown it in there. He takes off his own gloves and hands them to you. “Here, use mine. They are cotton inside.” You hesitate. His gloves? And they must be expensive. “You can keep them. I have many more like these.”

As you put on his gloves, he details his new plans with you.

“We will go to the infirmary and you will hear everything they told you to do and use. After that, we will review all your cleaning products and materials you use that come into contact with your hands and can create this reaction again. If we have to get rid of everything and buy new products we will do so.” You look at him and show your concern about the price of these possible new products. “If they are truly that expensive, I'll buy them for you. Your hands won't go back to this state on my watch. And then you come with me to Pomefiore to analyze your skin and find products to protect and care for your hands. Did you understood?”

Que Adorable! Rook thinks. Trickster really thought they could hide something from me? That really entertain him. Seeing you wearing gloves and trying to hide how uncomfortable you were wearing them and trying not to scratch your hands too much. You reminded him of an animal that tries to hide the fact that it is seriously injured.

Even though it was funny at first, he couldn't see you like this. He assumed what it was from the symptoms you show, but he didn't want to talk to you in front of others. After all, if you were trying to hide it, it's because he didn't want others to know.

He sneakily followed you to Ramshackle Dorm. You opened the door, letting Grim enter first to run to the kitchen for some snacks. You pass the door jamb and it's when you go to close the door that you hear

“Bonjour, Trickster!” Rook’s head pops from the side. He lets out a little muffled laugh at how startled you were. “I spotted yor new pair of glove on your hands. Are you perhaps trying a new look? Merveilleux! It's exciting to try out new accessories to express another side of ourselves, isn't it? However...” His friendly look now changes to that hunter look of his. And the smile of someone who cannot be deceived. “I don't believe that's the real motive you're wearing those gloves. Am I mistaken?”

You don't even know how to answer him. He already knows the truth and you know there's nothing you can do about it. His expression returns to normal, he now has that characteristic resting smile on his face.

“There's no need to be shy with me. I purposely came to talk to you here because I knew it wasn't something you wanted to discuss in public.” And now his smile has faded into that slightly more serious look that he only tends to have when something worries him a little, or when he feels that the situation is not so light. “I saw how you itched your hands, how uncomfortable you were with the gloves. It's a skin problem, isn't it? Maybe dermatitis?”

You don't say anything. It's not necessary. He knows the answer just by looking at you, your face, your posture. And your hands were starting to itch again.

“Please, you can take off your gloves. They are clearly only making your situation worse.” You hesitate. “It really hurts me to see you suffering like this. No matter how damaged your skin is, I know that your hands are as beautiful as the rest of you and that they just need treatment to become très belles again. And if you allow me to help with your recovery, I will do so with the greatest love and care.” He smiles charmingly at you, the type of smile that makes you feel safe.

You take off your gloves, showing him your red hands and unhealthy skin.

“Sacrebleu! What did this to your hands?”

You tell him it was your cleaning products and about the ointment you were using since the last time that happened to you. And, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be having much effect this time.

“We must go to the infirmary if it's not working anymore.” He proclaims, embodying his dramatic self. “Ooh, your poor, beautiful hands, threatened by something that should assist you caring for your home and yourself. They must be replaced. I will happily help you with it and get you gloves that will protect you in the future. Fear not, my dear Trickster. Shall your hands be healthy once again.”

If you dropped in here out of the blue and want to read more from me, you can find it in my pinned post: INDEX

[lemotmo]

I completely understand everyone wanting multiple episodes of focus but that never did feel realistic. So this is a very good point.

Q. I'm sorry but they can't tell queer/gay Eddie in one or two episodes that just wouldn't be realistic in any way. Don't you agree?

A. They told bi Buck in ONE episode. The actual realization of him being bisexual happened in a single episode. And it absolutely worked. It didn't feel rushed or incomplete or unsatisfactory, I mean it feels unsatisfactory now but that's for different reasons, they made it believable. The reason it worked was because, like Eddie, Buck has always been queer coded. So it wasn't this impossible surprise for anyone but the bigots who were never going to approve anyway. They can absolutely tell queer/gay Eddie in one or two episodes. And they can tell it well. The problem is way too many people took a photo of a lamppost and convinced themselves it was definitive proof that Buck and Eddie were going to be together by the end of episode 6. That was what was never going to happen. That is the story they will not rush through. That is the story they will allow, purposeful build up. We had all these little moments and nods of bi possibility throughout Buck's history on the show, and we have the same kind of coded history for Eddie. Oliver, Ryan, Aisha, Kenny and Jen are all mains but Peter and Angela are the stars. They're always going to get more screen time. Everyone else will get episodic focus now and then but not multiple back to back episodes. The show flat out does not have the time to do that. I would imagine episode 6 will work much like Buck Bothered and Bewildered, and Eddie will get the majority of the story. But realistically the show has 15-20 scenes to tell this Eddie story. Lots of people have to recalibrate their timetable. But nothing else has changed. The characters don't function in real world timetables, anon. They function in television timetables and those are not the same. They can tell a very good story in one or two episodes. The Buck episode was beautiful and his OH moment felt realistic and worth it, the stuff that came after is what changed that episode, but the episode by itself was beautifully done.

Thank you Nonny! As always much appreciated!

Ali makes some good points here. Buck's coming out only took one single episode, so why not for Eddie?

If they are going the queer Eddie route, which I'm pretty positive about at this point, they might be aiming for queer Eddie in 8a and eventually Buddie in 8b.

This will give them 10 episodes to play with, because while I do think they'll get Eddie out of that closet relatively fast, I don't think that Buddie will happen that quickly.

Oliver talked about that slow burn element, that 'will they, won't they' quality to keep the audience guessing. You can't do that in 1 or 2 episodes. So I'm thinking they'll make good use of those 10 episodes to give us that slow burn we've all been craving. Even ending it all with a Buddie cliffhanger, so we can all go through hiatus high on Buddie pheromones. 🤣

It'll all depend on the next 3 episodes now. So let's stay calm and focus on what we'll get. Whatever happens with Eddie in episode 6 will help set the tone for the other 2 episodes of 8a. Then we'll know once and for all where this story is going. 🤞🤞🤞

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[prince-liest]

Yo, I'm writing a pre canon fic in which young fanboy Vox gets assigned as Alastor's assistant by Lilith, any tips for characterising him?

I think you have a lot of room for leeway and playing around since you're working with pre-canon, but the main points that I tend to at least personally keep around as a scaffold for writing Vox are:

He's got a Charisma modifier of, like, +4. This doesn't mean he's always suave - in fact, he's pretty pathetic around Alastor in particular! But he knows how to put on a performance that appeals to his intended audience, whether that be a customer base whose trust he's winning over, or a fellow Vee that he's trying to wrangle into behaving. He switches between ridiculous showmanship and collected CEO, and this works for him despite both personas being rife with overcompensation.

Every single one of the Vees including Vox thinks they're the only normal, reasonably-behaving person in the room, it's wild.

He's smart, he's capable, he's manipulative. He's good at knowing what people want and how to leverage that to sell them those things. The general population thinks he's #goals thanks to the image he puts forth.

He's a piece of shit that has no qualms with Valentino's behavior with Angel Dust, Velvette selling date rape drugs, or abusing his own hypnosis ability to manipulate people into buying his products (which include spyware literally advertised to voyeurs). This is part of the fun of this character!!

I think he has a lot of very fun physicality to him (as do most of the Hazbin Hotel characters), and I really recommend re-watching some of his scenes to get the hang of how he moves and interacts with people physically because you'd be surprised at how much that can add to characterization even in a non-visual format like writing.

...I also genuinely think he's kind of a horny bastard, to whatever extent and rating your story could even use that, but that's me extrapolating from his behavior around both Alastor and Valentino. It's just a fun cherry on top of the "low impulse control around Alastor" thing, because he's got so much going for him on the intelligence front that it's really funny to me when he tangibly switches to thinking with his dick.

And, of course, on the subject of Alastor in particular:

He's obsessive, and Alastor makes all of his impulse control go out the window. I started using the "Vox's One-sided Psychosexual Obsession with Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)" tag for a reason, and it's that I think it's in fact really funny how much evidence we get in canon that Vox doesn't just hate Alastor and want to dominate him, he'd also probably roll right over into the affectionately wheedling persona he uses with Valentino if Alastor suggested he'd take it well.

We don't just see Vox wanting Alastor dead, we also see Alastor telling us that Vox first asked him to join him; the torn-in-half photo of them standing together; and Vox pretty much popping a boner over Alastor getting wrecked by Adam, nevermind how manically he jumps around to get a word in before Alastor even shows his face during Stayed Gone. Even his little "Fu-uu-uuuuuck!" at the end of the song is like 50% actual despair and 50% :pleading: emoji. He wants Alastor, obviously, and I think a lot of the anger that he's projecting at Alastor in canon is specifically anger at being rejected, which is frantically covering up the fact that he is still desperately, embarrassingly into the radio deer. If Alastor won't join him, Vox has to beat him.

Anyway, I love this funky little TV. This was by no means a comprehensive guide or anything like that, but I hope it helped share at least some of my personal thoughts on writing him!

[bubblesxo]

(harvey bullock in the batfam)

okay, so this post is to elaborate on something i was talking about in tags the other day etc. etc.

so basically, my whole point was that bruce is a little chaos gremlin. he has so many bad habits and does so many illegal activities completely nonchalantly that it sometimes can make people question his mental state.

of course, this all originated from his childhood and the way that he was raised. we know from the gotham tv (which this post is specific to) that bruce was close with his parents, though his father did have secrets that eventually killed him. nevertheless, bruce was raised well for the first 12 years of his life. very well, in fact. he was rich, he had a butler and two loving parents---he had a good life.

and then his parents were shot in front of him.

12 years old and bruce is reborn. bruce after isn't the same person as bruce before. after the shooting, bruce has a purpose and a meaning to life. he knows what he needs to do---protect gotham and her people. make a difference. (though i won't get too ahead of myself.)

it starts out small. thomas wayne (bruce's dad) made alfred promise to never bring bruce to a psychologist if he and his wife were killed. alfred kept this promise and never did, even though that was definitely what bruce needed at the time.

bruce coped badly, especially at first. he had no appetite and stopped eating. he started burning himself, cutting himself, and holding his breath underwater so he could "test himself" and "overcome fear" (which is actually a recurring theme in the show). he went to the roof of his house and stood on the ledge to make himself not fear heights.

it was obvious then that bruce needed help, but he didn't get it. instead, he got alfred (who i love!!). however, just because i love alfred doesn't mean i can't acknowledge that he is one of the main reasons bruce ended up the way he did.

it's no secret that bruce is a little messed up. we all know that, right? anyway, alfred did a lot of crazy stuff in his time taking care of bruce, which is understandable, because he wasn't expecting to one day be going about his day and suddenly find himself a single father. he was definitely going through it with guilt and despair after his bosses were killed. didn't help that he had to find a way to care for their son.

anyway, alfred is also a bit odd. he has a strong opinion on what it means to be strong and also a strong opinion on bruce being safe. once, bruce sprained his ankle hiking and alfred let him crawl up a hill for half an hour. however, he followed that up with honoring one of bruce's prized family traditions. alfred frequently was a bit rough when teaching bruce to fight, which, admittedly, bruce didn't seem to mind, but he once did punch bruce in the nose after purposefully distracting him to make a point about him not being ready.

i don't think learning to fight is harmful, of course. i just think that the way those two went about it was... interesting. and pretty cool. they have a great bond and i love that for him.

anyway, alfred never pushed back against him. thomas also told alfred to let bruce choose his own path like all waynes did, which is why bruce has way too much control over his own life way too early. (again, not blaming alfred per se. the man was grieving and following the order to the letter.)

this led to bruce doing more and more reckless things over time and learning way too much for his age. his gets involved in vigilatism around the age of 15 (i do believe? my timeline there is fuzzy) and, while alfred makes his disapproval known, he doesn't stop him.

alfred teaches bruce that he needs to be strong. he teaches him to always expect the worst. he teaches him to always be on guard and to never give up when facing opposition. these are not necessarily bad things.

then, there's jim gordon. jim was the first person to really talk to bruce after his parents were killed, and he promises bruce that he'll find the man who was responsible. over time as this is revealed to be much more complicated than expected, jim does not grow apart from the family. if anything, it just seems to make them all closer togehter. their lives are completely linked.

now, when jim talks, he has the crazy ability to make persuasive speeches. it's one of his things, a motif of his in the show---he always gives speeches, especially when motivating people. now, as a kid, freshly orphaned, bruce needed motivation. jim tells bruce a lot of things that could be misinterpreted and come back to hurt him. he also, however, draws him in closer to the mess that is gotham and it's crime world. this encouragement only makes bruce more determined to get involve over time.

now, i made a post saying that these two basically coparented bruce, and i stand by this. alfred did all of the day-to-day stuff and helped really form bruce as a person, but jim was the one who really imparted his morals and hope on bruce.

jim taught bruce that everyone can be redeemed, and anyone can be saved. just like batman believes.

jim and bruce talk about darker and more complicated things as time passes. for example, they once talked about how you sometimes need to let go of your own pride in order to take care of other people (which ended up with a lot of bad results)

this leads to jim killing someone and bruce's brain being changed. he gets most of his morals from jim most likely, and jim is not necessarily particularly "good" often. he violates police procedure and the law frequently to help people.

now, jim's partner is harvey bullock. while he and bruce aren't the closest in the canon material for the show, they did have a few notable interactions and i believe that we can really extrapolate here.

before, i said that harvey would freak out at the realization that he's old. i stand by this. however, harvey also knows that he's getting older and will eventually need to leave the force in jim's hands.

harvey is a very blunt man. he knows how to lie but he doesn't really ever do so unless his life depended on it. when he talks to bruce, the two of them really click. despite harvey having committed so many crimes and broken many, many departmental policies, it is shown that he is still a good man deep down.

harvey tells bruce stories all the time. he talks to him about the legal AND illegal things that he has done both on and off the job, and bruce picks up on way too many of him. he gets /ideas/. he has the money, after all. he can learn how to do that stuff.

bruce really just wants to make life better for the others tbh. that's like his life goal. harvey basically teaches bruce how to emulate the more gritty parts of batman---torture in interrogation, breaking and entering, gathering information, how to break the law without getting caught, etc. etc. of course, some of his terms really rub off on bruce.

i'm imagining bruce calling someone "putz" as an insult. it's just so funny to me

i was falling asleep while writing this so i'm gonna snooze now and maybe add more later bcuz that was a bit lacking in harvey sorry!!

[wenellyb]

Random thoughts on Bucktommy and Buddie

Please bare in mind that I'm only sharing my personal opinion and that I'm always open to discuss.

The discussions I've had over the past couples of weeks have been very interesting and I wanted to add my 2 cents.

Before season 7 episode:

I'm a causal viewer of 911 and I'm also on Tumblr so of course, I know Buddie, but I've never really shipped it... I can understand the appeal and I think the ship has potential but I never felt like the writers ever intended to go there. And I'm not a big fan of non-canon ships.

If they had gotten together, however, I think that I would have enjoyed it.

What has always bothered me was the behavior of some Buddie shippers who would complain about queerbaiting on the show, when there were already several Queers characters in it and one character (Hen), who's part of the main cast. I always got a weird feeling that those shippers didn't care about Queer characters if they weren't White. There is also a spinoff of the show, 911 Lone star with Queer characters who are also part of the main cast.

To me, the fact that Buck and Eddie never got together was a writing decision, not queerbaiting or anything like that... the writers had decided this wasn't the way to go for Buck and Eddie's chatacters, because if they had wanted to write a storyline between them, they could have.

I've seen a lot of people being happy about Buck being confirmed as Bi, and I get it. But to me, it was confirmed he was bi in the 911/911 Lone Star crossover when TK told Buck he had a boyfriend after Buck asked him out. I was just waiting for a storyline to confirm it. Obviously, I always thought the storyline would involve Eddie, but I was wrong.

After Season 7 Episode 4:

I follow some 911 accounts so I knew something was happening before the episode aired and I saw a preview of Buck seemingly being jealous of Eddie leaving with Tommy and I thought... this is it, this is where the writers are going to confirm Buddie. Buck will realize his jealous and realize he has feeling for Eddie or something like that.

I was very curious so I tuned in for that episode and imagine my surprise when I realized at the end, that the jealousy wasn't about who we thought and all this time the writers had been planning a storyline with Tommy.

So to me, it doesn't look like the writers are planning a Buddie storyline. Otherwise they would have prepared it gradually after the Buck and TK's discussion.

That doesn't mean it won't change in the future, writers and showrunners can change but I have never noticed them introducing a storyline that could lead to a Buddie relationship.

Everytime I see a post "proving" Buddie, it's always showing something friends or best friends do (hugging, being affectionnate), even Eddie making Buck Chris' legal guardian is something a best friend could do.

I'm not saying that they couldn't be romantic in another context, but there hasn't been any indication that the writers are planning a romantic plot for Buck and Eddie.

The writers decided to go there with Buck and Tommy. They're treating their story like a romcom, with the kiss, the hearteyes and everything. Buck is obviously into Tommy and being ready to tell the world about him.

That's the storyline the writers have decided to give us and it's a very nice one.

I know a lot of people are expecting Tommy and Buck to be temporary but to me that's wishful thinking. It wouldn't make sense to have Buck invite Tommy to his sister's wedding just for them to break up a few episodes later. If a breakup is what the writers had in mind, they would just set up another normal date.

Shipping goggles are ok, I have other ships for which I have shipping goggles on and for which I'm not very objective.

What's not ok is trying to ruin the fun of Bucktommy shippers who are trying to enjoy this beautiful storyline but can't go in the tags without seeing a post about the ship's impeding break up.

[hey-august]

I'll Be Your Whatever - Story Hiatus

Description: Life is full of all sorts of characters - some who come and go, and others that stay. After propelling yourself into a lie you can't (won't) take back, a certain pirate captain may have a reason to come by more often. (Story tag)

Alrighty, I would very very much like to come back to this fic one day, but I truly do not know when that will happen. I think the outline I put together took away some of the drive to write the actual story, but I still want to SO BADLY.

So this story doesn't remain unfinished for however long, I'm going to share the outline I put together using beat sheets and story arcs.

Tag list: @rorywritesjunk @ane5e @venulus @misadventures0fdes You asked to be included in the tag list for the story, so I'm also tagging you here. I'm sorry for dropping the story and this hiatus, but I hope knowing that the ending exists brings some peace!

For reference: CB = Captain Buggy, MC = Main Character (aka, you, the reader!) WC: ~1.4k

As a recap of the story so far, MC tried to get 2 overly flirtatious guys off her back by saying a stranger passing by was her boyfriend. That stranger was Buggy, of course lol. Trying to stay low and play the part, MC and CB kiss. They joke about CB continuing to be a boyfriend and MC mentions having a treasure chest. A few days later, CB shows up at MCs place with flowers and saying he'll agree to be her boyfriend if she promises him the treasure map.

Chapter 4

They go on a mini date, as a way for them to talk about the agreement - they talk about the timeline and how long to "date." They decide to go get lunch.

Hot dog lunch. Hint at CBs favorite food.

CB blows kisses to MC while she’s in line.

Contract: 

Don’t tell the truth -  a deal’s a deal

MC pays for food

Compliments for Buggy

Hold hands

Kissing? We’ll figure it out if we need to

Buggy has to stop by whenever he’s in town

Buggy goes to the town festival - MC tries to convince CB to agree to go to a town festival in a few weeks or whatever, long enough for dudebros to lose interest. Offers a treasure map.

"If I’m being totally honest, that sounds like my worst nightmare."

MC stands up to someone who tries to insult Buggy’s nose. Fiery. They have to leave wherever they were. CB is impressed by her spunk.

B Story - CB inviting MC to visit the ship. 

At some point CB invites her, a shadow passes over her face, he asks if she really dislikes the idea that much.

MC feels stuck to the small town and guilt about her dad missing those kinds of experiences. She looks at Buggy's eyes and sees the draw of the ocean in them. Whatever enticed Buggy and her dad to love the sea, is reflected in his eyes.

Chapter 5

Fun and Games - coming to the weekend market

Oh yeah, no he said he wasn’t able to make it. But! CB shows up unexpectedly. YN blows him a kiss and he catches it.

CB gets into a scuffle at the weekend market.

Rowdy customer, "how about I pay you in kisses, pretty thing? No? Whatever, this shit isn’t even that good."

“no one gets to treat you like that, you hear me? no one.”

They eat fresh donuts, “oh you have to try these, they’re my favorite,” MC dabs some powdered sugar off the corner of his mouth.

Test of love trope! Conducted by a new jewelry shop. Start easy - eye color, fave food, feed each other, draw each other, blindfold and guess their partners hands, winners get matching bracelets. This is their first kiss.

CB putting the bracelet on MC "This means you’re mine. That’s what you wanted, right?" She gets A LOT of butterflies.

Walking back, the pictures they drew of each other blow away and fall into a tide pool. MC wading through water to get the drawings.

He made the day so special and she doesn’t want this to ruin it.

The drawing / picture she made isn’t that bad, he actually kinda likes it himself. So MC gives it to him. He becomes more enamored with it when she goes to save it from the water.

Nearby sailors / pirates laugh at MC in the water (lighthearted), she calls back that it’s not like they don’t get dirty treasure hunting.

CB gets butterflies from her insistence and calling the papers treasure.

Piggy back ride home? Slightly spicy. It was like their skin was calling out for the other's gentle touch.

Chapter 6

Fun and Games cont - MC said she would see CB off the next day but she doesn’t show up because she’s sick from the previous night.

CB comes by, sees that she’s okay but sick. 

He leaves for a moment and comes back with some stuff to help her feel better. He also postponed shipping off until the next day.

She bashfully asks if he’ll stay a little longer. He stays until she falls asleep.

MC calls him pretty boy and he hecking likes it.

She wakes up the next day to a note telling her that he won’t be in the area for a while.

Chapter 7

Mini scene, MC notices that the dudebros seem to have moved on. They asked for a double/triple date, but MC deflects bc who knows when CB will be in town.

MC mentions this to CB in passing.

Midpoint - Next time, MC visits CBs ship. It’s a good visit. Overall a positive experience. There is some real-ness to life aboard the ship.

Cabaji shows unicycling, meet Mohji and Richie, CB shows off knife throwing (maybe a contest between him and Cabaji, CB wins and Cabaji says at least he’s better at unicycling)

Buggy helps rig the new sails

Pirates swap stories. Talking about what it was like adjusting to life on the ship, but how amazing it is. All the sights and experiences. She has stars in her eyes while listening. Her mind sketching images of what’s being described. She’s even comfortable talking about her dad.

How do you tell your fake bf that you're nervous near him because you're starting to fall for him?

MC likes seeing CBs swagger and how his crew adores him. CB puts his hand on her shoulder and kneads.

She stays overnight (one bed), CB doesn’t sleep.

Chapter 8

Bad Guys Close In - As MC leaves, she’s accosted by pirate thugs, who notice she’s been hanging around CB.

Maybe they think she’s a sex worker? Sugar baby? She tries to say that’s not it, then they think she must be something more special. They could probably get a ransom.

Chop chop Buggy comes in to save the day. Or CB throws a knife, trapping them. CB walks her back home, tries to make it seem light hearted, doesn’t want MC to be too afraid.

MC is a bit unphased since pirates are always visiting.

MC kisses CB goodbye on the cheek. “Could you try that again?” “Better?” “Yeah…”

Chapter 9

All is Lost - Break up because CB is afraid MC will become a target. CB breaks up with YN, afraid of putting her in danger.

Even though CB dealt with those other pirates, that doesn’t mean there won’t be others 

He doesn’t want to put her in danger any longer. Besides, the guys she was avoiding seem to have moved on.

MC asks if he found someone else, something more fun, feels cruel because they don't really think that's what's happening.

I guess my expectations were too high.

Dark of the Night - MC storms back and hands off the map. "A deal’s a deal and I don’t want to be in debt to a pirate."

Wrapped around the map is her bracelet.

Chapter 10

Dark of the Night - Why does CB change his mind? - He reads a letter on the back of the map and realizes he should give it back to MC.

Break into Three - CB's waiting for her at the party. A deal’s a deal. He also gives back the map and leaves.

MC probably talking with the art shop owner:"He likes you, I can tell by how he looks at you." "How does he look at me?"

"You think he's really waiting for me?"

Finale - MC reads the note on the map and runs to the dock for CB. 

Note, from dad: “My dearest seashell, I thought being a pirate was how I could see the world, but then you came along and I saw the world through your eyes. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift anyone could ask for. I hope that one day, you find your key to the world.”

CBs not there? He’s by the wading pools, looking at the moon and drinking alone.

CB moping

How long do you think it’ll take for this to become a memory? Do you think you’ll forget about me?

They wanted to be touched, to be missed, to be loved. Was that too much to ask for?

He’s wearing both bracelets.

"Why did you come back?" "Because that belongs to you, it has your name on it."

"Bullshit, Buggy. You’re a pirate. A treasure hunter. Why did you really come back?"

"Why do you think?"

"You actually wanted to go to the festival?"

"That’s not what I want."

Anguished declaration of love - confessing love during a moment of angst

"I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to leave. I want to draw the world you see."

MC is steadfast and waits for Buggy to respond. “I want that too.”

Big romantic kiss

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Do you want to?"

"Yes, you have no idea how much I've thought about this."

[absolutebl]

Hi, I recently discovered BL and have been very interested in reading about it. And even if I don't agree with every one of your takes, you seem very knowledgeable, so I've been reading your blog on and off since yesterday.

Anyway, I was curious about your opinion on The Shipper, but I looked at the tags, and it seems like you didn't watch it. May I ask why? I get it's not quite BL, instead being BL adjacent, but I think it's one of GMMTV's best productions, so I'm really curious about what made you avoid it.

The Shipper

I did end up watching some of it (which in me terms means I skipped through it to the BL bits and then watched the last few eps to find out how they landed the damn ship).

Ultimately, I simply don't consider The Shipper BL. I try to stay on target with this blog. So while I may watch other QL, GL, Kdramas, survivor shows, Kpop thingies, and so forth, 90% of the time I stick to BL here.

Other more personal reasons?

I also hugely dislike shipping culture. Too close to stalker and parasocial relationships. It's not something I was ever into, even as a teen. Taking on reality with fanfic wigs me tf out. I have close friends who have had stalker issues both as "normal" people and as the quasi-famous.

It's one of the reasons I rarely report on actor news or relationships or drama here. Unless it directly impacts production, it's none of my damn business. If I did so, this could probubly become a much bigger blog, but also a much more toxic one. I do this for fun, not profit.

The branding of pairs interests me intellectually, from a marketing and publicity perspective, but nothing beyond that.

You may note, if you delve further into this blog, that I lurch hard away from JBL in particular when it dabbles in idolatry, sasang, and stalker behaviors (unless it's playing in the dirt with them, like My Beautiful Man did). Even if done gently and comedically, I tend to get switched off from the whole show. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a trigger, but I am viscerally upset by it, not entertained.

IMHO BL is for entertainment first. The only thing worse than being upset by a show is being bored with it.

The way Thai BL represents female shippers in particular, especially in the context of a BL (which tend to have very few positively represented women on the main), often smacks of misogyny and punching down humor. I simply don't enjoy that. Feminist critical theory from my uni days always bubbles up in my head and won't be put aside.

And finally... I pretty much loathe the body swap trope. It is probably one of my least favorite fiction tropes. I have no idea why, I just really don't like it.

I make an exception for Great Men Academy but even that I have only watch once with no plans for a rewatch, and it's another one that I would hesitate to call BL.

Still, if you love The Shipper I would HIGHLY recommend tracking down Great Men Academy, I think you would find it well worth your time.

[cupcakeslushie]

Okay. I've been tip-toeing around this AU for a while now, but I just got caught up, and now I think I have a (decent) grasp on what's going on. So I wanna go over everything I know so far to see if I'm right or wrong on anything. Don't know if you'd be willing to correct me or not. Either way, I hope my mistakes can help you understand what to clarify to other fans like me. But, I also have some questions. You probably won't be able to answer most of them, but it's at least worth a shot.

First, where's Venus? Like, why is she not in your comics that are (sort of) separate frome the canon now story. The ones that skip to the future way after all the turtles reunite. Did she die? Did she escape? Is it because she wasn't introduced yet when you made those comics?

Two, why do you keep on making references to the future timeline? I know you're planning on possibly making your own stuff leading up to the events of the movie. It just gives me a jumpscare when I see certain...imagery in those comics. I guess you're hinting at what your version of the future apocalypse would look like, but it just hurts to see. Specifically in the comic explaining both the events and aftermath of the movie and the bad future timeline. It's starting to really confuse my brain as to where this story is headed. What's meant to be the main focus? The Hamto's reuniting? The aftermath? Or the future?

Third, did you make all those min-comics before you started the actual AU? Or did you do them during?

Fourth, are any of those mini-comics relevant to the actual story now? Or have you changed your mind on a few things? It's just that everything is so all over the place, I don't really know whether to trust if they're accurate. I know most of them are just there for funzies, but the longer ones concern me. I guess I'm just not used to the storyteller doing sequel, start, prequel, start, sequel, prequel, prequel, sequel, and then end. Or maybe it's just me, and I'm sleep deprived.

My little observation speech is gonna take a while for me to get out in your asks because when I get theoretical, my speech gets long, and my proper English goes down the drain. So I'll be back. I appreciate your work very much. Despite the pain it causes me, it's still amazing.

I’ll try my best to clear up what confusion I can!

1. As far as Venus. The answer is kind of a mix of, I was still figuring out her design and backstory while coming out with some of those early comics, and then, once I had that down, I wanted the boys to grow strong bonds as a main cast. That’s why a lot of the side characters are only making small appearances in the Sep!AU Life stories, as those are mainly for the boys reconnecting. (Usagi shows up the most because I love him and am totally biased towards him).

This maybe hasn’t been stated outright, but I wasn’t really expecting so many ppl to like Vee as much as they do, and now im trying not to spoil too much of her story. It’ll unfortunately just take us a while to get to the meat of it. Since the boys reconnecting takes up a lot of the early s1s2 story, Im trying to follow the familiar Rise blueprint of Draxum, Shredder, Krang, and then in s3 we’ll have crazy fun new stories with the extra characters.

Ive also decided to take this little nugget from one of the Q&As, and use it for Venus instead of Jennika. It was a much needed bit of inspiration to explain why Venus sorta disappears for a while and will go through some major physical changes (not yet revealed) before the family can figure out a way to reach her.

2. I’m not sure if you mean jump scared in a bad/triggering or neutral way, but if you need me to tag anything on those posts please let me know!

The glimpses of the future timeline, are being scattered throughout wherever they parallel the present story in little ways, but that’s only for now. As we get closer to the movie plot, bigger chunks of the future will be revealed, because the future versions of the boys will have a larger role to play in the present timeline. So we will need more backstory than what the canon got. And also I just enjoy drawing my future versions so sometimes I don’t think too hard on a reason. I just like throwing them at ppl with no warning or reason.

When s2 ends, I plan on collecting all the future related stuff that’s been released, and recapping it for easier reading. Right now, it’s just little sprinkles of foreshadowing to give ppl an idea that, ‘oh crap. The doomed timeline is a bummer’. In my mind, I guess i thought it’d be kinda like a fun scavenger hunt for clues, but maybe ppl don’t like that 😅

3. All of the side-stories were written as the main comic was/is being released. A lot of them resulted from asks that just spawned the need to expand on certain ideas, or a desire to give all the turtles their time to shine.

For instance, when I was doing Donnie’s section of the main comic, it was a good few months where we hardly saw anyone but him and Venus. I wanted to just mix it up, and give Raph some love with his ‘Raph Time’ short. When Leo was front and center in the main, we hardly saw the others, so Mikey and Donnie got their little ‘Secrets’ short (and it was also I fun thank you for EW making it so far in the tmnt sep competition).

4. Anything that has been reworked/revised or just plain dropped should have an ‘Edit’ note because yes—I have gone back and changed some things, but more so from the asks i got in the early days, and some movie idea drafts.

All the short comics done in the last year, especially the ones that are listed in my pinned post, are canon and fall somewhere in the timeline. They’re like supplemental reading though—extra meat to give the world and the characters more personality. They do have particular backstory plot and important info in them, but nothing that shouldn’t eventually be re-visited/repeated in the main story.

um I hope that cleared up some things! I know it’s kind of a crazy amount of lore. I’ve tried my best to organize it in the pinned post, huge timeline, and search bar tags, but I know it’s getting harder and harder for newer ppl to jump in as it just get bigger. Thanks for reading regardless!

[oneatlatime]

Any predictions for season 3, or are you planning to dive straight in?

You're not the first person who's mentioned s3 predictions, so I'll give it a shot, but I'm really not sure if I have anything to use to make predictions. S2 ended in a very final, end of arc kind of way. Lots of things have been tied up. I don't even know where they're all flying off to. Back to the Southern Water Tribe, since the Earth Kingdom's a bit of a bust? The Fire Nation's out of the question, the Northern Water Tribe probably has mixed feelings about seeing them again, maybe the Eastern Air Temple? Although even that might not be safe, since Aang's travel plans to said temple to meet the Guru were known by various Earth Kingdom generals. And that stupid King.

I think the Fire Nation contingent are going back to the Fire Nation, and I am looking forward to a Zuko with eyes at least somewhat open interacting with FN citizens/nobles/military etc. who are still completely drinking the kool aid. I think it's going to suck for Zuko. Should make for good TV though. Lots of conversations where both people are saying entirely different things while thinking they're talking about the same thing.

I said it before, but I'm worried for Iroh. He's for sure arrested, but is he going to be executed? Obviously I don't want that, but unless Iroh still has enormous popular support, and the Firelord's grasp on power is incredibly shaky, I don't see how permanently eliminating a traitor (from a FN perspective) can be avoided. Then again. Kids' show.

As for the Gaang? In broad strokes, Aang still needs to learn firebending to fully Avatar himself, then he needs to defeat the Fire Lord (who is quite the homebody apparently - seriously, where is this guy?). So next season Aang will shake off his lightning hangover, find a firebending teacher, defeat the firelord. He'll probably have to commute to the Fire Nation to find the Fire Lord first. No idea what he'll do in between those things. Perhaps inadvisable shenanigans? That would be in character. His biggest story arc all series has been learning to accept his status as Avatar, but between his talks with the Guru and opening his last Chakra in the finale, I think he's done it. So all that's left is the main plot and goofiness.

Katara has the same problem she had going into S2 - she's mastered waterbending, so she needs a new conflict/arc. S2 answered this demand by... having her hang around? What did Katara do this season? Bend a bunch, set up camps, tear down camps, wreck Jet, support Aang, be nice to Toph that one time, yell at people. I hope she gets something meatier in S3. I still think she should meet some good FN citizens that challenge her morals.

Sokka was also kind of just there this season, although if I'm being mean I'll say that he was also kind of just there for S1 too, which is why it doesn't feel as odd as Katara's lack of purpose. I loved his stuff with Suki. Suki is officially the glow up of the season. I loved their interactions together, and I love the growth she poked him into doing. I'd like to see more of that. So less a prediction and more of a hope: S3 Sokka develops the ability to rely on/trust others (or maybe realises others can be relied upon/trusted is more accurate), hopefully with Suki somehow involved. And I loved his dad too. I want to see more of that guy, but since a cardinal rule of kids' stories is getting rid of the authority figures asap, it won't happen.

Toph. Honestly I'm stumped. She already broke the universe. Where can she go from there? Unless she's going to devolve into an antagonist, which I absolutely don't want, I don't see how she can top her S2 plot. And Aang's got earthbending down, so I guess she'll be like Katara was this season: tagging along. Not that I'm complaining; I love me some Toph in any form. We have seen that she wants to make peace with her parents, sort of, probably? Or at least give them another shot? But I kind of don't want her within 100 miles of her parents. So I don't know.

Appa & Momo will hopefully be tagalongs in S3 too. I learned my lesson this season about wanting the animals to have character arcs.

I guess the antagonist in S3 will be the Fire Lord, finally. Who else is left? Zhao tried, he died. Azula tried, she won. Unless S3 has an Azula rematch. But would she want that? She's already proven that she won. She can go home and enjoy the spoils of her victory (which may or may not include Zuko - I'm kind of unclear on exactly how much agency Zuko is going to have in the FN, especially since I'm not actually sure that he has permission to be there as a free man - didn't the arrest warrant Azula was executing in episode 1 list both Zuko and Iroh?)

There's nothing left for the Gaang in Ba Sing Se, so I doubt they'll go back there. Frankly it's the FN characters who have roots there. I wonder what will happen to Iroh's tea shop? I wonder if his investors will find out who he is? I wonder if money talks louder than national loyalty? (It's the Earth Kingdom - the answer is yes) Wouldn't it be funny if Iroh busted out of imprisonment and went right back to serving tea? And everyone sent to find him would be thinking "this is the famed tactician the Dragon of the West - he's probably travelling the FN plotting a coup as we speak. That devilish mind of his must have safe houses set up all over the nation." When actually he's right back where he got caught, doing exactly what he was doing when he got caught, to great and not-very-quiet acclaim?

I think S3 might have an overall darker tone too, within the bounds of a kids' show. I don't know what place Ba Sing Se occupied in the mind of the average person in the Avatar universe (although refugees seemed to revere it), but the city's fall to the FN represents a very big FN victory. The Gaang will probably be the most underdoglike in S3. S1 was mostly stalemate, then a big FN defeat. S2 was opened with the FN taking Omashu and closed with them taking Ba Sing Se. The FN have never been in a better position, and I bet the NWT is safe from further invasion only until the FN have built their fleet back up. So even the few free areas could have an expiry date on their freedom.

This is rapidly devolving into rambles, so I'll conclude by saying I have no clue what's going to happen next season, and that's exciting.

[shygirl4991]

Brewing Romance Chapter 1 Cafe Dream

A Collab Story with @lizaluvsthis SMG3 and SMG4 design for the AU by Liz! Next Chapter Summary: SMG4 starts to struggle with his finances when he learns living in his newly built castle is more pricey than he thought. So when he gets an invite to the grand opening of SMG3 Coffee n Bombs he manages to land himself a second job as the cafe waiter where both men will learn that coffee won't be the only thing brewing in this cafe. 

Tags: Slow burn, fluff, comedy, just two idiots in love, love confession, first kiss

The alarm rings, waking up SMG4 from his deep slumber, with a groan he smacks around the side table till he finally hits the alarm. He yawns and stretches, still feeling drained as he walks to the bathroom of his newly built castle. He was still getting used to having a place to call his own, it was nice and the perfect place for making videos without interruptions. 

Though he still felt guilty over how he ended up in his current residents, no matter how hard he tries to look at the positives. For example, his rival of several years finally became his friend. He brushes his teeth then splashes water on his face to wake up, he really needed to stop staying up so late editing videos. As he walks back into the main hall he hears the front doors get kicked in, there was his rival and friend SMG3 charging in with a huge smile. He blinked when Three flashed an envelope at him “Oi! You know that cafe I have been saving up for? Well you're invited to the grand opening tonight!” 

Four takes the envelope and opens it “Wow! This is amazing Three, i didnt even think you could make coffee.” SMG3 glares at the man before noticing that Four was still in his pajamas, not to mention his hair was still a mess. He sighs and crosses his arms “It’s one in the afternoon Four, don't tell me you just woke up.” SMG4 gives the other man a sheepish smile as he puts the invite away “I might have stayed up a little too late…”  SMG3 rolled his eyes then started walking to the kitchen, curious Four followed to see what he was up to. He sits on the counter as he watches Three grab a bag of coffee beans “Watch and learn scrub as i show you how good my coffee is!” Four smirks and crosses his arms “You sure you can make that good of coffee? I have you know as a coffee drinker myself it actually requires a very high IQ and a level of artistry-” before he can finish his sentence SMG3 throws a roll of paper towels at him to shut him up. Pleased that the towels shut the man up he turns to go back to making coffee, of course he was making the coffee to show he had running a cafe in the bag and not because of how drained SMG4 looked. Four glares at Three for the sudden attack in the middle of his sentence only to then end up staring in awe of the cup of coffee Three sets in front of him.  He picks up the cup and hums at the smell of the fresh brew, he takes a sip and notices the smug look on SMG3. SMG4 turns and takes another sip. “Meh, it's not bad, maybe you can run a cafe.” Three nods with a huge grin on his face “Guess that means I have that high IQ you were blabbing about earlier.”  Four rolls his eyes and puts his cup down “Now now i didn't say you did just said you might be able to run a cafe,” before the two men could start arguing they hear the front door open. Three takes out more invites and walks out of the kitchen, once the man is gone Four looks at the coffee and smiles softly “He is even a tsundere when making coffee.” 

Finishing the drink he walks out of the kitchen to see the crew congratulating Three on the opening of his cafe. Mario grabs the invite and starts chanting “Spaghetti spaghetti!” SMG3 sighs trying to get the plumber to calm down “Mario it's a cafe, We don't serve spaghetti!” The words only made things worse as Mario’s demands got louder to the point that Three gave up “Okay yes spaghetti just for you so don't set anything on fire when you get there tonight.” Meggy pats Three’s back “Don't worry Three i will watch over Mario!” 

Four chuckles seeing the group being rowdy, he could only picture how the trip to Three’s cafe will be like. SMG3 says his goodbyes as he heads off to his cafe, everything was going to plan he had employees at the ready plus his new friends were invited. Nothing could ruin the day for him, he makes it home and takes the elevator to his room. He removes his hat revealing his hair in a bun before setting his long hair loose. He sits on his bed and starts writing in his notebook, he couldn't hold back his excitement at finally opening his cafe. Eggdog seeing his father home hops on the bed and snuggles up to him, Three smiles softly as he pets the pup.

He still wasn't sure on uniforms for his cafe yet, every cafe he went to had them so he knew they were a must to make him stand out. At the moment all he had were aprons with the cafe logo on them, he hums as he makes a note to himself to doodle some designs after the grand opening. Looking at the time he still had four hours before he had to get ready for work, he cuddles up with Eggdog to take a nap.

Suddenly the phone starts ringing, he rubs his eyes picking up the phone “Hello?” he hears a sigh on the other line “I’m sorry boss i won't be able to go in.”  Three sighs pinching the bridge of his nose “Okay thank you for letting me know,” it was just one employee it's not like everyone is going to call out. His phone starts blowing up with text messages from the others saying the same thing, panic starts to rise. Looking at the time he frowns, they all called an hour before opening. How could this happen? 

He gets dressed and hurriedly puts his hair in a bun with his favorite blue hair tie then slaps his hat on, he goes up the elevator nervous. He invited so many people to the grand opening, it will be just him and everyone he invited. He takes a deep breath. There is no way everyone will come, he can do this. He opens the door with the best smile he can muster “Welcome everyone to the grand opening of SMG3 Coffee N Bombs!” Everyone charges in looking around excitedly, Three stands at the ready for the orders to come in. Just him and a full house of people, noticing people lining up he takes out his notepad. It was smooth at the start only a few people ordered giving him time to make the drinks and drop them off. 

Mario walks up “Hmmm spaghetti!” SMG3 rolls his eyes at the order “Yeah sure be right on that.” He watches Mario excitedly take his seat with the crew, then SMG4 walks up with a small list “Here is what everyone wants, have to say Three this place is pretty packed i'm sure you and your employees have your work cut out huh?” “Yep so busy I had to send some out to get more beans, guess that means i'm a success!” He takes the list hoping that Four bought the lie. SMG4 smiles at Three “I'm happy for you three,” he walks away to sit with the crew. He starts making everyone's coffee then remembers Mario’s order “I have no choice…I must commit coffee sin if I don't want that idiot to melt down.” looking around he goes to the kitchen to make spaghetti then mixes it in a cup of coffee for Mario. He stares at the drink in disgust but he knows his avatar will be ecstatic about the drink.  

As he hands the crew their coffee he hears the door open, turning he sees a huge swarm of people go in. His eyes go wide at the amount of people that walked in, he runs to take everyone's orders getting confused with which table what order went to. Four frowns looking at the line and then at Three, he started to wonder where the other employees were. He had a feeling they were not on a bean run. SMG3 was panicking, this wasn't how his first day was supposed to go he couldn't take it anymore “Excuse me everyone, i need to get more coffee from the back!” 

He runs to the back room and sits on the couch trying to catch his breath. He was starting to burn himself out and he had no idea how to fix this mess. Suddenly he hears footsteps, looking up, he glares at the unexpected guest “SMG4 this is for employees last i check you don't work here!”  Ignoring the aggressive tone, Four sits next to Three “I notice things are pretty busy and I don't see anyone else but you…are they really on a bean run?” 

SMG3 sighs, figures the idiot would put things together “They all called out, i'm the only one working here.” he gets up and grabs a bag of coffee beans getting ready to face the crowd waiting for him “I have work to do, so leave and drink your coffee.” Four steps in front of the man with a determined look “Let me help, I have been a waiter before and with the two of us I'm sure we can calm this storm happening!” SMG3 shakes his head “I don't need your help,” he tries to step around Four only for SMG4 to move with him. With a groan he grabs an apron with the cafe logo “I will pay you for today, but don't think you work here now. The last thing I want is a scrub like you around me all the time.” 

SMG4 smiles and takes the apron, both men nod at each other as they step out ready to face those waiting in line. Four takes out a red hair tie picking up his hair, he taps his shoes for wheels to come out. Three looks at the wheels surprised “You wear Heelys?!” Four nods as he slides around the cafe dropping the orders at the tables “Helps me get around faster!” 

SMG3 kept taking orders then making the coffee for SMG4 to take, he couldn't help himself watching Four skate around handing people their coffee. How can his rival look so adorable in a ponytail, realizing his thoughts he blushes shaking them out of his head. There was no way he would be attracted to the idiot, he was just distracted by the man's work skill. As time passed the hoard of people thinned out till it was closing time, the moment Three locked the door both men collapsed on the floor “So that went well.”

SMG4 lets out a small chuckle “Yeah you can say that, we make a pretty good team.” Three and Four look at each other and smile softly before looking around and seeing the mess the cafe is in. SMG3 groans “I will pay you overtime if you help me clean this place,” SMG4 gets up and offers his hand to Three “Sure, lets clean up!” The two of them finish cleaning the cafe while teasing each other on who was the fastest on fixing the tables. Four had to admit he had fun working with Three like this, sure it was busy with the huge crowd they drew in but seeing another side of SMG3 was worth it for Four. He takes off the apron and hands it to Three, they both say their goodbyes and separate. 

Both of them go to their own room smiling in bed at the fun they had working together in the cafe, slowly both men pass out with their minds filled with each other.

[n-fblog]

Reo, Nagi, and Differences from the Main Manga

Thoughts from Episode: Nagi, chapter 17

Reo:

This chapter was kind of needed for him to "abandon" his ego of becoming the best with Nagi (and we can see it sort of fading in the textbox) -- and simultaneously get rid of that growing attachment he has to Nagi. Really sad to see him say, "thank you" as if he doesn't even have the strength to break them apart himself (and he didn't)

The chameleon makes its first chronological appearance so we can clearly see him start to 'adapt' his thinking and playing even though it's not fully fleshed out yet, which is exciting! I wasn't sure if that was something he made up with Shidou before, but it's hilarious to know it all started with Nagi, AGAIN. Or maybe this is the manga trying to convey that he's changing himself to help Nagi walk away lol

His inferiority complex with Nagi makes itself kind of known here, with the monologue- "Those are the words *I* wanted to say,," but was unable to...

Somehow, Nagi being able to encourage Reo makes him the stronger one mentally -- which is tough for someone who subconsciously already thinks he can't go very far without Nagi skill-wise.

Poor guy... and he still has so far to go before he starts to think he can fight on his own.

Nagi:

Man, this chapter pretty much confirms that their mischaracterization and miscommunication goes both ways lol. Nagi spitefully admonishes that he isn't Reo's 'toy' when Reo flips from "wanting to be the best" to "wanting to stay together"-- These guys have such a hard time acknowledging their friendship outside of football, it's actually painful.

I can't tell if he made any sort of connection betweey 'toy' and being Reo's 'treasure'. But that's almost definitely a metaphor on Reo's part. What a lot of people misuse is that Reo calls Nagi his 'treasured possession' when I really, truly don't think he meant viewing Nagi as a literal object. But how else do you expect a rich boy who's only been shown love through material things to describe something he values? *(see tags for a rant on this lol)

I do wish we'd gotten more insight into how he felt when he heard what Reo said in the moment, but this chapter was already long as it is. I do think Nagi's expressions sort of speak for themselves.

I mean, he straight up looks like he's about to cry here. 

I would argue that part of Nagi's promise to 'stay together' during the entrance actually includes 'believing in each other' like he says here:

 And if that's the case, then what did Reo's claim of abandonment mean to him? Was it that Reo didn't believe in Nagi's newfound drive to win? Or was he mad that Reo didn't believe in himself? I think it's a bit of both, but I really want to see more thoughts in the manga or from the fandom

Blue Lock vs. Episode: Nagi

So... Nagi definitely seems more angry in this chapter, right? When you revisit Ch. 76, you can see that Nagi is a lot more apologetic towards Reo

( Here you see him lament not growing alongside Reo, but fired up and excited to work with Isagi)

vs. what we saw this chapter

(Nagi saying sorry and acknowledging he's changed, but looking less toward the future and more resisting the past)

Maybe this is just a difference in translations, but "I can't [am not able to] go back" feels a little different from "I won't go back" -- the former just feels like an admission (to Reo), while the latter feels a lot more confrontational, a downright refusal to go along with what Reo wants.

And that's fine, but it does reshape how I thought about Nagi, and I think it really emphasizes just how pissed he was at Reo by the end of 2nd Selection.

This reframes their interaction during U-20 tryouts for me. I originally thought it was mostly setting up Reo's chameleon style defense and Reo's internal conflict (which it is) but EpiNagi really just shows that Nagi also has a ways to go before they reunite in Manshine

I think this could be the panel (from Ch. 107, 3rd Selection) where Nagi forgives Reo -- it's the point where Reo sort of shows he understands Nagi's drive to win, and that he doesn't value staying together over improving anymore. After that, they have no issues (in Nagi's eyes) so it was probably easy to imagine walking up to Reo during MC v BM and asking for his help ... but man, we still have a long way til then, and I can't wait for EpiNagi to probably prove me wrong :p

[lemotmo]

More on the Ravi stuff

Q. I didn't even think about budget cuts 😔

A. I mean the only reason FOX 'canceled' it was because of production cost. It was their highest rated show. It made absolutely no sense to cancel it until they mentioned how much the show cost to make. Their main cast is relatively large and they use major effects. Look at a show like Abbott Elementary for comparison. They have a relatively small main cast, they use essentially one location, and zero special effects. That's a cheap show to make. The bulk of their cost is their cast and crew. Now take 911. They have a larger main cast that includes Angela Bassett. A large cast that has been together the majority of their run. So you're paying Angela in a tier of her own, Jennifer and Pete in another tier. Then Oliver, Ryan, Aisha and Kenny. But given the longevity of the show and their places on the show Oliver, Ryan, Kenny and Aisha are not making less than $300,000 something an episode,and it's really probably closer to $400,000 something by now. That's just your cast. Now add the effects cost. Look at what we know so far about whatever the plane thing is to open this season. They had to pay to use the outside studio location, had to build part of a plane. It will definitely involve special effects of some kind. And on top of that their entire extended fire staff is on location. The 118, 133 and 217 are all involved. It's clearly massive. That's just for one maybe two episodes. They have 18 episodes this season. So if ABC said they had to cut cost somewhere where are they going to cut? They're not cutting a main. They are not dropping the effects or locations. They're not dropping the kids. That left the supporting cast. They're not going to cut Karen and Josh. So Ravi, Sue, Carla and company would be the cuts they'd choose to make. Now that doesn't save a ton of money but it's a start. We will probably see other cuts as well as the season goes on. It's a very expensive weekly production. Unfortunately cost cutting is a necessity. But again we don't really know anything for sure yet.

Thank you Nonny!

All of this is very interesting to read. I admit that I know little of the financial side of filming these shows. I knew it was very expensive, but this was still eye-opening to me.

In the end ABC is a business and businesses are in it to make money. They won't keep pumping money in a project that doesn't make a profit. Unfortunately that also means that some people might lose their jobs. 😕

But yeah, let's just wait for a while and see what happens. Who knows? Maybe he was just trolling us. 🤞🤞🤞

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If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[idontknowstudios-writes]

New longform fic in the works!

Hello hello, I've been dead to the world for a while now, but I'm back now!!

I've recently been working on a SVSSS/MDZS crossover, with my dearest son Mo Xuanyu as our MC! The premise goes as follows;

Mo Xuanyu has heard of a cultivation sect far away from all of the clan's politics, called Cang Qiong- the stronghold between the demon realm and the human realm! He's willing to live on the border between realities if it means he can get away from his own personal hell on earth that Mo Village has become. Only, he'll be leaving behind his fiancé... But then, what happens when the clans follow him to Cang Qiong?

As always, I'm soft hearted so there won't be too much angst, but there will definitely be enough hurt/comfort to go around!!

I still can't think of a name for it though 🤔

Anyway, the relationship tags for this fic have already been all figured out!! They're below the cut with some technical aspects rambling because this fic is my hyperfixation right now and i cant be normal about it;

Main Ship;

Mo Xuanyu/Nie Huaisang (I miiiight work in Jiang Cheng, because I know that Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng is popular i think? We'll see when we get there)

Background Ships;

Shen Jiu/Mu Qingfang/Yue Qingyuan

Shen Yuan/Luo Binghe/Liu Qingge (I'm a firm believer in polyamorous immortals you can't fight me on this)

Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian

Familial/Friend Ships;

Mo Xuanyu & Various Peak Lords as family :))

Mo Xuanyu & Wei Wuxian bonding probably?

Mo Xuanyu & Luo Binghe

Technical Aspects;

Finding a good timeline for this fic is hell, I want everyone to know that!!! For SVSSS, the timeline is set a few years past the canon ending of the story, and for MDZS it's set in the very first year after the end of their story.

It's also very far from being canon on either end of the crossover, because (just to state the obvious) Mo Xuanyu is still alive, and so is Shen Jiu! I just really wanted to write a fic that I'd like to read myself, so I'm shoving in as many of my favourite parts from other fics as I can.

I also have an outline written that is. 700 words long right now!! I've only written the prologue!! what am i doing!!!! Though tbf I am on draft four already and im slowly going crazy :)

Also I usually try to write a "prologue" introducing the premise for long form fics and I try to keep it short, so like 1000 words?? but I just kept going and brought it up to 1800 this time T_T The actual chapters will be AT LEAST 2000, but with the way its going right now it'll probably end up longer.

Side note in relation to that, I'm thinking this fic will be like ,,, 7-10 chapters? I'm still in the early stages, but that's my estimation!!

There is also some planned angst between Mo Xuanyu and Nie Huaisang because well, Huaisang did try to manipulate him into killing himself, so. yknow. I personally am not excited for it because I hate writing my skrunklies fighting :((

I also wanted to work in Tianlang-jun and Zhuzhi-lang somewhere, which will probably happen when the whole MDZS crew shows up! Idk I'm not that far in my outline yet ( ╥ω╥ )

Anyway!!!! Credit to this fic by Jenrose!!! It's what gave me the MDZS autism and what inspired this fic a little, despite the fact that there's nearly zero similarities lol

Thanks for reading all that,

signing off, Yin ! ☆⌒(>。<)

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/fishjellylou/766623772774137856/yall-white-mfs-need-to-stop-speaking-on-louis?source=share

As a disclaimer, I swear I'm not trying to start something, but this person is clearly talking about your post. The only reason i bring this to ur attention is bc

1. They seem to be purposely misinterpreting a lot of what u said and

2. It sums up a certain attitude in fandom that's been bothering me.

You always back up your interpretations with textual evidence and seem very open to other people's interpretations as well, so this type of reaction seems very hostile to me for no reason. And I feel like this readiness to call racism over any differing opinion on Louis only manages to reduce his character and discourage people from exploring his complexities or engaging with the character at all.

At least for me, it makes me scared of sharing any opinion, because people in fandom don't seem to be open to debate and conversation, they just claim one interpretation as the only valid read of the show and anyone who disagrees is suddenly racist.

I guess i just wanted to get your take on it and ask for advice on how to deal with this type of backlash when it comes to engaging in character analysis. Your insight is always appreciated <3

Oh! Yeah, I mean - - they certainly seem to be referring to me without @'ing me!

And mmm, yeah, I'd say it reads to me as a bad faith interpretation of my posts, especially as I certainly wouldn't describe how I wrote about Louis today as a 'diabolical jezebel' - in fact, I think it's lowkey the opposite given I think he's a character who has a healthy sexual appetite which sometimes manifests in the wrong direction as a result of trauma and circumstance, as opposed to the puritanical virgin some would depict him as - and literally, explicitly said that I don't think Louis' a liar, but rather has the normal response of trying to paint himself in a better light in his memories, but y'know, they're allowed their interpretation of my posts, just as they're allowed their own readings of the show.

As someone who's been around the fandom traps for more than a decade, I can't say this isn't something I'm used to, and I kinda think it's important to be okay with it? I make these posts publicly (even if I do try to avoid using main tags lowkey for adjacent reasons to this one), so people can respond to me publicly. That's okay! I've kinda been doing the same with the l*slou fest, so I'd be a huge hypocrite to have an issue with what they do when I'm doing it a little myself, haha.

But to me posts like this also just try to weaponise the idea that being called racist is worse than being racist, and as a result is a way to shut people up, like you said. I'm open with the fact that I'm white and Australian - arguably the worst type of White, haha - and I know that I have race biases that I'm working constantly to unpack, and I work in DEI at my theatre company, so trust me when I say I've done a lot of 'official' training too, which feels stupid to talk about here in this context, but is a reality of Things I've Done.

I engage and read and listen a lot, which is all to say, I suppose, that I do try to be very conscious and present in how I exist in these conversations, and it's a funny thing to come back to fandom spaces where people do want white people to take on a cultural load, want them to engage particularly with characters of colour, want them to create fanworks involving POC - all things fandom is notoriously bad at! - and then ultimately - - y'know. Weaponise race in an attempt to shut down conversations they don't like (and I include a lot of white people in that too). It too often feels like race becomes a moving part to keep characters under certain fan interpretation ownership, which feels symptomatic of broader fandom entitlement.

I don't know. I hear you, basically, and I get your nervousness about engaging, but at the end of the day, conversations won't happen if they don't happen. Sharing your thoughts and knowing - and being able to articulate - your intent while keeping an open mind to criticism and an eagerness to learn is always a positive, at least to me. Some people are going to engage in bad faith - that's kind of inevitable these days, I think - but there are going to be a lot of people who engage in good faith too, and I don't know. A lot of people tell me I have a bit of a crap nose for it, haha, and tend to engage more of the bad faith than I should, but I always try to take things optimistically and in good faith. I like to trust that people mean the best, and when they don't - - well, that's for private chats, haha.

[blorboazula]

Thank you got calling out the bullshit about w@nd@ and the gargoyle that's supposedly her son. I haaate that the show and fandom is getting overtaken by them. Like we have QWOC and older queer women and yall want to drool over the whitewashed abuser and her white boy mini me? People once again gushing for m/m crap with that twerp and his bf when we might not even get a kiss from the canon f/f couple due to censorship? Ugh. Not even touching people villainixong Agatha immediately again.

So, I try to not be as vocal as I can be about how much I don't like Wanda and her stans, but here we go. I won't even tag her and such so don't come at me (or come, if you want). Little rant:

Yeah, like, I really, really don't like the way I'm seeing way too many people talking about him as if he's the main character of the show.

Like, yeah, sure, be excited about a character you like. I was jumping in joy when Carol showed up in the post credit scene of Ms. Marvel. I was talking about it on Twitter a lot but I also talked about the other stuff. I used to have a MCU side-blog and the majority of my posts weren't about that one thing. (Even if lots of my theories involved her since 1. The Marvels a movie I've been waiting and 2. she was one of the main characters in the direct sequel to Ms. Marvel). I still enjoyed the show for who the show was about even if my favorite character of the 'verse showed up + the series was very much connected to it.

(In the same vein, you don't need to consume every media with characters you like. I didn't watch WandaVision even if Monica was there.)

Agatha is the main character of the show, it's in the fucking name of the show. Sure, it's a trilogy and whatever (or so I heard), this part isn't about fucking Wanda, for fucks sake. It's Agatha All Along, not Wanda & Her Spontaneous Creations All Along.

But I knew it was going to happen. I've seen people tearing apart every non-Teen-is-Billy theory to shreds as if those were personally offensive. I'm sorry some people liked the theory that Teen was, somehow, the protagonist's kid. You know, because the protagonist is the character in which the story revolves around and the protagonist is the most important character because she's the FUCKING PROTAGONIST.

Queer representation is important, yup, and they fucked it up before (Loki anyone?). And the one in Eternals is almost a blink and you'll miss. But even if I'm not a lesbian/sapphic myself, I'm here like "come on, let the lesbians have this for ONCE". It was going so well, the jokes about lesbian witches and their emotional support emo twink, it was going so well.

I knew the moment that we had the identity reveal, the Wanda stans would be even louder and ruin the enjoyment of the others. I genuinely liked Teen and I still think that he was a pretty nice character before that fucking episode end – even if I wouldn't be surprised that he was manipulating them all this time, an evil little bitch like his mom (and that would be fun if it wasn't 1. for the twisted morals & 2. the fact that I ended up really liking Agatha).

About how they talk about Agatha: only Wanda is allowed to be mean, bitchy, evil, cruel and blame it all on her trauma. Every other villain? They're just evil. It's the kind of thing Ms. Volunteer-to-be-Experimented-on-by-HYDRA believes, considering her bullshit line to Strange.

Like, Wanda stans are really the fucking worse.

[karizard-ao3]

Hi Karizard! Just finished reading Clueless Teens in like … two sittings - it’s legit the best school caste au fic I’ve come across, i love it so much. I know Eremika is the main focus but holy shit ur Aruani is! So sweet! 😭 Would you ever consider writing more Aruani stuff in the future?

Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I tend to include Aruani as a side ship in my longer fics. They feature in Anamnesis but I didn't tag them as a ship because they do not have a happy ending together and it's pretty much just solid angst between them throughout lol.

I'm still working on finishing my single parents au wip, but Aruani are the other couple in it. They, of course, don't show up as much as Eremika, but they are in it and they deal with changes to their relationship due to becoming new parents.

I'm going to share a little snippet, as a treat (also, I'm chomping at the bit to get this finished and posted, so I want very badly to share scenes and whatnot).

Here, Armin and Annie bring their baby on his first outing, meeting up with Eren, Mikasa, and their kids at the playground.

BEGIN SCENE!

Annie made sure Alexander was secure in his sling while Armin grabbed the diaper bag and slung it over his shoulder. 

"Is he okay in there?" he fretted. "You're sure he won't fall out or smother?"

"Maybe the sling wasn't a good idea…" said Annie, looking up at the other families occupying the playground near Eren and Mikasa’s houses. "Maybe bringing him out at all wasn't a good idea…" 

She bit her lip and glanced over towards where Eren and Mikasa were watching their kids play. Mason was running back and forth across the play structure’s bridge, doing spin kicks at each landing, while Adriana squealed and hollered because Eren was wiping her nose when she wanted to play. She had been a snotty, coughing mess all morning, he’d warned them, adding, “But don’t worry. The doctor said she’s not contagious, just gross.”

So maybe Adri wasn't an infection risk, but what about all these other kids? Annie held Alexander protectively against her body. He made a grunting sound, bobbing his fists and looking up at her. She glanced down at him just in time to see his face screw up and relax as he farted. Her heart swelled. "We're going to bring you home so none of these rowdy little shits can get you sick," she cooed. 

Alexander grunted again, not comprehending but pleased to be part of the conversation.

"Armin, we're going," said Annie.

"Sounds good!" said Armin, opening the car door he had just closed and stowing the diaper bag back inside.

Across the park lawn, Mikasa smacked Eren's arm and pointed at them.

"Ope!" he said, setting Adri free and jogging across the grass to the Arlerts. "Don't even think about it!" he said, stopping next to them. "You told us you were going crazy stuck at home. Now that the baby has his shots and it’s warming up, it's time for you two to get out of the house. He’ll be fine. You don’t need to keep him in a bubble."

"Look," said Armin. "I know it probably seems like we're being excessive to you, but you don't know what it's like having a child with medical issues."

Eren gaped at him. “Seriously?”

"What?" said Armin. "You don't."

"My kid literally can't breathe without daily steroids and gets bronchitis multiple times a year," said Eren, his eyebrows dropping into a dangerous line across his face. "What is Alexander's chronic illness?"

Armin averted his eyes. 

"Sorry. I didn't hear you. What was it again?" said Eren. He was in a far worse mood than usual.

"Nothing," grumbled Armin. "The doctor gave him a clean bill of health.”

“Oh!” said Eren. “How interesting!” 

“But his immune system is still immature so we have to be careful with him,” Armin persisted.

Eren held up his hands. "Fine. But if you keep sheltering him from everything like this, Alexander is going to turn out like you," he warned.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Armin demanded. "My parents did a great job!"

Annie reached past him to open the car door and get the diaper bag back out. “I guess a little fresh air and sunshine wouldn’t hurt.”

Armin turned to look at her, the betrayal evident all over his face. 

"I love you so much, baby," she said. "Just the way you are."

"That's not really what it seems like right now!" said Armin.

"No, really!" said Annie. "You're so intelligent and handsome and talented!"

"But?" said Armin, folding his arms.

"No buts," said Annie, heading towards Mikasa. "It's just that my dad didn't coddle me at all and I'm much less…"

"Much less what?" said Armin, scowling and chasing after her.

"Um... Prissy," said Annie. 

“We are talking more about this at home,” said Armin.

“Yes, dear,” said Annie.

“Tan I see the baby?” Adri squealed as soon as she noticed the Arlerts had finally joined them, chugging down the play structure steps as fast as her little legs could carry her and wiping her snot on her pudgy wrist.

Annie closed her eyes, took a deep, stabilizing breath and kneeled down so Adri could see Alexander. 

“Hello little Aleskander!” Adri said, then sneezed in his face, spraying him in spit.

Alexander gasped, his eyes popping open wide and his arms flinging out to his sides. “Oh, god…” groaned Annie.

Armin glared at Eren.

“Sorry little guy! I promise she’s not contagious,” said Eren, snatching his backpack from the ground and pulling out a pack of wipes. Alexander’s fists were bopping a mile a minute. His run-in with Adri had been very exciting. Eren held out the pack of wipes for Annie and she extracted one, using it to clean her son’s face while he aired his grievances in a thin wail. He was no longer enjoying his grand adventure now that it included being subjected to torture. 

“He’s crying,” Mason observed, skipping toward them to see the new baby. “Maybe he’s hungry. Mom, can I have a snack?”

“Tan I have one, too?” said Adri.

“I might have something,” said Mikasa. She hadn’t packed anything besides her and Mason’s lunches because they were going to be eating so soon but she might have a bag of chips or a protein bar in her purse that the kids could split.

“I’ll give Aleskander his bottle,” Adri said, putting her hands on her hips and inspecting the baby with an officious nod. “I’s going to take very good care of him.”

Mason grabbed his hair. “You know what? I can’t take it anymore, Adriana!” he shouted. “It’s I’m! Not I’s! You are saying it wrong! You say everything wrong! How can you be so dumb?”

"Mason!" said Mikasa.

Adriana’s face twisted with rage and she punched him.

“Ow!” Mason yelped. “She hit me!”

“Adriana May Jaeger!” Eren barked.

“I think she gave me internal bleeding,” Mason moaned, doubling over and clutching his stomach.

“He said I’s dumb!” Adriana howled.

“I’m,” Mason screeched. “You’re supposed to say I’m! Did you learn to talk at upside-down school?”

“I’s! Too! Little! For! Stool!” Adriana shrieked, punching him again.

“My organs!” Mason wailed.

“Kids with busted organs don’t get to play at the playground,” said Mikasa, sifting through her giant bag with greater urgency. Maybe if their mouths were occupied with chewing, the kids would stop screaming at each other. “Kids with busted organs have to go to the hospital.”

Mason eyed her, then straightened with theatrical uncertainty, patting his abdomen. “Hey! It doesn’t hurt anymore! ” he said as if he were as shocked by the news as any of them. “I’m okay!”

“A miracle,” said Mikasa.

END SCENE!