#The kids think it's awesome (especially since they're growing up around it)

[puppetmaster13u]

Just had the sleep-deprived idea of combining my Cryptid Batfam Au with @phoenixcatch7 's Possessed Doll Au into a combo au, some distant timeline where the two combine and meld into one thing.

Honestly would be slightly body horror probably, maybe with Bruce starting with building wings and then it... escalates. There's a reason that people don't go down in the caves under Gotham, and Bruce is incredibly lucky that It welcomes him. Perhaps welcomes him too much, what with it seeming to build him another body each time he gets injured, even if it's just bruising. Not to mention that another is forming when he takes Dick in, and then another when Barbara joins them.

There's something not quite the same the first time he wakes up in a body that is his but not, something organic but not. Testing on it is fine, small tests that is, anything larger and his head starts to pound and ring. It's easier to just accept the shadows' gifts than question it.

Honestly I like to think the body is something between inorganic and organic, like veins of flesh and fur wrapped around bones and metal. Like a flesh puppet of sorts, starts all skeletal and mostly metal and wood but the veins of black and red start to grow over time as the whispers about the Bat spread.

Honestly I also like to think it's more animalistic than the original possessed doll au, the wood easily mistaken for things like chitin, especially with the segmentations. Combine the chest cavity with the harness that the kids cling to, and you have a back cavity lol. The 'Spine' seemingly splitting open to hide things inside. Bruce probably does have clothing for the body, but I wanted to figure out the general body first lol.

[yumeka-sxf]

I'm finally home from my vacation and able to discuss the latest SxF chapter...all I can say is, I have a lot to say! I'll start with funny stuff first before I move on to analyzing...

Anya was especially hilarious in this chapter - where do I even start with her gremlin-ness? 😂 First off, there's her calling the butlers "henchlings' henchlings" (in the Japanese version, I believe she's using some mispronunciation of 弟子, which means "follower")

Then she calls out Twilight for being, well, Twilight, even giving his behavior its own acronym ��

She feels bad for George because his family isn't important enough for Twilight's aforementioned Twilighting 😅

And this doozy of a nickname for Bill!

In the Japanese version, she calls him something like "old man bully who hits people with balls" 😆

But joking aside, we get these profound words from Jeeves that seem to resonate with Twilight.

His words remind Twilight of the hypocrisy of his position: on the one hand, he agrees with Jeeves and wants the children to be able to grow up as they wish, without being burdened by the expectations of their parents. But that's exactly what he's been corralling Anya towards this whole time...doing whatever's best for Operation Strix, regardless of what may be best for her.

This scene reminded me of his musings when they first took Bond to the dog park; another case where he's aware that the morals he believes in are the opposite of his actions and yet...he continues with the mission.

I also think it's great that the other parents thank Anya for her bravery during the bus hijacking. Even if their kids don't act grateful, the parents should be on their behalf. Perhaps seeing this praise for Anya right before his eyes is what made Twilight feel even more guilt upon hearing Jeeves' words - he's seeing more and more what an exceptional girl she is despite not having the perfect traits for his mission, and yet he's still manipulating her (not realizing she's aware of the mission and wants to help).

But on that note, it's nice to see that George's dad and Becky's mom somewhat agree with Jeeves. As of now, I'd say out of all the Eden kids we've gotten to know, George and Becky seem to have the most decent families. I especially like how Becky's dad is adorably doting, to the point where he gets crushed when Becky asks Yor for help instead of him 😅 Also Martha having to reel him in, lol.

But despite being an overbearing dad, at least he isn't quick to jump on Loid supposedly "seducing" Becky 😂 He seems to not take it seriously, which is good since Becky is the one making the moves with her silly little girl crush.

Also Emile thinking Yor is pretty~ I'm surprised he had something nice to say about anyone connected to Anya, lol. I really want a chapter where Yor takes all the Eden kids on a playdate and they start thinking she's awesome like Becky does, even Damian.

Speaking of Yor, just when I thought she would be demoted to "background character" for whatever arc is coming, the last few panels give the impression that she'll have her next moment in the spotlight soon! Is she just destined to always catch Melinda when she falls? 😅

Not only are we getting more Yor/Melinda interactions next time, but also (hopefully) more of Anya reading Melinda's mind. I know there's theories floating around of how Donovan may be able to read minds and is possibly the one behind the experiments done on Anya, and that Melinda may have some psychic abilities too. Also some relation to that Arnold Crowley character introduced several chapters ago. I'm not good at theorizing, so I'll leave it to fans who are better with that kind of stuff 😅 But I think they're all good theories and I'm keeping my fingers crossed we'll get more insight into Desmond secrets very soon!

...but unfortunately the next new chapter won't be until November 25th, so we'll have to be satisfied with theories for now!

[cosmic-ghost-hermit]

What animal do you most resemble and why?

So just so yall know before you go to your piles. The animals in the pictures might not be the creature that you most resemble. I am using the Untamed Spirit Animal Oracle in this reading. Please take what resonates and leave the rest behind but always be open to new perspectives about yourself.

_________

PILE ONE

Astrology: Pisces, Sagittarius, Aries

Song: all i ever wanted by Mazie

Vibes: 🖤💙🔭✈️🕷🦋🕶🎓🐾🌏🌊🫐🍙🧊🎧♟🦽💎⛏🛋📘✒️💤♿️🔊♠️🏁

Cards: Lion, 5 of Cups, 7 of Wands, The Void, Karmic Relationships

Hi, pile 1! Welcome. These cards tell me you look most like a lion. I can see some of you have prominent noses that make your face very lion-like. All of you have the most piercing fierce eyes. I also see you have soft hands and nice nails that you probably get done regularly. You are legit gorgeous and you have this extensive hair routine you do almost every day. You might wear a bonnet to sleep or you have a silk pillow case to protect it. I can also see you are surprised by these compliments. You have some self-esteem issues that frustrate you a lot. These beliefs you have about your physical appearance are built around the opinions of others. First off, they only shit on you cus they are jealous. These cards have a weird undertone of relationships so I think maybe you had a partner at one point who was SUUUUPER jealous of how beautiful you are. Wow, they are pressed about it. They probably said some extremely mean things to you about your appearance that stick with you even though it doesn't look like they are around you anymore. I hear them saying you have RBF or something. You have literally nothing to feel insecure about my dear.. Like you complimented yourself in the mirror around this person and they like immediately tried to knock you down a peg. Dude, that person is SO ENVIOUUS. Don't listen to their words. You need to see through their words to the true emotions behind them. Don't let these jealous people dim you light, girl!!! Their words are not based on reality. It is distorted by their emotions. Just know when they look in the mirror all they hear is their momma tellin them they're ugly as fuck. They were just projecting their insecurities, baby.

PILE TWO

Astrology: Taurus, Leo, Aquarius

Song: Body Talks by The Struts, Kesha

Vibes: 💛🧡❤️💙🎁🧿💰🌅🏖🚦🚚🚎🎯🎭🏅🍹🫐🍂🌊🌈🌏🍁🐠🫂🤖🥶😰

Cards: Badger, 7 of Pentacles, 5 of Wands, The Seven Star Sisters, Jump In

Hey there, pile 2!! You have such an interesting energy. The animal you most resemble is the Badger. So from what I'm reading from the other cards this is less of a physical resemblance and more of an attitude resemblance. The way you hold yourself is like you do not give a fuck what anyone thinks about you. You had many people around you growing up who were considered "conventionally attractive" and for a long time, this bothered you. I think sometimes it does still bother you but you have grown your self-esteem a lot since you were little. You got tired of fighting for attention real quick. You realized how dumb the competition of appearance is and began to explore your expression more for fun rather than to fit in. You have a unique way of expressing yourself, especially with your make-up. Dark eye shadow is your signature look. It makes your already really unique eye color pop like nothing else. You dress very alternatively compared to your siblings and/or friends. The style does have a touch of whimsicalness to it too. I see some of the people who picked this pile have a curvy body type. You keep your hair short for the most part because it's easier to manage while short. You truly have such a fantastic head-turning style. I really do love your energy, my dear. Like, wow you are fucking awesome. I would have looked at you as a kid and wanted to look like you so bad.

PILE THREE

Astrology: Scorpio, Libra, Gemini

Song: The Middle by Jimmy Eats World

Vibes: 🤍🖤🔎🖋🧷📓🩺🔬🔌📷📼🎥🎹🎼🎤🎧🎬🌪🐚🪨🐇🕊🦢🐈‍⬛🕸🐰👟

Cards: Toad, Fox, 8 of Swords, 2 of Wands, Double Mission, Deep Cellular Healing

Oh, pile 3. This is gonna be a kind of shadow work-y kind of reading so just be prepared to be called out okay? Trigger warning for SA. You make yourself ugly on purpose. You hid your beauty from yourself. I dunno exactly what you do to hide it from others but I see you wearing clothes that keep your shape a secret. You do your make-up in a way that accentuates the dark cycles under your eyes. You make yourself look sick and dying. You force yourself to believe you resemble a Toad. I don't blame you, my friend. You went through something truly terrible that made you feel ugly so you express it outwardly constantly. You believe you are ugly because of what happened. What they did to you didn't taint your beauty, homie. You aren't dirty. You aren't hideous or unattractive naturally. You are so scared of what happened, happening again. It makes you put up these defenses in-order to feel safe. My friend you are already safe without these defenses. You might be doing way more harm than good, my friend. If you stopped hiding your true beauty from yourself, you would more resemble a Fox. These cards are encouraging you to heal from what happened to you mentally. Your reaction to what happened isn't wrong but you shouldn't destroy yourself because of how others treated you. You are stunning and so naturally gorgeous. I hear you saying that your feelings about what happened don't matter. That is a lie you tell yourself. That is a lie someone else told you. What happened to you was truly awful. What they did to you was disgusting but it doesn't make you disgusting. It makes THEM disgusting. What THEY did is disgusting. You are beautiful. You are so drop-dead, star-struck glamorous! You aren't a toad. You are a fox. Please embrace your authenticity because you deserve to feel good. You deserve to see your body for what it truly is.

PILE FOUR

Astrology: Cancer, Capricorn, Virgo

Song: Honey And The Bee by Owl City

Vibes: 🤍💖💛🦦😜👄☀️👟🐁👙👑🎂🐱🐻‍❄️🌙🦭🌸🌼🍣🍰⚾️🎗🎟🎲📿

Cards: Otter, Queen of Cups, The Well, A New Earth, Called

Pile 4. You are so fucking cute. Like so cute. Like I feel your energy and all I feel and think is "Awwww~ What a cuuutie!". You most resemble an Otter. Which in my opinion, ARE SO FUCKING CUTE!!! I see you like to color your hair in pastel colors and it's SUUUPER long. Like you have been growing out your hair for a while now. You have this cute little button nose and these super pretty dark eyes. Ohmygods you have no idea how much I think brown eyes are the prettiest eyes. You put a lot of creativity in your outfits so you always look so snatched and dolled up. You like the long flowy dresses and shirts that billow in the wind. They make you look like a fairy. You always smell like incense and sea salt. You probably love swimming or surfing or some kind of sport you play in the water so you are very lean. I see you might be pursuing some kind of profession in the beauty industry. Either that or you just look like a model and people think you are one. You wear these pretty flowers in your hair that give you this gorgeous halo of lavender. You have been absolutely blessed by Lady Aphrodite. She loves you like her child. She blesses you with fashion sense and soft features.

[tinyapplejuice]

HII !! I dont think I've requested yet but I LOVE ur writing and was hoping for some 8bit x fem reader headcanons OR VIRUS 8BIT X FEM READER HEADCANONS! THE CHOICE IS URS I JUST LOVE YOUR WORK SM !! ^.^

8-BIT DATING HEADCANONS

✧.*

���Guys I’m stepping into unknown territory, I got back into this game since like 2023 late Decembers and I’m pretty sure I missed so much stuff correlating to 8-bit or even any brawler’s lore since I used to play this game since like 2020 so if there are any key details I’ve missed about his character IM SO SORRY LIKE IM GENUINELY ASHAMED OF MYSELF TOO BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO DISAPPOINT THE FANS WHO ARE GENUINELY HUGE NERDS ABOUT THIS BRAWLER if you have any like canon information about it or if there’s a site that contains lore about Brawl Stars and it’s characters, in general, please tell me. I’m desperate, my sister is helping me with a piece of stone and rock and using our cavemen brains together. But enough about my silly ranting, let’s begin!

•8-bit, 8-bit, 8-bit, ha, what an interesting robot to date since it’s an arcade machine. I mean imagine if you go to an arcade and just see someone being affectionate with one of these things? Pretty weird, huh? But unlike them, 8-bit is actually alive, and in Brawl Stars anything could happen since it’s fiction! Oh, wonderful!

•It has mad anger issues, do I even have to say it aloud? (Some of their things have some sort of reference that leads to being somewhat negative or aggressive like in that animation with the CCTV animation and such; even his design has some cool details with both the skull on its thing and that big X on its back but whatever!) Sometimes I like to think it can get easily annoyed and just grab out its pistols and just shoot at the thing that angered them but if it’s you, they will just warn you pretty aggressively.

•BUT!!! Don’t worry, it goes to… therapy!! I know I was pretty surprised about this too but during your relationship, it does visit a therapist to sort out its behavioral problems which is awesome! So if you notice them resisting the urge to blow up then you know they’re slowly improving out it's anger issues!

•Do you think they have a general dislike of humans in general? I think it does, the only people they can tolerate pretty well are Brock, maybe some other brawlers like Pam, and you! I just think they're neutral about robots as they don’t irritate it as much as humans do. But still, if you ever see it glaring at people especially in the age ranges of a kid to teens, just know it despises them.

•OOHH! It’s so awkward hugging this big blocky dude because of their shape and size! They’re so blocky and it will be so funny if you have to maneuver around just so you could have the perfect hug! They’re probably going to be confused too.

•I like to think it doesn’t enjoy being touched. I don’t know but I like to correlate the hating humans headcanon to the fact that the reason why it doesn’t like to be touched is because of its players! They hate it when the person’s grubby hands are on the controllers, aggressively tapping and beating up the poor dude so I could see how it would grow to dislike just the simplest touch. Obviously, it isn’t going to push and then shoot you if your fingers accidentally touch them. No, they’re surprisingly a brawler who has both great and little patience if you get me. I feel like he’s able to let his loved ones touch them even though they’re not the greatest fans. AHHH IT COULD BE SUCH A SOFTIE TO THEIR LOVER TOO WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT! UGHH

•8-bit’s love language is quality time. I like to imagine it enjoys spending time with their lover and doing whatever they want to do even though they suck booty! The only exception is when they have to move their legs.

•Speaking about it, They’re such a slow walker that it doesn’t even want to walk anymore for most days. They literally loathe it and you have to be such a patient person if you want to do any moving activities with them.

•Heh, another robot brawler you know what that means!!! RAHHHH ITS GOING TO BE THE FIRST CLUELESS ABOUT LOVE!! I genuinely love this headcanon and would almost apply this to every robot brawler. I don’t know. I cannot imagine a robot’s first programming to love people and that includes the arcade machine we love! I feel like they would generally get it faster though due to the lovey-dovey couple it’s been exposed to during its times of being an inanimate object.

•Can you also imagine it tried to mimic them like one time but that made both you and it uncomfortable so it doesn't do it ever again. Hehe silly billy!

•8-bit does not kiss, he literally doesn’t have lips. I could just imagine a replacement with that would be hand-holding. (If you kiss him, he gets a bit of a tingly, statiky feeling).

•OMG whenever they get flustered which is like barely like their whole face turns red and then like this some sort of pop-up appears that its system is being heated and that it needs to cool down or something and you can see smoke coming out of their body like a smoking hazard.

•The majority says that 8-bit will allow you to play their super hard, brutal game but personally it’s like a maybe especially since it lost the controller and the fact it HATES its players. It may be hesitant to let you play on it. But you know what they’re honestly fine with you playing on other arcade machines. They may be very very good at it, like they know the cheat codes and the super epic strategies that pros use or they will be dogwater. (I prefer the first one but honestly, it just depends on whatever you think it’s true!)

•Relating to its controller it lost, do you think they still mope about it once in a while? Like I could imagine it one day grumbling about the fact they lost it and you know those wasps that can clearly remember someone’s face and have photogenic memory? I could see 8-bit remembering the exact person who does it and can even accurately describe them and it would make them pay for it if they ever stumble upon them again.

•Can you imagine 8-bit easily having grudges and it’s hard to let them go? That could also be another behavioral problem that they’re fixing with his therapist. Like, imagine if you had a fight with them, and for like the aftermath of the fight it was kinda cold with you. I think they’re trying to forgive others easily, especially their loved ones.

•At first in the relationship it has the most NPC dialogue for an arcade machine. I could see them struggling to say regular words that humans would use for conversation since it’s so used to saying what it’s always programmed to say when a player wins, loses, and more but as you dated them and the months passed, their vocabulary would increase and it would have been having regular and normal conversations with you even though from time to time it would resort saying back to “Player one” and such.

• He isn’t a huge talker but that one moment where they could properly express what it has been feeling for years was so refreshing for him! That was probably the longest he ever talked and it will be so funny if he speaks about his journey of his motherboard exploding or whatever mind-blowing and crazy in a nonchalant tone of voice and you have to stare at him like WHATT??!! Could you imagine them spilling out what was on their mind for years?? CAN YOU SEE IT PLEASE??

•It can make the cutest facial expressions for someone like them. They’re actually very expressive?? (My favorites from them are UwU and 0_0) Can you imagine it being silly and wonder if someone hacked them even though it can be like that on certain days.

•Wait just as its vocabulary increases do you think its personality develops too? It will be really interesting but I don’t really know how I could see it being more relaxed and would smile often but I don’t know.

•8-bit can actually use both of its hands, I think it’s called ambidextrous. I could imagine it using both of its guns but as you know, it can’t so now it uses these magic hands to do productive things.

•You know how it can make words on its screen to make facial expressions, imagine if it ever gets grumpy it just doesn’t speak to you and instead it would write it out like [this] (Imagine the bracket keys being the screen)...

•8-bit is a geek about games and would make references about it that nobody understands except the hardcore nerds, specifically and especially the old-school games. In addition, can you imagine it being a technology nerd as well?

•I could see it as someone who’s very defensive and protective. I could just imagine them shielding you in a protective stance with their gun out…

•Also it will be super funny if they shut off randomly and then like you have to insert coins in order for them to continue “life” Otherwise they will be shut down unless someone decides to play them. So imagine just you holding spare coins just in case it ever happens or just forcing multiple coins onto their slot so they can stay alive for as long as they can.

•They are a cool. Yep, a cool arcade machine!!

GUYS I DONT KNOW IF ITS LIKE SOMEWHAT REALISTIC I GENUINELY HAVE NO IFEA ABOUT 8-BIT BUT WHOEVER REQUESTED ME THAT THANK YOU SO MUCH AND I HOPE YOU DONT HATE ME BECASUD OF THIS

ALSO I LITTERALY PUT 8-BITS PRONOUNS AS HE/HIM BEFORE I REALIZED IT WASNT LIKE THAG IN ITS STUPID DESCRIPTION SO I HAD TO CHANGE ALL OF THAT INTO IT/THEY/THEM/THEIR AND IT WAS SO ANNOYING BECUASE I WAS ALREADY AT 1200+ WORDS !! (҂` ﾛ ´)︻デ═一 ANYWAYS HOPE YOU ENJOY!!

[hockstetters-overbite]

HCs for Henry as a kid? angst and fluff are also very welcome :)

AUGHHH FUCK YEAH IVE BEEN WANTING TO SHARE MY HEADCANONS FOR A SOFT SQUISHY LIL TINY HENRY LETS FUCKING GOOOOO!

Ofc TWs: Abuse mentions, Lots of yapping about Henry's mom, Butch being a shitty dad after his wife leaves and ik having to grow up too early hits hard for a lot of people so I'll throw that in there too!

The rest of the Bowers Gang besides Patrick and book characters that didn't make the cut for 2017 will be mentioned since I'm a firm believer that Belch, Henry and Vic were childhood friends, 'specially Henry n Vic!

Before his mom left, Henry was definitely a very affectionate child, as are most children. He was very sweet to his mother, cuddling up to her when she would tuck him in and read stories to him and frequent hugs as well!

He was definitely a kid who loved making mud-pies, playing with cars and bugs, that kinda stuff! That's probably why he got on so well with Belch as young kids

Believe you me, Henry used to think Butch was the most awesome and strongest man in the world before the abuse, drinking and PTSD took hold of him and he did really want to spend time with and bond with his father

After Henry's mom left, Henry and Butch became pretty distant from each other aside from Henry needing to take care of Butch since Butch is barely capable of taking care of himself

Henry also stopped calling Butch "dad" when Butch started being more abusive and drinking because he no longer saw Butch as that decent, even good father that he used to be

Henry used to bake with his mother when she was still around

Adding onto that last point, Henry's mom used to make cherry pies the most often and now Henry cannot eat cherry pie without feeling at least a little bit bittersweet about his mother leaving

Henry doesn't blame his mom for leaving, he only wishes that he could've gone with her and made sure she's at least somewhere that she's safe. He feels angry that she didn't take him with her but he doesn't blame her.

Henry, Belch and Victor are all childhood friends because their mom's were friends, Henry's mom and Victor's mom's were a lot closer then Belch and Henry's mom's but Vic and Belchs mom's knew each other so that's how Belch and Henry met

When Henry was a very little kid and still looked up to his father, he used to want to be a cop when he was older just like Butch

Henry was definitely a mama's boy though he'll never admit it to anyone

The thing he misses most about his mom is her home-cooked meals, he tries his hardest to cook when he's older and stuck taking care of his dad but in his mind he can never beat his mom's cooking and he longs to be able to taste her cooking one more time one day even though he knows that day will never come

These were definitely awesome to write! A lot of these stem from how I think Henry would've acted before all of his traumatization and I just think him, belch and Vic knew each other for a long, long time (especially Vic) so that's why they're all so close!

Definitely keep the requests coming ya'll because writing these is honestly a really refreshing way to destress after school!

[nephriteknight]

Highlights From My Bells Hells Playlist

So I have a Bells Hells playlist that has some really perfect songs if I do say so myself, and I want to talk about my choices! So here's some of my favorites. (Here is the full playlist btw, with songs ranging from word-for-word-perfect to Just The Right Vibes Idk Man)

Rule #2 - Moonlight by Fish in A Birdcage For Orym :) About a person on the moon singing to their lover on Earth. "All I want is to come home to you." Is this song about Will or about Dorian? I think it's even better because it works for both. There are lines that are for Will and lines that are for Dorian and it's all mixed up and full of longing and in light of recent confessions? Just perfectly heartbreaking. "Finally broke down / Houston, please come in / There's someone that I need to talk to / Honey, how've you been? / I miss you, my dear / There's something that I have to say" "It's good to hear your voice / I'll tell you what the world looks like from up here / there's hurricanes / and blizzards too / please stay safe and warm 'til I get to you"

Control by Halsey For Laudna. This one is very straightforward. "And all the kids cried out please stop you're scaring me / I can't help this awful energy / Goddamn right you should be scared of me / Who is in control?" The rest works pretty well too, there's more lines that feel Very Delilah, it just works.

Allies or Enemies by The Crane Wives For the whole party! I happened to get into this song right when the whole "powder keg" conversation happened, and it's only gotten more relevant. "Are we allies or enemies? This will be the death of me." It's great it's perfect it's them. "What happens now? / Do we have another go / Do we bow out / And take our seperate roads / I'll admit I've had my doubts / But I want to be let in not out" "Remember when I could tell you not to smile when you were mad / And you would always crack / And we'd both be laughing in the end? / Now you're not so quick to forget"

Moving in Place by Shauna Dean Cokeland This song is so Ashton. It's about using drugs as a teenager and feeling stagnated, blaming things on other people, drowning in daydreams where you're awesome, spending time with a group of friends you really care about.... It works quite well. (I also really recommend this song if you have ADHD/use music to stim, it's got really great overlapping vocals and kinda scratchy sound--this is the song I put on when my brain is eating itself and no other music can get through to it. It's great.) "Take me to the far side of the beach / Before it falls into the ocean / Before you notice I'm eroding / I know you don't wanna be lonely / I know 'cause I would feel the same thing" I'm having trouble picking out specific quotes because they're all really wordy and long, but trust me it works and it's a great song.

Soap by The Oh Hellos Ashton! I especially like this for Ashton and Orym (platonic or romantic both are good) but it also works for Ashton and the Hells—and once again, this song hits even harder after the shard incident. As far as picking specific lines I just want to quote like the whole song, but I'll exercise some restraint. "I've heard since I was younger / That oil and water don't mix / They're polar opposites / With a molecular rift you can't fix / But I swear with all your burnt bridges / You can leech what's caustic and find / A rudimentary lye / Some kind of miraculous bind" "Oh, no / I think I'm not quite ready / To let you circle the drain / All the things we've broken / Can be puzzled together again / All your sums and your pieces / Are enough to clean up all / The messes you've made" "I think that you're worth keeping around. I think that you're worth holding onto." "I've heard if I were tougher / Then maybe I'd make it alive / I've got a tender side / I'll need a harder shell to survive / But if seeing is believing / I don't know I've seen a thing grow / Without an open coat / Not without a softness showing / I know maybe you're not quite ready / To loosen your hold / On the safety blanket you've been keeping around your shoulders / But your sums and your pieces / Are enough to make you whole / You gotta let go" "It's gonna hurt like hell / but we're gonna be well / I'll give you my best shot" Oops I basically just quoted the whole song. But look how perfect it is!!

The Leaving of Liverpool (folk song; I like this version by The High Kings) This one's for Dorian! Specifically, for Dorian leaving :( It's an old folk song about going away from home and leaving your love behind. It's not as character specific or detail heavy, but it just feels so right for Dorian having to leaving Orym and Fearne in Jrusar. "So fare thee well my own true love, and when I return united we will be. It's not the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me, but my darling, when I think of thee." My mom and I go to a Celtic Christmas concert every year, and one of the last songs is always this one. Everybody knows it, and they invite us all to join in the chorus. It's a beautiful moment, and I'm so grateful to Brian O'Donovan, the host, who passed away this year. He brought so much joy and gave so many people a piece of their home to enjoy here. He will be missed.

Canary in a Coal Mine by The Crane Wives If the title didn't clue you in, this one's for FCG! It's not just because of the mine, though, it all works really well. This song is about the 'canary', who puts so much into a relationship, doing everything to keep their partner happy and support them, but fears that when they need help themself their partner will abandon them. "Feed me promises, keep my heart well / I'll sing you songs until the darkness does recede / But if in the end I lose my voice / Will you forget about your love for me?" "Let the dirt hang heavy in your chest / Drag me deeper down the long, dark ground / Know that all my love will your breath / I will save you when your lights go out"

Bonus: A Convocation of Fauns (A Faunvocation If You Will) by the Oh Hellos Fearne. The title says it all. (It's just instrumental lol)

[lpsotd]

Another anon who read the tags on your last post here! I've felt the need to write something myself since your situation feels so similar to mine when I was younger and maybe my experiences will help you in some way. Feel free to not respond to this if it's uncomfortable, it's totally okay! :)

I also didn't have a supportive family when it came to my interests, still kind of don't. I'm 22 (soon to be 23) and my family members are still looking at me funny regarding my hobbies, just like they did when I was 14-15. It was weird for them to see a child… liking toys and shows made for kids I guess?? They've also said that I was mature for my age, but let me tell you this is INCREDIBLY coercive. ''Since we've called you mature, you wouldn't want to betray us and do something childish now, would you?'' - guys. Just because YOU'VE called me mature doesn't mean that it's true. Maybe I am mature but EMOTIONALLY or got good grades at school. But it doesn't necessarily mean that I will abandon anything that brings me comfort and joy for the sake of a byname that won't mean anything to me. Ever. I think that being mature also means accepting what is dear to you and not being ashamed of that. Being mature is being responsible for your own well being - which you do by enjoying your hobbies! By surrounding yourself with things that will make you get through life a bit easier. Throwing everything out, or denying ever liking said thing is the childish thing to me here.

It's good to read that you want to embrace who you are! After all - we only have one life to live. Why waste it on pleasing everyone around instead of ourselves? ESPECIALLY if it's a hobby that does NO HARM to anyone (well maybe except your wallet). Don't ever let go of what you love, unless YOU decide it's time to move on. I still keep my LPS collection after all those years, after being told countless of times to ''sell them, because you will save some good money'' or just to give them away. What if (stay with me here) I WILL decide what to do with MY property?

And regarding those people who've belittled you for your interests - I am still recovering from the same thing that happened almost a decade ago at school. But I've learned that not everyone behaves like those mean bullies - maybe some people are genuinely interested in what I have to say? Maybe we can bond over this? Maybe I can get a new friend who will accept my ''weird'' hobbies? And thanks to that mindset I've tried opening to more and more people, only to find out that those bullies were the MINORITY and usually people are glad to hear they're not alone in their hobbies or pleasant memories. It made me feel so much less anxious about myself, I can't recommend trying to open up enough!! Sorry if this ask got long, I had plenty of thoughts in my brain it seems, haha. Anyway, OP you're not alone in your struggles and if you have any worries feel free to say so! Stay awesome <3

~lots of love from anon

i think it's kinda insane that adults expect children to immediately grow out of the things they like in favor of more "mature" interests and media. like, why can't that 13 year old watch my little pony? would you prefer it if they were watching that or something like euphoria? 😭 why is it so bad and weird when children are acting like children and want to engage with media that was literally created for them. that's something i don't think i'll ever understand

i'm happy to now be surrounded by people who care about me and indulge in my interests, and i hope you are able to have that too anon !!

[kenjo-arts]

I love the Forced Family au so much.

The idea of it is so different and a bit refreshing from other Found Family aus (I still love them but this au is, mmm) like how you talk about different 'paths' for Faith like it's not set in stone and there are still chances for things to happen (besides him losing his past memories, I think that's going to be permanent thing that happens no matter what 'path' is chosen, not sure)

But it makes me curious what older Faith will look/ be like, because he's 8 in the au meaning when he ages back to his original age (before getting de-aged) a lot of the people in his life will be much much older then him, especially since in the sever there aren't any other kids that are his age, since the 'kids' there are kinda like toddlers(?) And everyone else is a teen/ adult. So would he have proper friends or be stuck in the middle of "I'm to old to hangout with Michael and all of them" "but still to young to be with the other's"

I hope this makes sense, I kinda struggle with words and sentences matching each other at times.

Thank you!!! They're a messy family!!

So in forced family au the reason there's alot of hypothetical timelines is literally because I get way too many ideas in all directions and some of them aren't compatible.

So, ff!Dream and aging. In some timelines he doesn't age. At all. He's stuck at 8, it's fixable, he can start ageing again but it takes alot of knowladge and the only person who could do it easily is ff!Sam himself.

For an example in the birdhouse au's crossover hell there's a timeline where ff!Sam ends up away from ff!sam and kat and Angelas p!Sam spends months trying to analyse his blood and making tests to try and kick start his aging again, he's hospitalised for a long time there 😭 but it means he gets to grow up 🥺

Usually he's been 8 for 3-5 years by the time someone realizes he's not aging.

In normal dsmp timelines of the au's growing up as the only kid around his age is kinda isolating for him, but he becomes friends with alot of people! And also some of the kids I could see him becoming friends with like Micheal! :D

how he becomes as an adult depends on the timeline! It depends on ff!Sams influence and also who he's around! But usually he's a brilliant builder as an adult! It's a hobby that persisted well into adulthood even in timelines where he gets free of his dad! In some he's worse at pvp and in others he's awesome at it!

[siren--squid]

i need to know your south park opinions/hot takes/whatever you want to say about south park

My biggest opinion on South Park is to just let the fandom do whatever they want with the characters honestly, and I don't mean like bad shit or weird shit with the kids. Obviously.

I mean like, normal fan shit.

Like, if someone wants to write a fanfiction where Eric Cartman was an awful and terrible child of literally eight years old but grows up and gets better and actually ends up as a sweet guy then just let them, if people want to ship things like kyman then literally who cares? Especially if they're doing the redemption arc Cartman thing.

If people want to draw anime teenage versions of the boys then who cares, it's actually really funny

Gender and sexuality HCs? Awesome, everyone everywhere does that, yet I've seen people say it's "just cringe" with this fandom? Yeah, this is FANDOM of course it's cringe, "but the show itself would make fun of-" nobody cares! The show makes fun of EVERYTHING dude! Have fun! You think Stan Marsh is a girl? Awesome! Butters as well? Epic!

This is SOUTH PARK. Go crazy.

If you personally disagree with something or dislike it, then just move on. Who cares if people are doing cringey fandom shit with the adult comedy cartoon. Who cares if they're shipping Cartman with people. Seriously it's never that deep

Unless people are doing harmful and dangerous shit, it's fine. Like, it's kinda funny??

Side note, because its funny as fuck:

I've been watching this show since I was the age of the main characters, I've been in the fandom since we were drawing Kenny as a lanky anime boy with purple eyes. I remember being like.. maybe seven at MOST sitting on my dads carpet while he watched this show and i played with littlest pet shops.

I remember those slide show fanart music videos of twink anime boy Kenny to "time of dying" by three days grace. This fuckin show introduced me to three days grace lmfao

I've seen some wild shit around here, the uwu-ification of Kyle for weird Style shipping purposes, etcetera etcetera. But this shit is literally so.. normal, in fandom spaces?? Yeah it's weird or silly or something but, meh.

I cosplayed Wendy to my first day of fifth grade.

I wore a neon pink jacket almost identical to Kennys in middle school. This show is like fucking stuck with me for life lmfao

I made a paper cut out of Kenny and another of Tweek and glued them to popsicle sticks and carried them around everywhere when I was a kid. (My dad hated those things, "perfect show for a kid to be watching" as if he didn't introduce it to me)

Whenever my mom lost me outside she'd do the "Oh my god, they killed Kenny" thing to find me, but I wasn't allowed to swear as a kid so I couldn't finish the line, I'd just run to her.

This show is a special interest for my autistic ass and it really, really shows. I stopped in my tracks in a Walmart to buy hats that reminded me of Craig, when I was supposed to buy new shoes and pants. (I did not, in fact, buy shoes.)

[gravity-what]

KEIKO'S THE ONE WHO WENT ROGUE IN THIS VERSION?! 😲 I WAS SO SURE IT WAS GONNA BE JACK!

🥺 And you really feel for her, she did it with the best of intentions and all this optimistic confidence and pure love for her friends. She wasn't doubting in anyone's abilities or trying to show off, she just wanted to believe with all her heart that whatever happened, everything would be okay as long as she gave it her all. Her motivations were so earnest and altruistic that all I feel is sympathy here. But it was risky so I can't fault Master Fung for taking umbrage. But her reasons were just so sweet and magical that I can't be mad at her! Especially since I don't think Keiko's going to turn around and just deliberately spite everyone at the temple out of anger for it not working. But I guess I'll have to wait and see…

The kids all stood up for each other too! I think they're going to comfort Keiko properly! I was already invested in his trio of monks, but this episode definitely makes me buy into their friendship! They're a found family and a support system and they're doing their best and I care them!!!! 🤧

Chase Young was cool and mysterious and awesome… but that was so close!! He was off doing his own thing… but he kinda always is, so that's surprisingly not surprising. Between the way Chase handled the situation and the students and the way Master Fung did, I deffo lean towards Chase, but both approaches had their flaws! Chase has gotten too used to to challengers that stand their ground from growing up with Guan and recently meeting Omi, he thought Jermaine was cut from their cloth! But Jermaine's just looking out for his friends! Ah, what good eggs all round! But! All's well that ends well! Another good episode! Play that outro theme~

I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION HOW AWESOME THE BONUS IS

CHASE YOUNG STEALING HEARTS AS USUAL

I was also so sure it was going to be Jack until I started writing this episode and Keiko just fell into place 😭. It worked so perfectly for her character and the growth she needed to do but at the same time you have to feel a little bad for her! So far she has been facing this whole being a Xiaolin Monk like her magic-girl shows so she needed a bit of a wake up call…still, it was a bit of a harsh one…

I am genuinely surprised at just how much these three have grown on me. This AU was meant to be about Chase and Omi (which, it still definitely is, especially the next Arc) but Jack, Jermaine, and Keiko have really found a place in my heart that has made me actually want to explore their relationships with each other!

Chase is mostly just bad at communication (which Fung definitely called him out on 🤣) so the whole event probably could have gone a lot smoother is Chase actually ever acknowledged that he wasn’t a solo player in all of this…

I’m glad you enjoyed it!! I’m having a lot of fun with this AU!!

[legolasghosty]

ice skater or hockey player au for willex (you pick who does what)

Hiiiiii!!!! Thanks for the ask!!!

Okay, I'ma put them in high school cause I can.

Willie is a competitive figure skater and has been doing it since he was like 6. His uncle owns the rink, so he got to try it young and just fell in love.

Alex's parents are frustrated that he isn't growing out of his 'girly interests' (namely dancing and boys), and decided that of course the solution is to get him into a 'manly' sport(gosh I already want to punch them).

So Alex starts learning to play hockey at the same rink Willie practices at.

At first he's very 'get in, get it over with, get out' about the whole thing, but he discovers that he doesn't really mind the skating. The whole slamming into people and getting hit with sticks thing isn't his jam, but the ice is fun. And... somehow he's actually pretty good at hockey? Not as good as he is on drums, but he's pretty fast and hates getting hit and so is good at getting around people.

They meet when Alex is stuck staying late after practice to put stuff away and runs into Willie, who is there for a practice session. They chat for a few minutes, typical Willex meetcute conversation of gay panic, mild oversharing, and both of them leaving kinda smitten.

Soooo maybe Alex starts staying late more often. And Willie starts dropping by early. And they start joking about teaching the other their sport.

Until it's not a joke anymore and Willie got Caleb to let them have the rink for a couple of hours. Neither of them are all that great at the other's sport, especially because of how Willie is used to having toe picks and Alex is used to not having them, but it's a lot of fun. There is lots of falling.

And when they're packing up to leave, Alex is like, "Sooo, would you maybe want to hang out sometime? Like not here?" Does he want to ask Willie out? Yes. Is he terrified to? Also yes.

Willie is like, "Yeah that'd be awesome... like as friends, or...?" Alex is startled but is like, "It can be a friend thing or a... date... thing. Whichever you want."

And Willie of course says yes and they live happily ever after.

Alex's parents are stoked about how much time he's spending at the rink cause they think he's getting really into hockey.

When Alex is headed out to hang with Willie at the rink, he tells his parents that someone else at the rink offered to help him with his skating, since he started learning so late. It's not really a lie. He just doesn't mention that he maybe kisses his 'tutor' from time to time.

Caleb is excited about Willie and Alex cause goodness gracious his nephew needs to get out more. He loves all the medals Willie wins in competitions of course, but the kid needs a social life. And Alex seems like a good kid.

Sometimes the two of them will go on skating dates and pretend to be really bad skaters just for the heck of it. And then Willie will yell, "Race you to the other side," and they'll both take off like a shot and scare everyone around them half to death.

Thanks for the ask!!! This was so fun! Sorry about how long it got, I got invested in the story...

(Send me an AU and I'll give you 5+ headcanons/thoughts about it!)

[angelo-oteroart]

Hey there, stranger!

Welcome to my little corner of the internet. Introductions are always weird and awkward for me, but they're important in getting to know someone, so here goes!

Since this is mostly gonna be an art blog, I think I'll start with why I want to be a pro artist in the first place. Simply put, I want to spend most of my time making art and the only realistic way to do that is to make it into a profession. Despite the frustrations all artists feel, especially Imposter Syndrome, whenever I draw everything feels right in the world even if only temporarily. Making art is how I process my emotions and the world around me.

My earliest influence in art was Anime. Growing up in the Philippines in the late 90s to early 2000s, Anime wasn't as niche as it was in the U.S. and it actually was more common for kids to watch Dragon Ball Z, Yuyu Hakusho, and Naruto than it was to watch Spongebob! Anime fascinated me and got me wanting to draw.

My hometown at the time had no bookstores to buy art books from and the internet wasn't as common yet. One summer while spending time with relatives in Manila and getting ready to immigrate to the US, I had to beg my mom to let me take a summer art class. While in Manila, I also got a book called How to Draw Manga by Katy Coope and some art magazines by local Filipino artists.

Looking back, it wasn't the most impressive or life-changing art book I've read, but for a young version of me, it was the start of a lifelong obsession with learning how to draw.

After moving to the US I continued to watch and love Anime and made fan art of Naruto, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Death Note, Bakuman, and Bleach.

I also remember seeing concept art and illustrations on the cover of Game Informer magazines at my high school's library and being absolutely in awe.

I also discovered illustrations from Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. My focus started slowly moving towards a more Western art style. This would eventually lead me to pursue Game Development a few years later.

After graduating college, wrestling with self-doubt, and putting art on the side burner for a few years I finally decided to go all in on improving my art skills back in 2020. Everyone was staying indoors anyway, and what better way for me to keep my sanity than rekindling my love of art?

Since then I went through Drawabox, Proko's figure drawing and anatomy courses on Youtube, got a 3-month subscription to New Master's Academy, joined Ross Draws' Digital Art Bootcamp, and bought tutorials from some of my favorite artists and a handful of art books. And It's been an absolute freaking blast!

At the time of this writing, I'm preparing for my first-ever Artist Alley table at Awesome-Con and I'm pretty nervous but excited! My art style is somewhat of a mix of Anime and Western illustration styles though I'm comfortable fully leaning either way. I still have a lot of stuff I wanna learn and improve on, but I'm enjoying the process and my life a lot more.

For any creative who's reading this and just getting started I want you to know that you're in for a long and tough journey. However, most things that are worth doing will ALWAYS be arduous. You're not alone in your experiences. Please take care of yourself and support each other whenever and however you can.

Until next time and thanks for taking the time to read this! 😊

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

[Start Clip Text] CN: Oh, by the way, I didn't tell you, did I? I have a girlfriend. LB: Really, that's so awesome! CN: No, it's not awesome at all. I just said that to make you jealous. LB: I can't be in love with you, Chat Noir, you know that. CN: Yeah, yeah, I get it, but it still hurts. [End Clip Text]

[Start Image text] I was kinda thinking about this and similar scenes while rewatching. I feel like he has a tendency to like - I don't feel like 'self-harm is the right word - but like, I feel like he tends to fish for certain reactions from people, especially Ladybug, even knowing it's just going to hurt him. Like, when he sits out the akuma attack and watches the news coverage where they ask lb where he is and she answers something like 'he's a partner like any other it's like he's hoping she'll cry and beg on TV for him to come back even if, realistically, what she said might have been the best PR wise or the rooftop date, yknow. Even Plagg said, "You're in a hurry to get stood up"/ I feel like he wants someone to beg him to be around, but realistically, you can't like test people like that. Idk if any of this makes sense. [End image text]

So, Chat Noir absolutely has a tendency to do shit tests where he's looking for Ladybug to validate his self-worth. It's a thing that many people (especially teens) do without realizing what they're doing, making it a fantastic character flaw for a teenager. Especially a teenager with his background. The problem is that the show doesn't treat it as a flaw or, at least, not in a way that really drives the lesson home.

The only time that the show almost treats it as a flaw is in Kuro Neko, where Chatwalker drops this (very accurate) line: "There's nothing wrong with you. Maybe the boy who was Cat Noir was more sensitive than it seemed. But his feelings for you shouldn't force you to pay more attention to him than to others. You take care of everybody equally, Ladybug. Now I want to take care of you." But that line is severely undermined by the season 4 final and by the way that Plagg treats Marinette in Kuro Neko, blaming her for not reading Chat Noir's mind and acting like one of her guardian duties is to make sure that Chat Noir feels special when compared to the other Chosen.

It makes it very confusing as to who is supposed to be in the wrong here, especially when you consider that the show has been keeping Chat Noir in the dark since the days of Fu and has really not given Marinette a good reason to break that status quo. Every reveal ends with the world being destroyed, so she needs to trust him, but not too much, just enough to validate, but not enough to end the world. Totally reasonable!

There's also the problem that the show frames these moments as romantic or at least moments where we're supposed to feel bad for Chat Noir/Adrien. Another one is Galciator 2.0 where we see Adrien crying over Ladybug turning him down again even though she has always made her feelings very clear. It's like the text doesn't get that Adrien is the one with the flaw here. The one who needs to grow.

That's not to say that Ladynette is perfect or that Adrichat is the worst. They're both flawed, but with room to grow and I legitimately love the setup for both characters. This is, to me, a writing flaw where someone behind the pen clearly doesn't understand what is healthy and what is concerning when it comes to romance. If this was treated as a flaw and if Adrien was allowed to grow, then it would have been an amazing lesson for kids and I really love when fanfics take the time to teach that lesson. Adrien's not a bad kid, he's just sheltered and working off of idealized concepts of romance instead of realistic ones. Something that everyone does when they're young.

I think about this scene all the time and I don't think its talk about enough tbh

[100hearteyes]

I sent you a Submission on season two Kacy would like to sees if you want to enjoy it and make any comments. I love how this series flips so many stereotypes with characters! It's still a very guessable procedure show but the characters are keeping me here for their stuff - it reminds me of early OG NCIS with Ziva in the pack. :)

Hi! This ask is actually useful - helps me answer your submission here. But maybe next time you could just... send a long ask 😅

@shoes--off 's help was instrumental here

Here we go:

I'm keeping this to season two only because I definitely want more seasons (give us at least 10 like the other parts of the franchise please) but I don't want to overload your box with every hope to ever see on the series ha.

Kate Section

1. More Character Interactions

We all love Kacy, but Kate is her own person too so I'd love to see how she gets on with more than just her main three of Lucy, Ernie, and Jane! Does she get along with the boys when it's just them? Is it both or just one?! They could easily do a Kai-Kate surf moment (or them post surfing to not endanger the talent) since we know she's a surfer now. She and Jesse both love "by the book" approaches to start cases so might they bond over that; are they a powerhouse when it comes to tactically executing a case?!

And of course there's the desire to see Kate with the tiny Tennants - for me with Julie especially...is Kate maybe the one who's not scared of Julie and so she'll eat a burger around her? Ha! Would Julie allow it because "Kate is awesome!"? Lucy has the Boone kids, let the Tennants be Kate's kid crew. :)

Yes I so want more team interactions for Kate

2. Personal History

I don't think season 2 is the time to kick off a Noah plot, that's more a S3 or S4 thing to me (either confirm he was killed because of bad Intel handling or say it's because their mom is CIA and he was killed to get at her and the others killed with him were to cover up his target status), but I'd definitely love to see them talk a little more on him given he's death has such an impact on Kate! Is the Kate we see always who she was growing up or did Noah's death alone turn her into the strict "mean Whistler" we saw in season one? What's her relationship like with her parents? Is she a giant nerd (yes) and if so is she into video games or movie nerdom topics? Maybe both! Does she own that condo or is it a rental and now that she's serious with Lucy we see them either moving in together or finding a place of their own? Again she doesn't have to have her own season arc just yet but I would love to see some set up in the next season!

I really want to know more about Kate's backstory too

3. Emotional Expressions

Tori's face makes adorable looks so please to more Kate expressing her emotions; let's see humorous Kate, mean Whistler, sad puppy Kate, plotting agent face Kate...rage so much she breaks office keyboards Kate!

Lucy Section

1. Tiny powerhouse continues

I just love SO much the most bad*ss fighter on the team can only reach most people's waist area, ha. :) Please have Lucy jump over things more writers and stay on people like an angry chihuahua until they're in cuffs!

2. Personal History

We know she's good at poker, enjoys researching fashion, and she use to be on cheer squad but I want to see more on our little parkour field agent. Is Lucy a pie or cake person? Is she distant with all members of her family or just some? Is it because of who she likes (women) or because of other reasons such as she just doesn't want the jobs they do and they think she's acting superior to them?! I feel like given the family business a member of Lucy's family is perfectly set up to either be a suspect in a crime or at least a lead and we see how she handles that. Ooh, what if because of conflict issues Lucy can't question them but Kate can and so she asks Lucy how she wants her to handle it? It's couple stuff while also focusing on Lucy's emotions in the moment! If not part of a one episode story this could be something for season 3 because she's the only one besides Kate whom we haven't seen family for, well and Ernie.

I really really really want to meet Lucy's family

3. Money

They've kind of touched on it some and we know Lucy has money but how does this effect her dynamic with it? Would she think nothing of buying Kate a $1,500 surfboard if hers got broke or lending Jesse $5,000 for something he needs; how would the person on the receiving end feel? Would it depend on how often this behavior happens? It's possible given how much money she has access to Lucy doesn't have to technically work a day in her life so what made her choose NCIS versus being a cheerleading coach or something safer? Money is not all there is to her of course but I just feel money subconsciously or not plays more of a part in Lucy's life than she wants to admit at times.

Kacy Section

I VERY much agree with you in that I want to see Kacy have drama happen to them without them being the drama. It sounds like the show writers are on the same page as well thankfully. Kacy is still going to be involved with drama thing but it won't break them up unless something major gets revealed during writing; they are the romance for the show. :)

1. Job Power Dynamics

As DIA Whistler did have it over them on giving out information or not, but being FBI will we see that change? Are they both equals now given their job titles or is one over the other in the government hierarchy? If so, who and how do they handle that? I feel Lucy would use the whole "but you're my girlfriend" approach more than Kate would as Kate is very into rules and organization for work. So yeah can they work together in the field really? Both times we've seen so far Kate was worried about Lucy being her friend at least so she seemed like a complete novice at her job allowing Lucy to lead during the computer hacker thing and then Lucy let the assassin go in favor of taking care of Kate when she easily could have pursued her. If they're both chasing a suspect and Lucy gets punched and goes down does Kate keep chasing the bad guy to catch them and if so how does Lucy feel about that afterwards? They very much want to explore them as a pair it seems so yeah give us situations which answer "how are you together". Is Lucy understanding? Mad? Both?! And does that show how she's more the emotional one compared to Kate's professional personality where she as a girlfriend feels guilty for it but also Kate as a person is very much "the greater good first"?

Nice questions

2. Jealous Lucy

Give me some suspect or potential victim hitting on Kate/attaching to Kate because they feel hitting on her will get them what they want/they want to date her after they're safe. Or Jane uses Whistler to pull in a suspect because Kate is physically someone's type. Puppy Kate is of course 100% faithful to Lucy and may not even notice the flirting, but Lucy knows what's up and does not approve which equals humor for an episode. Not everything has to show how they handle struggles in the relationship. :)

Give me Katalina

3. Relationship Exemptions

Can we please get a moment where we hear they have discussed job related issues and so Lucy isn't going to call Kate a liar the moment she hides work things from her?! It is both illegal and illogical that Kate would tell Lucy every detail of a job she wants to know just because she's her girlfriend so I want to know that Lucy knows and accepts there times Kate has to lie to her. It's just personal matters where if she keeps things it will be trouble between them. Kate is a character built to do some shady stuff if the situations are right so I don't want them to break up ever just over lies that aren't personal; also Lucy knows Kate is big on protecting information because of what happened with Noah so if she faulted her it would be like Lucy is ignore actively that history and that's not fair because Noah's death was a huge impact on Kate.

4. Letting them be them

Let's grow Kacy as a pair some more before anyone (Ernie) goes asking about proposals or what they'd name their future kids! I'm so tired of shows jumping to marriage and kids the moment a pair gets together instead of just letting them be happy together for a season! You want to talk kids - go harass Kai about the girls he's dating and his future, we don't see men being asked when they're going to have kids so flip that script. You want to talk marriage things - Jesse is married and Jane and Ernie both were; yes Kacy can weigh in at times to tease how they might feel on topics but I don't need to see a full conversation yet on the topic from them (save that for season 5 for when they'll probably be fiancées by then).

Oh yeah no marriage talk in s2 pls

5. Fluff

All the fluff and in various forms please and thank you! :)

Give me Kate showing her "nerdy" side by knowing various video game characters the others might not or swing dancing with Ernie because he needs a partner and Lucy looks on lovingly. Give me them cuddled on a couch discussing the day - you can do a poof sound effect if one has a realization on a season long arc for the drama. Give me piggyback Kacy before Lucy almost chokes Kate via an armbar death grip to avoid water because Kate got too close to the ocean for Lucy's liking during a team beach day!

Non-Kacy requests (because it's needed)...

Can we please see Jesse's wife in season two? I will take a photo on his desk to start! Ha. It would be nice to physically see her at Jane's parties once also but I'll take a photo to start. :) More Jane action scenes because Vanessa kills those especially when moves are involved to have it be cinematic versus just simple punching or kicking. Kai in glasses...I have my reasons...the reason is Alex is hot in them!

[smugraccoon137]

I've been kinda down tonite so I decided to check out the Enchanted Parade movie for Little Witch cus it's a comfort show. So here are thoughts and prob spoilers so be warned

I really really love how the plot of this has to do with Akko being selfish and how that affects the relationship she has with her friends. Often times she has these absolutely farfetched magical ideas that her friends get roped into. And they love that part of her, because in a lot of ways Akko wouldn't be Akko if she wasn't ridiculous and so over the top. But at the same time sometimes getting pushed and pulled and thrown into things without being asked can wear you out. And i just love that they took the time to explore this with the red team. And especially with Lottes character since she's known for being so mild mannered. It's really the only time I can think where the three of them have a fight and I think they did it pretty well.

Other thoughts. I love the green team. I just think. They are the fucking best side characters. I think they are so fun. They are such fun ideas for individual characters but like you see the three of them together and you wonder how it works. And the answer Is they're all so chill and kind of defy the rules in their own relaxed way. Whether it's Amanda stealing a broom and flying around during non flying hours. Or Jasminka eating all the food no fucks given. Or Constance just building mechas in class cus old magic is boring. These three are fucking awesome and work so well as the red teams friends.

Diana really just shows up whenever Akko is by herself/feeling sad/in danger huh? Girls got it bad. Big fan of the rival character who hates the mc but then cannot fathom why they hate to be away from them.

Ursula really let those kids fight that fucking giant alone just so she could run the show. Bitch how could you lol? Like I know performing is Chariots whole thing but dude. Like Jennifer is the one who took this thing down and you just let the kids take this one? Lol. I actually really enjoyed her on the mic and she's still very good at directing the crowd. So it was fun to see Ursula actually have a Chariot moment if that makes sense?

Contraversial thought. Maybe drop the kid? Not a great idea but one I definitely thought cus what a little asshole. I was legit just like "yeah whatever let the kid die fuck it". Also I was kind of hoping Diana would catch Akko in this one and this little prick ruined the chance of that happening. (I do not approve of actual murder I am just being silly)

Overall really fun movie that gave me a lot of all my fav characters. And at the end of the day they brought up a problem Akko has and she had to work hard to fix that problem herself. And then she made up with her friends. And maybe it's just me but I'd rather have more movies about growing as a person and making stronger relationships with the people around me. Than overhyped action movies where 95% is action or villain monologues. Just saying maybe Hollywood should watch some shounen anime.

[becausethathappens]

Will you please write a super angsty fic where Link is freaking out because he thinks the wedding vows he has written aren't good enough and Rhett helps him go over them and make corrections and says they're perfect but also, just says the vows he would say for Link if it was them like it should've been because he's heartbroken and Link can tell but their hands are tied and they don't know what to do so they soldier on without saying a word, but wordlessly communicating lifelong love and misery and everything, maybe comfort as well?

i'm really really sad and i can't shake it off and i really want some good angst and hurt/comfort and i really love you, maura, you're awesome

I don't do unhappy endings, anon. I'm confident you don't either. In fiction or otherwise. So, pardon this if it’s not what you expected.

Please enjoy? This was done a little hastily to share it with you (and I should be writing other things per usual) but I've had a rough week and I want to hopefully make someone smile. (I have way angstier stuff in the drafts and I will be sure to get those out eventually, too.) You’ll feel better soon.  🤞  Thank you! 💞

-———————-

now or forever

4k - Rhett writes Link vows.

If you were my boy, Blue

I’d bathe you in honeys (sp?)

I’d sing write you a love song

I’d shoot you a star**

If you were my boy, Blue

There ain’t nothing in this life I wouldn’t give

From my heart, to my toes, to my fingers, my nose (**)

Whatever it takes just to watch you live 

continue to ‘ ’ grow with you like a vine ‘round a rose 

If you were my boy, Bue

I wouldn’t want you all for myself

There’s no star bright enough to match your lightin’

In sickness, blue, so certainly while we have health

Hand in hand, no longer fightin’

What’s destiny (**)

You and & me

If you were my boy, Blue

I'd marry you

&

Thank God for Rhett. Giving him, delivering him, blessing him with Rhett.

Link is in the middle of a spiral (what he’ll later recognize as a panic attack) when Rhett arrives, the eve of his wedding. Bailing him out of this with pen, paper, and a smile.

Link has always been good at improv.

Though Rhett tended to find the words to start. These were his own vows and Link has been putting time to sit and start them off for weeks. Now that he has to, he’s dumbfounded, despite being deeply in love.

Amidst all the planning and chaos, writing his vows was such a given that Link left it as priority sixty-seven on a list of many more.

Unfortunately, even as busy as they’ve been, that list was shredded with the “who gifted what” tracking sheet (both literally, accidentally, and figuratively) back around the bridal shower and it’s been anarchy ever since.

So he thanks God for Rhett, who’s here, to stop another needless disaster from happening.

That same generous God, however, watches him plagued with thoughts of utter devotion at Rhett’s willingness to drop everything on a weeknight and rush over to help Link find his words.

His lyrics, really, is what Link has in mind. Since they used to write songs together and this felt much the same. He’s been floundering all night and now that Rhett’s here, he knows he’ll at least get what he needs done. Even if it’s not all he wants, right now.

That same God seeks judgment on his every decision or flinch against His will, for any reason, to spite him.

For this reason.

He wants to smush Rhett’s face and kiss him. Deeply. He doesn’t.

Even if there were sometime in the past that he could get away with a platonic smooch, now he can’t. He simply could not prevent that from escalating.

So, he merely tightens his grip on the wrinkled scrap paper in his hand and scrunches his eyes.

“Why can’t it be you up there…” Link bemoans, loudly, in his frustration.

Rhett’s eyes widen, in horror, and Link slams his other hand at his mouth, rolling his eyes. “Not like - I mean - why can’t you go say my lines for me. You’re so much better at this kinda thing.”

“Let me read what you’ve got,” Rhett says.

After some review, Rhett sighs, not unkindly and sits down next to Link. “Let’s just talk through what you’re trying to say because, yeah, this reads like liturgy.”

“Ain’t is supposed to? It’s in a chapel!”

“What do you like about her?” Rhett asks, ignoring his nitpicking. “Christy?” Rhett stares at him, waiting, too upset for Link to chastise but clearly wanting to.

“She’s patient,” Link says, reminded by the similar. Rhett folds over the book to an open page and clicks the pen in his hand, writing that down. “A-And she’s kind. Like considerate, ‘specially with babies and little animals. Sh-She does this thing where she immediately drops to their eye-level to make sure they don’t feel unheard or seen. Probably ‘cause she’s always been so tall…”

Rhett’s still writing.

“Then when I’m sick, she forces me to rest. You know I hate that,” Link says, voice rising a little, at the memory. “But you know I need that. You won’t be the last to make me stop and smell the roses or take a break, once in a while.”

“Her hair, write, her hair - the way it looks in the sunshine. Like warm caramel with flecks of gold. She’s a vision, an angel. Especially when she’s wearing all white, like,” Link says, pausing to point to Rhett’s undershirt and pale grey sweats. “Makes blondes look ethereal-like, always has.”

“Oh, and her voice. Sometimes, the way her accent catches, well, you know she don’t like to sing like us, never has, but when she says certain things, asks a question the right way - it’s music. The way it harmonizes with my answer, reminds me of singing, reminds me of us.”

Rhett keeps writing, quiet, and focused.

After a short time, Link can’t stop and wants to crane over to see what he’s come up with. Rhett hands it over after crossing a final “t” somewhere on the page.

“Those’re good, Link, but I think you need to keep closer to what I wrote, leave out the stuff about me.”

“Stuff about you?” Link asks, having spoken in a stream-of-conscious style, Link forgets most of what he even said

Rhett looks away, shakes his head.

Distracted by the desire to read the rest, Link abandons the lingering questions he has about Rhett’s suggestion and response.

“These are great, man, thanks,” Links says, pushing a soft hand into Rhett’s side.

His eyes scan to the bottom where Rhett’s added a few lines about the journey, the marriage, all the ceremonial aspects of the day for him to close with, but then something more.

Something about him.

Rhett catches him catch it and looks further away. “I know Christy pretty well, too, y’know. Y’all are just alike, in that way. She might need some back-up vows, to have and hold.”

Link reads them.

“You know, just in case.”

Link looks up and tries to laugh.

He doesn’t laugh.

He goes back to reading them.

Rhett shifts uncomfortably, touches the back of his neck, and shuts his eyes.

“Rhett, these ’re…”

“I know, bo, you can forget ‘em,” Rhett excuses, still not meeting Link’s gaze. “You want me to… I can rewrite the others on a different - I can turn the page and write ‘em there so you can just…”

“Hey, hey,” Link interrupts him, mad at Rhett putting down his best friend, and eager to explain his actual thoughts. “Rhett, these are perfect. These are… I’m sad I can’t say anything as nice in return to you.”

Rhett finally looks up to acknowledge that and their gaze heats and lingers.

“Not that I…” Link stutters to clarify. “Y-You’d have to be a - if that’s something that was gonna - you know - if that was gonna work…”

His mind does it’s usual jump to a visual for the worst case scenario depicting the implication he stumbled across. Him out eight grand on the wedding. Not to mention a wife, a family, a future, a faith -

a friend -

Link gulps, pushing that back away, pushing them both forward, in his estimation.

It’s too much to bear to think about for another second. When he glances at Rhett, he can’t get a read on his face what he thinks about it, and that’s scary enough for him to want to abandon the concept altogether.

“Christy’s gonna love them.”

It’s enough, saying his fiancée's name, to ground him again. Enough to make it okay for him to grab Rhett’s palm and squeeze it in thanks, between them.

Rhett’s made his choice to give up on film school.

Link’s made his choice to give up on whatever schoolboy obsession he has with monopolizing all of Rhett’s days and nights. 

He’ll stick to the days or every other weekend, however they can still fit time together, is fine by him. This ceremony, tomorrow, feels as much about his graduation from friend to husband, and all that that entails.

They’re adults.

They both know there’s a lot of sacrifices to be made and this feels like the first time he’s really acknowledging how hard they’re going to be to make. He hopes they’ll still see each other.

He hopes their kids will get along.

He has a lot of hopes.

All of them involve Rhett.

There’s a lot he should write down for when Rhett finds his own bride to wed.

Link notices, suddenly, that Rhett is crying. The same part of him that's nearly broken the headwind of these conflicting emotions turns back to comfort him.

“Hey, don’t cry,” Link soothes, realizing he’s also still holding Rhett’s hand.

“‘M sorry,” Rhett intones, the words bubble up and out of him simultaneously, sounding like water draining in a filled sink. “And the night before your wedding, good Heavens.”

“Hey, I’ve been crying all week,” Link says, waving a hand at the stress that planning a wedding has kept put on him. “Nothing I haven’t seen in the mirror.”

Rhett laughs, rubbing a thumb over his own thigh in a way that brushes upwards against the place Link’s clasping his hand. Link nearly pulls his hand back, thinking Rhett’s trying to get him to sense his want for space, but when he meets his eye it’s clear he’d like nothing less.

“I think I’m just -” Rhett starts to say, trailing off. The light from the lamp on the far coffee table is the only thing on in the room. Link drops his gaze a few inches to try and see more of Rhett’s downturned eyes as he hems and haws. He squeezes their hands together, again, this time clasping it more firmly, still pressing Rhett’s large palm down from above. “I think I’m just a li’l jealous, is all.”

It’s the quietest admission he’s heard from Rhett since he told him he failed their chemistry mid-term in eleventh grade.

Link is also so lost at the innocence of the admission that he can only think of follow-up questions. “Of me?”

Rhett looks at him for a long, long minute and finally, when Link’s gaze remains confused for the whole length of the pause, he shakes his head, no.

Then he waits. 

He waits for Link to realize what he means.

But he’s still waiting when Link, oblivious, moves onward trying to comfort Rhett, instead of understanding him fully.

The tension in the room is palpable as Link talks, but only to Rhett, it seems. Only Rhett pictures air bags being deployed in a car safety video as metal hits cinder block. Only Rhett moves his hand, though it’s all it takes to dislodge them from each other completely.

“I know you’re gonna make an amazing husband some day.” Link is saying.

Rhett’s hand aches where cool air now surrounds it.

“I know your wife is gonna get to hear you say such wonderful things about her.”

Rhett wipes his hand of the misunderstanding on the cotton of his pants.

“I know she’s gonna say the same kind of things about you, when it’s your turn up there.”

Rhett mourns the idea that this would ever be requited.

“I know she’s gonna love you, just as much as I do, so she’ll have plenty to say.”

Rhett looks away, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes. 

 “I’ll make sure she has plenty of ideas where to start.”

Rhett pats Link’s leg, in camaraderie, and nods.

And that’s it. They shoot the shit, they make a plan to meet up at a donut place for the groomsmen’s breakfast to thank them for their help, before the ceremony, and they’ll talk things through if Link’s feeling jittery still. Then Rhett’s gone.

It’s not until the next day at eleven on the dot (everyone has an agenda to follow and every moment is accounted for) that Link understands Rhett’s pain.

His mother straightens his tie and flattens the edges of his suit. “You’ll wanna know I heard Christy looks like an angel in her dress, from the girls upstairs.”

“Those actual angels you been talkin’ to, Sue?” Rhett jokes, where he’s twisting his cummerbund around every so often, bored.

“Very funny, honey,” Sue ribs back. “From the cousins, Beth and Hailee Sue. Remember they’re friends with the hairstylist you got to do the curls for Christy’s hair, today? She was over last night getting Christy ready for bed with how to wash and dry it a special kind of way. They were there, too.”

Link starts to tune her out, since there’s a lot on his mind, but then she says more.

“She says the hairstylist was talking about how jealous she was of Christy, all night, getting to marry you,” Sue relays.

“Oh, mama, please,” Link dismisses. The compliments he’s been getting have felt faker than the toupee on his uncle Bruce. That girl has never even met him. “I’m the only person here people should be jealous of, who would be jealous of Christy,” he says, trailing off, muttering his reasoning as he did. “Marrying a trainwreck like me.”

Link looks up in the mirror where some of his friends continue to mingle in various states of undress. Rhett is already dressed, however, and staring straight at Link like he’s been caught with a hand in a cookie jar.

Link’s about to ask what’s wrong when he remembers his words. Then looks again over the planes of Rhett’s face.

Last night’s words slam back into his mind and Link’s mouth drops open.

The church organ belts out an opening flurry of notes before Canon in D begins playing loudly through the sound system built into the rafters above them. Link looks up to see one of the church staff at the door instructing them to join the bridal party to line-up.

Link’s mom dashes off to where she’s paired with her nephew, Link’s favorite cousin, to be escorted down the aisle.

Rhett sees Link’s face rushing through a wash of emotions from a distance, he nods to the staffer in silent understanding that he’ll handle it, and then they’re alone.

He walks up to Link and takes his hand. He squeezes it.

“Hey, you gotta go. We gotta go. It’s showtime,” Rhett insists.

Link looks around like a bomb went off, since in some ways it did, and he doesn’t know what to do.

Rhett seems to pick up on that. He squeezes Link’s hand again.

“I’ll get over it, Link, it’s okay,” Rhett whispers, on the verge of desperation.

That confirmation is enough to fully shatter Link.

Only for a moment. 

The music continues and Rhett keeps his hand hold.

They are adults. They are in love. They have to marry. 

None of these things can be helped.

“I’m gonna be so jealous of Her, too,” Link whispers back. He squeezes Rhett’s hand one last time, as they part.

They leave.

They walk straight.

They part again.

Until later.

They move houses and cities and states.

They move mountains, inside and out.

They move together.

Much later.

They join again.

They run crooked.

They return.

To one another.

Link has spent years worrying a ring that means too much to too few people.

In the beginning, when he cries himself to sleep at what he thinks has been the mistake of a lifetime, it’s His talisman. It reminds him of the expectations upon this life he’s made.

As the years pass, however, the adherence to the bogeymen of their childhood’s rules wears thin. It starts to strictly represent love and patience.

Sacrifice.

It begins to feel like a burden. A representation of what’s been lost, not what’s been found.

He contemplates taking it off, but believes that to be a betrayal of all that it stands for to the people he stands for. 

Then, one day, (surely mid-spin) he hears Rhett tell a story about wanting to change his ring.

He watches the silver twirl as Rhett explains.

He believes he was rushed into a certain type of marriage and a certain type of life by a certain type of person.

It’s a life that he’s grown to love but the ring represents a union forced by custom and not one that’s grown through devotion. 

His ring reminds him of that too often to be good for him.

Link twists his again at the admission.

So, Rhett’s thinking about replacing the ring.

Link returns home that night in a stupor. He’s sure he said one too many things to Rhett to emphasize how wild it felt to hear him talk about changing rings.

Any memories of that day, their wedding, bring up a rush of emotions that he’s never been good at sorting through.

Today’s admission makes him feel the same spur to make use of idle, betrothed hands he feels when he cleans the fridge.

He wants to clean the slate.

He finds an old DVD copy of their wedding ceremony that he paid to have converted from miniDV some years ago. Now he struggles to find a place to watch that DVD. How quickly time has flown by.

Eventually, he ends up in his son’s room - no one’s home for the remainder of the night but he and Christy - now, he’s sitting on a bean bag, squinting at the game console’s controller trying to get the joysticks to move to “play” on screen.

The ceremony bursts to life and, like it was yesterday, Link’s nerves fizzle awake.

About halfway through the video, Christy finds him like that and sits down next to him in a thwump absorbed mostly by the stuffing of the chair.

They watch themselves smile happily at each other and Christy takes his hand.

“Should I be happy or scared to find you alone watching this on a Saturday night?” she asks, wryly, squeezing his palm.

Link doesn’t know what to say. He’s caught up in Rhett’s bygone script being spoken on screen. Words about Christy and about Link that were not their own, declared loudly in front of the congregation.

“I don’t know,” Link admits, shrugging. He doesn’t. He squeezes her hand back.

“You wanna tell me what’s eating you?”

Link hesitates, but relents. He wants that clean slate, after all. “Rhett’s getting his wedding ring replaced.”

“Replaced?” Christy asks, balking.

“Replaced, yeah,” Link responds, sure he didn’t misspeak.

“With what?” she asks.

“Oh, some new one. Fancy thing, very cool, made of trees or something. Honestly he wears the other one, the slick black one more than his wedding band half the time. He says it feels like the old one? It’s the kind of ring you get in a bauble at a vending machine crank. So, he wants a new one.”

“Jeesh,” Christy says, making a face at the screen. The camera catches Rhett stealing glances at the couple, then at the crowd, beaming at all with unbridled pride.

“Wouldn’t you be mad if I did that?” Link inquires, still baffled at the idea.

“Well, no, but don’t you love your ring? Heirloom and all that,” she says.

Link cringes. “Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I do.”

“So?”

“So, I still kind of want to and I’m not sure what that means.”

They watch the screen together.

“Do you wanna stay married?” she asks, in a small voice.

“Yes,” he breathes out.

There’s a long pause.

“To me?” she asks, her voice even smaller.

“Yes,” he breathes in.

She squeezes his hand, her confidence built back up. She begs him to join her.

“And him?” Christy whispers.

They both look the screen, the lens centered on the two of them, but their gaze is mutually torn to where Rhett stands wiping a tear from his eye at Christy reciting the last of the vows that he wrote her. Wrote him. Wrote them both.

She squeezes his hand again.

“Yes,” he breathes out.

She leans her head on his shoulder.

“You should probably get another ring, then,” she jests. “We shouldn’t have to share everything.”

The slate is clean.

There’s a lot he wants to say to Rhett about it, but just as before, he’s relied on Rhett to give him the right words to say. So, instead of words, he starts wearing Rhett’s ring.

Then, a new one, when he realizes he can match him separate from the other, all told. Have something of Rhett’s, all to himself.

In his unspoken push towards something more, their hands now match along with their steps, as they walk forward.

On the last week in July, they get ice cream at the fifth place that month to mistake them for husbands, but the first one he hears Link crow an affirmative in response.

Rhett waits for him while he triple-tips the cashier (for the guess) and pays for their cones.

“Bad joke,” Rhett says, softly, but firm.

“Who’s kidding?” Link parries back, a smirk dancing it’s way across his lips.

Rhett watches him with a wistful look of disbelief.

“Link, we’re married,” Rhett warns him.

Link shrugs. “I know. I’m just waiting for you to figure that out and minding my ice cream here, all right?”

He’s got a mouthful of vanilla bean and extra cookie crumble, the next second, so his vow ends there.

Later, at home, Rhett startles Jessie awake when he fully realizes Link’s words.

He shakes her awake. He shakes them both awake.

“I’m in love with Link,” he says, like it’s a confession.

She kisses him because so is she. So are most people.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

Rhett repeats himself.

So does she.

They stare at each other under the cover of silk and moonlight.

“We’re married,” Rhett whispers, touching his hand to hers. Their rings clink, new and shiny.

“Yeah, and so are we,” she whispers back.

They fall asleep smiling.

The next day, Rhett sneaks up behind Link while he’s working and causes him to spill his cup of coffee. He gets the stink eye for only a minute because it’s the same length of time he can stand Link’s grumpy mug before he has to swoop down and kiss him on the lips.

“You figured it out,” Link says, grinning.

“I did,” Rhett chirps as he kisses Link more.

They take a car to their house. It’s filled with their love and the history of it; before, during, and after.

“What’s this?” Link asks, dazed in their post-sex glow, naked and alive.

He spots an old chord book of theirs from last time they wrote music.

“Oh,” Rhett says, bashful. “I came looking for you here this morning, hoping you slept over again, but, uh,” Rhett stalls, looks away and tries to take the songbook from Link’s hand. Link pulls it far enough he can’t reach. “You were already at the job.”

“And?” Link asks, using his spry, sinewy body as an advantage to slink away from the bed out of Rhett’s grip. He still has the book in hand.

“Those are your vows,” Rhett explains.

Link looks down and squints, confused. These aren’t the vows that Christy read at their wedding. He’s seen that video only a few months back and is sure of it.

“Our vows,” Rhett whispers, explaining further, at Link’s puzzled look.

“It’s a love song,” Link notes, marveling at the gesture. What it means to a young version of himself that once felt like they had surely cut out and mourned the possibility of this - all of this - ever happening. To have that thought coexist with the image of a nude, hulking tree trunk of a husband laid before him smiling up adoringly felt panoptic.

“So are you.”

Link begins to cry.

“Play it for me.”

Rhett wipes his cheek.

“Get my guitar.”

They sing twice more that night, always in harmony (not always in lyric), then spend the rest of their lives together doing much the same.